Chapter 12- Germany

Germany

Germany was beautiful. It was like stepping into a fairy tale. The skies where clear and blue with just the perfect amount of fluffy white clouds. The rivers were sparkling and clear. and the trees were tall and strong and enchanting.

Draco and I had landed in flowing field of tall green grass somewhere in Germany. Draco had insisted that we stay in Belgium one more day so I could heal more, but I insisted that we don't. I won. And I got a major headache for it, but I wasn't about to let Draco know that.

He turned around in circles and looked off into the distance. "I think I see a town over there." He said squinting and pointing ahead of him.

I followed his pale finger with my eyes and spotted the very tops of some buildings far off in the distance. He couldn't have landed us any closer? I huffed and trudged in that direction. Draco walked behind me, but I wished he would go ahead in front because I had no idea where I was going and with him leading I could blame him if we got lost.

After about about thirty minutes of walking with just the chirping birds to break the silence, we arrived at a dirt road and where standing in front of a small green sign that read: "Süden Friedrichstadt 5 Minuten" in big white letters.

"What's it say?" I asked looking up at Draco who was studying the sign carefully.

"Umm..." He mumbled and bringing a spidery hand to his chin like he was really reading what the sign said. "It says that one of us needs to learn German."

I laughed. "I'll get right on that."

He smiled at me. Again, I thought about how odd it was that this was a real Draco Malfoy smile and not a smirk. His eyes twinkled with the sunlight and it looked weird to see his stormy gray eyes against the bright sun. They were so opposite each other.

"Let's just keep following the road. There's a house up there so that town is probably close by." He nodded toward an old farm house that looked crinkled and abandoned, but there was a car in the driveway that looked like it had been driven recently.

"Okay." I said and we started walking again.

We walked side by side on the dusty road. Our steps kicked up dirt behind us that thinned out as it rose into the air and rolled away with the slight breeze. Our hands bumped occasionally sending shivers through my fingers and up my arm each time I felt the back of his hand graze mine. I looked strait forward though, and tried my darnedest not to glance at Draco.

A sign on the edge of a small town hinted that we had just arrived in Friedrichstadt. The buildings here where old and packed close together. They were mostly white and framed with vines and flowers. And they somewhat resembled pyramids, being that the bottoms where wide and contained a shop or small restaurant and the tops held apartments that narrowed into just one apartment at the very top.

We passed the cutest little bakery I'd ever seen and I half expected to see Cinderella come dancing out of it. The smells of rolls, biscuits, cakes, and pies wafted out and found it's way right under my nose. I breathed deep, almost tasting the smell.

I stopped walking and tapped Draco on the arm. "Let's go in there." I said dreamily pointing to the bakery.

"Shouldn't we find an inn to stay at first?" He asked, but followed me up to the doors.

"You go ahead then." I said waving him off, but I knew perfectly well that he wasn't going to leave me.

I opened the doors and the smell became even stronger. My eyes grew wide at the sight of pastry after pastry lined up behind glass walls, all looking uniquely delicious. My eyes swept over each one and I imagined what each would taste like.

"Oh my God, chocolate." I heard Draco exclaim quietly behind me.

I turned around to find him with his face pressed against the glass of a counter full of chocolate covered everything.

Needless to say, we left with bag full of goodies each and we started down the street again in search for an inn. But then I saw a lovely flower shop that I persuaded Draco we needed to stop at.

As soon as we stepped into the cool, earthy smelling shop, we were attacked by a German speaking florist who was most definitely trying to get Draco to buy me a rose.

"Rose für die Dame, mein Herr?" He said thrusting a rose in Draco's face. The little white haired man became very agitated when Draco tried pushing him away and saying that he didn't speak German. He started jabbering angrily in his harsh German accent which could have been in English, but he was speaking too fast to understand. He kept pointing at the rose in his hand and then jabbing his finger at Draco and then pointing at me.

I started laughing because of the scared expression on Draco's face. His eyes were wide, he was holding up his hands defensively, and he was cowering away as much as he could despite that he was much taller and stronger than the little man and could easily wipe him out with a spell from his wand.

"It's okay!" I said grabbing the florist's arm.

He stopped yelling and looked at me grumpily. "He is bad for you." He huffed. "He won't just buy you a rose!"

"It's okay, I don't like roses." I said instead of trying to explain to him that Draco wasn't 'mine'.

The little man looked crestfallen and Draco looked shocked and relieved.

"I think we better go..." I whispered.

Back on the street Draco turned to me. "You don't like roses?" He asked.

I shook my head. Roses had never been my favorite.

"But every girl likes roses." He said confused.

I laughed. "Ya. And every girl likes lot's of makeup and dresses and shoes and none of us like sports and hiking and hunting and fishing." I said sarcastically.

"Okay." He said. "You don't like roses."

We kept walking and taking in the sights of this beautiful little town. Suddenly Draco turned to me again. "What do you like?" He said quickly.

I looked at him and for once I was the one doing the smirking. "Dandelions." I said.

"Dandelions aren't flowers. They're weeds." He said.

"I know. But they look like a flower."

"Why do you like them then?"

"Because they're simple and plain and unappreciated." I replied smartly. "What do you like?" I asked him.

We passed a fruit market where colourful fruits of all kind where on display.

"I never really thought about it." He shrugged.

"Because boys don't like flowers?" I teased.

He gave me a sly look and a smirk that surprisingly looked nothing like I remembered it looking. It wasn't the sly look and smirk that I had seen so often when I was at Hogwarts. This one was covered in playfulness rather than hate.

We came across a rather odd shop after a while that had dream catchers in the windows and wind chimes hanging off the overhang and bundles of dried flowers laying in patterns on the ground. It grabbed my attention. A sign above the door said: 'Krimskrams', which didn't mean the foggiest to me, but I wanted inside just the same.

It was dark inside and dusty. It reminded me a little of the shops in Knockturn Alley. Almost everything was old and looked like it hadn't been moved in years, yet there where still price tags on each thing.

An old woman appeared out of nowhere. "Kann ich Ihnen helfen etwas zu finden?" She asked.

I turned to her. "Sorry, I don't speak German." I said.

She studied my face for a moment. "Ah!" She suddenly gasped. "I know what you need!"

"You do?" I asked, a little worried.

She nodded and then shuffled through a doorway that said 'Mitarbeiter nur' on a sign next to it. There was a lot of clanking and banging coming from that direction.

"Maybe we should go." Draco said nervously from behind me.

I was going to turn around and ask him if he was scared, but just then the woman shuffled back into the room with a small glass bottle in her hand. I knew what it was almost instantly.

"Is that...?"

"A potion. For your cut." She cut me off.

I looked at her testily. Was she really a witch or was she a crazy voodoo lady who had some how gotten her hands on a bottle of essence of Dittany?

She held out the bottle. "You've been splinched, ja?" She asked.

"Yes." I replied still wary. I took the bottle carefully from her. "Thank you."

"Ten galleons will be thanks enough." She said.

I dug in my purse and handed over the galleons. She counted it, then nodded and turned around and went back through the 'Mitarbeiter nur' door way.

I tucked the potion in my purse and turned to leave.

"That was a little odd." Said Draco, opening the door for me.

Odd that witches and wizards were working among muggles? Maybe to him, but not to me.

After walking for a while, we eventually found an inn. It wasn't hard to spot, as it had a large sign over the double doors that said 'Hotel'. We checked in and I made it very clear that we needed two rooms. It wasn't until I had settled myself into room five that I realized how hungry I was. I checked my watch. 1:26. My stomach growled again.

I remembered the bag of pastries I had bought and I went to where it was seated on the night stand, licking my lips. However, before I could reach them, there was a knock on the door.

I don't know why I looked through the peephole, because I already knew it was Draco. I opened the door. He looked like he'd added more jell to his hair and I could smell a freshly sprayed cologne that was musky and smelled a little like peppermint leaves.

"Don't say no." He said looking me right in the eye. "But, can I take you out to dinner?"

I blushed. "What if I say no?" I asked.

He looked a little scared and taken back. Obviously he never anticipated this response. "Um- well- I-" He mumbled and looked away like he would find the appropriate answer somewhere on the walls.

I smiled. "Yes." I said.

He stopped rambling and looked at me like a dear in the headlights. "What?" He breathed.

"Yes, you can take me out to dinner." I said slowly.

A grin spread across his face.