Chapter 14
...in which Draco gets a taste of reality.
A small puff of white floated down through the sky and landed gracefully on Hermione's cheek, melting instantly from the warmth. She lifted her hand and wiped away the small wetness that the snow flake had left on her face, before grasping onto the handle of her trunk and attempting to roll it towards her car.
Her father, seeing the difficulty she was having steering the trunk on the ice-slicked ground, took the handle from her and began pulling it along himself. Her mother put an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder in an attempt to provide some warmth, but despite their efforts to make her feel at home, Hermione still felt a small pang of sadness deep inside that could not be eased by any loving actions from her parents.
As they made it to their car in the car park of Kings Cross station, Hermione and her parents ducked inside immediately and turned the heat up in an attempt warm their almost frozen bodies. As her father started the car, Hermione let her head lull back against the back of her seat and stared out the frosted window, not really seeing anything. Even if she had been looking, it would have been difficult through the persistent snow fall, but even so, her mind was elsewhere.
Two months. It had been nearly two months since she had last spoken to Draco or Blaise. Hermione couldn't understand it. Perhaps she had pushed them too far; perhaps they had given up trying to be in her life. Perhaps Draco had given up trying to get her to care. He had hounded her for weeks, trying to get her to make some sort of confession of her feelings, and eventually he had won.
It was at that point Hermione had realised that she had no idea what she wanted from Draco Malfoy. He had made her an offer, and she had denied it. Not because she didn't care for him, but because she refused to do that to herself. He had assumed she would jump at the chance to be with him in secret, as though she had no dignity, or no pride.
The problem was she had far too much of both, and even though she found herself attracted to the stupid Slytherin, much to her chagrin, she couldn't bring herself to swallow her pride and agree to his offer. He was such an arrogant ass. Sauntering around like he owned the place, snogging her when she least expected it, making offers of secret relationships as though she'd jump at the opportunity.
Hermione huffed silently, feeling herself grow more annoyed as she thought of the git who had somehow captured her heart. Who did he think she was? Some sort of Pansy Parkinson? Hermione openly scowled at the thought.
"Are you alright, dear?" Hermione mother asked gently from the front seat, obviously noticing the fierce expression on Hermione's face. The girl in question jumped slightly at the interruption in her train of thoughts, before assuring her mother she was perfectly fine, and that she was just a little travel sick.
Both her parents were concerned for her, and began assuring her they would be home soon. Hermione smiled as she thought about how much she'd missed them. She didn't know what she would do without them. Unfortunately, this train of thought brought her back to Draco.
He didn't seem to have a healthy relationship with his parents, or at least his father. In that sense she felt a little bad for her harsh thoughts towards him. What would she be like if her parents were horrible to her? She hated to admit it, but she knew she'd probably be just as defensive as he was.
Then again, was he really that bad? He was arrogant and pushy, and sure, he often got on her nerves. Yes, he was rather moody, and she often worried he would hex her again. And ok, he had a problem with pushing her up against library bookshelves and snogging her senseless, though she wasn't sure whether that last point was a negative...
Hermione supposed you could call Draco passionate. That was a positive way of looking at it. He obviously knows what he wants, and he goes for it. Some would call him determined; others would call him an idiotic pest. Hermione was undecided about what she would call him.
Then again, it didn't matter, did it? He had given up on her because of the endless times she'd told him she hated him, and never wanted anything to do with him. She hadn't really expected him to take her seriously when she'd beat him with a book and told him to take his offer of a secret relationship elsewhere.
She thought he'd be back to hassling her about it the next day. But he hadn't. He had taken her words seriously for probably the first time ever, and he now thought she didn't care.
The problem was she did care. She did.
But he didn't know that. He didn't know that every day for the past two months, she had watched him in class, secretly wondering if he would look at her. He had occasionally, but whenever she caught his eye, he looked away just as quickly.
Blaise had spoken to her occasionally, though it wasn't like they used to speak, so she didn't count it. When they were paired up in potions, he would tell her what ingredients needed to be added next, or when to turn the heat down, but that was it. Apart from a few almost-guilty smiles from Blaise as they passed in the corridors, she had barely interacted with either of them.
She hated it.
She still had Neville as a friend, of course, and Ginny, and even Luna, but for some reason she missed those two as well. She missed Draco much more than she cared to admit. She had always assumed she'd be happy if he left her alone, that she'd go back to merely disliking him, and that things would be easy.
But much to her surprise, she was wrong. For an absence she thought would make her feelings for him wane, it only made them stronger. She had spent most of her time thinking about why he was avoiding her that she didn't realise that thinking about him more was not helping her at all. Now she was in much deeper than before, and she was certain there was no way to get out without drowning.
She had concluded that there were two reasons he was avoiding her.
The first was that her rejection of his offer had made him give up on her (she assumed this was the case); the second was that maybe his feelings had just changed (a part deep down inside hoped this wasn't the case). They were rather self-loathing explanations, but she couldn't think of any others. It didn't matter anyway, because it didn't change the fact that he was still ignoring her.
She had wanted to ask Blaise what was going on, especially since neither boy had offered her an explanation, but she had resisted. She didn't want them to think it was getting to her, so she just pretended not to care. Perhaps she was doing a better job at pretending than she thought, because neither of them had bothered to explain themselves.
She sat up straighter in her seat and adjusted the seat-belt which was constricting her chest, as she remembered another interesting incident that had happened just that day.
At the train station, when she'd met her parents on the platform, she had turned to wave to Neville as he left with his grandmother. At the other end of the platform, through the thick crowd, she had made eye contact with the blond Slytherin. He was merely watching her as he stood waiting for Blaise to collect his trunk from the trolley.
Draco had looked like crap. Well, as crap as he could possibly look which was probably better than she looked half the time, but still, he had looked worn out. Maybe something had happened that had changed him? Maybe none of this had anything to do with her?
"Hermione?" She looked up to find her mother looking at her with concern from the front passenger seat, "We're home, dear."
Hermione looked out the icy window and found, much to her surprise, that they were in fact in the driveway of her two-story brick home in the middle of her suburban street. She had spent the whole trip lost in thoughts about a certain boy that it felt as though it had only taken minutes.
She blinked a few times, clearing her head, before she opened the door of the car, and raced toward the front door that her mother was now holding open for her.
"You go upstairs to change into some comfortable clothes, and put your things away, while I go make some hot chocolate," her mother said, as she removed her thick coat and hung it by the front door.
She pulled Hermione into a warm hug, one that the teen didn't realise until just then that she had missed.
"It's great to have you back," Mrs Granger said fondly, "the house is always empty without you."
Hermione smiled sadly, "It's good to be back, mum."
Hermione grabbed the handle of her trunk and began hauling it up the stairs to her bedroom. The room was just how she'd left it three months ago, though it had accumulated some dust here and there. She unpacked her trunk and slipped into her pyjamas, before sitting at the end of her bed.
She felt ill. Like a weight was sitting in the bottom of her stomach. However, she was certain it had nothing to do with travel, and all to do with a particular blond who had somehow wormed his way into her life.
She sighed, before standing and making her way back down stairs to where her mother had a steaming cup of hot chocolate waiting and her father was building a fire in their fire place. She smiled, trying to enjoy the now rare moments she got to spend with her parents. She was determined not to let Draco Malfoy get her down; not again.
Blaise sat in the dim light of the large old fashioned drawing room of Malfoy Manor, bored out of his mind.
The room was more like a large hall, with 18th century furniture scattered around the place, though it was still rather empty. This was the room they always spent their time in when they were at the manor, mainly because neither of Draco's parents ever went in there, but also because it was large enough to hold a small game of Quidditch in, which they often secretly did on rainy days.
Blaise and Draco had arrived by portkey just moments before, and after putting their trunks away in their rooms, they found themselves sitting on two leather couches in front of the roaring fire.
Blaise had been trying to coax Draco into doing something for the past ten minutes, but the teen wouldn't budge from his place on the chair. In fact, he was barely speaking at all.
"We could always go flying?" Blaise suggested, as he idly flicked through a Quidditch magazine.
"Nah," Draco answered from his place across the room. Blaise looked up to find him spread full-length on the green leather couch. In the fire light of the dark room, the dark rings under Draco's eyes stood out even more against his pale skin.
Blaise sighed. He would like to think that the unhealthy look about Draco was not caused by his lack of contact with Hermione, but it was hard to deny the evidence.
In all honesty, Blaise had hoped for his friend's sake that he would merely get over Hermione. He had thought that two months of no contact would help Draco to move on, especially since Hermione seemed to be doing perfectly fine without him- well, both of them for that matter. At least he took the fact that she hadn't tried to ask him about Draco at all as 'doing fine'.
Blaise had honestly thought that Hermione would approach them and demand to know what was going on. It seemed like something the head strong, stubborn witch would do.
He thought she would insist that they speak to her; he thought that she would call them out for ignoring her. But she hadn't, and it didn't look like she would anytime soon. Blaise had a feeling Draco knew that, hence the reason for his worn out appearance.
He knew that Draco had realised that most of what happened between he and Hermione was very one-sided. Given her way, she probably wouldn't have looked twice at him. She probably didn't care what they did as long as they left her alone.
Blaise didn't envy Draco in that regard. He could only imagine how horrible it must feel, but wallowing in self-pity was getting him nowhere. He needed to take his mind off it.
"Wanna play exploding snap?" Blaise asked, though he knew it was pointless trying to suggest anything for them to do. Draco didn't look like he was in the mood for anything.
"Nah," Draco answered again, staring into the flames of the fire.
Blaise sighed in frustration, while throwing the magazine down on the coffee table. "Snap out of it before I punch you in the face."
Draco barely turned his head to look at Blaise. "What're you on about?" he asked in a blank tone.
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "You know exactly what I'm on about. You've been miserable lately. You've barely eaten, or slept. You hardly talk anymore. She's just a girl, mate-,"
"She's not just a fucking girl," Draco interrupted in an angry hiss. "It's easy for you to sit here and lecture me on this; you've got the girl you want! I've done everything I can, and she still hates me too much to give me a chance. So don't fucking lecture me, I'm not in the mood."
Blaise stood and moved to stand in front of the fire, forcing Draco to meet his eye. "You haven't done everything. You still treat her like a muggle-born-,"
"She is a muggle-born," Draco interrupted, stating the fact as though Blaise had forgotten a vital fact. Blaise resisted the urge to pull his hair out; Draco could be infuriating sometimes.
"I know that, and you say that it doesn't make a difference now, but you don't treat her that way. If it didn't matter, you wouldn't need to hide that you want her."
Draco scoffed, before looking away. Blaise saw a flicker of anger in his eyes, and couldn't help but be relieved. It was the liveliest Draco had been in weeks.
"You really don't get it, do you? It's easy for you, your mother couldn't give a shit what you do or who you spend your time with. And I envy you for that. Do you understand? With everything I ever do my parents will be sticking their fucking noses into it, and controlling me. The fact of the matter is: Hermione's a Muggleborn, I fancy her. My parents hate anyone who isn't pure-blooded. If I go anywhere near her, I may as well sign my death certificate."
Draco's breathing was ragged and his fists were balled after he finished his rant. Blaise stood watching him silently, wondering what he should say. He was a little angered that Draco would really prefer having one dead parent and one absent parent compared to what he had now. Then again, the Malfoy's weren't exactly loving or caring toward their only son.
"So you're just going to kill yourself slowly by not eating or sleeping?" Blaise asked a little more harshly then he intended.
Draco groaned, running his hands across his face. "I don't know what I'm doing, alright? But just quit nagging me about it. Until you're in my position-,"
"Stop with the self pity and I'll stop nagging," Blaise interrupted quickly, "Do you think everything's smooth sailing with Luna? Of course not. People make comments about us all the time, people fire hexes at my back when I'm not looking. The only reason that they haven't tried it on Luna, that I know of, is that I'll fucking kill them if they do. So I do understand a bit. I imagine it would be a similar situation if you were to be with Hermione-,"
Draco laughed bitterly, interrupting Blaise. "It would be a completely different situation. If I was openly with her, Merlin knows what my parents would do. They most likely would target her. You seem to think I'm some selfish bastard out to save my own reputation. If I thought all that would be tarnished was my reputation, I'd be openly snogging Hermione in the corridors between classes."
Blaise sighed, running his hands through his messy ebony hair. "It seems like you've already decided then. You can't be with her, not really. And she won't settle for some secret affair. You're just not compatible in that sense. Just move on, and stop moping before I smack you. It's becoming unbearable, mate."
Draco shifted into a sitting position, though he was still half lying down. "I've tried. But it just gets to me that she's not given a shit. I feel pathetic, like I've made up this whole thing in my head, and that she never wanted me in the first place." He looked at Blaise warily out of the corner of his eye, "If you tell anyone I ever said something that wimpy, I'll kick your head in."
Blaise smirked, silently pleased that Draco was at least showing some spirit. "I won't tell anyone, as long as you don't make it a regular occurrence. That's what diaries are for." He joked, earning himself a scowl from Draco.
"On a more serious note, though," Blaise began, "what are you doing? Are you giving up? Are you going to keep pining away? Or are you going to push her up against a shelf in the library and finally have your nasty way with her."
Draco raised an eyebrow, his mouth curving into a small smirk. "The third option does sound nice, but it's Granger we're talking about...I don't have a fucking clue to be honest. The ball's in her goal."
Blaise eyed Draco oddly, trying hard not to laugh at his attempt at a muggle saying. "I think you mean, 'the ball's in her court'? You idiot." Draco cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment. "And fine, but it seems like waiting for her is leading nowhere, so I think you should give her a little push."
Draco raised his eyebrows curiously, "What sort of 'push'?"
Blaise moved back to his seat across the room, smiling deviously, "Well you wanna get her attention, and make her remember you still exist, since she seems to have forgotten," Draco scowled at this, "and she doesn't want to be your secret. Which means she must want a declaration. So make a declaration, and make it loud and clear."
"...Okay," Draco agreed hesitantly, "when do we start this, then?"
Blaise thought for a moment, before his stomach grumbled loudly. "Tomorrow," he decided, "right now, we eat."
Blaise smiled rather goofily as a head of long blonde curls popped out of the fireplace. Luna brushed the soot off of her royal blue overalls and pink undershirt, before practically bouncing over to Blaise. He engulfed her in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around.
"I missed you already," he said, feeling his heart jump a little as he looked into her blue eyes. She grinned at him.
"I know, it's felt like I haven't seen you in ages. I was just in the middle of writing to you when I got your owl."
Blaise grinned back at her, before they were both pulled from their little world by a loud retching sound from behind them. Blaise sighed as he turned to find Draco sitting casually on the drawing room couch, eyeing the interaction with a disgusted expression.
"Save the lovey-dovey crap for the bedroom, would you? We didn't invite her here so you could stare lovingly into each others' eyes, you know."
Luna merely smiled good-naturedly, while Blaise scowled. Oh, how he wanted to hex his friend sometimes.
"Fine." Blaise agreed, stiffly, "Come sit down, would you, love?" He guided Luna to the couch across from Draco's, while still shooting his friend scathing glances.
"Are you sure it's alright for me to be here?" Luna asked, looking around the large room with interest, "Your father and my father don't exactly see eye to eye, considering all the things that have been printed in the Quibbler."
Draco waved a hand, dismissing the point. "It's fine, my parents aren't here much anyway."
Luna nodded, before turning her attention away from admiring the room to look back at them, "So why did you ask me here? You just said something about Hermione?"
Draco nodded, before leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "You're a girl."
Luna nodded, as though it were an understandable statement. "Well, yes. I have breasts, and reproductive organs, and a-,"
Draco quickly held up a hand to silence her, "Please, shut up now. It wasn't a question. My point is, that despite the fact that you're an...odd girl, you must know what girls like, right? Like all that romantic bullshit?"
Luna nodded, before looking thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I suppose. Blaise can be quite romantic," she said, smiling toward the teen next to her. Blaise grinned back, wiggling his eyebrows, before he heard Draco groan.
"We're not here to discuss how great Zabini is, we're here to discuss ways in which I can impress Granger."
Luna smiled brightly. "So you're finally going to declare your love for her?"
Draco scoffed, his cheeks staining pink. "Now, I never said that. I just want to give her a push. She's in love with me, I just want to let her know that it's not completely one sided."
Blaise was sure he'd never seen Draco's face as red as it was after he finished speaking, and he couldn't help but smirk at his friend. Luna seemed to be completely oblivious, or was just politely ignoring it, and was far too busy humming to herself, looking deep in thought.
"So you want to declare your feelings for Hermione in a unique way?" Luna asked after a moment.
Draco nodded. "Yeah, she doesn't want to be a secret, so I'll give her outrageous and see how she likes that instead." He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest.
Luna hesitated slightly. "Uhhh, you know you'll most likely embarrass her, right?"
Draco nodded once. "Yep, but that's just a bonus."
"You're an idiot," Blaise stated simply.
Draco sat up straight, looking defensive. "Oi! I'm about to spend Merlin knows how many galleons, I should at least get some amusement out of it, right?"
Blaise and Luna exchanged glances, before Luna shrugged. "If you insist. I have some great ideas already."
An hour later, Blaise and Draco were half asleep on the couch, while Luna pointed her wand at another house-elf, transfiguring an over sized jumper to fit its small body. She had spent the hour working on transfiguring the creatures so they resembled humans, and as she stepped back and admired her work, Blaise had to admit that she'd done a pretty good job.
"Do muggles even come in such small sizes?" Draco asked sceptically, eyeing the five transfigured houselves.
Luna nodded. "Yes, they're called midgets. It certainly saves you some money on hiring muggles, doesn't it?"
Draco shrugged. "Yea, but there's also a likely chance some muggles will realise they aren't people. So if this goes wrong, I'm blaming you."
Draco hissed as Blaise elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't be such an ungrateful bastard, and let's just get this over with."
They took hold of the house-elves hands, much to Draco's disgust, and with a crack they apparated away.
Hermione awoke later than usual that morning. She had spent most of the night lost in her thoughts and had only managed to doze off at around 3am. She walked in a tired daze toward the bathroom, showered, and dressed in some warm clothes before heading down stairs.
On her way to the fridge she found a note written in her mother's handwriting.
Hermione,
Your father and I were called into the clinic today. One of our patients was in a biking accident and knocked some teeth out. We should be back soon. If you head out, remember to lock up.
Love, Mum x
Hermione set the paper down on the bench before filling up the kettle and heating it up. She headed to the fridge to grab the milk, before realising her mother had used it all last night making hot chocolate. She sighed moodily. All she wanted was some damn tea, and in order to do that she was going to have to run to the corner shop a few blocks up to buy some.
She grabbed some muggle money from a box labelled 'Emergencies' and headed to the door to put on her cloak and boots, before pulling her back over her shoulder and stuffing the money inside. As she stepped outside, she instantly felt the cold wind whip at her face.
She almost turned back, but decided her craving for tea was far too strong, so she began walking swiftly up the footpath toward the corner shop.
She had only walked a few houses down when she heard an odd rustling sound in the bush next to her. She turned and hesitantly eyed the tree, feeling apprehensive. It could be a ferocious dog, or a crazy person waiting to attack her. She didn't know which she would prefer, especially since she couldn't use her wand.
After a moment, the rustling stopped and she hesitantly turned away, before letting out an ear-splitting scream and landing on her back side on the ice-slicked pavement.
In front of her were five odd-looking little people, dressed in beanies, scarves, jumpers, pants and boots, staring down at her with unsettlingly cheerful expressions. Hermione scooted back slightly not even noticing that her pants were getting completely soaked through.
Who were these people? Why were they staring at her? Oh how she wished she could use her wand...
She stood on shaky legs, continuing to eye the group of odd looking little people with a hesitant expression. She jumped when one of them cleared their throat, and began counting down from three. She was even more surprised when they all began singing a pitch that Hermione thought sounded far too much like a house-elf.
"Heeerrr-miiiio-neeee," she froze staring at them wide eyed as they began carolling in front of her; a song that seemed to have been written just for her, "you're making me craaaaaa-zyyyyy. With your hair so friiiiii-zyyyyy-,"
She gaped indignantly for a moment, before crossing her arms in front of her.
"Now hold it right there! Who put you up to this? My hair is not frizzy anymore," she muttered weakly, flattening her locks self-consciously. The little people merely continued to sing, ignoring her obvious dislike of their 'carol'.
"Buck-toothed like a beeeea-verrrr-,"
"What?" Hermione exclaimed, her hands flying to her mouth, "My teeth are not buck-toothed! Leave me alone," She moved around them and continued on her way up the street as hastily as she could.
Unfortunately, the sounds of multiple footsteps followed behind her, with the carollers still singing a verse about her abnormally large teeth. She sped up her footsteps, glancing behind her occasionally only to notice that they were keeping up with her.
Her walk turned into a run, and before she knew it, she was sprinting up the street with five odd looking little people running behind her, singing in a high pitched chorus. She reached the corner shop in record time and slipped through the door, closing it behind her.
The few people who were in the shop looked at her, eyeing her with odd and wary expressions. She blushed slightly, imagining how crazy she must look, but the only real thought on her mind was to get her milk and get home while avoiding those creepy carollers.
She grabbed a carton of milk, and moved to the counter before sitting a handful of change in front of their cashier.
"Keep the change," she said breathlessly, still exhausted from her hasty escape up the street.
She moved toward the door and cautiously glanced out the clear glass. There was no one around that she could see. Had the carollers left when she entered the shop? She really hoped so, because she needed to get home somehow and being followed around by singing midgets would only make her look odd.
"Excuse me, dear," an elderly woman said from behind her. Hermione moved out of the way so the lady could get past and out the door, before taking a deep breath and ducking outside herself.
She looked around warily, only to find the street empty, at least of her singing pursuers. She let out a sigh of relief, before walking down the path in the direction of her house.
She had just crossed the road when she heard the familiar sound of multiple footsteps behind her.
"Oh god," she muttered miserably, turning her head to look over her shoulder to find the five little people once again following her.
"Heeerm-iiiiiiooooo-nneeee," they sang in that sickeningly high pitch, "she sucks at Herbolog-yyyyyyyy-,"
She huffed angrily, before taking off down the road at full speed, looking over her shoulder every few seconds, and noticing much to her chagrin, that they could run fast for having such small legs.
As she got her house, she all but ran into the front door in her haste to unlock it before she slipped inside, and locked the door behind her. She spent the next five minutes running through the house in a paranoid state ensuring all the windows and doors were locked.
She collapsed tiredly on the lounge room floor, her breathing still ragged from her previous exertion. Who would hire a group of creepy looking little people to chase her around singing insulting songs? How pointless and immature!
Frizzy haired? Buck-toothed? Sucks at Herbology? Who would say such horri-
She sat up abruptly, eyes wide. Herbology? How would muggles know about Herbology? And how would they know she wasn't that great at it?
It was then that it hit her. The conversation she'd had with Malfoy a few weeks ago in the library, he'd made a comment about her failure in Herbology.
"Oh, that git!" She grumbled to herself, before running to the front door, unlocking it and speeding across the lawn of her front garden.
She looked around, hoping to find a sign of the 'midgets', or even better, a flash of a blonde haired person that she could chase and then kill slowly and painfully.
She heard the tell-tale 'crack' of apparition from somewhere across the road, signalling that whoever had just been there, had left.
"You're an ass, Malfoy!" She screeched, knowing he couldn't hear her now anyway. She didn't care, either. It was two months worth of frustration coming to the surface.
When she pulled her eyes away from the place she assumed he'd been, she saw an elderly woman and her dog staring at her warily from the path, before they both sped off as quickly as possible down the road.
Hermione groaned inwardly; she must look completely insane. She ran inside her house, and locked the door again. What a start to the day.
At least one thing was certain though; Malfoy was no longer ignoring her. As she slid down the wall, breathless, heart still racing from her previous unsettling experience, she couldn't help the relieved chuckle that came out her mouth. She thought she was going to be attacked by a gang of singing midgets. How ridiculous and paranoid of her.
She was also certain that a bit of the relief had to do with the easing of the sickening weight in her stomach, and the fact that it had been replaced with an odd fluttering feeling. Oh god. She must have missed him even more than she realised.
Blaise and Draco collapsed on the leather couch, chuckling loudly, as Luna returned the house-elves to their rightful appearances and thanked them for their help.
"Did...did you see...her face?" Draco gasped, in between his laughter. Blaise nodded, unable to speak through his guffaws. It was only when he saw Luna eyeing them both with disapproving expressions, did he stop. Draco, however, continued to chuckle and it was only when Blaise smacked him upside the head that he quit.
"Oi! What was that for?" Draco whined, rubbing the back of his head. It was only then that he seemed to notice Luna's expression.
She was practically glaring at them (an expression neither had seen her adorn before) and she had her arms crossed over her chest. All in all, she looked quite intimidating.
"Did you really think that was funny?" She asked, disbelievingly. Blaise wasn't sure if it was a trick question, and if he said 'yes' would she be mad? He wasn't sure, so for safety's sake, he settled for a head movement that was halfway between a nod and a head shake. Luna just eyed him oddly before turning to Draco.
"You were supposed to be wooing her, not insulting her hair and teeth," She informed him, "I told the house elves to sing a romantic song. Why did you get them to sing that?"
Draco sighed tiredly, as though she were overreacting. "Sappy romance is not my style. Granger knows that, at least she knows I'm not pretending." He shrugged simply, leaning back in his seat.
Luna sighed. "Well I certainly wouldnt want to be with someone who insults me constantly," she said, "Hopefully she didn't realise who organised it...maybe you can start fresh in a few days?"
Draco cocked his head, a small smirk on his face, "It's Granger we're talking about Loony, she would have figured it out."
Blaise glared at Draco for what he had called Luna, but she didn't seem to care. She merely shook her head, as if he didn't understand anything she was saying.
"I suppose you're right," she said after a moment, "But if you ever want her to speak to you again, try a less offensive tactic. I have to be going now anyway, my dad need's help printing the Christmas edition of The Quibbler."
She moved toward Blaise and placed soft kiss on his cheek, before waving at them both and exiting through the fire place. They were silent for a moment before Draco spoke.
"Well I thought it was funny," he muttered.
"You're an idiot though," Blaise said simply, ignoring the scowl Draco gave him, "and besides, it's not supposed to be funny, it's supposed to make her want to talk to you again."
Draco sighed. "Fine. I'll try and be nicer next time," he said, looking as though the mere thought disgusted him.
'Next time' constituted as Christmas day. Blaise and Draco had spent the previous day in the bustling streets of Diagon Ally, searching for the perfect gift. Eventually, after two hours, and countless arguments, Draco had found something for Hermione, and Blaise found something for Luna.
Christmas morning they had spent some time wrapping and sending off their gifts, before opening their own. Draco had been given a new broom; the latest Firebolt. He was currently in the drawing room, whizzing about Blaise's head as the other boy opened his gifts.
His mother had sent him a broom as well, a French model of the Firebolt, the 'Lightening Bolt'. Blaise was grateful that his mother had sent him anything, but was a little disappointed that she didn't seem to know him that well. She must have thought he was some sort of Quidditch player at school, though she'd never really asked.
"Let race these outside; see which one's the fastest!" Draco called from his place hovering above Blaise's head.
"Yeah, alright." Blaise agreed, grabbing his broom and heading out the door. Blaise zoomed past him, dismounting his broom at the end of the hall and racing down the stairs. Blaise rolled his eyes at Draco's juvenile behaviour, though he had to admit it was a relief to have him back to his old self.
Ten minutes later, they were both standing out the front of the manor, looking over the stretching front lawn that went for kilometres until it hit the familiar hedge border. They had raced here many times over the years.
"Alright, get ready," Draco said, mounting his broom, Blaise followed suit. "One, two, three...go!"
They both sped off down the lawn as fast as they could, relishing in the feeling of flying with the occasional snowflake hitting their face. Blaise quickly overtook Draco, and he couldn't help but laugh as he heard the other boys' loud protests from behind.
After a few minutes they reached, the hedge border, and they came to a stop, dismounting their brooms. Blaise's face was completely frozen, but it didn't stop him from continuing to laugh at the sour look on Draco's face.
"I can't believe the French version is better than the British. You've gotta swap with me! You don't even play Quidditch!"
"No way," Blaise said, admiring his broom with a new found interest. Despite the fact that he didn't play Quidditch, and really wouldn't ever use the broom, he wasn't going to give away one of the rare objects that proved his mother still remembered him. Draco would just have to get his own; his father would probably buy him a new one once he heard that the one he'd bought wasn't the best in the world.
"Fine," Draco sighed, sounding miserable, and staring at his own broom with a disappointed expression. After a moment he looked around them, taking in the scenery.
"Haven't been down this far in a while," he commented, a thoughtful expression on his face. Blaise knew he was remembering the day many years ago that they had been caught sneaking over the fence to ride a bike with a muggle girl. They hadn't gone this close to the boundary since, not out of fear of Lucius Malfoy's wrath, but because it had echoed a change in Draco.
After that day he had wanted nothing to do with muggles, and he had never travelled down this close to the gate again. Blaise wondered why he had today.
"Come on," Draco urged, walking down the edge of the hedge toward the gate. Blaise watched with a stunned expression.
"Where are you going?" he asked, walking swiftly to catch up with Draco. The blond turned his head slightly and looked at him with a withering expression, as though he should already know the answer.
"Over the fence, obviously," he answered. He reached the metal gate. Dropped his broom rather carelessly on the ground and climbed across the other side of the fence.
He stood hesitantly glancing around him, as though he expected someone to jump out at him. After a moment of silence, he turned back to Blaise, who was still watching him from the other side of the fence.
"You coming or what?" Draco asked impatiently. Blaise was shocked. This situation had an odd sense of déjà vu about it. He was expecting Lucius to turn up at any second and scold them like he had all those years ago.
Maybe this was an indication that Draco really was changing. Maybe it was a sign that he was reverting back the carefree person he had been when they were young and jumped the fence to speak the muggle girl. Back when he didn't care about blood-status. Maybe...
"Helloooo? Zabini, snap out of it! Climb over the bloody fence already!"
Blaise was torn from his musings to find Draco staring at him with an annoyed expression. He was being ridiculous. It's impossible to forget what you've learnt, but it might be easy to disregard if you don't really believe it in the first place...
Blaise climbed the metal frame of the fence, vaulting over it and landing on the snow slicked ground. He looked around, taking in the scenery. The dirt road that ran parallel with the hedge border was completely covered in snow. All around them was white, except for a few traces of green popping out here and there.
"Well this is boring," Draco muttered, looking around with an unimpressed expression. Blaise nodded in agreement. It seemed a lot more exciting when they were kids.
It was at that moment that a loud shriek was carried by the wind right to their ears. They both shared a wary glance before heading in the direction the sound came from. They walked down the snow-covered road for a few minutes, until they heard another high pitched shriek, except this time it was followed by a giggle.
They shared another uncertain glance before heading past a group of trees toward the sound. They stopped short only to find a group of muggle girls throwing snowballs at each other. They watched for a moment, merely out of curiosity. They'd never been in such close proximity with muggles their age before.
The girls were laughing madly, while dodging and throwing the snowballs at each other. Blaise snuck a glance at Draco, and found him watching the group with furrowed brows as though he were trying to figure out a difficult problem.
Blaise knew he was most likely shocked by the normality of it all; side by side, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a wizard and a muggle by merely looking at them, and they did ordinary things just like he did. It went against everything Draco had been told over the years.
"Hey!" One of the girls called, obviously noticing them standing there. She threw a snowball, of precise aim, which hit Draco square in the head. It pulled him out of his shock and he scowled at them.
Blaise noticed that of the three girls, two of which were now hunched over laughing hysterically, that last stood there staring at both he and Blaise as though she were about to faint. Blaise was curious at this, but didn't get to ponder to long as Draco stormed forward angrily.
"What the hell did you do that for?" he questioned angrily, glaring at the girl who had thrown the snowball. Her and her friend exchanged a glance before turning back to him.
"Obviously because it was hilarious," she said, as though he were stupid. He scowled harder. The girls merely laughed at him.
"What are your names, anyway?" The second girl asked, looking between both Draco and Blaise with curiosity, "I haven't seen you around here before."
Draco didn't look as though he were going to answer politely, so Blaise stepped forward. "I'm Blaise, this is Draco."
The girls shared a glance, before the girl who had thrown the snowball spoke up, "Those are weird names...Oh well. I'm Jessica, this is Hayley," she pointed to the girl next to her, a girl with curly brown hair that resembled Hermione's, "and that's Emily." She finished pointing to the girl with long blonde hair, who was still staring at them as though she'd seen a ghost.
Her two friends seemed to notice, because the shared a worried glance between them. "Are you ok, Emily? Do you know these guys?"
The girl didn't answer, but merely stood there. Blaise was starting to think that maybe she wasn't all there, but after a moment she blinked and said a quick goodbye before running off towards the town in the distance, whose snow topped rooves were only just visible against the white background.
"Ok..." the girl known as Jessica said slowly, watching her friend run away. She turned back to Blaise and Draco. "Sorry about that, I don't know what's wrong with her. So do you guys live around here?"
Blaise knew they couldn't see Malfoy manor since they were muggles, so he lied. "We don't live here; we're just visiting relatives for Christmas."
The girls nodded. "How long are you staying for?" The girl with hair like Hermione asked.
"We go back to school the day after new years." He answered, feeling uncomfortable about what they might ask next.
"So you'll be here for new years then. You should come to a party Emily's having at her house. It's nothing big, just a few kids from the school here. Probably nothing you guys are used to."
Blaise shared a hesitant glance with Draco, "Uh, I dunno-,"
"Oh, come on!" Jessica insisted, "It's got to be better then hanging out with your relatives."
"I dunno," Blaise hesitated, "We'll see what happens."
The girls grinned. "Great! Emily's address is 16 Chaplehurst Street. It's not that difficult to find. Her parents are away on a cruise so it should be fine for you to come. We should probably go and see what's wrong with her anyway. I suppose we might see you there."
They both waved goodbye and left in the direction their friend had just moments before, leaving Blaise and Draco standing in the snow. Draco let out a breath, before turning to Blaise.
"Are all muggles that obnoxious?" he asked, a trace of annoyance in his voice. He obviously hadn't gotten over his anger at the snowball incident.
Blaise shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I've not had much interaction with them. All I know is we're definitely not going to that party."
Draco nodded in agreement. "No argument here. They're weird. Not as bad as I expected...but still weird."
Blaise chuckled as they turned and headed back toward the manor; perhaps not all hope for Draco was lost, after all.
Hermione sat on the sofa in the over-crowded living room in her house, squashed between her Grandmother, and her Aunty. She was listening to the sounds of her extended family rip open presents, with her younger cousins running around the home screeching loudly as they played. Hermione loved her family dearly, but Merlin did she wish she could cast a Silencio on those kids.
Most of her family was here for Christmas; her Grandparents, her Aunty and her family, and her family on her father's side. Her favourites, however, was her mother's sister, Aunt Edith, and her mother's mother, Grandma Jean, who were both currently seated on either side of her. The reason she liked them so much was because they were the only ones who knew about Hermione's magic.
None of the family on her father's side were told about it, much to her father's wishes. They thought she went to a prestigious boarding school for the gifted in Scotland. At least it wasn't a complete lie.
Her father had said that his family probably wouldn't understand, and so they had made the decision not to tell them. Besides, the less people that knew, the better.
That was why Hermione appreciated her Aunt and Grandmother a lot. They knew, and they still accepted her, and even showed an interest in what she could do. Despite that, however, all she really wanted to do at the present moment was escape to her room upstairs in the pleasant silence.
She had already opened most of her gifts (the ones that she could open in front of muggles), and they were just waiting for her cousins to finish opening there's before they had lunch.
"I'm sorry about the noise, Mione," Her Aunt Edith said from next to her, watching her sons run around the room hollering, "the boys are a nuisance. You're probably thankful you're an only child right now."
Hermione laughed. "No, it's great to see the house so full. I think my parents get lonely when I'm away."
Her Aunt nodded in understanding. "We'll have to visit more then."
Hermione nodded in agreement. Her parents would like that.
"So have you got a boyfriend yet, dear?" her grandmother asked from the other seat on the couch, "I imagine the boys at that school can't take their eyes off you. You're such a pretty girl."
Hermione blushed awkwardly, remembering her multiple kissed with a certain blond Slytherin. Her expression caused her Aunt to chuckle.
"Mum, I don't think she wants to talk about that, do you Hermione? Don't worry; she used to do the same to your mum and me. It's why we never brought boys home. She always asked them when they were going to propose."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh at this. Her grandmother was straight to the point.
"Hermione, dear," She heard her mother call as she approached from the kitchen, "this just came in the post." She handed Hermione a small package wrapped in silver paper, while giving her a pointed look, obviously referring to owl post and not the regular muggle method.
Hermione took the package and stared at it curiously. Who would have sent her this? Neville's present had already arrived this morning...
"Well are you going to open it?" her grandmother prodded with a twinkle in her eye, "it might be from a boy."
Hermione wondered idly whether it was. Would he...? No. He wouldn't send her a gift. That would be crazy. Then again, it was proven that Draco Malfoy was slightly crazy.
She slowly opened the silver wrapping paper, to find a velvet box inside. Next to her, her Aunt and Grandma were looking over her shoulder with unbridled interest. She slowly opened the velvet box and audibly gasped at what she saw inside.
It was a necklace. The most elegant piece of jewellery Hermione had ever seen. The chain was long and silver, and it had a large pendent on it, which Hermione realised was a silver seashell. She lifted it out of the box and admired the way it sparkled in the light.
Had he really given her this? Really? It must have cost a fortune.
"Looks to me as though you have an admirer," her Grandma said from beside her. Hermione blushed.
"He's certainly a gentlemen. Knows exactly what to give a girl to get her attention," her Aunt said, smiling slyly at Hermione flushed expression.
It was only as she placed the necklace back in the box that she realised there as a small piece of parchment folded at the bottom. She didn't really want to read it with her family looking over her shoulder, so she excused herself and ran all the way up to her bedroom, oblivious of the knowing smiles her Grandma and Aunty were sharing.
She collapsed on her bed, feeling her heart race, though she was sure it was from the absurdity of Draco Malfoy giving her a gift, rather than her exertion. She reopened the jewellery box and pulled out the parchment. She unfolded it and began to read the message that had come with her gift.
This locket will play you a nice tune, for as long as I feel strongly about you. Let this be proof enough. You just have to hold it against your ear like a real seashell. Hopefully you aren't too stupid to realise who 'I' is, if so, there's a reason you're failing Herbology. Have a Merry Christmas, Granger.
P.S. I've been forced to apologize for the singing house-elf incident. I hope you won't hold it against me, despite the fact it was hilarious. I haven't laughed so hard for a while. But I think it proved my point that sometimes subtlety is best when it comes to certain things, maybe you agree now.
Hermione let out a long breath as she finished the letter. Her insides were fluttering about like crazy. She refolded the parchment and placed it neatly back inside the box. Gently, she picked up the seashell pendent, and placed it against her ear, almost expecting to hear the ocean.
She gasped, however, when she heard the most beautiful melody from the small object. It was almost ethereal, not like any sound an instrument could make. The fact that this small melody meant that he felt something for her was almost too much to believe.
She lay back against her pillow, with the silver shell still against her ear. Moving it away, she found she could no longer hear the beautiful tune. Maybe...just maybe, the most beautiful things in life could be hidden...
She suddenly realised that that was exactly what Draco wanted her to realise, and she almost wanted to send the gift back, just to disprove his point. But she knew, deep down that she would regret it if she did.
She put the shell back against her ear, and relished in the sound it produced. This was proof. This was physical proof that he felt something for her. It wasn't just words anymore. Did she care if anyone else knew? Not really. Would she show anyone else her gift? No.
So why did it matter whether they showed their feelings to others? She didn't know...
She sighed and sat up, slipping the silver chain around her neck, before she headed back downstairs. She had a lot of thinking to do. Hermione Granger was once again confused because of Draco Malfoy.
New Year's eve came around quicker than Blaise realised, and for the first time since they had been at the manor for the holidays, he and Draco were sharing an incredibly tense dinner with Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.
The couple had been absent from the manor so much that neither Blaise nor Draco had seen either one of them in their time there. Lucius was sitting at the end of the impersonally long table, talking about some Ministry issue, while Narcissa sat at the other end, looking as though her thoughts were elsewhere.
They most likely were; she'd never been a very attentive woman. She seemed to prefer to spend her time visiting friends, then with her family. Blaise supposed it must be a habit of Pure-blooded women to just be distant from their families. Though, at least Narcissa was still in the same country as Draco.
Draco and Blaise were situated in the middle of the table, across from one another. They would share bored looks occasionally; especially since they wanted nothing more than to eat their food and leave, but manners and Lucius' wrath told them it would be best to stay and at least pretend to give a crap about what the elder Malfoy was whining about.
"So, Marty Crouchwell, a Mudblood, has been promoted to head of the Muggle Division." Lucius began, sipping from his wine glass, "I couldn't believe it when I heard! Having a mudblood deal with muggle issues? It's just ridiculous! A conflict of interest!"
Blaise and Draco exchanged glances. They knew this topic would set Lucius off on a tangent which would have them sitting there for hours.
"Personally, I think the Ministry should disallow Mudbloods to work there. They have far too many connections to the muggle world-,"
"Muggleborns aren't so bad," Draco said, sounding as though he hadn't meant to voice that opinion.
The whole table fell silent and even Narcissa looked shocked as she stared at her only son. Blaise sat still, his posture rigid, waiting for the inevitable outburst from Lucius. He wasn't disappointed.
"What did you just say?" Lucius bellowed, standing angrily and causing the cutlery in front of him to tip over. "You're feeling sympathetic toward those with Muggle origins? That is not how I raised you, boy! You are better than such filth! That old fool Dumbledore keeps rattling on about equality, and it really has started to rot your brain! So much so, that you can't even beat a mere Mudblood in class! Get out of my sight! You're a disappointment for a son! Expect repercussions for your words!"
Both boys shared a glance toward Narcissa, who was looking thoroughly bored at Lucius' outburst. She nodded toward the door and neither of them thought twice before speeding out of the room, leaving a furious Lucius behind them.
"Well, shit," Blaise began his voice laced with sarcasm as they headed toward the drawing room, "that was possibly the best thing you could've said to your old man."
Draco scowled. "Shut up. I didn't fucking mean to say it, I was just thinking about Granger, and it slipped out."
Blaise laughed humourlessly. "You picked a great moment for that slip-up. I hate to think of what he'll do now..."
They reached their favourite room and entered through the large doors, immediately heading toward the couches in front of the fire.
Draco slumped down in his seat, looking frustrated. "I don't really care anymore. I'm sick of it, to be honest. If he had half a brain, he'd realise there's no real difference anyway. But his pureblood is the only thing he's got, he certainly doesn't have brains."
Blaise was taken aback. He'd never heard Draco be so blatantly disrespectful about his father before. It certainly proved that some things had changed.
"Let's go to that muggle party," Draco said suddenly. Blaise stared at him incredulously. He must have misheard.
"What?"
"The muggle party, let's go."
Blaise, once again, stared at him, unable to believe what he'd just heard. "Why would you do that? You said they were obnoxious."
Draco shrugged. "I wanna check it out. We'll get Potter and Weasley to come with us. They'll keep those girls busy; I didn't particularly like the way they were looking at me..."
Blaise leaned back in his seat, eyeing Draco suspiciously. "You're doing this just to go against your father." He stated, plainly. The flicker in Draco's eye told him he had guessed correctly.
"No, I'm not. Besides, they're just like us without magic right? That's what you always said. Let's just go, mate. I'm gonna get punished for that comment I made before, anyway. I may as well do something worthwhile while I'm at it."
Blaise hesitated. He knew that Draco would be in some serious trouble if he was caught at a muggle party. Lucius would probably do more than just crack his cane across his knuckles, especially since the man was drinking tonight.
Then again, Blaise was enjoying this new-found open-mindedness of Draco's. He would normally scoff at the idea of attending a muggle party; it was so unlike him. Blaise knew he was only doing it because he hated his father and would do anything to piss him off right now, but that still didn't stop him from relenting, and agreeing to go to the ridiculous party.
Twenty minutes later, Potter and Weasley appeared out of the fireplace dressed in muggle clothes. Both of them were grinning from ear to ear at the thought of the party. Blaise assumed Weasley was excited at the prospect of meeting muggle girls, and since Potter already associated with muggles, he assumed the teen was just excited at the prospect of meeting girls in general.
"So you guys ready to go?" Draco asked, as they met in the middle of the room. The three other boys nodded.
"Great. We'll be flying our brooms out the window and across the front yard. Unfortunately, there are only two brooms, so we'll have to double up. I'm with Blaise, since I'm still uncertain about your sexualities," Draco finished, grinning as Potter and Weasley scowled at him, clearly not finding amusement at the comment.
They hopped on the brooms in pairs and flew out the large open window of the drawing room, turning the brooms into a steep dive until they were a few metres above the ground. They soared across the expanse of ground in front of the manor until they reached the edge of the hedge. They jumped of the brooms and sat them against the familiar metal gate as they all jumped over.
"We've gotta walk from here," Draco informed them. Weasley groaned.
"This is why I hate muggles. They've gotta walk everywhere."
"Actually," Potter began, "They don't-,"
"Don't bother trying to explain it to him," Blaise interrupted. He and Potter shared a grin at Weasley's expense. The teen was dimmer than Draco when it came to muggle culture.
Ten minutes later, the stood on a tar road, at the edge of the small town. The sound of music could be heard in the silence, and Blaise assumed that was their destination.
"I suppose it'd just be easier to follow the music," he said. The others agreed and once again they set off toward the party. Five minutes later, they found themselves standing in front of the house the loud music was coming from. Blaise assumed this was the right house, since it was the only one on the street that showed signs of life.
They walked towards the door, and just as they were about to open it, a boy their age raced out and vomited on the front lawn, before collapsing in it. They eyed him with disgust.
"That's fucking disgusting," Potter said, turning away from the teen, "Let's just get away from him."
They entered the house and were surprised to find it rather packed, considering how small the population in the town seemed to be. The lighting was dim, though there were a few bright lights that flickered different colours that lit the place up occasionally.
Blaise didn't recognise any of the music playing, but thought it didn't sound too bad. Overall, it was different to the parties he'd attended, but similar in many ways. Muggles really weren't that different.
"Great! You guys came!" A voice shouted from behind them. Blaise recognised her as one of the girls they'd met just days before. "And you brought friends!"
Blaise nodded, "Yeah, I hope you don't mind."
She smiled. "Of course not! I actually wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine; she's gorgeous-,"
"Actually, I've got a girlfriend." Blaise informed her. She looked a little put out, but brightened up considerably when Potter and Weasley told her they were single. She sent them off in the direction of her friends, before turning to Draco.
"What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?" Blaise was certain her curiosity about Draco's relationship status was for her own personal interest.
"Yeah, I've got a girlfriend," Draco answered. Blaise eyed him with a raised eyebrow, but Draco merely ignored him. The girl pouted.
"That's a shame. Oh well, you guys help yourselves to a drink. I might come and hit you up for a dance later!"
With that she left the two boys standing there surrounded by dancing muggles. It was then that Draco turned to Blaise, a concerned expression on his face.
"Did she just say she was going to hit us? Are all muggles so aggressive?"
Blaise shrugged, before smiling deviously. "So what's this about you having a girlfriend?"
Draco scowled at his tone, but Blaise could see him blushing slightly. "Close enough. And besides, I don't want muggle girls hitting on me all night."
Unfortunately for Draco, the muggle world was similar to the wizarding world in that having a girlfriend did not stop girls from hitting on you. After Draco was dragged off by a girl for what seemed like the tenth time that night, Blaise leaned against the wall by himself, sipping from his drink. It tasted horrible.
"Hi," he heard someone greet from next to him. He looked down and found himself face to face with the hostess of the party. The girl that had been acting so oddly the other day when they'd found them throwing snowballs. Emily was her name, he remembered.
"Hi," he greeted back in return. He certainly hoped she wasn't going to drag him off to dance.
She smiled. "You don't remember me, do you?"
He furrowed his brow. How could he forget someone he met only a few days ago? "Sure I do. You were there when your friends through a snowball at my mates head."
She laughed, though it seemed rather forced. "No, I've met you before that. Years ago, I was riding my bike up the road, when I ran into you two."
Blaise suddenly remembered. "Oh yeah," he commented hesitantly.
"You were both...odd," The girl continued, "Saying all this stuff about magic. And then that scary guy came and I rode off. I remember telling my mum that you said you could do magic, and that you said your house was invisible to me. She told me I had probably imagined it, and I believed it. But when I saw you both the other day, I nearly fainted. It meant it was real."
Blaise tried not to let the panic he was feeling internally show on his face. Instead he let out a chuckle. "Yeah, we were imaginative kids back then. One day we were wizards, the next we were Dragon Tamers."
Only he could appreciate the irony in that statement.
She laughed, though she looked a little saddened. "I'm kind of disappointed that I saw you the other day."
He raised his eyebrows. And she shook her head quickly. "No I don't mean it in a rude way. I just mean, well, don't laugh, but when I met you the first time, since that day I've always wanted to believe there was magic in the world. Meeting you now and realising you were just a couple of kids playing around kind of kills it."
Blaise nodded. In this way, he felt sorry for muggles. They'd never know what things were possible with magic.
"Well you never know," he joked, trying to brighten the situation, "I might really be a wizard, but I'm just not allowed to tell you because you're a muggle."
He thought she would grin at this but she looked more calculating, than anything. "That's what you called me when I first saw you-,"
She was interrupted by Draco running over to them, his breathing coming out in shallow pants. "Weasley's gone and snogged some muggle and it turned out she had a boyfriend. We need to leave now, because he's about to get the shit kicked out of him, and I'm not helping him. I need to retain my good looks for wooing Granger."
Blaise didn't notice the astonished look that crossed Emily's face as she once again heard them use the word 'muggle'. They hadn't even realised they'd said it. They also didn't notice her staring after them in shock, as the four of them raced out the front door of the house and ran down the street, being chased by three muggle boys who were yelling out profanities and threats.
By the time they made it back the gate where they'd left their brooms, they were all breathing heavily and bent doubled trying to steady their heartbeats.
"You idiot, Weasley!" Draco scolded in between breaths, "You could have gotten us all beaten up."
"It's not my fault! I didn't know she had a boyfriend!" The redhead retorted defensively.
Draco shook his head impatiently, obviously choosing to ignore the teen. Instead he climbed the gate and grabbed a broom.
"Let's just get back up there before we get caught," he said, mounting the broom. The others followed suit, and moments later they were flying through the sky and through the window of the drawing room.
Potter and Weasley headed directly toward the fireplace, and grabbed some floo powder.
"Mum'll kill us if she found out we left," Weasley explained, "Catchya later."
"Cya," Potter said, as they threw the powder in and stepped into the green flames.
Blaise sighed. "That was the worst idea ever. That muggle girl started asking questions."
Draco scoffed. "You think that was bad? I had muggle girls groping me all over-,"
"What's this about muggles?" A cool voice asked from behind them. They both froze and turned to find Lucius standing at the doorway; arms crossed looking as though he were ready to kill.
"I noticed you were missing for a couple of hours. So you were out socialising with that filth were you? You're a disgrace to the Malfoy name, boy. Come with me."
Lucius moved forward purposefully and grabbed Draco by the scruff of his neck. The teen struggled a bit, but seemed to understand that it would only make things worse, and eventually allowed his father to push him toward the door and to his inevitable punishment.
Blaise moved to stand in front of them. From that close proximity he could smell the Firewhiskey on Lucius breath. This would only make it worse for Draco. "Look, it wasn't his idea, I made him-,"
"Perhaps so," Lucius interrupted, "but he still has a mind of his own-,"
"Yes he does!" Blaise exclaimed, "He doesn't have to think like you!"
"Do not raise your voice at me in my own home," Lucius said in a threatening tone. Blaise glanced at Draco long enough to see the teen shake his head. He was telling him to let it go.
Blaise sighed, before moving out of the way of Lucius, who continued to push Draco out the door.
The next twenty minutes were some of the longest of Blaise's life. He was fearful for his best mate. His brother. Lucius had been drinking, so no doubt Draco would have some injuries. He always had, though he hadn't been punished by Lucius for a while.
Eventually Blaise couldn't take it anymore. He had waited for long enough for Draco to return, but he hadn't. Instead, Blaise left the drawing room in search of his friend.
He found him minutes later, curled in a ball against the hallway wall. As Blaise approached him, he saw his face was covered in blood from where he had a broken nose. He was covered in a thick sheen of sweat and was pale and trembling. He'd never seen Draco look so undone.
Blaise kneeled down and pulled his friend off the ground, ensuring he supported his weight. He also noticed curiously, that Draco's muscles were twitching and spasming under his grasp. Blaise remembered reading somewhere once that it was a lasting effect of the Cruciatis Cur-
Blaise froze as a heavy feeling of dread his him right in the stomach. He looked down at Draco, and found that he was barely conscious. There was blood dripping all over the floor. He had been tortured; there was no other word to describe this. It certainly wasn't 'punishment'.
"Fuck," Blaise swore, feeling himself begin to panic. He didn't know what to do, or how to help him.
Blaise practically carried Draco into the drawing room and laid him on one of the couches. He used a simple healing spell on Draco's nose, but knew that there was nothing he could do for the after-effects of the Cruciatis Curse.
He felt the anger race through him as he thought of how Lucius could do that to his own son and wanted to nothing more than to find the man and hex him into pieces. That wouldn't help anything though.
Instead he spent the next hour watching over Draco. The boys' muscles would twitch occasionally, but other than that he didn't move once. Blaise eventually got a wet cloth from a bathroom nearby and sat it on Draco's forehead, hoping to stop the fever he seemed to have.
Another hour passed, and Blaise heard a groan from the other sofa. He raced over to find Draco was awake, though he still looked ill and completely disoriented. After a moment, he noticed Blaise standing over him and seemed to realise what was going on.
"How long have I been out?" He asked in a croaky voice, "What's the time?"
Blaise looked at the clock in the corner of the room. "You've been out for about two hours. It's 12:15am. Happy new year, mate." He added sardonically.
Draco managed a small chuckle, before groaning in pain.
"Happy fucking new year, indeed."
They spent the rest of the night in the drawing room; Draco recovering, and Blaise watching over him. It was moments like these that Blaise realised how heavily they relied on each other. In reality, they were the only family that they each had.
As the sun rose on the new day and Draco fell back to sleep, Blaise couldn't help but hope that the events of last night were not an indication of what was to come in the new year.
A/N: I'm so sorry this took forever to upload. I should be back to my normal upload schedule now (once a week). Once again, I'm very sorry.
Let me know what you think of this chapter, please. I spent the whole night writing this so I could upload it today and I'm about to collapse on my key board from exhaustion.
Anyways, thanks to all those who have read and subscribed, and favourited and all that. I love you!
Cheers,
Leni