To be fair, Draco never thought she'd say yes.
And he certainly never thought she'd be excited about it, that he'd overhear Potter complaining to Potterette about how animated she'd been at lunch about the whole thing.
He took another gulp of his fire-whiskey and glanced around the restaurant. There were a few people casting wary glances at him but thankfully, most of the diners were ignoring him. Ignorance was good, they'd be too busy pretending he wasn't there to agitate the witch he was waiting for by glaring and whispering indiscreetly.
Still, his palms were sweaty with anticipation and he kept having to wipe them on his trouser-leg so he could shake his date's hand when she eventually showed up. Draco checked the watch Potter had bestowed upon him on the first anniversary of their auror partnership The missing witch in question should have arrived five minutes ago.
Draco felt his hands get sweatier. Merlin! Was she going to leave him stag? Had her saying yes and Potter loudly eclaiming how enthusiastic she was about the whole thing been some big joke on him? Was he going to have to wander into work tomorrow and look at Potter's smug expre-
"Get a grip of yourself Malfoy" he mumbled to himself, "Potter's your friend, and she-"
"Are you talking to yourself Malfoy?"
Draco's head snapped up at the sound of her voice. She was standing at the edge of the table smirking at him. Draco would have thought she wasn't nervous at all, but her teeth were worrying her bottom lip, and her hands were clutching her bag and -
She was wearing a black dress. It had long sleeves, just like every dress he'd ever seen her wear did, but with a low cut neckline that emphasised her bust. It cinched at the waist and stopped just above her knee. Draco felt his mouth go dry, even as moisture continued to seep from every other pore of his body.
"Gra - Hermione" he corrected himself, stumbling out of his chair and standing to help her into the seat opposite him, immediately knocking the edge of the table in his haste. He felt heat bloom in his cheeks and caught the hint of a smile on Hermione's lips as she watched him struggle to be a gentleman, "Please" he said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, "have a seat?"
Hermione nodded, and placed her hand in his outstretched one. "You're nervous," she said quietly, after he had seated himself opposite her and poured her a glass of water from the jug that had already refilled itself three times while he'd been waiting.
Draco chuckled as he gave her a wry smile and a shaky nod, "A bit yeah."
Hermione nodded and cast her eyes downwards to the menu in front of her, "Me too," she whispered.
Draco felt his shoulders relax at her confession. "I thought you were going to stand me up... That you wouldn't be able to see past my reputation, past the mark on my arm."
Her eyes met his and she gave him a shy smile of her own. "I was standing outside for the past twenty minutes convincing myself that you really were in here waiting for me. That it wasn't some big joke."
Draco couldn't help himself, her words forced a bark of laughter from him and he grinned at her. "Well" he started, "we're both here. Wine?"