A/N: Be Happy! It's Chapter IV!
PS: In the last chapter, a movie was mentioned in Hermione's unconscious thoughts. Daisie had told her of the movie earlier –thought I never mentioned it, - at the Digital Abyss. So, just to clear that up for those who were thinking, "Huh?" The movie, however, will not be part of this story. I may make a "sequel" in which it tells of the movies events. But, I'm not sure yet.
PPS: Also, I must say, I'm terribly sorry for all the grammatical and spelling mistakes here and there in my chapters. I use Microsoft Word, and if it thinks that the word looks fine, then it skips it; and I usually have very little time to do a once-over, which sometimes even my eyes cannot pick the mistakes up.
*
Chapter IV
Hermione awoke almost four hours later in the uncomfortable-ness of an unfamiliar bed. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and looked around the darkened room.
It turns out; she was in a smallish room decorated in what looked like soft purples and greys. A strange, long, gleaming pole shot down from the ceiling and then straight through a large, circular hole in the floor; reminding Hermione of a Muggle Fire Department almost.
The bed she was laying in appeared to have the same color scheme as everything else; a four-poster with grey draperies, purple, silk bed sheets complete with matching, lacy-silk pillows.
She turned her gaze to the furniture and such in the room. Things such as a two-seat sofa, a mahogany-rimmed glass coffee table, a small television (covered with a fluffy grey décor), and a cordless telephone (which happened to have the same décor as the telie, from what she could see). Near a dark corner, Hermione could just make see the outline of what looked like a guitar; her's, most likely.
There were also two mahogany doors on the right side of the room (the left was occupied by dark-tinted, grey-draped windows). One, to the left, had a gold star placed on it; the other simply read Bathroom in some swirly hand.
Standing up, though stumbling a bit from just waking up, Hermione walked over the window, pushing away the draperies and raising the bottom, thus opening it, she watched as figures moved past her. Not many, as the bus had likely left London an hour or so before she awoke, currently traveling through some small town on its outskirts. She looked over at an alarm clock she had noticed was atop the TV when getting up, it read: 1:45 AM.
She raised her gaze up to the sky and stared at it for minutes as millions of different stars whizzed by. As the small town was quite dark, the only light coming -- quite dimly -- from houses and small stores (there were no streetlights in the town), she could see the sky rather clearly. Much unlike London, as all you could ever see was a semi-dark sky and the moon, even at this ungodly hour.
The sudden noise of one object connecting -- no less, smashing -- into another made her jump a few inches, awoken from the strange daze. Turning to the origin of the noise, she was met by Draco Malfoy, somehow not taken to looking slightly disarranged from sleep. Or did he never go to sleep that night?
"You should be asleep, Hermione," Draco said, once Hermione's attention was on him. He slowly walked over to stand beside her at the window, looking out of it as well. He sighed, turning around and leaning against the sill. "Why are you not?"
Hermione shook her head, moving so she, too, was leaning against the small sill. "I don't know, really. My head hurt, I guess." One of her hands reached up, lightly touching the wound on her head, covered in bandages. The fingers of her other hand snapped, and the lights of her room switched on.
Her fingers were coating in blood, even from such a small touch. She sighed, turning to Draco. "How bad was my fall?" She asked him.
"It was so bad, it would have made Voldemort squeal with delight of the fact that another Muggleborn was gone," He said, jokingly. There was a truth behind his words, though. Draco, being far away from Hermione at the moment of her fall, had not been able to catch her. She had hit the stone floor with a rather sickening crack.
"That bad, eh?" She frowned, looking over to the bed she had been laying on. There was a large amount of time she couldn't recall. It was about the time when they had entered the bus earlier, Draco and she. It was almost like everything after that wasn't there. "Draco, what happened after we got on the bus?"
"You just sort of… collapsed into my arms, then," He answered. "Right about the time we reached the gathering room." One of his arms out-stretched, pointing towards the gleaming pole in her room, which possibly led down to the room mentioned.
"Out of the love of my heart…" He was interrupted when Hermione let out a snicker. "… I may suggest you use the stairs while you've got that wound on your head. They're in my room." His head cocked over to the door with a golden star on it; he had come out of it minutes before.
Hermione shrugged. "You're the one who took Medical School, Doc." Her eyes averted over to the alarm clock, which now read: 1:56 AM. "Anyway, I think I need to try and get some sleep."
"Would you like me to stay?" He asked. He quickly added, "Just in case, you know, you wake in pain."
She stared at him for a moment as if he'd gone mad and had started singing 'Yankee Doodle'. She nodded, however. "That… might help," She said, shrugging. "If you're willing, please do."
"It's fine with me," Draco replied, slowly walking to the bed. "Just, you get the blood-covered pillow. Not exactly something I'd like to sleep on, Hermione."
"Indeed it wouldn't be," She said, finally noticing that her pillow was coated in the blood from her wound. Mumbling a quick cleaning charm, her wand having been up her sleeve, she watched as the pillow was cleared of it's blood.
She walked over to the bed then, opposite the side Draco was on, and nodded. "In us brave soldiers go."
And with that, the two young stars climbed into the bed, curling up beside each other, the male's arm draped over the female's body, drifting slowly off to sleep. They never quite knew what pushed them to sleep in the same bed (A/N: Nothing suggestive. Never in this story.), but they two former enemies did that night, finding their sleep almost as peaceful as ever.
*
"It's the way
That he makes you feel.
It's the way
That he kisses you.
It's the way
That he makes you fall in love."
Draco and Hermione had long since woken up, quite surprised at the fact they were in the same bed, as though they couldn't remember last nights events. Turns out, neither of the two could recall last nights events – save a few flashes and words.
Anyway, they were currently in a private studio, practicing for tonight's up-coming concert. The first stop in their tour together. Doing the songs by turns, Draco was singing his opening song - hit single, too -- 'Pretty Girl (The Way)'.
Band* playing behind him to the bumpy rock background music; Draco up front singing to it. The song that got him and the band rather famous; the first song they released, as well.
Their instructor -- who was helping them organize which songs go when and pointing out flaws in their singing -- had been staring at Draco rather rudely, scowling.
"She's beautiful as usual with bruises on her ego and
Her killer instinct tells her to beware of evil men
And that's what you get for falling again
You can never get 'em out of your head
And that's what you get for falling again
You can never get 'em out of…"
"Damn it!" Draco suddenly exclaimed. He pointed the microphone towards the instructor, glaring at it. The band behind Draco stopped playing, giving each other curious glances and shrugs. "You! Must you look at my like I'm some kind of damned animal everyone must consider a disgrace!"
He turned to Hermione, eyes softening slight, yet still in his fit of rage. "Who hired this… this bastard?" He yelled, scaring Hermione slightly.
"Reakelle, I believe," She said, nodding. She shrugged then. "Reakelle, she doesn't care who she hires, as long as they're cheap."
Draco nodded, face softening as he lost his anger towards the man. "You," He said, regarding the man again. "Raise your prices, don't take advantage of people who like cheap things, and learn how to be better. You're quite aggravating." He turned to Hermione then, smiling. "And, now, I will leave you men, as I wish to take a fair lady out in town before our big concert tonight."
He slowly walked over to Hermione, holding his hand out to her. After a moment of thinking, she took it in her own small hand, smiling back at Draco. The two turned, waving at the men they were leaving behind with their free hands, then promptly running out of the studio, out into the open streets of Birmingham.
*
Draco and Hermione had ended up eating lunch at some small restaurant. Which, fortunately, was free of teens or anyone who seemed to care who they were. It was a rather good change; even it is was only for an hour that they sat there, talking to each other about various things.
However, when they went to buy some outfits for the upcoming shows on the tour, they were immediately surrounded by fans wanting autographs and various things. After requesting such, the store manager swoo-ed everyone except the two out. Thus, they could buy and look at whatever they wanted without the knowledge that fifty or so people were staring, jumping, and screaming (it was muffled, the doors were closed). The store bags full of clothes were placed in their rooms, on the bus.
Draco and Hermione found themselves in Diagon Alley, as a wizarding pub –much like the Leaky Cauldron- at the entrance of Wizarding Birmingham had a fireplace, in which they floo-ed off to the Alley.
That was rather fun for the two. Hermione, leaving her Flambez aura for about an hour, had a wonderful time buying ten or so books. Crookshanks having died years before, she also found herself buying a cat that looked very much like her old one. 'Kitty' seemed a suitable name, as both Draco and Hermione seemed to have left their minds back in the studio.
Draco had slipped off at some point, leaving Hermione alone to walk around the Alley herself for awhile. It proved… bad, almost. Not even ten minutes after he had left, she found herself bumping into someone. Looking up, there was someone else beside the person she had bumped into, both of whom were male. The worst thing was the two males were none other than her best friends at Hogwarts, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.
Hermione choked, staring at them in shock. It had nothing to do with the surroundings, as it was not a surprise to see two wizards in Diagon Alley. It was just… that they were there. In front of her.
Harry spoke up after a moment. "Er--… Hello, Miss…"
"Grangerrr--… La'fleur." She coughed loudly, turned around, and walked off the way she had came. They'd know the rumors were true now. They'd know who she was. They'd ask her questions.
Ron was suddenly on her left, Harry on her right, both following her. "We know who you are, Hermione," Ron said. "We never said anything about it, never owled you, because you have your own reasons for doing what you do."
She looked back and forth between the two of them in shock, mumbling to herself for a moment (all of which sounded like a chant of "no, no, no, no"). She sighed, finally speaking aloud, "How did—"
She was cut-off as Draco appeared in front of them, blocking the path; though no one intended to walk much further, even so. "It's your eyes, Granger," He stated. "Your eyes give it away. And there's only four people who were close enough to you to tell, so don't worry about it."
She had taken to staring at Draco now, having no idea what to say.
"Me, Ron," Harry said after a moment of silence, holding a hand up and ticking the names off on his fingers, "Ginny, and Draco."
To make a long story short, the two youngest Weasley's and Harry had made a truce with Draco when they found out he was a Death Eater spy for Dumbledore. Lucius, being the abusive, forceful father he was, had pushed Draco into being in alliance with Voldemort. However, behind his father's back, Draco had immediately asked Dumbledore if there was anything he could do to help the light, without raising suspicion among the other Death Eaters. The Headmaster had requested spying – Dumbledore never had to ask if Draco was going to be loyal, since the old wizard seemed to know so much from his student's and teacher's eyes. Draco had then gone under instruction of Snape, being a Death Eater spy for Dumbledore himself. However, Hermione never knew of Draco's being a Death Eater, or even a Death Eater spy…
But that is a story for another day, my friends.
"I see," Hermione mumbled after yet another moment of silence. "I can only ask you guys one thing…"
"Yes?" The three males said, at the same time.
"Just… please don't tell anyone," She said. Looking to Ron, she nodded. "And you, please make sure that Ginny tells no one."
"Why would I, Hermione?" A feminine voice suddenly spoke from behind Hermione. She turned around quickly, her eyes widening as she stared at Ginny. She then turned sharply and glared at Draco.
"You set this up, didn't you, dammit?" She asked coldly. Yes, she was glad to see her school friends after a good five years of not talking to them, but it was just… She didn't know, really. She was just mad at Draco for setting this up.
"Always knew you were a smart one, Hermione," Draco said calmly. "That was rather fast you caught on." He averted his eyes away, staring down the entrance to Knockturn Alley, which was right beside him. "There's something else you need to understand, but we'll save that for another day. Say good-bye to everyone, we've got a concert in three hours."
Her eyes widened as she looked down at her watch. Indeed, they only had three hours left before eight o'clock, the time of their concert.
With a quick good-bye, and a lecture of them needing to owl her at some time, her and Draco were off. Flooing back to the wizarding pub in Birmingham, the saw the bus still waiting for them outside and quickly boarded it.
With that, they were taken off to the arena they would be performing in later that night, dancing and singing, watching the fan go wild as they performed.
*
A/N: I know I messed around with a few things that I said would be explained. But, alas, this chapter fits better with the story. I'm sorry for those of you who are like, "huh?" It's just… things writers must do to make better the story. *coughs loudly* Also, if you read, review! They make me happy, and I update faster!
*Band- The band that plays the instruments is both Draco and Hermione's. Yes, it's strange. But, remember, Reakelle likes to cut money short. So she only hired one band for the two of them (also, the band hired is highly priced being some of the best instrumentalist in England. *nod*). The band travels around with them, only in their own bus, and they usually just go to the concerts and practice studios, as they have no point going anywhere with Draco and Hermione (and they're MUGGLES!)
That is enough to explain. And, sadly, at the rate this story is going, it may be over in the next few chapters. Not to worry, I'm really thinking about that sequel! And I've got a crying-sad ending for the story, too. Oh my cruelty.
Anyway, it's only a click and words away! Review, please.