A/N: Hope you like it!

Hermione burst out laughing, dribbling whiskey down her bottom lip and the white of her top as the bartender poured them another round. "You can't be serious!" she blurted out loud, unable to decide whether she was more surprised or impressed. "The library, the Astronomy Tower and the Quidditch Pitch?"

"And the Owlery now that I think back to it," Malfoy furthered, ending with a short, embarrassed laugh as Hermione's mouth fell open in shock. "Okay, okay. Your go. Wildest place."

"That I've had sex or just a sexual encounter?"

"Both if the shoe fits."

Sparing a moment to think, her lips twitched with laughter as she recalled her first week of work. "At the risk of losing my job … the administrative headquarters of the Wizengamot."

He choked on his drink. "Surely not."

"And my Gringotts vault. Multiple times."

"Right. You win."

She pressed her lips together to keep from chuckling. "I can't believe I said that out loud."

"I can't believe I've let my Gringotts vault go to waste all these years."

"The night is still young," she playfully quipped. "And yes, I really did make that joke just now."

He glanced to her, laughter in his eyes. "Next question."

"Go on."

"It's a bit of a weird one."

She gave him a curious look. "I'm listening."

"Have you ever fancied someone you shouldn't?"

To that she simply smirked. "If that's your backwards way of asking me if I had ever fancied you in the old days, the answer is no. A wholehearted no as a matter of fact."

He chuckled, not one bit surprised. "That was my backwards way of asking you had ever fancied Potter, but good to know."

"Harry? Oh, er …"

"You don't have to tell me if it's too personal."

"No, no. It's not like that, I just …" She fell silent a moment, thinking back. "Well, there was this one time during the war when we had almost kissed, but apart from that … I can't say I've ever looked at him as anything more than a friend."

"An almost-kiss?" he repeated, teasingly. "I, for one, am outraged."

She rolled her eyes, lightheartedly. "Jealousy looks good on you."

"Green is my colour."

"On that note, have you ever fancied someone you shouldn't?"

"Of course," he snorted, as if it were nothing. "Fleur Delacour, Madam Rosmerta, Madam Hooch the one time she snapped my shoulder back in place in third year. Loads of women."

She looked to him in disbelief. "Right. You win that one."

"I had a feeling I would," he laughed. "And I didn't even have to admit that I had fancied you on top of it all."

Her eyebrows bounced up. "Actually?"

Sipping on his whiskey, he nodded. "It was more of a subconscious attraction, but yes. There was a solid few months back in sixth year when I could hardly look at you without losing my train of thought."

Not a word of response came to mind apart from, "In what way?"

"Would you really like to know?" he asked, noting the curious glimmer in her eyes as she quietly nodded. "Some days I would look at you in the middle of class or in the library and imagine what your lips felt like when you did the thing where you would bite on them mid-thought. Other days I would imagine pressing you against the nearest bookshelf and kissing every inch of your body without asking."

Her chest contracted at the last bit. "That doesn't sound very subconscious to me."

"I suppose I lied about that part."

The music grew louder just then, forcing her to lean in a bit as she uttered her next words. "I may have lied to you, too."

"About?" he asked, as though he already knew.

She bit down on her bottom lip, in exactly the way he had described. "There was one morning in sixth year when I had accidentally bumped into you on your way back from Quidditch practice and I … I don't know if it was because I had stayed up all night studying but the way you looked in your Slytherin Quidditch uniform made me hot all over."

"It must have been the studying," he said to her in the dimness of the pub, bouncing a look at her lips as if they were in sixth year all over again.

Cheeks prickling with heat, she couldn't help but lean in just a little more. "I'm not so sure about that. When I got back to the girls dormitory for a quick sleep before breakfast, studying was the last thing on my mind."

His lips hovered on the edge of a smirk, but he didn't see it through. "What was on your mind?"

"I think you know the answer to that question," she furthered, the softest touch of embarrassment along her cheeks as she thought back to the moment in the corridor when they had kissed. It was only an hour or so ago but it felt like ages. Suddenly she wanted to know what it was like all over again, leaning in just an inch before he met her halfway.

Without missing a beat, he cupped her cheek and kissed her right there in the middle of the pub. The music in the background faded to a distant th-thump, the chatter and the clinking glasses as well. All she could hear was the sound of her own heart, the way it quickened as he deepened the kiss and pulled her in closer.

They were hardly touching but she felt him everywhere.

"You," she breathed out, in the last few seconds before they paid for their drinks and took off in a cab. "I was thinking of you that morning. Inside me."

Twenty Minutes Later

Draco flicked the lights on in his flat, tossing his coat to one of the couches as Granger wheeled a look around from a couple of steps behind. "This is home," he uttered. "For now anyway."

"I take it that means you'll be living at Hogwarts when you take up your new teaching position?" she asked, taking a seat on the largest of the three couches as he poured them a couple of glasses of firewhiskey at the bar on the other side of the lounge.

Unlike Malfoy Manor, his flat was minimalist and located in the Muggle part of London. It was a bit empty but that was only because he had hardly spent any of his time there as a Healer.

He sat down beside her in the quiet after, handing her one of the two glasses before they clinked them together and had a sip. "Honestly, I haven't decided yet."

"As to whether you're going to live there during the school term?"

"As to whether I'm going to accept the position at all," he clarified, earning a surprised look.

She set her glass down, taken aback. "Did something happen? I thought you wanted the job."

"I do," he nodded, having given it a lot of thought. "And I'm flattered to have even been offered the position of Potions Master at all, but … when I went over there for the interview, I couldn't get the memories out of my head."

Looking to him as though she understood exactly what he was getting at, she nodded in thought. "It's intense, isn't it? Going back to the place where so many people that we knew had … died."

"Have you had the chance to go back?"

"A few times for work," she confirmed, sipping on her firewhiskey again. "My first time back I could hardly step foot in the castle without hearing the screams all over again."

He glanced down, wordlessly at first. "For what it's worth, I would take it all back if I could."

"Which bits?"

"All of them," he shrugged. "The bullying, the name-calling, the part that I played in the war. It's ten years too late, but I'm genuinely sorry. For everything. I-I can't keep running from my past. Had I come to terms with that a little sooner, maybe I would still have my Healing license."

Allowing those words to sink in a moment, she lifted the firewhiskey from his grasp and placed it on the coffee table, shifting closer to him in the seconds after. Only as he glanced up, locking eyes with her in the dimness of his flat, did she drape her arms along his shoulders and embrace him, tightly as if to let him know that it was okay.

Whatever had happened in the past, it was okay now.

"You're a good person, Draco Malfoy. Don't let anyone take that away from you," she uttered to him, in a voice that was so faint it was nearly lost in the pitter patter of rain against the windows. Slowly she pulled away, but only to look him in the eyes. "Whatever happens after tonight, I'm glad I had the chance to get to know you. The real you."

He sensed the hidden message in her words. "You say that like we're never going to speak again, Imposter."

Cracking a smile at the mention of that name, she glanced down for only a moment or two before he brushed a hand under her chin and tilted her head up, slowly taking her lips in a kiss. A warm, comforting kiss, as if to let her know that he had every intention of seeing her again. By the time the message had been received, he was dragging his lips down her neck and grabbing handfuls of her top as she ran her fingers through his hair and tilted her head back in pleasure.

Then and only then did he begin kissing down her body, lifting her top up and unclasping her bra along the way. Her heart was beating so fast, he could feel it against his lips as he pressed kisses between her breasts and on both nipples. Gently licking them, he made her suck in, deeply.

She had no idea what all her little sounds did to him, the ways in which his body responded to her every whim.

Tugging his own shirt off and tossing it to the floor, he watched as her eyes quickly darted to his left forearm, taking in what little remained of his past. For a moment he thought she was going to gather her belongings and leave, snap out of whatever was happening between them, but instead she unbuttoned her jeans and kicked them to the floor.

In only her knickers now, she gave him a look as if to say it was okay.

That was all he needed.

Pulling her knickers down, he tossed them aside and immediately tilted his head down, between her inner thighs as she released a string of breathless, broken moans. She tasted so good he could hardly get enough, pushing his fingers inside her and devouring her until she fell over the edge.

He gave her a moment to collect her breath, the waves of her orgasm still rippling through her as she pulled him in for another kiss. "Don't make me wait any longer," she uttered, immediately swept up in his arms as he then carried her from the lounge to his bedroom and tossed her onto the mattress and pillows.

With a soft gasp she landed softly, watching as he undressed and then biting down on her bottom lip again as he climbed onto the bed and pinned her down by the wrists.

In those few seconds they locked eyes, communicating so much more than they ever had in those messages.

One Month Later

Hermione fixed a quick look at the string of messages on her phone, the music from the wedding reception echoing faintly in the distance as she walked far enough along the road that the magic was no longer interfering with her Muggle device. Although she had known for a few weeks now that she was going to be attending the wedding alone, she had hoped somewhere deep down that it was all just a big surprise.

From: Draco Malfoy

You'll never believe what happened today.

From: Hermione Granger

What happened?

From: Draco Malfoy

The Wizengamot have decided to reinstate my Healing license.

I have no idea why or how but I got the news this morning.

From: Hermione Granger

You must have a very special person watching over your cute Ferret head.

From: Draco Malfoy

It was you, wasn't it?

You beautiful witch.

From: Hermione Granger

I may have had something to do with it.

But Harry did most of the heavy lifting.

From: Draco Malfoy

Tell him thanks for me.

From: Hermione Granger

You can tell him yourself at the wedding in a few weeks.

From: Draco Malfoy

About that.

From: Hermione Granger

You can still go, can't you?

From: Draco Malfoy

I'll try my absolute best but I've got a lot of work to do now that I'm back at St. Mungo's.

From: Hermione Granger

Oh, of course.

That's okay.

Work comes first.

From: Draco Malfoy

You know I want to be there with you, Hermione.

From: Hermione Granger

I do know.

From: Draco Malfoy

What better way to announce our relationship than at your ex's wedding lol.

From: Hermione Granger

Haha, yeah.

I'm just glad to have you here and not at Hogwarts.

From: Draco Malfoy

And I'm glad to be here with you.

Let's have dinner at that place near your flat again.

The one you like.

From: Hermione Granger

I would love that.

From: Draco Malfoy

Good.

I'll see you tonight.

That exchange had taken place weeks ago.

She was supportive of his career and she was happy that he was back doing what he loved again, but attending the wedding without a date was arguably the most difficult, embarrassing thing she had been forced to do since she was a student at Hogwarts.

It shouldn't have upset her, but it did in a small, indescribable way.

Releasing a deep breath, she walked back to The Burrow, following the rhythm of the music as a few passersby glanced to her in the same way that they had been doing all night. Countless stares and whispers, all of them wondering why she and Ron had broken up and why he was suddenly getting married to a witch he barely knew.

Although she had moved on from that relationship, the attention was still a bit much.

She nodded hello to her friends as they danced in a big group, instead taking to the open bar for a quick drink. Only as she ordered a glass of firewhiskey and sat down, taking in mouthfuls of her drink, did she feel someone sit down beside her. At first she didn't care to look, thinking it must have been some random wedding guest who wanted to know why she and Ron weren't together anymore.

When the music eventually slowed and when the knots in her chest slowly unraveled, she fixed a look at this random person, startled to find that they weren't random at all.

"Draco," she uttered, the glass of firewhiskey nearly slipping from her grasp before she placed it safely onto the table. "Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you said you couldn't make it."

In crisp black dress robes and a pair of dark green dragonskin boots, he simply smiled and held a hand out for her, pulling her away from the open bar and in for a quick, soft kiss. "I pulled a few strings," he explained, in the seconds after. "It was bad enough that I missed the ceremony. There was no way I was going to miss my chance to show you off on that dance floor."

She bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling. "How early do you have to be at work tomorrow?"

"Disgustingly early."

"I suppose we'll just have to make the most of tonight then," she decided, unable to hide her smile for even a moment longer as he brought her to the dance floor and spun her into his arms.

As expected, the stares and whispers followed them as they went. But she paid them no mind. All she could think about, all she had been able to think about from the moment she had seen Draco Malfoy's name pop up on her phone all those weeks ago, was right in front of her. Going by the look in his eyes as he danced with her in front of everyone, as if she was all he could and wanted to see, she had a good feeling that their story was far from over.

The End

A/N: Thanks for reading! Thoughts?