For Regan, my fellow Beater and Dramione NOTP'r, as well as Queenie and Shannon who were nice enough to beta for me.

Now, for the official stuff.

For Round 1 of the Quidditch League, Season 5

Bats, Beater 2

Word Count:1063

My prompts were: "I'm happier than I've ever been before.", attractive, and files/Screen%20Shot%202015-11-13%20at%2010.12.22%

Hermione sat in front of the ice cream shop in Diagon Alley, a box of photos in front of her, and several loose pictures were spread across the table. Silent tears streaked down her cheeks as she sifted through them. Six months. After six years of waiting, she and Ron had only made it as a couple for six months. She supposed she could blame it on the war, it changes people. That was the easy out.

Hermione had a different theory, however, she believed that she and Ron should have stayed friends. They should had never made the leap to lovers. For years, they were fine and then, the moment they got scared, they made a stupid decision that ruined everything.

Picture after picture, the crying got worse.

Ron's first time on the subway.

Ron attempting to teach Hermione Quidditch, helpfully taken by Harry whose thumb could be seen in the edge of the photo.

A photo of the two of them kissing.

Them together right after a traditional Weasley family dinner. Arthur took this photo and it's slightly blurry as he was visibly shaking from the excitement of using a muggle camera.

All the pictures were taken on a muggle camera, which was good.

Hermione could barely stand to see all the pictures of her once happy memories, but to have the little people smile and wave and laugh? It would be too much. She was already about to fall apart.

"Hey there." A voice startled her and Hermione looked up to see Draco Malfoy standing over her table, with concern written on his face.

Hurriedly, she wiped her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, hoping to keep more unwanted tears from surfacing. "Hello, Draco."

He gestured to the chair opposite hers. "May I?"

Today couldn't get any worse. "Sure, why not?" Bitterness crept into her voice.

Draco said nothing of it though, he just gave a polite smile and sat down. "I heard about you and Ron." He put a comforting hand on Hermione's.

Normally, Hermione would have flinched away from any sort of physical contact with Draco. After all, he'd always been a huge jerk to her, but war changes people. He was being sweet and she left his hand where it was. Draco's other hand found his way to one of the pictures on the table, which he picked up and examined.

He sighed, "Look, I know I haven't exactly been consistent about making good life choices, but just trust me when I say you shouldn't do this to yourself. You shouldn't sit here and torture yourself. It's just not worth it. Don't feed the pain; try to move past it."

Hermione couldn't look at Draco; he had hit the nail perfectly on the head. All those years, she'd been certain that she and Ron were meant for each other. Soulmates. How wrong she'd been.

When she didn't respond, Draco seized the opportunity to do something that completely terrified him, but he'd wanted to do for a long time. "Listen, do you want to go grab a drink?"

"Sure." Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper.

Draco started to gather her pictures from the table, gently placing them in the box and moving to tuck the box under his arm.

"No," Hermione's voice was gaining confidence. She took the box from Draco and tossed it into the nearest trashcan. She smiled timidly. "I've got to start moving on sometime, right?"

"Right." Draco offered her his arm, which she took and the pair headed off toward the Leaky Cauldron.

On their way, Hermione saw the cameras. She saw Rita Skeeter apparate in, quill flying as she tried to catch snippets of their conversation. She chose not to care.

Draco opened the door for Hermione as they entered the bar. "So tell me," Draco's voice was light as he tried to cheer her. "What did he do? Should I punch him? I feel like I'm going to want to punch him."

Hermione chuckled and gave a small smile that didn't come close to reaching her eyes. "He really didn't do anything. We changed after the war just as much as everyone else. The new us just couldn't work out."

"Really? I feel like there's more to this story, more than you just growing apart."

Hermione tried to call the bartender over as she talked to Draco over her shoulder. "Well, that's the thing, you have to grow together to grow apart. We never got that far. We tried, we really did, but the things we've gone through over the years made us into very different people and we couldn't make it work. All that trying quickly turned into fighting and we were both so desperate for the fighting to stop."

"Merlin, Hermione you're the smartest, most attractive woman I know. You deserve to be loved, to be in love. "

Hermione sniffled and waved off his compliment. "Enough about me, distract me, How's life?"

"Honestly? I'm happier than I've ever been before. Things are great now that I can finally be my own person. There's just one thing missing…" He trailed off, lost in a struggle that Hermione couldn't understand.

"Yes?" Hermione prompted gently. She placed a hand on Draco's shoulder, mimicking his earlier gesture.

"It's just… Merlin, this is terrifying. I feel like some fourth year… Would you like to go to dinner with me this weekend?"

Hermione could only blink, which Draco took as a bad sign. "Look, it's okay if you don't want to. It's just, I figure you could use the distraction, and, well, I may have carried a bit of a torch for you over the years. Anyhow, I just really-"

"Draco," Hermione cut him off, amusement finally edging into her voice. "I would love to go to dinner with you." He'd been so kind, she couldn't help but think that there might be something there.

"Really?" That was not the response Draco had expected or thought he deserved.

"Yes, really," Hermione smiled a small smile that Draco had never seen before. "I do have to get going, though. Owl me?"

"Sure," Draco said, rising with her. "Hermione?"

She'd been headed toward the door but turned back. Draco took the few steps toward her and drew Hermione into the circle of his arms. Then he planted a long and perfect kiss onto her lips.