[December 11th, 1998 5pm]

"-and so we ran after him of course, but he took advantage of the fact that he was stealing from a joke shop you see, and broke open the pen of Pygmy Puffs right on top of the miniature Bounce-a-Thons. It was a nightmare, I'm telling you Hermione, if you'd only been there…"

"I can imagine Ginny." Hermione nodded along with her friend, as she tried for another sip of her boiling hot chocolate that she cuddled in her hands for warmth. She backed out the second it hit her tongue; it was still too soon."Did you at least get a good look at the perpetrator?"

The pair of them were bustling through the swarm of people in Diagon Alley, passing through the regular Friday 5 o'clock rush. Because Hermione had had to cancel lunch today due to the paperwork that came with capturing the remaining Lestrange brother and Dolohov at the same time, Ginny had met her just as she was on her way to ask for her boss for overtime again. Ginny had dragged her out for coffee at Diagon Alley's newly opened joint and was now walking her over to the Leaky Cauldron's floo.

Ginny wiped off her tiny foam mustache and shook her head. "No, he was in and out pretty fast, but Verity swears she saw his, and I quote," she paused for emphasis and made a face. "'bright sky blue orbs'. Which of course means that it's Lockhart." She and Hermione burst into laughter.

"That's awful Ginny." Hermione said after they finished giggling. "Do you know what he stole though? Because if it's something of higher expense then George had better report it."

Ginny shook her head. "Nah, it isn't worth it getting compensation for, just a few packets of Peruvian Darkness Powder and a Decoy Detonator, and I think a few fireworks. Nothing huge. Besides, for some reason the fact that we were robbed has brought along more business. It's the weirdest thing."

Hermione nodded as she opened the door of the Leaky Cauldron and let Ginny through, although she felt a strange weight in her stomach.

"You coming in?" Hermione looked up to see her friend giving her a strange look, and realized she was still holding open the door. She shook her head and went in. It was probably nothing anyway. Really the only thing she had to fear these days besides the copier accidentally creating too many copies were the remaining Death Eaters, and there were barely any left anyway. That was one good aspect of the new Ministry's ruthless efforts.

"Thanks for coming with me Hermione, I always do like talking to you." Ginny smiled at her, seemingly ignoring her momentary lapse as they made their way back to the Floo.

"Of course Gin, it's been great, and the same goes to you as always."

"Oh hey," Ginny said as they got in line behind a very bald man holding what looked like 7 cauldrons. "are you going to the Holyhead Harpies Ice Rink Ball?"

Hermione scrunched her eyes shut in thought just as the man in front of Ginny placed a few sickles into the bowl and stepped into the fireplace with his green powder and cauldrons. "Is that the charity formal event that you've been borrowing my skates for to practice with?"

"Yup, but I've got mine, they finally came in the post this morning! But are you coming? Remember half of our proceeds are going to the War Orphans Fund." Ginny had one leg inside of the fireplace now and one out as she spoke to Hermione, and some of the green powder she'd collected was slipping from her fingers into the logs.

"Would you hurry up? You and your friend have been there for hours." The short woman behind Hermione rumbled out from underneath her humongous black hat. Hermione nodded to her before turning back and making a face at Ginny.

"Of course, I'll be there." she stepped out of line to appease the other woman. "Bye!"

Having now lost her place and with an only warm hot chocolate, she meandered to one of the vacant booths near the back to finish it in quiet. She didn't very much like traveling with food anyway, as it had the effect of getting everywhere in transit.

/ / /

Her plans for quiet were disrupted however, by a group of noisy witches settling themselves in the booth behind her. And if she wasn't wrong, wasn't that the voice of one Lavender Brown?

If she'd had any doubt over who it was, that doubt was blown away seconds later when one of the women loudly exclaimed, "Lavender! You can't just say that, she went to school with us!"

"So?" Lavender snorted. "It's true. Somehow, some way, Hermione Granger is luring in men, and given her brainiac status, it's probably through magical means."

Hermione sat up straighter in her seat, even though she knew that Lavender and the other woman probably didn't know she was here. If they did they'd only have been a bit quieter.

"But Draco Malfoy? Krum and Ron at least were on the good side." The other voice piped up skeptically.

"Oh Parvati, how naive you can be. Malfoy is attractive, and for an obvious slag like Granger that's all that really matters." That was followed by loud slurping.

"I dunno, they hated each other at school though didn't they. Even if Hermione were to go after him, don't they hate each other? And where would she even find him?"

That earned a moment of silence for a moment as the ladies mulled over those two questions for a second. Hermione waited with baited breath, and glanced at the fireplace, which was on the other side of the room. If she got up, they'd see her, meaning she'd have to wait until they left, and have to listen to their theories. She would've sighed if she could.

"Didn't Malfoy get banished to the Muggle world though?" another voice piped up, and Hermione tried to place it. "Hermione is a muggle-born, they could've met out there."

"Don't be stupid Susan." Lavender chided, just as Hermione mentally fist-pumped over guessing the third occupant at their table. "The Muggle world is huge, she probably had a tracker on him or something."

"But why?" Parvati asked. "They hate each other."

"Just makes their sex lives more passionate I guess." Susan said and the three of them burst into laughter.

"Hey gang, what'd you like to order today?" Hannah, the waitress, interrupted them, and as the witches related their orders for a snack, Hermione figured she'd sneak out while they were distracted. However, they made their order too quickly as by the time she rose to make a break for it, Hannah was gone and the girls had restarted their conversation. Hermione tuned back in, it was good to get public opinion, awful as it was.

"What do you think of Hermione being with Malfoy though? It's supposed to be a secret relationship isn't it, until recently?" Susan brought the girls back.

"I dunno, if they're in a secret relationship, how come it got out? This is Hermione we're talking about after all, she's pretty on top of things, think about how hard we tried at the Prophet to get a scoop on her and Ron when they dated. She didn't slip once until they announced their break up." Parvati rationalized.

Lavender wouldn't like that, Hermione guessed, and it was proven correct by the huff before she spoke. "Everybody makes mistakes Parv, even geniuses like Hermione Granger can't keep up their pristine ruse forever. Dating a Death Eater," she let out a horrible short laugh. "she'll learn. Eventually."

"Speaking of news," Susan seemed suddenly interested in changing the subject in light of Lavender's sudden heat. "is everyone ignoring that attack this weekend by those Knights of Walpurgis?"

Parvati seemed to have caught on and was now making scraping noises with her fork. Or maybe that was Lavender; Hermione couldn't really tell without looking. "I wouldn't worry Susan, they just make threats and throw rocks into a few windows. Bartholomew at the Prophet says that they're second page news at best."

"Bartholomew from the Prophet huh?" Lavender teased, and judging from the joking and amused tones the conversation descended into, Hermione guessed that this was a good a time as any to make her exit.


[December 11th, 1998 6pm]

"Malloy, I'm home!" Hermione shouted out as she stepped through the Floo. But instead of the sight that usually greeted her of Malfoy irritably waking up from his nap on the sofa, she found him fully dressed and seated tight-lipped next to a ginger man with a quite red face.

"Oh, hey Ron. Usually people notify you ahead that they're going to stop by before they do so but-"

"Cut the crap Hermione." Ron interrupted.

"Cut the crap Hermione." Malfoy repeated calmly.

Ron's face, if possible, grew a tinge darker. Hermione saw what was going on immediately and looked at Malfoy imploringly. "Really Draco?"

Malfoy just shrugged and got up. "He showed up about ten minutes ago, and asked me a tad rudely what the hell I was doing here. He woke me up from my nap."

"No reason to act like a child." She told him, and fought down the urge to jump away when he wrapped his arms around her loosely.

"Oi, get away from her!" Ron interrupted, standing up from the couch.

"Oi, get away from her!" Malfoy repeated back automatically.

"Tell him to shut up!"

"Tell him to shut up!" Malfoy grinned at her, and Hermione felt a small part of her that craved revenge from Ron lighten at that, and chose to ignore his blatant jab.

"Alright, here's what we'll do, it's Friday, so you get to choose the movie that you like for tonight. And if you're extra good, I'll even let you have some of that pie with ice cream." She told him in a baby voice, lying through her teeth. There was no movie night ritual, nor was there any pie, but Ron didn't have to know that.

Malfoy frowned. "You're treating me like a child."

"Well you're acting like one. Now go read a book or something, shoo." And, before she lost the nerve, she stood on her toes, grabbed his face, and gave him a peck on the lips. His lips were smooth, and felt rather nice against hers.

It couldn't have lasted more than two seconds, yet Hermione got instant gratification at the contact. She pulled away as soon as she could, and noticed his strange smile. She couldn't help but replicate it. Fake or not, it was nice. "Shoo!" she repeated.

"Alright alright, I got the message. See you later Weasel." Malfoy smirked at Ron, and left down the hallway.

Hermione left her smile up for as long as she could until her gaze returned to Ron, and it dropped. All the weight from work and listening to Lavender Brown call her a slut returned at once, and she shook her head. "Finally work up the courage to come here and apologize have you?"

"Apologize? Why would I have to-" he cut himself off, and restarted at her look. "Okay so I said some things out of line, but can you really penalize me for my beliefs 'Mione?"

"Absolutely, if your beliefs are going to get innocent people get sent away!" Hermione's volume increased at once.

"Innocent people?" Ron asked, rising to the bait of her loud tone as usual. "Those are monsters! People who would just as easily kill as they would butter a piece of toast! Are you saying they should be free to do as they please?"

"Don't be an idiot Ron, those are actual criminals, who belong in Azkaban. The people they're sending off here are people who just have the misfortune of being related to them."

"What, like your precious boyfriend over there? This is all for him isn't it? Charity for being one of the worst supporters of You-Know-Who to ever live?"

"I'm sorry I have a conscience!" Hermione roared. "And that it can extend to more than just three or four people! Just because you have no idea what sympathy is that doesn't mean you have to interfere in my romantic life and what it-"

"Your romantic life- what a load of bullshit! He's using you, probably called Rita Skeeter in himself when you went out on your first date! A bit of publicity to make himself look good to the public- don't think I don't know what he's playing at."

"You're grasping at straws Ronald." Hermione hissed. "That was hardly our first date, we've been dating in secret five months."

"Five months?" Ron wasn't as loud now as he was moments ago.

"That's right, now if you aren't here to say sorry then you might as well leave." Hermione tapped her foot, but felt herself melting. Arguments had a sort of high that always left you crashing down afterwards.

Ron was silent for a moment before he announced, "I don't like him."

Hermione nearly melted to the ground as the rush of the argument blew out of her. "I know you don't. But he has changed. He's more..." Hermione didn't know to what extent his beliefs had, but she tried to be as honest as possible. "mellow now, like he's realized how to value human life more. I think he's come to understand that as much as he likes to bark, biting just isn't his style."

Her best friend rolled his eyes, but Hermione saw a hint of a smile. "He's still annoying as fuck though, and I'm not changing my view on this bill for him."

Hermione gave him a tight smile and nodded. "Whatever. Now do you want to stay for dinner?" At the look of fear that came with knowing he might have to spend extra time with Malfoy, he shook his head and left, leaving Hermione to the sudden quiet of the living room.


[December 11th 1998, 6:30pm]

Draco now knew, through personal experience, that it was completely impossible to focus on a book about numerology when your fake girlfriend was arguing with her real ex-boyfriend about whether or not you should get shipped off to a distant place or not in a few months. Certainly does not offer help when attempting formulas either.

He had heard most of it, the shouting part was the clearest, but it was cut off suddenly once he heard Granger talk about their supposed first date. With the rush of the fireplace having passed about five minutes ago, Draco finally decided that the coast was clear, and slowly opened the bedroom door, looking out warily.

"How'd it go?" He asked the crouched figure sitting below the sofa. The figure made a noise in response, so Draco decided to just leave it. "Great."

He stood silently for a moment and, seeing as Granger would only be getting up on her own terms, sighed loud and theatrically. "I suppose I've got to make dinner then? Cause I've been working on my mac and cheese." That elicited a short from her, and in triumph, he went over to the kitchen and started getting out the materials.

It did the trick however, and by the time he turned around, his arms full of the ready made mac and cheese, she was seated at the kitchen island. She still looked worn however, so he reminded himself to be cautious and not rush into the questions about what the hell just happened with Weaselbee.

He pretended to read the instructions on the box. "So, any particular reason you're more stressed than usual today?"

She let out a sort of huffy laugh, that he knew meant she was miffed, but not enough to do anything about. Draco had gotten quite good at eliciting and decoding her laughs over the past week.

"Oh, I wonder." She said sarcastically before shaking her head slightly. "Other than the obvious intrusion, I dealt with a lot of paperwork today, and then I ran into Lavender Brown and her gang at the Leaky."

He put down the pasta box, pretense forgotten. "Lavender Brown? Rather dim Gryffindor in our year? Nearly got mauled by Greyback?"

She looked a bit uneasy at his description but nodded nonetheless. "Yes, but not run into per say. More like I eavesdropped on her conversation."

"Hermione Granger, golden girl, of Hogwarts, corrupted?" He joked, summoning his most charming grin.

"Hey hey, in my defense she was talking about us, and she wasn't exactly quiet about it." The grin had worked its magic, as she was now smiling on her own, holding her hands up in mock surrender.

"What'd she say?"

"Basically what we've been aiming for, covered as it was in barbs against me." She shrugged. "They believe we're together, as improbable as it is, but they're still on the fence about the specifics."

"What specifics, we haven't given any." Draco said, confused.

Hermione shook her head. "Exactly, but what that means is that we've got our foundation up, and now all we need is one more big and obviously outing to confirm what are technically still suspicions, and then we'll do an exclusive to the Prophet. And that's not the only insight I got from Lavender."

Draco was about to ask what else when his stomach made a rather loud and obvious sound. They both looked at the untouched box in front of him and he decided that they could probably talk while eating dinner.

Draco had only touched the mikey-wave however when she went "Whoa there!" and got up from her seat. Commandeering and bossy as always, Granger soon took control of the meal, leaving him to roll his eyes and take her previous seat. It wasn't his fault Muggle appliances still confused the hell out of him. The tube and the telly were very different from the washing machine.

She came back to his seat once the machine began its monotone whirring and let out a huff at his taking her seat. "I'm going to the loo, don't the microwave if it starts beeping alright?"

Draco nodded until she disappeared around the corner again. His curiosity perked back up the second he was left alone with his thoughts, and he wondered how exactly one could introduce the topic of what they were yelling about without upsetting her. He was considering the option of biding his time until he could just bully it out of Weasley when a tap at the window distracted him.

Tap tap.

He looked to the window to see a familiar jet black owl impatiently tapping it's taking on the glass.

"No!" Draco whispered aloud, even as he hurried to the window to accept the letter. How had they found him? He hadn't received anything since his move in with Hermione, and after nothing last week had dared to hope that it was over. Alas, it was not so.

Right he was about to overcome his deep feeling of dread and break the seal, he heard the footsteps drawing closer. Moving quickly, Draco hastily dropped the packed envelope into a random drawer and leaned on to the counter to cover it. He counted down to ten in his head to slow his heart rate. It seemed like everything was happening at once.

Hermione walked through the doorway of the kitchen and made a beeline to the mikey-wave. "Did you not think to turn it off?"

Draco instantly became aware of the loud blaring coming from the machine. He shrugged, making sure to appear casual. "You said not to touch it."

Hermione took out the pasta and sighed. "That is true."

"So what insight did Brown give you?" Draco asked once they were seated with full plates in front of them.

"Huh?" A beat passed and her thoughts caught up with the conversation. "Nothing much, mainly questions about how we managed to get together. Susan thinks it's a sex thing."

Draco nods in a valiant effort to not snort and burst out laughing, but Granger keeps going without notice.

"It's border on ridiculous though. I mean, in a changed world, would it be so unbelievable if we got together?"

"Yes." Draco said, without hesitation.

Hermione sets down her fork. "Really? How so?"

Draco shrugs elegantly, picking at his mac and cheese. "I don't know. It'd just be a bit far fetched, considering we both run in different circles."

Granger actually laughed at that. "Different circles, really? In an alternate world, years from the war and without prejudice, I'm sure that somehow we'd end up seeing each other through mutual friends."

"Even so," Draco presses his point, not completely sure how this topic had come up. "who says we'd end up in a relationship together?"

That seemed to stump her for a second, but she flared back up after a second. "The same way other people's start! Through shared interests and general attraction."

"And how, pray tell, would we fit that description?"

"We already do, don't we? You can't deny the interests without conceding from every debate we've had about Arithmancy or Astronomy in the past week."

She had him there. But, backtracking, Draco picked up on something. He smirked at her. "Then what about the general attraction? Do we already have that Granger?"

"Um," she paused, swallowing and then looking down at her plate. "that's not what I said."

"Yes it is."

"I just meant that- well you're fairly good looking once you get past the pointiness," -Thanks Granger- "and underneath the abrasive cover you've got a decent personality so- yeah," she looked up at him finally, and Draco's rising mirth dies down at her eye contact, and he feels odd all of a sudden.

He clears his throat, and goes back to his food. "I guess it's not completely unbelievable, in that situation."

She rolls her eyes, and the tension dissipates for now, although for the rest of the meal they glance over at each other hesitantly, as if for the first time in a long time, they didn't know exactly what to make of each other.


A/N: Hi guys, happy one-week late new year! I'd just like to donate this chapter to the US version of The Office, for getting me through both planning the plot for this story and school returning.