Pastel Skies

Chapter 6

The next two weeks dragged on. Hermione's longing for Draco came in waves like the ocean tide, usually at night, some nights fiercer than others. During the days she threw herself into her work even more than usual, like she had done when she was going through her divorce, needing distraction more than anything. Cho had become suspicious and Hermione had confided that Draco was messing with her head, but that she needed some time to figure things out. Cho was always there for her and even now as they were sitting next to each other in the teacher's lounge after classes had finished for the day, Cho reached out to squeeze her hand, planted a kiss on her cheek and got up to leave.

"Come on, Mione. You need to blow off some steam. Enough work for today." She pulled her out of her chair. "Let's see who's going to hit the two-mile mark first!" Cho's face broke into a huge smile and Hermione decided she couldn't let a challenge of this magnitude pass.

"Fine!" She smiled, grateful for her friends' instincts, knowing exactly what would lift her spirits and get her head back on right.

With a quick wave of their wands they transfigured their work attire to gym clothes in the witches locker room. They waved at Neville, who was busy with weights, and walked over to give him a quick hug hello.

"I got an owl from Seamus earlier. He says hi. He's got a meeting in Abu Dhabi this week, he'll send pictures of the new tower he's building there."

"Another one? The Sheik must like him!" Hermione said excitedly.

"He does! He's commissioned another two buildings."

"That's wonderful! We must get together again soon!" Cho said enthusiastically. She did have a soft spot for Seamus... maybe her time would come, too.

"I'll tell him. Won't be for another month, tough... that guy is so busy. All the time. I don't know how he does it..." Neville shook his head and went back to his weights.

Hermione and Cho did a quick warm up on the elliptical machines and took up their spots on side by side rowing machines.

"Three... two... one... GO!" they sped off and soon were breathing heavy, sweat starting to pour and Hermione could feel some of the stress and worries leave her body... this was exactly what she'd needed. She forgot about her scar tingling at odd moments, reminding her painfully of Draco. She'd heard his voice a few times these past days and it made her long for his company. Soon...

Draco had successfully avoided run-ins with Astoria. Not that they usually spend much time together. If at all. He'd stayed in his office turned temporary sleeping quarters most of the time, certainly every night, and had worked dawn 'til dusk most days. He was determined to make Hermione's project a huge success, while still keeping his other clients happy.

Two days ago, he had finalized Scorpius' flat in Battersea. The move was scheduled for this weekend.

Hermione was on his mind all the time. His upbringing had taught him not only to dismiss muggle-borns and even half-bloods as inferior but as worthless creatures. Hate and discrimination had ruled, and he'd triumphantly done that in his time at Hogwarts as a student, when his fathers' hand was securely guiding his every move. Until Lucius had been locked up in Azkaban and Draco had been left to fend for himself, had been forced to start thinking for himself and had thus found flaws in the formerly perfect world of loathing. With his family's devastating fall from grace they had to reevaluate these notions, yet his parents had insisted on his pure-blood marriage to ensure the line. It had also helped the family back on their feet a bit quicker, Astoria's family, the Greengrass' being rather influential in the Wizarding Community of Britain. Unquestionably, Astoria was a gorgeous woman, and especially in the beginning he had enjoyed their mating rituals immensely, but soon it had become clear that her beauty was simply a shell covering up an extremely ugly and vicious personality. That was something Draco had started to resent more and more over the years, not being able to overlook her faults any longer.