"Malfoy?" The voice was somewhat unfamiliar to Draco.
As far as he could remember, very few people had ever called him that.
He turned around and saw a middle-aged woman in her thirties or forties with her brown hair pinned up.
She was clearly not a witch. However, her Muggle clothes were not unattractive; they appeared elegant and simple.
"It really is you. I was wondering if I was seeing things." When she saw him turn around, her eyes lit up, and she walked quickly towards him, her fair and rosy heart-shaped face full of smiles.
"Mrs Granger!" Draco exclaimed in surprise.
"Please, call me Monica. That is what my friends call me." Mrs Granger winked at him cheerfully. She showed no attempt to hide her delight at this chance encounter.
"Then please call me Draco." Draco was always good at returning the favour and taking advantage of the situation.
"All right, Draco. I have not had a chance to thank you for the Flossing Stringmints you sent us for Christmas. We loved them. But, dear, how did you know we would like them?" She looked at him with a beaming smile.
Draco smiled slightly. "I heard Hermione mention it." Whether it was his imagination or not, Mrs Granger's expression seemed even more amiable.
At this point, Draco could not help but glance behind her. "Where is Hermione? Is she here too?"
"Oh, of course she is. We came to visit my father during the holidays. He settled in Bath after retiring—he has rheumatoid arthritis, and the climate and hot springs here are very good for him..." Mrs Granger waved to Draco to follow, and they chatted as they walked.
Although he did not quite understand what "arthritis" was, Draco listened patiently, his gaze fixed on her face, occasionally smiling and nodding at her.
If Draco wanted to, he would be an excellent listener and a well-mannered little gentleman, without a doubt.
Clearly, Mrs Granger, like all middle-aged women in wizarding families, was quite taken with Draco's charms.
They walked a few steps and returned to the square he had just passed. This time, Draco's eyes did not miss the girl.
On an open space on one side of the square, a girl wearing a white sleeveless T-shirt was wobbling as she rode a skateboard.
He had found the reason why he had not noticed her before. Today, she was not wearing her thick, long hair loose; instead, it was tied up in a thick bun, playfully swaying from side to side in the air.
"There she is, do you see her?" Mrs Granger smiled as she watched her daughter. "You have come at the right time. She wanted to learn to skateboard today, but no one was with her, so she has been playing by herself. I do not think she has made any friends here yet."
"It is all right, I shall stay with her," Draco said involuntarily. He gazed at the girl awkwardly studying the skateboard, a subtle sense of pleasure washing over him—at least this afternoon would not be so tedious and boring.
"Great, you all play together! I need to go get something to drink, it is so hot today." Mrs Granger fanned herself with her hand and said enthusiastically, "I shall bring you back some ice cream later, chocolate flavour, all right?"
Draco smiled and nodded at her. So, our Mrs Granger happily walked away down the street, eager to find some authentic English pale ale to cool off in the heat, leaving her stubborn daughter, who was still struggling with her skateboard, to her most frequently mentioned "funny" classmate from Hogwarts.
After watching Mrs Granger leave, Draco quietly walked towards the girl.
Hermione was practising riding the unruly Muggle contraption—the thing called a skateboard. She tentatively lifted her foot, but quickly put it down again, the skateboard screaming horribly beneath her feet.
She frowned, unconvinced, and tried again. There was no reason why everyone else could play with it but she could not—the flying broomstick alone was already enough of a headache! Now, this thing that could slide on flat ground, something even the neighbour's kid could play with with ease, surely she could conquer this, right?
She confidently took control of the skateboard, but a small pebble unfortunately got stuck on the skateboard wheel, causing the skateboard to stop moving forward and making her lose her balance and lean backward, about to fly off the steps behind her.
In a flash, before she could even utter a cry of surprise, a pair of strong hands steadily supported her from behind.
"Are you trying to murder it?" The boy's mocking voice came from behind her, which raised her level of fear to another level.
This is unbelievable!
How could his voice be here? Does he appear every time I am in danger?
Hermione Granger, wake up! What are you thinking?! Are you hallucinating from being in the sun?
She inwardly criticised herself, then turned her head in confusion, and amidst her pounding heart, she spotted a pair of pale grey eyes.
Draco? It really is him!
In his smiling eyes, there was a small, dishevelled image of her. Hermione's mind went blank for a few seconds.
"Or do you want to murder yourself, in a Muggle way?" His thin lips moved, their striking redness making his skin appear even paler.
"This was not my intention." Her face flushed red. Forgetting her surprise at why he was there, she struggled to jump off the skateboard and proudly held her head high. "It was an accident."
Draco helped her down, a half-smile on his face. "When did our academic star become a skateboarder? If you want to play a sport where you can fly, you could consider Quidditch."
"Draco, you are so annoying!" Hermione heard the mockery in his voice.
She was somewhat embarrassed and annoyed because she had shown him something she was not good at—and in such an embarrassing way.
She angrily picked up the unruly skateboard, turned around and sat on the steps next to it, intently studying the unsightly pebble stuck in the skateboard, deciding not to pay any more attention to him.
"Are you angry?" Draco sat down beside her nonchalantly, turning to look at her. Her face was flushed red from the blazing sun, and a bead of sweat glistened on her forehead. Her lips were pursed in a defiant manner, making her appear very stubborn.
He suddenly felt the sweat on her forehead was a little dazzling. Without thinking, he automatically pulled off his own baseball cap and put it on her head; then, he looked her up and down and said seriously, "It suits you quite well."
Hermione did not speak, but the expression on her face softened considerably.
She finally managed to pick out the pebble and was secretly pleased with herself; only then did she notice his actions. The baseball cap cast a shadow on her face, making her look less dishevelled and more refreshed.
She pretended to examine the pebble intently. Peeking up from the bottom of her cap, she stole a glance at him. He was looking her over with a slight smile. His platinum-blonde hair shone brilliantly in the sunlight.
"I thought you were going to France for holiday, at least that is what you said in your letter to me," he said.
He was looking at her with those pale grey eyes—the colour was really beautiful. Because of those eyes, she could not keep a straight face anymore, so she simply met his gaze openly, but still did not say anything.
"Let me tell your fortune... You have come to Bath to visit your grandfather," Draco said sagely.
"How did you know?" This time, she finally could not hold back and asked, "Are we not supposed to learn Divination next school year? You have already taught yourself?"
"Oh, actually, Monica told me. She wanted to go get a drink and said she would bring back ice cream." Draco glanced in the direction Mrs Granger had disappeared, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
Hermione could not help but chuckle—few people knew that the arrogant Draco Malfoy had little resistance to sweets.
Whilst wondering when her mother had made him change how he addressed her, she said, "The trip to France is next month. We are only here for three to five days. Why did you come to Bath?"
"I have come to visit my grandfather," Draco said frankly.
"He lives here too?" Hermione was quite surprised. She had thought the Malfoys all lived in Wiltshire.
"He really likes the hot springs here. He is staying at the sanatorium for wizards." Draco finished speaking, and as expected, he received an interested look from Hermione.
"Bath has a place like this?" Hermione asked with great curiosity, her eyes shining.
"Of course, just like the Leaky Cauldron in London, they put up a smokescreen at the entrance, so to Muggles, the entrance to the sanatorium might look like a broken wall or something." Draco shrugged.
Hermione fiddled with her skateboard, marvelling, "I come to Bath every year to visit my grandfather, but I never imagined magic was so close to me."
"If you would like, I can take you to see it next time. But let us not talk about that now, let us work on your skateboard," Draco said. Seeing her fiddling with this Muggle gadget, he could not help but feel a little eager to try it himself.
Hermione looked at him with some scepticism and handed him the skateboard. Draco took it, examined it for a moment, then suddenly put it on the ground, stepped on it, and tried to skate.
"Be careful, this is not as simple as it seems." Hermione stood behind him, her voice tinged with worry.
"Do not doubt a Malfoy's athletic ability." Draco glanced back at her, unable to resist raising an eyebrow and smiling.
Being in a strange Muggle world and experiencing unfamiliar Muggle sports gave Draco a strange sense of ease, as if the deadly dangers of the magical world had left him far behind.
Although still harbouring concerns about the Dark Lord, as the Horcruxes were destroyed one by one and the responsibility was shared by Dumbledore, he regained some of the cheerfulness in his personality, which was often awakened by Hermione Granger.
In his past life, he would have found this unbelievable. But in this life, everything seemed to be changing.
He temporarily forgot about all the worries and focused all his attention on the silly skateboard. She always seemed to have some fresh way of diverting his attention and rescuing him from his vexing thoughts.
Therefore, he never hesitated to smile at her, just like at this moment.
The recipient of this smile felt a certain kind of power. When a boy who rarely smiled started smiling at you, and smiled beautifully at that, any girl would blush.
Hermione was no exception. Blushing, she watched him effortlessly figure out the basics of skateboarding, and then saw him smiling smugly as he taught her step by step. Suddenly, she was even a little confused about which foot to put where.