Ginny greeted Hermione with her hands on her hips.
"Is there something you wanted to tell me, Hermione?" Ginny threw the morning newspaper at her friend who caught it awkwardly.
"As if Ron won't have told you already!" Hermione said, throwing the paper back without looking at it.
"Yes, he has but I want details! Why are you now somehow engaged to Malfoy?"
Hermione sighed and started to undo the shop door. "Why are you pretending that you don't know it's fake?"
Ginny grinned. "I like to tease you. But seriously, why the fake engagement?"
Hermione explained as they set the shop up ready for the day. "It was my idea," she explained after she had brought Ginny up to date. "I think Draco wondered what had hit him!"
"Well, it's a bit of a strange situation isn't it? Was this really the best way to restore Draco's respectability?"Ginny asked. "I mean, can we expect a fake wedding or what?"
"I'm sure there would have been a better way but I was put on the spot and had to make a snap decision. And no, there won't be a fake wedding, even I wouldn't go that far!" Hermione shrugged. "A respectable amount of time after the potion is registered, which should be any day now and when Monsieur Durand has agreed terms of supplying us, Draco and I will very sadly fake break up."
Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand. "Shouldn't you have a false engagement ring?"
Hermione giggled. "Yes, but I'm not officially fake engaged yet, that's on Friday. Draco's buying a ring today."
"A real one? Based on his past record, I wondered if he had a little draw full of them for you to choose from." Ginny grinned and Hermione couldn't help but grin back. It was fairly ridiculous situation she had placed herself in after all. "Seriously though, Hermione is there anything going on between the two of you? Ron said that Draco was undressed when he arrived and that he'd spent the night at your flat."
"Mind your own business," Hermione said and began stacking a shelf. Ginny folded her arms in front of herself, indignantly.
"I'm your best friend! You're supposed to confide in me."
Hermione turned to face her. "Do you know what, Ginny? I don't know. We're in this some sort of limbo land. I mean we get on so well and I do really like him but we have just sort of fell into this. He's being very flirty and I know he does care about me but I don't know if it's all just a bit of fun for Draco. He isn't the committing type is he?"
"Is he still shagging every girl within a five mile radius?" Ginny asked, bluntly.
"Oh no, definitely not. In fact the other night he told me he wasn't interested in doing anything with anyone else but..."
"What?" Ginny interrupted her, grabbing her arm. "Are you doing a Hermione?"
"What does doing a Hermione mean?"
"I told you that you can never see what is right in front of your nose," Ginny sighed. "Was Draco upset by the fake engagement story?"
"Not really, he was just a bit shocked. He seems happy to go with it for now."
"And exactly how many nights have you spent at your flat in the last month?" Ginny asked. Hermione started to see what Ginny was getting at.
"Why don't you just get to the point instead of all these questions?"
"My point is this; Malfoy's happy to go with the fake engagement, you're practically living together and you've spent how many nights in his bed? You just said that he's not the committing type and yet you then just casually tell me that he has said he doesn't want to do anything with anyone else. Do you think this is normal friends' behaviour, Hermione? As your two best friends were boys, you'd think you would be the authority on it! Just how many times did you sleep in Harry's bed or Ron's?"
"We were kids," Hermione protested.
"Even so, you and Malfoy may as well be engaged because you're acting exactly like an engaged couple would do." Ginny nodded knowingly at her friend. "You're being an idiot, Hermione. He's obviously got the hots for you and you won't admit it but you're so falling for him..."
Hermione rubbed her head. "I can't fall for him."
"Why not? I mean join the queue! There are hundreds of women in love with Draco Malfoy."
"Stop exaggerating."
"You know what I mean!" Ginny answered, quickly. "I'm hardly his biggest fan and I don't suppose I ever will be but so far he has done nothing but help you and be nice to you. The night of the ball, I thought the two of you were great together."
Hermione's face changed and her voice dropped to just above a whisper. "We are great together..."
"If he puts that fake ring on you Hermione, my bet is it'll never come off again."
"Now that is ridiculous!" Hermione protested.
"You'll see..."
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
"Engaged!" Blaise repeated himself, having already said the word numerous times.
"Fake engaged." Hermione corrected him.
"It really is one thing after another with you two isn't it?" Blaise asked them both. "Why say you're engaged? Couldn't you have just said you were dating?"
"Yeh, we could have done that..." Draco said with a pointed look over at Hermione. "If we'd actually discussed this huge fake commitment before announcing it to the world."
Hermione shot him a dirty look. "I was thinking on my feet. There wasn't time to ask you." She was defending herself but she knew Draco would have had every right to be hopping mad at her. Luckily, he was treating it all as a joke. "You can always fake dump me if you feel that strongly about it!" She snapped at him.
"I won't be dumping you, Hermione. Fake or otherwise," Draco answered and he winked at her. She felt the increasingly familiar wave of emotion hit her but tried not to show it. After a moment to gather herself she spoke again.
"It might have helped if you had clothes on when you came to the door," she said and Blaise held up his hands.
"Woah! Why didn't you have clothes on?" he asked Draco.
"I did have clothes on!" Draco answered. "I just didn't have a shirt - I didn't have a change with me."
"Why don't you two just get on with it?" Blaise asked and Hermione felt déjà vu from her earlier conversation with Ginny. Draco looked up at his friend and smirked.
"Well, the table in here is a little uncomfortable and we might spill the potion," he said and Hermione groaned. He ignored her and carried on. "I mean I wouldn't like to have to explain the extra, added ingredients to anyone."
"Eeeew!" Hermione said, disgusted but Blaise chuckled, enjoying Draco's joke. She decided a change of subject was in order and turned to Blaise. "Any news from the potion registration office yet? It seems to be taking a while."
"Yes, it is," Blaise confirmed. "I don't know why, they won't tell me yet but I have a feeling it's to do with Pansy and Daphne's potion."
"Bloody hell," Draco said. He yawned loudly. "I think we have done as much as we can with fine tuning the recipe."
Blaise nodded. "Yes, I agree. If we change anything else there's a risk we'll have to register it all over again."
They cleared away and an hour later Hermione was sitting on Draco's sofa, just staring off into space. She wasn't enjoying waiting for the all clear on the potion, it was frustrating and she wanted to be doing something. Draco came back from the kitchen with two drinks. He sat on the opposite sofa and cleared his throat.
"So, I went shopping today," he said and Hermione looked over at him.
"Oh! I'd forgotten, did you get one?" she paused, not liking how she sounded. "I mean...well I didn't mean it to sound like that..."
Draco shook his head at her. "Stop worrying for Merlin's sake! I know you're not just after a new piece of jewellery!"
Hermione shuffled a little on the sofa. "I know but I feel that I owe you an apology. It was my idea and I didn't consult you. No-one could blame you if you were really angry at me but I did have the best intentions..."
"Will you bloody well shut up?" Draco interrupted her again. "It's a great idea! Slightly drastic but great, nevertheless," he chuckled at the look on her face. "So, as I was saying I went shopping today." Hermione nodded but this time remained silent. She watched as Draco produced a small, blue velvet box. "So Granger, do you fancy getting hitched?"
Hermione giggled at his terminology and nodded. "Oh, go on then," she answered in the same tone.
"Great, here you are then, put that on," Draco was purposely being blasé, his trademark smirk on display. He then surprised her by throwing the box at her which she only just caught. Draco grabbed a magazine and sat back to read it but Hermione just stared at the little blue box. He noticed she hadn't moved and he stared over at her.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Well it isn't right," Hermione answered.
"You haven't opened it yet, how do you know it's not right?" Draco put the magazine down.
"I mean, it doesn't feel right. I know this isn't real, but I can't put the ring on myself."
Draco raised his eyebrows. "Hermione, are you asking me to put a ring on your finger? Will I be required to get down on one knee as well?" He grinned and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I know it's silly but it doesn't feel right," Hermione repeated. "I know you probably think I'm crazy but I just never imagined that the first time I put an engagement ring on, albeit a fake one, it would be like this!"
Draco put his drink down and swapped sofas so that he was sitting next to her. Hermione went to speak again but Draco put his hand across her mouth and leaned closer. "Stop talking, you're spoiling the moment." He opened the box and Hermione's eyes nearly popped out of her head. The stone in the ring was beautifully cut and set but it was modest in size so it wasn't that that had made her gasp. She was glad the stone wasn't huge, she liked dainty jewellery. However, the ring was exquisite. It was delicate in a beautiful shade of deep silver. The arms of the clasp were like a piece of silk that wrapped around the main band and the setting for the stone was intricate with tiny little diamonds set in it as well. Hermione had honestly never seen such a beautiful ring and she felt a lump in her throat. It was gorgeous and it must have cost a small fortune. Everything about it screamed quality and workmanship.
"Wow," she breathed her admiration. "Draco, it's absolutely gorgeous. So beautiful." She was annoyed at herself to feel tears in her eyes. No matter how beautiful this ring may be nothing about this was real. She looked up at Draco who was watching her. "This is too much, it must have cost..."
Draco snapped the box shut. "Are you trying to insult me? Isn't it considered rude to question your fake fiancée how much he has spent on your beautiful fake ring?"
"Sorry," Hermione said with a little giggle. Draco narrowed his eyes at her. When he saw she wasn't going to protest any further, he then re-opened the box and took the ring out. He took her hand and lifted it higher her palm facing upwards. He then let his thumb slide across her palm before he turned her hand over and very slowly slid his fingers the length of hers. The atmosphere between them had changed and Hermione felt mesmerized by his actions. He slowly slipped the ring onto her finger and as she watched him do it, knowing this wasn't real but somehow completely fascinated anyway. Draco twisted the ring until it was facing the right way and then, instead of moving away, he let his fingers entwine with hers. Hermione gulped, totally caught up in the moment. Draco took her other hand as well and pulled her closer to him. He had a strange look on his face, as if he was trying to work something out. "What's the matter?" Hermione asked, very quietly because she really didn't want to spoil the moment.
"If this is fake then why does it feel real?" Draco asked, equally quietly and Hermione felt her heart skip a beat. It felt real to her too and she felt the already rapidly growing connection between herself and Draco reach a new height. They were friends but now it was definitely something more but it wasn't the feeling that Hermione had felt for Joshua or any other boyfriend she'd had. It was like the connection she had with Harry or Ron but with an added and sometimes overwhelming attraction. And right now the attraction was definitely overwhelming because Draco was being at his most appealing, his eyes smouldering and his face serious as he watched her.
She struggled over her words but managed to say them. "Some of it is real," she hesitated. "For me it is, anyway."
Draco lifted the hand he had just placed her ring on and pressed it to his chest, covering it with his own. "Thank Merlin for that." He smile and his words broke the tension a little and Hermione smiled back at him. "I would have hated to be the only one of us getting fantasy and reality mixed up. I don't really know how but you've managed to get in here," he pressed her hand against his chest, "and I don't let many people in here...no-one since Pansy."
A little confession from Draco then, hope you liked the ring moment. I thought it would be fun to let them begin to believe it was real. Luv the reviews and so many of them - thank you so much! x