Pairing: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Rating: PG 13
Summary: "Darling, there you are! I've been looking all over for you!" were the only words an unsuspecting Draco Malfoy heard before a lush female body threw herself into his arms…

Author's Note: Though I've mentioned some aspects of DH, everything else has been ignored. And I want to say a huge thanks to my beta Danielle AKAGolfbabe87.

Disclaimer: You know the routine, JKR owns Harry Potter and blah blah blah…

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"Darling, there you are! I've been looking all over for you!" were the only words an unsuspecting Draco Malfoy heard before a lush female body threw herself into his arms. Making things infinitely more interesting, said female body pressed even closer to twine her arms around his neck before proceeding to snog the living daylights out of him.

Draco did what any red-blooded male would do in his situation; he automatically placed his hands on the mystery woman's slender waist and proceeded to kiss the nameless woman back. The kiss was amazing. What was meant to be a lighthearted kiss grew into a passionate one as Draco's mouth hardened over the woman's lips. The sweet flavor of her mouth intoxicated him; and he quietly moaned as she tentatively opened her mouth and stroked her tongue alongside his. Just as the kiss was evolving into something even more aggressive, the woman broke it off with an almost silent whimper.

With her eyes remaining shut, the woman regained her breath and then nestled her face in the hollow between Draco's neck and shoulder. "Is the man with the excruciatingly bright canary yellow robes who walks like he has a stick up his arse gone?" the female asked, her murmured words against the sensitive skin of his neck sending shivers down Draco's spine.

Playing along, Draco scanned Hogwarts elaborately decorated Great Hall while gently trailing the fingers of his right hand up and down the woman's back and quickly spotted the man in question. "Yeah, he's sulking off in obvious disappointment."

Still burrowed in Draco's arms, the woman let out a sigh of relief, "Thank Merlin, Terry has been following me all night and since he didn't exactly respond to my subtle hints to bugger off, I figured that this was the only way to convince him to leave me alone."

Draco let out a laugh, what a witch, "If you need that kind of help again, please let me know. I'll happily be of assistance."

The woman joined in his laughter and reluctantly lifted her head from her surprisingly comfortable perch. "I'll let you know. And thanks aga-," the woman trailed off in horror and in a high pitched squeak of surprise screamed, "YOU!"

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Hermione was in shock. She had just snogged her hated childhood rival. When the hands around her waist abruptly disappeared, Hermione felt a peculiar sense of loss. She quickly pushed that thought aside and tried to concentrate on the disgust she should be feeling. Unfortunately her body didn't seem to want to cooperate with her brain. Instead her astonished brown eyes zeroed in on his lips, lips she had just vigorously kissed. Bloody hell, I'm going to be avada'ed if Harry or Ron ever hear about this! However, her brain quickly took over as Draco Malfoy's words broke the astonished silence.

"Oh ew, I just snogged the resident bookworm," Draco sneered, as he looked her up and down in an effort to show his not quite existent disgust.

"Oh ew," Hermione echoed, "Are you still in Hogwarts, you pillock? I mean, use words such as nauseating or revolting not, 'oh ew!' Honestly!"

Before Draco could respond to the insult directed at his vocabulary and hence his intelligence, Hermione barreled on.

"And Malfoy, do I look like a 'bookworm'?" Hermione questioned, gesturing her hands towards her body.

Draco couldn't help himself; his eyes dropped down from her face to her well deserved toned body. His darkening grey eyes took in her traffic inducing red dress, with the hem ending mid thigh and the sleeveless top portion of her dress emphasizing her delectably round breasts. Her seemingly endless legs were magnificent and her delicately arched feet were encased in a pair of dangerous looking black stilettos. However, despite Hermione's changed appearance, her slightly bushy brown hair, which fell in soft waves around her shoulders, was a familiar and welcome sight. Some part of the old bookworm was still there.

Speaking with his 'little brain', Draco let out a mangled groan and managed to whisper, "no."

"What was that? I don't think I heard you correctly."

Draco looked up and saw Hermione directing a scarily Malfoy-esq smirk, which was vaguely reminiscent from his old Hogwarts days, at him. For some reason, seeing it there didn't seem to bother him overly much.

"I said you don't look like the stereotypical bookworm like you used to in Hogwarts. In fact, you look bloody gorgeous Granger."

Hermione's smirk slipped into bewilderment and her face slowly turned a lovely shade of rose. He was complimenting her? Draco Malfoy never used to do that. He wasn't supposed to be nice. He was never nice! What the hell! "Well, I uh- I um, I do occasionally dress up and stuff."

Seeing the confusion and blush on her face and listening to her stuttering response, Draco nearly laughed out loud. Barely restraining himself, Draco attempted to make amends for his school time bullying ways.

"Look Granger, despite what you may think, I have matured since Hogwarts. The Second War really changed me. Having Voldemort using the Malfoy Manor as headquarters exposed me to some of the harsher aspects of life. Being forced to torture people and seeing people tortured on a daily basis can really screw with a person's psyche," Draco broke off to make sure that what he had said hadn't caused Hermione's memories from her time at the Manor to resurface, when he saw her look of concentration instead, Draco continued.

"When your precious Potter defeated Voldemort, thereby ending the War, my family was at a crossroad. We could continue Voldie-Pants work in private, or we could take the boon handed out by Saint Potter when he publicly announced my mum's help in keeping his 'fake' death a secret from Voldemort. We Malfoy's have a tendency to want to remain on top, no matter what the situation, so guess what path we took? Malfoy Enterprises donated large amounts of galleons to numerous charities that had sprung up after the War, and viola we were number one again. However, the lessons we learned from the War did stay with us. When you're fighting a war, it doesn't matter if you're a mudblood, halfblood or pureblood. Either work together or get fucked. When my family and I saw Death Eaters becoming incapacitated by people we considered as inferior, we realized we were fighting for the losing side. Malfoy's never lose. So we switched our allegiance, and made damn sure several people from the Order saw us hexing the remaining Death Eaters who were foolish enough to stay and fight for a lost cause. If muggleborns, halfbloods, and blood traitors can effectively halt the reign of one of the most evil darklord's the Wizarding World ever seen, maybe they weren't so inferior or incapable of properly using magic after all. And hell, this conversation just got way to serious for a Hogwarts class reunion," Draco finished with a slight laugh.

"So Gra- I mean Hermione, why don't we start over?" at this point Draco held out his hand in greeting, "Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy. It's really nice to meet you."

Hermione was still reeling from the overload of information she had received from Draco; she had read most of what he had told her, like Malfoy Enterprises donations, in The Quibbler. Nonetheless, it was still a shock to hear the emotion behind his words and the true reason behind his family's changed loyalty. Therefore she could only stare at his outstretched hand in bemusement.

Draco could almost hear the wheels turning in her head as she debated whether his gesture of friendship was sincere or not. He could honestly say he had no idea if she would accept his friendly overture.

Just when Draco was about to withdraw his hand away in disappointment, silently cursing himself for his stupidity; a small, warm feminine hand firmly grasped his. He looked up in surprise.

"Hi, I'm Hermione. It's a pleasure to meet you too," she finally returned and grinned up at his slightly astonished face.

Draco had to smile back, "So what do you say Hermione, want to have dinner with me tomorrow so we can get to know each other better, aside from the bookworm and the evil prat? I mean, the only thing I know about you that I didn't already know from the papers are that you're a fantastic kisser and that you blush easily."

Hermione silently cursed her English heritage as she felt the aforementioned blush flood her cheeks after his provocative last statement. At least now she knew he had enjoyed the kiss as much as she had and that it was an experience both wanted to repeat. So what the hell, Hermione Granger, Gryffindor alum and War Heroine, would accept a date from Draco Malfoy, ex-Slytherin bad boy and Death Eater to boot.

"I would love to Draco," she answered before she proceeded to grab his shoulders in order to drag him down to face level. Then she fulfilled the desire both had been feeling since their first knicker-wetting kiss.

She snogged him again.

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Finite.

Incantatem.

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