If anything was to be called a test of character, this was it.
Draco held his breath, and his awkwardness began to subside as he and Hermione weaved in and out of hoards of female shoppers in the lingerie department.
Surely it couldn't be too bad, he thought to himself, its not like I'm actually with either of them. I'm just tagging along, and... OH MY GOD! Draco stopped dead in his tracks, a look of horror frozen on his face. Hermione also stopped sharply, a look completely blank look on her face.
Lisa was standing opposite them holding up a matching bra and knickers set which was, to understate, a little on the skimpy side, and for underwear, that was certainly saying something.
"What do you think, Herm?" She raved, "Gorgeous isn't it? I think I've found my Christmas present to myself!"
Hermione immediately came back to life, tactfully trying to sound enthusiastic about it, but yet simultaneously trying to convince her friend to by something a little more... Suited to her figure.
Draco turned a rather derisive laugh into a hacking cough. That elephant of a girl could never get away with something like that! Not that anybody would want to get under her clothes to see it in the first place. He shuddered, and then threw a glance back at Hermione, who had meanwhile managed to talk Lisa into temporarily putting down the two-piece set, and had was now chattering on about the benefits of satin nightgowns, and how much more flattering they were.
Lisa, however, had stopped listening. Something else had caught her eye. Draco dreaded to think...
"Ooh, Hemione - these are perfect for you!"
Hermione took one look at what Lisa was holding up, and burst out laughing. Lisa was holding up a minute pair of pyjamas, still on their display hangar. The top was a delicate sheet of black, silk chiffon, with tiny silver and red jewels sewn on in clusters, from which two thin shoulder straps protruded. The bottoms were a pair of black silk shorts, barely long enough to pass as anything but hotpants, exhibiting the same tasteful red and silver jewel clusters.
"Really..." Hermione began, trying to keep a straight face.
"No, I'm being serious," Lisa continued. "These are stunning! I've SEEN your taste in pyjamas, and I KNOW that you could do with these!"
Hermione threw her a sceptical look.
"Look, you go to a MIXED boarding school! The guys must see you in pyjamas all the time! And these," she added, with a cheeky grin, "will really make them sit up and pay attention!" She paused. "Don't you think, Draco?"
"I- I... Umm..." At a loss for words, if Draco had felt embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to this. The thought of Hermione in those... Well, it was understandable that a dark crimson flush crept up his neck to his face, spreading over his cheeks and he could almost feel the heat radiating off him.
Hermione was also looking uncomfortable. Her face was considerably pinker than usual, and she stared pointedly at the ground.
"Leave it out Lisa," she muttered.
"Not until I get an answer from your friend here." She smirked at Draco. "C'mon kid, admit it; she'd look good."
Draco was at a loss for words for one of the very few times in his life. It wasn't that he didn't know what to say, it was just that he couldn't say it.
"Actually Lisa, I think your mud-blooded friend would look as minging as a dead dog in that..." He couldn't see it going down too well, but then again, neither could he say, "PHWOAR, yes! Give me some of that semi-naked Hermione, baby!"
Draco shrugged the question off. It was definitely the easier option.
Lisa seemed to accept this as being the end of a conversation.
"Yeah, I'm going to go and pay for these now." She gestured towards both the modest nightgown and the skimpy underwear set. Obviously Hermione's job of convincing her not to buy it, had not been quite as successful as she had hoped it would be.
Lisa walked over to the cashier's desk. There was a queue, and she tapped her foot impatiently as a middle-aged woman unloaded about twenty different items of underwear onto the cash desk.
Draco avoided Hermione's gaze for a while; she did the same to him. Lisa's comment had obviously stirred up an awkward aura in the air, and both of them were feeling the heat of its blow.
Hermione was the first to break the silence.
"I'm sorry about that. She gets carried away sometimes, you know, with being silly... There was nothing in that, really... Not that I'm saying you thought that there was anyway, but..."
Completely tongue-tied, Hermione cut her explanation short.
"Granger," Malfoy's voice had returned to its usual smooth nature, "you're babbling."
Hermione scowled, her defensive shields immediately popping up again.
"No need to be rude Malfoy, I didn't see you looking too cool and collected when she started off about my potential scantily-clad... ness..." Another sentence messed up - it was not like Hermione to lose her ability to verbally communicate. Draco was rather amused.
It was sweet, in a rather bizarre way. It reminded him of Pansy Parkinson in fourth year trying to ask him to be her dance partner for the Tri-Wizard Yule Ball. She had danced around the subject for at least ten minutes before it even became properly apparent what she was trying to say to him. She had then, for a short time, forgotten how to speak English, or at least how to string simple, grammatically accurate sentences together. He shuddered, Pansy was a complete witch - obviously in the literal sense, but also in the metaphorical sense.
"I wasn't." Draco drawled back. "Why are you so defensive the whole time, mudblood? What, do you think I bite or something?"
"YOU DO!" Hermione almost exploded, her voice positively drenched with sarcasm. "Everything you say is 'mudblood'-this and 'common as muck'-that. To be quite frank Malfoy, you're a pain in the arse and if I could whip out my flaming wand," Hermione's voice dropped to an fuming whisper, "trust me, you'd be back at your bloody Manner before you could even SAY 'mudblood'..."
Draco's mouth had dropped open in shock. He was staring at Hermione with astonishment, quite obviously stunned into silent stupor that she had raised her voice to him - usually her stupid friends were the ones who wasted their breath in sticking up for her.
"Know something Malfoy?" Hermione started a new sentence, her ability to speak fully returned to her, and a dangerous mood hanging in the air. "I hate you. No, hate doesn't even cover it - I absolutely DETEST you! You make me sick; your voice, your personality, your entire SELF makes me want to retch! You are a horrible person. In fact, I almost feel SORRY for you, because if anybody does give out the illusion of liking you, it's certainly just your money they're after!"
She turned on her heel, and started to stalk off. Draco grabbed her arm, his eyes blazing with anger.
"How DARE you!" He hissed. "You-" He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, because Hermione interrupted, her eyes depicting not only pure fury, but also hurt.
"I have gone out of my way to help you today, and you've shown me next to NO respect for it. The way you treat me, you don't deserve any help at all." She threw a disgusted look at his hand gripping her arm. "Get the hell off of me!"
Lisa rejoined them, clasping a pink bag. "Well team," she grinned, brandishing her bag, clearly proud of her purchases, "are we ready to go?"
Her face still red, Hermione swallowed hard and blinked back her frustration. "Yeah, sure." She stalked off towards the toy department; a huge red and green illuminated sign marked its presence.
"Flipping hell, what did you say to her?" Lisa's face was full of concern, her voice almost accusing.
"Don't ask." Draco mumbled.
What on earth was wrong with him? He was feeling very strange subsequent to Hermione's ranting session. The pit of his stomach felt empty, and ached. The back of his throat was dry, and overall he had a general feeling of almost nausea. Then it hit him - this must be guilt! Draco had never felt guilty before, and to say he didn't like it was an understatement. Having been brought up in a family where apologies were nonexistent, because one should never be doing anything that should require an apology, thus provoking guilt, could have been part of the reason for this.
Lisa gave Draco a cold stare, and marched off to join Hermione.
Hermione, meanwhile, was feeling equally uncomfortable for flying off the handle at Draco. It wasn't really his fault he was an arrogant, pig-headed git, too afraid of his own father to ever go against those ridiculous 'Malfoy Family Rules' he had been brought up alongside, perhaps to find out that they might be wrong.
Lisa caught up with Hermione, and started prattling on about how "boys are stupid" and "ignore him, he's a pratt". Hermione stopped listening. Lisa tended to go off on a tangent sometimes, and Hermione was usually unable to get a word in edgeways. So she took a moment to think to herself, occasionally nodding and expressing the odd "mm-hmm", sporadically in places where Lisa took a breath of air.
***
The toy department of Selfridges was fantastic. Lisa and Hermione's eyes widened as they entered. The way in which young, and some not-so-young (scores of fathers were huddled around the fantastic electric train-set in one corner of the room) children were bustling around made it almost like Father Christmas' Grotto come alive.
Speaking of which, Santa's Grotto was open to the public. Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, dressed in red and green suits, with toy reindeer antlers or Santa hats on their heads, were hopping around the room enthusiastically encouraging children and their parents to visit the temporarily-built, fairy-light encrusted cabin in the centre of the room.
One of the boys approached Hermione and Lisa, readjusting his hat to cover as much of his floppy black hair as possible. He cheekily grinned as it fell to the side, and he flicked his hair out of his eyes.
"Good morning ladies, welcome to Lapland." He winked.
Lisa giggled; Hermione managed a half-smile.
The boy continued. "You look like you've been good girls this year. How would you like to visit Father Christmas this year? It never hurts to get your application for a good gift in early!"
Hermione laughed at the boy's good-natured joke.
"I don't think so somehow... Surely we're a bit too old..."
"Too old?!" The boy looked at her in mock outrage. "Don't be so ridiculous! You're never too old for Father Christmas! Anyway, for today only it's free to see him. Special Selfridges Christmas offer... It can't hurt!" He smiled at them again. "Go on..."
"Oh come on Herm, it'll be fun!" She batted her eyelashes at Santa's elf with the floppy black hair.
Hermione smiled. "Ok then... But I suppose we should bring Malf- Draco, even..."
"I thought you weren't speaking to..." Lisa looked confused.
"Oh," a cheeky grin appeared on Hermione's face. "He'll hate this, so trust me, I'm not making him come in out of niceness!"
The two girls giggled nastily and caught Draco's eye. Lisa beckoned him over with her finger.
What did they want now? Draco cautiously walked over. He was not in the mood to be shouted at in stereo by two girls. But wait, they didn't look angry. In fact, they looked as though they were up to something, which was almost worse.
"We're going to Santa's Grotto." Lisa commented.
"Oh really, how thoroughly exhilarating for you." The sarcastic words rolled off of his tongue before his brain could counteract them.
Hermione sneered back, almost automatically. "Don't gloat Malfoy, you're coming with us. I'm looking forward to hearing you tell Santa what a good boy you've been this year!"
Draco held his breath, and his awkwardness began to subside as he and Hermione weaved in and out of hoards of female shoppers in the lingerie department.
Surely it couldn't be too bad, he thought to himself, its not like I'm actually with either of them. I'm just tagging along, and... OH MY GOD! Draco stopped dead in his tracks, a look of horror frozen on his face. Hermione also stopped sharply, a look completely blank look on her face.
Lisa was standing opposite them holding up a matching bra and knickers set which was, to understate, a little on the skimpy side, and for underwear, that was certainly saying something.
"What do you think, Herm?" She raved, "Gorgeous isn't it? I think I've found my Christmas present to myself!"
Hermione immediately came back to life, tactfully trying to sound enthusiastic about it, but yet simultaneously trying to convince her friend to by something a little more... Suited to her figure.
Draco turned a rather derisive laugh into a hacking cough. That elephant of a girl could never get away with something like that! Not that anybody would want to get under her clothes to see it in the first place. He shuddered, and then threw a glance back at Hermione, who had meanwhile managed to talk Lisa into temporarily putting down the two-piece set, and had was now chattering on about the benefits of satin nightgowns, and how much more flattering they were.
Lisa, however, had stopped listening. Something else had caught her eye. Draco dreaded to think...
"Ooh, Hemione - these are perfect for you!"
Hermione took one look at what Lisa was holding up, and burst out laughing. Lisa was holding up a minute pair of pyjamas, still on their display hangar. The top was a delicate sheet of black, silk chiffon, with tiny silver and red jewels sewn on in clusters, from which two thin shoulder straps protruded. The bottoms were a pair of black silk shorts, barely long enough to pass as anything but hotpants, exhibiting the same tasteful red and silver jewel clusters.
"Really..." Hermione began, trying to keep a straight face.
"No, I'm being serious," Lisa continued. "These are stunning! I've SEEN your taste in pyjamas, and I KNOW that you could do with these!"
Hermione threw her a sceptical look.
"Look, you go to a MIXED boarding school! The guys must see you in pyjamas all the time! And these," she added, with a cheeky grin, "will really make them sit up and pay attention!" She paused. "Don't you think, Draco?"
"I- I... Umm..." At a loss for words, if Draco had felt embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to this. The thought of Hermione in those... Well, it was understandable that a dark crimson flush crept up his neck to his face, spreading over his cheeks and he could almost feel the heat radiating off him.
Hermione was also looking uncomfortable. Her face was considerably pinker than usual, and she stared pointedly at the ground.
"Leave it out Lisa," she muttered.
"Not until I get an answer from your friend here." She smirked at Draco. "C'mon kid, admit it; she'd look good."
Draco was at a loss for words for one of the very few times in his life. It wasn't that he didn't know what to say, it was just that he couldn't say it.
"Actually Lisa, I think your mud-blooded friend would look as minging as a dead dog in that..." He couldn't see it going down too well, but then again, neither could he say, "PHWOAR, yes! Give me some of that semi-naked Hermione, baby!"
Draco shrugged the question off. It was definitely the easier option.
Lisa seemed to accept this as being the end of a conversation.
"Yeah, I'm going to go and pay for these now." She gestured towards both the modest nightgown and the skimpy underwear set. Obviously Hermione's job of convincing her not to buy it, had not been quite as successful as she had hoped it would be.
Lisa walked over to the cashier's desk. There was a queue, and she tapped her foot impatiently as a middle-aged woman unloaded about twenty different items of underwear onto the cash desk.
Draco avoided Hermione's gaze for a while; she did the same to him. Lisa's comment had obviously stirred up an awkward aura in the air, and both of them were feeling the heat of its blow.
Hermione was the first to break the silence.
"I'm sorry about that. She gets carried away sometimes, you know, with being silly... There was nothing in that, really... Not that I'm saying you thought that there was anyway, but..."
Completely tongue-tied, Hermione cut her explanation short.
"Granger," Malfoy's voice had returned to its usual smooth nature, "you're babbling."
Hermione scowled, her defensive shields immediately popping up again.
"No need to be rude Malfoy, I didn't see you looking too cool and collected when she started off about my potential scantily-clad... ness..." Another sentence messed up - it was not like Hermione to lose her ability to verbally communicate. Draco was rather amused.
It was sweet, in a rather bizarre way. It reminded him of Pansy Parkinson in fourth year trying to ask him to be her dance partner for the Tri-Wizard Yule Ball. She had danced around the subject for at least ten minutes before it even became properly apparent what she was trying to say to him. She had then, for a short time, forgotten how to speak English, or at least how to string simple, grammatically accurate sentences together. He shuddered, Pansy was a complete witch - obviously in the literal sense, but also in the metaphorical sense.
"I wasn't." Draco drawled back. "Why are you so defensive the whole time, mudblood? What, do you think I bite or something?"
"YOU DO!" Hermione almost exploded, her voice positively drenched with sarcasm. "Everything you say is 'mudblood'-this and 'common as muck'-that. To be quite frank Malfoy, you're a pain in the arse and if I could whip out my flaming wand," Hermione's voice dropped to an fuming whisper, "trust me, you'd be back at your bloody Manner before you could even SAY 'mudblood'..."
Draco's mouth had dropped open in shock. He was staring at Hermione with astonishment, quite obviously stunned into silent stupor that she had raised her voice to him - usually her stupid friends were the ones who wasted their breath in sticking up for her.
"Know something Malfoy?" Hermione started a new sentence, her ability to speak fully returned to her, and a dangerous mood hanging in the air. "I hate you. No, hate doesn't even cover it - I absolutely DETEST you! You make me sick; your voice, your personality, your entire SELF makes me want to retch! You are a horrible person. In fact, I almost feel SORRY for you, because if anybody does give out the illusion of liking you, it's certainly just your money they're after!"
She turned on her heel, and started to stalk off. Draco grabbed her arm, his eyes blazing with anger.
"How DARE you!" He hissed. "You-" He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, because Hermione interrupted, her eyes depicting not only pure fury, but also hurt.
"I have gone out of my way to help you today, and you've shown me next to NO respect for it. The way you treat me, you don't deserve any help at all." She threw a disgusted look at his hand gripping her arm. "Get the hell off of me!"
Lisa rejoined them, clasping a pink bag. "Well team," she grinned, brandishing her bag, clearly proud of her purchases, "are we ready to go?"
Her face still red, Hermione swallowed hard and blinked back her frustration. "Yeah, sure." She stalked off towards the toy department; a huge red and green illuminated sign marked its presence.
"Flipping hell, what did you say to her?" Lisa's face was full of concern, her voice almost accusing.
"Don't ask." Draco mumbled.
What on earth was wrong with him? He was feeling very strange subsequent to Hermione's ranting session. The pit of his stomach felt empty, and ached. The back of his throat was dry, and overall he had a general feeling of almost nausea. Then it hit him - this must be guilt! Draco had never felt guilty before, and to say he didn't like it was an understatement. Having been brought up in a family where apologies were nonexistent, because one should never be doing anything that should require an apology, thus provoking guilt, could have been part of the reason for this.
Lisa gave Draco a cold stare, and marched off to join Hermione.
Hermione, meanwhile, was feeling equally uncomfortable for flying off the handle at Draco. It wasn't really his fault he was an arrogant, pig-headed git, too afraid of his own father to ever go against those ridiculous 'Malfoy Family Rules' he had been brought up alongside, perhaps to find out that they might be wrong.
Lisa caught up with Hermione, and started prattling on about how "boys are stupid" and "ignore him, he's a pratt". Hermione stopped listening. Lisa tended to go off on a tangent sometimes, and Hermione was usually unable to get a word in edgeways. So she took a moment to think to herself, occasionally nodding and expressing the odd "mm-hmm", sporadically in places where Lisa took a breath of air.
***
The toy department of Selfridges was fantastic. Lisa and Hermione's eyes widened as they entered. The way in which young, and some not-so-young (scores of fathers were huddled around the fantastic electric train-set in one corner of the room) children were bustling around made it almost like Father Christmas' Grotto come alive.
Speaking of which, Santa's Grotto was open to the public. Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, dressed in red and green suits, with toy reindeer antlers or Santa hats on their heads, were hopping around the room enthusiastically encouraging children and their parents to visit the temporarily-built, fairy-light encrusted cabin in the centre of the room.
One of the boys approached Hermione and Lisa, readjusting his hat to cover as much of his floppy black hair as possible. He cheekily grinned as it fell to the side, and he flicked his hair out of his eyes.
"Good morning ladies, welcome to Lapland." He winked.
Lisa giggled; Hermione managed a half-smile.
The boy continued. "You look like you've been good girls this year. How would you like to visit Father Christmas this year? It never hurts to get your application for a good gift in early!"
Hermione laughed at the boy's good-natured joke.
"I don't think so somehow... Surely we're a bit too old..."
"Too old?!" The boy looked at her in mock outrage. "Don't be so ridiculous! You're never too old for Father Christmas! Anyway, for today only it's free to see him. Special Selfridges Christmas offer... It can't hurt!" He smiled at them again. "Go on..."
"Oh come on Herm, it'll be fun!" She batted her eyelashes at Santa's elf with the floppy black hair.
Hermione smiled. "Ok then... But I suppose we should bring Malf- Draco, even..."
"I thought you weren't speaking to..." Lisa looked confused.
"Oh," a cheeky grin appeared on Hermione's face. "He'll hate this, so trust me, I'm not making him come in out of niceness!"
The two girls giggled nastily and caught Draco's eye. Lisa beckoned him over with her finger.
What did they want now? Draco cautiously walked over. He was not in the mood to be shouted at in stereo by two girls. But wait, they didn't look angry. In fact, they looked as though they were up to something, which was almost worse.
"We're going to Santa's Grotto." Lisa commented.
"Oh really, how thoroughly exhilarating for you." The sarcastic words rolled off of his tongue before his brain could counteract them.
Hermione sneered back, almost automatically. "Don't gloat Malfoy, you're coming with us. I'm looking forward to hearing you tell Santa what a good boy you've been this year!"