All The Things I Hate About You, Part XVIII

Rating: M

Summary: All The Things, continued. Kate Advent, Day 18.

#18 Your incessant need for order

"This is ridiculous, Granger," Draco muttered, stepping through the floo and brushing off the speck of ash that dared to land on his lapel.

She inched her way out of the flames seconds after he vacated the fireplace with her hands already settling on her hips. "Hey," she huffed defensively. "You are the one, may I remind you, Malfoy, that wanted to finally understand all of my muggle-isms."

"Well," he protested, leading her expertly through the Manor to avoid any triggering rooms. "I didn't realize that I was signing up for punishment in doing so. This is torture. This is NOT AT ALL what I had in mind and I vehemently detest it and wish to return back to the flat immediately."

Though he did not sound vehement whatsoever nor did he stop weaving them through the marble floored hallways.

Granger rolled her eyes. "Your wish is noted," she remarked, "and also declined."

"Balls," he mumbled, opening the door for her.

However, before either of them could step through it and descend into the garage, a trilling voice sounded behind them causing both their heads to whip around.

"Darling!" Narcissa cooed, taking Draco's face between her cold hands and kissing both his cheeks. He returned the sentiment, murmuring his own greeting as she stepped away and slid her pale eyes over to the bushy-haired witch standing beside him.

"Narcissa," Granger said, smiling broadly. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm wonderful, my dear. How are you? I presume my son isn't driving you too crazy in that tiny little flat of yours?"

Draco stifled a round of coughs at the implication that he was the troublesome flatmate among them. Granger, astoundingly, flashed a polite smile and kept up nearly expert aristocratic appearances.

The two women bantered and flirted like old friends and Draco suddenly felt a trickle of jealously flare up his spine. He took Granger's arm in his and tugged her away from his mother, "Come on," he growled in her ear.

Then, nodded to his mother and begged her forgiveness for they were late to be somewhere. Narcissa merely dimpled, waving the two of them off before turning on her heel and angling herself down the long hallway with echoed clicks of her heel.

"Malfoy," Granger taunted with a smirk, "I didn't realize you cared so much about tardiness."

"Shut the fuck up, Granger," he breathed, rolling his slate eyes at her twinkling chestnut ones. He slid into the sleek car and turned over the keys, depending on muscle memory from learning how to drive a muggle car to get them to the store in one piece.

"Why do you even own one of these?" She asked him, adding, "A left here, then second exit," as she gestured with a flick of her hand where he should go.

Draco shrugged, "Father believed it was important to have certain muggle things in order to keep up appearances whenever we had to travel through muggle London."

When they finally reached their destination – a massive supermarket named Tesco – Draco parked the car and swiftly moved to the other side in order to open the door for Granger.

"I can do that myself," she remarked drily. "Besides," she added, gathering her bloody abominable reusable bags (Draco was eco-friendly, it was not the fact that they were reusable that was so abhorrent, but rather the hideous cat pattern across them). "It's not even remotely a simple friend gesture. The rules?"

He pursed his lips at her arched brow and countered it with one of his own, "So, am I supposed to cease my chivalrous behaviour because it makes you feel – What? – less independent? Swallow your feminist pride, Granger, I'm hardly trying to belittle your capabilities to open your own door."

She took a cart – one that oddly enough did not wheel itself around beside you or recommend any recipes for dinner – and directed them toward what appeared to be the deli section.

"I know that," she snapped, then sighed. "I know you would never – Wait – What the bloody hell?" She cut herself off and Draco blinked as well.

There was an enormous crowd gathered around the cold cuts counter, every person in it angling to get seen by the next available staff member.

He scoffed, resting his arm across her shoulders and revelled in the fact that her immediate response was to wrap her arm around his waist. "I don't see why you were so keen to introduce me to your muggle grocery stores. Do they all display this level of anarchy or this chaos special to your particular corner store?"

She pinched him.

"Ouch! Fuck, Granger," he grimaced, but the time he thought to rebuke, she had already let him go and shoved her way through the angered customers to the front of the mess. Draco inclined his blond head to see her unruly curls bobbing furiously as she spoke to one of the two staff members behind the counter.

"Well?" He pressed as she sidled up next to him again.

"The ticket counter is broken," she lamented. "They use a little machine that produces numbered tickets and it is meant to supplement a queue. Without it - "

"No queue." He finished. She nodded, her face contorting in displeasure. "Then what – Hey, wait – Granger,"

She moved a nearby empty bin and turned it over to stand on it so that she towered above everyone in the crowd, then shouted at the top of her lungs. No one moved. Granger grimaced, and Draco caught the slight slip of her sleeve as she pressed the tip of her wand to her throat.

"HEY!"

Every head turned at once. Absolute silence.

Granger huffed, her chest rising and falling dramatically, then she continued at a normal volume.

Draco wasn't exactly sure how she did what she did next, but fuck did she do it well. She managed to interrogate every single person waiting for their cold cuts and formulated a queue based on when each of them arrived. He caught various phrases and chuckled under his breath at her insistence on following rules and restoring order.

"You said you called your mother when you got here to ask her which type of ham she wanted? What time was that call? Yes, ok, then you need to stand here."

Shuffled footsteps.

"Sir," – a nod and a flick of her wrist as she beckoned a man over – "Yes, you. You stand up here in front of this lovely woman. Tell your wife your receipt from earlier was very helpful when you had to go back for her favourite sandwich meat."

A grateful smile.

"HEY!" She called. Brows furrowed at some younger children trying to cut her newly formed line. "Get back there. No, I'm sorry, but your game was saved only ten minutes ago so there was no way you were here earlier than that."

Finally, she had succeeded in providing everyone with a number. Draco smirked at her as they took their position at the very back of the very long line.

She smiled up at him, "That was fun."

That was hot, he thought.

"You," he breathed, shaking his head and laughing, "are an absolute nightmare."

"Eh," she shrugged. "I've heard worse."

Draco tugged at her hand, pulling her away from her precious queue, "Come with me."

"Huh?" Granger blinked. "What? Why? We still have to get that prosciutto for tonight's wine night. Didn't you specifically want it because it paired well or whatever?"

He sighed, taking her hand regardless of her protests and sneaking her into an open corner and waving his wand to cast a disillusionment charm over them. "Yes, Granger," he said, propping her up on the wall and wrapping her legs around his waist. "It pairs very well. No whatever about it."

Her lips brushed against his as she tried to continue arguing, but he silenced her by pressing his roughly to hers.

"Noted," she exhaled, breathless.

A/N - Chapter seven (of ten, omg!) has been posted for TAoB. This one is for Belle2249 for being #100 with Revelations, thank you xx