Nowhere but Up

Chapter 4 – Sleep

Disclaimer: the usual

Draco's POV

"Here we are. The tailor." I said, taking a deep breath a strolling towards the entrance. The last time I'd been in the tailor, Pansy had walked in and starting mauling me with kisses that took two weeks to scrub off in the shower. Hermione smiled at me with that warm glow she possessed, and my knees nearly buckled. 'Keep it together, Malfoy.' I thought determinedly.

Hermione stepped up the front desk to talk to Madam Malkin. Madam Malkin came to the desk and smiled at us, her withered eyes bright as ever to finally have a customer. "Hermione? Is that you?" Madam Malkin adjusted her glasses and smiled widely. "Oh, Hermione Granger! It's been a long time, it has, dear."

I watched Hermione set off that warm glow with another smile, but to Madam Malkin this time. "I can't believe you remember me. That was years ago, right before my seventh year when I needed some new robes after… Draco had cursed them to grow fungus at the end of sixth year. No bother, they were getting short anyhow." Hermione turned towards me and gave me a wink. I remembered that. I had cursed her robes to grow fungus because she'd angered me for one reason or another. 'But it really wasn't that hard to get on my bad side in those days,' I thought to myself jokingly.

Madam Malkin smiled and nodded. "Well, Miss Granger, step on back here and I'll tailor you up some robes." They were swallowed by the massive, golden-brown, moth-eaten curtains that hung behind the clerk's desk, leading into a room with four large sets of curtains, much like that of the first set, leading into four smaller changing rooms. I waited out in the main room and materialized some butterbeer and a few magazines, including the Daily Prophet. Since Hermione had whisked me away so soon, I hadn't had the chance to read what that new writer had said about me.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Hermione came back out of the room, holding bunches of robes. She paid Madam Malkin and smiled at me, my feet and legs beginning to feel like goo as she did so. "Thank you, Madam Malkin. You have been very helpful to me and I thank you for the exquisite robes."

Madam Malkin gave Hermione a toothy smile and ushered us out of her shop. "Finally." I said with an annoying little nagging tone I'd cooked up just for Hermione. "It seemed like hours."

Hermione glared at me, but soon replaced her glare with a rather wide grin. She didn't get mad, but she playfully punched my shoulder and snapped her finger as if calling a dog, saying, "Come on, little Draco. Come on!" I played along with her and growled, and she laughed hard. Her lips spread and revealed her perfectly white teeth, which played a part in once again, setting off her magnificent glow that nearly melted me.

"Okay, so where are we off to now?" I said, once again regaining my composure. She looked into my eyes, but I stared at a rather large wizard trying to hook a trunk onto his broomstick. Hermione shrugged, and I nodded in response, "Well, I've got to be getting to the Ministry, so would you like to come along?"

"I'm not sure I'm welcome there." She replied timidly, looking down at the cobblestone road we were walking on. Her heels clanked against the stone and my boots made an utterly annoying noise I couldn't quite place my finger on. She continued, "After that incident with the House Elf Committee Meeting, I'm not sure I could ever show my face in the Ministry building again."

I smiled down at her. Unfortunately, bad habits were hard to kick, and I'm sure it appeared to be something as a superior smile, but she didn't mind. She looked up at me into my eyes and smiled back, but it was weak, and it did not set off her warm glow that I so admired. "Don't worry," I said confidently, "I'm the Minister of Magic. I can make anything happen."

Hermione still did not look convinced. "Yes, I know you are, but you are not all powerful, Draco." I stopped in my tracks and stood to look at her, my eyes wide with disbelief at what she was saying. "You are just another person who thinks they are the most powerful being on earth just because they hold the top position in the government. Take the Muggles, for instance. They have a government, but instead of a Minister of Magic, they have a Prime Minister. The Prime Minister thinks he is the all powerful being who controls the fate of England, so does the Queen and King, Prince and Princess. But they don't! They are just another group of people blinded by the little bit of power they have!"

Hermione's POV

The iciness in Draco's eyes had come back. I didn't feel quite as safe with him anymore, but I knew for a fact that I still loved him. He looked on the verge of crying out of anger, perhaps challenging me to a dual right in the heart of Diagon Alley. But I stood my ground. What I'd said was true, and I wasn't going back on my own beliefs just to satisfy one person.

"I'm moving out."

He shot right out of his daze of anger. "W-what?" he stammered, staring at me in disbelief, "It's only been a day, Hermione!"

"Yes, I realize it's only been a day, but I've contacted Cho. I'm moving in with her and her two daughters. Draco, believe me, I'm really, really sorry."

I knew that Draco was really on the verge of crying now. I didn't quite know why, and I knew that he wouldn't tell me, so I didn't question him any further. Instead, I simply brushed his cheek with my hand and smiled. "Cheer up! Why did you even want a silly old Mudblood in your house anyway? I'm sure it'll be much better this way."

He nodded and forced out a weak smile, taking my hand in his and setting it down by my side. "When?" he said, his voice growing hoarse.

"This Thursday, which is in two days." He grimaced sadly and nodded. "Draco, look! I'm really, really, really sorry! Draco, look at me!" But he refused to look me in the eye. I was still clueless as to why, and my little bit of stupidity got the better of me, and I didn't ask. Instead, I just looked to the cobblestone road we were standing on as the water between the stones rushed passed us.

Draco still would not look at me, even when I grabbed his arm and pleaded with him. "Leave now." He barked, his iciness coming back more than ever. The warm feeling I had gotten whenever he talked was gone now, replaced with the coldness he'd had throughout our Hogwarts education. "I want you gone by tonight."

I stood completely still, my mouth wide open. 'Maybe he was joking.' I thought. Still, I didn't even believe my own reasoning, and I had this strange feeling that he wanted to rip my heart out and run it around Diagon Alley for all to see. It was easy for me to do what I'd done, considering the way I felt about him, but it was not right for us to be in the same house together. Tears began welling in my eyes as I choked out, "Why, Draco?"

"Another, thing," he continued with the same hatred he'd had when he told me to leave, "I'd thank you to call me Mr. Malfoy. Though we were in school together, that still does not vanquish the line between the Minister of Magic and his subject. Now, leave my sight before I throw you in Azkaban for disobeying your Minister."

I stuck my chin in the air and forced as much poise and composure I had to the surface. "Well, I really do hope you're happy, Malfoy!" I lifted my foot and stomped it hard on the stone road, nearly breaking the heel, and I flounced away.

Once he was out of seeing distance or even earshot, I slowed my pace down and began to mumble to myself. "Who the hell does he think he is?" "What crawled up his ass today?" "Why is he being such a goddamn prick to me now?" "He can go screw himself for all I care." Finally, I cracked. I knew it wasn't true. I knew it wasn't so. There was a small bench a little ways to my left, and I slumped down on it, buried my face in my hands, and let out long but silent wails of both confusion and hurt.

"Why?" I whispered to myself, not caring if people looked at me or ridiculed me for crying on a bench in Diagon Alley. "Why did he have to be so mean? Maybe if he knew that I loved him…" 'Come off, Hermione, old girl. He's not going to love you back, and he'll just wind up hurting you even more. Just dry your eyes and get out of Diagon Alley. Tell Cho you've got to be out by tonight, and go there. Cho will welcome you with open arms and make it feel all better.' That nagging voice that only spoke to me logically was ringing in my head again. It did not know how to feel compassion, which is why it pushed me in the opposite direction my heart as pulling me towards.

But, nonetheless, the voice was right, and it would be smart to listen to it. So I got up and walked out of Diagon Alley, and used Floo powder to get back to Malfoy Manor, in order to contact Cho. I longed to tell Draco exactly the way I felt, but I knew deep down in my heart he'd never feel the same way about me. As soon as I got back to Malfoy Manor, I quickly looked around for Draco – he wasn't there. 'Oh, yeah! He said he had to go to the Ministry. Today is Tuesday, a work day.' I thought to myself as I turned back to the fire, threw Floo powder into it, and stuck just me head into it, calling out Cho's address.

Cho's POV

"Daisy! Rose! What are you doing?" I yelled at the twins at my feet who were apparently trying to strangle each other. They looked up at me and both started to spit out excuses, but I shook my head. "No excuses. Wingardium Leviosa!" I said, and they both came to eye-level with me. "Now, Rose, tell me your side of the story, then you can, Daisy."

"Cho? Cho are you here?"

"Hold on." I said, putting them both down gently and walking over to the fire. Hermione's face was in it! "Hermione? What are you doing in my fire?"

"Funny." She said, swimming in a pool of sarcasm. "Listen, there has been a change of plans. When I told His Royal Highness Draco, he got all upset and now I have to move out now. Do you think you'll be ready for me by tomorrow morning?"

"But where are you going to spend for the night?"

"You live a bit away from Malfoy Manor, so the Knight Bus of course."

"Oh, Hermione. I'm so sorry for you. Yes, of course we will be ready for you whenever you come. We're just putting the finishing touches on your room, so you could just Apparate here."

"No, I'll take the Knight Bus. Apparating never did appeal to me, and you know that very well, Cho! So, I'll see you then. And give Daisy and Rose a hug for me, okay?"

"Well, they were trying to strangle each other again so now I'm trying to get the story, but okay, I suppose one hug won't hurt." I laughed heartily and watched as Hermione's head disappeared from my fire. Then I walked back over to my daughters and gave them each a hug. "Now, those were from Aunt Hermione, okay. Where were we? Oh yes… Rose?"

Draco's POV

I was beginning to get desperate. 'Why did I go and get Pansy Parkinson?' I thought to myself. "So, Draco, finally saw that being seen with a Mudblood would not be good for the Minister's look?" Pansy purred into my ear.


"Yeah. I guess so." I began to feel myself slipping into a daze. There I was, with Hermione, standing in the middle of Diagon Alley, staring into her eyes and… I shook myself out of my stupor. "So, how about we go out and have a Muggle prepared meal in London?"

Pansy's eyes opened up very wide. "You really mean it? I've always wanted to go to this cute little restaurant called 'Willow's Café' but no one ever wanted to go with me. Let's go!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me down the street, out of Diagon Alley. I really didn't want to go with her, but it was worth it to get away from Hermione, away from Malfoy Manor, away from the wizarding world, even if it was only for a few hours.

The world around me was starting to spin. All the colors and shapes were beginning to merge together so that I felt like I was in a beautiful dream-world. Pansy's hand began to grow sweaty in mine, but suddenly, she began to drift away. Nothing was around me now, and I was in a completely empty vortex of pure black. Where am I? I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, not even a squeak. Suddenly, everything came back into view, and I saw Pansy standing over me.

There were muffled voices all around me, but the colors were still swirled and the shapes still abstract. Pansy's face was blurry and I couldn't feel the air around me, not even when she brushed up against my cheek. 'Did she kiss me?' I thought, my head throbbing and my eyelids becoming heavy. My eyelids became too heavy and I drifted into a deep sleep. I could still hear the voices around me.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"I'm not sure, Miss Parkinson."

"But what's wrong with him?"

"Again, I'm not sure, Miss Parkinson."

What was wrong with me?