Chapter 26: Things Are Not As They Appear

"And while we spoke of many things
Fools and kings
This he said to me
The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved in return"

-Moulin Rouge

Draco had made it through the night. He thought it would be easier, knowing Hermione was safe but it was worse. Every time he closed his eyes he saw them. By morning, he could hardly stand it anymore. He decided to pay a surprise visit to the bastard- his father.

He knocked on the door, but there was no reply. Guessing that perhaps his father was out, but Hermione was in, he opened the door and slipped inside.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Again, there was no answer and dejected, Draco began to leave when he heard a noise from one of the bedrooms.

Fearing an attack, as irrational as that was, Draco cautiously opened the door, but nothing could prepare him for what he'd seen.

Lucius. And Hermione. In bed, together. Worse than that though, Lucius and Hermione in bed together and Hermione was topless.

What the hell had happened!

And to top it all off, the pair of them were still sleeping as if they hadn't been making some wild crazy love just the night before! The nerve of them! But the question remained whether or not he should wake them.

Would you normally wake the woman you thought you were in love with while she was in bed with another man? Draco asked himself, though before now he'd never been in this type of situation before at least not on this end of the spectrum. And it's even more complicated since the man she's in bed with is your father.

But luckily (for Draco at any rate) Hermione did stir right then. She looked around as if to ascertain her whereabouts before her eyes rested on Draco.

"Draco," she cried with obvious glee and then tried to mask it with indifference. "Long time, no see."

Draco wasn't amused, distracted or whatever the hell Hermione tried to make him with her oblivious greeting. But he would handle this with finesse. He would handle this the way a true Malfoy would, sans inevitable death. But what came out of Draco's mouth was anything but calm, cool or collected. Instead he voiced the only real words ringing in his head. "What the hell is going on here?"

"What do you mean Draco?" She seemed completely unaware of the extent of the situation.

"Do you realize that you are topless underneath my father as we speak?"

Apparently, Hermione hadn't noticed. But when she looked down, she saw what Draco meant.

"Draco, this isn't what it looks like." Strange, Hermione thought. Those were the exact words I was going to say but-

It seemed as if Lucius had finally awakened to the same strange scene both Draco and Hermione had.

"Really?" Draco yelled. "'Cos this really looks like my father just slept with someone- someone I care about! Are you going to tell me that isn't what happened?"

Hermione was slightly afraid. This was the first time she'd really seen Draco lose it apart from after she'd told him what had happened with Dolohov. And in a sick way, she was happy. Happy that he was getting this worked up over what he saw to be a betrayal. She was happy she meant something to him. But that didn't change the fact that Draco was pissed.

"Son, I know this looks bad but-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it!" Draco came closer to Lucius. "Don't ever call me your son again." He turned to Hermione. "I want you to know that I love you. I thought you loved me too. But I guess I was wrong. See you around."

And with that he stalked out of the suite.