Nowhere but Up Chapter 4: Wizard Weekly, a harry potter fanfic

Nowhere but Up

Chapter 3 – Wizard Weekly

Disclaimer: this is really getting quite annoying

Draco's POV

I awoke with a start. Everything around me was blurry and my throat was groggy. The fire in front of me was crackling loudly and there was an afghan thrown over me haphazardly. I was still in the living room, and I was still covered in soot and ash. So all that had happened in the bath was simply a dream? How could that be? 'Was I really snogging Hermione or was that all just a dream? It felt so real, though.'

The fire was now beginning to go out, and as I looked out the window to my right, I saw that the sun was beginning to rise. I heard rustling, distant was distinct, and Hermione emerged from the shadows wearing a purple shawl over a long, green nighty and purple slippers. She shivered a little and said quietly, "Maybe I should make breakfast before Draco wakes up. He'd like that." Hermione apparently did not realize that I was awake, for I didn't move an inch when she came down, and my head was still nestled under the afghan cozily.

I decided to pretend to be asleep just till she'd started breakfast, and then I would lazily slip out and rush upstairs before she could see me. "Damn, why am I having these… dream things?" I whispered to myself, slipping out of the afghan's warmth and starting up the stairs.

"Oh, Draco! Is that you?"

"Fuck."

"Draco!"

"Y-yes, Hermione?"

"How'd you sleep?"

She walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a yellow dishtowel. Her smile was what lit the room up and kept the sun shining, the moon glowing, and the stars glittering. My hands started to get sweaty and my head started to feel a little clammy. 'Damn it Malfoy, keep it together!' She opened her mouth, about to say something, but she was cut off by my annoying father's wails.

"Mud bloods shall not take residence in Malfoy Manor! Draco, how dare you befoul your family by bringing a Muggle into our home! You are no longer my son, Draco Malfoy!" The hauntingly snide voice of my father's portrait echoed throughout the house.

'He is so goddamn annoying. Why can't he just accept the fact that Hermione is here and she will be here for a while?' I thought to myself absentmindedly. I should have taken the chance I had and ran up the stairs, but Hermione was too quick for me.

"Draco, I hope you had a nice night. The bed was so comfortable – thank you. I finally managed to put a silencing charm on your father's portrait, but just for a few hours. Maybe after breakfast you and I could go shopping. I want to buy some new clothes for some job interviews I have. Would you mind?"

I shook my head weakly. "No, no. I'd love to. That's is to say, fine, whatever." Something about her just took my breath away, but it was too soon to tell if she felt the same way about her. For now, I'd just have to dream about her, no matter how much I wanted to hold her and tell her how I felt. No matter, it was silly anyway. It was silly that I loved a Mudblood and it would never work out, considering my title against hers. Still, I wanted her so much, and no matter what that annoying little voice in my head said, nothing could persuade me otherwise.

Hermione's POV

'Draco's acting odd.' I thought to myself right after the little incident with Lucius Malfoy. It was quite annoying to have to hear him screeching every few moments, but it was something I'd have to just deal with. Draco seemed to not want to be around me, and I could tell by his jumpy reactions that he was nervous for some reason or another.

"No, no. I'd love to. That's is to say, fine, whatever." He replied with a gulp right before heading upstairs to do god knows what before breakfast.

I had had a strange dream the night before. He said he was heading up to the bath after chasing Peewee up the chimney, and I followed him. I didn't acknowledge his presence until he said something, and then we just erupted in a pool of kisses in the bubbly bath surrounded by fragrant, colorful globes and scented candles all along shelves high up near the ceiling. It was an odd sort of dream, one I'd never had before, but it felt so right. 'No, you can never be with him.' Said that annoying little voice in my head. 'But I want him so bad.' I thought in reply to the voice. 'I want him more than anything and I'm not exactly sure why. I have to tell him. But then he might get scared and kick me out. Maybe I'll just hint it to him, kiss him on accident, throw a few moves out.' I nodded to myself.

Breakfast passed by quickly and we set out to the tailor in Diagon Alley. I wanted to tell him how I felt so badly, and it took every ounce of strength I had to hold myself back. We'd been silent for about a half-hour now, and something needed to break the ice. Several times I tried to speak, but every time I was shot down by my own head and unable to keep a conversation going. 'Maybe he doesn't want to talk to you,' I thought to myself. 'Maybe it's just you who wants to have a decent conversation and talk to him.'

Finally, something did break the ice. Pansy Parkinson strode up to us with a wide smile on her face. I couldn't see where Draco had been when he'd called her a fat oaf that day in one of the Hogwarts corridors – she was actually quite stunning. She'd slimmed down considerably, but her arrogant smile was still in tact on that pale face of hers. "Hello, Draco." Pansy said, taking his arm in hers. "And who are you?" She said, peering around him and into my eyes.

I cleared my throat and grinned. "Hermione Granger. Long time no see, Piggy." I was unsure if everyone stilled called her Piggy Parkinson, but that story behind that name was priceless, and I would never forget it. However, there would be time to reminisce about things like that later. For now, the matter at hand was trying to pry some information out of her about Draco. "Sorry, Pansy. Old habits are hard to kick, ya know?"

Pansy glowered at me in disgust. "Draco, why are you with her in Diagon Alley, when all this time you should be with me!"

Draco sighed in annoyance. He rolled his eyes and ripped his arm away from Pansy's. "You, Piggy," he said quickly, "do you not understand the words 'I don't love you'? Because I can't imagine how many times I've said it for it to sink into your thick skull."

Pansy stopped, looking very violated and flabbergasted. "Well, Draco Malfoy, I don't love you either! I just thought that we could be friends. It shows that a Mudblood is kinder than a Malfoy!" With that, she skipped off, dropping the magazine that had been in her arms all this time. I bent down and picked it up, stumbling backwards and almost knocking poor Draco over.

"What?" he said, holding me steady and peering over my shoulder to get a good look at the magazine. His eyes became wide and he read aloud, "'Wizard Weekly's #1 Witch for the third consecutive month now, Pansy Parkinson, is running against Padma Patil for head director of the Department of Social Life at the Ministry of Magic. Wizard Weekly strongly supports Pansy Parkinson for both her beauty, knowledge of social life, and her generous contribution to 'Weekly every two weeks.' So, she's buying her way into Wizard Weekly's good side."

I laughed uncontrollably. "They call her beautiful? And what, pray tell, is the Department of Social Life, anyway? I imagine they can't be too helpful if they're called the Department of Social Life?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, those annoying girly-girls voted it in two years ago. They thought it necessary to have a good view of what social life in the wizarding world nowadays, and since it was a two-thirds overrule, I couldn't do much. Anyway, we've reached the tailor."