As Hermione slipped into her new deep plum halter neck dress, she wondered if she was making the right decision in going out that evening. Since having Scarlett, Hermione's social life had been lacking, but she wasn't a total hermit. She was now back working full time at the museum, and she did go out with the girls from work every month. However, even with a bit of a social life her love life was still dead in the water. It seemed every man she met, ran off as soon as they found out she had a child. Not that Hermione was going out to find a man, she was actually due to be attending a fund-raising evening at the museum.

Since her evening out could technically be counted as work, Hermione pushed her indecision to one side and finished getting dressed. Ten minutes later, she was ready to leave so she headed downstairs where her parents were preparing to babysit for the evening. When she entered the front room, she found her parents sitting on the sofa while Scarlett was crawling around on the floor with some of her dolls.

"Hey princess," Hermione cooed, swooping her daughter up in her arms.

"Mama," Scarlett responded with a little giggle as she snuggled into Hermione.

It was ten days until her daughter's first birthday, and Hermione couldn't believe how fast the time had passed. Scarlett was shooting up, and she was already making great progress with her talking and walking. As for looks, she was very much like Hermione with her large brown eyes and curly hair. To be honest the only slight indication Harry was her father was the fact her hair was several shades darker than Hermione's, albeit not the jet black of her biological father's.

"Are you going to be a good girl tonight?" Hermione asked.

"Of course she is," Jean replied. "She's always good."

"She is an angel," Richard agreed with his wife.

"Hmm, she is when she wants to be," Hermione muttered. Giving her daughter a kiss, she put her back down on the floor and watched as she turned her attention back to her favourite doll.

"Even the best behaved children have their moments of naughtiness," Richard said knowingly. While he would say Hermione was a good kid growing up, she'd certainly had her moments of mischief.

"I don't know what you mean, I was always a perfectly behaved child," Hermione joked, grinning at her parents.

"Sure you were sweetheart," Richard laughed. "Now, are you going to stand around here talking all evening, or are you going to go out and have some fun?"

"I'm not sure I'd call the evening ahead fun," Hermione remarked with a sigh. "It's more like work."

"But you love your job," Jean pointed out.

"I do," Hermione admitted with a small smile.

"So get going, and enjoy yourself," Jean ordered her daughter.

"Okay, I'm going," Hermione replied.

Giving her parents and her daughter a kiss goodbye, Hermione pulled on her jacket and apparated to the museum. Hermione arrived in the staff room, where she hung her jacket up and checked her appearance before she headed into the part of the museum that was hosting the fund-raiser. About half of the museum was open for the fund-raiser, and practically everyone who was anyone in Wizarding France was at the evening. The idea of the evening was to gain new business for the museum, and hopefully earn them enough money so they could expand the museum to include a top class restaurant.

The evening was well under way when Hermione entered the fray. Grabbing a glass of champagne of a passing waiter, she headed over to where her boss was standing talking to a few high ranking people from the Ministry of Magic. Her boss quickly made the introductions, before leaving Hermione to sweet talk the group while she went to mingle with the other guests.

For nearly an hour, Hermione flitted around the party, chatting amiably to everyone she met. She'd just finished talking with a sculptor, who'd agreed to drop off a portfolio of their work in view of opening an exhibit in the museum, when the curator of the museum grabbed her and slid a fresh glass of champagne into her hand.

"There's someone I want you to charm, Hermione," The curator said. "He's an English wizard, but his family originally comes from France. In fact, he's the heir to the biggest wizarding fortune in Europe."

"And I'm charming him, why?" Hermione asked.

"He's thinking about letting us use some of his ancestors' things for a display on French history. It would be quite a coup to get a collection from the Malfoys. Their family were very influential in establishing a strong wizarding community in France."

"Did you say, Malfoy?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yes, do you know him?" The curator asked with a twinkle in her eye. "Now I think about it, he could be about your age. What was he called, a Latin name I think?"

"Draco," Hermione supplied.

"That's it," The curator said with a smile. "So you do know him."

"We went to school together," Hermione answered.

"Perfect," The curator replied. "You've already got a connection with him. Do your best to get him to agree to participate in the exhibit."

"I'll try, but I'm warning you now, we weren't friends in school," Hermione cautioned.

"People change," The curator answered with a shrug. "He seems nice enough to me. Just talk to him and see what happens."

Without waiting for an answer, Hermione's boss darted back into the crowds, and Hermione was left wondering just where she would find Draco Malfoy. She'd seen no sign of the platinum blond, but then again, she hadn't exactly been looking for him. Taking a sip of her champagne, she set off through the party, looking for her former school mate.

Five minutes later, Hermione spotted Draco standing on one of the balcony's that overlooked the museums gardens. Instead of approaching him right away, Hermione took a moment to study the former Slytherin. Once he'd started to grow in school, he'd turned into a very good looking teenager, and even though they'd never been friends, Hermione had still been able to appreciate Draco's looks. However, it would seem the couple of years since school ended had only increased his looks further, and he was now a devastatingly handsome wizard. Hermione had no doubt that he had witches falling at his feet, and he could have the pick of any woman he desired.

Fully expecting his good looks, combined with his natural sizeable ego, had made him unbearable, Hermione began to walk over to Draco. She figured she could smile and play up to him for one evening, if it got him to agree to donate a collection to the museum. After all, if she secured his donation, she might even end up in line for a promotion.

"Hello, Malfoy," Hermione greeted, as she stepped out onto the small balcony where the blond was standing.

Draco jumped slightly at her voice, and when he turned round to see who had addressed him, Hermione noticed the initial shock in his grey eyes. However, the shock soon disappeared as he took a few minutes to let his gaze travel the full length of Hermione's body, and back up to her face. By the time their eyes connected, Hermione was feeling rather warm at the blond's attention.

"Granger," Draco returned in a low voice. "So you're the English beauty whose taken the museum by storm. I've heard a lot of good things about you this evening. You're quite the attraction here."

"I'm no-one special," Hermione replied quietly as she fought the blush that was threatening to overcome her.

"On the contrary, everyone at the museum that I've spoken to says you're destined for great things," Draco replied. "They all think you can do something special with the place."

"Maybe one day, but I'm just starting right now," Hermione answered. "I haven't even been here for two years."

"We haven't even been left school for two years," Draco pointed out. "You must have moved over here almost as soon as we graduated."

"A few months after graduation," Hermione replied, keeping her voice neutral as memories of why she'd left England threatened to engulf her. "And you?" She enquired in the hopes of changing the subject away from herself. "Do you live in France now, or are you just passing through?"

"I'm living in France now," Draco replied. "I moved to Paris at the end of last year. We're wanting to establish a line of the business in France again, and my parents are pretty settled at the manor so they didn't want to move. I had no ties, so I was happy to make the move."

"No ties?" Hermione raised an eyebrow as she sipped her champagne. "So you're not married?"

"No, I'm not married," Draco replied with a slow smile. "Why, are you going to ask me on a date, Granger?" He teased.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at Draco's question, surprised by how natural it felt to be laughing and talking with the blond wizard. "No, I'm not that sort of girl."

"Shame," Draco muttered, just loud enough for Hermione to hear.

"I just thought a lot of purebloods got married as early as possible so they could carry on the family line," Hermione continued, ignoring Draco's last remark, although she'd been very flattered and surprised by his words.

"Maybe a few years ago, but times change," Draco replied with a shrug. "I have no intention of marrying someone just to carry on the family name. When I marry it will be because I'm madly in love with the witch in question."

Hermione was stunned into silence by Draco's response. It wasn't that she thought Draco wasn't capable of loving someone, on the contrary she'd always thought he was so guarded with his emotions because he felt things very deeply, she was just shocked that he'd revealed something so clearly personal to her. Granted, she'd never known him very well considering the fact they'd been in rival houses at school, plus his family had never gotten along with Ron's, but she'd never thought he was the type of person to share things with people he didn't trust.

"You look surprised," Draco remarked with a low laugh. "Is it the fact I want to marry for love that shocks you, or the fact I told you that?"

"Both, actually," Hermione admitted. "I've always thought you were a pretty private person, so I'm surprised you shared that with me. And I guess I always thought that carrying on your family name and keeping the Malfoys pure was more important to you than love."

Draco gave Hermione a smirk, and for the first time since they'd started talking she was reminded of the boy she'd went to school with.

"It looks like you've been listening to other people's opinions Granger," He said. "I am a private person, but it's not like I've bared my soul to you. I've just shown you that I'm not a heartless monster. As for keeping the name pure, that's old news. Everyone knows the Malfoys value blood, but as I said earlier, times change. Keeping the family line pure isn't the big deal it once was. I have no desire to deliberately go out and marry someone who isn't a pure blood just to end the purity of the family line, but if I so happen to fall in love with someone other than a pureblood, then so be it."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, worried in case she's offended the blond. "I guess I'm just realising that we don't really know each other, despite the fact we went to school together for seven years."

"Then why don't we start now," Draco suggested with a genuine smile, not his usual smirk. "How about you give me the tour of this place, and as we do, we can get to know each other."

"Sounds good to me," Hermione agreed.

Exiting the small balcony they'd been standing on, the pair returned to the main body of the museum. As Hermione showed Draco around the exhibits that were open for the evening, the pair chatted about their lives and found they had a fair bit in common. Of course they'd had very different upbringings and experiences within the wizarding world, but they were both finding it fascinating to speak to someone who'd lived their lives so differently from themselves. Although, surprisingly they both seemed to want the same things for the future, namely a career they loved and were passionate about and a loving family to come home to at the end of each day.

"You know I was tasked with a job this evening," Hermione admitted as she checked the time and found she'd been talking with Draco for over two hours. "I was supposed to be convincing you to allow us to display some of your families' belongings in our new exhibit, and I haven't raised the topic once."

"You've done so now, and consider me convinced," Draco replied. "I'll let the museum have whatever they want. Maybe you could come to the château and take a look around. I'm currently staying at the family's penthouse, but the château is where all the old stuff belonging to our ancestors is."

"Just like that, you're agreeing to the exhibit?" Hermione checked, wondering if the blond had an ulterior motive.

"Well, I was half way there to saying yes before this evening," Draco confessed. "But I've really enjoyed myself tonight, Hermione, and if I say yes to the exhibit, it means I get to see more of you."

"Why would you want to see more of me?" Hermione asked quietly. She'd also enjoyed herself, but she knew this was where things were about to come to an abrupt halt.

"Because you're the most fascinating witch I've ever met," Draco admitted with a charming smile. "Honestly, I'm kicking myself for not getting to know you back in school. But I really want to change that now. Will you allow me to take you to dinner one evening?"

Hermione felt the breath leave her body at the request she'd known was coming. Part of her wanted to accept the offer and not mention, Scarlett, but she knew that wasn't fair on either of them. She needed to be upfront with Draco, even if it meant neither of them got what they wanted.

"And you're already seeing someone," Draco concluded when Hermione remained silent. "I should have known that you're weren't single."

"I'm not seeing anyone, not since just after we left Hogwarts," Hermione confessed. "That's not why I hesitated."

"It's okay," Draco interrupted. "I understand that you don't want to get involved with me. To be honest, given the way I behaved towards you in our early years of school, it's not surprising."

"It's not that either," Hermione insisted. To be honest, she'd long since gotten over the harsh way Draco had treated her in the early days of school as even by the time they'd graduated, he'd grown out of his pureblood brat persona. "There's something you need to know before I agree to have dinner with you."

"Okay," Draco said warily. "What do I need to know?"

"I have a daughter, Scarlett. She's nearly one year old," Hermione said in a rush, before she waited for the usual brush off to occur.

Draco stared at Hermione in surprise for several seconds, and she braced herself for however he was going to rescind his offer of dinner. In the past few months she'd had several people ask her out, only to take it back when they found out she was a single mother. Some of them did it polity, however some of them had been pretty brutal about it. She was just hoping Draco would be nice about taking his offer back and that it wouldn't affect the promise he'd made to donate some stuff for the new exhibit.

"Nearly a year?" Draco finally asked.

"Yes, her birthday is in ten days," Hermione replied.

"You had her really quickly after leaving school," Draco remarked. "Not even nine months later."

"Yes, I was pregnant when I left Hogwarts," Hermione admitted with a sigh.

"I'm not judging, Hermione," Draco said softly. "It's just not the news I was expecting to hear."

"It's okay, Draco, I understand," Hermione replied, giving the blond a small smile. "You're not yet twenty, you don't want to get involved with a single mother. I don't blame you for not wanting to take this any further."

"Who said anything about not taking this any further?" Draco frowned. "My offer for dinner is still open. I still want to take you out some time, Hermione."

"Even though you now know I have a child?" Hermione was genuinely shocked by Draco, and she didn't know quite how to react to the blond wizard.

"I like you, Hermione, the fact you have a daughter doesn't change that," Draco replied with a shrug. "If you don't want to go out with me because you don't like me, that's fine. But please don't use your daughter as an excuse. I want a chance to take you to dinner and see where this leads. What do you say, do you want to go out with me?"

"Yes, I'd love to," Hermione admitted with a smile.

She didn't know how things were going to work out with Draco, but she'd finally met someone who wasn't put off by the fact she had a daughter, and she wasn't going to miss out on a chance of going for dinner with someone who'd accepted something that no other wizard she'd met had seemed to be able to do. Maybe things would work out with Draco, or maybe they wouldn't, but either way Hermione wanted to find out for herself.