Bonsoir everyone,
(Well its Bonsoir from where I am)
Thank you so much for the feedback I got on my first chapter of The Slytherin's Princess. Its made me so happy that I decided to post this chapter a little ahead of schedule.
I hope you enjoy!
xx
XxXxX
Hermione was a lot calmer a few hours later. She reminded herself how much she loved Harry and after everything he'd done for her over the years she could play host to one idiot for a bit. She knew that idiot was already awake this morning because she could hear him moving about the apartment. Sure, it was weird that he was here and perhaps Ginny hadn't been entirely off the mark when she'd told Harry that Hermione had a 'thing' for Malfoy - although it wasn't really a thing as much as it was that Hermione found him incredibly attractive physically and who wouldn't? Despite her snapping at Malfoy - Draco - last night, Hermione and he were actually on civil terms. They had been ever since he had switched sides in the war - they weren't best friends, barely friends really, but they could be in the same vicinity without screaming at each other and the overwhelming urge to curse his arse was gone too - well except for at 3:30am this morning.
With a small yawn, Hermione dragged herself out of bed and into her wardrobe where she dressed herself in a cute darkish blue dress that clung to her body but pleated out at the end and some cute nude heels. If anyone had asked Hermione three years ago what career path she thought she'd take she'd have said anyone but this one. Hermione was a part owner in a very successful high-end clothing boutique. After the war, when Ron and Lavender had gotten back together again, Lavender had approached Ginny and Hermione with an idea. She wanted to open a boutique that sold high-end labels but that were more in line with the current muggle fashions and eventually move up to designing her own label which could also be sold in the shop. Since she'd had some money to spare and Hermione did have to acknowledge how good with her style Lavender was, Hermione had invested as a partner 50/50. Surprisingly, to Hermione anyway, Lavender's idea of muggle-based fashions for magical folk took off and the business became a massive success. Ginny had come on board to invest 20% as a silent partner (leaving Hermione and Lavender with 40% each) and that had allowed the girls to purchase a new building and move their boutique to Diagon Alley where they were swamped with business every day. They were looking at opening a second boutique very soon. In the meantime though, Hermione was running the boutique as Lavender had stepped back to begin working on her new label which Hermione was confident would do well and which they would indeed stock in their business. What had shocked Hermione, was that she actually liked working in fashion - for the first time since she was 11 yrs old she was able to be feminine and dress in pretty dresses and wear heels and do her hair. It was a change from her years at Hogwarts when time hadn't allowed her to discover her feminine side with Voldemort constantly trying to kill Harry and then eventually the War.
Once her make up was done and her hair was curled into loose curls instead of looking like the frizzy mess it had been last night, Hermione took a deep breath and ventured out into her living room, following the source of Malfoy's noise to the kitchen and it was there that she almost fell over from shock. There were a number of things that were shocking about the site before Hermione's eyes - firstly, Draco Malfoy was cooking, secondly, he was also cleaning (as he cooked) and thirdly, he stood there in a long pair of workout pants but no shirt and merlin's beard you could have grated cheese on those extremely defined, very appealing abs of his. Sensing he was being watched, he turned around and smiled at Hermione.
"Morning princess, feeling a little less cranky this morning?"
"Y-You can hardly blame me for being cranky at 3:30am this morning…" she muttered, accepting the mug of tea he handed her.
"You can sit" he told her, "I'm making you breakfast to say thank you"
"You don't have to do that"
He shrugged, drawing Hermione's attention to his muscled arms, "Yeah but I should"
Seconds later, he had deposited a plate in front of her. He'd made soft poached eggs, on toast with avocado, tomato and mushrooms and it smelled heavenly. He joined her at the table with his own plate and they fell into a comfortable silence as they ate their meal. Hermione worked very hard to focus solely on her breakfast and not glance at Malfoy, a feat which only became harder when she realised she could feel him glancing at her.
"So every paper in the area - well all of England really- is going to be running the story today and my instructions are to stay here, keep my head down and do not leave the apartment. I hope that's ok with you 'Mione?"
Now feeling slightly uncomfortable, Hermione simply nodded quickly and sipped at her tea, continuing to avoid looking at him.
"I'll clean up after myself and I'll even respect your rule about not bringing anything even remotely sexual into your place"
"That's not what I said" Hermione said, blushing as she corrected him, "I said if I find so much as a porno magazine and I shouldn't have even said that. What you chose to read is your business, not mine"
She had to look at him now and he was watching her with a strange look on his face, as if he was studying her.
"Well porno mags have never been my style anyway…" he said, smirking.
"True. Why read about an orgy when you can have one?" Hermione snapped.
Straight away she blushed and knew what she'd said was out of line but the whole topic was making her extremely uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry" she said quickly, "I shouldn't have said that. Its not my business"
She expected Draco to get angry or storm off but he didn't. He simply shrugged, still watching her.
"Well it's true isn't it? The whole breaking news today is only going to prove your point"
"W-ah - what happened?" Hermione stuttered out.
She was blushing as red as a tomato as she asked, she could feel it, but she wanted to know, needed to know what the papers were going to be saying.
He cleared away their plates, depositing them in the sink, before he refilled Hermione's mug and came to sit back down, now fixing her with an intense stare as he explained to her the situation.
"Well we won our game over the Magpies last weekend and so the boys and I went out partying. The thing about professional Quidditch players is that whenever they're out, every girl in the area seems to forget she's married or engaged or trying not to be such a slut this week and they throw themselves at you. They're meaningless fucks really, they want to be able to brag that they've slept with a player and you just want to get laid really. Although, last weekend the situation was a little over the top but I guess that's because when all the bars ended shutting up for the night we weren't ready to go home so we found the only place still open with a bar which was technically a brothel. We weren't in the brothel section of the establishment, there is a bar attached to it, but well one thing lead to another and the next minute a bunch of girls were approaching us asking if we wanted to have a little fun and … well you're 7 guys out for a good night and you've been drinking and you're horny as fuck… Anyway, it probably would have been ok except that one of the girls was an undercover reporter who claimed she liked to 'watch' and we were too drunk and stupid to catch on"
"So you just had an orgy…?" Hermione said slowly, still trying to even process what he'd just said.
Draco shrugged, "Yeah why not?"
"Um because you're entire life is in the limelight and because its disgusting?" Hermione bit back.
"I just focus on the girls princess, I wasn't watching the boys … we all just happened to be in the same room"
"oh my god" Hermione muttered to herself as she got up to clean the dishes.
This was done with a flick of her wand and she quickly placed them back into their respective cupboards before she turned, grabbing her things from the bench and made for the front door.
"Hey! 'Mione wait!"
Draco chased her to the front door and grabbed her wrist, gently, turning her to face him,
"It was a mistake" he said quietly, "I regret it and now my entire career is on the line because I couldn't keep it in my pants and I wasn't sober enough to realise that there was a reporter in the room. Just - There is going to be a lot of information flying around today and not all of it will be true, just please don't believe any of it until I've told you for sure ok?"
"Why should it even matter what I believe Draco?" she asked him, "I'm not your family, your friends… I'm not anyone of importance"
"No" he disagreed, "You're important"
And that was the last thing Hermione heard before his lips descended onto hers.
XxXxX
As always… reviews let me know what you think and I love to know what you think!
Straight xx
