An Unlikely Relationship (A Dramione Fanfic) [Complete]

Chapter Seven

"Draco, slow down!" Hermione shrieked, ducking her head into the blond's shoulder and tightening her grip on his waist, ignoring the discomfort of being pressed against his backpack. All he did was laugh.

"Don't you trust me, Hermione?" Draco asked, not slowing down in the slightest. Pansy and Roman, on separate brooms, were a little farther ahead, along with Miles Limerick, the tour guide. Draco and Hermione had fallen behind trying to get Hermione accustomed to the broom, but Draco eventually gave up and had her ride with him. She hadn't gotten much better than when they'd learned at school.

Draco slowed down as they neared their group once more, noting Hermione's slightly-shaky grip despite how tightly she was holding his waist. He came to a stop by the others, hovering, and placed one of his hands on top of hers, turning his head to look at her over his shoulder. All he saw was her hair. A pang of guilt hit him; he knew how much she disliked brooms. "I'm sorry, love. Do you--"

Miles cut him off before Draco could finish, already looked mildly annoyed. "Now that you're all here, let's keep going. We have about another hour to the campsite." He started off again, the couples in tow. "If you look to your right..."

~***~

By the time they arrived at the campsite, even Hermione was done with the place. The forest itself was amazing, but their tour guide made Professor Binns seem like the most interesting man (or ghost) alive (or dead). He left them to their own devices for the night, setting up camp at the other edge of the designated clearing.

Pansy frowned. "This might be the worst idea I've ever had."

"No kidding," Draco agreed, grinning at Pansy's indignant look. Clearly, he wasn't supposed to agree with such a statement.

Roman spoke up then, distracting them from what would've inevitably become an argument, "We should set up the tent now. It'll be dark soon."

"Alright," Hermione said, feeling much better now that they were all on solid ground again. "Wait... Are we all staying in one tent?"

"It's the easiest," Pansy said. "Why set up multiple tents when we can just put an expansion charm on one?"

With that settled, the tent was set up in no time. Roman made a fire and started on dinner, Draco helping some. Hermione and Pansy agreed to do the dishes afterwards. The atmosphere wasn't exactly tense, but none of them were entirely at ease in the ensuing silence. Even as they ate, no one said much. Pansy and Roman sat side by side like they had earlier that day, and Hermione sat criss-cross, Draco's leg against hers as he leaned back next to her.

Pansy broke the silence first. "So, how did you and Draco get together, Hermione? Back at school... Well, you weren't exactly friends."

'I wasn't exactly friends with you either,' Hermione thought, 'even now.' Regardless, she smiled. "Well, Draco tried so hard in our re-do year to make up for everything that I couldn't help thinking there must be hope for him." At Draco's startled protest, Hermione just laughed. "After graduation, he helped me out while I was getting settled with the Ministry and all." Looking at him, Hermione's smile became far more genuine. "He's actually really sweet and... a really good guy." Knowing she hadn't really answered Pansy's question, Hermione changed the focus. "What about you two? How did you and Roman meet?"

Pansy immediately perked up, glancing back at Roman. He took it as an indication to start. "I went to Castelobruxo, the magic school in Brazil. After I graduated, I started working at one of the apothecary shops in Rio. Pansy's family visited during the Christmas holiday of your re-do year and happened to stop in at the shop while I was working. Pansy asked me if we had any--"

"Dittany and Moly," Pansy jumped in. "I wanted to pick some up while we were traveling since Castelobruxo specializes in Herbology; I figured it would be easier to pick some up around there. Imagine my surprise when they came with someone's contact information."

Roman reddened but didn't look ashamed. "Of course. How was I supposed to ask you out if I couldn't contact you?" He turned back to the story at hand. "Anyways, we talked through the rest of the school year, and I came to visit after she graduated."

"It was so cute!" Pansy couldn't help interjecting again. "He showed up with a bouquet of pink camellias--"

"-- and viscaria--"

"Yes, and viscaria," Pansy said, smiling broadly. "He wouldn't tell me exactly what they meant, said they were just a gift, but I'd been studying up on muggle flower languages since he mentioned it a few times..."

"I didn't think you would know," Roman said, looking a tad embarrassed but still quite happy. Hermione couldn't help internally fangirling at how smitten the two were with one another. Even if she wouldn't call Pansy a friend, she found their relationship quite sweet.

"Well, what did they mean then?" Draco asked, surprising Hermione. She didn't think he'd be so invested in this, although Pansy was his friend so it made some sense.

"Pink camellias mean 'Longing for you' and viscaria..." Pansy started, trailing off to let Roman finish.

"Viscaria mean 'Will you dance with me?' so it's probably a good thing she knew what they meant," Roman said. "Might have been a bit awkward otherwise, I suppose."

"He started playing some music then and there, and we just danced in the middle of my family's main drive," Pansy laughed, but there was a fond look on her face as she recalled the memory. "Turns out he'd been talking to my parents some as well... He asked me out afterwards with my parents' approval. We've been together since."

"What about your job?" Hermione asked. Although he hadn't mentioned moving here permanently, Hermione figured he had since he was around often enough to be with Pansy. They didn't seem like the long-distance type. Still, she couldn't imagine moving countries for someone who hadn't even accepted her yet.

Roman grinned. "My boss was wanting to expand anyways. I opened a new branch of the shop in Diagon Alley."

They cleaned up and got ready for bed not much later. Pansy and Hermione were on one side of the tent, and Draco and Roman were on the other. Hermione fell asleep wondering if she might become friends with the Slytherin girl after all.