AN: I know, I know, it's another one! I pretty much know how the whole of this one is going to be set out, so I won't take MONTHS. You know, hopefully. :P

-

It was her alright. Draco leaned a little to the left, watching her face as she talked to the man outside. She didn't seem to know him very well, but he could tell that she didn't like him very much. He frowned as the man leant closer to her and said something. She looked outraged and tried to slap him, but he held her wrist. Ignoring the whispers and frowns of the other patrons, Draco stood up and left the café.

He turned the corner, hoping to see them immediately, but was disappointed. The long street was empty. Except…

He ran down the footpath, his footsteps light, looking straight ahead.

At a small alcove, he stopped, panting softly. The man was there, and he had her pressed between his stinking body and the stone wall. Her eyes were closed tightly, as though she was imagining herself away. She made a small noise, and the man laughed quietly, the sound laced with menace.

"No' a sound miss. Would nay wan' choo bleedin' all over this pavement, now, would we? Nah, miss…you jus' keep quiet, and it'll all be orright."

In the split second before he hit the man in the side of the head, Draco wondered why she hadn't retaliated. But as the man slid to the ground, he noticed the small knife in his loose fingers and the thin line of scarlet across her pale neck. She whimpered quietly and fell to her knees, her eyes still closed tightly.

"You alright?" Draco asked, putting a hand out for her to take. She pulled herself to her feet and her mouth twisted into a wry smile.

"Never better," she said a little shakily, discreetly wiping the tears from her eyes.

Draco gingerly put his arm around her thin shoulders and walked her to the café door.

"Hey, look. You've had a shock. You should sit down. I'll buy you a drink, alright?"

She nodded and made to shrug his hand away from her shoulders, then seemed to think better of it and leant into him a little. He sat her down at his table and, after ordering a coffee, sat back in his chair, eyeing her warily. Her eyes were closed again, but they opened when he spoke.

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods, Granger?"

-

The conversation had dried up ten minutes ago, and Draco felt he was probably losing her. He needed to get into the heavy stuff, then.

"You still married to Weasley?" he asked, and she didn't correct him, as she had when he had called her Granger.

("We're adults now, Draco, not school kids. Call me Hermione, please.")

She was silent, fingering the rim of her coffee cup, and he wished he had kept his mouth shut, especially when he belatedly noticed her bare ring finger.

"We divorced," she said, her voice barely audible over the coffee machines.

Draco frowned. He wasn't sure why, but it had seemed highly improbably that Granger would ever be divorced. She seemed such a perfectionist in everything that she did – it just seemed strange that she wouldn't have worked at her marriage. Still, he didn't know that she hadn't. Some things were beyond saving. He didn't press the matter.

"Kids?" he asked, expecting a yes.

"Nope," she said, spinning her cup in its saucer and not looking at him. And that seemed to be it.

A few minutes later, she looked up at him, as if remembering something.

"Are you married?" she asked, in an almost accusatory tone. Draco grinned.

"No. Not really my thing, marriage."

"That's surprising," Hermione muttered sarcastically. His grin grew wider.

"It is, actually. Or at least, my parents seem to find it surprising. In fact, father said he wouldn't give me my inheritance unless I married. Stupid, really. But I need an heir."

It was Hermione's turn to grin, but she looked slightly sad.

"Can't just have one of your bastards take the throne? If it was good enough for Henry and all that…"

Draco looked shocked.

"I don't have any kids!" he exclaimed, and Hermione's eyebrows rose.

"Really? Are you sure about that? Amount of girls you'd bedded, I'd not be surprised if you had twenty kids floating around Britain and its outer boroughs."

Draco went red and mumbled something. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What? I can't hear when you talk that low."

Draco cleared his throat, but he still looked flushed.

"I've…ah, I've only slept with two girls," he said quietly.

Hermione sat back in her chair, smirking.

"Well that was a bombshell! Definitely didn't see that one coming! Hey, you said girls. How many men?"

She laughed and reached for her coffee, taking a sip, obviously not expecting an answer.

Draco looked as dignified as possible as he said "three."

Hermione spluttered into her coffee cup, and then stared at him as if in a new light.

"Who?" she asked eagerly, leaning forward as she put her cup down.

Draco raised an eyebrow delicately.

"Do you really think I'm about to tell you something like that? I don't discuss my sex life with anyone, let alone strangers," he said witheringly.

Hermione looked taken aback.

"A stranger? Draco, we've known each other since we were eleven!"

Draco sniffed. "You're practically a stranger," he said, "I mean, we haven't ever been friends, and it's been, what? Five years since we last saw each other? Neither of us knows anything about the other, really, and that's generally what one would classify as 'stranger'. Somebody whom somebody else does not know?"

Hermione pouted. "Then we should get to know one another! And what better way than to count off old flames?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "No."

Hermione sulked. "I'm in a very delicate condition, Mr Malfoy! Would you have me faint?"

Draco shook his head in irritation, but started to count them off on his fingers.

"Blaise Zabini," he said, not looking at her.

"Ooh, really? He was gorgeous! I had a little thing for him too, at one point. Utter bastard, of course, but very beautiful. Was he your first?"

Draco muttered something and said testily, "no, Pansy was."

Hermione sighed exasperatedly, and he looked up at her despite himself. She was grinning.

"No, silly. Your first encounter of the gay kind."

Draco went pink. This girl.

"Ye-es."

He didn't look up, but he could see that her smile had grown. She was also chuckling. Bollocks.

"And?" she prompted.

"Ah…Theodore Nott."

"Really?" she asked, her nose screwed up in surprise. He felt a strong desire to hit her, but restrained himself. Somehow.

"Yes. He wasn't ever my friend, really, but he was someone I always looked up to. He was very clever."

"A bit of a loner, though, wasn't he? I never really saw him with anybody."

Draco smiled a little wistfully. "No, he never really felt the need to hang around with anyone. He was just…alright with himself. That's one of the reasons I liked him so much. Plus, he knew what it was like to lose people, and we could relate to each other."

Hermione smiled at the look on his face. "You really liked him. Do you still keep in contact?"

Draco sighed. "No, not really. He's still the same person…he doesn't do well around people, and I…do. It's too difficult. But we see each other occasionally. He moved to Scotland, so it isn't often. I don't really like Scotland. Too wet."

Hermione nodded. "Hm. Beautiful, though. Mist covered mountains of home… Chi mi na sgoran fo cheo and all that."

Draco looked at her. "I hate mist."

Hermione smiled, shaking her head. "You do know how to kill a conversation, don't you?"

Draco stretched. "It is a skill I have needed many times, Hermione. Especially for when I'm speaking to people like you."

"Ooh, harsh. Alright, we'll move on from Theodore, as apparently he is your great tragic love and talking about him makes you grouchy. Who was the last one?"

Draco hesitated, wondering whether he should lie. She would probably hit him. But she caught the hesitation and said "don't lie, Draco, or I'll put Veritaserum in your soup."

"What soup?" asked Draco, and was met by a glare.

"Who?"

He winced, and then said "er…Harry," in a very small voice.

"HARRY POTTER!?" Hermione squealed, and then hit him on the arm. But not very hard.

"My, my," she said after a moment, looking very pleased. "You do like your famous ones."

"So do you," Draco muttered irritably, rubbing his arm.

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Hermione, looking as though she might hit him again.

"Well, there was Krum. Can't understand that one, to be honest. He was so…"

"Heterosexual?" Hermione asked, grinning.

Draco weighed up the pros and cons of killing her, but settled on ignoring the comment altogether.

"And Harry. I mean, there were a lot of rumours…"

"None of which were true," said Hermione, looking testy.

"Personally, I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd had a roll in the hay with good old mouldy Voldie. Would have been a nice contrast with young potty wee Potter."

He grinned as she turned an interesting shade of purple. Or mauve. Maybe it was maroon. It was interesting, anyroad.

"That is revolting. How would that even have been possible? Actually, no. Do not answer that."

He didn't, preferring to keep a shred of his sanity intact.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Hermione said, her face slowly turning back to something resembling normal.

"Let's," Draco agreed, grinning. Hermione scowled at him.

"So…this thing with your father? What's that about? He wants you to marry?"

Draco grinned, finding it rather hilarious the way she was latching onto the one topic of conversation they hadn't yet covered, but without any interest in the answer.

"Yeah," Draco said, tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind his ear.

"It's the whole 'heir' thing. For some reason, pureblood families are all obsessed with heirs. Carry on the fine name of blah blah. And seeing as I'm the only heir to the Malfoy name, it falls to me to give us another."

"Pity you're gay," Hermione said, trying not to laugh. Draco scowled at her.

"Yes. Such a pity. If I was gay. Which I'm not."

"But-"

"I swing both ways, Hermione. So all is well. The Malfoy name can live on in peace. You know, apart from the fact that I still haven't met a girl I want to marry."

Hermione frowned.

"So, is there…I don't know, a time limit? Do you have the whole 'marry in one year and you will receive your inheritance, otherwise-'" she made an exploding noise.

Draco gave her a look, and then sighed.

"Yeah, there is, actually. My parents are very into the whole dramatic Italian family thing. It's all ultimatums with them. So I've actually only got about two months left."

He sighed again, swilling the dregs of cold coffee around in his cup.

"The stupid thing is, in a normal relationship there would be no way in hell that I could go from meet to married in two months. And, I mean, I haven't even met anyone yet. So even if I were to meet them today, it would still be much to short an amount of time. Girls like to be romanced, and that just isn't enough time to romance. It's shotgun, which is absolute bollocks. So…"

He trailed off, staring at the dregs of coffee. Hermione leant over and placed a hand on his arm comfortingly.

"Hey, I'm sure something'll work out. You're not anywhere near the horror you were at school, and there must be plenty of girls willing to forgo romance for a grand fortune. Sure, they might all be vapid trophy wives, but what's that to you, eh? All you need to do is knock her up and then she can be left at home to be a good little housewife, while you go out and play with the boys."

She laughed. "And you will go out and play with the boys, apparently."

"Ha, ha," said Draco sarcastically.

"Anyway, it isn't that easy. I don't want someone vapid. I want someone who can challenge me, who defies me. I want someone who is interesting, who has a brain. I want someone…"

He trailed off again, staring at Hermione.

"What?" she asked, looking uncomfortable under his appraising stare.

A slow smile spread over Draco's face, and then he was suddenly on one knee.

"Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"

-

AN: Haha. Oh dear. Wonder what she'll say? Heeeee. You won't know until NEXT TIME!

Review please. I'm not going to say that you have to give me twenty reviews before I update, but I'm not going to say that you DON'T have to do that, either. Just joking. Maybe. But please do review.

icex