I always love a positive response to the first chapter! Let's keep that up with chapter 2.

Chapter 2
Everyone else had gone home for the night. But one small office remained illuminated. Draco walked down the hallway toward the Department for the Care of Magical Creatures, and stopped outside the office of Hermione J. Granger. It came as no surprise that she was still working while everyone else had gone home for the night.

It had been a week since the New Year's Eve party, and he hadn't been able to get their kiss out of his head. He'd kissed many girls in his short life, but none had taken control quite like Hermione Granger had. That she had kissed him whilst completely sober confused him though. And while he had often seen her around the Ministry, she refused to acknowledge his existence. Now, though, was his chance.

Knocking on her open door, he entered and took a seat across from her desk. Stacks of folders and parchment surrounded the oblivious brunette, and she didn't look up until he cleared his throat. "Fancy meeting you here," he greeted her.

"In my office. What a coincidence," she mumbled as she reached for another folder. She continued to ignore him as she continued to read. Finally finished, she closed the folder and set it aside. "What are you still doing here?"

"You look hungry," he decided. "Are you hungry? I haven't had anything to eat since noon, and could really go for some dinner."

She pulled another file off the stack. "Good, enjoy," she replied as she opened it.

"Why so hostile, Granger?" he wondered as he leaned back in the plush, black leather chair.

Huffing, she slammed the folder shut and glared at him. "I'm working, Malfoy," she replied. "I know that's a strange, foreign concept for someone like you to grasp, but that's what's happening here. So, please, leave and let me get back to it."

With a shrug of his shoulders, he rose and made his way to the door. Before leaving though, he stopped and turned to face her. "Why did you kiss me?" he asked. "I mean, we're not friends. We've never been friends. Honestly, I half expected you to slap me and blast me halfway across the room for even touching you. But you didn't."

Sighing, she pushed away her work and shut her eyes. "I had my reasons," she replied cryptically.

"Were they the same as mine?" he asked. Her only response was to open the bottom drawer of her desk. "Because if they were, you really could do better than Weasel. If anything, good riddance to bad rubbish should be your attitude towards him."

After some fishing around, she set her purse atop the desk, shut the drawer, and stood. "You win, Malfoy," she declared tiredly. "Let's go to dinner."

Smiling triumphantly, he offered her his arm. Instead, Hermione paid it no mind and continued out until they exited the Ministry. She said nothing despite his attempts to make conversation, and even after they were seated at a small cafe, Hermione had yet to address him. Brown eyes scanned the small seating area, looking everywhere but at the blond across from her.

"If you have no intentions of speaking to me, why did you agree to dinner?" Draco asked as he buttered a slice of bread.

"I don't know," she finally said, staring down at the bread basket. "Why did you ask me to dinner?"

He looked around the cafe and noticed several sets of eyes steadfastly trained on their table. "We kissed, Granger," he replied simply. "And then you ran away."

"So you wanted closure?" she guessed, not quite believing him.

Draco shook his head, and Hermione marvelled that not one blond hair moved as his head did. "It's not closure that I'm looking for," he said, setting aside the uneaten bread. "It's..."

"Sex?" she finished for him. He had the good sense to look chagrined, but nodded anyhow. Sitting back in her chair, she considered the offer. Before her sat the boy who had sought to make her school years miserable. The taunts of "mudblood" still rang in her ears. He was a pureblood, she a muggleborn. They were oil and water; two substances that could never mix. "Why me?" she wondered.

He shrugged. "I'm single. You're single," he replied nonchalantly. "Judging by that kiss, there's definitely a spark between us. Why not see where this goes?"

"You can't even address me without using my last name," she pointed out.

Reaching across the table, Draco placed his hand over hers. "Hermione," he said as easily as if he had been saying it his entire life, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about that kiss since it happened."

She leaned forward and fixed him with a curious look. "So, you want to be my boyfriend?"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "I don't do relationships," he remarked. A frown turned down the corners of his lips when she pulled her hand away. "Is it so wrong that I might be attracted to you though? I want to kiss you again, Hermione. Can you honestly say you felt nothing when you kissed me?"

"I did," she admitted softly. "I just...what you're suggesting, I don't know if it's a good idea."

He reached for her hand again. "It doesn't have to be a big thing," he explained. "I know that some part of you wanted to make Weasley jealous that night. What better way is there to do that than to sleep with me?"

Hermione withdrew her hand from the table and placed both in her lap. "I think I should go," she mumbled, reaching for her purse. She fumbled with the strap before finally wrangling it onto her shoulder. Without a backward glance, she left the cafe and found a nearby alley from which to Disapparate. Returning to her flat, she showered quickly and slipped into bed. But sleep refused to come.

Draco's offer occupied her every thought. There had been a time, just after Hermione and Ron had gotten together for the second time, that she thought he was the one. And each time they broke up, she counted the days until they got back together. It had been months since Ron had come around though, and she wondered if the fourth break up was the final one. She hadn't wanted to believe it, but he had moved on, and she could do the same.

Sitting up, she pushed back the blankets and climbed out of bed. Her mind made up, she found a small piece of parchment, and sent off a note to Draco. I'm in, was all she had written.