Ch. 14

Draco's POV

I landed in my office and quickly walked out, heading over to Blaise's. He was sitting at his desk with his feet up, tossing the rubber band ball against the wall again.

"Do you ever do any work?" I asked angrily as I walked in and shut the door behind me.

He immediately paused and scowled at me. "What's with the attitude? Did the meeting not go well?"

I took a deep breath to try and calm down. "No, the meeting went fine. The five minutes before it, however, did not."

He dropped his feet and asked, "What happened?"

"The Weasel happened," I growled, pacing the room now. "He showed up before I did, was leaving when I got there, and then attacked me from behind while I was standing in her doorway."

Blaise looked furious and I continued. "And then! He has the gall to accuse her of cheating on him with me!"

"What?!" Blaise stood up angrily.

"She nearly broke down in her office afterwards." I stopped pacing and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Is he still alive?" Blaise asked.

"Unfortunately." I sighed and sank down into one of his chairs, putting my forehead in my head. "I don't know how he walked away from that. He's going to have a nice bruise on his cheek though."

"Please tell me you punched him," He said hopefully.

"No, but she slapped him ." I grinned slightly. "It was glorious."

Blaise sat back down in his chair and said, "I wish I could've seen that. So is she alright?"

I stared at him. "She just got accused of cheating on the man who cheated on her, of course she's not alright! I took her home right after the meeting because she practically fell apart right after!"

"And you left her there alone?" Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have things here I need to take care of before I can go back, but no, I didn't want to leave her there alone," I scowled.

"You realize we have a meeting to go to in five minutes, right?" Blaise said as he looked down at his watch.

I groaned. "I completely forgot about that. I need to text her and let her know."

As I pulled out my phone to text Hermione, Blaise raised an eyebrow at me. "You two texting now?"

"It was the best way for her to tell me when Seamus would be available for the meeting," I said without looking up. "Plus, it's convenient."

"I bet it is," Blaise muttered.

An agonizingly long hour and a half later, I rushed out of the meeting room with Blaise in tow. He sighed and said, "Mate, she knows you'll be back, calm down."

"You didn't see her, Blaise," I said. "It practically broke her. The strongest witch that has possibly ever lived."

"Exactly," Blaise said, slightly exasperated. "She will be able to handle herself for an hour and a half on her own."

"You don't get it!" I yelled, rounding on him. After earning some stares from the people around us, I quieted down and took a deep breath. "She's very fragile right now. I don't want to leave her alone for too long because I don't want her starting to blame herself for this. Remember how long it took Pansy to recover from her previous relationship?"

He frowned but nodded and said, "I understand. I probably understand better than you think I do. But you need to understand that she is not a mentally weak person. She will be alright."

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, calming down. "I'm sorry, Blaise. It's just more difficult because he can't seem to leave her alone, and it keeps breaking her every time he tries to contact her. I just want her to be happy again."

Blaise put a hand on my shoulder and said, "I know, mate. Just try not to take your frustrations from this out on me in the future."

I nodded and apologized again as we walked back to the elevators. After the doors shut, Blaise looked over at me. "I'll tell Jacqui to take your messages so that you can just go to your office and leave."

"Thanks," I said, watching the numbers on the elevator panel.

"You really care about her, don't you?"

I looked over at him, not answering. The elevator dinged and he sighed as we walked out. "Don't do anything rash."

"Yes, mum," I grumbled as I made my way to my office.

I scrambled to put my papers from the meeting away and gathered anything I would need, apparating to my apartment first to change. I threw on a pair of dark jeans and a black shirt before grabbing a jacket and apparating as fast as I could to her apartment.

Landing in her living room, I looked around but didn't see her immediately. "Hermione?"

There was a giggle and I noticed her legs hanging off the back of the couch, and then saw a hand pop up from the other side of the couch. "Here!"

I smiled slightly, wondering how she was in a good mood as I made my way to the couch. She was laying upside down with her head hanging off the seat, and her arms folded in her lap. I noticed she had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, which still looked amazing on her. She gave me a lopsided grin as I leaned my forearms against the back of the couch and looked down at her.

"What are you doing laying like that?" I asked curiously.

She burst into a fit of giggles and then looked under the coffee table, pointing. "Looking for nargles!"

I stared at her, wondering what had happened in the time I was gone when I laid eyes on the nearly empty bottle of wine on the coffee table.

"Alright, I think you've had enough wine for the morning," I said as I walked around the couch and grabbed her hand, gently pulling her up so that she was sitting up properly.

"I think not," She argued, her eyes closed while she turned her nose up. "I've only just started!"

I couldn't help but grin as I shook my head at her. "Are you hungry?"

"Famished," She grinned as she leaned back into the couch and looked at me.

"What would you like to eat?" I asked.

"I have no idea," She answered, shaking her head. Then she perked up and asked, "Should I order pizza?"

I laughed and asked, "Is pizza all you ever eat?"

"No, but it's convenient," She replied.

"Well, how about I cook you something?" I offered as I stood up.

"Ooh, Draco Malfoy is cooking for me," She giggled. Soon the giggling turned into a fit of laughter and she was wiping away tears. "What are you going to cook for me, Draco Malfoy?"

I shook my head at her as I tried to hold back a grin and asked, "What do you want me to cook?"

"I have no idea."