Disclaimer: I own nothing, all credit to J.K Rowling for the creation of the Harry Potter universe. I just found a plot for this ship.

Warning: Later chapters will contain adult themes. There is an M rating for a reason. The story will NOT contain rape or sexual violence. Lemons and fluff expected. Basically what you would expect from most romance novels nowadays.
There will also be the use of profanity.

Music speaks to my muse.
This chapters song was: Hanging by a Moment, Lifehouse
Lyric of choice: I'm closer to where I started, chasing after you.

My beta at this point is just Grammarly.. 7-17

Chapter 9
Cornflowers

Hermione was back at her desk feeling a migraine come on when Ginny came rushing into her office and shut the door her face flushed.

Hermione looked up curiously. "What's happened now?"

Ginny sat down catching her breath. "I was visiting mum."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, planning your wedding I suppose."

Ginny nodded her face still flushed. "Hermione, HE showed up at the Burrow."

Hermione strived for patience; it had been a really long day. "Who is HE?"

"Your fiancé!" Ginny said excitedly.

Hermione sat up in shock tossing down the quill she had been using. "What?"

Ginny nodded her face still flushed and her eyes bright with excitement. "He wanted to speak with us about the wedding. Mum called Dad home from the office and they sat down at the table and chatted for an hour. Hermione, he asked Dad if he would stand in for you at the binding."

Hermione felt her heart start to triple. "But I had already asked him to do that!"

Ginny nodded. "I know! But Draco Malfoy sat there bold as brass and requested my dad to do it as well. You know dad, he didn't mention you had already talked to him. He just nodded and said 'of course.'"

Hermione sat back rather pale and waved her hand distractedly, Draco had done that? "Blimey," she said softly.

Ginny nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking! And then he had a talk with them about Ron, I guess he found out that Ron showed up here earlier and yelled at you. He told mum and dad he wouldn't have Ronald upsetting you in such a way and pointed out that my prat of a brother hadn't said he was going to the wedding either."

Hermione sighed. "Ginny, don't call him that."

Ginny snorted her face going tight. "Well, he is! And did he really show up here yelling at you?"

Hermione nodded feeling her headache starting to return. "Yes, actually. Although how on earth Draco knows that I have no idea."

Ginny chuckled. "This place is a grapevine and I am sure the Malfoy's have spies in here by the dozens."

Hermione held up her hand feeling exhausted. "Okay but back to the point here, what else did Draco want?"

Ginny's eyes flashed with amusement. "Oh, is it Draco now?"

Hermione closed her eyes and groaned. "Ginny!"

Ginny laughed. "Okay, fine. That was it. He handed my parents something that I couldn't see and then thanked them for their support and left. Mum was chuffed to bits and dad spent a good twenty minutes just starring after him."

Hermione felt her stomach flip and sighed leaning back in her chair as Ginny watched her. A small bubble of happiness washed over her and then grew wider. "He's shocking me all the time, Ginny," Hermione said softly.

Ginny nodded. "I can imagine he is! He just shocked the bloody hell out of us. George was there with me on the extendible ears. You should have seen his face!"

Hermione shook her head and sighed. "I see him tonight. He sent word that he wants to have dinner with me, and he did so with a bundle of my favorite flowers, how did he know that I loved cornflowers?"

Ginny's eyes went wide. "Dean came to see me, asking all sorts of questions."

Hermione looked up confused. "Dean Thomas?"

Ginny nodded giggling. "Yes! He wanted to know if you had Muggle stuff in your house, what music you liked, stuff like that. That has to be how he knows you love cornflowers."

Hermione shook her head feeling a bit dizzy. Had she eaten lunch? "Why?"

Ginny folded her arms giving her friend a rather haughty stare. "Well that's obvious, isn't it? He was asking for Draco and gave him the list."

Hermione leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes shaking her head and feeling her heart triple in beat even as shocked washed over her. "Ginny I am not sure I can keep up with all this. I just spent an hour in France today while Draco's mother bought out half the flowers in Europe for the church and reception in the ball room; from a muggle flower dealer no less. I have to head to a dress fitting in another hour and I still haven't decided if I want a biscuit cake or a sponge one and my mother has phoned me ten times in two days reminding me of twenty things I am not thinking about."

Ginny gave her a sympathetic look. "I am super lucky Gregory is so easy to deal with. He just asked if he should wear robes or a suite and left the rest to us. We are just going to set up the tent again and have it in the backyard."

Hermione smiled thinking of how nice that sounded. "Even if I was a muggle my wedding would be more complicated than that. I had to take video of the church for my mum today. She's concerned it isn't going to be big enough for all the guests."

Ginny shook her head. "How many bloody people will be there?"

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes again. "At the church? Two hundred and fifty last count. At the reception, close to a thousand."

Ginny let out a shocked small breath. "Goodness Hermione."

Hermione nodded and worked to calm her racing heart as fear overwhelmed her. "The binding is smaller. Only your parents and Draco's with the ministry wizard."

Ginny nodded thoughtfully. "That will be nice then, right?"

Hermione took a long calming breath. "Yes. That will be nice."

Ginny left shortly after that and Hermione pulled herself together and got back to work, she still had a million things to do before her dinner with Draco and now a million more things to consider.

He had asked about her favorite flower? She shook her head and got back to the report on her desk.

OooOOoooOOooOO

After the fitting she rushed to her house to change, she settled on linen pants and a simple cashmere jumper. She wasn't in the habit of wearing robes outside of when she had to at work, which wasn't all that often, and she had noticed that Draco seemed to prefer trousers and dress shirts himself.

Grabbing her purse which had an undetectable enlargement charm on it she paused calling for Niffy.

The elf appeared a moment later giving her a firm look. "Young mistress looks very beautiful, but young master says she is hungry."

Hermione smiled and wondered if the sweet little elf could hear her tummy growling. "Yes, I am very hungry. Shall we go, Niffy?"

Niffy nodded and grasped her arm, disapparating them to the manor.

OoOOooOOOooO

Draco looked up at the pop and put down the computer science book he had been reading. His breath caught a little as he saw his fiancé. She was beautiful in her soft pink jumper and beige slacks. He was so used to muggle clothes now it didn't even bother him that she seemed to favor them. As the undersecretary to the Minister, he knew she worked a lot with other Muggle Ministries, so it made sense that she would still favor her Muggle clothing. He knew for example that she wore muggle dresses and suites under any robes she did wear to work as she went out often to lunch at muggle establishments.

She smiled at him and then sighed handing her purse to Niffy who was pushing her towards the small table that was set in his sitting room with a candle.

"Thank you, Niffy." Hermione said softly.

Draco pulled out her chair and helped her into it before he found his own and sat down. He was in his slacks and dress shirt. He had taken off his tie, vest, and coat. He had also rolled up his sleeves, something he never did outside of his own home. He saw her gaze go to the faded dark mark which was just barely visible.

He gave her a small nod and waited for Niffy to serve them. "We all have our scars, do we not?"

He watched Hermione flush and saw her rub her forearm briefly where he knew her scar lay hidden. "Yes. I suppose we do."

Draco cleared his throat as the memories of that day washed over him. His ring burned and he felt her sadness too.

"How was your day? Eventful?" He asked trying to change the subject. He knew it had been; his ring had burned more today than any other day since he had charmed it.

She gave a tired little sigh and sipped her soup delicately. "Yes, very eventful actually."

Draco smirked. "My mother sent word that you picked out your flowers today?"

Hermione nodded and then sighed. "She is probably buying out every flower shop in France. I couldn't believe how many she ordered."

Draco nodded and then laughed. "Hermione you weren't far off when you said to your family we are something like Royalty. The entire Wizengamot and two ministries will be at our wedding."

Hermione sighed. "I know, I saw. The list keeps getting bigger. When I told your mother there was no possible way they would all fit in the church or the ballroom she hushed me. I am afraid to know what she is going to do."

Draco laughed and then nodded. "Well, she can't enchant the church to get any bigger. But the ballroom you can't stop her from tripling if she feels like she needs to."

Hermione gave him a large grin and then laughed. "When the flower vender told her she couldn't possibly fill the ballroom with the amount of flowers she was ordering she almost lost her temper with him."

Draco grinned shaking his head. "Yes, well, she has to keep up appearances for the church but she isn't going to do that with the ballroom; that will be all magic in there. A simple duplicating charm should do the trick."

Hermione sighed. "Aren't we lucky that no muggles will be selling pictures to magazines then? My invitation says no cameras and we hired security guards to take them all away from people. Of course, the guards are wizards who will be using a spell to make sure their cameras can't work."

Draco grinned. "Yes, I have heard. My mother actually sends me an update twice a day."

Hermione sighed. "Niffy comes to see me almost every hour." As if realizing Niffy was in the room Hermione said. "Which is very lovely, Niffy has been a wonderful help."

Draco smirked and winked at her before saying to Niffy. "Niffy would you please go and check on things for us in France? Then you may have some dinner with the elves there and return when it is time to take Miss Granger home."

Niffy gave a wide smile and then disapparated.

Hermione sighed. "Do you have her spying on me, by the way?"

Draco gave her a sly look. "If I did, I wouldn't tell you. Why didn't you eat today?"

She frowned at him. "How do you know I didn't?"

He gave her a long look and said. "Lucky guess, you spent your lunch with my mother and had a fitting right after work and now you're here."

Hermione sighed. "Well, yes, I did skip lunch but only because I was upset."

He nodded. "What upset you?"

She gave him a look and then snorted. "You know that too! Ron showed up upset at me."

Draco frowned watching as her face went from upset to sad again and his ring burned. Sadness. He didn't fucking like that the weasel was making her so sad. "If he does that again I will be speaking to him."

Hermione sighed and he watched her lean back and pinch the bridge of her nose as if she had a headache. "He's just hurt, Draco. We didn't end on good terms and you two hate each other. He will either get over it and apologize or he can stew on it and keep avoiding me. It's difficult as I am so close to his family but unavoidable."

Draco considered her. What a very reasonable way to look at things. She didn't rage or rant about the injustice of her friend, but rather excepted the situation and tried not to make a big deal about it. As Dean would say, it was very British.

"You know you're more like a pureblood then me sometimes." Draco said calmly.

Her eyes flew open in shock. "What!"

He nodded. "And very Hufflepuff, so live and let live. We Slytherin's are not so easy to let go of something like this. He was incredibly rude from what I understand. We would seek restitution."

She picked up her spoon again and considered him. "Well, that wouldn't solve anything. I've known Ron a long time, its wasted effort to get upset about it. Either he will come around or he won't and there isn't really anything I can say to sway him in either direction."

He snorted and she frowned. "And I didn't say I am not angry at him, I am very angry that he is acting this way."

Draco nodded and felt the ring burn again, he smiled. Yes, there was her fury. She just buried it.

"When did you become so good at hiding your emotions, Granger?"

She looked up and then shrugged. "Probably when I was stuck in a tent with a stupid Horcrux on my chest."

He felt his back stiffen. "Why the fuck did you have one of those on your chest, Granger?"

She gave him a foul look and then put down her spoon picking up some bread. "We all had to take turns wearing it, and when Ron would wear it he was god awful. Harry wasn't much better and I am sure I was a terrible bitch too. You just learned to put up with a lot and not be so temperamental. It was exhausting to always get so upset, eventually, you just had to learn to control that or you would end up shaking in exhaustion."

Draco sat back his mouth dry and his mind churning with amazement; he honestly hadn't thought hard headed Gryffindors could practice that self-restraint. They were notorious for being brave, stupid, impulsive twats.

"Well, that's impressive. Not the least that you wore a bloody Horcrux."

Hermione flushed a bit and then gave a one shouldered shrug. "Why did you go to the Weasley's today?"

He smirked picking his soup spoon back up. "I wanted to make sure they were there to represent you for the binding and to speak with them about Ron."

Hermione sighed and then put down her spoon again. "I don't think he is coming and after the way he acted today that's probably a good thing."

Draco shrugged frowning. "Do you want him to be there?"

Hermione thought about it for a moment and he waited to see if the ring would burn with some emotion. She was harder to read now than she had been as a child. He could of course break into her mind, but he wasn't going to do that unless he had to.

She sighed and then shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I wasn't kidding when I said we didn't end our relationship on very good terms."

Draco nodded at her and gestured for her to pick up her spoon again. "Did you manage to get time off for the ceremony and honeymoon okay?"

She flushed again and he felt his ring burn, she was nervous, a bit fearful, and it was strong. He frowned at her. "There's nothing to be afraid of. I am not going to sacrifice you to dark magic."

She flinched and then glared at him. "I know that! But it is a blood ritual, the only one remaining that is legal! So I think it's okay to be a little nervous."

He couldn't help smirking at her. "Says the girl who wore a Horcrux, broke into Gringotts, and faced my bitch of an Aunt in battle."

She flushed again and this time he felt his ring burn with pleasure and a bit of embarrassment. He rubbed his ring curiously. His father had said that he would only really feel base emotions and only if they were very strong, he seemed to be picking up much more than that with her right now. Maybe proximity had something to do with it?

"Well, thanks for that. But I think the idea of being alone in a room with you for four days is scarier than all the things I have done put together."

Draco sat back a bit upset and worked to keep his face blank. "Why?"

She flushed again and his ring burned with her embarrassment. "We hardly know each other."

"I've known you since I was eleven."

She frowned at him and he sensed her impatience. "We hated each other, that's not knowing someone! And, I have to be naked with you!"

Draco gave her a bit a leering glance unable to help himself. "That's the part I rather am looking forward to about this weekend."

She snorted and flushed again and then shook her head. "Malfoy, we have barely touched."

He grunted in irritation. "Yes, well the purifying ceremony wasn't what I call a picnic. I can't very well touch you until the binding, can I?"

She looked up and the ring burned with what felt like annoyance, although he wasn't sure it was directed at him.

"Exactly! That's bloody not fair you know. That we can't really- well- do anything before that ceremony and then we have six hours to get at it or we go crazy."

Draco started laughing in shock. "Get at it?"

She flushed again and shook her head. "Oh you know what I mean."

Draco picked up his spoon and shifted in his chair, Merlin she was turning him on. It was time for a change in the conversation. "How do you feel things are going? Is my mother driving you to insanity yet?"

They spent the rest of the evening chatting about the wedding and when Niffy took her off Draco felt himself sigh in relief.

He wasn't sure that he could make it to the damn wedding night without touching her and that bothered him.

Who would have ever thought that Hermione Granger would leave him panting?

Author Note:
Thank you all for the kind reviews!

Draco seems rather decent, that worries me. Well, if you discount his mood ring that he is shamelessly taking advantage of. My husband certainly wishes he could know if I am hungry or actually really angry.
Next chapter, some fluff!
And the wedding is getting closer!