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Hermione could barely touch the foreign items littering her desk. Instead, her eyes traced the bouquet first. Her hand hovered in mid-air over the white roses and red tulips as if touching them would make this any more real, any more startling. Her pinky tickled a fern leaf that acted as a filler along with eucalyptus leaves and she almost jumped. Laughing to herself at her own silly reaction to something so beautiful, she finally touched the tulips.
However, as her other hand came up to explore the floral arrangement before her, she nudged the box of chocolates that had just been delivered and felt her heart rate picking up speed once again.
Without thinking a moment longer, Hermione pushed her chair across the hardwood and stood. She was unwilling to fall under the enchantments the gifts surely had on them; otherwise, how else could she explain how incredibly flustered they made her?
So instead of shoving her face into the gift and allowing the overwhelming sense of love that today was shrouded with to overwhelm her, she moved. Hermione paced the floor to ceiling windows of her office ignoring the sickly decor up and down Oxford Street. The longer she replayed each interaction she'd had with the blond prat since the start of the year, however, her hands began to fidget. Whether it was in distress or desire to go back to the gifts, she didn’t know.
Unbuttoning the pearl buttons of her sleeves, Hermione remembered the first time Draco had shown up at her office demanding not a match for himself but his best friend and her ex-boyfriend, Theodore Nott.
She had almost refused him, should have refused him, but his stoic request carried warmth, even if she had to dig deep for it. What should have been a typical process was immediately thrown off base when Theo didn’t show up for his first date, letting Draco know that he wouldn't Tracey Davis again with a ten-foot wand.
From there Draco hadn’t left her alone. At first, she didn't think anything of it. He was a concerned friend who was paying an astronomical sum for Hermione's successful matchmaking business, 'Magic Us', to pair his closest friend with someone...successfully.
Hermione thrived in this business because her mission dug deeper than the true and false questionnaires and profiles her competitor's relied on. Her clients led satisfying and long-lasting relationships because she didn't throw hundreds of names and dates at them but met with them after each experience, discussed positives and benefits, and ensured her clients weren't altering who they were for someone else.
This process worked. Her process had a proven track record, data sheets full of the facts, and an open mind to adjust as needed.
What Hermione had little experience working with was an intermediary. Such things, ideally, didn’t belong in her business when connection, relationships, love was such a personal experience. What she had even less experience dealing with was an extremely handsome, single man who wasn’t looking for love and therefore accessible for her , and also happened to once be the bane of her existence.
Rolling her sleeves up as she retraced her steps along the wooden floorboards, Hermione huffed. She was not equipped to deal with a man who brought her dinner from her favourite Indian restaurant when he barely knew her and had her in stitches over stories of his childhood.
“I mean honestly,” she mumbled. How had he known exactly what she wanted and where he should grab it from? Why had dinner in her office—while they waited to hear from Theo—been much more enjoyable than it had any right to be?
The man had demanded his inclusion in 'Operation Find Theo Love' as she'd coined it, and she actually enjoyed his presence. She enjoyed it so much and so quickly that she would find herself wanting to share moments with him. She would jot down something that made her laugh in a new client's file or an article reference to discuss her disagreement with it whenever she saw him next.
But Hermione Granger was not a spontaneous witch, she took her time in everything else. It had taken Theo six months of friendlier than necessary interactions for Hermione to even consider wanting more than friendship from the lanky brunette. And then another six months for her to realize just how stale that relationship was, how Theo wanted it so much more and she just couldn’t be bothered to pretend a moment longer.
The first time Hermione had really seen Draco again since 1998 was January 2—ten years later—when he had approached her with this failing scheme to find Theo a lifetime partner. That had been less than six weeks previous and it was too fast and too much, and too strong. But her mind ignored the speed and for some reason, Draco Malfoy with his daily visits, delicious meals at her desk, and dimpled smile had her considering thoughts of more and preferably now.
Hermione stopped, wrapping her arms tight around her centre and pivoting just enough to observe the innocent-looking additions to her desk. Taking a tentative step towards the gifts she paused once again. New relationships, new love was exciting. It was like the just bloomed flowers, ready to show off, ready to be resplendent in its colouring, fragrance, strength. But time, external factors, and their own delusions of grandeur brought the end to that bloom, and in its place was the ‘ not quite right’ , the ‘almost but not enough’ of being in like with someone, but never quite in love.
She wasn’t sure if she was ready for another attempt, another failed moment of standing there when the glitter settled and finding the wrong piece to her puzzle. But then she remembered the way Draco had held his hand along the small of her back as they visited the opera ahead of Theo’s next scheduled date. Or the way he had ordered for her at the Italian restaurant he had insisted she join him at on Theo’s fourth date but allowed her to order in fluent french at the fifth.
Taking another step towards the gifts, Hermione threw her head back and groaned. They weren’t going to suddenly explode on her if she touched, accepted, or smiled at them. She was being ridiculous. Her last visitor had been clear that her worries were unfounded. Running her hands through her hair, loosening the low bun and letting the strands release, she thought back to his words.
“Darling, this is not a thank you gift.” Theo’s voice had held a secret. And if she knew anything about this man by now, after their friendship, their short relationship, and reading all his personal journals at Dracos behest, she would soon learn what this secret was if she stayed silent.
“No, no, these chocolates aren’t even from me. Spelled to only be opened by you, I am afraid.” His dimplel-ess smile had her biting back a retort to get to it. She couldn’t rush him but she needed to work on his excessively complicated love match and he couldn’t know about it.
“No, you see these are from your paramour, the same man that has been meeting with you daily to try and help me find love.” Theo’s eyes twinkled back at her and she realized this was the secret.
Unable to hold her tongue any longer, Hermione’s mouth attempted to make sense of the millions of thoughts flying through her mind at his short comment.
“You...wait, you knew? I don’t.” Hermione had shifted forward in her seat, stare hardening as she watched Theo’s smile fade.
“Malfoy has been gone for a long time, love. I wanted to help the bloke get into your good graces and what better way than use your magnificent services to help the best ex-boyfriend you ever had?” Theo’s arms had extended out on either side, a look of pure innocence attempting to etch its way over his devilish smile.
Shaking a finger at Theo’s silly stance, Hermione clasped her hands together. “And all the dates you eventually started to go on?”
“Oh, they were wonderful. I only wish I could continue, but it seems that the lady friends—”
“And men,” Hermione interrupted.
“And men you so painstakingly selected for me are not having quite so much fun trying to pin down a man who is already madly in love with someone else.”
With a groan, Hermione gave up the pretence of maturity and slapped her hands first, then her head onto her desk.
“I have been stressing myself out finding you someone, Theodore Nott.” Her voice was muffled against the aged wood, bouncing around her and reaching him in a mixture of whines.
“I have done everything I could and everything I said I never would to try and…”
Hermione’s head flew up, her hands slamming onto the desk again and raising halfway off her chair.
“Oh my, Merlin! I have to return the money to Draco. This was a sham then and he paid three times as much as we typically charge. Theo this was a ridiculous plan! Why couldn’t he simply have approached me? He’s fit, I would have at least taken a second look!”
Theo’s laugh cut through her panic, helping her sit back into her chair and slump as if the past six weeks of his antics had taken its toll—they had.
“Why did he have to set this all up? Rather Gryffindor isn’t it? Doing something so grand for a simple chance with a woman he barely knows?” Hermione sighed out into the room, head thrown back over the edge of her seat.
“Gryffindors—ten years ago I may add Ms Granger—rush in without thinking much of it. They plan yes, but their plans are loud and boisterous in your face and without pause. Our schemes, the lifeblood of our house is more subtle. It’s in the acts Malfoy made as he got closer to you, spent time with you, and you with him without the pretence of a date and all that anxiety that comes with it.”
Theo got up, sliding the box of Lindt Chocolates closer to her, nudging the bouquet of beautiful flowers over to make room.
“He has known about you for ages, Hermione. I am not a quiet man, you know this. When we didn’t work out I knew you would with him. Not everyone needs to own a matchmaking business in order to be successful at setting someone up.”
With that, he had left her. Left her to stew and worry over her own feelings. Did she want more with Draco than what they had? How could she be so certain that what she felt for him in this instant wouldn’t fade with time, once the excitement and discovery of each other shifted into quiet understanding? She had been in so many long term relationships but they always ended the same—disappointing.
Hermione finally stood before her desk, fingers itching towards the flowers until the door clicked behind her. She didn’t remember hearing it open, or rather she didn’t remember Theo closing it fully before he left. Hermione stood frozen, fingers halfway between the edge of her desk and the gifts as she listened for whoever had entered and closed her door to speak.
With bated breath that matched the soft clicking of leather against the wood, Hermione waited.
“Hermione,” he said softly, almost immediately behind her, but she stayed quiet.
“I’ve wanted to tell you for weeks, but I have enjoyed every moment, every interaction, every adventure we have had to go on in the name of Theo. I didn’t want it to end because this business transaction was over. I was a coward, but no one ever told me I was courageous when it mattered most.”
Slowly, Hermione turned, brow furrowed, lip tucked tightly between her teeth. “Would you like to continue to see me even though this business transaction has concluded, then?”
Draco’s eyes lightened, the concern he clearly accumulated entering her office dissipating as her lips quirked up, unable to hide her smile.
“I am happy to issue you a refund for the false matchmaking, however, the bills will remain for all the outings we took. I do deserve to be wined and dined after all.” Hermione surprised herself with her forwardness. She didn’t know where it was coming from but she wanted whatever it was Draco was willing to give her.
“Actually,” Draco said, the tips of his dragon hide boots pushing against the toes of her heels, “I do not require a refund.”
His hand came up to brush along her cheek before pushing her curls behind her ear. “I came here because I was told the very best of the best could find a partner for someone I cared very much for. I may have lied a little about who I wanted to match up, but I had a very clear idea of who I wanted and she wasn’t in your system.”
Hermione leaned into his hand, shaking her head slightly at his words.
“She would never put her own information into the system. I was always too scared to see that I had no match, too worried that I would never get that same ‘aha’ moment so many of my clients have, so I just kept out of the database, kept away from the process…”
His thumb brushed over her lips silencing her ramblings. “I’m glad. Because I have a strong feeling you wouldn’t have found your match, not because he wasn’t out there but because he had been out of the country and only heard about you from all his friends for years. When Theo insisted on knowing myself more than I did, I decided to give it a shot. I am glad I did.”
“Thank you for the flowers and the chocolates, they are my favourite,” Hermione whispered as she dragged her hands up the cashmere jumper stretched across his chest. Linking her fingers behind his neck she dragged him down until she could reach his lips on her tiptoes.
“I know,” Draco whispered back when she was a hair's breadth away from his lips. With that quiet confirmation that this man had continued to go out of his way to get to know her and her likes, Hermione brought his face down to hers.
Their first kiss was soft, tentative and so very unlike their first meeting. The second time Draco brought his lips to hers it was more forceful, more like the aristocratic man that had entered her office six weeks previously demanding something he didn’t even need. The third kiss he had lifted her onto her desk, his large hands surrounding her arse, her legs wrapped around his firm waist and she was thankful he had had the presence of mind to lock the door.