Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, in case you were wondering…
A/N: First of all I would like to thank all of you who reviewed, you reminded me why I love to write so much! Also thank you to everyone else who thought this story was good enough to add their story alerts and favorites. Thank you so much. Here is the second chapter, it is much shorter, but I felt it ended nicely. The next chapter will be MUCH longer I promise!
All I Want- Chapter 2
Four weeks later found Hermione staring up at Hogwarts castle as she headed towards Headmistress McGonagall's office for a meeting. A letter had arrived earlier that week asking if she would come to discuss some things with Minerva. Admittedly she was nervous about what Minerva could possibly have to talk to her about outside the semi-annual Order meetings, but she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.
It had been a rough four weeks. The entire wizarding world now seemed aware that she had turned down Ron's proposal, and everyone seemed to think that it was a bad decision. Rita Skeeter had naturally gone all out, writing story after story proposing different reasons for the denial. It seems Ron's rumors had also somehow managed to spread beyond the Ministry, leaking its way into not just the typical tabloids, but into the actual news, spreading her embarrassment even further.
Mostly she was hoping that Minerva hadn't seen these papers and decided to intervene by 'talking' to her. Hermione waved to the ghost of Helen Ravenclaw as she began her ascent to the Headmistress' office.
About three days after Ginny had moved out a letter had come from a certain Weasley matriarch who shall go unnamed declaring her a harlot and other words that were not becoming of a woman or worth mentioning. This negative letter was then followed by letters from Ron, Ginny, and even Percy, who all said pretty much the same thing their mother did. Bill, Charlie and Arthur had also sent their own short letters, but out of all the letters she received the letter that hurt the most came from Harry who told her she was being ridiculous, and that Ron didn't deserve the things she was doing to him.
All of this would have been unbearable if it hadn't been for the continued friendship of Luna and Neville. Nearly a week after the scathing letters had come, yet another letter arrived from yet another Weasley, this one from a Weasley by the name of George. She had anxiously stared at the letter for several hours before finally gathering her courage and opening it. Inside she had been relieved and pleased to find a friendly and extremely apologetic letter from the Weasley twin. Over and over George apologized profusely for his family's rude behavior and begged for Hermione to remain his friend in that joking way was that was so like the Weasley twins.
Without any hesitation Hermione had sent a letter back to him telling him how grateful for his letter she had been, and informed him that yes, should would still like to be his friend. She had been the first to find out about his recent relationship with Angelina Johnson, and soon enough it became a regular thing for George, Angelina, and Neville to be found in Hermione and Luna's apartment having game nights and hanging out together.
Granted Hermione often felt like a fifth wheel considering that George and Angelina were together and Luna and Neville weren't far away from being a couple themselves. All in all though, she was grateful to still have some of her friends who trusted and believed her and not the lies that were spread all over the wizarding world.
Anxiously Hermione smoothed her hands over her dark green pencil dress, and pulled loosely at the ruffled silver v-neck fabric that rested around her chest area and shoulders to make sure it fell right. Smoothing some nonexistent errant hairs away from her face back into the long braid that fell just past her mid back, she raised her hand to knock on the headmistress' door before scurrying to double check and make sure her necklace was centered and presentable.
"Come in," a voice was heard from inside the room and Hermione cautiously pushed the door open peering through carefully before entering fully.
Hermione moved slowly to come and stand before Minerva's desk as she watched the woman finish scribbling some last minute words on a piece of parchment. Finished Minerva lifted her head and stared at Hermione for a second before breaking out into an amused grin, "Merlin Hermione," she chuckled, "you look like you're about to be served to a pack of grindylows for dinner! Relax, have a seat," Minerva gestured to the chair in front of her desk.
Her shoulders relaxed a bit but Hermione couldn't make herself relax completely, at least not until she knew why she was here.
"You may be wondering why I have asked you here," Minerva started, waiting for Hermione's nod which was a little too vigorous, making Minerva smile kindly at the young woman, "Well it has recently come to my attention that you were recently dismissed from your job at the Ministry."
Hermione felt her heart sink into her stomach, this was an, I'm-concerned-about-your-well-being-please-tell-me-what's-wrong conversation, "Yes," she murmured lowering her head to watch her fingers fiddle with her bracelet.
Minerva watched her closely in silence for a moment before standing and moving to a seemingly unrelated topic, "Hermione, it has been such a long time, I was wondering how your animagus transformations have been going, have you gotten the hang of things yet?" she asked, her eyes blinking down at the now stunned younger witch.
Hermione nodded, "I've been able to remain in my animagus for several hours recently," she replied, feeling confused.
"Could you show me?" Minerva asked looking intrigued.
Eyes shifting around the room as if looking for some hidden cameras, Hermione lifted herself out of the chair, "I suppose," she said slowly, uncertain of where this was going. Slowly she closed her eyes and focused on her animagus form, feeling her body begin to bend and shrink until she felt the transformation had completed. Opening her eyes she looked up into the pleased expression of the Headmistress.
Minerva stooped down and picked Hermione up, carefully depositing her on the chair Hermione had previously left, "Wonderful!" she breathed happily, "Your black fox form is simply magnificent Hermione," she stated as she moved back around her desk to sit down in her chair, "That is why I have decided to offer you the position of Transfiguration professor."
Hermione's unnaturally ice blue eyes blinked up at Minerva for a second before Hermione found herself back in her human form, "Are you serious?" she exclaimed excitedly, "You really want me to teach here?"
Minerva smiled, "Of course, where else would I want you to teach?" she teased.
"But Transfiguration is your subject," Hermione commented, dimming a bit, "I couldn't take that from you."
Minerva shook her head a gave a soft sigh, "While Transfiguration is my favorite subject by far, and the one I have been teaching for a long time, the only reason I have kept teaching it these last few years while being the Headmistress is that I was waiting for you to finally figure out that you don't belong at the Ministry; and that you do, in fact, belong here at Hogwarts doing the one thing I have always known you to love: teaching."
Hermione's eyes widened, "You mean you were—" she trailed off.
"Saving the position for you," Minerva finished with a nod, "Basically. Besides the fact that there wouldn't be another person out there that I would deem qualified enough to teach the class besides you," she paused, "So will you do it? Will you take the job?"
Hermione stared at her, "Of course I'll take the job!" she exclaimed, falling back in her chair disbelievingly, "Are you sure?" she asked one more time just to be clear.
Minerva gave a laugh, "Yes Hermione, I'm sure. You are absolutely perfect for the job."
"Okay then," Hermione breathed, relaxing into the chair completely a she contemplated the changes that were about to come about.
Minerva watched her soak it all in silently for a moment before sighing, "Now if only Draco Malfoy would be as easy to convince."
Hermione's head shot up at hearing Draco's name, "What?" she asked suddenly.
"In his will Severus told me that during his time as a Death Eater he began teaching Draco everything he would need to know to become a potions master. Apparently all that is left for the boy to do is for him to take the Potions Mastery Final. If I could just convince him to do that, I would hire him in a heartbeat to take over for Horace as the Potions professor."
Hermione raised her eyebrows, "Does Draco not want to teach here?" she asked, her voice more eager than she figured it should sound.
Minerva shook her head, "According to Severus, Draco has always wanted to be a professor here. For the longest time it was his father that kept him from trying for any of the positions, now however, it is simply the Potions Final that keeps him from the one job Draco has always wanted the most."
"Have you tried convincing him before, then?" Hermione looked down at her hands quickly as she tried to argue with herself to remain silent before returning her gaze to the headmistress.
Minerva again shook her head, "I have tried to convince him to take the Final, but he did not know why I wished him to do so and at the time he was also working for the Ministry so he decided not to," she looked at the grandfather clock on one of the walls, "He is actually scheduled to be here any moment so I can explain to him and offer the Potions professor position."
A sudden knock rapped on the door causing Hermione's heart to pick up pace as she rose and turned around, "Come in," Minerva called, and the door opened, revealing Draco Malfoy in a dark green button up shirt that matched Hermione's dress with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows tucked into a nice pair of black slacks.
Draco lifted his head from where it had been watching is footsteps for a moment as he entered the room and his eyes immediately collided with Hermione's. Time seemed to stop and everything around the two of them disappeared as Hermione and Draco stared at one another. Draco's eyes showed very little emotion, as always, but years of watching him had trained Hermione to notice the things he tried to hide. He was nervous, probably as nervous as she had been when she first arrived; and his eyes held a soft longing as they stared into hers.
A throat cleared in the background and suddenly the spell was broken, Draco tore his gaze away to stare at the far wall indifferently, his opening and closing fist the only sign that the moment had gotten to him. Hermione's own posture shifted as she turned around and attempted to control her rapid breathing.
Lifting her eyes from where they had been watching the floor as she counted, Hermione was surprised to find herself looking into the amused expression on Minerva's face, "I believe that will be all Hermione," Minerva commented with a laugh in her voice, "I will send you the paperwork you need, and other information. Thank you."
Hermione nodded her head, inwardly cursing herself for getting so caught up in Draco's gaze, "Thank you Headmistress," she murmured back, turning around and heading towards the door. Her shoulder brushed briefly with Draco's as she moved past him and she couldn't help the almost sigh that escaped as she smelled his masculine aftershave. She said nothing to Draco as she exited the office, not remembering that she had been meaning to thank him for the last several weeks until she had left the Hogwarts grounds and apparated home.
Luna was sitting in the living area with her feet curled beneath her as she read the book on her lap. Slowly the blonde witch looked up as Hermione came in and plopped herself down on the comfortable couch, unheeding of her dress.
"How'd it go?" Luna asked, closing her book and setting it down on the coffee table.
Hermione's expression lit up for a moment as she remembered the reason behind the meeting, "McGonagall wants me to teach Transfiguration at Hogwarts!" she proclaimed gleefully.
Luna smiled and congratulated her, "I had a feeling that was what she was going to offer you," she told Hermione, "So you won't mind if I moved out?" she then asked, as if that flowed with their current topic of conversation.
"What?" Hermione exclaimed sitting up and turning to face Luna, "You want to move out?"
Luna nodded as if everything were clear, "Not until you move into the castle of course," she said, "But after you move I would be here by myself, and it seems rather pointless when I have to work in Hogsmeade to manage the bookstore every day."
"You manage a bookstore?" Hermione repeated, "What are you talking about?"
Luna blinked, "Flourish and Blotts of course," she said as if it obvious.
Hermione stared at her friend, "But what about your other job?" she wondered, "I thought you worked at the Ministry with Ginny."
"Oh I did," Luna nodded, "But then Ginny made it just so unbearable to work there that I had to find another job. Flourish and Blots was looking for a new manager and I got the position."
Hermione turned to face Luna more fully, "How long have you had this job, and why didn't you tell me?"
"Oh didn't I tell you?" Luna asked airily, "I felt certain I had, perhaps the Pematics made me confused though. It's been known to happen you know," she stated knowingly to Hermione with a nod of her head.
Slowly nodding her head in the way she had learned how to do as Luna's friend, Hermione contemplated the future, "So you want to move out?" she clarified.
Luna bobbed her head up and down, "Yes, Neville and I have been looking at a nice apartment near the school in town—"
Hermione held up her hands in interruption, "You and Neville?" she repeated, "Am I missing something?"
Luna looked confused, "What did you expect us to do after we were married, continue living apart?"
"Married?" Hermione repeated numbly, her eyes dropping to Luna's ring finger, relived to see that there was no ring on her finger, knowing that she hadn't missed something that obvious, "You two are getting married? When was this going to happen?"
Not understanding Luna shrugged, "Near the end of next month," she said noticing Hermione's expression and pausing, "Did I forget to tell you about that too?" she asked carefully.
Eyes wide Hermione nodded her head, "Yes," she stated firmly, "I didn't even know you and Neville had gotten together yet."
Luna looked surprised at this, "Really? We've been together since just after you stopped working at the Ministry, he proposed to me just the other day."
"I'm going to kill him," Hermione growled teasingly, not really angry, it was Luna after all.
"Oh please don't," Luna replied softly, "I really do want to marry him."
Hermione shook her head and fell back against the couch, "I'll let him escape this time then," she joked, "How did we end up talking about this anyway?" she question out loud, following their conversation back to Luna's comment about moving out, "Oh yeah," she remembered, "I guess it makes sense for you to move out then," she told Luna.
Luna nodded in agreement, "So how did the meeting go after she offered the job to you?" Luna asked.
"Well, at first I was in shock, but then she explained that she had actually been holding the job for me," Hermione shook her head, still surprised by this, "and then she started telling me about how she wished Draco would be as easy to convince."
Luna looked knowingly at Hermione, waiting patiently for the woman to continue.
Hermione rolled her eyes, she had told Luna about her crush on Draco that night they had gone out for pizza, making Luna the first friend Hermione had ever officially told about her crush on the seemingly forbidden man, "And then he showed up."
Luna's eyes widened comically, "What did you do?" she asked curiously, her head tilting.
"Nothing," Hermione groaned, "I just stared at him and tried not to pass out when I walked by him and our shoulders touched," absently Hermione reached up and touched the shoulder that had brushed Draco's, "Oh who am I kidding Luna?" she moaned, "He wouldn't ever think of me that way. Why do I bother?"
"Because you love him," was her simple reply, "and believe it or not I am almost certain he loves you too."
Hermione gave a heavy sigh and shook her head, briefly touching her hand to her forehead, "As much as I like the reassurance, I highly doubt that is true," slowly Hermione rose to her feet intending to go change into something more comfortable, "Do you mind if we just drop the subject?" she asked rhetorically.
Luna nodded, "Sure, I'll just bring it up again tomorrow," she stated innocently as she moved to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
Narrowing her eyes suspiciously Hermione hesitated, she wouldn't really right?
Hermione let out a low growl as she stomped over to the door to open it for whoever was on the other side. Luna had kept her promise, she had brought the topic of her and Draco up again…and again…and again! Every day for the last week and a half she had brought it up, sometimes multiple times a day.
Tugging the door open in frustration she simply rolled her eyes and gestured for the three visitors to come it. Neville eyed her cautiously before moving past her, but George wasn't quite so inconspicuous about his curiosity, "What's got your knickers in a twist?" he joked ruffling her hair as he and Angelina entered the apartment for one of their game nights.
"Luna," was all she said before turning and leading them to the couches where Luna and Neville were already sitting.
"And how is our lovely loony Luna bothering you so?" George teased her, sitting on the floor in front of the arm chair that Angelina sat in.
Hermione shook her head, "It doesn't matter now, she seems to be done for the moment."
George raised his eyebrows in amusement, but let it go. Angelina rolled her eyes at her boyfriend and looked at Hermione with an apologetic look, "So how did your meeting at Hogwarts go the other day?" she asked, in a smooth attempt to change the subject.
Hermione's face lit up, "It was wonderful, McGonagall offered me the position of Transfiguration professor!" she exclaimed with a large grin.
The two couples began clapping, "That's great!" Angelina congratulated her.
"Yeah, it means you and I will be working together this fall," Neville laughed, "It will be nice to have someone else on the staff that I already know."
Luna's eyes lit up in that all too familiar way that made Hermione want to groan, "Speaking of people you would know at Hogwarts," she started in her soft voice, "Apparently Draco could be teaching there too, if he would only take the Potions Mastery Final."
Everyone looked at her, Hermione more suspiciously than the others, "How do you know this Luna?" Neville asked curiously.
"Oh, Hermione told me," was Luna's simple answer.
Now all eyes were on Hermione who was glaring at Luna, "Yes, I guess I did," she grumbled, "Draco had an appointment with McGonagall just after I did. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to convince him to take the test so he can teach Potions this fall."
"And what did you say to him?" Neville asked mischievously.
Hermione turned her glare on him, "Was I supposed to say something?" she demanded, "No I wasn't. And why? Because it's none of my business!"
Luna and Neville let out simultaneous groans and gave each other similarly frustrated looks. George raised an eyebrow and lifted a hand, "Wait, wait, wait, I think I'm missing something here," he said looking between the three of them curiously.
"Me too," Angelina agreed.
Hermione sighed in frustration, "These two seem to have gotten it into their heads that Draco is in love with me," she stated, clearly not pleased with the conversation, "But I know for a fact that he doesn—" Hermione paused as she noticed George and Angelina's contemplative faces, "What are you looking like that about?" she demanded.
"I can see it," George stated, he shared a quick look with Angelina before continuing, "It would explain a lot of anomalies that Fred and I both noticed when we were at school with you lot."
Allowing her head to fall back onto the couch in resignation Hermione raised her hands in partial surrender, "What anomalies?" she questioned, playing along.
"Well being a Slytherin made Malfoy quite high on our pranking list you see," George started, "This being said, we had almost constant surveillance on him. He was very sneaky about it to be sure, but he seemed to like to stare at you, particularly at meal times. But as far as we could tell he was still a rotten git to you everywhere else. Then sometime around the end of your third year his staring became more obvious and suddenly he wasn't just watching you at meal times, but in the hallways and from what some of our spies have told us, in class as well. To be honest when we saw you enter the Great Hall for the Yule Ball neither Fred or I could stop ourselves from looking to see what his expression was; it was comical," he laughed, "well at least to us, he looked like his eyes would fall out of his head and his face was so surprised…" George trailed off remembering.
Hermione cleared her throat; both to try and make herself appear unaffected by his words and to encourage him subtly to go on.
"And in your fifth year, you know how he was part of the Toad's inquisitor squad?" everyone nodded, seeming to hang onto his every word, "There were several times where Fred and I would turn a corner on our way back to the common room after a DA meeting and we would find him hiding behind a wall watching you as you tried to do the same. His job was to catch any and all students who were a part of the DA, but he clearly saw you and pretended he didn't. There were other times when we would watch him deliberately lie to the Toad's face about certain things that pertained to you, or to cause distractions to make her forget about her intentions to go after you," George gave an apologetic sigh, "But then we had to leave," he said with fake sadness, "So we didn't get to see anything else."
Hermione tired to stop the blush that she knew was flooding her face and ducked her head, "That still doesn't mean he loves me," she mumbled half heartedly.
"This is what I have been dealing with Neville," Luna suddenly murmured sadly with a shake of her head, "She doesn't think he loves her even though I keep telling her he does."
George scoffed, "Why else would he be practically stalking you from the end of your third year on?" he laughed, "Hermione if that doesn't constitute love I don't know what does."
Hermione straightened her shoulders, "Stalking doesn't constitute love," she stated but was interrupted by George again.
"That's not what I meant Miss Granger and you know it," he commented lightly, "What I want to know," he turned to Luna and Neville, "is what happened at the end of your third year to make him change stalking tactics?"
Neville and Luna shared and confused expression; "Beats us," Neville answered for them.
"I hit him," Hermione mumbled under her breath.
All eyes swung back to Hermione, "You what?" Angelina asked with a large grin on her face, "You hit him?"
"He deserved it!" Hermione exclaimed defensively, "He was going on about killing Buckbeak and being a right git, so I hit him."
George had a look of awe on his face, "You are officially my hero," he breathed.
Neville looked just as impressed, "Well that would probably be why he couldn't take his eyes off you for the rest of the year," he stated, when Hermione looked at him in disbelief he tried to explain, "Up to that point no one had really stood up to Draco in any way that mattered, yeah Harry and Ron could spout insults and hexes like anyone else, but you actually hit him. It probably impressed him. Besides the fact that with your blood status meaning what it did to him at the time, the fact that you were able to actually harm him probably threw everything he had ever been taught about pureblood supremacy up in the air, and he had nowhere else to look for an explanation or help in his changing world views."
"I hit him," Hermione repeated as if she were talking to a three year old, "As in I caused him pain, I'm fairly certain that it meant nothing else to him than another excuse to hate me not to love me."
Luna suddenly piped up, "Tell them about the incident in sixth year in Myrtle's lavatory."
Hermione glowered at Luna, "There's nothing to tell," she stated firmly.
"And then tell them how not long after you told him to find someone to talk to, a twin journal somehow mysteriously found its way into your bag with no identification of the owner of the other twin journal," Luna continued as if Hermione hadn't said anything.
Hermione jumped to her feet, feeling very much as if she were being interrogated, "I don't even know if it was him!" she exclaimed.
Neville shrugged, "Do you still have the journal?" he asked Hermione curiously, appearing to have some sort of solution to the question of whether or not it was him.
"Yes," Hermione sighed, deciding to just give in, "Would you like to see it?" she snootily asked.
Neville reached into one of the pockets of his cloak that he had rested on the side of the sofa, "Actually I was just going to give you a letter he recently sent to me so you can compare the two and see if the writing matches," Neville held out the piece of parchment to her.
Nervously she eyed the parchment for several long seconds, debating whether or not to take it. She was almost certain that the owner of the twin journal was Draco, but there was part of her that wasn't so sure. Ironically it was the fear that she might be correct and that it was in fact Draco on the other end that kept her from taking the parchment. Slowly her hand reached out of its own accord and took the parchment into her trembling grasp.
Carefully she unfolded the letter and only had to have a short glimpse of the writing inside to know that Draco Malfoy was indeed Nameless-One. Her hands numbly dropped the parchment as one of her hands lifted to her mouth in surprise. Her eyes began to inexplicably water as her heartbeat quickened almost unbearably. Maybe it was true; maybe Draco did care about her like she cared about him. Hermione hesitated, temporarily unaware of the four pairs of eyes watching her, then again, maybe it was something he had done out of pity or to redeem himself somehow.
Slowly she lifted her head to look at the others, "It's him," she whispered, a single tear trailing down her cheek, though from happiness or some other darker emotion she didn't know, "Draco has the twin journal."
"What are you going to do about it?" Angelina asked softly, recognizing Hermione's mixed feelings.
Hermione shrugged, "I don't know," she said quietly, "I don't know what I can do about it."
George rolled his eyes, "By Godric, are you a Gryffindor or not? Just apparate to his house and confront him about it!"
"Then what?" Hermione demanded, "Stand around awkwardly as he tells me that yes, he did have the other journal, but that it was only out of self preservation that he used it or as a way to lessen his guilt or some other use entirely?"
Neville looked sympathetically at his friend, he could understand her reluctance to trust that someone could love her after everything Ron put her through. But every single particle of his being knew that if she ever gave Draco even the slightest inclination that she might even remotely share his feelings Draco would snatch her up and never let her go. "Maybe you could thank him," he said softly.
George and Angelina looked confused, "For what?" they asked at the same time.
"Draco quit his job at the auror office because Harry refused to believe that the fight that he had gotten into with Ron was caused by Ron spreading rumors about Hermione and Draco trying to defend her," Neville answered.
"Git," George grumbled, making everyone look at him in surprise. His own eyes widened as his realized what they were all thinking, "I was talking about Ron," he explained quickly lifting his hands defensively, "I like Draco…I mean you like Draco so I guess I'm going to have to like him…right?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but gave a little smile anyway, "So I thank him, confront him, then what? Declare my undying love for him?" she scoffed, going serious when she realized no one else was joking, they were all seriously nodding their heads, "Come on guys, you can't be serious."
"Actually I'm pretty sure we can be," George mocked, "We just choose not to be…most of the time. I mean, really Hermione, what's the worst that could happen?" he asked rhetorically, "He lies to your face and tells you he doesn't love you? At least then you can get on with your life and don't have to keep wondering about what could have been."
Everyone was nodding and Hermione suddenly realized that they weren't going to let this go. Her stomach suddenly felt anxious and a little sick, "Alright, alright," she moaned reluctantly, "I'll go to Malfoy Manor tomorrow to talk to him."
Neville slowly raised his hand, knowing her history with the Manor, "Would it help a little if I told you that he doesn't live at Malfoy Manor anymore?" he asked inquisitively.
Hermione's shoulders actually relaxed some as she realized that she wouldn't have to go into the house of horrors and torture, "Yes," she breathed, "It might help a little."
"Well then you'll be pleased to know that he has a house that he inherited from one of his nice relatives that is nowhere near Malfoy Manor," Neville then went on to explain a little about how to get to the location he was speaking of.
Finally finished Hermione nodded, making sure to remember his instructions and turned to the rest of the small group, "Are we done messing with Hermione's love life now?" she joked half serious, "Can we get down to the fun stuff?"
Everyone shared a laugh sending a few more jokes Hermione's way before settling down to discuss what they would like to do that night.
A/N: So, I was going to hold this story hostage until I received at least ten reviews, but then I realized that it wasn't fair to those people who did REVIEW. So here is another chapter, hope it was worth the wait! Please leave a review and tell me what you think, it's really easy I swear! ^_^ The next chapter will be up SO much sooner if I get a lot of reviews….