Worse for Wear
Chapter Seven: It's a Date
The clinking of glassware woke me up from my troubled sleep. With all this drama I felt like I had been dragged behind a hippogryph. I opened my eyes, slowly letting them adjust to the light. I noticed that I wasn't in the same bed. In front of the bed, with two house elves was Draco. The two elves had a tray of food balanced on their heads.
"Look master, she awakes!" One squeaked. He took the tray from them and shoed them from the room, tipping them with bits of the sweet smelling fruit. He placed the tray down on the bed and climbed in bed next to me. I smiled sleepily at him, still fighting to fully wake up. He returned the smile and gently kissed my forehead.
"The other day you gave me a great idea, I just had to find the right day to surprise you with it."
"Thanks Draco, it was very thoughtful of you. I've never had a real breakfast in bed before," I said. I looked at the tray, looking over all the food Draco had brought me. There was a bowl of strawberries and a small plate of pancakes. I took one of the glasses of milk and raised it to make a small toast.
"To….us."
"To us," Draco echoed grinning widely. We clicked the glasses together and drank the sweet milk. I reached out for a strawberry but Draco stopped me. He told me to open my mouth. Eyeing him I did as I was told. He brought the strawberry to his lips and took a bite leaving me with none at all. Laughing he placed one on my lips for me to eat. We took turns feeding each other with the tasty fruit, the whole time giggling madly.
"Wait...wait…wait… I'm not done with this one!" I cried giggling as Draco tried to shove more berries into my mouth. He let out a wholehearted laugh and slid his hand under my head. Then he pulled me close to him and kissed me, like how I had imaged in my frequent dreams. I deepened the kiss and got lost in the amazing feeling. I never knew how good of a kisser Draco was.
"I have an important question for you Hermione."
"Okay, well I'm ready to answer said important question," I replied resting my head on his chest. He plopped a plump strawberry into my mouth to occupy me. I chewed it happily, waiting for him to ask this important question of his. He cleared his throat.
"Well, Derek and Veronica are both busy tonight with their parties, so I was wondering if you wanted to go on a sort of date. We can even make it an all day thing. What do you say?" He asked taking a strawberry and sucking on it. I smiled and nodded. Draco grinned and leaned over kissing me again. He tasted of strawberries, and smelled of cinnamon. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I smiled and told him I wanted to stay in bed until the strawberries were gone.
"I think I can arrange for that to happen," Draco joked dangling a strawberry above me. Once we finished off the delicious berries we got dressed and went for a horse and buggy ride. I had never been on a horse drawn carriage so it was a very cool experience. Draco told me he had a great a surprise lined up for me as we rode. The clipping of hooves on the cobbled stones of this section of Dublin only made my heart beat faster.
"I think you'll really like this surprise that I have lined up," He whispered in my ear, kissing my neck. Shivers shot up my spine making me shake a bit. That amazing smile lit up Draco's face as he held my hand, and gently ran his fingers across the necklace around my neck. It wasn't the one he got me, but a small locket with a tiny keyhole in the center.
"Harry and Ginny got it for me last year for Christmas and I use it to hide my secrets in it. I can't unlock it with magic I have to use the key and I can put memories in it almost like a Pensive," I explained to Draco. I could feel his yearning to see what kind of secrets Hermione Granger had. It was just like that yearning I had to know more about Draco. The carriage came to a halt and Draco helped me out. The sun shone bright and made his perfect blonde hair gleam in the sun. He ran a hand through my hair as we walked along the Irish beach to a small stable with two horses tied up.
"I hope you know how to ride."
"You'll have to teach me how, because that is one thing I never learned to do," I said in reply. Draco went to the two beautiful Morgans and went through the process of saddling a horse. Then he lifted me up onto the smaller of the two chestnut horses and handed me the reigns. Then he got up into the saddle and we began our horse ride along the beach. It was by far the most romantic thing I had ever seen someone do for me.
"Oh this is so romantic! Ron never use to do this kind of stuff for me. Instead he expected me to make dinner after I had worked a long shift at work. Then he would think that a dinner out was good enough."
"Weasel-Be needs to learn that the way to a woman's heart is a tough rout. Once you get her you can't expect to keep her if you treat her badly." Draco said wisely. I wanted to jump off my horse and kiss him. "Is it true he's coming to Dublin?"
"I don't know, Ginny said she'd try to stop him, but I almost think it'd be better if he came so he could get a nice reality check. I'm not his girl anymore," I said sighing. Draco stopped his horse and I stopped mine right next to his. He leaned over and kissed me, almost pulling me from my horse. When the horses got sick of sitting we broke apart.
"Hermione, will you go out with me?"
"We are going out, we're even out on a date," I replied smiling. He knew I was going to give him this reply but I wanted to hear him explain his reasoning out for him. I took a small breath trying to calm the excitement inside me.
"No, I mean for real Hermione. I want you to be my girl now," The way he said my name I could hear the pleading in his voice. He wanted me to forget all about Ron and focus on only him. In truth I wanted him to give up on Veronica and worry about me.
"I would love to be your girl," I replied, a bright smile lighting across my face. With a yell of glee he kicked his horse and raced across the beach. I followed after, trying to catch up. It was getting to be a hot day and I was glad I had brought clothes for swimming. We stopped the horses back at the stable then Draco took my hand and led me to a small table covered in more food. It was right next to the water, and when a bigger waved would wash in the water would tickle the bottom of my feet. After we had a nice lunch we lounged about on the beach, chasing each other about and swimming. It was the perfect day, and I could never be happier. When we got back to the Manor it was getting dark. Draco told me the he was going to take me out to dinner so I had to pick out my best dress.
"My favorite is the black skin tight one, I think you know the one I'm talking about."
"The one with out the back?"
"Yeah, that one," Draco replied dressing in front of the mirror. I pulled the slimming dress on and quickly did my hair. When Draco was done gazing at himself he looked at me. I thought his jaw was going to break on the stone floor.
"You look….you look incredible Hermione," Draco said taking my arm and leading me to yet and other buggy. We drove to one of the best restaurants in town and had a private candle light dinner. Around us the stars and the shimmering flowers gleamed along with the candles.
"This is amazing, how did you ever think of this?"
"Do you doubt my connections?" Draco asked me. I shook my head and took a bite of pasta. He smiled and did the same. We chatted just like we always use to after work. It felt so normal to talk to him. Before we left Draco had one more thing for me.
"I want you to have this, it's been in my family for years," He said handing me a ring that looked like a snake biting its own tale. It was encrusted in emeralds and matched the other necklace he had bought me. It was so beautiful. I threw myself on Draco and hugged him tightly.
"I take it you like it."
"Like it? I love it!" I exclaimed. After that we went back to the Manor to relax after our long day. I was resting on the bed when there was a knock on the door. It was Veronica and she had extra drinks from her bachelorette party. Draco talked with her a bit then she left. He handed me a martini with a bright red cherry in it. I noticed that his didn't have one.
"I don't like cherries so she gave me the one with out one," He said shrugging. He took me out to the balcony to enjoy the drinks. From there we had an amazing view of the moon and the ocean. Once I was done with my drink I climbed into Draco's lap and rested my head on his chest. He scoped me up and threw me on the bed kissing me. After an intense bout of kissing Draco got this funny smile on his face. I asked him what was up. He leaned in and began kissing my neck.
"I was trying to think of a crafty way to say this, but the martini went to my brain to fast. Either that or you distracted me."
"Well get to the point already."
"I love you Hermione. I always have and I always will."
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