Life after Hogwarts - A Hermione & Draco x Dramione Story

Chapter One

Note: Some parts are written in italic, these are flashbacks. (There will be more flashbacks troughout this story.)

Enjoy!

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"Honestly, Harry, I can just apparate."

"And risk getting splinched? Hermione, you've been on a plane for nearly 12 hours. Besides, I already have someone there waiting to pick you up. If I could shove this case off on someone else I would - you know I would."

Hermione held her muggle cell phone to her ear with her shoulder as she collected her passport from the customs officer and threw her travel tote over her other shoulder. "Who did you send?" An awkward silence fell on the line between them. She'd spent the last four years in New York, working in Wizard Manhattan on the restoration and recreation of the largest American wizard library after it was devastated in a horrific, albeit accidental fire. As much as Hermione fell in love with both Wizard and Muggle Manhattan, London was her home, and she was ready to be back. She was not, however, in the mood for games as the silence over the line continued. She was tired, she was hungry, and she wanted an answer.

"Harry..." she said in her warning tone.

"'Mione..." Harry mimicked her tone. "It's not like I sent anyone dangerous."

"Do I know him?" She asked as she stepped on the step taking her down the escalator.

"Yes."

"It better not be Ronald."

"Blimey, Hermione," Harry scoffed. "I'm not completely daft."

Stepping off the escalator, she walked towards her luggage claim. She stopped as soon as she started walking. It didn't matter what the man was wearing. Muggle attire, his regular dreary black wardrobe - the platinum blond hair would have been recognizable from the moon. Already around him were her pink and black checkered print luggage pieces on a rolling cart. "Harry James Potter, please tell me I don't see Draco Malfoy standing fifteen feet in front of me."

"You do - and before you go completely mental - well, don't. He's become a good friend of mine while you've been away, and he really has changed. When I asked him to help me out, he was more than willing. He's making amends, if you will."

She rolled her eyes. "As much as I'd like to participate in the Draco Malfoy apology tour - "

"Hermione. He's really trying to change. It couldn't have been easy, growing up in that house. I'm not saying what he did is forgettable, but it is forgivable. He's not the same git he used to be. He offered to help, and I took him up on it. Besides – do you honestly think I would have sent him to fetch you if I thought you would have wound up dead in the Forbidden Forest?"

She ground her teeth together. "No."

"Right then. Off you go. And be nice - I'll see you tonight at dinner. The kids are over the moon excited to see you. Ginny too."

"Fine," she grumbled. Not bothering to say good-bye, she hung up the phone before shoving it in the back pocket of her jeans. With a deep breath in, she exhaled slowly as she made her way towards her former childhood nemesis. Tapping him on the shoulder, he spun around, and she was taken aback at what she saw. He wasn't the stone faced teen who habitually clenched his jaw. His face was softer, his hair no longer greased back like a helmet. "I believe you're looking for me."

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Draco Malfoy would have been lying if he said he wasn't nervous. After all, he was picking up Hermione Granger. He had a fifty-fifty chance of being hexed, punched, or both when she realized what Harry had done. Now that he thought about it - there was a fifty-fifty chance of him receiving bodily harm because of Harry Potter. He should have thought this through a bit more.