Outside the hotel, Victoria called Harry's number.
'Hello?' a matured voice at the end of the phone muttered.
'Hi, my name's Victoria, and I need to talk to you about your wife. Your fiancée, rather.'
'Are you talking about Hermione? What's wrong with her? Is she ok?' Harry was obviously instantly worried, and the fact that two grown men were obsessed over Hermione made Victoria sick and even more determined to get on with her plan.
'No, she's fine,' Victoria said in a cold tone. 'On the contrary, I'd say she's enjoying herself.'
'What do you mean?' Harry's tone was of a suspicious one.
'I mean, she's having fun with Draco Malfoy right now. Does that name strike a familiar chord?'
'Draco? Of course they're together. She already told me that. They're just talking about our engagement. Since he's her ex husband, he ought to know. And what business is it of yours anyway?'
'I'm just being a kind soul over here. By telling you that they're still married. Your precious Hermione is still a married woman. Married to Draco Malfoy.'
'What are you talking about?'
'All I'm saying, is that if you don't do something, you can say goodbye to your engagement to her. Because she can't get married to you. Not when she's still happily married to another man.' Then, Victoria hung up the phone, with a victorious and vindictive smile on her face.
You shouldn't have dumped me, Draco. Really shouldn't have.
If Only You Knew
Back at the hotel, after Hermione got over the shock of Victoria being in her room a while ago, she picked up her phone, only to find that it had switched off by its own.
Damn, the battery must be flat, she thought and plugged in the phone charger. Oh well, guess that call to Harry'll have to wait.
On the other hand, Harry was desperately trying to get through Hermione's cell phone, but it was to no avail. The number you have dialed is currently not available, please try again later, said the metallic voice. Harry heard it so many times that he was sick of the same old speech. He slammed the phone back onto its receiver and left his office.
'I need a one week break. Please apply that for me. And tell Patricia Schneider to cover for me while I'm gone. Thank you.' As polite as Harry sounded to his secretary, his imagination ran wild. What's going on, Hermione?
Draco received a knock on the door and this time, he was sure that it would be Hermione, instead of someone unexpected, like the visit Victoria made earlier on.
He jumped and rushed to the door, looked through the key hole and sighed. Who is it now, he thought.
He opened the door by a fraction and looked into the eyes of a wise-looking old man.
"Are you Mr. Draco Malfoy?"
"Yes. Who are you?"
"I'm Miss Granger's lawyer. I'm here to pass you the divorce papers, for you to sign."
Draco opened the door wide and looked around the lawyer. "She's not here?"
"If you're talking about Miss Granger, I'm afraid not."
"Then where is she? Why did she send you instead of coming here herself?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I cannot disclose my client's whereabouts."
Draco stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Instead he said, 'give me those papers.'
The lawyer passed him the papers and Draco glanced through them. The details were glaring but the truth of it all was even more hurting. Hermione didn't even want to see him for the last time. But who could blame her, really? After that revelation to her last night, she was probably scared of him.
Draco sighed and the lawyer asked, "Is anything wrong, Mr. Malfoy? Do you know where to sign?"
"Yeah. Nothing's wrong."
He flipped through the papers and got sick of the words dancing in front of his eyes, so he just flipped to the last page. And signed under his name.
This is it, Draco thought as he handed the papers back to the lawyer and closed the door, it's over. Just like that.
Hermione packed her luggage and sat down on her bed. The lawyer just called to say that everything was done and over with. She asked him to send the papers back to her office instead of giving it to her right now. She didn't think she could handle seeing those papers at that moment.
It was a mistake, Draco. Right from the very start, it was a mistake. It's only right to end it now. Forgive me, Draco. And forget me.
Harry stepped into the France airport that night and put on his coat. Hermione, I hope everything's fine. And I hope you're not lying to me.
Hermione felt a sudden jolt and wondered what could have caused it. Maybe she was hungry. She wanted to call for room service, but she suddenly felt repulsed by the hotel food, probably because she had been eating it so often. Maybe today I can go out on my own to have some dinner, she thought, as she dialed the number for the receptionist.
"Hi, I'd like to have a cab waiting for me downstairs in 5 minutes to bring me around. Do you think you c an arrange that?"
"Of course, mademoiselle." The receptionist replied with a heavy French accent.
"And please, get a cab driver that speaks English," Hermione added.
As Hermione stepped into the cab, and listened as the cab driver blabbered on with an accent as strong as the receptionist's about where he would bring her to enjoy the night scenery, Hermione looked out the window and nodded, even though she wasn't really listening to what he had to say. She thought about Harry, and about Draco and about her life in the future. And whether she did the right thing about coming to France.
'Here ve are, at ze River Gauche!" the taxi driver announced in an enthusiastic voice. Hermione smiled and before the cab driver could proceed on with the rest of his comments, Hermione paid him and said to him, "Is it all right if you come back here two hours later, to bring me back to the hotel?"
The cab driver nodded and Hermione slammed the door, hoping that he understood what he had just said.
As the cab went off, Hermione looked at the famous River Gauche, and smiled inwardy. This is beautiful, she thought. Maybe I was right to have some time off on my own.
Draco drove without a specific direction. He didn't know where he was going, and he didn't particularly care. Ever since he signed those damn papers he felt as if his life was going down the drain in front of his eyes and he couldn't do anything about it. His heart had sunk like never before and he just didn't feel like talking to anyone. He was glad he didn't lose his friendship with Victoria, but to lose Hermione, it was pure hell.
Where the hell am I going, he thought. Ah, heck. Who cares.
However, no matter how much more he wanted to drive on aimlessly, the level of petrol in his car stopped him from doing so. It was practically empty and sohe had to pull over his car.
"Shit! Why do these things keep happening to me?" Draco cursed at his luck, or rather, the lack of it. He looked around at his surroundings and pulled out his cell phone to call for someone to tow his car away to the nearest petrol station.
"Hello?"
"Yes?"
Oh great, someone who doesn't speak English.
"I need someone to tow my car to the nearest petrol station. It's out of gas." Draco spoke in French; he had learnt how to speak French to a certain degree, having being there for quite a while. He just hoped the guy over at the receiving end of the call understood what he was trying to say.
"Where is your car located?" The person replied in French.
Draco looked around again and replied, "River Gauche."
"We'll be there in 10 minutes."
Draco sighed with relief and leaned against his car. River Gauche, he thought, strange. I've never been here before, but I feel so comfortable here.
He sat down by the curb at the road and sighed at the series of unfortunate events he had had to go through today. He stared at the cars driving past him. He noticed that his car tyres needed more air in them. He also noticed that people around him were mostly couples in their honeymoons. What he didn't notice, though, was that Hermione was behind him.
Hermione noticed a guy sitting at the curb at the road and wondered what was wrong. Then she saw his car and figured that there was something wrong with his car, and not him. She looked at the guy and realized that the colour of his hair resembled that of Draco's so much. She then shook her head of such thoughts.
I'm so silly; why would Draco be here. It must be the lighting that's playing tricks on my eyes.
And that's what she thought as she walked on by.
Draco sensed somebody watching him and turned around. But there wasn't anybody nearby. However, he did see someone who closely resembled Hermione, at least, from what he saw of the person's back. Her hair, the way she walked and the way she swung her hips. He was temporarily mesmerized by the back view of that woman, picturing her to be his sweet Hermione. Then he softly chided himself as he looked away. Why would she be here? She's probably at the airport, waiting for the next flight home. And she's probably looking fondly at her engagement ring. Draco thought with a bitterness deep in his heart.
Yet, what both Hermione and Draco didn't know, was that they sighed at that same exact moment, and that they were looking up into the sky at that very same star.
"If only you knew," they both said to themselves.
Meanwhile, Harry still couldn't get through to Hermione's cell phone and so he waited for her outside her hotel room, since she wasn't in. She had told him the hotel room number before, and he was glad that he had remembered, even though at that time he had wondered what he would need that room number for. Now he knew what it was for. His future depends on it.
A/N: Read and review, ya? Thanks )