And Then There Was Damon

Hermione was about to rip her hair out when one of her co-workers walked in, Damon Winston. Damon was a nice guy who was a year older than her - he had gone to Durmstrang, and was quite the handsome fellow. He had sandy blonde hair that always seemed to fall the right way - she had a suspicion he made an effort to do so every morning - and he had bright blue eyes that always seemed to twinkle in amusement. Hermione had also had a feeling - along with Julie, who never let her forget it - that Damon had a crush on her, ever since about half a year ago . . . but, since she'd been involved with Ron, and then, well, not so involved with Ron, she hadn't pursued it any further. And now - well, now there was Draco.

Not that she had any feelings for him, of course. No strings attached. Strictly friends with benefits.

Damon grinned and studied her closely as he flopped into one of the chairs across from her desk. She sighed and looked up at him with a smile that was just a tad bit stressed.

"Doing alright, Hermione?" he asked with a slight chuckle.

She sighed once again and sorted some papers out as she replied, "Fantastic. And you?"

He chuckled again. "Alright, what's wrong?"

"Just . . . work," she muttered, then looked up at him curiously, "Did you need something?"

"No, I was just checking on you. Julie told me you were having a stressful day," he admitted, then rolled his eyes, "That girl really needs to find someone else to flirt with, she's driving me just a little crazy."

She laughed lightly. "Well, you know her. I swear the Ministry enforced that dress code because of her."

They both laughed, and then Damon stood, saying, "Well, I just wanted to drop in. I'll leave you to your work - but, darling, try not to rip your hair out."

She gave him a look, smirking. "Shut it, Winston."

He winked at her, chuckling, "Take it easy, Hermione."

Then, he left her with her still-hefty workload. But Damon still brought a smile to her face. She laughed once more before resuming her work.

XXX

Hermione Flooed back to her apartment and she put her things down by the door. She heard the TV from the living room, and knew she would have to walk past it to get to the hallway of their bedrooms. She made a face as she looked around the corner and saw Draco there, lounging on the couch. She bit her lip as she tried to tip toe past him, but she was unsuccessful when one of the floorboards creaked.

Damn.

He turned and she feigned innocence, smoothing down her skirt. He smirked and turned the TV off, standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

"'Mione," he said in warning, "Don't try to sneak past me. I know something's up. Tell me."

"Don't know what you're on about, but, erm - want to watch the last episode of 'Freinds'?" she tried, laughing nervously.

He walked towards her, but she dodged him, heading towards the TV.

"Hermione," he muttered, "Would you stop it? Talk to me, woman."

She sighed and turned to face him. "Draco, I just . . . I'm scared."

He raised his eyebrows. "Of . . . of what?"

She swallowed and bounced lightly of the balls of her feet nervously. "I don't . . . no strings attached, yeah?"

He stared suspciously at her. "How many times exactly have we been over this? Look, Hermione, I get it, you're not ready for a real relationship. That's fine."

"It's not that, it's just . . . well, yeah, it's that. And, with us, it'd just be weird, you know? With this situation. . . ." she trailed off, shrugging.

He nodded, though he looked a bit uneasy. "Agreed. Now, can you come kiss me now, before it starts to get awkward?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't just hand kisses out for free, Draco, you have to earn them."

He sidled toward her slowly, smirking. "Oh, yeah?"

She backed away. "Yeah, and if you think I'm one of those girls, then you can just forget the 'benefits' part of our friendship."

He bit his lip to hide his smile. "Oh? Well, what would I have to do?"

She smirked. "Make me dinner."

"Make you dinner?" he repeated, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes."

"Fine," he said, "Dinner it is. But you've been warned, by cooking skills are not exactly the best."

"What do you mean by that?"

XXX

Two hours later, they were left with not only an absent dinner, but with a kitchen smelling of smoke, a burnt attempt of lasagna in the oven, over-cooked steamed broccoli in the sink, and mashed potatoes that had exploded everywhere in the microwave.

Hermione and Draco stared at the wreckage.

"How did this even happen?" she asked in shock, for she had been taking a nap after a long day at work during this fiasco. The smoke had woken her up.

"It's all kind of a blur." he admitted dazedly.

She sighed, shaking her head. "Order take-out while I clean this up, you useless bum."

"Hey, I tried, you heartless witch." she chuckled, pouting.

She rolled her eyes at his pitiful sulking and waved her wand, everything zooming back into order. She glanced at him and he was still moping, leaning against the wall with his arms over his chest.

"I said order take-out, Malfoy!" she said, smiling at his over-done helpless expression.

When he realized his pouting wouldn't work, he looked up at her with a smirk. "Not until I get my kiss."

She scoffed. "Yeah, right - you nearly burnt the kitchen down!"

She walked past him to get the telephone, but he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him, putting his lips to hers. She didn't fight against him, and smiled at his efforts. She put her hands on his chest and pulled back, smirking.

"You're still a useless bum."

He chuckled, "You're such a pain, you know that?"

"The feeling is mutual." she laughed and he pulled her back to him.

XXX

When Hermione was closing up at work the next day, she was actually in a better mood then the day before. Since her and Draco had sorted out their relationship enough to where she was convinced, she felt things were looking up.

But what was still bothering her was that she blushed when she thought about his lips on hers.

And that his smile made her smile, no matter what.

And that her favorite thing was on weeknights when they watched their favorite TV shows with her head in his lap

And that seeing him at the end of the day was what kept her going.

"Stop it," she scolded herself quietly, "That is . . . perfectly normal for a friends with benefits relationship."

There was a knock on her door and she glanced up. "Come in."

Damon walked in - he looked especially handsome today, she noted, and she shouldn't feel guilty about it. . . right? - and smiled at her, closing the door behind him.

"Closing up, then?" he asked, walking over to her with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah," she said, pushing her hair out of her face and grabbing her bag, "And you?"

"Yeah, already did," he said, gesturing back the way he'd come. Then, he paused before casually saying, "So I heard you were dating that Draco Malfoy bloke."

She nodded. "Yeah, well, don't see how you could miss it, what with it all over the papers and magazines and all that rubbish."

He chuckled. "Sorry to hear that," he murmured, then paused before continuing, "So is it serious enough that you think he'd be pissed if I invited you to a friendly dinner?"

This caught Hermione off guard. She hadn't been expecting this - this hadn't been in the cards.

But then maybe . . . maybe this is just what she needed. She just thought it the other morning, about the dating other guys thing. But - the bloody paparazzi.

She smiled sadly. "I think it'd be fine if not for the paparazzi. They're really a pain."

"No worries. I know the perfect place." he assured her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you now? You're not going to take to me some secluded field and kill me or anything, are you?" she joked.

He grinned. "Muggle London, where only the most Muggle of Muggle people roam."

She laughed, nodding. "Well, that suits me fine. I am a Muggle-born, you know."

"And I am, too, so we should fit right in."

She nodded and took his offered hand. "Let's go, then."

And as they Apparated into an alley next to the restaurant he was taking her, she didn't even think Draco would be worried about her as he waited for her back at the flat.

XXX

Hermione and Damon tried to keep their laughter quiet in the tiny cafe, but found it was difficult.

"Okay, it's official, you have the worst taste in music." Damon chuckled, shaking his head.

"What?" Hermione scoffed, "Gertrude and the Pigmypuff's are good!"

"Oh, Merlin, Hermione, they're horrible," he exclaimed, rolling his eyes, "They're voices are so off-key there should be a record, they wear fur hats onstage, and I'm pretty sure they were still around when my grandfather was born."

Hermione laughed hard, letting her head fall back, and glanced at the time. She was surprised when she found it was almost nine. They'd been there for three hours? Really?

"Oh, Damon, the time," she said, catching her breath from her laughter, "I'm sorry, I - I've got to go."

"That's fine, I'll get the check." he said with a reassuring look.

She nodded and bounced lightly in her chair as they waited. Damon chuckled at her and shook his head.

"You need to loosen up, 'Mione. Stress is a killer."

She let out a breathy laugh and shrugged. "So I've heard."

When they finally could go, Damon offered to Apparate her to her door. She accepted, and the next moment, they were there at her door. She looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling very guilty with Draco on just the other side of the door. But should she? They weren't even really a couple . . . but Damon thought they were. What did that say about him? Well, he did ask. Would Draco be angry?

No strings attached, she reminded herself.

"Hermione," Damon murmured, and she looked up to meet his blue eyes. "Don't worry. I'm not forcing anything on you. This was just a friendly thing, alright?"

She nodded, smiling. "You're too good to be true, you know that?"

He let out a chuckle and shrugged. "Not so sure about that, but . . . " he trailed off.

Hermione shook her head exasperatedly and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. She pulled back and smiled, and his eyes twinkled as he smiled back.

She put a hand on his cheek. "I like you, Damon, really, but . . . "

"But you like him more." he finished for her, even if that's not what she was planning to say. She really wasn't quite sure what she was going to say, but that worked.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, sliding her hand off him, but he caught it and brought her hand to his lips.

"That's alright. Really, Hermione. We can be friends." he said and dropped her hand.

She smiled one last time at him, murmured a goodbye, and entered her flat, closing the door behind her. She set her things down on one of the bar stools and was so lost in thought she didn't even notice Draco standing in the middle of the living room until he cleared his throat.

She looked up at him in surprise. "Oh. Hi."

"'Oh, hi'," he repeated exasperately, "You're late three hours and all you give me is an 'oh, hi'?"

She sighed. "Funny," she muttered, stepping down into the living room. "For your information, I just had a date. So, sorry for - "

"A what?" he gasped.

"A date." she repeated, frowning.

"But what if the paparazzi - "

"We went to a Muggle cafe in London," she said, "I swear, we kept it simple."

He nodded hesitantly, and sighed, "You know, Hermione, I don't want to hold you back. I don't want you to have to put your love life on hold or anything, it's not fair, and - "

"But you're a part of my love life." she blurted in confusion, and sighed when she realized what she'd said, closing her eyes.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and she could hear the frown in his voice.

She swallowed and opened her eyes to find him walking towards her. She put her hand up hastily. "No, please, just - I might as well explain now, and you should stay over there so I'm not . . . distracted . . . or anything."

He frowned and stayed where he was, waiting expectantly.

She looked down and licked her lips anxiously before looking back up at him. "When I said that I wanted a relationship with no strings attached . . . that was because I was scared, not because I didn't want more," she admitted quietly, and was falling into even deeper mortification when tears started falling down her face in anticipation of what she was about to admit. "And I do want more with you, Draco, and I - I know you're not - that you don't like me like that, but . . . that's okay, I'm not ready anyway, because . . . because if Ron had broken my heart without even hesitating, then why wouldn't you, you know? And so I was scared and confused, and Damon's so sweet, and he likes me, and I . . . I didn't know what to do, so that's why I just went on . . . a date . . . with him. . . ." she finished lamely, feeling the strength of words slipping her. Why would he care about any of this? Sure, they'd become friends, but that was it to him. That was it, so why was she taking the time to explain why she didn't want to be more than friends? She should've just left it as it was.

She refused to look at him and fiddled with her hands. "Yeah, that's all. And that probably didn't make sense, so I'm just going to go die in my bedroom under my covers, so . . . bye."

She tried to hurry past him, her hair curtaining her face, but then she felt his hand brush her arm and take her hand. Her head snapped up so fast she was surprised she didn't pull a muscle - and it was a good thing she didn't, too, that'd be even more humiliating - and saw his face. It was an odd mixture of surprise, determination and fondness.

"Hermione." he whispered, brushing her tears away with his thumb.

"Draco - I can't." she said, backing away to the hallway.

Then, she proceeded quickly to her room, where she indeed burrowed under her covers, but she didn't die, of course.

She just cried her confused, terribly wimpy, little heart out.