Hermione sat by the bar, sipping from her glass of coke. She would need all her wits about her for this meeting. She had arrived half an hour early, and she was determined not to look towards the door. Ron had advised her to keep the upper hand with Theodore, but she figured it worked well as general advice for dealing with any Slytherin. Of course she could never mention her current use of that advice to Ron or his head might explode. She had taken a risk in sending her note to Malfoy, but now that she had she wasn't going to expose any more vulnerability or weakness. He would have to step out of his comfort zone to meet her in this Muggle bar, and he would have to make the first move. If he didn't show up, it would be his loss. She would just have to think of a Plan B. Maybe she could take some boxing lessons, or learn to ride a motorcycle.

She ordered a bowl of chips as a distraction from her nerves. Time ticked by, as she ran a silent countdown in her head. Fifteen minutes. Ten minutes. Five minutes. Exactly two minutes before 7pm she felt a tap on her shoulder. She watched Malfoy settle onto the stool next to hers, and slid her bowl of fries over to him. She was desperately delaying the moment where she would have to speak, because now that he was here in front of her, she had no idea what to say. What on earth could she, Hermione Granger, talk about with Draco Malfoy in a Muggle bar? They had barely spoken a dozen words between them last time. It had been oddly freeing. But now, sitting in silence once again, she just felt like a silly mime.

It seemed he wasn't feeling chatty today either. Well, she was a Gryffindor. She would be the brave one. 'Do you want a drink?' she asked.

'No.'

She swivelled her stool around and pretended to watch the football game on the TV in the corner. So much for letting Malfoy make the first move. She had wondered what that move would be, but she had never considered that he would choose nothing. It seemed he hadn't gotten her script. Or any script. Why had he even bothered to show up?

'You know, Muggle football is a bit like Quidditch on the ground.'

'Hmm.'

Progress. 'I'm going for a walk,' she declared, draining her glass. She had been sitting in this dingy bar for entirely too long, and it did not improve with time. She stood up without waiting for his reply and strode out the door at a leisurely pace. He caught up with her easily and then they were walking side-by-side, out the door and onto the street. The footpath glowed under the streetlamps, and they were surrounded by the sounds of laughter and friends calling out to each other. They walked on, Hermione choosing a direction at random. This wasn't working. She had never really had much practice at seduction. Cormac McLaggen had been incredibly easy to hook, but much harder to shake off. If she kept walking, eventually a scheme would come to her.

She was debating the merits of a fake wardrobe mishap when she heard a scuffle as Malfoy tripped over a crack in the pavement. She glanced in his direction instinctively at the noise, then stopped to look at him properly for the first time that night. It was still there, that same connection they had two months ago. See me, his eyes had begged. And she had been sending out the opposite message, Don't look, don't watch me fall apart. But that shared pain she could see in him had somehow smoothed out the edges, made it easier to handle, less sharp. Like it was reflected back to her in better lighting, and the pain didn't seem so scary anymore. She could feel it and go on breathing. Over time, she had let the memory of that night fade away, because she had wanted to be strong and fearless, untouchable. But now the memory was back, and she could have kicked herself for letting it slip away. She had been strong in her vulnerability, not weak. And tonight, he had walked into the bar, and she had looked away, made him into a vague and shadowy figure in the distance to protect herself. She hadn't seen him.

She reached out a hand to cup his face, and hold his gaze on hers, with a touch more gentle than any they had shared in their night of passion. I see you, she thought.

He was wearing a crisp white shirt with a collar, and shiny black slacks. Passable Muggle clothing, but a bit too stiff and unworn. The colour scheme made his skin seem paler, and his hair brighter. He looked a bit sickly, as though he hadn't seen sunlight in a while. There were dark circles under his eyes. As she stared into his eyes, taking his measure, she could see that the inside was more damaged than the outside. In the past two months she had changed for the better. She had slowly built up her courage in order to confront Theodore, and then afterwards she had been able to let go of some of that tension, to feel normal again. She still had her anger and her regret, but she could live her life around it. Whatever Malfoy had been doing since their last encounter, it wasn't living. Giving into an impulse, she leaned forward and let her lips meet his. It was a slow and light kiss. She felt like she was trying to give him the kiss of life, like performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She pulled away, feeling ridiculous. She resisted the urge to look away again, and saw him blink in confusion. She decided to act as though nothing had happened.

'It's so chilly out here. There's a café down the street that opens late. Let's go get some hot chocolate, okay?'

She kept up a stream of inane chatter as they continued down the street, explaining some of the buildings around them. He gave monosyllabic replies in return, but he kept walking next to her, so she supposed it was working. She grasped his arm to bring him to a halt when they reached the café. It was small and rather ordinary, but the owl symbol on the sign had drawn her eye. This close to the Diagon Alley entrance, she had wondered if it was some secret code, a sign of wizarding ownership. But she had stopped by this café on her trip for school supplies every year, and she had never seen any hint of magic. Tonight she was glad, because she didn't want any magic to intrude on this. It was too fragile. They chose a table in the far corner, and placed their order. The waitress brought over two foamy hot chocolates with marshmallows on the side. As Malfoy sipped daintily at his drink, she could see the tension drain away. Just as she suspected, no one could resist the healing powers of chocolate.

Hermione pondered how to begin the conversation. One wrong move would make Malfoy retreat into his shell.

'You know, I've been wanting to try Muggle bowling for a while, but I could never find anyone to play it with.'

Malfoy stared at her as though she had two heads, and she forced herself to ignore the foam moustache he was currently wearing. 'You want to go bowling,' he enunciated slowly. 'With me.'

'Yes,' Hermione insisted with a bright smile. 'I can't think of a classier way to begin a friendship, can you?'

Hermione had marched over to the bar this morning determined to seduce Draco Malfoy for a night of meaningless fun. But Malfoy clearly needed a friend more than she needed a distraction. And what could possibly be more distracting than striking up a friendship with Draco Malfoy?

'A friendship?' he asked.

'Yes, we're going to be friends. Though if all you can do is parrot my words back at me, this could get boring quickly.'

He stirred the dregs of his hot chocolate for a while, probably trying to work out exactly how crazy she was. When he finally looked up, she could see the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. 'One question- what is bowling?'

Thirty minutes later they found themselves in a bowling alley two blocks away. Her parents had brought her there on the way back from Hogwarts after her second year. Bowling wasn't really her typical idea of fun. But she had missed her parents so much, especially after all that time spent in the hospital wing as a cat or petrified, that she had played the game wholeheartedly. She was pretty awful at it, and it made her feel ridiculous. But that was exactly what Malfoy needed, a chance to laugh at himself. It was funny that she was suddenly sharing her Muggle family traditions with him of all people, but they would have understood.

She had seen the disgust in his eyes when she explained how the renting of bowling shoes worked, but she just raised an eyebrow in challenge, and he put them on without complaint. She took her turn first, showing him how to throw the ball. It rolled down the gutter, so she gave up and told him to watch the group in the next lane. He had an intense look of concentration on his face as he rolled his ball, and then somehow managed to land a perfect strike. She narrowed her eyes at him. 'Beginner's luck.'

He won the game by fifty points. He gloated unabashedly as they shared a bowl of nachos after the game. 'I guess it was my superior Seeker reflexes.'

Hermione just rolled her eyes.

He leaned casually back in his chair. 'So, what's next on our magical friendship journey?' he asked.

She considered it seriously. The obvious thing to do would be to invite him to join her study session with Theodore. She had never seen them hanging out together at Hogwarts, but they had similar demons, and Theodore would probably make a better friend for Draco than she would. But she just couldn't do it. It might be selfish, but she wanted to keep Theodore to herself for now. Plus she was only just getting the hang of one-on-one Slytherin interactions. If they joined forces to gang up on her, she would be doomed. What was the right protocol for hanging out with your ex-enemy and ex-lover turned friend?

'Are you interested in art? There's a gallery opening next weekend.' Her friends would have had a blast at the bowling alley, but Malfoy hadn't called her out on her obvious lie about being unable to find a partner. An art gallery on the other hand, they would consider a form of torture. She suspected from Malfoy's upper-class upbringing that he was no stranger to art. He gave an affirmative answer, and they agreed to meet back at the café next Saturday.

She hesitated over how to say goodbye, but it seemed Malfoy's victory had given him some confidence back. He walked forward until they were almost touching.

'We're friends now, remember?' she said, putting a hand on his chest.

'What about friends with benefits?' he asked with a smirk.

'That's a terrible idea,' she muttered as he leaned down to kiss her. But her body had other ideas, and soon their tongues were fighting for dominance as she twined her arms around his neck. She was determined that this time the victory would go to her.

This is a brilliant idea, she thought as Malfoy came up for air. She gave him a second to breathe then pulled him back in for round two.