Chapter 4- Confrontation and Proposal
Hermione stared back at him, and stayed silent. Draco, although very taken aback by how beautiful she was, and also compelled to take her in his arm and tell her how much he loved her, just continued to stare.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here, Hermione?" asked Draco, with evidence of a desired grin on his face.
"What do you think, Draco? I'm here to see you," said Hermione, some what nervous.
"Why? What about me do you want to see?" asked Draco as he walked into his living room, not feeling the need to welcome Hermione in.
Hermione stepped in to the living room, and was hardly surprised to find that the furniture, along with the house, was very plantation styled.
"You're house," began Hermione. "Is gorgeous."
"Thanks, Hermione," said Draco.
Hermione looked around the room again, and sighed. "D'you wanna sit?" asked Draco. Hermione nodded, and sat down on the couch. Hermione looked not at the house or the furniture, but at Draco.
He had certainly changed since she had seen him last. He looked larger, definitely. Hermione assumed he either worked outdoors in order to avoid suspicion from the muggles, or that he drank the strengthening solution regularly, but Hermione was sure that it wasn't the latter. Draco also had some slight stubble, just like he always had, but it looked far more un-managed than it had in their school days. While looking at Draco's chin, she spotted a long scar across his chin, but decided not to comment, and assumed it was from the war. Hermione felt, of course, that Draco looked just as good as he always had.
"You look good, Draco," said Hermione, some what nervously.
Draco grinned, and mumbled, "Thank you…"
Draco had actually avoided really looking at Hermione, but when he finally lifted his head from his hands, and looked at Hermione's face, he learned that she really had grown more beautiful than she was when they were teens.
"You look good too, Hermione…" said Draco, who was highly compelled to tell her that not only did she look good, but beautiful.
"Thank you…" sighed Hermione as she looked around the room again. Draco continued to stare at Hermione's moving head, and smiled.
"So tell me, Hermione," began Draco. "Why did you really come here?"
"I told you already," said Hermione. "I came to see you."
Draco decided that Hermione would tell him eventually, and chose not to persist on asking about the subject.
"So, you're engaged to Weasley?" asked Draco. Hermione's head shot up at the sound of her fiancé's last name, and nodded.
"Yes, I am engaged to Ron, I assume you saw it in the paper?" asked Hermione. Draco nodded, and reached for his coffee mug.
"And, er, I saw your article as well…" began Hermione. Draco looked up into Hermione's eyes, and then he got up.
"Would you like some coffee?" he asked.
"It's just, I dunno…" began Hermione, ignoring Draco's question about coffee.
"I'll take that as a yes. Do you want milk, or sugar?"
"I mean, I am quite surprised that Harry, of all people, never told me…"
"Do you want both? I'll give you both, and you can help yourself,"
"Unless, some one asked him not to tell me…" said Hermione skeptically. Draco stopped.
"God, Hermione, yes! I told Potter not to tell you about my involvement, okay? I didn't want you to know, because I didn't want you going mad about it, I wanted you to forget about me, okay? Does that make you happy, Hermione? Is that why you've come to see me? Because if it is, I guess you can go now…" said Draco in a semi-yell.
Hermione was some what angry about Draco's outburst. Had he possibly become the old Draco after he left her? Was he just angry because the girl he tried to forget has come back, with out warning? When she was engaged to a man he hated?
"Er, I'm sorry, Draco, for asking about it. Obviously it's a sensitive subject, and I shouldn't have asked about it, so I'll just, er, go then, you obviously don't want me here…" began Hermione, zipping up her purse, leaving Draco holding her mug of coffee.
"Hermione, no, don't!" yelled Draco as she walked toward the door. "I don't want you to go, not yet. I want to, I guess, catch up if you will…" said Draco. Hermione smiled, walked back to the couch, and sat down.
Draco calmed down, and sat down. Hermione giggled. "What?" asked Draco.
"I dunno, I guess it's just funny, you always managed to have a bit of stubble in school but I think you've, er lost that skill in keeping it perfect I guess…" said Hermione. Draco rubbed the side of his face, and began to laugh along with Hermione.
"Yeah, I guess I've stopped caring about shaving after school, it's not like anyone important sees me anymore…" said Draco.
Hermione nodded as she looked at Draco. "So, you live in this big house all by yourself?" asked Hermione. Draco nodded, and sat back.
"Yeah, I have friends who stay here sometimes, but nobody else actually lives here. By the way," began Draco. "You do have a place to stay, right?" asked Draco.
"Oh, yes, I'm staying in a motel on the outskirts of the town, I'm just here, er, looking at furniture, antiques," lied Hermione. "And also, to see you."
Draco stopped breathing, just for a moment, and then heaved out a long sigh.
"So, you're getting married to Ron, when's the wedding?" asked Draco.
"Oh, erm, August, the third…" began Hermione.
"Ah, so, you finally got with Ron?" asked Draco chuckling nervously.
"Yes, I did. I was nineteen when we started dating, twenty when he proposed," said Hermione.
"How'd he do it?" asked Draco quickly, hoping that if the girl he loved got engaged, she at least got proposed to the right way.
"It was wonderful," sighed Hermione. "We were walking down Main Street, Hogsmeade, that's where I live, anyway, we were walking, and he was talking about the future. I thought that was odd, but I didn't think anything of it. So then we went into the Three Broomsticks, and we sat down, and he got me a pink butterbeer-"
"Pink butterbeer?" asked Draco. Hermione giggled, and sighed.
"Yes, then he took my hand, and started talking about how much he loved me, and there's me, sitting there stupid, 'I love you too, Ron, I love you too…' then, I dunno, he just kind of, did it."
Draco smiled, and figured, That's probably how I would have done it, maybe somewhere like a park or something, rather then the Three Broomsticks, but about the same…
"So, you love him?" asked Draco before he could stop himself.
Hermione paused, and stared at Draco. Obviously I do, why would I marry him if I didn't? thought Hermione, but she just nodded.
"Yes, I do, very much…" said Hermione.
Draco, disappointed, but not showing it, smiled and nodded.
"Good, that's how it should be."
"Right…" said Hermione firmly.
"And we-" began Draco. "We can be friends."
"Exactly…" said Hermione.
The two talked about a bunch of other things, Draco having little to say, unlike Hermione, who had nothing to do but talk, and Draco fell in love all over again. Listening to her voice, happy and bouncy, while her long, curly hair fell elegantly into her face, and she laughed, and sighed, and even frowned when she was talking to Draco about the deaths of her friends.
"But, I guess that's life…" sighed Hermione. Draco nodded, and took a sip of a butterbeer that he had just grabbed out of the fridge.
Hermione looked at her watch, and looked up at Draco. "My goodness, I have to go, it's late…" began Hermione.
Draco nodded, and said, "Er, can you to come over tomorrow? There's something I want to show you about this field I have back here. It'll be a bit of a walk, maybe we could fly if I can get my old Nimbus to work… "
Hermione nodded, and said, "Alright, sure, I'll come over. How about three?"
"That's fine," said Draco. Hermione grabbed Draco's hand, and shook it as if she had just done some sort of business, and stared.
"So, tomorrow then!" yelled Hermione as she walked out the door with a hooting Jasper and a full suitcase in her hands.
"Yeah, tomorrow, goodbye, Hermione!" yelled Draco. Hermione waved one last time, and disapparted with a loud crack.
"Tomorrow…" mumbled Draco as he walked back into his house, deciding not to go to that pub on the edge of town tonight after all.