Disclaimer: Everything and anything recognizable belongs to JKR.
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. For curious minds, yes my Daddy is doing fine. He's a little groggy but that's only because he's still on Percoset. Unfortunately for you guys, my grandma is coming to town late tonight, which means she's staying in my room...which means no computer until Tuesday afternoon...so as my way of apologizing I'm posting this chapter tonight. I'm really sorry! But the good news is, I already have chapter twelve written out in my handy-dandy notebook, and it will be ready to go on Tuesday.
And now for the real reason why you guys are here...
Ch. 11
"The Book"
As Draco sauntered away from Hermione, his thoughts rushing about his head like tiny whirling dervishes, he couldn't resist one last look. Looking over his shoulder he saw her smile enchantingly and then heard her laugh ring out like a bell above all other sounds.
Stunned into awe, he could barely walk. She is completely and utterly captivating.
Draco found himself walking towards the flat that he now shared with two muggles, a brother and sister. They were fraternal twins and, he suspected, shared a brain.
He walked in the door and waved a quick hello to the two muggles, who were sprawled across the two couches in the living area of the flat, watching something on the telly.
Draco was about to walk past them to go to his room, but halfway there he stopped, conveniently blocking the telly.
"Hey mate, watch it, you're blocking the TV." The brother had evidently taken offense. Draco quickly moved, but he still had a question to ask.
"Erm…, James, Katy, do we have a 'book'?" The aforementioned Katy and James looked at Draco like he had gone insane.
Katy apparently decided to take pity on him, probably because he was cute when he was all lost and confused. "Draco, there's an entire shelf of books over there. Are you feeling alright?"
Draco shook his head, "No, I mean, a umm... a friend of mine asked me to call her, and she told me she was in 'the book'. Do we have a 'book'?"
Katy laughed, "Oh yeah, it's on the kitchen counter, it's called a phone book Draco." Draco shook his head in bewilderment.
Phones? Books? Calling someone? If this keeps up I'm going to be worse than Barnabus the Barmy! Pulling himself together he went into the kitchen and found 'the book'.
Draco ambled back into the living room, settling onto a chair and paging through the phone book until he grasped the concept. He knew it was ridiculous to actually do this the muggle way. He could have just as easily apparated back to her flat, or owled her, but something perverse and stubborn in his nature delighted in doing the unexpected.
He finally found her name, and was perplexed beyond all reason when he saw a list of numbers across from it. What on Earth am I supposed to do with these? And what exactly is a phone? Do we even have one?
When he moved in he vaguely remembered James saying that there was, in fact, a telephone, but he didn't know where the contraption was! But he was damned if he would give up now!
Draco cleared his throat, startling both of the Muggles and catching their attention. "Could one of you tell me where the telephone is?" Hoping that that was the correct way to say the word, he desperately waited for the answer.
James answered him in an offhand way that reassured Draco of the normalcy of his request. "Sure, it's on the table in the hallway, it's a cordless so you can take it into your room. Just remember to hang it up when you're done."
Draco looked completely confused, and Katy decided to take pity on him. "Come on, it's on the way to my room and I'm going in there anyways."
She led Draco down the hall, stopping by a little table that was an equal distance from all of their rooms. "Here's the phone." Draco nodded his thanks, picked up the phone and walked towards his room.
"Draco?" Katy called after him, an amused note in her voice. "Have you ever used a cordless before?" Draco tried to bluster his way out of the question, but to his dismay found himself asking, "Was I that obvious?"
Katy smiled, "Well, you don't actually need to take the whole thing with you." She walked over to him and detached the handset, setting the base back down on the table.
"There you go. Just put it back when you're done. If you don't the phone will lose its charge and we won't be able to use it for awhile."
Draco smiled, said thank you, and tried to hide his blushing. He walked towards his room, examining the "cordless." Whatever that meant.
He had figured out driving pretty quickly, and discovered that he was rather fond of the gas pedal, but he was convinced that this telephone thing was beyond him.
He sat on his bed, with the door shut, and studied the numbered buttons on the face of the thing. He suddenly had a revelation! The numbers in the book correspond with the buttons! If I just press the correct button for each number, I might get ahold of Hermione! I mean umm...Just so I can figure out how to act Muggle of course.
He pressed the buttons, and held the phone in front of him. He heard a tone, and then a ringing noise, and then he heard her voice! It was coming from the machine, and it sounded distinctly irritated.
"Hello?"
He studied the thing, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.
"Hello?"
Ooh, Hermione sure sounded mad.
He placed the phone next to his ear and was startled when her voice rang through his head, clearer than it was before.
"Is anyone there?"
Steeling his nerves, he drawled into the phone.
"Hello Hermione."
And he was surprisingly pleased to hear her voice, unsure and wary, mumble out a reply.
"Oh! Wow, um…hello Draco."
