Draco couldn't believe it came out of his mouth. It's a date.

Just a few months ago, he wouldn't have considered dating anyone. After months of being alone he started realizing what an ass he had been for well, his entire life. He had treated people with disrespect and loathing. In fact he had been taught to have a sort of general prejudice against everyone lower than his station in life. After the fall, he had become disillusioned with his entire way of life. He still had a business to run, but decided to run it from afar. He had not yet decided what his path would be, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be a part of the wizarding world anymore. That's why he had found solace elsewhere. He had actually come to enjoy his life amongst the muggles near the ocean. They actually accepted him as a man, not as a Malfoy, a man.

But when he ran into Hermione at the coffee shop that day, everything changed.

He noticed the pain in her eyes. He knew what she had been going through. After all, he still had to keep himself informed. He had seen Rita Skeeter's article, "The Golden Trio is Broken", He had felt something strange for Hermione at the coffee shop that day...empathy. He could understand how she was feeling and knew she didn't deserve it. That's what made him come to her side. She seemed so lost.

He remembered the look in her eyes at the time. Confusion. Gratitude. The vulnerability emanating from them was almost more than he could bear. There was an awkward moment when she seemed like she meant to hug him, but then pulled away.

Draco thought to himself, why would someone as good as Hermione ever bring herself to embrace someone like me?

He had planned to avoid her so they would never meet again.

Unfortunately fate had other plans.

On Sunday mornings, Draco had taken to going for a morning walk into a grove just outside of town. There he enjoyed the privacy of a shady tree where he sat down to read The Sunday Prophet.

A few days after that first encounter with Hermione, he had gone for his routine walk. When he stopped at his tree and opened the paper he read the headlines, "Draco Malfoy: Where is he now?" along with an image of himself in his "glory days" at Hogwarts. He couldn't even bring himself to read the article. Would they ever stop? He got up and walked away leaving the paper behind. He had been trying to leave the past behind but here it was finding him yet again.

It was almost sunset when he realized that he left the paper under his tree.

Merlin! What if someone got ahold of it?

He turned around and starting walking to the grove in anxiety. Most of the townspeople would be in church and then at home today, so he should be safe. But really, he could not take the chance of a muggle finding that paper. He walked faster when he thought of Mrs. Cooke, the frail neighbor lady that fed all the budgies birdseed, seeing his face in the newspaper going over the list of atrocities he had performed.

Then he saw her. Hermione. Sitting under his tree. She had her back against the tree and her nose in a book. She was wearing a lavender and white sundress that had a fitted bodice and straps that tied at her shoulders. Then he noticed she was sitting on his paper. Damn, he would have to deal with her.

"You're sitting on my face."

Hermione looked up from her book shocked. "Excuse me?"

"My face, you're sitting on my face" Draco said. "The paper..." he continued pointing at it.

"Oh, I am so sorry. She got up and picked the paper up, she saw the article and nodded in understanding as she passed the paper to him. She explained, "The ground was a little damp when I sat down. I just saw a paper sitting here and figured someone left it behind. I'm sorry. I wouldn't have sat on your face if I had known."

Draco smirked at her in amusement noting that she had missed the sexual innuendo.

She blushed as she realized what she said. "I mean..."

"Forget it, Granger." You can sit on my face anytime he thought to himself.

"Well, uh, yeah, uh, I mean..." she stammered. Hermione, pull yourself together. When exactly did you get so easily flustered by Malfoy?

"Yes?" he said enjoying seeing her nervous.

Hermione took a deep breath, "I just wanted to thank you for helping me the other day. It was really nice of you."

"It's okay, Granger. Like I said before anyone would have done it".

"But that's just it isn't it? Anyone didn't. You did. I just want to say thanks. It really was nice to see you again." She smiled at him warmly. "Well, maybe we will run into each other again sometime".

"Maybe" Draco thought. Maybe it would be nice to run into Hermione. She was beautiful, smart, caring. Maybe...

With that she got up, collected her book and started to walk home. After seeing the title of the article, she understood how he must be feeling. Rita Skeeter had never been a fan of hers either. She figured he wanted to be alone. "If you ever want anyone to talk..." she offered knowing she could be setting herself up for an insult, but he really looked like he needed a friend.

"Thanks." he answered quietly a little distracted in his thoughts. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked.

"I thought I would walk back to Longbottom Cottage."

"Well, maybe I should walk with you. It's getting late."

"It's okay, Draco. I don't need any protection". She said.

"I do," Draco joked.

Hermione laughed and smiled. "Okay, well let's go then."

Draco looked at her radiant face. Her eyes were smiling, the loss was gone. It warmed his heart to see her like this. He knew right then and there he would do his best to keep those eyes smiling. Maybe he could find a way to run into her once in awhile.

That was weeks ago. They had been able to run into each other over the last few weeks several times a day. At first it had been nice to see a familiar face, but as time went on it was nice to have a friend. Someone to talk with... walk with. As they had spent time together, Draco started feeling something a little stronger than friendship but didn't think he was worthy to act on it.

Why would she want a broken man like me?

Seeing her fall today, he felt an overwhelming urge to save her again. But he was too late. He did the next best thing he could do, he scooped her up and took her inside to make her more comfortable. Once he had her in his arms, he wasn't sure if he wanted to ever put her down again. Of course he did, she would have had a conniption if he hadn't put her down.

He was too late to save her, but he would clean her wounds and help them heal.

He went to the bathroom and concocted a healing potion, putting it in a basin with some warm water. He then cleaned her wounds, being careful not to cause her more pain. When she moaned he looked up worried that he had hurt her. But the look in her eyes gave her away. She was enjoying his touch as much as he was enjoying the feeling of her body. Her reaction when he looked at her was priceless. She got flustered and upset, and then changed the subject to making him dinner.

It's a date.

Draco couldn't believe the words came out of his mouth. More importantly, he couldn't believe that she didn't cringe when he said it.