Author's Note: Thank you for the kind reviews. :) I made you an even longer chapter to get the plot going now! Woot!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Lady of Shalott.
Chapter Seven - Flight Education
Before walking onto the plane, Hermione seen Draco's wand slid in his back pocket. Her mouth dropped open, it was as though he wanted to be found out. Honestly, leaving his wand just hanging out of his back pocket for anyone to see or steal. A lightbulb flickered, he might actually do magic. Only now did Draco realize that this ordeal had something to do with muggles. Silently, Hermione's fingers wrapped around the tip of his wand as she slid it out of his pocket.
Draco jumped, feeling something sliding in his back pocket. So, someone's frisky. He smirked(hoping that it wasn't the woman from the escort service, or any of the ones behind him), which pretty much wiped the smirk off. Then he remembered he had his wand in his back pocket. Eyes wide, he turned around to face a chuckling Hermione and Ginny holding a red faced Harry. Draco looked at them as though they were mad.
Before he could say anything, Draco's eye traveled to Hermione's hand. He dove for his wand, only to have his face covered by Hermione's hand. Well, that was very helpful. Pushing him back to the front to stand, she spoke. "No, we're not allowing you to blow our cover. It was after all, your idea to come." She placed the wand in the box in Ron's hand. He had been waiting with Luna to see them take off, and held the box that had all of the other wands in it as well. Living with muggles for a while, they weren't going to be needing them unless they wanted to be found out. When the box closed, Hermione had a charm set so that it stayed locked until the time set for it to be opened. The only person that had their wand was Hermione in case of emergencies and she had it tucked safely in her bag.
Waving goodbye to the couple leaving, the four walked steadily into the airplane. It took some struggle to get Draco and Ginny on the plane, but finally with help with some of the employees and consoling that they weren't being eaten, they went in. Although, with the whole talk about being eaten, they did receive a few strange glances and questions about the two's level of sanity.
Draco snorted in disgust when walking into the seating area titled 'Coach'. This was a disgrace. Those rich blokes in the 'First Class' was where he should be. Goodness, he was on a muggle plane with muggles themselves! Draco rolled his eyes, Father would be oh so proud proud. Before he could dart for an escape to go there, Hermione grabbed the collar of his shirt as if reading his mind. He glared at her, yanking his shirt out of her grasp and glared even more when she replied with one as well.
"Where are we sitting?" Ginny asked, breaking the glaring competition between the two.
"Two to a row at the windows on the right. You and Harry will be there, and me...and Malfoy" She cringed at the thought of using their names in the same sentence. "Will be sitting in front of you."
"There is no way I'm riding this thing with her sitting next to me!" He pointed a finger at Hermione as though she were a monster.
Hermione placed her hands at her hips and looked at him, "Oh, and you think I want to sit next to a ferret? Deal with it." Their battle of insults continued as moments passed, completely forgotten that there were other people on this plane watching them. Hermione slid into the seat next to the window, resting her hands on the currently empty seat in front of her. Draco held up a hand in the middle of the aisle.
Harry and Ginny smiled at each other before slipping into their seats.
"I'm getting the window then."
"No you're not." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yes I am." He stated.
Hermione began to glare again, "What happened to ladies first?" Chivalry was past dead in these days. With alot of the guys being like Draco Malfoy, it's no wonder why, Hermione thought.
Draco smirked, "Exactly Granger, ladies." Hermione smacked his arm, as she couldn't reach his face at the moment.
"Umm, Hermione." Ginny interferred. "Maybe he should have the window seat. I mean, you are terrified of heights." Hermione contemplated this thought for a moment. They were going to be thousands of miles in the air, and she couldn't stand being even a hundred feet in the air. Yes, she was and would be ultimately terrified.
"Ginny!" Harry cried.
"Yea Granger! Terrified!"
"Shut up, Malfoy! I'm not giving you the seat!"
"Shush Harry, I just want a quiet ride. No whining Malfoy - "
"Hey! Malfoy's do not whine." Draco spoke, offended. He held his head higher. "We complain with dignity and pride about the things that do not deserve our praise."
Ginny looked around the room, they were getting glances and groans from the other passengers and stuardesses that were wanting to pass. She gave a glance at Harry before shoving past Hermione. "I'll sit with him then! There, problem solved." As Ginny went to sit in one of the seats of the row, Hermione blocked her path. "What's wrong now?" Ginny rolled her eyes. Harry chuckled, but was looking forward to sitting with Ginny on the plane ride.
"Gin', I can't let you do that, just sit with Harry. Malfoy can have the bloody window." Hermione sighed in defeat. Draco gave a triumphant look as she allowed him to pass. Buckling up their seats, the group was now ready to take off.
Ginny seemed to be handling the take off quite well, with the exception of the momentary shock. Draco had completely showed a temper tantrum to get off. Wasn't he supposed to be nineteen? Hermione rolled her eyes, he was acting more like a three year old rather than his own age. Of course, she wouldn't be surprised if this was the way he spent his childhood. By now, they were now receiving very strange glances from the other passengers while Hermione told him to shut up.
A stuardess in a small skirt as her uniform rolled by with a cart, Draco shut up instantly and began to try chatting up the woman. Hermione rolled her eyes, placing a hand on his knee to begin massaging it so the stuardess could see. Draco's head instantly jerked to Hermione with wide eyes. "We just need a pillow, thanks." The stuardess huffed and walked away and Hermione's hand had an instand reaction to be jerked back away from Draco. "And a water" Hollered Draco before the stuardess was out of earshot. Hermione couldn't tell whether or not the stuardess' reaction was from anger of Draco or from Hermione's 'possesive' action. She shuddered, this was going to be harder to get used to. Ginny found the action hilarious and told Harry(who hadn't been able to see it with sitting behind Hermione) what had happened.
"Hermione - " Harry began.
"What was that for?" Draco finished for Harry.
"Easy, Malfoy has to be my 'boyfriend', we might as well get used to the horrifying idea." Hermione said, Draco rolled his eyes at her.
"Yes Granger, because I'm simply dancing in circles and singing on top of hilltops from the idea of dating you." He said sarcastically.
Harry began whispering something to a giggling Ginny and pointed something to her. Hermione looked away, and began to wonder what it was like to be in love. To have someone to tell all your secrets to, someone that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. Harry and Ginny had never looked as happy as they were these past two years. Sighing, she shook her head. The right person will come in time. You're in no rush. She smiled to herself reassuringly.
Suddenly, Harry spoke about having to use the restroom before taking off. For the first time since Draco's arrival, a minute of silence passed. Harry still hadn't returned, Ginny jumped up. "I-I have to use the restroom." Before Hermione or Draco could protest, Ginny was gone. Hermione and Draco raised an eyebrow and turned to see the red-head indeed go in the restroom after knocking. But just a moment before, Harry had been seen going in as well.
Realization dawned on Hermione and she squinted her eyes, hoping that it wasn't true. Draco looked at her as she started mumbling something about the two. Confusion dawned on his face. "Umm, Granger. With you being a know-it-all and everything and me not being familiar with these muggle terms...what's the mile-high club?" He asked, referring to what she was saying to herself.
Damn her and her blasted whispering! This was going to be a very uncomfortable minute or two. Hermione squirmed in her seat as she explained it to Draco( After telling him to watch the talk of muggles while around them). When Hermione had finished, apparently Ginny and Harry had too. They came out at the same time, Hermione rolled her eyes at their obviousness that very much proved her thoughts. Ginny's hair was now messy and their clothes wrinkled a bit. One of Harry's button's on his shirt was missing. It looked as though it had been ripped off. With his learning time with Hermione, Draco twitched when seeing them. He was going to need so much counseling thanks to these people.
More minutes passed in silence. Well, not for Harry and Ginny. Hermione and Draco just didn't talk to them for a few minutes until the embarassment died down some. Trying to change the topic from what they were all thinking, she spoke. "Okay, Malfoy. Time to cram. If you're going to do this, you have to be able to pull it off."
"What are you talking about, Granger?" Draco turned his gaze from the window and looked at Hermione in confusion.
"You're supposed to be my...boyfriend." Hermione struggled with the words, Harry noticably winced. "You are supposed to know things about me. My favorite color is red, I can't cook, I'm a doctor - "
"You're a bookworm." Harry said, as if it wasn't obvious.
"You sometimes read by the fire before bed." Ginny piped in.
"You're ticklish around your ribs." Harry said with a smile.
"Argh! Too much information! Overload!" Draco had his hands over his ears. The three laughed as they saw Draco's momentary breakdown as he tried to process the information. "Shut up." This started yet another battle with the insults. Back and forth they went, using the same exact insults as usual.
She asked Harry to retrieve her bag from above them, and unzipped the large brown bag. Rummaging through it, she finally pulled out what she'd been looking for, Dreamless Sleeping Draught. What? She was having Draco be on a muggle plane, she had to come prepared. This would be sure to shut him up. When getting what they asked for, she slipped it into the glass of water when Draco wasn't looking. Within minutes he was fast asleep on the pillow against the window.
Hermione sighed in relief as Ginny gazed out the window. This plane ride was going to be alot easier than she thought now that Draco was out of the picture...For a little while at least.
Finally, Draco had awoken to see the plane back on the ground once more. It took a moment for them to calm him back down so they could reassure him that they weren't crashing. Hermione congratulated herself for getting the perfect amount of potion for him. Getting their bags, Hermione let them follow her out to the street so they could call a cab. With some protesting from Draco, their entry into the cab was a bit more difficult than getting one.
Seeing as how Hermione was the only one who knew how to get there, and there being an awful huge amount of traffic, they all had to manage to fit in one cab with their suitcases. It was a very uncomfortable position. Draco was smushed against the window with four of the suitcases in the floorboard. Ginny sat next to him squeezed in between him and Harry. Unfortunately, the other window area was occupied with the other three suitcases as Harry and Ginny's feet filled the other floorboard. Hermione cursed. Bloody Malfoy and his bloody three suitcases.
There wasn't any more room left for her. She was going to have to manage. Lucky enough for her, Ginny offered to sit in Harry's lap for the time, who looked more than pleased at the idea. Draco raised an eyebrow. "Let me make this clear, no one is getting it on in the back of a cab unless it's with me!" Harry and Ginny looked at him, and he realized how the sentence sounded. He rolled his eyes again, "Sorry Potter, Weasley. I don't do threesomes."
The two began to glare at him. Before anything were to happen, Hermione had to crawl over where Draco was sitting to get to her spot. The moving area was even worse with the other side because of the other suitcases and the two people. "Nice arse, Granger." He immediately groaned as he felt her kick him in her heels while she crawled over.Hermione squeezed in between the spot of Harry and Draco where Ginny used to sit. Hermione's arms were immediately pinned to her sides. "Merlin! Can't you people understand when a bloke is joking?" He gasped.
Harry looked in anger at Draco, but the sentence's progress left him just looking a bit disturbed. "Malfoy! Don't talk about Hermione's erm...nether...regions." He finished, mumbling the last part. Honestly, like he wanted to think about Hermione like that, she was his sister for Merlin's sake. Draco as well looked disgusted and held up a hand showing for Harry not to continue any further. Hermione quickly told the driver where they were headed and the driver took off.
Ginny gave a look at Harry, before sliding her hand down to his thigh. Hermione bit her lip, knowing what Ginny had done, and turned the way to look out Draco's window. "So," Draco began, attempting to start a conversation. "How many little Potter's do I have to prepare myself for in the future?" Ginny glared, Harry and Hermione both blushed at the comment. Rather than reply, Ginny chose to ignore it.
By the time they reached their destination, they got out of the cab to meet steel gates. On the sides of them were vines tangled around concrete that surrounded the estate. Hermione pressed what Harry told the two was an 'intercom' and the gates opened automatically. Ginny and Draco jumped at the action. By the time the gates were open, Harry and Ginny began to gawk at the home before them. It was beautiful. Of course, it wasn't a mansion. It wasn't like they were superbly rich or anything like the Malfoys, but the home itself made it look as though they were.
The estate was three stories high, a beige colour covering the home. Rectangular windows covering every ten to twenty feet all over the home. Vines had wrapped themselves around parts of the home, making it look even more beautiful. A balcony was in the center of the third floor, that had a patio facing straight to where the four were. Reaching the doors, before Hermione could even knock, the door flung open. Hermione staggered backwards as the unmistakeable voice of Antoinette greeted her and hugged her.
"Oh, Hermione! You're here! And you are - " She released Hermione from the death-grip, causing her to fall backwards to almost fall on Draco. He held her shoulders to help her regain her balance. Antoinette began pointed to the two on Hermione's right. "Harry and Ginny?" The two nodded while shaking her hand, and she squealed in delight.
"That must make you - " She raised her eyebrows in interest as her eyes traveled to see Draco. Wow, tall, blonde, and fashionable? Hermione had struck bigtime in the bank. Hermione blushed when seeing Antoinette's face. "Hermione's date." Draco began to laugh at the idea, but luckily covered it up with a cough. He nodded before shaking her hand.
"Draco Malfoy, pleasure." He smirked, kissing her hand. Antoinette bounced and giggled with happiness as the other's watched in amusement. As she bounced, her dark brown hair bounced with her. Unlike Hermione, her hair was more curly than frizzy, although it did contain frizzyness. Draco could definitely see how they were related. Although, there were areas that he couldn't tell how they were related at all. Most of the people
"Hermione, you didn't tell me he was a gentleman as well. You are very lucky, but not as lucky as me." Antoinette said smiling. Draco smiled at her, but it faded as he heard her place him second to another man. Even if he wasn't with her, he never liked to be second-best. This cousin was already turning on his bad side. Did she know who he was? Well, of course not. But he was Draco flipping Malfoy!
Hermione was shocked as he grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Oh yes, she thought bitterly. She was going to have to get used to this gesture, and others. Oh Merlin, what if they had to kiss? She didn't even have time to answer her own question as Antoinette once again squealed. Ginny didn't think it was possible for someone to squeal so much without their head exploding. She grabbed Hermione by the hand as well as Ginny, to drag them through the double opened doors.
"Oh you must come meet my fiance. He's simply magical, you'll love him." Antoinette smiled, Draco and Harry followed in suit. Draco of course, making Harry carry most of the suitcases, although carrying enough to make him look good in front of the others. Ginny's mouth dropped into an 'O' as they entered. They were in a large circular room that straightened out farther out so you reached areas to leave for other rooms. The ceiling was huge, and on each side was a set of a slightly spiraled staircase. Both met up with each other at the top of both the second and third floor. The rails were made of porcelain, as well as the stairs themselves.
Antoinette rushed up the stairs as a man with dark brown hair began to come down. Antoinette rushed him down further, and the easier it was to make out his appearance, the more horrified Draco became. Tightening his squeeze on Hermione's hand, te tugged at her arm to whisper in her ear.
"Granger! You didn't tell me her fiance was an International Quidditch Star!" His eyes widened. This was a nightmare.
His reputation, you might ask? Answered simply with one word.
Ruined.
