Eventually, the peace had to be ruined. No question. By the end of the ball, Ron was in a full-on row with anyone who dared stand between him and Malfoy, whom he was currently yelling at.
"Calm down, Weasel. You're embarrassing yourself and your new fiancee." Malfoy drawled easily, giving him a lazy smile. Either he really wasn't affected, or he was just playing at it.
Hermione, on the other hand, was getting angrier the more Ron shouted. "Ronald!" She cried suddenly, standing though her foot seemed to cry out against the movement. "Would you just shove off?"
Everyone in the immediate vicinity stared at her. Especially Draco.
"What's wrong with you, Hermione?" Ron asked, relatively in shock. "He's the enemy! He's cruel!"
"Weren't you there when I helped him get invited to the ceremonies? When he helped me up the stairs because he saw I was hurt? When he helped me get to dance anyways?" She asked sharply, making Ron visibly back away from her.
"If anyone is being cruel, it's not me, Weasel." Malfoy sneered. "And if anyone's been cruel lately, it's you."
Ron stared at Draco as if he suspected that Hermione had told Draco exactly what happened. He glared at Hermione before turning and walking away.
"What just happened?" Hannah asked slowly, walking over to Hermione and Draco.
"Ron finally got angry enough to leave." Hermione replied, "I simply told him he wasn't what he thought he was, and that I didn't want him."
Hannah nodded slowly, wrapped a hand around Neville's arm, and whispered something in his ear. "We're going to head off." He said, turning to the rest of the people still standing around.
Draco sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Just wait until Mother finds out about this mess."
"You're sounding like your old ferret self, Malfoy." Hermione said vaguely. Then she smiled and did an imitation of him, "My father will hear about this!"
"Ugh, don't even mention that horrible man. If you can even call him a man." Draco groaned.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly, watching him.
"Not your fault." He shrugged, standing. "We should probably get home."
Hermione stared at him for a moment, mouth slightly open. He caught her look and fumbled over his words as he added, "To our own places, of course!"
She nodded and pulled herself up onto her boot. He bid her goodbye and they both apparated home.
–
It was two weeks before she would see him again. He hadn't tried to keep in touch, and he hadn't stopped by or sent her anything. Not that she could really expect him to. Why would he think her worth sending silly courting gifts or letters? Well, he wouldn't, she figured. So she just glanced at Hermes every know and then and frowned.
The second Friday after the ball was the first "courting date" insanity Minister Wayland had come up with. Rolling her eyes as she got the letter, she headed to her room to get dressed.
Apparently, the Minister's plan went like this: Every second Friday, each person would get a letter. Every week they would have a different date – except the last Friday before they were to start planning their wedding, which would be the same as the first one. This was probably some ploy to have people think, "It's so much better than the first time!" or some nonsense like that. Anyway, each couple would have a different date from the others – it would sort of trade around between them so everyone went on all of them.
"I have to do this one twice?" Hermione groaned. "Awful.."
She put on her lightest summer wear – shorts and a tank top and close-toed shoes. Taking with as little as possible with her, she apparated to the point designated in the letter.
–
"Are you joking, Draco?" Narcissa practically screeched. Her voice grated on his ears as she continued. "Of all of them, you get Granger? That's the worst possible one. She could never pull off our lifestyle, and you know that. Of any girl you could get, you get the Queen of the Mudbloods-"
"Stop." Draco snapped aggressively. "Don't call her that. You're going to have to deal with her, and I won't let you anywhere near her if you're going to terrorize her endlessly. If she has to live with us, it's not going to be in misery. Neither of us wanted this."
Narcissa glared at him as he reprimanded her. She sniffed and crossed her arms. "Where is your date with the girl, then?"
He gave her an annoyed look and read the letter to her.
When he was done, she looked completely confused. "What is a.. carnival?"
"Some Muggle thing, I think." He shrugged.
–
When Draco reached the carnival, making sure no Muggles saw him land, he was instantly bombarded by the sounds of the place. People were chattering, screaming, or laughing. At the same time, giant machines whirred in every direction. Not quite sure what to do with himself, he stared around, almost afraid.
"Malfoy." Hermione called. Her foot had healed up quite nicely thanks to a follow-up appointment at work. Now she was able to go back to St. Mungo's, and not for her own problems.
He turned around to see her standing there wearing an entirely Muggle outfit that was entirely too revealing for him to deal with. No sleeves, her shorts leaving far too much of her legs for him not to be distracted, her hair pulled back for once in a ponytail.
"What's going on here?" He asked, walking over to her, determined not to let he see any of his surprise, or let her know he was impressed even though she wasn't dressed up.
"It's a Carnival. You go around and play games, eat bad food, and ride the mechanical rides." She shrugged. "C'mon, I'll show you."
They walked up to the ticket booth and Hermione pulled out some Muggle money and paid for them. Luckily, Draco didn't have to worry about exchanging things. But it was weird for him to not be the one paying on a date with a girl. It wasn't as if his family had money problems.
"We won't have to worry about getting on rides, because this one is a 'buy your ticket and you're in' kind, because they expect you to buy food, apparently." Hermione said, turning to him and awaking him from his thoughts.
"Alright, then. … So where do we start?" He asked slowly.
"Feeling adventurous?" She asked slyly.
"I'm a Slytherin, which means I'm ambitious. I am not afraid of some Muggle ride." He said haughtily. She snickered and led him down the path towards a large roller coaster.
"Okay, Granger. What is that thing, and why are people screaming?"
"Let's find out." She smiled.
Truth be told, she hated roller coasters, but she wanted to see his reaction more than she wanted to let him know she was afraid.
"So you enjoy these things?" He asked as they were getting closer to the front of the line.
"Well..." She said slowly, "Not exactly. I just really want to see what you think of it."
"Hmm." He said, eyebrow raised and looking at her like he was trying to read her.
"Oh, look!" She said quickly, "Our turn."
–
The instant the bar had locked down, the panic set in for Hermione. She hadn't been on a roller coaster in ages, but wasn't about to let Draco see how terrified she was. You're a Gryffindor! She reminded herself, glancing over at him. He just looked interested, not afraid.
"Are you alright?" He asked, seeing her looking a bit wide-eyed.
"Of course." She nodded stiffly. "I'm a Gryffindor."
He shrugged, but at that moment the cars jolted forward and he gasped in surprise. He saw Hermione's hands clutching onto the metal bar in front of them, so he did the same. After the steep climb to the top, she closed her eyes as tight as she could, and didn't appear to be breathing.
He wanted to say something to her, but couldn't figure out what could possibly help at that point. Instead, he shifted his hand to the left and put it atop hers. Her eyes flew open as she turned to look at him. Right when their eyes locked, the cars sped down the hill, and was flying over the rails like mad. It reminded Draco of flying, so he started smiling at her, to which she raised her eyebrows in response.
"Let's do it again!" He cried as they exited the ride.
"How about not?" She frowned, not exactly looking forward to braving the monster again.
"Fine." Draco nearly pouted, then started walking around and getting a better look at the other things in the Carnival. "I bet the Weasel couldn't have ridden that thing!" He laughed proudly.
Hermione couldn't help but notice that everything Draco did had to compare to Ron somehow. The dance, marrying her, this carnival, everything. She was sure it didn't mean anything, but there was still that nagging voice in the back of her head that told her something was wrong. It wasn't like she had fallen for him and was annoyed that he wasn't interested in her. It was far too early for that, and things were way too awkward to even consider the idea. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and followed him.
–
"Well that was a good time." Draco said as they walked out the exit of the Carnival.
"Yes it was." Hermione nodded, watching the ground as they walked.
"Are you sure?" He asked slowly, also slowing his walk so she had to stop to stay with him. "You don't sound like it."
"I'm just tired is all. It's been a lot of excitement." She answered, not quite able to explain her mood, even to herself.
He looked at her skeptically for a moment, before giving a slight nod and starting to walk again. As they reached the apparition point, neither knew quite what to say.
"Well I guess I'll see you in two weeks?" Hermione asked, just hoping to break the silence.
"Hopefully sooner than that.." He said, tilting his head, as if trying to convince himself that she would answer positively.
"Perhaps, yes." She nodded, looking away.
"Granger. There has to be something wrong. If you're not going to tell me now, or in person, or whatever, at least send me an owl. We can start like this." Draco sighed, putting a hand on her arm in order to get her to look at him. "We'll be doomed from the get-go if we don't say if something is bothering us."
"Yes. You're right." Hermione agreed quickly, stepping back from him, which forced him to let go of her. "I'll send you an owl if I think of anything."
With that, she apparated away, leaving Draco looking confused.
