Reviews! OMG thank you all so much.
SereniteRose - thank you so much for your reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying this.
Lena2244 - I think people need flaws and issues in order for the story to be real. Glad you like flawed Hermione. She has a lot going on, as you'll also see in this chapter. Bit of a messy head this poor woman.
Honoria Granger - Yes, our poor Hermione is a bit of an idiot, but she has good reason to be cautious. She has been through a lot.
mtfunkzoo - Amazing review, thank you so much. Awkward but natural banter is what i was going for so glad it has come across that way. Anything else and it just wouldnt work. Hermione has only ever been with Ron and any discussion with Malfoy is bound to be weird. So glad you're enjoying and hopefully i'll get to put another chapter up tonight.
Rose and Hugo were dropped off early on Sunday, much to Hermione's chagrin. She had gone out to Ron and demanded answers.
"What if I had been out? What then? You can't just drop them off whatever time you feel like it. You need to stick to the plan Ron, or else this won't work" she said, feeling anger radiating off her. She knew the anger wasn't related to him dropping them off 3 hours early, but to everything else that was going on in her life.
"Sorry, I just have some things to do this afternoon and you don't want them being around Viv, so this is my option" he said.
"You're damn right I don't want them around her. In future, you need to call me" she demanded.
"Fine, ok I'll all you" he said, getting into his car. "The kids told me what happened. With your job. I'm sorry Hermione" he said.
"What? No, that's nothing. I have some offers lined up, I'm just taking some time to figure out what I want to do" she lied.
"Well, good for you then" he said.
She turned her back on him and walked back into her house, closing the door behind her and leaning against the wood.
"Mum" came the voice of Rose.
"Hey honey how was the weekend?" she asked.
"It was fine… Mum, are you ok?" she asked.
"Me? I'm fine sweetheart. Absolutely fine" she said, turning away to hide the tears that had formed at her daughters concern.
"Dad has someone you know" she said.
"That's good for him. I'm glad" she said.
"He told us that you don't want us to meet her" Rose said.
"That's not entirely true honey" she said.
"That's what dad said. He said that his girlfriend lives there but she can't come home when we're there because you said so" she said.
"I just think it's a better idea if you spend some time with your dad for now" she said. "Maybe someday you can meet his special friend" she said.
"His girlfriend" Rose corrected.
"That too" Hermione said.
As Hermione went about washing the children's clothes from the weekend, she heard a crack in the living room. She went out to see Ginny standing around with Albus by her side.
"Alby, how are you?" Hermione asked.
"I'm good aunty Mione" he said.
"That's great. How about you go find Hugo, I think he's outside" she said.
At this, Albus ran towards the back door and straight out the back.
"Mums having a dinner" Ginny said.
"That's great for you guys. Have fun" she said sarcastically.
"You're still family" Ginny said.
"No I'm not. Not anymore" she said.
"Well mum has asked specifically for you and the kids to come, so I'm here to make you come" Ginny said.
"Gin, really… I think I'm still drunk from Friday night. The last thing I need is to hang around with my ex-husbands' brothers and have them tell me what a twat he is. I know he's a twat. I don't need to be reminded" Hermione said.
"You went out? With who?" Ginny asked.
"That's what you got from that?" Hermione asked.
"Tell me everything" Ginny said.
Hermione explained the night to Ginny, as much as she could remember. She had vague flashes of the conversation she had with Malfoy and remembered dancing with her shoes off. One thing she did remember is leaving in a hurry and him handing her his card.
"Are you going to text him?" Ginny asked.
"This is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. He's a death eater, Ginny" Hermione said.
"Oh nonsense. You don't believe any of that still exists, do you?" she asked.
"Well, he did make all our lives hell" she said.
"It's also been more than 15 years. And he apologised. People change" she said
"Maybe" Hermione said, thinking if it could be true. Do people change?
"Don't you want a bit of.. You know… TLC?" Ginny asked.
"Funny you should mention that…" Hemione began.
"You didn't?" Ginny asked.
"Didn't what?" Hermione questioned.
"Sleep with Malfoy in a drunken haze?" she asked.
"Merlin no. Oh my god Ginny, no way" she said.
"Well, what then" Ginny asked.
"I kind of snuck into Ron's place. Last time we went out. I left early and went to his place" Hermione said.
"Woah. That's huge. Why am I finding this out just now?" she asked.
"Harry doesn't know?" Hermione asked.
"No. Ron hasn't said anything" she said.
"I'm mortified Gin. Truly. He basically let me have my way with him in a sloppy drunken stupor and then kicked me out. But not before he told me not to tell anyone and said that he was in a serious relationship with Vivienne who now lives with him and picked out all his furniture… Oh, and he works out now" she said.
"What the fuck Hermione" was all Ginny could say.
"I know. I'm horrified" Hermione said.
"Listen, you need to find someone else. Someone good looking. Someone who I imagine would be amazing in bed" she said.
"Let me guess, someone like Malfoy?" Hermione asked.
"How did you know?" she asked, smiling.
"Forget about it, it's not going to happen" Hermione said.
"Just come to dinner then" Ginny said.
"Fine. Fine! Give us half an hour" Hermione said.
Hermione found herself standing in the familiar lane way, leading up to the familiar house that stood on familiar wooden pillars. The Burrow had been extended more than Hermione ever thought was possible in recent years and there was absolutely no way it was possible that it existed without magic.
She approached the kitchen door and Rose and Huge entered straight away.
"Oh my darlings, how are you both?" Molly Weasley asked them, wrapping them in enormous hugs.
"We're good, Nan" they both replied.
Hermione carefully strolled up to Mrs Weasley and smiled. Molly pulled her into a hug, much the same as she had with the children.
"My girl, how I have missed you" Molly said, not releasing her.
"I missed you too" Hermione said back, a tear escaping her eyes.
The two women parted and began to engage in general conversation. Molly asked how the children were doing at school.
"They're both doing really well. Rose is expected to graduate top of her class next week and Hugo… Well, he's Ron all over, but still very smart. Great mind, just lacks the enthusiasm that Rose has" she said.
"Sounds like you and Ron" Molly said. "How are you doing my dear?" she asked.
"I'm well. The house is looking nice now. You'll have to come visit some time, if you'd like" she said,
"I think that would be nice" Molly said, brushing away a tear.
"I have done really well at work. So well in fact that they no longer require my position" Hermione said.
"What on earth does that mean?" Molly asked.
"Well, I'll still be paid the next years wage, as it was initially funded for three, but the job no longer exists" Hemione advised.
"That's abhorrent" Molly said.
"Abhorrent? Really mum?" asked George who had just entered the room.
"Hey George" said Hermione.
"Hermione" he said, as he pulled her into a hug that lifted her off her feet.
"How's the shop?" she asked.
"Booming" he said, picking a piece of carrot from the pot that Molly was scooping vegetables out of and popping it in his mouth. "Oh, hot" he said, blowing out of his mouth.
"That's what you get for being impatient" Molly said.
"Well, you know what it's like around here, you gotta get in quick" he said,
The night went surprisingly well. Hermione was ecstatic to see most of the Weasleys and their primary school aged children. They were family to Hermione. No matter what Ron did with his life.
Hermione went home with her children, late, with a sense of accomplishment. That was the first dinner she had been to since the divorce. Since she thought that everyone would hate her for walking out on Ron. For failing to give him another chance. It turned out, everyone loved her. Far more than she knew.
She laid in her bed with a warm sense of belonging that night.
She fell asleep easily and dreamt of the Burrow and its surrounding orchids. She had really missed that place.
The week went by really slowly. With Hermione out of work, on the days she wasn't helping at the school, she had nothing to do but watch TV or read a book. She had read most of the books in her library, more than once. By Thursday, she was so bored that she had decided to clean out her collection of purses.
She sorted them into piles of ones that she wanted to keep and ones she wanted to donate to charity. She made sure to keep the ones that had been magically enhanced, or else, remove the charm, at least.
When she came to her simple black purse, she opened it, remembering having a chunk of cash in there that she didn't spend last weekend. She took out the cash and with it, the business card of
Draco Malfoy
Alchemist
Head of Law Enforcement research for the Northern Hemisphere
Currently specialising in muggle rights
+44 7911 123456
Hermione fiddled with the card for a while, reading over it a few times. How had be become an accomplished alchemist and head of research for the entire northern hemisphere? She had always thought him to be lazy and incompetent, although still intelligent enough to have made top of a lot of their classes. Perhaps she was wrong to have abandoned him the way she did that night at the club?
She went into the living room and retrieved her mobile phone from the coffee table where it normally lived. She opened the message app and typed in his number. For some reason, she hadn't expected it to work but the phone recognised it as a valid number and she now had to come up with a text.
H- Hey its Hermione Granger.
D- Granger, I must say, I hoped you'd be in touch sooner.
H- Yes, well, I wasn't sure I would
D- why not?
H- I didn't think you'd want me to after I ran out on you the other night.
D- You did? I must have missed that ?
H- Yeah right. Well, I'm sorry about that. I had a moment.
D- Yes, I noticed.
H- Hard not to
D- Hey, we all do it.
H- Well, I am sorry.
D- I'll forgive you on one condition…
H- What's that?
D- Have dinner with me
H- Sure, I'll pencil you in for 7 years from now when I'm free.
D- You don't want to?
H- School is over as of tomorrow.
D- Bring them along.
H- Don't be ridiculous.
D- I'm not.
H- That will go down well 'hey kids, this is my teenage mortal enemy who is now kind of a nice guy, lets all have dinner'. Nope, not going to happen Malfoy.
D- kind of a nice guy?
H- Don't push it Malfoy.
D- Ok, well when do they go to Weasels?
H- Next weekend.
D- Well there you have it. Pencil that in Granger. I'm taking you out.
H- We'll see.
D- Ok, well how has your week been?
H- It's been slow
D- Why?
H- Let me see, I am unemployed, so have nothing to do. I have read all the books in my library so have nothing to read. Daytime TV sucks and everyone I know works. Oh, and I have been doing canteen at my children's school with the gossipy mum types who I cant stand.
D- That sounds pretty tough.
H- Its mortifying.
D- Can I help?
H- Unless you have a time machine? I can go back and work much slower on my research.
D- Sorry, all the time turners got destroyed. I think by you and your friends. Or so the rumours say.
H- Hmm, sorry, can't confirm that.
D- I knew it.
H- I'm not surprised
D- What are you doing today
H- Cleaning out my purses. That's when I found your card.
D- So you weren't avoiding me, you just lost my number. Makes me feel better.
H- Why are you so eager to have me text you? To take me out to dinner?
D- Yes. And because you're interesting.
H- ok.
D- No, I mean, you're more than what's on the surface. I never knew that. I want to know more about you.
Hemione was thrown by this last text. How could Draco Malfoy have any kind of depth to him? He's always been so… so Malfoy. The same one who bought his way into quidditch, the one who made fun of her teeth and her hair, the same one who caused her so much grief.
D- What do you say?
She hesitated. Instead of replying to Malfoy, she sent a text to Ginny.
H- Can I come over? Need advice.
G- Sure. Just got home from training.
Hermione grabbed her handbag and turned on the spot, concentrating on Grimmauld Place. She arrived on the Potter's doorstep and reached for the doorbell.
In the last 17 years, Harry and Ginny had paid a vast number of the most highly skilled witches and wizards to renovate the old Black house. Harry really struggled with the idea of making that place his home for so long, but in the end, he wanted to be somewhere that meant something. Even if it was just once the short term home of the Order and the place Sirius hated, Harry made it something to love. A place to call home. Something for Sirius to have been proud of. So now, instead of being a dreary old place that reminded everyone of some of the darkest witches and wizards of the 70s, 80s and 90s, it had been completely gutted, the internal walls had been removed, the rear had been completely opened up and it was now a beautiful place, full of light and love.
Hermione was greeted at the door by Ginny, still in her training gear.
"Sorry, when I said I had been training, I literally had just been training" she said.
"That's ok… Oh, I like this" Hermione said, indicating to a new hutch that was placed in the hallway. They walked down the brightly lit hallway and into a beautiful living room. Stairs led down to a modern kitchen and up to another 2 floors of bedrooms, bathrooms, a study, and a playroom for the kids.
"I still can never get over how great this place looks now. It's so modern. So muggle. Its great" Hermine said.
"It should be, we paid enough to have all those charms removed" she said.
"Remember how hard it was to have Sirius's mum taken down?" Hermione reminisced.
"What did it take, like ten or so witches and wizards to have a go at it?" Ginny asked.
Yes, something like that, all the while she screamed at them" Hermione said.
"Get off me you filthy half blood, you blood traitor" Ginny said in a perfect rendition of the ancient woman's portrait while they both laughed.
"So, spill. What is so urgent that you had to rush on over here?" Ginny asked, sitting down on the lounge.
"I better show you" Hermione said, handing her the phone with the messages open.
Ginny scrolled through and looked up at Hermione.
"He's flirting with you" she said.
"No he's not, he's probably just trying to manipulate me and make me out to be an idiot" Hermione said, her paranoia now in full bloom.
"What? You're crazy. It's been 17 years since school. 17 years since the end of the battle. You're completely different and it appears, so is he" she said.
"But Gin… This is Malfoy" Hermione said. Trying to make Ginny see the gravity of all of this.
"Yes. It is. He's also a good-looking man" Ginny said.
"So you think I should have dinner with him?" Hermione asked.
"I think you should let him bend you over the nearest solid object and let him bang you like a screen door in a hurricane" Ginny said, throwing her trainers across the room.
"GINNY!" Hermione said, blushing.
"Come on, don't tell me you never thought about it. He is looking fucking fine" she said
"Of course I have but you can't talk like that" she said.
"Why not? Men talk like that all the time. Except Harry of course" Ginny said.
"Yeah right, Harrys a true gentleman" Hermione said. At this the two women burst into fits of laughter.
When they stopped, Hermione noticed Ginny tapping away on her phone.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm texting him back for you" she said.
"No, don't. I will text him, I promise" Hermione said, making a grab for her phone.
"You better" Ginny said, handing the phone back.
H- What do you want to know?
There, I sent him a text.
"You call that a text? He's been openly flirting with you; you need to flirt back a little" Ginny said.
"Ok, Mrs expert, how am I supposed to know that? My relationship experience extends to Viktor and Ron. I have no idea what I'm actually doing" she said.
"Just be you. But, a little nicer. You're doing well so far" Ginny said.
"I'm just having a conversation with him. Nothing really flirty about it" Hermione told her.
"You and Ron never sent lovey texts?" Ginny asked.
"This is Ron we're talking about. Emotional range of a teaspoon? Remember?" Hermione asked. "We spent years building up to our relationship, fighting our feelings for one another. Before that, Viktor followed me around the library when we were fourteen. Flirting is not something I am big on" she said.
"Fine, just be yourself. Play a little coy though. Let him take you out to dinner and wear something casual but sexy. You've got the goods Hermione. Get them out" Ginny said.
"Gee, thanks Gin. So helpful" Hermione said, as her phone buzzed.
D- I want to know if you'll let me take you out.
"You pick the day, let him pick the location" Ginny said.
H- Tuesday lunch
"Will you watch the kids?" Hermione asked as she hit send.
Ginny just nodded with a huge smile on her face.
D- I know the place
H- Let me know where and I'll meet you there at 1230 on Tuesday.
D- Make it 12
H- 12 works for me
D- What am I going to do between now and Tuesday?
H- Think about me
"Yes" Ginny said, reading over Hermione's shoulder.
D- Probably
H- In what way?
D- What do you mean?
"This is mortifying" Hermione said, before tapping out another text.
"No its not, it's the best thing ever" Ginny said.
H- How will you think about me?
D- Probably in that dress you were wearing the other night
"Or out of it" Ginny said.
H- Or out of it?
D- I wasn't going to say that, but most likely.
"Merlin Ginny, this is Malfoy" Hermione said.
"I know. I wonder what he's like in bed" Ginny said.
"You're a married woman. To one of my best friends" Hermione reminded her.
"Oh I know that, but I can still live vicariously through you" she laughed.
"We'll see" Hermione said.
H- Well, you do that, I've got things to be doing.
D- I'll see you Tuesday
H- See you then.
Next chapter isn't too far off :-)
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