Chapter 11
A/n: Shout-outs to my wonderful reviewers!
Forbiddened 1991: you're welcome^^ and the conversation was very refreshing! Gave me a couple of ideas actually! So thank you!
AlexM17: Thanks! Why the "Gah"?
Hottopicgirl: Thank you (:
Iluvfantasy123: yes, yes. But I was too lazy to go search for everything! It's just a general spell!
VampireQueenBrittany: YES LUCIUS IS A DOUCHE. But there would be no story if he died. XP and maybe, *hint, hint* Hermione will get her memories back soon!
Matt-on-Matt: I know. Sexxay! HAHA.
Disclaimer: I do not own HP.
Finch98: you're welcome! Review more eh? ;) here's your SECOND shout-out!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Now…*drum roll*
Recap:
It's getting late and I'm hungry," Harry complained, and left with Ginny. Blaise bid goodbye and left too, leaving Hermione and Draco to ponder in their own thoughts.
Chapter 11- A Decorative Mess
"Hermione?" Draco mumbled, draping an arm over her.
"Yes Draco?" She replied sleepily, and her eyes flew open.
She pushed Draco's arm away and leaped off the sofa. She was prepared to jump into the shower and rush to pack when she realized it was a Saturday. She smacked herself lightly on the forehead. Then, without waking Draco, she walked into the recently attached kitchen of the Headroom and prepared breakfast for both of them. She fried sausages, eggs, bacon, and even had time to bake cookies and a cake. Draco hadn't even stirred.
Hermione set the food in front of Draco, rolled her eyes at him and shook Draco awake before shoved him off the sofa.
He landed on the floor with a thud, followed by a drawn out groan.
"What was that for?" He complained, rubbing his back as he got up slowly.
"I want to sit. And I prepared breakfast." She motioned to the table that was piled with food.
"You did this yourself?" he asked, amazed that she could even cook.
"Yes. And I cleaned up too. We have eggs, sausages, bacon, chocolate chip cookies and a banana cake. For beverages, we have fresh orange juice, Himalayan tea, and fresh brewed coffee."
Draco just gaped at her. Then he smirked. "How do you propose we finish all this food?"
Just as the words left his mouth, a knock resounded on the door.
"Coming!" Hermione called, ignoring Draco's question.
She opened the door to let in Harry, Ginny and Blaise.
Draco's eyes widened in understanding and he heartily dug into the pile of food.
"I must admit Hermione, that was excellent." Draco was lounging on the sofa, after having eaten about a quarter of the food Hermione cooked.
"Thank you Draco. It's satisfying to see someone enjoy my cooking." She smiled and waited for everyone to finish before sending the plates to wash themselves up.
"Now, we need to go into Hogsmeade to get decorations for the Ball. I need you guys cos I have no clue what to get." Hermione looked at the four faces in front of her. They all looked mystified when she mentioned decorations. She rolled her eyes and told them the basics of Halloween decorations.
"So all we need to do is just go into shops and search for scary-looking stuffs?" Draco asked, before anyone else could.
"Pretty much. Also search for streamers to curl and hang on the walls." Hermione replied, gathering her stuff in preparation for the trip to Hogsmeade.
"Any questions?" Hermione gestured to the group.
"Just one. Yesterday, when you said the counter-spell was just finite Incantem it's just a general counter-spell right?" Hermione nodded and motioned for Blaise to go on. "Well, if that's the case, then is there a specific counter-spell for each of those charms?"
"Yes there are Blaise, but it's easier to teach you just the charms and use finite Incantem to counter it, as I'm afraid that you might mix up both spells and it would result in a huge disaster." Hermione explained patiently
They decided to meet at The Three Broomsticks at noon. Hermione shooed them away as she still had to pack some things.
~LATER~
"Hey sorry I'm late. I had to pick up Lucinda." Draco hurried into The Three Broomsticks and ordered a butterbeer.
"Pick her up? Why wasn't she with the others?" Hermione asked. They had planned for fourth years to leave together with the sixth years.
"I pulled her aside to talk to her and she missed the ride. So, I flew her here." Draco grinned. "Anyway, she's safe with her friends now." He took a sip of the butterbeer and savoured the warm sweet liquid sliding down his throat.
"We've complied a list of things while you were gone. These are the things we're going to go around looking for." Hermione pointed out that a giant pumpkin might be hard to find, so they would split up. Harry and Ginny could go find the decorations like skeletons and lights, fake blood as well as the streamers while Draco, Hermione and Blaise would search for the giant pumpkin, as well as some smaller ones.
They walked around in Hogsmeade until they found the pumpkin patch.
After searching for a while, and picking up some decent sized ones, Hermione found a truly huge pumpkin. It was almost as tall as her!
"Look at this one! It's huge!" Hermione beckoned Draco and Blaise and saw their eyes bug.
"How are we going to carry this thing back?" Blaise asked, inspecting the pumpkin.
"Shrink it like we did with the others." Draco replied, taking out his wand to shrink it.
"No! You have to carry it." Hermione snatched his wand away before Draco realized. She also took Blaise's wand without him realizing it.
"Why?" Both boys whined. Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes at the pair. Both were strong and muscular from years of Quidditch, yet they were complaining about having to carry a pumpkin.
"Because, if you shrink it, it won't stay this size when you enlarge it again." Hermione stated and started walking off, leaving with the bag filled with smaller, shrunken pumpkins. Staring daggers at her were the two boys, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, both of high status and old money, being forced to carry a giant pumpkin, all because of a bushy haired brunette? It sounded ridiculous, but it was true. Tom Creevy even had the pleasure of snapping a shot or two at them carrying the pumpkin without the fear of being hexed.
"Why do we do this?" Draco grumbled after they had put the pumpkin in the carriage to Hogwarts. They had to sit with the pumpkin to prevent it from rolling about and getting bruised. Hermione was sitting with Harry and Ginny in the other carriage, talking animatedly about how to hang the decorations.
"Well, it's all because of your beautiful witch. She has wrapped us around her little finger my friend." Blaise grinned manically. Draco laughed at his grin but his heart ached. I wish she were mine. He thought sadly.
When they reached Hogwarts, they had to enlarge and use Harry's invisibility clock to hide the pumpkin. This time, Harry and Blaise had to carry the pumpkin. Blaise complained, saying it wasn't fair that Draco got a break when he didn't. Hermione gave him the excuse that Draco was Head Boy, and they had duties to discuss together. Blaise snorted but accepted the excuse.
Both boys grunted heavily when they put the pumpkin down into the Head's common room. Following that, they flopped onto the sofa and rubbed heir sore muscles. Hermione had given Blaise and Draco's wands back before the ride back to Hogwarts and they were both contemplating using magic to carve out the pumpkin. Once again, Hermione vehemently objected.
"It's more fun to carve them using your own two hands" She insisted.
Half and hour and much argument later, they came to a compromise. The giant pumpkin would be cleared magically but all the other smaller pumpkins would be carved by hand. Hermione conjured five carving knives, five scoops, and five smaller knives for the more delicate details. They started on the giant pumpkin first. After clearing the fruit inside, leaving its bright orange-yellow shell, they decided to use it as a hanging decoration, and at midnight, it would explode, showering candy and confetti everywhere. Its design was simple, with classic triangle eyes and a wide toothy grin. They placed a magical floating ball of light to illuminate the pumpkin. Once satisfied with the looks of the pumpkin, Hermione cast an anti-rotting spell to prevent the pumpkin from well, rotting.
"Now, we carve the smaller pumpkins." They got to work, each grabbing two pumpkins, totaling to ten pumpkins they had to carve. Hermione and Draco expertly carved theirs, smoothly cutting a whole in the top before scooping out its fruit from both the top and from inside the fruit itself.
"How do you do it? Mine looks like it had jagged hair!" Blaise cried, frustrated.
Hermione laughed. "Then it'll look like you wouldn't it Blaise?" Draco and everyone laughed at Hermione's witty comeback.
"Fine. Be that way. But seriously, it is hard." Blaise pleaded with Hermione and Draco to show them how to carve the pumpkins. They looked at each other and nodded, each personally showing Blaise, Harry and Ginny on how to carve the pumpkin. Things went much smoother, and soon all were scooping out the fruit from the pumpkins. Draco suddenly got a wicked idea. He scooped up a dripping bunch of pumpkin and flung it at Blaise. He yelped and saw Draco rolling on the floor laughing at his expression and flung one back, with the intention of hitting Draco. It hit Hermione instead, as she moved to pull Draco back up. She shrieked then glared at Blaise, before grinning evilly. She quickly scooped out a spoonful and flung it at Blaise. However, her aim was off and it hit both Harry and Ginny, who were lying on each other. They sputtered in disbelief and a pumpkin fight started. Soon after, everyone was covered in pumpkin and dripping with pumpkin juice. They were all very disgusted but they had a ball of a time. Everyone cleaned up quickly and replaced the pumpkin into a bucket for the elves to make pumpkin juice.
"Ew I still stink of pumpkin!" Ginny complained.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Please, everyone stinks of pumpkin." Hermione jumped up and ran into the toilet before Draco even had a notion of what had happened.
"I think she's gone to take an hour long bath mate. She's finished hers already." Harry pointed out and Draco saw two beautifully carved pumpkins, both charmed and lighted.
True to Harry's words, everyone soon heard the shower running for a long time afterwards and a freshly showered Hermione appearing.
"I think I used up all the hot water. Sorry Draco!" She laughed lightly and sat back down on the sofa that was now pumpkin-free.
"Bitch." He smirked and everyone laughed.
"Urgh. Finally. I thought I was never going to get this stupid pumpkin done." Blaise threw down his tools. He was the last one to finish carving his pumpkins.
"Now, about the decorations, I was thinking of hanging them like this." Hermione waved her wand and a miniature Great Hall appeared, with decorations hanging artfully and very tastefully across the hall. The ceiling was also decorated with bats and floating pumpkins and whatnot.
They're beautiful 'Mione, but I think we should continue this later. I'm starving, and it's getting late." Ginny got up and yawned hugely. Harry and Blaise both bid goodnight and headed for the doors. Without the cheerful atmosphere, Draco felt depressed once again.
When everyone left, only Draco and her were left. Draco was fighting with himself, pacing back and forth, trying to hold back what he desperately wanted to say and do, but it would only serve to put Hermione in grave danger.
He sighed, resigned, and flopped unceremoniously onto the sofa to wait for Hermione to say her goodbyes. Without his knowing, a silent tear slid down his cheek, just as Hermione turned around.
She gasped quietly. She had never seen a Malfoy cry before, let alone Draco. She put her things on the coffee table and sat by the sofa.
"Draco? Are you okay?" Hermione asked him, her heart wrenching. He looked absolutely miserable, with the lone tear streaking his face and eyes closed in defeat. His lip was quivering and Hermione moved him to sit on the sofa, with his head in her lap. Hermione unconsciously started stroking his head, weaving her fingers through his silky blond hair. He sighed in contentment, curling himself into a fetal position.
Then he heard Hermione laugh softly and he turned to look at her. She looked back, and saw no disgust at lying on her lap, just curiousity.
"Yes Draco?" She teased, smiling at him.
He smiled back before answering, "Nothing. I was just wondering why are you doing this for me? Even though I've tormented you these past six years?"
Hermione looked puzzled, then a light bulb lit up in her head. "Because I know, I think, that you've changed. You've sort of bonded with Harry. I wouldn't say Ron, because he still hates your guts, but oh well. He can be unreasonable at times." Draco snickered and muttered, "Understatement much?" Hermione rolled her eyes but laughed softly. Draco moaned and closed his eyes.
"Draco! What's wrong?" Hermione's hands fluttered over his body.
"A little closer Hermione." He murmured. She pulled him up so they were sitting on the sofa face-to-face. He opened his eyes and she gasped. They usually grayish-blue eyes were darkened to an almost midnight blue.
"Close your eyes and just feel." He whispered hoarsely, before brushing his lips across hers. She gasped softly and leaned in for more. He pushed a little harder and molded their lips together. Fire and joy raced through him at the thought that he was finally kissing Hermione Granger again. Hermione moaned, and Draco reluctantly pulled away. He looked into Hermione's eyes and saw they too were darkened to a woodsy dark brown instead of its usual amber hazel. He groaned and pulled from Hermione's arms.
"I'm sorry Hermione, I'm so sorry." He hung his head in his hands and drew a shuddering breath.
"Draco, don't be. Why are you sorry?" Hermione asked, confused. Her muddled brain wasn't functioning well today.
"If I continue, I'll…" Draco stopped, unable to continue.
"Draco, what is it?" Hermione put her small hand over his.
"Don't hate me for what I'm about to tell you." He whispered.
"I'll never hate you, not anymore." She replied sincerely.
Draco stumbled through his explanation and used his pensive to show her all of his memories of them together. Hermione looked shocked, mystified and quite disgruntled.
"Well at least now I know I have seen you cry before, just that I don't remember." Hermione said faintly.
"Hermione? Are you okay?" Draco asked tentatively.
That's when she snapped. "Am I okay? You took six months of my memory away, and you want me not to hate you? I–" she faltered, her anger suddenly dissipating. She took a deep breath and centered herself. She realized that he did this for her safety, so Lucius Malfoy wouldn't kill her.
"Hermione?" Draco asked, honestly quite scared that he'd lose her friendship as well as any chance to be with her ever again.
"I'm very pissed off right now Malfoy, but I understand why you did what you did and I think its sweet, but there's no need for you to wipe my memory. If you end it, then it's over. There's nothing I can do about it is there?" She smiled sadly. Just then, a weak knock came on the door and Hermione hurried to open it.
She stood there in shock, looking on the floor.
A/n: CLIFFHANGER! MUAHAHA. Yes I know I'm evil. Sorry folks! I'll get the next chapter up ASAP! REVIEW!
