(A/N: Hey there, readers. Here's the next chapter. School is going to be starting soon, which means that the updates won't be as frequent. Still, I hope to put up a new chapter every week or so. Also, I'm planning to make the next chapter the concert because I want the story to move along. I apologize if this chapter seemed rushed. Please review and message. Enjoy! [=)

Chapter 4: Warning Signs

"Now that the movie is finished I should start practicing," Hermione said to herself. The DVD player opened exposing the 50 First Dates disk. She put the disk in the case and turned off all of the electronics.

"Arcessentes piano," she muttered pointing her wand at her desk. A polished, black grand piano was conjured in the place of her desk. The young girl trekked over to the piano, sat down on the stool, and gently placed her thin fingers on the keys.

After hours of practicing, she transfigured the piano back into a desk. Looking at her digital clock, she realized she had time for a quick dinner. She bolted out of her room in anticipation and headed for the stairs. Her stomach rumbled as she descended the stairs, her appetite intensifying with every step.

Hermione finally arrived in the kitchen when she found a note from her mother on the counter.

Hermione,

Your father and I are going out to dinner. Hopefully, it will ease his frustration. There is chicken adobo and rice in the fridge. Good night and I love you.

Love,

Mum

Hermione finished reading the note and set it down. She dashed for the cupboard and hastily grabbed a bowl. The hungry Gryffindor ran to the fridge, grabbed the container with the adobo and rice, and scooped nearly half of the contents with a large spoon. Hermione scooped the rice and put it on the bottom of the bowl and the chicken soon found its way on top of the white rice. To finish it off, she went to the very bottom of the container and collected the adobo sauce and drizzled it on top of the chicken and rice, being careful not to accidentally drop peppercorns or bay leaves into her bowl.

Deciding that putting the food in the microwave would take too long, she took out her wand and performed a heating charm on the adobo and accio'd a spoon and a fork. Almost instantly, she dashed to the dinner table and indulged in the delectable Filipino cuisine.

"Sweet Merlin, I'm just like Ron," she joked finishing her first helping. She ran to the refrigerator and helped herself to another serving of adobo. "Nothing can beat my mother's homemade cooking." She performed another heating charm on her food. Being the bon vivant that she was, she was sad to have finished the delicious food gone so fast. Hermione finished her food, put the dirty dishes in the sink, and did the dishes the muggle way.

In due time, the dreaded food coma came over the witch. She sleepily migrated up the stairs, into her room and changed into her pajamas. Her head hit the pillow and sleep overtook her.

"Step touch, step touch, and box step, look at your picture. And again, step touch, step touch, and box step, look at your picture. Strike a pose! And strike a pose," boomed Marc Anthony, clapping his hands to the beat of the song. "Good job, ladies. Take five while your choir director makes a few announcements."

The choir director moved up to the front of the room and commenced, "Good work so far. Now, by August 12th, all the songs we have been working on will be choreographed, your dresses will have been delivered, and a band will be picked to accompany your songs. So the week of August 12th, all the choirs are going to meet up at the theater down the street and start dress rehearsals. We will meet every day at 6:30 starting August 13th for dress rehearsal, leading up to the concert on the 17th. "

The entire choir listened attentively throughout her speech, each of the girls giving her their undivided attention. The way the girls were paying attention to the choir director surprised her, the girls were normally staring at their gorgeous choreographer.

"Remember these dates, ladies. The seamstress will call you guys over for measurements right about now. If you guys have questions I'll be in my office," said the choir director. With a final smile, she left the group and entered her office.

"Okay ladies, I have to make a phone call. We'll resume when I'm finished," announced their choreographer. Marc Anthony took out his cell phone from his Nike bag and dialed a phone number. "Hey, babe. I'll be home a little late, I have to help these girls finish their routine."

The girls began talking amongst themselves while Marc was in the middle of a phone call. Their attention was diverted towards their instructor when shouting rang their ears.

"BECAUSE IT'S PART OF MY JOB. WHY THE FUCK WOULD I LIE ABOUT IT," roared the tan choreographer into the cell phone. His eyebrows furrowed and the big green eyes turn an evil shade of red, complementing his fury.

Rachel turned to Hermione and Giselle and asked, "What's going to happen do you suppose?"

"I'd say since his girlfriend is going belligerent, they are going to break up pretty soon," Giselle answered as-a-matter-of-factly with her arms folded over her chest.

Hermione gave a look of disapproval towards Giselle. "Marc and his girlfriend are going to be fine, I'm sure of it."

The seamstress opened a door next to the director's office, stuck her head out, and called the next girl to be measured. "Rachel S., I can take you to be measured right now," called the seamstress. Rachel marched away from the group and into the room with the seamstress.

Bellows from Marc Anthony interrupted their conversation. "I'M NOT CHEATING ON YOU, DON'T GO PUTTING THIS SHIT ON ME. YOU KNOW WHAT, IF THAT'S THE WAY YOU SEE IT, WE ARE OVER," Marc raged. He hung up the phone and threw it back into his bag. His hands held his face as he exhaled quite loudly.

The sympathetic witch walked carefully towards Marc and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Marc, are you alright," Hermione soothed.

Marc looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll be ok. I'm not gonna let this minor setback get in the way. Let's get back to rehearsing. Take it from the top, ladies," he sang out, getting out of his funk. Hermione knew that Marc was a strong person and he could get through this bad breakup.

The girls broke apart from their cliques and set up for their set. Hermione was about to take her designated position when the seamstress called her over. "Hermione G." Rachel stepped out of the room, passing her friend on the way out.

Rachel smirked at her friend and joined the rest of the choir for the beginning of the number.

Blaise and Draco stepped out of the fireplace and into Blaise's summer home in Florence. The home of the Italian was cavernous. White pillars ran up and down from the floor to the ceiling. The windows wore green curtains and the white walls around it had silver detailing. Looking around, Draco noticed that there wasn't much inside the room.

"You seem to be lacking some furniture, Blaise," chuckled Draco, gesturing to the vacuous space.

"This is just the room for the Floo. The debris tends to get all over the place. The rest of the house looks better, I assure you," said Blaise leading Draco out of the room and into the rest of the mansion. They left the Floo room and entered a grand hallway. The walls were painted a cream color. Draco turned his head to the left and noticed a marble staircase that turned slightly as it went up to the upper level. Above the staircase, hung a dangling chandelier. Various Renaissance paintings and sculptures from various countries were randomly dispersed throughout the hall.

The blond haired Slytherin stopped abruptly to admire a Pieter Aertsen painting of an old man in a market. Draco looked into the man's eyes and shifted his weight from right to left, trying to see if the man's eyes followed him. Much to his amusement, the old man's eyes did follow Draco. The Malfoy boy snickered as he repeated his actions.

Blaise noticed his best mate's shenanigans and gave a hearty laugh. He came up with a brilliant way to scare the crap out of his best friend. Blaise took out his wand and performed a nonverbal charm on the painting without Draco seeing him. He watched the Slytherin Prince with an evil smirk, waiting for him to run away screaming.

Draco was making the old man's eyes follow his own. He moved closer to the painting, looking into the man's eyes. Suddenly, the old man winked at Draco. He looked confused for a split-second, but then the old man transformed into a Banshee and gave a blood-curdling scream that shattered Draco's eardrums. Draco ran away screaming with his arms flailing towards Blaise, who was doubled over laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh man, I love you to death, but you should have seen your face. You looked like this." Blaise made his eyes big enough to pop out of his head, opened his to imitate his screams, and flailed his arms. "You screamed like a little bitch," joked Blaise clapping his hands on Draco's back.

"I'm going to get you for that, mate," Draco fumed with a nonchalant face. He couldn't be serious for long because he started giggling along with Blaise. The two wizards marched towards the rest of the house with a light energy about them.

The men walked across the hall and into the living room. The floor in the living room was made out of wood. Windows with green curtains and white pillars lined the cream colored walls. Standing on top of a white carpet was a brown, wooden coffee table and white couch which were pointed in front of another fireplace. On either side of the couch were two sets of loveseats. Draco looked above the fireplace to see a strange, rectangular device mounted above it.

Draco nudged Blaise and asked, "Hey what is that thing above the fireplace?"

"That is a television set or TV," Blaise responded, "One of the most brilliant muggle devices on this planet. Here I'll show you." He grabbed the remote on the coffee table and turned on the TV. Instantaneously, a rerun of a sitcom appeared on the screen. Draco stood transfixed on the moving picture. He moved closer to the TV and cocked his head.

"Hey, this is pretty cool. I have to get one of those for my room. What do you call this moving picture with the sounds inside the TV?"

"It's called a show. There are different shows on one channel, and there are literally thousands of channels with other shows."

Draco stood trying to comprehend what he just heard. "Is there anything else it can do," he questioned.

"Of course. It can play a movie. The movies are stored on these circles called DVDs. You put them in a device called a DVD player and you can watch them like shows, but they're much longer," added Blaise, smiling at his friend's curiosity. He made a goal to introduce as many muggle technologies to Draco as possible. "The DVDs are on the shelves over there."

Malfoy explored the rest of the living room. On both sides of the fireplace were shelves that held DVDs, books, magical pictures, and small knick-knacks. When he looked up, he saw yet another chandelier.

"Oi, do you want to head to Florence to take a look at all the works of art and possibly pick up some girls," asked Blaise.

Malfoy stood contemplating his answer. He wanted to admire the famous works of art created by the great patrons, but he most certainly did not want to act as Blaise's wingman. Draco ran his pale fingers through his silky, blond hair and sighed. "Fine, I'll do it, but only because you're my best mate. I still have eyes for Hermione, so please no funny business" he gave in.

"Excellent, let's head out," Blaise commanded.

"On the boxes, and ladies on the ground move around the boxes. No no no no no. Ladies make sure your voices are projected towards the audience, not hiding behind your picture. Make sure your pictures are facing you. We don't want to reveal the identities of the men you are serenading to, do we," professed Marc Anthony. "We want to reveal the picture at the very last beat of the song. The whole point of this is like 'Hey audience, I'm going to tell you that I'm totally in love with some bloke, but I'm not going to tell you who he is unless you listen to me.' It will have the audience fidgeting on the edge of their seats."

The choir girls nodded, showing that they understood his lecture.

Marc looked at his watch and noticed that the practice ends in about one minute. "Okay, girls, I'm done for this session. Keep practicing your moves and I'll see you on Friday. Goodbye, everyone."

Hermione drove home in silence with no traffic. She parked her car in the driveway, stepped out of the car, and locked it. The witch opened the door to her house, and as expected she saw her father drinking on the couch. His hair was messed up and his clothes looked as if they had been put on in a rush. Richard's eyes were drooping slightly and his complexion was paler than normal. Yep, he's drunk again, she thought.

"Why are you home so late?"

Hermione checked her watch and it read 8:45. She narrowed her eyes at her father expecting him to go ballistic. "I was at choir practice and I just got back," she voiced evenly, crossing her arms.

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from that choir," he drunkenly asked crossing his arms.

Hermione looked at her father in the eye. "Yeah, but I'm not going to stop doing what I love doing just to please you," she fumed with her eyes narrowed.

"HERMIONE YOU WILL OBEY ME NO MATTER WHAT. IF I TELL YOU TO JUMP, YOU JUMP. OTHERWISE, JUST LEAVE THIS HOUSE. I AM YOUR FATHER GOD DAMN IT. NOW I'M GIVING YOU ONE LAST WARNING. IF YOU DO NOT STOP GOING TO THAT FUCKING CHOIR PROGRAM, YOUR SORRY ARSE WILL BE OUT ON THE STREETS," he shouted, waving his arms with brute force for emphasis.

Hermione stuck her chin up into the air still narrowing her eyes. "You're no father of mine," she finished without breaking eye contact. She turned around and retreated to her room.

She cast a locking charm on her door and cast another spell to silence the room. Next, she connected her iPod to her stereo system. Hermione picked her playlist of Beastie Boys songs to fit her mood.

"I should probably take a shower," she said to herself. She padded to the bathroom barefoot and began shedding her clothes. Hermione turned on the hot water and waited until steam started to billow near the ceiling. The sounds of the Beastie Boys filled the bathroom. She stepped into the shower, washed her nude form, and lathered her thick hair in shampoo. The very wet witch rinsed herself and applied conditioner to her hair.

When she finished taking her shower, she brushed her teeth and applied lotion to her legs and arms. The young girl finished her nighttime hygiene rituals and slid under the covers of her bed. Within an hour, Hermione fell asleep listening to "No Sleep til Brooklyn."

Draco and Blaise stood before the statue of David, marveling at its naked glory, each taking the time to appreciate its brilliance. A cute girl was standing across from the boys, checking them out. Blaise noticed this and flashed her a sexy-looking smirk, as he would describe it.

"Blaise, I know the David is magnificent, but wipe that smirk off of your face. If I didn't know any better, I would think you were trying to seduce the statue," Draco laughed.

Blaise did not look at all amused. "Not funny. There's a good-looking girl with her equally attractive friend over yonder," gesturing to the other side of the David. "Let's go talk to them," Blaise declared, grabbing his friend by the sleeve of his shirt.

The blond wizard attempted to resist his friend's incessant tugging, but he had no luck. Seconds later, they were right in front of her. She was wearing a mini-skirt and a crop top. The girl had a thin frame with long, blond hair and blue eyes. Another girl walked up next to the blond, who appeared to be her best friend. Like the blond, she was wearing a mini-skirt and a crop top. The other girl was not quite as skinny as the blond and had black hair with brown eyes. The black-haired girl looked a lot like Pansy Parkinson, much to Draco's disgust. By looking at the two ladies, Draco could already see which girl he was going to be stuck with. Draco looked very disgusted. He wished Merlin would just kill him right on the spot. Of course, it always has to be the bimbos, he said to himself.

"Blaise, I really don't want to do this. Can't I just go back to the house and you can have both of them," whispered Draco with a look of desperation on his face.

"Don't worry. It'll be fun," he responded to Draco. "So ladies, what are two beautiful things, such as yourselves, doing here?"

"Oh, we're just admiring some of the magnificent pieces of art. I'm assuming you guys are doing the same? My name is Charlotte by the way and this is my best friend, Amy," spoke the blond haired girl, flirtatiously playing with her hair. Amy looked at her fingernails, looking very disinterested.

"Yeah, I love the Renaissance arts. I'm Blaise and this is my best mate, Draco. It's very nice to meet you guys," said Blaise. The Italian switched on his charm and composed himself before he asked the girls out. "If you ladies don't have any plans, would you guys be interested in joining us for dinner?" Draco glared daggers at Blaise, looking very ready to kill him.

"What the fuck, Blaise. I don't want to do this," Draco seethed quietly so the girls wouldn't hear.

Amy shot her friend a warning glare to match Draco's. It was evident that she too did not want to attend the dinner. This did not go unnoticed by Draco and he suddenly didn't feel like the only one being dragged against his will.

"Sure, we'd love to go," replied Charlotte, ignoring Amy's glares.

Blaise's smile grew wider, the cogs turning inside his head as he thought of ways to bed Charlotte. "So, how does dinner at Baccarossa sound?"

Being silent far too long took its toll on Amy. "Will you excuse us for a minute," asked Amy with a high-pitched voice of annoyance and a face of pure anger. Amy led Charlotte away hastily and stopped abruptly. As soon as the girls stopped, Draco and Blaise could see Amy moving her arms animatedly, clearly pissed that she was being dragged into a double date. Charlotte begged her friend to come along on the date. Slowly, Amy's face softened and she hung her head in submission to her friend's wishes. Charlotte's eyes lit with happiness. When the two girls were finished, they walked side-by-side towards the wealthy wizards. Amy sighed heavily and started to speak. "Ok, we'll go to the dinner," she mumbled.

"Excellent. See you guys at seven o'clock," called Blaise with delight.

Charlotte winked at Blaise and Amy gave a curt nod to Draco.

"Goodbye," called Malfoy with a fake smile. He dragged Blaise away from the girls and replaced his artificial smile with a sullen countenance.

"Okay, I know you didn't want to be forced into this and I'm sorry. Charlotte seems like one of those girls that only goes on dates if she brings a friend. I promise this is the last time I'm going to do something like this." Blaise looked at his best friend with a look longing for forgiveness.

Draco rolled his eyes. He stood with his arms crossed, tired of his friend's need to screw a different girl every night. "See that right there is your problem. What I don't like is the fact that you go for random, dodgy girls. I wouldn't mind being your wingman if you went for a couple of nice girls. And another thing, you promise that you wouldn't do this again, but you did. I'll go just to help you out, but after the dinner, I'm packing up and I'm going home," he thundered looking more pissed than he had in sixth year. He stomped all the way back to Blaise's mansion, thinking about all the things that he had done for Blaise in the past.

The time came for Draco and Blaise to meet their dates at Baccarossa. The host went ahead and led the wizards to an empty table. Draco smoothed the silver necktie on his black suit and Blaise did the same to his green one. After about five minutes, Charlotte and Amy showed up. Charlotte wore a long maxi dress with a black, sweetheart neckline bust and a long, pleated green skirt with a slit up the leg. Amy wore a simple, black, strapless dress. She didn't want Draco didn't want to get the wrong impression on this date.

Blaise stood up from his seat and kissed Charlotte on the cheek. "Hello, Charlotte. You look stunning," he gushed. "Did you know green is my favorite color?" Charlotte giggled at Blaise's attempts at flirting. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

Draco and Amy stared awkwardly at their friends, then at each other. Draco offered a small smile, hoping to ease the awkwardness. "Hello, Amy. How are you this evening," he asked politely.

The scowl on Amy's face disappeared and was replaced with a nervous smile. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking, Draco." He was very surprised to see that Amy was actually a very nice and polite girl. At first, he thought she was as shallow, bumptious and dim-witted as Pansy. Blimey, was I ever wrong, he thought. Draco gestured to the seat in front of him and she sat down gracefully. Blaise and Charlotte followed suit.

"So how do you two, know each other," questioned Charlotte resting her hand under her chin.

Instead of staying silent like he intended, Draco responded, "Blaise and I go to the same school, but we've known each other since we were two. What about you guys?"

"Pretty much the same as you guys," replied Amy with a soft, sweet voice.

For the rest of dinner, the group made small talk and tried to get to know each other a little better. By the time they finished, the group shared a lot of jokes and laughs. Blaise and Charlotte walked hand in hand in front of Draco and Amy.

"Oi Amy, what made you agree to this double date," the blond wizard asked.

Amy tore away her eye contact with Draco and focused on her friend, who was currently making out with Blaise. "She really wanted to go because she really likes your friend, even though they met a few hours ago. At first, I was furious because I'm sort of seeing another guy back home, but when I saw the look on her face I realized that this really meant a lot to her. I didn't want to ruin our friendship because of me. I love her too much to risk our friendship," Amy admitted. She turned her attention back to Draco. "You can relate, right? I did see your face when Blaise suggested this."

"Yeah. You see I have another girl on my mind right now and I warned him not to make me his wingman to help him 'score.' I hope I didn't offend you or Charlotte by telling you this," he consoled with a cautious demeanor.

"No harm done. She was trying to do the same to Blaise," she laughed. "Where are you guys from anyway?"

"We're from Britain. What about you two?"

"The States. We're from California. We're just visiting my cousin." She pointed to Charlotte and Blaise while they continued making out. "It looks like Charlotte won't be leaving Blaise's side for a while," she observed. "HEY GET A ROOM YOU TWO!"

Draco chuckled which soon turned to full on laughter as he straightened his arms out in front of him and pulled them back as he thrust his hips forward. This action made Amy laugh until she had to support herself using her knees. Blaise flipped his middle finger towards Draco, who laughed in return.

Amy's eyes struggled to stay open, she clearly needed some sleep. "It's been fun, Draco. See you around," she called walking off and waving.

Draco bid Amy goodbye and smiled as she walked off. "Huh, that wasn't so bad," Draco concluded. He watched as Blaise and his date walked in a different direction towards a hotel.

That night Draco forgave Blaise, but he really wanted to get home. He went to bed thinking about what to write on the note he planned to leave for Blaise.

The blond woke up to rays of sunlight dancing across his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, stretched, and went to the bathroom to clean himself up. Malfoy took a shower, brushed his teeth, and packed his belongings. When he was done, he headed to the kitchen to write the note to Blaise.

Blaise,

Although I still think you're an arse for forcing me into that double date, I had a good time and I forgive you, in case you were too distracted to notice. I'm going home to keep my mother company. Tell me what happened with you and Charlotte when you get back.

Your best mate,

Draco

He proof-read the note and deemed it sufficient. Draco left the note on the granite kitchen counter top and strolled to the room with the Floo.

"Accio trunk." Within seconds, his belongings flew to his left hand. Carrying his trunk, he called out his home address and left Blaise's mansion.