Chapter 10: The Muggle Date

Draco was stood in the middle of a muggle street. He had walked down to the corner to check the street sign and had assured himself of the fact that this was Cherry Lane, the street upon which Hermione lived. It was winter break and Draco decided that he would try to take Hermione on a muggle date.

He had now returned to his previous position and was just about to think about what to do next when he was interrupted, quite unpleasantly, actually.

A car had, all this time, been speeding down the street and now stopped at a screeching halt a few centimeters from Draco's legs.

"Oy! What do you think you're doing! Get out of the road!" the driver, a large, grungy looking man, with facial hair and several tattoos screamed out of the window.

Despitehis limited experience with muggles, Draco was amazingly able to discern that this was one muggle he did not want to make mad. He stepped out of the way, and smiled embarrassedly at the angry muggle driver, "Right, well-er-sorry, then."

The man gave him a look of deep disgust mixed with a look that seemed to clearly call Draco's sanity into question and then speed off once more.

Having gotten lost and having almost gotten run over by a muggle motorist within his first few minutes in the muggle world, Draco thought it was best if he started looking for Hermione's house.

Draco was just about to walk up to the nearest house when he received another nasty shock. A lorry was coming down the street, only it was doing the strangest thing. It was playing music from out of a large speaker on its roof. It was a jingling tune that sounded familiar to Draco so he decided to see if the man in the truck could help him.

He waved at the man who seemed friendly enough and stopped good naturedly.

"Wha' can I get you young man?"

"Hermione Granger, Please." Draco said, thinking that this man and his musical truck really were a lifesaver.

"Sorry, haven't heard of those. But I can fix you up with a nice chocolate covered-."

"Er-no thanks, I am actually quite particular about having Hermione Granger," Draco said, taken aback that in the muggle world people sold girls coated in candy out of the back of lorries. He would definitely have to tell his father about this later.

"Well, if I've never 'eard of it than it can't be that good can it? Now, anything else? Not even something in the large gumball variety?" the man asked hopefully

Now Draco was incensed. He loved Hermione Granger. Who was this man to say that a girl with larger "gumballs", as the man had so crudely put it, would be better suited for him!

"Why, you—horrible—disgusting—I would not!" Draco said indignantly.

He was about to give the man, who was no longer smiling, some what for.

"Well, no need to get angry. Honestly! If there's nothing else I have to go before the girls start to melt!" the man said patting a large case behind him fondly.

Draco was horror struck and was seriously considering calling the 'pleesemen' on a public 'fellytone' until a young girl in a pink jumper raced up to the lorry and asked for a Cream Pop and a Mars Bar.

Several seconds of comprehension later, Draco understood that the lorry sold candies and ice creams- not women-as previously thought, and decided he had no gripe with the "Ice Cream Muggle" after all.

Thinking that the muggle world really was more trouble than it was worth, Draco approached the door of a nearby house and after several minutes of pondering the small button next to the door, and going as far as to shout at it fiercely, using language that his mother certainly wouldn't approve of, he found that if he pressed the little button a little bell rang.

Draco actually found the 'funny little muggle knob' very amusing and, by the tenth or eleventh time that he had pressed it, was hanging onto a trellis for support.

Now, if only I knew what it did?

Draco scrutinized the knob and was bending over and glaring at eye level, with an amused grin on his face when the door opened.

"What on earth!" the woman cried.

"Why did you ring so many times?"

"Er-so you heard it too? Whew-well, that is a relief," Draco said, happy that he wasn't imagining ringing buttons right before his date.

The woman gave Draco a curious look.

"I don't want to buy anything!" she said.

"Er-that's good, I guess, neither do I," Draco said, thinking that this muggle was rather peculiar.

"So please leave." And with that Draco had the door slammed on his face and was left standing on the fDracot step.

The woman was now glaring at him through a tiny curtained window in the door and Draco thought it was best if he found another muggle to ask as this one didn't take kindly to having her little button pushed and was discussing the most random things such as shopping.

Three houses and a whopping 213 ringing button pushes later Draco had his third door slammed in his face. By the fourth house he prided himself on the fact that he had mastered the muggle button. This time it only took five rings to bring someone to the door.

It was the young girl who had bought ice cream from the Ice Cream Muggle earlier and she stood in the doorway glaring at him.

"Er- hello-is your mummy or daddy home?" Draco began.

"Maybe. Who are you and why are you carrying onions?"

Draco looked appraisingly at his bouquet.

"Why? Aren't they nice? I heard muggles—oops I mean people-"

"What did you just say?" the girl piped up.

Draco didn't answer; he realized he shouldn't have said 'muggle' in fDracot of the little girl.

"Well- it must be a very bad word because I have two older brothers and I have never even heard them use it!"

"No-no-it's not really-it's just a term--" Draco bent over towards the girl and smiled at her with his head level with hers.

"I don't like you." She narrowed her eyes behind her glasses

"I'm going to tell Mummy that you said a bad word. She will be very cross with you and will probably ground you like she did my brothers."

Draco had no idea what this "grounding" thing was but didn't like the sound of it at all.

"No, please don't do th-----"

But it was too late,

"MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY! There's a boy at the door carrying onions and he has just used a dirty woooord!"

Draco didn't wait around to see if her mum was coming. Gryffindor or not, he ran. When the little girl's house was out of sight and he no longer heard her screams, Draco stopped to lean against the side of a house in order to catch his breath, clutching his ribs.

He was hot, his bouquet for Hermione was beginning to smell, and he doubted very much that any vestige of his part remained.

Fortunately the muggle postman arrived at that moment and dropped several envelopes on the mat of the house against which Draco was leaning.Having once watched his parents send a letter by muggle post to Harry, Draco knew that the address would be on the envelope.

Checking to make sure that the muggle postman was out of sight, Draco crept up to the doormat and was just picking up the top envelope when the door in fDracot of him opened and their was a sudden sharp intake of breath.

Draco was afraid to look up.

He wasn't quite sure but he stDracogly suspected that muggles didn't take kindly to having their mail pilfered. He was considering running for it once again when the sound of his own name caused him to look up.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I'm so glad you found the house okay. I was getting worried that you didn't understand my directions!"

Draco looked up to see Hermione. She looked absolutely lovely. Her hair was as bushy as ever, and was pulled back in fDracot with a clip. She was slightly tanner than usual from her recent trip, but otherwise looked just as he remembered. Her bright brown eyes beamed at him and he thought she had never looked more beautiful.

He smiled.

Draco thought it was rather a shame that Hermione had found him like this as he would have preferred to ring her muggle knob (A/N: no innuendo intended, although by all means, go ahead, Draco, you could ring my muggle knob anytime!) as he had had so much practice that he had gotten quite good at it.

"Er-Hi Hermione. It's-um-it's great to see you," Draco decided that it would be best if he didn't mention his near-death experience with the angry motorist, the fiasco with the ice cream muggle, the young girl yelling for her mother because he had said a dirty word, and almost stealing her mail.

"Oh, you were getting our mail. Thanks, Draco, You didn't have to do that."

He handed her the post and saw her looking expectantly from him to the bouquet in his hand. He finally got the hint.

"Oh-er-these are for you."

'They're lovel---oh--" Hermione stopped short. "Are these…onions!"

"Oh, um, yeah, Fred and George told me it was some sort of muggle tradition."

"Oh," Hermione said, not yet taking the bouquet that Draco had extended to her.

"Oh, Draco!" and before Draco knew what was happening Hermione had wrapped herself around him in a giant hug. It felt wonderful, drinking in the smell of her hair and feeling her soft, warm body pressed up against his firmer one.

When they broke apart Draco was aghast to see Hermione was crying.

"Hermione! What's wDracog? Are these wDracog?" Draco said, looking at her with concern.

"No, no, I'm fine," Hermione insisted as she accepted the highly unusual bouquet from Draco and invited him inside.

"It's just that when we hugged the bouquet was in my face."

Draco's cheeks turned red but Hermione just smiled at him from behind her tears.

"Draco, that was so sweet of you."

"Er-yeah." Draco said, cheering up, but making a mental note not to ever bring a bouquet again. It made girls act all funny.

"So this is my house," Hermione stated, bringing Draco out of the foyer and into the living room.

Draco immediately saw that it was extremely neat, and very white.

And very much unlike anythinghe had ever seen before.

Hermione took Draco's hand and lead him towards the back of the house and into the kitchen.

"Mum, Dad, this is my-er-my boyfriend Draco," Hermione said

Draco smiled weakly; he was feeling all out of sorts. Hermione was holding his hand loosely in her own and he thought that she had just referred to him as her boyfriend.

Draco remembered just in time to shake hands with Mr. Granger and to compliment Mrs. Granger on her fine home.

"And you brought a bouquet! How lovely," Mrs. Granger said, eyeing the bundle in Hermione's hand.

"Oh, uh-mum…" Hermione began

"Are those onions?" Mr. Granger asked peering over his reading glasses to get a better look.

Draco opened his mouth to speak but Hermione began before he had the chance.

"Um-well, yes they are actually," she said matter of factly.

"Well, why don't I, er, take those and put them in a vase, shall I?" Mrs. Granger said, having caught a sharp look of warning from her daughter.

They stood in the kitchen talking for several minutes before Hermione offered to show Draco the rest of the house.

Extremely relived, Draco was directed out of the room by Hermione.

"What a nice young man," Mrs. Granger said, just as soon as the two were out of earshot

"Nice healthy teeth."

"Perhaps," Mr. Granger reflected, "slightly misinformed though," as he stared at the vase in the middle of the dining room table that now housed Draco's onion bouquet.

Draco was lead through the other room's of the modest Granger household but didn't listen to very much of what Hermione was saying as she was holding onto his hand again, and he found that this action was accompanied by a sudden lack of intelligent thought on his part.

He only just remembered to nod and say "Uh-huh," a bunch of times as Hermione showed him pictures (not moving) of their recent vacation and it took Draco a second to realize that he was being led upstairs.

"And this is my room," Hermione said, opening a door at the end of the hallway (white).

Draco suddenly snapped back to attention as she had let go of his hand to open the doorknob.

"What do think?"

Draco saw that Hermione's room was extremely neat. It was white like the rest of the house and had bookshelves along one wall housing all of Hermione's spell books and many others as well.

His eyes traveled all around the room and finally rested on the bed, which was made up with light blue jersey sheets.

"I think it's the neatest place I've ever seen," he said.

Hermione beamed.

"Well, dad offered to drive us to town so we should really go now."

"You mean we can't floo there or something?"

"Of course not, Draco. Most muggle restaurants don't even have fireplaces, and I don't think that muggle chefs would take kindly to the two of us suddenly appearing on their stovetop."

"Oh, right" Draco couldn't really imagine what a muggle restaurant looked like.

He was slightly reluctant to leave Hermione's room as it smelled so…so like her…like fresh sheets and shampoo.

The way out of the Granger's home was one white blur until they got into the Granger's car. The car-ride to the center of town was uneventful except for Draco shouting and pointing at the strangest things.

He stared at a petrol station, pointed and shouted, "Did you see that!" loudly into Hermione's ear as they passed a parking meter, and finally, laughed himself silly at the sight of a traffic light, asking if they had bewitched the light to do that, or something.

Truthfully, Hermione was quite glad to get out of the car, by the end of the ride. Draco had just made them drive extra slowly past a police car so that he could get a good look.

"C'mon, Draco," she said, exasperatedly, as Draco was struggling with his seatbelt which felt to him as though it would rather kill him than release from its catch.

She finally took pity on him and unbuckled the thing and it snapped duly back into its slot looking as innocent as ever. Draco was still rubbing his neck and throwing the seatbelt a dirty glance as they waved goodbye to a concerned-looking Mr. Granger and walked towards a restaurant.

And that is where Draco's troubles really began.

A/N: Wazzup! I decided to take some advice and actually make Hermione and Draco a couple… and although it might not seem like it as of now it will… just wait you'll see