Rules:

1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.

2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.

3. Write a ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!

Pairing: HG / DM

Rating: T

Date: 1/25/11

.~.

"She Will Be Loved" - Maroon 5

Black didn't suit Hermione Granger. She stood stoic at the podium, giving a heartfelt speech- full of hiccups, pauses, and white knuckles gripping. It almost hurt to look at her. Of course, everyone just thought she was torn up because of the war, because of the losses they'd all suffered. She was 18 and gorgeous. And she was his.

Well, had been. Because now he was dead and he was a wisp of a ghost.

He wondered if she remembered their last kiss.

He did. Every little detail of it. Crossing his arms (or at least what would've been his arms, if he'd been solid), he watched her. He didn't realize he was dead until he'd sat up and looked down to see himself still lying there. It should have been traumatic. Instead, he'd found it mildly interesting. He'd watched his body carried away and tended and burned, at the very end.

Draco tapped his finger as he watched Hermione finish her speech. She shied from the weasel's touch as she sat down, dabbing her eyes with her sleeve. He smiled. That was his girl. Dress up all pretty to give a speech, and wipe her tears all over that delicate sleeve.

"Float On" - Modest Mouse

"How was your day, dear?" Hermione smiled softly at Draco as he dropped his keys on the table. A muttered grumble was all she got as he shrugged out of his jacket. "That good, huh?" She smiled at him as she finished putting the dishes back into the cupboards.

"I don't understand why muggles drive those bloody machines. There has to be something they could do, otherwise."

Hermione arched an eyebrow as Draco flung himself, much like a petulant child, into his chair by the kitchen table. Shoving a few books out of the way, he looked over Hermione with eyes that flashed a pale grey. "I backed into a pole."

Stifling a laugh, Hermione turned to grab a glass. "In that case dear, I think you need a drink."

Still sulking, Draco grumbled. "It jumped out and got in my way, I swear to Merlin."

"Of course, dear. Of course." She smiled and placed a glass before him with amber rum in it. "To poles," she said completely straight-faced, before taking a sip of her own.

"Not Afraid" - Eminem

"She left you?"

"Yeah. I'm sure she's off with the Weasel having revenge sex as I speak." Draco was sunk into a plush chair in Blaise's living room. The room seemed to lean in towards Draco, pulled into the blonde by his mood.

"Why did she leave you?"

"It's probably because I told her to quit her damn job. But I guess it might also be because I left my dirty socks in the bathroom again."

"Dirty socks?" Blaise couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.

Draco seemed to drop farther into his glass, if possible. "She threatened to leave me if I left them on the floor again."

Blaise was amazed. Draco, one of the most "bad ass" of all Slytherins, who took shit from no one, who fought tooth and nail for what he believed in... was cowering from Granger, of all people.

"Hey, don't take that tone with me."

"I didn't say anything."

"You don't need to. You're thinking in that tone. Like I'm crazy. I'm not. Hermione is scary. Gorgeous, and great in bed, but scary as all hell."

"Oh, I'm sure." Running a hand through his hair, Blaise leaned towards Draco. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Wait. I guess."

"Mmm." Blaise's murmur was noncommittal. Which is just how Draco wanted it.

"Firework" - Katy Perry

Draco frowned. "She distinctly said, and I quote: 'Let your freak flag fly.'" The frown deepened. "What does that mean?" Taking off his hat, Draco ran a hand through his hair.

Hermione glanced up from her book for only a second- just enough time to take Draco's look in one swift look. He had his wizard hat on, and his formal robes. He looked good, by wizard standards. But the thing was, he'd been in public. Muggle public. Hermione shrugged, a small smile pulling at her lips. "She was complimenting your outfit, love. Don't dwell on it." Turning the page, Hermione pulled her feet closer under her.

Draco had the distinct feeling he was missing something. Hermione looked much too content for that to have been the meaning behind the words. "But- she looked like she was laughing." His forehead creased as Hermione set her book down with a sigh.

"Draco. Does it matter?"

"Well, I suppose not-"

"Exactly. Drop it, love."

"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" - Panic the Disco

"She's not cheating on me."

"I saw her with that Weasley boy. They looked pretty... naked... to me."

Draco's fist clenched as all the blood rushed to his face. Flushing, he rounded on Blaise. "She wouldn't!"

An eyebrow raised as Blaise shrugged. "Maybe not. But I'm not blind." Tapping his finger to his eye, Blaise picked up his class books and exited the study hall. Draco bit his lip as he ran a hand through his hair.

No, no one knew about them- they couldn't, after all. It was a secret, and it had to be protected. Maybe she was just keeping up the illusion? But why would she be naked. With a sick feeling in the bottom of his stomach, he stood, scooping all his books, papers and quills into his bag with little regard for how they landed.

He'd just go and ask her. She couldn't lie to him.

"Sober" - Pink

Resting her forehead against the cool porceilan, Hermione took a shuddering breath. She was a wreck. That was all there was to it. Ever since her and Draco had broke up, ever since the fight that had echoed and bled into the very walls of the flat they lived in, she had been a wreck. She was a human car crash and she couldn't get out of it.

Swallowing another wave of nausea, she leaned back. She couldn't remember ever feeling this terrible. Her and Draco had their ups and downs- like all couples. But it had never been this bad. The things they'd said were so hurtful. Like physical blows.

Hermione pushed her hair back from her face, but not before she was again leaning over the toilet. Even when her stomach was done, tears traced down her cheeks, leaving tracks against her ruddy cheeks.

Tonight, she had lost something she hadn't thought she could lose: a piece of herself. Draco had taken it with him when he stormed out. And she'd been drinking ever since. Anything to fill that lonely hole that he'd left. Had it always been this painful to be alone? She couldn't remember.

And she didn't think she wanted to.

"In My Head" - Jason Derulo

"You know you wanna," he whispered. A shiver coursed down Hermione's back as he moved closer to her, hands on her hips as they moved to the beat. The bass thrummed in time with her pulse, racing as she danced. She hadn't felt this free in years.

"Wanna what?" She licked her lips as she leaned back into him, feeling his hands move up her side to grip her waist.

"Dance with me." When he leaned in to nip her ear, Hermione's breath caught in her throat.

"Isn't that what I'm doing?" She was breathless. She couldn't think with the flash of eyes, sweat coursing down her forehead, getting in her eyes. Her body was driving her to dance, to move, to take all the frustration and worries and put it out there.

Draco was moving so in tune with her, she felt like she was floating. "Now we're dancing," he murmured to her as the tempo sped up.

Hermione had never felt so alive in her life.

"California Girls" - Katy Perry

"What is this obsession with California?" The way Draco said 'California', it sounded more like a disease than a location.

"It's sunny."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "And that means?"

Hermione raised one right back at him, an uncanny impression if he ever saw one. "It means, love, that the women very rarely over-dress."

Understanding dawned on Draco as he grinned, like a cat who had finally caught the mouse. "So. Does that mean we're going there?"

Swatting at him with a laugh, Hermione shrugged. "I dunno. Are you going to be good?"

"Good? I thought you liked it when I was bad." Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione, spinning her around before kissing her.

"Oh, I do," she admitted breathlessly. "I suppose we could look into it. I'm sure some wizards live over there we could talk to... and they have a few conventions later this summer..."

"Sounds lovely, dear." Draco's eyes were shining with mischievous intent as he kissed her again. Maybe muggles got some things right, after all.

A/N; which would you most like to see turned into a longer story? :) Also- happy new year! (belated, lawl.)