I hope you're enjoying the story thus far! After this chapter it should be just a couple weeks for the next update. Enjoy!
Inside Ollivander's there were very few people. Mr. Ollivander winked at me as he moved around the counter with a wand in his hand. There was a woman with a child in the shop with anticipation written all over their faces. There was a small group of wands and their boxes on the counter, seemingly the rejected ones.
When the child took this new wand in hand, the air around her seemed to lift, swirling her hair every which way and he gave them a knowing smile. The woman behind her clapped excitedly, "Oh thank you Mr. Ollivander." She and Ollivander began speaking with each other quietly while the girl stood by excited. She would be a first year come the fall. I couldn't help but smile as my eyes left them and scanned the room.
Draco was sitting on a stool by the shop window; he seemed to have been watching me. I lowered the hood from my coat and approached him. He too wore muggle clothes, dark jeans and a grey sweater underneath a twill coat. He seemed to give me a cautious smile, hesitant as he stood. "Hello, Hermione," his voice was smooth as butter as he spoke my name, practically a whisper.
I didn't know if I will ever get used to him saying my name. Goose pimples rose on my arms as I spoke, "Hello… Draco." His smile grew, less cautious. And he almost seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "I am sorry for being late. I… had some last minute things to do. Where do we need to go first?"
He shook his head, "You arrived only five minutes past noon, there should be no apologies. I was thinking we could stop by Eeylops Owl Emporium at some point, my own owl is getting quite old. He's been with my family for some time, and I think he deserves a break. But first I would like to head to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary to pick up some potion supplies." He led me out the front door of Ollivander's as he spoke, both of us saying a quick good bye to him as Draco held the door open for me. He extended his arm, but I shook my head as I pulled my hood up over my hair. He straightened his hat and tucked his hands into his pockets as we walked.
"I'm experimenting with a new potion. My hope is to give a more gentle option than the Skele Gro. There's a new deformity in some children where they simply are not born with all their bones. It is still quite rare, but as Harry well knows, growing bones is extremely painful, and the Skele Gro is exceedingly hard to swallow. It tastes quite rancid. If all goes well, my potion will not taste quite so awful, and maybe it will lessen the pain. Of course I think it will be slower acting than the Skele Gro. But every potion has its ups and downs." He gave a small shrug as we passed by the different stalls and people milling about.
He kept quite close to me in the crowd, almost, but not quite brushing his arm against mine. I found that I quite liked the way he spoke, he really seemed to be passionate about this endeavor. He moved to open the door for a pair of witches on their way out of the Apothecary, and then lingered, motioning for me to go first. Lowering my hood, I entered the building, "What kinds of ingredients have you tried thus far? What seems to be assisting in the effects?" He started toward a small shelf picking up some scarab beetles, "Well I have been trying to combine the Wiggenweld potion with the Skele Gro in a way. The Wiggenweld potion tastes almost sweet and children tend to have an easy time taking it. I think if I add in a few drops of the Honeywater and maybe the Horklump juice from that, it might combat the taste. But to keep it from interfering with the bone growth I need to continue to test the consistency of the results."
I nodded thinking through my knowledge. His thought process seemed to be on track with what I might have done. I was surprised no one had thought of it before actually. But then again, once we find a potion that works, we tend to leave it as is. No need to fix it if it isn't broken as one might say.
I picked up a couple of items for myself, taking them to the counter, then returned to the shelves and handed Draco a few items, "If you add the Unicorn hair, Wiggentree bark, and maybe just one of these fangs, I think you might find the potion comes out a little easier. And if you add Syrup of Hellebore, I think it will ease the pain. Though you might want to try powdered moonstone as well." He seemed thoughtful with her recommendations, and nodded, "I think you are right. While not widely known for its pain relieving properties, with just the right combination the syrup would be a good try." He knelt down to retrieve some of the ingredients and smiled up at me, looking through his lashes, "Thank you. I had been wondering what to try for that."
I took a step back and headed to the counter to make my purchase. I added some occamy eggshells to my supplies before totaling it all up. After we had both paid, I raised my hood again as we headed out the door. He continued to tell me about the experimental potion and the failed tests so far, "I've been testing it on mice that had similar issues, having no bones. Don't worry though, none of them have died. If I think a potion simply won't work, I test it with a spell to see if it has any harmful properties. So far, I have only given two trials to my mice. And both times the bones did regrow, unfortunately they really still hate the flavor."
I listened in awe as he explained the new spell that could test for harmful properties without having to test it on a live subject first. "Will you teach me that spell, Draco?" He gave me a quick glance, "Honestly. I am surprised you haven't already heard of it. To think, I have something to teach you? Hermione Granger, brightest witch of our age," he chuckled but the title only made me look down, watching my feet as we approached Eeylops. To be honest, I never took pride in the title. I never discredited my own knowledge, but the title did nothing for me. People expected me to know everything, even things that no one would know. It always bothered me that no one else seemed to know how to pick up a book.
As I put my hood down in the shop, Draco took on a more hesitant face again, "I'm sorry if I've offended you. I shouldn't make fun. The spell is fairly new, and the knowledge is still being spread to the potion masters and Healers. I would be happy to teach you the spell if you still wish." I nodded at his apology and went to observe the little owlets that were sleeping in a corner. Before I knew it he was carrying a cage with a new eagle owl inside. The owl seemed to peer around and then fall asleep as we left the building.
"Why don't we stop by that stall over there and get ourselves a couple of those individual steak and kidney pies? We can sit outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour," Draco started in that direction. Following, I decided I was hungry. Before I could pull out my own money, he had already paid for the two pies. The stall owner handed me a pie with a wink and a fork before turning his attention to another customer. As we sat outside of Florean's I sighed, "Thank you for buying my pie, but next time I would like to purchase it myself."
I tried not to seem ungrateful, but to me, it seemed rather odd of him. He stuttered for a moment, something I didn't think he could do, "My apologies. I suppose I should have asked. But I wanted to treat you. As you know, it's been some time since I have really spent time with anyone, and your suggestions with the potion might be just what I need. So you could think of it as repayment." He smiled and for a moment, all I could do was stare back at him, my eyes caught in his.
I shook my head, "Thank you, Draco." His smile grew as he dug into his own pie.
The pie really did smell delicious, and my stomach growled as I took the first bite. Unconsciously, I groaned quietly with the taste. It reminded me of Hogwarts, of home. We ate in comfortable silence, occasionally glancing at each other and the people passing by. Thus far, the trip was quite nice. I found myself relaxing even as the crowd seemed to grow.
Draco took care of returning our trays to the stall, and retook his seat. Florean's smelled wonderful, even outside. The different flavors of ice cream were quite tempting. I gave Draco a sideways glance as I thought, "Would you allow me to treat you? The toffee apple is my favorite and I haven't had it in some time now. What flavor would you like?"
He seemed surprised at my suggestion but gave a sheepish grin, "I'll take the strawberries and cream, though don't tell anyone else." I quirked an eyebrow at him, "Oh? No one can know Draco Malfoy is a fan of such a sweet flavor?" With his answering eyebrow quirk, I laughed, and I laughed hard. It took a moment to regain control; why that was so funny to me I couldn't decide, but I still ventured into the shop.
Returning to the table with two waffle cones in hand, I gave him the strawberry flavor. "Thank you, I admit I wasn't expecting to have such interesting conversations today. I'm glad though. Today has been new. A good new." He appeared to be savoring the flavor as he licked his ice cream. An odd sensation came over me, in that moment he seemed so carefree, so comfortable. I was both calm and nervous. I had enjoyed the day, and I would have thought, given my nightmare that today would be far more difficult for me to handle. I would have thought I'd been excusing myself and running home, coward to the crowds.
Today thus far had been almost easy. Peaceful. Fun even. It had been months that I could say that. And with Draco Malfoy of all people. But our history hadn't seemed to matter. I pondered this as I finished off my own ice cream, eating the last bite of my waffle cone.
He stood, gathering his things under one arm, his hand extended to me. I took it, and he helped me from my seat. I quickly gathered my own things as he picked up the cage. "Would you mind if I dropped these at my flat? You are welcome to come with me if you'd like, but I understand if you'd rather not. We can meet after, or we could part ways now if that's what you would prefer," he seemed almost sad at the idea.
My own items all fit into my bag that was slung across my shoulder, but he didn't have the same luxury. Maybe I should teach him the extension charm. Of course that would only come in handy if her were to have a bag really.
"I think for now, I'll head to Ollivander's. But we can meet at the Leaky Cauldron at six. I need to run errands outside of the wizarding world, if you'd still like to accompany me?" He seemed glad to know I wasn't done with the day. It was odd being able to see so many emotions crossing his face. "I would be happy to meet you then. That gives me time to get Merrick here settled with poor Mack," he motioned to his new owl. "I have to make sure the two of them don't fight. I've already set up separate posts for them both, just in case."
I envied him in that moment, the way his smile seemed so natural, so calm as he waved goodbye.