Fixing her lipstick, Hermione did one more look over herself before she went to grab the low-heeled boots. The outfit was simple, and frankly it would do nicely for her second first date with Draco. Admittedly, she was nervous, knowing that they were completely different people now than they had been nearly fifteen years earlier.

"Come on, Granger. Get yourself together, you've already slept with the man for Merlin's sake." Hermione muttered as she pushed the nerves coursing through her down, suppressing them while doing one last shake out of her curls.

The knock at her door signalled the arrival of her date for the night and the butterflies erupted in her stomach making Hermione feel like she was fifteen again. Throwing her lipstick in her bag, Hermione threw the strap of her tote up her arm before flinging the door open with more enthusiasm than necessary.

"Are you positive you're wanting to leave the house?" Draco asked, his eyes skimming her form. "Because I wouldn't be upset if you said to cancel our reservations."

"Honestly, go on," Hermione chided, shooing him off her porch as she stepped into the cool February night. "You're just as bad as you were when we were in our twenties." She turned to wave her wand over her front door, giving Draco the opportunity to step forwards and wrap his arms around her waist.

"You love it though," his warm breath kissed her neck, making her knees weak. "Salazar, I've missed you," he groaned, letting his lips brush against her jawline.

"We're going to be late–" Hermione moaned as his hand brushed her breast.

Draco pushed her back through the doorway and had Hermione pinned up against the wall, her clothes already torn off her body and in a heap on the floor at their feet. Oh well, she thought, magic could fix most things, and if not, the cost was worth how empowered she felt having Draco so eager that he was literally tearing the material from her body.

The crashing of the framed photos she had hanging did nothing to deter her as she pulled his shirt open, sending the buttons flying across the room. She pulled away from his lips, admiring the alabaster skin marred with all the different scars she intimately knew while noting a few new ones that he'd gotten over the years they'd been apart. Nothing compared to the ones he'd gotten during the war or while they were curse breakers, but still the additions were noted.

"You're so beautiful," Draco's voice was hoarse as he lifted her from the ground, making Hermione wrap her legs around his waist. "I need you, I thought I'd be able to wait until after dinner, but fuck." Draco's fingers slid through her exposed cunt, the slick from her arousal coating them as he reached her clit.

"Then don't make me wait," Hermione whined against his mouth, nipping his lip, "please." She added, knowing that he liked it when she begged for him.

Just as she'd expected, Draco couldn't hold back after that, filling her in one swift motion, stretching her and making her mouth fall open in an 'O'. Right there next to her still open front door, Draco drove into her, thrusting his hips and ramming and grinding his pelvis against hers, making Hermione mewl with the pleasure he was giving her.

The impending orgasm came onto her like fiendfyre. It consumed all of her, not letting her catch her breath, and as she screamed out her release, it only made Draco drive into her harder and faster. His desperation to have her shown in the way his hands kneaded her arse as he held her up, and the way his cock reached the deepest parts of her.

She'd hardly come down from the high of her last orgasm before she felt another building. Tears streamed down her cheeks, the knowledge that so much of her adult life had been stolen from her and him, how much they could have shared together. The years she'd held onto hating him and watching from afar, pretending that she didn't still love him, even though her heart had always belonged to Draco Malfoy.

Draco found his release, pumping into her and Hermione let go, falling and letting their shared pleasure take her to new heights that was so purely Draco she never wanted it to end. With his thrusts becoming slow, just pushing his seed deeper in her, Hermione felt her body going limp with the overwhelming sensations.

If this was how their date was starting, she couldn't wait to see how it would end.

ooo

Hermione was running her fingers through her hair, trying to fix her irate curls again, after her and Draco's pre dinner workout. The man sat across from her with a smug look on his face, taking another sip of his Chardonnay.

As the waiter came over to take their orders, Hermione couldn't help but fidget in her seat and rub her thighs together as Draco ordered for her. It seemed that he was remembering much more than just what she'd thus far unlocked. His brain was repairing itself, healing, now that Hermione had set the path, his mind seemed to be filling in the blanks.

"I hope you don't mind," Draco said, his thumb rubbing circles over the top of her hand.

"Not at all," Hermione leaned over to brush her lips over his. As they had opted for a night out in muggle London instead of the magical world, none of the other patrons paid them any mind. Here they could just be another couple having an evening out, not one third of the golden trio and the billionaire playboy the media circus claimed Draco to be.

"I'll admit, this date has other purposes aside from the fact that I'm utterly infatuated with you and want to be around you." Draco said, lifting his wine glass to his lips and taking a drink of the dry red they'd chosen together. "This is also a thank you, well, for everything honestly. Thank you for raising such incredible children, but even more, thank you for giving me my memories and in turn my life back."

Hermione's own glass paused at her lips as she took him in. Yes, she'd been abandoned and left to raise the twins on her own, with the thought that their father hated her and wished they'd never existed. But it'd been a lie. Nothing but a tale spun to drive her away from him, nothing but someone wanting to free Draco of her so that he could be available to marry a woman who'd been used her entire life and die still with chains around her ankles.

"You're welcome," Hermione murmured, coming out of her shocked state and taking a sip of her drink. The crisp taste keeping her grounded in reality and not letting her mind wander too far from the night.

"There is more though," Draco continued, grabbing the bottle and filling his glass a bit fuller than was appropriate. Hermione raised an eyebrow as she watched the move, but Draco made no comment about what he was doing, so she let it slide for the moment.

He drank down more than half his glass, causing Hermione's eyes to widen in surprise. Whatever he had to say, it was clear that he was building up the courage to do so, and Hermione suspected that she probably wasn't going to be entirely thrilled with what he had to say.

"I got around your contract," Draco began, taking another drink.

"You–wait what? My contract?" Hermione asked, completely confused at this point.

"The one with the DOM where I'm not allowed to tell anyone about what project we're working on together, I got around it." He confessed, finishing off his wine before making a grab at the bottle again. Hermione reached out her hand to stop him before he was able to pour himself more, when he finally looked up and into her eyes, she could see the conflicting emotions playing in those stormy greys that were so much like Milo and Mila's it brought about a calm over her that only they ever could.

"Draco," she kept her voice low, not wanting to make him more nervous than he clearly already was, but she wanted him to trust that she wouldn't be upset with him.

"I hired a private investigator," Draco confessed, shifting his hand so that he could entwine their fingers together. "Dean Thomas, well, he's been helping me try to figure out who might have obliviated me to begin with and who might have hired them to do so. I just, remembering you, remembering our life together, whoever took that from me, I want to know who did it and why." Tears were brimming in his eyes, a sight that Hermione thought she'd never see again on the man across from her. "If it was my father–"

"Lucius is an Azkaban, there's no way that he would have been able to orchestrate something of this caliber," Hermione pointed out. "You're the head of your house, he doesn't have access to the family vaults, even if he'd wanted to, it would have been nearly impossible for him to do something this extreme."

"You don't understand how pureblood politics work," when Hermione pulled her shoulders back to begin to argue, Draco held up his free hand, "it's not a dig, Weasley wouldn't even understand because it's all about the old money. Lucius wouldn't have to have access to the vaults to still be able to pull some political power. Look at Theo's father, the man has nothing and nearly was able to harm Pen all to keep his bloodline pure. Some people have other motives besides money, but the fact that Astoria's father was able to convince me to marry her, I just have my doubts about my own father's innocence in all this."

Hermione didn't say anything as she mulled over what Draco had just told her. It was true, even working as a curse breaker and then becoming one of the most well respected unspeakables, she still didn't have the pull in the Wizengamot that others had. Her work kept her fairly isolated, because even after the war, she'd realised that muggleborns just would never be able to turn the wizarding world on its head as she'd once dreamt.

Draco didn't break the silence at the table, letting Hermione sit with her thoughts. The longer it stretched out, the more she realised that what he said was very possible and if that were the case– "he's due to be released and the twins have been photographed at Hogsmeade," Hermione whispered, looking up at Draco, dread filling her as she thought about what danger that could put them in. If Lucius, with not a cent to his name, was able to have his own son obliviated from behind bars, what would he be able to do to a couple of half-blood grandchildren once he was free. "We need to involve Harry, this is beyond our capabilities," Hermione stated.

"I wholly agree, my other concern is Winston Greengrass," Draco replied, giving her hand a squeeze to help ground her. "Once legitimised, Milo will be set to be the Malfoy heir instead of Scorpius. Even though he hasn't been a part of his grandson's life, I could see that still being an issue with the man. The things he did to Astoria were horrendous, though as her father it was all within his rights. I fear for the safety of our children."

Hermione raised her hand, waving their waiter down, ready for the check. Not wanting to waste another moment, Hermione looked over at Draco who nodded his head. It wasn't how she'd wished their date night would have gone, but the safety of their children came above all else.

A/N: Hi there, sorry for the slight *coughs* delay in updates. I've had a bit going on in life recently, but I'm committing myself to getting my WIPs finished. This story has 5 more chapters (cheers!) so not much longer until it is finished, and I do have each chapter outlined.

If you like my writing and want to know what I'm up to you can check me out on twitter sarahfhickman or find me on Facebook in Dreomione Appreciation. I swear, the next update won't take as long to get, and I appreciate all the love and comments this story has still been getting, despite the amount of time it took me to get this out. Bye for now!