A/N wahoo! 85 followers! Thank you guys! It means a lot to me
In my original outline for this I had more flashbacks of Fred and Hermione but I haven't been doing it as much as I originally planned. Tell me what you think, do you want more of Fred and Hermione? Or this is a Dramione, keep their past to a minimum?
"Drinks are on me tonight!" Hermione declared as she walked up to their table. She looked... relaxed and happy? Her hair was down tonight and wild, reminding Malfoy of Hogwarts Granger. She sat down took a sip of her wine and gave him a look as If daring him to argue.
"Why?"
"Because you inspired me and the result was a great laugh."
"Ohh, so what did you do to Weasley?" He had been rather curious what she had done. The look on her face said whatever it was was good.
"Remember Umbridges office? The God awful pink plates with kittens?" He nodded, who could forget that nauseating wall of pink meowing down at you as soon as you walked in, "I left work early on Thursday and charmed all of his underwear to look like those plates. So he had to wear pink underwear with kittens on them out on his date. "
"I bet he was thrilled with that." He paused at the look on her face, it was more than that, "But I dont think thats all you did..."
With a wicked grin on her face "nope. He's known me for years, you would think he would know better by now. I guess that just shows how comfortable he's gotten. I'm going to have to work on that, keep him on his toes. He should have just gone commando but he foolishly decided to just wear the pink underwear and I'm told that later that evening he attempted to get intimate with his girlfriend and... "
"And...?" He prompted. He wasnt sure where this was going but the smirk she was giving him reminded him eariliy of himself.
"Did you know that while in school I mastered time release charms? Most of the products in the shop that aren't activated right away I've helped design. So, a hour after he activated them by putting them on the kittens became animated and began to move. Nothing that would hurt him but it would feel like something was crawling on him. Then I added a light sensory charm so that when he pulled his pants down either to go to the bathroom or for other activities the kittens would begin to meow. If he tried to pull his pants back up or take them off the kittens would start yowling."
"Oh, thats evil."
Her eyes sparkled as she smirked again "Thats nothing, because I was feeling particularly feisty I added a mild sticking charm so he couldn't take them off for 6 hours. Once they realized they werent coming off and the kittens wouldn't stop meowing Katie sent him home. He walked in and Bryony heard the kittens and thought he had bought her a cat. He had a hell of a time trying to explain why his pants were meowing."
"So how mad was he?" He laughed himself. He could just imagine the Weasel sputtering trying to come up with a reason for the cat sounds.
"He was furious. I couldn't do anything but laugh at him with the cats meows coming from his pants. Finally he gave up and locked himself in his room. Somehow he forgot I charmed all his underwear so the next day he had to put on another pair to wear to work until he could go buy more. George was relentless about it. He is already using my plans and hopes to have something in production by the end of the month."
"Oh gods, your evil. Remind me to never cross you." He lifted his glass in salute to her, "To your evil genius and the laughs it provides, may I never be on the receiving end" He was beginning to wonder just how many of the twins pranks she had also been in on, then somethingshe said registeredwith him, "Wait, you said the name Katie, do you know Weasley's girlfriend?"
-
"Of course, I wouldn't admit it to either of them but I worked to get them together. She was a Gryffindor the year above us. We are still good friends." Hermione purposely glossed over some details. Katie was the same Katie that had been cursed in their 6th year by the necklace Malfoy ment to be delivered to Dumbledore. Mentioning her would hit to close to their past. The past they still hadn't spoken about. She knew the day would come but she didn't want today to be that day. Today she was just out having a drink with a friend and sharing her funny story. She quickly searched for a change in subject before Malfoy could figure out who Katie was.
Obviously he must have felt the tension at mentioning school and came to her rescue, "do you come up with stuff for the store often?"
WWW, now thats a much safer subject. It used to be to painful to even think about the store but now it just makes her feel closer to Fred and instead of missing him and the pain its just remembering the happy times with the man she loved. "Not as much as I used to. In the beginning of course, thats why they gave me a share in the business. I was always involved even if only in the background. For the first year after his death I refused to step anywhere near Diagon Alley let alone go to the store. George had been asking me to help for years. If it was something I could work on on my own I would. I never joined him in the workshop until about 2 years ago. It was a disaster. It was awkward and weird for both of us and I left rather quickly. But I think I'm ready to go back. I enjoy it. Hes the creative one, I just figure out the best way to make his vision happen."
"You own a stake in the shop?" She could see the disbelief in his beautiful grey eyes. Wait did she just think of his eyes as beautiful? Thats... a new revaluation. When had she started noticing such things? She would have to think about it, but not tonight.
"Since day one. I had helped so much and had a hand in a lot of the prospective products, they sat down and tried to figure out a royalty system for me but decided it would be way too complicated. They offered both Harry and I a rather large cut but we both insisted on 5%. Then Fred left me a large portion of his share in his will but I never wanted it. As soon as Bryony was born I put all of that into a trust for her."
"Potter owns a stake as well?" She could tell that confused him. "I didn't realize he was particularly close to them. I certainly don't remember him participating in their pranks?"
"Thats because he didn't. Its not well known but he gave them their start up money. Because he technically won the Triwizard Tournament with Cedric he was given the winnings. He didn't want or need it so he gave it to the guys telling them that the world was going to need the laughs they could give. Harry didn't want to accept the share but they insisted. When he found out what I did with Fred's share he wanted to do the same but I wouldn't allow it. Instead it goes into a scholarship fund and McGonagall uses it to help struggling families buy books and supplies each new term. Enough about that though, how was your week?"
"Very good actually. Thursday I had to finalize something for Mother's birthday at the jewlers so I left work early and took Scorpious to Diagon Alley. Honestly I haven't taken him out in public since Astoria passed and he hadn't been to Diagon Alley since he was an infant so we went and made a day of it."
"Oh I bet he loved it. What was his favorite shop?" Malfoy didn't usually mention his son so she was very interested in their time spent together. His parents were another taboo topic but she knew Lucius was an awful man and even worse father. She had a feeling he did everything to make sure he was the exact opposite of Lucius.
"Where else? Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes of course. He took one look at the outside and just had to go in. And he loved it. George greeted us at the door and showed him around and we picked up a few items. Then Saturday we celebrated Mother's birthday. Theo and Blaise joined us, before Mother arrived Scorpious gave Theo one of the creams we got at the shop."
"Canary Creams?" She laughed when he nodded, "Obviously a party of Slytherins, if any Gryffindors had been there he wouldn't have been able to slip it to them. That was one of their very first jokes. Everyone quickly became suspicious of anything left out in the common room. They had taken to disguising them in other food to get the slip on us. I'm pretty certain I am the only person who didn't turn into a canary at least once that year."
"Those are the ones. I dont think any of us have laughed that hard in a very long time. After the birthday dinner we went outside and I set off the fireworks we got. Even Mother thought they were beautiful. Overall it was a wonderful evening."
He was smiling, it was such a rare sight it almost took her breath away. Something he said stuck out to her and she didn't stop to think about what she was saying before she said it, "why haven't you taken Scorpious to Diagon Alley before?" Instantly his smile changed and she knew she had said something wrong.
His put up the mask he had worn the first few times they had met up. Honestly she had forgotten he used to look at her like that and it made her sad to see that look back.
"The war may be over but people don't forget or forgive. I stopped going out in the Wizarding public unless absolutely necessary years ago because no matter what I get dirty looks and even a few brave enough to say something. The last time I took Astoria out for a night on Diagon Alley a wizard recognized me and tried to challenge me to a duel because Lucius had killed a family member of his. He only backed off and didn't attack me once he realized I wouldn't pull my wand because Astoria stood in front of me. So we stopped going. We started going to muggle restaurants and took Scorpious to muggle playgrounds and museums. Its better to try and fit in there than having mothers hide their children behind them or hear the taunting of idiots." She tried to interrupt him then but he kept going, "I still live a wizarding lifestyle but its much more in the muggle world than I would have ever dreamed of. And I have accepted it. Its the life I chose so that my son can have a somewhat normal life. He doesn't need to see or hear what most of the Wizarding world thinks of me. He will get enough of that if I send him to Hogwarts."
"Thats not fair! You were found not guilty! People have no right to judge you when the Wizengamot set you free." Hermione knew he had to have had a hard time right after the war but she couldn't believe people were still hanging on to their prejudices this many years after the war.
"I was not charged because they believed my actions were coerced, I wasnt found not guilty. There is a difference. Ether way I am a marked Death Eater who walked free. But let's not talk about that. I'm afraid one day we will have to have this conversation but I'm not prepared for it to be today."
Hermione knew he was right. They had both had the best weeks in a long time and happily shared them with each other. They both needed that joy and tonight was not the night for such a serious discussion. She changed the subject and while they never fully recaptured the lighthearted mood of earlier they still parted in a relatively good mood.
Hermione went home that night with a lot to think about. She had just accepted that she considered him a friend and now? What did she see him as? Still just a friend or a prospective suitor? Somehow she knew he would never be open to dating her until she was divorced. Is that something to consider? She was confused and she didn't like it. She decided that it was time to get some advice and she knew who to call.
The war might be over but the names Hermione Weasley and Ginny Potter still had a lot of sway especially when requesting a private table at a posh restaurant. Hermione couldn't have cared less where they ate but she knew Ginny was going stir crazy in the house and would love the excuse to get dressed up for a girls lunch. Hermione also knew this was going to be a long lunch and purposely scheduled it for Friday at 1 so she could just leave work for the day and not have to worry about getting back to the Ministry.
Hermione was 5 minutes early as usual and already seated when Ginny came in like a whirlwind 5 minutes late (as usual). The younger red head was now 6 months along and already had a very distinct baby bump on her normally petite sport toned frame.
"Hermione! Its wonderful to see you! You have no idea how much I need this, even if I have to deal with strangers making comments like 'any day now?' And 'are you sure its not twins?'" She laughed and scowled at the same time.
"Thank you so much for meeting me!" They sat down and inquired of each others week until after the waiter left with their order.
"Ok, spill. Whats going on that we couldn't discuss on Sunday at the Burrow?" Ginny said in her no nonsense voice. She had known Hermione too long to not know when something was up.
Hermione considered trying to pretend nothing was up but quickly decided it was better to just jump in, "I'm interested in someone. I think. Maybe? I dont know yet." She sighed and frowned then continued in a small voice, "help?"
"Ohh, this is going to be even better than I thought. Well I need all the details, starting with who is it?" When Hermione started to argue Ginny held up her hand, "that is none negotiable, I need a name or I walk."
Hermione hesitated just long enough for Ginny to make a show of standing before she mumbled, "Malfoy. "
"I'm sorry what was that? I couldn't hear you."
Threw gritted teeth Hermione said louder this time, "it's Draco Malfoy, happy?"
"Eekkk!" She sat back down and decided to play dumb. Harry had already told her about his trip to the pub and his conversation with Malfoy but she had wanted to hear Hermione confirm it. "He does have a nice ass so I'm assuming he's the one you've been having drinks with?" She nodded, "ok then, start at the beginning. "
Hermione spent the next hour going over everything that happened the last two months including how they both have shared about their relationships with Fred and Astoria. Finally Ginny was all caught up and she could talk to her about what she was feeling, "All of a sudden I was looking into his eyes and thinking how beautiful they are. That turned into looking at him. I mean really looking at him. Damn he's grown into fine looking man. But because I can appreciate his looks does that mean I'm interested in him? I dont honestly know yet? He's changed Gin. He's softer? I dont know how to put it. He still has that 'I'm better than you' smirk and still drops the occasional insult. But hes actually a decent human being and we oddly have a lot of common interests. I kind of thought that since this started out as healing our grief that thats all it would be. But its becoming more. We talk about books we've read, politics, new innovations in the Wizardingworld."
"It sounds like the potential is there. I think thats not the real problem your having. I think the real question is are you ready to move on? You haven't dated anyone since Fred. You need to decide if your ready to take that step."
Hermione sighed, Ginny always knew what was going on with her before she did. Was she ready to move on?