The Great Hall

Friday, February 14th, 1999

7:00PM

Through the abhorrent layers of pink confetti and bustling students, Draco spied Hermione at her table, pushing the food around her plate and in conversation with her redheaded friend. They had spent their whole morning together, having the same classes and free periods up until lunchtime on Fridays, just to cap off their last day as an unofficial couple. Despite himself and all the planning they had gone through (that was one thing he had learned about his witch – there was no such thing as too much planning), he could still feel a squirm in his stomach at what they were to be doing in the morning.

It wasn't so much the opinions of his peers and the public that he feared. Their disparaging comments were something he was well used to after his family's involvement in The War. He knew his friends, sans Pansy, were happy enough with his choice in partner, and that his mother would come to accept his decision as long as he was happy, though it may take some time. His father was the one person he was concerned about.

The old man would certainly be kept up to date on the social column, being around his mother, and Draco was certain his 'debut' with Hermione was to be big news in the pages of Witch Weekly. Although his sire had no real influence over what he could do, Lucius was still capable of being a cruel man when he wished, and though they may have faded, Draco still remembered the scars on his back. He still wasn't worried for his own safety, but rather that of the witch he was to call his girlfriend in just a few hours.

"Stare any harder and you might burn a hole through her," Blaise said in his ear whilst refilling their goblets with pumpkin juice. "And that might put a dampener on your activities for tomorrow."

Draco rolled his eyes at his best friend's lewdness though bit his tongue when it came to reprimands. Blaise was sandwiched between Draco, who wasn't interested in conversation that dinnertime, and his girlfriend. Daphne was too focused on Astoria and Theo, the couple sitting across the table. Draco heard her commenting to Blaise one how much she disapproved of the relationship, how disappointed in her sister she was, how frustrated at Theo the whole situation made her. Blaise was nodding at all the right times, but Draco was sure his mind was elsewhere.

"I'm sure whatever Granger and I get up to won't be anywhere near as exciting as your plans for tomorrow," Draco taunted, drinking from his goblet. "Have you and Daph colour-coordinated your outfits yet? You don't want to end up with the wrong Greengrass."

Blaise's eyes narrowed and he let out a quiet groan. "Don't remind me, Drake," he said. "When I thought of my first Valentine's Day date with Daphne as my fiancé, shadowing her younger sister wasn't high on my list of priorities. It was more a locked bedroom and rose petal scenario."

"Rose petals?" Draco snorted. "How romantic."

"Sod off."

"At least it isn't technically a Valentine's Day date," Draco said. "It's a The Day After Valentine's Day date, which makes it sound thoroughly unromantic."

"How helpful," Blaise said. "What've you and your witch got planned for this 'thoroughly unromantic' day, then?"

If he were to go fully into the plan Hermione had created for their first public outing as a couple, Draco was certain he'd be keeping Blaise in the Great Hall for many hours to come. She had figured out every nuance and come up with a back up for any possible obstacle they might encounter when, in essence, their date was going to be very simple.

"We've got a booth at The Three Broomsticks for lunch and then I imagine we'll shop around for a while. Very exciting, I know. I haven't a clue how I'll keep up with it all."

"No presents?"

Draco arched a brow at his companion. "Can you really see Granger lugging a bunch of flowers and a box of Honeydukes' favourites around for the whole day?"

"No," Blaise conceded. "But you always got Pansy something."

"Because I was fourteen and wanted a shag."

"Always the romantic," Blaise said. The Great Hall had started to empty and they both stood up in a fluid motion. Theo and Astoria had already departed, Daphne in tow. "We should probably get back to the Common Room before a war breaks out."

Draco nodded in agreement, allowing Blaise to lead the way. He looked back over to the Gryffindor table one last time. Hermione was looking in his direction, rolling her eyes at the smirk he gave her over the heads of their peers. She reciprocated with a little wave before he emerged into the Entrance Hall, following Blaise down towards the dungeons.

Hermione's Dormitory

Saturday, February 15th, 1999

11:00AM

Hermione did up the last two buttons on her coat as Draco arrived in her living room, knocking on the wall to announce himself. Scarf in hand and bag in tow, she went out to greet him. Winter was still upon them, a thick layer of snow settling overnight and The Daily Prophet promising frigid temperatures all across Britain for the day. There was another bout of snow promised for the afternoon, so Hermione tucked her scarf around her neck and into her coat tightly, another in her bag.

Despite her placement in Gryffindor, her stomach fluttered with nerves as she approached Draco. Every detail had been so precisely planned so nothing would go askew and their relationship would avoid derailment before it had even properly begun, but the one thing neither of them had been able to successfully evaluate was how the public and their peers would react. She was already aware that Draco had serious concerns about how his father was going to react, which certainly didn't help with her worries.

"You think too much," Draco said as a greeting. He was leaning against the wall, hands in his coat pockets. His hair needed a trim, a persistent section at the front falling into his eyes no matter how many times he pushed it away. The effect was a boyish one, making him seem far more approachable and detracting from the coolness of his gaze.

"That's why I'm top of our class," Hermione said and he rolled his eyes.

"Our carriage awaits." Draco gestured out the archway and down the stairs. She was grateful of the heating charm he remembered to place upon them as they walked along towards the Thestral drawn carriages, shoes crunching through the snow. Her heart was fluttering in her chest, a bundle of nerves beating in her stomach. There were a few students milling about towards the carriages though they paid no attention, instead focusing on getting to Hogsmeade and to the warmth of the shops.

They began their ride, neither acknowledging that they could view the tangled beasts that drew the carriage, but at the same time both knowing the other was able to see them. With a new layer of snow beginning to fall, they hunched close together, sharing their warmth. Draco kept his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer against him.

Once they had pulled up to Hogsmeade where the carriages would deposit the students and return to the castle, it was clear that they were to have an audience. Groups of friends were gathered in wait for the other members of the excursion to arrive from Hogwarts and a few couples waited about, too, deciding where to go.

The bunch of nerves in Hermione's stomach exploded. Sure, she and Draco had been seen together more often than not for the past two weeks, but it had been in an entirely platonic way. But now, he was standing and opening the door of the carriage so they could introduce themselves as a couple. There had been enough whispers flying about whilst they openly displayed their friendship, both ignoring the rumours and continuing on in their plan.

With a quiet thump, Draco jumped from the coach and landed in the snow. "Chicken?" he crowed at her when she hesitated to follow, holding out his hand to help her down. A few of the other students were watching the newcomers. "Come on, Granger. I've seen you survive much scarier things than this."

Though his tone was light, Draco's eyes were heavy with implication at the 'scarier things' she had endured. For a moment, her mind flashbacked to Malfoy Manor. Her on the floor. Bellatrix. Laughing. Cackling. Slicing.

Hermione took a deep breath and beamed down at her companion, placing her hand in his own and allowing him to help her down in a graceful move. Rather than relinquishing his hold, Draco instead laced his fingers between her own and clasped her hand tightly, giving it a small squeeze for good measure. The action did not go unnoticed by the others who began dissolving into whispers. A few even pointed.

"That wasn't so bad," Hermione nodded and Draco gave a murmur of agreement. The heating charm he had placed on the carriage had worn off and she shivered as a flake of snow landed against her cheek.

"We'll find somewhere warm until it's time for lunch," Draco suggested as they passed by Madam Puddifoot's. There was a long line of freezing couples waiting outside for a table to free up, and through the front window, Hermione could see golden cherubs floating above tables and an overwhelming number of bright red and pink roses scattered about. "If you think you can get me in there then your spot as Valedictorian must be getting shaky, Granger."

Hermione looked up at him and scrunched her nose. "Trust me, you couldn't pay me enough to get me in there."

Draco smirked. "I knew there was a reason I fancied you," he said, releasing her hand to wrap an arm back around her waist. He pulled her close to his side and kissed her hairline. They continued to walk along the street, looking into the small shops that lined it to find somewhere to go until midday. "Come on, we'll go to Dominic Maestro's."

The music shop was one of the less frequented ones in the strip of shops, though it boasted a large collection of instruments, both magical and muggle, and a huge selection of music. It was looked over by the shop's namesake who seemed to be asleep behind the counter, snoring into his fluffy white beard.

"Come on," Draco whispered in her ear, nudging her forwards. "Favourite album?"

"What?"

"Your favourite album. What is it?" he asked again. "For all the time we've spent together, we certainly don't know a lot about each other."

"It's by a muggle band," Hermione said.

"So?"

She rolled her eyes and wormed her way from his grip, tiptoeing through the aisles and looking for the area of muggle vinyls. The selection was wider than she had anticipated and it took her a few minutes to sift through all the records under 'S' before the one she was looking for popped up. "Here," she said, passing it over to Draco who was hovering behind her.

"I've heard of this," Draco said, turning Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel over in his hands to read the track listing.

Hermione continued to sift through the stacks of records as she spoke: "My parents used to play it all the time. It was the main thing I listened to when I was growing up. They adored it. I lost my copy after last year so I haven't listened to it in a while, but I think it'll always be my favourite."

Draco was silent for a few moments whilst she continued looking at the titles her parents had raised her on. "I'll buy it for you," he said. Before she could begin to protest, he had taken it to the counter and was gently trying to rouse the old shopkeeper.

"You don't have to do that," she urged, but he was already depositing coins on the counter and passing them across to the lethargic owner who wrapped the parcel up with a quick flick of his wand, held between wrinkled fingers.

"Too late," Draco said, handing her the record wrapped in a sheet of brown paper whilst they walked out of the shop. Behind them, Dominic Maestro began to snore quietly. "Happy Valentine's Day, Granger."

Ignoring their location, the number of students and happy couples milling about in the snow, Hermione tossed her arms around Draco's neck and pressed her lips against his. He staggered backwards a step with the force but soon regained his footing before they tumbled into the snow. "Thank you," she breathed, getting embarrassingly teary at the small gesture he had bestowed.

She had been devastated when she realised her Simon & Garfunkel record had been taken by her parents on their journey to Australia and that she would never see it again, so just having it and being able to listen to the music, remembering all the happy times she and her parents had enjoyed together was a blessing.

"I'll have to buy you presents more often," Draco smirked as they disengaged from one another, though their hands remained linked. "And if you had any ideas of backing out of going public, I think you just shattered them with that little display. It seems we had a bit of an audience."

Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot and she looked out upon the people who were on the street. A few had stopped to watch her and Draco's display, some still glancing over their shoulders as they walked away. "Oh, God," she muttered. "How mortifying."

Draco rolled his eyes. "You'll survive. Besides, it wasn't a bad snog."

That comment earned him an elbow to his ribs. "Come on," Hermione said, pulling Draco along and trying to ignore the sceptical looks of people around her. "It's almost midday. We don't want to lose our booth."

The Three Broomsticks was crowded and warm, pints of Butterbeer on every full table. Madam Rosmerta looked up from behind the bar when Hermione and Draco entered, waving them through and pointing to the only vacant seat on the premises, a small booth in the rear corner. It was away from the main lot of tables, significantly quieter. Hermione took her seat whilst Draco went up to the counter to order their lunch, returning with two foaming mugs of Butterbeer. She wrapped her fingers around the glass to defrost her fingers and took a deep drink.

"Stop me if I'm being invasive," Draco said, breaking the silence between them. "What happened to your parents, Granger?"

Hermione looked at him with her brows raised, chewing the inside of her cheek. She hadn't spoken about her parents with anyone since the end of The War. After the funerals and the cleanup had largely been done, she and Ron ventured to Australia briefly in the hopes of retrieving her parents and restoring their memories. Their expedition had been fruitless, however. They had been unable to bring back any life Wendell and Monica Wilkins may have had before their sporadic move to Australia and Hermione was forced to return to England without her parents and her heart in tatters. The wound was still healing, but it was something she was aware Draco should know about.

She took a shallow breath in and returned her drink to the table. "Before The War really broke out, when Harry and Ron and I had decided that we weren't coming back to Hogwarts and that we were going to go and destroy Voldemort's horcruxes, I was certain I was never going back home. And I knew that after we left, the Death Eaters would go after my parents for information about where I was. Your father knew what they looked like.You even saw them back in our second year and I knew torture would be on the table and their death would be guaranteed. So I Obliviated them."

Madam Rosmerta arrived with their food and a pitcher of pumpkin juice for the table, interrupting her story for a few minutes. "I didn't expect to survive it all," she continued when the inn's owner had returned to the bar. "I thought that it'd be better for my parents if I had never existed rather than to hear that I had died. So I erased myself from their memories. I gave them new identities and sent them to Australia. When it was all over, just before we all came back to school, Ron and I travelled to Australia to see if I could reverse the spell. It was a pointless trip, though. I couldn't reverse it."

Her throat felt thick and shoulders heavy with the weight of their conversation and she looked to her food for a distraction. "This looks great," she said. "I'm starving."

"Granger," Draco said, tone still serious. She pushed the food on her plate around whilst feeling his intense gaze on her, never wavering. "Granger," he repeated. "Hermione." As it always did, his use of her first name roused her attentions. The hand he extended across the table to grasp hers helped steady her mind and focus her on him. He swallowed thickly and opened his mouth to say something before snapping it shut.

"It's okay," she assured him, anticipating his words and squeezing his hand. "Forget it. Let's just eat and not spend our first date talking about things like that."

He looked at her a moment longer before his eyes lost some of their brooding darkness. "Favourite book?"

They spent the rest of their meal tossing their favourites back and forth. Hermione quickly learned Draco's favourite colour to be similar to Ravenclaw blue, his favourite food was lemon tart and his favourite time of day to be just after midnight, when the stars were out and the sky was bright but everyone around him was asleep. The lunch rush was well over when they finally exited the tavern, Hermione no longer caring who saw Draco's arm slung casually over her shoulders and the way they walked in sync. They were continuing to discuss their favourite foods when she realised he had led her to a completely empty Tomes and Scrolls.

Though it wasn't unusual for the bookstore to have few patrons, for it to be entirely devoid of customers was an odd sight. Hermione frowned up at Draco who just smirked in response.

"Pick out whatever you like," he said, removing his arm from her shoulders and prompting her with a hand on her lower back. "The store is ours for as long as we want. Pick out whatever you'd like and it's on me."

"You've got to be joking," Hermione said, though a balloon of excitement had burst in her gut and was trickling through her body.

"It's my Valentine's Day gift to you, Granger," he said. He nudged her forward again with more pressure. "Go ahead."

She took a few more steps into the store she frequented so often and looked back over her shoulder at Draco for one last sign of affirmation. He raised his eyebrows and nodded. With that, her resolve crumbled and she allowed herself to get lost in the piles of books on offer. It didn't take her long to amass a large selection and when she voiced her concerns to Draco that it was too much, he waved her worries away and paid for the first bundle before she could protest again.

By the time Hermione had finished her search, there were three large piles teetering on the counter. "I can't believe you're doing this," she said as he handed over the payment to an eager shop assistant. "How did you even get the store empty just for us?"

"Believe it or not, Granger, but not everyone sees a bookshop to be a romantic place to spend Valentine's Day," Draco said with a smirk. He paid a final delivery fee so they wouldn't be lugging the books back to her common room, the witch behind the counter assuring them that they would be up at the castle before the couple returned.

Hermione thanked the shop assistant and let Draco lead her out. With the days still short, light seemed to be fading fast from the little wizarding village. A few couples still milled about but the threatening sunset sent most back towards the carriages and up to the warmth of the castle. Draco let his arm fall around her shoulders again so they could share some warmth though her toes still felt like icicles inside her boots. Most people had seen then during the day at one point or another so the stares and whispers were becoming less frequent, but as they joined the line for the carriages to take them back to Hogwarts, a few people turned to look.

"You'd think they have better things to do today than gawk at us," Hermione sighed, suddenly finding her shoes very interesting as a blush bloomed across her cheeks. "I thought everyone would have realised something was going on from the last two weeks."

Draco had been a perfect gentleman since they had agreed to take their relationship public and had spent the past two weeks walking Hermione between classes and proving to the rest of the school that he didn't have to be a total ass all of the time. Many had seen the action as a bridging between the two rival sides and had been willing to accept the platonic relationship that had been forming and within three days they had been able to completely avoid scrutiny from their peers. However, their romantic connection did not seem like it would be as readily accepted. Hermione was already dreading the morning headlines.

He helped her into their carriage as it pulled up, moving into the seat beside her and propping his feet upon the bench on the opposite side. "You're still thinking too much," he complained, hands shoved deeply into his coat pockets. "Maybe we should've come up with a potion to help turn your brain off."

"Ha," Hermione said and rolled her eyes. "I happen to enjoy thinking the amount that I do. It's certainly aided me in besting you in every single class since our first year."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you for that," Draco said, taking one hand out of his pocket and moving his arm so it rested just behind her shoulders. "But I suppose I'll just have to beat you in Potions this year to remedy the situation."

"You wish," Hermione countered as the carriage came to a smooth stop. She leapt out first, landing carefully in the snow. Her footprints vanished beneath Draco's larger stride as he copied her movements and they began to walk up towards the castle. "You're not going to get a higher grade than me."

"Sluggy loves me," Draco said. "Slytherin favouritism and all that. Plus, I'm a bloody good potioneer and you know it."

"And I'm Harry Potter's best friend," she said. "Plus, I've been a member of the Slug Club since sixth year which gives me an obvious one-up on you."

"Have fun kissing Slughorn's arse, Granger. I'll impress him with my knowledge and skill instead."

"Of course you will," Hermione said as they made their way out of the courtyard and into the Entrance Hall, letting the warmth soothe their frozen bones.

"You patronise me now but you'll see," Draco said. "Come on. I'll walk you back to your dormitory."

"How chivalrous," she smiled and nudge him with her elbow. In return, he let his hand slip around hers, the action making her stomach do flips.

With Ron, the romantic gestures had been welcome but everything had felt sloppy and second-nature. After being best friends for so many years, the transition to boyfriend and girlfriend had taken them a little while to get used to, and even after they had gotten engaged, it felt a bit odd. He was perfectly happy to snog her whatever the situation, but it was the little things like hand holding that they had missed out on in the relationship. She would have never anticipated Draco to be so affectionate, particularly not in public.

"I think I can see smoke coming out of your ears," he teased. "Knut for your thoughts?"

Hermione bit her lip for a moment. "You're more...open about this than I'd have thought you would be," she said, feeling truth was the way to go. "About us, I mean."

"I know what you mean, Granger. Despite my lesser grades I am quite intelligent," Draco smirked. "Besides, you're mine. I'm very possessive of what's mine. The curse of an over-spoiled only child, I suppose. But I want people to know that you're mine and that I have no intention of sharing."

Her brow furrowed. "Very possessive is accurate," she said then switched her tone. "Good to know you're a true romantic," she said dryly.

They reached the painting that led to her dormitory and he brought them to a stop. "I hope you had a good time," he said. "And I hope you enjoy your gifts."

Their bodies were close enough that should she desire to, simply turning her head slightly up would result in their lips touching. There was that heat, that electricity that flowed in the infinitesimal space between their clothes and it brought colour to her cheeks.

"I'm going to kiss you now," he said plainly and before her brain could even begin to formulate a sassy reply, he had tilted her chin upwards and pressed their lips firmly together. Just as she realised what was happening and her arms moved to lock around his neck, Draco pulled away. "Happy Valentine's Day, Granger."

He turned on his heel and disappeared towards the dungeons before Hermione had time to react and she was left standing by herself outside the dormitory for a minute before she came to her senses and skittered up to her room where the piles of books he had bought awaited her, wrapped up with an elegant emerald green bow.