Life After Hogwarts

By Arime Mya Setta

Chapter Ten: Picnic in the Park

A/N: So my new job rocks. I have never written so much in one week. I hope it is flowing though. Since I'm writing at work I don't always have the section before in front of me and I don't have the rest of the story to double check facts. Leave me a review with any corrections or flubs! Love ya!

After waking up in Draco's arms, I went back to sleep and decided it was all a dream. Not too long later I woke again but was alone and rather cold. It was nearly time for lunch and my body was demanding food so I got up quickly, got dressed and went to breakfast. It was just before I got to the Great Hall when I remembered I had fallen asleep with Draco Malfoy, woken up next to him, gone back to sleep and then woken alone. Then the horror sunk in. He saw me before I had a chance to place any beauty charms (not that I use many) or even brush my hair. My day was not starting well. No one should be forced to see me in the morning. It is quite scary.

Of course my next thought was, 'Damn, why did I fall back asleep?' I logic-ed that it was because I was so tired from being up all night talking to him. Then I thought, 'well, why did you talk to him for so long?' This I logic-ed with 'I was bored,' but the voice in my head just hmphed, clearly not believing me. I wasn't sure what to think either.

Instead of thinking too much (like I usually do) I went to lunch. I was starving after having missed breakfast and most of lunch. It seems like knowing Draco Malfoy and not eating went hand in hand.

"Hey, Hermione. Sleep well?" Harry laughed as he walked up to me. He sat down with a fluid motion and began serving himself. He has grown a lot since we were kids and now had a matured grace that came with Quidditch and muscle. I laughed and tried to pat my hair down knowing that was the likely tell-tale sign that I had slept in.

"Yeah, I didn't get to sleep until pretty late. It's been a crazy week." I took a bite out of my apple and dribbled a bit of juice down the front of my shirt.

"I can definitely tell. First you come to lunch with a just woke up look, and then you dribble apple juice down your front. What's next? Are you going to fall asleep in Potions?" I laughed and tried to dab the juice away but was fairly unsuccessful.

"It is a bit stressful trying to prepare for college interviews and all that while teaching yourself."
"I was wondering what you and Malfoy have been up to during classes. Did the professors excuse you guys from lessons?" I watched as Harry took a monster bite out of his sandwich and smeared mayonnaise on his cheek.

"Yeah, we're prep-ing with Professor Snape in the evenings and studying for entrance exams during the day. Draco and I will be visiting Farvington University during spring break to look around and do the interviews and exams." I rambled off the excuse provided for situations just like this.

"Exams? No one else has heard about exams to get into a university." Most of his words were slurred since he was chewing and talking all at once but I understood the gist of it.

"Well, Draco and I plan to major in Potions at an advanced level so we have to take some placement exams."
"Oh, Potions? Really? Why? Hermione, how many times have I told you that you don't need to study? You know it."
"Yes, Potions. Harry, everyone should study before taking an exam as important as this. We also have to teach each other some stuff about muggle science. It will be on the exam and as you know we don't learn anything about the basic muggle science concepts." I was doing a wonderful job of bluffing my way through this conversation. I was very impressed with my skills. I hoped I would have time to fill Draco in on our story before anyone else questioned him.

"Hermione, that's another thing Ron and I wanted to talk to you about. Draco Malfoy? You've never been fond of him before. Actually you hated him for the longest. Even Ron forgave him before you did." He was eyeing me suspiciously and I knew I was in deep water. It would be hard to defend myself (for being stubborn) and still convince him I was in a loving relationship with Draco.

"Yes, well people change. Draco and I have been studying together for sometime now and found out that we have a lot in common. We didn't start dating until the other day but we've had a great friendship that was built over books." Harry is quite gullible but I am also a fantastic actress so things seemed to be working.

"Harry, one more thing. Draco and I haven't actually had sex. I know you don't want to know this but I think it is important for me to tell you and Ron that it hasn't happened yet. After all, you guys told me when you did it for the first time and I am sure you expect me to be as sharing." I laughed at the face he was making and hugged him tightly.

"Ugh, Hermione. I hate when you're right. I don't want to know about that but I would be hurt, just as Ron would be, if you didn't tell us. It is important and I'm glad you haven't yet. What's with the rumors though?"

"Well, I was mad at him for something he did and said so I wanted to get back at him. He implied that night that we had done that and we haven't so I went along and spread rumors about his lacking performance and small size. Really, I don't know the truth in those, erm, areas. Don't tell Ginny or Lavender though. I'd rather just let things go from here. Too much work to explain otherwise." He chuckled and promised to fill Ron in and we went our separate ways. Of course by this time lunch was over and I had only eaten a few bites.

I headed towards the library to do some reading and studying before our lesson on etiquette. It was silly to be in the dusty library in the middle of the day reading about bowing and how to eat properly but I wanted to be prepared. The rules for acknowledging other witches and wizards is quite complex but interesting. As a Lady-to-be I would acknowledge all other Lords with a small dip and other ladies with a nod of the head. I was being planted into Farvington as the long lost cousin to Dumbledore, thus making me a proper candidate for Draco. To acknowledge all other witches or wizards with less than ten generations of pureblood I could, at most, smile. In Old society they aren't worth my time to acknowledge. They, on the other hand, were required to do a quarter bow to Draco and me if they were of Madame level or to fully bow and curtsey if they were less than that. In this same line of thought those less than a Madame or Monsieur would quarter bow to a Mme. Or M. and only nod to their equals. It was a complex chain of rules that forced purebloods to know what level every other pureblood family had reached. My head was spinning once I finished memorizing the levels, the bows and the people involved.

Of the witches and wizards with the title of Monsieur or Madame, the highest were the Weasley's who would reach Lord and Lady upon the marriage between Bill and Fleur. The Weasley children, besides Bill, would be given the title upon their own marriages to a pureblood. I had never realized how well off in society they were but clearly name and money do not run together. Bill and Fleur would be getting married this summer since they postponed the wedding until Bill was fully recovered. With the damage done at the end of my sixth year the family was very worried that he would be a werewolf but when the first full moon came around he didn't transform. Professor Dumbledore, Professor Lupin and Professor Snape are still trying to work out what happened. I personally believe in the power of love. I think Fleur's veela heritage and deep love for Bill protected him. Either way Bill and Fleur took a year off from everything to travel and emotionally relax from all of the drama from the fall of Voldemort.

After the Weasleys are the Abotts, then the Longbottoms, followed by the Notthills, Thompsons, Carringtons and Jepsons. I didn't know the last four families but I did know that some of their children are responsible for the drama on the college campuses. After that the witches and wizards left were just Mr. and Mrs. I fall into that last category and am perfectly happy with my lot in life.

Only a few minutes after setting up for my study session, Draco walked in and sat on top of my books on the table. He looked bored and rather silly sitting there on top of my books. I laughed and gave him that 'whatcha want' kind of look.

"I'm bored."
"I can tell"
"Of course you can. I'm oozing with boredom."
"So?"
"So, let's do something entertaining."
"Like what?" At this point Draco was picking his nails with a quill he stole from the bun in my hair. I growled at him as my hair tumbled from the bun down my back. My hair is like a beast that should never be unleashed.

"Well, we could go scare the poor wittle bitty house elves into being our slaves, oh wait I already did that today. We could break into Snape's potion storeroom and make you turn into a cat. Oh wait you've already done that. Then again it has been a while since that happened… Care to do it again?" I shot him a death glare (though I am sure it wasn't effective since he didn't disintegrate upon contact) and turned away from him. I didn't even bother to contemplate how he knew about my potion disaster.

"Fine, no cats. We could go have a romp in your room. Oh, yeah we did that the other night. You have the bruises to prove it. We could go for a picnic by the lake-" I cut off him off before he could take back the idea.

"Ok, let's go." He looked startled when he realized I had interrupted him and agreed to go with him. I didn't ponder what his response would have been for why we can't go for a picnic. Maybe he really wanted to picnic. I just laughed and headed towards the kitchens.

"Did you miss lunch too?" Draco asked as he caught up with me. He had been too stunned by my response to walk out of the library with me.

"Nope, I just barely made it but I didn't eat much. Harry was distracting me and by the time he was done talking lunch was over. Why does it seem that I can't make it to a single meal?" I just laughed as I tickled the pear and entered the kitchens.

"The kitchens? Wow, you are going to enslave the elves just like I suggested. I don't think today could get much more bonkers."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Bonkers? Are you serious? Dobby loves to put together lavish picnics. I am sure he can just use some of the leftovers from lunch. So, why exactly do you want to picnic with me?" Draco suddenly became very interested in the cooking device to his left and seemed to be ignoring my question. I laughed and turned to ask Dobby to put together something for us when he responded.

"Well, today is the first nice day of the year and we don't have classes so a picnic sounded like a great idea. Plus, I missed lunch too." I just smiled and nodded my head in agreement as I took the basket from the little elf. We made our way out of the hallways of Hogwarts and towards the lake. Quietly basking in the warm spring sunlight Draco and I ate sandwiches and sipped butterbeer. The giant squid slapped the water playfully splashing the wigglyworks that were swimming along the shore. I smiled and thought about how much I enjoyed doing nothing on a beautiful day. A certain annoying Slytherin interrupted my peace abruptly.

"Whatcha' thinking about?" Draco asked between a large bite of his sandwich.
"Nothing and loving it. It is so great to have to do nothing for once."
"Well, back to the real world Granger. We should verbally be studying."
"Or we could take a nap in the sunlight."
"Or that." I smiled at him and laid out in the grass. Even in such a peaceful state Draco couldn't keep quite. We spent the remainder of the sunlight talking about manners, etiquette and curtseys. Between our discussions related to the mission we talked about college, our expectations and potions. I quickly learned Draco was actually knowledgeable about potions and Herbology. The sunset came all too soon and we found ourselves shivering and walking towards the Dungeons for dance lessons with Professor McGonagall and a verbal drill from Professor Snape.