Hermione survived the rest of the week without running into Draco. Not in the lifts, not at the café, not in the Atrium on the way in. She didn't let Ginny do her hair again. She'd told her "the wrong person noticed," which had gotten Ginny into quite a tizzy trying to figure out what she meant by that.
Friday rolled around and Hermione was glad to see the clock tick toward five o'clock. Sometimes Harry and a few other Aurors would head to a pub after work on Fridays, and Harry had invited her today. She didn't really drink, but a Butterbeer sounded wonderful about now.
It was 4:42 when Hermione heard footsteps coming by her cubicle. She looked up to see Harry round the corner. He was breathing hard, like he'd run.
"Harry," she said. "What is it?"
"I've made a mistake," he said. He ran his hand through his hair and shifted his glasses on his face. Hermione felt a tightness in her chest that she hadn't felt for almost two years.
"What's wrong?"
Ginny rounded the corner, also out of breath.
"Ginny! Is everything okay?"
"It will be!" She grinned. Things must not be that dire if Ginny was grinning.
"I, er…" Harry began. He lowered his voice. "I was talking with some of my team about going out to the pub tonight, and Malfoy was a few feet away."
Ginny was pulling a comb and pins out of her purse. Hermione stared at her, uncomprehending.
"And," Harry continued. "I said 'Hey Malfoy, if you're not busy after work…'"
As Ginny started tugging on Hermione's hair, she suddenly understood.
"We've got it, Potter. You can go," Ginny said, spinning Hermione's chair around.
"Wha-?" Hermione tried.
"Again, really sorry, Hermione," Harry said. He walked back to the lifts.
Ginny tugged on her hair to get her to face forward.
"We'll try something different this time, yeah?" Ginny said.
"Ginny, stop." Hermione turned in her chair. "You don't need to do this. I'll be fine."
"Listen up, Granger." Ginny leaned down and placed her hands on Hermione's armrests, bringing her face level with hers. "You have to try. There's no harm in trying."
"There's something to be said for 'trying' too hard," Hermione said. A thought hit her. "Did Harry call you?"
Ginny nodded. "He popped through the floo, said, 'I've just made a horrible mistake, I've invited Malfoy out with us tonight,' and I told him to go tell you and I'd be right there."
Hermione didn't know whether to be comforted that she had such caring friends, or insulted that no one thought she could dress herself.
"And this time," Ginny threatened. "We're doing mascara."
Hermione was able to stop her at lip gloss at least. Ginny had pulled the hair at her temples back into braids again, but let the rest hang down, using her wand to spin a few unruly locks into the curls they should be. Ginny didn't let her see herself until they were on their way to the pub, but she had to admit that Ginny had done a good job. The mascara was weighing on her eyes though.
The pub was particularly crowded for 5PM. They'd come here after work loads of times, but it was never like this. Ginny lead Hermione through the crowd to their usual corner, bumping elbows with people on the way. Katie Bell waved them over to their table and gave them both huge hugs. Katie had started at the Improper Use of Magic Division right after the Battle of Hogwarts, so she usually joined them on their Friday nights out.
"Hermione!" Katie said. "You look so pretty!"
Hermione glared at Ginny. Ginny grinned.
"I'm going to go take my hair out," Hermione said, but Ginny grabbed her arm when she began to walk away.
Ginny turned to Katie. "She's trying something new. Trying to get someone's attention."
"Ginny!" Hermione gaped. Ginny laughed and flounced away. Hermione turned to Katie, "That's not… I mean she's—"
"It's Friday night, Hermione!" Katie laughed. "You're allowed to be a young woman!" Katie leaned into her. "Who is it?"
"It's not… I mean, he probably won't even be here tonight," Hermione lied.
"Oh!" Katie had a thought, then leaned into Hermione. "Did you hear Harry invited Draco Malfoy? What a dolt!"
Hermione sighed, but then remembered pieces of Sixth Year -
"Katie, oh no. I'm so sorry. Are you okay with Malfoy being here?"
Katie waved her hand in front of her face. "It's fine," she said. "I've been working with him all week, now. Besides, he actually came to my cubicle on the first day and apologized for it all."
"He… He did?" Hermione didn't expect this at all.
"Yeah, he just said he wanted to clear the air." Katie took a sip from her water glass. She smiled facetiously at Hermione and said, "What? He hasn't made it to Level 4 yet to apologize to you for years of name calling and torture?"
Hermione chuckled. "No, not yet. But perhaps he started with the crimes punishable by law."
Katie laughed. "He's actually not all that bad. He's changed since Hogwarts."
"Really?" Hermione pried, "What's he been like at work?"
"Agreeable, actually. He's much more reserved and doesn't walk with his nose in the air like he used to."
Hermione was going to ask more, but then Ginny returned with a handful of Firewhisky shots.
"Who's got his nose in the air?" Ginny waggled her eyebrows at Hermione. "Draco Malfoy?"
"How'd you guess?" Katie laughed.
Ginny handed Hermione a glass and when Katie refused hers with a smile, Ginny took half and forced Hermione to down the rest. Hermione would have to stick to Butterbeer for the rest of the night.
"Let's join the boys!" Ginny yelled over the noise. It was even louder than when they came in.
As Katie and Ginny led her to the corner, she could just pick a drawl out of the racket. They were at a high-top table. It was Draco, Harry, and Anthony Goldstein. Harry stood and kissed Ginny and gave Hermione's arm a squeeze. Katie stood at the head of the small table, while Draco and Harry were across from each other. Anthony was against the wall, on Draco's left. Ginny went to the open stool on Harry's right. Hermione actively did not look at Draco.
They were talking about a case at work. Even Ginny knew some details through Harry, so Hermione was the only one trying to catch up. Something about a few Durmstrang students and an old family estate out on the English countryside. She didn't dare ask them to start from the beginning, so she just propped herself against the wall next to Ginny's stool and listened.
Draco would speak every so often. It seemed his expertise was on the families of the Durmstrang students, and that Lucius was close friends with the Scandinavian Minister. Hermione found herself watching the way his hands held his Firewhisky tumbler. He had a ring on his left thumb that Hermione had seen often as a sort of Slytherin house ring. The ring would tap the glass in a rhythm only he knew, but that didn't stop Hermione trying to figure it.
She felt Ginny lean in to her left ear. "Stop staring at his hands and go buy another round for the table."
Hermione flushed and Ginny laughed at her. Hermione thought that was a wonderful idea, seeing as she couldn't join the conversation and she couldn't stop fixating on him. She squeezed out of the corner she found herself in, and made her way to the bar. She heard his voice saying something over the din, and then the table laughed. Old habits caused her to tense, as if the joke was about her, but she had to remind herself that Harry and Ginny would never laugh at her like that.
She asked the bartender for another round for the boys in the corner, a Firewhisky shot for Ginny, and two Butterbeers for Katie and her. She levitated the drinks over the crowd and landed them down one at a time in front of their owners.
"Oi! You're a right queen, you are, Granger!" Anthony downed his earlier tumbler and accepted the new one.
Draco's new drink clinked against that damned ring as she levitated it into his hands. She magically gathered the empty glasses and sent them back toward the bartender.
"After you're done liberating the dragons and the centaurs, Granger, you should consider a career in waiting tables," Draco said.
Hermione looked at him, waiting for the insult, but there was none.
Ginny stepped in with "This is actually quite rare. I'm more used to her breaking glasses than cleaning them."
"Hey!" Hermione nudged Ginny after the glasses landed safely at the bar. Hermione handed a Butterbeer to Katie which she didn't take.
"Actually," Katie said, smiling. "This is the perfect time to tell you the news." She looked around the table and said, "I'm pregnant."
Ginny gasped. "No!" She giggled.
The boys joined with a chorus of congratulations. Hermione squeezed her arm, but was trying to remember who Katie was dating, because she certainly was not married.
"So, Harry," Katie said. "I guess I'm going to have to bow out of Quidditch for a bit."
"Katie!" Anthony jumped in. "You have the worst timing! We play Magical Games and Sports next Sunday!"
Katie laughed, "I'm sorry! I'll tell the baby to wait another few months!"
"There's an interdepartmental Quidditch league at the Ministry?" Draco asked.
The awkward silence was short lived. Harry turned to Draco.
"Yes, we formed it just a few months back. You game, Malfoy?" Harry smiled. It seemed so natural, this acquaintance.
Draco smirked. "I'm sure you already have a Seeker?" Draco directed at Harry.
"We're scrimmaging without a Snitch, so I've actually been trying out Chaser. If Katie's out then we'll need a third, with me and Ginny."
Draco looked to Ginny. "And how did you manage to make the D.M.L.E. team if you are not a D.M.L.E. officer?"
"Dating Harry Potter has its perks." Ginny smiled.
"I'll have to try it sometime," Draco said, smirking at her. Anthony choked on his drink. Harry wrinkled his nose. Ginny held his stare with a smile, and Katie burst out laughing.
Hermione just watched. Her mind flashed to the moment outside of the Room of Requirement, Draco holding Goyle's unconscious body, screaming Crabbe's name. She felt a stab of irritation as she wondered where Pansy Parkinson was and how she would feel about Draco Malfoy having drinks with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
Harry invited Draco to tomorrow's practice, meaning that Hermione would not see him at Cornerstone tomorrow. She felt disappointed and relieved at the same time. She sipped her Butterbeer while they talked Quidditch, and as her stomach warmed, her lashes felt even heavier with the mascara. She should go to the bathroom and try to take the goo off.
"Granger, you're at Flourish and Blotts, yeah?"
Hermione looked up to see Anthony looking at her.
"Cornerstone, actually." She set her Butterbeer down, just now noticing that she had absently sipped half of it.
"That's right. My mum has been trying to read more. Can you recommend anything?"
Hermione opened her mouth, but a drawl beat her to it.
"She should try the Undesirable series."
She glared at Draco. He smirked at her with that glint in his eyes.
"It's really quite crafty," he continued, but he wasn't looking at Anthony. "It's seven novels, all different perspectives on the same moments. Some would say that it's tedious that way, but Gainsworth manages to keep it interesting, revealing new information each time the scene is revisited."
"Okay, thanks," Anthony said. "And it's by…?"
"Lance Gainsworth." Hermione jumped him to it. She watched his lips twitch. He took a sip from his tumbler.
"And you agree, Hermione?" Anthony said to her.
"Oh, yes," she said, glaring down Draco. "You could even say that I have the exact same opinion."
"Great." Anthony's voice floated over to her. "I'll have to come by to pick up the first one."
She watched as Draco smiled and slipped off his stool, heading to the bar. Sometime during the last minute Ginny had moved to talk with Katie about the baby. Harry and Anthony began a conversation about Quidditch again. She took Ginny's stool. It felt better to sit. She drank her Butterbeer down, anticipating leaving soon.
"Granger!"
Hermione winced at hearing a friendly, yet intrusive voice over her shoulder.
"Hi Aiden." She turned around and gave him a convincing smile.
"You keep doing your hair differently. I almost didn't recognize you!" Aiden leaned against the wall behind her stool, forcing her to turn all the way around to hold a conversation.
It wasn't that she didn't like Aiden. She thought he was perfectly nice. He just had a quality that was a little… absent.
"I was going to invite you out with us tonight, but I couldn't find you. Funny coincidence, huh?"
"Definitely." Hermione said, not committing to any conversation.
Aiden sipped on what seemed like his third Butterbeer. She looked over his shoulder to see three guys that were with him that she didn't recognize, but Harry seemed to know one of them. He'd gotten off his stool and was saying hello. Aiden took the opportunity to sit on Harry's empty stool next to her. And again she had to turn all the way around to face him.
"Did you see the article in the paper this morning on the Horntail they found?"
"Yes. I'm sure we'll be working on that all next week," Hermione said. She'd found the article next to the most recent Draco Malfoy story by Rita Skeeter. She took a sip and found her Butterbeer empty. How?
Aiden saw this and jumped up. "Let me get you another drink."
Just as Hermione was about to tell him "no, thank you," a hand appeared placing a Butterbeer down in front of her on the table. She stared at the Slytherin ring for a moment before looking up.
Draco wasn't looking at her, but instead was giving a condescending smile to Aiden.
"O'Connor, wasn't it?" he said.
"Yes. Malfoy, good to see you." Aiden stuck his hand out and Malfoy took it. "How was your first week?" Aiden smiled brightly. Hermione couldn't figure out how he didn't pick up on Malfoy's dislike of him. Or anyone's dislike of him, really.
"Excellent, thank you." That was all.
Aiden smiled and nodded. "I'm going to get another drink. I'll see you around Malfoy! Granger," Aiden placed his hand on her shoulder, possibly as a goodbye. "We'll talk Monday!"
Draco watched him walk away. Hermione grabbed the Butterbeer he'd placed in front of her.
"Thank you," she said under her breath. She sipped it, but knew she shouldn't finish it.
Draco sat in the empty stool next to her. He faced her. Hermione realized that no one else was going to join their conversation because they were busy with their own. She took another sip of her Butterbeer.
"He reminds me of Weasley."
Hermione put down her drink and wiped at her mouth.
"Ron?"
"No, the mother." Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, Ron."
Hermione looked at Aiden by the bar, chatting and smiling. She didn't quite see it.
"Is it the way he smiles and shakes your hand that brings up memories of Ron," Hermione asked. She looked at him under her lashes and smiled.
"That must be it." Draco smirked.
"You seem to be fitting in with the Gryffindors quite nicely." Hermione reached for the drink to do something with her hands, but stopped herself before taking a sip. Maybe this was how some developed a drinking problem: nervous sipping.
"Well, Goldstein is a Ravenclaw, so we cling to each other whenever anyone tries to run into a burning building to save kittens."
Hermione smiled. She forgot her promise to herself and took another sip.
"I would have thought you'd be saving house-elves, not studying dragons."
Hermione met his eyes over the top of her glass. If he meant an innuendo, his face didn't betray it. She swallowed and licked the foam off her lips.
"I do want to work in Relocation," she said, picking a point over his shoulder to stare at so she didn't have to look into his eyes while she spoke. "I hope to move there when there's an opening, but the Beast division is fine for now."
"Shouldn't they be bending over backwards to give you whatever position you desire? Or did you forget to put 'Golden Trio' on your resume?"
"I actually submitted under a false name." She looked down at her hands. Her nails needed to be done. She hoped no one had seen them this week.
"And why was that?"
She looked up at him, remembering that they were in the middle of a conversation. Her and Draco. Conversing. How odd.
"I didn't really want to be handed anything after the war," she said, looking over his shoulder again. "I wanted to earn my position based on merit and not on who I befriended as a First Year." She sipped her drink again and the cool liquid felt so nice.
There was silence. She checked in with him, wondering if she'd bored him.
He was frowning at her.
"You think that's why they call you the Golden Girl?" He lifted a brow. "Because Potter and Weasel allowed you into their club?"
She held her breath, waiting for him to tell her why. She watched him as he watched her and found her eyes drawn to the corner of his mouth where he hid his smirk. A small voice in her head told her that staring at his mouth was probably the wrong thing to do.
"Hey Granger!"
Hermione jumped and searched the room to see Aiden waving at her. Wonderful.
"We're headed down the street to the new pub on the corner. Wanna come with?" Aiden quirked his head back towards several other people from her department who she didn't know were there.
"Oh, no. Thanks though!" She smiled, hoping he would just leave so that Draco could tell her why she was golden. Or something like that.
"Alright!" he yelled back to her. "But I still owe you for lunch last week, so I got your drink next time!" He smiled like a huge puppy and waved at her, nodding at Malfoy. Hermione didn't even remember buying his lunch last week. She took a sip of her drink and watched as Aiden walked out with their coworkers.
"How long have you been seeing him?"
Hermione's eyes snapped back over to Draco. His face was neutral.
"I'm sorry?" she said.
"O'Connor," he said. "You're together?" He sipped his drink and watched her over the top of his glass.
She opened her mouth to protest, to correct him, to say anything, but Harry's voice interrupted them.
"Hey, Ginny and I are going to head out." He was standing over Draco's shoulder. "Hermione, did you want to stay or side-along with us?"
She really wanted to correct Draco, but that wasn't one of the options given.
"I'm about to head out too," Draco said. He started to stand. She needed to return to that other conversation. "She should side-along with you, Potter. She shouldn't be apparating anywhere."
They were talking about her like she wasn't even there. She started to get off the stool.
"I'll be fine. I only had like –"
She slipped a bit, but was able to stabilize. The stools were a bit higher than she thought they were. Not the best evidence for her case. Harry chuckled and reached out his hand for her. She frowned at him and extended her arm, and realized that Draco's hand was on her elbow. He must have caught her as she slipped. He released her just as she looked down to where his hand was on her. He'd touched her bare skin with his hand and she had missed it entirely.
"So tomorrow at Hodgley Field, Malfoy?" Harry was escorting her out, but Hermione still felt like there was something she needed to say.
"Looking forward to it, Potter."
"Goodnight, Draco," she said. Maybe that was it? Her head was fuzzy. She looked at him one last time. He was standing very still as they moved away from him, looking at her.
She let Harry pull her out the door. He was stifling a smile and as Ginny met them outside, Ginny asked, "What's so funny?"
Harry laughed out loud after the door had closed all the way.
"You called him Draco." Harry's eyes were glistening. Hermione felt the warmth leave her face as she stood stock still.
"Oh, my god!" Ginny cackled.
"Oh, my god," Hermione covered her face with her hands.