FYI: This chapter really doesn't need to be here, but bear with me, I have a bad case of writer's block…

"I cannot believe this! And here I thought you and I were close and personal friends Hermione Granger!"

Hermione wanted to bang her head on the table in her office. As soon as she and Draco returned to the party hand in hand, it seemed like a hundred muggle mobile phones were taken out, as well as holograph devices. They were the talk of the party….the weekend….the whole week. Hermione almost cursed herself. She received several owls and messages from schoolmates from Hogwart's, Auror Training Academy, Donatella, her mother, the Daily Prophet, Professor McGonegall expressing her shock, Dumbledore expressing his admiration of their new-found sense of forgiveness, and various other letters.

The latest face to pop into her office was none other than Parvati Patil, bride-to-be and gossip queen of all England. Parvati literally ran into the office and shut the door.

"I have to know everything! Well, I did see you two last Saturday looking a bit…cozy? But I heard from Seamus, who heard from Carl, who heard from Lisa, who heard from Kim, who heard from Dean that as soon as the last people left Stoneybrooke Manor last weekend, you two were at it like dogs in heat!"

"That," Hermione said as she stood up and walked to her filing cabinet, "Is a disgusting picture. I am barely dating the guy, and now I'm on him like a dog in heat? And if we were the last one's at the manor, who in the world witnessed all this? There were charms on all the windows so the paparazzi couldn't get in any candid shots of all my drunk and lascivious guests!"

"Oh." Parvati leaned back and took of her kid gloves. "Well, you know, people have their sources. I would talk to the people you hired to work the party, they might have waggy little tongues. They could have been on their mobile as soon as you two disappeared upstairs, which, by the way, I heard he had you pinned up against the wall on the stairway just ravishing you in front of the people cleaning up!"

Hermione turned beet red at the thought of Draco ravishing her. Since they decided to try to make some type of relationship work, she really barely saw him since Saturday, and it was Wednesday. "Look, Parv, it was really lovely to see you as always, but please, set the record straight, there was no ravishing, no naughtiness, no nothing! So please, I have an appointment in twenty minutes that I need to prepare for."

Parvati picked up her purse and pulled out the small white gloves she wore with her suit. "Well, just to get some business in, the dresses are divine. My dress is going to be a dream to wear. I sent the invites out today, so check your post! And I do hope you and Draco are still an item then, it'll make for such great talk, right?"

"Right, I'm glad the dresses work. Now, I'll ring you up sometime and we'll meet properly."

Parvati leaned in and kissed Hermione on both cheeks and gave a jaunty wave before leaving her office. Hermione sat back down at her desk, her forehead resting on the stack of files in front of her. Moving her head a bit to the side, she took a peek at the time.

Ten thirty five. Gads, this is going to be a long day.

~*~

Hermione,

My apologies for being so unavailable this week. I suppose you've had an influx of calls regarding our little trial-relationship. I can assure you that mother is not as shocked as I expected her to be, Pansy threatened suicide, and Goyle just grunted his approval. Although I have to say our sales this week are at the top of the charts. Who knew. And did you know that they're calling us "Dracione." Ha! I think it's rather funny they've labeled us as one person, and we haven't officially gone out as a couple in public. I personally this is all rather silly. I can only assume that you're fuming mad. So I sent these over, heard they were your favorite. Also, I was hoping to meet you for dinner at Cirque this evening, around eight perhaps? Have a good day. I'll stop by later to see you.

Draco

'Flowers? He sent me…flowers?' Hermione looked at all the pink roses that covered her office. 'I think the last time I got flowers was a wilting bouquet from Mrs. Weasley's garden the day Ron and Harry deliberately threw a garden gnome at me just to see it tangled in my hair! Oh my…loads and loads of…wow. Flowers.' Hermione picked a rose from the hundreds surrounding her office and sniffed the petals. She smiled. 'Perhaps this won't be as bad as I think.'

Taking out a monogrammed note card, Hermione scribbled a quick note to Draco:

The flowers are beautiful. Thank you doesn't seem to be enough to express how much they've brightened my day. Well, I'm not used to, well, passing notes, so don't think I'm insensitive, but I feel a little silly writing this. I have a meeting in a bit. I had Parvati Patil barge into the office not too long ago talking about some ridiculous things the trash magazines are writing about us. Dinner at eight is fine. I'll be in the office till then, so I'll apparate over and meet you. See you at dinner.

Hermione

Hermione folded the card and slipped it into an envelope and sealed it. "Trilly!"

Trilly stepped in, "yes, Miss Granger?"

"Will you be a dear and drop this off with Mr. Malfoy?" Trilly raised an eyebrow, but knew better than to ask questions. "I'll do right away. Anything else?"

"No, that's all, umm…well, yes, that's it, thanks." Hermione leaned back into her chair. She surveyed the room, taking in the breathtaking view of hundreds of pink roses.

"Oh shit! My meeting!"

Hermione took out her wand and shrank all the flowers and placed them into a small box on her desk. Her office still held the strong smell of roses, so she opened a window to let the fresh air in.

Just as she was tidying up her desk, Trilly buzzed her on the intercom.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Machina is here to see you."

"Send him in!"

The door opened and a tall gentleman with salt and pepper hair walked in.

"Miss Granger, a pleasure to see you again." Hermione extended her hand out to shake Mr. Machina's.

"Likewise, now, have a seat and we can over the designs I made for the first floor…"

~*~

"Do you think its wise barging into her office? And how do you know she'll even be there, it's almost seven thirty at night!"

"Shut up Ron, it's Hermione, why wouldn't she be in her office?" Harry and Ron made their way down the dimly lit hallway towards Hermione's office. Most, no, all of the staff had gone home for the evening. They reached Hermione's door, and as Harry had predicted, there was a light shining from underneath the doorway.

Knock knock!

A worn out Hermione opened the door and motioned for them to come in. her office was a mess. Papers were levitating in the air, files scattered all over her desk, and cartons of take-out littered the floor.

"Well, looks like we came just in time for spring cleaning!" Hermione glared at Harry as she took her wand and began to straighten out her office.

"What are you boys doing here? I hope it's not important, I have a dinner reservation to make in twenty minutes!"

"Just thought we'd pop on by, see if you were doing naughty things with Malfoy on your desk…he's not hiding in your clock closet is he?"

Hermione cleared her desk and began working on the take-out cartons, "Don't be daft. Do I look like the sort who'd do naughty things on my desk?"

Ron grinned,"Nah, you're right. If you were doing anything naughty on your desk, you'd find a file you forgot to check over and ruin the whole moment."

"Well, thanks a lot Ron Weasley. Look, I'm dining with Draco soon; do you two want to join us?"

"Ha!" Harry helped Hermione place the cartons in the trashcan, "Risk being photographed with the two of you? No thanks. Ron and I were on the way home and thought we'd see how you were doing with all this new, er, I guess publicity."

"It's absolutely horrid. I had a call today from an American tabloid wanting to know all about my torrid love affair with the wizarding world's most notorious bachelor. I've done nothing with Draco to label what we have as torrid, I can tell you that."

Harry and Ron just smiled. "Look," said Ron, "Harry and I are happy this finally happened. I don't know about Ginny, but we're here for you for anything."

"I know thanks. I'll ring you both later!" Hermione waved good bye and shut her office door. Satisfied that everything was in place, she went into the adjacent bathroom and began to get ready for dinner.