AN: Happy Thursday, lovelies! This is a bit of a long chapter because I couldn't find a good spot to cut it off and I was really exciting for the ending! We're setting up for one of my favorite chapters which should be next weeks, so I'll see you all on Thursday with some more Dramione goodness :)
Oh also! If, hypothetically, there was a BFP pinterest board and I had a writer's twitter and all that nonsense, would any of you want those? Lemme know!
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Draco stopped in the middle of the street and felt entirely unimpressed. Tucked between a bar and a flower shop, of all things, the front of the shop was barely wide enough to hold one window and one door, and it looked entirely forgettable. The silhouette of a howling wolf head made of weathered iron hung over the stoop, the only indication of what lay inside. The small glass window was brimming with a display of sunflowers which prevented him from seeing the interior of the shop, but the wooden door, though faded and blending into the brick building, was inviting nonetheless.
He read through the shop hours displayed on the door countless times as he tried to calm his nerves. There was no way to predict how Hermione would react to seeing him, and he hated unknown situations. His stomach clenched tightly at the remind of how much he must have hurt her. Her face, the look of horror and pain when he had stepped into that atrium… Rolling his tense shoulders, Draco huffed. He wasn't going to get any closer to gaining her forgiveness if he spent the entire morning outside the shop. He had faced Death Eaters, giants, werewolves, and dementors. Surely he had the balls to knock on a damned door.
Before his inner voice that sounded far too much like his mother could lecture him about bravery, Draco stepped up to the door and knocked twice.
The door flew open before he had the chance to fully pull his hand away. He had to tilt his head down to see the woman who had opened the door, she was rather short compared to him. Her curly dark hair formed a wild halo about her head, and the vibrant green top she wore was nearly as blinding as her smile.
"Hullo, stranger! Welcome to White Wolf Designs. I'm Miranda. What can I do for you today?"
Mind spinning at her sudden appearance and how quickly she spoke, Draco tried to process what this woman had said.
Mistaking his silence for nerves, Mo smile gained a gentler light. "Is this your first time? Nothing to be worried about, sweetie, everyone gets nervous the first time around, but Jacob's a sweetheart and will take great care of you."
Draco shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment, trying his best to focus on what she had said. Miranda seemed to think he was a customer. "No, ma'am, I'm not. I've actually come to see a friend of mine, though I'm not sure if she's here today or not."
Something in her face changed almost imperceptibly as Mo heard his last sentence. Almost as if her smile took on a hardened edge to it. "She?" she asked.
Draco eyed the small woman. Though she most likely would have a hard time even reaching his shoulder, something about her struck a small amount of anxiety in him. "Yes," he spoke carefully, watching for further reactions from her. "Her name is Hermione."
"Ah." Miranda's smile all but disappeared as she stepped back from the doorway and gestured him inside. "You can wait in here while I fetch her."
He tried to ignore the icy notes in her voice. It was a safe assumption that Hermione had told this muggle at least enough for her to resent his being here. Draco made his way into the shop and stood only a few steps away from the door. It wasn't because he needed the option of escape, he told himself. He was just too anxious to sit down.
Miranda vanished through a door behind the front desk, and Draco took the opportunity to examine the shop.
He blinked. And then blinked again.
Muggles weren't capable of magic, but had he been asked Draco would have sworn an expansion charm had been placed on the interior of the tattoo shop. From the outside he would have guessed the shop was the size of a coat closet, and that was being generous, but the room he was standing in was spacious and welcoming. Light bulbs, much like the ones he had seen in Muggle Studies, hung from the ceiling and bathed the room in a warm, yellow light. You could hardly see the crimson color donning the walls due to the multitude of tattoo designs that were framed and hung haphazardly across every available wall space. The eclectically mismatched furniture and various potted plants made it feel more like someone's home rather than a professional work environment.
He was about to investigate one of the various closed doors when he heard the sound of his name. His eyes snapped to the right side of the room where a staircase he hadn't seen was tucked against the wall. Hermione stood on one of the last few steps, her hand poised on the railing and confusion knitting her brow into a small frown.
She looked beautiful.
Her long brown curls were gathered at the top of her head in a pile, in a way that he had seen her wear it so many times in the library at Hogwarts. She was swathed in a forest green sweater so large it covered her hands, fell to just above her knees, and revealed the majority of her right shoulder. Tight black pants peaked out form underneath them. She was barefoot and looked as though she had just rolled out of bed.
All the things he had planned to say vanished from his mind, and he could do nothing but stare at her.
"Draco?"
"I'm so sorry," he blurted out. His words were rushed and breathless. "I came to apologize. I wanted to give you some space, but I…" He swallowed thickly, eyes still not willing to look anywhere but at her. "I'm so sorry."
Her guarded expression melted somewhat, and a sadness crept into her brown eyes that made his heart ache. He was the cause of that sadness, he was sure of it. "What are you sorry for?" Her voice was soft, but it carried through the empty room.
"Everything." He hesitantly stepped up to the bottom of the stairs and said, "All of it, Hermione. Standing you up for dinner, not explaining why. I should have asked you about the flowers and the chocolates. And, sweet Salazar, those doves were Blaise's idea. I should have stopped him —"
"But you didn't." She tilted her head to the side, as though weighing the truth in his apology. "You didn't ask me what I wanted, what I liked. You listened to your friends and treated me like any other forgettable witch. I don't want to be forgettable, Draco."
He shook his head emphatically. "You couldn't be forgettable if you tried."
"Thank you." She smiled at him and descended the rest of the steps to stand beside him.
"Can I," he tried to ask but was cut off by the surprisingly boisterous muggle woman from before.
"Hermione, Jacob's ready for you in room two!" Miranda came bouncing around the corner and grinned at Hermione while pointedly ignoring Draco. "He got everything set up while you were talking."
Hermione returned her smile. "I'll be right there." She returned her gaze to Draco and said, "I have an appointment with my mentor, Jacob. If you wouldn't mind staying, I would like to continue our conversation."
The idea of watching Hermione get a tattoo made Draco's mouth run dry, and he found himself nodding in agreement before he could really think it through.
Hermione smiled at him, and whatever came next was well worth it. "We'll be through that room there," she said and pointed to a door across the room. "We can talk while Jacob works."
She crossed the room towards a different door, and Draco moved to follow but was intercepted by Miranda.
"I know what you did, and I know what she's been through. If you hurt her again, I'll be forced to get involved. Don't make me get involved, Draco." All of this was said with the most cheerful smile, but the threat in her voice caused chills to dance down Draco's spine. Muggle or not, he had no doubt she was capable of things that would give even him nightmares. Nodding to show he understood, Draco quickly entered the work room and closed the door behind him.
Draco glanced around the room to take in his surroundings and hopefully distract himself from the tiny demon in the other room. He could feel her glaring holes into the door behind him. The workroom was set up similarly to Hermione's back at Virago. Posters of rules and regulations as well as more tattoo designs littered the walls of the room and hid the peeling, faded paint beneath them. A plush leather chair with a stool sat next to it and took up the majority of the space, but what caught Draco's eyes was the small table next to the stool.
The shine of metal brought him closer and then filled him with confusion. Small metal tools, at least he assumed they were tools, were neatly organized into rows across the table's surface. Some had loops at the end while others had small blades; all of them baffled Draco as to what their purpose could possibly be. Before he could give into the urge to pick them up and examine them, the workroom door clicked open.
Hermione walked in and was followed by a tall man Draco hadn't seen before. He had close-cut brown hair and tanned skin, built like a Beater and taking up the entire doorway with his large frame. Draco tried not to let his hackles rise. He wasn't the jealous or territorial type.
Draco watched as Hermione and this other man moved quietly around the room and got ready for whatever Hermione's appointment would entail. He stepped back out of their way and leaned against the wall farthest away from the chair and table of mystery equipment.
"This is Jacob," Hermione said suddenly as she gestured to the other man in the room.
Jacob gave Draco a nod in greeting and began fiddling with what appeared to be clear gloves. Rather than say hello to Hermione's apparent mentor, Draco opened his mouth to comment on the uselessness of clear gloves. The words died in his mouth when he was distracted by a swift movement from Hermione's direction.
He glanced over and felt his heart leap into his throat. Hermione had removed the strip of fabric that had held her untamed curls away from her face and was fashioning it around the clump of shirt she had made at her side. Her shirt now rode up just under her breasts and exposed the expanse of her stomach as she sat down on the chair in the middle of the room.
Swiftly throwing up his occlumency shields to try and keep his expression neutral, Draco diverted his attention begrudgingly to Jacob as he started selecting tools from the table next to him. He took a deep breath in through his nose, and let it out slowly through his mouth. Hermione was going to be the death of him.
Draco regained his control and looked back towards Hermione just in time to see Jacob stick a metal bar through the skin he had pinched above her belly button. He swung his horrified gaze to Hermione's face, expecting her to scream or curse at Jacob. His horror mounted further when he found only an expression of mild discomfort on her features. His eyes darted back and forth between her face and her mutilated stomach before he finally shouted, "What the bloody hell did you just do?"
Jacob looked up at him with a rather bland expression. "I gave her a piercing." He returned to his work, replacing the metal stick - a torture device, Draco decided - with a tiny silver bar. On the end of the bar sat a small sapphire.
Had Draco not been distracted by the obvious abuse to Hermione's person, he would've admired the way the blue of the gen offset the smooth expanse of her deep bronze skin. Instead, he exclaimed, "You just stabbed her in the stomach!"
Hermione grinned in amusement at Draco's reaction and said, "No, Draco. He pierced my stomach. It's a type of body art just like a tattoo. It's very common in the muggle world."
"People do this willingly?" Draco darted his gaze between Hermione, Jacob, and Hermione's stomach, his voice full of disbelief.
She tried to stifle her giggles so Jacob could finish cleaning her piercing. "It doesn't hurt that much, Draco. It looks worse than it is."
"Yeah, mate," Jacob added from his position bent over Hermione's stomach. "I've gotten a few myself that were worse than this, and I didn't so much as flinch."
Draco went very still. This muggle had been stabbed multiple times, apparently on purpose, and hadn't flinched. Hermione made sense. Dear Merlin, she had been through a war, of course she wouldn't flinch. But a muggle? It sounded like a challenge, and Draco was never one to back down. He could hear his inner voice, which sounded far too much like his mother, telling him this was foolish, but he ignored it.
Hermione must have seen the look on his face because she very quickly said, "But they aren't something you want to get on a whim because they scar and can be quite permanent."
Draco hummed to acknowledge he had hear what she said, but he didn't take his eyes off of Jacob.
"Well sure," Jacob said in agreement, still not looking up from Hermione's stomach. "That's why you start with something small like the earlobe. That's what just about everyone gets done first."
Draco's eyes narrowed at the insinuation that he was anything like everyone else, anything like all the other muggles this ape knew. "What else do people get?"
Hermione sighed. "Draco, no."
"You could get a lip piercing." The corner of Jacob's lip twitched, right near the small silver ball that Draco assumed was his own piercing. "That one actually hurts a little."
"Then that's what I want."
Hermione shooed Jacob's hands away from her stomach and sat up straight in the chair. "Draco, did you not hear a single word I said about not rushing into things?"
Draco finally looked at her and arched a single, elegant brow. "Hermione, I have an entire arm covered in tattoos. I think I'm allowed to get stabbed on a whim now."
The voice in his head that was yelling at him for being so reckless was immediately silenced by Hermione's laugh. A small smirk made its way onto his mouth as Draco slide his gaze over to Jacob. The ever stoic man remained impassive, and had Draco not been an aristocrat he might have huffed in annoyance.
Hermione rose gracefully from the seat and, much to Draco's disappointment, removed the tie holding her shirt away from her stomaching allowing the fabric to recover her skin. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through the mass of untamed curls and gathered them in a ball on the top of her head. Draco watched in fascination as she wound the fabric around the ball of hair multiple times before letting it go. His eyes widened when her hair stayed on top of her head. Squinting and tilting his head slightly, Draco wondered at the possible magical properties the tie must possess. Perhaps a sticking charm?
Completely oblivious to the baffled blond next to her, Hermione busied herself with sanitizing the equipment and the work station she'd be using. "Since this is your first piercing," her voice finally drew Draco's attention away from her hair. "I'd suggest we do a simple hoop piercing."
Draco nodded along to what she said; however, internally he was scrambling to remember if she'd mentioned different types of piercings. Sure he knew you could get them in different places, but different types? What could she mean by that? He glanced at Jacob and quickly masked his confusion behind a confident expression. Draco swore he saw the corner of Jacob's mouth twitch in amusement, the bastard. Choosing to ignore the man, Draco instead watched Hermione as she bustled about the small room gathering her supplies and muttering quietly to herself.
"Well, the shop opens in a few minutes, so I'll leave you two to your fun." Jacob patted Hermione on the shoulder as he moved to the door. "It was nice meeting you, Darren."
Draco whipped his head around to look at Jacob, but the man was already closing the door behind himself. "Darren?" Draco muttered skeptically. "That's not even close to my name." Assuming the man was simply lacking in intelligence, Draco missed the amused roll of Hermione's eyes.
"Alright, Draco, if you'll take a seat," Hermione said and gestured to the black seat she had previously occupied. "We can go ahead and get started."
"How long does this process usually take?" Draco asked as he made himself comfortable. Well, as comfortable as one can be in what was clearly an abused leather chair. Perhaps muggles didn't know that proper method for caring for leather? Draco shook his head at the thought.
"Oh, not too long."
Draco tried not to frown at her vague answer. Any frustration he felt immediately leaked from his body when he felt her take hold of his lip. Sure, she was wearing those silly clear gloves, but her hand on his mouth and face so close to his own was enough to knock the next breath out of his chest. He closed his eyes to try and regain his composure and thus missed the moment Hermione stuck the piercing needle through his lower lip.
"Holy mother of Merlin what the bloody fucking hell, Hermione?!"
"No don't move!"
Draco swatted her away with one hand and moved the other to protect his mouth. The expression of absolute betrayal on his face sent Hermione doubled over into a fit of laughter as the poor blonde clutched his assaulted lip. "Why are you laughing?" he bellowed.
He gazed down at the wheezing girl leaned against his chair and immediately glared at the top of her curls. Of course she found amusement in his pain, a witch had handled getting stabbed better than he had. Thank Merlin Jacob hadn't been in the room, or Draco would have had to apparate out, change his name, and live off the coast of Norway for the remainder of his life. The shame would have been too great to bear, but seeing as it was Hermione he didn't mind adding, "Why the bloody fuck would you have that done willingly? And to your stomach of all places? Have you taken complete leave of your senses? Because I haven't! I can sense every amount of pain that damned torture device caused!"
After finally regaining her breathing and wiping at her eyes, Hermione pulled herself upright. Her face was flushed and her eyes shone with tears from laughing so hard. "Draco," she gasped as she choked down another laugh, "it doesn't hurt that bad. There's no need to be so dramatic."
"Doesn't hurt that - Dramatic?" He sputtered indignantly and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Hermione, you shoved a hole through my lip!"
Hermione grinned and shook her head. "Come on, you've been through worse."
Draco's lips pulled up into a sneer, but there was no fire behind it. "Regardless of what I have been through, it does not change the fact that you just ruined my perfectly handsome face."
"But not your humility, I see." She pushed against his chest to get him to lean back against the chair and said, "Just let me finish, and then you can complain."
He tried not to look scared, but he knew his face was a few shades paler when he asked, "You're not done yet?"
Hermione tried not to laugh because she knew how startling a first piercing could be. Considering Draco was knew to the idea of piercings in general, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said, "The worst of it is over." She picked up the lip ring from the tool tray and waved it in his face.
The object was too close to his eyes for him to make out what it was, so he waited for her explanation and resisted the urge to look at it cross-eyed.
"I can't just leave the needle in your lip, Draco. I have to put the ring through it."
Eying her warily, Draco slowly leaned back in the seat. "Very well then, do as you must."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and quickly exchanged the needle for the ring before he could throw another fit. Sitting back to admire her handy work, Hermione had to admit that he looked good. "Personally, I think it's a good addition."
Still glaring, Draco allowed himself a moment to inwardly preen at her compliment. He gently brushed his fingers against his lip to feel the piercing. The metal felt strange and out of place. "Was it worth the pain, is the question?"
Hermione moved to sit on the chair beside his legs, her thigh brushing against his in a way that he was all too aware of. She leaned in close and gazed intently at the thin, silver hoop looped through the left side of his lower lip. The look in her eyes caused Draco to swallow thickly. She brushed her thumb against his chin, just below the piercing, and hummed. "Yes, I'd say it was definitely worth it."
Impulse was a luxury very few Slytherins had the pleasure of experiencing, the expectations from their parents and the need to have a flawless reputation forced them to carefully measure every decision. Which was why the impulse that had seized him sang through his veins and caused his heart to beat nearly painfully in his chest. He sank his fingers into her hair, sent a silent prayer to Merlin, and then kissed her. He kissed her with every conflicting emotion that had been overwhelming him. He kissed for forgiveness, he kissed an apology, and he kissed to erase all the years of rivalry. The sting of pressure on his new piercing was a distant echo compared to the satisfaction rushing through him.
Draco reluctantly pulled away from the kiss and gazed at the beautiful witch before him. Hermione's eyes were wide, her mouth slightly parted. All bravado had escaped her. She blinked once, and a nervousness began to settle through him. She blinked again, and Draco swore his heart was about to leap up into his throat and strangle him. He made to pull his fingers from her hair and attempt to leave with at least some of his confidence intact, but he was stopped by the smile that began to pull at the corners of her mouth.
Her eyes focused on his, and she grabbed a fist full of shirt. "It's about damn time."
Whatever witty retort he had died on his tongue when Hermione pulled him towards her for a second kiss. He was completely taken in by every minute detail of her. The softness of her hair between his fingers, the feeling of her lips pressed against his, the taste of mint; it enveloped him and filled his senses. He found himself releasing a quiet sigh of contentment against her lips as all of the inner turmoil began to melt away.
The moment was shattered by the loud thud of the door being thrown open and hitting the wall behind it.
"Can I see it?" Miranda shouted as she burst through the room and shoved her face inches away from Draco's.
Draco jerked back at the sudden intrusion of his personal space and whacked his head against the headrest of the chair. Grunting at the impact, Draco went on the defensive, one hand clutching the back of his head and the other moving to his pocket for his wand.
Hermione, immediately realizing the reaction Draco would have to the sudden chaos, grabbed Miranda and pulled her back from the startled blonde. "Miranda, you can't just barge in like that." She turned her friend around to face her, giving Draco the opportunity to put his wand away, and glared reproachfully.
Miranda's smile was slightly apologetic as she shrugged. "Sorry, Hermione. You know how my enthusiasm gets the best of me. Oh, did you get the —" Miranda grabbed the front of Hermione's shirt and pulled it up to expose her new piercing.
"That's the understatement of the century." Jacob strolled into the room to retrieve Miranda, who was fighting with Hermione over the hem of her shirt. "I told you to wait until Hermione was finished."
Miranda rolled her eyes at Jacob, pouted, and released Hermione's shirt. "Yeah, but piercings never take that long, and I wanted to see what it looked like." Eyes lighting at the thought, she quickly turned to look at Draco and inspect his piercing, this time from an acceptable distance. "It looks really good, Dan! I like the simplicity of it; the silver looks good with your skin tone."
"Draco," he said to correct her. His frustration was mounting with each person that entered the room. "But thank you. Hermione did a brilliant job." His eyes slid towards Hermione, and he began to calculate how quickly he could get her alone again.
Hermione flashed him a smile. "Draco was a good sport. He hardly even flinched," she added with a wink.
Jacob coughed, but it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Thought I heard a ruckus earlier, but that must have been from outside."
Draco remained stone-faced as he stared Jacob down. Refusing to admit that the lip piercing had hurt, Draco pushed himself up from the seat to stand. He dusted off the front of his shirt, and felt his mask of confidence slip back into place. "It was just a prick, nothing more. Certainly nothing to make a fuss about." He thought he heard a snort of laughter from Hermione's direction, but he kept his eyes trained on Jacob. The man could have been a Slytherin had he any magic in him, his expressionless mask was nearly impressive.
Nearly.
Miranda bounced on the balls of her feet, glanced between the two men, and huffed loudly. "If you two are done posturing and puffing your chests, Jacob has a client waiting." Curiosity abated, she winked at Hermione and left the room. Jacob quietly followed her and shut the door behind him.
Jacob and Miranda entered the quiet waiting room and made their way back over to the front desk. Glancing around the noticeably empty parlor, Jacob said wryly, "Man, I really am just swamped with clients, Mo."
Miranda rolled her eyes at him. "Please, you didn't actually buy that. I was just giving us a clean exit." She leaned against the counter and began to absentmindedly flip through a magazine. "I figured Hermione would prefer we weren't present for their much needed conversation."
"Conversation?" Jacob leaned against the counter beside her and tugged one of her curls. "She's going to put the man through the ringer."
Huffing a breath to blow the loosened curl out of her face, Miranda argued, "And you think he doesn't deserve it after everything he's done?"
"He was pretty dreadful when they were young."
Miranda snorted and turned another page. "What an understatement. He was a beast of a boy when they were in school and nearly as horrible when they left."
"Some could argue that the circumstances weren't exactly in his favor."
"Are you defending him?"
"Of course not." Jacob stole her magazine and flipped through the pages. "However," he said with a pointed look, "I wasn't there, so I can't cast judgment on a man I hardly know."
Miranda grumbled, "Maybe, but that doesn't mean I have to like him."
Jacob chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Well, of course not. Mo likes who Mo likes."
She scowled harder and threw her arms over her head to protect her hair. "Damn straight." Arms still crossed over her mane of curls, Miranda paused for a second and looked thoughtfully into space. "I may not like him, but if Hermione feels he's worth the effort, perhaps Draco Malfoy has a chance at redemption after all."
After Miranda and Jacob had left, Hermione and Draco sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. Draco wanted to pull her back into the chair and pick up where they left off, but the atmosphere between them had changed. He poked at his new piercing with his tongue and considered whether or not he needed to apologize once more.
"You did well," Hermione said. She was avoiding his eyes while cleaning up the tools she had used. "I wasn't expecting you visit today, let alone get a piercing."
Her tone of voice wasn't hostile, but there was a note of disappointment there that he couldn't ignore. Despite the kiss and the banter, she was still hurt from the humiliation she had been put through, and she had every right to be.
"I am truly sorry for everything that happened," he said. He took a tentative step towards her, but stopped when she gave him a reproachful look. "You deserved better than the half-arsed effort I put in, and I want to make it up to you. Can I please have one more chance?"
Hermione hummed and walked up close to him. She took hold of the bottom edge of the shirt he was wearing and began fiddling with the fabric. Slowly looking up at him through her lashes, she whispered, "I asked you to woo me, not them."
Draco felt every ounce of air in his lungs leave in a single breath. He cleared his throat and asked, "I know you did, and I made a fool of myself by listening to anyone but myself. Can I try to make it up to you?" He cringed at how gruff his voice sounded and hoped she didn't notice.
Her smirk said otherwise. "That depends, is this idea yours or one of Blaise and Pansy's?"
"Mine," he said quickly. "All mine." Which wasn't entirely true, but it hadn't come from one of his friends either.
She smiled at him and kept playing with his shirt, her fingertips brushing against his stomach had his heart beating loudly in his ears. "Then, yes, you most certainly can."
Draco returned her smile, sending a quiet prayer of thanks to his mother for making him wait and apologize in person. "Join me for dinner." It was supposed to be a request, but it came out a bit more forceful due to his excitement.
Hermione sighed, let go of his shirt, and took a half step away from him. "I don't know, Draco. It didn't go well the last time you invited me to dinner."
He reached for her hips before Hermione could step away and pulled her close again. "I know, and that's why we'll eat at my flat. I can't stand you up if you're meeting me where I live."
"I can't argue with that," she said. Hermione raised up on her tiptoes and quickly pecked him on the lips, just the barest brush of her lips against his. "Since I've never been to your flat, you'll have to apparate me there. When do you want to pick me up?"
"Right now."
Her laugh sent butterflies fluttering in his stomach. "You said dinner not breakfast."
"I know." He reached up to tuck a curl behind her ear and traced his fingertip down her jawline. Her lips parted slightly, and her eyes glowed. "I'm impatient to show you what it actually feels like to be chased by me."
"Then wait." She took hold of his wrist and pressed the palm of his hand against her cheek, her lips brushing against his inner wrist and making his breath hitch. "Let me help out at the shop and get ready for tonight. I want you to spend the entire day anticipating dinner together."
He traced his thumb over her lower lip and grinned. "Evil witch."
"You love it," she said with a sly smile. "Now get going. The sooner you leave, the sooner I can make myself pretty."
Draco gently grabbed her chin and tilted her face towards his. "You're beautiful, dressed up or in a jumper two sizes too big." He kissed her softly on the cheek and added, "If you want to 'make yourself pretty,' I certainly won't stop you, but remember that you are perfection without even trying."
Hermione blinked wide eyes up at him, a fierce blushing quickly painting her cheeks a lovely shade of red. He watched with interest as the blush slowly began to creep its way down her neck. Draco was beginning to wonder just how far that blush would go when Hermione pulled him in for another kiss.
The sound of the shop bell made Hermione pull away much sooner than Draco would have liked.
"You should probably go," she said. He was pleased to hear disappointment in her voice. "I promised Jacob I would help him with clients today."
Draco felt a growl of frustration fighting to break out of his chest. The last thing Hermione should be thinking about while in his arms was another man.
She could see something territorial flash in his eyes, but it did nothing to deter her. "He was the mentor I told you about that taught me everything I know about tattoos. Helping him here helps me keep my skills sharp."
"Then he can have you today, but tonight…" He leaned in close so his lips hovered hear her ear, and his voice was a deep rumble in his chest. "Tonight you are mine."
Shivers had goose-bumps crawling up her arms, and a wave of heat washed over her. Her words vanished. The only thing she was capable of thinking of was all the things she hoped would happen tonight.
The crooked grin he gave her told Hermione that he knew exactly what his voice was doing to her. He kissed her once more, a swift peck of the lips that left her wanting, and left the shop.
Hermione ruffled her hair and tried to calm her racing heart. Draco was going to be the death of her, she was sure of it.
Miranda came into the room with a wide smile on her face. "How did it go?"
"Don't start," Hermione said and pointed a finger at her friend. "I'm having dinner with him tonight, that's all you need to know."
"You'll tell me when you're ready," Miranda said confidently. Hermione's threating finger had done nothing to dampen her smile. "If I'm not allowed to ask questions, can I at least help you pick out your outfit?"
"Of course, but I promised I would help Jacob today."
Miranda waved her hand dismissively. "He'll be fine. This is far more important." She ushered Hermione out of the room and herded her towards the stairs that led to her flat above the shop. "We need to make this man forget his own name when he sees you, and that takes time, love."
Hermione laughed and felt some of her anxiety over her date begin to fade. She had no doubt Miranda was already planning an impromptu fashion show that would involve Hermione trying on no less than half of her closet. It would be a welcome distraction. Anticipation was slowly building inside her, and the only thing she could think about was Draco and what he had planned for her tonight.