The Drive Home

It had been a wonderful night at the Nott residence. Draco and Astoria Malfoy were invited over for dinner, and everything was going smoothly until dessert came around, when Theo brought up some memories from his and Draco's third year at Hogwarts.

"Ha! Malfoy, remember when Granger slapped you across the face?" They both laughed, remembering how for a week there was a red handprint on Draco's face.

Astoria cleared her throat and glared at the two men. "I bet you'd rather be with Hermione Granger than me, Draco."

The room fell silent, with all three smiles disappearing. Theo's wife, Amber, focused on her lap, her white cloth napkin suddenly becoming interesting.

Draco chuckled, hoping Astoria was joking. "Why in the world would I ever want to be with someone who slapped me?"

She folded her arms and turned to him in her chair. "I don't know your thoughts, don't ask me."

Draco tossed his hands in the air and addressed Theo and Amber. "Thank you both for the dinner invitation, but we better head out now."

"I just can't believe you'd want to be with that snob of a Mudblood, Draco," Astoria Malfoy sneered from the passenger side of the Mercedes, as Draco was speeding past Hyde Park.

"Snob? I don't even know what the hell you're talking about!" He scoffed, gripping the steering wheel harder, the whiteness and tendons showing through the skin of his knuckles."You are the one who started this whole bloody mess!" He switched on the right turn signal and tried to focus on the road. "We'd still be at Theo's house right now if you hadn't brought this up!"

"Well, it was as good a time as any!" She huffed as she glared ahead, watching the world come speeding toward them. "I know you have feelings for that Mudblood, and Theo confirmed it by bringing up your flirting session from your third year."

Draco slammed his foot on the brakes which caused the car to fishtail slightly. Luckily, they were at a stoplight with no other cars around. "Unbelievable!" He exclaimed. "Why the hell would you think that? You and I have been married for 10 years, and I've never even dated that woman! Oh, and? You have never met her!"

The anger building up inside the vehicle was tangible as husband and wife yelled at each other, and It was truly a miracle that they hadn't crashed or flipped over yet. However, Astoria had the intention of pressing their luck because she didn't show any sign of relenting.

"I haven't met her but I've seen her at the Ministry!" She shouted. "I saw her eyeing you when I was there a few months ago! She was in the Aurors' department! She stared at you! I saw!" By this point, Astoria's sanity was being questioned.

He shook his head, slammed his foot on the accelerator and drove through the intersection, the tires squealing in response.

"I can't believe this is happening. Granger is an Auror so of course she was at the Aurors' office!" He felt like he was explaining this to a toddler. "I am also an Auror, which means Astoria, that I was there, too!"

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I saw how she looked at you!"

A thought occurred to Draco, and he turned to his wife. "Wait a minute. Is that why you seemed so angry that day? Because Granger happened to look over at me?"

Apparently checking her flawless hair and makeup was more important than an answer, because instead of one, she pulled down the sun visor on the ceiling to open the small mirror on the other side of it. Draco rolled his eyes when she pulled the immature "duck face" and wiped away nonexistent eyeshadow fallout.

The only noise was the steady humming of the engine, and after five minutes of it, the snap of the mirror closing sounded amplified. He was too angry to continue the conversation so he left the choice to her.

It was as if she never paused the argument when she spoke again. "Well, I had every right to be. And I don't know what you see in her--"

"I don't--" He interrupted as he switched on the left turn signal to turn the car onto their street. His eyes were itching and glazing over from staring into the darkness for so long.

"She's never been married, and her hair is like a fucking tumbleweed. I mean, has she ever heard of hair potions?" Evidently Astoria was personally offended at what she considered Hermione's "lack of pristine hair."

"Alright, ignoring the bitchy thing you just said," he began coldly, "I'm done arguing and being shrieked at. I hope you got your kicks from embarrassing us tonight."

Pressing the garage door opener, he drove the car into one of their many garages, got out, and slammed the door behind him.

"Arse," she mumbled, refusing to get out.