A/N: Happy Sunday! Don't have too much to say except thank you for all the love!

Beta love to GCgraywriter, thank you for reading this over for me!

And guys. Next chapter...phew. That's all I'm saying.

Enjoy!

Chapter Four: Happy Birthday, Hermione

"Good night, gentlemen. I hope you've learnt your lesson. Next time I won't be so lenient!" Draco called out to McAdams and Kane, now beardless and back looking their actual age, as they scurried out of the Dungeons. They had been there for just under two hours, scrubbing furiously at pewter cauldrons while Draco graded papers.

He had given then a long, long lecture on the importance of safety when dealing with potions. He made it a point to explain to them what would have happened had that been poison instead. They had looked properly chastised and upset, and Draco had felt sorry enough to cancel the rest of their detentions. Damn it all, he was getting soft.

Draco turned back to his desk, Hermione's tall white stilettos sitting on it like a trophy. He checked his pocket watch, she should be here any minute to come and collect them. He sat on the edge of his desk as he picked one of them up, eyeing it. It had a T-strap down the centre, connecting to the enclosed toebox and coming up to wrap around the ankle. He ran his finger over the smooth leather, his trousers tightening slightly as he imagined a dainty foot and leg slipping into them.

A dainty foot and leg that looked an awful lot like Hermione's.

"Can I have those back now? My feet are rather cold."

Draco nearly jumped out of his skin at Hermione's voice from the doorway. She stood there, her teacher's robes gone. The trousers she wore were now dragging on the floor, too long for her short legs without the heels.

"Did I scare you, Malfoy?" She smirked and leant against the doorframe, placing a hand on her hip.

"Of course not, it's just I can usually hear your loud arrival from across the Castle."

He grinned as the smirk dropped from her face and she walked further into the room, looking around with her eyebrows raised, "It's so... organized."

"Yes, well. I was trained by Slughorn, you know. He and I both have an appreciation for a well-labelled cabinet."

"How did you manage to become a Professor by the way? You never took your N.E.W.T.S., right?" asked Hermione.

Draco smirked and crossed his arms, "I had to take my Potions N.E.W.T.S. and earn an O. Slughorn gave me an even more extensive test, plus the year of apprenticing. They made me prove myself, don't you worry about that."

Hermione looked momentarily impressed but hummed at his answer and turned back to the cabinets.

An awkward silence filled the cold air while Hermione stood in the centre, inspecting the room. Draco didn't really know what else to say, they had never had this civil of a conversation before. He itched to make a sarcastic comment or a jab but really couldn't think of anything.

He racked his brain for a moment before blurting out, "Your hair looks different." Okay, sure. Not exactly what he was going for but better than telling her he liked the way her trousers swelled over her arse.

She turned to him with a confused look and slowly approached where he sat on his desk. "I suppose I've been able to tame my curls a bit better since we were kids." She gestured to the heels on the desk. "Can I please have those back now?"

Draco grabbed her shoes and ran his fingers over the leather. "What if I don't want to give them up? Maybe I should make you pay for them."

Hermione huffed irritably. "You've already made me walk barefoot all day and come down here after curfew-"

"Granger, we're professors. We don't have a curfew, anymore." Draco tried not to laugh at her face as she tried to piece a retort together. With reluctance, he held out the shoes to her.

She snatched them from his hand and pulled out her wand to run a diagnostic spell to check for jinxes. Draco made an indignant sound in the back of his throat and Hermione looked at him sheepishly as she pocketed her wand.

"Sorry, Malfoy. Just had to make sure you didn't spell these for the heels to break off once I step in them."

As if he would dare to ruin such a perfect pair of shoes.

Draco crossed his arms. "Granger you wound me. I would have at least made sure they wouldn't break off until you were in the middle of a lecture."

She let out a small huff of a laugh as she placed them on her feet and Draco sat up a little straighter at the sound. He had made Hermione Granger laugh.

"Thanks for letting me borrow them, by the way. I enjoyed having something pretty sit on my desk all day."

A few seconds of silence passed and Hermione's face turned scarlet red. It took a moment before he realized what he said and his eyes widened at her. "Oh, I didn't-"

"Don't know what you mean!" Hermione quickly interrupted as she left the room with the familiar sound of the clicking heels. She called out a "Goodnight, Malfoy!" that echoed in the cold hall.

Draco sat stunned, now left alone in the room, before a grin split his face. Did Granger just... think a perverted thought? He wondered if she was thinking the same thing as him. Though he could admit her shoes did look rather pretty on his desk, it would look prettier with her sitting on the wood instead, wearing them and nothing else.

He adjusted his trousers as the mental image caused him to harden. Draco was a dirty-minded person, so it only made sense that he would think of something like that. But why, exactly, had her mind gone straight to the gutter before his?

Perhaps Hermione Granger wasn't the prude he knew her to be.

The tenth fucking owl so far that morning swooped in and dropped another package at Hermione's seat, nearly knocking over Draco's coffee. The blasted witch wasn't even there yet and she had a pile of packages towering on the table. What the bloody hell was going on?

"Morning, Draco. Oh good! Mine got delivered." Neville said as he sat down and looked over the ever-growing pile of boxes. A tawny barn owl flew by, releasing a heavy square package that thumped on the table and sent another box flying straight into Draco's porridge.

Letting out an annoyed cry, he turned to an amused looking Neville, "What the fuck is all this? Some Granger fan club?"

Neville laughed lightly while he piled his plate. "It's her birthday."

"Oh." Of course, he was such an idiot. He vaguely recalled Hermione had always been one of the first birthdays of the school year.

The familiar sound of clipped heels on stone had him glancing to the door to find said witch approaching the table. She was already wearing her teacher's robes, so he could only guess what today's outfit was. Maybe she had decided to be daring for her birthday and wear nothing but lingerie underneath?

Shaking his head, he tried to knock the thought from his brain. Merlin, he needed to get laid. It had been years since his last romp. Maybe Hermione would let him give her a birthday present... He choked slightly on his coffee at the surprisingly lewd idea and glared at Neville when he harshly patted his back.

Draco could, at the very least, spy her heels and his mouth dried at the sight. They were her tallest yet, easily over five inches tall and a slim band crossed over her ankle to hold them on her feet.

But the best part? They were red and not that, dainty cute pinkish red, but dark and sexy and Merlin. He began to imagine Granger with nothing on, save her teacher's robes, sitting wide open for him on his desk. Those pumps still on her feet and perched prettily on the edge as she begged him to take her against the wood. Draco felt himself harden under the table and he had to stop himself from panting like a common dog at the very idea.

"Morning, Hermione. Happy birthday." Neville greeted her with a smile.

"Morning, thank you," Hermione said as she rounded the table and stared down at the packages littering it with a frown. Students began to fill the tables and Gorman, that klutzy first-year Gryffindor, stumbled up to them with a small wrapped box.

"H-Happy Birthday, P-professor Granger." He mumbled out, holding the box out with shaking hands. Hermione smiled down at him and took it, pulling off the bow to find an assortment of sugar quills.

"Oh thank you very much, Mr Gorman! These are my favourite."

Not believing it to be possible if Draco hadn't seen it for himself, the boy's blush deepened even further. He let out a squeak and made to turn back to his table but tripped over his own feet, stumbling down the platform to the stone floor.

Draco rolled his eyes at the boy's antics as he lifted himself up and ran back to his table. He turned back to Hermione as she let out an irritated sigh. "What's wrong, Granger? Did your admirers not get you what you wanted this year? You have so many presents I'd think that nearly impossible."

To make Draco's point, three more owls flew in from the window, dropping another set of presents on the pile. Hermione pressed her lips together and cast a shrinking charm on all of them, scooping them off the table and into her pocket. With a narrowed glare aimed at Draco, she grabbed a piece of toast and left the hall.

"Really Draco? It's her birthday, be nice." Neville shook his head with obvious disappointment at his friend.

Well, that did make him feel a tiny bit bad. He supposed they had been rather civil with each other the past week. She had even stopped when he emerged from the Dungeons yesterday to walk with him to dinner. Should he have gotten her a present? Was she expecting one? Now he felt like a right arse, he didn't even wish her a happy birthday.

Draco didn't have much time to mull over it, however, as his first class of the day was starting soon. Leaving Neville to sit alone, he retreated back to his classroom.

The air was quite chilled that night and Draco pulled his cloak a little tighter around him. He was sitting in the faculty stands as he watched the Slytherin quidditch team practice. They had just added a new Keeper and currently, he was getting his arse kicked.

Tyson passed the quaffle to Juniper as they neared the rings. Coghill geared up to block but was too slow and the ball sailed right over his shoulder and through the hoop. Draco growled under his breath as the team Captain, Abigail Vear, flew over and started yelling at him. Not being able to stand watching the downfall of his team any longer, he trudged back up to the castle for dinner.

There were only a few students filling the tables and almost no professors, save Hagrid and Hermione, who had just finished eating. He ignored both as he plopped down into his seat at the table and grumbled into his plate.

"You alright there, Draco?" Hagrid asked him from the end of the table.

"He's just mad because his new Keeper is terrible," Susan answered for him as she and Neville came up to the table and took their seats.

"I don't understand how he made the cut. He can't block a throw to save his life." Draco growled as he ripped a bite angrily from his turkey leg.

"Why don't yer come down fer a nightcap later? Te cheer ya up a bit." Hagrid asked, tapping his nose with a knowing smile.

Draco sighed but nodded, "That actually sounds nice, Hagrid. I could use something stronger than wine."

He looked over at the half-giant and saw Hermione's eyebrows raise in surprise at his agreement. He sent her a smirk and turned back to his plate with a little more enthusiasm, her astonishment at his friendship with Hagrid delighted him.

Not the same git you remember from school, am I, Granger?

A few hours later, Draco trudged down the pathway to Hagrid's hut, his dragon hide boots squelching a little in the mud. He came up to the door and knocked, tapping his feet lightly to try to get some of the dirt off. He heard the door swing open while he was looking down.

"Really Hagrid, you could at least make a decent stone pathway from the Castle. It took me ages last year-" He glanced up to find Hermione standing in front of him wearing those damned red pumps he had tried not to fantasize about all day. A bloody sexy, skin-tight, long-sleeved black dress hugged her body, the hem stopping just at her knees caused his mouth to water slightly.

Merlin what was this witch doing to him.

"'Ello, Draco! Hope you don't mind 'ermione stoppin' by too. I had a birthday present to give 'er." Hagrid hollered to him from where he sat at his table.

Hermione stepped aside to let Draco enter, and he straightened his back at her condescending smile. "Nope, that's totally fine."

He walked in and took the overly large rickety stool to Hagrid's right, Hermione sitting between them on the left.

"Got some Firewhiskey fer us." Hagrid said as he uncorked a bottle with a loud Pop! and filled three shot glasses with the amber liquid. Well, they were probably shot glasses to him, but to Draco and Hermione, they were just small-sized cups.

Hagrid held up his glass and yelled, "Happy Birthday, 'ermione!" before downing the contents in one gulp. Draco held up his glass to her as well, but remained silent, only being able to get about half of its contents down. Hermione grimaced into the firewhiskey before taking a tentative sip, instantly choking on it.

Draco and Hagrid both started to laugh as she coughed and she rounded an incredulous look at them. "How can you drink this?!"

Draco could feel the warmth of the whiskey spreading through his veins, making him feel a little sleepy and content. Which is exactly why he let out a yelp as something climbed up his leg, digging claws into his trousers.

Now it was Hermione's turn to laugh, as Draco jumped from his seat to find a kitten gripping onto his leg. It was a white fluffy little thing, with bright blue eyes. It meowed up at him before trying to climb higher. Hermione reached forward and pried it off, cooing at the furball while it stared down Draco from her arms.

"Half-kneazle that," said Hagrid as he poured himself another drink. "I knew yer had been missing Crookshanks, Harry told me. So I figured..."

"She's beautiful, Hagrid, really. Thank you, the best present I've gotten in years."

Draco could see the bright blush spread across the half-giant's face as he retook his seat. "Was Crookshanks that fuzzy orange thing? What happened to it?"

"He was my cat, thank you very much. He died a few years ago. I missed him terribly but never really thought about getting another until this pretty little thing came along." She held the tiny kitten up to her face and gave her a kiss on the nose. It let out a dainty meow and rubbed its head against Hermione's chin, it's loud purr filling the hut. "I think I'll call her Calliope."

Draco wrinkled his nose at Hermione's name choice and knocked back the rest of his drink. "Calliope? Really? Why not something simple like Snowball or Vanilla?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "How absolutely boring. No, Calliope suits you just fine, doesn't it?" The now monikered Calliope let out a light meow at the question and Hagrid laughed.

"Whelp, no point arguing there. She seems te like it."

Hermione nodded and let out a small yawn, "Thank you for her, Hagrid and the uh... drink, but I think it's time for me to head to bed." She stood and made to leave. Before Draco could even think of what he was doing, he stood too and reached a hand out to grip her arm, dropping it just as quickly once he realized what he had done.

"Uh." Shit, think Draco, think. "I'll walk with you?" He had meant it to be a statement but damn it all, this firewhiskey was getting to him.

"Okay..." Hermione arched an eyebrow but said goodnight to Hagrid and left out the door, Draco following close behind. They walked a short distance from the Hut before Hermione whirled on him, Calliope mewling softly in her arms.

"What was that in there?"

Draco stumbled back a step, caught by surprise at her sudden shift in demeanour, "Sorry?"

"That, your-you. Being friends with Hagrid!"

A large grin overtook Draco's face as he crossed his arms and looked down at Hermione. "You didn't think I was actually friends with the big lug, did you? Well, points for me, Granger. I am."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, adjusting the half-kneazle who was trying to cuddle in her arms, "How did that even happen?"

Draco shrugged, "We bonded over a drink one night at The Three Broomsticks. He invited me over for some firewhiskey and we just became friends after that." That wasn't exactly the whole story, but he wasn't going to tell her that they had spoken at length about the war and their feelings. Or that they had cried together in their drunken stupor. No, that was a secret he would take to his grave.

Hermione pursed her lips and regarded him. Draco could see her mind whirling behind her eyes. After a moment of silence, she stuck her hand out for him to shake. "I'm quite confused about you, Malfoy. You're still a complete ass sometimes but Neville and Susan like you, Hagrid likes you, most of the students like you so... truce?"

Draco considered her hand for a moment as he processed her words. "Truce? Were we fighting?"

Hermione dropped her hand back to her side and awkwardly shuffled her heeled feet, "Well, no but I just thought you know, with everything..."

Merlin was she adorable.

"I thought we were already becoming friends but if you need a truce then, sure. Truce." Now Draco was the one to hold out his hand for her to shake and she smiled up at him before taking it. Her skin was soft and warm and maybe it was the alcohol mucking up his brain but he immediately envisioned what it would feel like wrapped around his cock.

Stop it, Draco, you horny bastard. You're just tipsy.

They began their trek back to the Castle, though their pace had slowed considerably as they walked, neither one in quite as much of a hurry as they had been.

"Draco, can I ask you something?" Hermione blurted out, cutting the silence. He hummed in agreement, urging her on. "Why did you decide to become a teacher?"

Draco's response was immediate. He had been asked that question many times over the years. "It sounds silly but I wanted to give back; I felt like I had to give back after the War. I sold the Manor after my dad ki-died and donated the proceeds to help with the Hogwarts rebuilding. That's when Slughorn had told me he was going to retire. He asked me to take over for him and it just... made sense. After a while, I found myself actually looking forward to waking up in the mornings."

Hermione had stopped walking and Draco turned around to look at her. Her eyes seemed to glass over as she regarded him and her voice came out thick as if she was holding back unshed tears. "I think that is a very noble reason to want to teach Draco, and I'm very sorry about your father. It was a shock for all of us when we heard." She placed her hand on his arm for a moment, her warmth seeping through the black fabric. Draco swallowed a lump in his throat and silently nodded in thanks.

A smirk broke over her face as she dropped her hand, "But there's one thing I don't believe... a Malfoy donated money? Did Hell freeze over?"

Draco snorted, thankful for the change in subject. "There's a very handsome plaque with my name on it in the Trophy Room if you'd like to check."

Hermione only smiled in reply and they began to walk again. Draco looked down at her from the corner of his eye. Calliope had tucked herself into the crook of her elbow and was now asleep.

"Can I ask you a question now?"

Hermione looked up at him with a raised brow, "Sure."

"How come you left the Ministry and came here?"

The smile fell from Hermione's face and she looked back down to the ground. "I just... wasn't happy. Any law I tried to pass was denied by the Wizengamot, my boss barely supported anything I did. The final straw was when I tried to go for a promotion and it was denied, they told me I needed to work on my initiative. As if that wasn't what I had been doing for the last five years! I suddenly realized I had done nothing with my life. McGonagall had been after me since the end of the War to take over for her so I just... accepted. I only wish I had done it sooner. I've been so happy these past few weeks." The smile returned to her face as she looked at him, making his heart skip in his chest.

Another question dug at the back of his mind that he just had to know. "What did Weaselbee think about that?"

Hermione furrowed her brow, "Ron? He was surprised but I suppose he was happy for me. I don't really talk to him as much as I used to since he moved to Romania. He wasn't always that good at replying to letters."

"You mean you and Weasley aren't together? I thought you would have gotten married right after the War." Though now that he thought about it, he was sure it would have been splashed across the Daily Prophet front pages for months.

Hermione let out a light chuckle, and their arms brushed slightly. Draco hadn't realized how close they had been walking together. "No, no we aren't. We did date for a few months but the publicity... Well, it got to Ron. He couldn't take it anymore so he decided to accept a job at the Dragon Sanctuary in Romania with his brother. Our relationship was already starting to end by that point but we still parted as friends."

"And you didn't date anyone after that?" What the bloody fuck was wrong with him? Why was he asking all these ridiculous questions? She had to think him absolutely mental, but Hermione only laughed again as she replied.

"I dated a few men over the years but I don't know. Nothing ever seemed to work out. I think most of them just wanted to say they dated Hermione Granger."

Draco frowned at her answer as they reached the Castle entrance. How sad that must have been, to only think men were only after you for your fame. She must have been very lonely. The silence between them turned awkward and Draco itched to break then tension. The clicking of her heels on the stone made a question pop into his head.

"When the hell did you decide to start wearing heels? The Granger I remember would have scoffed at the very idea."

Hermione let out a genuine laugh, the sound bouncing off the walls and straight into Draco's chest, making him feel a little lighter at the sound.

"You can thank Ginny for that, actually. She bought me my first pair for Christmas a few years ago. They were these gaudy, awful bright pink colour and nearly six inches tall but I absolutely loved them. I practised walking in them until I was able to take more than two steps without breaking my ankle. One day I just decided to wear them to the Ministry. It was the oddest feeling. I felt... powerful. I'm not sure if it was the height difference or what but I suddenly found myself buying all different kinds of heels. "

Draco chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to will away the hard-on that had sprung up in his pants at the idea of Hermione in those stilettos. Salazaar save him, he nearly moaned out loud at the thought of her bossing him around...

"Did you hear that?" Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and looked around the corridor. They were in the West wing, nearing Flitwick's office. For a moment Draco's heart stopped thinking he had actually moaned out loud, but then he heard it too. The sounds of shuffling shoes and soft voices from behind a door. Hermione looked at Draco with wide eyes. "You don't think..."

Draco smirked, "I've caught many students out of bed doing all kinds of things, Granger. It's not as uncommon as you think." He walked quietly down the hall until he figured out which door the sounds were coming from. A broom closet, how original. He yanked open the door to find two sixth year students, a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin, heavily snogging against a supply cupboard. They pulled away with a jolt, their robes and hair in disarray.

Draco leant against the frame with one arm and a scowl, "I think that'll be twenty points from Hufflepuff, Thorebourne and thirty from Slytherin, Vear. Don't give me that look, you know I'm not above taking points from my own house. You're the Quidditch Captain, you should know better. Now get back to your dorms before I add detention to the list."

The two students scurried away with bright blushes and Draco let out a chuckle as he shut the door.

"I can't believe you took more points from Slytherin. Don't you think you should've given a detention too?"

Draco smiled over at Hermione who had been standing to the side, watching him with the students. "I'm not like Snape, I try to be fair. Plus they're young and naive, I envy them."

They continued walking back to their rooms, now coming to the Entrance Hall.

Hermione snorted, "We're young too, you know. We're only twenty-five."

"Correction, I'm still a spritely twenty-four. You're the one who's twenty-five, practically a crone."

Hermione let out a laugh, smacking his arm lightly. The sound made Draco's already buzzing head spin further. He liked her laugh, it sounded like chimes tinkling together and it made his heart race.

Before he knew what he was doing, he leant down and pressed a swift kiss to her cheek, pulling away with a small smile. He stared down at her dumbfounded face before opening the Slytherin Dungeon door.

"Happy Birthday, Hermione."

Two reviews I'd like to address.

HollyGlenn: Because of you're disappointment of not seeing Draco teaching with the pumpkin-head potions, I have added a scene in chapter seven ;)

Scorpia11: Your review gave me the idea for Hermione to check her shoes in this chapter! So thank you! It totally seemed like something she would do so I had to add it!