Enchanted ~ A Hermione x Draco fanfic

Hiding in The Hog's Head

While passing through Hogsmead on a cold Saturday morning, Draco spotted what appeared to be a huge group of students, some from Gryffindor, some from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. 'What in the name of-' he spluttered.

One by one, they began shuffling into the Hog's Head pub, starting with Neville Longbottom, accompanied by Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with Cho Chang and a strawberry-blond Ravenclaw girl. Draco pulled on a long black robe left abandoned on the fencing around the street. Pulling the hood far over his face, he crept into the pub behind a ditzy-looking Luna Lovegood, still hidden under the cloak. Following him came Katie Bell, who Draco only recognized from the time Pansy got in a fight with her and broke her own nose in the second year. Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson came next wearing Gryffindor scarves, followed by Colin and Dennis Creevey as well as two hufflepuff boys, a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait down her back; three Ravenclaw boys, and Ginny Weasley, who rushed forwards to sit with one of the Ravenclaw boys. Next came a lanky blond boy with an upturned nose, who was wearing a Hufflepuff scarf and finally Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's Joke shop merchandise.

The small pub windows were so grimy, little daylight could be seen from the dirty covering. The floor seemed at first glance to be pure earth, but Draco could vaguely feel the stone from underneath the dusty brown dirt. He quickly took a seat by the bar and ordered a Butterbeer, throwing a few Galleons across to the barman, a scraggly man wiping out a glass with a rag so horrifically filthy, Draco wasn't sure if it was the barman or the rag that smelt strongly of Goblin urine.. Draco shuddered.

He took his drink and moved along the bar to get closer; right until he could hear Hermione and Harry's quietest words.

'A couple of people?' said Harry hoarsely to Hermione. 'A couple of people?'

'Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular,' Hermione chirped, 'Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?'

Without properly counting, he could tell that there were roughly around thirty students all wrapped up in winter clothes huddling in front of Potter, Weasley and Hermione. Hermione's hair tickled her face in the cold winter winds gushing in through cracks in the wooden walls and ceiling. She had been trying as hard as possible to encourage Harry about teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, and now that the moment had arrived, she couldn't help but think about Draco. She wanted to be a good friend to Ron and Harry, but she secretly wished he was in the pub with her. She began imagining him cuddling in the cold with Pansy. Jealousy filled Hermione's body like poison and an unintended growl ripped through her lips.

'Woah Hermione, I didn't know we were doing animal impressions!' George Weasley grinned, before snorting like a pig in Katie Bell's face.

'Eurgh!' She made a disgusted face.

Fred winked at the sickened Katie and moved over to the bar, so swiftly Draco had to dodge Fred as he went to lean on the bar-side.

'Hi,' said Fred, counting the hoard of students in the pub, 'could we have... twenty-five Butterbeers, please?'

The barman glared angrily at Fred as if he had interrupted something extremely important, throwing down his rag irritably. With a few unreadable mumbles, he started passing up dusty Butterbeers from under the bar, each one whizzing past Draco.

'Cheers,' said Fred, handing them out. 'Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these...'

Draco repressed a chuckle as he watched them take their beers from Fred and rummage in their robes in hopes of finding a few spare coins.

Suddenly, Harry's voice spoke out hoarsely, but the sound of clinking at the bar drowned out his whispers to Hermione.

"Hi, Harry," Neville Longbottom said loudly as he sat opposite Harry.

When the chatter eventually died down, Draco tuned in to the conversation.

'Erm..'said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. 'Well - erm - hi.' Draco grinned from behind his cloak.

'Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea - I mean, I had the idea - that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts - and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us - because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts -'

'Hear, hear,' said one of the Ravenclaw boys, smiling cheekily.

'- Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands.' She paused, looking at Harry in a way that made Draco frown and splinter himself by gripping tightly to the wood of the bar. 'And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells -'

The Ravenclaw Ginny was with made a stupid remark and Draco took a swig of Butterbeer.

'..But more than that, I want to be properly trained in defence because... because...' she paused, taking a breath and spat out the words, 'because Lord Voldemort is back.'

The reaction, as far as Draco was concerned, was not only inevitable but hilarious. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down herself; Terry Boot gave an involuntary twitch; Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he badly managed to turn into a cough. All of them looked back at Harry eagerly, like a child who was being told a scary story. No-one really wanted to know the story, but they had to know.

'Well... that's the plan, anyway'said Hermione. 'If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to -'

'Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said the blond Hufflepuff player from the back in an aggressive voice.

Draco gave another huge slop of Butterbeer, wanting to laugh for some reason. Ron yelled something unintelligible at the Blond, and Draco snapped back into the conversation.

'Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about -'

'It's okay, Hermione,' said Harry in an exasperated voice.

Draco suddenly felt the urge to use the loo, and quickly sped to the toilets.

Afterwards, he pulled his hood down to look at himself in the mirror, which wasn't as grimy as the windows by the bar, but still plastered with muck. His face was flustered, that was obvious. He wasn't sure if he really looked as bad as he did, or if it was just the mirror. He pulled the bathroom door open, stepping back into the bar.

At that moment Hermione's head happened to turn to the sound of the creaky door, when her eyes widened with shock. Draco was confused at first, when he realized his hood was still down.

'Oh unicorn turds!' He hissed quietly, whisking his hood up and speeding out of the pub, grabbing his Butterbeer on the way. After all, he didn't want to be wasteful.

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