Authors notes:

This is my first published story. I have another one in the pipeline (with an idea and structure and everything else, yes really), but that won't be published for a while. In the meantime, I started this one and I'm not sure yet where it will go. We'll find out together, I guess. Be warned: This might at some point get slightly femslashy, so if you're not into that, skip those parts or don't read this at all. If you like it, please review or if you have any ideas on where the story should go, I'm thankful for any kind of input.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own any of the characters except for one and all the rest belongs to JKR.

Chapter One - Draco was in the neighbourhood

There was a knock on the door. Valerie put down her cup of tea and got up from the computer to answer it. Standing in front of her was a well groomed, handsome, blond man . She looked at him questioningly and waited for him to speak.
"Hello. My name is Draco Malfoy. Is Hermione home?", he said in what he thought was his most charming voice.

"Nope, and who are you exactly?", said Valerie, completely unimpressed.
"Erm...I'm...We're old friends. We went to school together.", Draco answered a little bit thrown off.
"Draco, you said?" Valerie searched her memory for the name, "No, doesn't ring a bell. Anyway, Hermione isn't home, but I'll let her know you were here. Do you want me to leave her a message or something?"
"No, no. That's fine. I was just in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd try my luck and drop by. To talk about old times, you know," Draco explained. It was harder to charm his way past the young woman in the door frame than he thought. He should have known better than to use Gilderoy Lockharts Charming Charm.

Valerie wasn't sure about the man in front of her. The polite thing would be to invite him in, offer some tea and let him wait for Hermione since she would be home in a couple of minutes anyway. But why had Hermione never mentioned Draco before if they were friends? And what kind of name was Draco anyway? Then again, she didn't talk much about her teenage life, so there were probably a lot of people she hadn't mentioned. "Would you like to come in and wait for her?" Valerie heard herself say, "She should be home soon."
Draco's eyes lit up, "Yes, that would be very nice indeed. Thank you and I promise not to keep you from whatever you were doing." And with that Draco was inside and looking around at what he could see of the small flat.

There was a fireplace with pictures of Hermione, Ron, Harry and several other people on the mantelpiece. They were not moving, although Draco knew they should be. Hermione must have fixed them. In front of the fireplace were a very comfortable looking couch and two armchairs surrounding a small wooden coffee table. Everything was tastefully decorated. Then Draco's eyes fell on a small display of Hermione's Head Girl Badge and other awards she won in service to all wizardkind. Draco's mouth twitched a bit. Most dominantly there were books everywhere. Bookshelves lined almost all the walls from top to bottom. There were stacks of books on the floor. Obviously, there was no space for them on the shelves.

"Would you care for some tea, perhaps?" Valerie offered, "or something stronger?"
"I wouldn't say no to a glass of whiskey, if it's not too much hassle," Draco answered truthfully. He might need a little liquid courage for what he was trying to do.
"Coming right up," Valerie smiled and motioned to the couch, "You can take a seat if you like. Hermione will still be a couple of minutes."

"Thank you.", Draco smiled politely and went to sit down while Valerie disappeared into the kitchen. Two minutes later she came back with two glasses and a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey.
"I found this in the back of the shelf. It seems to be the only Whiskey we have. I've never heard of it, must be something Hermione bought," Valerie said while filling up two glasses.
"I'm sure it's fine," Draco smiled and held up his glass, "Cheers."
"Cheers", Valerie said and took a sip. "Wow, this is...wow." She managed to say in between coughs, "I can't believe Hermione bought this. She's such a lightweight. One drop of that and she's drunk, I'm sure of it!"
And right on cue, Hermione turned the key in the lock and entered the scene.