Chapter 8 – Terms
Author: Rikka
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; I'm just playing with them for a short while. I'll give them back, with a knowing smile on their faces, once I've finished with them.
A/N: ff.net seems to be giving me major issues; the first time I attempted to upload ch 7 it was cut in half, then I uploaded it again and waited to see if the whole thing was there, so now I'm just splitting it up into two chapters (mumbles about stupid things not working properly) As always, it is my 1st attempt at fanfic. Please let me know what you think!
Hermione almost stifled her laugh. Not quite, though. Draco frowned at her response to his (who is he kidding?) serious statement of intent. As his "What's so funny?" she actually started laughing.
"Oh, just the thought of you, Mr. Deatheater-To-Be, blackmailing me! What are you going to do, make me drink wine and eat food until I agree to whatever sick and twisted terms I'm sure you've come up with?"
"Hmm, I'll tell you the terms after we've eaten, I never negotiate on an empty stomach." Draco responded, indicating she join him at the table.
With a rather audible sigh Hermione slumped down to a dinner of...well, she wasn't quite sure what it was, exactly; some kind of fish on top of green potatoes. The color made her cringe, but it tasted fine, and she was so nervous she hadn't noticed that she had gotten hungry in the anticipation of this meeting.
She attempted a few times to bring Draco to the point of the meeting, but he refused to speak with her about that yet, and would swiftly change the subject to something she was interested in, so well in fact that she didn't even notice the first few times he did it. Damn, he's good.
"More wine?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Yes, thank you. What's with the look you're giving me?" she answered him.
"I didn't envision Ms. Perfect Priss to be a big drinker, is all." he said, refilling her glass.
She paused to take a sip before answering him. "Just because I do well in school and actually, on occasion, take the time to study does not mean that I am a complete stick in the mud!"
"Well, I knew that from the little show I got the other night of you and Snape!" Draco sneered, rubbing his hand along the neck of the wine bottle in a very...suggestive manor. Hermione could feel herself blushing, so she looked down and took another sip of wine. "How far down does that blush go, I wonder? Maybe I should ask Snape; think he would share with me?"
"Get to the point of this charade before I tire of you mocking me, Draco. You and I both know I could hex your bits off before you could even cross your legs," Hermione snapped, indicating the wand she had pointed at him under the table.
"Fine, fine, no need to get snippy with me. Anyway, the terms are something I'm sure you can deal with. I need your help-don't you dare laugh or I'll hex your bits off-in pissing off the poofter I like to call dad. Of course, as a fringe benefit, I'll also piss off Potty and Weasel, so this is generally a win-win situation for me. You have your own boyfriend who you can't exactly tell anyone about, so this won't be that big of a deal. I just need you to pretend…to be my girlfriend." Draco smirked at her, "And maybe a few other things we can work out later," he smiled, refilling both their wine glasses.
"Why the hell would you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend? You do realize that short of pissing off your father, he would probably have me killed the moment he got wind of it? Or did you not think that far ahead?"
"Drat, you're right. Wouldn't want Hogwart's best pupil going and getting herself killed by a bunch of nasty Deatheaters. Hmm. Lets see. What else do you have that I want..." There was no mistaking the nasty gleam in Draco's eyes, and Hermione steeled herself for what she was sure to be either demoralizing, or embarrassing, or both. Draco looked at his watch before answering her silent question. "All I want is a normal conversation with you, and maybe a foot rub. Right now. There's a sofa over near the door." He answered, standing up and collecting their wine glasses and bottle.
Hermione snorted. "What? That can't be it. There has to be something...something...more!"
"Disappointed? What makes you think that I would want to embarrass my Uncle Sev, anyway? I'm enjoying your company; let's keep it that way." he set down the glasses on the end table next to the sofa and sat down lengthwise, wiggling his toes in her general direction. "Foot rub! Now!" he snapped, smiling.
Once again Hermione was shocked by Draco complimenting her, but she quickly recovered and sat down to rub his feet. Maybe he's not so bad... she thought to herself, as they continued to chat for the next few hours, until they were both quite tired. Neither noticed two sets of eyes peeking at them from the doorway.
"Thank you for a lovely evening, Hermione. I'll clean up here; you should go to bed, I'm sure you still have homework or reading to do," Draco said, holding his arms out as though he was going to hug her. Hermione eyed him suspiciously before joining his embrace, and she wasn't at all surprised when she felt his hand on her ass. Two can play at this, she thought.
"I had a lovely time as well, who knew you were such a suave fellow," she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I hope we can do this again," and with that, she brought his face to hers for a nice, long kiss. When Draco's hands made their way to her breasts, she broke it off, and stalked out of the room without a backwards glance.
"Damn." He said after her, his reaction to her something that he really could no longer deny, either to himself or to anyone else who was in the room. He sat down and finished his glass of wine and didn't notice when the two sets of eyes that had been watching him stalked off.