Return, verb. To go or come back, to revert. To reciprocate.

"So, goodnight, Ron. It was wonderful being back and seeing everyone again." Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, but his were rosy from more than that.

She braced herself as his lids lowered, as his head moved toward hers at the bottom of the steps to her building. She closed her eyes and her lips, planning on this kiss being as chaste as possible. Resigned to the future of them or no, she wanted to keep it slow. Fast would only hurt them both in the end, and she'd had enough of falling fast and being hurt.

"Granger, get up here before you get sick. I'm not nursing you back to health."

She inhaled a gasp as she swivelled to look at the door, her eyes confirming what her ears had told her. Ron's lips planted firmly on her cheek, not that she was paying attention to anything other than the grey eyes glaring down at them from the top step.

"Draco? What are you doing here? I thought-"

"It seems I forgot something when I dropped you off, I was hoping you'd seen it." His tone was casual, almost flirty, but his body was still angry. She didn't know why he was angry, nor why he was here; he'd not brought anything but the clothes on his back, his wallet, and his wand when he'd left her three weeks earlier, and she knew for a fact he hadn't left any of those behind. He'd not had the time to, turning and leaving as quickly as he had. And now she was getting angry.

Ron had noticed the familiar way the strange man talked with his Hermione, and didn't like it one bit. She'd finally acknowledged how great they would be together, and then this bloke decides to interrupt his goodnight kiss? All for something stupid he could have come at a more reasonable time for?

"Look, mate, it's late, too late to be coming to a bird's home and looking for something you misplaced. Why don't you-"

Again, the blond interrupted. "Hermione, are you going to come in and help me look or not?"

Her mind was made before she even registered what was happening. "Goodnight, Ron, I'll call you in the morning." Her feet moved before she could tell them to, climbing the stairs, oblivious to the incredulous look on her long-time friend's face or the smug dismissal the other man sent his way.

Up the stairs she went, turning on the landings and not noticing anything but the warm hand on her back propelling her forward. Key in the door, door open and shut behind them, she finally looked at her guest.

His eyes were shadowed, his hair mussed as though he'd been running his hands through it for days. His face was strained, his jaw tight, and he was still the most beautiful man she'd ever laid eyes on. "What did you forget, Draco?"

He stepped toward her and her throat tightened. He couldn't, he wouldn't… not tonight, when she'd finally agreed to give up! His gaze focused on her neck as she swallowed, and she knew that choosing to let go of her crush was very different from actually giving it up. And then he met her look for look, and she knew.

"It seems I left my heart. You wouldn't happen to have it, would you?"

And as his lips met hers, she couldn't help but thank whomever was looking out for her. It seemed she wasn't the only romantic at heart.

AN: This was unashamedly inspired by the current run of Doctor Who. It started as a single drabble, but insisted on growing from there. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, even if it did distract me from my work on Embers in the Darkness. For those following that story, you do have my apologies, I'm still struggling with the current arc wanting to go in an entirely different direction. Since I don't want to just sit and be stuck, I've been working on anything and everything that comes to me, which lately has included a lot of Harry Potter works.