Ch. 52

The next few days went by and whenever they were out in the city, Draco noticed that Hermione was constantly looking around. Ginny and Blaise noticed this as well, but they didn't say anything regarding it; they had heard Hermione blow up at Draco from their bedroom on Christmas after dinner, telling him to drop the subject.

Draco and Hermione seemed to be much better after that, but Draco knew that Hermione was hiding her sadness from their friends. He silently plotted what he was going to do, and it finally came to him two nights before New Year's Eve.

"Blaise," He exclaimed suddenly, grabbing the other three's attention. He then cleared his throat and nodded behind him. "Blaise, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Uh," Blaise raised an eyebrow but stood up. "Yeah, sure."

"We'll be right back, ladies," Draco said as he stood up and grabbed his coat.

Blaise grabbed his as well, thoroughly confused as to why Draco was leading him outside. When they were out of earshot of the girls, Draco began pacing outside but didn't say anything for a few moments.

"Mate, it's snowing," Blaise said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "What is this about?"

"Hermione said a few days ago that she thought she saw her parents," Draco said, still pacing.

"What?"

"Yeah." Draco looked up but still paced. "They apparently showed up early, and I hadn't planned what I was going to do until now."

"I'm assuming by your pacing that you've come up with an idea?" Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, and I'm going to need both yours and Ginny's help," Draco said, stopping finally and looking at his friend.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Ginny asked, eyeing the two boys.

Hermione shook her head, watching Draco pace and feeling his anxiety. "I'm not sure. He's anxious about something though."

Ginny then looked back at her friend with wide eyes. "You don't think he'll..."

Hermione looked back and then burst out laughing. "No, Gin, I don't think he's going to propose. He knows it's too early. I told him I wanted to wait at least a year so that we don't blindside everyone."

"Well then I wonder what it is," Ginny said thoughtfully as she turned her attention back to the boys. "It would be rather romantic though if they did propose here. It's too late for Christmas but there's always New Year's."

Hermione's thoughts were a whirlwind now. What if he was going to propose? Did she want him to? She told herself it was too early but at the same time, she knew she was going to spend the rest of her life with him. But she wanted to take things slow now that they were essentially mated for life. She couldn't fully control how quickly that process had happened, but she could control how quickly the rest of the relationship went.

They watched the boys come back in and Draco smiled at her as he kissed her forehead and sat back down next to her. Blaise whispered something in Ginny's ear that was too quiet for Hermione to catch, and her heartrate quickened slightly. She couldn't help but suspect that her friends were in on whatever Draco was planning.

The next two days went by quickly for an anxious Hermione. She could hardly focus on the museums and activities that they were doing. She tried to hide her anxiousness though the entire day of New Year's Eve as Draco laid out her outfit for the evening.

He had started enjoying planning out her outfits, and while she normally would try to change the shirt or pants, after she would put it on she'd normally like the outfit enough to not change anything.

"You know," Draco started as he rifled through her temporary wardrobe, "You can see the Eiffel Tower from the Seine River."

Hermione gave him an odd look while her stomach was in knots. "Can you?"

He turned around then and looked at her. "Love, why are you anxious?"

She chewed on the inside of her lip and avoided his eyes. "It's nothing. Just not sure what to expect from tonight."

It wasn't exactly a lie, but from the look Draco was giving her, she knew he didn't believe her. She sighed and then stood up, pacing slightly. "Ginny suggested you might be proposing and I'm not ready for that. I love you but I'm not ready to be engaged yet, and you know that, so why would you be proposing to me? I was okay with how fast we went for the whole Veela process but I want to control the speed we go for normal relationships, and frankly with it only be a couple of months this is just too quick, and I didn't want to ruin anything by saying something about it but-"

Draco interrupted her with a kiss, pulling away after a few moments and looking her in the eyes. "Hermione, I'm not proposing to you tonight. I do have a surprise though and you're going to love it."

She stared at him and stuttered, "You're not proposing?"

He chuckled. "Not unless you want me to, but you've made it clear that you're not ready for that yet and I respect that. Besides, I know we're going to be together for the rest of our lives, so I don't mind waiting at all."

She released the breath that she didn't realize she was holding and flushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Draco."

He pulled her into his arms and sighed. "It's alright, love. Is this what you've been worrying about the past few stays?"

She nodded into his shoulder and he shook his head as he said, "You should've said something sooner."

"Well I didn't want to spoil it if you were planning that," Hermione said.

"But what kind of significant other would I be if I planned to propose to you when I knew you weren't ready or comfortable with it yet?" Draco retorted, pulling away and giving her a soft kiss. "Now go ahead and change; we have to be there in thirty minutes."

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Ginny whined slightly.

They were waiting by the riverbank at one of the low points where people board the riverboats for tours. Hermione wondered if they were taking a night tour, but with each tour boat that went by, that thought began to seem unlikely.

She was thankful that she had reminded everyone to cast warming spells on their clothes. They were all receiving odd looks since the two girls were in floor-length evening gowns and coats. Ginny was wearing a silver gown that shimmered in the light that Blaise had chosen, while Hermione was in a similar gold-colored gown that shimmered just as much in the light. She had raised an eyebrow at Draco when he took it out of the protective bag but tried it on to appease him, finding that she liked it. She wasn't going to tell him that she was enjoying him picking out her clothes; his ego was already large enough as it is.