Matchmaker Matchmaker
Hermione awoke in the morning to the distinct feeling that she was being watched. She wasn't scared, or weirded out by the feeling, she just knew it was there. She registered that there was someone next to her in bed and recalled the previous night with a smile. She blinked her eyes open and cleared the sleep from her eyes. She soon found Draco's eyes with her own. He smiled sweetly at her. "Good morning beautiful."
"Good morning. I'm shocked that you would call me beautiful in this is state." She gestured towards her frizzy hair, thinking that she probably had red marks on her face, from pressing her face into the pillow all night.
"I don't just throw that phrase about." He smirked down at her.
"I'm not so sure I believe that." Hermione smiled back. Draco rolled his eyes.
"I refuse to fight with you about whether or not you are beautiful. You are, so just get over it. Anyway I don't know about you, but I am starting to get hungry. I'm going to go have a chat with my chef." Draco leant in and captured Hermione's lips briefly before rolling out of bed and throwing a house coat around his shoulders. Hermione sighed and ran a hand over her face. Imagine that, she had slept in a bed with Draco Malfoy, woke up to find him watching her sleep, and felt totally secure the whole time. She sat up and looked at her watch swearing. She glanced around the room, spotting a writing desk. She walked over, and finding parchment and a quill, scribbled out two notes. She ran her wand over both sheets, drying the ink; she folded the paper into airplanes and using her wand, sent them off out the window. Draco walked back into the room and quirked an eyebrow at Hermione.
"I forgot that I had lunch plans, I'm just rescheduling." Hermione answered. Draco nodded. He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Did you sort out your feelings?" He asked.
"Just about." Hermione smiled and rose onto her toes. She fitted her mouth with Draco's and sighed into the kiss. Draco's arms came around Hermione, and pulled her closer to him. Her hands slid up into his hair. Draco eventually brought his hands to Hermione's shoulders and eased back from the kiss. Hermione looked a little confused, so Draco gestured to a table that had appeared next to one of the floor length windows. There was a delicious looking brunch spread, and at that moment Hermione felt quite hungry.
Draco and Hermione passed the rest of the afternoon pleasantly. Draco showed Hermione the rest of the house, and they had a late lunch by the lake. Eventually it was time to leave. "Allow me to escort you home." Draco said offering Hermione his arm. She grinned and latched onto Draco's arm. He turned on the spot, and almost instantly they were standing in front of Hermione's building.
"Did you want to come up for a drink?" She asked.
"I would love to, but I can't. I have some work that I have irresponsibly put off for the last day and a half. I'll write you soon though."
"I had such a good time that was really great Draco." She grinned at him.
"It was my pleasure." He smiled back. He put a hand on Hermione's neck and ran his thumb over her jaw. His face lowered towards her, he pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her lips. "I'll see you soon." His voice sounded husky and his eyes glinted.
"Count on it." Hermione smiled. "Next time is my date though." Draco made a face and waved before apparating off. Hermione couldn't get the smile off of her face as she made her way into her building and up to her flat. She unlocked the door and sighed happily.
The next day she met up with Eliza for lunch. She had elected to meet up with Eliza before George joined them, so she could talk to her about Draco. They met up in a little pub not far from Hermione's flat. Eliza was kind of a girly girl and gave out a high pitched squeal when she saw Hermione. "I am so glad you owled me! Spill girl!" She demanded as she sat at the table with Hermione.
"It's nice to see you too Eliza and I have quite a bit to tell actually." Hermione spent the next half hour talking about her dates with Draco. Eliza sighed dreamily.
"That makes me so happy. Draco is a true gentleman. I owe him a lot." She put her chin on her hand and grinned at Hermione. "Is he as good at kissing as I think he would be?" She asked.
"Probably better." Hermione laughed. She saw George walk in and waved at him. "Our meal ticket has just arrived." She muttered to Eliza. Eliza turned her head to grin at George.
"Well hello ladies." He grinned taking a seat at the table. "Care to introduce me to your lovely friend, Hermione?" George asked.
"I was just about to get to that. George this is Eliza, Eliza this is my good friend George. Eliza helped me get ready for my first meeting with Draco. She has a real eye for fashion." Hermione flicked her eyes between George and Eliza.
"Well then perhaps sometime you can come round my shop and help me think of some new uniforms." George smiled over at Eliza.
"Well I'm not a professional by any means. What kind of shop do you run?" She asked. Hermione sat back with a satisfied smirk on her face. Matchmaking was not a particular skill of hers, but maybe she was better at it than she thought. Lunch went off without a hitch, George and Eliza making plans to meet up later that week. Hermione waved them off and apparated back to work. She had dinner with Ginny that night and had to finish up with some ruins before she could leave for the day.
Finally done her work for the day Hermione stood from her desk and pushed her hair back and away from her face. She walked to a restaurant not far from the ministry and was led to a table that already had a disgruntled red head at it.
"Hermione." She said in greeting.
"Ginny." Hermione replied, sitting across from the younger woman. "Don't be mad at me."
"I'm not."
"Then why does your face look like that?"
"My face doesn't look like anything." Ginny grumped.
"If you are just going to sit here and be angry I'm not staying. I have so many other things I could do tonight."
"Malfoy being among those things you could do?" Ginny asked scathingly.
"Okay what is your problem?"
"Don't you remember everything that he did to us that his family did to us? His father gave me that stupid diary, and his aunt tortured you. He was always an asshole at school! He let the death eaters in when I was in fifth year, Bill got mauled, do you remember this?" Hermione sighed and looked briefly away from Ginny.
"Yes Ginny, I remember all of that. But you don't know his side of the story. A lot of it wasn't really his fault. And as for the diary and the torture, well he had nothing to do with either of those."
"What are you talking about? He was standing right in the same room when Bellatrix was doing that to you!"
"And what was he supposed to do? Jump to my aid and incur the wrath of not only his family, but Voldemort as well? Ginny, I've asked you more than once to trust me. If you can't that's on you. I'm sorry, but I can see that you are angry and not willing to listen to what I have to say. If you wish to move onto another topic I will gladly sit here and have dinner with you, if you won't leave it then I'm going to go now." Ginny frowned and looked away from Hermione.
"I just want to make sure you know what you are doing. I don't want to see you hurt." Hermione's eyes softened.
"Please don't worry about me Ginny. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Ginny nodded.
"So…how's work going?" Ginny asked signaling the end of her Draco talk. Hermione and Ginny passed the rest of dinner in happy companionship. When they finished dinner and were leaving the restaurant Ginny pulled Hermione into a hug. "Don't be a stranger Hermione." Ginny grinned. "I miss you."
"I miss you too Ginny, I'll be sure to write you soon." With that Ginny turned on the spot and Hermione shook her head, apparating home.
AN: Ooookay, I'm hoping to have more George happening soon. I don't think I super like Ginny in this story... Again I didn't get any reviews on the last chapter :( But I did get some follows and favourites, thank you for that! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please, please review, I love them! Thanks!