A/N- The second part to this, explaining how Draco and Hermione met. Kinda cheesy and VERY fluffy. Not my best writing. I'm sick right now, so ~shrugs~.

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Hermione was so excited she nearly slammed the door into Draco's face as she exited the car.

"Oh, sorry!"

Draco sighed. "I'm fine."

"Hurry up, I want to go!"

"You sound like a child in a candy store," Draco said as he grabbed his fiance's hand.

She grinned. "I might as well be. Do you think I wore something nice enough? I mean, it's been over a year, and-"

"You're fine," he reassured her. "You could be wearing a rag and they would welcome you with open arms."

She nodded. "You're right."

The pathway up to the Burrow was just as rickety, long, and pothole-ridden as she remembered. Hermione became more and more nervous with each step. "Promise you won't provoke Harry."

"I told you I wouldn't."

"I know, but-"

"We had this conversation, Hermione."

"Remember the welcome ball?"

The Welcome-Back-Auror's ball had been held a month earlier. Once Harry and Ron had found out that Hermione wasn't just dating Draco Malfoy- she was engaged to him- it hadn't been pretty.

"Well, I haven't seen them since. Plus, you told them all about how we met."

Hermione slowed down a bit. "About that…"

Draco stopped completely. "You mean you didn't tell them?"

"I meant to, really, but-"

"Hermione!"

"I thought we'd tell them together, tonight."

It was then that they reached the front door. Hermione reached forward and knocked.

And then was faced with a loud blast of screaming, light, and hugs.

"Hermione! Oh, it's been so long, I can't wait to hear all about your trip to-"

"Hey there, Hermione, been avoiding us, haven't you?" George winked.

"Hermione Jean Granger, it's about time you made it to a Weasley dinner-"

"Auntie Mione! Did you bring us something from America?" Victoire Weasley tugged on her dress.

There was a bombarding of hugs and laughter, but when it all died down, a silence fell in the room. Everyone noticed Draco.

"Well, hello there Draco dear, why don't you just come and sit down right here?" Mrs Weasley smiled awkwardly and patted a couch. Hermione squeezed his hand and sat down next to him.

Just then, Harry entered through the kitchen door, Ron behind him. His face was blank. Ron, on the other hand, bounded forward.

"Hey, Hermione!" he said, giving her a hug. He turned to Draco and said curtly. "Hello Malfoy." Draco reluctantly took his hand and shook it.

"Well," Mrs Weasley said, trying to cover up the tense silence. "Dinner isn't quite ready yet, so why don't you tell us all about America?"

"Hey!" Bill called from one of the other couches. "Didn't introduce myself, did I Mum?" He walked over to the couple, a child in both hands. "I'm Bill Weasley, and this is Victoire and Dominique, my daughters."

Draco shook Bill's hand and awkwardly accepted both of the little girl's hugs.

After this, everyone else came up, introducing or re-introducing themselves to Draco. George was last in line. "Hey Malfoy… nice seeing you again. Sweet?" He held out a cellophane-wrapped candy.

Draco, figuring it rude to refuse, took the candy. And his nose promptly turned bright purple, yellow bubbles erupting from both nostrils.

Dominique and Victoire shrieked with laughter. Draco turned bright red. "You've gotten pranked- welcome to the family," Mr Weasley said with a smile.

After Draco's nose returned to normal, Mrs Weasley encouraged Hermione again. "Story, please!"

Hermione sighed. "Alright then. I suppose it began with the Auror meeting."

-.-.

"One Auror? For an entire year?" The board room rang with murmurs and protests.

Kingsley shushed them. "I need five willing Aurors, five who are willing to travel alone to a different country for a year."

"There's no time to consider this? With our families?" Ron called out.

Kingsley shook his head. "It is an immediate decision. They want answers in the next half-hour."

Slowly, one hand was raised. Then two, three… a fourth reluctant person. The next few minutes were spent in silence. Then-

Hermione sighed. "I'll do it."

"What? Hermione!" Harry yelled.

Kingsley sent him a look. "Sit down Mr Potter."

Hermione shrugged, her eyes already a bit watery. "It's not as if I have reason to stay. I'll go."

-.-.

"That's when I found out I was going to America. At least it wasn't somewhere distant and weird, like Russia. At least they speak English in America." Hermione said.

"Weren't you scared?" Dominique asked. "They have creepy people in America. And weird accents."

"Well, it wasn't that bad… see, they have this thing called Starbucks."

-.-.

Hermione was walking down the streets of her new town, trying to figure out this strange new place. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was difficult for her to feel as if she belonged. She felt like, just by looking at her, the others could realize she wasn't American.

She had wandered around for quite a long time when she found a place called Starbucks. It had free wifi, for her smartphone, and it had coffee. She was sold.

She was tapping away and sipping her beverage when she was approached by someone.

"Granger?"

Peering up, she found none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing."

"I… I live here."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

"Since year ago… I moved here, new start and all."

"Oh." Despite she the fact she despised the man before her, a familiar face was comforting, and she invited him to sit.

They chatted for a long time, and Hermione was surprised to find he was working for the wizarding government here, where they had accepted him more openly. He lived in a modest home nearby, and had broken nearly all ties with his family.

"Well, you still haven't told me why you're here," Draco said in the middle of their conversation.

"Oh… Auror business," she said.

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but she could've sworn she saw his face fall. "So you won't be here for long?"

"Actually, I will. A whole year."

It was his turn to look surprised. "They sent you here for that long?"

She nodded. "I still don't know why. I've only been here a week, and the only thing they've told me to do was find an apartment and live. Easy enough. Although, I am on a tight budget- my apartment complex is positively horrid."

"Oh…"

"Yes, well, that's all fine. I'm actually glad you're here, I was just beginning to miss a familiar face. Even if it is yours."

Draco chuckled. "I come here once a week, actually. We could… er, meet up, I guess. Talk. You know."

"Of course!" she said a bit too excitedly. "I mean, I really am alone here."

"That's settled then. See you 'round, Granger."

-.-.

Hermione nudged Draco. "You tell them what happened next."

He grinned. "Well, we had met up for about the third time when she got a call from Kingsley."

-.-.

"…and that's when I tell the man-"

Bzzzzzz….

"Oh, sorry, that's my phone," Hermione said, picking up the device that had interrupted Draco.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Hermione, it's Kingsley."

"Is something the matter?"

"No, no… actually, now is when you begin your work. We figured three weeks was good enough for you to be settled. Now the next thing I need you to do is find a representative from the Ministry of Magic in America. Anyone will do. Make friends with them, get into the ministry, make sure everything's alright. Tell us if you find anyone suspicious- we're trying to make sure the other Ministry's aren't assisting escaped Death Eaters. In other words, you're going to be a diplomat of sorts."

Hermione grinned. "Easy, I already know someone."

-.-.

"Well, no offense Malfoy, but didn't you think it might have been a bad idea to trust a former Death Eater to catch Death Eaters?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shrugged. "I suppose. But he did change and all that." She nudged him in the arm. "I could trust him."

He smirked. "That's when she moved into my place."

"What?" Harry practically yelled. "You lived with him?"

"Harry," Hermione said patiently. "My apartment was like a dog house. And Draco was very respectful. I got a room on the first floor, his was on the second. I had my own bathroom, my own workspace, and he was working most of the day. It was like having a roommate."

"Still…"

She ignored him. "And we worked together, spent time together, he showed me around California- that's where we lived- and around the fourth month…"

"…you fell in love!" Ginny gushed playfully.

Hermione grinned. "No, actually. It went a little differently."

-.-.

"What do you MEAN you trust him? Look at all the signs, he's a complete maniac! I am arresting Jefferson tomorrow, and that's that." Hermione was standing a yard away from Draco, screaming at him in the kitchen.

"Why can't you listen to me? Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?"

"Because I'm RIGHT." She began to walk out.

"You're arresting the wrong man!" Draco tried to block her.

"How would you know? I'm an Auror. You left the country like a coward," she spat.

"Shut up, you filthy Mudblood!"

Hermione gasped, and her eyes immediately filled with tears. She pushed past him and ran to her room. Draco followed after her.

"Hermione, wait-"

She flung open the door and began to levitate her clothes into a suitcase. "Save it," she whispered.

"I wasn't thinking-"

"Of course you weren't! The words that come most naturally to you have always been insults." Papers whizzed into briefcases. Makeup into toiletry bags.

"Hermione, you're being-"

"Goodbye Draco." And with that, she left, a neat pile of bags floating behind her.

-.-.

"Way to go, Malfoy," Bill said.

"I have a feeling things are going to get mushy now…" Ron said.

"You're right," Hermione confirmed. She accepted the tea Mrs Weasley offered her. "Draco learned that he couldn't bear to live without me."

Draco lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? Because I was under the impression the feeling was mutual."

-.-.

Draco felt empty. The house felt empty, actually, without Hermione to fill it with laughter, reprimands, and cleaning supplies. Now Draco had to do his own dishes. And there was no one to laugh with over that stupid man on his way to work who didn't know what a red light meant, or to argue over the most recent presidential election with.

But it was more than just a friendship he was missing. She had left a genuine hole in his heart.

So when Hermione walked back into her apartment that day, thoroughly depressed because of her lack of human interaction and her regret over leaving Draco three weeks ago, she was very surprised to see a hundred or so roses spring into existence and cover the interior of her living room. A small pop was heard above her head, and a tiny note came flying down.

I'm sorry.

She laughed sarcastically to herself. "Sure you are…"

"I am."

She spun around, and there he was, lower lip caught between his front upper teeth nervously.

She blinked once, twice, three times, then flung herself at him. "I'm sorry too," she whispered.

And then, just like in a cheesy romance novel…

-.-.

"Did you kiss her?" Victoire inquired innocently.

"I sure did," Draco said with a smile.

Hermione slapped him. "That's not how it went! A hundred roses did not appear in my apartment. You were a nervous mess and spluttering about how sorry you were, and-"

"Oh, does it really matter? We're both here now."

"Is that all?" George asked. "All this sweetness is making me sick."

"Yes that's pretty much-"

"OH!" Ginny exclaimed. "Tell us how he proposed!"

"Actually," Hermione giggled. "I kind of did."

Mrs Weasley laughed. "Really? How?"

Draco's face was bright red, but Hermione continued, "We were at the beach, I had a feeling he was going to propose, but he simply couldn't get the words out, so I just did it for him."

"Again… Nice going, Malfoy," Bill said.

A timer rang from the kitchen. "Oh! Dinner's ready," Mrs Weasley said. "Let's go."

Everyone filed in, but Harry pulled Draco aside.

"You know, you really look awful as a couple."

Draco snorted and began to walk away. "Nice try, Potter."

"Curly-haired blondes are ugly."

"Not listening!"

"You really weren't meant to be together-"

"Just drop it, will you?"

Harry sighed. "Wait."

"Yeah?"

"Promise me she'll be happy?"

"Of course."

"Then I guess I'll be nice enough to lie and say your kid's cute."

"Well you better start practicing, because you're going to need to be lying soon."

Harry turned pale. "Y-you're having a baby?"

"Yeah… didn't she tell you?"

"No! She didn't!"

"Oh…oops." Draco pretended to look confused, then smirked. "Must be because I'm lying."

Harry glared. "You better run right now."

Draco did as he was told- no worries, he'd have plenty of chances to get him back later.

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A/N- Did I not warn you? Cheeeese, fluuuuff. It's like cheese-flavored cotton candy. :D

Review! (If you want, of course.)