Oh my god I updated (Cheers for myself!) I seriously did. I can't believe it either. How on earth did I find time to type this I don't know.
But enjoy.
She had never felt so lightheaded and clear at the same time. Something about the night air made her intoxicated as they ran down the streets away from the stunned crowd and bookstore. Or perhaps it was Draco's warm hand that made her feel that way.
Hermione tried not to enjoy the moment too much.
She could feel the callus of his hand. It was not soft like she expected at all- it was hard and even slightly rough. Coarse even.
For some reason this delighted her. So Draco Malfoy was not God after all. He was not some perfect fictitious character Hermione had made up. He was every bit as human as her, and every bit real. He felt… solid.
Hermione berated herself for not finding a better vocabulary word at this moment. All those years of education, and she could only describe him as solid.
They slowed down to a walk eventually, but Draco did not let go of her hand. If anything the handsome man held it even more firmly. Hermione didn't have the heart- or the concentration – to protest.
She tried to divert her eyes away from their clasped hands, reminding herself it wasn't polite… Only of course, her attention fell right to said charmer's face.
"Enjoying the night?" Draco asked smilingly. One strand of his blond hair fell into his eyes. He pushed it back slightly.
"Oh yes!" Hermione gushed, unable to hold back her feelings. "Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise."
"No hints?" she prompted.
"Nope." He popped the 'p' resoundingly.
"You are absolutely aggravating. Can't I ever get a straight answer out from you?"
He winked at her. "We shall see."
She couldn't resist it then. She did a very un-Hermione gesture—she winked back.
"So I shall."
Five minutes later, Hermione was watching Draco, who was busy arguing with the waiter outside some chic expensive French restaurant.
"But I swear I placed reservation!" Draco insisted to the head waiter (who atypically had a thick moustache)
"I am sorry, monsieur," the head waiter said in a grave thick accent, shaking his head devastatedly as he scanned the book again. "I do not see zee name anywhere, non."
"It can't be," the blond said frustratedly while Hermione watch the scene unfold. "I called yesterday confirm the tables!"
The waiter scanned through the black book again. "Aah… Monsieur Draco Mal-foy?"
A look of relief appeared on Draco's face. "Yes, that's the one," he agreed.
The French waiter frowned. "But…Eez eet not a tableaux for two tomorrow night?"
"It's supposed to be tonight!"
"Monsieur," the waiter looked at them sadly. "Eet eez full, desolee."
Hermione watched the entire exchange laughingly. She knew that she should have been angry with the mix up, or even with Draco for not confirming his reservation properly. But she was not. Instead she felt extremely amused at the entire conversation and exchange. It was funny to see someone as smooth as Draco mess up for once.
She smiled. He looked extremely cute when he quibbled childishly with the waiter. He even stomped his foot a little, looking put out and desperate. Another new side of Draco.
"Forget it Draco," She said lightly, cutting the entire exchange short. At this rate, the dinner was never going to take place.
He frowned. "But-"
She grabbed Draco's hand and nudged him. "We will just make alternative arrangement. Sorry for the mix up though. Au revoir!"
"Au revoir, mademoiselle!" the waiter called out to Hermione, who was dragging her date down the street. She waved back.
They plod on for another few minutes before Hermione felt something weighing her back. She frowned, turning back to look at her partner. Was she moving at such a fast speed that he couldn't catch up?
Draco was smiling too widely, staring at her in wonder.
She stopped completely. "What?" she asked.
His grin got larger if possible. He looked like an idiot, a cute idiot.
"This is the first time you ever held my hand."
Hermione snorted. "Have you forgotten the moment we left the bookstore? Approximately…twenty minutes ago?"
"I didn't forget. How can I?" He said reminiscently. He fingers was slowly playing with the lines of her palm. "But I was the one who held your hand."
She smiled. "Is there a difference?"
"Of course there is," He said, affronted. "Theoretically the results are the same, but of course there is a difference. The fact that you are the one who held my hand indicates something."
She tilted her head, redrawing her hands so that they were on her hips. "Which is?"
He tried to hide his pleasure. "Well, it indicates you have some sort of affections for me."
"Really?" She said sarcastically. "It wasn't obvious the way I followed you out of the bookstore?"
"That was unfounded assumption. But this," He gestured happily. "Is proof. Proof of your affections."
Hermione privately congratulated herself for not turning red.
"Try to show some sense of humility would you?"
"Never." He said smugly. "What's there to be embarrassed about?"
She sighed. "Fine. Be that way."
"And don't put your hands on you hips. It makes them look wider." He joked.
She scowled while he grabbed her hand once more and entwined it with his fingers. Once again she felt a warm heat flooding through her.
He lifted their hands up to eye level for her to see.
"There. It looks better this way," He said, satisfied. And they continued walking, hand-in-hand.
"Where are we going anyway?" He inquired.
"Down the street." Hermione said with a deadpanned face. He rolled his eyes.
"Funny. Where are we really going?"
She enjoyed having the upperhand now. She winked at him just like he did before. Revenge is sweet.
"It's a surprise," She mimicked his earlier words.
Draco groaned at that. "Stop reminding me of that incident in the French restaurant."
"It's not my fault you have poor planning."
"I still lament at the demise of my dining plans. It was going to be perfectly romantic and cheesy until the reservation got mixed up."
"It wasn't the kind of place I thought you would bring me on a first date."
He smiled. "You imagine having a first date with me?"
She ignored this again, willing herself not to blush. "Surely I don't look like a person who would love to have a first date there?"
"You don't. But you deserved having a great treatment and expensive date."
"I'm not high maintainance, you know." Hermione laughed.
"You aren't, but you certainly are worth every penny of it." Draco said firmly. "Besides," he added, a little confused, "Don't all women enjoy having a French restaurant meal on their first date? The movies certainly seem to show that a lot."
"You should have enough experience to know that it never works." She stated, grinning a little. Someone took Muggle movies too seriously
"No experience at all," He grinned. "This is my first date ever."
A stunning confession, Her eyebrows shot up disbelievingly at the handsome man. Who wouldn't want to date him?
"You are kidding," she said, startled.
"No," Draco assured her. "But then again, I never had a reason to. Until now."
She tried to cut in. "Are you serio—"
"We will talk more on that later," he said. "We have all the time in the world to talk to."
Her heart skipped a beat again. She needed to blurt something out before the beating of her heart got too loud. She will not feel flattered. She will not feel flattered. She will not feel flattered.
"We are going to my shop," she suddenly said. "We are going to my café to have our date."
For some reason this information seemed to make Draco uncomfortable. Hermione saw him shift out of the corner of her eye.
"How about we try that nice Italian food down the corner?" He suggested. "They offer a twenty percent discount on weekends."
She rolled her eyes a little. "It's a weekday."
"How about we head to… McDonald's?"
"McDonald's?" She asked suspiciously, looking at him. "You want to bring me to McDonald's? Besides, we are reaching there in a minute. Why are you being so nervous?"
She turned back her head back… and found the answer staring back at her.
Her coffee shop was nothing short of normal-looking. Apart from the candles lights, soft music, helium balloons at the front, and streamers decorating the shop front.
Her mouth was dry as she turned her head to her date. He looked pink at the cheeks.
Mr Bennet, the very same one whose niece was with a dashing Slytherin right now, was standing on the ladder, hanging some silver streamers. He froze when he saw the couple heading towards him.
"Here so soon?" he frowned, peering through the glasses. "I'm not done with the decorations yet."
Hermione's heart refused to stop pounding. This was possibly the most romantic thing ( or would have been) that anyone has ever done for her.
"Draco… what is this?" she asked, needing confirmation.
He sighed. "This is why I'm insisted on dining somewhere else. We were supposed to be having a perfectly nice place and head here for dessert, where you will this surprise waiting for you. Dang."
"Well," She said puzzledly. "You could have dragged me away a long time ago. It's kind of obvious I was heading towards here."
He paused.
"I was distracted by your little hand holding. Very distracted"
The old man chuckled as he descended the ladder. "Didn't go as planned did it?"
Hermione laughed. "Apparently not."
"Well, I will leave you two lovebirds alone again. My job here is done. Good day to the both of you." He bowed deeply before ambling down the streets.
"Darn."
She tilted her head. "What's wrong?"
"This was supposed to be the perfect date. But somewhere in my meticulous planning everything went wrong." Draco grumbled.
"Well technically only one thing went wrong," she teased.
"Don't remind me." He looked slightly troubled.
"Draco," She paused as the blond man gazed back at her. She needed to find the right thing to say. The truth then, she decided. "To me, the date has been nothing short of perfect so far."
"How can you say that?" He quirked an eyebrow. "I brought you on your first date to your coffee shop."
"Well, I like that you are not perfect. The fact that you stumble," She smiled. "It makes you more real."
The man broke into a boyish smile. "Really?" He said impishly.
"Besides, it is perfect as long as I am with you. Now let me distract you with some handholding."
And just like that, Hermione Granger grabbed Draco Malfoy's hand for the second time and pulled him into her coffee shop.
Hermione forgot she didn't serve any main courses at her place, so she ended up dialing for Chinese food takeaway. Twenty minutes later, they were happily settled in one of the booths, plastic containers and confused customers surrounding them. For some reason Draco had dragged her to this particular seat.
Draco was looking at her expectantly as she slid into the seat opposite him.
"What?" She asked, feeling self conscious.
"Just so you know… This is where we met for the first time."
Yes it was, she suddenly realized. It seemed to her that it was yesterday when he popped into her and asked for a cup of tea.
Hermione smirked while prying open a box of spring rolls. "No, that would be on the Hogwarts train, when Ron's rat bit you."
"Ouch. Shall I rephrase? This is where we got reacquainted." He grinned. She passed him a box of lou mein.
She raised an eyebrow, stabbing a roll with her wooden chopsticks. "Aren't I supposed to be the girl in the relationship? I should be saying all these funny random facts, not you."
"That's true. But you seem to like wearing the pants, so I think I will take the girl role in this dysfunctional relationship."
"Better. Now we can on with the talking."
"Do you usually dictate your dates like this? Or is this your hidden Mussolini channeling?" He asked teasingly.
"What can I say? You just told me I'm the male counterpart in here. I'm just playing the chauvinist." She quipped.
"Well then, what would you like to know?"
"I'm curious… Is this really your first date?" She asked.
He smiled. "Yes. Excluding those blind dates I have been subjected to."
"That's impossible."
"Why is that?" Draco asked, his eyes widening a little. Hermione wondered whether the innocent look on his face was genuine. She sighed.
"Mister, as much as I hate to say it… You weren't exactly unpleasant to look at back in school."
He scoffed. "Weren't exactly unpleasant to look at? Is that all you can say? I was termed the Slytherin God for goodness sake!"
She rolled her eyes. "Wow, way to go to boost your ego."
"Can't deny facts. There, you can admit it."
She played stupid. "Admit what?"
He grinned, leaning forward. "That I am good looking."
Hermione was stubborn. "Why should I say that?"
"Because it's always nice to hear a compliment from someone you like."
"Fine. I think you are good looking and dashing," she admitted.
"Thank you. I happen to find you extremely pretty as well. You look very beautiful when you blush."
She blushed.
"See? I told you that you are very pretty when you turn red." He said, admiring the colour on her apples
"You are digressing. Whatever happened to Pansy? Or any of the other Slytherin girls?"
"Rumours."
"You dated absolutely no one at all?"
"Not a single one."
"Are you sure?" She asked doubtfully. Draco gave her a Cheshire grin.
"Is that so hard to believe?"
"Yes."
"Oh well. You should be honoured then," he replied. He took another bite of his lou mein.
She was. Hermione couldn't help but feel flattered. She tried not to dwell on this pleasant fact.
"Why not anyway? Try dating someone, I mean?" She asked. She diverted her eyes to the small hole on her dress.
"And suffer the likes of Pansy Parkinson and the rest?" He snorted. "No thanks." A pause. "Besides," he continued, finally catching her gaze when she looked up. "I told you before. I never had a reason to… Until of late."
Another flush of pleasure. "Let's just stop talking until we finish our meal," she suggested.
A devilish smile graced Draco's face. "Oh no, Granger," he laughed, pushing his plastic box of noodles away. "The conversation is just getting interesting."
"Is it?" She feigned again and tried to poke another egg roll. A pair of callus hands pushed it away.
"So tell me," he said deeply, his gray eyes sparkling. "How many boyfriends do you have so far?"
"Isn't it taboo to talk about this on a first date? I believe all those Witch Weekly articles constantly stresses this as bad dating etiquette."
He waved his hand dismissively. "Well bringing you to a dining place you owned for first date is bad etiquette, but you don't seem to mind. What's wrong with bending a few more rules? So spill."
Hermione smiled. This was an answer she knew by heart—or at least, the drilling of her relatives.
"Three."
His eyebrow shot up. "Three?" he said. "That is promiscuous... relatively. Who are they?"
"Jealous?" She asked teasingly. She was enjoying this conversation too much.
"Hardly," He scoffed. "Just curious, in case I ever need to try out a new spell I learnt. I need future references."
"Viktor Krum."
"Ha!" Draco cried out. "I knew there was something going on between the two of you in fourth year."
"I wouldn't deny it if you had asked me. Heck, the whole school knew about it."
"Those were just rumours, I thought."
"No," Hermione said with a neutral expression on her face. "I just happen to love going to Yule Balls with people I totally detest, and Viktor so happened to ask me."
"Funny," he smiled. "I went with Pansy."
She frowned. "I remembered. I thought you said this was your first date, and that you weren't interested in her."
"I wasn't. But she offered to do my homework for the next three months. I couldn't possibly refuse such an attractive offer."
"That night was fun," Hermione said reminiscently, toying with one of her curls. "You look like a vicar that day."
"High collars were the height of fashion!" he said offendedly. "And how could you possibly have fun with someone who barely speaks English?"
"I taught him a bit of pronunciation," she said earnestly. "That was enjoyable, you know, international relations."
"You got to be kidding me." His face was mock serious.
"Besides," she said evilly. "Were words really necessarily with Viktor? I'm sure you know he is more… physical."
Hermione could detect a note of alarm in his voice. "You got to be kidding me!"
"I am. But it was worth it to see the expression on your face." She giggled. Draco scowled.
"So why did you break up?" The blond asked, stabbing his food viciously. The wooden chopstick broke. She laughed and passed him another pair.
"Too much difference. Language barriers. The fact that I don't speak Quidditch," she shrugged. "Height difference. I was 5"4 then, he was hitting 6"3. Not a good combination."
"I'm just a head taller than you. Or less," Draco noted, satisfied.
"He was awfully nice about the break up though. I still keep in touch with him when I can," she continued, eager to see his reaction. She wasn't one to play games, but Draco was making this mild flirtation too fun.
His reaction did not disappoint.
"Awfully nice my foot," he mumbled. "Probably hoping to guilt you out of it."
"Viktor is not like that!" She protested. This was true. She found the famous sportsmen extremely generous and chivalrous.
Malfoy didn't seem to buy the story, but he nodded anyway.
"So who is the second?"
"A muggle named Ben Walters. He interned in my father's dentist office and we dated during the summer. Nothing much about that one. He was smart and had a nice smile."
"I am smart and have a nice smile."
The corner of her lips twitched. "Perhaps that's why I like you."
"Not any of my other superior qualities? I am disappointed. So why did you dump this muggle?"
"Mutual decision. We lost interest in each other after a while."
"No exciting scoop?"
She rolled her eyes. "Sorry to disappoint."
"Well, the third one better be some hot gossip."
Hermione scoffed. "This is rich, coming from someone who is on his first date ever. But yes, it is a more… colourful character."
"Who?"
"Guess."
"I am praying it isn't Ronald Billus Weasley."
"It isn't. Thank goodness I don't have poor taste. Excuse the pun."
"Not Potter."
"No. I wouldn't do that to Ginny."
"Dean Thomas."
"Nope."
"Longbottom."
"Nuh-uh."
He threw his hands up. "I have absolutely no idea," he admitted. "Just tell me."
"Be prepared to be surprised," she whispered, cupping her hands around his ear. She saw his ear pricked slightly from- anticipation?- as she paused. "Zachary Smith."
The response was not instantaneous.
"Smith?"
She nodded her head. "Yes."
"As in, Zachary Smith? The Hufflepuff?"
"Yes, as in Zachary My-head-is-over-inflated Smith."
"Why on earth would you date him?"
Draco's eyes were practically popping out, and his jaws were wide open. Hermione laughed heartily. He looked comical.
"Close your mouth, you will catch flies," she told him, reaching towards Draco and tilting his jaw up. He closed it obligingly.
"You didn't answer my question," he observed.
"I was momentarily distracted by how ludicrous you look," Hermione said. She twisted her napkin. "If you must know… Well, it was his good looks."
"You would date him over me?"
"No," she admitted. "But back then I didn't exactly had a choice between the two. But even you have to admit he was good looking."
"I won't." He shook his head firmly.
"Come on," Hermione pressed on. "He had the perfect boy looks… The whole dark-hair-blue-eyes thing going. The sort women like to see on romance books covers."
"He had a personality of a Crumple-horn snorkack." Draco said bluntly.
"Well, I was young," Hermione explained. "It didn't exactly occur to me straight away. I was still swooning over his looks."
"How did you guys even start a relationship? I can't imagine you are the one asking him." Draco shuddered visibly at the thought.
"Well," Hermione tried to remember. "I think we met at some autograph signing session at Flourish and Botts. He was working as a reporter at Daily Prophet."
"Suits him very well. He always was a nosey parker."
"I met him there. And he looked too good to be true. And he seemed to have changed for the better, or toned it down a bit anyway. So when he asked me out, I agreed."
"And that was went you make your big blunder."
She sighed. "He seemed so charming at that time. A few months later, he was demanding everything. Where I was every minute, and witnesses to proof I wasn't lying. Started probing about Harry, Ron… So I ended it."
Draco beamed. "Good for you."
"Too bad I was so smitten by his dark hair and dreamy eyes at that time."
Draco wagged his eyebrows. "That was your first mistake. You should always pick your type."
"Oh?" Hermione said coyly. "And what is my type exactly?"
"The type who is smart, likes to read, and writes poems to you," he grinned. "Oh, and had blond hair and grey eyes of course."
"I will be on a look out for some one like that."
"I forgot a very important quality of course."
Hermione made eye contact with Draco, who was looking smug. "What?"
"He surprises you with flowers."
A dozen colourful daisies appeared in front of her. Some looked slightly squished, and a couple of them were slightly lop-sided.
But Hermione noticed none of these flaws. Well she did, but it made the flowers even better to her.
"They are lovely," She exclaimed.
"Freshly picked, all by myself." He added. "From my neighbour's."
"I can tell," she smiled. "Not the cliché roses?"
"Nah," He said, chuckling. "I figured these suited you more."
"Because they are cute and cheap?"
He chuckled again. "Something like that. Plus I happen to know your middle name is Daisy."
Her cheeks warmed. How did he know?
"Of course I know," he said, guessing from her expression. "I am Draco Malfoy with loads of Galleons. I am resourceful."
She took a sniff. They smelt like nothing. But the sentiment was sweet. It made them better than stupid roses.
"You like them." Draco looked pleased.
"Very much." She grabbed his hand from across the table. "Thank you."
Draco look at Hermione's hand and took it with his other hand.
"I think I like my gift better."
The night seemed too short. Where did the past three hours go? They had chatted, quibbered, had dessert and Draco even walked Hermione home. But time still seems to fly too fast.
They even talked about Narcissa. Hermione thought she should mention his mother's visit. And so she explained.
Draco looked thoughtful. "She's pretty intuitive. I guess I have to thank her for dropping some hints for me."
"Hints?" Hermione repeated. "She practically begged me to date you."
"Don't exaggerate." He rolled his eyes.
"I am not," Hermione smiled again. "She pretty much told me how you felt about me. Speaking of which, when did you started having all these lustful thoughts about me?"
"They were not lustful," He defended himself. "They were just highly graphic. Well as to your question, which time are you referring to?"
She froze. "You mean you liked me more than once?"
"Three times, to be exact."
"Three?" She was stunned.
"The first time was in first year at the train platform." He counted off his fingers.
"What?"
"I thought you looked pretty cute struggling with your trunk and ten piles of books. Of course, my affections pretty much died when I saw you stomping into Potter and Weasley's compartment."
"And then?"
"The second time was when you slapped me," Draco smiled. "It hurt a hell lot, but then I found myself repeating that particular scene in my mind quite often. Since I am not into masochism, I can only conclude that I had developed a crush on you then."
"The last time," he continued, "Was when I saw you for the first time in the very booth we were just at, reading your book and absorbed in your own world. It was then I knew that I had to cling onto you somehow and convince you to end my misery."
"Congratulations, you succeeded."
They were outside Hermione's home now. She tried to think of a way to delay the inevitable. It seemed like such a pity to let go of his warm comforting hands.
"Well," she told Draco awkwardly after running out of excuses. She motion to the building behind her using her bouquet of daisies. "This is my house."
"So this is the end of my first date." He stared at her mournfully. She laughed at his ridiculous expression.
"Did you enjoy it?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Yes, too much almost," He grinned. "I am eager to go to our next one."
"Who said anything about a next date?" She teased, taking off her hat. Her hair was messy, but she didn't care. She couldn't be happier.
"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea you want to the moment you said 'Congratulations, you succeeded' to me."
"Fine. You caught me," Hermione confessed. "I would love to be your first and second date."
"And the third and fourth and all subsequent ones as well," Draco reminded her, tucking her hair behind her right ear.
That sounded very good to her.
"I will. As long as you want me."
"What if I always want you?"
"Then I will always be your date," she said sincerely, pulling him into a hug. It felt even better than his warm hands.. "Goodbye then, for now."
"Au revoir." He used a cheesy French nasal voice, bowing deeply. She smirked a little as she waved, remembering the little incident earlier on.
She turned and walked towards her flat with a few steps before stopping. Somehow it felt wrong to turn back now.
"Hermione?" Draco asked. His eyebrows were drawn together.
For a moment she couldn't answer. Something was missing. As if the date was… incomplete. She seemed to have forgotten something, only what?
She turned around to face Draco again.
He looked very handsome under the moonlight. Even better than Viktor or Zachary Smith.
He was too cute, she realized. Confused looking perhaps, but cute.
Suddenly she knew what to do. At a later date, she always joked that it was Draco's puppy dog expression which gave her the inspiration.
"What is it Hermione?"
She walked back to Draco who looked quizzical.
"I forgot something."
"What?" He asked.
"This." And tipping her toe slightly, she pressed her lips against Draco's mouth.
It felt good to have to not tip toe for someone way too tall. It felt right to kiss someone whose lips were slightly chapped but still so soft. It felt like a slice of heaven.
She broke the kiss and looked up to meet Draco's eyes. He gazed right back at her.
"I want more," he said, looking dazed and dazzled.
"I would kiss you again," she told him, slightly breathless, but couldn't resist adding. "But I wasn't impressed with the fact you suggested to bring me to McDonald's for our date." With that she flounced away, laughing.
He scowled.
Hermione discovered what was her type that night. Blond hair, grey eyes… And someone who gave her daisies instead of roses and wrote her poems.
And, well, she only knew one man who fit that description.
Yep that's all I have folks. Thanks for your immense support which pushed me to write this chappie. I think I will be updating Over Coffee and Tea Leaves more often now because I fully intend to concentrate on finishing this story.
Well, there aren't a lot of chapters left though. Probably less than three. I did intend to make this fic short.
In the meantime, do support my Twilight fics which I have written (and will be writing). Haha that's because despite what I said in the early part of the author's note, I can't guarantee I wont go MIA again.
Last note: Review review review. They generally tend to encourage lazy fan fic authors A LOT.