A/N: I can't believe I'm at ten chapters already! Craziness! Alright onto the story!
Chapter Ten: Getting Along Flyingly
"Okay, dish!" Ginny squeals, hopping onto her bed, holding several packs of sweets Hermione and her got in the kitchens.
"What do you mean?" Hermione says, blushing.
"You know perfectly well what I mean! What's going on with you and Malfoy?" Ginny says, exasperated.
"Nothing! He's just been... nicer. I don't know Ginny!" Hermione says, struggling to rip open a bag of sugar wands.
Ginny grabs Hermione's shoulders and looks dead in her eyes, completely serious.
After placing a silencio spell, she repeats quietly, "What's up?"
Giving up on the candy, Hermione looks up.
"Ginny," she sighs, "Ugh I don't know what to think. Today, he was sleeping when I walked into the common room, and he was obviously having a bad dream and he seemed so vulnerable. He hasn't called me mudblood this year yet, and I don't know. He's just really different now."
"Do you consider him your friend now?"
"Sort of, maybe. We talk now so I guess, but it's not like you or Harry. I'm still nervous around him. He accidentally walked in on me in the loo!"
Throwing her head back, Ginny laughs until her face is red.
"Accidentally?" she gasps, "Yeah right!"
Turning even redder, Hermione slaps the girl, "No Gin! Honestly! I yelled at him and he practically ran out of the room! He nearly hit the wall!"
At this point, both girls are laughing so hard, their stomachs hurt, tears streaming down their faces.
Sobering, Ginny wipes her eyes and looks at Hermione, grinning again.
"Well, like I said. He's got to be a different person now. In fact, I have a promise that he's changed from an inside source," she laughs conspiratorially.
"Who?" Hermione quirks an eyebrow.
"Blaise Zabini," Ginny says simply, popping a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean into her mouth and making a face, "Yuck! Tripe flavored..."
"Wait, you talked to Blaise Zabini?" Hermione says, halfway between looking completely lost and laughing at her friend's face.
"Yep!"
"When?"
"Over the summer. He's actually a pretty cool guy. Harry and I have been talking to him for awhile."
"Huh." Hermione finishes, amazed at her friend.
"ANYWAY, back to the point. I think that Malfoy might fancy you. I think the question now is whether you might fancy him or not," Ginny smirks, crossing her arms over her chest.
Burrowing her face into a pillow, Hermione mumbles something.
"Come again?" Ginny laughs.
Lifting her head, a "Maybe" is heard from the very embarrassed Hermione Granger.
Leaping on the inside, Ginny simply grins on the outside.
"Okay, why just maybe?"
"I don't know Gin! Part of me does, but I don't know if I can forgive him for everything yet!"
"Well, keep in mind that the reason Ron is such a git is because he wouldn't forgive you for your cat..." Ginny says, with an innocent look.
"Damn. She's got a point." She was being a huge hypocrite and she knew it, looking down at her nails.
"Okay, so if I did fancy Malfoy, you'd be okay with it?" Hermione shyly asks.
"Absolutely. I think the fact that he willingly sat with us for two hours to watch that ridiculous, what was it? Movie, that's right. He watched that with us, and willingly tolerated Crookshanks! I think that says a lot in regards to how he has changed, so go for it!" Ginny says.
Tears in her eyes, Hermione hugs her friend but then pulls back.
"Wait, what about Harry?"
Rolling her eyes, "Don't worry about him. He's forgiven Draco along with me."
"Really?" Hermione says, brows shooting upwards.
"Yep!" Ginny laughs.
"Alright then! I guess I'll try to give Malfoy a chance..."
"Great!" Ginny answers with a yawn. "Alright, well I'm bushed. I'm going to sleep. Do whatever you want. Tomorrow's a Saturday, so I'm going to dress you up whether you like it or not, no hideous school uniform!"
Laughing, Hermione nods and lies back on the pillows, thinking of the tall blonde she shares a room with and what he might be up to.
A few minutes later, both girls were silent, fast asleep.
The following morning, the two girls wake up and stretch, rubbing their eyes.
Suddenly, Ginny shoots out of her bed and drags Hermione, tripping along behind her.
"Where are we going Gin?" Hermione asks, suddenly awake.
"Back to your room of course! That's where all your cute clothes are, duh!" Ginny rolls her eyes.
"Oh. Right." Hermione responds, trying to flatten her hair until she remembered her new haircut and sighed in relief.
Arriving at the portrait hole, Hermione says, "Lemon Drops," making the portrait swing open.
Practically skipping with joy, Ginny continues to drag Hermione up to her room and closes the door loudly.
Awoken by the loud slam, Draco groans.
"What the bloody-" he mumbles, remembering his Gryffindor roommate.
Stretching his pale arms, Draco stares out the window. The sun is shining brightly, with not a cloud in sight.
"Good day for a bit of Quidditch," he thinks, standing and walking over to the bathroom.
It was 10:00, which was well past the time of 9:00 that Granger had allotted for herself, so he shuffled into the bathroom, wincing as his bare feet hit the cold tiles.
Meanwhile in the other room, Hermione is lying on the bed, worried about the frantic talking coming from her closet.
"It has to be perfect Mione! He'll be so blown away, no one will know what to do!" Ginny rambles on, perusing the wide selection of outfits.
Finally, she selects an outfit and drags it out of the closet, practically throwing it at Hermione lying on the bed.
"Here! Change!" the ginger commands, laughing.
Groaning, Hermione changes into the Ginny-approved outfit.
Hermione pulls on the surprisingly comfortable dark wash skinny jeans with a jump. She then puts on the silky layered tank top in a deep evergreen.
"Slytherin green? Really Gin?" she asks the smirking ginger, "Could you be any more obvious?"
Ginny just shrugs at the girl, eyes sparkling.
Hermione continues with the outfit, putting on a white leather jacket over the shirt and tying up a pair of white chucks. Going over to the mirror, Hermione smiles.
"Thanks Gin!" Hermione grins, "Do you think I should put on some makeup or would that be too much?"
"Sure, just a little mascara, blush and lip gloss." Ginny shrugs, "Thank Merlin we don't have to deal with your hair anymore!"
"True!" Hermione laughs.
A few minutes later, Hermione was set to go.
"Oh wait, Gin! What are you going to wear?" Hermione asks.
"Eh, don't worry about me. I don't need to impress anybody, I've already got my man," she winks.
"Ginny, you're the same size as me, just go grab something from my closet, I don't mind," Hermione says, rolling her eyes.
"Okay!" Ginny smiles, rushing towards the closet.
"Somebody's excited," Hermione thinks, glancing at herself in the mirror once again.
Crookshanks then comes into the room and walks up to Hermione, purring. Crouching down, she hugs her cat.
"What do you think Crooks? How do I look?" Hermione asks, brow furrowed with worry.
The response was a Meow from the cat, naturally.
Hermione sighs, turning back to Ginny, who had just emerged from her closet, dressed in a pale blue jumper and multicolored leggings paired with navy heeled trainers.
"Ready to blow em all away?" Ginny laughs, putting her fiery hair into a messy ponytail.
"Yep!" Hermione laughs, looping arms with her best friend, walking down to the common room.
Draco, who had finished his shower, was sitting in the common room, reading the latest Daily Prophet.
"Hey Malfoy," Ginny says, nearly giddy debating what the Slytherin's reaction to her friend would be.
Pushing Hermione towards the boy, Ginny detours to the kitchen, drawn by the smell of the cookies from the day before.
Glancing up, Draco's heart nearly stops and his eyes get wide, if only for a moment.
"Um, hi," Hermione says, with a half-smile.
"Hi. I thought you were with Ginny last night?" Draco questions.
"Ugh you idiot. What a lame question. Real intelligent Draco. Merlin, she looks so cute, and is she... nervous?" Draco thinks, looking at the girl standing in front of him, looking at her nails nervously.
"Oh, yeah, we came back this morning to get clothes." Hermione responds looking back at Malfoy.
"Oh okay. Well I was just going to go to the Great Hall for some food... Um yeah," he says, standing up.
Hermione's eyes widen, taking in the loose jeans and black v-neck t-shirt Malfoy was wearing, but quickly returns to normal, trying to regain her composure.
"Calm down Mione! It's just Malfoy!" she says, steeling herself.
Ginny returns, smirking.
"Yeah, us too, right Mione?" she says to her friend.
"Um, yeah! Right! Let's go!" Hermione gets out.
The two girls walk out of the portrait, Draco walking behind, confused but fascinated. Hermione looked good! He'd never seen her in anything but a school skirt or baggy clothes before, so this was a shock to say the least, but not a bad one.
Arriving at the Great Hall, Ginny and Hermione practically run over to Harry at the Gryffindor table. Draco is left to detour to the Slytherin table towards Blaise, who is grinning mischievously.
"Hey mate, how's it going?" Blaise smirks, noticing his friend's confused expression.
"What? Oh yeah I'm fine, how about you?" Draco says, breaking out of his shock.
"I'm alright. How's Granger?" he wiggles his eyebrows.
"Fine." Draco flushes.
"Alright then." Blaise responds, turning to his plate and grabbing an apple from a nearby bowl, holding in his laughter.
Over at the Gryffindor table, Ginny is practically giddy, retelling the events of the morning to Harry, who just grins at his girlfriend, who looks cute today.
Kissing her on the nose, he responds, "That's great Gin."
Turning to Hermione, he grins, "So, you and Malfoy huh?"
Laughing nervously, Hermione nods, chewing her toast.
"Alright! Good for you Mione. He's not actually as big of a git as he used to be."
"Thanks Harry," she responds, perking up a bit.
"I think we should go sit with them," Ginny suggests.
"Who?" Harry asks, distracted by an apple tart.
"Blaise and Malfoy of course!" Ginny sighs.
Hermione shoots her a nervous look.
Shrugging, "What? I think it'd be okay..." Ginny says, stubborn as ever.
Glancing over at the two Slytherins, Hermione sighs.
"Fine, let's go. But I swear, there's going to be a riot..." she mumbles.
Ginny squeals, dragging her boyfriend with them.
Blaise sees the trio before Draco and grins at Ginny, elbowing Draco.
Grunting, Draco ignores his friend, reading his Daily Prophet again.
"Draco mate, look who it is."
This got Draco's attention, making his lift his head. Eyes going wide, he swallows, seeing the three Gryffindors walking over to them, two grinning and the other looking nervous.
"Blaise..." he growls.
Throwing his hands up, he laughs, "It wasn't my idea!"
The three finally arrive and sit across from the two Slytherins, much to the astonishment of the people around the hall. Whispering erupts from all corners.
As the unusual group continues eating and chatting, eventually becoming more comfortable with each other's company, a face grows more and more red across the hall.
"How dare they talk to them? Filthy deatheaters, talking to MY Mione?" he fumes, stabbing at his breakfast, "That's it. They'll regret leaving ME for them. So much for friends..."
The figure suddenly stands, furious, and storms out of the hall, not noticed by anyone.
"Malfoy, I never thought I'd say this, but you're a bloody good player," Harry laughs at the blond, hovering in the air above the Quidditch pitch.
"Yeah, I guess you're not so bad either Potter." Draco responds, rolling his eyes.
The group of Malfoy, Blaise, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny, had decided to go out to the Quidditch pitch and play a short pickup game, two on two. Hermione decided to simply read a book she had brought, hating anything to do with heights.
Looking up, she notices the four laughing together like old friends and smiles.
"I guess some things really do change," she thinks, watching the four fly around at dizzying speeds.
The group of five continued to hang out, eating lunch and then returning to the Head's common room, relaxing.
The rest of the afternoon was spent comfortably, chatting, laughing, and messing around, getting to know each other more and more.
Before they knew it, it was after dinner and nearing curfew for the night.
"Well," Blaise says, standing from the couch, "Looks like I've got to head out, curfew's soon."
Grinning, Draco stands, "Thanks for coming mate."
Nodding, Blaise turns towards the portrait and ducks out, heading towards the Slytherin dungeons.
"Yep, time for us to go too I suppose," Harry says, helping Ginny up from her seat on the floor.
Now Hermione stands, "Thanks Gin for hanging out last night, and you today Harry. You guys are great," she smiles.
Hugging Hermione one after the other, the two Gryffindors tiredly make their way towards the portrait and to the Gryffindor tower.
"Well," Draco says, suddenly nervous, "It was fun Granger. I'm glad that you're giving me a chance."
"Everyone deserves a second chance Malfoy," Hermione grins.
Smiling, Draco turns towards his stairs and takes a step before turning.
"Oh and Granger?"
Hermione turns to the blond, eyebrow raised.
"Thanks." Draco says, before continuing up the stairs to his room.
Smiling widely, Hermione, with a yawn, climbs up to her bedroom also, and falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.
A/N: Ah, the longest chapter ever! How was it? They're all friends now! Who was so mad? Hehehe we shall find out eventually.
Thanks for the reviews, Soccerisawesome19, ColteeYT, and MacqueAttack713, I love how enthusiastic you all are, I just had to make another chapter!
Oh and about the title- you know the phrase 'getting along swimmingly'? Yeah, that's where I got it from. Lame I know hahaha :)
Love you all
xx
Jess