"Bridge, Dragon Poker, or Gin?" Granger said with a smile.
"Dragon Poker," Draco said, sitting up straight - "It's even got my name in it."
"Gin!" Nott said smiling. "If we let him play that, we'll never get home."
"I prefer Gin," Luna said with a smile, "If only because I'm better at it."
Granger looked down at Draco, who hadnt stood out of the sofa yet. In an undertone, she muttered, "She's lying, you know. She always wins at Dragon Poker, no matter who's playing."
Standing, Draco gave Granger a quiet nod, as they all sat down at the card table.
"Ten rounds, or until we hit four of the clock. I do need a bit of sleep before tommorow."
Draco, stretching languidly, said, "But it's Sunday, why do you need sleep for Sunday?"
Granger turned towards him and responded, "Sunday dinner, of course, at the Weasleys. If Molly sees me with circles under my eyes, I'll have to spend the entire dinner deflecting her from finding some way to saddle me with an entire week's worth of entirely-too-fattening cauldron cakes!"
"The horrors." Nott said with a toothy smile. "I'm not certain my mum has ever made a cauldron cake."
Draco responds, with an identical smile, "you know, you could always ask."
Cards fly here and there, Luna with the strange habit of bowing out of most hands, Draco taking a decent conservative strategy, with Granger and Nott playing the bluffing game, each one trying to see when they could talk the other out of more money. Draco was slowly building up a decent pile, while Granger and Nott were trading back and forth. On the last round, however, Luna shot the moon (yes, that's the actual term, Draco was distressed to find out), and swept up most of the winnings from that round, leaving her with double what Draco had. Granger had been soundly trounced by Nott (not that she looked like she minded, terribly much.) Draco conceded with less grace, finally letting himself wonder what in Hades Luna Lovegood had meant by "I'll try not to ruin you."
In the spirit of "get everyone out so I can go to sleep", Granger had nearly shoved both Luna and Nott out the door, leaving them to awkwardly walk down the steps together, no doubt. Draco, sensing Granger's mood, quirked his mouth as he slipped into the kitchen.
Granger stepped out of the living room, her face for once completely unguarded - the lines of stress showing quite clearly, and froze, looking at Draco Malfoy sitting at her kitchen table. "Draco, what are you still doing here?"
Standing, Draco gave a small bow, "Why, I wanted to thank you for a most lovely evening, and ask if you wanted this to be the end of the date."
Granger stared at him, uncomprehending, for three seconds. Then, he watched as her face flushed a most becoming shade of red. "Out! Yes, out!" she cried, pushing him from behind and propelling him into the living room.
"Care to do this again?" Draco said with aplomb, as if his dates traditionally shoved him out their front door at 3 in the morning.
"As long as I get to veto anymore reporters." Granger quipped back.
"It's a date," Draco said with a smile, as Granger smartly shut the door in his face.
[a/n: wheew! Date done! Yay! Write a review!
Hands of doom, by the way, is the title of a song caused by a mishearing of "handsome dude"]
