Hermione woke up to the sound of scratching quills. Her neck was slightly stiff, and when she opened her eyes, she saw why. Her head was not resting on a pillow or even on Draco's warm chest, but the armrest of the couch she was currently sprawled on. She was facing the backrest of the couch, and so flopped over to face the glass coffee table.
Draco and Ginny were quietly doing homework, with Ginny occasionally asking him a question, to which he would answer patiently and fully. The sight made Hermione smile. They were so absorbed in what they were doing that they didn't even notice that Hermione had woken. Where's Zacharias? she thought confusedly.
She didn't have to wonder for long, for a groan from the other end of the couch let her know of his exact location. He sounds like he's in serious pain, she winced slightly.
"Just sleep it off, sleep it off." Ginny sighed, getting up to check on him for what seemed like the umpteenth time for her. She went to tuck his blanket back in with a look of annoyance, while muttering unintelligible things, of which Hermione could only distinguish "git"… "sissy"… and "lightweight" from the rest. She laughed internally. Ginny was like a bossy older sister, and Zacharias was her clueless younger brother. It was adorable to watch them interact.
Ginny turned to look at her after she was done taking care of Zacharias, and smiled. "Glad you're awake, Mione. You seemed exhausted after last night's festivities, so we decided to let you sleep in. Don't worry, though, you're not the only one. Zach here is relieving himself of his hangover with Draco's very interesting potion…"
Hermione turned to face Draco, who was already looking sheepishly at her. "In my defense, I used to get the nastiest hangovers after Slytherin Quidditch parties. I couldn't spend the whole next day nursing them; I had homework to do, too!" he quickly explained. "And my father used them too, so it's safe. They're actually his, and I know for a fact that he's the type who wants the best and most luxurious things." he added, as Hermione raised an eyebrow.
Hermione yawned, and then demanded, "Pull me up." to Draco, who, relieved that she wasn't mad, pulled her off the couch and so that she was standing. He watched as she stretched, loving that her pajamas showed off so much of her creamy and smooth skin. "What time is it?" she asked Ginny, who handed her her wand. "It's almost lunchtime, so we should get going. Zacharias and I have a meeting with the Prefects after lunch, and then we have to patrol."
"Is he going to be alright?" Hermione asked, looking at Zacharias, who was curled into the fetal position, a frown dominating his face. Then, the word "lunchtime" registered in her mind.
"MERLIN'S BEARD, IT'S ALMOST NOON?!" she yelped, making Draco cringe. "WHY WASN'T I WOKEN UP EARLIER?! YOU! I TRUSTED YOU!" she glared at Draco furiously. "Don't worry, you can look at my homewo-" he tried.
"ARGHHH!" Hermione wailed, pulling at her hair, and stomping to the bathroom. "I'M NEVER GOING TO FINISH ALL THOSE ESSAYS!" she moaned, as she slammed the door shut.
"I love how she only gets mad at you, even though I was the one that was telling her about letting her sleep in and how it's almost lunchtime." Ginny sighed happily, returning to her seat at the glass coffee table.
Draco, however, only looked faintly amused. "I might as well get used to it." he shrugged, before rejoining her.
Half an hour later, the four friends were in the Great Hall eating lunch hastily. Hermione's anger with Draco had subsided when she saw him helping Zacharias get to his feet as if he were helping his own child, and Zacharias himself was back to normal. Surprisingly, though, his appetite had disappeared. He was perfectly content with just the goblet of water Ginny had set in front of him. He watched the other three students eat, instead, while scanning the Great Hall for signs of trouble.
"And don't worry, Mione. We have the whole afternoon to work on homework!" Draco reassured the still slightly-agitated girl who was forking in large bites of shepherd's pie into her already-stuffed mouth. She ignored him, and continued to study her Ancient Runes textbook.
"Your hangover potion works wonders, Draco, but it's still not fast enough." sighed Zacharias, picking at a crouton from the miniature salad Ginny had offered him. "I still have to convene that stupid Prefect meeting with Ginny after lunch, and then it's time for patrol duty. Of all days, why do we get today?" he asked Ginny, who was happily eating her cornbread.
"We both decided that this schedule would work best, remember? The Prefects have to take two shifts a week, and we only have to take one, although it's slightly longer and on Sunday. Quit complaining. Next time, just don't drink as much, and we won't have this problem."
As Zacharias started spluttering "You DARED me-" Draco said darkly, "There may never be a next time, so quiet." shutting Zacharias up effectively, as they all looked in the direction of the double-doors of the Great Hall.
Trevor Birch was making his way in with Professor Flitwick solemnly, sporting two beautiful black eyes. He held his head high, though, as he made his way to Ravenclaw table, where his Housemates scooted across the benches to give him a wide berth.
Professor Flitwick made his way past the four's tables, greeted them quickly, and then went to whisper something in Professor McGonagall's ear before sitting down at his own seat. Just then, several owls flew in, each bearing their own parcels, and one particularly handsome eagle owl soared straight at Draco and Hermione's table, a newspaper scroll visibly hanging from his legs as he hooted in greeting.
"Bubble!" Draco cried delightedly, as his owl landed. "You have an edition of today's Sunday Prophet? Did Mother send this? It must be somewhat interesting, then!"
The owl ignored him, and instead dipped his beak into Draco's half-empty goblet of pumpkin juice. Draco untied the owl's luggage as Hermione finally looked up from her book and giggled.
"His name is Bubble?" she asked, biting on her lip as Draco was already blushing. "That's really, truly, too adorable, Drake."
Bubble took off after an affectionate nip on Draco's thumb. "My parents gave him to me when I was seven, in my defense. He was only a baby then, and he was as round and as light as a bubble. Even my Father thought it was cute." he added, as if that made it more acceptable.
Hermione laughed. "I'm not making fun of you, Drake! Heaven's, no! It's just that he looks rather intimidating, so I thought 'Bubble' was an interesting name. Don't worry, my cat's called 'Crookshanks,' so you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of."
Draco grinned, and leaned in to kiss the tip of her nose. "That's why I love you." he said seriously, gazing into her soft brown eyes with his molten silver ones. "You're the only one that has ever accepted me for who I am, and not expected anything else from me."
Hermione smiled. "You want to know why I love you?" she asked, worming her hand into his, feeling once again reconnected with the most vital part of her soul. "It's because you see me as me, just a normal girl who can fall in love and give herself to the ones she cares for, instead of that plain, bossy, annoying, shrill brainiac, Hermione Granger."
Draco chuckled quietly, saying "Anyone who thinks you're 'plain' is visually challenged, in my book. As for the other above qualities, I won't deny that they describe you perfectly, but that's a major part of why I love you, so there's no reason to dislike them. I'm just immensely thankful to whoever's up there that you somehow love me, the epitome of all that's foul and cruel in this world, just as much as I love you."
"There's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect. The Romeo to my Juliet."
"Who're they?" Draco asked, confused. They were nuzzling foreheads now, inhaling each other's sweet scents. Titters could be heard from around the room, but the couple ignored them.
"I'll read you their story sometime. It's very much like ours."
"Then I most definitely want to hear it." Draco replied, leaning in for a kiss, only to be interrupted.
"Oi!" said Ginny. "Lunch is over, er-, it would be, if everyone weren't staring at you two."
Hermione and Draco snapped back to reality and broke away from the intimacy, a little embarrassed to see that many people, were, in fact, staring at them.
Draco, very pink, gathered up the Sunday Prophet his mother had sent him, and Hermione, blushing just as hard, stowed her textbook back into her book bag.
"We're going now. The Prefects are already waiting for us. We'll catch you two at dinner, all right?" Ginny gave them a quick farewell before leaving the crime scene.
"Give Sir Cadogan my best." Zacharias winked, following Ginny. "And try to keep things school-appropriate, even if that portrait is your only chaperone." he sauntered off, but not before giving Draco and Hermione an all-knowing and rather suggestive look.
"Let's get out of here." Draco growled, as people still hadn't stopped giving them curious looks. He gently grabbed her elbow, made sure they had all their things, and Disapparated without another thought or word.
They landed right next to the eastern wall-window, and, still not quite recovered from the awkwardness of a few seconds ago, retreated to their respective rooms. Hermione set all her things down, except for the homework she really needed to get started on.
She went back to the common room, feeling a lot less flustered now that it was just her and Draco again, and sat down on the floor, spreading her assignments on top of the glass coffee table. Draco came out moments after she had settled down comfortably, the Sunday Prophet opened in his hands. He was sporting an ecstatic expression, making Hermione wonder what in the world was so joyous.
"Look at the front page!" he said gleefully, snuggling close to Hermione and closing the newspaper so that Hermione could see the headlines. She gasped at the enlarged photo of two figures rolling on the floor and continuously trying to strangle each other. In this very live picture, the most feral portion of Brevis and Trevor's brawl was being showcased.
The words above the photo read, "TUTSHILL TORNADOES CAPTAIN BREVIS BIRCH GETS INTO VERY PUBLIC FIGHT WITH YOUNGER BROTHER TREVOR – PREDICTABLY, OVER A GIRL."
Underneath was the full article, which Hermione started reading happily as Draco held it patiently for her.
Things got a little out of hand at the now infamous "Slug Club" party that Professor Horace Slughorn, the Potions teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, threw last night. Luckily, yours truly was invited since said Captain was making an appearance.
Hermione looked for the author of the story, and was mildly amused to see that it was, of course, written by Rita Skeeter. She continued reading.
What started out as mild jabs at each other over Brevis's high-profile girlfriend, leading fashion designer Cho Chang, ended in a common 'Muggle Duel' in the middle of the dance floor! "At first, Trevor and Brevis were just having an argument on whether or not Brevis should have been quite so friendly towards another girl sitting at their table." says an anonymous inside source who was sitting at the very table that witnessed the spark that became an intense physical feud between the two brothers.
One might ask, "Why was Trevor harassing big brother Brevis about his girlfriend then?" A fellow Ravenclaw student, Miss Luna Lovegood, may provide us the answer to this intriguing question. "Trevor's always had a crush on Cho. She was in our House, and was only two years older than our year. I think, starting our third year, after Trevor made the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, he started chasing after her. If I'm not mistaken, Cho also returned his affections for a while, at least, before she graduated and launched her career, meeting Trevor's brother along the way. I do recall that he wasn't very happy when they started dating. In fact, he was rather nasty to everyone in our House in the beginning of his brother's relationship."
So, will the two brothers reconcile? Or is this the start of a bitter path dividing the famous Brevis Birch from his brother Trevor, the widely speculated equal of Brevis? Furthermore, this also makes students at Hogwarts wonder: "Will the Slug Club parties end?" This rather embarrassing news story will obviously bring attention to the new leadership of our beloved school, one Professor Minerva McGonagall, for this astonishing and brutal behavior that has surely never before shamed the proud castle of Hogwarts will most likely bring about serious repercussions.
Hermione sucked in a breath. "When Professor McGonagall gets her hands on the Skeeter woman, she'll wish she'd never been born. I'm actually surprised that I saw Professor Slughorn alive and in one piece during lunch today."
"I think Rita's losing her touch." Draco drawled, flipping to the Forecast section once Hermione was done reading. "All she uses are rhetorical questions to draw excitement. The only 'facts' she really got were from the commentary, and that quote does NOT sound like Luna at all. For example, I'm sure Trevor wasn't just 'rather nasty' when Brevis and Cho started dating."
"I'm just glad she's at least being somewhat truthful in her article." Hermione said, leaning forward to dip her quill into her inkbottle and starting to write her Charms essay. Draco murmured agreement and leaned back against the couch, flipping onto the next few pages of the newspaper.
For an hour or so, they each quietly attended to their own tasks. Draco read the Sunday Prophet studiously as he waited for Hermione to catch up homework-wise, as he and Ginny had finished quite a bit in the morning, while Hermione's quill never ceased scratching against the fresh parchment. They didn't need to say anything to fully enjoy each other's silent company.
The only time the peace was broken was when Hermione had to go to the bathroom after about thirty minutes, and after another hour after that, Draco laughed out loud merrily.
"What?" asked Hermione mildly, in the middle of drawing the plants they had learned about in Herbology this week and labeling their most useful parts accurately.
When Draco didn't respond right away, curiosity got the better of her, and she leaned to her right to look at what was so appealing. She gasped, seeing two separate pictures of her and Ginny from last night wearing the beautiful items Draco and Zacharias had bought them.
"What section is this?!" she asked, scanning the top of the page, only to find the number of the page: ten. That's not helpful at all, she thought.
"It's Comment." Draco replied, still happy that he was on what he believed his way to making Hermione an even bigger icon than she already was.
"Comment?" repeated Hermione, frowning. "I thought they commented only on the news of the day, not something that should be a side note in Witch Weekly or something."
"Then I guess they also have a fashion section now." said Draco matter-of-factly. Not actually interested in the article itself, he heaved himself onto the couch to lie down while Hermione scanned the page.
Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, famous through their intimate connection to "The Boy Who Lived," are now becoming even more famous for their fashion approaches! Last night, at the scandalous "Slug Club" party that played host to the Birch brothers' infamous duel, the two girls were the center of attention in their eye-catching dress robes.
Miss Weasley wore a shimmering sea-green gown with a deep v-neck, and accentuated with a pattern of emerald-like crystals in a wave formation at the waist. Her well-toned Quidditch forearms were shown off as the shoulder straps were made of fine silk that looped only over her shoulders. The back of the dress plunged into a v as well, and with her hair pinned up in elaborate curls, her snow-white back was very visible, attracting stares from all corners of the room. While her escort, a certain Zacharias Smith, was getting rip-roaring drunk and didn't seem to care, we wonder if this will make Mr Potter slightly uncomfortable.
Miss Granger wore a princess-like two layer beauty, with the inside being a simple cream-colored, long-sleeved, and v-necked shift that hugged her curves and accentuated her flat stomach, which was no doubt gained from her experience in hiding and surviving off nature last year. The outer layer was black lace woven in the most intricate designs and shapes, and floated around the inside layer, giving her a look of pure glamour. Her most prominent feature, the wild curls that used to hide her beautiful face, were tamed and straightened so straight that they looked like strands of silk. Miss Granger has been applauded by fashion critics from all over the Wizarding world for her choice, that, while not as flashy as Miss Weasley's dress robes, clearly showed off elegance and sophistication for a woman of her importance.
However, the jewelry the girls wore equaled the spectacular dresses. From what the photographs can tell, both ladies wore identical earrings, and earrings only. Close, professional inspection tells jewelry experts that they were pearl earrings, surrounded by a ring of tiny diamonds, and backed with sparkling silver. Although they may seem plain to most of our fans, let us tell you that these earrings were NOT cheap. Each pair is estimated to cost about forty-nine Galleons, eleven Sickles, and two Knuts, around the same price as each dress.
By the way, if you even want to get your hands on these new 'all-the-rage' items, you'd better hurry fast, for we've been told that the earrings have been already sold out, but that there's still hope for the dresses. Coincidentally, both dresses were designed by new and talented chic designer Cho Chang, the subject of the fight between the Birch brothers at the party where the girls wore the dresses. If you want to get a hold of what ladies all over the Wizarding world now want desperately, Gladrags Wizardwear is just in Hogsmeade! Careful though, that you don't get trampled over by all the other women who are just dying to look like the new fashion stars.
"I'm a fashion star?" Hermione mumbled, looking at her and Ginny's picture. Ginny's was of her walking into Slughorn's office on Zacharias's arm, both beaming, while her's was with Draco while they were dancing. The angle at which her picture was taken was in such a way that her whole dress was showcased, but that only Draco's backside was shown. Only his blond hair was identifiable, and Hermione was glad for that anonymity.
"You'll be more famous than Potter soon." Draco replied sleepily, playing with a strand of her now curly hair from behind before letting his hand just rest on her shoulder.
"I'm going to save this for Ginny. She's going to be thrilled that she's a fashion star now, as well as at the reference to her Quidditch playing. On the other hand, since Cho was the one that designed her dress, I wonder if she'll still be as happy about that…"
Draco didn't hear. He was already fast asleep.