Cufflinks

If you must know, Hermione Granger was a very stubborn witch.

Of course she was—she was a Gryffindor, after all.

Once Hermione Granger entered a bet, it was going to take another wizarding war for her to back down. So what if she had to go on a double blind date if she lost this one? It was just one date.

"How about one week's time?"

Hermione scoffed. "Ginny, if you can finish all six of Jane Austen's novels in one week, then I'm a hippogriff. Wasn't the last time you read a book on your own accord back when you were in first year?"

Ginny Weasley shrugged from where she sat on a squashy red armchair in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room. "Nothing like a good bet to kick off that streak again." She grinned at Hermione, who was sitting in the armchair right next to her, and stuck her pinky out. "So it's a bet, right? If I can finish all six of Jane Arson's—"

"Austen."

"—novels in one week and give you a detailed summary of every single one in under half an hour, we'll sign up for Lavender's double blind date program?"

Hermione stuck her pinky out, trying not to let her confidence show on her expression as she faced her friend. "It's a bet."

The two girls pinky swore.

—

Apparently, Hermione was a hippogriff.

"Damn," she muttered. It was exactly one week later, and she and Ginny were sitting in the exact same armchairs in the Gryffindor Common Room that they'd been sitting in seven days prior. Only this time, Hermione's confidence had vanished, and Ginny had the new words of six Jane Austen novels revolving inside her head.

"Didn't think I could do it?" Ginny had a smug grin on her face as she stood up eagerly, having just summarized each novel's plot wonderfully to a resigned Hermione. "Guess we should go talk to Lavender now."

"Alright," said Hermione weakly, letting herself get hauled across the common room by Ginny. "Let's just get this over with."

In the shared girl's dormitory, when Ginny bounded up to Lavender, dragging a defeated Hermione behind her, it took Lavender about a millisecond to squeal and enthusiastically put Ginny and Hermione's names down for her newly-established Hogwarts students double blind date program. Called Live, Lav, Love (a name that Hermione couldn't even condemn considering her own history of terrible initiative names—S.P.E.W. really had been a quite horrific acronym), the program was something Lavender had established after the war as her effort to "rebuild relationships as well as spread some fun and excitement across school" (a phrase taken from one of the posters Lavender had put up in the common room).

It worked, too—surprisingly, the program became a hit the first week it went into motion, with girls and guys alike scurrying towards Lavender to schedule double blind dates. Currently, Lavender boasted an 80% success rate and had already matched 23 couples, statistics that just about every single Hogwarts student in the castle knew due to the popularity of the program. Lavender herself had already been interviewed by the Daily Prophet and printed into their latest issue as the "Cupid of Hogwarts."

After Ginny and Hermione both filled out a short survey asking basic questions regarding their likes, dislikes, and desires in a partner, Lavender explained, "You'll both be sent an owl in a few days with the details of your double date!" She clapped her hands in excitement. "And again, it'll be completely anonymous—I'll blindly pick two boys who I think will fit each of you based on your survey answers with the assistance of some spells, and nobody will know anyone's name until the actual double date!"

Sure enough, after two days of dread for Hermione, an owl flew down in the middle of breakfast in the Great Hall and dropped an envelope in her lap. She looked up and met Ginny's eager eyes—she'd also gotten one.

Hermione ripped open the envelope in apprehension and took out the piece of paper inside. She held it up to read:

Hermione Granger, your blind double date will take place on Saturday, January 20th, at 5:00pm at Hogsmeade and last until 7:00pm. You and Ginny Weasley will both meet your dates in front of Honeydukes. Your date will be wearing a badge with the number 1 on it. Please pin your badge to your robes so that your date can identify you as his date.

P.S. These badges are enchanted so that once your blind date begins, you and your date are unable to step more than 20 feet away from each other. This is a precaution taken to avoid any date-ditching. Thank you for your understanding!

Hermione frowned at that last part. She shook the envelope, and a tiny piece of metal fell out, clattering onto the table. It was a minuscule badge with the number 1 on it.

She looked up to see Ginny already holding up her envelope contents. They were exactly the same other than their flipped names and different numbers (Ginny had 2).

"Isn't this exciting?" exclaimed Ginny, clasping her hands together. "The whole thing was smart of Lavender too—she told me that she's had over fifty people in the last week alone sign up!"

Hermione leveled Ginny with a look. "Isn't the unable to step more than 20 feet away part kind of concerning? There is a chance that we get paired with people who may be unpleasant."

"Oh, be optimistic! I'm sure it won't be that bad!"

Hermione only sighed.

Perhaps her dread for January 20th was what made the day arrive in a blur. In what felt like only ten seconds after receiving her letter at breakfast, Hermione was standing in front of Honeydukes, her teeth chattering and her fingers nearly freezing off as she reached up to tighten her maroon scarf.

It was snowing—all around Hogsmeade, Hogwarts students and townspeople alike were trudging in the snow, all wrapped in thick robes and sporting rosy cheeks. Through the perpetual veil of white falling down from the sky, bright chatter and constant laughter from passing individuals and from within establishment entrances could be heard. The atmosphere felt light and cheery, but all Hermione could focus on was how she wanted to be anywhere but here.

Next to her, Ginny had picked up a pile of snow and was shaping it into a snowball with her mitten-covered hands. Hermione gazed at the mittens with longing—she'd somehow only stuffed her left mitten in her pocket before leaving her dormitory and had left her right one behind, and that had been a sore mistake considering the weather. She'd tried casting Warming Charms onto her right hand, but they kept fading away after thirty seconds from her shaky hands, and she eventually gave up, too cold to come up with a more innovative idea.

"We shouldn't have come so early," Ginny lamented, the fiery red hair spilling over her scarf dotted with snowflakes. "I'm freezing my arse off from just standing here."

"We could just abandon the plan?" suggested Hermione hopefully. "Forget the double date and go get butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks?"

"No."

Hermione's shoulders slumped. She raised her shivering arm and checked her watch. Only two minutes until five.

She looked back up—and immediately made a face.

Making his way towards Honeydukes was none other than Draco Malfoy. Despite the light fall of the snow partially fuzzing Hermione's view of anything more than ten feet away from her, she could recognize the pale blonde of his hair even from a Quidditch field away.

As he got near, Hermione realized that he had a companion—Blaise Zabini, she recognized, his dark skin contrasting greatly with the white of the snow around him. He was walking by Malfoy's side and muttering something to him, the two of them walking closer and closer towards Honeydukes.

Malfoy had on a large black coat thrown over a thick wool turtleneck sweater, which explained why he didn't seem to be dying from the cold. In fact, he didn't seem to be freezing at all, Hermione observed clinically, watching as he reached up to loosen the tie underneath his sweater with his gloveless hands, an impassive look on his face.

She didn't realize that she was staring until Malfoy's gray eyes abruptly snapped up and met hers. She started slightly and felt her cheeks warm up in inexplicable embarrassment despite the distance. Malfoy only raised an unimpressed eyebrow before turning back to Zabini.

"Do you think they ditched?" Ginny whispered to Hermione suddenly, snapping her out of her reverie. The redhead was frowning. "It's five."

Hermione, trying to ignore Malfoy and Zabini, who had made themselves comfortable standing in the opposite corner outside Honeydukes and were conversing quietly, stepped forward a bit and peered around, trying to glimpse two shining badges in the snowfall. When she had no such luck, she ducked back and shot Ginny a look. "Maybe." She paused for a second. "Butterbeers now?"

"No."

"Fine."

Ginny shrugged. "Maybe they're just late." She looked down at her scarf before frowning and readjusting it. The motion revealed a shiny round badge pinned on her coat. She then glanced at Hermione. "Hermione, move your scarf. It's blocking your badge."

Hermione looked down. "Oh, you're right." She made the fix before stuffing her hands back into the warmth of her pockets, shivering.

She was in the middle of thinking about how comfortable it would be if she was in front of the Gryffindor Common Room fireplace instead, curled onto the sofa with a good book, when she noticed the strange looks from the corner of her eye.

From where he stood in the opposite corner outside the brightly-lit Honeydukes, Malfoy was staring in her direction with a very odd look on his face. Zabini was whispering something to him, sporting a similar expression and glancing in her direction every few seconds.

Hermione looked away, ignoring them. She observed her watch. It was 5:04 now. Maybe she should just make a dash for it. She subtly observed Ginny's footwear—she had on impractical platform clogs, which were fashionable but would stand no chance against Hermione's durable, ridged boots. She could probably fit at least one butterbeer in at the Three Broomsticks before the redhead caught up to her.

She was genuinely pondering abandoning Ginny right there and then when a shadow suddenly fell over her.

She looked up and met the eyes of a very uncomfortable-looking Malfoy.

He and Zabini had somehow crossed over to her and Ginny without her noticing, and the two were now standing in front of them, both looking like they had something to say but didn't know how to say it.

"Weaslette," started Malfoy, nodding in acknowledgement towards Ginny before turning back to Hermione. "Granger."

Hermione stared. Why in Merlin's name was he talking to her?

When she didn't say anything, Zabini coughed. He raised his hand and pointed at Ginny's chest. "That—I think you're mine."

Ginny's eyebrows shot upwards. "Excuse me?"

"Wait, that came out really weird. I meant—"

"Brown's double blind date," interjected Malfoy, his eyes still fixed on Hermione. He reached forward and, before she could utter any protest, tapped his slender finger against the 1 badge pinned on the front of her robes. "You're my date."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Your—your date?" she spluttered, brain refusing to comprehend his words. Draco Malfoy had signed up for Lavender's double blind date program, and he was her date?

Now that was just wonderful—she'd condemned herself to two entire hours with the blond ferret, and she couldn't even leave because of Lavender's stupid enchanted badges.

Ginny had crossed her arms and was eyeing both Malfoy and Zabini with a suspicious expression. "Okay, where are your badges then?" She gestured at the obviously-badgeless fronts of their coats.

There was a moment of silence as Malfoy and Zabini stared at each other before they both silently held up their left arms in unison. Hermione leaned forward and had to stare at Malfoy's sleeve for a few seconds before she noticed the small glimmer of metal on the end of it. It was a badge with the number 1 on it.

The usual expression she reserved for Harry and Ron whenever they'd ask to copy her homework the night before the deadline overtook her face without her meaning for it to and, forgetting who exactly she was talking to for a moment, she aimed the glare at Malfoy. "You pinned your badge to your sleeve?"

Malfoy looked genuinely confused. "Yes. Why? Where else would we pin them? They're the size of cufflinks."

"Oh, Merlin," Hermione heard Ginny mutter.

"You dolt—they're badges! You pin them to the front of your clothing like we did so that they're actually visible!"

"'Like we did?'" Malfoy scoffed. "Please. You two had us standing around like idiots because your bloody scarves were obscuring your badges."

"You two had us standing around like idiots because your badges were pinned to your sleeves like cufflinks!"

"Okay!" interrupted Ginny loudly. She looped her arm around Zabini's swiftly, and either didn't notice or chose to ignore his look of startlement at that action. "In case you've all forgotten, we're here in the first place for that double date. Where to first? The Three Broomsticks? Inside Honeydukes?"

"Scrivenshaft's?" suggested Hermione and Malfoy simultaneously, and both hostilely looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

Ginny and Zabini both stared.

"Um, any reason why?" asked Zabini.

"I have to pick up parchment," said Hermione as Malfoy said, "I have to pick up new quills."

Ginny threw the hand that wasn't attached to the arm looped around Zabini's up in the air with exasperation. "This isn't a trip for running errands! You two can do that after we've had butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks or something. Hermione, you wanted to do that just now, right?"

"Um—" Yeah, so she could get out of this.

Malfoy looked bored. "Alternatively, Weaslette, how about we just split? You and Blaise go off on your little butterbeer date while Granger and I actually make use of our time and go to Scrivenshaft's?"

"Wha—no! Malfoy, this is a double blind date. Double. In case you don't know, that word means at or to twice the amount of—OI! GET BACK HERE!"

Maybe Malfoy had also recognized the impracticality of Ginny's clogs, because he wasn't even trying to run from her. Instead, he'd grabbed Hermione's mittenless right hand in the middle of Ginny's spiel and simply turned on his heels, pulling her alongside him and leaving a shouting Ginny and befuddled Zabini standing outside Honeydukes.

"What are you doing?" Hermione demanded, twisting her head over her shoulder. Ginny and Zabini were already rapidly disappearing behind them due to the heavy snowfall.

Malfoy looked down at her. "Going to Scrivenshaft's."

"Well, we just—we just left them! Don't you think we should go back?"

Malfoy paused in the middle of the road, causing Hermione to nearly run into him. He raised an impressed brow at her. "Granger, you really want to sit in a booth with me, Blaise, and the Weaslette at the Three Broomsticks and sip on butterbeers for the next two hours? Gee, maybe we can all hold hands and sing songs when we skip back to the castle too."

Hermione glared at him.

"Anyway," continued Malfoy, looking bored, "I think we can both agree that a double date between me and you is an absolutely horrendous idea and that we might as well utilize this time to our advantage. I do have a lot of school supplies I'm in need of buying."

"Malfoy, I will absolutely not be following you around as you prance from shop to shop and shower the floor with Galleons for quills and ink!"

Malfoy rolled his eyes so hard that it was a wonder they didn't disappear behind his head. "Do you think I want an incessantly-complaining Granger trailing behind me for the next two hours? We'll obviously compromise. Don't tell me parchment is the only thing you need to buy from Hogsmeade since the last permitted Hogsmeade visit a whole month ago."

Well. She did need to pick up some new quills too. And a pack of envelopes. And a new hairbrush. And cat treats for Crookshanks. And—

"Okay, fine," Hermione muttered reluctantly, murmuring a quiet apology to Ginny under her breath. She sniffed primly as Malfoy nodded, satisfied, and began striding in the direction of Scrivenshaft's once more.

They'd gone maybe a few steps before Hermione realized that her right hand was still clasped tightly in Malfoy's left one.

"Um—" She tugged it slightly, unsure of what else to do. "Could you—?"

Malfoy only glanced down her hand before continuing on his way.

"Hey—Malfoy! My hand—you're still, uh, holding it."

Malfoy gave a dramatic sigh and turned back around to her. "Yes, Granger, I am, because I don't want your hand to freeze and fall off. Can you imagine? Draco Malfoy, reformed former Death Eater, found standing over war heroine Hermione Granger's frozen right hand in Hogsmeade." He raised their joined hands up, his gray eyes fixed on her face. "Unless your nerves are fried, then I think you can feel how cold your hand is right now. Why are you only wearing a mitten on your left hand?"

Hermione opened her mouth, then closed it. "Well—why aren't you wearing gloves?"

Malfoy gave her a blank stare. "I do fine with the cold—unlike you, clearly." He dropped his arm, but he kept his hand wrapped around hers. "Unless you want my newspaper article to come true, don't pull away."

Hermione didn't know what to say. She settled with a quick "Fine" and let herself get pulled into a walk again by Malfoy, trying to ignore the feeling of his fingers against hers, a foreign sensation that she really didn't know how to react to.

Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after all.