Author's Note: So…this fic was meant to be, like, ten lines long. I got a bit carried away. Prompt by dustnight25832 on Tumblr: "Prompt: Draco and Hermione stumble into each other at a Ministry event a few years after the war ends. They're both sitting at the bar waiting for the bartender to make their drinks. Draco is the first to speak saying, "I see your hair has tamed itself over the past few years." (AND GO)"
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They watched in awkward silence as the bartender tapped their drink glasses with his wand, performing the complicated incantation to make their orders.
"So..." Draco said hesitantly. "Um...I see your hair has tamed itself over the past few years."
Hermione scrutinized him. She could tell he was just trying to make small talk - not an easy feat considering they'd spent six years despising each other - but it was such an odd detail for him to notice.
"Yes, well, Ginny got me this potion that makes it less..."
"Disastrous?"
"I was going to say frizzy," Hermione said pointedly, but she let it slide. She was shocked enough when Malfoy invited her for a drink, and the fact that he was being civil for once was something she shouldn't take for granted. "But yes, it's much easier to handle now."
She self consciously tightened the bun her brown hair was currently pulled up in, and caught Draco staring at her.
"What?" she asked, but he was saved from answering by the arrival of their drinks.
They gratefully sipped from their respective glasses, the liquid burning their throats dully and then seeming to fizz in their stomachs, as wizard drinks often did.
They remained relatively silent until they were about halfway through the strong beverages, happy for an excuse to not speak to each other.
Hermione quickly learned, however, that alcohol had the tendency to loosen Draco's tongue.
"I've always wanted to run my hands through it," he said suddenly, his words slightly slurred. Hermione stopped mid-sip, gulping down her drink too fast to stare at him quizzically.
"What was that?" she said.
"Your hair," Draco clarified, an almost imperceptible smile on his face. He wasn't looking at her, rather at his drink as he stirred it lazily with the straw. "I've always wanted to run my hands through it, because it looked so soft and fluffy. Now it looks silky, and I still kind of want to touch it. Not like Pansy's hair - her hair was always greasy."
Hermione stared, dumbfounded, unsure what shocked her most - that Draco Malfoy had admitted to something like that or the fact that he'd just used the word "fluffy".
"Umm..." she wavered, her voice higher than normal like it always was when she got flustered. "Thank you...I suppose?"
Draco chuckled - an actual, good-natured chuckle, not the teasing snicker she was so used to hearing from him. It was rather jarring, to see this side of him, but once Hermione looked past the fact that this man used to be her tormenter, she quite liked this side of Draco.
Much small talk and a few drinks later, they were laughing too loudly at the bar and Hermione knew she was very drunk now, because she'd started leaning heavily on Draco even though they were sitting down. He had his arm draped casually around her waist and she couldn't stop thinking about how warm his hand was, and how right it felt to have it there.
"How were we not friends all these years?" Draco asked through his mirth. "You're a riot!"
"We were stupid kids, too caught up in...stuff that it was just more fun to torture each other," Hermione deduced. She was usually a lot more coherent than this, but her brain was really fuzzy and all she could really focus on was how good Draco smelled. Sharp, clean, almost spicy...
"You're really pretty."
Much like the hair comment, Draco's words had come out of nowhere, and it immediately sobered up the mood. Hermione lifted her head off his shoulder to be captivated by his piercing gray eyes. They weren't cold like when he shot ridicules at her. They looked almost vulnerable. And his lips, god, his lips were something else. They were perfectly pink and parted in hesitation, almost inviting her.
Acting on impulse, something she would never do had it not been for the alcohol in her system, Hermione leaned forward and kissed him. He tasted like he smelled, but with a hint of the lime drink he had earlier and something else she couldn't place that was just simply Draco.
They let the kiss drag out, long and slow, not a care in the world. They weren't the pureblood and the Muggleborn at that moment - they were only two people trying to fit into the recovering world.
Draco's arm tightened around the brunette's waist, his other hand wandering up to cup her chin, making her sigh. Her own fingers found Draco's leg under his robes, trailing up the inside of his thigh, the small voice of logic in the back of her mind completely muffled.
When they broke away both of them were gasping slightly,their eyes still closed. Hermione let out a soft, giddy laugh.
"Hermione, will...will you come back to my place with me?" Draco asked quietly. She opened her eyes, eyebrows raised, but ultimately she knew she couldn't say no. Not only because she'd never heard Draco so vulnerable, but because it was the first time he'd ever called her by her first name.
Hermione nodded wordlessly and Draco smiled happily. He fished in the pocket of his robes and tossed a few Galeons on the table, then took her hand and pulled her from her seat, both of them laughing as they made their way out into the night and Disapparated.
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I may continue this, I may not. I haven't decided yet. If I do, don't expect it anytime soon, Rainbow Connection is my first priority :)