Typical disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the things from his universe belong to the amazingly brilliant mind of JK Rowling. I am making no money off this story nor do I want any credit for anything Miss Rowling has created, only my own ideas inspired by her story. The song lyrics belong solely to the equally brilliant and perfectly dark minds of Jamie Madrox and Paul Monoxide of the group Twiztid.
Song: Lift Me Up
Artist: Twiztid
Trigger Warning: Light man handling
You've got nien body but yourself
You've got to learn that
Whether you like it or not
You've gotta choose things
You've got to get up go
Through all kinds of changes
Whether you want to or not doesn't matter
And I can feel it now
It's more obvious than ever there's a problem
And I better try to figure out
If I'm willing to solve em
Or ignore them like a middle child
Draco sat in the dreary pub nervously drumming his fingers on the table as he waited, as he sipped on a glass of Firewhiskey. He didn't know why she'd asked to see him, but Hermione Granger wrote him the day before asking him to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron. It took him two hours of pacing his room before he wrote he back, finally agreeing to come. It was worse now though, as he sat here waiting, people staring at him. Some obviously knew who he was as they looked at his face with shock and their eyes drifting to his left arm. Others though just stared at the thin that stretched across his neck or the intricate patterns of scars crawling up his forearm. He rarely wore short sleeves anymore as to avoid exactly this, but it was the middle of August and the sun was too much to bare. As he pulled his hand guardedly beneath the table, a small calm voice hit his ear and his head shot up.
"Malfoy," was all the girl said as she took her seat across from him.
"Granger," he said as if he voice was acid on his tongue. It didn't have the effect he'd hoped though, she merely rolled her eyes as if he was some annoying child. "What the hell do you want?"
"A drink actually." She said as she caught the barmaid's attention and asked her for a Firewhiskey. When the woman looked at Draco he tensed as her eyes grew with shock.
"We'll take a bottle and two glasses," and he waved her off. Draco returned his attention to Hermione. "Who would have thought, Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Princess, Mudblood Activist, would be drinking in a bar with Draco Malfoy hmmm?" He said coolly with a twisted smirk.
"Oh piss off Malfoy. I can honestly think of a million other places where I'd rather be then here." Hermione shot back him as the barmaid set down a tray containing a bottle of amber liquid and two glasses. Draco grabbed a glass and filled it halfway. As he sipped the drink burned its way through him.
"And I can think of a million people I'd rather sit with then yourself Granger, so let's get this over with. Tell me why you're here and we can both go back to our lives, separate as they should be."
Hermione didn't speak at first, but Draco couldn't help but notice the amusement creep across her face as she grabbed her own glass and filled it. She tipped the glass to her lips and took a big drink, causing her to sputter and cough. "God this stuff is disgusting." She said most likely to herself before looking back at him. "Anyways, I'm here for Professor McGonagall, I guess she figured I should tell you so that way we could attempt to get used to it together or some silly notion like that. I didn't want to, and I certain don't want to do this with you but-"
"Granger, what the fuck are you going on about?" Draco was growing even more annoyed and angry. The girls rambling was always one of the things that had truly annoyed Draco.
Granger dug into her bag and pulled out two letters, sliding one across the table. "Your Hogwarts letter," she ignored Draco's confused stare, "and your… Your letter saying you'll be… You'll be Head Boy this year."
Draco broke out in laughter, gripping his sides and almost losing his balance. "Funny Granger. Seriously, that was good."
"I-I'm not kidding Malfoy." That's all it took for Draco to stop, hearing the hurt in her voice. He looked across and could feel her anger and pain hitting him. "This is not something I would joke about. The last thing in this world I wanted was my last year at Hogwarts to be tainted by having to share this with you. Trust me I would love to have given up the position, not had to patrol with you, or share a dorm, or-"
"A DORM?" Draco yelled, causing a couple of stares from the patrons around them. He lowered his voice into a sharp whisper as he went on. "No, go back and tell that batty woman I want nothing to do with this. In fact tell her she's bloody mad and disturbed if she thinks I'll agree to this."
"If you'd shut up for a moment and let me talk you'd know that there isn't a way around this Malfoy. She won't allow us to, my only option is not going back and yours is going back to Azkaban. In case you forgot, returning to Hogwarts is a term of your release. Then again you seemed pretty keen to go in the first place." Hermione spat venom with the last part causing Draco to recoil.
"Fuck you Granger. You know nothing about that." His sneer turned even sourer.
"Do you forget that I was there Malfoy?" Hermione said a bit loudly, causing even more people to stare at them. "That I was at the trial?"
"Shut up Granger."
"NO!" She yelled not caring who heard. "I watched you throw yourself in front of a courtroom and basically beg them to send you to Azkaban."
"I swear if you don't-"
"Who knew Draco Malfoy was a martyr." Hermione said with a wicked grin. It was all it took to make Draco snap, his temper so easily set off these days. He grabbed her hard around the wrist and pulled her from the pub, dragging her to a nearby alley, before standing over her menacingly.
"Do not dare to pretend to know anything about what happened during my trial Granger. I never fucking asked you to come. I didn't need your bloody help and yet you thrust it upon me, Hermione Granger, my. Fucking. Hero." He spat making a shiver run through the girl's body.
"I- you deserved someone to- to tell about how you helped us." She said slowly backing up until she hit the wall of a building.
"I DIDN'T DESERVE ANYTHING GRANGER." Draco roared, slamming his hands on either side of her head. "I DIDN'T HELP ANYONE BUT MYSELF." Then he realized with an internal groan that the girl wasn't listening to him anymore, but instead was staring wide eyed at his left arm.
"Wh-What happened?" She asked in horror or disgust, Draco couldn't decide.
"That's none of your fucking business." He said pulling himself back and putting his arms around his back. Hermione just stared at him for a moment, as if searching for something, and then her face changed to one of shock.
"You tried to get rid of it didn't you?" She almost looked as if she wasn't speaking to him but to herself. "You idiot! You tried to get rid of it by burning it off or something didn't you?"
"Once again not your business Granger." Draco said annoyed as Hermione obviously wasn't listening to him. She was staring at him with that searching look before her eyes hit his neck making Draco recoil further.
"Oh my god, your neck… Did you-"
"Say one more word Mudblood. I dare you." That's all it took to bring the brunette back to the present, her face to go red with anger.
"Don't call me that." She seethed at him.
"Don't call you what? A mudblood? That's what you are. Nothing more than some filthy mudblood bit-" He reacted quickly, grabbing her wrist before her palm could connect with him cheek. As he did though, he caught a glimpse of her arm and the scar that lay there. Mudblood, almost as red and crude as it had been the day his aunt had carved it there. He stood there staring for what felt like hours, trying to process what the hell he'd been thinking. He wanted to hurt her, but he'd no doubt gone too far. As if she was listening to his thoughts, she ripped her arm away from him and cradled it to her chest.
"No. You do not get to do that Malfoy." She said backing towards the wall once more. "You don't get to look at me with pity and try and soothe your own conscious. You don't get to pretend that this hurt you! Not when you stood there and watched and especially not when you still spew those words at me as if they're nothing. You don't get to do this, not in front of me." Then she was gone, running from the alley as Draco watched her go. He was thankful, he could not handle dealing with Hermione yet he was going to have to find some way to live with her for an entire school year. The world was a sick, cruel, place Draco concluded.
%%%
Draco awoke the next morning with his face plastered to his desk and a pool of drool covering the many letters under his face. His mouth tasted like mud mixed with metal and his head was throbbing so hard he'd give anything to just make it stop. The first thing he saw as his eyes fluttered open was two very large and very empty bottles of Firewhiskey. Merlin please just let the pounding stop was all he could think as he slowly sat up in his chair and started throwing open the drawers of his desk. Finally he found it, a small vile filled with a clear liquid, so deceivingly innocent looking. He opened the cap and tried not to catch the sent that came from it to no avail. A burning sensation hit his nostrils as he lifted it to his lips and he groaned slightly before throwing the potion back. He held on to the desk as the burn hit his throat, scorching everything on its way down and making his insides turn and lurch. When the pain subsided Draco let go of the table and took a welcome breath.
"You know I think they make that shit vile so that you won't get pissed as much." Came from behind where Draco sat. He wheeled around in his chair as to see a dark skinned boy lounging in his bed with a smirk on his face.
"How the hell did you even get in here?" Draco shot at the young wizard.
"Easy, I asked Tom to let me in, pretended I was concerned about my dear friend Draco Malfoy." Blaise said, batting his eyelashes and smiling widely.
"I think me and the inn keeper will have to discuss what no visitors means." Draco said.
"Oh come on, you know how wonderful it is to wake up and see my beautiful face in the morning." And as he said Blaise actually winked at Draco. "This girl I was seeing while on vacation in Italy used to tell me all the time. She said I was constantly being followed by Wimzles because they're attracted to beauty."
"What are Wimzles?" Draco asked confused.
"I have no idea. Some Italian thing probably." Blaise said back, then his grin grew twice its original size. "Heard you had tea with a cheeky girl yesterday?"
"How the hell do you know that?"
"How do you think I know?" Blaise responded as he walked over a table sat by the door and picked up the newspaper that sat on it. He looked down at it for a moment with a laugh then threw it across the room to Draco. Draco looked at the picture of Hermione and him in horror, his stomach actually lurching as he saw the headline above it.
Brains of the Golden Trio Takes Her Love of Bad Boys a Step Further
By: Rita Skeeter
A/N: Once again same as the lyrics.
Title is by Twiztid "Lift Me Up"
