Draco couldn't help looking at the clock every quarter hour once he got home, waiting until just before seven o'clock to disapparate from the end of his walkway. He landed shortly after just outside of Hermione's house and smiled up at the building. He was still surprised that she had agreed to the larger house; given that it was just her there, he wondered what she did with the rest of the space.
As he knocked on the door, he grinned to himself as he thought about her turning at least two of the five spare bedrooms into a library. The door opened and Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.
"What's that look for?" She asked, unable to hold back her own smile.
He shook his head and stepped in after she moved aside to allow him room and he said, "I was just wondering if you've dedicated one of the rooms to your collection of books yet."
She laughed as she shut the door and pointed upstairs towards one of the visible doors just off the staircase. "Actually yes, I have!"
"Just one? I'm shocked!"
They both laughed at that as they walked into the kitchen together and Hermione went to the cabinet to grab a couple of wine glasses for the two of them. Draco looked around and noticed that the lights seemed much brighter than before, and there was also now a low hum that wasn't there before.
"Did you change something?" He asked, looking around more.
"Yes," She smiled. "I had an electrician come out. No more gas lamps!"
He gave her a confused look and she laughed slightly. "Remember when I said that muggles run off electricity? Well, now I do too, so I can use things like the coffee maker and the microwave."
"Micro...?" He shook his head. "You're going to have to slowly teach me everything."
"I don't expect you to learn everything tonight," She said as she reached beneath the counter and pulled out a bottle of wine.
"What in Merlin's name is that annoying humming noise?" He asked, looking around everywhere for the source.
"Humming noise?" She paused and listened to what he was referring to before realizing what it was. "Oh, that's the sound of the fridge. Don't worry, you'll barely notice it soon enough."
"I seriously doubt that," He muttered, leaning against the counter and facing her as she resumed pouring the wine. "Remember, I have a heightened sense of hearing."
"I didn't forget; I just wasn't sure how heightened it was. I've got something that can help though," She said with a smile, handing him a glass before disappearing into the living room.
There was a shuffling noise and then the sound of music drifting quietly into the kitchen. It wasn't too loud, but loud enough that he noticed he was no longer hearing the humming noise. She gave him a smile as she returned to the kitchen and asked, "Better?"
"Much, thank you." He smiled at her and then asked, "So...shall we continue our conversation from earlier?"
Hermione hesitated answering, instead taking a drink from her glass and then sighing. "I guess we should, yes."
He frowned and tilted his head slightly. "What's wrong?"
She leaned against the counter opposite him and chewed on the inside of her cheek as she put her thoughts together. "Well, you know that my divorce process is going to be starting soon. Hopefully."
"Hopefully?" He raised an eyebrow.
She nodded and sighed. "Yes, there's the matter of actually getting Ron to sign the papers. Though Harry did say that he would make sure Ron signed them."
"Okay..." Draco waited for her to continue and when she didn't, he asked, "What are you worried about with this?"
Looking down into her glass, her shoulders dropped and she said, "I'm worried that since it's most likely going to be a messy divorce that you'll be dragged into the middle of it, and I don't want that."
He smiled slightly. "I've been dragged into worse things."
"I know but..." She sighed and set her glass down on the counter before pacing back and forth. "You have a business to run. I don't want your business negatively affected by anything that could come out into the papers about us."
"Trust me, nothing the papers say or do could possibly hurt my business that badly," He said reassuringly. "The Prophet has already written horrible things about my family and I; I think being supportive of you in your divorce will be the least horrible thing they could ever write about me."
Hermione's mouth twisted up into a half-smile as she looked down at the floor. "I suppose you're right. I just wasn't sure exactly how far you were wanting to go with me and I wanted to give you an out if you weren't prepared for all of this."
"I appreciate that, but I'm not about to abandon you when you're going to be going through a rough time," He said. "That's not the kind of person I am. Especially after everything you've done to help me."
"That was part of my job, Draco," She reminded him gently.
"No, I mean..." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, trying to decide what exactly to say. After a few moments and a sip of wine, he set his glass down and slowly started to explain, "You've changed my outlook on life in a very short period of time. Before I listened to the way you spoke about your clients and how important they are to you, I believed that my life was going to be a lonely and bleak one at best, where I'd spend every month trying to fight down my other side. But after speaking to you about my condition and hearing about others with it, it's helped me have hope for a life more than just trying to subdue my other side. And for that, I'm eternally grateful to you."
She smiled at him and he pushed off the counter as he continued: "That's not the only reason though that I want to be there for you. I really like you, Hermione, and I want to make sure that you're taken care of right now. I know we are only casually dating right now but I'd like to think when this is over that we can have a more serious relationship, and I want to be there to support you throughout all of this."
He had stopped in front of her at that point, looking down at her while she looked up at him. She stared at him in disbelief and it took a moment for her to find her words.
"Do you really mean that?" She asked quietly.
"Of course." He smiled and she returned the smile as he continued: "Only if you want me to, that is."
She laughed slightly and set her glass down on the counter behind her before taking his hands in hers and looking up at him. "I would really like that, you being there for me. And us seeing where this goes."
His smile widened at that. "Are you sure? You don't have to say that just because I'm standing here."
Laughing again, she squeezed his hands and said, "No, I mean that! I really would like to see where this relationship takes us. But only if you promise me one thing."
"And what's that?" He asked somewhat nervously.
"I don't want to be dropped in a few weeks when the full moon comes around," She said in a serious tone. "If you're going to be there for me, I want to be there for you."
He wasn't quite expecting that. While he wasn't planning on dropping whatever they had, he wasn't quite sure how he was going to handle the full moon. After a few moments he nodded and she relaxed, her smile returning.
"I'm just worried about snapping at you and you deciding you don't want to do it anymore," He admitted.
"Do you really think you're the first werewolf to snap at me?" She asked with a smile before stepping up to give him a quick peck on the lips. "You worry too much sometimes."
He laughed at that. "Well, it's better to over-worry and prevent something from happening."
"Only when the other person doesn't know a thing about your condition," She retorted, stepping away to start making dinner. "You don't have to worry about that with me."
"Okay, I'll try not to," He said, reaching for his glass again. "No guarantees though."
"I suppose I can deal with that," She said, smiling back at him from the stove.
He grinned and slowly walked out of the kitchen, looking around at the house. She had finally decorated it, and as he looked over the many pictures of her family and friends, he found himself smiling. Half of the pictures weren't moving and he found that those were ones from when she looked younger and included two people he assumed were her parents. He found something odd about the pictures though: there were no pictures of her and her parents together when she was between about fifteen and eighteen. There were pictures of her with Potter and Weasley, and even the Weasley family, but none of her and her parents.
"Hermione?" He called out.
"Yes?" Came the reply from the other side of the wall.
"Why is there a huge gap in pictures with you and your parents?" He asked, looking over the lot of them again.
The noise coming from the kitchen ceased and she walked around the corner with a sad look on her face. She looked over the wall quickly and said, "Ah. I didn't really spend a lot of time with my parents after fourth year. I spent the holidays with the Weasleys after the Quidditch World Cup because of events that were happening. Christmas time during fifth year was when Arthur Weasley was attacked by Voldemort's snake, Nagini, and I was supposed to go skiing with my parents that year."
He noticed the sad tone in her voice as she reminisced and continued, "I decided to not go because I wanted to study for my exams and I didn't want to abandon anyone during that emotional time. Harry was having problems and needed support, and I just kept choosing my friends over my parents. But once the war started again...I had to modify their memories for their safety and sent them off to Australia."
Draco stared at her. "You...modified their memories? Why?"
"I made them forget they had a daughter," She said sadly. "Any connection to me put them in immense danger, so I had them leave immediately to go to Australia where they would be safe. After the battle, I found them and restored their memories again, but...I'll never get those times back."
She fell silent as she looked over the pictures again, reaching out to touch one that looked to be taken recently. Draco watched her in silence before reaching out to pull her in for a comforting hug, which she gladly accepted.
"I'm happy you found them," He said quietly after a few moments.
"Me too," She said with a small laugh. "I try to get pictures with them every time I see them now."
That made him smile a bit. "Sounds like a good idea. One can never have too many pictures with their parents."
As he said this, he thought about his own parents, and his father's request of him visiting more often. Well, really his mother's request that his father presented. He hadn't seriously considered it until now, and his father was somewhat trying to make more of an effort to be present in his life, which Draco had always brushed off.
Hermione pulled away slightly and gave him a smile before going back into the kitchen as she said over her shoulder, "I can give you an official tour here shortly; I just need to get dinner going."
"Not a problem, I won't wander far," Draco said.
She smiled again before disappearing around the corner and leaving him in the living room. He walked around slowly, running a hand along the back of the couch as he looked around more. He liked how she decorated the space with soft ivory-colored furniture, and how it helped make the space look bigger.
He was inspecting an odd black and rectangular object when she returned to the living room moments later, chuckling at him.
"I see you found the television," She said with a smile.
"Television?" He asked, looking back at it. "Is it another muggle thing?"
"Yes, and I'm not going to try and confuse you with it right now," She laughed.
She waited for him to say something, noticing that he was looking around at everything with a contemplative expression on his face.
"Are you alright?" She asked curiously.
"Hm?" He looked down at her then and shook his head. "Oh, yeah. I was just thinking..."
"That's dangerous."
He scowled at her and couldn't hold back his own grin as one spread across her face. "Har har."
Hermione giggled and then nodded towards him. "No really; what are you thinking about?"
"Well..." He hesitated, walking around a little more. "My father reached out to me earlier today."
Her grin slid off her face. "Oh. About what?"
Looking back at her, he sighed and said, "About our date, and us."
"I'm guessing he isn't happy," She said.
"He wasn't at first but I tried to convince him it was a good thing," Draco shrugged. "But I think something might work better to convince him."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "I highly doubt that."
"You never know with Father," He said. "But he asked that I come over for lunch this weekend and I had a thought."
She stared at him. "You better not be suggesting what I think you are."
"Why not?" He asked, trying to hold back a smile. "I think it could be fun."
She reached for his glass of wine and said, "I think you've had enough wine. It's clearly already affecting you."
He laughed at that and held the glass out of her reach. "It's alright if you don't want to go, but I thought you might want to jump on the chance to prove how far you've come to spite him."
This clearly piqued her interest and then she scowled at him. "I see what you're doing."
He feigned innocence as he took a sip of his wine and walked back into the kitchen away from her. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Draco Malfoy!"
He tried to stifle a laugh as she chased after him into the kitchen and he set his glass down before catching her off guard by pulling her into a hug. "It's alright if you're not up for it!"
"It's not that I'm not up for it," She argued, pulling back slightly to scowl up at him and stifling a grin. "I just don't like how you're trying to manipulate me into going!"
"You can't deny how hilarious it would be to annoy the snot out of him by being affectionate in front of him," Draco said, obviously ignoring her statement. "Just imagine the expressions he'd make!"
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the thought of it. It did sound rather tempting...
And with her silence he knew he had her. After a few moments she sighed and rolled her eyes before saying, "Fiiine. I'll go to lunch with your father."
He grinned and kissed her forehead while she smacked his chest lightly, grinning to herself.
A/N: I am so so so SO sorry that it's taken so long for me to update this one! I promise I'm still working on this one, I wanted to get Between Us finished up before I continued this one but I promise I'm not giving up on this one! I hope you all enjoy, I'll be updating the next chapter later this next week :) love you all! <3