---
Hermione felt very nauseous after apparating. She hadn’t realized she had her arms wrapped his neck, with her head on his chest, eyes completely shut. She gasped and jumped a good few feet away from him and cleared her throat. “A warning would be nice, next time.” She told him as she fixed her hair and clothes. She licked her lips and chewed on the inside of her cheek.
Draco slightly chuckled and stared at Hermione. “Well, let’s shop.” He said with a grin as he walked towards Quality Quidditch Supplies. “Help me pick out a broom for Zabini.” He said as he entered the store with Hermione.
“I hardly know anything about brooms. You should’ve brought Harry along with you to pick out Blaise’s present.” She teased him as she looked around the place. “Just pick one, I mean, brooms are practically sticks.”
“Just sticks?” He asked, appalled by her blunt description. “They aren’t just sticks. They are—“
“Explain it to someone who actually cares about broomsticks, Draco.” She cut him off and suddenly got a good idea. She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “Look, why don’t you pick out Blaise’s present and I’m going to go buy Ginny and Harry’s present. I think it wouldn’t be bad if you bought Ginny something, too. I’m probably going to buy Blaise something.” She said with a smile.
“Do I have to buy Weaslette one, too?”
“It’d be nice, Draco.”
“Fine.” He grumbled and looked around the store.
“Well, I’m going to go . . . elsewhere. Meet me back in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in about two hours.”
“Splendid. I wouldn’t mind getting away from you. I think we spend too much time with each other.” Draco said with a sarcastic tone, a smirk playing on his lips.
Hermione slightly sneered and quickly slipped out of the store. She ran to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions and checked the time. “I have 118 minutes to buy five presents.” She said and sighed. “This is going to be stressful.” She groaned out and quickly scanned the store. “A nice travel coat would be nice for Harry and Zabini . . . a cute dress for Ginny?” She whispered to herself as she looked around the place.
---
Draco waited until Hermione was out of the store and immediately checked the time. “Damn, I need to buy three presents in 119 minutes.” He sighed and looked around the place. “Blaise and Weaslette, I’ll get them something from here and Hermione . . .” His voice trailed off as he nodded. He immediately a Thunderbolt 3000 off the shelf and examined. “It’s the newest thing, so Blaise would like that.” He said as he shrugged and looked around the store and groaned. He grabbed another Thunderbolt 3000 off the shelf and shook his head. “Weaslette is very lucky this year . . .” He quickly walked over to the owner. “I’ll buy these two.”
---
“Thanks to you, genius, we lost two hours worth of time.” Ginny pushed Blaise lightly.
“Subtract 30 minutes from that. We shopped for an hour and a half.” He corrected Ginny and looked at her. “Besides, I had to buy my own Christmas presents, too.” He said and glared at her. “You and your freaking invisible boyfriend bought a lot more presents than me so don’t complain! It was smart for us to buy our Christmas presents here. It’s not every day you sneak out here without getting caught, you know.” He said and sighed.
“Okay, fine.” Ginny sneered and looked at what was hopefully Harry. “Let’s go visit my brother.” She said and quickly walked over to her brother’s shop. She waited for the guys to come and walked inside. She immediately spotted the red-headed boy upstairs. “Let’s go.” She said to the boys and quickly climbed the stairs. “Hey, George.” Ginny said casually, ambling over to her older brother with Blaise and (an invisible) Harry behind her.
“Wha—Ginny? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at school?” George asked with shock as his little sister brought him into a hug. He pushed her off gently by the shoulders and stared at her. Then, his eyes traveled over to Blaise. He blinked twice as he rubbed his eyes. “Okay, we need to go somewhere more private.” He decided and took them behind the store where they could talk. “So, Blaise Zabini? Ginny?” He questioned his little sister with concern.
Harry took off his cloak and smiled at George. “I’m here, too.”
George slightly jumped and looked at the odd trio and sighed. “I’m going to have a headache real soon.” He grumbled and licked his lips. “Coming over here, was one thing . . . bringing Harry along was another thing, but coming here with Blaise Zabini is yet another thing!” He yelled at his sister with shock.
Ginny simply smiled and lightly punched him on the shoulder. “Ah, loosen up, George. I just made a few new friends this year. After all, our new headmistress is promoting house unity. And that’s exactly what she’s getting.” She said with a sneaky grin.
“Speaking of headmistresses, what are you three doing out here?” He asked curiously, folding his arms across his chest.
The three of them exchanged glances and frowned. “We’re here to buy Christmas presents.” Blaise spoke up after a while.
“Does McGonagall even know you three are here?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at them.
“She’s not aware of it . . . well, not yet at least.” Blaise told him carefully, choosing his words wisely.
George stared at them with a straight face but it soon cracked and a big smile replaced his frown. “Wicked! You guys snuck out of school without getting caught?” He asked and high fived Harry and hesitantly and awkwardly high fived Blaise, then pulling Ginny into a side hug. “You really are my little sister, aren’t you?” He asked teasingly at her and chuckled. “But why are you three really here?”
“We have to find someone.” Harry said, being as vague as possible.
George stared at Harry for a while before responding, “Wow, that narrows it down, Harry. May I ask who you’re trying to finding?” He asked with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Ginny looked at her brother and shook her head. “It’s top secret, George.”
“Well, then, I guess I’m going to have to tell this situation to mum and dad—“
“We’ll tell you!” Harry and Ginny yelled as they grabbed a hold of George’s arms.
“That’s more like it. Now, spill.” He said as he stared at all three of them.
“We’re here to find a girl . . . and a boy who snuck out here before us. We’re trying to bring them back to school.” Blaise said slowly.
“Right, and who is this girl and boy?”
“That is confidential inf—“
“Tell me again, how did you three become friends again?” George asked, cutting Blaise off and staring at him for a few seconds, dragging his index finger across the air, directing at the three teenagers in front of him.
“We didn’t.” Harry reminded George as he nervously glanced his way.
“Well, tell me now.”
“Hermione and . . .” Ginny started as she looked down at her hands.
“Let me guess, Draco Malfoy.” George finished and looked at the shocked expressions on their faces. “Blimey, you three must not have heard. A few people spotted Hermione and Malfoy together somewhere, it’s all over the place, but I thought it was a rumor . . . until now.” He let out a long sigh. “When did this all happen?! I never thought Hermione would be the one to cheat on Ron, I mean—“
“Wait, Ron didn’t tell you?” Ginny cut her brother off with shock.
“Tell me that Hermione has been cheating on him? No—“
“Our parents and everyone else in our family know that they broke up. Why is it that you’re the only one who doesn’t know?” She asked as confusion took over her.
“Everyone knew?” George exclaimed with confusion. “Why didn’t I hear about this?” He asked his little sister.
“That arse.” Ginny yelled out loud as she groaned.
“Ginny, it’s not very nice to call your brother that . . . even if it’s true.”
“Hermione isn’t cheating on anyone.” Ginny explained to her brother with a frustrated sigh. “Ron cheated on her with Lavender. They broke up, Hermione’s been devastated, then she and Malfoy hit it off and he’s making her happy right now.” She shortened the long story and left a few crucial details.
George’s eyes widened as he heard his little sister. “Ron cheated on her? He cheated on Hermione with Lavender Brown?” He asked with shock and threw his hands up in the air. “Why?! Hermione’s the best thing that happened to him!”
“Which is exactly why I called him an arse!”
“He’s not an arse. He’s much more than that. He, he’s a stupid git!” George looked over at Harry. “You knew about this?”
“Yes.” Harry replied shortly after.
“And you?” George pointed at Blaise who nodded in response. “How come I didn’t know about this?” He asked himself as he searched the floor as if the answers would be written on the floor tiles.
“The whole school knew.” Blaise explained to George with a scoff. “Even some of the Slytherins thought Weasel-King was stupid.” He slightly laughed but realized no one was laughing with him so he checked his watch. “Well, uhm, it has been a pleasure talking with you but we really need to get going.”
“Where to?” George asked them.
“We need to start hunting for the two before they cause any trouble.” Ginny stated and sighed.
“I’d go with you but I have to work. Look, Ginny, I won’t tell mum and dad you snuck out of here or anything. But I would like you to give Ron a big punch for me.” He requested with a sloppy grin.
“I already beat him up once, might as well beat him up again.” Ginny shrugged and smiled at her brother. “We originally came here so that I could pull a prank of Blaise but it seems like I’m busy. Send me some things to use on him for Christmas.” She told him with a laugh.
“I’m right here, you know.” Blaise stated with a frown as he glared at the fiery ginger.
“I know.” She said as she waved her hand in the air, dismissing his words. “Be sure to send me a good one.” She told her brother and tapped his shoulder. “Work hard.” She smiled and waved goodbye as her brother walked back inside the store. “Okay, Harry, time to put the cloak back on.”
“On it.” Harry responded as he quickly covered himself with the cloak. “Do you two want to split up or . . . what?”
Ginny looked at Blaise and sighed. “Uhm, well since you’re invisible, how about you look for them alone? So, Zabini and I will look for them together.” She suggested with a grin.
“O, okay.” Harry said and let out a sigh. “I guess we’ll just meet back here whether we find them or not?”
“Yeah, let’s meet back in an hour.” Ginny said with a grin and soon enough, Harry was gone. Ginny looked around and let out a deep breath.
“What do you have up your sleeves?” Blaise asked as he cocked an eyebrow at her. “You must have some hidden weapon since you sent Potter out there to find our friends.”
Ginny smirked and rolled her eyes. “You caught me.” She said and reached inside her jacket and pulled something out. A thick, blank parchment.
“What’s that?”
Ginny pulled out her wand and tapped the front of the map, quickly mumbling something under her breath before Zabini could catch it. Before they knew it, they were staring at the Marauder’s map. “This, my friend, is a trusty little friend that’ll help us find our friends before Harry does.”
“Damn … that’s nice.”
Ginny laughed and opened the map up. “Okay, we’re going to have to keep an eye on Harry. Look for Malfoy and I’ll look for Hermione.” She said as they looked at the map intently.
“I found him.” Blaise suddenly said as he placed his index finger on Draco Malfoy’s footsteps.
“Yeah, and I found Hermione.” Ginny said as she pointed at her friend’s footsteps.
“Draco’s at . . . bloody hell.” He breathed out as he quickly covered up the place with his hand. “Well, I found him.”
“Where is he?” She asked as she glared at Blaise. She looked down at his hand and tried to remove it.
“Woah, this is obviously top secret information, Weasley.” He said as he kept his hand firmly on the map. “I think it’s safe if I know where he is. You can go where Granger is.”
“Fine.” Ginny said as cleared her throat, looking down at the map. “Well, we should find Harry, fir—damn! Damn!” She yelled as she spotted his footsteps.
“What is it?!” Blaise asked as alarm took over him.
“He’s near Hermione!” Ginny yelled as she saw her boyfriend’s footsteps a few stores down from where Hermione was.
“Well, go get her first before your bloody boyfriend does. I’ll go find Draco and take him to Flourish and Blotts, okay? You can find us there with Granger.” He said quickly as he dashed off.
“Okay.” Ginny said as she stared blankly at the place where Zabini was a few seconds ago. She started to take a step towards Hermione when a pesky smirk plastered itself onto her lips. She opened up the map and looked for Malfoy. Her eyes went wide when she saw where he was. “Perhaps, for Hermione’s present?” She said with a smile and quickly snapped out of it. “Right, Hermione.” She quickly dashed towards where Hermione was. She looked at the map and made sure she avoided Harry.
---
Hermione looked at the watch with admiration as she lightly touched it with her finger. With an eager grin stitched onto her face, she closed the box and placed it back into the bag. She looked at the small bag and quickly put it into her bigger shopping bag from Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. She let out a content sigh and started to head for the door when she suddenly dropped her wallet. “Oops.” She muttered and bent down just as Ginny ran into the store.
“Hermione!” A familiar voice yelled resulting in Hermione freezing in place. She felt a cold chill run down her spine as he eyes went wide. She slightly looked up and saw her friend.
“Ginny?” She asked with shock as she abruptly stood up, straightening her back. “W, what are you doing here?” She asked as she stared at her friend strangely.
“I’ll explain later, now—we need to hide.” Ginny yelled in a rush as she grabbed Hermione by the arm and running towards the far back corner of the store, making sure they were invisible to on-goers who looked through the windows. She sighed and the corners of her lips were brought upwards, creating a smile. “So . . . Diagon Alley’s new watch store, huh? I wonder what brought you here.” She teased her friend knowingly and lightly giggled.
Hermione felt her face turn beet red as she lightly nipped at her bottom lip with her eyebrows knitting together. “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this!” She warned her friend as she slapped Ginny’s arm when she started laughing again.
“My lips are sealed.” Ginny told her friend with a grin. “But, enough about this—we’ll talk later about this, you can’t escape from me.” She shared with her friend and licked her slight parched lips. “Zabini and I came here once we found out you two were here . . .” She explained slowly and looked at her friend. “Harry’s here, too.”
“Harry?” Hermione’s eyes widened as she repeated the name. “Does he know we’re here?”
“Hermione, of course he knows you two are here, which is why we’re here—“
“Of course I know that! What I mean is does he know you and I are here right now in this very store?”
“Oh, that makes a lot more sense. And no, Harry doesn’t know. Zabini is probably with Malfoy right now. We’re not here to ruin your date, we’re here to save it. We’re going to keep you two safe and once we hit the one hour mark, we will go back to Harry and leave. You two can finish the lovely date.”
“It’s not a date.” Hermione snapped at her friend and nodded. “But, thank you for doing this for us. I don’t want to explain things to Harry now . . . I need some more time to think of how to break it to him.” She slowly stated and suddenly gazed at her friend intently. “How did you know I was here? And how does Zabini know where Malfoy is? I don’t even know where he is.”
Ginny laughed and extracted a thick piece of parchment and exhibited to Hermione. “I simply borrowed something that belongs to my boyfriend. I’m extremely lucky that Harry wasn’t smart enough to take this with him. You see, he took his invisibility cloak but not this wonderful thing.”
“That’s how you tracked us down?” Hermione asked and suddenly got an idea. “Where are Draco and Zabini right now?” She asked with a mischievous smirk playing on her face.
“Uh-uh. I’m not telling you anything.” Ginny told her friend as she quickly stuck the parchment into her jacket. “You’ll find out when you receive your Christmas present from Malfoy himself.” She bit back a smile and raised an eyebrow. “Speaking of presents, what did you get me?”
“Uh-uh. I’m not telling you anything.” Hermione wore a big smirk as she mocked her friend.
Ginny frowned in utter disappointment. “Fine.”
“Fine.” Hermione smiled as she laughed.
“Oh, shut up.” Ginny laughed as she and Hermione leaned against the wall together.
---
Draco looked down at the necklace in content as he slightly grinned. He nodded as he stared at it, completely approving it. “Nice job, Draco.” He complimented himself and placed it back into the shopping bag. He looked at the small shopping bag and dropped it into his bigger shopping bag from Quality Quidditch Supplies. He fixed his shirt and took a step towards the door when someone suddenly opened the door, hitting Malfoy in the face and making him fall down. “Damn.” He groaned as he rubbed his left cheek that was sporting a new red mark. He groaned and looked up angrily at the stranger and immediately let out a scoff. “Blaise . . .”
“Draco.” Blaise greeted him and looked behind him uneasily. “Come on, mate. We’ve got to go.” He said quickly as he helped his friend up. “Good thing I rammed that door into you. He could’ve seen you if I didn’t.” He said and dragged Draco into the back of the store, making sure they were out of the view of people passing by the stores. He looked around and leaned against the wall, wiping a sweat from his brow. “Damn, that was bloody terrifying.”
“Would you care to explain?” Draco asked as he crossed his arms across his chest, looking down at his friend.
“Don’t give me attitude. I just saved your bloody arse! I should be the one asking you.” Blaise snapped at his friend as he slightly pushed Draco.
Draco cleared his throat and fixed his shirt. “Perhaps, I do need to do some explaining myself.” He said and looked at Blaise, slightly cocking his head at him.
“You want me to explain first?” Blaise asked, completely appalled by the request.
“Yes.”
“No. You first.”
“No, you—“
“You’re older than me; the older one has to say it first.”
Draco bit back his tongue as he groaned, glaring at his friend. “You prick.” He muttered and sighed. “I’m here, well—no, there’s no need for me to explain. You should know. You came here because you knew I was here. Your turn.”
“Stubborn arse.” Blaise mumbled and sighed. “I’m here, because Weaslette . . . Potter and I found out that you and Granger were here, having a nice, romantic date. Weaslette and I are here for a different reason than Potter. Potter, who is in fact not a bad bloke, is here because he wants to catch you and Granger and hear some answers. Weaslette and I are here to hide you two, go back to Hogwarts with Potter, in order for you two to finish a successful date. Weaslette and I are risking our arses to save both of yours.” He told his friend with a shake of his head.
“Potter’s here?” Draco asked after a few seconds of thinking.
“After I give you that whole speech about us risking our arses for you, you immediately think of Potter? Damn, I do not feel appreciated.” Blaise complained and frowned. “Yes, Potter’s here. In fact, why don’t I go and get him here!”
“I was simply clarifying something.” Draco replied with a cheeky grin. “I appreciate your help, mate.” He said as he lightly slapped his best friend’s back. “Happy?”
“Quite satisfied actually.” He said and they let out a hearty laugh. “So, what did you get Granger? I mean, you are in the very new store of Diagon Alley . . .” He said as he wiggled his eyebrows. “Perhaps a necklace for Granger?”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
“But come on. We’re in Diagon Alley’s new jewelry store.”
“You seem to have a functional brain for once, use it and figure it out yourself.”
“Fine, we all know you got her a necklace.” He said and looked at his friend’s shopping bags. His eyes went wide as he looked at it. “What did you get me?”
“Not telling.” Draco cleared his throat as he tried to hide the end of the two broomsticks that were poking out of the shopping bag. He put it behind him to make sure Zabini couldn’t see.
“I should get you a Christmas present now, too.”
“You weren’t planning on getting me anything.
“Well, first, I was going to give me to you as a present but I decided not to. So, I got you something.”
“What is it?’
“That’s a secret that I’m not revealing.” Blaise said with a playful smirk stitched on his lips. “This is what it feels to have power over Draco Malfoy, huh?” He asked with a cocky grin. “I can get used to it.”
“Well, don’t get comfortable now. It won’t happen again for you.”
“Really?”
“Not on my watch, it won’t.” Draco said with a frown.
Blaise laughed and shook his head. “Right.” He said and playfully punched Draco’s arm. “We should really get going now. I promised Weaslette we’d meet up with her at Flourish and Blotts. Let’s go. Now, we have to be careful since we don’t have that damn wicked map, so we’re going over there—“
“What map?”
“The Marauder’s Map that Weaslette has. We found you two that way, using that. But Weaslette has the map so she can avoid Potter easily. Us? We’re going to just run for the store and hope that we don’t get caught by Potter? Understand?”
“That map was pretty wicked. Hermione showed it to me—“
“Woah, Hermione? You two are on first-name basis now?” Blaise asked as he looked at his friend. “Since when?”
“Since not too long ago.” Draco said quickly and sighed. “We should get going, right?”
“We’ll talk later.” Blaise pestered Draco and let out a deep breath. “On the count of three, we’ll run out of here, okay?”
“Okay.”
“One . . .” Blaise counted slowly.
“Three!” Draco yelled and quickly ran out of the store to Flourish and Blotts.
“Hey! That’s cheating!” Blaise yelled after Draco, running after him.
---
Hermione and Ginny waited in Flourish and Blotts, randomly looking at books.
“When are they coming?” Hermione asked as she put the book back on the shelf.
Ginny quickly pulled out the map and looked at it. “They’re here.” Ginny responded and right then two boys ran right into them, making the girls fall.
“Ouch . . .” Hermione groaned as she rubbed her red forehead.
“Why must your fat forehead be so damn hard?” He complained as he flicked her forehead.
“Ouch!” Hermione yelled as she rubbed her scarlet red forehead. “Was that necessary!?”
“Yes, it was.” Draco responded and quickly got up.
Hermione glared at him and kicked his shin with all her strength and got up. “Now, we’re even.”
“I’m going to kill you.” Draco threatened as he groaned in pain, rubbing his shin.
“Give it your best shot.” Hermione taunted him as she stuck out her tongue at him.
“Get off.” Ginny snapped as she pushed Zabini off of her. She quickly got up and dusted herself off. “Way to make an entrance.” She told the boys with a glare. “Okay, so now that we’re here . . . here’s the plan.” She said and looked at the couple. “Are you two done shopping?”
Hermione and Draco looked at each other and nodded. “I’m done.” Hermione said with a nod.
“Me, too.” Draco replied back.
“Good.” Ginny said and smiled. “Now, kill some time here together. Zabini and I will leave in about five minutes and we’ll meet up with Harry and go home. Since we’re going to have to go back to Hogsmeade, you two stay here for about ten more minutes before you decide to go back there. I don’t want you two bump into us on the way.” She explained and nodded. “Sounds good?”
“Yes.” The trio all nodded.
“Excellent.” Ginny exclaimed and looked at the clock and then at the map. “Harry’s walking back so we should get going, too.”
“Alright, then. Have fun, mate.” Blaise told Malfoy as he awkwardly waved at Hermione.
“I will see you later . . . we have a lot of talking to do.” Ginny said as she hugged her friend and looked over at Malfoy. “Try to stay out of trouble. You made a pretty big deal about apparating over here out in the open.” She warned Malfoy and shook her head. “Don’t go it again.” She told him sternly.
“Let’s go.” Blaise told Ginny and they walked out of the store.
Hermione looked over at Malfoy and sighed. “Well, what do you want to do now?” She asked with a frown.
“There’s nothing to do here, but we can do something over at Hogsmeade.”
“Like what?”
“We’re going to go take a visit at The Three Broomsticks.” Draco replied with a smirk.
“Why?”
“I did promise you that I’d buy you Firewhiskey, didn’t I?” He asked with a smirk as he leaned in towards her. “It’s going to happen today.”
“But it’s still only five o’clock in the afternoon.”
“Then, we will kill time over at Hogsmeade and then at eight o’clock, we’ll go have a drink.”
“. . .”
“Well?” He asked as he quirked an eyebrow.
“Okay.” She replied slowly and suddenly looked at him. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“What? Of course not!” Draco replied and let out a sly smirk run across his face. “Maybe.” He said finally and winked at her, making Hermione laugh.
---
This was a sort of cute, (hopefully) funny chapter. I hope you all enjoyed and I promise, the next chapter will be . . . Dramione-action-ized. ← I just made that up, but you guys get me? Yeah? Hopefully you do. Maybe not. If not, you’ll just have to wait for the next chapter then and see what I’m talking about. :D & i know that the Marauder’s map cannot possibly show from out of schools grounds - but just to spice up this story, I added it and changed the rule xD
-Annie