Chapter 14

"I love Hermione! I love Mia!" Draco broke out, "I don't know what happened… I just wasn't able to tell her that day… She was mad at me for some reason… and all I know is, I love her, but I can't tell her, I can't back away from Astoria anymore, I've made a commitment!" Draco sat down, his face in his hands

"Draco, why didn't you tell me?" Blaise whispered

"Because, I knew you'd get like this… You'd make me go get Hermione back and I can't anymore, too many people are involved, and I just can't do this to Mia… I told you, I love her!" Draco said not looking up

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione laughed at what Cormac just said. She realized he was less arrogant. He was happy and sweet, and he was actually intelligent as well.

After the couple had dinner, they decided to go for a walk. Cormac gently took her hand and apparated Hermione and himself to Venice.

Hermione was appalled by the beauty the city held.

"Wow! This is gorgeous!" Hermione breathed

"Not compared to you…" Cormac said smiling at her

They found a nice spot to sit. Hermione looked at the view in front of her. She was in awe by the beauty of the scenery. Cormac and her begun talking about most of the things going on in their lives.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Drakie!" Astoria called out as she saw Draco come to closer to the table.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass," Draco shook their hands

"Hello Draco, how are you doing lately? How are mum and dad?" Mrs. Greengrass asked

"All of us are doing well," Draco nodded

"Drakie, it's wonderful you're here! I thought you weren't going to be here in time, because that mudblood was going to hold you back or something, but clearly you didn't listen to her!" Astoria giggled putting her hand on his hand.

Draco moved his hand away from hers, slowly.

"May I excuse myself," Draco asked quietly

"Of course," Mrs. Greengrass said reacting with a little too much perkiness

"I'll be right back too, mum and dad," Astoria said following Draco

"Why are you following me?" Draco shouted looking back at her

"What is your problem?" Astoria shouted back

"I don't love you… That is my problem! I love Hermione!" Draco hissed

"That mudblood!" Astoria snickered

"She's not a mudblood!" Draco said enraged

"Once a mudblood, always a mudblood!" Astoria scoffed

"Her blood is more pure than yours, you bitch!" Draco hissed dangerously

"Excuse me? What did you just call me?" Astoria asked just as dangerously

"You heard what I said!"

"No actually I didn't but I hope you listen to what I have to say… clearly… I will ruin your life, if you treat me this way again, do you understand?" rage dripped from every word she said

"Get lost Greengrass!" Draco said looking away from her

"Well be careful because if you don't marry me, then something will happen to your beloved Mudblood!" Astoria laughed, "Think about it, Drakie!" Astoria winked at him, walking back to her parents table

He quickly rinsed his face. "What have I done?" Draco said to himself

"We're in Venice…" Cormac started, "So we should take a ride in the Gondola!"

"That would be amazing!" Hermione said in awe

They had begun their ride. Hermione sat next to Cormac; he slowly put his arm around her. Hermione didn't say anything, only because this might help her get over Draco. She never liked being weak and she wasn't going to beg for Draco while he was on the verge of marrying Greengrass.

"Hermione you look really beautiful," Cormac whispered

Hermione felt her cheeks burn. She looked down at her feet. Cormac lifted her chin up and kissed her sweetly. Hermione let him kiss her for a bit then pulled away.

"Cormac… I can't…" Hermione whispered,

"Hermione, give me a chance… I know you thought I was vile during school, but I've changed…"

"I know… I noticed but that's not what I'm talking about… I'm just really confused about something," Hermione whispered

"Well, I'm willing to wait, Hermione… How about we just talk for now?" Cormac smiled

"Ah! This was a fabulous dinner, I've always loved Italian food," Mr. Greengrass said, inhaling his wine

Astoria giggled. She put her hand on Draco's and this time he didn't move his away. Because he now knew that anything he did could end up impacting Hermione. He was being forced to marry Astoria.

"Drakie, we should go shopping for the ring tomorrow!" Astoria smirked

Draco didn't answer. "Great, pick me up at noon," Astoria smiled

After Mr. Greengrass paid for the dinner the family left, saying their byes to Draco. Draco apparated himself to Blaise's house.

"Draco you look disturbed!" Blaise as he watched his friend

"I don't know what to do anymore…" Draco sighed

"Oh god! Just talk to Hermione… Mum wants to arrange her marriage! So if you want to talk to her, then talk to her now!" Blaise said

"I can't… Astoria she…"

"She what? Don't tell me you're scared of Greengrass!" Blaise asked irritated

"I actually am…" Draco said telling Blaise the entire story.

"What?" Blaise yelled

"That's why I can't do anything… Don't tell Hermione this! I want her to move on now… Let her date Cormac," Draco said quietly

"But Draco…"

"No Blaise, I don't want to ruin her life… I already did so much… I don't want to mess up anything else… Let her get engaged she'll be better off," Draco said before head off to bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's getting late… Should I take you home?" Cormac offered his hand. They apparated back to Zabini Manor.

They had apparated to the gates of Zabini Manor. Cormac and Hermione walked to the door.

"Do you want to come in…?" Hermione asked

"Isn't it late?" Cormac asked

"No, it's ok, you can have some tea," Hermione added

"Thanks…" Cormac smiled

They walked into the house and were greeted by Blaise as if he were waiting there for them.

"Hey Blaise, Cormac and I are going to have some tea in the lounge, do you want some?"

"No, thank you! Uhm… Well you guys can hang out here… I'm going to go upstairs, and go over some work… Bye guys!" Blaise said walking away, tensed for Hermione and Draco.

Cormac sat with Hermione in the lounge for about an hour. They talked some more, until Cormac had to leave. His schedule the next morning was crazy. He played for the professional Quidditch team Kenmare Kestrels' and he had become a male-model. They talked about going to the Malfoy/Zabini Co. fashion show together, since they were both models.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Hermione left early to get to work.

"Hello Ms. Zabini," Her secretary spoke sweetly as Hermione walked into her office

"Hello Annabel," Hermione smiled

Hermione went through all her work; she filed off the enforcements that were meant to be due last week. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Hermione said sounding tired

"Hi Hermione!" Lavender walked in sugar-coating her voice

"Lavender," Hermione groaned

"So, Hermione I heard Greengrass and Malfoy are getting married!" Lavender smirked

"Yeah, so?" Hermione said, trying to ignore Lavender's eye

"Well, because you guys were dating… but that relationship didn't last long either!"

"Oh well it's hard to keep relationships, Lavender, when one is so successful and so busy, all the time, I mean look at me, I'm the Head of Law enforcements at the Ministry and now I'm a model, don't tell me you didn't see the massive billboards and magazine covers with my face on them!" Hermione smirked, picking up a magazine with her face on it

"Everyone has excuses these days," Lavender said, ignoring Hermione's eye now

"Really? What's yours?" Hermione laughed

Lavender got up and left Hermione's office, before she could say anything else.

That serves her right, Hermione thought to herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hermione, get ready! We have to go for the fashion show!" Blaise yelled from the stairs.

"Yeah, Blaise, just hold on!" Hermione yelled back, from her room.

"Blaise, I'll meet you at the event, I guess," Draco murmured before he flooed over to the Greengrass residence

"See you, mate!" Blaise said

Hermione walked down the staircase dressed in a stunning gown.

"Wow!" Blaise said, "I wonder what Cormac's going to say!"

"Shut up," Hermione smirked

Second's later Cormac flooed into Zabini Manor, and when his eyes fell on Hermione he was left speechless.

"Well… He didn't say anything…" Blaise commented

"Hermione… Wow…You look… Wow" Cormac said in awe.

"Thank you," Hermione smiled, taking his arm and apparating, "We'll see you there, Blaise!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Hermione got to the red carpet, she held Cormac's hand. She noticed Angelique and Ron, and behind them Ginny and Harry.

"Cormac, let's go to Ginn?" Hermione asked

"Yeah, let's go," He replied

"Mione!" Ginny squealed

"Ginn, you look gorgeous!" Hermione cooed

Ginny was wearing a single shoulder strap, asymmetrical dress. It was dark blue in colour and it looked marvelous on her. The strap was adorned with small sequins. The side of the dress was ruched together, which eventually led to three simple cut outs. The three straps on the cuts out were also adorned with silver sequins. The left side also had a mid high slit. Ginny had her hand on Harry's chest. And Harry had his hand around her waist. They looked perfect.

"Hermione, have you looked in the mirror? You look fabulous!" Ginny spoke with her eyes widened

"Hey Mione!" Ron embraced her

"Hey guys!" Hermione smiled at Harry and Ron

"McLaggen?" Harry's brows furrowed

"Yeah," Cormac extended his hand out for Harry and Ron to shake

"Wow… McLaggen looks hot," Ginny whispered into Hermione's ear

Hermione could only laugh.

"Hey everybody!' Blaise said strutting to his sister and her friends with a girl hold his hand.

"Hey Blaise," Everyone called out,

"Hi, I'm Hermione…Blaise's sister," Hermione smiled

"I'm Andrea Leone," she spoke, quite posh

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ginny!" Ginny introduced herself and quickly everyone introduced themselves

The paparazzi were taking picture after picture of the people on the red carpet. Soon the Malfoy's and the Greengrass' arrived as well.

Malfoy was walking with Astoria holding his hand tightly.

"Blaise!" Draco said

"Mate," Blaise called out

"Hermione," Draco said in awe.

He was shocked as he watched her flip her hair. She was wearing a halter, fishtail gown. It had V-neckline. The bodice of the dress was dripping with shimmering shiny flecks. The fishtail skirt was flared at the bottom with a gauzy material. The colour of the dress was silver due to all the sequins and underneath the sequins it was gold. The sides of the dress were gilded.

Hermione's wavy hair was pulled into a messy up-do. It created an elegant finish. She had face-framing strands from the side of her face. She was wearing diamond chandelier earring and a matching diamond necklace. She wore red lipstick and had a smoky eye look. She looked like she had out of the 1950s.

"Draco…" Hermione smiled weakly, with Cormac holding her waist. Astoria came back to Draco with her squealing voice.

"Drakie, let's go inside!"

"Yeah…" He said quietly

"Oh, it's mudblood," Astoria sneered, "You clean up well, for someone with dirty blood!"

Cormac glared at Astoria.

"Well for someone who's pureblood, you look like you have a lot of dirt on you!" Hermione scoffed back

"Oh, and that dress is hideous!" Hermione smirked as she walked away with Cormac grinning, holding Hermione protectively.

Draco was grinning after Hermione left. "Stop laughing," Astoria whined

"No, I'm not! Whatever she said was true! And she looked gorgeous; she always does, unlike you!" Draco retorted, walking away.

"Drakie, you better mind your language! Or some is going to hurt your precious, little mudblood!" Astoria snickered, walking ahead of him.

"Ugh! Bitch" Draco groaned

"What was that?" Astoria turned around, glaring

"Nothing," Draco murmured

Yeah So I hope y'all enjoyed it :)