Chapter Seven: The First Hand
"So who is he?"
Ginny looked Hermione straight in the eye and crossed her arms.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione replied, crossing her arms as well and smiled. "Gin, I would tell you if there was a guy."
"You're blushing!" Ginny shrieked. "I see you blushing!"
Hermione's face almost fell in shock. She felt her eyes tense up as she tried to keep them their normal size. "No I'm not," she rushed out.
Ginny rolled her eyes and led Hermione through the racks to the dressing rooms. "The guys can only be distracted for so long with Quidditch while they know we're clothing shopping."
Hermione laughed and stepped into one of the stalls. "You're a riot, now let me try this on. Oomph, never let me agree to try on a dress picked out by Ron again."
"I thought if was cute. Besides, you know he was only trying to distract himself while you and Harry 'said' good-bye. What do you think of this?"
Hermione stepped out from behind the big purple curtain and gasped. "Ginny, I love it!"
Ginny was wearing a short, dark green, spaghetti strap dress. It was tight with a straight top and bottom at her upper-thigh and zipped in the back. Many girls would look like a slut with that look, but Ginny seemed to pull it off very nicely.
"When did you get such a great chest?" Hermione asked with a laugh.
"Oh shut up," Ginny said. "And what about you? You look absolutely gorgeous!"
Hermione turned around slowly, showing off the red tube dress she had on. It was a satin, cherry-red dress with a slight strip in the back and a thick black belt that went to her mid-thigh.
"I must admit," Hermione said, "it may have been an accident, but Ron has good taste."
"And you can wear that the next time you go out with your mystery man."
"You're not finding out who he is," Hermione said as she admired herself in the mirror.
"I knew it!"
Hermione whipped around and looked, open-mouthed, at Ginny. She didn't know what to say.
"Please don't tell the guys," she pleaded. "He's just a friend I made this summer. I don't think I'm ready to talk about it though. I'm sorry."
Ginny nodded. "Okay, but only if you buy this dress, your dress and one more hot outfit to wear Thursday night."
"What's tomorrow night?" Hermione knew that there was going to be a game Thursday night and didn't know if she wanted to go or not until she saw Draco before.
"Tomorrow's the night we decided to throw a surprise party for the quidditch team, remember? We were going to come up with a little routine with the other girls and-"
"When did I decide to do a routine?" Hermione asked, sticking her head out from behind the curtain.
"Never, I was hoping to catch you off guard!" Ginny called from behind her own curtain.
The girls stepped out and continued to look at the rest of the clothes before making their purchases and heading off to meet the guys.
"So what did you ladies buy?" Harry asked as he slid into the seat beside Ginny.
"Tampons."
"Okay Hermione," Harry said in a serious tone, "you're just losing your speaking privileges all together."
The table laughed as their drinks came.
"Thanks for paying, Harry," Hermione said with a grin.
Hours after her return from Hogsmaed, Hermione found herself back in the hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She's decided to wear her new shirt she'd bought while Ginny wasn't looking, hoping to look special for Draco. She'd gotten a red crop-top sweater, a while camisole, straight, black jeans, and black boots. Her necklace hit her chest with every step she took, but she didn't slow down.
At the end of the hall, she saw the painting. She paced three times and opened the door. It looked the same as always, but it felt different.
The doorknob turned and Draco walked into the room. They looked at each other, neither knowing what to say.
"Hi," Hermione finally said.
"Hi." They were quiet for another minute before Draco took her hands in his and led her to the couch. "Hermione, last night-"
"I hope you're not going to take it back."
Draco smiled and looked into her eyes. "I'm so happy you're saying that, because I was about to."
"Wait, what?"
He put his other arm around her and said, "I like what's happened between us, but I don't want what happened last night to make things weird, no matter how happy I am that it finally happened."
Hermione's face brightened up and was swallowed by the smile that took it over. She leaned in and kissed him passionately on the lips. When they separated, she said, "Wait, let's slow down a little."
"I'm not exactly the one making all the moves," Draco joked. "I'm sorry, Why don't we start tonight fresh?"
"Well what do you have in mind?"
Draco stood up and the lights in the room dimmed. Hermione heard music begin to play around them and a soft light filled the room. "May I have this dance?" he asked with an extended hand.
"Damn Granger, how many hands is that so far?" Riley exclaimed. "I'm out. If you need me, I'll be at the table across the room from this one."
Everyone left at the table laughed and watched Hermione take her money from the center of the table.
The weekly games had continued and Hermione had an in she never expected. She was respected and loved by all and the group became a sort of family. It was harder to spend time with Draco, though, because of her friends. They'd tried to see each other the night after they decided to see where things led, but Ginny insisted on Hermione participating in the routine until she gave in, leaving her up until one in the morning practicing.
Hermione wrote him a letter during a bathroom break to tell him what she was doing, though. Hermione was only able to get out for the game was because Dean refused to let up until Ginny let her help him with his Charms essay.
Hermione and Draco stayed at the same table the entire night, sending one another little tidbits like a subtle wink or a smile when no one was looking. They loved the excitement of hiding what was going on between them. They had ended up having a romantic evening until Hermione thought up a broom that they flew around the castle on. She showed him the parts of the Forbidden Forrest she had been in, where Harry conjured up his Patronus until she conjured a pizza pie and they watched the stars until the sun began to rise a few hours later. They didn't know where things were going to lead, but they looked forward to seeing what was going to happen. At the end of the night Hermione gave Draco a kiss on the cheek and almost floated back to her dorm.
"Hermione, I think we should start heading back to the house," Dean said at one-thirty.
Hermione looked up at Dean. She looked up at him and tried to think of a reason to stay. "Er, Dean, why don't we stay just another hour?"
Dean yawned and shook his head. "Hermione, I don't know about you, but someone's going to notice that we're not in the library."
Hermione sighed and looked over at Draco. "Well Malfoy, I guess I'll have to finish taking your money next week. Bring a bigger wallet next time, though. I have my eye on a cute pair of shoes."
"You might not want to keep taunting him, Hermione," Dean said as they tip-toed down the hall back to the Gryffindor tower. "We all love you, but he has more of a hierarchy."
"You know I'm just fooling around with him Dean," Hermione whispered back. "I think the corridor is this way."
"Well you might want to make sure he knows that. Word is that he had some fourth year thrown out when we were in second year."
"What did he do?"
"Draco or the guy?"
"Just give me the story."
"I've heard that Draco's been in this society since he was in first year," Dean began. "Some people don't get in until third year, like this guy. He beat Malfoy with a pair of threes, then made a show about it. The next week, he behaved like he was the King of the Cards, he even called himself that, but when he had Malfoy's, er, lady friend on his lap, it was too much. Malfoy had him thrown out."
"Lady friend?"
"Hermione, you know what Malfoy's like," Dean sighed. "We've all heard the rumors and almost all of them are true. He used to have a different girl by his side, if not on his lap or standing behind him. Everyone knew he had his eye on her, a second year, and was this close to having her on his arm, but the guy, he made his move and had her."
Hermione was quiet. She knew Draco had been a playboy, but a different girl every week? Was she just another girl? Maybe she should rethink their, er, whatever it was before it got too far.
"Does he do that often?" she asked Dean.
"It's only happened that one time, but everyone knows not to mess with him."
"SURPRISE! GOOOOO LIONS!"
Harry, Ron and the rest of the quidditch team looked around the common room with smiled.
"What is all of this?" Harry asked Ginny, who was standing beside him in her uniform.
She giggled and ran up the stairs where Hermione was waiting with Lavender, Parvati and six other Gryffindor girls. She threw off her uniform and jumped into her other one.
"Oy! What's going on up there?" they heard Ron call.
All of a sudden, the door swung open and the Gryffindor common room saw the ten girls run down in red and gold cheerleading uniforms waving matching pom poms in the air.
"Ready?"
"Okay!"
"Lions and snakes, the game of the year! Pump up the action! Get ready to cheer! We've got the power that you won't believe! Yeah, we're the Lions and we're tough, strong and mean!"
The room roared with cheer.
"YEAH LIONS!"
"GO GRYFFINDOR!"
"BEAT SLYTHERIN!"
The first game between Gryffindor and Slytherin was the next day and the girls had decided to have a sort of pep rally to get everyone riled up for the big game. The next day, the girls who weren't on the team were going to charm their uniforms so they could stay warm and stand on the edge of the bleachers and keep cheering like at a muggle school.
"Harry, have you seen Hermione lately?" Ron asked at a quarter to one. "And Ginny," he turned around and looked up at the ceiling, "if you're going to be sitting on my best bloke's lap, at least change out of the excuse for an outfit."
"Ronald, I was wearing less this summer at the beach," Ginny said. "Shut up."
"Wait, I thought she was with Neville," Harry said slowly.
"Neville said he saw her with you," Ron told him.
Ginny jumped up in Harry's lap and said, "she's in the library. I heard her say something about an essay she wanted to finish before the game tomorrow."
Ron rolled his eyes. "She's missing this great party to do work. Of course. Excuse me, I see a pretty little thing by the table, I think I'll go have a snack."
"What a pig," Ginny said to Harry when Ron was a few feet away.
"He's talking about the cake," Harry told her. "Besides, he has a thing for Lav."
Hermione had snuck out of the party at ten minutes to midnight. She didn't have enough time to change out of her uniform, but made sure to let Ginny know 'where she was going to be.'
Draco wasn't in the room by the time she got there, so she walked into the room and sat on the couch. After a few minutes, she grew restless and decided to walk around the room a little. Before she knew it, she heard the doorknob turn and almost fell over the table turning around to see who it was.
"Hermione?" Draco asked in a light tone.
Hermione jumped to her feet, hoping he hadn't seen her fall. "Hi," she breathed.
Draco looked down, trying to hide his smile. "Are you okay?" he asked, stretching his 'a.' "I heard a crash."
"No," Hermione replied as non-chalont-ly as she could. "Hello."
Draco shook his head and laughed. "Okay, let's stop. Let me make sure you're still in one piece."
Hermione sighed and looked up at him as he took the seat beside her on the couch. He pretended to examine her, looking closely at her led, elbow, shoulder, neck.
"I think you're going to live," he said, "but I think you have a little something over," he kissed her lips, "here."
They smiled at each other and Hermione giggled. Draco rolled his eyes and leaned back on the couch.
"Total mood killer," he sighed. "Though the outfit almost makes up for it."
"Oh shut up." Hermione giggled again and leaned into his chest. "I'm sorry, but it's just a little, er, amusing."
"What is? Kissing?"
"Well, kissing when you combine it with your sworn enemy for the past six years."
"Sworn enemy?" Draco stroked the back of her hand with his finger and looked into her eyes. "And we haven't quite been enemies for the past few weeks."
Hermione smirked at this and sighed. "Oh come on. Don't tell me that it doesn't feel a little weird."
"Hermione, I want this," he told her. "I don't know about you, but I've really enjoyed whatever it was between us and I'm happy about what happened over the past week."
"Me too, I'm just still taking it in, though." She looked up at him and leaned back on the couch. "But I really do want to see what happens."
"Well let's see."
"Ah! Draco, no!"
Draco had leaned over on Hermione and began to tickle her, but also putting his lips to her neck to do so along with his fingers to her stomach.
"I'm leaving now," Hermione said at one-thirty in the morning at the door. Draco had his hands on her waist and they were kissing with every other sentence. "We have to get to our dorms." kiss
"But I like you more than my housemates." kiss
"But I would like to get to sleep." kiss
"I'll sleep through Potions." Kiss
Hermione giggled and opened the door from behind her. "One more and then I'm leaving." She leaned in and kissed Draco passionately on the lips, which he returned eagerly. "Wait," she separated from him and opened her eyes wide.
"What is it?" he asked her, a bit worried.
"I don't know," she said. "I feel like, I don't know. What is this?"
Draco smiled. He put his hand to her cheek and stroked her face gently. "Hermione, you're beautiful, intelligent, amazing, this is me wanting to see if you're willing to-"
"To sneak around with you?" she half-joked.
Draco smirked. "Well if you want to make it more exciting."
Hermione laughed. "I'm serious. Draco-"
Before she could finish, Draco gave her a hard kiss on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow night." He walked around her and out of the room.
Hermione leaned against the door when it closed and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe things were progressing between the two of them so quickly. With a small squeal, she relived the evening. They talked all night, held hands, it was nothing like she'd expected. She couldn't wait until tomorrow.
