Love at First Punch

by TimeAndLife21

If you were to ask Draco Malfoy when he was younger about what kind of girl he would marry, he would have hexed you where you stood and leave you on the floor moaning in pain. Being a pureblood wizard in a high status he would not reduce himself to answering a private question, if he did he would always respond that he would marry a pureblooded witch over anything else.

But in his young mind, he would be silently thinking. "Someone who has fire in their soul. Someone who can stand up to me and fight back no matter what happens."

At least he was being honest with himself.

Now that he was older, he didn't give a damn about blood status. Magic is magic, blood is blood. Which is why he so cherished his wife so much. She had the fire in her that couldn't be smothered even if you tried. She had grown into her beauty as well. He didn't know how he fell in love with her over the years before he had married her, he just knew that she was his. All because of one little incident. Third year.

He could remember third year at Hogwarts quite well. The year when he pissed off a Hippogriff, and got scratched by it. (Now looking back he really was a little snot. At least he grew out of it.) In return, he wanted the beast dead. So he sent a letter to his father (May God have mercy on his soul as he rots in Azkaban), to have Hagrid, the gamekeeper, removed and the blasted Hippogriff killed. He and his two ex-friends, one who was currently dead and the other was somewhere out of the country, wanted to see what was going on as his father and the executioner walked across the school grounds to take care of the Caretaker and the animal.

Looking back, he chuckled to himself. Ah, that very day. That very day that he fell in love.

"You foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach!"

He heard her voice as she whipped out her want and pushed him against one of the large stones over looking the field. At first, he was scared out of his wits. At the time, he didn't give a damn if he pissed her off or not, he enjoyed getting a rise out of her. Her curly dark brown brown hair was just slightly fizzling with electricity and the look in her chocolate brown eyes, it held a spark like nothing else. when he heard Potter and Weasley saying that it wasn't worth it, he grudged in his mind thanking him. So he shrugged of his fear and laughed with Crabbe and Goyle, only for her to whip around and...

BAM!

He took her fist right in the nose. The pain erupted in the center of his face and he went down like a sack of dragon dung.

The first thought when he got back up was, "I like her fire."

He would never have admitted it out loud. He was taken to the Infirmary for Madam Pomfrey to take a look at his bloody bleeding nose and fix him up. The little muggleborn (he refuses to even think of the other slur for it), had managed to break his nose. While his so called friends went to the Great Hall for food, he was laying there in his bed thinking of the girl who had the guts and the spirit to punch him in the face.

Hermione Granger.

He could remember that night, laying in his bed in the Slytherin dorms, thinking about the Gryffindor Princess. His heart beat fast as he thought of her fury. He may have been raised to respect women, courtesy of his mother, be he just couldn't help but keep pissing Hermione Granger off. That night he came to a conclusion.

"It was love at first punch." He thought to himself.

So in the following years he would do whatever it took to get her riled up and see the burning anger that she had. She was brave, she was loyal, she would fight to her last dying breath. She captivated him when no other woman could.

The year of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was the time when he truly wanted to ask her out to the Yule Ball. He didn't want to care about blood status that night. When she came down the stairs in the pale pink flowing dress, he wished it was him that was dancing with her that night. From then on, he just kept at it. Pissing her off at much as he could and taunting her and insulting her.

It wasn't until 2 years after the Battle of Hogwarts when he had run into her again. He fell back into his old habit that he had broken, and insulted her when they bumped into each other in Diagon alley. She managed to punch him again in the same spot as she did in third year. He fell in love with her all over again. After profusely apologizing (and slight groveling), she took him into a shop and fixed his nose. He could still see that fire burning behind her eyes. She may have smothered it to an extent, but it was still there.

He offered her lunch that day and they met at the Steaming Kitchen every Thursday at 12:00 to eat lunch and even catch up. They spoke of old time back in Hogwarts and even confessed with a bitter smile that he was a prat with the ego the size of Europe. Working at St. Mungo's works great to get humility. It wasn't until the last week of February 2003 that she confessed that the day she punched him in the nose, she regretted it, but it was satisfying as hell. He then confessed that he fell in love with her that day.

"Why the hell would you fall in love with a girl who physically assaulted you?" She had asked.

He shrugged and smiled, "It was love at first punch, I guess." He chuckled.

The pureblood and the muggleborn was married on July 17th. He was the happiest man in the world. Now 20 years later, after having three children, he still was the happiest man. His wife still has that curl in her hair that has been tamed over the years and her brown eyes still held that spark of fire that would melt the coldest of hearts.

"Draco?" He heard his name.

He saw his wife stand in his vision and he looked up at her.

"Beautiful." He thought as she looked down at him.

"You've been laying outside for 4 hours now." Her pink lips twitched into a smile.

"Scorpius brought Rose over for the party. Cassiopeia is just coming over for an hour and you know how much she want to spend time with you before she has to go back to her job, and Orion is flooing in from America. We need to get ready." She said as she kneeled down next to him on the green grass in the hot summer sun.

"Darling, it's just a party, not a ball." He drawled as he thought of the upcoming party.

He groaned and threw his arm over his eyes to block out some of the sun and his irritation.

He felt her lay next to him and she cuddled up to him, by throwing her arm around his waist and pulling him close.

"What have you been thinking about?" She asked softly in his ear. She smirked his boyish smirk that he hadn't donned since his school years.

"Draco?" He heard his wife pouted.

"I was just thinking of the first time you punched me. Remember?" He said as he took off his arm and looked over at her. She slowly smiled and her eyes brightened.

"You mean when you were whimpering when I held you to that stone with my wand in third year? And then I punched you because you deserved it? How could I forget?" She rolled her eyes at the memory.

"Well Love, that was the punch that sparked my curiosity for you." He smirked at her.

"You did say that it was 'Love at First Punch.' Though I still can't believe you would love me after all this time." She chuckled.

"Well darling, it was worth it." He said turning toward her after hearing his first born son shout from the manor.

"It was well worth it." He said as he kissed his wife ever so tenderly on the lips.

He wouldn't trade his life right now for the world.

And it was all because of a punch.

TAL21: Just a little cute and fluffy one-shot drabble about Hermione and Draco. I thought it would be cute to write this out. Seriously, I find it funny that there are hardly any fics of Dr/H about falling in love at first sight (or even First Punch) and i thought it would be nice to write it. It's been stuck in my head the whole day and i wanted it out. I hope you liked it and enjoyed this little short fic. If you are interested, go to my profile and read joy other stories. You won't be disappointed. :) (Although you would be disappointed seeing that i haven't updated my stories in a while but i'm still writing them). Have a good time everyone! Please leave reviews! :D

Keep on reading and writing! :D