Hermione was feeling much better weeks after and her and Draco would meet up every evening to talk. That was very therapeutic to her of course. One evening Draco drove to her work to pick her up and gave her shopping bags he got. "Don't open those until we get somewhere I want to show you." Draco parked his car and grabbed a blindfold. "Do you trust me?"

Hermione nodded without hesitation, "of course."

Draco smiled and placed the blindfold over her eyes and helped her out of the car. They climbed the stairs and Hermione suddenly felt a nice breeze of air. Draco took off her blindfold and Hermione's eyes were wide open.

There was a makeshift tent with a bed filled with a mattress, pillows and blankets. Next to it there was a small picnic blanket and a basket. "Open the bags."

Hermione looked down and opened the bags. There was a beautiful dress in one, small heels that looked about five centimetres (2 inches) and in the last one silk black pyjamas. "These are beautiful Draco."

Draco smiled, "I just wanted to make this night memorable. I'm really glad you like them."

"You're always great at giving gifts." Hermione acknowledged.

"And you are so good at receiving them and not worrying about their prize."

Hermione shrugged, "I've gotten used to you doing that even if we did spend time apart."

Draco chuckled, "You should change into your new pyjamas then. I'm going to prepare the dinner. You can change in the tent."

Hermione nodded and went to change into the very comfortable pyjamas and found bunny slippers waiting for her in the tent. She laughed at the adorable detail and when she was done she met Draco in their little picnic area.

"I brought spaghetti!" Draco exclaimed.

"I love that."

They finished eating and Draco cleaned everything up. He changed into his pyjamas and laid down next to Hermione. "Tell me what you're thinking about."

Hermione turned to look at him, "I just feel really sad right now. I finally began to feel happy and comfortable but I don't have much time to enjoy."

Draco grabbed her hand gently, "I promise that I'm going to help you live longer. The world needs you. I need you here."

Hermione scooted close to him and sighed, "I have black magic in my heart. I was cursed and since it's an ancient curse there's no cure registered."

"We'll find a way. We're two of the smartest people, I'm sure we can do something but let's not worry about that now."

Hermione nodded, "You never did go to the ball you know? I'm still saving that dance for you."

"Let's fix that then Granger."

They stood up and Draco put music on before joining Hermione for their dance. Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and rested her jean on his chest. Draco placed his hands gently on her hips and began dancing with her.

Hermione knocked on his door gently but he didn't open. He stayed quiet and listened to her footsteps.

"I was really hoping you'd go. I don't know if you're asleep or not but I would've loved to dance with you." He heard Hermione sigh softly. "I left Ron on the dance floor to come look for you. I guess there's no point going back. Goodnight Draco."

He heard her footsteps going away, "goodnight Mione."

———

A month passed and Draco couldn't get her out of his mind. He tried hard to ignore when his heart raced when she was around. She was just so smart and beautiful and kind.

He tried to not read into Hermione blushing when he was around. Or the fact that she always smiled at him softly. Or that she was almost always looking at his lips when they talked.

He never minded the fact that sometimes she forgot to give him his jackets back or that she would fall asleep on his shoulder when they were together.

Today they were in his flat. It was a quiet Saturday morning and they decided to have breakfast together. They spent the day there just hanging out, talking and reading with Dexter next to them keeping them company.

That was until Pansy and Ginny apparated into Draco's flat. Hermione was startled. "Well I guess I see why you forgot our little get together Draco." Pansy smirked. "Hello Granger I haven't seen you in a whilst."

Ginny just stood there looking at her friend as if she was looking at a ghost.

"Why are you here Weasley?" Draco asked Ginny.

"I was with Pansy shopping and she invited me. Wait why are you in the muggle world? I haven't seen you in 4 years! Oh and it's Potter now." She turned to her old friend, "and you. I haven't seen you in 2 years."

Hermione looked nervous, "Hi."

Draco sighed, "Hermione do you want to join us for a walk? You can stay here if you don't-"

"Let's go." Hermione smiled. It wasn't a normal smile. It was one that said to not reveal the information he knew.

The walk was uncomfortable to say the least. Draco knew Hermione was feeling awkward but tried to hide it. She stayed close to him as if she was shy which was a bit unusual for his wild Gryffindor.

"So you and Harry got married?" Hermione said awkwardly.

Ginny nodded, "I tried sending an owl but I guess it got lost. I'm sorry about, you know."

Hermione nodded knowing she meant the whole Ron thing. "You two became friends?"

Pansy nodded, "it was all Luna's idea. She made this party for all the girls she knew hoping you'd show up."

Hermione stayed quiet. Draco grabbed her hand and squeezed it a bit giving her comfort. "You know, I'm feeling a bit tired Pans. How about we continue this another day."

Before his friend could answer he apparated with Hermione to his flat. Hermione hugged him tightly as she thanked him. He placed a small kiss on her head and casted spells to so his friends wouldn't appear all of a sudden. They sat down on the couch together. Hermione was reading as Draco hugged her softly.

She could feel her heart beating faster. She placed her book down and snuggled into Draco's chest. "Can I stay over?"

Draco chuckled, "of course. I don't have a guest room but I could always sleep on the couch."

Hermione sighed looking up at him. "What Granger?"

Hermione gathered her courage and closed the space between them. Her lips landed on his. Draco kisses her back softly. Their lips were moving in sync and Hermione felt as if she finally found where she belonged. They parted slowly. Hermione smiled at Draco, "You're sleeping in the bed also."

"Yes ma'am" Draco said. "Let's do something fun."

———

"When you said something fun, I didn't expect you to leave me here to get all the junk food you could possibly think of and put a movie on." Hermione said as she sat down next to Draco who offered crisps.

"You can eat all of this right?" Hermione nodded. "Then stop thinking and enjoy. Can you drink also?"

Hermione smiled, "Draco I just can't do anything harsh. I can do whatever I want just carefully. Right now I need a firewhiskey."

Draco served some for them. They got comfortable on the couch and watched the movie Draco put on. Hermione fell asleep after a whilst. Draco sighed kissing her forehead before carrying her to bed bridal style. He made sure she was still breathing and casted a spell to see her heart rate making sure it was healthy. He was afraid that one day she was going to fall into a deep slumber that she wouldn't be able to wake up from. He then casted a spell that changed her clothes into pyjamas to make her feel comfortable as she slept. Dexter was already there keeping her company.

Draco changed into his pyjamas and laid down next to her. He wrapped an arm at her waist and closed his eyes.

———

Hermione woke up to a pleasant smell. She walked to the kitchen where she found Draco making omelettes. "You remembered I like omelettes?"

Draco nodded, "of course I did. I wanted to ask you a question. I always wanted to ask but you were with you know and I couldn't." He took a big breath and said, "would you maybe like to go out with me? It's ok if you don't want to I just really do like you and it doesn't have to do with your list I genuinely want to go out with you."

Hermione giggled, "I was dying for you to ask me out already." She saw Draco flinch at the word dying , "not the right word. The point is that I would love to go out on a date with you."

Draco grinned, "okay umm does next Saturday at 5 sound good?"

"It sounds perfect actually."

Draco served the omelettes and sat down next to her. They ate in comfortable silence until a knock interrupted them. "I'll open, you eat."

Draco walked to the door and opened the door. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "my wife told me Hermione was here. I want to see my friend Malfoy."

Draco smiled, "I'll go see if she wants to see you. I won't deny you this but I can't grant you this. It's her choice. I'll be right back." Draco closed the door and walked towards Hermione. "Do you want to talk to Potter?"

Hermione chocked on the omelette. Draco helped her by giving her water. She stood up and walked to the door and opened it. "Harry?"

"Hermione." They hugged each other and smiled, "I haven't seen you in so long."

"You can come in Potter and close the door." Draco called from the kitchen.

They walked to the living room and sat down. Draco left to his room to give them privacy.

"When Ginny told me that you were here I just had to come find you." Harry chuckled happily, "I can't believe I finally found you. When you left I wanted to kill Ron for what he did. I hope you understand that I wanted him to tell you."

"It's fine Harry. I've missed you. I heard you and Ginny got married." Hermione forced a smile.

Harry nodded, "I tried sending an owl but they never reached you. How have you been?"

"I'm fine," she lied, "I have been busy."

Harry nodded, "are you and Malfoy, you know?

Hermione finally felt a genuine smile forming in her face. "Yes we're dating now. When I saw him it's like we just picked up where we left off. Like nothing had happened."

Harry gave her an odd look, "what do you mean?"

Hermione sighed, "when we went back to Hogwarts we both became fairly close. Then everything with Ron evolved and we stopped talking." Dexter walked up to her and sat on her lap. "This is Dexter, Draco's dog."

"Hi buddy." Dexter wagged his tail but stayed with Hermione. Harry cleared his throat, "it was very nice to see you again Hermione. I better go to work now but I hope we can see each other again. Maybe a double date, I noticed it's a little overwhelming for you to talk to us now but just know that we care about you."

Hermione smiled, "thank you for understanding Harry. I'll give you my phone number so we can agree on something. Bye."

Harry hugged his friend one last time, "goodbye, tell Malfoy I said bye."

Hermione nodded and walked Harry out. When the door closed Draco came out of his room. "How did it go?"

Hermione shrugged, "I think it went well. He wants to do a double date type of thing so I'd be more comfortable."

"Sounds good as long as you're happy." Draco grabbed his coat. "I'm going to check on my workers, do you want me to drop you off at your work?" Hermione nodded. "I hope you don't mind but I couldn't really sleep so I went to your flat for some clothes so you could change. Honestly you should just move in here since you send so much time here."

"And who's fault is that?" Hermione kissed his lips softly. "I guess I could. It's not like we never lived together and I would feel safer here. Is it weird I'm moving I'm before our first date?"

Draco shrugged, "are we even normal?"