Despite this, and despite her letter, she didn't have any contact with Draco after that. And Hermione, never being one to drag, left it behind her as a fond memory. It was end of term, and they all had better things to worry about anyway. Hermione was excited to see her parents again. She never realized how much she had been missing them until the end of the year, when the homesickness would hit her in strong waves.
"Are you going to the rally later?" Ginny said, sitting on the bed. Hermione thought a bit. "I've seen it so many times, and I really have to finish packing." She told her. "Oh come on, its tradition." Ginny said, never one to miss a chance at fun. She was right, the rally happened every year at the end of the term. It was a sort of celebration for everyone after completing exams. Generally the whole school went, even the most intense introverts. There was food and games and just an entirely fun atmosphere. But Hermione knew she wouldn't finish her packing in time if she went. "You'll be the only one to not go." Ginny warned, as though there were some sort of high stakes to be lost. "I'll be fine, if I rush I can make it before the fireworks." "The fireworks are at the end Hermione." "Exactly." She replied with a smile.
As she began to fold the last of her clothes, she realized that maybe she wasn't making the best decision. Life was made up of moments, so you might as well make them good ones.
The rally was really more of a fair, and Hermione couldn't convince herself to stay cooped up in her room folding. So she put on a new change of clothes and headed downstairs to try and find Ginny and Harry. The crowds she was met with were indescribable. Like giant waves that swept her from booth to booth. Her favorite was the balloon popping one. She never managed to actually pop one, but she thought it was great fun anyway. The best part of the rally was when the sun began to set and everything got lit up, like a big city.
As she gave up the last few coins for yet another game, she was confronted with a familiar face. "You been at this long?" Draco asked, not looking at her, handing his own coins to the booth man. "Almost the whole time." She laughed. Draco nodded at her. He threw a few darts, hitting two out of the three balloons, earning him a prize. "Which one were you playing for?" he asked her. "Oh, I don't really play for the prizes, I just like throwing the darts." Hermione giggled awkwardly. He raised an eyebrow at her, he seemed impatient. "I like otters though." She swallowed, again, more awkwardly than she had intended. "She can have it." He told the man, and left without another word.
She watched him leave, slightly confused, and part of her wanted to run up to him to ask if he'd ride the ferris wheel with her. As she stared at the stuffed otter in her hands she thought it was a stupid idea because she was afraid of heights.
"Hey! Don't tell me you actually won something this time!" Hermione was snapped out of her thoughts by Ginny, happily skipping over to her with Harry by her side. "No, yeah it was great," she shook her head in disbelief, "I guess this is what happens when you spend all your coins at the same booth each year." Ginny rolled her eyes. "This is exactly why Harry and I saved our last ones so we could all try something new." Harry was very excited. Hermione let them drag her away into one attraction or another. As they swam through the mess of people, they inevitably passed the Slytherin crowd, and when they did, time seemed to slow a bit for Hermione.
Both groups were walking in opposite directions, and they probably didn't notice each other, but Draco and Hermione sure did. She held up the stuffed otter slightly, and shot him a sideways smile, since she never really got to thank him properly. She knew he had seen her, they had been making contact, and yet he didn't respond at all. Simply turned his head and kept on walking, even commenting something to Blaise.
The rest of the rally was a bit of a blur; she danced a bit, had much too many sweets, and laughed more than she had in a while. Over the next few days Hermione was busy saying her goodbyes, finishing her last minute packing, and preparing for the trip home. She couldn't wait to see her parents.
When she finally did get home, she was greeted with warm hugs and her favorite tea. Her summer days continued in pleasant fashion. The days were warm, she had time to write a bit of poetry, catch up on some novels and just enjoy the quiet of her garden. Sometimes she'd join her mom in tending the flowers. She really couldn't ask for much else. On one particularly sunny afternoon, she sat down to write Harry back, she had been putting it off for long enough and had some exciting new things to tell him about the book she was reading. That is, until the doorbell rang. Her mother was busy with lunch so she went ahead to answer it. When she opened the door she couldn't be more surprised as to who was staring back at her.
A/N: Whoever could it be? :0! But seriously, I'm having so much fun writing the next chapter, so stay tuned! It should be up shortly :) Keep the feedback coming! As always, thanks for reading~