Okay, I've received some amazing reviews over the last couple of days, and just since the last chapter in general and you've made me a very, very happy girl! There are now 60 people following this story? WHat, either way I'm beyond ecstatic and I just had to finish up this chapter and post it. I hope you all like it! I can't wait to hear what you think about it!
I recommend listening to 'Into You' by Ingrid Michaelson and Hayley Kiyoko - Girls like Girls, since those are two of the songs I listened to whilst I wrote it.
Please leave me a review and let me know what you think :)
My tumblr: indiebluecrown. tumblr. com
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, only the story line is mine.
This chapter is for MoonNott, Ash and Anna xxx love you all *hearts*
Saturday, 10th July, 1999
It was a bright sunny day, Hermione's large windows letting in copious amounts of light, she could look out of her window and see all the witches and wizards bustling about their business. Yet the brunette was pacing back and forth, wearing one of Harry's hoodies that she'd stolen a few weeks back, which was mostly unzipped, showing the grey tank top underneath and she was wearing maroon pyjama pants, her curls piled into a messy bun on top of her head
"Remind me why I'm here to help you get ready for this date and not Ginny?" Draco raised an eyebrow, seated on her couch, one leg crossed over the other as he watched the witch move in front of him. Sighing Draco moved one of his hands from his lap onto the back of the couch. "Really Granger, you need to breathe," Draco rolled his eyes, when it seemed as if Hermione hadn't heard him he tried again, "if you die because you worked yourself up so much you had an attack of some sort, I was never here, I don't know you."
"This is not funny, Draco!" Hermione snapped, whirling around on him abruptly, shoulders moving up and down as she huffed.
"I wasn't joking," Draco stated, picking the glass of water he had poured himself when he arrived, off of the side table next to the couch and extending it towards Hermione. She sighed before accepting the glass gratefully, taking small sips as she calmed down.
"I don't see what the fuss is about, it's just dinner," Draco frowned, taking the glass back from Hermione and returning it to its' former position when she was finished with it.
"I was excited last night, and now I can't seem to calm down. I feel trapped and bloody freaked out. I don't have any clue why, I felt like I couldn't breath earlier," Hermione groaned, plopping down onto the couch beside him, his right arm draped behind her head dropped onto her shoulder.
"You were probably thinking about it too much, you know you do that thing where you freak out and get all anxious."
"I do seriously need help with what I'm going to wear though," Hermione admitted, head falling into the nook between his neck and shoulder.
"If I must, I suppose I can help with that," Draco smirked. "Do you know what kind of restaurant you're going to?"
"Daphne said wear something nice, after a bit of deliberation somehow she ended up being the one that's taking us out for dinner," Hermione informed him, tucking a stray curl behind her ear.
"I have an idea about where she's going to take you, it may be the same place Astoria took the both of us a little while back," Draco said thoughtfully, "now little lioness, go pick out some options and then model them for me." Hermione opened her mouth to ask why couldn't she just show him the dresses, but Draco was two steps ahead of her. "I need to see them on you, and the longer you take to start, the more painful this is going to be."
"I hate you," Hermione grumbled, begrudgingly getting up from the couch, heading through the apartment and down the hall to her bedroom.
"You too, Granger," Draco smiled at her retreating form.
It took quite a bit of needling, several nasty glances from Hermione, multiple outfit changes, including different shoes with each outfit, before Draco was satisfied that Hermione looked just right.
"See, Granger, what're friends for," Draco grinned widely as he handed her a wine glass with some Sauvignon Blanc in it, his filled a little more than halfway. Hermione was standing in front of one of her windows, having thrown on a black pair of leggings and baggy white shirt after her many, many outfit changes.
"How come you get more wine?" Hermione frowned deeply, obviously perturbed by this.
"Because unlike you, I don't have a date in three hours, and I can get as drunk as I want," Draco said smugly, petulantly sticking his tongue out at her.
"Fine," Hermione said, daintily sipping her wine.
"You know what, I think you'll knock their socks off," Draco admitted honestly.
"That's a muggle expression-"
"I spend more time with you and Potter than I care to admit, the two of you appear to be rubbing off on my vernacular," Draco pursed his lips, tone slightly sour.
Hermione didn't say anything, merely smirking triumphantly as she sipped her wine again, the hand not holding her glass wrapped around her body.
"How's figuring out what you want to do going?" Draco asked her, taking a long sip from his own wine glass, the afternoon light splashing across his features; Draco's hair was messy, but it looked effortlessly so.
"Still have no clue," Hermione sighed deeply, finishing up what was left in her wine glass in one go. "Wait, did they accept you into the healer program that starts in September?"
"Yes," Draco said proudly, not prepared for Hermione flinging herself into his arms, hugging him tightly; Draco barely managed to steady himself before they both crashed onto the floor, it was a miracle that both of their wine glasses were still intact and that none of Draco's had spilt.
"Draco, that's amazing! We need to celebrate!" Hermione said, eyes alight with joy as she pulled back to look at him.
"How about brunch tomorrow?" Draco suggested, normally he spent Sundays with Astoria, but she was busy helping organise some Ministry event that was coming up towards the end of July. Draco seemed to ponder on that offer, "yes, perhaps Brunch is best, or maybe we should make it Lunch. Who knows how tired you're going to be after your...nightly activities," Draco winked at Hermione. Whose mouth fell open, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates.
"Draco!" Hermione gasped, hitting him lightly on the arm with her free hand, stepping out of his embrace.
"What? Dinner could be...tiring," Draco's voice dropped at the end as he spoke in a sultry and suggestive tone.
"You're ridiculous," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You hate me!" Draco smiled after the brunette as she headed to the kitchen to wash her wine glass.
"I do!" Hermione called over her shoulder, deciding not to stress with washing the glass by hand as she stood in front of the sink. When the glass was all soapy it got really slippery, and she wanted to decrease her chances of breaking her new wine glass. If she had said that aloud, Draco would have looked at her incredulously and asked, "so it was okay to break them a few minutes ago when you threw yourself into my arms?"
"Well look on the bright side, Mione. Soon, we'll be in-laws," Draco carefully watched the brunette's reaction, not wanting to miss a second of it. Hermione slowly placed the wine glass on the counter beside the sink and turned around, leaning against the counter as she stared at Draco impassively.
"It is our first date tonight, Dray," Hermione reminded him, "but seriously, fuck, if I do end up getting married to Daphne and Luna then you'll be one of my in-laws by marriage," Hermione groaned when she saw Draco's crooked smirk. "You're enjoying this way too much."
"Me? Never," Draco said, faking naivety as he strode towards the witch. When he reached her he kissed her forehead, "I best be off, you need to get ready and I promised Blaise and Theo that I'd go drinking with them tonight. Though I'll probably leave early," Draco stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Why?" Hermione frowned.
"Since Blaise tends to get grabby when he's pissed and I'd rather not be there when he starts grinding on Theo."
"Oh yea, they're together," Hermione's eyes lit up with understanding, accepting Draco's empty wine glass from him.
"Trust me, I know," Draco rolled his eyes.
"Well, you know how Theo is about punctuality, you should get going, especially with how long it takes you to do your hair," Hermione teased Draco lightly, who shot her a droll stare.
"Granger, you do not want me to respond to that, it will not be nice," Draco snorted, tucking some of her hair behind her ear before spinning on his heel and heading for her fireplace.
"Be safe tonight, remember, the tongue is a wondrous thing," Draco smirked as he stepped into the fireplace, before Hermione could retort, he threw the floo powder down, clearly enunciating 'Malfoy Manor' before disappearing in a swirl of green flames.
"Tosser," Hermione grumbled, all of her nerves about tonight had disappeared when she hadn't been paying attention, but she still had butterflies flitting about her stomach, tickling her insides and she felt giddy. Tonight is going to be great.
….
"Pardon, I thought I just heard you say that you gave our table away," Daphne said in a deceivingly calm, serene tone. Luna seemed to sense that something was amiss with the other blonde so she grasped the hand that wasn't resting on the maître d's station.
Daphne was wearing a tight, little black dress that came about mid-thigh and showed just enough cleavage to remain decent, she had on five inch black stilettos and there were diamond earrings dangling from her ears, red lipstick on her lips and smoky eyeshadow on her eyelids. It had taken a great deal of restraint on Hermione's part to stop herself from kissing Daphne when she first saw her.
"We had to push your reservation to nine o'clock," the man winced when Daphne fixed him with a deadly stare.
"We have a reservation for seven, we are here at six fifty to be exact, ten minutes before our reservation...and you're telling me you gave our table away?" Daphne asked in an icy tone that bit and stabbed at the man in front of them.
"C'mon Daphne, we'll find somewhere else to eat," Hermione whispered softly in the blonde's ear, Hermione noticed the way Daphne tensed, but she nodded stiffly, heels clicking as she strode out of the restaurant. Luna skipping after her, Hermione glanced at the maître d' and said, "cancel our reservation," before following after her dates.
Hermione was wearing a emerald dress with a tight bodice, a sweetheart neckline with a swing skirt, black heels that were about three inches high, she was wearing the silver snake hairclip with small emeralds in its' eyes that Draco had given her as a gift a few months back, her hair was free, bouncy curls flowing down her back.
"This is a disaster, where are we going to eat now?" Daphne threw her hands in the air in frustration, if she didn't know that it would upset the witch, she would have told her she looked absolutely adorable right now.
"Well, there's this chinese place in muggle London, not too far away from Diagon Alley. We could order takeout and then go back to mine," Hermione suggested.
"I think that's a marvellous plan, Hermione," Luna smiled merrily, rocking back and forth on her heels, looking positively unfazed by their current situation.
"Is it made by actual Chinese people?" Daphne tilted her head to the side, Hermione couldn't help herself then. Daphne looked slightly perplexed, brow knitted together, lips pursed, and Hermione stepped forward and kissed the corner of her mouth.
"Let's go, it'll change your life," Hermione teased as she linked arms with both girls. Daphne looked even more sceptical than before, whereas Luna looked happier than a pig in mud.
Luna was wearing a royal purple dress that came just above her knees, coming in just under her breasts and then flowing freely from there, a gold pattern on the hem, her high bun was being held up with her wand, strands of hair escaping and framing her face neatly. She had a thin gold chain with a amethyst pendant clasped around her neck, and she had a couple rings on her right hand, gold ballet flats on her feet.
When they arrived at the small restaurant, Hermione tried not to giggle, she really did. She spent more time stifling her laughter than ordering their food when it was their turn. Daphne frowned at the decor, 'the wallpaper was peeling and it was unsightly', she also turned her nose up into the air when a few teenage boys that looked about seventeen starting hitting on her when she went to wait in a booth after saying that she didn't like waiting in lines.
Luna went to her rescue, planting a soft kiss on Daphne's lips, which stunned everyone around them, before Luna looked at the boys with serious eyes and said, "I'm afraid boys that she's already taken."
After that Daphne didn't have any complaints, she made easy conversation with Luna whilst Hermione waited at the counter for their order of chicken chowmein, mixed fried rice and a two portions of won ton soup.
It was another seven minutes before they got their food, another fifteen after that as they walked from the little Chinese restaurant to Hermione's flat. Consequently it took another ten minutes before they had removed their heels, let down their hair, grabbed some plates and sitting around the coffee table on the floor they shared out the food.
"This is really good," Daphne moaned as she used a fork to eat her chow mein, accepting the soy sauce Hermione was handing her at the same time to see if she liked it.
"This is really fun," Luna said jovially, attempting to use chopsticks; she was quickly getting the hang of them.
"For sure," Hermione smiled warmly at the other two girls. "Oh shoot, drinks, what does everyone want? I have muggle wine, white and red, Firewhisky, water-" Hermione listed off as she stood up, heading for the kitchen.
"I would like to try some of that muggle wine please, I'm interested to see if it tastes anything like Elf wine," Daphne piped up, watching Hermione's hips sway as she moved.
"May I have some of the muggle wine as well please," Luna added, using her spoon to take out some of the soup, blowing on the hot broth gently, steam billowing out of the soup container.
"Sure! I'll bring a red and a white and you can tell me which one you like better," Hermione called from her icebox door, pulling out two chilled wine bottles after pursing her lips and considering her options. Placing them on the counter, shutting the icebox door, and grabbing three wine glasses from one of the cupboards. Wandlessly, she muttered a spell under her breath and the two wine bottle levitated behind her as she walked back into the living room, the wine glasses in hand.
It wasn't long before the drink was flowing freely, and their conversation became less formal, Luna was sitting in front of Daphne, lying back against the other girl, finishing off the fried rice when Daphne said, a sly smirk on her face, "you know you three used to get into an unreasonable amount of trouble."
"Hey, that wasn't our fault," Hermione protested as she crawled over to the other girls so that she was on Daphne's right hand side. Topping up all three glasses with the Merlot, they had already finished the bottle of white wine and had now moved onto the red.
"What about you then, do you have any wild stories?" Hermione stuck out her tongue at the honey blonde, whose eyes sparkled happily.
"I wouldn't say wild exactly, we did use to host the best parties though," Daphne smirked.
"I was told that the dancing was quite lovely," Luna piped up, stroking the top of Hermione's thigh. "I love to dance,"
"What? You want to dance? Okay, Lovegood, stand up and let's dance," Daphne told the blonde girl that pressed up against her. Luna's eyes lit up with joy and she hopped up.
"Wait, I've got some music!" Hermione announced, she had moved her record player from her room out onto a little table by her armchair and the fireplace. Taking her wine glass with her she made a beeline for it, bending at her middle to peek at the records she had stacked up neatly against the wall. Harry once asked her why she still had a record player and she told him because she liked classy things, teasing him and saying that he ought to follow in her footsteps.
"Can we listen to a slow song first?" Luna requested, already swaying back and forth slowly with Daphne, her hands linked behind the other girl's neck.
"I can do that," Hermione said cheerfully, choosing a record, slipping it out of its' sleeve and carefully placing it in the record player, her wine glass on the floor beside her. She moved the arm and placed the spindle on the vinyl, humming as the song began to play.
Hermione hummed along to the intro before the words began, "So long, I've been looking too hard, I've been waiting too long. Sometimes I don't know what I will find, I only know it's a matter of time," Hermione sang along lightly, picking up her wine and walking back over to the other two girls, placing her glass on the coffee table before joining the other girls.
Hermione spun Luna who ended up in Daphne's arms, the blonde grasping Luna's hands as she wrapped her arms around the petite girl, before twirling her outwards. Luna let go of Daphne's hand and ended up next to Hermione. Daphne laughed as Hermione took Luna and dipped her close to the floor. "It feels so right, so warm and true. I need to know if you feel it too."
Soon all three girls were in a pile on the ground, limbs entangled, giggling and slightly inebriated. Hermione met Daphne's eyes, her lips parted and the next thing she knew the blonde's lips were on hers, she felt warm lips on her neck and absently thought, Luna.
Daphne tasted like wine and chinese food, somehow Hermione didn't even notice that, one of Daphne's hands moved to grasp the back of Hermione's head, Hermione loosely cradled Daphne's face in her hands, tongues languidly moving, small pants and soft touches.
"I want to kiss you too," Hermione heard Luna pout, reluctantly she broke her kiss with Daphne and watched as the two blonde's began to kiss. "I've been waiting on a girl like you, to come into my life."
Strangely Hermione didn't feel left out, a warmth spreading through her, a light smile brushing her lips as Daphne nipped at Luna's bottom lip. Hermione scooted forward, returning the favour from earlier, lazily placing open kisses to the right side of Luna's neck, Hermione smiled as she heard Luna whimper, one of the petite girl's hands moved to hold Hermione waist.
Hermione didn't remember much after that, unsure if she dreamt the tangy kisses when she woke up in her bed the next morning. That was until she felt warmth enclosing her from both sides, on her left was Luna, who was curled into Hermione's side, her hands tucked under her cheek as she slumbered away peacefully. Hermione then angled her head to her right and was met with deep blue irises.
"Morning," Hermione smiled shyly, blushing as she memories of kissing the girl in front of her the previous night came to the forefront of her mind.
Daphne reached out and placed her hand on Hermione's cheek, "morning Granger."
"Did you have fun last night?"
"If you meant all the kissing, then yes," Daphne smirked, marvelling at how red Hermione's face turned in a matter of moments. "If I recall, you weren't this shy last night."
"Shove off," Hermione grumbled.
"So what do we do now?" Daphne asked quietly, letting Hermione see the slight crack in her armour.
"Break-" Hermione froze as she began to ask the question, recalling that Draco wanted to have Brunch today. "Shit." Hermione sighed, one of her hands coming out from under the white sheets to rest on top of Daphne's.
"What's wrong?" Daphne frowned lightly.
"Draco?"
"What about him?" Daphne asked, clearly perplexed as to how he was relevant to their current conversation, shifting slightly under the covers; Hermione noticed that she was wearing something other than her dress from last night, which meant she must have leant the two girls some clothes the night before. Luna snuggled up closer to her other side and when she felt bare skin on bare skin she was moved wrong, as far as she could tell Luna was only in her underwear, and strangely, socks.
"I told him I would go to Brunch with him today to celebrate being accepted into the healer's program," Hermione explained briefly.
Daphne snorted, "that's it?"
"Yes?" Hermione responded, a little taken aback at how nonplussed Daphne was about this.
"I'll just floo the prat and tell him that Luna and I are joining your little date," Daphne shrugged, stroking Hermione's cheek with her thumb, "and if he has a problem with that then he can shove it up his pretty boy arse."
"Charming," Hermione said wryly.
"What time did you both agree to?"
"I don't think we agreed to a time," Hermione said as she tried to recall if they actually had. Just then Hermione's bedroom door swung open.
"Granger-" Draco in all of his glory stood in the doorway, halting in whatever what he was about to say when he saw the other two girls under Hermione's sheets with her. Hermione saw the lazy grin that crept onto the blond boy's face and she groaned internally. "Morning."
Love you all,
Indieblue xxx