Sitting in her office, feeling the need to beat her head off the brick wall, Hermione has had enough of her current battle trying to change the laws around to stop favoring the Pure Bloods.
Every time she is in a meeting, bringing up good points and making the evidence of tyranny known- some sexist male has to comment on how she she just sit there and look pretty because as a woman and a Muggleborn- her opinion means very little in the ways of politics and bettering the magic world.
Bzzzz....bzzzzz....bzzzzz...
Her phone vibrates on her mahogany desktop and she swears if it's one more thing going wrong, she is going to have a coronary.
"Hello, Hermione Granger- may I ask who's calling?" She says all politely and the voice on the other end just laughs.
"You need to calm down...haha...why is it even on the phone you are so stuffy." Draco asks and Hermione growls audibly.
"How did you get my number?"
"Oh- am I not allowed to have it? Don't exactly have an owl I can keep in the pub to send out messages." Sighing, she looks out her office window at the lobby floor below and notices the people make their way around- a near perfect locomotion where no one bumps into anyone else and no one has trouble getting from one side to the other.
"Hmm...what do you need?"
"Wow...could sound a little chipper- since you snubbed me for five years." He bites slightly and she readjusts and holds herself around her waist with one arm, her phone arm propped on top of it.
"Sorry...it's not you. It's just work. Men are sexist pigs and I'm tired of it."
"Sounds like you need a break."
"I do. I really do. I called Gavin to see if he was available for lunch- but he didn't pick up- must be in a meeting or with a patient.
Or fucking your best friend in the alley outback.
Draco thinks to himself as he leans on the counter.
"Well...I haven't eaten yet- if you want to snag a bite for old times sake."
She bites the inner side of her cheek- contemplating if this is an okay idea or not.
He did buy my very expensive gift the other day and there's no way I can pay him back otherwise- so maybe lunch wouldn't hurt.
That and I'm absolutely famished.
"Alright. Where should I meet you?"
"How about Victoria Park."
"I thought you wanted lunch- not a stroll."
"I got lunch covered. Just meet me there- alright?" Sighing she agrees and hangs up. Leaving her office in her white statement dress and her hair pinned back in a low sloppy bun of curls, she grabs her clutch and makes her way out of the Ministry.
Getting up on the street, she aparates to the park and finds him standing there in jeans and a black t-shirt- his hat on backwards and a smile on his face.
"There she is! The bride to be!" He calls and the few people passing in the park look at him and snicker and coo at what they assume is the happy couple.
"Shush, you are being obnoxious and embarrassing." She giggles slightly and he just smirks.
"Practicing. For your wedding I see?" He asks and she's left confused. "Your white dress you have on."
"Oh...haha, no- just one of my work outfits. You look very...casual."
"What? I was working too. You don't exactly want to wear your best formals when the drinks start slinging and sloshing their drinks all over the place."
"It's only 4:00, how many drinkers could you have?"
"Five already this morning actually. Some were in just for lunch- but Rudy is my committed loyal customer who drinks me out of Whiskey every day of the week starting at 2 pm." Eyes widening at the statement, she shakes her head and takes him in. She notices that his hair is different than a few days ago- shorter on the sides and more kept. While his face sports some slight stubble and a goatee.
Honestly...I don't hate it.
He looks very...mature and....
Stop it!
"You cut your hair?" She comments and he removes his hat- which attracts her fingers to comb through it.
"Just a bit. It was getting a bit too shaggy. My Mum would've had an attack. Haha." Her fingers continue to play in his hair, and he just watches her from his bent neck view so she can reach the top. He had gotten a few inches taller than in school. He's now 5'9 leaving her only 5'5.
"It's so soft."
"Do you want it? Cause I don't think I can keep my neck bent forever like this." Pulling her hand away quickly, she goes flush and he smiles sweetly at her. "Alright, come on."
Taking off down the trail, she follows him and they get to the beautiful pagoda over looking the pond. Beside it on the slight hillside bank, there is sits a huge juniper tree that shades the whole area and under it a picnic blanket and basket.
Her heart flutters and stomach flips at the sight.
"Aw, that's so cute..." she says and Draco smiles.
"Yeah....that's not ours." He says and continues down the trail. Her heart aches and he gets partway down the trail and turns around. "I'm kidding. Go, go- before a goose takes it over."
Laughing, they make their way back to the blanket and he helps her down the hill in her black heels that poke into the grass with each step. Getting her onto the blanket, she removes her shoes and sits sideways on the hill, tucking her legs beside her. Draco sits down and opens the basket- taking out pumpkin juice, two glasses, a bowl of mixed fruit, two bagged sandwiches and two forks.
"You thought of everything." She quietly says to herself and every time she looks at him- she remembers why it was he captured her heart so long ago: Draco is a hidden gem- sweet and caring, but tough on the surface.
He's a white peacock.
Rare to find.
Common looking when they aren't putting on a display.
But secretly the most beautiful thing you'll ever be lucky to witness.
"Well, eat up. Isn't going to stay fresh all day." He says at her staring. Taking a fork from him, she pokes some cantaloupe and gingerly brows to bite it, but Draco stops her. "Hold up."
He says and she stops and looks at him confused.
"You're wearing white for some stupid reason. Here." Before she can say anything or object, he removes his black shirt and places it on her lap so the juices of the fruit don't drip and stain it.
She doesn't know if this was his plan all alone to show off his overly toned, but slender body- or if he really just forgot napkins: either way, she isn't complaining at his not so well hidden abs and defined, tight pectorals.
"Th...thank you..."
"No problem. Proceed." Biting into the fruit, it was a good thing he put his shirt there because a big drop of orange cantaloupe juice falls on his shirt. She looks at him and they both immediately start laughing.
They eat peacefully, enjoying the late afternoon breeze and sunshine. Butterflies feasting on flowers and the geese bathing in the sun on the water.
A very intimate view for on lookers.
Laying down on the blanket after enjoying their little feast: they stare up at the leafy branches above their heads and watch as clouds pass on the other side of the shade tree.
"Thank you." She sweetly says without bothering to look at him.
"For what?"
"This....I've been so stressed the last few months and in one afternoon you've managed to expel the build up of stress and pressure. Between the wedding and work...huh...It's all just been too much. So thank you." Reaching over, she takes his hand and squeezes it tightly in hers hand before releasing it.
"Any time, Granger. I too have found it rather relaxing."
"You? Stressed?"
"Yes, I get stressed too. So my job isn't exactly the most admirable or important job out there, but between inventory, paying salaries, and keeping people happy: it's a lot. You never really realize how much it is, unless you're doing it on your own. I'm lucky though. I have three of the best employees around." He tries not to boast, but it's hard not too when everyone sees you as a waste and a loser. "I may be a disappointment and a waste to the wizarding community and my parents, but I'm doing something I enjoy."
Sitting up and looking down at him, his black t-shirt sagging at his sides slightly, she turns his face with her hand and makes him look at her. He holds his breath slightly for some odd reason. Looking up at her, he imagines this as his life. A life where they're in love and he could simply pull her down and press his lips to hers. Where they could hold each other on this blanket and wait for the stars to fill the sky.
But this isn't his life.
This is the life he missed out on.
A life that belongs to a man who doesn't even deserve nor want it.
"You, Draco Malfoy, are not a waste or a disappointment. Do you hear me? Your parents may not understand why you love what you do, but you don't need their approval. Further more- you're not alone any more- I'm always going to be here to support you- no matter what it is."
Until you say I do and you move on in your naive life.
He thinks to himself. Removing her hand and looking out at the water, she sighs heavily and he sits up and pulls his knees to his chest.
"Hermione....there's something I need to tell you." Turning she looks at him and her lips part slightly- nervous as to what he's going to say. "Hermione, I seen..."
Bzzzz.....Bzzzz....Bzzzzz....
"Hold on one moment." She picks up the phone and a smile rises to her face and she gets up and walks barefooted across the grass a bit aways. Draco watches as her smile widens and she laughs and giggles a bit.
Gavin.
Huh....I can't tell her.
She's too in love and she doesn't hate me right now.
Coming back over, she sits down happily and Draco watches her closely, until she looks at him. Then his eyes go to the pond where the geese flock in the center of a Lilly field.
"Sorry...that was Gavin. He wants me to meet him for a romantic dinner tonight."
"Lovely." He quickly comments.
"So what was it you seen?" She asks and he just looks deep into her eyes and sees that sparkle lively dancing around in them. The same sparkle she had for Ron a long time ago. The same sparkle she so very briefly may have had for him. He knows what it means and he'll be damned if he's the one to douse the flame.
"I seen this movie a while ago, called an animated movie...and it was about this fox and this hound dog and their adverse friendship...." He says and she smile softens.
"That's a cute movie. I've seen it a million times."
"You have?"
"Yes. It's my favorite Disney movie. Such a sweet message it sends." He didn't know she knew it- let alone that it was her favorite.
"Yeah...funny how one can relate."
"You know...that movie was another reason I tried to be your friend every year."
"Yeah?"
"Yep...you were the Hound and I the Fox."
"Because of my arsehole nature?"
"Because I was undesirable to your kind." She quietly says and he takes her hand. Looking in each other's eyes, he searches hers and feels his heart pound heavily in his chest.
"You've always been desirable...I was just too blind and stupid to do anything about it."
They stay like that for what seems like forever and his words just dance around and around in her head.
He said I was always desirable.