Chapter 26: Draco

Time is a funny thing. When you're accidentally falling for the woman you've hated for the better part of your life, a month feels like nothing. On the other hand, when she walks away from you, you feel every second of the months that go by.

The holiday season had come and go, and the snow was just beginning to melt when the Project began its final stages of wrapping up. Theo and I had provided funding towards the development of new potions to vaccinate against common illnesses in early childhood. The clinical trials had been a success, and the Muggle government had approved the mass production of these potions. It was expected to be available to all Britons within three months.

Theo and I were seated in the armchairs in my office lounge area, waiting to begin a video conferencing call with Shacklebolt. Soon enough, a holographic image of Shacklebolt appeared on my wall.

"The Muggle government and the Ministry thank you both for your generosity. This Project has been a tremendous success."

"The honour is ours, Kingsley. As we said at the start of this, thank you for just giving us the opportunity," I replied.

"I overheard someone the other day refer to me as 'one of the guys working with the Ministry on some project', which is a nice step-up from 'that Death Eater's kid'," Theo added.

Shacklebolt brow creased slightly. "I thought you were usually known as 'Draco Malfoy's mate'?"

I watched Theo's face contort with effort, and he turned pointedly away from Shacklebolt's image. Restraint wasn't one of Theo's strongest suits, and I watched him struggle with his burdening urge to unload a mouthful of expletives. Shacklebolt glanced at me, sparing me a wink.

"So the charity game is in two weeks. I expect I will see you both be attending the post-game cocktail party?"

The charity game was an exhibition Quidditch tournament for St. Mungo's paediatrics department. We were playing at Puddlemere United's home ground, and I was playing Seeker for the Green team. The Muggle Prime Minister and a few other officials involved with the Project would be attending. To celebrate the end of the Project, the Ministry was hosting a cocktail party afterwards for the Project team.

"We'll be there," I nodded. Theo was still too incensed to talk.

"Good. Now, surely, I don't need to remind either of you that you'll be there as Ministry guests and there will be Muggles present, so behave yourselves and don't do anything stupid."

"I'll be fine, but you should probably make sure Potter is there because this one can't be trusted around the silverware," I gestured to Theo. His stony countenance momentarily softened as he regarded me with a tiny smirk and a gleam in his eyes before his expression hardened again.

Theo had finally come clean about his relationship with Potter some months ago. Usually, Theo's happiness levels depended on the level of fuckery he was causing. Still, after two months of being outright fucking gleeful and nothing around him seemed to be blowing up, I confronted him. I was happy for him, and I'd found that Potter wasn't a bad bloke once I'd spent a bit of time with him. Theo was as keen as I was for the Project to be over as it meant that he could finally go public with their relationship.

"Auror Potter is going, for that exact reason." Shacklebolt raised an eyebrow at Theo. "Katie will contact you to arrange plus-one's for you both if you want them."

"Thanks, Kingsley. Let us know if you need anything else."

"Will do." The call ended, and Shacklebolt's image disappeared from my wall. I glanced across at Theo. His mouth was fixed in a hard line.

"Whenever you're ready," I prompted, anticipating an outburst.

"I'm fine."

"Three…" I began.

Theo looked at me, scornfully. "No need for that."

"… two …"

"Honestly, it doesn't matter."

"… one."

"I just think it's funny how for years, I have maintained this persona, one that has been carefully cultivated, of being the steady one. The affable one. The one whom can be trusted to right the ship, because let's be frank, I have always been your ballast." Theo's hands flailed erratically as he spoke. "But apparently, I will only ever be known as 'Draco Malfoy's mate', a handsome weed left to wither in the corner, ever straining for whatever sunshine the dichotomising blossom that is His Lordship deigns to filter down to me."

I waited silently for a moment. It wasn't the first Theo rant I'd been forced to listen to; it was unlikely to be the last. "You good?"

"I am now."

"You sure?"

"Yep." Theo looked visibly lighter.

"Do I need to call Pansy?"

"She's already called me once today. She's haranguing me into a forest green velvet jacket for the cocktail party."

"'Harangue' suggests that you didn't leap at the idea, which we both know better."

Theo acquiesced with a one-shouldered shrug and began scrolling on his phone. I stood up and walked to my desk. "By the way, 'dichotomising blossom'?"

Theo grinned irreverently. "How good was it?"

"Not your best work, actually."

"Everyone deserves an off day, and the point of all of that was not even about you, you vainglorious swine."

I chuckled, tapping at my laptop. Ten minutes of answering emails went by before I noted that Theo hadn't left. "Don't you have work to do?"

He didn't respond, instead continued to scroll intently through his phone. Sara's voice floated in.

"I've got Katie Bell from the Minister's office for you about plus-one's. What shall I tell her?"

I had an inkling that Granger would be at the post-game celebration, and I hadn't seen her since we had ended things. To begin with, Theo and Potter had seemed to understand that going cold-turkey without Granger would make me mental, so they would feed me tidbits of information about her here and there, like she'd started marathon training or that she'd been working too hard. However, when Potter reluctantly told me that she had been dating, I went cold and I couldn't stand to hear anymore. I felt my walls going up.

I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, when Granger set her mind to something, she always went after it. She was just doing what she said she would do: going about her life, seeing other people. Pretending like we never happened.

"Let her know that Theo will be taking Miss Pansy Parkinson, and I'll also be taking a date," I replied. Theo looked up from his phone; a sceptical eyebrow raised.

"Really?" he mouthed.

"And can you please get Astoria Greengrass on the phone for me, Sara?"

Lady Astoria Greengrass was a fucking knockout. Long hair the colour of caramel. Tall and lithe with a ramrod posture honed by years of ballet and churlish reminders from her mother to 'stand up straight'. Wearing an ivory blouse and matching trousers, Astoria was the very picture of wealth and upper-class elegance. She was poised, and she charmed each guest we greeted upon our arrival to the event room.

My date to the post-game cocktail party was gorgeous, but I was having a hard time showing any interest.

"Smile, Draco," she hissed at me through a practised, veneered grin. "Anyone would think you're not happy being here with me."

She wasn't fucking wrong. I plastered a false smile on my face and summoned both of us a drink.

The Greengrass girls, Daphne and Astoria, had both been vaguely considered as a potential wife for me but were passed over in favour of Pansy. Daphne was okay but I had considered Astoria Greengrass to be a vain, insipid bore. Five minutes in her company now, and I could see that not much had changed.

I scoured the room, looking for a familiar face. Eventually, I found Blaise standing in the corner, leaning down and whispering in a beaming Luna Lovegood's ear. The two of them looked deeply ensconced in conversation, which seemed like a perfect time for me to interrupt. I clasped Astoria's hand and headed toward them, ignoring her protests. Blaise and Luna exchanged a dubious glance as I approached, my hapless date dragging behind me.

"Hey, good to see you both," I greeted them before motioning to Astoria. "You remember Astoria Greengrass."

Blaise spared her a wry smile and nodded his head in response, glancing askance at me once again.

"That's a nice outfit," Luna remarked, politely. "I saw it in the window at Madame Malkin's."

Astoria looked down her nose condescendingly at Luna, her overfilled lips pursed disapprovingly. Luna had a small smile on her face, which I had come to recognise as being one of her deceptively sweet expressions. "This outfit did not come from Madame Malkin's. It's Chanel."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It was naïve of me to assume that Lady Greengrass would want to support local ateliers rather than high-street Muggle labels that get plenty of exposure already. My mistake."

"Uh -" was the only response Astoria could offer.

Blaise, Luna and I were soon engaged in a lively conversation, with Astoria hovering at the edges, laughing perfunctorily at appropriate times. We were joined soon after by Theo and Pansy, and it became even harder to keep Astoria included in the conversation. Eventually, she excused herself to the bathroom, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why on Earth did you bring her?" Pansy demanded. "I'd have conjured a balloon animal for you if I'd known you were so desperate."

"Play nice, pumpkin," Theo said, sipping his drink.

"I've known Astoria for a long time. It was easier to bring her than trying to meet someone," I replied. "Besides, she got a fair bit of flak from the topless photographs that Rita Skeeter published in The Daily Prophet, so she's keen to get her parents back on side."

"And she thinks being seen in public with you will somehow help?" Pansy asked sceptically.

"Money talks, my dear, and he's still very pretty," Theo pointed out.

"Now Daphne Greengrass at least has a bit of substance." Pansy continued with derision. "You couldn't have asked her why?"

"Because she's married, Pans, remember? You went to her wedding."

"Oh, that's right."

Theo opened his mouth to respond but stopped short, his face breaking into a ridiculous grin at something over my shoulder. Or someone, as I discovered when I turned around. Potter had just arrived. He had walked in at the same time as Cormack McLaggen, the two of them playing as Seeker and Keeper for today's Red Team. Now there was a smug prick I couldn't stand. McLaggen was a wanker at school because he was a decent Quidditch player and his post-school Quidditch career success had done fuck all to curb his arrogance.

Potter spotted Theo, and a matching stupid grin spread across his face, and he weaved through the crowd to stand beside his partner. Potter greeted us collectively, only glancing at Theo when he reached out to furtively brush his fingers against Potter's. Not satisfied just to wave from across the room, McLaggen also walked over to join us. He inserted himself into the conversation, not caring for one moment that he was utterly unwelcome. After a few minutes, he pulled me to the side, out of earshot of the others.

"Are you here with Astoria Greengrass?" he asked, a smug grin on his face.

"Um, yeah. Why's that?"

He scoffed. "Lucky bastard. I got stuck with the Golden Girl."

"The Golden Girl?" I repeated.

"Yeah. Bloody Hermione Granger. She asked me out of the blue if I'd be her date." He took a swig of his drink. "Was going to say no, but she's got this sad-eyed thing happening, so I thought, why not? You know what they say about sad chicks …" he trailed off.

The implication in his tone set my hackles rising. "What about them?"

He laughed mirthlessly. "They're easy to get a leg over, mate. Just have to say a few nice things to them, make them feel all warm and fuzzy and boom, they're on the end of your dick and calling you Daddy."

My jaw clenched, and it took everything in me not to break his face. I turned to face him.

"You won't ever talk about Hermione Granger like that again, do you understand?" I snarled.

He snorted. "Mate, what do you care? The good girls are always the freaks." He held up his fingers in The Shocker hand gesture before taking another swig.

My anger flared and I stepped closer to him. "I'd show a lot more respect for that woman if I were you, mate," I threatened. "I'm not a Death Eater anymore but I still know some tricks. And I'm pretty sure Potter would look the other way."

"Hey man, I'm only kidding. Relax." McLaggen lifted his hands and took a step away from me. Blaise and Luna regarded me curiously.

"Alright?" Blaise asked, correctly reading my expression.

"Yeah," I replied tersely. "McLaggen's a fucking pig."

"Too right," Blaise answered, then nodded toward the door. "Steel yourself, my man." Luna wordlessly took the empty glass from me, replacing it with the tumbler from Blaise's hand.

"Hey," Blaise protested. Luna smiled up at him, picking invisible lint from his patterned blazer. "I think Malfoy might need that more than you do," she remarked, leaning into his side affectionately. "After all, he's the one that brought a date he doesn't like just to prove he isn't in love with Hermione."

"I am not in love with Granger," I retorted curtly, earning me another of Luna's trademark conspiratorial smiles.

Granger looked tense as she and Ginny approached us, greeting her girlfriends with a hug and stiffening as she accepted a kiss on the cheek from McLaggen.

I knew I was being selfish. She wanted us to wait for each other but, like a fucking idiot, I'd refused. Perhaps deep down, I'd believed that we'd find each other again. 'If you love something, set it free' as they say. I'd set Granger free but my foolish arrogance hadn't allowed for the possibility that she wouldn't come back. Now, I was confronted with the harsh reality that I had lost my golden girl. My stubborn pride and protective instincts wouldn't let her see me hurting. I'd given my reflection another ludicrous pep talk before leaving my apartment this morning, reminding myself that Granger had moved on. I would try to be her friend but this time, I would keep my heart guarded.

My resolve momentarily quavered when Granger's eyes met mine. Those eyes that always saw straight through me. As always, she was a vision. She was wearing a floaty black blouse, and her short printed skirt showed off miles of bare leg. Her hair was up, and her lips were vivid red. But there was something different about Granger that I couldn't place. She'd lost weight; that much was instantly noticeable. But there was something else.

"Hi," she breathed nervously. She frowned momentarily and cleared her throat. "Nice to see you, Malfoy." She extended her fine-boned hand to me, her other hand white-knuckling her black velvet clutch. The memory of her leaving my apartment after our first time together came unbidden into my mind, and I bit back a chuckle.

"God, you suck at this, Granger," I remarked, trying to diffuse the tension. A mixture of recognition and relief flashed in Granger's eyes, and she opened her mouth to retort but was interrupted by the presence of someone at my side. I inwardly groaned when I realised Astoria had returned.

"Sorry, I took so long, babe," she purred to me before turning her attention to Granger and McLaggen. "Oh, my God, Cormac McLaggen! How are you?" She wrapped him in a firm hug; McLaggen's hands resting too low on her back to be considered in good taste.

"You look bloody gorgeous as always, Astoria," he remarked, stepping back and looking her up and down lewdly. My blood boiled again. How dare the smarmy prick act like that when Granger is right beside him. It occurred to me too many seconds later that my issue should've been with the jerk leering at my date.

"Thank you. Gosh, it's been so long! Are you in town for long? We should do dinner!"

"Sure thing -" Were they fucking serious?

"McLaggen!" Pansy interrupted loudly. "Perhaps your date may like a drink?"

McLaggen blinked as if he'd forgotten that he wasn't alone. Astoria looked at Granger, her nose lifting scornfully.

"Who's your date?" Astoria asked disdainfully.

"Oh, this is Hermione," McLaggen replied dismissively.

"Who?"

Pansy and Theo let out twin snorts of derision. The others all looked at Astoria dubiously. There wasn't a witch or wizard alive, particularly a Hogwarts alum, who didn't recognise Hermione Granger. Granger took it in stride, extending her hand to Astoria graciously.

"I'm Hermione Granger. We met at Hogwarts. I was the same year as your sister, Daphne."

"Oh, right. I don't remember you at all," Astoria said, her mouth turning up in an unattractive sneer. A clink of glass commanded our attention, and our interest diverted to Shacklebolt.

A few hours later, the cocktail party had ended, and our small group had moved on to a Wizarding nightclub. Once seated at a table, Astoria groaned loudly.

"Thank God, that's over. If I had to listen to that boring old muppet Shacklebolt for another second, I was going to pass out." She rolled her eyes, oblivious to the scathing looks around her. "I mean, we get it. You're the Minister for Magic, but, like, what have you actually done?" Astoria aimed a simpering smile at me. "Drake, baby, could you get me another drink?"

Theo barked with laughter at the frankly uncomfortable nickname that no one had ever used before. Normally when Theo's being a pest, Potter would run interference, but even he had an amused smirk on his face. With a resigned sigh, I summoned a floating tray of cocktails. McLaggen transfigured a small cocktail into a larger glass and handed it to Granger with a lecherous wink.

"Oh, thank you, but I'm just going to stick to water," she declined politely. McLaggen's face darkened slightly.

"Oh, come on, babe." McLaggen pulled Granger into his side and ran his nose behind her ear. "It'll loosen you up."

"No, thank you. I'm only a week out from the marathon, so I'm not drinking right now," Granger explained, subtly leaning away from him.

"Just have one," he insisted.

"No," Granger replied more firmly.

"McLaggen," Luna warned. McLaggen paused and looked around the table to see seven faces glaring at him. Luna's eyes narrowed. "She said no."

McLaggen scoffed and nudged Granger's glass closer to her. I leaned across the table and transfigured the cocktail into water. Granger gave me a grateful glance, which earned her a withering glare from Astoria.

"You know what, I feel like dancing," Astoria announced pointedly, standing and pulling me toward the dancefloor.

"No, please. Don't go," Pansy deadpanned.

Astoria dragged me to the middle of the other dancing couples, pressing herself close to me. She barely looked at me, though. When we had arrived at the club, Astoria had transformed her outfit to a tight-fitting navy satin minidress, and now her gaze flitted around the room to see how many admirers she had amassed. Astoria found someone of interest and a lascivious smile spread across her face. She began some kind of dance that she intended to be sexy, but I found completely off-putting. She swung her hips, and her shoulders rolled as she pressed herself even closer against me. Astoria came from an aristocratic family as I did, and come hell or high water, we all learned to dance. Whatever she was doing now was purely for the benefit of others around us, and I wanted no part in it. I glanced around to find the motivation for Astoria's sudden descent into crass showmanship. I found it – McLaggen and Granger were on the dancefloor not five metres from us. My eyes locked to Granger's as McLaggen tugged gracelessly on her hips.

I held her gaze for a moment longer, waiting for her to register the nudge in her psyche. Her eyes narrowed, her brow furrowing. There it is. I concentrated hard.

Are you okay?

Her eyes widened, and I gave her a small smile.

My date is a prick, she mouthed back, dismissing McLaggen's puzzled look with a small shake of her head. I laughed, immediately biting it back when Astoria took it as encouragement. Granger's expression morphed into a smirk as the absurdity of Astoria's dance moves escalated. Astoria pressed her back against my chest, and she ground her hips exaggeratedly against me. Several people were looking bemusedly in our direction, and I felt the back of my neck heating with embarrassment.

"Easy, Astoria, not here," I hissed in Astoria's ear, spinning her abruptly to face me. She gasped theatrically and brought her face close to mine.

"If not here, maybe you could take me upstairs," Astoria murmured suggestively.

"We're at a club, Astoria. I don't exactly think there are any beds here."

She smiled wantonly. "You're a wizard, Drake. You could take me anywhere with a few well-placed disillusionment spells," she whispered in my ear, biting down on my earlobe for good measure. When Granger did that, it was sensual and alluring. Astoria made it feel like a squirrel gnawing on an acorn. I moved out of her reach, giving her a tight smile. Astoria's expression hardened, and she glared at me.

"Or maybe I'll just find someone else to do what you're not man enough to," she hissed.

I chuckled at that. "Be my guest, Astoria." I released her and gave her a mechanical bow. "I'll even give you a head start. McLaggen!" I called. McLaggen and Granger stared at me puzzled as I approached with Astoria.

"Mind if Lady Greengrass cuts in?" I asked drily, grabbing McLaggen's wrist and placing Astoria's hand roughly in his. I gazed at Granger as I offered my arm, silently imploring her to take it. As I led Granger from the dancefloor toward where the others were still seated, I could feel Astoria's wrath searing into my back. I wondered for a moment if I wasn't a bit of a prat, knowing what McLaggen's attitude towards women was. I looked back briefly at Astoria, who had recovered quickly from my public rejection and was again performing her hip-grinding salsa thing with a far more receptive McLaggen.

Match made in heaven.

I guided Granger into a seat at the table, taking up a place beside her. Once we were seated, Pansy arched a well-defined eyebrow at us. "Where did you leave the gold-digging succubus?"

I gestured toward the dancefloor with a chuckle.

"I've got ten galleons on them snogging by the end of the next song," Theo announced, chucking a handful of coins onto the table.

"This is not a fucking seniors raffle, Nott. Commit or go home." Ginny declared, adding fifty galleons to Theo's coins.

"I'll put a hundred on them disappearing for coitus," Luna added. Each of us snapped our heads to her in surprise, except Blaise who simply fist-bumped her. The conversation among the group soon turned into a series of quips and witty observations about the crowd before them, and I seized the moment to talk to Granger.

"How are you, really?" I asked, wanting to kick myself for not coming up with something more thoughtful.

She nodded. "I'm good. Work has been pretty demanding, but I like it that way. How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Good." I wasn't one for being lost for words, but every word seemed to dry up in my throat. We sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Granger let out a snort.

"You really couldn't come up with anything better than 'how are you' as your opener?"

"I'm a closer, not an opener," I informed her. "Although I was hoping for something more profound than that."

"You missed," she smirked. "Badly."

"Yeah, thank you."

"I mean, you haven't seen me in months. Did you not rehearse this exact moment?"

I looked at her incredulously. "Uh, no. Did you?"

I waited for Granger's smirk to transform into the full-blown grin that I'd come to expect whenever she won a round of verbal sparring, but it never happened. It occurred to me at that moment what was different about her – I hadn't seen her smile since she arrived. The fire that was inherently Granger, and that I took for granted would always be there, seemingly extinguished.

"I did. Nothing seemed quite enough," Granger said earnestly.

A cheer erupted from the others, startling us both.

"Who had money on the snog?" Blaise asked, to which Ginny and Theo raised their hands. Indeed, Astoria and McLaggen were kissing exuberantly on the dancefloor.

"I feel like we should care more about my date making out with yours," I said to Granger.

"Meh, saves me a job," she shrugged nonchalantly, her face suddenly twisting in distaste. With their mouths still suctioned to one another, Astoria now had one of her legs hitched up over McLaggen's hip. The other dancers had formed a three-metre exclusion zone around them.

"Jesus. Is that a Pureblood thing?" Granger asked, her mouth still contorted in disgust.

"No," we answered firmly in unison.

"Looks like you are mere minutes away from making good on your bet, Luna," Theo grinned, coughing when Potter swiftly back-handed him across the stomach. A stern-looking man, seemingly the manager, approached our table. He looked none too pleased with the spectacle Astoria and McLaggen were making.

"Those two came in here with you lot, and I don't want a scene that ends up all over in The Daily Prophet. Sort it out, and do it discreetly."

"I've got it," Potter remarked and allowed his concealed wand to drop out of his sleeve into his hand.

Theo smirked. "I thought you were just happy to see me, Potter."

"That doesn't sound like me," Potter replied drolly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to break up an act of public indecency."

"He's there. Someone grab him!" Pansy trolled him. Potter shook his head and headed toward the dancefloor. We watched with fascination as Potter approached Astoria and McLaggen, interrupting them with a tap on the shoulder. I could see the backs of his ears glowing red as he talked to them.

"I'd give my left nut for an Extendable Ear right now," Blaise chortled.

"Why only the left one?" Theo asked.

"I'm quite attached to the right one," Luna answered wistfully. "It's my favourite."

A/N: Sorry, it seems like an awkward place to end the chapter but I'm mindful of the word count.

Wherever you may be in the world, stay safe and well, and wear a mask, please and thank you. xx