Hermione Granger was never one to go into a situation with no previous knowledge of what might ensue, but she found herself being drawn into something now that she didn't quite know how to stop, and that she didn't think she WANTED to stop. She had no realistic expectations of sudden and abrupt changes in opinion, and maybe that's why she was letting herself go so easily. But life was starting to take on a whole new turn for her, and for once, she didn't mind the utter lack of control. It started on a whim, as most things do, a chance conversation. Actually, a reply to a rhetorical statement.
"Well, hell," He had sighed, reading over a parchment he'd just received in the mail. "Shit happens. I guess you just have to smile, right?" He scanned it again, definitely not expecting Hermione to look up from her work and agree.
"Right," she said absentmindedly, glancing quickly at him and then back down to her work. Draco, surprised at her interjection, wandered over to the couch that dominated the common room between their bedrooms in the Head dormitory.
"That wasn't a question," he said, taking a seat across from her, "but thanks for your input anyway."
Hermione "hmm"d and flipped a page in her book. "What's up?" She didn't really expect and answer.
"Lucius died."
THAT caught her attention. "I'm…sorry?" She said, hesitating a little.
Draco let out a hollow laugh. "Don't be. Really."
Hermione bit her lip. "Well, then," she said, "I'm at least sorry for what he did."
He looked at her for a moment, considering the sincerity in her words. "Thanks."
They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, and then both spoke at the same time.
"Hey, I was wondering—"
"I wanted to know if—"
They stopped, looked at each other, and Hermione started giggling. "You go first," She said, smiling.
Draco looked unsure for a moment, as if he didn't quite know what to say, but quickly composed himself. "We've been living together for what, two months now?" He asked, waiting for her nod. "And we've been quite civil to each other, correct?" She nodded again. Draco scrunched up his face as though he was trying to find the right words, but finally just gave up and blurted out, "are we friends?"
Hermione was surprised that he would be the one to suggest it. "I was thinking the same thing," she admitted. "I was going to ask you, but I was afraid you would go all high and mighty on me, and we'd go back to square one."
Draco looked slightly ashamed.
"But, yeah, we're friends," Hermione affirmed quickly, seeing the look on his face. "I've actually found that you're quite tolerable when we're alone." She smiled at his expression. "Really, though, I think we've come a long way."
He thought about that for a moment, and then came back with "Well, I'm glad. You aren't bad yourself." He grinned as though he'd said something clever.
"Careful," Hermione warned, rolling her eyes, "Don't let your ego inflate again TOO quickly…"
What would think if I sang out of tune; would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key. Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends, Oh, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.
It had been about a week since Hermione and Draco had confirmed their friendship, and Hermione had an idea. As seventh years, they were allowed a weekend off during Halloween, unless, of course, they wished to stay for the feast. Hermione, though, had something else in mind. Her cousin in American had written to her recently, raving about a "haunted house" she'd been to that she guaranteed would scare any sane person out of their pants. Hermione wanted to test Draco's bravado, especially since he was so adamant about believing that muggles were completely incompetent and utterly incapable of producing anything worthwhile. She would show him…
"Where are we going?" Draco complained, as she led him over to the fireplace.
"You'll see. Now, you have to hold onto me." She grabbed a handful of powder from her pocket, and Draco had barely enough time to see that it was purple, and not the usual green, before he was dragged into the fireplace and they were spinning away. About two minutes later, they stepped out into a neatly furnished living room, and Draco saw that a tall girl with brown hair was racing toward Hermione.
"MYA!" She squealed, throwing herself at a grinning Hermione. "I'm so glad you could make it!" She turned to Draco and stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Jordin!" She shook his hand enthusiastically and when she was done, Draco turned to Hermione.
"We're in AMERICA?" He asked in disbelief, staring around the room as though expecting someone to pop out and tell him he was on camera and it was a joke. Hermione just giggled at him.
"Yeah, we're in America," she contended. "And I have a surprise for you." Draco started to ask what, but she cut him off. "No, you'll just have to see. Come on, we have to leave now if we're going to make it."
About half an hour later the three of them were standing in a long line of people waiting to get into something called "The House of Torment." Draco, who stubbornly insisted that he wasn't even the least bit anxious, was actually slightly unnerved by the creatures running around outside of the haunted house, which Jordin kept calling "creepers". Finally, they made it to the front of the line where they handed their ticket stubs to a boy who looked to be about eighteen, with a black Mohawk and lip, eyebrow, and ear piercings. He seemed to recognize Jordin.
"Hey babe, back again?" He asked, ripping their tickets in half and handing back the stub. "Who's that with you?" He motioned to Hermione who smiled, and Draco who was staring around with a look of apprehension on his pale features.
"This is my cousin Hermione and her friend Draco," Jordin explained. "They're from England, visiting for a few days." She turned to Hermione. "This is Justin."
"Pleased to meet you," Hermione said warmly, extending her hand to the boy. She motioned over her shoulder to where Draco was now staring wide-eyed at a "creeper" that looked like something out of his worst nightmares. "That one's Draco, but he seems a little pre-occupied. Not scared my arse," she muttered.
Justin laughed, glancing over at him. "Well, it's too late to turn back now," he joked. "Here you guys go, they're ready for you. No running, no flash photography, and if you don't touch them, they won't touch you. Have fun." He smiled and opened a door leading into pitch black darkness, where Hermione could hear screams. She turned to grab Draco, who had paled dramatically.
"C'mon mister 'I'm-not-scared-of-a-bloody-playhouse'," She said brightly, "in we go!"
She dragged him through the doorway where they stood in front of another door. Draco was reaching to open it when it slammed open with a BANG!, causing him to jump back into Hermione, who pushed him forward, laughing. They passed under the doorframe into a room filled with smoke, and every few seconds a strobe-light would flash. Draco inched forward cautiously, looking around for anything that was potentially harmful, but seeing nothing strutted ahead, totally oblivious to the smoky figure that had loomed up beside him. In fact, he was completely unaware until a chainsaw started up somewhere to his left, and then was brought down swiftly, inches in front of his face. He stood still for a moment or two, too shocked to move, and then bolted forward, searching for an exit. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?!" he yelled, frantically trying to located Hermione through the fog. He heard a bloodcurdling scream and froze, recognizing it as Hermione's, and then the unmistakable rev of the chainsaw, again. Feeling around to see where he was, his hand landed in something warm and sticky, which he brought closer to his face to scrutinize, but upon seeing that it was red, he immediately dropped his hand to his side, intensely focusing on finding Hermione. He had worked up the courage to walk a few feet when something grabbed him from behind. Draco was almost positive he was about to piss himself when he whirled around, but found himself looking into Hermione and Jordin's flushed faces.
"LET'S GO!" Hermione shrieked, "NEXT ROOM!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the fog, and even he wasn't quite sure how she knew where she was going, but obviously she knew something, because they were soon in a long hallway, draped with cobwebs and decorated with dusty old photographs. After double checking to make sure there were no doors or cubby holes where something could pop out, he continued down the hall warily, holding on to Jordin's shoulders, with Hermione behind him, holding on to his. Something dropped on his head and he flinched, looking up to find the most terrifying woman he had ever seen dangling above him.
"RUN!" He shouted, pushing Jordin forward into the blackness, which suddenly engulfed them. The hallway had turned into a tunnel, made from billowy black material that pressed against them on both sides. Draco was slightly reassured by Hermione's grip behind him, but still hurried forward, anxious to be out of the darkness. Jordin finally slipped through and he followed, turning around to say something to Hermione. As soon as he craned his neck, though, it was absolutely clear that Hermione had definitely not been behind him the whole time, as a pair of sunken eyes met his and a rotting face grinned back at him. He stumbled backwards, holding his hands out in front of him as if to ward off evil, and then turned and bolted.
The next half hour was full of many similar experiences, with things popping out, grabbing hold, and generally scaring the wits out of Draco, Hermione, and Jordin. By the time they exited, walking by a pair of laughing guides, they were all just glad to still be alive. As they climbed back into Jordin's car, Draco turned to Hermione.
"You win," he said weakly. Hermione looked at him questioningly. "If I hadn't seen that with my own eyes," he explained, "I never would have believed muggles were capable of something like that." He rested his head against the window. "And now," he wheezed, "I think I'm going to lie down and die of heart palpitations."
What do I do when my love is away? (Does it worry you to be alone?) How do I feel by the end of the day, (Are you sad because you're on your own?) No, I get by with a little help from my friends, Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends, Mmm I'm gonna to try with a little help from my friends.
"DRACO!" Hermione complained, "Will you KINDLY remove your trash from my bag?" She glared at him as he stuffed crumpled wads of paper into the side pockets of her school bag. He managed to fit one more in, and looked up, grinning.
"I hate you." She said sullenly, wrenching the bag out of his grasp.
"But I wuv youu, cuppy cake!" He cooed, laughing madly at the expression on her face.
"One of these days, I SWEAR…" She muttered, pulling out the pieces parchment and chucking them at his face, and sighing in exasperation as he picked them up and began stuffing them back in her bag.
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" She yelled, grabbing her back and swinging it through the air, thwacking him firmly on the side of his head.
"OW!" Draco whined, rubbing the sore spot. "Was that absolutely necessary?" He pouted, eyeing the bag warily.
Hermione just looked at him.
"Okay, fine." He narrowed his eyes. "…Arse."
Hermione burst out laughing at the expression on his face.
"IT'S NOT BLOODY FUNNY!" Draco complained, "That bloody HURT!" He pulled her bag closer to him to peer inside, eyes growing wide. "NO WONDER!" He screeched, "There must be 30 pounds of books in here!" He turned to face Hermione, who was in minor hysterics at this point. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!"
Hermione blinked innocently at him, having somewhat controlled her laughter. "Well, I DID warn you," she pointed out.
Draco glared in response. "Fine," he countered. "I hate you, too."
He turned around and crossed his arms over his chest, sticking his nose in the air. Hermione reached around him and grabbed his notebook from in front of him, scribbling something on the first blank page, and then placing it back down.
Draco looked down, curious. 'Hermione was here'.He scoffed, and wrote something back, then tossed it behind him to where she was seated.
'so was DRACO', Hermione read. She grabbed her quill and replied, 'well, yeah, it's your bloody notebook'
Draco, who had turned around now, seized the offending piece of paper and wrote something else then tore it out and handed it back.
'Ha,' it read, 'now who's to say who it belongs to!' Hermione looked up at the smug expression on his face and shook her head.
Draco turned back, obviously expecting something new to be written, but was instead hit between the eyes with yet another piece of crumpled paper.
"YOU WHORE!" He yelled in mock outrage, "HOW DARE YOU?!" He made to stand up, but failed miserably as Hermione had had the foresight to predict that that was exactly what he was going to do, and thus had charmed his shoelaces together, causing him to trip and fail, landing in a heap next to the legs of the coffee table in front of them. She could barely breathe for laughing so hard when he finally managed to untangle himself. She had barely composed herself when he shot a look of pure contempt towards her, sending her back off the deep end.
"This time," he growled, "I really AM going to kill you."
She patted him on the head, ignoring his words completely, and grabbing his cheeks. He was expecting her next words.
"But I wuv youuu, cuppy cake!"
Do you need anybody? I need somebody to love. Could it be anybody? I want somebody to love. Would you believe in a love at first sight? Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time. What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you, but I know it's mine. Oh I get by with a little help from my friends, Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends, Oh I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.