Chapter 3

By magic or miracle, Daphne Greengrass left Hermione's flat at half past five in one piece. Even more than unscathed, she was pleased as punch with her artful masterpiece that was her friend. Hermione's nerves had settled and she wondered if her annoyance at the other woman's remarks didn't counteract the other nerves she had about the other blonde that was set to arrive at her doorstep today. They had settled on a navy blue strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline that stopped just before the knee and draped around her body as though it were made for her. The beauty of charms. Her jewelry was understated and simple, a strand of pearls across her neck and simple drop earrings to match. Her hair was twisted up into an updo and she suddenly felt her neck and shoulders bare and as a whole overly vulnerable and exposed.

"Don't you dare change after I leave, Granger. This is perfect and you don't fuck with perfection." She could almost here the echo of Daphne's parting words as she exited the floo before she could hear Hermione's one word rebuttal of "Language." She grabbed and put on the tea length slate coat that would cut the spring chill as they traveled from her flat to their destination. It also provided an extra layer to shield herself from Malfoy's gaze upon his arrival. Maybe he would refrain from insulting her by the time they checked her coat since they would be in public surrounded by people. At fifteen until six there was a knock at the door. She gave her flat one last sweep of a glance, picked up her clutch that held her wand and answered the door.

Draco Malfoy wasn't sure what he was expecting when he arrived at Granger's doorstep, but this wasn't it. There was already a beauty she had grown into over the years that he already couldn't argue. He saw it the night she came to his aid just as much he saw it in the days of the war. She had an understated beauty that didn't make a grand ordeal of itself, but in this moment she was flawlessly breathtaking. It was almost as if he was seeing her with fresh eyes all over again but it was at the same time a face that had already burned itself into his memory a million times over. Somehow something clicked internally as if remembering for the first time that she took his breath away all along and he had forgotten. He kept his voice steady as he pivoted his bent elbow in her direction as if in question, "Ready to go?"

She offered him a soft smile as she locked and warded her flat and eyed him nervously as she looped her arm in his as they went on their way to their date. It may have hit them both at the same moment what this really was and how it may have differed in their minds initially what this was when they agreed to it nearly a week ago. Right now at this moment, however, they were both dressed to the nines and painfully aware of exactly what this was as the parts in which they were linked arm and arm were lit up in sparks and goose pimples. This was a date and this was the start of something that would probably be hard to turn back from. Draco noticed the familiar feeling in his stomach, this was trouble as much as it was temptation. Hermione may not have seen things from this point of view and he knew that. This may have not been anything more than pleasantries and need for company. He would have to temper his expectations. Just because his feelings were starting to grow in a direction he was not expecting, didn't mean she was sharing in that experience. Then why was she still holding tightly to his arm as their feet moved them step after step closer to the apparition point that would bring them closer to the London Opera House?

"Thank you for accompanying me tonight, Malfoy. I really appreciate it." Her voice cut through the crisp spring air and his racing thoughts about the way she looked paired with her proximity to him made him feel. It brought him back to the present and he put a trademark smirk upon his face as he cocked his head to an angle to look at her.

"Ah. We're back to Malfoy, are we? I thought we made some progress through our written correspondence, Hermione." She laughed in response.

"Thank you, Draco." His name was accentuated with her tone as well as the roll of her eyes as they both laughed in response. That seemed to do the trick to cut the tension enough to address there was tension in the first place.

" This is weird, right? It's not just me? I mean, we haven't seen each other in years and just a week after seeing you get hurt in Diagon Alley we're heading to the ballet on a date? For all intents and purposes this is a date. This looks like a date." Her eyes darted around the room either looking for something or avoiding his gaze, as she lowered her voice and continued in a curiously concerned whisper. "Is this a date?" She cringed as her face scrunched up in question looking up to gaze at him. He responded in jest with a laugh.

"You tell me, Granger. This was all your idea. Who was I to turn down such an offer?" He held his hands up in mock protest as he raised his eyebrow at her and in doing so casually released her arm from the crook of his elbow. She stiffened her posture at his teasing and narrowed her eyes to scowl at him, but a small hint of a smile remained on her lips as well as her eyes.

"I told you what this was. I had tickets. I was offering it in kindness. I would have happily attended alone, and still can." She crossed her arms in front of herself in defiance. Draco tried to contain his amusement at how adorable he currently found her.

"Well, I'm already out. We're already out together. In fact we're almost there. There's no need to get hasty." He smiled at her as her hard exterior began to melt a degree. "Besides, I was just answering your question by offering that you were in fact the better person to answer it than I, as this was your idea. It wasn't a complaint, just pointing out the facts. I thought you liked those or am I misremembering? It has been a while since Hogwarts."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Hilarious. You can do so much better than that. Me being a swotty know-it-all is a tired punchline." He offered her a soft smile and nodded his head in agreement as he put his hands up in mock surrender. The tension eased and they stepped closer to the theater with an easy comfort as they laughed together. As they arrived at their destination Hermione turned to him to ask, "Can we just agree this is mutual attendance by old acquaintances turned potential friends, rather than a date?" He responded with a nod. "I won't object to that."

Hermione felt a relief settle the butterflies that fluttered in her abdomen at that. The idea of a date with the man in front of her didn't sound entirely abhorrent but knowing this wasn't that just yet, especially after Daphne's unsolicited and unwarranted comments today, helped her feel less pressure around the evening. She had been looking forward to these tickets for nearly a year. She had always wanted to attend the ballet so when she heard they were performing Cinderella she bought tickets the day they were available. The urgency was partially because she had worn out every copy of the fairy tale she ever owned as a child. The other reason was they were purchased as a last ditch effort to save her relationship with Ron. Deep down she had already felt that the love for him had left her heart, if it was ever really there to begin with. Testing the theory that he would go outside his comfort zone and attending a muggle ballet for her would help convince herself that there was still romance and love between them. In the end she never got the opportunity to even test the theory because they had yet another one of their fights where he stormed off back to the burrow or to Harry's. She wasn't sure. The one thing she was sure of is that she didn't much feel like chasing after him this time, so she didn't. When a week went by and he showed up at her flat to ask why she hadn't tried to find him to make up or convince him he was wrong, her only response was that if he wanted to leave she didn't disagree that he should. After that, it was amicable and they quickly shifted back into the easy rhythm of friendship, though Hermione often questioned that if it wasn't for Harry if it would have played out that way. Sharing a best friend adds a simplicity as well as a complication to the fact that they tried to make it work and couldn't. So it was just as well. She had looked forward to this for a long time and when she imagined sharing this evening with Ronald in any form of their varying degrees of relationship she knew that it wouldn't have been an enjoyable time for her. It's really hard to enjoy the arts with loud sighs and grunts of boredom in your left ear. She would have been fine to attend solo but she was curious how Draco would be as company for such a thing. She studied him like a parchment before a test. Hermione expected him to seem uneasy in the company of so many muggles but then she remembered him mentioning that he had spent most of his time post war in muggle cities. It was one thing to hear him say it, it was another to observe it. He caught her eye and raised an eyebrow in question. "What?" She shook her head in embarrassed response. " I guess I didn't expect you to fit in so seamlessly with the muggle London elite." As he narrowed his eyes in defiance. "Muggle or magic I am born and bred London elite. I fit just fine. Don't worry your pretty little head about that for one more moment." By his tone she almost expected him to tussle her hair like an older brother might and was grateful he didn't. Not only to spare her hair but what he said and how he said it had her looking at him in a way she neither expected nor knew what to do with.

They passed the time with conversation. She talked about her work with the ministry and was surprised at his curiosity as he asked questions about the details of her work and looked genuinely interested as she answered, even when she got carried away and lost track of time within her words and recollection of the topic. She asked him about his time in Paris as well as what his life was like these days and was intrigued by projects he was currently working on with potions and how he was using muggle science research to influence his studies. It was time to find their seats, wine in hand, before they knew it. To her surprise, Hermione found herself feeling disappointment that the conversation had to pause for the show. She tried to file away all the pressing follow up questions she had for him for the walk home. After they had found their seats and the house lights went down she found herself looking at him in her peripheral vision. She felt herself being drawn to him and realizing she felt that pull as early as last week. Then it was concern and worry whereas now it was intrigue and curiosity. He wasn't who she expected nor who she remembered and she read his face like a page from a book. He was a book she wanted to read and that was a thought and feeling she was not expecting when he arrived at her doorstep tonight. As the music began to build and the dancers appeared on the stage, her eyes and focus stayed forward towards the spectacle of that, yet she still could sense his intake of breath next to her at the same moment the dance caught her breath too. The beauty and splendor of it transported her and moved her to her core. When she glanced at Draco she saw the wonder on his face as well and that moved her further. She almost wanted to reach out and touch him which was almost laughable how much she surprised herself at that thought. This was not a date. She had made that clear. He seemed impartial to the idea. Did that mean he saw this as a date before she turned her nose up at the idea? The butterflies were back in her torso again and this time they were relentless. As the show ended and they rose to their feet in applause as the house lights came back on she turned to him with tears still in her eyes from the performance but noticed a spark and sheen to his eyes as well. He smiled at her and she saw him in a way she never had noticed before. There was a sharp handsomeness to him as well as a soft intrigue she couldn't quite put her finger on. Was this the same Draco Malfoy she compared to a ferret in her youth? The analogy didn't seem to fit and she struggled to remember when it could have. He spoke first. "So, what did you think. Everything you thought it would be?"

"More than I expected. It was spectacular."

"I can't argue. It was beautiful. Ready to go? May I walk you home?" She simply nodded before he continued. "Now while we head back I already know you had a million more questions about the alchemy behind the potions and the studies I found out of Oxford. You can ask me as many questions as you want from now until your doorstep… or we can dissect your every thought from that performance. It can't be both. Merlin knows there wouldn't be enough time for all that, so you have to make a choice." He made a face at her that told her he was still teasing her but she didn't care there was a bounce to her heels at the idea of intellectual discourse after a beautiful night taking in the arts. She scrunched her face up in thought and amusement. "Questions. I choose questions." When he extended her elbow for her to grab, she took it with zero hesitation and began her inquiry that in fact continued until she arrived back home. He took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "I know this wasn't a date but I'm a gentleman and I'm grateful you invited me." She found herself stumbling over her words internally and settled on "Thank you, Draco." He smiled and turned to walk away towards the chill of the London night.

She watched as he faded into the distance and as she entered her flat she looked down at her hand on the door as she closed it. The hand where he placed his lips as either a show of chivalry or tradition, she didn't know. What she did know is that she hadn't felt every nerve in the back of her hand until now.