Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Les Mis. I don't make money from this fic.
November 10, 2000 London, England - Theo and Hermione's Office
Hermione felt herself dragging at the end of her work day. She'd filed an endless amount of paperwork and had gone over the written request for a meeting to discuss their find with the higher ups about five thousand times. It had to be perfect. She found herself re-reading the same sentence for what felt like the fifth or sixth time, when suddenly the parchment was ripped out of her hands. She frowned, lifting her eyes and expecting to meet blue, but finding grey instead.
"Draco, I need that." Hermione said, frowning. Draco merely smiled and handed the parchment to Theo.
"No, you don't. You've read it over too many times to be useful, Hermione. Let someone else read it. That's your best bet to catch errors." Draco explained, leaning forward on her desk. "Besides, you look like you could use a break."
Hermione rubbed her tired eyes and realized she had been staring blankly at a page for the past hour.
"Draco, if you don't ask her, I will. I can't handle this beating around the bush." Theo said, glaring at Draco.
"Ask me what?" Hermione frowned, looking between the two puzzledly. Draco sighed.
"Well, thanks to Theo, I suppose there's no way around it." Draco muttered. He straightened his back, pulling himself up to his full height, seemingly with some difficulty.
"Hermione, so I know you just got out of a long relationship and I don't want to rush you, or anything. But I've been wanting to ask you this for a few weeks. I hope you don't think I'm too forward with this, but-"
"Draco." Hermione said with a smile. His eyes had dropped to his feet and his cheeks flushed bright pink. At the sound of his name, his head snapped up and he turned red.
"Just ask it," Hermione smiled, encouragingly. She had a feeling what was coming, and it made butterflies flutter in her stomach.
"Would you like to go out for dinner sometime?" Draco asked, his eyes connecting with hers again. She felt herself flush at the question, but smirked at Draco.
"That was the question? Of all the times we've had lunch and dinner together, Draco, that hardly seems like a difficult question." Hermione told him. His face deepened in color even more if possible.
"Yes, but none of those were considered a date." Draco said, lowly, his eyes darkening a bit. Hermione's stomach flipped over and she felt her smirk widen to an all-out grin.
"See, now I can understand why you were having such a time of asking." Hermione said, collecting her things in her bag and switching off her desk light before standing to leave the office.
"How's Saturday?" Draco looked as though he'd been struck in the head with a bludger. Theo chuckled at the pair, and snapped a rubber band in the direction of Draco to get him to respond.
"Oi!" Draco exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head and throwing brief glare at Theo before turning back to Hermione.
"I'll pick you up at eight?" Draco asked. Hermione giggled at Theo's antics and nodded.
"I'll see you then. Have a good weekend, Theo." Hermione said, waving to the two before heading out of the office, feeling giddy and light.
November 11, 2000 London, England - Hermione's Flat
Hermione was putting the finishing touches on her hair and makeup when she heard the knock on her door. She looked herself over one more time, smoothing a hand down her oversized jumper, straightening her scarf, and giving her jeans one last tug to ensure they fit properly. She wore her hair down, and hadn't done much other than wash and dry it. She found that, unless she wanted to spend hours in the bathroom, that was the best she could manage. She pulled on her ankle cut boots and tied the laces before grabbing her purse and heading to the door.
She hated to make Draco wait a few extra minutes, but she wanted to be ready to go. She pulled open the door and smiled at him, her eyes grazing over his outfit. He wore dark washed jeans and a white button up shirt, over which he wore a tan jumper and a brown leather jacket. In his hand, he carried a single daisy. He extended it to Hermione and she felt her heart flutter.
"Hello to you, too." Hermione said with a smile. She accepted the flower, pulling her wand from her arm holster, and casting a quick stasis charm on it. She placed the flower on her coffee table before returning to Draco.
"Ready to go?" He asked. She nodded, pulling the door closed behind her and locking up. Draco offered her his arm and she smiled as she accepted it.
"Never knew you were such a gentleman."Hermione said, looking him over. Draco shrugged.
"Part of the mystery, I suppose." he chuckled. "So I have a couple of things planned, but first let's get something to eat. There's this Italian restaurant in Soho my parents used to take me to when we'd go to the theatre. Sound good?"
"Italian sounds lovely. I haven't had decent pasta in a while." Hermione agreed. Draco lead her down the street, finding a little alley that they ducked into before disapparating. They reappeared in an alley off of a bustling street, and quickly blended into the crowd, Hermione holding on to Draco as he guided them through the crowd.
They arrived at the restaurant and Hermione fell in love with the layout and feel of the place. The building sported half exposed brick, half plaster walls and the tables were small and private. They were met by a waiter who led them to a little table near the back of the restaurant. Draco pulled out Hermione's chair for her then seated himself before they ordered their drinks and looked to the menu.
Surprisingly, the waiter returned in just a few minutes with their drinks, and Hermione and Draco ordered their food, as they both already knew what they wanted. As the waiter retreated once more, Hermione noticed Draco watching her with a little smile on his face. She blushed.
"What are you smiling at?" She asked, looking down.
"You. I honestly didn't think you'd say yes." Draco admitted. Her eyes lifted to his and she could read the sincerity in them from a mile away.
"You've been nothing but supportive and sweet towards me since September, Draco. Two months of heartache and friendship during rough times does a lot for a girl." She said.
"I just don't want you to think I'm taking advantage of your emotional vulnerability." Draco told her. She laughed a little at that.
"Draco, asking me out on a date can hardly be considered taking advantage of me." she scoffed. "If anything, I'd be worried about taking advantage of you. You've been through some rough times emotionally recently."
"Well, I suppose as long as we're both taking advantage of the other, all will work out for the best, yeah?" Draco grinned. Hermione shook her head with a chuckle.
"I'm not quite sure it works like that, but for the sake of argument, sure."
Their food arrived then, and the two devolved to small talk and commenting upon how amazing the food was.
It was nearly an hour and a half later by the time Draco and Hermione left the restaurant, full and feeling much more comfortable with one another. Draco led them as they walked towards a dark alley to disapparate.
"I've got a surprise for you." Draco said, a smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth.
"That so?" She asked, eyebrows arching. He nodded, pulling her into the alley and disapparating quickly.
They landed in a field next to a stone fireplace with a crackling fire and a thick blanket spread upon the ground next to it. Hermione turned to Draco, a wondrous frown on her face.
"How?" She asked.
"How else? Theo." Draco said with a shrug. Hermione giggled, taking a seat on the blanket and hugging her knees close to her chest.
"I should have known. He's quite supportive of this, isn't he?" She smiled.
"Very." Draco said, sitting down beside her and leaning back to look at the stars. Hermione looked back over her shoulder at him, before laying down on her back beside him.
"In school, I always loved Astronomy. I suppose in part it was because it was like we were breaking the rules, being out of bed so late. But as I got older, I realized I loved the stars because they never change. They follow a set pattern, they are predictable, we can look up at the sky and know what to expect on any given day." Draco said quietly. "At that point in my life, change was something to be feared. My whole world was turning upside down. Everything was changing. That's why I started going to the astronomy tower at night, and when Theo found me one night, we just sat there and looked up." he sighed.
"But now, I've realized change isn't such a bad thing. If humans didn't change, you wouldn't be here with me tonight, Hermione." Draco smiled, turning his head to look at Hermione. She turned her head towards him, as well, and took his hand in hers on the blanket. They lay there like that for a few moments before Draco turned over on his side, facing her and propping himself up with his elbow so that he was slightly above Hermione. Hermione looked up into his grey eyes, illuminated by the fire. She felt Draco's hand trail along the inside of her arm, and Hermione flinched instinctively. Draco pulled his hand back, a frown flitting across his face until he realized which arm he'd caressed.
"I- I'm sorry, Hermione." He stammered. She shook her head, looking up at him.
"No, don't be sorry. It's not your fault. Just a reaction to proximity. It took Ron nearly two years before he could touch me there without me jumping." Hermione explained. Draco's hand hovered over her arm.
"Can I - see?" He asked, eyes on her arm and not her eyes. Hermione pulled up the sleeve of her jumper, exposing the silvery word etched into her arm. Draco's fingers ghosted over the letters, making Hermione shiver.
"Are you ever ashamed of it?" Draco said, his eyes meeting hers. Hermione thought on that for a moment.
"No. I'm not ashamed of the word, nor the scar. I do regret the reactions it brings when people see it though. I can always tell. Usually they're extra nice, or more rude than necessary, depending on their views. The pity is probably the worst." Hermione said. Draco looked into her eyes, touching the skin of her forearm gently and Hermione forced herself to relax, to fight the response she knew was coming. She nibbled on her bottom lip, though, when it didn't come. Draco fingers traced the scar gently, slow and methodical, but she wasn't jumping away. She let herself fully relax, the tension in her body flooding from her. Draco must have felt the change, as he smiled.
"I understand the pity. I just want you to know, I don't believe this word defines you. I may have, once. But when I failed to finish my task sixth year, I discovered a lot about myself. That I didn't want to kill. That I didn't want power. I just wanted to live." Draco pulled off his leather jacket, then pulled up his left sleeve, revealing the faded, silvery-pink dark mark. Hermione leaned forward, her right hand reaching forward to touch it. He didn't falter, his eyes watching her carefully.
"I'm not ashamed of the Mark itself." Draco said, as Hermione explored Draco's forearm. "I was forced to take it. It's existence is proof that I did what I had to to survive. I'm mostly ashamed of people looking down on me who don't know my story, or those who do know it treating me differently because of it. Like you said, the pity is the hardest." Hermione nodded. She traced the muscles in his forearm gently, her hand moving up his arm to shoulder and eventually resting her hand on his cheek. She bit her bottom lip again, scanning his face.
"I'm sorry." Hermione said. "For everything that happened when we were younger."
"I'm sorry, too." Draco replied softly. "I want to make up for all the shit we've been through. I just don't know how."
"We'll get there together." Hermione said, her hand on his cheek stroking his face gently. Draco leaned forward, closing the space between them. Hermione's eyes widened slightly when Draco kissed her, but they fluttered closed as she relaxed into the kiss. It was soft and gentle, like the daisy he'd given her earlier. When he drew back, the light in his eyes screamed of innocence and sincerity. Draco took Hermione's hand in his own and kissed it gently, before sitting up on the blanket.
"Should probably get you home, then. Do you want to take the scenic route?" Draco said, standing and holding out a hand to help her up. Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him. "I love taking strolls at night time." Draco shrugged.
"Scenic route it is, then." Hermione said, rubbing her arms a bit as she stepped away from the fire. It was rather chilly without the heat from it. Draco frowned and plucked his leather jacket from the blanket where it still rested and held it out to Hermione.
"I'm not going to take your coat! You'll get cold." Hermione protested.
"You're already cold. And besides, I'm wearing more layers than you. I'll be fine." Draco insisted, helping her into it once she conceded. Draco picked up the blanket and folded it, the shrunk it down with a quick charm and stuck it in his jeans pocket. He extinguished the fire, as well and he and Hermione were plunged into darkness. Hermione felt Draco's hand in hers and held on tightly as he side-along disapparated them to a little alley close to her flat. They walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand, with just the light of the streetlights to guide them. Hermione relished in the scent of Draco which permeated the warm jacket she wore.
All too soon, they reached her front door and she turned to say goodbye. She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek before removing his jacket and handing it back to him. He took it, shrugging it on.
"I had fun tonight." Draco told her.
"Me too. I want to do this again. Well, maybe not exactly this, but-" Hermione said, blushing.
"I know what you mean." Draco chuckled. "See you Monday." He said, waving to her before turning and walking back the way they had come.
"See you." Hermione murmured, letting herself into her flat and heading to bed, a wide grin plastered on her face at the memory of the date.