Chapter Four:

What the bloody hell was that!?

Harry

The note from Harry's owl is there waiting for her when she finally makes it home. She had made the rash decision to stop at the nearest pub. Drastic times and all that. She had kissed Draco Malfoy. In the hallway of the ministry and oh Merlin, she had forgotten until that moment that Harry had been there and had seen the entire thing. She clearly hadn't thought this all through. It became entirely too overwhelming again so she stepped right back around and headed back to the pub, she was going to need something stronger.

As she sits on the stool at the bar, with what is probably her third drink of the night, she feels someone sit down next to her. As she turns her head to see who it is, she immediately regrets it.

There he is, in all his glory, Draco sodding Malfoy.

And even worse, he looks better than he had earlier! He still has on his light grey suit but has taken off the jacket and unbuttoned the top three buttons of his white shirt, giving himself a much more carefree look. He looks bloody fantastic, and the alcohol coursing through her does not help the situation.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" Hermione says with a sigh, she decides to cut straight to it.

"Well I got completely jumped on by someone at work today, and as I was on my way home, I figured a drink was in order." He replies with his usual charm.

"Ha Ha, very funny, I didn't jump you, I..."

"Look Granger, I'm flattered, really, I am, that you would like me all this time, but Astoria and I just ended our engagement a few months ago and I just don't think…"

Hermione cannot believe what she is hearing, is he, what? Turning her down?

She cuts him off right then and there, "I don't like you, there's no reason you should feel flattered."

In all her years Hermione has never seen Malfoy look so taken aback, except for maybe when she punched him in their third year.

Malfoy quips back, "then why did you kiss me?"

"I kissed you because I don't like you." She huffs, like it's obvious. "See, my letters were sent out by someone else without my knowledge."

"Wait, letters? You're telling me mine wasn't the only letter sent out? There are others?"

Hermione shakes her head yes.

"Wow, you start to think you're really special..." Malfoy says with a feigned sadness. "So who got the other ones? Let me guess, Potter?"

Hermione chokes on her drink. "That's incredibly personal. And no, Potter did not get one." She says with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh please, I think I deserve to know, considering you pulled me into all of this drama." He points out.

"Argh, fine, it was actually Ron…you know, Ron Weasley, who got one. Which is the entire reason I kissed you today, he was coming straight towards us and it looked like he had his letter."

"Weasley? But weren't you guys together once upon a time? What would be so terrible about him receiving a letter?" He responds.

"Well, he recently broke up with Susan Bones, and he always has the most determination of us getting back together after a breakup. And I knew if he had received my love letter for him, it would make things even more unbearable and ultimately impossible to tell him no." Hermione cringes; it sounded even worse saying it out loud.

"Ok, I guess that's fair, Weasley is a stubborn git."

Hermione raises her eyebrows at this, he is…agreeing with her?

"So, who else?" Malfoy prods.

Hermione takes a deep breath in, what else does she have to lose...

"Well there is Viktor Krum, (at that she hears Malfoy distinctly scoff, she ignores him) but I received the letter back from his assistant yesterday because apparently he doesn't take any "fan mail" during peak season." She says with a sniff. "Then there's Neville Longbottom (that erupts an even bigger scoff from him)."

"Wait, isn't he engaged to Hannah Abbott?" He decides to chime in.

"Uh, yes, he is." She responds, slightly shocked that he would know that information. "I believe their wedding is in a few months, so I don't think I have anything to worry about with him, except for Hannah glaring daggers at me." She pales at the thought.

"Then there's Theodore Nott…" this has brought on possibly the biggest reaction from the blonde. She swears she saw bits of alcohol flying from his mouth.

"WHAT!? Theo Nott? As in the Slytherin Theo Nott?" You can see his mouth visibly hanging open in disbelief.

"Oh honestly, Malfoy, yes, who else would I be talking about." She knows what he will ask next so she continues, "he was one of the only people who was just as competent in Ancient Runes as myself, if not more actually, and in sixth year, we bonded over it." She chokes out the last part, as she feels a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Hm, now that I think about it, he did bring you up a couple of times..."

"What? What did he say?" Hermione instantly chastises herself on her forcefulness.

"Good to know you're curious." Malfoy says with a smirk. And she knows instantly that Theo never brought her up.

"Careful Malfoy, your jealousy is showing." She feels better the instant his smirk vanishes from his face.

"Yeah well, he is one of my best mates." He continues, "He's been out in America though since the end of the war, so I don't think you have anything to worry about if he gets your letter."

Ah, she thought she had heard that's where he was. Makes a lot of sense now why she has never run into him.

"Well, thank you Malfoy for this enlightening conversation, but I really should be going."

Hermione is ready to be at home where she can think about these letters in peace, she doesn't like being this vulnerable in front of Malfoy.

"Let me walk you home."

"Oh, you really don't have to do that. I'll be fine."

"Come off it Granger, let's go." He tells her as he puts some muggle money (she'll have to ask him about that later) down on the bar and guides her out. She should have known he had an ulterior motive to walking her home, but considering she wasn't fully in her right mind, she didn't catch on until he started talking to her outside.

"Listen, I need to get this off my chest now and please don't interrupt me like you did before." He says and looks over at her with a look of sincerity she hasn't seen in quite a while.

"Ok."

"Right, well, I feel that this is long overdue, but I owe you an explanation about that kiss." He quickly continues before she can break her promise and interrupt him. "I didn't kiss you just to mess with you. Honestly, I had no such plan, I didn't even know I was going to do it, until…look, I liked you that year. I didn't see it coming, and I didn't know how to handle it. I was kind of dating Astoria, but we were constantly fighting, mostly because she felt my attention was elsewhere. I wonder why that was." At that he gives her a tiny half smile and continues, "it was refreshing, that friendship we had created, when I went into the library to meet you that day, Astoria and I had just been fighting and when I sat down you could tell I wasn't happy. But instead of making me talk about it, you made a joke and it was that moment that I realized…well, I realized it was so easy with you and you made me happy. And that's why I kissed you."

He finishes talking and there is a few beats of silence before Hermione finally whispers, "But why did you run away? Why did you completely avoid talking about it the rest of the year?"

He looks away from her and says, "I was an idiot. Kissing you wasn't something I thought I'd ever follow through with, and when I finally did, I panicked. I…well I was scared. I was bloody scared of having an honest and mature conversation with you about my feelings." At this he looks her in the eyes, and she knows he's telling her the truth. "So instead of accepting my feelings for you, I did the exact opposite and went back to Astoria…and avoided the conversation with you."

At this point they've reached her flat, and she doesn't know what to do.

"Thank you for telling me this. I mean, it's been years, but at least now we can put it all in the past?" She says with as much hope as she can muster.

"Yeah, yeah of course, thank you for listening to me Granger."

With that he gives her a beautiful smile and turns to leave. A second later, he turns around and calls back, "maybe I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, maybe" and she gives him a similar smile.

As she shuts the door behind her, the smile is still there on her face.