Life on the Other Side 3
By Maenad
Disclaimer: Not mine. JK's.
Rating: PG-13
Ok guy's sorry about the wait, but I was ill and had a little case of writer's block. I think I've just about recovered now, so here we go...
LIFE ON THE OTHER SIDE 3
Draco closed Hermione's door behind him, feeling a little confused. His actions were not at all like him, but he'd been almost ashamed by the Granger's friendly treatment of him, and the courtesy that his father had drummed into him had automatically responded. Yet... they were Muggles, people whom he'd been taught to despise all his life. And the way that Hermione had talked to him just now had completely put him off his stride. After nearly seven years at Hogwarts he was used to receiving nothing but insults from the Gryffindors and giving them in return. The resulting bad feeling was something that he ignored. But talking to them courteously produced feelings that were strange, alien to him, but were so much more pleasant than any other feelings that he'd ever felt before...
That was the trap, he decided. His father could not have been so wrong about Muggles as all this seemed to suggest. It was all a ploy to trap wizards into feeling sympathy for them. He would be on his guard.
Hermione, having unpacked, was talking to her parents in the front room while waiting for Malfoy and her friends to come down. Her dogs had come in from the garden, and Taco, a golden retreiver, was laying down by the fire and Nacho, a little Yorkie, was curled up next to her on the sofa.
"We want to give you enough money to let you all have a good time, but it's going to eat into our holiday funds for this year, so we trust you to keep them from using it foolishly. Here's one hundred pounds each for the whole week. Are you all right with this dear?" said Mr. Granger.
"Yes, Dad, that will help enormously, but are you sure? It really is quite a lot," replied Hermione nervously.
"Don't worry love," said Mrs. Granger. "We know it's a lot, but you'll be wanting to go into London and things aren't cheap there are they? And I suppose you'll be showing them a night on the town on Friday?"
"That was my plan, but I was only going to go into town..."
"Nonsense, dear, show them a good time, otherwise they'll think that our life is dull and we can't have that, can we?"
"Can't have what?" said Ron, who had just come in with Draco, Sophie and Maria.
"Can't have you being bored, Ron," said Mr. Granger. "Hermione's got funds for you all and we expect her to show off "Muggle" life to it's full extent."
"Oh I can't wait!" exclaimed Maria enthusiastically.
"Well, we've got to go to work now, but we'll be back at six. Is there anything special you would like for dinner?" said Mrs. Granger.
"I was going to introduce them to the supermarket and show them how we cook, so we'll make dinner for you tonight as a thank you, Mum," replied Hermione.
"Thank you dear, it'll be great not to have to cook for a change. Now goodbye everyone!"
Mr. and Mrs. Granger left, and Draco turned to Hermione with a sneer on his face.
"Cooking, Granger?"
"No house-elves here, you know. We have to get our hands dirty and do it ourselves. Don't worry, I'll let you wear the yellow rubber gloves if you like," smiled Hermione. Draco grimaced and turned away.
They had to take a bus to get to the supermarket, as Hermione hadn't yet learned to drive "I'm not good at practical things - that's why I'm not very good on a broomstick" and the experience was uncomfortable for all of them. They offered the driver a twenty-pound note each and were very uncomfortable with the nasty look he gave them. Maria studied the coins she'd received as change extremely intently and got a funny look from an elderly lady nearby when she asked, too loudly, "Why don't the heads move?" Hermione shushed them all up at that point.
"Sorry about that, people," she said when they got off the bus, "but you've got to be very careful what you say and do. Probably the best advice I can give you is not to be astonished at anything you see and let me do the talking. You might even want to pretend you're foreign for a bit until you get the hang of things."
They all grumbled a bit at this, but they saw the sense of it.
The supermarket was not too busy, but there were still quite a few peoplearound, mainly old-age pensioners and mothers with screaming kids. Draco turned up his nose a little when he saw a rather disreputable-looking man with smelly clothes come in after them. Hermione got five baskets and gave one each to Ron, Sophie, Draco and Maria, keeping one for herself.
"I'm going to make spaghetti bolognese for dinner tonight, and we need something for lunch, so we're all going to split up and get something each. Ron, can you get three pounds of mince and some mushrooms, Sophie, can you find some red wine, preferably not too expensive, and some spaghetti. Maria, try to find three boxes of ready-prepared cauliflower cheese, Malfoy, three cans of tomatoes and two tubes of tomato puree. I'm going to get something nice for dessert."
They all went off and roamed the supermarket in search of their designated ingredients. Ron found the vegetable section easily and filled a plastic bag with mushrooms right to the brim. He then went off to find the mince, but when he found it in the meat section, stood scratching his head at the amounts, which were all in kilos, and finally had to ask an old lady for help.
Sophie strolled through the supermarket, looking lost, until a friendly-looking shop assistant directed her to the wine section, which was right at the back of the store. She gazed confusedly at the variety of wines to choose from, and noticing that the French section was largest, picked up a couple of smart-looking bottles which were marked at four pounds each.
Maria found the ready-prepared section easily enough, but the cauliflower cheese had run out, so she picked up three boxes of something called "chicken korma". She went and found Hermione, who said that that was fine.
Draco strolled around the store, looking for canned tomatoes. A rather frazzled middle-aged woman bumped into him accidentally, jerked her head up to look at him and said "Oh I am so sorry, my mind was elsewhere."
"Oh, are you telepathic?" he responded, looking a little confused.
"God, no, but I wish I were, then I would have known that my no-good husband had been cheating on me for five years!" She gave a short, bitter bark of laughter, then dissolved into tears.
Draco felt extremely uncomfortable, standing over this distraught woman, who was clinging onto his shoulder for support. "There, there," he said, vaguely remembering something his mother had said to him once when he was very little.
"And I only found out yesterday!" she bawled. "Men - they just take everything and leave you with nothing! And I thought he loved me! He was always so caring, making feel wanted, when all the while he was carrying on with some two-bit slut!" The woman's voice was getting louder and louder, and Draco realised that they were attracting some attention.
"Do you want to sit down somewhere?" he said awkwardly.
"Yes, I think so," she said, gazing up at him with bleary eyes and a tear-streaked face.
"Well, there's some chairs by the entrance, let me take you there."
"You're too kind - I'm really sorry for bursting into tears on you."
"That's ok," he said politely, but thinking that he just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
Hermione, having picked up some lemon sorbet, had gathered everyone up at the checkout, but Draco was nowhere to be seen.
"Isn't that just like him, running off at the first chance?" said Ron.
"Well, he can't have gone far, he has no idea how to get around without magic," said Hermione. "I'll go look for him. The rest of you stay here, I'll be back in ten minutes." She left her basket with Ron, and started off in search of Draco. She went all around the supermarket, finding him nowhere, then, going to check outside, found him on the chairs in the entrance talking with a strange woman.
"I've been looking for you everywhere, Draco! Where have you been?"
"Well, I bumped into Mabel here, who's been having a terrible time recently, and she was in a bit of a state and needed someone to talk to, so I've been sitting here with her until she feels better," he said, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Are you alright Mabel? My name's Hermione - can I help you?"
"No, thank you. It's just - I found out only yesterday that my husband's being unfaithful and, well, I'm not over the shock. I bumped into your boyfriend and burst into tears on him - he was so kind and helpful. But I'll be alright now, you two continue your shopping."
"Are you sure? You still look rather upset."
"Well, I am, but it's going to take a long time before I'm going to be happy ever again. I'm alright for now though, and I'm going to visit my mother this afternoon and she'll take care of me. You two carry on, I'm not going to bother such a promising young couple any more with woeful tales of love gone wrong."
They said goodbye to Mabel and headed on back to the others, quickly picking up Draco's shopping en route. Before they got there, though, Draco stopped Hermione and said:
"Erm, Hermione, I'd rather that you didn't tell them what just happened back there."
"Whyever not? That was the nicest thing I've ever seen you do!"
"Well, it was pretty personal, and to be quite frank I don't think they'd believe it."
"You don't want to ruin your bad-boy, couldn't-care-less reputation?"
Draco shrugged.
"Ok, I'll cover up for you - but it was nice to see that you can be good to people for a change. It makes me think better of you."
"Thanks," Draco said, and turned away.
When they got back to the checkout, Hermione was bombarded with questions about where she found Malfoy. Thinking quickly she answered:
"Oh it wasn't anywhere spectacular - just eyeing up the top-shelf magazines at the newspaper stand."
Ron burst into laughter and the other two girls giggled madly. Draco glared at Hermione, who raised an eyebrow at him and started unloading the food onto the checkout.
After packing and paying, the company trooped off to the bus stop. Draco signed silently to Hermione to hang back a little.
"That was really embarrassing, you know that?" he said, looking at her angrily.
"Well yes, but then how could you have told Mabel that we were going out? That was just as embarrassing, Malfoy."
"I did not! She just assumed that, all right?"
"Oh. Well, I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and embarrassing you, then."
"Don't worry, Granger. It's not your fault that you can't keep your thoughts off me and sex." He smirked and walked on, leaving Hermione standing there, looking after him with her mouth open in astonishment.
By Maenad
Disclaimer: Not mine. JK's.
Rating: PG-13
Ok guy's sorry about the wait, but I was ill and had a little case of writer's block. I think I've just about recovered now, so here we go...
LIFE ON THE OTHER SIDE 3
Draco closed Hermione's door behind him, feeling a little confused. His actions were not at all like him, but he'd been almost ashamed by the Granger's friendly treatment of him, and the courtesy that his father had drummed into him had automatically responded. Yet... they were Muggles, people whom he'd been taught to despise all his life. And the way that Hermione had talked to him just now had completely put him off his stride. After nearly seven years at Hogwarts he was used to receiving nothing but insults from the Gryffindors and giving them in return. The resulting bad feeling was something that he ignored. But talking to them courteously produced feelings that were strange, alien to him, but were so much more pleasant than any other feelings that he'd ever felt before...
That was the trap, he decided. His father could not have been so wrong about Muggles as all this seemed to suggest. It was all a ploy to trap wizards into feeling sympathy for them. He would be on his guard.
Hermione, having unpacked, was talking to her parents in the front room while waiting for Malfoy and her friends to come down. Her dogs had come in from the garden, and Taco, a golden retreiver, was laying down by the fire and Nacho, a little Yorkie, was curled up next to her on the sofa.
"We want to give you enough money to let you all have a good time, but it's going to eat into our holiday funds for this year, so we trust you to keep them from using it foolishly. Here's one hundred pounds each for the whole week. Are you all right with this dear?" said Mr. Granger.
"Yes, Dad, that will help enormously, but are you sure? It really is quite a lot," replied Hermione nervously.
"Don't worry love," said Mrs. Granger. "We know it's a lot, but you'll be wanting to go into London and things aren't cheap there are they? And I suppose you'll be showing them a night on the town on Friday?"
"That was my plan, but I was only going to go into town..."
"Nonsense, dear, show them a good time, otherwise they'll think that our life is dull and we can't have that, can we?"
"Can't have what?" said Ron, who had just come in with Draco, Sophie and Maria.
"Can't have you being bored, Ron," said Mr. Granger. "Hermione's got funds for you all and we expect her to show off "Muggle" life to it's full extent."
"Oh I can't wait!" exclaimed Maria enthusiastically.
"Well, we've got to go to work now, but we'll be back at six. Is there anything special you would like for dinner?" said Mrs. Granger.
"I was going to introduce them to the supermarket and show them how we cook, so we'll make dinner for you tonight as a thank you, Mum," replied Hermione.
"Thank you dear, it'll be great not to have to cook for a change. Now goodbye everyone!"
Mr. and Mrs. Granger left, and Draco turned to Hermione with a sneer on his face.
"Cooking, Granger?"
"No house-elves here, you know. We have to get our hands dirty and do it ourselves. Don't worry, I'll let you wear the yellow rubber gloves if you like," smiled Hermione. Draco grimaced and turned away.
They had to take a bus to get to the supermarket, as Hermione hadn't yet learned to drive "I'm not good at practical things - that's why I'm not very good on a broomstick" and the experience was uncomfortable for all of them. They offered the driver a twenty-pound note each and were very uncomfortable with the nasty look he gave them. Maria studied the coins she'd received as change extremely intently and got a funny look from an elderly lady nearby when she asked, too loudly, "Why don't the heads move?" Hermione shushed them all up at that point.
"Sorry about that, people," she said when they got off the bus, "but you've got to be very careful what you say and do. Probably the best advice I can give you is not to be astonished at anything you see and let me do the talking. You might even want to pretend you're foreign for a bit until you get the hang of things."
They all grumbled a bit at this, but they saw the sense of it.
The supermarket was not too busy, but there were still quite a few peoplearound, mainly old-age pensioners and mothers with screaming kids. Draco turned up his nose a little when he saw a rather disreputable-looking man with smelly clothes come in after them. Hermione got five baskets and gave one each to Ron, Sophie, Draco and Maria, keeping one for herself.
"I'm going to make spaghetti bolognese for dinner tonight, and we need something for lunch, so we're all going to split up and get something each. Ron, can you get three pounds of mince and some mushrooms, Sophie, can you find some red wine, preferably not too expensive, and some spaghetti. Maria, try to find three boxes of ready-prepared cauliflower cheese, Malfoy, three cans of tomatoes and two tubes of tomato puree. I'm going to get something nice for dessert."
They all went off and roamed the supermarket in search of their designated ingredients. Ron found the vegetable section easily and filled a plastic bag with mushrooms right to the brim. He then went off to find the mince, but when he found it in the meat section, stood scratching his head at the amounts, which were all in kilos, and finally had to ask an old lady for help.
Sophie strolled through the supermarket, looking lost, until a friendly-looking shop assistant directed her to the wine section, which was right at the back of the store. She gazed confusedly at the variety of wines to choose from, and noticing that the French section was largest, picked up a couple of smart-looking bottles which were marked at four pounds each.
Maria found the ready-prepared section easily enough, but the cauliflower cheese had run out, so she picked up three boxes of something called "chicken korma". She went and found Hermione, who said that that was fine.
Draco strolled around the store, looking for canned tomatoes. A rather frazzled middle-aged woman bumped into him accidentally, jerked her head up to look at him and said "Oh I am so sorry, my mind was elsewhere."
"Oh, are you telepathic?" he responded, looking a little confused.
"God, no, but I wish I were, then I would have known that my no-good husband had been cheating on me for five years!" She gave a short, bitter bark of laughter, then dissolved into tears.
Draco felt extremely uncomfortable, standing over this distraught woman, who was clinging onto his shoulder for support. "There, there," he said, vaguely remembering something his mother had said to him once when he was very little.
"And I only found out yesterday!" she bawled. "Men - they just take everything and leave you with nothing! And I thought he loved me! He was always so caring, making feel wanted, when all the while he was carrying on with some two-bit slut!" The woman's voice was getting louder and louder, and Draco realised that they were attracting some attention.
"Do you want to sit down somewhere?" he said awkwardly.
"Yes, I think so," she said, gazing up at him with bleary eyes and a tear-streaked face.
"Well, there's some chairs by the entrance, let me take you there."
"You're too kind - I'm really sorry for bursting into tears on you."
"That's ok," he said politely, but thinking that he just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
Hermione, having picked up some lemon sorbet, had gathered everyone up at the checkout, but Draco was nowhere to be seen.
"Isn't that just like him, running off at the first chance?" said Ron.
"Well, he can't have gone far, he has no idea how to get around without magic," said Hermione. "I'll go look for him. The rest of you stay here, I'll be back in ten minutes." She left her basket with Ron, and started off in search of Draco. She went all around the supermarket, finding him nowhere, then, going to check outside, found him on the chairs in the entrance talking with a strange woman.
"I've been looking for you everywhere, Draco! Where have you been?"
"Well, I bumped into Mabel here, who's been having a terrible time recently, and she was in a bit of a state and needed someone to talk to, so I've been sitting here with her until she feels better," he said, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Are you alright Mabel? My name's Hermione - can I help you?"
"No, thank you. It's just - I found out only yesterday that my husband's being unfaithful and, well, I'm not over the shock. I bumped into your boyfriend and burst into tears on him - he was so kind and helpful. But I'll be alright now, you two continue your shopping."
"Are you sure? You still look rather upset."
"Well, I am, but it's going to take a long time before I'm going to be happy ever again. I'm alright for now though, and I'm going to visit my mother this afternoon and she'll take care of me. You two carry on, I'm not going to bother such a promising young couple any more with woeful tales of love gone wrong."
They said goodbye to Mabel and headed on back to the others, quickly picking up Draco's shopping en route. Before they got there, though, Draco stopped Hermione and said:
"Erm, Hermione, I'd rather that you didn't tell them what just happened back there."
"Whyever not? That was the nicest thing I've ever seen you do!"
"Well, it was pretty personal, and to be quite frank I don't think they'd believe it."
"You don't want to ruin your bad-boy, couldn't-care-less reputation?"
Draco shrugged.
"Ok, I'll cover up for you - but it was nice to see that you can be good to people for a change. It makes me think better of you."
"Thanks," Draco said, and turned away.
When they got back to the checkout, Hermione was bombarded with questions about where she found Malfoy. Thinking quickly she answered:
"Oh it wasn't anywhere spectacular - just eyeing up the top-shelf magazines at the newspaper stand."
Ron burst into laughter and the other two girls giggled madly. Draco glared at Hermione, who raised an eyebrow at him and started unloading the food onto the checkout.
After packing and paying, the company trooped off to the bus stop. Draco signed silently to Hermione to hang back a little.
"That was really embarrassing, you know that?" he said, looking at her angrily.
"Well yes, but then how could you have told Mabel that we were going out? That was just as embarrassing, Malfoy."
"I did not! She just assumed that, all right?"
"Oh. Well, I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and embarrassing you, then."
"Don't worry, Granger. It's not your fault that you can't keep your thoughts off me and sex." He smirked and walked on, leaving Hermione standing there, looking after him with her mouth open in astonishment.