Now You See It, Now You Don't
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own anything. Not a sausage.
A/N: Ok, just to clarify, text written in '-' is them thinking, whereas text in "-" is them speaking. They are not saying stuff twice lol.
Thank you sooooooo much to all my luffly luffly reviewers, I was so pleased to receive so many reviews! Nearly fell off me chair in surprise. Anyhow, I'm glad I could make you all laugh, and thank you muchly for the kind comments. Oh and btw, I would never kill Malfoy! Maybe hurt him a bit but what can I say...I'm sadistic :)
I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I had no computer for a while, then for a while longer no inspiration :-(
Anyhow enough of my ramblings, and OWTF...
30 seconds previously...
Hermione bade the postman farewell, having just signed for a package addressed to her mother, and placed the small box bearing the word 'fragile' on the desk next to the telephone. With a deep breath she walked back into the kitchen, going over her plan for the day in her mind and found...Malfoy about to put a fork in the wall socket.
"Malfoy, no!" she screamed, but too late. The forks' prongs had found their target, and Hermione watched as, in slow motion it seemed, several small sparks emitted from the socket before Malfoy was pushed backwards, his hair standing on end, looking rather frazzled. Hermione rushed over to him and pulled the fork out of his grasp, gingerly placing it on the side before turning back to him, concern flooding her features.
"Are you okay?...Why...what...what were you thinking!?" she cried, searching the blonde boy's eyes for any sign of pain.
Malfoy gazed down at her, surprised by her concern. When he'd pushed the fork into the socket he had felt heat rush though his body for a second, until the heat was replaced with a shock strong enough to send him flying backwards. (A/N: please do not try this at home)
"I just wanted to see what kind of noise it made," he said
"What?" What the hell was he going on about this time?
"You said that everything you plug into a socket makes a noise. I wanted to see what noise a fork made," 'Duh.'
'Oh Merlin this is all my fault!' "I didn't mean...just promise me you'll never do something like that again!"
Malfoy nodded. "Okay."
Hermione eyed him suspiciously. "Promise?" Another nod. She figured this would be as good as she would get from him. It was only now that Hermione realised she was gripping Malfoy's arms (and that he was, obviously, still shirtless) and she blushed and released him quickly, resuming her place at the table. She indicated for him to also sit, so that she could tell him her plans.
"Okay, I figured we would travel to Diagon Alley, provided it's still there, and just try and see if anyone there knows what's going on."
"And if it's not there?"
"...then we go to King's Cross Station just to see if we can get onto Platform 9 ¾. If we can't then we come back here, and try to find out what's going on ourselves."
Malfoy nodded, then said, "Okay that sounds...wait. Does that mean if we don't find it...I have to stay here?"
Hermione stared at him coldly. He obviously hadn't changed, despite all she'd done for him, although she couldn't really have expected him to. "Yes. Unless of course you can find somewhere else. Feel free – the less I see of you the better."
"What, you think I like having to see you!?"
"Oh shut up, you stupid little ferret!" and with that Hermione stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
Malfoy sat, thinking, for a bit, then sighed and followed Hermione upstairs. He stood outside her bedroom and knocked on the door.
"What?" Hermione sounded angry, so Malfoy thought he would have to do something against his nature if he wanted her to calm down.
"Listen, I'm...sorry, about just now. I didn't mean to snap at you and -"
Hermione interrupted him. "Sorry, what was that?"
Malfoy rolled his eyes and raised his voice. "I said, I'm sorry for upsetting you!"
"Sorry, still can't hear you!" Now, Hermione's voice sounded calmer, and indeed it seemed to Malfoy like she was trying not to laugh.
"Sorry, okay? I'm sorry for having a go at you!" he yelled though the door, now feeling rather annoyed.
Hermione opened the door giggling. "That's okay, you're forgiven." she said in between her laughter.
Malfoy scowled at her and rolled his eyes. 'God she's immature!'
Hermione finally stopped giggling and looked at Malfoy. She hated that he was taller than her; it made her feel inferior to him, which, of course, she knew she wasn't.
"So does that mean you'll come with me?"
"Yeah I s'pose. But I'll need a different shirt. Mine's covered in pink mush."
"Oh of course. I'll wash that later. You can borrow one of my dad's for now."
Malfoy wrinkled his nose in disgust and Hermione grinned mischievously.
"Well, you could always borrow one of mine?" she asked innocently. "Pink's the new black this year though!"
Malfoy's eyes widened and he quickly stepped away from Hermione, as though he expected her to grab him quickly and push him into some awful pink top.
"Er, no, that's okay!" he said quickly.
Hermione grinned and walked past him down to her parent's bedroom. Looking through her father's wardrobe, she decided a black shirt was the best option, as it seemed to be Malfoy's favourite colour. She took the shirt off its hanger, vaguely wondering why she cared if he liked the colour or not, and went to give it to Malfoy. He took it and put it on without even a thank you, so Hermione said,
"You do realise your hair is still sticking up, right?"
"What!?" Malfoy yelped and ran into the bathroom to observe the damage. Hermione listened to his pathetic whimpering and heard the tap run. He was obviously trying desperately to flatten his precious hair. She rolled her eyes and headed downstairs.
After about 10 minutes Malfoy joined her, his hair visibly damp, but no longer sticking up. He watched her as she took some money from a tin and put it in her pocket.
"What's that for?" he asked.
"Bus, train." she replied. Malfoy looked at her, still confused, so she continued, "How else are we supposed to get to London?"
A look of realisation dawned on Malfoy's face. "You mean we have to go the Muggle way?" Hermione nodded. "No thank you! I'll Apparate and meet you there,"
Hermione shrugged. "Whatever. Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron." She grabbed her jacket and made to walk out of the lounge and waited for the loud crack that signalled Malfoy's departure...but it didn't come. She turned around in surprise to look at Malfoy. He was still standing in the middle of the room, frowning.
"What's up? Why haven't you gone?" asked Hermione.
"I can't." came the reply.
"Huh?"
"I dunno, it's weird. I can't Apparate – nothing's happening."
"Okay, this is getting just plain freaky."
"You're telling me."
Hermione sighed. "I guess you'll just have to go the Muggle way."
Malfoy groaned, but followed Hermione out of the door.
A while later they were on a bus, making their way to London. It had taken a while to get on the bus, due to Malfoy not understanding the money, and refusing to hand it over.
"Just hurry up and give it to the driver!" Hermione has hissed at, smiling apologetically at said driver. Begrudgingly Malfoy had done as he had been told and followed Hermione to a seat. He had begun to complain about the lack of leg-room, but soon stopped once he realised Hermione wasn't listening.
She was still staring out of the window, obviously deep in thought, oblivious to Malfoy's discomfort. He was gripping the metal bar in front of him, his knuckled white, staring ahead and trying to ignore the bus rocking from side to side.
"Granger!" he whispered, looking at Hermione. "Granger!"
"Hmm?" Hermione turned to face Malfoy, a faraway look in her eyes.
"Are we there yet?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Do we look like we're there yet?" she asked
"Well...will we be there soon?"
"In about 10 minutes, I think. And, er, why are you whispering?"
Malfoy glanced around the bus, observing the different passengers. "This...things, gives me the creeps!"
"Haven't you ever been on the Knight Bus?"
Malfoy looked at her incredulously. "No!"
Hermione shrugged and went back to looking out of the window. A couple of minutes passed in silence when suddenly Hermione slapped her knee and cried "Of course!"
Shocked by her sudden outburst, Malfoy almost threw himself off his seat. "What!?" he said, nervously glancing again at the passengers who had also looked in their direction in surprise.
Hermione turned in her seat to face Malfoy, a large grin plastered on her face. "We have been totally overreacting!" she said.
"What do you mean?"
"This whole...disappearing thing! We've got it all wrong! The reason none of my stuff is in my bedroom is because it's still at Hogwarts! We're supposed to be there, so it makes sense that our stuff is there!"
Malfoy nodded. "Okay...wait, that doesn't explain why the Manor isn't where it's supposed to be."
Hermione's face fell. "Yeah...well...we can ask Professor Dumbledore about that. I'm sure he knows what's happened."
Malfoy wasn't totally convinced, but decided it was best not to argue. "So...does this mean we're going to King's Cross Station?"
"Yep."
Hermione and Malfoy walked silently towards the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. Each was trying not to think what they would do if they couldn't get through.
"Granger," said Malfoy suddenly, stopping in his tracks. Hermione also stopped and faced him, a slight frown on her face. "I've had a thought..."
"Yes?"
"Even if we can get onto Platform 9 ¾, how do we get back to Hogwarts? 'cos there won't be anyone to drive the train."
"I hadn't thought of that," said Hermione, biting her lip. "Maybe...I don't know...maybe there's an owl we can borrow to send a message to Hogwarts and they get us or...something."
She didn't sound very convinced, but strode toward the barrier quickly. Malfoy followed and they both leant on the wall, trying to look inconspicuous, but failing miserably.
"Oh no, we can't get through!" said Hermione desperately.
"Thank you for clearing that up. Without you saying that, I might never have realised." said Malfoy, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh shut up," said Hermione as she pushed her palms against the brick wall, trying in vain to get through. She sighed heavily and stepped away from the wall. "Well that plan was a bust," she said.
"Hey, I've had another thought," said Malfoy, frowning slightly.
"Jeez Malfoy, two in one day. Are you feeling okay?"
Malfoy glared at the smaller girl, who just gave him an innocent smile. "Ha, ha, very funny. I don't think. Anyway as I was saying; I don't think our stuff is at Hogwarts,"
Now it was Hermione's turn to frown. "Why not?"
"Because I can't Apparate either. So our survey says..."
Hermione looked at him blankly.
Malfoy sighed. "We were right in saying everything magical is disappearing? First, Hogwarts starts to fall down, which, considering how old it is isn't all that surprising, but why now? And why did that corridor suddenly become never-ending? And how did we end up in a house miles from Hogwarts? A Mud...er, Muggle house at that. Secondly a manor belonging to one of the most wizarding families disappears, thirdly, Apparating becomes impossible, and lastly, we can't get onto the Platform which should in theory take us to our school. Think about it; everything, and I mean everything magical is being wiped from the world."
Following his long speech, Malfoy looked expectantly at Hermione, who suddenly looked very pale and worried, and slowly leant onto the wall and slid down until she was sitting with her legs drawn up to her chest.
"What?" he asked her.
"Does that mean...that we'll just...disappear?"
'Huh?' "Why would we disappear?"
"Because we're magical..."
"Oh." 'What do you say to something like that?' "Um...well, you should be safe 'cos you're also Muggle. I don't think you'll disappear, at least." 'What the...? Am I being reassuring? And to Granger no less!'
Hermione gave him a small smile, but it quickly faded from her face. "But...I don't want to be left on my own," she said
Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "You want me to stay?"
There was a pause before Hermione sneered, "Don't flatter yourself Malfoy. I said that I didn't want to be alone, not that I wanted you to stay with me!"
Malfoy scowled down at her and strode quickly toward the exit of the station. Hermione quickly scrambled to her feet and jogged to catch up with him.
"Where are you going?" No reply. "Malfoy! Stop! Wait for me! Oh for goodness sake will you slow down!?"
She grabbed his arm but he shrugged her off angrily.
"Wait for -"
When she didn't finish her sentence, Malfoy looked around at Hermione in surprise. She had stopped following him and was staring to the right, a shocked and slightly bemused expression on her face. Without saying anything, she suddenly set off at a run, dodging around smart-looking business people, children, and station masters, ignoring cries of, "Watch it!" and "Oi! No running!"
"What...GRANGER!" Malfoy ran after Hermione, not bothering to be careful as he dodged everyone, and sending books, suitcases and briefcases flying.
"Granger what are you...stop!" Now it was Malfoy's turn to shout out in vain. "Granger what is it!?"
He finally caught up with her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around so she was now facing him. She was flushed and out of breath, and looked at Malfoy as if only just remembering he was with her.
"Oh, Malfoy. I forgot about you. Sorry." She said, as she turned around to start running again. But Malfoy was too quick for her, and grabbed her arm again. She turned and glared at him in exasperation.
"Wait, why are you running? Where are you going?" he asked
"Because...I just saw somebody we know. Somebody we really have to talk to!"
"Who?"
"Harry!"
Ooooh talk about a cliffie and a half! Bwah haha
Big thanks to my mate Becky for the information on what it feels like to electrocute oneself (no she wasn't as dim as Malfoy, but still...) ;)
Hopefully the next update will be soon. I know what I wanna write; it's just a case of getting it onto paper