Chapter 10
Hermione barely recognized herself as she looked at her reflection through the full length mirror in her room. Pansy had spent the day pampering her. She had magical masseuses come and gave each girl a full body massage. Then after they had stylists come and do their hair and make up. Hermione went with something simple but chic. Her hair was in big loose curls that hung down her back, half was pinned down and swept to the back. For make up she went with a simple nude look on her eyes, some thick mascara and a red lip. Her gown was the showstopper. It was gold and hung to her body like it was made for her. It had a halter top that hung down and showed a bit of cleavage, an open back that was a little too low for Hermione’s liking but Pansy insisted that it was fine and it came down to her mid thigh. She had simple black heels that tied the piece together.
She looked at the woman staring back at her and was surprised at what she saw. She was still quite thin but her little trip to Canada helped her gain some of the weight had lost. Her curves had started to make a comeback but not anywhere close to where they used to be. But regardless she looked beautiful and what was even better, she felt beautiful.
She looked behind her as her daughter was entertaining herself on the play mat Anne had gotten her. She had yet to put the dress on that Pansy had bought for her that morning, it was also gold with short sleeves, a sparkly front and had a large tulle skirt. She also had sparkly gold shoes and a gold bow to put in her hair. It took about 30 minutes to get her daughter's hair brushed, bow in place and dress now on, she looked absolutely adorable.
Daughter on her hip and her mask in place she made her way downstairs towards the party, which had already started. As she got to the bottom of the stairs she heard the many voices and began to get more nervous. She stood outside the door for what seemed like an eternity before she finally got the confidence to go inside, and when she did she regretted it immediately. It seemed like all eyes were on her as she made her way through the room towards the newly engaged couple who were talking with Blaise and Pansy. She could see Ginny, Harry and Ron standing in the corner but made sure not to make eye contact with any of them. She was surprised to see George here with his longtime girlfriend Angelina Johnson. They made their way over to her and she held her daughter a little tighter. What she wasn’t expecting was for George to pull her into a tight hug, she could’ve cried at the comfort it brought her. He pulled back but didn’t take his hand off of her shoulder.
“Hermione, it’s so good to see you. I am very sorry to hear about your loss.” She nodded her head, too afraid her voice would fail her. He set his hand on Madi’s back and looked at her in awe “and who is this adorable little girl?” Hermione smiled with pride.
“This is my daughter Madeline or Madi for short. She just turned 8 months old. She is quite shy and doesn’t take a liking to too many people so don’t feel offended if she doesn’t let you hold her.” She reached out her arms for George to take her in his outstretched arms but Madi immediately started whining and clung to her mother’s dress. George put his arms back at his side and chuckled.
“It’s alright Mione, she has plenty of time to get used to her Uncle George.” Hermione couldn’t help but smile, even though things had ended badly between her and Ron, George still thought of her as family.
“Well since I’m moving back to London soon I would love for you to get to know her better.”
“I would love to Mione, you always will be my little sister, regardless of what happened between you and Ronnikins.” Hermione couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous nickname he had for his brother. When George left her side she made her way to the bar to obtain a much needed glass of wine. As she stood in line and listened to her daughter babble a bunch of nonsense she didn’t notice the eyes that watched her from across the room. She got her wine and made her way to the table and much to her surprise she was seated next to Draco Malfoy directly to her left. He had yet to make his presence noticed but was sure she would see him soon.
Hermione had settled Madi into the high chair that was to the right of her and began to feed her some snacks, as she knew her daughter would be hungry by now. About 20 minutes later Blaise, Pansy, Daphne and Neville made their way to the table, no sign of Malfoy yet. As they sat there they laughed, talked and drank. Hermione was busy trying to get her daughter to eat her food when she felt his presence.
“Granger”
“Malfoy, good to see you.”
The surprised look on his face was almost comical. He took a second to compose himself and nodded to her. He then looked past her and stared right at her daughter. She was worried he would say something ugly about her but was taken completely back by the gentle smile that was on his face.
“She looks just like you, a mini swot to be.”
Hermione couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“You already know Malfoy.”
“I thought we were on a first name basis, Hermione?”
“You started it, Draco.” By that point they had gotten the attention of the table but the two didn’t seem to notice. When Madi finally noticed him she immediately started babbling louder and reached out her arms. Hermione figured Madi wanted her to pick her up but was completely shocked when she realized Madi was trying to squirm out of her lap and into Draco’s. Draco wasn’t sure what to do but it seemed like the little girl was on a mission for him to hold her so he gave in and outstretched his arms to take the little girl from her mother. Hermione was beyond shocked and came out of her trance when she heard Pansy squeak.
“Ho—how in the bloody hell does she let you hold her but no one else!” Pansy knew she was loud but didn’t care. She was hurt and Hermione knew it and she felt awful. Her daughter would have been comfortable around Pansy and Blaise if she had never ran.
“Just good ole Malfoy charm” he smirked at the table and wiggled his eyebrows at Madi, that seemed to make the baby girl giggle even though she had absolutely no idea what was going on around her. Hermione honestly had no idea what was going on, in what world would her daughter choose Malfoy over anyone else. But as she looked over at her daughter, she seemed to be completely taken by Draco. She was babbling on like he understood everything she was saying and he just gave her attention. It was absolutely adorable and Hermione felt a flutter in her stomach she hadn’t felt since Matteo. She was sure it was just the mix of alcohol and the fact that Draco Malfoy was holding her daughter, but that didn’t stop her from having almost inappropriate thoughts about him. Hermione knew she had been staring and it seemed like Malfoy noticed too as he had a smirk plastered to his face. She quickly looked away but knew she was blushing like a teenager.
It was an hour later and Madi had fallen asleep in Draco’s arms. The party was still going on but Hermione was exhausted and knew she needed to get her daughter upstairs to bed. She made a move to take Madi from Draco’s arms but he protested.
“I’ll take her upstairs for you, you’ve had a few glasses of wine and we don’t want you dropping her now would we?” She knew he was teasing her, and knew it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to accompany her upstairs but just nodded her head. She got up from the table, said her goodbyes and led Draco to their room. As she entered the room she immediately kicked her heels off as Draco went to the crib and laid her down. Hermione had come up to stand beside him, she slid off her bow and shoes and transfigured her daughter's gown into a comfortable sleeping onesie. She covered her up and noticed that Draco was still standing beside her but his eyes weren’t on her daughter. They were on her, looking at her with an unreadable look on his face.
She cleared her throat and looked back at her daughter, unable to keep up the intense eye contact. “Thank you for carrying her up here, I’m really surprised she took to you so well. She usually doesn’t like strangers.”
“I noticed she didn’t even let Pansy or Blaise hold her.”
Hermione immediately felt bad, knowing her two best friends didn’t know her daughter because of her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. “Yeah, she’s really only been around me since we left and as you can tell is quite attached.” She let out a forced chuckle. She followed Draco towards the door to see him out “I guess you are just a baby whisperer.”
“Or maybe just a Granger whisperer.” He said, his voice low and seductive. She could feel the flutter come back to her stomach and tingle went up her spine. She steadied her breathing and looked into his eyes, she saw they had darkened from the normal light grey to a much darker grey. Lust. That’s what she saw in his eyes. She wanted to tell him it was too soon for her, that the hurt was still there. She wanted to tell him that the hole in her heart was still too new for anything to happen between them, but when he leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers she felt it. A spark that had been missing since Matteo. She gasped and he leaned deeper into the kiss, one arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him, so close she could feel the heat radiating from his body, so close she could feel the bulge in his pants against her stomach. As soon as she felt that it was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water down her dress. She immediately stepped back, breathing hard as she tried to catch her breath. When she looked up at Draco she noticed he was breathing just as hard. He ran his hands through his hair and down his face.
“I am so sorry Hermione. I…I didn’t mean for that to happen. I know you’re still recovering from your loss and I shouldn’t have done that but I…I just couldn’t help myself. I understand that it won’t happen again, I just hope I haven’t ruined the growing friendship we had. I’ll leave y-“
He started backing away quickly as he spoke but Hermione reached out and grabbed his wrist.
“You’re right, I am still recovering. Draco I am broken, I may have put on a good performance tonight but that isn’t me. Not anymore. I can still barely leave my bed in the morning and most nights I cry myself to sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares and I have to have my daughter in the bed with me otherwise I panic. I’m not someone you should even want to get involved with. I’m damaged goods, someone with too many problems to be fixed. I appreciate the friendship, but that’s all I’m good for. We shouldn’t…we shouldn’t do that again. I’m not good for you Draco.”
“Hermione Granger, you listen to me and listen to me good.” He took a step closer to her and held her face in between his hands. “You are not broken, I can’t even begin to understand how you’re feeling and I won’t try to. But I want you to know that you are not broken or damaged goods. You’re hurting, and you have every right to be hurting. But don’t think for a second that you have to figure this out alone. I know you may think this is sudden for me, but I can tell you from my side, it’s not. I’ve been intrigued by you for years and during our 8th year I thought I’d finally be able to show you the real me, but I was too scared to show you for fear of rejection. I didn't deserve to know you, to spend time with you, to earn any kind of affection from you. You’re too good, too pure for this world, and a much better person than I. But I’m selfish and greedy and I want you to know that I’ll wait. And if you need anything, a shoulder to cry on, a chest to hit or an ear for listening, I’m here for you. And if you don’t want anything to do with me then I will make myself scarce. I know I’ve already said it, but I am beyond sorry for how I treated you when we were younger and I hope you give me a chance to prove that to you.” He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his waist. She tried to hold the tears in but couldn’t. Soon she was openly sobbing on Draco’s chest but it didn’t seem to bother him. He wrapped his arms around her and began to rub up and down her spine while whispering in her ear phrases like “it’s okay” and “let it out”. Hermione hadn’t felt this kind of affection since Matteo and all she could do was hold on tighter.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed once her tears finally stopped and she knew she looked an absolute mess but she couldn’t help but smile up at the man that had just held her. He was so different from his younger years and Hermione wanted to know him more.
“Thank you Draco, your words mean more to me than you know. I’m coming back to London next week, umm well would you like to get dinner one night? With me?”
“Miss Granger, are you asking me out on a date?” She snorted unlady like and swatted at her arm.
“If you’re going to be a smart ass I can take that dinner invitation back. Mr Malfoy.” She raised an eyebrow at him waiting for his answer. He chuckled and raised his hand to her face, tucking a hair behind her ear and gave her a smile that completely melted her knickers off.
“I would love to join you for dinner one night Hermione, just owl me when and where and I’ll be there. Now it’s late and I have a Portkey to catch early in the morning but I do so look forward to seeing you again.” He leaned into her and placed a quick kiss to her lips and slipped out of the room before she could say anything. She slowly made her way out of her dress, hung it back on its hanger and slipped into a comfy set of pajamas. She grabbed her daughter from her crib and laid her down in the bed with her. Hermione fell asleep with a smile on her face that night and not a single nightmare inhabited her dreams that night.