Chapter II

Draco woke up the next day at two in the afternoon. He had actually woken up few times not really knowing where he was and had gotten back to sleep each time. His whole body felt mellow. He contemplated the idea of going back to sleep until his stomach protested in a very loud growl. He sighed and pulled aside the unknown blanket that was entangled in his legs. He looked at it curiously and brought it to his nose. It smelled like Hermione. The sleepy fog he was still under and the enchanting smell caused him to open up in a large goofy smile. Thankfully there was no one in the room to witness it or he would be forced to kill them of course.

He stood up and decided to take a shower. He needed to be presentable before he could go out in search for food. He folded the blanket and stretched out his body. That couch was really not comfortable. Considering that his whole life Draco had only lied on the finest, most tender mattresses that the Wizarding world could offer, this was like, he imagined, if a Weasley had slept on the floor the whole night.

After few stretches, Draco entered in the common bathroom which was empty as the color of the doorknob indicated. He always checked carefully before getting in after he almost walked in on Hermione on their first day.

"RED MEANS IT'S OCCUPIED MALEFOY." She had screamed at him before storming off to her room in a very revealing towel.

It wasn't that Draco was repulsed by the view of her divine legs but he didn't want to see the vein on her forehead pop out again.

It was only after he was under the hot water that the memories of last night started rushing into his mind. Draco couldn't believe that he had spent most of last night talking to her. And even more, he couldn't believe what had been said during their conversations. He had opened up to her about things he hadn't even told Blaise and Theodore. And she had told him intimate things too, that he was sure only a few people knew and probably even only he knew… And they had laughed together in a way that had felt so natural.

Draco sighed. He wanted to hate the way he felt. Better yet, he wanted not to have these feelings at all. I guess being raised by a Malfoy didn't exactly make him a Romeo but it wasn't even that. When he was fifteen of age, Draco had to contemplate for the first time losing someone he loved. Voldemort's threats to kill his family and the fear of losing his mother even for few minutes before Voldemort killed him, had been the worst feeling Draco had ever experienced. He had been terrified to let anyone near him that could cause him that kind of pain. Every time Draco was close to Hermione he felt like she had the potential to make him dangerously happy, so happy that he would have to hold his breath every day waiting for the calamity that would snatch her away.

But that wasn't even all that was. However great the fear of having and losing her it was nothing compared to the fear of not having her at all. What if she didn't like him back? What if he opened his heart only to be rejected? What if the intimacy he felt between them had been greatly exaggerated by his infatuated mind? Wasn't he better off gracefully receiving the mutual respect they could gain for each other and be satisfied with it?

But even with the potential of such great pain, he didn't want to pull away. In the contrary, he wanted to get closer.

He spent more time than he intended to in the shower. When he got into his room, he took a look at the clock and cursed out. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. Had he really slept that long? Now he would have to go down to the kitchens to get food. He sighed, exasperated and started getting ready. It was Sunday, so he decided to go casual. He put on a grey linen pant and a black shirt with matching moccasin. He made sure his hair was perfectly unordered, pushing out a thought that Blaise was right when he said he was too much of a control freak sometimes, even for a Malfoy. He came out of his room and toward the exit. He hadn't reached the painting that a voice called him out from the common room.

"Malfoy!" Hermione called.

He turned slowly, trying to ignore the loop his stomach made at the sound of her voice. She was seated in the red chair he sat in last night and she was eyeing him with a curious smile.

"Granger," he said nonchalantly, "why the bloody hell are you looking at me like that?"

"Where are you off too?" She asked, ignoring his question.

"The kitchen... I thought I'd grab some food."

"Say no more My Lord." She interrupted him with big dramatic gestures she pointed to the coffee table in front of her. There were empty plates carefully dispose on the wooden surface with empty cups and other utensils such as forks and knives.

"Am I suppose to eat air?" Draco said. While he was talking the plate filled up with different meals and desserts, making him nod slowly. "Right." He said avoiding Hermione's satisfied look on her face.

"I thought you might be hungry after your long nap so I took the liberty to tell the elves to get your food directly here."

"Th..thanks," he said avoiding eye-contact. What was happening?

"Don't thank me. Thank them."

Draco's eyes narrowed, confused. It's only at that moment that he saw the feeble little creature next to Hermione. The elf was wearing dirty pieces of drapes and was standing in front of the chimney his long nose pointed down. He seemed uncomfortable to say the least.

"You want me to thank …" Draco said incredulous. Hermione deadly look, however, discouraged him from finishing that sentence. He returned to the elf that seemed as uncomfortable as he was and said "Thank you… elf."

"Pooky," Hermione interjected. "His name is Pooky."

"Pooky" Draco added.

"It is Pooky's honour, sir." The elf bowed before disappearing.

He wanted to think of what all that meant but his stomach reminded him of the priorities. He took place right on the carpet as the table was too low for him to do otherwise. He started serving himself and got into it. Hermione joined him too and took an empty plate. She didn't get much as she had clearly already eaten.

When Draco had calmed his hunger. He lifted his head and stared at her.

"Where are Potter and Weasley."

Hermione shrugged, not knowing and apparently not caring.

"Why aren't you with them?" He asked again

"I don't always have to be with them you know." She said, "Besides, I...I had some reading to do."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her very unconvincing answer. She had always been the worst liar. Did she come to check on him? Draco felt his insides retracting at the idea that she might actually feel the same way he did.

"Sounds like you're having trouble staying away from me, Granger." He tried playfully.

Hermione's cheeks coloured instantly.

"Oh please Malfoy. I just didn't want you to starve. It's called basic human decency."

Malfoy smiled at that sassy comment, how cute she was when she was embarrassed. He stared at her a little bit longer, feeling suddenly confident. He looked at her cherry lips that were semi-open, traced a virtual line to the pink of her cheeks and lost himself in the beauty of her almond eyes.

"What are you looking at me like that for?"

...

"Malfoy...?"

...

"Malfoy... stop that right now!"

Draco came out of his trance to a very angry and very red Hermione. He smiled.

"Come with me Hermione." Draco suddenly stood up and without thinking about it he stretched his hand towards Hermione. Hermione looked at the open hand like it was green with blue stripes. Draco, however embarrassed, did not pull it back. Too late now. Hermione reluctantly slid her hand in his. He pulled her out of the seat fast and dropped her hand as soon as she was on her feet.

"Where are we going?"

"Just come."

Hermione obeyed without any protest, still stunned by the gesture Draco had toward her. Meanwhile, Draco was insulting himself internally. They headed quietly to the seventh floor only interrupted by Hermione's occasional questioning. Draco ignored her for the sake of the surprise but mostly because pissing her off was kind of funny. They arrived in front of the famous wall of the room of requirements a few minutes later.

"The room of requirements," Hermione said, "What are we...?"

Draco signalled her to be quiet and walked in front of the wall three times, his eyes semi-closed. The secret door appeared.

"Shall we?" Draco asked with a ridiculously charming smile on his face.

Granger stepped in the room before him, while he was shutting the door behind them. He turned to her in time to see her marveled face. The room was gigantic, so much so that Hermione was pretty sure they couldn't see where it ended from where they were standing. To see the rooftop she had to lift her face completely up. The ceiling resembled a lot like the one in the great hall with a twist. It was a beautiful sky with enchanted white clouds and pink undertones, the sky was a purple tone that reminded her of a cake frosting and small stars were shining throughout the mystical sky like pure diamonds. It was as if it came out straight from a mythical world in a fantasy book. It was stunning but nothing in comparison to what was standing in front of her.

A giant railway made out of tiny lights was spiralling in the air throughout the room. It was sometimes going almost as high as the sky and drop at places almost low as the ground. Hermione wasn't sure where it started or ended but she could see a small train with flaming colours stationed high up the railway.

But It wasn't the only attraction in this room that had apparently harboured a full-on theme park. There were cups of the size a small bathtub with all the colours of the rainbow floating in the air in a circle that made up a carousel. The rooftop of the carousel was raining down small silver lights and mini unicorns were flying on top singing jingles. On the far north were few tents with different game stands in them.

"A magical theme park," Granger whispered amazed.

Draco had watched her reaction to the scene in silence. He felt so proud that she was so amazed by it. He was nervous at first considering the fact that she was a Muggle but relaxed when he saw her beaming eyes. She turned towards him, the pink on her cheeks giving away how emotional she felt.

"Well, yesterday you asked what I planned to do after Hogwarts. Now you know" he said smiling down at her.

"You want to open a theme park?" She asked baffled.

"A magical theme park" He corrected.

They started walking together through the room while he told the story.

"After the war and after my father was sent to Azakaban my mother was distraught. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep and she was cut off from all her friends who didn't want to be associated with the wife of a death eater. So we took on a trip to the Muggle world. I wanted to distract her from everything but I also wanted her... and me to see how wrong we had been about Muggles. My expectations were actually much surpassed. It's amazing the number of gadgets and tricks they have invented to get on without magic. Anyway, that is how we found ourselves in this huge theme park. I had never seen anything like it and I didn't understand how we didn't have anything like that in the magical world. But after the vacation, I had to come back to Hogwarts. But my mind was spiraling with all kind of ideas and I didn't want to just note them down. I wanted to apply them. So I had the idea to do it here."

Hermione listened in awe. She was very surprised by what Malfoy was saying. She couldn't believe Malfoy had gone willingly to the Muggle side of London, even more, surprising he seemed to have gained respect for muggles and he liked something from there so much that he wanted to bring it to the Wizarding world. She didn't say anything so Draco continued talking to avoid awkward silence.

"This is only like half of all I have in my mind. There is a lot more I want to do."

"It's amazing." She said, "I didn't know the room could get this big."

"Me neither." Draco looked at the Ferris wheel that was Just behind the carousel. "Come let me show you my best favourite ride yet."

They walked towards it and Hermione gushed out in admiration. The Seats were trapped in what looked like giant bubbles that were aligned in a vertical circle. There was no visible base and the wheel had no lateral arms to support the cabins. They seemed to be floating in the air with nothing holding them together except for this silver ball that was positioned right in the center of them. From the ball tiny lights were coming out like hundred of perfectly aligned glow worms, connecting it to all the cabins. Hermione realized they were the same lights she'd seen on the other attractions as well.

Draco stood on a small round platform that was in front of the Ferris Wheel. Immediately one of the cabins came down to Draco's level who tapped the bubbly shell with his wand and it vanished completely leaving the chairs only. Draco turned to look at Hermione and this time intentionally offered his hand.

"Shall we?" He said with a smile.

She took his hand with no hesitation a little light headed from the excitement and the butterfly dancing in her belly.