~*~ And Then? ~*~
She walked quickly toward Flourish and Blotts, taking care to stride purposefully, but without seeming to be unduly urgent. Swinging through the door she swiftly scanned the room and allowed herself the tiniest of tender smiles as she spotted him perusing the shelves. Several steps brought her to his side and she gave him a breezy wave.
"Hullo, Grey. It's great to see you again." She rested one hand on his shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, just let me pay for this first," he said, waving a book under her nose, then heading off toward the counter. After a brief exchange of speech and coin, he was back, tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow. "Shall we go then?" And with that, he led her out to a quiet corner of the street and nodded. Hermione nodded back and apparated out, reappearing in her kitchen.
She immediately began making tea, smiling as she heard Grey arrive behind her. Without turning from her task she asked lightly, "So...dare I hope our plan is working?"
Rich laughter erupted behind her, followed by a kiss to the back of her head. "Better than I expected, dearheart. Better than I expected. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to think at first, but then he kept coming back, kept watching."
After a slight pause he continued, "He never approached me though, so I finally approached him." In a lightning quick change of topic he asked, "Where's Ron, anyway? I thought he'd be here."
She gathered up her tray and turned, nodding toward the living room, then walked out, placing the tray on the table before sitting down to pour out cups of tea for them both. "He's off with the children. I think he figured it would be better to have them out of my hair for a while," she said with a laugh, adding sugar and milk to the cups. "And anyway, we can be sure the children won't overhear anything they wouldn't understand. So you approached him. Then what?"
"Honestly, 'mione, I think I startled the hell out of him." He paused for a moment, thinking back through the years and all the things that had happened. When was it exactly that he'd started to wonder, to notice the changes in Draco that had crept in on feet silent like those of a cat. When was it exactly that he'd realized he wanted his rival and enemy with a passion that equaled or surpassed the one shared by his two best friends?
She watched him gaze off into the distance, his eyes shuttered, then shake his head. She prompted again, "And then?"
"Oh. I asked him if he'd prefer I left him alone, of if he'd prefer to dance with me," he replied with a sheepish smile. "He didn't bother to say which, he just stood up and gestured to the floor. What really got me was while we were dancing and I whispered in his ear that I knew he'd been watching me and he passed out."
She hid her own smile in her cup and took a sip, savoring the slightly smoky flavor. "Based on what you're saying about his actions, and reactions, I think he's well on his way toward admitting what we both always assumed he felt." She grinned openly this time, inviting Grey to laugh with her, but not in an unkindly way. "Do you think he'll come back then? Like the proverbial moth to the flame?"
"I hope so...I think so. But who knows? Just because I want him to doesn't mean he will. Just because we seem to think he's not the person we once knew and disliked, that he may actually care for me, doesn't mean he'll walk right into my life. On the other hand, he didn't exactly 'act' like the old Malfoy, and I can't imagine why he'd be hanging around the club for months without doing a thing if all he wanted was some twisted sort of schoolboy revenge."
She looked down for a moment and took another sip of tea, pondering the situation. Looking up she asked, "Would you like some suggestions to be going on with?"
Grey swirled his tea around, a faint look of distaste on his face as he remembered all those times in divination so long ago, then shrugged and sipped. Glancing back up he gave her an achingly sweet smile and nodded.
"Right then, okay. Honestly, Grey, I think the best approach may be for you to simply act toward him as you do me and Ron. You know? Affectionate, like he's a close friend, so you can suss him out a bit more. I don't necessarily mean right off the start, but work into it. Then again, you're so different from what you used to be like that I'm not sure that matters, if you follow my meaning. We know what you mean by it toward us, but I think it will throw him off balance and maybe he'll let loose some of what he's thinking, even if he doesn't mean to."
As she watched Grey digest this while sipping his tea, clattering and high-pitched shrieks heralded the arrival of her husband and children. Ron's head appeared around the corner followed by two small blurs that launched themselves at herself and their Uncle Grey, who barely had time to put down his cup before catching a wriggling, giggling child in his lap. Apparently, it was time for their family picnic.