I own nothing.
Chapter 19
Hermione quietly walked up the stairs of the girls tower later than she ever had. She could just see the sun begin to announce the new day through her still opened curtain as she walked into the room she shared with Lavender Brown who was snoring loudly from behind her bed curtains. Hermione walked over and closed the window quietly, smiling as she thought about her date with George and Fred. They had stayed at the beach until the moon was high in the sky. It had always been a dream of Hermione's to swim in the ocean at night and Fred had made it happen with George's help. They were starving by the time it had gotten too cold to be in the water. They had thought ahead though and George had pulled out a shrunken muggle cooler, stuffed to the brim with sandwiches, fruit, veggies, cookies and pumpkin juice. Fred had made a fire and they sat in front of it for hours talking and laughing. During a lull in conversation Hermione had started to doze off, her head resting on Georges shoulder, her hand in Fred's hand. The next thing she knew, she was being carried through the corridors of Hogwarts. George and Fred had dropped her off in front of the sleeping Fat Lady, each giving her a wonderful good night kiss.
Hermione side happily as she pulled off her outfit her bathing suit still on, extremely content for the moment. She knew that she had a lot to think about, but for once in her life, she was going to allow herself to enjoy the moment. As she turned to pull back the covers on her bed, she nearly screamed when she noticed a form on her bed, smirking back at her.
"Merlin, Ginny! You scared the stuffing out of me," Hermione exclaimed. She quickly pulled her wand out a cast a muffliato spell around her side of the room, so that Lavender wouldn't wake up and hear the conversation Hermione was sure was about to take place.
"Did I?" the red head asked, still smirking as she sat up from her comfortable spot on Hermione's bed. You could tell that she had been sleeping but had woken up when her friend sighed happily.
"Yes, you did," Hermione replied, taking a seat next to Ginny on her bed.
"Why is your hair damp?" she asked the brown haired witch. "And did you have fun?"
Hermione grinned, turning to look at Ginny."I had so much fun."
Ginny squealed, turning herself much like Hermione had done. "Tell me everything."
"Well first they scared Charlie off and apperated us to the twins shop because they said they wanted to show me something."
"Oh no!" Ginny replied, shaking her head knowingly. It was always a scary thing when the twins wanted to 'show you' something.
"That's what I thought, but then they showed me this," Hermione handed Ginny the pen, which the red head took cautiously, not trusting much of anything her brothers created. She held the object in her hand, turning it over in her hand to examine it more.
"The Granger 2000?" Ginny asked reading the name of the product. Ginny grinned widely. "Did they name this after you?"
"They did. Fred came up with an idea and George helped him. They wanted to create a product that reminded them of me," Hermione told her best friend, grinning.
"That's got to be one of the sweetest things those two have ever done in their entire life," Ginny exclaimed grinning happily for her friend.
"You can explain what it is and how it works later. I want the juicy stuff," Ginny said, setting the pen down.
Hermione laughed and settled down to tell the red head everything that had happened at the beach, up to the point where they had carried her into the castle.
"Wow," Ginny replied, speechless.
"Wow indeed," Hermione agreed dreamily, trying not to yawn. The sun was shining through the curtains just a little bit. She leaned back into her pillows. Ginny leaning back on the pile of blankets at the end of Hermione's bed.
"Who do you like better?" Ginny asked sleepily, burrowing under Hermione's comforter.
"I don't know, Gin. I just don't...know," the brown haired girl slurred as they drifted off to sleep.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Harry sat on the couch in the common room after breakfast trying to work on his homework, worried about where Ginny and Hermione were. Hermione hadn't shown back up the night before when he had gone to sleep. And Ginny, who usually at least made an appearance at breakfast, was nowhere to be found.
A knock at the portrait door pulled Harry out of his thoughts. He was the only one in the common room, as most people were enjoying the nice sunny day out on the grounds of Hogwarts. He walked over the door and was shocked when he saw none other than Draco Malfoy, looking quite out of place.
"Potter," Draco greeted the boy-who-lived.
"Malfoy," Harry replied, quite stunned to see the Prince of Slytherin standing in the door way of Gryffindor tower. "How can I help you?"
"I was supposed to meet Hermione this morning, but I haven't seen her. I was wondering if she was up here," the blonde answered, feeling odd at asking his onetime enemy for help.
"Actually, I haven't seen her or Ginny this morning," Harry said, starting to worry. Hermione hardly ever missed being somewhere when she said she would.
"Excuse me," a small voice said behind Harry, who was still blocking the portrait door.
"Sorry," he apologised to Olivia, one of Ginny's roommates.
"Oi Olivia?" Harry called after her.
"Yes?" she asked nervously. She was one of the shyest girls in Gryffindor and didn't really like confrontation.
"Have you seen Ginny or Hermione this morning?"
"No, I haven't. Ginny's bed was made when I got up at 7 this morning. I haven't seen Hermione either," the girl answered, before turning to continue on her way.
"Ginny never gets up before 7. Even on class days," Harry informed Draco, as the colour on Harry's face left completely.
"Where could they be?" Draco wondered worriedly.
"I have no clue," the raven haired boy replied. "Why don't you come in and we can think together."
Draco raised an eyebrow, surprised with the invitation. "Sure, alright."
He followed Harry into a very cosy, cheery common room, which had a ton of sun light beaming in through the windows. Just as he was about to take a seat in one of the arm chairs, there was a massive crash that came from the girls tower, followed quickly by two screams.
"That's Ginny!" Harry exclaimed hurrying toward the stairs, wand at the ready.
"And Hermione," Draco replied, following him up the stairs, his own wand also drawn.
When they were half way up the tower, the staircase began shaking as if the stairs were going to collapse. Harry quickly cast a spell that froze the stairs in their place as they continued to run toward the screaming girls.
"Ginny!" Harry screamed as he burst through the door.
What the pair of worried, would be rescuers found when they burst through the door was nothing like what they were expecting.
Ginny was in a heap of blankets and pillows on the floor while Hermione was holding her head, hanging half way off of the bed. Both girls had stopped screaming, but uncontrollable laughter could be heard throughout the tower.
"Harry," Ginny gasped as her fiancée and Draco blast through Hermione's door.
"What are you doing in here?" Hermione asked, surprised, still hanging upside down off of her bed.
"I must say, I've had a few fantasies in my life time, but I never thought that I would see this particular one come true," Draco replied, smirking as he leaned on the door frame. Harry laughed loudly; it was kind of weird that his former enemy had said exactly what he had been thinking.
Ginny fought her way out of the mounds of blankets and stood, walking over to where the boys still stood.
"It's still only in your dreams, Malfoy," she said, causing Draco to chuckle as Ginny kissed her fiancée soundly. "Why are you up here?"
"We heard a loud band and then the two of you screaming," Harry answered.
"So the two of you thought you would run up here and rescue us from whatever it was," Ginny asked smirking. She turned to look at the Slytherin that was in the room. "And why are you in Gryffindor tower?"
"I was supposed to meet Hermione this morning and when I didn't see her at breakfast, I went to the library. When she wasn't there, I walked up here and knocked on the portrait. And Potter here let me in," Draco answered as he turned to look at the object of his affection, who was just standing up right, her hand on her forehead and a blanket wrapped tightly around herself.
"I'm sorry, Draco. I over sleep," Hermione said.
"It's my fault, really," Ginny chimed in, not wanting Draco to know how late she had stayed out with the twins. "We stayed up entirely too late talking about weddings and such."
Harry raised an eyebrow at his fiancée's our right lie, knowing that they had probably been talking about Hermione's date with George and Fred. But he decided not to say anything, wanting details of the date from Ginny later on.
"It's quite alright ladies," Draco assured the two walking toward where Hermione still stood, hand over her forehead. He removed her hand and revealed a massive pop knot on her noggin. "Are you okay?" Draco asked, concerned as he let her to sit down on her bed.
"I think I'm okay. I just have a monster headache," she replied.
"Sit still," he told her, pulling out his wand, muttering a healing spell, which instantly dissolved the knot into a smooth forehead once again. "There. That looks a lot better. Does it feel okay?"
"I still have a slight head ache, but I have a potion that will fix it," she replied, standing to walk to her potions cabinet. As she stood to walk across the room, the blanket she had wrapped around her fell off of her, revealing the bathing suit she had been wearing the day before.
"Merlin's Beard, 'Mione!" Harry exclaimed from the door when he saw the bathing suit.
Hermione turned deep red, quickly leaning over and picking up one of the blankets off of the floor.
Draco had never seen a more beautiful sight then the one that stood before him. He knew she was beautiful, but in that little get up, he thought she was the most breath taking sight he had ever set his eyes on.
"Sorry about that," she said as she grabbed the potion she had been going after.
"Oh, no need to apologise," Draco declared, smirking as she slapped at him playfully.
"I'm sure," Hermione replied.
"Why don't we go downstairs and allow the ladies to get dressed for the day," Harry suggested, not liking the way Draco was ogling Hermione.
"Sounds like a plan," the blond replied reluctantly, enjoying the seat he had there on Hermione's bed. He stood though, waiting to be gentlemen and kissed Hermione gently on the lips before following Harry back down the stairs.
"Merlin, Mione. I thought Draco was about to have to ask to borrow your bathroom, the way his eyes almost popped out of his head."
Hermione blushed, but didn't say anything as she began cleaning up all of the blankets.
"Although his eyes really weren't the only thing getting bigger," Ginny smirked.
"Ginevra Weasley!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing a pillow at the red head, making her laugh.
"Well, I suppose I should go back to my room and try to make myself decent for the day," Ginny said after a few minutes of laughing.
"I think it will take a long time for you to be decent, Ms. Weasley," Hermione replied, grinning at her friend.
Ginny laughed and walked out of Hermione's room, towards her own.
The brown haired which took a quick shower and decided to scrunch her hair into thousands of tiny curls for the day instead of taking the time to dry and straighten it. She had already been late for her day with Draco and she didn't want to keep him waiting for much longer.
As Hermione was placing her wand in her pocket, she felt that the Granger 2000 was warm as her hand had grazed over the device briefly. Smiling, she quickly clicked the pen once and wrote her name as they had instructed her before clicking it four times to read the messages that were waiting for her. Both the 'GrW' and the 'FW' were lit up. Deciding to go alphabetically, Hermione clicked to see what George had to say first.
'Good morning, Love. I hope that you had a good night's rest. I wanted to tell you that I had a wonderful time yesterday. I miss you already.'
Hermione smiled and quickly pushed the red 'FW'.
'Mione, I just wanted to tell you good night. I know that my dreams will be filled with visions of you in the gorgeous bathing suit of yours, running and splashing water in my face and your kisses...there really are no words to describe the way they make me feel about you. I suppose I could quite you though. Yes, 'yummy' very much describes those lips of yours.'
Hermione laughed aloud at Fred's use of the word yummy. It had been one of the best mistakes she had made in a long time, saying what she had been thinking aloud. Sighing, she quickly clicked the pen off and placed it in her pocket, deciding to write them later that evening. She stood and made her way down the stairs, where there was a Slytherin waiting for her.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The day had flown by with Draco and Hermione spending the majority of the day under the tree near the front gate of Hogwarts. They planned more aspects of the upcoming 'Once upon all Hallows Eve' ball, but the majority of the day had been spent talking and laughing. And quite a bit of snogging.
"I believe that this has been one of the best Sundays I've ever spent here at Hogwarts," Draco breathed into Hermione's ear. She sat with her back against his chest, his arms wrapped around her.
Hermione sighed happily. "I would have to agree," she replied, turning to smile up at the handsome man that sat behind her.
Draco leaned down and captured her lips with his own. Hermione turned in his arms, to be more comfortable while he deepened the kiss.
"Mr. Malfoy? Ms. Granger?" a voice said, pulling them apart from one another quickly.
"Good afternoon, Professor McGonagall," Draco replied completely at ease with the situation the transfigurations professor had stumbled across.
"Good afternoon," the professor greeted the pair, trying desperately not to grin at the blush that took up the majority of Ms. Granger's face.
"We were just working on more preparations for the ball at the end of the month," Hermione informed her teacher.
"Oh were you?" the professor asked, smiling just a bit. "May I see some of them?"
Hermione nodded, excited to show the headmistress the plans. She pulled out the notebook they had written the majority of their plans and handed it over.
The professor stood and read over some of the material, her face showing no form of emotion. Finally, after what felt like forever to Hermione, the professor looked up and smiled at the pair in front of her.
"You have done a very good job. I would suggest that you set up some committees to help you with some of the aspects of the ball."
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, beaming at the praise they had just received. "We apologise for not working on this with Charlie around, but we didn't want to disturb his Sunday. We will show him everything we've added the next time we meet," Hermione added.
"Professor Weasley?" the professor asked, sounding quite confused. "Why would you need to show him? I just approved everything."
Draco raised an eyebrow, wondering if a suspicion he had been having was true. "Because he told us that you appointed him the faculty advisor over the balls."
Professor McGonagall's eyes became two sizes bigger than before. "He came to me, asking if I needed one, but I informed him that the two of you were quite capable of planning it all. I told him that it was fine for him to offer his help if you needed it, but I certainly did not appoint Professor Weasley as faculty advisor."
The look on Hermione's face was one that Draco had seen many times over the years and that look had ended with him either being hexed or punched.
"Thank you Professor," Draco replied as he helped the enraged Gryffindor up off of the ground, before leading her toward the lake and away from innocent bystanders.
"Hermione," he said softly, standing in front of her his hands around her own, rubbing soothing circles over the top of her hands.
"He lied to me," she replied angrily, pulling her wand out of her pocket.
"Hermione, love, I know you are angry, but it's against many rules here at Hogwarts to harm a professor," Draco reminded the livid within from of him, even though it went against a small part of him. He would enjoy, just a little bit, seeing Hermione have her wand point at a Weasley.
"I know that, Draco," she replied softly. "Accio Charlie's petition," she said, flicking her wand just right. A few seconds later, the rolled up sheet of parchment flew into her out stretched hand.
"But there's no rule against break up with one," Hermione said sadly, standing on her tip toes to leave a kiss on Draco's cheek.
"Do you want me to come with you?" he offered, seeing how difficult this was going to be for her.
"No, thank you. This is something I need to do on my own," she replied sighing, before turning and making her way towards the hut on the other side of the grounds.
Draco watched as she walked slowly, but with authority away from him. He turned and made his way to Gryffindor tower for the second time that day. She was going to need her friends when she returned to the tower that evening.
Sorry this took so long! My poor beta was sick! But she better now and here is the chapter. :) Thank you for being an awesome beta. :) I hope you like this chapter. :) Please review...it would make my birthday the best. (Its tommorow by the way in case anyone wants to know. ) Happy Reading.