Hermione ran her hand through her hair, completely forgetting that she had secured it in a loose plait earlier. Her fingers managed to undo any attempt at neatness and her hair proceeded to fall around her shoulders in long ringlets. If there was a good thing about growing older it was that her hair had seemed to change from horrible bushy, frizzy brown curls to long, curling ringlets that fell to the small of her back. Her body had matured as well, morphing from an awkward teenage girl's body into a beautiful curvy womanly shape. Her breasts were full and perky and her small waist was accentuated by her rounded hips. She wasn't particularly tall but that had never bothered her. As long as she was healthy and liked the way she looked she had no problem with her height.

It was Sunday, and Hermione was curled up in her favourite armchair reading a trashy romance novel from the muggle world. She had decided that today was just for her and hadn't even bothered to get changed out of the pyjama pants and t-shirt she wore to bed. A cup of tea steamed next to her on a small table and a plate of choc-chip cookies was placed beside it. Usually she would be bustling around getting things ready for the work week but lately she had been feeling a kind of malaise. She had no idea what was wrong but a strange feeling of emptiness had settled inside her and she had no clue as to what she should do about it. Her life was full of friends and work so why did she feel lonely? Sure she had decided to focus on her career after breaking up with Ron years ago. She was the head Librarian and researcher at the Ministry. She even helped out St Mungos occasionally with research into new cures and difficult cases. She was very talented at finding what no one else could whether it was in an electronic repository of information or skimming through thousands of dusty tomes in the library. She got along with her colleagues well and sometimes socialised after work but Hermione realised that she had been going out less and less lately.

Suddenly she sat up from the soft cushions as a thought occurred to her. Could she really be feeling lonely because she didn't have a boyfriend? She snorted to herself and took a bite out of a cookie. Hermione Granger, independent, career driven woman, all sad because she didn't have a man? What a stupid idea.

But the more the thought settled in her mind the more she became aware that maybe that was the reason she was avoiding her friends lately. Harry and Ginny were happily married with two kids and were expecting the third at any moment. Luna and Neville had finally gotten together and had been dating for the last five years. They were always cocooned together at friend events, still madly in love. Even Ron had found love with one of Fleurs friends from Beauxbaton's, Amelie. She fit in well with the group and had recently settled into a small flat in London with Ron.

It seemed all of her friends were paired off. Except for her. All of a sudden she couldn't stand being alone in her house for another second. She jumped up from the chair and announced to the empty room," I'm going to have a shower, put on some nice clothes and go out and find me a man!"

After apparating to London Hermione wandered around aimlessly. Her initial get-up-and-go attitude had worn off and she found herself at a loss for where to go. She had no idea where one went to meet people and the thought of going to a singles bar horrified her. In the end she ended up in a small art gallery. There was a new exhibition with pieces from private collections and she thought it would be nice to clear her head with some art. Besides, who said she wouldn't find a man in the gallery? She smiled to herself as she made her way to the next painting. Her mouth dropped open slightly as she realised she was standing in front of one of her favourite paintings from the muggle world. It was a painting by Rene Magritte and it had held her fascination ever since she had seen it in an art book when she was ten years old. Hermione couldn't believe that she was standing in front of the actual original painting. Curiosity welled up inside her as she thought about whose collection it had come from. She would never find out of course. She didn't exactly rub elbows with the wealthy set. She sometimes attended a ball when her boss made her but usually she just went home after work to her little cottage and read or played with Crookshanks.

She was absent-mindedly twirling her hair around her finger when she felt a warm presence next to her. A spicy, subtly citrus scented cologne wrapped around her as she inhaled and without thinking Hermione turned her head to smile at the man next to her. Her eyes widened in shock as she realised it was none other than Draco Malfoy standing next to her. He was looking at her, a slight smirk on his lips as he took in her surprise. As Hermione continued to gape at him he looked her up and down slowly, his eyes darkening slightly in male appreciation. The wine coloured sweater dress she was wearing hugged her body and outlined her soft curves perfectly. His eyes lingered on the black leather boots she was wearing and then came back up to her face.

"At a loss for words Granger?"

His words snapped her out of her trance as she replied," No. I uh, well, I just wasn't expecting to see you here. I mean, I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew here." Her face flushed a deep red as she shut her mouth to keep herself from babbling her way to deeper embarrassment.

While Malfoy was enjoying her discomfit, Hermione managed to take in how good he looked. He was wearing plain black pants and a dark grey sweater. Simple but damn he looked hot! His steel grey eyes looked darker than usual and his almost white blonde hair was cut in a basic male style, short sides and slightly longer on top. She was pleased to see that he was lacking any hair product. There was nothing worse than thick styling gel in a guy's hair.

Hermione found she was staring and dragged her attention back to the painting. Her heart was thumping unsteadily in her chest and she still felt a bit flushed. Oh no, she thought. I'm actually attracted to Malfoy? She tried to remind herself of their history but it didn't quite work. She was just thinking about how he must look under that sweater when he asked," So, you like the painting then? Me too. It's not too far out there but not too traditional either."

She listened to Malfoy discuss the picture and found it hard to believe that he was making polite chit chat with her. The war had changed a lot of people and it had been ten years since it ended but this situation just felt so surreal. Of all the men to bump into and then feel attracted to! Her little day dream ended when Malfoy stopped talking and seemed to be expecting her to say something. All she could think of to say was," I didn't think you'd like muggle art. I mean, I know things have changed and all but when you've been immersed in family prejudices for so long, isn't it hard to change?"

Malfoy quirked an eyebrow and said," Yes and no. My father was the driving force behind all of those..…opinions. I never really agreed with it all as I got older, especially just before the war. After the final battle and with Voldemort gone I found I had freedom to be as I wanted to be. I have quite a large collection of muggle artwork including a couple more from this painter"

Hermione took the hint and said," So you mean this painting is yours? Oh I'm so jealous! I've been in love with this painting since I was a kid. If this is just one of your paintings I'd love to see what else you have."

She wished she could bite back the words as soon as they left her mouth. It sounded like she was asking to go to his house and view his private collection! What must he think of her? Forcing herself on him. Hermione decided to end the embarrassment and just walk away. As she turned she felt Malfoy grab her arm, making sure to keep his grip light so as to avoid bruising her. The heat from his hand went straight through the material of her dress and made her skin tingle. It had been a long time since she had been touched by a man and the contact nearly made her moan. Hermione managed to keep her reaction to herself and just looked questioningly at Malfoy.

"Would you like to get a coffee?"

The question hung in the air between them for a moment, as Hermione tried to collect her senses. She had a million questions to ask starting with why would Malfoy ask her to have coffee with him? It was almost a date or at least the prelude to one. As her mind raced and whirled she heard herself answer, "Sure."

Malfoy smiled as he changed his grasp on her arm to instead loop their arms together so her hand was resting on the inside of the crook of his arm. They walked in silence to the little café on the second floor of the building. Muggles and wizards frequented this café regularly so it was no surprise when the maître de ushered them into a secluded spot on the balcony when he spotted Draco Malfoy coming in. There was only one other person sitting a distance away, sipping a lonely looking cup of coffee.

The silence between them began to be strained as they eyed each other over the table. Luckily a waiter arrived to take their order but as he left Hermione could feel the tension again. It was too much for her.

"Alright Malfoy. What do you want? I can't for the life of me even begin to think of why you would want to spend a portion of your afternoon with me. Just get to the punch line so we can cut this misery short and go our separate ways."

Malfoy stared at her for a moment and then threw his head back and laughed. The sound was deep and rich and genuine. Hermione's eyes widened slightly as she felt a tingle in her stomach at the sound. She tamped the feeling down as hard as she could but she couldn't deny that she found Malfoy attractive right in this moment. He had always been handsome but his behaviour and cold hearted ways has been a major turn off for her. She would never have considered him as a potential male she would date. Until now.

Once his laughter had died down to an amused smile, Malfoy explained," Well Granger, I'm glad to see that you're still straight forward and don't play games. I was perfectly happy to tour the new paintings alone until I saw you walk in in that dress. Any man would have found it rather difficult not to approach you."

He held his hand up as Hermione made to interrupt.

"I only meant to walk up to you and have a chat but I'm as mystified as you are as to what made me ask you to have a drink. Although I have to say I'm not regretting my decision one bit."

Hermione felt herself relax a bit and she leant back in her chair and crossed her legs. The table was quite small so Malfoy could see most of her and she noticed his eyes flick down to her boots again as her dress rode a little higher on her legs, just above her knees. She almost smirked as she could imagine what he was thinking. She'd let him stew a little bit and make him ask her about her shoes. It was more fun that way.

"Alright then. It's been ten years after all. I learned a long time ago that I needed to let go of all that rubbish from school in order to grow up and interact in a post war world. I see quite a few of your fellow Slytherins in my day to day work."

The waiter brought their drinks and she paused to add a sachet of sugar to her coffee and stirred it thoughtfully.

"I guess I really forgave you a couple of years ago anyway so there's no sense in making you suffer today."

Malfoy quirked an eyebrow and said," Oh really? And what was it that made you forgive me? Surely not the donations I make or the fact that I'm touted to be a real 'playboy' who flounces around in expensive suits and shags super models?"

Hermione blushed slightly. She hadn't meant to mention this. It had obviously been a secret he wanted to keep though why that would be she didn't know.

She cleared her throat and said," Well, you know that I'm the head librarian at the Ministry but sometimes I do research projects for St Mungos and the like. I was looking into one such project and came across a certain 'playboys' name. He supposedly donates his time as a volunteer healer for cases that St Mungos simply can't figure out or doesn't have time to take on. I have no idea why said person wants to keep this a secret but as no one appears to know about this charity work I kept my mouth shut about it."

She gave him an apologetic look.

"I didn't even mean to bring it up now. It just kind of slipped out."

Malfoy was stunned. She was right. He did want to keep his charity work a secret. He tried to keep as many personal details as he could from the media and general public. That's why the playboy persona had worked so well for him. It was all lies of course but it was the easiest front he could keep up. Ever since the war he had been sick of being in the headlines for whatever reason and being judged for every little thing he did. The lifestyle of a spoilt rich kid had been the best thing to project. It still kept him in the papers and magazines but it wasn't really headline news. And that way he could live his life the way he wanted without being judged and scrutinised. It did mean he was judged for being superficial but in a way it was how everyone expected him to be so he could deal with that. If everyone knew about his real life they would always be second guessing his motives and his face would never leave the front cover of Witch Weekly. He just made sure to be seen every now and then with a model or other attractive women and it was enough fodder for the media to feed on until next time. He was grateful that Hermione was so discreet and smart enough to think about why he hadn't told anyone about his work.

He smiled at her and said," No that's fine. Thanks for keeping it to yourself. Someone was bound to find out at some point I guess. I just try to keep anything personal out of the magazines and papers. It'll be our little secret."

His voice took on a seductive tone as he said the last few words and Hermione felt her face react as she blushed slightly. She gripped her coffee cup and took a sip, vainly trying to hide her face from view. Draco chuckled and changed the subject.

"So, enough about me and my personal life. How about you? Still dating that red haired git?" He knew of course that they had broken up years ago but he wanted to see how she would react to his mentioning Ron.

Hermione withdrew from her drink and set it down on the table before bringing her hand up to twirl her hair around a finger as she thought about her answer.

"Well, Ron and I dated after the war for about two years but we decided things weren't working and ended it."

After a sceptical look from Draco she added, "Ok, I ended it. We just grew apart and turned into very different people. Ron thrived on the celebrity of being a war hero and I just didn't. I wanted to build a career with no help from my war status and I wanted to help society in some way. It was a no-brainer that I became a librarian really. I've always loved books and helping the ministry with my research and organisational skills is something I really enjoy. And St Mungos of course. Nothing brings me greater joy than finding the solution to a tricky cure or helping the lawyers discover information that could help a client in need. Ron wanted to party all of the time and hang out with the rich and beautiful and I just couldn't handle that sort of lifestyle-."

She stopped talking all of a sudden, thinking she had said too much. It hadn't been easy dealing with Ron toward the end of their relationship and afterwards had been a nightmare. It seemed he didn't take rejection very well. Even though it had been nearly eight years since they had split up he still couldn't really look her in the eye and was barely civil to her when they met at The Burrow when she went over for the occasional dinner or lunch. The problem was that Hermione had no one to talk to about it properly. There was only so much she could say to Harry or Ginny. They were too close to the whole situation and she didn't want them to feel like they needed to pick a side.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to load all of that onto you. I just haven't been able to talk to anyone about it, even after all this time. And now you're the lucky person that gets to hear me whine on about the past."

She smiled sheepishly and watched at Draco shrugged his shoulders as he said," Sometimes the last person in the world you would expect to be around for a chat can just be there when you need them. I don't mind being that person for you. To be honest I get a bit lonely. Having coffee with you today has been the best part of my week."

Hermione grinned as her eyes happened to drift to the clock on the wall. She almost jumped out of her seat when she saw the time. As she gathered her purse and stood she said," I really have to go, sorry Malfoy. I'm going to see Ginny for an early dinner. Harry's out of the country right now with work so she gets a bit restless while waiting for him to come home."

She saw his eyes flick down to her boots again and smirked, deciding to take a risk and flirt a little.

"I really enjoyed the coffee and chat. Maybe we can do it again sometime?"

She turned to go but turned at the last minute and leant across the table.

"Oh and about my boots. Yes, they're thigh high and real leather. They make me feel good when I wear them. If we see each other again maybe I'll wear the lingerie that matches."

And with that she sped out of the café, not quite believing what she had just said. She had never come onto a man like that before and was so out of character for her but she felt buoyed by the rush it had given her, almost like adrenalin was coursing through her veins. Taking a risk now and then felt good, even if Malfoy didn't respond to her invitation.