Lucius looked up at the sound of someone approaching. He quickly stood up so that he could pull out the chair for his date. Yes, The Cauldron had its own waiting staff that pulled out chair for guests, but he wanted it to be himself. He surreptitiously shook his head at someone trying to approach, then turned and smiled at the girl.

"Did you wait? I'm sorry if I'm late."

"No, Hermione, you are not late at all," Lucius replied smoothly as he sat himself down opposite her as well. "I'm just early."

"Oh."

There was a moment of silence, then: "I'm sorry if I were rude at the cottage. I did not realize that you and Severus were on such good terms. I suppose if I am being honest, I was surprised and a bit jealous."

Hermione met his eyes. "Thank you for the honesty, but I am not sure that you have any need to be jealous. Severus definitely likes you more than he likes me, and I am in no way of usurping your spot as best friend of the century with him," she sniffed.

"As amusing as your assumptions are, I was more jealous of his spending time with you, rather than the other way around."

"Oh," she said, and she looked away from his eyes and to the menu. She cleared her throat as she felt her cheeks heating up. "I haven't been to The Cauldron in ages. It seems their menu has changed a bit, any recommendation?"

"I was here with Narcissa last week and she enjoyed the foie gras."

"Narcissa? I didn't know you were on good terms," she said. She licked her lips. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you divorce? I know that this isn't the typical second date question, and feel free to decline to answer if you don't feel comfortable, I just felt that since you were honest with me from the beginning about the jealousy—" Hermione shut herself up. Why was she blabbering and talking nonsense? Was she… nervous?

"No, no. I don't mind saying. Narcissa and I split amicably after the Lordship of the Malfoy lineage transferred to Draco. Our partnership naturally came to an end after the War; we had disagreed on too many important aspects. We three meet as a family when we can, though, of course, Narcissa and I are no longer in love. We still are inextricably linked by the fact that we are Draco's parents," he said gently. "Though, sometimes she does bring her partner along. I hope that after our ten days that you might accompany me."

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. She smiled prettily. "That is definitely in the realm of possibility."

"Isn't he a bit old for you?"

Hermione shook her head, "Harry that's a very, shall we say, non-magical way of thinking. Think of how old Dumbledore lived, think of how old McGonagal lived. Wizards and witches live much longer than non-magical people. It really isn't much when you consider our lifespan."

"I still don't like it," Harry replied. Ginny lightly smacked him. "What? If I don't like it, then I don't like it." Ginny rolled her eyes at him and then looked to Hermione.

"It doesn't matter though, as long as the two people involved like each other, then we don't have too much of a say, right?" asked Ginny. Harry nodded slowly, and then he turned to Hermione.

"Well, do you like him?"

When Hermione opened the box that came with the beautiful Abyssinian Long-eared owl, she gasped. In the box was a pool of cloth, beautiful, luxurious, and expensive-looking.

She picked up the shimmery, silk dress. The garnet hue of the dress was fierce, yet the shimmer of the silk softened the overall look. She held it up to her chest. Relatively conservative dress robes, she thought. The owl hooted softly, as if to approve of the dress. She picked up the attached parchment that fell out of the box.

"I hope you like the dress. As we are alreadysupposed to dress in house colors for the Reunion Ball, I took the liberty of providing for you. The dress robes are already tailored to fir you in particular. I cannot meet you today, but I still wanted to remain in your thoughts.

Ever yours,

L. A. Malfoy."