A/N: Sorry it takes me so long to update. Busy, busy! Hope you enjoy.
-As usual, I make no profit from using these characters, they don't belong to me!
Draco's taxi pulled up in front of a small apartment complex and he checked his muggle phone again to make sure he had gotten the address correct. It was right, so he texted Herm-Jeanette to let her know he was outside. It was drizzling as per usual in Northern England and she held her handbag over her head as she dashed towards the taxi. He popped her door open just before she got to the car.
"Hey," she said, as she climbed in. She shook her hair slightly and looked up to him smiling.
"Hello. Sorry I'm a few minutes late- I didn't have the number for the local taxi service."
"No worries- I know you're not from around here!" Jeanette said as she buckled her seatbelt and the cab began moving again. "So, where is it you're taking me, Draco?"
Draco chuckled, "Just a little place I love to stop into when I'm in m-" he caught himself quickly, it was difficult to remember he might be talking to a muggle whenever he was looking at her. He coughed, "Whenever I'm in this area of England."
Jeanette looked puzzled for a minute before he added, "I hope you like pizza," and then she turned her brilliant smile back on him. Easy to smile was definitely a Hermione List quality- he often saw her laughing and smiling with Potter and Weasley across the Great Hall, although the smile had never been directed at him before.
The cab pulled up outside the restaurant and he paid his driver before climbing out. Jeanette started towards the door and he placed his hand on the small of her back as he pulled the door open for her. There was that smile again.
They walked inside and the waiter seated them quickly in a cosy booth near the back. Draco pulled off his jacket, hung it on the peg beside their booth and helped Jeanette pull her plain black jacket off before turning to hang it up (Hermione List- she was never too flashy with her clothing choices). He turned back to her as she was sitting and took back what he had just thought - the dress she was wearing was beautiful and fit her perfectly. It was red with a few gold accents and clung to her body in all the right places. The outfit was both Hermione and Not Hermione. He had never seen her wear anything like it. The colours screamed Gryffindor but he was suddenly reminded that the last time he had seen her they had still been young- more in body than in mind, but still. This was no girl sitting before him, but a woman.
Jeanette grinned up at him and playfully asked if he was planning on joining her or if he was planning on just standing around. He chuckled and flushed a bit at being caught staring, and then joined her in the booth.
They perused the menus and ordered before they really began to talk.
"So, still think you know be from somewhere?" She asked, leaning across the table slightly and delicately taking a sip from her drink.
"I do." He said, leaning on the table himself, meeting her part way. "You're very familiar yet somehow extremely different to the images in my mind. Perhaps you have a twin somewhere in the world." He smirked coyly at her as he took a sip of his own drink.
Jeanette laughed and Draco grinned back at her. "What is it you do, Draco?"
"I work in a family business, buying and selling things. I travel a lot for the business, which is what brought me here a few days ago." He replied, "And what about you, have you always dreamt of being a barista?"
She laughed again, looking down at her glass. "Actually, I'm studying part-time to get a masters in English literature- the coffee-making just helps pay the bills."
Draco immediately added the scholarly and responsible personality to his Hermione List. He was pulled from these thoughts as she placed her small hand on his forearm that had been resting on the table. He was startled again by the fact that she was a woman, that this was a date and that she was flirting with him- and that he was flirting back! He'd been with many woman, but she was different. She seemed to tilt him on his axis (Hermione List) and it flustered him. He was flirting with Hermione Granger for Merlin's sake! Or at least her doppelgänger.
Jeanette was looking up at him shyly from under her lashes. "So if this business brought you into town a few days ago, what has made you stick around our quaint little city?" she asked, taking another sip of her drink, slightly stroking her fingers along his forearm. It gave him goose bumps and he closed his eyes briefly, taking in the feeling of being touched by a beautiful woman.
"The scenery," he replied with another smirk, as he opened his eyes and he was rewarded with another one of her pretty blushes.
Just then the waiter arrived with their food and they pulled back to eat. They chatted about the literature courses she was taking and about the places he'd traveled to. The conversation was easy and often flirtatious and Draco lost himself in his time with her. Three hours passed by and the conversation never seemed stilted (Hermione List- she was always very knowledgeable and chatty). Draco hadn't had a date this great in a long time- but this thought made him pause. Should he be doing this? He should've flooed the hotline immediately- what had he been thinking asking her on a date?
"Your card back sir. Thank you for dining with us this evening, we hope you have a pleasant night." Draco accepted his card back and escorted Hermi- Jeanette out of the building just as their cab arrived.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
Jeanette supplied her address and he started to give his, preparing in his mind to pack up his things and floo home right away, when she interrupted him.
"Just one stop is fine." She said, glancing at him. And then in a quieter voice as she placed her hand on his, "That is, if you'd like to join me for a night cap?" The heat in her eyes quelled the voice inside his head.
"I'd like that." Draco replied huskily and she looked down shyly before grinning up at him again.
This was a terrible idea.
