Closing time - time for you to go out, go out into the world.
Closing time - turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.
Closing time - one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time - you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...
Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from.
Closing time - this room won't be open 'til your brothers or you sisters come.
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits - I hope you have found a
friend.
Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
Yeah, I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...
Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from...
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...
Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...
~Closing Time by Semisonic
It's been absolutely delightful writing for all you wonderful people and I greatly appreciate all the reviews you've sent me. It's been a good time, but as the lyrics above state, it's closing time. so that's all folks. Enjoy this last chapter. Love you all lots.
~lana-la-banana
P.S. In case you're wondering, I was on a sugar high when I wrote the last part. You can probably tell when it started. I myself was actually on a plane when writing it and had had way too much Dr. Pepper and complimentary cookies, was inhaling recycled air (that had to have had something in it, because it was making me completely bonkers) and was about to see my friends (and get back onto the computer) after being gone for two weeks. In case you were wondering.
Last Chapter Dedications- Thank you to everyone who helped me create this story, who gave me ideas or encouragement, especially the following- Emily (it's been awesome writing together and sharing ideas- I can't wait for the rest of Sophomore year), Ann (you're the biggest sweetie ever and you've always given me incentive to keep writing), Kelly (for taking creative writing with me, for having a three hour conversation on boys with me on the way back from Worlds of Fun and helping me pass Geometry; Frosh year was awesome, Sophomore year is going to be better and NCYC is going to be an unforgettable experience), Mary Beth (from World Cultures to chatting about boys on-line to writing crazy stories in our assignment notebooks, to this story, you've always supported my writing and you were always ready to read more), Ellie (for talking about anything and everything on-line, I wish you the best of luck on your story and thank you for helping me with mine), Jodi (thanks for being one of my greatest readers and always asking about my story during breaks), Megan, Laura, and Christina (for reading my story, for being the best putt-putt buddies, for sleepovers and hanging out, you've always been there for me), Jackie (for always helping me with my homework in the mornings), for Katie (for being my best bud from "Penns- is-laus), and to all my reviewers mentioned below.
PrOwLiNg-WoLf (thank you so much for always reviewing and giving me such good advice), kitsune-oni (thanks a million for always reviewing), dracosgurl_chrissy, mira737, Midnight's Trinity (the very best of luck with your story; lyl), shaboomboom, Pyrope, ckrfan JezabelleLake, Loony bout Lupin, browneyedtook moween, Malferz, sweet-77-thang, Aly, Farfalla1, SILVER-GOTH, SlytherinsGothGoddess, Marisa, jenny, Marisa, MrS-SiRiUs- BlAck, Dirty Angel, Olean-Radcliffe, pennypie LaLa007, Pixie Tang, Banana Flavored Eskimo, orliangel, Paranoia-shoujo, Avri, RK, Kai, Cleyah, Evie Malfoy (thanks for being my first reviewer and giving me the motivation to keep writing), Dkg, lily, Kersti, Nikka, The Sarcastic Morbid One, jaimi, HP Chica, Hermie13, ash, lala, Katiewise, and dracoseggo.
With all that out of the way. here is the last chapter of New Worlds, New Views. Enjoy.
Chapter 11 A Simple Game of Speed
The flight proved ideal for a revised game of Speed. Surrounded by tourist families (focused on conquering sibling battles) and business people (focused on finishing presentations left to the last minute), no one paid any attention to two to teenagers playing a game of cards. The stewardesses, however, seemed to have taken a shine to Draco, and frequently made trips to row 13 bearing airline packets of peanuts and complimentary sodas. Draco always smiled and thanked them politely, but since his primary focus was on the game, they mainly gazed at him from their perch at the front of the plane.
Hermione was losing heart. Draco had proved to be particularly apt at Speed, winning the last three games. She had already been forced to reveal that she had aided in Buckbeak's escape, that Ron had been her crush of the past four years, and that her lowest grade had been a B-.
Revenge was close. Hermione placed her ace on top of Draco's king.
"Speed," she said, tapping the thinner pile. "My turn to ask a question."
"There goes the winning streak," Draco grumbled, scooping up the cards to deal another hand. "Ask away."
"Last night, in the infirmary, what were you going to tell me before Madame Pomfrey came over?" Hermione asked taking a sip of her Dr. Pepper.
"Can I interest you in something to drink?" Draco was momentarily saved by the blond haired stewardess.
"I'm good, thanks," Draco said gesturing to his clear plastic cup, which was filled to the brim.
"Well if you need anything don't hesitate to ask," she simpered before leaving Draco with Hermione's unanswered question.
"Last night you asked why I was being so nice to you?"
"Right."
"What I was going to say is that I've been under the Imperious curse since I was five. When my father died, the curse died with him."
"That's not an answer, that's an excuse," Hermione scoffed. "I've heard better lies from Harry and Ron about why they didn't get their homework done. I was truthful with you. I would appreciate it if you extended me the same courtesy."
Draco fixed her with a look equally powerful and sad. "You can believe me or not, but it's the truth. If you spent that much time under the curse, it wouldn't be a joke. My father made me think the same way he did, made me enjoy the same pleasures. He made sure that my mind was molded to his perfection before letting me come to Hogwarts.
"After a while he stopped worrying about me throwing off the curse. After all the years of receiving Dark orders, my mind began to absorb them, little by little. They became my actual thoughts and now there's no getting rid of them; they're a part of me."
"Draco, I'm so sorry." Hermione said sympathetically, gently patting his arm.
"Next game," Draco said, shuffling the deck and dealing another game.
He was still ruffled and it showed. Hermione won the next hand and possession of the question.
"Why did your parents put you under the curse at all? Why didn't you just take in the Malfoy disposition as a baby?"
Draco shrugged. "Blame my nanny. I didn't see much of my parents the first few years of my life; they were busy dealing with Voldemort's rise and fall. My nanny was very kind, sweet-disciplined and I guess that rubbed off on me. Once a wizard chooses how he wants to live his life, no matter how young they are, there's no changing that. But it's not like my parents didn't try. The Imperious Curse was their last resort. Their next-to-last was torturing and killing my nanny in front of me." Draco's voice was bitter and had taken on a slightly angry undertone. "My father deserves to be dead."
The stewardess who had come over to make sure Draco had enough peanuts, heard his last comment and quickly retreated, a frightened look on her face.
"I guess that's one way to control them," Draco joked, even though the slightly haunted look remained in his eyes.
"Draco, I'm so sorry."
"Hermione, please forget I even told you all that. I had to live through it, then I had to relive it for the Ministry and again for you. I don't want it to keep shadowing over my life."
"I understand."
Draco dealt another hand and the game began again. Two minutes later, Draco laid down his last card while Hermione still had a handful of cards to go.
"How do you do that?" Hermione grumbled half-heartedly gathering up the cards.
"My little secret," Draco said, smiling a little. "Okay. My turn to ask a question. Why did you stop taking Divination in 3rd year? Did you do it because you were bad at it or because you thought it was stupid?"
"Mainly because I thought it was stupid, but a bit because I wasn't good at it," Hermione admitted. "There's no point in trying to look in the future and risk misinterpreting it when you can just live it and be surprised. And spending considerable hours listening to Professor Trelawney tell people that they are going to die gets to you after a while."
"Do you regret doing it?"
"We're not playing 20 Questions," Hermione grumbled. "But no, I don't regret doing it. Life's too short to regret doing small things like that."
"Draco nodded and grabbed his pile for the next game. "Ready to play again?"
"Why not?"
Their game, however, was stalled by the start of the in-flight movie, Armageddon, and a mutual agreement to put the Speed tournament on hold. After purchasing headphones from the stewardesses (who gave Draco his for half price), they plugged their phones in and allowed themselves to be sucked into the movie.
Twenty minutes prior to the movie's end, Draco fell asleep, snoring loudly and giving the stewardesses an opportunity to prop a pillow behind his head and drape a blanket around him.
Hermione remained focused on the movie, but chanced glances at Draco every so often. He looked very angelic, even with the blanket covering everything up to his chin and giving the illusion that his head was floating against the pillow.
As the credits were rolling up the screen, Draco yawned and stretched. "Excellent movie. It's amazing what Muggles can do."
Hermione rolled her eyes, which, a few minutes prior had been welling up with tears at the movie's ending. "You slept through the end."
Draco frowned. "Did I really? And how did this get around me?" He pulled the blanket off him.
"The stewardesses were afraid that you would get cold."
"How nice." Hermione couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "How much time do we have left?"
"Probably about forty-five minutes."
"Up for another game of Speed?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't care. I'm not really up for it though."
"We don't have to play. What do you feel like doing?"
"Being lazy." Hermione said grinning.
"I don't believe that I'm hearing this," Draco said in amazement. "Hermione Granger wanting to sit around and do nothing! She doesn't want to read, or tell someone off, or study. She wants to be lazy! What is our world coming to? There's no other explanation-we must be experiencing a chemical Armageddon. Women are the first to be affected, which explains why you're acting so strange."
"I guess the stewardesses are also being affected by this Armageddon," Hermione joked. "Because I don't know a single female who would willingly fawn over you."
Draco smirked. "For your information, Miss Granger, Armageddon also makes men of great beauty even more irresistible than before."
"Oh, so now you can look in a mirror without breaking it?"
"Listen to you-you're an insult machine. How do Potter and Weasley put up with you?"
"Usually I'm not as insulting around them. Feel special, Draco. You possess the rare quality of making me want to insult people."
"Wouldn't my parents be proud of my accomplishments," Draco said sarcastically. "Well, parent. Currently residing in prison." The moment had turned from humorous to awkward in the space of one sentence. Luckily for Draco, none of the stewardesses were lingering around. First he said he was glad his father was dead, now he was saying his mother was imprisoned. Stuff that you usually don't want a security paranoid crew hearing.
"I'm sorry, Draco."
"What's there to be sorry about? Blood was the only thing that connected us."
"What do you do now that you don't have any guardians?"
"Dumbledore arranged for me to stay with my cousin Tonks. She didn't want to take me in, in the beginning and it was a little awkward at first, but we've gotten along fairly well. She's really nice once you're on her good side."
"She never mentioned that you were staying with her."
"She wouldn't have. She, Dumbledore, and a few others were the only ones that knew I was staying with her and I asked them not to tell anyone."
"Do you mind me asking why?"
"Well for one reason, I wasn't ready for other people to know about my situation while I was still trying to figure out who I was. Secondly, Potter and Weasley would give me hell for the rest of my life, and don't even try to defend them, you know they would. Third, Tonks tells all. I could very easily see her going on about how I 'don't fold my socks' in front of Potter, and again; it would be hell for the rest of my days."
"So it was mainly about protecting your image?"
Draco pondered this for a moment. "Yeah, pretty much, but you can't blame me- you know what they're like."
Hermione nodded her agreement. "Did Tonks tell you anything about us?"
"What, the golden trio?" A smirk emerged on Draco's face. "I've heard quite a lot actually. It appears that you were on Tonks' bad side quite a few times over the summer."
"If you're talking about the incident involving me and Fred Weasley experimenting with the Extendable Ears and the Skiving Snackboxes, it was not my fault. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and if I remember correctly, we warned everyone to stay out of that wing."
"No, actually she didn't mention that one. But please, enlighten me."
"What you don't know wouldn't hurt you," Hermione said tartly, taking a sip of her soda.
"I must agree with you in that regard, especially when a situation involving you in a closet with Ron Weasley come up." Hermione spat her drink out on the seat in front of her. "But then again, there's not much to tell is there?"
"She told you about that?" Hermione gasped.
"Hermione, if you don't want anyone to find out, then you just shouldn't do it, don't you agree." The glint in Draco's eye told Hermione that he was enjoying this way too much.
"If Tonks was so kind as to tell you what happened accurately, then you would know that it was an enchanted wardrobe, and that it was a dare, and that nothing happened."
"Do you really expect me to believe that? No one goes into a broom closet with a member of the opposite sex to get a broom. It's the same thing with the Astronomy tower."
Hermione glared at him in a way so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall that he cowered in his seat. "Are you suggesting that because of one odd, twisted, demented dare from Harry, that I make frequent visits to the Astronomy Tower and random closets?"
"No!"
"Is that your final answer?" Hermione looked at him skeptically.
"Yes! God, Hermione. I was only joking!"
"Fine. I believe you."
"Good. Not that that's cleared away, what exactly were you doing in the broom closet?"
"It was an enchanted wardrobe and not a broom closet. And I don't think that you deserve to know."
"What have I ever done to you?" He paused for a minute. "Okay, I've done a lot to you over the years, but can you forget about it and tell me?"
"I thought that you didn't want to know."
"I changed my mind. Please Hermione?"
"I haven't told Parvati and Lavender about this- there's no way I'm telling you."
"Please."
Draco spent the next forty minutes trying to weasel information out of Hermione, who stood by her decision of silence.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching our destination of Los Angeles, California. The current time is 6:15 and the temperature is a toasty 97 degrees. Please remain seated until the captain turns off the fasten seat belt light. Thank you for flying and enjoy your stay in Los Angeles or wherever your destination may be."
"Well, we're here," Hermione said looking out her window and trying to locate the city through the thick layer of smog.
"You excited yet?" Draco's voice was deep and sensuous in her ear.
"I started being excited 15 hours ago."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I hope you've enjoyed this last chapter and please send me a review. It's been fun.
Closing time - turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.
Closing time - one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time - you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...
Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from.
Closing time - this room won't be open 'til your brothers or you sisters come.
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits - I hope you have found a
friend.
Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
Yeah, I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...
Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from...
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
I know who I want to take me home.
Take me home...
Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...
~Closing Time by Semisonic
It's been absolutely delightful writing for all you wonderful people and I greatly appreciate all the reviews you've sent me. It's been a good time, but as the lyrics above state, it's closing time. so that's all folks. Enjoy this last chapter. Love you all lots.
~lana-la-banana
P.S. In case you're wondering, I was on a sugar high when I wrote the last part. You can probably tell when it started. I myself was actually on a plane when writing it and had had way too much Dr. Pepper and complimentary cookies, was inhaling recycled air (that had to have had something in it, because it was making me completely bonkers) and was about to see my friends (and get back onto the computer) after being gone for two weeks. In case you were wondering.
Last Chapter Dedications- Thank you to everyone who helped me create this story, who gave me ideas or encouragement, especially the following- Emily (it's been awesome writing together and sharing ideas- I can't wait for the rest of Sophomore year), Ann (you're the biggest sweetie ever and you've always given me incentive to keep writing), Kelly (for taking creative writing with me, for having a three hour conversation on boys with me on the way back from Worlds of Fun and helping me pass Geometry; Frosh year was awesome, Sophomore year is going to be better and NCYC is going to be an unforgettable experience), Mary Beth (from World Cultures to chatting about boys on-line to writing crazy stories in our assignment notebooks, to this story, you've always supported my writing and you were always ready to read more), Ellie (for talking about anything and everything on-line, I wish you the best of luck on your story and thank you for helping me with mine), Jodi (thanks for being one of my greatest readers and always asking about my story during breaks), Megan, Laura, and Christina (for reading my story, for being the best putt-putt buddies, for sleepovers and hanging out, you've always been there for me), Jackie (for always helping me with my homework in the mornings), for Katie (for being my best bud from "Penns- is-laus), and to all my reviewers mentioned below.
PrOwLiNg-WoLf (thank you so much for always reviewing and giving me such good advice), kitsune-oni (thanks a million for always reviewing), dracosgurl_chrissy, mira737, Midnight's Trinity (the very best of luck with your story; lyl), shaboomboom, Pyrope, ckrfan JezabelleLake, Loony bout Lupin, browneyedtook moween, Malferz, sweet-77-thang, Aly, Farfalla1, SILVER-GOTH, SlytherinsGothGoddess, Marisa, jenny, Marisa, MrS-SiRiUs- BlAck, Dirty Angel, Olean-Radcliffe, pennypie LaLa007, Pixie Tang, Banana Flavored Eskimo, orliangel, Paranoia-shoujo, Avri, RK, Kai, Cleyah, Evie Malfoy (thanks for being my first reviewer and giving me the motivation to keep writing), Dkg, lily, Kersti, Nikka, The Sarcastic Morbid One, jaimi, HP Chica, Hermie13, ash, lala, Katiewise, and dracoseggo.
With all that out of the way. here is the last chapter of New Worlds, New Views. Enjoy.
Chapter 11 A Simple Game of Speed
The flight proved ideal for a revised game of Speed. Surrounded by tourist families (focused on conquering sibling battles) and business people (focused on finishing presentations left to the last minute), no one paid any attention to two to teenagers playing a game of cards. The stewardesses, however, seemed to have taken a shine to Draco, and frequently made trips to row 13 bearing airline packets of peanuts and complimentary sodas. Draco always smiled and thanked them politely, but since his primary focus was on the game, they mainly gazed at him from their perch at the front of the plane.
Hermione was losing heart. Draco had proved to be particularly apt at Speed, winning the last three games. She had already been forced to reveal that she had aided in Buckbeak's escape, that Ron had been her crush of the past four years, and that her lowest grade had been a B-.
Revenge was close. Hermione placed her ace on top of Draco's king.
"Speed," she said, tapping the thinner pile. "My turn to ask a question."
"There goes the winning streak," Draco grumbled, scooping up the cards to deal another hand. "Ask away."
"Last night, in the infirmary, what were you going to tell me before Madame Pomfrey came over?" Hermione asked taking a sip of her Dr. Pepper.
"Can I interest you in something to drink?" Draco was momentarily saved by the blond haired stewardess.
"I'm good, thanks," Draco said gesturing to his clear plastic cup, which was filled to the brim.
"Well if you need anything don't hesitate to ask," she simpered before leaving Draco with Hermione's unanswered question.
"Last night you asked why I was being so nice to you?"
"Right."
"What I was going to say is that I've been under the Imperious curse since I was five. When my father died, the curse died with him."
"That's not an answer, that's an excuse," Hermione scoffed. "I've heard better lies from Harry and Ron about why they didn't get their homework done. I was truthful with you. I would appreciate it if you extended me the same courtesy."
Draco fixed her with a look equally powerful and sad. "You can believe me or not, but it's the truth. If you spent that much time under the curse, it wouldn't be a joke. My father made me think the same way he did, made me enjoy the same pleasures. He made sure that my mind was molded to his perfection before letting me come to Hogwarts.
"After a while he stopped worrying about me throwing off the curse. After all the years of receiving Dark orders, my mind began to absorb them, little by little. They became my actual thoughts and now there's no getting rid of them; they're a part of me."
"Draco, I'm so sorry." Hermione said sympathetically, gently patting his arm.
"Next game," Draco said, shuffling the deck and dealing another game.
He was still ruffled and it showed. Hermione won the next hand and possession of the question.
"Why did your parents put you under the curse at all? Why didn't you just take in the Malfoy disposition as a baby?"
Draco shrugged. "Blame my nanny. I didn't see much of my parents the first few years of my life; they were busy dealing with Voldemort's rise and fall. My nanny was very kind, sweet-disciplined and I guess that rubbed off on me. Once a wizard chooses how he wants to live his life, no matter how young they are, there's no changing that. But it's not like my parents didn't try. The Imperious Curse was their last resort. Their next-to-last was torturing and killing my nanny in front of me." Draco's voice was bitter and had taken on a slightly angry undertone. "My father deserves to be dead."
The stewardess who had come over to make sure Draco had enough peanuts, heard his last comment and quickly retreated, a frightened look on her face.
"I guess that's one way to control them," Draco joked, even though the slightly haunted look remained in his eyes.
"Draco, I'm so sorry."
"Hermione, please forget I even told you all that. I had to live through it, then I had to relive it for the Ministry and again for you. I don't want it to keep shadowing over my life."
"I understand."
Draco dealt another hand and the game began again. Two minutes later, Draco laid down his last card while Hermione still had a handful of cards to go.
"How do you do that?" Hermione grumbled half-heartedly gathering up the cards.
"My little secret," Draco said, smiling a little. "Okay. My turn to ask a question. Why did you stop taking Divination in 3rd year? Did you do it because you were bad at it or because you thought it was stupid?"
"Mainly because I thought it was stupid, but a bit because I wasn't good at it," Hermione admitted. "There's no point in trying to look in the future and risk misinterpreting it when you can just live it and be surprised. And spending considerable hours listening to Professor Trelawney tell people that they are going to die gets to you after a while."
"Do you regret doing it?"
"We're not playing 20 Questions," Hermione grumbled. "But no, I don't regret doing it. Life's too short to regret doing small things like that."
"Draco nodded and grabbed his pile for the next game. "Ready to play again?"
"Why not?"
Their game, however, was stalled by the start of the in-flight movie, Armageddon, and a mutual agreement to put the Speed tournament on hold. After purchasing headphones from the stewardesses (who gave Draco his for half price), they plugged their phones in and allowed themselves to be sucked into the movie.
Twenty minutes prior to the movie's end, Draco fell asleep, snoring loudly and giving the stewardesses an opportunity to prop a pillow behind his head and drape a blanket around him.
Hermione remained focused on the movie, but chanced glances at Draco every so often. He looked very angelic, even with the blanket covering everything up to his chin and giving the illusion that his head was floating against the pillow.
As the credits were rolling up the screen, Draco yawned and stretched. "Excellent movie. It's amazing what Muggles can do."
Hermione rolled her eyes, which, a few minutes prior had been welling up with tears at the movie's ending. "You slept through the end."
Draco frowned. "Did I really? And how did this get around me?" He pulled the blanket off him.
"The stewardesses were afraid that you would get cold."
"How nice." Hermione couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "How much time do we have left?"
"Probably about forty-five minutes."
"Up for another game of Speed?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't care. I'm not really up for it though."
"We don't have to play. What do you feel like doing?"
"Being lazy." Hermione said grinning.
"I don't believe that I'm hearing this," Draco said in amazement. "Hermione Granger wanting to sit around and do nothing! She doesn't want to read, or tell someone off, or study. She wants to be lazy! What is our world coming to? There's no other explanation-we must be experiencing a chemical Armageddon. Women are the first to be affected, which explains why you're acting so strange."
"I guess the stewardesses are also being affected by this Armageddon," Hermione joked. "Because I don't know a single female who would willingly fawn over you."
Draco smirked. "For your information, Miss Granger, Armageddon also makes men of great beauty even more irresistible than before."
"Oh, so now you can look in a mirror without breaking it?"
"Listen to you-you're an insult machine. How do Potter and Weasley put up with you?"
"Usually I'm not as insulting around them. Feel special, Draco. You possess the rare quality of making me want to insult people."
"Wouldn't my parents be proud of my accomplishments," Draco said sarcastically. "Well, parent. Currently residing in prison." The moment had turned from humorous to awkward in the space of one sentence. Luckily for Draco, none of the stewardesses were lingering around. First he said he was glad his father was dead, now he was saying his mother was imprisoned. Stuff that you usually don't want a security paranoid crew hearing.
"I'm sorry, Draco."
"What's there to be sorry about? Blood was the only thing that connected us."
"What do you do now that you don't have any guardians?"
"Dumbledore arranged for me to stay with my cousin Tonks. She didn't want to take me in, in the beginning and it was a little awkward at first, but we've gotten along fairly well. She's really nice once you're on her good side."
"She never mentioned that you were staying with her."
"She wouldn't have. She, Dumbledore, and a few others were the only ones that knew I was staying with her and I asked them not to tell anyone."
"Do you mind me asking why?"
"Well for one reason, I wasn't ready for other people to know about my situation while I was still trying to figure out who I was. Secondly, Potter and Weasley would give me hell for the rest of my life, and don't even try to defend them, you know they would. Third, Tonks tells all. I could very easily see her going on about how I 'don't fold my socks' in front of Potter, and again; it would be hell for the rest of my days."
"So it was mainly about protecting your image?"
Draco pondered this for a moment. "Yeah, pretty much, but you can't blame me- you know what they're like."
Hermione nodded her agreement. "Did Tonks tell you anything about us?"
"What, the golden trio?" A smirk emerged on Draco's face. "I've heard quite a lot actually. It appears that you were on Tonks' bad side quite a few times over the summer."
"If you're talking about the incident involving me and Fred Weasley experimenting with the Extendable Ears and the Skiving Snackboxes, it was not my fault. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and if I remember correctly, we warned everyone to stay out of that wing."
"No, actually she didn't mention that one. But please, enlighten me."
"What you don't know wouldn't hurt you," Hermione said tartly, taking a sip of her soda.
"I must agree with you in that regard, especially when a situation involving you in a closet with Ron Weasley come up." Hermione spat her drink out on the seat in front of her. "But then again, there's not much to tell is there?"
"She told you about that?" Hermione gasped.
"Hermione, if you don't want anyone to find out, then you just shouldn't do it, don't you agree." The glint in Draco's eye told Hermione that he was enjoying this way too much.
"If Tonks was so kind as to tell you what happened accurately, then you would know that it was an enchanted wardrobe, and that it was a dare, and that nothing happened."
"Do you really expect me to believe that? No one goes into a broom closet with a member of the opposite sex to get a broom. It's the same thing with the Astronomy tower."
Hermione glared at him in a way so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall that he cowered in his seat. "Are you suggesting that because of one odd, twisted, demented dare from Harry, that I make frequent visits to the Astronomy Tower and random closets?"
"No!"
"Is that your final answer?" Hermione looked at him skeptically.
"Yes! God, Hermione. I was only joking!"
"Fine. I believe you."
"Good. Not that that's cleared away, what exactly were you doing in the broom closet?"
"It was an enchanted wardrobe and not a broom closet. And I don't think that you deserve to know."
"What have I ever done to you?" He paused for a minute. "Okay, I've done a lot to you over the years, but can you forget about it and tell me?"
"I thought that you didn't want to know."
"I changed my mind. Please Hermione?"
"I haven't told Parvati and Lavender about this- there's no way I'm telling you."
"Please."
Draco spent the next forty minutes trying to weasel information out of Hermione, who stood by her decision of silence.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching our destination of Los Angeles, California. The current time is 6:15 and the temperature is a toasty 97 degrees. Please remain seated until the captain turns off the fasten seat belt light. Thank you for flying and enjoy your stay in Los Angeles or wherever your destination may be."
"Well, we're here," Hermione said looking out her window and trying to locate the city through the thick layer of smog.
"You excited yet?" Draco's voice was deep and sensuous in her ear.
"I started being excited 15 hours ago."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I hope you've enjoyed this last chapter and please send me a review. It's been fun.