Chapter 6

Hermione came early in the morning to the outskirts of Diagon Alley to meet the international portkey supplying agent she had booked for. She needed to wait another 5 minutes, before the portkey activated and carried Hermione through a whirlpool of dizzying and ominous feelings all over her body until she came to a staggered stand in a wide meadow and was greeted by an old man.

"Nice trip, miss?"

"This. Yes.. It's fun." Hermione caught her own breath and felt she was overwhelmed. After a while she started to be able to walk.

"Do you have a place to stay, miss? I offer you accommodation for 35 Euros for one night, and you will have as much tea as you want in the morning, afternoon, and evening." The old man offered in a Glaschu accent.

"Thank you very much for your kindness, sir. But I found lodging and I brought my own tea."

The man mumbled something like, "Typical Londoner" and when she arrived at a checkpoint, she came over to report Hermione's arrival, and asked her to hand over some documents for review. The dizzying journey was still palpable, although there was no time difference between Glasgow and London, Hermione still felt a thick difference of discomfort in her stomach. After everything was done, she immediately walked along the street that was still surrounded by Glasgow's magical community, towards a vintage-style inn and immediately found the room he had reserved in advance.

Lying on her soft bed, Hermione swung her wand until the clothes in her backpack were perfectly arranged in the closet, and everything she had brought was lined up in her drawers and on her desk. Shortly after, her eyes were closed even this early in the morning as it started to rain and it was very abnormal for Hermione to wake up at 4am and go on a dizzying journey on international portkeys.

Draco Malfoy chose any place that could hide himself from anyone in the wizarding world who knew him, namely by staying away from whatever was the pleasure of many of the rich pure-bloods he knew so far. Choosing a vintage inn seemed like a good choice, he thought. Not many rich people would choose an inn with only one bedroom and bathroom like this. His journey this afternoon must have been exhausting, and soon he was climbing the stairs to his room, and ah! Damn, where did he put the keys? Draco walked up the stairs looking everywhere for the key and suddenly the impact hit him and he lost his balance, completely off balance! Draco and whatever hit him tumbled down the stairs and made a commotion at the bottom of the stairs.

"For Merlin's sake! Oh my God, your feet sir, your feet are on top of mine!"

Draco winced in pain as he lay still on the ground, people started to come and help whoever was screaming because Draco had hit him.

"Mal.. Malfoy?!" The biting sound made Draco open his eyes, losing all pain and sanity, his eyes narrowed and he started to wake up in a hurry.

"Oh my gosh Malfoy, I... I didn't mean to. I… Oh my leg hurts so much." Hermione grimaced and sat back down on the floor.

"Come here lady, I will heal your leg, Brackium Emendo!" The little incantation that the stranger had cast eased the pain in Hermione's leg.

"Thank you very much, sir. I owe you."

The two victims of the "accident" on the stairs were led by the inn worker to sit on a nearby chair, and the crowd began to leave them.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy. I really didn't mean to, are you hurt?" Hermione asked fearfully because Draco had been silent all this time with his eyes glued to the ground.

"Are you staying here, Granger?"

"Yeah.. I'm here for a few days."

"Alright, I guess I'll find another inn." Draco hurried to his feet, straightened his wrinkled suit and grabbed his suitcase to walk away.

On the verge of being taken aback, Hermione took a deep breath and started to stand up to continue her walk around town looking for a place to have dinner. Walking in unfamiliar places like this is quite fun, with a travel map that can follow where your feet go (such as the Marauders Map) but this is with clearer illustrations and does not include other people's names in it.

The restaurant that Hermione visited this time was a local restaurant that served a wide selection of seafood. It was quite a new place, as it was allowed to share tables with strangers, and Hermione conversed with a middle-aged local woman who had a passion for telling stories. Hermione got a lot of information from this person about some very good places to visit in the city of Glasgow both in the wizarding world and in the Muggle world. In contrast to England, which has several places to enter and exit the wizarding world, such as the Leaky Cauldron, King Cross ¾ , or ST. Mungos, in Glasgow there is only one way out, namely through the fountain in the corner of the city and every activity in and out is regulated by living statues on both sides.

In the evening after eating and wandering around Hermione returned to her inn, and her mind drifted back to the incident this afternoon where she had met Draco Malfoy for the first time in 5 years, and why was he here? He really didn't want to be in the same environment as Hermione when he found out that Hermione was staying at this place too. Climbing the stairs to her room, Hermione thought about writing a long letter to Ginny and telling her what had happened to her in the first 10 hours of her journey.

Her steps came to a halt at the top of the stairs, as he and the blonde man in front of him met eyes, Draco Malfoy spun the lock on the door and mumbled quite loudly, "I, uhm. Couldn't find another inn." then entered his room without permission. Hermione just shook her head to see and entered her room which was right in front of Draco Malfoy's.

*****

Hermione glanced at him from his table, Draco ate his breakfast with whatever she thought was a table attitude, while she filled her table with parchment and ate her salad while continuing to look at Malfoy who didn't even glance at her. Hermione steadied herself with her Gryffindor grades, packed up all the parchment and loaded up her salad, then walked over and stood before Malfoy.

"Malfoy, can I sit with you?"

"What's your problem, Granger? You're staring at me with a hole in my head and now you want to sit across from me to deliver cannons, eh?"

Hermione was a little taken aback by his rude expression, he hadn't changed at all! "Don't be so rude, Malfoy. Just tell me if you really don't want to, and I'm pretty sure your choice of being here is just to mess up my one-month plan of vacation!"

"Are you stupid?"

"What?"

"Are you deaf now?"

Hermione squinted and her anger was boiling at this early in the inn's dining room, but she wasn't going to get caught up in whatever little Malfoy was up to, or big enough now.

"You.. You can sit." Malfoy said, looking down, continuing his breakfast. Gotcha! Hermione sat down and scooped up her salad again, staring at Malfoy who was gracefully eating an egg sandwich.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?"

"I'm just on vacation."

"Oh, that's fantastic. Vacation right before my eyes as if we had an appointment, right? Did Pansy tell you?" Hermione probed with thick sarcasm.

"What do you mean? I don't even know why you're here, and I'm not talking any nonsense to Pansy."

Hermione felt her tongue itch to spit out another word to corner Malfoy, but she held herself back.

They both continued to eat in silence, each having their own thoughts.

"Um.. I haven't seen you in a long time."

"You won't see criminals very often, Granger."

"Yes, is this your first trip, Malfoy?"

"Yeah, and the idea of ​​a vacation like this was never in my plans, you know?"

"You're still so rude, Malfoy. You think I'm amused by your arrival? Grow up a little."

"What do you expect, world-savior-hero-girl, from me? I don't even bother comparing you to me. Sorry to hear this, Granger, we're not on the same line."

Hearing that Hermione grimaced, like deja vu when she was 12 and a boy called her mudblood. Avoiding any emotional feelings in Malfoy's presence, Hermione immediately stood up and left without saying a word.