This was the first time Hermione had no idea what to do. Filled with adrenalin, she had grabbed the yearbook in one hand and Draco's hand in her other and ran out the doors of Hogwarts. But now what?
"Now what?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows at Hermione.
Hermione sighed. "It's already late...and I have to work tomorrow. We'll figure out what we're going to do and where we're going to go by this weekend. Okay?"
"Okay...but I have a surprise for you." Draco said, now getting giddy with excitement.
Hermione smiled up at him. "What? You know I hate surprises."
"That's not true. You're just extremely impatient and don't like to wait for the surprise in store." Draco said, being a true smart-ass. Hermione had nothing to say back to him. "Accio Nimbus 2000!"
"You hid your broom here?" Hermione moaned. This couldn't mean anything good-she was scared of heights, and therefore she was scared of flying on brooms.
The broom came flying around the corner of Hogwarts and into Draco's hand. He slid the yearbook into his black book-bag and hopped onto the broom.
"Come on, Granger, I'm not going to wait all day!" Draco said mockingly.
"Oh, so who's impatient now?" Hermione shot back at him. "Draco, I can't do this. We're going to have to take a train to wherever it is you want to take me. I'm scared."
"Shh, Hermione, stop. The hardest part is getting on. After that, it's amazing. It's fun. You can even hold on to me." Draco said, trying to calm her down.
Hermione reluctantly got onto the other end of the broom and tightly wrapped her arms around Draco. She rested her head against his book-bag. She shut her eyes.
"Okay, ready?" Draco asked. "5...4...3..."
"Just go!" Hermione cried.
The sudden jolt forced her to open her eyes.
The air was zooming past her and Hogwarts became smaller and smaller as they ascended into the air. If her grip were to slip for just a second, she would fall to her painful death. She looked down and screamed.
"Bloody hell!" Draco yelled. "Do you really want me to go deaf? That means we'll both have to learn sign language to be able to communicate."
Hermione closed her mouth. She felt like she was about to throw up. She tried to take deep, relaxing breaths to calm herself down.
"Just relax. Enjoy the freedom. Take in the beauty." Draco said.
Hermione took a deep breath and took a look at her surroundings. Draco swerved around and dipped lower so that they were mere inches above a big lake. Feeling a surge of empowerment, Hermione let go with one hand and dipped it in the water. She noticed a fairly large waterfall next to them. It truly was beautiful. As they went higher into the air again, a flock of geese flew right next to them.
"Draco, look!" Hermione exclaimed, pointing to the geese lined up in formation next to them. One of the geese made eye contact with Hermione and made a loud honking noise. The flock of geese stayed by Draco and Hermione for a few more moments before veering to the right as Draco veered to the left. Hermione, afraid that she would fall, gripped on tighter to Draco. She could feel his perfect abs underneath his shirt. What she couldn't see was him smirking on the front end of the broom.
"So where exactly are you taking me?" Hermione asked.
"I'm taking you on a proper date. At a proper restaurant, not a bar." Draco replied before cracking a smile. "And no, I'm not going to tell you where. It'll be at a very special place."
Hermione leaned her head back and moaned. Draco was impossible.
"Well, if you won't tell me where we're going, will you at least tell me if we're close? We're in the middle of nowhere at the moment and it's getting dark."
"We'll be there shortly."
That's all they said for several more minutes.
Finally, Draco lowered his broom when they came across a mesa and he landed on top of it where a campfire, tent, picnic blanket, and picnic basket were set up.
"What...the hell..." Hermione mumbled. "We're still in the middle of nowhere."
"This is the surprise!" Draco said with an adorable smile on his face. "It's camping/picnicking. Your parents said we can stay for as long as we want."
"But...I have work tomorrow...and-"
"Nope." Draco interrupted her. "You're off work for a week."
"Did you seriously do all this...for...for me?" Hermione started to choke up on tears. No one, not even Ron, had ever done anything this grand for her.
Draco meekly nodded at her. "Shall we eat?" Draco suggested, gesturing to the picnic blanket and basket. Like a true gentleman, he took her hand and helped her off the broom and sat next to her on the blanket. They basked in the warmth of the campfire.
"How did you set all of this up?" Hermione asked.
Draco smirked. "I have my ways." He winked at her.
Hermione reached for the picnic basket. "God, I'm starving." But as soon as she opened the basket, she cocked her head to one side and set the basket down. "Um, Draco...there's no food in there."
Draco burst into laughter, but Hermione just sat there, dumbfounded.
"Wait, you're serious?" Draco asked. "Don't tell me you've never heard of these before. Wizards and witches use them all the time...they're magic. Whatever food you want appears in them, as long as you repeat the incantation: Antecibium and then the food you want."
"So, like this..." Hermione said as she cleared her throat and gave it a try. "Antecibium hamburgers."
Two rather large, delicious-looking hamburgers appeared in the basket.
"Mmm, good choice." Draco commented, reaching for a burger at the same moment Hermione was. Their hands touched and Hermione blushed madly as Draco pulled his hand away, letting the lady select hers first.
"Antecibium Sauvignon Blanc." Draco said clearly, as two wine glasses, a wine bottle, and a wine bottle opener appeared in the basket.
Hermione looked up. She wasn't expecting Draco to have alcohol on this trip, but she promised herself she wouldn't get drunk this time.
Draco opened the wine and poured each of them a glass. A sheepish grin on his face, he lifted his glass up. "I'd like to make a toast." He said.
Hermione giggled. "To what?"
"To taking this beautiful lady, Hermione Granger, on a random camping trip—I mean date—in the middle of nowhere."
Hermione blushed again but she lifted her glass, touched it to his, and took a sip.
A gust of wind suddenly blew by and they both shivered.
"Can we go inside the tent?" Hermione pleaded, chattering her teeth.
"Yes please."
Hermione grabbed the picnic blanket and basket while Draco grabbed the wine glasses and they ran inside the tent, zipping it up as fast as humanly possible. Hermione sighed with relief as she looked around. It was a normal, magical tent that looked small of the outside but was rather spacey on the inside. She and Draco would have separate beds to sleep on. There was a smaller fire inside the tent too, to make sure it was warm. Draco hopped onto his bed and Hermione followed him, placing the picnic blanket and basket on the bed with her. Draco handed her the wine glass she had drank out of, which she downed in one sip and set down on the ground. She loved the feeling of the alcohol making her brain fuzzy. It made her feel less stressed, like she was free.
Draco started to massage her back. She moaned. "That feels so good, Draco." She whispered. For a moment, it was only her and Draco in the entire world and no one else existed.
She suddenly snapped out of her alcohol-induced fuzziness and pulled Draco's arms off of her. "What do you think you're doing?" she snapped. Soon after the words escaped her mouth, she regretted them. Draco had only innocently been massaging her. Yep, the alcohol was definitely getting to her.
"Hermione, I think you should get some rest." Draco said softly. "I'll see you in the morning."
Deep in the back of her mind, she knew alcohol was not causing these problems. She was stressed out.
Because of Iris Morris.