Chapter Ten

Linger

"Do you trust me?" asked Scorpius as he held his hand out to Hermione to take.

Hermione gave him an arched eyebrow. "I don't know."

Scorpius sighed. "It's a yes or no question, Hermione."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know. you haven't given me any real reason to trust you and then again, you haven't given me a reason not to."

He ran hand through his hair. "Fine. Will you trust me this once, so that I can Apparate us both out of the manor?"

"See, all you had to do was tell me what we were doing." She took Scorpius's hand.

He muttered something under his breath and soon both of them were Apparating out of the manor to a place unknown by Hermione.

Hermione had to hold onto Scorpius a bit tighter as they landed. It had been too long since she last side-a-long Apparated with someone. She was dizzy and had to push down the feeling of nausea that overtook her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Hermione nodded and touched her cheek and the underside of her chin with her hand. "Yeah, last time I side-a-long Apparated was with Harry and Ron and that was before the end of the war."

Scorpius tensed at hearing Harry's name. "I see."

"Where are we?" she asked. She hadn't notice of his change in demeanor.

"A small town in Italy. I figured staying away from where there are crowds and gossip is the best thing for you until it is revealed you are alive. Every year since your 'death' there have been accounts of you being seen all over the Wizarding world."

"I am the wizard equivalent of Elvis..." Hermione muttered.

"Who is that?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "A Muggle singer, lived and died before I was born."

"Right. Follow me, we are going to the store over there." He pointed. "Avalon's Lace. My mother went to them for everything. They have the latest fashions and are low key."

Hermione followed him to what appeared to be a small, brown brick shop with green ivy climbing the sides. A bell jingled as they entered the story an immediately a woman with flowing brunette hair and green eyes appeared at their side to help them.

"Mr. Malfoy, what a pleasure it is to see you again! It has been too long."

Hermione frowned as the woman touched Scorpius's shoulder in a almost condolence gesture.

"Yes. Well, things have been keeping me busy as of late. How are you, Marie?"

"I am quite well. What brings you in, Mr. Malfoy? New dress robes, perhaps?"

"Not today. I actually need something for my friend here. She is going to a small party and needs an appropriate dress for it. Something current, but also toned down and flattering."

Marie turn her green eyes onto Hermione now. The woman looked like she could be around same age as Hermione would have been if she had not be thrown through time. "She has a nice figure. It should be easy to find the appropriate dress for her. Follow me to my station and we will get started."

Hermione followed the woman to where a small stage was set up for her to stand on. A few chairs sat in front of it. Scorpius took a seat in the center. A glass of red wine soon appeared in his hand. He took a sip and it appeared to be to his liking. Hermione was slightly jealous she could not sip on wine while she had to try on dresses. Marie gestured for her to get on the small stage. Hermione got up on it and stood.

Marie stared at her for a long second, before she flicked her wand. Hermione felt a woosh and looked down. She was in a purple almost knee length dress. It was pencil straight, how was she going to walk in this? The sleeves, however, were what threw her. She felt like she had stepped back into the 80s with the architecture designs that had been popular then. The sleeve both made sharp cone shapes, pointing away from her body.

She looked to Scorpius, she smiled when she saw the look on his face, it said the same thing she was feeling for the dress. Marie looked to Scorpius who gave a shake of his head. She frowned before flicking her wand again. This time Hermione was in a poof dress that was black and had silver fish netting over the top. Hermione began to wonder if 80's themed prom dresses were the rage again.

"That is nice, Marie, but not really what we are looking for. I was thinking something simple with only a little bit of flare to it. A cocktail dress, perhaps?"

Marie smiled. "I do have something I have been working on as of late." She flicked her wand and a silver strapless dress appeared on Hermione. It was covered in a small intricate embroidered floral pattern with small shiny additions throughout. Down the center front of the dress was a sheer pleated silver material and around the waist was a four inch width band that gave Hermione and hourglass shape. Hermione smiled. She liked this one.

Scorpius also gave a nod of his head and Marie smiled. "We will take this one, Marie. Why don't you go start making alterations to it now? We will need it for when we leave here. I will shop with her for the shoes and accessories for it."

Marie gave a nod of her head and flick of her wand. Hermione was back to her normal clothes. Marie walked off to the back room.

"Can you help me down, please? This is higher up than it looks."

Scorpius smiled a little and walked over to where she was. He put his hands on her waist and braced her has she came down off of it. She grabbed onto his shoulder for support. When her feet were finally on the floor, she did not let go. She looked up at him. His intoxicating smell engulfed her as she stood there, still in his arms. He looked down at her.

He leaned in and kissed her. It was soft, it was chaste, it was simple and yet her body felt like it was on fire. Only the most heated kisses from Harry had made her feel like that. Nothing, so... simple. He pulled away from her slowly, his lips lingered over hers. Coming to her senses she pulled away from him and almost hit the stage behind her.

"I'm sorry, I'm normally not that impulsive," he said. His cheeks flushed.

"I...I'll go look at the shoes now." Hermione turned and walked away.

If Scorpius had been watching her instead of looking at the floor, he would have seen the way she kept lightly touching her lips.