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Ch. 12 Like Warm Champagne
Warning: This chapter continues to be AU and gives no explanation on why Lucius is out of prison.
Hermione, Harry and Ron sat comfortably in the warm Gryffindor common room. Few other students had arrived back from Christmas break since the train wasn't due for three more hours. The trio had apparated back early to could get settled in before the crowds of underclassmen arrived. They stretched out in the nearly empty room, savoring its quietness. Being of legal age sure made life easier.
"I still feel bad leaving Ginny behind," Harry said as he watched Hermione and Ron thread their fingers together. A noncommittal, "Mm hmm," was the only response he got from the oblivious couple.
This newfound flirtation started on Christmas day. Ron had given Hermione a homemade picture frame holding a photo of them having a snowball fight. The photo-couple laughed and hugged inside an ingenious frame that changed color to fit any décor. When Hermione opened it, she'd thanked Ron with a kiss on his cheek. Harry had never seen Ron blush so red and it was obvious that the kiss meant something more than a simple "thank you".
After that incident, Ron and Hermione spent a good deal of time together. They were always laughing, or sitting together, or just talking quietly with their heads together. Neither of them had tried to make their budding relationship official by declaring themselves a couple, but the sentiment was there nonetheless.
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Draco arrived at Hogwarts just as the welcome feast began. He dragged his heavy trunk down to the dungeons enjoying the echoing thump it made on each marble stair. He couldn't help being in an extremely sour mood after enduring a torturous fortnight at Malfoy Manor with his parents who had taken a sudden interest in his personal life.
"Tell me Draco, are you involved with anyone at school?" Lucius asked one evening while sporting a deliberate grin that said he knew exactly who Draco was seeing.
What's it to you? Draco screamed in his mind. Lucius only showed an interest in Draco's personal life when he wanted to decree an acquaintance unworthy. Draco hated these false father-son moments when he had to act like he was interested in talking with his sire. Because that's all Lucius was anymore, simply the man that sired him. The pride and emotional attachments that Draco used to feel when he thought of this man had long since dissipated into embarrassment and contempt. "Yes, sir," he'd responded swallowing his disgust at the forced sham of decorum.
"Well, do tell. Who is the lucky girl?" Lucius prompted, a command disguised as an inquiry.
Draco didn't need to think about how to answer this question. He knew what his father wanted to hear, so he gave it to him. "Her name is Sienna Burke of the 11th generation House of Burke." Draco watched as Lucius' grin widened as he nodded approvingly.
"Is her father Commodus Burke, by any chance?" He asked scanning his mind for any information he could remember regarding the "Noble House of Burke". "I knew him years ago, though I haven't seen him around lately. Does he still live in England?"
"Yes, I believe their family home resides just outside of Liverpool," Draco answered. Lucius should have known this. The Burkes were a fairly prominent family and their ancestral home had been in the same place for centuries.
"Oh yes, that's right," he said getting up to pour himself a drink and offering one to Draco. He sat down in his chair and swirled the amber liquid around inside his glass. Draco knew this routine; Lucius had been doing it his whole life. He was pretending to consider something when his plans were already carved in stone. "You should have told me this sooner, Draco," Lucius scolded and took a large swallow from his glass. "No doubt this Sienna has told her parents about your relationship. They are going to think we are terribly rude for not inviting them over sooner. I'll draft a letter tonight explaining how my son must have forgotten his manners."
And there it was. He was going to meet his girlfriend's parents.
And he did, just two days later.
Sienna and her parents arrived on a Saturday night for drinks and dinner followed by even more drinks and talking. Lucius and Commodus took turns stroking each other's egos while Narcissa and Mrs. Burke gossiped about all of their mutual social contacts. Draco found the whole affair to be unbearably boring. He was glad when ten o'clock rolled around and dinner party etiquette forced the Burkes to head home.
As they were leaving, Draco placed a customary chaste kiss on Sienna's lips and later, when she was undoubtedly tucked away in her bed at home, he set out to a nearby pub where he met his real entertainment for the evening. He hadn't planned on picking anyone up, but after a few drinks and some enlightened conversation with a group of girls from Sweden, he managed to secure an amazing blow job in the back of the women's bathroom before apparating home to sleep off his drunken stupor.
Draco awoke the following morning as he had many other days: with a pounding headache and the hazy memories of a wild night lingering in his head. He wasn't proud of his actions, but seeing Sienna's parents schmooze with his like they were his fucking in-laws made him act a little rash. He felt suffocated by the idea of having a serious relationship at such young age. He didn't see any reason why his parents should even know about Sienna let alone invite her whole family over for dinner. The more he thought about the situation the more he wanted to get back to school so he could break up with the girl.
And now he was back. He'd slipped into the Great Hall just as the food was appearing on the tables and sat down at the Slytherin table to eat his dinner and make small talk with his housemates.
His attention drifted to the Hufflepuff table. Sienna smiled at him and he nodded in response before quickly looking away. She was so innocent and it wasn't her fault that things were getting so messed up. He decided to postpone breaking up with her for a few more days. After all, he didn't want to incur the wrath of Lucius for dumping Sienna so soon after the dinner party. Draco was skilled in the art of playing people and knew that timing was everything in these situations.
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Hermione looked over at the Slytherin table and frowned. Malfoy was there laughing with all of his friends and looking like a perfectly normal, nice boy. Looks sure can be deceiving, she thought as she remembered the run-in she'd had with him before Christmas break. She wondered if the scar on his face had gotten any better. She had thought about it a lot over the holidays and couldn't get the guilty feeling out of her head. He was a total prick, but he didn't deserve to be physically scarred for it. Well, at least not at her hands. She hadn't talked to him since she caught him staring at her breasts that day and now she would have to set up a date…er a meeting with him to work on their Herbology project.
She blushed at the idea of talking to him. For some reason that thought embarrassed her. She blushed even harder at the idea of blushing over him. She was really acting like a silly school girl. I just have to be professional about this, she resolved as she thought over some possible methods of approaching him. Suddenly he looked up from his dinner plate and locked eyes with her. She gasped at having been caught staring and looked away flustered. His face remained impassive as he turned his head back to the conversation around him. Maybe he didn't even notice her. She hadn't realized she'd been watching him for so long…maybe he didn't either.
In that moment she decided that facing him, wasn't her best option. I'll just send him an owl.
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That night Hermione sat in her room composing her letter to Malfoy. She'd gone though a few drafts before she settled on one that seemed acceptable.
Malfoy,
When do you want to work on our Herbology project? It's due Friday so we don't have much time. I am available any night this week, so let me know as soon as you figure out your schedule.
-Hermione
She read it over five times before she tied it to a school owl and sent it out the window. Her stomach fluttered nervously as she thought of Malfoy reading it. He would probably ridicule her for saying she was free every night. She could already hear his taunting voice, "Well, of course you're free, Granger! What else would a boring little know-it-all be doing on a school night? It's not like you'd ever have a date."
"Yes, I would…bastard," she mumbled as she looked over to the picture of her and Ron sitting on her nightstand. She smiled to herself and got up to join the rest of her house in the common room.
Not ten minutes after she got downstairs, an owl came tapping on the window.
"Hermione, it's for you," a sixth year boy announced as he removed the letter from the owl's talon and set the bird free out the window.
"Thanks," she muttered as she retrieved the letter and examined it. She hadn't expected Malfoy to answer so quickly.
"Who's it from?" Ron asked tossing an arm over her shoulder and a peering at the crinkled parchment.
"Malfoy," Hermione said scanning the hastily written response. "I owled him earlier to see when he wanted to do our Herbology project," she explained rolling her eyes at what she read.
Granger,
Notes? What are we, first years? If you want to ask me a question, do it in person.
-DM
Ugh! She thought angrily. Isn't he the one who told me not to address him in public? He was just doing this to piss her off and it was working.
"Bastard," she said aloud again, and then crumpled the parchment and threw it in the fire.
"Yeah, he sucks balls," Ron said.
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Draco sat in his favorite chair in front of the fireplace in the Slytherin common room. He held a book open in his lap and pretended to read while he eavesdropped on a group of chattering girls. He was supposed to be writing his Potions essay but couldn't concentrate with all of the distractions around him.
First, he'd just settled in to study when Granger's insipid owl flew in and pecked him until he read her note. Now, he was expected to study with a group of sixth years gossiping about the rumored threesome involving Michael Corner and the Patil twins. He slammed the book shut loudly; declaring tonight's studying to be a lost cause. He had planned on doing his homework himself, but why bother. He could just go to the Slytherin test bank hidden behind the portrait of the Bangladeshi snake charmer and find an Outstanding essay from years ago.
He stood up to do just that when an arm slid around his shoulders and pulled him back down into his seat.
"I missed you over break," a husky voice whispered in his ear as a slim blonde appeared from behind his chair and knelt down in front of him.
"Heidi," Draco sighed, not bothering to hide his obvious impatience. He didn't want to talk to her. He thought she would have gotten the message after he blew her off and hadn't talked to her in over two weeks. Granted, most of the time was spent away from school where she had no idea that he was avoiding her, but he'd hoped she would lose her nerve and not be able to face him so boldly. That's what most girls would do.
"Did you have a nice Christmas?" she asked repositioning herself so that her head rested on his lap.
"It was okay," he said looking at her briefly before turning his head to glance at the clock.
She remained quite for a few moments to give him time to elaborate. When it was clear that he wasn't going to say anything more she smiled awkwardly and caught his gaze. "Am I keeping you from something?"
"Actually, I have a lot of work to do tonight," he told her standing up and slowly moving her off his lap. "I didn't do anything over break and now I have three essays and a project due this week." He stood staring down at her without cracking a smile. "I better go."
"Yeah," she said softly wrinkling her brow in confusion. "Are you mad at me?"
"Of course not," came he monotone reply. "Why would I be mad at you? I hardly even know you." He knew he shouldn't have said it, but he didn't know how else to make it clear to her that she was not important to him. He wanted to tell her that one drunken night of awkward fumbling in his bed was not the start of some new relationship. He wanted to tell her that he hadn't wasted one minute of thought on her since the morning he'd kicked her out of his bed. He wanted to tell her to piss off until he was drunk and horny enough to want her again, but he couldn't. That would not be to his benefit. An angry girl always led to gossip and public humiliation, so he stood there with a forced blank stare watching her face fall from flirty optimism to crushed embarrassment.
"I don't know…I just thought…I don't know." She stuttered then laughed awkwardly to cover up the uncomfortable pause. "Nevermind," she said plastering on a fake smile and walking away from him. "See you later," she said with her back to him. He could hear her voice wavering with the tears she held back, but he didn't move until she was completely out of the room.
I need to stop getting myself into these situations, he thought irritated as he marched over to the portrait of the snake charmer to find a suitable essay to copy.
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It was Wednesday before Hermione got the courage to talk to Malfoy about their project. It seemed that he didn't really care if their wand got finished or not. He probably just assumed she'd finish it herself, and he was right. She would if she had to. Her grades were not going to suffer just because her partner was a lazy snob. He probably doesn't even care about school work, she thought angrily. He's going to inherit millions of galleons from his daddy and spend his life torturing muggles anyway. An ape could do that.
She stood outside of the potions lab with the rest of the NEWT level students waiting for Snape to arrive. Malfoy stood leaning against the cold stone wall staring at her. At first she felt self conscious and looked down at her clothes to see if anything was out of place. Everything looked fine so she raised her eyes and stared back at him. "What?" she asked after a minute-long staring contest.
"What?" he said blinking out of his daze and shaking his head to clear the fog.
"You were staring at me," she told him wrinkling her brow with a look that was clearly waiting for an explanation.
"No I wasn't," he argued standing up straight and turning away. It was obvious that he considered their exchange to be over and expected Hermione to shut up about it.
"Yes you were Malfoy," Hermione shot back. She wasn't going to let this go. She was already irritated at him for his stupid owl the other night and now shutting up would be admitting she was wrong and she wasn't wrong. "I saw you."
"Merlin Granger, shut the fuck up already!" he said rolling his eyes and sighing exasperatedly. "I was spacing out and I didn't even notice where my eyes were, so get over it."
"Fine," she said curling her lips up into some sort of twisted smile. Granger 1, Malfoy 0, she thought proudly. "Can you meet tonight to finish up our wand?" she asked, her voice dripping saccharine sweet. "If you don't I'll finish it myself and I'll be sure to tell Professor Sprout as much."
"Could you be any more annoying?" he asked bluntly, letting his shoulders fall back against the wall.
"Yes," she said with warning clear in her voice, "I can be extremely annoying."
"I believe you," he said putting on his best superior smirk and turning to queue up with the other students as Professor Snape appeared at the end of the hall.
"So are you coming tonight, or not?" she asked following behind him into the room.
An irritated growl escaped his lips as he rummaged through his bag and headed for an empty table. "What time?"
"I'm going to start right after dinner," she said pausing at his table as he threw his bag on the floor and plopped down in his chair.
He didn't respond to her and she stood awkwardly wondering if she should stay or leave.
"Why are you still here?" he asked after a few moments had passed. "I'll meet you, okay?" he said bristling as the other students eyed the still bickering pair. A few of them smirked. Daphne and Padma shared a secret and Draco thought it might be at his expense. It seemed that everyone thought this argument with Granger was particularly interesting and he couldn't figure out why. He always fought with her and no one ever bothered to notice before. For once in his life, he didn't like all the attention. And Granger standing over him red faced and babbling about how rude and arrogant he was, wasn't helping. "Go away, Granger…we're done here," he interrupted, effectively shutting her up.
As she stomped off to her table Professor Snape took 10 points from Gryffindor for her "blatant lack of respect for classroom rules of conduct". Draco smiled to himself. Way to go, Snape. Seeing that look of pure loathing on Hermione's face made him laugh. He loved fighting with her. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out. What a great way to start the day.
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Heidi Harris walked down from the Divination Tower with her best friend Saffron Rosier. The class had just begun studying Pyromancy (divination through fire) and both girls giggled with excitement at the readings they'd just received. Saffron saw great wealth and longevity in her flame, whereas Heidi saw a passionate love in hers. The pair walked down the halls toward the Great Hall coming up with scenarios of their possible futures.
"Maybe, you'll publish that book your writing and become a famous author," Heidi suggested to Saffron who smiled at the thought. She spent most of her free time writing and researching for her top secret novel.
"Yeah maybe…or I'll just marry rich and never have to work."
Heidi laughed and then scrunched up her face in disapproval of the idea. "Scary thought," she said, "do you want to spend the rest of your life as a housewife…squeezing out babies and ordering house elves around?"
"No, I guess not," Saffron said thoughtfully, "Famous author it is, then."
The two reached a collection of students who stood waiting at the top of a stair case for it to switch back into position. "And what about you? You saw romance in your future. Who do you think it could be? Someone you already know?"
"I don't know…maybe," Heidi said quietly. Her face blushed pink as she looked at the students around them. The staircase arrived and the group continued on their decent to the Great Hall.
"What about Draco?" Saffron asked a little too loud for Heidi's comfort.
She shushed her friend then lowered her own voice, "I don't know about him anymore," she said remembering the conversations she'd had with him the night before.
"Why not? Don't you like him anymore?" Saffron asked.
"Of course I like him. I just don't think he likes me," she responded sighing and running a hand through her hair in an attempt to look indifferent.
"Why do you think that?" Saffron wanted to know. "Wasn't it just before break that you spent the whole night sitting on his lap and then in his bed?"
"Yes, but I am pretty sure that was a one time thing," Heidi said and then told Saffron about the conversation she'd shared with him last night. "So, can we just drop it?" she suggested after she finished.
"Yeah, sure," Saffron agreed. "But can I just say…what a prick!"
The girls continued chatting as they neared the heavy doors to the Great Hall. Neither of them noticed the small blonde Hufflepuff that stood stock still at the end of the hall, frozen in place by the news she just heard.
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Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table eating her soup and talking with her friends. Ron had his hand wrapped securely around hers and she smiled as he squeezed it affectionately. Things had been going well for her and Ron and she wondered if they were ever going to make their relationship official. She thought he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend the other night when he kissed her for the first time, but he hadn't.
The pair had been sitting in front of the fire in the common room talking about mermaids, of all things, when Ron leaned in and kissed her. She hadn't been expecting it at all and she'd pulled away at first.
"Sorry," he'd said softly keeping his face close to hers.
"It's okay," she'd whispered breathing deeply and moving closer to kiss him back.
The two had spent half an hour after that just sitting together and kissing until they were interrupted by a small army of fourth years returning from an Astronomy class.
"I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast," Ron had said when he walked Hermione to her staircase. She'd hugged him and ascended the stairs feeling a little confused, but mostly excited. She wanted him to be more aggressive, to make their relationship real, to call her his girlfriend. But then she realized she was dealing with Ron, and was happy that things had even progressed this far. He was not known for is adeptness in relationships.
"So, how's your day been?" Ron asked, pulling her from her thoughts.
"It's been good," she responded. She didn't really feel like going into all of the small details of her day, so she didn't object when he was sidetracked by Seamus' latest tale of what he made blow up in which class.
Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall slammed open and a small girl stormed into the room. Hermione recognized her as Malfoy's little Hufflepuff girlfriend and wondered what made the girl so angry. The entire hall fell silent as all eyes landed on the scene playing out in front of them.
Sienna marched right up to the Slytherin table and stood behind Malfoy. He smiled to his friends and continued his conversation as if the girl wasn't even there.
"Tell me about Heidi," she said crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
Hermione watched as Malfoy opened his mouth and closed it sharply before standing up and grabbing the girl's arm. "It is neither the time nor the place for this, Sienna," she heard Malfoy growl into the girl's ear as he began dragging her out of the room.
The manhandling produced a violent reaction from the Hufflepuff who tore her arm out of his grip and turned on him with her wand out. "Don't touch me!" she screamed and she shoved him hard with her free hand. "I don't want you to touch me ever again, Draco Malfoy! Do you hear me? We are through!" With that she turned around and stomped back out of the room; leaving in her wake the stunned silence of the entire student body.
All eyes turned back to Draco who played his role perfectly. He met the awed stares of his peers with cool indifference as he cleared his throat, straightened his clothes, and sat back down to eat his lunch. "What?" he said to the table of gawking Slytherins who all tried to look nonchalant as they peered at each other awkwardly and began mumbling useless small-talk.
Hermione couldn't believe what just happened. She watched him closely and noticed a small look of triumph on his face. He didn't seem bothered in the least that his girlfriend had just dumped him and aired his dirty laundry to the entire school. Malfoy really was an enigma.
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That night, Hermione sat in the greenhouse working on her Herbology project. She sanded the edges of the already smooth wood and thought about what to place in the core.
She brought a few different options that each took a long time to find, and was just waiting for Malfoy to get there before she made a decision. She thought he might like some say in this part of the design considering she'd chosen both the wood and length of their wand. She inspected the options carefully, a thread from an acromantula's web, a fairy's wing, and her most prized alternative, a hair from a centaur's mane. She hoped Malfoy would be in his usual uninterested mood and let her choose the core. Wait a minute…I don't hope that, she thought suddenly. She sighed as soon as a new thought entered her mind. In a way, she wanted Malfoy to be impressed that she had procured such a rare specimen. She didn't know why, but she wanted to impress him.
She sat at a table twisting the wand around in her hands. The clock struck nine o'clock before she gathered her things and headed back to her room. Malfoy hadn't showed. She knew she shouldn't be surprised, but for some reason she was.
