Fait à la Perfection

29

Hermione sat in the office. Her hands wiggling on her lap as both Draco and Alan looked at her.

"Nice place," Draco said after a moment. Hermione felt nauseous.

"Thank you, I like the area and my wife had decorated it, it's my home away from home," Alan chuckled.

She wanted to disappear. Flee.

Hermione quickly got up and ran into the kitchen. She began looking for her baking pans but could not find them.

"Alan?!" Hermione began to panic. She began opening drawers and drawers without success.

Suddenly she was stopped and Draco stood in front of her. He cupped her cheeks and stared deeply into her eyes.

"I need you to breathe for me, love," he said softly.

"I-I-I can't—"

Her whole body was vibrating and she felt as if she was about to pass out.

"Henry drew a moustache on Lily," he told her randomly.

"W-What?!" She asked loudly, "when?!"

"Yesterday," he chuckled, "I was preparing her bottle and when I came back I saw that she had a moustache on her face, I tried to get it off but after an hour; I ended up calling your mother. She helped and then I swore her to secrecy."

"Why didn't you tell me?! Why did Henry do that?!"

"Apparently he wanted a baby brother and Lily didn't quite fit the criteria."

"So he drew on his sister?!"

"Okay, I need you to take a deep breath."

Hermione inhaled angrily and then stilled. She glared at Malfoy as her body relaxed. He smirked and winked.

"You tricked me."

"It worked."

"Did Henry truly draw on his sister."

"No."

"You're lying."

"And you'll never know the truth."

She continued to glare at him before she relaxed even more.

"Look...I can tell that this makes you nervous, I can wait in the car while you have your appointment and we can do this another time, when you're ready," he told her softly.

She couldn't help but kiss him. It was tender and quick but she needed to kiss him.

"I'm ready," she whispered as she pulled back, "I want you here."

She led him back into the sitting area and settled down. She looked at Alan who had a soft smile on his face. She took a shaky breath and nodded. Giving him the confirmation that he needed to disclose her diagnosis.

"Hermione started seeing me when she was about thirteen years old. She was struggling with Insomnia, depression and anxiety..."

It took hours.

And all that time. Draco did not let go of her hand nor did he stop rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. Even when he pulled out a notebook with countless questions regarding how he could help her when she was at risk of falling into another depressive episode or a severe panic attack.

Hermione watched him the whole time. The level of attention he gave to her. It brought tears to her eyes which he thought was because she was laying herself bare to him. But in reality it was because no one had ever cared this much about her to ensure that she would have the best chance at life.

And she knew that Draco was the one.

And she knew she was falling in love with him. Her heart was starting to beat for him.

And she was going to try. To work hard at getting better for him. So that he wouldn't have to worry about one day finding her dead or gone. She was going to get better for him.

Because she wasn't going to hurt him the way her father had hurt her mother.

They drove in silence. Hermione reached her home and turned off the car.

"You did all that for me," she whispered. Turning in her seat to look at him, "you did research for me...why?"

He took her hand.

"Because you deserve the best," he told her, "I wasn't the best person in the world when we were younger, I made you feel horrible about yourself and your descendent, I never saw the way you were hurting and only made it worse. I can't go back in time to fix that, but I can try to make our future better, you're more precious than the rarest jewel in the world, and it's my duty to ensure you're taken care as such."

Hermione wiped a tear away. She stared at him with nothing but adoration.

"You know what today is?" He smiled.

"Wednesday," she whispered, "our date."

He kissed the back of her hand.

"I hate to do this but I have to go, I need to send my publisher some reviews on some restaurants to get published. But I will come to pick you up at six."

She nodded softly. He leaned over and kissed her. When he pulled back; she kept her eyes closed for another minute. Savouring his taste and touch before opening her eyes and watching him apperate.

She got out of her car and entered the house. She was bombarded by Henry and James who screamed in celebration as she informed them that they were going to take a surprise trip to her mother's house.

Hermione got them ready and told Grace that her mum would be more than happy to take care of the children and that she could take the rest of the day off to spend it with her husband. Grace thanked her and left.

Hermione gathered James, Henry and Lily before they drove off.

"Hermione?"

Hermione looked into the mirror and saw James looking at her.

"Yes?"

"Do you love Draco?"

Hermione stared at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you look different, you smile a lot more and..."

Hermione waited.

"Yes?" She prodded gently.

"You don't look as sad as you used to look when we first got here," he confessed, "you don't look at the photo album of your dad with tears in your eyes anymore."

Hermione was taken aback by his observation. She knew that there was a possibility that James had a more intimate empathy connection with everyone but she didn't know it was this serious.

Then she thought back to the last time she had looked at the photo album and realized that it had been little over a month.

She drove in silence all the way to her mother's house. Her mum was already waiting eagerly as she pulled up into the driveway.

James and Henry went to go greet her lovingly before running off to find Richard so that they could play baseball.

Hermione went up to her mother and kissed her cheek.

"What is it? Why did you ask to come here so last minute?" Jean asked worriedly. Hermione smiled softly before changing the carrier to her other hand.

"I need...I need to ask you for dad's ring."