Dedicated to: Erica! Happy birthday; until I get your tangible present...this will have to do.
Disclaimer: Nada ownage rights.
Note: They are twenty-three; young enough to do the activities in the chapter, and not get hurt!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
At 9am, Hermione stretched and looked around. She expected to see her husband lying in bed beside her, but he wasn't in sight and she couldn't feel his warmth next to her. Not giving it much thought, (and assuming he was at work) Hermione prepared herself to do...absolutely nothing. For some reason, her boss had given her the day off. She couldn't quite remember why, but it was appreciated nonetheless. Yawning, she meandered into the kitchen and was greeted with the delicious aroma of waffles—her absolute favorite breakfast food in the world. Expecting to find a house elf cooking at the stove, she was surprised to find that it was Draco. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed his cheek.
"Good morning, that smells amazing; but why aren't you at work?"
"Because today is..." Draco trailed off and looked at his wife in wonder, "You don't know what today is?"
Hermione shook her head in confusion. "Should I?"
Draco chuckled. "Yes, you should. But now you can't know until you figure it out. I forbid you to look at the calendar. Tonight I'll ask you your theory and maybe you'll have it figured out by then. But I doubt it; I bet that I'll have to tell you myself."
"You're on!" Hermione exclaimed with fire in her eyes, "But I'll bet that I'll guess correctly on my first try!" Draco narrowed his eyes.
"Okay, but if I win...you have to be my slave for a week."
She gasped in outrage. "Slave like how...?" Draco just smirked and Hermione blushed once she figured out what kind of slave she'd be.
"Fine, but if I win—which I will—then you have to be my slave for a week; deal?" Draco kissed her. "Sealed with a kiss. Now sit down and I'll get your breakfast to you."
About fifteen minutes later, Hermione pushed her plate away from her with a sigh.
"Mm, that was wonderful! I'm so glad you made that, and even though I don't know why you did, it hits the spot."
He kissed her forehead softly. "I'm glad. Now get dressed, but don't wear anything you wouldn't want to get ruined." Hermione shrugged but went upstairs and complied with his strange request. Minutes later, Hermione was dressed and ready to go. Draco had a basket in his hand, but Hermione ignored it.
"So, where are we going?"
"You'll see. Just have patience. Oh, and you need to wear this." Draco blindfolded her eyes and tied it tightly. "Take my hand and don't let go, okay?"
Hermione nodded and interlaced her fingers with his. With a 'pop' the couple apparated out of Malfoy Manor and to a location that Hermione was completely clueless to.
Draco gently took off the blindfold, all the while telling Hermione to not open her eyes yet. "Okay...now you can open your eyes." Hermione did and she gasped; they were in the middle of the field at her old elementary school.
"I haven't been here for years! How did you know?"
"I asked your parents a couple of questions." Hermione pounced on Draco and tackled him to the ground, kissing him fiercely.
"This is so great!" She got off of him and took his hand. "C'mon! We have to do this."
"Do what?"
"You'll see, now let's go!" For the next portion of the day, Hermione and Draco played around on the play structure. Draco was rather wary of the muggle contraptions. The monkey bars astounded him. "Kids do this for fun?" Was his incredulous question after Hermione dragged him to the monkey bars.
But if Draco was wary about swinging on them, he was even more wary about climbing on top of them. "Do you have a wish to die on your...day of relaxation?"
"No, of course not! This is just fun; trust me." Trust her he did, and the two of them went on top of the monkey bars and just sat looking at the expanse of the playground.
"Hey, they still have the swings!" Hermione jumped off the bars while Draco played it safe and carefully climbed down. By the time he'd reached the swings, Hermione was already full-swing and laughing madly. She jumped off the swing in mid air and landed on her knees. Draco rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"
Hermione laughed at his concern. "Peachy. Come on, swing with me!"
"Not like that I won't." He muttered, not intending for her to hear. He went and sat down on the nearest swing and she sat on the one next to him. Draco was about to start swinging when she laced her fingers with his.
"We have to start at the same time. On my count to three: one...two...THREE!" The couple got their timing just right and they were swinging together, their legs pumping in tandem and their hands entwined in the middle of them.
Hermione sighed happily. "I've always wanted to do this." Just then, her stomach growled. "Oh!" She looked at her watch. "Its 2:30, no wonder I'm hungry; but I don't want to go back yet. This has been paradise." Draco pointed with the hand that wasn't attached to hers to the basket that he'd left on the grass a distance away.
"I thought ahead."
"Aww a picnic! How sweet. But I still don't understand what this is about."
"Can't a guy spoil his wife without getting questioned about ulterior motives?" Hermione felt slightly guilty after that, so she dropped the subject.
"What did you make?"
"Turkey sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise."
"Sounds great!" In a comfortable silence, they ate their lunches. As they were working to clean up their little picnic area and preparing to leave, Hermione remembered something.
"Wait! Before we leave, there's one more thing I want to do." She motioned for Draco to follow her and stopped in front of the baseball cage. "We've gotta climb this."
He looked at his wife incredulously. "Are you serious?"
"Yes." Reluctantly, Draco acquiesced to Hermione's bizarre request. Soon they were both on top of the baseball cage, Hermione with her feet dangling off the edge.
"Why exactly have you always wanted to do this?"
"Well we were never allowed to when school was actually in session, so being against the rules made me want to try. And I love the heights, it's just so exhilarating, you know?"
Draco smiled wryly. "Yeah, I get what you mean. But I don't understand why you loathe flying."
"Drop it." Hermione gave him an icy glare. "I'm not going there." They spent basically an hour up there just talking about anything and everything. Too quickly in Hermione's opinion, it was approaching evening and the sun was beginning to set. Hermione was watching it reverently, but Draco broke her focus.
"Did you figure it out yet, Herms?"
"Yep; you're being super nice and doing all sorts of sweet things for me because you feel bad about what you're going to do tonight."
"Please explain." Draco honestly had no idea what she was talking about.
"You see, I've discovered that you have a secret lover and you are planning to elope with her tonight and leave me behind. You feel bad for me, so you're just doing this to butter me up so I won't be as crushed when you leave. Am I right?" The amazing thing was that Hermione spoke with a completely straight face, as if that was what she honestly believed.
"You're joking right? Please tell me that you're joking!" Hermione shook her head at him and Draco, without warning, burst into hysterical laughter.
"So I'm not right?" She questioned. Draco confirmed that with a shake of his head and continued his laughing riot. Once he had finally calmed down, he spoke.
"You're ridiculous, that's not even close."
Hermione's face actually fell! She was glad that he wasn't having an affair, but she didn't want to lose the bet! "Okay then, what is it? Why are you doing this for me?"
"It's your birthday, Hermione." A soft smile lit up her face.
"That's right! I've had so much going on with work that the days just started to blend together. I guess I just stopped keeping track of the dates."
"You know, you're pretty lucky that you have such a wonderful husband. I doubt that Weasley would remember." Draco snorted derisively. He leaned into her and kissed his wife deeply on the lips, cupping her face in his hands.
"Happy birthday Hermione."
He pulled away from her with a grin on his face. "You do realize that I won the bet right?" Hermione groaned and pulled his face to hers for another kiss. Let the bet wait. If she wanted to prolong that, then so be it. After all, it was her birthday!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AN2: Please leave a review!!
lovelove, Amanda