Title: Curse
summary: Draco Malfoy's life going perfectly fine. He had money, good looks, money and good looks. What else does he need in life? But soon his life turns upside down when he finds out that he has a terrible curse. Why? It might have been because he knocked down an old lady off the sidewalk… But what does Hermione Granger have to do with this? The two enemies will soon learn that love can happen anywhere and to anyone. Read and review!!!
(Author's Note: In this story I make Draco a bit of a clean freak as you'll soon find out. I got the idea for this specific chapter when I was in line at a public washroom on the way to New York City because we had a fifteen minute break. Well back to the point… the washroom was disgusting! Although I'm very exasperate in this story, I'm sure a lot of people had to use those really gross public bathroom and if you're lucky, you only had to use it once!)
Chapter 1- Ladies Room
OH NO! For crying out loud not again! He moaned in his head, cursing violently under his breath. Shoving people out if his way, he angrily growled at those who even dared to protest.
I cannot believe this, he thought in outrage pushing passed large crowds of people.
"Pah, you should be grateful that you're in my presence you disgusting hairy mudblood," he snapped under his breath as an annoyed bearded man started to give the tall blonde teenager a piece of his mind.
I can't believe I just touched you, he added in an afterthought as he gave one last murderous glare towards the bearded man's direction. The bearded man growled ferociously at the young man and pointed the middle finger at him.
Don't you dare growl at me you ugly dog, thought the young blonde teenager as he turned around and continued pushing people aside.
He needed to go bad. He couldn't hold it, he needed to find the nearest place and he needed to find the nearest place now. Why oh why couldn't everything be at his call?
What is wrong with me? He thought to himself furiously, blushing a light pink.
The need of going to the bathroom simply was getting out of control and he didn't like it one bit. It was embarrassing, a horrible secret that he didn't want anybody to know. The mere thought of this embarrassing secret being the talk of the day made the hair at the back of his neck stand up.
I am young, handsome, athletic, handsome, intelligent and handsome. This shouldn't happen to me! He thought as he searched for a public bathroom.
Yes, he was so desperate that he was going to do something that he had never done before. He was going to a public bathroom. Just those two words made him shudder in disgust. He could picture perfectly flies buzzing around the toilets, (he never actually went inside a Muggle public bathroom but was certain as what it looked like), toilet paper on the ground and most disgusting of all…no soap. It was practically his worst nightmare and he was certain that fate had planned this to make him look like a fool.
The teenage boy began walking faster and faster in fear that he'll never find a public bathroom…until it was too late.
Oh for Merlin's sake please let that never happen again, he shuddered, wide eyed picturing himself by a tree or a bush. He had done it once in his entire life and was ashamed of it to this day.
Only pathetic Muggles and Muggle lovers do such atrocious thing, he convinced himself.
I must be cursed, he concluded sighing deeply while shaking his head, sometimes my beautiful face can be a burden. Of course people wish they could look like me…
There was no other reason. He was absolutely certain that an envious person had done something to him because of his witty charm and amazing looks. Who else wouldn't be jealous of him? He was, of course, Draco Malfoy. Not just Draco Malfoy, one of the "most amazing, charming and drop dead gorgeous man of the century" but he was "The Draco Malfoy"(hence the word the). There simply was no other like him, only people who wanted to be him.
Or…maybe it was the fact that he knocked down an old toothless woman down a few days ago while walking on the sidewalk. He remembered perfectly well her reaction, which wasn't the least bit polite on her part.
"Young man, didn't your mother teach you any manners?" she barked rudely as she slowly stood on her wobbling feet, an angry gleam in her dark brown eyes.
She looks disgusting, thought Draco looking her up and down, wondering if he was the only wizard with any fashion sense in the Wizarding World.
The old woman was dressed all in black which made Draco wonder if she had went to a funeral until he remembered he was wearing all black too. Her ragged robes were dirty, ripped and the end of her dress was collecting the dirt on the sidewalk. She held many bags which Draco didn't want to know what was inside and held a long wooden cane. Her wand was nowhere to be seen.
"I'd be surprised if she even knows what soap is," he muttered to himself. He suddenly straightened up, trying to intimidate the old short woman.
"Old woman, I show my manners to people with class," Draco Malfoy said out loud with an air of superiority shaking the invisible dust off his robes as if to show his point.
" Watch your mouth young boy before I teach you a lesson you'll never forget," warned the old woman pointing a pointed finger at Draco.
How dare she talk to me like that! Like I'm her equal. Beside she's too dirty to even walk on the sidewalk. What has this world come too? No one cares about hygiene or appearances any more.
Draco gave her a glare and purposely kicked one of the bags that the old woman hadn't picked up.
"You'll pay for that pretty boy," retorted the aging woman and with reflexes quick as lightning that even surprised Draco, she whipped out her wand from beneath her dirty ragged clothes and muttered a spell under her breath. A white beam of light hit Draco square on the chest. He took a step back in shock.
No she didn't! He gasped in disbelief, his had on his chest.
A funny sensation overcame him…and he suddenly had to go to the bathroom. Before he could throw an insult at the old woman, she disappeared into thin air, leaving her bags and cane behind.
Draco kicked all the bags, the context either breaking or rolling on the sidewalk.
"Stupid crazy woman," Draco muttered under his breath, wondering what on earth that woman had done to him. His hands immediately reached for his face, his hands touching his smooth, flawless skin.
Well she definitely didn't give me pimples or disfigured my face, he thought with a sigh of relief.
Just to make sure that he didn't have a third eye on his forehead or something unusual as that, Draco peered at the shop mirrors, ignoring the odd stares coming his way.
"Do you have a problem?" he snapped at the people staring and sniggering at him. They were immediately silenced and turned away.
Jealous, he thought, smirking. They're so jealous.
Draco now wondered if all this was the crazy women's doing of going to the bathroom practically every two hours. He knew that this wasn't normal whatsoever. Before he could think any further about that strange woman, he saw the one thing he had been searching for.
A public bathroom.
Draco felt mixed emotions of disgust and happiness. He quickly rushed towards the small building, noting to himself that there was no one near him.
Thank Merlin, he thought, relief washing over him.
He stood in front of the door beside the rusty sign that spelled in rusty yellow paint "Public Bathroom."
I can't…can't do it, he thought staring hard at that doorknob. I…can't open it!
Images of muggles holding the doorknob without washing their hands or having snot on their hands just horrified Draco.
Millions and millions of germs…
Millions and millions of Muggle germs…
Pulling out a white handkerchief with his initials written in silver and green from his pocket, he turned the doorknob and gave a deep breath. Draco Malfoy had entered the building.
I think I'm going to barf, he thought as he closed the door behind him.
The odor inside the building was the worst smell Draco had the unfortunate to smell in his entire life. The walls were dirty with brown handprints, which made Draco crinkle in disgust, having an idea but honestly not wanting to know what the brown handprints were.
Maybe a bush is better, he thought to himself having second thoughts about using the public bathroom. But his body just wouldn't listen as his brain commanded his legs to leave the building.
Move you stupid legs. I said move! He ordered but to no avail.
"If anyone ever sees me, Muggle, wizard or witch…" he said out loud, leaving the sentence in mid air. He opened the men's bathroom with a new handkerchief as the old used one was lying on the floor and held his breath.
Draco passed by every cubicle; his spotless black shoes and robes the only clean thing in the bathroom.
You've got to be kidding me, he thought in disbelief looking around his surroundings.
On every cubicle there was a ripped piece of paper with the dreaded black words of "Broken" or "Out Of Order."
"Why does the world hate me so?" cried Draco his hands raised to the high ceiling. "For Merlin's sake, I need to go to the bathroom. Now!" he bellowed to the empty room, waiting as if it would magically turn into a spotless bathroom that he was so used to at his home.
Barging out of the men's room in rage, he stared hard at the ladies rooms that looked so inviting. It probably was bigger, ladies room were always bigger. And beside ladies rooms are usually cleaner than the men's.
No one would know…
After a quick second of hesitation, Draco opened the ladies bathroom with another brand new handkerchief and held his breath once again.
What have I become? He wondered shaking his blonde head in dismay.
But he didn't come to the ladies room for nothing. Draco did what he had to do. He gave a huge sigh of relief. It was true, the ladies bathroom was much cleaner and bigger than the men's bathroom. He began humming a tune.
Suddenly the door of the ladies bathroom opened and closed. Draco froze, his blood cold. Quiet as he could be, Draco stopped humming and zipped his pants.
"Is anyone there?" asked a voice that obviously belonged to a woman.
What? No one is supposed to be here! I'm supposed to be alone! Panicked Draco silently. He could just disapparate but that means he wouldn't be able to wash his hands and there was no way that he would leave without washing his hands.
"No," responded Draco quietly and mentality slapped himself for his stupidity of answering the woman's answer.
"Which cubicle are you in? I'm sorry for being so blunt with you but do you have by any chance a tampon?" asked the unknown woman.
Tampon? Is that some secret code that those stupid Muggles use? Thought Draco confused and annoyed.
"Hello? Did you hear me?" asked the woman more persistent.
Bug off you stupid Muggle! Can't that little incompetent brain of yours understand that I want to be alone?! Be gone, commanded Draco impatiently.
His fingers itched to flush the toilet in front of him but that would just mean that he had no other reason to stay in the cubicle. So here was Draco Malfoy, looking at the toilet wishing he was somewhere else. Anywhere else for that matter.
"Curse you, you old woman," Draco hissed clenching his fists in anger.
"I'm sorry but I really, really, really need one. Don't you understand? This is an emergency," persisted the woman knocking on Draco's cubicle non-stop.
"Sorry, don't have a tampoon," squeaked Draco his impression of voicing a young woman put to the test.
Draco heard the woman open a cubicle beside his and he groaned. There was a long pause as neither Draco or the woman was talking.
"Um…excuse me? Do you have any toilet paper? It seems that it's finished over here," asked the woman timidly. Draco remained silent, clenching his teeth.
Maybe if I don't say anything she'll go away, he thought hoping against the odds.
"Hello? Did you hear me? Can you pass me any toilet paper? I obviously can't leave and go get one myself," she continued.
Draco stared at the two rolls of toilet paper sitting on top of the toilet and smirked.
"Sorry, don't have enough to share," he said in a high-pitched voice.
"Are you sure?" pleaded the woman.
"I'm desperately sorry, don't have enough," replied Draco in the same high-pitched voice.
"All I need is five squares. Five squares! Can you please just give me five squares?" repeated the woman.
And on and on it went until Draco threw one of the toilet paper over his cubicle out of sheer annoyance.
She honestly doesn't know when to shut up, he thought fuming, angry that his marvelous idea hadn't gone according to plan.
Neither was his plan of not being seen in a ladies bathroom exactly going to plan. But to Draco's relief, he heard the woman flush the toilet and open the door.
"Are you alright? You've been there for quite some time. Maybe you need a tampon since the machine is broken too," joked the woman lightly.
JUST LEAVE! LEAVE MY BEAUTIFUL SELF IN PEACE! Yelled Draco in his head, having enough. The urge to blast that annoying questioning woman to the North Pole was very strong to fight.
"So, how was your day? Horrible weather we're having aren't we?" said the woman trying to bring up a conversation.
"I better take it like a man," whispered Draco to himself and flushed the toilet with another handkerchief. Dropping it quickly on the ground as thought afraid that the germs would attack his flawless skin, he brought another one from his pocket and found to his horror, it was his last one.
I have to use this well, he thought staring down at his last handkerchief.
"Do you need me to call someone?" asked the annoying woman, "Are you sure you're alright?"
In reply Draco opened the cubicle wide open, secretly hoping that he hit the woman square on the face. But he found to dismay that he didn't as he didn't hear a shriek of pain or the door colliding with the annoying woman's face. He stared down at the pestering woman who had practically made it a point to annoy the hell out of him but what he got was the shock of his life. His mouth hung open and his gray eyes bulged from its sockets as he stared into a pair of chocolate brown eyes.
The woman in front of him was none other than Hermione Granger.
Bloody hell…(Author's Note: Ta da! Here's chapter 1. Hermione doesn't really show up in the chapter except the end but she's definitely in the second chapter. I wasn't sure if I wanted to write the story now because I already started one but it kept popping in my head so I finally gave up and wrote it. Tell me what you think! This is my first Draco/Hermione story so I'm wondering if it would look like Hermione or/and Draco would do or act or talk… Tell me your favorite part, least favorite, anything!!! Chapter two and three is already written so I'm hoping it won't take as long to submit but I can't promise anything. I have that bad habit of submitting a chapter every two weeks but I don't think I'll take as long with this story (and I hope). Well thanks for reading,
blue sapphire lady
p.s oh yeah, my author's note won't be so long, it's just a little introduction…)