A/N: I am overwhelmed and excited at the response to this story! I got the idea for this story from a dream funny enough. I had a dream that my parents (that are actually divorced) were conspiraring together to make me realize I had feeling for my friend (in reality, said friend is actually my husband). It was odd and crazy and kooky enough for me to think up this crap! Annnnnnywho! On to another chapter of will they/won't they! Enjoy!
Hermione apparated to the spot in the alleyway next to the block of brownstones to walk toward Harry and Ginny's house. Wrapping her cloak tighter, she climbed the steps and rapped on the door with her telltale five quick knocks. The door opened and her ears were assaulted with the cries of baby James. "Oh thank Morgana! You're early!" Ginny hadn't even showered yet and Harry was nowhere in sight.
"Harry is stuck at the office on a case and I haven't been able to get a thing accomplished today. He's been a real Voldemort for me today! My mum should be here soon though. I need a shit load of liquor tonight! Could you please just rock James a bit so I can jump in the shower at least?" Hermione grabbed the crying infant from her friend's arms as Ginny hauled ass upstairs.
Hermione noticed he was drooling a lot and his gums were swollen. "Ah, you're teething then? I remember from Susan's baby when I saw her the other day. You were born three days apart. So, you'll probably be attending Hogwarts with little Melody Goldstein. Here we go." Hermione charmed a teether to be cool and rubbed it along his gums. He quieted down shortly after and drifted off to sleep.
As she watched him sleeping in her arms, she felt a pang in her chest. Would she ever have this? Could she have this? A child? A man to spend her life with? For some odd reason, she closed her eyes and could picture it. A little boy with grey eyes and pale blond hair in her arms. A gentle hand touching her shoulder. A look into his eyes and instantly feeling safe and at home. Malfoy. More and more lately she found herself fantasizing about the Slytherin. He was her friend now; her coworker and her friend. Could they ever be more? The thought both scared and intrigued her.
She wondered if he would have a date tonight. Probably some perfectly manicured Pureblood princess his parents had chosen for him. Even though Harry told her they no longer held those beliefs, Hermione couldn't stop thinking of them like that. Too many years of being thought of as a filthy, dirty Mudblood and a brand on your arm will do that to you. Oh, but he was so different. He was kind. He smiled at her warmly. He was genuinely interesting and his intellect challenged her. "But", Hermione thought to herself, "he'd never be interested in me like that."
Molly arrived and took the baby from Hermione, so she went up the stairs to see if Ginny needed any help getting ready for the ball. Ginny was just slipping into her red satin gown. "Oh good! Zip me, will ya?" Hermione stepped into the bedroom and helped her zip her dress the rest of the way up.
"Damn, Gin! Can't even tell you just had a baby. You look amazing." Hermione smiled at her dearest friend. Ginny slowly turned and thanked her. "Do you think my husband will notice?" She giggled.
"I think if you dont end up pregnant again it'll be a miracle, honestly!" The two witches laughed as they finished getting Ginny ready. Harry came flying through the Floo and got changed in record timing before attempting to tame his unruly hair.
Soon, they were apparating to the Ministry and entering the ballroom arm in arm. They made their way to the assigned table and Hermione had to fight not to audibly gasp at their table companions. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy sat looking as proud as could be. Harry greeted them both and had the nerve to smile as he sat her down next to the Senior Malfoy.
"Good evening, Miss Granger. You look absolutely stunning this evening. Don't you agree, Cissa?" Narcissa looked at her and smiled softly.
"Yes, I dare say she does. Hello, Hermione dear. How is everything going? Our son was supposed to be here as well, but he is running late." She craned her neck in a show of searching the crowd for her son.
"You should be very proud of him. Malf-um, I mean, Draco has been working diligently on finding a more affordable Wolfsbane potion. His work is beneficial to our cause. He's brilliant, actually, and we are lucky to have a Master Potioneer like him in our department." Hermione felt herself blush at praising Draco Malfoy to his own parents.
"Thank you, Miss Granger, for those kind words." The music started and the floor opened up for dancing just then. "Ah, I do so love to dance, don't you. I would be honored if you would take a turn around the floor with me, Miss Granger. You can tell me more about the work you are currently doing." Hermione looked to see that Harry and Ginny already abandoned her for the dance floor and inwardly sighed.
"Of course. The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure. That is, if Narcissa does not mind." Hermione looked to the older witch with pleading eyes. The older witch actually giggled.
"My dear, I have had twenty-five years of dancing with my husband. I can sit at least one or two dances out." The smirk she gave was one of true Slytherin slyness. Hermione stood and watched as Lucius used his cane to stand. He was frail, it was plain to see. She remembered Draco mentioning that he was ill, but she was not aware that he still suffered. Hermione took Lucius's arm and they made their way to the dance floor. Unbeknownst to her, Draco Malfoy had just arrived and watched as his father escorted the witch of his dreams to dance.
He inwardly cursed praying his father showed her the respect she deseved. Joining his mother at the table, he greeted her with a kiss to her cheek. "Sorry I was late, mother. Got held up in the lab. Are you well? I saw father is dancing with Granger? What is that all about?" His mother smiled at him and stood up waiting to take his arm.
"Hermione was without a date, so your father offered to dance with her. Beautiful witch that she is, she agreed even though I could tell she did not wish to. Since you are here, please take your poor mummy out to dance." Narcissa knew her son would never deny her. He gave her his arm and lead her in a dance. After a few moments, she spoke again. "Can you relieve your father? He danced through one song already and it seems he's continuing, but he really should not over exert himself."
Draco looked over and agreed so they waltzed closer to where his father and Hermione were dancing while his mother smiled to herself at the smooth and flawless implementation of Operation Shall We Dance. "Father, you should go back to the table. Mother is worried for your health. Granger, care to dance?" Hermione smiled and nodded, handing off her dance partner to his wife.
"We shall continue our discussion back at the table when you retire from the dance floor, Miss Granger. Most fascinating. Draco?" Draco looked to his father's smiling face. "Better late than never, son." With that, he walked away on his wife's arm. "That was almost too easy, my dear."
Draco took Hermione's hand in his then placed his other on her waist. She felt a shiver run down her spine at his touch and felt her cheeks flush. Oh, sweet Merlin, he smelled like citrus and sage. She felt so safe and secure in his arms and fought the urge to lay her head on his chest. "How was my father towards you? I hope he was cordial." He almost groaned at her delicious cherry vanilla scent.
She looked up into his stormy eyes and could see he was worried. "He was actually very insightful. I told him of the problem we are having with that Kappa found in Kensington last week." Draco listened as she spoke and found himself noticing the flecks of gold in her eyes. He was lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed that the music stopped. "Malfoy? Um, are you okay?"
He shook himself from his stupor and nodded. Smiling, he offered his arm to her. "Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. Shall we rejoin the table?" They walked and noticed all eyes on them. "What is everyone staring at?" Hermione looked around and most people were whispering. She heard someone at a table off to her right say 'Death Eater' and stopped.
"Who said that?!?!" She screeched and the room went silent. "Come on now. Don't be shy." When nobody spoke up, she scoffed. "This man right here is a brilliant Wizard. He is kind and incredibly sweet and a hard worker doing great things for our world! Shame on you! Who are you to judge this wonderful man?" Hermione turned towards him and saw him looking at her awestruck. "Let's go back to our table, Draco." He looked back at the witches and wizards staring, mouths agape in shock at their Golden Girl defending him and smirked.
At the close of the ball, Harry and Ginny said their farewells. "Such a great night, and a ton of galleons raised for the War Orphans Education Fund. And you and Malfoy looked great on that dance floor." Ginny teased as they waited for Harry to return with their cloaks. "How long do you think it will take him to realize you feel the same way as he does, Mione?" Hermione looked at Ginny with fire in her eyes. "Don't deny it. Just don't. Harry can see it too, for Merlin's bloody sake!" Hermione hung her head for a moment then locked eyes with her friend.
"I'm scared, Gin." Ginny knitted her brows together in confusion. "What if I put my feelings out and my heart gets broken. I haven't dated anyone since Ron. But." She stopped talking and look off to where The Malfoy's were waiting in the queue for the Floos. "The way he makes me feel, it's like nothing else I have ever felt." Ginny hugged her then.
"Take the chance, Mione. He has strong feelings for you. I have it on good authority." With a wink she walked off to meet Harry and stand in the Floo line. Good authority? What in Merlin's name did she mean by that? Hermione thought to herself as she walked towards the Floos.
Back at the manor, Lucius and Narcissa settled in for the night. "Well, I think that was a successful plan if I do say so myself. She's perfect for our Dragon, Lucius. They'll make a great team just like you and me, my love." Narcissa leaned over to kiss her sleepy husband.
Lucius kissed her back languidly and rolled over on top of her feeling better than he had in months. "Mmm, yes, my sweet. She'll go to battle for our son and I couldn't be more pleased." He felt his wife roll her hips into his growing erection. "Well, maybe I could be a bit more," he sheathed himself into her, "ahh, pleased."
Draco lay in his bed thinking over his night dancing with Hermione Granger. Could she actually have feelings for him? He'd caught glimpses of it once in a while but thought it was all in his head. "This man right here is a brilliant Wizard. He is kind and incredibly sweet and a hard worker doing great things for our world! Shame on you! Who are you to judge this wonderful man?" She had come to his defense, challenging a roomful of witches and wizards to speak up. She was his Golden Girl, not theirs. "My Hermione." It was the thought of her being his that settled him into the most serene sleep he'd had since the summer before his sixth year.
Hermione sat in her office the Monday morning after the War Orphans Charity Ball reading The Daily Prophet. There it was on the front page. War Hero Still Fighting For The Greater Good! Accompanying the article were photos from the night. Pictures of her dancing with Draco, of her smiling at him and he at her, then of her scolding a table of astonished witches and wizards. The article was well written by Daphne Greengrass and praised Hermione for not allowing small-minded people to ruin her night. She wrote the rest of the article about the potion that Draco Malfoy was currently working on to help make Wolfsbane more affordable for the masses.
Hermione did not really know the former Slytherin beauty. She only knew that she was an intelligent witch that was often found studying in the library just as late as Hermione most nights during school. She decided to send her some flowers and a note thanking her for the tasteful article in that mornings Prophet.
After that was accomplished, she gathered her notes for that morning's meeting. Draco had just come from around the corner when she got to the closed conference room door. "Allow me, Granger." She thanked him as he opened the door and allowed her to go in ahead of him. With a flick of his wand, he lit the conference room up.
"Thank you, Malfoy. Umm, Draco?" He looked up smiling at her. "I was wondering if you were busy Friday night. I wanted to invite you out to dinner with me. If you're busy, I understand, but I, well, that is to say, I well..." She trailed off and was blushing profusely at the way she began to blunder the words of her well thought-out speech she'd been practicing all weekend like a loon.
"Granger." he laughed to himself not believing that this was actually happening, "Hermione, I would be honored. I was actually thinking about asking you, well, have been wanting to ask you out for a long time now, but kept chickening out. No Gryffindor courage here, I'm afraid." He smiled at her sheepishly and she sighed in relief.
"Oh, then it's a date." She smiled brightly up at him. The sudden urge to fling herself into his arms and snog him overwhelmed her senses. He wanted to do the same.
"The first of many, I can only hope." Draco smirked at her before the rest of the department began to file into the room. Taking his seat, he caught her trying to fight off her smile. It was Monday morning and he could only pray that the week would fly by because he had a date with Hermione Granger!
A/N: Whew!!!! Gryffindor courage!!!! Review and tell me you love me!!! Cheers!