Body Check

Thank you for the reviews! Most of you guessed it's Hermione. What can I say?

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 3 - Effects, effects and effects

Being a publicist does have its perks. At the next training session for the Veloce, Hermione brought Lance along. She could see that Lance was both excited and anxious at the same time.

"Hi, Lou. This is Lance, my younger brother." Hermione introduced. They sat beside Lou on the bleachers.

"Hi Lance. Heard from Hermione that you love this team? Tell me, who is your favorite team member?" Lou smiled.

"Draco Malfoy." Lance gave a nervous smile.

"Of course. Lance's a Muggle. He doesn't know much about this team." Hermione explained quickly. "Muggle?" Lou raised an eyebrow in return.

"Yes. Is there a problem? I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier." Hermione apologized.

"No, no. This aint a problem. In fact, this is interesting. How did you know about this, Lance?" Lou asked, giving his undivided attention to Lance.

"My…my friend told me so. He's a wizard…" Lance stuttered. Never had Hermione seen her brother so nervous before.

"Impressive…would you like something to eat?" Lou smiled at the two of them.

"No thanks. We've just eaten breakfast." Hermione said. Lou was famous for his big appetite. That accounted for his nickname, 'The Bull'. He could have breakfast, lunch and dinner with loads of snacks in between and still feel hungry. Hermione sometimes wondered where his food went.

"Alright then. Minky! Get me two hamburgers please. I'd like a chocolate fudge sundae for desert too. Thank you!" Lou ordered and grinned broadly as the house-elf disappeared again.

"Look, sis! There's Draco! Whoa! His flying skills are really superb!" Lance exclaimed while Lou chuckled.

"Of course. Practice makes perfect." Lou smiled. The three of them watched the team trained for about an hour. "Whoa, sis! Did you see that? They're cool, I tell you." Lance exclaimed. Hermione had to admit that their flying skills were good, especially the captain and assistant captain.

-

"Did you see that boy over there?" Blaise pointed out as training ended and the team landed.

"Yea. I saw him. Who is he? He seems close to Granger though."

"Her boyfriend?" Blaise laughed.

"I didn't know she's a pedophile!" Draco laughed loudly and the other teammates stared at him.

"Oops. All right team, gather around. Today's training had been good but I think we can do better. Our first match is round the corner; we have to get the Cup this year no matter what. Get that?" Draco said loudly in his commanding voice.

"Next training session will be tomorrow at ten. Be punctual, everyone!" Blaise added before the team proceeded to the changing room.

"Draco, Blaise. Come here. This is Lance, Hermione's brother." Lou dragged a boy while Hermione walked behind.

"Brother? We thought it was her boy- oopf!" Draco said while Blaise cut him off by elbowing him.

"Hi, Lance." Blaise said politely, extending his hand for a shake.

"Hi." Lance said nervously and shook his hand.

"I shall leave you guys to chat. By the way, you guys trained well today." Lou winked at them and walked back to the building in front of the grounds.

"Lance. I'm Draco." Draco nodded and shook his hand too.

"Sis! I shook hands with Draco Malfoy! Can you believe it? Oh my gosh!" Lance exclaimed while Hermione rolled her eyes. Draco hated to admit, but Lance did remind him of those squealing girls when he took them out to dates.

"Sis…do you think I could…" Lance asked but Hermione shot him a disapproving eye.

"Lance. They're busy people." Hermione warned.

"Is anything here the matter?" Blaise asked. Too polite to arouse Hermione's suspicions.

"Well, nothing's – " Hermione couldn't finish her sentence.

"I was wondering if you could give me your signature. My friend and I are obsessed with you guys." Lance flashed a toothy grin.

"Sure." Draco took the two magazines that Lance handed to him and signed it, then passing it to Blaise to sign it.

"Thank you. Whoa. You rock, sis!" Lance said loudly and hugged Hermione.

Draco thought that Lance was kind of cute. He reminded Draco of a time when he was still young and innocent and Lucius had not brainwashed him yet.

"Lance, I'm sorry but I got to go. My wife and kid are waiting for me at the changing room. I'll catch up on you in future." Blaise flashed an apologetic smile.

"Sure. Why don't you go? Ginny isn't very patient, if I remembered correctly." Hermione chuckled.

"Alright. Bye, Blaise." Lance said and waved to him.

"C'mon on, Lance. I need to get you home before Dad worries himself to death." Hermione said as soon as Blaise left, leaving Hermione with Lance and Draco.

Draco could sense the tension in the air between him and Hermione. He caught sight of Lance's disappointed look and felt a tinge of sadness. Gosh, was he going soft so soon?

"Lance! Why don't I teach you how to fly?" Draco quickly suggested as he watched Lance and Hermione walk away.

"Can I? I mean, I'm a Muggle. I don't think Muggles can fly." Lance said.

"Sure. I'll just charm the broom." Draco said and summoned an extra broom from the broom closet.

"Alright. Step over it. I'll just charm it and you'll be able to fly with me. How about that?" Draco smiled as he handed Lance the broom.

"That's awesome!" Lance exclaimed.

Lance…" Hermione said but Lance was already on the broom, which Draco had charmed.

"Sis, don't worry about me! I'll be fine." Lance assured from above.

"Yea, Granger. Chill out. I wont kill him all right?" Draco was in the air with Lance now.

"Lance! You must promise me one thing. If I ever lose to you in flying, don't tell anyone! I have a reputation to uphold, you know!" Draco laughed as he yelled to Lance.
-

Bloody Malfoy. If anything happened to Lance, the first person she would kill would be Malfoy and then herself. It's not that she didn't do anything to stop Malfoy from getting her precious brother from flying; it's just that she didn't trust Malfoy to take care of her brother.

She walked back to the bleachers and watched the two of them fly under eagle eyes. Now that it was just Lance and Malfoy in the air, she had to admit he flew well. Hold on, didn't she just admit that earlier? And, why the hell was she praising him? Goodness, something must be wrong with her.

She smiled as she saw Lance racing the court with Malfoy. Lance was laughing loudly as Malfoy tried to pull a stunt that didn't end up well.

"Do that again!" Lance shouted.

"Here it goes!"

Hermione saw Malfoy pulling another stunt but he failed and that resulted in him slipping off his broom.

"Malfoy!" Hermione stood up and shouted.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He shouted back and quickly slung his leg over his broom. Hermione heaved a sigh of relief.

"Alright, that's it. You two. Get down here now!" Hermione commanded, her motherly instincts taking over.

In a matter of seconds, the two of them landed and were laughing simultaneously.

"Do you know what you did was dangerous?" Hermione said, her hands planted on her hips.

"Relax, Granger. It wont cost me my life. See. I'm still alive and kicking." He raised his hands in defense.

"And you, Lance. Don't you ever do that ever again. It is dangerous. Get it, you two?" she said.

-

'Was that a sign of concern for me or what?' Draco thought.

He was back at the changing room where he was taking a shower and Lance was changing into his spare clothes.

"Lance. You alright?" Hermione asked for the fourth time.

"Yea, sis. I know it's my first time flying today, but nothing happened alright?" Lance said with a hint of irritation.

"Fine. I was just concerned about you. I mean, Malfoy is famous for being notorious. You never knew whether he charmed that broom to throw you overboard or what." Hermione sighed.

"Sis. I trust him ok?" Lance said.

"Fine then…"

Draco knew it wasn't right to eavesdrop on their conversation, but hey, he didn't mean it. Did Hermione really have such a bad impression of him? Wait a minute, since when did he call her using her first name. He shook his head violently and walked out of the cubicle with a towel wrapping around the bottom half of his body.

"Granger. You know I don't hurt young people." Shit. He just told them indirectly that he was listening to their conversation. 'I'm so dead…' he sighed mentally.

"Oh really? I think it's older people and some half-breed people that you hurt eh?" Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Fine. I'm sorry I insulted you the other day ok?" he sat on the bench opposite Hermione while Lance stood around listening intently to their conversation.

"Apology accepted then." Hermione shot him a weary smile.

"Oh yea. The team will be meeting at this pub. It's our way of welcoming you." Draco took another towel and dried his hair, which made him look sexier than ever. Wait. Since when did Hermione think of him as sexy?

"Are you sure?" Hermione narrowed her eyes again. She didn't trust him yet.

"Yea. Call Blaise if you want." He offered.

"Fine. I'll just pay Gin a visit. Goodbye then." Hermione said and held Lance's hand.

"Bye, Draco." Lance said.

"Bye. See you soon."

With that, Hermione apparated back home with Lance.

"Sis? Did I tell you that you're the best?" Lance flashed a toothy grin.

"Yes. Loads of time." She smiled back.

"You rock!" he chuckled and ran up to his room.

Hermione decided to pay Ginny and Blaise a visit and apparated there.

"Gin? Are you there?" Hermione reappeared in Ginny's kitchen.

"Is that Hermione?" a female voice rang through the house.

"Gin! It's a long time since I saw you! How's this child?" Ginny entered the kitchen and was engulfed in a hug from Hermione.

"This child is going to suffocate if you don't let me go…" Ginny choked.

"Sorry." Hermione let her go and smiled.

"So, what blew you here today? Heard from Blaise you're his team's publicist?" they walked out and sat on the sofa.

"Yea. It's tough life working as publicist for them. You know Malfoy's a pig head. Can't stand working with him." Hermione groaned.

"Hermione. You should get to know him. He's not that bad." Another voice broke in. Hermione turned and saw Blaise carrying Gina down the stairs.

"Blaise! Gina woke up?" Ginny asked.

"Yea. She was talking in her sleep. She said something like 'Mummy…' and then she woke up. Scary little one." Blaise shrugged and sat beside Ginny.

"Wow. How old is Gina now? She looks like five." Hermione looked at Gina.

"She'll be three in a month." Ginny smiled.

"She'll be a heartbreaker in future." Hermione smiled.

"So, I suppose Draco told you about our welcoming you at the pub?" Blaise asked.

"Yea. I don't really believe him, so I'm here to find out from you guys."

"He's not lying, Hermione. When Jack first came, we welcomed him that way too. Is anything the matter?" Blaise asked.

"I can vouch for that." Ginny chipped in.

"Oh. No. Nothing's wrong." Hermione said quickly.

"We can bring you to the pub." Ginny offered.

"Well…"

"C'mon Hermione. It'll be fun! I was there when they welcomed Jack. It was a blast, I tell you." Ginny laughed softly.

"Yea. You should have seen how we did Jack. It was hilarious!" Blaise laughed too.

"I don't think I want to know what happened…" Hermione felt uneasy suddenly. No way was she going to be welcomed by the team by getting tricked.

"Oh. Don't worry, Hermione. The guys wont do anything to you. You're a lady. They wouldn't dare do anything." Ginny added. Not that it helped Hermione one bit.

"Well…Malfoy did say something about the team treating males and females equally." Hermione said softly.

"Don't worry, Hermione. I'm there. I'll make sure nothing happens to you and you get home unscathed." Ginny offered.

"Alright then…" Hermione said reluctantly.

"Great. It's at this Muggle pub. It's Soiree. Heard of it?" Blaise said.

Hermione shook her head.

"No matter. We'll drive you there. Meet you at seven." Ginny said.

"That's settled then. C'mon Gin, we better get Gina back to her bed." Blaise smiled and they left, leaving Hermione alone. Hermione checked her watch and yelped. It was six. She had better get going if she wanted to be ready. She apparated back home without saying goodbye.

She raided her wardrobe for the suitable clothes to wear to the pub.

"What on earth do people wear when they go to a pub?" she asked aloud.

"Jeans." Someone replied her. Hermione turned and saw Abigail looking at her.

"What?"

"Are you going to a pub?" Abigail asked.

"Yes. I am. Though I didn't want to. I was forced to go to a pub." Hermione ranted.

"Enough talk. I know what you can wear." Abigail entered her room, wondering what outfit Abigail had in mind.

"This. This is the perfect outfit for you." Abigail pulled out a white blouse and blue jeans.

"That? Are you sure? It looks so…normal. I want to look good." Hermione admitted.

"Whose good books are you trying to get into?" Abigail eyed her suspiciously.

"Mal- No one, of course." Hermione quickly covered up for her stupid blunder.

"Is that so?" Abigail was smirking at her now. Shit. Why on earth did his name slip off so easily? Dammit!

"Yes." Hermione said and avoided Abigail's gaze. She could feel her cheeks flushing right now.

"Alright then. Wear this top."

Hermione looked at the top that Abigail took out and squealed.

"Thanks, Abby. This is perfect. Thank you!" Hermione gushed and rushed to the bathroom.

After a shower, she wore the dark purple tank top and the tight-fitting jeans. She applied some foundation, blusher and shimmering purple eye shadow. She was pulling back her wavy hair into a loose ponytail when the doorbell rang. She looked at her clock at the bedside. It was seven. Blaise and Ginny were punctual. She quickly grabbed her handbag and stuffed lip-gloss, her wand, her Prada wallet and mirror into it.

"Hermione! Your friends are here!" Abigail shouted.

"I'm coming!" Hermione shouted back. She looked around the room, checking whether she left anything behind and then ran down the stairs.

"I'm sorry I'm a bit late." Hermione said breathlessly.

"It's alright. Let's go then." Ginny smiled.

"Don't enter my room Abby." Hermione warned.

"Sure." She smirked.

Hermione sat at the passenger seat of Blaise's car and waved goodbye to Abigail.

-

"Hey Draco. Is Blaise here yet?" a teammate, Alex, asked.

"Nope." He replied curtly. Blaise was never late. The team had arrived, except for Blaise, Ginny and Hermione. He took a swig from his beer and ordered another one.

"There they are!" Alex shouted over the music.

Draco turned and saw Blaise, Ginny and Hermione entering. Man, she grabbed his attention the moment she entered. She was dressed in a dark purple top and a tight-fit jean. He had never seen her so confident and pretty before. He had to admit that she carried herself well. As she neared him, his pulsating body drove him nuts and he downed his beer.

"Hi. I'm sorry I'm late." He heard someone apologize from behind. He expected to see Granger but instead, he saw Blaise and Ginny. Granger was nowhere to be seen.

"That's alright." Draco growled. Whatever effect Granger had on him, he didn't like it one bit.

"What happened, bud? Someone stepped on your tail?" Blaise asked and ordered a Martini. Ginny sat beside Blaise and asked for orange juice.

"Nothing much. Hermione didn't come?" he asked.

"Granger came. She's talking to Alex over there." Ginny said. Draco looked up and caught her sharing a cunning smile with Blaise.

Shit. He'd said her name instead of her maiden name. Shit. He just felt like sticking his head in a pile of dung.

"Right." He said and looked over his shoulder. He saw Alex flirting with Hermione shamelessly. Suddenly, a surge of anger rushed through him. Now, all he wanted to do was to bash Alex's head.

Where did that come from? He sighed. Granger had gotten under his skin. That was official now.

"Hermione! Do you want something to drink?" Ginny asked.

"Sure." Draco heard her reply and his heart started racing again. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Two Whiskeys. Make it extra strong." He ordered.

"I'd like a Martini, please." Hermione said politely to the bartender.

"So, you came. I thought you didn't trust me." Draco sneered.

"Yea. I didn't trust you but that doesn't mean I don't trust Ginny and Blaise." Hermione said coolly.

Meanwhile, Ginny and Blaise watched the two of them converse in interest.

"Hey, you two. We're going dancing. Don kill each other while we're gone ok?" Ginny said and dragged Blaise to the dance floor before he could say anything.

The two of them just drank their drinks quietly, not knowing what to talk about. The silence was killing Hermione and she broke the silence.

"So, I never figured you'd play Qudditch after Hogwarts. Always thought you would…err…" Hermione didn't know how to finish her sentence.

"I what? Become a Death Eater?" Draco laughed.

"Yea." She said softly.

"Figures. Everyone thought so. But, I decided to just follow my interests which was Qudditch." He shrugged.

"I thought that your main interest is killing people." Hermione said hastily.

"Oops…I'm sorry…" Hermione quickly apologized.

"It's alright. I guess I didn't do much to correct that evil impression I have on people. Didn't bother to."

"I see. So, you joined this team once you graduated?"

"Yea. I played well for the auditions and they accepted me. I climbed up the 'ranks' to the team captain." He beamed proudly.

"I see."

"What about you? I thought you held a job at the Ministry?" he asked, daring to look at Hermione in the eye.

"Quit it. Found it really boring. I mean, doing paperwork wasn't my style. I was more for the…adventurous one. Guess Harry passed that adventurous germ to me." she laughed and her eyes twinkled for the first time.

Draco felt his heart skip a beat but dismissed it.

"Yea. Pothead. Heard he married Mariah?" he asked.

"Yea. She's a beauty. They met in Paris. You could say it was love at first sight for them." Hermione sighed contentedly.

"Love at first sight? Amazing that anyone would love Pothead." He sneered.

"Stop being a jerk, Malfoy." Hermione shot him a look.

"Alright. Cool it. Care for a dance?" he asked.

Did he just ask Granger for a dance? Whoa.

"Err…why not?" Hermione shot him a smile and they went to the dance floor.

End of Chapter 3

How's it? Review guys! Keep the reviews rolling in! (: My hand is hurting again. Come on! Review to make me happy alright? The next chapter will be up in four or five day's time. Catch you then!

Anyway, let you guys know something about the next chapter. The sexual tension between Draco and Hermione is building up. But, they wont be together as yet. I have other plans for them.

Once again, review! (: