CHAPTER 8

"Bloody-, you're just going to dinner?" Draco asked in shock, as he watched his girlfriend get ready for her dinner date.

"Yes, 'course. Why do you ask?" Diana shot back, inserting the small hoop into her ear piercing. She looked over her carefully painted, dark red lip, checking to make sure she hadn't messed up what little make up she had put on. She adjusted her black, fitted halter top, making sure that everything was in place.

"I just-, I mean, wow, darling," Draco said, approaching her from behind, before slipping his arms around her.

"Draco," she giggled, as he began to kiss her neck. "I don't think we have time for that."

"Well, what do you expect? You look absolutely ravishing, darling. Besides, I think the two of you may have to venture to the Leaky Cauldron afterwards. This whole… you look… 's wasted on just dinner, if you ask me," Draco complimented, smirking as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Sounds like I may have to make a pit stop at my handsome boyfriend's place afterwards then… you know… for a night cap, of course," Diana quipped, teasing him as she pulled away from him.

Draco had been back from his work trip for a week now. They had spent all weekend together, locked up in her apartment, making up for lost time. She knew it was silly really - he had only been gone for a few days, but she was due for a much needed recharge after her mission anyways.

"You going out with Granger?" Draco asked, taking a seat on the bed as he watched his girlfriend. She had made her way to the bedroom and was collecting her wand, keys, and cloak.

"Yeah," Diana answered.

Draco chewed on his lip, "You think… I don't know… you might say something to her? You know… about us?"

Diana shrugged, "I don't know. I wasn't planning on it but, if it comes up… maybe."

Draco nodded slowly, "We're going to have to tell them eventually."

Diana sighed, "I know. We will. I promise, my love." She took a step towards him, standing across from where he sat on the bed. She took his hands in hers and smiled. "I love you so much. What're you up to tonight?"

Draco raised an eyebrow, checking his girlfriend out once more, "Waiting up at home for my very sexy girlfriend to come a-knockin'." She chuckled, rolling her eyes playfully, before climbing into his lap and pulling him in for a heated, seductive kiss. Draco couldn't help himself. His hands moved across her hips, to her bum, pulling her closer to him. Diana giggled into the kiss, before pulling away.

"Just something to think about… you know… while I'm gone," Diana said, climbing off of his lap. She grabbed her cloak off of the bed, before draping it around herself. "See you tonight, love."

He groaned, unwillingly letting go of her, watching as she walked away.

"Oh and Malfoy?" she teased, using his last name. She smirked, playful, as she turned to look at him.

"Yes, love?" he asked, his eyebrows raising.

"I very well may be wearing that little gift you got me."

"Think we should get a bottle?" Hermione suggested as the two perused the wine selection.

"Makes sense. It's about, what, two-ish glasses each? Sure," Diana answered.

"Red?" Hermione suggested.

"'Course. Always. I trust your pick," Diana replied almost instantly. The two friends exchanged glances, before Hermione looked up at the waiter.

"Yes, we'll take a bottle of the Cote du Rhone, please," Hermione said politely.

"Coming right up," the waiter replied, nodding his head before leaving.

"Merlin, it's so nice to get out of the house for a girls' night," Hermione sighed out, after making her mind up about what they'd order. "The stress of planning the wedding has really gotten to me lately - like it takes all of the fun out of it. And you know, Ronald isn't helpful at all about it but… that's not why I'm marrying him."

Diana chuckled, "Not one of his strengths, no."

"Mum wants yellow flowers, but Molly wants purple. It's like they can't seem to agree on anything! I don't even know if either of them remember that this is MY wedding and that Ron could care less about what color flowers there are," Hermione continued to rant.

"Hullo, ladies. I've got your Cote du Rhone here," the waiter replied, returning quickly. He must've known that they were in much need of a first drink.

"Thank you so much," Diana said.

"Yes, thank you," Hermione said, almost simultaneously.

They watched as he opened the bottle, a popping sound ringing through the room as the cork came out of the bottle. Delicately, the man poured equal pours into both wine glasses that sat on the table. They thanked him once again as he sat the bottle down on their table, before both Hermione and Diana both took their wine glasses in their hands and raised them for a 'cheers'.

"To a much needed girls' night then," Diana declared.

"Absolutely. Cheers," Hermione replied, gently clinking glasses with her friend. They both took a sip of their wine.

"I'm sorry to hear that your Mum and Mrs. Weasley can't agree on anything. You're right. It's almost as if they've forgotten that it's your wedding, not theirs," Diana said, picking up the conversation where they had left it.

"I know… I know that they both mean well and that they're ehm, well, they're both just so excited, but it's absolutely taking all of the fun out of it!" Hermione sighed out, cradling her glass of wine in her hand before raising it to her lips for another sip.

"I can only imagine," Diana sympathized.

"But we have all night to talk about it. What about you? What's going on with you? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages," Hermione said, excited to change the subject.

"Oh, nothing much! You know… just ehm, well, Harry and I had a mission this week so that was a lot of work but, ehm, you know… it went well. We were able to pinpoint another one of the Death Eater safehouses and I think, you know, as a department, we're really getting close to finding the last of them," Diana replied.

"Excellent. I hear the two of you are doing great things," Hermione said back.

"Yeah," Diana smiled, proud of the ways her hard work was beginning to get noticed. "I ehm, I started talking to Zhao the other day about special forces. I don't know. Could be a possibility for me, you know?"

"Is that something you'd want? Special forces? You'd have to travel quite a bit, yes?" Hermione asked, curiously.

Diana shrugged, "Sure but I'd be doing really important work."

"True but… well, what about the, you know… the lingerie guy?" she asked, lowering her voice as she said the last few words. "Are you still seeing him or have you already-?"

"Hermione! You can't think that within a week of him buying me lingerie I'd kick him to the curb," Diana protested, interrupting her friend.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first-," Hermioned began, taking another sip of her wine.

"Hermione!"

"Sorry… it's just… I don't know… how serious this all is. You haven't really told me about him or… you know, your relationship with him at all ," Hermione half apologized, though she was quite serious about her best friend's dating pattern.

"This one's different," Diana blushed, taking a small sip from her glass of wine. Uh Oh. Was this it? She could feel the words coming out of her mouth but she couldn't seem to open it. She took another sip of her wine, swallowing the words she was afraid to say.

"I'm glad to hear it," Hermione replied. "You deserve someone good, Di. You do. I just hope that he's… you know… actually good." Did she know something? Diana shook the thought from her mind and pushed on with their conversation.

"He is. Really," Diana reassured, unable to hide the grin that spread like wildfire across her face.

Hermione smiled looking at her best friend. She had never seen her like this in regards to a guy and as much as she hated that it was Malfoy, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if he made her friend this happy. Maybe this would be the best time to bring it up. She allowed there to be a momentary silence before making the decision to set her trap.

"You should… bring him to the wedding," Hermione said, throwing out the bait. She knew there was no way she could say yes without telling her what she already knew.

Diana looked up from her glass of wine, staring her friend dead in the eyes. She could see the twinkle of mischief in her best friend's eyes that she knew immediately. Hermione knew.

"You know, don't you?" Diana asked, slowly, frozen for a moment in her chair.

Hermione nodded, unable to stop herself, "Yes."

"I-..." Diana trailed off. "But… but how? What-, I don't… are you upset with-?"

"It's quite alright, Diana," Hermione said with a soft chuckle.

"It is?" Diana asked nervously, a little surprised by her friend's reaction.

"You were so quick to leave on your mission with Harry last week that, well, your eagerness seemed to get the best of you. You're a real klutz when you're nervous," she giggled, beginning to explain how she found out. "The parcel that he sent you, the gift, fell on the floor, well, you kinda knocked it on the floor, and then ehm, well, so did the card. I tried not to look but… I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry!"

"Hermione!" Diana exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah... It didn't take long for me to figure out the initials: D M? I couldn't figure how it possibly could've been-, but it would be the only thing that would explain why you've wanted to keep him a secret for this long," Hermione continued to explain. "Diana are you… are you really-?

Diana nodded slowly, "Yes. I am."

"To be clear…" Hermione trailed off.

"Yes," Diana confirmed. "Draco. It's… It's Draco."

"My God," Hermione shook her head, half in disbelief and half in triumph that she had figured it out.

"I'm sorry," Diana immediately said.

"For what?!" Hermione exclaimed.

"That it's him. That I-, that we-," Diana stammered, nervously.

"Diana, you do not need to apologize to me but I do have my concerns… I mean… I just...," Hermione shot back, cutting off her friend. "I'm not thrilled that your mystery man turned out to be Malfoy but, I've never seen you like this. You're so happy and… I'm not going to make you apologize for that, but he was an intolerable prat in school, not to mention a Death Eater so… you better start explaining now, Tsai."

"Fucking hell," Diana sighed out in relief. She looked at her wine glass before raising it to her lips and downing the rest of the pour. "You have no idea how long I've been agonizing over telling you. I mean, he's wanted to… for a while now and I just… haven't been ready to because I've been so damn nervous about how you'd react. And this… this is going much better than I imagined."

Hermione laughed in response to her friend's sigh of relief, "Well, he's Malfoy, so I understand why you'd have hesitations…."

"Hermione he, he's really… he's got a lot more to him than the horrid git we went to school with," Diana began to explain.

"No, I-, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I guess, I only have questions like… how? And why?" Hermione asked, searching for how the hell her best friend had ended up head over heels for Draco Malfoy.

Diana sighed, reaching for the wine bottle on the table, before pouring herself another glass, "Guess it really is a girls' night, eh?"

"I'll say," Hermione replied with a chuckle. She raised her glass as Diana mimicked her, clinking a 'cheers' to this newfound realization.

"I… well, it started in school…" Diana trailed off.

"You've been keeping a secret romance from us with Malfoy since school?!" Hermione practically shrieked.

"Shhhh! No, not for that long. Well, eh, I mean… sorta. But it wasn't romantic or anything, no… not in school," Diana began.

"So how did this happen?" Hermione asked, a tone of concern in her voice.

Diana sighed out, "I ask himself the same thing all the time." She chuckled, shaking her head. "McGonagall asked me to tutor him in our third year. What started as tutoring turned into… I don't know… as close as you could get to what we'd call a friendship."

"So that's where you were always running off to," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"Yes," Diana replied.

"Wait. And the night of the Yule Ball. You disappeared out of nowhere. Your date and I looked for you! You were with-," Hermione began, putting all of the pieces together.

"Yes. I was with Draco. Nothing happened, romantically, but… I think we knew then that we had feelings for each other. We just knew that a relationship between the two of us could never happen," Diana explained.

Hermione nodded, "I'll say." Diana shifted uncomfortably and Hermione shot her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry this is all just… a bit mind blowing."

"You're telling me… we lost touch in his sixth year. I suppose that's why it seemed like I had so much more free time that year," Diana started.

"I remember," Hermione nodded, eager for her friend to continue. "So… how did he come back into your life?"

Diana smiled, remembering it all, "It was quite the grand gesture, really. He showed up on my doorstep on Valentine's Day… after my date. I ehm, we sat down for tea and we talked. I sure as hell put him through it."

"As you should have!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Not for why you think! I saw a different side of him in school. I know that he was horrible to us… to other students… but as I got to know him better, I just realized he was a really hurt kid, caught up in a war, like the rest of us," Diana explained.

"But on the wrong side," Hermione pointed out.

"I know… and he knows too," Diana nodded.

"Go on…" Hermione sighed.

"I always wondered why he hadn't come to find me after the war and I was hurt because I had asked him to. When we said our goodbyes at the beginning of sixth year. Turns out he was in France at a healing academy. He came to me when he was ready, I think: ready to forgive himself, ready to let someone in, ready to move forward. I know it sounds cliche, Hermione, but he really has changed," Diana explained.

Hermione sighed out, processing the information she was being given, "Wow that's… this is all… so much. I-... I'm not upset that you didn't tell me till now. I understand why you didn't tell me till now. This isn't… well, ideal."

"I know," Diana admitted

Hermione paused before saying what she had to say next, "Do you love him?"

"With all of my being, Mione," Diana answered, the ache of her love for him filling her words.

Hermione nodded slowly, taking in the fact that Draco Malfoy would be in their lives. Oh, was this a plot twist she never saw coming.

"Then I think you should still bring him to the wedding," Hermione finally said.

"You think?" Diana asked, surprised. "How do you think Harry and Ron will take it?"

"Not well… but it's not their life. It's yours," Hermione answered, as if she were admitting defeat.

"Yeah… you're right," Diana trailed off. "Thank you… for understanding. And… if it's alright with you, I would like to bring him."

"You're welcome," Hermione replied. She groaned out in frustration, followed by an exasperated laugh.. "Merlin! Never in my life did I think that I'd have to see Draco Malfoy ever again. I guess that means I should meet him again then, yes?"

"I think you'll be surprised, Mione. I really do," Diana said back.