CHAPTER 10
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A/N: Hi there! I really like this chapter and I'm excited to post it - I think it has a few really fun parts. Thanks for all of the reviews and the feedback - it's very encouraging. To Hotwingincident - I don't know why it's difficult to find me and my story - maybe it has something to do with me being relatively new to ff? I'm still figuring out how everything works so if there's something I need to do to make myself more visible or easier to find, let me know.
As always, I own nothing from the wonderful world of Harry Potter, but I love to frolic through it. Also, the next chapter might be a touch delayed - I'm traveling a lot over the next couple of weeks and I'll try to post, but things are going to be sort of hectic. I'll do my best!
Enjoy! xoxo-Wing
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Monday night found Draco and Hermione drinking on the terrace. She had to admit, having a roommate, even an obnoxious one like Draco, was kind of fun.
She had just finished telling him of her confrontation with Gideon, sparing no detail. Her eyes had sparkled as she recounted her boasts to Gideon about how she was Hermione Granger and didn't even know how to fail.
"And then he threw the newspaper on my desk and told me he had more copies if I needed any to send to relatives. The nerve! I was about to cut off an appendage or two, but he left before he pushed me to my limit."
They were silent for a moment, chuckling softly at Hermione's brave stance.
"You really have never failed at anything, have you?" Draco asked.
Hermione thought for a moment. "No, not really. Except for flying – I'm awful at flying."
"But you can do it, can't you?"
"I can, but not well."
"But you still can! That's not failing. What have you failed at?"
"Hmmm… well grades are out. I was never amazing at sports, but I held my own." She paused for a moment, thinking, then looked up, startled. "Draco! I don't think I've ever failed at anything!" She turned to him in amazement. "Have you? What have you failed at?"
Draco took a swig of his firewhiskey.
"I failed at killing Dumbledore. I failed at pleasing Voldemort."
"And thank Merlin you did," Hermione responded, clinking her glass to his. She couldn't believe how things had changed. Months ago, he would never have opened up to her like this. His hostility had abated so much; it had practically disappeared. She also would never have felt this comfortable talking to him like this.
"So you know what this means, Granger? You need to fail."
"I need to what?!"
"You need to fail. If you never fail, how will you appreciate your success? How will you know if you can bounce back from something and pick yourself up?" He could tell she wasn't buying it, so he switched to another tactic. "Hermione Granger!" he shouted drunkenly, "You are failing at failing! You can't fail – no matter how hard you try! I'm better than you at failing."
Her eyes immediately narrowed in focus. She took a strong swig of her drink.
"Malfoy, you're right. I need to fail! What can I fail at?!"
"I have one to start with. I challenge you to drink this entire bottle of firewhiskey!"
Sober Hermione would have scoffed. One-drink-Hermione would have eyed it, but realized she should stay away. Two-drink-Hermione would have tried a swig of it and decided it wasn't worth it. But three-drink-Hermione, which was the point she was currently at, thought it was a GREAT idea.
Draco handed her the bottle.
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She woke up the next morning with a pounding headache in a room where the light seemed far too bright and her furniture seemed to be strangely active, roaming around the room. She was still in her clothes from the day before and had collapsed spread-eagle in her bed, on top of the comforter. As she surveyed her surroundings, she saw the firewhiskey bottle sitting on her nightstand, still 1/3 full.
Her first failure.
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A few days later, Harry made his way to Hermione's office, silently prepping his speech. His girlfriend had been nagging him for days to ask Hermione if Ginny could set her up with a friend Harry had made in auror training. Harry had made the mistake of inviting him over for dinner. When Ginny found him charming and discovered he was single, she immediately insisted that Harry set him up with Hermione. This wasn't the first time Ginny had tried to set her up, but for the first time Harry didn't think it was such a horrible idea – he liked Matt a lot. Now he just had to convince Hermione.
He reached the door to her office and saw a sight he definitely wasn't expecting.
There sat Hermione, trying desperately to balance a spoon on her nose. Oblivious to his presence for a moment, she tried in vain to get that spoon to stay on her nose, but alas, to no avail.
She finally noticed Harry and beckoned him into her office, but did not put down the spoon.
"Should I ask what you're doing?" Harry asked.
"Failing." She responded. She set the spoon aside and looked at Harry with a huge grin.
"I never thought I'd see you so happy about failing at something."
"I know! It's just something I've started doing lately – Draco got me going on it. I realized that I was super bad at failing, so now I'm getting better at it. Look! I absolutely cannot balance this spoon on my nose." She demonstrated for Harry once more.
"I've also failed at holding my breath longer than a minute, parallel parking, and this really cool trick Draco can do with bubble gum where he blows one bubble inside of another bubble. I'd try harder to accomplish them… but I'm actually enjoying failing!"
Harry couldn't remember the last time he had seen her this excited. Taking advantage of her good mood, he got to the point of his visit.
"So… I had my friend Matt over the other night for dinner and Ginny really liked him. She's been hounding me for days to set you up with him so I figured I'd better pop on by before she hexes me again. I'll just tell her that you're not interested and we'll move on."
"Oh…. Well… maybe I wouldn't be that opposed."
"What? You'd really go for a set-up?"
"Well what's he like?"
Harry thought for a moment. "Umm… he's nice, and smart, and pretty good looking – according to Ginny! It's not like I've thought about it. He's a good guy, though. I think you would like him."
Hermione thought for a moment.
"Well what the heck, let's go for it. Worst case scenario, I'll have something else to add to my fail list."
"Great! I'll set it up. Meet him at The Pewter Cauldron in Diagon Alley tomorrow at 6."
Hermione acted cool, but inside she was actually pretty excited. After Harry left, she indulged herself in a girly smile and a little dance.
Good things come to those who fail!
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The next night, Draco sat on the couch, rubbing his temples. Hermione rushed into the room for possibly the fiftieth time, sporting yet another potential date outfit.
"What about this one? Or is this shirt a tad too long? Yes, I think it's about an inch too long. And does it even go with these pants? Oh, dear. Maybe I'll go with the shirt but change the pants. Or stick with the pants but change the shirt. Or I could wear a skirt!"
Draco groaned audibly. "You look fine. Just go with that one."
Hermione looked satisfied for a moment, but jumped with a new idea. "Wait! Just one more! I just remembered this dress that I have that I wore that one time-" Hermione raced back to her bedroom.
Draco frowned into his glass of water. Hermione had cut him off the firewhiskey for a bit, pointing out that alcoholism would hardly make him a more attractive defendant at the trial. A few minutes later, Hermione rushed into the room again.
Draco looked up. Hermione now wore a dark blue dress, sleeveless with a v-neck and an a-line tea length skirt. Of course, Draco didn't know any of those terms. He did know, however, that she looked incredible. She stood there nervously smoothing down her skirt, rambling about how she ought to put on a cardigan or maybe switch back to the jeans.
Draco stood and walked over to her. He couldn't believe how breathtaking she looked and, for a moment, found himself speechless.
He tucked a curl behind her ear and met her anxious eyes.
"This is the one. You look… well you look good. Or as good as you'll ever look, anyway." He quickly covered up his real impression and shoved his hands in his pockets. Hermione beamed as if he had told her she was the most beautiful witch he had ever seen, which at that moment was closer to the truth than he cared to admit.
"Thanks, Draco." There was an awkward moment where they stood, facing each other, about a foot apart. Suddenly, Hermione caught sight of the clock.
"Oh my gosh! I'm going to be late!" She grabbed a gray cardigan and raced for the floo.
"Wish me luck!"
But she disappeared before he could. He stood there, staring at the fireplace into which she had just disappeared, suddenly feeling very confused.
He decided to settle himself down with a crossword puzzle. He quickly found, however, that no matter how hard he tried, he could not concentrate on the page before him.
Ok, so he found her attractive. Big deal. He was a man and she was the only female he saw on a regular basis. He was probably just sex-deprived. That was all.
He read the first crossword clue. "Primary color besides red and yellow." He wrote "blue" and all he saw was Hermione's dress. "A day or an outing." He scribbled in "date" and angrily thought about the loser she would be meeting at the restaurant. "Farmer, rancher." The answer had seven letters. As he realized the solution was "granger," he threw down the newspaper and stormed into the kitchen, letting out an exasperated grumble.
Cleaning was his solace. He couldn't really explain his proclivity for cleaning, but somehow it calmed him down. He liked the sense of fulfillment it gave him as well as the perfection that resulted. He started with the counters. He washed them and cleaned them with the spray Hermione had gotten him for his birthday. Well, the same kind of spray, but his third bottle. He had gone through the first one in a week. He scrubbed out the sink, but was left with nothing else to clean. He considered rewashing all of the clean dishes, but he wasn't that desperate.
He stood in the empty, quiet apartment. He had been alone a lot since his house arrest began, particularly in those first couple of months before the job in the Potions Department, but this was the first time that he felt… lonely. Deciding he didn't want to consider what that meant, he grabbed a book and decided to call it an early night. He definitely didn't want to be awake when Hermione got back from her date.
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The next day was Sunday and everyone at the Burrow was excited to hear about Hermione's date, Ginny having filled them all in on her plans. As they sat around the table gorging on French toast and waffles, Hermione recounted her evening.
"He brought me flowers. Carnations – very thoughtful."
Or lame, Draco thought to himself.
"He pulled my chair out for me and opened every door we passed through."
Pathetic, Draco thought.
"We ate and chatted all night. He is very charming." Hermione practically beamed.
Draco grimaced.
Everyone at the table grinned at Hermione and shared her excitement, but only one person picked up on Draco's reaction – his new best mate Little Red. Setting Hermione up with Matt had been her idea, but now as she sat at the table watching him angrily cut up his sausage, she started to wonder if maybe she should have been meddling in… another direction.
"And Matt's going to join us for Quidditch this afternoon!" Harry announced. Everyone beamed and Draco consoled himself with the last sausage link, chewing sulkily.
After breakfast, they all poured outside to take advantage of the pleasant afternoon. Matt arrived with a friendly grin and hugged Hermione, whose cheeks quickly turned pink. Draco rolled his eyes. He already hated this prat.
After choosing teams, Harry had Ron, Matt, and Bill. He had chosen Ginny first, but she had just walked over to join Draco's team with a smile on her face instead, as she had done every time that Harry had selected her since he had first taken Draco's suggestion. Draco's team contained Ginny, George, and Fleur. Percy stomped around, pouting over not being picked for either team. Hermione manned her scoreboard.
They still weren't playing with beaters, but you wouldn't know it watching the game. Draco "accidentally" slammed into Matt's broom twice, once reaching out a leg and trying to kick him off. Claiming that he saw the snitch, he also once rammed into him with his shoulder. Matt took it all good-naturedly, which only made Draco hate him more.
After a few hours, when it became obvious that Draco wasn't even looking for the snitch and the August heat was starting to get to everyone, they decided to call it a day.
When they got back to Hermione's flat, Draco expected to be hexed and shouted at by Hermione, but instead she just sighed dreamily and sunk into her couch.
"Isn't he charming, Draco? And the way he flies on a broom… I think I really like him!"
Draco gritted his teeth behind her.
"Sure. He's fine." He stormed into his room and shut his door loudly behind him, but Hermione didn't notice. She was too busy planning her outfit for their second date the following night.
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Unfortunately for Draco, Hermione's relationship with Matt didn't end after the second date. Or after the third, or the fourth, or even the tenth.
As August came to a close, Hermione and Matt were still going strong. Matt often spent evenings at her flat and the two would watch movies together or play board games. Draco usually retreated to his room during those evenings, seething. His only consolation was that Granger had installed a small television in his room, providing him with some entertainment. Matt had even started regularly attending Sunday Brunch. Since his first visit to the Burrow three weeks prior, Molly had fawned over him. The boys loved him and appreciated another experienced Quidditch player. Ginny still greeted him with a smile, but Draco knew that if push came to shove, she was in his corner.
Not that he had a corner or anything, because that would mean he was somehow competing with Matt for something… or someone.
The only time Draco could truly get away from him was in the Potions Lab, and even that had been spoiled when Matt had started stopping by Hermione's office at the end of the day and accompanying her home as she escorted Draco.
Now Draco sat in his bedroom, spying on them through his window. Matt kissed her goodbye at the doorstep of her building.
What a putz, Draco thought to himself. He avoided Hermione when she got back to the flat, claiming a headache and going to bed early.
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On Sunday morning, Draco waited in the living room for Hermione to get ready for the trip to the Burrow. A month ago, she would have just gone out in her faded jeans, Gryffindor t-shirt, and sneakers. She would not even have bothered to run a brush through her hair. Now he sat, looking at his watch for the sixth time, wondering what was taking her so long. When she finally ran into the living room, Draco was surprised to see her hair pulled back in a pretty plait, a somewhat frilly top, and a skirt. He tried to hide his distaste. It wasn't that she looked bad – he just hated why she looked so nice. He sulked as she grabbed his elbow and apparated them to the Burrow.
Matt had not yet arrived when they got there. Hermione went to help Ron and Harry degnome the garden, while Draco stayed in the kitchen to help Molly.
Hermione quickly took the opportunity to rant about Draco's recent mood swing to her two best friends.
"We were making so much progress! Now he's just moping and grumbling every day. Has he said anything to you?" She asked the boys.
"No, but I don't see him much now that my potions internship is over. Maybe he's just going stir-crazy," suggested Harry.
"Yeah, maybe he has cabin fever," added Ron.
"Well I don't know what to do about it." Hermione sighed exasperatedly.
Harry thought for a moment as he helped Ron corner a particular feisty gnome.
"Well maybe we can help. He's probably sick of doing girly stuff all the time-" he stopped as he saw Hermione narrow her eyes.
"You know what I mean. Maybe he needs some guy time." Harry added.
"That would definitely help. Would you be on board, Ron?"
"I'll do it for you Hermione, but if he starts to be an insufferable prat, I can't promise I won't hex him."
"Deal." Hermione stated with a smile on her face.
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Draco watched the trio from the kitchen window, washing his hands after helping in the kitchen. Molly thanked him for his help and, finding nothing else that needed his assistance, sent him out to join the others. He started to head to the garden, but Ginny intercepted him and steered him toward another corner of the yard, far from Hermione and the boys. After watching him for the last few weeks, she had decided there was definitely something juicy going on, and she aimed to get to the bottom of it.
Draco looked over his shoulder, but nobody seemed to have noticed his captivity. When Ginny was sure they were far enough away from the rest of the brunch attendees, she spun Draco to face her and crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes. Her seriousness momentarily took him aback.
"Spill it, Malfoy," she began bluntly.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied stubbornly, refusing to meet her eyes.
"Every time Matt's around or any time his name is even mentioned, your face immediately sours. Like that!" she exclaimed, pointing out the instinctual look of disgust that had crossed his face when she said his name.
"I just think he's annoying, that's all."
"Really? Nothing more?"
"Of course not. Just a prat, that's all."
Ginny wanted to question him more, but at that moment the topic of their conversation appeared in the yard just as Molly shouted that food was ready. That boy really did have good timing.
Ginny and Draco walked back to the house and joined everyone for brunch. Draco grumbled inwardly when he noticed that the seat to Hermione's right, the one he typically occupied, was now home to the object of his displeasure: King Prat himself. At that moment, he realized that "prat" rhymed with "Matt" and immediately set about creating jokes in his head.
As the Weasleys and their guests dug into piles of baked goods and breakfast meats, Matt entertained them all with a recounting of his first solo mission as part of his auror training.
"I hadn't expected the dragon to possess that much fire!" he explained, to the amusement of his captivated audience.
Matt the prat. What a prat, that Matt, thought Draco.
"Once I managed to get a good angle on the soft bit of skin under his chin, I raised my wand and quickly cast the sleeping spell." Mrs. Weasley clapped her hands and Hermione sighed appreciatively.
My name is Matt and I am a prat. Matt prat Matt prat Matt prat. Ok, so maybe the rhyme didn't automatically lead to the best jokes. Still, he was having fun.
"It really just felt so good to help someone, you know?" Matt had clearly won over his audience, who all grinned at him with admiration. Even Ginny was finding it difficult to remember whose side she was on.
Draco had run out of rhymes, but at least they had occupied him through that prat's terrible story. Really, who can't subdue a dragon with a simple sleeping spell? Do something difficult and maybe I'll be impressed.
Draco was looking forward to knocking Matt off his broom during Quidditch, but unfortunately it was raining. After a mountainous breakfast, he and Hermione flooed back to her apartment. She didn't stay long, though; she and Matt had made plans to see a film and she quickly headed out.
Draco watched her leave from his window and turned back to his room after she was gone, settling on his bed with his arms folded behind his head.
He thought about Ginny's questions from earlier. He didn't really know why he hated Matt. He knew that he thought he was annoying and boring, but wasn't sure why he hated him for it. He thought of the other night, seeing Matt kiss Hermione goodnight.
Maybe that was it.
As that kiss ran through his memory, the little jealous dragon in the pit of his stomach roared.
"Oh, no," he whispered to the empty room.
Oh, no indeed.