As Hermione waited outside the Three Broomsticks in a red dress that went down to her knees and a small gold necklace while she waited, hoping that he wasn't going to leave her waiting. That seemed like something Draco would do just to make a fool out of her.
Draco spotted Hermione waiting outside the Three Broomsticks in a red dress that made him absolutely rethink and further caused him to retract the statement he had made about Hermione being plain earlier that day in the Great Hall. In that dress she was anything but plain. He paused a few yards away to admire her. She looked well...beautiful. Walking up to her the only quick remark he could come up with was, "you clean up nice Granger."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment Draco, so thank you." Hermione answered, now wondering if this was worth it as she sighed before looking at him in his usual button down white shirt, tie, and black slacks. "You look nice too." She says softly.
"Of course. Wouldn't do for me not to be looking my best, now would it? Shall we?" He asked holding out his arm for her to take. Seeing the hesitation in her eyes caused him to purse his lips and say, "It's alright Granger I'm not going to bite you."
"It's not the biting I'm worried about." Hermione answers with a whisper before placing her arm on his, shocked as she felt of a jolt of electricity go through her that she couldn't describe. It didn't feel like anything magic-related although it was a very magical.
Draco suddenly felt light headed as Hermione slipped her arm through his. He couldn't describe what he felt but it was...exquisite. Turning he led them down the streets of Hogsmeade toward the theater near the center of town. When they arrived Draco breezed past the line in front of the ticket window and proceeded to walk straight into the theater.
"You just jumped ahead of all those people," Hermione says, looking back at the line of at least forty people. "We should go back there and wait like everyone else. It's only right."
"Ha! Wait in line like everyday commoners? Not when you're with me Granger." Draco said with a smirk as he walked up to a gentleman wearing very crisp elegant dress robes. "Ahh! Young master Malfoy. How good to see you sir and with such a lovely young woman. Would you care for some refreshments young sire?" The steward asked with a very aristocratic accent. "A bottle of pinot noir and the caviar tray, Bernard. Quickly, I'd like it before the play begins." The steward nodded politely and said "yes of course young master, your balcony is already prepared and your programs and glasses are waiting."
"Pinot Noir? Caviar?" Hermione asks, raising an eyebrow at Draco. "Your own balcony? Don't you think this is all a bit much?!" Hermione asks, looking at Draco in shock, remembering the lower levels where her parents had sat with her in the muggle theatre with her after waiting for sometimes up to an hour outside to see a Shakespeare play performed.
"Only the best for a Malfoy and his dat-...friends. Besides if we're going to hang out over the holidays you'll have to get used to a little bit of extravagance." Draco said with a smile as he watched her eyes light up with awe as they began to climb the staircase to the balcony. "Do you like the theater?"
"I used to love going to the muggle theatre with mum and dad." Hermione answers, looking around in awe. She had never seen the upper levels, the balconies. This was extravagant, just as Draco had said. "They used to take me for my birthday. They also took me when I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts." Hermione says before catching on to what Draco had said a few moments before. "Hang out over the holidays, as…as friends?" Hermione asks, "I thought this was only a one-time thing?"
"No, you assumed it was only a onetime thing. Do you only want it to be a onetime thing Granger?" Draco asked as he pulled back the curtain to their balcony which was the closest one to the stage therefore providing the best view.
Hermione stared in awe, breathless from the view. "N-No." She answered, staring straight ahead at the stage. "We- we can hang out, as friends I mean, over the holidays but once school starts back up, it's like it never happened, right?" She asked, finally breaking her stare from the stage to turn and look at him.
"Of course. Like it never happened. Wouldn't do for the rest of the world to find out that Draco Malfoy was hanging out with a mud-...with someone like you." Draco caught himself halfway between saying the word mudblood but since there was really no one around he had no need to keep up precedence. Draco stepped forward and pulled out Hermione's chair for her before she could chastise him for almost calling her a mudblood.
Hermione sat down in the chair before glaring at him. "And what's wrong with you hanging out with 'someone like me' if you don't have a problem with it?!" She asks, a slight sting in her voice.
"It wouldn't be...proper. There's a certain order to the populaces of society Granger. Even in the wizarding world. Classes would probably be a better term. I didn't come here to pick a fight with you though. There's plenty of time for that once the holidays are over. In the meantime can we just pretend that were...I don't know...something other than enemies?" Draco asked picking up his program and scanning the notations in it.
Hermione huffed before looking over at him. Maybe this was too much for Draco, maybe the way he saw things was just a front. No, that was impossible. He was still Draco Malfoy, friends around or not. "What are we watching?" She asked finally, trying to be civil.
"It's a play called "The Darkness". Do you speak Italian?" Draco asked honestly interested to see if she was as smart as she portrayed herself to be.
Hermione looked down at her lap. "I can speak Latin, but not Italian." She answers honestly, waiting for him to make a mockery of her.
"That's ok. You don't really need to be able to speak the language to understand the play. The music is very powerful and moving that you should get the general idea of what's going on. If not feel free to ask and I'll lean over and whisper in your ear..." Draco said with a sly grin. He hadn't intended for this too be anything more than them hanging out but if he were to go to bed Hermione Granger that would just make him all the happier.
Hermione nodded her head, taking it that Draco was just being nice. Surely he couldn't have been coming onto her, not after the comment he had just made about "Her type". "Thank you," She whispers, smiling slightly at him.
"You're welcome. See I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me Granger. I can be quite nice when I want to be." Draco replied just as the waiter brought in a tray containing the caviar and crackers with cheese and fruit. The bottle of deep red wine was opened and placed in a bucket of ice. The waiter asked if they would need anything else and with a wave of Draco's hand he disappeared behind the curtain closing off their balcony from the hallway. As Hermione admired the stage and their surrounding Draco proceeded to pour the wine. He sat back down and handed Hermione her glass. "It's a sweeter wine, I thought you might enjoy. I hope you like it."
"Thank you," Hermione answers, taking the glass. She had never had a wine before, much less a finer wine but once she took a small sip, Hermione realized that she did rather like it. "I didn't know you had kindness in you Draco." She answers with a bit of a smirk. "Not that I'm complaining."
"Don't fool yourself Granger. I've still got the darkness in me too you know. I just can't control it as good as you can. But that also doesn't mean that I can't control it at all." He said grabbing a cracker from the tray and spooning on caviar he handed it to Hermione.
Hermione listened as the music of the play started, taking another drink of her wine before looking at Draco. She had just long enough to make one last comment before the music drowned them out, made it impossible for them to hear each other unless, as Draco had said, he was whispering in her ear. "You're very sweet when you control it." She tells him before looking at the stage, watching them act out the play.
Sweet? Draco could remember being called many things in his life but sweet was never one of them. Was he being sweet? He didn't really realize it if he was but if it made her happy he couldn't really complain. But wait...Why did he care if it made her happy or not at all? He didn't really care about her happiness did he? Draco sat pondering these questions as he watched the play unfold below them on the stage. He honestly didn't care about the play, having seen it with his parents a few times before. He caught himself looking over at Hermione's face out of the corner of his eye trying to gauge her reaction to the music. As the performers came out on stage, he watched Hermione's eyes light up as the wizards hanging down from the ceiling above them began to weave their spells causing the performers on stage to change colors and forms to the awe of the audience.
She stared in awe as the performers repeatedly changed their appearances to fit the storyline, using red to symbolize blood just as the muggle plays had. Occasionally, she would recognize one of the spells they threw out amongst the words in Italian as she sipped on the wine. "Who is the one in the black?" She whispers softly, leaning in closer to Draco to make sure he could hear her.
Leaning back to whisper in her ear he replied, "That's THE DARKNESS. The evil that lay's inside everyone. Doesn't matter whether you are a good person or a bad person, everyone has it. Remember what I told you the night of the Yule ball? Well this play is just a representation of the idea."
He turned to look at her and noticed the thoughtful look on her face. She was actually quite beautiful when she was deep in thought. The way you could almost see her thinking an idea through, turning it over and looking at it every way possible.
Hermione thinks it over, finding it believable as she takes another drink of her wine, finishing the glass. "I can see that," She whispers back before laying her head softly on his shoulder, continuing to watch the play.
As Hermione laid her head on his shoulder Draco's first instinct was to pull away but after a moment's hesitation he relaxed and sat back to watch the play. He had forgotten just how fun it was to watch one. Soon enough it was time for the intermission and as the performers left the stage and the curtain came down Draco stood up and stretched his legs. "Would you like to walk around for a moment? Stretch your legs before the next half of the play?" He asked as he held out his hand to her.
Hermione nodded her head softly. "Yes, please." She answered, taking his hand before standing up and feeling everything spinning the slightest bit. Maybe she had had a little bit too much to drink. "Lead the way," She whispers, trying not to make it obvious. She would just drink water for the second half of the play, that should help her feel better.
Noticing her swaying on her feet just a bit, Draco decided to take it slow and walked them down the hall to the lavatories. After they were finished they took a stroll around the top level of the theater enjoying some of the artwork and sculptures decorating the walls. He stopped in front a particularly detailed painting and admired it. It was an artist's interpretation of the play they were watching now. He found it slightly ironic that he was enjoying it with Hermione Granger of all people.
"It seems depressing, doesn't it?" Hermione asks, tilting her head slightly at the artwork. "Do you really think there is that much darkness in the world?"
"Without a doubt. For every bit of light there is darkness. There has to be balance between the two or nothing could survive." He replied looking over at her as she admired the painting. "Do you disagree?" He asked wondering whether she would disagree with him just out of habit.
Hermione shook her head after thinking about it. There had to be balance in the world, there was always balance in everything. Just enough predators to eat the prey and not over-populate or extinct any certain species, enough gravity from the sun to keep the Earth in rotation but not pull it into the giant ball of flames and gases. It only made sense in her highly-logical mind that light and darkness should be the same. "No, I just think that the painter did a rather bad job at portraying it." She answers, "Look at how many shades of black, grey, and dark blue there are in the painting, but there is hardly any yellow and orange to weigh it out with the light. Don't seem very balanced, is all." She answers, thinking about it.
Draco looked closer at the painting and realized that she was right. The painter had done a very lousy job of portraying both sides.
Nodding he looked over at Hermione and said, "I agree. My father would like this painting I think. It shows only what he want to see. Darkness..." Shaking his head Draco turned and walked them back toward there balcony seats.
As they sat back down, Hermione sat up straight once again making sure that she didn't give Draco the wrong idea. This was supposed to be them going out as friends, if that's even what you wanted to call it, as acquaintances, out of boredom. She couldn't be laying her head on him and giving him the wrong idea.
After sitting down he noticed that Hermione didn't lay her head back down on his shoulder as the lights dimmed backed down for the second half of the play. He found himself disappointed by it but he couldn't figure out why. Hermione was causing him to thinking alot of deep thoughts in one evening and he wasn't quite used to that. Least of all from a mudblood. All he could be sure of was for some unknown reason he found himself craving her touch again and by everything that he had been taught the entire time he was growing up that was wrong. But how could something so wrong feel so...not wrong? They continued to watch the play and Draco refilled his glass hoping the wine would help him relax. He looked at Hermione and raised the bottle as if to ask "Another glass?"
Hermione, completely engulfed in the play taking place in front of her, turned momentarily to look at Draco. "Yes, please." She answered, so wrapped up in what was going on around her, the new experience, to think about how she had felt standing up for the intermission.
Draco took her glass and tipped the wine bottle to fill it again. After filling it he placed it back in the bucket of ice and held her glass out to her. When she reached out to take it their fingers brushed and they were both instantly alerted to the others presence. Their eyes locked for just a moment and Draco saw the surprise in his own eyes mirrored in hers. Quickly he pulled his hand away and turned back to the play. He flexed his wrist because even after he let go of the glass the electric feeling was still crawling all over his hand and wrist.
"Thank you," Hermione whispers softly, thankful for the darkness of the theatre to keep him from seeing the crimson color her cheeks were turning. This is the boy you punched in the face, Hermione reminds herself as she watched 'Darkness' dance around a woman in white, turning her clothes to match his own. You are not supposed to be blushing because he touched your hand. She told herself before taking a gulp of her wine and trying to keep her mind from Draco.
She closed her eyes, trying to focus her thoughts before opening them to watch the play once more, occasionally looking down at Draco's hand not far from her own. There were only inches between his hand and her own and yet it felt like miles at the thought of moving her own. What if he's different, if he's grown up? She asks herself, staring down at her glass of wine before looking back up at the play. Suddenly, she noticed something. Never once did the 'Darkness' circle someone, turning them white again. "Does anyone ever change back to the light?" She asks, leaning towards Draco again.
Draco rubbed his chin thoughtfully thinking about it. "I suppose they could. I don't remember ever hearing about it but that's not to say it couldn't be done. Why do you ask Granger? Thinking about taking a walk on the darkside?" Draco asks with a smirk.
Hermione looked at him in shock, trying to figure out if she should take him serious or not. She decided, for the sake of the night staying peaceful, she would take it as a joke. "You wish!" She answers, puckering up her lips slightly in a smile before turning back to the play.
"Maybe," He replied turning back to the play. They sat in silence for the rest of the play both lost in their own thoughts. When the play finally ended they both stood and clapped with the rest of the audience. Draco turned and once again held his hand out to Hermione. He tensed slightly wondering whether or not the...electricity, would be there once again.