The door was opened by Blaise, who bestowed them with his dazzling smile.
"Good evening, ladies," he said. He stepped aside for them to enter. "You both look lovely. I didn't realise you would be arriving together."
Hermione couldn't help but notice the suite, which was subtly lit, the blinds were all shut except one pair and the table was laid. It looked very welcoming and extremely stylish. No-one could deny that Draco Malfoy had good taste.
Draco appeared from the kitchen, carrying two glasses of wine. He was dressed in a black suit, with a white shirt and he looked ridiculously handsome.
"You didn't tell us we were both invited," Ginny said, as Draco handed her one of the glasses.
"Oh, must have slipped my mind," Draco said, innocently. He gave Ginny a smirk and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Seriously, thank you for saying you'd do this. Anyone willing to be with Blaise, even if it's just an act, deserves praise."
Ginny laughed and Blaise made a grunting sound.
"Is everything organised for the food? Do you need me to check with the kitchens?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, no and that is the last time you're allowed to ask," Draco answered. "Just concentrate on pretending to be my grateful and appreciative girlfriend."
"Grateful and appreciative?!" Hermione's tone told him what she thought of that.
"Imagine all this being yours," Draco waved his hand down his body and smirked. Hermione heard Ginny give a chuckle and Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"The room looks lovely," Ginny said. "Are the other guests our age or older?"
"The M.D. is older but a couple of his senior managers are our age."
"We have to be on our best, grown-up behaviour then?" Ginny asked.
"If you don't mind," Draco gave both the girls a small smile and Hermione felt a little sorry for him. This was obviously an important evening for him and it was the first time she'd seen him act humbly about anything.
"Is Theo going to be here?" Hermione asked and then immediately regretted it when the expression on Draco's face changed.
"No. He only writes for Silver Magazine so he won't be here," Draco answered. Something about his tone of voice made Hermione stare at him. The buzzer went and Draco headed to the door. "This will be the musician," he said. He opened it to a small man with a large moustache.
"Mr Malfoy? I am Peter Toulan."
"Yes - thank you for coming. I'll show you the piano, it's a good one."
She wasn't sure if she had been imaging Draco's reaction to her question about Theo. Why would her asking that upset him? It was ridiculous that he might be jealous - wasn't it?
Hermione stood where he'd left her feeling a little awkward. Should she go and sit on the sofas or follow Blaise and Ginny who had gone into the kitchen area. She decided on the latter. As she came into their view, Blaise was feeding Ginny something off a spoon. It was an intimate gesture and Hermione immediately wished she hadn't intruded.
"Oh, sorry..."
Blaise turned to her. "Ah! Hermione, come and try this sauce that goes with the starter."
"It's delicious," Ginny said.
Hermione then found herself being fed from a spoon in the same way Ginny had. As she nodded to say how delicious it was, Draco appeared.
"How romantic - feeding each other," he commented and Hermione definitely heard the same sharp tone to his voice. She felt uncomfortable again and sipped her wine. Draco busied himself with taking some items from the fridge and getting out some plates. She knew two of the hotel staff had been hired to help serve tonight so he didn't need to be doing anything. She had the feeling that he was just keeping himself busy.
She could hear the pianist warming up and decided to try and smooth things over. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd done but something had Draco all flustered - whatever it was, she wanted it sorted before his guests arrived. It was going to be hard enough acting as his girlfriend without him giving her the cold shoulder. Ginny and Blaise were talking, over by the table so she took a deep breath and spoke.
"That's a nice touch, having a pianist."
"It would be a shame to not use the piano, as there is one," Draco answered. He didn't look over at her and continued to unwrap some food.
Hermione, as always, decided to confront him head on. She didn't have patience to deal with ridiculous tantrums. "It's going to be hard to pretend I'm your girlfriend if you can't bring yourself to talk to me."
Draco stopped what he was doing and looked straight over at her. "What are you talking about?"
"You're being aloof."
"I'm anxious."
"Anxious and aloof," Hermione answered him, challengingly and he stared over at her. She saw his mind registering what she'd said and waited.
"Sorry."
His answer truly shocked her and she gaped at him. She couldn't recall having ever heard Draco Malfoy say in her brain a voice was asking why Draco would be bothered about Theo and Blaise. The usual answer didn't make sense - he just couldn't be jealous, that was ridiculous. They were hardly even friends, let alone anything more.
Draco's eyes had softened and he ran his fingers across the countertop before speaking. "It's just I would hate you to be here because of an obligation..."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm a guest - you're the Manger. I know I asked you as a favour but I wouldn't like to think you're only here because you feel it's your duty."
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to come," Hermione answered him, honestly. She did feel a responsibility to help Draco because he was a guest but she was willing to admit she wanted to be here, as well.
"You know I would have invited Theo if you'd asked me to," Draco said. "But what about Jake?"
"Jack," Hermione corrected him. "I didn't want you to invite Theo. It's your dinner party - you have to invite whoever you think is appropriate," she said.
He was so difficult to read. He seemed jealous yet now he was saying he would have invited Theo if she'd requested him to. She couldn't comprehend that he would care but maybe it was just a Malfoy thing. She was sure that Draco was used to getting his own way and didn't like it if someone didn't do what he wanted.
"I don't want to be Theo's pretend girlfriend," she gave him a gentle smile. "I want to be your pretend girlfriend." Her smile widened at her own small attempt at humour, the word 'pretend' giving her sentence a whole different connotation. She was relieved to see Draco look down at the countertop, his mouth lifting at the corners.
"I sense you're not taking this seriously, Miss Granger," he said. Now he lifted his head and gave her a grin. "Again I have to question if it's suitable for an employee of the hotel to mock one of the guests."
"Again I have to point out that this is just Hermione mocking Draco," she smirked now and he returned it, his eyes sparkling. She looked over at the stools again and sighed. "See, I forgot about those things when I chose this dress! I hope we stay seated at the main table."
"I think I might suggest we take a round of drinks right here," Draco teased her.
"You dare!"
"As you just pointed out - it's my dinner party." Draco put the food down and stepped around the counter. He looked her up and down. "Did I forget to tell you that you look amazing?"
Hermione raised one eyebrow. "Only Ginny's pretend boyfriend has complimented me tonight. My pretend boyfriend hasn't said a word." She leant forward and lowered her voice, as if she was sharing a secret. "To be honest I'm considering dumping him. I can't remember the last time he bought me pretend flowers or took me out for pretend dinner..."
Draco actually threw his head back and laughed. "Yeh, you should dump him. He sounds useless."
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The dinner was going well. Draco's guests were easy company and conversation had remained light and easy. Ginny was at her best, gregarious, chatty and confident, she engaged everyone at the table in conversation, even one of the Manager's frosty looking wives.
"So, how did you two meet?" Lynette, the Managing Director's wife, asked Hermione and Draco. Hermione tried not to panic but cursed herself for not preparing an answer to this obvious question.
"Draco booked our conference facilities and I helped him organise it," Hermione jumped in with a reply, hoping desperately that it was what Draco wanted her to say.
"Ah! Love over the conference table?" Lynette joked. "Stefan and I met through work as well."
"Well, it wasn't the first time we'd met - just the first time as adults," Hermione said. "Draco and I attended Hogwarts together." She still hadn't glanced over to Draco for reassurance but the fact that they went to school together was common knowledge. There would be no point in not admitting to it.
"Of course. I suppose it was strange meeting again under such different circumstances."
"A little."
"I suppose it's difficult to get to spend very much time together?" Lynette asked. "I don't work but it's still difficult when Stefan is always so busy. I can't imagine what it must be like with you both having such responsible jobs."
"Well, that was why staying here while my house is rebuilt was an ideal solution," Draco answered. He leant over and took Hermione's hand and she tried to look pleased about it. "We've seen each other a lot more."
"Did you help design the new house?" Lynette asked. She tapped her husband, Stefan on the shoulder. "Draco says he can show us the plans for his new house after we've eaten. I was just asking Hermione if she had any input into the design."
Stefan, who was a large and fairly extrovert man, turned to join in their conversation. He nodded enthusiastically. "I'd like to see the plans," he looked at Hermione. "Of course Hermione helped with the design. Women like to do those things."
Hermione smiled, trying to ignore the slightly chauvinistic remark. "It's Draco's house but I like to think I helped him with the design." She tried hard not to smirk at her remark, which she knew would irritate Draco. It was a blatant lie but it was his fault they were having to do this so she didn't feel guilty.
"I suppose it might be your house too, one day?" Lynette said with small smile and Hermione forced a smile onto her own face. "Do you have any marriage plans?"
Hermione glanced very quickly towards Draco, trying to assess his reaction to this. She felt him squeeze her hand, indicating, she presumed, that he wanted her to answer. She also knew what her answer should be. This was all about convincing these people what a morally, upright person Draco was and how they could trust him to sell them a legitimate and bustling business.
"We haven't planned anything in detail but it's definitely on the cards," Hermione answered.
"Good - that's what I like to hear," Stefan nodded his approval. "How do you feel about Draco considering selling Wizard Times, Hermione?"
Hermione felt another wave of panic, worried she was getting out of her depth. Again Draco squeezed her hand but she didn't know what he meant this time. She didn't want to sound like an empty airhead who had no opinion about her supposed boyfriends business dealings. She had to sound interested and intellectual.
"I think, ideally, we would like to keep all parts of the business. It's taken Draco years to build it up and it seems a shame to let any of it go," she answered. "But every business has to move and evolve or it will stagnate."
"I've seen the figures - it's a good, little paper and it sells well. Surely, it's foolish to sell something that brings in a steady income?" Stefan addressed them both but Hermione jumped in to answer.
" Wizard Times is an excellent newspaper with a loyal client base. I think it's important the quality of the paper doesn't suffer and because Draco's business is so diverse, that was our worry. It's a very focused paper and it needs attention to make it so good. We'd be very happy to think it was being passed to someone like yourself, who can give it the attention it deserves and hopefully make it flourish further."
"I think it has huge potential - it's just up my street!" Stefan nodded again.
"It does have huge potential," Draco agreed. "It is a regret of mine that I haven't the time to spend the time on it that it deserves. Hermione and I were worried the quality may be compromised and that was what prompted our decision to consider its sale."
"We feel protective of it," Hermione said. "We wouldn't consider just selling it to the highest bidder. It has to be the right person."
"Which I believe I am," Stefan said, quickly and Hermione could sense his enthusiasm. This was what they wanted - he needed to be anxious to buy it. They had no other potential buyers, but he needed to feel that they did.
"I can see that you might be," Hermione nodded. "Your enthusiasm is encouraging."
"Would you have any plans to change the content?" Draco asked. Hermione knew he wasn't half as possessive about this newspaper as he made out. She wasn't even sure he cared about the content at all but this had to be a convincing act.
"Not at all! I think it's just right - it doesn't need fancy articles. It does what its customers need it to - informing them about business in a precise and concise way."
"That's what I believe as well," Draco nodded. "So, you would be interested then?"
"Definitely," Stefan nodded. He nodded towards Hermione. "I hope you appreciate how lucky you are to have a girlfriend who is so capable," he spoke to Draco who nodded. "It's very important to have good backing at home. In fact, I would say it's imperative to any productive business."
"Yes, I do appreciate Hermione's help," Draco said and Hermione glanced over at him because he sounded sincere.
"Well, I'll be in touch with you tomorrow to sort out some details of the sale," Stefan said. "I'm sure we can come to a mutually agreeable arrangement. I'm happy to meet your initial sale price and we can negotiate on the extras." Stefan stretched his hand out to Draco. "Let's shake on our meeting tomorrow and doing business together."
Draco smiled and shook Stefan's hand. "I look forward to it," he said. "If you'll excuse me for a moment I'm just going to check on the staff, would you help me Hermione?"
"Of course."
They left the table and Draco walked into the kitchen area. As soon as they were out of sight, he grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her towards him. She stared at him, surprised. Without any warning he leant forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Bloody hell, Hermione!" he said. "You were bloody brilliant!"
"I just said what I thought they'd want to hear."
"The bit about - we won't sell it to just anyone! Genius!" Draco was whispering. "I don't think he expected my gorgeous girlfriend to have brains as well!"Hermione tried not to look too surprised at his compliment but Draco had already stepped away, lowering his head. He looked up at her from beneath his fringe."Sorry - I didn't mean to say that," he said. Hermione had no idea what to say to him about his lavish compliment, followed by an instant reversal. She felt slightly offended and then noticed the look on Draco's face. He was grinning at her. "I meant to say - he couldn't believe my gorgeous 'pretend' girlfriend has brains as well."
Hermione found herself grinning back at him. He was such a tease! She thought he was retracting his 'gorgeous' comment and he knew she had thought that. She gave him a playful shove in the chest. He smirked at her but caught her hand in his, stopping her from withdrawing it and holding it against his chest. Suddenly, Hermione's heart was racing, her eyes locked to Draco's as he pulled her a step closer. He was mesmerizing, his suit and shirt making him look even more devastating than usual. She was only human and she would challenge any woman to not be enraptured by him.
Suddenly, Draco's eyes moved to Hermione's lips and she felt a tingle. His hand was still squeezing her own to his chest. She knew this feeling and she'd never expected to feel it about Draco Malfoy. She shouldn't feel it about him. He was dangerous - fun, charming, sophisticated, extraordinarily handsome but dangerous.
"Draco, have you got a cloth? I've spilt my wine..." Ginny's voice interrupted them and they hastily stepped away from one another. Hermione went to sit back down, pinning a smile on her face.
Ooh - what I wouldn't give for a Draco...sorry, I forgot I'm supposed to be the serious author...