A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! This one is quite a lot shorter but I felt it was important to end it where I did. Chapter 3 will be closer to the length of the first chapter, and it'll be up tomorrow night, so I hope you can forgive me for the length of this one. :)

Chapter 2

"This place has a terrible name," Draco said as he walked up behind Hermione.

Yet again she had owled him to meet her. 'The Moose' seemed to have become their unofficial meeting place.

"I guess the owner must really like moose," Hermione said as she nodded to the many moose heads that adorned the walls.

Draco looked around the pub for a moment, a look of distain on his face. "It reminds me of the gaming room at the Manor, except that instead of moose my father had an array of magical animals he and my ancestors had killed, stuffed and mounted." He sighed and changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on anything to do with his father. "Let me guess: you've just seen Ron and Vicky." he ventured.

Hermione nodded with a grimace, taking a long pull of her beer.

"Do you realise that every time you see them, you want to see me?"

"That's not true!" denied Hermione.

Draco raised a challenging brow.

"Okay, so maybe it is. What's your point?"

"Am I your rebound guy?" he asked, laughing a little.

"No! You're…" Hermione stopped. Was telling him the truth – that he had just been in the right place at the right time – too brutal?

"I'm what?"

She decided not. "You're convenient, just there at the right time," she shrugged. "And I guess you're the guy that Ron would hate me being with the most. If he ever found out we slept together he would consider it the ultimate betrayal."

She smirked at the thought of Ron's face blending in with his hair as he blushed in anger.

"I see. So, essentially, you're using me." It was a statement, not a question.

"Shamelessly," Hermione admitted. She downed the rest of her beer before adding, "But you don't seem to mind."

...

"You were right," Draco said as Hermione sat up in bed.

"I usually am," she stated groggily, "but what was I right about this time?"

"That I don't mind." When Hermione continued to appear confused, Draco continued. "That you're using me. If that's how you use people, you can use me anytime."

"Oh." Hermione didn't know how to respond to that. It was not the kind of admittance she had ever expected from Draco.

"No shower this morning?" she asked instead, changing the subject. "Have you decided that you no longer need to scrub all traces of mudblood off your body?"

"Something like that," he smiled, surprising Hermione again. That is until he added, "And I thought you might like to join me this time."

"No thanks," said Hermione.

"Have it your way. But your way means we both lose out." Draco winked at her before getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom. He smirked to himself as he noticed that Hermione couldn't help but watch him go.

When he entered the kitchen ten minutes later, Hermione was making two cups of tea.

"You know, it would be faster if you used magic to heat the water," he pointed out as she poured water from the kettle and dipped in the teabag.

"I prefer the muggle way. A lot of things would be faster if I used magic, but that doesn't make the end product any better, or the process more satisfying," she said as she took a coaster from the end of the bench and placed Draco's tea on it. "Anyway, you haven't complained about the way I make tea before, so it can't be that bad."

"True." Draco conceded, picking up his tea and cradling the warm mug in his hands.

They sat silently across from each other, each sipping the hot liquid.

"Why do you prefer muggle bars?" Draco inquired.

"Well, for one thing, I'm less likely to run into people from work," answered Hermione as she blew on her cup of tea. "And for some reason I don't get as bad of a hangover from muggle alcohol."

"Yeah, I've noticed that," Draco said. His eyebrows knotted together as he considered the fact. "It's interesting."

"Mmm," Hermione said over her steaming mug.

Once again they fell into silence. Hermione was surprised to find that it wasn't an awkward or uncomfortable silence, but rather the kind of silence two friends might find themselves in when they have run out of things to talk about.

Again, it was Draco that spoke first. And for the third time that morning she was surprised by what he said. "Do you have plans for this morning?"

"Not really," Hermione said curiously. "I was just going to do some cleaning and start a book that's been sitting on my shelf for Godric knows how long. Why?"

Draco looked around the room. "Cleaning?" he asked, dubious. The room looked pretty clean from where he was sitting. "As riveting as that sounds, I think I have a slightly better offer. I was going to ask if you'd like to get brunch."

"Brunch?"

"Yes, brunch. You know – a meal that combines breakfast and lunch."

"I know what it is!" Hermione told him. "I'm just not sure why you're asking me to brunch."

"Because I'm hungry…" Draco said slowly, as though she was a bit slow.

"I'm sure one of your house elves could whip you up something to eat," she pointed out, still not really understanding why he wanted to have brunch – or any meal for that matter – with her.

"I don't have any house elves," Draco informed her. He graciously ignored the look of unadulterated shock that crossed Hermione's face. "And I thought a day time outing might make a nice change to all our, er, night time activities. You know, mix things up a bit."

It took Hermione a while to process his comment before she responded. These were the kind of boundaries she had been thinking about addressing the other day. "The whole reason we have these 'night time activities' is because we don't spend any other time together."

"So you're saying that spending time together during the day would ruin… whatever this is?" He waved his finger between them.

"What 'this' is, is what muggles call 'friends with benefits'," Hermione explained, though she wasn't sure when she had come to that conclusion. "That's what it's called when two people sleep together on a reasonably regular basis without all the emotional entanglements that come with a relationship."

"Friends with benefits?" Draco asked, putting strong emphasis on the word friends. "How can we be friends with benefits when we're not even friends?"

Hermione glared at him. "We don't actually have to be friends to be friends with benefits."

"Trust muggles to come up with something that makes absolutely no sense," Draco said, but seeing the look Hermione gave him, he quickly added, "Kidding! I'm only kidding!" Hermione rolled her eyes as Draco thought for a moment. "So, if we're friends with benefits, wouldn't that imply that I'm entitled to these benefits as well?" he asked.

"Was that your twin in my bed last night?" Hermione asked him, eyebrows raised.

"I mean, does it work both ways? Do I get to owl you whenever I feel like meaningless sex?"

"Er, I guess so," said Hermione slowly, not sure she was happy with this change in their relationship, despite knowing it was her own fault for bringing it up.

Draco grinned and looked around. "I need to find me an owl." Hermione hit him. He put his hands up as though surrendering. "I'm kidding! But does this mean you've decided sleeping with me isn't so wrong after all?" he probed.

"No. I think it just means I've accepted that I can't be perfect all the time –" Draco feigned a heart attack here and Hermione hit him again, "– and I'm ok with it as long as no one finds out."

"Does that mean I'm sworn to secrecy?" Draco asked.

"Yes."

"But we are going to continue enjoying the perks of this friends with benefits thing?"

"Yes…" Hermione said again, though less certain this time.

"Deal." Draco stuck out his hand for Hermione to shake. She took it, wondering what on Earth she had gotten herself into. She was not completely sure that she was pleased about it.