After Ginny left Hermione's penthouse Draco spread out his arms and fell back on the white leather couch and pulled out the sparkly pillow from underneath him. "That was a nice muggle breakfast Granger but open the white box with the red bow on top" Draco said. "What white box?" Hermione asked while looking around the room. " The one that is still closed because the Weaselette didn't touch it." Draco smirked. Hermione untied the bow and opened the box only to find a dozen pumpkin pasties. Hermione yelled with joy"Pumpkin pasties those are my fa-" "Your favorite I remember." Draco interrupted. "How did you know? Hermione asked curiously. "I remember our sixth year you were crying because you saw Ron kissing Lavender and you were crying and Harry came out and hugged you but when you two went up to your dorm you came back when everyone left the party and ate the left over pumpkin pasties. I guessed they were your comfort food." Hermione stared at him in awe "But Slytherins weren't invited to that party." "I got Seamus Finnigan in trouble with Snape and used the polyjuice potion I had on him and then came to the party, when the potion started to wear off I went to the guy dorms and took Harry's invisibility cloak. But it was only because I needed a night to see what are friends!" Hermione stared at him and wondered why everyone thought she was the smart one clearly Draco was smarter not that she would ever admit it. Instead she went and sat down next to him and looked him in the eye until they were just staring at each other. He slid his arm off the couch until he was holding her face. He pushed her brown hair behind her ear and then leaned in to kiss her when Hermione said " I always want you to know you have a friend in me!" Draco leaned back and then said " I know... I also know I was about to kiss you and you spoke." Hermione sighed and got up from the couch when she said " I like you but I've known you for a week and I just broke up with Ron." Draco stared at her " I've known you for the past 7 years Granger and Ron didn't ask for your permission to move on in fact he moved on while he was still with you." Hermione was now mad her face started turn red until she matched the shade of her new heels. She yelled " This is why I can't be with you! You might be good looking, rich, and much nicer but you still find ways to hurt me! I can't hurt people like you! I just complimented you while complaining about you! Just get out of my house!" Draco stormed off and slammed the door. Hermione walked into her room and let out a muffled scream into her pillow.
-
Hermione curled her brown hair and put on her Lancome red lipstick. She put her hair up in a bun and let down a few loose strands. She put on a dress with thick straps and a round neckline. The top part of the dress was cream colored until above the chest where it was black and ended at her knees. She put on matching black earrings and then put on some light eyeshadow. She put on black heels and apparated off to work. She walked into the ministry of magic where she worked in the department of regulation and control of magical creatures. She remembered how Ron made fun of helping elves and under appreciated creatures since Hogwarts. She walked into her office only to see a golden dessert platter with pumpkin pasties. Next to the pasties was a dark green envelope with a silver seal. The seal had a D on it and inside was a note. The note was written on thick parchment and it smelled like spearmint and freshly mowed grass. Malfoy SPRAYED AMORTENTIA ON THE NOTE. Hermione thought. She wanted to throw it away but she had to read it because of the beautiful penmanship on the note.
Granger, in case you don't remember how i was in Hogwarts. I never give up on what I want. I guess it's time i try to earn you
- MALFOY
Hermione stared at the note with admiration. In all the years she spent with Ron never had he once done something like this for her. Ron didn't even know her favorite color, and she was practically raised with him. She ate a pumpkin pasty and got to work.
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Draco saw a beautiful girl walking out with two slouching coworkers by her side. When he walked in the direction of the girl when he saw it was Hermione carrying files while loose strands of her face flew around. He heard her say something about proposals and then turn right into her office. Draco was walking into her office when the slouching coworker screamed "ARE YOU THE HANDSOME BILLIONAIRE DRACO MALFOY? I read your interview on running your own company and releasing your new perfume line in WIZARDS WEEKLY!" Draco stared at the ground and flushed red with embarrassment. His face looked like Hermione's does when anyone calls her pretty. He looked up and hesitantly let out a "yeah". Hermione walked out of her office only to yell at her assistant "Dayna stop bothering Draco he doesn't need to hear all about HIS OWN article." Draco smirked as he saw the slouching Dayna walk away with lust and admiration. "I guess some girls are into me Granger" Draco said trying to lighten the tension between the two. "Look Draco about last night-" Hermione was cut off as Draco held her hand and looked at her with his stormy grey eyes. "Look Hermione, I'm glad you didn't let me kiss you.. I don't really have any friends so I guess I could use a friend before a girlfriend." Draco said with sincerity. Hermione had a wave of disappointment flood over her as she went numb in her entire body. She knew that she had stopped the kiss but she expected Draco to fight back. She quickly told herself that Draco had matured and he chose the right thing to preserve their friendship. He smiled and said "Hey do you want to grab lunch.... as friends of course?". Hermione smiled back and nodded. He took her by surprise as he put his arm in her arm and when she jumped at his cold touch he only smiled and responded with a "calm down Granger I'm only doing this so we can apparate without losing a limb here" as if trying to justify even the slightest bit of closeness between the two "friends". When they reached to what looked like the muggle hot dog cart but with more options; Hermione felt overdressed for the first time in her life. She turned around and asked Draco and quietly asked "I was wondering if we could go to a place a little fancier than this Draco?". He smirked and said "Fine by me Granger but don't be afraid to be photographed with me. After all I do run one of the largest companies in the wizarding world and you are a member of the golden trio so it's bound to happen." Hermione listed out the pros and cons in her head and thought of how it might hurt the Weasleys but then she also thought it might hurt the one red headed clan member she hated. As for all the other Weasleys that would be collateral damage she could explain how she and Draco were just friends to calm their well meaning hearts down. Draco and Hermione went into another alleyway where the apparated to the slightly fancier Maria's Moonlight. Apparently Draco wasn't wrong that the restaurant was the hot spot to get photographed as the she and her blonde best friend's paths were blocked by the new photographers at the Daily Prophet who were specifically assigned to the task of celebrity spottings. Hermione tried her best to keep up with Draco who held her hand to pull her in as quickly as he could. When they reached the restaurant Hermione quickly regretted her decision of coming as she realized how much Draco would be paying for a meal he had instantaneously decided was "on him". The two ate their meals quickly as they realized they were running late for work and when the bill came Draco wouldn't even let Hermione see the tip he was leaving let alone the amount of the entire meal. Draco dropped Hermione back at her cubicle and then walked away. The moment he left Hermione retouched her lipstick that had worn out slightly during her meal and she remembered how she was so close to a kiss with Draco and she fell into a daydream. However she quickly shook away the thought and got back to work.
