If you must know, Hermione Granger is a very stubborn witch.
Of course she is—she's a Gryffindor, after all.
She wasn't going to back down from a bet. So what if she had to go on a double blind date if she lost? It was just one date.
"How about one week's time?"
Hermione scoffed. "Ginny, if you can finish all six of Jane Austen's novels in one week, then I'm a Hippogriff. Wasn't the last time you read a book on your own accord back when you were in first year?"
Ginny Weasley shrugged from where she sat on the sofa in the Gryffindor Common Room. "Nothing like a bet to kick off that streak again." She grinned and eyed Hermione, sticking her pinky out. "So it's a bet, right? If I can finish all six of Jane Arson's—"
"Austen."
"—novels in one week, we'll sign up for Lavender's double blind date program?"
Hermione stuck her pinky out, trying not to reveal her confidence. "It's a bet."
The two girls pinky swore.
—
Apparently, she was a Hippogriff.
"Damn," Hermione muttered. It was exactly one week later, and she and Ginny were sitting on the exact same sofa in the Common Room. Only this time, Hermione's confidence had vanished, and Ginny had the new words of six Jane Austen novels revolving inside her head.
"Didn't think I could do it?" Ginny had a smug grin on her face. "Guess we should go talk to Lavender now."
"Alright," said Hermione weakly. "Let's just get this over with."
—
Lavender enthusiastically put Ginny and Hermione's names down for her newly-established Hogwarts students double blind date program when Ginny bounded up to her, dragging a defeated Hermione behind her.
"You'll both be sent an owl in a few days with the details of your double date!" Lavender explained, clapping her hands in excitement. "And again, it'll be completely anonymous—I'll pick two boys at random, and nobody will know anyone's name until the actual double date!"
—
Sure enough, after two days of dread for Hermione, an owl flew down in the middle of breakfast in the Great Hall and dropped an envelope in her lap. She looked up and met Ginny's eager eyes—she'd also gotten one.
Hermione ripped open the envelope in apprehension and took out the piece of paper inside. She held it up to read:
Hermione Granger, your blind double date will take place on Saturday, January 20th, at 5:00pm at Hogsmeade. You and Ginny Weasley will both meet your dates in front of Honeydukes. Your date will be wearing a badge with the number '1' on it. Please pin your badge to your robes so that your date can identify you as his date.
Hermione frowned. She shook the envelope, and a small piece of metal fell out, clattering onto the table. It was a small badge with the number '1' on it.
She looked up to see Ginny already holding up her envelope contents. They were exactly the same other than their flipped names and different numbers (Ginny had '2').
"Isn't this exciting?" exclaimed Ginny, clasping her hands together. "The whole thing was smart of Lavender too—she told me that she's had over fifty people in the last week alone sign up!"
Hermione only sighed.
—
Perhaps her dread for January 20th was what made the day arrive in a blur. In what felt like only ten seconds after receiving the letter, Hermione was standing in front of Honeydukes, her teeth chattering and her hands nearly freezing off as she reached up to tighten her scarf.
Next to her, Ginny had picked up a pile of snow and was shaping it into a snowball with her mitten-covered hands. Hermione gazed at the mittens with longing—she'd forgotten hers in her dormitory.
It was snowing—all around Hogsmeade, Hogwarts students were trudging in the snow, all wrapped in thick robes and sporting rosy cheeks. The atmosphere felt light and cheery, but all Hermione could focus on was how she wanted to be anywhere but here.
"We shouldn't have come so early," Ginny lamented, the fiery red hair spilling over her scarf dotted with snowflakes. "I'm freezing my arse off from just standing here."
"We could just abandon the plan?" suggested Hermione hopefully. "Forget the double date and go get butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks?"
"No."
Hermione's shoulders slumped. She raised her shivering arm and checked her watch. Only two minutes until five.
She looked back up—and immediately made a face.
Making his way towards Honeydukes was none other than Draco Malfoy. Despite the light fall of the snow partially fuzzing Hermione's view of anything more than ten feet away from her, she recognized the pale blonde of his hair and his height even from a distance.
As he got near, Hermione realized that he had a companion—Blaise Zabini, she recognized. He was walking by Malfoy's side and muttering something to him, the two of them walking closer and closer towards Honeydukes.
Malfoy had on a large black coat thrown over a gray turtleneck, which explained why he didn't seem to be dying from the cold. On the contrary, he didn't seem to be freezing at all—he reached up to loosen his tie with his glove-less hand with an impassive look on his face.
He probably has sacks of Galleons stuffed in those coat pockets, Hermione thought.
She didn't realize that she was staring until Malfoy's gray eyes abruptly snapped up and met hers. She started slightly and felt her cheeks warm up in unexplainable embarrassment. He only raised an unimpressed eyebrow before turning back to Zabini.
"Do you think they ditched?" Ginny whispered to Hermione suddenly, snapping her out of her reverie. The redhead was frowning. "It's five."
Hermione, trying to ignore Malfoy and Zabini, who had made themselves comfortable standing in the opposite corner outside Honeydukes, stepped forward a bit and peered around, trying to glimpse two shining badges in the snowfall. When she had no such luck, she ducked back and shot Ginny a look. "Maybe." She paused for a second. "Butterbeers now?"
"No."
"Fine."
Ginny shrugged. "Maybe they're just late." She readjusted her scarf so that her badge was showing and then glanced at Hermione. "Hermione, move your scarf. It's blocking your badge."
Hermione looked down. "Oh, you're right." She made the fix before stuffing her hands back into the warmth of her pockets.
She was in the middle of thinking about how comfortable it would feel if she were in front of the Common Room fireplace instead, curled on the sofa with a good book, when she noticed the strange looks from the corner of her eye.
From where he stood in the opposite corner outside the brightly-lit Honeydukes, Malfoy was staring in her direction with a very odd look on his face. Zabini was whispering something to him, sporting a similar expression and glancing in her direction every few seconds.
Hermione shook her head, ignoring them. She observed her watch. It was 5:04 now. Maybe she should just make a dash for it. She subtly observed Ginny's footwear—she had on impractical platform clogs, which would stand no chance against Hermione's durable, ridged boots. She could probably fit one butterbeer in at the Three Broomsticks before the redhead caught up to her.
She was genuinely pondering abandoning Ginny right there and then when a shadow suddenly fell over her.
She looked up and met the eyes of a very uncomfortable-looking Malfoy.
He and Zabini had somehow crossed over to her and Ginny without her noticing, and the two were now standing in front of them, both looking like they had something to say but didn't know how to say it.
"Weaslette," started Malfoy, nodding in acknowledgement towards Ginny before turning back to Hermione. "Granger."
Hermione stared. Why in Merlin's name was he talking to her?
When she didn't say anything, Zabini coughed. He raised his hand and pointed at Ginny's chest. "That—I think you're mine."
Ginny's eyebrows shot upwards. "Excuse me?"
"Wait, that came out really weird. I meant—"
"The double blind date," interjected Malfoy, his eyes still fixed on Hermione. He reached forward and, before she could utter any protest, tapped his finger against the '1' badge pinned on the front of her robes. "You're my date."
Hermione's jaw dropped. "You're—you're date?" she spluttered, brain refusing to comprehend his words. Draco Malfoy had signed up for Lavender's double blind date program, and he was her date?
Ginny had crossed her arms and was eyeing both Malfoy and Zabini with a suspicious expression. "Okay, where are your badges then?" She gestured at the obviously-badgeless fronts of their coats.
Malfoy and Zabini silently held up their left arms in unison. Hermione had to stare at Malfoy's sleeve for a few seconds before she noticed the small glimmer of metal on the end of it. It was a badge with the number '1' on it.
The usual expression she reserved for Harry and Ron whenever they'd ask to copy her homework the night before the deadline overtook her face and, forgetting who exactly she was talking to for a moment, she aimed it at Malfoy. "You pinned your badge to your sleeve?"
Malfoy looked genuinely confused. "Yes. Why? Where else would we pin them? They're the size of cufflinks."
"Oh, Merlin," Hermione heard Ginny mutter.
"You dolt—you pin them to the front of your clothing like we did so that they're actually visible!"
"'Like we did?'" Malfoy scoffed. "Please. You two had us standing around like idiots because your bloody scarves were obscuring your badges."
"You two had us standing around like idiots because your badges were pinned to your sleeves like cufflinks!"
"Okay!" interrupted Ginny loudly. She looped her arm around Zabini's in one swift, sudden move, and either didn't notice or chose to ignore his look of startlement at that action. "In case you've all forgotten, we're here in the first place for that double date. Where to first? The Three Broomsticks? Inside Honeydukes?"
"Scrivenshaft's?" suggested Hermione and Malfoy simultaneously, and both looked at each other in surprise.
Ginny and Zabini both stared.
"Um, any reason why?" asked Zabini.
"I have to pick up parchment," said Hermione as Malfoy said, "I have to pick up new quills."
Ginny threw the hand that wasn't attached to the arm looped around Zabini's up in the air with exasperation. "This isn't a trip for running errands! You two can do that after we've had butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks or something. Hermione, you wanted to do that just now, right?"
"Um—" Yeah, so she could get out of this.
Malfoy looked bored. "Alternatively, Weaslette, how about we just split? You and Blaise go off on your little butterbeer date while Granger and I actually make use of our time and go to Scrivenshaft's?"
"Wha—no! Malfoy, this is a double blind date. Double. In case you don't know, that word means at or to twice the amount of—OI! GET BACK HERE!"
Maybe Malfoy had also recognized the impracticality of Ginny's clogs, because he wasn't even trying to run from her. Instead, he'd grabbed Hermione's hand in the middle of Ginny's spiel and simply turned on his heels, pulling her alongside him and leaving a shouting Ginny and befuddled Zabini standing outside Honeydukes.
"What are you doing?" Hermione demanded, twisting her head over her shoulder. Ginny and Zabini were rapidly disappearing behind them due to the snowfall.
Malfoy looked down at her. "Going to Scrivenshaft's."
"Well, we just—we just left them! Don't you think we should go back?"
Malfoy paused in the middle of the road, causing Hermione to nearly run into him. He raised a brow at her. "Granger, you really want to sit in a booth with me, Blaise, and the Weaslette at the Three Broomsticks and sip on butterbeers? Gee, maybe we can all hold hands and sing songs when we skip back to the castle too."
"Okay, never mind," Hermione muttered, the thought resembling a horror movie far too much for her liking.
She murmured a quiet apology to Ginny under her breath before picking up her pace and following Malfoy, who was now striding in the direction of Scrivenshaft's once more.
They'd gone maybe a few steps before Hermione realized that her right hand was still clasped tightly in Malfoy's left hand.
"Um—" She tugged it slightly, unsure of what else to do. "Could you—?"
Malfoy only glanced down her hand before continuing on his way.
"Hey—Malfoy! My hand—you're still, uh, holding it."
Malfoy gave a dramatic sigh and turned back around to her. "Yes, Granger, I am, because I don't want your hand to freeze and fall off." He raised their joined hands up, his gray eyes fixed on her face. "Unless your nerves are fried, then I think you can feel how cold your hand is right now. Why aren't you wearing gloves?"
Hermione opened her mouth, then closed it. "Well—why aren't you wearing gloves?"
Malfoy looked unimpressed. "I do fine with the cold—unlike you, clearly." He dropped his arm, but he kept his hand wrapped around hers. "Unless you want frostbite, don't pull away."
Hermione didn't know what to say—she settled with a quick "Fine" and let herself get pulled into a walk again by Malfoy, trying to ignore the sensation of his fingers against hers—and the foreign sensation of slight fluttering in her stomach.
Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after all.