'No,' she said, smiling.
'What to name our first child,' he said. 'I suppose that depends on whether it's a boy or a girl. If it's a boy, I was thinking Draco Junior. Or we could always name it Harry, just to confuse old Four-Eyes. He'd never know what to make of it.'
'Draco…' she spluttered, then saw that he was grinning, and threw a waffle at him.
He ducked it. 'Sorry,' he said. 'But you should hear the way everyone's talking.
They seem to think we've had the Romance of the Century, not just a few kisses in a musty wardrobe.'
'Oh…' Hermione put her hands over her face. 'How does everyone find out about these things?'
Draco shrugged. 'I have no idea. But I will tell you that it got rid of Pansy Parkinson for me, for which I will be eternally grateful. She came up to me this morning in hysterics and demanded to know if it was true. Of course I told her it was, figuring that anything that got her so upset had to be good. So she told me she was never speaking to me again.'
He grinned and flipped open the Daily Prophet again. Hermione caught sight of the front page of the paper, and gazed at it in shock. LUCIUS MALFOY ARRESTED; CHARGED. She caught sight of some of the words in the smaller text: 'Illegal use of Epicyclical Charms', 'kidnap and torture', 'testimony by Narcissa Malfoy,' 'sentencing to follow.'
Draco followed her gaze, and put the paper down.
'Sorry,' she said, looking up at him. 'Are you all right?'
'I'm fine,' he said, and he looked it. 'I got a letter from my mother yesterday. She pretty much told me everything that was going to happen. So I'm not surprised.
And,' he added, 'he's not going to Azakaban.'
'Good,' said Hermione, although privately she thought Lucius deserved Azkaban more than anyone she'd ever met. Glancing up and down the Slytherin table, she saw people looking quickly away. 'Everyone's staring at me,' she said under her breath to Draco.
'That's because you're the girl who dumped Harry Potter for Draco Malfoy,' he said cheerfully. 'Whether you knew it or not.'
'Great,' she said. 'Now I've had two imaginary boyfriends. All the trouble, none of the benefits.'
'You want benefits?' said Draco, looking at her with a curious smile.
Hermione went as red as if she had been dipped in boiling water. 'Um,' she said.
'Come on,' he said, and held out a hand to her. 'Let's take a walk down to the lake. I want to show you something.'
'Um,' she said again.
'Not that kind of thing,' he grinned.
'Okay,' she said, put down her plate, and followed him out of the hall.
Harry and Ron watched her go, Ron with bemusement, Harry with quite a different expression.
'So,' he said, 'I guess this makes me Just Stood Back Like A Prat And Watched Her Go Off With Malfoy Guy, after all.'
'Oh, no,' said Ron cheerfully. 'I'm proud to say you didn't stand back. You went bravely forward, and made a huge idiot out of yourself, and she still went off with Malfoy.'
'Thank you, Ron,' said Harry.
'But at least you took action,' Ron said.
'That's me. Action Guy.'
'Actually,' pointed out George, 'strictly speaking, it would be Malfoy who's getting the action here.'
Harry dropped his fork. 'Would you NOT say things like that around me?' he said accusingly to George.
'Sorry,' said George, but his mouth was twitching with laughter. He held his plate up over his face to cover his expression. So did Fred.
'Why is my suffering so amusing?' Harry wondered out loud.
'That should be obvious,' said Ron.
Harry turned and looked at him. 'Yes?'
'Because it's unnecessary,' said Ron. 'She does love you, you stupid idiot. You're just being bloody-minded, and not speaking to her, so what d'you expect her to do? Especially with Malfoy oozing the old Harry Potter charm all over her, you know, whatever it was he picked up from you when you were under the Potion.'
'I don't know,' said Harry thoughtfully, 'I think it's all him now, actually.'
'You mean you think he really loves her?' asked Ron, looking astonished.
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'I do.'
'In that case,' announced George, 'you really are in trouble, Harry.'
Fred was grinning again. 'Think of that time Malfoy asked you if you'd kill him.
Bet you wish you had that moment to live over again, don't you?'
'With you two for friends, who needs misery and self-loathing?' asked Harry rhetorically, glaring at them.
