Chapter 3: In which Draco Malfoy discovers how neat voicemails are.
"Sorry, I was in the shower when you called." He was fiddling with his iPhone, and barely looked at Hermione when she came in through his floo.
"No worries." Hermione sat at the couch opposite from where he was seating and stared at him with a mixture of irritation and awe. He was becoming addicted to the gadget. "I left you a voicemail actually." She said offhandedly.
"A voicemail? What's that?" He looked at her with rapt attention. He was very eager to know more about the wonderful invention of Muggles. Damn, the Dark Lord was an idiot to think Muggles are nothing but brilliant, he thought amusedly.
"It's a recorded message. When a person doesn't answer your call, you could leave them a recorded voice message to tell them why you're calling or ask them to call you back." She moved to sit beside him. "Here, let me show you how to do it." She tapped on the phone app and the voicemail button at the bottom right corner of the screen. Pressing play, she held the phone to his ear. He shivered as her forefinger touched his cheek near his ear.
"Hello Draco? Raincheck today. Something came up at the Ministry and I need to fix some idiot's mistakes. Sorry! See you next week. Bye."
"That's very convenient. And I'm scared for that idiot you mentioned. I hope he's still intact?"
"Let's just say he won't be skiving off to any closets for the next few years." She grinned evilly at him. "Anyway, I need to go. Are you done with your essay?"
Part of Draco's probation was to write a four-feet essay every week on the things that he learned about Muggles and the similarities and differences between them and their lifestyle with that of magical people. He would've scoffed at the task before. Now however, upon discovering all the amazing inventions Muggles have to make up for their lack of magic, writing the essays were interesting. It certainly made him think of all the possible inventions he could do once he's allowed to go back to work. He wanted to start a new company free of any previous Malfoy influence and envisioned adapting some Muggle practices in regard to making inventions.
"Yes," he replied and handed her the parchment.
"Great. I'll see you in three weeks."
"Three weeks?"
"I have a conference in France starting tomorrow."
"So what am I going to do while you're gone?"
"I'm not your mother, Draco. Do whatever you want as long as its within the law. Tinker with your iPhone or something. Anyway, I really have to go."
"But –"
Hermione vanished in a sea of green flames.
o0o
On Day 1, Draco realized that he was too absorbed in analyzing how the auto-correct works and listing all the sentences it seemed to predict he would type to notice that he had not talked to Hermione that much. Now that she'll be gone for a couple of weeks, regret started setting into Draco. He wondered if this happened to Muggles too: that the very device they invented to connect people together also distracted people from communicating with each other personally.
That day, Draco decided to write an essay on how cellular phones can serve as bridges and walls between people.
o0o
On Day 2, Draco decided to take his cooking to the next level to distract himself from the emptiness of his apartment. He had only tried making simple dishes before; just enough to feed himself without having to depend on house elves and food deliveries. His chicken provençale was quite good and he managed to salvage some of the burnt souffle he made. He was able to make a perfect stuffed pizza on Day 6. However, there was no one around to share his successes with.
o0o
On Day 7, Draco had had enough and dropped Hermione a text. He waited a day for her reply but nothing came.
o0o
On Day 8, he tried calling her but a random woman answered the call and kept telling him no matter what he asked that Hermione could not be reached at the moment. No amount of polite requesting her to hand the phone to Hermione worked.
He was feeling miserable by Day 9.
o0o
On Day 10, he was fiddling with his iPhone and absentmindedly clicked the buttons Hermione was telling her about the other day (He was not paying that much attention because of the auto-correct mystery so he couldn't remember what it was about.) when he suddenly heard Hermione's voice.
"Hello Draco? Raincheck today. Something came up at the Ministry and I need to fix some idiot's mistakes. Sorry! See you next week. Bye."
It suddenly clicked and he remembered that it was a recorded voice mail from her a few days ago. He pressed his ears tightly towards his phone and listened to every lilt in her voice, her slightly annoyed and bossy tone and couldn't help but think of how much time he wasted investigating the stupid (brilliant) auto-correct that he could've spent talking to Hermione. (And seducing her in the process as a secondary goal.)
She called him Draco. And Merlin, her voice was doing things to him. "I miss you," he mumbled in reply to the playing voicemail on his ear.
That night, he fell asleep listening to her voice again (and again, and again).
o0o
Author's Note: It's very awkward to write fanfiction inside the plane.