Why Don't We Go There (A Dramione Story)

Nine

The castle looked as though it was under a full reconstruction as the preparations were made for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, white sheets hung over new structures, covered until the arrival date. It had only been a week since Professor Dumbledore made the announcement that the other schools would be attending, and already, the place was almost completely ready. Filch meandered through the grounds, yelling at anyone that tried to mess with the new additions, Peeves swooped overhead, cackling as Filch tried to shoo him away, screeching century old obscenities.
"Reminds me of the Triwizard Tournament." Harry mumbled as we walked through the courtyard, glancing around, I noticed the glum look on everyones faces, the Tournament had been a bad experience for us all.
"Thank goodness it isn't." I said quietly, pulling my jacket tighter around me against the cold breeze.
"Are we all going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Ron asked as we continued down towards Hagrids Hut for a cup of tea. We all nodded our agreement and set down the rocky path, glad that the first Hogsmeade weekend had finally come around.

We spent nearly 2 hours talking with Hagrid, who'd gotten another creature that he had to hide from the school, much to Ron's dismay, it was a hideously large spider that looked eerily like Aragog.
"'er name's Arabel." Hagrid had told us, "she was Aragog's baby, before he..." he'd trailed off, frowning sadly. Ron had sat as still as a statue, his eyes never leaving the spider as it climbed over Hagrids lap, his face as white as snow.
"I think we better go before Ron faints." Harry announced, seeing a light sweat break out across Ron's forehead as he watched Arabel.
"Don't tell anyone you saw 'er" Hagrid said as we said our goodbyes, opening the door for us to exit. We all promised that we wouldn't say a word and as soon as we left, Ron took a deep breath and swore under his breath.
"Can't he ever have a normal pet?" He exclaimed, "Blimey. A spider is no pet!" He shuddered.
"And not just any spider, a giant one!" Ginny taunted him, a smirk crossed her face when he shuddered again.
We made our way back up the path and into the school yards, I slowed my pace when something caught my eye, glancing down one of the walkways, I saw Draco watching me. My cheeks turned a faint shade of pink, it took me a moment to return the smile he gave me, and then another moment before I could comprehend the motion he was doing with his hand, gesturing for me to follow him.
"Um, I just remembered I need to go ask Professor Flitwick something about our assignment, I'll catch up with you guys in a bit." I quickly excused myself, walking back a few paces before Ron stopped me.
"It's Saturday, Hermione." He scoffed, "surely it can wait until Monday."
"I need to ask him now before I forget." I told them, "I'll only be 5 minutes." I said and walked away before they could say anything else, I was completely aware that I'd actually walked in the opposite direction to where Professor Flitwicks chambers were, I grimaced, hoping the others hadn't noticed.

"Hey." Draco said after I'd followed him around a corner, leading us under a large tree that was out of sight.
"Hey," I answered quietly, memories of what'd happened at the lake came rushing back. "What's up?"
"I wanted to give you this back," he said quietly, pulling out the grass flower he'd made me and putting it into my hand once I'd held it out.
"Thank you," I whispered, smiling as I closed my hand around it.

"I also wanted to apologise for kissing you." He continued a moment later.
"Oh." I said quietly, disappointment washing over me. I knew it. I thought, I knew it was too good to be true.
"I should have found another way to tell you that I liked you, I shouldn't have put you in that position." He said, smiling at me sadly, "so I'm sorry."
I cleared my throat, not missing his use of past tense words. "You don't have to apologise, it's fine."
"Well, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." He sat down on the grass next to the tree, leaning against the side of the castle, a second later, I followed suit and sat down too.
"I wasn't uncomfortable," I tried reassuring him, "I was just in shock, I thought you were being nice to me because you didn't want me to curse you again."
He let out a soft chuckle, "that contributed to me starting." He admitted, "you have no idea how annoying those birds were."

I laughed out loud, biting my lip, "sorry about that."
"It's alright." He shrugged.
"So, you actually liked me?" I asked after a couple of minutes of silence. Staring straight ahead so I didn't have to see his expression as he glanced at me.
"Still do." He said, from the corner of my eye I saw him watching for my reaction again. I let a small smile creep onto my face as I turned in his direction.

"Then I should probably let you know that I like you as well." I admitted, and honestly, it felt good to finally let it out. It was Draco's turn now to look shocked.
"You do?" I just nodded in answer, glad that for once, a blush hadn't painted my cheeks red.
Apparently, I'd spoken too soon, because the moment that Draco leaned in, my face flushed a bright red and I pulled back apologetically.

"I don't think we should do that."
"Why not?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing together.

"Because we can't be together, this will just complicate things even further." I told him, tracing the petals of the flower still in my hand.
"Why can't we?" He asked, making me freeze my hand and look up at him.
"What?" I asked, "you really want to be with me?"
"Yes," he said automatically, "don't you want to be with me?"
"Well, yes. But -" I admitted after thinking for a few moments and finding that it was true.
"But what?" Malfoy challenged, his posture becoming more relaxed.
"What about your parents?" I asked, "your friends? The school?"
"Who cares what the school thinks, what are they going to do? Kick us out? Dumbledore would never allow it." Draco muttered, "and if our friends are really mates, then they won't care." He continued, reminding me of what Ginny had said the other day.

"And your parents?" I asked, noticing that he'd conveniently skipped over them.
"They'll get over it." He shrugged, though his voice sounded uncertain.

"You and I both know that isn't true." I told him, rolling my eyes. The Malfoys were very old fashioned when it came to bloodlines, they were very well known for their Pureblood status. There was no way Mr and Mrs Malfoy would let Draco date anyone who wasn't Pureblood, especially not a Muggle Born witch like me.

"They'll have to." He shrugged. "Now that that is sorted. Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

"Can we hang out like this a few more times?" I asked quietly.

"You're afraid of what Potter and Weasley are going to say, aren't you?" He asked, for once not sneering their names.
"No, not afraid. Just..." I trailed off, "no offense, but they really don't like you."
"I'm not too fond of them either," he argued, and held up a finger when he saw that I was going to say something back. "But, for you, I'll be nicer to them, maybe they won't hate me as much. The Weasley girl too."
"Ginny." I corrected, frowning.

"Sorry. Ginny." He smiled.

"So, be nice to them then, and I'll figure out a way to tell them soon."

"Great," Draco grinned, "in the meantime, we'll still meet like this then."

"Yeah." I smiled back. We stayed in a comfortable silence for a little while longer until I announced that I had to go.

"Do you really?" Draco asked, helping me up anyway.

"Yeah, I told the others that I'd only be 5 minutes." I said, giving him a small smile and putting the flower carefully into my pocket.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later?" Draco said, giving me a hopeful look.

"Yeah. See you later." I smiled again and was about to walk away but Draco took hold of my hand and pulled me in for a hug. The same spark that I'd felt back in the dungeon corridors all that time ago flared up again, making me melt into his embrace, after what only felt like a couple of seconds, he pulled away and placed a kiss on my forehead.

"Have a good afternoon." He whispered, "will you meet me back here after dinner?"

"Of course." I grinned, feeling mildly dizzy.
We both went our separate ways then, and I walked back to the common room slowly, my mind going back to what had just happened.

Am I dating Draco now? I thought as I waited for the Fat Lady to open the portrait, and if I am, how the hell am I going to tell the boys?

That's a problem for another night, I decided as I found Ginny in her room, a grin instantly appearing on my face.