Chapter no 21! READ AND REVIEW! [The magical Wizarding World of Harry Potter doesn't belong to me!] And I'd like to thank all my readers!
Enjoy!
Draco sat at the table with his mouth hung open for a long time. Hermione noticed this.
"Why are you sitting with your mouth open Draco?" she asked.
"Huh?" Draco asked, coming out of his deep thinking.
"Why do you have your mouth open?" Hermione asked.
Meanwhile, Lucius and Narcissa were watching the conversation with interest.
"Nothing." Draco said. But the look on Hermione's face said that she was still not satisfied by the answer. "Have you completed that Potions essay?" Draco asked just to change the subject. He knew Hermione would love to talk about Potions. They then went on talking about the Potions essay.
Narcissa nudged Lucius. "Why was he sitting like that?" she asked.
"I told him something, and he has been sitting like that ever since." Lucius said.
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him that Hermione will be a good daughter in law for our home."
Narcissa smiled as she turned to look at Draco and Hermione. "You're right Lucius." She said. "I felt the same too."
After a while, everyone came out of Madam Puddifoot's shop.
"Mother," Draco said. "Are you leaving now?"
Narcissa smiled. "No, Draco." She said. "We won't be leaving for a while. This place brings back so many memories. We're going to roam about a little."
"I want to talk to you for a minute." Draco said and turned to the others. "You guys go on somewhere. I'll be there in a while."
"Alright Draco." Blaise said. "We'll be at Honeydukes. Come there!"
Draco watched until the others walked off. He then turned to his mother.
"Mother, father said that… he said…" Draco hesitated to say it.
Lucius patted Draco on the back. "I just told you that Hermione would make a good daughter-in-law for our home."
"Exactly!" Draco said. "What makes you think that?"
Narcissa spoke. "She is well mannered, she is witty and smart and above all, she was ready to give you a second chance. You two will make a good couple."
Draco sighed. "And what makes you think that this is going to happen in reality?"
Lucius smiled at Draco. "It's a hope Draco." He said. "Just a hope."
"Look," Draco said stubbornly. "Both of you are crazy. This is never going to happen. If you want, you can keep dreaming." He said and walked away without another word.
Lucius and Narcissa shared a small smile and started to walk off towards the book store. Suddenly, they heard a voice behind them.
"Narcissa! Wait!"
They turned around to see Pansy running up to them.
"What is it, Pansy dear?" Narcissa asked.
"I just wanted to tell you a few things." Pansy panted.
Narcissa took hold of Pansy's hand and led her to a bench nearby. "Sit down." Narscisa ordered. Pansy sat down and so did Narcissa and Lucius. "Now." Narcissa said after Pansy's breathing became normal. "What is it?"
"Narcissa," Pansy started. "There have been a few incidents at school that I wanted to tell you about."
"What sort of incidents?" Narcissa asked.
"Incidents involving Draco and Hermione." Pansy said, smiling.
"Really?" Narcissa asked. "Tell me. What happened?"
"The first thing is, Draco's been teasing her a lot. And secondly, they both had the same dream."
"What kind of dream?" Lucius asked.
"You know.. in the dream.. Draco… um.." Pansy hesitated.
"Just say it Pansy." Narcissa encouraged.
"Draco kissed Hermione in their dreams." Pansy said hurriedly.
"Wow!" Narcissa looked delighted.
"And," Pansy began to speak again. "They both admitted that it was a good kiss."
"They did?" Narcissa asked. Pansy nodded.
"Actually, Hermione told Draco that they needed to talk and pulled him away. And then we eavesdropped on their conversation." Pansy said, slightly ashamed. But Narcissa took no notice of it.
"They admitted it then?" she asked.
"Yeah. And today, Hermione tripped and fell on top of Draco." Pansy said. She put her hand over her head. "Gosh! I almost forgot to mention this!"
"What did you forget?" Narcissa asked.
"That night at the Head Dorms, Draco told Hermione to go to bed, his voice full of affection… you know, the kind of affection it has when he talks to you two. And then, as I said, Hermione fell on Draco. There was no place in the carriage for them, so they travelled together in another carriage. And they sat beside each other at breakfast. But that's not all." Pansy said.
"So much has happened? And what else is there?" Narcissa asked, her eyes shining.
"Draco helped Hermione tame her hair and she hugged him. And Draco told Hermione that she looked gorgeous."
Narcissa looked delighted at this piece of news. "She hugged Draco!" she exclaimed. Lucius was happy too.
"And… There's one more thing." Pansy said, blushing slightly.
Narcissa looked at her questioningly.
"I… um… I'm with Ron."
"Who, the Weasley boy?" Lucius asked.
"Yeah." Pansy said.
"He's a good lad." Lucius commented. "I think he's good for you."
"Thanks." Pansy said.
"We're the ones who should thank you." Narcissa said. "Thank you for telling us all of this dear."
"I thought you ought to know about this, that's all." Pansy said. "Don't get me wrong, but I really think Draco is too stubborn."
Narcissa sighed. "He is Lucius's son of course. Even if he feels something for Hermione he wouldn't easily admit it."
"And Hermione is equally stubborn." Pansy added.
Lucius smirked the Malfoy smirk. "As stubborn as he may be, he has to let go of it. I let go of my stubbornness when I'm with Narcissa. Similarly, Draco will have to let go of it when he's with –"
"Hermione." Narcissa finished Lucius's sentence. "We have to bring them together at every opportunity possible. Pansy," she called.
"Yes?" Pansy asked.
"I will close the gap between them as much as possible when they are with me, but you must do it while you are at school. Also ask the others to help you." Narcissa ordered.
Pansy smirked. "This is a challenge, Narcissa." She said. "We have to bring them together."
Pansy bade the Malfoys goodbye and left for Honeydukes.
Narcissa turned to Lucius. "It isn't often that people have the same dreams, Lucius." She said.
Lucius nodded. "In the Wizarding World, it only means one thing." Narcissa looked at him questioningly. "It means that whatever happened in the dream, will happen in future." Narcissa smiled happily and they both walked away.
Pansy stepped into Honeydukes. She saw all her friends huddled over in a corner. She went over and pulled Draco's hair.
"Who is it?" Draco whirled around at once, ready to strike. "It's you, Pansy. Don't you ever touch my hair again." He warned.
Pansy laughed. "What are you guys doing?" she asked.
"We were just drawing." Draco said.
"Drawing what?" Pansy asked.
"See for yourself." Draco said pushed her into the group.
Pansy could see bits of papers here and there. In every one of them, there were pictures of Blaise and Luna Lovegood. One picture seemed most funny to her. In the picture, Blaise was chasing after Luna asking her to stop, while she was running after some weird creatures she called 'Wrackspurts'.
"Funny." Pansy said. "But why are you guys drawing pictures of Blaise with Luna Lovegood? And hey! Where's Blaise?"
Everyone laughed. "Well," Theo said. "We were all eating sweets when Lovegood entered. Our Blaise went crazy as soon as he saw her. As she walked out of the store, he went off behind. Goodness knows where they are now. And we couldn't find anything else to do."
Draco laughed once more. "And he was saying things like, 'How come I never noticed her before?' and 'Goodness, she is ravishing!' and stuff like that."
"Alright, alright." Hermione said, trying to control her laughter. "Let's get out of here shall we? We've been here quite long."
They walked out of Honeydukes deciding what to do next. But there wasn't anything else you could do in Hogsmeade.
"I know!" Hermione said. "Let's go to the bookstore!"
Harry, Ron and Ginny hit Hermione together.
"Ow!" Hermione cried out in pain. "Why?"
"Hermione whenever will you stop going into bookstores?" Ron asked.
Hermione glared at him. "What's the problem with that?" she asked. "It's a good habit to read, and I also heard that a new edition of Hogwarts: A History is going to be published. I want to go check it out."
"No way." Ginny said firmly. "Try all you want, but we'll never let you get to the bookstore."
Hermione huffed and stamped her foot like a little kid. "Fine." She said. "Then tell me where we'll go."
They all stood thinking for a minute. After a while, Draco hit Theo hard on the back.
"I know!" he cried.
Theo glared at Draco as he massaged his back. "Draco, you're a seventeen year old boy. Not some little kid." He said. "So stop acting like one."
"I know where to go!" Draco said, taking no notice of Theo at all. "Let's go to that place from where we can see the Shrieking Shack."
"I've never been to this place before." Pansy said. "Where is it?"
Before Draco could answer, Harry spoke. "It's where I hit Draco with a snowball when I was in my Invisibility Cloak."
Draco glared at him. "Never mind the details." He said. "Come on! Let's move!"
They walked to the place. Just as they were about to push aside the bushes to get to see the Shrieking Shack, Draco, who was going first, stopped all of a sudden.
"Ouch!" Harry said as he walked straight into Draco. "What is it Draco?" he asked angrily. Draco turned to Harry and caught hold of his head and pulled him forward.
"Ow! Draco, what the he – " Harry never finished his sentence. He too, stared at the scene before him.
"What is wrong with you two?" Hermione asked and pushed her way forward. The others did the same. Now it was their turn to be shocked.
There, on the ground were Luna Lovegood and Blaise Zabini, kissing passionately as if their lives depended on it.
Pansy was standing behind Theo, gazing at Luna and Blaise. All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her foot.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she cried out and started to run. She ran straight into Theo, pushing him into the clearing. She ran and ran and ran until Hermione had to stop her with a spell.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, running over to Pansy.
"My foot!" Pansy cried. "It hurts like hell!"
"Let me see." Hermione said. "Now, slowly remove your shoes." Pansy did so. A little insect, no bigger than a knut, sat on Pansy's foot. Hermione laughed.
"It's just the Biting Insect Pansy." She said.
Pansy hurriedly pulled off the insect and threw it as far away as she could.
Pansy and Hermione began to recall what they had seen. They turned around and saw the others staring at them. Blaise began to laugh.
"Don't you guys ever do that again." He said. "I was scared to death when I heard Pansy scream. I honestly thought it was McGonagall."
The others laughed at this too. Luna stopped laughing and looked here and there. Then all at once, she began to run.
"Luna!" Blaise called. "What's the matter?"
"Wrackspurts!" was all Luna said as she sprinted off.
"No, Luna wait!" Blaise cried and took off after her. "Just leave those stupid creatures for a minute will you?"
The rest of them laughed until their sides ached.
"Ha ha!" Draco laughed. "Just like the picture we drew!" he said between bouts of laughter.
Theo nodded his head vigorously.
Finally, they couldn't laugh any more. They sat on the ground and held their stomachs tight.
"Hey, look!" Ron shouted.
Everyone turned towards where Ron was looking and saw Luna and Blaise coming. Blaise looked tired out, while Luna was as fresh as she had been.
Blaise came up and joined them. He took out his wand and said, "Aguamenti!" Water shot out from the tip of his wand, which he pointed towards his face. He sighed in pleasure.
"Blaise," Theo called. "I want to ask you –"
"How we kissed so soon." Blaise said. "Am I right?"
Theo and the others nodded.
"It's nothing big." Blaise said. "I followed her and she came to this place. I then straightaway asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes. And so, we thought we should try kissing."
Luna sat down beside Blaise. "I liked him as soon as I saw him." she said, as if that explained everything.
Ron looked at his watch. "It's time to go back!" he announced.
Everyone stood up. "Wait, wait!" Harry said.
"What?" Pansy asked.
"Merlin!" Harry said. "There are so many couples in our friends circle aren't there?" he asked.
"That's right!" Ron said. "Let's see. Pansy and me, Harry and Ginny, Theo and Daphne and now, Blaise and Luna. The ones who are left out are,"
All eyes turned to Draco and Hermione.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"You're the only ones left out." Blaise said.
"We can see that." Draco said.
"Hermione," Ron began cautiously. "You're a girl." He said.
"Oh, well spotted Ron!" Hermione said sarcastically.
Ron shut his mouth immediately.
"Draco," Theo said. "You're a boy."
"Nice observation, Theo!" Draco said, his voice laced with sarcasm as well.
"Well," Pansy began hesitantly. "Then why shouldn't you two…"
"We're just friends." Hermione said. She didn't know why, but it hurt a lot inside her to say this. She walked away.
"Yeah." Draco said. It pained in his heart to agree with her. He didn't know why. He too, walked away. He caught up with Hermione and the two of them went on talking until they reached the castle.
Meanwhile, Pansy filled the others in on the plan that she had made with Lucius and Narcissa. They readily agreed to work on the plan.
Upon reaching the Head Dorms, they found out that Hermione and Draco weren't mad at them at all. They slept contentedly that night.
"Gosh!" Hermione thought as she lay in bed. "I never ever thought that this trip to Hogsmeade could go so well! It was amazing talking to Lucius and Narcissa!" she thought as she slowly fell asleep.
Draco lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "This was the weirdest day for me." He thought. "How did father even make such a judgement? Hermione got along pretty well with them, though." He soon fell asleep thinking of Hermione.
And this was how the trip to Hogsmeade ended.
Done! REVIEW! Luna and Blaise make a good couple don't they?