Chapter 9
Saturday 26 August
Forget what I said earlier about not crying 'cause as I walked towards the side road that led off the festival site I was crying like I'd never cried before. It always amazes me how you can cry, like, in public and people look at you in a horrified way but never actually ask what the matter is. All those hippies were meant to be into peace and love but they obviously weren't into spreading it around.
Once I'd left the site and started walking in what I hoped was the right direction for the nearest town, I had to sit down on a grass verge because I was crying so much that I was starting to get hysterical. My breath was coming and going in strange, airless little gasps and my whole body felt floppy. I was also worried that I had internal bleeding from where Veronique had punched me. It certainly hurt enough. Maybe this was to be my fate; in the morning a farmer would find me dead by the side of the road and they'd put my name out over the radio in Florida so the 'rents could come home and bury me. Pull yourself together, Hermione, I thought sternly. Deep breaths and focus, I managed to stop crying and do something useful like put trainers on and then I hoisted my backpack onto my shoulders again and started to walk.
I didn't know what I was hoping to achieve by taking of but all I knew was that I was going home. Everything was ruined between Ron and me -there didn't seem to be any way that he'd want to be with me now. He probably thought I was a worthless little tramp and, besides, Veronique was going to kill me if she ever saw me again. As for Malfoy (yes I'm calling him by his last name now!), I couldn't even begin to fathom out why he got off being such a Grade A git.
It was starting to get dark and I'd been walking for over an hour but the fields seemed to stretch out forever with no sign of civilisation in sight.
I contemplated, just for a moment, no wizard money -so I couldn't get the knight bus -there's no port keys in this area -I can't apparate yet -nothing, hitch-hiking, but knowing my luck I'd have got picked up by a homicidal, axe wielding maniac and I had enough problems already. I walked on a bit more and was beginning to panic when I heard a car coming up behind me. I moved nearer the hedge but it was slowing down. I turned around and raised my arm to shield my eyes from the glare of the headlights when I realised it was the café van. My heart dipped. Ron had come to find me! But it was Malfoy impatiently winding down the window and telling me to get in.
"*&%! Off," I snarled, walking away. Malfoy drove alongside me.
"Get in," he said curtly. "It's dark and you shouldn't be out on your own."
"It's a bit late for the concerned boyfriend act," I sniped.
"If you don't get in the sodding van I'm going to put you in," he threatened, his voice simmering with barely controlled rage.
It was either carry on walking, even though I was hopelessly lost, or get in the van with a vindictive ex-boyfriend. There didn't seem to be a lesser of the two evils options. With a sigh I eased off my backpack and threw it in the van and then climbed in after it. Malfoy reached over and slammed the door shut before turning the key in the ignition.
"I've got better things to do with my time than drive around looking for silly little girls," he began savagely.
"You have no right to start picking fights with me," I pointed out angrily. "I don't want to talk to you, just drive me to the nearest station."
"The nearest station is ten miles in the opposite direction," Malfoy pointed out. "I'm driving back to the site."
"I'm not going," I bit out.
"Tough."
I fumbled with the door-lock. "If you don't drive me to the nearest station then I'm getting out now," I told him. I was way beyond reason. "Even if I have to jump out of a moving vehicle."
"OK," said Malfoy. "Look, I can't turn the van round, I'll carry on driving until we find a lay-by and then I."
"Fine," I hissed. "And don't talk to me."
We drove in silence. I hugged the backpack to my chest and stared out of the window at the black hedges that sped past. Of course, I couldn't keep quiet for more than ten minutes.
"Why?" I finally asked. "Why did you do it?"
Malfoy threw me a strangely amused look.
"Do what?" he enquired silkily.
"All of it," I replied. "Pretend that you liked me. Make passes at my friends. Play twisted little mind games to try and get me into bed. Why?"
And Malfoy, instead of coming up with one of his clever little excuses, began to laugh. A nasty, mocking laugh that seemed to echo around me.
"You're so naïve, Hermione," he eventually said. "You think there always has to be a reason for the things people do. Maybe I did it because I'm not a very nice person."
"No, that's not it," I argued. "Admit at least that you've done everything you can to keep me and Ron apart so he can baby-sit Veronique on your behalf."
"Ok, I'll give you that," said Malfoy evenly. "Some people would call her high maintenance but she's actually just a mad cow. The rest of it, Hermione, was fun. And getting to wrestle you out of your clothes, that was the most fun of all."
My head was going to explode. Malfoy seemed to have turned into one of Dr Evil's henchmen.
I opened my mouth to speak but Malfoy interrupted me.
"No, before you ask, I didn't have a traumatic childhood. I just like playing games with people. I mean, I always hope someone will be clever enough to see through me, but you're all so stupid."
I gritted my teeth, I was so tempted to just slap that smirk of his face, or even reach into my backpack for my wand but I strained myself and tried to change the subject.
"Why did you come to find me?" I said.
"Where's the devoted Weasley, you mean?" Malfoy smirked. "While everyone was running around and falling over each other to try and find you, I thought I'd get to you first but you're being no fun, Hermione. You're not playing anymore, are you?"
I snorted. "Sorry, but I'm finding it hard to see the funny in this situation."
Malfoy started laughing again. "Do you know what Veronique and I found really hysterical about the whole thing?" he asked me.
"I'm sure you're going to fill me in on the details."
"You and Weasley are meant for each other," he chuckled. "You're like a grunge version of Romeo and Juliet. It's really pathetic. And instead of lovin' it up, you let yourselves get distracted by idiotic ideas about principles and doing the right thing."
His words were like little arrows stabbing me. He was right. I was pathetic. I'd been so busy trying to find reasons to stay with Malfoy that I'd completely ignored the obvious stuff. Like he was totally twisted and if I'd wanted Ron, I should have just reached out and grabbed him.
"Oh, are you going to cry now, Hermione?" Malfoy wanted to know with mock concern. "Word of advice, sweetheart, it doesn't have any effect on me, it never did."
Just then I saw a road sign that said "Manor Park Hotel 50 Yards".
"Turn in here," I demanded. Malfoy ignored me and I did something I'd only seen in really bad action movies. I wrenched the steering wheel sharply to the left. Malfoy pushed me away with one hand.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?" he roared.
"If you don't pull in now, I'm jumping out," I warned him.
Malfoy swore under his breath and started to back the van down the lane and into the hotel driveway. The Manor Park Hotel could have come straight out of a BBC costume drama. There were turrets, leaded windows and probably a few peacocks strutting about the place.
"Oh yeah, this looks like a nice little B'n'B," Malfoy commented sarcastically as I opened the door.
It was obviously way too expensive to stay there but I figured that they'd let me phone for a cab or something. I trudged toward the main entrance where a uniformed flunky was holding the door open for me. Malfoy came up behind me and grabbed my arm.
"Come on, Hermione, stop being so melodramatic," he said lightly, "Get back in the van and I'll drive you into town."
"Go away," I spat but he wedged his hand into my armpit and tried to pull me away.
"If you don't stop I'm going to start screaming at the top of my voice," I promised. My wand would have been better, but as Malfoy held my arm in an iron grip that plan seemed to be at a standstill.
Malfoy glanced at my deadly serious expression and then at the doorman who was giving him a very suspicious look.
"Ok, dear," he said, saccharine sweetly. "If this is where you want to stay, you know I can't refuse you anything."
I don't know what I'd expected once we got inside the foyer. Lot's of posh people dripping in diamonds probably, but instead there were lots of cute boys and cool girls. Kind of how I'd imagined the backstage enclosure of the main stage, if I'd actually been able to get backstage. But now wasn't the time to start wondering if that really was Kelly from Stereophonics ordering a round.
Not with Malfoy still clutching my wrist in a death grip. I marched over to the reception desk to ask about using the phone. Before I could get the words out of my mouth, the receptionist greeted me with a warm smile. That was the first weird thing 'cause I didn't look like one of the Manor Park Hotel's regular guests or a rock star. I looked like an 18-year-old girl who'd been roughing it for three days. The second weird thing was when she opened her mouth.
"Hello, are you from EMI?" she enquired.
"Er, no," I muttered.
"How much are your rooms?" Malfoy asked curtly.
She gave him a filthy look and turned back to me with an apologetic smile. "We're practically fully booked," she explained. "We've got a lot of music industry guests here for the festival."
OK, I had been planning to get the number of a cab company but now I came to think of it. The Manor Park Hotel could offer me something a whole lot better. Revenge. I bit my lip and tried to will my tear ducts to work as the receptionist looked at her computer screen.
"I've only got the honeymoon suite available," she was saying. "That would be £650 for one night, breakfast included."
Malfoy snorted. "Yeah right, Hermione. Come on."
I burst into loud and noisy sobs. "Put it on your credit card," I wept loudly as people turned to look at us. "It's the least you could do after the terrible way you've treated me."
Malfoy shifted uncomfortably his face flushing. "Stop it, Hermione. You're making a scene."
I cried harder. "YOU TRIED TO SLEEP WITH ALL MY FRIENDS AND NOW YOU WON'T EVEN PAY FOR A HOTEL ROOM FOR ME!!"
I glanced at the receptionist from under my lashes and she gave me an almost imperceptible wink before turning to glare at Malfoy.
"OK," he snapped, fumbling in his pocket for his wallet and slapping his credit card down on the desk. "I'll take the room, will you stop bawling now?"
The minute I saw her swipe his card through the till I turned off the tears and raised my eyebrows at Malfoy.
"Tell her to put an extra £100 to the total," I demanded. Poking my wand from inside my sleeve and stabbing it into his stomach (without anyone noticing except Malfoy and myself). "I'm hungry and I need to make a transatlantic phone call."
Malfoy gave me a look of utter loathing but did what I said. I waited for the receptionist to hand me the room key and then picked up my backpack and headed in the direction of the bar. Diet Coke first, getting rid of Malfoy second.
I stood next to Cerys from Catatonia as I waited to get served and tried to act nonchalantly as some of the people whose CDs I owned gave me strange looks. It's not everyday you get to throw a full-volume hissy-fit in front of Damon from Blur. I found an empty chair among a group of what looked like American rappers (I figured there was safety in numbers) and sat down to sip at my drink and decide what I was going to do next.
But Malfoy was already perching himself on the arm of my chair and slinging an arm round my shoulders.
"I seem to have spent all day chasing after you," he remarked breezily. "You want me to push off, don't you?"
"You guessed it," I said.
"I must say I was impressed by your little scene at reception," he continued. "Didn't know you had it in you. You're a girl after my own heart."
"Cut the crap," I hissed. "Will you just go?"
"But you have to admit Granger," said Malfoy pretending he hadn't heard me. "I nearly had you. Five more minutes in that tent and you wouldn't have your precious virginity any more."
"And Susan came along to save me from a fate worse than death," I said nastily. "Yeah, Malfoy, I fell for all your clever little schemes, you fooled me. Well done, round of applause. But it's over. I'm finishing it. Just go away."
I reached for my wand again, but I suddenly realised that I wasn't holding it anymore.
"I'm not going anywhere," Malfoy insisted waving my wand out in front of me and pulled me towards him. "I've just paid £750 for the dubious pleasure of your company."
I tried to break free of his arm and reach for my wand but it was impossible. "Do you really think I'm going to go upstairs with you and have sex?" I asked him incredulously. "It's not going to happen. And anyway I've got the key."
Malfoy was just about to come out with some more twisted logic when a big American guy who was sitting near me and had been listening to our heated discussion nudged me. I looked up expectantly waiting for the "Is this guy bothering you?" line, but instead he said, "Honey, I think your phone's ringing."
I looked at him blankly before remembering that my mobile was in my pack, (my mother had insisted on buying me one last Christmas). All this time and I'd actually had a phone on me! I wrestled Malfoy's arm off and started burrowing for the ringing phone. By the time I found it, it had stopped ringing but Cho's number was the last one stored. I pressed 'Call.'
She answered on the first ring.
"Hermione?"
"Cho! It's me."
"Are you OK?"
I gave Malfoy a sour look but he raised one eyebrow at me and carried on sitting there.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry for taking off like that."
"Never mind all that, give Ron a call. He's looking for you, he was going to try and find a cab."
"Is he mad at me?"
"He's worried about you. But if Draco's there you'd better tell him to exit sharpish."
"Why? Well, apart from the obvious."
"'Cause I've never seen Ron in such a rage."
"Oh."
"I'll see you when?"
"Tomorrow. Hey, Cho?"
"What?"
"Guess who's standing five feet away from me?"
"I don't know."
"Kelly from Stereophonics!"
"Hermione, are you on drugs?"
"I'll tell you about it tomorrow."
I cut off the call and started searching my address book for Ron's number.
"Was that one of your little friends?" Malfoy taunted me. "Wondering why they're stranded without their van?"
"Stop acting like someone from a second-rate gangster flick," I snapped. "I'm calling Ron now," I added.
"I'm really scared," said Malfoy - sounding as unscared as it was possible to sound - as I pressed 'Call' again.
"Hey," I said hesitantly when Ron answered.
"Where are you? Are you alright?"
"I'm at Manor Park Hotel."
I heard Ron say something to someone.
"Ron? Where are you?"
"I'm in a taxi, I'll be with you in about ten minutes. Can you hold on?"
"Yeah, but Malfoy's here and he's.I can't get rid of him."
Malfoy looked quite pleased at my remark.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes.just get here soon."
"I'm." There was a beep and my phone cut out. The battery needed recharging.
I stood up and Malfoy was immediately at my side.
"Going somewhere, sweetheart?" he asked.
"Ron's on his way, he's absolutely furious with you," I said with some satisfaction. "Why don't you just go before there's some hideous scene."
Malfoy looked unconcerned. "I'm not frightened of HIM. He couldn't run a bath."
"Why won't you go?" I asked him tiredly.
"Give me my £750 then," Malfoy replied.
"I haven't got it," I told him. "And anyway I think you owe me."
"For what? Services rendered? Hardly!"
I didn't know what to do. If I went up to the room then Malfoy was going to follow me and he was in such an unreasonable and downright scary mood, I wasn't sure if I was going to be safe. But if I stayed where there were people and Ron came in and started a fight we'd probably get thrown out. I was just wondering whether I could give Malfoy the slip by disappearing into the Ladies when Ron suddenly burst through the door.
Forget what I said earlier about not crying 'cause as I walked towards the side road that led off the festival site I was crying like I'd never cried before. It always amazes me how you can cry, like, in public and people look at you in a horrified way but never actually ask what the matter is. All those hippies were meant to be into peace and love but they obviously weren't into spreading it around.
Once I'd left the site and started walking in what I hoped was the right direction for the nearest town, I had to sit down on a grass verge because I was crying so much that I was starting to get hysterical. My breath was coming and going in strange, airless little gasps and my whole body felt floppy. I was also worried that I had internal bleeding from where Veronique had punched me. It certainly hurt enough. Maybe this was to be my fate; in the morning a farmer would find me dead by the side of the road and they'd put my name out over the radio in Florida so the 'rents could come home and bury me. Pull yourself together, Hermione, I thought sternly. Deep breaths and focus, I managed to stop crying and do something useful like put trainers on and then I hoisted my backpack onto my shoulders again and started to walk.
I didn't know what I was hoping to achieve by taking of but all I knew was that I was going home. Everything was ruined between Ron and me -there didn't seem to be any way that he'd want to be with me now. He probably thought I was a worthless little tramp and, besides, Veronique was going to kill me if she ever saw me again. As for Malfoy (yes I'm calling him by his last name now!), I couldn't even begin to fathom out why he got off being such a Grade A git.
It was starting to get dark and I'd been walking for over an hour but the fields seemed to stretch out forever with no sign of civilisation in sight.
I contemplated, just for a moment, no wizard money -so I couldn't get the knight bus -there's no port keys in this area -I can't apparate yet -nothing, hitch-hiking, but knowing my luck I'd have got picked up by a homicidal, axe wielding maniac and I had enough problems already. I walked on a bit more and was beginning to panic when I heard a car coming up behind me. I moved nearer the hedge but it was slowing down. I turned around and raised my arm to shield my eyes from the glare of the headlights when I realised it was the café van. My heart dipped. Ron had come to find me! But it was Malfoy impatiently winding down the window and telling me to get in.
"*&%! Off," I snarled, walking away. Malfoy drove alongside me.
"Get in," he said curtly. "It's dark and you shouldn't be out on your own."
"It's a bit late for the concerned boyfriend act," I sniped.
"If you don't get in the sodding van I'm going to put you in," he threatened, his voice simmering with barely controlled rage.
It was either carry on walking, even though I was hopelessly lost, or get in the van with a vindictive ex-boyfriend. There didn't seem to be a lesser of the two evils options. With a sigh I eased off my backpack and threw it in the van and then climbed in after it. Malfoy reached over and slammed the door shut before turning the key in the ignition.
"I've got better things to do with my time than drive around looking for silly little girls," he began savagely.
"You have no right to start picking fights with me," I pointed out angrily. "I don't want to talk to you, just drive me to the nearest station."
"The nearest station is ten miles in the opposite direction," Malfoy pointed out. "I'm driving back to the site."
"I'm not going," I bit out.
"Tough."
I fumbled with the door-lock. "If you don't drive me to the nearest station then I'm getting out now," I told him. I was way beyond reason. "Even if I have to jump out of a moving vehicle."
"OK," said Malfoy. "Look, I can't turn the van round, I'll carry on driving until we find a lay-by and then I."
"Fine," I hissed. "And don't talk to me."
We drove in silence. I hugged the backpack to my chest and stared out of the window at the black hedges that sped past. Of course, I couldn't keep quiet for more than ten minutes.
"Why?" I finally asked. "Why did you do it?"
Malfoy threw me a strangely amused look.
"Do what?" he enquired silkily.
"All of it," I replied. "Pretend that you liked me. Make passes at my friends. Play twisted little mind games to try and get me into bed. Why?"
And Malfoy, instead of coming up with one of his clever little excuses, began to laugh. A nasty, mocking laugh that seemed to echo around me.
"You're so naïve, Hermione," he eventually said. "You think there always has to be a reason for the things people do. Maybe I did it because I'm not a very nice person."
"No, that's not it," I argued. "Admit at least that you've done everything you can to keep me and Ron apart so he can baby-sit Veronique on your behalf."
"Ok, I'll give you that," said Malfoy evenly. "Some people would call her high maintenance but she's actually just a mad cow. The rest of it, Hermione, was fun. And getting to wrestle you out of your clothes, that was the most fun of all."
My head was going to explode. Malfoy seemed to have turned into one of Dr Evil's henchmen.
I opened my mouth to speak but Malfoy interrupted me.
"No, before you ask, I didn't have a traumatic childhood. I just like playing games with people. I mean, I always hope someone will be clever enough to see through me, but you're all so stupid."
I gritted my teeth, I was so tempted to just slap that smirk of his face, or even reach into my backpack for my wand but I strained myself and tried to change the subject.
"Why did you come to find me?" I said.
"Where's the devoted Weasley, you mean?" Malfoy smirked. "While everyone was running around and falling over each other to try and find you, I thought I'd get to you first but you're being no fun, Hermione. You're not playing anymore, are you?"
I snorted. "Sorry, but I'm finding it hard to see the funny in this situation."
Malfoy started laughing again. "Do you know what Veronique and I found really hysterical about the whole thing?" he asked me.
"I'm sure you're going to fill me in on the details."
"You and Weasley are meant for each other," he chuckled. "You're like a grunge version of Romeo and Juliet. It's really pathetic. And instead of lovin' it up, you let yourselves get distracted by idiotic ideas about principles and doing the right thing."
His words were like little arrows stabbing me. He was right. I was pathetic. I'd been so busy trying to find reasons to stay with Malfoy that I'd completely ignored the obvious stuff. Like he was totally twisted and if I'd wanted Ron, I should have just reached out and grabbed him.
"Oh, are you going to cry now, Hermione?" Malfoy wanted to know with mock concern. "Word of advice, sweetheart, it doesn't have any effect on me, it never did."
Just then I saw a road sign that said "Manor Park Hotel 50 Yards".
"Turn in here," I demanded. Malfoy ignored me and I did something I'd only seen in really bad action movies. I wrenched the steering wheel sharply to the left. Malfoy pushed me away with one hand.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED?" he roared.
"If you don't pull in now, I'm jumping out," I warned him.
Malfoy swore under his breath and started to back the van down the lane and into the hotel driveway. The Manor Park Hotel could have come straight out of a BBC costume drama. There were turrets, leaded windows and probably a few peacocks strutting about the place.
"Oh yeah, this looks like a nice little B'n'B," Malfoy commented sarcastically as I opened the door.
It was obviously way too expensive to stay there but I figured that they'd let me phone for a cab or something. I trudged toward the main entrance where a uniformed flunky was holding the door open for me. Malfoy came up behind me and grabbed my arm.
"Come on, Hermione, stop being so melodramatic," he said lightly, "Get back in the van and I'll drive you into town."
"Go away," I spat but he wedged his hand into my armpit and tried to pull me away.
"If you don't stop I'm going to start screaming at the top of my voice," I promised. My wand would have been better, but as Malfoy held my arm in an iron grip that plan seemed to be at a standstill.
Malfoy glanced at my deadly serious expression and then at the doorman who was giving him a very suspicious look.
"Ok, dear," he said, saccharine sweetly. "If this is where you want to stay, you know I can't refuse you anything."
I don't know what I'd expected once we got inside the foyer. Lot's of posh people dripping in diamonds probably, but instead there were lots of cute boys and cool girls. Kind of how I'd imagined the backstage enclosure of the main stage, if I'd actually been able to get backstage. But now wasn't the time to start wondering if that really was Kelly from Stereophonics ordering a round.
Not with Malfoy still clutching my wrist in a death grip. I marched over to the reception desk to ask about using the phone. Before I could get the words out of my mouth, the receptionist greeted me with a warm smile. That was the first weird thing 'cause I didn't look like one of the Manor Park Hotel's regular guests or a rock star. I looked like an 18-year-old girl who'd been roughing it for three days. The second weird thing was when she opened her mouth.
"Hello, are you from EMI?" she enquired.
"Er, no," I muttered.
"How much are your rooms?" Malfoy asked curtly.
She gave him a filthy look and turned back to me with an apologetic smile. "We're practically fully booked," she explained. "We've got a lot of music industry guests here for the festival."
OK, I had been planning to get the number of a cab company but now I came to think of it. The Manor Park Hotel could offer me something a whole lot better. Revenge. I bit my lip and tried to will my tear ducts to work as the receptionist looked at her computer screen.
"I've only got the honeymoon suite available," she was saying. "That would be £650 for one night, breakfast included."
Malfoy snorted. "Yeah right, Hermione. Come on."
I burst into loud and noisy sobs. "Put it on your credit card," I wept loudly as people turned to look at us. "It's the least you could do after the terrible way you've treated me."
Malfoy shifted uncomfortably his face flushing. "Stop it, Hermione. You're making a scene."
I cried harder. "YOU TRIED TO SLEEP WITH ALL MY FRIENDS AND NOW YOU WON'T EVEN PAY FOR A HOTEL ROOM FOR ME!!"
I glanced at the receptionist from under my lashes and she gave me an almost imperceptible wink before turning to glare at Malfoy.
"OK," he snapped, fumbling in his pocket for his wallet and slapping his credit card down on the desk. "I'll take the room, will you stop bawling now?"
The minute I saw her swipe his card through the till I turned off the tears and raised my eyebrows at Malfoy.
"Tell her to put an extra £100 to the total," I demanded. Poking my wand from inside my sleeve and stabbing it into his stomach (without anyone noticing except Malfoy and myself). "I'm hungry and I need to make a transatlantic phone call."
Malfoy gave me a look of utter loathing but did what I said. I waited for the receptionist to hand me the room key and then picked up my backpack and headed in the direction of the bar. Diet Coke first, getting rid of Malfoy second.
I stood next to Cerys from Catatonia as I waited to get served and tried to act nonchalantly as some of the people whose CDs I owned gave me strange looks. It's not everyday you get to throw a full-volume hissy-fit in front of Damon from Blur. I found an empty chair among a group of what looked like American rappers (I figured there was safety in numbers) and sat down to sip at my drink and decide what I was going to do next.
But Malfoy was already perching himself on the arm of my chair and slinging an arm round my shoulders.
"I seem to have spent all day chasing after you," he remarked breezily. "You want me to push off, don't you?"
"You guessed it," I said.
"I must say I was impressed by your little scene at reception," he continued. "Didn't know you had it in you. You're a girl after my own heart."
"Cut the crap," I hissed. "Will you just go?"
"But you have to admit Granger," said Malfoy pretending he hadn't heard me. "I nearly had you. Five more minutes in that tent and you wouldn't have your precious virginity any more."
"And Susan came along to save me from a fate worse than death," I said nastily. "Yeah, Malfoy, I fell for all your clever little schemes, you fooled me. Well done, round of applause. But it's over. I'm finishing it. Just go away."
I reached for my wand again, but I suddenly realised that I wasn't holding it anymore.
"I'm not going anywhere," Malfoy insisted waving my wand out in front of me and pulled me towards him. "I've just paid £750 for the dubious pleasure of your company."
I tried to break free of his arm and reach for my wand but it was impossible. "Do you really think I'm going to go upstairs with you and have sex?" I asked him incredulously. "It's not going to happen. And anyway I've got the key."
Malfoy was just about to come out with some more twisted logic when a big American guy who was sitting near me and had been listening to our heated discussion nudged me. I looked up expectantly waiting for the "Is this guy bothering you?" line, but instead he said, "Honey, I think your phone's ringing."
I looked at him blankly before remembering that my mobile was in my pack, (my mother had insisted on buying me one last Christmas). All this time and I'd actually had a phone on me! I wrestled Malfoy's arm off and started burrowing for the ringing phone. By the time I found it, it had stopped ringing but Cho's number was the last one stored. I pressed 'Call.'
She answered on the first ring.
"Hermione?"
"Cho! It's me."
"Are you OK?"
I gave Malfoy a sour look but he raised one eyebrow at me and carried on sitting there.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry for taking off like that."
"Never mind all that, give Ron a call. He's looking for you, he was going to try and find a cab."
"Is he mad at me?"
"He's worried about you. But if Draco's there you'd better tell him to exit sharpish."
"Why? Well, apart from the obvious."
"'Cause I've never seen Ron in such a rage."
"Oh."
"I'll see you when?"
"Tomorrow. Hey, Cho?"
"What?"
"Guess who's standing five feet away from me?"
"I don't know."
"Kelly from Stereophonics!"
"Hermione, are you on drugs?"
"I'll tell you about it tomorrow."
I cut off the call and started searching my address book for Ron's number.
"Was that one of your little friends?" Malfoy taunted me. "Wondering why they're stranded without their van?"
"Stop acting like someone from a second-rate gangster flick," I snapped. "I'm calling Ron now," I added.
"I'm really scared," said Malfoy - sounding as unscared as it was possible to sound - as I pressed 'Call' again.
"Hey," I said hesitantly when Ron answered.
"Where are you? Are you alright?"
"I'm at Manor Park Hotel."
I heard Ron say something to someone.
"Ron? Where are you?"
"I'm in a taxi, I'll be with you in about ten minutes. Can you hold on?"
"Yeah, but Malfoy's here and he's.I can't get rid of him."
Malfoy looked quite pleased at my remark.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes.just get here soon."
"I'm." There was a beep and my phone cut out. The battery needed recharging.
I stood up and Malfoy was immediately at my side.
"Going somewhere, sweetheart?" he asked.
"Ron's on his way, he's absolutely furious with you," I said with some satisfaction. "Why don't you just go before there's some hideous scene."
Malfoy looked unconcerned. "I'm not frightened of HIM. He couldn't run a bath."
"Why won't you go?" I asked him tiredly.
"Give me my £750 then," Malfoy replied.
"I haven't got it," I told him. "And anyway I think you owe me."
"For what? Services rendered? Hardly!"
I didn't know what to do. If I went up to the room then Malfoy was going to follow me and he was in such an unreasonable and downright scary mood, I wasn't sure if I was going to be safe. But if I stayed where there were people and Ron came in and started a fight we'd probably get thrown out. I was just wondering whether I could give Malfoy the slip by disappearing into the Ladies when Ron suddenly burst through the door.