Potential

There was a perfectly good explanation as to why dating came as natural as breathing to Draco: he had had an exemplary upbringing, and courting women was part of the package. Asteria, in his parents' eyes, should have been the feather in his cap; dating her had been easy. However, predictably enough, Granger didn't even begin to compare with the other witches he had gone out with in the past. To put it simply, she didn't play by the rules.

They had gone out on four dates already. Draco would owl her, suggesting a reasonable time when he could swing by and pick her up at her flat; Granger would refuse, claiming they would only waste precious time. Instead she'd write a time and a place to meet at. Upon greeting her, he would peck her almost imperceptibly on the cheek, but she would withdraw almost immediately, diverting his attention to the uncanny chill of the evening or to the latest issue of the Daily Prophet.

Draco had long agreed with himself that if his 'doing things the right way' had been interpreted as doing things her way, so be it. Nonetheless, it was how their outings together always ended that irritated him; this was not the usual he had been planning to achieve with her. Before midnight struck, when he would gentlemanly offer to take her back to her flat, his offer would be politely declined. She was a grown woman, she would tell him, and she didn't need a bodyguard to escort her home.

Well, Merlin be damned he didn't manage to walk her to her door that night.

"Here I am, sorry to have kept you waiting!" she greeted him cheerfully.

Draco smiled pleasantly. "I haven't been here long," he lied.

He put forward his arm, which she took with a playful curtsy, and they started walking down the street.

"So where are we going tonight?" she asked.

"The theatre," he said simply.

It had taken him some effort to plan the evening. It was Valentine's Day and while he couldn't care less about the silly tradition, they had already agreed to go out that Sunday without bothering to check a calendar. Draco had therefore had less than two days to arrange everything, but that was part of the challenge with Granger and he revelled in it.

"Here?" She looked puzzled. "In Soho?"

"Yes."

The challenge tonight was to show her he had truly changed, and seeing as part of her heritage was Muggle, going into Muggle London seemed like a good idea. He was just lucky that the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron was so close by to the city theatre district; they arrived at the playhouse in no time.

Granger was still looking at him warily as he collected the tickets and led her into the hall, but when the lights dimmed she had to put a damper on her doubts to enjoy the performance. Draco was quite pleased with his choice and even more so after stealing a glance at his date to find that, by the end of the second act, she was clutching his arm in sheer excitement; Hamlet had just revealed his plans to catch the conscience of the King and, in Draco's opinion, the play had barely begun.

"I thought that was an interesting adaptation," he said.

He really did. In the four hours they had sat in there, Granger hadn't been the only one enjoying herself.

"Yes," she replied, "yes, it was."

Her voice was subdued and her gaze was downcast; he stopped walking.

"Did you not like it?"

That seemed to rouse her, and she lifted her head with a jerk. She asked him to forgive her, that the play had affected her more than she could have anticipated, and she just needed a moment to process it all. Draco smiled at her and when they started walking again, they were conversing about the actors' performance and the choice of costumes. He went as far as to suggest they might stop by a pub and talk a bit more over drinks, but Granger heard a distant clock chime the hour and dismissed the idea; it was getting late, and they were both working the following morning.

Charing Cross Road was, for the most part, empty and near the Leaky Cauldron, there was no one in sight. They lingered on the sidewalk for a few minutes, their conversation slowly dying; Draco could see Granger's fingers itching to grab her wand and Disapparate away.

"I had a good time tonight," she said.

"Me too," he replied.

She caressed his cheek with a small smile in her eyes. He had learnt to recognise the signs of her departure, and he knew exactly what she would say, how she was going to break it to him that then, like on any other of their dates, she would be taking herself home. In turn he would make a half-hearted attempt at changing her mind, but Granger would huff and be on her way.

He saw her lips move, but the sentence she was supposed to be uttering wasn't in sync with the movement. Draco blinked.

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, leaning closer.

Her smile grew wider. "I said," she began, "take me home, Draco."

Maybe she had been waiting for something, he considered, or perhaps she had still been testing the waters and allowing him to determine when the date ended meant giving him more power than she deemed advisable. He had gone over the details of their outings, but other than her already established desire for control, why couldn't she give him an inch? He was ready to swear he wasn't going to take the rest of her arm, if that was what she was afraid of.

All that thinking and now she was giving him what he wanted. And this time, he hadn't even asked. He grinned at her, hugging her briefly and Apparating them both just outside her flat; he had only seen it once when they had met up not too far from it and he had insisted she'd show him the place. As soon as they arrived, Draco expected her to step back and regain the boundaries, but she surprised him once more by remaining within his reach.

"What changed?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Five dates," she said. "I always wait five dates before I really give the guy a chance."

Draco frowned. "But... I left my..."

She shushed him with a finger. "I know, I know," she told him. "We didn't go about this the conventional way, but now the test is over, you passed," she smiled again as she went on, "with flying colours."

He couldn't help smiling too, and though part of him desperately wanted an invitation to join her in her flat, his manners reined him. He brought both her hands to his lips, softly kissing her knuckles; Granger shivered slightly, but her smile didn't falter.

"Is that how you plan to wish me goodnight?" she teased him.

"What did you have in mind?" he countered. "It's only our fifth date, after all."

"No, it's not only that," she said. "It's Valentine's Day."

Her hands broke free of his grasp and she clasped her arms around his neck, toying with his hair while she locked lips with him and pushed him gently against the door to her flat. Draco thought he liked this unconventional witch, and he deepened the kiss to show her just how much he liked her; his hands stroked the small of her back, and the frustration he had felt waned with the satisfaction of kissing her properly after his previous failed attempts.

When he was the one to withdraw from the kiss first, his first thought was of how to turn that into a regular occurrence.

"Goodnight, Draco," she said breathlessly, cutting into his thoughts.

He pecked her once more on the cheek. "Goodnight, Hermione."

*

Prompt: Goodnight Kiss.