No Choice (Dramione/Veela)

Chapter 15: The Promise

Hermione's POV

The 'maybe date' had been a lot of fun so far, actually. Draco was quite charming when he wasn't insulting me or my friends to the max. I suppose that's why the girls at school always were obsessing over him (especially the Slytherins), but I don't recall him ever having a long term girl friend, except some brief stints with Parkinson. Maybe it's because of what he is, I thought, but I'm not sure how that would make a difference.

We had grabbed the book I had wanted from the shop, and then, as promised, stopped in at the Three Broomsticks and I tried fire whiskey again for the first time in years. "Yep," I had said, trying to swallow what felt like liquid fire, "Just how I remember it. Absolutely terrible."

He had laughed at that, then proceeded to drink both his shot and mine. Obviously he could hold his liquor, but I wasn't surprised. He had admitted jokingly that he and his friends snuck this stuff into the castle often, which also didn't surprise me. Slytherins are Slytherins, I supposed.

He invited me to come along with him to one of their Slytherin parties sometime, but I refused. His friends hated me, anyway.

"Blaise doesn't," Draco had told me, "He's the only one who I told about... myself."

So that's why Blaise was always smirking and winking. I laughed to myself thinking about it. "So that's why all of a sudden he changed his view on me, then?" I had asked.

Draco nodded, and explained, "It didn't take long to convince him you weren't that bad."

He seemed sincere about that. This guy was like a total different person, I thought, I can deal with making him a part of my life, I think.

After me having a butter beer, and him having a bit more fire whiskey, we had decided that we didn't want to risk being caught getting back after dark or in the rain. We had been walking down the gravel road when the weather decided it wasn't going to hold, and the clouds started leaking again.

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Draco's POV

"Gagh!" She exclaimed as the first few raindrops hit her, "Thank goodness the books are wrapped in plastic!"

"Always about the books, huh?" I asked, smirking.

We ran the whole way back, laughing most of it and trying not to slip on the wet cobblestone.

Once we got back under the gate of the castle where it was dry, we stood in silence, watching as the sun set. Well, she was watching the horizon, and I was looking at her as nonchalantly as possible. She looked amazing, Weaslette had worked some serious magic.

Or maybe she was always this beautiful and you had never noticed, you doof, I thought.

That was definitely a possibility. "Hey, Hermione?" I asked, almost without thinking.

She turned around to face me. "Hmm?" She replied.

"This..." I tried to gain my confidence back, "This was a lot of fun. You wanna go again some time? Maybe when the weather's better?" I joked.

She took a second, perhaps one of the longest of my life, but nodded and put a smile on. "Sounds good to me," she said with a shrug, "Oh, I'm going up to Gryffindor tower, don't wait up."

I nodded, and at that she went down a corridor and disappeared out of sight. I watched her go, and then watched where she had just been seconds ago.

Here we go... I thought.

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Hermione's POV

"Hey guys!" I exclaimed as I greeted my friends.