Fic: Dance With Me (Draco/Hermione)
Title: Dance With Me
Author: kalina_blue
Rating: PG-13
Prompt Set: 100.1 (Draco/Hermione)
Prompt: 85. Stray
Word Count: 585
Summary: Draco asks Hermione to dance with him in order to save his life.
Warnings: Post-DH, EWE
A/N: Written for the "I Want the Fairy Tale" Valentine's Challenge at dramionedrabble-Day 03 Gone with the Wind. I used the following quotes:
3. I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.
5. My life is over. Nothing will ever happen to me again.
6. If I said I was madly in love with you you'd know I was lying.
Hermione was standing next to the newly reconstructed Fountain of Brethren, admiring the decorations for the Ministry's annual Christmas ball, when Draco Malfoy walked up to her.
"Granger, I need your help. It's a matter of life and death," he said hurriedly.
"Surely you are exaggerating, Malfoy," Hermione replied.
"Absolutely not. I need you to dance with me," Draco said, taking her arm and dragging her towards the middle of the Atrium, where a few other couples were already dancing.
"And how is that going to save your life?" Hermione asked bemusedly while she allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor.
"It's not my life I'm trying to safe. My life is over. Nothing will ever happen to me again," Draco announced theatrically. "You are saving everyone else's lives. Because if I have to spend one more second in the company of this Greengrass chit, I'm going to run amok and Avada Kedavra everyone in this bloody ballroom."
"You mean Astoria?" Hermione asked astonished. "But she's your fiancée. Your father announced your engagement just half an hour ago."
"Don't say it out loud," Draco hissed desperately. "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."
"Malfoy, you are absolutely impossible. Do you mean to tell me that you don't want to marry Astoria?" Hermione asked while Draco was twirling her around the dance floor.
"Of course I do," Draco replied with false enthusiasm. "Just as much as I want to break my wand, denounce all my ties to the wizarding world and live my life as a Muggle."
"Why in Merlin's name did you propose to her then?"
"I didn't!" Draco immediately exclaimed. "The dim-wit just completely misinterpreted something I said."
"And what was that?" Hermione asked, although she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"Well, I might have told her that I love her," Draco admitted. "But I swear I only wanted to get into her knickers. How was I supposed to know she'd be stupid enough to believe me? If I said I was madly in love with you you'd know I was lying."
"Of course. You're too self-absorbed to love anyone but yourself," Hermione agreed.
"See, you get me. I should marry you, not that idiot."
"Malfoy, I wouldn't marry you even if you were the last man on the planet and it would fall to us to continue the human race," Hermione stated dryly.
"Doesn't matter anyways," Draco replied, completely unfazed by Hermione's rebuttal of his marriage proposal. "Cause Astoria told her mother that I love her, who told my mother, who then told my father. And Lucius apparently thought that a connection between our two families would be very beneficial. Before I knew what was happening, they were drawing up the pre-nups."
"Have you tried telling Astoria and your family that you don't want to get married?" Hermione asked, laughing.
"Believe me, I did," Draco said, dipping Hermione low as the last chords of the song rang out. "They just won't listen to me."
"Well, you're a Slytherin. You lot are supposed to be cunning. I'm sure you'll find a way out of this mess," Hermione said, trying to sound reassuring, but failing to keep the laughter out of her voice.
"I think I just did," Draco replied, suddenly grinning.
And then he bent down and kissed Hermione, right in front of his family, his fiancée and the entire staff of the Ministry of Magic.