Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe as well as its characters belong solely to J.K. Rowling. I am not making any money what so ever off of this story.

A/N: I really hope y'all like this new story. I don't see it being a very long one so hopefully I can powerhouse the next few chapters out and finish it soon. I just got this idea in my head and started writing. I thought I lost my muse but I guess she was just steering me in another direction for the time being. Reviews are awesome so let me have it! Even if you hate it, let me know!

Chapter 1

Draco Malfoy was angry. He was forced to sit with his parents and the Greengrass family for tea, AGAIN, to finalize a marriage contract between him and Astoria. Draco liked her well enough, but he was certainly not in love with her. And he most definitely did NOT want to marry her.

Draco was pretty sure Astoria felt the same way, but they could not seem to get their parents to understand. Or even care. The only thing that mattered to them was being with someone from The Sacred Twenty-eight. And Merlin forbid if either one of them felt different.

Well, that was it, then, wasn't it? The contract was in place. He and Astoria would be getting married next summer and there was nothing either of them could do about it. He was surprised he was able to put it off this long but there was no more avoiding it. As soon as Draco signed the paper, he got up from the table and stormed inside the Manor. Astoria followed him to make sure he was alright.

She found him standing just inside in the massive hallway that ran between the giant arched front door and the back entrance to the garden patio. "Draco, darling, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Astoria. I promise," he said to her. He turned away from her and looked out the window to the patio where their parents still sat, talking. "I just don't understand how, after everything that happened with the war, they can still hold these values."

Astoria linked her arm in Draco's. "You're my best friend, Draco. I'm honestly just glad that Daddy picked you and not Marcus. I don't know what I would do if I were to have to be with him."

"You wouldn't have a thing to worry about. Flint is scared to death of me. He knows if he hurts another of my friends like he hurt Daph then I would kill him."

"We will make this work. I'm sure of it," She said. She stood on her toes to give him a peck on the cheek before releasing his arm and making her way back outside with their parents.

Draco made his way up to his bedroom to lie down. His head was swimming. They had to find a way out of this. There was just no way his parents could make him marry someone whom he viewed like his sister. He dozed off into an uneasy sleep.

Draco was in a kitchen. His kitchen. Not the one at the Manor but the one he shared with his wife. He had just put the lasagna in the oven and had walked over to the sink to start washing the dishes he used while cooking. A small, slender hand appeared, rubbing tenderly up and down his arm.

He turned around and folded his arms around her waist and smiled. "Good evening, Mrs. Malfoy. You got home just in the nick of time. Dinner will be ready soon."

"Good. I'm famished," she stated, reaching up to place a kiss directly on his lips.

He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up around the waist like it was nothing. He planted her firmly on the kitchen island behind where she was standing, not dropping the kiss. He whimpered slightly as she pulled away from him, her face flushed.

"Feeling a bit frisky this evening, aren't you Draco?" she asked, her lips turning up into that crooked grin he had come to love.

"Whatever do you mean, love?" They both laughed as he grabbed her off the kitchen counter and set her down on the floor. He grabbed her hand and led her through the door...

Draco was awakened suddenly by Astoria, who was shaking him slightly to get his attention. "We're leaving for the afternoon. Shall we meet for dinner tomorrow? Your mother says we should begin with planning the wedding as soon as possible to make sure all the right vendors are available," she said softly. She was obviously still just as upset as he was.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he tried to focus on her, still a bit fuzzy from his dream. It had been a good dream too. "Alright," he said. "I'll come by at six to pick you up."

Astoria smiled sweetly at him. A small smile, not one that quite met her eyes but beautiful none the less. "We will figure this out. I know we will," she promised him.

Draco couldn't take the tension anymore. He decided he needed to get out of the house. Maybe he would get a new broomstick. "I'll walk you out, I think I'm going to clear my head a bit anyway," he said as he stood up from the bed and offered her his arm. She took it and they arrived together at the bottom of the stairs where Astoria's parents were waiting for her.

He leaned down slightly and pressed a chaste kiss on her cheek. She released the grip she had on his arm and walked behind her parents towards the floo in the dining room. He waited a few moments until he heard the roar of the hearth that told him they had departed.

After a few more moments, Draco finally felt certain that his parents would have left the dining room for either their chambers or his father's office for a drink. He made his way towards the fireplace and he threw in some floo powder, saying, "Diagon Alley" as the green flames roared to life and swept him away from everything that was troubling him.

He walked along the cobblestone road on his way to Quality Quidditch Supplies after leaving Gringotts. He was perfectly content strolling along, window shopping in the various stores between here and there. Until he almost got plowed over by a frizzy haired woman, obviously upset, obviously not paying attention to where she was going.

"Sorry," she said as she stumbled. She glanced up and froze when she saw who it was she had knocked into.

He couldn't believe it. His heart started racing. "It's quite alright," he said. "No harm done."

"I should have been looking where I was going. I'm sorry I bumped into you." She was still obviously upset. She was wiping tears away repeatedly.

"Hermione, I promise it's alright. I'm not hurt. What's the matter?" He said, genuinely concerned.

Hermione stared at him in shock. Was he actually talking to her? On purpose? "I'm fine. I'll just be on my way. I can tell you're busy." She started to walk away when Draco lightly touched her arm.

"You don't have to run away from me. I know I'm a snake but I won't bite." He tried hard to hide the fact that his heart was racing. He couldn't believe that he had just run into Hermione Granger! She had been in his dreams just an hour before and here she was, standing before him.

He could tell she was extremely reserved when she answered him. "It's nothing that you would be interested in, I guarantee you. I'm not running away from you, I'm just having a worse day than most and I can tell you're busy so I don't want to be a bother."

To him, she seemed that she was slightly coming around to talking so that was good. Maybe she didn't hate him after all like he thought. "You're not bothering me, Hermione. I'm the one who asked you what was wrong, remember?" She tried to hide a small giggle but he caught it anyway. "Why don't we stop on over at the Leaky Cauldron and grab a coffee? You can tell me what's going on and maybe I can help."

Hermione looked at him. She took in everything. From the bit of stubble on his chin from not shaving this morning, to the fact that he had started letting his hair be its natural color and not the bleach blonde color she hated, to the color of his silver gray eyes as they stared right into her own.

After a few moments of silence, Draco started to get nervous. Was he actually worried that Hermione would turn him down? He hadn't meant to care so much. He had just been extremely surprised to have bumped into her. "Alright, we can do that. It might do me some good to talk to someone outside of the situation anyway," she justified her reasoning, although Draco didn't think she really needed to.

They walked in awkward silence all the way to the Leaky Cauldron, passing several people giving them awkward stares, seeming to know that the two were an odd pair. Draco only hoped that he didn't see anyone he knew because he didn't fancy answering a bunch of questions when it was absolutely no one's business but their own.

When they entered the bar, they quickly found a booth off to the side, towards the back, where they were unlikely to be noticed by anyone coming and going from the door. As Hermione took her seat, Draco asked her, "What would you like to drink?"

Hermione looked up at him with the same shocked look on her face that she had earlier. "You don't have to buy my drinks, Malfoy. I do happen to be able to afford my own." Seeing the stunned look on his face, she quickly added, "I'm sorry. That was terribly rude of me. I don't know what's gotten into me today. I'll have a cup of tea. Thank you."

He wasn't expecting any apology from her, none was necessary. He definitely deserved the rudeness and probably much worse for the way he had treated her all thought school. He honestly couldn't believe she had actually agreed to sit down with him and talk for a bit. Granted she'd looked extremely upset and like she needed someone to talk to. But he didn't think she would take him up on his offer. He was Draco Malfoy after all. And the one place that his name didn't get him anywhere was with Hermione Granger.

"You got it." He told her, turning away from the table and heading over to the bar. Hermione thought she saw him wink at her before he walked away. She had to have been imagining it, right? It had to be her head playing tricks on her. She guessed she was more upset than she thought.

Draco practically glided back over to their table, not spilling even a drop of the two cups of tea he carried. All those years in ballroom dance classes when he was younger taught him a thing or two about walking gracefully. He placed her tea in front of her and slid into the seat opposite her.

They both fixed their tea, surprisingly to both of them, with two lumps of sugar and one spoonful of cream each. Draco decided to break the silence and asked, "So are you going to tell me what's going on? What is it that has Hermione Granger running through the streets of Diagon Alley so upset that she can't see past the tears?"

Hermione looked up from her mug. "It almost seems silly now. I don't really even know why I was so upset. I mean, I knew it was coming. I guess I just didn't think it would happen now. I thought I would have a bit more time to prepare myself."

"Prepare yourself for what? From what I remember, you are always prepared for everything. Even things that other people don't think of." Draco had a hard time hiding the inquisitive look he was sure she could spot from a mile away.

Hermione couldn't help but feel exposed. Was she really about to divulge relationship nonsense with Draco Malfoy? And did he really care? It seemed to her that he was being genuine. "I just caught Ron with Lavender. I had asked George if I could borrow one of his books on owning a business because I've been thinking about opening up a small bookshop in Hogsmeade. He sent me over to the joke shop to grab it from his office and Ron and Lavender were hiding out in there, doing things that I really wish I hadn't seen. I had just left the shop when I ran into you."

Draco was dumbfounded. He knew he didn't really like Weasley much to begin with, but now he had a real reason to be furious with the redhead. He couldn't stop himself from clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.

That is, until he noticed the almost scared look in the eyes of the Gryffindor sitting across from him. He forced himself to relax a little, unsure why he was so angry with the cod. "I can't believe that anyone would have the nerve to do such a thing to you," he said after a few moments.

"I thought he loved me. I thought he was going to propose to me. I found a ring in his pocket while I was doing laundry a few weeks ago and I was so excited. Now I feel like the most pathetic excuse of a witch there ever was," she confessed to him, almost able to stop a single tear from escaping her eye and rolling down her cheek.

He didn't know why he did it, but Draco suddenly found his hand across the table, his thumb caressing her cheek and wiping away the tear. "You are not pathetic, Hermione. If anything, he's the one who is pathetic. He doesn't deserve you." He blushed then, bewildered that those words had just left his lips, and pulled her hand back away from her. What had gotten into him?

Hermione was blushing as much as he was, and was doing an awful job of hiding it from him. She hurriedly stood up, saying, "I'm sorry, I have to go." She then all but ran out of the door without explanation. Draco realized then that Hermione most definitely did not hate him. He didn't know if she realized it yet, but he was sure he was going to find out.