A/N: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the Harry Potter brand.
I could still see myself as I was then. My hair was a bit longer with more curl to it. There was more youth to my face as I was only twenty then and barely breaking out of being a child. I didn't wear so many suits and I was merely consulting on the cases at the firm at the time. I knew magic law backwards and forwards, and I would help the lawyers build their cases and tell them if the evidence was admissible in court or where to look for clues. My day consisted of waking up at the mansion, having breakfast with Draco, consulting at the firm, writing some of the novel, coming home and having dinner with Draco, relaxing with him, and then go to sleep.
His hair was a bit shorter but always the piercing blonde color. He had more spark to his eyes because he always liked the challenge of a new day at the Brand. This was the time when the Brand was at its peak potential. It was him who wore the suits all the time. The best part of the day was coming home and us being together or possibly the weekends where we would stay in the mansion or travel around on mini holidays.
After graduation, I had moved in with Draco and I knew the house needed some life. Draco's father obviously was cold and didn't care much about decor and his mother had followed the same belief. Lucius had been convicted on various charges and died in prison during seventh year. Draco's mother followed suit soon after that summer. One day I mentioned that I would like to change a few things about the mansion and Draco gave me a blank check to go at it. Everything about the mansion showed the influence of me living with Draco. The silverware was silver but the napkins were red. Draco's already extensive library had be to doubled with my books. There was a candy dish in every room put in by me since Harry would send various samples from his travels. Of course Draco made them the finest quality crystal candy dish bowls. I planted colorful flowers in the garden where Draco had just kept it bare. Pictures of us littered almost any empty surface of the tables in the house. The house elves had their own house and were paid regularly with more bonuses than anyone would believe. The banister where Draco regular slid down had an emergency mechanism put in by me.
We had been together four years and we were completely in love, or at least I was. Instead of being Draco's flavor of the week as many had predicted we had become something so beautiful. Harry and Ron disapproved immediately and for a brief time isolated themselves from me. Eventually they came to their senses that Draco made me happy and that without me they weren't going to pass any of their classes. Draco and I did everything together in school and we continued to spend every free moment with each other after we moved in together. I believed at the time that eventually an engagement ring would come. Until then I was perfectly content and I believed I had found the man I would spend the rest of my life with. Then March 29th 2006 happened and my world was spun around until it broke. It had started out like any other normal day for us. We woke up beside each other.
"Good morning Granger." he said to me as he saw my eyes opening. I wanted to respond but yawned instead. "You're looking quite cute today." I laughed softly at his partial sarcasm.
"Granger? I thought we were quite past that." I raised an eyebrow. "Shall I call you Ferret from now on?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Never." I laughed a bit more. "You can call me Most Amazing though." Rolling my eyes at him, I smiled and pulled more of the covers to cover my shoulders which had gotten cold. Draco reached out and pulled me closer. Then I quickly realized something.
"I don't have to consult on any cases today. Are you able to take the day off?" Usually when I had a free day Draco would take the day off. Last time that had happened we spent the day in Paris wondering around. His response surprised me.
"I can't. I'm sorry. They need me in a meeting and if I'm not there they won't close the deal. I should be out of it by two though so I could get off work early. I'll come over here right after and we'll have dinner wherever you want. Literally wherever you want." He kissed my nose and I rested my head on his chest.
"Okay. I'll miss you a lot." I admitted. I always missed him more when I had nothing to do.
"I always miss you." he responded and hugged me. We laid like that for a time, I don't know how long. Then he realized the time and he had to go so he dressed and we had breakfast. After he left I found myself incredibly bored. The mansion didn't need touching up at all and my latest book purchase was resting comfortably in the library since I had finished it two nights ago. Maybe I would write a couple more pages of the book, I concluded after a minute, so I went upstairs to the bedside table where I usually kept a notepad and pen. Strangely they weren't there so naturally I opened the bedside table's drawer and I began to search. Right off the bat I found my pad but couldn't find a pen. Then I gasped when I came across a black velvet box. It was tiny so there was no mistaking that it contained a ring. Reaching for my wand, I tried to contact Ginny at the law office.
"Ginny Weasely." her voice sounded as her face appeared.
"Ginny, it's Hermione." I said, trying to keep my voice normal in volume, and her demeanor relaxed.
"Oh hey Hermione. No cases to consult today?"
"No, but look at what I found." I said excitedly, holding up the black box and Ginny's eyes became wide.
"If that looks like what I think it is then you are going to be very happy very soon!" she paused. "Merlin Hermione, you're going to be a bride!" her voice was full of happiness for me. I could tell she wanted to jump up and down but that wouldn't look appropriate where she was. She had to look like she was merely working, not finding out her best friend was getting married.
"He did tell me we would have dinner wherever I want tonight after this meeting he has. He couldn't get off work....wait he always gets off work. Could he be planning the proposal right now? He needed an excuse to get out of the house?" By thinking logically then it would take my mind off freaking out and being impatient for Draco to get home.
"Maybe he's going to do it tonight? I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!" Ginny promised. We chatted for a bit about what my wedding would be like and then she left to get back to work. I promised to give her an update tomorrow morning. I didn't know what to do with myself after Ginny and I stopped talking. Cleaning the mansion took up about two and a half hours and then I took a sleeping potion so that the rest of the time would fly by. Only when I woke up, it wasn't because Draco was shaking my shoulder. The loud boom of thunder startled me awake and then I realized the windows were dark with evening, not the afternoon sunlight Draco had promised to come home by. Instantly I knew something was very wrong. Reasoning that maybe Draco didn't want to bother me sleeping or that it was just the storm that made it look later then it actually was, I went to investigate. The time showed clearly it was seven o'clock and there was no trace of Draco. My mind instantly went into worried mode and I tried to contact Draco at his office but got no answer. This was completely unlike him and since the weather was getting more worse by the minute I couldn't physically go search for him. All I could do was wait and see what his explanation was. Eventually I fell asleep on the couch waiting. When I did wake up, Draco was sitting on the opposite couch. My hands ran through my hair and I asked,
"Where have you been?" He didn't answer my question, he merely said,
"We're not working." My head spun and I swore that I had misheard him. Shaking my head I questioned him.
"What? What are you saying?"
"I've been unhappy with us lately and I don't think we're going to go any farther." he simply said. "I've already moved your things to Ginny's." he continued despite my shocked face and my constant interruption of what he was saying.
"Why are you doing this? Can we talk this out or something?" He shook his head.
"No, I've made my decision." I looked into his eyes and knew he was serious. His eyes didn't hold the usual spark they had when he looked at me. I knew that he honestly wanted me to get out and that we were over. The tears falling down my face didn't change his mind. When I tried to get him to talk about why, he shut me down and he wasn't changed when I asked him if he was really going to just throw away the past four years. Completely shocked and rejected, I took my coat from his hands, put it on, and walked out into the now clear weather. It was still dark but I went to Ginny's where the last thing I remember is crying on her shoulder the entire night.
"I didn't go into work that day," Draco started. "I met with Pansy." I sucked in my breath and held it. "She had contacted me and said it was urgent that we meet. It seemed creditable so I agreed. I expected it to be short and then I would plan how I would propose to you later that night. But then when I was with Pansy, I ended up cheating on you. Probably it was a trap, now that I think back on it" I flinched slightly. Cheating was something I deplored and had on many occasions told Draco it was unacceptable in a relationship. "I knew that you would break up with me if you found out. Not only that but I ran into Ron while I was trying to figure out what had just happened. Seeing him, I realized you could do so much better than a man who cheats on you. Ron has adored you since day one, I used to be so cruel to you. I've always felt lucky to have you when you could've easily been with Ron. This seemed to prove it. I'm an arrogant ass who is only nice around you. You somehow found perfections within me and I wasn't worthy of you." I opened my eyes and let out my breath.
"Why didn't you tell me you felt that way? I didn't want Ron, I wanted you. I would've worked with it out with you about the cheating had you just explained the circumstances. It wasn't like you deliberately wanted to hurt me. Yes, I would've been hurt and I would've shut you out. But I would've come back to you because I wasn't going to throw away four years at the drop of a hat." I admitted to him, now looking at him dead in the eye. "Now you've just wasted three years. You stupid idiot." The tears were about to drop, I knew it. Turning my head away from him, I wiped them away with the back of my hand. I felt Draco put his head on my shoulder.
"Please don't cry. I can't stand to see you cry." he whispered as I met my eyes with his again. It was obvious that he was upset that he had caused me to such a hard time. Reaching out his hands he pulled me into his lap, which I didn't object to as I was trying to just breathe. If I was breathing then everything would be okay. He wrapped his arms around me.
"I sold my company so I could come here and win you back. I know I've caused you so much pain but I hope you believe I was only doing it because I thought you would be happier off with someone else. I know I can't just erase the last three years, all I'm asking is that you give me a chance. Give me tonight to make you change your mind." It was hard to resist his offer, there was so much history there. I wanted to know if Draco and I still had what made us work but at the same time I didn't want to potentially hurt Ron. I didn't want to hurt as well. Then again it was one night.
"Okay. You have tonight." I agreed and put my head in the crook of his neck. It still fit there as perfect as it did in the past. He kissed my head in graditude.
"Go pop back to your place and get changed. Nothing too fancy but not office attire. When you're ready meet me back here." I nodded, though puzzled at his somewhat strange request.
"What do you have in store?"
"That my dear is a surprise." I looked at him and I couldn't resist moving a piece of his hair back into piece. During this, he closed his eyes and when he opened them, they had back their usual warm feeling. He tried to move in a fraction but I untangled myself from him.
"I'll see you in a few." I said hastily. With a smile I popped back to my apartment and at first I couldn't move. Everything had happened in such a short span of time that my head was spinning. I sank to the floor. I knew I couldn't rely on Ginny, Harry, and especially Ron for help with the questions, doubts, and fears running through my head. This was all on me which after a few minutes seemed right since it was me and him that were in the relationship, not them. I was also being confronted with a difficult question at the same time: What did I want? Never in my life had I really thought about it. If anyone needed help on their schoolwork, I helped them no matter the time or conditions. I was dating Ron because everyone expected us to get together at some point. Even the books I checked out at Hogwarts were recommended to me, I didn't even look at one for a single second and think if I wanted to actually read this book. I always put everyone else before myself every minute of the day. At what consquences would follow if I dared to get what I wanted?
Realizing that a good chunk of time had passed, I picked myself up and walked to my room. Picking out a simple outfit of a shirt and jeans, I gave myself a once over and popped back to the office. At first, I only saw Draco, looking heartbreakingly good.
Pick him.
