'Hey-ho
'Hey-ho!' A jolly voice called out as Draco felt a small hand on his shoulder. Luckily, Draco learned from last time never to punch before looking, so he settled for turning around.
'Bex?'
'Hey, you're 'Mione's new man, aren't you! Drake, or something, wasn't it?' Bex grinned. She had ditched the blood red lipstick Draco had last seen her wearing, and instead had opted for a deep purple shade. Her hair was completely jet black now, though, and was arranged in a crazy fashion. On her, though, the look worked pretty well.
'Draco,' he corrected her. 'You look different.'
'I know,' she twirled a stray lock of her hair before letting it fall. 'I was looking at myself in the mirror and decided that I needed a change in my look.' She explained. She gave Draco a once-over and tiptoed to peek behind his back. 'You, however, are not with 'Mione. Where is the girl anyway? Did you like the little tips I gave her?' she gave a cheeky grin.
'Hermione is at home, resting.' Draco replied curtly. They stood in silence for a few moments.
'Well then, do you want to continue standing here, or do you want to go have some brunch with me?' Bex offered.
'Yeah, okay,' Draco said. It wasn't like he had anything to do anyway. And besides, Hermione grew up with Bex didn't she? Maybe if Draco had spent more time with Bex, he'd know more about Hermione, and finally figure out what to do next.
'So, if you don't mind me asking, are things alright between you and Hermione?' Bex asked as they waited for their food to come.
'I suppose...' Draco muttered. 'Not.' He let out a breath he hadn't know he'd been holding.
'I guessed as much,' Bex shrugged. 'What was it about?'
'Her Grandmother.' Draco responded and Bex gave him a knowing nod and rolled her eyes.
'Lily's in town, isn't she. Yes, well, that makes the two of us.'
'Lily doesn't like you too?' Draco asked.
'Not much. She thinks of me as a wild child and sort of despises my Mom just because she's a single mother, which I find pretty insulting, don't you think? I mean, Hermione and I are still best buds, but whenever Lily's around I just stay away from the house. Anna says it's 'cos both Lily and I have strong, different characters.' Bex gave a shrug.
'But you and Hermione are still friends?' Draco asked.
'Well if we aren't then I must have been hugging the wrong person at the club!' Bex laughed, before quietening down. 'There is no reason that you should have to stay away from Hermione just because of her Grandmother. I know Hermione thinks the world of Lily, but that doesn't mean you have to as well. Think about it, does Hermione know and dislike anyone in your family?' Bex asked.
'More than one.' Draco said.
'So there you have it.' Bex leaned back in her chair; pleased to know she has solved a problem for her friend. 'So what did you two do? Argue over Lily or what?'
'No, it was more of a...' Draco's voice trailed off. Should he really trust Bex so much? He barely even knew the girl.
'If you don't want to tell me, it's all right, I'm totally fine with it.' Bex nodded.
'No, it's not that, I just don't want to go much into it right now,' he lied. He knew Hermione trusted Bex, but then again Hermione trusted Lily too, and look at where that had gotten them?
'So, what are you going to do about Hermione now?' Bex asked.
Draco stayed silent for a moment, before letting out a sigh. 'I'm not particularly sure,' he said as he stirred his tea. Despite his recent resolution to return to his guarded self around people, something about Bex's personality made it difficult for him to stick to the resolution. Something about her character reminded him strongly of Blaise.
'If I know Hermione, she'll most probably be beating herself up about it as well.' She chuckled, 'even if it isn't her fault, she'd always blame herself. You'd think that since she was so smart, she would have more brains than to blame herself.'
'Hermione's good that way, I suppose,' Draco agreed, stirring his tea even more, although he never sipped it.
'That's our Hermione,' Bex agreed.
Hermione was awoken by the sounds of pebbles against her window. She straightened up, wincing when the action caused some of her back muscles to scream in protest. She glanced at the clock; it read 3 in the afternoon. She must have finally fallen asleep while reading the lengthy article on how Petignettes, a French herb, could have different properties and uses when it was placed in the same broth during different times of the day.
She gazed around, disorientated, for a moment, while the pebbles continued to hurl against her window. She finally got up, but had to pause for a moment as the room swayed dizzily, and walked to her window. A pebble narrowly missed her head when she opened the window.
'What?' She snapped.
'Hermione? You're okay!' a familiar voice rejoiced in a loud stage whisper.
Hermione's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. 'Ben?'
'Yeah, it's me! I was pressing the doorbell for hours but nobody answered. Will said you were home, though, so I thought you might have passed out concussed or something.' Ben replied, his volume still low.
'I fell asleep!' Hermione dropped her volume to match his, before saying, 'Hold on a second, I'll be down in a moment.'
'No wait! I'll climb up.' Ben stopped her and began his ascent up the old apple tree.
'Wait a second!'
Hermione quickly placed the heavy tome back into the shelf and disguised it with a spell, before returning back to the window.
'Okay, you can come now!'
She watched eagerly as Ben climbed up the apple tree, feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over her as she remembered how half her childhood memories consisted of watching Ben climb up this very tree and climb into her room. Oh sure, he could use the front door, but where was the fun in that?
'Stay back,' Ben reminded her, as he always had since they were 8. With that, he lunged into the room through the window, and his leg caught on the windowsill, as he fell to the floor with a thud.
'Ben!' Hermione gasped as she ran forward to help him up. 'Are you all right?'
Ben gave a grunt as he stood up, waving her concerned hands away. 'I'm fine; it's just been a while since I've done this, and I've forgotten how much I'd grown.' He gave Hermione a familiar toothy grin.
'What are you doing here anyway?' Hermione asked.
'I was just bored and wanted to see if you were free, or something,' he shrugged.
'Can I ask a question?' Hermione asked, 'why are we even whispering in the first place?'
They both looked at each other for a moment, before bursting out into a round of laughter.
'Yeah, that was pretty stupid,' Ben agreed, his volume returning to normal.
'Quite,' Hermione echoed. The events of last night suddenly flashed back to her and she felt a wave of sadness rush over her.
Ben must have caught the look that passed her face. 'Hey, is everything all right, Hermione?' Ben asked almost immediately, his eyes clouded with concern.
'Yeah,' Hermione lied, 'just a bit tired, is all.'
'So,' Ben's voice trailed off as he sat on her bed, and and gave her a toothy grin. 'What do you feel like doing today?'
'No way, Hermione punched you?' Bex asked, her mouth hanging open, offering Draco a view of her half-chewed food, which he would really prefer to not have seen.
'Yup. Right there on my chin. Never forgot that day.' Draco affirmed and took another bite of the fish and chips he had ordered.
Under ordinary circumstances, he wouldn't have settled for anything less than the grade of a sirloin steak with some well-aged wine to go with it, but under Bex's persuasion he had ordered the meal and was beginning to feel grateful that he did. Never had deep-fried beer battered fish seem so appealing to him than it had now, when his unforgiving stomach was grumbling, due to the lack of food from the morning.
'Didn't expect that of 'Mione,' Bex frowned for a second. 'She always seemed more of the type to talk her head off in a battle.'
'I'm just thankful she didn't have a book with her that day. She might have just whacked my head with it.' Draco paused for dramatic effect. 'Have you ever seen any of the books she reads? They're that thick.'
'I reckon if Hermione went to war the only way she'd win is to start reciting some boring information until her opponent kills himself out of boredom.' Bex laughed.
'Ha, yeah.' Draco chuckled, before biting his tongue, literally. It felt wrong to be laughing about Hermione. Bex seemed to notice this.
'Oops, sorry.' She apologized as she cut up another portion of her fish and popped it in her mouth after slathering it with tartar sauce. 'Shouldn't have gone that far.'
'It's all right. I shouldn't have followed.' Draco muttered.
Awkward silence ensued.
'Listen, what are the rest of your plans for the day?' Bex enquired.
'I don't have one. Just planned on walking around town.' And avoiding Hermione, he added silently.
'Well, I've got a new gig at this club at this place,' Bex said slowly, 'would you like to come help me set up?'
'No, Ben, it's not a bag of flour! Just a cup!' Hermione laughed and playfully slapped Ben's hands away from the measuring cup. 'I'll do it.'
'You're such a killjoy, 'Mione.' Ben mock whined, but moved over nevertheless to let her measure the flour. 'So, what can I help with?'
'Well, you can't crack an egg to save your life,' Hermione gestured towards the clear mixing bowl where bits of crushed eggshell laid suspended in the egg white liquid, 'nor can you cut apples without risking the loss of a finger,' she pointed at his thumb which was now bandaged, 'and we've just proven that you can't read very well either,' and she laughed when she had to duck the fistful of flour Ben had thrown at her, 'but! Fret not, my dear friend, you can clean up the mess and eat the food once I'm done.' She gave him a cheerful grin.
'So what's the point of baking when I don't do anything?' Ben asked, throwing his hands up.
'Yes you are doing something! You doing nothing is the biggest help that you can offer. Now stand aside and watch the master bake.' Hermione smirked and gave a little curtsy.
Ben growled at her but stepped aside anyway and leaned against the counter and watched her as she sifted the flour and mixed the wet ingredients manually.
'This reminds me of the time when we were six. Before you left for boarding school.' Ben said, his voice wistful. No doubt he was thinking of how much easier things were between them. Innocent afternoons between two bosom friends.
'Yeah. Well, we both were horrible in the kitchen, as I recall, and we tried to cook the cake,' Hermione said, oblivious to the change in tone of Ben's voice. 'That didn't go well.'
'Not very.' Ben echoed, his gaze becoming more intense on Hermione's face. If Hermione noticed, she didn't let on that she did.
'So where's the almighty boyfriend?' Ben asked casually. Hermione's breath caught as she suddenly jerked, before shaking her head as if shaking a bad thought away. In a sense, she was. She was trying to forget about Draco and the horrible recent events, and concentrate on spending the afternoon with her closest non-Magical friend, although it would make it a lot easier if Ben's testosterone levels would ease up and make him quit being so... Territorial.
'Off to see town,' Hermione replied, struggling keeping her voice light. She rejected any images her brain was recalling. Lily accusing Draco with a hard glint in her eyes... The tone of Draco's voice before he'd walked off... The way he had rejected Hermione's explanations... Then suddenly, it all came crashing down on her all at once and she broke off the mixing with a sob.
Ben was at her side immediately, his arm around her as if to prevent her from falling.
'Hermione!'
'No, it's all right,' Hermione managed between sobs, letting her tears run freely down her cheeks and onto Ben's shirt as she held onto him. 'Just let me get it all out.'
So they stood there for a long while, until Hermione's hiccups from crying subsided and all she could hear was Ben crooning silently to her.
'Want to tell me anything?' Ben asked. Hermione shook her head, certain that he would be able to feel it. 'All right then.' He conceded and continued to hold her in his arms.
'This is some interesting equipment here,' Draco commented.
'You act like you've never seen this before,' Bex laughed, unaware of how Draco had froze for a moment when she said it, before chuckling quietly. If only Bex knew how spot-on she was...
'So how do you usually do a show?' Draco asked as he took a seat.
'Well, I arrive about 4 hours prior just to get a feel of the place and run sound checks and everything. I know, 4 hours, you must be thinking that I'm a nutjob, but I'd like it best if I knew the environment better, and the type of crowd that comes, so I'd know which music best to play. And then of course I just put on some music and dance around.' Bex grinned as she slid on her first track and Draco watched as he fingers flew across the panel in a blur as she mixed it with some heavy bass beat and if he guessed correctly, an upbeat tempo from a violin.
'Yeah, my range of musical instruments is huge, I have it from a cello,' she slipped on a track to demonstrate her point, 'to a full-out hardcore heavy metal rock guitar,' she switched tracks, 'or maybe, even some African drums.' She grinned and mimicked the beat of the ethnic drums by tapping lightly on her panel.
'And you manage to use them in one tune?' Draco asked incredulously.
'It took me practice to try imagine how they'd sound like and even more practice to get them in the right sync. I do most of them impromptu, so if I screw up it's mostly live, which would of course suck ass,' she gave a dramatic sigh and flipped her hair in her best bimbo-impersonation. 'But, thankfully, that hasn't happened. Yet. Touch wood nine hundred and ninety-nine times.' She grinned.
'Sounds incredibly risky.' Draco commented.
'I think that's what life's about. Don't you?' Bex looked him in the eye with a look that clearly meant more than just an inquiry and suddenly Draco felt a tad uncomfortable.
'Yes well, definitely.' Draco said smoothly, not willing to let on his rattled emotions.
Was Bex trying to play for Draco? But she wouldn't, would she? Hermione's her best friend. She wouldn't turn on Hermione just like that... right? Draco shook his head, as if to dismiss the thought.
Just then, Bex turned on some unfamiliar Muggle music and hopped onto the stage where the poles were. Draco immediately stiffened at what was about to happen.
You can call me x,
you can call me y,
you can call me z.
You can come and try.
Come and try.
Bex grinned at Draco as she positioned herself over in front of the pole and slid down as easily as a snake would twirl around a vine. Her grin turned into a smirk as she spread her knees open when she reached the floor, and curled her body up slowly. It didn't help that her skirt was so short and Draco could see practically everything.
Don't know what you think you're doing to me,
(Hey! Stripper, Hey! Stripper)
Don't know what you see its getting to me,
(Hey! Stripper, Hey! I wanna be your mister)
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Draco knew he should turn and walk off, but for some unfathomable reason he just couldn't take his eyes off the wild girl on stage as she expertly slid up and down the pole, grinding herself against the metal bar.
Like your perfume,
Your skin is smooth.
The way you move,
I'm in the mood.
Tease the crowd,
Please the crowd,
I'm boiling I want you to see me now.
You get me girl,
When you're nervous well,
And when your hand is in the thong.
You may be right,
I close them tight,
You're saving the best for me tonight.
Bex's smirk turned to a full-out sensual smile as she slid up and down the pole, and as if on a whim, she discarded her top, so that the pole would slide between her breasts. She slid off the stage as easily as she got on, her breasts bouncing with her and she toyed with a long necklace around her neck. Draco couldn't look anywhere else.
I've come to stare,
I've come to stare,
You like me to stare?
Bex suddenly whirled around and smacked her bottom before turning back to Draco. I've come to stare,
I've come to stare,
You like me to stare?
I am a voyeur.
She reached Draco by this time, and he held with bated breath on what was going to happen next.
'So, think I'd make it as one of them then?' She inquired casually, referring to the pole-dancing girls, as she slid her weight to one foot, jutting out a hip. Draco just gaped at her for a moment.
Don't know what you think you're doing to me,
(Hey! Stripper, Hey! Stripper)
Don't know what you see its getting to me,
Hey! Stripper, Hey! I wanna be your mister)
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, NaSuddenly the idea of Bex just playing to get her best friend's boyfriend seemed all too possible.
A/N: Well, here it is. The long overdue Chapter 10. Suddenly my brain juices are flowing and I can type again. Woohoo!