A/N: YAY! I broke 50 reviews! Thanks so much people! Sorry that this one took awhile, but it's really long for me, so I hope you enjoy it. Remember to review!
Surprises and French Murmurs
The morning of the Hogsmeade visit just happened to be December first, which also just happened to be a Saturday, and also, consequently, the day after Friday, which was surprisingly the day of the first snowfall. Of course, since it was indeed the first snowfall, Ron insisted on playing in the snow and starting a huge snowball fight. Since it was Hogwarts, the snowball fight was nowhere near normal and involved practically the whole school. In a word, it was crazy. However, the snowball fight itself was not what Hermione was thinking about when she awoke this particular morning.
She was, as it were, thinking about how she really didn't want to go shopping with a certain redheaded Weasley in Hogsmeade. She knew that Ginny would drag her around to all the stores, forcing her to try on ridiculous costumes and/or dresses for the Christmas Masquerade. Just then, the redhead in question bounded into the room.
"Good morning!" Ginny chirped in her best impression of an opera singer. "It's time to go shopping!"
"Oh, joy," the brunette muttered to herself as she shut her eyes and pulled the blankets tightly around her. However, Ginny had different plans for the covers and ripped them off of Hermione, who screamed, "Hey!"
"Come on," the youngest Weasley said in a slightly exasperated voice. "I want to get there before everyone takes all of the good costumes!" After tugging on the older girl's arm for the next few minutes, the latter finally acquiesced.
"Merg…" Hermione mumbled incoherently. "Fine! I'm up! Now go away."
"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Ginny replied cheerily before skipping out of the dorm singing the last single from the Weird Sisters.
Hermione simply stared after her and then looked at her alarm clock. "Seven thirty?! On a Saturday?!" She groaned. "I will never figure out how she has so much energy this early in the morning." The prefect spent the next few moments in a violent struggle with her sheets before she finally untangled herself. She then proceeded to take a much needed shower, which also served to wake her up a bit more.
When she was done, Hermione got dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and a blue sweater. She looked at herself in the mirror and then steeled herself for the inevitable day of meandering through different shops and boutiques. "You can do this, Granger," she whispered to herself before finally making her way down to the common room at eight.
"Merlin!" Ginny shouted as Hermione walked down the steps. "Did you drown?!"
"Ha, ha," Hermione retorted sarcastically. "Can we just go now?"
"Not until you at least pretend to be excited about this."
"Yippee! Shopping nonstop for hours and hours and losing brain cells at the same time! Where do I sign up?!" Hermione replied in an overly cheery voice. "Happy now?"
"Very," Ginny voiced as she smiled cheekily. "Now let's go!"
And go they did—all the way down to Hogsmeade, having decided that they could just grab a scone and some tea at Madam Puddifoot's later on. Ginny, as expected, dragged Hermione into every clothes and dress shop they could find in Hogsmeade, including one that was called "Las Cabras Locas" that specialized in Spanish bullfighting uniforms. ("I'm not even going to ask," Hermione mumbled to Ginny as they walked out of this particular store.) Ginny would force Hermione to try on several different and in the latter's opinion, ridiculous, dresses. Then, without fail, they would leave every shop empty-handed.
"Ginny," the brunette spoke up after they left the fifth shop. "Why don't you just accept the fact that you're not going to find what you want in any shops in Hogsmeade? Why don't we just go back and forget it?"
Ginny gasped and looked positively offended at this remark. "Forget it?! Are you crazy? Of course we're not going to forget it. I am going to find the perfect dress if it is the last thing I do." She then promptly stomped off in search of the next store.
Hermione rolled her eyes and was about to follow when a thought occurred to her. She quickly caught up to the bounding redhead and stopped her. "Who are you going to the dance with anyhow?"
"Oh," the Weasley girl said as she blushed. "Well…Harry, actually."
"Harry!? Since when?"
"Since yesterday when he asked me after the snowball fight. He was really cute about it—you know, stammering and the likes." The young girl then started giggling like mad, as if on cue. Hermione, however, did not have the ability to giggle (her mother often said that she needed to go to "Giggling School") and would have joined in if she could.
"Wow," Hermione breathed after a moment. "That's great!" She then complied to look in two more stores before they left for the day, abandoning all hope.
They looked again fruitlessly in one store before finally finding a shop that was promising. The storefront window had many medieval style dresses on display, all of which were very reasonably priced.
"Mon Cher," Ginny muttered as she read the sign. "Let's try it out."
"It means 'My dear' in French," Hermione clarified, having been quite fluent in the language.
They walked into the store as a tiny bell rang above them. Ginny had just begun to wander about when a short, slightly round-about-the-middle lady came up to them. "Hello, dears," she said. "My name is Marie. Welcome to Mon Cher! Can I help you with anything?"
Hermione, who decided that this Marie character was quite nice indeed, said, "Well, we are looking for dresses to wear to a Christmas Masquerade up at Hogwarts. Or, at least she is." After this, she pointed to Ginny, who seemed to be immersed in a particularly pretty white dress. Marie saw this and walked over.
"This is one of the newer time period dresses, dating to about 1870. The material is satin and the embroidery is hand stitched. Would you like to try it on?"
Ginny looked over the dress again and whispered, "Yes, please," She went into a dressing room and emerged a few moments later saying, "I love it!" The dress was a pearly-white color with a pale green underlay and gold embroidery around the collar and bottom. The sleeves were tight until the elbow until it draped down, revealing the green underlay, which went on until her wrists. It hugged Ginny's small waist perfectly and the scooped neckline showed off her freckled shoulders.
"Ginny! You look great!" Hermione squealed in a very girly way. "You should definitely get it!"
"Yes," the younger girl said as she looked in the mirror. "I think I will! How much is it?"
"It's twenty galleons," Marie said. Ginny's face fell—she didn't have that much money. Marie seemed to sense this because she voiced, "But I can let you rent this one for six galleons. And only because you look so pretty in it."
"Oh, thank you!" Ginny screamed as she hugged the shopkeeper. "You just made my day!" She then rounded on Hermione. "Now we have to find you something."
Hermione groaned. "But Ginny…" However, the girl simply ignored her and went about poking through various dresses. Finally, she seemed to find one she liked. She handed it to Hermione with the instructions to try it on. The brunette took it into the dressing room and stared at it for awhile. "Oh, what can it hurt?" A few minutes later she stepped out. Both Ginny and Marie gasped at what they saw. "I knew it," Hermione muttered. "I look stupid."
"No!" Ginny interjected. "It looks absolutely perfect on you! You have to get it!"
Hermione gave herself a once-over before deciding. "Okay…I will." With this, both girls made their purchases and walked slowly back to the castle. They got halfway there when Hermione remembered something.
"Ginny, wait," she said as she stopped and looked back towards Hogsmeade. "I forgot to get food for Crookshanks. I'll have to go back."
"Okay, well do you want me to go with you?"
"No, go ahead," Hermione replied. "Just take my dress and put it in the closet for me?"
"Sure."
Once she had Ginny's assent, she made her way back to the town and into the Magical Menagerie for some food. She made her purchase and walked back out of the store. As she walked past a nearby alley, she heard a familiar voice that made her stop.
"What do you want, Pansy?" Draco asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"I want you, Draco," she replied in what she thought was a seductive voice. It, however, only served to make Hermione gag. "I thought that was obvious." Pansy then proceeded to jump on the blonde boy, and kiss him rather forcefully.
"Skank!" Hermione said to herself as she walked away, owing to the fact that she had seen enough. She was angry and she really didn't know why. The brunette was lost in her thoughts and didn't hear someone come up behind her until they grabbed her shoulder. She whirled around, her brown eyes flashing dangerously. "Go away Malfoy." But he refused to do so.
"Hermione," Draco said. "I can explain."
"Why do you have to explain?" she asked in icy tones. "It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything." With this, she wriggled free of Draco's grasp and walked back to the castle for the second time that night.
9.9.9.9
By the time Hermione had gotten back, dinner was almost over so she decided to just go down to the kitchens instead. Oddly enough, since she had been so busy with other things and not able to work with S.P.E.W., the house-elves no longer resented her. They were happy to fill her arms up with mince pies and other goodies. But Hermione barely remembered to thank them, as she was so consumed in her own thoughts. "Why was I so mad at him?" Hermione wondered as she at her way through dinner in the common room. "I mean, it's not as if I have some sort of claim over him. He's not wearing a sign that says 'Hermione's. Back off.'" She finished her meal and then headed up to bed, still pondering.
"Stupid Pansy Parkinson…does she really think I'm just going to stand by while she touches my Draco?" she wondered dreamily as she drifted off. Suddenly, she sat up straight. "WAIT! Did I really just say 'my Draco'?! I don't even like the guy! He is just a stupid, pig-headed git that happens to be incredibly hot. No! Bad Hermione! I want nothing to do with him. I really must be tired if I'm starting to imagine things." With the resolve of getting a full-night's sleep, Hermione immediately started thinking of fluffy white bunnies prancing about in green meadows. She floated off to sleep in a matter of minutes.
9.9.9.9
Hermione had completely forgotten her little foray into "Draco-land" by the next morning. However, the memory of Pansy getting on Draco was still fresh in her mind and made her, if possible, even madder every time she thought about it. This was mostly because she felt that she had no reason at all to be mad at anything, serving to make her even madder at herself. She didn't tell anyone what she saw, save for Ginny, who simply nodded and gave Hermione one of her knowing looks. "I despise those looks," she had mumbled when Ginny walked out.
The prefect spent the next week under a mountain of homework—all of the teachers insisted on getting in as much as they could before the Christmas holiday. She also spent a lot of time trying to get back that comfortable silence with Ron and trying to help Harry in any way she could. Any moment she had to relax was filled up with frolicking about in the snow with Ginny, Ron and Harry. Of course, this was Ron's idea, but Hermione went along with it, figuring that she deserved a break once in awhile.
Draco hadn't sent any word about Betty, which Hermione took for a good thing. She figured that he would tell her if the babies were born or if Betty suddenly burst into flame, or something. In fact, Draco didn't say much of anything to her—not that she cared, of course. However, whenever he could, he would catch her eye and give her an apologetic look, which only served to confuse Hermione more. "I wish he would stop that," she confided in Ginny one day. "He doesn't need to be apologizing for anything." Again, the redhead would nod but give an accursed knowing look. One day, however, Hermione did get an owl from Draco, and at the most unexpected time.
9.9.9.9
Draco woke up in the early hours of Saturday morning with a start. At first he thought the dream he had been having did the deed (he was being chased by a freakishly huge clown who was screaming "Will you be my friend?!") but he soon realized it was actually a noise that didn't belong in his bedroom. His private bedroom, mind you, one that Lucius Malfoy acquired for his only son. Anywho, so he awoke to a strange noise that sounded like a cross between a cat meowing and a dog barking. It was very strange indeed. Draco searched for the source of the sound, and soon found it—under his bed and in a large brown box.
"Ah!" Draco screamed as he realized what was happening. "Bloody hell! Okay, what to do, what to do." He paced around in circles as he tried to comprehend everything. What was happening, in fact, was that Betty, bless her soul, was going into labor and was about to have all seven of her babies very soon.
Suddenly, something clicked in his brain. "Hermione! Of course!" He quickly got a bit of spare parchment and scribbled a note on it. He called to his eagle ("Owls are for commoners," his father had once said.) and sent the note off with him to take to Hermione. He then grabbed a robe, picked up the box with some difficulty, and made his way out of his room and into the corridors.
9.9.9.9
Hermione was awoken quite abruptly to a sharp tapping at the window next to her four-poster. She looked at her alarm clock (three in the morning) and got up to allow admittance to a large, black eagle. The bird dropped a letter at Hermione's feet and soared right back out of the open window. "Thank you," Hermione called out weakly after it. Then she picked up the parchment and read:
Hermione—
Betty in labor. Meet me in Charms classroom in five minutes. Hurry!
--D. Malfoy
"Oh, dear," Hermione cried softly, since the other girls were still sleeping. Biting her lip, she grabbed a robe and headed out to the common room, knowing perfectly well that she was breaking about thirty-two point four school rules. "This is an emergency. You will not get in trouble," she repeated to herself all the way to the Charms classroom.
When she got there, Hermione found a thoroughly distressed Draco pacing about the room amid many conjured candles. He looked downright relieved when he saw her in the doorway. "Hermione!" he called as she walked in further. He seemed tempted to hug her, but resisted this knowing that it would be highly inappropriate, considering their history together. However, she barely noticed and went straight over to where Betty lay. She checked her heart rate and breathing patterns, muttering to herself the whole time. After a few minutes, Draco ventured a question.
"What should we do?" he asked in a small voice. Now, Draco Malfoy can handle most anything, but give him a pregnant something and he cracked.
Luckily, Hermione knew exactly what to do. Obviously, seeing is that she read all the books she could find on Kneazles ages ago. "We make Betty as comfortable as possible; she can do the rest herself." With this, she finished checking Betty, conjured a few cushions, and sat down.
"Oh," Draco mumbled as he did the same. At first he was going to sit few feet from Hermione, but thought better of it and placed his cushions right next to hers. "Well, what now?"
"Now, we wait. Other than that, there's not much else we can do," Hermione replied. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, the brunette spoke up. "So tell me, Draco, why do you enjoy looking down on other people?"
Draco was taken aback at this question, but took it seriously. He rested his chin on his hands while he thought. Hermione noticed at this time that Draco's hair was, for the first time in six years, not slicked back and looking perfect. It was tousled and falling into his eyes, which were glinting in the candlelight. Hermione liked the effect, but would never admit it out loud. Suddenly, the grey eyes in question looked up and pierced her own.
"I don't enjoy looking down on other people," he stated quietly. "It's just the way I was brought up—the things I was taught. It's the only way I know how to act, even if I don't like it." He was pensive for a few moments, and then added, "I can only hope everyone doesn't think that of me…especially you."
Whatever Hermione had expected him to say, this certainly wasn't it. Consequently, she didn't know how to take this new information. He seemed really hurt at the fact that people thought these things about him. But the last thing he said was what really made her think, so she asked, "Why do you especially not want me to think that?"
"Well," Draco said, eyes never leaving Hermione's. "For some reason I seem to care about what you think of me." Silence greeted his words as Hermione processed this.
"Oh," she whispered quietly. She sat looking at a nearby candle, knowing full well that Draco's gaze was still on her. Finally, she said, "Well that made me feel like the worst person in the world."
"No!" Draco cried. "I hadn't meant for it to sound like that. You're certainly not the worst person in the world. In fact, I think you one of the few truly genuine people out there."
"How can you say that?" the prefect voiced. "You barely even know me." For some reason, she couldn't meet his eyes still, even though it was absolutely absurd.
"Well, let's change that," the Slytherin replied. "Tell me about…your family."
"My family of Mudbloods, you mean," she retorted bitterly.
"Hey, I never said that. I'm being serious. I really want to know."
Hermione looked a bit skeptical for a moment, but then decided that Draco was, in fact, being serious. "Well, I'm an only child. I did have a younger sister, but she died a few days after she was born."
"I'm sorry," Draco said quietly, looking truly apologetic.
Hermione gave him a small smile and then went on. "My parents are both dentists, and extremely overprotective of me. I practically live in a bubble. When I got my letter to Hogwarts, I was so excited. I felt like I finally got a chance to get away and find out what kind of person I wanted to be. Both of my parents were also only children, so I don't have any aunts or uncles…" Hermione stopped here because one, she realized she had revealed a lot of personal information to her once-enemy, and two, she almost talked about her grandmother, which was something she wasn't quite ready to share.
Draco, sensing that she didn't really want to elaborate any more on the subject, spoke up, "Well, see? Now I know you better. I still mean what I said." He couldn't be sure, but he saw Hermione blush just a bit.
"Thanks, Draco," she replied quietly. "But tell me something about your family."
"Well," Draco started. "My father was away a lot, and always seems to disapprove of everything. I don't think I can ever be good enough for him. My mother is actually a very pleasant person, but my father insists on her keeping up an 'aristocratic' appearance, so not many people know her well. She was the only one who ever said she was proud of me, which means a lot. Other than that, there's not much to tell."
"That's not quite the nightmare I had always managed at Malfoy Manor," Hermione said, without thinking. "I mean no offense or anything. I don't mean to insult your family and…"
Draco, thankfully cut her off before she did any more damage or before she got the chance to ramble anymore. "It's okay, I know what people think. I'm just here to let you know that's it not true. Everyone else can kiss my arse."
The brunette couldn't help it: she burst out laughing. Draco was stunned for a moment, but soon started laughing too. The way Hermione laughed was infectious—he couldn't resist it. "S-Sorry," Hermione croaked out between semi-giggles (she really couldn't do it). "Just the thought—of someone kissing—your 'bottom side' is so—funny!" After this, the tension between the two parties melted away completely, and they talked about the most random things—from foil to using the word "indubitably". After a few hours, the both dozed off…
Sometime around seven thirty, Hermione woke with a start. At first, she had no idea where she was and had a moment of silent panic. Then she looked around and realized she was in the Charms classroom, and that Draco's face happened to be very close to hers. This brought on another moment of panic until she figured out why she was there. Betty was in labor and they had to be there. Then she thought of Betty and walked over to where the box was, careful not to wake the sleeping boy. When the brunette peered into the box and let out a little squeal. The kneazles had been born! She quickly counted seven of them and then did a little dance. Following this, Hermione ran over to Draco and shook him lightly.
"They're born!" Hermione cried as soon as Draco was properly up. "Come look!"
Draco came over and, indeed, there were seven extra kneazles now lying in the box. "Wow," he said. However, he was trying to look like he didn't care much about it at all. Hermione was bounding around the room and being very…well girly about all of this. "I don't care at all…" Draco thought to himself. "They are just little, teeny, furry creatures that are also very cute. No! Not cute. Be a man, Malfoy" He was internally chastising himself as he watched Hermione prance about. "She's so pretty…" he thought randomly. "Wait, where the hell did that come from!? I don't think she's pretty." Thankfully, Hermione saved him from his own thoughts.
"Let's name them!" she said, her chocolate-brown eyes sparkling. "There are seven of them so how about…yes! I have it." She picked up the closet kneazle and said, "We'll name this one Lundi. And this one can be Mardi." She picked up the rest of them in turn and named them Mercredi, Jeudi, Vendredi, and Samedi. Finally she came to the last one. "This one, of course, is…"
"Dimanche," Draco finished for her with a small smile. She looked up in surprise.
"Parlez-vous français?" She asked.
"Oui."
Hermione smiled at him and then handed him Dimanche. For a split second, their hands touched and Hermione felt something. She quickly shook it off and ignored it. Draco, however, didn't notice—he was too caught up in trying to look thoroughly disgusted. To say the least, he was failing miserably. Hermione knew that he was just as excited about the new babies as she was. "You're such a guy," she stated out loud with a little laugh.
Draco raised his eyebrows in an inquisitive way. Sighing, Hermione elaborated: "You are trying so hard to look like you don't care at all, just because you want to keep up your 'bad boy' image. I know you too well, Draco. You can't fool me."
The Malfoy heir looked as if he was going to refute this, but eventually decided against it. "Well, I suppose they are cute in a furry ball of…fur…kind of way?" Both Hermione and Draco paused at this moment to marvel at the boy's eloquence, or lack thereof, it was a matter of opinion.
"So, anywho," Hermione interrupted, for fear of losing more brain cells. "I'll just take care of the kneazles until the next Care of Magical Creatures class, okay?"
Draco suddenly became very quiet and looked from Dimanche to the other babies. Then he glanced up at Hermione with puppy-dog eyes and a pouty face. The Gryffindor, being a girl, could resist this so she threw her hands up in the air.
"Fine!" she sighed. "Go ahead and take them. Just make sure they don't die or anything." In truth, Hermione really wasn't angry that Draco got to keep the kneazles—she actually thought it was incredibly cute.
"Die?" Draco asked in a shocked voice. "What do you take me for? An amateur?" He smirked at this last remark, and then picked up the box and made his was out of the room. However, he was deterred by the hand Hermione had placed on his shoulder.
"Wait," she said softy. She seemed to be thinking about exactly what she wanted to say and then spoke up. "I don't think that you enjoy looking down on people. Not anymore." She gave him a small smile and then walked out ahead of him. Draco headed out a moment later, an identical smile on his own countenance.
