I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

AN: There is a character in this chapter that is not in the books or movies, but I made her a muggle-born Hufflepuff in the year above Draco and Hermione.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. Never will. No profit is being made off this fic.

Chapter 3: Birthday Wishes

Draco

I had just awoken and started making myself breakfast when there was a series of knocks in the tune of Beethoven. It was Granger. That was our thing. I put my spatula down and went to the door.

"Who is it?" I called mockingly.

"Draco, you know it's me," she groaned on the other side.

"Who?"

"It's Hermione!" Granger exclaimed, annoyed.

I opened the door. Granger was standing there, wearing a beautiful dress. It was black with white floral designs. Her shoes were black heels. Her hair was tied back in a braided bun at the top of her head. She smiled when she saw me.

"Happy birthday, Draco," she said happily as I stepped aside to allow her in.

What did she say? Happy birthday? It's my birthday? Shit, I'm twenty-three now?

"How is it already June fifth?" I asked her.

She shrugged as she made her way to my bed.

"Time passes when you're having fun," Granger said.

"Having fun with what?" I asked, wondering what she was doing.

"Seriously?" she scolded, turning around. "Has time not traveled fast since we became friends?"

"Not really," I joked.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically. Then she turned back to my bed and pulled the sheets up to the head.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Making your bed since you couldn't even do that," Granger replied sourly. "You lazy prat."

I put my hand against my chest and gasped dramatically.

"That was very insulting!" I sarcastically exclaimed.

She turned around once she finished making my bed. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she continued in the act. "I hurt your feelings, did I?"

"Very much so."

Granger sauntered up to me and pecked my cheek. "Well, I'm not sorry."

I held my hand to where her lips had been, in complete shock. We had a close relationship, yes, but not that close. She seemed to be in shock too because she went to sit on the bed with her back to me. I went over to her and put my hands over her hazel eyes.

"Guess who?" I asked, trying to relieve the tension.

"The birthday boy!" Granger answered, taking my hands off her face and turning around.

Good. At least the awkwardness didn't last long.

"Don't say it like that," I teased. "I'm not a child, Granger. I am twenty-three now."

"What time were you born?"

"That's random. I'm not sure. So we'll just assume I'm exactly twenty-three."

"I won't until midnight."

I pushed her playfully. "Stubborn."

"Arrogant," she said.

"Know-it-all."

"Prat."

"Out of insults," I said in defeat.

"Ha!" she jeered in my face. "I win!"

"And people ask who the childish one in our friendship is."

Granger's shoulders sagged as she pushed me away and stood up.

"Let's go somewhere," she said. "I don't want to be stuck here. Your flat's too small."

"People also ask who the one in trousers is."

She turned to look at me. "What was that?" she queried with a smile.

"Nothing," I uttered quickly.

Hermione

I took Draco to a restaurant I knew in London, The Palomar, for lunch. We walked into the beautiful restaurant. When we got seated and the menus put in front of us, I immediately looked at Draco. He was opening the menu and searching it.

"What the hell do they have here?"

"Draco, please don't swear here," I replied lightly. "Try the Kubaneh. It's really good. It's a bread dish. It has tomatoes and tahini."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," Draco said as he closed the menu and put it down. "What are you having?"

"The Moroccan salad. It's got chickpeas and carrots."
Just then, a young waitress, who couldn't be much older than twenty-four, came to our table and held out a pad of paper. She looked quite familiar, but I couldn't remember how.

"Anything to drink?" she asked.

I shared a glance with Draco, who looked confused. So I answered first.

"I'll have a Bianco Le Pianure Friuli, please."

The waitress who I saw was called Amelia jotted it down on her pad and turned to Draco. That's when her mouth fell and her cheeks flushed. Amelia immediately composed herself, but I still noticed.

"What can I get for you, sir?" she asked Draco hurriedly, but seductively.

He looked at me. I met his eyes. Same thing, I mouthed to him.

Draco looked back at Amelia. "I'll have the same thing she's having. Thank you."

The waitress' cheeks flushed again when Draco thanked her, and she jotted down his order and hurried off without another word. I looked back at Draco.

"Always nice to have a waitress already and try to flirt with you," I said grumpily. I had no idea why it bothered me so much that someone was attracted to Draco.

"Fabulous," Draco responded sarcastically. "I mean, I don't get it. I didn't even dress my best today. And it's my birthday."

All I could do was laugh. But then Draco changed the subject.

"What exactly is that drink you're making me get?"

"It's wine," I said, remembering that it was my mum's favorite drink.

"What language is it?"

"Italian," I stated matter-of-factly. "It means the white Friuli plains."

Draco nodded. "Thank you."

Amelia returned with two glasses of the Italian wine. She set them down and, as she walked away, she "tripped" and fell over Draco. She put her hands down to stop herself. As she raised herself to stand back up, I noticed that she paused when her nose was inches from my best friend's. Amelia's face turned tomato red and stood back up immediately. The black hair that followed lingered on Draco for a quick second.

"I am so sorry," she apologized. I huffed. She was lying. "I am so incredibly sorry. I did not mean that. Anyway, what can I get for you to eat?"

"The Kubaneh," Draco said, eyeing me. "Please."

Amelia jotted it down, taking a little longer than what was necessary and looked at me with a less enthusiastic look. It looked almost loathing.

"Moroccan salad," I grumbled. Then I stood up. "Ladies room," I said when Draco gave me a look. I walked right by Amelia on my way by to take a look at her pad of paper. Around Draco's order, Amelia had drawn hearts. I felt anger boil inside of me and, before I did something I'd regret, I hurried off to the ladies room.

I threw the door open. I checked under the stalls and there were no dangling feet. So I locked the door and hung over the sink. I had no idea why I was so angry. So what if Amelia thought Draco was handsome? Who didn't? I did. Every girl did. So why did I suddenly feel jealous?

Draco

When Granger came back from the loo, our food was already there. I was waiting for her to return. When I saw her braided bun head sit down across from me, I lifted my fork.

"Are you okay?" I whispered to her, that exact question sounding quite familiar.

I saw her wipe her eyes with her hand quickly. "I'm fine. Can we go as soon as possible, please?"

"Sure," I said skeptically. "Are you sure you're okay, Granger?"

"I'm fine, Draco," she said, and I could have sworn I saw tears welling in her eyes again. "Let's just eat. Please."

We were silent the rest of the meal. I asked for the check from Amelia because Granger didn't even look at our waitress. When Amelia had returned and I had paid with the Muggle money Granger had taught me how to count, I took her hand and we walked outside together.

"Look," I said sharply, letting go of her and stepping in front of her path. "You need to tell me what's wrong, Granger. I know you're not feeling okay. Look at you. You're crying, and you won't look me in the eye."

I didn't expect it when she put her arms around my neck and let her weight drop. I held my arms around her lower back, keeping most of her weight on me. I heard her sobbing next to my ear.

"I don't really know what's wrong, Draco," she said, her voice cracking. "I just know that I'm never going to that restaurant again."

"Was it the drink? Did it do something to your stomach?"

"No," she said. "It was something else. Could we not talk about it anymore?"

"Of course, no problem," I said, letting go of her once she started releasing my neck.

Hermione

I didn't want to think about the restaurant anymore. And Draco respected that. I was grateful because I knew if it was Harry or Ron, they'd bother and question me every day until the day they forgot. When we got back to the flats, there was someone waiting in front of Draco's. Familiar sandy hair and dark chocolate eyes met my line of sight. But I couldn't put a name to the face.

"Draco!" he exclaimed happily.

"Theodore!" Draco replied just as happily, throwing his arms around the visitor.

Theodore. I knew one Theodore. And that was Theodore-

"Nott," Draco said, letting go of him and gesturing to me. "If you don't remember, this is-"

"Hermione Granger," Nott interjected, putting his hand out. "I'll be damned. I never thought I'd see you again, Granger."

I took his hand and shook it. "Good to see you again."

Theodore must have just realized that I was standing next to Draco, because he stared at us and pointed back and forth.

"You know, Nott," Draco snapped, "it's rude to point. If you've got something to say-"

"What in the name of bloody fucking Merlin is Draco Malfoy, pureblood king and former Death Eater, doing next to Hermione Granger, the muggle-born war hero?"

I cringed when Nott brought up "former Death Eater." I wanted to forget about that, but I couldn't resist a glance at Draco's left forearm, which he was covering instinctively with his other hand.

"We're best friends, Theo," Draco said snapping his left arm to his side, preventing me from seeing it.

"How?"

"When Weasley broke up with Granger, I comforted her. Don't ask why, Theo, because I don't know. And now we're friends."

Nott shook his head. "Strange, but I won't ask any further questions. Draco, I just came by to wish you Happy Birthday. And, uh, Granger, it was nice seeing you again."

I offered him a smile. "You too, Theodore."

He and Draco shook hands.

"See you soon, mate," Nott whispered.

"Have fun, but not too much fun," Draco said with a laugh.

Draco

Granger and I were in her flat, sitting side by side on the couch. She wanted to hear my and Theo's backstory and how we became such good friends. But then, when we got to today's conversation, she cut straight to the point.

"Do you still have the Dark Mark?"

I froze. I was hoping she had missed that. Fuck. Hermione Granger never misses anything. I stared down at my arm, which I was hiding from her. Again. I didn't want her to see it. She didn't need to see it.

"Draco," Granger stated again. Louder this time. "Do you still have the Mark?"

I took my right hand off of my left forearm, revealing the still-fading Mark.

"That's all you needed to do," she said quietly.

I looked back up at her. She was staring at the Mark, her eyes fixed and unbreakable. Her chest was heaving, and I heard her heavy breaths. I covered my arm back up, snapping her attention back to me.

…

Before I left her flat at half past eight, she gave me a peck on the cheek again and that time, I didn't freeze in shock.

"Happy birthday, best friend," Granger said merrily.

"Thank you. See you tomorrow, Granger."

"See you tomorrow, Malfoy."

AN: I am ecstatic! I got to 114 total readers so far! That's a lot more than what I thought, especially for the first day! Thank you so much!

Like I said, I made up the waitress, Amelia, and decided to make her a student the year above Hermione and Draco. The Palomar is a real restaurant in London. I have never been though…

I don't know when I'll update next. I have most of the story written (or at least have ideas for it) but I am a very busy person. I'm able to update so much now because I have spare time, but I won't for long with school and stuff.

I love all the readers, thank you so bloody much, but I would love reviews! I want your feedback! Tell me what you think and I might take your ideas into consideration…