Disclaimer: I wish I owned Draco Malfoy (smirk) but the unfavourable truth is that I don't. He and all the other characters (except Hailey) are owned by JKR.

Title of Story: When Darkness Catches the Light

Summary: Can two sworn enemies ever find true love in each other? What happens when a seductive mission comes along to prod them in the right direction? Draco/Hermione

Rated: PG-13 for language, angst descriptions and some sexual connotations.

Quick A/N: I apologise if this is too long for some people, I had way too much fun writing the Hermione and Draco scene, I condensed it a hell of a lot and I hope you enjoy it. If I overdid it, then I'm sorry in advance. Also, I am introducing a new important character to the story in this chapter, but you'll read and see. Thanks!

Chapter Fifteen: A Rendezvous to Remember

Fragile seams,

I opened up too quick and all my dreams,

Were walking out,

I'd slowly lost my fire,

With every single man a river cried

I had no sensation,

Completely numb, left with no satisfaction,

I thought no one could ever get me high, again,

I swear, I was not looking.

--Chocolate, Kylie Minogue

Hermione snapped upright when she heard her name being called during her Extended Dark Arts Defence class after lunch.

All throughout the lesson, she had been procrastinating as to whether or not she should meet Malfoy in the Astronomy Tower at seven in the night.

Hermione had reasoned that it would be chilly so late in the evening – even though deep down she knew that the weather had been oddly warm and pleasant lately.

Maybe she would actually enjoy this thing with Malfoy, whatever it turned out to be. Perhaps he truly wanted friendship from her… his attitude had been oddly sincere when he had asked it of her.

But the word that kept blaring back into Hermione's mind was ambush. She still shuddered to think what would happen if the small rendezvous turned out to be a surprise attack.

Finally, she had decided to go but to keep her wand within arm's reach at all times during the night.

"Sorry, Professor? You mentioned my name?" Hermione asked vacantly, ignoring the surprised giggles that filled the room after her words.

Professor MacDougall gave her an astounded glance.

"Well, Miss Granger," she began, still evidently shocked at her best student's blatant display of remoteness, "I was just informing the class of their allocation of partners and subject for the major assignment for the year. You will be working with Miss Wickenfield. Please pay attention next time in class."

Hermione nodded but a frown quickly spread over her face. Who was 'Miss Wickenfield' anyway? Hermione did not ever remember a person in her year with the aforementioned last name.

Professor MacDougall continued with her list, before she dismissed the class.

Hermione packed her books back in her already heavy bag, checked her watch to note that the time was five o'clock, before she moved to exit the nearly empty classroom. Just as she was about to walk through the door, she felt a small tap on her shoulder.

Hoping very much so that she wouldn't see Parvati again when she turned around, Hermione rotated on the spot with a ready scowl on her face, before she soon regretted donning such a harsh expression.

The girl in front of her was most likely about an inch or two shorter than Hermione, but this was probably because she slouched slightly.

Her raven-black locks were well below shoulder-length and dead straight, while some of her long bangs were fastened back with a simple, deep blue clip on the side of her head. This was the only elaborate indulgence that the girl possessed. The colour of the clip matched her large, dark blue eyes. She would have been stunning if her posture wasn't so insecure, but something about the girl made Hermione think she was very strong, in her heart.

"Hi," she said, her voice mellow but friendly. "You're Hermione Granger, right? I'm your partner for the project."

She hesitated before extending her hand out genially for Hermione to shake and her grasp was gentle and yet so very firm. Hermione felt a smile creep over her face. The girl returned the grin.

"And your name is?" Hermione asked.

The girl blushed slightly.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you," she muttered quickly. "I'm Hailey. Hailey Wickenfield."

And it was at that moment that Hermione felt as though she had made a potential best friend. She did not know why or where exactly the sentiment had come from – but something about this girl made Hermione feel like she could tell her anything.

Little did Hermione know that the feeling was, in fact, mutual.

"Hailey," Hermione repeated, smiling once more. "That's a really nice name."

Hailey beamed, revealing pearly white teeth and she eased slightly. Her slouch seemed to reduce somewhat and she appeared more or less confident of herself.

"Well I'm free for the next few hours – well actually, I'm free most of the time," Hailey muttered rather quickly, suddenly clutching her books closer to her chest. "So I was just wondering whether you wanted to … you know, do a bit of research in the library?"

Her words were spoken hurriedly, and her expressive eyes seemed to cloud over in obscurity. Hermione was faintly reminded of Malfoy, but she cast the thought away from her mind.

She nodded and the two walked off together in the direction of the Hogwarts library. Hermione noticed that Hailey's pace was relatively slow… like she wanted to prolong the inevitable arrival at the library, for some reason…

"You know, I've never really heard your name before today," Hermione admitted, hoping to break the ice that had seemed to accumulate between the two.

Hailey's face fell and her posture resumed its slight drooping nature once more. Hermione felt a rush of regret at her words.

"Oh," she stated sadly.

"Well, it's really not like I pay attention to these sorts of things anyway," Hermione said quickly. "Surely you know of me as being the school bookworm, not having friends or a general life outside of the library?"

Hailey chuckled quietly.

"I don't think of you as a bookworm, Hermione," she said truthfully, and the silence relapsed.

Hermione admired the honest nature of this girl.

"So, what house are you in?" Hermione asked, not knowing what else to say.

Hailey smiled reminiscently for a few moments before answering.

"Ravenclaw – the same as my mother," she said wistfully.

Hermione smiled. She was awfully glad that Hailey didn't turn out to be in Slytherin – though, if truth were to be told, a part of her knew already that such a nice girl couldn't possibly come from such a wicked house.

"I guess your mother's really proud of you for getting into the same house as her, right?"

Hailey stopped dead in her tracks suddenly, and her posture seemed more hunched than ever. Hermione felt another rush of remorse at her words that had for some reason clearly startled this girl so much.

"She would be if only she knew," Hailey whispered, and Hermione saw a droplet splash on the dark floor beneath them sourcing from the girl's bowed head.

Hermione placed a reassuring hand on the girl's back, but she winced from the touch.

"My mother died," she whispered hoarsely of her own accord.

Hermione felt her own stomach drop to the floor at these simple words. She knew how she would feel if her own mother were to die… no matter how much Hermione envied her mother's good looks, the two of them were still quite close.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione replied.

Hailey shook her bowed head feebly.

"It's not your fault," she murmured, lightly stressing the word 'your'.

Hermione dropped her heavy bag to the floor and the two girls took a seat on the steps of the entrance to the library. Hailey's head was bent onto her knees, but she wasn't crying. Hermione hated herself for distressing the girl.

"You must be so strong," Hermione ranted, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence. "I know my father and I probably wouldn't survive if my mother died."

Hailey's head shot up quickly, and her eyes became guarded once more as she stared resolutely at the grey wall in front of her. Hermione observed that her hands seemed to tense to some extent and her body became rigid.

Hailey then looked over at Hermione, her face neutral but Hermione could sense the iciness that she was emanating.

"My dad's dead too, okay?" she said coldly, before she gripped her books closely to her chest yet again and ran away from the shocked brunette now sitting alone on the library steps.

Draco lifted the light muslin cloth once more to check the lavish spread that had been prepared for dinner that night.

He ignored the fact that he was sweating (if only a little, it was true), and eyed the different dishes intently. There were only three courses – atypical to the usual seven or eight course meals served at the Malfoy Manor – but he wanted the night to be as relaxed and romantic as possible.

Draco scowled at the thought, but the sour expression soon left him as he saw the diverse variety of dishes that he and Granger would be eating that night.

If she does indeed decide to turn up, he reminded himself crossly.

He was pleased to note that the tomato and basil soup that they would be slurping first up was still warm.

The house elves had assured him many times that the soup was wonderful and could indeed win over any girl of his liking. Draco had glowered angrily at them, saying that he didn't need to seek the help of a particularly hearty broth to get a girlfriend, but he had still promised to serve the soup nonetheless.

Strike that – I definitely 'don't' want Granger as my girlfriend,Draco reminded himself as he checked on the pumpkin and potato pie they would be having for the main course.

He had decided on a vegetarian meal very early on, so as to avoid the awkward, "Eurgh, I don't eat meat, you carnivorous git!" that Granger might chose to spit at him. And he had tasted some of the pie in the Head kitchens prior to selecting it, and it was indeed very tasty.

But Draco easily reckoned that dessert would be the best course of the night.

He had asked the House Elves to take special care with it (against their inevitable protests consisting of, "Special care is taken with preparation of every meal, Sir!") and he was more than pleased with the end result.

Draco had remembered his father stating vehemently one time when he had returned from one of his missions in Germany that he had tasted something called Schwarzwelderkirschtorte and that it was relatively good. This was indeed high praise coming from Draco's connoisseur father, so Draco had requested the House Elves to prepare the same Black Forest Cake for the evening.

Draco re-covered the food with the muslin cloth, unknowingly wiping some of his sweat on the edges of it.

He was satisfied to note that the night air was warm and rejuvenating. That meant that Granger couldn't use that as an excuse to not come.

Draco checked that his hair was neatly in place. Once, he had seen Granger ogling at him when his hair was left un-gelled and parted neatly in the centre, so he had donned the same hairstyle for the evening. In truth, Draco was started to become rather fond of the simple hairdo.

He had decided to wear muggle clothes that evening, so as to show Granger that he wasn't as prejudiced as she thought he was. Draco had worn the same baggy jeans he had worn during the day with a plain navy blue shirt. He didn't want to give off the impression of trying too hard; that was a definite no-no.

Draco looked at his watch and noted that the time was six-thirty. He wiped another film of sweat off his forehead.

Hailey ran past the other students in the corridor, her head bowed down and her books held close to her chest. She did not want anyone to see that she had been crying.

Not that anyone would really care about 'me' anyway, she thought bleakly, closing her eyes firmly to prevent the torrent of tears from streaming down.

She still didn't know exactly why she had been so blunt with Hermione. Hailey was really starting to like the brunette and for the first time, she felt like the feeling was reciprocated.

But when the topic of conversation with anyone arrived at her parents… that was when Hailey lost most of her friends.

But she didn't mind; she knew she didn't have to talk about it to anyone unless she felt fully comfortable first.

Hailey wiped her cheeks and tied her hair into a loose ponytail around the end of the strands and before she knew it, she was in front of the Ravenclaw common room entrance door on one of the high towers in the Hogwarts Castle.

She hastily said the password and took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she walked in.

The other Ravenclaws looked up momentarily to see who had come in, but the moment they saw that it was Hailey, they returned to their books and chess games.

Hailey smiled nevertheless as she watched sadly while all her housemates were engaged in their own private chats. She craved that sort of rapport with another person.

And a part of her heart had told her that that person could easily be Hermione Granger.

Hermione trudged up dejectedly to her Head common room.

She felt terrible for making Hailey cry. Hermione had only just met her, and already she had made her upset enough to start sobbing.

Argh, I'm so pathetic, Hermione reprimanded herself, walking through the common room door.

She saw a note on one of the many swivel chairs in the room that piqued her curiosity.

Hermione walked quickly over to it and dropped her bag filled with her books and wand beside the chair, not sure whether or not she should open it. Yet it had her name on it – well, it had Granger written on it – so her objections were immediately silenced as she carefully unfolded the beige parchment.

I hope you decide to come. Don't be early.

Hermione reread the words until she remembered about the invitation to come to the Astronomy Tower. She had completely forgotten about it, what with all the rumination about making Hailey cry.

She quickly checked her watch and was alarmed to note that the time was six-fifteen.

Hermione walked to her Head Girl room and emerged with a towel and some simple muggle clothes. She scowled as she saw through the window of the bathroom that it was going to be a clear night.

Hermione had a ten-minute shower before hastily putting on her white singlet top with delicate lace trimming and thin straps and her three-quarter jean pants.

She splashed on some citrus perfume and brushed her hair out. She left her curly tresses out, as they were behaving abnormally well and did not need to be tied up in the usual manner.

And at least it should keep Malfoy happy, even if he does try to hex me, Hermione thought somewhat amusedly as she clambered into her black cloak and fastened the brooch near her neck.

She was glad that the rest of the students would most likely be at the Great Hall for dinner. That meant that the walk to the Astronomy Tower would be easy and uninhabited.

Hermione saw that the time was six-fifty, and she shut the common room door behind her and clutched her cloak close to her body while she began walking toward the Astronomy Tower.

She had doubts about Malfoy's intentions for tonight, but she discarded these from her conscious mind for the moment. She knew it was wrong to hold preconceived notions about someone when, in truth, you didn't really know them.

Hermione did, deep down in her heart, want to become friends with the boy; it would be a relief to abstain from their otherwise incessant repartee. And it would make Head duties a hell of a lot easier to cope with.

But didn't he hate muggle-borns? Hermione didn't believe for a second that Malfoy had gotten over his childish prejudices overnight. That was almost too good to be true. But then why was he suddenly giving her amicable attention?

What exactly did he want from her?

Hermione trembled despite the warm weather as she turned a sharp corner on her journey to the Astronomy Tower.

Hermione told herself repeatedly that she should not try to entertain Malfoy's requests and nice words, even if the night's events turned out to not include a Slytherin ambush. If he was making the effort, she needn't help him along the way. If he wanted them to become friends, she needn't comply so readily.

It was after all, his fault that they had been enemies all these years.

Just as Hermione entered the Astronomy Tower platform, she took her cloak off, as the weather was much warmer than she had anticipated. She folded the cloak in half and draped one of the halves over her folded arms.

She stepped onto the platform, and was relieved to note that she hadn't been attacked yet.

In fact, the platform seemed devoid of human habitation.

But – there was a round table with two chairs in the middle of the vast platform, covered with an elegant navy blue tablecloth with a vase of jasmine flowers in the middle on top of it. There was another rectangular table to the side of the round one, covered with a plain muslin cloth that was bumpy to suggest that there were a lot of items of various sizes underneath it.

"Wow," Hermione could not help but gasp rather loudly.

She walked toward the round table, tracing the intricate embroidery of the tablecloth with her finger.

If she was expecting anything, this was definitely not it.

Suddenly, Hermione felt a gentle line being drawn on the area of her chest just above the lace trimming of her singlet top. She felt her heart dip in trepidation as she looked down to see a beautiful red rose sweeping across her chest, its stem being held by pale slender fingers.

Hermione wheeled around rapidly to see Malfoy standing there, extending the rose toward her with a gentle smile on his face.

Hermione felt her breath hitch.

"Pour vous," he murmured, thrusting the rose flower toward Hermione again.

She raised her eyebrow.

"You speak French?" she said uncertainly, rather touched with the delicate display.

Malfoy smirked and Hermione knew it was too good to be true.

"Nah, they're the only two words I know," he shrugged, and Hermione couldn't help but chuckle.

He winked at her, and she felt rather awkward. She looked around the platform once more, still rather mesmerised by the magnificent surroundings.

"You did all this?" Hermione asked, looking back at Malfoy.

His hair was smartly parted in the middle, and some of the strands at the front fell into his admirable blue-silver eyes. He wore muggle clothes naturally; she liked the combination of jeans and a t-shirt. It seemed to alleviate the otherwise austere mood of the platform. He captivated Hermione; he looked so handsome at that very moment.

"Well yeah," Malfoy said, his voice off-handed. "You like it, don't you?"

Hermione chanced another glance around the platform before she decided to answer.

"It's wonderful," she said truthfully, incapable of speaking a falsehood that would destroy the lovely ambience. "But – why did you do it?"

Malfoy flinched slightly, and it was obvious to Hermione that he hadn't expected that question. He sighed.

"I just want us to be friends, Granger," he whispered, his tone of voice rather defeated but sincere nevertheless.

Hermione felt a rush of regret at her words that suddenly seemed to be harsh. Most of the feelings of contempt and stubbornness she had felt against Malfoy earlier on seemed to suddenly abscond from her.

"Well, friends don't usually refer to each other with their last names," she said efficiently, extending her hand out to Malfoy. "I guess you can call me Hermione."

The blonde-haired boy quickly looked up at her, his facial expression rather incredulous. It provoked a mirthful smile from Hermione and he grinned faintly back at her.

"And I guess you can call me Draco," he returned, handing Hermione the rose.

She smiled and, feeling rather brave, she walked over to the table to place the rose in the vase with the jasmine flowers.

"It's a nice contrast of colour," she approved, looking back at Malfoy.

"Yeah, I think so too," he agreed, walking over to the table.

Malfoy pulled out the chair for her and she looked up at him, rather surprised at the gallant gesture.

"Hey, I can be a gentleman too, you know," he laughed, and a small grin appeared slowly on Hermione's face and she nodded before taking a seat.

"So, you want to be friends, do you?" Hermione said, still quite staggered by the boy's tender deeds.

Malfoy poured them each a glass of thick pumpkin juice.

"Too much pulp," he said absent-mindedly, before adding some water to each glass.

"Malfoy?" Hermione urged, irritated by the way he had ignored her previous question.

He looked up at her quickly, his eyebrow raised and a frown prevalent on his face. Hermione fused her eyebrows together questioningly, before she quickly realised her mistake.

"Er – sorry, I meant Draco," she muttered, finding the name slightly odd to say.

"Yes, Hermione?" Malfoy said flippantly, and she rolled her eyes.

They both laughed and Draco took a seat opposite Hermione. She felt a shiver run up her body as Malfoy's legs brushed against her own. She desperately hoped that her cheeks hadn't turned red.

"In answer to your question - yes, I do want to be friends," Malfoy said, clearly not aware of the contact of their legs.

Hermione nodded, but for some reason his response to her question seemed rather empty. He still wasn't looking at her directly in the eye; he was shifting the arrangement of the flowers in the vase in front of him. This made Hermione frown slightly.

"May I ask what made you change your mind to stop being a jerk after all these years?" Hermione blurted out, before she could stop herself and she impatiently moved the vase of flowers out of her line of sight.

Malfoy looked at her, and Hermione thought she saw a glint of fury in his eyes. But as soon as it had appeared, it had disappeared and Hermione felt her nerves calm down once more.

"Well," he began, "I was just kind of sick of the fighting and I thought that it would be natural for the Head Boy and Head Girl to be on non-hexing terms."

They both laughed again and Hermione suddenly became aware that Malfoy was watching her intently. It looked like he was examining every part of her body, trying to commit each contour of her figure to his memory…

"What?" she asked sharply.

The smallest of smiles spread across Malfoy's face.

"You just look really pretty tonight," he said frankly, tilting his head slightly to the side.

Hermione felt shock disperse throughout her body. What had he just said?!

"Um – thanks," Hermione muttered quickly, feeling her cheeks go red.

She coughed and looked away from him, suddenly feeling that the entire situation was quite unnerving. She dearly wished that she had stayed up in her Head Girl room.

"Don't I get a return compliment?" Malfoy smirked amusedly, his eyebrow raised slightly in anticipation.

Hermione snapped her attention back onto him. She felt the anger slowly blow up in her body.

"You look slightly less big-headed than normal," she said rather coolly.

Malfoy chortled and shook his head in mirth.

"That was kind of rude, but I'll take it as a compliment anyway," he said.

"You do that," Hermione said nimbly, downing her glass of pumpkin juice.

It was not sweet like the usual pumpkin juice that was served in the Great Hall. This juice was rather temperate and spicy, and Hermione found it tasty after a while.

"More?" Malfoy inquired, indicating the large jug on the table. "It's a new recipe."

Hermione shook her head. This was a bit too formal for her liking, but somehow she knew that these pleasantries had to be tackled first if they were ever going to get anywhere.

"So, what have you planned for tonight?" Hermione said, clasping her hands together in her lap.

Malfoy smirked at her but then it turned to a smile, as if he had changed his mind on something.

"Well, I thought we could have dinner," he said casually, though he was looking at Hermione as if hoping she would agree to the programme.

She laughed quietly as the thought struck her mind that Malfoy was seeking her approval. Who would have thought that her former enemy was going to such great lengths to gain her admiration?

"That sounds nice," Hermione said.

Malfoy broke out into another smile and Hermione was genuinely stunned by how many times this boy could smile and make it seem like it was just his second nature. He looked very attractive when he smiled, but for some reason Hermione missed his trait smirk, too.

"I'll just bring us the tomato and basil soup, then," Malfoy said hastily, wiping the smile off his face as though he had just realised a mistake he had made.

He muttered a levitating charm that produced two periwinkle-blue bowls from under the muslin cloth toward their round table.

Hermione was initially scared that the contents of the bowls would spill, but Malfoy seemed to be very proficient at spell casting, and the bowls arrived at their table smoothly. Gleaming cutlery appeared in front of the both of them and Malfoy smiled encouragingly at Hermione to tuck in.

She nodded her head slightly and lifted a spoonful of the bright red-orange soup to her mouth. It smelt lovely and tasted peppery and hot. Hermione felt her insides warm up instantly as the soup trickled down her throat.

"This is delicious, Draco," she said civilly, closing her eyes with the sheer warmth and taste of the soup.

When Hermione opened her eyes once again, she saw Malfoy beaming at her, his eyes sparkling faintly. It made her stomach squirm to see him look at her that way.

"What?" she asked, feeling slightly nervous.

"You said my name," he said, as if this were the surprise of the century.

"I thought we had agreed to be on first name terms," Hermione said blankly, refilling her glass with some of the pumpkin juice.

"Yeah – yeah, we did," Malfoy nodded slowly, gulping down some more of the soup.

They continued to eat in a silence that was occasionally broken with inelegant slurping noises. Hermione tried to eat as quietly as possible, but she knew that eating soup without making such noises was impracticable.

"So, tell me about yourself," Malfoy murmured, trying to fill the silence.

Hermione turned slightly red, as she saw the boy look at her closely once again.

"Well there's nothing really to tell," she mumbled.

Malfoy shook his head at her.

"Hermione, stop being so nervous, honestly," he said genially, banging down his spoon and picking up his bowl.

He brought the blue bowl to his mouth and drank the soup from it. Hermione raised an eyebrow at his informal actions. Malfoy set down his bowl and grinned at her, before wiping the line of soup on his upper lip off with the edge of the tablecloth.

"Now I want you to do that," he provoked, folding his arms and sitting back smugly in his chair.

Malfoy was gazing at her, the smirk returning to his face. Hermione felt a fleeting sense of relief as she noted that this really was the old Malfoy.

"Go on, Miss Priss," he murmured, hoping to stir Hermione.

She glared at him, annoyed at his childish challenged. But Hermione wouldn't ever back down from any dare.

Hermione lifted the heavy blue bowl shakily up to her mouth and drank the lukewarm red liquid. She loved the feeling of heat that was spreading through her body, and she drank the liquid quicker, with an even greater ardour. Once she had finished the soup, Hermione set the bowl back onto the table, not looking at Malfoy.

"See, I did it," she said crossly, finally glancing over to scowl at the boy.

His lip twitched when he stared at her, and he then began to cackle with laughter.

Hermione looked at him incredulously, his display of hysterical laughter really starting to piss her off. It was downright rude to laugh so blatantly at your guest.

"What the bloody hell are you laughing about?" she screeched.

Malfoy stopped laughing and shook his head.

"It's just that you look so weird with a soup moustache," he murmured, wiping a fake tear from the corner of his eye.

Hermione turned bright red and she tugged at the tablecloth hastily, dabbing her lips and chin vigorously with the blue material. She looked angrily at Malfoy, but deep down, she knew the line of soup on her face would have probably been quite funny to witness. She couldn't suppress her own laughter after a while, and so graced Malfoy with a small chuckle.

Inwardly though, Hermione thought Malfoy was good at breaking the ice. Whether she admitted it or not, she now felt more inclined toward him.

"I lied," Malfoy said after they had both settled down.

Hermione quickly looked over at him.

"You mean I didn't have soup on my face at all?!" she snapped furiously.

Malfoy shook his head and grinned at Hermione.

"No, no, you did have soup on your face, I didn't lie about that," he said simply. "I lied when I said that you looked weird with the soup moustache. You actually still looked quite beautiful."

Malfoy's cheeks were suddenly tinged with red as he realised what he had said and he coughed and looked away. Hermione raised her eyebrow at him. She didn't think she had ever seen him blush before.

"Er – thanks," she mumbled yet again.

"Yeah," came the muffled reply, before Malfoy coughed yet again and levitated the pumpkin and potato pie and plates toward the table.

Hermione pushed her soup bowl away and she looked down at the pie. It looked mouth-watering, too. The pastry was golden and crisp, with a few holes here and there for ventilation. The aroma was positively divine.

"I'm sure this will be really good," Hermione said with embarrassment, not knowing what else to say. "Did you make all this, or what?"

Malfoy looked up at her and some of his discomfiture seemed to leave him.

"Nah, I can't cook for shit," he admitted sheepishly, and Hermione chuckled.

"Neither can I," Hermione said, cutting a piece of pie and placing it on Malfoy's plate.

"Thanks," he said, smiling at her, and she returned the expression readily.

Draco took a bite of his own pie and it was indeed as splendid as it was when he had tasted it at the kitchens. The pumpkin and potato mixture was creamy and lightly spiced with nutmeg and a few other herbs he couldn't quite recognise. The pastry was also very good and buttery.

"So you still haven't told me about yourself," he said, shovelling a forkful of pale orange mush into his mouth.

"Well, like I said, there's nothing much I can tell you," Granger responded, licking specks of orange from the corner of her mouth. "Unless, of course, there's something in particular you want to know about me."

Draco shrugged.

"Maybe you can tell me how on earth you bear to live with those two Gryffindor clowns you regard your best friends," he said jokingly.

Granger frowned at him and he immediately regretted his words.

"They're not really that bad," she said, trying as best to keep her voice even.

Draco nodded, knowing better than to pursue the subject.

He surveyed Granger's appearance once more, completely enthralled by her natural beauty. Her long corkscrew curls were cascading elegantly down her back and over her chest, and moved freely every time she moved her head. Her eyes were subtly outlined in smoky kohl, which made her more gorgeous than Draco had ever seen her. Her plump lips were lightly glossed and Draco had an intense urge to claim them, to smother them completely with his own…

"Well then, maybe you can tell me how life is like living as a muggle, without any magic."

Granger raised an eyebrow at him.

"I doubt you'd want to know about that," she said, looking down uncomfortably at the half eaten slice of pie on her plate.

Draco smiled at her, hoping to ease her discomfiture.

"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have asked you," he said, keeping his voice light and sincere. "Look, you may think I'm a bigoted idiot, but I genuinely want to learn more about you."

"Let me assure you that it's mutual," Granger returned smartly.

She sighed, and Draco looked up at her politely, waiting for her to speak.

"It's not actually very difficult, living in a non-magical place," she started. "I guess, if you've had exposure to magic before and you revert back to a muggle lifestyle, then that would be tiresome. But if you've never known a life other than the one you'd been granted, then how could you deem that life unusual?"

Draco observed with great respect how Granger seemed to be able to phrase her profound thoughts so skilfully. It was apparent that she was an intellectual person, and Draco felt some of the pressure to consciously be nice to her leave him.

"I whole-heartedly agree," he nodded. "But of course, going by your theory that is, now that you've come to Hogwarts and learnt magic and the whole lot, you must find your muggle life at home rather abnormal or boring, even?"

Granger smiled pensively at him and Draco felt his stomach do somersaults.

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" she responded, clearly enjoying the topic of conversation. "But I still very much enjoy my life at home. Sure, it can get annoying at times, doing everything the muggle way – but having lived like them once, I respect the muggle lifestyle greatly."

Draco scraped the last remnants of pie off his plate before choosing to voice his opinion.

"But there's still one thing I don't understand," he said, looking up at Granger and trying to keep his voice neutral and inquisitive.

She set down her fork and frowned attentively at him.

"And what's that?"

Draco couldn't suppress the smirk from forming on his face.

"I just don't understand how you can keep your room tidy without magic!" he said, noting with immense happiness that the girl in front of him began laughing.

"Let me assure you, Draco, I'm a neat freak as it is," Granger confessed, shaking her head in mirth at the boy.

Draco felt another squirm in his stomach at the sound of his name. He really loved how his name complemented her sweet voice so agreeably.

"Maybe you could teach me how to become one, too," Draco teased.

Granger smiled up at him.

"Yeah, I'd like that," she kidded back.

It was astounding how comfortable Draco was now around Granger. She was just as easy to talk to as Theodore… possibly even easier to talk to, as Draco could hardly talk to Theodore about serious matters.

Initially, he had felt like he and Granger had been polite but indifferent to one another but now – he could really visualise becoming good friends with her.

He had even forgotten that this dinner was organised predominantly for the purposes of his mission and the fact that Granger was a pathetic Mudblood.

Draco was indisputably having a great time with her.

"Okay, now's the time for dessert," he announced, levitating a large dish covered in a metal dome and some more plates over to the round table.

"Oh dear, I wonder what this is," Granger murmured in mock dullness.

Draco narrowed his eyes at her.

"I know your bursting with excitement, Granger, your act doesn't fool me for a second," he joked, standing up from his chair in order to lift the heavy metal lid away from the dish.

"Am I that bad at acting?" Granger laughed.

Draco shook his head.

"Nah, the theatrics were good – you're just a bad liar."

They both laughed, and Draco tried to lift the burdensome lid away from the metal dish, but it just wouldn't budge. He tugged at the small handle on the top of the domed lid, but the attempts were futile. He pulled his hands away impatiently

"Here – let me help you," Granger offered, standing up and placing her hands on the handle.

She pulled with evidently all her might, but the lid just wouldn't come off.

Draco absent-mindedly placed his hands on top of Granger's, in an effort to assist her.

The girl gasped rather loudly as their hands came into contact, and Draco felt faint rays of electricity run up his limbs. She looked quickly at him and he smiled at her to calm her nervousness and the corner of her lip twitched. They both pulled the lid gingerly off the dish, to reveal the rich, dark cake covered in a light muslin cloth.

"I guess we just had to be gentle with it," Granger mumbled, hastily withdrawing her hands from the lid of the dish and sitting back down on the chair.

"Yeah," Draco nodded, removing the muslin cloth to reveal the elaborately decorated Black Forest cake.

The icing was both dark brown and white, and there was a ring of cherries to border the edges of the cake. It looked absolutely superb.

"Would you like some Black Forest cake?" he offered, cutting Granger a slice nevertheless.

She smiled at him and nodded, and he placed a generous wedge onto her plate. Draco cut another slice for himself, and they both tasted the cake in companionable silence.

"Mmm, this is delicious," Granger sighed, scooping another morsel of cake into her mouth.

"Yeah, 'tis good isn't it?" Draco murmured his assent.

The two ate the rest of their slices of cake before Draco checked his watch. The time was ten o'clock! That meant that they had spent about three hours here already! But the time just seemed to have flown by so swiftly…

"Thank you so much for going to all this trouble tonight," Granger said graciously.

"It was my pleasure," Draco said. "I hope that we are friends now, right?"

Granger frowned at him, and Draco felt his heart dip in foreboding.

"Come on," he urged nervously. "I went to all this trouble, like you said, and you know how imploring the house elves –"

"Draco?" Granger whispered, but he clearly did not hear her.

"-can be, giving me all these options of what I could choose and it was actually quite hard making the decision – "

"Draco?!"

"-and – Di-did you say something?" Draco said blankly, looking back up at the girl who had an amused grin on her face.

He scowled at her. She sure was enjoying tormenting him, wasn't she?

"Yes, yes, we're friends okay, I was only kidding when I glared at you before," she laughed, and Draco could not help but join in the laughter.

The laughter was slow to die, and Hermione clutched at the sharp pain she was feeling in one of the sides of her stomach.

She looked up to see that Malfoy was looking at her, and the two locked gazes. His eyes were sparkling with wonderment and mirth, and Hermione felt intrigued by the unusual depth they displayed.

They stayed like that for a while, in pleasant silence that each was not keen to disturb with shallow words.

Then Hermione watched as Malfoy quickly got up from the round table and started to pile all the dishes onto the rectangular table. He performed a quick cleaning spell on the plates and they were soon sparkly clean and ready to be taken back up to the castle.

Just as Malfoy was about to pick them up, Hermione got up and they distractedly reached for the same plate. Malfoy looked up at her quickly as her hand closed around his and she went red. Hermione had not deliberately tried to make contact with him amidst the effort of helping him clear up.

She was suddenly aware how close both their bodies were. Hermione could feel his warm, peppermint breath against her cheek. She could hear his low, rhythmic breathing, could see his broad chest rise and descend with each inhalation…

Hermione felt Malfoy lean in close to her face.

And as both their noses came into direct contact and the boy's hand plunged into Hermione's soft curls, it brought her back to her senses and she quickly pulled her face away from his.

"We really should be getting back up to the castle," she muttered hastily, before picking up another pile of dishes and pacing toward the Astronomy Tower exit.

It was only when she reached the exit that Malfoy spoke up behind her.

"Thanks for coming tonight, Hermione."

Hermione turned around and saw that Malfoy had his back turned to her, his toned upper torso leaning slightly over the railing of the platform.

"I really enjoyed myself," she murmured, before turning around to walk out the door.

It was only when she had reached the halfway distance to the Head kitchens that Hermione realised, butterflies and all fluttering in her stomach, that she had not remembered to take her wand with her as a precaution to the Tower that night.

And the real truth was now, that she didn't particularly care.

A/N: Hey! I hope this wasn't too awkward or fluffy for everyone; maybe I got a tad carried away (hush!) but tell me what you think when you review. Also, how do you like Hailey? I was going to introduce her much earlier on in the story, but I just never got the opportunity. I've greatly revised my notes for this story over the past week, so if you notice a change in my writing over the past few chapters it just means I'm much more organised than I used to be hehehe. Hailey is a really sweet character, I'm not sure what impression people will get from her here, but please do review and I'll update soon! Oh and thanks for getting me over the two hundred review mark, you people rock! And I have special thanks that go to DewDrop Sapphire, who is so keen on this story and is invariably the first one to review each chapter à You're a true legend! Also, to Yoss – your review truly made me laugh, and I hope this chapter was not posted too slowly for you! Also I have started a new story called Shattered Soul so check that out if you would, it's rated R. Thanks, and don't forget to review!