The Web Of Love

Hermione reluctantly dragged herself out of bed and went straight to the kitchen to make some coffee. She'd had such a hard shift that she'd barely managed to change into her pajamas when she got home and was lying in bed until now, even though she knew full well that Blaise and Charlie would arrive at any moment.

"Oh Merlin, what is this?" she let out in shock as she sat down at the table with a mug of her life booster, on which stood a huge flower bouquet in a vase, which she hadn't noticed at all, while she was making her coffee. That was just a sign of how tired she was. 

At first, she just stared at the bouquet before noticing a white card among the flowers. She quickly reached for it, and her eyes quickly skimmed over the neatly written text.

I'm sorry we were arguing.

"Draco Malfoy knows what an apology is? I'm pleasantly surprised,” she mumbled to herself, but the pleasant feeling of surprise quickly disappeared when she read what was written underneath.

That doesn't mean I'm giving up. I will fight for you.

But before she could scream in frustration and utter a few nasty words about his person, there was a knock on the door, which startled her enough to spill her coffee. She clumsily grabbed a dish towel from the kitchen counter and began to clean up the mess, calling out as she did so. "Come in, it is open!"

"Perhaps mommy isn't still in bed," she heard her ex-husband's teasing voice follow their son's giggles.

"I'm in the kitchen," she called to them as she wiped off the last of the wasted coffee and was about to turn towards the door when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that she had left Draco's note on the table.

I wish it'd soaked in the coffee too, she thought, almost furiously grabbing it and throwing it in the bin just as her two boys appeared in the kitchen. Well, only one was really hers.

"Mommy!" Charlie squealed happily in greeting and immediately ran to the brunette, who playfully caught him for a hug. 

"Wow, that was quick," Blaise remarked rather grimly, interrupting his son's talking.

Hermione didn't understand what he was talking about, so she gave him a puzzled look. But Blaise wasn't paying her any attention, no, instead his gaze was on the vase with the flowers. “What do you mean?” she asked while trying not to panic.

"Have you been on that date already?" he answered with a question and finally looked at her.

"When would I be able to do that when I was at work all night? And I already told you yesterday that it's not a date," she objected and cleared her throat a little. "I got it from a co-worker that I took this shift for," she lied quickly, ignoring the possibility that Blaise was jealous.

He just nodded but didn't say anything else.

"Mom, mommy, listen," Charlie demanded her attention, and so Hermione started paying attention to him, but first she managed to ask Blaise if he would like coffee with her, and when he agreed, she asked him to make it for them.

They spent a pleasant morning together before Blaise had to leave them as he still had work to do. Hermione then spent the whole day just focusing on Charlie and successfully forgot about the bouquet that was still in the kitchen. She only remembered it as the evening approached, and she just stared at it silently as she wondered what to do about it. About the flowers. About Draco. About the whole situation.

“Charlie, how about we go for a quick visit to Grandma Jean?” she asked her son a rather rhetorical question as she decided she needed to take care of this now and needed someone to watch over Charlie. She hoped her mother wouldn't have too many questions.

"Yes!" agreed little Zabini happily.

Hermione then disapparated them to her mother's garden, hastily explaining to her that she urgently needed to arrange something and that she would be right back. Jean didn't mind at all and even told her to take her time when she took her grandson from her. Hermione thanked her with a small smile before quickly teleporting back to the house where she grabbed the bouquet and disapparated straight to Draco.

She frantically started knocking on the door and kept knocking on it until the aforementioned blond opened it for her. And as soon as he appeared in front of her, she didn't give him a second to find out who was standing behind the door, and she slapped his head with the bouquet. 

"Ouch!"

"For once I thought you did something nice, but no, you had to write that you were going to fight!" she informed him angrily, pushing him a little so she could go in. "Keep this," she added and threw the bouquet on the shoe rack.

“Do you treat every bouquet you get like this?” he asked a little annoyed as he fixed his messy hair.

Hermione glared at him. “Don't try that on me. Have you calmed down?" she wanted to know. She was very angry, but she didn't want to argue with him again. Now it would be clear if he meant the apology.

“I admit I didn't react the best last time, but you're just driving me crazy. It's always been that way," he smirked and walked off to the kitchen so she could offer her something to drink.

The brunette reluctantly followed him. “So can we talk about it again?” she asked with a little concern, accepting a glass of water from him.

"If you insist," he replied dispassionately. "But nothing has changed for me."

She wanted to scream at his words and preferably curse him, but instead, she took a deep breath. "Okay, so how about you explain why you feel that way?"

"Excuse me?" he blurted out in surprise.

Hermione sighed. Draco was worse at expressing his emotions than Charlie was, so she was in for a very difficult conversation, but she wanted to settle it once and for all if possible. "I'd like to know why you suddenly want something more," she specified her request.

The blond shrugged. "I don't even know, but you're the first one with whom I feel this way. You know I never cared about what you had with Blaise. About what Theo has with Daphne, or Harry with Ginny."

"I know, and that's why it surprises me. And I want you to know that I'm really sorry, but I can't give you what you want," she said resignedly.

“Could you just forget about Blaise for a moment?!” he asked a little harshly.

"I couldn't!" she cried and put her head in her hands for a second. "I couldn't, and that's the problem. Even if I get past how bad this is it, to meet behind his back, I can't forget him because I still love him. And that won't just change, don't you understand? You're asking the impossible of me," she explained a bit desperately.

“I don't want you to stop loving him right now, but how do you know what will happen in a few months? There's something between us, we've already found that out, so why not explore it more?" he insisted further.

The brunette shook her head fiercely. “Because I will never love you. Not like this," she said, her voice shaking. "Listen, I like you, you know I do. And okay, I'll admit there's some chemistry between us, but it's never going to be anything more than that. I need you to accept it and move on. I don't know why you latched onto the idea that there would be something more between us, but this is not love, Draco. I believe that in the depths of your heart, you know it too."

“I don't understand why you're so uptight about it. What happens if we just try?" he insisted, as he always did. And that was their problem, they were both extremely stubborn.

"It's only going to hurt everyone even more! And you know very well why I'm so determined because I'm right. I'm always right," she said and turned to leave.

"Come to dinner with me," he blurted out, closing the distance between them with quick steps to stop her from leaving.

She was about to take a breath to reject him, but then she just sighed tiredly. "Okay, I'll go to dinner with you, but it'll just be a friendly dinner, okay?"

Draco smirked. "If you so wish. I can be patient."

"Sometimes I really don't understand you," she murmured, slipping her hand from his to get back to her mother's.

She didn't understand how a few days could change his demeanor so much. It scared her that he was really thinking about it, and this was just his tactic to get closer to her, which was something she didn't want because what she told him tonight was true.

She liked him. She truly cared about him, but she would never love him.