EPILOUGE
Hermione walked down the aisle of the supermarket examining each and every bottle of spices trying to find the one on her list. Paprika. That's what she needed and of course the one she couldn't find. She turned on her heel and walked back up the aisle to see if she somehow missed it.
"There it is." She muttered to herself spying it on the top shelf. She set her basket down on the ground and tried to balance herself on the bottom shelf reaching up as far as she could for the only bottle of paprika. Just before she could grasp it though another hand swooped out of no where and plucked the bottle right in front of her.
"Hey!" Hermione shouted stepping off the bottom shelf to look at the person who so rudely stole her spice, but her voice caught in her throat when she saw Draco Malfoy standing before her, paprika in hand.
"Hey, Hermione." He said smiling at her.
"Draco..." she said but trailed off to examine him. He wore dark blue jeans and a long sleeved maroon shirt. His blonde hair was a little shorter and more tamed. Did he use gel? He looked so polished and suddenly she felt embarrassed. Her thick curls were pulled back into a clip and she wore a loose sweater and dark faded jeans. She suddenly regretted not applying any make up before getting out of the car.
"Well you look nice…" Draco said obviously trying to fill the awkward silence.
"Thanks." She said blushing trying to pull down some stray hairs. "So do you."
"Thanks." He said. He turned away taking a deep breath and Hermione looked down at the ground sighing as well.
"Draco!" A voice called from behind. They both turned around to see Grace walking down the aisle to join them. Her blonde curls pulled back by a black head band. She wore a long black trench coat buttoned up and khaki pants with black suede heeled boots. "There you are. I was talking to you one minute and then I turn around and you're gone." She said laughing as she laced her arm with his not even acknowledging Hermione's presence.
"Sorry, I just came to get the paprika." He said smiling but then turning back to look at Hermione.
"Oh so your still with Grace." Hermione said smiling as best as she could. Compared to Grace she looked homeless.
"Yeah I am." He said looking down at the ground. "Grace this is Hermione." Hermione's eyes widened instantly. Draco seemed to notice her expression and smiled. "It's okay Hermione, I told her everything."
"Everything?" Hermione asked tugging on the collar of her sweater.
"Yeah everything." Grace confirmed. "Like how you lied with a fake name and he thought he had feelings for you but realized that it was actually me." She said smirking.
"Really?" Hermione said putting her hands on her hips. "Did he also tell you about…?"
"Yeah!" Draco quickly chimed in. "She knows everything…" he said. Hermione immediately understood his plea. He told her everything except about him being a wizard and her being a witch.
Hermione nodded her head looked back down. "Well I'm really happy for you two." She said looking back up.
"Thanks." Grace said with a fake smile. "Our wedding is going to be in a couple months actually."
"I know." Hermione said. "I saw the front of all the magazines. It's going to be highly publicized." She said looking at the happy couple before her. This brought up do many old feelings and she never realized how painful it was to see them together.
"Wow if I would have know it would take an hour to find the paprika I would've gotten it myself and sent you to get the tomatoes." Another voice called this time from behind Hermione.
"Oh Victor!" Hermione said turning around to see him wrapping his arms around her from behind.
"Victor?" Draco asked cocking an eyebrow at Hermione.
Hermione blushed, "Victor this is Draco and Grace. This is Victor, my boyfriend." She said.
Victor released one hand from Hermione's waist to shake Draco's and Grace's hands. "So how do you know Hermione?" Victor asked smiling before kissing the top of her head.
"We used to go to school together." Draco said sounding a tad possessive. Grace lightly hit Draco in the arm.
"Oh," he said looking to Hermione who nodded slowly. "It's always nice catching up with old friends and classmates." He said slowly.
"Yeah…" Hermione said trying not to look at Draco. He too was trying not to look at her. The four of them stood there in silence.
"So how did you guys meet?" Draco asked glaring at Victor.
"Oh we met on a plane. She was with someone else at the time but lucky me the idiot let her go. Can you believe it?" Victor said laughing.
"No, I can't." Draco said forgetting that Grace was right there. That is until she punched him in the arm.
"You know what you two should come to our wedding!" Grace said smiling. "You know what they say, sometimes it takes an actual wedding to give them the hint, eh Hermione." She said gazing up at Draco and kissing his cheek.
"Actually were taking it steady right now." Hermione said looking up to read Draco's expression.
"But it would be fun." Victor said rubbing his thumb over her fingers.
"Great! Draco, remind me to send the happy couple an invitation." Grace said smiling. Another silence fell over them but it was quickly broken by the ringing of a cell phone.
"Oh sorry about that, business." Victor said pulling out his cell phone and walking away from them. "Shoot!" he shouted into the phone.
"Well, he seems nice." Draco said looking at Hermione.
"Yeah, he's great." She answered.
"I'm glad." Draco said. He knew his voice wasn't very convincing though.
"Okay, remember confirm and then sell. Confirm then sell. It's very important to remember that." Victor said walking back up to them. "Alright." He said hanging up. He smiled as he took the shopping tote from Hermione and grabbed her hand. "Well we better get going. We have big plans for later." He said.
"Yeah, we have to get going too." Grace said looking at Draco's watch.
"It was nice meeting you guys." Victor said shaking their hands again.
"Pleasure." Draco said sarcastically. Draco looked down at his hand and saw the paprika still in hand. "Here you guys need it?" he asked holding it out to Hermione.
"No, its okay, you guys take it." Hermione said shaking her head.
"Here just take it…" he said grabbing a hold of her hand and placing the bottle in her hands and clasping her fingers closed. Such familiarity surfaced again and a small electric spark shot through her fingers. Draco must have felt it too because he quickly pulled back.
"Thank you." Victor said taking the bottle and placing it in the tote. "C'mon Hermione let's go get what's left on the list." Victor said grabbing her hand and pulling her down the aisle.
"C'mon Draco let's go pay…" Grace said pulling him up the aisle.
Draco turned back to see Victor pull her Hermione close to him and twist his free arm around her waist. "So long as she's happy…" He said turning back to face Grace.
Hermione turned back around and saw Grace kiss Draco on the cheek and see Draco return a smile to her. Then she turned back to Victor.
"So long as he's happy…"
Well my Darling lovely reviewers. That's the end of my tale. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Thank you so much for all your support and remaining loyal to me through all my late updates and slip ups. It truly means a lot. I said from the beginning that I was going to try and make this different from all the other "Bachelor" fanfictions on here and I hope I did succeed in doing so.
Oh yes! And as for when I asked for a certain amount of reviews…. That was posted to see how many people were still reading. If I got a good response to it then I would continue with my original plan from the beginning and make a
SEQUEL!
If there wasn't enough then I would just end it at that. I just didn't want to start a sequel and you all be bored of my story…you get what I'm saying? Does it make more sense? I sure hope so. So I'll ask one more time….
Do you guys want a sequel? Or should I leave it at this?
What did you guys think of my story?
As always review. And toodles for now!
Lots of love to you all and all my gratitude for your wonderful and encouraging words
Always,
Sillygirl :)