I'll Always Love You.

Hermione looked away from her book as she heard the Clock Tower began to ring for the second time that morning. Nerves and anxiety began to settle in her stomach once she remembered what today was. Her date with Draco Malfoy. Hermione didn’t know why she felt this way, but she did know this Slytherin was unpredictable. That only made everything worse as nausea began to settle in.

“How was your tutor session last night?”

She glanced at Ginny as she played Wizard’s Chess by herself. Hermione, so engrossed in her own thoughts, forget her best friend was in the common room.

“It was alright.”

“Just alright?” she turned away from the board to look at her. “Nothing happened?”

“No,” Hermione lied and looked at her book once more to end the conversation.

It seemed she was lying to her friends a lot nowadays. The first one was necessary because it would save their lives, but this one? Hermione didn’t know why she didn’t tell Ginny the truth about yesterday. Maybe because it was no big deal and didn’t mean anything. Or maybe because she’d have to tell her best friend the real reason why he asked her out. Sighing, Hermione closed her book in exhaustion and felt a headache begin to form.

The common room door opened and a first year quickly ran in with a frightened look. The small boy came to stand in front of Hermione with a piece of paper in his hand as it shook from panic.

“Are you Hermione Granger?” he stuttered.

She nodded as he handed her the paper and ran upstairs to his dorm. With a raised eyebrow, Hermione opened the letter and frowned, realizing who it was from.

I’m outside the portrait.

She didn’t have a chance to throw it in the fire as Ginny ripped it out of her hands.

“Ginny!”

“I’m outside the portrait?” she read out loud and looked at her best friend with confusion. “What does that mean?”

Hermione shrugged, hoping Ginny would give it back so she could burn it, but she narrowed her eyes and ran towards the portrait. Hermione chased after her and almost knocked into her back as she stopped short, seeing Draco.

She turned to glare as the portrait closed behind them, “Why is he sending you letters?”

Hermione gave her a small smile, “Because his weird.”

“I resent that Granger.”

She sent him a glare as he smirked.

“Why did you send her this letter?” Ginny asked him with determination.

“Granger didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

Hermione wish she could crawl in a hole and disappear as his smirk turned into a grin.

“We have a date.”

“A what?” Ginny asked in shock.

“I didn’t stutter Weasley.”

Ginny turned towards Hermione in disbelief. “A date?”

She sighed, “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Sure, it is,” Draco began with amusement, “I asked her out and she said yes. Therefore, this is a date. We will hold hands, maybe kiss a litt—“

“Will you shut up?” Hermione snapped and wish she had her wand to kill him.

Draco zipped his lips with his fingers to lock it and threw away the key. He sent her a wink as she rolled her eyes and looked at Ginny.

“I’ll explain later.”

“Oh, you will,” she sent her once last glare and marched into the common room.

“Trouble in paradise?” Draco asked as Hermione came to stand in front of him.

She ignored him and crossed her arms in aggravation, “What are we doing?”

He smirked and beckoned her to follow him down the hallway. After a couple of minutes, they came to stand in front of a one-eyed witch statue that was near the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Draco tapped a hump with his wand and said a spell to open a small passageway that was wide enough for one person.

“Ladies first,” he said and stepped aside.

Hermione looked at him for a moment then made her way into the dark hole. Hearing the statue go back to its original place, she felt Draco come up behind her.

“Lumos.”

His wand lit up to reveal a secret tunnel that was big enough for them to stand shoulder to shoulder.

“Where does this lead?” Hermione asked with curiosity.

“Honeydukes.”

“I thought we were the only people who knew about secret passageways,” she mentioned and referred to Harry and Ron.

“You’re not the only one with secrets Granger.”

She watched him move to walk ahead of her and followed after. For the next twenty minutes, they traveled in silence and just when Hermione was going to suggest turning back, a small door appeared ahead of them. Draco opened it and mentioned her in with his head. As she walked into the room, she recognized that they were in the cellar of the store.

“How do we get out of here?” she asked as Draco came to stand beside her and looked around with
interest.

“There’s a ladder over there,” he answered and strode through the boxes and bottles that were laying around.

“Won’t someone see us?”

“Not if we’re quiet.”

Hermione tripped over a wine bottle noisily and watched it roll away into the shadows. Draco stared at her and she shrugged, giving him a small smile. Shaking his head, he stopped in front of the ladder and began to climb up. Hermione followed suit and watched Draco opened a trapdoor to peek through. Once seeing they were alone, he pulled himself up and put his hand down to help her. Grabbing his hand for support, Hermione dusted of her robes as she came through and Draco closed the hatch behind them. She glanced around the empty store with a smile as they continued their way outside.

“Welcome to our date Granger,” Draco said and turned to grin as they arrived in the center of Hogsmeade.