Note: I know, you were all looking forward to waiting a week for this to wrap up. Might as well end the month with a bang. Sappy, rambling thanks at the bottom. Enjoy. (Hopefully, I hate ending stories.)
Chapter Ten
She'd gone through with showing up for her shift that Friday, and it had gone even worse than she expected. Given how low her expectations had been, it was probably saying something.
Friday's were supposed to be her best nights, but from the start she felt sick. Making the trek across the parking lot, Theo tried to stop her at the door only to be brushed off. She knew he'd tell her it was okay to take time, but she didn't want time.
What she wanted was her boss, but since she'd crossed the line and ultimately fucked it up, she wanted to make him eat his heart out.
Hermione didn't expect it to hurt, but in hindsight she should have. Walking in as if nothing has changed threatened to make her vomit. And as she made her way to the dressing room, it was abundantly clear that there was nothing here anymore.
The lights, the music, the middle stage that she should have been stepping into in ten minutes — she didn't care at all. How could she have thought it would be easy to dance in front of him. She'd given him a private dance weeks earlier. What had taken months to feel like home was destroyed in a few weeks.
It didn't matter where she looked, he'd had her pressed against it at some point.
Hermione turned around, storming down the hallways to his office, and she banged on the door. The heavy door swung open, and she pushed past him. "There should be enough to learn who's been stealing from the club." She muttered, sitting in his chair. "I just wanted to make sure this was finished before I left."
"Daphne was supposed to tell you I said you should take time off." He murmured, and she refused to listen to the softness of his voice.
"I don't care what you think I should do, Malfoy." She hissed, her fingers clicking against the keyboard, and she moved the mouse cursor across the screen.
"You could have opened the door on your own. You know the code."
"For all I know you've changed the password. It doesn't seem so far fetched since you ignored my texts, or my calls." Hermione retorted.
She had tried to put herself out there to fix it. Daphne had always told her she was too stubborn, and that it held her back from so much, and that Draco didn't mean any of the awful things he said. But he couldn't take them back, and trying to fix things didn't get her anywhere but a voicemail, and being left on read.
Draco groaned. "I knew you would bring that up. I was furious, Hermione. I couldn't have spoken to you without insulting you." At her lack of response, he added, "You're not stupid."
She spun in the chair to look at him. Angry at everything that had built up only to be fucking wrecked, she stood, and jabbed him in the sternum. "I don't need you to bloody tell me that, Malfoy!"
"I regret how I said it—"
The computer beeper behind her, and she knew once she turned that it would have run the software and whoever was stealing, or most likely to be stealing would be revealed. And then she'd have no reason to stay, so she didn't look at that results before she tore into him.
"But not what you said." She deadpanned. "Listen, Malfoy, we tried. It didn't work, and it's fine. I would have always wondered, but now I know. I made a choice, and I would do it all over again."
Hermione sat back down, missing the way he reached for her as she scribbled down two names. And then she grabbed a fresh sheet of copy paper. She didn't look up at him as she wrote it, knowing she'd lose her nerve, and she'd fling herself into his arms, and she was not going to fold. Not this time. "Your thief is Goyle, and probably Crabbe before you chucked him out. I'll leave you to deal with the proper authorities since it's your club."
Draco blocked her path. "I would have never known without you,"
"You would have figured it out. Regardless, I no longer work here, so this doesn't concern me. As my former employer, you should know that my home address is updated, and that's where you should send my final check to." Hermione muttered, pressed the folded resignation letter into the palm of his hand. "It was nice working with you, Malfoy. I should have never crossed the line."
He murmured something; he tried to grab her, but she slipped out of his grip.
And she wasn't sure which was more heartbreaking - that she left him, and her heart was surely in pieces, or that there was no beep as the door opened for him to chase after her.
Hermione had been through a breakup before; she'd been through a couple breakups to be honest. And with each one, she learned something. With Ron, well, wasn't it obvious? She didn't need a boyfriend to keep her happy, and she certainly didn't need one who seemed to depend on her. She realized she was worth more, and slowly, her perception of things changed.
Fucking Draco Malfoy at a university party had come when her split from Ron was still so raw, and it physically hurt her to seem him dry humping Lavender Brown against the wall. It had come as a shock, with fingers tangling into her hair, tumblers being slammed against the counter of a kitchen island that was littered with bottles of booze. With the words of, "who the fuck do they think they are?" sounding low in her ear. The darkness in it made her shiver, and the Hermione Granger that was then was far too innocent to have led him into a room upstairs on her own.
Wincing at the memory, one that she shouldn't dwell on , Hermione leaned forward to fill her wine glass once more. Daphne would be home soon, though she was supposed to be going out with Theo. To see a movie, Daph told her, but with wiggling her fingers at her, she also mentioned they wouldn't be watching the movie.
But her best friend had texted her a half hour earlier to let her know those plans had fallen through - probably a lie -, and that she would be home soon. We can make a girls' night of it, Mione. Pick some movies, and put on your pajamas. It was nice though, sitting on their sofa in pajamas while they watched movies and gossipped like old women.
Except her face was stained with tears, her mascara flaked, and having run over her cheeks, and her eyes were probably still bloodshot. It had been seven days since she walked out of the club, and he hadn't called her. And it didn't matter that she knew he wasn't going to if he hadn't yet, but with each notification on her phone, she would run for in the hopes that he had. It was a bitter cycle, and two cartons of chinese takeaway sat on their coffee table, accompanied by the pint of ice cream in her hands.
Back on the subject of dating -
After her short - not to be mentioned again, she promised herself - night with Draco, there had been Viktor Krum. All around a nice guy, perhaps too nice to her, but he'd been fun. It didn't work out for the reason that the chemistry just wasn't there. And she couldn't completely help that she compared everyone to Malfoy. There hadn't been anymore relationships after that as it was shortly after that when she started dancing at the Shrieking Shack. And really, she'd gotten into enough without a relationship that tied her down.
Quitting her job, and beating herself up over the last few months in which she'd finally crossed the line with her boss was a stark reminder of why she'd sworn off relationships. A casual hook up? Maybe a
friends with benefits relationship like she'd had with Regulus Black? Fine, she could walk away from that unscathed.
She didn't need Daphne to tell her, though she had anyway, that this breakup hurt her because she was in love with him. Hermione had spat out that "Obviously, Greengrass, and I'm pretty fucking sure I've been falling in love with him the whole time I worked for him." But it made everything so much worse.
Cormac had called, seemingly hearing about her breakup which had happened almost before the relationship ever got started. Hermione rejected the call, rolling her eyes when he texted her. It was a simple enough, hey, I heard about what happened. Are you okay? Anything I can do? Which loosely - no, exactly - translated to You should let me fuck you until you forget about your boyfriend. Nevermind that it wasn't possible, but the thought of anyone else touching her made her nauseous, and just, no.
Daphne forced the door open, the lock nearly freezing along with the ice. "It's freezing." She growled, tearing her soaked shirt over her head, and snatching the camisole Hermione had laid over the recliner for her. "Oh, you grabbed my favorite one! Thank you. What do you -" breaking off from the question of what would they watch, Daphne's eyes widened at the sight of her. "Hermione, baby." She said softly, walking around the table, and sitting on the couch beside her, tucking her legs beneath her.
Her friend pulled Hermione by her shoulders, and laid her head against her chest, running her fingers through her hair. "He hasn't even called, or texted me, or anything." She hiccuped, her spoon falling to their white carpet that would stain if she didn't grab it soon.
Daph hummed in her ear. "He's a wreck, babe, but for all the times I've told you to put yourself out there, this isn't one of them. Draco has to come to you this time, alright? He said some hurtful shit, and he knows it."
"And if he doesn't, I don't need him." Hermione said sadly, her eyes watering again as she turned her face away from Daphne. "I'll get mascara on you." She mumbled.
"Doesn't matter. If Malfoy doesn't come crawling back to you by the end of the week, I'm convinced he was always an asshole, and never even deserved to be in the same room as you."
Hermione shook her head slowly. "I did lie to him though, Daphne.."
A shrug of her shoulders. "You did, but I don't think it was a lie that ends a relationship. You could have worked through it, but he just accused you of cheating." She hissed. "Come on, sit up. Lets watch a movie. What did you pull out?" Grabbing the stack from the table, Daphne looked through them. "The Notebook, Titanic, Dirty Dancing - Hermione, these are the worst ones you could have picked!"
"At least someone is happy," she murmured, motioning to them, "except for Rose because Jack dies. But -"
"I am not going to debate whether there was enough room on that door right now, Hermione." She said seriously.
"There was," Hermione snapped.
"For fucks sake, what are you eating?" She grabbed the container from Hermione's hands, her eyebrows nearly shooting into her hairline. "Breakup brownie? What the fuck is this? We're watching horror movies, and eating popcorn. Get to it, Granger."
She hated to admit when she was wrong. It was one of her worst traits she was told, but fuck if it didn't burn her now. Not only was quite literally all of her savings gone - not that she could bring herself to regret it - she'd just dropped the last of the money in her bank account to pay for the next semester of classes. A semester in which she'd be a full time student while working at a rival bar.
She didn't like it one bit, but Tom Riddle apparently worked with several club owners, and had rang her while she was still in bed moping. At the least, she wasn't dancing. She refused to dance even when he asked her, even when the owner offered to pay her double her hourly wages. Hermione wasn't going to dance for someone that wasn't Draco. But she needed to pay for her ridiculous half of bills somehow, and mixing drinks seemed like it would be enough.
Grabbing a low cut shirt from her closet, she tightened the straps of her bra before pressing her tits together. Satisfied with how appealing her cleavage looked in the black v neck, Hermione wore a tight fitting pair of jeans. Underneath at least two layers of foundation, she knew there were dark circles under her eyes still. Grabbing her keys, she let the door slam shut behind her even as Daphne was calling out to her.
Working for Antonin Dolohov made her think she'd rather sell her body on a corner of London than work for him. He was shady, and underhanded, and he'd already taken parts of her tips even though she had no way to prove it.
Daphne insisted that she could just come back to the Shrieking Shack. Draco would rehire her in a heartbeat, and it wouldn't be awkward, she swore. Of course Hermione didn't believe her because how could someone return to working for their ex boyfriend? Like she'd be able to look at any part of that club and not see where he'd kissed her, or fucked her, and fuck she couldn't set foot in his office. Not when it was so clear - the image of him fucking her mouth while she laid on his desk.
"Hermione," Pansy tapped on her shoulder, "there's some guy here to see you. He's waiting by the bathrooms. Dolohov says to take your break." The black haired girl collected the large tip on the bar that was meant for Hermione.
Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her jumper from under the bar, and made her way to the back of the club. There was no one waiting though. Glancing around, and knocking on both of the bathroom doors, there was no answer from inside. Hermione turned to head back to the front, grumbling under her breath that she'd just lost a tip to Parkinson from the guy that had been trying to win her over all night. Her knitted jumper was halfway over her head when the emergency exit was ripped open from behind her, and a hand latched onto the thin material. A shriek fell from her lips, but it would be barely heard over the loud music.
Stammering, and threatening whoever had grabbed her, Hermione managed to pull her jumper all the way down just as he spine met the cool concrete of the wall outside. Her heart slammed against the inside of her rib cage at the sight of him. "Malfoy?" She breathed.
He looked worse for wear, which lined up with everything Daphne had told her. His hair was disheveled, and she wasn't at all sure what to expect him to say. "Dolohov?" He asked through gritted teeth. "Greengrass told me Riddle called you?"
She rolled her eyes at the mention of Tom Riddle. She wasn't surprised that his name was the first goddamned thing out of his mouth. Hermione snorted. "Yeah, Tom called me." The name rolled off her tongue, and she was just petty enough to smirk when his eyes narrowed. "Considering that my savings are completely gone, I needed a job, Malfoy. I'm sure I would have applied here even if he hadn't called me." She shrugged, shoving her hands into the back pocket of her jeans. "And if you really cared about who I was working for, you would have called me three weeks ago when I started here."
He pinned her to the wall with his own body. "She told me tonight." He growled. "Do you know what kind of person he is, Granger? More than one of his girls has quit because he -"
"Oh, fuck off." Hermione snapped, shoving him backward, away from her. "I'm not interested to hear how much you care, or - just leave, Malfoy."
He didn't move an inch from where he stood. "I think we should talk about this!" He yelled, motioning to the building behind her. "About us, about -"
Hermione snapped. "About us?" She screamed, storming up to him, and standing on her tiptoes. "There is no us, Draco. There hasn't been from the second you honestly believed I would cheat on you. I called you, I tried, and you were the one who wasn't interested in trying!"
His eyes darkened, and even though she was furious, Hermione couldn't bring herself to rip away from him when he grabbed her. "Don't you dare put those words in my mouth when it's been hell without you." His grip on her wrists loosened as he knelt down. "Hermione -"
She shook her head. "No." Hermione shut down the urge to throw herself into his arms, and to just bloody believe him. "Absolutely not. We tried, and it's been over a month, and you only came to find me when you thought I could be in danger."
Draco interrupted her, his jaw clenched, and all she truly wanted to do was reach out and massaged his tensed shoulders. "Dolohov raped one of his girls."
She'd heard the rumor. "I need the money for university, and rent, Malfoy. The point is that you didn't come here because you feel the same way about me. You came here to play the knight in shining armor, and I don't fucking need saving." She shoved him away from her once more, wrenching the emergency door open once more.
But when the door didn't open, she felt that maybe she'd made the right choice. Or maybe it was the second chance that she was supposed to take advantage of.
What she knew for sure was that it was like walking away for the first time, and she hadn't healed at all.
When Cormac called her again, this time not so much for a booty call, it was Valentine's Day. Daphne was out with Theo, and Hermione was curled up on the couch with a textbook on the finer workings of business. He rang to ask if he could come by for some of the things he'd left months ago. Rolling her eyes so hard they threatened to get stuck in the back of her head, Hermione gathered up his belt, and a few shirts he'd left behind.
She was sure it was a ploy to try and get into her knickers. It was why she'd left his things folded outside her door, and a note taped to the door that read Not fucking interested, Cormac. Have a good night. So when two familiar voices drifted up the iron staircase outside, she slammed her textbook shut, her eyes widening.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" While it was muffled, there was no mistaking the voice as Draco's. She scrambled for her shoes, only finding one shoe out of two pairs, and she groaned. Not that she knew what he was yelling at, but if it was anything near her, it couldn't possibly be good.
She couldn't find a pair of shorts to wear with the thin cami either, but how appropriate she looked didn't matter at all when the next sentence rung out. "Listen, Malfoy, I haven't even seen her. I was just here -" it fell silent, but there was a loud groan.
Hermione threw the door open, looking either way down the level of flats, but there was nothing. Hurrying down the stairs, and gripping the railing lest she might fall, she happened across a scene on the lower story. "Did you punch him?" She gasped, taking in the sight of Malfoy standing over Cormac, and Cormac holding his jaw while lying on the ground. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She blurted.
The belt, and shirts - long forgotten at this point - had fallen over the railing at some point. "What the fuck is wrong with me?" Draco echoed. "What the fuck is wrong with you? I came over here with the intention of apologizing to you, of trying to win you back over, and you're fucking this ponce."
Dragging her hands down her face, she marched over to him. "If you'd like to come up to my flat, you'll see that there is a huge note on the door telling him I'm not interested. He really was picking up his shite, Malfoy."
"On Valentine's Day?" He countered, ignoring the other man as he climbed to his feet, and took off down the stairs. "While you're wearing that?" His eyes raked up and down her body.
"Are you doubting me again?" She said, her voice harsh. "If you came here to win me back over as you say -"
He backed her to the railing, his hands skimming her sides, barely brushing against breasts. "What was I supposed to think when I saw him coming down from your flat carrying his clothes?"
She glared. "I'm not doing this." She threw her hands up, and turned away from him. "You should have realized that I'm fucking crazy about you, and that I haven't been, or wanted, anyone else since you accused me of cheating."
Silence. "I regret it more than anything else." He murmured, capturing her by the waist. "I was an idiot, and I couldn't blame you if you never wanted to see me again really."
Hermione snorted. "Even when I tell you to stay away, you can't seem to listen. If you have something to say to me, you can tell me inside of my flat. Where I'm not freezing my arse off in a thong, and," she gasped when he pulled her tight against him. Her nipples, stiffened by the biting chill outside, brushed against his chest as he stared down at her. "Or you can say it now." She swallowed. "Now would be great."
Malfoy reached up, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You know I'm in love with you, don't you?" He whispered, kneeling down again to be eye level with her.
She shook her head slowly. "I don't think you ever got the chance to tell me."
"A foolish mistake on my part." He admitted softly. "I'm going to kiss you now, if you're alright with it." Draco told her.
"Wait!" She said too loudly, and his face fell. "Not because - I just - fuck, I love you too." She breathed, reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair and yank him to her.
His tongue swept across her bottom lip as he picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist. "You don't have to," he tried to tell her they didn't have to do anything, not right this moment.
She shook her head, digging her ankles into the small of his back. "Now, Draco, my bedroom." SHe murmured, biting down on his bottom lip. "It's fucking Valentine's Day, and you've just told me you love me, so,"
He chuckled, the low tone of it making her shiver. "Alright, Hermione. As much as I like you begging," he murmured while carrying her up the stairs, "you don't have to this time." Whimpering as his fingers dug into the soft flesh of her arse, she rubbed herself against him. "Fuck, princess." He growled.
Whining when his fingers brushed against her cloth covered cunt, but he wouldn't push her knickers to the side, she was already on the edge of an orgasm before he had even touched her. "Draco," she pressed her lips to his neck, dragging them to the base of his throat as he threw the door of her flat open. "Bedroom." She pleaded with him, pulling back to look at him while still dazed.
"Missed you," he muttered as he hurried down the hallway and into her bedroom. "Quit your shite job with Dolohov." He hissed , dropping her onto her bed. "You don't have to come back, but don't fucking,"
She was already nodding, crawling forward on the bed, and sliding off of it, sitting on her knees in front of him. "You'll get no complaints from me. Dolohov copped a feel of my arse earlier tonight." A slow growl sounded from his throat as she flicked the button of his trousers open. "Though I doubt I'll come back to dance for you."
Anything Draco could have said was lost when she gripped his cock in her hand and guided his cock into her mouth. Swirling her tongue around his length while stroking him, he gathered her hair so he could watch her on her knees. "Fucking Christ, princess." He snarled, nudging her, and a hiss slipped between his teeth when the tip of him hit the back of her throat. "Look how pretty you are like this." He rumbled, guiding her by the tight grip he had on her hair.
She moaned, reaching down to rub her clit through her knickers, edging herself while taking his cock down her throat, and never breaking eye contact. Hermione gasped when he pulled away from her, whining a little though she'd never admit it. "Draco.."
His chest rising and falling with each heavy breath, he nodded toward her bed. "On the bed for me, little girl."
At the words that made cunt clench, Hermione crawled onto the bed, reaching for the hem of her thin cami and she tossed it away from her. It landed over the railing, the nearly sheer fabric hadn't covered much anyway. He was behind her then, hands reaching up to cup her breasts, and he pinched her stiffened nipples. Pressing her arse against his cock, feeling him slip between the cheeks of her arse, she wasn't all that sure how much teasing she could take.
It was a soft, "daddy," that caused him to finally react, pulling her against him while his hands roamed over her taut body.
"McLaggen was staring at your tits when he ran out." He muttered in her ear, pinching the little nub as he rolled it between his fingers. "You didn't leave much to the imagination, did you?"
"I wasn't expecting to have to run out in the middle of the night, Malfoy." She managed to get out when his fingers slid between her legs, and parted her pussy lips. Slowly, too fucking slowly, he rubbed her clit. "Draco." She whimpered, rubbing her arse against his cock. "Please don't tease."
She knew he was smirking without looking. "It's been hell without you." He breathed, two of his fingers sinking into her. "So fucking tight," he murmured, dropping his head to press kisses along her shoulder. "I haven't been with anyone."
"Good," she said, breathless.
Draco pushed her at the small of her back, putting her on all fours. She'd expected to feel him sliding into her at any moment, but no. Not that she was disappointed when he flipped her onto her back instead, and he tore her knickers off of her with his teeth. No, not at all. He put her legs over his shoulders, leaning down to drag his tongue through her slick folds, and dragging her sweet, little sounds from her.
He licked her clit, using small, but sure strokes to bring her to the edge, but then he would back away before starting all over again. "Please." She gasped, her legs tightening around his head when he slowed down for the third time. "Daddy, make me come."
"All you had to do was ask," Draco smirked. Two fingers slid into her, pumping inside of her cunt roughly as he tasted her, swiping his tongue across her clit before nipping it just barely - just enough to send her over the edge like he knew it would.
She screamed his name while she trembled below him, and in between her back arching, and him crawling up to kiss her again, he told her how stunning she was. Covered in a thin layer of sweat while gasping for air, and kissing him desperately. "How do you want me?" Hermione asked, biting at the base of his throat, and sucking hard enough to leave a mark.
Still sitting on his knees, Draco picked her up, his arms sliding under her legs, and he brought her down on his cock. Hermione squealed as she took him greedily, her nails scratching his shoulders as she adjusted to the size of him. "Oh, fuck." He groaned, lifting her and sinking into her once more.
"Daddy," she whispered in his ear, "did you miss me?" She asked him cheekily with a breathy laugh.
She heard him say how he had, but really all of her attention was focused on how he slammed into her, each thrust harder than the last.
Her neighbors were going to kill her.
"You're still my little slut," he growled in her ear, watching her bounce on his cock as he moved to where his back was against the headboard.
"Treat me like it then," Hermione grinned, shrieking when he smacked her arse hard and told her to get on her hands and knees for him then.
Draco didn't waste any time with spanking her, though she craved the stinging sensations when he made her count the swats, some of them landing against her sensitive cunt. He slammed into her, his fingers grasping strands of her hair, and pulling her up, forcing her up to look at him while he fucked her without mercy.
Moaning at the impossible, but delicious way her back arched, Hermione felt herself clenching around him when he reached around her with his other hand. His fingers moved quickly against her clit.
"Fuck," he blurted, slowing. "Are you still -"
She nodded, moving against him, still desperate for the friction. "I am. Come inside me." Hermione murmured. "You can come inside me - fill me full of come if you want."
Hermione came harder than any other time that she could remember when he slid in for the final time, and told her to come with a whisper right beside her ear. Shivering at the guttural groan that left him, she slid against him two more times before he pulled out of her. "Hermione?"
She turned around, tackling him to the pillows, and kissing him softly, lazily even. "I missed you." She whispered, her lips curving when he rubbed her back.
"I was an idiot to have let you go."
She laughed. "I love you." Hermione tested the words out, looking up at him. "I really do, you know? The last few months were the worst, so.." she bit her lip, "would you mind staying the night so I know this is real when I wake up?"
"You can possibly think I'm done with you." Draco murmured.
Two Years Later
Upon quitting her measly bartending job for Antonin Dolohov, Hermione heard he'd been arrested for assaulting a female employee. It'd been the girl who replaced her. The 'coincidence' still bothered her when she thought about it.
Hermione focused on school full time even though she'd been bartending for Draco. Even now she didn't dance, though she'd still do it for him in one of the backrooms of the club, or on the main stage after hours. The tips for making drinks weren't quite as good as working as a striper, but she liked it enough. She'd lived with Daphne until she graduated, and it was at that time in the spring that their lease came up for the second time, and they finally decided to say goodbye to their flat.
There'd been tears as they left the keys on the counter, a moment that was more for the aesthetic of it all because Daphne Greengrass was a dramatic bitch. But it was true that they had lived there, had grown there, and saying goodbye to the two bedroom flat felt a lot like saying goodbye to a home she wouldn't find again.
She had to admit there was more than one type of home when she moved in with Draco. And she begrudgingly admitted her mum had been right when she told her that you could never know someone until you lived with them. Draco did a million things that could annoy her; he left the toilet seat up in the middle of the night - she'd fallen in, but he was prohibited from ever telling a soul -, his clothes never quite made it into the hamper, and he was awful at doing the dishes - even with a dishwasher.
Yet for each thing that was irritating, and she knew it was sappy, there was another one that just made her love him all the more.
Against what she told him, he'd paid off her student loans in one lump sum from the second the club was pulling in what it was meant to. And then he offered her a job, but it wasn't just to be his bartender. Draco asked her if she'd head the business side of things, crunching numbers, making sure he wasn't being robbed again. She snorted at that.
It was how she ended up here, behind his desk because her own office was still being renovated, and why she was grumbling a computer screen. The security door opened - the code was now zero, two, one, four, - to show exactly when they had gotten back together two years ago. No one could say he wasn't romantic, at least with her.
"What is it, Malfoy?" She called, not looking away from the screen, and a string of numbers that wasn't making sense. How could they be over in the till? "Surely there must be a simple reason," she muttered, "do you know if Angelina took the deposit - why are you looking at me like that?" Her eyes narrowed at the way he was hiding something behind his back.
"She forgot; that's why the money is off. Don't freak out, Malfoy." Draco said, laughing, and peering at the computer screen.
Hermione rolled her eyes, looking away from him for a moment before she spun in the chair, her eyes wide. There was a grin planted on his face. "What did you just say to me?" She stumbled over the words, having to restart her sentence three times.
"Hmm?" He mused, barely suppressing a laugh.
"What did you just call me?"
"I called you by your name."
She knew it was coming, she'd known for at least six weeks from the moment she found the ring in one of their dresser drawers, and nearly every time he'd been about to bring it up, something had happened. Emergency flooding at the club, or Theo needed to be bailed out - yes, literally. It was always something. "I'm sorry, I don't think you did." She murmured, her hands flying to her mouth when he knelt down in front of her.
"I have been trying, and failing," there was a squeal from the doorway, and she looked up to see Daphne grinning at them both. Draco just shook his head. "To ask you this for weeks -"
Hermione nodded, her eyes already watering and he hadn't even opened the box. "Yes."
He snorted, and she realized that this wasn't how he wanted it, but even so she giggled. "Hermione, I only get to this once, so just let me ask the bloody question, would you?" A nod. "Will you marry me?"
She lunged out of the chair, tackling him and kissing him. "Get out!" She yelled, and the heavy door swung shut. "Yes, I'd love to marry you."
Draco flipped the box open, pulling the ring from it, and sliding it onto her finger. "You hadn't even seen the ring yet."
"Like that would have mattered to me, but this is..this is a massive rock." She laughed, nuzzling his neck.
"I had a whole speech planned, you know, but then I looked at you, and," he whispered, though no one could hear them on the other side of the door, "I forget everything else around you. It was all I could think that I wanted to marry you."
Winding her arms around his neck, she rolled to where he was hovering over her. "Love you," she whimpered when he pressed himself against her.
AND THAT'S ALL I WROTE. Until I choose to tackle the outtakes. If there's anything in particular you'd like to see, please comment since I am a people pleaser. One person (either on ffn or ao3 mentioned wanting to see more Theo/Daphne and who am I to deny you?)
I sat down after work and decided I wanted to be done with this. Admittedly I enjoyed writing this a lot more than posting it. I don't think weekly updates are for me, y'all. Also..I think I'm going to take a break from some Muggle AU plunnies I have for a bit. Believe me, there are a ton, but I feel like I should be trying to write some normalish HP fanfic, including magic. So, I'm saying it here, that besides Wanderlust my priority project behind the scenes is a dramione war fic. AU, and werewolf, and some other shit. I have a bunch planned for the New Year because I am a masochist.
Thank you so much for reading this. I know my grammar must have been awful, and my typo's embarrassing, and I swear I will fix them. If you enjoyed it, thank you.
Ren. 3