"So he was just...gone?" Ginny asked, her salad bite hanging dangerously off her fork as she reacted to the story. Hermione blushed, looking at her own meal and wishing she'd told the red-head over the phone, instead of in person. At least then she could field questions.
"Yeah. He was there when I went to sleep, gone when I woke up." Hermione sighed, taking a bite of her panini. After swallowing she continued, trying not to show emotion. It'd been a week for God's sake. "I mean is this normal? Did I do something wrong?"
She felt Luna's soft hand on her back, the sympathetic "No sweetie"s and words of comfort flowing out of the airy girl like molasses. But how would Luna know? She's been engaged to some conservationist named Rolf for nearly 2 years now, and they'd dated all throughout Uni so it wasn't like Luna knew the ends and outside of hookups. But Ginny did.
"Actually, if anything he's the one who fucked up," Ginny finally ate that bite, lightly brushing her hair out of her face. It was one of those few days that Ginny wore it down and it was clear she didn't like the way it kept returning to fall into her eyes. "Not so much as a goodbye? That's just rude on every level, let alone after fucking a girl six ways to Sunday."
"Maybe he accidentally ate some night crawlers, those have a nasty side effect on one's long term memory" Luna's words, as usual, fell on confused looks and a slight discomfort. She always knew of some plant that nobody had ever heard of, and always knew of some weird side effect that, more often than not, was something to do with insanity or memory loss. She was fascinating but Hermione rarely saw or felt that Luna's "studies" yielded to academic scrutiny.
"Or, maybe he's just an asshole. Forget about him. Tell is more about Mr. Lawyer, is he hot?" Ginny's wiggling eyebrows did nothing to quell the blush on Hermione's face. Hermione needed several more mimosas.
She had to brush it off. He didn't message her again, in fact, he'd actually straight up disappeared from her dating app's match list. She felt slighted, truly, by fate, by herself, by him. What a guy, to just barge in, fuck her senseless, and just disappear without a way to contact him. She just needed to focus on being angry. He left her place without saying goodbye. And she was still hung up on it nearly a week later.
She fucking hated that. What's worse is she didn't know why. He was just a guy. An incredible shag but at the end of the day he was just a guy. Much like the bookstore she meandered into, everything inside could be replaced, easily. But much like the motto of Flourish & Blotts, every book was unique in it's own way, making it irreplaceable. The stories might be similar in some, but only one had that slight smudge from a printer's error, or a singular fold on that one page where the previous owner felt the story got too intense.
She loved secondhand books. They were like people. If people were reliable. Books never up and vanished from her life. If she wanted to feel the feeling of a good story, she could pick it up again, and it would be like nothing ever changed. She rounded yet another section, fingertips lightly grazing over repaired spines, sometimes brushing worn pages. In another life she wished she'd chosen to become a bookkeeper, safe and at work, restoring the broken to being usable again. She just felt so at peace here, normally. But alas, it seemed today wasn't her lucky Saturday.
"Fancy meeting you here, Granger." Oh no. She knew that voice. It'd only been a week since she heard it. She felt her heart pound in her chest, her entire body tensing at his presence. What the hell was he doing here?
"Malfoy," she said curtly, continuing to move through the stacks in an attempt to distance herself from him. She wished she'd worn something less revealing, She'd only stopped by after lunch with the girls, they'd all gone to their favorite pub from Uni, The Leaky Cauldron, to take advantage of the brunch specials. She'd only worn a simple black dress, but it's neckline dipped and framed her breast like a heart, and it definitely was a little short on the hemline, barely touching mid- thigh. It was both form fitting and loose, plus it was covered with lace.
Malfoy followed her through the store, not saying anything except a grunt towards books she assumed he found either bad or boring or both. On the third book he did that to, she felt herself getting annoyed. Who was he to crash her peaceful time with his judgmental grunts and just-a-tad too close presence? She didn't recall asking him, or even wanting him, to do that. In fact, if he wanted to talk to her, he had a whole week to not ghost her entirely before showing up here.
On the fifth book he did it too, she turned around to face him, clearly pissed at him, only for him to then place both arms on either side of her body, leaning against the bookshelf to cage her in. He was leaning over quite a bit to be face to face with her, something she hadn't noticed before. He was so close she could smell him. Fucking pine trees and eucalyptus leaves.
He still didn't say anything. He just leaned forward and kissed her. It wasn't like before. It was slow and gentle, his lips soft and firm against hers. She didn't know how long he kissed her for, her brain had yet to catch up before she'd kissed him back. Her hands flew into his hair, her lips parting for him as his tongue snaked its way into her mouth. He pushed into her, pressing her against the bookshelf.
The bookshelf. She pushed him away from her, her brain finally catching up to what they were doing, and where. She finally looked at him, leaning against the opposite shelf. He was wearing all black. A black, fitted button up and black slacks that framed him so nicely she'd bet her house they were tailored just for him. Even his fucking watch was black, though it looked to be made out of diamonds. She furrowed her brows, finally looking him dead in the eye.
He had a look of indifference to him, one that set her on edge. How and why did he look so calm after just kissing her in the middle of the bookstore? Why did he just kiss her in the middle of the bookstore? Who the fuck did he think he was? Her mind raced with these questions and more, but she opted for the safest one.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" She was happy her voice sounded stern, and annoyed. Not nearly as frazzled as she felt underneath it all. He shrugged from his position leaning against the stacks, keeping that oh-so cool demeanor.
"You." He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She narrowed her eyes, considering the ramifications of her punching him right now. It only took her a minute to decide it wasn't worth it. She was a city lawyer and she couldn't get arrested for assaulting a man in a store.
"You sure have a funny way of showing it," her arms crossed as she stood more defensively. She didn't want to have this conversation. Not now, not with him, not ever. He didn't have the right to confuse her, yet here he was, doing whatever he wanted, as if he owned her and everything around them. He frowned. Though it didn't look right on his face. He looked like a child who'd just been told no for the first time.
"You're right, Granger" he began, standing up a bit straighter. "I should've messaged you, asked for your number and asked you out a week ago. But nothing can be done about it now. So how about I take you to dinner tonight to make up for it?" She narrowed her eyes again, not sure what brought this on. He was acting like he could just buy her. To make up for being shitty to her.
"No, I already have dinner plans." It was true. Another lawyer at her office, Theo Nott, had asked her to go to dinner on Thursday and she accepted. Ginny had told her she needed to get back out there, and she wasn't going to run head first into what clearly wasnt good for her just because he was Draco fucking Malfoy. She didn't need the stress, she got enough from her job. He sighed running a hand through his hair. It's not like he could do anything about her having free will. She rolled her eyes, deciding that now would be the time to walk away from him. She turned and walked down the aisle, straight out the shop, away from him.
"Thanks again for agreeing to dinner with me tonight," Theo said, pulling the chair out from its place at the table to let her sit down. She smiled, slipping into the seat and looking up at him.
"It's my pleasure Theo," she said, letting him push her in, before he headed over to the other side of the table. He smiled at her once he sat down, as they opened their menus. He'd chosen one of the most expensive restaurants in town. Dulce. It was impressive, the floor to ceiling windows and drapery, the finely upholstered leather seating, she felt like the seat was giving her a warm hug.
It was comfortably quiet as they looked over their menus. Neither of them were overly familiar with the place, but evidently some friends of Theo's and his father raved about the food and the service, so here they were. She knew of Theo's father, nearly every lawyer did, considering he was involved in one of the biggest tax evasion scandals the UK had seen in nearly a hundred years. It even involved funneling money through a cult ran by a man named Thomas Riddle. Though evidently the man changed his name to Lord Voldemort, which, if Hermione was being honest, seemed a little dramatic. It was really weird, but Theo had been adamant that he had no idea what his father was up to.
They had just barely ordered their food when Hermione heard him. "Theodore Nott! Where the hell have you been?" Draco's voice was clear through the commotion of the restaurant, though she felt even if he'd been whispering she would've heard him. Theo's face broke out into an aloof smile as Draco approached their table with a girl Hermione felt she recognized but couldn't place.
"Draco! Pansy you're back in town!" Theo rang, standing and shaking the young Malfoy's hand, before turning to the girl and embracing her in a light hug. He turned, gesturing to Hermione. "Draco, Pansy, you remember Hermione from Primary? We work at the same office now, isn't that funny?" He said, returning to his seat.
Draco smiled, "Yeah, what a small world." He fixed his eyes to Hermione, almost in a challenge. "Well, we should be getting to our table, see you later man," Draco clasped a hand on Theo's shoulder, before turning and escorting Pansy to their table. Hermione's gaze zeroing in on the possessive way his hand was placed on Pansy's waist. She quickly averted her eyes back to Theo as they turned around, smiling as if she had been listening to his anecdote about how he and Draco hung out from time to time because of their father's being investors of some company in America.
Theo was nice. Nicer than nice. He said all the right things, even complimentary at times. But Hermione couldn't stop glancing over at Draco's table. It didn't help that he would catch her eye every time, smirking as if he knew what she was thinking. She didn't understand what was happening to her. She smiled at Theo, politely excusing herself to the ladies room.
She almost ran into the ladies room, away from Draco's gaze. She went into the first stall, leaning against the door to collect her breath. Once her breathing calmed down, she turned around and exited the stall, only to run dead into Draco Malfoy leaning against the bathroom counter. He smiled. She frowned.
"Did you follow me into the ladies' room Malfoy?" She said, throwing an accusatory glare at him as she moved to the sink. She'd been in a stall she still needed to wash her hands. As she bent over the sink to wash she felt him move behind her, wrapping his arms around her as he kissed her neck. He clearly wasn't interested in answering her question.
"Malfoy…" she muttered accusingly, his hands beginning to creep their way up her sides.
"Shh Granger I already told you. I want you," he whispered, kissing her neck, "I know you want me," another kiss, "let's stop denying this." He kissed behind her ear, firmly grasping her breast, rolling her nipple in his fingers.
"No bra, Granger?" He smirked against her skin, as she whimpered and pushed her hips back into his.
"It wouldn't go with the dress," she mustered up, biting her lip as he drifted his hand down to slip underneath the hem of her dress, pushing it up to crinkle around her hips. She couldn't. She was on a date, with his friend. Why were his fingers underneath her knickers? She couldn't stop herself though, his fingers circling her clit as she gripped the sink edge. She was holding her lip hostage between her teeth, chasing her release. He was just teasing.
"Please Malfoy," she finally moaned. He complied, slipping his fingers into her soaking cavern, thrusting them in and out of her roughly.
"You want me, Granger?" He said into her ear, using his thumb to rub her clit as he continued his ruthless finger-fucking. She moaned, her hips circling back to his fingers, effectively trying to chase her release as quickly as possible. He stilled, causing her to cry out in frustration.
"Do. You. Want. Me?" He said into her ear, punctuating each word with a rough flick of his thumb to her clit. She was a whimpering mess in his hands. She was trying so hard to spur him on with her hips, but he steadfast refused.
"Tell me you want me and I'll let you cum. Be quick, Granger, your date's waiting" He whispered, his fingers leaving her entirely. She could've nearly cried in frustration.
"Fuck I want you, please let me cum" she whined, which quickly turned into a moan as he finally began thrusting his fingers into her. He thumbed her clit as he moved faster, kissing her neck in time with his thrust.
"You want me Granger, and you're still gonna want me when you walk back out to Theo," he whispered into her ear, pressing roughly on her clit. She was whining, her lip returning to its place between her teeth, as she held back her moans. She was so close, every muscle in her body tensing as she held tightly to the sink counter. A few more well placed thrust and she came, crying out.
She panted, leaning over the sink as she tried to catch her breath. He straightened up behind her, sucking his fingers into his mouth tasting her. She straightened her dress, refusing to look at him as he checked himself in the mirror. They stood in silence for a beat, neither looking directly at the other. Once her breathing returned to normal she stopped leaning over the sink. Standing fully and giving herself one more look over before exiting the bathroom. She had a date to get back to.
She didn't look back at him, his eyes following her out the door.