The House Competition

Round Four - BONUS TIME

Category One: Tropes

2. Didn't know they were dating (secret dating)

(setting) A library

Word Count: 1987

The Golden Snitch

Mahoutokoro, Kaze

The Emoji Challange

5. The kiss with an eye closed emoji: Write about a secret love.

Thank you Ayden and Aurora for betaing

The Struggles of Secret Dating

Hermione took a deep breath. She knocked on his door before entering.

Draco looked up from his huge pile of work. "Granger, what do you want here?" he asked, surprised.

"I've just been to the supermarket to grab something for lunch and they sold the pastries in double packs, I thought you might be hungry as well," Hermione said, handing him the paper bag.

Draco accepted it reluctantly, watching her through narrowed slits.

She was playing with the buttons of her blouse. Her gaze wandered to the door, but she was somewhat reluctant to leave. "How's your wife?"

"Normal, I guess," he shrugged, looking at his former classmate as if she had said something weird.

Having run out of topics for small talk, she left his office and returned to her own. It wasn't like she was bored. In fact, Hermione had a lot to do. Ever since her law protecting the rights of werewolves passed, she was the number one go-to person when it came to werewolves.

Hermione was glad when she finally sent the last memo. She checked one last time if she hadn't forgotten anything important before leaving her office.

Entering the elevator, she greeted the other wizards and witches with a nod. With his platinum blond hair, Draco stood out from the crowd.

Standing next to the Slytherin, Hermione wondered if she should attempt conversation. She looked at him and quickly away again. This was so awkward.

Level by Level a few other Ministry workers got off and others got in the elevator. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment and suddenly, they were alone in the cabin. Now she had to say something to Draco, but they had nothing to talk about. She had tried to approach him countless times before.

"Ready to go home?" she asked. That sounded stupid. Couldn't she have come up with something better?

"Seriously, Granger?" Draco pushed a button and the cabin came to a halt.

Hermione blinked a couple of times, she didn't know what to say. Before she could process what was happening, Draco had already pushed her against the wall. With her lower arms high up, she tried to keep him away from her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she cried.

"Stop making such a fuss, this is what you wanted the whole time." Draco tried to kiss her.

Hermione raised her knee, tearing her pencil skirt in the process and kicked the blond wizard. "No!"

"What the fuck is wrong with you? You've been trying to get in my pants for weeks and now you act all fridgety."

Hermione blushed. This was so humiliating. "I'm sorry Draco, but I'm not interested in you, I'm actually seeing someone…"

She pressed the button and the elevator set into motion. Hermione cast a quick reparo, fixing her skirt. The bell rang and Draco left, cursing her loudly.

Entering the Hog's Head Inn, she dropped her bag onto the dirty floor and sat down next to Harry and Ron. Aberforth shoved a new round of butterbeer over the bar. The boys took their glasses and toasted. There was a loud clicking and the butterbeer spilled over.

Hermione sighed. "I screwed up." She buried her head in her hands.

"If you forgot a comma in your last letter, I'm sure no one will notice," Ron said.

She glared at her friend. "I upset Draco."

"Well, your sweetheart will get over it."

"What are you talking about?"

"We're not that dumb, Hermione," Harry said, "We know you're dating. I get it, he's a git but a beautiful one."

"I'm not dating Draco. Why would you think something like that?"

"Come on, 'Mione. We're Aurors, we pick up on things like that. I know how much time you've been spending with him, always dropping by his office, and you once mentioned 'the Manor'."

"This is a never-ending nightmare," she groaned, "I just wanted to be friends with him. I couldn't have known it would send a wrong message, his wife is having a baby, for god's sake. I can't believe that you thought I would see a married man!"

"It's a pureblood thing," Ron said.

Harry emptied his butterbeer and put the glass back on the counter. "I didn't know Draco was married."

Ron made a face. "After all those years of Malfoy this Malfoy that, you didn't know he was married?"

"The joining of the House of Malfoy and the House of Greengrass was the event of the year. Their reception was the event of the year," Hermione explained.

Harry shrugged. "I don't read the Prophet."

Ron looked at her. "More importantly why did you want to be friends with the ferret?"

Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot, this was the time to tell them. She took a deep breath, her fingers were tugging on the hem of her blouse. "I, em, I wanted to befriend Draco because I want to propose to his father."

Ron was coughing loudly, he spat his butterbeer over the bar. "Please don't tell me you're shagging Lucius Malfoy of all people."

"No, I want to spend the rest of my life with him and get old with him."

"He's already old."

"When did this happen? I mean, how could you end up with Malfoy's dad?" Harry asked.

"We got closer when I was drawing up my bill for werewolf-rights," she said. A smile covered her lips. "We spent countless hours debating… Weren't you surprised that he of all people was so supportive about my ideas?"

"I just thought that it was his way of buying himself free," Ron shrugged.

Hermione jumped up and grabbed her bag. "Has it ever occurred to you that I may have done a great job, engineering a bill that had all the right safety measurements in place to convince the critiques? And that the reason that it passed was that it was good, and not because the old purebloods wanted to whitewash their sins?"

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, while Hermione disapparated off.

Hermione found herself standing in the grand library of Malfoy Manor. She took a deep breath. The smell of old books filled her nostrils. She kicked her heels off and let her finger run over the spine of the tomes.

She loved this space. It felt like home to her. Strolling through the narrow aisle between the high bookshelves, she wondered if Lucius was at home. And if he was, did she want to face him just now?

Hermione let her head fall against the bookshelf in front of her. This was so frustrating. Maybe her attempts at making friends were a little pathetic, but she couldn't have known that things could go that wrong.

What if Lucius was angry with her as well? She couldn't take that as well. The last thing she needed was having to defend herself to him too. She had only wanted to be on speaking terms with her future stepson, but the way things were right now, Lucius wouldn't be interested in marrying her in the near future.

Tears welled up in her brown eyes. She couldn't lose him. They were happy together, even if all they had was this library.

Her hand stroke over the massive dark wood, feeling the details in the intricate carvings. Hermione let her gaze wander over her surroundings. She took a few steps towards the sitting area in the corner.

This was where they spent countless hours discussing the situation of werewolves and how their standard of living could be improved without causing the public to be frightened.

She had been sitting on this chair, a myriad of books was spread out on the big table between them. Exhausted after a lengthy debate, she let herself fall back. With tired eyes, she had watched him do the same. He loosened the bow that was holding his hair together and let his long platinum blond hair cascade freely of his shoulders.

He was truly beautiful and he was watching her with his blue eyes. There was no hostility in the way he looked at her, but curiosity. Hermione felt her cheeks glow, she had never intended to find herself drawn to him.

At first, she couldn't believe it. It had taken her an eternity to get used to the idea that he might not hate her. It was almost absurd. She had always assumed… But eventually, Hermione came to accept that those were assumptions and that she didn't really know the older wizard at all.

With every meal they shared, the affair became less and less formal, and the distance between her and the former Death Eater shrunk. Hermione enjoyed his proximity and so did he. At first, it was only a few innocent touches, a gentle smile, a few flirtatious remarks...

Hermione sat down and curled herself up in the big-armed chair. Her head rested on the black leather. This was where they had been sitting arm in arm kissing each other.

Lucius tucked a loose strand of her curly auburn hair behind her ear, taking his time stroking with his thumb over her cheek. Instinctively, she moved closer to him, pressing herself against his strong frame. His big hand rested on her hip.

Hermione placed her hand on his chest. Their eyes met. Licking over her lips, she grabbed him by his tie and dragged him closer to her. Her lips brushed over his, sending a tingling sensation through her entire body. Goosebumps covered her arms.

He tightened the grip around her and Hermione melted into his touch. Her lips captured his and she slowly opened her mouth to welcome him in. Their tongues danced and the world was spinning around her.

The sound of steps on the wooden floor was audible, but Hermione only reluctantly looked up. She didn't know what she was supposed to say to Lucius. He approached her and sat down next to her on the armed chair.

"I still had a few things to take care of, I hope you haven't suffered on your own," Lucius said, swinging his arm around her.

Hermione looked at him with her big brown eyes. "I've screwed up," she said, biting her lip.

"I have heard about this incident, from Draco."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want things to be weird for you. I just thought it would be easier if we became civil and now I've done exactly the opposite…"

"Shh." He placed his finger on her lips.

"I have been thinking… Our alliance has proven to be a successful one in political terms and I find your presence quite enjoyable… To avoid further misunderstandings, it would be best if we make our relationship official."

Lucius reached into his pocket and retrieved a small box. He retrieved a silver ring from it. It was shaped like a snake with little rubies as eyes.

Hermione looked at him with big eyes. Her lips twitched. "There is one thing you forgot."

"Hm. And what is that?" Lucius asked.

"You forgot that you love me and that you can't live without me."

"Yes," Lucius said.

Hermione swung her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Kissing him earnestly she pressed her body against him.

She took the ring out of his hand and showered him with kisses. "Yes, I want to be your wife."

He smiled at her and placed a kiss on her forehead. With his arms around her, he held onto her tightly. Lucius raised her small and placed a few featherlight kisses in her palm before putting the ring on her finger. Lucius smirked.

Hermione was lying in his arms. "And what are we going to do about Draco?"

He held onto her a little more tightly. "He has to grow up. I will not cave in this time. I might just have found something that is important enough."