Hermione sat at her desk at work, staring at the clock. It was 12:05 pm. She had been checking every few minutes and it was as if the time wasn't moving. At least not moving fast enough for her.
She stared at a half-eaten granola bar, still nestled in its wrapper and a long cold cup of coffee that was untouched from earlier in the morning.
She couldn't concentrate on work. She couldn't type anything no matter how much she willed her hands to just type out a few sentences. Her thoughts were scattered back to the past few weeks. Her time spent with Draco.
She was always an overthinker. She tried to make sense of most things even if they weren't meant to make sense. She tried to put pieces of a puzzle together in every situation that she was in.
She couldn't make head nor tails of the situation with Draco though. His behavior towards her continued to baffle her.
She always prided herself on being able to read people like a book. She'd compare her friends and love interests to characters in her favorite novels. She would always compare them to the characters that she pegged them for.
Ron in looks always reminded her of Alfred E. Neuman from Mad Magazine but had the personality of Jake Barnes from Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. During their school years and during the time that they date she felt like he put her on this pedestal that was so high that he felt like she was unattainable, and she felt like he could never reach her. That he'd rather stay on the ground admiring her from afar but not really wanting to get to her. Their relationship crumbled because of this ongoing conflict.
She couldn't continue a relationship like that, one where she couldn't return the same energy that he was putting into the relationship. One where she just didn't feel those romantic sparks when she kissed him.
She didn't want to stay with someone that she felt platonic vibes with just because they professed their love to her. She wanted to experience the overwhelming passion, joy and fulfillment of true love.
She didn't want to settle for being in like with someone. She wanted to be in love with someone. She craved to know that someone else was just as passionately in love with her as she was with them.
She hadn't experienced that yet. She really wanted to. Sometimes she felt like she really need to know what true love felt like.
She did have a meet up at a pub that was near her workplace with Ginny and Harry. She at least had that to look forward to. That excitement of seeing her old school friends that were near and dear to her heart though didn't make the day go by any faster though.
Harry had insisted on hanging out at a pub that was wizard friendly. There weren't too many that weren't filled with muggles.
Although she got to see Ginny and Harry occasionally when they made their way into London, it wasn't as often as she'd liked. She was giddy at the thought of reuniting with them after being apart for over 6 months.
She didn't have many friends at work. Colleagues came by her desk to drop off files or to ask questions about reports. They never stayed longer than they had to.
Hermione wasn't into unmeaningful chit chat that didn't lead anywhere. She wasn't at work to make friends. She was at work doing a job. Interactions with others distracted her from efficiently finishing the work she needed to do and leaving on time.
Talking to non-wizards in general had always made her nervous. She felt like they wouldn't understand her. They wouldn't sympathize with what she had gone through because they wouldn't understand.
Besides, telling someone that you fought in a war against pure evil with your best friends in high school and won would sound quite ridiculous to a muggle.
She didn't want to be put in a position where she accidentally spilled information that made her seem less then someone who had not gone to wizardry school.
She was anxious that if those types of tales were spilled, she would find herself locked up in a psychiatric hospital for a long time.
So Hermione found it perfectly suitable to keep to herself at work. It was acceptable to do her work and leave to the quiet comfort of her flat.
Leaving work was something she cherished. She could go home and relax. She could put aside the pressure of having to meet deadlines and the anxiety of interacting with her coworkers.
At the end of the work day, Hermione joyfully grabbed her coat and purse and took off towards the direction of the train stop. She heard a buzzing sound and looked down in her purse to see Draco's name flash across her screen.
"What does he want now?", she said out loud. A man walking near at her turned around and looked at her confusion.
She shook her head and kept walking. If she was honest with herself, she actually enjoyed the outings with him. It wasn't her own wedding she was planning for but sometimes she imagined that it was.
She tried to put herself in Giselle's shoes to pick something out that someone besides herself would like. However, not knowing Giselle at all nor what she liked; Hermione found herself picking the wedding details that she would have wanted for her own wedding.
She had put thoughts of getting married out of her mind once the man that she pictured marrying broke her heart. She had since ruled out any possibility of ever getting married during her lifetime or even finding someone that she wanted to marry.
She thought about the Pinterest wedding board that she had made filled with pictures of wedding gowns and postcards from far off places that she would want for a destination wedding or a honeymoon. She never bothered to look up those types of things because she never was in the position where she had to start thinking about planning her own wedding.
However, that didn't stop her mind from dreaming about dreamy wedding scenes, such as walking down a white sand beach, towards a canopy where her groom awaited surrounded by crystal blue waters.
When she arrived home and threw her purse on the kitchen table, she finally pulled out her phone and looked at Draco's message.
'I really need your help, Granger. Giselle and I had an appointment to meet with the wedding planner on Monday evening, but she isn't arriving home until Wednesday. If I dare to cancel, she'll move us back in her calendar so far back that we'll miss the deadlines for the bookings. They have to be booked at within a certain timeframe. I have talked to Giselle, and she has agreed that I can bring you as a stand in to assist me with the details. She has given me her preferences for dates and times though. If we can meet on Sunday to go over everything, I'd surely appreciate it. You can come over to my place. I'll make you dinner.'
Hermione rolled her eyes. Her first thoughts were, 'Tell him no. You are no stand in for his fiancée. This wedding planning was getting out of control'.
She frantically typed back, 'Can't you guys reschedule for after she gets back. I fear I will be of no additional help to you. This is really a special event that the two of you should be planning together. I don't think it's appropriate for me to be a stand in for your fiancée'. She hit send and went into her bedroom to change.
Two hours later she had caught a cab downtown to Magruder's pub and was listening intently to Ginny telling a tale about how she accidently made her favorite paid of riding boots disappear with a Evanesco spell that she had been practicing.
Harry had been laughing hysterically as Ginny told the tale so much so that the ale glass that was in his hand kept moving so much so that the beer slushed out of the glass.
"You should have seen it", she spent weeks learning that transfiguration spell and accidently pointed her wand in the wrong direction. That expensive merino wool sweater that was hanging from the back of her office chair also disappeared along with the boots.
"Harry's since replaced both of the items for me", Ginny gushed in between laughter.
Hermione felt her phone once again buzzing in her purse as she knocked her heel against the purse on the floor.
She leaned down, picked up the phone and read the message to herself.
'Oh no, you are the perfect person to help Granger. I need you to be there. Be at my place by Sunday at 8. I am certain you will quite enjoy the meal. It's a way to show my gratitude for you being here to help me with the wedding planning'. Draco had also texted her his address with a winky face emoji.
Hermione scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. She wasn't certain why he would ask her to dinner and cook for her even as a thank you for her assistance or why he would send a winky face emoji. Maybe it was in error and he meant to send the smiley face, she thought to herself.
Harry must have noticed the confused look on her face as she stared at the phone screen.
"What is wrong Hermione?", he asked, his voice tinged with concern.
Hermione thought better then to spill the beans about her helping Draco with his wedding planning. It would just sound too ridiculous.
"Oh its nothing", she responded, giving a half hearted smile.
"It doesn't look like nothing. You looked concerned. What is bothering you. Oh come on you can tell us, we are your friends", Harry replied.
Hermione took a deep breath and glanced from Ginny to Harry and noticed that they looked concerned.
She exhaled. "Ok, I know you will find it rather silly, but I ran into Draco Malfoy a few weeks ago randomly in the supermarket and he introduced me to his lovely fiancée, Giselle", she explained.
Ginny snorted. "Draco is engaged, truly I never thought I'd see the day".
"Yeah well, since that I've been on a double date with them and her brother that was truly disastrous. Then Giselle went away on a business trip for awhile and since then Draco has been getting me to help him with his wedding planning in her absence", Hermione explained.
Ginny raised her eyebrows looking surprised. "So, what has he gotten you to do? Also, why would you ever agree to help someone like him. Wasn't he truly terrible to you while you guys were in school. I could never forgive him if I were you", she questioned.
Hermione sighed. "Honestly, he is acting completely different than he was in school. I was completely shocked. I would almost dare to say he has been acting very sweetly and gently and I've almost felt obliged to help him. He just bats his eyes at me and looks at me with puppy dog sad eyes and I can't help but go along with whatever he asks. Maybe I've lost my mind. We've gone cake tasting and have picked out stationery. He's asked me to meet with the wedding planner as well next week as a stand in for Giselle until she gets back on Wednesday."
Harry laughed as he put down his glass. "You haven't lost your mind Hermione but that is strange behavior, especially coming from the likes of Malfoy. I'm not sure what he hopes to achieve by dragging you along on these activities and asking you to help him make decisions on behalf of his fiancée. I mean I seriously thought you two couldn't stand each other in school and all of a sudden, he's putting on this 'woe is me' act with you to get you to help him".
Hermione bit her lip. "Well his woe is me act has had an effect on me for sure. He apologized to me for his past behavior. He seemed genuine and I believe him. He's invited me to a home cooked meal on Sunday to show his appreciation and talk about what will be expected when meeting with the wedding planner. That's what he just texted me", she explained.
"Do you plan to show up at his place on Sunday? His behavior seems completely out of character to me, even if he has had the decade to mature and learn from his mistakes. This is Draco Malfoy we are talking about. He was a complete arsehole. Even if he did help us out in the end with the battle against Voldemort and his ilk. This is strange behavior for the likes of him", Ginny stated. Ginny wasn't drinking but was sipping on a glass of water with lemon.
Harry nodded in agreement, "Strange behavior, indeed".
Hermione sipped on a glass of chardonnay. "I've been around him enough to trust that he has no ill intentions with me. I mean what's the worst that could happen? He could disagree with some of my suggestions. Giselle has already given him feedback or so he said. He told me he appreciates my opinions. Plus, it's kind of nice to have someone else cook for me for once. I can only live off of freezer meals for so long.", she explained.
Hermione left out certain parts of the story, like the way that Draco's eyes flitted over her body when she wore the low-cut dress at their double date disaster.
Nor did she mention that she wore that dress on purpose to elicit a response from him. She didn't really want to concern Harry and Ginny with her acts of petty revenge on Draco for making her feel like a nobody in school.
The part of her that wanted to be Draco's friend had been conflicting with the part that wanted a grand scheme of revenge on him. That internal conflict was something that she knew that she needed to keep to herself.
As they said their goodbyes and she hugged Harry and Ginny before getting into her cab. Ginny hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear. "Don't do anything that you will come to regret". They then pulled apart and Ginny smiled at Hermione.
Hermione nodded in silent agreement. She looked down at her hands throughout the cab ride home. 'No regrets', she said silently to herself.