Disclaimer: I own none of these characters here. I merely borrow them from JK Rowling and company for my own amusement, and hopefully yours too. Please don't sue. I have nothing of value anyway.
Reversal of Fortune
Summary: Draco has been disowned by his family and must make due in the real world. Will he be able to do it? And how will he handle the fact that his new neighbor is none other than Hermione Granger? Can they get along or is this a match made in hell? Dramione.
Some time passed and Draco was starting to settle into his new job better than his first day at least. But he came home each night with his feet dying of pain. He had no suitable work shoes and his very expensive loafers were constantly covered in ice cream droppings. But he'd managed to hide his secret from everyone, especially Hermione. She stopped prodding about coming to see him when he bought her the books she wanted from Flourish and Blotts. When the owner saw him enter the shop, he told him pigs hadn't started flying yet so therefore there was no job for him. But Draco just brushed it off and said he was there to spend money. And he acted like the books were for him. Which got him some looks because all the books were on magical law and one was about growing roses, which he had to note had nothing to do with work. Apparently Hermione just wanted to learn how to grow them. But Draco pretended it was him who was interested and had to stand and listen to the shop clerk regale him with tales of their own prize winning roses. He was kind of glad he didn't get that job now because the employees were insufferable. But he procured the books and Hermione was none the wiser. But he still hated his life. He hadn't gotten paid yet, which was proving to be very stressful for him. He had given Hermione eight galleons which left him with only five left to last him until pay day, but he'd just spent the last of it on some meager groceries. More pots of noodles and as a treat, some candies that were on clearance at the market. He wasn't sure what he was going to do for money until he got paid.
But when he came home from the market, he found Hermione just arriving home from work. He smiled at her and pointed to the bags in his hands.
"Look, I went shopping. All by myself!" he said proudly.
"Really? What did you get?" she asked with only slight interest, but she knew it was an accomplishment for him.
"I got some noodles and some candy and a frozen burrito. I've never eaten a burrito before. What is it anyway?" he asked holding up the food item for her perusal.
"It's Mexican food. It's not bad. Although I'd never peg you for a frozen burrito eater," she noted.
"Well it was very cheap. You realize I spent most of my money on that foot rub from the other night," he told her honestly.
"You did? Now I feel bad. You should have kept your money then," she said feeling guilty.
"No, you earned the money. Except for the tickling part. On second thought, I want a refund," he said with a grin as he held out his hand.
"A refund? Well now, let me just fill out this handy return slip and we'll get you on your way, sir," she said with a giggle.
"Oh you think I'm joking, do you? Give me my money back. Or at least some of it. Please?" he added in a small voice.
"Oh alright. Let me put my stuff away first though. And you need to put your groceries up. I'll drop it off in a few minutes," she said as she unlocked her door and went inside.
He just watched her go and then smiled to himself. It wasn't so hard to get money, he thought. Just ask for refunds when you don't like something. And you could pretend to not like a lot of things. Maybe this was the secret that poor people kept? He'd have to remember it. But he went inside his flat and put his bag on the counter and put the few items away. Then Hermione knocked on the door. He opened it up and let her in. It was very dark in the place, save for his one meager lamp, and there were still boxes everywhere, she noted.
"You haven't unpacked yet?" she asked looking around at things.
"Honestly I would unpack except I have nowhere to put anything. My bedroom is better. I have a dresser and a bed and a candle. But I'm afraid I don't have much else," he admitted sadly.
"Where's your sofa?" she wondered idly.
"I don't have one. Why do you think I come to your place all the time?" he told her.
"Well that's just sad. What do you sit on in here?" she asked curiously.
"I have some pillows over there. I just sit there. I have candles in here too."
"And you don't watch the telly or anything?"
"A telly? Do you think my parents ever bought me a telly? Please. That's so far beneath them. Malfoy's read for entertainment. Except it's hard to read by candlelight. It hurts my eyes. Maybe if I had more candles?" he surmised.
"That's it. We're going shopping," she said, unable to bear Draco's living conditions a second longer.
"Shopping for what?"
"Stuff. I don't know. More candles? Anything at all? I don't know how you stand this," she said sadly.
"I don't really like it, that's for sure. But with only eight galleons, I can't get much. And you still have to give me the galleons back," he reminded her.
She fished in her pocket and handed him the galleons and then she took his hand and pulled him with her towards the door.
"Don't worry about money, okay? Let me just get you a few things at least. You keep the galleons. I'll just get my purse and we'll go," she said insistently.
"Go where?"
"I'll think of someplace. I do love the home goods store down the street. I could spend all day in there," she said dreamily.
"You really do not have to buy me anything. I'm going to get paid in four days," he informed her, feeling slightly uncomfortable with her shopping trip idea.
"But I want to do this. At least let me buy you a tea set. You can't drink tea out of a mouse anymore," she giggled and pulled his hand again.
"What's wrong with drinking out of a mouse eh?" he laughed.
"It's just not okay. Come on. Let's go get my purse and head out," she urged him.
They went to her flat and got her purse and then they set off into the night together. The store she was talking about was only three blocks away so they just walked there easily. They went inside and Draco could not believe all the crap they had. It was so brightly lit and there were tons of garish looking items that he'd never in a million years purchase, no matter how much money he had. But there were some other items he wouldn't mind owning. But he didn't even know where to start. But Hermione grabbed his arm and ushered him towards the tea sets. There were a lot to choose from. And some of them looked really expensive, but when Draco checked the tags, they were actually fairly cheap. Who knew you could buy nice looking stuff for cheap? Certainly not him. He picked out a tea set with a depiction of tiny blue flowers on it. It wasn't too girly and at least it was mostly blue.
"I like this one," he proclaimed happily, holding it up.
"How much is it?" she wondered idly, knowing she'd still get it for him unless it was crazy expensive.
"It's only thirty pounds and it comes with a teapot and four cups and saucers. That's a bargain!" he proclaimed.
She laughed slightly.
"It is a bargain. Okay, you can get that. And do you want some more candles too?"
"Yes please."
He put the tea set into their basket and they went off in search of candles. Draco found several good ones that smelled nice too, and then he saw the Tiki torches.
"Oh I need these!" he said excitedly.
"Draco, those are for outdoors. Like a patio or something. You can't burn them inside the apartment," she told him with amusement.
"But it doesn't say that anywhere. Why can't I burn them indoors?" he pouted
"Because you'll burn down your flat. You're not on an episode of Survivor. You don't need a Tiki torch!" she batted his hand away like he was a petulant child.
"Fine. What else can I get?"
"You still have your eight galleons to spend," she pointed out.
"Yeah, but this is Muggle land. They don't take galleons and Gringotts is closed now so I can't convert the money," he informed her.
"True. I hadn't thought of that. I always carry both types of money with me."
"So what else can Draco get?" he asked excitedly, almost feeling like he was shopping with his mum again.
"Down Draco. I'm already spending a decent amount of money on you. What else do you want?" she said with some exasperation as she didn't intend to buy out the whole store for him.
"How about this bean bag chair? It'd be more comfortable than pillows. And it's only fifteen pounds. Come on. Pretty please?" he batted his eyelashes at her.
"God Draco, is this what you did to your parents? Giving them your pathetic puppy eyes? No wonder they gave you anything you wanted," she said with a small grin.
She was unable to resist his charms too, but she sure wish she could. She didn't know what possessed her to take him shopping except she really did have a soft spot for the under privileged. And drinking tea out of transfigured mouse was about as under privileged as it got.
Draco begged and pleaded until she threw the black bean bag chair into her cart.
"Happy now?" she wondered giving him a look.
"Very happy. We can leave now," he said looking like a kid who just got the last toy on the shelf.
But what she didn't know was that this kindness she showed him, meant an awful lot to him. He was reverting to his spoiled brat ways a little, but he did appreciate it. A lot. More than Hermione would ever know. And he made a mental note that as soon as he got paid, he'd ask her to dinner. Purely as friends, of course. But she'd fed him and bought him stuff, it was the least he could do for her.
They went up to the checkout and Hermione purchased the items. Then they had to trudge all the way back home carrying a huge bean bag chair along with everything else. They were both relieved to get to their building and decided to brave the lift because they were tired of carrying things.
"I thought you said this thing gets stuck?" he asked as they tossed the bean bag chair into the lift and then stepped inside.
"It does sometimes. But hopefully tonight we'll get lucky," she remarked, crossing her fingers.
"What happens if we do get stuck?"
"You wait until someone answers the little phone inside. But usually no one is there. Just hush up and get in. I'm sure we'll be fine," she said quickly as she pushed the button for the third floor.
They each prayed to their own gods that the lift wouldn't get stuck. It was sailing along okay, even if incredibly slow, but it didn't appear to be stopping prematurely. But right before they got to their floor the lift shuddered to a halt.
"Oh fuck," Hermione mumbled to herself.
"Are we stuck? You promised we wouldn't get stuck!" he said, panicking slightly.
"Just relax. I can see our floor. It's right there. Now we just need to wait for someone to come along and help us," she told him as calmly as she could.
"What about the little phone?" he asked, picking it up and holding it out to her.
"We can try that," she nodded as she took it out of his hand and put it to her ear.
It rang and rang and rang and she was just about to give up when someone answered.
"Yes, yes, my name is Hermione Granger and I live in apartment 3B. I'm afraid we're stuck in the lift."
"Tell them I'm diabetic! I need my insulin!" Draco shouted hopefully loud enough for the person to hear.
"Yes, that's right. He's diabetic and needs his insulin so you should hurry up!" she told the person on the phone. Then she muttered a few other things and then hung up and looked at Draco.
"So?" he asked eagerly, ready to get out of the lift.
"Yeah, they said it'd be an hour. But that was a nice touch about the diabetes," she patted him on the back.
"Shit. A whole fucking hour stuck in a lift? Why didn't we just take the bloody stairs?" he groaned as he plopped down into the bean bag chair and sulked.
"Relax, it could be worse. They could have not picked up at all. But maybe someone else will come by and they can get us out? Think positively!" she said, despite her own unhappiness at being in the lift. But it was her stupid idea.
"What are we going to do for an hour? I get claustrophobic. I'm going to die in here, aren't I?" he asked, pulling on his collar to try and get more air.
"We can sit and talk? Or play a game? I don't know. But you'll be fine. Just keep breathing. The lift is open and you can see our floor right there! Just keep concentrating on that. If I could pry the bars open I could maybe climb up there? Do you want me to try?" she asked, trying to keep him calm.
"Do you really think you could do anything if you made it to our floor? Or would I have to crawl out after you?" he wondered.
"Well you'd have to crawl out after me. I'm afraid I flunked elevator repair at Hogwarts," she said giving him a look.
He just sneered at her and flipped her off.
"Very cute. No, we should just wait for the repair person. I don't fancy getting stuck for real in between the bars and the floor. I'll just sit here and wait," he said with a sigh.
"So Draco, are you really claustrophobic?" she asked, trying to make conversation.
"Yes, I am. But don't go spreading it around. I have a reputation to protect," he told her.
"I used to be claustrophobic too until I had to endure far worse things than being stuck in a tight space. I got over it," she shrugged slightly.
Yeah? Well I still don't like small spaces with no air. Thankfully this lift isn't completely enclosed. It really helps that I can see out of it. Even if I'm looking at a brick wall mostly. God, I hope they hurry," he said miserably.
"Wanna play a game to get your mind off things?" she offered, trying to help him relax.
"Sure. What kind of game?"
"Eye spy?"
"Alright. I'll go first. I spy something red," he told her.
She looked around for a second then she answered him.
"The brick wall?"
"Bingo! Your turn."
"I spy something blue."
"My tea set!"
"Yes. Okay, your turn again."
"I spy something black."
"The bean bag chair."
"Nope. Guess again!"
"The bars on the lift door?"
"Yes! God, this game is dull. There's not a lot to spy in this cramped little space. Let's do something else," he said getting bored really quickly.
"How about truth or dare?" she offered him.
"Alright, except I don't know how many dares we can do stuck inside a tiny container like this," he noted.
"Let's just try. I'll take a truth first though," she told him.
"Alright. Lemme see. Okay, I got a good one. Did you ever make out with Harry?" he asked with a devious smile on his face.
"What? No! Why would I make out with Harry?" she laughed at him.
He shrugged.
"I dunno. You two lot were always so cozy and joined at the hip. Figured you let him take a poke or at least get a little tongue action," he said to her.
"Oh ew. Let Harry take a poke? That's disgusting. And you're a pig," she stuck her nose in the air.
"Please. I'm barely being offensive at all. You should have heard the question I didn't ask," he scoffed.
"I don't even wanna know," she shook her head. "My turn. Truth or dare?"
"Truth I suppose."
"Okay, how old were you when you lost your virginity?" she asked simply because she was actually insanely curious about that and this was a good excuse to ask him.
"I was fifteen. And it was awful. But I'm not going into details because the game doesn't call for details," he said coolly.
"Oh come on. Now I want details. Who was it with?" she asked him quickly.
"None of your business. I already answered the question. Now it's your turn. Truth or dare?" he deflected her curiosity.
She ignored him though and kept on asking questions.
"Who was it really? Pansy? Where did you do it? I can't believe you were only fifteen. Why was it awful?" she rambled on.
"You sure are nosy, Granger. God. For your information it was with Pansy. And it was a dare by Goyle to see if I could get Pansy naked," he started to explain. "And I did. Spectacularly so. But we were in the broom cupboard by the main stairs and we could hear people coming and going and I was so afraid Filch was going to open up the door, I only lasted about three seconds. Pansy told all her friends what a terrible lay I was and everyone in Slytherin house laughed at me for weeks and called me Senor Speedy."
Hermione just looked at him and started laughing uncontrollably. Senor Speedy was the funniest thing she ever heard in her life. And she had no idea Draco was the butt of jokes in his own house. She knew other houses would have had a field day with this information, but even his Slytherin friends made wicked fun of him. She held her stomach from laughing so hard.
"Will you shut up? It's not that funny!" he said angrily.
"It is so that funny. That's what I'm gonna call you from now on. Senor Speedy," she erupted into giggles again.
"Fine, fine. Laugh at Draco and all his misfortunes in life. It's not my fault! I was distracted and also a virgin and also fifteen! I'd like to see you do better," he challenged her. "Was your first time amazing? Did Ron knock your socks off?"
"I'm not talking about my first time. No way. But let's just say no one accused me of being speedy," she said stifling her giggles.
"But was Ron speedy?"
"That's not my story to tell. But for my part, it wasn't that noteworthy, let's just say," she told him honestly.
"A-ha! So it sucked eh? I knew I couldn't be the only one. When Crabbe and Goyle heard about this they claimed their first times were amazing. But I knew they were full of shit. And of course they kept saying they'd done it with foreign girls so I couldn't check the story. Liars! I knew all men were bad at sex at first," he said righteously.
"You're so gullible. Did you actually believe Crabbe and Goyle bedded foreign girls? Please. That's the worst lie I've ever heard. And for the record, I never said Ron sucked. I just said it wasn't noteworthy for me."
"Not noteworthy huh? So nothing happened then? And for your information I never really believed Crabbe and Goyle, but I had no way to prove them wrong!" he said defensively.
"Well either way, I would have laughed at their story. And known it was a story. And for your information, no, nothing happened for me my first time. Except it hurt a lot," she remembered.
"Hurt a lot eh? Did he do it wrong?"
"No. He was just bigger than I anticipated, that's all. It always hurts girls the first time!"
"Really? Pansy didn't get much of an experience so who knows if it hurt her? But really, Ron was bigger than you thought? He can't be as big as me," Draco said proudly.
"Oh God, as if. You wouldn't know! You've never seen Ron naked before," she shot back at him.
"Yeah, well you've never seen me naked before either," he shot right back.
"And I'm never going to! Ever! Ugh, how long have we been in this lift?" she asked miserably.
"About seven minutes. I'm afraid you're stuck with me longer and I'm ready for my next question," he told her with a yawn.
"Actually it's my turn, not yours. You just kept talking. And I want a dare this time," she said smoothing down her skirt.
"You're a brave one," he remarked with a smug smile. Oh, the things he wanted to dare her to do… like take off all her clothes, or kiss him, or jump on him. Or simply frolic nude for his pleasure. But he had to keep those lusty thoughts at bay. He sighed a little and looked at her. "Okay, I dare you to try and climb out of this shit heap and get us moving," he told her finally.
"Fine. I can do that. I think. I just need to pry the doors open and slip through the bars. Can you help me?" she asked reaching up to pull the doors apart.
"Nope, this is your dare."
She made a face at him and pulled out her wand. No one was looking at them so she could use magic. She opened the doors easily and put her wand away and jumped up and grabbed the floor above her. She tried with all her might to slip through the small opening but she ended up getting her blouse caught on the bars and she fell down and ripped a hole right through her blouse exposing her bra right in Draco's face.
"Oh shit!" she cried and tried to cover herself.
Draco just smiled at her.
"Now that's a good dare. I was gonna ask you to strip, but I figured I'd be a gentlemen. But if you wanna rip off your clothes, I'm game," he teased her.
She went over and smacked his arm.
"Be quiet! Oh my God, that was horrible. My blouse is ruined! I can't believe you saw my bra!"
"Relax, it's a pretty bra. Now if it was one of those white granny bras with the crisscross straps, I'd have to laugh really hard."
"Give me your shirt!" she commanded him.
"What? My shirt? Why?" he asked with confusion.
"Why? I'm standing here with my tits exposed and you wanna know why I want your shirt?" she asked shrilly.
"God, okay. But then I'm going to be topless and you'll stare at my boobs instead," he said giving her a look.
"Your boobs? As if I wanna see your man nipples! Just take off the shirt or I'm returning all this stuff I just bought you," she challenged him.
"Fine, fine. We can't have that. Here's my shirt," he said unbuttoning his shirt and handing it over to her. Then he just sort of crossed his arms because he felt ridiculous being shirtless in a lift while sitting in a bean bag chair.
"Now that's better," Hermione said, pulling his shirt on and buttoning it up over her ruined blouse.
"I'll be cold, you realize," he pointed out to her.
"Oh be quiet. It's July. You'll survive," she told him as she made a face at him.
"Face it, you just wanted to see me shirtless," he smirked at her.
She looked at him and shook her head.
"Hardly. As if I care. But you seemed perfectly content to have me expose myself at you," she pointed out.
"Well I am still a man. Broken and pathetic as I might be, I'm still a man," he admitted.
She just stood there staring at him for a minute and realized he really did look good with no shirt. She'd seen him answer his door like that before, but this was even better. But she had to control herself. She couldn't go jumping on him right now. She had to have some self-control. Otherwise he'd make fun of her for the rest of her life, she deduced. So she remained stoic.
"Scoot over," she told him finally.
"What?"
"Scoot over. I wanna sit down too. My feet are tired," she told him as she kicked off her heels and plopped down in the bean bag chair next to him.
He tried not to notice their closeness, but the way the chair worked, she was practically on his lap. He just hoped she couldn't tell how much it was affecting him to be close to her while he wasn't wearing much, and she had his shirt on. There was something incredibly sexy about a girl wearing your shirt. But he bit his tongue and said nothing because he didn't want to ruin whatever this was they had. After all, she'd just bought him gifts. If he made a move on her, she might take them back again. So he just crossed his arms tighter and sat as far away from her as possible.
For Hermione's part, she just wondered why he was acting like she had cooties. Could he possibly sit farther away from her? She didn't get it. And then she thought maybe she was better off topless? At least then he was looking at her. This icy silence and distance was going to make the time go so much slower.
"I wish I had a drink," Draco said, finally breaking the silence. "Do you have anything to drink in that ridiculously large handbag of yours?"
"I have mouthwash?" she offered with a small smile.
"Mouthwash? No thanks, but it's tempting," he smiled back. "I was thinking like some of those little tiny bottles of booze."
"Does my purse look like an airline cart? Am I your stewardess? Of course I don't have tiny bottles of booze in my purse!" she cried, trying not to laugh.
"It was worth a shot. I'm just really super bored."
"We could try playing another game?" she offered weakly, as she was very bored herself.
"Nah, that's alright. Unless you've got cards in your purse?" he wondered.
"Draco, my purse isn't Santa's magic sack. I only keep essentials in there," she explained.
"Then why is it so fucking big? You should have games and booze and other emergency supplies in there," he chided her with a grin.
She just ruffled his hair and then she realized she was doing that and quickly shoved his head back away from her and tried to pretend she hadn't just ran her hands through his hair lovingly.
"You're such a dork," she said quickly.
"Why'd you mess up my hair? Now I look stupid," he said, trying to smooth it back down again.
"You're sitting shirtless in a lift on a bean bag chair. I don't think you have to worry about your hair making you look stupid," she shot back at him.
"Hey now, it's your bloody fault I'm shirtless in a lift! You said, come on Draco, let's use the lift. My feet are tired. And now look at us!" he shot back.
"Well excuse me. That tea set was heavy! Plus your enormous bag of candles. I was carrying everything," she told him heatedly.
"I had the bean bag chair! It's huge. I couldn't carry anything else!"
"Ugh, just whatever. Hopefully we'll be out of here soon," she said running out of more insults. It was her fault they were stuck. But she didn't want to concede that because she was stubborn and she was trying to pick a fight with Draco so she'd stop lusting after him shirtless.
But it wasn't really working because when he yawned and stretched, Hermione saw all his muscles stretch too and she wanted to gently lick her way up his chest until she kissed him so hard neither one of them could breathe. But she could never actually do that. It was against the rules. And Draco just kept staring at the top button of his shirt because if she moved just so, you could still see her bra. And it was a nice bra. All black and lacy with red on it. He wondered if she had knickers to match. Who knew Granger had sexy lingerie? Certainly not him. But now he knew and he couldn't stop thinking of it.
"So any exciting plans for this weekend?" he asked her just to have something to occupy his mind.
"Not really. I'm meeting up with Harry and Ginny and we're having lunch and stuff tomorrow. What are you doing?" she asked trying to be polite and not horny.
"I have to work. But I do have Sunday off. Finally. Then I get paid on Monday. Which speaking of getting paid, do you want me to pay you back for all this stuff you got me?" he inquired.
"No. These were gifts. I want to see you succeed. You don't have to pay me back," she assured him.
"Do you really want to see me succeed? I reckon most people are just waiting for me to fail," he shrugged slightly.
"Who is? Not me. I know you can do this. It just takes time. But you have a really nice job, so I'm proud of you," she admitted with a smile.
"Proud of me? Really?" If only she knew the truth of where he worked, then she'd be less proud.
"Maybe your family expects you to fail at this and go crawling back, but I believe in you. So yes, I'm proud," she told him seriously.
"Thank you. It means a lot that someone believes in me. I just can't believe it's you," he laughed slightly.
"I can't believe it's me either, so that makes two of us. But to be honest, you're not really so bad. You've grown on me," she shrugged.
"You've grown on me too," he said as he scooted closer to her, even though they were already touching.
"I never imagined I'd care one way or the other about you," she said softly, feeling his hand run up her arm.
"I didn't either," he said moving in for a kiss, no matter how wayward it might be.
Hermione just looked at him and saw his lust face and realized she was about to be kissed. Why was he going to kiss her? And would he keep doing it forever possibly? She was ready for this. They leaned in and came only a few centimeters apart when someone started banging on the lift doors from above. They jumped back.
"Hey you down there! You need some help?"
Hermione tried to jump up but the bean bag chair sucked her down a little, but Draco boosted her up.
"Yes, we're stuck! Can you get us out of here?" she cried to the person above.
"It won't take long. I know a trick!" he called down to her.
So she just stood there and waited for the lift to move again and tried not to look at Draco who was just now standing up. He put his hand on her back and she shuddered slightly.
"Hey, we're saved. And it didn't even take the full hour. We survived!" he said happily.
"Yes, yes we did. And not a moment too soon," she muttered under her breath.
"What's that now?" he asked not having heard her all the way.
"Nothing, I just said it was a good thing they came when they did. We were so bored," she added trying to forget they almost kissed.
"Right, it was so boring," he agreed, and wondered what it meant that she was choosing to ignore their almost kiss.
Truth is, he could have stayed in there much longer if it meant Hermione would make out with him. But alas that wasn't meant to be. He never did have any luck these days.
After about five minutes, the lift started making an awful sound and then it jolted itself upward, knocking Hermione and Draco over into the bean bag chair on top of each other. She just looked down at him and he looked up at her, and they both wondered if the moment could be gotten back again. But in no time, the doors opened and the repair man stood there looking at them.
"Cozy. Nice bean bag chair," he said with a grin.
They scrambled up and tried to smooth their clothes down. And Draco realized again he was shirtless.
"Uh you're probably wondering why I'm not wearing a shirt," Draco started to tell the man.
"Say no more. Not my business," he held up his hands.
"It's not what it looks like," Hermione protested.
"I'm just here to fix the lift. I don't need explanations. But next time you wanna spice things up, don't use this lift. It's older than the hills. I'm going to put an out of order sign on it for now," he said, refusing to allow either of them to explain.
They just gathered up their items and started trudging towards their flats. But they could hear the older man humming the song Love in an Elevator as they walked away. Hermione tried not to laugh and just sighed instead. When they got to their doors, she waited for Draco to open up his so they could put the items away. He unlocked it and kicked the door in and flung the bean bag chair over into the corner, while Hermione set down the tea set and the bag of candles.
"Well this looks like my stop," Draco said taking in the new atmosphere, which wasn't a whole lot different than the old one yet. Not until he set up the candles at least and maybe had a cup of tea in a real cup.
"Yeah, I should get going. It's kind of late now," she nodded her head.
"Thanks for the gifts, Hermione," he said with a grin.
"You're welcome. I'm keeping this shirt for now. Hope you don't mind."
"It looks good on you."
"Thanks."
"I was rather hoping you'd do another striptease for me and this time take off the rest of your clothes," he joked with her.
"Not in this lifetime, Malfoy. Not in this lifetime," she shook her head and laughed at him.
"Well then, goodnight."
"Goodnight."
And with that, she walked out of his flat and back to her own. Neither one them really knew what had happened tonight, but something had changed. They'd almost kissed! Was that the product of being stuck in a lift together or something else? Were they really just bored? She'd been bored lots of times and never felt the urge to make out with anyone in her vicinity. But that had to be all it really was. They were in close quarters and had nothing else to do. Plus she'd just exposed her bra to him and he was shirtless. It was like the making of a really bad porno. Their actions couldn't be helped! At least that's what she told herself. And Draco didn't really know what to do with his wayward feelings. No one else had ever shown this much caring towards him before. She bought him things. And they weren't family so she wasn't obligated to do it. And she wasn't his girlfriend either. She just did it. For the hell of it. Because she didn't want him suffering. He'd never had a friend like that before. But he wondered if friends was all it would ever really be. He was going to kiss her this night and she wasn't going to stop him. He had to contemplate what that might mean. But he was pretty sure it meant he liked her. A lot. More than just a friendly amount. But he wasn't sure he ever should tell her that. After all, she seemed relieved to be saved and not kissed. But then again, he was relieved to be saved too. It was all too much for him to process, so he sat down in his bean bag chair and lit a few candles and just daydreamed about Hermione.
To be continued….
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