- Hogwarts, 9th of September 1995 -
"That class was as dull as a rainy day in London," Harry sighed as he, Draco, and Blaise walked into the Slytherin common room. They had just sat through two hours of their introductory class in wizarding etiquette with the new Hogwarts High Inquisitor, Dolores Umbridge. What a joke that had been. The toad knew as much about wizarding etiquette as Draco knew how to fly one of those muggle contraptions that flew through the sky.
"She's not teaching us any wizarding traditions at all," Draco grumbled as he took off his book bag once they reached their dorm. "All that toad is doing is spouting Ministry propaganda. I can't believe you almost ended up in detention, mate."
Harry shrugged. It had taken more than a few stern looks from Blaise, ever the peacemaker, to make him shut up when Harry started opposing the senior undersecretary. "Her reasoning for me lying about Voldemort… Honestly, I've heard better arguments from a two-year-old!" Harry fell backwards on his bed, arms wide open.
"Don't let Polarys hear you say that," Draco chuckled as he took in his friend's frustrated form. "Comparing her intelligence to Umbridge's is an actual insult."
The boys played some exploding snap while waiting for the girls to return from their session with Umbitch. Their new "professor" had deemed it inappropriate for the boys and girls to be taught together in her class. Girls required a different upbringing to learn their place in the magical households after all. At least that was what the toad had claimed. What a load of bollocks.
After half an hour, a shiver went through Draco's spine. He could swear that he'd just felt… No. That was impossible. It had been months since he felt Mione's feelings, ever since the bond-
Their door burst open, Hermione fuming with anger. Magic was crackling around her, making her soft curls change to their usual frizziness. Daphne was right behind her, looking royally pissed off as well. Oh. That much of her power swirling around her would explain why he'd felt her coming nearer. A quick glance at Harry told the blond that he too had felt their best friend's approach.
"A little muggle-born girl such as myself!" Mione yelled at no one in particular as she angrily stomped towards them, smacking her book bag down next to Draco's bed and face-planting herself into his pillow, screaming her frustrations at it.
"You alright, love?" Draco asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder.
She mumbled something back to them, making Harry splutter in confusion. "Detention? Did you just say you have detention ?" the raven-haired boy asked, looking back and forth between Hermione's head of hair and Daphne's scowl.
"She didn't believe that Hermione was the heiress to the Dagworth-Granger line," the blonde witch supplied as she plopped down next to Blaise. "Told her she was lying. That the goblins must have made a mistake."
"Why would she lie about that?" Draco asked, anger now rising. He remembered that Dolores Umbridge was a piece of work, but to deny an official document by the goblins. Merlin. Her bigotry ran deeper than he could ever expect.
"Because," Hermione spat as she sat up straight, hugging Draco's pillow close to her chest, "if I'm Harry's best friend, then I too must be a liar, just like him."
Before any of the boys could answer, Daphne tried to cheer up her friend. "At least, we will be in it together, Mione. Did you see her face when I told her off and she threatened me with doing lines?"
Hermione sighed. "I can't believe you told her it sounded delightful…"
Daphne tutted. "You're not telling the whole story, Mione. I told her: 'That sounds delightful, Madam Umbridge. I was hoping to add 'survived unnecessary detentions' to my long list of accomplishments. It will go nicely between surviving a werewolf's attack and being a potions prodigy."
The boys all laughed at Daphne's cheek and fist-bumped her.
Chatting about their day, Draco leaned over to Hermione and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"When's your detention?" he asked.
Mione bit her lip. "My birthday… I swear it was almost as if she had it planned before I even entered the room."
"Knowing her, she might have," he whispered to her as he put a kiss on top of her head. "Not to worry. I was planning to have our date on the last Saturday of the month instead of on your birthday anyway. And since I can leave the castle because I'm a Lord now and therefore technically an adult, I thought we could go to London. But I will need your parents' permission to leave Hogwarts."
The witch in his arms giggled. "My mum will be ecstatic, but my dad… I wish I could see his face when you tell them!"
- Hogwarts Dungeons, 30th of September 1995 -
Draco fidgeted with the two vials in his hands while he waited outside the Slytherin common room for Hermione and Daphne to return from their detention. Once Umbitch had gotten word of him leaving the premises, she had immediately inquired why he'd left. Somehow, someone had managed to tell her that he was planning on taking Hermione on a date, so he had to admit to the undersecretary that he'd gone to see the Grangers to ask for permission for Hermione to leave Hogwarts.
This piece of information had in turn led to the toad moving the girls' detention to the evening of the 30th, ruining the first part of the date he'd planned. No matter. It was a Saturday evening after all. What Umbitch didn't know was that he'd talked to his Godfather and the Grangers and changed their plans. Now they would be taking the rest of the weekend off. Fuck the senior undersecretary and her meddling. This was the first time he could take Hermione on a proper date, and no one would be able to ruin that for him.
The sound of murmuring and a clacking of Daphne's heels reached him before he could see them. And when he did lay his eyes on them, both of them rubbing their hands, anger and sadness instantly filled him. He'd done well to come prepared.
He rushed over to them, both girls surprised as he shoved a vial into each of their hands. "Put it on," he urged them. "It will scar if you don't."
Tears filled Hermione's eyes. Draco wasn't sure if she was merely grateful, or if she was still in actual pain.
"How did you know she would use a blood quill?" Daphne wondered as she immediately started rubbing the paste on her left hand, the sentence pierced into her skin disappearing along with her pain.
"Because this is not the first time she's done so," Hermione mused out loud, confusing Daphne.
Draco nodded his head in agreement, leading the two of them to the common room.
"Did you pack an overnight bag?" he asked Hermione as he hovered in the stairwell to their dorms, not being allowed through the wards.
She rolled her eyes. "When am I ever not prepared, Draco?"
"Touché, my love," he quipped back at her.
Harry nudged him in the side, having overheard their conversation. He handed Draco his invisibility cloak. "Luckily I am also prepared. Luna said you shouldn't be caught in the halls alone on the 30th, remember? You two should use the cloak when you leave Hogwarts. Umbitch is probably lurking in the hallways to catch any of us doing whatever she deems illegal."
"Won't you need it? To go visit…" Draco pointed his eyes upwards to the Room of Requirement. Harry had been meeting the ghostly apparitions of his parents there every night, finally bonding with them. They had told him that their time together was limited. Spirits were not meant to be pulled back from the veil after all. No one knew exactly how long they had, so Harry diligently visited them and talked with them every evening. Sirius, Amelia, Remus, and Tonks would also occasionally join him. Tonight, he was planning to go alone, however.
"I have the map," Harry assured him, clapping Draco on the shoulder. "You and Mione should come along tomorrow night. We have some things to discuss. Padfoot and Moony will be there too."
Assuming Harry was referring to a conversation about either the Horcruxes or the Deathly Hallows, Draco nodded in agreement. "Me and Mione will be back before dinner tomorrow."
"Got a lot planned, do you? Just don't do anything I wouldn't do," Harry winked at his best friend.
"I am sure Draco will act the proper gentleman," Hermione interrupted them, having changed into her muggle clothes to get out of Hogwarts. She was dressed in a similar style he'd seen the girls in London wear during summer, and she sported a cute jeans dress with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath. Draco too had opted for some muggle clothing and was wearing some wide jeans, a t-shirt of some muggle rock band Sirius adored and a plaid shirt.
The two of them stopped by the boys' dorm to say goodbye to their friends and put the invisibility cloak on before leaving the Common Room with Harry in tow. On their way to the main hall, the trio encountered Luna, who greeted both Draco and Hermione as if they hadn't been hidden by an invisibility cloak.
"Harry!" the small Ravenclaw admonished him, hitting him in the arm. "I told all of you to not be caught alone in the halls on the 30th of September. And what do you do? Plan to take a little trip up the Room of Requirement on your own. What do you have to say for yourself, young man?"
Harry rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I thought you meant Draco and Hermione shouldn't be caught alone…"
Luna stared at him for a few seconds. "Oh." A bright smile replaced her earlier scowl. "I see now why that might have been confusing. But I meant none of us should be in the hallways alone tonight. Which is why I have taken it upon myself to accompany you to the seventh floor if that's alright with you?"
Harry shrugged. "Of course, Luna. I'm sure they would love to meet you. But won't there be an issue with me walking back down alone then, seeing as you live in the tower-"
Laughter bubbled out of Luna. "I'm sure there is an empty bed somewhere in the Slytherin girl dorm that I could use. Just trust me on this one, Harry. You do not want to walk down these stairs alone tonight. None of you do," Luna warned Draco and Hermione, staring straight through them. "Now scram you two. And don't come back before tomorrow evening. I will be greatly disappointed if you do. And remember to have fun."
She poked Draco teasingly in the arm right through the invisibility cloak, making Harry blink at her. "Did you just… Luna, do you know what that is?"
"As if the magic of the hallows could ever stop me," the blonde witch exclaimed with a roll of her eyes, offering her arm to Harry. "Now, lead the way, Lord Slytherin. I'm sure to have some wonderful conversations tonight and you are wasting both our and the lovely couple's time by dawdling in the hallways."
Giggling the whole way to the Hogwarts gate at Luna's antics and her ability to see through the invisibility cloak, Hermione finally calmed down enough when Draco cast a silencing spell around them and she inquired where they were going.
The blond turned to her and started ruffling Hermione's hair, making it look windswept.
"Hey, stop that!" She playfully smacked his hand. "There's at least three spells on my hair."
"We're going to the Manor first, and you need to look as if you've been shaken by the knight's bus, Mione. Your hair is too tame for that right now," Draco said.
"Wait. If we're not taking the floo, and we're acting as if we're taking the knight's bus, then how exactly are we going to Malfoy Manor?" The brunette witch blinked as Draco inspected the state of her hair.
Pleased with his work, he pulled his hands through his own hair, his fringe nearly covering his eyes.
"The delightful thing about you knowing the truth is that I no longer have to hide who I am from you, Mione," he told her with boyish glee on his face.
He disillusioned the two of them, pocketed the cloak and pulled Hermione close to him.
"Ready?" he smirked at her, his left arm wrapped around her waist.
"For what?" she laughed.
"Apparating."
Hermione's eyes widened, and with a pop, he whisked the two of them away to Malfoy Manor.
- Malfoy Manor, 30th of September 1995 -
"You alright, love?" Draco asked as they popped straight into the Manor's gardens.
Hermione was breathing hard, a smile plastered on her face. "It does feel a bit like being sucked through a tube," she admitted. "But it was so… thrilling. Much different than when apparating by house-elf magic."
"Only a few more months, and you will be able to start your training," he told her as he offered her his arm and they made their way to the main entrance.
"Or you could start teaching me now," she winked at him as the doors magically opened, the Lord of the Manor approaching them.
As soon as the pair entered, Hermione was engulfed in her mother's arms. Her eyes widened. "Mum! What are you-"
"Oh Mione dear," Jean began as she wiped the tears out of the corner of her eyes. "You didn't think I would miss my little girl's first date, would you? Cissy even has the camera ready to take a picture before the two of you head out!"
Deandra put her hand on top of Hermione's ruffled hair with a knowing smile, and as the silver magic ran over the teen, there was not a single hair out of place anymore.
Hermione was then thrust into her father's arms and she barely had the time to thank Dobby for taking her bag and putting it in her room for her.
"Everyone is so excited," Draco mused as he took in the Grangers hugging each other. "I never imagined it would be like this."
The spirit of Malfoy Manor took his hand in hers and smiled down at him. "I know how long you have longed to be able to just be yourself and to show her to the world, little dragon. There is no need to hide this time around. Don't worry about the war that is to come, just have fun tonight. You owe it to yourself. To her."
Before he could answer, Draco's mother waved him over to take a picture of him and Hermione.
After both of their mothers had finally gotten the teens to stand in the perfect position for the picture, the blond wizard put his arm around Hermione's back and pulled her closer to him. She was smiling politely at the camera, but all he could do was look at her and take her in, making sure she was actually standing there. That this was real. He and his wife had always had to hide, yet here they were, off to their first date and with their family's approval…
"I never thought this would happen," he spoke to her softly, making Hermione turn her head to look up at him.
Her smile brightened, and he could feel her tug on his mental shields to let her in. "You better get used to it. I'm not about to let you go."