Going Places

ONE SHOT

A/N: Written for the QLFC. I'm Keeper for the Wimbourn Wasps and my prompt this time was to write about my otp fighting. That would be Draco and Hermione. Took me a long time to come up with this one!

Hermione clenched her hands tightly around her cup. The glass bowed under the pressure of her nervous hand. She brought the quaking wine to her lips again and kissed the bitter drink. Setting the glass back down, she dug her nails into the grooves of the table.

"Relax, Hermione," came a voice to her right.

She shook her head stiffly at the freckled girl beside her.

"How can I relax, Andrea?" Hermione asked without looking at her friend. "I have no idea who you're dragging into this with me!"

"I've told you before, you'll be fine. You're so much alike you won't have to worry about finding things to talk about," Andrea said.

"Just tell me who it is!" Hermione begged. "I'd feel much better!"

Andrea didn't respond. She swept her midnight hair to the side and leaned forward to talk to her date across the table.

Hermione nervously adjusted her dress and stared at the empty chair across from where she sat. Her fingers felt numb as she wrapped them around her glass again. That chair would soon be occupied by a total stranger. Someone who her friend, Andrea, had met a few nights back along with her own date. It had been a long time since Hermione had been on a date, and Andrea knew that. So, she decided to help her friend out and set her up on a blind date with a guy who, she claimed, was perfect for Hermione.

Hermione, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. Her date was already five minutes late. She hated tardiness and could feel her annoyance tingle in her legs. He hadn't even shown up yet and Hermione knew he was no good.

She puckered her lips and blew out a sigh. Leaning back, she checked her watch. Time seemed to crawl by on its belly. She wished he would hurry up so it would be over.

The flickering torches hugging the brick walls of the restaurant suffocated her with their oxygen-sucking heat. Her skin felt itchy and seemed to crawl. The tablecloth didn't help either. It was course under her skin and uncomfortable.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," came a voice from above.

Hermione didn't raise her head. This must be my wonderful date, she thought as a flash of black and white in front of her cued him sitting down. She decided she couldn't stare at her plate all night. Molding on a counterfeit smile, she rose her face to say hello. However, be it blessing or curse, her greeting was cut short.

"You have got to be kidding me!" her date interrupted, and seeing him now, she wondered how she hadn't recognized his voice before.

Her face crimsoned and her teeth ached as she bared them behind thinned lips. "Malfoy," she growled curtly.

"You two know each other?" Andrea asked.

Draco daintily picked up his napkin and placed it in his lap without looking at anyone. "I had the pleasure of attending school with Ms. Granger here," he responded tightly.

Hermione gave a haughty laugh from behind her teeth.

"Something funny, Granger?" Draco asked.

She cut the table with her nails. "Oh nothing, Malfoy," she said, her words dripping with sarcasm. "Just remembering the bits of our school days that were pleasurable."

His eyelids lowered as his brows went up. "Really? Like what?"

Her nostrils flared. "Like the time Professor Moody turned you into a ferret."