Author's note: Ugh. Kitty needs moar than four hours of sleep. X_X
Draco groaned to himself and followed Granger inside. He knew he shouldn't have told her. Granger didn't function on the same level as mere mortals. She didn't make mistakes like that, and she would never understand or forgive a weakness on this level in others. How did one explain weakness to someone as idealistic as that?
He caught up with her just inside their suite. 'Hey,' he said, touching her elbow and flinching as she all but jumped out of reach. 'I didn't do anything to you, remember?'
She just shook her head and made to leave, but he grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to stay. 'I didn't do anything to you,' he repeated. 'And...' He swallowed. 'Maybe the fact that I did it to anyone is partially why I don't want that kind of relationship again. I'm an insensitive arsehole. I'd ruin the things that mattered and make someone cry. That's... not what I want. An arranged union is bound to be calmer, isn't it?'
She jerked free. 'Maybe if you'd learn to think,' she harshly said. 'Being faithful should be the easy part of a relationship!'
For a moment he stared at her, not understanding why she got so upset over something that had nothing to do with her, but then he suddenly had a flash of inspiration. 'You've been cheated on.'
'Not like that!'
'But you have, correct?'
'So what if I have?'
'It still wasn't me who did it,' he pointed out perhaps a little too smugly.
'No, you would've done worse!' She shook her head and turned away from him.
He sighed. 'Tell me about what happened to you?'
'Why would I?'
'Because you teased and nagged me until I showed you mine and now you're mad at me for something I did to someone else years ago. At least tell me your story.'
Granger shrugged and looked away. 'Fine. You want my story? We'd fought and weren't talking. Ginny convinced me that I needed to show him that I was fine without him to get him to appreciate me, so we planned for me to get all prettied up and go to this place he liked going to. I was running late because of work and when I got there, he was with someone else. The end.'
Draco blinked. 'With someone else... doing what?'
'What do you think they were doing?'
'Well, I don't suppose you caught them having sex...'
'No! Although they might as well have been. They were kissing. Heatedly.'
'That's it? A kiss?' he asked, feeling quite boggled. Why would she react so strongly if this was the worst kind of cheating she'd endured?
'It was a lot for me,' she defensively said. 'I'd spent all this time thinking about him and being upset and he... well, he was already moving on.'
'No, he wasn't.'
'Excuse me?'
'Snogging someone? That's not necessarily moving on. That's just... acting out. Don't tell me you broke it off over that?'
'Why I do or do not break off my relationships is none of your concern!' She scowled at him in a very telling way.
'So you did, huh?'
'No! Well, yes. But no. Other reasons. And it seemed time to do it before he, you know, pulled a Malfoy!'
He pursed his lips, not quite able to tell if she was making fun of him or merely disparaging him. 'Technically, to "pull a Malfoy" you'd both have to be-'
'Stop it right there!' she forcefully said, cutting him off.
'What?'
'Just stop it right there! Don't talk or even think any further!'
He did a double-take. No, that couldn't be! 'You can't seriously mean to say that you were-'
'I told you to stop!'
'But then you'd have to still be-'
'Malfoy!'
He stared at her. She seemed to find constantly interrupting him preferable to letting him finish any sentences about her sexual experience - or lack thereof. It really could only mean one thing. 'You're still a virgin, aren't you?'
'That is none of your business, and I told you to stop it!'
'But it all adds up so well... What happened? You wanted to wait for marriage, but marriage never happened?'
'I'm not dead. Yet. Marriage could still happen.'
'But we almost-'
'Mistake!'
'Indeed! You didn't tell me and I was too far gone to notice anything... Bloody hell, Granger.' He shook his head. He'd never been with a virgin and from what he recalled from a few nights ago, he'd been so wrapped up in how good he had felt that he could have really hurt her.
'Oh, don't give me that. It's a hymen, not an exploding device. You can't accidentally trigger it and kill me. It certainly wouldn't have hurt you. At most, there would've been additional discomfort and a lot of remorse on my end the next day.'
'But what's with all the waiting?' he asked. 'It's really not... I mean... You're just going to get disappointed.' He was so shocked he was blabbering and didn't manage to stop himself before he'd already put his foot in his mouth.
She raised an eyebrow. 'Quite the sales pitch from someone otherwise eager to get into my knickers.'
In for a knut... he might as well go with it. 'I mean it, Granger,' he said. 'Sex is... can be... good. But very rarely the first time. Or even the first ten times. Why make such a big deal? Is it a religious thing?'
She narrowed her eyes at him. 'It's not about the sex. It's about wanting intimacy and closeness with that one special person. Why does there have to be any other reason than that? But maybe it's simply too idealistic and naïve. After all, men seem to be led by their genitals and thus incapable of staying true for any length of time unless you feed their... libido.'
'I don't think it's fair you judge my entire gender for something I did. Years ago.'
'It's not just you! It's everywhere I look. It's bloody depressing. I feel like... like I've been lied to! I quit!'
'Quit what?' he asked, thoroughly confused, but what else was new?
'Believing.'
'In what? Marriage?'
'Yes! Among other things.'
'Relationships?'
'Most of them.'
He raised an eyebrow. 'Sex?'
'No, that's the ever-present power that the world will never get rid of. Our society as we know it is completely controlled by genitals, which, by the way, explains the current Minister of Magic!'
'Yet you haven't had it,' he pointed out.
'Quit rubbing it in, Malfoy.'
He shrugged and pursed his lips to hide his beginning amusement. 'Hey, you know I'm always open to educating you a bit if that's what it takes.'
She snorted. 'After what you told me? Not on your life.'
He sighed exaggeratedly. 'I was afraid you'd say that. It's so unfair. I've never done anything like it since.'
'You've never cheated on another witch?' she asked.
He hesitated a little too long.
Her eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened. 'God, Malfoy, I never knew how disgusting you were!'
He flushed. Now he was suddenly disgusting? Because he was honest about not being perfect? 'Hey! You don't get to judge me based on a few messed up relationship decisions I've made! We can't all be bloody virgins, hiding from life and waiting for some mythical "right" person to come and swoop us up. People make mistakes. That's how they learn!'
'And pray tell, what did you learn, Malfoy? How to get a witch into bed more easily? How to be a better liar?'
'I didn't lie to you tonight and look at how rewarding that's been!'
'Why would you lie to me? You realised I wasn't going to sleep with you, so why bother, right?'
'You almost did!'
'I. Was. Drugged!'
Draco realised they were shouting, so he lowered his voice a little before continuing, 'That's a handy little excuse you have there. Were you drugged at the library too? How about at the beach?'
'We weren't even close to having sex there!'
'Maybe not. But you were enjoying yourself; it was easy to tell. You didn't think I was disgusting then!'
'I'd forgotten what you were really like. Pretty islands sometimes have that effect on people.' She turned away as if dismissing him and it really annoyed him. How dare she act as if he was solely defined by some of his worst actions!
'What I'm really like? You have no clue what I'm really like! You never cared to find out!'
'Then enlighten me, Malfoy. Tell me what you're really like.'
'I'm someone who at least tries.'
'Tries to do what?'
'Tries to do better!'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
Draco sighed. She didn't even care what he had to say, so why did he bother? 'You're not going to listen, so I'm not going to bother getting into details, but believe me, I try. All I want is my money and my freedom so I can go somewhere else and settle down and adopt some kind of really boring domestic routine and never ever see you or your friends again. I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to that!'
She opened her mouth but no sound came out, so she cleared her throat and tried again. 'Oh. Well. Then... Likewise! Hopefully we should be done tomorrow. Goodnight.' Then she turned on her heel and went straight to the bathroom.
Draco got the feeling it was something he'd said.
The next morning found Hermione pacing and biting her nails. She wasn't usually much of a nail-biter, but if there ever were an occasion, she thought today was it. Being out in the open with someone who wanted you dead nearby was never a comfortable scenario. Harry had assured her that her protection would be following her closely, but all it took was for one spell to hit her. One single wayward spell and her grave would say Hermione Malfoy, just because Malfoy would attempt to annoy her past death. He'd probably spend her funeral taunting her too. That was, if he'd even attend the funeral. Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he'd think his job was done and be off... domesticating.
How annoying.
She stopped pacing and stared over at where he sat, calmly reading today's paper.
'Are you coming to my funeral?' she asked.
He frowned and looked up. 'Dying now, Granger?'
'Maybe. I don't know. At some time I suppose I will be. But if it's any time soon, will you be at my funeral, or will you just be off wherever?'
He slowly folded the newspaper before he replied. 'I don't think I like how you're already sending invites to your funeral.'
'You're evading the question!' She narrowed her eyes at him. 'You're not coming, are you? You'd ignore my death!'
'I hardly think I'd be ignoring-'
She held up her hand, cutting him off, and began pacing again. She'd been right. He wouldn't come. They'd been posing as married in front of everyone who knew them and he'd had his tongue down her throat, but he couldn't be arsed to even go to her funeral. Perfect. Just... perfect. But what had she expected? He was Draco Malfoy! He'd demanded that she "upgraded" her looks in order to even pretend to be interested in her! He was rude, obnoxious, shallow and... she didn't want him at her funeral! So there! If anything, it was good to be reminded that they weren't friends. Better to be reminded now than to feel betrayed later, right?
'So why all of a sudden so morbid?' he asked.
She didn't know. She really didn't know. All she knew was that her nerves were raw and she found the fact that he wouldn't even pay his last respects to her inexplicably upsetting. 'I'd go to your funeral,' she muttered.
'Well, you'd have to, wouldn't you?' he pointed out. 'I'd only die if you failed to protect me.'
And that would make his parents terribly upset, so she'd risk getting hexed for going! 'You can't come with me.'
'Well, of course not. I'd be dead.'
'No. Today. I'm going alone.' She grabbed her handbag and unzipped it, checking that she had everything, including her purse. She pointedly ignored how her hands shook. It was only healthy to be a little afraid when people were out to kill you. Never mind that she was in such an odd jumble that she had no clue where fear even factored into anything.
'You are not!'
'Well, no. Harry's people will follow me. But you can't come.'
'Because I wouldn't go to your funeral?'
'No! Because I don't want to go to yours! I can't... focus enough to protect both of us. I have to be alone.' This was, as far as she could tell herself, the truth.
'You really think this is it?' he asked, now a little more subdued.
'Yes.'
'And yet you expect me to stay here?'
'Yes.'
'What if the killer decides to come for me instead?'
She shook her head. 'He won't. It's me he wants.'
'How did you even know it was a he, again?' Malfoy asked.
She sighed. It was a fair question and, unfortunately, there was no good excuse to start a fight over it. Somehow she wanted to start a fight. That was a bad sign. 'A Hit Wizard saw him last time. Not clearly enough to see his face, but clearly enough to certainly know it was a man.'
'Last time... Oh, yes, you told me. They were protected but still ended up dead.'
She shook her head. 'No, the husband is fine.'
'I really doubt he is.'
'I meant physically. I didn't mean to imply anything else.'
'I really hate that it's one of the same people protecting us as them.'
Hermione frowned. 'What do you mean by that?'
'They failed.'
'They did the very best they could! They couldn't know the killer would lure the witch out where they couldn't get to her in time. And nobody would be able to lure me!'
He snorted. 'So defensive. Potter was another one of the protectors, wasn't he?'
Hermione really wished she knew what to do with her hands. 'No... but Ron was.'
Malfoy nodded. 'But he still failed.'
'Don't you think he knows that?' she exploded, venting her nerves at Malfoy even though she knew better. He was far from innocent anyway. And he could take it. 'He found the witch and he tried to save her. When backup arrived, he was completely covered in blood and she was cold, but he was still trying to save her. Something broke in him once it was made clear to him that he couldn't. He's been on sick leave for months and might never start up again because of it. Something in him simply couldn't cope with the fact that he was sent to protect someone and they still died horribly. He certainly doesn't need you to tell him that he failed. Besides, he's not even on this case, so back off!'
Malfoy didn't respond for a while, but then he said, 'I'm sorry.'
She raised an eyebrow at him. 'You're what?'
'Sorry, Granger. You do know the meaning of that word, don't you?'
'Yes, I just didn't know you did too.'
He leant back in his chair. So annoying. 'It sounds like he had a rough time of it. I've never been anyone's protector, but I can empathise with ugly failure.'
This was getting depressing. She didn't want to talk about Ron or blood and death. 'I need to go now. Alone!' she reiterated.
'Not on your life,' he said, getting to his feet and neatly putting his paper away. 'And I do mean that quite literally, it would seem.'
'No, it's on your life. You'll get in the way and get killed. Not only will we have a corpse on our hands then, but we also won't have a set-up any longer.'
'So much affection, Granger, I almost can't take it. I'll be careful. I'll hide behind you like a proper wizard. Will that make you happy?'
'Why can't you just stay here?' she asked more quietly. 'It'll all be over soon.'
'Soon? There is no soon. I'd go insane waiting in these rooms. And don't forget - what if you're wrong and you come back and find me dead. Imagine the guilt!'
'Somehow, I think I'd learn to live with it.'
'Granger...'
She threw her hands up, feeling beyond exasperated. 'Fine! Whatever! But just so you know - if you die married to me, I'm inheriting all your things.'
'Fine by me! I'm dead, so I don't really care!'
'Your mother would be so cross with you.'
'You don't need to sweeten the deal, Granger. I'm sold. Let's go!'
Hermione shook her head but then stopped to take a good look at him as a thought occurred. She slowly smiled. 'Oh, but there is one thing...'
Draco gave his mirror image a horrified stare. 'This is a joke, right?'
'No,' Granger said, barely suppressing a laugh whilst leaning against one side of the opening to the tiny fitting room of the shop. 'That's... Muggle.' She beamed at him.
He knew she was poking fun at him. He just knew it. 'This thing certainly won't cause less attention!' he argued. 'I brought several non-robe items!'
'But you look so stuffy and out of place in all of them. No, you need trainers, khaki shorts and a floral print short-sleeved shirt. Want red or blue?'
'I'm not a child! You can't limit my choice to colour!'
'Then you get red.'
'No! Wait! I... prefer blue,' he admitted.
She cackled all the way over to the register, causing him to indulge in a few violent fantasies. Unfortunately, violent fantasies weren't really as much fun when there was a good chance of her actually being hurt. What a bother.
But at least she had to pay for the clothes, since he didn't happen to carry Muggle money around. Neither did she seem to, but apparently looking at some little plastic card was enough.
He'd wanted to use a wizarding shop, but no. Of course they weren't good enough. Bah. How could he possibly have looked more ridiculously out of place before than he did now?
At least her mood seemed to have improved. All that talking about funerals... How was he supposed to have confidence in what they were doing when she did that? There was also the fact that he didn't deal that well with death. As far as issues went, he didn't feel that was the worst one he could have, but he supposed it only put him further in the coward category. A coward and a cheater.
He supposed that was why she'd avoided the bedroom again last night, even though he'd already proven that he could easily keep from harassing her if they slept on opposite sides of that huge bed. It annoyed him to no end that she was making silent statements like that. He hadn't actually changed the least bit since they got here! He was still the same as before, so the only reason for her disdain was that she'd got to know him better and that he hadn't pretended to be someone he wasn't.
Why did witches never want to know the truth? Didn't they realise that everyone was messed up in their own way, and if they found someone who wasn't, they'd only found someone who was actually lying about it?
'Are you ready?' Granger asked, returning her purse to her handbag as she came back towards him. 'Just leave the other clothes here. We can pick them up later. Maybe.'
He shrugged and followed her out. 'I suppose. I'm suspecting that you only want me to wear this to make a bigger target out of me, though.'
She flashed a smile at him. 'Nonsense. You're the same size. You're just a more visible target!'
'Ah, yes. How come you don't have to wear ugly shirts?' He eyes her spaghetti-strap pastel summer dress. He liked Muggle fashion for women. Especially Muggle fashion for women in warm areas. Not to mention the Muggle beach fashion. He could spend many hours looking - and not just at Granger. The wizarding area was fairly deserted, but once you got to the Muggle areas... some of them didn't even wear tops! He'd asked Granger if she didn't feel like sunbathing topless too and had got his head smacked for his trouble. Too bad. It would've been fun.
'Because I don't,' she merely replied to his question. 'But if you'd prefer to wear a dress instead...'
'Right. Muggles look at men in dresses less oddly than they look at men in wizarding fashion. I believe that.'
'As you should!'
He glanced at her again. She was determined to take Muggle transportation north and then go for a walk in the lower hills in just her sundress and sandals and her ever-present handbag. She'd said she didn't intend to be hiking per se, and she didn't intend to be at it for too long, so she didn't need to wear more practical clothes or bring food.
She looked vulnerable. Very vulnerable.
He supposed that was how she wanted to look. He just didn't like it.
Hermione stood on the narrow road and looked up the hillside, pursing her lips. The area was a bit different than she'd thought, but she wasn't exactly sure what she'd expected. Something a bit more... isolated, she supposed. Not that this wasn't isolated - it was - but there was a road. And she certainly couldn't begin to climb either up or down without risking serious injury all on her own. Also, wandering aimlessly along the road seemed a bit stupid. There was nothing new to see. Just... more rocks around them and more sea on the horizon. Malfoy was standing quietly behind her until he heard a car and then quickly moved to stand beside her. He didn't seem to like cars much. Or buses.
'What now?' he asked.
She shrugged. 'There should be another village ahead.'
'So we walk there?' he asked.
'We aim for it at least.' If they were attacked before they reached the village, Hermione had every intention of Apparating back to the hotel.
Malfoy was squinting and looking around. 'I don't see anyone.'
'You shouldn't.'
'No, but... shouldn't Potter's people at least give some sign?'
'Not really. It's better if they stay as hidden as humanly possible. Let's go; I want to eat today.' She began walking, ignoring that nagging, uneasy feeling that Malfoy was right. Harry's people should at least have given some kind of sign. But letting Malfoy know that there was something to worry about didn't serve any purpose. He was a civilian and it was best to keep him calm.
'You could have brought food,' he muttered, but followed.
She could have. She'd even thought of it. But in the end she'd only brought a bottle of water, in case it got too hot. She didn't want to look like she'd planned this too much beyond getting to the next village.
'What if they leave you alone,' Malfoy quietly asked. Hermione appreciated that he was quiet, but really didn't think anyone could hear them out here.
'Then I'll think of something else,' she replied. 'I don't want to go back home empty-handed.'
He made to reply but then instead made a very annoyed sound. She looked back to see that his brand new Muggle trainers had come undone and he was staring at them as if it were a personal offence to him. Chuckling to herself, she left him to re-tie them, figuring he'd catch up. It really was funny how much he hated his new clothes.
Again, she squinted at her surroundings, even going as far as going to the edge of the road and looking down the slope. Everything was peaceful. She got nothing from being up here except massive boredom and the sense that this plan that had seemed so exotic and daring in her mind had taken her to a very mundane place - albeit a mundane place with a vista.
She turned back to Malfoy to tell him to hurry up, only to see him staring up above her. She followed his gaze at the same time he shouted at her to get out of the way and leapt towards her. She was already in the process of getting out of the way of the enormous rock that had decided to casually fall out of thin air, when he hit her and knocked her off balance, for a moment giving her a sense of hanging suspended in thin air as she saw the rock hit right next to where she'd been standing a few seconds earlier - before she heavily landed on him, but rather than rolling with his fall, he was sliding down the slope on his back with the weight of two, until he managed to sufficiently dig in his heels and they stopped.
A bit dazed, still unsure what had just happened, Hermione rolled off him.
'Ow,' he said.
She looked over at him to catch him wincing and then looked around to see if danger had followed. Again, she could see nothing, but she got out her wand just in case.
'You should have rolled,' she said.
He shook his head. 'It gets steeper down there. I prefer my neck unbroken.'
She looked down. 'Huh. I suppose neither of us is exactly Sonic the Hedgehog, so good call.'
'Sonic-the-who?'
'Hedgehog. When I was a kid my cousin had- never mind. Not important. Roll over.'
'No, thanks.'
'Don't be silly. Roll over and let me have a look. Emergency healing in the field was part of my training.'
'No... I really don't want to move right now. Maybe later.'
'Don't be such a baby!'
'Baby? I saved you from that thing!' he indignantly said, although he still didn't move.
'It wouldn't have hit me. Besides, you aren't supposed to save me from anything, remember?'
'How can you tell it wouldn't have hit you?'
'I saw where it landed. It wouldn't have hit. I suppose it can be difficult to aim large boulders at people's heads. Also, our killer has seen too many cartoons.'
'Seen too many what? Are you saying it's a Muggle?'
She sighed. 'No... just... move over!' She grabbed his arm and pulled, making him cry out and she dropped it again. 'Work with me, Malfoy!'
'I... don't... just a minute, all right, Granger?' He closed his eyes and for the first time she noticed how pale he'd become and it worried her a bit in spite of herself.
'Look, Malfoy,' she said. 'I'm sure it hurts a lot. Stings and burns. Your whole back is probably scraped raw. But if you insist on staying here, it'll only keep stinging and any cuts might get infected.'
'I know,' he said, wincing again. 'I'm just... trying to get a handle on everything. Especially my shoulder is on fire. I think that rock hit it as I was making an arse of myself, but I'm not actually sure. It all went so fast.'
'You didn't make an arse of yourself. For once. But you have to let me look. And, also, you're banned from coming along on any other attempts there might be to draw anyone out. But fortunately, this area is so deserted that it should be no problem for Harry's people to catch our perpetrator.'
Grunting, he finally slowly sat up. 'How bad is it?'
'Well...' Hermione muttered, looking over the damages. 'This shirt won't ever be worn again.'
'And what's the bad news?'
She tore some more at the already partially shredded shirt to let her see better. 'As I thought; mostly scrapes and bruises. A potion and some rest should help those.'
'Mostly?'
'Well...' She pushed away the cloth near his shoulder to reveal a bigger wound. Deeper too, because a sharp piece of rock was still firmly embedded in it and she didn't dare try to remove it for fear she'd accidentally sever some nerves, hit an artery, or dislodge splinters of bone. 'How bad does your shoulder hurt?'
'Like the devil.'
'Huh.' She bit her lip.
'What?'
'Can you move your arm?'
He moved his arm slightly then moaned and grimaced. 'I suppose.'
'I'll take that as a no.'
'What's wrong back there?' he asked, sounding worried.
'Well,' she said, getting to her feet and scanning the area around them. 'The good news is that we have magic.'
'And the bad?'
'I don't know that much about human anatomy. Only enough to be glad we have magic.'
'You said you could heal me!'
'Yeah, um... I'm not touching that.' She fully turned on the spot, still not seeing anyone and then called out, 'We could use some help here!'
Malfoy looked up at her. 'I'm actually hurt, aren't I?' he quietly asked.
She shrugged, going for carefree. 'You'll live.'
'Except you're looking worried. About me. And you just tried to contact the people you've completely ignored so far.'
'So maybe I'm a little nervous about nerve damage.' She frowned. 'Why the hell isn't anyone responding?'
Something was seriously off here.
