Chapter Nine- Nostrils and Post
Hermione closed her mouth before she had made a sound. It wasn't an unpleasant scene really. It was more of an uncomfortable scene.
Draco Malfoy sat in an overstuffed armchair by the fireplace, head tilted back and mouth wide open. Hermione almost giggled; Draco looked surprisingly like a squashed frog with his mouth so open. She continued her perusal of his body.
Well, I did accuse him of being a toad… This wasn't exactly what I meant though… Do I sleep like that? I hope not… He looks so incredibly ridiculous… I wonder if he knows that he sleeps like that… Maybe he's ill… Should I take a photo? No, that would be mean…
Hermione's eyes widened when she saw his choice of pajamas. Black tee-shirt, that's fairly normal… I think everyone sleeps in a black tee-shirt… Falmouth Falcon boxers? I can't believe he wears Quidditch boxers to bed! And out in a public place too! Well, it's not exactly public… It is his house… But Quidditch boxers? I don't even think Ron wears Quidditch boxers! I guess now I know the answer to the eternal question: Boxers or briefs…
Hermione walked over to the chair that Draco was sitting in and saw a book rising and falling with each draw of breath from his chest. She turned her head sideways to get a look at the title of the book, Best Charms to Charm Your Best. Immediately, all thoughts of working vanished from her head. Draco looked too cute sitting in the chair asleep to think of anything else.
As soon as this thought crossed Hermione's mind, Draco let out an ear-splitting snore.
She jumped back and shrieked in surprise.
Draco eyes flew open and he leapt from his chair, wand at the ready.
Hermione put her hand over her heart, realizing what had happened.
Draco looked over at her, taking in appearance. He frowned slightly. "What the hell are you doing in here?"
Hermione frowned back. How dare he question me for being here when he just tried to attack me! "I was going to do some work… And then I saw you in here…"
Draco stared at her with his eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he questioned her.
She cast her mind around for a split second then answered, "I was going to leave."
"Alright," Draco accepted, still sounding slightly suspicious, but taking her words for what they were. "Are you still going to work?"
"Oh! No! I was actually going to go back to bed," Hermione paused for a second. "Are you sick?"
Draco looked at her in surprise. "No, Granger. Why?"
Hermione's eyes widened. How would she explain to Draco that she was wondering about his sleeping patterns. She decided to go for the truth. "Um, well. You were sleeping like this," she demonstrated by leaning her head back and opening her mouth very wide, "and I wanted to know if it was because you had a stuffy nose. It was quite funny."
Draco glared at her. "For your information, Granger, I can't breathe from one side of my nose. The cartilage grew together and I have to sleep with my mouth open to stay alive."
Hermione stared at him for a moment. She blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that it was a medical condition. Isn't there anything that a healer could do for that?"
"If they tried I wouldn't have this," Draco tilted his head back and gestured to the little piece of skin in between his nostrils. "I would rather sleep with my mouth open than not have it."
"Right. So when you are ill, can you blow your nose?" Hermione asked, rather interested.
"Yes, but only on one side," he answered.
"That's got to be a relief, having one less nostril to blow from, right?" she laughed.
"Granger, are you really so boring that you find my nostril conditions fascinating?" Malfoy asked in a bored tone.
"I… No… But… I…" Hermione stuttered.
"Right, Granger," Malfoy sneered.
Hermione's mouth dropped open. The one time that we have a halfway civil conversation about anything he has to go and ruin it by being rude! It was a rather odd conversation, granted… Still! Oh I hate him!
"Since we are both awake, why don't we get a crack on this?" Malfoy flung his arm out to show the room.
Hermione looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I think I'll just go to the kitchen, get some hot chocolate, and go to bed," she told him in a rather snotty voice.
"Good idea, Granger," Malfoy said. He picked up the Best Charms book, slid it carefully back into a shelf, and swept out of the room. Hermione rolled her eyes and followed him out, taking another glance before leaving. How the hell does all the interesting stuff happen in this room?
* * * * *
"So, Malfoy…" Hermione started once the pair of them had sat down in the kitchen. She was relaxed in a comfy armchair in the corner of the brilliantly lit room. The mug of hot chocolate warmed her hands, making her feel as though she was at her own apartment. It gave her a sense of relief to do something as normal as drinking hot chocolate. "Everything seems to be going fairly well. Except the whole Chair of Death thing earlier. But you know, you can't expect everything to run smoothly. Why I was just saying the other day at work-"
"Granger, why don't we just sit here in silence. What is it with you and your need to talk all the time? Why can't you be content with quiet?" Malfoy burst out.
Hermione looked over at him. "I can too be content with silence!" she told him in a very childish way.
"No you can't," he answered.
"Yes I can!" she retorted.
"Well then why are you talking now?"
"I'm…"
"Exactly! You're talking. You don't ever shut up! No wonder no one likes to talk to you!" Malfoy shouted at her.
"People do too like to talk to me! And I can too shut up if I want to. It's just that I don't want to right n-"
Hermione's speech was interrupted by Draco's hand covering her open mouth. His skin was surprisingly warm and smooth on her lips. Hermione did the first thing that came to her mind; she stuck her tongue out.
Malfoy yanked his hand away from her tongue. "What the hell did you do that for?" he asked, while pulling out his wand to do a scouring charm on his hand.
Hermione stared at him. What was he talking about, questioning her actions? He was the one who reached out and touched her. She decided to respond with another inquiry, "Why did you cover my mouth?"
Malfoy's pale face flushed slightly. "Well, you wouldn't shut up, would you?"
"Resulting to Muggle methods, Malfoy?"
"Shut up," he responding intelligently. He stood up from his chair and placed his empty hot chocolate mug on the table beside him. He turned back to her and offered her his hand.
Hermione stared at it for a moment. Is this supposed to be the hand of friendship? The hand of acquaintances? The hand of what? I just can't tell with him…
Draco stared right back at her, hand steady. Hermione slowly held out her own hand, grasped Malfoy's, and pulled herself onto her feet.
"Thanks," she said softly.
Malfoy, still looking at Hermione intently, replied, "No problem, Granger."
Hermione glanced down at her hand, still clasped in Malfoy's, and pulled it free. She could feel the warmth of Draco's hand.
"Um," said Hermione, interrupting the uncomfortable silence. "I think it's time we went to bed. Our own beds. I mean you go to your bed and I go to my bed. In our own bedrooms. I mean you go to your bed in your bedroom and I go to my bed in my own bedroom."
Malfoy smirked and responded, "Is that what you really want, Granger?"
Hermione swallowed before answering, "I wouldn't have it any other way, Malfoy."
Malfoy grinned again. His smile was different from the usual smirk. His usual smirk was cold and calculated. This grin looked warm and spontaneous. "Let's head out then, shall we?"
Hermione nodded and walked out of the kitchen, followed closely by Draco. Hermione could feel his eyes burning into the back of her head. She self-consciously tried to smooth the back of her hair. However, the feeling of his watchful eyes soon made the way from her head south, very south. He can't be checking out my… Assets… Can he?
Hermione whipped her head around. His eyes were staring right into her's. Must have imagined that feeling…
They were at the place where she turned left and he right. "Well, good night, Malfoy," she stated. As she said this she stuck out her hand, the hand of friendship and acquaintance and everything it meant.
Malfoy stared at her hand, much like she had stared at his no more than ten minutes ago. He grabbed it gently with his own hand and shook it. "Night, Granger."
Hermione turned on her heels and walked down the corridor that led to her room. As she walked away, the same sensation of being watched followed her.
* * * * *
Hermione lay down on her bed, mentally tired from the draining night of Malfoy. She stretched out, enjoying the feeling of the down comforter molding to her body. Pulling herself upright, Hermione forced herself to not overanalyze everything that had happened that night.
Humming, she got up and walked over to her desk. She pulled out a roll of parchment and a self-inking quill. She began to write the thing that wouldn't get out of her mind. It was a song that she had heard on the train into London one day and she only remembered a part of the song. "Sometimes I feel like something is gone here, something is wrong here, I don't belong here."
Somehow those words seemed to describe exactly how she was feeling. There was something in the house that was a mystery to her, a feeling that she got when being with Malfoy.
Well, the last part is easy enough to explain… In the house of Muggle haters a Mudblood like me is certainly not welcome… Everything else if hard though… Something is definitely wrong in the house… I suppose that's the coldness… The lack of love… Same for the first line… Love is missing… Strange how Muggles can get everything so incredibly right in their words…
Hermione sat for a while, staring down at the words that she had written. Then, laughing at her sentimental self, she grabbed her wand and made the parchment stick to the wall over the desk.
It was a habit of Hermione's to write Muggle lyrics down. It somehow cleared her head. She had never been very talented at writing her own poetry or creative works, but reading those of others made her feel calm. In her flat she had a whole book filled with song lyrics sitting on her nightstand. Whenever she was depressed or angry she would look at it for a sort of "pick-me-up". Smiling at the lyric of the wall, Hermione walked into the bathroom, got ready for bed, and then fell asleep lying on top of the covers.
* * * * *
The next day, breakfast was a quiet affair. Hermione ate her toast watching the weather page of the Daily Prophet which Draco was reading. The weather wizard had not changed his predictions about the weather, though Hermione thought any brand of fortune telling was quite useless. But watching the wiggling colorful diagram was more interesting than watching her juice goblet sit still.
After about a half hour, the silence, which was broken only by the sound of the turning pages of the Daily Prophet, was interrupted by Raldy delivering two pieces of post to Hermione. Hermione set down her knife, accepted the letters, and thanked Raldy.
"Raldy is glad to help, Miss," squeaked the elf. She scurried away while saying, "If Miss requires any parchment or quills to respond, Raldy would be glad to fetch them."
Hermione turned her attention to the two letters. The first was small, made of very fine parchment. The second was thick and coarse. Hermione opened the first.
It was a return letter from Percy. Hermione scanned it quickly, then reread it so as to not miss anything. Good of him to check the contract for me… Iron-clad… Well Draco said as much… Typical arrangement plus a few details… What sort of details, Percy? "A silencing spell?" Hermione voiced her surprise.
"I beg your pardon? You were doing so well with the silence, Granger," Draco pronounced, setting down his Daily Prophet. "I was, dare I say, impressed."
"You have a silencing spell on the contract?" Hermione asked, looking from Percy's letter to the man sitting next to her.
"Yes, Granger. It's something my father's lawyer always included in contracts. Temporary, of course. If a topic arises that might cause you to discuss anything that happens in this house, you will be mute for about thirty seconds," Draco explained. "Gives the conversation time to steer to safer topics."
"Right," said Hermione, turning back to the letter. Draco went back to his newspaper. Quite a safe contract to sign as long as I don't break any of the rules… By punishment of death by choice method… Wow, Percy, make me feel safe… So as long as I don't break a rule I don't have to worry about the amount of pain in decapitation versus a stampeding hippogriff…
Hermione placed Percy's letter next to her plate and opened the next one. Immediately, she recognized the messy scrawl of Ginny Weasley. For such a girly person, Ginny had the typical Weasley male handwriting, unreadable. However, Hermione was able to discern the writing. It was a letter, just checking up on her and saying that Ron was over his sulking. Apparently, Harry had taken him to a Cannon's practice. Being within the same kilometer of Amy Reddings, the Cannon player, erased any reminder of Hermione.
Attached to the letter was a sort of humor letter. Hermione stared at the title, "50 Ways to Piss Voldemort Off". Raising her eyebrow, Hermione began with number one, "Ask him why he doesn't have a cool scar." Giggling, Hermione read through the rest of them. By the time she got to number fifty, there were tears streaming down her cheeks she was laughing so hard.
Looking up, she saw Draco staring at her with a look of slight fear in his eyes. "A… A… Letter… From Ginny…" Hermione choked out. "50 ways to piss Voldemort off."
Draco still stared at her. Hermione regained her breath and looked down at the list. "Here. 'Number 13, call him The-Man-Who-Let-The-Boy-Live'. 'Number 38, If he's having evil-plotter's-block in one of his scheming sessions Wingardium Leviosa a light bulb to float above his head. Turn it on. Look offended when he gets angry and say you thought you were helping!' How great is this?"
Draco looked at her laughing and couldn't help but give a rather weak chuckle. It was probably more of the fact that her face was so red from reading the list than him finding the list funny. "Granger?"
"Yes, Malfoy?"
"You need to get out more."
* * * * *
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Author's Notes:
Hey all, I know that it has been absolutely forever since I posted the last chapter. I had the best time in Australia and New Zealand, thank you to everyone who wrote well wishes in the reviews. Going there really was a life-changing experience. Looking back at all the stuff I wrote before I left, I feel like a different person. So that made it hard to come back into the swing of things. I had a great time though, best three weeks of my entire life! I want to go back!
Yeah, the whole one nostril closed thing, one of the people on my trip actually has that problem. Sleeps with his head WAY back and his mouth WAY open. And the whole thing with the no surgery possible without removing that little piece of cartilage. Love ya, AJ! Also, can anyone say, a change of the tide? Malfoy and Granger (GULP) nice to each other? Can that be? YES!
The song lyrics belong to Uncle Kracker and his song, "In a Little While". I'm not sure who the "50 Ways to Piss Voldemort Off" belongs to, but it's a great piece of humor. Go read the rest of them by typing in the title into google. Totally worth reading :)
Anyway, please review, it will help make the transition back into writing easier.
Best wishes for a happy and relaxing rest of summer,
MOLLY
