A 500 word drabble for a graphic on tumblr. The link is on my profile.

AU: Draco and Hermione meet at a muggle university

"Will you go to dinner with me tonight?" Draco asked baldly.

Hermione had been going back to her room to study for exams (they were in two months and she had yet to study for them) when Draco Malfoy approached her. It's not like she was unaware of his presence at the university. She had seen him in the two classes they shared—psychology and chemistry. She supposed her skill in the latter was formed in the dungeons with Snape. Which is probably why Malfoy was taking the class, she guessed.

She very nearly fell out of her chair when he walked into the lab on the first day of class. When he made eye contact with her, his widened eyes momentarily betrayed his shock. However, he quickly recovered, and his on his face formed the all too familiar smirk she remembered so well. She scowled reflexively. Before she could see his response, she turned her body away from him and started scribbling nonsense in her notebook.

They had never spoken. Every time she caught a glimpse of his pale hair or confident stride, she quickly ducked into any nearby open classroom, or abruptly turned in the other direction. The last thing Hermione wanted to do was have a conversation (a confrontation, really) in public with her childhood nemesis.

But it was too late now. She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going, and had bumped into him—quite literally. And now he had… What?

"You must be crazy Malfoy," she said incredulously. "No, no, and a thousand times no. You are a still self-centered, elitist rich boy who doesn't care about anyone other than himself." She sniffed haughtily to emphasize her point. "Even if you do go to a muggle school."

He looked a bit hurt. "You don't know me anymore. I've changed."

She snorted inelegantly. "I don't believe you. No."

Draco looked faintly angry now. "Listen, is this some sort of punishment for what I did to you in school? It's true, whether you want to believe it or not. I have changed. And part of the reason I'm asking you out is to apologize for my appalling, despicable behavior as a child," he sputtered.

She relaxed at his statement, but still eyed him suspiciously. "I'm free on Saturday," she announced, watching his reaction, "You better not screw this up, Malfoy."

Draco's mouth quirked upwards into a rare, genuine smile. He was quite attractive that way, she decided. "Thanks Granger," he responded, grinning fully now.

She walked away quickly, flustered by their meeting. Before she turned the corner, she chanced a look over her shoulder.

Draco Malfoy was standing in the same place she had left him, staring after her and grinning like an idiot. She gave him a half-smile and he blushed lightly, shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked jauntily in the opposite direction, whistling tunelessly. She smiled fully as she watched him for a moment.

Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.