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Chocolate and Books

"A chocolate factory?"

"Chocolatiers, Granger."

"So you're taking me out for sweets," she asked incredulously. Ignore the fact that she had a secret, maybe not-so-secret to those who knew her, addiction to chocolate. But how had he known?

"It's the first part of the date, yes."

Hermione's mouth flapped uselessly before she finally clamped her jaw shut and allowed him to pull her along next to him into the brightly lit shop. The rich brick walls gave a factory feel while the bright lights lit the cases and cases of chocolate confections that nearly had her foaming at the mouth. Truffles, bars, turtles, cakes…you name it, they had it.

The odd part was that the shop was entirely deserted minus a lone man standing behind the counter wearing a stark white apron around the waist with his blue shirt and bowtie. The man was smiling kindly as the pair approached and gave a slight nod to her date.

"Evening, Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy. Welcome to Sutton's Chocolatiers. The shop is yours for the next hour. Please take your time and let me know if you require any assistance." He waved his hand to the baskets on the counter and the small boxes adjacent. "As discussed, Mr. Malfoy, help yourselves and fill your baskets as you like. When you're done, I'll box everything appropriately."

With a smile and nod from Draco the man disappeared into the back of the store and out of sight. She quickly detached her arm from him finally and rounded on him with a stern finger lifted in his direction.

"Merlin's bloody ball sack! What are you playing at, Malfoy?"

"Christ, Granger!" The blonde's hands flew to his crotch in mock shielding of himself. "Are you always this violent and vulgar at the same time?"

Hermione waved him off as she turned to scan the shop. "Only when warranted by such a surprise."

"A positive surprise though, surely," he smirked as he moved to her side again.

She turned to face him, her eyes narrowed as she looked him over closely. "You had the store closed for us?" He merely shrugged and she rolled her eyes. "Why?"

"I was told you have a particular affection for chocolate. I do as well and this place is my favorite. You imagine it, they have it. You like dark chocolate, don't you?"

Hermione's eyebrows were midway on her forehead and she shook her head. "I prefer milk chocolate or white chocolate actually."

His smirk fell and he sneered, his gaze shifting off to the side. "Fucking Weasley," he muttered. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that prick."

Her eyes widened as her jaw unhinged for the second time that night. Harry and Ron had made their peace with him years ago after he stepped in to throw his financial support behind the struggling aurors' office's efforts to round up the last of the rogue Death Eaters. However, the three men still seemed to enjoy poking at each other regularly. It was rather amusing really. Their jabs leaned more towards mate-like than they did enemies like in school. That all being said, she couldn't exactly call them friends.

"You asked Ron about me?"

Draco had the good grace to flush slightly though he attempted to hide it as he cleared his throat. "Him and Potter both. Caught them after you fed the ignoramuses lunch today. Figured they likely knew you best. I had to bribe them with quidditch tickets to get them to talk."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and gazed at him thoughtfully. Not only did he sound jealous that she'd cooked her best friends lunch, he'd actually sought out two men he really wasn't that close to just to inquire about her likes and dislikes.

She shook her head as she huffed out a laugh. She'd have to reprimand Ron later for lying to the silly git. Knowing him, he likely gave the misinformation, small as it was, on purpose just to get in a final laugh for himself.

"You're actually serious about this," she gestured a hand between them, "aren't you?"

Draco's eyes turned serious as he gazed down at her. With heels she wasn't near as short as she might normally be. On a regular day her head met just under his jaw putting her at just the right height to tuck her in under his chin. Tonight she stood just under his nose and the right height so that he wouldn't have to crane his neck so dramatically to kiss the bossy witch should she allow it.

"Like a heart attack, Granger. I've been trying to tell you that for months. I've had a crush on you for a while now. I got either stupid or brave just before St. Valentine's when I asked you out. You sure know how to bruise a man's ego by the way."

"I'm bleeding stubborn, Malfoy. Best you learn it now." She folded her arms over her chest again and nodded towards the cases. "Fine, I concede to you spoiling me. Just make sure I get chocolate turtles out of this as well. It'd be sinful to leave without them."

His resulting grin made her stomach do a rare and maddening somersault. She fought the urge to fan her face to fight off the impending blush and followed along as he began filling a basket with all kinds of rare and enticing confections.

"I hope you like women with curves, Malfoy, because I'm going to be wider than a quidditch pitch if I eat all of this," she smirked up at him.

"Doubtful, Granger. Potter let it slip that you'll likely be out for a run first thing in the morning to combat the calories," he smirked.

She scoffed and smacked the blonde's arm for his quip. "Well aren't you just going to be lovely to have around?"

He lifted his brow expectantly at that, "Does that imply you're giving me a real chance here?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes playfully. "Behave yourself tonight and we'll see."

Draco grinned mischievously before he called the salesman back over to complete their purchase. After their chocolates had been boxed, he took her arm again and brought her back out onto the quiet streets.

Hermione tried to reach for her box of chocolate as they walked, wherever to she didn't know, but Draco dodged her efforts and held the box over her head.

"Malfoy," she whined uncharacteristically, "You can't very well buy me chocolate and then not allow me to have any, you dolt!"

He chuckled and held her arm more closely, thankful that the chocolate distracted her enough to not notice how close he was holding her.

"Granger, do you really want to spoil your dinner?" He tipped his head in front of them at the restaurant he'd been leading them to and smirked. "Dinner and then I'll spoil you."

"Loathsome prat," she muttered.

"I heard that."

She turned to face him as they approached the façade of the building. "I do believe that I said it."

He merely shook his head as he opened the door for her. He stepped in behind her and was pleased to find Louis, the regular host working.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy. I saw you had a reservation," he spoke by way of greeting as he pulled two menus from the podium. "This way please.

Hermione took in her surroundings, not even really paying attention when Draco took her hand, as she was too distracted by the books. What was this place? There were cases of books lining the walls. Tables were separated by bookcases and small lamps graced every table.

She snapped back to attention when Draco stopped to pull out her chair at the small two person table. She sat, questions still lingering on the tip of her tongue, but she withheld until a server took their drink orders.

"Malfoy, where…what is this place?"

"We're at The Library," he smirked triumphantly. When she lifted a questioning eyebrow he laughed. "It's a restaurant within a library. The owners told me they loved reading and loved food so they thought they'd tie the two together. It seemed appropriate for you."

Heaven. Pure book heaven. How was it that she'd never heard of this place?

"And you come here often?" He had to; the host had greeted him personally.

Draco shrugged and passed her a menu. "Often enough. The best part of this place is you can come here alone to eat and read and no one thinks it's strange."

Hermione glanced around at the other diners. The restaurant was reasonably full but still somewhat quiet and serene. It was quite perfect.

"And you do that often?"

"Sometimes," he admitted quietly.

"Malfoy," she lowered her voice, "you do realize everyone else here is a muggle, don't you?"

He leaned forward on the table in a conspiratorial manner. "Shh, don't tell them. You'll hurt their feelings."

"Full of surprises tonight," she muttered with an amused smile as she glanced over the menu. The man was actually being charming—to her.

Hermione perused the menu for a few moments before deciding on her order. She took the opportunity to observe him while he was preoccupied with reading his menu. There wasn't a time when she could honestly remember being around him outside of work in the last seven years until just recently. She'd made her peace with him the same as Harry and Ron but there hadn't been any reason to be chummy outside of work.

She propped her chin on one hand as she trailed her eyes over the lines of his face. Far from the pointed, sharp young boy he'd once been. This Draco Malfoy was very much a man. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Or the fact that he'd made another one-eighty in the last few months and now here she sat on a date with the prat.

Draco finally looked up from his menu as he set it aside and smirked when he saw her attention on him. "See something you like there, Granger?"

She tilted her head still resting on her hand and narrowed her eyes. "I like it well enough but I'm still trying to figure you out, Malfoy. Where'd the change in opinion about me come from?"

Draco shrugged and folded his hands on the table as he met her curious gaze. "Everyone grows up eventually. I suppose it was sometime after the Ministry assigned you to do regular inspections of my company."

Her look of surprise amused him greatly.

"I thought those annoyed you."

"They did, at first anyway. I didn't like that it was you being responsible for keeping me in line. It was like you were Head Girl after the war all over again. I began to enjoy our meetings though. You can't deny that we're well-matched on a mental level, Granger. We spar well together."

Hermione leaned back in her chair then and scanned her eyes across the nearest book shelf. "No, I suppose not. Thankfully you're using your intellect for good now though instead of charming people's teeth to enlarge." She returned her gaze to him with a lifted eyebrow.

Draco rolled his eyes and fought the slight blush that crept up his neck. He was aware that he'd been one of her worst tormentors in school. The whole Death Eater thing surely didn't help him. But he'd changed. Merlin, had he changed.

"Yes, I have a lot to make up for, I'm very aware."

"At least you admit it," she smirked as their server returned. "This is a start."

They gave their orders to the young muggle woman and then Draco turned to the shelf near their table. Hermione watched as he trailed a finger wordlessly along the titles before he found what he wanted and plucked a small, hard-backed book from it.

"Why do I get the feeling that they seat you at this table often," she asked, her head propped once more on a fisted hand as she watched him.

He didn't lift his eyes from the pages but merely grinned knowingly as he scanned his eyes until he found what he wanted. He glanced up to meet her eyes for a moment before ducking his head back to the yellowed pages in front of him. When he next spoke, his voice was quiet—soothing almost.

"How countlessly they congregate, o'er our tumultuous snow, which flows in shapes as tall as trees, when wintry winds do blow!—"

Hermione's eyes widened in recognition of the poem and a small smile tilted one corner of her mouth. When he glanced up to check her reaction, she continued from memory for him.

"As if with keenness for our fate, our faltering few steps on, to white rest, and a place of rest, invisible at dawn—and yet with neither love nor hate, those stars like some snow-white, Minerva's snow-white marble eyes, without the gift of sight." She shrugged, "I love 'Stars' by Robert Frost."

He nodded, a small smirk in place as he replaced the book. "I thought you might. The first time I stumbled across this place, they sat me here and I opened that book to that poem."

She chewed her lip slightly as she watched the way he now drew circles on the tabletop with a lone fingertip. Gone tonight was the smirking, annoying Malfoy and in front of her was purely…Draco. How had she not met him before?

"He was a muggle, you know."

Draco's finger halted its drawing and he caught her eyes. "You seem to be under the impression that I still have issues with muggles, Granger."

"Old habits die hard," she asked, feeling a bit sheepish. He had brought her into muggle London to a muggle restaurant. Surely, he'd changed in more aspects than she'd really noticed before now.

"But they can die," he asserted.

Hermione rolled her eyes but nodded. She smiled her thanks at the server when she brought their orders and waited until she left to speak again.

She picked up her fork and cut into her piece of salmon. "Malfoy, what's your favorite book?"

He looked slightly surprised by the sudden question. They seemed to handle the quiet moments between them quite well. The moments of pause didn't feel awkward as each of their minds keyed up the next topic of interest or they finished analyzing their respective responses. He narrowed his eyes in thought as he chewed his first bite of steak.

"Swear you won't laugh?"

"I swear nothing," she returned with a sly grin.

He laughed and nodded, "Fair enough. Lord of the Flies."

Hermione's eyes widened and she set her fork down slowly. She'd been prepared for some wizarding lore or something. She obviously had no idea how deep his exposure to the muggle world ran.

"Draco Malfoy, you've surprised me immensely tonight." She shook her head at herself. "Obviously, I know very little about you outside of trading regular barbs with each other."

Draco's mouth turned up into a brilliant smirk for a moment before he allowed himself to turn more serious. "I've not really, truly allowed many people to ever get to know the real me over the years. Pureblood aristocracy was all about image and frankly I grew sick of it. The war made me feel differently about that," he noted, and turned his eyes down to his plate, suddenly self-conscious about what he'd admitted. "I realized that if I made it out alive and didn't end up in Azkaban that I didn't want to live never having let anyone in."

Her chocolate eyes were boring into him when he finally met them again. He gave her an awkward smile and focused on his food again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get so serious on you. First date and all."

Hermione reached across the table and stopped his hands. She stopped short of entwining their hands. This was all still so surreal for her—being out on a serious date with him and then having him actually be open with her. He was layered and she'd dismissed the possibility in the past.

"Don't be sorry." She offered him a small smile and felt her heart flutter stupidly when he visibility relaxed at her words.

Their dinner lasted for another few hours. They cleaned their plates, ordered desserts which they shared, and read each other passages from books on the shelf. Some thoughtful, some silly, most humorous—they shared their thoughts on each. It was near closing when he finally paid their bill and escorted her back onto the quiet London streets.

Hermione was in silent shock but hiding it. While her dating history was rather limited, the dates she'd been on had never gone so well. She never actually enjoyed herself so much.

Still he withheld her box of chocolates from her which earned him a halfhearted smack as they walked the short distance back to her building.

"You're never going to turn over that box to me, are you," she laughed as they approached her building.

"Let a bloke walk you to your door before you start stealing him blind, Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him but nodded. She'd learned to wait as he rushed ahead of her to hold doors open, something that not even Ron or Harry had ever taken care to do.

She entered the building and waited as he caught up with her and stepped into the lift next to her.

Draco followed closely behind her as she led the way to her door. He stopped beside her and leaned against the doorway as she quietly released the wards on her flat. He was watching her intently when she finally turned back to him to say goodnight.

"I had a nice time with you tonight," she spoke quietly with a small smile.

"You sound surprised," he smirked.

"Don't sound so shocked, Malfoy. It's not like this was something either of us ever expected. Regardless, I enjoyed it. Merlin help me, but I'm almost sad it's over."

He stepped a bit closer. "Is that you agreeing to a second date with me, Granger?"

"On one condition…we start calling each other by our given names." She lifted her eyebrows in challenge. "Draco."

His name tasted funny on her tongue but she didn't hate it. If she were going to give him a true shot and really accept that he liked her, she'd need to start thinking of him less as Malfoy and more as Draco. Malfoy was a git. Draco seemed snarky and mischievous but charming.

The blonde's lips pulled into a smirk. "Agreed…Hermione."

She gave him a genuine smile and nodded in satisfaction. She began to turn towards her door to call it a night when she felt his hand on her shoulder turning her back to him.

"No goodnight kiss," he pouted pitifully. "I was a very good Slytherin tonight."

She bit the corner of her lip. She hadn't been too sure about that. She usually never kissed on a first date. Just wasn't her thing. But she'd known him for years. It wasn't like he was a total stranger. Nor was the thought unappealing.

She finally nodded and began to step closer when he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She watched in bewilderment as he finally reproduced her box of chocolates that he'd miniaturized into his pocket and deftly plucked one of the smaller ones from it.

He lifted the chocolate to her lips and lifted an eyebrow expectantly when she cast him a confused look. "Humor me."

She huffed and leaned forward to bite the chocolate, careful of his fingers. He quickly popped the other half into his mouth and swooped down to press his lips against hers before she could respond. He tangled one hand in her curls as he cupped the back of head, tilting her head further for him as his other hand slid to her waist. Her lips parted in surprise and Draco took his opportunity to suck her lower lip with his own, thrilled when he felt her warm hands rest comfortably on his chest. The sweet taste of the chocolate was still on her mouth and he groaned as he swiped his tongue over the sweet flesh.

Hermione gasped at the bold action and apparently afforded the blonde the opportunity to plunder her mouth as she felt his tongue swoop in to taste her. She groaned at the surprise intrusion but didn't push him away. Quite the opposite, she returned his gentle licks and sucks as they navigated their first kiss.

Merlin, either I haven't been kissed in far longer than I'd care to admit or he's bloody amazing at this!

It was most likely the latter thought.

Not wanting to get too carried away and scare her away from seeing him again, Draco gentled his kiss and finally pulled away from her. He smirked as he watched her chest rise and fall with her heavy breaths and waited a few moments longer for her eyes to finally open to him again.

Hermione swallowed as she ran her tongue across her lower lip. Her head felt like it was swimming after that kiss. She finally got her wits about her again when he leaned down to kiss her forehead before pressing her box of chocolate into her hands.

"G'night, Hermione," he smirked as he turned to leave.

Her eyes fluttered as she watched his retreating form and the audacity of the man when he gave her a little teasing wave when he stepped into the lift.

"Merlin, help me," she muttered before retiring into her flat for the night.