'I think I had best be going off now,' Draco said stiffly, regarding her with cold eyes.
'Aw, come on Drakie! It's all in the name of fun,' Bex insisted as she located her discarded top and slung it over her shoulders casually.
Draco stood up and drew himself to full height, glaring at her now.
'If you think that I'm going to allow you to just double cross Hermione like that, you've got another think coming,' he paused, 'and it's Draco.' he snarled.
He turned and stormed off.
Bex sighed and shook her head as she slid into the seat Draco had just vacated.
What were you thinking, Malfoy. No, not even close. You weren't thinking at all. Bloody hell, you should have run at the first chance there was, but no, you sat there, gaping at her like a fucking goldfish! Goddamn, this is the whole Julie fiasco all over! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Draco finished the last drop of his Firewhisky and asked for another. He had Apparated himself to a low-key pub over at Wiltshire, and felt the strong need to cleanse his mind with some thinking. And a couple of Firewhiskies. Or maybe he was just hoping that he'd drop dead because the Firewhisky he was currently drinking was meant for that shady man opposite the bar and his enemies had added some lethal potion into the drink. Maybe if he dropped dead then his head wouldn't be hurting so much anyway.
It wasn't as if he didn't love Hermione, but there was always temptation, and Draco never had to resist temptation up until a few months ago...
He growled in frustration, mostly at himself as he finished the last drop of his Firewhisky.
Suddenly, he heard a voice that he never would have imagined hearing at a place like this.
'No, I wouldn't like a drink. Just meeting somebody.'
He froze on the spot, unable to move. Mother?
'I'm okay now Ben,' Hermione sniffled. 'You can let go now.'
'Are you sure?' Ben asked. Hermione nodded and released her arms. Ben, unsure of what to do, gave her a squeeze and released her slowly, eyeing her warily as if she would burst out crying again.
'So, what has he done this time?' Ben asked, scuffing his shoe, before immediately glancing up. 'I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to.' Don't cry or anything. He didn't say it but Hermione could practically see it in his eyes. Ben never knew what to do when people cried.
'It was what Gran did, actually.' Hermione heard herself saying in a small voice.
'Lily?' Ben asked, unable to believe her.
'She said all these mean things about Draco, and he thought that I followed her as well, so he got pissed off.' Hermione felt her nose tingling again and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to relieve them of their soreness. 'We haven't spoke since.'
'And I suppose he just disappeared for the day?' Ben asked, with an undertone of disgust.
Hermione found herself glaring at him. 'It's both his fault and mine. His for being the prideful arse he is and mine for even thinking Gran was going to go easy on him. If you're just going to be sitting around and badmouthing Draco, I suggest you leave.'
Ben, unable to come up with a response for this, stood up, stormed to the door, and slammed it behind him. Hermione sighed heavily and looked around the kitchen, looking at the mess she and Ben (well, it was more of Ben, actually) had made.
'By the way,' Ben suddenly poked his head through the door, causing Hermione to jump, 'if you ever find my friend again, Hermione, you know, the one whom I grew up with and used to think boys were a waste of time? Tell her to call me, I miss her.' And closed the door again. Hermione stared at the door for a moment before raising her eyebrows quizzically.
'Y'sure?' the gruff bartender asked.
'Yes, very.' Narcissa said and Draco could hear her give him a tight-lipped smile, as how she would usually react to the other wives of his father's friends' when they tried to pry some gossip about her husband and his latest 'work' project. He shifted himself slightly back so as to try hear his mother better but nearly toppled over his drink.
Silently, he cursed himself, and hoped he didn't attract any attention to himself. He tried as discreetly as possible to slide away from the light so that his blond hair wouldn't glint off under the light and give his position away. As soon as he deemed it safe, he slinked off to a loveseat not too far away and cast a temporary spell to turn his black for safety measures. It was his mother all right, her hair was a dead giveaway and she was sitting on the very edge of her seat, and he knew it was because she couldn't bear to sit on something that others of the lower social class had once sat on before, but she didn't want to stand while waiting as she deemed it 'improper'.
''Cissa,' another figure joined her and the familiar voice greeted her. Draco's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets right then.
'Hermione?' Draco called out tentatively as he closed the house door behind him gently. He heard commotion from under the kitchen counter and immediately drew out his wand, holding it out before him.
'Hermione?' he asked again, albeit more cautiously.
'Over here,' came a tiny voice and he rushed towards the kitchen.
'Hermione?' Draco asked in confusion. 'What were you doing?' He ran his fingers through her hair, trying to get rid of the humongous amount of flour that had fallen onto her head and stuck in her hair.
'Baking,' she replied, before running her fingers through her hair, wrinkling her nose at the flour. 'I tried to clean up, but well...' she gestured awkwardly.
'You are a witch you know,' Draco reminded her lightly, casting a silent spell to return the kitchen to its previous clean state. 'Now as for you...' he pulled her closer and placed his arms around her waist. 'I figure you are in a dire need of a nice hot piping shower?'
Silence ensued for a moment, before Hermione finally looked up into his eyes and said, 'that would be nice, yes, thank you.' And the last thing she felt was the uncomfortable pull of an Apparation spell.
A/N: I know, this is terribly short, but I felt that this was a good place to stop, you know, the whole cliffhanger issue. Well, you'll have to wait to see what happens next ;)