Disclaimer-I do not own the Harry Potter series, all credit of it goes to J.K Rowling.

I own the plot and the plot only.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The watch strapped to Hermione's thin wrist continued to mock her in its own magical bemusement. Hermione swears - if the thing could talk, it would have been gabbing away about how Draco is never going to make an appearance and it how it's positively hopeless waiting for him - crushing her miniature amount of hope that the blonde wizard would actually show up. After receiving the vague letter during the midst of her day out shopping with Ginny, yesterday, another letter came swooshing into her flat hours after - coincidentally, it was the answer to where and when they would be meeting.

Draco arranged to meet her at a cozy cafe, west of the middle of Hogsmede with a warm, crackling fireplace in the far edged corner, comfortable couches all around the store, giving it a homely vibe, along with an excellent staff of wizards and witches, welcoming the customers with a light smile and a crafty-designed menu. It overall consisted of various types of sweets, tea, soda, sandwiches and the occasional chicken and steak. All at reasonably prices, which was surprising to Hermione - due to the fact that several cafe businesses have been closing in the past couple of months. The reason? - Money.

It was exactly 6:53 at the moment. The wizard had arranged for them to meet at 6:15. Oh well, just a couple of minutes late.. shouldn't be a surprise, Hermione commented to herself, remembering her past years at Hogwarts when Draco would be hopeless when it came to arriving to class in time. "Here is your glass of Nettle Tea, miss." Hermione thanked the young waiter before graciously taking a sip of the warm delight. It was merely August, but the drink simply appealed to the witch in many ways - such as creating warmth for her fabric-covered body along with an unusual soothing taste to it.

She continued to quietly sip her drink, constantly checking the shining silver watch which was strapped tightly around her thin wrist. Finally, after approximately 10 minutes, the bell dangling from the corner edge of the door rung lightly, signalling that a new customer had arrived in the cafe's presence. Hermione's slightly tanned face brightened in a soft manner as she spotted Malfoy's platinum blonde hair, shining graciously, as well as his sparkling silver eyes.

Draco's eyes surveyed the light-weight cafe, smiling away a staff member with a menu in his hand who was about to gesture him towards one of the window seats, and instead - the ex-Slytherin began to stride towards Hermione's empty-looking table. "Someone's late," Hermione snarled softly, glaring intently at Draco for a moment. His white-blonde hair was combed back, yet due to the lack of gel, ended up looking messy rather than spoiled. But it was an overall charming-kind-of-messy.

"Malfoy," she stated in a stern-kind-of fashion, as if it was a natural greeting. The blonde wizard merely nodded, taking the seat in front of Hermione. He gave a gesture for one of the waiters, signalling that he was prepared to place an order. It was quiet for a moment, Hermione was watching while the grown man was placing his order for a glass of ice tea. A surprisingly simple drink for his delicate and royal taste. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Hermione broke the ice, glancing at him occasionally.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Draco abruptly put down his glass, causing a loud clatter to emit from their table. "I can't do it," his voice was rough, rougher than usual - that is. He ran his slender fingers through his hair, watching as Hermione merely stared at him, her honey brown eyes intensely focused upon the man.

"Why now?" she inquired, her tone was gentler than ever. He grunted a grunt that sounded like the word: Huh? - in an awfully non-Malfoy-like manner. "The nineteenth of September is arriving, and you knowthat the ministry will force us into marriage after that day." She emphasized the word 'know' and plenty of other words, trying to make it sound threatening in a kind of soft, modest-fashion.

"I know they will, and that's the problem, Granger," he snarled the last couple of words before adding, "I'm not stupid." He glared at her for a while, watching the witch as she merely sent him raised eyebrows, frowns, and overall - mixed expressions.

"I don't want to marry you as much as you don't want to marry me," Hermione began, pausing to add a climatic, anticipating-like effect to it before adding onto her statement, "maybe even more, Malfoy." She savored another gulp of nettle tea afterwards, narrowing her eyes at him constantly and not caring if even the staff noticed, let alone Draco. The brown-haired witch stared at the thin and slender blonde man with curious, cocoa brown eyes. He hadn't technically explained why he wanted out when concerned with the marriage arrangements so badly - and although Hermione did understand that their past hatred towards each other did overall dent the whole concept of it, she still understood that he was now a grown man. With a working job in the ministry and so forth, he was actually very appealing. Hermione wondered once again why he was still single. But then she remembered his old, rambunctious-like ways when it came to the opposite sex.

Draco sighed a loud sigh, running his long slender fingers through his silky, white-blonde hair. He stared at Hermione and her somewhat transformed appearance, a curious expression implanted on his pale and sharp-featured face. The blonde wizard observed her as if she was an interesting monster which he had come across during one of his usual auror missions. Someone he must be alert around. Her appearance had not changed that much, when Draco took a real look at her. And her personality surely hadn't, either.

Her hair - which was less bushy than before, and seemed quite tame - was tied into a wavy ponytail, most of it lying on her right, broad shoulder while the rest of it rested freely on her back. Hermione's bangs remained the same - clipped back like how it was during her mid-years studying at Hogwarts. The ex-Gryffindor was dressed in a light, floral blouse with a complementary, pure white pencil skirt.

"I understand we have had our differences in the past, but this is the law we're talking about." Hermione couldn't help but bite down on her bottom lip - memories from when she was younger and her old rebellious actions began swirling around inside her massive noggin. Malfoy scoffed, snickering a slide snicker afterwards.

"You're just pulling at me, aren't you, Granger?" he paused, apparently waiting for her to intervene with a retort, but when she didn't - he merely continued with his rant-like-statement,"Law this, law that - you're talking as if you've never done anything wrong in your life." Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but instead closed it once more. "Goody-ole Gryffindor. Why am I not surprised that you're concerned with the Ministry?" Draco snarled at the brunette, the smirk that was there at one point vanished seemingly into mid-air within the second he begun to speak.

People were beginning to stare, Hermione noted to herself, before glaring down at the blonde wizard intensely. She absolutely did not want to create a scene, so she remained sitting, and her voice was deadly calm when she spoke. "Why does it matter what house I was in? The law is the law, Malfoy, simple as that - and I will not be held responsible for your rebellious and defying actions!" she snarled at the man who once made her life a living hell - on purpose. Draco returned her awfully amusing expression with a twitch on the ends of his thin, pale lips, and a slight sparkle in his deep, swirly eyes.

Draco is stubborn. Absolutely very stubborn. Hermione isn't any better as well. They were both quiet, still and quiet. The two magical beings remained in the same seat for an hours or so. It was exactly 7:38 at the very moment. The infernal ticking noise that had came before from Hermione's watch grew louder and louder by the bloody second. They sat there, glaring at each other. Draco was acting like an adamant woman, to be honest. Whereas Hermione was being the stereotypical woman.

"Explain to me why," Hermione huffed. It sounded more like a demand, rather than a mere statement of request. Draco scoffed an empty scoff before slamming his hand against the table in an awfully UN-Malfoy-like way. The staff members glanced occasionally at the two with alert, and somewhat worried expressions. They did not dare to interrupt their little - argument, though - for they knew the consequences would be quite painful.

"No!" he exclaimed, his eyes colder and icier than before. "I don't need to explain anything to you, Granger," Malfoy snarled at the brunette, a scowl placed upon his flushed and angered face. "The wedding is off. Is that statement far too complex for your simple mind to understand?"

"The wedding was never on to begin with!" Hermione shrieked at the young man, an outraged expression practically engraved on her slightly tanned face. "You act like getting married to me is worse than being crucioed. How do you think I feel, huh?" Draco was on the verge of retorting - but his thin lips quickly zipped tightly into a straight line as if he was somehow stopped by the peculiar question. "Never thought about how I might feel, have you? Of course you haven't. You're Malfoy after all, always thinking about yourself - and only yourself. Spoiled. Rude. Narcissistic. You haven't changed at all," Hermione grunted her rant out quickly.

This was absolutely the final straw. Draco glared at the muggle-born viciously, his eyes practically burning. His expression seemed more hostile than ever. Of course he didn't even attempt to think more of the girl! And how dare she say that he never thought of anyone else besides himself? - It's like the girl wanted to have a hex thrown at her. "Don't talk to me as if you know me!" Draco screamed at the witch, his face flushed and his eyes enraged. The girl had absolutely no right to talk to him as if she knew the boy! It was plain out rude, in Draco's opinion. Of course Granger doesn't have any manners when it comes to things like this, Draco scowled to himself.

"I've been through hell, Granger-"

"Oh yeah, of course you have. Little spoiled Malfoy, always getting everything and anything he wanted as a child-"

Draco's cold laugh sliced Hermione's mockery of a rant. "Good God, Granger, are you really that dim-witted? Do you actually believe those things? Did you reckon really see those things happen through my own bloody eyes? I don't think you did!" the ferret yelled heatedly, mumbling darkly once more under his breath as Hermione tried her best to calm herself. How did a conversation about marriage turn into this awfully... complex exchange of remarks. Well - it wasn't technically a conversation to begin with, nor is it now, it was merely a row of yelling and counteracts and horrible tries of being civil towards one another. - Just horrible.

The staff was beginning to grow more anxious by the second. They wondered constantly whether to break up the fight - or let the newly-weds calm themselves down with the cup of tea Hermione had recently ordered, or the glass of rum which Draco had requested for himself earlier. Hermione found it dreadfully atrocious how the man could just indulge in the rum at such a delicate time. Draco found it astoundingly boring how Hermione was peacefully satisfied with only a mere cup of tea.

It was now officially eight o'clock. The cafe closes at nine exactly. It was silent - absolutely silent. The only people there besides the staff were Draco and Hermione, both too stubborn to even wave the white flag and call it a night. "I don't have to tell anyone anything," Draco paused, staring patiently at the brunette - as if waiting for her to retaliate in an unfeminine manner, "and by anyone, I mean you, Granger." Hermione huffed a huff that sounded like a half-hearted scoff.

"Yes, and the fact that in two weeks from now we'll probably be hitched - absolutely doesn't mean a thing to you, actually surprises me." Hermione sarcastically stated, not even glancing at the blond man. "Listen," she began, sighing somewhat dramatically out loud, "I must open up the store early tomorrow - Ginny has the day off. I don't have much time left." The brunette stopped, waiting for him to reply, or retort - but he didn't. He remained there, listening half-heartedly. "Floo me, or just owl me if you want to continue our delightful conversation about our soon-to-be-wedding." There was still a tinge of anxiousness in her tone, but Draco merely shrugged it away. She was being forceful: or at least her words were. Draco could easily tell that Granger was going to press and yank at him constantly until he tells her why - but for now, just for now, she was going to be calm about it for the next week or so. But when that last-week-until-their-arranged-wedding comes around, he knew she would be ragingly persistent - such as she was tonight. Times ten. Or maybe even twenty.

Malfoy sighed a loud, pitiful sigh before straightening himself up. Hermione did the same thing. The staff reluctantly watched with interest, seeing the two surprisingly come off as civil once more. They were like a bipolar couple. Moody. Unexpected. And merely a bundle full of.. what was the word? - just frighteningly awful.

Pansy is a hag. An old hag. Draco scowls at the woman who happens to be pacing back and forth in front of him and his luxurious couch. She has a small arse as well. And not even the desirable type of small arse. Her clothing seems too tight for her body to be appealing, and too extravagant for Draco's taste as well. Pansy has gotten awfully thin, Draco has noticed - as if something is bothering her. And something is irritating her. The young man knew perfectly well what was agitating Pansy.

Her short thin hair was curled softly, not as straight as it was the last time he had seen her. The witch was wearing a strapless gown that had crystals aligned on the slightly ruffled bottom. She wasn't going anywhere though - no where important with anyone whom she would want to impress. Besides Draco, that is. Draco huffs roughly, continuing to stare at her with those grey eyes of his, waiting for her to speak. Her face seems flushed, her hair befuddled in many drastic and hysterical ways.

"She - let me get this right, Malfoy," her voice is rough, obvious anger emitting from her venom-dipped words. "She declined your offer to desist that outrageously ludicrous excuse for a wedding?" she shrieks, disbelief arising quickly. Finally, something seems to snap in Draco: he stands up, his left hand grips tightly on his wand and his eyes perfectly steady - yet deadly. His blaring expression makes him seem to be a mad-man, truly.

"Why are you acting like it's your own business, Pansy? I understand we dated during our years at Hogwarts - but that was it! Aren't you getting married to Zabini anyhow?" Draco at first assumed Pansy would recede, but she instead glares equally at the wizard. "He told me all about the arrangements last week or so when we had brunch together."

"That's not the point, Draco," Pansy decides to sigh this time, her eyebrows crunches tightly to show her frustration at the man who is acting like a child, in her opinion. "When your father.." she pauses for a moment, trying to find an appropriate word,"passed away, I promised him that I would make sure you'd live up to the Malfoy name. I already partly failed when you became an auror, instead of a rather more valuable pawn to the Ministry. And I absolutely degraded the whole bloody concept when I let you run off and get bitten by that damn werewolf!"

Pansy gets very defensive when she's frustrated. Draco quite dislikes this daring little trait of her's.

"It would ruin everything if you marry Granger," she stated, her voice softer than before. The blond wizard ran his pale and thin fingers through his tantalizing, silk-like hair. He had to agree to Pansy, though. It would technically ruin a lot of things - if not everything. "Listen, I was lying when I told you I would confess to the media about your - er - dilemma. I just got caught up in the moment." Pansy always had this vulnerable trace when around Draco, though he was not her lover and just a friend. Despite how much they angered each other at times, and how badly they thought of each other during horrible moments, they were what you would call: close friends.

Pansy takes a seat on the couch behind Draco, watching boringly as he takes the seat next to her. His head is placed in his hands soon after, his hair seems ruffled up now. "Maybe.." he begins in a soft-toned voice, one he only uses when conversing with his close friends, "it'd be better to go along with it." Parkinson looks at her fellow ex-Slytherin for moments, her expression unreadable. "Who knows, it might actually turn out well." He chuckles softly before letting silence commence for a couple of seconds - maybe even minutes.

"You aren't the boy I fell in love with," she says, her voice clear and easily fathomable. Malfoy glances at her - at first expecting a glare, but instead receives a light smile from her. "You're a.." she stops again with a bright jump in her voice and a giggle that follows afterwards. "You're a Malfoy. One that's just not my type." She grins once more at him, a bemused expression now rests on Draco's face. Pansy squeezes the ex-Slytherin's slightly cold hand before taking her leave, leaving Draco quite speechless in the end, with a pondering mind.

A/N- I just love Pansy. Always have. I felt guilty about playing her off as the bad character - so I'll be switching her role slightly. Twisting it up a bit. Just to get this clear, as well - she has no more feelings towards Draco, since her heart now belongs to Zabini - Blaise Zabini. The two are now plainly good friends, if you were wondering.

I apologize for the boring chapter, but I just wanted to get the whole changing-of-heart part out of the way. With Draco's and Hermione's relationship, Pansy, and so forth.

This is merely the beginning!

-Saga Hugs&Kisses

A/N - Updated 6/29/14

I will no longer be updating this. I will soon be deleting this; I have, however, decided to write another Dramione story that's somewhat parallel to this story. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope that my second attempt at a Dramione fic will go well.

-Saga