Carpathian

Thursday, 7:04 pm

"No, I've got it," Doru said before Charlie could finish his offer. He gave Charlie a lingering pat on the back. "You've been working hard enough without officially being on leadership. Go enjoy your night! And give Tavian and Marjorie my best."

When they Apparated into Verdell, Hermione and Draco took longer to settle themselves so Charlie and Julia got a several pace head start.

"What's going on in your head?" Draco asked when she lingered even longer than him.

Knots reformed in Hermione's stomach like Devil's Snare around its victim. A million thoughts were on her mind, but how was that any different than usual? Yet as Hermione watched Charlie and Julia laugh and smile down the cobbled path, a small spike of jealousy pricked her senses.

She took a fortifying breath and let the admission roll off her tongue. "I wish we could treat this like a normal date, but we can't lose sight of our real goal of the night."

"Can't we do both?"

There was a hopeful lilt in his voice, one that Draco hadn't cared to mask. Their days were limited on more than one front. Tonight could be their only chance to get something out of Tavian—but it was also one of the few nights that she and Draco could afford any semblance of a night out together. If tonight was all they had, they'd have to find a balance.

The usual crowd of collective guests filled the Dennfyre. Hermione went to her room to place the flowers in a conjured vase then joined everyone else downstairs. When she took the seat next to Draco, there was nothing special about it. Sure, there was a slight leap in her heart when his hand instantly settled onto her knee. But that was away from the view of anyone else. With Charlie and Julia a firm couple, of course that meant Hermione and Draco would take the two remaining adjacent seats. And yet, the second Hermione sat down, Marjorie gazed at her from across the bar with a knowing smile.

Dinner was almost, almost what one could consider a typical double date. There was a comfortable ease between the four of them—at least on the surface. Questions still filtered through Hermione's mind about the standing between Charlie and Julia after their fight, but no tension revealed itself. Julia was back to her typical relaxed self. Recounting stories about her and her younger siblings. Laughing about a time earlier that day when a dragon had tried to nip off her thin gold bracelet during afternoon feeding. Telling Hermione about how her interest in Dragon Keeping had sparked as a spectator of the Triwizard Tournament, only to eventually date the same attractive wizard who had caught her eye from across the crowd.

"I still can't believe you remembered me from that."

"Sounds perfectly believable to me," Draco chimed in. "Have you looked in a mirror? I've been trying to get that red hair out of my memory for the past ten years, yet I fear it's permanently stuck."

The table chorused in laughter, but Hermione's mind stayed fixated on all the tidbits Hermione was learning about Julia. Julia was the oldest in her family. Julia had a gold bracelet. Julia didn't want to be a dragon keeper until late in her schooling. Were these irrelevant details or could they mean something? Hints disguised in the tales of passing anecdotes?

The night was intended to get information out of Tavian. A facade of a date without ulterior motives. Yet it also served as a means to potentially uncover more about Julia.

Could she really be the insider betraying the dragons?

Even in the midst of all her mental speculation, Hermione couldn't forget the wizard seated next to her and the stir inside her chest each time she passed a glance in his direction.

The night served so many purposes, but her favourite one was the fact that despite pretences, tonight remained a date. A date between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.