A/N: Hope you guys like it.
Disclaimer: HP doesn't belong to me blab bla bla. :p
.:Chapter 4- A Jinx, Maybe:.
Two whole weeks have already passed.
Two whole weeks.
Malfoy was still clueless about Hermione living in Wiltshire.
Hermione did not know whether she was going to be relieved, disappointed or amused.
Was Malfoy really that stupid?
Or was he being ignorant?
Or maybe he already knew?
He was probably planning a secret attack by now.
Well, best be armed and ready before he finds out. Or before he attacks.
Sighing deeply, Hermione walked through the gates of her house.
The girls were already there, along with a girl she barely recognized.
"Hey Mione." greeted Mandy cheerfully.
"Hey." said Hermione, smiling a little.
"Mione this is Tracey Davis. Tracey, Hermione Granger."
Hermione shook hands with a bespectacled girl with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair.
"Hey. Don't you hang around with-"
"Yeah. The guys." Tracey shrugged. "Being treated like a guy for years can get tiring."
Hermione nodded. "Not at all pleasant."
Parvati butted in. "Oooh Tracey. You must tell us all about Blaise Zabini!!"
Hermione laughed a little.
Tracey raised a brow.
"Excuse Parvati. She's a little obsessed with Blaise Zabini." Said Mandy.
Hermione whistled at Tracey's broom.
"The only other person I know who owns a Cleansweep Eleven is Ron. And he only received that as an incentive for being a prefect."
"Some cash flow your parents got, Tracey." Said Mandy.
The girls continued admiring Tracey's broom, except maybe for Hermione.
She wasn't that interested in brooms anyway.
Okay, okay. Maybe she was a little interested.
Little. Wee. Slightly. Barely.
But she was not going to let anyone know. Ever.
"Hey. Who else has got brooms?" asked Parvati suddenly.
"Uh.. why?" asked Mandy.
"Well, since we haven't anything to do, why don't we play a game?" said Lavender cheerfully.
"If Quidditch is on your mind, then I'm out of here." Said Hermione immediately.
"No, not Quidditch." Said Parvati.
"Stitchstock?"
"No! Ick!"
"Where would we get a dragon bladder anyways, huh?"
"Oh.. yeah.."
"And hello, it's literally ancient."
"Swivenhoge, then?" asked Tracey.
"No, no. Do you really think we'd play that? Yuck!" said Parvati.
"Quodpot?"
"Getting a Quod'll take ages and ages."
"We just want to play a simple game of racing." Said Lavender.
"So, who's got brooms?" asked Parvati.
"Me." Said Mandy and Hermione at the same time.
Oh poop. She had not meant to say that.
Hermione wanted to shove a boot in her mouth.
Particularly her mother's ridiculous green platform boots, the kind the Spice Girls used to wear when they were popular. Her mouth needed to be taught a serious lesson.
Everybody looked at her.
Hermione slightly shifted uneasily.
"What?"
"Uh.. nothing." Said Parvati.
"We uh.. just never thought of you as a uh.. broom riding.. or broom owning type." Said Mandy, giggling.
Hermione scowled.
Not a broom owning and riding type, eh?
"I erm.. keep one for specific reasons." Said Hermione, suddenly being interested in a twig next to her right foot. "Reasonable reasons."
Sure. Reasonable reasons.
Like maybe for entertaining thyself.
'And for trying to get over a certain fear of heights.'
'Shut up, me.'
"Okay? Well uh.. what's the model of your broom?" asked Mandy.
Oh they just had to ask.
"Model? What model?" said Hermione, playing dumb.
"The model of your broom." Said Lavender impatiently.
"Broom? What broom?"
"What's the model of the broom?" asked Parvati, tapping her feet slightly.
"…Who are we talking about?"
"Wow Hermione. I thought you, of all people, were mature. And you were the one who was dishing out lectures about immaturity. Tut-tut-tut."
Hermione gasped mentally. How could Parvati be talking about immaturity with her? How dare she??
"Ahcommittuhseeksti." Mumbled Hermione, looking at her flip flops.
"A sexy what?" asked Mandy, raising a brow.
A sexy what? A sexy what?! Are people nowadays really that deaf?
"A COMET TWO SIXTY, okay?!" said Hermione, half-annoyed, half-embarrassed.
Bloody deaf and curious people.
"It's okay, Moine. Mine's even more ancient." Said Mandy, patting her on the back.
"Yeah right. What could be worse than a dusty, old and tacky Comet Two Sixty?" Said Hermione, twirling her right index finger on her hair.
"Try a Twigger Ninety." Said Mandy.
silence
"AHAHAHAHA."
Mandy scowled.
"I don't get it Mandy. You own two bloody mansions here. Two bloody mansions only two households away from each other. And you're telling us you can't afford a decent broomstick?" said Parvati, her eyebrows threatening to reach her hairline.
Mandy shrugged. "I'm contented with what I have."
Good girl. Hermione resisted the urge to pat her on the back.
Parvati scoffed. "If I were you, I'd bloody ask. What's the point of having rich parents?"
Bad girl. Hermione resisted the urge to smack her in the back of her head.
"I don't ask my parents for anything. And that's okay cause they buy me stuff that I need and I don't even need to ask for anything because they already know what I want."
"Wow. That was a pointless statement." Said Lavender.
"Wow. You have no life..." Said Parvati.
Spoiled brats.
"Hem, hem. So where were we?" said Tracey.
"Oh. The broomstick thingy." Said Lavender
"Right. So.. now is the perfect time to get them." Said Tracey.
Hermione moved towards her house.
"You guys just wait here." She said.
After about twenty minutes of finding, sneezing (Very dusty box, very dusty broom) and grabbing her broom, Hermione came back outside.
"Whoa you never kid around, do you Hermione?" said Lavender, remembering Hermione mentioning something like 'dusty, old and tacky' moments ago.
Hermione ignored Lavender's comment.
"So Mandy, got your broom already?" asked Hermione.
"Yep. Tracey gave me a ride on her broom to get to my house. It was fantastic." Said Mandy.
"Right."
"So.. what now?"
"We race."
"Oh."
"…"
"…"
"Just one race, okay?" said Hermione, raising a brow.
"Two." Said Parvati, kicking the ground slightly.
"One."
"Three."
"One."
"Four."
"One."
"Five."
"O- Oh for Flipper's bloody sake, FINE! As bloody many as you bloody want!"
Gawd was Lavender annoying.
Parvati and Lavender grinned cheekily.
Hermione wanted to whack them in the head with her broom but decided against it. Her broom did not deserve such ill treatment.
Thus, she just imagined herself ripping off the smiles on their faces, throwing them on the ground, stepping and spitting on them.
She had a very wild and convincing imagination anyway.
o-O-o
The girls decided that Mandy, Tracey and Parvati should race first.
Hermione thanked the all-knowing broomstick race gods above her, whoever they were..
The girls were settled in the intersection near Hermione's house.
To make the game fair, they swapped brooms according to skill. Tracey got Mandy's Twigger Ninety, Mandy got Hermione's Comet Two Sixty and Parvati got Tracey's Cleansweep Eleven.
"Now remember, we all just follow the road around the community. Whoever gets back here first obviously wins and whoever loses buys everyone Cola-Cola."
"Coca-cola, Mandy."
"Oh, right."
Mandy, Tracey and Parvati were 10 feet above the ground and Parvati was squealing slightly.
"Ready. Set. Set!!" Hermione bellowed.
Tracey and Mandy just stayed in their place, raising their brows at Hermione. Parvati had already sped off, which caused Hermione to laugh.
But Hermione, being Hermione, she stopped herself immediately.
'How immature, Hermione.' She told herself.
Tracey and Mandy called her to stop.
"Mione! How very childish of you!" whined Parvati, when she came back.
"Sorry. Couldn't help myself." Said Hermione, grinning goofily.
"Ugh! Just get on with it." Said Parvati, positioning herself beside Mandy.
"Ready. Set- Holy coconuts! It's Blaise Zabini!"
"Where? Where?!" asked Parvati, looking around crazily, almost falling off her broom.
Beside Hermione, Lavender was doing the same thing, except she wasn't on a broom.
Tracey and Mandy were clutching their stomachs, guffawing.
"I didn't know she was that obsessed." Said Tracey, trying to stop laughing.
"Oh you know nothing." gasped Mandy.
"Ugh! Hermione!" whined Parvati, folding her arms across her chest, causing her to almost fall of her broom again.
"Hold your broom properly, Vati. I wouldn't be able to catch you when you fall. Your bum is too heavy." Said Mandy, muttering the last part.
"I heard that, woman. Just wait when I beat you. And it's your bum that need's catching, not mine." Parvati hmph-ed and stuck out a tongue.
"Let's just get on with this, shall we?" said Tracey
"Okay. Ready. Set. Race!!"
WHOOSH!! WHOOSH!! whoosh
Tracey and Manndy instantly became a pair of blurs while Parvati barely kept up.
After about barely 2 minutes, Tracey and Mandy zoomed back and stopped right in front of Hermione and the others with a gust of wind, causing Hermione's shirt to go up her face.
Hermione frowned at a laughing Megan as she put her shirt back down.
"I win!" said Tracey.
"Bollocks were you fast." Said Mandy, patting her on the back. "You beat me even if you had to ride on my Twigger Ninety. How'd you get so good?"
"Practice with the guys." Tracey said, shrugging.
A few moments later, Parvati came back, pouting.
"I lost." She whined.
Surprise, surprise.
"Don't worry. You can race again. This time with Mione and Lavender."
Hermione's eyes widened a little when she heard Tracey say that.
"What?!" Hermione was hoping that they'd forget about her.
"Aw come on Hermione." Said Tracey.
"It's just a little race." Said Mandy, pouting.
Those stupid puppy dog eyes.
"No." replied Hermione flatly.
Mandy's lower lip was trembling.
Aaaaagh.
"Fine. Only on one condition." Said Hermione.
"What do you want?"
"I get to ride on Tracey's Cleansweep Eleven."
"Sure."
Smashing.
"Go easy on me, Hermione." Said Lavender, when they mounted their brooms.
"No. You go easy on me. I'm rustier than your father's aunt, whoever she is." Said Hermione, gripping her broom handle a little tighter than necessary.
"Ready. Set. Race!!"
WHOOSH!!
More like WWHHHOOOOOOSSSHHHH!!. Or WHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIZZZZ!!. Or something like that.
Hermione felt as if she were flung by a giant catapult (not that she actually got flung by one before), only this was faster.
A shrill shriek escaped from her throat.
This was not fast. This was FFFAAAAAASST!!
Her hands were getting really sweaty.
Hermione thought that she had gotten used to brooms. But maybe this was too much. After all, this is an extremely fast broom. Hermione had not yet completely gotten over sudden movements and.. heights.
Ah yes, even if she hovered only a mere ten feet off the ground, Hermione was twitching like hell.
Deep breaths, Hermione, deep breaths.
turn
Inhale...
turn
Exhale…
turn
Inha-
"OH SHIT!!"
She accidentally entered a.. courtyard, a very fancy looking courtyard. Hermione gulped. Blame it on her violently shaking sweaty hands.
"How do I stop this thing?!"
How phenomenal. Hermione Granger forgetting how to stop a broom.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
There was a fabulous, shiny, silver limousine in front of her. (Oh by the way, it was stationary. The car would have moved if the driver saw her, right?)
'Not going to be so fabulous anymore.' she thought miserably.
There were other luxurious-looking cars lined up in the courtyard. Even if Hermione did try to avoid the limo, she'd still hit one of the damned cars. So it was a lose, lose situation.
"Erm.. STOP! HALT! CEASE AND DESIST!! Erm… AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"
Hermione oh-so roughly collided with the car.
Hermione didn't know what was louder. The loud bang of the collision, her shriek or the car's shrill alarm.
"TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN!"
Probably the car's alarm.
"TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN!"
Definitely the car's alarm.
"TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN!"
Dang it.
"TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN!"
Great.
"TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN!"
Just greaaat.
"TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN! TUN!"
beep
The alarm stopped. Hermione gaped at the car.
Or rather, the now damaged car. There was a long, deep gash on the front and the windshield was slightly cracked.
Her knee was stinging. Hermione looked down.
Her knee was skinned. Perfect.
Just as she was scowling at her knee, Hermione heard doors open.
She snapped her head in the direction of the sound.
A maid came out of the door, followed by what it seemed a butler, a dozen house elves, more maids and a few more males. Which Hermione guessed were guards, since their robes were white and important-looking.
Hermione gulped.
The maid was muttering furiously in French when she reached Hermione and the car.
"I erm.. I erm.." said Hermione, wringing her hands very nervously.
Great. Now there was a French maid in front of her.
"I'll- I'll pay! I swear! I'll pay for the repairs!!"
whoosh whoosh
Tracey and Mandy landed on either side of Hermione.
"Mione, what happened?!" Mandy said, her eyes wide.
"Uh-oh.." said Tracey, looking at the limo, her broom and then to Hermione's bleeding knee.
"Don't uh-oh me." Hermione wanted to say. But she stopped herself.
"I'll pay the damages. I swear! UGH!"
Smashing, Hermione, just smashing.
She just had to agree on racing with them, knowing that she couldn't handle any more than three feet and sudden movements.
Hermione wanted to bang her head on the car.
Just bang her head senseless.
Right there.
In the solid silver car front.
Like, bang bang bang!
But she decided against that. She didn't want to furthur damage the car. Not that she actually cared about the car and its owners, whoever they were. But she did care about how much she had to pay for the repairs. And maybe for her poor head.
Tracey was talking to the maid.
Mandy bustled over to the still motionless Hermione.
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at her worriedly.
"Yes of course. I just crashed into a limo that's probably worth more than my house and scraped my bloody knee. Then later, my mother'll have my head and there's going to be some serious dent on my allowance… AAAGH!"
"Accidents happen, Hermione." Said Mandy.
"Only to morons." Said Hermione glumly.
Hermione tapped Tracey on the shoulder.
"So.. who are my parents supposed to talk to about.. this?" she asked Tracey.
"The Malfoys." Said Tracey.
"HAHA. Funny how that crash shook up my head. I almost thought I heard you say the Malfoys. Haha."
Tracey and Mandy looked at her sympathetically.
"I did." Said Tracey.
"Oh."
Oh shit! OH SHIT! OOOH SHIT!!
AAAAAAGH!!
Fuckit! FUCKIT!
Great Hermione, just great.
She just had to pick the Malfoys' courtyard to go prancing in.
She just had to pick the limousine and not the damned rubbish bin or anything else not expensive. That is, if there was anything existing in the Malfoy Manor that actually was not expensive. Hermione swore even the rubbish bins were worth more than her house. Or maybe they were just made out of pure silver.
Oooooh she was in deep shit now.
In warm, smelly, knee-deep fresh cow shit.
Or maybe neck-deep.
'Ick.' Hermione mentally cringed at the mental image.
"Mione, the Malfoys are away right now. They had a little trip somewhere.."
A trip?
Hermione finally found her voice.
"J-just contact me or.. something when the Malfoy's are erm.. ready to talk to my parents about.. this. I-I live in erm.. the Granger Mansion.. It's not far from here.." She told the maid, with a sickenly 'sweet' smile plastered on her face.
Hermione wanted to step on herself for stammering. She sounded pathetic in her own ears.
"Erm.. you do know where that is, right?" Hermione asked the maid awkwardly.
The maid nodded. Then she walked towards the door and shooed the butlers, the house elves, the other maids and the 'guards' into the house.
"It'll be okay, Mione." Said Mandy.
"No it won't." said Hermione miserably. "And sorry about your broom Tracey. You can murder me if you want."
"It's okay, Mione." Said Tracey.
"Is there any damage?" asked Hermione. "I can offer you a limb per damage. If the handle is broken, I'll give you my arm for replacement. Although my arm is too thick to be a handle-"
"Nope. No damages here Mione. Just a wee scratch." Said Ysaah.
"Here's my skin, then."
"A quick spell from dad'll fix it in a blink."
"Oh fantastic! First my mother's going to have my head, then your father's going to murder me then afterwards the Malfoys'll Avada me. How many times do I have to die in this life?"
Tracey and Mandy laughed at Hermione.
"My dad's gonna be okay with it, Mione. And I'm pretty sure the Malfoys won't mind either. Although.. I'm not so sure about your mother."
Hermione laughed a little.
"Yeah."
But wait. What did Tracey mean about the Malfoys not minding it? Of course they'll bloody mind it! They'd probably hire a group of men to hunt her down when they find out about this.
They'd probably rather burn their car into eetsie black microscopic smithereens when they find out that there was 'mudblood filth' on it since she, Hermione bloody Granger, was the one who crashed into it. Then they'd scoop up the ashes with their expensive spoons, along with the expensive dust(Even their dust was probably expensive) from the ground and make her eat it.
Or better yet, they'd make her eat the ashes off the ground using only her mouth and tongue.
"Chew." They'd say. "Chew!"
Hermione swore she heard a "Muahahahaha" but decided that it was all in her head.
She shuddered.
Damn Malfoys.
"Come on Hermione, let's go to Mandy's to get you cleaned up."
"Hop into my broom Mione."
Hermione limped her way to Mandy. Then she saw something.
Or rather, someone.
Great, it was the 'bestfriend'.
Blaise Zabini was hovering above the Malfoys' gate on his broom, looking at them intently.
Hermione had the urge to scream "Come on and bloody get me!" but decided against it. She climbed on to Mandy's broom instead, holding on to Mandy's waist as if it were her lifeline.
"Don't worry Mione. I'll fly slow and low." Reassured Mandy. "Hey that rhymed!"
Hermione shook her head, amused. Well at least she cheered up a tiny bit.
On their way out of the Malfoys' 'territory', Tracey hey'd Blaise, who hullo'd back.
For a minute there, Hermione thought she saw him look at her knee.
Nah. He probably was looking at Mandy's bum.
Hermione hastily moved her knee closer to Mandy's behind, just for reassurance.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Mandy's.
Mandy rushed inside to get a first aid kit while the others sat on the marble benches in Mandy's garden. The girls fussed over Hermione's wound.
"That must sting."
"Yeah."
"I wanna touch it."
"Weirdo."
"Good thing it wasn't Blaise's car. I might've strangled you or something." Said Parvati, plucking out a flower from a bush. "Nothing personal. But, you know."
Hermione laughed a little. Parvati tucked the flower on her left ear.
"Parvati, when you tuck a flower on your left ear, it means you're already erm.. happily taken. So I suggest you put it on your right instead so boys don't get the wrong impression that you're already spoken for."
"But I am already spoken for, Hermione. Actually, happily married.. to Blaise. Aaaah..." Parvati drifted off to blaiselovesparvatiland again in the speed of light.
Speaking of the devil, the bloke passed by(on his broom of course.). He looked directly at her. Hermione blushed.
"Oh yes!" said Parvati when Blaise was gone. "We truly were meant for each other."
She walked towards the gates and reached out for a nonexistent hand.
"Don't you see? It was a sign! I knew it!" said Parvati happily.
"Sure" said Tracey, laughing.
A few moments later, Mandy appeared, clutching a silver box adorned with jewels.
"You missed." Said Hermione.
"Excuse me?" asked Mandy, sitting beside Hermione.
"You got your jewelry box instead of the first aid kit. Diamonds do not heal me. But probably they can heal Parvati."
"Silly girl. This is my first aid kit."
"Oh."
"Okay. So here's a wound-cleaning potion. Sorry Mione, we've only got the purple one. The blue one ran out last week."
Yes. Hermione's day really was rather smashing.
First she had to smack into the Malfoys' damned car.
Then she had to skin her damned knee.
And now she had to get the purple potion.
The damned purple potion.
Why? Why?!
Let's just say that blue stands for "…" and purple stands for "Yeeouch".
"YEEEOOOUUUCH!!"
See?
Tracey and Mandy laughed out loud.
"Don't be such a baby Hermione." Said Lavender, examining a black-eyed-susan.
"I'm not being a bloody baby. Let's see you apply bloody purple wound-cleaning potion on your bloody skinned knee."
"I don't have a skinned knee. Ha!"
"No problem. I'll give you one."
"Now, now Hermione" said Mandy in a mother-like tone. "Calm down."
Mandy took out a little flask and uncorked it. Hermione handed her a wad of cotton. She proceeded to dab Murtlap Essence on Hermione's wound. A few moments later, the wound healed, leaving an almost healing scab.
Mandy proceeded to get a fat little tube, squeezing it to reveal thick paste. She rubbed some on to Hermione's scar. Hermione grabbed the tube, frowning.
"Haphip Root Extract. You know, I've heard that they're not really effective." Said Hermione, reading the labels on the back of the small tube.
"Yeah. It can only work on minor scars." Said Mandy, as she continued to rub the paste on Hermione's scar. Hermione suddenly felt a tiny twinge of sympathy for Moody.
Hermione murmured a sincere thanks when Mandy was finished.
Lavender rolled her eyes. "What a baby."
Parvati giggled. "And a jinx."
Hermione and Parvati proceeded to have a glaring contest.
"Look at that concentration. The sweat. The determination. And more sweat!" said Mandy, imitating a boxing commentator.
Suddenly, Parvati broke eye contact.
"It's my darling!" she whispered excitedly.
Hermione looked at the direction Parvati was looking at.
Blaise passed by yet again, looking directly at her.
Did she have something on her face?
"Hey Tracey." Called Hermione.
"Yeah?"
"I just wondered... how come the Malfoys have cars?"
"Mione, a lot of wizarding families have cars, although they don't openly admit it. Look at most of the ministry workers. Even minister of magic has a collection of cars, did you know that? And my dad has a Mustang. The muggles aren't the only ones who need transportation after all."
"We can apparate."
"But can you imagine for example.. um.. us apparating when we need to board to Hogwarts Express with all our stuff?"
"You got a point. But why have they got like.. 6 cars? Don't they hate muggle stuff?"
"Apparently, Mione, you're talking about the Malfoys. They're so rich that they have money for things they don't even like. And Draco also told me that he convinced his father to get one for each year."
"Er.. why?"
"You know Draco. He's um.. how do I say this?"
"An arrogant git?"
"Haha. Yeah, that's a simple way of putting it. Don't tell him I said that though. Well, he does like to show off his wealth. Showing up with the same car each year is embarrassing for him. He's impossible."
"Tell me about it." Said Hermione, frowning at her knee.
o-O-o
"I see."
"I see? I see?! That's it?!"
"Hm. No allowance for a year." Said Mrs. Granger, who was arranging flowers near the front door.
"What? Aren't you overreacting? I mean, you don't even know how much we'll be paying yet."
"How much are we paying, then?" asked Mrs. Granger, who was now straightening the family portrait on the wall.
Hermione felt like she ran headlong into a red brick wall. She had forgotten for a minute that they were supposed to have a little 'chat' with the Malfoys. Hermione prayed that the Malfoys haven't arrived home yet. She prayed that they were stuck in Timbuktu, or wherever the bloody hell they were.
"Hermione, I'm actually waiting for an answer." Her mother said dryly. That made Hermione come back to reality.
"Erm.. well the maid told me she'd contact me or something."
"Okay?"
"So.. I guess we'll erm.. have to wait for her."
"No, you wait for her."
Hermione scowled.
Ah, but she did deserve some labor for crashing into the bloody limousine after all. So she marched sulkily towards the front door, wrenched it open and went outside with a loud huff of annoyance.
Hermione sat on a bench near their gate, still wishing that the Malfoys were hopelessly stuck in Timbuktu, hopefully being digested by a killer whale at the very moment. Hermione felt very sorry for the killer whale, though. Ferret boy must taste horrid.
A few moments later, Tracey flew by. Hermione made a wild cut-throat sign and pointed at herself. Tracey laughed, waving. Hermione waved back miserably, yearning to come after her.
Sodding Malfoy limousine.
Just as the sun was setting, a loud crack echoed throughout Hermione's courtyard, making her jump. If there were any onlookers, they would have laughed loudly at the expression on Hermione's face.
"Madamoiselle!" said a throaty voice.
Hermione saw the French maid out the gates.
"Oh, wait! I'll just go get my mother!" Hermione called after her, running towards the house.
So the Malfoys had come back. Oh why didn't they get bludgeoned by bigfoot in Timbuktu? What a shame…
Hermione haven't even made her Last Will and Testament yet. Bugger.
"Mother! Mother!"
"What?"
Her mother was brushing her hair in the parlor.
"The erm.. maid's here."
Mrs. Granger nodded, placing the brush in a nearby side table.
Hermione led her mother out, then turned to the French maid.
"Erm.. can we erm.. side-along apparate?" she asked the maid sheepishly.
"Oui, oui."
Hermione motioned her mother to come near her. Then she rested her hands on her mother's shoulder.
"Side-long appear- what?" Mrs. Granger asked, eyebrows raised. "And spinaching?!"
"You'll see." Hermione said as she nodded to the maid, who grasped Hermione's arm.
In a few moments, Hermione felt the familiar and slightly unpleasant sensation of apparating.
Hermione smiled goofily when she heard her mother gasp beside her. 'Noob.'
They now stood in the grand porch of..
Hermione gulped. They were here.
"Wett 'ere pleeze." Said the maid.
Hermione nodded violently, earning a look from her mother.
'Well, at least I get to die in such a fancy place.' thought Hermione miserably. 'How many people get to drop dead on a carpet imported from Peru, after all?'
"At least I get to socialize a bit." said her mother happily, straightening her clothes. "How do I look?"
Ready to be Avada'd.
"Er.. alright?" replied Hermione in a small voice.
How could her mother be thinking about 'socializing' at a time like this? How could her mother possibly think that she could get anywhere near 'socializing' with the Malfoys? The Malfoys? So getting spat at in the face and being called a 'filthy mudblood' was called socializing. Okaaay.
Hermione somehow hoped that Mrs. Malfoy was taking her beauty rest or-or.. slipped on a banana peel or something… Hermione would give anything, anything to stop this from happening. She'd even give up her laptop- Ah no, she changed her mind. She'd give up her-
But before Hermione could think of a good bargain, she heard twin cracks beyond the door. She nearly fainted at the sound.
The crystal door handle clicked and the giant double doors slowly creaked open, as if they were making everything suspenseful intentionally.
'Goodbye o cruel world.'
Two superior-looking people stood in front of them. A man and a woman.
The man had a long mane of perfectly combed pale blonde hair, which was tied back elegantly by a silk black ribbon. He was wearing the most elegant black robes Hermione's eyes ever laid on. He looked a lot like Draco Malfoy only older, duh (Ah yes, she still had a little bit of humor left in this sort of situation.). He had the same pale, pointed face and identical cold, grey eyes.
Next to him was an extremely beautiful woman, dressed in a fancy black dress. (So cocktail dresses are now worn as regular clothes?) She had beautiful flowing blonde hair, which cascaded down her back. Her eyes were deep-set and steel blue in color. Hermione felt a twinge of envy at her deep-set eyes. They were so beautiful. She was resisting a strong (and mental) urge to poke Mrs.Malfoy's eyes, to make sure they were real. Ah yes, Hermione was particularly the weird kind.
"Good evening." Said Hermione's mother pleasantly, smiling in one of her hey-look-at-me-I'm-so-darn-important smiles.
Mr. And Mrs. Malfoy merely nodded.
Hermione took this as a good sign. At least they hadn't pulled their wands out of their pockets yet.
"I apologize for my daughter's reckless and inexcusable behavior.. and actions." Said Mrs.Granger. Hermione thought she saw Mr.Malfoy smirk a little. "I'll make sure she gets the appropriate kind of punishment. She'll be grounded for.. a very long time."
Hermione scowled at her mother, who ignored her completely.
"Oh there is no need for that." Said a silky, smooth and calm male voice.
Hermione craned her neck to Lucius Malfoy's direction.
Well at least the man wasn't wearing the same voice and expression she had once earned from him when she met him for the first time in Flourish and Blotts, nearly five years ago.
Instead of the look of hatred and disgust (and sneer) etched on his face, Lucius Malfoy was merely looking uninterestedly at Hermione's mother, as if she were some boring and off-key singing telegram. Narcissa Malfoy on the other hand was just standing there with her arms crossed, as if she merely was there to accompany her husband and had somewhere better to go.
So Hermione wasn't going to die after all. Hoorah!
"Our servant," drawled Mr.Malfoy. "had the limousine checked this afternoon. The dent was far too deep to be repaired by magic, thus we had to have it repaired the ah.. typical way."
Hermione thought he was going to say something like "the mudblood way" or "the stupid muggle way" but was glad he didn't.
"The repairs," he continued, "Are worth only a hundred and sixty galleons but I decided to.. let you pay only half the price, since accidents are.. unavoidable. Especially here in Wiltshire."
Hermione was about to skip merrily and break into the chorus of "I'm singing in the rain" but stopped herself immediately. She decided just to do that later on in her room, in case Lucius Malfoy changes his mind at the sight of her singing and dancing goofily.
Well rejoice, rejoice. Lucius Malfoy was not going to kill her and might she add, he was quite decent. Almost polite. Hermione wondered if he had eaten anything odd in Timbuktu. Well, may Merlin bless whatever he ate.
A/N: Reviews please:D Heehee. Thankies. Muah!