"Draco? What's u-,"

"I've found Hermione."

"Well, shit."

Draco rubbed his forehead and then brought his fingers to his collar, loosening it from his neck. He was so tempted to order a bottle of wine from room service and spend the night pondering what exactly he'd done wrong on Earth to be cursed with such a fate as this. However, when he thought about all the wrong he'd done he supposed this was a lot better than what could have been.

"I know," He muttered into the phone, "She has absolutely no fucking clue who I am. I think we accidentally went out on a date yesterday. I was just trying to get to know her more to figure this all out and then she was flushing and blushing and stuttering and she wants me to go back tomorrow."

There was a pause on the line. Draco wondered if the phone was broken. Merlin knows how Blaise somehow talked him into buying one of these contraptions. He'd accepted it was easier to use than communicating through a fireplace. Draco didn't like getting covered in soot every time he had to report back to base anyway.

"She's still a pretty thing, is she?"

"Well I suppose," Draco trailed off. She looked great. So great that it had filled his dreams all night. But that wasn't the point, "I have a job to do anyway! I can't get… involved!"

He heard Blaise's deep chuckle through the phone, "Look mate, I'm not trying to influence you or anything, but Granger's an intelligent girl. I'm assuming she hasn't changed despite the fact she doesn't remember you or her abilities?"

"No she has no idea who I am or who Madam Pince is or the fact that she's a witch."

"Well then. What's wrong with getting to know her a bit?"

Draco sputtered incoherently, "Firstly, I am here to do a job. Gawain would have my head if he found out. Secondly, she's Potter's best friend. If he found out he'd have my head too, maybe worse. Thirdly, it's still Granger. We still can't stand each other-,"

"I wouldn't be so sure," Blaise replied smoothly, "You're both more alike than you think. Intelligent, ambitious, passionate, stubborn, witty… Need I go on?"

Draco sighed, lowering himself to sit on the edge of the bed, "Blaise, I haven't dated in years. You know what happened with Astoria. And besides, why would I want to date someone who doesn't even know who I am? If I'm honest it feels a little creepy. It's morally wrong."

"Since when have you been moral? Look Draco," Blaise's voice turned scolding now, "Astoria and you just didn't work out. It happens. If you feel that weird about Granger then don't. I just thought it might help you get back into the swing of things. I'm not telling you to marry the girl. Just have a bit of fun for once. I can't remember the last time you were really happy."

Draco rolled his shoulders and moved his right hand to his neck, trying to rub out the distress and tension that had lodged itself in there. Maybe it would be a good thing. He didn't have to take her out or date her seriously. Just flirt a bit. Try and get his Malfoy magic back and working. It'd be completely harmless. In fact it was a brilliant idea now that he thought of it. Once he returned Hermione's memories she'd go back to her life with the weasel and not remember any of their time together.

So why did that thought make his stomach flip with displeasure?

"I can tell by the noise of churning gears coming from your head that you're considering it."

"Oh fuck off. I've got to go now anyway and give Gawain a report."

"Alright mate."

Draco hung up the phone, now moving his other hand to the other side of his neck and rubbing again. He tilted his head, clicking it and groaning. He'd only been here two days and already he was agitated. What had happened to his original plan of finding a nice girl and bringing her back to the hotel for his birthday?

Hermione was a nice girl…

Draco smacked his palm to his forehead. No. No more.

Hermione had all but skipped into work the morning after her and Draco's date. She sang in the shower, untunefully of course, and even spent a little longer on her appearance than usual. Granted she didn't actually do anything different, she was just more precise when she applied her mascara. She had pinched her cheeks slightly to give her a natural glow and waltzed all the way to work. Even Lisa had commented on it, bringing the girl in for a firm hug. The birdsong fluttered in through the window and warmed Hermione's soul instead of irritating it. Lisa had even made Hermione a cup of tea, something she never did purely because she insisted Hermione made tea better (which Hermione did), and told her to spill the beans.

"I don't think there are any details to spill. We just went for ice cream." Hermione responded bashfully, curling her fingers around her cup.

Lisa took in a deep breath and blew over her cup to cool her drink. The smoke slowly swirled off the top and the aroma travelled around the store, "I know I haven't known you all that long Hermione but you've become a firm friend of mine already. You're smart, strong, brave. I know you won't let any man rail road you. He just seems so… you. Heck he's even got a weird name! Imagine if you had children. Their names would either be even more ridiculous or unbelievably boring."

Hermione grinned. She couldn't remember ever feeling like this before. Maybe once. If she thought really hard. But, no. She was getting a lot of headaches recently when she over thought. It was clearly a sign to stop focusing on what had been and look forward to what was about to be. Hermione thought Draco might be something that could be but she couldn't assume from that first date. Was it even a date? Oh god had she just made out in her head that it was a date? Well, he was coming back today. At least Hermione hoped he was coming back. He hadn't seemed disgusted by her. He had said he'd had fun after all.

She placed her tea on the side, waiting for it to cool slightly. As she went about her duties she continued to glance at the clock. An hour passed, then two, then lunch came and went, and then it was closing time.

He hadn't showed and her tea had gone cold.

The next day passed in a similar fashion and then it was the weekend and Hermione spent it watching re runs of all her favourite movies. She watched Confessions of a Shopaholic and then angrily threw a book at the television as Hugh Dancy's character was reminding her too much of the blonde. Arrogant and indifferent... and yet there was an underlining feeling of warmth within him. Hermione was lucky that the book was a small paperback and that her television was bulky and strong so it hadn't suffered much damage. Monday rolled around and her eyes fluttered open. Another day at work, only when Hermione woke in the morning she didn't sing, or pay attention to her appearance and she even forgot to eat breakfast. She knew it was too good to be true. She'd probably scared him away with how forward she was.

When she arrived at the shop she pushed the doors open and took a deep breath in. This was her haven. No man could come in-between her and books. Maybe she could get a cat. Hermione had always wanted a cat. A fluffy one. A cat wouldn't demand attention twenty four hours a day. It would be cuddly when it wanted, but vastly independent. Hermione thought she was a bit like that too, so maybe a cat would be the perfect addition to her life.

Hah. That'd show Draco. Hermione and her cat needed no man. Well, her possible cat, she needed to actually buy him or her first. She spoke to Lisa about the idea briefly who praised it, saying they could even buy one of those cat towers for the library so their new feline friend could visit and so with this in mind, Hermione headed to the nearest pet store after the shop closed.

As she pushed the door open the bell above it dinged and several bright, round, yellow and green and blue eyes glanced over in her direction. It was silent for a moment and then the air was filled with a multitude of, 'meooooooooooooow,' all in varying pitches.

The sales assistant came over asking if she were looking for a breed in particular but Hermione shook her head, explaining she was just waiting for the right feeling to overcome her. She laughed at how ridiculous she was being. Isn't that what happened in all those romantic comedies she watched? A man and a woman would lock eyes, time would move in slow motion and a piano or a harp or something equally romantic would begin to play an enchanting tune in the background. Was she really going to test this theory of choosing things on a cat? She smiled and shook her head at herself. Well, she could try it for now. It might work.

Hermione strolled around the shop, sometimes pausing to lean into the paddock they were being held in so she could offer her hand. Some kittens had recoiled, some had lashed out, and some sniffed curiously but they all blinked up at her, eyes wide, and her heart swelled. Couldn't she get all of them?

The bell dinged again.

"Why Granger isn't this a sight. My poor, bleeding heart. What is it with Gryffindor's and feeling the need to rescue absolutely everything?"

Her whole body stiffened. So he was still in Australia then. Hermione had hoped maybe he'd left the country only because it'd make her feel better about him not showing up at the shop. Was she being irrational? Probably. She'd only just met him and yet she was sulking about the fact he hadn't visited. God she needed to get a grip.

She glanced up at him and waved, "Hi, Draco!" She hoped the bitterness in her eyes wasn't too obvious. He either didn't notice or didn't care as he strode towards her.

"Sorry I haven't been to the shop. I'm here on work and I've had some stuff to sort out."

Of course. She relaxed and smiled to herself. Of course there was a reasonable explanation. She wasn't reassured by the way she was feeling though. Was it normal to feel so much for someone you've just met? Hermione felt like they already had some sort of a connection.

"I don't know," She murmured, turning back towards a small white kitten and nudging its head with her finger, "Do you think I should forgive the mean man?"

Draco snorted, "Mean? Hardly!" He then glanced at the small kitten and smirked at its colouring, "A white cat, Granger? How fitting. You could call him Draco too so you can always remember me and my dashing good looks."

"She's a girl so Draco is hardly an acceptable name, unless you have something you'd like to share," She smirked and raised an eyebrow, gold challenging silver.

"Well," Draco murmured, sauntering up to her, "That's an accusation I'm not going to back down on. I could show you if you need confirmation?"

Hermione felt her face heat up but she maintained eye contact. She wouldn't back down. It was thrilling to have someone stand up to her. Bravery and confidence were traits Hermione had always admired and Draco seemed to ooze them from every inch of him. He grinned wolfishly at her and then waved over the assistant.

"We'll take this one." He gestured to the small white kitten that stood upright when addressed. Hermione cooed softly and reached out to pick her up. She rubbed her nose against the kittens and the fluffy creature pushed her paw against Hermione's cheek. Draco thought Hermione might melt and rolled his eyes at the girl and her pet.

Hermione suddenly snapped back into reality, "Wait, we? Draco what are you doing?" But before she could demand any more he was already strutting over to the counter, fishing through his wallet and pulling out several notes. Her heart swooned. She didn't even question why he was being so nice. Maybe this was just what he was like. She labelled it, 'The Three C's – Cocky, Confident, Caring.'

"Granger, what do we need aside from the cat?" Draco called. She cradled the kitten like a baby and walked over to him. Together they chose a collar, a bed, a dish for food and a giant cat fort for the library. Hermione managed to pay for the rest of the items, but Draco still insisted he didn't need to be paid back for the cat.

"Consider it a thank you for everything." He said, and she wasn't sure what he meant by that, but she smiled anyway.

How had the night ended like this?

After shopping for and a spoiling a kitten as if it were his own child, Hermione invited him to come back to hers. The way she'd invited him was completely innocent and Draco had accepted before he'd even considered it properly.

So here he was, knelt on the floor trying to work out how to piece together this cat tower. It was all very simple on paper but slotting it together was another story completely. She'd even picked the red one to buy over the green one he had shown her. It seemed even this version of Hermione loved the colour red. Typical Gryffindor's. He desperately wished he could whip out his wand and assemble it that way but she hadn't left the room at any point and so here he was cursing the muggle way of doing things and muttering incoherently.

Hermione was sat on the sofa behind him typing on one of those small muggle computers. The slimmer ones. He knew they had a different name but he hadn't been listening when they were shown how to use them at work. He only knew they did the same thing as the bigger ones only without all the bigness. She was murmuring to herself and then mmmming or ahhhing or no-I-don't-think-soing.

Draco finally slotted the last piece onto his tower and stood up to admire his work. He nodded briefly at it, rubbing his hands together as his lips quirked upwards. He mentally scolded himself for being so against the muggle way of constructing the tower earlier. Who knew it was so satisfying to do something without the use of magic?

"What about Alrakis?"

Draco turned to look at her. She wasn't paying attention though. Her brow was pulled down in concentration and she was gnawing her lip. He took a moment to realise she was wearing glasses and wondered how he'd never noticed that before, unless the glasses were a recent thing. She glanced up from the glare of the screen and cocked her head at him, raising her eyebrows shortly after.

"Well?" She questioned again, pushing the glasses up and into her hair.

"What are you doing looking at my constellation?" He asked, walking over to sit beside her on the sofa to see what she was looking at.

Her eyes flickered to him next to her and then back to the screen, "You bought me the cat, Draco."

"I wasn't serious when I said to name it after me."

She turned her head back towards him, studying him briefly. The line of his jaw, the chill in his eyes, "I know. I want to, though. Not after you, but…"

He gazed at her. The muggle Hermione had only met him three times, today included. Surely this proved that if he had been raised differently they would have got on. Blaise was right; they were both similar in some aspects. They were different too, but that was a good thing. Who wanted to be with someone who reflected every single part of them? How refreshing it was to meet someone who both reflected and challenged you all in one breath.

Draco's eyes flickered over to the kitten who was now perched on the highest part of the tower, snoozing. He knew she was going to be the most spoilt cat in the world already, what with Hermione Granger for an owner. "Alrakis isn't very feminine."

"Okay, what's your favourite constellation?" She voiced, fingers poised ready to type.

"Scorpius, but I can assure you there are no stars in that one with a name suitable for your cat either." He closed her internet device and stared up at the ceiling, as if he were seeing the stars through it. "My mother would sit out with me at night and show me all the constellations and tell me their stories so we don't need your machine. There's a few neighbouring constellations. I believe names like 'socks' or 'boots' are commonly used for cats, and there's a constellation near mine called Boötes-,"

"But my cat doesn't have marks around her paws to look like socks!" Hermione pouted, also looking up at her ceiling, imagining.

"Yes that may be a problem… We could always paint her?"

Hermione nudged Draco with her elbow, "Fat chance." She didn't move her elbow away from him afterwards and they both sat their comfortably, revelling in the feeling of a small part of their bodies touching.

"You know, people often call Boötes 'Boo' for short."

Hermione glanced over at Draco and then over to the small kitten who was sat up now, staring at them both with her shocking blue eyes.

"Boo," She whispered, turning her gaze towards him again, "I like it."