Disclaimer: I own none of the characters here. I just use them for my own amusement. JK Rowling and co. own them No copyright infringement intended.

Summary: When two old enemies meet up again, will they be able to look past their differences and get along? What happens if they fall for each other but he's slated to marry someone else? Will he follow his heart or his parents' wishes? Dramione.

Author's note: Lyrics by Kelly Clarkson

Wildest Dreams

I want you to know
That it doesn't matter
Where we take this road
Someone's gotta go
And I want you to know
You couldn't have loved me better
But I want you to move on
So I'm already gone

Hermione was on cloud nine after her date with Draco. She couldn't help herself from fantasizing about him all night long and she barely got any real sleep. And when she did sleep, he was in her dreams too. She was embarrassed how naughty the dreams were. But she couldn't help herself. She had fallen hard for him, and despite all her protestations to the contrary, she wanted to be more than just his friend. Only she had no idea how to tell him that. She was way too nervous to just blurt it out. But part of her really wanted to. She was tired of pretending she didn't feel anything for him. And she was pretty sure he felt the same about her. And that's what she was thinking as she lounged in her apartment on a lazy Saturday morning, half reading the paper and half eating a piece of toast. Her stomach was all tied in knots over Draco, so it was hard to eat. She just wished that she didn't have to wait until Monday to see him. But she didn't want to intrude on him and the fact of the matter was, she didn't know where he lived. He'd never invited her there. He'd always come to her place. She supposed she could owl him and ask him if he was busy or if he wanted to hang out. But that might seem desperate. So she nixed that idea and just sighed and laid her head down on the table. Just then there was a knock at her door and she seemed puzzled by it. She wasn't expecting company and the only person she could imagine it would be would be Harry. Maybe he'd come to give her a hard time over her date with Draco? If so, she really didn't want to hear it. But she got up and looked out the peephole and saw it was actually Draco. She smiled and opened the door and wished she had run a brush through her hair first.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him curiously as he stood facing her.

"I needed to talk to someone. Can I come in?" he asked, looking disheveled and Hermione realized he was still wearing the same outfit from last night. Did he not even go to bed?

"What's wrong? You look like someone died," she noted worriedly.

"Not exactly. It's just my father. He was waiting for me last night when I got home. I'd been ignoring his owls, so he decided to come to my place and wait for me. God only knows how long he was there. I never asked. I didn't get a chance to. He hit me over the head with this stupid idea and I didn't know what to even say," Draco explained as he walked in and began pacing her living room.

"Why don't you sit down and tell me about it? You're wearing a hole in my carpet," she told him, taking his arm and leading him to the couch.

He sat down and put his head in his hands.

"Hermione, what am I supposed to do?" he asked desperately.

"About what?" she was confused.

"My father wants me to get married. To some girl I don't even know. I can't do that, can I?" he asked sadly.

"What? I thought you said you dodged that bullet by getting the job?" she asked feeling her heart lurch into her stomach. Draco couldn't marry someone else! Not when he so clearly belonged with her. But she couldn't tell him that yet.

"I thought I'd dodged the bullet too, but apparently this girl's father wants to combine empires with my father. And I have to marry his daughter in exchange for the deal. I'm a bargaining chip. Not even a real person. My father doesn't even care how I feel," he lamented softly.

"You have to say no. I-I mean you can't get married! That's crazy," she protested vehemently.

"I don't think I have a choice, Hermione," he said despondently.

"But what about our friendship?" she asked just as despondently. "Will that end?"

He looked at her and held her hands tightly.

"No, it won't end. I won't let it end. I don't care what happens, I don't want to lose what we have."

"Neither do I."

"My father can't choose my friends," he said adamantly.

"But he's gonna choose your wife? How does that make sense? You have to say no, Draco," she urged him.

She couldn't lose him now. Not when she'd just found him. How could he even entertain the idea of marrying someone else? It must mean he didn't really want to be with her after all, or he'd fight this a lot harder, she thought. But Draco didn't know there was anything to fight for. All he knew was that Hermione was his friend. And he wouldn't lose her friendship just because his father had some hair brained business idea that included Draco marrying some idiots daughter. If he knew how Hermione felt it would make a world of difference to him. But he wasn't about to throw away his trust fund and his family for a friendship he could easily keep once he was married. At least that was his thinking.

He tried to explain it to her.

"I can't say no. If I do, the money leaves. And I need the money. And I promise you we'll still be friends."

"But I highly doubt your wife will let you go gallivanting around town with me, while she stays at home doing whatever high society bitches do. This is absurd. Everything will change! You can't do it," she said with tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't help but let them fall.

He wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of his hand. He held her hands in his own and just looked down at them, fingers intertwined. So close, yet so far apart still. He wanted to tell her he loved her, but he feared it was a mistake. And now with this happening, so what if he loved her? He couldn't be with her. His father had other plans. Draco knew this in the back of his mind all along, but he chose to ignore it. He knew that even if he dodged the arranged marriage bullet, his parents would never approve of Hermione in his life. But he thought he could conceivably live his life in secret like he did for years and they'd never have to find out. But now his father was all up in his business and he said Draco had to move quickly before the offer was given to someone else. His father expected him to start wooing this other girl immediately. And he wanted to vomit at the thought of dating anyone else but who he had been dating already. Even if they were friend dates. He was in love with her. He only wished he had the guts to tell her, but it didn't make a difference in the end. He was still supposed to marry someone else. And he didn't know what to say to Hermione to make that better.

Finally he spoke.

"I don't know if she'll let me go around town with you or not, but I'm the man of the house and I can do as I please. That's how things work with my people. My dad never gave a fuck what my mum thought. He just did whatever he wanted to do. And maybe I'll just be like that?" he offered, unsure of what else to say.

"So you want to be a jerk then? You want to treat your wife like garbage?" she asked tearfully.

"I don't want a sodding wife at all! I don't know what else to say. I'm afraid," he confessed with his own tears in his eyes.

"Afraid of what?"

"Losing everything. Losing my money, losing you…all of it. I don't want to lose anything, but I'm gonna lose something I hold dear."

"You won't lose me. I'll still be here. But I don't want you to treat your wife poorly for me. Maybe I'll like her too? Maybe we'll all be friends?" she said trying to garner some hope in the situation.

"I doubt you'll like her. I doubt I'll like her. Probably just some snobby prissy thing that does whatever she's told. I can't stand women like that," he said shaking his head.

"Do you really need your father's money that bad?" she asked, not understanding how money could matter so much.

"I do need it. It's my lifeline. But it's not just the money. I love my mum. And if I go against my father's wishes, I won't see her anymore. He probably won't allow it because I'll be disowned. And I know maybe that doesn't sound traumatizing for you, but it is for me. I did everything wrong and everything I could, just to save my family. My mum especially. And if I lose her because of this ridiculousness, then it was all for naught. You have to understand that it's deeper than just money. It's family. You lost your family. Do you want me to lose mine too?" he asked, hoping to make her understand his plight.

She listened to what he said and she nodded her head. She did understand. Draco didn't want to lose his mum. And if he got disowned, she wouldn't be allowed to speak to him anymore. That was a travesty in her eyes, but she knew it happened to people. It had happened to Draco's mum's sister. She was disowned and she never spoke to any of her family ever again. For her, it had been worth it. But for Draco, maybe not? Maybe she wasn't worth him losing his family over? She should just let him go because it would be the right thing to do. She removed her hands from his and scooted away from him on the couch.

"Then you should do whatever you feel is right, Draco. Don't let me stop you. If we stay friends, that's wonderful. But I'll also understand if it's not possible. I'm willing to let you go," she said stoically, when inside she felt like bursting into tears.

"I don't want to be let go," he whispered.

"You have to do what's right for you. You have to do what you need to do in order to be happy. And if that means marrying this wench, then so be it," she said bitterly, even if she was trying to be supportive.

"Wench eh? You've already decided you hate her, didn't you?" he asked with some slight amusement, even if nothing about this situation was funny.

"I don't presume to know anything about her honestly. It's just I have notions of what women like that would be like. And it's not very glowing. I know I said maybe we'd all be friends, but you're probably right when you said that would never happen. Any woman that would marry a man she didn't even know, just because her father said so, isn't someone I'd have the slightest bit in common with."

"I don't want to do it, Hermione."

"If you don't want to do it, then you don't do it. But it sounds like you have your reasons for going through with it. So just do what you need to do," she said sadly as she rose from the couch and moved away from him.

She couldn't be near him now. Not when she wanted so much more and he was going to marry someone else. He was going 'woo' someone else. And she'd be forgotten. Despite his protests that they'd remain friends, she knew that wouldn't happen. He'd forget all about her in time. But she'd never forget him. And she knew this would end badly. It was one of the reasons she kept trying to distance herself from him in the first place. She could smell a broken heart coming on and she couldn't bear it. But it had happened anyway, despite her brilliant plan to keep things platonic. All she could do now was to be there in whatever capacity he wanted her to be there for him. But it was probably going to be a strictly boss/employee arrangement now. The way it should have always been.

"You're acting like I'm chucking you aside. I swear I'm not. We'll still be friends. I know you think I'm full of shit, but if my father controls who I marry, then he damn sure does not control who my friends are. I'll see to it. He can't stop me from seeing my boss, right? He just doesn't have to know that we hang out, outside of work. No one has to know that," he said seriously.

"Why do I feel like a dirty secret now?"

"You're not. Not at all. I care about you. You're my best friend," he admitted earnestly.

"I am?"

"Yes."

"I didn't realize."

"Well I'm telling you now. And I won't lose my best friend over any of this. Just please forgive me for doing what I have to do."

"You don't need to ask me for forgiveness. You just have to follow your heart. And if your heart says this is what you want, then you have to do it. I won't stand in the way," she told him with tears in her eyes again. They wouldn't stop falling.

"Do you promise you're still there for me? That I can talk to you like always?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. Of course. I'll always be here, in whatever way you need me," she said wiping her eyes.

"That's all I needed to hear I guess. That you wouldn't abandon me. I-I don't know if I can do this without you in my life too," he confessed.

"Yes, well, I'm here. But I should get myself showered and dressed. And you look like hell, Draco. Did you even sleep at all?" she asked, trying to get rid of him so she could properly cry her eyes out in peace.

"I didn't sleep. Not a wink. I came over here as soon as I thought you'd be awake. Do you really have to get dressed now? We can't talk more?" he asked hopefully.

"I have a lot of errands to do today. And what more can we talk about? I think we've said it all," she shrugged and lied about everything.

"Alright. Well if you want to talk more, we can go out tonight for dinner?" he offered, wishing she'd just say yes.

"I don't know. I'll probably be busy all day and too tired to go out. Plus I thought you had to start 'wooing' the new girl?" she added aloofly.

"I'm supposed to take her out, but I don't want to. I'd rather go out with you."

"Well that's a silly plan then. If you're supposed to meet her and take her out, then you should do it. I'll always be around at another more convenient time."

"I'll miss you," he whispered.

"I'll miss you too. But we'll see each other Monday, silly. It's not the end of the world," she tried to convince both of them of that fact. But it felt like the end of the world to both of them.

"I guess I'll go then," he said softly rising from the couch despite his longing to stay there.

"I'll see you at work," she said politely, trying not to burst into tears.

"Yeah, work. I'll see you."

And with that he apparated out of her apartment and she just threw herself on the couch and began sobbing. Everything she'd kept pent up came spilling out of her. How could this be happening? How could Draco be marrying someone else? And she knew they'd never stay friends. Not really. Things at work were about to become very awkward and they never even had an actual relationship. All they had was a friendship. But it meant so much more to her. And she thought it meant more to him too. But it obviously didn't. Otherwise he wouldn't be making such a huge mistake. She laid down and cried for what never was, and never could be again. And once those floodgates opened, there was no stopping them.

When Draco got home, he knew he should try and sleep a little or maybe get a shower, but all he could do was sit numbly on his couch. He felt like he'd already lost Hermione and he never even had a chance to have her. She was acting coldly towards him and he didn't like it. He feared everything would change with his bad news, and he was probably right. Now the only person he'd ever really loved in his life was distancing herself from him, so he could 'woo' some other girl he didn't even give a fuck for. He wiped his eyes furiously and tried not to cry. The whole situation was messed up from beginning to end. Why was he born into a family like this? Why did he have to care about losing money and his mum? If he didn't give a fuck for either of those things, he could just live his life the way he wanted to. But he felt like he needed the money, and his mum wasn't a person he felt he could lose. He loved her too much. Which made him wonder if maybe he talked to her, she could fix this mess? He hoped so. So he quickly wiped his eyes and apparated to his family manor and went in the front door. He called out for his mother and she came running as soon as she heard his voice.

"Draco! Darling! What a surprise!" she said happily. But then she noted his ragged appearance and he looked like he hadn't combed his hair or shaved. She got concerned. "What's wrong, dear? You look dreadful."

"Mum, did Father tell you his plans for me?" he asked sniffling a little and wiping his eyes.

"Plans? You mean Astoria? She's a lovely girl. Draco, you'll be smitten. I'm sure of it," his mum said cheerily.

"Astoria? That's her name? Father never even told me her name. He just said I was marrying some bint I didn't even know," he said bitterly.

"Draco! Don't use such language. She's a fine woman. A lady. And you should treat her as such and not call her names," his mother chastised him.

"Mum, I don't even know her! I don't care about her feelings. I thought maybe you'd be on my side with this," he said sadly.

"I am on your side, Draco. And I believe this girl will make you very happy. She's quite pretty and well bred. Your children will be amazing. She's an outstanding witch too."

"Mum, I don't know her! Don't you get it? Why would I want to marry a girl I don't even know?" he asked desperately.

"Well you get to know her. That's the entire point of asking her for a date. You'll grow to know each other," she explained.

"But Mum, I don't want to be with her. I love someone else," he dropped the bombshell on his mother knowing she'd likely keep his secret if he asked nicely. She was just on board the Astoria train because his father was so gung ho about it.

"You love someone else? Who?" she asked with astonishment. "It's not a Muggle is it? I know you spent some time with Muggles, but Draco, you can't honestly love a Muggle!"

"She's not a Muggle, Mum. She's a witch. I work with her. We're just friends, but I'm in love with her. I've been in love with her for a long time. Can't you please talk Father out of this mess? For my sake?" he pleaded with her.

"Oh. In love with someone else. Who is she, Draco? Why haven't you brought her around?" his mum wanted to know.

"Because I said we were just friends. But I was hoping to change all that. She's really brilliant. I know you'd like her if you gave her a chance. But you see, I can't marry Astoria because I'm already spoken for," he tried to explain.

"Who is she, Draco? You never answered that question."

"It's Hermione Granger, Mum. I love her. I think some part of me has always loved her. And I think maybe she might feel the same. Don't I deserve to be happy?" he wondered.

"Hermione Granger? Have you lost your mind, Draco? She's a mudblood! And she's one of Harry Potter's hero pals. What on earth would she be doing with you? That's ridiculous. You can't love her."

"Why not? Just because you think she's lesser than us? She's not! Don't call her names, because I love her. Don't you get it? I'm in love with her. She's the one I want to be with. You have to somehow convince Father to leave me alone," he begged her.

"Draco, stop it. You may have feelings for this Granger girl, but they'll pass. Astoria is your future. The sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be."

"So then you don't give a fuck about my feelings either then?" he asked hopelessly.

"Stop using foul language! Of course I care about your feelings, but this is just a passing fancy. You said yourself you're only friends with her. Astoria will be a fine wife. And she's of your breeding. Did you think I'd support you in this dalliance with Ms. Granger? I would never go against your father like that. You should know better. Don't you realize what this business merger will mean for us? We'll never have to worry about money again!" she told him heatedly.

"As if we fucking worry about money now? Get a grip, Mum. I don't care about the business merger or Astoria or Father's wishes. I want out of this mess!" he practically screamed at her.

She just stood there and said nothing for the longest time. She wasn't used to her only child speaking to her in such a manner. She finally composed herself and looked at him.

"Draco, you will stop using filthy language in my presence. And you will do as your father has asked you to do. It's not really that hard. Now if that's all, I have a bridge tournament that I'm late for. I need to go," she said haughtily, apparating away from him and just leaving him standing in the foyer by himself.

He had no idea if his father was even there or not. But he didn't care. He didn't want to see him at all. He thought his mum would be more understanding but apparently that was a dream. His father had corrupted her so much that she didn't have her own mind anymore, yet again. After the war, she had been tougher and stood up to him. She was angry. But now she just bowed down like she used to. And Draco wanted to be sick from it. He just apparated out of their house and back to his own and he sat on his couch and cried. He cried for a life that wasn't his own. And never would be. Not unless he actually stood up to them and had some backbone. But he was just like his mother. Angry at first, but in the end, bowing down to his father's wishes. Lucius Malfoy always got what he wanted. And Draco knew that. He only hoped his mum would be in his corner but she wasn't. So that meant he was all alone in protest of this. And he decided that without any real reason to fight it, he'd just give in. Hermione didn't love him. He may have loved her, but to her, they were just friends. So he may as well marry this Astoria girl. Why not? What did he have to lose at this point? He had more to lose by not seeking her out than he did by wooing her. So he was going to be a sheep and do whatever he was asked to do. He just wished things were different with Hermione. If she loved him, it'd make all the difference in the world. But she didn't. So he'd just go with Astoria. It was the only choice he really could make.

To be continued…. Please leave feedback! I love reviews! They keep me writing faster….