A/N+Disclaimer: I do not own any of this and all rights go to J.K. Rowling. If I did own this, I'd probably be rich, live in a mansion and have eight dogs, two cats, and a duck named Bear- which I metaphorically have. This fic has been written for round one season four of The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. I'd appreciate if you left a review and all that jazz, so… uh- Put on a fake smile and pretend to enjoy!

Word Count: 1,664

Tutshill Tornadoes- Beater Two

Prompt:

Write about your chosen Death Eater going on a date

Optional [Beater] prompts:

3. (quote) "When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting." - Jon Kabat-Zinn

14. (word) Clock

Extra: 5. (word) Espresso

Draco glanced at the coffeehouse clock from the outside patio with a bored, solemn expression- again. He shifted in the uncomfortable wooden chair, letting out a deep, irritable breath which caused the espresso on the table in front of him to ripple in the cup, blowing in rhythm with Draco's breath. He didn't think dates would be so boring and uncomfortable. Then again, if you asked him a few weeks ago if he would take Granger the Mudblood on a date, he would have scoffed.

It had all started when Hermione had run into Draco in the halls one day. Her books flown everywhere, and Hermione had whispered a quick "sorry" before bending down and picking them up. Draco usually would have let them be, left Hermione in his dust, cackling, "Clumsy Mudblood!" But he didn't. Instead, he sent Crabbe and Goyle off and leaned down to pick the rest of the books up, handing them to Hermione and helping her up, leaving her with a stunned and perplexed look on her pretty he did this, he wasn't sure- but he was sure that he hadn't been thinking of her as a Mudblood, lately. In classes, he had taken innocent glances around the room, but his gaze would always land and stay planted on the Gryffindor.

She had grown taller, thinner now with more feminine curves to her form. Her brown hair wasn't as bushy, but now quite long and curly at the ends. She had long eyelashes which shaded her hazel eyes. Over her small nose, she had a spray of freckles which showered her blushed cheeks. Her lips seemed soft, and the bottom lip was fuller than the top. When Hermione was thinking, her perfect eyebrows would crease and she would bite her lip in thought. During class, she chewed on her quill and had her hand up most of the time as she answered questions left and right. She was distracting, that's for sure. Draco would stop thinking about everything sometimes- Schooling, His father, Voldemort… Draco didn't know what was happening to him, but he would make these little observations now and then, and soon began to realize that Hermione was driving him mad.

_0_

Draco glanced at the clock, even though he had checked it only seconds before. It read 7:00PM. He sipped at his second espresso boringly and blinked slowly, attempting to make conversation. "So, Uhhh… How's the weather lately?" He asked, wincing. "Draco," Hermione said back slowly, looking down at her hands, "We're outside- On the Patio?"

Even though Hermione's beauty maddened Draco, he still knew her as the boring girl who was buried in her books. What else was there to think? She was quite bossy from what he had heard and he had naturally found out that she was a bit of a know-it-all. Not that this bothered Draco, of course, because Draco was sort of a bossy know-it-all himself- though he hated to admit it.

At a certain point, Hermione began returning his glances in class once she began to notice his stares. They would remain like that for long periods of time in classes, just looking at each other with mild interest. One day, Hermione had mouthed the word, "bored?" Draco nodded his head fiercely, and Hermione shrugged, turning her attention to her teacher. The next day, Draco had yawned, and Hermione glanced at him. When the teacher wasn't looking, she scribbled on a parchment, balled it up and tossed it across the floor to Draco's desk. He picked it up and opened it curiously. It read, "Bored again, Malfoy?" He scribbled, "Sure am, Granger. You?" He balled it up again and passed it over to her. When she read it, Draco could see a look on her face that said: Really? Never! But what slightly surprised Draco was that she scribbled on it once again and passed it to him. He opened it up. Underneath their previous notes, Hermione had written, "A beautiful muggle artist named Jon Kabat-Zinn once said, "When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting." Don't you think so?

The quote held in Draco's thoughts.

At one point, Draco and Hermione started having staring contests in class. Draco would always lose, though, due to Hermione's ability to read without blinking for long periods of time. When they finished, Hermione would give a triumphant "hmph!" One day, Draco decided he was fed up. He and Hermione would briefly communicate in class, but ignore each other in the halls and everywhere else. So Draco grabbed a parchment, And in messy, frantic handwriting, Draco scribbled,

"Would you like to go on a date?"

When Hermione read the note, her hazel eyes widened and her cheeks went pink, but she nodded. Draco almost stood up and cheered.

But at the moment, Draco was bored as bloody hell. He had gotten the girl that he wanted, the date that he wanted, what else was there to want?

He gave an irritated sigh and nodded at the clock. 7:10. At least 10 whole minutes of nothing? This was ridiculous. Boredom can get interesting, huh? Draco finished his espresso, threw some Knuts on the table, and gently took Hermione's hands in his own (which sent sparks flying and gave him butterflies), pulling her up and away from the coffeehouse.
_0_

"D-D-Draco-O-ooooh!" Hermione screamed, terrified as the wind whipped through her muddy-brown locks. They were flying on the Quidditch field on Draco's broom, and Hermione had a death grip on Draco's waist. "AHHHGGG! We. Are. Gonna. Die-eeeEEEEE!" Hermione screeched as Draco tore through the air, diving fiercely to the ground and pulling up at the last moment. He glanced back at Hermione for a moment as he slowed down: Her skin was paler than usual. Her hair was tossed and rustled from the wind and her eyes were wide; pupils dilated in the sunshine. But the one thing that threw Draco off was the fact that Hermione had a huge grin on her face, showing how much she was loving this.

After some more flying, Draco slowed to a stop and landed gracefully on the ground. He turned around and got off of the broom to help the dazed Hermione off of the still levitating broom. He took her hand and allowed the broom to drop- to which she collapsed as her locked legs gave way. Hermione landed on her unsuspecting knees which also wouldn't correctly balance her and she slumped down. He snorted.

"Rough first fly? Don't worry, Granger. You'll be fine," he reached down to help her up and she pulled his hand, sending him to the ground. "Draco, You clumsy git," she teased. "What did you think of the ride, Granger?" He asked cockily as his cheeks were heating up, avoiding the fact that they were still holding hands. "I hate to admit it, but...THAT WAS AMAZING!" Hermione said. She grabbed his shoulders as her features turned dangerous. "I TOLD YOU I WAS AFRAID OF HEIGHTS, YOU BLOODY PRAT-AGGHH THAT WAS AMAZING, DRACO!" She laughed, shaking his shoulders. He laughed too, and soon they were rolling around on the soft grass giggling.

When the laughter died down, Hermione was red-faced and frazzled and Draco's usually fine, combed back hair was tossed and messy with small pieces of grass sticking to his light locks. Hermione noticed this and attempted to stifle her laughter for his sake, but he noticed. "What? What is it? What are you laughing at?" He asked impatiently. "Your hair," she giggled. "It's quite messier than-uh... Usual." She snorted. "What? Where?!" He asked frantically, attempting to smooth it down, but his attempts were futile and he just ended up making it look messier. "Here," Hermione grinned as she lifted her hands to his hair. She pulled piece after piece of grass from his hair until it was clean, but sticking out in all directions. "Good?" He asked, reaching up to touch his hair. His eyes widened as he wildly flattened it down. "No! No, I think it looks cute like this!" Hermione blurted, but she was too late in stopping the straying of words that followed. "I mean like it looks good. No, better than good. As usual... It looks fine. You look fine -er- great. Adorable-I MEAN-ugh." She finished.

Draco had an amused look on his face and instead of pushing the subject and embarrassing Hermione, he laughed and grabbed her hand again, pulling her up as they walked south towards the Great Lake. They sat underneath a neighboring tree looked out into the horizon, facing east. Hermione leaned into Draco, both of their messy-haired heads softly bumping together. Their hands still remained intertwined, and Draco said aloud, "I do think so, Granger," "Huh?" Hermione asked, looking sideways at the Slytherin. Draco chuckled. "For an insanely intelligent belle, you sure can't remember nowt," Draco replied. Hermione blushed and leaned more into his chest. "When you told me that boredom can get interesting… You were right," Draco praised. "In fact," he continued, "I would never be bored if I had wonderful days like this with you, Hermione. Thank you." He said, squeezing Hermione's hand as she grinned. "Jon Kabat-Zinn, you are a genius."