Disclaimer: not mine.
A/N: I know, I know! Three in one day, how insanely weird am I? But I just got the bug, so here's the next chap.
Ch. 17
Misinterpretations
Hermione couldn't believe just how nervy Draco Malfoy actually was. Imagine him, coming into her place of work and just pretending like he didn't know she would be there.
She was just so absolutely furious that it felt like some strange demon had possessed her.
Maybe that was why she had thrown the dishrag at him.
Thinking back on that moment brought her the first genuine smile since she had seen that smarmy blonde rat.
He had looked awfully funny spluttering like that. She let out a short burst of laughter, remembering the outraged, yet unsurprised look on his face.
That look was what had cinched it. Of course he had done it on purpose.
He had kissed her so thoroughly the night before that he'd made her feel foolish, and then he had had the nerve to come waltzing back into her life the very next afternoon.
The small, rational part of her brain was trying to tell her something. But she just didn't feel like listening.
She slammed her way into the kitchen, doors and breakables cringing in her wake. She proceeded to slam, crash and bang her way through dinner and washing up.
And then she decided that she was going to have quiet evening on the couch with a trashy romance novel. Preferably one that had a messy ending for the evil bastard in the story.
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Draco was in his room, still fuming. He could still taste that nasty, filthy dishrag in his mouth.
How could she have done that? What did I ever do to her? And what the bloody hell was she doing there in the first place?
As Draco thought back on his questions, he managed to dismiss all but the last one. After all, he remembered Hermione having quite a volatile temper in school, and after.
He knew Death eaters that cringed in fear at the mention of her name. Granted, there were only two of them, but one was his father, so that was saying something.
Also, well…he hated to admit it, but things between them had been…muddled lately. And she could have done worse…well probably not in that venue, but she had probably wanted to do much worse.
Draco wiped the sweat that formed on his brow, and thanked his lucky stars that she hadn't pulled a wand on him.
For some odd reason, he still couldn't fathom why she had been there. He decided to go to the source. By that he meant James. James had talked to her and forced her to go outside and calm down. Draco hadn't seen her after that.
He ambled out into the living room, and was pleased to see that James was already sitting on the sofa, and he seemed to have some questions of his own.
"We need to talk." James' voice was low, and slightly threatening. Draco might have been intimidated, but he had his wand on him, therefore nothing could go wrong.
However, Draco agreed with James on one point at least. They did need to talk.
Draco sat on a chair, hoping to make this situation a little less…tense. "I agree. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions."
James had apparently decided to be reasonable. "What did you do to Hermione to get her so riled up?"
Draco laughed. That question is so very multi-layered. It isn't just what, it's which one. "Well, that's at least one of my questions answered. How did you meet Hermione? We went to school together. First year through seventh. We didn't exactly get along then."
James nodded, processing the information and trying to choose his next words carefully. "She works at the coffee shop. We started at the same time, trained together, and she's a friendly person. Don't know what made her go mad on you today. Care to explain?"
Draco rubbed the back of his neck, and tried to figure out how to answer this delicately. He didn't even know why he was telling this to James, but he figured it would be in his best interests to keep his roommate happy.
"Well, I told you we used to go to school together? We met up again on Friday night. Purely by accident. And we kind of…erm…hooked up. We ended up at the same club again the next night and she got pretty mad and told me off for something I did. But last night we patched all of that up and we were getting along really well."
James shook his head and laughed. "You really got yourself into something. Hermione's a piece of work. If I swung that way I might risk her myself. Unfortunately, or probably fortunately, I don't. Just so you know."
Draco looked a little confused. "Are you saying that you're…well…"
James just laughed. "You sounded exactly like my father just then. But yeah, I'm gay. Don't worry; I'm in a very satisfying relationship. I won't be hitting on you."
Draco laughed a little nervously. He really wasn't sure how to respond to this. He tried, "I wasn't worried, you don't seem like the flirtatious type." That sounds incredibly daft Draco, good job!
James just shook his head amusedly. "I'm not, I guess I'm a little serious. My partner however, well, you'll see him around here eventually. But he never really means it."
James looked at his watch, "Hey I gotta go. But, it was nice talking to you. You're not as strange as I thought."
Draco stood and walked towards his room, pausing to say, "You're not so bad yourself."
