A/N: Sorry for the late update. NO excuses, just writers block

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Harry Potter I am just borrowing the characters from J.K. Rowling. Also this chapter was not reviewed by my beta so all mistakes are my own.

Revised on 3-4-16


Chapter 12: Back to School Shopping

Hermione opened her eyes and saw that the sun was barely up. 'It must only be around 6:00am, why in the world did I wake up this early!' That is when she heard it again. There was scratching coming from the other side of the bathroom door. 'CROOKSHANKS' yelled Hermione in her head, she did not want to wake up either Draco or Blaise with her annoyance. She slowly lifted Blaise's arm from around her waist and placed it on the bed.

The movement caused Draco to shift and peak out at Hermione, "Was going on?" He said groggily.

"Nothing, Crookshanks just wants some breakfast. Go back to sleep."

Draco mumbled something and turned to the other side, as Hermione scooted down the bed.

'There is no way I am going to be able to go back to sleep now' thought Hermione. She opened the bathroom door and gently nudged Crookshanks back inside. "Let me freshen up and than I will go and get you some breakfast." In response Crookshanks lifted his tail and walked off. "Spoiled cat," Hermione grumbled. She quickly went about her business; brushing her teeth, brushing out her hair and putting it up in a pony tail, and getting dressed for the morning.

She walked down to the kitchenette with Crookshanks hot on her tail, eager for food. Hermione looked back at him over her shoulder, "the one good thing about you waking me up so early is that I will actually be able to do my morning workout" she said to the cat.

After giving Crookshanks' his breakfast she grabbed a banana for herself and made her way into the common room. She cleared off a corner of the room, put on her music, stretched out, and began to do her morning cardio workout. She finished with her set of crunches, switched her music to some soft classical music, and transfigured the rug into a yoga mat.

She was just about finished with her yoga routine, when she was interrupted by Draco.

"That looks so fucking hot."

She turned around to see both boys staring at her with lust in their eyes.

"Do you guys want to give this a try. It really is relaxing once you get the hang of it. Besides I am just finishing up." Said Hermione as she continued with the warrior pose.

"Sure why not," said Blaise.

"What exactly is it that you are doing?" Questioned Draco.

"This is called yoga and the pose I am doing right now is called the Warrior Pose." Answered Hermione.

"What is the point of it?" Asked an intrigued Blaise.

"Oh, well it has many different purposes. I mainly do the yoga that is for relaxation and flexibility. It really ended up helping me during the war and afterward with the nightmares." Said Hermione.

Hermione spent the next 10 minutes showing the boys some basic yoga poses and corrected their mistakes whenever she needed to.

"You both are very good at this especially for beginners." complemented Hermione.

"Thanks to Quidditch." Replied Blaise as he struggled to find his balance.

Hermione smiled and said, "well how about we call it a day and I will run upstairs and finish getting ready so we can head over to breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me, this yoga can really build up a persons appetite." Said Draco with a mischievous look in his eyes. He stopped Hermione from leaving and pulled her close to him. With one hand on her lower back and the other rubbing her check he gave her a slow and sensual kiss.

Blaise not wanting to be left out turned Hermione towards himself and gave her a kiss of his own. Once the kiss was broken off Blaise said, "I could never get tired of kissing you, I would do it all day if you would let me."

"Mmmm, I would not mind spending the day kissing you two either, but we do have responsibilities to fill." Hermione began as she pulled away from them both and quickly made her way up the stairs. "I will be down in a few minutes" she called over her shoulder.


*Fast forward*

The next few days were spent in very much the same routine. Hermione was usually the first up and would divide her time between her workout schedule and research about veela's. The boys would always join her midway and either workout with her or get some of their own work done. They would then go down to breakfast together and spend the time before lunch doing whatever tasks were assigned to them by the professors or the Headmistress. They used the time in the evenings to get to know each other better. They all shared their childhood experiences, information about their families, Blaise and Draco learned about dentistry, and Hermione learned about Malfoy and Zabini Industries.

They had also made plans to visit Diagon Alley on Sunday in hopes that it would not be as busy as it was bound to be on a Friday or Saturday. This however changed when on Saturday morning Hermione received a phone call from her cousin Sam.

"Hey cuz! How is it going? How are those two gorgeous hunks of yours?" Greeted Sam.

"We are all doing well," chuckled Hermione "we were just on our way to breakfast. How are you doing? How is the packing going?"

"Well that is part of the reason for my call. I am finished packing and have already made arrangements for a flight to England. In fact I will be there tomorrow."

"That is great Sam, I can't wait to see you!" Said an excited Hermione. "Have you found a place to stay?"

"Ya your parents are letting me stay at your house until I can find a place of my own."

"Do you have a ride from the airport?" questioned Hermione.

"Its covered, your dad is picking me up. The main reason for my call, besides letting you know that I am coming is I need your help."

"Just name it Sam, I would be happy to help."

"Thanks Mione. I emailed you a list of terms and expectations, as well as a basic outline of a prototype, and I was hoping you would somehow be able to get it to Lucius."

"No problem I will print it all out and have a house elf take it over."

"You, Hermione Granger, are going to use a house elf! I am shocked." Mocked Sam.

"Oh Shut it! Draco and Blaise explained the relationship between a house elf and their families to me for your information. It is actually a fair exchange when the elves are being treated right."

"Hang on Hermione, I am getting another call... ugh it is my old boss. Ever since I quit he has been trying to get me to come back, it is so infuriating." Sighed Sam.

"Serves them right for always taking advantage of you and your ideas!"

"I'll say. I mean they could not have really expected for me to stay with the way that they were treating me. Besides whatever they offer me comes no where near what Lucius is proposing."

"That is good to hear, at least you know with OWL Enterprise you will be valued."

"True, true. Anyways I will talk to you later."

"I will see you tomorrow at dinner."

"Why don't you bring your boyfriends and we can have a family dinner?"

"I just might do that, but I will have to ask them first."

"Okay, well I will see you then."

"Bye" said Hermione as she hung up the phone. She turned to the boys and filled them in on the conversation she had just had with Sam.

Draco turned Hermione toward the direction of her bedroom, where he knew her computer was and said, "why don't you go and get the paperwork and I will call a house elf."

Once the paperwork was being delivered the trio made their way down to breakfast. It had been decided that if they got permission to leave for the weekend they would do their shopping today, spend the night at Malfoy Manor, visit muggle London on Sunday morning, and have dinner at the Granger's before returning to Hogwarts.

Just as everyone was finishing up their breakfast Hermione turned to address McGonagall, "Headmistress me and the boys were hoping to get the weekend off so we could spend time with our families and get our school shopping done now so we will not have to worry about it later."

McGonagall gave a little nod of the head and said, "I don't see why not. You have all been working so very hard and are all further along than any of the professors imagined you would be."

"Thank you Headmistress" replied Hermione. "Do you need anything from Diagon Alley?"

"Now that you mention it, could you make sure that Eeylops Owl Emporium has our order for owl treats for the school year. I am afraid in all the commotion that I have forgotten to confirm the order."

"Consider it done." Said Hermione with a nod.

On either side of Hermione Draco and Blaise laid down their napkins and stood up. Draco pulled Hermione's chair back while Blaise offered her his hand. Once they had all risen they made their way out of Hogwarts.


*Diagon Alley*

"So, Cara where to first?"

"Why don't we get the Headmistress' errand done first, that way we can kill two birds with one stone. We are running low on owl treats as well..."

Draco interrupted Hermione "-why would you want to kill birds?"

Hermione gave a soft chuckle, "I don't really want to kill birds, it is a muggle expression. It means get two tasks accomplished in one attempt."

"Ooh, I guess that makes sense." Replied Draco.

"Once we have gotten the treats I need to check with Madam Malkin to see if she is finished with my Italian clock."

"Sure we can do that. I have already gotten my clothes for the school year, so unless either of you need anything else from there, we can go straight to the apothecary store. Once we have replenished our potion supplies we can head over to the bookstore and if we have time can we drop in on the twins. I really should get an update on what is happening in the family."

"Don't forget the Quidditch shop!" Said a shocked Draco.

"Ugh, how could I have forgotten I have only been forced to enter that shop every year since second year!" Said Hermione with a look of distaste.

"There is one thing we have yet to discuss," said Blaise. "Will you be supporting us during quidditch matches?"

Hermione looked up to see both of them staring intently at her, "of course I will be supporting you both during games." At their smug grins she added, "BUT that does not mean I will not be supporting Gryffindor as well."

"Don't care as long as you are wearing Slytherin green on game days." Replied Draco.

Hermione gave a laugh and said "we will just have to wait and see," as the boys held open the door to Eeylops.

Hermione sent a patronus to the Headmistress once they had confirmed the order for the school owl treats. After they finished up at Eeylops they quickly went about their shopping. They were out of Madam Malkin in record time since both boys had already bought new clothes after their transformations. It also helped that Madame M already had Blaise's clock wrapped and ready for the evening delivery and just needed to retrieve it from the back room. Their next stop was the apothecary where they gave the clerk a list of needed ingredients to be delivered to the Head Dorms at Hogwarts.

"We should head over to Quality Quidditch Supplies while it is still early. We may be able to avoid the crowd and have room to get some actual shopping done." Said Blaise to the others.

"Alright, but afterward could we PLEASE go to Flourish & Blotts!" Begged Hermione with a puppy dog expression.

Unable to resist Draco swooped down and gave her a heated kiss. When he finally pulled away they were both out of breath and Hermione had a dazed look in her eyes and a small smile on her face.

Blaise placed his hand on the lower part of Hermione's back and began to guide her toward the quidditch shop. "Lets get this morning over with, so we can continue that in a more private setting," said Blaise with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"Here, here" came Draco's response as he quickened his pace to keep up with Blaise and Hermione.

With this new incentive the boys quickly got what they needed from the quidditch shop. Blaise got the new chaser gloves that he needed and Draco was able to buy a new broomstick maintenance kit. Draco was even able to convince the shop-owner to sell him one of the in-store catalogs so they could get out of there faster and still be up to date on all the new products.

Once out of the shop Hermione took the lead and headed off toward Blotts pulling the boys behind her. At the doors Hermione paused for a second looking like a cat that had just gotten the canary. "I love this place!" She said.

Both boys rolled their eyes and chuckled. "Believe us we know. What bookworm wouldn't love a bookstore." Said Draco.

"That is only part of the reason" started Hermione. But instead of continuing with her explanation her face turned red and she tried her hardest to avoid eye contact with the boys.

Blaise stopped her from opening the door and said, "with that type of response, I for one have to hear the rest of your explanation."

"This was the place were we all got reacquainted and in many ways it is were we had our first date," mumbled Hermione.

Both boys were speechless and it took a few seconds for them to react. They each brought one of Hermione's hands to their lips and gave it a kiss. Hermione looked up at them both and saw the understanding, happiness, and love in their faces and gave their hands a squeeze in return.

When their little moment was over Draco held the door open for the other two to enter. "Why don't you spend some time looking around while Blaise and I get the school books."

"Alright! Thank you Draco." Said Hermione. She began browsing the nearest bookcase, which happened to hold the newest arrivals.

While Hermione was engrossed in new books Blaise and Draco made their way to the check out counter.

"Hi there," said Blaise to the sales lady behind the counter. "We need three copies of every book on this list please."

"Sure thing cute stuff." Said the sales lady making sure to brush his hand when she reached for the list. She took a few seconds to review the list and looked up at them both "you both seem a little old to still be in school." When all she received were blank expressions she quickly amended her previous statement. "What I mean is that you look to gor- … mature to be school boys, you look more like business men." She finished batting her eyes.

"If you don't mind we are kind of pressed for time." Said Draco with a bored tone, hoping to get his point across. "Or if you like we can see if anyone else is available to help us?"

It did seem to do the trick because the sales lady began stuttering out apologies and left to gather the requested books. She returned to the counter with all the books 15 minutes later. In midst of purchasing the textbooks Hermione joined them. She came up from behind and stood between Blaise and Draco. She than placed a book onto the counter and sweetly said, "this one as well please."

"Of course miss." replied the sales lady as she finished ringing up the books. "Your total comes out to -"

"Just charge it to the Malfoy account" interrupted Draco, as he and Blaise picked up the books.

"Lets go home I am starving." Said Draco once they had exited the shop.

"O no you don't mister. We had plans to visit the twins." Reminded Hermione.

"Do we have to!" Whined Draco.

"Yes we do. Unless you are okay with whatever prank they decide to do on you as retaliation for not visiting." Was Hermione's reply.

"Alright lets get this over with."

"Don't be so grumpy Draco. I am sure the twins will have some new pranks by now" reasoned Blaise.

It was getting much more crowded in the Alley so they began pushing their way towards WWW. Unfortunately for the trio they had to first pass the Quidditch store to get to the twins shop, which by this time was surrounded by teenage boys. In their struggle to make it through the crowd the trio some how got separated.

When Hermione could no longer see Blaise in front of her or Draco behind her she started to panic. Something she was not proud of herself for, she had always been known for keeping a cool head in stressful situations but for some reason she had a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Ever since the final battle with all that chaos, destruction, and death being crowded by strangers tended to freak Hermione out especially when she did not have her wand. 'Why the hell didn't I take my wand out of the bag when Blaise offered to carry it?' Hermione questioned herself. Giving up on her self frustrations she started to look around for Draco and Blaise and even call out for them. But the noise level was so high that she was not able to hear if they were responding to her calls and she could not see them anywhere. 'Maybe I will be able to hear better once I am away from all this noise. And if I still cant find them than I will just wait for them at the twin's shop.' reasoned Hermione with herself. She finally made it out of the crowd and stopped one more time to look around for the boys. She was just about to call out for them again when she let out a startled scream. Cormac McLaggen had just grabbed her arm and began pulling her into an empty alley way between two stores.

She yanked her arm out of his hand and yelled "What in the world do you think you are doing McLaggen?!"

"No need to play games sweetheart," was the reply she got.

"What the hell are you talking about" said Hermione, her face full of confusion.

"I know you were looking for me. Why else would you have been waiting outside the Quidditch shop?" Questioned Cormac.

"Have you gone bonkers?! I was NOT outside the shop waiting for YOU. I happened to be out shopping with others and we got separated; and how the hell would I have known you were in that shop in the first place you psycho." Said Hermione as she tried to push past Cormac. 'Where the hell is my wand, when I need it?'

Cormac quickly blocked her escape and trapped her between himself and the brick wall. "They don't call you the smartest witch of the age for nothing. Your probably keeping tabs on me, so you knew I would be here today. And after the great job I did playing quidditch in 6th year you knew I would be trying out again this year, so I would of course be at the Quidditch store checking out the new broom." He placed a finger over Hermione's mouth when she tried to respond, "sssshhhhhh don't try and deny it there is no need. I know you have a thing for me, who wouldn't. I understand your hesitation since Potter ruined our date at Slughorn's Christmas Party but I don't blame you for that. We will just have to find some more private places for our future dates because truth be told I think you and I would make the perfect match. I mean I have the brains, looks, I am very athletic, charming, and charismatic. And you have your brains going for you, as for your looks we can work on that."

Hermione had had enough, she was royally pissed off "I don't know who the hell you think you are but get this straight we will NEVER be together. I DO NOT LIKE YOU! You are revolting and a chauvinist pig that is too self absorbed to understand reality. Now get away from me so I can leave." Said Hermione with a huff.

Cormac slapped his palm onto the wall beside Hermione's head making her flinch and turn away. He brought his face up close to her's and sneered. "Now listen here Miss Prissy. We will BE a couple. I will get the perfect ministry job and you will be the ever devoted wife, because face it besides me who would have you? You have already run off Weasley so I AM IT sweetheart." He than grabbed onto her chin to force her to face him.

When Hermione realized that he planned to kiss her she started to struggle even more and tried her best to get away. 'Time to put those defense lessons to use' thought Hermione as she started to shack her head so his lips landed on her cheeks and the side of her head instead. She even resorted to slapping and punching him since she could not bring her knees up. Getting frustrated with all her movement McLaggen rearranged them both so that she would not be able to continue hitting him and once again attempted to kiss her. This is when Hermione took advantage of the new position and gave him a vicious kick to the shins; twisting out of his grasp at the same time. Once McLaggen had let go of her, she moved around him and made her way toward the entrance to the alley.

Before she could make it out onto the street she was pulled back by her hair and thrown up against the wall. She gasped in pain as she held onto her head.

"You little BITCH! Did you really think you could get away from me that easily?" Said Cormac as he pulled out his wand and began walking over to Hermione's crouched form. "I will not have you ruin all of my hard work and plans."

Hermione's breath caught when she saw him raising his wand to cast a spell. She wondered why no one was coming to her aid or to at least investigate the noise. She mentally and physically prepared her body to dodge the soon to be cast curse.

"Oh don't worry I will just erase your memory of this little mishap, place a compulsion charm on until I can get some amortentia, and then we can continue with our perfect little romance" Said McLaggen with a grin that sent chills down Hermione's back.

Just as McLaggen was about to cast the oblivion spell he was thrown across to the other end of the alley. When Hermione looked to the entrance of the alleyway she saw two furious looking veela with their wands pointing to McLaggen's body. Both made their way towards Hermione their anger only worsening when they saw the tears of pain, fear, and frustration running down her face.

"Are you alright Cara?" asked Blaise as he softly wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Hermione sniffled and just gave a nod in reply, she was still too shaken up to speak.

Blaise turned to Draco and said, "you get her out of here and I will deal with that piece of shit." Blaise than turned back to Hermione and in the softest tone Hermione had ever heard said, "go with him Cara."

As Draco gathered Hermione up into his arms she hung onto him as tight as she could and buried her head into the spot where his shoulder and neck met. They exited the alley and reentered the busy street. Everyone was continuing with their shopping as if nothing had even occurred in the alleyway a few yards away from them. That is when Hermione realized that no one could have heard anything over all the noise. It is also when she realized that she had left Blaise alone with McLaggen. "Draco stop we have to go back!"

"Why?" asked Draco looking down at Hermione.

"We have to stop Blaise!"

"No we don't." replied Draco as he looked straight on ahead and continued walking away from the alley.

"Yes we do!" Said a frantic Hermione. She began struggling against Draco's grip trying to get him to do as she asked. "What if he ends up seriously hurting McLaggen or even killing him? Blaise would get into so much trouble!"

"No he wont we are all protected by the law."

"Still I can't have that on his conscious or mine for that matter, we HAVE to go back." When Draco began to walk again she tugged on his shirt "PLEASE!"

"I am sorry but my first responsibility is getting you to safety. I will apparate you to the manor and come back for Blaise."

"It will be too late by then..."

Just than she saw the twins making their way towards them.

"What happened to you?" asked Fred

"Ya the Slytherin duo said you got lost?" continued George.

"I will tell you later first you have to go into that alley and stop Blaise please."

"Alright, alright just take it easy." Said George as he and Fred made their way to the alley. At the entrance to the alley the twins stopped exchanged looks and rushed in wands in hand.

That was the last thing Hermione saw before Draco apparated them out of Diagon Alley.


Please Review! Let me know if the story makes sense so far. I would be happy to hear how I can improve this chapter or any previous chapters. The reviews really do give me ideas for new chapters even if I do not use the ideas given to me they usually inspire other ones.

As far as the voting goes Marcus is still in the lead with 11 votes, followed by Charlie with 7 votes, and Oliver with 5. I also have 3 votes for a Marcus, Charlie, Sam trio and 1 vote for a Marcus, Oliver, Sam trio.