Disclaimer: I do not own anything but this plot.

Sweetheart

.. … . … ..

Hermione Granger sighed in relief as she kicked off her two and a half inch heels (they might not be six inches, but they still felt as if they were crafted by the devil, himself) and lounged on her couch. She closed her eyes and relaxed for some much needed rest before she was to get ready for dinner and she was just drifting off when she heard a "Psst" coming from her fireplace.

She groaned tiredly, then got up and stuck her face over the embers, "Hello?"

"Hello, Granger," his smooth yet raspy voice greeted her suddenly alert ears.

Great, Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"I just called to ask if you wanted to accompany me to dinner tomorrow night?" She could hear the smirk in his voice, despite her unenthusiastic tone. He had asked her this very question a number of times before, he had explained to her that he wanted to take her out to dinner as a proper apology for their years at Hogwarts together; but she knew the truth: he only wanted to take her out so he could get his picture taken with the Gryffindor Princess, the Queen of Good so everyone would think that they were "chummy-chummy" with one another in order to improve his own image in the eyes of the public. Why couldn't he pester Harry or even Ron with these requests, as surely any of the "Golden Trio" would do.

"Sorry, Malfoy, but I'm very busy right now and I need to go," She told him, not sorry in the slightest.

"Oh? Hot date, then?" He questioned, jokingly, as it was the middle of the week and no one, especially Hermione Granger, in their right mind would have a date on a Wednesday night.

Hermione rubbed her eyes, tired of this conversation, "Yes, in fact, I do have a date."

"Really?" He questioned, "You must not be attracted to him if you so graciously omitted 'hot' from your statement."

She was starting to get annoyed now, "Actually, I'm having dinner with my boss.."

"Ooo, Ms. Stratford? Granger, I didn't know you swung that way," he said, suggestively.

"Oh, shut it Malfoy, I'm having dinner with Mrs. Stratford as well as one of our clients so we can go over some last minute details," She's had just about enough of him.

"Why did you call it a 'date', then?"

Her fuse was nearing its end, "I was hoping that you would leave me alone if I told you I was going on a date."

"Well, that obviously didn't work," He said dryly before changing gears, "So about dinner tomorrow night-"

"Look, Malfoy, I would rather be chased through the Forbidden Forest by a pack of wolves than have dinner with you. Now, I really have to start getting ready, bye," She didn't worry about how harsh she sounded at the moment as her eyebrow was twitching.

There was a beat of silence and for half a second, she thought she had hurt his feelings.

"Maybe some other time then, Sweetheart!" He said quickly in a cheery way, before disconnecting.

She sighed at the dying embers then grumbled, "And don't call me 'Sweetheart'," before getting up and heading to her room to shower and change.