Chapter 2

"Yes, Granger, me," Draco replied, dropping into the seat across from the bespectacled witch. "Nice to see you too."

"Hello, Malfoy," Hermione greeted, curtly. A scowl briefly plagued her face, before she started shuffling through her parchments.

Draco smirked. It seemed as though Harry had only just broke the news to her that her braindead ex-husband would not be joining them today.

"When Ron backed out, Draco kindly switched from groomsman to best man," Harry explained, looking hopefully from Draco to Hermione. "I know you two have some unresolved history, but I was hoping you could put that aside and be civil with each other?"

Draco watched as Hermione's brow furrowed and her shoulders slumped. Placing the parchment back on the table, she sighed and conceded, "Of course I can. We won't let anything ruin your day, right Malfoy?" Hermione shot him a wary look.

"Wouldn't dream of it, mate," Draco agreed, smiling serenely at the surly woman in front of him.

"Forgot the pumpkin juice," Hermione muttered. She got up and strode swiftly to the refrigerator. Draco sneaked a peak as her back was turned and she bent for the pitcher. It looked as though time had been good to Granger. Her legs were long and cloaked in creamy white skin. He had never really seen her out of school robes and was finally able to appreciate that she had curves, in all the right places. Her firm and shapely arse was working all the right angles of her cut off shorts.

She came back to the table and started pouring out drinks as Ginny started talking about the schedule for the final month, leading up to the wedding. Draco tuned her out as he admired Hermione's cleavage peaking out from her shirt. Merlin bless the humid weather, for it left a few tantalizing beads of sweat trickling down her chest.

As she sat down, Draco was momentarily mesmerized by the way her glasses magnified her amber eyes. She hadn't worn glasses at Hogwarts, had she? He was pretty sure she hadn't. Her hair was significantly shorter, falling just to her chin. It seemed she had figured out a way to tame it also, as it framed her smooth cheek bones with soft curls.

"Still with us, Malfoy?" Hermione interjected, snapping Draco's attention back to her eyes.

"Of course," Draco answered, biting off the corner of his sandwich. Quickly chasing it with a sip of pumpkin juice, he continued, "I was just noticing that your hair is shorter than the last time I saw you."

"You mean the night we pulled your arse out of the fiend fire?" she quipped, with a sneer.

Draco's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. Harry cleared his throat and shot warning looks at his friends.

"Hermione, I know it's been a while since you've been around Draco, but can we please, PLEASE, not dwell on the past," Harry begged. "I'm not asking you to forgive him. I'm just asking you to respect the fact that he and I have come to terms with our history, and have gotten to be pretty good friends. You don't have to like him. Just….just maybe pretend that you do, for the sake of sanity," Harry sighed.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione apologized, smiling sheepishly. "Malfoy, my apologies for that insensitive comment. We were just talking about the dinner that's planned for the eighteenth. It's a little over a week away. You're still able to make it?"

"That's the one at your parents' house?" Draco asked Ginny, reluctantly. She nodded and Draco groaned. "Yeah, I'm still in. Should be smashing," he added sarcastically.

Harry may have been able to forgive past grievances, but the Weasley family were much harder to sway. After several years of working in the ministry, Draco had come to an amicable relationship with Arthur and a professional one with Percy. And the two oldest brothers treated him with guarded niceness, on the rare occasion he's met them. George, Ron, and Molly though tended to treat Draco as nothing more than a mosquito- an annoying pest that would either fly away…or end up squashed.

Draco had severely underestimated Ginny though. The first time Harry had invited him over to the new house, for dinner, it had taken Draco some convincing to actually go. He had heard how adept Ginny was with hexes and jinxes, and really wasn't keen on being on the receiving end of one. In the end, Draco finally accepted the invitation and Ginny had welcomed him into their home as if he were a lifelong friend.

Shaking his head, Draco brought himself back to the present. Hermione was still pouring over the parchments, pausing every so often for a spoonful of soup. Draco eyed the cool, red substance in his bowl, slowly stirring the vegetables around.

"I promise, I didn't poison it," Hermione muttered, without looking up.

Draco pursed his lips, biting back a retort. Instead he spooned some into his mouth, ready to insult the vile looking concoction. Damn, though, if it wasn't tasty. He wasn't about to admit that to her. He couldn't stand that smug smile when they were teenagers. It certainly wouldn't endear him as an adult.

"The important thing," Draco stated, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. "Are we still good for the stag night that Friday before?"

This question earned him stern looks from both Ginny and Hermione.

"Oh, don't give me that holier than thou look," Draco chided. "I know you all are going to have your little hen night. If my man here is going to go down in flames, he's going out in style." Draco grinned and slapped Harry on the back.

"Way to keep it cool, man," his friend groaned. "I have cleared my night for that though, so we should be good to go."

"Excellent,' Draco drawled, with a satisfied smile. Seamus Finnigan had been working with him on planning the perfect bash for their mate.

"May I ask where you plan on taking him?" Ginny asked, wearily.

"You can," Draco answered. Ginny stared at him expectantly. "Oh, you want me to tell you also. No, sweetheart. Even Harry here doesn't know our plans. But I promise you, your husband to be will be returned in one piece. At least the one piece that matters," Draco cracked, with a wink.

"Charming," Hermione muttered.

"You're lucky I trust you," Ginny mockingly scolded. At this, Hermione threw her an incredulous look.

Draco smirked victoriously. He had a whole month in front of him to bait and goad Granger, and it seemed he hadn't lost his touch since their Hogwarts days.

The thing about it all was, Draco really had nothing against Hermione. Much to the contrary of popular opinion, he had changed from his pureblood only, Death Eater ways. The war changed everyone. It wasn't until Draco had been pushed to the front and center of it that he realized how utterly terrifying and useless it all was. By the end, his Death Eater status was upheld solely by fear, not loyalty.

There was something about Hermione Granger though, that always rubbed him the wrong way. In school, her biggest offense had been being friends with Potter and Weasley. He couldn't fault her for that now, being that he was also friends with Harry. And she had had the good sense to ditch her husband. The brief thought that Weasley had done the leaving crossed his mind, but Draco found that highly doubtful. Granger was the brains in that relationship. He wondered how she had stayed married to the oaf as long as she did.

No, what annoyed him most now was that she obviously held onto old prejudices. Always the insufferable know-it-all. Draco had barely stepped foot through the door and she had already tried and sentenced him. At least the ministry had let him plead his case, before doing the same. And even then, they showed mercy. Draco had come away with a heavy fine and two years service to the Ministry. He was now in his fifth year at the ministry, having found a calling in Alchemy. Every now and then, he'd be called onto help with an Auror case, to lend his personal point of view on a subject, but he preferred to stay out of that whenever possible. It tended to send all his demons roaring to forefront of his mind.

Draco would just have to let her see that he wasn't the same Slytherin prat she remembered, from years past. Kill her with kindness, as the muggles say. That'll wipe that stupid, know-it-all smirk from her face. Okay, so he was still a bit of the same Slytherin prat.

Lunch ended with fittings scheduled for both wedding parties, the following week, and Hermione owling out reminders to the bridesmaids and groomsmen.

"Quite the big wedding party," Hermione commented, sealing up the final reminder "Fourteen people?"

"You can't really include one Weasley, without including them all," Ginny grinned, gathering the empty bowls. "We only plan on doing this once, and it's taken so long for it all to come together. We figure we may as well have fun with it and include as many friends as we could."

Draco noticed Hermione's face fall, and tears gather at Ginny's comment. He guessed when it came to marriage, everyone planned to only do it one time. It unfortunately didn't always work out that way. It's why Draco kept himself unemotionally attached. He never turned down an invitation into a pretty witch's bed, but that's as far as it went. Out by dawn had become his motto.

Ginny caught onto the weight of her words, but the damage was already done. Tears were streaming down Hermione's cheeks. Ginny dropped the bowls in the sink, and hurried to her friend's side.

"I'm sorry, Min," Ginny regretted, hugging the sobbing witch tight. "I didn't mean it like that. You know I supported your decision to-"

"I know, I'm sorry," Hermione croaked. "But you're right. A person is only supposed to do it once and I totally screwed up my chance."

"Oh please," Draco spat. The two witches quickly looked up, shocked at his sudden exclamation. "Ginny, cover your ears, because I won't be painting your dear brother in a good light."

Draco handed Hermione a clean napkin and continued, "You were married to Ron Weasley. You were young and dumb, and I'd consider chucking his arse to the curb an upgrade to your life. You're too smart for someone who's as thick as pigshit."

Hermione blew her nose and looked at him skeptically. She inhaled deeply and grimaced.

"Thank you for those…kind?….words, Malfoy," she whispered. "But it sadly is not that simple."

Ginny patted Draco's hand, then suggested to Hermione, "Why don't we get your stuff and I'll show you the upstairs. You can take a nap, if you want."

Hermione nodded and followed Ginny from the kitchen.

Draco wasn't sure what made him try to make Hermione feel better. He never was comfortable around crying women. It made him uneasy, like it was his fault they were bawling their eyes out. There was also the element that crying showed emotion, which really made things awkward. Best to keep his distance from all of….that….

"Well, Potter," Draco declared, rising from his chair. "Can't say this won't be an interesting month!"

"I don't know if that's good or bad," Harry mused. He raked his fingers through his hair; his lightening bolt scar visible for a brief second before being reburied under his fringe. "See you for lunch on Monday?"

"Same as always, Potter." With a wave, Draco strode out the front door, to the front gate, before apparating to his London flat.