Coloring outside the Lines (Dramione)

Chapter 24: The Ministry

"Hermione, please hurry up, I'm hungry!" Draco yelled from the common room. Hermione rushed out after having just put all her books away in her room. 

"I'm coming, just be patient." She said, smiling slightly. Draco looked at her and smiled back, leaning down to quickly give her a kiss on the cheek. He took her hand and led her down the corridors to the Great Hall for dinner. 

As they entered the Great Hall, everyone immediately went quiet and stared as Draco walked past them. They found their group of friends which had grown substantially since the beginning of the year and sat with them. 

"So, how was everyone's day?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence. 

Everyone mumbled one worded answers like "good" or "fine". Everyone knew that they were somewhat lying. Finally, Luna said "My day was actually quite good. How was yours, Hermione?" 

Hermione smiled at Luna and said "It went better than I expected. Classes were actually quite interesting." 

"Well at least they were interesting for you. Everyone just kept staring at me like I was going to combust on sight." Pansy said, glaring at the rest of the students in the hall. 

The food appeared in front of them and they all started to pile it onto their plates. Suddenly a letter floated down in front of Draco and he stared at it for a moment, unable to recognize the handwriting. He turned it over and saw that it had a seal from the Minister of Magic himself. 

He opened it slowly and after skimming it he quietly read it out loud to the group. 

"Dear Mr. Malfoy and friends. It has come to my attention through Headmistress McGonagall that you were all connected to the deaths of Lucius Malfoy, Thomas Parkinson and Benjamin Zabini. I would like for all of you to report to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow at noon to discuss everything that happened to the Death Eaters. I would like to inform you that this is not to be discussed with any of your fellow students, or there will be punishments. I wish you all a wonderful evening and look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Thank you, Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt." 

When Draco had finished reading, they all looked at him with wide eyes. 

"Kingsley wants us to meet with him tomorrow?" Harry asked. 

"Looks that way." Hermione said. 

"Potter, you cannot call him by his first name! He's the Minister of Magic! How rude of you." Pansy said.

Hermione, Harry and Ginny all laughed and said Ginny said "Pansy, Kingsley is an old friend of ours. He's saved Harry on multiple occasions and knows us all extremely well." 

Pansy, Draco and Blaise looked between the three of them with their mouths hanging slightly open. Hermione couldn't help but giggle at her friends' confusion. 

"What are you giggling about?" Draco whispered to Hermione. 

"You're so confused and it's funny!" Hermione whispered back. 

Draco blushed slightly and Hermione said "You look cute when you're confused, don't worry." 

Draco smiled and put an arm around Hermione. Then Neville asked "Do you think we're going to get in trouble?" 

Harry's face dropped a little bit and he said "No, I think he just wants to talk to us, understand our side of the story before he decides what to do. I don't think he would ask to talk to us in person if we were going to be in trouble... we'd just be sent to a trial immediately." 

This seemed to relax everyone a bit and Pansy said "Well, since I wasn't there when you killed them, I don't think that letter was aimed for me. So I guess tomorrow, I'll see you all when you get back, but you have to tell me everything that happens."