It All Started At a Lake

Chapter 16

Hermione walked into her dorm room and shook Ginny awake. She felt bad for doing so because her roommate was always awake when she came back and tonight she happened to not be, but she was too happy to care.

Ginny rubbed her tired eyes and sat up in her bed while cursing whoever had woken her at ungodly hours of the morning during the weekend. She saw that it was Hermione and rolled her eyes.

"Merlin's beard, Hermione. It's so early." Ginny complained

"I have a date tomorrow." Hermione replied, not caring about her friend's sleepiness right now. It took Ginny a moment to process it, but Ginny opened her eyes wide as she finally comprehended what her friend had said.

"With the guy you've been seeing?!" she asked

Hermione nodded and squealed excitedly. "I have to wear something fancy."

"I'll help you pick out something in the morning." Ginny said tiredly, "Now let me go back to sleep." 

Ginny tucked herself back into bed while Hermione rushed to her bed and attempted to fall asleep.

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Saturday, November 13th, 1998

Even though Hermione and Draco agreed to meet in Hogsmeade, they accidentally went to the library at the same time a few hours before their date. Draco had brought her along with him to the restricted section so they could be alone. It would be suspicious if they were seen together now that they were done with their project together.

Draco went to one of the window seats instead of a table with his book. Hermione followed him and they sat across from each other while overlooking the view of the courtyard. She slotted her legs between his as they both stretched out in the small seat. 

Hermione grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and cast privacy charms around them. It wasn't often that other students came in this area of the restricted section, but if they were to be caught by even one student, it could be a catastrophe. 

They both opened their books and sat in silence. They occasionally looked at each other over the top of their books or they got in a tiny argument when they accidentally kicked each other, but they read in mainly silence.

He noticed how peaceful she looked when the only thing she seemed to notice was the book in front of her. Her eyes looked across the pages as she took in all the information. She noticed him staring and looked up from her book. She smiled at him and went back to her book. Draco looked back down at his book and continued reading.

Hermione tried her hardest to keep reading her book, but she couldn't stop her eyes from venturing to the blonde sitting across from her. Most people would think that he's upset with the way he's looking right now, but she knew that he was actually quite calm. His face always seemed to be frozen in the same way.

"Is there anything interesting in that book?" she asked, "I was planning on reading it, but I wasn't sure if it would be worth it." 

He looks up from his book and shrugs, "It's actually interesting. The two main characters are enemies at first, but then they realize that they aren't as different as they thought. Then they start to fall in love."

She smirks at him and closes her book. "That plot's close to our story." she pointed out. "I mean, except for the falling in love part." she added with a laugh. Draco smirked and went back to his book.

They read their own books for ten minutes in silence until Hermione decided to put her book down and she crawled across the small seat to be beside Draco. he looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow, but continued reading when she said nothing.