Chapter 7

Hermione stamps a smile on her face - simply so Astoria won't suspect anything is wrong - they may have gone to a museum together but that doesn't mean she's ready to give away all her secrets.

As Draco walks towards them and Astoria pulls them in his direction, the distance between them starts to get smaller and smaller until Hermione has no other choice but to look Draco in the eyes. She regrets it immediately. She can feel her walls starting to crumble around her.

Draco is quite baffled by the scene in front of him. It took him ages to find out where Hermione was, and then once he finally manages to get here, he finds her with Astoria of all people?

Draco greets Astoria with a kiss on the cheek, and turns to do the same to Hermione. He feels her stiffen as his lips touch her.

"'Storia, what a pleasure, wasn't expecting to see you here?"

"Yes, well, I guess news of me being here has stayed out of the papers" and then quickly adds, " as I've hoped. Anyway, I bumped into Hermione earlier and was just showing her around Muggle Bern, it really is quite an amazing city" she says with a modest smile. "I was actually just telling Hermione, I'd love to take you two out to dinner - my treat of course!" She adds, with a sincere sound of hopefulness in her voice.

Without looking at Hermione, Draco gives a sheepish smile and responds to Astoria, "Ah, unfortunately we already have dinner plans for tonight, and I'll be going back to London tomorrow, maybe another time." And at that he finally turns his body towards Hermione. "Now, awfully sorry Astoria, but we must be going. Thank you for showing Hermione around today, I'm sure she enjoyed it."

Realizing that was her queue to bid adieu to Astoria, Hermione pipes in "Yes, thank you Astoria, so much, I really appreciated it, and it really opened my eyes to how incredible this city is." She sneaks a quick glance in Draco's direction, wanting to see his reaction. But of course, his face is stoic, giving nothing away. Astoria has also mastered the art of concealing all emotions on her face, because she remains as proper as ever as she accepts the dismissal and rejection for dinner. Bloody Purebloods.

"Of course, another time." She gives Draco the two kisses on the cheeks (who does she think she is, French?) and turns to give Hermione a hug, which definitely catches her off guard. She hopes she reciprocated it quickly enough as not to offend. But Astoria's face, once again, shows nothing amiss and she gives a small wave before apparating away.

The pop from Astoria's apparition echoes throughout the small street and Hermione is slightly thankful for it but then deeply misses it when it's gone. Now it's just her, Draco, and quiet. She musters up a semblance of courage and turns to face Draco. The stoic face he had while Astoria was here is gone, in its place is small spasms of irritation.

Hermione starts, "look, I can see you're annoyed -"

"Annoyed!?" Draco cuts in, "that'd be putting it lightly. My girlfriend won't respond to any of my owls, none of her friends have a clue as to where she is, and then I come to find out she's run off to another country!"

"Well, maybe your girlfriend didn't want you to know where she was!" Hermione replies with just as much heat. But then her curiosity gets the better of her and she asks, "how did you find out where I was anyway…? I made sure not to tell Harry, Merlin knows he can't keep a secret."

Hermione's probing question causes Draco to lose some of his steam and the next words out of his mouth are much softer.

"We can talk about that over dinner, come on, I found a nice little place for us around the corner." He grabs her hand and starts to lead her down the lane.

"Oh, so dinner wasn't a complete lie then." Hermione snarkily replies.

"No, it wasn't, and you're welcome for getting you away from Astoria, sorry you had to spend, what sounded like, all day with her."

Hermione feels the need to defend her new found friend, "She honestly wasn't that bad, maybe even nice at times," Draco guffaws, so Hermione continues, "and she wouldn't necessarily be the worst thing about moving here…" and instantly regrets it when she feels Draco's hand clench from her words.

"I guess I can imagine maybe one thing that could be worse" he manages to utter. He's let go of her hand at this point and she feels an emptiness start to overwhelm her. Just as she's about to say something to Draco, he stops in front of this very large building with a sign out-front: Kornhauskeller. He puts his hand at the small of her back, sending tingles up her spine, and leads her inside. Once again she is blown away by the architecture of this city. The building has incredible arched ceilings and a vast painting depicting Switzerland wildlife all along the walls.

Once they are at a table and have ordered their food Hermione can't keep it in any longer, "So tell me, how did you find me? Put a tracker spell on me when I wasn't looking?"

Hermione knows she probably went too far, but honestly, can't she run away in peace if she needs to?

Draco gives her a halfhearted glare in reply to her quip, "no, I didn't place a spell on you," he heaves a big sigh and responds more softly, "I hope you know I wouldn't do that." After a few breaths he continues, "I, uh, used my connections in my department instead…was able to look at all outgoing international portkeys in the last week…"

Hermione's eyes go wide. "You, what!? That's got to be a breach of confidence!"

"Well…I said I had to use my connections, didn't I? and it was worth it." he finishes lamely. "Actually, speaking of my department, I have something to discuss with you…"

"Hmm, do you? Nice little diversion from that topic, I see." Hermione is less than impressed.

Draco, while trying to keep the peace, continues with his previous statement. "I have a proposal for you."

"A proposal?" This catches Hermione off guard, but admits to herself, she is curious.

"No...not…not that kind of proposal" Draco stutters as patches of red start to spread onto his pale cheeks.

Hermione laughs at the mishap, obviously she knew it wasn't that kind of proposal, but honestly, it is fun seeing Draco squirm like that.

She volunteers an olive branch, "go on" she tells him.

"Yes, well, I know it's probably not the best solution, it would be a bit of a compromise for us, but just promise you'll hear me out."

Hermione is definitely curious where this is leading, a compromise? Those aren't usually ideal…but she nods her head for him to continue anyway.

"What would you say to working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation?" He asks her forthright.

"What?" Hermione asks confusedly.

Draco seems to realize he's already started so he has to finish, "I've been talking to Harriet Pearce, who is head of the Australian division in my department and they just so happen to have a job opening. I may have brought up your name in conversation with her, and she's obviously heard all about you and claimed she'd be daft not to have you on her team." At the continued look of confusion on Hermione's face he continues, "I know it'd be a completely different area for you, but you know you'd be amazing at it, magical cooperation is like a sixth sense to you, and you'd be able to go to Australia at least once a month which means you could see your parents more! And…well you'd also get to stay in London…with me." he adds with a smile.

Hermione is simply baffled by what she is hearing. She never would have pictured herself in Draco's department, mainly because she always just felt a certain kinship with the department of magical creatures. But, Draco is making some logical points…she would get to see her parents more…and maybe a vastly new job that stretches her abilities would be good for her…but what about Switzerland?

She finally responds to Draco's inquiring look, "Yes, well, I suppose that could work, it would be nice to see my parents more often…"

"Great! Harriet said she'd just need to meet with you first, go over a few things, but that you've basically got the job!"

Hermione is trying not to feel overwhelmed at the idea, maybe this would be good for her, for them. Just as she is about to respond though, they're joined at the table by another friendly face -

"Hermy-own!"

"…Viktor!?" Hermione exclaims in surprise - maybe Switzerland isn't as hidden away as she thought. She hasn't seen him since Bill and Fleur's wedding, which seems like eons ago at this moment. She very clumsily gets up from her seat and gives Viktor Krum a hug, entirely too aware of how muscular he is.

"Vot a surprise to see you here, you look as beautivul as ever." Krum says to her, causing a mild blush to ignite her cheeks, she remembers now that he always was a bit of a suave talker.

"Thank you Viktor, you look great as well" she then motions towards Draco - who is only looking slightly perturbed at the intrusion - "This is Draco Malfoy - did you two ever meet? He was at Hogwarts as well during the Triwizard Tournament."

"Ah, vell, I remember that blonde hair, Malfoy you say?" Krum says as he shakes Draco's hand. Draco is about to say something in return, but it seems Krum has already lost interest and has turned back to face Hermione, "I don't vant to take up much of your time, but I saw you over here and vanted to say hello - and to tell you I received your letter last summer -"

Hermione inwardly groans, she thought that whole thing had been avoided - the letter had been sent back to her! To make matters worse she can see Draco's reaction from the corner of her eye, he's clutching his fist against his mouth to hide a laugh.

" - my personal assistant read it and told me it vas sent back but she had made a copy in case it vas important, she thought your name vas familiar - can you belieff it? Fan mail from The Hermyown Granger!

At this, she shoots a quick glance at Draco, dying to know his reaction, but regrets it immediately as all she sees is an undeniable Malfoy smirk.

Krum continues, "It vas quite the surprise - much, much too short, but something I'll keep forever'' he then starts to lean a bit closer to Hermione, lightly grazing her cheek with his fingers and slowly making his way down to her chin. There is suddenly a loud cough from the direction of Draco's seat - someone who is obviously uncomfortable with what they're witnessing.

Krum gives a small disgruntled reply, "ah, vell, once again it seems not meant to be, always someone vatching" and he gives Hermione an audacious wink before walking away.

That man, Hermione thinks as she shakes her head and a small laugh escapes her as she sees the expression on Draco's face.

"Oh honestly Draco, don't be jealous, he's all talk. And I wasn't going to let him do anything."

"Mmhmm yes well, sorry if I don't like professional Quidditch players making moves on my witch right in front of me." Draco counters.

Hermione just rolls her eyes in jest, "good to know you still get jealous over those silly little letters…" A smirk then forms on her face, one that has become a bit more prevalent since dating a Slytherin. Draco just shakes his head, recognizing the monster he's created.

/\\\

As they leave the restaurant, Hermione realizes how late it has become. The old town only has small vintage street lamps, so the night sky is a deep navy blue with stars scattered throughout. Draco takes Hermione's hand in his as they look up at the tiny specks and for a moment Hermione forgets all about the past few days and their 'fight'. She turns to him and wants to feel his arms tight around her and for him to promise her that everything will be okay - that they will be okay. As she begins to turn towards him, something from earlier wiggles to the forefront of her brain and a completely different question pops out of her mouth.

"You told Astoria you're leaving tomorrow? You can't stay one more day…?" she asks sadly.

She's so close to him that she can see him tightly swallow. "No, it has to be tomorrow. I…I've been summoned by my father in Azkaban."

Hermione's breath hitches. "...I didn't know they could reach out to relatives?"

Draco gives a sneer, not intended for her, "I don't think they are, but my father always finds a way around everything doesn't he?"

"Oh Draco, I'm so sorry. I know you haven't seen him since the trials -"

He cuts her off, "that's always been my choice though. Can't imagine what he wants to talk to me so badly about or why he's choosing now to even pretend to care about me." He finishes with a dry laugh.

Hermione tries not to pity him, he hates any ounce of pity, she just wishes things could be different for him.

"Well, I was planning on staying one more day here, but if you need me by your side, I'll go. I'll go with you."

Draco just shakes his head. "No, love, this is something I need to do on my own." He then looks up at the night sky once more, trying to keep his emotions in order. After a minute or two he continues, "When I think about my father, I really hate him. I hate him for all the wrong choices he made - for everything he put Mother and I through. But then I think about my father and I miss him.." at these words his voice catches but he presses on but in a whisper, "...and then I hate that I miss him."

Hermione's heart shatters into a million pieces. Seeing a vulnerable Draco was not something she thought she would be seeing tonight, but it's one of the many reasons she loves this man. He's everything she thought he wasn't. She lightly lifts her hand onto his cheek, wiping away a stray tear he let loose. That one act is all it takes for him to swiftly pull her into a tight embrace, something she hadn't realized she needed just as much as he did.