Draco was busy slowly destroying his home office after another meeting with his board, when he became aware that someone was laughing. Stopping he looked up to see Hermione in the door way giggling, to say he was shocked would be an understatement.

"May I ask what you find so funny?" he bit out.

"Obviously you're angry over something and what does the great Draco malfoy do to fix it, he destroys his office" she smiled, ignoring his tone.

Draco didn't know why she was acting so strangely (probably had finally had a brain malfunction) but he wasn't in the mood for her tonight.

"Well if you're done laughing I need to get back to destroying my property"

"Is it going to take long?" she asked lightly.

"I had planned to stay in here for a while" he replied shortly.

"Well I'd planned a nice evening out tonight" she revealed, pretending to sulk.

"Ok what is it? Is this some ploy to have me killed off?" Draco asked, nearing the end of his patience.

"no I just thought it would be nice to have dinner somewhere other then the manor, you know see other people and be seen, I'm sure people are starting to wonder whether you have had me killed" she explained, still smiling.

"Granger, I do not do dinners, I do not need to see people and I do not care what anyone thinks!" Draco bellowed, shaking with anger.

"Well it might help my nightmares, you know getting out of the manor away from your mother….." Hermione knew she was acting like a complete mental patient but it was all part of her plan to set Draco straight.

"if I agree to this dinner will you please stop bothering me for at least another hour so I can finish what I started" Draco conceded, wanting her out of his presence as soon as possible before he blew an artery.

"Yes i'll meet you down stairs in an hour and Draco?" she arched an eyebrow.

"Yes?" he asked picking up a chair.

"Don't keep me waiting, its bad manners to keep a lady waiting"

Exactly one hour and fifteen minutes later, Draco found himself seated with Hermione in the back seat of his car wondering if she had indeed lost her senses. Maybe Blaise had been right to be worried and he had over done the dreamless potion, a tad. She was still acting so…..nice towards him and it had him on edge, she was up to something and whatever it was he was going to find out.

"Relax you don't need to be so wound up all the time, anyone in your position would be over the moon" Hermione laughed, sending shivers up his spine.

"Ok what's going on?" he asked angrily.

"look we have to spend time together for another seven months ,I'm just tired of the same old routine all the time, cant you just enjoy yourself with out suspecting something?" she sighed.

"That's just it Granger, we do not have a routine, you have yours and I have mine, we do not need to spend time together" Draco scoffed.

"Look at it as a chance to clear your head and maybe enjoy yourself in the process" she countered.

Draco did not respond, he would go through with this ridiculous dinner but he would not act as though it was where he wanted to be.

"Here we are" she said, and for a moment Draco seriously thought she was going to clap her hands. Groaning inwardly he got out and came around to her door, opening it for her as would be expected of him. He went through the motions as they made their way to their table ignoring the curious glances the diners were giving them.

"Mr. Malfoy, would you care for your usual?" the waiter (Draco could not remember his name) asked.

"No, can I get a bottle of your best red and two glasses" Draco corrected him.

"Of course" the waiter placed a menu in front of both of them and left.

"Best red?" Hermione smirked.

"I might as well as play the part you wanted when you organized this zoo" Draco shot back, noticing they were still being openly stared at.

"Why is it that you don't like to go out Draco?" she asked him.

"Why the sudden urge to know?" Draco asked suspicious.

"Just making conversation" she shrugged, thanking the waiter as he put down a wine glass and began to fill it.

Draco waited until he had left before continuing.

"Why do you have nightmares?"

"Why don't you answer my question and I might answer yours" she said slyly, taking a sip of the wine. She had to admit it was delicious.

"I don't like to go out because I don't like being made to feel like a zoo animal, your turn" he replied quickly, taking a sip of his wine.

"Like I said I don't know it's happened on and off since the end of the war, why do you feel like a zoo animal?" she smiled coyly.

Draco tightened his jaw; she was really pushing his buttons.

"because ,if you hadn't noticed everywhere I go people stare for one reason or another as if their lives are so meaningless they need to involve themselves in mine, is it because of what my aunt did or some other reason?" he looked down at his menu quickly scanning it's contents.

"As the nightmare involves your aunt I'd say I haven't quite gotten over it, why are you so uncomfortable around people, you weren't like this at Hogwarts"

She too looked at her menu quickly and settled on a nice salad.

Draco was getting a little annoyed at her line of questioning but stayed quiet as the waiter returned to take their orders.

Hermione was aware of how Draco was looking at her as she recited her choice, glad that she was at least getting him to feel something. She waited for his answer once the waiter had departed again.

"At Hogwarts I wasn't the scorn of society, how can you not be over an incident that happened years ago?"

She had to fight to keep herself calm; he had the uncanny way of making her want to slap him hard.

"It might of happened years ago but that doesn't mean the scars disappear, you said you didn't care what people thought so what difference does it make whether you're the scorn of society or not?" she replied evenly taking a rather large sip from her glass.

Draco's gaze had dropped to her left arm noticing for the first time that she never wore anything sleeveless and wondering if the scars she spoke of were real.

"It doesn't bother me what they're thinking it's the staring that bother's me, do you still have a scar?"

Hermione was saved from answering as their food arrived, and was grateful the few minutes it gave her to compose an answer, this was much harder then what she had thought it would be.

Draco did not touch his food; he was looking at her intently wondering if she was going to answer his blunt question.

Hermione took a deep breath trying to hold herself together.

"Yes, do you have any?"

He was clearly taken a back by her question and for the first time since she'd known him his emotions were all over his face.

"What kind of scars are you talking about?" he managed, downing his glass and refilling it.

"Emotional, bodily" she probed, sticking a fork in her food.

For a moment she thought he wouldn't answer, he remained very still and silent for a very long time, she had finally gone too far, maybe.

"Yes a few, what happened to you to make your life go nowhere, everyone was expecting great things from the brainy know it all" he asked.

Hermione bit her lip, finishing off her wine and pouring herself another one. Boy did it take a lot to pry into Draco Malfoy's life; well she wasn't going to back out now.

"I guess I'm pretty messed up, what put those scars there?"

Draco took another sip of his wine, at this rate he was going to get rather drunk by the time they left and very angry.

"My aunt, my father, what made you all messed up, I mean Potter and Ron went through it all they're not running their lives into the dirt"

Hermione laughed; once again she was being compared to her two hero friends and falling far short of both of them. She took another long sip.

"Perhaps they're much smarter then I am what made you such a cold bastard?"

Draco laughed softly, he enjoyed the fact that he was getting to her; the profanities had started.

"I guess in this world you have to be a cold bastard to get ahead I mean look at your buddies , still penniless and still pretty much who they were five years ago, but somehow happy whereas your not, why is that?"

She exhaled, willing herself not to let him get to her, this was her plan and she would be damned if Draco Malfoy showed her up, she grabbed her glass and downed the remaining contents.

"I guess unlike boy wonder and red head I'm a woman with emotions that don't go out the window just because a war has been won and we're all safe because in the end war is not won ,and whereas we might be safe others are not, why do you feel the need to hide your true emotions from people?"

Draco whistled softly, a smile playing on his lips.

"profound, well because I don't see why everyone needs to parade around like pathetic muggles crying all the time or making googly eyes at each other, we're given the gifts we are for a reason, to rule, where are your parents?'

"To rule? Please" Hermione rolled her eyes, taking a large gulp of her wine before continuing. "I have no idea where my parents are, how did you feel when your father was sent to Azkaban?"

"Relieved, what do you mean you don't know where your parent's are?" Draco asked truly interested as to how she had managed to lose her parents, muggles didn't just get on a broom stick and disappear.

"I oblivated them and sent them packing to Australia to protect them, what I didn't count on was trying to track them down, why relieved?"

Hermione was starting to feel the effects of the wine and realised that she hadn't really touched her food , neither had Draco.

"Because he could no longer control me or dictate to me how I should run my life, is that why you walk around looking as though the end of the world is nigh?" he mocked her, slightly slurring his words.

"I do not walk around like that; did you love your father?"

"You didn't answer my question" he argued no at all wanting to reply to hers.

"Yes I did, I simply have a few issues I need to work through, now answer mine" Hermione really needed some water; she was starting to feel a little sick.

"Yes I did but there are people that you love for the sake of who they are and not what they mean to you" Draco explained.

"Deep" hermione mocked.

"Yes it is, I think perhaps we should be heading back home" Draco instructed snapping his fingers in the air.

"Why do you and your mother do that? It's so rude" Hermione shook her head.

"Sorry no more questions" Draco half smiled handing over some money to the waiter and rising from the table, a bit unsteady on his feet.

"Mrs. Malfoy?" he arched an eyebrow holding out his hand to her.

Hermione wanted to laugh at him but remembered where they were and instead let him guide her out of the restaurant, the palm of his hand on the small of her back.

She got in the car and was grateful for the cool leather as she settled in comfortably.

Draco realised she had fallen asleep when she started snoring quietly. He was tempted to laugh at her, this was probably the most she had drunk in her life and it had clearly taken its toll on her. As the car pulled into Malfoy manor, he gently nudged her hoping to wake her.

"Granger we're home wake up"

She simply slid further down the seat, and turned her head away from him , great he thought of all the nights for her to sleep soundly it had to be in the back seat of his car.

Swearing loudly he got out of the car and went around to her side, slowly trying to somehow get her up and awake enough to be able to walk to her bedroom.

"Do you require assistance, master?" Sniggles asked having noticed the difficulty Draco was experiencing.

"No you're free to go" Draco huffed, having just managed to lift her off the seat and into his arms, trying very hard not to touch her too intimately. Slowly he lifted her up into his arms careful to keep her at a respectable distance and started the slow walk through the manor. Having finally reached the top of the stairs (he had discovered he was a very unfit man) he exhaled sharply, steadying himself and her against the banister for a moment before he continued towards her bedroom. He used a spell to open her door and gently put her down.

Grateful that the whole ordeal was over and ready to get a much need good nights sleep.