Hey guys! Sorry it's taken so long to update! I actually left the country for a while, and couldn't access my account. I hope you enjoy!

Update: I redid some of this chapter so it makes sense with the direction I'm taking the story. (4/18/15)

Chapter 4:

Hermione sat on her bed in a daze. She slowly brought her hand up to her lips, hardly daring to believe who had just kissed them. She tried to process her whirling emotions; shock and humiliation had flitted through her mind over the brief encounter. Anger, however, was what emotion she decidedly settled upon.

What leaps and bounds their relationship had taken today she thought they could handle. Up until the last moments, every development had been positive. But this kiss...it was crossing too many lines, overstepping too many boundaries, most importantly her own heart's. A heart that had only the day before been broken, something he was well aware of. Or should have been. For heaven's sake, that's why he was there with me in the first place! Because Ron couldn't be!

How could they continue working together now? She didn't know. But they'd have to try. She supposed it couldn't be any worse than when they had started working in the same office as enemies. But, back then, he hadn't betrayed her. You have to first befriend someone to betray them, she thought bitterly.

She wasn't sure about facing him at work after the weekend, but she knew if he showed up now she'd see red.

As if on cue, as she finished this thought, a familiar sound filled the air. "Riiing, riiiiing"

Her visitor alarm was blaring loudly again. She rose from her bed and made her way downstairs, still wearing her wedding party attire.

"Who is it?" She asked, hoping it wasn't who she thought.

"Hermione." He sounded desperate and pleading. "Please, take down the wall so we can talk. I need to explain."

"Explain what? Why you kissed a girl who was emotionally distraught over the fact that her boyfriend of 5 years had broken up with her just the day before? Yes, please explain."

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry...I wasn't thinking straight. Please just take down this wall."

"No."

Draco sighed on the other side of the wall. "Well, I'm not going away, I'll just sit on this comfy chair that's been conveniently placed here, until you are ready." She heard him sit down, and with a mutter of a spell, she caused his chair to vanish. A satisfying thump reached her ears.

"Ouch!"

"Please leave."

"Not until you let me explain. I don't want to go to work on Monday letting this sit and fester. I know you, Granger, you're a thinker. So, you're going to sit around, thinking about this and getting angrier and angrier, coming up with wild reasons." She knew he was right, but she couldn't let him know that. "I know that because I'm the same way. And I need to know why YOU did certain things, otherwise, I'm going to be thinking all day tomorrow and getting more and more confused."

This caught her off guard. What could she have possibly have done to confuse him?

"How dare you accuse me of that!" She was seriously considering removing the wall now, if only to pummel him with her fists. Her behavior at the wedding was very obviously that of a heartbroken girl not looking for romance.

"Really, Granger, you know me well enough to know I don't like being rejected. I wouldn't have tried anything if I didn't think...well, you know, that things were a bit reciprocated." She was silent for a long time as she considered the truth in his statement, and finally began to doubt her own claims.

"You're thinking about things, aren't you. You could save yourself the trouble of confusing yourself with a one-sided story and talk to me. I don't really like having a one-sided story either."

With a sigh she vanished the wall, and Draco, who had been leaning against it, fell sideways onto the floor with a crash, his reactions apparently delayed due to the alcohol he'd imbibed.

"I feel, at least for the moment, that that was very much deserved." She barely managed to hide a satisfied grin.

Draco picked himself up off the ground and stood awkwardly before her, swaying slightly. "So, maybe we should sit down?" He suggested.

"I'd prefer to stand, thanks." She indicated a chair for him (not the green one he'd accidentally sat in earlier) and said, "but please, if you'd like to." He complied and instantly regretted it, since she was about a foot taller than him in this position. "So, what did you want to talk about then? Your lack of sensitivity? Idiocy?"

"I want to know why, if you really didn't want to be kissed, you gave me encouragement."

Hermione was dumbfounded. "Encouragement?! Don't be ridiculous! I never gave you encouragement! You have issues with reading human social interactions."

"No, I don't. I'm fairly perceptive." He had the audacity to look a little smug. "You just have issues with expressing yourself and understanding your own emotions."

"You insufferable little cretin! What is the normal response for a girl who's just been dumped by her boyfriend of 5 years? To be heartbroken!"

"Well, according to you, you weren't that broken up."

"But you came to my house! You saw how upset I was!"

"And there's your proof that you don't understand yourself that well." He stood up, and she hated how calm and collected he looked now. "See, you thought that I was just your coworker, and that you would be upset over Ron all evening. But instead, you found that you enjoyed my company so much, you barely even thought of him. You found me, charming, fun, dare I say, attractive?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Hermione guffawed. He was annoyingly articulate for someone so tipsy. Yet, despite the tone and egotistic expression he used, he was right. Though she'd never admit that she thought he was attractive. "So what if I had a good time. It means you were doing your job. It doesn't mean that you could kiss me!" She looked at him, still angry, but curious now, as to what his ridiculous reasoning would be.

"On the dance floor. I drew you close. I almost kissed you, you never protested." He stepped forward as he spoke, his face suddenly serious. "When we left, you acted like you were going to kiss me too." She stared at him in confusion. Seeing this, he sighed. "I misread things I guess. But I should have been more careful, I'm sorry."

Hermione was silent. She hadn't protested, it was true. She thought back to the moment under the tree, where she'd been tongue tied and confused by his chivalrous behavior. In all honesty, she was most alarmed by how much she liked that nice side of him, and angry with him for still being his snide self half of he time. She backtracked as she realized the last thing he'd said. He'd wanted her to tell him it was okay to kiss her.

"Wait...Draco, why on earth would you kiss me? Whether I'm broken-hearted or not, I would think I'd be the last person you'd want to kiss."

He looked at her for a moment before saying, "Well, I guess there's a lot about me you don't know."

She wanted to pursue the question, but she was half afraid of the answer, and she knew his first response was evasive. "I'm still angry with you, for being so thoughtless. But I'm glad that you 'stopped by' or rather, forced entry to my home, to explain. Anyways, I'm sorry if I...gave you the wrong impression." She lit the fire for him in the fireplace and handed him her floo powder. "You should probably go. I'll see you at work on Monday I suppose. "

He reached out his hand and squeezed her shoulder in a friendly gesture. Or was it for balance? She wasn't quite sure at this point. Either way, it made her slightly uncomfortable. "I thought we'd progressed to being friends this weekend. Is that still true?"

She shrugged and gave him a strained smile. "We'll see." He also grinned, though more sincerely, and took the floo powder from her.

"Alright. Call that red-headed fireball of yours, Weaslette. Have a boy bashing party, and eat lots of ice cream. I'll see you on Monday. And Hermione? I hope you'll forgive me."

He stepped into the fireplace and was gone in a flash of green.

Hermione stared at the flames for a long time after they had returned to their normal color. She wasn't nearly as angry as before, though if he thought she'd fully forgive him any time soon for the loop he'd thrown her for, he had another thing coming. In the place of her anger, she was now left with a lot of questions. A whole lot of questions.

Hermione did invite Ginny over the next day, though she was still debating whether to tell her the whole thing. She popped some magically whipped up cookie dough into the oven, checked the freezer for ice cream, and plopped down on her couch to wait for her friend.

Ginny didn't like Draco. That was a sure fact. Hermione already knew how she'd react to what had happened, so she knew Ginny would try to persuade her to take an unforgiving outlook on the situation. But, Hermione really needed to spill to someone, and Ginny was one of her only good friends who she could even consider telling. Telling Harry or Ron about her boy problems was almost laughable. As the visitor alarm went off, Hermione had reached a solution.

Ginny stepped out into the living room wearing red pajamas and carrying several bags of sweets and snacks. Hermione had made her wards so that Harry, most of the order members, and any of the Weasley's could floo to house without triggering the intruder wall.

"Hey girl! What's the occasion?"

"Occasion? I need a specific reason for wanting to hang out with my best girl friend?" Hermione attempted to play cool for a moment.

"Well, in the case of Hermione Granger, the busiest most workaholic person I know...yes." Ginny smirked, and ran forward to hug her friend. "I don't care the reason, I'm just glad to see you outside of work." Hermione took her bags and led Ginny to the kitchen. The cookies were almost done and the smell was overwhelmingly delicious.

They caught up a bit on their lives while Hermione removed the cookies and got bowls for all their junk food. Ginny told Hermione about Harry's strange behavior lately, and how she suspected he was finally dating someone but didn't want her to know. Hermione told Ginny about seeing Blaise at the local wizarding coffee shop with his mother in tow, which, of course, Ginny loved hearing about. Both were reveling in the privacy of a home that Hermione's joint office with Draco couldn't offer for girl talks such as these. Hermione almost forgot why she had invited her friend over in the first place until Ginny finally said, as they were bringing all the snacks into the living room, "So...this is about my brother...isn't it."

Hermione set down her bowl of chips and faced her red-headed friend with a sigh. "Kind of. How long have you known? About...well, about him being in love with someone else." It was hard to actually say the words. Her throat became strangely closed and thick, and she had to swallow a few times to push down the overwhelming urge to cry suddenly.

"Not long. I wanted to tell you, but I knew it wasn't my place. I tried to get Ron to tell you, but he said that he didn't know how." They both sat down on the couch. "I thought he was being such a coward. But, he finally told you!" She said brightly.

"No, Gin. He didn't. Your mum did." Hermione reached out and took a chip.

Ginny's face was in shock. "My mother? Ronald is such as ass. I can't believe he had the gall to have mum tell you instead of him." She grabbed a chip as well, eating it furiously before asking, "So, how'd she tell you?"

"By owl. Actually, right after you left yesterday. Come to think of it, she never said he'd asked her to relay the information. I wonder if he even knows that I know..." Somehow this information made her smile smugly. Ginny looked at her, a little confused at her smirk.

"You've been spending too much time with Malfoy. His smirk is rubbing off on you. What's got you so happy all of a sudden?" At the mention of Draco, Hermione's smirk was gone, but she remembered why she had wanted to talk to Ginny in the first place.

"Oh, it's nothing. But really, I should tell you that as tough as hearing about your brother was...it's not what I asked you here to talk about."

"Really?"

"Really." Hermione relayed the events of that day to her friend, carefully leaving out Draco's name as she described the wedding, her date's kindness, and her confusion and anger at him when he had kissed her.

"Wow...that's...tough." Ginny seemed at loss for words. "And you're not sure if you gave him encouragement or not?" Hermione shook her head.

"I didn't think so at the time, but they insisted I had given some, or at least not protested anything during the evening."

"Well, personally, I think they were a git for kissing you at all at a time like this. But, I excuse them if they were drunk, or desperately in love with you. Otherwise, I think me and my wand need to pay them a visit, leave them some lovely hexes to let them know that's not how they treat Hermione Granger!" They both laughed at this.

That explains it then! Thought Hermione. He was drunk! It was a relief to finally realize what had caused him to act so strangely. And it also meant she could return to being his coworker on Monday without being so angry.

"What did you say his name was?" Asked Ginny.

"I didn't. And...I'm not going to say, sorry. Not yet, anyways."

"...Did you at least enjoy the kiss?"

"Merlin's beard, Ginny!" She hit her friend with a pillow.

"It's very important information!" They both giggled again. Popping in one of Hermione's DVD's, they snuggled under a blanket and settled in for the rest of the evening.

Sorry this one's a bit short, but more to come soon! Don't worry :) Please Read and Review!