By the time Hermione woke up the next morning it looked like her parents had been gone for hours. When she found the note her mother had left her tell her the pair of them had gone to the conference and if she wanted to join them after all that it was just in the hotel in the ballroom. Subtly was never her mum's strong point. Immediately disregarding that option Hermione threw on her bikini, bright neon pink with dark green stars covering it, and tossed a towel, book, water bottle, sunscreen, and other beach-y things into a large straw tote. Dawning a floppy white hat and pushing some sunglasses up her nose, she quickly wrote her parents a message telling them that she'd be out and about for the day and that she'd see them tonight.
When she walked through the automatic front doors of the hotel she was assaulted with the smell of the ocean in the air. Today was overcast and so it was not quite as hot, but she knew better than to skip the sunscreen. The sun's rays were almost worse on days like today.
It was a short walk to the beach and by the time she got there it was packed, even though it was only 9:30 in the morning. She found a clear spot—well, mostly clear—and laid her towel down and settled in for a few good hours of nothing. Unwinding the ear buds around her iPod and sticking them in Hermione grabbed the book she had stuck in the bottom of the bag and flipped to the place she had dog-eared last night. She was currently lost within the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, George R.R. Martin's series—The Game of Thrones. She was only on the second book, but then again she had just started last week after wondering into a locally owned bookshop and talking to the girl behind the counter for a few hours. Kathy, the cashier at the shop, had told her that these books would change her life. So she had gotten the first one and had gone back for the second one just a few days earlier. Currently, "King" Joffrey had just ordered all of Robert Baratheon's bastard children dead and Hermione was anxious to find out what would become of Grendy.
However, after only an hour she drifted off into a lull, a sort of half-awake-half-asleep sort of thing. She knew what was going on around her but was incapable of really doing anything. Even her eyes were only half open. Her book had fallen out of her hands and had landed in the sand in front of her, spread open with a few pages crinkling from being sat on wrong. Hermione could hear the screams of children running in and out of the water, building and destroying sand castles, and chasing each other up and down the beach. At first it had been rather annoying, distracting, and breaking her concentration. But now the screams and yells just sort of faded into the background, something her mind recognized but chose to ignore.
Suddenly there was a whooshing noise and she felt a large wad of sand fly up and land on her back. Then the jerk had the nerve to go right back past her and kick sand right in her face. Hermione knew he wasn't doing it on purpose but still. How obtuse did one have to be to run past a bunch of sunbathers and not even consider that he might kick sand up and onto those around him?
"Hey!" Hermione called, wanting to yell at him, "Just what do you think you're doing?"
The guy she was looking up at was a hulking six foot seven and looked to be about 280 pounds. Oh shit, Hermione thought. Not wanting to back down, she stood her ground and said, "Don't you realize people are trying to relax here? Why do you have to be such a prat?"
"Look missy," the man's voice came out deep and raspy, like he had been smoking for most of his life, if Hermione had to guess she'd say the he was also a military guy. "You don't really want to mess with me so I'll give you some advice." He leaned down and looked her right in the eye with about an inch or two between them. "Fuck off."
"I think you should be the one to fuck off mate," someone said behind Hermione. She stiffened, recognizing the voice at once.
"Oh yeah," the hulking man in front of her said turning to look at Draco. "And who might you be?"
"Her fiancé, and a cop—with the CIA," Draco said.
The guy's grew pale, maybe he wasn't part of the army after all…and before either Hermione or Draco could say another thing, the guy was gone.
"I suppose I should thank you," Hermione said, turning to face Draco.
"That would be nice; I did just lie to save your life."
"Right, yup,"
"Are you hungry?"
"Uh…yeah, I suppose. Why?"
"I was about to go for ice cream and I was wondering if you'd like to come along."
"Look, Malfoy, thank you for helping me back there but really? I don't think I should. I mean, there's just too much bad blood between up and everything…"
"Oh, I see, well, see ya Granger."
Hermione gave him a little wave, wondering why Gryffindors and Slytherins hated each other so much; why couldn't they just get along? All it took was one person's effort and then they...and then they…God she was so STUPID!
"Malfoy, Malfoy wait! Hold on, just one second, please?"
He stopped, "Yes Granger?"
"I'm sorry, that was really rude of me and I'm sorry. We're out of school, two mature adults and so why can't we spend an afternoon together…again? I think it's just a habit I acquired over the years. I think. So if the offer is still up, I'd love to go for ice cream with you. I haven't eaten all day and I really am hungry."
He smiled at her and helped her gather up all of her things into the straw bag. "Come on, I know of a great place. They have the best food. If you hadn't eaten today we should probably get some real food first."
"That sounds lovely," Hermione said, pulling the bag up onto her shoulders.
"Here, let me take that for you," Draco said, trying to pull the bag off her shoulder. But Hermione held on tightly.
"No thanks, I can get it on my own, it's not that heavy."
"You're so ridiculous, just let me take it."
"No. I am a perfectly capable person and can take it all on my own. Now, I am really quite famished, so if you can please lead the way to this dinner you were talking about I would greatly appreciate it." She looked at him expectantly, giving Draco no choice but to start walking.
They reached the place within five minutes. It was a small mom 'n pop diner. A hole-in-the-wall sort of place. Opening a menu as she sat down Hermione scanned the contents before hurriedly settling on a simple cheeseburger and fries.
The waitress left and she turned to Draco, "I never really did say 'thank you,' not properly anyway. So thank you, I was actually a little scared back there."
"It's no problem," he replied easily, "though I'm sure you could have taken him if necessary. You always were the top of the class."
"I really didn't want to take my wand out though, could you have imagined the mess that would have caused the ministry. The American Ministry and our own; Kingsley would kill me."
"You worry too much," Draco said with a roll of his eyes.
With no reply to give, Hermione started to look around the diner, looking for something, anything, to make things less awkward. At least she knew they couldn't get weirder, what could be more painful than sitting with the boy who pulled your pigtails (metaphorically of course) when you were a little girl. Hermione could feel her neck heating up, a sure sign of embarrassment or discomfort, or both.
"So…" Draco started, "Er…how do like America?"
"It's fine, I miss the weather though."
"Yeah, never thought I'd ever miss the rain of London, always used to complain. I don't know how they do it here."
"Exactly."
Draco just nodded his head once more, not saying anything else. They sat there for five more painfully awkward minutes before Draco looked past her and said, "Oh look, the food's here."
Turning around, Hermione saw the waitress returning but behind her there was a large wooden plaque on the wall with "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there" painted on in curly letters.
The waitress set their food down, asked if they needed anything else, and left, leaving Draco and Hermione to themselves once more. "Did you notice the signs?" Hermione asked.
"What sign—oh, those…yeah, they are all over the place. Cheesy little buggers if you ask me."
"I didn't, but yes they are." She was smiling cheekily up at him. Was she flirting? No, no that was impossible.
Draco was taking to letting his eyes wonder around the diner and Hermione was about to say something when he spoke, "Oh Merlin, listen to this one 'The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up,'"
Hermione snorted, actually snorted and was laughing so hard that she could barely breathe. Grabbing a fry and popping it into her mouth, she looked at Draco. He really was quite beautiful; he had that whole misunderstood-taking-pain-in-silence-bad-boy edgy vibe to him.
"So what do you think," he asked, and when she looked confused he continued, "of the food. It's good right?"
"Gosh yes, it's amazing," Hermione said through a sizable chunk of cheeseburger. "I don't think I've had a better burger."
"Yeah, I've been practically eating here every day since I got here."
Hermione smiled, "So what have you been up to since school ended?" she asked just for something to say.
Draco raised an eyebrow, "I've been here, doing nothing. The Healer program doesn't start until mid-June. So I have until then to do whatever."
"A Healer, that's awesome. I'm going to be going back to Hogwarts to study under Snape for a bit longer."
"Seriously? Uncle Sev never takes on apprentices."
"Uncle Sev?"
"Uh, yeah…he's my god-father and I, uh; I couldn't say Severus when I was little." Draco's cheeks had turned a bright red.
"That's sweet. I never thought about Snape having a home life of any kind. He's just always been the great old bat that we meet in first year."
"'Great old bat?'"
"That'd be Ron. And Harry I suppose… Oh, who am I kidding, everyone in Gryffindor called him a bat because of the way he looked when he was walking away from you."
They'd finished eating, paid, and were walking to the door by this time.
"So, potions. What do you want to do with that? Teach or something?"
"Oh gods no. Dealing with Ron throughout the years has turned me off ever teaching. I want to create new potions, and mix Muggle and Wizard medicine. There have been so many advances on either side and I really think that there is this untapped potential waiting for us if we would just break down the barriers between the two."
Draco was looking at her with a bemused expression on his face.
"What?" she asked, looking at him, "I know I'm a nerd; I embrace that now!"
"No, no, it's not that, I just can't believe how much thought you've put into it….ok, maybe I can, but, girl, you could definitely make my life easier."
"Yeah, because that's why I'm doing this Malfoy, to make your life easier," Hermione said, smiling.
Draco chuckled, "So, I hate to cut this short, but I'm meeting my father in a bit. He wants to take me around to see his company's branch here. He doesn't…er…approve of me becoming a Healer."
"Oh, I know all about that, trust me."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, I'll tell you about it sometime… Do you have a mobile?"
"Uh, yeah, yeah I do," he said as he pulled out the latest iPhone.
"You have the five!" Hermione said as she grabbed the phone from him, typing her information in.
"I guess; I'm not too sure how to work it yet though."
"That's ok, I made so all you have to do is press 'two' and it will call me," she said handing the phone back.
"Oh, uh, okay…er; thanks."
"It's no problem…see you later?"
"Yeah, definitely," and Draco turned and walked down the beach away from Hermione, and she found herself wishing that their day hadn't ended so soon.