It has been twelve weeks since Draco and I sat on the cold, hard floor. Tears had been flowing down my face right before he had broken the news that I was pregnant.
Nothing has been like it is now. My belly was still flat, my relationship with Ron wasn't as bad as now, and Draco and I hadn't been as close as we are now.
We aren't the best of buddies, but we are friendlier to each other.
As I reach for the door to the dining hall, a voice calls from behind me, "Hermione!"
I turn around to see Draco, strolling towards me.
"Hey, um, how are you doing?" He asks awkwardly.
I smile, "I'm doing fine. You?" He smiles at that.
"I'm doing fine. I just wanted to ask, uh, since everyone's going to Hogsmeade tomorrow, would you maybe, spend the day with me?" He asks shyly, hands fiddling with the band of his bag.
"I would love to spend the day with you, Draco," I reply.
He grins, "Great, I'll meet you here tomorrow so we can get going." I nod and we walk together into the dining hall.
As soon as I reach the Gryffindor table, Ginny starts rambling about her plans for tomorrow, "Oh, we can also go get some butterbeer."
"I can't," I interrupt. She stops talking and looks up.
"What, why?" She mutters. The disappointed look she gives me makes me feel bad but I want to spend the day with Draco.
"I and Draco are spending the day together. Kind of like a bonding day before the baby comes," I say.
I hear a scoff to my side and finally turn to see Ron, "Bonding day? You two'll probably end up shagging by midday. Don't use the baby as an excuse for acting like a slut."
"What the hell is your issue? I wasn't talking to you, okay? I didn't ask for you to put in your two cents. Now go use the last two of your brain cells to do your schoolwork," I scold. Ron rolls his eyes and looks away.
"Good job handling him Hermione. He needed to be put in his place," Ginny grins at me.
I smile back, "All in a day's work." We giggle before turning back to our food.
"So, what are you and Draco gonna do tomorrow?" She asks.
"I'm not sure. I think we might go to each other's favorite place in Hogsmeade. Or do something like that," I state. She nods and takes another bite of her food.
"Well, next Hogsmeade trip will be me and you. Make sure you tell him that," Ginny says. I laugh along with her.
I stood in front of the doors of the dining hall. I looked around anxiously, everyone else had already gone to Hogsmeade.
My heart skipped a beat as I heard footsteps approaching, in walked, Ron. He smirked at me and shook his head, "Did you believe Malfoy wanted to spend time with you?" He scoffed and chuckled.
"At least he wanted to sleep with me," I bark. Ron's eyes widen and then furrow in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" He asks nervously.
It's my turn to scoff, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Now, please leave me alone I'm waiting for someone."
"He won't show up, Hermione. Spending the day with you would be a waste of time," He spits at me. I roll my eyes but before I can reply, someone else does.
"No, Ronald. Spending time with Hermione isn't a waste of my time. Standing here with you, is," Malfoy interjects, walking up to us. He stands square against Ron, daring him to say another word.
Ron gulps and walks away without another word. Once he's out of view, I turn to Draco.
"Thank you," I mutter.
"Don't worry about it. If he knows what's good for him, he'll stop bothering you," He says darkly. I smile at Draco, receiving a slight smirk back.
"Shall we?" He says, motioning for us to begin the walk to Hogsmeade.
The second we arrived in Hogsmeade, I dragged Draco to Tomes and Scrolls. They had started selling muggle romance books and so far, I've been hooked.
"What about this one?" Draco said, showing me a sci-fi book about aliens.
"No, Draco. We're looking for romance books. Not, sci-fi," I smile and roll my eyes. Draco smirks at me.
"You know I have no idea what you're talking about. Either way, the romance section is so small. I'm sure you've read all of these books many times," He combats.
I chuckle, "You never know, they might have a new one that I haven't noticed."
"Sure enough. What's your favorite one so far?" He asks, picking up a random book.
"Um, it was about this boy and this girl. They didn't like each other at first but then ended up falling in love after getting to know each other," I ramble mindlessly.
"Sounds familiar," Draco mutters.
My head snaps to him, "What?"
"Nothing, it sounds interesting. Maybe you could lend it to me?" He asks. I try to mimic his smirk.
"Are you into romance, Draco?" I smile.
A faint blush appears on Draco's cheek as he looks away, "I've never really read a romance novel, I just want to see why you like it so much."
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. But, yeah, remind me to give it to you when we go back to Hogwarts," I say. He nods and we turn back to the books.
After a moment of silence, Draco says, "Wanna go to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop?" I look up at him but he's looking down at a book.
A blush creeps up on my cheeks and I manage to say, "Um, yeah."
Draco nods and grabs a book from the shelf. We walk over to the counter and I wait as he pays for it. The second he hands the cashier the money, he hands me the book, "Just give it a chance. It might not be romance, but it's a pretty great novel."
I nod. I can't think of much else to say. I never thought Draco Malfoy would be handing me a sci-fi book and recommending it. My heart skips a beat as I stare into his eyes.
"Let's get going then," Draco clears his throat. I nod again, not saying a thing.
This whole book trip with Draco had seemed different. First, the comment about the enemies to lovers book. I couldn't ignore it or the underlying meaning behind his words. I wouldn't go as far as to say I was in love with Draco but could I see myself being in love with him in the future? Definitely. Now, we were staring intensely into each other's eyes. Maybe the romance books were getting to my head, but the obvious tension was too hard to ignore.
We started walking to Madame Puddifoot's, side by side. We hadn't been walking for long when Parvati walked up to us.
"Hi, Hermione! Oh, hello, Draco. So, Hermione, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come to Tomes and Scrolls with me. I heard they got some new books, with spicy scenes," She rambles.
I smile apologetically, "Sorry, Parvati. Draco and I just came from there. But, you should go check out the collection they have"
"Oh, that's fine. I'll go another time, do you want to go to Honeydukes?" She asks again.
"I would love to but Draco and I are spending this trip together. Maybe next time?" I smile apologetically once more. The smile on Parvati's face disappears for a moment as she looks from me to Draco.
"Ohhh, that makes sense. Well, you two have a fun time, but not too much fun. Ha, you're already pregnant after all," She rambles before slapping her hand on her mouth. Her eyes widen and she looks frantically around before waving and running off.
Draco and I stood there for a minute before he mutters, "What the hell just happened?" I chuckle and shake my head as we begin walking to Madam Puddifoot's.
Sweet scents raft around the tea shop as we open the door. I take in a deep breath and smile, "I've missed this."
Draco steps in and finds a table for us to sit at. He swiftly pulls the chair out for me, subtly pushing it forward after I've sat down.
I mutter a quick thank you and he hums in reply.
"Now that we're here, I'm really craving lemon cake," Draco says. My face lights up at the thought of it.
"Lemon cake sounds amazing right now!" I say. Madame Puddifoot comes up to us before we can continue our conversation.
"Well, here's a pairing I never thought I'd see. Word on the street's you have a little bun baking. Congratulations!" She says quickly, setting down two cups of tea.
"Oh, thank you Madame Puddifoot. How have you been doing?" I ask.
"I'm well. What would you two like to eat? I wasn't eavesdropping but I heard mention of lemon cake." She says.
I grin at her and say, "Yes, lemon cake for the both of us please."
She nods, smiles at the both of us and then hurries away.
I look at Draco, "Well, it seems many people know about it then."
He looks wearily at me, "Yeah, news spread like wildfire. Don't read anything Rita Skeeter has written so far. She can't seem to keep her mouth shut about it."
"I thought you and Rita...get along," I mumble.
Draco chuckles, "No, not at all." He doesn't elaborate on what that means and I don't pressure him to. Instead we dig into the lemon cake slices that Madame Puddifoot just set on the table.
Moments of silence pass before Draco puts his fork down, his cake is only half eaten.
"Hermione," He says clearly. I look up at his intense stare. My heartbeat picks up and I can't seem to look away from his piercing grey eyes.
"Yes?" I manage to mutter.
"I know that we have to get married, legally, but I want to, um, to get to know each other before that and before the baby comes," he rambles, "What I mean is, I want to date before we have to get married, so that way we'll be comfortable with each other." He finishes.
I blink at him and he mutters, "I wanna give us a chance."