Blind Date Surprises

A/N: Ok people, thank you to my three wonderful reviewers from last chapter. I had some fun with this chapter. I am hoping for a fun, limited angst story as real life has too much angst...need to escape to happy land. Don\'t worry, lemonade to come. Each chapter will vary in length. I hope to post at least once every couple of days. Thanks again for reading!! Oh, the name of the restaurant means: Dream Food.





Ch.2 The Date









Before Hermione even opened her eyes, the smell of gas and exhaust filled her nose. She crossed her arms and looked at her ‘date’. “Nice place, Malfoy. Thought of this place all on your own?” Draco looked around, “Shit. What happened. Hang on, let’s try that again.”



He grabbed her around the waist. She clung to him for dear life, “Please don’t splinch me, Malfoy, or you will not like the bit I hex off of you to make us equal.” Flinching, Draco spun in place and they disappeared into the air.



This time, it wasn’t quite clear if they were in the right place still. At least to Hermione. She cocked her head at Draco and raised an eyebrow. It looked like an empty warehouse. He grabbed her arm and said, “Just trust me, c’mon!”



Still skeptical, Hermione followed behind him. Constantly looking in the dark corners and alleys. She felt stupid. She had allowed him to lead her into a trap. So much for her intelligence.



They entered the dark building and Hermione’s jaw dropped. It was an indoor entertainment arena! There were rock walls, a lasertag room, arcade, minigolf, racquetball courts, and big moonbounce things.



Draco’s hand waving in front of her face brought her back to reality. “Hello, Granger, don’t look so shocked. What? Did you think I was leading you to your death or something?” She had the integrity to blush.



After getting their all access bracelets which Draco scowled at, Hermione remembered a small problem. “I’m not dressed for this.” She whispered, more to herself. Draco rolled his eyes, “Did you or did you not receive top marks in Transfiguration?” Hermione gave him a scornful look before pushing past him into the ladies’ room.



She reemerged in sneakers, shorts, and a t-shirt and found Draco had transfigured his slacks and polo into something similar. “So, what first?” he asked her. She looked around at all the options. A huge grin lit her face up. “Lasertag. You are so going down, Malfoy.”



They were waiting in the entrance room, all geared up with their vests, helmets, and laser guns in hand. Hermione was on the team with 3 other girls. Apparently, the other couples joined in the idea of girls vs. boys. Hermione was nearly bouncing in place with anticipation. Draco couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.

Though she was not wearing anything spectacular, other than the overlarge vest and helmet, he thought she never looked cuter. He couldn’t remember when he first started feeling attracted to her, maybe it was a slow development, but he remembers how happy he was when he found out that she and weaslebee didn’t work out. Though the details of that incident were never discovered.



Hermione flashed Draco a grin that warned him of his come uppance. After all those years of torment, she was gonna kick his ass at something. This could be fun. Being in a muggle environment leveled the playing field. Wait, why did he choose a muggle place? She shook her head as the referee came in and gave them the safety rules before the opening the door for the game to begin.



Leaning against a wall in the dark, Draco wiped the sweat off his forehead. Damn that girl was quick, and a good shot. He had yet to get her (though he had zapped at least two of the other girls and one of his teammates.) but she had repeatedly got him. All he could see at the moment was the neon glow of the carpet and walls in the black light.



“Hey Draco!” he heard from above. He looked up and tried to dive out of the way. BUZZZ…too late. “Crap” he said as his vest released the loud noise. He was just about to go after her when the buzzer rang signaling the end of the game.



Hermione couldn’t stop laughing as they made their way back into the open arena. Draco still couldn’t believe she had used his first name. True it was to get another hit it, but hopefully it was a start. He had seen, in that room, a shadow of the warrior that had helped win the war.



“Ok, Granger. My turn to pick.” He said with a chuckle. They had found a seat in the café and decided to have some water before going to the next activity. Draco looked around the arena and his eyes fell on his choice. Smirking, he got up and led the way to the rock wall.



Hermione was about to strangle Draco. That is, if she could ever get up there and reach him. He was, yet again, at the top of the wall, calling down for her to join him. She had two problems with this activity: she hated heights and she had zero upper body strength.



She had made it halfway before her muscles began to protest, strongly. No matter how much she tried to push and pull, she couldn’t get any farther up. “Hey, Granger, not so tough without your padding and gun, are you?” he taunted her from above.



“Yeah, you can take that gun and shove it, Malfoy.” She grumbled under her breath. She finally gave up, signaling to her spotter below, she pushed off the wall and allowed herself to be lowered down. Once on the ground, her legs gave out and she had to rest on the floor.



“Oh shit, did I hurt her?” Draco wondered to himself as he saw Hermione fall to the floor and not get up. He quickly descended the wall himself and came down gracefully beside her.



“Are you ok?” he asked, sincerely concerned. The honesty in his eyes took Hermione by surprise. “yeah, I think I just need to rest for a few minutes. Thanks.” She said sheepishly.



They both decided that it was time to go to dinner. After going to the loo’s and retransfiguring their clothing (and freshening up the makeup with her wand), they exited the arena. Hermione had to admit that it was fun. Never would she have imagined Draco Malfoy to like such a place.



Their next destination was in wizard Scotland. They arrived in front of a plain looking building with the name: Somnium Nutrimens. Hermione arched her neck to view more of the building as Draco led her through the front door.



Anticlimactic would be a good word for what Hermione felt as she saw the interior of the building. There was a small podium with a man in dress robes checking his list. Behind him was a hallway lined with more doors than could be counted in the short amount of time.



They approached the podium and the host looked up. “Ah, Master Malfoy, right this way, please.” Still curious as to the plainness of the place, but never one to complain, Hermione followed slightly behind Draco, in hopes of seeing what was appealing in this place that caught Draco’s attention.



They were stopped in front of a door, so similar to all the other mahogany doors. The host told them to enjoy their meal and please not hesitate to call for him should they need ANY assistance before bowing and turning to leave.



“You go in first.” Draco’s whispered voice right by her ear sent shivers down her spine that had nothing to do with being startled, but she decided not to go down that train of thought right now.



Still curious, she opened the door and walked through. Almost in front of her eyes, the plain closet turned into a beautiful hilltop meadow. Mountains seemed to leap up in the distance and flowers bloomed under her feet. She looked up to see a perfect, star filled sky. She walked a few steps further and saw a picnic blanket spread on the ground.



She turned to look at Draco, who seemed slightly shocked, but not altogether surprised. Reading her bewildered look, Draco began to explain. “It is a miniature room of requirement. It turns into the most desired place to eat for the first person to enter. Though I would never have guessed this would be your choice.” He said looking around.



They took off their shoes and sat easily down on the blanket together. “How do we order?” she asked, leaning over the blanket. As if the room were reading her thoughts, a parchment and quill materialized in between them with instructions on the top.



*Simply write down your dinner choices, and it will appear here in a timely fashion*



“So we order anything we want?” Hermione asked, amazed. Draco nodded his head. “How did you find this place?” Draco sat up and smiled at her. “It is where my Father likes to take my Mother when he has screwed up and made her angry.”



At the mention of Malfoy Sr., Hermione visibly tensed up. Draco sighed, “People change Hermione. We are living proof of that.” He gently took her hand. “Come on, lets have a twirl under the stars.”



Relaxing and rolling her eyes, Hermione got up. “So cliché, Malfoy, I’m not impressed.” He chuckled at her attempt to banter. “What about ordering?” she asked suddenly. “Let it wait,” he replied.



They slowly began to sway in the grass, under the enchanted sky in comfortable silence. Hermione was the first to break it. “So, tell me. How does Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince, Sex God, Pureblood extraordinaire come to like all things muggle, and even take a mudblood out?”



He blanched quite obviously. “Please don’t call yourself that, Granger. You have always been an extraordinary witch. As for the muggle aspect. People change. Seeing how brilliant you were in school, I started to research muggles. You know: understand your enemy type of stuff. I ended up liking some of what I read about and it branched out from there after the war.”



“And your parents?” she asked cautiously. He thought for a minute. “My parents support me and after all the..well, you know…crap with ‘him’, they are learning that muggles and muggle borns are the key to a strong magical community. Slowly they are learning.”



She smiled, finding it hard to believe that the pureblood king and queen could ever see her as anything but beneath them. It felt good to be in his arms, though she doubted she would ever admit it out loud.



“Now, maybe you can tell me what happened between you and the Weasel?” He waggled his eyebrows playfully at her. Hermione tensed instantly. “Um, I’m hungry, let’s get some food, ok?”



Sensing her tension and uncomfortable stance, he sighed and they went back to the blanket. They ordered their food, Hermione had a bacon cheeseburger and macaroni and cheese while Draco had steak and steamed vegetables.



They passed dinner with light conversation of old school classes and current working situations. Hermione learned that Draco had actually gone to a muggle university and majored in chemistry in his pursuit to become a potions master. Draco found out that Hermione had gone on to the wizard university in Japan. She currently worked for the ministry of magic as the foreign affairs diplomat.



After dinner, they decided to call it a night. Walking up the stairs to her flat door, Draco had his hand protectively on the small of her back. Before putting the key in, she turned to face Draco.



“Thank you for tonight, Draco. It was a lot of fun.” He took her hand and kissed it softly. “The pleasure was entirely mine. Perhaps we can do it again sometime soon?” There was a small twinge of hope in his voice.



“Perhaps,” she said, blushing, “Well, goodnight, Malfoy.” He bowed and walked back down the stairs, watching for her to get safely into her flat. “Goodnight….Hermione” he breathed after she was inside and the door lock sounded. He turned and apparated to his home.