Hermione didn't know if it was against her better judgement, but she did agree to go on one more date with Marcus. There was something about the look in his dark eyes that made her still want more, despite everything she'd been through so far. Plus, she still had questions that she wanted answered and she figured this was the best way to get that done.

He wasn't telling her where it was that he was taking her, but just that she could dress more casually than last time and to be ready to leave at six thirty. She settled on wearing some jeans and a nice blue and white striped blouse. She hoped that it was appropriate for wherever they were going on their mystery date.

Harry had given her his blessing, although he didn't claim to understand why she was giving Marcus one more chance. They seemed to be so different, he couldn't imagine what it was that they talked about on their dates. But, at his most basic, Harry knew that Marcus had tempered over the years and was at the very least a decent guy. And, he just wanted Hermione to be happy.

Marcus arrived early, to Hermione's delight, bringing her some pink roses, that weren't squashed this time. They looked beautiful on the little table in her kitchen and she told him so, causing a little blush to form on his cheeks.

Marcus took her by the hand and apparated them to a big square and Hermione was pleasantly surprised to find herself in front of London's Wizarding Library. It was a massive building in stone and Hermione had only been there once or twice before, despite her love of reading.

"Shall we go in?" he asked, pulling her towards the huge double doors.

Hermione was suddenly sure that she had absolutely made the right decision to go on one more date with Marcus. On previous dates, she thought that he was just taking her to generic places and though she enjoyed them, they weren't really reflective of her personality. This made her feel like he really understood her.

She was surprised when he walked them over to the potions area. "Wow, you sure seem to know your way around here," she told him, with a surprised smile. "Do you spend a lot of time here?"

Marcus blushed again. "I, uh, I guess I have a little something to admit to you," he told her, with a sheepish smile. "I did keep up with all of your journal articles, after...well, there was a lot of stuff you wrote about that I didn't understand, so every now and again, I come here to do some remedial reading."

Hermione was really touched. He had proved to her again and again that he really did care about her work. "Wow, that's so flattering Marcus. I didn't know that...you'd go to all that effort for me," she said, obviously impressed.

"I still don't understand a lot of it. You are bloody smart. And I couldn't find anything about the muggle genetics that you've written about recently," he said with a grin. He knew that he wasn't the smartest guy, but he did want to understand what Hermione was doing.

"I'll send you a book, a primer if you like," Hermione told him, pleased. "They don't teach anything like it here in the wizarding world."

The pair of them spent at least an hour going through the library. Hermione had such an excellent time, she was sure to tell Marcus.

Afterwards, they walked a few blocks off the little square where the library was located, and stopped at an Italian bistro. Hermione was rather hungry, so they quickly ordered wine and pasta dishes. Hermione bit her lip, as her mind couldn't stop from coming back to one thing. If Marcus kept tabs on her, why didn't he just...reach out to her?

"What's on your mind?" he asked, seeing her demeanor change slowly after they sat down for dinner.

"I was just wondering...why you...if you kept tabs on me, read my articles, why didn't you ever reach out before? After...that night?" she asked, nervous to put her thoughts into words.

"I didn't understand why you'd left, initially. I wanted to give you some space, as you'd obviously...well I didn't want to push you into anything and thought perhaps I'd come on too strong," Marcus admitted. "I figured that when you were ready, you would come to me. Why did...why did you leave, without saying goodbye?"

Hermione bit her lip and Marcus was entranced by the white teeth he saw peeking out.

"I...well, I'd just lost my virginity to a guy that I liked, but I didn't really know that well. I figured you were kind of a player, quidditch girls like the ones in the box throwing themselves at you constantly. They are so much more beautiful than me, so why would you ever want...something more me? I couldn't bear to hear you tell me that, the next morning," Hermione admitted, feeling a bit guilty.

Marcus began laughing. Hermione looked annoyed. "What?" she demanded.

"It's just that we were both making so many assumptions about one another," Marcus said with a wide smile. "If one of us had just been honest with the other, we could have maybe, seen where this would go years ago."

"Yeah, I suppose you are right," Hermione told him with a small smile. If only she hadn't been so stubborn.

The pair of them finished dinner and Marcus and Hermione decided to walk back to Hermione's flat, hand in hand. When they reached her door, Marcus didn't try to come in. "Can I take you out on Wednesday?" he asked.

"Wednesday...but, Marcus, that's Valentine's Day!" she said. He smirked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "Yes...I'd love to go out with you on Wednesday," she finally answered.

"Great, I will owl you the details," he responded, before letting his hand tangle into her hair, pulling her body close to his, so that they were pressed against each other. He pressed his lips to hers, and moaned at the prolonged contact. Getting control of himself, he pulled away.

"Wednesday," he whispered, leaving Hermione on her doorstep, feeling like she was on cloud nine.