AN: I can hear you sighing as you read this. "Not another angst fic!" Well, people have asked me why I keep writing these, and I decided to tell them why: Because I want to! And because I especially like writing, and I especially like angst. Put them together, and you get Archangela, mainly: ME. So, if you think that's not good enough, well: FYI: All my songfics have different plots, and they use different songs, and they're all 100% original, excluding the songs and the characters, of course. So, still not satisfied? Well, get acquainted with your back button, because I am NOT taking any crap from a flamer who has absolutely no reason to flame me either than disliking my pairing.
Beware the fury of Archangela scorned. (By the way, I was going to name this Echoes of Angela. Haha.)
And by the way: the HE in the song lyrics refers to Harry, okay?
Disclaimer: Characters, song, not mine, belong to J.K Rowling and Vertical Horizon, accordingly. Angst, plot, relation ship angle, unfortunate circumstances, OOC behavior and anything else that makes you go "Huh?!" belongs to me.
Dedicated to: Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20 for giving me another idea for my next songfic. (I can hear you screaming "NOT AGAIN!") and to Linkin Park for the extremely, wonderfully melancholic "My December". And to myself, I guess, for driving my convertible over the edge of a cliff the night I told a certain someone I loved him. Read on and you'll get it.
Echoes of Angels
Draco Thomas Magnum Malfoy did not expect his doorbell to ring. It was the middle of the night, and it was raining cats and dogs. Draco Thomas Magnum Malfoy did not expect anyone to actually dare ring it all. His new neighbors were extremely wary of 'that Malfoy boy.' Draco Thomas Magnum Malfoy did not expect to fling open the door and drop the mug of coffee he was holding. He dropped it in surprise, and Malfoys are rarely surprised.
"Granger?! What the bloody hell-"
"Shut up, Malfoy. And let me in. I'm freezing my arse off out here."
"Let your arse freeze. Like I care. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Look, just… let me in!"
"No."
"Please!"
"Why?"
"Because…"
"I'm waiting for a good explanation, and there's coffee all over my damn rug. This came from Persia, damnit!"
"Harry and I had a fight, okay?"
Draco barely raised an eyebrow. He just moved back to let her in, and slammed the door behind her. Grabbing his wand, he pointed at the spreading spot on the carpet. "Diliunus." The spot of coffee began to spread faster. "Oh, shit."
Hermione heaved a sigh, and took out her own wand, the wood slightly damp, and whispered a spell through chattering teeth. "Mespinus." The coffee disappeared. Draco pointed toward the kitchen. "Over there, show-off."
Somewhere there's speaking
Several minutes later, Hermione was huddled at the kitchen table, wrapped in a towel she had to find herself, and clutching a mug of coffee she had to make herself. Draco leaned against the kitchen counter, watching her shiver, sipping his own coffee.
"So, again, why are you here?"
It's already coming in
"Look, we had a fight, nothing too big. Nothing I can't handle." Hermione held up her shaking hands. Draco raised an eyebrow. "Nothing you can't handle, eh? Well, what are you doing in the kitchen of your worst enemy?" Hermione looked at him. "Are we still enemies?" she asked, a hint of disbelieving in her shaking voice.
Oh and it's rising at the back of your mind
Draco stared at her. Then he turned away. "I don't know." Hermione sighed and looked at the window, at the pouring rain. "Well, can we please call a truce?" When Draco turned back to her with genuine surprise on his face, she sighed again. "For tonight, only."
Draco frowned. "Why?"
You never could get it unless you were fed it
Hermione looked at him as if he was the stupidest thing on planet earth. "Harry. And. I. Had. A. Fight." She spoke, enunciating every syllable clearly. Draco lost his temper and slammed his fists onto the kitchen table, bringing his face a few inches away from hers. "I know that, damnit! What's with the damn truce?! Why don't I simply pour coffee down your throat and leave you here until the rain stops, and then throw you out the door?" Hermione leaned back, eyes widening. "Draco…!" Draco sat down on the chair in front of her, surprised.
"Draco, Harry's angry. He probably wouldn't want to see my face until… oh, I don't know… a few days from now? So…" Hermione looked at him, with a trace of embarrassment in her eyes. "Can I sleep here for a night?"
Now you're here and you don't know why
Draco stared at her, soaking wet, hair hanging in damp coils around her face, eyes slightly red from crying. He stared right into those eyes, eyes that had shed tears a while ago, when her boyfriend, the great, good, famous Harry Potter had pushed her out into the street, wearing nothing but the silk kimono she had now draped a fluffy mint-green bathroom towel over.
Hermione stared back, into those piercing silvery-grey eyes that had, a few years ago, been so cold and uninviting, now questioning and curious.
Finally, Draco spoke.
"Why should I let you?"
But under skinned knees and the skid marks
Hermione got up, the towel falling to the floor, hair hanging over her face, eyes hidden. "Okay. Well, thanks for the coffee anyway. I'm lucky you even opened the door. Goodbye." She walked to the front door, her bare feet padding softly across the cold marble floor.
Past the places where you used to learn
Draco numbly watched those feet. Her bloody feet are bare. They are fucking bare. He looked out the window, where the rain was pouring harder than ever. She bloody fucking walked through three blocks to get to my apartment… Damnit.
"Granger?"
"I was just about to leave. Thank you, Malfoy."
"Damnit. Shut up and come in."
Silence.
"Are you coming in, or not?"
"Thanks, Draco."
You howl and listen
Back to the kitchen, coffee mugs back in place. Draco was back in his chair across Hermione, thinking about her feet. He blinked, then raised his wand in the air. "Accio Slippers." Two slippers flew towards Hermione, and they landed at her feet. "Put them on." He was looking away, avoiding her gaze.
Hermione looked at her feet. They were encased in fluffy pink bedroom slippers. She almost laughed out loud. "Thanks, Draco. Pretty bunny slippers."
Draco turned a becoming shade of pink. "I always thought someone would show up on my doorstep in the middle of night, a female, you know… soaking wet and broken-hearted…"
Listen and wait
He looked down into the depths of his empty coffee mug. "I just didn't expect it would be you."
For the echoes of angels who won't return
Draco looked up and met her eyes. Silver to brown. Expressionless to sad. Draco to Hermione.
"You know…"
"Yes?"
"Potter doesn't deserve you."
Silence from the brunette. Another question from the blonde.
"Why do you put up with him?"
"Draco…"
"Oh shit."
"Huh?"
"Maybe I shouldn't have said that."
Hermione smiled at him. "Maybe it was essential that you said what you said."
He's everything you want
Draco shrugged. They continued to drink their coffee, quietly grateful for each other's presence.
"Draco, why did you say that?" She asked, a while later, when she felt there was need for conversation.
"I mean what I say… Malfoys always mean what they say… but they don't always say what they mean."
He's everything you need
Hermione chuckled. "What number in the Malfoy Code of Conduct book is that?"
"Nine hundred and fourteen." Draco answered promptly. They began to laugh.
He's everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
"So, back to the question…" Draco watched her making the coffee spill on the table change colors. She ducked her head, avoiding his gaze. "I don't know why I 'put up with Potter.' I love him, I guess." Draco felt something inside melt. Maybe it was his heart. That's stupid. I threw my heart out along with all my pleasantness a long, long time ago. Hermione's words echoed in his head. "I love him, I guess."
Yet he means nothing to you
Hermione looked up. "Well, maybe, I loved him." Draco stared at her for a minute. "Hermione, do you think I'm pleasant?" he asked, unconsciously using her first name. Hermione blinked at him. "What?"
"You heard me."
"Well…"
And you don't know why
"Yes… you're pleasant enough, I think. I mean, you let me walk right into your house…" Draco blinked. And right into my life… He coughed. "Oh, okay. Thank you… I guess." Okay, so if my pleasantness is here, then so must my heart.
Hermione looked at Draco. "Okay, my turn for a question!" She said brightly, dispelling the heavy atmosphere that hung after Draco's smile. She grinned at Draco. "Why did you open the door and let me in?"
You're waiting for someone
Draco raised an eyebrow. "I definitely didn't have plans to rip your clothes off and shag you… so I hope you weren't suspecting that." Hermione didn't even blink. "Of course. So, why?" Draco shrugged again. "Pity."
"And that once-in-a-lifetime snogging session with you in the broom closet
right before graduation helped, too, you know."
To put you together
Hermione threw her head back and laughed. "Omigod, you still remember that?! That seems so long ago…" Draco grinned. "Exactly. Why do you think I left you alone for the rest of our years after Hogwarts, even though I was in an apartment three blocks away from yours?"
"Oh god, that snog session was exactly what I was thinking about when I rang your doorbell a while ago!"
You're waiting for someone to push you away
"You were such a jerk! You used to torment us everyday…" Hermione thought back to the days when Draco Malfoy was someone she wouldn't even glance at in the corridors. You were such an arsehole… of course, that's in the past tense. In fact… I liked that fire in you… if only it wasn't always directed towards me, or my friends.
Slowly, she reached out, and watching him carefully, placed her hand over his. He looked up at her, silver eyes unreadable, yet burning with a strange fire.
There's always another wound to discover
"Hermione," Draco began, and his voice sounded withheld. "why didn't you just Apparate to Weasley's house, or your parents'… or anything?" He looked down at their hands, lying on the kitchen table, hers covering his. He slowly entwined her fingers with his. "Why did you come to me?"
There's always something more you wish he'd say
Hermione looked up, eyes bright. "I seriously don't know…" She smiled at him, and Draco realized, like a bolt of lightning, that she was beautiful, both inside and outside. "You, Draco… tell me why I left my boyfriend of two years and came running to you."
He's everything you want
Draco frowned. "Why would you leave your boyfriend Potter in the first place?… Well, if he wasn't so ticked off, that is." He added. "Back in Hogwarts, you two were the School Boy and Girl, and awarded the First place prize for 'Two Students Most Likely To Sleep Together.'" He grinned at Hermione, who blushed.
He's everything you need
"I remember… people always pointed and sighed when they saw the two of you together, holding hands underneath the tree beside the lake… and you couldn't look me in the eye for the rest of the graduation ceremony because Potter was sitting beside you, and our snog session was still in your mind." They laughed at his. "Even Parkinson saw the 'thing' between you and Scarface…" Draco coughed. "She just pulled my arm everywhere she went." Draco put on a high, shrill imitation of Pansy's voice. "Dracooooo! Why aren't you talking to meeee? Look at Potter and that Mudbloooood! They're sooooo sickening togetheeeerrr!"
He is everything inside of you that you wish you could be
"You admired him, didn't you?" Draco asked a question fueled by a spark in his eyes. Hermione looked down at the finely polished wooden table. "Yes… I did. And I probably still do. But love him? I really don't know about that…"
He says all the right things at exactly the right time
"Harry and I were so perfect together, even Ron agreed." Hermione removed her hand from Draco's and began tracing the wood grain of the table. "He knew what to say to make me laugh, he knew what to say to make me cry…"
But he means nothing to you
"He said all of those things tonight, and he mostly made me cry." Hermione's head was bowed, and Draco felt an aching in his heart that supposedly wasn't there. "But you came to me, not to Weasley or any of your Gryffindor friends…" he whispered, and she nodded.
"Why do you stick with Potter, then, if he makes you cry?"
And you don't know why
She shrugged, and the towel slid off her shoulders to lie in a minty puddle of cotton on the floor. Draco stood up, walked over to her and placed it back onto her shoulders, silently offering his comfort, his house, and himself.
But you'll just sit tight
And watch it unwind
"So, is this the end of your Potter infatuation?" Draco asked, quietly hoping for an affirmative answer. Why? What do I care if she goes back to that arsehole? he whispered to the mind that answered back You care a lot.
It's only what you're asking for
Hermione shrugged again, clutching the towel this time. "I don't know. I guess so." She tapped her mug with her wand, and it refilled with steaming, sweet coffee. "But you know, I think it ended three years ago."
And you'll be just fine
In all of your time
Draco patted her hand in a friendly way, hoping she didn't take the gesture too lightly, or too far. "Then, what are doing with your life? What are you waiting for?" He smiled at her, trying to tell her that she'll never get this close to him ever again. "Go out there and find your imperfect, flawed, lovable Prince Charming."
It's only what you're waiting for.
Hermione's mind raced. Here he was giving her a chance of a lifetime, and smiling at her in the most heartwarming way… was she going to take the chance?
She smiled back, and with a simple sentence, she took the chance Draco gave her, and buried it in her heart for all time.
"Draco, I think I've already found him."
Out of the island
With every additional sentence she spoke, Hermione felt as if she was taking a verbal road trip. She had already pumped the gas and taken off the brake, and was speeding on a worded highway towards either love… or a painful carcrash.
"He's been right in front of me all the time. This handsome, yet flawed and broken Prince Charming of mine. He taunted me through my years, and was a royal pain-in-the-arse, when all he really was… was a royal young man destined to fall in love with the girl who walked through the door in the middle of a freezing, rainy night, crying her eyes out."
Farther and farther down the road, past the speed limit, stepping on the gas, taking every chance, risking her life and pride and reputation. Would he pull her over and condemn her for speeding, or would he jump into her car and speed away with her beside him? She'd find out soon enough.
Onto the highway
She was flooring the accelerator, wind blowing past her open window…
"He's been with me all my life, you know."
Go one, Hermione… risk it all… Draco sat there, eyes inscrutable, still as stone.
Past the places you might have turned
She could have stopped right then and there. She could have saved herself from the brink of disaster by standing up, telling him it was Ron all along, and Disapparating, leaving Draco to wonder, or to fume at her boldness.
But no.
She wasn't going to turn, to move off this dangerous verbal race against herself. She wasn't going to give up and back out… not now. She had gone too far, past all the exits, and now she was hurtling for either eternal bliss, or eternal humiliation. Did she care? Nope.
She loved him, this Draco Malfoy, and right now, she was prepared to drive her verbal convertible over the edge of the mental ravine just to show him how much she really cared.
You never did notice
But you still hide away
Her verbal motor roared, startling even herself at how powerful her words were. But she kept on driving, the accelerator to the floor.
"So, I have no idea what this Prince feels or what he's made of. He's a cold kind of guy, but I've seen him show flashes of hospitality and kindness… and maybe even affection. He's wonderfully enigmatic.
Now, I might leave my boyfriend and run away with him to some beautifully exotic hideaway. I like him, not for his money, but for the strange stuff that he is made of."
Closer and closer to the edge. Closer and closer to finding out what Draco was really made of.
The anger of angels who won't return
"This Prince of mine, I've fallen madly in love with him… since this one night, when he let me into his house, called me a know-it-all, made me coffee, teased me, almost threw me out again, made me coffee again, entertained me, and held my hand…" Hermione's breath caught in her throat.
Time to rev up her verbal engine and take the plunge that could end in either bliss, or suffering.
"And you know this Prince of mine, wonderfully flawed, and believably broken, he's sitting right across from me now, still as stone, listening to every word I say. I don't know if he loves me, the way I love him. I don't know if he loves me with all his heart and soul, or if he has fallen for me head over heels, n exactly the way I fell for him… but there's one thing I know…"
Tires slipping on the edge. One more sentence, and she would fall. For good. For better or for worse.
"I know, that I finally found my Prince Charming in you, Draco."
The shocking silence that commences when a car falls over the edge of a rocky slope, heading for something unpredictable right under it. The air, whooshing past, like time was flying by. The scenery reduced to blurs of green and brown, like the rain outside and the unfamiliar kitchen dissolving in the entirety of love unsolved.
He stood up, eyes unfathomable, unreadable. Draco walked over to her, leaned down, and kissed her.
Somewhere in a world where rainy midnights and angry boyfriends existed, a phone began to ring.
Draco leaned back and touched her lips, his eyes strangely soft and bright at the same time. "I wanted to do that since the moment you walked through my door." Hermione smiled. "What about ripping my clothes off and shagging me as hard as you can?" Draco grinned. "That's for later. Meanwhile, I answer the silly Muggle phone, and you go back to sipping your coffee."
I am everything you want
"Malfoy residence."
"What do you want, Potter?"
I am everything you need
Hermione stood up from the table at the sound of the name, and made her way to the room where Draco stood, glaring into the phone.
"What the fuck do you mean you want Granger?"
"Oh, so the Widow Alden next door told you she saw her walk into my house?"
"Widow Alden won't have any teeth tomorrow morning."
"Just leave her here. She's in good hands."
"My hands are fucking good enough, arsehole!"
"It's you who can't bloody keep them to yourself!"
I am everything inside of you
Hermione took out her wand and whispered a spell. Instantly, a figure of Harry appeared in the room, clutching a telephone receiver, rage burning in his emerald eyes.
"Damnit, Malfoy! Just send Hermione over!"
"For what? So you can throw her out into the rain all over again?"
That you wish you could be
Hermione shuddered. How could I have loved him? He was a wonderful friend, and maybe we just took it too far…
"Look, you don't love her." Draco's eyes were burning with horrifying rage.
"Yes I do!"
"Love doesn't throw you out onto the street. It invites you in, and makes you coffee. It makes you laugh when you cry, and it gives you fluffy pink bedroom slippers." Draco's eyes held some intense emotion, and what it was, no one could guess. He continued to speak into the phone. "Love doesn't make you walk three blocks in the pouring rain in your bare feet. Love means letting people into your life and keeping them there, not throwing them out to run and cry on the shoulder of one who really does care…"
Hermione covered her face in her hands and began to cry.
I say all the right things at exactly the right time
Silence on the other end of the phone.
Draco hung up and turned to Hermione.
"Don't cry… I'm sorry." He looked out the window at the lightening sky. "Look, I'll show you up to your room… I'll just go get it ready." Draco moved towards the stairs, but Hermione reached out and touched his arm.
"Please don't go."
But I mean nothing to you and you don't know why
They sat there, a princess in a damp kimono and fluffy pink slippers, and a broken prince, arms around each other. They sat there, and waited for the sun to rise.
And I don't know why