Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine, Harry Potter characters were all created
by J.KR., but I'm sure you didn't need me to tell you that.
A/N: Heey! Here's the next chapter, hope you like it. I did space it out a little more (thx Angelena Granger) and thanx to all my other reviewers, your so0o nice! Another BIG thanx to Susan(Susamina)! Enjoy...
Chapter 5: Freedom, Fever, and Pain Reliever
Now, three days later, the two trapped 'enemies' were seemingly getting along better than either would have imagined. They had played about a hundred games of chess by now and had resorted to doing actual work, which Hermione hadn't minded at all, but Draco thought was pointless since they weren't going to class.
"Hermione, its Christmas vacation, no one else in the school is even doing work." But she had insisted.
"Draco, just because we're stuck in a room now, does not mean we won't be going back to school sometime. We should be filling our brains with knowledge, instead of wasting our time.
"Right now, the only thing I want to fill is my stomach. The last thing I'm going to worry about is school, unlike some other eccentrically obsessed people I know."
"Malfoy, you're such a.a.."
"Charming, clever, and remarkably handsome guy?"
"Those wouldn't really have been my exact choice of words." Hermione answered while feigning agitation, but doing a horrible job. "Well, aren't we all high and mighty." She replied laughing.
"We, not at all. Me, of course." He said with that all-too-familiar smirk.
Later that day, when Draco was trying to read about Transfiguration (from Hermione's persistence) he started to think about the entire situation. He wondered what on Earth had possessed him to start acting somewhat nice toward Hermione. And just why WAS he calling her Hermione? Granger-there that was better. He did have to admit, he did have a trace of respect for the girl, she at least had brains. And it wasn't as God awful as if Pansy had been the one stuck with him. Draco let out an involuntary shudder just thinking of the mere idea of that appalling situation. No, in the past few days he had found Hermione could actually be quite ...enjoyable? For an annoying, know-it-all, bossy, Muggle-born that is.
Hermione had also been wondering what had caused the slight change in the Slytherin's attitude. Sure, he was still insufferable, pompous, arrogant, and far too conceited for his own good, but he had seemed to not be able to insult her as much as he used to. Maybe it was possible for him to be human. Maybe she had misjudged him a little bit. But she still couldn't stand him, and right then and there, she bluntly decided she never would.
Draco, tired and bored as hell from the book, had barely gotten past the first page. He let out a heavy sigh and slouched back in his chair, not wanting to concentrate at all on the task of "filling his brain". In fact, his damn thoughts kept getting in the way. He looked over to see what Hermione was doing and saw she had fallen asleep. He was surprised that he actually thought for a second she wasn't too misfortunate looking. But he wasn't about to admit anything of the sort could possibly be true. That's good, now being in this detestable room was making him hallucinate and have deranged thoughts.
"Having fun staring into space?" the now awakened Hermione asked with a grin. She tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but a sudden wave of weakness overcame her. By her demeanor and lack of usual stamina, Draco became distressed and then confused.
"What's the matter? Are you ok?" he questioned, trying not to show too much concern.
"Yeah, I think I'm ok" she said as she tried to stand up, but collapsed right back down, unable to support herself.
"Tell me what's wrong." He almost pleaded. Hermione was thrown off by his apparent worry and became a little bothered at the thought of him actually caring about anyone else's feelings except his own.
"Well, I feel really weak and I'm starting to get quite cold."
"But Hermione, it must be about 70 degrees in here. Uh-oh. I think you're getting sick. You'd better just relax and I'll see if whoever occupied this room last left some medicine behind." As an after thought he added "Granger" so he didn't sound too un-Malfoyish.
Draco's brain was amply telling him to stop and think about what exactly he was doing for a minute. Why was he trying to tend to someone else's needs? Especially his long-hated former enemy. Former? No, she still was his enemy. Wasn't she? He was so mixed up, he didn't even know anymore. He just hoped that these random, obscure, bizarre thoughts were occurring, just because he had caught the same thing Hermione now had. He searched the tiny kitchen's few cupboards only to find them lacking in any kind of medical remedy. "Great. What am I supposed to do now? I can't even do any spells except Lumos! And Accio! Oh, wait that's it. Accio medicine!" he shouted with expectations of this being the solution. Nothing happened. "Accio potion!" Still nothing. "Bloody freaking hell!" he screamed. "I don't get it! Why isn't it working now? Why am I even here, shouting at the top of my lungs to no one at all, like an idiot? Will someone care to explain that to me?" He wasn't expecting an answer, but the reply he did get stunned him for a minute. A mysterious message had been written on the wall in what appeared to be... ketchup? 'Take care and you will see quite a major discovery.' "Who are you? Why are we here? And just WHAT is that supposed to mean?" Fabulous, now on top of all his other problems- being stuck in a room, with Granger, not getting a decent night's sleep in more than a week, his gorgeous locks being messed up from utter lack of hair care products, and his recent evident mood swings and bout of insanity- now he had to deal with stupid spirits with a sense of humor? And to top it all off, he had to take care of Hermione. Was this what the rest of his life would be like? He SERIOUSLY hoped not. He didn't even know how to take care of her. But of course, he would be forced to, because he couldn't just let her suffer. He was in no way, besides his looks, even remotely like the evil bastard other people liked to call his father. Voldemort was still lurking around, wanting Draco to be a part of his 'special plans' but he figured as long as he was at Hogwarts he would be safe. He wasn't about to become Mr. Nice Guy; oh he was FAR from it. But contrary to popular belief, he wasn't purely evil. No, not purely. Sure, it was fun to mock her, she brought it on herself sometimes, but he certainly didn't want to see her severely hurt. However, he certainly had no idea how, or had had no intention of taking care of the ill girl. But he supposed he'd have to suck it up and just do it. He didn't like her though, and he definitely never would. At least that's what he thought.
Hermione lay on the couch, feeling pain and weakness throughout her body, and she supposed she had a fever as well. She looked toward the kitchen door with curiosity and mild entertainment as she heard various muffled shouts, crashes, rattling, and exclamations coming from inside. Finally a fed up looking Draco came out with a tray of orange juice, water, crackers, and something that might have resembled chicken soup if it wasn't so lumpy and discolored. He tried to put on a fake smile as he set the tray down.
"Um, thanks Draco....it looks, um, appetizing." Hermione said while eyeing the 'soup' with wariness. 'If I eat that, I might get worse, not better.'
"Oh, sorry Granger, but I, uh, can't really cook too well." He explained with slight embarrassment.
"That's ok, I wasn't really that hungry anyway." She replied as her stomach growled abruptly. He looked at her skeptically, then laughed. "Maybe I'll just have some crackers."
This routine went on for a few days, and Hermione got increasingly better. She was glad to say that Draco's soup did too. They had now been in the room for two weeks, and Hermione was getting nervous that they might not get out before school started again. She decided to have a talk with Draco about what was going to happen once they were finally freed.
"Hermione, what's with the face?" Draco asked wondering what she was thinking about.
"Well, I was thinking and, what's going to happen when we get out of here?" she asked tentatively. She wasn't sure what he was going to say.
"What do you mean?' he asked back.
"It's just that, we both know everyone will be wondering where we were. What are we going to tell them?"
"I guess the best thing to do would go to Dumbledore first, and can decide if we should tell people or not. But you know there's some absurd rumor going around the school about us now."
"Yeah probably something like I was kidnapped by Voldemort and you ran off to save me because I was pregnant with your 'love child'." She said using quotes, and started laughing at this crazy idea.
"Oh, Granger, did you really have to put those disturbing mental images in my head?" he said while sneering.
Hermione blushed as she realized the meaning of what she had said, but soon got over it and replied, "Well, that's just your sick mind at work."
"Yeah, I know, I am a guy after all." And they both started laughing.
But Hermione quickly grew serious. "Draco, what's happening? I mean, between us. I know we're not like life-long companions or anything, but, we've been getting along so well lately."
"I really don't know. But, you are right, I mean this wasn't as painful an experience as I thought it was going to be. It turns out we could actually, kind of, maybe, sort of, have fun together."
"So does this mean that we're quasi- friends now?"
He looked reluctant and finally gave his answer. "Yeah, Hermione I think it does." Suddenly the young wizard's ring began to glow a bright blue. "Uh, Granger, what's going on?" he asked worriedly. "I have no idea, but it must mean something. Wait a minute....blue, blue...that's it Draco, that's it!" Hermione's voice was growing more excited by the second. "'When blue is the color you will discover the key to freedom. The rings must have some kind of mood control, and they had to turn blue, which would mean we were getting along, in order for this certain spell to be broken!" her logical and ever sensible mind reasoned. She looked down at her hand, and her ring was also glowing the same bright azure color. "So that's what all those crazy signs were trying to tell us."
"Well if that's the case, then how come I don't see a way out." He said while glancing around the room and spotting a rather large door near the bookcases. "Ok, that wasn't there before" he said irritably, while turning the handle. The door opened and they looked out to a fairly long hallway. "Granger, do you have to be right about everything?" They gathered up the few things from the room and started down the long way down the hallway. If only they had seen the four iridescent smiling faces behind them.
They spent most of the trip in silence, not being able to comprehend that just as they were getting used to each other, they would be heading back to their own lives, where they had been sworn enemies only two weeks prior. There was one fact on both of their minds, but neither of them was brave enough just yet to voice it. Hermione decided though that she would. "Drac...Malfoy? What's going to happen about, well, what we just talked about?" Draco had been thinking the same thing, and as the doors of the Great Hall came into view, realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He was Draco Malfoy, a self-admiring, pureblooded wizard, and this was his adversary. He hated her friends and was supposed to...*did* hate everything about her as well. He had to restore things to the way they were supposed to be and amend the damage that had been done.
"Look Granger, we're back to our lives now, you're a Gryffindor, I'm a Slytherin. We've despised each other since we've met, why try to change it? Now we'll go back to our rooms and we can explain things to Dumbledore in the morning."
"But..." Hermione tried to interject softly.
"Granger, drop it. It's not right. I just CAN'T be friends with a filthy little mudblood like you." He retorted harshly while stalking back toward his own, much missed room.
A/N: Well there ya go! You know I realized I ask way too many questions in this, and a lot of them haven't been answered lol. But don't worry, they probably will be soon. I'm pretty sure this is going to be kinda long tho, I have lots in store for those two...LoL. And, I was wondering when the best time to update my story is. Anyway, remember to pleazzze review and I'll love you forever hehehe. Bye! ~SweetWater~
A/N: Heey! Here's the next chapter, hope you like it. I did space it out a little more (thx Angelena Granger) and thanx to all my other reviewers, your so0o nice! Another BIG thanx to Susan(Susamina)! Enjoy...
Chapter 5: Freedom, Fever, and Pain Reliever
Now, three days later, the two trapped 'enemies' were seemingly getting along better than either would have imagined. They had played about a hundred games of chess by now and had resorted to doing actual work, which Hermione hadn't minded at all, but Draco thought was pointless since they weren't going to class.
"Hermione, its Christmas vacation, no one else in the school is even doing work." But she had insisted.
"Draco, just because we're stuck in a room now, does not mean we won't be going back to school sometime. We should be filling our brains with knowledge, instead of wasting our time.
"Right now, the only thing I want to fill is my stomach. The last thing I'm going to worry about is school, unlike some other eccentrically obsessed people I know."
"Malfoy, you're such a.a.."
"Charming, clever, and remarkably handsome guy?"
"Those wouldn't really have been my exact choice of words." Hermione answered while feigning agitation, but doing a horrible job. "Well, aren't we all high and mighty." She replied laughing.
"We, not at all. Me, of course." He said with that all-too-familiar smirk.
Later that day, when Draco was trying to read about Transfiguration (from Hermione's persistence) he started to think about the entire situation. He wondered what on Earth had possessed him to start acting somewhat nice toward Hermione. And just why WAS he calling her Hermione? Granger-there that was better. He did have to admit, he did have a trace of respect for the girl, she at least had brains. And it wasn't as God awful as if Pansy had been the one stuck with him. Draco let out an involuntary shudder just thinking of the mere idea of that appalling situation. No, in the past few days he had found Hermione could actually be quite ...enjoyable? For an annoying, know-it-all, bossy, Muggle-born that is.
Hermione had also been wondering what had caused the slight change in the Slytherin's attitude. Sure, he was still insufferable, pompous, arrogant, and far too conceited for his own good, but he had seemed to not be able to insult her as much as he used to. Maybe it was possible for him to be human. Maybe she had misjudged him a little bit. But she still couldn't stand him, and right then and there, she bluntly decided she never would.
Draco, tired and bored as hell from the book, had barely gotten past the first page. He let out a heavy sigh and slouched back in his chair, not wanting to concentrate at all on the task of "filling his brain". In fact, his damn thoughts kept getting in the way. He looked over to see what Hermione was doing and saw she had fallen asleep. He was surprised that he actually thought for a second she wasn't too misfortunate looking. But he wasn't about to admit anything of the sort could possibly be true. That's good, now being in this detestable room was making him hallucinate and have deranged thoughts.
"Having fun staring into space?" the now awakened Hermione asked with a grin. She tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but a sudden wave of weakness overcame her. By her demeanor and lack of usual stamina, Draco became distressed and then confused.
"What's the matter? Are you ok?" he questioned, trying not to show too much concern.
"Yeah, I think I'm ok" she said as she tried to stand up, but collapsed right back down, unable to support herself.
"Tell me what's wrong." He almost pleaded. Hermione was thrown off by his apparent worry and became a little bothered at the thought of him actually caring about anyone else's feelings except his own.
"Well, I feel really weak and I'm starting to get quite cold."
"But Hermione, it must be about 70 degrees in here. Uh-oh. I think you're getting sick. You'd better just relax and I'll see if whoever occupied this room last left some medicine behind." As an after thought he added "Granger" so he didn't sound too un-Malfoyish.
Draco's brain was amply telling him to stop and think about what exactly he was doing for a minute. Why was he trying to tend to someone else's needs? Especially his long-hated former enemy. Former? No, she still was his enemy. Wasn't she? He was so mixed up, he didn't even know anymore. He just hoped that these random, obscure, bizarre thoughts were occurring, just because he had caught the same thing Hermione now had. He searched the tiny kitchen's few cupboards only to find them lacking in any kind of medical remedy. "Great. What am I supposed to do now? I can't even do any spells except Lumos! And Accio! Oh, wait that's it. Accio medicine!" he shouted with expectations of this being the solution. Nothing happened. "Accio potion!" Still nothing. "Bloody freaking hell!" he screamed. "I don't get it! Why isn't it working now? Why am I even here, shouting at the top of my lungs to no one at all, like an idiot? Will someone care to explain that to me?" He wasn't expecting an answer, but the reply he did get stunned him for a minute. A mysterious message had been written on the wall in what appeared to be... ketchup? 'Take care and you will see quite a major discovery.' "Who are you? Why are we here? And just WHAT is that supposed to mean?" Fabulous, now on top of all his other problems- being stuck in a room, with Granger, not getting a decent night's sleep in more than a week, his gorgeous locks being messed up from utter lack of hair care products, and his recent evident mood swings and bout of insanity- now he had to deal with stupid spirits with a sense of humor? And to top it all off, he had to take care of Hermione. Was this what the rest of his life would be like? He SERIOUSLY hoped not. He didn't even know how to take care of her. But of course, he would be forced to, because he couldn't just let her suffer. He was in no way, besides his looks, even remotely like the evil bastard other people liked to call his father. Voldemort was still lurking around, wanting Draco to be a part of his 'special plans' but he figured as long as he was at Hogwarts he would be safe. He wasn't about to become Mr. Nice Guy; oh he was FAR from it. But contrary to popular belief, he wasn't purely evil. No, not purely. Sure, it was fun to mock her, she brought it on herself sometimes, but he certainly didn't want to see her severely hurt. However, he certainly had no idea how, or had had no intention of taking care of the ill girl. But he supposed he'd have to suck it up and just do it. He didn't like her though, and he definitely never would. At least that's what he thought.
Hermione lay on the couch, feeling pain and weakness throughout her body, and she supposed she had a fever as well. She looked toward the kitchen door with curiosity and mild entertainment as she heard various muffled shouts, crashes, rattling, and exclamations coming from inside. Finally a fed up looking Draco came out with a tray of orange juice, water, crackers, and something that might have resembled chicken soup if it wasn't so lumpy and discolored. He tried to put on a fake smile as he set the tray down.
"Um, thanks Draco....it looks, um, appetizing." Hermione said while eyeing the 'soup' with wariness. 'If I eat that, I might get worse, not better.'
"Oh, sorry Granger, but I, uh, can't really cook too well." He explained with slight embarrassment.
"That's ok, I wasn't really that hungry anyway." She replied as her stomach growled abruptly. He looked at her skeptically, then laughed. "Maybe I'll just have some crackers."
This routine went on for a few days, and Hermione got increasingly better. She was glad to say that Draco's soup did too. They had now been in the room for two weeks, and Hermione was getting nervous that they might not get out before school started again. She decided to have a talk with Draco about what was going to happen once they were finally freed.
"Hermione, what's with the face?" Draco asked wondering what she was thinking about.
"Well, I was thinking and, what's going to happen when we get out of here?" she asked tentatively. She wasn't sure what he was going to say.
"What do you mean?' he asked back.
"It's just that, we both know everyone will be wondering where we were. What are we going to tell them?"
"I guess the best thing to do would go to Dumbledore first, and can decide if we should tell people or not. But you know there's some absurd rumor going around the school about us now."
"Yeah probably something like I was kidnapped by Voldemort and you ran off to save me because I was pregnant with your 'love child'." She said using quotes, and started laughing at this crazy idea.
"Oh, Granger, did you really have to put those disturbing mental images in my head?" he said while sneering.
Hermione blushed as she realized the meaning of what she had said, but soon got over it and replied, "Well, that's just your sick mind at work."
"Yeah, I know, I am a guy after all." And they both started laughing.
But Hermione quickly grew serious. "Draco, what's happening? I mean, between us. I know we're not like life-long companions or anything, but, we've been getting along so well lately."
"I really don't know. But, you are right, I mean this wasn't as painful an experience as I thought it was going to be. It turns out we could actually, kind of, maybe, sort of, have fun together."
"So does this mean that we're quasi- friends now?"
He looked reluctant and finally gave his answer. "Yeah, Hermione I think it does." Suddenly the young wizard's ring began to glow a bright blue. "Uh, Granger, what's going on?" he asked worriedly. "I have no idea, but it must mean something. Wait a minute....blue, blue...that's it Draco, that's it!" Hermione's voice was growing more excited by the second. "'When blue is the color you will discover the key to freedom. The rings must have some kind of mood control, and they had to turn blue, which would mean we were getting along, in order for this certain spell to be broken!" her logical and ever sensible mind reasoned. She looked down at her hand, and her ring was also glowing the same bright azure color. "So that's what all those crazy signs were trying to tell us."
"Well if that's the case, then how come I don't see a way out." He said while glancing around the room and spotting a rather large door near the bookcases. "Ok, that wasn't there before" he said irritably, while turning the handle. The door opened and they looked out to a fairly long hallway. "Granger, do you have to be right about everything?" They gathered up the few things from the room and started down the long way down the hallway. If only they had seen the four iridescent smiling faces behind them.
They spent most of the trip in silence, not being able to comprehend that just as they were getting used to each other, they would be heading back to their own lives, where they had been sworn enemies only two weeks prior. There was one fact on both of their minds, but neither of them was brave enough just yet to voice it. Hermione decided though that she would. "Drac...Malfoy? What's going to happen about, well, what we just talked about?" Draco had been thinking the same thing, and as the doors of the Great Hall came into view, realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He was Draco Malfoy, a self-admiring, pureblooded wizard, and this was his adversary. He hated her friends and was supposed to...*did* hate everything about her as well. He had to restore things to the way they were supposed to be and amend the damage that had been done.
"Look Granger, we're back to our lives now, you're a Gryffindor, I'm a Slytherin. We've despised each other since we've met, why try to change it? Now we'll go back to our rooms and we can explain things to Dumbledore in the morning."
"But..." Hermione tried to interject softly.
"Granger, drop it. It's not right. I just CAN'T be friends with a filthy little mudblood like you." He retorted harshly while stalking back toward his own, much missed room.
A/N: Well there ya go! You know I realized I ask way too many questions in this, and a lot of them haven't been answered lol. But don't worry, they probably will be soon. I'm pretty sure this is going to be kinda long tho, I have lots in store for those two...LoL. And, I was wondering when the best time to update my story is. Anyway, remember to pleazzze review and I'll love you forever hehehe. Bye! ~SweetWater~