Courting Miss Granger-Chapter 20-Diagon Alley
By Marmalade Fever
Draco wandered rather absentmindedly down Diagon Alley, his hands in his pockets. He'd come to try and get away from things, though he wasn't sure why being in a crowd of noisy shoppers would help. His feet traced his old haunts, which inevitably led him into the Quidditch supply store. The place was practically deserted except for a small crowd of nine or ten year-olds who were huddled around a display. Draco moved forward to join them. Hovering inside a glass display case was a sparkly golden broomstick. "Fleeter than any broom made before, the Dream Chaser is fast enough to carry its rider across the Atlantic Ocean in half an hour. Safer than any previous, it is truly the greatest achievement in brooms thus-far." Below was a price that even made Draco gasp for air. That was one expensive broom! A faint jingling sound drew him out of his thoughts. He turned and instantly felt a head-ache coming. In the doorway stood Potter and Weasley. Worse, they had already noticed him. In three strides they crossed the store and stood in front of him. "Excuse me," Draco said, trying to side step them.
"Not so fast," said Potter, stopping him.
"What do you want?" Draco asked, crossing his arms in defeat.
"We wanted to thank you for letting Hermione out of this wedding."
Draco quirked an eyebrow. "No, seriously, what do you want?"
"That's the truth," Weasley said with a smirk.
"Right. Well, it's been a blast. See you." He started to step past them again, but was stopped. "What now?"
"We need to ask you what happened," Potter said.
"Why not just ask her?"
"She's being very evasive. She'll only tell us that your father found someone else. She seems entirely nonplussed. Now why's that?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? She never exactly wanted me to marry her in the first place, now did she?"
"That's not true," Weasley piped in.
"Huh?"
"I mean that she seemed, and still seems, very much in love with you." The look on the Weasel's face told Draco that it was difficult for him to admit.
"Really?" he asked, trying hard to mask the joy on his own face.
"So why isn't this bothering her?" Weasley pressed on.
Draco looked at both of them before sighing. "Because she seems to think that... I love her," he mumbled.
They exchanged a look. "What?" asked Potter.
"That I love her," he repeated.
"And do--" Potter started.
"What's a submarine?" Draco interrupted.
Potter blinked. "What?"
"What's a submarine?" he repeated.
"It's a sort of enclosed boat that goes under water... Er, why?"
"Just wondering... So, how is Hermione, anyway?" He mentally slapped himself for calling her that.
"You," Weasley said, pointing at Draco's chest, "you called her Hermione!"
"It's only common courtesy to call someone you've kissed by their first name." Draco watched happily as his comment caused both men to look ill.
"Oh, gag! Why'd you have to say something like that?" Weasley asked, turning red.
Draco shrugged. "Really, how is she?"
"She's fine," Potter said, still a little green.
"Good..."
"If what you're saying is true, then she's expecting you to go back to her," Potter added, after a pause.
"Which is preposterous! You of all people should know that it's not a good idea to go against my father's wishes." His face fell when he saw a look of sudden comprehension dawn on Weasley's face.
"Wait a second, is that your only reason?" he asked. "You're just afraid of what your Daddy would do to you?"
"Er..." Draco began. Why was there sweat cropping up on his forehead? He had a bad feeling that he had just admitted to something very bad. Potter and the Weasel seemed to take his silence for an answer and exchanged a look of shock.
"He's in love with her!" Potter said at last, looking first dumbstruck and then suddenly as if he were about to laugh. He turned back to Draco and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"But..." Draco said, lifting a finger as if trying to make a point, but he couldn't think of anything. It wasn't exactly like he wanted to marry Antoine. Truth be told, of the two he'd go for Hermione any day, despite blood. There was still the old rivalry to be reckoned with though, right? They couldn't expect him to marry her after all that? But hadn't he spent the last five minutes or so having a perfectly civil conversation with these two?
"See you at the wedding, Malfoy," Potter said, checking his watch. "Shoot, I need to get back to take Pen to the doctor soon." With that, Potter and Weasley left, leaving Draco with his mouth still slightly open.
...
Hermione looked up from cataloguing a stack of Herbology books to find a customer looking somewhat lost. "Hi," the woman said, "can you point me towards Professor Longbottom's book on magical plants in a non-magical garden?" Hermione stood and dusted her knees off.
"Do you want volume one or two?" she asked, smiling at the other woman. She was about Hermione's own age, maybe slightly shorter, and had blond hair.
"I didn't realize that there was a second volume," she said, looking interested.
"It just came out in September," Hermione replied, turning to the shelves and running her finger along a line of books. She stopped at the name Longbottom and lifted out two good-sized tomes. "They're both really interesting reads. I went to school with him, you know," she added, pointing to Neville's name.
"Really? I've wanted to meet him ever since Herbological Fungi and How it Grew came out. The way he explained the cross of the two kingdoms was really interesting."
"Oh, I know!" Hermione paused, wondering if she dared try and play matchmaker. "You know, he's not married, and I'm sure he'd love to discuss his works with you."
The other woman's face rose and fell. "Oh well," she said, looking rather sadly at a ring on her finger. "I see you've been snagged too," she added, noticing a ring on Hermione's finger as well.
"Oh," Hermione said, not entirely sure what to say. Luckily she was distracted by the rather sudden entry of Harry and Ron.
"Hey!" Harry said, stopping in front of them. The other woman's eyes flicked momentarily to the scar on his forehead. For a second a look of dawning comprehension came into her eyes, followed by a small grin. "You'll never guess who we just bumped into."
"Who?" Hermione asked, turning only slightly as to not make her customer feel excluded.
Ron answered. "Malfoy! He was shopping at Quality Quidditch Supplies."
"What did he say?" Hermione asked, feeling her cheeks turning red. The woman was looking almost a little too interested in the conversation than would have been normal.
"Not a whole lot. Asked what a submarine is. Any clue why?"
Hermione smirked. "I expect he's been listening to his Beatles record some more. You know the song, Yellow Submarine..."
Ron looked clueless, but Harry burst out laughing. "He listens to muggle music?"
"All the time, actually," the woman next to them spoke up, rather suddenly. Hermione frowned. How would she know that? "Let me guess," she said, looking at each of them in turn, "you're Hermione Granger, you're Harry Potter, and you must be Weasley. Sorry," she added, "he never told me your first name."
"Who--?"
"I'm Antoine Bellover, Draco's not entirely thrilled fiancée." Hermione's eyes widened. This was Antoine Bellover? She was so, so... Hadn't she just been trying to set her up with Neville? "And I just wanted to let you know, Hermione, that I'm rooting for you."
"You're what?" Hermione asked, hardly believing her ears.
"I'd much rather that you married him than me. It's so obvious that he's in love with you, it's a wonder he can still claim otherwise. Trust me, I only agreed because his father is downright scary. And besides, I'd much rather meet Professor Longbottom."
"That's what Malfoy said! He said that it's a bad idea to go against his father's wishes!" Ron said, gasping.
"But I'm sure it's mostly baloney. If he wants to marry you, the worst his father could do is take his precious money away," Antoine said, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure he'll figure it out on time, and even if he doesn't, I'll volunteer to suddenly lose my voice on the day of the ceremony... That is, if you want him?"
"I am still wearing my ring, aren't I?" Hermione asked, smiling softly.
