Snow Storm - D.M , H.G

27. The talk

After shopping with Ginny, Draco had a few days of walking around with the small leather ring box in his pocket. He fiddled with it inside his pocket throughout classes, and when Hermione wasn't around he opened it to look inside again at the ring. He hoped she'd like it, but he couldn't exactly be sure. On Saturday they parted ways, Hermione joining her parents in Australia. Draco dutifully took the Hogwarts Express back to London, acting as chaperone to the younger students on the seven hour train ride. He spent an evening at the Leaky Cauldron, and the next day Mrs. Weather agreed to meet him to finalize some of the paperwork on their new house.

When it was finally time for Draco to join Hermione in Australia, it couldn't have come any sooner. As happy as he was to give her and her parents some space, all he'd done in his time away from her was miss her and chain smoke incessantly. He'd even resorted to letting her giant ginger fluffball of a cat into his bed for one night, just for the company. He'd never admit he'd enjoyed the purring.

At precisely five on Wednesday evening Draco flooed into the hotel suite (it'd been difficult to find a hotel that offered a fireplace, but he managed). "Hey there," he greeted Hermione, who was seated on the couch watching television.

Hermione smiled when she saw Draco appear in the fireplace, and got up from her spot on the sofa. "Hey," she greeted him, walking over to give him a hug. "I've missed you," she said, smiling up at him. She hadn't spent that much time away from him since he had spent a few nights in Azkaban.

Draco wrapped his arms around her and kissed her tenderly. "I missed you too," he informed her, reluctantly releasing her from the embrace. "How was your easter?" He knew the holiday had a much greater meaning to muggle families like hers, religion and all that.

Hermione kissed him back, and shrugged at his question. "It's been nice, we didn't do anything special," she informed him. "But tonight we're going to have dinner at this place my parents like," she informed him. "They made reservations for seven," she added.

Draco grinned. "That's great," he told her. "Looking forward to it." He looked around the suite. "Are they not here?" he asked, looking around.

She nodded, "They went down to the pool a few minutes ago. Mum prefers to avoid those prime sunburning hours," she told him with a smile. "I don't know how long they'll be down there," she added. "How was your holiday? Did you end up going to see your mum?" She asked. Last time they had talked about it he wasn't sure if he would.

Draco sighed, and moved to the couch, taking a seat, and pulling her down to join him. "No. She asked me to come, but I wasn't ready to face him. She said she understood." He knew she was disappointed, but she was no more interested in watching them fight again than he was in getting into another fight. "I just hung out on dorm, mostly. Caught up on course work."

Hermione nodded in understanding. She felt bad for his mother, she wished there was a way to see her without having to see his father. After all, that had been her original plan in writing her letter, but that had gone badly awry. "It's a real shame your dad is such a sneak and a liar," she sighed, she definitely didn't want a repeat of that day, though.

Draco put one arm around her. "I know," he could only agree. "So, how long until your parents get back?" he asked, even though she'd already said she didn't know.

Hermione grinned up at him, figuring she knew why he was asking. "They didn't say," she told him, leaning up to kiss him. "And I'd hate for them to walk in on something... naughty," she said with a laugh. But she also hadn't seen him in three days, and she missed him.

Draco scanned the hotel suite with his eyes. "I believe that bedroom door closes. Probably locks, too," he added with a smirk. But for now, he just wanted to kiss her. He leaned over her, kissing her deeply, pulling her body closer to him. "Merlin I hate being away from you."