The Muggle Studies field trips continued to get worse.
First they'd had to visit an amusement park. Now they were going camping.
The Muggle Studies class was very small. Most of Hermione's year hadn't returned to Hogwarts after the war. Hermione was the only Gryffindor. Surprisingly three Slytherins returned: Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini. Susan Bones rounded out the rest of the 8th years.
Professor Jakes sent them to a campsite with camping equipment and told them he'd bring them home in the morning. They were supposed to figure out how to camp. Luckily, Hermione had been many times with her family, so it wasn't as difficult as it had first seemed.
After setting up the tents and roasting hot dogs for dinner, they sat around the fire occasionally talking to one another. They all seemed content staring into the flames.
"We're a pretty boring crowd. Who wants to play truth or dare?"Draco interrupted everyone's thoughts.
All the students agreed to play.
"OK. I'll start, Draco said. "Pansy, truth or dare."
"Truth."
"Who is your secret crush from our year?"
Pansy reddened and kept quiet.
"That is the most basic and obvious truth question there is. You can't back out now. You knew what you were getting into." Blaise told Pansy.
"Ron Weasley," the girl muttered so quietly only Susan heard. While Draco, Blaise, and Hermione couldn't hear Pansy's answer they could tell from Susan's expression that the response Pansy had given was shocking.
"Who?" Draco prodded.
"Ron. Ron Weasley."
"The Weasel?" Draco yelled.
"Ron? Really?" Hermione wondered.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, I know you two have something. I've just always found him so cute." Pansy was obviously rethinking her answer. The 8th year Hogwarts students had come to an unspoken understanding that they were going to be friendly towards each other. Pansy immediately worried she'd upset the agreement.
The other four sat silently.
"Weasley?" Draco asked again.
"We don't have anything," Hermione told the group. "We're better off friends." After the war, they had quickly figured out that they didn't have romantic feelings for each other. This was intriguing. Even though the answer had surprised her, Hermione could almost picture it.
"This is already the most interesting game of truth or dare I've ever played," laughed Susan.
"Blaise, truth or dare."
"Dare. Bring it on Pansy."
"Drink the ketchup bottle."
Balise groaned. "That's nasty." He walked over to the picnic table and opened the bottle's top. He raised it up and began swallowing the thick red paste down. After finishing it, he returned to his seat where he looked a little green.
The others were at once disgusted and entertained. Their laughs seemed to cut the tension in the group and everyone relaxed.
"Draco, truth or dare."
"Dare. Not drinking the ketchup though, mate." Draco smirked at Balise who still looked as if he was going to be sick.
"Strip to your boxers and run around the campsite three times." Not only was this embarrassing for Draco because he had to take his clothes off, it was also very chilly as soon as you moved away from the fire.
As Hermione watched, Draco pulled his sweater over his head and pushed his pants down. Hermione thought two things as she saw his naked form. One was that he still had the Dark Mark from the Death Eaters on his arm. In this silly campsite in the woods, it was a jolting reminder of the past. The second thought was how good he looked without his clothes. Draco's tall body was lean, but well muscled. She wouldn't mind running her hands over him. What?! She thought. Where did that come from? She'd never looked at Ron that way.
Draco ran off while they cat called and hooted at him. When he finished, he stood over the fire without dressing right away. "We've seen enough!" Pansy giggled at him. He laughed and told them the heat felt good on his skin so he was going to warm up before dressing. Blaise rolled his eyes at his friend. "Right."
'Granger, truth or dare."
"Truth."
"Have you and Potter ever kissed?"
"Ew. No. He's like my brother." Relieved that she'd received such an easy question, Hermione turned to Susan.
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Why did you come back to Hogwarts?"
Susan teared up. "I wasn't sure what else to do. My family is gone. Hogwarts was-is home."
Hermione could have kicked herself. They all knew what had happened to Susan's family.
"I'm sorry Susan," Hermione whispered. "I wasn't thinking."
"It's ok. I am usually ok, but sometimes it all seems like too much. I came back because I didn't know where else to go. It's weird, but I've thought of our year like a family." She laughed without any mirth. "A very, very dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless. And really the only one I have left."
Pansy nodded her head. "I know what you mean. I don't feel like I have a family anymore either." Pansy's parents had followed Voldemort during the war and had both been sent to Azkaban.
They each began to talk about why they'd come back to Hogwarts and had similar reasons. They all felt lost and alone.
After a few hours, Draco pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey and passed it around. They drank and huddled closely around the fire. The fire began dying and they decided it was time for sleep. They had two tents. One was for Draco and Blaise and the other one was for the girls. The night was colder than expected and since they weren't able to use magic, they quickly grew cold in the tents.
Pansy eventually sighed. This isn't going to work." She unzipped the tent door and hollered over to the boys. "Come over here. We'll all be warmer in one tent!"
Draco and Blaise brought all their sleeping bags and blankets and crowded into the small tent with the girls. "This is definitely an improvement," Susan observed. Hermione agreed. The extra blankets and body heat had warmed up the sleeping quarters. One by one they drifted off to sleep. Hermione was on the end next to Susan. She thought about how Draco looked without his sweater on and wished she could move around so she could lie next to him.
The morning came very early for Hermione. She opened her eyes, but didn't move. During the night, Susan and Blaise had curled up together. Both were still sleeping. She looked past them and into Draco's eyes. He smirked and raised an eyebrow in the direction of the pair. Hermione had to stifle a laugh. Draco had matured a great deal following the war, but in some ways, he was exactly the same prat she'd punched in 3rd year. Hermione couldn't see, but she thought Pansy was still asleep. Not wanting to disturb the others, Hermione closed her eyes and hoped she'd be able to get a little more sleep.
A few hours later, Hermione awoke to voices outside the tent. Pansy, Blaise, and Susan sounded like they were making breakfast. Draco was to her side and they were much closer than they had been before.
"Granger."
"Malfoy."
"I think if we pretend to be asleep, they'll cook us breakfast," Draco said conspiratorily.
"Sounds like a Slytherin plan." Hermione grinned.
"Most of them are fairly brilliant."
Since the two were sharing a blanket they only needed to whisper. "So, Pansy and Ron." Hermione was very interested in what Draco thought of them as a couple.
"I thought Parkinson had a lot more sense than that." Hermione opened her mouth to argue with Draco. She saw his trademark smirk and stayed silent. He'd been trying to get a rise out of her.
"Is it weird if I can see it?" she asked him. He looked at her quizzically. "They both are up for adventures and having fun. Pansy wouldn't be able to browbeat him and he wouldn't let her get too serious."
"Why have I never seen that before?" Draco immediately understood what Hermione was saying.
"Maybe because we were on opposites sides of a war?" Draco only frowned. He had no idea what to say to the girl who'd been tortured as he watched.
"Do you think Susan blames us Slytherins?"
"I don't think she'd be here if she did. She might still be at Hogwarts, but not on this trip. She seemed to get strength from Harry since he'd lost his family by Voldemort's hand too. I think she's had time to think objectively about who her family's killers were."
"Sometimes it seems like it will never be over," Draco mourned. Hermione knew his mother had been able to avoid Azkaban, but his father would spend the rest of his life there.
"Sleepyheads! Wake up!" Pansy yelled from outside the tent. "Breakfast is ready!"
Draco looked at Hermione. "Told you." He reached out a hand to help the girl up. Hermione didn't want to let it go.