No Choice (Dramione/Veela)

Chapter 13: The First Ask

Hermione's POV

I said goodbye to Ama as she ran back down towards the dungeons, and turned to return the umbrella to Malfoy. As I faced him, he was saying goodbye to Blaise, and I could sense... fear.

Blaise passed me to get back to the dungeons, and he winked at me. Again. I turned to watch him go down the staircase, and when I turned back to Malfoy he was only a few feet from me. "Her- Granger," he corrected himself, "I was wondering if you wanted to come to Hogsmeade tomorrow. Just you and me."

The nervous feeling in him was growing exponentially, and I was very close to growing anxious myself just by being near his emanating apprehension.  Yeah," I stuttered, but then grew more confident, "That sounds nice."

He put on a wide smile, one i'd never seen on him before, and I grinned myself. "You can," I sighed, "Call me Hermione, too, if you want. You were gonna anyway, so go ahead."

He was surprised again. In fact, he was speechless. I had never seen that before. A speechless Malfoy, quite a site. "What's funny?" He asked, either sensing my emotions or seeing the small smile creeping up onto my face.

I lost the grin. "Nothing, I replied seriously. "We can leave right from our common room once we get back from afternoon class. We can grab dinner then, too."

He smiled again. "Sounds good. I'll see you back at the common room," he said.

He turned to go up one of the staircases when I stopped him. "Malfoy," I called, "For the time being, I want you to stop playing quidditch; it's a risk for me as long as you risk injury, and I don't fancy returning to the hospital wing."

I was joking, of course; I would never ask anyone to give up something they loved for me. I was musing to myself what he might say, but he responded after only a second or two. "Okay," he responded simply, and continued up the staircase.

I was dumbstruck. "Malfoy!" I yelled again.

He turned again, eyebrows raised. "I was joking!" I exclaimed, "I was just kidding, it doesn't matter to me."

He smiled softly. "It was a reasonable request," he admitted, "I wouldn't want to see you hurt because of me."

Again, I was profoundly speechless. "O-ok," I stammered, "Just so you know I wasn't serious."

He nodded, and he went out of sight when he rounded a corner. I looked down at myself. I was still close to soaked. I checked my watch. I had missed dinner, but I wasn't hungry. I had a few hours still before I had to be back in my dorm. Ron had asked me about hanging out with them later, maybe they were still in the common room. Ginny would probably have something for  me to change into, as well.

I knocked on the portrait wall, I didn't really know the password. It opened, and I smiled when Dean opened it again. There was no Seamus this time, though. "Hey Dean," I greeted him.

He smiled, and let me in. Ginny was sitting with Harry playing wizard's chess, but Ron was no where to be seen. I was about to join them when I remembered something, and I turned back to Dean. "Are you familiar with a girl named Amabel in Slytherin?" I asked him, "She's new."

He nodded. "Yeah," he said, and started to laugh, "She came up to Lavender and punched her right in the nose before, haven't any clue why, though. A bunch of guys were talking about her earlier, but she's out of all of our leagues."

I laughed, too. "Well," I explained, "You should talk to her. Might turn out better than you think."

I smiled at him, and he thought to himself for a second before saying, "I might try that. Thanks, Mione."