Re: A Nearby Park

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco smiled and took a sip of the wine, glad he had managed to get hold of a good bottle. "All your favourites." He pulled out some soft bread, cheese, grapes and strawberries. He put those down then removed two plates, wrapped in the magical equivalent of plastic wrap, both with a slice of broccoli quiche and salad. Passing her one he handed her cutlery to go with it.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

A smile spread across her face as he pulled out their food. He was right, it was all her favorites, well, her fancier favorites considering it wasn't crustless pb&j with chocolate milk. "This looks great." She took a bite of the quiche, sighing happily. "Mmm. This is really good. I'm glad you thought of a picnic today. You didn't make this, did you?" Pansy lifted an eyebrow, figuring he'd just asked the house elves for it. She'd have been quite shocked if he cooked anything more complicated than his cheese and bacon sandwiches.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco smiled and took a bite of his own quiche. "I didn't cook it myself, I just ordered and organized. If I'd cooked it I wouldn't let you eat it, I don't want to poison you after all." He smiled and reached over to touch her hand gently. And he had considered making a fancy dinner of PB&Js but that was reserved for lazy evenings, not nights like tonight.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

"Well, good to know poisoning me isn't on your to do list." She smiled at him, her heart and stomach leaping a little as he reached over and touched her hand. "It's good though, so nice choice in food." She ate a little of her salad before reaching over, grabbing a couple grapes and a little square of cheese. "What inspired this anyway? Just bored?"

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco smiled even more when she said it was a nice choice, though he hadn't really stopped smiling the whole time they had been together, Pansy just made him happy. He looked around and took a sip of his wine, "I just wanted to have a nice night out with you, and I don't really like any of the restaurants around here. Plus this is much more fun, I don't like sharing you with other people."

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy picked up her glass, taking a little sip of wine. She'd never drank much before, just a little here and there at family dinners on special occasions and such. She hadn't really even had anything to drink at the Slytherin house parties, always preferring to watch and laugh than be loud and crazy herself. This was good though, and she liked it. "It is much more fun. Though you do have to share me a little. I mean, Max doesn't like sharing either, but you two seem to manage it." She refrained from adding that eventually he would have to give her up. She didn't want to ruin their happy moods right now.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco laughed and nodded, "Yes well I think I can live with sharing with Max. I think he shares us with each other anyway, some days I think he thinks we're his pets." He picked up the bread and snapped the end off, pulling the soft middle out and putting it on the side of his plate before cutting off a piece of cheese and eating it with the crunchy bread. "Pans," he waited until she was looking at him and not at her food, "I really like going out like this with you."

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

"You know, that is probably pretty accurate." She drank a little more of her wine, having another few bites of her quiche. She thought about reaching over to steal the soft inside of his read that he'd sat to the side, but she left it alone for now, looking back at her plate to spear through a few pieces of lettuce. "Yeah?" She looked up at him once he'd said her name, following up what he said with a shy smile. "I really like going out with you too, Draco. I'm really glad we started over and got to do it this way. It's so much better than before.

[Draco Malfoy]

He smiled at her and took another sip of wine, grabbing the bottle to top up his own glass but leaving hers, noticing that she still had quite a bit left. Taking more bread and pulling out the fluffy bit he chuckled and grabbed both fluffy bits and put them on her plate. "Can't waste them." He put the bread down on his plate and pulled out the grapes, offering her some.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy smiled and picked up one of the pieces of bread. "Of course not. I don't know why you like the crunchy bits best. Fluffier the better, really." She ate it rather quickly because it was so soft and fluffy, it nearly melted in her mouth. She took another drink of her wine, though this was already more than she usually ever drank. Pansy grabbed a couple grapes from him, popping one in her mouth. She thought for a moment, and then smirked. "Think you can catch it in your mouth? Ready?" Without letting him tell her no, she gave him a few moments to prepare before she tossed the grape toward him, a good high arc so he could see it coming and move to catch it in his mouth.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco smiled and readied himself so when she threw one at him he caught it in his mouth. Smiling he crunched on it happily and picked up some of the cheese, holding it out to her. "Parmesan? Or would you prefer cheddar?" He'd brought down a mix of things, hoping that she would enjoy this and pleased to see that she was. He didn't refill her wine, knowing that if she wanted more she would ask but he didn't want her drinking more than she could handle.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy grinned at him, resisting shouting 'good boy!' because she often played the same sort of game with Max. "Cheddar, please!" She took a piece from him, another sip of her wine, and though she didn't notice, the glassful had already gotten her a bit more loosened up than she usually was, even when she was just hanging out with him on a normal basis. She was slightly more giggly than normal, but perhaps that could be accounted to just being happy to be on another date with him, and not necessarily the alcohol. She turned a little where she sat, so that they were closer now, side by side rather than facing each other exactly. "I know we already do this more than before, but we should do it even more. I like it."

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco was rather glad she didn't say 'good boy' because that would have been pretty weird. He drank some more of his own wine, rather used to this much of it at least as his parents expected him to partake at family dinners. He smiled as she moved closer to him and shifted his plate on his lap so he freed up the hand between them and put it on hers, leaving it there this time. "I like it too, and I'm wondering now why we didn't do this in the first place but more of these dates will be arranged. Promise." He smiled at her and reached to the side to grab the strawberries.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy turned her hand over under his, carefully slipping her fingers between his and clasping their hands together. She smiled up at his promise, as it was definitely something she wanted. "Good." She took another little bite of her quiche, having eaten about half of it, which was probably good for how much Pansy tends to eat. She sat her plate aside, picking up a few grapes and eating them one at a time. "So anything interesting happen today?"

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco smiled and chewed thoughtfully on his strawberry. "Actually yes. I spoke to Slughorn and he's done testing my potion, everything worked just like it should through all the testing and he's already spoken to a few people who are interested in it." He couldn't stop the huge grin of pride from spreading across his lips, "All that work really paid off."

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy's smile widened and her expression showed her genuine excitement for him. "Draco, that's great!" She squeezed his hand happily, resisting the leftover habits and urges that made her think about tackling and kissing him in her moment of joy. Instead she contained herself. Yup. "That's really exciting! So all those hours you spent forgetting I existed were worth something in the end." She smirked at him, because obviously he wasn't in there forgetting she existed, she just remembered feeling a little left out while he was working on all those projects. It was pretty much the only thing he thought about for quite some time, and though she liked to think she wasn't too terribly needy, she did like being paid attention to a little more than he had while working on those potions.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco would have been very shocked if she had thrown herself at him and snogged him. Not that he would have complained, just been in shock for a moment. He laughed when she said all the hours ignoring her were worth it, "Well I wasn't ignoring you per se... and you did join me those few times. If only for cleanup." He chuckled and squeezed her hand lightly, "I couldn't believe it when he told me, I mean I thought it would work well enough to get me through the project but not that well."

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy nudged him with her shoulder. "Come on, you don't give yourself enough credit. You worked so hard, of course it's great." They ate a little while longer, Pansy having a bit more wine once her glass had been finished and soon enough they were both full and happy. "We haven't done a picnic in a while. Not since the very beginning of this school year, I think. Unless I'm horribly forgetting one in between," she laughed, her hand still in his, her fingers in between his own like that was the only place they belonged.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco smiled, "No you're not forgetting one, at least if you are then I am too." He put the remains of dinner in their basket and set it to one side, lying down on the blanket and tugging her down to lie next to him. It was starting to get dark but there were so many clouds that you couldn't really see the stars.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy carefully laid down next to him, still holding onto his hand as she did so. She sighed a little and moved over, resting her cheek gently against his shoulder. "Too bad it's so cloudy. I think it was supposed to rain, but maybe it'll hold off for us." Something about lying down next to him felt so familiar and right and like how things used to be when they could just snuggle up and fall asleep holding hands, and not even just this past year. Even when they were just little kids and would stay at each others houses. They always snuck into each others rooms to read books until they fell asleep, ending up holding hands under the covers as they slept.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco leaned his head to the side to rest against hers. "Hopefully it won't, but if it does we'll just have to run back I suppose." They always had been that way around each other, always comfortable and reasonably physical, at least as far as pureblood relationships went. This time around they hadn't been as close, they had put more distance between them and it had made every little touch that bit more meaningful. Holding hands wasn't just another thing they did, instead it was a sign that they wanted to be closer, share something special together.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy smiled a little to herself as his head rested above hers. "No problem for us, I guess." She laughed, because they'd been running together nearly every day now, always picking up the pace and getting a hard workout from it. They laid there a little while, and it was nice to just be comfortable enough to lay on a blanket holding hands, not saying anything in an easy silence together. "Oh." Pansy thought she felt a raindrop, on her leg, but couldn't be sure. Another followed on her arm, and soon it was very lightly sprinkling, but certainly on its way to raining. "I guess it won't hold out for us." She sighed and sat up, putting a few things back into the basket so they could try to get back inside before it rained. However, before they could get the blanket up and close up the basket of food, the heavens seemed to open up and a low grumble of thunder rolled across the sky. "Pretty sure this dress wasn't supposed to get wet." She pouted slightly, looking up at him as the rain picked up, already working on soaking their hair.

For proper sound effects:

Spoiler:

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco looked up as it started to rain and sat up, frowning a little as he helped her get the rest of the things back into the basket. "Wow, when it rains up here it really rains." He grabbed the blanket and pulled it over their heads, one arm around her back to hold it up. He looked down at her dress and the spots on it, "Yeah probably not. And soon the blanket- ugh" and indeed the soft blanket had started to leak onto their heads. Next time Draco would have to be sure to put an umbrella in the basket. Instead of letting the slow drips hit them he gave up with the blanket and folded it, putting it on top of the basket. "Well this wasn't in my plans." He pouted and gave her a sad look.

[Pansy Parkinson-Malfoy]

Pansy laughed, ducking under the blanket with him, sighing as it didn't work on keeping the rain off them. She stood there a little limply in the rain, somewhere between laughing and pouting as the rain soaked them both, their hair dripping and clothes well on their way to being completely wet. Thank god she'd decided against the white dress. "Somehow our plans always have a sudden change, don't they?" She laughed and walked over to him, touching his cheek lightly. "Don't worry about it, it was fun before the rain, and I kind of like the rain anyway. Like when we used to go stomp in puddles as kids. Now let's just get back to the castle before we get sick?"

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco shook his head, pouting when his hair didn't really improve at all and ran his fingers through it to push it all back. "They really do. And I do remember that, but I'm pretty sure you didn't do that in a dress." He smiled when she touched his cheek and put his hand over hers, slipping his fingers around it, "Sure let's head back, the last thing we want is matching colds." He picked up the basket, making sure he had everything he'd brought with him, knowing that really most of this would have to be dumped anyway after all this rain on it.

[Sponsored content]