Prioritizing
Disclaimer: I own nothing Harry Potter. If I did then your children's minds would be seriously demented.
Summary: Hermione's husband plans a romantic evening to reassess their marriage. Fluffy to the max! One-shot
Hermione stormed into the entryway, slamming her car keys down on the hall table and fumbling to take her coat off. Her heels clicked on the wooden floor as she made her way into the sitting room, where she plopped down on the plush green couch and pulled off her black high heels. Sighing, she picked up a Muggle novel from the coffee table, opened to her bookmark and began to read.
She was just getting to the good part when a tiny voice interrupted her reading. She put down the book to look at the house elf Lieben. "Master is wanting Mistress in the dining hall, Mistress," said Lieben.
"Thank you," Hermione said, dismissing the elf. Reluctantly she put down her book and shuffled into the dining hall in her stockings. All she wanted to do at the moment was read and sleep. Her day at work had been too long and too hard to have to do anything tonight.
She wondered why they were eating in the dining hall since they usually only ate in the dining hall when they had guests over. She didn't remember him telling her they'd be having guests tonight. But who knew about him these days, his colleagues were more important to him than she was, it seemed, so there could be any number of guests waiting for her to arrive. She thought the guests get a great surprise when she showed up in her stockings and a wrinkled skirt, but that would serve him right.
"What do you want," she began to say as she flung open the heavy doors to the dining hall. She never got the whole sentence out of her mouth, though, because when she entered the room she was knocked breathless. The hall was the most beautiful she had ever seen it, but the thing that first caught her eye was the gigantic banner on the far wall that read "Happy Anniversary Hermione!" in great letters that were charmed to flash different colors. Her jaw dropped, and she noted that the usual table that could hold three score people was gone and replaced by a small table for two, draped in a scarlet tablecloth.
"He was supposed to keep you in the sitting room." Her husband entered the dining hall at the far end of the room, coming in from the kitchen. "I was supposed to be in here to jump out and yell 'surprise!'" He flashed her an apologetic smile for the house elf's stupidity and flicked a piece of hair from his eyes. "So, how do you like it?"
"What is all this for?" Hermione asked. If it was their anniversary she had forgotten about it, which she doubted since every important day was in her date book, and she hadn't seen ANNIVERSARY penciled in for today.
"Our anniversary, silly," he said, rolling his eyes and walking across the room towards her. "Why, Hermione, you don't look dressed for a fancy dinner," he said in mock-shock.
"It's not our anniversary," said Hermione, worried now that she had actually forgotten. No, she was sure they'd gotten married on June 13th, and this was March.
"Not of the day we got married. It's been six months since we started ignoring each other," he said solemnly. He put his arms around her waist, causing her to withdraw a little. "See," he said. "You're not used to my touch anymore. We haven't had sex in seven months, Hermione."
"And is this a joyous occasion to you? Such a great thing that we have to celebrate it?" she said icily.
He had a sort of helpless smile on his face at this comment. "Hermione...this is the night we need to regroup and remember our priorities. We've both been busy with work lately. I miss you."
She sighed. "I miss you too." Her tone was much softer this time. "We've only been married for a year and a half and already we're ignoring each other."
"Both of us were always high strung, Hermione, but this is ridiculous. We need to think of ourselves, even if it is just for this one night."
"Can we at least do it in the sitting room? I mean, I know you set this all up but..."
His smile cut her off. "I knew you'd say that, don't worry. I know you don't like eating in here. Let's go."
When they arrived back in the sitting room, Hermione found there was already a romantic place setting there like in the dining hall. "You know me too well," she said.
"I'm supposed to, aren't I? After all, I am your husband."
They sat at the table across from each other. Neither of them said anything for a moment, until he said, "So how was work?"
She raised her eyebrow at him and picked her wine glass up. Sipping at the red wine she responded, "Horrible."
"Really? I thought you loved being a teacher Hermione," he said, picking up his own wine glass.
"Usually I do, but today my classes were particularly rowdy," said Hermione, taking another drink of her wine. Today was one of those unusual days where she wanted to drink and drink to forget her terrible day. "How was your day?"
They were being very formal with each other, which he did not like at all. The point of tonight was so that they would once again become husband and wife instead of two people that lived in the same house and never saw each other. "My day was alright," he told her. "I had lunch with the Minister and scolded him for not paying his house elf. He kept insisting that the elf didn't want to be paid, but I told him that he should still pay it and give it a vacation."
"He should know that already!" said Hermione, smiling at her husband's boldness with the Minister. "I assumed he already pays it, being who he is. How is Mr. Weasley, anyway?"
"He told me to tell you that he says "hello" and that you need to come visit sometime soon. He tells me that he knows Ron isn't at home but you still need to visit him and Molly."
"Was he mad at you for scolding him?" Hermione asked.
"Well you know he's never really liked me...but he agreed with me. He told me that Ginny always tells him to pay the house elves." He watched with some amusement as Hermione's wine glass was magically refilled and she took another gulp from it. Her day must really have been bad. "Hermione, you might want to slow down on the wine, there," he advised.
"But this is good wine," she said innocently.
He knew not to argue with her, it would be no use. "Ready for dinner, then?"
"We really should do this more often, hon," said Hermione a lamb chop, a salad and three glasses of wine later. She was just finishing up her Crème Brule and her tongue had become incredibly looser over the past hour and a half that she and her husband had been dining.
"I agree," he said. "You've just been so busy with work lately that it's hard—"
"I've been busy with work?" she said, looking up from her desert with slightly glazed eyes. "You're the one that's always away at meetings and conferences and staying at work late! Not to mention the fact that when you ARE home you invite numerous guests over here to talk business!"
"Hermione, that's not fair," he said.
"Don't talk to me about FAIR Draco Malfoy!" cried Hermione. "I've been trying to have a romantic evening with you for months! But you wouldn't know because the past few times I've tried it you never came home until the next morning! I set up the room with rose petals and candles and everything and then you don't even bother to come HOME!" Tears were now cutting paths down Hermione's pale cheeks, but she went on. "Sometimes...sometimes I don't doubt you're cheating on me!"
There was a silence after Hermione's speech, in which Draco was thoroughly stunned. "Hermione," he choked out. "I would never cheat on you. I can't believe you'd even think that."
Hermione looked down at her plate, ashamed, and when she lifted her head back up Draco was kneeling beside her. He studied her face as if she was an interesting animal in a zoo. "I love you, Hermione, I expected you to know that. I did say those vows, didn't I?" He didn't wait for an answer before he put his lips to hers, catching her in a soft, caring kiss.
"Do you ever wonder why we got married?" she asked once they broke the kiss. The tension and anger that had been present in the room moments before was gone. "I mean, why didn't you marry Pansy Parkinson? Why didn't I marry Harry or Ron?"
"Neither Potter nor Weasley was any sort of match for you, Hermione," he said, half joking. "They've been your best friends for years. Besides, opposites attract." He grinned at her and fingered the ends of her brown hair.
"Why didn't you marry Parkinson? Do you think you would've if...if your father hadn't died?"
"Pansy was so wrong for me, Hermione, you know that. She was just a pug-faced slut, that's all."
"Just good for a shag, right?" she said, a half-smile on her face.
"There's no way I would have married her. No way at all," he said before capturing her lips in another kiss.
"We need to straighten out our priorities, Draco," Hermione said, breaking the second kiss somewhat reluctantly. "We are both guilty of putting work before our marriage lately and that's just not going to cut it."
"I fully agree. Now can we shag or what?" he said.
"Subtle, Draco, very subtle," she said, shaking her head and laughing.