A/N: i do not own harry potter or anything related to it.

"Oh my Merlin! Did Draco just ask you out?" Eva squealed beside the still dazed Hermione. Hearing the words 'ask' and 'out' together with 'you' and 'Draco' in the same sentence seemed to knock her back into her senses.

"What?"

When she said that she would deal with Draco when she came across him again, she wasn't expecting it to happen so soon and especially not this. Hearing him say her name was weird enough as it is. Granted it was weird but it was getting the butterflies in her tummy fluttering crazily in excitement. And him asking her out, if that indeed was what it is, was down-right confusing. Both of which she thought only happened in her mind, but this time it didn't. It could be a dream come true or some beautiful nightmare waiting to happen.

"Draco. Asked. You. Out. And you said yes! Actually you said 'okay'…same difference. Anyway, you should be honored, you're the only girl he's ever asked out. You should see the way girls throw themselves at his feet. It's silly, really."

Hermione sighed deeply, releasing the tension from her muscles. What did she get herself into? Well, at least the shock has worn off and her logical thinking was back on track. She needed to face this like any other problem. First step would be to ask questions and do background research. She'd get all the information she would need and formulate a plan when she was well equipped with the knowledge. Yes, she would do that. That was her plan.

"What did you mean when you said that I'm the only girl he has ever asked out?"

"Well, Draco hasn't been here that long. And although he's good with the ladies, he never really showed interest in them."

"How long has he been in this town?"

"Hmm…a little over two years, I guess?"

'Just as I suspected. Draco Malfoy disappeard two years ago.' Hermione silently thought as her mind tried to solve this puzzle.

"Did he just pack up and decide to live here?" Hermione thought about that. She did that just days ago. Maybe she and Draco did think alike. The first time she met Draco when they were at Hogwarts, she always thought that he was just some spoiled, manipulating, lazy prat but she had learned later on that he was actually brilliant, second to her that is. They were always head-to-head in classes and even though he never flaunted that intelligence, he seemed to excel without effort. He was really good in potions and it wasn't because Snape was his godfather. You couldn't fake passion, Hermione knew that. The only thing he was ever better than her was at flying and Quidditch. But she never counted that.

"Oh! No, Somebody found him unconscious at the edge of town. They took him here. He had a couple of scratches on his body so I healed him and when he woke up, all he could remember was his first name. And since then, the Toulson's let him live with them on the farm at the far side of town in exchange for manual labor."

'Malfoy and manual labor?' Hermione thought and laughed at the image of Draco milking cows. Maybe she was wrong. Even if Draco did lose his memory of being the pureblood git that he was, there was no way he could handle manual labor, much less on a farm! He was simply not built for that.

"Are the Toulsons muggle?"

"Yes. And Draco doesn't seem to possess any magical capacity."

"That seems odd…" Hermione was thinking out loud and said it, a barely audible whisper, but it didn't go unnoticed by Eva.

"What is?"

"Draco Malfoy." She could tell that Eva had gone tense at the mention of his last name.

"You mean the death eater's son?"

"Yes, didn't you ever think that Draco-without-a-last name could be Draco Malfoy? I mean, Malfoy disappeared from wizarding London two years ago and coincidentally a Draco appears here? They even look the same!"

"You think too much, 'Mione." Eva smiled, patted her back and acted as if Hermione didn't say anything. She was smiling sweetly, but Hermione could tell that there was something she wasn't saying. She wasn't really sure because she hadn't known Eva in a long time. She just had that feeling.

After Eva dismissed her assumptions, their conversations had gone back to normal. Hermione didn't push the issue. She figured she'd solve this puzzle sooner or later. All she had to do was go straight to the source.

Overall, it was an uneventful day. A couple of muggle patients came in with nothing too serious that a couple of pain meds couldn't handle so Hermione wasn't distracted enough to stop thinking of her "date" with Draco. It probably wasn't even a date so why was she so anxious? Maybe she does think too much.

She was running over the possible scenarios that could happen later but nothing seemed realistic enough to even exist outside of her imagination. She had to admit, she had a very overactive imagination.

She closed her eyes and was teleported back to a different place, another time and an altogether distinct world of her own making. She was fifteen again and she was sitting under the aged oak tree by the black lake. She got dirt on her periwinkle dress robes as she sat on the ground, but she didn't care. Her night was ruined anyway so what harm was it if she got her dress dirty? She had felt beautiful that night and then Ron had to go and pick a fight with her. She instantly left the castle, needing to be alone to vent out her frustrations. She looked over the reflection of the bright moon on the lake as tears silently fell from her face. All of a sudden, someone was standing in front of her and thrust a white handkerchief into her hand. She looked up to him, but didn't take his offering. He sat down beside her and wiped her tears away. She was surprised by his actions, but said nothing to him. He stood back up and offered his hand to her. "Dance with me, Granger."

She blushed as she ran away with her imagination again. She imagined it so many times; the way his skin would feel against hers or the way he'd put his arms around her, that she actually ached for it. All she could do was to imagine it, but never feel. It was frustrating how she pictured how this would happen, but would never actually know it. It was her dream, her fantasy and it was only that.

Hermione was brought out of her fantasies when two blond girls entered the clinic. They were both giggly like a bunch of teenagers with secrets they can't wait to share. Somehow she was reminded of Lavender and Parvati when they were still back in school. The former Gryffindors always had gossips to spread.

They were both caught up in their conversation that they didn't even notice Hermione and Eva.

"Isn't he gorgeous as usual?" The blonde with long, wavy hair had said.

"I know, right? But why is he sitting outside?" Her twin, Hermione noticed, had the same long hair but only straighter, had replied.

"I don't know. Maybe he's sick?"

"Oh, no! We should bring him inside then!"

Eva cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Perhaps he's waiting for someone?" She said with a smug look on her face. It seems like the twins didn't like Eva the way they were staring daggers at her.

"Like who? You?" The one with the straight hair spat.

"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger." She interrupted, breaking the tension between the blonde and the redhead.

"Oh, hi. You must be the new healer that would be working with us. I'm Cassidy Webb, but everybody calls me Cassie." The girl with the wavy hair took her hand to shake and smiled sweetly.

"And this is my sister, Gwendolyn. But you can call her Gwen." Hermione offered her hand. She had it awkwardly in the air, waiting for the girl to take it. She slowly lowered it when the blonde showed no signs of shaking it.

"Let's go, Hermione. Draco is waiting for you." Eva dragged her away from the twins before they could ask Hermione all sorts of questions.

"I'll be seeing you around, Hermione." Cassie had called out while Gwen crossed her arms with a look of distaste on her face.

"Why did you say that? Now she'll think I'm trying to invade home turf." Hermione said when they were out of ear shot.

"Don't worry, she's harmless. She's just jealous, that's why she's acting up. She doesn't like me because Draco and I are close friends. I mean, I was the first person he saw when he woke up, so obviously we'd formed a friendship." She explained to Hermione.

"So did you two ever date?" Hermione asked, just out of curiosity.

"No, though I wanted too. But he just didn't seem that interested. So I just took the friendship that he offered and we've been close since. So that makes you the very first girl he's asked out, and you've only been here, what? 3 days? You must be very special."

"He didn't ask me out. Like he said, he just wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday." Hermione masked a look of calm in her face, but deep down she was nervous-excited, that feeling where you want to throw up because you're so overwhelmed with different emotions going through you all at the same time. She didn't want to admit it, but she was.

"'Mione, try to enjoy it, okay? Don't think too much." Eva grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes and said it cryptically.

"Okay…" She nodded her head and Eva gave her a big smile, excitement written all over her face. She started pushing Hermione toward the door.

"Eva, wait!" Hermione tried to hold on to the door frame, but this little redhead was a lot stronger than she looked! With one big push, Hermione stumbled outside the threshold and tripped on the cracked cement. She closed her eyes, waiting to hit the ground. But it never came. Instead, she could feel strong arms around her body, saving her from what might have been a very painful and embarrassing moment. She opened her eyes.

"Draco…"