"Ron! Be careful, you might drop it!" Hermione quickly turned her head towards Ginny's frantic yelling, her brown bushy hair slightly blocking her view. As she pulled her hair away from her face, she saw a pink-faced Ron Weasley place a gravy boat onto a nearby shelf. "Really Ronald, can we not take you anywhere without you being a hazard?"

A smiling Harry joined his fiancé, pecked her on the cheek and said, "Must run in the family then, mustn't it?"

It had been five years since the battle of Hogwarts during their seventh year. After the war, Professor McGonnagal took the Headmistress position and request that all students who were supposed to be graduating return for another year to complete their studies and receive their N.E.W.T.S. It was only last year, however, when Harry proposed to his girlfriend of four years, Ginny, who obviously said yes. Their upcoming marriage is really why Ron almost dropped the porcelain; they were shopping for household items to complete Harry and Ginny's new house.

"I don't see why I have to be here anyway, it's not like I'm going to care what type of plate I'm using. I just want food on it", said Ron with an obvious hint of annoyance in his tone.

Ginny just gave a roll of her eyes and said, "It's not like I wanted you here either, dummy. I only wanted Hermione to come with Harry and I because I needed another woman's opinion. You insisted on coming because you didn't want to be left out."

Ron's face quickly turned a brighter shade of pink, but it disappeared as fast as it arrived. "Not only that. Hermione is my girlfriend, and I was planning on spending time with her before you made her come on this boring excursion."

"Both of you stop it," Hermione cut in before Ginny could retort. "You two have been at it since the drive here. I honestly think we're all done here because you have more than enough porcelain in the buggy. Let's all go now so we can have dinner and quit this arguing." No one else said a word as Hermione led the way to check-out booth.

After everything was paid for, they headed for a restaurant across the street. While they were sitting at the corner booth, Hermione looked a few tables to her left and spotted a familiar black-haired girl with an unfamiliar brown-haired boy. The other three followed her line of gaze and soon they were all wondering who the boy was.

Harry was the first to break their thoughts. "I thought Pansy Parkinson was with Malfoy after the war. They seemed pretty comfortable with each other during our make-up year."

"I guess not anymore," Ginny said. "Who do you reckon that is?"

Hermione saw Ron open his mouth to say something when a waitress arrived at the booth and asked for their beverage order. They each ordered a glass of water and got back to the matter at hand. Just then, another familiar figure walked in - this time a blonde.

There was so much fury and anger radiating off of him you could roast a marshmallow. His eyebrows met in the middle of his forehad and his nose was scrunched in disgust. His hands were clenched so tightly that the knuckles were white, and he took long strides as he marched over to Pansy's table, gaining looks from other customers.

Hermione noticed something balled up in his left hand but she couldn't figure out what it was. It wasn't until he dropped the object in Pansy Parkinson's soup bowl did Hermione realize that it was a letter, now wrinkled from his strong grip and wet from Pansy's soup.

"Draco, I-," she began. She stood up to face him properly, but she looked to the floor in fear.

Draco raised a hand to interrupt her and she flinched thinking he would hit her. Instead, he curled up four of his fingers and was pointing at her with his index finger. "I don't want to hear it. You were always telling me you were brave enough to do anything but you're a coward. Did you really think that breaking up with me through a letter would make things okay? Grow up and tell me to my face! Do I not deserve that? Do I not deserve some respect? And now I find you not 1 hour after you sent that letter as you're with him again!" He lowered his hands so that his fingertips were resting on the tablecloth. "You will regret this, Parkinson. Mark. My. Words."

He reached for the water pitcher and dumped its contents onto the brown-haired boy's lap faster than Hermione could blink. And with that, Draco Malfoy stormed out, purposely knocking over tables and some more glassware along the way.

Pansy stood there crying until her date stood up to comfort her. She swatted his sympathetic hands away and ran out of the restaurant. As the now soaked man walked out the door to follow her, Hermione finally realized something.

"Blimey. He still has that same temper from all those years ago. You would think he'd use a few years to get rid of it." Ron's voice broke her out of her thoughts.

It was quiet until Hermione cleared her throat and spoke up.

"You know, I was talking to Pavarti the other day over coffee, and she said that Pansy and Draco have gone on and off since we graduated," she said. "She said she saw Pansy with a some guy every few weeks when she went to central muggle London. I guess that was him."

"Do you reckon they've been seeing each other while she was with Malfoy? He did seen more upset than he would be with a regular break up. Maybe there was something else going on." Ginny added. She did have a good point, but before anyone could say something about it the waitress came with their water. They then ordered their main courses and continued talking.

However they didn't bring up the incident that just happened, they began to talk about quidditch and Hermione slowly excluded herself from the conversation as it didn't interest her. She turned her head to the right and used her hair as a sort of curtain to block herself from Harry, Ron and Ginny while she looked through the window.

It was the middle of February and snow was slowly drifting down from the sky. Hermione found that she had to slightly squint her eyes to see past the bright light that the snow was giving off. As men, women and children, all bundled up in their winter coats walked by, Hermione swore she heard the delicate crunch of snow through the slightly ajar window.

She looked across the street and saw a bookstore. Her eyes widened at the sight. Not at the mass amounts of books, but at the man who walked towards it.

She noticed that Draco didn't look as mad as he did when he stormed into the restaurant. In fact, his face seemed to be growing with content with every step closer to the shop. His hands were hanging lazily at his sides as they swung back and forth with each pace. The faintest of smiles slowly crept upon his face as he disappeared into the pile of books.