Chapter 2
Disclaimer: All is owned by J.K. Rowling, not me.
Sure, Hermione Granger had bloomed into a beautiful flower, but that didn't mean she wasn't recognisable. Her hair, once a mop that was perpetually frizzed up past redemption, was still voluminous, however now in a very appealing way. Her figure had fully developed and she was undoubtably a very attractive witch. Her face lit up as she recognised her parents at their usual table by the window and she ran over to hug them.
Draco could not be more confused. Mr and Mrs Wilkins had said that their daughter was coming to meet them but surely that this was just a coincidental meeting between Hermione Granger and two of his favourite customers. Their daughter must be coming in later. Draco's grey eyes could not be pulled off Hermione and the Wilkins.
'No, they can't be related. They have a different surname...' Draco thought in confusion.
Adriana was out buying some groceries for the store so when Monica Wilkins beckoned Draco over, he was greeting them alone.
"Draco, it's my pleasure to introduce you to our daughter, Hermione." Wendall smiled as he made the introduction. Hermione had not noticed the blonde's presence until that moment and she was visibly surprised out of her wits as she set eyes on her ex-peer.
"Malfoy?" Hermione asked in shock, more to herself than to him.
"The very same. Fancy seeing you here." He said with a smile which was surprisingly genuine. Hermione noted to herself that he was looking exceptionally ravishing and didn't fail to notice his attractive torso under his plain black shirt.
"That thought can be more than reciprocated. Wh- why are you here, of all places?" Hermione was extremely confused and this was not an emotion that was dealt well with her. Not only was she shocked by Malfoy being present but also by his friendly demeanour and apparent relationship with her parents.
"Hermione, dear. Have you already met Draco?" her mother asked. Hermione had never really talked about Malfoy, never one to complain. She also didn't want her parents to worry about her being bullied by said gentleman whilst at Hogwarts so decided not to mention his existence to them. She gave a quick nod to her mum meaning a simple 'yes' despite knowing her mother would want a more explaining answer.
It was at this moment that Adriana entered the cafe, let out a little scream of excitement and ran over to Hermione and enveloped her in a tight hug. With two of the staff not paying any attention to other customers, there was a queue at a register. Draco looked over and sighed. He turned back to Hermione with a wink and gave a two fingered casual salut as he said "Nice seeing you, Granger." He then jogged over to the counter across the room and served the accumulated customers who had arrived.
"Granger?" Adriana inquired curiously. Hermione quickly covered up the facts about her real name by saying it was a silly nickname that he had for her. This only cemented the idea that she had been formulating to set-up Hermione with Draco.
When Hermione had moved her parents to Australia, during the war, and taken away their memory of her, they fell in love with the country. They made many friends so when their daughter gave back their memories they kept their aliases and decided to stay in Sydney. They often travelled back to England for visits but they had a dental practice in Australia and couldn't bear the thought of leaving.
With her parents still calling themselves Monica and Wendall Wilkins, she had to keep up the pretence when visiting by being 'Hermione Wilkins'. This was what Adriana knew her by and therefore made Draco's use of 'Granger' strange to her.
Draco was far too busy for the rest of the Wilkins (or, if you'd rather, the Granger's) visit to Adriana's and didn't get to speak at Hermione again before she left. He hadn't even seen a witch (or wizard) for almost a year now, so he hoped that he could talk to her. He occasionally went into Wizarding Sydney to get potion supplies and some books but hadn't ventured out to do so for quite a while.
Draco reassured himself he wanted to see her again just to hear all the Wizarding news and not because he was increasingly intrigued by her very presence, famous wit and beauty.
When at her parent's house, Hermione was still pretty disheveled by Malfoy's sudden reappearance in her life. They had met a few times, both being in the Order by the end of the war, but it had always been awkward and forced whilst in each other's presence. Draco had changed his manner past recognition. She knew he had escaped the grasp of the media in the last few years but the Daily Prophet had just said he was now a recluse. No wonder why they didn't have any new stories on him. She admired his ability to do this but stopped herself. Why on earth was she even contemplating Malfoy at all? She would never meet him again and they would go on their lives separately as they had happily done before. Her parents were having a party for their fortieth wedding anniversary and this was the main reason Hermione was taking time off her job at the Ministry to visit her parents in Australia. He was hardly going to be there so she dismissed the thought of ever seeing him again.
She was curling up by the heater in her favourite red armchair when she heard the door bell ring. She was inwardly a tad annoyed about this, being separated from her favourite read of Hogwarts: A History but she nonetheless answered the door. She was happily surprised to see Adriana, Draco and a group of people she didn't recognise.
"Hey! We've come to take you out on the town!" Adriana said when Hermione opened the door. Hermione looked sheepishly down at her comfy pyjama's that she was wearing, an outfit that was made complete by the bright red Molly Weasley hand-made jumper that was two sizes too large and a huge golden 'H' embroidered at her chest. Draco smirked knowingly at the sight of it.
"Oh, and this is my fiancé James, then there's Sam, Eliza and you know Draco, of course." Adriana made the introductions with a huge grin on her face.
"So, you'll come?" She inquired.
"Yeah, that sounds great. Er-, let me get changed though, if you don't mind waiting for a moment. Come inside." Hermione gestured everyone into her parents living room. They weren't home as they were out to a friends sixtieth birthday party. She ran up the stairs and into the guest-room that she was using whilst staying there.
Draco peered around the room, interestedly. He noticed that the fireplace was probably floo-accessible by the tub of floo powder that was sitting on the otherwise photography filled mantle-piece. When he saw the book that was open, faced-down on the coffee table he laughed aloud. His friends looked questioningly at him but he just shook his head, still chuckling to himself.
'Trust Granger to be reading Hogwarts: A History,' Draco thought with a smirk.
While the others were chatting away, Draco sat down in a near-by red armchair and wordlessly grabbed the book on the table and was reading away. He was intrigued; he hadn't read the latest edition of the famous book and he hardly had many chances to drop into Flourish and Blotts lately to buy it.
When Hermione descended the flight of stairs, everyone complimented her on her lovely outfit but Draco, behind the backs of his muggle friends, merely waved Hogwarts: A History so only Hermione could see. He was smirking and jestingly tut-tutting silently as Hermione gave a little frightened gasp at leaving evidence of magic on the table for all to see. She rushed everyone out the door in a hope that none of the non-magical guests wouldn't see the book and ask questions Hermione wouldn't want to answer. The only acknowledgment of Malfoy that she gave was a glare in his direction. Draco was happy to see that her glare held much less malice than in the past and had a playfulness to it that he never before had the privilege of seeing.
Soon, the party of six was out in the city and were at one of groups favourite pubs after a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant. They were all having a great time but James and Adriana were obviously dying to go somewhere more private so when they announced that they were calling it a night, it was no surprise.
Sam and Eliza were shyly looking at each other, both trying to guess the other person's thoughts. Draco had spent a good twenty minutes that very afternoon trying to convince Sam to take a chance and ask out Eliza. They all knew that both liked each other but neither had the balls to go out on a limb and risk their friendship. Draco thought that Sam was never going to do it when, a few drinks down, he finally did. Before he was even finished nervously asking out Eliza, she had already enveloped him in a hug and was giving him the kiss of his lifetime. It didn't take long for them to go off on their own, leaving Draco and Hermione by themselves.
The vivacious brunette was gulping down yet another apple cider. She barely had any muggle alcohol and was enjoying the foreign experience. She was getting a bit giggly with the alcohol invading her system. Draco was in a similar state, rather tipsy, albeit much less tittering.
"So, Malfoy. Now that we're alone, tell me why your in bloody Sydney of all places?" Hermione inquired. And so Draco did. He told her far more than she was expecting. Eventually he ran out of things to say about himself and asked her a similar question. They chatted for more than 2 hours, each going on a journey of discovery concerning the others' life.
By this time, the alcohol had made each of the party a little out of their wits. An example of this being that they both thought it an exceptional idea to apparate all the way to Wizarding London for a nice trip at that very moment. They exited the pub, turned into a backstreet and held hands as they side-apparated to Diagon Alley.
After setting their feet on the ground of the city of his childhood, Draco subsequently threw up the contents of his dinner. Hermione promptly followed suit. Apparating, at the best of times, was bad on the stomach, let alone when intoxicated.
Draco stumblingly slouched his arm around Hermione and they went into the nearest place that served alcohol which happened to be the Leaky Cauldron. It was an unfortunate coincidence that some of the other customers present were in the journalism business. It was also unfortunate that they didn't fail to notice the pair using the fireplace to floo themselves to place they announced as 'Malfoy Manner'.
