A/N: Oh...is that a cliffhanger ahead? ;) Friendly reminder, no update this Friday! I will be posting chapter 3 of What Best Friends Are For instead :)

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NINETEEN

Hermione had put in to have a three day weekend before even going to her office. Her boss had granted the request immediately and asked if she wanted more than just one day. She declined, and took her leave, but she could have sworn she heard him mutter something about forced vacation as she left. The rest of the day was filled with reports that seemed never ending. So much so, that it took the first half of Friday to finish them all.

Once everyone had returned to lunch, Robbards had asked everyone down to the conference room and informed them that there would be a celebration for all of those that had given the case their all over the last few months. That there would be food and drink on Ministry Galleons at the Leaky that night and all were welcome.

Harry and Ron were on her immediately after the announcement. "You have to come, Mione!" Ron insisted.

"I can't. I have plans with Ashton after work."

"So bring him," Harry replied with a shrug.

"We're going away for the weekend," she pressed.

Both of them pulled a face at her to which she shook her head. "So leave after. You both have access to magic, yeah?" Harry asked. She nodded and he grinned at her. "Great! Then you can just Apparate away after. At least come by for a drink, Mione. Even if you don't stay for dinner. You worked hard on this case too. You deserve to celebrate with the rest of us."

She let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay, fine. Ashton and I will be there for one drink," she said, looking between the two of them. "But I mean it. Only one."

As she turned to head back to her office, she paused at the sight of Draco. He was in a group not too far away from her, talking to other Auror's, but his eyes were fixated on her. There was a crease to his brow and his stare was intense. She swallowed hard and turned away from him. Whether he had heard her or not, it didn't matter. She had made her choice and she was determined to stick with it.

Ashton had thought it was a great idea. She had brought up the invitation thinking he would be irritated at the delay, but was surprised when he reacted the opposite way. He told her he was excited to meet her friends, officially, and what was one or two hours when they had the rest of a long weekend. She was also surprised by how good it felt to have him respond that way.

The Leaky was insane by the time they arrived. The only reason it didn't feel as suffocating as such a gathering might was that the attention wasn't being put on the Golden Trio. Instead, everyone was just letting off steam by chasing the bottom of their mugs, reveling in the fact that come Monday, they would be back to regular hours. Not to mention the weight of what ifs no longer bearing down on them from not solving a case.

One drink had quickly turned in to two. Hermione thought she could have been on her third, but she wasn't entirely sure. Either way, she was happy that Ashton was getting along quite well with her friends and vice versa. Ron especially. She should have known they would have bonded over Quidditch. The downside to their budding friendship was that once the pair of them started discussing teams, Hermione knew it would be near impossible to get them to leave any time soon.

As the pair started to argue about two teams she couldn't pretend to care about any longer, she turned to get a glass of water from the bar. The water sloshed over the rim of the glass and her hand as someone barreled into her from behind, their arms wrapping around her middle.

"Is that Carlotta's brother?"

Hermione whirled around at the sound of Ginny's voice, pulling out of her grasp in the process. "Please don't do that," she mumbled as she brought her free hand to rest over her racing heart.

"Right, sorry," she mumbled, but her grin only widened. "Why didn't you tell me the two of you hit it off?"

Hermione opened her mouth to give an excuse, but there was nothing other than she forgot. She certainly wasn't about to tell Ginny she didn't really want her to know. "It's only been official for a week or so," she settled on.

Ginny turned to be at her side and looped her arm around Hermione's pulling her to table. "Tell me everything."

"There's not really much to tell you, Ginny."

Ginny sipped at her own drink and shrugged. "Nice try. How about the beginning? What happened the night I introduced you?"

"We talked at the bar and then he walked me home."

"Walked? Like Muggles?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but chose to let the comment go. "He kissed me when we got to my door and left me his phone number."

"Is that that little device you communicate with people through?"

Hermione bit back a smile and nodded. "So I called him the next morning and invited him to breakfast."

"Why in the name of Morgana didn't you invite him in and have him be breakfast?" Ginny asked, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Because unlike some people, I don't particularly like to jump into bed with blokes."

Ginny gave a knowing huff. "Clearly I don't do that anymore, but I regret nothing. There is no shame in letting loose with a random bloke from time to time."

Hermione only sipped at her water to try and keep from telling Ginny that she had tried it. That it wasn't just blokes and it had worked well. Too well. As if on cue, she caught sight of platinum blond hair and grey eyes in her field of vision and it took her a moment to realize it wasn't her mind's eye. It was Draco. Here in the Leaky mingling with everyone else.

It took a moment for her to refocus and realize that Ginny was asking her something else. "So?" she prompted again. "Have you?"

"Have I what?" she asked, keeping her eyes glued to Ginny despite how much they wanted to wander to subject in her periphery.

"Slept with him yet."

Hermione cleared her throat and shook her head slowly. "No, not yet."

"What are you waiting for then?"

Hermione frowned at her friend. "There's more to a relationship than sex, Ginny."

The red-head rolled her eyes and knocked back the rest of her drink. "Clearly, but it's fun, no?"

She simply sighed as she answered. "Ask me again after this weekend."

"Oh?" she asked, her eyes twinkling again.

"After this we're going away for the weekend. He even asked me to take Monday off and I did."

"If you don't sleep with him, I'm going to kill you," Ginny muttered with a grin. "I'm desperate for proper girl talk with you."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at that and nodded her head. It was then that Harry came over to them and leaned in to press a kiss to his wife's cheek. "You ready to go?" he asked her.

Ginny winked at Hermione as she got up and took Harry's hand. "Hermione can't be the only one getting laid this weekend."

Harry's gaze met Hermione's for only a split second before they both looked away from one another, a blush burning hot on their cheeks. "Please take her home. Now."

"On it," he said, waving over his shoulder as the pair turned and made for the door.

She caught sight of Ashton and Ron still at the bar, arguing, but in a friendly manner. She shook her head and got to her feet, deciding that after relieving her bladder, she would cut in and they would take their leave too. She had already stayed longer than she initially planned and it was getting late. She as ready to start the weekend and escape the chaos that had become the Leaky.

After using the loo and washing her hands, she took a minute to rummage through her beaded bag for a Sober Up potion. She hadn't had that much to drink, but she much preferred to start the weekend off without a hangover. She washed the potion down with a handful of water from the tap and stashed the empty vial back in her bag. With a quick glance at her reflection and straightening of her clothes, she moved to take her leave of the bathroom.

She stopped short at the sight of Draco on the other side of the door and gasped as he stepped inside, forcing her back into the room with him. He shut the door and clicked the lock into place. She continued to move until her back was against the counter, her arms folded over her chest. "What are you doing?"

"I just need five minutes of your time."

She shook her head. "Ashton and I have somewhere to be, Draco."

He snorted. "Yes, I heard about your upcoming weekend away together."

"Then you know I have to go," she said, forcing her feet to carry her towards the door.

"Hermione, please," he whispered as she passed him, his fingers curling around her wrist gently to stop her if she let him or let her go if she didn't.

She turned her head to see him and lifted her shoulders for a moment. "You had your chance, Draco. Several of them, actually, if Astoria was telling me the truth."

"She was," he replied immediately.

She pulled her wrist from his and angled her body to face his completely. Her head tipped back to see him better and she placed her hands on her hips. "Then why didn't you say something? Why did I have to hear about all of this from Astoria?" she asked, trying to keep her emotions at bay, thankful for that Sober Up in her system. "You knew that I would see the Prophet at some point and not once did you think to tell me about Astoria or that it was all an act?"

"I know," he said, shaking his head. "Merlin, I know. And I'm sorry, but I wasn't sure how to tell you. Telling you would have implied that there was more to us and you clearly weren't ready to admit anything." He snorted and carded a hand through his hair. "Or so I thought, anyway."

"What are you even talking about?"

"What should I have said, Hermione?" He took a deep breath. "Do you remember the time in your office when I mentioned the word relationship and you nearly ran for the hills?"

"Because I thought you were engaged," she said weakly, knowing it was half true.

"And what about before?"

"What about before?" she challenged. "You proposed a traditional dom and sub relationship and I agreed. If you wanted more, you should have said something."

"I tried, Hermione," he said, his voice filled with frustration. "I tried everything I could think of to tell you that I wanted more without scaring you off. But every time I tried, we ended up taking a step backwards. Merlin's fucking beard, I even showed up at your house and asked you to dinner after you broke anonymity." He paused to take a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I thought you had wanted more too, but I guess I got the signals wrong."

"You didn't," she whispered and then swallowed.

"Then why-"

"I didn't realize that I wanted more with you until I saw you and Astoria. I thought it was real, Draco; that you were getting married, so it didn't matter how I felt."

"But you kept coming back," he breathed, taking a step towards her, his hands warm on elbows.

"Because I didn't want to let you go," she admitted. She cleared her throat and tried to blink away tears that formed. "I knew I had to, but I couldn't help myself."

"So Ashton was, what? A distraction? Payback?"

"Neither," she replied, wetting her lips. "He was my out."

His hands dropped away from her and she closed her eyes to keep from seeing the pain she caused by her words. When he spoke, his voice was low and raw. "You told me that Elysium was just an escape. That we were never supposed to last beyond it, but it was you who clued me in to who it was behind the mask, Hermione. You could have walked away, but you knew then that you didn't want it to be over." He reached for her hands, twining them together with his. "If I had told you about Astoria-"

"It doesn't matter, Draco," she interrupted, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I made a choice. Just like you did by not telling me."

He let go of her hands in favor of taking one purposeful step forward, pinning her between the wall and his body. His face dropped to the crook of her neck. He had one hand firm on her hip while the other sank back into her curls. She placed her hands on his biceps and shivered as he spoke. "All my life, I've done nothing but make the wrong choices, Hermione. I never intended for this, for you, to be one of them. If I could go back and fix it, I would. I would choose you right from the start."

"It's too late, Draco."

"It's not," he insisted, his lips finding her flesh. "Don't go with him this weekend, Hermione. Come back to the flat. I want you more than anything," he breathed. "Not just the sex. All of you. Let me prove to you that we're more than just Hedone and Kratos. That there's more to us than dom and sub."

"Draco-"

He tore himself away from her, the effort plain as day on his face. "One hour, Hermione. I'll be at the flat. If you don't show up…" he swallowed hard. "Then I'll have my answer. Just please," he added, smiling softly as he tucked curls behind her ear. "Please come to the flat."

Even if she had been able to respond, he was gone before she could even try. Instead, she just stood with her back to the wall, hand on her lips, staring at the spot he had been a moment before. It wasn't until a knock sounded at the door that she pulled herself together and went back into the crowd at the Leaky. Her mind was racing, but as her gaze landed on Ashton, she knew exactly what she had to do.