A/N: Written for the "I Solemnly Swear" fest. Required use of "I solemnly swear" and the theme of New Year's resolutions.
Draco Malfoy was one of Hermione's closest friends.
It surprised everyone when Malfoy converted to the New Ways, but without the notion of blood purity between them, Draco and Hermione had a lot in common. Hermione was a Healer-in-Charge at St. Mungo's and Draco was a "consulting alchemist." When Hermione asked him what that meant, he said,
"It means no one wants me to touch them until they realize I am the only person on the planet who can cure them."
St. Mungo's wouldn't officially hire him for fear it would frighten many of their patients away. At first Hermione thought it was proper retribution, but what good was it doing? People were dying because they were afraid of him? So Hermione became his official partner at St. Mungo's. They both rejected the term "supervisor," Draco because he was tired of Hermione beating him at everything and Hermione because she didn't want to own his mistakes. Over the past five years they had healed seemingly incurable patients from Sweden to Albania.
They were a team in the hospital, and over time they became a team outside the hospital as well. Witch Weekly tried to make every outing into a date, which it wasn't. It was New Year's Eve, 2009, when things changed. They were at a party in some London pub, half of St. Mungo's was there along with a good portion of their Hogwarts classmates. The Dirigible Scums were performing, if you could call it that. Their music sounded like a guitar met the business end of a Blast-ended Skrewt.
The countdown began …
10 …
9 …
8 …
7 …
Draco leaned back with his elbows on the bar, so his face was only centimetres away from Hermione's. He looked really good that night, dressed in a light blue jumper that was so soft Hermione kept making excuses to touch it.
6 …
5 …
Hermione turned to look at him full-on, curious as to whether he was going to do something incredibly stupid. Like snogging her, perhaps.
4 …
She glanced down at his lips.
3 …
Draco smiled.
2 …
He leaned in.
1 …
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And while dozens of couples paused the inebriated partying to celebrate the new year by snogging their partner, Draco and Hermione just stared at each other for several awkward seconds. Too far away for their lips to be touching, but too close for them to pretend they hadn't wanted it. Draco's mouth quirked up at one side.
"I have a New Year's resolution," he admitted. Hermione's mouth was suddenly very dry. She swallowed thickly and asked,
"Oh? What do you have in mind?"
Draco paused for several agonizing seconds before saying, "I am going to get my Muggle driver's license."
Hermione blinked, then blinked again.
"Sorry, what?"
"You heard me, Granger. I am going to legally drive one of those infernal Muggle contraptions."
"You … You want to drive a car?"
"I have a good teacher," Draco said with a shrug. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I taught you the basics, not enough to actually drive in the Muggle world," she replied, their almost-kiss all but forgotten.
"I drive quite well!" Draco shouted, since the commotion had resumed and the Dirigible Scums had picked up their instruments once again.
"You don't even have a car!" Hermione shouted back.
Draco shrugged and said, "I bought one," because of course he had.
"You don't have a Muggle birth certificate!"
"Yes, I do," Draco replied. "Draco Malfoy, born to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, currently residing in Wiltshire at Malfoy Manor. I did not even have to lie. Remarkable, really."
Hermione huffed and insisted, "You can't even parallel park!" Draco's eyebrows scrunched together and he got that adorable little eleven between them. He tilted his head to one side, confused.
"Parallel what?"
.oOo.
Which is how Hermione ended up in an empty parking lot on January 2nd. Draco had picked Hermione up at her flat in his Jaguar XFR. She rolled her eyes as she plopped into the passenger seat.
"Are you capable of being inconspicuous?"
"No," Draco replied rather simply. "This is as close as I get."
So Hermione directed him to the parking lot and showed him the parallel spaces.
"Wait," Draco insisted, realization dawning on his face. He gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter and asked, "You want me to park the car parallel to the kerb?"
"Yes, you idiot, that is why it's called parallel parking," Hermione quipped. She stepped out of the car, conjured two traffic cones, and placed them at either end of the parking space. Hermione hopped back in and pulled off her gloves. As she rubbed her freezing hands together, Draco said,
"I can do this, no problem."
Draco pulled up alongside the spaces and pulled the slightest bit ahead. When he put the car in reverse, Hermione thought he was such a smooth bastard that perhaps he would get it on the first try. He turned the wheel all the way to the right and quickly guided the car back into the space on the left. By the time he tried to straighten out, however, it was too late. The back wheel rolled onto the kerb with a loud plonk!
Hermione sniggered.
"No problem at all," she said. Draco rolled his eyes and Hermione asked, "Would you like me to teach you how to do it or do you wish to stay here until you break your gearshift?"
Draco muttered something that sounded like "fucking know-it-all" under his breath, but Hermione had gotten used to his insults long ago. After so many years, she could easily discern when there was malice behind his words and when there wasn't. He put the car in drive and pulled out to the side of the space in front. Hermione sighed and grabbed her gloves. She opened the door and stepped out, immediately regretting her decision to teach Draco so soon. She should have waited until July when her nose didn't immediately go pink when she stepped outside.
She walked around to the back and motioned for Draco to roll down his window. He obliged and Hermione began to instruct.
"Alright, first thing you want to do is find the end of the car in front of your space," she said. "You want to see it in the centre of your backseat window."
Draco put the car in reverse and it started to move backward, with him focused entirely on getting the front cone in the right place. Hermione jumped out of the way and shouted,
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"Sorry!" he shouted. It sounded mostly sincere. "You said to centre it, so I centred it."
"Malfoy, if you run over me with this car I swear—"
"What are you going to do, Granger?" Draco asked. "Lecture me to death?" Hermione bent over so she could be level with him, wrapped her fingers around his coat collar, and pulled his head halfway out the car window. With a perfectly level tone, she said,
"I solemnly swear I will shove your wand so far up your bum you'll cast a spell every time you sneeze."
Draco sobered up at that because if anyone could finagle that, it would be Hermione. She let him go and walked back to the far end of the space next to the cone. She shouted,
"Then you're going to turn your wheel all the way to the right and pull halfway in."
"Are you far enough away from the car this time?" he shouted back.
"This far away and I can still see how pointy your nose is!" Hermione quipped. "Now back in the bloody car!"
Draco backed the car halfway into the space and awaited further instruction. Hermione ran up to his window and said,
"Good. Now you're going to turn your wheel all the way to the left so you straighten out as the rest of the car moves into the space. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Professor Granger," Draco snapped. Hermione rolled her eyes and bit back a reply. She returned to the back cone and waited for Draco to turn the wheel. He backed in slowly, and as the car came to within a metre of Hermione, she glared at Draco in the rearview mirror almost daring him to hit her.
He stopped just in time, maybe twenty centimetres from Hermione's knees. Draco leaned out of the window and asked,
"Good?"
Hermione looked to the side and saw he was twenty centimetres from the kerb. She nodded then returned to her place up front. She shut the door and said,
"Now let's see how well you do without me narrating."
Draco smiled and pulled out of the space. He started out well enough, centred the front cone in his back passenger window and backed halfway into the space. Then he backed two-thirds of the car into the space and slowly turned his wheel in the opposite direction. Hermione stared straight ahead and braced for the inevitable impact.
PLONK!
"MERLIN'S FUCKING ARSE!"
Draco put the car in drive and pulled out again. He slammed just a little too hard on the brakes and Hermione shot forward a bit. She sighed and said,
"You backed in too far before you started to straighten out. And don't be lazy with the wheel! It's all the way to the right, pause, all the way to the left, then you'll have it."
"I could just Confound the instructor and skip the parallel bit," Draco pointed out. Hermione whacked his arm.
"Don't you dare! If you get a license you will do it without casting a single spell."
"Aye, Professor Granger, I will do it the Muggle way. Don't get your knickers in a twist."
"If you so much as think about my knickers again, you'll find your bollocks at the bottom of the Thames," Hermione quipped. Draco laughed as he centred the front cone in his back passenger window.
"You don't mean that," he said as he started backing into the space once again. He paused to turn his wheel hard left and Hermione said,
"No, I don't."
Draco slowly backed in then stopped before he hit the cone. He smiled wide and said,
"Yes! I did it."
Hermione turned to look at him then opened her car door.
"Do you see how much space is there?" she asked. "I could literally lie down with my feet against the door and my head wouldn't touch the kerb."
"But I'm in the space!" Draco insisted. "Look!"
"I am looking!" Hermione shouted back. "You have to be less than thirty centimetres from the kerb for it to count!"
"Thirty centimetres?!" Draco asked. "Thirty bloody centimetres is all I get?"
"Afraid so," Hermione confirmed. "Now let's do this again."
Draco frowned as he exited the space.
"Now, back to your knickers—"
"Can we not?" Hermione asked as Draco put the car once again into reverse.
"We most certainly shall," he said. He backed in slowly. "I do not find you wholly unattractive."
"Charming," Hermione said, facetiously. Draco put his foot on the brake and turned the wheel hard left.
"I mean to say that you are my friend and I appreciate you teaching me," he said, trying to maneouver his way out of being too honest.
"You wanted to learn something that I can teach you. So I'm teaching you," Hermione said. "It's what friends do."
"But what if instead of friends, we were—"
PLONKPLONKPLONK!
He had run over the cone in the back. Draco let his forehead fall onto the steering wheel and Hermione laughed.
"Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!" he shouted. Hermione got out of the car and replaced the cone after Draco had pulled up to once again. On her walk back to the car she considered pressing him about what he was going to say. Hermione wanted him to say it, to say, "Let's be more than friends. Let me kiss you just once and tell me if you want me to do it again." Because she knew she would. She sat in the passenger seat and settled on,
"Don't get sloppy when you're trying to centre the front cone in your window."
Draco grumbled low in his throat but threw the car into reverse once again.
"Yes, Professor Granger," he said like the hope had been burned out of him. Hermione ached because of it. Except he pulled in halfway, turned his wheel hard the other direction, then slowly backed the car in. When he pressed the brake Hermione threw open her door to inspect the distance to the kerb. Draco asked,
"What did I do wrong this time?" and Hermione smiled.
"Nothing," she said.
Draco looked at her with those hopeful grey eyes and asked, "I did it right?"
"It's perfect," Hermione said.
"Yes!" Draco shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Thank you, Hermione." He leaned over and gave her a one-armed hug. "You are a good teacher."
Hermione returned the hug, looked him in the eyes, and said, "Now do it again." Draco's face fell.
"Are you serious?"
"Doesn't count unless you can do it three times in a row," she insisted. Hermione regretted it immediately when she saw the devilish smile on Draco's face. He put one hand on the wheel and said,
"Better buckle up, Granger," and slammed the gas pedal. Hermione jerked forward and Draco chuckled, slowing down but continuing their ride around the parking lot. Hermione buckled up, punched him in the arm, and everything was back to normal.
Except she still wanted Draco to kiss her.
.oOo.
Hermione paced outside the DVLA two weeks later. How long did driving tests take? It had been years since she'd taken her own. The more she waited, the more she thought Draco had failed. There were so many opportunities. What if he ran a light? What if he didn't properly centre the back cone in his passenger window? What if—
A familiar shiny-haired man walked out of the agency and held up a paper.
"I PASSED!"
Hermione stood, rooted to the ground in shock for a moment. Then she ran to Draco and pulled him into a hug.
"I knew it! I knew you could do it, Draco!"
"Sure you did," he teased. Hermione pulled back a bit to look at him and smiled. Draco swallowed thickly and glanced down at her lips. "But you were a great teacher and I would like to thank you properly."
"You don't need a license to kiss me," Hermione whispered.
Draco put his hand on the back of Hermione's neck and bent down to gently press their lips together. He pulled back after a moment and said,
"I suppose I need a new resolution for the year."
"Oh, I can think of a few," Hermione replied. Draco's eyes sparkled and Hermione pulled him into another kiss. It was harder, sloppier, and somehow Hermione's tongue ended up in Draco's mouth. He placed his hand on her lower back and pulled her closer so there was no part of their upper halves that wasn't touching. Someone walking by whistled at them and they laughed.
"Happy New Year, Granger," Draco said.
"Happy New Year, Malfoy."