Author's Note: Thank you to all of those who have read chapter one. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the second.

Disclaimer: Again, I own none of the characters or spells. I don't own Harry Potter or anything JKR owns.

Chapter Two

As Hermione's alarm went off, she looked up from her paperwork and smiled. It was time for her to collect Teddy and take him out to lunch. She grabbed her bag and apparated to Harry and Ginny's house, which was in Hogsmeade.

"Aunty Mione!" Teddy ran towards Hermione and flung his little arms around her.

"Be careful with her, Teddy." Ginny laughed, as she shut the door behind Hermione.

"Teddy, are you feeling okay to apparate today? We are going into London, for lunch, first and then to Ireland!"

"Yay! I love apparating. Daddy doesn't though, it makes him sick."

"I know." Hermione smiled at her six-year-old "nephew".

"Teddy, don't forget your coat. You're going to a muggle cafe, with Aunty Mione, so don't take any magic toys and don't morph in front of them." Ginny told him sternly. Teddy nodded wisely, before he ran to get his coat.

"Hermione, make sure he doesn't change. I had to obliviate three Muggles' memories last week, because Teddy morphed into a mini version of Harry in London."

Hermione laughed and said.

"He's getting cheeky, but he's always good for me."

"What's this about Ireland?" Ginny asked.

"I have to test some home-schooled students in Ireland." She rolled her eyes. "It shouldn't take long, then I can go home, I did everything else this morning."

"Harry and I are going to have a quiet night in, without you, Mister Troublemaker!" Ginny said, as Teddy returned with a lovely navy duffel coat on. She pulled him close and kissed his forehead.

"Bye mummy." He said to her, as he took Hermione's arm.

"Hold on tightly now, Teddy." Hermione said.

"Have fun, you two." Ginny said, as the two disapparated. She then sat down on the sofa and pulled out the Prophet, to find an article by Rita Skeeter. She groaned as she read it.

"Opposites attract! Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger are spotted having a romantic dinner.

The devilishly handsome Draco Malfoy, known to have previously been a death eater, was spotted in the small wizarding village of Figsbury, with Hermione Granger, the war heroine and best friend of the saviour, Harry Potter, himself. The two were seen in the Garlic Moon restaurant sharing food and laughing together.

This is not the first time that the two have been spotted together. Three years ago, they both took a healer course at St Mungo's and they were seen at Draco's mother's wedding to her late husband, a muggle.

So, the question is where is Ron Weasley? There is information, from a source, that he was caught snogging a young Chudley cheerleader. The young quidditch player has been seen with the cheerleader on various occasions and our source suggests that they are most definitely an item."

Ginny tossed the paper to the side and shut her eyes. Rita Skeeter was a menace. She suddenly realised how tired she was and, after about five seconds, she was asleep.

"Okay, Teddy, you heard what your mother said, no morphing in this cafe! After lunch we are going to test some witches and wizards and you can show them all what you can do."

"Yes, Aunty Mione."

"Good boy."

They had a wonderful time at lunch: Teddy always loved to hear Hermione's tales of Harry's adventures at Hogwarts. Over spaghetti Bolognese, Hermione told Teddy all about the time when Harry had snuck into Hogsmeade in their third year, by way of a secret passage. Teddy had lots of questions about Hogwarts and he was very excited to start school there, unfortunately for him that was five years away.

"Which house will I be in? I want to be in Gryffindor, like you and Mummy and Daddy!"

"No, Teddy, you must say "like you, Mummy and Daddy." You only say "and" once." Hermione was always teaching Teddy new words and correcting his grammar.

"Your new boyfriend wasn't in Gryffindor, was he? Mummy told me that he was a Slytherin!"

"He was, Teddy. He was a big bully as well. He used to call me a Mudblood!"

"That's a naughty word!" Teddy looked horrified.

"Yes, well he was a naughty boy!" Hermione grinned at the six year old.

"Do you want to go to Diagon Alley, before we go to Ireland and get a new Quidditch magazine or something, to look at while I'm doing apparition tests?" She asked him.

"Yes please, Aunty Mione."

"Okay, I'll just get the bill."

They paid for their food and went to Diagon Alley, where Teddy chose a magazine all about the Holyhead Harpies, which were Victoire's favourite quidditch team. They then apparated to the town hall in Ireland, where they were met by Steve Snow, the short wizard with orange spectacles, whom she had met at the party at St Mungo's, with Draco.

"Steve, it's good to see you again, but what are you doing here?"

"I'm the healer in charge of this test, in case of splinching." He squeaked. "And who is this handsome young man?" He looked at Teddy, who was still holding Hermione's arm.

"This is my nephew, Teddy Lupin."

"My my! Teddy Lupin! Adopted son of Harry Potter?" He asked, suddenly very interested. Teddy nodded and Steve began rummaging around in his pocket, which was clearly bigger on the inside.

"Would you like an exploding jelly snake?" He asked Teddy.

"Mummy says I'm not allowed to take sweets from strangers." Teddy said. Hermione laughed and said,

"Good boy, Teddy. You're very clever."

Snow looked disappointed, but he quickly recovered and walked into the town hall, followed by Hermione and Teddy. It was pitch black in there and Hermione pulled out her wand and muttered, "Lumos."

Steve flicked on the lights and began arranging hoops on the floor in different positions.

"Actually, I'm going to do that." Hermione said. "I'm going to make it quite difficult, because I'm getting sick of people passing the test and then getting splinched when they've got their license. Teddy, sit up here on this table and practice morphing, or read your magazine."

"Okay, Auntie Mione." Teddy jumped up on the table and began morphing his hair bright orange.

"That's remarkable." Snow exclaimed. "What was your parentage?"

"My first mummy was a metamorphmagus and my first daddy was a werewolf."

"Your father was a werewolf? Merlin's beard, but you aren't one, are you?"

"No, but I have the blood in me. Daddy says that I get a bit grouchy around full moon, but I think he's just being silly."

Hermione chuckled at Teddy's little comment about Harry, as she levitated hoops around, she was making sure this time that they were far apart and in weird positions. The students would have to apparate to each five hoops, within a time limit. Teddy was proud of his real mother and father, he had heard all about them many times from Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and everyone else.

"Hello, are you ready for us? Merlin's beard, you're Hermione Granger!" A seventeen year old, well-dressed ginger girl was standing by the entrance of the hall. Her Irish accent was very thick.

"Yes." Hermione replied dryly. "You may all come in. Is everyone here?"

"Apart from Colm." The teenager said. "Are you going to be giving out autographs?" The young witch asked Hermione, who looked surprised.

"No, whatever for?" She asked.

"You're like the heroine. We'd all be pretty much dead without you. Plus you're library is pretty cool." The witch said, in her thick Irish accent.

"Thank you, but I don't give out autographs." Hermione said. "Sorry, I can't quite remember if you said that everyone was here."

"Everyone except Colm." The witch said, looking disappointed that she wasn't going to get an autograph.

"Hopefully he turns up soon." Hermione said, as she put down the last hoop.

The seven young witches and three young wizards all sat on red chairs, looking expectantly at Hermione, while Hermione told them all what they had to do.

"I have to take the register, standard protocol." She said.

"Moira Connor"

"Yes Miss Granger."

"You may all call me Hermione." She said. "I can't pronounce this, OD- Finnigan."

"I'm here and it's Odhrán. You say it like OR RAN." The ginger, freckled boy said, smiling at Hermione.

"Right." Hermione ticked off his name.

"Rosin Finnigan?"

"I'm here too." It was the pretty redhead, who had asked if they were getting autographs. She was sitting next to her twin brother, Odhrán; the similarity between them was uncanny.

"Aisling Kearney?"

"Yes."

"Colm O'Cuin?"

"He's not here."

"Does anybody know where Colm is?"

"No, but I know that he was out with Orlagh last night, he probably got drunk again."

"Get away out of it. I wasn't drunk last night! I wasn't with Orlagh either!" Colm had appeared at the door. "I wouldn't get drunk on the night before meh apparition test, would I?"

"Please sit down, Colm." Said Hermione.

"Merlin's beard, you're Hermione Granger!"

"Yes, I'm Hermione, that boy there is Teddy and the man in the orange spectacles is Steve Snow. Now, please sit down, you would have known all of that, if you hadn't been late."

"Will we get autographs?" Colm asked, eagerly.

"No." Hermione said, acidly.

"But you have to sign our forms and licenses anyway, so we at least get your signature." Colm said, triumphantly, and at his statement, there were some shouts of delight about Colm's ingenuity.

"Colm O'Cuin! Will you sit down this instance, or, so help me, I will fail you no matter what."

After that, Colm sat down quickly and sat in silence, while Hermione took the rest of the register.

"Okay, Moira, you go first." Hermione said, as she turned to the second page in her file. Moira passed with one second to spare, but Rosin left behind one of her ears (something Steve fixed immediately). Odhrán passed, but only just, as he landed right on the side of the last hoop.

Aisling was clearly an intelligent girl, she spoke with confidence and she passed the apparition test with five seconds to spare. Colm was surprisingly good, but was a second outside the time limit. Teddy begged Hermione to pass him anyway and Hermione could never resist Teddy, so Colm passed the test.

"Thanks a million, Hermione. I promise I will never ever get splinched." He promised her.

"Don't tell the others, I don't want them thinking I'm soft." She grinned.

Lorcán, Maeve and Nuala all passed their tests, but a boy called Sean left behind his left foot and a girl called Alma was outside the time limit by ten seconds. The last girl was called Flora and she was completely dippy. She barely knew her own name and she kept talking about nonexistent magical creatures, just as Luna Lovegood had. She failed the test completely. She did not notice when she lost her nose, nor did she notice when she lost her right arm. She only noticed that she'd done something wrong when she missed the last hoop.

"Oh bother, I guess I failed." She said, as Steve rushed to repair her damaged body.

As Hermione handed out licenses, Teddy showed all of the remaining 17 year olds how he could morph his face into different animals. Hermione was strongly reminded of Tonks.

Twice during the testing, Steve had pulled out his hip flask and drunk some of the thick, repugnant liquid inside. The third time he did it, however, was when he, Teddy and Hermione were preparing to leave. It did not, this time, go unnoticed by Hermione. She paused, as she was preparing to apparate with Teddy,

"Mr. Snow, please do not drink alcohol in front of Teddy."

"Sorry." He said, sheepishly, and put the flask back in his pocket.

When Mr Snow had disapparated, Hermione tutted, looked down at Teddy and said,

"Okay, little one, we have two hours until we have to be at Aunty Jane and Uncle Hugo's, so what do you want to do?"

"I want to go to your house and watch muggle television." Teddy loved telly, but Harry and Ginny did not have one, so Hermione let Teddy watch it whenever he came to her house. Teddy loved watching muggle shows like 'Balamory' and 'Big Cook Little Cook'.

"Alright then, hold on tight." She said, and disapparated.

"Do you want a drink, Teddy? I've got pumpkin juice, butterbeer and orange squash." Hermione called from the kitchen. She was making tea, whilst Teddy watched 'Mr Bean'.

"Please may I have pumpkin juice?" Teddy said.

Hermione poured a glass of pumpkin juice and carried both her tea and the said juice into the sitting room.

"There you are, darling."

"Thank you."

There was a knock at the door.

"I wonder who that could be." Hermione put her tea down on the coffee table and jigged to the door, making Teddy laugh.

Hermione had quite a shock when she opened the door. It was none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Have you seen this?" He said, holding up a copy of The Daily Prophet.

"Oh Merlin." She said, slowly. "Do you know what this means?"

"We are going to be stalked for all eternity?" He guessed.

"Yes, and several other things." Hermione said. "Do you want to come in? Teddy is here."

"Merlin's beard! Hermione Granger just asked me into her apartment and no one's holding a wand to her head." Draco joked. "And who's Teddy?" He asked, as Hermione took the newspaper from him.

"Oh, he's Lupin's son, Harry adopted him. I think he's your second cousin, you're related to Tonks, aren't you?"

Draco nodded.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, it's just that my mother meant to get in touch with him, she feels guilty for the family shutting out Tonks." Draco said, as he followed Hermione into the sitting room.

"Hello! Are you Aunty Mione's new Slytherin boyfriend?" Teddy grinned at Draco, who looked shocked.

"Yes, I suppose I am." He said, first sending a grin to Hermione and then looking back at Teddy. "And do you know who you are?" He raised his eyebrows at the cheeky six-year-old, who looked momentarily confused. "You're my second cousin."

"Aunty Mione, is he really? Or is he just being a mean Slytherin?" Teddy stuck his tongue out at Draco.

"Yes, Teddy, he is. His mother is your great aunt." Hermione told him and she laughed when she saw Teddy trying to figure it all out. "Why don't you show Draco how you can morph?" Hermione said.

"I will show him how I can do Daddy! I've been practising really hard!" Teddy smiled and began morphing into a very good likeness of Harry.

"Oh dear Merlin. It's mini Harry Potter." Draco said, raising his wand and pretending to hex. Teddy laughed and morphed back into his usual appearance, which was blue hair, freckles and a cute little face. The only thing Teddy changed about his appearance, usually, was his sandy-brown hair - he preferred it blue.

"How do you do that?" Draco asked, impressed.

"I'm a metamorphmagus!" Teddy said.

"That explains it." He said.

Hermione had finished reading the newspaper article and said,

"I cannot believe that stupid Skeeter woman. Who does she think she is?"

"I know, it's completely pathetic. Listen," He shifted awkwardly. "After this article, do you still want to go out on Friday and Saturday?"

"If you still do." Hermione said, worriedly.

"Of course I do." Draco smiled, he looked somewhat relieved.

"As for Ronald, well Skeeter has made it perfectly clear that he and Blanca are now dating. I think that they might have had something going on while we were still together, but it's really none of my business anymore."

"Who's Blanca?" Teddy piped in. Hermione spun around. She had forgotten about Teddy. So had Draco.

"Blanca is a cheerleader, for Ron's quidditch team." Hermione explained.

"I doubt that Skeeter has information from inside sources, Hermione. I bet she just made it all up."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'm going to call my parents and tell them that we can't come tonight. I fancy a quiet night in. Is that all right, Teddy?" Hermione asked, rummaging in her bag for her phone. Teddy nodded.

"Care to join us Draco? I have lots of butterbeer and exploding snap and I've recently bought a box of gobstones." Hermione said, while scrolling down her contacts list, trying to find the one labelled 'Mum'. It went straight to answer phone.

"Hey, Mum, it's Hermione, I'm really sorry for the late notice, but Teddy and I can't come after all. Also, could you to babysit Teddy on Saturday night, for Ginny and Harry? There's a sort of ball we have to attend. I love you, bye."

"So, would you like to stay?" Hermione asked Draco.

"I'd love to." Draco said.

Twelve glasses of butterbeer later, Teddy had passed out on the sofa and Draco and Hermione were playing exploding snap, like a pair of five-year-olds.

"Oh dear, Teddy's asleep. I had better put him to bed."

"Where does he sleep?" Draco asked.

"In the spare room, upstairs." Hermione picked up Teddy and carried him to bed.

"Have you got a dress for the ball yet?" Draco asked Hermione, as she reclaimed her spot on the sofa. Draco got up from the floor and sat beside her.

"No, not yet." She said. "I must do that actually."

"You could get it from my mother's." Draco suggested. "If you come with me, then she'll give you a discount." He winked. "We can go on Friday, before our date."

"Alright then. I'm looking forward to it. I'm extremely tired now though, so I'm going to be tremendously impolite and ask you to leave." Hermione said, with a yawn.

"Okay, it's time I left anyway. Herbert will start a bunch of rumours about me, if I'm too late home." He prepared to disapparate.

"It is customary, I think, at the end of a couple's night together, for the male to kiss the female." Hermione said, playing with and looking at her hands.

"Did Hermione Granger just ask me, Draco Malfoy, to kiss her?" Draco grinned. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Draco held up his hand, to silence her. "No complaints from me." He said, as he leaned into her.

"Teddy! Have you been a good boy?"

"He's been wonderful." Hermione smiled at Ginny, who had come to pick up Teddy.

"He met Draco, yesterday." Hermione said, whilst Teddy went to the loo.

"Did you tell them that they were second cousins?"

"Draco already knew, apparently his mother has been trying to get into contact with you lot. She wants to meet him, she's his great aunt."

"I know. What was Draco here for?" Ginny asked.

"Well, he was here to show me this." Hermione picked up yesterday's Daily Prophet from the coffee table.

"What did you and Draco think?"

"You've read it, too, I presume." Ginny nodded. "We did not like it." Hermione said. "Ginny, more importantly, don't tell anyone, but we kissed last night."

"Hermione Granger, what the hell is wrong with you? And you're grinning like an idiot! Was he a good kisser?"

FLASHBACK

Draco placed his hands on Hermione's cheeks. She closed her eyes as she felt the shadow of his face close over hers. She felt his breath hot on her face, just for a mere second, before his lips connected with hers. Draco's lips burned her own and it consumed her. She saw stars and, as his lips pleasantly burned her own, she placed her hands on his back. He pulled away, leaving Hermione desperate for more. She had never felt that way whenever Ron had kissed her. She felt warm and, as Draco leaned back in to finish of the kiss, she felt goose bumps break out all over her body and she kissed him back, gently, but with passion. She kept her eyes shut as her arms fell limply to her side. Her eyes remained shut, as he drew back and when she had opened them he was gone.

END FLASHBACK

"Earth to Hermione." Ginny clicked her fingers in front of Hermione's face.

"Yeah, he was amazing." Hermione said, but her eyes were still glazed over."Sorry. Oh, hey Teddy." She said snapping out of her trance.

"Thank you, Aunty Mione." Teddy smiled.

"No, thank you, Teddy, for coming!" Hermione bent down and kissed the little boy on his forehead.

"Thanks Hermione." Ginny said, before she and Teddy disapparated.

1 NEW MESSAGE

"""We would absolutely love to have Teddy on Saturday. I've texted Harry, so don't worry about telling him. We are sorry that you couldn't come yesterday, are you feeling alright?

Mum x"""

"""Yes, mum, I'm fine. Thank you so much.

Love, Hermione x"""

Hermione put away her phone and got ready for work. Luckily, today she just had some paperwork. She didn't have to do any testing. Today was her last day at work, before she had her three week summer holiday.

"I hear that you and Draco spent some time together last night." Herbert's voice made Hermione jump.

"Yep. We played exploding snap." She replied, cooly.

"So I heard." He grinned. "I also heard that you introduced him to his cousin, Harry Potter's son."

"You've met Teddy before." Hermione said, although she was concentrating more on the papers in front of her, than she was on the smiling man in front of her desk.

"He sent these for you." Herbert waved his wand and a large bouquet of fancy red and white roses came soaring into the room and onto Hermione's desk.

"They are beautiful." Hermione had never seen such beautiful flowers. She had never even had flowers sent to her, apart from in her fourth year, when Viktor had sent her a bunch of beautiful ones.

"Draco has only actually ever had one girlfriend. That was Pansy Parkinson and he could not stand her. He just hadn't the heart to break up with her. So you are probably the only woman whom Draco has ever actually considered his proper girlfriend, therefore you can probably expect many things like this."

"Herbert, did he tell you about the kiss?" Hermione was red to the roots of her brown hair, as she asked the question.

"Of course he did. He was like an excited puppy." Herbert grinned. Then he put on a very Draco-like voice and began mimicking what Draco had said when he had got home last night. "Hermione Granger asked me to kiss her! I kissed Hermione Granger and she kissed me back! We kissed, Herbert, and it was like fire and ice cream."

Hermione was still bright red, but she was giggling. She wasn't sure whether the fire and ice cream part had been true, but it was a good impression of Draco all the same.

"Hermione, when you're done, you can leave. Belinda has left already." Herbert rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving in a minute, so I will say my goodbyes now. I will see you at the ball on Saturday."

"Bye." Hermione looked back down at her paperwork and finished it all off in half an hour. She collected her bag and her enormous bunch of flowers, then she disapparated and when she was at home, went to bed for a nice nap. She must have been very tired, as when she woke up; it was nine o'clock in the morning. She had slept from three o'clock in the afternoon, all the way through until nine the next day. Hermione was feeling excited. Today, she was going out with Draco again. The only problem was that she didn't know what time to meet him at his mother's shop in Hogsmeade. Just as she was pondering this, Flavia startled her by tapping on the window. Hermione went to let her in and pulled the envelope labelled 'Hermione Granger', from Flavia's foot.

Dear Hermione,

I realise that I forgot to give you a time. I will pick you up at four o'clock, if that is alright with you.

Love, Draco

She smiled and wrote a reply.

Dear Draco,

That's fine. I'm looking forward to it.

Love Hermione

Then, after giving Flavia an owl treat, she sent the said bird on its way and began reading a book.

Four O'clock came and Hermione felt herself buzzing with excitement. She had been ready to leave for just under an hour, which just showed exactly how much she was looking forward to it.

KNOCK KNOCK

Hermione almost flew to the door and as she opened it, she nearly knocked Draco over, for being so rough.

"Sorry." She said.

"No worries. Shall we be off?" He extended his arm.

Hermione smiled and took his arm. She felt the familiar sensation of apparition and almost only a second later, they were outside Mrs Johnson's shop in Hogsmeade.

"Draco, my dear, what can I do for you?"

"Hello, mother. This is Hermione, you've met her before'"

"Several times, but not always under good circumstances." The lady smiled at Hermione.

"We are going to the ball together." Draco continued. "And Hermione needs a dress."

"Ah, of course. How would you like it? Come into my office and we will design it." Narcissa said. "Do you want Draco to come, or shall we keep the dress a surprise until tomorrow?" She asked.

"I'd like to keep it as a surprise, Mrs Johnson." Hermione said, politely.

"My dear, you must call me Narcissa." The older, beautiful woman said."Sam," She called. "Draco's here, Draco, give him a hand with the dress robes he's making."

A tall, brown haired fifty year old came into the room.

"Hello Draco." He said. "Ah and hello Hermione. You were here when we got married weren't you?"

"Yes, Mr Johnson." Hermione replied. Narcissa steered Hermione into her office and began arranging quills and paper in the air, with her wand.

After about an hour, they had finally finished the design.

"Fantastic, you are going to look beautiful." Narcissa told Hermione.

"Now, come back at either nine tonight or from seven onwards, tomorrow." She smiled.

"I think I will come tomorrow, Narcissa." Hermione said.

"Alright, my dear. Draco, come here, we are finished for today, Hermione can collect the dress tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Mother." Draco said.

"We have an hour and a half until we need to be at the restaurant. What do you want to do?" Draco asked Hermione, as they left the shop. He was holding her hand, and Hermione could feel her heart melting slowly away.

"Let's do something fun. I know, we could go ice skating!"

"That sounds dangerous, besides there's no ice! I know it's quite chilly, but it's still summer, there won't be any ice for months."

"There are ice rinks, Ferret." She grinned.

"I thought that we were passed the name calling, Granger." Draco grinned back at the brunette on his arm.

"Yeah, as if that's ever going to happen." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Come on, I know a fantastic ice rink, my Aunt used to take me there as a child." Before Draco could reply, Hermione disapparated, taking Draco with her.

"Hey, Hermione, you need to tell people before you do that. It can be quite a shock. Surely you should know that, being an apparition teacher."

"Sorry, Draco. I didn't realise you were such a baby." She said, ruffling his hair.

"Don't touch my hair! You know how wonderful it is. You never could take your eyes off it, at Hogwarts." Draco said.

They kept up their merry conversation, as they walked into the cosy looking building.

Hermione paid with muggle money, and said that they had their own skates, which they didn't.

"Sit down here." Hermione said, when they reached a wooden bench.

"What for? Ouch, Hermione, you can't just push people around." Draco grumbled, as Hermione pulled him down next to her on the bench.

"I tell you, someday-What in the name of Merlin are you doing to my shoes?" Draco looked horrified, as Hermione transfigured his black, Italian, leather shoes into pink ice skates. She did the same with her own.

"Shhh. It's fine, but you need to take your robe off, you look ridiculous, to muggles that is." She added hurriedly. Draco handed her his expensive looking (and feeling) robe, which Hermione stuffed into a locker, along with her beaded bag.

He smirked and said irritatingly, "Oh, of course you want my robes off… Shall I stop there or continue stripping?"

"Prat." She hissed, under her breath.

"What was that, Granger?"

"Let's go then." Hermione extended her hands and hauled up the blonde wizard. He was now wearing a knitted green jumper and a pair of jeans, which surprised Hermione, as it was very unusual for someone such as Draco, to wear something so casual. She was wearing black tights, a red pleated skirt and a black knitted jumper. Although it was summer, it had been fairly cold for the past few weeks.

"Argh, Hermione! How can you walk in these things?" Draco asked, as he nearly toppled over.

"Practice. Unfortunately, I'm not so good when it comes to the actual skating part." Hermione sighed. "It's not something that you can learn from books."

"Okay, help me onto the sink." Draco said, as he struggled to climb up the little step.

Hermione giggled, but didn't correct his error.

"I was right, you are a baby." She mumbled, as she helped haul him onto the rink. There was no one else there. This wasn't really very surprising, as it was still summer.

"Okay, Granger." Draco drawled, "Show me what to do."

"Well, I don't know exactly how to explain it, but you push out with your feet, I'm not very good, see? She showed him how she did it and skated round the 25 meter rink once. "You just need to get used to it." She said, on her return.

After about an hour of struggling and holding on to the wall, Draco was feeling a little more confident. He was able to skate around without holding on to the side. Hermione's nose was stinging and her cheeks were a healthy shade of pink and she was cold, but she felt she was probably the happiest she'd been in her life. She had never laughed so much I her life. Draco had fallen over far more times than most people did and he had done so with such ridiculousness that Hermione had spent half of her time clutching her ribs, as she cackled at His Malfoyness. The funniest time, had been when he had been using the little penguin stabilisers and he had flipped over it.

"Draco, what, in the name of Merlin, are you doing?" Hermione had exclaimed, when she gracefully skidded to a halt nearby. Draco had been running on the spot, kicking his legs up high in the air behind him holding the penguin's handles to keep him steady. He had turned around, without thinking to stop his peculiar running (if you could call it that) at Hermione's exclamation. Immediately, he lost his balance and his feet flailed about randomly, as he did a (semi-elegant) flip in the air, over the penguin and landed on his hands and knees, with his bottom sticking high up in the air.

"Okay, Draco, now skate to me." Hermione grinned and extended her arms. Draco, unaware of the danger of becoming winded, skated, madly, at full speed towards Hermione, causing the said witch to panic and gasp, as the imbecile skating towards her grabbed her and pulled her on top of him, as he landed on the ice, gasping for breath.

Draco's grip around Hermione's waist was tight and Hermione couldn't get up, so instead of flapping around like a fish, she waited patiently, until Draco had got his breath back.

"This is why we are careful on ice." She scolded him.

"Sorry. Are you hurt?" He asked, as he released her from his grip.

"No, I'm fine. Are you alright?" She said, helping him to his feet. Draco nodded and Hermione said. "I think that we are done here, for today anyway, shall we go and get ready for dinner?"

"That sounds like a plan." Draco said, relieved, he was cold and bruised. He needed to go to the bathroom to perform some quick spells to rid him from some of the pain in his nether-regions.