Hermione sighed. She'd have to face Draco eventually. She blushed when
she thought of the incident. She wanted someone else's advice on the
situation. But whom could she ask? Harry and Ron would kill Draco, even
if he has changed. Ginny would just squeal and blush like she does
whenever someone mentions any boy. She'd been that way since her 3rd year.
Parvati and Lavender would tell her to use her lingerie to seduce Draco in
hopes of her not being such a dork anymore. She sighed. Then she perked
up. She ran to her trunk and pulled out a slim black laptop. Her muggle
friends had given it to her because they were tired of not hearing from her
until the summer. The only problem was the ancient castle didn't have any
outlets. Hermione sighed. She picked up the computer and went into her
and Draco's shared common room. She took a book of charms off of their
shelf. She flipped through it looking for something that even relatively
looked like it could be helpful.
"What are you looking for?" asked a voice that had to be Draco's coming from behind her. "A spell." said Hermione. She focused her attention closer on the pages hoping to hide her blush. "What sort of spell?" "You wouldn't know any." "Mudblood I know more than you can ever hope to." Hermione flinched at the insult. Draco must have noticed because his tone softened, "look, I'm sorry. You know, about everything. But maybe I can help you." Hermione whipped around and started talking all at once, "well I don't really need the spell anymore thanks." She smiled because she didn't need Draco advice anymore; he'd apologized.
"Were you looking for a spell to make me apologize and grovel at your feet?" "No of course not. I wanted to charm my computer because this place doesn't have any outlets." "Huh?" "What?" "What's a computer? And an outlet?"
"A computer is a muggle machine. You can do all sorts of things on it. But I was going to use it to talk to my muggle friends because I can't very well owl them. And I need electricity to make it work but there isn't any here so I was looking for a charm to make it work." "Oh.lets find one anyway. It sounds interesting." "Okay." So they began to search through the books to find something to connect Hermione to her muggle friends. It didn't take them very long to get it up and running. "So how does it work?" asked Draco. "I'll show you," said Hermione as she switched the laptop on. After it booted up she cast a spell to get it connected to the internet. (Pretty unlikely I know but what am I supposed to do. I'm sure magic is more stable than dial-up anyway.) She began setting up an email account Hair_mine_o_ninny@aol.com. Draco watched in awe. He never got to see muggle objects at home. Hermione began adding her friend's addresses to her address book. Draco was even amazed at her typing.
"How do you know where the keys are?" "Practice I guess. I never really thought about it. I was taught young. They teach computers at muggle schools." "Could I learn to do that?" "I'm sure you can. I'll help you once I'm done with these e-mails. And I have to sign up on AIM." "What's that? Is it like e-mail?" "Sort of. But it's more like actual conversations than letters." "That's cool. Muggle contraptions are fascinating." "You're starting to sound like Arthur Weasley," said Hermione. Draco pouted a bit. Hermione laughed. "You should take muggle studies." "I've always wanted to." "Why haven't you?" "How would that look? Prince Slytherin the hater of all things muggle or muggle related taking a class about them." "Do it anyway. I thought Draco Malfoy did whatever he wanted." "I believe you mean Lucius Malfoy does whatever he wants with anything or anyone." Hermione looked away. Draco stood up. Hermione looked at him with compassion in her eyes. Draco felt wrong. "But never mind. I don't want to go into a 'my life is so awful' tirade and end up crying on your shoulder so you'll see that I'm human too. Speaking of human, I'm hungry." Hermione knew he was just changing the subject but she laughed anyway. "We just had dinner. And I thought snakes only had to eat once a week." "Yes but you see I need a whole rodent and I haven't eaten any Hufflepuff's lately so it's a bit harder to stay full. And I'm also a dragon and dragon's enjoy virgin's but those are getting harder and harder to find." As he said that he winked at Hermione. She blushed. He wanted to know if she was virgin. Well she wasn't bearing her soul to him either. "Do you know how to find the kitchens?" "No.but I'm sure a member of the golden trio could show me." "Oh I see.I'll go ask Ron if he'll show you," with that Hermione began to walk toward the Gryffindor portrait hole. "Hermiooooooooone," whined Draco. Hermione laughed. And then she realized that he'd called her Hermione. She smiled. "Okay, you've won me over. I'll show you. But you must be nice to the house elves." "And I thought you'd given up on S.P.E.W" "Not entirely. I realize that the elves are happy with their positions but they do deserve to be treated better." "I guess. So shall we go?" "We shall." With that Draco opened the portrait hole and the two snuck off down the hall toward the kitchens.
"What are you looking for?" asked a voice that had to be Draco's coming from behind her. "A spell." said Hermione. She focused her attention closer on the pages hoping to hide her blush. "What sort of spell?" "You wouldn't know any." "Mudblood I know more than you can ever hope to." Hermione flinched at the insult. Draco must have noticed because his tone softened, "look, I'm sorry. You know, about everything. But maybe I can help you." Hermione whipped around and started talking all at once, "well I don't really need the spell anymore thanks." She smiled because she didn't need Draco advice anymore; he'd apologized.
"Were you looking for a spell to make me apologize and grovel at your feet?" "No of course not. I wanted to charm my computer because this place doesn't have any outlets." "Huh?" "What?" "What's a computer? And an outlet?"
"A computer is a muggle machine. You can do all sorts of things on it. But I was going to use it to talk to my muggle friends because I can't very well owl them. And I need electricity to make it work but there isn't any here so I was looking for a charm to make it work." "Oh.lets find one anyway. It sounds interesting." "Okay." So they began to search through the books to find something to connect Hermione to her muggle friends. It didn't take them very long to get it up and running. "So how does it work?" asked Draco. "I'll show you," said Hermione as she switched the laptop on. After it booted up she cast a spell to get it connected to the internet. (Pretty unlikely I know but what am I supposed to do. I'm sure magic is more stable than dial-up anyway.) She began setting up an email account Hair_mine_o_ninny@aol.com. Draco watched in awe. He never got to see muggle objects at home. Hermione began adding her friend's addresses to her address book. Draco was even amazed at her typing.
"How do you know where the keys are?" "Practice I guess. I never really thought about it. I was taught young. They teach computers at muggle schools." "Could I learn to do that?" "I'm sure you can. I'll help you once I'm done with these e-mails. And I have to sign up on AIM." "What's that? Is it like e-mail?" "Sort of. But it's more like actual conversations than letters." "That's cool. Muggle contraptions are fascinating." "You're starting to sound like Arthur Weasley," said Hermione. Draco pouted a bit. Hermione laughed. "You should take muggle studies." "I've always wanted to." "Why haven't you?" "How would that look? Prince Slytherin the hater of all things muggle or muggle related taking a class about them." "Do it anyway. I thought Draco Malfoy did whatever he wanted." "I believe you mean Lucius Malfoy does whatever he wants with anything or anyone." Hermione looked away. Draco stood up. Hermione looked at him with compassion in her eyes. Draco felt wrong. "But never mind. I don't want to go into a 'my life is so awful' tirade and end up crying on your shoulder so you'll see that I'm human too. Speaking of human, I'm hungry." Hermione knew he was just changing the subject but she laughed anyway. "We just had dinner. And I thought snakes only had to eat once a week." "Yes but you see I need a whole rodent and I haven't eaten any Hufflepuff's lately so it's a bit harder to stay full. And I'm also a dragon and dragon's enjoy virgin's but those are getting harder and harder to find." As he said that he winked at Hermione. She blushed. He wanted to know if she was virgin. Well she wasn't bearing her soul to him either. "Do you know how to find the kitchens?" "No.but I'm sure a member of the golden trio could show me." "Oh I see.I'll go ask Ron if he'll show you," with that Hermione began to walk toward the Gryffindor portrait hole. "Hermiooooooooone," whined Draco. Hermione laughed. And then she realized that he'd called her Hermione. She smiled. "Okay, you've won me over. I'll show you. But you must be nice to the house elves." "And I thought you'd given up on S.P.E.W" "Not entirely. I realize that the elves are happy with their positions but they do deserve to be treated better." "I guess. So shall we go?" "We shall." With that Draco opened the portrait hole and the two snuck off down the hall toward the kitchens.
