Always Running (Dramione)

Chapter 29 - A Little Persuasion

Draco.

(Two weeks later)

"We want you to come" he said, standing in the doorway of his office, greatly attempting to persuade him to come to yet another Potter gathering however considering how the last one had ended, he was definitely reluctant about the idea. When Potter had asked to meet with him at work, this was not what he had expected. Draco was very unsure. He didn’t know whether he could handle seeing Hermione without feeling deeply saddened. Although Ginny had told him that she was very eager to start to get to know him again, he just couldn’t deal with the fact that she no longer loved him. Looking into her eyes would not be the same.

“I don’t know…” He mumbled, balancing on the edge of his desk, which was very cluttered. he had been so distracted over the past weeks he hadn’t bothered to tidy it at all.
Potter frowned slightly, leaning his side against the doorframe with his arms folded.
“Look Hermione wants you to come…” He sighed, “You still care about her, right?”
“Of course” Draco spoke immediately, gazing directly into Potter’s eyes. It was a stupid question. Of course, he cared for Hermione, he loved her and if that wasn’t obvious from the preceding weeks then Potter was more stupid that he had perceived.

“Well then, be at ours on Saturday at one.” He explained, looking very stern. He was most likely getting frustrated with the fact that he was being so hesitant, but Draco needed a lot of persuasion. He was going to be embarrassing himself trying to make Hermione fall in love with him again. He just knew she would ask him countless questions about himself that he didn’t exactly want to answer. He wanted to make a good impression.

It was very strange that Potter was actually helping him and trying to sort out his love life. He didn’t know whether he liked that feeling.
“But…” He began to argue.
Potter rolled his eyes annoyingly; Draco was getting increasingly displeased with his presence. He thought they were going to become good friends but this idea was becoming more and more unappealing.
“Seriously, she’s making an effort so why aren’t you?” Potter groaned.
It was a good question.

Draco realised that he wasn’t going to ever expect to have another chance with Hermione if he didn’t at least try to communicate with her. He needed to show her the love that she had forgotten, obviously not straight away that would be weird. He just really wanted her in every way possible. So after a moment of deep thought, he finally gave in.
“Ok Pott-” he paused, in Draco’s mind he still referred to him as Potter but as he had made the effort to call him by his first name, Draco had to do the same. “Harry… I’ll come.”
Potter smiled slightly before moving his body off the door frame, giving him a curt nod and strolling off down the corridor.

He lifted himself off the edge of his desk and stood quietly in the centre of his office  simply thinking about what might happen. What if arrived at the Potter’s and found that Hermione had changed her mind and that she was utterly repulsed by him. Or maybe he would just make a total fool of himself trying to flirt with her while she looked extremely bored.

Draco knew he was overthinking the situation. Hermione was an open-minded, kind person. She wouldn’t judge him so harshly, would she? He understood that when he had seen her previously she had been caught off guard and was merely confused by what was happening. But still he had dreams of her disgusted face as she told him to let go of her.

It was then Draco realised fully when he had agreed to. Standing in a room with the woman he loved who didn’t remember that she loved him back. This was going to difficult.

 
Hermione.

Today was the day and she was extremely nervous. Hermione could hardly believe that she would be actually conversing with Draco Malfoy, in attempt to get to know him. Ginny had insisted that he had changed and that was now in fact very kind and sensitive. However she simply couldn’t imagine it. He had been a death eater after all. And now he had been invited by Harry to join them for a small gathering at the Potter household. It was awfully peculiar.

“He is very handsome though” Ginny grinned, giving a mockingly dreamy look into the distance. Hermione blushed. Even she couldn’t deny that he was indeed very good looking. But in the deepest crevices of her mind, she had always thought that.
“I suppose…” She smiled, looking at herself in the mirror. She and Ginny were sat in the upstairs of the Potter household, making themselves more presentable.  Hermione wanted to try and look somewhat better than usual if she wanted to make an impression. Although if Malfoy was already “in love” with her, she didn’t see why she was bothering so much.

"This is going to be so fun!" Ginny squealed, standing behind Hermione and also gazing into the mirror. She couldn’t understand why she was so excited, they had only invited a few close friends bar Malfoy. It wouldn’t be anything special.
“But what if he doesn’t like me anymore?” She wondered, running her fingers through her hair, “I haven’t seen him in two weeks!”
Ginny chuckled. “I’m sure he’s managed, besides if he loved you as much as he seemed to before then he won’t have changed his mind.”

Hermione took a few deep breaths and nodded before removing her gaze from the mirror and turning to Ginny.
“I still find it hard to believe that he loved me that much…” She breathed, “He used to hate me… and always called me a mudblood.”
It was true. And she still had lasting memories from that day.
“No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood!”

It had hurt at the time because she had never been subjected to such prejudices but as she realised what a horrid twat Malfoy was she had learned to ignore it. And this is why it confused her so much. She knew the war had changed everyone. But how could someone completely transform into a different person?

Hermione was then pulled from her thoughts.

"Shall we go downstairs?" Ginny suggested, it was obvious that some of the guest had already started to arrive. Hermione’s heart started to pound. She had no idea how to talk to someone like Draco Malfoy. Not after what had happened in their past. Also, knowing that he was in love with her made it even more nerve-wracking. What if she was dramatically different from how he had known her? What if she didn’t meet the image he had of her.

“Ginny… I don’t know if I can do this…” She blurted out, grabbing her wrist as she began walking out of the room.

“You can” Ginny reassured her, “You’re a brilliant person, Draco would be insane not to like you.”

Hermione breathed strenuously as she followed Ginny, both making their way down the stairs.
“You two took your time!” Ron joked as they reached the last step. He was still waltzing around with this Astoria woman who Hermione took a great distaste to.
“It takes time to look this beautiful” Ginny replied poking her tongue out at her older brother.
“And you do both look beautiful…” came a voice from behind them.

Hermione swivelled round. It was Malfoy as she had expected. Her heart thumped against her ribs rigorously and she fiercely tried to stop herself from breathing so heavily. This was going be interesting.