Hi me again !! Hope you like Chapter 4, there's a bit more of Harry's feelings in here. Any thoughts are in Italics.

Disclaimer: Not the wonderful J. but love her work all the same.

Chapter 4

Hermione had kept in contact with Draco for the first couple of years but after that it was difficult to maintain training and letters, so they eventually stopped. She walked through the Ministry saying hi to fellow workers and nodding at superiors. Hermione reached the records department and after a quick chat to Colin Creevey about his new job as the Ministry Photographer, she went to work on looking up her partner.

She spent quite some time going over the past cases Draco had been involved in. He had passed his training with flying colours and every case he had been involved with was a success. There was one case which two members of his team were killed in action. Unfortunately this happened from time to time; it was a high risk job. He seemed to be well liked by his peers and did not seem to be involved with anyone in a personal relationship as far as she could tell.

It was too difficult to maintain a relationship in this job. Lupin and Tonks had a great marriage but they were the exception to the rule.

Hermione glanced at her watch and realised she needed to go home and have a nice warm bath before meeting with Malfoy. She tidied up and headed out, she greeted a few more co workers and to her surprise she saw Draco walking out of an office close to hers. He seemed to have a serious look on his face but when he looked and saw Hermione, he smiled and approached her.

"Let me see Auror Granger, I will have three guesses as to why you are here at the ministry on your day off, but I think I might only need one guess." Hermione smiled and lent against the wall, Draco placed his arm on the wall above her head and looked down into her eyes.

"OK Auror Malfoy have your go" Hermione was being cheeky and she knew it but was enjoying it all the same.

"Let's see you are coming away from records which tells me you came down here to find out as much information on me as you could before our date tonight."

"Oh do my ears deceive me, did you say 'date'?" Hermione raised her eyebrows as she asked.

"Yes a date, and I was right wasn't I, you did come down here to find some dirt on me" Draco was leaning closer to her and he could see the golden brown flecks in her eyes.

"Nope you're wrong. See you tonight for our 'dinner arrangement'" Hermione slipped out from under his arm and laughed as she walked down the corridor.

"Bye Auror Malfoy" she waved as she headed into the lift and was still laughing when Draco's arm stopped the door.

"Going down Miss Granger, if it is still Miss Granger or is it, let's see, Mrs Potter perhaps? Draco walked closer to her until she was cornered in the lift.

"Well Auror Malfoy, that's for me to know and for you not to find out" Hermione walked her fingers up his chest until she reached his chin and then tapped his nose. Hermione was used to playing these games with him; maybe it was because they were great friends back in school and they had a history together. Draco had wanted to date Hermione in 7th year but he could see she cared for Harry and secretly had hoped that now she had grown out of her little crush.

He didn't plan to come back to Hermione and truth be told she was one of the reasons why he left, he had developed feelings for her and could not shake them. He was pleased he was back and even more pleased to be working with her. He would be happy if he could rekindle their friendship and if anything else developed then he would face it in time. The lift door opened and Mr Weasley stepped in,

"Hi Hermione how are you?

"Good Mr Weasley and how is everyone at home?" Mr Weasley was deeply engrossed in his paperwork.

"Well thanks, how come you don't come by anymore, you know Molly is worried your not looking after yourself, at least you have Harry there with you" Hermione saw Draco's head snap up at this comment.

"Yes I do have Harry and he looks after me, what I can say he cooks nearly as well as Molly" That brought Mr Weasley's eyes to her.

"Oh dear Merlin, don't let Molly hear you say that she will have a heart attack. Good afternoon young man"

Draco lifted his head and looked Mr Weasley in the eye.

"Good afternoon Sir"

"Oh dear Merlin Draco Malfoy, how are you dear boy, when did you get back, how long are you here for, does Ron know your back?" Mr Weasley was talking a mile a minute and Draco and Hermione laughed.

"Draco only got back into town today Mr Weasley" Hermione looked up and saw Draco's smiling face.

"Yes Sir I am back home to work and to live here" He put his arm around Hermione's shoulders and pulled her close. Mr Weasley was so pleased with Draco being back he didn't even respond.

"Well Draco I want you to come over for dinner tomorrow night, no excuses, Molly will have my head if you don't come, everyone will be there for the usual Friday night dinner, except Ginny she's away with a fashion shoot."

"Thank you Mr Weasley I would love to come, Hermione will show me the way if that's OK"

"Of course it goes without saying it will mean our dear Hermione will have no excuse" Mr Weasley laughed and stepped out of the lift as they had reached their floor. Hermione and Draco had walked out with him to the apparating section that was cordoned off by the ministry. Mr Weasley had apparated away and Draco turned to Hermione, he took her hand and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.

"I shall see you in 2 hours for our date" He then vanished. Hermione stood there and quickly looked around. She was shocked he would be so bold to kiss her hand in public.

Hermione was enjoying a hot bath when the phone rang. Luckily she took the cordless phone in with her. Harry had just apparated home and heard the phone ring but realised Hermione was home and had answered it. He went to his room to leave his cloak and some papers he needed to mark for his Friday's class. He passed the bathroom and heard Hermione on the phone. He never would have listened to her private conversation but this one caught his ear. He stopped and listened.

"You are very cheeky; someone could have seen you do that"

"Well I care, I work there you know"

"Yes so you do, well I will see you in about 30 minutes for our dinner"

"No it's not a date"

"No it isn't"

"OK let me get dried off and get dressed"

"Yes I am in the bath"

"Absolutely not"

"Goodbye I'll see you in about 25mins now and don't be late, you know me, I don't like late"

Hermione hung up and lay back down in the bath and giggled. She thought about how much fun she had had today. It had been so long since she had seen him and she was really enjoying his company again.

Harry wasn't feeling so great at this moment and decided to head into the gym and let off some steam. If only he would get some courage and tell her how he felt he wouldn't have to go through this every time she went out on a date. He could fight off maniac Lords who were hell bent on killing him and taking over the world but telling his best friend that he loved her scared him to death. Maybe it was because he had so much more to loose. Harry did find it was easier dealing with his feelings while he was not working with her and being at Hogwarts kept him so busy he was able to put it to the back of his mind. But night's like this brought everything back to the surface. She actually giggled, he can not remember a time when he had heard Hermione giggle. He seriously didn't think she could giggle. How many other things did he not know about his best friend.

Harry tried his hand at dating a few times but they always ended in disaster so he didn't date because he believed woman were only after their 15 minutes of fame. No one had got to know him like Hermione had. Truth be told he didn't want anyone to know him but now it made it more difficult if Hermione was dating. Harry was happy living the way he was, it wasn't healthy but it was safe. Lucky for him her dates were few and far between.

He was lifting weights in the gym room when he heard her call out to him.

"Harry where are you?"

"In the gym Mione" That was odd, Harry normally doesn't work out after being at work all day unless something upset him.

"OK I will be right in" Hermione walked to her room and put on her underwear and a robe over the top. It was a pale blue, mid thigh silk robe Harry brought her for her birthday last year. She loved it as it made her feel girly, considering her job was as far from girly as you could get.

She walked down to the gym to find Harry already drying his face off from the sweat.

Oh Merlin did she have to wear that robe, for heaven's sake is she TRYING to kill me.

"Hi Harry, rough day at work?" Hermione studied his face to see if she could read what was troubling him.

"Oh you could say that Mione" Harry walked over to her and kissed her cheek, like he did everyday.

"Want to talk about it?" Something is up with him

"Na, you're probably busy" Harry led Hermione out of the gym and started walking towards his room.

"I have a meeting, sort of, tonight, but it shouldn't be too late, can we catch up then?" Hermione didn't notice that Harry shut his clothes drawer a little rougher than usual and was holding his clothes with a little more force than necessary when she said meeting.

"Not to worry Mione, I need to shower, I will catch you later" and with that he walked right past her, down the hallway into the bathroom and locked the door. Hermione was a bit shocked and decided she would look into it later but since she had to meet Draco in 10 minutes she decided to file it away.

Idiot, idiot, idiot, how can I be so stupid, I should have asked her if she had a date. Harry was going over these thoughts while in the shower. Then he decided maybe he didn't want to know whether she had a date. He had a lot of parchments to mark for his third year DADA class on unforgivables, so he cleared his head and got stuck into his evening, without Hermione.

Later that evening Harry received an owl from Mrs Weasley saying dinner was at her house tomorrow night. He replied he would be happy to come but he may be late as they had called a meeting at school. He smiled and decided he was looking forward to spending some time with Hermione at the Weasley's tomorrow night, alone.

Ok so what do you think??

Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.

Trust me I am definitely a Harry Hermione shipper, always, but a little jealousy is so much fun to write.

Next chapter is the date.

Please review and let me know what you think.