With a new day within reach that is full of endless possibilities to seize, Hermione Granger made sure that she would not oversleep this morning. Turning off her alarm by the bedside table, she got out of bed and trod down across the room in order to heat up some water.

Her senses were craving for tea, but she knew that she needed coffee more in order to clear and wake up her clouded thoughts. She's got a whole day ahead of her— she needed that caffeine boost in order to take on the perilous world of politics.

Humming to herself, she went back to her bedside and started fixing the sheets. After making up the bed, Hermione headed towards the bathroom and immediately took a quick bath.

A few moments later, she emerged from the bathroom feeling fresh as a daisy. Despite the lack of sleep, having an easy and unrushed bath totally makes up for the few hours of sleep she missed. It's either she sleeps in and ends up rushing or the latter— it was never both. Hermione then proceeded to change clothing, settling on a pair of slacks and a simple short-sleeved button up shirt. She wasn't in the mood in being all conscious about her legs, she wanted to feel as relaxed as possible the whole day.

After changing, she began to pour the hot water into a mug quite larger than the normal. Tearing open the powdered packet of coffee, she put in a generous spoonful before giving it a good stir. Hermione got a good whiff of the aroma and she sighed in contentment. Positioning herself by the small table against the balcony, she made herself comfortable in the chair and took her first sip of morning coffee.

She let out a pleasurable 'ah' as she felt revived and invigorated, ready to take on the day. It's amazing how much a cup of liquid can do so much to your body and affect your whole day. Staring out the window, steaming mug in hand, her thoughts drifted off to the incident last night.

She felt a bit sorry for her sudden outburst. It was unreasonable, really, but her stress and lack of sleep only contributed to her crankiness that led to her and Malfoy ending on such bad terms. No, scratch that, she wouldn't really call it bad, seeing as she has forgiven him and they said goodnight and all, it was just kind of awkward.

Hermione was debating whether or not to apologize.

A few sips and a bit of mooning later, she decided to say sorry to Malfoy the first thing when she arrives at work. The poor bloke was only trying to reconcile and was striving to make up for his shitty behavior back in the day. She didn't need to be such a sceptic bitch and make things harder for Draco. She wasn't the type of person that does that. Or so she thought. Last night's events really made her cringe, and she wished she could've done it differently to say the least. She really needed to control her outbursts for Christ sake.

Her dawdling was put to an abrupt stop when she heard someone knocking on her door.

What?

This surprised her. She wasn't any expecting company for today— or for the rest of her stay in this apartment, for that matter. She didn't order anything from anyone, and she's quite sure she hasn't done anything too crazy that would annoy the neighbors and make them knock on her door. What could someone possibly need from her?

Standing up, Hermione felt a bit apprehensive as she walked towards the door. There wasn't any peephole that made the experience all too mysterious. Slowly twisting the knob, the suspense she felt trying to suspect who could possibly be knocking died down and was rather replaced with confusion.

Why was Malfoy standing outside of her door?

Hermione's expression must've looked to transparent because Draco gave a small smile.

This. This is the thing I'm telling him that I'm not used to. Malfoy, smiling? Where was that permanent scowl etched into his face?

"Good morning Granger. Ready to go to work?" he asked, as if this was a normal routine.

Hermione straight up felt bemused. Why is Malfoy standing in my doorway?

Her tranquility from that morning coffee sip was completely thrown off the window when she got another whiff of that intoxicating scent. God damn. That smells better than my coffee.

"Ready to what?" she sputtered.

"To work? Aren't you going?" he inquired.

"W-what? Who told you that we're supposed to go in together?"

"No one, really," he shrugged.

Hermione needed to make things clear with him. "Let's get things straight," she said, slightly opening the door a bit wider in order to fully face him. "Just because we're working together on the same investigation doesn't mean that we also have to be together outside of work grounds." Isn't that obvious?

"I know," was his nonchalant reply. "But it doesn't also mean that we can't."

She sighed. "You are impossible."

"I know," Draco smiled. "Let's get going?"

Hermione had no choice but to yield to his invitation. She had a feeling that no matter what she say to him will completely go over his head. Take last night for an example. Closing in the door on him and ignoring Malfoy would be a totally inappropriate response that she can never do, no matter how much she loathes a person.

Good thing she already finished her coffee, and she was pretty much done with her morning routine. "Give me a minute," was all she said as she collected her things. The situation gave her a feeling of déjà vu.

Stepping outside the door and locking up her place, they sauntered off towards the elevator. This was completely unusual of Malfoy, fetching her from her place and going together at work. She has to get used to his unpredictability or else her mind will end up in shambles trying to figure him out and what he'll choose to do next.

The ride down the elevator was quiet, and as much as Hermione wants to deny it, she felt an undeniable charm emanating from Malfoy. He was the absolute definition of a gentleman. The little things such as letting her go in and out first, pushing the buttons for her at the elevator and keeping his mindful distance to her. Not too far, but not too close as well. It wasn't much, but Hermione can't help but to compare him to Ron. He was very much he opposite and didn't care much about being thoughtful to the other party.

To top it all off, it was really chivalrous of him to going as far back as apologizing for his horrible behavior back in the day. Majority of individuals tend to forget all their wrongdoings to another person and rarely apologize to the other after years has gone by. As a lawyer, she knows. That's why it was slightly easy for her to let everything go and forgive him.