A/N I would like to thank you all for the lovely reviews! They make me so happy, in the chapter there's a lot of Narcissa and Hermione interaction for you all. I hope you like it. :)
Where there is love there is life- Mahatma Gandhi
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Friday evening came quicker than a flash for a certain Muggle-born; as soon as Hermione had made her way home from work she had begun to get ready for her dinner with Narcissa. The brunette was feeling very, very nervous; even she thought it was impossible to feel this afraid of going out to dinner with someone.
In her mind she tried telling herself, that all that was happening was a dinner between two friends, or two maturing friends. Hermione made a point to not over think what was running through her mind, it was silly to over think, she always over thought scenarios. What was the worst thing that could happen?
Slipping into her dress Hermione pulled it up and zipped up the zip that was at her left side. She was wearing a very elegant yet cute black slip, it had no straps, and she was going to accentuate it with a silver necklace and her striped, patent-leather PVC heels. She pulled her hair into a loose bun at the nape of her neck and applied a small amount of makeup, with dark red lipstick.
Narcissa had owled the brunette earlier in the day and told her she would meet her at her apartment at eight in the evening. Hermione checked her clock to see that the time struck seven thirty. Apprehensively Hermione poured herself a small glass of brandy and took a seat in her living room. She was sat in silence. The only background noise that could be heard was Crookshanks snoring and cars passing by.
The brunette had drowned out completely into her own thoughts, she had told herself not to over think, but she was Hermione Granger, as she shook her head of her musings, she heard a light nock on her door. Oh my God it's her, glancing around to make sure her apartment wasn't a mess she slowly stood up and walked to the door.
Opening it slowly Hermione's eyes found themselves delving deep into the blue icy ones in front of her. Smiling politely but not before dragging her eyes thoroughly over Narcissa's appearance she moved to the side to let the older witch enter.
Hermione's breath hitched and remained stuck in her throat for what felt like a life time, say something! "Er… Good evening Narcissa you look beautiful." Shit. Shit, I just said she looked beautiful. Hopefully she won't take it the wrong way.
As soon as Narcissa eyes caught contact with Hermione, the older woman inwardly shivered, the brunette looked unquestionably magnificent, the way her dress clung to her in all the right places, how her eyes lingered over her own body, and Narcissa couldn't hide the blush as she walked into Hermione's apartment.
"Hello Hermione, you look stunning." Narcissa took a moment to look around the brunette's apartment. It was modern and suited the brunette well. Her attention was brought to a black screen on the wall, it was like some sort of picture frame only larger and more, strange.
She just called me stunning! "Ah that'll be the TV, I'm guessing you don't know what one of those is?" Regaining composure Hermione broke the silence and walked over to the pureblood.
"I have never seen one of these before in all my time of living in Muggle London." Narcissa chuckled, "you can explain it later we have to go, the tables booked for eight fifteen, can we apparate from in here?"
Nodding Hermione felt Narcissa's cold touch on her forearm and the familiar pull of apparition, not to mention another familiar feeling. As her feet touched the ground Hermione realised they were in an alley way next to the restaurant. The pureblood led the way around to the entrance and they were greeted by the doorman who opened the door for the pair as they made their way in.
It was as beautiful as Narcissa had described to Hermione, it was full of dark mahogany wood, there was a grand chandelier that hung in the middle of the ceiling, it was full of wealthy individuals all enjoying the exquisite food. Hermione let her eyes roam around as she followed the pureblood to the waiter that was waiting to take them to their table.
"Miss Black, table for two." Narcissa said politely but with authority.
"Of course follow me." The waiter looked to have been a little older than Hermione, She could feel his eyes on her before he turned and led them up a few stairs to a booth, they were the only ones that would be sat in this area.
"Can I get you some drinks to begin with?" He pulled out his little notepad, even that looked as if it was expensive, Hermione noted before looking at Narcissa.
"We will have your finest bottle of Bruno Giacosa Collina Rionda, Barolo DOCG" Narcissa had seen the way the young waiter had taken to let his eyes linger on her guest, so she took to answering him like he was scum. She emphasized on not using the word please and sent him on his way.
"Oh my Gods Narcissa, this is going to cost a fortune! I've never even heard of that wine before!" Hermione said when the waiter had left.
"What, I like this place, why not spend money on nice things? As for the wine, it's Italian, it's one of the best I've tasted I'm sure you'll like it." Narcissa smiled and looked at Hermione who looked very impressed. "It's not as if I cannot afford it."
"Well, that told me," The brunette giggled, "how many times have you been here before?"
"Quite a few, Andy always complained when I brought her, she said the same as you, it costs a fortune." Narcissa replied and looked at the younger witch sat opposite her, the pureblood was astonished at how Hermione really admired and appreciated where she was, it made her want the Muggle-born all the more.
Hermione chuckled and nodded, "well I can understand, but like you said, why not?"
The waiter brought the wine over to them and poured it evenly in their glasses for the two women, he told them her would be back in a few minutes to take down their orders.
Hermione took a sip of the Italian wine, as the liquid went down her throat, she could feel the warmth travel through her, Narcissa was right yet again, she did like it. "This is actually really nice."
Smiling proudly Narcissa laughed and handed Hermione a menu from the side of the table. The pure blood scanned through it looking for something that took her fancy. She was interrupted when she heard Hermione cough as she took another sip of the wine.
"Look at these prices!" Say it don't spray it. Hermione shook her head, "Narcissa this is extortionate!"
"Oh you sound like Andromeda. Draco never complained." Smirking the blonde laughed.
Hermione just laughed along with Narcissa, stop complaining so much, looking at the choices the brunette wasn't sure what they were going for here, did Narcissa want to have a three course meal or just the one?
"What are you having to start with?" Well that answered her question.
I should know by now Narcissa would go all out. "Erm, I was thinking going brave and having escargot, when in Rome aye?"
"Really?" Narcissa looked shocked, she never too Hermione for a 'risk taker' she always thought the younger witch would be fussy with exotic food.
"Yes." Hermione laughed at Narcissa's expression. "Don't look at me like that, I may as well, plus they're one of the cheaper options."
"Hermione do not worry about how expensive it is!" Narcissa countered and gave her a smile across the table.
"I'm sorry, I'm not used to all this, that's all." Hermione then decided to read the main courses section of the menu. "What are you having as a main?" That's it change the subject.
"I was thinking the steak and asparagus, with chips." Narcissa continued "I have had it before they're small portions so don't worry about over eating."
She must have watched me more closely than I thought at Andy's. "Oh right, ok, I was thinking the ravioli." She brushed a stray hair behind her ear, catching Narcissa staring at her.
"Good choice, Andy had that before, she said it was favourable." The pureblood finished before filling Hermione's wine glass up and her own.
When the waiter came back the two women ordered their food and then got back into their conversation. Hermione had chosen to debate inadequacy in the Ministry. Since the fall of Voldemort the Ministry had become a better place but it still had major flaws, like the trial that Lucius never received meaning he was not going to Azkaban.
"What about your department?" Narcissa asked as she continued to debate with the Muggle-born.
"My departments fine, we have no secrets between staff, Harry's is doing ok too I guess, the only problem is with the Wizengamot. I think half of them still believe in blood purity." Hermione rolled her eyes, it wasn't proven but she knew something was going on, why else would Lucius be able to bribe his way out.
"That's atrocious; can you not bring it to the view of the Minister? I'm sure Kingsley Shacklebolt wouldn't think twice about filling a report." The blonde continued "I thought you and Shacklebolt saw eye to eye?"
"We did, well we do, but he's a very busy man, if something does come up about it again, I shall go speak to him myself." Hermione smiled as their food was brought to them, she immediately cursed herself inwardly for ordering snails, she had no idea how on earth she was going to eat them, putting on a façade she continued anyway.
The first one went down well and she used the utensils properly, however, as time went on she suddenly realised she had one left, being the overconfident chit she sometimes was, Hermione picked up the last shell but squeezed it too hard and the shell flew out of her reach and hit one of the waiters in the back of the head.
"Ooops." The brunette stifled her laughter; quit showing yourself up, "Slippery little buggers." She said to Narcissa who was watching her highly amused at what had just taken place.
"At least you hit the correct waiter! He's been ogling at you most of the evening." Narcissa tried hiding her hint of jealousy as she let that information spill. Shaking her head she went back to taking a sip of her wine.
"I noticed he couldn't keep his eyes to himself. He is not my type." No you are. This time Hermione filled up their empty glasses and realised that they had in fact drank the bottle already.
"Oh" Was all Narcissa answered, she wanted to know what Hermione's type was, she thought about asking but she decided to wait a little, maybe when they were on their second bottle of wine.
"How about you?" Hermione took a sip of her wine as their plates were cleared by a waiter.
"What?" The pureblood didn't know what Hermione meant.
"What's your type?" I can't believe I just asked that!
Narcissa visibly blushed, Hermione found it adorable, she thought the pureblood looked pretty even when she looked embarrassed, she could tell that Narcissa was deliberating what to say, the brunette let her think, she was beautiful when she was trying to think of something to say.
"I-I don't know." Narcissa smiled nervously and took a long sip of her wine. Hermione grinned back of course she had a type; she was just too shy to say so.
"Well, I'm guessing it wasn't Lucius?" the Muggle-born asked and laughed at Narcissa's expression, clearly Lucius definitely wasn't her type.
"Oh Gods no, I did that to keep my parents happy, Draco was the only good thing that came out of my marriage." Smirking Narcissa saw Hermione's smile widen.
"So we've established that it's not arrogant platinum blondes." Hermione chuckled, she was greeted by the waiter who came and sat down their main meals.
"Yes quite. Anyway enough grilling me what's your type?" Narcissa chuckled away as she ordered another bottle of wine, well at least they had warmed up over one.
"My type… erm well I can't date gingers, I've seen enough of that hair colour to last me a life time." The brunette scoffed "I guess they have to be honest, reliable, love me for who I am, not for my name or the lime light of being the Golden Girl, or one of Harry Potter's best friends." Hermione contemplated, "also they have to understand that I'm a working woman, I always strive for the top and to be the best at what I do, my career is one of my main priorities so they'd have to understand children is definitely out of the question, hands down."
Narcissa nodded, she could actually accept all that with Hermione, she saw her for who she was, she didn't want anything from her except to understand that she had developed feelings for her, and as for children, Narcissa thought she was a little too old to start again. As the pureblood ate she wondered what she could say to Hermione, the witch had asked Narcissa what her type was but, the problem with that was that the blonde, had never had a type until meeting Hermione, she didn't want to make it up, the pureblood awaited for Hermione to ask.
Their eyes kept catching each other's as they would glance at on another. Hermione loved catching Narcissa looking at her, it made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, it also sent her concentration a bit off but none the less she was enjoying herself.
"I think that's why it didn't work with Ron most of all, because I was working all the time, we drifted apart, and in the end I ended up seeing him just like Harry, like a brother." Hermione spooned her food in her mouth and also took a sip of wine.
"Well you seem very good friends now, he seems to trust you more out of everyone else, and I'm sure Miss Brown will still be a reoccurring problem." Narcissa could see Hermione wince at the comment about Lavender, but the witch was a liability, the pureblood could understand why Hermione didn't like her, or why many people didn't like her.
"I was going to thank you, that night at the Leaky Cauldron, if you hadn't have stopped me I would've probably launched my fist at her." Hermione shyly smiled, she couldn't believe she hadn't thanked Narcissa for that yet, she had seen her a few times in the week so she should've thanked her sooner; the Muggle-born inwardly scolded herself.
"Don't worry, I was merely making sure you did nothing you would regret, I didn't think Weasley was going to step in." Again. Narcissa made a mental note as to the time Lavender had goaded Hermione before, Ron didn't do anything then either.
"He was doing quite well keeping her quiet at first but she over shadowed him again. I think the next time I see her she will probably be in a foul mood anyway, Ron's quit the Ministry."
"Why has he quit? I assumed he like being an Auror and working with Potter." Narcissa asked.
"He did, but George apparently needs help with the shop in Diagon Alley, so Ron quit, he said he didn't like being in Harry's shadow either." The Muggle-born watched Narcissa's expression and then turned back to her food.
"Well I hope he has a muzzle for 'Lav-Lav'." Hearing Narcissa say Lav-Lav was the funniest thing to Hermione, she couldn't help but giggle, if others that weren't close to the couple were picking up on their mannerisms it had to be bad. "What's so funny?" Narcissa went on to ask.
"The fact you said Lav-Lav, Harry, Ginny and I used to say it all the time when he first came out with it, if you've picked up on it they clearly need to say it more privately!" Hermione chuckled away and finished her plate, as did Narcissa.
Narcissa had ordered another bottle of wine and the two continued to talk enjoying each other's company, their plates had been cleaned away and the waiter had brought them a desert menu, the brunette wasn't sure she could fit any more food in her stomach she was quite full. Narcissa had scanned over it but didn't comment, instead she turned her attention to Hermione's silver necklace.
"That's beautiful." The blonde pointed at the Muggle-born's piece of jewellery.
"Thank you, I've had it for years, it was a gift from my mother when I passed my O.W.L's, we joked, because even with Umbridge as a teacher, I managed to pass them with all outstanding's." Hermione held the chain in her hand for a little while reminiscing on how she had told her mother what a dreadful teacher Dolores Umbridge was.
Sensing the small amount of sadness that laced the Gryffindor's voice Narcissa reached across the table and placed her hand over Hermione's, the brunette looked down at the pale hand and smiled at Narcissa with gratitude.
"It's impressive you managed to pass with flying colours. Draco didn't." Narcissa scoffed at the last bit, her son didn't do as well as he could've but now he was exceeding very well at University.
"Thanks, I did it on top of helping Harry and Ron with theirs, plus their homework." Hermione laughed and shook her head.
"My well you deserve all the praise you can get!" Reluctantly removing her hand from the brunette's Narcissa picked up her wine and took a sip.
Hermione felt the softness that had been placed on her hand move and missed it deeply. Narcissa was seemingly interested in her, the brunette wasn't sure if it was purely platonic or not. The nerves she had at the begging of the night had faded away whether it was due to the wine or not, Hermione didn't know, she was just happy to be here.
"Would you like to take a walk? Or would you rather stay for dessert." The pureblood asked catching Hermione out of her thoughts.
"I'd like to take a walk." Hermione smiled pleasantly. "I'm far too full for desert." One type of desert anyway. Ok that's the wine.
"I'll get the bill." Waving over the waiter Narcissa asked for the bill. To Hermione's surprise she pulled out a credit card. The great pureblood, Narcissa Black, had a credit card.
Hermione stifled her laughter, she guessed that Draco had helped his mother get a Muggle credit card. Returning to her senses Hermione thought she should protest and ask that the bill be split but the waiter had already left and Narcissa had already stood and picked up her clutch.
The brunette stood up and gathered her own clutch bag before letting Narcissa lead the way out. When they had exited the restaurant Hermione subconsciously slipped her arm into Narcissa's as the two walked. Being this close to the pureblood was alluring enough for both of them but Hermione couldn't help but inhale the older witch's perfume. Merlin what am I doing?
Narcissa found it comforting that Hermione had taken to linking onto her as they walked, the two hadn't said a word since leaving the restaurant but the Slytherin couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of having the forbidden fruit so close to her, she enjoyed Hermione's touch, it was like liquid fire all over again.
"Narcissa?" The brunette broke the silence.
"Hmm?" Narcissa hummed she was enjoying herself a little too much, she wasn't paying much attention.
"Where are we actually walking to?" The know-it-all inquisitively asked.
"We can just stroll back towards our houses?" Narcissa answered with a question of her own.
"Ok, it's a lovely night isn't it?"
"Divine." The pureblood replied she glanced up to the stars, nothing could kill how happy Narcissa felt at this moment, just having Hermione at her side made everything seem, easy.
"Like you." Hermione slipped and mumbled out her words, she thought she had said them in her head.
"What?" Narcissa looked down at the young witch next to her.
"I didn't say anything." Hermione blushed frivolously.
"Could've sworn you said something."
"Maybe you've had too much wine." Hermione snorted and earned a light smack on her arm.
As the two made their way towards the direction they lived in Hermione felt her heart sink, she didn't want the night to end, couldn't she stay like this forever? Pluck up some courage Granger, do something. Her mind was telling her to act upon her feelings and so was her heart, but a part of her knew this was wrong. Why was it wrong? Because Narcissa was a pureblood? Because she was older than her? All this woman had done was show her kindness since they had first met after the war. Hermione stopped abruptly and Narcissa turned and raised her eyebrow to look at the younger witch.
"Everything alright?" Narcissa hoped everything was alright. Why did Hermione just stop in her tracks? The younger witch looked like she was battling internally with herself.
"I did say something earlier." Great conversation starter, well done. She thought sarcastically.
"Oh?" Narcissa was confused; she didn't know what was going on.
"Narcissa forgive me if I seem forward but…" Hermione felt herself going into full rambling Granger mode. "I think you are… well… you're amazing, divine, I can't get you out of my mind." Hermione took a deep breath stopping herself from going any further.
Narcissa stared blankly at the younger witch in front of her. She knew she should say something, but her voice seemed to have drifted away. Hermione's brown orbs were piercing into her, this witch had just said the most wonderful things to her, and all she saw was the brunette's confidence slowly depreciating in front of her.
Without a second thought Narcissa pulled her arm free of the brunette's and placed her left hand under Hermione's chin, her right arm slipped around the witch's petite waist and she slowly leaned in pressing her lips against Hermione's pink ones.
The brunette was in total shock at this display of affection, she thought she'd end up eating her words and hoped that Narcissa wouldn't run away at what she had said. Hermione's heart was beating so fast and hard in her chest she could have sworn the pureblood could've heard it, or even felt it at the rapid pace it was going.
When Hermione reciprocated Narcissa couldn't even think anymore, the kiss was soft and slow, painfully slow, Hermione brought her hands up and wrapped them around the purebloods neck. After all the frustration the Slytherin had gone through on keeping herself from touching the forbidden fruit, she had lost herself in that moment, as soon as the words fell from the brunette stood in front of her, she felt like it was only the two of them in the world.
As Narcissa let her hand slip from Hermione's chin and fall onto her collarbone, she heard a subtle whimper from the brunette, it made her melt inside, this witch was driving her wild, she had never stood on the street, at night, and kissed someone like this in her life. This kiss felt real, she actually felt very close to Hermione but she quickly had to remind herself what she was doing. She pulled away.
The pureblood separated from Hermione leaving a gap between them, Hermione slowly opened her eyes to see Narcissa staring back at her with a disconcerted look. Both of them didn't look like they knew what to say to each other. It was as if all the air had been taken out of the atmosphere, it felt like the tension was back, Hermione decided to speak.
"Narcissa?"
"I should be going." Narcissa whipped out her wand and dissaperated with in a matter of minutes.
Hermione just stared at the spot the beauty had left, she too then took out her wand and left for her apartment, she was in shock, bewildered; Hermione Granger had a blank mind for once. But that would be short lived.
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A/N You didn't think it was going to be that easy did you? ;) Please Review.