Fraternizing with the Enemy

...I am finally seeing...I was the one worth leaving...the district sleeps alone tonight after the bars turn out their lights...

~The Postal Service

Seven Years Later

Hermione walked casually down the streets of Diagon Alley in the direction of her favorite café. She carried a large book in her hand and was hoping to have a nice read while sipping some Hazelnut coffee. She would have a peaceful walk home in the snow and go to sleep early. Unfortunately, that was not how the evening played out.

She did arrive at the café and was able to enjoy her book and coffee for a little while, but then she looked outside and noticed the flurries of snow were beginning to grow heavier and heavier. Her night would have to be cut short if she intended to make her way home in anything short of a blizzard. One her way out she waved to the hostess, and made her way out into the storm. She tied her scarf tighter around her neck and hugged herself with her arms.

"What a nightmare," she thought to herself. "I guess I have to take the shortcut..." The shortcut was never a rout she looked forward to taking, but if she didn't get home soon she might freeze to death. She turned and made her way down a dark alleyway. "This was a great idea," she mumbled to herself sarcastically when she started becoming a little frightened. She could hear things moving around her and the wind whistled around her.

Suddenly, large arms wrapped around her and pushed her back against a wall hard. She attempted a scream but it was stifled by a figure clutching her neck in his hand. She gasped desperately for air, watching the world around slowly fade into blackness. But then the man's grip released her and she fell to the ground, sucking in as much air as she could. Her vision cleared and she saw two men fighting each other above her. One man punched the other hard in the face and he fell to the ground before running off down the alleyway.

The other man walked towards her and she folded back against the wall, fumbling around her jacket for her wand. "Stay away!" she yelled at him, pointing her wand.

"Hey, I just saved you! And you repay me by pointing a wand in my face? You're lucky I just didn't keep walking on my way and let that fool continue choking you to death!" She recognized that voice.

"Draco?" she whispered. He leaned down so that her face came into view.

"Hermione?"

"Wh...What are you doing here?" she stuttered. He scowled.

"Saving your ass? Don't look too excited to see me." She glared and tried to pull herself off the ground, but crumpled back down when dizziness overcame her. She moaned and put a hand to her head.

"You don't look so good, Granger," he said.

"I could say the same to you," she spat.

"And there's that endless politeness I've come to expect of you. Come on, I'll take you home. Where exactly do you live?" Draco reached out for her arm and pulled her up to a standing position. She swayed on her feet and was about to fall down again, but Draco grabbed her and picked her up into his arms.

"I live in the Shea Building down there, but put me down. I'm just..." her head spinned violently, "fine," she was able to whisper before passing out against his chest.

"You haven't changed much at all have you?" he asked the unconscious body of Hermione. "Then again," he added before walking off with the Mudblood tight against him.

~*~

Hermione's eyes blinked open and her living room came into focus. She was lying on her coach with a blanket wrapped around her and a warm washcloth around her neck.

"So, you're awake," said Draco's familiar voice from a nearby chair.

"Draco..." Hermione whispered before bringing herself into a sitting position. "Oww," she muttered, feeling her neck throb painfully.

"That's quite a bruise you got there. It's quite becoming on you really," he teased with a smirk on his lips.

"Thanks. So...I guess you saved me...didn't you," she said wearily.

"Uggh, well I wouldn't go that far. I just happened to be in the area. Had I known it was you...well," he said in his all-too-familiar tone.

"You are so..."

"Charming? Debonair? Devilishly attractive?" She glared at him.

"Predictable." The smirk faded from his face.

"I see." An uncomfortable silence fell upon them. Hermione couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes, so she just stared down at her hands.

"So," she finally said after a few minutes.

"So,"

"Did you really beat up that guy?"

"Is it so hard to believe?" he smiled at her.

"Well, in a way."

"What way is that?"

"Just that you saved someone by doing it. Specifically, you saved me. I guess I just never thought that one would happen," she replied quietly, forcing out a giggle.

"Do you really hate me that much?" Now Hermione met his eyes. She didn't speak for a few minutes.

"No," she finally responded quietly. "So where are you staying?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"No where as of yet. I was actually supposed to catch a train before you begged for my assistance." Although she didn't quite approve of the begging part of what he just said, she figured she was obligated to offer him a place to stay. With some reluctance, she appeased her conscience and decided it was the least she could do.

"Would you like to stay here?" He looked a little surprised.

"Is the all knowing, all powerful Hermione Granger offering me -"

"NO! I'm only offering you this couch. Nothing else," she said.

"Well that was all I was going to suggest, Miss Granger. You're the one who made the sexual insinuation." There was just no winning with Draco, so Hermione just gave up and attempted to stand. Unfortunately, that was something she also wouldn't be able to do tonight. She fell back into the couch like a rag doll, her head cloudy from dizziness.

"Alright, Granger. Where did you want to go?"

"All I want is to get some tea and go to bed," she choked out, frustrated. Draco rose from his seat and came over to her. He wrapped one arm around her back and the other around her knees and picked her up. She circled her arms around his neck and let him carry her to her bedroom.

"Draco, you really--"

"Sshhh," he quieted her. He placed her on the bed and she got underneath the covers. "Be right back." He left the room and she could hear him moving around in her kitchen, and when he returned in a few moments with a cup of tea in his hand, it became clear why.

"You don't have to do this for me," she said as he put the cup on her bedside table.

"I know,"

"Is there a reason why you're being so nice to me?" He looked down at her with unreadable eyes.

"Yes,"

"And that would be?"

"Redemption." She couldn't possibly think of a reply to that, so she merely nodded. Remembering all the nights she spent crying over him, wishing things could have been different. And here he was confusing her in the same way he had seven years ago.

"'Night Mudblood," he said lightly.

"I told you not to call me that," she said with less force than she had hoped for; her need for sleep was too over-powering.

"I know," he replied in a volume barely above a whisper. "Goodnight Hermione,"

"'Night," she said quietly before falling fast asleep, the scent of him lulling her mind into romantic dreams of old love, lost.