Oxford Street was getting more and more congested as the day went on. It
was getting increasingly difficult to snake in between people, and
increasingly difficult to breathe without inhaling something unpleasant. If
it wasn't a mixture of strong perfumes, it was a mouthful of second-hand
cigarette smoke.
It suddenly occurred to Draco that he had forgotten he was amongst an entire population of muggles, mud-blooded non-wizards, who, lets face it, were nothing short of inferior to him. The fact that they rudely pushed past him, oblivious to this fact, made him extremely irritable and snappy. Hermione soon discovered this after he had been walking alongside her for fifteen minutes, an uneasy silence hanging over them.
Draco suddenly stopped walking. "How much further is this bloody station?"
Hermione sighed. "Another five minutes walking if we carry on and don't stop to argue about it."
"This is stupid," Draco growled, "all these muggles in the bloody way..."
"Stop complaining. The sooner we carry on, the sooner we'll..."
Draco interrupted. "Why couldn't we just go to the same station your daft friend went to? That would have been a two minute walk!"
Hermione sighed again. Could she really be bothered to explain the complexities of the London Underground to Draco, who would neither: a) Care less, or b) Still insist she was in the wrong? After a short moments contemplation, she decided that it was probably better for her to tell him. At least it might ease the awkward silence. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a folded up tube map.
"Keep walking, and I'll explain."
---
"This is a very long five minutes, Granger." Draco commented, about twenty minutes later.
Hermione was rather pink from walking, and she looked around her. They had left Oxford Street, but there were still people all around them.
"I, uh... I'm not sure how to put this. But..." A worried look fell over her face.
Draco's heart sank. "We're lost?"
"Not exactly lost. I'm just... not sure where we are exactly." Draco opened his mouth, his eyes narrowed, ready to put her down. She laughed nervously, and spoke quickly before he got the chance. "But it's a problem easily- solved. Listen, I'll just ask somebody." Hermione spun around, and looked desperately at the muggles streaming past her. She tapped an elderly man on the shoulder, "excuse me, sir?"
The man turned round. He had a kindly face, with red cheeks, rosy from the cold air. He smiled.
"Yes my dear."
Hermione gestured to herself and Draco. "We've managed to get ourselves a little lost. Could you tell us how to get to Tottenham Court Road Station?"
"Of course." The man smiled again, sympathetically. "Its not too much of a trek. About a mile back down that way, and directly on your left." He pointed over the heads of the shoppers.
"A mile?!" Draco blurted out suddenly. "A whole mile?" He turned to Hermione. "You fool, how could you have got us a mile out of our way?"
The old man's expression darkened slightly. "Now, now." He scolded gently. "Enough of that. I'm sure its no more her fault than it is yours." He smiled at Hermione again. "You know, in my day, a mile was nothing. I used to have to walk uphill ten miles to school every day, no matter what the weather - snow or shine." He paused wistfully. "And then back uphill home in the afternoon... And I had to carry my younger brother on my back." He winced, as if it was a painful memory.
"It was uphill both ways?" Draco asked incredulously, a look of pure disbelief plastered across his face.
Hermione elbowed him subtly in the stomach. Draco flinched. She smiled sweetly at the man. "Well thank you very much for your help."
The old man nodded, and continued walking.
Draco turned on Hermione. "A whole mile? What are you, stupid?"
Hermione tried to restrain herself. It was getting progressively more and more difficult to cope with Draco's mood swings every five seconds. "I'm sorry. Look, we can walk fast, it won't take..."
"Oh SHUT UP!" Draco suddenly snapped. He imitated Hermione's voice. "It won't take five minutes." He paused. "Absolute bullshit! All day I have been dealing with your bullshit! Do you know something mudblood?" His tone was infused with spite, and his tone was full mocking. Hermione froze, her fists clenched. "For somebody so allegedly clever you are one of the..."
He didn't get a chance to finish.
SLAP!
Hermione's hand made contact with his cheek, cutting him short, and sending him reeling backwards in shock.
"YOU shut up you disgusting little maggot!" Hermione hissed, her eyes blazing with anger. "Just shut up." Tears welled up in her eyes, but she fought them back. "I have already apologised, what more do you want?"
Draco opened his mouth to respond, but a warning look from Hermione told him she wasn't quite finished with him yet. "Let me tell you something, and you are going to listen to me!" Draco had tried to look away, but Hermione had grabbed his chin and forced him to make eye contact with him. Their faces were dangerously close.
Hermione forced the words out, her voice sounding strangely choked, almost as if she was trying to force back a huge lump in her throat.
"All day I have dealt with YOUR bullshit!" Draco gasped. He had never heard Hermione swear before. "I actually convinced myself that you couldn't be all that bad; that maybe I was just being judgemental. I tried to see a good side of you, and do you know something?" She paused for breath. "I almost found it. A couple of times today I thought I saw your good side; saw the side of you that wasn't conditioned by your cursed Malfoy rules; saw the side of you where you and I are potential equals..."
She shook her head.
"But I was wrong... For somebody so 'allegedly clever'," she spat the words out. "I guess I'm not!"
Draco stood, awestruck, clutching his stinging cheek.
A small electronic beep echoed between them, breaking the tension between them for a second.
Hermione pulled her own mobile phone out of her pocket, pressed a couple of the buttons, and appeared to be reading the screen. Her expression softened for a moment, before...
"HA!" She yelled sarcastically, shoving it back into her jacket.
Suddenly Draco was furious. "Do you think I've wanted to spend my day with you? Do you honestly think that I would have spent longer than a minute with you if I didn't have to?! I would rather be stabbed and exploded to death by a rampaging Erumpent after catching a mutated form of malaria in the deepest darkest depths of Africa!"
"Interesting imagery Malfoy. Care to make it a reality?" Hermione pulled her jacket open to reveal her wand poking out of an inside pocket.
Draco laughed. "And so emerges the more catty side of Hermione Granger."
"Catty am I, Malfoy?" Hermione smoothly responded. "Better than being a ferret!"
Hermione knew she had hit a sore spot, because Draco's eyes flickered at the memory of being turned into a ferret in fourth year by Professor Moody, and being bounced up and down, hitting the ceiling several times and then falling ten feet to the floor.
His eyes narrowed. "Better a ferret than a bushy-haired baboon," he challenged.
Hermione's eyes opened so wide they looked as though they were going to pop out.
"How DARE you!" She shrieked, and several people turned around to see what the fuss was about. However, the scene of two teenagers throwing verbal abuse at each other seemed to attract little attention, and most continued walking without a second glance over their shoulder.
"I wish you'd just drop DEAD on the spot!" Hermione spat out the worst thing she could possibly think of to say.
"With pleasure, but LADIES FIRST!" Draco bellowed back.
"You make me SICK!" Hermione moved forwards, and shoved Draco into a side street, away from the public eye. His back smashed into a wall, and he screwed up his eyes in pain.
"Well..." He searched his brain for an equally callous remark. "You...make me SICKER!"
"You... you... You PIG!" Hermione was running out of insults, but the level of her voice certainly wasn't showing any sign of decreasing.
"You BIGGER pig!"
Hermione took a step closer to Draco, her eyes dangerously burning holes into his own furious ones.
"I... I..." Hermione stammered, her volume suddenly dropped. "I like you."
"I like you more!" Draco's answer came quickly, and he leant forward.
Their lips touched like fire to ice, and he pulled Hermione closer into him as they became locked in a fierce, electrifying kiss. Her hands tangled in his blonde hair, and she kissed him hungrily, passionately. Meanwhile, his hands were on her neck, her shoulders, her back...
Suddenly, the realisation sank in of what was happening, and Hermione pulled away. Her brown eyes flew open, and met Draco's blue ones. Her hand flew to her mouth, as she gasped for breath.
Draco was panting for air too, and he the look on his face was shocked. Shocked, yet relieved.
What on earth had just happened?
It suddenly occurred to Draco that he had forgotten he was amongst an entire population of muggles, mud-blooded non-wizards, who, lets face it, were nothing short of inferior to him. The fact that they rudely pushed past him, oblivious to this fact, made him extremely irritable and snappy. Hermione soon discovered this after he had been walking alongside her for fifteen minutes, an uneasy silence hanging over them.
Draco suddenly stopped walking. "How much further is this bloody station?"
Hermione sighed. "Another five minutes walking if we carry on and don't stop to argue about it."
"This is stupid," Draco growled, "all these muggles in the bloody way..."
"Stop complaining. The sooner we carry on, the sooner we'll..."
Draco interrupted. "Why couldn't we just go to the same station your daft friend went to? That would have been a two minute walk!"
Hermione sighed again. Could she really be bothered to explain the complexities of the London Underground to Draco, who would neither: a) Care less, or b) Still insist she was in the wrong? After a short moments contemplation, she decided that it was probably better for her to tell him. At least it might ease the awkward silence. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a folded up tube map.
"Keep walking, and I'll explain."
---
"This is a very long five minutes, Granger." Draco commented, about twenty minutes later.
Hermione was rather pink from walking, and she looked around her. They had left Oxford Street, but there were still people all around them.
"I, uh... I'm not sure how to put this. But..." A worried look fell over her face.
Draco's heart sank. "We're lost?"
"Not exactly lost. I'm just... not sure where we are exactly." Draco opened his mouth, his eyes narrowed, ready to put her down. She laughed nervously, and spoke quickly before he got the chance. "But it's a problem easily- solved. Listen, I'll just ask somebody." Hermione spun around, and looked desperately at the muggles streaming past her. She tapped an elderly man on the shoulder, "excuse me, sir?"
The man turned round. He had a kindly face, with red cheeks, rosy from the cold air. He smiled.
"Yes my dear."
Hermione gestured to herself and Draco. "We've managed to get ourselves a little lost. Could you tell us how to get to Tottenham Court Road Station?"
"Of course." The man smiled again, sympathetically. "Its not too much of a trek. About a mile back down that way, and directly on your left." He pointed over the heads of the shoppers.
"A mile?!" Draco blurted out suddenly. "A whole mile?" He turned to Hermione. "You fool, how could you have got us a mile out of our way?"
The old man's expression darkened slightly. "Now, now." He scolded gently. "Enough of that. I'm sure its no more her fault than it is yours." He smiled at Hermione again. "You know, in my day, a mile was nothing. I used to have to walk uphill ten miles to school every day, no matter what the weather - snow or shine." He paused wistfully. "And then back uphill home in the afternoon... And I had to carry my younger brother on my back." He winced, as if it was a painful memory.
"It was uphill both ways?" Draco asked incredulously, a look of pure disbelief plastered across his face.
Hermione elbowed him subtly in the stomach. Draco flinched. She smiled sweetly at the man. "Well thank you very much for your help."
The old man nodded, and continued walking.
Draco turned on Hermione. "A whole mile? What are you, stupid?"
Hermione tried to restrain herself. It was getting progressively more and more difficult to cope with Draco's mood swings every five seconds. "I'm sorry. Look, we can walk fast, it won't take..."
"Oh SHUT UP!" Draco suddenly snapped. He imitated Hermione's voice. "It won't take five minutes." He paused. "Absolute bullshit! All day I have been dealing with your bullshit! Do you know something mudblood?" His tone was infused with spite, and his tone was full mocking. Hermione froze, her fists clenched. "For somebody so allegedly clever you are one of the..."
He didn't get a chance to finish.
SLAP!
Hermione's hand made contact with his cheek, cutting him short, and sending him reeling backwards in shock.
"YOU shut up you disgusting little maggot!" Hermione hissed, her eyes blazing with anger. "Just shut up." Tears welled up in her eyes, but she fought them back. "I have already apologised, what more do you want?"
Draco opened his mouth to respond, but a warning look from Hermione told him she wasn't quite finished with him yet. "Let me tell you something, and you are going to listen to me!" Draco had tried to look away, but Hermione had grabbed his chin and forced him to make eye contact with him. Their faces were dangerously close.
Hermione forced the words out, her voice sounding strangely choked, almost as if she was trying to force back a huge lump in her throat.
"All day I have dealt with YOUR bullshit!" Draco gasped. He had never heard Hermione swear before. "I actually convinced myself that you couldn't be all that bad; that maybe I was just being judgemental. I tried to see a good side of you, and do you know something?" She paused for breath. "I almost found it. A couple of times today I thought I saw your good side; saw the side of you that wasn't conditioned by your cursed Malfoy rules; saw the side of you where you and I are potential equals..."
She shook her head.
"But I was wrong... For somebody so 'allegedly clever'," she spat the words out. "I guess I'm not!"
Draco stood, awestruck, clutching his stinging cheek.
A small electronic beep echoed between them, breaking the tension between them for a second.
Hermione pulled her own mobile phone out of her pocket, pressed a couple of the buttons, and appeared to be reading the screen. Her expression softened for a moment, before...
"HA!" She yelled sarcastically, shoving it back into her jacket.
Suddenly Draco was furious. "Do you think I've wanted to spend my day with you? Do you honestly think that I would have spent longer than a minute with you if I didn't have to?! I would rather be stabbed and exploded to death by a rampaging Erumpent after catching a mutated form of malaria in the deepest darkest depths of Africa!"
"Interesting imagery Malfoy. Care to make it a reality?" Hermione pulled her jacket open to reveal her wand poking out of an inside pocket.
Draco laughed. "And so emerges the more catty side of Hermione Granger."
"Catty am I, Malfoy?" Hermione smoothly responded. "Better than being a ferret!"
Hermione knew she had hit a sore spot, because Draco's eyes flickered at the memory of being turned into a ferret in fourth year by Professor Moody, and being bounced up and down, hitting the ceiling several times and then falling ten feet to the floor.
His eyes narrowed. "Better a ferret than a bushy-haired baboon," he challenged.
Hermione's eyes opened so wide they looked as though they were going to pop out.
"How DARE you!" She shrieked, and several people turned around to see what the fuss was about. However, the scene of two teenagers throwing verbal abuse at each other seemed to attract little attention, and most continued walking without a second glance over their shoulder.
"I wish you'd just drop DEAD on the spot!" Hermione spat out the worst thing she could possibly think of to say.
"With pleasure, but LADIES FIRST!" Draco bellowed back.
"You make me SICK!" Hermione moved forwards, and shoved Draco into a side street, away from the public eye. His back smashed into a wall, and he screwed up his eyes in pain.
"Well..." He searched his brain for an equally callous remark. "You...make me SICKER!"
"You... you... You PIG!" Hermione was running out of insults, but the level of her voice certainly wasn't showing any sign of decreasing.
"You BIGGER pig!"
Hermione took a step closer to Draco, her eyes dangerously burning holes into his own furious ones.
"I... I..." Hermione stammered, her volume suddenly dropped. "I like you."
"I like you more!" Draco's answer came quickly, and he leant forward.
Their lips touched like fire to ice, and he pulled Hermione closer into him as they became locked in a fierce, electrifying kiss. Her hands tangled in his blonde hair, and she kissed him hungrily, passionately. Meanwhile, his hands were on her neck, her shoulders, her back...
Suddenly, the realisation sank in of what was happening, and Hermione pulled away. Her brown eyes flew open, and met Draco's blue ones. Her hand flew to her mouth, as she gasped for breath.
Draco was panting for air too, and he the look on his face was shocked. Shocked, yet relieved.
What on earth had just happened?