Chapter 20

Hermione kept her eyes out for Draco, but there wasn't a sign of him. She had charmed her house to show when someone had entered it while they were away, but no one had disturbed it. The worst was that she thought about him incessantly. She wondered why he was there. He couldn't have planned on her finding that hair. As a tool for torture, this was pretty good, but he would have made more of an effort to know he had invaded her sanctuary.

She had thought about confronting him, but what was she going to say. She found a blond hair in her house? That sounded a bit crack pot even to her. She didn't want to confront him. She didn't want to see him. Better give him space to get over this fixation, rather than throwing a further hornet's nest in it. Whatever payoff he was getting from harassing her, she wasn't going to help. But as a couple of weeks passed without further incident, she started to let it go.

Her life was getting busy. Somehow she had accumulated a group of friends and they got up to all sorts. Then there was Matt. He was still unbelievably cute and whenever she ran into him, he would end up walking her wherever she was going. He made her laugh the entire way and sometimes, he would call her gorgeous in a roundabout way, along the lines of asking where she was going out that weekend and then commenting something like 'So that's where all the gorgeous girls go'.

A little while into their budding acquaintance, he asked her to be his date for a wedding. Apparently he needed protection from his aunt, who was hell bent of matching him up with this girl she knew. Having a date would save him a world of pain and how could Hermione refuse when he purposefully turned on the puppy dog eyes to full tilt. Hermione couldn't help but laugh as she agreed to be his protection from the evil matchmaking matrons.

She had a great time at the wedding. They laughed throughout the reception and danced when the dancing started. She loved it but there was a twinge as she realised the last time she had danced with a guy, it had been a bit more tropical and with a much more serious and sensual tone. She tried not to dwell on it, but the thoughts seemed to hang on for dear life.

When Matt dropped her off at home, he kissed her goodnight. It was a nice kiss. She felt it tingle all the way down her spine. She couldn't wipe the smile off as she said 'bye' and closed the door behind her. This was followed by days of non-stop texting.

The next weekend, he was going to take her for a drive down to Brighton to see his friend playing in a band, in his 1986 Rover that was according to him of a temperamental nature, so there were no guarantees that they would actually get there.

She waited downstairs for him when he was coming to pick her up, but he didn't arrive and it was starting to get dark outside. It wasn't like him to be late. Something must have come up, but he would have texted. She sent him a text but got nothing back. After a little while of pacing, she got worried and apparated over to his apartment. She had never been inside, but he had pointed it out to her once.

She rung the doorbell and was surprised when he opened the door in a casual stay-at-home T-shirt and jeans.

"What's happened?" She asked but got a confused look back. "Did you forget?"

"Forget?" He said.

"Brighton? You were taking me to Brighton."

He went to say something, but snapped his mouth shut and gave her a further confused look.

"I think I would remember if I had agreed to take a stunning girl away for the weekend." He said, "Are you sure you've come to the right apartment. Not that I am complaining. Is someone setting me up for a joke?"

"Matt?" Hermione asked, completely confused.

"You know my name." He said. "The plot thickens."

"Don't you know me?" She asked, all of a sudden very suspicious.

"I am pretty sure I would have remembered you." He said. "I must apologise, I don't normally get drunk enough to the point where I don't remember gorgeous girls I meet. I hope I behaved. I will apologise for any atrocious jokes I made. But since you haven't slapped me yet, I will assume I didn't insult your family, politics and religious beliefs all in the same night."

He made her laugh even though she was livid. Hermione knew in her bones that this was Draco's doing. She couldn't even express how pissed off she was. How dare he interfere in her relationships. She could get why he'd want to break up her and Greg according to his fucked up logic. Greg was keeping her in the wizard world, but this didn't make sense. It didn't matter, she decided. She'd had enough. He's pushed her and pushed her, now it was time to stop.

Hermione left Matt's apartment and found a secluded corner where she could apparate from. She went straight to Malfoy Manor. She'd never been there before. It was an opposing structure. Not ugly. Not necessarily beautiful either. It was the aesthetics from another era. Thinking about it was distracting her.

She banged on the door and was met with a house elf.

"Where is Draco Malfoy?" She roared.

"The young Master is not here." The house elf trembled.

Hermione felt bad for yelling at the house elf. She smiled apologetically, but she was too pissed off for it to really convey much.

"I need to speak to him urgently." She said more gently to the elf.

"The family having dinner at Allsgave." The elf said, but the look of uncertainty told her that the elf was probably regretting saying it. Hermione realised that the elf would probably go beat itself. Which made her even angrier.

"Thank you." She said as nicely as she could to the elf. She apparated from the spot to Diagon Alley where this restaurant was. It was a place frequented by the wizarding elite. She'd never been there, neither had any of her friends. Her kind was discretely not welcome in such establishments.

She marched into the lavish entranceway of the restaurant, right past the Maître D, who tried to get in her way. She spotted the clump of blond hair easily in the roomful of tables.

She slammed her hands down on the table in front of Draco. It shoved some of the plates around and knocked over a glass of redwine into the lap of the girl who was obviously Draco's date for the evening.

The girl screech as the wine hit her satiny champaign coloured dress. It was very high class slutty. It showed off the girls curves to perfection. She got a brief, unwanted flash in her mind of Draco working the dress off. A dress Hermione would never wear in public. But whatever. The kind of girls Draco associates with and what he did with them was none of her business. The girl shot Hermione a look that would probably kill if Hermione cared one little bit. Mumbling something under her breath before flouncing off to the bathroom.

"Miss Granger." Lucius Malfoy started as if talking to an impudent child.

"Shut up!" She barked at him. Maybe some day she'll feel joy at his surprised look.

"You do not interfere in my life Draco." She yelled at Draco still in his seat. He wasn't looking at her. "I've had enough. You don't go anywhere near me or anyone I know."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said, still avoiding her. He shifted in his seat to get a bit further away from her. He was obviously uncomfortable.

"Oh really." She said and leaned in where she had him pinned in his seat. "You go anywhere me or my friends again Draco, I will tell them all about the baby."

That got his attention. His eyes snapped to her. She had only said it loud enough for the people at the table to hear.

"You remember the baby, don't you. The one I lost when you kicked me in the gut."

There was a shocked gasp coming from Narcissa Malfoy. Her reaction confused Hermione somewhat. Maybe the social implications of such news was shocking to the woman, but she stared at Hermione like she was being confronted by an extraterrestrial. They didn't believe it was true did they? Why was she looking at her like that? They knew this was all fake right? Surely Draco had told them this was all fake. Oh God, he hadn't. What the fuck? Doesn't matter, she told herself, his problem. One that he made, by the way.

"You wouldn't want that to get out, do you?" She said in the steeliest voice she had ever heard herself project. "Imagine the scandal."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

She snuck a look at Lucius Malfoy, whose lips were in a thin straight line. Even if Draco dared, Hermione was sure that Lucius would now restrain him. He had his political career to consider after all.

She had established some leverage on him. She was happy with that result, so she turned to leave. She marched towards the exit and heard Draco's chair scrape behind her.

She almost got to the exit when she felt his hand yanking her around by the elbow. They were nose to nose.

"I swear Draco, you leave me alone or I will make hell for you." She said.

He was angry. He looked like he was formulating something to say, but it didn't come out.

"Go back to the table." She said quietly and straightened an imaginary crimp in his label. She could feel the warmth of him underneath her fingers. "Finish your dinner. Go home. Fuck your girlfriend. Get on with your life. I don't care. Just leave me out of it."

She finished with a pointed look before turning and walking out the door. It wasn't a challenge, but it was a 'don't mess with me because I just told you how its going to be' look.