Marry Me (Dramione)

29. The End

The next day, Hermione went to work and saw Astoria sitting in her office. She walked inside with a huge smile. "Back so soon?" She asked, closing the door behind her.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase. I need you to do something for me."

"What?" Hermione asked with a menacing grin, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I need you to stay away from Draco."

"Is that all?"

"Just get out of his life," Astoria snapped.

Hermione pursed her lips as she placed a hand on her hip. "Okay, what's in it for me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're asking me for help, I want something in return. Surely, you didn't expect me to do this for nothing."

Astoria stayed quiet for a while. "What do you want?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Hermione walked over to her desk, sitting on the edge of it as she stared Astoria down. "I want two things from you."

"Well, aren't you just pushing i-"

"Do you want my help or not?" Hermione reasoned with big, innocent eyes as she shrugged her shoulders. "Your loss, really."

Astoria took in a deep breath and inwardly groaned, rolling her eyes. "Fine."

"Number one: I want you to clear up everything with dearest Rita Skeeter - tell her you twisted everything up because you're a jealous bitch." Hermione commanded with a smile dipped in saccharine honey. "Think you can do that? Tell the whole truth?"

Astoria clenched her jaw as she gripped on tightly to the hem of her dress angrily.

Hermione leaned back in her chair comfortably as she let out a deep sigh. "I really don't have anything to lose here, Astoria. You came to me for help, I just want you to return the favor, that's all. A little quid pro quo." She said, scrunching up her nose a little. "I mean how desperate are you to personally come to me and ask for something like this? How little pride you have, I'm surprised."

After a long pause, Astoria opened her mouth and hesitated. She finally looked at Hermione and sighed. "And the other?"

"Number two: I want you to publicly apologize to me, Draco, and Narcissa ... especially Narcissa." Hermione stated with a proud smile. "Think you can handle that?"

"I suppose I can-"

"Oh, and I'm not going to do this until I see the truth written out on all the papers and until I see you publicly apologize to every single one of us. Until then, I'm not going to say a word to Draco Malfoy."