Chapter 5

Draco and Hermione were once again stuck at the book shop together. It wouldn't have been so bad since this was their fourth time working together, but thanks to the scene at the coffee shop during the previous weekend, things were a bit awkward. They hadn't spoken since that incident. Hermione dreaded seeing him. Something had happened inside of her when she was held in his arms, something she hadn't felt in a long time. Hermione didn't recognize it at first, but it was the same feeling that she got years ago when Ron held her in that protective way.

It really did confuse her how, of all people, Draco could make her feel that way…she immediately dismissed the thoughts when she arrived at work and saw Draco already inside the shop. She didn't want to think back to yesterday or those feelings might reappear and she would long to be held like that again. To be held by Draco Malfoy, again…

"Morning, Malfoy." Hermione greeted him when she walked into the shop, as if it was another ordinary day and that they hadn't almost kissed a week ago.

"Morning." Draco mumbled a little unclearly. He was sitting at the front desk reading the Daily Prophet and didn't even look up to acknowledge her.

Hermione frowned at him and sensed that he wasn't in a very good mood. No matter, she thought. It wasn't as if she was looking to socialize with him all day anyways. But she wondered why he was acting like this. Normally, he would at least greet her properly and maybe even joke about the way her hair was always so bushy in the mornings.

The thing was she didn't think that the incident would've affected him in any way. She thought he would've probably just thought she was clumsy and forgot about the whole thing. Oh, how wrong she was.

The kiss-that-almost-was plagued Draco's thoughts and dreams every night. He dreamt about holding her again, even a little kiss had slipped in one of those dreams. He would've gone mental if it hadn't been for an important assignment he and Blaise had to work on in the ministry, keeping his mind of Hermione for at least a few hours of the day.

On the third night, he couldn't even fall asleep and tossed and turned all night. He was so frustrated and became angry. Angry at Hermione for making him feel this way, for being so irresistible to him. But he was mostly angry at himself for letting it get to this point where he couldn't even sleep. Malfoys were supposed to be stronger than this. But when it came to the power of love, anything could be shattered.

His anger was slightly raised up another level when Hermione entered the book shop that morning. Her casual greeting obviously stated that the incident from a few days ago didn't affect her as much as it did him. Of course it didn't. Why should it have affected her? She didn't feel the same way about him as he felt about her. But Draco had aloud one glint of hope that she had felt the same way when he looked into her eyes as he held her in his arms…

Draco got up and left without a word, not wanting to be around Hermione at the moment. Hermione, once again, frowned at him, but ignored it when the door to the book shop opened and the little bell that hung from the top slightly rang, indicating that a customer was heading in. Hermione, who was wiping the front desk that didn't look like it had been cleaned in months, looked up to see a man in a long black trench coat walk in. She greeted him kindly with a small smile as he approached her.

"Hello, sir." Hermione said to the man when he reached the desk. She had seen him around the shop before, but always talking to Pansy instead of looking for books. He looked a little upset and it frightened Hermione.

"Where's Pansy?" The man demanded. Hermione was right.

"Um, she's not here today. Is there something I could help you with?"

"What do you mean she's not here today?"

"She took the day off."

"Day off?! She knew I was coming today, didn't she? That's why she took the day off." The tone of voice was rising with every breath he took.

"Actually, she's busy with wedding planning. That's why she took the day off. And I would appreciate it if you could lower your voice."

"Shut up! Don't you dare tell me to lower my voice. I'll talk however loud I want." The man yelled and made Hermione jump. She stared at the strange man, too terrified to say anything else, and tried to back away, but the man grabbed her wrist suddenly pulling her forward. Hermione cried in pain and tried to pull her hand away, but the man's hand was much too strong for her.

"Get you're filthy hands off her." Draco said appearing out of no where.

He had been in the storage room when he heard the man yelling and Hermione cry out. He came out and saw that the man had his fingers wrapped around her wrist. He fumed inside. Draco had never ever approved of violence against women. And when he saw that the man was manhandling Hermione that'd done it. He forgot about being angry with her and stepped forward. With his wand out pointed directly at the man's throat he added, "If you know what's good for you."

"Draco Malfoy!" The man exclaimed and quickly let go of Hermione's hand.

Hermione, still in shock, stumbled backwards and accidently, for the second time that week, bumped into Draco. As if on cue, he grabbed her by the waist with the free arm that wasn't occupied with pointing a wand at the man. Draco cocked his head to the side and looked at the man. Realization hit him after a few minutes.

"Jeremy Rosenburg. What are you doing here? I thought that you were long gone."

"I came here to see Pansy."

"Why? So you can beat her again? She doesn't want you anymore. She's getting married to Blaise, I'm sure you know that."

Hermione's eyes went wide in confusion. Pansy dated this man? Pansy never told her anything about this. And what was this about him beating her? No wonder he grabbed her wrist so harshly. This was probably a man with a violent background. Hermione was definitely getting suspicious.

"I was in a bad state back then, I…I wasn't myself. I'm better now and I want Pansy back in my life."

"That is not going to happen. She's happy with Blaise." Draco informed him. Jeremy was about to say something, but Draco held up his hand to stop him. "There is no need to further discuss this. I think you should leave before you piss me off even more. And you better not come back here looking for her, again, or I'll have Blaise come and pay you a visit."

Jeremy took a deep breath, trying not to explode. He turned around was about to walk out the door when Draco stopped him again.

"I think you owe a certain someone an apology for disrespectfully raising your voice at her." Draco told him. Jeremy turned to Hermione, who was standing awkwardly behind the front desk, slightly rubbing her fragile wrist. He walked over to her.

"Sorry about that, Miss. I hope I didn't do much harm to your wrist."

"It's alright. I'm sure I'll survive." Hermione said, not meeting his eye.

Jeremy nodded. He turned to give Draco one last look before leaving the shop completely. For a second, nothing happened. Hermione watched silently at Draco, who was standing in place staring at the door. She wanted to ask him what all that was about, though she didn't want to seem nosy so she didn't say anything. But she didn't have to.

"You're probably wondering who that was and what he has to do with Pansy." Draco said, turning to face her.

"I wasn't going to ask." Hermione replied. Draco walked over to stand across from her, on the opposite side of the desk. He placed both hands on top of the table and raised his eyebrows at her, a slight smirk slowing forming as if he knew it was a lie. Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, I am curious, but I honestly wasn't going to ask. I'm not that nosy. Besides, I would probably ask Pansy about it instead of you."

"And why is that?"

"Because it's more of her business than yours. It's not your place to tell me."

Draco gave her a short laugh before turning to leave. He was almost hidden by one of the bookshelves when Hermione called out to him. Draco took a few steps back and turned his head to the side to look at her.

Hermione didn't quite know how to say it. She didn't want to thank him for protecting her because, well, he didn't really. So she just settled for what came in mind first.

"Thanks…for, you know, coming out when you did."

She mentally slapped herself. Well, that sounded stupid, she thought.

Draco was about to say something along the lines of 'Don't take it to the heart, I would've done it if it was anyone else', but decided on just giving her a nod before walking back to the storage room.

When Hermione came home that night after work she saw a distraught Pansy sitting in the middle of the living room with a bunch of different wedding books and parchments scattered around her. Pansy, sitting with her legs tucked under her, had an open book on her lap while her head was in her hands. Hermione set her bag down by the fireplace and sat down on one of the couches.

"What's wrong, Pansy?"

"I'm so frustrated, Hermione! All this wedding planning is driving me insane!" Pansy said, and threw the book that was on her lap across the room. Hermione sighed and sat down on the floor next to her friend.

"What happened? You were never like this before. You usually come home all happy and excited. You're always telling me that you want to get married the next day."

Pansy sniffed and a few tears escaped. She paused, to wipe the tears with her sleeve, before responding.

"Blaise and I got into a fight! And it was all my fault!" Pansy sobbed.

"What happened?" Hermione repeated.

"Well," Pansy sniffed, "We were meeting with our wedding planner today to pick where we will be having the ceremony and reception..."

"Go on." Hermione said after Pansy stopped talking.

"I already had the place picked out, the date decided, and everything. I told Blaise to inform our wedding planner about it a few weeks ago and guess what…he forgot! He forgot! Now the place is all booked. Unbelievable!

"I was so angry with him when he told me. I couldn't even speak for the first couple of minutes…and then I let him have it. I lost it, Hermione! I was so mad that I just left. I haven't spoken to him since. I know I messed up. I shouldn't have yelled at him and now he probably hates me and doesn't want to be with me anymore."

Tears streamed out of Pansy's eyes like a broken faucet that wouldn't turn off. Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out some tissues, handing them to Pansy. She took them and thanked Hermione before blowing her nose and wiping the tears. Hermione waited a few minutes until Pansy was calm before speaking.

"Pans, I don't think Blaise is mad at you. Knowing him, he's probably angrier at himself for messing up and forgetting. He could never hate you and I know he still wants to marry you."

"But he hasn't even come see me! The least he could've done was owl me."

"Give him some time. I think he'll be here before the night ends."

"Do you think I'm a horrible person?" Pansy whispered.

"Of course not! You're just too stressed out over this. I'm sure most bride-to-be's go through this. But…you do know that you don't have to do everything yourself, right? I mean, I could help you out if you need me."

Pansy nodded and wiped the last tears from her eyes. "Thanks, Hermione."

"Anytime. Come on, let's go in the kitchen. I'm starving. Did you have dinner yet?" Hermione asked as she helped Pansy up and they walked into the kitchen. Pansy sat down at the counter while Hermione rummaged through the fridge.

"I'm not in the mood to eat." Pansy said. Hermione took out two cups and poured some tea for Pansy and herself. She also grabbed a bowl of leftover chicken stew out of the refrigerator and heated it up with her wand.

"Drink some tea." Hermione told Pansy and sat down next her. Pansy obeyed and sipped on her herbal tea.

"So how was work?"

"Same as usual…Oh, speaking of which, a man came looking for you today."

"Who?"

"If I remember correctly, Malfoy called him Jeremy Rosen-something."

Pansy groaned and set her cup down on the table. She rubbed her face with her hands. "Jeremy Rosenburg. This day just keeps getting worse and worse."

"Who is he? I've seen him around the shop before."

"Someone who I'd like to forget, but keeps coming back." Pansy replied. Hermione raised an eye at her. "We use to date when I was living in Romania. We were together for about 3 months before he started to…"

Pansy's voice became soft, barely above a whisper and she didn't finish her sentence, but she didn't have to. Hermione knew exactly what he did. It triggered in her mind when she remember what Draco had said earlier. 'So you can beat her again?' Hermione placed a hand on Pansy's shoulder, telling her that she knew.

"It got really bad at one point. I told him that I never wanted to see him again and I didn't for a very, very long time. Then one day when I was working at the book shop he showed up out of no where. I was completely shocked to see him. How he found me I have yet to figure out. He's been trying to get me back, that's why you always see him at the book shop talking to me, but I would never ever date him again."

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I don't really like to talk about it." Pansy shrugged.

"I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about, sweetie."

And that was that. Hermione left the topic alone and didn't speak of it any longer. She couldn't help but think of how strong of a person Pansy really is. She's been through so much and Hermione just keeps learning more and more about her, stuff that she never would've guessed.

They were sipping their tea silently when there was a knock at the door. The two looked at each other. A smile small formed on Hermione's face, knowing exactly who was at the door. Pansy was confused at first, but the second she saw Hermione's smile she jumped off the stool and ran to the door. Pansy swung open the door and there he was, standing in the darkness with a bouquet of roses. She threw her arms around Blaise as he wrapped his arms around her. Hermione stood in the living room door way and smiled at them.

As soon as they let go, both of them cried, "I'm sorry!" and then "Why are you sorry?"

They let out a short laugh and Pansy stepped aside to let Blaise in. He handed her the flowers as they both took a seat on the couch.

"Blaise, honey, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that and then walked away. That was so immature. If you don't want to marry me anymore I totally understand." Pansy said as she set the roses on the table and turned her attention fully on Blaise.

"Pans, if I didn't want to marry you why would I be here with roses for you?" Blaise laughed. "Look, I messed up. It was my fault and I deserved every word you said to me."

"No you didn't. Everyone makes mistakes and I shouldn't have been so harsh."

"If I didn't make that mistake then we would still have a place for our wedding."

"It's fine. We'll find another place. I don't care where as long as I'm with you."

Blaise smiled and kissed the top of her nose. They cuddled closer together; Blaise wrapped his arms tightly around Pansy as she curled into a ball with a smile on her face. Hermione, who was watching the whole thing, smiled as she silently snuck upstairs and left them alone.

Draco and Pansy were having dinner together at their usual restaurant, but it was different that night because two of their regulars were missing. Hermione was busy visiting the Weasley's and Blaise was stuck at work. The minister had picked Blaise to be in charge of a very important assignment and Draco was thankful that he didn't have to deal with that. So that left Draco and Pansy.

Although Pansy was a little upset that Blaise wouldn't be able to join them, she was happy to spend some time with Draco. They hadn't had much alone time in a very long time and it was nice to have dinner with just her best friend. They finished their dinner and were waiting for their dessert.

"So, how are things between you and Hermione?" Pansy asked. Draco was caught off guard by the question and didn't know how to answer.

"What do you mean?" He decided to say.

"Well, are you two still at each other's throats or have you put the past in the past?"

"Oh," Draco was relieved. For a second he thought that Pansy knew about his feelings for Hermione, "We're friends." He simply said.

"And you want to be more." Pansy claimed. Okay, maybe she did know.

"What makes you think that?" Draco asked with narrowed eyes.

"Draco, this might surprise you, but I've known how you felt about Hermione since Hogwarts."

Draco nearly choked on his wine. She knew for that long?! How? He had hid it so well, or so he thought.

"How…how did you know?"

"I'm you're best friend. Of course, I knew. The way you looked at her during meals and classes. I would've been an idiot if I didn't."

"You were watching me all those times?"

"No, I was just trying to talk to you, but I never got your attention because someone else did." Pansy laughed.

"And you didn't tell me that you knew?"

"Because you would've denied it and I knew that you didn't want anyone to know about it so I just didn't say anything and let you be."

Draco didn't say anything to that. She was right. If he knew that she knew, then he would've probably outright denied it like it was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

Dessert came at that moment. Pansy began to eat her chocolate cake while Draco just poked at his with a fork. Pansy watched him for a moment, waiting for him to stop and take a bite. When he didn't she spoke up.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Draco said and took a bite of the cake. Pansy could tell he was lying, but didn't say anything about it. They finished dessert and Draco paid for their dinner.

"Thank you, Draco."

"No problem."

They sat a little there a little longer, enjoying the last drops of the expensive wine.

"Your mother's annul fall party is coming up." Pansy said, suddenly.

"Your point?"

"Who's your date?"

"I'm not taking Granger if that's what you're trying to do."

"Why not?"

"She probably doesn't want to go anyways."

"You don't know until you ask. You two could just go as friends. It'll be fun!" Pansy said. Draco was about to say no again when Pansy gave him the pleading look that he hated oh so much.

"Fine." Draco said, defeated.

Damn it, Pansy.

Hermione was stocking some book in the back of the book shop when she heard Pansy call her from the front desk. She placed the books that were in her hands on the shelf. When she reached the front she was greeted by a grinning Pansy and an ornate vase of flowers on the table. The thing was huge and over loaded with different types of flowers.

"What's this for?"

"Someone sent you flowers, Hermione!" Pansy exclaimed. She plucked the little note card that was hidden inside the bundle and handed it to Hermione. "They left you a note, too!"

Hermione took the card from Pansy and silently read it to herself. By the look of Pansy's face, she had a feeling that Pansy might've already read what was on the note.

To Hermione Granger,

My mother is having a party this weekend and it would be a pleasure if you would be my date for the night.
Please owl me when you've made a decision.

Draco Malfoy

P.S. I hope you like flowers.

Hermione reread the note a second time, making sure that she wasn't hallucinating the first time she read it. She looked up after a couple of seconds and saw Pansy smiling at her.

"You knew about this didn't you?" Hermione asked, and placed the note back inside the flowers.

"Well, it was sort of my idea…"

"I don't think I'm going to go."

"What? Why? Come on, Hermione, it'll be fun!"

"I wouldn't know anyone there. It'll be uncomfortable."

"I'll be there! And Blaise'll be there! It's not as bad as you think. I go every year and I have a great time." Pansy said, trying hard to convince her.

"I don't know…"

"Just go for a little while and if you don't have fun then I'll take you home."

Hermione wanted to say no again, but it was so hard for her to say it especially with Pansy over there pleading like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh, alright." Hermione gave in.

Pansy jumped and clapped happily, acting like a little girl who just got the best birthday present in the world, and gave her a hug. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the girl. Once she let go, Pansy took the vase of flowers and placed them nicely next to the window as Hermione left to write a letter addressed to Draco Malfoy.

A/N: Longest chapter, yet!
Please review! Thank you to those who've been reviewing my story.
They're wonderful :D

-CHIBZ