Chapter eight – Is it love?
The next day when Hermione had dropped Becky of at her new day-care centre she got to work about 15 minutes too late. The entire staff was gathered in the conference room and she walked in a quiet as possible, not to get anyone's attention, but without any big success. Everybody turned to look at her, people started to whisper. Hermione sat down beside a woman that she'd never seen before and listened to Draco who yelled about something.
"The Daily Prophet is not a place for gossip; I do not appreciate you spreading stupid rumours about me and my fiancé"
"What's he yelling about?" Hermione asked the witch next to her.
"Someone has spread a rumour about him leaving his fiancé because she is cheating on him", the witch said and smirked, she handed Hermione one ex of that day's paper. "I'm Lynette Miller by the way, I'm new here", she continued and shook Hermiones hand.
"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Hermione Granger" Hermione said and smiled at the new employee.
"Hermione Granger eh?" Lynette said and raised an eyebrow. "I've read a lot of your article, you're brilliant"
"Aw, thank you"
"To make things clear, Pansy is not cheating on me, she never has and she never will", Draco said angrily.
Hermione looked up at Draco; she noticed the engagement ring on his finger. She really hated people who were spreading untrue rumours; there'd been a lot of those about Ron's death so she kind of understood how Draco felt right now.
"If I hear on more stupid rumour like this I'm going to fire everybody who's been talking about it", Draco said with an angry tone in his voice. "But there is some good news today as well, Lynette Miller just moved here from Ireland and she's going to work on the sports apartment", he continued in a more friendly tone and looked at Lynette. That's when he noticed that Hermione was sitting next to her.
"It's good to see that you're back again Granger", he said. "But please, try to be here in time!"
Hermione didn't say anything; she just smiled and nodded her head. Draco told everyone that the meeting was over and just as Hermione was about to walk out the door he said: "Granger, please stay, we've got to talk!"
"About what?"
"Have you made up your mind about the trip?" He asked and closed the door behind her with a snap of his wand.
"Yes, I'm going with you", Hermione replied, he smirked at her. "But tell me Draco", Hermione continued and looked up at him. "What does your fiancé think about you going away over the weekend with me?"
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her…" He answered and smirked at Hermione. But his smirk quickly faded away when he looked into Hermiones hazel eyes.
"So you're not going to tell her?"
"Nope"
"Why?"
"Because she won't care", he replied and shrugged his shoulders.
"She's your fiancée, of course she cares", Hermione said.
"No, she won't… I know her, you don't!"
"She knows about all these rumours right? And she's mad at you", Hermione guessed.
"Yes, she's kind of mad, but that's because I believe in those rumours…"
"Wait a minute; say that again… you believe in them?" Asked Hermione and felt kind of confused, but then she remembered the stares that Brian and Pansy had given each other last Saturday. The pieces fell to place; they must have had an affair or something while they did a model job together…
"Yes, I think these rumours are true", he sighed.
"Do you know what, so do I know…" Hermione said. "Do you remember that guy Saturday night who was 'my date', well his name is Brian Tanner-"
"Brian Tanner? That bastard! You're dating him?"
"Oh no, no way!" Hermione exclaimed. "Ginny and Luna hooked me up with him; they said he was going to be my 'Mr Right' but him… Wait a minute, do you know him too?"
"Yeah, he did some modelling job with Pansy like two years ago and I walked in on them having sex"
"What?" Hermione gasped. "Why don't you throw her out?"
"That's none of your bloody business Granger", he replied. "Now let's talk about the trip, are you looking forward to it?" He asked.
"Um, yes", Hermione replied, she really couldn't stop thinking about what Draco had just told her. He knew that Pansy had been cheating on him, but he still wanted to be with her. That just don't make any sense at all, she thought.
"I'm looking forward to it too, I love Italy, have you ever been to Venice?" He asked.
"No", Hermione replied.
"You're gonna love it"
"How do you know that?"
"I don't know, I just have a feeling that you will", he replied and smiled at her.
"That sounds great", Hermione said with a smile and headed for the door. She thought about the conference. Finally, after four years of waiting and hard working, she was going to be there among all those famous writers and journalists. Draco smiled when he looked at her, he could clearly see that this meant a lot to her. It's because of me she feels this happy, he thought, this must be the first time ever I've made her happy, it's to unlike me… I have to say something else, something that will annoy her!
"Granger", he said before she was about to open the door. She turned around and looked at him, still smiling. "Bring your sexy red dress to Italy", he continued and then left the meeting room with a snap of his fingers.
"Bring that sexy red dress", Hermione snorted. "I'll bring and then I'll shove it down your throat", she mumbled angrily before she stepped out the door and started walking towards her office. But she couldn't really get Draco out of her mind, even though she tried. She both hated and enjoyed his compliment about the dress…
He finds me sexy, or at least he finds my dress sexy. I'm going to bring all my sexy clothes on this trip and I'll show him what the word sexy really means! Her thought brought another smile on her lips.
No, I really shouldn't be thinking about him like this, he is my boss and we're going on a business trip. We're professional workers and nothing will ever happen between us, but he must like me a little after all he chose me over all the other people who work here. He chose me! Maybe I'll try to seduce him; I need some love even if it's just for the weekend… She was still smiling as she pictured herself alone with Draco in a beautiful hotel room.
A view over the ocean, romantic music, bodies touching, candle lights, champagne, hot kisses…No! I can't do it, he's engaged to Pansy, but obviously she's been cheating on him so why can't he cheat on her? No, no, I really have to get this out of my mind!
The same afternoon, when Hermione picked up Becky, she met Ginny who was there picking up James. Together they all went to the park to buy ice cream.
"How was your first day honey?" Hermione asked and watched Becky eat her ice cream.
"I was funny", she exclaimed.
"Becky, fly!" James shouted and started to jump up and down. "FLY! FLY! FLY!"
"James, calm down, you're gonna-", Ginny started but it was too late, his vanilla ice cream fell to the ground. "-drop you ice cream", she added quietly.
"Stupid ice cream", he said. "Becky, can we play quidditch?"
"Yaaaay", she shouted and they both started to run around, pretending that they were playing quidditch.
"I expected him to cry", Ginny said and looked at the splashed ice cream on the ground. "By the way Hermione, I heard the craziest rumour today about Pansy Parkinson and Brian Tanner!" Ginny added and burst out laughing.
"Rumours spread really quickly in this town…" Hermione said.
"So you've heard it too?" Ginny asked and giggled.
"They sure do", Hermione replied. "Do you know what the worst part is? Draco still wants to get married to her!"
"What's so bad about that? They deserve each other", Ginny said, still laughing.
"He doesn't deserve a wife that's been cheating on him, no one does", Hermione said.
"Come on Hermione, he's probably cheating on her as well…"
"I don't think so"
"Why?"
"Because… I don't know… I just think that he is a faithful husband", Hermione said, Ginny laughed even more. "Ginny!"
"Sorry Hermione, but Draco Malfoy a faithful husband, that's just hilarious!"
"Whatever", Hermione replied and rolled her eyes, it pissed her of that Ginny was laughing when she was serious. She looked at Becky who was running around in small circles and James was standing beside her, cheering.
"So what are you up to this weekend?" Ginny asked. "Luna and I want you to come over to Luna's place; we're going to have a girl's night, no kids, just us and a lot of gossip"
"I'm going to Venice over the weekend", Hermione snapped. "With Draco", she added quickly.
"WHAT!"
"You heard me right"
"No, I don't think so, because I thought you said that you were going to Venice over the weekend with Draco", Ginny said and looked shocked.
"I am"
"Why?"
"We're going on a conference", Hermione replied.
"Ok, but are you aware of that Venice is called 'the city of love'? People say that you can even fall in love with your worst enemy in Venice… Dear Merlin, this can't be good!"
"So what if I fall in love with him? I thought you wanted me to find someone!"
"Yes, I do Mione, but Draco Malfoy?" Ginny exclaimed. "His father was a death eater"
"Draco is not his father; he's nothing to do with the death eaters"
"Do you know what I think? I think you're already in love with him…" Ginny exclaimed and looked into Hermiones dreamy eyes.
Hermione didn't know what to answer… She had never loved anyone but Ron, but she sure felt something special for Draco, she just didn't know what it was yet. Maybe this weekend alone with him in Venice could help her figure it out?
"Mummy, look I can fly!" Hermione looked up at Becky; she was still running around in circles.
"Becky, stop running around, you're going to fall", Hermione said and rose from the bench and walked up to Becky. "Come on honey, we're going home", she continued and took Becky's hand. "Bye James, bye Ginny", she added without looking back at neither of them.
"I'm dizzy"
"And whose fault is that?" Hermione asked as they walked through the park towards their home.
"James", Becky replied. "He told me to fly"
Hermione sighed and lifted Becky and carried her, the rest of the way. She thought about where her daughter had got the obsession to fly from, it sure wasn't from her because she hated to fly. It must have been from Ron. Of course! She got it from Ron! He loved flying, Hermione thought and remembered all those times Ron had forced her to go with him on his broomstick.
"Becky, mummy is going away over the weekend"
"Can I come to?"
"No, I'm going to work, I think you would be bored", Hermione replied and looked into Becky's hazel eyes, the sparkled with energy. Oh, I can't possibly stay away from her all weekend.
"I can be home alone", she said and laughed. Hermione laughed as well, she loved to her Becky's laughter, and it could make her happy even if she was really depressed.
"No honey, you'll stay with grandma and grandpa", Hermione said and put Becky down on the ground again. The walked into the house, up the stairs and into their apartment, they made some sandwiches and drank some pumpkin juice, and when Becky, an hour later, laid in bed ready to sleep. She, once again, forced her mother to tell the story about her father. She never got tired of hearing it…Hermione told her the story and watched her daughter drift into a peaceful sleep… Normally when she watched her daughter sleep she thought about Ron because Becky reminded so much of him, but this night was different. There was another man in her thoughts, Draco; she just couldn't stop thinking about him. Is this love?