Quidditch League Challenge, Season 5, Round 1

Position: Seeker

Team: Ballycastle Bats

Word Count: 1,859

Pairing: Draco/Hermione

Here Are Your Otters

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you would leave him," Draco said as he leaned casually across the Leaky Cauldron's bar. "You're way out of his league, Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes and finished the last drops of her butterbeer.

"Yeah, well I wish I had your divination skills," she said, staring into the empty glass. She still could not believe that Ron would have betrayed her, after all they had been through together.

"Ginger-haired weasels, the lot of em," Draco snarled. He patted Hermione on the back and called over the bartender with the wave of a slender, pale hand. "Another drink for the lady, and something stronger this time."

Tears began welling up behind her eyes as she thought of Ron and the rest of the Weasleys. They were her family. They had been with her through the war, through erasing the memories of her own parents, through all of her school years. What did she have now? What would she do?

Hermione could feel a few drops escape, and covered her face with her hands. As Draco enveloped her shoulders in a hug, her first instinct was to squirm away. However, it actually didn't feel all that bad.

"Here you go," Draco lifted up her chin and handed her a glass of a shimmery, bright-green liquid. Hermione wrinkled her nose. "What's this?"

"Absentia. A rare, pixie-made spirit," said Draco rather pompously as he examined his own glass of the drink. "Worth pretty much the last of the Malfoy fortune, but worth it to stop your crying." He flashed a smile at her as she gave her glass a sniff. It had a pleasant aroma, like new plants blooming in springtime.

She took a tentative sip. It tasted wonderful, and seemed to make her brain buzz. Within seconds, she was feeling almost happy.

"Not bad," she said. Malfoy's grin grew as he looked at her face.

"Not bad, she says." He chuckled to himself.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Hermione asked. She had never imagined that Draco Malfoy of all people would be offering her consolation. She needed it, though. Her two closest friends were Ron's best friend and his sister, and she couldn't bear to talk with them about the breakup.

Draco chuckled again. "Slytherins can be nice sometimes, Granger. You just never gave us a chance."

Hermione contemplated this quietly for a moment. She knew Malfoy must have some sort of ulterior motive, but could not figure it out. Then, she remembered.

"Can I ask what happened with you and and Pansy, Draco? I thought you two were engaged and then I saw her with..."

"Oh," his face fell. "Well, you know, the pureblood league," he cleared his throat and looked intently at his shoes. "Not really my scene anymore."

She tried to study his face, but it was hidden behind a lock of white-blonde hair.

"Has the war changed you so much? I seem to remember you always strutting about at Hogwarts, calling me mudblood any chance you could get, always going on about your father and the Dark Lord." Hermione crossed her arms across her chest.

"Okay, okay," Draco held up his hands in defeat. "Look, we've all changed a lot since then. For instance, I see you're only carrying two books around with you now, rather than 17. And, your hair is a few feet closer to your head."

"Git," she punched him playfully on the arm and they both took another sip of their drinks.

He was still a bit of a pretentious snake, but Malfoy did seem different since the war. They were two of the only students that returned to Hogwarts to finish their education, and in their classes together she though he seemed more thoughtful, and less arrogant than before. Maybe there was a decent person somewhere inside of him.

"Draco," Hermione said as she suddenly turned to him. "Come on an adventure with me."

"Right now?" he looked surprised.

"Yes, right now. I want to do something I've been thinking about for a long time."

Draco brushed back a stray curl from her face. "Honestly Hermione, I've had feelings for you since that time you punched me in the face during third year. Do you remember that day? I never thought you would make the first move."

"Draco!" Hermione said, trying to ladle disgust into her voice. "Yes I do remember that day, and I might just punch you again! That's not even remotely what I was talking about."

"Oh." Even in the dark barroom lighting, she could tell his pale face went bright red.

"Let's get out of here," she said, pulling him off his stool.

xxxxxxxxxx

Draco jumped in his seat as the London muggle-bus started moving.

"Have you really never been on a bus before? Even the Night Bus?" asked Hermione, looking at his panic-stricken face.

"No, Granger, I have obviously never been on a bus," he said through gritted teeth. His knuckles were whiter than ever as they gripped the seats in front of them.

"Here," Hermione threaded an arm through his. "Everything is fine, the bus is safe. Muggles are smarter than you think, I promise."

Draco glanced sideways at Hermione, hoping to catch her eye. However, she was staring out of the window, scanning city blocks with intense concentration.

"I think it was somewhere near Portobello Road," she muttered to herself.

"Where are you taking us, anyway?" Draco asked.

"Do you know what a surprise is, Draco?"

He sighed and sat back in his seat, attempting to relax.

"Fine." He closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensation of having her arm wrapped around his. In his mind's eye, she turned in her seat to kiss him as the muggle passengers oogled them.

There were, in fact, several muggle passengers oogling them as they sat in their seats.

When Hermione realized this, she thought for a moment that she had forgotten to transfigure their robes. Then, it occurred to her that people might be staring because they were an attractive couple. She had never realized how handsome Draco was before riding with him in the fluorescent light of the bus. At this thought, Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes at her own brain. She looked over to Draco, and saw a faint smile across his face.

"Ah, seems that you've gotten over your automobile jitters." Draco's eyes sprang open at the sound of her voice.

"Hm?"

"Nothing. You just seem very comfortable all of a sudden. Ooh," she spun her head around as the bus slowed. "This is our stop." She untangled her arm from Draco's and stood up, grasping a handle above her head. He got up behind her, and they followed a line of muggles off the bus. Hermione raised an eyebrow as Draco threw an arm around her shoulder, but again, she let it stay there.

"Well, here we are," she said as the came to face a neon-signed shop next to the bus stop.

"Orsino's Tattoo Parlor" read the sign, which seemed to hover in the bright moonlight. Inside, Draco could see posters adorned with demons, snakes and all sorts of maniacal images. Maybe it was because he wasn't used to it, but they seemed even more frightening for being static rather than moving. In the window, a huge, heavily tattooed man was taking a complicated looking device to woman's back. Draco wondered if the man was half-giant or just a particularly strange looking muggle.

"This is where you've wanted to come for years?" Draco asked Hermione in disbelief.

Hermione flashed a giddy smile. "Mhm. Ever since I was a kid. My parents and I would pass by on the way to their favorite bookstore. Getting a tattoo is not a very Granger thing to do, mind you." Her warm brown eyes glowed in the neon light. "Are you game, Malfoy?"

He hesitated for a moment, thinking of the dark mark burned into his left forearm. But, Draco quickly decided to seize the moment.

"Absolutely," he said, following her into the store.

After a few minutes spent looking through books of different designs, the possible-giant came up to the pair.

"What will it be today, kids?" He asked in a gruff voice.

"Well," said Draco, his finger gently tapping his lip, "would it be possible for you to do an otter," he heard Hermione gasp, and ignored her, "right here," he pointed to his right forearm.

"An otter?" said the man and Hermione in unison.

"Yes," Draco said slowly, as if they were dim-witted, "an otter."

"Alright," said the tattooer reluctantly before mumbling "kids these days," to himself. "I'll get some drawings ready. Take your time deciding, young lady."

Hermione turned to Draco. "You can't be serious. You know that's my..."

He cut her off. "It's your patronus. I'm well aware." He stared into the distance, avoiding her eyes.

"What are you playing at Malfoy?"

"You're the one who wanted to come here," he said with a shrug.

"Not so you could get-me-tattooed on you!"

"Did you think I was lying when I said I had feelings for you?" he said. "This should prove it."

"You're mad," Said Hermione, not willing to admit that she was a little touched. "Well," she continued, "if you get mine, I guess I'll have to get yours."

Draco grimaced.

"Here's the thing," Draco began. He paused for a minute and took Hermione's hand. She stared at him as if he was a lunatic.

"You see, I usually don't admit this but," he took a deep breath, "I don't actually have one."

She looked into his face. "Really, Draco?"

After another pause, he finally met her gaze and faltered as he saw the real concern in her eyes.

"No, no of course not," he said, trying to laugh it off and keep his voice nonchalant. "It's a, ehm, a peacock."

Hermione snorted involuntarily.

"What?" Draco snapped.

"Nothing, just," now it was her turn to avoid his eyes. "Of course your patronus would be a peacock." She tried to hold them in, but quickly dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"An otter laughing at a peacock. Just brillia-"

Before he could finish, Hermione popped up onto her toes and planted a kiss on Draco's cheek-right where she had punched him years earlier.

She had no idea what made her do it. Internally, she blamed those delicious green drinks, the electric summer night air, the dizzy exhilaration of being at the tattoo parlor, and slight vulnerability that she had never heard in Draco's voice before. Most of all, she blamed the image of Ron kissing another woman. It was seared into her mind, and she had thought about almost every second since it happened. Except tonight.

A stunned look was plastered on Draco's face as she lowered herself down from his cheek. He was apparently speechless.

"Ahem," she blushed when they were interrupted by tattooed giant. "Here are your otters," he said awkwardly as Draco slipped his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her body close to his.