A Wanderful Date
The fireplace glowed with emerald flames as Draco Malfoy appeared in Hermione's living room. Brushing ash and soot off his clothes, he glanced around the empty room. "Hermione?" He called loudly.
A few seconds later, the sound of hurried footsteps was heard and Hermione appeared in the doorway, "Oh, hi Draco." She said, "I had no idea you would be this early."
"Is your clock right?" questioned Draco.
"Oh, wait my clock's slow. That explains it!"
Draco shrugged, "Never mind, you can fix it later." He said, "Are you ready?" He and Hermione had been going out for two months and today was the day Hermione planned to introduce her muggle friends. She just hoped that everything would go smoothly.
Draco and Hermione walked through the plaza near Hermione's house. Suddenly Hermione ran to a group of three (two girls and one guy.) "Hey guys!" Hermione exclaimed. "This is Draco. Draco, this is Jamie," She pointed to the guy. "And this is Tara and Mary."
"Hi." The three said.
Mary, a tall, slim and serious-looking girl with short brown hair regarded Draco with a hard stare, "Draco." She said, "That's a rather unusual name."
"So's Mary." Said Draco, "I don't think anyone calls their child 'Mary' anymore."
"Why don't we go and get something to eat?" Hermione asked hurriedly before an awkward argument could start, "I'm really hungry."
"Okay," said Jamie. He was tall, tanned and had messy blonde hair. He held a little rubber ball which he frequently threw and caught in good spirit as they proceeded down the streets, and eventually decided on a well-lit muggle restaurant to dine in. Draco raised an eyebrow upon entering but didn't say anything.
Draco glanced down at the menu. "This food is weird." He said.
"Are you okay?" Tara said. She was a small, plump girl with brown hair.
Hermione started waving at a waiter.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked.
The waiter came over.
"Can I help you?" He asked, holding up a notebook and pen, ready to take the group's order.
"Yes, we would like a Caesar salad and…?" She looked over at her friends.
"Banana bread." Said Jamie.
"I'll just have a glass of water." Said Tara.
"Nothing for me, thanks." Said Mary.
"I'll have some cauldron cakes." Said Draco.
The waiter stared at him, his pen hovering over the pad of paper, "Sorry?" He asked.
"He'll have a Caesar salad, too." Said Hermione quickly, smiling reassuringly at the waiter. Draco looked at the waiter as if he were some kind of idiot and Hermione kicked her boyfriend under the table.
"Ouch!" wailed Draco, bending over slightly. Everyone stared at him. The waiter snorted and walked away, muttering under his breath about cry babies who couldn't stand not getting what they wanted.
"So…how did you two meet?" asked Tara.
"Yes, that's just exactly what I'm wondering," Mary said, "Not that I don't think you two don't belong together or anything…" she quickly put in, with a glance at the obviously intelligent Hermione, and the pouting Draco.
"Well, we go to the same school. It's called Hogwarts. Hermione's the best in our grade at spells and potions." Draco said.
Tara, Mary and Jamie glanced at each other.
"Draco talks crazy things sometimes." Hermione said. "We met in a pub."
"I can see that." Jamie commented, earning a kick from Tara, "Hey!"
"What's with you guys and kicking?" Draco asked.
Hermione sighed, "So, how have you guys been during the school term?" She asked her friends.
Tara shrugged, "We've survived." She said, "Maths has been really annoying, though, but-"
"Who's Maths?" Draco cut in, causing a blank silence to follow and four pairs of eyes to stare at him.
"Are…are you for real-"
In response to this, Tara received a kick from Mary. "It's okay, I get your sense of humour," Mary said, narrowing her eyebrows and glaring at Tara who muttered a quick sorry and began laughing forced laughter along with Mary. Jamie caught the message, and began laughing too, though Hermione detected a little contempt.
Despite not being around muggles for the majority of his life Draco knew what being laughed at looked like, and he knew he was being laughed at now. He raised one eyebrow, hating the feeling, and then said something that would've made his pureblood friends envious for sure, "I got a new wand." He announced.
"What?" muttered-whispered Mary to her friends.
Jamie raised one eyebrow and stared quizzedly at Draco.
"It was super expensive. Father helped me buy it. He's awfully proud of those type of things, had four in his lifetime. He watched me test it. I have to say, the transition's hard to get used to, but I think I'm doing better and it was worth the 34 thousand galleons I had to pay for it," he finished, smirking and looking around the table.
Mary stared fixedly at the ceiling, and Jamie had both eyes plastered to Draco's face with a disbelieving look while Tara's little finger moved in small circles beside her head.
Hermione kicked Tara in the leg. "That's really mean Tara!" Hermione said angrily.
"What?" Tara asked innocently.
Draco and Hermione walked back to her house together. "Sorry about the way that Jamie, Mary and Tara were acting." Hermione said.
"That's okay." Draco said.
"They're not normally like this… It's just… They actually don't know about me going to Hogwarts and that I'm a witch."
"Really?"
"Yes." Hermione said.
Draco stared at her for a few moments before speaking, "Are you saying that I was, just a few hours ago, eating with a bunch of muggles?" He asked, stunned.
"Yes, you did. Congratulations, by the way." Hermione drawled sarcastically, unlocking the front door, "It wasn't too hard, now was it?"
Draco sighed and entered the dark house, "Next time, you should tell me." He told her.
Hermione closed the door behind her, "It wasn't that bad, now was it?" She asked him, "You managed to eat a meal with them without stunning any of them."
"Shame, I really wanted to use my new wand." Draco said and Hermione sighed.