All original characters of the wizarding world belong to J. K. Rowling. I own nothing and no one except Janet and this particular plot.

July 29, 1999

Hermione sat in a little café on Plummington St. leisurely sipping her cappuccino and glancing at the clock above the bar every so often. At half past 11 she began bouncing her leg and finishing the last drops of her cappuccino. Hermione began to worry about where her cousin could be. Janet was always on time for pretty much everything.

Hermione panicked. Something must have happened! Maybe she's in an accident. Maybe she was kidnapped! No, she couldn't have been kidnapped. She's too feisty for that.

Hermione decided to order another cup of coffee to calm her nerves. Her hands shook as she sipped her second cup of coffee and bounced her legs. The coffee was tasteless as she thought of every horrible thing that could have happened to Janet, from being run over by a bus to being kidnapped by bloodthirsty occultists.

Shouting from outside distracted Hermione from her "worst possible scenario" thoughts. Outside was a short little man yelling at a tall blonde boy. Hermione couldn't see his face but the white-blonde hair looked all too familiar to her. It was a color she had come to dislike over the years, and the owner of those gorgeous locks was an abomination known as Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.

Draco turned and Hermione could see his face now. He was pale and thin looking, but he didn't look like the walking dead now. The last time Hermione had seen him was during the final war against Voldemort. It had been over a year now at least.

The little man shouting at Draco began to get violent. Hermione noted the twitch in Draco's right hand as the little man pushed him. He was going to pull his wand on the little man. Without a thought Hermione was outside and at Draco's side.

"What the **** do you think you're doing blondie? Walking into the way of a car like that!" The little man shoved Draco in the chest. The man was at least a head and a half shorter than him.

Draco was familiar with short-man-syndrome, he had brushed shoulders with a rather bad tempered Slytherin back in Hogwarts. Brutis Gwadmer, who happened to be very short. Nowadays Brutis was about five and a half feet tall and still as foul-tempered as ever.

The short man shouted words at Draco that he didn't even recognize. He assumed that they were Muggle swear words. "You ******* *******!"

"There you are dear." said a female voice. An arm wrapped around Draco as a head leaned on his arm. "I was beginning to think that you wouldn't show." That voice, it was as familiar to him as the beating of his own heart…Granger.

Regrets poured into his mind as he remembered all of the horrible things he had done to Granger over the years.

Draco turned to look at her. She had changed much over the years, her beaver teeth were gone and her hair was now tamed and framed her face most pleasantly. She had morphed into a beautiful swan. That stinking Weasley had no idea how lucky he was to have her.

"Well come on Draco I have waited for you for over half an hour" She pulled him into a nearby café, completely ignoring the little man who was still shouting, and sat down at a table that had a half eaten muffin and an empty cup of coffee. Draco was furious that he had been rescued by Hogwarts' golden girl. But at the same time he was secretly relieved.

"You're welcome" Hermione said perkily. She signaled a waiter over and ordered something called she called a cappuccino.

"Why did you help me? I could have very well have gotten out of that situation by myself" he growled.

"How would you have gotten out of that? You couldn't use your wand to settle the argument. You have no brains to you. And you're lost in an unfamiliar setting."

"I am not lost!" Draco proclaimed. But he was lost and confused as to what had just happened.

"Yes you are! If you hadn't been lost then you wouldn't have gotten into an argument with that little man." After a moment she added "What did you do to piss him off anyways?"

"What does it matter to you?" Hermione's face darkened and became menacing.

"It is called being concerned. I know that you are unfamiliar with the feeling, but I am both concerned and curious about why he was swearing up a storm at you." Draco noted that she was terrifying and beautiful at the moment. How could someone be both at once?

She had just helped him out of a nasty situation so he figured that she had the right to know.

"Those things in the streets" Draco couldn't remember what they were called. Cards. No, no that's not right.

"Cars?" Hermione supplied.

"Yes, cars. I wanted to get across the street you see. And I couldn't because they were moving. " Hermione nodded her head and motioned for him to continue. "They all stopped suddenly so I decided that it was safe to cross. I began crossing the street and when I'm almost to the other side, one of those cars nearly runs into me." The waiter came back with Hermione's cappuccino as she called it and sipped at it while waiting for Draco to continue.

"Long story short, the little man jumped out of the car and started shouting at me and then you came around and dragged me into this place." Hermione nodded her head and while she sipped her cappuccino

A loud bell rang through the shop. "Sorry I'm late." Draco looked up into green eyes framed by dark hair.

"Potter?"