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Chapter 5 –
What was she thinking?
Here she was, on the rooftop of the Burrow, with Draco Malfoy, and it was a very high roof. They were actually just on the roof of the front porch. That was still too high, in her opinion.
"Why are we here?" Hermione asked.
"Adventure," he answered.
"What?" she didn't understand. How high were they?
"You need some adventure in your life, Granger," he said.
"I have had enough adventure in my life to last me a life, thanks," she told him. Would a person break their leg from this height?
"But, your life has gotten into a rut lately, am I right?" He egged her on, to see if he could get a rise out of her.
"No," she said. Seriously, a fall from this high would as least hurt, wouldn't it? She looked all around, clutching his arm the entire time. It was starting to cause him pain.
"You really are scared of heights, aren't you?" he asked.
She wasn't even paying attention to him. Instead, she was looking toward a window. "Do you want to go snooping now?" she asked. "That's the twins' old room, right there; I bet it would be a good place to start."
Draco said, "In other words, you want to leave the roof, right?"
"Yes, but not in other words, in plain words, I want to leave the roof," she said.
He removed her hand from his arm and sat down.
"What are you doing?" she asked, as she now held onto his shoulder.
"Sitting. You should try it sometime. If you remain standing, you might fall and break your leg," he answered.
"AH HA!" she shouted, "that is just what I was thinking." She looked around again. "Come inside with me," she begged. Her hand went from his shoulder to the top of his head and held onto his hair. It was actually a bit painful.
"No, sit down here with me." He patted the roof.
She looked down, and instead of sitting, she disapparated away. He wasn't expecting that. He disapparated as well. He went back in the house, to look for her. He couldn't find her. He walked back outside. Bloody hell, the happy couple was cutting their cake. He went back to the front yard. He found her sitting under a tree. He walked over to join her, and sat opposite her on the grass.
"You ruined my plan," he said.
"What plan, might I ask," she inquired.
"My plan to get you drunk on top of a roof, and then push you off, causing you bodily injury," he said.
"What the hell kind of plan was that?" she asked, perturbed.
"Isn't that what you thought?" he asked.
"No, I just thought I was afraid of heights. Damn, Malfoy, not everything is about you," she said, with a slight smile. She crossed her legs and looked over toward a field, to the left of the house. He looked over toward the same field. Before he could ask her what she was thinking, she said, "That's the field where the Weasleys always played Quidditch."
"Did you ever play?" he inquired.
"Were you just up on the roof with me? Of course I didn't play, afraid of heights, remember," she reminded.
He poured her a glass of wine, and she gladly accepted. He poured himself a glass, and rested the bottle against her leg. He said, "Cheers, Granger," and he clinked his glass to hers.
"Let's play your game, Malfoy," she said, suddenly more at ease. He thought that maybe the roof was a bad idea after all. She's much more pleasant on the ground.
"Okay, in this game, you have to answer the opposite of the truth, in one word answers. Each person gets to ask five questions, and I will start," he said.
"How is that a game?" she asked.
"It's a better game than the one you suggested earlier," he protested.
"Okay, but no personal questions," she said.
"Then where's the fun?" he asked.
"No sex question, then," she revised.
"Why not? We are friends now, aren't we? Don't you talk about sex with your friends?" Draco asked.
"Not really. My best friends are Harry and Ron, well, Ron was at one time, so we don't talk about sex that much," she said.
"You have at least had sex, though, right?" he asked, smirking.
She gave him a funny look and said, "You mean with Harry and Ron?"
"No, I mean, in general," he amended, adding, "I know you've probably had sex with Ron, and I can block that out of my mind, but I hope to goodness you've never had sex with Potter. That would make me utterly sick."
"See, this is why I don't want sex questions," she said, "for your health is important to me." She held out her glass for more wine and he obliged.
"Does that mean you have had sex with Potter?" he asked, seriously.
"I will not talk about sex with you, new found friend or not!" she vowed with a laugh.
Draco shrugged and said, "Do you want to play my game or not?" She motioned for him to continue as she took another drink. He asked, "Do you still love Weasley, and remember, answer the opposite."
"Yes," she said, unabashed.
"Have you ever shagged Potter?"
"That's a sex, question," she reminded, but then she said, "Yes," and she giggled.
"Do you want to get married within the next five years?"
"No," she said, solemnly.
"Do you have knickers on today?"
She hit his arm, as she did earlier, and said, "Draco."
"Is that the opposite?" he asked.
"Fine," she said, "No."
"Damn. Have you ever had a crush on me?"
She was quiet for a moment, and took one more drink, to delay answering. She really had never had a crush on Draco. She thought he was handsome, of course, but she seriously despised him in school. After school, she never gave him much thought. However, she thought she might have a slight crush on him now, even though he apparently just thought they were friends. However, he didn't ask, 'do you have a crush on me?' he asked, 'have you ever had a crush on me', but then again, those were just semantics.
"Granger, did you fall into a coma?" he asked, "Answer please."
She decided to answer. "No," she finally said. He could come to his own conclusions. He would probably think it was when she was younger, not now. He was all out of questions, so he could not ask her to elaborate, anyway.
He poured her some more wine, and came to sit beside her, instead of opposite. He put his back next to the tree, next to hers, as well. He said, "Your turn."
She thought for a moment, and said, "Have you ever been in love?"
"Yes," he said.
"Do you have a girlfriend, now?"
"Yes."
"Do you bleach your hair?" she laughed.
"YES," he said, with a brittle tone. She thought that one might insult him.
"Did you know how much it hurt me in school when you were cruel to me and called me names like Mudblood, and bucktooth beaver," she asked, looking at the ground.
He didn't want to answer that one. However, fair was fair. She answered his. He said, "No." Of course, he knew it hurt her. He was a cruel bully back then. He did it to be mean.
She drank the rest of her wine. He started to pour her some more, but she shook her head no. She said, "My last question, do you think I'm pretty?"
He was looking right at her face. The sun was high in the sky, and it was breaking through the tree branches, casting light and shadow across her features. Her skin was clear, and she had a natural blush to her cheeks. Her lips were round and red, and plump and wet. Her figure was perfect, and she had the most adorable freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were warm and inviting. He took another drink, threw the glass in the yard, and said, "Yes."
She frowned. He wondered why she frowned.
"I see," she said. She stood up. "I'm going to go tell Harry goodbye. It was a nice afternoon, Draco. Thanks a lot for being nice to me, I needed a friend today." She spoke in an even tone. She started to walk away. He stood up and caught her arm.
"I thought we were having a good laugh this afternoon. Why are you leaving?" He honestly did not even think about what he had just said. He was supposed to answer the opposite, but all he could think was that she was indeed very pretty, so he answered yes.
"It was fun, and thank you, but I want to go home now." She looked down at his hand, wrapped around her forearm. He looked down too, and then he let her go.
"Bye, Granger," he said, still confused.
"Bye, Malfoy," she answered, waving her hand goodbye. She walked through the house.
He watched her enter the front door, when the realization of what he said under the tree hit him. He was supposed to answer the opposite, but instead, he answered truthfully. She thought that he thought she was not pretty. He ran through the house, out the back door. Just then, the bride was getting ready to throw her bouquet. He saw Granger hiding behind the side of the house, watching. He walked up to her, took her arm, and walked her farther away from the house.
"I need to clarify something," he said.
Suddenly, the voice of Ginny could be heard. She said, "Wait! Don't throw it yet, we have to find Hermione!"
"Damn, Draco, I don't want them to find me. I don't want to stand with all the other desperate spinsters, trying to catch a bouquet, while everyone feels sorry for me because I wasn't good enough for the groom," she complained.
"You're twenty-five years old. How is that a spinster?" he asked, "And you're too good for the groom." Before she could comment on what he said, she took his hand and ran toward a small, wooden shed. She opened the door and pulled him in, and then pulled the door up tight.
"Where are we? Is this their outhouse?" he said, more to himself. It was dark in there.
"A broom shed," she said quietly.
"I think she came around the side of the house," Ginny said, her voice sounding closer. Draco started to say something to Hermione, but she put her hand over his mouth. He rather liked that. Her hand on his mouth, and her body so close to his, he felt a rush of something that was definitely more than friendship.
"Maybe she went home after all," Ginny shouted. Draco removed Hermione's hand from his mouth, but kept it in his own, as he leaned forward and peeked out the door.
"She went back around the back," he said, closing the door again.
"Good," Hermione answered. "I'll just stay in here for a moment longer, and then go find Harry to say goodbye, but you don't have to wait with me."
"I wanted to clarify something from earlier," he said, squeezing her hand slightly.
"What?"
"I don't think you're pretty," he said quickly. Even in the dark, he thought he could see her frown. He mentally slapped himself and said, "Shite, that's wrong, too. I meant to say, well, just ask me the bloody question again."
"What question?" she asked him. She knew 'what' question, but she was no longer in the mood for games. "Listen, Malfoy, that's fine. We're friends, now; at least I would like to think we are, so it's not that big of a deal. You can be honest with me." As she was rambling on, he dropped her hand and put his over her mouth, just as she had done to him earlier.
"Ask me again, dammit," he said.
He removed his hand. She said, "Do you think I'm pretty?"
"Now, remember, this time, I really am answering opposite. Okay, you know that, right?" She nodded. He said, "No. The answer is no. Opposite, remember."
She gave him a little smile, and looked down at her feet in embarrassment. She looked back up in his eyes, just as Harry opened the door to the shed. Harry asked, "What the hell are you two doing in there?"
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