Birds twittered all around them, and gold-brown leaves swirled through the warm air. The tree branches swayed against the wind, making the leaves whisper and sigh among themselves. The whole atmosphere was magical. Draco and Hermione sat amid all this beauty, neither of them noticing the enchanting environment. It was as if Mother Nature was celebrating what was going on between the two of them. Sparks were flying between them and they knew it. The only problem was that they were refusing to believe it.
Hermione let out a sigh and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air which smelled of fresh grass and dried leaves. Draco watched her silently, tilting his head to one side. He didn’t understand why, but he started to notice different things about her; the way she smiled or laughed, the way she always bit her lower lip when she got nervous, the way she talked…
Hermione opened her eyes and turned her head sideways to see Draco looking at her intently. She blushed as he continued to stare at her. “What?” she mumbled, tearing her gaze away from him.
Draco shook his head, shaking himself from his thoughts. “Sorry,” he muttered, “I was just thinking.” He turned his head and stared ahead, watching the birds fly from one branch to another. She nodded her head slowly.
Hermione furrowed her brows. The surroundings in front of her were vaguely familiar. Something about the place made her feel good about herself.
“There’s something about this place... it… it makes me feel all warm inside,” Hermione said, scratching her chin unconsciously.
Draco chuckled and replied, “It should. This is the place where you punched Jessie.”
Hermione’s mouth fell open then slowly twisted into a surprised smile. She covered her mouth with her hands and giggled into them. “You’re right!” she laughed. “No wonder this place makes me feel so -”
“- awesome?” Draco finished off for her.
She looked at him and smiled. “Yeah.”
Draco continued to look at her intently. Her eyes were dancing with laughter and her lips were curled into a small grin. For the first time, he truly noticed how beautiful she was; inside and out. She wasn’t gorgeous or anything, but her personality and her caring nature made up for it. Unlike him, she seem to didn’t care what other people thought of her. She was smart, strong and pretty. He was able to admit all of this to himself now.
Hermione’s face grew hot with embarrassment as he continued to study her face. As much as she wanted to look away, she found herself staring into his misty-gray eyes. She had never seen such attractive eyes in her life; they were mysterious and captivating. She had never seen him so up-close before. His eyelashes were long and beautiful, and his face looked much more handsome. Draco Malfoy was definitely not the same boy she had first met at Hogwarts. He had changed for the good, and she had to admit that she was falling for his charm.
Draco saw her face slowly turn red and realized that she was probably feeling uncomfortable. But then why wasn’t she looking away? He cleared his throat, making her jerk out of her reverie. “I know you girls can’t get enough of looking at me, but please control yourself,” Draco said, smirking as he saw her look at him in revulsion.
“I wasn’t looking at you. I was just…thinking,” she replied defiantly, mimicking his own answer from earlier. She looked away and folded her arms across her chest. Draco laughed. He had been doing this quite often lately. Somehow, she was always able to make him laugh.
“Hey, what’s that over there?” Hermione asked suddenly, pointing to an object which was lying several meters away.
Draco looked towards where she was pointing and said, “I don’t know.” He got up and pulled Hermione along with him. “Let’s see what it is.”
Together, they approached the small object and leaned down to pick it up. Hermione held up a crystal, perfume bottle with red wine substance swirling around inside. She turned the bottle around and read the curvy letters sprawled across.
“Amorodor,” Draco muttered, reading it over Hermione’s shoulder. “What’s that?” Hermione cringed as his hot breath washed over her neck. Her neck tingled with the sensation, covering her exposed flesh with goose bumps. She silently cursed herself for her body reacting this way. Why was she getting goose bumps whenever he was near?!
“Draco, I’m sure you’d be able to identify it if you weren’t hovering over my shoulder!” Hermione accused, gesturing for him to stand next to her rather than behind her.
“Merlin! Just ask me nicely,” Draco snapped. “You don’t have to get all worked up about it.” He moved to stand beside her, snatched the bottle from her fingers, and started examining it.
Hermione rolled her eyes and scowled. “It’s a love perfume, you half-wit.”
Draco looked at her in realization and asked, “Jessie’s?”
“I’m sure of it. She must have used it to seduce you,” Hermione said matter-of-factly.
“I’ve never heard of Amorodor before,” Draco said, swirling the contents around. “How do you know it’s a love perfume?”
“Because,” Hermione said, a small smile forming on her lips, “amor means love and odor means smell, in Latin.” She took the crystal bottle from him and started examining it herself. “It sounds like one of Fred and George’s products,” she muttered to herself.
“You’re still the know-it-all, aren’t you?” Draco said, smirking.
“If it weren’t for me being a ‘know-it-all’, we wouldn’t have known if it was a magical object,” Hermione scoffed.
“Yeah, whatever.” He once again snatched the bottle away from her, and pocketed it in his jeans. He lightly tapped the place where he had kept it and gave her a satisfied smile.
“Hey! You give that back,” Hermione ordered. “I’ll keep it in a safer place rather than some grimy pocket.”
Draco snorted, “Yeah right. You mean in that bag of yours? I don’t think so.” He slowly leaned towards her, making her nervously lean back. He smirked and whispered into her ear, “And besides, who knows what you’ll do with this. You might use it on yourself to seduce me.” He looked at her, winked, and turned his back towards her, whistling a cheerful tune.
Hermione stood rooted to the spot, her mouth open in surprise. Her stupid heart was beating madly, and she could feel her cheeks become hot. Draco had come so close to her, that for a millisecond she thought he was about to… about to kiss her! Then all of a sudden, he tilted his head towards her ear and whispered into it. The worst part of it was that she was actually anticipating for what was going to happen. Hermione Granger was actually waiting for Draco Malfoy to kiss her! Hermione whimpered to herself for having such perverted thoughts. Why did he have to come so close anyway! What’s he trying to do? Tamper with my emotions!?
Draco was angrily turned around, coming face to face with a flustered Hermione. “What did you do that for?!” Hermione exclaimed, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You scared the life out of me!”
Draco coolly took hold of her finger which was about to stab him yet again, and pulled her closer. He looked down at her surprised face and smirked. “Like how?” he said, his hand still holding on to her finger. Hermione felt his warm breath wash over her once more, making her gulp nervously. He was so close; she could actually see her anxious self through his eyes.
Draco hadn’t known that her being this close would have such a big effect on him. Sure, she had hugged him, but that was different. This time, her face was close to his; not buried into his chest. He could feel heat rise between them. He felt his stomach lurch, and his muscles tense. Her face was so close. Close enough to…
“Like that!” Hermione said furiously, pushing him away. Her breath was ragged, and she had to place a hand on her chest to calm her pounding heart. “You made me think that you were going to “ oh, you’re such a jerk!”
Draco was astounded to find that his breath was uneven too. The proximity of her face and body felt… exhilarating. He didn’t think he had ever felt that way with any other girl before. Draco watched as Hermione desperately tried to compose herself; she was fanning her face and was trying to breathe calmly. Had she felt what he had felt?
Draco gathered his wits and said smugly, “Got scared from being that close to me, did you?” He had to show that she hadn’t affected him.
“I wasn’t scared!” Hermione sputtered. “I thought you were going to do something to me, that’s all.”
“Like what? Kiss you?” Draco blurted out. He stood rooted to the spot as he realized what had come out of his mouth. He mentally kicked himself for uttering such a thing.
“No!” Hermione yelped in defence. “That “ that thought didn’t even cross my mind.”
“Good,” Draco said, “Because, I “ I wasn’t going to.”
“Good,” Hermione muttered, feeling relieved and somewhat disappointed. Why was she feeling disappointed!?
“Great,” he mumbled back.
The truth was that for a moment, he was considering on kissing her. In the beginning, he had pulled her close to tease her, but when he saw her lips so near to his, he just felt like leaning down and capturing them with his own. Draco mentally screamed at himself for even thinking to do such a thing, but he calmed himself by blaming his hormones. I didn’t really want to, he told himself, it’s my stupid, pent-up hormones!
There was an awkward silence between them. Both of them were desperately trying to figure out their emotions, and wondering why they were feeling the way they were at this point. Suddenly Draco said, “Are you hungry? I’m starving.”
Hermione was glad to break the uncomfortable silence between them and eagerly replied, “Yeah! Let’s go get something to eat.”
Draco and Hermione entered a small café which was crammed with people. They squeezed their way towards the counter, excusing themselves whenever they pushed past someone.
“Brilliant,” Draco drawled. “You couldn’t have chosen a better place to eat.”
“Stop whining,” Hermione snapped. “The other café was all the way on the other side of the park. And you said you were hungry.”
“Hello,” smiled the woman sitting behind the counter, “how may I help you?” Draco and Hermione scanned through the menu the lady had given them, and started choosing what they wanted to eat.
“You do realize you’re paying for this, Draco,” Hermione said smugly. “With the money I took out from your wallet.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Draco said, exasperated. “Can’t you see how much one thing costs over here!?” He took out the money which he had stuffed into his pocket and started counting it.
“It’s going to be enough to pay for what we’re going to eat, now come on and choose.” Hermione smiled at the lady and said, “I’ll have a hot dog combo.”
Draco peered at the menu and tried to see how much that would cost him. When he saw the price, he started to laugh. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said, shaking his head at Hermione who was staring at him in confusion. He looked at the lady and said, “She’s not having that.”
“Yes, I am!” Hermione said in an indignant voice.
“No, you’re not,” Draco said, trying to sound as polite as he could be. “Do you see the price of that hot dog?!” he said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, and you better pay for it, because I’m hungry.”
Draco laughed in disbelief. “Just give us a second,” he said, smiling at the confused woman before them. “My friend here doesn’t know what she wants.”
“Well do hurry up and make up your minds,” she said, in a rather annoyed voice. “I’ve got other people waiting, you know.”
Draco nodded and looked at Hermione with a serious expression. “Look, Hermione, you better choose something else to eat, or you give me back my wallet.”
Hermione glared at him and said, “I want that hot dog, and you’re going to pay for it.”
“We’re not going to survive the rest of the day if you finish all the money on eating,” Draco said angrily.
Hermione snatched the money he was holding, and smiled sweetly. “I think I made my point,” she said, grinning broadly. “Just go and find a table, I’ll buy us something to eat.”
“What do you mean you made your point?” Draco said, utterly perplexed.
“Just go,” Hermione commanded. She turned her back towards him and started ordering their food, leaving Draco to go and look for an empty table.
Few minutes later, Hermione came back with two hot dog combos and two drinks. She set their food on the table that Draco had found, and sat down on a chair opposite to him.
“You got two hot dogs?!” Draco said in incredulously. “How do you expect us to survive the whole tour if you won’t give my wallet back!” He scratched his head in frustration and said, “That’s it. Give back my wallet before I die of frustration.” He was about to grab Hermione’s bag when her hand slapped him away.
“Who said I’m taking away your wallet for the whole trip?” she asked questioningly. “I said I’m keeping your wallet for this tour; the bird park.”
He looked at her wide-eyed and exclaimed, “You’re kidding. I thought you said the whole trip!”
“You’re so thick. I clearly said it’ll be enough money for the time we spend in this place.”
Draco sighed in relief. “Thanks Merlin,” he breathed. “I thought “ anyway, where’s the rest of the money?”
Hermione slammed the change onto the table and looked at him as if she had accomplished an assignment.
“What?” Draco said in a muffled voice as he had just taken a big bite out of his hot dog.
“Now, do you know what it’s like to live with that amount of money?” Hermione said, taking a sip out of her drink. “It’s hard isn’t it?”
It took a moment for Draco to register what she had just said. His mouth fell open in realization and he looked at her unbelievingly. “Oh,” he said, wagging a finger towards her, “Oh now I know what this is all about. You are trying to teach me the value of money, aren’t you?” Draco practically laughed out loud as he said this. “I can’t believe this,” he said in a hushed tone. “You are trying to teach me the value of money?”
Hermione cocked her head to one side and said, “Is there a problem?”
“Look, you,” he said, pointing his finger at her. “Why should I even pretend I have no money? Trust me; I’m not going to run out of it.”
“You’re so full of yourself,” Hermione shot back.
“Why, thank you,” he said, his words dripping with sarcasm.
Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help a smile steal over her lips. She remembered Draco’s face as she ordered herself a hot dog, and the way he clung onto the money she had taken out of his wallet.
“Why do you randomly smile? What are you smirking about now?” Draco asked, peering over his drink.
“Nothing, nothing,” Hermione said, waving her hand in dismissal. “We better hurry up though,” she advised, taking a bite out of her hot dog. “We have to start making our way back to Puvan. We’re going to leave Jurong BirdPark in fifteen minutes.”
“Ah, everyone here?” Puvan asked, his voice booming through the microphone.
“Yes,” everyone chanted, taking up their previous seating place. Once again, Violet pulled Jessie down next to her, making her whimper as she watched Draco take his place beside Hermione.
“Good, good,” Puvan replied cheerily. “Our next stop is Underwater World. Then, we’ll go to the Night Safari. Oh that is very good,” he said, buckling his seat belt. “You’ll enjoy the Night Safari.”
He pushed on the pedal and they were off once again, everyone staring out the window; taking in the beautiful atmosphere of Singapore.
Hermione sighed and rested her forehead against the cool window pane. “It’s so breath-taking,” Hermione breathed, causing the window to fog up. “It has such a different culture, so much beauty…”
“First sign of madness is talking to yourself,” Draco teased, receiving a playful punch from Hermione.
“Very funny,” Hermione said, holding back a smile. “You know, it’s not uncommon “ talking to yourself, I mean. Haven’t you ever talked to yourself?”
“Do I look like I’m crazy?” Draco asked coolly. “Trust me, you’ll never find a Malfoy doing such a thing.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “Malfoys never do this, Malfoys never do that,” she mimicked. “Merlin, Draco, are you abnormal or what?!”
“No, we’re just perfect,” he said, his trademark smirk forming on his lips. “You should have noticed by now.”
Hermione snorted at his remark, but didn’t say anything back. There are some things that will never change, Hermione thought to herself. Yes, Draco had changed but there was still a part of him that never would; a part of him that would always remain unaffected. His smart, witty comments, his cool demeanour, the trademark smirk “ all this represented him. However, she secretly enjoyed these aspects of him. She would furtively take pleasure in arguing with him. They would always end up trying to upstage one another, and it felt exhilarating when she won these arguments; she knew that no one except Draco would be able to compete with her.
Hermione looked at Malfoy out of the corner of her eye. His head was leaning back against the seat, his eyes were closed and “ to her annoyance “ his smirk was still lingering on his lips.
“I wouldn’t have thought you, of all people, would take an opportunity to stare at me,” Draco said coolly, his eyes still closed and his smirk becoming more prominent.
Hermione blushed and quickly looked out of the window, furiously wondering how he knew that she had been looking at him. “It wasn’t by purpose,” Hermione replied calmly. “Do you expect me to stare out the window the whole trip?”
“So you’d rather look at me, huh?” Draco said with amusement; eyes still coolly staying closed.
Embarrassed, Hermione shot back, “Since you’re closing your eyes, just close your mouth too.” She let out a frustrated sigh, tore her gaze away from him and continued to look outside.
Draco chuckled to himself, enjoying the fact that he could get under her skin. He slowly opened his eyes, glancing over at Hermione who was determinately looking out the window, trying her very best not to turn around. He smiled, stretched his arms behind his head and once again closed his eyes. The trip to Jurong BirdPark had been eventful and he had a feeling the rest of the tour would get more exciting. He still had to endure Hermione’s company for rest of the outing but for some reason, this thought didn’t bother him. In fact, he was actually looking forward to it.
Draco slowly realized why he really didn’t mind. He was actually enjoying having her beside him. Somewhat disconcerted by this thought, Draco dismissed the notion. He tried to focus on something else and eventually fell into a light slumber, the previous thought still troubling his unconscious state of mind.
A/N:
Hey you guys! I'm really sorry this chapter took a long time; school work will always come first *sigh* I was going to make the chapter much longer but decided to make it into two separate chapters. The next one will only be up after I finish my exams which won't be until the end of November, so I hope you can wait till then *smiles*. Hope you enjoyed the chapter; please leave a review on your way out! =)