Drunk
He awoke with a headache. How much had he downed last night to be this hung over? Suddenly he heard someone yelling in his room. He plopped his head back down on the mattress and threw his pillow on his head to block out the noise.
"Draco, seriously, get up already!"
So he looked out from under the pillow and saw Blaise with a very annoyed look on his face. "Having a fun hangover?" said Blaise, with a small smirk on his lips. "Do you even remember anything you did last night?" he continued.
Trying to shuffle through his memories, he answered: "I wasn't that drunk!"
"Oh really," his friend snorted. "You were so wasted, that you flirted, or at least tried to, with Granger, who, for your information, was absolutely sober. And she would've almost slapped you into next year if I wouldn't have pulled you away quick enough."
He was absolutely mortified and tried to remember the event but his mind was blank. It seemed that he indeed did not remember anything from the previous night. "Did I actually go near Granger? You're not pranking me right now or anything, right," Draco asked, surprised.
The aforementioned Granger on the other had remembered everything, like it was yesterday which it of course was.
"I had my hand ready to slap him when Blaise ran to the scene and dragged him away kicking and screaming. Malfoy was absolutely pissed. I doubt he even remembers what happened," she exclaimed to Ginny while laughing.
The woman next to her asked: "He actually tried to flirt? If he was that drunk it must've been just blabbering, right?"
"Well it sounded something like all those cliché phrases. I didn't understand all of it, but it ended with him inviting me over to his place so we could get to know each other better. And then he winked. HE WINKED," she ended the sentence exasperated. She thought about how he had basically asked her to go with him and let him shag her. He would've deserved that slap. It's a pity that he was saved by his loyal friend. Well Blaise did apologise for Malfoy's behaviour but maybe he just shouldn't get so wasted when the most part of the wizarding world still dislikes him and everyone with the same last name as him.
She heard a knock on her door and looked and Ginny asking: "Harry and Ron can apparate here, can't they? And I haven't invited anyone else…."
She walked to the door and opened it, finding a rather bewildered Malfoy at her door.
"What the hell are you doing here Malfoy?" was her first reaction to him.
"Is that how you treat all of your visitors, Granger?" he seemed to have composed himself a bit and looked at her with a small smirk.
"No, only the Slytherins actually," she responded, still confused as to why the ferret was at her door. "Now tell me how you found out where I live and what do you want from me," she continued. He's face got a bit more serious and he answered: "As to your address I have some connections. And as to my reasoning of being here is that I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday. Although I do not actually remember what happened, Blaise told me a short summary of what I did yesterday. That's all I came here for." Turning around to walk away he continued: "Farewell Granger, I hope we don't have to meet in these circumstances again."
He saw her at the bar and started walking towards her. Granger, sitting on the bar stool, all alone. "Granger," he said, maybe a bit loud, startling her. She turned to look at him. "What do you want from me Malfoy," she asked, surprised to see him there.
He sat next to her and said: "Would you look at that, our first civil conversation! I just saw you sitting here alone and thought I'd offer you some company."
She sipped her drink and looked at him again: "So the rumours are true? You've given up your old beliefs? Otherwise we couldn't have this conversation without insults flying here and there."
"Yeah, Granger I've changed after the war too."
"Did it sound like I said you haven't?
He had just been sitting in his study when a fragment of last night came back to him. It seemed that he was a better person when drunk rather than sober.
The next time Draco got drunk was on the 19th of September. He had Blaise there to guard him while he's wasted but eventually he sneaked past him to Grangers' birthday party that was coincidentally happening at the other side of the club he liked to drink at. It seemed that she liked the club too as he'd seen her here more than the two times he'd gotten utterly wasted.
He saw her on the dance floor and approached the woman.
"How'd you manage to get here without your bunch of friends standing in a circle around you," he asked his words a little slurred from the alcohol. Suddenly hearing his voice, she jumped and would've almost fallen on the floor if the drunken Malfoy hadn't caught her.
"So you're falling for me already? I know my voice has an effect on women but I haven't had them jump in my arms before," he smirked, waiting for her reaction. When there wasn't a lightning response like he'd gotten used to with the muggleborn girl, he asked: "Granger, am I wrong when I presume that you are utterly drunk? If not that then I'd guess you're brain dead from the lack of vicious responses thrown at me."
She pulled herself out of his grasp and opened her mouth to answer: "If you must know, then yes, I've had quite a few drinks tonight. But it's my bloody birthday! Am I not allowed to get drunk once in a while? And if I remember correctly, you said you hope this never happens again. You know the you and me meeting in a club, with you being drunken thing." Her speech seemed much more slurred than his but he continued to converse. "Well, if I remember correctly, I was actually talking about me coming to your house in order to apologise for my behaviour."
"Don't be a smartass Malfoy. I'm supposed to be the know-it-all," she said quietly. Turning around to walk back to her friends and as she lifted her leg to step up the stairs, she lost her balance. To say the least, she was luck that the tipsy Malfoy was still standing near, for he caught her once again.
Catching her for the second time this evening, Draco was about to make another joke about it, but stopped, when he saw her eyes closing and passing out. "Well Granger, for all the smartness you have, you sure can't hold your liquor," he mumbled lifting her up bridal style and walking the stairs, she was attempting to climb before him. When he reached the top, he saw all the Golden Girl's friends looking at him shocked. Potter was already charging towards him with a scowl on his face. "What did you do to her?!" Potter and his girlfriend yelled simultaneously, Harry grabbing Hermione from his hands and Ginny pointing his wand at Malfoy.
He calmly looked at them and said: "She passed out. It's not my fault you were too busy to notice where she went or in what state she was in." After digesting what he'd said Ginny lowered her wand and sat back down on the black couch, she was on before. Harry, looking at the Slytherin a bit sheepishly, said: "Well, thanks for bringing her back to us."
Malfoy stepped down the small steps and back to Blaise, who was still occupied with the girl he'd met before. Deciding to give them their space, he strolled out of the club and started walking to the gazebo near the river. When he got to the sanctuary, where he'd ended up in on many drunken saunters, he noticed someone else there.
"Didn't I just drop you off at your friends Granger?"
"Well I have a tendency to run away when I'm drunk," she answered, still looking like she'll drop at any moment. And although she was sitting, Draco got closer, to catch her if she fell again.
"In that case we're quite similar when drunk," he said smirking.
She looked at him, a questioning look on her face, and asked: "What do you mean by that?"
"Well I don't run, but I sneak away. It's usually easier when Blaise has his hands full with a tipsy blonde," he said as he felt a weight on his shoulder. As he looked at her, he saw that her eyes had closed again.
Shaking her, he asked: "Seriously Granger, are you out again?"
And from the lack of response it seemed that yes, she had passed out again. Draco groaned apparating to his apartment and laying her down on his couch. He knew he couldn't apparate in her house of even outside of it. And he wasn't up for a walk right now. Even as the buzz from the alcohol was wearing off, he was walking around seeing to that Hermione was okay.
He was sat in the armchair when she woke up at 3 in the morning. And as if she knew what she was about to ask he said: "You're at my place. You passed out by the river and I had no other option at the moment than bring you here."
"Well I think I can go home now, that I've woken up. Harry and Ginny are probably worried sick," she realized, standing up from the couch.
Looking at Malfoy she added: "Thank you for taking care of me, I guess, although I can handle myself even when passed out."
Having said that, she apparated home, leaving Malfoy sitting in his armchair, mouth open, ready to argue with her statement.