Why not her?

The next morning Draco stepped off the edge of the stairs quietly as he looped his tie around his neck, his waistcoat unbuttoned still. He was surprised to see Hermione already downstairs and drinking a cup of coffee with a copy of the morning's Daily Prophet in her hands.

He watched her sniff indignantly and toss the offending paper on the kitchen table where she was seated.

"Morning," she grumbled when she saw him approaching. "Bitsy left toast and coffee."

"Morning," he nodded as he fumbled with his tie.

He was a bit too distracted by her blouse this morning to take notice of her tone. A silky, blue long-sleeved blouse unbuttoned just enough to give him a tasteful glimpse of her cleavage. Merlin, help him.

Hermione looked up and her forehead wrinkled as she watched him fumble with the tie, accomplishing nothing.

"Draco," she laughed, "do you always have that much trouble?"

"Hmm?" He looked down but by the time he lifted his head she was in front of him, swatting his hands away.

"Men. You'd think you could efficiently tie these. We only spent seven years at Hogwarts wearing one every day."

"Sorry," he mumbled confusedly. Had she really just gotten up to tie it for him? "My mind was elsewhere. How'd you sleep?" He tried to focus as he watched her slender fingers knot his tie and pull it to his neck with irritating ease.

"Like a baby," she smiled before taking her seat at the table again. "Thank you again."

"Good," he nodded and poured himself a cup of coffee. "I'm glad it helped. I wasn't sure if it would."

"It was very thoughtful of you. I appreciate it." It was still too early in the day for her to analyze how much she'd enjoyed his hands rubbing the cream into her back so a change of topic was in order. "We've made the Daily Prophet again."

Draco rolled his grey eyes and reached for the rubbish paper. "How am I not surprised? I don't know how you and Potter manage considering all of the lingering attention post-war. And what has our favorite gossip said now?"

…our newly wedded couple was spotted shopping in Diagon Alley the very next morning looking quite cozy. Dear readers, I do believe these two could be the real deal. Perhaps the Ministry of Magic may just be on to something with their matching-making techniques. My sources inform me that the youngest Mr. Malfoy invested in two new pieces of furniture for his gorgeous muggle-born wife. Perhaps he intends to use the Malfoy riches to spoil her in hopes of her falling in love with him. Seems he may be successful after all as our lovely couple was spotted next shopping for books at Flourish and Blotts. Let's not forget Miss Granger…or Mrs. Granger-Malfoy as I've been informed…is a lover of knowledge. Witnesses say they were reveling in each other's attention, leaving with no less than two large bundles of books to sate the appetite of the former Gryffindor.

No word yet on what Narcissa Malfoy's opinions are on this lovely couple. I've reached out to my sources and surely we should hear something soon. It's unlikely that she won't have something to say on the ministry's interferences in her only son's life…

Draco tossed the paper back on the table and drained his cup. "Rubbish. She only got two things right. Everything else was obviously embellished."

Amused, Hermione asked, "What two things?"

He turned his back as he set his mug in the sink and began to button his waistcoat so he could slip his robes on for work. "You're muggle-born and you're gorgeous." He didn't wait for her reaction to his sudden compliment and reached for his briefcase. "See you later."

Hermione sat there in shock and finally closed her gaping mouth when she heard him take the floo to the Ministry. She licked her lips and shook her head before setting her own mug in the sink.

Not once in her entire time knowing Draco Malfoy had he ever complimented her appearance. Granted, she hadn't put as much thought into her looks in school as she did as an adult but he'd only ever made her certain that he thought she resembled a 'buck-toothed beaver'.

In fairness, she hadn't been seriously attracted to him in school either. He'd been too thin and it'd made his features appear too sharp. He'd changed, too, filling out with what she suspected was mostly hard muscle and he'd grown to tower over her.

Not totally convinced, she shook her head and stood to gather her own belongings for work. Perhaps he was just being kind and giving her the kind of platonic compliments that Harry gave her all the time.

The main Ministry lobby was still quiet when she emerged from the floos. She dusted off her robes and made for the lifts across from the fountain. Hannah Abbott stepped in alongside her to head up to her office in the Committee of Experimental Charms.

"Morning, Hermione," she smiled.

"Good morning, Hannah," she smiled in return. "I got an owl from Neville the other day. Seems you got lucky and were matched together."

The blonde woman's smile grew larger. "Very lucky! While marriage wasn't exactly our priority before we were happy to have gotten each other. Must have been meant to be." She paused as the door slid open and some charmed notes for different floors flew inside. "I heard you and Draco Malfoy had been matched," she added hesitantly.

Hermione nodded and bit the edge of her lip. She was in a great mood but that didn't mean she was up to defending Draco again. She was still fending off curious co-workers who wanted to know how things were going. Had he mistreated her? (No. Of course not.) Was he still a git? (Depends. He hadn't been to her.) How was he in bed? (Brave question which she'd politely ignored from the rather nosey witch who'd asked it.)

Hannah seemed to ignore her pause and continued. "I know you didn't get along at Hogwarts but I can kind of see why they matched you two."

Hermione faced her with curious expression. "You can?"

She nodded, smiling again. "You were both always at the top of our class. He couldn't ever best you of course but he was always close behind. I don't know him very well these days but from what I've experienced when we've all gotten together at Harry and Ginny's or at work, he's a lot nicer than he used to be. I imagine you'd both have a lot to talk about. He's not bad to look at either."

Hermione turned back to face the lift doors with a small smile. "Thank you, Hannah."

"Whatever for," she laughed, "being honest?"

"Exactly."

The lift dinged and Hannah moved towards the door. "I imagine you've gotten a lot of people being very rude about your match. Have faith, Hermione. Legilimency is very powerful. I doubt they'll make many mistakes. Any match that doesn't work will likely be because of stubbornness."

Words she needed to hear.

Draco's experiences hadn't been too different. Granted, most people weren't as forthcoming with their inquiries to him. He now had a way of staring them down that made them uncomfortable. Though he was getting a bit sick of the glares. He couldn't tell anymore if it was jealousy or just pure hatred. Not that it mattered anyway.

Needless to say, he wasn't doing very well with ignoring it anymore.

"Malfoy," Harry knocked on his open door.

"Potter," he lifted a questioning eyebrow without looking up from his report.

"Still a git then," someone muttered.

Draco lifted his head at that comment and met Seamus Finnegan's gaze. "Finnigan," he greeted coldly.

Harry rolled his eyes and lifted a hand to adjust his glasses. "Don't get started you two. Draco, Seamus is being transferred from the Improper Use of Magic Office to the Aurors Office. With Jenkins and Yats retiring last month, we had two openings to fill."

"Brilliant," he replied dryly. He'd never been overly fond of the Irishman. He tended to have a hot head like Weasley and was always speaking before he thought anything through.

"He's in training with Pinsley right now but he'll join us full time next month and he'll take Yats' old office next to yours."

Draco nodded his understanding and glanced back at his report. "Anything else?"

"Not right now. I'll meet you for lunch in the cafeteria in twenty minutes."

He put his quill back to his report and began scratching out his notes from his investigation the day before. He was sick of having to write up and arrest former death eaters for harboring dark artifacts. Why it was so bloody hard to let go of the past, he just didn't understand.

He'd caught a relative of Theodore Nott's harboring banned books on the dark arts. Some of the vilest shit he'd seen in a while. There'd even been one called How to Train Your Mudblood Slave. The only thing stopping him from casting an incendio spell on the filth had been the fact that it was enough evidence to lock the man up for years. He didn't want anyone like that free and capable of wreaking havoc.

Draco finished the report and turned it in on his way to the ministry cafeteria. It was already buzzing with noise when he claimed a table near the few windows facing the ministry lobby.

"Thanks for behaving yourself with Seamus," Harry grinned as he took a seat across from him.

He shrugged and bit into his sandwich. "You know I don't take anyone's bait much anymore. Finnigan always liked to bait people."

Harry grimaced as he settled into his own lunch. "He's always been a bit hotheaded but he's good at heart."

"A little hotheaded? He could give Weasley a run for his money and you know it. I hope he tamps that down if he's going to be an auror."

"He will or he won't get the position. You know I don't play favorites, Malfoy, or I never would have given you a chance when they partnered you with me for your training."

Draco looked up, alarmed. "You're not going to partner him with me for training, are you?"

Harry smirked and waggled his eyebrows. "Never crossed my mind."

"You git, you…"

"You men have it easy," Hermione grumped as she took a seat next to Harry at the table with her lunch.

Draco and Harry exchanged a confused look and turned towards her curiously.

"Care to elaborate," Harry grinned. "Because according to Ginny, it's quite a list. We're not expected to wear makeup, or heels, and no menstrual cycles…I could name more."

Hermione bit her lip at the awkward look on Draco's face and shook her head. "I only meant, Harry, that it's a pain in the ass to get your ministry ID updated. I spent a half hour just waiting on the bloody thing."

She set her ID on the table between them, her moving picture smiling up at them.

"Why'd you need a new one anyway," Harry asked as he reached for his sandwich again.

"You have up to a month to get it updated when your name changes."

"Ahh, so it's his fault then," he gestured towards Draco.

"Precisely," she agreed with a laugh.

He glowered at them both and bit into his sandwich. "See if I ever help the two of you with anything else again," he muttered to himself.

"Sleep better then," Harry asked.

Hermione glared across the table at her husband before turning her irritation on her best friend. "I figured you were involved in that."

"Perhaps you shouldn't lie to your best friends about something so serious," Harry admonished before Draco could say anything. "Ginny was fairly irritated to find out you were still having trouble and lied to us about it."

"Isn't there something else we can discuss," she snapped.

"Sure, there's a match of quidditch again this weekend. You in, Malfoy?"

"Boys," Hermione groaned to herself.

She ate her lunch as quickly as possible and then stood to excuse herself. "Neither of you be late to the Ministry meeting. They're docking pay for anyone missing."

Harry groaned and nodded. He was thankful in some ways that he was only head of his office and not department head or then he'd have to sit on stage with the rest of the poor lot like Hermione.

He turned back to Draco in time to watch his as he eyed his best friend's behind as she walked away.

"Merlin, you're pathetic," Harry rolled his eyes.

After gathering the whole office, they all filed into the Ministry auditorium, five rows from the front. Draco found himself wedged between Harry on one side and Cormac McLaggen on the other. He folded his arms grumpily as studied the department heads on stage until he spotted his wife.

The corner of his mouth tipped up when he spotted her sitting two seats over from Kingsley. She might be a good head shorter than him but she had lovely long legs. She sat there with them crossed demurely, her eyes studying the papers in her lap.

"Sweet Godric, your wife is delicious, Malfoy," McLaggen grinned lasciviously as he eyed her.

Draco's eyes narrowed as he turned his head to glare at his co-worker. "Keep your eyes in their sockets, McLaggen. She's married to me."

The wizard chuckled openly and shook his head. "No one expects the two of you to stay together, mate. You don't have to pretend or anything."

Harry nudged the blonde with his elbow and just shook his head. Ignore him, he seemed to be saying.

"Sleaze," Draco muttered under his breath.

He watched as Hermione bit her lower lip, obviously deep in thought, until she looked up suddenly. They locked eyes and oddly, she blushed before diverting her gaze to where Kingsley was standing to speak.

He turned his head slightly and saw McLaggen licking his lips in her general direction.

Draco elbowed the wizard harshly in the gut. "Shove off, McLaggen. You're making her uncomfortable. Whether we stay together or not, she's still my wife for now."

Cormac rubbed his stomach and shifted away from him. "Bloody hell," he muttered.

~o~O~o~

"Bloody hell," Hermione groaned and rested her forehead against her folded arms on the table.

Ginny merely grinned knowingly and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Well, sounds like you have to pay up then. I think that's 500 galleons to me, thank you very much. Most expensive bet I've ever made but I knew I'd win."

She lifted her head and shot her friend a sharp glare. "Just because he eyed me up a couple of times and agreed with the article's wording doesn't mean he wants me like that. You're being ridiculous."

"No, you're being ridiculous, Hermione. Why is it so hard to believe after getting to know him a little better now that Draco Malfoy might be attracted to you?"

Hermione sighed and sat back in her chair. It rained two nights in a row this week and Draco had dutifully rubbed the starlight cream into her back a second time. She'd have been lying if she said it hadn't worked. She'd slept like a baby pygmy puff both nights and woke feeling more refreshed than she had in months.

She was glad though when the weather passed by the weekend. Harry and Draco went to play quidditch with some of the guys from work which left her and Ginny to fend for themselves Saturday.

Ginny hadn't been invited. Apparently, it was unfair to have a professional on your team and not be evenly matched.

It was Ginny who'd suggested lunch in muggle London to keep the prying eyes of the Daily Prophet off of Hermione. It was obvious they were quite fascinated by her and Draco's match.

"It's hard to believe because no one generally is. I'm not the sort that men fall all over and never have been," she shrugged indifferently.

The redhead's eyes bulged in shock at that. "Surely, you don't believe that." She shook her head in disbelief. "Harry's right. You really are oblivious at work then."

"What are you on about," she asked before taking another bite of her sandwich. The bistro where they were having lunch was quiet this late in the afternoon and the weather was lovely. Such a nice break from the bad weather they'd had.

"Hermione, the men at the ministry are always eyeing you according to Harry. He's told me many times he's had to withhold the urge to hex a few of the more lecherous ones staring." She looked at her more seriously. "You're not the bushy-haired eleven year-old you were when you started Hogwarts, Hermione. Men want you. Malfoy included. They've all just been too stupidly intimidated by you to do anything about it."

Hermione shook her head, still not believing it but ready to push away from the topic altogether. "Whatever you say, Ginny."

"I do say but let's push the subject aside to something more interesting. Are you attracted to him? And don't try and lie. This is me you're talking to and you have nothing to hide."

She shrugged at her friend. She was a little too afraid of the consequences to voice her thoughts. One sided attraction had never really done her any good in the past.

"He's handsome enough."

Ginny scoffed at that and took the plate away as she was about to take another bite. "Handsome enough? I know just by that guarded expression that you're not being totally honest. Spill and I'll let you eat in peace."

Hermione glared at her. "You're infuriating sometimes, you know that? Fine. He's bloody sexy in those stupid trim suits he no doubt has tailored just for him. And maybe he's softened my opinion of him a bit with how accommodating he's been. I'm making friend with him. Isn't that enough?" She huffed and crossed her arms, "Again though, Ginny, he's not interested in making a move and honestly I don't know if I could handle it if he were. "

"And why the hell not?"

"Because…he was there when it happened. He watched."

Suddenly the lightness of the conversation faded and air thickened between them. Ginny set the plate down again but she wasn't quite done. She knew her friend well. This needed to get out.

"What do you mean," she asked quietly.

Hermione didn't meet her eyes and instead stared at the half eaten sandwich on her plate. "When Bellatrix cast the cruciatus on me, he was there. I could feel him watching while she tortured me."

After a pause in which Ginny carefully considered her next words, she finally asked, "And you're angry with him still for not doing anything?"

Brown eyes snapped up so fast her friend flinched. "No. Quite the opposite. Had Draco protested, she likely would have killed me without another thought if she thought he cared even a fraction what happened to me. Even if it wasn't really me he cared about." She paused to shake her head and folded her hands in her lap. "I know he was scared of what was happening. I could see it in his eyes that night. What I can't stand is that he saw me at my weakest moment in my entire life. My screams, begging her to stop—everything. It was beyond mortifying. As if he needed one more reason to think less of me."

Ginny looked utterly dumbfounded. "Hermione, I hope you don't think that's what he sees when he looks at you. That his attraction to you is driven by guilt. I don't interact with him quite as much as Harry does but I do enough to know that's not the case." She watched her friend's eyes darken a fraction. "I think if anything he admires you."

Admiration wasn't exactly what Hermione had wanted in a marriage. She'd always wanted love. Someone who made her feel beautiful even when she didn't. Someone who turned her on so madly that they could unlock that secret part of her that she always hid away.

He hadn't been her choice. He'd been the Ministry's choice for her. Being attracted to Draco could only complicate things. They were becoming friends. Wasn't that enough? Never in her life would she have imagined she'd be friends with her childhood enemy.

But then she'd never imagined he'd develop friendships with her closest friends either. And that was exactly what had happened over the last seven years. It had started with Harry in the auror's office and just snowballed outside of that. She hadn't participated. Her feelings towards him too muddled by their negative interactions of the past and that night in his parents' home.

"One last question and we can move on to doing something else."

Hermione rolled her eyes but offered a friendly smile. She didn't want her friend to think she was upset with her.

"Hypothetically, have your feelings changed in regards to staying married to him after the year is up? Do you still want to be rematched?"

"That's two questions technically." She dodged the napkin Ginny tossed at her and laughed. "The answer is that I don't know, Ginny. We'd have to consummate it to stay married and I don't know if I see that happening."

Feeling bad about dredging up negative memories, Ginny insisted on taking Hermione around London to do the 'museum tour' she always waxed and waned about. The poor redhead had been lost half of the time. What with not being so familiar with muggle history but it had perked her friend right up just as she'd hoped. They ended it with a quick trip to the sweet shop in Diagon Alley to both indulge in their favorite chocolates before making their way back to Hermione and Draco's.

They were laughing together as the flames of the floo died down. They stepped out and found their respective husbands gathered around the kitchen table with a couple of butterbeers between them and still disheveled in their quidditch robes.

Hermione watched with slight discomfort, maybe even jealousy, as Ginny kissed Harry hello. She glanced at Draco but he, too, seemed to be watching them uncomfortably.

"So who won," Ginny asked, "Without any help from me, mind you."

Draco smirked at Harry's expression.

"Stupid Malfoy and those rubbish idiots from the Experimental Charms department."

Draco grinned wider when his wife laughed at her best friend. That laugh was like music to his ears. Maybe he should beat the piss out of Potter on the quidditch field more often.

"Next time I want in," Ginny protested. She patted Harry's shoulder. "We should go and let your ego heal."

Harry chugged the remainder of his drink and stood. "Don't get cocky, Malfoy. I don't intend to lose again next time."

"Don't count on it," Draco muttered with a smirk.

They said their goodbyes and left via the floo.

"Have a good time with Ginny," he asked as Hermione took a seat next to him and set her shopping bags down.

A content smile formed on her face as she opened her box of chocolates. "I did actually. It was a nice change of pace." She popped a chocolate morsel in her mouth and sighed as it melted.

Per usual, she was oblivious to Draco's stare. He'd come to the conclusion that Harry and Ginny already had which was she clearly didn't understand the effect she had on men, particularly him.

"So your weaknesses are books and now sweets?"

Hermione licked her lips and contemplated something to drink as she considered his question. "And shoes," she admitted.

A pale eyebrow lifted at that answer. He also seemed to read her mind and slid the remainder of his butterbeer to her to wash down the chocolate.

She stared at it for a moment. Sharing his drink, drinking after him, seemed intimate to her. She didn't even drink after Harry or Ron and she'd known them practically most of her life.

"Thanks," she muttered and took a tentative sip. It was stupid to think she'd be able to taste him on the lip of the bottle anyway.

"Hermione Granger has a love for shoes," he continued the previous thought. "Now that is unexpected."

She shrugged and took another chocolate. "Everyone always seems to think they know everything about me. Bookish Hermione loves nothing but her books and parchment," she spoke in a mocking tone.

Draco shrugged and looked truly sympathetic. "Sorry. I guess I just remember you always wearing the same things in school." And he would know. He'd watched her enough.

"I doubt you took time to notice my shoes but you're right on that count though. After graduating I guess I just enjoyed the freedom to wear what I wanted for once."

Without really thinking about it, she nudged her box of chocolate towards him suggestively. A smirk lit his features and he nodded his thanks as he took one.

"Books, sweets, and shoes," he nodded to himself. "I'll keep a mental note of that."

"And what about you, Draco? What are your weaknesses?"

Her conversation with Ginny earlier was still plaguing her but he was sitting there relaxed and open. It was difficult to deny the urge to delve deeper into what made him tick. Her mind has always been scientific anyway.

He bit his full lower lip as he studied her for a moment. This was the first full conversation they'd had in a while beyond basic dinner conversation. He didn't count their lunches with Harry at the ministry either.

"Promise you won't laugh?"

She lifted a thin eyebrow in question and bit into another chocolate.

"Chocolates and those scented muggle candles."

Hermione nearly choked and quickly sipped the drink they were sharing. "Muggle candles? Wherever would you have found those?"

He chuckled lowly and accepted another chocolate. "Potter thought it would be funny a couple of Christmases ago to get me one as a joke. I think I'd made some taunt insulting his masculinity or something. Joke was on him though. I liked the damn thing. It had a sort of floral scent. Always reminded me of someone."

She blinked a few times to regain her composure. "Full of surprises, aren't you? You never did tell me how you came to have a microwave."

Draco sat back and crossed a leg over his knee. His quidditch robes parted enough to show the jersey stretched taut over his chest. Quidditch had never been a huge interest to Hermione but she found herself oddly fascinated with the sport at the moment.

He noticed how her eyes darted away from his face, even if only for a moment, and the corner of his mouth tugged. She'd just checked him out.

He cleared his throat. "Another Potter suggestion actually but I find I quite like the odd contraption."

"You bought it yourself?"

He grinned, "Exchanged money at Gringotts and walked right into muggle London all by myself."

She blinked a few times as the information sunk in. "Bloody hell, Draco. I'm impressed."

"As I've said before, I've let go of a lot of idiotic principles, Hermione. Though the idea of not having magic gives me hives, muggles aren't all bad. After all, two of them got together and had you."

Hermione's cheeks burned with a fresh rush of blood to the surface. That was certainly a blatant compliment. Even she couldn't deny that.

Draco noted her blush and felt his heart flutter stupidly. He could still hear Harry's words in his head.

Why don't you ask her out on a date, Malfoy? What do you have to lose? And if this bloody marriage ends a year from now and you didn't even try then you'll only have yourself to blame.

He sat up and leaned his elbows on the table. "Would you…I mean," he took a deep breath and dove in, "Do you want to have dinner out tonight?"

Well that surely didn't come out right. He'd meant to use the word 'date'.

Her brown eyes widened while her heart beat a harsh rhythm in the confines of her chest. Must be something in the water today, she decided. He didn't say the word date but it sure sounded like one.

"Um, sure. Probably a good idea to give Bitsy the night off." She paused for a moment. "You do know that I can cook on my own though, right?"

Draco couldn't help but laugh at her indignant expression. "So can I but she likes to do it so I stopped fighting her on the issue." He stood from the table and stole one last chocolate. "I'm going to go shower and change. I'll meet you down stairs in about an hour."

Hermione watched his retreating form and caught herself wishing his quidditch robes weren't hiding his rear.

"Damn it, Ginny," she muttered irritably. She'd gotten into her head for sure.

She collected her box of chocolates and went to change as well.

Hermione Granger had never been one to spend ridiculous amounts of time deciding on an outfit. Now, however, she found herself changing pants after pants, shirts, and dresses.

Not a date, she kept telling herself. Not a date.

She alternated between this mantra and cursing Ginny for getting into her head.

She settled on black jeans and a fitted grey sweater to stay casual. She refused to let this get this best of her.

Draco was waiting at the landing of the stairs dressed in another pair of straight-leg khakis and a long-sleeved green t-shirt.

"I think I like you better in black," she spoke before she could stop herself.

He lifted a pale, arrogant eyebrow and nodded. "This is the only green garment I own if it helps."

He'd subconsciously been distancing himself over the years from anything that reminded him of his past and the hatred he'd condoned.

He was holding a hand out to her as she approached the bottom. She slowly placed hers in it and warmed when she felt his much larger hand wrap securely around her own. She had to fight the urge to use her other hand to fan herself as a wave of heat washed over her.

She's just made me hyper aware, that's all, she reasoned.

"Where are we going?"

"I thought I'd let you choose."

"Anywhere," she asked hesitantly as she allowed him to pull her towards the floo.

"Anywhere."

"There's a sushi place I love in muggle London but I understand if—"

"Lead the way, Hermione."

They ignored the stares they received as they left the Leaky Cauldron, hand-in-hand.

Draco felt light and free for once. He had no idea what possessed him to finally make a move but he knew that tonight would be the night. Forget everyone at work who glared at him for getting her as his match. Forget everyone who still looked down on him for his past mistakes. Forget bloody Cormac McLaggen and his leering self.

He would likely never forgive himself for his past. But he had many things in life that he didn't deserve. Why not her?