Hermione's parents left the next day after a spectacular breakfast prepared by Mrs. Granger. Draco actually had to admit that he would miss Mrs. Granger's bouncy aditude and Mr. Granger's jokes.
"It was lovely to finally meet you, Draco dear," Mrs. Granger said, kissing him on his cheek after giving kisses to the boys and Hermione.
"You take good care of my little girl, son," Mr. Granger said, shaking his hand.
"I will sir," Draco said, taking Hermione's hand in his. She looked up at him, slightly surprised. They all waved as Mr. and Mrs. Granger drove off in their car.
"Mommy, can we go spend the night at Aunty Ginny's tonight?" Ayden asked after they had closed the door.
"Yeah, she said if it was all right with you, we could spend the night," Damien said.
Hermione shrugged. "I don't see anything wrong with that. Go ahead and go pack you things."
The boys cheered and hurried up the staircase. "Don't forget your toothbrushes again!" Hermione called after them.
"So what do you usually do on nights when they go over to Harry's place?" Draco asked as he and Hermione walked towards the living room.
"Nothing really," she replied. "Just sit around and watch movies, read books. Nothing special."
"Oh." They had reached the living room and just stood there, not really knowing what to do. Draco looked down and realized that he was still holding Hermione's hand, but he couldn't make himself let go and Hermione wasn't taking her hand back so he didn't say anything about it.
"Would you," Draco started, "er, maybe want to, I don't know, go . . . somewhere?"
Hermione looked up at him again, this time genuinely surprised. "Are you . . . asking me out on a date?"
Draco could feel his face get hot. "It's not a date if you, uh, don't want it to be. Just, er, going somewhere."
"Oh. . . . Well, I'd love to go with you . . . somewhere."
"It's okay. I didn't think – wait, what?"
"I said, I'd love to go with you . . . somewhere."
"Great! I mean, o-okay."
"Where will be going? How should I dress?"
"It'll be a surprise. Just dress nice."
Hermione glanced up the stairs. "All right as long as you're not taking me to the Sly again. We saw what kind of surprises came out of that."
Draco chuckled, grinning at her. "Yeah, well, they can be considered a pleasant surprise." He let go of her hand and stepped back a little, realizing how close together they had been. "So I'll pick you up tonight at eight?"
"Tonight at eight," Hermione said, grinning.
"Right. . . . See you."
"See you."
Draco Apparated to his house, his heart thudding in his chest. He felt like a teenager going through all the stages of teenage hormones. This was ridiculous.
And now, he had a date with Hermione Granger, something he thought would never happen. But now that it was actually happening, he couldn't be more excited.