Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter Twenty-One

The group started breaking apart and talking to different people now. Some people were already slow-dancing on the dance floor. Others were munching on food.

Draco continued on with random conversations, entertaining his guest and others he ended up talking to. He figured he must have been really good at pretending because no one said anything about his behavior, not even his date. In reality, he seriously felt like he'd been hit with a bludger. All he kept repeating in his head was: What The Fuck? She could have at least had the decency to tell him that she was dating one of the only people he considered to be on his level, at least in his society. And when the hell did this develop anyway? What was she playing at? Was she doing this to get back at him somehow? But Draco thought about it and realized that it wasn't like Hermione to just go around dating anyone. If she was with Theodore it was because she wanted to be, at least to a certain extent. He had no right to be upset, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. And he couldn't stop glancing at them. He saw them holding hands and kiss a couple times quickly. And it made his insides burn. How could she not tell him? And why was he so mad?

"Hi, Draco," Astoria said, nudging him.

For once, he was relieved to see her. His date was being an awful bore and he was really too immersed in his thoughts to care much about her right now. "Hi. Astoria, this is Lisa, my date. Lisa, this is my ex-wife and the mother of my child, Astoria."

"It's nice to meet you," Lisa said in a small voice. It was clear she felt beneath Astoria, as she should. Lisa was a pretty young girl, but Astoria was a beautiful, mature woman beyond many others in the room, actually.

"You don't mind mingling for a bit, do you? I'm gonna have a dance with her," Draco said.

"Not at all, Draco," Lisa said and she walked off to find people she may have known. Before going on the dance floor, Draco found a waiter and downed a glass of champagne.

Draco and Astoria walked to the dance floor together and stood close as they swayed to the music.

"Your date is a pretty girl," Astoria said.

Draco grunted. "She's an awful young bore."

Astoria laughed. "They all are at that age, aren't they? Still trying to discover who they are and what they want…"

Draco said nothing, and instead scanned the room for Theodore and Hermione. He saw them dancing not too far from him.

"Have you greeted Blaise and Pansy tonight?" Draco asked Astoria.

"No," she said. "It's quite useless to be trying all that. Anyway, Pansy revels in the fact that I'm here single."

"Pansy was always so ever the forgiving one," Draco joked. "But you and Blaise?"

"Over and done with when I told you it was," Astoria said, then added after taking a good look at Draco's face and wandering eyes. "Are you upset?"

"How do you figure that?"

"Your cheeks are flushed, Draco," Astoria said.

He only brushed this off. "I had a lot of champagne."

Theodore and Hermione somehow ended up closer and Draco took this as an opportunity to switch partners and have a talk with her. He dragged Astoria towards them.

"Nott, say you don't mind switching dance partners do you? I haven't caught up with Hermione in so long. We're old friends, after all."

"Not at all," Theodore said, kissing Hermione on the cheek. "I'll see you in a bit."

Draco stood in front of Hermione and put one arm around her waist and the other in her hand. He felt her shudder slightly at his touch. They began swaying to the music.

"You look very pretty," Draco said, finding comfort in their bodies being so close once again.

"You already told me that," Hermione replied, smiling a little. "You look good too, like Ginny said. You seem happier."

"I'm not anymore," Draco whispered under his breath.

"What was that?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing. So did Nott buy you the dress?"

Hermione searched his eyes to see what he was trying to get at, and so far could read nothing. She decided to just be honest with him. "Not that it's important, but yes he did."

"It's always like Nott to get something dark green," Draco commented. "Swears we're still Slytherins at Hogwarts."

Hermione smiled. "Yeah, I told him the same thing. He wasn't too happy when I suggested I wear red and gold, though he did admit it'd be nice colors on me…"

Hermione felt warmth all over her body dancing with Draco. She always felt warmer with Draco.

"I didn't know you'd be here," Draco said.

"I didn't know you'd be here, either," Hermione replied.

"I meant with him," Draco added.

She stared at him. "I've been busy. And so have you…"

"That's what you've been busy with," Draco stated simply.

"Not really… what have you been busy with? Attracting more girls?" Hermione said. She didn't like his tone.

"I wouldn't have been too busy for you," Draco said.

"But you were."

"I owled you several times."

Hermione rolled her eyes, unable to keep herself from keeping composure. "What are you going on about?"

Draco stopped them then. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why does it suddenly matter?" Hermione said. She did not want to deal with Draco right now. Talking to him always made things more complicated and she didn't need that. She walked away from him, going fast and soon she was outside. It was extremely cold, but she couldn't feel it. All she could feel was heat. Draco followed her.

"It always mattered. Why didn't you tell me?" Draco asked again.

Hermione turned around to face him and said, "I don't have to tell you anything!"

"You could've at least mentioned it!" Draco said hotly.

"For what? We're not obligated to tell each other anything!"

"I thought we were friends," Draco said. It was always his excuse for them to get closer.

"I don't even tell Harry and Ginny everything, Malfoy. They just found out about Theodore last week. What makes you think you're so special?"

"Granger… I thought…"

"You thought what? That you could just use me as comfort to get over Astoria and then ignore me and hope that when you were done playing bachelor maybe I'd still be around?" Hermione said, surprised at herself for actually coming out and saying what she felt. He didn't say anything that warranted her response, but she couldn't help but say her thoughts now.

"That wasn't it at all!" Draco yelled. "You're contradicting yourself. First you say there's nothing and now you're telling me that you wanted something to happen?"

"I was a rebound, Malfoy, admit it!"

"You were not a rebound!"

"Where have you been the last few months?" she asked derisively. "With different girls. That's what you wanted all along isn't it? I was just a comfort pillow."

"I didn't know what you wanted. You never said anything."

"It didn't matter! What mattered was what you wanted! Everything we talked about was you. You never asked about me. You never mentioned me when talking about what you wanted. And then the bar – the bloody bar! You took me out and went home with another girl. You left me and didn't even come looking for me. There was my answer there. I didn't need to say anything."

"That…" Draco said, gathering what she had just said. He tried to remember all their previous conversations post-divorce and she was right. He was being self-centered and most of all, he never mentioned her. He realized that she must have seen the girl at the bar, that's why she left early. Why would she bring up how she felt if he so clearly had made a choice to be a bachelor – when he'd just left the bar without knowing where she was?

"We don't have anything, Malfoy," Hermione spat out. "Just a couple drunken nights. You can't build anything on that."

"Granger, that's not true. You said there was something…" he said, but he felt her slipping away. How could he argue when he didn't even know what it is he wanted?

"It doesn't matter. It's done. It's been done. I'm with Theodore now. He chose me because he actually wanted me, not like you or Ron or even Harry, who all needed me when you had nothing."

"Granger, I do… want you…" Draco finally admitted, but Hermione just shook her head and turned around and Draco knew it might have been too late now to further convince her that what he was just admitted was as true as it had always been, he'd just been too distracted to admit it.

She turned around to face Theodore, who had been leaning on the door listening for some time.

"Are you two quite done now?" he said idly.

Hermione was startled by his appearance, but she remained indifferent, too heated from the argument with Draco to start one with him. "How long have you been here?"

Theodore just put an arm around her waist carelessly and gave her a quick but soft kiss. She barely kissed him back.

"Long enough," he finally said.

Draco wanted to Crucio him right then and there.

"I'll see you inside," Theodore said. Hermione just shook her head and without a backward glance at Draco, walked inside.

"I'm not surprised, you know," Theodore said as the two stared at each other. "Hermione's a beautiful girl. But she's my girl now."

Draco didn't say anything, he just glared at Theodore with his wand clutched firmly in his hand.

"I don't care who she stays friends with and that includes you, because she knows that she's mine. I don't have anything to worry about," Theodore said.

"She's not some piece of property," Draco said.

"She isn't, but she won't find anyone better than me. I don't have extra baggage, and I'll never cheat and she knows this," Theodore said, "Like I told Weasley, one man's loss is another man's treasure. No offense, of course."

Draco wanted to tell him to fuck off and that he didn't even know the half of their situation but held himself back.

"I still hold you in high regards, Malfoy. No hard feelings," Theodore turned around and walked inside.

Draco just stared at the empty space before him and wondered what the hell he'd just lost.

"You're really going to stay over tonight?" Hermione asked Theodore as she shut the door to her house and turned on the lights. They hadn't talked much on the walk to her place or at the Ball after he witnessed her argument with Draco. She wasn't sure what to say and he wasn't saying anything about it, and chose to just comment on how nice the night was.

"Yeah. Why not?" Theodore said, walking into her bedroom and changing into his pajamas.

Hermione followed him and did the same, cursing at herself as the dress became difficult to take off. She gave up and used her wand instead. She then flopped on to the bed next to him. She stared at the ceiling, keeping some distance between them.

"I didn't know if you'd want to be with me tonight," Hermione said quietly.

Theodore moved closer to her. "Why?"

"What did you hear?"

"When you said 'It didn't matter' and onward," Theodore said simply.

"And you're not mad?"

"No," he said, putting his arm around her. He leaned over to look into her eyes. "There's nothing I need to worry about, is there?"

"You're not curious about what happened between Malfoy and I?"

"Not really," Theodore said, leaning down to kiss her cheeks.

"Do you even care?"

"Of course I do," he said, sounding like he didn't at all. He proceeded to kiss her lips.

Hermione stopped him by putting her hands on either side of his face. "What's wrong with you?"

"Whatever happened between you and Malfoy is in the past. I don't know what tonight was about, but it's clear that you've made your choice," Theodore said.

"How can you be so sure?" Hermione tested. How did he know what she really wanted? What made him so certain it was him?

"You're still here with me," he settled himself between her legs.

Theodore had a point, even if Hermione's feelings weren't quite that simple.

"What did you tell Malfoy?"

"I said that I don't care if you remain friends with him and see him because you won't find anyone better than me," Theodore said, smirking.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're so cocky." But she let him continue whatever it was he was doing. She wanted to forget about Draco, to stop thinking about what his final words to her were, to get rid of that stupid glimmer of hope that stayed even though she found someone else, so she let Theodore help her out. But forgetting was easier said than done.

Hermione thought about Draco's reaction when he first found out about her and Theodore. If he felt anything, it didn't show on his face – at least not to people who didn't know him well. She saw for a flashing second the confusion and hurt in his eyes before they took that toast and knew she'd have to deal with him later in the night. She just wasn't sure how he would approach her and she was even more uncertain of what she wanted to say.

Then they danced, and her heart nearly melted at the touch. But the conversation took a turn, which she somehow had a feeling it would.

Everything just blew up. She knew that both of them had intended to stay calm but ended up being the complete opposite because they didn't even know what the hell it was they were arguing about. Was there even anything? There really wasn't, when she thought about it. There was a possibility of what could happen, but it wasn't really explored. But he said it. He admitted he wanted her. But she realized that he admitted it too late and now she'd never know what it could have been like with Draco.

But she told herself that it would be okay. She had Theodore – the reason it was too late with Draco – and he was good enough.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates! But I thought since I had time and it's my birthday I'd put up another chapter! Thanks for the reads and reviews! We are actually almost at the end... what do you think will happen now?