A/N: Hello sorry for the wait and read below for my rather poor explanation. Enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing.

Hermione studied herself carefully in the bathroom mirror trying to identify everything that had changed about her in five years. Eventually she resigned herself to the fact that she looked exactly the same except a little older. James stood watching out the corner of his eye taking note of her curious behaviour.

Her body slipped into the silky dress, hugging her curves perfectly. Eventually Hermione had secured her hair into sleek long curls that contrasted beautifully with her skin.

About half an hour later both were ready to depart, although some more apprehensive than others about the events of the forthcoming evening.

"You look stunning."

James whispered lovingly against her neck before leaving behind a gentle kiss and strange feelings of guilt began to settle within her.

She knew it would not be long now before she came face to face with him and her insides were not comfortable with this idea.

"Are you ok?"

She wanted to scream from the top of her lungs that she wasn't ok but Hermione was not one for melodramatics and so she replied with a simple nod.

Luckily the traffic lights seemed to be in her favour tonight as they had consecutively been red every time the stout black London cab had pulled up. As the car was waiting she caught a glimpse of herself in the wing mirror of the car…she looked terrified.

Draco sat at the bar closely examining the glass of whisky before him. The clinking of crystal and bustling of staff eventually pulled him from his contemplative state and he refocused his attention on the stock of waitresses. After a few moments of evaluating his options none particularly caught his eye and he sighed disappointedly into his whisky once more.

No one was here yet and he was growing rather restless. Draco Malfoy had never been a patient man. This evening was going to be a painfully long one as he exchanged insincere pleasantries with hoards of people on the verge of complete intoxication. The only reason he was really sticking around was because James had been trying to get him to meet his fiancé for a few months now and he had always seemed to have some clever excuse to get out of it but not tonight. She was no doubt just going to be another generic beauty only after his money and inheritance.

He laughed quietly as he pictured himself being engaged. Matrimony was not something he was particularly eager to rush into and the idea of getting married was a highly amusing one to him. He'd only ever met one girl that he would happily commit to monogamy for for the rest of his life for but that girl wasn't here anymore.

His brief amusement quickly turned to a bleak sadness as his mind drifted back to that girl. Draco could still taste her lips on his own; still feel her body against his, still here her sweet and musical laugh. He would do almost anything to have her back.

A resounding crack tore him away from his memories as the whisky glass shattered in his hand. He stared down at the shard of glass scattered across the counter. How did she still do this to him?

The room was soon filled with the hoards of people that Draco had predicted and each was talking about the other as though none could hear. Hermione's head was pounding as she took James' arm up the stairs.

"Are you sure you're ok love you're really hot."

This was her chance to escape and she was just about to take it and ask James to take her home when.

"Honestly I'm fine."

She had heard the words but could not believe that they had come from her own mouth. What was she doing? Why hadn't she just affirmed his suspicions and feigned sickness. Hermione knew why but she didn't want to admit it. She may have been petrified but her body was laden with a greater desire than she had ever felt and she knew the only way to satisfy it was to see him.

Her guilt was revived when James kissed the back of her hand.

She did not know why she felt such a strong desire to see him or such excitement. Hermione was well aware of what he had been occupying himself with in the past few years; women, drugs, alcohol, gambling were only the opening chapters of the story. So why did he still have so much power over her?

Draco now stood at the bar with a pretty blonde he had acquired with no effort at all. This really was becoming far too easy. He knew his evening was going to be fruitless after thinking about Hermione…it always was. So Draco quickly abandoned the hopeful girl by the bar and lost himself in the crowd.

Hermione stood at the double door entrance and processed the idea that he couldn't be more than a few meters away from her. A few meters was the closest they had been in five years. She had wondered how she had managed to avoid this scenario for such a long time but she couldn't bring herself to feel grateful. Instead she decided to marvel at her surroundings in a desperate attempt to distract herself from the forthcoming introduction. The room was large but not intimidating as it embodied a warm and welcoming atmosphere fuelled by the loud chatter of the guests. A drowsy light illuminated the room and the bar at the back was filled with an array of brightly coloured liquids. A blonde head of hair quickly darted away from a rather disgruntled looking woman trust up in a skin tight black dress at the far end of the bar.

Hermione choked slightly on her drink as she realised who that probably must have been. Where was he now? Who was that girl? Can he see me? Were all questions racing through her overcrowded mind. Perhaps examining the room had not been such a good idea after all as just the flash of blonde hair had doubled her nerves and growing apprehension.

A comforting hand had found the curve of her hip and gently soothed the overwhelming worry that was growing inside her.

"I'm going to go and find him. I want him to see how beautiful you are."

Well that comfort was shortly lived as she snorted at the irony of her thoughts a moment ago. She would normally smile at his sweetness and flattery but tonight she could not find it within herself to muster more than an unenthusiastic curve to her lips.

Hermione rifled through every logical explanation as to why he shouldn't fetch him now but her search proved to be fruitless. As one of logic's main advocators she could not deny that it made more sense to get it out of the way and leave as quickly as possible.

"Ok."

Her voice sounded dry and painful as she whispered the single word under her breath.

After a quick kiss James had disappeared into the cacophony of chatter and laughter leaving Hermione all alone, awaiting something she had been avoiding for half a decade.

Draco was desperately bored and was anxiously waiting for James to find him. That was after all the only reason he was still here; probably just to be completely underwhelmed by the whole encounter.

He surveyed the crowd; hastily ignoring the wanton looks he was receiving from several women. Tonight he just wasn't in the mood.

Suddenly a powerful palm came colliding down on the rock hard muscle of his back; causing the recently renewed whisky in his glass to almost escape. Draco was about to get very annoyed before a familiar face appeared before him.

"And where the hell have you been?"

James laughed at his usual icy tone before dragging him by the arm back to the bar.

"It's good to see you too."

He chuckled amusedly before ordering a rather complicated concoction that Draco didn't find particularly appetising by the long list of ingredients it entailed.

"Well let's get it over with shall we."

Draco didn't have to worry about disguising his non-committal and blasé tone with James; they knew each other well enough.

"I am imagining you are referring to my fiancé."

He downed the last of his whisky before once again slamming his glass back down on the marble counter.

"Who else?"

He muttered before grabbing James' arm and hauling him away from the bar to conclude this evening with the no doubt boring introduction of his soon to be 'other half'.

"Where is she then?"

James shook his arm free from the iron grip that was holding it and walked swiftly towards where he had left Hermione a few moments before.

"I honestly don't know why it's such a big deal that I meet this girl I mean it's not like you're going to change your mind if I don't like her."

James stopped suddenly obviously ignoring his tirade of insignificant ramblings. Draco collided abruptly into his back; this time thankfully having left his whisky at the bar.

He was about to issue a second tirade of curses before James stepped aside and his eyes met with the petrified but beautiful chocolaty orbs of Hermione Granger.

Several incomprehensible moments ensued as the whole room morphed into an array of unidentifiable colours and sounds. Was that her or was he just dreaming? His shirt suddenly felt overly tight across his chest and his tie felt more like a noose gradually crushing his throat.

He wanted to look up again to confirm that he had been mistaken and that she was not his fiancé. Why could he not tear his eyes from the repetitive pattern of the parquet floor and verify his mistake?

"Are you all right?"

'Oh god her voice.' He screamed within his mind. That sweet, beautiful voice that had tormented him many a night was real right now.

"Draco this is Hermione Granger the love of my life and the woman I am going to marry."

No, no, no! This had to be some horrible nightmare that had jumped into his head whilst he had fallen asleep at the bar. He wanted to be sick. She was not the love of his life. Hermione Granger would always be the love of Draco Malfoy's life.

"Draco?"

Suddenly everything came flooding back to reality as the sound of his name on her lips eradicated any other thought but her from his mind and for the first time in five years he saw her.

Her hair was just as it had been that night when he had last had her… Messy but sleek and sexy. Her lips still full and tempting with the ever constant exuding of a desire to be kissed. Her skin still soft and supple with the gorgeous ribbon of freckles across her nose. Her body still as mouth-watering as it had ever been. God he had missed her.

"Hermione."

Just the sound of her name on his lips was enough to drive him wild.

"Well what do you think of her Draco?"

Hermione and he both felt the painful obliviousness of James' words for he had no idea what they were saying with their eyes right now.

Draco watched her carefully and sighed inside when he realised he wasn't allowed to kiss her as he had always done when her cheeks were infused with that delicious blush. His heart was struggling to remain inside his chest and he could see the way her hands were shaking. He was so angry with her but yet all he wanted to do was kiss her.

Draco stepped forward confidently and her eyes darted to the floor, which had previously occupied his gaze. His body encircled her as he examined her from every angle not that he didn't already know every curve, every beauty mark and freckle by heart. He could feel her shaking almost uncontrollably as he allowed his hand to brush against her hip out of James' view. He could almost swear she moaned ever so quietly when his breath crept up the back of her neck. It was hard to be angry with something so beautiful.

"Well?"

James ever so rudely interrupted his long awaited inspection.

"Well what?"

Draco said in his usual drawl; not giving anything away to James.

"What do you think?"

He could still smell her sweet and delicious scent. Honey, cinnamon and spice. God he wanted her. If he could he would take her right now, he'd waited long enough.

"I think…I'm going to need some time alone with Miss Granger to make a proper evaluation of her suitability."

He felt her whole body tense as his request fell heavy in the air.

"That's a great idea I've got to go and sweet talk some of our clients anyway so you two get to know one another."

Draco could almost smell her fear and had to physically restrain himself when James planted a kiss on her lips. Those were his lips.

When his retreating figure was finally out of sight all facades were lost. Hermione caught his eyes for a moment before attempting to reach for the exit.

"Oh no you don't Granger! You've got a lot of explaining to do."

A/N: Sorry for the wait I had originally said that I would begin the story towards the end of July and decided that it would fit better with my time if that was when I updated the second chapter. I know this was short but I really wanted to end it on a bit of a cliffy and I thought this was a good one. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter reviews are always appreciated and thank you to those that reviewed the first chapter.