Hermione rolled over in bed, turning off her alarm the second it began to scream. A sleepless night. She stared up at the ceiling with a deep sigh. “I need to get my shit together,” She told herself under her breath as she crawled into her bathroom, ready to start a new day.
---
Draco looked up at the ceiling, staring off into space. He hadn’t slept at all last night. He was too busy fighting with himself. “Do I love her?” He asked himself, furrowing his eyebrows. He placed a hand over his chest. “Do I love Hermione Granger?” Draco repeated and felt no jump or racing heartbeat. With a small grin, he sat up. “No, I don’t love her.” He said with a relieved sigh, getting up and walking into his bathroom to start a new day.
He walked into his kitchen to see an owl sitting patiently by the window sill. He curiously walked over, opening his window and letting the owl inside. The owl looked familiar. “Mother,” He answered for himself, taking the parchment and reading it. “Good morning, Draco. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ll be stealing Hermione for the day. I want to start planning for the wedding. Much love, Narcissa.” He read aloud, his eyes widening once the words sank in. “Shit,” Draco ran into his bedroom, grabbing his phone. He quickly dialed Hermione’s number but there was no answer. “Shit!”
Without another second, he grabbed his jacket, rushing out of his flat.
---
Hermione got out of the bathroom, running her hands through her wet curls. She felt much more alive with a shower. She walked into the kitchen and took out the battery charger from her phone. She checked for notifications when something caught her eye. A missed call from Draco. She stared at his name for a while before she placed her phone down, flipping it over so she couldn’t see the screen. Shaking her head, she walked behind the counter to look into the refrigerator, Before she could think about making breakfast, there was a knock at her door.
Hermione sighed, walking over to her door. “Who is it?” She asked, opening the door. She gasped as she quickly fixed her shirt. “Oh, Narcissa, so nice of you to … visit me.” Hermione said awkwardly with a grin. “Uh, come in! Please, come in.”
“Thank you, dear.” Narcissa said with a grin, walking in and immediately scanning the flat. Hermione nervously looked around her flat to see if she had to clean anything. Thankfully, it was spotless. “Oh, dear, you should add some more color into your decor. It’s so dull,” Narcissa commented with a grin, sitting on the couch.
Hermione cracked a grin, not knowing whether that was an insult or a suggestion. It sounded a lot like an insul--
“Aren’t you bringing some tea for me?”
Hermione nodded, quickly running into the kitchen to brew some tea. “Uh, so what brings you here so early in the morning?”
“Oh, I wanted to get a jump start of the wedding. How about you and me start planning for the wedding? I really do wish you and Draco can do it as quick as possible.” She insisted with bright eyes.
Hermione wanted to scream. She shifted uncomfortably as she got their tea ready. “Oh, is that so?” She asked, walking over and handing Narcissa a cup of tea. She sat down and sipped her tea. “I thought we were going to wait a while before we even began talking about the wedding,”
“Oh, nonsense! I’ve just been so excited and last night, I was looking at some nice locations we could do the wedding. I found a wonderful place near Draco’s flat - a hotel that has a gorgeous wedding hall. I looked into the schedule and I managed to set up a date for next week.”
Hermione’s eyes widened as she gulped hard on the drink. “You, uh …” She set the cup down as she swallowed hard. “You already booked a reservation?”
“I hope you don’t mind, Hermione. I just, I want to make this wedding perfect for you and Draco. And I just feel so terrible for the way I treated you, I thought I’d make it up to you by planning the wedding. I’m just as great at planning weddings as I plan parties - you have nothing to worry about. Your wedding is in good hands,” Narcissa winked with a smile, holding Hermione’s cold hands with her warm ones. “Oh, honey, your hands are so cold!”
Hermione forced a grin as she awkwardly nodded. “Uhm, I really do appreciate everything you’re doing for us. B, but it would be nice if you could let Draco and I discuss some things and plan our wedding at our own pace. We were thinking maybe a few months later to get married. We have so much time, I don’t think we should be rushing into this. Marriage is an important milestone in one’s life and I think Draco and I should decide when to do it and where to do it.” She said as politely as possible.
“I’m so sorry, I was just trying to help.”
“I know, and I really appreciate it but I think I need some time to think about all of this.”
“Think about the marriage? Why, you don’t want to marry my son anymore?” Narcissa asked with a cold gaze.
Hermione opened her mouth to protest but stopped herself as she stared at Narcissa. “I - I don’t … it’s happening all too fast. We’re still getting to know each other and marriage was never --” She heard her door unlock and Draco walked in.
“Mother!”
“Draco,” Narcissa greeted her son with delight.
“Draco,” Hermione whispered with relief as she stood up from her seat. For the first time all morning, she was actually glad he showed up.
“Mother, what are you doing?” He asked over, stepping in front of Hermione, pushing her behind him. “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to start planning the wedding with Hermione, here.”
“No, mother, we appreciate your blessing but we’re in no hurry to get married. I thought we already told you we were pushing this wedding for later.”
“But I insist you do it soon - the sooner, the better.” Narcissa snapped back with a deadly glare.
“Well, we don’t need your help. We’re perfectly capable of planning our own wedding when we decide to do so.” Draco hissed back, staring his mother down.
“I already booked a reservation --”
“We can just cancel the reservation, simple as that.”
“You don’t understand, Draco--”
“Mother, I do. And I want you to leave.”
Narcissa sighed deeply, grabbing her purse as she walked out of the flat.
Hermione let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Thank you,” She whispered, squeezing his arm.
“I’m sorry, my mother’s crazy.” Draco said, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, she started talking about the reservation and I --”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“You’re fine.” She said with a nod. “Uhm, I think we need to talk.”
“What?”
“I think we need to end this - us. With talks about the wedding, I don’t think I can do this anymore. I want out, I want to tell Narcissa before she starts making me try on wedding dresses with her.” Hermione said with a small smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I just, everything’s too complicated now.”
Something in Draco’s heart sank deep below. He didn’t know what to say. “I, uh …” He didn’t want to stop this - them. “I actually need to go, can we talk about this later?” He lied.
Hermione sighed, nodding. “Of course,” She said and then he left. She sat down on her couch, placing a hand over her forehead. “I think I lost my appetite…”
---
Draco stood in the locker room, staring at the ground. He had to end it, right? She was right, everything she said was right. He began to ruminate on the thought, sitting down on the bench. He could faintly hear his teammates talking and laughing around him as they got changed out of their quidditch gear.
“Captain, aren’t you going to shower?” A teammate, John, tapped Draco’s shoulder jovially.
Draco snapped out of his thoughts and looked over. “Oh, uh, no.” He answered, getting up. “I’m just going to go out and practice some more. All of you get dressed and go home, we’re done with practice for today. Good work, everyone!” He announced before walking back out onto the field. He shook his head, hoping to throw away all the qualms out of his head as he began to run around the large field.
What seemed only like five minutes, was actually an hour. Draco kept a steady pace, his breathing low and shallow as sweat trickled down his forehead. He still couldn’t get her out of his head. He finally stopped just as thunder grumbled across the dark skies. Draco tried to catch his breath as he leaned his sweaty hands on his knees, leaning over and taking in deep breaths. Just then, he felt little water droplets hit his hot skin one by one. In an instant, the place was showered in rain. He felt the cold rain pinch his skin and let out a loud scream as he dropped to his knees. He lied down on the field, staring up at the sky. What hell is going on?
“Draco!” Someone shouted across the field. Draco could barely hear the voice due to the loud sound of the rain pelting the ground. “Draco! What the hell are you doing there, mate!” The voice sounded louder - closer.
Draco decided to ignore it, maybe he was just hallucinating. He shut his eyes, letting out a sigh. Then, the rain stopped. He could still hear the rain but it wasn’t hitting him anymore. He opened his eyes with confusion to see Blaise looking down at him with an umbrella.
“Mate, what the bloody hell are you doing here?” Blaise asked incredulously. “Get up,”
Draco sighed, shaking his head. “No, I feel relaxed for the first time today.” He stated, shutting his eyes again.
“You’re going to become seriously ill.”
“Don’t care, how did you even find me?”
“You were supposed to come visit Pansy and me for dinner, remember? You didn’t show and then I bumped into one of your teammates and he told me you said you were going to practice some more. And here we are, now get up before your mother freaks out when she finds out about your condition.”
“She won’t find out.” Draco answered and opened his eyes, staring up at his friend. “Drop the ridiculous umbrella and just join me. Trust me, it feels a lot better than you might think. All the stress and all the qualms - they just disappear.”
Blaise sighed, pressing his lips into a thin line. “Damn it, you damn idiot.” He cursed under his breath, tossing the umbrella aside and falling down next to Draco. At first, all he wanted to do was punch Draco, but in a blink of an eye, he did feel better. “I can’t believe it, we’re mental. Why are we just here in the rain.”
“It feels nice, doesn’t it?” Draco asked with his eyes closed. “It’s not a surprise you’re stressed from all the planning for the wedding,”
Blaise let out a sigh, nodding as he shut his eyes. “I didn’t know how hard it’d be to plan a wedding.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Surprisingly, no. Even though I want to just kill myself sometimes when Pansy and I are looking at all the flowers - which by the way, all look the same - or when we’re choosing the food we’re going to serve - it’s all worth it at the end of the day. Sure, it’s stressful, but when I look at Pansy, she looks happy. And that’s all I need to remind me that I want to marry her.”
“Seeing Pansy happy is all that it takes for you to do what she wants to do?”
“I mean, if this is what makes her happy, I’m going to let her do it. I’m not going to get in the way because all I want is for her to be happy since I love her. That’s it, simple as that.” Blaise revealed with a small smile. “It’s all worth it in the end, I can’t wait until I’m married to her.”
“Do whatever makes her happy, huh …” Draco whispered, opening his eyes and standing up abruptly. “Get up, you look ridiculous.”
“What?” Blaise asked, opening his eyes. “Why are you up?”
“Come on, I need to go somewhere.”
“You can’t just leave me,” Blaise quickly got up, grabbing his umbrella and following behind Draco. “That was a dick move.”
Draco shrugged with a smirk. “Well, that’s what I do best.”
“Where are you going?” Blaise asked, walking into the locker room with his friend.
“I need to talk to Hermione,” Draco said and apparated away without a second thought.
Blaise sighed deeply, standing alone in the locker room. He couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, shaking his head. “That git,”
---
Hermione sighed, walking out of her bedroom. She pulled her hair out of her bun, collapsing down on the couch. “It’s been a long day,” She moaned out, rubbing the side of her head. Work was absolutely dreadful. She had so many cases to read and - it was awful. There was a point during work where she wished Draco would barge in and take her away somewhere. “I need a nap.” She said, closing her eyes. The sound of the rain outside her flat only ushered her to sleep. Just before she was about to embrace sleep, there was a hurried knock at the door.
Opening her eyes, Hermione groaned and sat up slowly. “Ugh, who is it?” She whispered, getting up and walking over to the door. She opened it and gasped at the sight of a very wet and dirty Draco. “Malfoy, what are you … why do you look like that?”
Draco smiled at the sight of Hermione and chuckled. “Can I come in?”
“Uh, yeah.” Hermione let him inside and closed the door. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to finish our talk,”
“Oh,” She nodded, concern flashing across her face. “Do you want a towel or --”
“No, I’m fine. This will be quick, I promise.” Draco said, wiping the rain off his forehead as he took in a deep breath. “Will ending our … scheme make you happy?”
“What? Why are you asking me --”
“Just answer it, Granger, please.” He pleaded.
“Uh, yeah. I think we’ll both be happy, right?” Hermione answered with uncertainty. Why was he acting like this?
“You’ll be happy.” He concluded and nodded. “Okay, then let’s do it.”
“Do what, exactly?”
“Let’s end it.” Draco said promptly after, running his hand through his wet hair.
“Are you sure?” Hermione asked. She was the one who wanted it but why wasn’t she feeling joy? Why was she … sad?
“Definitely,” Draco replied confidently. “You’re right. I’ve been thinking about it and you’re right. This has gone too far and it’s gone out of hands. We need to end this before anything else happens.”
“Right. Well, how do you suppose we … end it?”
“We’ll talk to my mother - tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Hermione whispered with a small nod.
“I’ll text you,” He said and took one last look at her before walking away. “Just think about it, you’ll never have to see me again after tomorrow.” He said with a small grin. “Goodnight, Granger.” And then he left.
Hermione stood in the middle of her flat, biting her bottom lip. This was exactly what she wanted. But why wasn’t she happy?
---
yep. it's here. prepare yourselves for even more surprises. Thank you so much for all your lovely support and comments <3 I love you all!