Hermione was unavailable that night because she was teaching Harry the Summoning Charm, so Draco was sitting in the common room, in his favorite armchair, with a bottle of butterbeer. The others in the Common Room were doing who knows what, but Draco was zoned out, staring into the fire. After a while, his eyes started to get hot, though, so he turned his head to the ground in front of him. Pansy was, uncharacteristically, sitting in front of his feet, with a book open in front of her. Draco summoned his book of fairy tales he had gotten for Christmas the year previous, and opened it, but did not read. He thought back to the conversation while looking like he was reading the book in his lap.
~Flashback to December of the previous year~
"Draco, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Uh, sure Mr. Granger." Draco wondered what it was about. He didn't think he had done anything wrong.
"Call me Daniel, kiddo," he said with a chuckle.
Once they reached Daniel's home office, Draco took a minute to look at his surroundings. There were bookshelves from floor to ceiling across an entire wall, and on the opposite wall was a desk that took up a good corner, but still facing the doorway, where Mr. Granger could see out. Draco sat in one of the seats facing away from the door tentatively, waiting to see what Daniel would say.
The other man sat there with his hands folded in front of him, and Draco tried not to fidget. "It has come to my attention that you and Hermione have started dating."
Oh. "Uh, yes sir." Draco ducked his head. That's what that was about.
"Ok, I'm just going to make the typical Dad threats and make sure you keep her happy.
"So, if you break her heart, I will break you, magic or not. I'll find a way. But I believe you will never leave her, and just make sure she's always in a decent mood. She might get mad at you sometimes, but I've got a feeling that you two are going to work it out if it were to happen. She wrote me a few weeks ago after she broke down, and told me that you called a couple of friends over to help you, but still helped her. I thank you for that."
Draco nodded. "Sir, I love her, very much. I would do most anything for her. She has quite literally changed my life, and I believe that if I didn't have her, I would do much more in the ways that I now know are wrong. She is my light, and I hope she will stay there forever."
"Good lad." Mr. Granger walked around the desk and patted Draco on the shoulder as he left the room. "Now, let's get to bed, Christmas is tomorrow!"
~End Flashback~
Draco kept thinking after the memory had played itself out. Draco was reminded of all the years they had spent together, in the Room of Requirement, in various shops yesterday at Hogsmeade, and other times, when they were actually able to be themselves.
He was reminded of all the times they had learned, both of each other and of spells and potions Uncle Sev had taught them, in secret, of course. (He wouldn't let them brew alone)
But most of all, Draco was reminded of the little things, like her favorite color (Surprisingly, a light mint green), her favorite treat (A muggle one by the name of Milky Way), and something she wanted to name her kids when she got older, no matter who she had them with (Personally, his favorite was Sora Lee, and with the last name Malfoy too). He was reminded of the way her nose crinkled adorably when she laughed, and the way she squirmed away whenever he tickled her sides.
He was hit suddenly with a wave of love, and it caused him to look up, back into the fire.
He wanted to marry her. Not anytime soon, but maybe after they graduated. (Yes, I know that is young, but I like to think the purebloods are used to getting married right out of school (cause of arranged marriages and all), and then try right away for kids, but most have a couple of years with all the inbreeding and all. Let's just say he doesn't know any different)
"You ok, Drakie?"
Draco started, and looked at the ground in front of him. Right. Pansy.
"Yeah. Pans, I'm fine."
He had to go see Uncle Sev.
.
Stalking through the castle, Draco made a direct path for his godfather's office. Knocking on the door, he didn't even wait for him to say "Enter," before barging in. "I need to go to Diagon Alley."
To his credit, Uncle Sev didn't jump and instead just looked up calmly once he had finished the paragraph on the essay he was grading. "And may I ask why?"
"You may." Draco waited for him to ask. He was in a mood, and wanted to go now, geez.
After a gesture from the elder man, Draco continued. "Doesn't matter, but you have permission from my father to take me to Diagon whenever I need it as my godfather and head of house, right? We can just say that my robes don't fit anymore." Besides, they were getting a little short around the ankles. "But I need to go for something much more important. No I'm not going to tell you. Yet."
"But you will?"
"You would be with me."
"Alright, meet me here Thursday at half past three. Have whatever you need with you."
Draco nodded and left the classroom with a hurried "thanks" thrown over his shoulder. "See you then!"
.
As soon as Draco got back to his dorm, he pulled out a piece of parchment from his trunk and a pen that still had a lot of ink.
He was actually a decent artist, and he wanted to design this just for Hermione. After a few hours of drawing and playing with different materials, Draco happily came up with a good final design. He was in love, both with a girl and the drawing he had. He sat back, and let out a heavy sigh. Looking around, he saw Blaise was sitting in his bed, reading by wandlight, and all the other boys were asleep.
"Done?"
"Yeah. I think so."
Blaise nodded. "Cool."
Draco did his nightly routine and slid into bed, hopefully Hermione was doing alright, and Harry had gotten what he needed. Falling asleep, he slept mostly peacefully. Tomorrow was the first task.
.
The crowd was shouting, screaming, yelling, shifting. It was a mess. Was it this bad during Quidditch matches? He honestly didn't even know. A faint sound of a whistle was blown, and Bagman came running out of the tent where the Champions were. Bagman cast a Sonorus on himself, and a dragon, of all things, was led into the arena - thing.
Cedric Diggory came out of the tent at a fake - calm pace, it was hard to be calm facing a dragon, Draco assumed. Fortunately, Diggory was able to mostly keep his cool about him, and passed the Dragon with little injuries.
Honestly, the worst thing that happened was the fact that the dragons burnt the rock he had transfigured into a dog. Other than that, Digoory did quite well. Though it took him a good twenty minutes.
It had to be bad for the other Champions in the tent, for they were only hearing what was going on.
Fleur Delacour was next, and she walked out of the tent with a death grip on her wand and her head held high. A Welsh Green was led into the pit, and Delacour got past him while also acquiring a burn on her side. ("Good Lord, I thought she had it then!") Hopefully, it didn't hurt the part - veela too much.
Victor Krum stalked out of the tent to the cheers of everyone. After all, who didn't like the famous Quidditch star? The Chinese Fireball he had to face smashed quite a few eggs. Draco sure hoped those were just fake, he didn't think the dragon reserve would appreciate the fact that almost all of the eggs had been smashed.
But otherwise, Krum did well, and only had marks taken off for smashing the eggs from all the judges except his own, for of course wizards were biased. Had they ever heard of impartial judges?
A Hungarian Horntail, by far the worst of all the dragons here, was led into the pit next, and Draco almost winced at the viciousness that it had, but to do so would show that he wasn't exactly supporting Cedric Diggory, the REAL Hogwarts Champion.
Anyways, Harry walked tentatively out into the arena, and then, confidently, shouted "Accio Firebolt!" It took a moment, but Draco found it impressive that Potter was able to summon his broom from so far away, and with only one day's practice, too. Draco didn't think he would be able to do so, even after a couple of days. After that, it looked much like a one - sided seekers battle, but the Snitch was being guarded by a, well, a dragon. And the snitch was ten times its normal size and also stationary, but you can't have everything, now, can you?
The Horntail threw her tail around like a mad cat, hissing and spitting at Potter. Eventually, finally, the dragon took off, and Harry zoomed in and grabbed the egg.
Good job, Harry.
.
Draco could only assume that all of the Gryffindors were celebrating their hearts out, but he and the Slytherins were sulking in the Common Rooms that it wasn't Diggory that had won over Potter. Draco honestly didn't care, but he 'hated' Potter, so he acted like it hurt him the most.
"Honestly, what is Potter playing at?", "He just got lucky," and "Fools, the lot of them," were common themes there that night. Draco just grabbed his bag and made his way to an abandoned classroom, where Goyle, Crabbe, Davis, and Greengrass - the older one - were studying.
They all finished their work, because any self respecting Slytherin would not be seen doing such meaningless work while in the Common Room. It was beneath them.
The others finished before Draco did, and even though most of them packed up and left right away, Daphne Greengrass stayed behind, telling Davis she would be right there.
Honestly, women. Always needing to go everywhere together.
Draco continued writing the essay for History of Magic. Nearing the final length he needed, he placed the quill down and looked up, rolling his neck. And noticed a flash of golden hair.
"Greengrass."
"Malfoy."
"Why are you still here?"
"I wanted to ask you a couple of questions."
"Ask away."
"How would you hide a relationship with a Gryffindor?"
Draco froze. He knew she was onto him. No idea how, but she was onto him.
"Why." There was no question in his tone.
"Well, you see, I tend to go places I probably shouldn't, and hypothetically, it just so happens that I walked in on a Gryffindor one day, and he was in the middle of something quite important, and I told him I would forget about it, but only if he took me out on a date."
"Hypothetically, of course, right?"
"Of course. Now, what if, hypothetically, I happened to like the date so much I demanded another, and hypothetically, we have now been on four dates now."
"Well, hypothetically, you would need a place to stay together with absolutely no chance of getting caught. And hypothetically, I know of a place where you can get that privacy, if only I get the place more often than you. And hypothetically, I would bring my Gryffindor girlfriend over for a couple double dates as well."
"Who?"
"You first."
"... Potter."
Draco whistled lowly, then answered her. "Granger."
Greengrass's mouth dropped, then promptly shut again. "But, you call her and her friends awful names all the time!"
"Never mean it, never have. It's all a part."
"Hm. Well, take me to this private, hidden room then, Malfoy."
"It's Draco, Greengrass."
"Then I'm Daphne."
She threaded her arm in his, and the two of them left to the seventh floor, Draco leading Daphne the entire way.
.
The following Thursday at three thirty five, coming to a spinning stop, Draco let go of the portkey and shuddered. It was still so uncomfortable to travel in any way. Floo was the best so far, though. He couldn't wait until he got his Apparition license. "Thanks. Want to meet in Madam Malkin's shop in half an hour?"
"Draco, you know you aren't supposed to be left alone during the school year, right?"
"Yeah. I guess. Besides, we still need to go to the bank."
"True."
So, after a cart ride to some of the deepest vaults (hey, the Malfoys were an old, pure family from a long time ago) and back, Draco and Severus split apart, Draco down the alley a ways to backtrack to the jeweler's, to throw Professor Snape off while he went to the Apothecary.
.
The tinkling bell threw Draco off, it seemed like the muggle shops Hermione had described to him. He cautiously walked up to the counter and waited, sketches in hand. A few seconds later, a witch wearing what must have been a company shirt came from the back table. She had generic straight brown hair, but it was nearing the greying stage. Her eyes were always shifting, green one second and purple the next. It was honestly beautiful, but discombobulating too. She leaned on the counter, her arms folded under her chest, crossed.
"How can I help you, kiddo?"
"Uh. Yeah." Draco shook his head to clear it from the slight fog it had picked up from those eyes. "Your eyes are very pretty, ma'am."
She giggled. "Thank you, but there's no need to call me ma'am. Makes me feel old. I'm Laurie, and you are here for a piece of custom jewelry, if that parchment is anything to go off of."
"Yes. I wish to have this made, and imbibed with charms and protections too, please." He passed over the paper, and she took her arm out from under her to grab it. Her eyes widened.
"Hm. That's actually a really good drawing kid. You do this yourself?"
"Yes ma'am." Draco blushed.
"Alright, kiddo. I think I can do this. But do you know which protections you want put on it?"
"Uh, whatever you think is best for her. She's the same age as me, so, um." Why was he so inarticulate? "Money is not a concern, much. But please don't put stuff on there just to rack up the price."
Laurie just chuckled. "You got it. It'll be ready in about four hours. Do you have her size?"
Draco was confused. "Her size?"
"Finger size. I'll just give it a Resize Charm, so it will always fit her."
"Oh."
.
After finishing up there, Draco went to Madam Malkin's robe shop, where Professor Snape was waiting with a hand in his pocket, probaby to make sure no one would steal the shrunken potions ingredients from his pocket.
"You're late."
"Uh, sorry?"
Severus just shook his head and opened the door, holding it for Draco to go first.
Two hours later, Draco had a set of robes fit to his size, with another being duplicated in the back. (She charmed one roll to stay in the back room and mirror what was going on in the front. Kinda voodoo - y, but whatever. It was magic)
He still had two hours to kill, however, and no idea how to do it.
"Uh, so I ordered something from a shop, and they still need two hours. Professor."
"Does this have anything to do with this parchment that fell out of your pocket while you were being fitted?" Holding out the parchment that was filled with scribbled out drawings, Severus looked on in amusement as Draco's hand snatched it out of his hand as he blushed a deep shade of burgundy.
"No."
"Whatever you say, Mr. Malfoy. Whatever you say."
Well, yeah, his godfather knew about his relationship with Hermione, but they still liked to have a very private relationship. Really, the only people that knew were those Twins, Uncle Sev, and now Daphne Greengrass. Oh, and he guessed Hermione knew about it.
"C'mon."
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
Eventually, they ended up in front of a muggle shop, outside Diagon Alley. Draco wondered what he was doing here. If any other wizards saw him ….
"Relax, I put a glamor up after we left the alley."
Draco relaxed marginally, but was still quite a bit tense. "Why are we outside a muggle shop?"
"Little Dragon, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
But do you? Draco couldn't help but wonder.
They entered the shop, and the smell of animal hit his nose. He shied away at first, scrunching his nose, but quickly dropped his Slytherin masks into place.
"I saw that."
Grumbling under his breath, Draco made his way to the back of the pet store, where the animals were. He forgot about the fish, ditched the idea of getting a cat as soon as it came into his head (stupid allergies) and didn't care for a dog. The rodents weren't a good idea, and he didn't really want one, anyway. Really, only the reptiles grabbed his attention. Well, and maybe a ferret, no matter the teasing from Mya.
"Can I get one?"
"If you are the one to take care of it. Don't shove it on your housemates."
"I would never."
"Ok, you're the one explaining it to your father though."
In the end, nearly two and a half hours later, Draco walked out of the shop with a forty liter tank and a baby bearded dragon. He didn't get a lot of the muggle equipment, such as heating lamps and pads, because of magic and technology not really agreeing with each other. But he knew how to cast a warming charm. It wouldn't be a problem.
The pair of them walked back into the Alley, and Draco immediately made his way to Charms and Jewels, the shop he had placed his order at.
"Heya, munchkin, it's ready for you!"
Draco took the box she had in her hand and carefully opened it. It was perfect.
"Thank you so much, ma'am! It looks even better than I ever hoped!" This was really not normal for public Draco, but he was startled out of his masks with the perfection of the jewels. "What charms are on it, and how much do I owe you?" Gathering his money bag, he waited while she explained the different charms on it.
"Well, first I put the resizing one, like you asked, then I put a basic hex and charm blocker, a medium strength potions resistance, will only activate if harmful for the both of those, and a permanent portkey, to a destination you can set. Just say these words when you want to set it, and it will bring her there no matter what." She handed draco a sheet with a couple words on it. "Lastly, we have a matching band for you, with the same charms, and maybe a bit more masculine. Both bands will know exactly how far they are from each other, and will stay hidden from those prying eyes. How's all that sound, kiddo?"
"That … That all sounds wonderful. Now, how much do I owe you for the two?
"Kiddo, listen to me, you are gonna need these soon, so just the one you asked for. You are adorable, and I believe your girl, whoever she is, is the luckiest girl around. Not many purebloods will go through all this trouble of making one of these, they just look through their vaults Usually, the only people who come in here are the halfbloods. Muggleborns just can never fully integrate, though it is no fault of theirs, it's the other purebloods faults.
"All that being said, you only owe me 50 galleons."
Draco looked down in shock. She had dropped the other box onto the glass countertop, open, and the other band was just as gorgeous as the one he was going to give Mya. They had to be at least 150 galleons, each!
"Ma'am, these have got to be worth so much more than that!" he protested.
"Well, kiddo, let Auntie Laurie take care of you. You are gonna thank me later, trust me, kiddo."
For some reason Draco did. So he paid the 50 galleons, grabbed the bands, and walked out of the shop to go back to school with his godfather.
.
"Good luck, Draco Malfoy. Good luck, Hermione Granger. Merlin knows you need it."