Hello! Welcome to my story. I'm toucantrebleclef, and there's a few things you should know-

-If you're reading my Hunger Games story, don't worry! It's not ending, I'm just on winter break and I didn't bring my book, and I want to keep it accurate.

-I can't provide evidence as to how this fits in with the story without ruining it yet, but there is evidence in the books for certain things.

-This...isn't really a Dramione, but, I mean, maybe. Whatever.

-This is set two years after the battle of Hogwarts. That's all I can think of at the moment.

right! *claps* please read and review!

-toucantrebleclef

Hermione being Hermione, once a new Muggle bookstore had opened, she had to go in it; it would have been a crime not to. All those warm, inviting, books had never let her down. She trailed her hands along thr spines as she walked through the door, overhead chimes jingling. She couldn't resist going over to the Muggle classics section, they had been some of her only childhood friends. Books lined the walls of the mistky empty building, spiraling upwards, and the smell of new books was positively fantastic, the ink and the paper blending smothly to create that irrisitible aroma.

Hermione leaned an inch closer, to take a deep sniff-

-and promptly heard a voice which seemed to be coming from behind a blue cloth.

"Penn, I'm sorry you haven't gotten your letter yet, but these things take time! There's over a thousand students at Hogwarts!"

Hermione jerked back. She'd recognize the drawling, careless voice of Draco Malfoy anywhere. She had had no idea what happened to him and his family after the war, but she certainly wouldn't expect him to be in the back area of a Muggle bookstore.

She leaned in closer to listen again, Hogwarts was finished being renovated?

"...oh come on, what do you mean, of course you'll get it, what are you talking about?" There was silence, and it took Hermione a moment to realize Malfoy was using a phone. A phone! He must have changed after the war. The Malfoy she knew wouldn't ever leave the repetitive rules of his cold, pureblood father.

"Penelope Malfoy, calm down! You still have a week to get it, it's only July 24th...what? Yes it is! I just checked my watch yesterday, it's the twenty-fou..oh. I guess it's the 30th, but you've still got a day, I got mine on the 31st."

Hermione snorted at his stupidity. There was silence, and, straining her ears, Hermione crept closer. After looking side to side for anyone in the empty library, she pulled out her wand, whispering, "Magis Clamabat!" The sound of Malfoy's repulsive voice was now loud enough for her to hear him without having to stick her nose into the new books. Hermione took a step backwards to sit down, and hit the metal book display with a loud clang, tipping it over. She winced hard, the talking had stopped. Hermione tapped her wand on the stand to put it back up.

She heard, "Penn, I gotta go, I think someone's listening. I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?" Hermione heard the beep of a phone hanging up, and she scuttled backwards, trying to find a place to hide, and whispered, "Quietus!", quieting Malfoy's magnified voice. She grabbed a nearby book on the shelf and pretended to read it, sinking into a dark blue leather armchair, hidden in a sea of other, empty, multicolored armchairs.

The tall, blond figure of Draco Malfoy swished past a curtain which lead to the back area. He was wearing Muggle clothes, although not the most stylish, they were certainly expensive. Time had treated him well, Hermione hadn't seen him since the wars' end two years ago, and he had become tall and muscular, his narrow blue eyes searching for the eavesdropper.

Hermione shrunk behind her book, attempting to blend in with the library. It was pointless, she was literally the only one there, except the librarian.

Malfoy had no trouble finding Hermione. He spotted her bushy locks (although calmed down somewhat since her Hogwarts years) and strode over smoothly.

"Granger," he drawled. "Fancy seeing you here."

Hermione set her face, trapping her emotions in her head.

"Malfoy," she said, an edge of aggression in her voice. "What would you be doing in a Muggle store?"

"Birthday gift," he said offhandedly. "You've got your nose in a book, I see, just like old times. Though, you seem to have branched out a little…." Malfor smirked, and turned the cover towards himself. Hermione hadn't looked at it in her hurry, and she didnt, know which book it was. "Top ten ways to get the girl," he read. Hermione turned pink, and pushed the book back on to its shelf. She had really picked the wrong book at the wring time. "My, my, Granger, and here I thought you were comitted to Weasley! Who knew you had a thing for ladies….but that's not the point, now, is it, and you know it." Malfoy finished.

Hermione frowned. "I don't know what you're drawling about," she lied. Malfoy gave her a coy smile. "Now, now, Granger….it was quite obvious you heard me on thst Muggle device, you're a terrible liar, Granger. All you have to do is tell me how much you heard," snarled Malfoy. There was something in his eyes akin to fear.

Hermione considered her options. She'd clearly touched a nerve, and scum like Malfoy didn't frighten her. However, she did wish to know what she heard on the phone. The Malfoy family was contained, and Penelope Malfoy would have to be eleven to want a Hogwarts letter, meaning she'd been born before their first year.. He'd been hiding something for a while. So she decided her method, dealing with Malfoy was best done quickly, like ripping off a bandage.

"I'll tell you what I heard, if you tell me who Penelope Malfoy is," she said shortly, cruelly.

He narrowed his eyes, and hissed through his teeth. Hermione gripped her wand, ready to defend, or attack, if she needed to. The air was charged, tension too thick to cut with a knife. He'd been cornered, caught in the act. He knew she was smart enough to know he's been hiding. He circled, like a snake.

"My sister," Malfoy hissed. "She's shown no sign of magic, years of pureblood marriages, come to this? Penn's been waiting for her Hogwarts letter, and I don't think it's coming." he vented, pushing a hand through his bleached locks.

Hermione shrugged. "She'll just have to embrace being a Squib, then."

Malfoy whirled around. "You don't know her," he hissed. "If she thought that, Penn'll fall apart. She cannot be a Squib, the shock and anger of it would kill her!"

And then, out of the blue, Hermione had an epiphany; everything clicked, her mind whirled with possiblities, she stood up, words tumbling out incorrectly. "What if...revolutionize…..could it be...I think….I've got to get to a wizarding library!" She jumped up, energized, only to see Malfoy guffawing at her. He did a buck tooth impression of her jumping up to answer a question, like she did in school, still laughing. Tears pricked at the corner of Hermione's eyes. Tears of anger. He hadn't changed, not a bit. She was silly to think she had. She was no longer a schoolgirl, she could do anything with confidence.

She hauled Malfoy by the scruff of his collared, starched, Muggle shirt, and dragged him out onto the doormat of the bookstore. Malfoy tried to scuttle up and out of the beam of her anger, and failed miserably. Hermione, after checking the vicinity for Muggles, stepped on his embarassingly emerald tie and pointed her wand at him.

"I would have thought the adult Malfoy could mature," she said coolly. "Now, I doubt it." She stepped off his tie and began to walk in a civilized matter toward the nearest alleyway, ready to Apparate into Hogsmeade, there was a library there.

"Wait-Granger!" Draco called, scrabbling up from the ground. Granger turned. "I"m sorry, I'll end my...superiority, just help her, please," he groaned.

He could see he considering it, she could nvere resist a challenge.. "I'll help," Granger said. "If you get your sorry arse off the ground and come with me." Hermione swept off towards the alley, Malfoy dogging her steps.