Nicest Thing

I really liked this chapter, it’s a little humorous on both parts. Hopefully you like it! I shall get back to my other stories soon but I need something happy to write considering the kind of dark nature my other two stories are at this moment. =)

Soundtrack Kate Nash – Skeleton Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQe8XEqu7yM

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So, lunch didn’t go as badly as she thought…or hoped for that matter. In fact, it had gone really well. Draco made a point at offering to take her to lunch the rest of the week but when she declined. Upon returning to her office every afternoon, Hermione discovered several large bouquets of flowers cluttering her desk. Apparently, Mr. Malfoy was doing his best to show that he wanted to see her, or wanted to rightfully kill her by the smothering of her colleagues. He had known she worked with a majority of women and where there were flowers…there were a ton of smothering chits.

Two days. It took only two days for her to break and finally accept a second lunch ‘date’ with him. Only on the condition that he would stop wasting money on ridiculous arrangements that began crowding up her entire office space. Her office no longer looked like a library but rather a large green house. She had tried to get rid of his ruddy flowers but more would appear by the time she returned from the large rubbish bin outside the lunch room. He was really trying to annoy her to death, wasn’t he?

The rest of the weeks’ lunches went pretty well, she might even have agreed that she had…fun. Fun? Was that the word to describe it? No, but it was close enough. He had taken her to Wizarding Paris, Glasgow, and even Vienna for their lunches. They spent a majority of their time bickering about their lives, his inability to remember his companions’ names, her lack of real dating, the list went on. They never talked about that night after Harry and Ginny’s wedding, let alone the kiss. Although, Draco did make a point of asking about Crookshanks, who apparently piddled in his shoe the morning Draco left.

Every time Hermione returned back to the office, Draco left her with a small kiss on her hand. Only one time did he try to kiss her but luckily her hand got in the way and they shook hands instead. She wasn’t in denial; she didn’t want to lead the silly Quidditch star on. That was the last thing she wanted to do. Was it?

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It was an early Saturday morning when Hermione rose from her cozy bed and stretched at the sunlight that bathed her room with its yellow rays. She smiled and threw her blankets from her, readying for an eager day. After their last lunch date, Hermione had told Draco that he wouldn’t last a minute in the Muggle world, and, of course, being the stubborn asinine git that he was, he took her up on her challenge. They planned a day in the small Muggle town she lived in, doing things normal Muggles did.

She pulled her front door open and let Crookshanks out to bathe in the warm rays and stood outside marveling at the beginning of the new day. Tying her hair up into a pony tail, Hermione lifted her hands up onto the air and stretched, even her toes stretched separately in her white trainers. She was about to turn to go inside when she heard a faint pop in front of her. A mere inch away, Hermione stumbled back and nearly collided into the door frame.

“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” Hermione said flabbergasted, pulling herself back up to a standing position.

“Not my fault you’re standing right where I Apparated,” Draco replied with a calm shrug, but his smiled at her.

Hermione’s eyes fell over Draco’s attire and she nearly fell out of shock. “I thought I told you to dress in Muggle clothes.”

Draco looked down at his attire and scowled, “This IS Muggle apparel.”

“Casual clothes, Malfoy. You look like you came out of a bleeding magazine!”

“I did get this from a Muggle magazine. What was I supposed to do? Come naked!?” Draco sneered, crossing his arms over his chest, “This is just going to have to do because I spent twenty minutes trying to pull my head through this thing…”

He pointed to the black vest he wore, which was fit perfectly to his body. He wore a white button down shirt inside the vest, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows where his Dark Mark was exposed on his left forearm, a matching tie and black slacks with his usual serpent belt buckle. Although, this was a different belt buckle, it still looked overly priced and too fancy for a normal afternoon. She just knew that she was going to have problems when she was with him. It was bad enough that they had to dodge pesky paparazzi in the wizarding world because of their combined fame, but it would be worse in the Muggle world as he reeked of sex.

She had a feeling he knew exactly how to get under her skin and thus dressed like he was some famous footballer with ruffled, somewhat spiky golden locks and those bright sapphire eyes. Hermione herself wore a crumpled cream skirt with a light blue floral patter, white converse trainers and a light blue plain tank top. She looked like a frumpy house-wife and less like a twenty-five year old wizard.

“You don’t pull your head through it, you button it up. It’s just like wizard robes,” Hermione admonished, shaking her head, “Hold on, let me get my keys.”

She spun around and walked back into the house, not answering when Draco half shouted, “Why do we need keys?”

Hermione returned with her brown purse hanging from her shoulder, a ring of keys twirling around her fingers.

“Your wand,” she held her hand out, raising her eyebrows when Draco looked put off.

“What?” He asked with his mouth open.

“You’re going to catch flies keeping your mouth open like that. Now, give me your wand,” She replied, shaking her hand a little, “Remember, ‘no magic’ it was your idea, not mine.”

“I will not give you my wand, Granger.” Draco said coldly, glaring at her.

“Ok, I’m going back inside then,” Hermione turned with a shrug, “See you later.”

“Wait.” Draco said quietly, grabbing onto her arm and spinning her around, “Fine. Take it. Like I need a wand to do magic if I need to.”

Hermione grasped onto his wand and shoved it into her purse a little roughly, watching Draco eye his wand as if he were worried that it’d get scratched or damaged. She smiled and walked past him, motioning for him to follow.

“Are we walking?” Draco asked, following behind her as she walked around the cottage.

“It’s a ten mile distance from here to the town,” Hermione explained, coming to stand in front of a small car, “So, no. We aren’t going to walk, we’re going to drive.”

Draco looked at her gray car and she could see out of the corner of her eye that his jaw had dropped. He eyed the vehicle suspiciously before turning to Hermione.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” He said in a small voice, “What the hell is that!”

“It’s a car. I’m sure you’ve seen one before.”

“I have but, this is just horrendous…”

Hermione clenched her fist as he insulted her car, a gift she had gotten from her parents when she graduated Hogwarts. Sure it was a little rusty under the bumper, and it had a few dents, missing paint, and the air conditioning didn’t work. She still loved it.

“Well, I could always leave you behind and go to town on my own,” Hermione raised an eyebrow but grinned when Draco looked at her with narrowed eyes.

“You think that this piece of rubbish is going to keep me from showing you how bloody idiotic the Muggle world is,” Draco said proudly, affixing his vest, “You’re wrong. I’m only getting started.”

He walked to one side of the car and pulled on the handle, nearly falling back when the door opened with a wide creak. He looked flustered but Hermione just laughed and got into the driver’s seat. She waited for Draco to sit, his knees crunching up to the dashboard. Looking like a fish in a can, Hermione rolled her eyes and leaned forward, pushing the seat back to give him leg room.

“Seat belt,” she pointed to the one on his left and watched him pull at it with fascination. Back and forth. Back and forth. “Just put it on.”

Draco sneered, “How?” He asked, looking around for somewhere to put it.

Hermione reached over and grabbed onto the strap, pulling it over him and buckling it safely. Draco leaned back in seat and looked around, his hands going to various knobs and buttons. Hermione playfully slapped his hand when it reached her radio and looked at him.

“Don’t touch a girl’s radio, Draco.” She scolded, watching him carefully as he pressed several buttons regardless of her warning.

She shrugged and turned the car on, grinning when the stereo blasted random pop songs, startling the former Death Eater. He looked around to try and turn the music off, but only seemed to make it worse until Hermione intervened and shut the music off.

“Now you believe me?” She asked, smirking smugly when he glared at her.

When Draco didn’t reply, she took it as an affirmative and placed the car in drive. As soon as they left her driveway, she noticed Draco stiffen and grasp onto the handle that hung to the side of the window. His eyes were wide as she turned the corner, only causing her to grin as she stepped on the gas.

“What. The. Bloody. Hell!” Draco shouted as she rounded another winding corner, a little too fast, sending Draco slamming into the door. “Slow the fuck down!”

“I’m not even going that fast,” Hermione noted, looking at her speed as they climbed a little hill, “Stop being a baby.”

“I’m not being a baby,” he replied angrily, “Stop trying to get me killed!”

“You’re not going to get killed,” she swung around another corner, “Drama king.”

“I do remember some one was a little afraid of flying on a broom,” Draco noted, having relaxed just a little although his face was a bit tinged with red, “It doesn’t take books to know how to fly, I bet it does for…whatever it is that we are doing.”

“Driving,” Hermione nodded, “And for your information. I hate heights and I hate brooms. I flew on the back of a dragon if I recall correctly.”

Their banter continued for several more miles before Draco figured out how to roll the window down and spent the rest of the car ride with his head stuck out the window. Hermione had to admit that he reminded her less of a ferret and more like a dog. She cast several sideways glances at the blond man and couldn’t help but smile when he did.