The following day went like any other, with Draco constantly trying to find a way to bring up the kiss from the previous day. He had to talk to her, he thought. It was driving him crazy. Little did he know, Hermione was having the same internal dilemma. She'd made a mistake spending time with him, kissing him on the cheek, she saw him for who he was and how much she'd changed and she was willing to admit to herself that she was attracted to him. But what could she do? After their rounds through the wing, Hermione retired to her office and Draco began to walk out of St. Mungo's. But he stopped and whirled back around. Today. It had to be today. Draco strode back into St. Mungo's, moving quickly. Without knocking, he walked into Hermione's office and slammed the door behind him. Hermione jumped at the sound and looked up at him.

"Malfoy, is everything okay?" Hermione asked.

"I kissed you the other day," he blurted out, rushing through his sentence. "I shouldn't have done that. We work together. I had a great time spending time with you. We work together."

He wasn't making any sense at all, he realized. His thoughts had jumbled together the minute he'd opened his mouth. So he tried again.

"I'm sorry," he said. "What I'm trying to say is I shouldn't have kissed you. But I had a great time with you and I'd like to be friends."

"You regret it then? The kiss?" Hermione asked, neatly staking the papers on her desk, not meeting his eyes. "You want to just be friends."

"I should regret it," he said, looking at her. "You're the epitome of what I was raised to hate but at the same time, you're exactly the kind of person who is worthy of their magic. What you've done, what you do, Granger, I should regret that kiss. I should want to be just your friend."

Hermione looked up at him and the look on his face was one of hope and confusion. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, hear it in her ears. She wondered if Draco could hear it too. "You said should," she pointed out. "You said you should regret the kiss. That you should want to be my friend. What do you mean by should?"

"I said should," Draco replied, rising from his chair and walking around to Hermione's side of the desk. He held out his hand and without hesitating, she took it and he helped her to her feet. "But it's difficult to regret kissing you when I want so badly to do it again."

Before Hermione could answer, his lips were on hers. His tongue demanded entrance and she tilted her head back and allowed it. She slid her arms around his neck and moved her fingers into his hair as he fisted her robes at her back. This, they thought as their strained to get closer, this was everything. They broke apart a moment later, both breathing heavily, gasping for air. Draco dropped his forehead to Hermione's and she reached up with one hand and touched his face. He looked at her, unsure of what to say or what to do.

"No regrets?" he whispered.

"No regrets," Hermione replied.

Draco released her and took a step back, smiling at her. "So what now?"

"Now," Hermione said, smiling up at him. "Let's go spend time at my flat. We can have dinner."

"Inviting me back to your flat already, Granger?" he joked. "How forward of you."

"Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed, hitting his chest. "For dinner!"

Draco backed away and laughed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

Hermione grinned back at him, pleased that he was laughing. "Come on," she said. "Let's head out."

Draco walked toward the door and opened it, stepping aside to let Hermione step in front of him. She did but then turned back and held out her hand to him. Draco looked at her in surprise. Instead of dropping her hand, she reached for his, linking her fingers with his. Draco looked down at their intertwined hands and then Hermione who was looking at him cautiously.

"Let's go," he said, squeezing her hand.

They walked through St. Mungo's hand in hand, resulting in dropped jaws, dropped charts, and more than a few whispers. Draco tried more than once to pull his hand out of Hermione's but she simply gripped it tighter, smiling and greeting fellow Healers and patients as she went. By the time they reached the fireplaces, Draco was sure his hand had fallen off since he couldn't feel it anymore.

"Well that was fun," he said sarcastically.

"It'll just take time," Hermione replied, letting go of his hand. "Come on, I'm incredibly hungry."

Hermione stepped into the fireplace and called for The Leaky Cauldron. Draco followed and said the same. He stepped out of the fireplace and fell in step next to Hermione. He noticed she didn't reach for his hand and he felt a jab of hurt. "Can't be seen holding my hand here, can you?" he said nastily.

She stopped walking and stared at him. "Is that really what you think?" she said quietly so that only he could hear her. "That the minute we step in to the real world I'd abandon you?"

"I wouldn't blame you if you did," he replied.

"I didn't think you'd want to be seen holding my hand," she told him.

Draco saw the hurt in her eyes and realized that she thought he was still concerned about her blood status. Aware that there were a number of eyes on them, he joined their hands and said, "What I think has changed, I am changing. Do you believe that?"

Hermione looked down at their joined hands with a smile. "Yes," she said. "I believe it."

"Then let's go into muggle London," Draco said. "I survived once, I can do it again."

Together they walked out of the room, oblivious to the fact that a shadow at the back of the bar had been watching them the entire time. So the Malfoy boy was a blood traitor now, the shadow thought disgusted. What would Lucius Malfoy think to know his heir had been sullied? The shadow disappeared a moment later, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

Outside, Draco was overwhelmed. Hermione had transfigured his robe into black trousers and a white button down and her own into a flowing red dress. The area right outside of The Leaky Cauldron was relatively quiet, the entrance itself being towards the end of an alley, and Hermione's flat was only two blocks from there but Draco was shocked by the cars going by, the strange attire of the muggles, everything. Hermione walked quickly, leading him by the hand. They arrived at a tall stone building and Hermione led Draco inside. They went up three flights of stairs. Hermione looked around to make sure no one was around, muttered a quick series of spells to alter her wards to let Malfoy through, then pulling out her key, unlocked the door and let him in. It was small, Draco thought. But then again, most places felt small compared to the Manor. He looked around the flat. There were several objects, he assumed were muggle objects, that he didn't recognize. The living room was directly in front of him, a large brown couch and a bright orange recliner occupying the majority of the space. To his left he could see the kitchen, with a small table tucked into the corner. There were a number of things in the kitchen that he'd never seen before but he acknowledged that he'd never really spent any time in a kitchen. Beyond the kitchen he could see a hallway that he assumed led to the loo and Hermione's bedroom. Hermione dropped her things on the orange chair and turned and smiled at him. He could see her lips moving, knew she was saying something, but he just stared at her. How had things changed so drastically, he wondered? In only a few short months. His thoughts scattered when he realized Hermione was standing directly in front of him, waving her hand in his face.

"Hello? Draco? Are you in there?" she said with a laugh.

"You're amazing," he said in response. "Thank you for believing in me."

"You're welcome?" Hermione answered, puzzled. "What brought that on?"

"I'm just grateful," he told her. "Grateful that you somehow saw the good in me, that you want to be with me."

"I like who you are, Draco," Hermione replied, leaning forward and giving him a long kiss. "I like who you're becoming."

Instead of answering, he grabbed her and pulled her to him and kissed her. This kiss was different from the first few that they had shared. Those had been quiet, calm, full of insecurity but comfort. This one was filled with pure lust. Hermione responded to the kiss with and eagerness that took his breath away. He streaked his hands across her back and she slid hers around his, pulling him closer to her. With a groan, Draco slid his hands to her ass and hoisted her up and pinned her against the wall. Hermione wrapped her legs around his waist, her dress riding up, and slid her arms around his neck. Draco broke their kiss moving from her mouth to press open-mouthed kisses to her neck. Hermione's head tilted back and she held back a groan as he raked his teeth down her throat. He brought his lips back to hers and they fused together in a tangle of lips and tongues. Panting Draco pulled back and looked at Hermione, his eyes burning. "Where is your room?"

Hermione stared at him, unable to answer. He kissed her again until they were both out of breath and asked again, "Where is your room?"

Hermione shook her head in response.

"Would you prefer I take you right here against the wall?"

"No," Hermione said, dropping her head to his chest. "No, Draco, I'm sorry."

Draco pulled away from the wall and lowered Hermione's legs to the floor but kept his arms around her. "You don't want to?" he asked hesitantly.

"I do," Hermione said honestly. "But it's too soon, way too soon for that Draco. You're still working out who you are, this, whatever this is, started today. It's too soon."

"I understand," Draco replied, dropping a kiss on her forehead. "You were saying something before I interrupted?"

"Oh, yes," Hermione said, absentmindedly running a hand up and down his back. "Do you want Chinese food? I'm in the mood."

"Don't you need a portkey to get to China?" he asked confused.

"What?" Hermione said, equally confused. "No? We're not going to China we…" But then she realized.

"You've never had Chinese food, have you?" she asked him.

"I've never been to China," Draco replied. "So, no."

"You don't have to go to China to have Chinese food," she said with a laugh. "Muggles eat it all the time. There's a restaurant a block away that delivers, I'll order us food from there."

Hermione walked into the kitchen and pulled her mobile out of a drawer. She ordered several different dishes, reasoning that Draco should have a number of different things to try and the leftovers would be good for several days after. They would have a nice, normal meal she thought. A good way to end what had turned into a very long day. She put the mobile back in the drawer and walked out of the kitchen.

A/N: Thoughts on their relationship? Thoughts on how the story is going? Let me know! Thank you for reading! :)

Also, I just finished uploading all the chapters onto my account so literally all I have to do is remember to post them! Yaaaaaay!