Owls

Hermione blinked her eyes trying to focus on the noise that had woken her. There was an incessant tapping noise at her window. She sighed and rolled off her bed and onto her feet. She made her way to the window and opened it letting in an owl. She took the letter it had on its leg and went into her dresser to get an owl treat for it. "Here you go buddy." She smiled and fed it the treat. It hooted happily and then flew off. Hermione closed her window and sat on the bed to open the letter she had just received.

Hey Hermione,

George stopped by the burrow last night and brought with him some rather disturbing news! Please tell me you are no considering dating Slytherin scum! We have to meet up soon so we can talk about this. I hope you know what you're doing. Sorry to be naggy, I'm just a little worried about you. Please owl me back so we can set up a time to get together.

Love you and miss you Ginny.

Hermione rolled her eyes a bit but folded the letter and put it on her bedside table. She promised herself she would write back as soon as she got up for the day. She settled back into bed and had just closed her eyes when there was some more tapping at the window. She groaned and went to the window. The owl perched on the windowsill and waited patiently for Hermione to take the letter from its leg. She retrieved another treat and fed it to the owl, who ate it slowly then hooted. Hermione stroked the birds head. "Thank you little guy. Off you go." The owl leaned into Hermione's touch and then took off. Hermione closed the window again and then sat on the bed to read the letter.

Hi there Hermione!

It's Eliza. How was that date? I was hoping that maybe we could grab lunch or something this week? That's open for whenever you want, take your time getting back to me. Although I am pretty curious about how things went. Anyways let me know!

Can't wait to hear from you, Eliza!

Hermione smiled and folded the letter up, putting it on top of Ginny's, her to do list was piling up and it was barely past nine on Friday. Her department was closed for the day, a memo had been sent out about repairs or something. So Hermione had looked forward to an unexpected sleep in. Everyone else had other plans it would seem. Not ten minutes after Hermione had lain down again there was another tap at the window. "Seriously?!" She huffed, getting up and throwing the window open. The owl landed lightly on the windowsill, and took off as soon as Hermione had taken the letter from it. She didn't bother closing the window as she went back to her bed.

Hermione

I'm sorry, you know how Ginny is with a wand and she knew I knew something about you. She threatened me with a bat-bogey hex! You know how nasty those are right? I'm really am sorry though. Please don't hate me! Although on a brighter note I do think you were right about Malfoy, he seems different. But if I did my job right I still scared him off.

Lots of Love, George.

Hermione grinned and tossed the letter onto her bedside table along with the others. It was as she lay there thinking about the letters that she realized something weird. She hadn't noticed before because the day before was so busy and hectic, but Draco hadn't written to her since they had had drinks at the Leaky Cauldron. She threw her covers aside and rushed into her living room and snatched up the notebook. She grabbed a pen and got back into bed.

Hey Draco! Sorry I haven't written sooner, work was ridiculous. Kind of a lame excuse, but it's true! I hope George didn't say anything horrible to you! I hope you get back to me soon.

Hermione anxiously closed the book and decided to write back everyone now that she was awake. She got some paper and wrote back to George first.

George,

You know I could never hate you, but believe me when I tell you that you will pay for what you did. I still don't know what you said to Draco while I was in the washroom, but I'm sure it was awful. You owe me. Let me know when you are free this week so you can make it up to me by buying me lunch.

Love and hate in equal measure, Hermione.

Hermione grinned and then folded the note into a paper airplane. She spelled it to find George and then went onto her next letter.

Eliza,

She started writing and was hit by a powerfully good idea.

I can do lunch with you this week for sure. I think I even know a way we can both get out of paying. My friend George owes me lunch and I think he can be conned into paying for both of us. I think we should meet up a bit earlier so I can tell you about my date. But I think you'll like George he is really funny. Let me know what day works best for you!

Best regards, Hermione.

Thinking about it Hermione was almost sure that Eliza and George would hit it off. She grinned and folded the paper, sending the not off just like she did with George's. Finally she went to write Ginny back.

Hey Gin,

I expect better from you. Doesn't anybody trust me? I'm not an idiot, but you guys all treat me like one. And Draco has changed his totally different than the boy we knew. I will get coffee with you, so I can talk to you about this, and hopefully get you off of my back. I am hoping you are free on Sunday around eleven in the morning? Please let me know.

With all the affection I can muster, Hermione.

Hermione charmed the note and sent it off like all the others that morning. She looked towards the notebook which he had successfully not done since writing in it and saw with relief that it was glowing.

Hermione, hey! I've been swamped too otherwise I would have written sooner. I was actually just about to write you when your message popped up. Don't worry about George please, it was no big deal. You should be flattered that you have people who care that much about you.

Hermione let out a deep breath.

Flattered isn't quite how I feel right now. But I'm glad that you can get past the George thing. I'm kind of angry at him. He told Ginny who you were and she sent me a rather insulting note. Anyway…do you have plans for tomorrow night?

Free as a bird. My choice this time though, right?

Right.

I've got just the thing in mind. I'll pick you up at five thirty?

Okay, sure, and seeing as this is a Draco date should I be dressed up?

Yes. Not as dressy as last time though. Maybe just a nice dress…I'll leave it to your discretion. So what have you been up to? Just working?

Yeah a lot of working, I couldn't go in today because they are doing some kind of repairs in my department. Then I tried to sleep in this morning, but I got three owls in a row.

Three owls? Geez someone is popular.

Well at least one of them I could have done without, but oh well. What about you, what have you been up to?

Pretty much the same thing as you, working. Yesterday was a whirlwind dull meetings. I had to try really hard to keep my focus. They were brutally boring. I'm sorry to cut our conversation short, but I have to get ready for another meeting. I'll see you tomorrow night.

Okay, I hope your meetings aren't as bad as you think they'll be. See you tomorrow.

Hermione shut the notebook and was going to get up and close the window when a note came flying through the window. It was going to be a long day, Hermione decided with a sigh.

AN: Okaaay another chapter done. This one is kind of a filler, but I think you all should really, really like the next chapter! :) I'd like to thank my reviewers from the last chapter. They make me happy. :) So you know what to do! Leave me a review. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.