Chapter 8

McDonald's

^~^~^~^~^

Hermione took a deep breath. "Gentlemen, welcome to London."

~*~*~

Phoenix Malfoy Thompson dropped her fork and grabbed her head in pain.

"Phoenix, darling, what's the matter?" Mr. Thompson looked up to his adopted daughter. The Thompson household was having their usual quiet breakfast of bacon and eggs when Phoenix suddenly broke their silence.

"Nix, what's wrong?" asked her mudblood mother.

She started to get up from the table and tried to get rid of the faint ringing in her ears. They're here, she thought. "I'm sorry, may I be excused?" she said as she made her way to the door, not waiting for any response from her parents.

"But what about your breakfast, honey?" Her dad called out, but the only answer that Mr. Thompson got was the loud bang of their front door.

Her younger brother Dylan snickered. "Freak," he muttered.

Mrs. Thompson gasped. "Dylan, watch your language! And how many times do I have to tell you, no discman on the table!" And so the Thompson family continued with their routine, finished breakfast at 10:30 am, dishes washed and dried by 10:45, with Phoenix's absence gone unnoticed.

~*~*~

She was standing in front of their house, heart racing and silently gasping for air. It was in the middle of the morning, but there was not a soul wandering the street of Coltsfoot Drive, the street where she lived with her mudblood family. Everyone had taken refuge in their little identical houses, probably eating the same meal, following the same schedule. It was sickening.

She put her index and middle fingers on her forehead and started to massage it. It's been a while since this last happened, she thought. But she hated it when it does.

So they've broken the barrier, she thought and smiled to herself. Gotta hand it to you brother, very impressive. She tried to shake the pain away from her head. Think, Phoenix, think.

She fumbled for something inside her pockets and took out a silver gadget. She flipped it open, pressed a number on speed dial and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello Goyle?" she finally spoke. "It's me. Listen. I think we'll go a little ahead than what we had planned. It's time to wake little Voldie up."

~*~*~

They crossed the barrier and somehow appeared on a little alleyway, which had now closed in on itself. The throng of busy muggle shoppers were too busy to notice four young adults materialize out of nowhere. While the Golden trio were still awed at what happened to them, Draco, however, had taken more steps than necessary and accidentally landed right in the middle of the street. A porky old man behind the wheels of an old Buick suddenly stepped on the brakes, while Draco's reflexes took over and made him jump a couple of feet back.

The old man flared on his horn. "Are you crazy kid? I could have killed you!" he yelled behind his beard. "You just sprang out of nowhere!"

Draco's heart was still pumping with adrenalin. "Watch your mouth, muggle! No one calls a Malfoy crazy, not even dirty mudbloods like you!"

The old man turned red with rage. "What the… What the hell did you just call me? Why you—"

"Sir! I'm so sorry! It's okay!" Harry suddenly grabbed Malfoy's arm and pulled him away. Draco was surprised for a moment but he briefly caught Harry's eyes that seemed to say, "follow my lead or I will kill you."

"I'm so sorry, sir," Harry smiled apologetically to the man. "You see, he, um, well, he escaped from this mental asylum from downtown, and, um, we've been trying to find him the whole day."

"Oh yeah!" Draco piped in, his body lanking in different angles. "Fuzzy wuzzy here is ugly foo poo mudgy boo." He looked at the driver with silver puppy eyes.

Harry smiled uneasily. "See? He makes up words all the time, hehe," he patted Draco's back, who continued to look stupid and dumb.

The old man first turned to look at Malfoy, then at Harry. Finally, he bought the act. "Just keep him away from the streets." He said, and shifted back to first gear and drove away.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Ron laughed from behind and patted Draco's shoulder. "Nice show, Malfoy," he teased. "I wanted to join too, but I couldn't find a cute nurse outfit around."

Draco shrugged off Ron's hand. "Get off me," he muttered.

Hermione walked up to Draco and snuggled under his arm, laughing despite of herself. Draco looked down on her and gently poked her nose. "Don't tell me you're going to start too."

Hermione giggled and shook her head. "I just thought you were cute. But good thing Harry was closer. We shouldn't be attracting attention. Phoenix and her friends could be anywhere."

Harry had the urge to look at the happy couple, but he continued to face them as if nothing was wrong. He forced a smile on his face. "What are you talking about Hermione? I just wanted Malfoy to look stupid."

Draco raised his eyebrow. "Really, Potter?"

"Just kidding," Harry replied. "So where do we go from here, Hermione?"

Hermione frowned. She looked at the four of them, then at the busy crowd who had began staring rudely at them. And why shouldn't they? There were three young men who could pass for models (had it not been for the brooms they carried with them) accompanied by a girl clutching a book twice her weight. Finally Hermione spoke. "There's a McDonald's down the street. What say we eat first and then figure out what's going to happen next?"

~*~*~

After searching a few muggle pounds of money, Harry and Hermione had finally their orders and seated themselves on a table by the window, far from everyone, with Ron and Malfoy tailing behind. Moments later, burgers and fries and diet Cokes were almost finished, and Draco was being his Malfoy self again.

"My Happy Meal sucks," he complained.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked. "I think Marlin is cool!"

"No way," Draco argued. "Marlin looks so fake! Look at yours. Nemo looks way better. This isn't fair. A Weasley never gets anything better than a Malfoy—"

Hermione cleared her throat. "Um, guys, I think we should be talking about Finding Phoenix instead."

Draco sighed. "You're right, 'mione."

Hermione cleared the table and dumped the Craft Underground on top of it. The boy watched as she flipped through the pages until she finally saw a piece of parchment tucked between them. It was written in a bunch of lines and dots all over it.

Harry looked disturbed. "What language is that?" he asked.

Hermione smiled. "It's not a language Harry, it's a pattern." She looked up from the book to see three confused faces looking back at her. "See here," she began. "Each symbol represents a letter in our alphabet. Draw two parallel vertical lines and another horizontal pair intersecting them. Put the first nine letters in the spaces, then we've broken half the code! Put dots on the corners of the lines, we've got the next nine letters. Then draw an X, then put dots on the vertices, you've got yourself a new alphabet." Her eyes were glistening, sparkling as it always does whenever she knows what she's doing. Draco smiled inwardly at this.

"Dumbledore knew I was into this thing," Hermione continued. She pointed at the parchment. "These are instructions he gave for us to find Phoenix. I've already broken the first part, that's why I knew about the barrier. Give me a sec and I'll decipher the rest."

Harry nodded and reached over to get The Craft Underground. "Maybe Ron and I should memorize a few more spells while you're at it."

"Come on Harry!" Ron said. "We haven't even invoked any spirits yet!"

"Well, I think it's just useful." Harry explained. "We can save time, you know."

Ron sighed and gave up. He leaned over so he could also read the book.

For a while they were just being quiet. Harry and Ron were silently muttering to themselves across the table while Hermione was still breaking the last message beside Draco. "Oh, um, we went to an early Halloween Party…" Harry had said when an elderly woman stared at their table and at their brooms. It was then that Draco realized they were really far from everyone. They were in a secluded corner and no one would notice if he did anything… naughty.

He leaned towards Hermione and casually wrapped his arm around the waist. Hermione, who was so wrapped up in her work just smiled and sighed at this. Malfoy sneered as he reached out from under the table and opened the button of her pants. Hermione's fingers froze as Draco silently pulled the zipper down.

"Draco, what are you doing?" Hermione hissed. But she was starting to feel hot inside as he knees began to part.

"That's it," Draco replied while his hand was running up and down her thigh under the table. "They don't know what I'm doing to you right now." He whispered, glancing at Harry and Ron. "So that's a W, right?"

Hermione's chest heaved at this little game Draco was playing. His fingers had made their way under her panties which were soaked wet. Her hand suddenly grabbed the edge of the table as Draco jammed two fingers inside her.

"I said, that's a W, am I correct?" Draco asked once more, an evil grin forming at the corner of his mouth.

Her head twisted to look at Draco, whose hair only permitted little of Draco's lust-filled eyes. Concentrate, Granger, two can play this game, Hermione thought. "Y-yeah…" she managed to speak.

"Oh I see," Draco teased as his fingers moved slowly, in and out of Hermione's womanhood. She whimpered softly so only the two of them could hear. A small growl escaped from Draco's lips. He was beginning to get aroused as well as he saw Hermione's helplessness.

"And, um, this is an H… I… N… K… no wait. This is uh… uh…"

"Yes?"

"G… and I…"

"Hey Hermione! Are you okay?" Harry suddenly asked. Draco was a bit startled at this and didn't move for a moment.

"Yes, of course, Harry," she lied. "What made you think so?"

"Coz you're sweating like crazy… I don't know. Maybe it's just me. The air conditioning is probably broken. It sure is hot in here, right?"

Draco rested his chin on Hermione's trembling shoulder and jammed his fingers once more inside, deeper than ever.

Hermione gasped. "Yes!" she exclaimed. "I mean, yes… yes… Please, please…"

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Please? What are you pleading for?"

Draco pushed his fingers further. "Yeah, Hermione, what are you pleading for?"

Hermione unintentionally threw her head back. She ran her hand through her hair, hardly keeping what she felt inside. "I mean, I-I mean, please let the a/c work!"

"So Hermione, would you mind showing us the note now?" Draco asked. His fingers had began a circular motion inside of her.

Hermione moaned. "Oh…uh…"

"Oh come on, Hermione!" Harry persisted.

"Yeah, come on!" Ron agreed.

All of a sudden, Draco removed his wet fingers from her.

"NO!" Hermione screamed

Draco raised his eyebrow and looked at her innocently. "What's wrong?"

Hermione shot a look at Draco. She didn't know if she was mad at Draco for doing something so crazy to her or for not finishing what he did to her.

"No… I-I don't mind at all," Hermione answered. "J-Just g-give me a minute."

Okay, Granger, concentrate, she thought as Draco shrugged. She was still throbbing between her legs but she ignored it. W…H…I…N…G…I…N..G… Whinging?

"Oh my God, Harry, she's in Surrey!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Whoa, wait!" Harry said. "You mean she's in Surrey right now?"

Hermione nodded. "In Little Whinging, to be exact."

"But that's still general! Little Whinging is a big place."

"Well, Dumbledore also said here that Draco would know where to look once we get there."

Draco stared back at them. "Well, maybe my dreams will be clearer then."

"But still," Ron piped in after taking a gulp from his Coke. "We're in London and Surrey is a long way from here. How are we gonna get there? We can't exactly use our brooms, remember?"

"Maybe not…" Hermione bit her lip. "But we could use the Floo Network! Floo right into Harry's house!"


"Nice one, Hermione! The my aunt and uncle are gonna be gone this month for their second honeymoon!"

Draco shook his head. "I'm afraid we've got to find another way. Muggle houses aren't connected to the Network."

"Really! And I thought you guys had imagination!" Hermione looked at the boys. "I've got an idea, but we have to go to Diagon Alley first."

Draco smirked. "I just love it when I get ideas in – Hey!"

Suddenly a man they didn't notice before walked briskly past them and suddenly grabbed Draco's coat which was hanging at the back of the booth. He immediately ran towards the exit of McDonald's before it registered in Draco's mind that his coat was being snatched. "Damn it!" he cursed and ran after the thief. Immediately Harry and Ron followed suit while Hermione took five seconds longer because she still zipped her pants.

"STOP!" Draco yelled as he continued to chase the man. "DRACO!" Harry yelled as he and Ron and Hermione ran together. Malfoy was breathing hard and was running as fast as his long legs could carry him. But unfortunately, he kept trying not to bump into muggles and spoil his garments with their filth. Plus, he was unfamiliar with the streets. They turned on one dark corner and Draco lost hope. He grabbed his wand from his pocket pants and aimed it at the robber, who was much afar already.

"Don't!" Harry shouted as he grabbed Draco's arm and let the wand fall on the ground. The robber was by now nowhere to be seen.

Draco turned around. "What the fuck did you do? I almost had him!"

"Malfoy! We're in a muggle street! No magic remember?" Harry yelled back. "We could get caught and spend twenty years in Azkaban for a stupid coat!"

"But that was an Armani!" Draco argued. By this time, Ron and Hermione had gotten to them, panting heavily. "It cost me a fortune!"

"Listen, Draco," Hermione said, between gasps of breath. "I know you value your clothes a lot, and the whole Malfoy Wardrobe thing—"

"- Malfoy Wardrobe?" Ron interrupted.

"- But we can't afford the risk," Hermione finished. "So just let it go."

"Besides," Harry said. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with muggles?"

Draco laughed. "A lot has changed, Potter. For your information, Armani was never a muggle. He's a wizard. Do you seriously think a mudblood could come up with wonderful styles and fashion?"

It was Ron's turn to laugh. "Now that made you sound just like Professor Lickorpuss."

"I am not gay."

"Well how do we know for sure?"

"Aurgh! Will you give it a break already?" Hermione grabbed her hair. "When you guys get along with each other it's incredibly annoying! Sometimes I wish you'd get back to the normal testosterone-filled, immature selves that you are. Can't we just be the same as we were and go to Diagon Alley as we planned? We're wasting time!"

"But my—" Draco started.

Hermione pointed a finger at him. "No buts, Draco. Get over your Armani." She looked at her two best friends. "We agreed yesterday that everyone would follow my rules. Anyone who feels otherwise may stay here and go back to Hogwarts, wait for Voldemort to revive, and die a rather painful death. It's up to you." With that, she turned on her heels and began to walk to their destination.

The three boys looked after the girl with a fiery personality, hair bouncing on her back.

"You know, she could be such a bitch sometimes," Ron folded his arms.

"Tell me about it," Draco agreed.

"And we didn't even say we wanted to go back," Harry chuckled, looking at Hermione who didn't even glance back. "But come on. We better hurry up before Dragon Lady turns us into Sunday's barbecue."

Suddenly Hermione turned around, with a rather sheepish grin on her face.

"What's the matter, 'mione?" Harry asked her.

"Can't believe I'm the only who thought about this. Change of plans." Hermione answered. "First we go back to McDonald's, get our stuff, and then we go to Diagon Alley." She was walking down the streets with the three boys trying to keep up with her.

"By the way, Hermione, you never had the chance to tell us about your Big Plan." said Ron.

"Yeah, could you at least tell us what you're getting us into?" asked Draco.

That's when suddenly Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. They had just reached the front glass doors of McDonald's when she turned around to face them, glowing with mischief. "Draco? Ron? How'd you like to be Mr. Lucius and Mr. Arthur for a day, asking an immediate Floo connection to the Potter house for a brief inspection?"

She thus went inside, leaving three open mouthed gods staring after her.

"She has got to be kidding me," Ron breathed.

TBC

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And that was it!! So how'd you like it??? Please tell me all your views and comments!! Please please please….

ERICA G: Hahha… I just love the reactions you get… it's nice to know my jokes are appreciated in the story!! Thanks so much really for the wonderful reviews!

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