Hello, readers! So much for me saying I want to finish this fanfic :| I started this fanfic without actually planning how it would go (I like the spontaneity). But since I can't keep my word, I decided to plan the timeline. Now I finally know how this story will end (yay?).

So whoever who is coming back to read this, welcome again. Please bear with me… :D To new readers, welcome and please stay tuned… :)

P.S. I'm writing another HP fanfic at the same time (Closer Towards You) but it is not a Dramione.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that looks familiar to the world of Harry Potter.

Draco wanted to see Hermione badly. When he went down for breakfast, she wasn't there. He went to the library and she wasn't there as well. This was surprising considering the fact that everyone knew how much time Hermione Granger spent cooped up in the library, even falling asleep there occasionally. Later, he found out that she had been there but he had been too late to catch hold of her.

He tried his luck waiting by the Gryffindor common room but there was no sign of her or her friends. A tall boy who finally came out of the common room looking as if he had just rolled out of bed was a little startled to see Draco.

"Why is a Malfoy waiting outside our common room?" he asked.

"Does it really matter what my name is? I'm looking for Hermione Granger or Harry Potter or any Weasley."

"Hmm." The boy edged closer. "You're quite good-looking if we look past your name."

Draco stepped away to put an extra inch of distance between them. "I'm not interested."

"They usually aren't until later." The boy's eyes sparkled. "Were you hoping to catch me?"

"In your dreams!" For some reason, Draco felt immensely offended at the boy's forwardness. He didn't even know his name.

"Oh, they would be pleasant ones." He smirked. "I'm a third-year by the way. I like them a bit older."

Draco groaned and glared at the boy. "For Merlin's sake, could you just tell me if Granger, Potter or any Weasleys are in there?"

The boy looked visibly disappointed. "They're not in." Then he stalked past Draco and disappeared from sight.

-.-.-.-

Draco didn't go down to lunch and instead dined with Blaise in their common room while playing gobstones and catching up on the latest gossip in their circle of family and friends. Not that Draco was a big gossip, but it helped to keep up-to-date with what was happening outside of Hogwarts. After all, many of their mutual friends seemed to have moved onto the next stage of their lives – engagements, jobs, charity and whatever else that was considered appropriate to be involved in.

"What do you plan to do after you get your N.E.W.T.s?" asked Blaise as he lazily tossed a grape into his mouth.

Draco scratched the side of his face thoughtfully. "I don't know, really."

"Surely you have a clue by now."

"What about you, then?"

Blaised grinned. "I'll spend my days squandering away the Zabini fortune, surrounded by daisies and living the high life, my friend."

Draco smirked. "I can imagine that."

"It is an open invitation." Blaise spread his arms out.

"Thanks but no thanks. I can't compete with Hermione if I do something like that."

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Compete? Aren't you two already dating?"

"Don't say that aloud!" Draco waved his hand as if to shush Blaise.

"Still a secret?"

"For now, yes. Can't have it being public knowledge until she tells her little friends."

"Wouldn't that be easier for her if they found out from others? Saves her the trouble of having to explain herself."

"And you think they won't demand an explanation as to why she didn't tell them personally? You know how these Gryffindorks work."

"Luna isn't in Gryffindor."

"Luna isn't the problem. Since when was she 'Luna' to you anyway?"

Blaise didn't say anything except to give a secretive smile.

"No way. Zabini, I would've never pegged you as liking the eccentric type."

"There is a certain quirky charm about her."

"Undeniably. Don't we all enjoy discussing about imaginary creatures?"

"Who's to say that just because you can't see them they don't exist?"

Draco put on a look of mock surprise. "Ooof. That's too deep coming from you!"

Blaise kicked Draco on the shin. "I like her."

"Very well. She's Pureblood anyway."

"I thought you didn't care about that anymore."

"If I did, I wouldn't be dating her."

"Then?"

"I thought you bothered about these things."

Blaise shrugged. "I did at one time. I wouldn't even bother talking to someone like, say, Ginny Weasley, let alone Hermione Granger. But they are the ones who protected us in the end. Well, not directly. Had it not been for them, I have no clue how our world would be right now."

"So this is some sort of gratitude thing, then?"

Blaise wrinkled his nose. "Yes and no. I guess I realised the most powerful wizards and witches don't necessarily have to be Pureblood. Like Professor Snape. Get what I mean?"

Draco nodded. His heart always felt heavy thinking of his former Head of House. No one knew he had been half-blood. Then again, 'Snape' could have been a lesser-known Pureblood family name. If they put names aside, it was undeniable that Professor Snape had been quite powerful for his age; how on earth could one not be powerful if spying against someone like Voldemort?

"Anyway, enough of all this mood-squashing talk." Blaise lifted his goblet and took a big swig of juice. "You still haven't told me. What do you plan to do in the future?"

"I really don't know."

"Auror?"

"And become best buds with Potter? Not that I'm averse to the idea but poor old Weasley would be living in a literal nightmare."

"Ministry, then?"

Draco wrinkled his nose. "I doubt they'd want a Malfoy in their ranks anyway."

"St. Mungo's?"

"Do I look like I would make a good healer?"

"I'm not sure about you, but I know I've got some good bedside manners."

"As do I." Draco smirked.

"Planning to let Hermione experience a bit of that?"

He flushed to the roots of his blonde hair. "I'm not saying anything."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Whatever." Then Draco suddenly sobered. "I had a weird encounter with a third-year Gryffindor. Seemed to lean the other way."

"Ah, you finally met him then."

"You know him?"

"Not intimately, no," said Blaise, sticking out his tongue. "I heard he has great bedside manners."

"I'm fine with practicing my bedside manners on myself."

Blaise let out a hoot of laughter. "You could learn a few tricks and use them on Hermione."

"No and no. I'm quite skilled already, thanks." Draco felt a warmth creeping up his neck at the thought of doing something intimate with Hermione.

"And here I thought you had some big secret to share." He shook his head and popped more grapes into his mouth. "Boring."

"My apologies for disappointing your overactive imagination." Draco nibbled on some pudding.

Blaise shook his head in amusement. "Back to our original topic. How about Hogwarts? I could see that happening."

"What about Hogwarts?"

"Teaching as a professor, of course, you dimwit! Throw Hermione out of your dirty little blonde head for a second, won't you? I know what you're thinking of by the way your tongue is working on the spoon."

"I was not thinking about her!" Draco dumped the spoon into his pudding and blushed. "What would I teach? I'm good at everything anyway."

"Full of yourself as usual. How about Potions? Or Divination?"

"Not sure about Divination but yeah, the others could be worth considering."

For once, Draco had to admit that Blaise had given a good suggestion. Teaching at Hogwarts could be a viable option if he wanted to avoid the public eye. It would still be a respectable job and, in his own way, he could pay a quiet homage to his former Head of House.

"You owe me one then. I'll be expecting you to spend every last knut of your first paycheck on the great me." Blaise winked conspiratorially.

"Bastard."