Chapter Eight:

Once Theo has left Hermione's office there is a deafening silence in the air.

Hermione finally breaks it, "well that was interesting –

"You're having lunch with him?" Draco cuts in.

"Yes, well, we were talking, and he brought up the letter he had received, and I asked him if I could have it back. He said he didn't have it with him, but that if we had lunch tomorrow, he would bring it." She explains.

"Oh, how very convenient." He spits out, his emotions becoming clearer by the second.

"Come off it, it's just lunch between friends, it will be nice to catch up with him." She argues back.

"Yes, well it looked like the two of you already had plenty of catching up done by the time I walked in." Draco doesn't mean for his words to sound so biting, but he knows as soon as they are out that it isn't making the situation better, especially since he had initially come here to fix their previous conversation.

He sighs, "Look, I just don't love the idea of you going to lunch with him."

Hermione tries to fix her tone but is finding it difficult. "Yes, well, I already told him I would go, and I see nothing wrong with it." She doesn't appreciate someone, who isn't even her boyfriend, telling her what to do, so she hopes her words will end the conversation.

"Fine. But just tell me this, do you still have feelings for him?"

She's taken aback by the blunt question and only slightly hesitates before responding. "No, I don't. Happy?" She feels a small puddle of uncertainty form inside her as she speaks, but she's nothing if not headstrong. Draco doesn't look appeased by her words, but he lets it drop.

"Ok. Are you heading home for the day? I can walk you to the floo?" He says, trying to salvage what he can.

A large part of her wants to say yes and to put all of this behind them, but another niggling part doesn't want to be around him right now. Unfortunately, that's the part that wins.

"No, I think I have a few things I need to wrap up first, so I'll see you later." She gives him a small smile, so hopefully he doesn't scrutinize her answer too much. His eyes narrow a fraction, but he nods once, leans down and gives her cheek a kiss before leaving her office. As soon as he is gone, she wishes he hadn't left.

The next day Hermione can't seem to get her thoughts in check. As much as she tries to focus on her work, her mind continues to flit between Draco and Theo. She would be lying if she said she wasn't excited about her lunch with Theo. There's just something so unassuming yet appealing about him, they have so much in common, that she often forgets he had been a Slytherin.

When lunch time rolls around she looks up to see Theo leaning against her door with his hands in his pockets watching her, but not in a creepy way, much more in an endearing sweet kind of way. She instantly stiffens and becomes self-conscious, but he starts to laugh and her whole body relaxes.

"Granger, why the long face?"

That gets her to smile.

"Ah, there it is, that infamous smile that I've missed so much." A wiggle of guilt creeps into her stomach at his comment, but she continues to smile at him as they start walking to lunch.

They have just finished eating and are both boisterously laughing at something Theo has said when he starts taking something out of his pocket. Hermione's breath gets caught in her throat at the sight of the letter. Well here it goes, she thinks. Outwardly though, she tries to play it off as a completely normal situation, even though she can feel that her face is burning. As he slides the letter over to her on the table, she reaches her hand out to grab it from him, but as she goes to slide it her way, his hand quickly is placed on top of hers. She raises her eyes to his, and knows immediately, that this wasn't just a lunch between friends.

Before she can say anything he beats her to it, "Listen, Hermione, I know you wrote this a long time ago, but I just wanted to tell you in person how much it meant to me. I mean it was shocking enough to hear that someone liked me at Hogwarts –"

At this she scoffs, "oh please, I'm sure lots of girls liked you at Hogwarts.."

At this he lowers his eyes and slowly shakes his head, "I won't even begin to go into how untrue that is, but unbeknownst to me, the only girl that mattered, did." He is now looking intently at her, and she doesn't know how to respond.

"Thank you Theo, for bringing me the letter back, I…well, I just want you to know that 17 year old Hermione meant every word." She gives him another smile and tries to avoid the determined look he now has in his eyes and decides to change the subject. "So, tell me about this job interview you had!"

Later that day, once she is at home and alone, she pulls out the letter that she had written to Theo Nott at the end of her 6th year at Hogwarts:

Theo Nott,

I know the exact day it all started.

Fall, sixth year.

We had just finished translating some ancient runes that were on the outskirts of the forbidden forest.

Professor Babbling had gone on ahead of us with the rest of the class so we were left to clean up,

and it had started to rain.

We started to run back to the castle, and I couldn't run as fast as you, so you stopped and grabbed my bag too.

It was even better than if you'd grabbed my hand.

I still remember the way you looked – your white button down shirt was stuck to your back,

you had left your cloak in the castle, and your hair was wet like you had just come out of the shower.

When it started to pour, you whooped and hollered like a little kid.

There was this moment – you looked back at me, and your grin was as wide as your face.

You said, Come on Granger!"

It was right then.

That's when I knew, all the way down to my soaking-wet shoes.

I love you, Theo Nott.

I really love you.

I might have loved you for years to come.

I think you might have loved me back. If only it weren't for the war.

It's so unfair that we have to be a part of this war.

I don't think I'll be coming back to Hogwarts next year, and it breaks my heart that you'll have a different Runes partner,

someone who isn't me.

I really hope one day I will get to call you Theodore to your face.

One day in class, I saw you reading a letter you had gotten from home, and it was addressed to Theodore.

I loved how it looked.

Theodore.

One day, I bet your girlfriend will call you Theodore.

She's really lucky.

Maybe you already have a girlfriend now.

If you do, know this – once upon a time in Ancient Runes, a girl fell in love with you.

I'm going to say it just this once, since you'll never hear it anyway.

Good-bye, Theodore.

Love, Hermione Granger

Hermione had only remembered little details of this letter to Theo, and reading it now, she is completely thrown back in time to that day in the rain, and to every single class they'd spent together. She doesn't know if she had exactly lied to Draco yesterday when he asked if she still had feelings for Theo, she honestly doesn't know, but she knows she needs to talk to him. Tonight.

Hermione sent him an owl a half hour ago, and each minute that passes gives her more and more anxiety.

Finally, she hears his owl.

Walking over to the window she gives the owl a treat and grabs the note from his beak.

The floo is open.

- D

Well he couldn't have made that any shorter if he had tried, she thinks while rolling her eyes. She grabs a sweater and steps into the floo, calling out Draco Malfoy residence

As soon as she steps out of the fireplace, she looks around and is pleasantly surprised by what she sees. She remembers Malfoy Manor being a very dark and ominous place, but maybe that was because of the situation she was in because Draco's apartment is very different from the manor. His furnishings consist of dark mahogany woods and rich brown leathers, with a touch of warm colors mixed in to create a homier feel. Just as she is coming to this conclusion, she sees Draco enter the room.

"Hi," she calls timidly, not sure where they stand.

"Hey." He says while crossing his arms over his chest. This stance isn't the most welcoming, but his voice wasn't entirely cold. She decides to muster up all of her Gryffindor courage and fix this.

She crosses the room to him and wraps her arms around him, his body seems to stiffen a bit at the unexpected hug, but he quickly relaxes and raises his arms to return the hug. They stand there for quite a while, just hugging, no talking yet, just spending a few minutes holding onto each other. Hermione starts to let go of him and leads him to the couch, ready to have the conversation they need to have.

"Look, I'm going to be brutally honest with you Draco, I've never been engaged, nor have I been in a relationship for 5 years, so I won't pretend to understand the situation you're in. But if you're interested in pursuing anything with me, I don't feel comfortable with you constantly being there for Astoria. Can you two still be friends? Of course, but I don't want to feel like you start choosing her over me…again." She doesn't say the last part as confidently, but she can see that he understands where she's coming from.

He takes a deep breath and starts to speak, "I'm sorry" he then pauses and lets out a small chuckle, "Merlin, I don't think I've ever apologized to someone so much in my life, except for maybe Potter, but that doesn't count" at that he looks up at her and gives her a smirk, and she lets out a genuine laugh. He continues, "I should have realized that our conversation may have caused you to think I was going to repeat the past. I just…I didn't want to lie to you about her. I know I shouldn't be in contact with Astoria as much as I have been, things were just as difficult with her and her parents when the engagement was cut off as they were with mine, and I guess we were so used to going to each other for comfort, it became a habit that was hard to quit. But what I didn't get a chance to tell you yesterday was that when she came to my office I told her that I was committed to you, and that it wouldn't be right for me to continue to comfort her whenever she needed me."

At this Hermione looks visibly surprised, the look on Astoria's face makes a lot more sense now that she knows all the facts. She is also grateful that Draco has decided to choose her this time over Astoria.

"I realized things needed to change, because I like you Hermione, I like you a lot, and I don't want to let go of us" he hesitates for a second, "I want…I want us to be together actually, officially together, no more of this "casually dating", I want everyone to know that you're mine and I'm yours."

At his words, the tension that has built up the past few days, finally disappears.

She smiles up at him and nods her head, "that's exactly what I want too." Her body has slowly gotten closer to him as they've talked, she's so close now she puts her forehead on his and remembers something else she needs to say. "It seems I have something to apologize for as well, I'm sorry I didn't take your feelings into account when it came to Theo. I went to lunch with him and I got my letter back; but you weren't okay with it, and I went and did it anyway. Do you forgive me?" She asks and looks up at him with her big brown eyes that are filled with hope.

Draco puts both his hands on her face, slowly leans in and gives her a long passionate kiss. It's the kind of kiss that reminds you exactly why you're with that person. All the feelings she's had the past few days are all brought to the surface and she knows she's never fallen so hard for someone.

The kiss starts to become more intense, his hands have moved from her face to her hair and are tugging through her chestnut curls and her hands are starting to undo the buttons on his shirt. It's very clear where this is headed...as if reading her thoughts, Draco pulls away from their kissing just long enough to look her sincerely in the eyes as if he is asking if she is sure.

Hermione knows what she wants, and in this moment what she wants more than anything is him.

As a way of answering she crashes her lips onto his once more and in one swift motion Draco has wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted them off the couch.