Chapter Twenty-Five:

"Now that we have that over with, you want to undress for me?" asked Draco, smiling at her.

Hermione pulled away from him and anger took over her calm state.

"Why would I want to do that?" she asked moving farther from him.

"I was too sleepy this morning, I didn't get a good enough look." said Draco teasingly.

"Besides, you covered yourself up so quick, it was like a horrible teaser." he added in a mock hurt voice.

"I don't think so." said Hermione, blushing.

"Now, now, don't blush. You have a very beautiful body, you know. It's like a piece of fine art. It's a sin if one doesn't display such beauty." said Draco, winking at her.

"Then I guess I will burn in hell." said Hermione, and walked out of the kitchen, not realizing she hadn't eaten a thing.

She sat in her room, pondering about the previous night. How could she have been so careless? She was in deep thought when pebbles thrown at her window distracted her.

'Who the hell could it be?' thought Hermione, 'Draco is in the kitchen, who could possibly call me from outside of the house?'

She got up and walked over to the window to see who dropped by so suddenly. Outside she saw her muggle admirer Smith Stone.

Hermione rolled the window open and stuck her head out.

"Hi Smith, what are you doing here out of the blue?" she asked, looking down at him.

"Hi Mione, I came by to say hello. Come out." he said, smiling at her.

"Give me a second." said Hermione. She got her head out of the window and hurried to get dressed.

She wore jean shorts, and a polo shirt. She looked cute with her hair up in a high ponytail.

She walked out of the house saying "I'll be back later." to Draco. She didn't bother explaining to him who came by. She didn't want him to get all worked up over a friendly visit.

Draco noticed Hermione rush out of the house with no explanation and decided to check where she went. He walked up to the window and peeked outside. There he saw Hermione hugging some handsome guy. He got angry and headed towards the door to find out what was going on.

He walked out and saw Hermione sitting on the stairs by her house. He saw the guy sitting next to her smiling.

Draco walked up to Hermione and the guy she was with.

"Draco Malfoy." he said, stretching his hand out to the guy.

"Smith Stone." the guy replied, taking his hand and shaking it.

"So, Hermione," started Smith. "What have you been up to?" he asked looking at her sweetly.

"Oh nothing much. Same as usual, school and school work." she said smiling.

"How do you know Hermione?" Draco addressed Smith.

"We went to school together before she transferred to that private school of hers." said Smith, smiling.

"How about you?" he asked, looking at Draco.

"Well, I actually met her at that private school you mentioned." answered Draco, faking a friendly voice.

"Draco, why did you come outside?" asked Hermione.

"No specific reason really. I just felt I could use some fresh air." he replied with a mischievous smile.

"Hermione sweetie, are you hungry?" asked Smith, trying to take her hand in his.

Hermione pulled her hand away, and saw blisters forming on Smith's hands.

"Oh my god!" he yelled, obviously freaking out.

"What the hell is this?" he asked, jumping up.

Draco turned away suppressing a laugh while Hermione took Smith by his arm and sat him down.

"Relax. It is probably from the hot sun. Sit down let me look at it." she said as she issued a non verbal spell, and ran her wand near his hand.

Hermione was smart enough to invent an invisibility pouch for her wand made out of the invisibility cloak material. This way she could carry it around without it being noticeable.

Smith's blisters disappeared right away and he looked at his arm awed.

"I told you it was nothing." Hermione said sweetly, as she looked up at Draco sternly.

"So do you want to go eat?" Smith tried again, looking down at his hands.

"Sure!" replied Draco enthusiastically, helping Smith and Hermione up.

He stood in between them and the trio made their way to the Cozy Café.

On the way to the Café Smith's pants magically caught on fire when he told Hermione she looked very beautiful that day. He started yelling and running around trying to put the fire out by hitting his butt. Hermione tried to calm him down saying it was a child running around with a candle. Although Smith didn't recall seeing a child with a candle, he agreed it was probably the case.

Hermione had to put his pants out the muggle way. She quickly opened a fire hydrant on the street with her wand, pretending to struggle along the way. She put his pants out and instructed him to sit down and let the sun dry them up.

While Smith was drying his pants Hermione came up to Draco looking at him feverishly.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Nothing." whispered Draco, innocently.

"Stop it! He doesn't deserve this." she said, getting angry.

"But this is so much fun." said Draco, smiling at her sweetly.

"I mean it. You better stop." said Hermione tugging on his t-shirt.

"What do you want me to do? He is hitting on my girlfriend." said Draco, seriously.

"He is not hitting on me." huffed Hermione.

"Are you blind or are you that naïve?" asked Draco, looking amused.

"It doesn't matter. Just stop." instructed Hermione.

"I will stop, if and only if, you tell Smith about us." Said Draco, and walked towards the café, quickly followed by Smith and Hermione.

When they reached the café, they chose to sit by a square table near the entrance.

Hermione took a seat next to the window and as Smith tried to sit down by her, his chair had magically moved back and he hit rock bottom.

"Ouch! What is it with me today?" he asked embarrassed.

"I assure you it's nothing you can control." said Hermione sweetly, giving Draco a stern look.

"Here, take a seat." Draco addressed Smith holding out the chair across from Hermione for him.

"Thank you buddy." said Smith taking a seat.

Draco took the seat by Hermione and they ordered their meals and drinks, a double cappuccino in Draco's case.

"So, Hermione sweetie. Have you told Smith about the news?" Draco asked, sweetly.

Both Hermione and Smith looked up at Draco in confusion.

"What news?" Hermione asked, pretending not to know what Draco was talking about.

"About us." said Draco simply, kissing her nose.

Smith looked at Hermione puzzled as she blushed and looked down at her thighs.

"Oh." she said and cleared her throat "That news." she blushed once again.

"Smith, hemm, me and Draco, hemm, are kind of together." she said quickly, looking up at him.

Smith pretended to be very interested in what was going on outside. Looking out the window attentively.

Hermione looked up at Draco, and gave him a: here, you should be happy, now stop that behavior, kind of look.

Draco smiled at her, and took her hand under the table. She pulled her hand away and tried to start another conversation to break the heavy tension that formed between the trio.

"So Smith. How is school?" asked Hermione.

"Same as always. Everyone still remembers you." he said looking at her, a hint of hurt showed in his eyes.

"I bet they do." said Hermione, giggling.

"Now they have nobody to copy homework off of." added Smith laughing.

The rest of the lunch went in a similar form. Smith and Hermione reminisced about their school years, while Draco listened, amused at muggle school programs.

They finished their lunch and asked for a check. When the check arrived, Smith made a grab for it but Draco was quicker and took it first.

"I should pay." said Smith trying to take the check away from Draco.

"Nonsense. I'll take care of it." said Draco, reaching into his pocket for cash.

"No, let me. It was my idea to go out in the first place." argued
Smith.

"Now stop it. You do not need to pay for my girlfriend." said Draco, emphasizing the last word.

"I enjoy taking her and her friends out for lunch." added Draco.

"Well, I can't argue with you now, can I?" asked Smith giving up.

"No not really." replied Draco and signaled for the waiter to come by and collect the money.

They walked out of the café, walking back towards Hermione's house. On the way there, Smith saw a cab standing by the main street and told the couple he would just hop on the cab right now so he doesn't have to order one later.

Smith and Hermione parted, hugging a friendly hug.

"I hope I'll catch you again soon." said Smith, knowing he would not stop by now that he knew his chances with her were close to none.

"Same here." said Hermione, sweetly.

"It was nice meeting you." said Smith holding his hand out for Draco.

Draco shook Smith's hand and wished him all the best as Smith walked into the cab.

The cab drove off leaving Draco and Hermione alone in the crowded street. They started heading towards their house in understood silence. Draco placed his hand around Hermione's waist and kissed her temple.

"Sorry for being a tad harsh towards your buddy." he said, laughing.

"It's not funny!" said Hermione.

"You have to admit, it kind of is." replied Draco.

Hermione just smiled and they continued walking in silence, each thinking of the crazy day's events.