Something Different (A Completed Dramione Fanfic)

c h a p t e r 5

Enjoy!

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As she was about to leave for a quick walk and some tea, she remembered the daily prophet she grabbed to read that morning. She grabbed it, along with her wand, and headed towards the door.

With a last glance behind at her office, she left. As she was walking, there were more whispers than usual, more people pointing, more people staring. Charollett was walking, Hermione saw in a distance, and she went to keep up with her.

As she caught up, however, Charollett looked at her, as if heart broken. Before Hermione could say anything thought, Charollet said, "Oh blimey, you are so strong. I know you will get through this."

Hermione had no idea what was going on. Before she could ask Charolett, she realized that she had already lost her, so Hermione proceeded outside to a smaller tea shop at the corner of the street near the Ministry.

After she had ordered her drink, she went to sit down and waited, thinking about the strange case. When her drink was done, she earned yet another saddened look from the barista, and left to walk around to clear her mind.

But, the case still messed with her head.

Unable to figure anything out, and deciding to wait until Malfoy had looked at the information. She went back to the ministry, figuring she could just read the Daily Prophet back in her office so she had something to do as she waited for Malfoy to come back with his help.

Also, it would help her ignore the stares and whispers of her coworkers.

She closed her door, telling the secretary- to which looked at her with pity like many more had- to send Malfoy in as soon as he got here since they had much to figure out. She sat down, and unrolled the Daily Prophet.

The front page had a picture of Ron- Ron?!?- walking around with a young woman, about her age, holding hands. As she read the headline, however, the realization of what the picture had meant finally sunk in. Ron had a new girlfriend.

Completely shocked, she read through the article one time, ten times. She couldn't believe what she was reading. Apparently the girls name was Grace, an Auror in training from Ireland who just transferred to learn in England instead, often called Gracie by Ron (barf), which was her boyfriend for the last two weeks.

Now that's the part that didn't make any sense. Two weeks? Ron was cheating on her, then, if it really had been two weeks. The nerve of him. How could this be possible?

No. This was not happening. There was no way that the guy who was willing to marry her would actually cheat on her. She didn't know what so do, and resulted in crying no matter how much she told herself she was stronger than this.

But of course, the door opened, and Malfoy sauntered in. He seemed even more cocky today, until he actually saw her crying state. He didn't know what to say, so before he could stop himself, he went over to touch her shoulder awkwardly.

He never knew quite what to do with women crying, even his dear mother.

She tried to pull out of his grasp and yelled, "Blimey, I don't need your comfort. I'm not that desperate yet."

As if her words had no effect on him he continued to rub her shoulder in (hopefully) comfortable circles, and said simply, "You need someone right now, and I'm the only one here for you." Arrogant, yet kind in ways.

This time she didn't put up a fight, and instead lay her head on his hand. She needed someone for once, and Ginny was so far away. Hermione's heart ached, and Malfoy, aside from the fact that he was a jerk, had offered her a small support.

Draco, urgent to be away from the mess of tears in front of him, stood still and kept trying to comfort her so that he could leave that much sooner.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, in which Malfoy soon found himself rubbing her hair, before she pulled away, finding the situation a bit awkward.

Hermione didn't want people to see her like this, and cast a few simple charms to clean herself up and look more presentable. Nor, she thought, did she want Malfoy to have anything else to tease her about.

Her red rimmed eyes looked at him, and he whispered softly, "I'm so sorry." And he was, because he truly felt bad for her.

And he realized at that moment that those old feelings for her, to which he thought he had pushed down, were resurfacing. He knew that he needed to help her, and provide comfort. 

Maybe he really did want to be her friend, even if she didn't show interest.

She replied with a hazy "I am, too. I'm a complete mess, you should go." But stood still, even though just a couple minutes earlier he was waiting to be dismissed.

Instead he touched her hand, and that same jolt went through her body. It was that tingling sensation that spread through her body like it had yesterday when he grabbed her hand to stop her from hexing him out of her office.

"No, I'll stay. You need someone, and I'm here now. It's alright." He said, surprising not only Hermione, but himself. She was stunned that he would even have a comforting side, a kind side that cared about others. But she took his offer.

"Malfoy, I'm sorry for yesterday. I was being prejudiced on how you acted in the past, put now you seemed to have changed. Start over?"

She held out her hand, to which he promptly shook, and they both smiled.

"You just wanted a reason to touch me, huh?" He asked when she didn't let go, and turned bright red at the comment. He just chuckled and gave her his signature grin.

Little did he actually know, Hermione did want his touch, and the second they pulled apart, she felt a loss of warmth where his hand had been.

Rather than work on the case for the time being, they talked about their lives, how they got their jobs, their families, current issues, anything besides Ron and little miss Gracie.

What surprised her was that she actually found herself enjoying these conversations. Then out of the blue, Malfoy asked, "Can I call you Hermione?" Like what kind of question is that, she thought to herself.

"What? Well yes of course, it is my name." She gave him a confused look and then looked at the time on her wrist.

"Oh blimey Malfoy it's alm-"

"Call me Draco. I won't be answering to Malfoy from you anymore." He wanted a more casual relationship, and was intent on making them more friendly, despite their past.

She thought for a moment before replying. Is she really going to give up the longstanding tradition of calling him Malfoy? She holds his gaze for one moment, weighing the pros and cons. Will it show weakness on her end? But it could also show strides toward a friendlier relationship. But, gosh, calling him Malfoy was just right--it is so easily said with a sneer. She sighs, caving.

"Okay Draco," she emphasized his name, "but it's almost four and we still haven't talked about the case at all.

They spent the next three hours mainly on the case, putting together leads for the investigators to begin working on the following day. Hermione was surprised to see how easily they worked together, for they both were hard workers and perfectionists. They worked into a constant rhythm and got much done, despite the hopelessness she had felt the morning and night before.

For once she didn't have to force conversation, nor did she have to keep him interested in conversation. It just worked with them. Wow, she thought, I could get used to this.

Her and Draco.