A/N: Wow! I leave my laptop for two days and I come back to over 100 follows! You all are incredible. I was not expecting to get so much love, but I appreciate it so much. You all are the reason that I've kept writing this silly little fic.
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Draco thumbed through the papers on his desk. He'd been in an exceptionally good mood all weekend, and, though he was as cranky as ever when he'd woken that morning, he'd dressed with a smile and Apparated to Muggle London with a smile on his face. He'd even foregone his usual grimace as he stepped into the toilet entrance of the Ministry.
It was no wonder that everyone he crossed paths with peered at him curiously. He could feel the goofy grin spread across as his face as he headed for the lifts. He was powerless to wipe it away, though.
His weekend had gone even better than he'd planned.
Well, at least she agreed to the date after you made a right arse of yourself shouting to the rooftops.
He hadn't cared, though, not when her fingers had closed over his mouth, and he could feel the laughter shaking her body. The smell of sugar cookies had been even more tantalizing when he held the wrist she'd undoubtedly dabbed the perfume on.
He'd walked home in the brisk night air and sat on his bed, the same grin lighting up his face. Draco couldn't believe it. He'd been edging toward this date for weeks, and now he finally had it.
He only panicked a little bit when he had realized he had to actually plan the date.
The door to his office slammed open and all his thoughts came to a screeching halt as Theo and Blaise swept through the doorway, squabbling.
"I've told you how many times, Blaise, that you can't just go about asking women to step into the loo with you for a quickie?" Theo grumbled.
"Well, that bird from International Magical Cooperation didn't seem to have a problem with it last week," Blaise answered with a chuckle that set Theo off again.
Draco rolled his eyes. Theo and Blaise argued on a daily basis, and apparently his office was the best venue in which to do so. He pinched the bridge of his nose with the thumb and forefinger of one hand while he haphazardly gathered the papers strewn across his desk. He glanced at the clock magically projected on his office wall and sighed. He'd get nothing else done until they left his office, and he didn't think that would happen before the end of the workday.
He sighed again, just loudly enough that Blaise and Theo paused in their argument. He quirked an eyebrow. "I'm assuming that there is a reason for this interruption? Or am I supposed to play the referee to one of your arguments yet again?"
Theo grinned at him sheepishly. "Sorry, mate." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Blaise, who slouched against the doorway—cultivated, no doubt, to flaunt his aloofness. "I had to save that one from another angry witch. He doesn't seem to understand that propositioning witches in the hallway of the Ministry of Magic isn't a beneficial way to start a relationship."
Blaise unfolded from the wall with a scoff, picking imaginary lint off his pristine robes. "Who says I want a relationship?" He grinned. "A quick shag after lunch is much more preferred. I like to keep myself on my toes."
Despite himself, Draco grinned. It still surprised him how open they'd all become since they'd left Hogwarts. They could finally breath without a raging maniac breathing down their necks.
Blaise eyed Draco. "So I heard through the grapevine that you were found in the middle of Diagon Alley Friday night, shouting for the whole world to hear. Something about holding hands with one Hermione Granger."
Theo's eyebrows hit his hairline. Apparently, Blaise hadn't thought to share the office gossip with his best mate.
Here goes, Draco thought.
"You heard correctly. I'll be taking Hermione to dinner this Friday night. I just need to figure out where." Draco did not miss the glance between his friends.
"Hermione, huh? I didn't know you were on a first name basis with Granger," Theo said with a grin.
Draco scratched the back of his head sheepishly, then quickly dropped his hand. He didn't have time to run home to ensure it looked decent before he dropped by Flourish and Blotts on the way home. "It's a recent development." Blaise opened his mouth to interject with something crass, Draco was sure. "And before you open your mouth and make us all aware of just how big of a git you are, Blaise, I don't have any ill intentions toward the witch."
Blaise's grin only widened. "So, you're truly interested in Granger, eh? Gryffindor's princess has ickle Drakey-poo wrapped around her pristine finger," he teased, then quickly ducked.
Draco had sent the snitch he kept on his desk flying at his friend's head. Theo, who had wisely kept his mouth shut while Blaise teased him, roared from his perch on the edge of Draco's desk.
"Do not call her that again. Granger or Hermione, fine. But she's not a princess. She's a woman." Draco rolled his eyes. Merlin, if I keep this up, my eyes are going to roll out of my head. "We're not at Hogwarts anymore. We're adults. And never call me Drakey-poo again."
Blaise once again opened his mouth, but Draco silenced him with a glare. "I like her. I think, gods willing, she's at least interested in me. I'd like to eventually introduce the two of you to her. Can you at least act like you're not the depraved arses that you are?"
"Hey!" Theo exclaimed.
Draco winced and amended his statement. "Blaise, can you at least act like a civilized human being? Theo—keep doing whatever it is that you're doing."
Theo's laughter punctuated his nod, and Blaise muttered huffily under his breath.
"Now, I've got things to do. Did you two need anything or did you just come to torment me with your bickering?"
Blaise pouted. "We just wanted to talk to you. We haven't seen much of you around. We miss you at Friday night Quidditch practice. We're one short, so Theo has been the only Beater for our team."
"Yeah, and I've come close to having black eyes for the department meetings the last two weeks," Theo whined.
Draco chuckled. "I'll try to make it next week. I'll see if I can talk Hermione out of her booth; maybe I can convince her to come watch."
Blaise and Theo exchanged looks. "Based on her reaction to games at Hogwarts, you'd be more likely to drag her willingly to a bar fight." The men left his office. The door barely closed before Blaise could be heard making jabs at Theo.
Draco cringed. She likes books but not Quidditch. Who doesn't like Quidditch?
The bell overhead dinged as Draco walked in the front door of Flourish and Blotts. He'd told Hermione that he would owl her when he figured out what he wanted to do for their date, but he wanted to see her expression. He looked forward to seeing her Mondays after work.
"I'm coming! I'm sorry!" A thud from the back room punctuated her words. After a beat, Hermione hustled up the hallway. Dust clung to every part of her and a smudge of dust marred her forehead. Her light blue jumper clung to her curves. Draco smiled at her as his stomach did a summersault. Merlin, she's perfect.
Hermione swept her dusty hair out of her eyes as she neared the desk. "Oh, Draco! Hi! I didn't realize it was so late already. It's been a slow day, and I decided to start going through some old paperwork." She smiled sheepishly, trying in vain to dust the cobwebs out of her hair.
"It's alright. I can help, if you want." he offered. There were only a select few people he would get his robes dirty for. His biggest weakness at the moment happened to be the frizzy haired witch in front of him.
"You don't have to! Though I'd appreciate any help I can get. I think I found boxes from the store's first year of business." She grinned wryly. "Sure you want to get those robes dirty, though?"
"For you, I'd do just about anything," he purred, just to see her blush. It worked like a charm, and she ducked her head.
"Well, alright then. Can you flip the sign to closed and lock the door? My wand is somewhere beneath a pile of invoices from 1455."
Draco chuckled and concentrated, the sign flipping to closed. He was showing off, but he also lowered the blinds the way he knew she did before she went home for the night.
"Non-verbal and wandless magic. Draco, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to flirt with me."
He grinned. "It's not trying if I'm succeeding."
She made a face and whirled around. Gotcha, Granger. If you can tease me, then I can tease you.
"Well, I haven't all day. Are you coming?" she called over her shoulder.
He followed Hermione down the hall into the plume of dust. Piles upon piles of books rested upon every surface, and dust motes danced around the room.
"Blimey. You weren't kidding when you said they never got rid of anything, were you?" He wrinkled his nose in distaste at the disarray.
She winced. "I know; it's horrid. You don't have to stay. I wouldn't blame you if you never came back."
Draco immediately regretted his choice of words. Just because she agreed to the date doesn't mean you have to stop trying to impress her, he scolded himself. "I didn't mean it that way. It's just a little daunting. I'll stay. I wouldn't be a gentleman if I left you here to fend off all the dust whatsits anyway, would I?"
She giggled. "Dust bunnies. But I suppose you wouldn't, no."
Draco stiffened. "There's rabbits in here?"
"Rabbits? No, there's just dust, paper, and books. It's just a Muggle saying for—" she trailed off and a grin slowly lit up her features. "Draco Malfoy, are you afraid of bunnies?"
He couldn't fight the blush that stole over his cheeks as he turned to survey the stack of papers nearest him. "No, I'm not afraid of bunnies."
He felt rather than heard her sidle up behind him. "I won't tell anyone, you know."
Draco gritted his teeth against a smile. "I am not afraid of bunnies. I am afraid of those creepy white menaces with the red eyes." He shuddered. "They're not right. It's like I can feel them staring into my soul with their beady little eyes." He cautioned a glance over his shoulder.
She was a couple paces away, staring at him with amusement. She bit her lip to keep the laughter in that was dancing in her eyes. He opened his mouth to protest when she threw a plastic trash bag at him.
"Get to work, Malfoy. We've got some cleaning to do."
Three hours later, they were both collapsed on the floor, covered in dirt. Tears streamed down Hermione's face as she laughed uncontrollably at the story Draco was telling. They'd abandoned separating the papers out an hour ago; Hermione had insisted that they hand-sort the papers so she could determine which ones she needed to keep. However, after a pile taller than Draco had enveloped Hermione, she'd succumbed to his urging to do it the magical way. Draco had cast a sorting spell of his own creation on the pile. He'd needed one to help him keep track of his papers at the Ministry.
"So I ran screaming back inside to my mother and made her come back outside with me." He chuckled. "She looked at me like I'd gone 'round the bend. What could a tiny rabbit do to me? She wouldn't believe me that the thing's mouth had more teeth than any rabbit should ever have."
Hermione giggled again. "What did she do?"
"She marched out into the yard and petrified the thing, she did. Then she tried every spell in the book to make whatever was hiding in that thing show itself. When nothing happened, she let it go. I had to wash dishes for a week. The house elves were not happy."
Mirth shone in her eyes, and she reached a hand up to wipe away the tears that had leaked from the corner of her eye at the force of her laughter.
"I can just picture a petulant Draco stomping away from Narcissa after that," Hermione said.
"I was not petulant! The thing bit me. I have a scar!" He waved his pointer finger in her face. Hermione grabbed it and peered at it closely.
"What scar? This little thing?" She was fighting giggles again.
His grip tightened on her hand. "Laugh as you might, but it was traumatizing."
"Oh, I can imagine." Her laughter caught in her throat as he twined his fingers through hers.
He glanced up at her through his lashes. "So, about our date." Hermione nodded mutely. Struck speechless twice in less than a week. That's got to be a good sign. He tried to reign in his internal gloating. "I've suddenly decided that I'd much rather have a more private venue for our date. Would you mind coming to my house? I'll cook dinner. I've been working on my Muggle cooking skills. Friday night?" He tried to plaster his most winning smile across his face, but he was sure that he fell short of winning and strongly into the constipated category. Why is this so hard? I've already got the date. It's just a much more private date.
"You cook? Using Muggle means?" she asked. Of course that's the part she fixates on. Not the part where I invite her to my home for dinner.
He shrugged. "More or less. I'm not the best, but I think I can figure out something."
She smiled up at him. "I'd love to come to dinner at your place, but only if you let me help."
"You just don't trust my cooking!" Draco cried, trying his best to appear scandalized.
Her grasp on his hand tightened. "I do! I just love to cook. It'll be fun, a cooking adventure."
"Deal." He looked up into her brown eyes. "Prepare to have the best meal of your life."
Notes: I've received inquiries about how long this is, my update schedule, etc. The short of it is that I have no idea! I'm posting this as I get ideas and as I go. I don't have a set schedule update, but I'm letting this develop itself. I'll post chapters as I get them written and through a beta. This is also developing really slowly as I want to establish the characters outside of their interactions and use them to help build the relationship. To me, the relationship feels more authentic when you see how the characters fall together than rushing it.
