They were eating chicken and bread rather noisily and happily when Mrs. Weasley was about to ask where Draco had gone.
"Where's the young Malfoy…?" She trailed off, looking around and completely puzzled.
They all shrugged at the same time and controlled themselves not to give it away.
She held a suspicious look, and she opened her mouth. "Well well well…" She started, stern and already disappointed.
"I'm back." Said a cold and emotionless voice. Everyone looked towards the source of the voice, he was already clean and dry, he held no expression in his face, they couldn't see if he was pissed or angry, he was a rather skilled Slytherin at hiding emotions, well, everything except anger, hate, disgust… well, you get the point.
"Why, where have you been Draco?" Mrs. Weasley asked worried, and motioned him to seat across Hermione, beside her actually, no one wanted to leave and empty seat beside themselves. He winced and followed suit, they couldn't tell whether it was at the fact he was sitting across from Hermione, or the way Mrs. Weasley act all mothery feathery and called him Draco.
He didn't force a smile, he just simply gave the slightest of nods, and muttered something like, "Had some trouble adjusting.." and sat down without a mere 'thank you.'
They figured he was simply pissed since even if he hated them, he was still capable of looking completely good outside, especially to elders, and he wasn't bothering right now. They felt successful.
"Soooo.. did you clean up well?" A voice across him asked, and he looked up.
Hermione was there, smiling at him. She's smiling at me?! He shook away the thought and concentrated. Why are you smiling at me?! Stop it!!! He found himself having a mental battle.
"Draco?" She said softly.
W-w-wwhuuuuut??? He turned to her, she was quiet and she was looking intently at him. Why are you looking at me now!! What's your problem woman let me be!!! He thought of saying. Apparently, the others didn't notice Hermione talking to him since they were all talking to one another, well, the scar face and two red heads, the other two identical ones were being lectured by the mum.
"Draco?" She said again.
Hwoooow…. She called me Draco.. What in Merlin's name she called me Draco!!! What is up with that!??! Draco! Stupid boy!!! You're being ridiculous..!! Why.. Thanks, I already know that part, thank you… But it sounded so… so… something by the way… What?! Sounded right?! Well yeah… WAIIIT!! Sounded right?! What the heck is up with the Mudblood saying my name softly and me finding it as right and going all mentally ridiculous because she started a conversation with me and smiling now looking like an idiot but still cute at the same time….
Contain yourself you dooooooof!! He heard a stronger voice in his head say. He mentally shook himself and cursed himself for acting like, what it seemed to him, a silly little good for nothing girlaluuuu.
He managed to get a smirk out. "Who said you can start calling me Draco?" He said a bit loudly, forgetting the fact that Hermione spoke to him softly. Ron and the twins stopped to look, eventually Harry and Ginny did too; it was fortunate Mrs. Weasley was already up and cleaning some dishes since she was already done.
"Who said you can keep the stuck up attitude?" Harry told him through gritted teeth.
Draco was taken aback.
"You may be like that all the time, but now you're in our house, and you have to change a bit or you're outta here." Fred said with emphasis on the going part, pointing straightly at the door, showing his lean muscles, and Draco remembered the sad fact that they were the only ones apart from the adults who could do magic while he stayed there. Of all the people. Them.
Draco heard words come out very viciously, and realized it was his. "Well if it's not my home, and I'm glad about that, then that doesn't make me any different from the beaver and scar face right?" He asked, smirking and obviously hitting a spot right there.
"You're wrong!" Ron said angrily, and he saw Harry turn very dark, but Hermione was turning pink and embarrassed. He felt for a fleeting moment there, sorry for her, but then straightened himself and gave an award-winning, smirk.
"Fine. It doesn't matter, since when have you been right anyway?" He heard himself retort to Ron.
"Enough!" George boomed.
Everyone looked at him.
"Look here Malfoy, we didn't ask you to stay here, and Hermione and Harry are more than welcome to stay, and your case is very much different, I can't believe you didn't see that… But nevermind, we can't fight now, Mum'll be back in a while, so save it all of you for later." He finished when he saw all mouths about to open and detest.
Everyone kept quiet.
"Okay." Hermione simply said, half-speaking for everyone else who didn't open their mouths.
Soon after lunch (and many attempts to start a fight from both parties), everyone retreated to their rooms, Harry and Ron decided to have a game of Wizard's Chess, Fred and George spent time filling out forms for WWW, and Hermione and Ginny were at their room, talking.
"Malfoy's being such a prince, isn't he?" Ginny started, rolling her eyes.
Hermione smiled and stood up to get a book. She sat back at the floor beside Ginny. "Oh c'mon, it's not that bad if you don't care. I mean, just think that he's not worth anything, and his usual annoying self won't even seem to matter to you anymore." She finished, smiling at the red-headed Weasley.
Ginny kept quiet for a while, then started a separate topic and they were chatting very passionately.
Draco went sulking inside his room, he was already getting bored. He remembered something, and got something slim and silver inside his trunk.
He removed what seemed to be a muggle cellphone, blessing his father for buying him one so that he could make calls when he said he didn't trust the owl of the Weasels.
He had a hard time operating it for a while, and on the sixth try, he was finally able to call Zonkos Jokeshop, since he had no intention to call WWW at all. Not that they'd know what a cellphone is… good thing father hooked up all the stores for my convenience… He told to himself.
The other end rang for a very long time, he figured the receiver was also having some trouble with the muggle phone. Finally someone answered, "H-h-helloooo?" The voice stammered.
Draco smirked. "Yes, I'd like to order a few things… Will you be able to give it to me as soon as possible? Ah… excellent, right now? Oh, at the end of this phone call? Very good… Yes, one of that stuff I got for April Fools… yes yes, that one… Mhmmmm.. And ohh yesss… I will be making quite some calls from now on… yes yes… urgent matters… Alright, thank you very much, Goodbye." And the smiling Malfoy hung up the phone.
As soon as he hung up, there was a soft pop, and in Draco's hand materialized some sort of goo, green and purple at the same time, sickly color. He smiled wickedly. He was happy the his father was able to charm the cell phone to give him whatever it was he wanted from the person on the other line. Just like this goo which read, Danger: Handle with Care. And he broke into an evil grin.
"…and so that's why curls never go with purplish green for me…" Hermione finished.
"Hey, you want to go to the kitchen and get something to dink?" Ginny suggested, and Hermione agreed, so they left for the kitchen.
Draco was creeping in a corner and the two girls didn't notice him, they continued talking until they were downstairs.
He quietly got inside the room, for the two gibbering girls forgot to close the door and he was stuck thinking of what to do, when he saw a t-shirt and a pair of shorts lying in one of the beds. He wondered who it belonged to, but decided that it didn't matter if it was the Weasel girl who'd get affected or Hermione, as long as someone does get… affected.
He quickly smirked and went over to the shirt, inversed it and put a really large amount of the goo, which was designed to be invisible once applied, so no one will be able to notice. He went on to the shorts, and neatly put back the clothes the way he saw it, and left the room quickly. He was insanely happy.
What the joke shop twins don't know is… I, being a Malfoy, can obtain certain things with Dark Magic.. ha ha. They can't!
"So in the end I had to get my homework after all.." Hermione finished, and Ginny was nodding, obviously bored.
"Honestly 'Mione, do you talk about homework even in here!?" She said incredulously, and they both laughed.
Hermione stood up and said, "Hey, let's go back to the room…" She was excited about something.
"What's the hurry all about?" Ginny asked while sipping iced tea.
"I have a book there." Hermione said through a sheepish smile.
"Should've known." And they both went upstairs and back to their room.
"Hey, when are you going to where those 'Mione?" Ginny asked, pointing to the clothes Draco had just bombarded.
"Oh those…" Hermione trailed off. "Probably before I sleep, after dinner or something." She said hastily, grabbed her book and they went to Harry and Ron's room.
"So anyway… that's why I decided to kill Snape." Ron finished off, darkly. They were in deep conversation about something, and he stopped abruptly when he saw his sister and Hermione come in. "May we intrude?" Ginny and Hermione said goofily.
It was finally dinner time and Draco was feeling impatient that whoever owned the clothes he just messed with wasn't screaming in horror yet. Then Harry went inside his room, interrupting his thoughts."Dinner Malfoy." Harry said hastily, waiting for him.
Draco looked up and raised an eyebrow, he decided to retort, but simply said, "Okay."
Harry was surprised at the lack of coldness and Malfoy treatment, but shrugged and went down.
Ten minutes later, everyone was sitting at the table and Draco was anticipating, getting impatient, and so he didn't have time to fight everyone who came his way. He simply shrugged, said a word or two, but that was all, he had no time for this and that, he thought.
Dinner finished fast and everyone went upstairs.
"Hermione, you're going to change now, right?" Ginny asked, and Draco stopped in his tracks.
Hermione?! Soooo… those clothes were Granger's…. He felt wicked and excited, yet at the same time he doubted if he should've gone for the Weasley girl instead.
Whaaaat?! Am I feeling guilty or something?! He mentally slapped himself. He's been having lots of mental wars, he concluded.
He went inside his room and was anticipating for what came next.
And sure enough, after he sat down and counted to ten, there came a very loud, screechy, panicked, ear-splitting scream from Hermione.
"WHAT IN MERLIN's?!!" He heard Ginny say, confused and worried for her friend.
He could hear footsteps scramble from different rooms and go bursting into the girls' room.
Draco smirked inside his room.
"MAAAAAALFFFOOOOOOOOYYY!!!!!!"