Hello! I'm back with a brand new chapter and a heart full of new year's resolutions to write more and attempt to be more consistent! I'm making no promises that I'll be perfect but I promise I'll give it my best shot in order to keep this story flowing. I hope that you are still enjoying the story and aren't finding it too slow or mind-numbing.

As always, I would love to encourage you to leave a review as many of us who aren't writers don't realise the importance of reviews - it keeps writers motivated, give the story a lifeline and you may even inspire a writer to take a certain turn or path in a story! Who knows!

If you are still loyal to When Two Hearts Collide I want to thank you so much more your patience and loyalty and hope you will find the time and in your heart to share this story far and wide. As an aspiring writer it really would mean the world to me!

That's enough of my rambling, onto the story!

All of my love, always

Lumos Nox

If someone would have asked Hermione how the end of the baby-shower went, she wouldn't have been able to describe it at all. Draco's final conversation and parting moments had left her in a complete whirlwind of emotions. She felt torn. Part of her was curious to to know exactly what a date with the infamous Draco Malfoy would look like. The other half of her was filled with rage and apprehension.

The worst part of it all was that she couldn't tell if the rage was directed at the humiliation and bullying that Draco had brought upon her whilst at school, or whether after a failed marriage she thought that history was doomed to repeat itself if she got close to anyone ever again. She was an individual who sought comfort in logic and books and when it comes to matter of the heart none of these strategies helped her figure out what to do next.

She had remained at the baby shower until the sun set across the fields surrounding the Burrow and Ginny looked so physically exhausted Harry was worried she might collapse. She bid goodbye to the hosts who gave her a warm hug and apologised for not having spent much time talking to her.

"Don't apologise" Hermione had insisted "we'll catch up soon properly!"

And she had returned home where she had made herself a cup of mint-green tea and sat on her sofa mulling everything over. On one hand, what did she have to lose on going on a date with someone? Even if it was Draco Malfoy. There was no denying he wasn't hard on the eyes and he did seem to have changed. On the other hand she was very aware that if they were to go on a date one picture would send the media in a flurry of rumours and speculations about them. There was also a small part of her that didn't know if she was capable of forgiving all the comments and slurs he had said to her when they were at school. She took a sip and looked out the window. London seemed to tinkle in the night and from the light of the street lamps she could see couples walking along the street, hand in hand, looking at each other adoringly. Her heart ached for that more than she had realised.

She was also worried her friends may never speak to her again if they found out that she was spending time with Draco, especially Ron. She took another sip of her tea and frowned. On the other hand, she had been forced to come to terms with the fact that her former husband was now in a romantic relationship with the woman with whom he had been sleeping with behind her back, it was there for everyone to see and no one was judging him.

But she knew it would be different for her, because she had always presented herself and the perfect, intellectual individual who had her life perfectly planned out. People expected more from her than they ever had from Ron or Harry. Because they were boys and they were known for being mischievous, if they took an unexpected turn or made a decision that was outside the norm, people applauded it and called them brave. If Hermione did, people thought she was troubled and had lost her path.

The problem was that Hermione had always conformed and blended in to the expectations of society and had given people exactly what they wanted, even at the cost of her own happiness at times. Maybe she realised, this was it, it was time to break free of the stigma and rules that had always been set for her. And if her friends didn't speak to her again, she thought angrily, then maybe they weren't the people she ought to be surrounding herself with in the first place.

She threw caution to the wind and all the voices in her head that were telling her not to do it and strolled our the a drawer where she pulled out a piece of parchment. She sat down and started at the blank scroll. She didn't know what to say without sounding desperate or standoffish. She decided to just go for it and put her head down and wrote a short, straight-to-the-point message whilst coming off, she hoped, a little flirty as well.

"Dear Mr Malfoy,

I am surprised to see that the king of serpents gives up so easily. I am offering you the chance, if you still wish, to change my mind regarding that. Tell me the date, time and dress code and I will meet you there.

Kind Regards,

Hermione Granger

PS. You may not be a respectable man, but I'm not at respectable as you think"

She waved her wand before she had a chance to re-read the message and change her mind again and watched as the piece of parchment neatly folded into a little paper airplane. She flicked her wand again and watch as it rose into the air and flew out of the window into the night's sky.

The rest of her evening was spent taking her mind off of the letter that she had just sent. She focused more than usual on her evening routine, put on extra creams and serums and found her comfiest pair of pyjamas to slip into before climbing into bed and reading a few chapters of her book before turning off the lights and falling into a deep, peaceful sleep.

When she woke the next morning to the sound of her alarm she felt refreshed and ready to go. She pulled on a white v-neck sweater, a pair of navy high-waisted jeans and threw on a blazers to complete her outfit. She tussled her hair into messy waves and put on her makeup. As she marched into the kitchen ready to drink her morning coffee and saw a letter had been deposited on the table. She looked around and saw that she had left the window open and that an owl could have easily swooped in and deposited the letter in the middle of the night. She waved her wand and the window shut itself neatly before pouring herself a cup of hot, steaming coffee. She finally sat down and slipped open the letter and saw what was now a familiar scroll in emerald green ink.

"Dear Ms Granger

I am glad you have come around. Maybe you have confused giving-up with being cunning. I would be glad to discuss this with you and change your mind on Friday after work, I will wait for you to meet me. Your usual attire will do.

Yours faithfully,

Draco Malfoy"

To her surprise her stomach did a little flip and she felt giddy. She closed the letter and left it on the worktop, finished her coffee, grabbed her bag and set off for work. Grinning like a little girl.,

Time has a funny manner of slowing down when you are looking forward to an event and Hermione felt her days drag by but the thought of the date for some reason kept her more upbeat and positive than usual. Maybe it was because she was taking a risk, putting herself out there. Maybe it had nothing to do with the wizard she was going to spend her Friday evening with.

And then, Friday morning arrived and Hermione woke up to the sound of her alarm clock going off an hour earlier than usual. She shot out of bed as if she had received an electric shock and jumped into a steaming shower. Scrubbing herself furiously and moisturising her hair before jumping out and lathering her silky body with cream. After an hour she took a final look at herself in the mirror. She had to admit it, she looked good. Her hair was in loose curls, framing her face that had a light layer of makeup that made her face glow and her eyeliner was perfectly even. She had put on a navy blue wrap dress with boots and a black blazer on top. She finally put on a delicate gold necklace that had a small red ruby pendant.

After spraying herself with her Miss Dior perfume that she put in her bag to freshen up later, she headed out the door, butterflies fluttering in her belly, wondering what tonight had in store for her.

Once she got to work she found out that her manager had left his position, although Hermione overheard rumours of gross misconduct and abuse of power as well as inappropriate relations with various females. Not knowing what would happen next, Hermione continued to submerge herself in her pile of documents and papers, placing them on the now empty desk of Richard Perkins. She expected she would be briefed on the new successor to the head of the Department of Magical Cooperations soon enough and that she may as well continue getting the paperwork ready to be reviewed and filed.

The day was simultaneously slow and quick at the same time, she felt rushed off her feet as she ended up being the only individual in the department getting any work done and every time she looked at the time she saw that either only ten minutes had past or that it was two hours later.

Finally, the end of the day came and Hermione quickly headed to the bathroom to touch up her makeup and spray herself one last time. She straightened up, smiled at herself and headed out to the entrance of the Ministry of Magic where she saw Draco Malfoy standing in a ray of winter sunshine in an immaculate grey suit that matched the colour of his eyes. He spotted her and nodded.

"Good afternoon Ms Granger"

Her stomach lurched and she smiled sheepishly "Mr Malfoy"

They set off side by side, Hermione had no idea where they were heading off to but before she had time to think about it too much Draco silence.

"Now that we are, officially, on a date and you are no longer my client I must insist you call me Draco"

"Only if you call me Hermione" said Hermione

"Now that's not fair" said Draco grinning mischievously "I've called you Granger since the first day of school"

"You were also an insufferable bully" said Hermione rolling her eyes at him "I hope things can change"

They walked into an Italian restaurant, the inside was breathtaking, the floor was white marble and the decorations had gold accents, grey and white accents and were exquisite. They were whisked away (Hermione knew Draco must have requested this beforehand) to a secluded table by a window and Draco asked for a bottle of red wine as the waiter took their coats and reappeared moments later and poured them both a glass of what Hermione knew must be extremely expensive red wine. After placing their orders Draco leaned forward and smiled at Hermione.

"Would you like to know a secrets Ms, Gran… Sorry, Hermione?"

"Yes, I would" she said smiling

"Did you ever think there must be a reason as to why I was so cruel to you whilst at school?"

"Yes because I am a muggleborn" said Hermione

"Muggleborn, pureblood…" Draco waved his hand "when you're a child those are just words you grow up hearing your parents use to describe people. It doesn't really mean anything to a small child"

"Well then it was because of Harry" said Hermione

"I won't deny that I enjoyed making Mr. Potter's life a misery but that wasn't the reason I went out of my way to torment you, even when Mr Potter wasn't around"

"then why could you possibly want to make my life that difficult?" Said Hermione raising her eyebrows

"Because you were incredibly attractive" laughed Draco "Hermione I know you didn't pay attention to gossip and rumours but you must have realised half the male population in the school fancied you"

Hermione blushed furiously "No they didn't"

Draco leaned back and laughed again "of course they did, you were smart and you weren't hard on eyes, I'd be lying if I said most teenage boys didn't fantasise about you at some point"

"Don't be stupid" Hermione said and took a large swig from her glass of wine.

"I know this is long overdue" started Draco and Hermione could faintly see the colour rising in his cheeks "but I do apologise for all the things I did and said whilst at Hogwarts, I was an entitled boy with no idea of what the real world really was…"

"You're right" said Hermione in quite a short, snappy manner "it is long overdue and frankly too little too late"

"If you feel that way Ms Granger" said Draco referring back to his icy, immaculately polite tone of voice "why did you agree to go on a date with me?"

"Because…" started Hermione taking a deep breath before throwing caution to the win and continuing "because, I believe in redemption, I believe that maybe you have changed and are no longer that judgmental, entitled boy you were at school. But that's up to you to show me that and an expensive bottle of wine and a luxurious meal doesn't prove anything frankly. So I said yes because I wanted to see who Draco Malfoy really is now and because frankly, I deserve to go on a date after all I've been through"

"What we've been through" corrected Draco dryly "you weren't the only one to witness your partner engage in intercourse with someone else behind your back"

"Guess we're just two miserable bastards then and we should just drown in our misery" said Hermione in a falsely cheery voice, helping herself to another glass of wine

"I thought you'd have wanted a candlelit dinner date" said Draco "clearly I was mistaken"

"No this is lovely" said Hermione earnestly putting down her glass "I'm just not use to this and I don't want to make a mistake"

"A mistake?" Said Draco raising his eyebrow

"A mistake" said Hermione nodding "see if it gets out that you and I are going on dates or spending time together the media will get wind of it at some point, and no don't tell me you have control over The Prophet because there is more out there than The Prophet! If it gets out to everyone that we are friendly and you haven't changed I'll end up looking like an idiot"

"So…" said Draco slowly "you're afraid of getting hurt by me?"

"No" she said "hurt implies feelings, which I have none of, I am afraid of you ridiculing me like you so often did at school"

They finished their main course in silence and Draco folded his napkin and placed in on the table before getting up and saying to Hermione

"Let's go"

"Pardon?" Hermione looked lost

"Let's go"

Hermione got up unsurely and watched as Draco grabbed their coats and paid for the meal. He held out her coat for her and gingerly Hermione slipped into it, they stepped outside side by side and braced themselves against the icy cold wind that had lifted whilst they were inside the restaurant.

"Where are we going Draco?" She called as he set off briskly with his head bowed

"Do you trust me Ms Granger?" He called over his shoulder and before she could answer he continued "didn't think so"

She cursed under her breath and broke into a little jog to keep up with him. He lead them down a narrow little alleyway and once they reached a very dark secluded spot he turned to her.

"If I didn't know any better" said Hermione laughing nervously "I'd say you brought me here to kill me"

Draco let out a hollow, empty laugh "and prove you right that I'm nothing more than a filthy death eater? I hardly think so Ms Granger" he then held out a pale hand and looked at Hermione "take it"

"Draco where are we going" she said looking around

"Hermione take my hand, please"

She took a deep breath and took his hand in hers. They were soft and warm and send a soft hum of electricity through her body. She felt oddly reassured. And then, before she knew it the world around them started to spin rapidly and she felt her feet lift off the ground and both their bodies disappeared from that lonely, empty street in central London. For a few seconds they were in absolute darkness, the only feeling was that of the wind whipping wildly against they faces whilst they hold each others hands with fierce determination. Then they felt soft, wet ground and the wind calmed down a bit. Hermione kept her eyes closed until the spinning stopped and then looked around. Hermione gasped and her jaw dropped open when she realised where they were. She was holding hands with Draco Malfoy outside of Malfoy Mansion.

She quickly dropped his hand and instinctively backed away. Thoughts were rushing through her mind. Images of being pinned down onto a cold floor, a loud cackling rung in her ears and her own screams echoed inside her head.

"Are you ok?" Said Draco quietly

"Why did you bring me here" said Hermione angrily "you know what I went through, you witnessed what your twisted aunt did to me whilst you stood there and watched!"

"That's why" he said "to show you that everything has changed"

"I can't believe you still live here!" Hermione yelled "you still rest your head in the place that Lord Voldemort plotted to kill Harry!"

Draco turned on her and she saw anger fill his eyes "you want to know what this". He gestured at the big house that stood behind the tall hedges and gates "what this represents to me? This is where I grew up!" He pushed the gates open and started walking down the driveway and for some reason Hermione followed him.

"This" he said pointing towards the steps that lead up to the house "is where I was sat when I received my letter to Hogwarts and over there is where I learnt to ride a broom" he said looking towards the open patch of grass.

He turned around and looked at Hermione dead in the eyes "Was it my fault that the most twisted and evil wizard on earth chose my home to plot murder? Was it the fault of a boy that his parents were part of a cult? Does that make him a murderer? I kept this home because I decided that the good that happened inside this house outdoes the evil that took place and I thought the brightest witch of her age would have a mind that was broad enough to understand that but if you don't you are more then welcome to leave. Just cross the front gates and you'll be free to go back home"

With those last words he turned on his heel and headed inside the mansion, allowing the door the close behind him with a gentle "thud".

Hermione stood there rooted to the spot. She felt sheepish and started to make her way back down the gravel driveway. Before suddenly stopping and looking over her shoulder and looked at the Malfoy Mansion. For some reason it looked different, she couldn't quite put her finger on exactly what it was. She looked around and saw delicate white roses blossoming from the dark hedges. The house looked less sinister and the air felt oddly clearer. Hermione didn't feel a rush of fear, she felt a sudden curiosity to see what else had changed. She slowly made her way back and climbed the steps up to the manor before placing both palms on the large oak front door and pushing it gently. It opened, creaking slightly as it did.

She stepped inside and saw that instead of dark walls and dark marble floors the house was light, the walls had been decorated in a light grey and white marble floors were underneath her feet. She looked up and saw a large chandelier hung in the entrance and cloud hear a crackling fire in another room. It felt warm and it felt lived in.

"Draco" she called out quietly "where are you?"

"Here" a disembodied voice called from a room that was cracked open and she let herself in, and realised she was in the main dinning room, the room where Bellatrix Lestrange had dug her knife into her arm and tortured her until her body felt broken. But she would have never recognised that room now. The windows were all open and the last drops of clarity where dripping into the room whilst a large fire roared and brought a golden glow into the room and bounced off the walls playfully.

Draco was sat in a large green velvet armchair in front of the fire. The two top buttons of his crisp white shirt were undone and his jacket was hung over the back of the chair. He'd kicked off his shoes messily in front of the fire and was nursing a glass of what appeared to be Firewhiskey as he looked into the flames.

"Drink?" He asked and Hermione nodded.

He waved his wand and she heard a light clinking from what she guessed must have been the kitchen and moments later a generous glass of amber liquid was floating towards her.

"Please take a seat" he said gesturing towards the other armchair and Hermione let herself drop into the soft warm fabric. Taking a sip and joining Draco in admiring the fire.

"This was the room" she said after a few moments and Draco nodded solemnly and they both sat in silence taking a few more sips. But it was Draco who broke the silence next.

"Don't you think I hated it?" He asked "that my childhood home was turned into a murdering den. That innocent blood was spilt over the floors of where I took my first steps?"

"I can't imagine" said Hermione quietly "I didn't think of that Draco, I am sorry"

"I don't need pity nor apologised" he interjected "I went to therapy, I worked through it all but I refuse to let my home be known for what Voldemort did. I wanted to build my life here and give it a greater meaning than darkness"

"That's very noble" Hermione said

"Hasn't quite worked out though has it" said Draco letting out a bark of laughter "one woman left me before marrying me and the other woman who I married betrayed me in this home. I'm starting to this this place is nothing but bad luck and darkness"

"That isn't your fault though" said Hermione softly "it happened to me too"

"I told my mother you know?" He said tearing his eyes away from the fire and looking at Hermione "that me and Pansy were now divorced and what happened. You know what she said?"

"No" said Hermione not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"She asked me what I had done to push a respectable woman into the arms of another man" he said chuckling "my own wife cheats on me for months on end and the one woman who is suppose to love me unconditionally still thinks I was in the wrong"

"I haven't spoken to my parents in years" said Hermione kicking off her shoes and curling up in her armchair "they never truly forgave me for erasing their memories and sending them to Australia. We write to each other at Christmas and for birthdays but other than that, they have no idea what my life has become"

"You were protecting them" said Draco frowning "how can they resent you for that"

"They saw it as a betrayal of trust" sighed Hermione "they said if I was capable of erasing my presence from their minds that that was proof that I didn't need them to begin with"

"Here's to family" said Draco with a falsely cheerful tone and Hermione raised her glass and laughed.

"That's why I've always been scared to have a family of my own" said Hermione sighing "I didn't want my children to feel abandoned. It's probably what led Ron away from me"

"That's why I've always wanted a family" said Draco smiling at the fire "so I could prove that I wouldn't make the same mistakes my father made with me. So I could shield them from evil instead of dropping them in it as a form of protection."

"Your father probably though he was protecting your family" said Hermione taking another sip of her drink.

"I never thought I'd see the day Hermione Granger would protect Lucius Malfoy" chuckled Draco "I suppose he thought he was, he was also a coward and afraid to stand up to Voldemort and his plans"

"We all make mistakes" said Hermione "but you really seem to have changed from yours"

"I try" said Draco "I just feel like life wants to keep on punishing me for them and sometimes it's tempting to resort back to the anger, it hurt a lot less when I was an asshole"

They spent the next few hours talking about everything. Their families, childhoods, happy memories and fire was starting to die out and Hermione glanced at her watch and jumped.

"Draco have you seen the time?"

"No"

"it's two in the morning" she said

"Anywhere to be tomorrow?" He asked

"Not particularly but I thought you'd be a bit more shocked" Hermione said laughing

"I don't sleep much" confessed Draco "crawling into bed alone leaves me with my thoughts and lets that of late my thoughts haven't been a very joyful company"

"Sleeping draught?" Suggested Hermione "you were always good at potions"

"Helps when your godfather is your potions teacher" said Draco smiling "Severus use to tutor me over the summer holidays so that I would always get a head start on the year ahead. But somehow you always managed to best me in every class"

"There was that year where Harry was the best in potions" laughed Hermione "when he acquired Snape's book"

"You mean that book that gave Potter the spell that drained half the blood from my body?" Said Draco "I remember that"

"He didn't know what he was doing" said Hermione defensively and she saw from the corner of her eye the bottle of Firewhiskey float towards her to refill her drink.

"Draco I should really get going"

"Please stay a little longer Granger" he asked and she could see sadness in his eyes

"If this is a ploy to get me drunk"

"Hardly. If I wanted to be close to you we wouldn't be sat in separate armchairs and talking about some of the most depressing moments of our lives" he said

"Then what is this?"

"You said you wanted to know me" said Draco slowly "Merlin knows I've not ever really let anyone in, but for some reason, probably out of the need to prove you wrong, I want you to see I'm not the person you knew at school"

"Well if Harry and Ginny invited you to their baby shower you must be a different person" said Hermione and Draco laughed.

"They invited half the bloody Ministry of Magic, hardly makes me think they consider me a close friend"

"If they thought you'd harm anyone they wouldn't have invited you" said Hermione firmly "I know them"

"So why are you so afraid of them finding out about this then?" He said pointing at both of them

"This is nothing" she said pointing at both of them

"Then why are you scared?" He said smiling a devilish smile "if this is nothing then a meal and a chat, why are you so scared of telling your friends about it?"

"I don't know" said Hermione truthfully "I guess I still don't want to be judged or for people to think I'm just getting one over on Ron because he's with your wife"

"I don't think it's that at all" said Draco smiling " I think that deep down in there, he said pointing towards her chest "you feel something, I think you're scared of what that feeling may be if you allow yourself to feel it because you can't explain it and that frightens you to death"

"I think" said Hermione getting up a lot less gracefully than she intended to "that you've had enough to drink Mr Malfoy and that you are speaking a load of codswallop"

Draco got up as if he hadn't had a single drink "seems like you've had more than me" he teased and she blushed.

"I really should get going Draco"

"Very well" said Draco nodding "if you must Ms Granger"

"I thought we were calling each other by our surnames anymore" she said raising an eyebrow at him

"I may have changed" he smiled "but some habits die harder than others" and he strode behind her, grabbed her coat and helped her put it on.

"I'm off then" she said smiling

"Allow me to walk you to the entrance"

"That will hardly be necessary" she said and stumbled

"Oh I think it will" he laughed and held out his arm

"No thank you" she said pointedly

"It's my arm for balance" he said rolling his eyes "I'm hardly making a move on you"

After thinking for a split second she took it and they made their way outside. It was now very cold and the grass was frosted. Their feet crunched under the gravel as they walked slowly towards the gates who upon their appearance started to open slowly. They walked a bit further on and then stopped and face each other.

"Well this was nice" said Hermione in a polite tone "we should do this again"

"We will" said Draco smiling.

"Goodbye then" she said and before she knew it Draco planted a soft kiss upon her cheeks that made them burn red.

"I think" he whispered softly in her ear "one day you are going to fall in love with me"

He grinned at her, the soft smell of Firewhiskey upon his breath and turned on his heel, walking back towards the large empty house. His hands in his pockets, appearing to be humming softly underneath his breath.

Hermione was stood in the cold rooted to the spot again, he cheeks still burning from the kiss Draco had given her. She suddenly regained her senses and told herself she was acting like an absolute idiot before very carefully turning on the spot and heading back home.

As she entered her apartment the sun was beginning to rise and she quickly put on her pyjamas and sunk into her comfortable bed. All the while Draco's last words were echoing in her head.

"I think, one day, you are going to fall in love with me"

"Pompous asshole" she giggled to herself and turned over and fell asleep quickly, replaying the evening she had just spent with Draco Malfoy over in her dreams.

And that's it for another chapter! I know it was a bit slower than some others but I didn't want the story to seem rushed like some other chapters may have! I hope you enjoyed it and that is stayed true to the characters. Again, if I can take a quick moment to ask you to please leave a review telling me what you enjoyed and what you think will happen next, in the next chapters I will get back in the habit of answering the reviews I have received! Also if you like this story please share it far and wide, a simple share means a lot for a writer like me! I am already planning out the next chapter which I hope will be out next week for you all so stay tuned!

All my love, always

Lumos Nox