Hermione paced back and forth in her office a few times, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She was still thinking about the conversation that she and Draco had the night before about her going to lunch with his father that weekend, and her mind was overflowing with endless situations about how that lunch would go, with none of them being positive.
A knock on her door startled her and she quickly turned to see Harry looking through the window. She relaxed and waved him in, leaning against her desk as he shut the door behind him.
"Everything alright?" He asked, putting his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the door.
"Yeah, everything's fine," She nodded. "Why?"
"Really? Because I've never seen you pace when things were fine," He said with a smile.
Her shoulders dropped slightly as she looked down at the floor with a sigh. "I'm just somewhat nervous about this weekend. Draco wants me to have lunch with his father."
Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? That's moving along rather quickly."
"I know, but he made some really good points..."
"Who, Malfoy?"
She scowled at him. "Draco, yes."
Harry grinned at that. "And what good points did he make?"
"He said that it would be fun to watch the expressions on his father's face when we're affectionate and when I'm telling him about my accomplishments."
"Okay, I can get on board with that," Harry said with a laugh. "I'll admit, that would be pretty funny to watch."
"Exactly, but at the same time, it's his father," Hermione said then, returning to her pacing. "The man hates me. He even reached out to Draco after our date made the front page of the Prophet and Draco's trying to convince him it's a good thing."
"What's the worst that could happen?" He asked, taking a few steps towards her and leaning forward on one of the chairs in front of her desk as he watched her pace.
"He'll hex me on the spot," She answered promptly. "Or poison me."
"I seriously doubt Draco would let him do that," Harry said.
"You asked what the worst thing to happen would be," She said, gesturing towards him.
He tilted his head back and forth a few times before saying, "Yeah, good point. Okay, what do you think will realistically happen?"
She paused and chewed on the inside of her cheek again before answering, "He could still hex me on the spot."
"Which I'm sure you'll be expecting and will be prepared for," Harry countered. "Try again."
"He'll call me slurs," She said.
"That's a possibility," He nodded.
"He could still poison me, too."
Sighing, Harry looked down at the chair. "Hermione, you're being very paranoid right now."
"It's Lucius Malfoy," She said exasperatedly.
"Yes, and I doubt I need to remind you but you are dating Draco Malfoy," Harry said gently. "Draco's changed; it's entirely possible that his father has too."
She snorted at this and he sighed, shaking his head. "Alright, I'll try something more logical: I seriously doubt that Lucius Malfoy would be stupid enough to injure a Ministry employee."
This made Hermione pause, and Harry couldn't help but smirk as she tilted her head in contemplation. "Okay, you might be on to something there."
"Yeah, because my other reasonings weren't good enough," He muttered, straightening up and taking a deep breath.
"I know, I know," Hermione said, looking up at the ceiling and leaning against her desk again. "It's just...old habits die hard, you know?"
"I know," He said quietly with a nod. "But I also know that you are more than capable enough to protect yourself from him. And again, you'll have Draco there."
She was quiet for a few moments before letting out a deep sigh. "You're right. I don't know why this is getting to me."
"Because it's a somewhat intimidating figure from our past that you never thought you would have to interact with again?" Harry asked.
"That could be it." She tucked her hair behind her ear and shook her head before pushing off her desk. "No, things will be just fine. Lucius Malfoy is one of the least intimidating people that I have had to deal with recently."
"There you go, just keep thinking that," Harry smiled. "It's just meeting him for lunch."
She nodded and took a few steps before looking at Harry. "Thanks for talking me through that."
"It's the least I could do after all the situations you talked me through," He said with a laugh. "I've actually got some good news as well on the Ron front."
This made her perk up and ask, "What's that?"
"He's somewhat starting to come around to the idea that you and him are really finished," He said.
"Really?" She asked eagerly.
Harry nodded with a slight smile. "It's not much, but when he comes over for drinks he'll talk about how it would probably be better if he moves on."
This made her excited at first but then she heard the tone in his voice towards the end of the sentence. "It sounds like there's more to it than just that."
The smile slowly slid off his face and turned into a grimace. "Usually him saying that is followed up with the fact that he still wants to try and make things work though."
She groaned and looked down at the floor. "Of course."
"At least he's having thoughts of moving on," Harry offered.
"I know, but still..." She took a deep breath and shook her head before straightening up. "I shouldn't be worrying about it. He'll sign the papers sooner or later."
"Let's just hope for sooner," He said. Then he checked his watch and sighed. "I need to get back to my office. We need to go out for lunch soon."
"Yes we certainly do." She smiled and gave him a hug. "I feel like we haven't really been able to hang out recently."
"Well you can't deny it's been a little awkward with everything that's been happening," He said as he returned her hug. "I do miss it though."
"I know." She pulled away and squeezed his arm. "Don't worry, things will be fine soon. Why don't we go for lunch later this week?"
"That sounds good, just let me know when!"
He left her office with a wave goodbye and she looked over her desk at the papers strewn across it, trying to push her worries to the back of her mind and focus on her date with Draco that evening.
Six-thirty came around a lot faster than she was expecting, and she put the finishing touches on her makeup just before Draco rang the doorbell. She had opted for a little black dress this time with sleeves that hung off her shoulders and had decided to straighten her hair. Now that it was shorter, it seemed to cooperate a little more with how she tried to style it every day and she was actually very pleased with how it had turned out.
After pulling on the same black pumps she had worn before, she grabbed a matching black clutch and apparated just outside of the front door, startling Draco.
"I was not expecting that," He said, letting out a deep breath.
She laughed and put a hand on his arm as she said, "I'm sorry! I just didn't want to keep you waiting!"
He waved her off with a smile and said, "It's perfectly alright. I would just recommend that it may not be the best idea to sneak up on a werewolf."
"Was it technically sneaking up on you though if I just suddenly appear?" She asked with a smirk.
Draco didn't say anything for a few moments but then he pointed towards her and said, "I like this look on you, smirk included."
She blushed at that and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as he offered her an arm. "Shall we?"
Moments later they landed in front of another beautiful restaurant and he led her inside as they both ignored the stares and quiet whispers they were getting from the other patrons. Hermione chewed on the inside of her cheek again while they were led to their table, which ended up being in a private room with beautiful colored glass windows decorated with blooming flowers whose colors would shift every few minutes or so.
"Oh Draco, this is beautiful!" She said with a smile as they sat down.
"I thought you might like it." He pushed her chair in for her before taking his own seat and quietly saying, "I realize it's not as nice as the restaurant we went to Monday night, but-"
"It's perfect." She cut him off with a quick kiss and reached for her menu. "How was work?"
He smiled again. "It was fairly normal. There's a slight problem with one of our vineyards right now but that's being taken care of soon."
"Oh no, I hope everything's okay," She said, giving him a concerned look.
"Everything's fine, just a hiccup with the board." He rolled his eyes slightly but then nodded towards the menu. "Speaking of wine, pick whichever bottle you'd like. Tap on it twice to order."
"Draco, these are very expensive..." She looked over the list apprehensively and only looked back up at him when she heard a chuckle.
"You don't need to worry about the cost of anything when you're with me," He said with a smile. "Besides, you cooked a beautiful dinner yesterday; I, unfortunately, cannot cook at the level you deserve to eat so I will instead leave it to the professionals."
She laughed at this and shook her head and she picked through the wine list again. "I suppose we can do this one."
Tapping twice on the name of the wine, she jumped as it suddenly appeared on the table, which caused him to chuckle again.
"You'll get used to it," He said, looking over the menu.
She scowled at him but it slowly turned into a smile as he absentmindedly reached over to hold her hand, and they both fell quiet for a few minutes while they decided on their food. After they had both ordered and their menus disappeared, he smiled warmly at her.
"So," He started. "What interesting story am I going to hear tonight?"
She laughed slightly and thought it over. "I'm not sure, actually."
"Well I'm sure I'll love any story you decide to tell me," He said before taking a drink of his wine. "Why don't you tell me about your childhood?"
Her nose scrunched up slightly and she asked, "That's not a very interesting story."
He shrugged and gave her a smile. "I'd still like to hear it."
Shaking her head, she sighed and took a drink before starting. "I was always reading or learning about something. My parents made sure that I was able to learn about anything I wanted, and while they were wanting me to follow in their footsteps and become dentists like them, they were very happy when I got my letter for Hogwarts."
"Dentists?" Draco asked, confused.
She nodded. "They work on muggle teeth."
He continued to give her a confused look but gestured for her to go on as he asked, "What did you do before you went to Hogwarts?"
"I went to a regular muggle school," She said.
"No one thought it was weird that you were a witch?" He asked curiously.
"We didn't know I was a witch until I got my letter," She explained. "My parents would just call my random magical outbursts 'oddities'."
He stared at her before asking, "How did you not know you were a witch?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Coming from a muggle family, you grow up thinking that magic doesn't exist outside of stories. If we had asked anyone for their opinion on it, they would've marked me as insane."
"That must've been hard, keeping it to yourself like that," He said quietly.
With a shrug she said, "It wasn't too hard; there weren't that many people to tell anyway."
The food suddenly appeared on the table in front of them and she quickly took a bite, trying to think of a new conversation. But Draco wasn't quite ready to move on from the last one as he gave her an odd look.
"What do you mean, there weren't that many people?" He asked. "What about your friends?"
She shrugged again, taking a bite of her food again to avoid answering the question. He seemed to take the hint though and dropped the subject, but he couldn't deny that he was very curious about her sudden reluctance to talk about it.
He decided to try and save it by asking, "So, is there any place you've always wanted to visit?"
"There's a few places, actually," She said with a nod. "My parents love to travel and I guess I caught their love for it."
"What's the top place on your list?" He asked with a smile.
She hummed thoughtfully before answering, "I think Greece would be very interesting; all of that history, there's just so much to explore."
His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he said, "I would've bet money that France would be at the top of your list."
"Well I've already visited France," She said with a laugh. "I'd love to go back someday but I assumed you meant places that I had never been."
"Somewhat." He took a bite of his steak and then tilted his head. "When did you go to France?"
"After second year," She said. "I absolutely loved it."
"My family actually has a small vacation house in France," He said with a smile. "I've been meaning to visit, especially since I want to check on one of the vineyards I have there."
"Just how many vineyards does your company own?" She asked, laughing slightly.
He grinned. "Quite a few. Not too many that we can't personally visit them every once in a while but enough to have at least two in every major wine region."
Her eyes widened as her mouth dropped slightly. "You go and visit your vineyards?"
"Of course!" He took a quick drink and went on: "We'll go visit them once before we acquire them, then once after, and then at least once a year to make sure things are running smoothly."
"We?" She asked curiously.
He nodded. "Blaise and I will split up the visits. There's been a few where we have both gone together, but most of the time it's just one of us."
"I'll admit, I'm a little envious right now," She said with a playful scowl. "You get to go on trips to so many different countries, drink wine..."
"Well, maybe you can accompany me on one of these trips," He offered with a smile.
"Really?" She blinked in surprise. "Is that allowed?"
He laughed at that. "I think that as the owner of the company, I'm allowed to bring whoever I'd like on my trips."
She grinned then and shifted slightly in her seat as she tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. "That would be fun!"
"Wonderful!" He grinned and they continued with their dinner, happily ignoring the rest of the world around them as the night progressed.
A/N: I am so sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted, I promise the next chapter will be posted later this week! Love you all! <3