Part 1: No morse code here.

It took sixteen tries until Hermione let out a frustrated groan. No matter how hard she tried, her mind couldn't properly focus on the task at hand. Her brain was busy calculating the intentions of Draco Malfoy.

Could the man be any more infuriating?

She quickly tried to shake the reoccurring thoughts from her mind as she skimmed the short note she had awoken to early in the morning yet again.

Granger,

Would you like to have dinner with me this evening?

DM

She didn't know how to reply to that kind of question after his statement the night previous on their outing. Did this mean he was actually interested in, dare she say it, dating her? Perhaps it was just the alcohol. Or maybe he wanted to get her sidetracked throughout the case.

She had to laugh out loud at that theory. In all her years of being in law, there had been many techniques to get her concentration altered to another subject by her opponent, but not once had it involved wooing. She snorted. If there was any male who would be shallow enough (and attractive enough) to attempt that, it would be Draco Malfoy.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't shallow, Hermione thought with a pang of guilt. She didn't really know him enough to say that, but it was a nice idea to play with given his history.

She ran through the scenario again, trying to pick up on little hints he may have dropped as she observed the note again.

After realizing there was no special code or invisible handwriting on the worn parchment, Hermione finally gave up.

Grabbing yet another piece of clean paper (that was likely to be crumbled into a frustrated ball like the sixteen previous), she gave up with the quill and grabbed a muggle pen off her desk.

That would be fine.

Hermione Granger

She glanced down at the paper and groaned.

"That would be fine," really? Could she get any more formal about this small ordeal?

Predictably, she hurriedly bunched the paper up and grabbed another clean sheet.

Sounds lovely.

Hermione Granger

After many conflicting arguments in her head, she finally closed her eyes and sent the message to him.

As she got up to clean off the desk filled with wasted parchment, two knocks sounded on her door. She rolled her eyes at Harry's predictability.

"Come in, Harry!"

The door squeaked open and Hermione glanced up as she pushed all of the paper into her desk-bin. "How did you know it was me?"

"You knock twice," she smiled up at him.

He scratched the top of his head and levitated the two coffees onto her table with his wand. "A little stressed, Hermione?"

She got up and gave him a hug. "No. Why would you say that?"

He snickered, "Because it looks like you just wrote on the whole Forest of Dean."

Harry then released her from the tight grip that compared well to their friendship.

"Just work business," she waved it off as she strode over to her table picking up the scalding coffee and sipping on it slowly.

"What are you doing today?" Harry asked as he took a seat and crossed one of his legs over the other.

"I have the day off, so I'm going to try to catch up with some research on Malfoy. Later tonight I was invited out to dinner," she was careful not to mention Draco was the one this diner would take place with.

Harry raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to go on. When she didn't, he prompted her.

"Dinner? With who?" Harry asked, quickly going into over-protective-big-brother mode.

Hermione internally groaned. "Malfoy. Dinner with Malfoy, Harry."

Harry coughed on his drink, and spit a little onto his white shirt. He cussed.

Hermione rolled her eyes and pointed her wand at the brown stain, and it disappeared in an instant.

"This isn't getting to anything..." Harry paused, not knowing what words to use, "Ron-like, is it?"

Hermione blushed at his terms. Of course, Harry hadn't ever seen Hermione with another man besides Ron (and maybe Krum, if he counted that).

"No, Harry. It hasn't." Yet, she internally added. She wanted to tell Harry everything, tell him about Malfoy's actions the night previous on their not-date, about the words Malfoy had spoken that implied he didn't know if he wanted it to be a date or not, however, she knew if she told Harry this he wouldn't like it very much given their history with Malfoy. The war was still, understandably, a touchy subject for all three of them.

Harry let out a sigh in relief and took another drink of his coffee. "Okay, good. That would absolutely kill Ron."

Hermione couldn't bring her eyes to meet his.

Part 2: A battle of wits.

Draco Malfoy was a very observant man.

And for that fact, and that fact alone, he knew Hermione Granger had tried very hard to perfect the last note she had written him.

Draco could feel the stress radiating from the note, even in the first letter. He noticed the capitalized "S" held a solid dot at the top, noting the hesitation she had probably held before starting the letter. The muggle pen she had used had slipped, nearly creating a tear in the fragile paper.

He decided to toy with her a bit as he grabbed his quill and another sheet of paper.

Do I sense sarcasm in that, Miss Granger?

DM

He smirked at his own intelligence as he lay his head between his hands, stretching out on the longer of his two couches and awaited her reply.

He waited, eventually falling asleep in the comfortable position.

Two hours later when Draco awoke he found that Hermione had replied. He opened up the folded parchment eagerly and skimmed the lines quickly.

I haven't made up my mind yet. When I figure it out, I'll be sure to let you know.

Hermione Granger

That sneaky little witch! She had used (more or less) the same words he had used in reply to a question of hers.

He couldn't be bothered to grab another sheet of paper, so instead he scribbled below her handwriting.

You can't use that term, Granger! I used it first, you word-stealing little wench!

DM

After sending the message off, Draco decided he should prepare for his dinner with Granger if he wanted to be presentable.

He hurried through his drawers looking for something suitable to wear while trying to ignore the nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach that was held with an emotion he couldn't quite decipher - much thanks to his overly inflated head. If Draco Malfoy had ever questioned his confidence before with a female, he would have associated the feeling with one of nerves.

After fifteen minutes of scrambling to find something in his closet that fit an informal occasion, Draco gave up on his attire and headed straight for the shower. On the way, another message had appeared on his coffee table and Draco scanned it over.

I was not aware your name was in that sentence, Malfoy. Perhaps there is some sort of subliminal message I missed, but then again I also was not aware you hadn't graduated second year. "Word-stealing," really, Malfoy?

What time do you want me to be there?

Hermione Granger

Despite the insults thrown into her little paragraph, he couldn't help but be amused with their banter and her wit. It was…oddly refreshing to speak with someone who could compete with him intellectually instead of the usual Marcus Flint type.

He found himself smiling as he replied to her letter.

Oh, it is. You just can't see it because you're not gifted as I am. And I'll have you know that word-stealing is a perfectly acceptable assumption for your little retort. Did you think I was plastered to the point where I wouldn't remember what I said last night, Granger?

Be at my flat by five.

DM

On the way to his shower Draco was thinking about what she would say when she read his note. He tried not to smirk at the awkwardness he had injected into the situation by bringing up the night before, but he was Draco Malfoy and the smirk could not keep off his face as he undressed and started the hot water. In fact, Draco was so pleased with himself he forgot to turn on the cold water to even out the temperature. Needless to say, the smirk disappeared off his face when he yelped, cringing away from the scalding-hot water that cascaded down his broad shoulders.

Part 3: Cryptic remarks.

Okay, so maybe you could find man that was more infuriating than Draco Malfoy. Perhaps you could even find a man with more sarcasm in his personality than him, too. But it could not be argued that you could find a man more egotistical than Draco.

Hermione tried to hold back the snort that was threatening to overpower her, but it was no use.

"You just can't see it because you're not as gifted as I am."

For being so smart and witty, Draco Malfoy was a complete moron. His head needed to be brought back from the galaxy it was currently situated in, because it was obviously doing his brain cells no good.

Hermione usually was a modest, humble girl when given compliments on her intelligence and skill but there still was a certain amount of pride she held when people called her the 'Brightest Witch of the Generation' (of course she would never admit it mattered to her). It was nearly unprecedented of someone to say they were more gifted than Hermione Granger, because she had it all. Skill, experience, knowledge, and quick-reflexes had always been on her side as she aged.

Rolling her eyes at his nerve, she scribbled beneath his writing.

Tell me, what's it like to have your head located in the same constellation as your name?

Hermione Granger

Satisfied with her comeback, she sent the message off and started on a cup of coffee, taking slow sips as she observed one of the cases Draco had won.

As she observed the transcripts of the trial, she noticed how diverse his techniques were. On one day, he had used the jury to his strength, drawing out humane emotions to bring empathy to his client. The next day, he had made valid counter-arguments that shut down nearly all of the opposing lawyers claims. On the third day of trial, he brought evidence to his defense and took a bold risk by letting his defendant on stand to talk and get cross-examined (which was nearly unheard of in Wizard law).

Draco Malfoy was a better lawyer than she had originally given him credit for, and now she knew she had to be on watch for any tricks up his sleeve. Right now, she couldn't be distracted from the case by his advances and cryptic remarks. He probably had a whole bunch prepared to throw her off. Well, it was going to take more than that to fool Hermione Granger.

It wasn't long before Malfoy replied to her again, this time on a new sheet of parchment.

Go for comfort. No need to dress up for me tonight, Granger.

DM

After reading the note, she promptly burst into laughter. The reply was a white-flag. He was trying to change the subject now, which roughly translated to "you win, now shut the hell up and let me distract you."

Not feeling the need to reply to this information, Hermione thought about what he had say. What she was going to wear tonight hadn't even occurred her yet, but now that she thought about it she should start getting ready. It was already four o'clock and she hadn't even showered yet.

Hermione rushed through her shower, mentally debating what she would wear.

Tonight, she promised herself, I won't focus on Draco, the person. I need to focus on Draco, the lawyer. It sounded crude, yes, but she couldn't let anything get in the way of winning this case and somewhat restoring her somewhat damaged reputation (or perhaps it was just her pride) as the most trusted lawyer.

Suddenly, a stroke of brilliance hit her. Well, if he was going to be like that with all of the cryptic remarks, who said she couldn't distract him tonight? Two could play at this game.

A/N: OH MY GOD. I am so sorry! I really didn't mean for this to take this long, but time flies by, especially in December/January. You see, I'm a Senior in High School and I'm having to do scholarship essays & college applications. It really isn't all that fun, but what can you do, right? Anyway, with basketball practice every single effin' day but Sunday, it's hard to squeeze in time to write or for that matter, breathe. Between homework, basketball, school, college, I'm literally swamped. But the good news is most deadlines are…well…now, and my basketball season is nearly finished (this bit makes me sad, I'm a senior!) it'll be a lot easier for me to jam in time to write.

I need to thank GorgeouslyXHomicidal for reviewing a few days ago. It got me off my lazy butt to write this chapter up, I hope you guys liked it, even though it was excruciatingly short and a filler. I'm not too happy with this to be honest. I wanted to fit in the dinner scene in this chapter but I don't think I'll be able to finish the chapter for a while unless I end it here. If it seems like this chapter wasn't as good as the others, I apologize severely. It could be because we play against the State Champs tomorrow night, and it determines our playoff position for States. I'm just a wee bit nervous!

Anyway, hope you're all having a great new year and such. I thank you all for the lovely reviews I cherish. Leave this starving writer a little bit more, even if it is just to nag at me for not updating!