A week later
Draco POV
"Please Hermione. It will be fun I promise." I beg following her into her flat.
"No Draco, it will not be fun. Can you imagine what will be said if you show up with me." She says with a sad face. My mother owled me this evening telling me that she is throwing a gala for her birthday and asked me to join. Along with myself she included that I could bring a plus one if I had anyone in mind. Of course I went straight to Granger's to ask her to attend.
"I don't care what will be said about our relationship. I have you and that's what matters." I say while wrapping my arms around her waist and setting my chin on her shoulder.
"I don't care what other people have to say about me, but I do care what your mother has to say about me. She is your family, she is blood and she will be there forever." Granger mumbles leaning back into me. I turn her around to face me and place my hand on her cheek.
"You will be there forever if I have any say. I lost you once Hermione I will not loose you again." She smiles and I place a gentle kiss on her lips. Hermione wraps her arms around my neck and I begin to sway back and forth. "So, will you come with me to the gala?" She sighs.
"I guess. When is this gala?" I remove my arms from around her waist and pull out the invite from my pocket.
"According to the owl the gala will be held on November 5th. So in about 2 weeks.
"Oh gosh, that's so soon. I have to find a dress. Maybe I can pick up some extra hours at the office to get a dress." She mumbles the last part to herself before slightly nodding. I guess agreeing with her idea.
"Do not dare worry about how to pay for your dress." She opens her mouth to argue but I stop her.
"No, you are not going to worry about anything, I asked you to come and I will take care of the price of your dress." I give her a looks and she rolls her eyes and gives me a small smile. We walk over to the couch and take a seat, Hermione leaning into my side and my arm around her shoulder.
"How was your day at work?" I ask after a few minutes of comfortable silence. She shrugs.
"It was slow, we only had two cases come in. The rest of the time I caught up on some reading I've been meaning to do."
"How is working with Astoria? Any weird feelings since she was a Slytherin." She shakes her head quickly.
"Surprisingly not at all. We work very well together. While working we usually talk about our earl days at Hogwarts or she tells me about how she and Blaise got together. From what I hear it was a weird situation." I nod thinking back to our last year of Hogwarts and how Blaise would follow Astoria around the castle.
"That was an interesting situation to watch. Blaise would follow her around like a lost puppy and she had absolutely no interest in him." She laughs at the thought .
"I wish I could have seen it. The only thing I really remember from our last year was the crazy amount of studying i did and the hiding in the Gryffindor tower for millions of questions."
"I wondered where you were. I would try to keep an eye on you from a far to make to sure you were ok. But I think I saw you only a handful of times the entire year." I recall one of the times I saw her running past the Black lake, her hair frizzy and all over the place. I go to ask her another question but her a soft snore. I look down at her and her eyes are closed with her lips slightly parted. I smile to myself and place a kiss on her forehead before carefully standing up and carrying her to her room.
I gently lay her down on the bed but before I can stand back up Hermione grabs my arm.
"Stay." She mumbles before falling back asleep. I smile and walk around to the other side of her bed and carefully climb in. I quickly get comfortable and close my eyes falling asleep in no time.
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A week later
Hermione POV
"Ginny calm down. The dresses will be there whenever we get there. I yell as my best friend drags me through Diagon Alley.
"We need all the time we can get, it could take hours to find the perfect dress to meet Draco's mother."
"Just don't go to crazy with the dresses." I tell her as we walk into the dress shop . With out answering me Ginny takes off into the shop. I roll my eyes and walk around.
"Welcome, is there anything I can help you with?" A nice lady asks while walking up to me.
"Maybe. I am looking for a dress for a birthday gala next week and I honestly have no idea what I want." She nods.
"Is there a certain color you are looking for?"
"Honestly no. I'm willing to look at any color." The lady goes to ask another question when I hear Ginny call out.
"Hermione I think I found something." I smile apologetically at the sells lady and she laughs.
"Go to your friend I will look around for some different things for you to try on." I nod and make my way through the racks looking for Ginny.
Without a word Ginny shoves the dress in my hand and pulls me to the dressing room. I walk in and look at what was given to me. The dress is a dark green with what looks like a straight neckline. I slip the dress on and walk out of the dressing room. I look at Ginny and she makes a face.
"It's not what I thought it was. Don't get me wrong you look amazing it just doesn't seem very you." I turn around and look in the mirror. She is right, the color doesn't seem to go with my skin color and the neckline is not very flattering.
I go to change but the sale lady stops me with a few other dresses. I take them from her and go to change into the next one.
Next I slip on a light blue ballgown with see through material.
Instantly I do not like this dress but walk out anyways.
"Thank looks very pretty on you." I just shrug.
"I don't think I like how see through it is." I explain while looking in the mirror and Ginny nods.
"I can see why. Maybe for a different party but not to meet Draco's mother." I walk back in the dressing room and try on another dress, this time the dress is bright red.
Just like the last I immediately don't like the dress. I usually love red but this dress is not me at all. I don't bother walking out and change into the last dress I have in here which is a beautiful lavender ball gown.
As I walk out if the dressing room I glance at the mirror on the wall and for a second think I found my dress. I smile and look at Ginny who appears to be concentrating really hard.
"I just don't know, it looks absolutely amazing on you, it's just not what I picture you in for this gala. When I hear gala I think darker colors and sexy silhouettes similar to the green dress." I look back at the mirror and fully take in the dress and Ginny is right. As beautiful as this dress is something just doesn't click with it. I could see myself wearing this to the Yule ball but not the gala and that must be what is wrong. I would wear this if I was still a school girl, but I'm not anymore I graduated and am now an adult working on her career.
"You're right, this seems more like a dress if I was younger, maybe for like the Yule ball or something not for meeting the pure blood society. Maybe I'll have to go look some where else for the dre-" I am cut off by the lady helping me. In her arms she has one more dress that is navy with colorful details. Immediately I can tell this is something I HAVE to try on and take it straight to the dressing room.
I slip of the beautiful fabric and I can already tell this is the dress for me. It fits tightly at the top and flares out around my feet pooling on the floor with a small train. Walking out of the room I fell more confident than I have ever felt.
"Bloody Hermione you look like a goddess." I blush and turn to look in the mirror. The colors create a stain glass effect that reaches from my right shoulder to my left leg.
"I think this is perfect." I say with a huge smile before going to change into my regular clothes. As I come out with the dress Ginny is waiting for me at the checkout.
"Will this be all for you today?" The lady who helped us asks. I nod and she rings in everything.
"What is the name of the account to charge?" Hesitantly I give Draco's name and the lady's eyes widen. Quietly she finishes up before handing me the bag. We bid her goodbye before leaving the store.
"Thank you for coming with me. I would have just picked a random dress and left if you weren't there." I say with her laugh.
"I'm glad I could help, I look for any excuse to go shopping. Even if it's just to the grocery store." We both laugh and make our way through the Leaky Cauldron before heading out into muggle London.
"Well I better head back to my flat. Draco said he was getting off early and wanted to stop by." She waves and I make my way down the street of my beloved city.