Chapter 2

Draco paced his capacious room with anxiety. He strode to the window and flung open the heavy, sable drapes. He rested his chin in his hand as his eyes roved across the sky, their aquiline gaze failing to change the clouds to grey or cause the sky to darken although from the look of them it seemed as if they held that power.

Draco had sent an owl to Hermione requesting she meet him at his paternal grandfather's house. Draco's own father, Lucius, refused to talk about his father, Will, who was a squib and much the nicer for that it appeared. Draco was glad that Grandfather Will had been so immensely pleased at him having a mudbl- no, muggle-born girl as a friend. He had been so pleased, in fact, that he had offered the small cottage where he lived as a meeting place for the two of them. It was one of the things Draco was grateful to his grandfather for. Hermione and he had to put up with Will's ribald jokes about them as a couple, but apart from blushing with embarrassment every once in a while it was a perfect spot. Hermione did not have to meet his family and he did not have to meet with hers. Although Hermione's parents would be happy to meet him, the abhorrence of muggles that had been drilled into him from birth still existed as a slight aversion. Hermione was doing her best to erase this dislike from his make-up.

Suddenly, his pensive mood turned into one of elation as he saw Hermione's tawny owl, Circe, soar towards him across the virtually cloudless sky. As the owl landed on the windowsill Draco grabbed for the piece of parchment tied to her leg with alacrity. Circe hooted in fear and took a step back from the pair of grasping hands.

"Shhh... Circe, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to know what Hermione has to say." When the owl continued to look at him mistrustfully he quickly reached for some owl treats that were on his bedside table. Draco held out his hand to the nocturnal bird and Circe shuffled closer and grudgingly accepted a treat from Draco's left hand allowing Draco to remove the parchment from her leg. Draco unrolled the paper and read:

Draco,

I would love to meet you at Will's house on Thursday. I haven't seen you in more than a week and, as much as I miss you, I find the lack of new swear words to use (issued from your grandfather's mouth) even more depressing – joking, I SWEAR – no pun intended.

Love, Hermione

Love? Draco's heart beat quickened but he quickly suppressed it. She loved him as a friend and he loved her back in exactly the same way. The fact that her beautiful smile made him want to smile, her perfume made him light-headed in a good way, and that he often wanted to continue staring into her starlit eyes long after she had broken eye-contact were not thoughts he wanted to think about at the moment.

(A/N Second chapter's up. please read and review. let me know what you think. any thoughts are welcome. tell me the good, the bad and the ugly. Love Sierra)