𝐂𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐄 | 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦

ten

The weekend passed in a blur of laughter, gelato, and foot traffic. Hermoine lamented the end of the trip, but was looking forward to getting a new case at work. She'd recently puzzled out her last one. Plus, she and Blaise were assigned to work on the project together.

"So, what, you think that the teapot has something to do with it?" Blaise asked, brows furrowed.

"Obviously!" Hermione exclaimed, leaning forward over the paper, hair falling into her face. She pointed to the evidence to illustrate her point as she brushed it back behind her ear. "It was enchanted. Isn't that suspicious?"

"No? It was just an everlasting charm. Loads of people put them on their Muggle goods so they don't break."

"I still think it's important."

"Hermione, teapots don't just malfunction like that. It would have to be a trickey curse to- do you think they'd let us take a look at it?"

"'Course. Dean's in charge of evidence. C'mon, let's go now," she said, standing.

Blaise remained seated, eyes narrowing at something behind her.

"You ready, Granger?" Draco asked.

"Huh?" she whirled. "Oh! I totally forgot. Let me just get my bag-"

She rummaged around behind her desk for a minute, then Blaise called, "You left it in my office."

"Thank you," she said, rushing out of the room.

"So?" Blaise asked, eyebrow cocked.

"What?" Draco replied irritably, not in the mood for his best mate's teasing.

"So you're taking Hermione out on a date?"

"Starting your sentences with something other than 'so' would make you actually sound smart," Draco snapped.

Blaise rolled his eyes. If Draco was irritable, that meant that Blaise had hit home. "Have a good time."

"I will," Draco replied, turning to the door as Hermione ran back in. How did she manage to run so well in those heels, but still trip and run into him in the street? "I'm ready. Where are we going?"

"I don't know, where do you want to go?"

Draco asked as they left the room. He resisted the urge to turn around and scowl at Blaise, who was most definitely smirking at him.

Granger turned back to Blaise and waved at him cheerily, before turning and saying, "We could go to Pansy's?"

"You want to go to Pansy's?"

"Or whatever you want, love," she said with a half-smile. His cheeks flushed, barely and he caught a glimmer of amusement in Hermione's eyes before she turned away.

Why did she have this much of an effect on him? He was always able to keep his composure, but with her, it was different. He knew that she was doing this on purpose. 

"Is this it?" she asked after he Apparated them, tilting her head up to look at the elegant sign above the door.

"That it is," he replied, a trace of a pleased smile on his face.

"Welcome to Key- oh, hey!"

"Hey, Pans," Hermione greeted her. Pansy beamed and hugged her, black hair falling forward into her face. Brushing it out of her face, she said, "Never thought I'd see you two on a date together. Finally made a move, did you, Draco?"

"Oh, we're not toget-"

"Yeah, it's funny," Hermione said smoothly, before she knew what she was doing. After she said it, she cursed herself. We're not together- Draco doesn't even know how I feel about him!

Draco gaped at her. Where did this Hermione come from? He'd only seen this self-assured side of her when she was discussing her passions or having a debate. But if she said they were together, he wasn't about to correct her. He smirked at her when Pansy turned away, arching a brow. Her cheeks colored and she looked down.

Pansy smirked at Draco, then said, "Hayley will lead you to a table."

"Together?" he asked bluntly as soon as they were alone. He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, here we are. In the same place at the same time. I'd consider that together, wouldn't you?" she said, reading her menu and avoiding his eyes.

Draco opened his mouth, then closed it again, shaking his head.

"I still don't know what to get you for your birthday," Draco said as they left Pansy's restaurant, after a long catch-up with Pansy herself. Hermione scowled. "You don't need to get me a gift."

"You can't tell me what to do, Granger."

"Just put a bow on yourself and you'll be fine," Hermione said, walking ahead of him. She wasn't a huge fan of birthday parties. She liked parties, sure, but not when they were for her.

"You're finally admitting that I'm the greatest gift to the world?" he said, amused.

"Oh, absolutely," she said with a straight face, turning back to look at him. "Best gag gift anyone could get."

"Are you calling me a joke, darling?" he asked, pretending to be offended. He smirked, pleased, when her cheeks flooded with color at the word darling.

"I think I am," she said, sounding flustered.

"Rude," he said simply, sticking his hands in his pockets.