At first she didn't know what went wrong. They were supposed to be happy together. Her long one-sided love finally wasn't one-sided. The man she was in love for years became hers. They started living together as soon as she finished her last year in Hogwart. Maybe it was a mistake. For her to live with him before marriage and for him to not attend Hogwart.

On her seventh year so many things changed. She became friends with people she would never thought of being on friendly or even normal basis.

First one was Malfoy who came one day and apologized to her for everything that happened. She heard his story and it became obvious that he changed so much. They weren't as close as friends but they were almost like that. They talked normally, did some assignments together without sending curses at each other. And she quickly realised that she liked working with him. Maybe that's why she was quite content to know that they were going to cooperate later in the Ministry of Magic. He was working in Mungo but was also responsible for handling more dangerous cases and informing her of them. They worked on them together, inspecting if there was a trace of Dark Magic. After all, he knew about it more than others.

That's when arguments with Ron started. He was complaining when she mentioned Draco while talking about her work. He went on a rampage every time she was working overtime with him. It didn't worked when she tried to make him understand that things changed and a lot of Slitherins were now friends not enemies.

She and Ron were having hard time and she found herself unable to talk about it with anyone. Harry was after all Ronald's friend, Ginny was his sister. And she was suddenly alone. She didn't want to get married to him yet. She wanted to work, meet new people, find new possibilities. She thought that the spark they found at school during war will still be there, when they became adults. But it disappeared. And she was suffocating. Once again he was spouting some nonsense about traitors and bloody Malfoy who was a Death Eater.

That was when she snapped for the first time. She left their apartment and went to a nearby bar where she used to spend afternoons with a good coffee. Only this time she didn't order the coffee.

"Whisky please". The waiter looked at her and smiled, probably trying to comfort her.

"Rough day?" - he asked and she sighed.

"Rough week."

"Granger?" She heard a familiar voice and the next second Draco Malfoy took a place next to her. "Are you alright?" She looked him in the eyes and for a while she wasn't able to say anything.

Merlin, he was still stunningly handsome. Those grey orbs, platinum, longer, messy hair that she would like to mess up. When did she started feeling that way about him? And why didn't she noticed it until now?

"I... I had a quarrel with Ronald" - she confessed and he nodded.

"About?"

"You" - she answered honestly before she could stop herself and he froze. She saw something disturbing in his expression, like he was trying to compose himself.

"Why? You should just let him talk. You know that he won't change his opinion about me."

"I just... It's making me angry. I know the real you and I hate it when people misunderstand you. I love how you care about your friends now and how you are..." She was interrupted by his hand that covered her mouth.

"Stop it, Hermione. You don't want to continue" - he said firmly with a pained look on his face. He was right, she didn't want to. But she just couldn't stop herself.

"And I love the way you are now" - she whispered and he cursed quietly.

The next thing she registered was his lips, meeting with hers and him pulling her closer, until their bodies met and she could throw her arms around his neck, playing with his silky hair. In that one kiss there was so much passion she didn't feel in a while. They were desperate for each other and when he finally pulled away, she felt the emptiness welling inside her.

Her face was red and she was out of breath but he looked the same way.

"You should go back..." - he muttered and she could only nod.

But she didn't go back. Instead she kissed him again, forgetting about the consequences. Just for a while.