Chapter 3
"Draco, this is the most romantic date I've ever been on," Pansy cooed as she took a sip of Sparkling Apple Cider. She winced, "although, I would have loved it better if you brought real champagne," she said.
"You know I don't drink alcohol, darling," he mumbled.
He took a bite off of his plate. In front of them was a table set for two, covered with petals of roses, with a single candle in the middle.
Both looked out of the astronomy tower. It was a cold night. The moon hardly shone, due to the massive amount of clouds covering it. A gust of wind blew against the couple. Pansy shrieked. The candle blew out.
"Pansy? Are you okay?" He asked, quickly muttering 'lumos'.
"Draco, I'm cold," she whined. "Can we go now?"
"But we haven't gotten to the best part yet!" He exclaimed.
"My present?" She asked eagerly. Her teeth flashed a bright smile and stared hungrily at Draco.
Draco was taken aback and shook his head gently. "No, that's not the best part. I was thinking of going on a magic carpet ride," he said.
"What?" She asked horrified. "You want to go out in this weather?! Are you mad?"
He sighed, knowing that Pansy made sense. It was a completely horrible idea to go out in this condition. But he had paid so much for it...
"So? Do you want to exchange presents now?" She asked again. Draco nodded. She shrieked, "okay, me first," and held out her hand.
Draco put a hand inside his robe pocket and obtained a black velvet box, gently handing it to her. Pansy roughly grabbed the box and opened it, revealing a beautifully made gold necklace with a diamond heart dangling from the chain.
"Happy anniversary," he said softly, watching her every movement. He saw her joyfully touching her present with eyes of great happiness. But for some reason, he had hoped for a different reaction. Perhaps a reaction that declined the gold and wished for something else.
Pansy looked up from the necklace. "Thank you," she cried. "It's just what I wanted! Here, put it on me."
Draco got up, took the necklace by its two ends while Pansy grabbed the little hair she had and put it up. He placed the necklace around her neck and tightened the clasp.
"Okay, your turn. You are going to love it," she cried. She took out a box from under her seat and handed it to her.
It was a box with a bow on top of it. She smiled at him as he slowly took the top box off. He unfolded the tissue paper. Confusion instantly filled his face as he looked at the actual gift.
He looked at Pansy, "I don't think this is mine," he said.
"Yes it is," she simply said.
Draco scoffed. He took out the present. It was a small black see-through lingerie. "You think this fits me?" He asked grinning.
Pansy scrunched her face, "Draco, it fits me!"
"I don't understand," he muttered.
Pansy stood up, took the lingerie from him and held it up against her. "My present for you..."
"...is for you to see me in it," Draco said miserably to Hermione.
Hermione laughed out loud. Draco quickly covered her mouth from across the library table. She lowered into fits of giggles.
Draco peered around the library, "it's not that funny." But when he saw Hermione still laughing quietly, he joined in. "Okay, it is that funny." He groaned, "I can't believe it. A lingerie... What kind of gift is that to give to a boyfriend?"
"I'm sure she has other intentions regarding the piece of cloth," she remarked.
"What are you mumbling about?" He asked as he twittered a pen in his hand.
She coughed, surprised he really was clueless, "you know..."
He looked up, squinted his eyes at her and suddenly opened them wide, "you mean..."
Hermione nodded slowly.
"Oh. No wonder she was mad by the end of the date," he muttered. Hermione looked at him questioningly. "She kept trying to pull me down to the cold floor and I kept saying 'no, the cold is too cold for you'," he sighed.
Hermione laughed.
"I was thinking of her well being," he pouted. "Why couldn't she just be more direct. I like directness."
"You know how us girls are. We dance around things. Me included," she said. "But don't worry about last night. There'll be other opportunities."
"Granger, that would have been our first time," he hissed.
Hermione's mouth fell open. "What?!"
"Shh!" He cried and peered around again. "Jeez, you don't have to be so loud!"
She giggled. "No one's here, Malfoy. And what are you talking about, your first time?"
Draco looked at her and rolled his eyes. "Well, not my first time, obviously. But my first time with her."
"Explain," she said but quickly changed her mind. "Never mind. I'm sorry, that's none of my business."
Draco ignored her, "Pansy and I aren't very physical compared to other couples. We make out, but that's about it, and even those aren't very passionate. She wants to go the whole way, but I don't. Not with her, anyways. Wow, I sound like a horrible boyfriend," he muttered.
Hermione shrugged. "I didn't do it with Ron."
"That's because he's a git," he cried, fiddling with a piece of paper. He looked at Hermione for approval as he wasn't sure if she was okay with him saying that. She kept quiet, writing down on her parchment.
Then she began packing her belongings and placing them in her bag. Draco sat up, watching her calmly moving about.
"Wait, you're not leaving because you're mad at me, are you?" He asked.
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"Because of what I said. About Weasley," he quietly said.
Hermione looked at him. "I have no need to be mad at anything regarding him. Or them. They're in my past now."
Draco cocked an eyebrow, "really?"
Hermione nodded.
Draco grinned. "So, I can say that Potter is wanker and a waste of space?"
"Whatever you want to say, Malfoy. They don't concern me," she simply said. She got up, placed her bag strap on her shoulder, and pushed her chain in. "Strangely again, it was nice talking to you, Malfoy. I'll, uh, see you around, then?"
She waited, hand clutching the top of the chair, looking at Draco. Draco, unsure of what to do, nodded silently, to which Hermione smiled and waved a small goodbye. She walked away slowly until she turned through a row of bookshelves.
The next few days, he bumped into Hermione more often than normal. He thought them to be mere coincidence. Besides, she was always in a hurry to be somewhere when the met. They were polite to each other, but they both knew that if others saw their friendliness towards the other, it would look out of place. Pansy had also kept Draco near her, not letting him out of his sight. This made it hard for Draco to visit the library.
Draco laid in bed, gazing out onto the stone ceiling when Blaise Zabini walked in, loosening his tie.
"Hey Draco," he said as he threw his tie on top of his trunk. He then threw himself onto his bed, sighing. "A couple more months before we get out of this place," he cried. "Excited?"
"Nope," he said.
"Worried about running your deceased father's corporation?" He asked and scoffed.
"I don't want to run it," Draco answered, "But-"
"But you have to. Yeah, I know. Look, if you don't want to, why don't you sell his companies off? You already have tons of money, so it's not like it'll make a big difference," he said.
"You're forgetting the will," Draco muttered.
Blaise sighed. "Of course. The will that states you are entitled to nothing unless you run the business. How do I manage to keep forgetting that?"
"Because you have the memories of a fly," Draco said. A pillow was hurtled toward Draco, hitting him on his head. "Ow!"
Ignoring Draco, Blaise asked, "so when are you going to propose to Pansy?"
Draco laughed. "Funny, Blaise. Really."
Blaise chuckled. "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes...," but Draco suddenly thought of Blaise's words carefully. He propped up hesitantly asking the reason of the subject.
Blaise raised his eyebrow. "Draco, you've been with her for over a year, okay? You bought her fine jewelry. She thinks you're going to marry her. And you need to marry her for the sake of your surname. Need more reasons?"
"She thinks I'm going to marry her?" Draco sputtered.
"We're almost out of school, Draco. What else would she think? You're this young man already with riches in his pockets and more to come with those companies of your father's. Put two and two together, would you?" He cried, throwing a hand in the air.
Draco was silent for a while. He didn't know what he wanted to do in the near future. He wasn't sure if he wanted to marry Pansy, or what he should do with the companies, or whether he even wanted kids!
He stared intently at Blaise, wondering if this was some joke. He looked around the room for any sign of a hiding Pansy, just in case this was some test. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Blaise sat there now in a relaxed tee shirt and pyjamas. "Are you sure shethinks that or is it you? Because, dammit Blaise, it better be true and not some joke."
Blaise chuckled and shrugged, "Hey, believe me if you want. I'm just telling you what I've heard from her discussion with her friends. Sooner or later, you have to face her, you know. And whether you like or not, you do come from a prestigious family that pretty much forced you two into marriage."
Draco groaned. He flopped back to his bed and covered his head with a pillow, cursing himself for situation he's in.
--
To his dismay, Pansy clung onto him even more so ever since their anniversary. She didn't leave his side except for classes. She didn't leave her necklace either. Everywhere she went, Pansy made sure the present she received from Draco was viewed by everyone. It was hard for others not to, seeing as she touched it, cooed about it, kissed it, and flashed it about. She flaunted it to her friends who instantly congratulated her.
Draco rolled his eyes, regretting more and more ever giving her the blasted thing. Her friends acted as if it were an engagement ring, the way they kept remarking about it.
He sat during lunch, eating with his left hand while Pansy dangled her arm around his right. She leaned her head on his arm. His arm stiffened.
"Draco?" She cooed.
"Yes, my love?" He said flatly as he tried stab a fork into his sausage and failing.
Pansy stroked her necklace. "Did I tell you how much I love my necklace?"
"Only twice today. Hardly any, I should say, compared to other days. I believe the record has been forty times? Give or take a couple," he scoffed silently.
"Well, I just want you to know how much it means to me. Oh, I do adore presents. And jewelry! Yes, most of all jewelry," she said, and tightened her grip on his arm.
"You know, if you keep on touching your present, there'll be none to touch," he warned dryly.
Pansy let go of his arm. She looked at him questioningly but then smiled and touched her necklace once more. "Nonsense, Draco. That won't happen!"
As Pansy turned away, Draco scrunched his face. Yet instantly turned amused, well slightly, as Pansy turned back to him just to say, "and if it does dissolve, you'll buy me a new one, won't you Draco?"
Without waiting for a reply, she left him to talk to her friends farther down the table. Grumbling to himself about the idiotic necklace, he stabbed his fork, finally, with his right hand, only to find his arm tingling from top to bottom. He sighed and let his arm rest for a while. Apparently, Pansy's grip on his arm has caused the blood to clog.
As he waited, his eyes wandered around the room. Professor McGonagall was eyeing Professor Trelawny in disgust as Trelawney spilled her goblet of wine over her dress. Draco snickered. He then saw Blaise talking rapidly to a Hufflepuff of fifth year, perhaps? She laughed at one his jokes. Draco shook his head, feeling sorry for the poor girl for ever meeting the bastard Zabini. How gullible Hufflepuffs are. And why aren't any of her housemates warning her about him? He shrugged and moved on.
His eyes suddenly traveled to the girl who just entered the room. Hermione Granger walked, with books in her hand, towards the end of the table - her usual spot. Draco watched intently as she walked, noticing her hunched figure and her bowed head getting lower and lower to her chest as she approached Weasley and his gang.
But that didn't help her from getting by unnoticed.
"Reading again Hermione?" Ron bellowed.
Hermione stopped in her footsteps to face him. Ron sat there looking smug, his arm dangling around the shoulder of Lavendar. He cocked his eyebrows.
Hermione blankly stared at him, her mouth slightly agape.
"Fictional boys suit your needs just fine, then?" He cried out, laughing. Others started to laugh.
Hermione stammered. But it was unsuccessful. Instead, she just stared at Ron, her mouth quivering. Draco watched flabbergasted. What is wrong with her? He thought she had gotten over Weasley!
Her eyes left those of Weasley to Potter, who sat there without an expression. Draco knew Potter disagreed with Weasley, but he just watched?!
And suddenly, Draco froze himself as Hermione's eyes flashed to his right before gasping and running towards the door.
Draco quickly composed himself to regain his fueling anger. He grabbed a nearby muffin and launched it at Weasley, hitting him straight on the face.
"Oy Weasley!" He yelled
--
Sorry for the very long delay of an update. I've had this chapter halfway done for a while, but I had a bit of writers block. Or a long one, then, eh?
The next chapter should be an interesting one. ;D