Chapter 34 - Year 5, part 5

September 19, 1995

It was with a spring in her step, that she entered the Great Hall early on a sunny Tuesday morning. Her friends were around her and her arm was linked with Ginny's as she laughed at a stupid joke that Daniel had just said.

She had slept like a rock for the entire night, her homework for the week was done and she was ready.

Life was great.

As they neared their table, she let go of Ginny and went to Will who stood waiting for her. She jumped into his arms with a bright smile.

"Happy Birthday, Nene." He said against her cheek as he sat her down once again, and handed her a parcel.

She grinned up at him as she took it into her hands and started unwrapping it.

"Is that…?"

"Yeah! I thought it looked like Ivy, that's why I got it." He said, excitement lacing his voice.

She looked closer at the beautiful pen which held a small gray owl at the end. In the package were also an inkwell.

"It's pretty neat, actually; as long as the inkwell is within a meter of the pen, it will refill itself. You will never have to think of ink splatter or losing your focus because you have to suddenly dip your quill. I got one for myself, and it works like a charm - which it is, I guess, but, you know! It works!" He chuckled to himself. Sometimes it was so strange to think that the two of them were raised like muggles, but to them, things like 'it's like magic' and 'works like a charm' actually made sense.

Because that's what they were - charms and magic.

She smiled at their personal innuendos, "Thanks Wills, I love it!" She then hugged him, waved to his friends that had been looking on, and then went to sit by her friends.

"I got to get myself one of those at some point. Refillable ink sounds amazing!" Neville gushed as he inspected her gift a little later.

She was just making herself a plate of fruit when Harry bumped her arm. "Ehh, Hermione? You might want to go back to your room before classes start."

"Why's that, Harry?" She asked absentmindedly as she grabbed half an orange from a display. He never managed to answer her, though, as a large parcel landed in front of her with two owls, followed by a smaller parcel and a letter.

She looked at the obscene number of parcels with wide eyes, before whispering; "What on earth…?"

"More like 'what on orange' if you know what I mean." Daniel muttered and lifted the edge of the large parcel, to remove the now completely squashed Orange Hermione had just been about to set her teeth in.

Absentmindedly, she fed the four owls each their piece of bacon while her eyes strayed to meet Draco's. She gave him a look of confusion and he simply shrugged back. He didn't look like he knew what was going on. But then again, if he really wanted to lie about something like this, maybe he could?

Focusing back on what was around her as the Great Hall returned to its usual noise of children and eating, she picked up the letter and opened it.

Inside was a letter from Grandma wishing her a very, Happy birthday. Grandma was also letting her know that once she returned home for the holidays, that the two of them would go out for some shopping - where Hermione could choose whatever she liked for the humble price of 8 Galleons, and that would be her birthday-present.

Her mind was fully reeling by the thought of what she could get for that amount of money. Had Grandma lost her mind?

It was with shaky hands that she retold the content of the letter and started opening the smaller parcel.

Inside was an abundance of gifts and when she first laid eyes on them, her eyes flew back to Draco in surprise. This time though, he not only shrugged, but he smirked.

Bastard.

She grabbed the letter from within and quickly read it,

"Dearest Hermione,
We wish you a very happy 16th Birthday and hope that you have a wonderful day with your loved ones.

Also, since you're now one of us, we thought it fitting that you own something to remind you of such. Welcome to the family, darling.

Love,
Lucius and Narcissa"

She handed the letter to Ginny, and dug into her present.

Inside she found the most beautiful, forest green, cashmere scarf and hat. It was so soft she almost didn't dare to remove it. But she had to try it on. The box also held a large bag of what she guessed were Narcissa's homemade cookies, some candy and a couple of roles of empty parchment. Neat, she thought to herself.

She sent a silent 'thank you' to the Malfoys and put the box aside to look at the next one.

Thank Merlin, they had gotten there early or she would have had to wait with the opening until later.

Inside this last box, she found an updated care-package from her parents. It still held the usuals; pens and paper, candies, toothpaste and toothbrush, sanitary products, deodorant, some new clothes and so on. All of the essentials. But it also held a new perfume, five new books and the promise that more had been added to her shelves at home. Then there were some treats for Ivy, and a letter wishing her a happy birthday.

"I think you're right, Harry, I might have to get up with these before we go outside for class." She said to him with a large grin, as she tried to put everything down into the large parcel. She succeeded, but only just.

…

The day went on like a breeze. Care for magical Creatures went without any issues except for the fact that Hagrid was still not present. Then Herbology where she teamed up with Neville. Charms went like a charm - get it? - And then came ancient Runes.

She went into the classroom and sat down at the table that Draco was already occupying. She had been held up in Charms because she had a question for Professor Flitwick, so she only just managed to sit down before the class started and their Professor started their lecture.

The class was hard at it, since this was very much a theoretical lecture, and all they had to do was take notes and ask questions if there were any. During the entire time, her leg was pressed to his or their hands were linked.

It was just so natural. She enjoyed every second of it.

They had their whispered conversations, though. Little bits of 'Happy birthday', 'how was your day's, 'What are you doing on Friday's, and so on.

When class eventually ended, he told her to meet him in their study room after dinner. "Don't eat dessert." was the last thing he said, before leaving the room - once again, smirking like a Cheshire cat.

Bloody bastard.

But she did as she was asked, she went to dinner where she chatted with her friends and enjoyed all of her favourites - but skipped the dessert.

At some point her friends left with promises to meet up at Gryffindor Tower, while she decided to stay put until she saw Draco preparing to go. After that, she waited a bit and followed him to where she was told to meet him.

Beyond the door - were all of her friends.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Were shouted the second the door opened, and she almost fell from the sheer force of love and friendship directed at her.

Harry, Daniel, Neville, Ginny, Theo, Daphne and Draco. All of them, standing around a table decked with a large cake and plates for them all. Flags and confetti and every kind of appropriate decoration possible, hovering around in the air or plastered on the walls.

She felt herself choking up at the display and covered her face as she took a couple of steps into the room, where she was swarmed by her friends as they celebrated her.

…

Some time later when the cake was eaten, the butterbeer was drunk and her friends started to return to their dorms for the night, Hermione and Draco remained in the classroom.

"I got you something." He said as Hermione leaned back in the transfigured couch she and Draco were lounging on. The celebration had been perfect, and she didn't know if this day could possibly bring her any more joy. She hadn't even stopped to think about the fact that Draco hadn't gotten her anything.

She turned to look at him in confusion, "You did? I thought all of this was from you." She gestured to the confetti still hovering in the air around them.

"No, it was. Sura helped, but it was my idea. But I still got you something."

"You need to give that elf a raise. I swear to Merlin, she can do anything." She chuckled, still looking at him.

He repositioned himself on the couch and mirrored her stance with his head turned to her but resting on the couch. He then reached out and grabbed her hand - she really liked holding his hand - and placed something in it.

Her head lifted in surprise at the 'something' and looked down to find a small square gift in her hand. "What's this?"

He chuckled. "I told you I'd gotten you something. Did you forget already?"

She laughed, embarrassed, and sat up, crossing her legs on the couch in front of him. "Yeah, I guess I kind of did." She then slowly started to unwrap the gift.

As she unwrapped it, her thoughts went to the unsavoury amount of movies she had seen with her parents, where the woman had been gifted something in the shape of this gift. They would open it, shout out 'YES!' and then they would live happily ever after.

But, she was only just 16… And he was 15…

In her hand was now a box - not unlike the one that held her bracelet last year - only smaller. Much smaller.

With slightly shaking hands, she opened it, and found a set of beautiful golden earrings.

She gasped, covered her mouth, and started laughing. Loudly.

She laughed and laughed and laughed until tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was heaving for breaths. She laughed until she heard the 'click' of something shutting and the clearing of a throat.

"Even if I love hearing you laugh like that, I'm not sure I want it to be because a gift is just so bad."

"Wha-what?" She stammered as she dried her eyes and forced her laughing down, so that she could focus on the boy who sat in front of her, looking utterly confused - and very sad. "No, no, no. Draco, they're gorgeous! I'm only laughing because it's… It's so stupid, really… I've simply read too much and watched too many movies!" He snorted loudly at the impossibility of that statement, but it didn't stop her from continuing. "Draco, usually a package of this size contains a… ring."

"A… ring?" He looked utterly dumbfounded, like he wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.

"A ring." By her confirmation, it was his turn to laugh out loud.

"You thought… You thought I was going to… P-propose?" He stammered out between heaves of breath, and Hermione found herself being sucked into the absurdity of the situation once again, chuckling along even as she nodded.

"Merlin, Hermione, I'm barely a legal adult! What do you think of me?!"

"That a Malfoy proposing at 15 might not be as preposterous as normal people our age might think - but also that I'm very relieved that you're not proposing." She managed to say as she removed a tear and took back the box, opened it and looked at the earrings.

He sobered up in the meantime. "Sweet Salazar, you're right. I hadn't thought of that."

She quickly removed the simple earrings she was wearing, and put on the new ones. They really were stunning. Each was shaped like an infinity-sign, just like the one on her bracelet - just without the gem stones. She loved the simplicity of the gift. She wasn't much of a show-off on normal occasions. She didn't have a safe full of fine jewellery or a room packed full of beautiful ballgowns and expensive designer clothes just waiting to be shown off.

But she had these two beautiful pieces from the boy she loved and she would keep them safe for all eternity if that's what she needed to do.

They were precious to her, just as Draco were.

"How does it look?" She asked after putting the lock on the last one.

"Beautiful." He breathed, "Just like you."