A New Theory
Summary: Hermione has a new theory that each and every person has a good and bad side. What if her least favorite person put her theory to the test? Hermione conveniently works in the psychological department in St.Mungos, so she presents her idea to her boss. She thinks that Hermione should do an experiment on someone with it. She asks her who she already knows that has a bad side. Of course, she replies Malfoy. Her boss believes that he will be the perfect subject, since Hermione already knows his bad side all she will have to find is his good side. Hermione almost chokes on hearing this, but she almost dies when her boss says that she should date him she says that if everything goes right it might just take one date, but Hermione doesn't think that she can take even one date!
Previously: "All right. Well, I think that I'm going to ask Harry to marry me! I know it's a little unconventional, but he's too busy and nervous to ask me, so I'll do it!" Ginny said, smiling at the surprised and excited look on Hermione's face. The waitress had just approached them so they paused to give their orders.
"Oh Ginny! That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you! When do you want the wedding to be?" asked Hermione, getting all excited and into that wedding mood that all women get into sometimes.
"Well, I haven't discussed it with Harry yet, obviously, but I think that I would like a June wedding. And I think that I would like an outdoor wedding with lots of purple flowers and matching purple bride's maids' dresses. Oh, Hermione, you will be one of my bride's maids wont you?" asked Ginny. Their meals came, so they started eating, occasionally talking in-between bites.
"Of course Ginny, but remember, you haven't even asked him yet! Slow down!" said Hermione, laughing at how Ginny was all excited about her wedding.
"Oh! You're right! He might not even say yes! Hermione, what do you think he will say? I'm so afraid that he will say no!" said Ginny, now getting all worried about his answer.
"Ginny, I'm almost positive that he will say yes. I'd be surprised if he didn't! He loves you! Don't worry about it!" said Hermione. The girls finished their meals, occasionally chatting about this or that. Hermione never brought up her dilemma. Partially because she forgot and partially because Ginny was so excited about her wedding and also partially because she had decided to just go and keep her guard up and see what would happen.
She apparated home and walked into her cozy little flat. She dropped all of her things and sighed as she thought to herself "One more day. Tomorrow it happens."
Chapter Four:
"I'm not nervous. Malfoys aren't nervous. Well, Malfoys don't go on 'dates' with muggleborns either, so I guess that that isn't a good judge." Draco was talking to himself as he paced the floor of his study in his small home in a London suburb. He could live in Malfoy Manor, but he didn't. He chose not to because he couldn't stand the place, his parents would be living there also, and he couldn't stand them either, and because he knew that deep down he wanted more than just to get to know Hermione better for office purposes and if anything did happen, she would not be willing to move into the manor, even if he did.
It was the day of their "date", and Draco was nervous, no matter how much he tried to deny it. He also tried to deny that he had feelings for Hermione, although small feelings, but that sometimes didn't work. Usually he succeeded in his attempt, but occasionally, his realistic side would say "If you don't have any feelings for her, then why did you go to her house? If you really don't have any feelings for her, then why do care if you get along or not? You didn't care at school." And then he would argue with himself, until he realized how dumb he was, arguing with himself!
The little old lady who lived next door to him had heard him arguing with himself once, and she came over for tea and she tried to help resolve the fight. She had said "This is a fight between your heart and your mind. Your heart wants what you truly want and your mind wants what you think is right or makes sense. Your heart is telling you what you want and your mind is making up reasons why it couldn't be true or it doesn't make sense or that it's not going to happen. As soon as you realize that your heart is what is right and your mind is what doesn't make sense, then you can finally understand."
"Understand what?"
"Understand what you should do. Understand what the right thing is."
Although her words were intended to help him, they only confused him more. How stupid would he have to be if he was trying to convince himself that he was wrong? He eventually decided to try to get to know her better first, maybe become friends. It was worth a try. Maybe he could at least get his first real friend. That is how he ended up in his current predicament. He stopped his pacing and sat down. In a few hours he would pick Hermione up. The thing that really scared him was that as he thought of this, one part of him grew excited, while the other became scared and nervous. He really needed to figure out how to stop this battle within.
"I will not freak out. I will not be nervous. I will act like I almost forgot that I am even going. I will act like this is not a big deal. Well, it isn't really. It's just that I'm going on a 'date' with Draco Malfoy- pureblood extraordinaire, gorgeous billionaire, and third youngest professional seeker (on the side of his previous job of Hogwarts teacher) in the history of quidditch (Viktor Krum and Harry Potter being the first and second youngest)."
Hermione was attempting to calm herself down. She was not very successful, as she just reminded herself of the very reasons one might be nervous. Hermione sighed as looked at her reflection in her long mirror. She chose to wear jeans and a t-shirt and a sweatshirt because it was December, and although the sun was out and shining, she didn't want to risk it.
She looked up at her clock. It read 4:55. She sat down on her couch and attempted to watch TV, but she couldn't, she was too restless. Only 5 minutes left. She began to stare off into space. Soon after that the only thing she could hear was the clock ticking, tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock. Then it was the only thing she even noticed, tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock. She glared up at the clock. It ignored her glare and continued ticking and tocking, tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock. She jumped up and grabbed the clock and as she shook it she yelled at it "WHY MUST YOU TICK SO LOUD! COULD YOU AT LEAST GO A LITTLE FASTER!" She chucked it at her couch, which was a good idea, otherwise it would have broken. She sat down beside it and noticed that it hadn't even been a minute. She realized how ridiculous and funny and ironic that was. At first she chuckled a little under her breath. Then she had a little laugh. Next she giggled. Then she giggled some more. Then she finally let herself go and she started laughing like mad. She felt like she was crazy. She forgot all of her worries and anxieties and she started laughing at everything. She laughed at not even remotely funny things.
While all this laughing was going on, Draco walked up to Hermione's door and knocked. He was right on time. He was very surprised when the door was answered by a watery-eyed Hermione. Her eyes weren't watery because she had been crying, they were watery because she was laughing. She was laughing so much, that she could barely tell him that she would be out in a minute.
When she came back out, Draco could still see the remnants of the big smile on her face. She laughed a little and said "I'm sorry about that. Something rather funny happened and then I just couldn't stop laughing."
He smiled and replied "That's alright. Can I know what was so funny?"
"I don't want to say, it's embarrassing. It's not very funny, now that I think about it. It was just funny at the moment. So, what are we going to do?" Hermione asked, quickly changing the subject.
Draco could sense that she didn't want to talk about it, so he moved on "Well, I was thinking that we could go to the carnival now and when you're hungry, we can get something to eat at one of the places near there."
Draco was surprised at how well the "date" was going. It was almost as if they were old friends! Hermione seemed as comfortable as he felt. He just hoped that the rest of the date would go as well as the start.
Bum, bum, buuuuummm!
AN: I'm sorry that I had to use a cliffhanger, but I had to! I'm not sure why, but I'm going to most likely update again today, so that should make up for it! As always, please read and review! I would reeeeally appreciate it: )
-Sam