Sorry for taking so long, I think I'm just gonna stop making promises I can't keep. Just so you know, in this chapter and later on, there'll be, some songs, some of which will be of our time, so and just bend your imagination however you see fit to fit them in.
That afternoon, Hermione was the first to arrive at Runes class and make her way to her seat, 15 minutes early. She took her time taking out her things and reading the previous lesson's notes, before she was finally joined by the rest of the class and the Professor. To her surprise, Draco made his way over to her desk, and with a shy smile, sat himself beside her. She stared openly at him, her mouth wide, for a few seconds before realising it, and turned to listen to the teacher who was saying that they were continuing Egyptian runes, one of the most complicated runic languages, with a record-breaking 835 symbols.
Ten minutes into the lesson, a note was slipped to her side of the table, interrupting her frantic scribbling. She shot a suspicious look at the blond next to her, who's knee was bouncing incessantly, before taking a look at the note :
There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up... would you like to go with me?
She stared in shock for a few minutes, completely missing the Professor's speech and the anxious looks Draco was sending her. Before she could scribble back an answer though, the writer had snatched it back and was adding something else :
You don't have to obviously, but I think it would be good for our relationship, or whatever this is, to see each other out of school setting.
Hermione quickly wrote back an answer before handing the piece of paper back :
Sure, I'd love to, I was just a bit surprised is all. We can go together, unless you'd rather meet me there.
His response was just as quick :
No, we can go together, that's fine.
They gave each other awkwardly sympathetic smiles before turning their attention back to the class, Hermione with a slight blush, and Draco looking more relaxed, his leg finally leaning naturally onto the legs of the table.
The end of that lesson marked the end of the school day for Hermione, and she made her way back to her dorm, looking forward to having a few hours on her own while Draco was in Transfiguration with the other Slytherins.
Draco sighed while making his way back to the dorm he shared with Hermione, dragging his bag behind him. It had been such a long day, he had almost fallen asleep in Transfiguration, his head bobbing up and down as he tried to keep his eyes open. He sighed once again as he arrived at the gargoyle, muttered the password and lifted a leg to enter the common room.
It was at that moment though that he froze in the middle of his movement, leg still in the air, balancing on one foot, staring at the curious display in front of him. There, in the middle of the common room, Hermione had her back to him and was singing and dancing. She was wearing some sort of head gear that Draco guessed the music was silently coming from, and swaying in rhythm to the melody that escaped her mouth.
"-forget you, oh oh oh!
I guess the change in my pocket wasn't enough and forget yoouu ooh oh oh!"
He could clearly hear the smile she had in her voice as she bounced and swayed, and realised he really wanted to see that smile. He had never seen a genuine wide smile come from her, not that he looked at her often, but from what he had seen, she often smiled in embarrassment of thanks. He never had seen her so happy that she could no longer take it without breaking into a grin that showed her now brilliant teeth.
He stayed at the door for a few more seconds, admiring the way she moved (he was totally checking her out, but would never admit it, even to himself) an shook her head while facing down. It continued until he felt embarrassed watching this intimate moment, at which point her entered and cleared his throat multiple times, louder and louder, until she finally turned around. When she did, he managed to get a glimpse of that radiant smile before her face fell, her eyes flew wide, and a red tinge appeared on her cheek. They stared at each other for a while, in horror (Hermione) and embarrassment (Draco), before suddenly busting into movement at the same time. Hermione hurried to rid herself of the muggle head gear, before joining Draco at the table with her books, and joined him in his studying.
They sat in silence for a while, Draco replaying the scene in his head over and over, pausing and replaying his memories when she did a move he particularly liked, or when she turned around and he saw that smile. She had not been dancing amazingly, but it far from bad and he simply couldn't get the image of her hips jiggling, however hard he concentrated on his History of Magic essay. Her singing, on the other hand, had been great. Slightly pitchy and deformed by her laughs, but he guessed that the fact that her ears were blocked by the actual music meant that she couldn't hear herself, and well he wasn't going to hold it against her for laughing. Finally, he tried to make conversation.
"What song was that?"
Hermione's head jolted up, as if surprised that he was talking to her. He tried to give her a reassuring smile that there really was nothing to be embarrassed about, but failed miserably, seen as he himself was embarrassed.
"Uh, it's a Muggle song, called Forget you... by Ceelo Green."
"Oh. And was that thing on your head a Muggle device? I thought those things didn't work here. With the magical interference and all."
"Yes it was, and I managed to charm it a bit so the magic wouldn't bother it. It doesn't work on everything, but MP3s (portable Muggle devices to listen to music) are quite simple, as they have only one purpose, but stuff like phones and computers, where you can do so many things on them, don't work at all."
"Oh."
They descended into silence once again, and it wasn't until a few minutes later that Draco built up the courage to bring a rather sticky subject.
"Hermione? Um, I actually had other motives to ask you to Hogsmeade, other than spending time with you."
"Yeah?"
"Yes, you see, I told my mother about this whole Bond thing, and she'd like to meet you."
"Are you joking?"
"Ah... no."
"Amazing. Bloody amazing." She sat back and threw her book back on the table, closing her eyes and rubbing her temple. "Why? All of us know she hates me, why pretend?"
"She doesn't hate you."
"Of course she does. Our previous two encounters didn't go so well, if you can remember."
"You met my mother twice? I thought there was just that one time in Madam Malkin's."
"So you were alone with Bellatrix when I was brought to your house?"
"Um no, you're right, she was there. But that one didn't really count, there was nothing she could do."
"Oh I know, don't worry, but it doesn't change the fact that every time we see each other, it ends badly."
"Look, my mother is pretty much like me. She was forced into all of it, and she has changed her mind (though not as much as me) about Muggles and Muggle-borns. If you're nice, she'll be nice. In fact she's quite warm, surprisingly. Now that my father is in Azkaban, she can let loose her crackling personality. Actually, Ginny Weasley reminds me a bit of her, though she'd never let herself get into a bad marriage. But my mum is quite fiesty, she managed to minimise my father's, ah, influence and such. Before ... he... came back, I mean."
"You're sure nothing will go wrong?"
"I'm sure she won't be the first to open hostilities. If you're not civil, I'm not gonna lie, she'll become a bitch"
That last comment made Hermione snort, however reluctant she was to admit it, he knew she like his peculiar sense of humour and his way of saying thin quickly ad bluntly.
"OK then. We meet your mother in four days. Yoopee."
