promises // dramione

chapter three

Saturday

Draco walked down to the entrance of Hogsmeade, still completely clueless on what Hermione's little plan was. She hadn't said a word to him ever since the morning in the hospital wing, but he did manage to catch her eye a few times across the Great Hall, and she always smiled in return.

He didn't know why he suddenly trusted her so much, or why she was even doing this, but he just figured it wouldn't hurt to start putting prejudices aside. He just hoped he wasn't reading this all wrong. She could be getting revenge for all he knew, after all, he definitely deserved it after everything he did to her. But something told him that wouldn't happen, and he smiled in spite of himself at the thought.

He was greeted by Luna at the entrance, who seemed to have an envelope in her hands.

"This is for you, Draco, from Hermione. It has more details inside."

After she left, Draco opened the letter impatiently and groaned at its contents.

====================================
Meet me in front of Honeydukes. I'll explain more later.

-Hermione
====================================

"Not even the tiniest bloody clue. What in the world is she planning?" He muttered to himself, after stuffing the letter into his pocket and making his way over to the sweets shop.

He tried to ignore the looks, but it was like every person he passed seemed to be giving him the same one, a look of utter disgust. He looked straight ahead, as if they hadn't bothered him. No one had ever seen an insecure Malfoy, and it wasn't about to start now.

Finally, Draco reached the shop, where Hermione was thankfully already standing.

It being autumn, she was wearing a black coat and maroon scarf, hands inside her pockets as she looked around constantly. Her nose was slightly red from the cold, which he did not find adorable in any way.

What are you smiling for, he didn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where is he? It's bloody cold." Hermione muttered under her breath, looking all around for that infamous white-blond hair.

"Hi."

Her head turned in surprise to find Draco standing there, a shy smile on his face that left her fighting to keep her blush from becoming noticeable.

She immediately grinned. "Oh good, you're finally here! Come on."

She motioned with her head to follow her as she walked into the alley between Honeydukes and the store beside it.

"This better not be the surprise." Draco said behind her, and she could sense slight nervousness in his voice.

Hermione looked back at him and laughed. "Don't worry, it's not. I just needed somewhere for us to Apparate without being seen."

"Apparate? Why in the world do we-" Draco was cut off as she grabbed his arm and Apparated to their surprise destination.

Once they arrived, Draco looked around completely confused.

"Why are we in London? Muggle London?"

Hermione smiled at him, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"I wanted to take you to a place that might help relieve some of the pain that you keep feeling from seeing your Dark Mark all the time. It's where I went to get help with my mark."

"Your mark?"

"The one your aunt gave me." It suddenly got quiet as Draco realized what she was talking about.