Disclaimer: The once was a boy from Cape Cotter, who wanted to meet Harry
Potter
He jumped on a broom, and fell to his doom
But it seems he a teeny bit hotter.
I know, it has nothing to do with a disclaimer... okay, here: Mandy Marie was a writer, who torched all her ideas with lighter. She borrowed JK's, and it's there that she stays. So hopefully won't need to fighter. (get it, fight-her? Okay, w/e)
* * *
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE: Tyclones, Glings, and Misfortunate Things
Draco and Hermione were in the middle of a game of midair war (in which the cards were passed from hand to hand instead of placed on a surface) when a bright light emitted from the field. The coruscation attracted the attention of most of the stadium and hundreds of heads turned to see what was going on.
The brightness died down after only a few seconds and in its place was a band, consisting of five members; a lead singer, two guitars, one drummer, and what looked like...
"An electric ukulele?" Hermione questioned as the stands broke out in cheers and the band began to play a fast paced rock song. She turned to look cluelessly at Draco, only to see that he was standing up and cheering along. He turned back to Hermione with a broad smile.
"Look, Mia! It's HEX!" he said, then turned back to edge on the band as if they wouldn't play if he didn't yell; not that you could hear them over the noise. Hermione stood.
"Who?" she asked, squinting to get a better look.
"Hex! Horded Ethereal Ecstasy? Don't tell me you've never heard of them!" She shook her head.
"Never listen to my World Wizard Broadcaster. Shouldn't their abbreviation be HEE and not HEX?" Draco rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, technically, but where's the fun in that? Listen, they're awesome!" he insisted and Hermione tried, but she could barely hear anything but the crowd and the amped up guitars. Instead of being stuck up and complaining, Hermione pretended that she, like so much of the crowd, loved the band; yelling at the top of her lungs, just for the rush.
* * * * * * * * * *
Hex played for almost three hours before they decided to take a break and it was now close to eight o'clock. Draco, mastermind that he was, had picked up a bag of pastries when he had purchased their coffee and now opened the bag, handing Hermione a chocolate one without bothering to ask first. She smiled and gave him a small thank you kiss before hungrily digging into her éclair. This was the first she had eaten since a large breakfast that morning in the great hall and was rather hungry, although the concert had distracted her from her rumbling stomach.
Looking down the field, Hermione could see that large groups of veelas were accompanying the next act. She swallowed and bit her lip, then looked at Draco, who was chewing slowly and concentrating on pulling the lacy white frosting from his cheese danish. She smiled at his ignorance and decided not to alert him to the presence of the magical beings. Thanks to the Quidditch World Cup, she knew what those ravishing beauties were capable of. **Here come the little gold diggers now, ** she thought as they began to circle the field. Seeing that Draco still hadn't noticed them, but would undoubtedly soon, Hermione thought quick to lift up the folding armrest between them and slide closer to her boyfriend, who accepted her with a smile as he finished his last bite of pastry. She pulled her legs up underneath her and rested herself against him, head on his chest with a perfect view of the band.
Unlike the showy entrance of HEX, the next band simply walked into the center of the field and held up their hands simultaneously, causing their equipment to appear. Without another word or action, they simply began to play. Hermione's eyes widened as she recognized the song.
"Draco, who is that?" she asked and, confirming her suspicion, he said,
"Um, Mud Puddle, maybe? I'm not sure; something like that."
"You mean Puddle of Mudd? That's what I thought, but aren't they muggles?" she asked, but Draco shook his head.
"No, but it's good that you think that. A lot of muggle bands are really wizards who play muggle music. Obviously, they're supposed to be passed of as muggles in the muggle world, but they play their songs on the WWB. You would know that if you listened to it once in a while," he teased and she squeezed close for a moment.
"Yeah, I should remember that," she agreed, then remained silent for a while. Hermione looked up to see Draco with his eyes closed, head bobbing slightly with the music, and he opened his lids to look at her with a smile when she moved. Hermione smiled too and Draco went back to watching the band.
**Either one) he never noticed the veelas, two) he did and is ignoring them, or three) they have no effect on him. All of the above are fine with me," she said and happily closed her eyes, moving in closer.
Hermione had been awake for nearly three hours before she had even thought of waking Draco that morning and the lack of sleep was catching up with her. It wasn't long before she was ignorant to the cheers and music around her, being lulled to sleep by the rhythmic rising and falling of Draco's chest.
Draco knew she was sleeping and did absolutely nothing to change it. Although surprised that she could even do so with all the noise, he decided it was probably good for her. Draco gave Hermione a soft kiss on her head, then gently rubbed her back as he turned his attention back to the field. The entire arena had been overtaken by the brightest of fire nymphs, who were each stationed in a mirrored box, projecting the luminescence across the crowd while others simply buzzed about the field and shedding light on the ground.
The muggle mud band was still playing, but as the darkness grew heavier, the cheering died down as well. Many, like Hermione, were taking the relaxing few hours before the show to catch up on some sleep, but Draco remained awake, taking in everything and listening to the band. **All of their songs are sadistic and traumatizing. That guy was probably abused as a child. One too many crucio'll do that to you. **
* * * * * * * * * *
"Fie, you slug-abed," Draco whispered loudly into Hermione's ear, rubbing her back rather firmly. Hermione groaned and shifted.
"Let's not get into this again, as fun as it was the first time," she pleaded and Draco laughed.
"We can't now anyway; you've ruined it. If I said 'What, not a word?' it wouldn't make much sense now that you've spoken. Plus, I don't want to be Paris. Sorry to wake you, love. Lord knows I didn't want to, but the show starts in fifteen minutes, and I though you might like to see it," he said and Hermione smiled, stretching a bit.
"Yeah, that's kind of why I came. What time is it?" she said with a laugh.
"Mm... quarter after eleven," he told her and Hermione stopped, opening her eyes and looking around the stadium, which was substantially darker than she remembered.
"What? How long have I been sleeping?"
"I don't know... like three hours," Draco said, frowning as she sat up and the chilly night air replaced her body heat.
"You just sat there for three hours and let me sleep on you?" she asked with a smile as she took off the black blanket that covered her and swung her feet back onto the ground.
"Yeah; it was almost the same thing I would have been doing anyway," he said with a shrug and Hermione kissed him.
"Thanks," she said and readjusted the blanket over their laps, noticing the slight shivering Draco had taken to since she'd moved. Hermione stopped suddenly, looking confused. "Did we bring a blanket?" she asked and Draco laughed.
"No, but I wish we had," he said, holding out his hands, one of which was bare while it's other was encased in a thick black glove. He had obviously transfigured his glove into the throw they now wore. "My hand is cold," he said, and wasn't lying; Draco's fingers were stiff and numb from exposure, but it was a small price to pay to keep Hermione a little warmer.
"Aw," she giggled, taking his hand in hers and massaging a little warmth into it. "That we can fix." Hermione arched her back to get better access to her pocket. She pulled out a frilly pink and white knitted glove, complete with a big puffball on the wrist. Draco looked appalled and helpless as she happily slipped it over his uncovered hand. "You'll wear mine; I'm not using them anyway," she said and settled herself back down.
"Thanks..." Draco managed, staring at his very unmanly dressed appendage. Hermione smiled and took his pink hand in hers, bringing it to her lips. "What happened to your black ones?" he asked and she giggled. Hermione knew he would say something about the new installment, but she didn't particularly mind.
"They're in my other coat. If you want, I can give you the other one so you'll match," she suggested with a smirk. Draco laughed unenthusiastically.
"No, no, that won't be necessary. But I must insist you get your cute little Gryffindor arse back over here. You can't keep me warm that long and then just move away and leave me to freeze. It doesn't work that way," he lectured and Hermione giggled before gladly moving close to her chilled Slytherin. "Mm... thank you." Hermione smiled and snuggled into him, ready to close her eyes again when a screeching sound was heard. Draco and Hermione, as well as almost every head in the stadium, looked to the sky where a beam of light, much like a muggle firework, was gaining altitude. As it reached its scheduled point, the beam exploded in a burst of blinding blue light. Behind this mystery light was a smoky fog. The mist cleared quickly, displaying a digital countdown clock made entirely of sparkle sprites, which hovered together, lighting the numbers. The time started at thirty minutes and began to count down.
"Wow! Oh, this is so exciting!" Hermione squealed, jumping in her seat. Draco laughed.
"It gets better, love," he told her. "See? Watch." Draco pointed to the field where an army of Tyclones were spinning, preparing to merge. Hermione's eyes widened. She had read about Tyclones, but had never really seen one. These magical creatures weren't found in the forbidden forest; they much preferred warm costal regions. The Tyclone is composed of the three purest bloods; unicorn, phoenix, and the black empress dragon, all swirling together in a shape much like a tiny tornado, with a breathtaking quality that could captivate the dark lord.
As the crowds watched, the Tyclones merged into one large funnel, which held beautiful lightning dances in its bowels. Then, with a melodious crackle, the mother-clone split into three smaller spirals; one of each blood. As per tradition, the unicorn blood tunnel twisted into a tight rod, then a piece of silvery cloth seemed to fall from it, leaving a cloud of black fire that swirled up and disappeared. The same ritual was repeated for the phoenix blood Tyclone, but with red fire, and finally the dragon blood. This final rod held breath taking white flame, which, unlike the other two, did not billow up and disappear. Instead, it spread out, showering the crowd with a warm and fragrant wind.
The crowd burst out in applause as some uniformed wizards raced out on the field to gather up the material that had been left behind.
"That's what invisibility cloaks are made of," Draco told Hermione. "This is the only time and place the Tyclones mate; that's the next year's line. The entire line. Good turn out tonight; last year the entire Phoenix sheet was flamed. I'd say maybe fifteen cloaks all together this year."
"Wow," she whispered in awe. "No wonder they're so expensive." Draco nodded and looked back up to the countdown clock. Five minutes left. Looking around the stadium at the many awestruck faces that watched the clean up crew, Draco smiled to himself for no reason other than to show his contentment. Then, he caught sight of something that made him smirk.
"Hey Mia, look, do you see those men?" he asked her, pointing discretely at a thin man in a suit who reminded Hermione of Jay Leno, talking to a rather overweight man with a large orange 'G' on his black shirt. Strangely, his eyes seemed blank, but alive, and he kept them open as wide as possible.
"Yeah," she said, looking confusedly at the men.
"The one with weird eyes is the Gling cameraman. Whatever he sees, the Gling wearers see. The guy in the suit is Kenneth Larson, the American who highlights the evening for the viewers. Don't get in their way unless you want to be seen by thousands of witches and wizards across the globe," Draco said and Hermione nodded.
"Definitely good to know. Hey, they're coming this way," she said nervously, but Draco wasn't paying attention.
"Who cares, it's almost midnight!" he said and stood, just as the crowd began the ten-second countdown. "Come on, stand up!" he urged with a laugh and pulled Hermione to her feet. Placing an arm around her waist, Draco joined her in looking up at the sky.
"Five... four... three..." the crowd chorused and Hermione turned to Draco. "Two..." He turned to her. "One... HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The crowd erupted in cheers of excitement, but Hermione and Draco remained silent. They were doing something more with their mouths than yelling.
Had they not been kissing and instead been paying attention, the Hogwarts golden couple would have noticed the wonderful collection of all the magical creatures that had performed on the field, each doing what they were born to do, which, when combined, had a mind numbing effect. And, had they been paying attention, Draco and Hermione would have noticed the Gling cameraman standing just feet away, staring directly at them.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Mia, look behind you," Draco said quietly as soon as their New Year's kiss was finished. Confused, but definitely happy, Hermione smiled and turned to see the Gling man. She let out an embarrassed giggle and quickly turned her face away, into Draco's sweater. "It's alright, love. Wave; I bet Harry and Ron are watching," he said and lifted his hand in an innocent wave. Hermione giggled again, but complied wiggling her fingers.
"I doubt it, I don't even think they know what a Gling is, much less would have one," she said and Draco smiled.
"They should, I sent both of them one for Christmas," he told her and Hermione smiled widely before pushing up to give him a peck, but it became a deep, passionate, kiss. She forgot all about the Gling man, the screaming stands, and the New Year; there was just a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, kissing at two minutes past midnight.
* * * * * * * * * *
As they broke away, Draco looked up to see that the Gling man was now making his way down the steps, looking out over the crowd. He felt Hermione rest her head on his chest and looked back down, smiling.
"Our moment to shine has passed us, my dear," he said and Hermione smiled.
"And shine we did. So much for Hollywood," she agreed. Draco paused a moment, then asked,
"How many people do you think just found out about us?"
"How many cameramen are there?"
"Just one," he said with a widening smile.
"Well in that case... hundreds of thousands, but people we know? I'd say at least half of Slytherin, quite a few Gryffindor, a handful of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff... along with probably the entire staff. Not bad for my first television appearance," Hermione said, sounding amused.
"But this isn't television, this is Gling-vision," Draco corrected, then laughed a bit. "My mum just saw us kissing," he told her and Hermione smiled.
"When do you think she'll regain consciousness?" she asked and Draco laughed again, squeezing her in a hug.
"Well, well, well, I see the mudblood bitch moves on fast," said an arrogantly amused voice that Draco did not recognize, but Hermione obviously did. She tensed in Draco's arms and he frowned, looking up to see a man who seemed to be the complete opposite of himself. The intruder had chocolate brown skin, jet-black hair and eyes, and, eerily, was almost a mocking of Draco's former self; thin and moderately muscular, standing proudly with arms crossed and a superior smirk.
Slowly, Hermione broke out of Draco's grasp and turned to face the man who had spoken to her.
"What are you doing here Reif? How did you even know I'd be here?" she asked quietly, sounding sad and defeated. Reif let out a hearty laugh.
"I though you were supposed to be smart, Hermione? Seems your mother thinks too highly of you. Stupid women. Told me you'd be here, but I didn't actually expect to find you," he smirked and leaned a bit closer to her. Placing his fingers below her chin, Reif looked closely for a moment, then laughed and pushed her chin away. "Must be my lucky day," he said with heavy sarcasm.
Meanwhile, Draco was growing increasingly angrier. Hermione could feel it; his whole body was tense and would tend to have spasms of furious shaking. Draco's clenched fists kept themselves at his sides, however how, he didn't know. Sensing that he might do something rash at any moment, Hermione stepped in. **Time to be a brave Gryffindor. Draco will protect me if something goes wrong, he promised... oh lord, I love him. **
"Reif, please, just leave us alone. Tell mother you didn't see me; it doesn't have to be this way. Or better, we'll leave," she said with the same sad tone, turning away to pick up her bag, only to be stopped by a harsh hand on her shoulder, spinning her back. Reif looked angry; eyes full of malice. Hermione made a peeping gasp.
"Do NOT turn away from me, mudblood. We've talked about this," he said coldly and Hermione worked up a bit of courage, but still found herself unable to look him in the eye. His black beetle eyes...
"More like you yelled at me about this," she said, ending shortly and preparing for the explosion of pain that would burn across her face. Strangely, it didn't come. Reif had indeed raised his hand, but his dark appendage came into contact with a skin much paler than Hermione's olive tone.
"I believe the lady asked to be left alone." Hermione heard Draco say and hesitantly opened her eyes. Reif's enraged glare was now directed to her boyfriend, who in turn maliciously narrowed his eyes. He was holding Reif by the wrist, stopping any harm that could possibly come to his Hermione. The clash between their skin tones would have been beautiful, had the situation not been so heated.
"Ah, yes. You. I've heard about you as well," Reif said, each time spitting the word 'you'. He broke his hand free from Draco's grasp. "Malfoy, is it? Yes, your father was a good friend of mine. Shame, what happened to him."
"Shame it didn't happen sooner," Draco snapped and his new friend, who was fast becoming enemy, chuckled.
"So it's all true then? First you disgrace your father, then the lord, and now you go gallivanting around with the mudblood. Had Lucius taught you nothing? You really are a disgrace to all purebloods," Reif said, shaking his head. Then, in a movement that would have been brushed off by most, the dark haired man's eye twitched. Draco looked suspicious, then squinted a bit before his eyes grew wide.
"Flagg?" Draco asked in amazement and Reif rolled his eye while Hermione snapped her head toward the Slytherin, surprised that he would know the last name of her attacker. Then, Draco looked more enraged than she'd ever seen him. "You raped my mother, you bastard!" he growled fiercely and Hermione was quick to place a hand on his chest to keep him from attacking. Reif laughed amusedly and nodded.
"She was a good shag, too. Much better than Muddy here... but then again, she wasn't as aggressive," he said, looking away a bit in thought. Draco tried to push through Hermione's barrier, but she held firm. "Letting the mudblood pick your battles for you as well? Your father must be spinning in his grave..." Once again, Draco made another small attempt to push past her, but Hermione wanted this stopped right away.
"Officer Valentine!" she called. Draco seemed not to notice her call and kept his eyes on Reif, who was looking at Hermione as if she were insane. Before anyone could speak another word, a frazzled looking Freddie appeared.
"Oh, it's you again, Miss Granger. What seems to be the problem this time?" said the security guard, taking note of a strawberry faced Draco.
"I believe I have another one for quarantine, officer," she said, glaring at Reif.
"Is this man bothering you, Miss Granger?" he asked, gesturing toward the peeved looking intruder who had more than bother them. Before Hermione could answer, Reif put on a cheerily innocent smile.
"Of course not, we were just having a friendly conversation, weren't we, Muddy?" he said and a low growl escaped Draco's throat.
"Like hell!" he yelled. "And don't call her that!"
"Miss Granger?" asked Freddie, who was looking a bit confused.
"Yes, sir. This man is definitely bothering me," Hermione said as if it were the understatement of her entire lifetime. She sighed. "We just want to leave. Could you possibly assist us in removing the element preventing our departure?" she asked sweetly. Freddie smiled quickly, then turned to Reif with a firm glare.
"Of course, ma'am. I'll have to ask you to come with me, sir." Reif rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah... screw you buddy," he said, brushing off the skinny man like vermin. Reif wasn't stupid; he knew Valentine was nowhere near a match for him. Freddie got a little red in the face, which, combined with his deeply dark red hair, gave him a slight resemblance to Ron Weasley. Without another word, the security guard turned his glare into a smirk and lifted his hand. With a snap of his fingers, four more men, all wearing matching black uniforms, appeared behind Valentine.
"Sir, I'll have to ask you to come with me," Freddie repeated, crossing his arms. The men behind him all looked to Reif, smiling evilly.
"Buggar off," said Flagg, turning to walk away. Freddie flicked his head toward one of his minions and the man produced a wand, stunning the disrespectful man immediately. Freddie gave a nod and the men disappeared again. He took a step toward Reif and placed a hand on his arm.
"Miss Granger, would you like to do the honors?" asked Valentine with a wide smile. Not needing to be asked twice, Hermione took a step forward and directed a fierce punch toward Reif's face, her fist making contact with a sickening crunch. Both Draco and Freddie winced.
"Thank you, officer," Hermione said sweetly and Freddie nodded.
"Of course, Miss, and may I offer my sincerest apologies for the troubles that seem to be following you this evening," he said and Hermione nodded, turning back toward Draco as Freddie disappeared with Reif.
Hermione was quiet for a moment, standing with her head down and her eyes closed while Draco stared at the spot Reif had stood as if he were waiting for the man to reappear again and burst into flames. She groaned and sat back on the bench, face in her hands. Draco heard this and snapped back to reality, eyes softening as he looked to Hermione. She was shaking and Draco had reason to believe it wasn't from the cold. He frowned and sat down beside her, placing a hand on her back. She turned to him and smoothly moved into a hug. Draco wrapped his arms around her without hesitation.
"Shh, it's okay, Hermione. I've got you, it'll be alright," he whispered, trying to be comforting. Hermione sniffled a little, but didn't cry. She simply let him hold her; let him make every thing all better again. They sat silently for a moment, Hermione taking in the comfort Draco was providing.
"Remember when you said that it was as if there was a conspiracy against us and I said that it would just get worse? I think I jinxed it or something; I didn't expect it to be this much worse," she said calmly, once again displaying emotion foreign to the situation. "I'm sorry, Ace. Everything we do, I seem to mess it up. Reif tonight, my mother at Christmas, myself at your house, it was my fault you got detention, I overreacted when we went flying, everything about Percy was my fault, the peanuts, my telepathy, your dreams, Snape... I can't seem to get through a whole damn day without doing something wrong," she said, sounding drained.
"Hey, no... Hermione," Draco said, pulling back to look at her. "Listen to me, alright?" he said, but Hermione kept her head down. Draco smiled and lifted her chin gently. "Hey. Okay?" Hermione smiled and nodded slightly. "Flagg is an ass, and that's not your fault. Believe me, he was an ass before he even met you. The same thing goes for Percy and Snape. None of that had anything to do with you. What happened at my house was my fault and I'm sorry. Detention was Snape, the peanuts were an accident, the telepathy was Pomfrey, and my dreams are just something that happens sometimes. The flying was my fault as well. You had every right to be angry. You are totally innocent in all of this, love. The only thing you did was piss off Fate, and, because of that one mistake, he surrounded you with gits. Alright? Say that it's not your fault," Draco said comfortingly and Hermione smiled.
"It's not my fault," she agreed and Draco smiled.
"Damn straight. Let's go home, alright?" he suggested and she nodded, standing up.
"Okay," she said, wiping her already dry eyes. Draco stood and picked the bag from the ground, then turned his blanket back into a glove. Hermione smiled and lifted the black piece of cloth from the bench, giggling as she turned back to Draco, who was hastily attempting to remove her feminine hand-wear from his appendage. He stopped as he heard her and looked up, smiling.
"There's my Mia," he said and Hermione smiled again as she assisted him with the removal of one, frilly, pink and tiny mitten, which seemed to cause him so much discomfort.
A/N: I know, I'm an arsehole. I apologize.
I know, it has nothing to do with a disclaimer... okay, here: Mandy Marie was a writer, who torched all her ideas with lighter. She borrowed JK's, and it's there that she stays. So hopefully won't need to fighter. (get it, fight-her? Okay, w/e)
* * *
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE: Tyclones, Glings, and Misfortunate Things
Draco and Hermione were in the middle of a game of midair war (in which the cards were passed from hand to hand instead of placed on a surface) when a bright light emitted from the field. The coruscation attracted the attention of most of the stadium and hundreds of heads turned to see what was going on.
The brightness died down after only a few seconds and in its place was a band, consisting of five members; a lead singer, two guitars, one drummer, and what looked like...
"An electric ukulele?" Hermione questioned as the stands broke out in cheers and the band began to play a fast paced rock song. She turned to look cluelessly at Draco, only to see that he was standing up and cheering along. He turned back to Hermione with a broad smile.
"Look, Mia! It's HEX!" he said, then turned back to edge on the band as if they wouldn't play if he didn't yell; not that you could hear them over the noise. Hermione stood.
"Who?" she asked, squinting to get a better look.
"Hex! Horded Ethereal Ecstasy? Don't tell me you've never heard of them!" She shook her head.
"Never listen to my World Wizard Broadcaster. Shouldn't their abbreviation be HEE and not HEX?" Draco rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, technically, but where's the fun in that? Listen, they're awesome!" he insisted and Hermione tried, but she could barely hear anything but the crowd and the amped up guitars. Instead of being stuck up and complaining, Hermione pretended that she, like so much of the crowd, loved the band; yelling at the top of her lungs, just for the rush.
* * * * * * * * * *
Hex played for almost three hours before they decided to take a break and it was now close to eight o'clock. Draco, mastermind that he was, had picked up a bag of pastries when he had purchased their coffee and now opened the bag, handing Hermione a chocolate one without bothering to ask first. She smiled and gave him a small thank you kiss before hungrily digging into her éclair. This was the first she had eaten since a large breakfast that morning in the great hall and was rather hungry, although the concert had distracted her from her rumbling stomach.
Looking down the field, Hermione could see that large groups of veelas were accompanying the next act. She swallowed and bit her lip, then looked at Draco, who was chewing slowly and concentrating on pulling the lacy white frosting from his cheese danish. She smiled at his ignorance and decided not to alert him to the presence of the magical beings. Thanks to the Quidditch World Cup, she knew what those ravishing beauties were capable of. **Here come the little gold diggers now, ** she thought as they began to circle the field. Seeing that Draco still hadn't noticed them, but would undoubtedly soon, Hermione thought quick to lift up the folding armrest between them and slide closer to her boyfriend, who accepted her with a smile as he finished his last bite of pastry. She pulled her legs up underneath her and rested herself against him, head on his chest with a perfect view of the band.
Unlike the showy entrance of HEX, the next band simply walked into the center of the field and held up their hands simultaneously, causing their equipment to appear. Without another word or action, they simply began to play. Hermione's eyes widened as she recognized the song.
"Draco, who is that?" she asked and, confirming her suspicion, he said,
"Um, Mud Puddle, maybe? I'm not sure; something like that."
"You mean Puddle of Mudd? That's what I thought, but aren't they muggles?" she asked, but Draco shook his head.
"No, but it's good that you think that. A lot of muggle bands are really wizards who play muggle music. Obviously, they're supposed to be passed of as muggles in the muggle world, but they play their songs on the WWB. You would know that if you listened to it once in a while," he teased and she squeezed close for a moment.
"Yeah, I should remember that," she agreed, then remained silent for a while. Hermione looked up to see Draco with his eyes closed, head bobbing slightly with the music, and he opened his lids to look at her with a smile when she moved. Hermione smiled too and Draco went back to watching the band.
**Either one) he never noticed the veelas, two) he did and is ignoring them, or three) they have no effect on him. All of the above are fine with me," she said and happily closed her eyes, moving in closer.
Hermione had been awake for nearly three hours before she had even thought of waking Draco that morning and the lack of sleep was catching up with her. It wasn't long before she was ignorant to the cheers and music around her, being lulled to sleep by the rhythmic rising and falling of Draco's chest.
Draco knew she was sleeping and did absolutely nothing to change it. Although surprised that she could even do so with all the noise, he decided it was probably good for her. Draco gave Hermione a soft kiss on her head, then gently rubbed her back as he turned his attention back to the field. The entire arena had been overtaken by the brightest of fire nymphs, who were each stationed in a mirrored box, projecting the luminescence across the crowd while others simply buzzed about the field and shedding light on the ground.
The muggle mud band was still playing, but as the darkness grew heavier, the cheering died down as well. Many, like Hermione, were taking the relaxing few hours before the show to catch up on some sleep, but Draco remained awake, taking in everything and listening to the band. **All of their songs are sadistic and traumatizing. That guy was probably abused as a child. One too many crucio'll do that to you. **
* * * * * * * * * *
"Fie, you slug-abed," Draco whispered loudly into Hermione's ear, rubbing her back rather firmly. Hermione groaned and shifted.
"Let's not get into this again, as fun as it was the first time," she pleaded and Draco laughed.
"We can't now anyway; you've ruined it. If I said 'What, not a word?' it wouldn't make much sense now that you've spoken. Plus, I don't want to be Paris. Sorry to wake you, love. Lord knows I didn't want to, but the show starts in fifteen minutes, and I though you might like to see it," he said and Hermione smiled, stretching a bit.
"Yeah, that's kind of why I came. What time is it?" she said with a laugh.
"Mm... quarter after eleven," he told her and Hermione stopped, opening her eyes and looking around the stadium, which was substantially darker than she remembered.
"What? How long have I been sleeping?"
"I don't know... like three hours," Draco said, frowning as she sat up and the chilly night air replaced her body heat.
"You just sat there for three hours and let me sleep on you?" she asked with a smile as she took off the black blanket that covered her and swung her feet back onto the ground.
"Yeah; it was almost the same thing I would have been doing anyway," he said with a shrug and Hermione kissed him.
"Thanks," she said and readjusted the blanket over their laps, noticing the slight shivering Draco had taken to since she'd moved. Hermione stopped suddenly, looking confused. "Did we bring a blanket?" she asked and Draco laughed.
"No, but I wish we had," he said, holding out his hands, one of which was bare while it's other was encased in a thick black glove. He had obviously transfigured his glove into the throw they now wore. "My hand is cold," he said, and wasn't lying; Draco's fingers were stiff and numb from exposure, but it was a small price to pay to keep Hermione a little warmer.
"Aw," she giggled, taking his hand in hers and massaging a little warmth into it. "That we can fix." Hermione arched her back to get better access to her pocket. She pulled out a frilly pink and white knitted glove, complete with a big puffball on the wrist. Draco looked appalled and helpless as she happily slipped it over his uncovered hand. "You'll wear mine; I'm not using them anyway," she said and settled herself back down.
"Thanks..." Draco managed, staring at his very unmanly dressed appendage. Hermione smiled and took his pink hand in hers, bringing it to her lips. "What happened to your black ones?" he asked and she giggled. Hermione knew he would say something about the new installment, but she didn't particularly mind.
"They're in my other coat. If you want, I can give you the other one so you'll match," she suggested with a smirk. Draco laughed unenthusiastically.
"No, no, that won't be necessary. But I must insist you get your cute little Gryffindor arse back over here. You can't keep me warm that long and then just move away and leave me to freeze. It doesn't work that way," he lectured and Hermione giggled before gladly moving close to her chilled Slytherin. "Mm... thank you." Hermione smiled and snuggled into him, ready to close her eyes again when a screeching sound was heard. Draco and Hermione, as well as almost every head in the stadium, looked to the sky where a beam of light, much like a muggle firework, was gaining altitude. As it reached its scheduled point, the beam exploded in a burst of blinding blue light. Behind this mystery light was a smoky fog. The mist cleared quickly, displaying a digital countdown clock made entirely of sparkle sprites, which hovered together, lighting the numbers. The time started at thirty minutes and began to count down.
"Wow! Oh, this is so exciting!" Hermione squealed, jumping in her seat. Draco laughed.
"It gets better, love," he told her. "See? Watch." Draco pointed to the field where an army of Tyclones were spinning, preparing to merge. Hermione's eyes widened. She had read about Tyclones, but had never really seen one. These magical creatures weren't found in the forbidden forest; they much preferred warm costal regions. The Tyclone is composed of the three purest bloods; unicorn, phoenix, and the black empress dragon, all swirling together in a shape much like a tiny tornado, with a breathtaking quality that could captivate the dark lord.
As the crowds watched, the Tyclones merged into one large funnel, which held beautiful lightning dances in its bowels. Then, with a melodious crackle, the mother-clone split into three smaller spirals; one of each blood. As per tradition, the unicorn blood tunnel twisted into a tight rod, then a piece of silvery cloth seemed to fall from it, leaving a cloud of black fire that swirled up and disappeared. The same ritual was repeated for the phoenix blood Tyclone, but with red fire, and finally the dragon blood. This final rod held breath taking white flame, which, unlike the other two, did not billow up and disappear. Instead, it spread out, showering the crowd with a warm and fragrant wind.
The crowd burst out in applause as some uniformed wizards raced out on the field to gather up the material that had been left behind.
"That's what invisibility cloaks are made of," Draco told Hermione. "This is the only time and place the Tyclones mate; that's the next year's line. The entire line. Good turn out tonight; last year the entire Phoenix sheet was flamed. I'd say maybe fifteen cloaks all together this year."
"Wow," she whispered in awe. "No wonder they're so expensive." Draco nodded and looked back up to the countdown clock. Five minutes left. Looking around the stadium at the many awestruck faces that watched the clean up crew, Draco smiled to himself for no reason other than to show his contentment. Then, he caught sight of something that made him smirk.
"Hey Mia, look, do you see those men?" he asked her, pointing discretely at a thin man in a suit who reminded Hermione of Jay Leno, talking to a rather overweight man with a large orange 'G' on his black shirt. Strangely, his eyes seemed blank, but alive, and he kept them open as wide as possible.
"Yeah," she said, looking confusedly at the men.
"The one with weird eyes is the Gling cameraman. Whatever he sees, the Gling wearers see. The guy in the suit is Kenneth Larson, the American who highlights the evening for the viewers. Don't get in their way unless you want to be seen by thousands of witches and wizards across the globe," Draco said and Hermione nodded.
"Definitely good to know. Hey, they're coming this way," she said nervously, but Draco wasn't paying attention.
"Who cares, it's almost midnight!" he said and stood, just as the crowd began the ten-second countdown. "Come on, stand up!" he urged with a laugh and pulled Hermione to her feet. Placing an arm around her waist, Draco joined her in looking up at the sky.
"Five... four... three..." the crowd chorused and Hermione turned to Draco. "Two..." He turned to her. "One... HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The crowd erupted in cheers of excitement, but Hermione and Draco remained silent. They were doing something more with their mouths than yelling.
Had they not been kissing and instead been paying attention, the Hogwarts golden couple would have noticed the wonderful collection of all the magical creatures that had performed on the field, each doing what they were born to do, which, when combined, had a mind numbing effect. And, had they been paying attention, Draco and Hermione would have noticed the Gling cameraman standing just feet away, staring directly at them.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Mia, look behind you," Draco said quietly as soon as their New Year's kiss was finished. Confused, but definitely happy, Hermione smiled and turned to see the Gling man. She let out an embarrassed giggle and quickly turned her face away, into Draco's sweater. "It's alright, love. Wave; I bet Harry and Ron are watching," he said and lifted his hand in an innocent wave. Hermione giggled again, but complied wiggling her fingers.
"I doubt it, I don't even think they know what a Gling is, much less would have one," she said and Draco smiled.
"They should, I sent both of them one for Christmas," he told her and Hermione smiled widely before pushing up to give him a peck, but it became a deep, passionate, kiss. She forgot all about the Gling man, the screaming stands, and the New Year; there was just a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, kissing at two minutes past midnight.
* * * * * * * * * *
As they broke away, Draco looked up to see that the Gling man was now making his way down the steps, looking out over the crowd. He felt Hermione rest her head on his chest and looked back down, smiling.
"Our moment to shine has passed us, my dear," he said and Hermione smiled.
"And shine we did. So much for Hollywood," she agreed. Draco paused a moment, then asked,
"How many people do you think just found out about us?"
"How many cameramen are there?"
"Just one," he said with a widening smile.
"Well in that case... hundreds of thousands, but people we know? I'd say at least half of Slytherin, quite a few Gryffindor, a handful of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff... along with probably the entire staff. Not bad for my first television appearance," Hermione said, sounding amused.
"But this isn't television, this is Gling-vision," Draco corrected, then laughed a bit. "My mum just saw us kissing," he told her and Hermione smiled.
"When do you think she'll regain consciousness?" she asked and Draco laughed again, squeezing her in a hug.
"Well, well, well, I see the mudblood bitch moves on fast," said an arrogantly amused voice that Draco did not recognize, but Hermione obviously did. She tensed in Draco's arms and he frowned, looking up to see a man who seemed to be the complete opposite of himself. The intruder had chocolate brown skin, jet-black hair and eyes, and, eerily, was almost a mocking of Draco's former self; thin and moderately muscular, standing proudly with arms crossed and a superior smirk.
Slowly, Hermione broke out of Draco's grasp and turned to face the man who had spoken to her.
"What are you doing here Reif? How did you even know I'd be here?" she asked quietly, sounding sad and defeated. Reif let out a hearty laugh.
"I though you were supposed to be smart, Hermione? Seems your mother thinks too highly of you. Stupid women. Told me you'd be here, but I didn't actually expect to find you," he smirked and leaned a bit closer to her. Placing his fingers below her chin, Reif looked closely for a moment, then laughed and pushed her chin away. "Must be my lucky day," he said with heavy sarcasm.
Meanwhile, Draco was growing increasingly angrier. Hermione could feel it; his whole body was tense and would tend to have spasms of furious shaking. Draco's clenched fists kept themselves at his sides, however how, he didn't know. Sensing that he might do something rash at any moment, Hermione stepped in. **Time to be a brave Gryffindor. Draco will protect me if something goes wrong, he promised... oh lord, I love him. **
"Reif, please, just leave us alone. Tell mother you didn't see me; it doesn't have to be this way. Or better, we'll leave," she said with the same sad tone, turning away to pick up her bag, only to be stopped by a harsh hand on her shoulder, spinning her back. Reif looked angry; eyes full of malice. Hermione made a peeping gasp.
"Do NOT turn away from me, mudblood. We've talked about this," he said coldly and Hermione worked up a bit of courage, but still found herself unable to look him in the eye. His black beetle eyes...
"More like you yelled at me about this," she said, ending shortly and preparing for the explosion of pain that would burn across her face. Strangely, it didn't come. Reif had indeed raised his hand, but his dark appendage came into contact with a skin much paler than Hermione's olive tone.
"I believe the lady asked to be left alone." Hermione heard Draco say and hesitantly opened her eyes. Reif's enraged glare was now directed to her boyfriend, who in turn maliciously narrowed his eyes. He was holding Reif by the wrist, stopping any harm that could possibly come to his Hermione. The clash between their skin tones would have been beautiful, had the situation not been so heated.
"Ah, yes. You. I've heard about you as well," Reif said, each time spitting the word 'you'. He broke his hand free from Draco's grasp. "Malfoy, is it? Yes, your father was a good friend of mine. Shame, what happened to him."
"Shame it didn't happen sooner," Draco snapped and his new friend, who was fast becoming enemy, chuckled.
"So it's all true then? First you disgrace your father, then the lord, and now you go gallivanting around with the mudblood. Had Lucius taught you nothing? You really are a disgrace to all purebloods," Reif said, shaking his head. Then, in a movement that would have been brushed off by most, the dark haired man's eye twitched. Draco looked suspicious, then squinted a bit before his eyes grew wide.
"Flagg?" Draco asked in amazement and Reif rolled his eye while Hermione snapped her head toward the Slytherin, surprised that he would know the last name of her attacker. Then, Draco looked more enraged than she'd ever seen him. "You raped my mother, you bastard!" he growled fiercely and Hermione was quick to place a hand on his chest to keep him from attacking. Reif laughed amusedly and nodded.
"She was a good shag, too. Much better than Muddy here... but then again, she wasn't as aggressive," he said, looking away a bit in thought. Draco tried to push through Hermione's barrier, but she held firm. "Letting the mudblood pick your battles for you as well? Your father must be spinning in his grave..." Once again, Draco made another small attempt to push past her, but Hermione wanted this stopped right away.
"Officer Valentine!" she called. Draco seemed not to notice her call and kept his eyes on Reif, who was looking at Hermione as if she were insane. Before anyone could speak another word, a frazzled looking Freddie appeared.
"Oh, it's you again, Miss Granger. What seems to be the problem this time?" said the security guard, taking note of a strawberry faced Draco.
"I believe I have another one for quarantine, officer," she said, glaring at Reif.
"Is this man bothering you, Miss Granger?" he asked, gesturing toward the peeved looking intruder who had more than bother them. Before Hermione could answer, Reif put on a cheerily innocent smile.
"Of course not, we were just having a friendly conversation, weren't we, Muddy?" he said and a low growl escaped Draco's throat.
"Like hell!" he yelled. "And don't call her that!"
"Miss Granger?" asked Freddie, who was looking a bit confused.
"Yes, sir. This man is definitely bothering me," Hermione said as if it were the understatement of her entire lifetime. She sighed. "We just want to leave. Could you possibly assist us in removing the element preventing our departure?" she asked sweetly. Freddie smiled quickly, then turned to Reif with a firm glare.
"Of course, ma'am. I'll have to ask you to come with me, sir." Reif rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah... screw you buddy," he said, brushing off the skinny man like vermin. Reif wasn't stupid; he knew Valentine was nowhere near a match for him. Freddie got a little red in the face, which, combined with his deeply dark red hair, gave him a slight resemblance to Ron Weasley. Without another word, the security guard turned his glare into a smirk and lifted his hand. With a snap of his fingers, four more men, all wearing matching black uniforms, appeared behind Valentine.
"Sir, I'll have to ask you to come with me," Freddie repeated, crossing his arms. The men behind him all looked to Reif, smiling evilly.
"Buggar off," said Flagg, turning to walk away. Freddie flicked his head toward one of his minions and the man produced a wand, stunning the disrespectful man immediately. Freddie gave a nod and the men disappeared again. He took a step toward Reif and placed a hand on his arm.
"Miss Granger, would you like to do the honors?" asked Valentine with a wide smile. Not needing to be asked twice, Hermione took a step forward and directed a fierce punch toward Reif's face, her fist making contact with a sickening crunch. Both Draco and Freddie winced.
"Thank you, officer," Hermione said sweetly and Freddie nodded.
"Of course, Miss, and may I offer my sincerest apologies for the troubles that seem to be following you this evening," he said and Hermione nodded, turning back toward Draco as Freddie disappeared with Reif.
Hermione was quiet for a moment, standing with her head down and her eyes closed while Draco stared at the spot Reif had stood as if he were waiting for the man to reappear again and burst into flames. She groaned and sat back on the bench, face in her hands. Draco heard this and snapped back to reality, eyes softening as he looked to Hermione. She was shaking and Draco had reason to believe it wasn't from the cold. He frowned and sat down beside her, placing a hand on her back. She turned to him and smoothly moved into a hug. Draco wrapped his arms around her without hesitation.
"Shh, it's okay, Hermione. I've got you, it'll be alright," he whispered, trying to be comforting. Hermione sniffled a little, but didn't cry. She simply let him hold her; let him make every thing all better again. They sat silently for a moment, Hermione taking in the comfort Draco was providing.
"Remember when you said that it was as if there was a conspiracy against us and I said that it would just get worse? I think I jinxed it or something; I didn't expect it to be this much worse," she said calmly, once again displaying emotion foreign to the situation. "I'm sorry, Ace. Everything we do, I seem to mess it up. Reif tonight, my mother at Christmas, myself at your house, it was my fault you got detention, I overreacted when we went flying, everything about Percy was my fault, the peanuts, my telepathy, your dreams, Snape... I can't seem to get through a whole damn day without doing something wrong," she said, sounding drained.
"Hey, no... Hermione," Draco said, pulling back to look at her. "Listen to me, alright?" he said, but Hermione kept her head down. Draco smiled and lifted her chin gently. "Hey. Okay?" Hermione smiled and nodded slightly. "Flagg is an ass, and that's not your fault. Believe me, he was an ass before he even met you. The same thing goes for Percy and Snape. None of that had anything to do with you. What happened at my house was my fault and I'm sorry. Detention was Snape, the peanuts were an accident, the telepathy was Pomfrey, and my dreams are just something that happens sometimes. The flying was my fault as well. You had every right to be angry. You are totally innocent in all of this, love. The only thing you did was piss off Fate, and, because of that one mistake, he surrounded you with gits. Alright? Say that it's not your fault," Draco said comfortingly and Hermione smiled.
"It's not my fault," she agreed and Draco smiled.
"Damn straight. Let's go home, alright?" he suggested and she nodded, standing up.
"Okay," she said, wiping her already dry eyes. Draco stood and picked the bag from the ground, then turned his blanket back into a glove. Hermione smiled and lifted the black piece of cloth from the bench, giggling as she turned back to Draco, who was hastily attempting to remove her feminine hand-wear from his appendage. He stopped as he heard her and looked up, smiling.
"There's my Mia," he said and Hermione smiled again as she assisted him with the removal of one, frilly, pink and tiny mitten, which seemed to cause him so much discomfort.
A/N: I know, I'm an arsehole. I apologize.
