Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, all characters etc belong to J.K. Rowling.**

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That was it. Hermione Jean Granger had reached her limit. After four years of trying to make things work with her fiancé Ron Weasley, it was obvious that things were just never going to change. Four years of Hermione trying and Ron doing nothing other than expecting her to be like his mother. She was sick of picking up after him, of waking him up so he would bother turning up to work and doing every bit of cooking and cleaning. She was the brightest witch of her age, she had envisioned more than this for herself. Yes her work at the ministry was going very well but with wedding plans had come discussions from Ron and Mrs Weasley about 'settling down' in the 'family home'. To Hermione, giving up work to become a full-time house maid was her worst nightmare. Not to mention the obvious expectation for her to become a baby machine within the first year of marriage. This was becoming more and more real and she just couldn't face it.

It was 9:30pm on a Monday night and as usual Ron was at the pub with some of the guys from his work in the Auror Department. Hermione guessed that she had about another hour and a half until he would consider returning home, which gave her plenty of time. She felt terrible about letting him know of her leaving via an empty flat and a note but she really couldn't sit with him and discuss this, mostly because he never behaved like an adult in these situations. She didn't want the shouting or the false accusations of her leaving him for another man.

By 9:45pm Hermione had her bags packed and shrunken down to fit in her jacket pocket, her note for Ron had been written and left upon the kitchen table explaining exactly why she couldn't go through with the marriage they had planned for 4 months' time. She apologised throughout the note, telling him that no, there was no other man, she just had to do this for herself. In the long run it was also better for him, he deserved a woman who truly loved him and wanted all the same things from life that he did too. With a parting line expressing that she hoped that in time they could move on and still be friends, she slipped off her engagement ring and placed it on the table too.

With a final look around the place that she had called home for the past four years, Hermione took a fist full of floo powder, threw it into the fire place and shouted the name of her destination before stepping in and being engulfed by green flames.


	2. Chapter 2

The floo network was never one of Hermiones favourite ways to travel in the wizarding world, yes it was better than brooms but not by much. Falling out of the grate and landing with a dull thud, she quickly picked herself up and dusted herself off, glad that there was no one else here to see such an undignified entrance.

The reason she knew it was empty was because this was her new home, a small flat on the outskirts of London. It was not a common wizarding area and this was one of the reasons she had taken the flat, it was difficult to come by privacy when you were one third of the golden trio, it was only going to be worse when the press found out about the end of her engagement. The muggles didn't know who she was and that's exactly what she wanted. Peace and some time to herself to adjust.

She quickly took out her shrunken items from her pocket, enlarged them and set about putting her things away, always one for being organised she wouldn't be able to sleep until her items were where they were supposed to be. In this flat luckily there weren't many options of where to put things as it was rather short of space. Not that she minded, four years after all the fighting and she was still awfully paranoid and jumpy. She didn't like big open spaces or areas in which people could easily hide. The more she thought about it the more she realised that she really did like this flat.

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The next morning dawned far too quickly for Hermione, by the time she had set up her wards and got herself settled it was well past midnight when she went to bed. Looking at her bed side clock she realised it was 8:45 am. Just as well she had been permitted to work from home after a quick owl to the Minister explaining her situation. Well she thought, might as well go explore the muggle area and grab some breakfast since the cupboards were still empty.

Half an hour later and Hermione was heading out her front door and starting to look about, the local area filled mostly with residential buildings meaning there weren't many options for eating out unless you wanted to travel a little more towards central London. She turned a corner and instantly spotted a small café across the road, complete with outside sign indicating that they served breakfast until 10am. Perfect. She pushed the door open and was greeted by a very friendly man who told her to pick any seat she liked and he'd be along to get her order soon. She decided on a table near the window and sat down, there was only one other gentleman eating alone so the place was hardly crowded. Picking up the menu and having a quick look through she was just beginning to make her choice when she was distracted by a rather quiet "Granger?" It was a voice she easily recognised and had not heard since the trials after the war. It was the voice of one Draco Malfoy.


	3. Chapter 3

**All rights etc. go to J.K Rowling. I own nothing! Please feel free to review, I appreciate all feedback! :)**

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"Ma-Malfoy?" Hermione stuttered.

"The one and only." He smirked. "Long time no see Granger."

Hermione was shocked to say the least, not only was Malfoy in muggle London, eating in a muggle café, but he had chosen to speak to her and so far had refrained from calling her a mudblood. She realised she was still to respond and that she probably looked like a gaping fish with her mouth wide open.

"Yes, yes it has been some time Malfoy. How? I mean, what are you doing here? In a muggle café of all places?" She asked still slightly dumfounded. He laughed quietly at her obvious shock.

"Well Granger, let's just say that you're in my usual territory these days. I prefer muggle areas to the wizarding world, I also just stay around the corner." Malfoy explained. "Shocking, I know."

Hermione again was at a loss for words. Malfoy lived in muggle London? Draco Malfoy? She must be hearing things wrong she thought. Then again, here he was, eating in the muggle café. Point proven really that her hearing was in fact working correctly.

"Are you here yourself Granger? By all means please sit with me, unless you feel uncomfortable that is. I'd understand if that's the case." He asked.

It was obvious to Hermione instantly that this man was not the ignorant bully of a boy that she went to school with. Granted it had been four years since they had last saw each other, let alone talk to one another. Although he may have changed in character he wasn't all that much different in appearance. His blonde hair was still slicked out of his stormy grey eyes in a clearly fashionable way, his clothes subtly hinting at designer origins. Hermione wasn't your typical girl to fawn over good-looking men but even she couldn't deny that he was model worthy material.

"Yes, I am alone, thank you." She replied as she moved to take the seat opposite him at his table. "So….I can't say I've really seen you around or heard about you in the last few years."

"No, I daresay you haven't. I've kept myself to myself very much after the war, it's fair to say the Malfoy name is a disgrace, no thanks to my so-called father." He spat the last part out with venom, it was obvious there was no love lost in that relationship.

"Oh." Was all Hermione could come out with.

What was she supposed to say to that? It was true that Lucius had done nothing but disgrace the once high and mighty name of Malfoy. Malfoy himself obviously sensed her discomfort, he flashed her his trademark smirk.

"Don't worry about it Granger, I'm over it. So what brings you here? And without weasel-bee at that." He asked.

Hermione could feel her temper flare slightly at those words, she was not attached to Ron like his property.

"Ron isn't my keeper and if you must know we're taking a break!" She snapped. She may have lied a little since it was more a separation than a break but this was her long time enemy she was talking to, it wasn't really any of his business. Reformed character or not.

Draco understood that he had crossed some invisible line and quickly backtracked. "I'm sorry Granger I didn't mean any offence. I'm also sorry to hear things haven't worked out between you and the weasel."

"I never said we weren't working out Malfoy-"

"You didn't need to Granger, I can tell from the way you skirted around it and didn't defend him with my name calling. Like I said, I'm sorry to hear it." Draco interrupted.

"Yes, well. I'd rather not discuss it now Malfoy. I've just moved to this area myself recently, I'm here because I wanted some breakfast and that's about as much as I'd like to get into that topic at present if you don't mind." Hermione finalised.

It was obviously a sore point and he really had no intentions of upsetting her. He may have been an obnoxious twit five years ago but the war had certainly made everyone grow up. Some more so than others and after having a madman living in his house for the majority of the war Draco felt he indeed was slightly more mature than the average 21-year-old. Intending to change the subject he turned to her and enquired about her current working circumstances. After all he genuinely had no clue, he didn't keep up to date with the wizarding newspapers, in fact he barely spoke to any witches or wizards at all these days either.

It turned out she was working for the Department of magical creatures. He wasn't entirely surprised, he remembered vaguely her campaign at Hogwarts for the house elves S.P.U.D or something along those lines he thought? He in turn explained that he owned his own potions lab that dealt via owl order only, no one really knew that 'Potion Potential' was owned and run singlehandedly by himself, otherwise he had a feeling no one would buy from him, the ex-death eater.

It was odd, thought Hermione that she was sitting here, having breakfast and a pleasant conversation with Draco Malfoy. The blood supremacist prick. On more than one occasion she had to remind herself that this was not the same boy. Yes he had already countered her on some views on magical creatures rights but really, it would just have been completely bizarre to not of had some sort of confrontation with him.

They continued their conversation for some time, discussing many topics. Both glad of the refreshing company and a decent conversation. Possibly also that they found one another aesthetically pleasing, not that either one would ever admit it.


End file.

Harry Potter, Friendship, Romance