Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
It's been a week since the ball, and three days since Hermione told me that we're all going to meet 'Saint Potter' in Hogsmeade today. I'm kind of upset that she didn't tell me earlier, but I do understand that it was pretty easy to forget about between the ball and catching up on homework.
I still haven't chosen what movie or song to do for my essay for muggle studies, and it's due pretty soon. I have about a week to get it sorted and write the darn thing. Maybe I should ask Hermione for some recommendations. I'd better write it down for later.
Anyway Hermione has just gathered us all together, Neville, Ginny, Luna, Blaise, and I, so that we can leave together as a group. We all walk down to the main entrance and get our names ticked off the list by Filch. I give a slight nod towards him as I pass which he returns as he has helped me in the past and is nicer to me than other students.
We arrive at Hogsmeade after about 10 minutes of walking, and make our way over to the Three Broomsticks to meet Potter. We head inside and see that he's already there and has saved a table for all of us to sit at. It's a decent sized booth in the corner that doesn't look too conspicuous, but still gives some privacy from the chaos of the rest of the bar. This is pretty good considering we're all fairly high profile people and with all of us here any reporters who find us would have plenty of stuff to write about.
We sit down after Harry hugs all of them and shakes hands with Blaise and I. Harry sits on one end followed by Ginny, then Neville, then Luna, then Blaise, then Hermione, and finally me. Hermione and Ginny catch Harry up on what's happened since the start of the school year, and we all jump in every now and then to fill in details they forget or to correct information and certain stories. We spend a decent amount of time on what has been happening with muggle studies and what we think of it.
"Potter, do you have a phone?" I ask suddenly. I don't even know why I do, it just popped into my head and I said it without thinking.
"Um, yes Malfoy. Why?" He replies with a confused expression. I can't believe I'm actually at the point where I can hold a civilized chat with Potter. The world really has flipped since the war.
"Oh sorry, it just popped into my head, I didn't mean to say it out loud." I say with a slight blush, which with my complexion must make me seem a red as a tomato.
"It's alright. So what kind of equipment have you hooked up Blaise and Draco with Hermione? You weren't very specific with your earlier letter, and I'm curious to know what they've learned to use." She smiles, obviously eager to tell him all about how she convinced two purebloods to become pretty 'tech savy'.
"Well, I've taught them how to use a Chromebook, a smartphone, a smartwatch or activity tracker, earbuds, a dvd player, and a USB key in case the internet fails at any point. Blaise actually gave me the idea of the smartwatch because he had seen it in a muggle magazine in class." She beams as she says this. I love how she knows exactly what she's shown us, and how she makes it sound so normal.
"Wow, they're more caught up with the mainstream tech than I thought. Have you or the professor for muggle studies introduced video games yet?" I wonder what that is. By the name, I would guess that it's some sort of game on a dvd, but it could be something much more complicated than that. I remember when she took us out to get smartphones, I thought it would just be a regular phone that could maybe do math as well or something. It was so much more than that, you can text, call, use it for basic arithmancy, as a light instead of lumos, you can take muggle or wizarding pictures, set reminders, make notes, check your email… there were just so many uses!
"No, neither I nor Professor Carrington have taught them about them yet. I believe that's part of Unit E, we are currently starting Unit C and working on a final project for Unit B. Unit A was on communication, Unit B is on pop-culture and basic entertainment, Unit C is on household appliances, Unit D is on transportation, Unit E is on more specific recreational activities and hobbies, Unit F is on work and jobs, Unit G is on politics and government, and Unit H is on muggle world history. I think we can wait till the proper time to teach them about video games, I don't need them becoming addicted to it and slacking on school work for awhile."
I can see Ginny smirking, and Blaise looking really interested in these 'video games'. I guarantee he's going to look it up later just to annoy Hermione. I am shocked that she knows the curriculum that well, but it really shouldn't surprise me after knowing her for so long. Even if I wasn't her friend, you'd have to be… well I guess Harry Potter to not notice her crazy studying habits and need for information.
"Ah yes, Granger and her control freak nature. I mean, there's no other way for us to possibly find out what these 'video games' are without your help. Oh wait! We can just look it up on the internet." Blaise says, in a very sarcastic, but light hearted manner. I was right.
"Agreed, Zabini. Hermione, I can't believe you haven't showed them yet! You're the best person to play Lego© Avengers that I know! You'd never guess that you'd be so good at it." says Harry. I see Blaise pull out a scrap piece of parchment to write down all these terms so he can look it up. Luna's just staring off into space, Neville is kind of confused but it looks like he understands some of what's going on, and Ginny has a very annoying 'knowing' smirk on her face.
We sit for awhile longer just talking about how stuff has been and Harry tells us about his Auror training and how much fun it is. Ginny ask how much of an idiot Ron's been, and Harry merely says that he's "the same as when you guys left for Hogwarts, if not worse". I notice that Hermione tenses up a bit next to me and I put a reassuring hand on her forearm. She relaxes a little at this, but not by much. We order some lunch as it's getting a little late and we're taking up a fairly large table for nothing, before going to Honeydukes.
We each get a small basket full of items and leave the store with small white canvas bags, except for Hermione who keeps hers in her beaded purse. Afterwards, we walk up to the lake and chat under a large tree. Harry, Neville, Blaise, and I make a competition out of skipping stones into the water, Slytherins vs. Gryffindors. Thankfully it was really sunny today, so it wasn't as chilly as it usually is in November.
At one point while the others were exchanging some of the samples that Harry got from George's latest line of creations for his joke shop, he pulled me aside to talk.
"Malfoy, I can see the way Hermione reacts when she's around you. Though she may try to deceive everyone else and even herself otherwise, she obviously likes you. I'm not going to try and stop it because she's Hermione, and I trust her judgement of you. From what I've seen here today, you and Blaise have changed a lot since last year, and I'm happy to see that.
For what it's worth, you have my 'blessing' to be friends or even more it ever gets there. Just know that if you break her heart, or if you've just been tricking us this whole time, don't ever doubt that I will kill you for it. She's like a sister to me, and when people come along and break her heart or her trust, I get very angry. I trust you won't do that, but seeing as how her parents are dead, I feel obligated to give you the dad talk.
Just watch out for Ron alright? If he finds out that you and Hermione are becoming close, or are even just friends, he just might explode. As in, even worse than in Diagon Alley. I just want to give you a heads up."
"Thanks Potter, that felt weird but I'm glad you aren't going to kill me in the middle of the night. Weasley on the other hand may be an issue, but we'll cross that road when we get there." He gives me nod and we walk back together. We spend the rest of the day by the lake, and then later, we walk Potter back to the the village so he can apparate back to the Ministry. We give Ginny time to say goodbye in private, since she hadn't seen her boyfriend for about 2 months, then we all said our goodbyes. I just gave him a solid handshake when it was my turn and wished him luck with his job.
We go back to the castle and retire to our rooms after our long day. Once Hermione and I walk through our portrait hole, she gives me a big hug.
"Thank you for not causing trouble today. I know it was probably awkward, but I figured that if you and Blaise spent the day with us and Harry, he would be a lot less suspicious of you guys, and might even be friendly to you. Ron's a different story altogether, and actually I'd rather keep our friendship a secret from him for my sake as well as yours. I hope you weren't too bored or uncomfortable. Again, thanks for coming." With that she pulls away and walks up to her room. When she's about halfway up the stairs, I call out to her.
"Hermione!" I hear her stop. "It was my pleasure to join you and your, I mean our friends today. Goodnight, I hope you get a good night's rest." She comes back down a few steps and looks at me with a beautiful smile before replying.
"You too Draco, you too." Then she carries on to her room leaving me standing in the common room, realizing that I should probably head up too. I get ready for bed, and lie down thinking to myself about the day's events and how much I actually enjoyed myself. My last thought before I fell asleep was of Hermione standing next to the lake, a bright smile on her face as the light from the setting sun made her eyes and hair glow like gold, and the wonderful nature scene around her.
Author's Note: I'm trying to integrate more characters, and include more interaction with characters into the story to hopefully spice it up a bit more. The point in the story where we are at right now is pretty happy, but I'm planning on drowning some of the characters in a little bit more of pain soon if that makes any sense. Thanks for all your support, please read and review. Feedback is always welcome, and if you catch any mistakes feel free to send them to me. I tend to think faster than I can type, so I'll probably miss some words here and there. Thanks again for reading, and have a wonderful week. Till next time!