The rest of the day had passed fairly quickly. Her outing with Lewis had put her in a great mood, allowing her to work peacefully.

Although at this point it was safe to say that they went on a date. They knew each other well enough by now and even though they weren't quite a couple, Hermione was sure that they were more than friends. The thought filled her with joy, making her smile like an idiot.

But what about Draco? she thought. What happened last night was technically a date as well, however this neither filled her with joy nor made her smile. It instead filled her with disgust. Dating a long-time nemesis? Completely unheard of.

Before she knew it, it was 5:30 and time for her to go home. She pulled her purse from out of the drawer beside her desk, switched from heels to flats, picked up her coffee mug, put her coat on and headed for the lift to take her downstairs.

The elevator dinged as it reached her floor and Hermione put her head down as she stepped into the lift.

When she lifted her head back up, Draco was standing just a foot away from her; hands casually in his pockets and usual smug grin.

That smile.

His sudden presence shocked her, causing her to step back.

"Going home?" he asked.

She gestured towards her coat and purse and sarcastically replied, "No, I'm going to stay here for a few more hours. Love it here."

"Well then if you're going to stay, why not come with me? I could use the company. Assuming you could as well, actually," he replied.

"I'm sure you of all people understand the concept of 'sarcasm'. Even if I was going to stay here for a few extra hours, why would I spend those hours with you?"

But before she could get an answer, the elevator opened to the main floor, and just as she was about to leave for her car, Draco grabbed her wrist and lead her down a corridor despite her protests.

He pushed through a door that led them to a closet filled with filing cabinets. He moved so that she went in first and he closed the door behind him. Frustrated, Hermione ran to the door to try to open it and leave, but found that she couldn't open it. When she turned back to Draco, she saw him put his wand away back into his jacket pocket.

His wand.

"You still use that?" she asked.

"Only when necessary," he replied.

"I don't understand how locking me in a closet is necessary."

"I needed to talk to you again."

"About?" she asked, now annoyed.

He took a step closer to her. Then another. "About last night. I saw you see me in your driveway."

She still didn't quite understand, so she asked again what is was that he wanted to discuss. "Yes, you were still in my driveway after you dropped me off. Why?"

He took a pause before answering her question. Speaking carefully, he said, "Funny thing; you know Suzy's a few streets down? Well, one day about a year ago I walked in there to get myself a coffee. I saw female Weasley sitting down, laughing that red-haired head off. I ignored it, until I saw you in front of her. I don't know why, I just stopped what I was doing. You were laughing too and you looked… you looked happy."

He stopped and cleared his throat before he continued. The tension in that room was almost unbearable.

"I left Suzy's and went inside my car, waiting in the driver's seat. I kept thinking of how happy you looked. I thought to myself, 'Good for Weasley, he gets to make that girl smile every day.' But… but then I realized that I want to be the one making you happy. I want to be the one making you laugh and smile all the time." He stopped and looked down at his shoes, waiting for his words to sink in.

And they did. Hard. Never in a million years would Hermione would have guessed that the almighty Draco Malfoy had these sort of feelings towards her. She had never seen this side of him before, and it made her want to reach out and embrace him.

But she couldn't be stupid. The Draco she had always known was conniving and deceptive and sneaky. This could just be another one of his tricks to make her look foolish.

He continued, "Since then, the image of you laughing kept popping into my head all the time, no matter what I was doing. It was like all I could do was think of you. Even when I tried not to. I've been trying to look for you, but you were never around. And I never thought I'd say this, but it was as if fate had brought us together that day we met in the lobby of your old workplace. After all that time I spent looking for you, there you were right in front of me."

Hermione remembered seeing him at that restaurant a few weeks ago when he stormed out. Had he not seen her? She supposed that with all that fury, it would have been hard to take his attention off of Pansy.

Still, something about this all seemed odd. Why, after all these years? That's all she wanted to know: why?

She made a slight cough and said, "What sparked the sudden interest?"

"Last night's dinner was a test. To see how we get along. It ended up working. I seemed to have made you genuinely happy, and I was also very happy too." He smiled. "To be quite honest, I was waiting in my car last night because I finally realized something."

They were both silent for a while.

He had, in fact, made her happy. She enjoyed herself a lot last night and she had an amazing time, even if he used to be cruel to her.

"Aren't you going to ask what it is?" he asked.

She sighed deeply, trying with all her might not to roll her eyes. "Please tell me."

"I think I like you, Hermione Granger." He took three more steps closer to her until there was barely any space left between them. She backed up onto one of the cabinets but he remained closing the distance. He pulled his left hand from out of his pocket and put it around her waist. Speaking softly, he said, "My feelings for you are extremely intimate, and you have no idea how badly I want to hear you say the same."

He moved the hand around her waist to her face. He lightly brushed his hand against her cheekbone, making her eyes flutter. Her breath quickened and her pulse raced. She was trying to make it look like he wasn't having an effect on her, but it was hard since their bodies were so close to each other.

For a while, neither of them moved or said a word. Instead, they were searching each other's faces.

Hermione was looking for a sign that would tell her he was lying. If she knew he was lying she would call him out on it and never deal with him again. If he was lying, they could both move on from this moment.

She never found that sign. However, she did find that his lips were incredibly soft on hers. It was the smallest of pecks, but it was enough to send her pulse through the roof. He released her before she knew it and it was over.

She had always thought that she would find herself angry if he ever did that to her, only now she was speechless. She couldn't decide whether or not she was relieved of the tension in that room or infuriated that he would pull such a move. Either way, the kiss felt "magical".

Draco leaned back to stand up straight and put his hand back in his pocket, then said, "I'm not an idiot. I know that you might be reluctant to agree to your feelings to me because of Weasley, so I'll give you time to think. Just don't take too long, okay?"

He pulled out his wand again to unlock the door and held it open for her as she walked out. They were no longer walking side by side; Hermione was walking several paces ahead of him towards the parking lot so she could head home.

When she got to her car, she saw it was 6:00. They spent half an hour in that room, just talking.

And she loved it, to be perfectly honest. Although it was quite awkward she found herself being happy that she stayed with him in that room. It was nice to just… talk.

Strangely enough, she even found herself liking that kiss. That short moment of contact had sent a rush through her body and made her feel giddy, even now that she was sitting in her car.

Hermione wondered, and she hated herself for this, if she could ever kiss him again. She wanted to feel that rush again and feel every nerve in her body get excited by his touch. Even though they had a rough history, she felt like that kiss made everything go away.

She knew that people could change, and she found herself wondering just how much he had changed.

And if she had changed, too.