A/N: Update time!
The Christikon Way
Chapter Two
The just sat there in shock, staring at each other. They were in their own little world, oblivious to the pandemonium that was happening around them.
Suddenly, the flight attendant walked up and blew a whistle to get everyone's attention.
"Ok, people, if you would just grab your carry on luggage, put it in the over head compartments, and sit down, then this would all be less hectic. I know you want to get up and walk around, but the flight's almost over. So, please, lets have more picking up and less yelling." She said, to the angry mob that had accumulated in the aisle.
As people started picking up their luggage, Hermione and Draco were snapped into reality simultaneously.
"I can't believe this!" They said in unison.
"I-you-NO WAY!" Draco said, and started pinching himself. "This *pinch* is *pinch* a *pinch* dream *pinch*!" He said angrily. He then turned to Hermione. "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!?!?! YOU'RE NOT REAL!!!!! YOU'RE A FIGMENT OF MY OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION!!!" He yelled at her.
"And you think I'm liking this arrangement? HA! I don't think so!" She told him. She then pulled out her discman and covered her ears with her headphones.
"Granger! Don't ignore me!" He yelled back at her, but she just turned her music up and grabbed her book.
"Urgh! FINE!" And he sat back with his arms crossed across his chest. (A/N: lol. That sounds funny.)
Five minutes later, the flight attendant came over.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to turn those off. We're a few minutes away from landing." She said to Hermione.
She didn't hear her.
"Um...Could you nudge her for me? I can't reach her." She asked Draco.
"Sure." He said, slugging Hermione in the arm.
"OUCH! MALFOY! DON'T YOU EVER TOUGHT ME AGAIN YOU SLIMY GIT!" she exploded.
The whole plane was now looking at the three of them.
"Granger, please. Like I would touch you out of my own free will. You just need to turn those off. We're almost landing." He said calmly. "We've got it covered. You can go about your business." He told the passengers in the cabin.
They slowly turned away and talk gradually filled the plane.
"You're a git, Malfoy." Hermione told him after the flight attendant left them.
"I was just helping the poor woman get your attention." He told her nonchalantly.
"Yeah, and causing me physical pain in the process." She shot back at him grumpily.
"You actually thought I would pass up an opportunity like that?" He asked her incredulously.
"Well...I was hoping so, but I have much too high of expectations for you, so I may as well just forget about it." She said, turning away from him and looking out the window at the evening lights of Newark, New Jersey and Manhattan, New York.
"Wow." She whispered to herself.
"What?" Draco asked crankily.
"It's none of your concern what I'm thinking and saying. If I want you to know, I'll tell you, so just bug off!" she just shot back at him.
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
And they both shut up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Please stay in your seats until we have come to a complete stop and the pilot turns the fasten seatbelt sign off. Thank you for flying Continental Airlines. We hope your flight was enjoyable." They heard the cookie cutter voice over the intercom.
Hermione was gathering her stuff into her carry on and Draco was rubbing his ear, which had started hurting in the descent.
The aisles soon filled as the seatbelt sign was turned off.
Draco stood up, immediately sitting back down again, cursing and rubbing his head, due to the fact that the ceiling was lower than he had expected.
Hermione let out a snort of laughter.
"Shut up, Granger." He shot back at her, but she broke into a fit of giggles.
Draco sighed and gave up, not in the mood for another row at the moment. His entire head now hurt. At least now he would be able to get some ice cream and a good soda to help him. Maybe even a soft pretzel.
"What's wrong Malfoy?" Hermione sincerely asked him as she looked at him. His silence automatically told her something was wrong.
"What's wrong is none of your business, Granger." He shot back at her, grabbing his backpack and stalking down the aisle.
She quickly got up and followed him, making sure no one got in front of her.
As they exited the plane, Hermione thought she heard the flight attendant say to the pilot in her stupid cookie cutter voice, "They should get married. They already fight like an old couple. And they're so cute together."
Perfect couple? Yeah right.
When they got into the hall right outside the plane, Hermione walked up beside Draco.
"You know what, Malfoy? I don't care if it's none of my business. TELL ME!" She ordered him.
"Well! Someone's pushy!" He said to her, slinging his backpack over his right shoulder.
"So? I want to know!" She defended herself.
"And I want to know what you were so awed about when we were flying in. But you wont tell me that, so why should I tell you this?" He told her, shoving his left hand in his pocket.
"Well, I asked you politely! You just said, 'What?' Oh, yeah. Real polite." She said sarcastically.
"Well, that's just too bad for you then, 'cause I'm not telling you until you tell me, and I don't think you're going to cave, so you're out of luck." He told her, taking out his ticket for his next flight.
"What if I told you after you told me?" She asked, him, looking at his face.
"Why should I tell first? After all, I asked first." He asked her.
"Well, I don't think you'll believe me if I told you first, and then you wouldn't tell me. And then, I would have told you and not gotten what I had wanted in the first place, and wouldn't have anything to hold against you if you didn't tell me." She told him simply.
"As if you would really hold it against me." He laughed, and made for his left.
Hermione took out her ticket and looked around.
She then put her ticket in her pocket and followed Draco.
"You bet I would." She told him as she caught up to him.
"Right. I'm sure you would." He said sarcastically. "Why are you following me?" He asked her, looking straight ahead at the gate.
"Because my gate's this way. I'm in C7. And, by the looks of it, so are you." She answered him matter-of-factly.
"Says who?"
"Says your ticket." She told him, pointing to his ticket, still in his hand.
"And, let me tell you, I make a great plane neighbor. You know why I'm telling you this? Because I'm in 9A. You're in 9B. So just get used to me." She told him with a final tone.
"Well, this is just jolly, isn't it?" He shot back at her with fake joy.
"You betcha." She told him, shouldering her carry on.
"So? What's wrong?" She asked him yet again.
"I told you I'm not telling until you tell me." He told her, pocketing his ticket.
"Um...why not?" She asked him.
"Because I asked you first, and you wouldn't tell me. I told you that, too."
"Why are you doing to Billings?" She asked, as it dawned on her that he never had a chance to answer her question nearly eight hours ago.
"Why should I tell you?" He asked, walking up to a smoothie vendor.
"Because I told you why I'm going, so you should tell me. It's only fair." She told him, stepping up to the counter. "One Pineapple Banana Smoothie, please." She told the cashier, getting out her money from her purse.
They stood in silence while the cashier was making her smoothie and when Hermione had paid her, she stepped aside to let Draco order and pay.
Five minutes later, they were walking around the food court looking for a place to get some soft pretzels.
"So what kind of smoothie did you get?" Hermione asked, sipping her own.
Draco mumbled something incomprehensible.
"Sorry, what?" She asked.
"Pineapple Banana, ok?" He asked her, a bit peeved at the fact that they both got the same drink. (A/N: Damn, I sure make him shallow, don't I?)
"Oh. It's good, isn't it?" Hermione asked, not noticing his peeved attitude.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." He said, absent-mindedly taking another sip of it.
They strolled around for a little while until Hermione looked at her watch.
"We'd better get to our gate. They'll be boarding in a few minutes." She told him, throwing away her now empty styrafoam cup.
"Sure." Was all Draco said. He, too, threw away his empty cup, and then turned toward their gate and they both walked over to it.
"The pilot would like to start boarding flight 4592Y- non-stop to Minneapolis St. Paul, Minnesota. Would all first class passengers please come up to the desk with their tickets ready for boarding." The attendant's voice echoed in the gate.
They both took a seat where a family had just gotten up to get in line.
"So...Why are you going to Billings?" Hermione asked him yet again.
Draco sighed.
"I'm going to this camp out on the Boulder River. I've been going to it ever since I visited my cousin who lives in Big Timber. He's big on the whole religion scene and he invited me to come to camp with him for a week. I agreed. I wasn't too psyched, but I figured it would burn time. Well, when I got up there, I felt...I don't know...like I didn't have to hide myself. Like I could just be me and not have to worry about anyone else pressuring me to be mean or smart or nice or stupid. I could pick my own identity, and I picked mine, because I never get to be me. And, as I was starting to like the openness of the camp, I was also starting to like the religion and the people and the staff. I love it up there. I can't wait to go back. It's my-"
"Sanctuary." Hermione cut him off. "That's what you were going to say, wasn't it?" She asked him.
"Yeah. How'd you know that?" he asked her.
"Well, when I was told about my camp by my brother who lives in Billings now, I wanted to go and see this camp that he wouldn't shut up about. He held it in such high regard, and that doesn't happen very often with him. I went to see him in Billings for a week with my mom and dad, and then I went off for a week of camp. I was amazed at how nice everything was- especially for a camp. Usually camp cabins don't have electricity, but these ones did. Oh, I want to get back up there to see Ralphie. Dang, she's one of the funniest people I've ever met!" Hermione went on and on. Then-
"Would all passengers in seats 1-15 please get in line with your tickets ready to be taken." They heard the attendant again.
"Well, that's us." Draco said.
"Ok." She said.
They couldn't help but feel a little closer as they stood in line. They could almost tolerate each other. That hasn't happened in the last six years they've known each other. This was getting a little weird...
*A/N: Ok. I've decided on one thing: I'm not lengthening the sessions. The 7 or 8 days there are in the sessions are enough. If it's taken this long to get eight hours into the trip, I'm pretty sure it'll be enough. Well, I hope you like it. R/R!
The Christikon Way
Chapter Two
The just sat there in shock, staring at each other. They were in their own little world, oblivious to the pandemonium that was happening around them.
Suddenly, the flight attendant walked up and blew a whistle to get everyone's attention.
"Ok, people, if you would just grab your carry on luggage, put it in the over head compartments, and sit down, then this would all be less hectic. I know you want to get up and walk around, but the flight's almost over. So, please, lets have more picking up and less yelling." She said, to the angry mob that had accumulated in the aisle.
As people started picking up their luggage, Hermione and Draco were snapped into reality simultaneously.
"I can't believe this!" They said in unison.
"I-you-NO WAY!" Draco said, and started pinching himself. "This *pinch* is *pinch* a *pinch* dream *pinch*!" He said angrily. He then turned to Hermione. "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!?!?! YOU'RE NOT REAL!!!!! YOU'RE A FIGMENT OF MY OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION!!!" He yelled at her.
"And you think I'm liking this arrangement? HA! I don't think so!" She told him. She then pulled out her discman and covered her ears with her headphones.
"Granger! Don't ignore me!" He yelled back at her, but she just turned her music up and grabbed her book.
"Urgh! FINE!" And he sat back with his arms crossed across his chest. (A/N: lol. That sounds funny.)
Five minutes later, the flight attendant came over.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to turn those off. We're a few minutes away from landing." She said to Hermione.
She didn't hear her.
"Um...Could you nudge her for me? I can't reach her." She asked Draco.
"Sure." He said, slugging Hermione in the arm.
"OUCH! MALFOY! DON'T YOU EVER TOUGHT ME AGAIN YOU SLIMY GIT!" she exploded.
The whole plane was now looking at the three of them.
"Granger, please. Like I would touch you out of my own free will. You just need to turn those off. We're almost landing." He said calmly. "We've got it covered. You can go about your business." He told the passengers in the cabin.
They slowly turned away and talk gradually filled the plane.
"You're a git, Malfoy." Hermione told him after the flight attendant left them.
"I was just helping the poor woman get your attention." He told her nonchalantly.
"Yeah, and causing me physical pain in the process." She shot back at him grumpily.
"You actually thought I would pass up an opportunity like that?" He asked her incredulously.
"Well...I was hoping so, but I have much too high of expectations for you, so I may as well just forget about it." She said, turning away from him and looking out the window at the evening lights of Newark, New Jersey and Manhattan, New York.
"Wow." She whispered to herself.
"What?" Draco asked crankily.
"It's none of your concern what I'm thinking and saying. If I want you to know, I'll tell you, so just bug off!" she just shot back at him.
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
And they both shut up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Please stay in your seats until we have come to a complete stop and the pilot turns the fasten seatbelt sign off. Thank you for flying Continental Airlines. We hope your flight was enjoyable." They heard the cookie cutter voice over the intercom.
Hermione was gathering her stuff into her carry on and Draco was rubbing his ear, which had started hurting in the descent.
The aisles soon filled as the seatbelt sign was turned off.
Draco stood up, immediately sitting back down again, cursing and rubbing his head, due to the fact that the ceiling was lower than he had expected.
Hermione let out a snort of laughter.
"Shut up, Granger." He shot back at her, but she broke into a fit of giggles.
Draco sighed and gave up, not in the mood for another row at the moment. His entire head now hurt. At least now he would be able to get some ice cream and a good soda to help him. Maybe even a soft pretzel.
"What's wrong Malfoy?" Hermione sincerely asked him as she looked at him. His silence automatically told her something was wrong.
"What's wrong is none of your business, Granger." He shot back at her, grabbing his backpack and stalking down the aisle.
She quickly got up and followed him, making sure no one got in front of her.
As they exited the plane, Hermione thought she heard the flight attendant say to the pilot in her stupid cookie cutter voice, "They should get married. They already fight like an old couple. And they're so cute together."
Perfect couple? Yeah right.
When they got into the hall right outside the plane, Hermione walked up beside Draco.
"You know what, Malfoy? I don't care if it's none of my business. TELL ME!" She ordered him.
"Well! Someone's pushy!" He said to her, slinging his backpack over his right shoulder.
"So? I want to know!" She defended herself.
"And I want to know what you were so awed about when we were flying in. But you wont tell me that, so why should I tell you this?" He told her, shoving his left hand in his pocket.
"Well, I asked you politely! You just said, 'What?' Oh, yeah. Real polite." She said sarcastically.
"Well, that's just too bad for you then, 'cause I'm not telling you until you tell me, and I don't think you're going to cave, so you're out of luck." He told her, taking out his ticket for his next flight.
"What if I told you after you told me?" She asked, him, looking at his face.
"Why should I tell first? After all, I asked first." He asked her.
"Well, I don't think you'll believe me if I told you first, and then you wouldn't tell me. And then, I would have told you and not gotten what I had wanted in the first place, and wouldn't have anything to hold against you if you didn't tell me." She told him simply.
"As if you would really hold it against me." He laughed, and made for his left.
Hermione took out her ticket and looked around.
She then put her ticket in her pocket and followed Draco.
"You bet I would." She told him as she caught up to him.
"Right. I'm sure you would." He said sarcastically. "Why are you following me?" He asked her, looking straight ahead at the gate.
"Because my gate's this way. I'm in C7. And, by the looks of it, so are you." She answered him matter-of-factly.
"Says who?"
"Says your ticket." She told him, pointing to his ticket, still in his hand.
"And, let me tell you, I make a great plane neighbor. You know why I'm telling you this? Because I'm in 9A. You're in 9B. So just get used to me." She told him with a final tone.
"Well, this is just jolly, isn't it?" He shot back at her with fake joy.
"You betcha." She told him, shouldering her carry on.
"So? What's wrong?" She asked him yet again.
"I told you I'm not telling until you tell me." He told her, pocketing his ticket.
"Um...why not?" She asked him.
"Because I asked you first, and you wouldn't tell me. I told you that, too."
"Why are you doing to Billings?" She asked, as it dawned on her that he never had a chance to answer her question nearly eight hours ago.
"Why should I tell you?" He asked, walking up to a smoothie vendor.
"Because I told you why I'm going, so you should tell me. It's only fair." She told him, stepping up to the counter. "One Pineapple Banana Smoothie, please." She told the cashier, getting out her money from her purse.
They stood in silence while the cashier was making her smoothie and when Hermione had paid her, she stepped aside to let Draco order and pay.
Five minutes later, they were walking around the food court looking for a place to get some soft pretzels.
"So what kind of smoothie did you get?" Hermione asked, sipping her own.
Draco mumbled something incomprehensible.
"Sorry, what?" She asked.
"Pineapple Banana, ok?" He asked her, a bit peeved at the fact that they both got the same drink. (A/N: Damn, I sure make him shallow, don't I?)
"Oh. It's good, isn't it?" Hermione asked, not noticing his peeved attitude.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." He said, absent-mindedly taking another sip of it.
They strolled around for a little while until Hermione looked at her watch.
"We'd better get to our gate. They'll be boarding in a few minutes." She told him, throwing away her now empty styrafoam cup.
"Sure." Was all Draco said. He, too, threw away his empty cup, and then turned toward their gate and they both walked over to it.
"The pilot would like to start boarding flight 4592Y- non-stop to Minneapolis St. Paul, Minnesota. Would all first class passengers please come up to the desk with their tickets ready for boarding." The attendant's voice echoed in the gate.
They both took a seat where a family had just gotten up to get in line.
"So...Why are you going to Billings?" Hermione asked him yet again.
Draco sighed.
"I'm going to this camp out on the Boulder River. I've been going to it ever since I visited my cousin who lives in Big Timber. He's big on the whole religion scene and he invited me to come to camp with him for a week. I agreed. I wasn't too psyched, but I figured it would burn time. Well, when I got up there, I felt...I don't know...like I didn't have to hide myself. Like I could just be me and not have to worry about anyone else pressuring me to be mean or smart or nice or stupid. I could pick my own identity, and I picked mine, because I never get to be me. And, as I was starting to like the openness of the camp, I was also starting to like the religion and the people and the staff. I love it up there. I can't wait to go back. It's my-"
"Sanctuary." Hermione cut him off. "That's what you were going to say, wasn't it?" She asked him.
"Yeah. How'd you know that?" he asked her.
"Well, when I was told about my camp by my brother who lives in Billings now, I wanted to go and see this camp that he wouldn't shut up about. He held it in such high regard, and that doesn't happen very often with him. I went to see him in Billings for a week with my mom and dad, and then I went off for a week of camp. I was amazed at how nice everything was- especially for a camp. Usually camp cabins don't have electricity, but these ones did. Oh, I want to get back up there to see Ralphie. Dang, she's one of the funniest people I've ever met!" Hermione went on and on. Then-
"Would all passengers in seats 1-15 please get in line with your tickets ready to be taken." They heard the attendant again.
"Well, that's us." Draco said.
"Ok." She said.
They couldn't help but feel a little closer as they stood in line. They could almost tolerate each other. That hasn't happened in the last six years they've known each other. This was getting a little weird...
*A/N: Ok. I've decided on one thing: I'm not lengthening the sessions. The 7 or 8 days there are in the sessions are enough. If it's taken this long to get eight hours into the trip, I'm pretty sure it'll be enough. Well, I hope you like it. R/R!