Chapter 16 - The Fair

Hermione apparated us into a small wood. I could hear yells and screams in the distance. I looked at her, concerned as to what torture trap she'd taken us to, but she just smiled at me and grabbed my hand.

As the woods thinned I began seeing tall moving structures in an open field. The yelling seemed to be coming from these structures. The muggles appeared to be waiting in line and then screaming once they were, apparently willingly, strapped into their torture machines. Once we got closer I could also hear all kinds of music overlapping each other.

I could feel Hermione looking at me as I took everything in. "Do muggles like to be tortured?" I asked, incredulously.

I was startled to hear Hermione burst out laughing. "No!" She exclaimed, "They aren't being tortured. These are amusement rides. They're screaming for fun."

I huffed, "What keeps them safe on these death machines? How do you know they won't fall apart?"

Hermione squeezed my hand, "There's a lot of safety checks on these machines. And I can cast extra protection charms around us if you'd like. Or we can just get some cotton candy and walk around for a while."

I just nodded, looking at all the people running around. Hermione led me to a busy box with colorful bags hanging around it. She bought us two corn dogs and a bag of cotton candy. The food seemed rather simple but was rather delicious.

"I can't believe they stick wood through this -what did you call it again?"

"A hot dog."

"And you're sure they don't use real dogs?"

She laughed patiently, "Draco do I seem like the kind of person that eats dogs?"

I shrugged, "I mean the French eat snails."

She playfully smacked his arm, "Alright, what do I have to do to get you on a ride with me?"

My eyes went wide and I backed away from her. "Are you crazy?! You won't get on a broomstick but you actually want to get into one of these death machines?"

"SShhh! Draco not so loud!" She whisper yelled, "And doesn't that tell you how safe these machines are? Next to a broomstick this is nothing." When I still wouldn't budge she sighed, "Alright, we don't have to go on any rides. Do you want to go home then?"

I felt stricken, I didn't want to ruin our second date too. Thinking quickly I looked around the fair. There was a large circle at the back that didn't seem to dangerous. Half the ride there wasn't even any metal that could fall on them, and I could always place extra charms.

"I may be willing to try that one." I said as I pointed to the ride.

"Oh the ferris wheel! Excellent choice! Let's go!" My heart jumped as she grabbed my hand and began to enthusiastically lead her way through the crowd.

Nervous, I carefully watched the next few rounds of muggles board and depart the ride. I was slightly concerned by her obvious delight, perhaps the ride had an unsafe zoom feature I hadn't observed. But each round the thing seemed to move slowly for a few turns and safely place the muggles back on the ground.

Growing bored of the long wait I began drawing circles on the back of Hermione's hand with my thumb. She looked at me playfully. "You know Draco, it's considered romantic to be on a ferris wheel."

I raised my eyebrow, "This thing? It's just a big metal circle how is it romantic?"

She smiled, "I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

Another minute later saw us, finally, boarding the metal death trap. The man held it still while we got in the tin bucket and then swung a bar across our laps. I suddenly felt rather claustrophobic.

"You know perhaps this was a bad idea maybe we should go-" The ride lurched us up as the buckets moved to let more people on, "-home."

Hermione stared at me, "We're perfectly safe Draco I promise. I wouldn't take you somewhere where I thought either of us could get hurt. What charms would you like to do to further protect us once we're a bit higher?"

I could tell she was trying to distract me but I planned on doing some charms anyway. "A cushioning charm for one, whose idea was it to stick people into tin buckets with no cushions?"

Hermione laughed and the ride began to move again and this time didn't pause. I cast a couple subtle charms for safety and comfort. At the top I looked around and was able to see the whole fair.

Hermione grinned, "See? It's not so bad up here."

I grinned back, "It'd be better on a broomstick. There's no thrill to this ride. What's the point?"

Her grin turned mischievous, "The point is to be a teenager so you can use the ride as a private moment away from your family or friends." When I just starred at her in confusion she pointed back at the buckets behind us. I looked back and saw many couples, mostly teenagers, ignoring their surroundings completely and either starring into each others eyes or snogging.

My breath felt stuck in my throat, was Granger expecting that from me? Would she really want to interact with me like that? She knew more than almost anyone else what horrible things I'd done. How could she possibly want to be near me in any capacity? As I looked at her to gauge her reaction I realized she was sitting closer to me now than she had been before.

I swallowed thickly. I didn't deserve her, but if she wanted me then who was I to tell her no? My mind was still scrambling when she placed a hand on my thigh. On instinct I put an arm across the back of the bucket, allowing her to move in closer. I felt surprise as she actually slid closer and I could feel her side lightly against mine. Our faces were so close I could feel her breath against my skin. I slowly began tilting my head toward hers. Watching her intently for any sign she would pull away. Just an inch away from her lips she rose up and kissed me.

It was so soft and so quick I barely had time to register it had even happened before I felt the bucket jar to a stop. I looked down and the muggle was letting others out of their buckets. Stupid short ride.

I looked back to Hermione, we still had some time, perhaps we could pick up where we left off. Just as I went to lean in again the ride began to move and we clunked heads.

I winced and rubbed my head, "Are you okay?"

She was also wincing but nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine in a second."

Once we were back on solid ground she grabbed my hand again and we walked around the fair. She didn't push to go on any more rides for the rest of the afternoon. The animals were cute but none of them could fly or breath fire. Nothing turned color or could disappear at will. How muggles could stand the boredom of such simple pets I would never know. As dusk began to set we walked back to the woods and disapperated back to her apartment.

Being back in an obviously wizard area made me instantly relax. I grinned at Hermione, "That was fun."

"It's still there tomorrow, we could try a bigger ride?" She laughed when the smile immediately fell off my face.

"And here I was going to try to kiss you again but if you're going to act like that well then I might as well go home." I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I feigned hurt and tried to walk away. She held onto my arm and pulled me back to her.

"Wait Draco, don't go. I- I want you to." She whispered the last part while looking at my chest.

Torn between wanting to make her say she wanted me to kiss her and being too afraid to push anything, I brought my fingers under her chin and gently lifted her face so she could make eye contact with me. She looked a little uncomfortable at her admission but didn't waver. I leaned in to kiss her.

My whole body felt electric as our lips touched. Her lips on mine were so soft. I opened my eyes as I pulled back slightly. Her eyes looked hooded as she stared up at me. Feeling desire punch in my stomach I quickly reclaimed her lips and buried one of my hands into her hair. A part of me wondered if my hand might ever be able to be free of her wild curls again. A larger part of me couldn't bring myself to care.

This time there was no noise and no ride to stop us.

There was however, a Weasley. "What the hell is this?!" We sprang apart and saw Ronald had his wand loosely pointed at us. "Hermione are you okay?"

Hermione flushed a deep red, "Yes Ron I was just fine. What are you doing here?"

He looked taken aback, "What am I doing here? What are you doing?! I walk in to see if you want to join us for some drinks at the pub and find you snogging Malfoy?! Have you lost your ruddy mind?! Have you been cursed?"

Hermione's jaw dropped while I flinched. Of course that would be Ronald's thought. It would be most peoples. The only reason we hadn't been bothered so far was that we stayed in muggle areas. Once it hit wizard news it would be assumed that either I had inappropriately charmed her or it would tear down her reputation. Draco was used to people glaring at him and avoiding him in the streets. But could he subject her to that?

Suddenly depressed at the realization that he could never be enough for her he disapperated in the middle of her and Weasley's fight.