Hermione graciously took Draco's hand and stood up. "Absolutely, but so you know, I did prefer when you referred to me by my first name." She said as she began to put her cup and saucer on the tea cart. Before she could however, Mimble took the dish for her. "Please Miss Granger, allow Mimble to do so." She quickly zipped away to the kitchen with the cart before Hermione was able to argue. "Thank…you." Hermione called after the house elf. Not her house, not her elf, she reminded herself. Smiling, she turned back to Draco. "Anyway, lead the way, Mister Malfoy." She held out her hand for him to take and they apparated to the Cloud Nine ferry marina where the ferry was docked.
It was a secluded place beyond muggle detection. To anyone else, the place would have looked like a rocky cliff barred away for people's safety, but magical beings knew that the marina was just a tap of a want or quick apparation away. The docks were bustling with activity. Workers were cleaning the boardwalk, scraping barnacles off the hulls of the different ferries, and more. They all wore classic white sailor's uniforms with red neckerchiefs.
The rest of the crowd was people sitting at tables or standing and chatting passengers waiting to board. Hermione and Draco were given VIP passes, not because she asked for them. But because a young lad at the ticket booth was a fan of her exploits during the war. So the two of them were able to board early. The number Nine ferry itself was a magnificent ship. The largest by far and had the largest crowd waiting to board. Hermione could hardly contain her awe, "Oh, it is gorgeous! It wasn't here earlier when I made the reservation."
The inside was just as impressive, almost like a small mansion instead of a ship. A few workers were transferring passenger luggage into the storage deck, others were making last minutes preparations, shouting at each other from across the ship. The two of them were lead by the young cabin boy to one of the VIP suites. The inside made Hermione gasp. It was beautiful, like a fancy hotel suite, minus a bed. Two couches were on either side of a fish tank containing gorgeous exotic fish that doubled as a coffee table. A few magazines and a bottle of champagne chilling in a silver bowl sat atop the tank glass table. Many decorations adored the walls of the main suite. It reminded Hermione of a nice seafood restaurant that her parents took her to when she was younger. "It is wonderful! I'll have to be sure to thank the ticket clerk for upgrading us." Hermione said, kneeling down to get a close look at the fish. The cabin boy saluted Draco, "If there is anything else you need Sir, please let any member of the crew know how we can serve." With that, he ran off to do whatever else was required to do before shoving off.
. . . . . . .
The Cloud Nine Ferry was absolutely brilliant. Elegant in every way possible and luxurious, even by Malfoy standards. Malfoy contemplated buying their way past the long line; but Granger's, no Hermione's, appearance got them upgraded to VIP status and lodging. "Thank you. That will be all for now." Draco said to the cabin boy and slipped him a Galleon tip before the boy departed away to go accomplish other tasks before departure.
Draco looked around, admiring the surroundings. "This is fantastic, very well chosen indeed Hermione. Your fame does have a few uses after all." Draco complimented as he took a seat on the nearby couch and poured them each a glass of chilled champagne. It wasn't long before the sensation of being lifted into the air commenced and the ferry was underway. Draco barely noticed it. It felt no different to him then the initial launch off the ground while riding a broomstick. The captain made a loud announcement for all to hear. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard the Cloud Nine Ferry. This is the captain speaking. Weather appears to be in our favor. We should reach Egypt by 7pm this evening. Dinner will be served in the dining room at 5pm. There are several activities and many accommodations for you to participate in or appreciate while we journey. If you have any questions or need of assistance ask any of the crew. One behalf of myself and the crew we thank you for choosing Cloud Nine and welcome you."
With that the room went silent once again. Draco casually sipped on the champagne and browsed the latest edition of the World Quidditch magazine. Seeing a picture of the Bulgarian Quidditch team reminded him of Viktor Krum. The Bulgarian world quidditch team seeker back during their 4th year of school that took great fancy to Hermione that year. "Whatever happened between you and that bloke Krum? He fancied you quite a bit." Draco dared to ask Hermione. Back then he thought Krum's obvious attraction to Hermione was repulsive. Now? Well, he kind of understood why Krum wanted her so desperately.
. . . . . . .
After indulging in her curiosity with the fish, Hermione sat in the couch that was under the window. For the longest time, she had an aversion to flying, but a few times for her job, she had to fly and eventually got over her fear. However, that was when she was in control of a broom. The situation of being a passenger still slightly bothered her. The simple fact of the matter was that she wasn't expecting the normally sea-faring vessel to take to the skies.
A bit of alcohol typically helped put her at ease, so she slipped on the bubbly champagne as they ascended. She was also relieved when Draco took up conversation, though and odd topic, she thought. "Oh, Viktor?" She sighed, "As charming as he was, he was a very good company intellectually. Not because of language barrier reasons. Most of his talk was about Quidditch or something about Soviet Bulgaria. His romantic interest displays at times were as aggressive as he is on the quidditch pitch. It was nice at first, but it became…uncomfortable since I didn't reciprocate the same level of interest in him. Besides, by that time, I had feelings for a certain someone who was so oblivious to them…" An annoyed look came across Hermione's face but it quickly changed to nostalgia and she ended up laughing it off. "Anyway, Viktor understood when I stated my intentions of keeping in contact with him as he requested were only on a friendship status. He and I were still both young, he graduating from Durmstrang and had his career as a Bulgarian Quidditch team Seeker. I still at Hogwarts for three years, plus long distance issue. It wouldn't have worked out anyway."
Hermione sipped some more of her glass, pondering. "While we are on the subject, you and Pansy Parkinson used to be something if I'm not mistaken? Mind if I ask what happened there?" She already had her suspicions. Pansy perused him for his status, and Hermione figured he broke things off because of the events in their sixth year. But it was just speculation, and she might like to hear the whole story.
. . . . . . .
Draco merely nodded in understanding. He figured Hermione was simply too smart to allow and exclusive relationship with an individual like Krum. The man was skilled at Quidditch, the whole world knew and admired that. But as for brains…that was debatable. "Pansy knew marrying into my family would bode well on the Pureblood aristocratic forefront. I didn't mind the general attention I received from her." He answered, reflecting back on the early years of Hogwarts when 'Malfoy's Gang' had a fair amount of Pureblood Slytherins practically worshipping the ground he walked on.
"I asked her to the Yule Ball out of expectation more than desire. I tried to break it off after my father was arrested and sent to Azkaban the first time. I figured she would gladly move onto another bloke with an untarnished family name. But she refused, so perhaps there was something authentic there. But other events destroyed all possibilities of validating that. Despite everything, she wanted to pick up where we left off, but I just couldn't. An attractive face and shallow mind wasn't enough for me." He finished, taking a moment to swallow the last bit of champagne in his cup.
Feeling the gentle effects of the alcohol taking a hold of his system, he placed the cup on the end of the table, resisting the urge to consume more. He glanced around the vast suite and saw an entertainment system speaker. With a wave of his wand it turned on and revealed that the live music being played by a band on board was enchanted to be heard from anywhere on the ferry if desired. It was classic symphony that alternated between comfortable slow waltz and swing music. The current song playing was swing music. Standing up he approached and bowed to Hermione, extending his hand out, "Dance with me, Hermione?" He asked feeling that same knot in his stomach as he had all those years ago when he asked her to dance at Hogwarts at that silly student unity gala.
. . . . . . .
'Shallow mind is right' Hermione thought, nodding thoughtfully while still sipping her champagne. She had just forgotten about the fact they were airborne. The magic ferry making turbulence unnoticeable helped. She really didn't know how exactly to respond to Draco's complex past. In reality, she felt bad for him. He really didn't deserve any of the terrible things that happened to him. His overbearing father using him as a pawn, and how that backfired, putting Draco in the position he found himself during their sixth year. It simply wasn't right.
A while back, she had realized, while talking to Harry about certain things in his past, that Harry and Draco had pretty similar situations: authoritative upbringings, high expectations of their abilities, and both were forced to do something that Hermione herself wouldn't have been able to do. At one point, she almost wished the two would recognize this and perhaps become friends. Perhaps things wouldn't have gone so terribly wrong. But perhaps nothing could have stopped the events in the past from happening, who knows?
She gave up thinking about it and had just finished her first glass of champagne, when she was asked to dance. "Oh? I would love to, thank you." She stood and joined Draco in their spacious floor of the suite and danced with him. "You know, you are quite possibly the best dancer I've had the pleasure of accompanying. Ron was incompetent and Viktor competent but too rigid." She voiced, finding somewhat gentle but accurate way of putting her past dance partner experiences.
. . . . . . .
Draco took a hold of her hand and led her to the middle of the room. Keeping their hands clasped and held out in front of each other he noted the beat and led her through a casual swing dance routine. The song came to an end and she complimented his dance skills. "I know." He said with a devilish overly confident tone. "Then again, was that really a compliment of my dance skills, when compared to just those two?" He retorted and the song changed to a slow waltz.
He silently signaled with his subtle hand change position to go from a very causal open frame to a formal closed frame that required a step closer to her for his left hand to grasp hers and extend it outwards from them. While the right rested gently on her left shoulder blade. He led her thought a simple box step and developed it into other elegant movement once they settled into a familiar rhythm of leading and following. "Perhaps you should dance with others and make a better assessment of just how superior my skills are. I must admit you are an excelling follower; a real pleasure to lead. Ask any gentlemen what the goal of dance is, he should say: 'To present his female accompanist as elegant, no matter her skill level.' " He told Hermione, applying a bit of pressure to her shoulder blade as he lead her through a spin and then back to him.
. . . . . . .
A giggle escaped Hermione as she spun, though it wasn't because of the dance. Draco's bravado and overconfidence in the past would have annoyed her; but given the situation she almost found it charming. She danced with him, enjoying the pleasant activity. "You know, a simple 'thank you' is sufficient when receiving a compliment. And what would happen if I found someone who was better at dancing than you? I might be tempted to only dance with them." She taunted.
An idea came to her, "Just to be sure, I want to test you on something. Like you said, I'm a good follow; it does indeed take some skill to do so. But can you follow, Draco Malfoy?" She stopped and stepped back, offering her hand; just as he did for her a several minutes ago. "If you are wondering, I helped Ginny practice for her wedding, so in light of such I took formal lessons for a while and learned how to lead." She half smiled, challenging him.
. . . . . . .
Her taunt was rather encouraging. He knew surely through statistics that there were other wizards with higher dance skills then his. What would happen if she found someone better at dancing? And she wanted to only dance with them? The idea of her dancing with someone else suddenly caused him to feel something that he was not used to: jealousy.
The look that presented itself when she suddenly got an idea was almost as conniving as the reflection his own features got when he was planning something. She stopped their dance and stepped back, challenging him to be a follower, allowing her to take lead. The grin on her face clearly read that she felt she had been so clever. The way she addressed him with his full name was almost distracting. He wasn't going to back down from a challenge. "Always the overachiever, aren't you? This is a rather ridiculous notion, but I will humor you." He replied and reluctantly took her hand.
It took real concentration to mirror the position his hands usually went, along with even performing what should have been relatively simple dance steps. "Sorry." He mumbled after stepping on her toes once, he had to stop trying to keep his head up and glance down to avoid any further scuffling. Following was harder than he had realized. He was constantly alert to feel shift in weight, hand position, or applied pressure to anticipate what steps she wanted to do next. "We better keep at it if I am to pass Hermione Granger's test at all." He admitted, not very good at letting her lead completely, but at least he no longer had to watch his feet most of the time.
. . . . . . .
A little surprised that he accepted the challenge, Hermione took Draco into a simple routine to start. She was also surprised by how terrible at following he was. She expected him to possibly be a little clumsy, but it was as if he was his first time dancing. "Come now, what was that about the lead presenting the accompanist as elegant, no matter the skill level? Not as easy to follow as you thought—ouch." She had meant to tease some more, but felt that Draco stepping on her toe was karma telling her to b nice, so she stopped and gave an understanding smile and continued on leading in silence.
For a while, she did simple dance moves, but added more complex moves the more he improved on following. "I'm impressed. You are getting better with every passing second. Well done." They waltzed for a while longer; sweat was starting to bead on her brow. They had been dancing for well over an hour after all. The music came to an end and an announcement was made that the band will be taking a short break; along with the announcement of dinner for guests proceed to the dining hall. While dinner for VIP guests proceed to the captain's exclusive dining room. The two of them parted and Hermione bowed to her partner. "You did wonderfully, Draco. Thank you for the dance." She then sat down and retrieved two bottles of water from a nearby icebox. Taking a long, well deserved draw from her own, she offered the other to Draco.
. . . . . . .
Draco didn't realize how much time had passed while they danced. It was a rocky start, but by the time the music stopped playing to make an announcement about dinner, it had been well over an hour. He could feel the beads of perspiration along his forehead line, thankfully hidden by his hair. They parted and bowed to one another in conclusion of their dance. She grabbed two bottles of water, offering him one. He nodded silent thanks and accepted it, taking a long drink while they listened to the announcement of VIP dinner being served in the captain's exclusive dining room.
When the announcement finished and all went silent he reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief offering it to her. They both appeared to be a bit disheveled, but not overly so. Finishing his bottle of water he disposed of the empty container into the trash. Then looked into the mirror to straighten his tie and overall appearance. "To the captain's exclusive dining room for dinner?" He asked, resisting the urge to offer his arm as if he was her escort or date.