Chapter 2
A few days had passed since Hermione's random encounter with Malfoy before she jotted down the promised letter of detailed plans to him. After five minutes of procrastinating and fidgeting, the witch took three deep breaths and righted herself. Heading to the Ministry's owlery, she set off to send the parchment addressed to him that was currently wicking sweat from her palm. "Like ripping off a plaster, right? Why am I so anxious?", she thought to herself. After the barn owl took off with her correspondence, she exhaled all her tension and returned to her desk to get back to work, not letting herself focus on the situation at hand. She would not be a silly school girl daydreaming about him and waiting for his response as if it were the be all and end all to her day.
xxx
Draco was reading in his childhood bedroom, digging through research on a project he was working on. Parchment and opened books spread across the writing desk in front of the window that was the closest he had been to being outside in a day and a half. Stuck amidst his own concentration, his eyes followed the index finger that traced each sentence he attempted to read and dissect to find what he was looking for. A tapping before him broke his concentration as he locked eyes with the unfamiliar owl.
Malfoy,
The show starts at 7 pm but I wasn't sure if you wanted to eat prior or not. It will be a good three hours and I'm not sure what you would want to do. I know we only committed to the ballet but I wanted to double check with you. Shall we meet there? Respond with your thoughts.
H.J.G.
The wizard rolled his eyes to himself and could almost hear her blather on as if she was nervously mumbling the words he just read live and in person in front of him. A vision of her in her kitchen stumbling over her quick words appearing clear in his mind. This seemed like more of the same. He shook his head in amusement as he tapped the tip of his quill to his chin. With a smug look on his face no one would have the pleasure to enjoy but himself, he penned a letter back.
Granger,
These are not details. These are the ramblings of an indecisive woman. A gentleman properly escorts his companion to the ballet and venues of similar caliber, therefore I shall not meet you there. You have invited me and I am your guest but my etiquette does not just fall to the wayside like some kind of primitive savage. I have early dinner plans so I will not accompany you to a meal beforehand but I will see you at your flat at 6 pm so that we can arrive together.
Draco
PS. My letters are my business. As no one intercepts them there is no need to speak in code and hide yourself through our correspondence.
xxx
Hermione narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the parchment she held in her hands. It was almost as if she could burn a hole right through Draco's letter with her gaze by pure will alone. As she finished the note in her hands before dropping it on her desk and shooing the owl away, she decided she would respond on her lunch break and send her own owl back after she had time to think on an eloquent, non-rambling response. She scoffed to herself about the consistency in Malfoy's arrogance and the nerve. Yet she still found herself smiling and then just as quickly shaking it away. A half of a decade had passed. War and the aftermath had changed everyone. Who is to say Malfoy hadn't changed? What is to say he had not changed for the better? She owed it to him to give him a chance and if he was still a prat she was a strong enough woman to hold her own and walk away. The war had changed her too. She was stronger now; still soft when the opportunity needed that, but in the grand scheme of things she was solid and unmoving. Stronger. Steadier. She could give him a chance without risking herself. Boundaries would be essential to the building of this… friendship? Yes, friendship. It wouldn't grow to be more than that. This was Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy,
Do you remember how to get to my flat or do you require an address? I will see you Friday at 6pm. Let me know if more details are necessary before then, will you?
Hermione
There. Two can play at the snark game. Feeling pretty proud of herself she finished her work day with a new found burst of enthusiasm that came from not letting the Slytherin get the best of her.
Three more letters and just as many days passed before Friday arrived. He insisted that it was only etiquette and respectful that he received an address to her home as to be punctual and accurate on the off chance his memory of when he was in a full blown panic attack misled him. The second letter was simply her home address and nothing more. The third contained flawless penmanship and three words, Thank you, Granger, and it was left at that because Hermione felt like with his penchant for chivalry and properness, it would go on forever- and she didn't have time for that.
She took the day off because she knew herself well enough to know that if she didn't she would get caught up in her work, leave the office late in a huff, rush through getting ready- late, only to have to spend the entire evening hearing passive aggressive and snotty comments about how disheveled she was- "like some commoner". No. No, that was NOT going to happen. Not today. She had floo called over at Grimmauld Place at the beginning of the week, not so proudly begging Daphne Greengrass, Harry's new fiancee, for help getting flawless. It wasn't that she wanted to impress the pureblood, but she did want to avoid any opportunity for criticism and scrutiny because she just didn't think she would have the patience for it and it would make it bloody hard to start a friendship with him if she wanted to bruise the face the she had just mended less than a week prior. The blonde agreed almost a little too quickly, clapping and bouncing and exclaiming that she needed a new mini project as a quick distraction from wedding planning. Hermione tried not to instantly regret enlisting the help because she had grown very fond of Daphne and she was stubbornly standing firm to not give Draco a single reason to mock her- no matter what- even if it meant being fussed over for an hour. She had the whole day to prepare for her fussing while she got to take the rare opportunity to melt into her sofa and read. She could finally tell Harry, Ron and Ginny that yes, as a matter of fact she does know how to relax and can take a bloody day off without combusting.
It was not an hour. The floo in her living room roared to life at eight in the morning as the pureblood rushed inside with her arms full of fabric as her hands clutched handled totes that looked to be the size of kneazle carriers.
"Daph, it is eight in the morning. I don't have to be ready for ten hours. What are you doing here so early?" Hermione had run out of her bathroom with her toothbrush still in hand and toothpaste still on her face, a hazard associated with hearing her floo come to life unexpectedly as she finished brushing her teeth. Her curls were flying free in random spots from her messy bun that had been tousled during sleep and not bothered to be fixed because she literally had done nothing but eat breakfast and brush her teeth since she woke- and was not expecting any guests for hours. She was very much looking forward to reading a bit to clear her head and get herself in the most positive relaxed mood she could before having a day of back to back Slytherin contact.
"Adorable. Granger, you are simply adorable." The other witch looked polished and poised as she gracefully placed the pile of garments from her arms to the couch and placed the totes down as she began to open them and fiddle with the contents as if she was disarming a bomb. As the gowns draped off the side they looked more like art than clothing. Hermione noticed prices on some of the tags still hanging from them that cost an amount she wouldn't dare spend on a holiday let alone a piece of fabric she would probably only wear once. Daphne continued to fiddle with the cosmetics and accessories as she shook her head and continued explaining to the muggleborn how you can not rush was an art to this kind of thing and she made a point to annunciate this as she eyed the tea and ink stains that speckled the bunny printed pyjama pants her friend wore as she still brandished her toothbrush at her like a wand. "Seriously, you are so cute. So, where do you want to start? Bottom to top, or top to bottom?"
xxx
When they took a break for lunch Hermione had been pricked, prodded and painted. Eyebrows had been plucked and a mixture of muggle beauty techniques and glamour charms had taken place. They had picked her shoes, dress, and jewelry and were currently arguing on the details of her hair between bites of takeaway Harry had dropped off on his lunch break while they primped away. It was a little curious that Daphne had not pressed for details on who would be accompanying her to the ballet, but as the grooming ritual began to settle and all that was left was the final touches of hair, makeup and getting dressed, the afternoon went into a more casual tone. Hermione could see questions and the need to gossip forming in the blonde's eyes.
"So, you finally found a date to this ballet. Anyone I know?"
Fuck, there it was. Yeah, someone you know. Only your beau's childhood nemesis as well as your fellow housemate. No big deal, she wanted to say. She shifted in her seat as she debated how she would get the words out with as little drama as possible. She had not even told Harry about the - was it even a date?- date. It wasn't because she thought he would give her a hard time or try to talk her out of it, he was marrying a Greengrass for Godric's sake. He went through his own stressors of introducing Daphne to their circle of friends and found family after she went from being a friend he had met at work to a woman he danced with at a gala until eventually, someone he wanted to love forever. Hermione knew he would understand and be supportive, but she also supposed it all just happened so fast that it did not really come up. Now, however, the cat would be out of the bag and she needed to make it seem like it was not as big of a deal as Daphne could easily make it out to be.
"Actually. . . So, I ran into an old classmate of ours last week. Draco Malfoy. He was being cornered and hexed outside Gringotts. I helped him out so he's helping me out by taking this ticket off my hands. It's really not a thing."
The Slytherin's eyes could have fallen out of her skull with how wide her expression grew at the confession. "Malfoy? Draco Malfoy? You're serious? You actually are being serious?" It was a good thirty minutes before Daphne stopped laughing and Hermione finally got the exasperated look off her face with a final roll of her eyes.
"If you are quite finished?"
"It really is funny. You and Malfoy. You and Malfoy in Muggle London. At the ballet. At the ballet watching Cinderella. Ok. It's not funny. It's hilarious."
"Honestly, I'm not even clear on why you are making a big deal out of it."
Daphne opened her mouth to speak as her eyes and hand motioned to all the prep work they were doing to prepare for Granger's evening. The witch in question stopped her short.
"Before you even start. This-" She mirrored the other witch's previous hand movements to gesture towards the boutique like bomb that had gone off in her flat this morning, " was all you, Daph. I asked for your help. You decided to make this a 'big deal' with a full makeover and fashion show. Beyond that simple fact, I am not doing any of this to impress him. I just want to avoid giving him any reason to give me grief. I intend on enjoying this ballet. I spent good money on those tickets and I would much rather not be stewing in my seat annoyed, thank you very much."
The pureblood witch bit her lip as her eyes lit up like twinkly Christmas lights. "I need a quill. I need to write all of this down. Documentation and mementos. Don't you worry I am going to document all of this and keep it nice and safe until I make a scrapbook for you two and I'll give it back to you on your wedding day."
Hermione wondered if she could swap trying to avoid wanting to punch one Slytherin for wanting to throw everything not attached to her flat at another one, and still stay whole. Afterall, she would, and has, done just about everything to enjoy the ballet at this point, what's a little aggravated assault next to a ten hour day of primping? One solid thought formed in her head.
Malfoy, you better not make me regret this.
A/N: This update has been a long long time coming. 5 years+ to be exact. I am in the process of dusting off a lot of old works that have been sitting in my google doc for that time either flushed out and ready to write or half written. This was written as a birthday OS for Madam B. Snape and posted on a different profile ( tearoomfairies.) as part of gifted stories within a group over 5 years ago. Shortly after that I wanted to clean it up and add to it a bit to change it from a OS to a multi chapter fic. The original thought was to make it around 8 chapters at around 2k each. I published the first chapter here and then it sat abandoned in my computer ever since, half completed. Fast forward to now, I have had the inkling to finish what I started way back in 2016. I'm slowly combing through, editing and adding to stories that I had written but left to collect metaphorical dust in my google drive. Many people I shared the fandom with when I started writing fanfiction have left the HP fanfiction community or aren't as active as they once were. I want to give beta credit for the mental labor that was gifted to me then, but for the most part I am working on this project and future postings by myself. I want to declutter my creative brain, regain reliability in myself, and dust off my writing skills before I go back to original works I was working on more recently. I plan to update 2 chapters a week every Friday and this story aims to be completely by 4/22/22. So, if WIPs aren't your jam, come back then. This is also your warning that the story gets spicy in the 6th chapter. Thanks again for your patience. It feels good to be back. ( Author's notes will hopefully never be this long again lol)