Author's Note: I own no person, no place, no thing – except the plot! If you recognize it, it probably belongs to Ms. Rowling or some other awesome super-human.

Chapter 07 A Musical Interlude

"My dear Ms. Granger, how do you know I'm not?" he asked politely.

Hermione's face burned, and she felt a tremor run up her entire body. His smooth, soft voice was echoing around in her head so much, and so fully, that she was barely aware that they'd made it to the front of the church hall where she was set to meet her band mates for rehearsal. Taking her chance to jump away from the sudden tension, she pointed her coffee towards the church and said, "Here we are! We'll just go on up through the front entrance so we can head straight in and I can get set up."

Hermione let her hand drop out of Draco's arm, and took a few loud, deep breaths through her mouth. Then she started her regular warm-up bouncing jog up the steps to the church's front doors, which were open wide to let in some of the rare autumn sunshine and warm air.

Draco watched her quizzically as she blushed and bobbed away from him. She was gasping and bouncing around like a bit of an idiot.

"Are you hyperventilating?" he asked. That would be divine, if all it took was a little gentle flirting to shake her so thoroughly. 'Haven't lost your touch yet, Malfoy!' he thought to himself.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her head to look at him as she continued bouncing in high jerky steps up the church stairs.

"No, Malfoy, I am not hyperventilating. As dashing as you are, I am actually warming up. I usually do this while I'm walking here, but since I've been otherwise diverted by your rapacious wit and delicious coffee, I've got to do what I can in the moments I have."

She smirked down at him and then turned back up the steps, shaking her shoulders and flexing her arms. 'Thank God for small mercies and changes of topics!' she thought to herself. Hermione was much more comfortable focusing on getting ready to sing and play at this morning's rehearsal than she was engaging in flirtatious banter with the ridiculously good looking man who'd brought her coffee and was now happily following her up the steps. The morning sunshine glinted off of his blond hair, off of his straight, white teeth, and his eyes gleamed as he teased her. He was, in a word, sexy. He stood there in his jeans and Converse and blue v-necked jumper, looking like a runway model, and carrying her day-bag to boot!

It didn't help at all that Draco had starred in her dreams last night, kissing her hand, reaching for her hair, laughing as he met her eyes with his dark gray ones. No nightmares, just this pervasive sense of, what? Anticipation? Excitement?

"You bob and bounce two blocks to your local church, gasping like a fish the whole way? I think I'd like to be a passer-by on the street one day while you do that." Draco smiled at the idea, it sounded bloody loony. He finished his coffee and chucked it into the nearby rubbish bin, and followed her path up the steps, minus the bobbing and arm flapping.

"Draco, I think most people would look at me and understand what I was doing, seeing as I have a violin on my back. You don't get it because you're not Muggle enough yet. But don't worry, I'll have you fixed up in no time." Next time he came with her, maybe she'd warm up her singing voice too while they were walking. That ought to embarrass him well and good! 'If he likes what he sees and hears today, that is,' she thought to herself. Hermione was slightly apprehensive about Draco's response to her singing and playing. She certainly wasn't the best in the world by any means, but Hermione did well enough vocally. And she and the rest of the band were really beyond merely good instrumentally. 'If it's good enough for God, it's good enough for Draco Malfoy,' she told herself firmly.

"While I admit to being under-educated in the Muggle-culture area, are you sure it's 'fixing' I need? Surely I'm not broken, am I?" Draco followed her inside his very first Muggle church sanctuary, and gazed around with wide eyes. He dropped his voice down to a whisper.

"You know, Hermione, I've never been to church before. Are you sure it's okay for me to come in? I'm not going to be struck down by lightning or anything, am I?"

Hermione laughed out loud and took his hand in hers for the first time that day.

"No, I don't think you're broken. But under-educated, I'll agree with that. Come on Draco, I assure you that God will not strike you dead for walking into His House. He might actually be celebrating to see you here." Hermione winked at him. "Maybe if you like what you see today, you can join me tomorrow morning."

Did she just wink at him? Draco's heart jumped in his chest. Their playful banter had his blood heated, and he was damned curious about her music, but if that minx had just winked at him, well. He might have to just do something about that.

He ran his thumb across the back her hand that he was holding.

Hermione felt the caress of his thumb like an electric jolt straight into her lower belly. Her eyelids fluttered as the sensation overwhelmed her senses, and for just a second, she paused in her forward march into the sanctuary. 'Whoaaaa…' her mind registered the unexpected intensity of her reaction. She couldn't help it, she had to look up at him. When their eyes met, it was obvious that he must have felt the exact same thing. His eyes were almost black, but they were round and wide, as if he'd been shocked.

"Did you feel that?" he hissed at her.

He reached out hesitantly with his free hand and touched her hair. She had it in a single braid which rested over her right shoulder. Her eyes had gone all smoky and lazy, half-slitted like a sleepy cat. Her skin looked pale and creamy against the deep navy of her long sleeved t-shirt, and her cheeks held just the slightest flush.

He was just about to touch her blushing check when they heard a voice call out, "All right, Hermione? I think we're just waiting on Sutton now."

Draco quickly dropped his hand as he looked to the source of the voice. It had been a lilting Scots accent, male, friendly. He saw a short, red-bearded man of about twenty-five or thirty, waving towards them from the stage at the back of the church. Even though Draco's instincts were calling for him to drag her to the nearest corner and try for that electric shock again, he didn't know if he was altogether ready to jump her in a church. The little he did know of the Muggle's Christian God was that He struck down sinners, and Draco had a feeling that what he wanted to do to Hermione's body right now would be considered sinful.

'Merlin, where has all this lust come from?' Draco's heart was pounding like a fourteen year old boy's with his first good look at a naked girl. He could smell her shampoo, and the coffee on her breath, and something else, something musky and spicy and…

Ohhhhh… It was pheromones. It was her body... Calling to him.

Holy. Shite.

"Mione!"

Two little girls, identical twins obviously, raced down the aisle and sprang at Hermione, jumping up and down and hugging her around the waist. Draco and Hermione both looked down, startled, and their hands broke apart. Hermione fell back dramatically under the onslaught of toddler love, laughing and hugging the girls in return.

"Cut it out my little fairy-girls! You're getting so big you're going to squish me flat!" Hermione tickled their round bellies and offered up her cheek for some baby kisses. Then she smiled up at Draco, who was completely nonplussed to see Hermione squatted down on the floor getting attacked by the enthusiastic children. They were obviously not real fairies, but they did have sparkly fake wings attached to their backs.

"Draco, this is…hmm…" Hermione pretended to evaluate the girls very seriously, taking in their wings and princess costumes. She stroked her chin and raised her eyebrow for added emphasis.

"Yes, I've figured it out. This beautiful princess is Tinkerbell," here she poked the green-outfitted girl, who giggled and nodded happily – "And this little princess is…"

"Cinerelly Fairy Princesh!" The blue-outfitted girl announced proudly. Her long strawberry-gold hair was parted down the center and braided, whereas her sister had two ponytails. Their little green eyes appraised Draco carefully as he squatted down in front of them. He extended a hand to each girl, who took it, and he shook them up and down.

"How do you do? My name is Draco. I'm Hermione's friend. It's very nice to meet you, Tinkerbell and Cinderella Fairy Princess. I think you have very lovely dresses."

Draco lifted his eyes to Hermione, whose mouth had popped open in surprise. He smiled as he released the girls' hands, and reached over and pushed Hermione's jaw shut. This seemed to shock Hermione out of her stupor. She positively beamed at him. The girls giggled and twirled around, showing off their sparkly costumes.

"Actually, this is Rosie," Hermione gestured to Cinderella, "And Tinkerbell over here is Ellie, short for Elinor." Their parents are big Lord of the Rings fans."

"Yes we are! I wanted to name them Arwen and Eowyn, but me wife insisted they'd have an easier time on the schoolyard with more common names! How's it going, I'm Shaun Fraser." The red-bearded Scotsman extended his hand to Draco, who'd stood back up.

"Draco Malfoy, pleasure to meet you. And I understand about the schoolyard thing, I hated my name until I was about fifteen." Draco shook Shaun's hand as Rosie and Ellie giggled and bounced and squealed all around them.

"What made you stop hating it?" Hermione asked curiously. She was learning more about this enigma that was her former school-house rival with every minute that passed by.

Draco grinned at her. "The girls, obviously." He waggled his eyebrows in faux salaciousness. Shaun's loud laughter echoed across the room as Hermione blushed bright red.

"What's up guys? Well hello, and who is this?" A voluptuous blond in running gear strolled up to them, wrapping her arm around Shaun's waist. It was obvious from her green eyes to her upturned nose that she was the twin girls's mother.

"Mummy! Mummy! Dis is Dayco! He's Mione's fwend!" Rosie pronounced happily as she tugged on her Mother's leg. Ellie had climbed onto the arm of the nearest pew and balanced there, holding her father's hand.

"He's a boy. Wike Daddy." Ellie declared. "Dat means he can be da Prinsh an' me an' Rosie can be da Princheses." Ellie jumped at her Dad, who caught her neatly and turned her upside down. Ellie giggled madly and kicked her legs, nearly catching her Dad in the face.

"Draco, this is Sue, Shaun's wife, and my enthusiastic running partner. Sue, this is Draco. He's an old school friend. I just happened to bump into him at the Library yesterday, and we've been catching up. Draco brought me coffee this morning, so I graciously allowed him to tag along." Hermione explained as Draco and Sue shook hands and exchanged greetings.

"Anyhoo, Renny's just finished his sound check, and I'm about to do mine. Sutton can be last since he's officially late." Shaun told Hermione as he sat his squirmy daughter down.

"Nice to meet you, Draco. Come on Hermione, let's get this going so we can get out of here by lunch. I'm already starving!" Shaun popped his wife on the bum and tickled his girls' faces, then started up the aisle towards the stage. Hermione turned to follow, then stopped and turned back to Draco.

"We'll probably be here a couple hours. We want to go through our set for tomorrow morning as well as rehearse some songs for a wedding we're playing at next weekend. If you get bored, there's a book in my day-bag." Hermione tilted her head as she started walking backwards to the stage, where Shaun had started his sound check, picking at a mandolin and adjusting his microphone. "I forgot to tell you, I'll be singing too, today. Do not make fun of me or you will live to regret it." With that, she turned around and bounded up to the stage and opened her gig bag.

"Come on Draco, if you want you can come sit with the girls and I. I'd love to hear all the embarrassing stories you can possibly tell me about your and Hermione's school days." Sue took her girls in hand and gestured with her head for him to follow. Draco agreed and followed the girls towards the front of the church, where they turned right at the very front row of pews, which were already decorated with blankets, dolls, and Sue's bag of equipment for the girls' two-hour entertainment and care.

"So, we just met Hermione a few weeks ago, really, so I really don't know that much about her outside of her activities with the band. We met while running at the park. Hermione picked up a toy that one of the girls dropped and we just went on from there. So I also know she just moved here from London, and that she's read a lot of books. Honestly my husband and I consider ourselves pretty well read, and we've made a bit of a game of it, trying to see how vague our literary references we can make. She gets them all." Sue rolled her eyes and smiled. "So I'm assuming since she ran into you at the Library that she was reading?"

Draco smiled. The Hermione that Sue described sounded very much like the Hermione he knew as well.

"Yes, she had just shown up and walked past my aisle, when I noticed her. She's the only person I've ever met that can actually read and walk at the same time. I'd never seen her there before yesterday. I haven't actually seen Hermione since before I left London. I've been here three months. Since we live so close to each other now, and neither of us really know anyone else in town, we figured we'd hang out and get to know each other better." Draco shrugged his shoulder, trying to look casual as he watched Hermione tuning her violin. She was standing in the morning sun, and her hair shone with that golden light that used to naturally surround her.

"So you two don't know each other well?" Sue asked.

"Well, no, we do I guess. We've actually known each other since we were eleven. Since we attended the same boarding school, we probably know a lot more about each other than we realize. But to be honest with you, Hermione was one of my biggest rivals in school. She was always first in the class, and I had to struggle like mad to keep my place as second. We didn't really get on until after we got out of school and… er, worked together for a couple of years. Then, when my Mother took ill and passed away in the Spring, I moved out here."

"Oh, Draco, I'm sorry about your Mother. Where did your family live? How has your Father been with losing your mother and with you moving away?" Sue popped her hand over her mouth when she saw Draco flinch at the word 'father'. "Oh I'm sorry, that's awfully forward of me."

"No, it's quite all right. Thank you for your condolences, my Mother was a very nice person and I'm glad to know she isn't suffering anymore. My family's estate is in Wiltshire, and I have no intention of moving back there anytime soon. My, uh, my father is actually in prison. Has been for a couple years now. He most likely doesn't even know I've left." Draco kept his voice casual, fighting down the bitterness that swept through him.

He glanced back up at Hermione, and she grinned and waved at him with her bow. He watched her pluck at the strings of her violin and turn towards her two microphones. He guessed the shorter one must be for her violin, and the taller one for her to sing into. This was going to be strange. Draco hadn't heard that much Muggle music, and he definitely didn't remember ever hearing Hermione sing. He sighed.

She was an enigma, his new, old friend.

Sue was startled to hear Draco's confession about his father, and mentally stuttered when he mentioned the word 'estate'. He obviously looked and spoke like an aristocrat, so she was massively curious about how this young man's father ended up in prison, but she wisely chose a subject change instead.

"So, where do you work, Draco?"

"Mmm? Oh, the Library. I am a Librarian." He smiled ruefully at her. "It's a good thing Hermione and I got over our school-day rivalries, as I'm sure she'll probably be spending a lot of time at my place of work. When we were kids, Hermione spent most of her free time in the school Library. I was probably fourteen by the time I figured out the reason why she stayed so far ahead of me in class was the easy access to information, and the quality peace and quiet of the Library. It was when I decided to finally follow her example and started studying in there as well that I fell in love with books."

"Wow, Hermione's got to love that about you. You're like a dream guy for her!" Sue playfully nudged his shoulder. She had not been unaware of the looks those two were giving each other, and thought it was absolutely adorable that they'd grown up together as rivals, and incredibly romantic that they had happened to settle in the same town.

"I don't know about dream guy." Draco's eyes followed Hermione's movements on the stage as she chatted with her band mates and conducted her microphone check. This situation was completely foreign to him, but she was obviously in her element.

"I don't know about dream guy," Draco repeated. "I'd be happy with being a good friend. She's an interesting girl."

"Interesting, eh?" Sue winked at him. "Doesn't hurt that she's cute as a button and single too, does it?"

Draco's eyes flicked back up to the stage, where Hermione had started her bouncing and heavy breathing routine again. He couldn't help smiling.

"No Sue, it doesn't hurt at all."

/…../

Shaun and Renny, the guitar player, were standing close to Hermione, all tuning and tweaking their instruments against each others' sounds when the last band member, Sutton showed up. He sprinted up the aisle and jumped onto the stage with a "ta daaa!" and a great sweeping of his arms. His band mates immediately fussed at him about his tardiness as he greeted them all, and Draco was dismayed when the wanker stopped to kiss Hermione on the cheek before he walked to the back of the stage to pick up his stand-up bass. Draco felt marginally better when he saw that Hermione was very uncomfortable with the gesture, and almost smiled when he saw her turn and subtly wipe her cheek with her sleeve.

Sue noticed this action too. "That's Sutton. He's a horrible flirt, and hasn't quite caught onto the idea that our Hermione isn't interested in him. I don't think he's met many girls that don't go for him." She shrugged her shoulder as she helped one of her girls disentangle a bead necklace from her plastic crown.

"Seeing as you're here now though, maybe the boy will get the hint."

Draco was about to reply, maybe to say something about how he and Hermione weren't dating, but then Shaun began to speak into his microphone, so he decided to let the subject drop.

"Eh there, my wee fairy girls, what song do you want Daddy and the gang to play first? The Butterfly Song or Tom Bombadily?"

The rest of his band mates groaned good-naturedly, but Ellie and Rosie jumped up and down in the open space at the base of the stage and shouted, "Tom Bombadily! Tom Bombadilo!"

"All right gang, you heard me girls! Hermione, if you will."

Draco watched as Hermione took a deep breath, fit her violin under her chin and raised her bow. She met his eyes and winked. Then her bow descended, and she was off.

Draco's jaw nearly hit the floor.

Hermione leapt into the song, her fingers flying quickly up and down the neck of her violin. Her band mates jumped in and joined her in a riotous, faced pace tune that had the little girls dancing and spinning in circles. Renny, the guitarist, honestly looked too old to Draco to even be able to move his hands as fast as he did, and Shaun's body shook as he sped through the notes on his mandolin. But Draco's eyes were locked on Hermione, who swayed and rocked on her feet as she swept through the violent pace of the song.

"Are you familiar with Nickel Creek?" Sue asked quietly. She appreciated Draco's shocked expression thoroughly. If that boy wasn't in love with Hermione before, he would be by the end of rehearsal.

"No. Well, Hermione mentioned the name last night. She said that it's one of her favorite bands." Draco was still watching Hermione attack her violin, the sun gleamed on her shining hair, and turned her skin a pale gold.

"Well that's true, I think they're a favorite of all of the guys too. This song is called The House of Tom Bombadil. He was a character in – "

"The Lord of the Rings, yes. I read them last month. Amazingly good stories. Very popular at the Library. We always have a waiting list on them." Draco noticed the girls out of the corner of his eye, shaking their little bums at their Dad and blowing raspberries as they danced to the song.

"Ah, now I get the name reference. Rosie and Elinor. Not nearly as exotic as Arwen and Eowyn, but good choices in themselves. No schoolyard bully can find fault in girls named after flowers." Draco smiled as Hermione whipped her arm back and forth, her bow and violin seemed like an extension of her body as the music poured forth from her.

Sue laughed quietly. "So Shaun told you about his other baby-name votes? Yes, I almost didn't trust him to fill out their birth certificates, lest he sneak something too far-fetched in there, but he finally agreed that Rosie and Elinor were fair enough homage's to Tolkein. Heaven forbid we have a son one day. I can't imagine that Frodo or Aragorn would have an easy time maintaining a low profile in school."

Draco chuckled at the joke. "You know, one of my best friends in school was named Blaise, and my cousin's name was Nymphadora. I'm named after a constellation, and unless I want to be disinherited I'm expected to name my children after constellations as well. It's a family tradition."

"Nymphadora! Oh my, that is exotic."

"Yes, well, her Mother, my Aunt Andromeda," here Draco raised his eyebrow, "is an eccentric woman. Mostly my cousin went by her last name, Tonks. Even after she married, everyone always called her Tonks."

Sue gasped. "I know that name! Hermione mentioned her! She said her friend Tonks and her husband were killed by some European mobsters, or something like that. It's just awful, really. So that's your cousin? I didn't think that happened too long ago."

"No, it didn't. They were killed at the beginning of May. My Aunt Andromeda is raising their son."

"Oh my Goodness, that's dreadful. I'm so sorry, Draco. And your Mother too! Wow, it sounds like you had just as bad of a year as Hermione!" Sue shook her head. "So, if you went to school with Hermione, and you said you two worked together, you must have known Harry Potter."

Draco jumped, startled badly, and stared at Sue. How did this woman know about Potter? Just then, with a final burst of flourish, The House of Tom Bombadil came to an end. Hermione and her band mates all burst out laughing, and Hermione dramatically wiped the sweat off her brow and blew stray hairs away from her flushed face.

"Whew! That was a workout! Holy cow, guys! How about something a little slower to start with next time?" Hermione panted and stooped down to set down her violin and bow in their stand.

"That sun got so hot standing here, hang on I've got to get out of these long sleeves." Hermione jumped down from the stage and hooked her hands under the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head as she came to stand in front of Draco and Sue.

"Hey! How's it going?" Hermione smiled brightly at the pair as she stuffed her long-sleeves into her day-bag, leaving her standing in a pale green cotton tank-top that matched her shining eyes. Draco's mouth went dry. She really was incandescently beautiful. Her face was flushed and her hair was escaping her braid and curling in tiny tendrils around her face and neck that reminded him poignantly of a much younger Hermione, in knee socks and pleated skirts. How she'd grown and changed since then!

Of course, he had too. Draco was still surprised by how different he looked as a Muggle than he had as a wizard, but with the way Hermione was smiling at him right now, he decided it must be for the better. Even as allies, Hermione had never given him the kind of smiles and affection she'd shown him in the past – what?

Not even twenty-four hours.

Draco had been around Hermione for less than twenty-four hours and he knew he was in danger of developing a serious infatuation with her. 'Cute as a button and single too,' he repeated Sue's words to himself. 'Thank Merlin – er, thank God!' Draco figured since he was in God's House he'd give his thanks where they were more appropriately due.

"Good! I was just getting all sorts of interesting history from Draco here. I'd just asked him if he knew Harry when you guys finished the song." Sue good-naturedly fanned Hermione with a magazine. Hermione, in an almost perfect imitation of Draco, jumped, badly startled.

"Oh! Well yes. That's true. Yes, we all went to school together. Draco, Sue grew up just down the road from Harry." Hermione gave him a look that clearly said, 'No she doesn't know about the magic thing, buster,' and bent into her day-bag to grab her water bottle. She waved at Draco and Sue, then bounced back up onto the stage in time to start the next song.

"You lived by Harry?" Draco asked with a frown. Funny, he'd never given much thought to Potter's upbringing. Obviously he knew Potter was raised by some Muggle relatives of his mother, but that was really it.

Sue nodded. "Yes, just around the corner from here. I've lived in Little Whinging all my life. Well, outside the time I was at Uni, of course. I was a few years ahead of Harry in school, but I remember him clearly. His cousin was a right little turd, and his Aunt and Uncle were dreadful busy-bodies, but Harry was an all right kid. Kept to himself mostly, what with that big nob of a cousin of his always picking on him and beating him up. I don't think Harry's Aunt and Uncle were very kind to him. I remember when Hermione put two-and-two together that we knew someone in common, I was really happy to hear that Harry had made some good friends at school, and had people to visit with over the holidays. I was so sad to hear he died too, with Tonks and her husband. I don't think Hermione's even grieved for him yet. The whole time I've known her, which admittedly isn't long, she's barely mentioned Harry, but she's always been so sad. Honestly, here today is the happiest I've ever seen that girl."

Sue waved expansively towards the band, but Draco understood what her gesture referred to. Hermione was radiating a healthy, happy glow that overflowed onto everyone around her.

"You know, when I saw her yesterday at the Library, she did look a little peaky. She seems fine today though. Maybe she got a good night of sleep." Draco shrugged, Hermione looked good, there was no doubt about that, but he wasn't interested in giving this woman too much information. She was obviously in match making mode, and Draco didn't want or need extra help in that department.

At least, he hoped he didn't. Hermione and he had too much history for a happy match-maker to just barge in and start pushing them at each other.

Hermione and the rest of her band finished their second instrumental song, and she and Shaun started fiddling with their vocal microphones. Draco sat up, thinking she must be getting ready to sing.

He was right. He watched, fascinated, as she held her violin and bow at her sides, stepped up to the microphone, and opened her pink lips to sing.

"I wish you out of the woods,

And into a picture

With me."

"This is another Nickel Creek song, but it's not part of the set for tomorrow. Renny's son is getting married next weekend, and this is the couple's favorite song." Sue whispered, not wanting to distract Hermione. 'Of course I shouldn't distract Draco either,' she thought to herself. The poor guy was sitting straight up, his cheeks turning pink, and he was staring so hard at Hermione, she was surprised the poor girl didn't burst into flames.

"If this is going round, round,

In my head.

I might as well be dreaming,

Round, round, in my head."

Every single one of Draco's nerve endings tingled to life as the music poured out of Hermione. Her high, sweet, husky voice pulled at his imagination and lapped across every erogenous zone of his body. He could barely maintain a somewhat casual pose in this, the single most erotic moment of his life. Hermione's back arched and her body swayed as she balanced between playing her violin, slowly and softly, and singing, with so much ardent affection he begged God right then and there to just, please, make Hermione look at him so he could see the love in her eyes that he felt in her voice.

Hermione's gaze strayed over to Draco as she sang the love song they'd been practicing for next weekend's wedding.

"It's all enchanted and wild,

It's just like my heart said it was gonna be."

His hot stare washed over her like a blanket of lust and fire, burning her on the spot. No man had ever looked at her like that before. 'Holy cow… CONCENTRATE Hermione…' She scolded herself as she almost got tongue-tied as she nearly drowned in his heated gaze. She closed her eyes, tight, and focused on melding her voice with Shaun's in the last chorus of the song, and thankfully, ended it before her knickers caught on fire.

Draco's face was flushed bright pink by the end of the song, and when Hermione finally closed her eyes, he took that opportunity to focus on the very interesting pattern of brown and white berber on the floor in front of him. He mentally forced himself to relax before he went completely wild and jumped her on the stage, right in front of her band mates and God.

He heard the band start up another song, Amazing Grace according to Sue, in which Hermione only sang in the background for Shaun and Renny. Then the two men sang I'll Fly Away, in which Hermione only played her violin.

It was during this song that Draco decided the thing to do was read a book. He needed to think about and look at something besides the talented and tantalizing woman that was rapidly stripping away all of the stoicism and self-control he'd spent his entire life honing. Dipping his hand into her day-bag, he had to pull out her long-sleeve t-shirt, and held it up to see under it to the recesses of her bag.

The shirt smelled like her.

'God help me,' he thought, this was definitely getting uncomfortable in the pants department. He disguised his shifting of parts by leaning around her day-bag to set her shirt on the pew next to it, and then pulled the bag up onto his lap to disguise his crotch. Draco pulled out a large notebook, a small journal, a packet of sheet music, and, 'Score!'

One green paperback book with the picture of a bird on the front. The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen. Draco vaguely thought this was the book she was reading yesterday, and from the dog-eared pages it appeared that she was more than halfway through with it. 'Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction'. Well that sounded promising. Muggle science was so entirely different from Wizarding Scientific and Magical Theory that it was almost like reading science fiction after reading nothing but dry statistics for weeks on end.

He turned to the first page, resolutely settling down in his seat after setting her day-bag to his side, and tried to focus on the words.

Hermione and her band mates decided to run through all of their Sunday set in one go, so they repeated Amazing Grace and I'll Fly Away, but Hermione argued that if they played The House of Tom Bombadil again, her hands would be too sore to continue.

"We're spot on anyway, guys. If you all don't mind, can we take a break? I'm overheating over here. I've got to move out of the sun!"

Hermione was relieved when the guys agreed with her, and looked down at Draco to see how he was faring. He had his head buried in her book.

'Lord Almighty, if there isn't anything in the world that turns me on more than the sight of a hot guy reading MY book!' Hermione was nearly drooling when she caught Sue's eye. Sue was smirking at her like the cat that caught the canary. Hermione groaned inwardly. Sue had been trying to find her a man since they'd met, and apparently she'd found her guy.

To Be Continued