"You should have told me," She said, lightly placing a hand on his arm, "We could have flooed over here instead," Hermione led the way into the drab building to reveal a beautiful interior that was larger than the outside let on. The color scheme was a mixture of blacks, reds, and greens. She smiled over at him as she held a hand out to the side to indicate their surroundings, "Well, what do you think?"

He shrugged and followed her in. He froze, jaw dropping, the moment his eyes hit the room. He took in an elegant sitting area, resplendent in its simplicity. The tablecloths were black and red, with green placemats. He turned and looked at her.

"This is... amazing. Now, where are our wayward friends?" He smirked, completely missing the fact he had just referred to Ginny and Harry as friends.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, before turning her head to the smile that came to her face, "I'm sure they'll be here soon. For now, let's go and get a table," She said turning and walking to the greeter, "Table for four please?"

"Miss Hermione!" The elderly wizard greeted her with a smile, "I haven't seen you in months! Will Mr. Ron be coming as well?"
Hermione's smile faltered for just a second, before it was replaced with a forced one, "No, Felonious, he won't be making it."

"Oh what a shame! I always did like him! I was wondering what had happened to the two of you," He continued as he led them over to a booth in towards the back of the restaurant.
"I'm afraid some things came up, and he's not around much," She told him, not wishing to see the look in the old man's eyes if he found out the truth. He'd always been like a grandfather to her, and she couldn't bear to see him saddened.

Draco narrowed his eyes at the man who had dared speak the Weasel's name to Hermione. He followed her to the booth sullenly, and slid in. He started fiddling with his silverware. It didn't take long for a waiter to come along and ask for their drink order. He ordered a simple glass of wine. They brought over a bottle. He poured himself a glass and offered the bottle to Hermione.

She took the bottle, watching him curiously as she slid into the spot beside him. His whole attitude seemed to have changed since she'd talked to Felonious. She poured herself a generous glass, set the bottle on the table in front of her, crossed her arms and turned to confront him, "Draco, what's bothering you? You're acting rather oddly. More like the you that I'd first written to and less like the Draco that I was beginning to consider my friend. Is it something that I said?"

"You came here with him." Was all he said. He gulped down the glass, and poured himself another. "I don't like it." He swallowed half of the second glass, and then set it down. He started toying with the silver again, waiting to see if she had a response.

She lightly placed a hand over his, stopping him from playing with the utensils, "I went a lot of places with him, Draco. We were in a relationship. We lived together for nearly a year," She stopped and swallowed at the lump that had started forming in her throat. It didn't make any sense to her that Draco Malfoy would be acting like a jealous boyfriend over Ron, but then, there were a few things that she couldn't make sense of with him. She looked down at their hands, hers still covering his, and didn't say another word. The contact seeming to entrance her.

"I know that, but I figured that since it's my birthday dinner, I might be able to escape the knowledge, at least for a little while." He smiled at her. He looked around the restaurant. "Enough of this dire conversation. Why dont we play that game... what is it now... Twenty Questions! Just to pass the time until Harry and Ginny get here. The volunteers at the kitchen were explaining it to me, and it sounds like great fun. You go first!"

"Oh, today's your birthday? I thought that it wasn't until next month, and poor Thuban had the day confused. Hmmm…twenty questions, huh? Alright, well let me think for a moment here," She looked around the restaurant, to avoid eye contact with him since she could feel a blush hiding just beneath the skin, "If you could have one wish, what would it be?"

"Actually my birthday is tomorrow. Now lets see, My fondest wish... hmmm. I would say it would be that the Dark Lord had not returned fourth year. That he had stayed a near powerless shade." He looked at this left arm as he spoke, idly running his hand down his sleeve, smoothing it. He brought his eyes back up to her.

"My turn. Hmmmmmm. Okay, what did you want to do when you grew up, like, when you were little. Pre-Hogwarts."

"Well, honestly, I wanted to be a doctor, so I could help people," She said, looking down at the table. Why was it becoming so hard to look at him, "Now that you no longer have to worry about Voldemort or your father, what do you want to do?" She asked him, the blush finally breaking free to stain her cheeks a bright tomato red.

He started at her question. He stared down at his hands for a moment. He started fidgeting again. Finally he opened his mouth.

"I want to teach, but I don't know if they will let me." He looked away from her. After a moment he cleared his throat.

"Why did you decide to write me?"

She put a hand on his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, "You can do it. Even if I have to pull a few strings to make sure that it happens," She said, lifting her head to look at him, after all, Dumbledore allowed Snape to teach even with his past. I'm sure that you won't have any difficulties with that once you're off of your probation."

"Thank you but you didn't answer the question. And you didn't ask your own." He smiled gently at her, and set down the fork he was fiddling with. He reached over to pat the hand she still had resting over his.

"That may be, but if you think about it, you ignored the possibility of being able to follow your dream. As you answering your question, you don't want me to answer that," She said looking down and removing her hands from him. Once he found out the reason she'd written to him in the first place he would hate her once more. That was the last thing that she wanted, she realized with a start.

"Well, I really don't think that parents would want a man who once swore to kill the headmaster to be teaching their precious angels all about Charms." He was ginning sardonically now. " And how can you be so sure I don't want to know?" He pulled his hands away, and crossed his arms. "I guess if you wont answer that question…. What was your favorite course at Hogwarts?"

"My favorite course in the end at Hogwarts was Arithmancy," She said, before taking a deep breath. She didn't want to have any secrets with him. She took another deep breath, then looked him square in the eyes, "I originally wrote to you, because I was so full of hurt and anger from Ronald, that I wanted to make you feel the same way that I did. I wanted to make you feel even more miserable than I was feeling. I don't know when things changed, but they did. I no longer want to hurt you. I'm sorry that I did that," She looked down at the silverware laid out in front of her as though it had become the most interesting thing in the world, "My question for you, do you want me to leave?"

Draco stared at her. He was at a loss for words, which was quite rare for him. He tried to process what she had said. He opened his mouth to speak. He was saved from having to answer by Harry and Ginny's timely arrival. They slid into the booth across from him and Hermione.

"Sorry were late, we ran into some... traffic." Harry was grinning.

"I didn't know traffic could hold up apparation." Draco drawled at the man, deciding to ignore Hermione's question for the moment. He raised his hand and signaled for the waiter.