DISCLAIMER: usual disclaimers apply
HI EVERYONE! Apologies are in order for the EXTREMELY long wait - life got in the way as usual, plus exams are NOT helpful for curing writers block (I had loads with this chapter). So to all who are continually putting up with my unreliability I thank you from the bottom of my heart 3 I have a few things planned for the future of this fic too - don't give up on me! I hope you all like this, and please review! Reading them makes my day 3
Blaise Zabini didn't like being woken up. Not by his mother when he was little, not by the sun when it forced its way through the curtains - not even by his alarm clock for work.
So when he was woken with a start by some obnoxious idiot knocking on his door at one o'clock in the morning, he was not in a very welcoming mood.
He lay in bed listening to the knocking and wishing whoever it was would just give up. Once it became clear that they had no intention of leaving him alone, he stood up off the bed, huffing and crumbling to himself. He put on his dressing gown and descended the stairs angrily, speeding up as he got further down.
Once he reached the door, he flung it wide open and was just about to give whoever it was a piece of his mind when he saw a familiar head of bright, platinum hair.
"Draco," he said, sounding shocked.
They stood there for a moment, looking at each other, one surprised and one scowling, and then Draco spoke.
"Are you going to let me in at any point? In case you hadn't noticed it's fucking chucking it down out here," he said irritably.
Blaise was too stunned to think of a witty comeback, so he just moved to the side to allow the blonde to enter.
As Draco made his way past him and towards the living room, Blaise shut the front door behind him. He was gradually coming round from the surprise of having Draco Malfoy turn up at his door after almost a year and a half without hearing from him. The cheek of him, thought Blaise. Who turns up after almost a year and a half of silence and thinks they can just waltz into someone else's house like it's their own?
He stepped into the living room just in time to see Draco pouring himself a drink from the bottle on the sideboard, and he lost it.
"What the fuck is this?", Blaise asked incredulously.
Draco stared.
"What the fuck is what?", the blonde replied, setting down his glass as he sat down on the sofa.
"You!" he shouted, "turning up at my house in the middle of the night! I haven't even heard from you in over a year, I had to find out from Potter that you were back in bloody England!"
"Why the hell were you talking to Potter?" Draco said, suddenly on the defensive. Blaise sighed deeply, throwing his head back in exasperation.
"That's not the point," he said, "and you need to put all that childhood rivalry shit behind you. The world's moved on Draco, so I don't want to hear any of your crap anymore. Pansy told me you've changed, but I don't know if I'm quite ready to believe it."
"I have actually," Draco retorted angrily, and I'll tell you about it if you'd untwist your knickers for just a minute."
Blaise sat down opposite him, still with a scowl on his face, and Draco started to tell him all about his year away and the changes that he'd inadvertently gone through.
He and Blaise had become close in their fifth year of Hogwarts, before Draco had been 'initiated' in his sixth. After that had happened, the pair quickly grew apart - Draco had become withdrawn and solitary, while Blaise had wanted to steer clear of the whole thing; he and his mother had chosen to remain neutral during the war. However, once everything had settled down again they had rekindled their friendship. Draco had reached out to Blaise, needing a friend when the whole world was giving him dirty looks and spitting at him as he walked past. So when he had turned up at Blaise's door that night, reeling from his argument and in dire need of someone to talk to, he hadn't expected Blaise to be this angry - he was usually the calmer and more measured half of Draco's two friends.
"Jheeze, so you really don't still believe that crap you used to spout off in school?" asked Blaise, evidently not prepared to believe him so easily.
"Well I'm no Dumbledore or anything," said Draco dryly, "but no, I don't."
The pair were silent for a moment, before Blaise remembered what else he had previously been angry about.
"Oh yeah," he said suddenly, a small scowl returning to his face, "how come you didn't write to me or anything?"
"Yeah, sorry about that," said Draco slightly uncomfortably, "I think I just needed to cut myself off for a while, you know? To try and sort my head out after what happened."
Blaise looked at his newly reinstated friend. He looked worn down, tired, and generally fed up. He still seemed a far cry better than when he'd seen him a few weeks after the final battle though, the day after his father had been sent to Askaban.
"Yeah," he answered after a minute, "I know what you mean. So how come you're here now then, was it just to come grovelling and to beg me to be your mate again?"
"Ha ha, very funny," Draco said without a hint of amusement, "and actually, no - I was at Pansy and Weasels house tonight-"
"Yeah, I know."
"Wait, how do you know?" Draco asked, genuinely curious, "Did Pansy tell you?"
"I have my sources," said Blaise with a smirk.
"Yeah, well anyway," he continued slowly, shooting Blaise a slightly suspicious look, "I was there for their stupid 'remembrance meal' thing or whatever, because Pansy practically begged me to go when we had lunch yesterday and-"
"You two had lunch without me?" Blaise butted in.
"Don't blow a fuse, you can come to the next one," the blonde said with a roll of his eyes. "And stop interrupting."
"Sorry," laughed Blaise.
"Anyway, I was just minding my own bloody business, outside and away from all of them, when who interrupts my one minute of peace? Fucking Granger."
"Hermione?"
"Yes you dolt, what other Grangers do you know? And don't call her that, it's weird when you say it," Draco said with a slight grimace.
Blaise just laughed again.
"So there she is, panting like she's run a fucking marathon, and when she sees me she nearly jumps higher than the bloody house."
"Did she sit down?"
"Of course she did, when did any of them ever pass up the chance to do my head in?" Draco said scathingly. "She sits there for a bit, and then somehow we end up talking for about two minutes before we start arguing. I forgot how easily irritated she gets," he said with a dry laugh.
"So then what?" prompted Blaise.
"So then I mention her parents, and she just stops what she's doing and starts screaming at me. I didn't have a clue, honestly, but it turns out they actually died about two years ago, just after the war ended. I checked with Pansy afterwards."
"Shit Draco, dead parents is a bit far, don't you think?" said Blaise with a grimace.
"I know," the blonde growled, followed by a deep sigh. "I mean I don't like the girl, and to be fair I didn't actually know, but even I know that that's just a shitty thing to do regardless of anything else."
"Don't you think-"
Blaise was cut off by a creaking noise above their heads.
"What was that?" asked Draco after a second.
"Floorboards," said Blaise with a frown. "I didn't really want to wake her up, but-"
"Who's up there?" asked Draco fervently, his curiosity sparked.
"L-"
"Oh hi Draco," came a voice from the doorway, "how are you?"
Stood at the entrance to the living room, dressed in what looked like a combination of multicoloured, fluffy pyjama bottoms and one of Blaise's work shirts, was none other than Luna Lovegood.
"Sorry love," Blaise apologised as the blonde haired witch came and sat cuddled against him, "didn't mean to wake you up."
"It's okay," she said sleepily, "I wasn't having a very nice dream, so I think I'd rather be awake anyway."
There was a peaceful sort of silence for a moment, until-
"No fucking way," said Draco, suddenly finding his voice. "You're with loon-" (Blaise slouched down, stretched his leg out and kicked his friend in the shin) "-Luna Lovegood? Am I even on the right bloody planet?"
"Yeah," Blaise said warningly, looking hard at his friend. "You're here on planet earth, with me - so watch what you say please."
Draco looked over at the former Ravenclaw, who didn't seem to have noticed the sudden tension in the room. Instead, she was gazing at the dark haired mans profile lovingly. Blaise seemed to sense her staring and turned around to return the look, his expression soft and his smile returning. Draco was just about to snort derisively when Luna suddenly turned her head, gazing at him inquisitively.
"How was your talk with Hermione, by the way?" she asked him, as if simply carrying on an earlier conversation.
Draco was taken aback for a second - partly by the girls sheer audacity and partly because he was shocked that she even knew in the first place. He flicked his eyes over to Blaise, who just looked back at him, the amusement and shock clearly written across his features.
"I- it-" Draco stuttered, still slightly shocked, before gathering his thoughts. "I just- how the fuck did you know?"
"Well-"
"I'll bet you any money Granger went crying to all of her little Gryffindor pals. Should I be expecting a little more hate mail than usual tomorrow? A howler or two maybe?" he said sarcastically and full of bitter resentment. Luna laughed.
"No silly," Luna said, (Draco didn't think he'd ever been called silly in his life) "it's just deduction." She stopped speaking, as if she thought that that amount of information would suffice, but upon seeing the puzzled faces of Blaise and Draco, she elaborated.
"It's simple really," she said, gesturing with her hands, "I first saw you leave straight after the meal, and I thought you'd left completely until I noticed Pansy go out of the back door and then come back in a few minutes later -"
"Yeah," Draco interrupted, "she came to ask me to come inside." He snorted derisively. "As if."
"Well yes, then a while later I noticed Hermione looked quite... sad. I wasn't sure why, and I was about to go and speak to her, but then she stood up and went out of the back door too."
"Well yeah, she did come out onto the porch, but how do you know we talked?" Draco asked impatiently. He had never been one for unnecessary details.
"Oh," she said, "well she came back inside a while later looking irritated but... sort of exhausted at the same time. And since you two have a little bit of a reputation for getting on each other's nerves, I assumed that you were still out there and that you'd more than likely talked to each other. Not to mention, it would be pretty hard to keep up an awkward silence out there together, given your current shared situation."
This time, it was Blaise's turn to be intrigued.
"What situation?" he said excitedly, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his lap.
Shit, Draco thought. In his frustration, he'd almost forgotten about that one particular shred of information.
"Draco and Hermione are soulmates," Luna said offhandedly, but with a slight mischievous glint in her eye.
"NO," Blaise gasped, looking between Draco and Luna with wide eyed astonishment. He always had been one for gossip. After about ten seconds, Blaise snapped out of his shock and fell back onto the sofa, clutching his stomach and guffawing.
"I-I can't... believe-that, after all those y-years-" Blaise managed to spit out between laughs.
"Yes, I know, I had in fact already noticed the startling irony there," Draco said scathingly, irritated that his friend found the whole situation even the least bit funny.
As Blaise's laughter subsided, he sat up straight again, regaining his composure.
"So," he said, leaning forwards and speaking matter-of-factly, "are you going to ask her out somewhere?"
"What?" Draco said, completely thrown by the question. The shock, though, was quickly replaced by indignation. "Why the fuck would I do that?" he said, looking disgusted. "It's Granger for merlins sake!"
"Well... yeah," the other man said slowly. "Your point being what? That you had a bit of a childhood rivalry? That you were in different houses in school? Or are you still hung up on all that pureblood supremacy bullshit?"
"None!" Draco said, irritated by his friends lack of sympathy with regards to the direness of the situation he was in. "I told you, that muggleborn stuff doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as it used to, and that childhood rivalry stuff is exactly that - childhood. It's in the past! Same with the house shit - I'm not 16 anymore!" he said, shouting the last few sentences of his tirade.
Blaise and Luna both looked at him with the exact same amused and mischievous look on their faces. No wonder they were fucking soulmates, Draco thought bitterly.
"So if none of that bothers you anymore, then why are you so opposed to her?" Luna said lightly.
"Well-" Draco faltered. He was momentarily struck dumb by the simple yet effective argument they had given, until he found the obvious answer.
"Because even aside from all of that, we just don't like each other," he said simply, leaning back into his chair. "We've got nothing in common, we have completely different life experiences and, to be completely honest, she doesn't interest me all that much."
"That's fair enough," said Blaise after a second or two, still looking vaguely mischievous. "But don't you think it would be beneficial for both of you if you at least tried to be civil? You're in the same social circle now, so you might as well give it a go. Show everyone the 'new Draco'" he finished with a smirk.
Draco just looked at him, unamused.
"Okay okay" he continued, laughing, "what I was going to say before though was I think you should apologise to her. Even if you don't like her and even if it was unintentional, bringing up her parents like that isn't great."
"I know," Draco said with a sigh.
He could tell Pansy to apologise for him, though that wouldn't really convey the fact that he did feel genuinely sorry. He supposed he could go and talk to her in person, but... no definitely not - way too personal.
"I'll write her a note or something," he decided. "Can I borrow your owl?"
"Sure," said Blaise, standing up and yawning, "go ahead."
Luna went and got him a scrap of parchment and a quill, and he leant on one of the many books scattered around the living room. Deciding on something short and to the point, he wrote quickly and sent the owl on its way, having asked Luna to tell it where to go.
With his conscience cleared slightly and his frustration practically all used up, Draco felt tiredness set into his bones like a heavy liquid seeping through him, weighing down his limbs.
"I think I'll make a move," he said with a yawn. "What time is it, anyway?"
"About two in the morning," Luna said, reading from the clock on the wall.
"Shit," he said, then sheepishly "sorry about waking you both up, by the way."
"S'fine," Blaise said, stifling another yawn. "You could just stay over here, if you wanted? And if Luna doesn't mind?"
"No, I think that would be fun!" the small witch said excitedly, "I'll make my special recipe pancakes for breakfast!" She then leaned in towards Draco and said "I put some grated dirigible plums into them, you know, to keep the nargles away," as if he was meant to know what on earth she was talking about.
He was about to say that no, he didn't know, and that he would really rather go and be on his own for a while, but the excited look on the girls face and the fact that he actually did miss spending time with Blaise made him say otherwise.
"Yeah I'll stay," he said, "just show me where I can sleep."
The next morning, just after eight, the three former classmates sat around Blaise and Lunas breakfast bar. The kitchen was a mismatch of the couple's distinctive styles - clean, elegant, white cupboards and light wooden countertops which were then covered with suspicious looking, colourful ingredients and ornaments. The walls were painted a bright, sky blue, while the floors were covered with crisp white tiles.
Despite his initial suspicions regarding the pancakes, Draco actually found himself enjoying the dirigible plums - even if he still didn't know what the bloody hell nargles were.
As the three of them slipped into a surprisingly natural conversation, Draco found himself quietly observing Blaise and Luna - their easy smiles, occasional touches and shared looks should have been out of place, given that Draco had never seen them even interact prior to the night before, but it seemed so... natural. He pondered on this to himself for a moment, before being snapped back to reality by someone saying his name.
"Huh?" he asked, not having heard what was said.
"I was saying," Blaise said, "what are you up to today? Because I have to be at the Ministry for work in about an hour or so."
Draco exhaled, suddenly realising that, without his research, his days were going to be extremely boring.
"Nothing much," he said, "but if you two need to get going I'll get out of your hair. I'll probably go to Diagon Alley or somewhere."
"I could come with you if you'd like," Luna spoke up, "I don't have to be at work until later on - Daddy said there's someone I need to interview at midday about newly discovered benefits of Gnome saliva."
Draco thought for a moment. In spite of his initial reaction to the blonde witch, he'd actually found himself enjoying her eccentricities and blunt observations - conversation so far had actually been quite amusing.
"Yeah okay, sounds good," he said. "Let me just go home quickly and get changed."
An hour later, he and Luna were walking along Diagon Alley, occasionally stopping to look in a shop or inspect a window display. Draco found he still got a few sideways glances as well as some outright glares, but being with someone else made them slightly easier to ignore. In fact, he found himself genuinely enjoying Luna's company - it was like talking to Pansy or Blaise, except with a few more insightful and genuinely weird comments scattered here and there.
As they walked and talked, they arrived at Flourish and Blotts. Stopping at the doorway, they both decided to go inside and read for a while before Luna would have to go to see about the Gnome saliva (which, she told a mildly interested Draco, was one of the most underrated and under appreciated substances out there).
Once inside, Draco chose a book from the 'New In Stock' section; Summaries in Philosophy. He'd heard some snippets about Muggle Philosophy in the past - Plato, Cicero and the likes - but he'd never really thought about it that much. The book, however, caught his interest, and he read the first page quickly before going to find Luna.
As he turned the corner of one of the isles, he saw a flash of the girl's long, platinum hair and started walking towards her, nose already buried in his book. He reached the table where she was sat and took a seat underneath a nearby window.
"Hey," he said, still not looking up at her, "you ever read anything about Muggle Philosophy?"
"A little," said Luna. "I found it quite interesting. I'm sure Hermione will have, though."
Draco' brow furrowed.
"Granger?" he said as he finally tore his eyes away from the pages to rest on Luna. "Why bring her-"
Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a familiar head of bushy brown curls. Her wide, dark eyes were looking directly at him, her whole expression a mirror image of the shock and slight distain he was also displaying.
"Oh, fuck," Draco said under his breath, just as
Hermione seemed to regain her usual composure. Her chin rose upwards a few inches before she looked back down at her own book.
"Actually," she said, "I do happen to know quite a lot about Philosophy."
The familiar know-it-all tone in her voice irritated Draco, and he had to consciously try not to shoot back with some snarky remark.
"I'm surprised you would even pick up a book on a Muggle subject," she continued, obviously trying to wind him up, "not worried you'll contaminate yourself?"
Draco shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He was just about to retort with the whole 'you-don't-know-a-fucking-thing-about-me-so-don't-pretend-that-you-do' spiel, when Blaise's words from the night before popped into his head.
"...Don't you think it would be beneficial for both of you if you at least tried to be civil?"
He dropped his head, exhaling deeply. Looking back up a second later, he saw Granger looking at him, vaguely amused at her own teasing.
"No actually, I'm not," he said with a blatantly forced smile, "I've been away for a year learning about merging magic with Muggle science, and I've developed quite a sizeable respect for Muggle academia as a result. Now if you don't mind," he ground out, quickly loosing his restraint, "I'd like to read in peace."
He took one last look at the curly haired witch in front of him before looking back down at his book.
He covered his sly grin with his hand - the reaction had been worth the almost physical pain the civility had caused him.
Eyes wide and mouth hanging open, Hermione Granger had looked like she'd just seen him eat his own arm.