Out of The Room and Into the Fire
Disclaimer:All I own is me underpants. And a toothbrush. And my fingers. And my left foot... This list could go on for a while, but among it is NOT Rowling or any of her weird and wonderful creations (namely Harry Potter). I don't own any strawberry jam either, but I don't think that matters too much, seeing as I do have some raspberry!
For future reference, neither do I own Toto.
Summary:SEQUEL to 'The Room of Necessity'. The first hurdle has been hurdled. Will love ensue? A simple yet oh-so-complicated romance.
Please Note: This fic is a sequel to 'The Room of Necessity'. Although I recap what has happened in the last fic, there is a lot that you won't understand unless you have read TRoN.
Another Note: upload system will not allow you to put question marks and exclamation marks together; they just show up as exclamation marks. So that's why some question marks are missing. Don't know why I'm telling you this, but I suppose if you're a stickler for grammar…
"It is wisdom to recognize necessity… though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes…"-Gandalf in 'The Fellowship of the Ring' by J. R. R. Tolkein.
This is a DMHG fic.
Chapter One : Conversations
Madame Pomfrey had healed Draco in a jiffy and now he was ambling along back to his common room, mulling things over in his mind.
Stupid Potter. Bloody idiot. What did he go and do that for? There Draco was, innocently screaming his head off and dancing around the Room like a lunatic, and there comes Potter and his pet bulldozer the Measle Machine from Weasleys-R-us. Bah. Gryffindors. Idiots – the lot of them.
Except for Hermione.
"Half-breeds." Draco muttered, and the wall his feet had led him to opened to reveal the Slytherin common room, and a giant rhinoceros bounding towards him.
Draco didn't have time to run before he was hit so forcefully he staggered, and started choking on the overpowering scent of too much perfume failing to disguise body odour.
"Hello Pansy."
Pansy pulled back from hugging Draco and snarled before she whipped back her hand and slapped him hard across the face. Draco staggered again.
"THAT's for leaving me Draco, and hiding like a rat for five days."
Draco retrieved his balance and was brushing off his robes when Pansy's words registered.
"Five days! That means it's-"
"Christmas tomorrow!" Squealed Pansy as she ran to the holly-decked Christmas tree and dived behind it. "And I got you something I just KNOW you'll love!"
She emerged slightly rumpled, clutching a large package against her chest. It was neatly wrapped in green silk, but it had about 700 neon orange bows attached to it. Cautiously, Draco took it from her.
"Open it now!" She demanded, and under her piercing gaze Draco did as he was told. As he threw the final bow into the spitting fire, Draco looked down at the gold embossed title on the rather large book he was holding. He looked up into Pansy's excited eyes and couldn't help himself.
"You got me a book called 'How to Be a Good Husband'?"
Pansy nodded vigorously, obviously very pleased with herself. Pointing at the book, she said,
"Its bound in dragon hide, and there's a whole section at the back dedicated to contraceptive spells."
There was a pause.
"That's disgusting."
Pansy snarled again and warily Draco took a step back, but then Pansy's face mutated into a picture of sadness.
"Sorry it's a bit dog-eared," It morphed into an expression of glee. "But now I've memorised all the spells!"
Draco privately thought that those would be the spells Pansy would use most in her magical career.
Sickened, Draco tried to keep his voice level as he thanked her and sprinted up to his dorm, where he was met with a very angry owl.
"Darkwing!"
Draco scrambled to untie the letter and mere microseconds after he'd done so, Darkwing was flying off towards the owlery, making sure to smack Draco in the face before he left.
Grumbling about idiots and owls attacking him today, Draco unrolled the letter from his mother. He'd owled her after Snape had dragged him off the carriage earlier – he had been in a foul mood.
"Draco,
Sorry darling you can't come home, I know you were looking forward to some peace and quiet… It's just that your father has some friends over and they're planning a surprise, and I thought perhaps it wouldn't be so peaceful after all. I'm afraid I didn't know until the day you were due to leave about their little gathering. I'm glad Severus caught you in time.
You father thinks you're staying behind to spend more time with Pansy. Do try darling, and don't abandon her for too long.
Yours Sincerely,
Mother
Kiss kiss darling"
Sighing, Draco reread and shredded the letter before setting fire to it, watching it smoulder and disintegrate in a small pile on the floor. Stupid Father. Stupid Deatheaters. Stupid Potter. Stupid Pansy.
Lovely Hermione.
Shaking his head to clear it of memories, Draco turned his wand on Pansy's present, transfiguring the title and author's name into a pair of entwining golden snakes, and then seating himself on his bed to blank the pages. One by one.
Harry sat in a plush red armchair which he had turned to face the portrait hole. He must look like an idiot, staring fixedly at the back of a painting and drumming his fingers slowly against the armrest. But then again, he was too angry to care. Most people in the common room had given him a wide berth when he had entered, and some had even wondered over to listen to Lavender gossiping about something, sitting beside Ginny who was grinning her head off.
The only people who had ventured near Harry was Ron - who was trying to toast marshmallows on the end of his wand in the fire, and the Creevey brothers - who had been caught when Harry had stalked in and hadn't moved an inch since then. They hadn't even closed their mouths. They were just staring at him.
Harry ignored them all.
He was waiting.
He was waiting for the girl who was just now coming through the portrait hole.
OoO
"Ford Anglia." Hermione muttered before the Fat Lady swung forward allowing her entry to the common room. Hermione stepped through the portrait hole and was blinded by an intense light. She slapped a hand over her eyes but her legs continued to move forward and trip over Ron. That sent her flying, and resulted in a hard landing smack on top of the Creevey brothers.
Harry was not impressed and scowled to show it. Ron almost dropped his wand in the fire. Lavender and Ginny laughed hysterically. Colin was trying to take pictures. Dennis was nowhere to be seen.
As quickly as possible and blushing heavily, Hermione got up and helped Dennis out of the depths of the sofa where her weight had squashed him, while Colin snapped away on his blasted camera. Her cheeks were red, but they paled perceptibly when she saw Harry.
Ron stood up and clapped her on the back.
"That was SPECTACULAR Hermione!"
Ginny came over, her face now serious and sympathetic.
"Don't worry 'Mione, I had that reaction when I first saw what the first years have done to the Christmas tree, but thankfully I only crashed into Harry." She winked at him. Unable to hear what they were saying, Harry's scowl deepened. Ginny ignored him and hugged Hermione with one arm.
"When you're done with Mr. Moody over there," She inclined her head at the aforementioned scowler, "Come and tell us about your week long rendezvous in the boys' dorms and how you got away with it." Before Hermione could say anything, Ginny had pushed her towards Harry and sauntered back over to Lavender.
Completely not expecting the push, Hermione stumbled again and landed in Harry's arms. He helped her to stand on her own.
"Developing a habit are we?" Harry asked, one eyebrow raised and a smile tugging on his lips.
"We need to talk Harry. Ron?"
She grabbed Harry's hand and Ron's elbow and led them all off up the stairs and into their dorm. She didn't see the eyes that followed her.
OoOoO
"So?" Asked Harry, closing the door and leaning his back against it, his arms crossed across his chest.
"So what?" Hermione asked, trying to bide time to gather her thoughts.
"Don't start Hermione," Ron said, sitting down next to her on his bed. "What did you do with Malfoy and why."
Hermione sighed and looked down at her hands, wondering where to start? She caught Harry's eyes as he came to sit down opposite her. Where to start, where to start? The beginning seemed like a good place…
"Well, I was walking back from the library and Draco ran into me - "
"Hold on." Harry held up a hand. "'Draco' now, is it?"
"Yeah!" Ron nodded and shifted forward on the bed. "Why were you so chummy when we got in?"
Hermione broke in angrily. "I won't tell either of you if you're going to interrupt." Chastised and disgruntled, Harry and Ron backed off, allowing Hermione to continue on with a stronger voice.
"Draco," She emphasised. "Was being chased by Parkinson and ran straight into me outside the library, and called me a mudblood. So I yelled for Pansy so she'd know exactly where Draco was." Harry and Ron smiled approval. "He clapped a hand over my mouth, dragged me into a nearby room and disarmed me."
"He WHAT!"
"How?"
"The usual way Ron, I wasn't expecting it."
"Constant vigilance!" Harry yelled unexpectedly, making both of them jump and Ron break into a fit of giggles. Harry continued in a quieter voice. "Always be on your guard around a Malfoy, especially a Deatheater Malfoy."
Hermione met his eyes. "He's not a Deatheater Harry.
"What do you know?"
"More than you."
Ron sobered and Harry stared grumpily at the wall past her shoulder.
"Draco dragged me in there, disarmed me and locked the door. And then it wouldn't open again."
"HA! So it was all Malfoy's fault!"
"It was no one's fault." Harry fixed his eyes on Ron. "Remember what Dumbledore said? He said that Fate was in charge of the Room, so it would have happened anyway."
They had gone to Dumbledore? That was heart-warming. But what exactly did Dumbledore know about the Room of Want?
"Hermione?"
"Huh?" She focused her eyes to see both boys looking at her.
"What were your tasks?" Hermione noticed that they were both on the pale side.
"Well, we each had to sacrifice to the other something very dear to us - "
"So my dream was true!" Ron shrieked before turning to Harry.
"AHHH!" They both started to scramble backwards away from her and only stopped screaming when Ron fell off the bed, dragging Harry down with him. Hermione didn't have a clue what they were screaming about, and she told them so.
Quickly and briefly, Harry outlined Ron's dream and it was Hermione's turn to pale, but for different reasons…
Equally quickly, Hermione assured them both that Ron was not a prophet and that his dream had not come true, and the things she and Draco had had to sacrifice were their pride and dignity. Ron laughed outright at what Draco had had to do, but Harry broke in.
"But surely that wasn't it? Why were you injured?"
Hermione did not ask how he knew, but instead explained how the Room worked – about Wants and the power of dreams. She explained about Draco's spell ("So that's what it was!"), and Dumbledore coming to check on them ("Why didn't he bust you out!").
"So what was the third task?" Hermione had completely forgotten to mention it.
"We had to learn to trust each other."
"WHAT!" Harry leaped from the bed while Ron gulped.
"You… you trust a Malfoy?" Hermione could only nod.
"And you were celebrating freedom when Ron and I ran in on you, you weren't doing anything else? You haven't gone near Malfoy? You haven't kissed Malfoy?" Ron shuddered. Hermione lied. Harry sat down again on the bed with a soft thump. "As long as it stops Hermione, I think I might avoid any grey hairs for a few months yet."
Hermione smiled weakly, taking full note of the thinly veiled warning.
"Just don't ever disappear like that again. We were really worried." Hermione smiled much more fully this time, and pulled both boys into a tight bear hug, ignoring Ron as he choked on her hair. She'd missed them too. A bit. But then she'd had Draco for company…
And he was VERY good company.
They stayed like that for quite a while; Ron choking, Harry with his back to the door and Hermione with her eyes closed and her face buried in their shoulders. So they never saw the extendable ears that disappeared from underneath the door.
Surprisingly enough, Ron was the first to break from the embrace. Harry and Hermione lingered a little longer during which Ron ducked into his trunk and emerged triumphantly, clutching a large bag in his hand and waving it above his fiery head.
"Marshmallows anyone? After all, it IS Christmas Eve."
Christmas Eve! That would mean… it's Christmas tomorrow!
Hermione jumped off the bed.
"Sorry! There's something I… forgot…" And she dashed out of the room. What did she have she could give to Draco for Christmas? For surely he'd give her something, after everything that had happened in the Room…
OoO
"What's up with her?" Harry wondered aloud, helping himself to a marshmallow and sticking it on the end of his wand. Ron shrugged.
"Probably realised that no one's been feeding Crookshanks while she's been away."