Draco caught Hermione and steadied her as Harry and Ron pushed past her on the platform. They shot fierce glares at the new heads as they passed them. Draco returned it and Hermione looked hurt.

"Don't mind them. They'll come round. They have to." Draco said comfortingly. "Ready? Hold on to your trunk." He offered her his arm and together they apparated to Malfoy Manor.

It wasn't what Hermione had been expecting at all. She had thought it would be gothic, ominous, dark, and creepy. Instead it was a large handsome Georgian mansion. The stones were grey but the position of the south facing house, and it's location on the top of a hill, made the house seem pleasant. The views were breathtaking. Woodland blended into fields bordered by hedges creating a patchwork quilt of greens and browns, an odd patch of yellow here and there and one of red and another of blue. She could see the cloud's shadows from the sudden afternoon storm that had suddenly gone as quickly as it came. The sun peeked through, bathing patches of the patchwork quilt in watery light as remnants of the rain dripped off the trees around them.

Draco smiled as he watched her taking in the view. "I'd put up with anything to wake up to this view every day." She said, smiling.

"Glad to hear it."

He took her hand and led her inside in state, leaving their trunks outside. Inside too, the house was light and welcoming and unlike what she expected. All the ceilings were very high and the windows ran from the floor almost to the top of the ceilings, as is the style with Georgian houses. Expensive marble and rich silk and velvet were everywhere.

He showed her the dining room with it's long elegant table, explaining that it was a tradition to dress for dinner in the old way in Malfoy Manor. Then through to the wood-panelled parlour, where he said they would spend their time after dinner. Hermione fell in love with the ballroom at first sight.

It was a large room with graceful windows and red silk curtains. An expensive black grand piano stood on a little stage on one side of the room and a beautiful mural lined the walls, broken up by gilded framing and tall mirrors. To her surprise a record player stood near the piano, a few large boxes of records on and underneath the table on which the player stood.

"We threw a lot of parties. I doubt anyone would come to them anymore." He said smiling around at the room, remembering days when, as a small boy, he had hidden behind the curtains and peeked out at his parents grand friends.

"Do you dance?" Hermione asked.

"Haven't for a while. Why? Do you like dancing?"

She laughed a little embarrassedly. "I can't. Not very well anyway. I used to love it though. By the way I never found out what your escape was."

He smirked and went to the piano. Hermione noticed the reverence with which he opened the lid and touched the keys. He began to play, and the tune was melancholy but extremely beautiful.

"That's a Brahms Waltz isn't it? Number fifteen, I think." she asked softly, not wanting to break the spell.

He nodded. She noticed he was playing it with his eyes shut. She was silent when he finished and the last notes died into the echo were the only sounds in the room. He looked at her and smiled a very small smile.

"Wow," she breathed. "You have real romance in you after all." Her voice was low and a little husky, as though she had been a little choked up at his recital.

"You can't play the masters and not feel it."

He closed the piano lid and rose from his seat. "Come along. Dinner's in half an hour and we need to dress. After dinner I'll show you the library, I've been saving it." He held out a hand to her, which she took and let him lead her out and up the grand staircase.

"Wait, what about out trunks?"

"The elves took them up." he said comfortingly.

He took her up to a light corridor lined with windows on one side and vases and antique clocks and statues and paintings, with only two doors in it, one at each end. "I've put you in the Blue Room. My room is the other one on this corridor. I thought it best to put you near me, it's fairly easy to get lost in this house."

"Thank you." Hermione said opening the door.

The room was big, as all the rooms in this house seemed to be, and a wallpaper of delicately embroidered Chinese silk in powder blue and dark blue lined the walls. The curtains and drapes on the four poster bed and the quilt matched the walls, as did the cushions on the settee and comfortable armchair by the fireplace. A fine looking antique Chinese wardrobe stood at the wall by the door and another door led to a blue tiled en-suite bathroom. A dressing table with a chair and a mirror stood beside the wardrobe and Hermione noticed a jewellery box in front of the mirror.

A little female house elf was unpacking her trunk for her, but she stopped and bowed to Hermione and Draco.

"Hermione, meet Tippy. She's been set aside to wait on you. Call on her for anything you might need."

"Thank you. It's not needed though."

"Don't worry about it. The house elves are here to help life move along smoothly. And yes, I do pay my elves. You're not the only one to believe in SPEW."

Hermione beamed at him. She went to one of the tall windows. Looking down she could see the front door and the driveway, and that wonderful view.

"I had a feeling you would love the view, so I gave you a south facing room." Draco smiled, pleased at having made her happy. "I'll come and get you for dinner."

Hermione chuckled and went to the wardrobe.

"Does mistress require help getting ready?" Tippy asked shyly.

Hermione smiled down at her and rifled through her clothes. "I don't have much for this sort of thing. But I think I can manage, thank you. I'll call you if I do need help."

Tippy bowed and disappeared.

Hermione showered and selected the best of her dresses; a champagne coloured silk cocktail dress which glistened as she moved and fitted to the last millimetre. Sitting at the dressing table she brushed her hair and pinned it up in a bun, leaving some loose locks which she curled a little more. She put in a pair of simple gold earrings but didn't put on a necklace. Some gold eyeshadow and a little black eyeliner completed the look.

She was just stepping into the soft gold strappy heels when Draco knocked on her door and asked if she was ready. She spritzed on some perfume and left the room.

Draco stared at her as she opened the door. The dress was so pale it almost looked as though she wasn't wearing anything. Draco blushed, taking in the way it gripped her figure and how different she looked; more sophisticated and more mature than she had looked during her Cinderella moment in fourth year.

She stared at him and felt her breath catch in her throat and her pulse quickened a little. He wore a simple tailored black suit and a blue silk shirt. The shirt was elegantly unbuttoned a little, showing his chest a little, and the blue wasn't quite navy and not electric blue but rather some new shade between the two. His blond hair wasn't slicked back but flopped stylishly into his eyes.

He took her hand and kissed it tenderly. Almost discernibly she whimpered, as her heart melted towards him.

Hm, maybe Dumbledore would win the teacher's pool after all.