CHAPTER 19
"I can't believe you took me there." I couldn't control laughing again at the look of disbelief still etched on his face.
"Well, you did give me the option of choosing the place."
"Yes, but I meant a sophisticated place where we would have some privacy and good food. I definitely did not mean a place where you have to stand in a line and then share a table with complete strangers."
"But you did enjoy the food." He shook his head, but his smile was a dead giveaway. As I walked with him I realized how strange the situation was. I had taken him to a muggle eatery thinking that would be my revenge for all the things he had said about my blood status for all these years. I had not imagined him to behave so normally around so many muggles. He had flinched just once, almost drawn his wand once, jumped up in fright, once, all of these only in the first hour. After that he had been surprisingly calm about the entire situation.
I felt him stop walking and turned to look at him to realize we had already reached our cottage. It seemed as if he wanted to say something.
"I've never taken anyone out on a date before." I didn't miss the small flutter in my stomach at his confession, after all which girl doesn't like being a first. But this was Malfoy and I needed to get back to the point. Schooling my features to look nonchalant, I asked, "Am I supposed to be honored?"
There, the smirk was back, though I was starting to realize it was not the same as before. It was just the fact that he smiled less and smirked more.
"I guess you should." I groaned and reached for the door. Night had fallen and at this time of October it was a bit cold in Wiltshire. Though why I try to escape him is sometimes beyond me. The only times I manage to get out of his grasp are the times he's willing to let me go. This time was not one of them though. His arm shot out and blocked my way. He was casually leaning on the door jam.
I huffed and crossed my arms, waiting for him to finish whatever he wanted. I knew I wasn't going in before he was done.
"I had a nice time." I scoffed at his statement.
"Surprising." Considering the place where we ate.
"What do couples do at this point?"
I narrowed my eyes and looked at him trying to discern where this was headed. "What do you mean 'what do couples do'?"
"Exactly what I said. What do you do after taking someone out on a date?"
"Like you don't know." So, maybe it was his first date, but who didn't know how things went. Especially guys, they always know how these kinds of things proceeded.
He shook his head once. "It's not like that. For us, I mean in the pureblood circles, we meet at some kind of gathering, either at our place or somewhere else. That is the reason behind the huge celebrations. It is done with the agenda of creating alliances, political or otherwise. That's how we meet people. Most of the times the marriages are arranged. It is a way of moving up in the society. You want only the best for your child, someone who will bring in power and connections. When we do take out someone on a proper date, it is more like making a betrothal official to the public. Most of the times these occassions too are arranged from beforehand. Hence, the chances of spontaneity is rare."
I frowned at him, still trying to decide if he was trying to pull something on me. He seemed genuinely curious. I have to admit that he got the benefit of doubt too, considering that I did not feel that he was pretending in front of me for some time now.
"So you really don't know how normal people date?"
"I will remind you that I am a normal person." He said looking affronted. I scoffed. His name and normal going into the same sentence was a bit of an oxymoron. But nevertheless I decided to humor him.
"Well, people usually date to know about the other person. It is a good way to check how compatible two people are together. I... Don't know how people behave specifically because I haven't gone to a date before, but I do know that it is good to pay attention to your date, considering you are serious about him or her."
"I paid attention to you. You were better than the weird ones sitting around us anyway."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment to me?" His thoughts on muggles had not improved apparently.
"No, it meant you are less weird than the ones I was made to dine today. Now, continue." Of course, the day he complimented me would possibly be the day when I decide to walk into the Manor of my own accord.
"Well as common curtesy, a guy should accompany the girl home. Apart from all that, I don't know what you want me to say."
"That's it?" He asked looking perplexed.
"Yes. That's it. Did you expect something else?"
"But this is my home too and we are married, so I have to accompany you home. So there must be something else. What happens in the subsequent dates?" I sighed. Really, he still sometimes thought he was so special. How in the world did he brag so much in front of Harry when his knowledge base was so limited.
"It depends, okay? It depends on the kind of people they are, how far they are willing to move into their relation and at what pace, what they feel about each other…." I groaned as I realized what I had just said. Talking about relations and feelings with him was simply awkward and so not necessary at this point. I took a deep breath to calm myself before continuing.
"Look, can we continue this inside?" Leverage, some kind of leverage was what I needed.
"I should at least get a kiss before we go in." He said with a smug face. He and his kisses, not that I minded them much. But I felt that being so casual about kissing and stuff in just a month and a half was strange. I felt like punching him at that point and I probably would have if we had been thirteen still. He didn't know what people do on dates but he's well aware about kissing. So, since punching him was out of question right now, I decided to try and walk past him, push past him if required considering that he had blocked the door with his frame.
"Really? You may have asked me out, but I decided the venue.."
"That is because I wanted discretion which we wouldn't find in any wizarding establishment."
"I paid.." I continued as if he hadn't interrupted, though he did it again.
"Because I know nothing about muggle money."
"And now I am cold from standing out here for the last fifteen minutes. So you and your kisses can go to hell!" I finished finally trying to shove past him. He easily caught my arms, turned us around and pressed my back to the door and invaded my personal space. I was starting to realize that this was becoming a common occurrence. Why and how he managed to corner me like this should have been a matter of deep thinking. But he seemed to have other ideas and thinking was definitely not on the agenda.
"Why didn't you tell me you were cold? I could have remedied that." He said running his nose along my jaw line.
I shut my eyes and dropped my head against the door as a shudder passed my body. Replying was, as I realized, out of question since my throat had dried up the moment he had come too close. Even if I had managed to speak, I doubt I would have been able to hear my voice over my pounding heart.
"Hey, you are late." I said walking out of the Great Hall to head towards the first class and seeing Ginny walking towards me.
"Pregnancy." She said shrugging and started walking towards the classroom with me.
"Where's Susan? I didn't see her at breakfast either."
"Hospital wing."
"What? Why?"
"Morning sickness."
"Oh." Right, pregnancy. "Hey, how come you don't have that problem?" I asked realizing that Ginny had never complained of such a thing.
"Merlin, Hermione! Please pray that I don't have to. Anyways mum says I'm one of the luckier ones who didn't have to face that." She said.
"Okay, sorry." I replied, laughing at her reaction.
"So now, inquisition." She said grinning at me. I rolled my eyes at her. Why did I think I would get out of it. "How was the date?"
"Good." I replied remembering our meal.
"WHAT! Hermione, did you understand what I asked? I asked, how was your date… with Malfoy?" The expression on her face was hilarious.
"Yes Ginny. I heard you. It was good." I said laughing.
"Where did he take you?" she asked eyeing me suspiciously.
"You mean 'where did I take him'?" I was enjoying this conversation. Ginny gaped at me for a few seconds before she stopped walking and faced me properly.
"Okay, you lost me." I grabbed her arm and started walking again. Since I did not fancy getting late for the first class on Monday morning.
"We went down to a muggle eatery." She looked at me and raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything. "He didn't want to go down to a wizarding establishment, I don't know why, said he wanted discretion. So I took him to a place I frequented as a kid."
"And he ate there." She asked disbelief evident in her voice.
"He did." I said sitting down at our table and smiling, remembering his face when he first realized where I had taken him.
"Hermione, don't get me wrong but what's going on? I noticed you behaving like this for a past few weeks and it's good to see you happy. Believe me, it is. It's just that the person who is responsible for this smile is the same you hated a month back."
I sighed and busied myself in taking out my books and homework before answering. Because the fact was that even I was confused about that part. It felt strange to have both the feelings at the same time. "I don't know Ginny. It's strange being with him. He's like a completely different person, like someone I can like to be with." I said trying to sort out the confusion in my brain and trying to put them into words but still withholding certain things. Ginny stared at me for a minute before her expression changed to incredulous.
"Oh my God! You slept with him!" she screamed.
"Shhhhh. Please lower your voice. And how in the world did you draw that conclusion?" I said looking around and trying to see if someone had heard. Though why I should be embarrassed about people knowing about me sleeping with a guy who was my husband I had no idea.
"Was it on Friday night?" Ginny asked without even giving my question an ear. I blushed a shade that should be renamed as Weasley.
"It was!" she squealed. "How was your first time?" I blushed harder if possible.
"It was not the first time," She breathed, "and you didn't even tell me."
"I don't kiss and tell Ginny, you know that." I replied trying to regain my composure. I had no idea how she could draw these conclusions just by my various level of blushing.
"Oh come on Hermione. I need to talk to someone. I can't talk to Susan considering that she is my brother's wife and I would rather think the baby drops from the sky than think about the technicalities involved." She visibly shuddered. "You are not going to talk about Harry considering you would like to think that the baby drops from the sky rather than listen to his sexual prowess."
"Ginny!" It was my turn to shudder. I did not need to think about that part of Harry's life, thank you very much. She just laughed.
"So Malfoy it is." She said laughing as if that was the simplest explanation as to why she should know what goes on in my life.
"I am not having this discussion with you and you are not going to tell Harry or Ron about it." I said in the sternest voice I could manage. Thankfully the class quieted down signaling the presence of a teacher. I heaved a sigh of relief, thinking I had managed to duck this time.
"Okay, but this discussion is not over yet." Ginny whispered in my ear. I opened my book thinking the contrary. If I had managed to keep shut in the first round of questioning, she would never manage to wring out anything more in the subsequent ones. The only matter worth worrying was Ginny's uncanny capability of deducing things by people's reactions and I was a terrible liar.
"Hermione slept with Malfoy."
Susan chocked and I dropped my head on the table with a bang. Thankfully Mrs. Potter had enough sense to remove my plate before I got food all over myself.
"Ginny, I just got my potions from Madame Pomfrey." Susan replied in her most calm voice. "Frankly, I don't fancy starting to throw up again. So can we refrain from discussing Malfoy's….. achievements?"
"Thank you! You are a savior." I said addressing Susan while pulling my lunch towards me. I had never been more pleased with the Hufflepuff than right then.
Ginny made a face at her sister-in-law and returned to her food. For a moment I thought the topic was done, over. But if my luck was ever that good, I don't remember.
"Is Malfoy really that bad in bed that you want to avoid telling us about it?"
"Telling you, Ginny. I told you, don't drag me into this." Susan put in without lifting her head from her plate that she was ravishing at an astonishing rate.
I stared at her for a minute thinking she could compete with Ron, before deciding that this was probably a good way to distract Ginny from my sex life. "Really Ginny, you don't get morning sickness, you don't eat like you're eating for an army. Sorry Susan. How come you get all the good things about pregnancy?"
"Not all the good things. I sleep like dead. That was why I was late this morning."
"Good to know that you were sleeping, not doing something else. Wasn't Pomfrey saying one could possibly become quite horny during pregnancy?"
I could have kissed Susan right then except I couldn't help laughing at Ginny. I didn't know hormones could even turn a Hufflepuff into someone who could compete with Slytherins.
"Who said we are not doing it. Actually, Harry makes me so tired that I sleep like a log."
Susan's and my groans were identical. This is also one of the reasons why such laws should not be introduced for people who were still at school. Sex and home life took precedence in matters of importance as well as discussions. Something that I did not like or wish for at the moment. I wanted to concentrate on studying. It's our final year for Merlin's sake!
The lunch passed bickering. While on the way out of the Great Hall, Ginny grabbed my hand, signalling Susan to go ahead. I had to give her determination some credit. She was not about to drop this subject without getting a few details.
"Hermione, don't get me wrong. Jokes apart, I would really like to talk to you. It's not the first time that we'll be sharing things. I am worried about you. I like seeing you smile and it's good to know you and Malfoy are getting along, but I'm still worried. It's not like Harry's paranoia or Ron's grudges. It's a sister's concern. Please Hermione. I know you can't share it with your parents either. You don't have to tell me things in details, I don't need that. But a little bit of assuarance will be nice."
I sighed, reaching out to hold her hand. I knew she was right. We had shared things before. She wasn't just Ron's younger sister to me, but my friend first. She did deserve to know how I was coping with things and so did the other two. If I talked to Ginny, she could back me up when I talked to Harry and Ron next. And maybe, in the process of talking to her, I would find some solutions to a few things that I hadn't been able to sort out yet.
I looked up and gave her a small smile. She was right. This was a good idea.
"Lets meet at my place after school. We can have our dinner here and then go down... If that's not a problem." Maybe she wanted to have her dinner with Harry, she usually did.
"That's all right. Harry won't be home till late. His training's stepping up."
"Great, we can talk then." Finally satisfied with her victory, Ginny dragged me to our next class.