Disclaimer: as usual I own nothing everything belongs to our queen J. !

A/N: This was written for:

The Pairing war competition: round 2 – Narcissa/Hermione

This could technically be set somewhere before "Balance".

Also for all of the people who favorited/followed "A Malfoy wedding" 2nd chapter should be up by Saturday.

Hermione grumbled as she rummaged through her closet trying to find something appropriate for her date, her blind date, a date that had been arranged by none other than Ronald Weasley.

This was all Harry's fault!

After the war Ron had tried asking her out, she always refused but Ron seemed to be in denial and kept at it. She had finally snapped one day and yelled at him that she wouldn't date him if he was the last person on earth because she was into witches.

Ron had turned beet red and Harry had stared at her wide eyed, mortified at her slip she had gone straight to bed.

When she entered the common room the next morning Harry had walked over and hugged her, reassuring her that he would always love her, she was like his sister and he just wanted her to be happy.

Ron had been another matter, he was grumpy and sullen for weeks. She did her best to ignore it and by the time they finished their final year he seemed to have come around somewhat.

The ministry had hired all three straight away, in truth they had attempted to recruit the trio straight after the war, but Hermione had insisted on finishing school. The boys had agreed saying that after everything that had happened they needed a normal year.

Harry and Ron both joined the Auror's office, while Hermione had taken a position within the department of magical law enforcement where she worked to overhaul many of the old laws.

Which brought her to her current dilemma.

She worked to much and had no social life, at least according to the boys. Harry and Ginny was engaged and Ron was rather popular with the girls, she smirked at that, who would have taught?

At one of the trio's get togethers and after a few drinks the boys had decided to take matters into their own hands.
They made a vow to find her a girlfriend and if she didn't cooperate she would have to allow them to "vacation" at her house whenever they wanted – an idea that she absolutely didn't like.

Harry would have been fine, but the Weasleys, Ron's random girls, the boy's work mates etc running around her house? No thank you, she preferred her quite and she would never get any work done at home if the house was full.

So they had taken to setting her up on a blind date approximately once a month.

7 dates later and she had yet to meet anyone she really clicked with, some had been boring, some had been okay, Padma Patil had been a pleasant surprise, the Ravenclaw was funny and smart but there was just no chemistry between them.

They had however become rather good friends, it was nice to have someone to talk to who wasn't the boys for a change.

Tonights date had been set up by Ron, normally Harry had the final word because she knew that he only had her best interest in mind, but he had been busy after a reported sighting of Dolohov, one of the few death eaters who still eluded capture.

She couldn't help but worry that Ron had set her up with one of his ditzy model "friends" or something along those lines.

She let out a small whoop of victory when she finally found the red cocktail dress she had been looking for.

Even if it was a terrible idea to go out with whoever Ron found fitting, she was still going to look her best, besides she did like the opportunity to be noticed for more than just her brilliance once in awhile.

Now that she had settled on a dress, she got ready in record time. There was a lot of things she could forget when caught up in work, but she was never late for anything and a date, blind or not was no exception.

She gathered her purse and pulled out a slip of paper, on it in Ron's nearly illegible scribble was the address of a rather up scale restaurant in muggle London.

Thank merlin the place hadn't been picked by Ron or they might have ended up in a bar somewhere, at least her date or someone close to her had taste.

She locked and warded the door, one could never be too careful and the damn Skeeter woman was still lurking around for juicy news about the trio.

Unbidden the image of having dinner with the nosy reporter popped into her head, she didn't know if she should laugh or cry at the thought of having to endure dinner with the blonde, who probably wouldn't turn down the date in the hopes of getting some info.

If Ron or Harry ever tried to pull that one on her she would have to hex all three into next year, possibly even the next decade.

She walked down the front steps and apparated.

XXXXXX

The restaurant was nice, french, up scale but not over the top and looking around she noticed that many tables where shielded by screens offering some privacy. It was a pleasant surprise and she could see why it had been picked for tonight.

"Can I help you miss?"

She smiled at the hostess.

"Yes I have a reservation under Weasley?"

"Ah yes, your friend is already here. Michael here..." she motioned towards a young waiter "will take you to your table."

"This way miss."

Hermione followed him to the back, where a privacy screen hid a small table from view. The waiter motioned for her to move around the screen.

"I will back shortly to take your orders miss."

She nodded and took a deep breath before rounding the screen.

As the table came in to view her first thought was "maybe I jinxed it?" because her date was definitely blonde, but even from the back Hermione could tell that the other witch was much better dressed than the reporter had ever been.

And she had rather nice curves as well, she rolled her eyes at herself and walked over to the table.

As she moved to take a seat the other woman looked up and both froze, Hermione blinked a few times while starring into the equally surprised blue eyes of Narcissa Black.

"Umm madame Black?"

"Miss Granger?"

Hermione dropped rather unceremoniously into the chair opposite the blonde and shook her head with disbelief.

"I am going to kill him."

That made Narcissa smirk "Well well miss Granger I didn't think you had it in you, who will you be killing?"

"Ronald, he's the one who arranged this for me." She eyed the older witch "You?"

Narcissa actually laughed, her laughter was soft and brilliant so unlike her sisters manic cackle.

"Andromeda."

"Wait Andy knew? Seriously"

Narcissa raised an eyebrow in question "You know Andy?"

"Yeah, I was good friends with her daughter and I still come around to see Teddy ever so often."

Hermione smiled and shook her head once again.

"Why did they think we would be a match?" she wondered aloud.

"Well I can see why Andy would think we would be a good match, mr Weasley however is quite a mystery."

"And why would Andy think we'd be a good match Madame Black?"

For a second it seemed like Narcissa might object to the question, but she recognized the teasing tone of the younger witch and smirked instead.

"Well we are both brilliant, we like learning and knowledge, we are both rather..." she paused searching for the right word "idealistic. You are working to change the laws of the wizarding world and you founded S.P.E.W."

They were interrupted by the arrival of the waiter.

"Can I take your orders ladies?"

Narcissa glanced at the younger witch.

The brunette merely smiled "I'm rather certain you have great taste Madame Black, why don't you order for us both?"

Narcissa blushed slightly at Hermione's unintentional pun and ordered their dinner and wine in perfect french.

Meanwhile Hermione took the opportunity to really take in Narcissa's appearance.

The blonde was beautiful on a bad day, tonight she was dressed to impress in a beautiful green dress, her hair was pinned in a french role and her lips were painted a deep ruby red.

The way they moved as she spoke had Hermione captivated.

"Miss Granger?"

"Oh um sorry I didn't hear you?"

"I asked what had you so caught up, but maybe I'm to blame for that?"

It was Hermione's turn to blush, but she liked the playful, flirty side of the older woman.

"Maybe you are, but I don't kiss and tell."

Narcissa chuckled "Tonight you seem to be doing neither miss Granger."

"Well not yet, but do you really want me to tell?" she winked at the blonde.

"Depends. Am I promised a kiss if you don't?"

Hermione laughed and leaned back in her chair "Well you'll have to wait and see won't you."

Narcissa playfully pouted, but her eyes danced with mirth.

"Who would have thought I would have fun tonight? I figured I would go just to appease my sister. She seems to think that I don't have much of a social life".

"Haha that sounds so much like Harry and Ron, they keep setting me up on dates because they think I work to much."

She sipped at the wine, which had appeared shortly after the waiter left.

"In fact I worried that Ron would have set me up with one of his model "friends", I don't think any of them could hold a proper conversation."

Narcissa rolled her eyes "Yes I have heard that he is quite the what do you say "ladies man" these days. Not a fan Miss Granger?"

Hermione smiled.

"Call me Hermione. And not really, but it's his problem not mine."

"Call me Narcissa then."

"Narcissa" Hermione liked the way the blondes name rolled of her tongue. "I can certainly think of better topics of conversation than Ron. For example you said that we were both idealistic, how so?"

A shiver ran down the older woman's spine at the sound of her name falling from pink lips.

"Hmm oh as I said you founded S.P.E.W. right? As a child I freed most of our elves, I loved them and found them fascination, while my parents thought it was rubbish. At Hogwarts I learned mermish in order to talk to the merpeople in the black lake."

She swirled the wine in her glass.

"If I had to work I would have liked it to be something with magical creatures."

"Really? That's... well prior to tonight I would have said it's rather surprising, but from what I've seen tonight somehow not so much."

"Oh there's a lot you don't know about me Hermione".

The blonde winked which almost made her drop her glass, but she managed to place it safely on the table.

"I'm beginning to think you're right Narcissa."

Well past midnight Hermione finally arrived home and stumbled into bed with a smile on her face.

The evening had been rather splendid if you asked Her.

They had enjoyed a dinner with lots of playful banter and flirting, and while Narcissa hadn't gotten her kiss there was a definite promise of next time, they had even agreed to go on a second date the following weekend.

XXXXXXX

The next day at work she had a hard time keeping the smile off of her face, which Padma obviously commented on when they ran into each other, even her colleagues noticed her cheerier than usual disposition.

She met Harry for lunch, who was rather relieved to see that she wasn't angry, which meant Ron hadn't screwed up to badly.

"So who was your date?"

"Ron didn't tell you?"

"Nah he's been really secretive about it and keeps saying he'll handle it."

She shook her head "Well Ron..." she smirked "and Andromeda".

"Andy? Who would she...?"

"If you'd let me finish Harry, they set up Narcissa and I"

Harry nearly chocked on his coffee and his eyes widened comically.

"Narcissa... as in Draco's mum?"

"The one and only".

"Um but you don't seem upset about it."

"I'm not" she sipped her tea gingerly "We had a rather good time actually".

This time Harry actually spit out his coffee.

"What!?"

Hermione glared at the boy-who-lived-to-be-a-little-dense, who was frantically mopping up his mess.

"Harry! Nothing so untoward as whatever your brain is conjuring, we had dinner, we talked and laughed and agreed to meet again next weekend".

"Oh well I'm glad you had fun, but how the hell did Ron come up with that?"

"I have no idea, we were wondering that as well."

"There's a "we" already?" he smirked at his best friend.

"NO!" She threw a piece of bread at him but missed "But... well... maybe... hopefully there will be."

He smiled and took her hand, the honest happy expression on her face made him happy. He didn't want his almost sister to be alone, which was why they had started setting her up with people in the first place.

"I'm happy for you Mione, I really am. I haven't seen you smile like this in a long time, too long." He let go of her hand and leaned back.

"I guess I have to start learning to be more civil with Draco instead of bickering with him huh? Who would have thought".

Hermione smiled, she was so glad she had Harry, he had grown into a good man and he was like her brother, there was nothing he wouldn't do to see her happy.

Halfway through lunch Ron joined them by pretty much dumping himself in a chair and shoveling food into his mouth.

Hermione grimaced, how anyone could find that attractive she would never know. Harry smirked and sent her a knowing look, her only response was a roll of the eyes.

When Ron finally came up for air he turned towards her with a smirk plastered all over his face.

"Soooo Mione how did your "date" go?"

Something about the way that he said it annoyed her, but she just smiled at him.

"It went rather great thank you. Narcissa and I are having dinner again next weekend."

Ron sputtered.

"WHAT?!"

He glared at her.

"You're actually going to see her again? She's Malfoy's mother... not to mention a death eater!"

Hermione eyed him wearily.

"You were the one who set me up with her in the first place Ronald! And for the record Narcissa never was a death eater."

"I thought you'd see how ridiculous this is and get tired of it."

"How ridiculous what is Ronald?"

"You and all these girls, it's obvious you didn't like any of them, you were just a bit confused."

He leaned back in the chair and smirked, clearly pleased with himself.

"Confused? What are you talking about? And I've just told you I'm seeing Narcissa again so the part about not like any of them is not true either."

"That you like girls! Come on Mione I understand that you weren't ready to date me in school, but there's no reason to lie to us any more."

She sputtered in anger.

"Lie! LIE! I'm not lying Ronald, I like Narcissa and yes I'm going on a second date with her!"

He got angry and raised his voice at her, while Harry seemed at a complete loss at what to do about his idiotic friend.

"IT'S DISGUSTING AND YOU SHOULD BE MINE!"

"Yours? YOURS? Ronald Billius Weasley I have already told you I would never go out with you! Maybe I should spell it out huh?"

She waved her arms emphatically in the air while glaring at him.

"I am a lesbian and you are NOT a girl!"

She turned around and headed for the door, she was so angry she might just hex him if she stayed any longer.

When she passed Harry he reached out and squeezed her hand in apology, he would probably have words with Ron once she left, but she couldn't really bring herself to care, Ron was a complete and utter moron!

And just when she didn't think the day could get worse a voice sounded next to her.

"Well well Granger, the golden girl chases skirts? That should make a rather nice headline."

Hermione didn't even look up "Go to hell Rita."

Luckily the reporter wasn't dim enough to ignore the warning, she sensed that today wasn't the day to push the annoying know-it-all's buttons unless she wanted to end up in a jar or worse.

XXXXXX

When she got back to work she told her boss that she didn't feel well and would work from home for the rest of the day.

She couldn't believe Ron was such an ass. He had set her up with Narcissa why? She would realize that she didn't like girls and go out with him? That had to be the dumbest plan to date.

She thought back to her evening with the blonde and smirked. He probably shouldn't have set her up with the most stunning witch she'd ever met and oh Merlin even her thoughts sounded love struck already.

Late in the afternoon she was pulled from her work by a tapping on the window, on the ledge sat a beautiful horned owl with a letter.

The neatly penned writing on the envelope immediately reminded her of the blonde and she was right, inside was a short letter:

Dear Hermione
I heard about your little disagreement with mr Weasley.
I hope you would still like to meet me for dinner Saturday,
but I understand if you would rather not risk your friendship.
Know that I had a lovely time last night.
Yours Narcissa.

She smiled at the thoughtfulness of the older witch. There was no way in hell, she would miss out on Narcissa's company because Ron decided to be a prat.

She grabbed a few treats for the owl and picked up the quill on her desk so she could write a reply.

Dear Narcissa
I'm not certain exactly what you heard,
but Ronald is just being an idiot.
I would still love to have dinner with you,
I certainly enjoyed your company.
And if he's my friend he'll be happy for me,
if not... well I would say it's his loss really.
Everyone else has been commenting on how cheerful I've been,
and how happy they are that I'm happy.
I guess you make me smile more and that can't be a bad thing.
Yours Hermione.

She sent the owl of with the letter and leaned back in her chair with a sigh.

Then she truly smiled for the first time in what felt like forever, because even if Ron was an idiot, she had Harry.

And more than that she had a date with a brilliant, gorgeous witch.