"So Hermione Granger goes into a pub, at night and unaccompanied? Now that's something I never thought possible." Draco whispered to himself, on his face a smirk was showing.
Things just got a lot more interesting.
'Looks like I'll satisfy my curiosity and escape my boredom.'
Draco closed in on the window and looked inside. He saw Hermione at the bar, ordering a drink and drinking it bottoms up. Draco's eyebrows shot up in shock.
'I didn't know she could drink like that, he thought, half impressed.'
Then all of a sudden, a different thought made his brows furrow. Somehow, the image of Hermione Granger, in a pub, gulping down drinks seemed wrong and … unnatural. It made him shift uncomfortably in his spot. He'd been right in suspecting something was amiss today.
Without thinking much about it, Draco went inside and found a more private table, from where he could watch Hermione without being seen by her. Meanwhile, Hermione was at her second drink and, by the time Draco had taken a seat, she had gulped it down as fast as she did the first one.
They spent half an hour in this manner, one of them in plain view, the other in the shadows. Draco had eventually ordered a drink as well, avoiding Hermione's eyes by signaling someone from the bar and receiving the glass of firewiskey right at his table.
He was watching attentively as Hermione took down what was now her fifth drink. He noticed her body swaying a little, leaning against the bar for more support.
'Luckily she's sitting on a chair, otherwise she'd have collapsed by now. What in Merlin's name has happened to have THE Hermione Granger in a mood like this?'
Draco was deep in thought, sipping his drink elegantly, when his eyes caught movement on the right side of the bar.
There, a group of men were just ordering a row of drinks, talking loudly and laughing. Draco shot them a look of disgust.
He never liked men who made a fool of themselves in a bar by being too loud or those who drank too much firewiskey to even remember what species they were from.
The movement his eyes had caught was that of a young man, not older than twenty-five, breaking away from the noisy group and making his way towards Hermione. His advancement was slow, due to the fact that he was holding drinks in each one of his hands, the liquid swaying dangerously as he avoided people along his way.
When the young man finally reached Hermione, she was just raising her hand, signaling the bartender.
"Another one, please Tom." Draco heard her yell at the old bartender .
"Allow me, miss." the stranger said, quickly placing one of the drinks in front of Hermione, smiling widely at her.
Hermione looked at him, then at the drinks, eyes slightly out of focus.
"Allow you what exactly?" she asked him, still eyeing the drink he had placed in front of her.
"Allow me to offer you this drink." the young man said, slightly disconcerted by Hermione's response but recovering quickly. "You seemed like you needed one and I wanted to have the pleasure to assist you.'' he said pleasantly, giving her a charming smile.
Draco saw the man taking a seat next to her, a tad too close in his opinion. He let a huff into his glass, frowning at the image. Looking intently at the scene unfolding in front of him, he took another sip of firewiskey to clear his throat, curiosity and annoyance battling inside him.
If he were honest to himself, Draco couldn't say for sure if he was amused or bothered by Hermione's apparent laxed attitude towards a stranger. One thing was true though, he was definitely feeling something because he immediately took a big gulp from his glass, almost emptying it.
The stranger had just touched Hermione's arm and, for some reason, Draco felt like cursing the guy senseless. For an instant he felt taken by surprise by his own thoughts.
'What in Salazar's name is happening to me? I should be thoroughly amused by all this. Granger in a bar, drinking her mind away. But why am I not amused? Do I feel that bored?'
He shook his head, gripping the glass slightly tighter between his fingers.
'There's one thing to follow her into a bar out of curiosity and another thing entirely to feel bothered by a stupid git, making a move on her.'
Draco's musings were soon interrupted by Hermione's sharp, but rather slurred voice.
"I kindly ask you to remove your hand." she was saying to the guy.
She made a hasty move to shake his hand away from her back, where it was resting rather intimately.
Draco let out an annoyed snort, raising his glass to his mouth.
"Of course Granger would be polite to people, even in this type of situation. Bloody fool! She never showed me the same courtesy, though." he grumbled to himself.
What happened next almost made him feel sorry for the poor bloke who had the misfortune to deal with a tipsy Hermione Granger.
"I said remove your bloody arm, you foul git!" Hermione shouted, sending a curse at the guy so fast that no one really saw what happened.
The next moment, though, everyone who was close enough could see the guy on the floor, holding onto his bleeding nose, while also sporting a black eye.
Draco blinked and stared at Hermione, bewildered by the scene.