Archive of Our Own ^beta

‘I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with c.’

Hermione looked over at Ron who was lying upside down on one of the plush armchairs, staring gormlessly upwards.

‘Ronald-’ she began repressively.

‘Ceiling,’ Harry interrupted sleepily. They were in the head’s common room, supposedly studying. Hermione was buried in her textbooks, surrounded by rolls of parchment. The boys, on the other hand, had interpreted studying as “lay out all your books and then stare into space”. ‘I spy with my little eye, something beginning with w.’

There was a slam from the beyond the common room. Apparently, Draco was also studying, somewhere, but his version of studying seemed to involve a lot of slamming of doors and striding through the common room making snarky remarks at the boys.

Ron twisted around to see from Harry’s angle. ‘Window. Something beginning with...’

‘Boys!’ Hermione called dramatically. ‘Can we please do some studying? Our NEWTs are two months away!’

The two boys shuffled around looking ashamed. Ron sat up properly and Harry picked up the nearest book and frowned at it. Hermione smiled happily and reached for her parchment again.

‘If you were an ice cream,’ Harry mused, almost immediately, ‘what flavour would you be?’

Dropping her parchment, Hermione buried her head in her hands and screamed quietly.

Ron immediately discarded his book, delighted to have a reason to stop pretending to study. ‘Well, Hermione would be vanilla,’ he declared instantly.

Shocked, Hermione looked up at him disbelievingly. Vanilla? That was what he thought of her? Plain, boring...unremarkable? Before she could comment, there was a disbelieving snort from the common room doorway.

‘Just when I think you can’t get stupider, Weasley,’ Draco said, lounging arrogantly in the doorway, ‘you always prove me wrong.’

Ron lunged half out of the armchair, only to be held back by Harry. ‘We all know what you are, Malfoy,’ Harry sneered.

Draco raised one pale blond eyebrow. ‘Please do enlighten me,’ he drawled.

‘You are frozen yogurt,’ Harry said dramatically. ‘Desperately trying to be the real thing but never quite as good.’

‘And I think we all know who’s the real thing,’ Ron added. ‘Harry,’ he clarified.

‘Thanks for clearing that up, Weasley,’ Draco sneered. ‘Well, it’s alright for you two, but some of us have work to do.’ Grabbing a text book from the pile near the doorway he retreated without further comment.

‘Nice one, Harry,’ Ron said, clapping Harry on the shoulder.

Later, Hermione was startled by the appearance of a tub of ice cream on her dinner plate. Turning the tub she noticed a tag attached. Hermione Granger ice cream is...Lemon Meringue. Bright and sweet with hints of real substance. Enjoy! Surprised, she looked across the Great Hall at the Slytherin table where Malfoy was watching her out of the corner of his eye. Blushing, she lifted a spoon and took a scoop of the cold yellow ice cream, humming in pleasure at the taste.

The next day Draco returned to the common room to see a tub of ice cream sitting on the coffee table. Dumping his books in one of the arm chairs, he leant down and picked up the ice cream, twisting the tub to read the tag. Draco Malfoy ice cream is...Orange Sorbet. Refreshingly sharp, surprisingly sweet, and a little bit posh(!). Thanks for the ice cream. Looking around, he saw Hermione standing shyly in her doorway.

‘Thanks,’ Draco said quietly, taking a scoop of the sorbet.

‘You’re welcome,’ Hermione said, smiling.