alternate

Start.

A little edit, señor.

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"Miss me,Granger?"

Dumfounded. Stunned.

No words for what Hermione was feeling right now.

"Granger?... You have some nerve, Malfoy to come waltzing up to my house and call me by name."

"I thought after all that happened that day... A surname wouldn't hurt. And besides this is a muggle colony. You are staying at a muggle house with your muggle parents.",He said counting his arguments on his fingers.

"With all that in mind, I would like to conclude that no one around here would give a damn dragon dung about you being the Minister of Magic."

"Don't push it, Malfoy. Those funds from gringotts can find its way back just how it came!",Huffed the minister.

"No need to get feisty, Minister",sneered Draco.

"And Why don't you go by Weasley. Since your married to the daft idiot anyway."

Hermione, now positively fuming, was about shut the door on his face.
"Watch your mouth, Malfoy. I have no obligation to answer that anyway.
Not that its your business to start with."

Draco's strong hands stopped the door from closing possibly making a small crack in it.

"Your right, Minister. Not my business. But if you forgot I'd like to refresh your memory, we do indeed have unfinished business."

Hermione face hardened.

She looked away.

Draco sensed the fear.

His eyes softened.

"I didn't know that the war heroine got scared so easily.",
Draco said a bit teasingly.

"I didn't have so much to lose before. But now...",Hermione said as she looked somewhat distant.

Draco fisted his hands.

"So do I....."

Hermione looked and saw something that she didn't expect.

It wasn't just one thing.
It was mixture.
A mixture of stagnant regret,
forgotten innocence,
immortal grief
with a slight shade genuine sadness.

"You would almost pass for normal human now...Almost."

Draco looked up with surprised eyes.

She easily got lost in them.

Why didn't I ever see this side of him.
If I did, things would be so different now.

"I know, my charm has grown over the years, but not so much so as to please the eyes of the Minister of Magic." Draco said with that amused tone of his.

Is that a little blush I see? She thought.
She smiled.

"Get off your high horse, Malfoy. You might fall and get hurt pretty badly." She said with a cheeky glint.