Hermione spent the next hour composing the perfect outfit, well three outfits, and wrote Ginny a letter she would send in the morning before succumbing to the exhaustion that once again reclaimed her. Her dreams were filled with images of a pale dragon flying through the night sky. She was riding on its back and fireworks were going off all around them. She felt so happy for some reason, even after she woke up.
Before she left for work, she sent the letter explaining the events of the previous night and how excited she was for next weekend. She arrived at her desk in the Magical Creatures department of the Ministry and found herself a bit distracted. That was until she reminded herself why she exactly she took the position in the first place and refocused on efforts with the long term effects in mind.
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Ginny squealed in utter delight as she held the letter Hermione wrote to her in one hand, while James was in the other secured against her hip. "Who would have thought?" she said with a smile and James vocalized an infant giggle as he eyes adored his beaming mother. Harry was at work and that was probably a good thing. Ginny needed time to come up with a good way to tell him that Hermione had a second date with Draco Malfoy.
Draco was grateful that he could immerse himself into his work to make the week feel as if it passed by faster. He decided to sent a note to him mother stating to her to reject if any others inquired about his availability for a courtship opportunity. He felt compelled to tell her that by mutual agreement his relationship with Astoria had been dissolved and that he was dating Hermione Granger. He was hoping to not receive a howler in response to this news; but a howler was still better than in person. This way would give Narcissa a chance to think it over and perhaps accept it without any ire.
Friday night Draco struggled with what to wear for the morning to come. He was used to black tailored suits for every occasion. He decided on a upper casual look of a black long sleeved, masculine fit, turtleneck sweater with dark grey slacks, black leather belt, and dress shoes. Eleven am couldn't come soon enough. He found himself in front of St. Paul's Cathedral at ten forty five am, just in case she arrived early. The air was crisp with winter chill of January and he was glad to have worn his black furred hat and cashmere pea coat while he waited for her arrival. Nobody else was about, which was what he had hoped for with his plans ahead.
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Over the week, Hermione received a few letters from various people. A couple from Ginny, excited about the prospective weekend and happy for her friend, despite the history. They corresponded throughout the week, talking about what Hermione should do on the date, most of which would be ignored due to the fact that they were too ludicrous to act upon on a second date. Perhaps later on in their relationship, if it came to that. A letter from Harry urging caution while stating his certainty she could handle herself; she thanked him and said she would take his word of caution into consideration. A letter from Ron, begging her to reconsider and not pursue Draco Malfoy. She contemplated responding to him with written sarcasm saying that if he had been a better boyfriend she wouldn't have to fraternize with a former enemy; but decided simply ignoring him would be better. One particular unexpected letter was from Narcissa Malfoy. "He misses Quidditch. I'm sure a conversation about it would be welcomed," was all it said. Hermione found solace that his mother approved enough to give advice. This was something Hermione greatly appreciated, something that would have to be repaid somehow.
The anticipated weekend arrived. To help her sleep on Friday night, since she knew it wouldn't come easily, she took a dose of a draught of dreamless sleep. Morning came as sunlight through her window beckoned her to awake. Hermione didn't set an alarm on weekends if she didn't have to. She dressed quickly and ate a light breakfast, made sure Crookshanks had everything he needed for the day and headed out before the clock struck eleven. She wore a lovely alpaca wool sweater she picked up during a curse-breaking job in Switzerland a while back. It was long and cozy, but she hadn't actually worn it before. Today seemed like the perfect time to do so. She had her jeans tucked into a pair of fur lined boots that had come in handy on her previously mentioned job. The Swiss Alps were quite cold, though not nearly as cold as this January day in England. Finally over top of it all she wore a sinfully red ladies trench coat that had been enchanted to keep the wearer warm, no matter the weather.
She approached the cathedral from the alley she had apparated to and saw Draco standing at the bottom of the steps that lead to the cathedral entrance. She quickened her pace and called out to him to gain his attention. "Good morning! I hope you haven't been waiting for me long."
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Draco heard the voice he had been dreaming about all week. He turned his full attention to her. "Good morning. Not to worry. You are on time." He noted and the cathedral bells tolled, signaling the arrival of the eleventh hour of the morning. "Come on, there is something I want to show you." He said and led the way up the steps into the cathedral floor.
St. Paul's Cathedral is a three dome structure. This allows the inner dome to rise in proportion to the internal architecture and the outer dome to be much larger and impressive. It is this outer dome shell that is prominent on the London skyline. The inner dome is the painted dome one can see looking up from the cathedral floor. He led her further into the dome, two hundred and fifty-nine steps to be exact up the dome into the first Gallery, which runs around the interior of the Dome. They came to a stop on the east side of the gallery, next to the wall instead of the railing.
The west side of the gallery was a long ways away across open air. Muggles had to walk around the circumference of the gallery to get from one side to the other. He hadn't seen anyone around so he was willing to apparate. "I'm going to apparate to the other side. You will see why in a minute. Just stay close to the wall." He reassured, before he took a step away and apparated; only to reappear across the gallery, barely within view.
Draco approached the west side gallery wall and whispered, "Welcome to the Whispering Gallery, Hermione." A charming quirk in St. Paul's first level gallery construction makes a whisper against its walls audible on the opposite side.
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Hermione nodded, her face clearly showing inquisitive excitement as they embarked up the steps into the cathedral where he led them. They finally made it up to the first gallery, spacious and empty. Not a soul around, so the lack of commotion made the cathedral eerily quiet. One may actually be able to hear a pin drop. Even just their footfalls seemed to ring in Hermione's ears. She was enthralled with the beauty of the cathedral and the art. Everything was so gorgeous!
Draco led her to one side of the dome and explained what he was going to do. He popped over to the opposing side of the dome and suddenly she heard his voice as though he was right next to her. She turned around to see if he apparated back over, but he remained on the opposite side. She quickly figured out that the curve of the dome allowed sound waves to travel to the opposing side without losing volume, hence the name 'whispering gallery'. "This is amazing!" She whispered back to him in awe. "I think…I may have heard of something like this before, but how did you know about it?"
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"The Malfoy family has always been attracted to power." Draco told her and began to walk around the dome, keeping close to the wall so he could tell her more. "In ancient times being associated with a religion was viewed as a status authority; and when one has authority there lies within it power. It was not unusual for a Malfoy to gain favor of high authority figures of religious organizations through means of money, 'blessings', or from a display of loyalty. To have such meant 'favor' meant power could be wielded over the authoritative figure for self benefit. Sometimes, they would even become that authority figure. Eventually, muggles became a large populous of religious organizations because they outnumbered the magical folk. The time came when magic folk decided that it would be best to become a separate society entirely. Thus the foundation of the political authority: the Ministry of Magic." He explained as he got closer to her, eventually meeting back with her.
He watched her, eager to see her expressions of fascination and wonder at the new knowledge that she wouldn't find in any book. Some history was passed down verbally, before the printing of press or the ability of scrolls. Even with the development of record keeping; the Malfoy family lineage omitted certain legends about their ancestry so that no physical proof could potentially connect them to something that could bring shame to the family name.
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Hermione didn't know what to say. She'd read almost every history book in Hogwarts' library and didn't find anything remotely close to saying any wizard family had associations or conversions to any forms of religion. The fact that someone knew something that wasn't in a history book baffled her. Or rather…it was something that was omitted from the historical records. What tickled her most was that Draco was revealing something about his family with her; something that only family or most entrusted associates had the privilege of knowing. Hermione felt honored to now be one of those people. "Interesting, were there any other wizarding families besides your ancestors that were religious? Any present day associations?" She asked, also making her way towards Draco. They met on the far side away from the door. Hermione looked at him in anticipation, eager to know more about the history of wizarding families and religion. She herself wasn't very religious, but found it fascinating.
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"At some point, yes. In present days, no. I didn't pay that much attention to sacred twenty eight family history lessons, honestly." He answered and took a hold of her hand upon meeting her once more. They decided to visit the other two galleries above just to view the sights. The bells tolled signaling the arrival of noon, as they overlooked the view of the city from the Golden Gallery. The bell toll came to a stop in exactly thirty seconds after it began. He found himself glancing at his companion and realizing he had known her for thirteen years now. Yet, he didn't really know her. "Tell me more about yourself?" He asked, curious about what she would chose to tell him that wasn't already known.
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As their eyes met and hands interlocked, Hermione smiled. His answer would suffice her curiosity for the time being. This wasn't a history lesson; it was a date after all. The ringing of the bells chimed out a beautiful melody and Hermione realized they've already been together for an hour. No matter how much preparation she had, she was still surprised by Draco's question. "Me? Oh um…Where to start…" She fumbled for words, but quickly decided to start from the beginning. "Well you know both my parents are dentists, so while they worked I was in the care of my cousin, who often gave me silly books to read. I tired of them quickly so I started reading through my parent's textbooks on dentistry and human anatomy."
"The first time my magic manifested itself was when I was trying to reach a book on a high shelf. I fell and brought several books on top of me. Instead of hitting the ground and having the heavy books fall on me, the books and I floated safely to the floor. Luckily my cousin was in the next room and didn't hear or see anything. When I told my parent's about it, but couldn't do it again on purpose; they were supportive but figured I was just playing pretend. Occasionally another 'oddity' would occur when they were around, but most were ignored until my Hogwarts letter arrived." She concluded.
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Her parents were dentists; teeth healers. There was plenty of spells for teeth care known by wizard healers such as putting teeth into alignment. But the idea of muggles having to do all that care with manual labor and devices within ones mouth. Merlin's beard wouldn't that make it impossible to eat? The memory of their first year charms class came to his mind. She was the first student to pull off the levitation spell on her very first try. Considering her first accidental magic was levitation, perhaps her success of the charm on the first try was not coincidence.
Based on what she revealed from her story, if both her parents worked as dentists and her cousin did not do a very good job of educating her, perhaps she was not home schooled like he had been. "Your cousin was incapable of keeping up with your intellect. Were you homeschooled by another more suitable adult? Or perhaps you attended an primary muggle education institute?"
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Primary school was something more irksome to Hermione. Not the best of memories. "Yes, I attended public primary school. However, it was more like daycare. I breezed through homework and tests. Of course that brought unwanted attention to me. A few of the other students picked on me, but after an incident where all the people who bullied me had their hair fall out without logical explanation, it stopped. My parents were going to have me attend a private school for advanced children, but then I received my Hogwarts letter and with that everything made sense." She shrugged and smiled.
"What about you?" She asked giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm sure you had some homeschooling, right?"
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Draco suddenly felt very grateful that his hair remained intact after all the years he verbally tormented her. "Correct. My mother taught me through my primary school years. During the summer our family would visit friends like the Crabbe's or the Goyle's. We would travel abroad. My father had season VIP passes to professional Quidditch games. What about you, any favorite summer activities or memories?"
Most wizard families home school, particularly families where both parents are magical. Occasionally wizard families where one parent was muggle-born or perhaps a witch/wizard hiding the truth of their magical abilities from their muggle spouse would send their children to primary muggle school. It carried a risk of unwanted attention and often lying (or discreetly memory charming) about explanations when accidental magical occurred.
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Ah, quidditch! Hermione remembered the letter sent by Draco's mother on the subject. How to work that in the conversation though…But thinking back on her own past brought up a warm comforting feeling, though a sad feeling of nostalgia soon followed.
"For my family, we often went camping. We'd spend most of summer out in the woods if we could! Nature and wildlife, reading under warm sunshine, star gazing at night. Of course, I'd see something out of the corner of my eye and my parents would think I was only playing pretend if I described the fantastic beasts I saw."
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Draco listened intently, he caught a glimpse of fondness in her eyes as she told him of her memory camping. But her description of it was somewhat inadequate to gain him full understanding. The closest he had been to staying in nature was probably his night time detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid and Potter during his first year. What she described sounded enjoyable, if he did so with her. "What do you sleep in when you go camping? I am unfamiliar with this activity." He admitted sheepishly.
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Hermione let out a giggle. Of course Draco wouldn't have ever been camping before. "Well, back then we didn't have tents that were the size of small apartments on the inside; so we slept side by side in a normal tent, in sleeping bags. It was a wonderful time, family bonding and all. Did you ever do anything like that?" She asked, not sure if family matters were a sensitive subject.
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A tent that wasn't bigger on the inside?! That sounded scarier than facing a Hungarian Horntail. And in a sleeping bag instead of a full sized bed…that sounded uncomfortable. He thought about her question and answered, "Camping, no. Neither of my parents have an interest in nature in that manner. As a family we traveled abroad. Every place we visited, we would go do a famous activity iconic to that location. For example we were in Moscow and saw the famous Russian Ballet troupe. Another time we went sand boarding in Nicaragua. That was a bit of a disaster, but I remember my father and mother humored me anyway and participated. I was 8…hmm…maybe 9 years old." He shared, chuckling softly.
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Hermione couldn't imagine Lucius or Narcissa Malfoy sand boarding. The thought seemed almost comical. Neither seemed the type to do such an activity. It must have been their love for Draco that convinced them to do so with him as a family trio. "That sounds very exciting. Perhaps in the future, we might introduce each other to these activities. I'd love to try sand boarding sometime, and you might enjoy camping…eventually."
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"I would like that." Draco agreed and the bell tolled once more signaling another hour passing. He could spend the whole day with her and it would feel as if it had passed by every so quickly. Somewhere comfortable was highly desirable to him at that moment. But apparating back to her apartment or the Manor would probably not be the best of ideas.
"If you have no other pressing matters to attend to today, could we continue talking elsewhere? I'm sure we can…" he spoke quietly in case there was a chance of being heard, "…apparate to the magical part of town and somewhere to eat and talk in comfort. If you are available, that is?" He asked, leaving it open for her to respond. She could have other matters to attend to. A Date was not required to be an all day event; despite his willingness for one to be so if it involved her.
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The bells rang through the quiet cathedral like angry centaurs, announcing another hour's passing. It hadn't felt that long since they arrived. Draco asked about going to the local magical district to continue conversing while enjoying a meal. She then noticed she was feeling a bit hungry. The idea sounded wonderful to her. Hermione deliberately thought for a moment, "Let me see…I suppose I could squeeze you in my busy schedule." She looked up at him with a mischievous grin. "Of course I will have lunch with you."
She held out her hand for him to take it. "Lead the way?"