DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Harry Potter or any characters you may recognize.
A/N: As promised…VIRTUAL PANCAKES FOR ALL WHO REVIEWED!
Part 1: Forks and etiquette.
Hermione hated side-along apparition. It was like sticking your head into a fish bowl and trying to breathe through the water, but being pulled out right before death. Okay, so maybe death was pushing it a little too far, but it didn't change the fact that she didn't like side-along apparition whatsoever.
Somehow, Draco Malfoy had changed that…just a little bit. Barely enough to make a difference, but there was something oddly comforting about disappearing with Draco Malfoy (though she still could name hundreds of different places she'd rather be than doing side-along apparition). Still, she couldn't quite pin what was so different than doing this with Harry or Ron. Of course, she hadn't had to side-along apparate for quite some time now….but she didn't want to think about it.
Instead, Hermione concentrated on her new surroundings. She was in the middle of a alleyway and it was just around dusk. She felt Draco loosen his tensed muscles and she quickly let go of his arm.
"Alright, Granger?" Draco inquired lightly.
"I'm fine," Hermione replied as he led the way towards a sidewalk they walked down.
It was a short walk, half a block at most. Hermione could see the austere sign that was hanging in front of the large window. It was written in an elegant script in white on top of a black foreground color.
Hermione smiled to herself as she studied the restaurant, it screamed Draco Malfoy.
He opened the door as a elderly couple came waddling out. He held it for them and gave a gentle nod in acknowledgment to the man.
"Thanks, son. I'm not twenty-one anymore," he chuckled with a slight wheeze.
Hermione thought she saw a ghost of a smile appear on his face, but due to the fact that she was now standing behind him she couldn't see his face well. When he turned to her, it was gone.
Draco continued to hold the door open for Hermione and she was a little confused by his actions. She stood in the doorway for a couple seconds hesitantly.
"It's the way I was raised, Granger," he rolled his eyes at her. "Before my arm falls off, please," he added sarcastically.
How the hell did he read her so well?
Nevertheless, she took a step into the large restaurant. Hermione heard the quiet closing of the door behind her and Draco took lead into the sitting area where you would wait to be seated.
She moved to sit down before Draco stopped her by putting his hand on her arm.
"We won't be waiting," he smirked at her and slid his hand down to meet hers. He moved quickly through the sitting room and started to weave between the tables towards the back of the building.
The restaurant was very large and spaced out. There were expensive lamps around that accompanied each table that were lit to a comfortable shade. It really was a nice touch, it brought a calming serenity that eased Hermione's nerves.
Eventually, he stopped at a table at the far corner of the room and slid into the large seat. Thankfully, he didn't attempt pull her chair out or keep her hand as she pulled it away from his.
There was a plastic label on the table that had big, black, bolded letters on them.
RESERVED
Draco simply moved it to the edge of the table as he played with the numerous forks he was arranging.
Hermione looked at him, astonished.
"You didn't just take this table, did you?" she said in disbelief.
He frowned at her, "I reserved it about two hours ago."
"Oh, right," she said lamely. She felt bad for the accusation but he didn't seem to take it to offense, instead he was now reaching across to her side of the table and moving her forks around.
"I suppose you're going to say that's how you were raised," Hermione said to him as she cocked a brow.
He looked up at her. "I was in etiquette classes by the time I could spell WAND, Granger."
Hermione tried to hold back her snicker, but failed completely and absolutely.
"What's so funny?" Draco frowned as he slid Hermione's set of various utensils and napkin back to her.
"Malfoy, you know the difference between a muggle salad-fork and a dinner-fork," she pointed out to him.
Draco looked outraged for a few seconds and Hermione couldn't help it. She burst into silent giggles.
He scowled at her until she stopped laughing.
"Mother never told me muggles studied them, too."
Hermione snickered at the word "studied".
"Though," he added in thought, "I think I would have refused to study them if I knew muggles were doing the same thing - at least, back then I would have."
"I wasn't aware there was a Wizarding group for etiquette lessons," she said. Always eager to learn more, well, that wasn't something that had changed over the years for Hermione.
"I'm sure if you were you would have had Weasley enrolled in five minutes," he snickered at his own joke.
Hermione tried not to laugh, really- she didn't, but the traitorous chuckle escaped her lips before she could hold it back.
"Mother hired someone to do it for me, eventually other boys joined. She always said one of the main rules for a Malfoy was to have impeccable manners to others…keep the name up," he smiled at her.
But Hermione wasn't looking at him anymore, instead she looked down at her forks.
There was a pregnant silence that came over them, and still Hermione did not look up.
Draco seemed to be searching through his thoughts during his silence until he finally realized his mistake.
"Sorry," he muttered to her.
Hermione sighed. "You don't have to apologize for the same thing twice."
"But I do, Granger. I do. The way I was brought up…Granger, I'm not going to lie and tell you I was pleasant little boy to everyone- because I wasn't and you know that," he took a deep breath, "I treated people I thought were my equals with great care and every action I did was timed in my head. I knew what I had to do and when I had to, and I knew who I was not allowed to have manners with. I'm not trying to say I would have been nice to you in school if I could have been. I was so…" he seemed to look for a suitable word, "brainwashed by my father, my surroundings, everything! At the time, I wanted many things my father wanted so I followed his lead. I was polite to my friends, pure-blood idiots for the most part, but anyone I didn't consider an equal or superior…I was downright awful to," he looked frustrated as he finished his passionate words.
Hermione then felt guilty for making him bring up the subject again. He had already said he was sorry once, and she really did believe him. She wasn't the type of person that needed to hear the horrid word every day.
She moved her hand to cover his two hands that were entwined on the table nervously. "Really, it's okay. You're a changed man," she said softly then smiled at him.
He flashed a rare smile back at her.
They were interrupted by the waitress approaching their table.
"Good evening, Mr. Malfoy," she smiled at him then at Hermione. "My name is Emily and I will be your hostess tonight. Can I get you anything to drink while you look over the menu and wait for your meal?" Emily dropped a menu in front of both Draco and she.
"Water," he said. The waitress looked at Hermione.
"I'll take an iced-tea."
The waitress didn't bother to write it down on the notepad that was dangling off her pouch.
"I'll be right back with that," she said as she picked up the plastic RESERVED sign and walked away.
Hermione paused, not sure on how to start what she was trying to say.
"I'm sorry to break your rule, Draco," she said to him as she carefully used his first name for the first time. It was as good as time as ever. "I really think you should know this though, it's important."
He didn't seem to notice the use of his first name, or maybe he noticed but didn't mind.
He looked confused. "What rule?"
She smiled a grim smile, "You said we weren't to talk about court here."
His confused look faltered and turned to one of slight annoyance. "Oh, that's right."
"Yes…well, do you want to hear it?" she asked him.
"Later," he said a little bit brusque.
Hermione nodded before she looked down at her menu. They sat in silence for a few minutes, but she noticed Draco did not look down at his menu. He apparently knew what he was getting. She rolled her eyes at his predictability.
There was something odd about Draco Malfoy, she could read him - but he certainly wasn't an open book. It reminded Hermione of the used and worn coloring-book she worked with when she was a child. She had to search through the pages to find certain items, some were blandly obvious for the inquisitive child, but some others…others had been a lot harder to find and took a lot of time and patience.
Emily returned with the drinks and pulled out her notepad and she set them down.
"Are you ready yet?" she inquired in a light tone.
Part 2: Tips and tricks.
He didn't know what the feeling was that overcame him when her desert dish was cleared, but he was certain he did not like it. It was a feeling that was familiarized with dread, could it be he was dreading having to leave the presence of Hermione Granger?
Maybe it was that.
Or maybe it was that damn comment she had made at the beginning of dinner to keep his mind turning the whole time, wondering what could be so important about the case that she felt the need to bring it up tonight.
He frowned, she had looked like she wanted to just speak to him, no business involved, right?
He struggled to remember the look on her face earlier in the night when he had made his proposition.
"Are you okay?" she disrupted his train of thought.
"I'm fine. Was it a good dinner?" he asked her.
"It was marvelous," she smiled at him, "thank you for bringing me here. I did have a good time and it was nice to get away from work."
They had talked throughout the dinner about small things they had done in the years following the war. He told her about trying to regain respect after the war, and she told him about trying to get away from all of the press after the war. They never went into her relationship with Weasley except for mentioning his name a few times (accompanied with Potter, of course). NEWT results were discussed briefly and how they had impacted their careers. There were a few words of playful banter from Hermione about being second top-of-the-class.
"At least you can say you're the smartest wizard of our year," she teased as he shot daggers at her. She just laughed and moved on to another topic.
Draco told her about his aspirations to become an offensive attorney and Hermione told him about her early work with S.P.E.W. and the long process of handing it over to Robin Grove so she could focus on her career.
Hermione hadn't mentioned the case again and Draco was beginning to think she had forgotten. That being said, Draco was also beginning to forget that this was Hermione Granger.
Draco stood up when Emily returned to clear off the last of the dishes. He picked through his wallet to throw a tip down when Hermione stopped him.
"Let me," she said.
"No. I said I would take you out, and I did. This is my bill," he said to her in a tone that indicated that would be final.
"And I say, you can pay for the bill and I can pay for the tip," she demanded as she reached into her purse.
Emily came back with a entertained look on her face. She apparently had heard their argument.
He glared at her as he kept eye contact and tried to dig through his wallet without her noticing. Hopefully she would be too wrapped up in their glowering contest to notice he was trying to find the money he had safely tucked away. But instead of skillfully sneaking a muggle note to the table, two galleons emerged from his wallet and were thrown down as Draco wore an accomplished look.
Emily looked at the coin funny and Draco blushed, picking up the two coins in a rush and stuffing them back into his pocket.
Thank goodness this place was dimly lit!
But Draco could have sworn he saw a wand being tucked away.
Hermione picked out a thin note from her purse and left it on the table for the young waitress.
Draco scowled and Hermione smirked as they walked back to the register and Draco paid.
After exiting the restaurant (and yes, he had held the door open for her again though he had seriously reconsidered the thought after the stunt she had pulled with the tip) they walked together down the car-less street.
The streetlights were on now and it was colder when they reached the dark alleyway that could barely be seen through the night.
Once they were in the alleyway, Draco lit his wand with a quick Lumos.
"I had a good time tonight," Hermione said again.
He laughed at her, choosing to forget the tip incident momentarily.
"I would say I did too, but that would make it sound like a date and I wouldn't want to contradict my earlier words."
She laughed, "You're right. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry for having a good time?" he prompted to stall her, he really didn't want to go home.
She let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh, you know what I mean."
He chuckled as the breeze swept past them.
A silence came upon them until Hermione spoke.
"Is now a good time?" she asked him.
He could have fooled around with the preliminaries, but he figured he shouldn't play dumb and instead replied, "No, not really."
He saw her expression change to one of annoyance.
Sarcastically she spoke, "Oh. Okay, then. Just let me know when you're ready. I'm only freezing my arse off."
He laughed at her again. "What I mean is, it's cold out here, as you've pointed out, Granger."
She looked a little taken aback. "Where do you want to go then?"
He smirked at her as he made up his mind.
"I've seen your home, let's go to mine. Unless you're tired, of course…" he trailed off.
He was baiting her but she knew it. The day Hermione Granger let a silly notion such as sleep get in the way of business was the day Harry Potter stopped saving people, and that simply wasn't going to happen.
"Your house, then."
A/N: I am so so so so sorry. This has taken FOREVER and there is no excuse for that. I meant to get this up in the first week of November, but that obviously didn't happen. Sorry, I'm a bit caught up with NaNoWriMo at the time. If you haven't heard of it, it's a program going on right now in the month of November for young writers. Requires 50K words and I'm about half way, and this is a class assignment! So sorry! Will try to update soon. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, I sincerely hope you lovelies do write more. I swear I read them all.
By the way, thanks to kazfeist for informing me on law in a review. I really don't know much but the basics, thanks for that! =]
