Old Fashioned

Day 1

Wizards and Witches all around the world were taken by Hermione Granger.
The young witch that had stood right at the side of the saviour from their early childhood, helping him with everything she could, her wit saving the trio more than once. Yes everyone who knew of Hermione Granger was taken with her, and those who met her were charmed by her dry sense of humour and her abashed insistence that she was no more special than the next person.
Every day a different article was published about her, none ever bad (not since the witches fourth year, that was), always complimenting her on her hard work in the ministry, they whispered about her becoming the youngest minister in history, her charity work, a new outfit, which would immediately be sold out in any store; it was simple really if Hermione Granger breathed so would everyone else, just because they wanted to be like her.

So it was no surprise that as she was stood in front of the large building that held the theatre, that a crowd had gathered around her. She was standing there in low heels with a silk dress that showed her frail figure off, which had never returned to its natural strength after a year of starvation, and torture from Bellatrix Lestrange. Her hair was artfully pulled up and arranged into a beautiful crown on top of her head. Her slender neck was surrounded by small curls that had escaped and a string of pearls loosely hung into the deep v-neckline of the blue dress.

Ginny Weasley stood beside her, much to the crowd's amazement. Ginny had become a famous quidditch player, who was admired for her fierce way with words.

Both women stood in silence as they let the whispers surround them. No one had approached them yet, though they assumed that if the doors wouldn't open soon the people would tear into them like hungry lions.

A cool wind flew over them all which made Hermione shiver. The cold had already started to affect her joints, which were easily weakened these days, well ever since the war really. Though she was only 22 her body did not feel as young as it should.
She felt like a rickety skeleton since she had not been able to gain her weight back. To the public, it was a new beauty standard to achieve, for Hermione, it meant many healer visits which all lead to disappointment.

She wanted to cast a warming charm over herself but she had stowed her wand into a holster on her thigh for easy access in an emergency, but she felt uncomfortable to pull it out now, under the watchful eyes of the crowd which kept getting bigger. Only a few of them were also dressed to join the opera at this point, others had just stopped when they had seen the women waiting.

Another wind blew over the women and this time Hermione couldn't suppress a shiver which made for louder whispers.
She wanted to roll her eyes at the simple-minded witches and wizards that were amazed by every single thing she did; it was ridiculous.

Finally, the tall stone doors were opened with magic. The street, which had only been lit up by a few street lights was brightened by the warm light that flooded out of the marble entrance hall.

Both women started walking inside immediately, not willing to wait any longer than they had to. The others who were there for the opera followed closely behind.
The two wizards that stood at the entrance door to control everyone's tickets looked at them with wide eyes and didn't even bother to take the two tickets that Ginny was holding out for them since Hermione sometimes had trouble holding onto anything from her weakened muscles.
One of the two boys gave an awkward half-bow as the other gestured towards a door on the left that has a sign above with the stairs on it.
It was an awkward affair since neither boy said anything, seemingly too shocked.

The women muttered their thanks and walked over to the large marble stairs that were hidden behind a wall.
They walked a few steps before they were certain that they were out of sight Ginny turned around to make sure and then held onto Hermione's arm tightly to help her up the long stairway.
Hermione gave Ginny a small smile.
„Thank you.“, she muttered.

Ginny gave her a bright smile in return. „Of course!“

As Hermione was being dragged up the stairs she thought about how she had come to be here in the first place.
She had gone over to Burrow this morning and had met Ginny there, though only for a short moment. She had told her that she had a ticket for an Opera that she wanted to go to with her this evening and she had agreed hesitantly on the insistence of Molly who told her that she needed to get out more.
She had mumbled something about sulking, Hermione was sure, but she had ignored it, to avoid an argument.
So what if Hermione had been a bit in her feelings. It had been a year and a half since she had last seen Ron.
He had left with a small group of Aurors to America, to her knowledge, to hunt down some of what could be the last Death Eaters. He had truly bloomed in this new position as a group leader and Hermione could not have been happier for him.
But then she had not anticipated how long it would actually take. So yes, maybe she did sulk a bit, but who wouldn't.

But now, as they arrived in front of their private box, which opened by moving the curtain she was glad that she was there.
Ginny carefully sat Hermione down on one of the chairs in the front and sat next to her with a sigh.
She turned to her and said, „Well that wasn't hard at all.“

Hermione, who was breathing rather harshly, gave her a lazy smile without saying anything.
She envied Ginny for her body. She was fit, fitter than Hermione had ever been, but she guessed that's what training every day did to your body.

Hermione turned her eyes to the crowd of people that were slowly piling in, down in the main seating area.
Many different witches and wizards all dressed in high fashion clothing, beautiful hats, and feathers could be seen scattered throughout the audience.
It made Hermione want to shiver with anticipation; everyone looked beautiful and though she struggled with her body image she felt so too.
She thought to the crowd that had watched her and she wondered if they had been staring at her because she looked beautiful, staring at her because her neck looked pretty with the string of pearls around it.

„Look, Zabini and Parkison are here.“, Ginny's voice ripped Hermione out of her musings.

She followed the finger that Ginny was pointing to a different box, the one almost directly opposite to them.

There was sat Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson, both leaned towards each other, seemingly discussing something heatedly.

She had not seen any of her Slytherin classmates often. After the war many had been associated with their family, who in turn had been associated with Voldemort, so a lot of them had left the U.K. to start a new life in the States.

„Zabini looks handsome, doesn't he?“, her friend said with a grin.

Hermione grinned back. Zabini did look very handsome in his tailored jacket, his curly hair, which had gotten much longer since the last time she had seen him, was pulled into a high bun. His dark skin looked warm and soft in the light of the chandelier. Hermione turned her eyes to Pansy next. She was wearing a tight golden corset dress with a long silky skirt. The corset pressed her breast up which made it look like she could hardly breathe. A black hat, adorned with a large feather of some kind sat on top of her perfectly arranged hair. The former Slytherins made a pretty pair.

„Do you think they're together? In a relationship, I mean.“, Hermione asked.

Ginny gave her a longs side glance. „Didn't you hear? It was in every newspaper! They got married, even though Pansy had a marriage contract with Theo Nott. It caused quite the scandal.“

Hermione hummed. „No I tend to avoid the newspaper, you know that Ginny.“

„Right.“

Both women got quiet again after that. Hermione's eyes kept gliding over to the couple who had stopped arguing and were now looking around the room as well.
As Hermione's eyes flitted over to them again, she met Pansy's eyes on accident and almost jumped in her seat from the intense stare that she received.
Hermione refused to look away and instead stared right back at her with furrowed brows.

Pansy's lips pulled up into a slight smirk and she nodded slowly at her. Her eyes sensually scanned Hermione's body, it made Hermione's breath stop. Before she could react Pansy had already turned away to the stage as the light dimmed.

Hermione turned towards the stage as well, unwilling to let Parkinson, now Zabini, distract her.

The large red curtain pulled up and revealed large stone pillars on each side.
On the stage, a magical garden had been planted as a form of a backdrop. The flowers that bloomed on the left side were magically opening and closing. A waft of the smell of flowers hit their box and she puckered her nose at the hypnotizing scent.

The actors came on the stage dancing, dressed in abstract costumes big wigs were stacked on their heads, for some even several.
And then they started to sing.

-

The opera was an interesting wirl of emotions, 30 minutes, maybe an hour had passed since it had started and Hermione could feel herself getting tired.
She did not understand most of the singers and she only knew what they were talking about because of the expressive dancing that had not stopped a second since they had started.

She could at this point not even recall what the opera's name was, too dazed from the strong smell of the flowers.

Ginny beside her had sagged into her chair and her eyes kept drooping, though she appeared to be forcing herself to stay awake but to Hermione, it was only a matter of time until her friend fell asleep.

Hermione was sat leaned forward on the railing her eyes still watching the stage, until she noticed a light come from the left side of the audience.

One of the tall doors had opened and a tall figure stood there, seemingly looking over the crowd of people who were now also watching him.
At first, she could not make out his face, because of the way the light is shown in his back but once he took his first step into the audience her breath stuttered.

Walking through the rows of the audience confidently, uncaring of the way he was disrupting the play, was Draco Malfoy. His face was sharper than it had been in school if that was even possible. The light from the stage cast shadows on his face, making his high cheekbones appear even pointier. His hair was still short but it now surrounded his face in a flattering way that made Hermione's stomach flutter.
Draco Malfoy had never been ugly by any means, he had been snooty and downright evil in school but even Hermione had been able to see, he had never been ugly.
But as she looked at him now she realized that he was gorgeous.

She had not seen him since the trial where Harry had spoken up for him and his mother and had protected them from Azkaban. He had disappeared after that, some rumoured that he was only hiding away in the Malfoy Manor, others speculated that he must have left the country entirely.

Hermione had not cared, too busy rebuilding the school, her life, and learning to be in a relationship.
She had not thought about Draco Malfoy once; until now.

As he was walking he glanced up to the different boxes, seemingly searching and Hermione realized that he must be here with the Zabinis. As she was still leaned on the railing their eyes met fairly quickly.
She had hoped for some form of surprise on his handsome face but instead, a devilish smirk spread on his plumb lips as he held Hermione's eyes.

His blue eyes were darker than she remembered but in the light of the stage, they shone with something Hermione could not make out. A promise? A threat? Interest?
Hermione was entranced by his eyes and whatever story they told. Her abdomen pulsated as her eyes fell to his lips as he licked them slowly. His smirk spread further when he caught her eyes again.

He looked away as he approached the staircase, turning his back to her as he disappeared from sight.
She quickly looked over to Ginny only to see that she had finally fallen asleep, thankfully that was. Hermione felt dirty from the eye contact she had held with the man, but it had been a long time since she had felt this excited about anything.
The war had taken its toll on her and she had a low sex drive, though sometimes she wondered if there was one at all. She was with Ron from time to time, but he was often tired from work, she was too, and so the night ended with them laying in bed, holding each other to keep the nightmares away.

But for some reason, one that she did not want to think about, Draco Malfoy had succeeded in making her abdomen stir in a way that she had not felt since she was a teenager.

She turned her focus back to the stage, determined to watch the opera instead of keeping her mind occupied with her old classmate.

Though the second she saw movement from the box opposite to their own she looked over to the Slytherins.
Malfoy had just let go of Blaise and now turned to Pansy who he gave a kiss to on each cheek.
Hermione didn't want to but she wondered what those lips would feel like on her skin.

She watched from the corner of her eye how Malfoy sat down in the chair that was placed behind the other two.

He caught her eye and she quickly turned her attention back to the stage.
She would not let Draco Malfoy, of all people, fluster her.

She watched as a man stood in the middle of the stage singing something, that she had trouble understanding. The dancer had apparently been switched with a different set of dancers because instead of the people with the abstract dresses there were now people with flower costumes wiggling their bodies in the background.

She watched the dancers but unwillingly her eyes kept flitting back over to Malfoy. Each time she looked at him, he was already looking at her. At this point, Hermione's face was a constant tone of red and she was not happy when the first act ended and the light went back on.

Ginny woke up with a small groan and Hermione turned to her, happy to have something to concentrate on.
„I guess you did not enjoy the play?“, Hermione said and gave her a big grin, too big to be natural.

Ginny sat up quickly and turned to her. „Is it over already?“

She sounded hopeful but her face fell when Hermione shook her head. „No this is just the 15-minute break.“

Ginny gave a long sigh. „Alright, well I'm going to the toilette, wanna come?“

Hermione gave her a small smile and shook her head. In her head, she was panicking that she would be left alone, free for Draco Malfoy to muster her all he wanted, without her having something to focus on.

Ginny left and Hermione dared to look up to the other box but only saw Blaise and Pansy sitting there in silence.
She was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved because she did not want to feel whatever Malfoy had done to her body again, because she had Ron, but disappointed because she was flattered by his attention.
And so she sat in quiet for two minutes, the murmurs from the audience down below turned into a humming sound as she got lost in her mind.

A cold dust of air swept into the box making goosebumps appear all over her body.
Her first thought was Ginny. Ginny had returned from the toilet, but she then realized that not only had it been too short of a time but it also felt like a looming, almost threatening, presence behind her, instead of Ginnys confident one.

In a reflex that she had not gotten rid of since the war, she grabbed for her wand, pulling her dress up in the process, exposing her legs.
She turned with her wand in hand towards the intruder and she immediately flushed when she was met with Draco Malfoys smirking face.

„My, my, Granger, so eager.“, his voice was deep and it felt as if it flushed over Hermione's entire body, like a cold shower.
All of the hairs on her body stood as she watched him walk over to Ginny's chair, with a confidence that only a Malfoy could possess.

He sat down with his body turned in her direction and their eyes met again and she noticed that his eyes were still the bright blue colour they had been in school.
She huffed at him for still smirking at her and moved her dress up again to put her wand away. When she looked back up she saw that his eyes were fixated on her exposed thigh and when he glanced back up to her he was pursing his lips, seemingly to hide another smirk.

„I thought you had your own box, Malfoy, I don't see a single reason, for you being here.“

„Ah yes and you know this because you were watching me, yes?“, he sounded amused and the constant eye contract made Hermione uncomfortable.

She huffed again. „What do you want, Malfoy?“
If someone saw her talking to him there could be serious consequences. The Malfoy name was still not clear even after four years and she doubted that at this point it would ever be the proud house it had been before the war. Hermione had heard of Narcissa Malfoy organizing charity events, but not many showed up, too afraid of the repercussions of being seen on the same property as a Malfoy.

Malfoy leaned back in the plush chair and put his arm on the back to lean his hand on his hand. His hair fell into his face at the movement and Hermione had to physically stop herself from breathing harder at the way his handsome face looked relaxed, as he mustered her with curiosity.

„How are you liking the opera so far, Granger?“

It was a simple question and yet the way he said her name made Hermione think about how it would sound if he whimpered it.
Even though she wanted to answer she reminded herself that she had no business conversing with him, though she didn't need to since he continued on talking in true Malfoy fashion.

„I think that the story is very interesting, it's based on a muggle play called Agamemnon, though this is the magical version, of course.“

He continued on talking while Hermione listened with a tilt of her head. She was amazed that he knew an old muggle play, and even knew that this opera was based on it. He talked about it so easily, like he truly knew what he was talking about.

Not many things attracted Hermione more than someone knowing what they were talking about and Draco Malfoy made it seem like it was the easiest thing in the world. He was so confident in everything he said as he kept talking about the different implications the difference between the Muggle Play and the magical play had and, while Hermione's abdomen had already stirred before, she could actually feel the heat pool into her lap.
She watched his plump red lips move with each word and she wondered what else was red and plump.

She watched as he gestured with his long fingers and she wondered what they would feel like gliding along her exposed neck and arms.

She only noticed that he had stopped talking when it suddenly got quiet. She made quick to nod in agreement with everything he had just said.

He watched her with a raised brow, clearly amused.
She saw how his eyes wandered over her thin arms and she had never wished for anyone to touch her in any more than right then and there.

She didn't even notice when she leaned in closer.
Only when he spoke again and he spoke lower than before, she noticed how close their faces were to each other. „My mother is planning a charity ball, and I want you to come.“

Hermione was watching his lips again as they moved and she was amazed by how pink they were. Perfectly formed.
She had nodded before she had fully realized what he had said.

„I'm glad.“, his voice was deep, raspy even, and his words slowly registered in her head.
Her eyes widened and she moved back opening her mouth to tell him that, no she would not be going, but his hand had suddenly grabbed her own as he pulled it up to his pinks lips.

Her words were stuck in her throat as she watched him slowly lower his lips to her wrist, too high to be proper in the high pureblood society.
His lips touched her skin as a ghosts kiss and he lowered her hand back to her lap with care since she was too shocked to do it herself.
Another shudder ran up and down her spine at the way he lowered his eyes as though he was bowing before her, and she suddenly wanted him to. She wanted him to bow before her with her legs propped on his shoulders.

She felt her cheeks colour at both his presence and her thoughts but she was in a stupor, unable to look at anything but him.

„My owl will find you.“
And with those words he stood and walked out, only leaving an intoxicating scent of his perfume behind. It smelt clean and expensive and Hermione wanted to drown in it.

The stupor stuck with Hermione until she felt the air shift once more in the tiny box and she quickly turned, in hope that maybe he had returned, to talk more to her about muggle literature, though she only looked into Ginny's face which was spread into a wide grin.

Hermione's stomach dropped from the high feeling Malfoy had left behind and she was brutally ripped back into reality, a reality where she was together with Ron and they were about to be married.
A reality where she had just spend, only a few minutes in Draco Malfoy's presence and she had almost lost herself in every little aspect of him.

She watched as Ginny sat in the chair that Malfoy had just sat in. She leaned over to her and placed her hand on Hermione's thigh like she had wanted Malfoy to do.

„Hermione you will never believe, who just walked past me!“

Hermione tried her very best not to let any feelings she had felt mere minutes ago show on her face and instead she gave her friend a small smile and asked, „Who?“

Ginny's grin widened further if possible. „Draco Malfoy!“, Hermione's hearing cut out for a moment, unbelieving of her bad luck. „Can you believe it? He even greeted me and invited me to his mother's charity gala! Who would have thought he could ever be polite, huh?“

Hermione felt a little annoyed that apparently, he was running around the theatre telling everyone to come to his mother's little ball, like an excited little boy. Her head conjured up an image of Malfoy running around dressed as a newspaper boy handing out flyers for his mother's event, but it helped very little to keep the annoyance at bay.

„That's crazy!“, she heard how deep in thought she sounded, but Ginny hardly seemed to notice.

„Yes! I will only go, if you go, Hermione! It's been so long since we went to a ball together! We have to go!“

Hermione wanted to say that she didn't immediately agree, but she was no liar.

„Wonderful!“, Ginny sounded extremely excited. „I honestly didn't even know he was back in London.“

Hermione hummed thoughtfully. „Yeah me neither.“
A heads-up would have been appreciated though.