Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, this would be published already.
AN: please read: I didn't really mean for Hermione to be religious, just a really nice person. (I realize that not everyone on fanfiction is Christian, but that bible verse just came to me. I don't really plan on including religious stuff in this fic.)
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"So now that we've decided to be civil to each other, where do you propose we go next?" Draco said.
"Umm, let's see. What doesn't go upside down?"
"You better not tell anyone about that," Draco said with a murderous expression on his face.
"Come on, Malfoy. We're being nice to each other, remember? As much as we can stand, not just when we feel like it."
Draco was relieved, and surprised at her attitude. Promises meant nothing to him and his crowd. They were carelessly made in an effort to acquire some kind of favor, and only kept when convenient or under the chains of blackmail. That Hermione would keep a promise to someone who had been a real jerk to her and her friends was kind of amazing to him.
"Thanks, he said with real appreciation. 'I guess the mudblood has her good points.'
"You're welcome. I think the bumper cars are next on our list."
"The what?"
"The bumper cars. They're like miniature cars that you drive around to purposely crash into other people's cars. It's fun."
"Cars, like railroad cars?"
"Oh, that's right, you don't know what a car is." Hermione racked her brain to find a way to describe a car, but decided it would be easier to just show him. "Just come over here and I'll show you. But no, they aren't like railroad cars."
They walked past a few rides and a few game booths and soon reached the building that housed the bumper cars. The line was long, so they had to wait a while before going on the ride. In the meantime, Hermione explained everything about the ride.
"Okay. Those things are the cars," Hermione explained.
"What's that long pole coming out of the back of the car?"
"Oh, the whole thing runs on electricity, and that pole connects the car to the power source."
"What's electricity?"
"Well, electricity is like lightning. Well, lightning is electricity."
Draco said incredulously, "There's no way this thing is powered by lightning."
"Yes way. Ever since Benjamin Franklin was around in the early 1800s, muggles knew how to control electricity without magic. Just because they can't use magic doesn't mean they are stupid."
Draco put a sour expression on his face. He didn't want to believe that muggles were capable of controlling such a powerful force as electricity.
"Anyways, you use the wheel to steer: clockwise for right, counterclockwise for left. There's a flat piece of metal on the floor that you hold down with your foot called the accelerator which you use to—well—accelerate."
Draco watched the chaos and noise that was bumper cars, and liked it. The concept of violently crashing into muggles and making them jolt was appealing to Draco. Of course, there was the chance he would mess up his divinely gorgeous hair, but this opportunity seemed worth it.
At this point, Draco was grinning evilly at the bumper cars. Hermione looked slightly concerned. If he went on a mass-murdering spree, would it be her fault? After deciding it would be Mrs. Weasley's fault for letting her go around with a homicidal maniac, she relaxed, and let him run wildly toward a red car when the line started emptying out onto the concrete floor of the bumper car arena.
Draco seated himself, fastening his seatbelt tightly. He managed to fit his long legs into the child-sized car and hunched over the wheel, eyes sparkling and mouth emitting evil laughs under his breath.
'I've created a monster,' thought Hermione. 'Who'd have thought it would be a muggle amusement park that would send him over the edge?'
She strapped herself into the car, and heard the bell ring, signaling the start of the bumper cars session. She watched with an engrossed horror as the testosterone kicked in and Malfoy gained speed. He crashed into a poor little girl's car with such force, that the metal part of his pole that touched the ceiling folded over with a snap. The little girl drove away from the corner, traumatized. Draco was traumatized too—his bumper car no longer worked. How was he supposed to wreak havoc?
Hermione made her way over to the empty corner Draco was in. She parked next to him with some difficulty—bumper cars are a pain to steer—and at the risk of one of the ride attendants seeing them, asked him if he'd like to ride next to her, seeing as how "little girls in bumper cars can be dangerous."
Draco glared at her, and then quickly shoved himself into the driver's seat of Hermione's car displacing her rather painfully. She barely had time to fasten the seat belt again when Draco sped up and started crashing into anything that moved.
"Are you CRAZY? You're going to annihilate us!"
"What, poor Gryffindor is losing her bravery? There's less than two minutes left. Be a man," Draco winked.
And with that, Draco had once again brutally crashed into a group of six cars. Hermione spent the next two minutes getting jostled around painfully and muttering mild oaths.
When the ride stopped, Malfoy laughed. "That was wicked fun. Let's go on again!"
"Oh, no, we're not going on again. I've got a massive headache, no thanks to you," Hermione moaned. As they reached the outside of the bumper car area, She said, "You know, you're scary. No one should ever leave you alone inside a theme park. You'd cause substantial damage—like Godzilla."
"Wait a minute. The one muggle thing I ever remember seeing was Godzilla, and he's positively ugly. How dare you compare me and my dashing good looks to a hideous giant lizard?"
"Modest, aren't we? I only meant in terms of destruction. Although back there you looked like a crazed bumper car fiend. Not exactly attractive. Now let's stop and figure out what time it is. We're supposed to meet the Weasley's at noon."
Draco pulled out a black, expensive-looking pocket watch with an elaborate, unnecessarily shiny, engraved silver S on the front. "It's ten minutes till noon."
"Then I suggest we start walking over towards the food pavilion then. It's going to take at least ten minutes to find everyone."
Draco thought, 'How could someone not find the Weasleys? They stand out like a sore thumb anywhere they go. A group of four or more red heads was hard to miss…There are the disgraces to Wizarding society now.'
Draco moved forward to meet up with them when Hermione said, "Where are you going?"
"Over towards the Weasleys. They're over there, you know."
"How did you find them so fast?"
"I have a gift, Granger, for being overly sensitive to people I dislike."
"Well, remember, you have to be nice to—Harry?" Hermione looked confusedly over to where Harry and Ginny were snogging, where Ron was looking a bit sick, and where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing oblivious to what the teenagers were doing. Hermione had often suspected their feelings towards one another, but hadn't expected this.
Draco followed Hermione's gaze, and when they had reached the couple remarked, "Well, congratulations, Potter. It seems as if you've grown up and found yourself a nubile young Weasley. Pity that you won't get much of a dowry in exchange for marrying her."
Hermione poked him sharply in the side.
"Ow! What was that for? I was congratulating the Boy Who Snogged. If that's not being nice, then I don't know what is."
"That I can believe," Ron quipped.
"Weasley, aren't you supposed to be exploding over the fact that Wonder Boy here is permanently attached to your sister's face?"
"He asked my permission," Ron said defensively.
"Oh, he asked permission. If I ask permission, can I have a go at her then?"
"Malfoy, you little—"
Ron was interrupted by his parents, who had finally realized that everyone was together. "Let's go eat, shall we?" Molly said.
Draco smirked. Ron smoldered. Life was good for Draco. Besidesthe fact that he was stuck with the muggle lovers, the mudblood, and the moronic Potter.
"So, what is there to eat?" Malfoy asked.
"Well, there's pizza or hamburgers," replied Arthur.
"What's a hamburger?" Draco asked.
"That is a hamburger," Hermione said, pointing to a plate on the table near them.
"That's disgusting! It's coarse and undercooked, not to mention greasy. I'm not touching one of those. What's this pizza then?"
"It's basically round bread with tomato sauce, cheese, and some kind of meat or vegetable on top," Hermione explained.
"I'll go with that then. It can't be worse than that putrid gob of meat."
And he was right. As soon as Draco had taken a dainty nibble off of the tip of the slice of pepperoni pizza, he was won over. He ended up eating 6 slices, and only stopped when there were no more slices.
"You must be mad," said Harry. "You're not supposed to eat that much at an amusement park. You won't be able to go on a few rides for a good half hour at least, unless you want to get sick all over yourself."
Draco pondered this. He had a high metabolism; probably half of what he had eaten had probably digested already. "I'll take that chance."
Harry replied, "Well, we were all hoping to go on the roller coaster. Are you up for it?"
"Of course I am. I'm not a coward," Draco said, not even knowing what a roller coaster was.
"Alright then, let's head off towards the Destroyer of Worlds. I hope it's as thrilling the second time around."
Malfoy was taken aback by this violent name. 'I guess they aren't little coasters with wheels,' Malfoy thought, referring to the circular objects he usually set his teacups on. 'But seriously, how bad can it be, this roller coaster thingy?'
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Very bad, it turned out. Malfoy stood in line for the Destroyer of Worlds. His gaze fell upon the huge arch that rose into the sky and plummeted into a tangle of turns and loops. His eyes followed what looked like a sleek, miniature train that just began to glide down the track. Screaming ensued. This was not good. 'What kind of ride is this? And Hermione was upset after my driving of the bumper cars…'
"Are you alright, Malfoy? Your face looks unusually pale." Ron had made that comment.
Draco retorted with, "Is your hair on fire, Weasley? It's unusually red at the moment."
At this, Hermione sharply poked him again.
"Be nice!"
"OW! Granger!" Draco was about to yell at Hermione, but then paused. With his trademark smirk, Draco said, "I must be attractive when even the Gryffindor girls can't keep their hands off me."
Hermione rolled her eyes and moved up in the line. "Honestly Draco, he was only acting concerned, not insulting you. If anything, I think you're just panicked at the thought of going up so high without the safety net of magic."
'Curse the mudblood for being so damn perceptive.'
"And you're not?" He replied.
"Of course not."
"Then why don't you join me in the front seat?"
Not to be accused of backing down, she agreed.
The line gradually disappeared, and they were lucky enough to manage to all go on the same coaster. Draco forced himself to sit in the front seat, and he pulled down his harness forcefully, making sure that it was locked in a few notches too tight.
"You really are terrified, aren't you?" Hermione said.
"Bugger off, I'm trying to breathe here." Unfortunately, a lack of oxygen was the price he paid for locking the harness in tightly to feel safe.
"You really are vain and proud. You're terrified, and yet you sit in the front."
"A fair assessment. At least I look good."
Hermione laughed. "Famous last words."
The rollercoaster eased out of the boarding area and began its ascent. Draco watched as the people got smaller and smaller. Then suddenly came a rush of air and the feeling of vertigo as he plummeted seemingly straight down to the ground, Draco screaming hysterically all the while. The track curved horizontally at the last few possible meters, and Malfoy was pulled through a series of loops, sharp turns, and drops. Finally the rollercoaster glided to a stop, returning them to the place they had come from.
'All those twists and turns made me dizzy.' Draco exited the ride, followed by the rest of the gang.
"I don't feel so good…"
"You don't look so good," Ron said aptly.
"Oh, no." Hermione realized what was going to happen in the next minute. "Quick, the bathrooms are over around this corner," she said, dragging Draco behind her, only succeeding in further aggravating his nauseousness. "Oh dear…"
The bathrooms were out of order, and three port-a-potties had been offered in their stead. Hermione shoved Malfoy into one of them. The stench hit him full-on like a herd of stampeding rhinoceroses, which inevitably caused him to lose his lunch.
After a few minutes of retching, Draco began to feel a burning pain on his arm. He looked at it and realized it was coming from underneath his arm band, which he quickly removed. The Dark Mark was glowing white, and Malfoy knew exactly what he must do: seek out the Dark Lord at once.
Draco took out his watch, which was really a more elaborate version of the time-turner, and began to wind it backwards. He took care to mentally record what time it was when he began. 'I'll start off with an hour. I'll go more if I need it…' As soon as he stopped winding, he saw himself leave the port-a-potty, and then quickly, as if reality was being quickly rewinded, saw himself come back in, retch, saw other people come in to do their business, and then time suddenly slowed down again. Thankfully, he was alone. It would have gotten him in loads of trouble had he randomly appeared while someone was inside.
He cautiously left the port-a-potty, making sure no one he knew was there to recognize him. Then he went into the empty, out-of-order bathroom, and disapparated.
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AN: Hope you all enjoyed that! Thanks to all my reviewers!
Next: Voldemort sends Draco on a perilous mission to…Azkaban!