June 2010 - Present Day

The lunch Blaise had bought them seemed adequate enough, the ploughman's speciality filling a hole that had began to fester about an hour ago, when her stomach started to groan at her for not stopping to think about food until 2.30pm.

Work usually consisted of her signing paperwork, telling Blaise what a tosser he was for not doing his fair share, and then chowing down on a meal that he presented her with and a black coffee half way through the day, which put her in a much better mood and able to tolerate his lazy, laidback behaviour.

And as soon as lunchtime struck, there was the inevitable the appearance of Malfoy and his shadow Theodore, to add into the mix during dinner.

Without fail, the two men had spent every mealtime for the last three years inside hers and Blaise's office. It had happened completely by chance the first time but had become a routine part of their days ever since.

It had annoyed her to no end at first. The constant bickering and raucous behaviour of the three men. At one point she almost banned them all to the corridor outside of the office until they promised under duress not to piss her off anymore while she ate her meals. She felt like a mother hen at first, but now… well… now she spent half of her time in their presence avoiding eye contact and trying not to blush.

Theodore and Blaise were not the problem. Theodore and Blaise were two harmless fools who had really taken a part of her heart in their own little ways. No, the problem in question was currently leaning against the doorframe of her shared office, practically filling the space.

Draco Malfoy was a surprise, to say the least.

The last decade had been a whirlwind of breaking boundaries and forging friendships between a group of people that Hermione had never thought possible.

Malfoy had always been the one least susceptible to the change, but over the years his hard exterior had appeared to wane slightly, giving way to new friendships and experiences.

That did not mean that he was not still a git.

Because he was.

At times, he was infuriating and moody and downright unfathomable. But over time Hermione had come to realise that this was just Draco Malfoy and the way he communicated with people. It was nothing entirely personal, he was just not very good in social situations.

She had once blamed it on his upbringing and his parents, but she had nothing to blame his roguish personality on anymore, because his parents had become a large part of her life over the last six or so years and she now saw a majorly different side to them.

Hermione shook her head out of her thoughts and took a bite of her sandwich as she sensed Malfoy and Theodore entering the room and going about settling down to eat their own meals.

She happened to chance a glance over at Draco as he sat down on the couch opposite her, trying with all her might not to notice the way his trousers fitted so perfectly to his frame as he took his seat. He always wore stylish, tailored pants and waistcoats to the office. His hair was almost immaculate with his short back and sides and slight blonde quiff that swept to one side.

Everyone noticed.

Well, every woman within the vicinity noticed.

Not that Hermione cared.

There was absolutely nothing to care about because Draco Malfoy was still an annoying shit at times and he surely knew how attractive he was.

How tall, lean and broad and almost daunting he was to be around, especially when he was in a mood. It was hard to read him most days and women found the mysterious personality that he shrouded himself with rather attractive.

And oh shit, he had caught her staring for that fraction of a second she had looked in his direction.

He said nothing.

His facial expression gave absolutely nothing away.

It never did.

He just stared back at her for a second or two in silence, before returning his gaze back to Theodore who was bleating on about an illegal operation in the outskirts of Buckinghamshire that he and Draco would have to go off and investigate.

"-It's a waste of our time going all the way out there, Draco." Theo moaned into his bowl of soup. "I don't fancy the overnight stay either, they want to put us up in a BB."

Hermione scoffed. "What on Earth is wrong with a BB?"

It was a question that she ultimately wished she had not asked. Theodore then went on to moan about the customs of Muggle BB's and how his lifestyle was not equipped to deal with thin walls and bedsheets that looked like they had been made from his Grandmother's night dresses for a whole twenty minutes.

Theodore Nott just loved the sound of his own voice.

Seeming to finally have had enough of the topic of conversation, Blaise promptly changed the subject. "Looking forward to your date later, Granger?" He asked with a coy lift of his eyebrows.

Theo looked around at her so quickly she feared that she might have whiplash.

Malfoy took a different approach completely, sitting right back into the couch and throwing his arm over the back of it while giving her an inquisitive look.

"Whose the unlucky fella, then?" The blonde asked her with a grin. God, he was fucking insufferable at times.

"None of your business, you arse." She told him pointedly, before ignoring him and taking another bite of her sandwich. "I never ask you about your latest conquests."

"That's because Mr Lonely over there doesn't have any," Theo chimed in with a shit-eating grin. "He puts them off with his piss-poor sense of humour and lack of riveting conversation."

"It's David from HR." Blaise suddenly announced, much to her dismay.

She did not think Malfoy's eyebrows could shoot any higher up his forehead at the admission, a massive grin spreading across his face.

"Finally gave in to his advances, did you?" Oh, he was going to bate her, she could already sense it.

"I set it up." Theodore told Malfoy proudly. "I think they'd make a decent couple, to be honest. Didn't think he'd ask you out so soon though, he's a shy one, is old Davey boy."

Draco started to laugh in earnest. "Theodore, you've set both me and Granger up on so many bad dates over the last few years that I'm starting to think there's some sort of personal vendetta that you have against us."

Now this was true.

Theo had been the middle man to so many of her blind dates since her break up with Viktor. She had been thankful for it at the time; she needed something fun.

But it had been a few years since her and Viktor had broken up now, she did not need the excitement to stop her thinking about her ex like she used to. Now she only went along with his little blind dates out of politeness, not wanting to seem rude or ungrateful. And all of those dates had ended in some sort of minor disaster.

From there just being no spark, to one particular date thinking it was acceptable to try and sleep with her before they had even made it to dinner. As matchmaking went, Theodore was not taking over cupid's job anytime soon.

"Besides," Malfoy continued. "I'm sure that once Granger cottons on to the mans balding spot on the top of his head and slight tinge of his on-set gingivitis, she'll want to run a bloody mile."

Why did he always have to try and spoil everything?

This was the exact reason that many of her blind dates were never mentioned around him – he always had something to say. Always had to try and find a way to put her off.

Well, there would be none of that this time.

Gingivitis or not.

"Well, I always appreciate the effort that Theodore puts in." she told Draco with a pointed look. "He's a good friend."

The blonde man huffed slightly and then went silent. And she didn't know why, but she seemed to get the distinct impression that Draco Malfoy was less than impressed with the idea of her going out with David from HR but could not quite put her finger on why that was, or why it seemed to bother him.

"Did you see the way she looked at him?" Theo sounded panic stricken. Blaise sighed in annoyance, copying the last of his files for the evening in the copying room on the fifth floor.

Theo had followed him, of course.

It seemed that his neurotic tendencies were once again back with a vengeance.

"Mate, all I saw was two people arguing the toss about whether you were a dickhead with absolutely no talent for setting up blind dates or not." Blaise told him with a sharp tone.

"You're doing my fucking head in with all this-"

"He's thirty tomorrow, Blaise!" His hands were in his hair again, pulling at it dramatically. "I'm telling you, there's something there – he goads her too much-"

"-he goads everyone-"

"-He gives her small smiles when she's not looking, Blaise." Theo took hold of Blaise's shoulders and shook the man to emphasize his point. "Small smiles!"

"- Must be wind-" Theo gave his friend a disgruntled look.

"You and I both know he's a miserable bastard around ninety six percent of the time! Those smiles are a sign!" Blaise looked from Theo's face and down to where the man was still holding him by his shoulders.

"Get a grip of yourself mate," he shook himself out of Theo's hold. "You're working yourself up about this whole thing far too much. Screw your head back on."

He caught Theo now biting his thumbnail, deep in thought. "Hermione's on her date tonight, isn't she?"

"As far as I know," He sniffed nonchalantly and concentrated back on the files he was photocopying.

"And Draco? Where will he be? At home?" It was almost as if he was talking to himself, sounding like a crazed lunatic.

Blaise only shrugged. He could only assume that Draco would be in his house, considering he never went anywhere else unless he was with their little friendship circle.

"Right." Blaise glanced at Theo, watching him straighten himself up and attempt to push his wavy hair back out of his face. "I'm going to invite myself round for tea."

And then he was gone, leaving Blaise shaking his head in utter contempt.

For a clever bloke, Theodore Nott really did spend a lot of time worrying about the plights of other people. Sure, over the years Blaise had considered that some things were just a little too coincidental to not be the work of some childhood potion gone wrong. But that was taking suspicious over practicality, and that would not do at all.

No.

Nothing that he had read in that book had the slightest bit of solid ground in terms of something wayward eventually happening once Draco turned thirty. Nothing at all –

Nothing? Not even the bit about resistance and the fact that only creating a bond of Marriage would sate the primal-

No.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

It was not something to ever dwell on or think about, because it was not going to happen. He had always been shocking in Potions class, which meant that there was no chance of the potion back then working in any way, shape or form.

Nope.

Never.

God love Theodore Nott for trying.

David from HR was shy, sweet, compassionate and a great conversationalist. He held her attention and made her laugh with his dry, witty banter as they ate their way through three whole courses and sank a bottle of white wine between them.

It was just a pity that Hermione was unable to see past the balding spot or the clear tell-tale signs of a receding gumline when he laughed. Draco Malfoy was an arsehole.

A complete and utter arsehole.

Halfway through their meal, these two facts were all she could think about. And all the while, all she could imagine was a smug grin attached to a blonde-haired man, looking absolutely thrilled about the fact that he was right, yet again. She would kill him. And kill him even more for making her think about his smug face while she was on a date with another man.

Talk about killing the mood.

The bill was paid, goodnights were said and Hermione managed to evade a kiss by politely telling David that she had to get an early night to get into work early to sift through the many piles of paperwork that she would have to work on – this was sadly not a lie.

Checking her watch, she had not realised how late she had stayed out chatting with David. It was almost midnight and she knew she would have to be up and into the office for at least 7am.

There really was no rest for the wicked.

11.57pm

"Theodore," Draco said in exasperation, one arm over his face as he lay on the couch. "I told you I'm not interested in staying up until midnight." He rolled over onto his side. "I just want you to piss off so I can go to bed."

Theo however, could seemingly not be deterred. "But it's a special day!" He said enthusiastically, waving his hands about as he stood looming over Draco's form. "You need to stay up and see in the first few minutes of the start of your next decade!"

Draco nearly growled at him. "I swear, if you carry on you won't live to see your next decade."

"Oh, don't be such a sour-puss!" He seemed to check his watch. "Three minutes left of your twenties! Should we get a beer? Celebrate?"

"How about a sedative?" Draco asked groggily, arm now away from his face to look up at his friend. "Or maybe slip yourself one?"

Theo glared down at him. "The shit I get off you for trying to be a good friend."

"Good friends let other friends go to bed and give them personal space." Draco mumbled.

"Do they?" Theo smirked casually. "I wasn't aware." He checked his watch again. "Two minutes!"

"You're like an over excited Labrador." He could feel himself being taken under by sleep. "You're only missing the tail."

"The tail I only use at weekends, mate." Theo bit back, oddly only getting edgier as the minutes ticked by. "One minute!"

"What are you hoping to achieve by staying here until midnight?" Draco asked him, lifting his head from the couch cushion and rubbing his eyes. "Apart from annoying the fuck out of me and making me want to curse your bollocks off?"

"Nothing new there, to be fair." Theo replied with a shrug.

And then Draco heard the chime of the clock on his mantelpiece.

Thanking fuck for that, he finally pulled himself up from the couch and stood opposite Theo, now a whole head higher than him.

"Right, you got what you wanted." His voice was deadpan. "Now piss off home and let me sleep."

"How do you feel?" Theo asked testingly, his eyes flitting over every part of Draco's face.

"Like punching you full on in the nose if you don't stop asking me more stupid pissing questions." Came his sincerely reply.

Theo beamed. "Oh, marvellous!" he seemed awfully satisfied by something.

"Well then – Happy Birthday, mate!"

Draco could only shake his head and make his way to the living room door. "See yourself out, you fucking lunatic."

But there was a creaking noise behind him, like the couch had been occupied.

Draco raised a tired eyebrow at the man now taking up space in the spot that he had been in not a few moments ago.

"Didn't leave my grate open." Theo told him with a shrug and turning the lamp off on the stand next to the arm of the couch.

Draco took a deep breath.

"Un-fucking-believable…"

12.30am

She had tossed and turned since she had returned from her date, but there was no chance of getting to sleep. She felt riled. There was no proper way of explaining it, but something just seemed slightly… off.

Something was niggling inside of her. Usually, it was work or her incessant need to feel like she should be doing or thinking something.

But this was different. It was like she was missing something – it was a very odd feeling.

The Summer sun had almost started to rise before she eventually found her way to sleep, and before she finally fell away, she knew that she would be in for a shocker of a day tomorrow.

Something in her bones had been telling her.

She was right, of course.

She had never felt so tired or out of sorts.

The coffee had not woken her up and she was sure that she looked like some sort of crazy bird lady with the nest of curls piled up on her head.

She had not had time this morning to matter about her appearance, so her dishevelled state would have to do.

Walking the corridor to her shared Office, she heard a few chorus' of 'Happy Birthday' being banded about by different people further up.

A fleeting memory told her that the only person she knew currently having a birthday was Draco Malfoy, so he must have been walking down the corridor towards her.

And then there he was, the small crowd of people separating as he walked on the opposite side of her, just ahead. She squinted at him through tired eyes and noticed that his usually neat and pristine attire looked anything but. He looked tired. Very tired. Almost as tired as she felt.

Mere steps away from her now, she looked up at him, intent on saying Happy Birthday, like everyone else had done.

And that was when the tingles started. Right there, at the back of her neck, making the hairs stand on end as she made eye contact with him. Her breath caught at the sensation and her eyes widened slightly, being totally taken away by the sudden feeling.

When they got shoulder to shoulder, that was when the smell of his aftershave hit her.

It was subtle, but Dear God, did it smell amazing. It almost took her breath away, leaving her feeling like she was having an outer body experience.

Shit.

She had to say something, but found her mouth suddenly dry.

"H-Happy Birthday, Malfoy." She managed to stutter out.

Stutter? In front of Draco Malfoy? What the bloody hell was that all about? She never stuttered over anything, least of all him.

A small brush of the shoulder as they walked past one another.

The tiniest increment. It was like his eyes were shining at her. They had always been a beautiful mixture of blues, greens, and greys. It made her pulse quicken, for reasons completely unfathomable to her.

"Thanks, Granger." He replied to her in a Low tone. One that she had never heard him use before when he said her name. "I'll see you later."

And then the slight physical contact and his eyes were gone as he rounded the corner away from her, and she felt her senses returning ten-fold.

She felt like she could breathe again.

Until that missing, empty feeling started ebbing away slowly at her again, at least.