Recovering Granger

i wanna kiss your neck (hermione pt II)

Things didn't go as planned. They never seemed to when it came to Draco.

Agreeing to meet with him had been a concession made for her own sanity. It had nothing to do with the contents of the letter that was now stuffed in her bedside table, ink smeared from tears.

If Draco had something he wanted to say, then she'd be the proper ex girlfriend and listen. An apology was much overdue as it was.

She flooed to Grimmauld Place. Having Draco back in her home felt like completely eradicating the firm boundaries she'd set, and meeting out in public was a non option. The media would have a field day with it.

Theo was on the couch, legs sprawled out in front of him with Ginny's head in his lap. His chin was tilted down, eyes following his fingers as they raked lovingly through her hair. A tiny smile played at the corners of his lips as Ginny babbled on, and though Hermione knew she was invading on a private moment, she couldn't help but stop and stare a few moments longer than necessary.

Ginny and Harry deserved all the happiness in the world. The look on Theo's face said it all.

Raising a hand to the door jam, she knocked twice, shaking the two out of their private bubble.

"Hermione!" Ginny stood and ran over, knocking the breath from Hermione's lungs as she enveloped her into a spine crushing hug.

Before Hermione could return the hug, Ginny pulled back to see her eyes.

"Are you sure?"

If she wanted to, Hermione could feign ignorance and delay the inevitable for just a few more moments.

"I'm ready."

Theo scurried up the stairs to fetch Draco while Ginny brought out two sets up cups for tea.

"I think Draco and I can manage this on our own, Gin."

"Of course, of course. Just trying to help."

There was a nervous lilt to her voice, and she wrung her hands twice before catching the act and fisting her fingers at her side. Hermione let out a sigh and pulled out the closest chair.

"If it gets bad, I'll go. I promise. I won't let things go the way they did in the past. I won't." It was a promise to herself as much as it was to Ginny.

When Draco appeared in the doorway, Hermione's heart stopped. The whole world did, just for a moment.

His hair was slightly ruffled and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled to his elbows. There was color in his cheeks and a sense of peace that surrounded him like expensive cologne.

He was the same man. A repeated mantra she'd been playing in her head for weeks now.

Nothing to fear, she'd think. You have the capability to walk away at any time. He does not have the power to destroy you anymore.

But looking at him for the first time since those jarring, confusing moments in Italy, she realized how right she was, but how wrong she'd calculated.

He was a new man, and he could topple her in an entirely new manner.

"Hermione," he greeted.

The room cleared in the time she'd been staring, lost and confused and fighting the urge to run.

From the tight way he stood in the doorway, eyeing her like a caged animal, it seemed he expected that.

She nodded to the chair across from her. "I'm not going anywhere. I agreed to a conversation."