Author's Note: I actually thought I would quit writing this, but I've decided not to. I actually found writing this chapter to be fun! Hopefully, this lives up to your standards! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series.

It was a gloomy day, Hermione thought as she walked along the gray cobblestoned streets of London. But it's always this foggy.

She reached into her pocket and took out a small, crumpled sheet of paper McGonagall had given her. Written on it, with McGonagall's thin, cursive font, was Malfoy's current address. Hermione read it carefully for the fifteenth time (she had counted), put it back in her pocket, and walked even faster.

A few minutes later, she had arrived in a dingy, secluded area behind a building. It appeared to be a garbage dump, but when she took a step back to observe the whole place, Hermione saw a one-story, U-shaped building with an open courtyard. It reeked of rotten eggs, and flies were buzzing around the trash. She wrinkled her nose and knocked at (what she assumed was) the front door. An obese, balding man who was holding a bag of crisps opened the door, and Hermione caught a whiff of his overpowering cologne.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered under her breath. "Do you know - ahem - where I could find - cough - Mr. Draco Malfoy?"

"Who are you?" He popped a crisp into his mouth.

"A messenger," she replied, giving up on her attempts to be polite. Hermione tugged the collar of her shirt up so that it protected her nose.

"Hookers," the man grumbled, clearly ignoring her honest answer. He started to close the door.

Hermione stood stock-still. Seconds ticked by, and her mind started whirling. She didn't even know she was doing. The fury and rage had already consumed her.

With one leg, she kicked the door open and grabbed the man's fleshy neck. "What. Did you just call me?"

"N-nothing," he gasped, his arms flailing. Before the man could start sputtering, she released his neck, wiping her fingers on the doorframe.

"Good. Now take me to Dr-"

"That was quite impressive," a voice called from what sounded like at the top of the staircase.

Hermione looked up.

There he was, with his platinum hair long and unruly, dressed in black pajama bottoms and shirtless, too. She'd never seen him like this before.

Her mouth must have flopped open like a fish, because Draco smirked. "Like what you see?" he said bitterly.

They didn't break their eye connection for a few seconds. The man Hermione had almost choked mere minutes ago let out a cough.

Draco turned to him. "Leave us now."

The man quickly nodded and turned around, waddling back into the kitchen with the extremely wrinkled bag of Walkers' clutched tightly in his pudgy hand.

"What are you doing here?" Draco hissed at Hermione once everyone else appeared to be out of earshot.

"It's always the same thing. Why won't you reply to the letters McGonagall keeps sending you? I've tried to ask her, but you know her, she's so persistent, and she keeps sending me after you with that job offer, and you-"

"Granger, you can shut the fuck up. You're rambling."

Hermione closed her mouth.

"Well, for starters, I don't like children."

"Is that the only reason?" she crossed her arms.

His mouth set into a grim line.

"Yes."

She didn't believe him, but she suspected that there was something deeper than his already obvious dislike for children. She didn't probe the matter any further.

"Well, here," she sighed. "You have to take it."

Draco held out his hand. When Hermione placed the parchment on his palm, he tossed it behind him into a trash bin. It was a perfect shot.

They were silent for a few seconds.

"Frankly, I don't think you deserve anything that anyone gives you. I couldn't believe the Headmistress of Hogwarts sent you, of all people, a request to be a professor at Hogwarts itself. If you accepted it, you would probably corrupt all the children there." Hermione scowled at him.

"I would corrupt them?" He laughed dryly. "Are you still judging me because I decided to join Voldemort's army, with my family, what, years ago? Wow, you have quite the memory, Granger. Most people already forgot about it, moved past it, or couldn't care less. I'm just a man living in a fucking garbage dump because everyone stopped remembering or even recognizing him. Harry fucking Potter, that's what they remember! Ronald Weasley! Oh, and not to mention, Miss Perfect Grades Granger!"

Hermione struggled to catch her breath. Deciding to bite her tongue and release a flood of insults at him, what she said surprised both of them.

"I'm sorry, Draco."

"What?" His voice was incredulous, and when she raised her eyes, his face was also contorted into an unreadable mix of shock and something else.

"I'm sorry for all the years you had to suffer, knowing that you could never be what the world wanted you to be. I mean, a clean-cut man who did good deeds for humanity, but maybe, you know, people change."

"Bullshit!" he exploded. "People don't change, Granger. They never do. What have you been reading? Romance novel fodder? God, you are so pathetic! Have you not noticed anything from the beginning of school to now?"

Hermione stayed quiet. When Draco seemed to calm down, she finally asked, "What haven't I noticed?"

The question appeared to surprise him. "That I-"

He suddenly stopped, on the verge of saying something that he clearly didn't want to.

"That you?" Hermione gently prompted him.

Draco' face turned hard. "It doesn't matter," he said. "It never did, anyway."

Hermione took a deep breath. "It does matter. To me." She brushed her fingers along his hand.

"Granger. What the fuck are you doing? Stop touching me." His actions seemed to be contradicting his words, because he hadn't moved his hand away one bit.

She didn't reply.

After a few minutes like this, Hermione came to her senses and blushed furiously."Oh! Merlin. I'm sorry. What the hell am I doing?"

She jerked their hands apart.

"No, I'm sorry," Draco said bitterly. "I shouldn't have told you so much." He turned around and stiffly walked away. Hermione slowly turned on her heels and reached for the doorknob leading back outside, to the harsh world.

"Wait. Granger."

"I'm still here." She had to turn around again so that she could face him.

Draco closed his eyes. "Nevermind." He shook his head and disappeared up the stairs.

"Coward," Hermione whispered to herself, before shaking her own head and leaving.

"Oof!"

"Watch it!"

Hermione smacked into a man with red-orange hair. Was that Ron Weasley?

"Ron?"

"Hermione?!"

Confirming that it was indeed Ron, he tackled her into a huge bear hug, right on the street, just like that. "It's been so long! Where have you been? Do you want to catch up somew-"

"Slow down, Ron." She chuckled. "Recently, I got a job at Hogwarts as a Transfiguration professor, and I'm pretty good. What've you been up to? God, I feel so awkward right now. You're Ron Weasley! We've known each other for over fifteen years!"

The ginger's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Nothing much. I've basically been helping out my parents and George with the store…" his voice trailed off and his eyes dimmed.

Hermione put a hand on his arm. Trying to change the subject, she said, "I've got to catch up on some papers, but I'm free tomorrow. Do you want to…?"

"Yeah, sure, that would be great." Ron squeezed her hand. "You want to go on a shopping spree in Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

Hermione giggled. "Okay."

Somewhere in the back of her mind as she and Ron made their plans, she was thinking about Draco.

Hermione tugged on a cardigan and slipped out the front door of Ginny and Harry's house, locking it behind her. The whole family was away for the weekend, and they wouldn't be back until Monday.

For her outing with Ron, she wore the sweater over a regular old T-shirt and some jeans. It was casual attire - she couldn't be too bothered with what she wore. As she walked to the Leaky Cauldron and tapped on the bricks, Hermione had second thoughts about Ron. What if he considered this to be a date? Would he ask her to meet up again? Oh, Merlin, what if he had feelings for her?

She cleared her head and pushed all of these feelings away. She had to focus on the present. Hermione wandered a little around the bustling streets of the pedestrian metropolitan until she found Ron - or rather, Ron found her.

"Hey! There you are! I've been looking all over for you, Hermione." Seeing her face, he quickly added, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Yes, I'm fine. Let's go," she linked her arm with his.

The day went by smoothly enough. They first went to the sweet shop that Ron always loved as a kid, and he bought so much candy that Hermione laughed at him. About after an hour, they were both laden down with shopping bags.

"Oh! Ron, I'll be right back. Wait here." She tossed him a smile and walked into Potage's Cauldron Shop.

She was in desperate need of a new brass cauldron to brew her potions in. She had been using her old one for years now; it was falling apart and a lot of the concoctions couldn't be brewed properly. It was the perfect time and place to get it.

"Ow!" She butted headfirst into a broad chest.

"Watch where you're going, Granger!"

What in the world was Malfoy doing here?

Which is exactly what she said aloud.

"I appreciate your use of third person, Granger, but what other fucking reason would I have to be in a cauldron shop?"

"Buying cauldrons, I presume."

"That's right."

"There's no point in getting a new cauldron, since you probably won't even use it. You still didn't accept the job offer as Potions master yet."

"There are other things that people have to do, Granger," Draco told her. "We have our own separate lives. Some people even have these little things called hobbies, if you haven't noticed yet."

The sarcasm was dripping from his voice.

Just then, the door opened. "Hermione, what's taking you so long?" Ron poked his head in. His face changed when he saw Draco standing next to her. He turned three shades of vermilion until he slammed the door completely open and lunged towards Draco.

"Ron! Stop!" Hermione shrieked. But he didn't stop, and he landed on top of Draco, sending them both crashing down. The people in the store stopped and gawked, pointing at the fight that was currently going on. As Ron threw punches, Draco fought back but eventually started to give up. Hermione was powerless to stop either of them.

The large, burly man behind the desk stomped over to the commotion, grabbed Ron and tore him off the limp body of Draco. "GET OUT OF MY STORE!" he roared. With a glance at Hermione, the now-shaken Ron slinked out the front door.

Hermione and a few other people rushed towards Draco to help. He groaned and lifted his head, only for it to fall back on the wooden floor with a loud thump. Hermione waved the curious outsiders away. "As much as I hate doing this, I'll have to take you to my home. You definitely need to get cleaned up," she told him. Draco groaned, and she helped him up, feeling too awkward.

With Draco's arm draped heavily around her shoulders and her arm curled around his waist, still struggling to support him, they walked out of the cauldron shop. Ron saw them coming out of the building, and then walked over to Hermione.

"Where are you taking him?" he hissed.

Choosing not to answer, she replied with, "Ron, you're a bloody idiot."