Courting Miss Granger-Chapter 18- Breaking Up is Hard to Do
By Marmalade Fever
Hermione blinked warily at the message that Draco's owl had dropped off several hours before. No matter how many times she read it, the words never seemed to change.
Dear Miss Granger,
We need to talk. The circumstances of our separation must be discussed, along with possibilities on how to publicly announce our disengagement. Come to my house tomorrow at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Draco Malfoy
That was it. Not even the faintest clue about why they were no longer getting married. (Or an apology, for that matter.) She couldn't even imagine how it might be possible... not that she cared. It had been stupid of her to tell him that she loved him. Love? Him? Of course not! He was an arrogant, self centered jerk! She'd merely been infatuated, caught up in the moment! And of course it was all for the better. This way she could go on living a normal life. She could now marry whom she pleased and when she pleased. Under no circumstances would that certain somebody be a scumbag like that, either. But boy, all she wanted to do was wring his filthy, little neck! Mudblood indeed! She'd show him! She sent her fist pounding onto her coffee table, sending her tea cup crashing onto the floor in a large, wet mess of tea leaves and china. Marmalade, who had been sitting on her lap, leaped off and ran full speed out of the way. She stamped her foot in frustration. See what he'd made her do? That had been her best tea cup! She grudgingly went to get a towel to wipe up the mess on her floor.
...
Meanwhile, Draco was not faring any better. He had calmed down to a point where he was able to think clearly. There was much work to be done. Switching wives-to-be was no easy task. It took a lot of careful planning and timing, something that gave him the same sort of head-ache that he got while playing chess. He wasn't sure who he wished to curse more: his ancestors for writing the insanely idiotic contract in the first place, his father for being so darn picky, himself for coming up with the entire courting and love idea, Hermione (Drat, he'd told himself not to call her that!) for going along with it, or Antoine Bellover for being stupid enough to get herself frozen in a tundra!
Perhaps most irritating of all was that he now had a song stuck in his head. He had thought that playing some of that muggle music, the Bugs or whatever the name was, would help to relax him. Instead one of the songs had gotten completely imbedded into his psyche. Worse, he didn't even know all the lines! He hated that. It went something like, "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it seems that they are here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday. Yesterday, love didn't seem so far away, la la la, the games we play, oh I believe in yesterday. Why she had to go, I don't know, she wouldn't say. I said something wrong, now I know it was yesterday..." He was quite sure he had the words wrong, especially the "la la la" part. Something about the song made him feel guilty about how he had reacted a few scant hours earlier when Hermione, (Granger, not Hermione, Granger! Honestly, two syllables should be easier than four!) had told him that she loved him. Stupid muggle music with its catchy lyrics and melodies.
Anyway, he had sent her a note asking to meet to discuss how to make the breakup official to the public. At the time, the whole proposal in the restaurant bit had seemed like a stroke of genius, now it was coming back to bite him in the bud.
...
Boxing Day was a frigid one. Both members of the former couple sat silently in the living room of Draco's home. He hadn't said anything yet besides, "follow me." At last Hermione broke the silence. "Are you going to explain the situation or not?"
"I guess I might as well," Draco spat back. "It seems you are no longer the only candidate in the entire world to whom I can get married and end this whole irritating ordeal. Antoine Bellover, whose father is a friend of my own, has just made a comeback."
"How do you mean?" Hermione had her arms crossed and was staring pointedly at him.
"Apparently she's been frozen in a tundra and they just now got her out again. She's in St. Mungo's recuperating." Hermione let out a derisive laugh. "That's my fiancée you're laughing at," Draco said, glowering.
"Well excuse me, but as someone who was engaged to you less than twenty-four hours ago, I don't think you should be using that as an argument!" she said with a huff. Draco noticed that she was still wearing his ring... out of habit, he supposed. He didn't care if she kept it, the money was a mere trifle to him, it was the symbol of the ring he cared about, a symbol of... he mentally slapped himself. Finishing that sentence would have been a terrible, careless thing for him to do.
"Well la dee da," he replied at last. If that wasn't a lame comeback, he didn't know what was. Hermione rolled her eyes heavily.
"So what do you propose we do to end this marriage and start you out fresh with the Ice Queen?" she asked. Ice Queen, that was a good one! He wished that he had thought of that one. "And keep in mind," she added, "that I absolutely refuse to participate in any sort of explanation that would make me look vulgar."
"Granger," there, he'd done it, he'd managed to say her surname rather than her first, "you insult me. Honestly, I would never think of blaming the situation on you! After all, the public eye would frown if they thought that I had even gotten engaged to someone without ensuring that she was above such things." It sounded half like a compliment for her and half like a conceited self-appraisal.
"Well thank you for that, at the very least," she said blandly.
"I have already come up with an excellent excuse," Draco continued. "It sheds only the best of light on all three of us. It seems that Antoine and I were already engaged several years ago, but when the accident occurred, I lost all hope. I thought I could never love again, until I ran into you. Then when I heard that she was all right, you, out of the goodness of your heart, told me to marry her instead!"
Hermione opened her mouth as if to object to something before snapping it closed again. "That's good... that's very good, actually. But how are you going to fix it so that her story coincides with yours?"
"I already have the top in the field working on it."
"Memory charms?"
"When necessary." He leaned back with his arms behind his head in satisfaction. Hermione sneezed rather abruptly. "Bless you," he said, automatically. "Catching a cold?"
"Yes, and I might add that if I am, you probably are, too." She raised her eyebrow in a pointed way. He didn't understand at first.
"Oh yes, our little battle of lips yesterday. How these things do tend to slip one's mind." For the first time since he had been called to his father's office, he actually permitted himself to smile.
"I knew it!" Hermione had stood up, looking suddenly triumphant.
"Knew what?" he asked, frowning.
"You are such a hypocrite! Between kissing me like that, calling me that vile name for trying to kiss you, and smiling at the memory of kissing me, you, sir, are a hypocrite! Obviously, my blood can't mean that much to you if you don't mind my body."
"If you wanted me to apologize for calling you that last night, then why didn't you just say so?" he asked, sounding like her statement hadn't meant a thing. She was right though, it was very hypocritical of him.
"I don't want an apology. Goodness knows you were in denial, and that was it."
"Denial?" he asked, eyebrow arched.
"You permitted yourself to fall in love with me, Draco Malfoy. When your father told you that it was all over, all for the sake of stupid blood purity, you suddenly were torn between your past beliefs and your recent revelations. The truth is, you didn't want it to end. You wanted to believe that you were happy about the new situation, so you put on that face instead, and that was the face that enjoys tormenting scum of human beings, like me. In fact, I can vouch for it. Just last night, I was in denial myself. I told myself that this was all for the better, that now I could marry whoever I wanted. I tried to deny that I had been honest to myself when I said I loved you. You know what though? I was wrong. I think I do love you and that you feel exactly the same way I do. So go ahead, stage our break-up, woo the Ice Queen, because I'll be waiting. I know that sooner or later, you're going to come running back to me! To quote Eliza Doolittle, 'just you wait!'" she stood erect and walked straight out of the room, head held high.
Draco just sat there, staring. He was so not in denial! He was the complete opposite of denial! He was annoyed by the situation, but that was it! Why wouldn't anyone believe him? He banged his head against the arm of his couch several times. He hated her, really! And that was when the sneezing started. He pried himself off of the couch and into his bathroom to the medicine cabinet. He took a dose of pepper-up potion, waited for the steam to subside, and went to lie down. It was only after a nap that he found a pair of diamond earrings sitting in a small box in his entryway.
