And hello people of ff . net, VBC is back in the game!! I know you are all weeping in joy over the fact that I am, indeed, writing again. And I already have the whole plot in my head, so this one is going to be COMPLETED. I guess I can't handle any action scenes, which is what seems to have tripped me up on my two incomplete Draco/Hermione fics. Anywho…
Summary: What happens when the new and improved Hermione Granger, Medi-witch extraordinaire, saves Draco Malfoy, millionaire, from his utter destruction? Complete annoyance. Hermione never believed the phrase "No good deed goes unpunished"…until now.
Disclaimer: Plot is mine. Characters are not. Whee!! Oh, and please look past simple mistakes dealing with intricate details of the Harry Potter series. Thanks so much and enjoy the ride.
Hermione quickly grabbed her cup of coffee before nearly sprinting to her favorite table by the window of the best coffee shop in Diagon Alley: Maralynn's Magical Coffee. Sure the name wasn't what some would call "original", but Maralynn meant it when she called her coffee "magical." It seemed to whisk all of Hermione's problems away. And believe it or not, she had her fair share of problems.
Hermione was scheduled to be the Maid of Honor at Ginny and Harry's wedding in one month, four days, and three hours, and of course, the Best Man went to Ronald Weasley. Not that she minded Ronald (as she now fondly called him). After all, they were best friends all throughout Hogwarts and she even had a little fling with him at the end of her sixth year and through the destruction of Voldemort. But when Harry gave Voldemort one last well-said spell, Hermione's goo-goo eyes for Ronald seemed to melt along with Voldemort. She found the little things Ronald did repulsive, such as picking his scabs, having dirt under his fingernails, and the way he used his fork like a caveman, and…well, she could go on forever.
And so could Ronald. She had broken up with him two weeks after Voldemort was killed, and that was nearly four years ago. Yet somehow Ronald didn't take her seriously.
In fact, Ronald has been proposing to her at least once a month since.
Not only that, but she had just been given a promotion—she was now the chief not only in her department in St. Mungos (pediatrics), but all the floors below hers as well, which happened to be six. That meant that she had to be on-staff at the hospital at least 6 days a week, 14 hours a day until she found someone to delegate half her power to.
Which was an issue in and of itself.
Hermione doesn't delegate.
Hermione does all the work because she can't find anyone who is a perfectionist like herself, and she couldn't settle for anything less: because she is, indeed, a perfectionist.
Draco Malfoy sauntered up to the counter of Maralynn's Magical Coffee and surveyed his surroundings. It was precisely 7:04 AM Tuesday morning in the month of March. He saw the typical people he saw when he entered the coffee shop; a handful of goblins in the darkest corner, drinking their black coffee, a couple of wizards in their good robes making a pit stop before heading to the ministry, Maralynn, an overweight woman from somewhere in the southern United States, as perky and chipper as ever. He looked over his right shoulder to his favorite table by the window only to see that curly-haired brunette sitting there. She'd been there every day when he walked in, wearing some atrocious Muggle clothes, her briefcase on the floor. Today she had one hand on the Daily Prophet, her other on her coffee cup, not that he noticed what she did every day. Then he glanced to Maralynn's right, towards the back of the shop, and noticed something he'd never seen before: a beautiful, curvaceous blonde handling the fruit.
"Maralynn, I'll take my usual cup of coffee, but make it a double today," He said, flipping her a galleon as if it were nothing as he slowly walked to the other side of the counter. "Hello, Miss…" He said, trying to catch the blonde's attention.
She turned and blushed. "Miss Millie-Grace, sir."
Draco hid his puzzlement. "Mill Grace?"
She shook her head. "No, sir, Millie-Grace. It's my first name," She said with her southern drawl, "I'm Maralynn's niece from Tennessee."
Oh, Draco thought to himself, those strange Americans with their odd names. "Could I get a container of those purple grapes, please, and perhaps somewhere I can reach you?" He said, giving her the most lustful look he could come up with.
"Er, yes, sir, well, to the grapes, anyhow. But it's against company policy to give out information to customers," She said, quickly handing him the container of grapes.
"Mr. Malfoy, your coffee is ready!" Maralynn called from the opposite end of the counter.
"We'll see about that," He said, giving her a lustful wink. He then took out one of the grapes and popped it high in the air. As it was descending, nearly 20 seconds later, Draco winked suggestively at Millie-Grace while opening his mouth for landing.
And that's where it all went wrong.
The lustful wink turned out to be a poke in the eye from the grape, which bounced off his eye and landed in his mouth straight down his throat. His eyes immediately watered as he took several steps back, knocking over magical coffee cups that never let your coffee go cold! In a fruitless effort to take in breath, he caused the grape to lodge deeper in his throat, the impact of not being able to breathe sending him to the floor; his face turning odd shades of red and slowly to blue. By this time Maralynn and Millie-Grace had darted from the counter. Maralynn dumped a pitcher of cold water on Draco in hopes of reviving him while Millie-Grace fanned him with her hand.
Hermione watched the scene from a distance, starting with Draco saying, "I'll have the usual." His voice seemed to triggor a sense of fascination from within. Not romantically, of course. It just...did.When he practically chucked the grape in the air, she knew that he was spelling his own destruction. She had to bite back a laugh when it poked him in the eye and landed in his mouth, which wasn't easy until she realized he was chocking. She leapt from her chair and ran through the maze of tables to wear he now laid on the floor, soaked and surrounded by two women who were only making the situation worse.
"Back up, I'm a doctor!" She said to them before reaching for Malfoy and heaving him from the floor. She then proceeded to perform the Heimlich maneuver until finally, the grape launched from his mouth and his Maralynn between the eyes. Yet for whatever reason, Malfoy was still limp in her arms.
"He's still blue!" Millie-Grace cried, fanning her arms wildly in attempts to force oxygen into Malfoy. Maralynn nodded approvingly at her niece before joining in, her obese arms flapping wildly. Hermione took a cautious step back, not wanting to be in the way incase a flab of skin were to go out of control and hit her in the face.
"I'll have to do this the Muggle way because my wand is at my table and we don't have time for that. Stand back!" Hermione said, literally dropping Malfoy to the floor as she poised herself above him for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She checked for a pulse. Good, she thought, it's there, but weak. She then tilted his head back to make sure his air passageway was clear before putting her ear by his head to listen for breathing while watching his chest to see if it would rise or fall.
Nothing.
Great, she thought. Here I am, about to put my mouth on this that made my life terrible all throughout Hogwarts in order to save his life. What if I just...
No. I'm a doctor. I must—
But Hermione, dear, he called you mudblood!
And he changed to our side in the war!
But—
"SHUT UP!" Hermione told her inner voices. "I'm doing this!!"
"But…darlin', we didn't say anything." Maralynn said, wringing her hands.
Hermione looked up, puzzled. "What?"
"Well, sugar, you told us to shut up."
"Oh. Well, uh, never mind." Hermione said, quickly looking down, and before she could even fight with herself again, plugged Malfoy's nose and put her mouth on his, giving him the breath of life. She repeated the steps she did before, and had to place her mouth on his four additional times. On the fifth time she felt movement from his mouth, specifically his tongue. She immediately leapt up and spat on the floor as Malfoy's eyes slowly fluttered open.
"Granger?!"
"In the flesh you disgustin vermon."
"Did you…did you just save my life?"
"Yes, but don't worry, you won't need to pay me anything, I'm off duty. This one's on the house." Hermione then quickly turned back to her table, downed the rest of her hot coffee, grabbed her suitcase, and walked towards the door. "Oh, and Draco? Next time someone is trying to save your life, it's probably best if you don't tongue them." And then she disappeared.
"Sir, are you ok?" Millie-Grace said, her hands clutched at her heart.
Maralynn wrapped her arms around Draco's middle and heaved him to a standing position. He gave Maralynn a curt nod before grabbing his coffee and storming out the door.
No, he was not ok. Hermione Granger had just saved his life. He was not even near being ok.
He was furious.
He was now in debt to her until he could return the favor. "And I bet she knew that! I bet that she magically made the grape hit me in the eye and forced it down my throat so she could save my life so I'd be indebt to her! That stupid, cursed—"
"Uh sir, who are you speaking to?" A little boy standing a short three feet from Draco asked. Draco mentally slapped himself. How many times must I tell myself to make sure I'm thinking inside my head? "Eh, sorry kid. Here's a sickle, buy your mum something pretty." He said before stalking off.
Oh, he was going to make her pay. No one saves Draco Malfoy without asking permission first. No one.
Hermione, now clad in her midnight-blue medi-witch robes in her office, put down her briefcase and stretched. She was satisfied that she had already completed her good deed for the day with no reprimands. "That's the best part about good deeds: you do them and then you're done with it, leaving nothing but the nice feeling inside that makes you do another one the next day."
But I fear that this one's going to leave something a little more than that warm feeling inside. This one's going to leave a mark.
"Oh hush!" She told herself, then slammed the door to her office.
Hope you liked it!! This is just a test-run chapter, so if you like it, lemme know! If I need to change something, let me know!! I think I could have fun with this, so, well, let me know!! Thanks!! Bust basically, review!!
Ps. You pronounce Maralynn's name like MAR-uh-lynn.
--VBC