Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series and all the characters except the ones I created belong to J.K. Rowling. I make no profit from this story.

Beta: Myka Ren

A/N:A big thank you to Sora Loves Rain! Your review really made my day! There was a problem in the format and I'm posting it again and a big thank you to LightofEvolution for their review about this chapter!

Tales In The Mist

Chapter 4

Finally she could relax. Arguing with Malfoy was the last thing on her to-do list and now that he was asleep she could have some hours of peace.

In those calm moments her mind begun wondering how her friends were, she hadn't said goodbye and she didn't like how she had escaped from Harry. What had she done to ever deserve something like that? Was this her punishment because she had called it off with Ron after so many years of a comfortable relationship? She didn't think so.

Her relationship with Ron was something a lot of people had accepted and actually was waiting to happen, but after some time it wasn't what she had wanted. Ron was kind hearted, loving and the best person to be around and he wasn't the reason for their break up. It wasn't the sex either. The sex was nice. Passionate, slow and sweet, absolutely nothing to fault him for, it was to be expected from a man who was equally as passionate and caring in all aspects of his life. But it hadn't worked. It wasn't his fault. It was hers. There were countless nights that she spent in the kitchen of Grimmauld place, before they had decided to found their own house, that she kept think of what she really wanted. Kept doubting whether it was actually with Ron where she would find happiness.

She had begun to hate that anywhere she went people kept staring at her or asked her things wanting to see how smart she was or that they kept saying that it was probably a bad day for her when she made mistakes. She wasn't perfect and Hermione knew that. She read books, knew a lot of things, could take on even the most experienced Aurors and beat them but she did make mistakes. One mistake was during Ron's birthday. It wasn't like she was on her days of the month or she was under the weather or anything but when Ron came home hoping that she would be waiting for him on their bed with the sexiest lingerie she owned, he found the apartment empty. She had baked a cake, prepared his favourite food but when a friend of hers called her in the afternoon crying she decided to go help her rather than wait for Ron. Yes she knew she would have better leave a message or do something else for Ron but she wasn't sorry she went to the girls aid and certainly hadn't let Ron make her feel bad about it. That wasn't much of a mistake but others thought it was.

After that incident she really felt like something was wrong with them. Sex gradually got boring and worse, Ron began acting more like a child needing to be pampered than a responsible adult, Molly kept pressuring her about a wedding she had never thought about. She didn't want to go get married and start popping babies for Ron, that wasn't for a woman like her. Hermione knew that she was the only one seeing the faults in their relationship.

She needed more passion, she wanted fire. Yes fire. She wanted to get in a relationship so fierce that she would look at that person and her body would heat up immediately. She wanted to tease that man and taste the flames of hell on her tongue as she would claim him as hers. She wanted someone that would understand what she was saying and challenge her. She wanted a man that would only be made for her. Someone to fit her perfectly. Her end of the puzzle, her moon to his sun.

She wanted a challenge and Ron was an open book that she had read too many times. At some point she had realised that what she felt was no longer love like love for a partner, it was love for family and he was like Harry. They were her brothers. They were like that ever since school but she had accepted everyone wishes for them to be together that she chose to ignore that fact.

But now Hermione was stuck with the git. He could be nice at times, when he wasn't sneering, calling her names, nagging about everything even because she had added two spoons of sugar in his coffee instead of one. They had been living together for two days but she had caught up to some small things he liked. He liked his coffee black with almost no sugar, he drunk his tea with lemon and when he was feeling moody with honey and milk. He was not the morning type and spend more time doing research during the night that the morning. A couple of times she had caught him stargazing while lying on the wheat field. But still there were a lot of things that confused her.

He wouldn't accept her saying the word ' mudblood'. She had no idea why but he seemed to be disgusted just by hearing it. He didn't want to talk about his feelings for his family or fiancée. He could spend a whole day not speaking just observing things and reading. She didn't even know he liked to read. He was a mystery. A puzzle, a broken statue. She could see that. He was still broken. Just by looking in his eyes she could see that. Had no one ever tried to put him back together? Had they all decided to look past a boy that made the wrong choices?

She wasn't innocent about that. Hermione herself had spent a year after the war loathing the man sitting next to her just because his choices weren't the right ones. Her view of him had changed after Mrs Malfoy had met her. When she first heard that Mrs Malfoy had arranged to meet her she had been scared. She didn't know what to expect of her but remembering that she had lied to Voldemort about Harry being dead made her relax.

Narcissa hadn't come to make her feel bad or call her names. She had come to ask her to help her son. She had seen fit to ask the girl as she quoted ' Mister Potter is a really influential man that can ask for anything but he wouldn't agree to that. He is kind of hot heated when it concerns my son.'. Malfoy wanted to start over but no one would give him a chance. Hermione had taken it upon her to find a loophole in the whole system to help him and that of course was a secret she would never admit unless Narcissa ever allowed her. Malfoy needed to save his family and Voldemort wanted to play and destroy his family honour. It hadn't been his choice.

She had argued for a really long time with the Wizengamot and the Minister but the used her best card. The Ministry was fighting for equality something that the people really needed and she hit them there. They had seen his memories, called him innocent and now whether they wanted it or not they would let him rebuild what his father and Voldemort had destroyed in their paths.

Hermione sighed tiredly once she had grown bored with the movie she was watching. Malfoy was still asleep and it hadn't been long since she had fallen asleep and woken up herself. They still had a couple of hours to go and her books was in her bag in the storage space above their seats. She didn't want to wake him up since he looked so calm and peaceful and was like that baby angel paintings that flew around naked. Well if he ever learned that she had compared him with that babies then she was a 100 percent sure that he would start walking around butt naked with only a satin sheet to cover his private parts.

She only hoped that Renji wouldn't turn them in. He owed her a favour, yes, but she couldn't force the man to house her and Malfoy and make him promise that he wouldn't say a thing.

A movement from next to her caught her eye and turned to look at Malfoy who seemed like he could set the whole plane on fire with his eyes.

"Are we still not there?" He asked as he sat up to stretch and get more comfortable.

" We have a couple of hours left. Do you want some coffee? The drinks trolley will reach us soon. I could ask for some." She said deciding to play nice. If she kept being nice to him maybe he could tolerate her more.

"Thanks Granger, I'd like that." He said rubbing his eyes, "Where is the toilet in this thing?" He asked turning to look at her.

In that moment she could admit that he was a stunning man. His hair still that whitish blonde were tousled and seemed so soft she wanted to touch them, his eyes were a warm silver that look as if they had stardust in them and his lips. Oh his lips. They were a temptation. The way they seemed so soft and were slightly parted as he was still part sleeping made it really hard for her to resist kissing him.

Once that thought passed through her mind she pinched herself. She couldn't be thinking like that and especially not for him.

"Once you stand up turn right and walk down the aisle. They will be on your left." She explained watching him nod and walk off, leaving her wonder why was she having such thoughts. She wasn't needy and had been in a relationship recently, - absolutely boring relationship but he had seemed like a nice guy- and she certainly didn't need to be kissed and especially from him.

As she waited for him, she had gotten a book out of her bag and gotten his coffee. It wasn't long after that that he returned and accepted his coffee.

"This coffee is like water." He nagged turning to her.

"I'll get you a better one when we land. We will have some time to eat too." She said absentminded scanning through the book, too engrossed to notice him looking at her confused.

"Why are you nice to me?" He started.

"Why shouldn't I be?" She debated turning to look at him.

She didn't know what happened at that moment but it was like a silent message had passed between them. They didn't need to argue or fight over it. They just sat there staring in each others eyes, decoding every piece of themselves that they hid in their eyes. They didn't need words. At that moment both had found something that they were looking for and needed to solve the mystery that had raveled itself around them. Hostility wouldn't get them anywhere and if not be civil at least respect each other. If you want someone to respect you, you need to respect them