The rest of the evening passed painlessly enough. Hermione had been dreading seeing Jimmy Peakes again when she saw his name on the Gryffindor sign-up sheet, but when she and Draco had passed him and his partner in the circle, both parties had remained polite, if somewhat indifferent.
Everyone seemed to find the box step easy, (except for Astoria Greengrass, of course), and even Romilda Vane was enjoying herself too much to cause any more drama. Trevor Birch attempted to reach Hermione once more, but was blocked by Draco and Zacharias. As there were no wands to properly duel with, Trevor saw that he was outnumbered in terms of physical strength, and gave up, vowing he would find a way sooner or later.
The class itself was a success. After learning rotations and spins, most couples were twirling around the Great Hall delightedly. People were genuinely having fun learning to waltz, and as the music sped up, so did the talking. Students in different Houses made conversation with their partners, and discovered that they had much more in common than they previously thought they had. Ginny and Zacharias had settled at their meal table and were watching the class contentedly as Draco and Hermione continued to supervise.
As the time ticked by, Hermione felt increasingly drowsy. She groaned at the thought of Slughorn's party tomorrow night, and was all for holing up in the common room with Draco for all of Saturday. There was homework to be done, anyways.
Finally, Professor McGonagall announced that class was over, and it was time to retire. Lines were formed, much like the second morning for receiving schedules, for students to retrieve their wands. Pleased chattering never stopped even as the students filed out of the Great Hall after being reunited with their wands.
Hermione was delighted to see that many students of different Houses were walking out of the Great Hall still talking animatedly together. She smiled at Draco, who reflected her feelings. Ginny and Zacharias were yawning, and Draco told them to go back to their dormitories first. He and Hermione would take care of cleaning up.
As Draco was adjusting the harp, Professor McGonagall came up to Hermione, who was pushing in chairs and floating the House tables back into position. She looked very proud, and Hermione felt her heart soar.
"Miss Granger, I'm pleased to say that tonight was a success to anybody, teacher or student, who witnessed it. I'm very happy that you managed to take care of the little problems and proceed on when disaster threatened. You have my permission to continue this activity for the rest of the year, granted that it will not occur more than once a week. And I will not be needing to supervise from now on, I believe."
"I'm not quite sure about that, Professor." Draco joined them, tugging slightly at his shirt collar, which had been choking him for long enough. "We had some pretty close calls tonight, and I think they were all avoided because you were here."
"Nonsense!" said Professor McGonagall. "I know you two, along with the Head Boy and Head Girl, will do just fine. Now that the students know what is expected of them, next class should flow much more smoothly."
"Speaking of what to expect, how is Lady Montecino?" asked Hermione, trying to sooth Draco's worries of the next waltz class by distracting him. "We miss her. Sir Cadogan is… interesting, but I miss hearing Lady Montecino's sweet voice."
"We are still trying to reverse the damage done to her portrait." replied Professor McGonagall grimly. "It will probably take another day before we find out whether it was Birch or Peakes that was the culprit and hear the full disturbing story. I purposely used Sir Cadogan as a replacement so if there happened to be any more potential intruders, he would annoy all of them away."
Draco and Hermione laughed, and Professor McGonagall proceeded to bid them good night. She walked out of the Great Hall as Draco and Hermione adjusted the last table, and then they also hurried up to their dormitories.
Luckily, Sir Cadogan was sleeping, so when they woke him up, he was too drowsy to joust with them and just let them in. Draco and Hermione used the bathroom at the same time, but closed the doors and everything for decent privacy when it came to showering and the loo. They talked about the evening, and Hermione shared with him her idea of altering the sign-up sheets next time so they could have equal numbers from each gender.
Draco then brought up the subject of Slughorn's party, which reminded Hermione of Astoria. She was too tired to feel resentment, though, and just said she didn't want to go because they could use the time for homework.
Confused, Draco raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to go. At least just for the first one, anyways."
Hermione replied easily, "I know you don't want to, so we can just send our regards with Ginny and Zacharias when they go."
"I know Ginny won't go if you don't, and now that Zacharias finally has friends, he won't go without us, either." Draco continued to look curiously at Hermione. "I know you're hiding something from me, Mione. Is this about Trevor? Or Astoria?"
Hermione looked down at her hands as she squeezed out toothpaste. "Maybe." she admitted softly. She wasn't worried about Trevor; she knew Draco could easily kill him if she ever indicated she had the slightest inclination for him to do so. Astoria, though, was different. She was just so… flirtatious. And beautiful. What if she managed to charm her way to Draco's heart? Face it, you're still with Ron, and Draco's a free man. He can leave you for her or any other girl at any time, since you didn't fight for him first.
As if he could sense her exact thoughts, Draco hung up the towel he had been using to dry his hair quickly, and wrapped his arms around Hermione from behind. She was astounded how every time he touched her, her heart rate would increase no matter what. She was positive that this could never change, and that he would always make her heart beat louder than a screaming Mrs. Weasley just by being near her.
"I love you." Draco whispered, burying his face into her still slightly damp and sweet smelling hair. "I always have, deep down, and always will. Now that I've been given the chance to show it, I'll never let it go, no way. Don't worry."
Hermione set down her toothbrush and turned around, hugging Draco, her rock of comfort, her source of perpetual happiness. She loved how he would console her, and how they hadn't had a single fight since seeing each other again. Of course, there would be bickering and snide comments, but it was all play. Minor disagreements were fixed just through intense looks, and other scares were solved just by a slight touch.
As he rested his chin on the top of her head, Draco chuckled lightly. "And in all honesty, I think she was like that this evening because she's liked me for a long time. Pansy used to tell me that Daphne had a serious crush on me from when we were kids all the way to fifth year. They would gossip at each other's houses during the holidays or summer vacation, and no doubt Astoria wound up hearing their conversations. I know that the sisters are fiercely competitive against each other, so perhaps Astoria's trying to one-up Daphne, although why, I don't know. Daphne's been dating Blaise Zabini since last year, and they're still going steady. Anyways, you don't have anything to worry about. I don't like ugly girls."
He kissed the top of Hermione's head as she gave a slight giggle. Pulling her closer, he asked huskily, "Do you want to sleep on the couch tonight?"
Hermione bit her lip, thinking again about Ron. No, just don't think. she instructed herself. She gave a small "Okay" as a response, and Draco squeezed her slightly more and kissed her hair again, before departing to the common room, no doubt to conjure some pillows and a blanket, as well as remove Crookshanks to an armchair.
Hermione brushed her teeth quickly, and flossed with extra care, wondering if tonight she would finally get her first kiss with Draco Malfoy. She combed her hair even more, and debated on putting on perfume, even though she had just showered and still smelled like daisies.
She shouldn't have gone to the trouble, though, for when she reached the couch, Draco was already fast asleep, with Crookshanks sitting on his chest, mewing. Hermione gave an amused smile and picked up Crookshanks, setting him on an armchair. It seemed as though Draco had only conjured pillows before passing out, so Hermione produced a blanket before snuggling next to him and tucking them both underneath. As she buried her face into the crook of his neck, she was again overwhelmed with the wonderful peppermint smell coming off of him. She curled her legs against his, and felt his arms automatically wrap around her waist, while he moaned slightly, "…Mine-y…" and she was disappointed that his pajama bottoms were long, and she couldn't feel his skin against hers.
It didn't take long before the young lovers were both asleep, in complete bliss with the one they loved.
It was morning again, and sunlight streamed in, although Hermione refused to open her eyes, choosing instead to listen to the steady beat of Draco's heart and be lulled back to sleep by his rising and falling chest.
However, her plans were ruined when she heard Sir Cadogan's booming voice announcing the arrival of Ginny and Zacharias. It's Saturday. she moaned inwardly. Can't we just sleep in? She couldn't see how high the sun was in the sky.
Hermione was too lazy to even get up and greet Ginny and Zacharias when they bounded in, bringing with them the smells of breakfast. Hermione's back was to them, as she was facing the backrest of the couch, and only when Draco's stomach growled did she finally open her eyes and gently roll off of him to face her visitors.
She sat up, stretched and yawned, and then smiled tiredly at her two friends. Ginny had an enormous smirk on her face, while Zacharias looked confused, and had an expression as if he were trying to put two and two together but to no avail.
"Good morning." Hermione said quietly, glancing at Draco's sleeping form. She eyed the baskets Ginny and Zacharias were carrying that were obviously the source of the delicious smells, and knew that Draco would be up at any moment.
As Ginny and Zacharias set down the baskets, Crookshanks leapt from his bed on the armchair and went to scratch at the portrait door, so Zacharias went to open it. Ginny settled onto the floor criss-cross applesauce, and Draco stirred feebly, moaning, "Food…"
Hermione, though amused, rolled her eyes and caught Ginny's. "What do you want to do today?" she asked as she settled on the floor next to her.
"Let's go shopping!"