Chapter Fourteen

He felt weird. His stomach was in knots. He sat on his bed and took several deep breaths. If he didn't know any better, he would say he was nervous, but that just couldn't be. Draco Malfoy didn't get nervous. Draco Malfoy was confident and more than capable of going on a date.

He growled and shoved his hands through his hair in frustration. It's this damn pressure my father's putting me under, he thought, as if I don't already have enough on my plate as it is; he's got to go and add more.

He stood and headed into his closet to find something to wear for his date with Hermione. But that's life as a Malfoy. He rummaged through his clothes until he found something he felt would be suitable for what he had planned; not too dressy, but not too casual either.

The date he had planned wasn't anything spectacular, but he thought it was appropriate for a first date. That, and it was casual enough to be relaxing and unintimidating, which is what he believed this situation called for. He needed Hermione to be at ease and let her guard down around him. If she suspects for one instant, I'm finished.

Draco finished dressing for his date and stared at his reflection. Merlyn help me.

"Uh-oh, I know that look."

Hermione looked up and smiled brightly at the welcomed sight that greeted her. "Harry!"

Harry smiled back at her. "Hello, Hermione, bad day?" he asked with a chuckle as he walked toward her.

"It's better now," she said, putting the book in her lap on the floor. "So, what brings you here?"

Harry stared at her for a moment before looking around the expansive library and whistling. "Wow, this is some library," he said with a smile. "You must be quite at home in here, huh?"

Hermione grinned and absently pulled her wand from the bun of hair it was holding sending her raven locks tumbling over her shoulders and down her back. "It's become like a second bedroom," she said, flicking her wand and causing the books around her to make a neat pile.

He cleared his throat and took a seat near her. "Something hasn't sat right with me since I read that article in The Daily Prophet. I think you know what I'm talking about, so I thought I'd come by and see if you wanted to talk about it," he confessed, giving her a pointed stare.

Hermione leveled her gaze on him as she turned her notebook over and set it aside. "Harry, I…"

"Listen, I'm not trying to push, but I can't help feeling that you're in some kind of danger."

"Playing the protective 'big brother' are we?"

"With what I know of this lot, can you blame me?" Harry asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Well, no, I suppose not," Hermione said. "Although, I'm perfectly capable of handling myself."

"I'm well aware of that, Hermione, but…"

"Harry, I assure you; I'm fine."

"How can you say that, Hermione? You're living under the same roof as a known Death Eater."

"Things aren't that simple."

"Then, please, explain it to me because I'm not understanding how someone as honest and good as you can be so comfortable living in a place of such evil."

"Harry, open your eyes!" Hermione exclaimed, "The Zabinis aren't the Dursleys."

"I know that, but…"

Hermione sighed, interrupting him. "Harry, please! I've got enough stress pumping through me without you adding to it."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Anything I can help you with?" Harry questioned, pointing at the small pile of books at her feet.

"Oh, um… No, thank you," she stammered, moving the books with her foot so that Harry wouldn't be able to read the titles. "I think I can handle this on my own for now."

Harry eyed her suspiciously. "Since when do you not accept help researching things?"

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before saying, "Well, it's something I'm helping Blaise with. I promised him I wouldn't say anything about it."

Harry nodded. He didn't really understand why she was keeping something a secret for Blaise, she barely knew him, but his years of being her friend had taught him that she was very loyal to the people she trusted. He then cleared his throat and said, "You getting on all right with your um… family?"

"Well we're not telling each other our deepest secrets or anything but we're getting on as well as can be expected," Hermione replied. "I've only been here about a week so things are still pretty new."

"And you're being treated fairly and all?"

"I'm being treated almost like a princess, to be honest. It's quite annoying really."

Harry grinned. "I know what you mean."

"Is the Minister still trying to get you to join the Ministry's efforts?"

Harry rolled his eyes and unconsciously rubbed the back of his right hand. "He's even gone so far as to send me letters at the Burrow."

"I don't understand how he can expect you to join in the search for Voldemort when the Ministry didn't even believe you when he came back," Hermione said bitterly. "And after they treated you so horribly."

"Yeah well, not everyone can be as smart as you," Harry said with smirk.

Hermione scowled at him. "Don't make me hex you," she said playfully, twirling her wand between her fingers.

"Hey, I'm only speaking the truth," he said, putting his hands up in mock defeat.

"You're just as smart as I am."

"I'm nowhere near as smart as you."

"You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Hermione?"

Hermione and Harry looked over at the door at the sound of Blaise's voice. "What's he doing here?"

"I can visit my friend if I want to, Zabini."

"Watch yourself, Potter," Blaise retorted. "You're in my house."

Harry stood up and whipped his wand out of his jacket pocket. "It's Hermione's house too," he said pointing his wand at Blaise. "Or have you forgotten?"

"What I'll forget, Potter is that you're my sister's friend if you don't lower your wand," Blaise sneered.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the room causing both boys to cover their ears, Harry dropping his wand in the process. They slowly turned and looked at Hermione. "You know, these displays of testosterone are really starting to get on my nerves," she said.

Blaise rubbed his ears and winced. "Did you really have to do that?"

"Yes, thick as you two are being right now," Hermione replied. "Now, Blaise, you came in here for a reason, what was it?"

"Oh, Draco's here."

Hermione's eyes widened as she stood up, sending the book in her lap toppling to the floor. "Damn!" she said, smacking her forehead. "How could I have let the time get away from me?! Harry, I'm sorry but you've got to go."

Harry put his wand back into his jacket pocket and walked over to the door. "Stop by the Burrow again soon, Hermione," he said.

"I will. Give everyone hugs for me," Hermione said, gently pushing him out the door. Then seconds later she darted past him, her arms loaded down with the books she had been looking through.

Harry was confused. Not wanting jeopardize his friendship with Hermione, he decided to make peace with Blaise. Besides, he didn't want Hermione coming back down and hexing the two of them because they couldn't control their tempers. "What was that all about?" Harry asked politely.

"She and Draco have a date," Blaise replied calmly, deducing what Harry was trying to be more civil.

"Right, well I'll just be going now," Harry said, taking a few steps down the hall. He quickly realized however that he didn't know his way around Zabini Mansion so he stopped and turned back to Blaise. "Um, would you mind telling me how to get out of here?"

Blaise laughed. "You're a Wizard, just Apparate."

"I um… I haven't got an Apparating License."

Blaise stopped laughing and cleared his throat. "Oh. So how'd you get here?"

"I flew."

"Oh, right. Come on then, I'll show you out."

Hermione looked at herself in the mirror and groaned. Her looks had never been important to her but she wanted to look nice for her date this evening. It was a task that was proving to be quite difficult in her opinion, however.

She looked around at the plethora of clothes in her closet and shook her head. Oh it's no use, she thought, feeling quite overwhelmed. I'm just not good at this. I don't even know where he's taking me so how am I supposed to know what to wear?

She glanced up at the life-size model of herself that stood in the middle of her closet and smiled. "Of course, why didn't I think of that to begin with?" she questioned aloud. Because you're used to doing things the Muggle way you twit, she playfully scolded herself.

She picked up her wand, which had been resting on a shelf nearby, and pointed it at the model. She had read about a spell that would pick out the caster's clothes for them if they couldn't do it themselves. I hope this works, she thought. "Vestirsi."

Her eyes widened as a bluish light surrounded the model, swirling rapidly. Seconds later, the light vanished and the model of her was neatly dressed complete with hair, make-up, and accessories. A smile tugged at her lips as she looked "herself" over and nodded. "That's perfect," she said giddily.

Within minutes, she pulled off the clothes she was currently wearing and replaced them with the ones her "clone" had on. She then looked in the mirror, concentrating hard on the reflected mannequin behind her, and pointed her wand at her hair. "Pettinatura Copia."

Gold light shot from the tip of her wand and weaved its way around her raven locks, copying the exact hairstyle on her "clone". It was a rather strange sensation really. She felt as if several tiny fingers were working through her hair, gently tugging and curling each strand. Then, putting the final touches on her look, she pointed her wand at her face and said, "Cosmetici Copia."

Seconds later, she was looking at her reflection with a bright smile. She was truly happy with what she saw before her and hoped that Draco would be too. "Well, here goes nothing," she said with a nervous giggle as she grabbed her purse and headed out of her room.

"Where is she?" Draco muttered to himself.

"Relax Draco, she'll be down in a minute," Blaise said.

Draco turned his attention to his best friend and opened his mouth to speak but when he saw Harry walking next to Blaise, he scowled. "What the bloody hell is he doing here?"

Harry scowled back and was about to make some sort of smart-assed remark but before he could, Blaise put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Draco, Harry is Hermione's friend and if he wants to visit her, he's more than welcome to."

"But…" Draco began.

Blaise gave him a stern look. "Let's not forget some agreement you made with Hermione, eh?"

Draco's brow furrowed. "How did you know about that?"

"Hermione mentioned it at the party remember?"

Harry cleared his throat and rocked a bit on his heels. "Right, well I'll just get my broom and be going."

"Gripa!" Blaise called.

A loud pop signaled the elf's arrival. Blaise looked down at the elf and smiled kindly as she bowed. "Gripa, Harry needs his broom," he said.

"Right away, Master Blaise."

The elf vanished with a pop and reappeared just seconds later holding Harry's Firebolt carefully in her hands. "Thank you, Gripa," Harry said kindly as she handed him the broom. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

Blaise patted Harry on the back and opened the door as Gripa popped out once more. "Well, thanks so much for stopping by."

"Uh, sure," Harry said, giving Blaise a curious look as he stepped outside.

Blaise shut the door and turned to Draco. "You know, you can be a real git sometimes," he said. "Then again, so can I. Nearly got into a duel with Potter in front of Hermione; bloody near blew our eardrums out with one of her spells."

"I'm a git? I'm a git? What about Potter?" Draco questioned. "He goes around rescuing people like he's some kind of hero and…"

Blaise put his hand on Draco's shoulder and said, "Look, I don't like him either but there's obviously something in him that Hermione likes so maybe we should both make an effort to get to know him."

Draco pondered this for a moment. He didn't think what Blaise was suggesting would be possible. There was far too much bad blood between them. Far more even than what lay between himself and Hermione. He and Harry quite literally hated each other.

However, if he was going to make any headway with Hermione, playing nice with her friends was something he would have to do. He sighed and looked at Blaise. "You're right," he said finally.

"When am I not?" Blaise asked with a smirk.

"When you're being a complete and total arse… much like you are now," Draco replied with a smirk of his own.

Blaise gave him a playful scowl and quickly took him into a headlock. "An arse, am I?"

"Seems to be a lot of that male bravado going around. I think it's an unfortunate part of belonging to the male gender of our species."

Both boys straightened up and looked at Hermione. Blaise gave her a mock hurt look and placed his hand over his heart. "Oh, now that really hurt, Hermione," he said.

Hermione smiled. "Sometimes the truth hurts, but that doesn't make it any less true," she said playfully.

"Fair enough," Blaise said, kissing his sister on the cheek. "Well, I'll leave you two alone. Have fun!"

Hermione chuckled as her brother moseyed away and then turned her attention to the handsome young man standing in front of her. As she smiled up at him, her eyes landed on his soft lips. A light blush crept into her cheeks as she nervously looked down at the floor.

"You look amazing," Draco breathed, taking in her fitted black slacks and royal blue halter top.

"Thank you. I hope I'm not over dressed," she said.

Draco looked down at his black dress shoes, khaki slacks, white collared shirt and black pull-over sweater and shook his head. "You're dressed just fine, Hermione," he said with a small smile. "You look absolutely beautiful."

The words were out of his mouth before he even realized he had said them. Luckily, he had had enough practice hiding his emotions that the slight shock he felt never made it to his face. If he was being honest, he wasn't so much shocked by what he had said, but by the fact that he had actually meant them. Well, that's an interesting development, he thought.

Hermione blushed as she said, "Are you sure?"

"Don't make me hex you, Zabini," he said with a playfully stern look. "You look gorgeous."

Hermione blushed at his comment as she let out a light laugh. "I'd disarm you before you could utter a single word," she retorted. "I'll just get my jacket."

"I get stunned every time I see you," he whispered as she walked away.

He wasn't sure if she had actually heard him, or not, because she continued walking away. He hoped she hadn't. It wouldn't do him any good for her to know that she was beginning to affect him.

At least not yet.

"Ready."

"All right then, off we go," Draco said, holding out his arm for her.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as she took his arm and allowed him to lead her out of the mansion.

"It's a surprise."

Hermione smirked. "Draco Malfoy actually plans surprises?"

"If there's someone worth planning one for," he replied seriously.

"And I've somehow managed to fit into that category?"

"Oh you've managed that quite easily," Draco told her with a smile.

Hermione smiled back at him as they came to a stop near the end of the driveway. Draco turned to face her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm fairly certain you've passed your Apparation test, but it'll be easier if you just hang on to me."

Hermione gave a small nod and wrapped her own arms around him tightly, preparing herself for the painful squeezing feeling. Within seconds she felt as if her body was being squeezed through a tight rubber tube. She closed her eyes and didn't open them again until she felt her feet on solid ground.

"I take it you don't like Apparation?"

"I'm still getting used to it," she replied shakily.

Draco nodded in understanding. "I went through that myself," he said. "It gets easier the more you do it."

"I'm sure."

Draco pulled out of her grasp and took her hand. "Come on, I'm hungry."

Hermione laughed as Draco lead her down the main street of Hogsmeade. "Boys and their stomachs," she muttered.

Draco ushered Hermione down a little alley way and stopped in front of a quaint looking café with miniature candelabras on each table. In all her visits to Hogsmeade, she had never seen this café before. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

"I suddenly feel underdressed," Draco stated with a chuckle as he looked the café over.

Hermione looked at him seriously. "You're dressed fine to me, why would you think you're underdressed?"

"Well, when I decided to bring you here, it was daytime."

"No romantic atmosphere about the place at the time?"

"Well, no, not really," he answered honestly. "Not much of one, but I thought it'd be a nice place to start our um… courtship?"

Hermione giggled and repeated, "Courtship? You call what we have a 'courtship'?"

Draco rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at her. "I didn't know what else to call it," he said honestly, "I mean; we've barely begun getting to know each other and we're betrothed. We've kind of skipped a step, or two, you know?"

"Yes, I've got to agree on that," Hermione said seriously. "We've gone straight from despising each other to chatting civilly with each other… It's quite strange really."

"Yes… Well, shall we go in?" Hermione nodded and Draco held the door open for her, following behind her once she passed him.

As they walked in, a young woman smiled at them from the hostess podium and said, "Welcome to Tira, do you have a reservation?"

"Yes, under Malfoy," Draco told her.

The young witch eyed Draco flirtatiously for a moment before looking down at her reservations book. "Ah, yes here we are sir; Malfoy, reservations for two."

"That's correct."

"Right this way," the hostess replied, grabbing two menus and leading them through the café.

Draco placed his right hand on the small of Hermione's back, gently guiding her as they were taken to their table. She turned her head slightly and smiled back at him. "Well, here we are," the hostess said, gesturing to a table next to her.

Draco pulled out Hermione's chair and waited until she was seated before pushing it in. He then walked around the table and sat down in the chair opposite her as the hostess placed their menus on the table. "Your server should be right with you however, please feel free to alert me if your service is not to your liking and I'll happily take care of it for you."

"Thank you," Draco said, kindly dismissing her.

As the hostess walked away, Hermione unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap. She then straightened her silverware and took a long sip of her water. She blushed slightly when she glanced up and noticed Draco watching her. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were nervous, Miss Zabini," he said with an amused chuckle.

She hurriedly picked up her menu, holding it up to hide her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, glancing up at him.

Draco gave one of his trademark smirks and said, "Of course not, you're just blushing because you think I'm good-looking."

"Your looks mean nothing to me," Hermione told him.

"A person's looks always mean something," Draco said.

"That's a superficial statement if I ever heard one," Hermione said a bit coldly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Neither one of us is blind, Draco; you are a good-looking guy, there's no denying that, but a person's looks aren't what makes them who they are. There has to be substance, as well, like personality."

"You're quite right but wouldn't you agree that there has to be something about a person that makes them physically attractive in order for someone to find them attractive?"

"Not necessarily."

Before Draco could comment, a tall man came up to them with a pad of paper and a quill. "Hi, I'm Herbert; I'll be your server this evening. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

Draco looked at Hermione who said, "I'd like a butterbeer please."

"I'll take the same," Draco said.

Herbert wrote on the pad of paper and smiled at them. "Were you ready to order or do you need a few more minutes?"

"A few more minutes would be great," Draco said kindly.

The server nodded and walked off to check on his other tables.

Hermione looked over her menu, quickly trying to decide what she should order. Everything sounded so delicious that she was having trouble deciding. After several minutes, she finally decided on what she wanted and put her menu down. She noticed Draco had already closed his menu and was looking at her. "What?"

"How are you adjusting to living at the Mansion?"

"Oh, um, fairly well I suppose."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You suppose?"

"Well, it's rather strange going from living in a Muggle town to suddenly living in a house you're able to do magic in whenever you want."

"I can only imagine."

Herbert came back carrying a small tray with two bottles on it. He placed the bottles on the table and took their orders, after which he disappeared again.

While the two were waiting for their food, they talked about anything they could think of from how they each grew up to what they thought this new year at Hogwarts held for them. "I imagine there's going to be a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year," Hermione said. "I wonder who it's going to be."

"Actually, we'll have a new Potions Master," Draco told her matter-of-factly. "Professor Snape is going to be teaching Defense this year."

Hermione's eyes widened. "You're kidding!"

"He sent me a letter of congratulations on our engagement the other day," Draco said.

"Has Dumbledore gone completely mad?" Hermione exclaimed. "Why in Merlin's name would he appoint Professor Snape to the Defense post?"

"Well he is a gifted teacher, you know," Draco said defensively.

"Be that as it may, Professor Snape has a past with the Dark Arts. I mean; he was a Death Eater."

"As was my father, and your father for that matter."

"Well, don't you think that Professor Snape might slip back into his old ways teaching Defense?"

Draco cocked his head to the side and gave her a questioning look. "You trust Dumbledore, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Hermione replied.

Draco took a drink of his butterbeer and smiled. "Then why are you questioning his choice of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't like Professor Snape," Hermione confessed. "He's a completely biased teacher."

"And exactly what mark did you get from him on your O. ?"

Hermione sighed. "I received an 'O'."

"Well then, you can't really say he's biased now can you?"

"And why not?"

"If he were truly biased, he would have given you a 'T'."

Hermione huffed softly as her food was set down in front of her. "Even so, you've seen how he treats non-Slytherin students," she said as she picked up her fork.

"It's an unhealthy habit of Slytherins," Draco said quietly. "I'm the same way, remember?"

Hermione took a bite of her food and shook her head as she swallowed. "You're only like that around your family or friends," she said. "I can see that that's not who you really are."

Draco took a bite of his own food before saying, "You've only just begun getting to know me; how can you be sure that what you're seeing now is who I am?"

Hermione thought about that as she chewed another bite of food. How did she know that Draco was being his true self at that moment? It wasn't as if they had been chummy for the past six years. How could she be sure that Draco wasn't just shining her on?

She looked at him with an uncertain smile. "I don't, but my instincts have never steered me wrong," she told him, "I'm also a believer in trying to see the good in people, so I'm willing to take the time to find out."