The dress truly was nothing short of amazing. Once again, Draco proved his unwavering sense of fashion when he'd moved to replace the garment that he'd so carelessly destroyed but Malfoy always felt the need to go well above what even he thought was expected of him, at least in Hermione's own opinion. She really had actually liked the pale silver lace dress that looked quite dashing on her if she did say so herself, and she still had every intention of attempting to salvage the thing once she had a little free time, but the moment she'd slipped the new, sans ripped, dark, burgundy dress down over the curves of her body, she felt her mind forgiving the action entirely that had him shopping for her again in the first place.

"Wow, Hermione…You look stunning…" Hermione's long, rich curls fluttered back from against her shoulders as she turned from her stance before the long mirror where she stood in the center of her parent's bathroom, moving slowly to face Ginny while she drew her eyes down to the fabric running beneath her fingers overtop the flat of her ribcage.

"You like it?" Hermione's eyes were still locked down on the velvet as it gave a light shine under the light, smiling softly to herself long before she rose her head up to await a response.

"Enough to steal it, yes." Ginny gave her a light laugh as she watched Hermione carefully slip her fingers into a pair of lengthy, black satin gloves, moving quickly to tug them up her forearms before Ginny could add a bit crossly, "I don't even want to know what he paid for that."

Of all the dresses that Ginny Weasley had debated in her head that Draco may have purchased for Hermione, especially after the stories they'd just went through, this was the absolute last one she'd even imagined he'd be capable of picking out. She'd honestly expected to see something on one of two sides of the spectrum: so stuffy you want to lock it in a chest or so slutty that Ginny would have to think of a stage name for Hermione's next pole performance but alas, she stood corrected right there in the middle of the line. It was quite honestly nothing short of eloquent from the perfect pleats of the cap sleeves to the beautiful piped lining tracing the curves of the sweetheart top hugging Hermione's chest perfectly. There was a thin band of fabric tied along the small of her waist before the rich material of her skirt fanned out over dark tulle, stopping just below the bend of her knee with enough space to flash the long, bronze expanse of her legs till they reached the black sling back heels Hermione had personally picked out to top the outfit off. At the moment, Ginny wasn't sure if she was more jealous of the dress or of how Hermione looked in it.

Hermione gave one last glance at her reflection in the mirror from a crossed her shoulder, tilting her head to the side to admire the classic velvet masterpiece that she currently had holding her like it'd honestly been made for her. Come to think of it…Hermione wouldn't have been too surprised if it had been. God, it better not have been made for her…She was really going to have to have a talk with him about this but she could accept just this last dress, right? It was just so soft and so absolutely gorgeous…no; she really needed to have the talk. After all, this was less than twenty four hours into their official relationship. Hermione was a bit nervous that if she held her tongue too long, she might wake up with a pony outside her window.

"You think he told his mum?" Ginny made a rather drawn off expression at the pondering, the corners of her mouth turning down as she winced her teeth but the question sharply turned Hermione from her dreamy gaze of the fabric. To be honest, Draco didn't spend much time talking about his family, with her at least, but his mother was most definitely on the smallest end of verbal references. Narcissa Malfoy was always a bit of a shrouded figure in her mind as far as Hermione was concerned and Draco never really helped matters much with his tight lipped stance on most things involving her but Hermione found it really wasn't her place to pry just as he never did.

"I'm going to doubt it highly."

With a small purse of her lips to the single side of her mouth, Hermione moved to brush both herself and the fan of her knee length skirt out from inside her parent's bathroom and past Ginny, tossing back as she moved in search of her wand to quickly get things tidied back up. "He burnt her request to escort him to Hogwarts tomorrow. Not like he threw it in the fire but like he actually burnt it." There was a brief, satisfied sigh that slid Hermione's lips into a delicate smile once her satin lined fingertips guided around the pale, vine wand that she'd grown so accustomed to. "In his hands, Gin." Hermione stopped short as Ginny rounded out into her bedroom, those thin eyebrows lifted in subtle amusement. "He ignited it with wandless magic and just watched it burn in his hands."

"And you want to date…that?"

"I know, right?" There was a light cheeriness in Hermione's laugh and after the wrenching thoughts she'd had about spilling her guts to her friends, Hermione finally felt a bit at piece as she attempted to prepare herself for the first real date that Draco had actually asked her and taken her on as his girlfriend, not to mention still trying to digest that thought. Despite the fact that the dress should have weighed her down like an anchor, Hermione felt light of her heels as she moved about scourgifying things, straightening this or that as Ginny leafed lightly through the massive amounts of new clothes that Hermione had stuffed from top to bottom in the dozens of chests littering the floor of her room.

"You going to tell yours?"

Hermione flinched visibly, stopping her hurried motions to squint an eye over to Ginny, "I kind of used him in a ploy for them not to rush home just to see me off to Hogwarts."

"Used him in a ploy how?" The faded coral tint of Ginny's tiers lifted open widely at the question, trying to help Hermione in her completely obsessive cleaning technique but finding the conversation far too distracting. Ginny wasn't sure what exactly Hermione had used Malfoy for at the moment but she certainly loved conniving Hermione considering what a tremendously horrible liar she was.

"Well, I had to owl them and tell them I wasn't with you so I kind of had to improvise before they started asking questions."

"Oh this should be good…"

"I told them that Ron and I had broken up so instead of just going with you lot, I decided to have the head boy escort me since we have a lot of planning to start on anyways for the year."

"Very clever, Miss. Granger, and I'm sure Malfoy does indeed have many plans for the year." Hermione tapped both of her fore and middle finger together against her temple as she nodded her head to Ginny's observation. Hermione was a downright terrible liar so therefore bending the truth just a little while staying in the parameters was about the best that she could do to land in the middle.

"I just think they need a little time still, despite what they say, I think they need it."

Throughout Voldemort's chaos, through the blood, battle, and pain, everyone hoped and dreamt of that moment the war was finally over so they could do the one thing that truly mattered to them. It was something that no person should have to discover under those circumstances but it was something that they'd all thought long and hard about. For Hermione, it was finding her parents, for Ginny, it was to finally be with the man of her dreams, for Ron, it was to grieve the loss of his family, finally, and for Harry, it was simply to finally rest but they all had one. They all had that one small thing to hope and hold on to. The moment they'd won the war, Ginny thought that her life would be nothing but endless bliss with Harry from that point out, ready to collect on her only consolation prize but unfortunately her dreamy schoolgirl hopes for romance, that thing that she'd truly dreamt about for so long, went on a bit of a back burner to the things that mattered more.

Harry had all too willingly sacrificed his own hopes of a peaceful rest after such an exhausting life already when he swiftly took Hermione to run off to Australia in a desperate search with to locate her parents in hopes that between the two of them they could manage a task that in all of their knowledge had only been done correctly twice. They'd all read the dozens of articles that Hermione had attempted to pick up between the battles and relocating about reversing the spell she'd cast over her mum and dad but they all gave little to no clues or help. Hermione, with Harry's careful arm around her, never let that waver her hope. If anything, it only determined her to push harder, to discover and understand with a fever that naturally described the book inclined witch.

"They're mostly finished with the property there and we've already got everything else back in so I'm hoping by Christmas things will feel a little less…"

"I know…Hey, your parents are really happy to be coming home so you should stop beating yourself up over something that they're not even mad at you for."

There was a small degree of sadness wafting in the air as Hermione thought over the weeks it'd taken, the pain and energy, the suffering on either end that it'd took just to reach her parents but Ginny was right. Hermione would never forget the look in her mother's eyes, the way they raised so drastically around the rims, shining brightly in the room when the memory of her daughter flooded her mind fully. "My mum said she felt this terribly anxious void the whole time, like she knew something was missing or that she'd forgotten something but she just couldn't put her finger on it."

As much as Hermione felt bad for the pain it'd caused the ones she'd loved, her parents felt worse that no matter the degree of magic they could ever manage to forget about their one and only daughter. They hadn't wanted to let her go again for the summer, and honestly she hadn't wanted to leave them, but this was traumatic for everyone involved so her ever careful nature told her to proceed with caution. Neither one of her parents, however, thought they needed any time at all. What they felt they really needed was their little girl back where they knew she was safe and sound but Hermione insisted downright that they take their time moving everything back to London, themselves included before they added any more unneeded stress to themselves. The Granger's, no matter neither the amount of promising nor the amount of owls she swore she'd send, were still not very keen on missing more precious time but they still drudgingly agreed to tie up the loose ends now as a part from later so they could simply move forward.

Ginny was looking hard for the words to comfort her friend but she couldn't honestly think of a single one that was up to par with the way she knew Hermione was feeling and it was evident with that strange, sadly pained expression lodged into her face but she was thankfully rescued from her horrible lack of appropriate phrases with a rather disrupting crack booming down the hall.

"Is that Draco?" It felt so foreign using Malfoy's first name to Ginny. It was almost like calling him Draco meant he was an entirely different person. Someone that Ginny hadn't truly met before and it made he feel a bit perturbed at the thought she was meeting someone that was, truthfully, Hermione's new boyfriend for the very first time.

"Who's that?" Hermione called out into the hall, her wand still ever clutched in her fingers while Ginny motioned inside the modest pocket of her pants to free her own wand at the ready. There wasn't much noise answering her back as Hermione strained her ear to the open door leading into the hall without actually moving from where her heels had settled.

"Oi!" Hermione pressed either of her brows together, setting her face determined as she held her wand out before her, stalking out straight into the hall with the low click of her heels echoing from the wood planks of the floor. Ginny was two steps behind her but apparently that was two steps two close for the moment Hermione flinched on her heels to halt, Ginny had to scurry not to scramble straight into her back. Her hand shot straight to her heart the second her feet landed solid, gasping a strained breath just as she heard Hermione announce with a bit of shock, "Draco…"

There Draco stood, squinting his sapphire tinted eyes in the room, mildly dragging his sight over this thing of that before he set them entirely on the woman standing before him, her wand lowered before her as she settled her other along the bend of her hip. "You look quite stunning, freckles. I'm a bit early it seems…" Draco managed to tear his eyes away from the masterpiece that was Hermione in that dress to dash them along Ginny standing rather mused just behind her shoulder as he nodded a small greeting, "She-Weasley."

"Malfoy." Ginny curtly nodded her head back, scoffing as he moved his attention sharply back to the brunette before him as she added softly to the hall with that airiness of hers settling back in her tone.

"Don't look so shabby yourself, Draco."

If Draco hadn't been deliberating his former conversation with Potter so desperately in the back of his mind still, he would have made quite the dashing cover photo for the next twisted article which ever tabloid felt like publishing, Hermione was definitely right about that. It came as no surprise that the dark grey suit he'd slid onto his tall, lithe physique fit him in a way that left one with the residing thought that it must have been made for him and him alone. Draco had modestly adopted on a simple black, long sleeved shirt but it went mostly unnoticed beneath the unbuttoned vest and jacket with its subtle lines of a dark crimson and faint red lining and piping around the dips and curves of them.

"You shaved." Hermione added the comment offhandedly, trying to decipher what it was exactly that had Draco's expressions set so severely into his stoic glance but it shifted at her statement, moving to draw his hand up against his chin with a quirk of his head.

"I'm pretty sure I was almost ambushed twice alone just on my way here. Can't go out looking like I crawled out of bed when you're wearing that now can I, dear?" Whatever it was that was eating at him swallowed back in the slightest as he cocked up that smirk of his, tuning up his charming words with his eyes ever admiring the fabric against her. "You got everything together, freckles?"

Hermione started nodding long before she'd actually thought the question through, lifting her finger in thought and a small wince as she pleaded, "Uh, wait…I think I just need two more minutes."

Draco swiftly glanced round what he could see of the Granger's modest home, answering her flatly as Ginny stood back watching the small exchange, fighting the urge to laugh as Draco began the never winning battle at trying to rush Hermione, especially while she prepared herself for school.

"Your house looks immaculately clean, everything looks fine, you look fine…where's the hold up?" His intention wasn't to push her out the door to hurry along to their date, as much as Draco wished it was. That rather obnoxious conversation with Potter, where he accused every accurate question, was knowledge he did not enjoy keeping secret from her any longer and she was certainly not helping matters.

"I just need to finish putting my chests together so I can ship them tonight." Draco looked completely and utterly unamused by her statement but she defended herself with another pleading smile before she motioned with that same finger and moved to flutter quickly off into her room before he could protest further.


"You kiss your mother with that mouth, Malfoy?" Draco had opted not to stand there staring at the youngest Weasley and weighing whether he wanted to run in there and just tell her or hold his tongue so he found quick escape to the nearest exit into the fresh air that was possible. He stood with his back facing the now open front entry door behind him, loosely pressing the fabric of his jacket back to dip his hand inside his pants pocket while he fingered a lit cigarette in his hand when Ginny had popped her head out.

"No, but my girlfriend doesn't seem to mind." Draco had drawled the words in between a free ease of smoke pressing out between his lips long before he started to shift his feet and weigh around to face the scowl that would have made Ginny's mother proud. Draco lightly shrugged his shoulder, easily letting his sights fall on to the she weasel as she raised either of her auburn brows up at him from her position there in the open door frame. With a small wave with the lit cigarette in his hand, Draco added dryly, "You know what they say…if smoking doesn't kill you, the Malfoy's will."

There was short burst of laughter that erupted from Ginny's lips, "My mum tells my dad and Charlie that when she's nagging them for smoking a pipe." There was a small smile on the red heads lips but she seemed a bit apprehensive as she moved to take a step out onto the porch, reaching behind her the tug the door softly to leave Hermione to her obsessive checklist to finalize and finish. "You honestly like her, don't you, Malfoy?"

Draco briefly looked down to the half smoked cigarette that rested in between both his middle and forefinger with a heavy, dwelling sigh to the question he was growing rather tired of answer, or not answering, before he lifted the cerulean depths up to her, "No, Weasley. Not one bit. Hate her actually. I just think it'd be really neat to get the chance to be parts of the Potter pals. Truly a lifelong dream for me."

"You don't have to be an ass." Draco had moved a bit down from her on the wood planks that were badly in need of new paint when he took another drag of the square, trying to blow the smoke off into the distance as she shook her head behind him, finding herself sneering in a way that was normally reserved for his face while he talked to one of them. "I don't get you, Malfoy. I mean, I literally just heard about how you…"

"I was joking, she Weasley. Relax…" Draco quickly interrupted her before she had a chance to continue whatever it was that Hermione had just gushed out to her but it left Ginny fighting the urge to leap to the defensive, moving to cross her arms in a loose hold just below the fall of her chest. "All joking aside, however, you don't know me very well."

"No, I don't, Malfoy." Ginny had yet to unfold her arms but she could admit that much to him. "I just meant that I don't think you would have attacked my brother if you didn't really like her, all things, considered."

"No, Weasley, I personally wouldn't have done it if I didn't really like her, as your so educated vocabulary put it, but I would have had it done regardless." Draco had lowered his cigarette from his lips in the same motion her breathed the smoke lined words out to her, "Again, you don't know me very well." Draco mused out to her while he rested to sit back along the banister, his ankles crossing numbly before him with that tilt of his head as he lifted his eyes up to her in the diming sunlight that was leaving those sapphire hues squinting against her. "There's really no excuse for your brother or his actions."

Ginny was a bit lost for words. She found herself once again wanting to hate Draco, wanting to smack the arrogance from his words but it wasn't the same snotty brat of a tone he used to snarl down on her so it left her a bit perturbed. If anything, Draco seemed bothered with the irritation that was trapped somewhere behind his eyes as he attempted to remain as he confessed to her with addition, "Your beloved paid me a visit today."

"Does he know?" Ginny suddenly felt like she was sneaking around herself, acting as a super top secret spy, awaiting her cue to drop the bomb while she tried to sidestep Malfoy's bizarre little nick names for everyone that was present in his life. "I mean about you and Hermione?"

"It's Potter. Even I don't think he'd dumb enough not to know something but no, I didn't tell him. I'm not really sure he would believe me if I had tried to be honest." Draco couldn't help but notice the way that the younger girl's hair cascaded in such shimmering waves off of her shoulders each time the chilling breeze slid past, watching her frown at his statement where she stood with her back still remaining to the door.

"Harry…" Ginny thought over her boyfriend for a few moment, sighing as she nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, Harry's going to be a dozy."

Ginny wasn't really sure what to say to him on the matter once again because he was the outsider in this situation, after all. Harry was her boyfriend and while she planned full and well to give him a piece of her mind for going to question Malfoy again, like she'd specifically told him not to, he was still her boyfriend so whether or not he's tied a bow in Draco's usually white hair or knocked his teeth out…he still won with Ginny. Still, Ginny found it a bit troubling to attempt to put the image of Draco into her head as she stared down against who she was so used to portraying himself as Malfoy, carelessly smoking from the end of his cigarette, his eyes and attention constantly drifting off in the greenery that wrapped around the quaint little neighborhood and streets surrounding them.

"Can I say something without you getting all…you like?"

There was a short laugh, an actual laugh, that left his mouth when Draco quirked his chin up to her, "Well, alright, Weasley…since you asked so nicely."

He hadn't meant any real harm by it but she shot him a small, condescending glance of her eyes before she too set her chin determined, plucking her arms from their fold across her chest and letting them fall slack at her sides. "I was going to say thanks." There was a brief pause over the word as it settled off of her tongue, sighing hard before she corrected her sentence and herself at the same time, "I was going to say thank you."

"Well I'm not sure what it is that I've done for you but if I say you're welcome can we just leave it at that?"

"I'm a Gryffindor, Malfoy."

"So not a chance then?"

"Not a chance."


Draco certainly hadn't won the battle of rushing Hermione but somehow he'd managed to eventually get her to stop unpacking, repacking, unpacking, restuffing, and doing it all over again and allow him to just shrink it all down to size and send it to his apartment with the promises she could repeat the task a million times over if she'd just eat first. A good hour and some odd amount of minutes later and Draco had finally torn her away and managed to detach her from her obsessive folding to get them to The Ledbury.

It was a rather ritzy restaurant just inside Notting Hill but best of all, it was completely in muggle run. Draco never thought he'd be thrilled to whisk some half blood witch off to a muggle restaurant but Hermione Granger was not just some witch or so she insisted on broadcasting to him. Perhaps that was the reason that despite his careful thoughts to keep them just out of the wizarding eye for a nice, camera free dinner, he couldn't seem to manage to stop the waves of tension eating through his senses.

"Sir…Madame." The waiter cleared his throat softly, resting a pad of paper over the delicately folded napkin lying on his forearm as he looked down his thin nose at the two of them, his brows raised in silent question.

"Yes…" Draco slowly rested the menu down before him on the table, setting the chiseled structure of his face as he slid the words from his mouth without a thought, "I think we'll start with the Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru, Domaine de la Romanée Conti."

"The eighty-five, Sir?"

"Yes." Hermione had absolutely no idea what had just left Draco's lips but it certainly sounded pretty. Something about foreign tongue…like Viktor Krum, it had a certain charm about it.

"Very good. Excellent wine, Sir." The tall, lengthy waiter seemed to agree rather strongly with Draco's choice of what now appeared to be wine for he was nodding with a small draw of his mouth back, silently judging the table in a new light with Draco's one sentence and leaving him with a strangely more calm appearance than the stiff, mechanical robots that all of the staff gave illusion to being beneath their fleshy exterior. "Shall I have the starter prepared, Sir?"

With all of Draco's flawless etiquette skills in public, instead of simply ordering or making the decision, he opted to slide his eyes against her, tilting his head at her while he delicately moved to rest his hand to the back of her bone upholstered chair, "What'd you fancy, freckles?" Draco carefully let his fingers drag the menu closer to the space between them, pressing it in front of her to move her own out of the way. It was an unnecessary gesture but Draco sat there smiling lightly, keeping his eyes glued to Hermione the entire process.

Hermione's rounded tip nose scrunched up when she lifted her head to him, missing the waiter avert his eyes at the small exchange between them while she placed her finger blindly on the page, "This one…" They both moved to look at what it was she was pressing the pad of her finger into before Draco popped his head up to answer. Draco was fully ready to let that easy tone of his grace out but the waiter too was peering over his nose now and it seemed he was bent to beat him to the punch.

"The salad of spring vegetables with Quail Egg, smoked cheese and herbs…very good. I'll only be a moment, please excuse me."

Draco's brows flinched back a bit at the man's quick departure before he chuckled out, his hand still clasped at the back of her chair where he'd seated himself next to her, "And you thought I was impatient."

"You are impatient, Draco."

"Admitted…but I told you I'd replace everything I've torn."

Hermione had to remind herself that they were, in fact, inside a muggle restaurant when the waiter reappeared literally only a moment later with a trail of black suited men to aid. They moved so quickly that Hermione had to stand by her original thought that they all moved far too mechanically to actually be real live in the flesh, boring, average, every day people with the way they all whisked to the table in one fluid motion. There had to be six different waiters suddenly appearing to help carry the fresh bottle of wine, bring the glasses, to pop the cork, pour the cups, place the stand, set the appetizer and plates…it truly was carefully organized chaos.

"You look breathtaking in that dress, Hermione." Draco's body pressed from his seat, lowering his mouth closely to trail his words out against her ear, leaving his distraction from the bustle around their table null and void when he'd put his focus on her. Something about the way he said her name, so low, so intimately before he shifted his lashes to raise such heated cerulean depths to set against her entirely.

"It is a breathtaking dress, Draco…but you really have to stop doing this." Just as soon as everyone had appeared at the table, they just as quickly vanished and left them to a rather beautiful plate of food and two gorgeously colored glasses of rich red wine just begging to be drunk.

Draco had yet to remove his hand from her chair but he did tear that shifted glance away from her when he moved to divide the artistically laid food off onto the small, square white plates in front of either of them as he questioned, "What's that? Buying you things you like and things I like buying you?" He easily slid the large serving fork back onto the platter, leaning his weight back into his chair while sliding his wine towards him all at the same time, waiting for her to pull an excuse for the strange request out of thin air.

"Yes, precisely that."

"No." He answered her lightly but it was solid and blunt, lifting his brows to take a small warming sip of the superior liquid while Hermione plucked a piece of cheese straight from her plate and into her mouth, closing her eyes momentarily to savor the sweetness it emitted back into her senses in order not to reach across the table and smack his high and mighty answer right back into his mouth. Hermione tapped her fingernails against the surface of the table while she chewed slowly, trying not to watch as he watched her, trying to ensure she understood he was entirely serious about the matter. "Absolutely not, freckles."

"Draco…"

"Yes, dear?"

"I'm being serious here! How much did this even cost?" With a slow motion, Draco swirled the dark wine in a fluid circle inside of his glass, warming it in his hand and breathing it in the air as he completely ignored her question, shrugging nonchalantly before moving to take a testing sip. "How much, Draco?"

"Far less than this," Draco motioned to the glass before he moved to place it down, carefully digging into the appetizer with his fork before he explained with a wave of his hand, "Be mad all you want, it's not going to stop. Most of the things that I truly want I cannot buy with money, or I would."

Hermione wasn't truly, deep down angry with him but it was the principle in the matter that he downright refused her this little humility. Hermione sat tight lipped for a good moment or two, washing back the sweet spices that hinted their food with small sips of wine, debating on how exactly she was going to win this before she boldly folded her arms over her chest, trying to keep her glass upright as she breezed out, "That would be what I am worried about here, Draco. People, myself included, thinking you're trying to buy me."

"I am not trying to buy you, Granger. Just because I bought you a dress does not mean I'm trying to keep you quiet. Just because I buy you flowers doesn't mean I'm trying to get in your knickers…" Draco continued on, dryly giving her examples with that careful watch of his set on her from the corner of his eye, "And just because I may feel like buying you half of Hogsmede, because I probably could, doesn't mean that I am trying to win you over by doing it. Besides, I'm pretty sure it would take much more than that to impress you so I'm not sure why you're thinking so lowly of me."

"If it's so harmless than why won't you tell me how much it cost?" Hermione countered, her knee slowly drawing to cross over her opposite as Draco moved to drop his head to his hand, taking a few careful breaths before he could muster out a sentence to her without wanting to shake her.

"The dress or the wine, Granger?"

"Both, while we're at it."

There was a rather disbelieving look on Draco's pale features when he slid his hand down the structure of his face, sliding his head up with a small shake as he lifted it to stare blindly at the ceiling but the numbers shrugged out of his mouth so mind bogglingly accurate that Hermione had to gape just to understand. "The dress…uh, three hundred and fifty galleons, one sickle, and nineteen knuts if I recall correctly…The wine, about 440 galleons…are you content now?" Hermione's eyes were rather comically wide when he'd finished, watching her run her hands over the smooth skirt trying to understand how anyone just had that much money to go spending on anyone without a second thought but Draco wasn't finished talking just yet, "It's just money, Hermione."

"It's a lot of money, Draco! Too much money…"

"Ok…what about Perfects Who Gained Power?"

Hermione blinked a bit, "What?"

"The book, Granger. That book cost a lot of money and I see you didn't think too much of that." He was actually still trying to justify his odd habits but he was leaving Hermione quite caught up on the confusion lining the details of his statement.

"Ok, first, yes, it was a pricey book but I did not purchase said book so I don't see your point….and even if I had spent my own money to buy it, well, it's educational!"

"No, you did not because it was a gift, no?" Draco wasn't watching her so intently anymore when he slipped to take his glass a bit closer to himself, "From that gangly Weasley perhaps?"

"No, I don't know. It could have been from Percy but I doubt it. I mean…it might have been. I found it in my bag one night." Hermione still did not understand his point but she even more so did not understand the calm façade he'd tugged on so quickly, nodding to her statement and speaking all too calmly between small swirls of his wine glass as he held it between those long, slender fingers of his.

"I imagine you tried to return it." Draco mused softly, watching the shadows of Hermione's face scrunch down in her thoughts over his statements, answering him so guardedly that she actually drew her chin and head a hairsbreadth back.

"Yes…I did try and return it to the library but it didn't belong to Hogwarts. They said it belonged to me." Hermione paused and thought hard for a moment in the back of her brain, drawing her eyes far off in the room in her process before she sharply snapped them down on him. "I found that book in my bag last year; I really thought it was Harry…"

"I assumed you would."

"How long have you been doing this?" Hermione asked the question with as much reserve as she could muster. She found herself sitting against the edge of her seat mentally, holding her breath trapped as she prayed a bit he'd turn to tell her he had no idea what she was talking about but alas…

"Awhile…so really, it's nothing new to get used to, Granger." There went that hope.

The waiter, ever the attentive one, was more that swift about clearing away the empty starter plates and tray, bringing them a fresh bottle of wine to acquire to the room temperature while they finished through their first, and mindlessly jotting down their main course on that thick pad of his with a rapid sense of urgency despite Draco's casual tone as he slid their order out to him. For the first time that night, Hermione was a bit thankful that the waiter had vanished so quickly, leaving her to press forward from her chair, literally this time.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, darlin'. Just stop telling me how I should treat you." It came out of his mouth far too smoothly, as did the motion he made to smooth his hand forward to brush over her own, but that sour look on his lips as he strained a smile upon them made Hermione's stomach clench. For some reason she honestly felt the need to apologize to him but she couldn't force herself to do it, regardless of his turning mood so Hermione settled on a quick diversion.

"So how mad was Harry?" Draco drew his face back sharply, his eyes lifted wide at her response. "Ginny told me already before she left to go tell him for me," Hermione explained plainly, Draco giving his head a short shake of relief as he nodded to her.

"Merlin, Granger, you could have told me that you already knew two hours ago." As much as it irked his core that the petite red headed witch went and told Hermione exactly what he'd explained to her was not the best friendly greeting either he or Harry had attempted, he was more than happy that he didn't have to be the one to tell her. "Wonder Boy isn't our big problem here though, freckles. For once."

Hermione fully turned in her chair now, folding her leg over her knee once again as she rested her hands over top of them daintily, trapping his hand in between while she listened with either brow arched high in her attention. "Want to tell me what exactly that means?"

"Weasley didn't take our little encounter too well and has kind of made things a bit more complicated than needs be. Unfortunately, I can't solve this one by murdering him like I wanted to in the first place." Draco paused on the thought, adding seriously to her, "You should have let me kill him."

"What are you talking about? What'd he do now?" Draco hated that…when she called Weasley he or him like he was supposed to assume that was the man she was talking about, even if he did.

"Primarily? He's causing commotion on whether he'll seek charges against me for knocking his worthless teeth in."

"Jesus Christ…"

"Who?"

Hermione frowned deeply at Draco's lost expression, waving it off as she scoffed out into the room, not really pointing the comment to Draco but it was relevant to his ears none the less. "I can't believe he'd threaten to press charges knowing what that could mean…"

"Well, neither can I but you Gryffindor's never cease to baffle me."

Would this nightmare ever end? The entire time they'd been in the restaurant, Draco seemed nothing but tense and awkward as he tried to hard not to be and Hermione couldn't help sponging on that very emotion now. The aggravation of restraining his actions was taking a toll on the fine lines of his face every time he'd move to touch her and find himself flinching back, lowering his hand to her own or off to the back of her chair. Still, as annoying as it was to watch him grow so bothered, it was far more stressful to watch him sit so nerve wracked, which he was, trying to explain to her the mess that they were facing now. "That's not the worst part…"

"That's not the worst part? It gets worse? How…how can this get worse?" Draco surely was not answering quickly enough for the distress she was feeling. He moved easy, gracefully reaching to pour either of their glasses full again, adjusting himself comfortably in his seat beside her before he could continue on.

"Aside from my not so suavely handled confrontation with Potter and aside from your completely dimwitted ex attempting to have me locked away, again, he also reported the two of us to the ministry."

Hermione's lips parted with a small laugh, her tone light as she easily scoffed out, "nothing to report us about so bullocks on that…"

"They're going to investigate our relationship, freckles."

Hermione's lips were still pressed open as she reached to slip her fingers around the smooth rim of her glass just begging for her to down fully. "What exactly does that mean to me? What exactly should that mean to me? Why would the ministry give a flying hoot about who we date?"

"They don't, usually, but they do give a flying hoot, as you so sweetly put, when the two persons in question just so happen to be the appointed heads of the first returning semester at the reforming Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry which means they are bound at the hip from classes to bed." With great power comes great responsibility? No, with great power comes an even greater headache, that's the way it'd always proved itself to Draco at least. "It's not that big of a deal but…"

"Not that big of a deal?" Hermione could barely make the words out, straining to bite the volume back she had truly wanted to shout them in as he lifted his hand forward in attempt to grasp one of her own but she slid it away with careful warning that she was obviously in no mood to be shushed by his little pats and reassuring touches.

"Merlin, Granger, relax, it's really not. We can tell them whatever you want, alright? I thought we better talk about this now as opposed to when they ambush us tomorrow."

Draco tried for a second time to take hold of Hermione's hand, managing to capture it enough to weave it into his own and rest it back down along her knee after a few more futile attempts. "I've been trying to figure out the best way to tell you this since I read it this morning."

"The owl from your mother?"

"Yes. She's a mother…she sees all, hears all, knows all and worst of all, tells all."

"Does she know about us?"

Draco sighed briefly when Hermione stretched her thin fingers against his, clutching them lightly in her hold there, vaguely covered behind the table while he drew his opposite elbow up to the back of his chair, resting his head against the bend of his knuckles, "Not exactly but like I said, she's all knowing so I don't put too much past her. That's all a story for a later date though because this doesn't involve her. This is about how you and I have ten hours and a train ride to figure out just what exactly we're going to do here."

"Do you honestly want to lie?"

Draco's pale face drew in with a desperate shake of his head, taking his hand from its press along his cheekbone to wave lightly in the air, "Hell no, fuck, no, I truly do not want to keep lying." Even now he was tired of lying about the fact that he wanted to hear her breath against his mouth when he kissed her but alas, this was all still one big secret for her sake so he kept quiet. Still, as awful as it was, Draco knew the consequences of it all and while for some of them he was more than willing to sacrifice for, some of the others he wasn't too sure she would.

"Excuse me, Sir…Madame" Again, the familiar drone of the waiter popped Hermione from her attention, snapping her head up with the instantly charmed smile sliding into place but it slid right from its proper position when she caught sight of none other than Betty Braithwaite, Rita Skeeter's very own clone from another mother but oddly just as identical as she had been. Instead of the waiter slipping her lobster in front of her, he carefully tried to question Draco whether or not this intrusion was to be allowed but the rather innocently sweet appearing woman still managed to pat her hands and weasel her way right over to their table regardless of permission.

"It's alright! We're close personal acquaintances." Betty had tried to reassure the waiter far too friendly with her tone, her large teeth glimmering as she smiled widely at him but he only slid his eyes emotionlessly back to Draco, waiting for that firm nod of his, never flinching.

"Are you enjoying your last night before bucking back into school work, Miss. Granger?"

There was a strange exchange of glances wafting around the table but Draco settled to giving the waiter the cue he was desperately waiting on. What could he do? The woman was already hands on the table, literally, and Draco was pretty sure it was going to take a lot more than the security of this upscale rendezvous to escort the likes of her out of the scene uninterrupted.

Draco numbly raised a hand out to interrupt the twittering woman before Hermione could open and shut her mouth one more time, looking like a fish out of water like she was trying to think of something to say to her in response so shocked on the spot. "Can I interest you in a glass of wine since it seems you'll also be partaking in our dinner, Miss. Braithwaite?"

"No, thank you, kindly." The words that slipped from her lips in that falsetto tone were like nails on a chalk board to Draco's already grated nerves. It just wasn't natural. Hermione shot Draco a glare, moving to take a sip of her own wine before she could manage a straight sentence out.

"What do we owe this visit, here, in this muggle town of Notting Hill, Miss. Braithwaite?"

"Well I was hoping for a small follow up to put in the good news section…" Again with that voice! She seemed so positively chipper to anyone who didn't know the slanderous lies both herself and all of her colleagues spewed at anyone else's expense. Betty put both of her thumbs up before she turned both of them and her face down in her saddened pout, lowering her voice as she added, "…to take your very hard earned reputations and names out of the bad section."

"In regards to what exactly, Braithwaite?" Malfoy never lost that cool composure as he eyed the snake beneath such a pristinely pinned façade. Even when the trove of waiters came back with an array of plates to start depositing their dinner onto the table, Draco never flinched. He simply sipped from his wine, his hand protectively at the back of Hermione's chair, watching as the woman frantically tried to take notes, despite the lack of answers coming from them, without the use of her magically inclined abilities here in such a muggle central place.

"Well the wizarding world wants to know, Mr. Malfoy, if you think that you and Miss. Granger will last?"

"We're finished here." Still ever the charming one, Draco set a rather sly smile on his lips as he moved to tighten his fingers along the rounded back of Hermione's chair, trying to keep calm for both of their sakes.

"I see, I see, and Miss. Granger…"

"I said we're finished here. The lady is trying to eat her dinner…if you don't mind."

Dozens of chocolate frogs, Honeyduke's hard candy, endless amounts of pumpkin juice and blood orange fizzing soda, and a never ending supply of exploding bon bons had usually topped Hermione's pre leaving for school rituals but instead of Quidditch banter and games of chess, Hermione sat staring at the masterpiece that was her dinner, unable to devour or even touch it considering they had been stalked down all the way in an overcrowded restaurant in a muggle city. And here Hermione thought that the train ride was going to cause her enough stress in the hours prior…silly how hindsight is.

"I don't and I won't be but another moment." Draco's demeanor had already shifted quite drastically but Betty only dotted her pen in the air towards his face as she moved right on jotting down as many notes as she possibly could, Merlin only knowing what. "Miss. Granger…how long have you and Mr. Malfoy been secretly in love?"

The legs of Draco's chair groaned along the tile as he stood abruptly from his chair, leaving his glass idly in his clutch, tearing his hand from Hermione's chair and thrusting his fist down into the white lines of the table cloth between the littering of their plates and dishes steaming and just waiting to be dug into. "We have nothing more to say to you, Braithwaite. Wish I could say it'd been a pleasure…" He had politely tried to dismiss her but Betty was far too good of a lackey to let it go that easily. Hermione tossed her napkin into her lap with a rather irritable roll of her eyes when the nosy reporter finally slid to her feet with the thin, narrow point of her nose angling her beady eyes down onto Draco as she attempted to interject.

"How about an exclusive interview? I've already sat down with Mr. Weasley, you know, Miss. Granger, your recent ex lover." Draco was far above hitting a woman but man he wished he wasn't. Funny thing was, Hermione too had far too much class to stoop to a scuffle but she certainly flinched to stand at that comment and Draco was sure without a shadow of a doubt that Hermione would have given the fake witch the punch he was longing to do had he not halted his hand out to stop her, splaying his fingers to keep her at bay.

"Listen here…"

"No, you know what? I got this one, Draco. Thank you." Draco paused, watching as Betty's hand too paused sharply with the tip of her pen pointed against the notepad she'd been jerking about with her eyes darting between the two. Draco was far less frantic in motion when he slowly leaned his eyes to bend to her, his head following second as he lifted those pale blonde brows of his.

"Sure about that one, freckles? Big day tomorrow…" Draco warned lightly, trying not to sound too condescending but even he was biting his tongue back knowing what they still had to face.

"Absolutely certain." Hermione wasn't one to stand up to something she wasn't determined to face and now was no exception. There was a soft smile on her lips as she turned her head to face Betty fully, lifting her brows as she sweetly asked, "You don't so happen to have a copy of that exclusive interview, do you, Betty?"

The elder witch seemed a bit perturbed at the common use of her first name so informally but she nodded her head despite the lack of her eyes being actually drawn to either Hermione or Draco. "I absolutely do but it's not set to be printed until tomorrow. I was hoping to print yours alongside it." Hermione had still yet to remove the scrunched satin gloves of hers and she couldn't help but revel in the feel of them running down the bodice of her dress, smoothing over her skirt as she set those bright chocolate eyes dead set on the dark rooted blonde before her.

"Then I suggest you listen here, as you have nothing else that I want…" Hermione began much as Draco did, giving him a thankful nod of her head for beginning for her but she was fully prepared to finish, "…I am Hermione Jean Granger. If someone from The Daily Prophet wants an interview with myself or Mr. Malfoy, they'll send Cuffe because no one else corrupted to bias babble is worth a moment of my time, especially you." Draco blew a small breath of air out, unable to stop the tint of a smirk gallivanting back onto his mouth. What could he say? It was so very low of her to say but it was so very Slytherin…Draco could have pictured the same thing coming out of his mouth, well, if you threw in a few more curse words that is.

"Two choices here, very simple so I'm sure even you'll be able to follow…" Hermione was venomously lashing her words out, talking down to the woman who had to be seven years her prior like she was a first year, "You can leave now and let us enjoy our dinner since we've spent so much time fighting to let you and the rest of the world enjoy their lives and wait until the day comes that myself or Mr. Malfoy wish to make a public statement about any of the before mentioned questions or you can continue to stalk me and I will be forced to destroy your existence as you know it."

"Was that a threat, Miss. Granger? I think she's had a bit too much wine." Draco wanted to warn the woman to bite her tongue but Hermione still smiled that sweet, dimple bearing smile of hers, watching her with that same sparkle in her eye like when she met a knew potion that struck her fancy.

"Not at all, Betty, it was a very accurate promise. Like I said, if you'd like to behave like someone who writes for the pink magic section then I'll be happy to pull some strings and make the transfer official. I have the highest marks since the beginning of Hogwarts; I've single handedly broken seven unbreakable curses, three in the last six months, rescued and cured dozens of lost witches or wizards, helped design spells meant to teach this semester to help rebuild our school, and still managed to help win the worst war the wizarding world will ever have to see if there is still blood in my body." The far too thinly plucked brows of the woman shook at the high peak as she listened to Hermione speak softly to her like she wasn't tearing into her soul, "I am Hermione JEAN Granger. Who the hell are you?"


Hermione woke early in the bleak hours of the morning, her eyes sharply opening into the strange, foggy blue haze that was creeping through the windows lining Draco's room. She'd awoken with a jolt of energy, ready to tackle the day head first and set to a long list of duties she'd planned in her head to check off one at a time before Draco even managed to get out of bed but the fact that he was already not in the bed seemed to put a small damper on her strategy.

It was with much rapid motion that Hermione whipped herself from the bed she'd sought refuge in for the last few days, blinking hard to try and clear the fog that still misted in her brain. The room bounced back and forth in her wavering vision, blurring in such a way that it honestly made her search for him a bit troubling but she sought hard none the less to find not only him but any of the mess they'd left when they'd collapsed, thoroughly exhausted, the night prior. Hermione stood still for a moment, rubbing her eyes as she tried to comprehend how there wasn't a single piece of clothing strewn over the floor or a single chest to drag out.

Bare feet padded softly against the ground, wandering the room a bit irritated that Draco had obviously beaten her to the punch to prepare everything, and she did mean everything, for their departure in just a few hours but he wasn't exactly in the room for her to scold, now what he?

"Draco?"

Draco flinched in his chair long before Hermione's bare feet had padded down the hall, clad in nothing but his button down that was doing a poor job holding on to her curves with the way she'd sloppily placed the buttons in askew holes. The long length of her hair was wildly clinging around her face, matted this way and that from her tossing and turning when she'd made her way out the find Draco slack in his arm chair propped before the dying fire he'd let go unattended. The muscles along his back tightened at the first sound of her voice, letting out a deep breath to turn his eyes over and up to face her as she breathed out, "Gods, Draco…you look terrible…have you even been to bed?"

Draco wanted to frown at her but he found himself far too tired for that much emotion so he set simply to leaving his eyes dully set to her, watching her stare judgment into his exhausted features as she rounded around on him and his chair, blocking the glow of the flames behind her delicately curved frame.

"Good morning to you too, freckles. You look quite ravishing yourself."

His voice sent shivers straight down the swell of Hermione's spine even in her hazy, waking state but the dark circles resting beneath Draco's pristine blue eyes was a bit unnerving to say the least. Draco reached his fingers out to her as he lifted his hand, giving a small grunt of satisfaction when she reached across to close the distance with her straightened arm, taking hold of his out held appendage to lace her fingers against his own. She easily allowed her feet to press her closer to his seated form, their hands sliding slack between them as she moved to stand between the parts of his thighs.

"You're not answering me, Draco. Have you been to bed?"

"Yes, twice this evening I believe." Hermione's nose scrunched down at him, hissing a bit behind her closed teeth as he continued on, "I've also been in the hall, the foyer, the balcony…I believe we made it to the kitchen table…"

He was avoiding the question like the plague, trying to sway her mind as he moved to tug her hip in a bit, folding her to sit down against the leather arm of his chair, brushing her legs up to rest comfortably over his lap as she questioned, "You worried about tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't say worried." The heat that radiated from Draco's touch never ceased to amaze Hermione because even in the heavy hours dwindling before them, it still managed to calm her nerves as he ran his hands idly against her calves while he spoke to her lowly in the silence of the room. "More like lost I'd say."

Hermione knew exactly what he meant. The whole night they'd tried to connive plan after plan to find a loop hole in having this whole thing be blown up so drastically in their faces but all they managed to do was meet nothing but dead ends. "I was going to make coffee, get everything together, and make some breakfast…" Hermione folded her ankle over her opposite, pressing down to set herself into Draco's lap carefully, rolling her head to his shoulder the moment his arms sighed around her.

"Yes…I wasn't sleeping well so I decided to go ahead and take care of it." Ah, a bit of truth from the master of deception. Wasn't sleeping well, though? That was the best Draco could come up with? He looked like he hadn't slept in a week and despite the fact that his face was smooth beneath Hermione's hands last night, he already had a dark scruff lining the chiseled structure of his jaw bone now. It didn't help that even then, the way his head was lulling against the top of her own head, his eyes half lidded, he looked as if he might just doze off for an eternity or two.

"I was hoping that The Prophet would be here by now…" Hermione admitted softly, trying not to sigh at the deep roll in Draco's eyes despite the heavy shadows filling the dim room.

There was no reason that she needed to go ruining her day reading the filth and the twisted words that they were set to post this morning staring Weasley and his new girlfriend, Draco was sure. It was only going to upset her and he knew it but worst of all, Draco feared it would only floor her into acting a bit irrationally, with all given right, and he wasn't sure how to keep stopping her from destroying a man he absolutely wanted to rot in front of his very eyes.

"Do not make me put you back to sleep, freckles." There was a light creeping motion in the pads of Draco's fingers, inching up her leg and towards his shirt just falling from her frame the way she was resting on top of him but she was all too quick to brush his hand away swiftly and all too accurately.

"Ah ah ah, I don't think I have the strength mister."

"You're a bad liar."

"You're the one who couldn't even wait till we left the restaurant last night." Draco could hear that light smile on her face as she purred her words into his skin there in the crook of his neck but what could he say? Like usual, she was telling the truth.

The second Hermione had damn near chased the reporter out of the restaurant, all without ever raising her voice, hand, or wand, Draco found himself having the just placed meal of theirs immediately wrapped for their quick departure. They'd made it to about the third coat closet before he'd given up attempting to wait another moment and gave in to simply dragging her inside to have his way with her. From there he finally made it to his loft, to the back of his couch, to the bar, against the hallway walls…and finally in his bed, the one place he'd truly wanted her in the first place. Draco had sat for hours restraining himself from touching her so he felt quite entitled to do every bit that he'd missed out on every second that he'd got until they were both lying naked, entangled and coated in a fine sheen of sweat, thoroughly exhausted and panting for breath…which is exactly what he did.

"If I go get the article…do you promise not to rip anyone's head off before we get to Hogwarts?" Hermione questioned him lightly, far too interested in whatever Braithwaite had written, in his personal opinion, this early in the morning.

"Can you?" Draco quirked his brow to her, watching as she stretched her legs out over the arm of his chair, moaning lightly in her arch of muscle, a heavy yawn parting her lips wide but she said nothing, only smiling up at him innocently…such a great cover for the destruction he knew, if pushed, she was quite capable of.


Good Girl Granger A Good Girl No More: Weasley Sets The Record Straight

By Betty Braithwaite

After the entire hubbub around the rather controversial break up of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, this reporter has finally gotten some answers! Mr. Weasley and his new beau, Miss. Lavender Brown, sat down with yours truly to give us the real, behind the scenes story over their love, loss, and betrayals over the last few months.

It's sadly true that Mr. Weasley admits that he sought out a relationship with Miss. Brown while he was still, in fact, dating the notorious Hermione Granger but is he really the one to be prosecuting for such a low act like we've all been lead to believe? This reporter certainly thought so until today.

"I'm not proud of the way I went about it, getting together with Lav, but I felt if Hermione's heart was already somewhere else then maybe it was time mine was too." Mr. Weasley said. When I asked whether or not it was the infamous Draco Malfoy that had stolen the young woman's love away from him, Mr. Weasley sadly looked to the floor, choking back tears and nodding emphatically. Through the heartbreak on his face, Mr. Weasley managed to tell me that Mr. Malfoy had started perusing Miss. Granger immediately upon ending the war and it wasn't long before they started their secret tryst, leaving the poor, grief stricken Weasley alone in his heart ache.

"Hermione is a very strong, independent woman. I don't think she ever meant to hurt me but once I knew about Malfoy, well, I guess I just didn't feel I had any other way out." Weasley said, lovingly holding onto his new love, Miss. Lavender Brown's hand as he spoke so sweetly of the woman who had just trampled his heart with infidelity and lies.

Mr. Weasley said he remained a doubting boyfriend despite the fact that Miss. Granger was anything but honoring him while she tried to figure her life out but he couldn't help but be drawn to the magnetic light around Miss. Brown in the mean time.

"Won won and I just knew we were destined to be together after the war. We just met up and…well, that was that!" Miss. Brown boasted proudly as she beamed her sparkling smile onto Mr. Weasley.

I asked Mr. Weasley why Miss. Granger would publically slander him for dating Miss. Brown when she was, in fact, the initial betrayer but he too seemed at a loss for words. Weasley seemed equally confused about the confrontation by Mr. Malfoy earlier this week when the two caused a good amount of damage and commotion over the Gryffindor goddess.

"I think Won won has more than paid the price and then some and all he did was let her use him! He is not the bad guy here, you know? When is Hermione going to stand up and take responsibility for what she did?" Miss. Brown commented.

"I'm a strong man, I can take all the crap I'm getting but I stood up like a man and I have admitted my wrongs so now I think it's time that everyone knows the full truth." Mr. Weasley said.

The misunderstood Weasley told us he had attempted to contact Miss. Granger a few times, desperately extending an arm of their lifetime friendship but she has downright refused any communication at all. Still, Mr. Weasley seems hopeful that his former girlfriend will come around in time but this reporter thinks it is Miss. Granger that should be doing the crawling!

I personally caught up with Miss. Granger outside of London while she feasted with, what a surprise, her surprisingly undercover new found love, Draco Malfoy to see what she had to say about all of this just last night. The two sneaking love birds shared a glass of wine with me while they talked about their plans of how they were spending their last evening before classes resumed but showed little remorse, if any, when it came to the public attack she'd commissioned about her ex not to mention his heartbreak.

What does the famous Harry Potter have to say?

Page 20 to continue


There was a low sigh of air being pressed through Draco's nostrils just from the title as he and Hermione held the paper out lengthwise in front of them where they both stood leaning over his kitchen island, mildly holding a cup of coffee to ease the tension already building but it was doing a poor job. Draco had yet to get a single wink of sleep. He'd been up for well past twenty four hours stressing about keeping the woman next to his from stressing but that was just causing more and more stress! He'd drank far too much the night previously, exerted far too much energy with the witch at his side, and he still had yet to face the ministry on two separate counts now, not to mention the lot of her friends, who he was sure were just itching to tear into him as well.

"I don't think I want to keep reading this anymore…"

"I tried to tell you it was going to be a bunch of shit, love."

"Don't call me that." Hermione reprimanded Draco shortly, sighing as she downed what was left of her caffeine in one swift gulp.

How could Ron say that about her? How could he lie and make her out to be the monster to the entire wizarding population after everything that he'd already put her through? Just when Hermione thought Ron had finally stepped aside, just when she thought he'd found the guts to give her this shred of decency to let her get over the mess in her own way, he had to pop back up and toss a wrench in the mechanism of her life all over again. Still, as Hermione chewed insistently on the bottom corner of her lip, trapping it between her teeth with her fretting thoughts, Draco only stood easy, taking a small sip of his coffee as he laid the paper flatly on the counter.

"It's a bunch of rubbish that I'm not sure why you're letting get to you." He reiterated the thought to her easily, frank and numb while he began leafing through the pages so that he could in fact continue the story he was telling her she was insane to keep reading.

"Because he's calling me a cheater, Draco! That is why I am letting this get to me. I am not the cheater here in case you've forgotten…" Draco scoffed lightly, propping his elbow on the counter, his chin resting to the top of his knuckles while he allowed his eyes to scan over the continuation of what had to be the most ridiculous article that he'd read involving them yet.

"Trust me, I didn't forget."

"Don't you care in the slightest that everyone is calling you a home wrecker?"

"Nope." Hermione could not quite grasp the way he truly seemed to, literally, give a fuck less about the rumors as a whole, shaking his head lowly at the words before him but Hermione was far past unnerved to allow him such short conversation.

"Draco!" She shouted his name with a good stomp of her foot and a rather wide, alarmed look darting through the specks of her eyes, watching as Draco let his arm fall flat to the counter, slowly turning his head around his shoulder to glare at her outburst while he dramatically tapped his fingers over the open pages of The Prophet.

"What is it, Granger?" Hermione opened her mouth to answer him but she was beginning to feel like a broken record so she settled with a deep roll of her eyes, watching Draco's lithe frame slide around to fully face her with that nearly empty cup of his resting inside his waiting palm. "I am trying to read about how I proposed to you on your and Weasley's anniversary."

He surely hadn't meant to sound so downright offended that she'd interrupted this honor for him in such a comical manor but Hermione found it hard suddenly to fight the pulling tilt of her mouth from giving her away. "You're such a prat."

"Listen, I think this whole thing is absolutely amazing. Damn well bloody fantastic actually and do you know why?"

"Because you're stoned?"

Hermione's slender arms slid along her chest, lifting a brow to him as he shrugged a response to her, complete with his soft chuckle in the room to top off his nonchalant demeanor so polar opposite of her own. "No but that is an excellent idea, love."

"Stop calling me that, Draco!"

The lines of his cheeks deepened into his smirk, so thorough amused by ruffling the feisty feathers that brought her to life but this really wasn't the time for that. "I do not give a good god damn about these articles because as far as I'm concerned, they only make him look foolish to those that you really give a bleeding heart for. I could care less because what could they possibly post that you would believe over me?"

"Well nothing but…"

"Then there is no argument here. It's stupid, Granger. I don't enjoy them printing nonsense about you, I'll give you that. That part irks me quite a bit actually but I'm all for being the reason that everyone is all fired up, aiming ammunition away from you so to speak."

Hermione tapped her foot, clicking her tongue against the back of her teeth before she slyly asked, "So did I say yes?"

"Well I don't know that because you won't let me keep reading now will you?"


By ten thirty in the morning, Kings Cross was already in full swing. Large, obnoxiously red, double decker buses dodged between small, compacted cars while they flowed through the streets around the building but that was nothing compared to the masses of people all crowding to slide through the closing doors to this train or that before it roared down the tracks with a loud blast of clouding white smoke to trail behind it.

"Gin, please stop holding your breath…you're making me nervous." Harry tried offering her a polite smile, inching the bridge of his glasses up his nose a hair while he squeezed the light arm resting around her shoulders reassuringly.

With a small frown, Ginny tilted her head up to him, huffing out a long breath of air to appease his request before she asked, "Where do you think she is? I swear if one more person tries to ask me about what happened then…well, I'll do something really terrible."

Harry couldn't help but nod with that widening smile of his, agreeing with her without a shadow of a doubt that she would indeed, do something very unladylike if someone bugged her one time past her limit.

"I saw her luggage getting loaded by the house elves inside the train already so I figured she'd already be here." Harry squinted hard through the crowd where they stood there in the long length running between platform 9 and platform ten.

"Got her! She's right there…" Ginny tried to point over Harry's head far down the way but she dropped her arm far too quickly for Harry to get a glimpse at where exactly she was pointing. "Well, I see Malfoy's blinding hair so she's got to be close by..."


"It's now or never, Malfoy…either you let go of my hand or we face the music." Draco narrowed his gaze down against her, his fingers still wrapped in her own while he stood tall at her side.

"That's what I was going to tell you, freckles."

It was a rather big leap of faith for Hermione, feeling her steps dragging in the slightest down the brick laid sidewalks wrapping around Kings Cross as she tried to debate it all so heavily in her head. If things could just remain as they were with Draco it'd be partially worth the head ache but could she really expect him to be the man he'd shown her that he was with all the added weight about to crash in around them?

Draco's hand, ever light in Hermione's sent a reassuring squeeze to her wavering thoughts before he released it and moved his own to slide around her waist, his words soft and unphased as they pinpointed against her, "If you're saying you'll stay here then I'm sure I can handle it."

It was already almost a quarter to eleven and the platform was in full swing the moment they'd stepped to round the corner, the bustle of people, both muggle and magical all darting this way and that, leaving Hermione flinching to avoid them under Draco's carefully guiding arm while he tried to prove to her his choice, pressing her forward and into the crowd.

"Hermione!"

Hermione's head perked up at the familiar voice, nearly running from Draco's touch to bolt towards the all too familiar red head that too was darting to meet her half way the moment she'd understood just who was calling her name. The two of them collided in a toss of arms and a fierce grabbing hug that had Draco staring with both of his brows lifted and his own arm still cast open in Hermione's sudden absence. Truthfully, the second the two of them grabbed each other, Draco couldn't make out where one started and the other began but somehow they still managed to chatter out nonsense to each other that went deaf on any functioning males ears. They hugged each other so desperately it made Draco feel like they hadn't seen each other in thirty years…it was an odd thought considering they'd just had personal alone time less than twenty four hours ago. Women.

"Have you seen this?" Harry sauntered up to the scene far faster than Draco's casual stroll had maneuvered him to stand a good few feet behind the grasping Granger, watching Potter try to gain her attention.

"Quite an amazing demonstration of fiction, if I do say so myself. What did you think about Weasel's big loaded trash heap of lies, darling?" Draco smiled that suave smile of his, casting his gaze to Hermione's back as she slowly slid from Ginny's touch, daring her eyes up to Potter to access his reaction to whatever Ginny had managed to tell him last night.

"Do you think he actually said all of that?" There was an obvious line of tension creeping up the structure of Hermione's spine, nearly wincing as she awaited his reaction and that had Draco on high alert. He really didn't want to start the school year off trying to put another member of the trio in the hospital but if Potter wanted to publically lash on her too, he surely wasn't about it...Much to Draco's easy relief, however, Harry said nothing as he moved to wrap his arms around Hermione, shooting a dark gaze against him before he moved his face back to speak to her directly.

"No more than I think you'd actually marry Malfoy." There was a soft smile on Harry's face when Hermione gave out a short laugh, the two of them turning their heads as Draco scoffed hard into the air.

"And here I was going to ask you to be my best man…" There was a short flick that Draco gave to his head as he feigned exasperation with his hand resting over his chest but it was Ginny's turn to laugh out at the dramatic display that was Malfoy this time. What did he expect? Just because Harry was trying to tolerate what Hermione chose to do with her life didn't mean he had to like the man she was choosing to do it with. No, he simply had to tolerate Draco like he'd always had to tolerate Draco…but far closer.

"Harry! Hey there! Ginny!" Hermione suddenly felt a sudden pang of guilt for not being present at Harry's party but she was grateful all at the same time that she didn't have to do the entire regreeting all over again for the second time in two weeks as she caught sight of Luna Lovegood darting closer by the second. Hermione's back straightened from her slack resting hold from where she stood with Harry, finding her feet slowly moving back to Draco as Neville's hand flashed through the crowd just behind Luna, rushing forward to weave through the jumble of students.

"Hermione it's so good to see you! Draco…wow, how've you been?"

"You know what they say, it's good to be me, Lovegood."

"Luna, hey! How was your summer?" There was that nervous tension again, sweeping Hermione's body the moment that Hermione felt Draco's fingers smooth over the small of her back and those arrogant words tracing off his lips. She could feel this day turning sour already…

"It was super amazing. Neville took me to France for a nice get away." There was nothing but love that speckled Luna's unusually crystal blue eyes as she washed them up along her boyfriend who couldn't stop the blush that still crept up his cheeks any time Luna looked at him. It really was sweet, as innocent as they were despite everything but Luna was quick to pop Hermione out of her thought as she widened those eyes on her and quickly up to the blonde that had not gone unnoticed so towering at her side. "Oh, hey! I almost forgot! Congratulations Hermione! No one believed me when I said that I saw you two together and now you're getting married!"

Neville cast a hard look to Draco, wearily watching him as he questioned Harry through a side glance, hoping to prove his ever romantic girlfriend wrong but Harry's face was sternly too set on Draco as well while he smirked in his amusement, biting back a laugh behind that smug expression of his to Luna's statement.

"Oh no, Luna, Draco and I aren't engaged…"

"They most certainly are not engaged." Ginny laughed hard in addition, raising her slender, thinned brows up while she wrapped either hand around the bend of Harry's arm to give it a small tug backwards. "Come on, we're going to miss the train."

"You're not engaged? Oh, well that's a shame. I just read that you two met and fell in love…" Hermione wasn't looking too enthralled with the flighty girl's questioning of their relationship, choosing to step closer and saunter alongside her while they all slowly obliged to take a quick motion through the barrier of tan brick blocking entrance to platform 9 ¾ .

One by one they all slid through, Ginny Weasley dragging a rather carefully observant Potter along just behind her, leading the pact, and following in toe with Draco as he sourly tried to remind himself that he wasn't always going to have to deal with her friends. Where the hell was Pansy and Blaise anyways?

"No, we're just dating, Luna." The look on the oddly pale blonde's face lit up so animatedly that Hermione would even admit to such a Romeo and Juliet type romance that Draco honestly thought beams of light and glitter might burst from her eyes but it wasn't Lovegood's day dreaming thoughts that had Draco freezing in his steps, there, only a few feet inside the platform. While Luna's words were enough to make anyone stop and throw up on the spot, it was the words that boomed so loudly in his ear with a crescendo at his side that had him locked in a halt.

"AH! Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, you've finally arrived! Come, come, we have a lot to discuss and this train ride gets shorter every year." Hermione whipped around her shoulder in a fluttering of curls, her soft features lost as she caught sight of Kingsley Shacklebolt moving up at her side with a rather solid looking Percy Weasley towing behind him. "Many things to discuss before we get down to Head business."

Ginny's face like up like a Christmas tree the moment she'd laid eyes on her brother but his sight was locked hard against the young Malfoy as he smoothed to face the commotion, numbly running his fingers to scratch at the platinum strands as he slowed out, "I didn't take you for the comedian Minister."

"What is it that I've made a joke about, Mr. Malfoy?" The vibrant violet of the man's long robes pleated perfectly to the floor but it only made the man appear more monstrous before them all. Draco stood wearily, watching the Minister from a slow lift to his eyes, trying to understand just how much trouble they could possibly be in that Shacklebolt felt the need to speak with them so urgently here long before they'd even reached Hogwarts.

"I don't see my mother anywhere, Sir, I beg your pardon, so…" Draco began calmly, chancing a glance to Hermione as she stood awkwardly to divide the space between Draco and Luna, watching with a strange tilt to her head but Shacklebolt lifted his large, strong hand up to interject. There was something in the way his tone always laughed off of his full lips long before he'd even said a word that had Hermione finding her breath catching at the back of her throat, fighting the urge to grab Draco for support from what exactly she wasn't sure.

"Is it all still so new to you, boy? My…young love. Do you remember it, Percy?" His hard eyes loamed over his shoulder to slide against the older Weasley as he stood his height with his arms stiffly and firmly lifted to fold against his chest but he offered his Minister nothing but a polite force of a smile before the man turned back with a gesture of his hand down onto the woman he meant to refer to as he explained, "I was talking about your young wife, Mr. Malfoy. Now shall we…"

"Sir…Draco and I are most certainly not married." Hermione couldn't help but interject, a rather baffled smile on her face, laughing to herself in the confusion that Braithwaite had obviously caused. Perhaps this was what the entire hubbub about the ministry investigating their relationship was all about? Hermione almost found herself wishing they were that naive to read into gossip so that she and Draco might be able to scrape by this thing a little less unsheathed but she had a small inkling that this wasn't that simple. Was anything ever that simple when it came to Draco? Hell, when was anything that simple with the ministry? For Merlin sake, the Minister himself was standing before her trying to tell her she was a Malfoy...what simple sense was that?

"Oh but Mrs. Gran…hm," Minister Shacklebolt cleared his throat and smiled a light motion of a smile onto Draco as he side barred, "You have me doing it now." Those dark eyes of his moved back onto the oddly surprised witch before him with ease as he corrected, "Mrs. Malfoy, do forgive the mistake there but there is no mistake that you most certainly are married…Have you not received your copy of the license?"

"Percy what in Merlin's name…" Ginny's chocolate hues couldn't have possibly been pulled any wider, staring straight into her brothers sighing face as she begged him to answer her with that silent plea of hers.

"It's true. They signed the papers last week." Percy said it flat as pavement, remaining obediently quiet behind his superior as he stood with that blank hold of his features, showing no true emotion to the situation with his hands clasped in front of him solidly just as his stature was.

"I personally stamped them myself, my dear." Shacklebolt seemed thoroughly confused by the lost sight that was wafting over Hermione's eyes, watching her blink hard to clear the dizziness she was suddenly feeling. "I was naturally quite astounded to see either of your two names on a marriage license, let alone together, so I checked it doubly. Everything was in order. I ensured it was a swift and orderly process, I assure you."

"I'm sorry…are you trying to tell me that…" Draco could barely get out the words but even in his aghast state, he wasn't unaware of the empty silence that was beginning to echo around them as everyone move to cease their conversations entirely so that they could strain to hear better. It was bad enough that everyone there on the platform stared from the corner of their eyes the moment they'd all popped through but now they were full on gaping like they were watching the most fascinating play known to this world.

"Are you telling me that Draco and I somehow...are you saying that we got…"

"I am telling you that as of, oh, four days ago both you and Mr. Malfoy were officially recognized by the ministry and the wizarding world as a married union…yes, that is precisely what I am telling you, Mrs. Malfoy." That well placed smile of his never wafted from his all too knowing face as he concurred to the thoughts that hadn't even left Hermione's lips before he questioned so unnecessarily, "Is there a problem?"


Ah the twists of chapter ten…XD

Special thanks to everyone who's reviewed! You always keep me pumped to get back at it.

Again, apology time! Sorry about the need for weird in between scenes but Draco and Hermione still have a lot of relationship defining to get into I feel. I'm not a fan of the whole D/H start dating one day and the next day they start talking like they've been in love forever, living happily ever after in la la land so I'm trying to avoid that. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for everything and some stories call for that sort of thing but not this lady so bare with me guys and gals!

SUPER special shout out to Almondgirl who brought up a point that I'd been sitting back on for awhile. I've been trying to think of how I wanted to bring the Granger's back into the picture so you totally rock. That's for the inspiration!

Oh, yes, I realize I haven't said anything about where Ron was during the finding the Granger's process but I promise that is to come along with many other small secrets I have to reveal.

Thanks for reading everyone! Enjoy.