The Ministry's Most Eligible Bachelor ~ Dramione

Date

A few weeks pass, with life for her getting back to normal. None of her friends comment on the evening. None of them really know she was there.

He knows that she was, and that is all she can ask for. She apologized, and that is all she wanted to do. The two haven't spoken since. It is like their lives turned in opposite directions and can only go further and further apart.

But at some point, everything comes back around. Right?

His friends, on the other hand, are planning a date to remember. They start by sending an anonymous package to her, inviting her to a quiet evening out and that her presence is not requested, it's pretty much demanded. 

The friends have arranged a lovely dinner for two, shopping for clothes for him, and an additional stop while shopping. This will be a night that he won't forget.

"Draco Malfoy, get out here. You are not going to make us late."

"Pansy, get your knickers out of a bunch, I'm on my way down!" The two ladies wait, impatiently, for him to get downstairs to get the day started. "What the hell do you want me to do anyways? Carry your bags?"

"No. First, we are shopping for you, so bring your money. Second, yes you will be carrying the bags, but it will be your stuff so deal. Third, when was the last time you had your hair cut? You're starting to look like your father." Pansy continues her rant, but it falls on deaf ears as he rolls his eyes. His two best female friends are dragging him through, Merlin knows where, for the day and truthfully he's dreading it.

In the first store, the ladies inform him it is time for him to get a new suit, and something more modern. The whole black on black is too emo for today's standards.

"Daph, have you heard from Tori since the auction?" Pansy starts her pre-planned gossip session.

"Yeah, she's doing splendidly in America. Her beau is quite handsome, she sent a picture. She's just waiting for him to propose, but she pretty much has her wedding planned. Oh and it will be in about 20 months or so. I guess in New York City, venues book up fast."

"I'm so happy for her! Now you have to make sure that you don't step on her toes when you finally become a Weasley."

"Never. She'll have her day to shine. I'll have mine. How are you and Seamus doing? Married life good?"

"Amazing. Well as long as he doesn't try any new spells. They still seem to backfire. Even a contraceptive spell gave me a UTI for a week and burned like bloody hell." The two younger witches laugh as Draco steps out of the dressing room to their non-approving faces. "Have you heard from Hermione recently? Seamus and I haven't seen her since the wedding. And she left so abruptly."

He freezes at the sound of her name. He flinches at the memory of the day she left, the night of the wedding. His heart breaks again at the memory of her and what they had.

"No but Ron's talked to her. She's finally caught up at work and is feeling better. Ginny had to take care of her for part of her sickness."

'It should have been me taking care of her,' he thinks to himself. He should have been there through whatever illness faced her. He would have. She must have known that.

"I saw her at the auction." He says to no one in particular. "She was there. She was," he sighed, his eyes going dark and lifeless.

"Wait, she was at the auction? I didn't see her. Where was she?" Questions thrown at him from the two females as they chose a new outfit for him to try on.

"Draco," Pansy yells at him through the closed door, "I know you can multi-task. So answer. Neither of us saw her."

"She was the only person in my section. And she sat in the front row, right in front of where we all were standing during the auction." His voice sounded distant and pained. "She had one of McLaggan's roses."