Summer Nights

Author: Bea Mendes

Pairing: Hermione Granger x Draco Malfoy / Hermione Granger x Blaise Zabini / Dramionaise

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Rated: K+

Summary: Hermione, Draco and Blaise work together at Hogwarts and managed to create a friendship. But now it's summer time, which means going to their apartment in Muggle London. Nothing better than the threat of heat strokes to unite them.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and it's characters are not mine. Don't sue me.

A/N: I once read the most amazing Dramionaise possibly ever, it's called The Duplex and it's on hiatus :( but I sort of got the idea from there. So, in my story, just imagine the three of them sharing an apartment in Muggle London - this is obviously AU - when they aren't teaching at Hogwarts. You may find Hermione OOC. Hell, you may find all characters a bit OOC.

This has some DH spoilers.

Chapter One

Part One - friendship cheering up

It had been a really hot summer day and Hermione had stayed home most of it; when she ventured out of her house, the heat and her blood pressure took there toll on her and she almost passed out. She figured it was more prudent to stay home, at least until the weather became nicer.

So, here she was, thrown across the sofa watching TV and with a large bowl containing ice-cream on top of her belly. It was weird if you thought that this was Hermione the Hogwarts' book-warm, best student of her age Granger. Bleh, this was past. After the war, she learned that life was all about small things, enjoying now because tomorrow may not be here. To her it was all about carpe diem and carpe noctem now. Or maybe just carpe ice-cream in this specific moment.

She heard a crack coming from behind her, but she didn't even move, just continued to stay lazily on the comfy furniture.

"Granger." The blond appeared in her line of vision only seconds later. "I thought you were going out today." He looked at her.

"Oh, I did... but five minutes later I almost fainted crossing the street." She looked at him with a thoughtful expression and then back at the TV. "So I thought it would be better if I came back and stayed in with the AC. Prudent, you know."

"Wait, you're telling me you've been here for..." he glanced at his watch. "Nine hours? Merlin, Granger the moon is even out already!" He shook his head a little bit. "What did you do all day?"

"Oh, the usual... had a little rendez-vous with my good friends: the flat screen and Häagen-Dazs. Did you know there's a TV show with all these cute vampires? Apparently it's a new 'rock on' wave going on between muggles." She shrugged her shoulders and had a bit more of ice-cream.

Draco shook his head once more and began walking to his bedroom.

"I'm telling you, Granger, you'll get fat this summer." His voice had a solemn tone and faded away as he got closer to his destination.

Even though she could just dismiss it, saying she didn't hear him, she just couldn't. She heard him loud and clear. And thinking this way, she would be gaining weight if she kept this routine. Because my oh my, this was the fifth day in a row she did this.

So she put the bowl on the coffee table, sat up straight and turned the TV off, staring at it without seeing it.

There was another pop on the living room, but this one she didn't even hear, lost in thought. The dark-haired wizard saw her on the couch, still as if she had been stunned. He cautiously approached her and saw that she was just deep in thought; not wanting to disturb, he moved towards the bedroom.

"Hey, mate." Draco saluted when his friend walked inside his room. Blaise nodded back in acknowledgment.

"What's up with Granger?"

"What do you mean?" The blond sat up straight on his bed to give room for the other.

"Well, she didn't even see when I arrived... she was just sitting on the couch staring at that TV thing - that was off by the way."

"She was fine when I got here... fifteen minutes ago." He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, she doesn't look so fine now, mate." Both men went to the living room to find that Hermione was still oblivious to her surroundings.

Blaise approached her carefully and sat next to her while Draco knelt in front of her.

"Hermione?" They thought it was sensible to call her that way.

She blinked once and twice and then her gaze seemed to focus back in reality. The boys breathed more calmly now, but were surprised when they heard her next words.

"I can't keep up like this. I'm gonna die!" She half shouted.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?" The blond asked looking strangely at her, feeling Blaise's gaze on him. His mate obviously thought he had done something. He always did.

"You were right, Malfoy." Again, Blaise looked at him as if saying 'What the bloody hell did you do, mate?'. "I'm laying, eating and watching my way to obesity and I'm OK with it. Well, not anymore!"

"You told her she was getting fat? What the heck is your problem, fuck-wit?" Blaise caught on what had happened, but before Draco had a chance to say anything in his behalf, Hermione spoke again.

"No, it's fine Zabini. Because you know what? He's absolutely right. I can't stay in for three months eating ice-cream." She looked a bit sad to the boys and she was feeling sad. "If you need me, I'll be on my room."

They watched as she got up and walked to her sanctuary without even cleaning the living room.

"Do you see what you've done?" Draco rolled his eyes at his best friend in response. "Come on, we can't let her sulk to death in her bed."

"What?"

Blaise ignored him and walked towards her bedroom, knowing he would follow. He knocked gently and opened the door when she invited them in.

"Get dressed, Granger. We're going out tonight." His voice left no room for argument and if she wasn't Hermione Granger, she would not complain.

"I don't want to go out." Her voice had a whining tone. "I'm tired."

That wasn't true and they all knew it.

"Of laying around? Get dressed, we leave in thirty." Draco said with a grin.

"Fine. Where are we going, I mean, what should I wear?"

"We'll stay at Muggle London." Blaise said and left with Draco.

The boys went to their rooms to get showered and dressed. Half an hour later the three friends were already leaving the apartment, the guys leading Hermione to a small but comfy diner.

"Are you guys shitting with me?" They had stopped looking at her as if she had grown a second head when she cursed, now clearly used to it. Hermione looked at the menu and sighed.

"Oh come on, Granger. You're not fat. You just need to stop eating ice-cream every single day and get out from the house." Malfoy said with a light tone, but it had a tinge of plead in it.

"Yeah, he's right. And think of it, we spend most of our year inside the castle, this break is not meant for you to stay in."

Their talk was interrupted while the waiter took their order.

"You guys just don't understand. It's not like I planned on staying in. I was going out with Harry and Ron yesterday but they got called on a mission and today I was going to meet a cousin to go shopping, but it was too hot! My blood pressure can't take it."

"Granger," Draco said lowering his voice. "You're a witch, cast a cooling charm around yourself... or something. Go to places that have this cool muggle thing, AC you call it?"

"Whatever, what my friend's is trying to say is, work around it. When you were searching for the Horcruxes and you couldn't find them, did you just give up and went on hiding, ruining the good Gryffindor name?"

"You know damn right I didn't." She said a bit angry and proud of her courage and the House he had just insulted. She was about to continued talking but good to the Slytherins, the waiter came back with the order.

"Hot dog with cheese and a beer." He put the plate in front of Blaise. "Cheese and ham sandwich with a Coke." He all but threw the plate in front of Draco. "And a cheeseburger with mayonnaise, bacon and onions and a chocolate milkshake to the lady." This time the waiter, that was close to age with them, smiled at Hermione brightly. She smiled back but was more focused on her food, but Blaise and Draco noticed it all. "Here are your fries." He looked at her one more time and left the table.

Hermione was already attacking her burger since ice-cream was the only thing she had eaten during the day.

"Grange, you do realize that that guy was flirting with you, right?"

"No, he wasn't Blaise." She reached for the fries and put mayonnaise on it.

"Yes, he was. Blaise is right, Grange." He said biting his sandwich.

"Really?" She looked at them with a new sparkle on her eyes. "He was?"

"Close your mouth, Granger." They said playfully.

She threw a fry at their direction but missed them both, she managed to throw it at the back of the head of the woman sitting the next table.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am." She shook her head. "Look what you've done." Her burger got her attention again and she ignored the laughing boys.

Part Two - swinging your way to oblivion

They left the diner and decided to walk a little, not wanting to go home just yet. The streets were filled with people and there were a lot of tourists too, the ones that wanted to see the night life of the city.

"Where are we going?" Contrary to earlier, now it was Hermione that was leading them.

"Oh, just some place I used to come with my parents when I was little. It's just over this corner." She said in a light tone when they turned said corner. A smile graced over her lips and both boys couldn't help but smile with her.

They were at a small playground and even though it was already dark, the street lights lighted it just fine. There wasn't a soul there other then them, but there wasn't that sense of danger either.

"Push me!" Hermione shouted suddenly, moving away from them.

"I beg your pardon?" Blaise said.

"What?" Draco asked at the same time.

"Can you push me?" She elaborated, pointing to the swing with an even larger smile. She sat on it and started to move, waiting for one of them to push her. Draco was soon behind her, complying.

Her giggles became more frequent as she went higher and Draco was laughing at her childish ways. Even though they worked together and shared an apartment, they didn't really talk about their childhoods - neither of them. This, the swing, the park, it showed them a part of Hermione that they never knew about.

"Higher, higher!" She yelled with a louder giggle at the end because Draco had indeed pushed her higher.

Blaise looked at his mate and their female roommate and how they were interacting. Thinking it was better to let Draco make total peace with her, he nodded his head to him and disappeared with a pop.

The blond kept on pushing her for about five more minutes and then, out of the blue, Hermione let go of the swing, when she was high in the air and for a second it was like she was flying. Draco shouted her name and the swing almost hit him for not paying attention to it.

Hermione didn't fall, she stayed high in the air for more than it was possible. Her eyes were closed, arms wide open and a smile on her face. Draco ran to her, and now stood in front of the swing a few feet bellow her, his mouth wide open in surprise, his arms ready to catch her if needed. But she didn't need it.

She opened her eyes and her smile grew even bigger at the sight of him. She then started to slowly float down and landed on her feet, the most peaceful expression on her face since the war. She threw her arms around his neck and after a few second, he hugged her back.

"How did you do that?" He pushed her away only enough so he could see her face, he needed to make sure that what had happened was completely real.

She laughed quietly and grabbed his hand, leading them to sit on a nearby bench.

"I hadn't done that since I was eleven!" She said, the smile never leaving her. "It's magic, Draco. I still remember the first time it happened... I was four or five...

"I was right here at this park and was playing on the swing. I didn't have many friends when I was little, I was different and kids didn't like me much. So, this older boy came and started pushing me, higher and faster and I was really nervous and scared. And then... my hand slipped from the chains and I was in the air, really high. I could hear the other kids laughing at me and felt tears in my eyes, so I just squeezed them shut and I just wished I could fly or at least not fall down on my face and suddenly the other kids weren't laughing anymore and I didn't meet the ground. So I opened my eyes and saw that I was floating slowly down. Some parents were looking at me because they heard all the commotion and my own came running to me and took me home immediately, not understanding what happened.

"The other day when I came back to the playground, nobody talked to me, they actually moved away from me. I even heard an older girl talking to her mother.

'It's that weird girl from yesterday, mom. She was flying, I saw it!'

'Keep away from her, sweetie. She wasn't flying. Nobody can fly.'

'But I saw it, mom! It was like magic!'

'There's no such thing as magic. Keep away from her.'"

Draco was even more shocked than before and saw that that happy face of hers was gone.

"Wow. I guess I never thought how it would be like to grow up without knowing what you really are. I never actually imagined what it would be like for a muggleborn to grow up. I mean, all the magic that we do! My parents were always happy when I did it. Your parents were probably scared."

"At first they were, especially this time. It was the first I had done something like that, that they couldn't blame something else. But they accepted that I was different, special and made me see things this way and not as something bad." Her smile returned, showing her love for her parents. "They sometimes came here with me at night time and just let me be myself, no one to shy away from."

"So, when you received your Hogwarts letter?"

"They were happy for me, happy that I would be able to learn more of who I was and discover new things to do with the magic in me."

They stayed quiet for sometime and Draco pulled her to rest against him and they intertwined fingers.

"You know, Harry told me his mother could do something like this when she was little and didn't know about who she was. It was Snape that told her she was a witch and all about Hogwarts." She sighed. "I never told anyone about this." Her voice was quiet.

Draco pushed her away and moved from the bench, behind her, to the ground, to face her. He also had some sort of peaceful expression and suddenly he kissed her softly on the lips, but it was more of a friendship gesture.

"Thank you for sharing it with me." He said when they pulled apart and Hermione nodded slowly, sighing after a while.

Part Three - magic, magic... screw it, you're hectic

They walked back to their apartment, holding hands. Hermione was now truly tired, but extremely happy for what had happened, for sharing that part of herself with someone she cared about and knew he cared about her also.

"Thanks for the night. I truly enjoyed it." She said when they got in. She looked around and saw Blaise in the kitchen area.

"Hey, I was beginning to worry about you two." He said in a joke. "Coffee?" He raised the pot of recently brewed coffee for them.

"Aren't you gonna lose your sleep? I'll take water." Hermione asked while she took off her shoes.

"What are sleeping potions for, Granger?" Draco smirked and served a cup for himself while Blaise put a cup of water on top of the counter for their roommate.

She was standing about three meters from the counter and decided that maybe it was time to show a little bit more of who Hermione Granger was to the two of them. She raised her hand to the glass and concentrated on the task of feeling the magic in her fingertips.

"Accio glass of water." She whispered the words softly but with confidence.

The boys watched the concentration she was involved in and how the glass gently lifted from the counter and floated slowly to her out stretched hand. The also saw that the moment the glass touched skin, her knees began to give in to her lack of energy and they rushed to her, one grabbing her and one attempting to prevent the glass from shattering on the floor.

"Merlin's beard, Granger! What the hell was that?" Blaise asked, lifting her up easily on his strong arms so that she didn't hurt her bare feet.

Draco unfortunately didn't manage to hold the damn glass of water and now the floor was dangerously full of shattered glass of all sizes and water.

Hermione rested her head against his strong shoulder and whispered softly, without the energy to talk louder. "Can you take me to bed, Blaise?"

He looked at her face and saw that her eyelids were half closed. The Italian boy looked at his mate and gave him a nod, carefully avoiding the mess on the floor and moving to her bedroom so that she could rest;

"What were you thinking?" He was muttering to himself while he lowered her to the soft mattress.

"It was just wandless magic, Zabini. It's not like I tried to kill myself." She chuckled quietly. She saw that he still wore a worried expression and whispered her next words. "I just wanted to show you a bit more of myself."

He sighed heavily and a small smile graced his lips.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry for overreacting like that. It's that... I really worry about you and I'd hate to see you get hurt, y'know." He kept eye contact with her and she could see how soft his midnight blue eyes were as he spoke.

"Blaise," she gently touched his hand with hers. "I do this all the time. It only backfired on me because of what happened early."

"Tired? And what is backfire?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Muggle expression, forget it. Oh, just ask Draco, he'll explain it to you."

She was emotionally drained but her body had enough energy to keep her awake for sometime.

"Can I ask you something?" He answered with a 'sure' and she continued. "Can you stay with me until I sleep?"

She didn't need him there to sleep - he knew -, but it felt nice to him that she wanted him to. He sat on the head of the bed and she rested head against his warm chest. The wizard put his hand over her arms in a soothing way that made her warm and sleepy.

"Thanks, Blaisy." She muttered after five minutes when sleep took over her.

He watched her for a few more minutes until he heard a shout in the living room and a flow of curses. He shook his head and went to see what his mate had done. Draco was kneeling on the floor with a bloody hand nestled safely on his chest. The blond looked up with eyes shinning from unshed tears.

"I cut my hand." Draco said in a heartbreaking way that made people want to hug him and keep him safe. Blaise smiled softly and knelt beside him, taking his hand to see the injure. He accio-d a muggle first aid kit (Hermione had insisted on it and taught them how to use it) and started to tend his mate's hand.

"What happened after I left?" He asked trying to shift Draco's attention from the glass on his hand.

"It was unbelievable." He paused to gather his thoughts. "She jumped from the swing - when it was high! And she didn't fall, she floated to the floor, Blaise. You can't believe how scared I was." He hung his head and hissed when the other put some medicine on the injure. "She told me how it was when she first did magic, I mean, we grew up knowing who we were - but she had no clue on what she was doing, who she was. She was an outsider, Blaise. Her own parents looked at her in a weird way."

The Italian boy listened and began to feel sad, he also couldn't imagine growing up like that. He finished tending to Draco's hand and decided to lighten the mood.

"She asked me to stay with her until she slept... she called me 'Blaisy'," Draco gave him a knowing look and he felt the need to add: "She was sleeping when she said that, it wasn't like she planned on saying it."

"You hate when girls call you that, you always said it was a clingy combo, the annoying pet name plus the touching they do." He studied his friend more closely and for a second his face flashed with surprise and happiness and came back to the usual blank. "You liked it." He didn't ask, he didn't say with a hint of sarcasm... he just stated what he knew that was the truth.

They stayed quiet for a few moments, looking each other in the eyes and trying to find out what the other was thinking - they failed, of course, since both were masters at the art of maintaining blank faces.

"The witch makes me want to protect her, even though she doesn't need protection." Blaise said softly and he looked truly perturbed. Draco nodded to him solemnly, showing that he felt the same way.

"We're screwed."

That was an understatement. They were independent wizards and didn't rely on other people, their parents, being at Slytherin and the war taught them that much. They only truly trusted each other, but that little witch was changing that concept. It would be a sticky situation if they fell for her - which was beginning to happen, strangely it was only now, after several years of friendship and add seven more of knowing each other.

They shook their heads when the thought of her moving out, changing jobs and never talking to them again crossed their minds. Blaise carefully took charge of cleaning the remaining shattered glass while Draco moved the first aid kit away.

They moved to Blaise's room and kept talking to each other, discussing things and thinking for about another hour or so.

The next day Hermione woke up at ten, feeling pretty good with her energy recharged. She left the room and wandered through the house thinking about the night before. When she didn't see the boys, she went to Draco's room - the last room on the end of the corridor, on the right side. She knocked on the door but didn't receive an answer so she took her wand out and entered the room carefully, expecting to find someone in there that had hurt the young Malfoy. He was a light sleeper and always woke up with the smallest of sounds. She looked around and saw no one.

Her worry intensified and she went to Blaise's room - the one across from Draco's. Again she knocked on the door and got no answer. She opened the door and raised her wand but when she took in the scene she quickly lowered it.

Draco and Blaise were on the bed, sleeping soundly. Their bodies were facing one another and they were close, sharing the same pillow. Blaise was sleeping on his left side and his right hand was touching Draco's right injured one, it was as if he fell asleep protecting it from any possible harm. Draco had his hair all over his face and looked so sweet it could make her teeth hurt. They looked so peaceful that it downed to her that this was not the first time they shared a bed to sleep together. In a nanosecond she wondered if the rumors about them were true and she felt that she should be disgusted at it, but upon seeing them in that peacefulness, she realized that she could never feel that way about them.

She sighed and started closing the door slowly, trying not to wake them up. Ironically, the door cracked and they both lazily opened their eyes. Grey met midnight blue and they shared a smile. They were fully aware of their holding hands, but neither cared. They were close, so what? They had always been close.

Their eyes caught movement by the door and their gazes focused on it, seeing what woke them up. Hermione just stood still, her eyes wide at being caught as if her mother caught her stealing a cookie from the cookie jar before lunch. Her mind told her to snap out of it and she began apologizing for waking them up. She hastily turned and closed the door behind her before they had a chance to react.

They looked at each others eyes again and stood still for some seconds, until they sighed and got up from the bed, intending on finding their roommate.

Hermione was at the kitchen, cooking some eggs when she heard their steps. She turned around slowly - while holding a cooking fork - and she was red from embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I was just worried that you didn't say anything when I knocked. I-I didn't mean to wake you up. You were so cute and peaceful." She murmured the last sentence and blushed even more, she turned her focus to the eggs and missed their excited smiles.

She hadn't frown upon them after all. Maybe there was hope for them.