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Awkward

April 2006

Sunday dinners had become as awkward as they could get, and Hermione was glad that she could escape two out of the usual four. She would visit her parents and even if she didn't stay as long as she might have liked, she would just eat out. While Narcissa's insisting to get together with everyone once a week would be considered a good thing for all families, Hermione found that Malfoy was still not willing to hold a conversation with her. She would never admit to it, even under the Cruciatus Curse, but his silent treatment was getting to her. They had had a good time during their research, and she had learned to value his opinion on more academic topics, which her friends preferred not to indulge in. He would simply sit and listen to her rambling and then bring up points that she hadn't considered before. He had made her think and consider new viewpoints so easily and she had enjoyed the challenge. So, to be cut off, as the unwanted wife that she had been, stung.

Of course, now she was to blame as well. Looking back at the night of Narcissa's social, she had told him to leave her alone and then walked out on him. However, it would have been so much more satisfying if it hadn't hurt so much to hear him say, that she shouldn't attend these events. There was always someone that thought she didn't belong and while the words of those cruel witches had hurt, hearing him say it had just taken all the fight out of her. So for the first dinner, she hadn't even looked at him and there may have been a couple of times when she heard him enter the library that she simply apparated back to her room to avoid him.

But whether she liked it or not, she was a forgiving person and now was back to wanting to fix whatever this was.

With a sigh, she opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron and walked in. The food had dramatically improved since Hannah had taken over as a landlady, which gave Hermione another reason to frequent the place. However, tonight she was by far not the only one in attendance. Her eyes slid over the full tables and she let out a small huff. Not even the bar had a free stool. She would have to find another place to eat.

"Hermione, it's good to see you." Hannah was balancing a tray full of butterbeer on her arm but gave her a warm smile non the less. "I'm afraid there isn't even a spot on a shared table left unless you want to sit in the dark corner with the unpopular."

"Who?" If she was completely honest a dark corner without curious eyes did sound quite appealing. At this point, there were rumors about Ron and her, which added to her already existent fame as Harry Potter's friend as well as Draco Malfoys ex-wife.

"Malfoy is in the far-left corner." The blond studied her for a moment. "I guess on a busy day, it is quite nice to be unliked, as people rather come back later than share a table."

"Oh."

"Miss, we would like to order."

"Sorry dear, I'll check on you in a minute." Hannah smiled at her, before hurrying off to take the order while still holding onto the tray. Hermione glanced briefly around, but there wasn't another familiar face that she wanted to squeeze in with. A few healers she knew from staff meetings, but nobody who would hold her interest or at least not judge her for her marriage to Malfoy.

Of course, with Malfoy here, she could just as well go home and join Narcissa for dinner. But hadn't she looked for a chance to talk to him? This could be it he wouldn't run off she was sure. She began to walk to the corner her friend had pointed out and indeed found him in the far end. His head was low as if he was reading something, but there seemed nothing there.

"Hi." She had made her way clear to his table and slit into one of the chairs without hesitation. She saw the surprise in his eyes before he shielded them again.

"Narcissa is going to be really upset with both of us canceling."

"She will just drag us to dinner the next chance she gets."

"I work nights next week."

"Lunch it is then." His tone was dry and dripped with sarcasm. They really had digressed in their relationship.

"I think it's sweet she is trying to turn us into this happy family."

All she got as an answer was a huff, and he looked back at his hands. Apparently, there was still no interest on his side to carry on a conversation. Maybe if she apologized, but shouldn't he do that as well?

"What can I get you, Hermione?" Hannah appeared next to her, stopping her thoughts from going any further.

"Can I get the steak and fries with a side salad and butterbeer?"

"Sure." Hannah smiled at her before frowning at Malfoy. "How about you."

"What she is having."

Hannah disappeared back into the crowds she had come from, without another word. It was then Hermione's turn to frown, as she looked back to her companion, looking over him.

"Did you just get here, too?"

"About an hour ago."

"And you just now ordered?"

"I'm not the top priority to check on, on a busy day like this."

Her mouth opened with a billion things to say, her extensive need to protect others coming through, but Hannah returned setting the butterbeers down. She closed her mouth watching her former classmate walk to the next table to take orders.

"I'm sure it was just a mistake." She glanced back at him.

"If you say so." He pulled his butterbeer closer to himself and took a sip, followed by a disgusted grimace.

"Is it not good?" She took a sip of her own, but it tasted perfectly fine.

"It's fine." She took another sip, studying him over her glass. He seemed to notice because he pushed the butterbeer away and sank back into his seat with an annoyed huff.

"Are you making progress on the cottage?" Hermione tried a new topic; she knew he was comfortable with. However, she only got a shrug out of him. "I was actually considering buying or even building something for myself. Since the housing market has been rough on me."

His eyebrows lifted for the slightest moment, before going back down. She had caught his interest, she was sure, but he still didn't answer.

"Do you think, you could help, if I decided to do that?"

"Can't you bug someone else? I'm sure one of your friends is somewhere among all these people."

She had the urge to smack him as she had in third year. Here she was, trying to get past their rough patch from the event, and he just wouldn't even give it a try. Maybe a good slap would bring him back to his senses. And of course, she would never admit that there wasn't really anyone here she wanted to spend her dinner with. She might have been well known, but true friendships were about as rare for her as they were for him. Everyone had always some sort of an opinion on her and it was often hard to see whether it was a good one or not.

"Why do you have to be such a prat?"

"That's who I am, I'm sure you have noticed by now." His eyes flickered to the door. Following his glance, she didn't miss his hand feeling for his cloak.

"But you are not." Her voice was smaller than she intended it to be, which was a good thing since Hannah appeared with their food. Hermione's plate was much fuller than his. Her eyes wandered back and forth, before pulling his plate towards her and pushing hers over to his side of the table.

"I'm not that hungry."

"I don't need your pity." His voice was angry now, just like hers had been.

"I'm not pitying you."

"Then what was that?"

"I'm not that hungry."

"Sure."

"Fine." With much more force than was needed, she pushed his original plate back towards him as she grabbed hers, sending fries flying all over the table and at him. She angrily grabbed them and tossed them back on the plates.

"Why can't we just be friends?" Well for one, because he could be trying a little harder.

"Screw this." He stood, tossing enough coins on the table to pay for both meals and leaving a tip that Hannah certainly didn't deserve if she had left him waiting for an hour and stormed off. Hermione sat silently, eyes on her fries when her friend returned to the table, to clear the money and wipe off Draco's side.

"Can you pack all of this up? I'm not really feeling like eating anymore."

"Sure." She lifted both plates of the table, before giving Hermione a concerned look. "He didn't do anything inappropriate to you, did he? I can ban him from here if that's a concern."

"He was nice." Hannah looked at her, like she didn't believe a word she was saying, but didn't voice it.

"Alright. I'll be back with these in a minute." It really wasn't much longer, and Hermione had just barely pulled her cloak back on.

"At least he paid for you as well."

She reached for the containers with their food, hesitating when she caught Hannah's eyes.

"Was he really here for an hour not being served?"

"Might have been, I wasn't watching the time."

Hermione still tried to formulate her thoughts into words when the blond put a hand on her arm.

"Listen, I know for a fact that he treated you much worse in school than me. Let's put his time with you-know-who aside, he still is an arse and I don't see why I should be putting in any effort of keeping him as my customer."

"I guess."

"Have a good night Hermione, sorry he ruined dinner for you. I'm sure Ron will enjoy the extras." She left with a smirk, not giving the brunette a chance to tell her that Ron wasn't going to be waiting for her. She glanced around again before she left and apparated to her new home.

Back at the Manor she called for Roks and asked him to refresh the meals and send two equal plates to her and Draco. She then retreated to her room, not in the mood to have a confrontation with Narcissa over missing a dinner she still hadn't taken. There was so much to think about and his words from that stupid library conversation came back to her. Hating her had been easier. Easier than what? Fighting her? Talking badly about her in front of his mother? There was a pop.

"Roks delivered the meal to the young master Malfoy, is there anything else he can do for Miss Hermione?"

"No thank you." Roks disappeared with a bow that she would probably never get him to stop. She glanced at the plate the elf had placed on the table in the corner of her bedroom. Finally, she walked over and took a few fries.

Her first chance to talk to Malfoy and she had blown it. Then of course he was just as at fault, he left, he said those awful things at the party last month and he was the complicated one. She sank into one of the chairs, grabbing another fry, before finally cutting the meat and taking a bite. Her thoughts kept wandering and finally ended at Hannah and that rude comment about him. She hadn't realized how left out he still was when it came to society. Sure, she wasn't able to enter the ministry as freely as she would have expected after finding and destroying all the pieces of Voldemort's soul, but other than that and a few odd looks, she wasn't being left out.

It took her a while to finish her meal, as her thoughts kept distracting her and she kept going back and forth when it came to going back and arguing Hannah's points, or simply letting it go. Letting it go would be the easier way, but she had never taken that path.

She put the last bits of her meal into her mouth when she felt the soft breeze of something connecting with the wards she had placed around her room. It was really necessary, as she knew the Malfoys would be able to get through due to their connection to the house and everyone else would not even get into the house if they weren't welcome.

Hermione stood and made the few steps towards the door to open it. There were only two people she would expect at the door, but really, she hadn't expected him after their conversation.

"Hi."

He gave her a nod, placing his half-lifted hand back to his side since a knock was no longer necessary.

"You breached my wards." She saw the need to explain how she had known he was there. His face didn't change at her words, he just waited for her to finish. "Did you enjoy dinner?"

"What dinner?"

"Roks was supposed to bring you your food."

"Ah that, yeah it tasted alright. I don't fancy fries very much."

She wanted to ask why he had ordered them but remained silent. They stood in silence before he seemed to remember what he wanted.

"The trace says one of the books about wards is in here."

"Oh yeah, I found the topic intriguing, so I am still reading up on it."

"I just have to reread something. I'll send it back when I'm done."

She nodded and turned towards her room, beginning to look through the piles of books. It was mostly healers guides and some books on potions, mixed in with some lighter literature. When she looked up from the third pile, he was still awkwardly standing in the hallway.

"You can come in, maybe you find it faster than me."

He made his way to her desk, which was also surrounded by more piles of books. She went through all the books by her bedside.

"You could just cast a spell, rather than look by hand." Hermione turned, to find him looking over her notes on memory charms and healing permanent damage. She fought the blush that had crept up her cheeks, as he called her out on her technique.

She silently spoke the spell and had the book fly to her hands, causing one of the piles to swing back and forth dangerously. Before she could hurry to catch the pile, he had it stabilized with a swish of his hand. Apparently, he was quite practiced with silent spells.

"Here."

He took the book with a nod, his eyes going back to her notes before he stepped away.

"Specializing in research now?" His tone was surprisingly neutral, as he walked back to the door.

"Not really. It's just a pastime. A reason to read." That was a lie and he probably knew it, but he didn't say anything. They both knew very well that their respective roles in the war and especially their unwanted marriage were the reason that their careers weren't going as expected.

"Well, good luck." He gave her another one of his nods before he retreated from the room and hurried down the hallway.