Disclaimer: I don't own Queen JK's characters, only the plot of this story.


"And you had no idea whatsoever?"

"Nope, not in the slightest." Taking a gulp from my glass of coke, I observed my old nemesis sitting in front of me. She was laughing at my expense, and I found that I didn't mind it one bit. My younger self would have fought tooth and nail to wipe that expression away, but I've changed since then. No, I've grown up since then. Inwardly I smiled to myself before joining her with a light chuckle.

"Come on, don't lie Mal-Draco, you're a smart man. Even though I didn't acknowledge it in the past, I've always known your grades to be second only to my own. And you were even better at noticing stuff about people."

"You take every chance to remind me that I was still second, don't you?" The was no harmful intent in that sentence, and judging from Hermione's expression, she understood that as well. It was an old habit.

"Oh come off it you prat, I was just stating a fact. Don't get all high and mighty about it."

"You were the one who started it."

"I did not!"

"You did."

"Did not."

"You did."

"Whatever, weren't we talking about how you hit on your mother's lesbian girlfriend." I was so close. Tilting my head ever so slightly, I shrugged my shoulders in agreement. We had just ordered lunch at the local Pizzeria. Not my first choice to take an attractive woman for lunch, but I had no other choice when my clothes still smelled like last night's party. I did try to wash it off but some of the smell still lingered, leaving me to wonder if I could ever get it off. It was nice that Hermione decided to dress just as fashionably as I did. She wore a green top and some good old fashioned blue denims to go with it.

"Listen, Draco. I'm sorry about… today morning. I understand how hard it must've been for her and I said some stuff I shouldn't have."

"It's alright, but I think you should apologise to her yourself. She has always been close to me even though we had quite the interesting start. And I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her."

"Sure."

We spent the rest of lunch exchanging our pasts. She told me about her bookstore, and the troubles she had faced in bringing her dream to life while I reciprocated with the story of my café and how I got into cooking. We rolled back and forth between our pasts as we tried to match them by the timeline over a large pepperoni cheese burst with an extra layer of cheese on top. All the while I noticed I had never come across a witch who managed to look attractive while shovelling that cheese monster down her throat, but somehow she managed to pull it off. Not even my younger self could argue that she hadn't always been attractive. My hatred mostly stemmed from my own jealousy and the blood prejudice I was brought up with.

By the time we were done with our meal, our stomachs were peeking out of the bottom of our shirts and we weren't in any mood to go shopping for clothes. Both of us needed to rest for a while and I suggested that we head over to the café so that I could show her around and at the same time, throw out all the spoiled food. She agreed and I side-along apparated the two of us to the kitchen of my café.


"Welcome to the Green Snakes Café."

"Ever the Slytherin, I see."

"Evidently you support us as well." She glanced down at her shirt and then back at me.

"It doesn't mean anything, it's just a shirt."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you had shirts in other colors as well." I started clearing out all the old cakes and pastries from the counter.

She gave me an irritated look before she whipped her face around and marvelled at her surroundings. I smiled at her awed expression, happy that my café could bring about such a nice change to her face.

"The café is amazing Draco. It is very well designed on the inside. It makes me feel… warm and homely. I'd definitely want to come here on a cold winter's morning for some hot cocoa."

"Thank you."

"Although I do think the name should go, snakes are the last thing I'd want in a café."

"That's just the lioness in you talking." Truth to be told, I did feel like the name didn't actually fit, but my past was what brought me here, and it's better than calling it Malfoy's café.

"Anyways, you never told me how you and Ginny became so close. You were explaining stuff but then we got side-tracked and then…" I watched the brunette witch try to hide her blush as she recalled our… tussle from earlier today. It was a good thing she had turned away because I really couldn't stop the pink from flooding my cheeks as well. I honestly didn't imagine we would end up in that situation either. I had jumped at Red like usually do from time to time. We were very close as friends but we were still Malfoy and Weasley, Slytherin and Gryffindor, and that meant we still disagreed on many things. Finding us in a fake brawl isn't as unlikely as one might imagine, and she could actually put up a fight, not that she would ever win. Her experience in Quidditch can be held accountable for that.

But Hermione was different. In my hands she felt somewhat small and fragile, like she was a treasured artifact, even though she could and probably would hex me back and forth between the earth and the moon if she ever heard me call her fragile, and I don't want to face her right hook again either. I rubbed my palms together as I remembered her soft skin and her breasts heaving as she breathed in and out. If it had been almost any other girl, I probably would have kissed her. But this was Hermione Granger and a stolen kiss is not the way to treat a girl like her. That didn't mean I didn't want to, of course.

I realised we had both been silently blushing for a while now.

"Oh… yeah, we actually bonded while I was helping her with something. She came to me to try and get you and some guy back together, who I'm assuming is the Weasel." Hermione whipped her head back and stared at me, her jaw somewhere on the floor.

"She employed you for help… to try and get me and Ron back together?" Hermione quickly sat down on a chair she was standing next to.

"She didn't exactly state who at the time, but it was pretty early after the war and the only person I knew who she would go the length for was probably her own brother. She came clean a few years later. I think she was just upset you two weren't going to be sisters."

"Well she might as well go fuck a hippogriff if she thinks I'm going to put up with a relationship with Ron just so we can call ourselves sisters." Her expressions are very interesting to watch. If someone took a movie of the way her expressions change, I'd buy a copy the cassette and watch it at least once a day for the rest of my life.

"Isn't that too harsh of a sentence for your best friend?"

"My best friend wouldn't try to force me into an incestuous relationship."

I froze on spot. "You and the Weasel are related?"

"No, but that's what it felt like. He was like a brother to me."

"And you reminded him of?"

She glared at me for noticing the words left unsaid but slowly mumbled out her response. "His mother."

I had to hold myself upright by the countertop as I drowned in my laughter. Hermione's glare intensified as I struggled to contain my mirth. It took me a few long moments to calm myself down to the occasional chuckle.

"I actually understand why he must've felt that way."

"Choose your words with extreme care, Malfoy. Ron suffered a week at St. Mungos after that incident."

"I mean no offense, Princess. But back then you did baby… take care of him quite a lot. I'm pretty sure homework was not the only thing you helped him with. You looked after him and so did Mrs. Weasley, and the idiot decided to blow an opportunity with such a lovely witch by blurring the line between the two." Hermione's ears perked up at my compliment and the slightest tint of pink spread across her face. Her irritation dissolved and was replaced by a light smile.

"Are you ready to go? We should head off to the shops now, my clothes reek of alcohol and I think I spilled some sauce on my pants earlier today." I cleared out the last of the spoiled food as I questioned her.

"Yeah, let's get going."

"We'll drop these off at home before we go." I locked the door and held up the bag of bakery supplies and delicacies that were still edible.

"Okay."


I know, I'm really sorry, this is insanely short and I'm extremely late.

I've been swamped with work and exams followed by an injury so please forgive me. I'll update the next one sooner.

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