Author's Note – The title loosely means Sweets and Conversations in Latin. This chapter was edited on 6/16/16.

Chapter Four

"Dulcis Itaque Sermo"

The second week of October brought the first cold front of the season. Chilling drafts lurked in dark corners of the castle, and any student feeling the need for fresh air would need to bundle up before venturing outside. The first Hogsmeade weekend dawned cool and cloudy as students emerged from their beds. When they finally convened in the courtyard, a fine mist had settled over the lawns. It collected in Hermione's hair as she waited alongside Harry and Ron, a heavy cloak keeping the wind at bay.

"I think we should go to Zonko's first." Ron hopped up and down on his feet to keep warm.

Harry nodded, hugging himself. "I heard they got a new kind of fake wand. It turns to jelly when you try and use it."

"You know what kind?" Ron asked.

Harry tilted his head to the side. "I think the ad said grape."

"Fantastic," he said, grinning. "I think I ought to buy one or two."

"Anywhere you need to go 'Mione?" Harry turned to look at Hermione.

Hermione shoved her mittened hands beneath her cloak. "Honeydukes. I'm out of Chocolate Frogs."

Harry nodded. "I need to go there too. You know, I think somebody nicked my Nicholas Flamel card," he said. "I can't find it anywhere."

"It's probably under your bed," she said.

"No." He frowned. "I looked there. Oh well." He shrugged. "I'll just have to buy some more."

Hermione nodded. "I also want to go to Scrivenshaft's."

"Why would you want to go there?" Ron asked, slightly appalled.

Sighing, Hermione regarded Ron tersely. "I happen to enjoy that store."

He shrugged. "Whatever charms your wand."

"I can go there when you two go to Zonko's"

Professor McGonagall appeared, a long list in her hand. "When I call your name, raise your hand, and I'll check you off. Once everybody is accounted for, then we can leave."

OOO

Students crowded Honeydukes from wall to wall, some milling around while others rummaged in bins. A sugary sweetness filled the air, and the shelves and bins were packed with colorful boxes of sweets. Candy filled the store nearly as far as the eye could see, any student's heaven. Hermione stood in the middle of aisle two, a basket thrown over her arm as she surveyed the Chocolate Frogs before her. Honeydukes' manufacturing and research department had issued a new variety of Chocolate Frog: dark chocolate. The idea tantalized the center of her brain devoted to chocolate, and now she had to choose between her much loved original Chocolate Frog or the new variety. Hermione had always been one to try new things; however, when it came to her Chocolate Frogs, she was very particular about what she wanted. Sighing, she pressed her lips together and transferred her weight to her other foot, scratching her chin.

"Personally, I'd go for the new dark chocolate."

Slightly startled, Hermione looked up into the silvery-gray eyes of Draco.

"Pardon?" She glanced at him and then behind her.

"What?" he asked, seeing where her eyes roamed. "Scared your little Potty or Weasel will see you fraternizing with me?"

"What? No." A blush crept up her cheeks, and she turned away.

"Whatever, Granger," he said, turning to stare at the boxes upon boxes of Chocolate Frogs.

"You know," she said, "they do have names."

"I know." He selected a Chocolate Frog and read the back of the box.

"Then why don't you use them?" Reaching up, she grabbed a small stack of Dark Chocolate Frogs. "Do you really think I should go with the dark chocolate?"

"I prefer Potty and Weasel," he said, "and I do think you should go with the dark chocolate."

"I'd prefer if you called them Harry and Ron, or at least Potter and Weasley," she said. "But what if I don't like the dark chocolate kind?"

"I don't think your preferences matter considering it's my speech we're talking about." He raised one eyebrow and gave her a patronizing look. "And if you're scared you won't like the dark chocolate variety, then get half and half." He dropped a handful of Chocolate Frogs into her basket and walked off.

Sighing, Hermione shook her head and sorted through the Chocolate Frogs already in her basket. When a small sheet of folded parchment turned up between two boxes of Dark Chocolate Frogs, she frowned and retrieved the note. Unfolding it, she smoothed out the wrinkled edges and read the tiny words scrawled on the sheet.

Meet me behind Madam Puddifoot's at 1pm.

-DM

Hermione pressed her lips together and slipped the note into her cloak's pocket. Dumping a few more handfuls of Chocolate Frogs into her basket, she weaved her way to the front counter, paid for her sweets, and headed onto Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.

OOO

The land behind Madam Puddifoot's, dotted with various trees and bushes, remained vacant of any buildings as it sloped gently downhill. Hermione and Draco sat side by side on a large fallen log among a small grouping of bushes. The sounds of merry students enjoying an outing to Hogsmeade could faintly be heard, and the aroma of freshly brewed tea seemed to hang in the area surrounding Madam Puddifoot's.

"Why do you hang around with Potty and Weasel?" Draco asked, picking up random stones and throwing them.

Hermione turned to him. "That should be obvious. They're my friends."

"But they're so annoying," he whined and chucked another stone.

"You barely know them," she said. "You shouldn't make conclusions like that."

He stared at her. "I know them well enough."

Hermione glanced at him witheringly. "You don't know either of them at all."

Draco matched her expression. "I know them well enough to know that they're annoying."

"And you only think they are annoying because you want to think they're annoying," she said.

Sitting up straighter, Draco glared at Hermione in haughty annoyance. "And who are you to say what I want to think?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "It's rather obvious."

"It is not!"

"I hope you realize that when you deny something's obviousness you also admit its existence." She smirked.

"And how do you figure that?"

"How can you say something isn't obvious without knowing that that something exists in the first place?" she asked condescendingly.

Draco stared blankly at Hermione for a minute and then turned away. "Whatever, Granger."

Still smirking, now more to herself than at Draco, Hermione rummaged around in her Honeyduke's bag. Extracting a dark purple box containing a Dark Chocolate Frog, Hermione ripped through the cardboard and picked up the frog, setting it in the palm of her hand. The magic contained within the chocolate hummed pleasantly against her skin. She studied it, her head tilted to the right, trying to decide whether she liked the appearance of this new frog.

"You're supposed to eat it, Granger," Draco drawled, and Hermione looked up at him.

However, the moment she took her eyes off the frog, it decided to leap out of her hand and attach itself to Draco's face directly over his right temple. Draco froze, his eyes sliding to their corners as he glared at the frog. Stifling a smile with one hand, she reached out just as the frog readied itself for another jump and gently plucked the frog from his face. She crammed it into her mouth.

"I'm glad you found that funny, Granger," he said when barely contained giggles kept coming from Hermione.

Hermione turned towards him. "I'm sorry," she said around a mouthful of chocolate. "You have to admit, it was funny."

He looked at her dryly, his lips pressed together, and fine strands of blond hair blowing in the wind. "Quite funny."

Sighing, she turned forward, propping her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her palms. Draco glanced at her for a moment and shrugged before returning to tossing rocks.

"So, why do you really hang around with Potty and Weasel?" he asked again after several moments of silence.

Hermione tilted her head to look at him. "I already told you," she said. "They're my friends. You've got to understand that much."

"Why them?"

"Why not?"

"Don't answer my question with a question," he said. "It's annoying."

Hermione sighed. "They are my friends because that's just who they are," she said. "You've got friends of your own; you must understand that."

Laughing humorlessly, Draco stared at the sky. "Right, friends of my own. If that's what you want to call them." Setting his lips in a thin line, he regarded Hermione with an expression less than amused. "You don't make friends in Slytherin," he said. "You make allies."

"But what about those two boys who used to follow you around?" she asked.

"Crabbe and Goyle?"

Hermione nodded.

"I think the operative phrase you used was used to follow me around," he said.

"But—"

"But what, Granger?"

"But what about that boy I've seen you around with?" She brushed a lock of hair out of her face.

"Blaise?" He fiddled with a few stones in his hand.

"That's his name?"

Draco nodded.

"Well," Hermione said. "Wouldn't he be your friend?"

"More of an ally."

"What's the difference?" she asked, shaking her head in confusion.

Standing up, Draco brushed off the seat of his pants and regarded Hermione with a cold look. "I don't know, Granger. Why don't you look it up in a book?"

Turning on his heel, Draco marched up the slope and out of sight, leaving Hermione confused and a bit perplexed.

OOO

The next evening, Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room performing final revisions on two essays due Monday morning. Biting her bottom lip, she scratched out mixed in and replaced it with integrated before moving onto the rest of her essay, adding in a comma here and deleting a comma there. Reaching the end of her current paragraph, she set her quill down and rubbed her eyes.

"You alright, 'Mione?" Harry asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down across from her.

Looking up at her friend, she gave a half-shrug. "I guess."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Because it looks like something's bothering you."

Sighing, she stared unseeingly at her essay. "I just—" She rubbed the side of her head where a minor headache had begun. "I'm fine," she said, glancing at Harry, nodding. "I'm fine."

Concern creased his brow. "You're sure?"

"Yeah." She nodded, smiling slightly. "I'm fine."

"All right," he said, bracing his hands on the table and stood up. "Then I guess I'll let you get back to your essay."

Hermione smiled and returned to her homework.

"But, Hermione," Harry said at the last minute, turning to glance at her. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here."

"Ok," she said.

"And I'll listen," he said. "Anything you have to say, I'll listen."

She smiled again and nodded. "Thanks Harry."

Satisfied, Harry nodded once and returned to the couch where he and Ron were engaged in a game of Exploding Snap with Neville. Hermione returned to her essay; however, she found it difficult to concentrate as her thoughts began to take over. Realizing that she would get no more homework finished at that moment, she closed her book and slipped it into her bag.

She headed for the portrait. "I'm going for a little walk. I'll be back before curfew."

"Alright," Harry said.

Ron frowned. "You're going alone?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I need to clear my head."

"Oh." He flicked a glance at her before returning his attention to his rook. "Alright then."

Situating her messenger bag over her shoulder, she left the common room and turned left down the first hallway she came to. The halls of Hogwarts, an hour before curfew, were silent and lit by the gentle glow of the torches. Occasionally, a stray student returning from the library or a meeting with a friend would appear, and Hermione would nod politely and move on.

She let her feet lead her as her mind wandered aimlessly through the thoughts racing through her head—the majority of them revolved around Draco. He was truly a puzzle, and Hermione wanted to figure him out, understand why he had been so different lately. It was out of character for the blond Slytherin to act so friendly with her, or as friendly as he could act. Something was going on; this Hermione knew.

Rooting around in her bag, Hermione found the small bag of Skittles her mother had sent her the other day. Aside from chocolate frogs, Skittles were her other sweet addiction. If her mother allowed her, Hermione imagined she'd be able to eat a dozen bags of the small sweet candies. Tearing the bag open, she fished one out and popped it into her mouth. Reaching another corner, she absentmindedly turned down the next corridor and stumbled as she crashed into another person. A pair of pale, long-fingered hands caught her, saving her from a nasty spill to the ground. However, her bag of Skittles couldn't be salvaged as it fell to the ground, colorful, round candies skittering across the stone floor.

"Oh, bugger." She watched her candy roll away.

"Granger?"

Hermione looked up. "Draco? What are you doing here?"

"Presumably the same thing you're doing," he said, removing his hands from her shoulders and brushing them awkwardly on his pants. "Taking a walk."

"Oh." She knelt down to gather her scattered candy.

Draco stooped down to help her. "What are these?" he asked, picking one up and holding it up to the flickering candle light.

"Skittles," she said, returning the candy she'd gathered to the bag.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "And those are?"

"Muggle candy from the States," she said simply, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she glanced up at him. "Try one."

Staring at the red candy in his hand, he studied it skeptically and then gave it a tentative sniff.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione shook her head and laughed. "You're supposed to eat it, Draco."

Giving her a suspicious look, he cautiously placed it into his mouth and bit down. With a critical look in his eyes, he chewed.

"Not bad," he said after swallowing.

Hermione smiled, finished picking up her candy, and stood up. "Walk with me?" she asked.

Draco considered her offer for a second before nodding. Together, they began walking down the corridor in silence as Hermione mechanically popped Skittles one-by-one into her mouth.

"Do you think I could have another?" he asked after a few moments.

She smiled, holding the bag up in her hand. "Hold out your hand."

Complying, Draco reached his hand out, palm up, and watched as Hermione poured some into his hand.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

Her eyebrows shooting up in surprise, she grinned. "No problem."

Returning to their own personal musings, Draco and Hermione wandered the halls of Hogwarts in silence until curfew began its inevitable approach, forcing them back to their respective common rooms.