Disclaimer: JKR invented Harry Potter. I saw two deer looking in the window of a drive through liquor store last week. Notice how one has nothing to do with the other?

Twisted Roots

Chapter 6

Hermione was very glad Draco was at the end of the hall before he turned around and looked back. If he was any nearer he would have seen her face turn a deep shade of crimson. She was caught watching him walk away, and watching him she was. She couldn't help but notice how the cut of Draco's new slacks accentuated his assets. Very nice indeed. No Hermione, you have a boyfriend and this is Malfoy for crying out loud. Get a grip on yourself. But he did look good, and boyfriend or no, she was a hot blooded woman and noticed those things. But would you notice if you were really in love with Ron? She asked herself. I would probably notice, but it wouldn't give me butterflies in my stomach.

And now she was going to talk to him. She was actually going to get to know the real Malfoy and the thought had her stomach in knots. It was a good thing Ron had spoiled her appetite for lunch because she probably would have thrown it up. She had a lot of questions for Malfoy but she never thought she would get to ask them. Today though, she was going to let him do the talking. He had said he wanted to talk. It was really nice having someone else take the initiative and approach her for once. Was she really that intimidating? She didn't think so. She hoped he wasn't angry at what she said in her note. She wasn't really trying to reject his apology. She really didn't want him feeling like he owed her anything. In hindsight, she believed that her note probably did look like a rejection.

Feeling a little sick Hermione opened up a large file on legislation that resulted from the most recent goblin rebellion hoping to at least get through a little reading before the end of the day.

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At a quarter to five Draco put everything away in his cubicle. He was reading up on interacting with muggle parents of wizarding children for his first field assignment. He had to admit some of the reports were pretty entertaining. Some people would go to great lengths to ignore magic. He would be going with Philemon and one of the professors from Hogwarts to deliver an acceptance letter to a family in Hounslow the next week. It was going to be interesting. He had never spent any time in the muggle world. His parents had even apparated him directly on to the platform every year for school. And now he had used muggle money to shop in muggle stores, was wearing muggle clothes, used a telephone, and was soon going to visit a muggle home. His mother was dealing with it all in good grace but he had yet to write to his father now that his communication restrictions had been lifted and he wasn't sure he wanted to. His father could always see through him, and he wasn't sure how his father would react if he sensed that Draco was enjoying himself. Blaise thought it was hilarious, and Daphne was completely indifferent, but he didn't really care what she thought.

"So, Draco, how was your first week?" A gum popping Gwenda was leaning on his cubicle frame watching him again.

"It was alright thanks." He responded politely. He was still not sure if he liked Gwenda. The gum chewing was annoying but she was decent at her job and she didn't ask any questions about his personal life. Regis was hardly ever awake so he had yet to form an opinion on him either.

"I heard you are going with Phil next week. This kid is a piece of work I hear. I read his file. Lots of uncontrolled magic." She said eying him up and down. "Muggle clothes suit you." There was something in her tone of voice that made his skin crawl. Draco imagined this must be how girls feel when creepy old men compliment them on their looks.

"I guess so."

"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to get together with me and some of my friends, go out for a few drinks?" She asked hopefully.

"Uh, no actually I was going to stay a little late to read the file for next week, and I have plans to catch up with an old friend. But m- thanks though." He had stop himself from saying 'but maybe some other time' because he knew he would never be interested another time either, with or without a planned meeting with Granger. A quick glance at his watch told him he was about to be late meeting with her.

"Well, maybe next time then." She said a little dejectedly, and slinging her bag over her shoulder she walked away with a little more sway in her hips than was natural and that made Draco shudder a little.

Draco immediately left the office they shared and headed toward the break room. All afternoon he had been pondering what it was exactly he was going to say to Granger and he had kept drawing blanks. He wanted to tell her exactly what he thought about her rejecting his apology but he didn't want to make her angry either. Why did this have to be so bloody hard?

When he got in the break room it was still empty. For a split second he panicked thinking that she was going to stand him up but after another quick glance at his watch he saw that there were still a couple more minutes before she was officially late. He noticed that her full lunch bag was still sitting on the table. Well that would make things a little easier. He could offer to take her to dinner that way they wouldn't have to worry about someone from the offices working late and coming in the break room while they were talking. Also, if he took her some place muggle they would have a very minimal chance of getting seen by someone they know.

"Sorry I'm late. I hope I didn't keep you waiting." Hermione said as she came rushing through the door a heavy bag of books slung over her shoulder. That was the Granger Draco remembered from school. Rushing from place to place and as studious as ever.

"No, you are right on time. I just got here myself." He said smiling at her.

"So, where did you want to talk?" She asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to talk over dinner. We could go somewhere muggle that way we would be more likely to have some privacy. I saw some places while I was out with Philemon during the week." He said hesitantly.

"Some place muggle, huh? Very courageous of you. But yes that would be fine. I am hungry I have to admit." She said eyeing her lunch bag pleased that he had offered dinner. Ron never asked her out to dinner. At the thought of him she felt a little guilty that she had lied to him about her plans to work late.

"Please Granger, I am trying, and I am working in the muggle liaison office, you could just consider it part of my job to visit muggle restaurants." He said trying to keep the mood light.

"Okay, well I just need to dump these books off in my office and if we are going 'some place muggle' I should probably transfigure my robes into something more appropriate. Wait here for me?" He nodded at her and she rushed out of the room. He had noticed she was wearing robes but she looked nice and it didn't dawn on him that her attire wouldn't be appropriate for a muggle business. He had a lot to get used to.

A few moments later she returned. The navy blue robes that she was wearing were transfigured to a flowy navy blue skirt that came to just below her knees and she was wearing a silky white shirt that made the skin of her face look tan and the brown of her eyes richer. The shirt also hugged her slender waist and accentuated the gentle curves of her chest in a very flattering way. Her hair was pulled back in that twist with a few escaping curls that Draco was becoming accustomed to and he fought back the urge to reach out and touch one. He thought she looked pretty.

"Well, this is the best I am going to be able to do with the clothes I had on before." She said nervously as if it might not be good enough.

"No, its fine," He must have been staring again. "you look nice." He said quickly turning away so she wouldn't see the color rising to his cheeks. "Shall we?" He asked gesturing for her to lead the way.

Once they exited the ministry Draco led Hermione to the apparition point. "I am going to apparate us there if you don't mind. Philemon showed me a good place in the alley that is usually safe to pop into." He offered her his arm and was pleasantly surprised at how warm and sure her hand felt as she gripped him around the elbow. For some strange reason he was afraid she wouldn't want to touch him. Especially after all the years of him telling her he would never touch her with a ten foot pole. She seemed a little surprised at the offer too but she didn't say anything, just nodded for him to take them away. Draco turned on the spot and took them into what he hoped was the right alley.

"Are you okay? I didn't splinch you or anything did I?" He asked as soon as lungs resumed their normal size.

"No," and then at his look of horror, "I mean I am okay and no, you didn't splinch me." She laughed. "Where are we?"

"Well, if I did this right," he said walking toward the end of the alley, "we should come out of this alley onto Mount Street, and there is a place called Scott's right there. See it?" he pointed to a restaurant just across the street as they exited the alleyway.

Once inside Hermione sucked in her breath. The place was nice. It was crowded and it looked expensive.

"Malfoy, do you think we will need a reservation to get in here? And it looks really expensive." She stated.

"First of all Granger, I am sure we won't need a reservation. And if we did I am a wizard you know." He said smirking. "And as for the cost, it really doesn't matter. I'm sure you have let Weasley buy you some nice dinners."

"First of all this is not about Ron," She couldn't bring herself to admit that Ron had never taken her to anything more fancy than the Leaky Cauldron, and she knew Draco could tell by the look on her face, "second of all, he is my boyfriend so it is more appropriate, and thirdly, I know you have money you don't have to flaunt it."

"Look Granger, "he said getting irritated. "I don't want to fight with you so I won't make any more comments about Weasley, except that its obvious he doesn't take you to nice places, and second of all I have never been here before so I didn't know what I was getting myself into. My boss said it was a nice place, with good food, a good atmosphere, and wizards don't generally come here. I am trying to protect you, I don't want someone you know seeing you here with me and then running off and telling Potter and Weasley and causing you trouble. I however, don't have a reputation to protect anymore, so will you let me buy dinner, please?"

She looked slightly chagrinned. "I am not worried about my reputation either Malfoy. Fine, let's just get a table I haven't eaten all day." She inwardly groaned, this was not turning out to be as easy as she had hoped. Determined not to argue with him anymore she waited patiently while he went to ask for a table.

Draco didn't want to fight with her either. He knew Weasley was a touchy subject just because he loathed him but it was obvious that she was not all that happy with him either. He would let it go, for now. After they were seated and sipping on some lovely wine they both began to relax.

"So, how was your first week?" He asked her. She suppressed a sigh. Ron didn't even have the foresight to ask her that, and here she was sitting in a fancy restaurant with her biggest childhood nemesis and he had asked her how her week was. For a fraction of a second she felt the tell tale prickling of tears behind her eyes but shook them away quickly. She would not cry over Ron in front of Draco. Never.

"It has been interesting. I have been doing a lot of reading on goblin and house elf legislation. Binns didn't even come close to covering any of the really interesting information in his class. There is not a lot on house elves though. I think I might have to start interviewing them directly in order to supplement my research. I really don't like to believe that being enslaved is what they actually prefer. I still maintain that they have been socialized to behave the way they do…" she trailed off at the smirk on his face feeling like she had said too much.

"I'm sorry Granger, I was just remembering that organization you were trying to establish back in school." He said trying not to laugh at the memory.

"It was S.P.E.W, the society for the protection of elfish welfare." She stated plainly. "And I still believe it has merit."

"You would know better than I would. In my house we never saw our elves, just like Hogwarts. I am one of the people you are trying to protect them against. I always took them for granted. Especially Do-." He cut himself off before he could say Dobby's name. He already knew that Bellatrix had killed Dobby and at the stricken look on Hermione's face he knew it was a topic she was not ready to discuss.

"At least you can admit it. Not many pureblood wizards are willing to admit that they can take advantage of a house elf." She said shrugging off his last comment. "How was your first week?"

"Eventful." He paused as the server brought them their meals. The smell of his lamb chops reminded him of how hungry he was and he took a bite before continuing. He knew she was hungry though so he was more than willing to talk for a couple of minutes so that she could eat, even though his dinner was mouth watering. He highly doubted Weasley could have even extended her that small courtesy. "I learned a lot," he said putting his fork down. "Such as how to dress like a muggle, count muggle money, shop in a muggle store, and how to use a telephone." He said with a grin. She raised her eyebrow at that one, amused.

"You liked the phone didn't you?" She said smirking at him in a way that he considered patently his own.

"Am I that transparent? Yes, I think phones are wonderful. I plan to introduce them into every wizarding home there is. Obviously muggles are intelligent if they have things like the telephone. I always wondered how they lived without magic and I find myself very interested in finding out more. Oh, I can't believe I just said that out loud." He said abashed, as if he had admitted too much. She just laughed.

Hermione was actually enjoying the conversation immensely. Draco was funny and intelligent. He was perceptive of her as well, and after spending her youth with Harry and Ron that was something she was not used to, but definitely could get used to. His eyes were a beautiful color and she once again noticed the flecks of blue that his shirt brought out in them.

"Why did you help me Granger?" He asked abruptly. Draco was having a good time and he knew he would lose all his nerve to bring up the reason he asked her here in the first place if he didn't just spit it out.

Startled, she dropped her knife and fork and quickly swallowed. She started choking and had to swallow a large bit of wine to keep from going into a coughing fit. Draco seemed to be expecting that sort of reaction because he watched her steadily as she composed herself.

"I really don't know." She said quietly.

"Yes you do." He stated flatly, challenging her to be honest.

"Okay, you are right, I kind of do. I guess part of it had to do with Harry and part with me. Neither of us had any desire to see anyone, good or evil, get killed during the war. We had to hurt a lot of people but it was always in self-defense. You were not a threat to us that day in the Room of Requirement. We had to help you. It's as simple as that." She said.

"But I was supposed to be delivering Potter to the Dark Lord." He said in a slightly whiny voice.

"You didn't stand a chance. Besides Harry had plans to confront him on his own the whole time anyway. He knew it was time. There was literally, no need for you to deliver him." She stated matter-of-factly. She was quite surprised to find that she needed to have this conversation with him just as much as he appeared to need to talk to her about it.

"Why did you help me get qualified? Why did you testify at my trial? Please, be honest with me." He pleaded.

She let out a long sigh. "Okay, you want the truth? Three things happened right after the Final Battle and they all involved you. First, Harry told Ron and I about how you couldn't do Dumbledore in on the Astronomy tower and that there was hope for you. I had faith in Dumbledore that he was right. Second, I saw your face when you were huddled with your family in the Great Hall. You were hurting and confused just like I was. You looked like you had no idea how you got to where you were. And thirdly, when the aurors came to arrest you, you stood up with your parents and just walked with them quietly. I could tell then that you had already begun the process of saving yourself by admitting openly that you were wrong. And you proved it at your first hearing when you didn't even try to defend yourself but you were still sorry. You can't lie under Veritaserum so I know you were sorry. And okay, one more thing I guess. As evil as I thought you and your parents could be, when I saw you huddled together, I knew that you loved each other despite it all and I couldn't stand to see another family ruined by Voldemort, even if it was a family of his followers." Throughout her whole speech she was watching his face for any sign of a reaction but he managed to keep his face impassive.

"Did you ever stop to think that you did too much?" He said a little angrily.

"What?" She said, incredulous.

"Did you ever stop to think Hermione, that you created more debts than I will ever be able to repay?" Draco was shocked that he had said her first name but he was seething inside that she and her friends had done all this for him and he was somehow supposed to live with it. He couldn't stand owing his enemies. He couldn't stand not really knowing who his enemies actually were. She was supposed to be the enemy, Potter was supposed to be the enemy, and Weasley, well Weasley was and would remain the enemy, but that was beside the point. Deep down in his heart he knew they weren't the enemy. Voldemort was his enemy and with him gone, Draco realized that he didn't have any true enemies left, except for maybe some rogue death eaters he didn't care about. And that thought was incredibly unsettling. If I don't know my enemies, how do I know my friends?

Hermione was desperately racking her brain to think of a good answer to that question. "I never really thought about it that way before." She replied not looking at him. "When I sent you that note saying you owed me nothing, I really meant it. I honestly tried to think of what I might want from you and I kept coming up blank. I didn't know what to ask for."

He was only slightly mollified. "I have to be honest with you; I thought you were being self-righteous."

"Sanctimony is one of Ron's traits not mine. I was doing what I thought was right and to honest with you, I never thought I would be explaining myself to you." She said defensively.

Draco let out a long shuddering breath and stared out the window next to them for a moment. When he looked at her again his expression pulled at her heart. He looked sad. She had never seen that kind of sadness in his eyes before and she wanted to reach out to him.

"Hermione," Her name sounded like heaven on his lips, to his ears and hers. It felt natural all of a sudden. "I don't know why things happened in my family the way they did. I really don't understand how my father came to be a follower of V-Voldemort and his father before him. I don't even know how my family became so prejudiced. I was raised to believe certain things and not ask questions. But I want to change. I desperately want to make things up to you.

"You need to understand that no matter how I treated you in school all those years it was always you that made me question why being pureblood was supposed to be the best. Of course I never had the courage to ask those questions, but it was always you. You were always just ahead of me in all our lessons, you were always the first to successfully complete spells, I secretly believed that you had to have been lying about your parentage because I was taught that people like you were impossible, a lie." He paused to look at her. She was watching him with wide-eyed fascination so he pressed on. "I am learning a little bit at a time and I am not sure who I am most of the time, but the one thing I am sure of is that I don't want to fight with you anymore. I want to get to know you, and I want you to get to know me. I want to be your friend, no matter what the cost. I don't know how else to make all my debts up to you other than to be there for you. I know that I am going out on a limb by offering you my loyalty, but it is all I have to give." Draco felt like a weight was lifted off of his chest. He had fretted all day over what he was going to say to her so he was astonished at how easy it was to pour his heart out. It was if he could feel her reaching for him and he didn't want her to let go.

"Draco, I uh…" His name flowed from her mouth like a song to him, "I would be heartless to turn down your offer, even if it was just to prove to everyone that you really are a good person inside. In this one night you have shown me more consideration than I have felt in a long time." And she really meant it.

Neither one of them said anything while they finished their cold meals and Draco paid the bill. Surprisingly though, they both found the silence comfortable, as if by not talking anymore they were learning just as much about each other as if they were still spilling long held truths and deep secrets. Once they were in the alleyway getting ready to apparate their separate ways, Hermione looked at Draco closely. She didn't really want to say goodbye. Despite the heaviness of the evening she had had a good time.

"Muggle clothes really do suit you." She said finally, smiling at him before twisting and disappearing. Draco smiled too. Hearing Hermione say that left him feeling warm inside, not at all like the feeling he got when Gwenda had said it earlier that day. He believed that for once in his life he did the right thing by asking Hermione Granger to be his friend.

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A/N: That was difficult to write because of all the dialogue but I wanted to push this forward a little bit and get it all in the open. Reviews are always appreciated. And a special thanks to those of you have reviewed.