AN1: Hey guys! I hope your summer is going well! If you aren't on summer break yet, then I am so sorry. As I said, eleven reviews or more gets an early update! So...here it is!

Disclaimer: Okay...if I owned Harry Potter, would I honestly be writing fan fiction? No.

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Soon, a routine was formed. Hermione began to request that Draco be the one to take her order. They would talk for awhile and then whenever another customer came in, he'd tend to them. But when she left, Hermione would always wave to him. Draco was thrilled with this, Christian, however, was quite sullen.

"Oy, I saw her first, mate! Why'd you have to go and get her attention?" He complained one day after Hermione asked for Draco to wait on her.

"Sorry," Draco said, although he wasn't really sorry at all. "We just go way back." Christian let it go at that and stopped complaining...out loud anyway. Every time Hermione walked in, he cast an annoyed glare at Draco and stomped off to do something else.

Draco and Hermione continued to have discussions for the next week. The topics ranged far and wide and they ended up learning quite a bit about the other. Draco listened and took note when she was talking about her pet peeves.

"You know what I don't like?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't like it when people order for me. I find it very obnoxious! Especially when they do it and they get it right. So what if that's what I was going to order. Just because I'm not a guy doesn't mean that I can't order my food by myself. I am not codependent."

Draco laughed. "You, Hermione, you are the absolute farthest from codependent than anyone I know or ever will know."

She blushed. "Well thank you. But Ron seems to think otherwise. He always does that. Whenever we go on a date, anywhere that we've been before—even if it was only one other time—he'll order for me. And then when I start to complain he brings up that I would have ordered that anyway. Well maybe I wouldn't have! It's the fact that he assumes that's what I'll want to get."

"Weasley was never the brightest bulb in the bunch though. I don't know why you tolerate him, much less why you're dating him."

"Yeah, I don't know why either. I guess it's just what's expected. Just like Harry and Ginny are together, they expected Ron and I to be together. I don't like it though. I'd rather be with someone who understands me and what I stand for. After all these years, he still doesn't understand me. You seem to understand me much more than Ron does and yet we've only been talking civilly for a couple of weeks. I don't understand why it isn't this way with Ron and I," she said this all absentmindedly and didn't realize the implications of what she had just uttered until a second after. Her face colored and there was an awkward silence between them. When another customer caught Draco's attention, he almost sighed with relief. He didn't know what was worse, the awkward silence or the fact that she was dating the Weasel. But the fact that she, in an indirect way, implied that she'd rather date him instead, for some reason, made his heart jump.

When Hermione left that day, she waved, but she didn't have her usual smile. She looked anxious to leave, to escape the obvious awkwardness at the mention of Ron.

That night, Draco told himself many things. He told himself that it wasn't awkward after she mentioned that she was dating Ron. He told himself that her comparing Ron to him and putting himself in the better light was just a fluke. He told himself that it didn't matter that she was dating Weasley. He told himself that he didn't like her and that he's only bothered because she deserves better. In essence, he told himself lies.

The day after that, they forgot the awkwardness, or at least they decided to push it outside of their talking zone with an unspoken agreement to not talk of personal lives. After weeks of pleading with Hermione to let him see what she'd been working on, she finally relented.

"What exactly is this?" He said as he pulled a chair up beside her.

"I'm trying to create a potion that can withstand the effects of the Unforgivables. And then, if it works, I can put the potion into a ring or something and it can be worn constantly."

Draco looked at her incredulously. "That's amazing." She blushed. Today, Draco stayed after his shift was over and they stayed in the café working on Hermione's project for another two hours. They didn't get much done, but the camaraderie made for a pleasant atmosphere.

The next day, Draco was very excited to see Hermione; he thought that he might have an idea to help with her project. So when three pm arrived and Hermione entered the café, he was dismayed to see that she was hand in hand with no one other than Ron. For purely entertainment purposes, he decided to see how many mistakes Ron made according to what he'd heard Hermione talk about. It wasn't to further prove that the Weasel was bad for her, it was just for fun. Right?

First, mistake number one: Ron changed the table. It may not have been a mistake to Hermione, but it certainly was one to Draco. She always sat at her regular table. And now she's sitting in the very center of the establishment, looking quite uncomfortable. Her discomfort wasn't surprising to Draco because a few days ago, she'd mentioned to him that she loathed being in the center of anything where everyone could see her and judge her.

She had entered with him and made to go to her regular table, but Ron led her to one right in the center.

"Let's sit here," he proclaimed, either not noticing or not caring that Hermione had already begun to set her stuff down in her spot.

Next, mistake number two: being rude to him. Draco wasn't positive that she had told Ron anything about how he should behave, but he'd bet his new broomstick that she told him to be nice and not be outright rude. He didn't pay her any mind apparently. When Draco went to take their order, Ron glared at him.

"What the hell do you want, Ferret?"

"I work here," Draco said smoothly.

Ron sneered. "Surely you must be joking. Don't you have Muggles to hurt or dark lords to serve or something?"

He chose to ignore Ron's careless and inaccurate remark. "Hermione," he was going to ask if she wanted her usual, but decided against it. He knew that the Weasel wouldn't take highly to the fact that he waited on her often. "what would you like to order?"

Then, mistake number three: ordering for her. Before Hermione could even start to say 'a cinnamon dolce latte with skim milk, please' Ron cut in.

"She'll have a pumpkin spice latte and I'll take a caramel macchiato."

Draco raised an eyebrow at Hermione and focused his cold stare at Ron. "I believe I asked her what she wanted, not what you wanted for her."

"What difference does it make? That's what she wants, right 'Mione?"

Hermione nodded quietly and Ron smirked at Draco. "See?"

Draco rolled his eyes and went to prepare their drinks. Out of spite, Draco made a cinnamon dolce latte for Hermione with skim milk, just how she liked it. He charmed it to smell like the pumpkin spice so Ron's beastly behavior would be sated. He handed them their drinks and swiftly walked off. He stood at Hermione's table and pretended to clean it while really watching her reaction.

Hermione took the first sip of her drink and her eyes widened. She caught Draco's eye from across the room and smiled gratefully. He winked at her and continued working.

And finally, mistake number four: not letting her talk—just blabbing about Quidditch. Whenever Draco passed by their table and was able to overhear what they were talking about, it was always Ron talking and it was always about Quidditch. (Which Draco knew for a fact that Hermione found it unappealing). Not once did he ask about how Hermione's projects were going or about how she was doing at work or even how she was enjoying her meal! No, it was the Chudley Cannons this, Puddlemere United, that and Draco could simply feel the waves of boredom radiating from Hermione's lithe figure. Her eyes were two minutes away from being completely glazed over.

It was that fact that made Draco act. Throughout their lunch, he walked around catering to the other customers, but whenever he passed behind Ron he caught Hermione's eye and made funny faces. Once, he even mimed going down stairs (which worked brilliantly—if he did say so himself). It was when Draco mimed falling off a broom that almost made Hermione lose it. Her face was red from suppressed laughter. Finally, the couple was done eating. Ron paid the tab and they headed out the door. Purposefully, Ron rammed into Draco's shoulder.

"Watch it, Ferret."

Draco didn't respond for he considered himself above that childish nonsense; Ron, recognizing that he had been snubbed, glared and stomped out of the café. Behind his back, Hermione gave Draco an apologetic look over her shoulder he shrugged and waved.

The Weasel is just not up to Hermione's standard, thought Draco. He didn't understand why she was settling for less when she deserved so much more. One day, when Weasel screws up even more so than he did today, I'll be there. He thought. I'll be there to catch her when she falls; her latte in my right hand, and my left arm will be securing her waist. Metaphorically, of course; but all the same, I'll be there.

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AN2: Oh gosh. It looks like you guys are getting another part of this. I almost ended it...somewhere else, (I'll tell you in the next chapter where I wanted to end it) but I know for a fact that it would disappoint some of you guys. So it looks like this will be a trilogy.

Please review! I know that you've already read it.

Again: eleven or more reviews gets an early update!!!