Nothing Else Left

Nothing Else Left

Chapter 1

"I've missed you so much! I'm so sorry I couldn't come see you earlier, but my father wouldn't hear of it," Draco Malfoy smiled fondly at Hermione, and bent to embrace her. His spiked silver-blond hair shone brilliantly in the sunlight in Diagon Alley.

As they broke apart, Hermione gazed up at him thoughtfully. He's changed so much over the summer. I like it, though, Hermione thought. She was right; Draco had changed quite a bit since she had last seen him. From what she remembered, his pale hair had been shoulder length and she had been looking him in the eye. Now, he was almost a foot taller, and she was looking at his chin. His hair was short and set into small spikes, tipped with glittery silver-blue. He was sporting an earring in his left ear. It was a silver skull, with glowing blue eyes. Although Hermione didn't really go for the whole jewelry thing on guys, she thought that the earring added power to Draco, and it made her feel good, like he could protect her, like she would be safer. Not that she was in any danger.

"Come on. You want to go and get some ice cream? It'll be my treat," offered Draco, whispering softly in her ear, his arms wrapped around her.

Hermione smiled and shook her head. "The last thing I need is to get fat before Winter Carnival this year." Hermione raised her head to meet his gaze and she smiled playfully, letting him know that she was just playing with him. Winter Carnival is the dance that takes place every winter break. It was a take-off of the Yule Ball that took place at Hogwarts three years ago when the Triwizard Tournament was going on.

Draco well knew that she was playing, and he decided to tease her a bit himself. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Hey!" Hermione wriggled out of Draco's grasp and slugged him affectionately in the arm. "You are coming this year, right?"

"Of course." Draco laughed and pulled a little blue velvet box out of his pocket. "I have something for you. I hope you like it." He handed her the box.

Hermione took the box, looked at it, then looked back up at Draco. "What is it?" she asked, not able to hide her curious smile.

Draco smiled back. "Open it and find out." He nodded his head for her to go on.

Hermione slowly opened the small box and gasped at the beautiful necklace lying on the soft velvet. She picked up the delicate silver chain and studied the tiny locket on the end. It was a little sun. "Oh, Draco, it gorgeous! I love it!" she stood up on tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then hugged him. "Thank you."

Draco gently took the necklace from her and fastened it around her neck. It hung lightly in the hollow of her throat. Draco smiled as he looked at it proudly. "It has been in the family for years. My grandmother gave it to my mother. Her mother gave it to her before that, and so on. My mother gave it to me, being her only child. She told me to give it to a worthy woman. So I did." He said all of this while looking at the locket, but now he raised his gaze to meet Hermione's. "Nobody has been able to open that locket. Nobody knows where it came from, but it has become a family emblem. It suits you."

"Oh, Draco, how can I thank you? This is so much more than I deserve." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a quill. "Here, I got this for you. Its doesn't compare to this" gesturing to the locket "but I hope it comes in handy anyway. It's a Smart Quill. It corrects any spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, and other things of the sort. I know you probably think it's typical of me to give you something like this, but hey, you know how bad your spelling is. It took you two weeks to learn how to spell my name right."

Draco smirked, remembering her frustration when he wrote her notes and couldn't get her name spelled right. It was ridiculous how many different spellings he came up with. Hermonie. Hemorne. Hirmione. The combinations were endless. And the most pathetic part? They all had looked right to him. He took the quill from her and hugged her. "I know. It's great. You know I'll be using it a lot, and every time I do, I'll think of you."

"Hey! Lovebirds! Over here! I'm on a mission for Ron to find you!" Hermione, startled, looked up to find George Weasley standing a few meters away. She looked up at Draco. "That's George. Where there's a Weasley, there are bound to be more. Let's go."

Draco just shook his head. "How can you tell them apart?"

"Oh, it's easy. Fred has a lower voice and he is always wearing the ring Angelina gave him for their one-year anniversary."

Hermione and Draco caught up with the Weasleys and found that Harry was with them. Hermione hugged Harry and Ron each in turn, Harry returning it warmly, and Ron glaring over her shoulder jealously at Draco. She said hi to Fred and George, but they felt left out and wanted hugs too. Hermione obliged, rolling her eyes. Ginny accepted her hello.

"I was hoping to meet up with you guys here." Harry grinned, noting Draco's arm protectively around Hermione's waist. "So, been making more plans to make my life miserable this year Malfoy?" he teased. Harry knew that this annoyed Draco, and Draco had apologized numerous times to both him and Ron. Harry forgave him, but still teased him about it. Ron had been less forgiving, but was just now on speaking terms with Draco.

"Well, Potter, that depends. You going to give me any more grief over stupid things, then I will start planning right away. Otherwise you don't have much to worry about. Now Weasley on the other hand..." he stopped and jerked his thumb at Ron. He winked at Harry.

Ron scowled and Hermione saw his hands clench. She nudged Draco warningly. "Don't do that. You know how sensitive he is," she told him under her breath.

"Oh yes. Poor sensitive Ronny." Draco continued to tease, but somehow, that last comment relaxed Ron a little bit. She saw his hands unclench and his shoulders go back to the usual slight slump.

"Sure, Malfoy. You didn't seem all that tough with fur."

The Weasley twins grinned at the reference to Draco being turned into a ferret by Mad-Eye Moody so many years ago. They still didn't let him off the hook for that.

"Alright, alright. Come on you guys, let's go do something," Hermione said, not wanting to let Draco get mad for that last remark.

"Ok, who's up for ice cream?" Harry said, smiling.

"Oh no, Hermione will get fat." Hermione punched Draco on the arm. He put up his hands defensively. "Hey, that's what you told me!"

Harry looked between the two of them, mildly confused. He shrugged it off. "Ooookk, then how about we just walk along and see what comes up?" he looked at everyone each in turn, waiting for a response in someone. Ron shrugged. A couple of "why not?" 's from the rest of the group and some more shrugs. Harry started away, Ron at his side. Ginny and Fred were right behind. George waited for Hermione and Draco and walked along with them.

"So. How are you two?" he asked them.

"We're fine, George. Say, why are you and Fred here? Don't you guys have to work?" Hermione knew that they had started their own joke shop a couple of years ago from Harry's winnings from the Triwizard tournament. They had been oh-so creative in their naming it, finally deciding on 'Fred and George's Jokes, Tricks, and Gags'. They had also decided to have the store in Diagon Alley, versus Hogsmeade.

"We are working."

"Wait, what? No, you're goofing around here."

"No, we're working. Come on, I'll show you." George strode between the two, and took each by hooking an elbow in one of their own. He led them to a store close by. He opened the door and Hermione gasped. There she saw both Fred and George working, Fred at the register and George restocking. Then she turned to the George looking proudly upon the working duo. He looked down to see her looking at him questioningly, one eyebrow raised. "What are these?" she asked

"You like them?" he asked, looking at her expectantly.

"What are they?" Draco echoed Hermione's thought.

"Well, it turns out that the Polyjuice potion doesn't work very well on animals. These two used to be our owls, Ned and Norge," Draco snorted at that, "well, we wanted a way to get away without losing any profit, so I made the potion and put it in their water with each a strand of our hair. That was a couple of weeks ago. They're a lot more handsome now, don't you think?" he grinned.

Draco shook his head. "Figures."

"I don't know what to do with you George. Come on, we should catch up to the group." Hermione opened up the door and gestured towards George. "After you."

George bowed low. "My deepest gratitude, Mistress Granger." He straightened and strode out.

Draco took Hermione by the hand and led her out after George. A few paces away, Draco pulled Hermione away from the main path. They ended up out behind Flourish and Blott's. It was completely deserted. Draco trapped Hermione against the wall. He had a wicked gleam in his eyes that Hermione didn't altogether like.

"Draco? What are you..." her question trailed off as he put a finger to her lips.

"Don't talk. There's been something I've wanted to do since we met up with those losers." He grinned to take the sting away from his words.

"And what would that be, if I may ask?"

"This." Draco lowered his head to Hermione's, her eyes wide with surprise and pleasure. Their lips met and suddenly the world dissolved around her.