Laugh Now, Cry Later
Disclaimer: Characters belong, sadly, to J.K Rowling (and she does a much better job with them than I do).

"Come on, Granger," he called. "Stop being such a drama queen about everything and slow down."

She wanted to hit him over the head with something hard – a brick, a rock, a frying pan. Instead, she continued walking down the street, listening to the pounding of blood in her ears.

She could have just Apparated, right then and there. But something held her earth-bound and she continued walking, and for whatever reason, he followed her.

"Granger, what is this about? Seriously. If this is just a phase that you'll get over the next time I see you, then I'll just leave now–"

She rounded on him then. He seemed shocked by her sudden confrontation, as if he simply expected her to keep walking. "Fuck you, Malfoy. I told you to stay away from her. I warned you."

He looked like he didn't care, and that in itself was enough to infuriate her more than she ever thought possible. "So I'm dating your friend. Big deal. Get over it."

"Get over it?" she repeated. "You're going to hurt her, Malfoy. You screw women and then act like it's nothing, that's who you are. She's not like that, she doesn't do these things casually."

He had the nerve to look uninterested. "This isn't your problem, Granger. It has nothing to do with you."

"She's my friend, Malfoy. Look it up in a dictionary sometime."

"She's old enough to take care of herself. Like you said, you're her friend, not her mother."

Hermione turned around and continued walking.

"I'm not up for a marathon today, Granger. If you keep walking, I won't follow you. Why don't you tell me what the real problem is so I can go home?"

The tone of his voice had changed. She turned around to see him smirking.

"What?"

"You're not pissed off because I might hurt her," Draco said, that exasperating smirk still on his face. "You don't even care. That's not what this whole blow-up is about, is it?"

Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Why don't you tell me?" she challenged, crossing her arms across her chest. "Go ahead. You seem to think you have some sort of valuable insight into my mind."

The smirk was turning into a grin. "Oh, come off it, Granger. Just admit you want me so I can ditch your friend, and you and I can get it on like sexually starved bunnies."

For a moment, Hermione remained silent. Then, finally, "You're an arrogant son of a bitch, Malfoy. You know that?"

She turned around and started to walk away again, but not before noticing that her heart had stopped pounding blood in her ears and was instead beating away against her chest.

Draco ran up to walk in step with her. He was laughing. "You're a treat, Granger, you really are. Come on, don't be angry. I'll tell your friend I'm a shameless fucker before I fuck her, ok?"

"Fuck you."

"Well, that's what I mean, Granger. I know you want to. You should just admit it. It's unhealthy to keep those sorts of feelings hidden so deep. How long haven't you had sex, anyway?"

"You're sick." Hermione retorted, but her resolve to stay mad at him was already wavering. It had begun to waver the minute he'd started teasing her.

"I know." The tone of his voice was now downright cheery. "It's charming, isn't it?"

She turned her head away from him to hide her face because the corners of her lips had begun to twitch, as hard as she tried to fight it.

They were passing a supermarket when he told her to wait, and he went inside. He came out holding a lollipop. "I think I gave the guy too much money. The asshole took it all, though. I can never understand how this Muggle money stuff works."

He held the lollipop out to her. "Forgive me?" he asked, his voice still carrying that teasing edge. He waved the lollipop in the air, like a white flag signaling a truce. His silver eyes were shining, a lazy grin on his face.

She took it. She didn't stand a chance.

A/N: This is for all the people who read Remnants of Yesterday and wished our little couple here had a happy ending. Look forward to new chapters soon (and they'll be longer than this one, I promise), and let me know what you think so far!