Show

They arrived together, like Harry requested. At the entrance, multiple reporters waited to capture photos of wizarding society’s most elite. After several photos together, they made their way inside the castle.

Along with Draco and Hermione, many of their old classmates and professors were in attendance tonight. They stopped to speak with Neville, who wasn’t fooled by them.

His forehead creased in concern. “What’s wrong?” He whispered to Hermione.

She widened her smile and shook her head, giving him a pat on the shoulder as they walked on.

Together, they crossed the threshold to the Great Hall. Streams of gold shimmered on the walls; the ceiling reflected a perfect spring evening. Long tables were laden with flowers and charcuterie platters. Soft music played in the background, and a dance floor was set up in the middle of the hall.

Hermione moved toward a table, but Draco caught her wrist.

“Dance with me?” He murmured.

He sensed her uncertainty, but she didn’t say no. She followed him to the dance floor, letting him pull her close.

As they swayed to the music that surrounded them, Hermione grasped for a sense of focus. She was in a beautiful gown dancing at a fancy event, and Draco was the one holding her. She wanted to enjoy the night, likely the last she would have with him, but she couldn’t for how miserable she felt. She only hoped it didn’t show on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Draco whispered in her ear.

So much for that. She sighed. “I’m not sure I have words for it.”

She felt his grip on her tighten.

Too soon, the song came to an end.

Hermione briskly excused herself to the restroom. All of her effort was fixated on getting to a stall before she cried. She didn’t notice a drunken figure following her.

---------------------

“Stupid, stupid.”

Hermione dabbed at her eyes and nose with tissue. After ten minutes of overflowing emotions, her breathing had returned to normal and the tears had finally stopped. She was about to leave the stall when she heard a stutter of footsteps.

“Hermahhhne,” a tipsy voice called.

Cormac.

“Hermahhhne I saw you comeinhere.” He began to snicker, the sound getting louder as he approached where she stood.

An idea hit her. A barmy one, though it had proved useful in the past.

She couldn’t believe she’d done one of the few things Harry had asked her not to do. How could she have separated herself from Draco? Her sorrow came to mind, but she had no time to think of it now. She quietly withdrew her wand and pointed it beneath the stall.

A silent otter bounded its way across the bathroom floor and out the door, shocking McLaggen.

“Wha was that?” He slurred.

“Leave me alone, Cormac.”

“There you are,” he said, “hiding from me, are yuh?”

Hermione bounced on her toes, waiting for him to get where she wanted him. He took a sloshy step in front of her stall door and WHAM! He stumbled back from the impact, giving her time to bolt for the exit.

McLaggen shouted after her thickly. “Expelliarmus!”

 Hermione turned back for her wand, but thought better of it. She would only trap herself. A heartbeat later, Cormac reached the corridor she was in. His was holding her wand and he looked angry.

“Leave me alone,” Hermione repeated.

“Not a chance, Love. I jus’ wanna talk now tha’ sodding Malfoy isn’ here.” He proceeded to call Draco several foul words.

Hermione’s eyes blazed. “Don’t talk about him like that.”

Cormac rolled his eyes, the movement causing him to stagger slightly. He threw her wand behind him and advanced on her. With a rough hand, he grabbed her jaw.

His sour breath made her gag.

“He’s nothing,” Cormac spat.

Hermione fought to push away, but the pressure of his hands on her increased. She winced.

“He’s perfect,” she gritted out.

“Hear that McLaggen? I’m perfect.”

Draco’s fist came from nowhere, clocking McLaggen in the jaw. He faced Draco who was ready for him. Draco leapt to the side just as Cormac lunged. With a flick of the wrist, Draco conjured ropes to tie the drunk wizard down. Within seconds Cormac was secured.

Draco hurried over to check on Hermione. He knelt by her; worry etched in his features.

“Are you hurt?” He asked.

“No, I-“

“Did he touch you?”

“Just my face. It’s-“

“I could kill him, Hermione.”

Hermione huffed. “Flipendo.”

Draco’s body flipped backward onto the cobbled floor. When he landed, he looked up at her in surprise. Then, he started to laugh. “Wandless jinx? All right, I deserve that.”

“Yes, you did,” she replied.

She sat down on the bottom steps of a nearby staircase. Draco joined her.

A silence stretched between them. Finally, Draco broke it.

“So, you think I’m perfect.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Momentary lapse of judgement.”

Shaking his head, Draco’s expression grew smug. “No, see I think you meant it. Big vocabulary like yours? You could’ve chosen any number of words.”

She chuckled until the moment had passed. Like a poison, the recently familiar ache began to return to Hermione’s chest. She had to end this. Right now.

“Draco, I’m sorry for putting you through all of this.”

Draco shrugged, “I’ve been waiting for the chance to punch the git for ages.”

“No,” she leveled her gaze at him, “I mean I should never have asked you to pretend to date me. I should have dealt with Cormac on my own or gone higher up or something.” She let out a grunt of exasperation. “This isn’t how I expected things to play out. I wasn’t supposed to… well. What I mean to say is I’ve been using you, and that’s not okay. You’re a good man, and I took advantage of that. I’m sorry.”

She paused to sniff, her tears returning.

“So, I’m officially ending our agreement. You played your part brilliantly, down to the last moment really, and I thank you for it.”

Draco waited to see if she said more. Distant sounds of the party echoed faintly in the silence.
His brow furrowed. “You’re fake-ending things between us?”

Hermione bobbed her head; a tear fell from her lashes.

Draco stood. His movements were choppy. One hand ran through his hair. He paced a little. He rubbed his jaw. Finally, he shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at her.

She lifted her eyes to meet his, her tone weak. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I want you.”

His boldness startled her. She searched his face, his posture. Everything about him screamed his seriousness.

“You…want me?”

She thought back to how many times she had asked him that question: outside Flourish and Blott’s and right before their first kiss. The most recent time had been in his library. He had always deflected the question, and now, now he had finally answered it.

“What do you think I’ve been trying to show you since we first started this? Or at least since Cormac put those stupid flowers in your office. Such an idiot - you don’t even like carnations.”

Flowers… Hermione thought to herself, flowers show.

This is what Narcissa had meant. Whether she had known the truth about their relationship or not, her words now made perfect sense.

Draco knelt in front of Hermione once more. “I want you. In every sense of the word. You’re all I’ve thought about for years, and I agreed to your ridiculous idea of fake-dating to show you how I feel about you.” He paused, searching for the words to best explain how he felt.

“This?” He gestured between them. “This was never pretend for me.”

Hermione’s lip quivered; her insides officially melted. “That’s why you sent your owl over after Crookshanks…?”

Draco nodded, a small smile on his lips and kindness in his eyes.

“And why you arranged our first kiss to be at the bookshop? And why you did small things like getting my door for me or sending me notes?”

Another nod.

“And your library. Showing it to me, and,” her face reddened, “agreeing to ‘practice’ that night.”

Draco’s expression was sincere. “And let you sleep over.”

A twinge of guilt snapped in Hermione. “I’m sorry I left. After we kissed, I thought I felt something for you. Then that night – wow.”

Draco smirked.

Hermione gently pushed him. “And I was so stupid for leaving, because I should have thought about you. And what it must have been like for you to wake up and me not be there-“

“Granger?” Malfoy interrupted.

“Yes?”

“Stop talking.”

Then he pulled her in for the most languid, romantic kiss Hermione had experienced to date. A fire shot across her skin as he held her in his arms, kissing her with such passion she forgot they were in a corridor at Hogwarts. She poured everything right back to him. Each touch showing him how she felt.

When they finally came up for air, Draco smiled at her. No smug grin this time; a genuine smile.

He couldn’t believe she had just kissed him like that. Him. And not behind a pretend relationship or the excuse of ‘practicing’, but because she wanted to.

“Let’s take what Harry said seriously from here on out.”

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Never leave my side.”

They walked back into the Great Hall together, fingers intertwined, because showing is better than telling.