Spellbound

Chapter Three

The pair walked and talked, peeking in shops and passing by cafes. They shared a laugh at a cafe sign advertising 'une cafe' for 2 Euros a cup, but 'une cafe, sil vous plait' for only 1 Euro, 80 centime. They finally settled on a little restaurant on the Champs Elysees with a perfect view between The Eiffel Tower and L'Arc de Triomphe.

"So, you've completely avoided the subject of why you wanted to talk to me. And why we came to Paris to keep away from eavesdroppers. So, it's something very important to you or you're kidnapping me. And I don't know if I'm okay with that." Hermione chuckled a bit as the waitress sat down their cappuchinos. "Merci. I mean, I'm not okay with the kidnapping part. Although," she paused to take a drink. "If you kept me here, I might not mind as much."

Draco sighed and began filling her in on the happenings of his house. The way his wife was, the reason they were married in the first place, the way they were only staying together for Scorpius. He talked about how he didn't know what to do; that he had feelings for someone (but wouldn't say who. Although, Hermione had an idea.); that he felt like he just needed a break and needed out. He wanted to be there for his son, just not in the kind of environment they were in. And Hermione listened to everything, not making a sound until Draco stopped talking.

"I'm so sorry, Draco. I-"

"Don't say you don't know what to say. I figured you wouldn't. Just kinda feels good to be able to get it all out. Talk about it with someone, you know?"

"Yeah, I do know, actually."

"How would you know? You have the perfect marriage, pretty much."

"Oh, trust me. I don't. We're happy, yes. Perfect? Not even close. But we love each other. And that's the first thing you need to have a good marriage. You'll never have a perfect one."

"Good point. Wish I could say that we loved each other, but we don't."

"You'll find that person someday." Hermione smiled and looked at her watch. "Holy shit, I better go... It's getting late." She stood up to grab her things and Draco grabbed her wrist.

"Come on, Granger. It's nighttime in Paris. The City of Lights. And we're here to experience it. Stay a little bit longer. Please?"

Hermione sighed. "Okay, but only a little longer."

Draco smiled again. "Thank you. Do you want to go dancing? I feel like dancing."

Hermione thought for a moment. She loved to go out dancing, but could never get Ron to agree to go. On second thought, she could never get him to agree to go out and do anything. "Yes, let's. Ron never wants to go dancing."

They found a dark alleyway and made their way into it to change their clothes. Hermione made Draco close his eyes as she transfigured her jeans and sweater into a mid-thigh length dress of deep burgandy, made her hair into soft billowing curls, accented the dress with gold jewelry and gold and burgandy stilettos . He turned his clothing into dress pants and dress shoes, with a white button down shirt with emerald green and silver buttons and an emerald green bowtie.

When Draco was allowed to look again, he was speechless. "You are absolutely..." He had so many words running through his mind and he couldn't decide which fit Hermione more. "Stunning. Magnificent. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Perfect. I- I am the luckiest man in the world tonight. You have an idiot for a husband if he doesn't want to be seen out in public with you looking like this."

Hermione blushed. "You look very dashing, yourself." she said, ignoring the comment about Ron (even though it was the truth). "Now, let's find somewhere to show off our kickass moves."

They finally found a tiny little muggle dance hall called Le Petit Chaval and entered. Since Draco spoke limited French, he found a little booth in the corner and Hermione went to order a bottle of wine. Hermione was with him a few minutes later, setting down a bottle of red wine and a bottle of blush wine and two glasses. "This place is spectacular." She said, staring at all the people out dancing. Draco poured their wine and they toasted each other before taking a drink. They talked for a while and people-watched. Hermione talked a little about Ron and how boring it had sometimes become since they had been married. Draco kept his comments about The Weasel to himself, for fear of her leaving. They talked about their favorite things. Hermione tried explaining what a movie was and why she liked them so much.

"Did you ever get read stories as a child?"

"Yeah, a couple."

"And did you ever imagine the scenarios in your head? Like, what was happening and what they were saying?"

"I guess so."

"That's pretty much what a movie is. Its people acting out a story, but its not in your head. It's on a screen for a bunch of people to watch at a time."

"Sounds... interesting?"

"Well, apparently, I'll just have to show you one sometime. They're magical. In the muggle sense of the word, at least." Hermione began pouring herself another glass of wine when a slow sounding song started playing. "Oh, I love Frank Sinatra! Can we dance to this one?"

Draco hated slow songs, especially ones he didn't know by people he had never heard of. But the chance to have her that close to him? Yeah, he wasn't stupid enough to pass that up. He grabbed her hand and puller her onto the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist. She laid her head on his shoulder and he closed his eyes and breathed in. She smelled like lilacs. The song ended faster than he wanted it to and before he knew it she was pulling away from him. But they kept dancing. Hermione loved the fast songs. She kept wanting Draco to spin her around. And as much as Draco loved being out on the dance floor twirling Hermione and catching her, he no longer loathed slow songs, he relished them, waiting for one to come back around so she would be close to him again for more than a few quick seconds at a time. The night was full of dancing and wine and more dancing and more wine, until finally, they fell back into their booth, exhausted. Hermione laid her head on Draco's shoulder and looked up at him, smiling while he began to play with her hair.

"Thank you for this, Draco. I think we both really needed it. We both needed a friend. And we both found one, didn't we?"

"Yeah... We did, didn't we?" He leaned his head on hers and sighed. This was the happiest he'd been in a while. Hermione tilted her head up to look at him once more, and before he knew it he was kissing her. And she wasn't objecting. She was twisting her body to a better angle and Draco was entwining his fingers in her hair. His mind was racing, in a good way. He couldn't believe he had actually kissed her and not received a slap in the face in return. He couldn't believe that the girl he had tormented all through school was here next to him, her hand on his cheek, kissing him back.

Next thing Draco knew, they were in a hotel room. Their clothes were thrown around the room and they were tangled in the sheet with Hermione on top of him. He couldn't get over how soft her skin was and he loved how she shivered a little every time he touched her. He just wanted to stare at her. She was perfect to him. He maneuvered himself so he could flip on top of her and when he did, he couldn't stop staring. Her hair had framed her face perfectly and she had a glow about her that he had never seen before. He didn't want this to end. He knew it was going to eventually, but there was a small part of him that wished they could stay in this moment forever. And when it was over, and his arms and legs wanted to collapse, he stayed hovering about her trying to keep a mental image of how beautiful she was in that minute. Hermione sighed, smiling. She lifted her head up and gave Draco a soft kiss on the lips. And with that, she rolled onto her side, pulling the sheet around her, and he laid down behind her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. As they drifted off to sleep, everything seemed alright in the world. Until morning came and the happiness the wine had helped bring wore off.

Hermione jumped out of bed and scrambled to find her clothes. "Draco! What the hell?"

"Wha-?" Draco woke up with a start and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What's the matter?"

"What's the matter?! Do you realize what we did last night?"

"Yeah. And I thought you did, too." he said, catching his underwear that had been tossed at him. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is we're married! You're married! I'm married. And I am perfectly happy in my marriage, okay?! Oh, my God. I'm so stupid."

"You? Perfectly happy? Bullshit!" He slid his underwear on and jumped out of bed. "You didn't have to stay last night! When I asked you to stay, you could have disapparated back home without even telling me no! You had every opportunity to leave last night. Hell, you didn't even have to meet me in the first place! Perfectly happy, my arsehole."

"And just how do you know if I'm happy or not?"

"How? I see your pictures in the paper. I saw your face yesterday. And the day before. You know when you looked happiest? Out on that dance floor. If anything before that was happy, then I must be the happiest man in the world because the look you had rivaled the one I know I have. And I sure as fuck am not happy. Yesterday was probably the happiest I've been in years. Because of you."

"Draco, do not put that on me!" Hermione threw on the sweater and jeans that she had transfigured her dress back into. "You don't know it was because of me. We were kind of drunk, you know. That could have made you happy!"

"Fine. You go back to your boring, work-filled life with your boring husband who doesn't do anything that you like to do. And go back to being stuck and miserable. And I'll do the same."

"I'm not miserable and stuck..." Hermione's sentence trailed off.

"You're the one who used those words last night. Not me." Draco had an edge to his voice that she didn't care for.

"I have to go." She turned to grab her purse, but Draco caught her hand.

"Please. Don't..."

"I have to. I have a family to get back to. So do you." But she didn't let go of his hand. They could both feel the electricity surging between them.

"Fine. Just one more thing before you go."

"What's that?" Hermione whispered as he got closer.

Draco got as close as he could, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her with everything he had. It only lasted about 30 seconds but felt like an eternity. When they broke apart, he placed a small kiss on her nose. "Remember that when you're home being 'not miserable and stuck'."

And with a pop, and a look of sadness, she was gone.

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