A/N: Ok, I know that people read this. It's too good NOT to read. Heehee, so please review for me? Y'all make me insecure! Thanks to the two that have already!

((The first one to guess what goes here gets the computer equivalent to a cookie. And not the internet kind, either!))

Chapter 5

Grandest Longings

The grand opening wasn't as flashy as most others of its kind. Nor did I offer any special treatment to the "first one hundred people in the store." I simply waited for my first customer patiently. I sat behind my desk in the back, book in hand. A little bell over the door rang whenever anyone would enter the store so I would be ready. It was almost mid-day before I heard that damned bell.

Surprised and a little apprehensive, I stood up to greet the visitor to my shop. A welcome died on my lips as quickly as it had arrived. Hermione was standing in the doorway, looking around. But, instead of the look of disdain I would expect from her, all I saw was wonderment. Her shoes clicked lightly on the new wooden floor and the lights, enchanted to be different colors, faded into one another. I gave her a light smile to hide my feeling of . . . whatever it was.

"Draco, this is better than I imagined." I turned hard, defensive. Perhaps it was instinct, perhaps it was now habit.

"So you imagined it would be a rundown old shack, run by a rundown little boy?" I spat, my smile freezing as I sat back down hard. Her eyes narrowed. She didn't turn in fear at my tantrums any longer.

"No, Draco. I didn't mean it like that. And you know it." There was an edge to her voice that I couldn't help but back away from. I know now that she was every bit as surprised at my words as I had expected her to be. The difference was, she knew how to hide her emotions as well as I could.

I looked down, nodding.

"Yes, I know. It's just that," I laughed humorlessly, "you're my first customer that I've had all day." A genuine grin touched her lips and she stepped closer to the desk that I had retreated behind.

"Give it time, Draco. Everything needs time." Her words were soft now, as she realized that I was opening up – even just a little. I bit my lip, thinking. Her advice didn't seem to be applying to just my shop. There was something that I couldn't place in her tone, some sort of hidden meaning there. I shook my head. Women . . .

"Time, Hermione, is all that I have now," I replied after a tense moment. She nodded, hearing something in my answer that I didn't know I had added. But, in hindsight, I realize that I had put something there. A little inflection of my voice that may have made the whole difference. The woman in front of me stood up straight, turned on her heel and walked out of the door. In her wake, I felt only a longing that I could not explain. A hole in what I thought could be complete again.