Chapter Ten
Hermione and Draco stopped running when the bright lights of the chateau had melted away into the night. They were out of breath, and decided to rest under the cover of a tree with sprawling branches.
"That…was…fun…" puffed Draco. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"Shut up. That was not fun in any sort of way. That was actually pretty scary…Xavier sounded serious about the witch hunters." she said as reproachfully as she could.
"Don't worry. We'll get to the city centre somehow tonight, get new clothes and new identities. Then we'll get back to England on ship…and back to Hogwarts." Draco reassured her.
"Alright. That sounds good." Hermione replied.
She leaned against the tree, thinking back to what had happened. From the argument in the morning, to sulking in her room all day…to Xavier's attempted assault…it had been a very long and at times frightening day.
"Hey Draco…" she began softly, turning towards him.
"Yeah?" he turned too, and his eyes shone in the darkness.
"Thanks for rescuing me." she murmured.
"Just doing my moral duty." he replied with a grin.
"Well…thanks anyway." she smiled back at him, "I mean, who knows what could've happened if you hadn't…you know."
"Yeah. You have no idea how angry I was when I saw what he was doing. I wanted to hex him into oblivion." answered Draco, his fists clenched as though he wanted to punch Xavier again.
"That reminds me, how did I do that wandless magic?" Hermione asked suddenly.
"You must be very talented. I don't know…could you do wandless magic before?" he replied.
"No…at least not intentionally."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, the only time I remember something like that happening was before Hogwarts. You know, whenever I was in danger from bullies and stuff, something strange would happen and they would disappear. Or they would end up hanging from a tree in the playground. I found it really strange at the time, but now I know that is was just my magic. Do you think its got something to do with what happened?" Hermione answered thoughtfully.
"Maybe or -" Draco was cut off by the sound of hooves.
"Hey, lets hitch a ride." Hermione suggested, she made to get up but Draco stopped her.
"It could be someone from the chateau. Wait here, I'll go and check it out."
He crept stealthily to where the horse and cart had stopped near the roadside. It could sense Draco's presence. It was neighing and pawing the ground nervously.
"Who's there?" asked the horseman. The moonlight shone on his face - he wasn't from the chateau.
"My name's Oscar." he lied smoothly, coming out from the shadows.
"What are you doing in the bushes, Oscar?" asked the man curiously.
"Well you see, me and my wife, er…Lucinda had a falling out with the in-laws, so we've just been resting here. Perhaps you could give us a ride into the city? We'll be most grateful, sir." explained Draco, making himself as humble as he could.
"Where's your wife?" asked the man after a moment. Draco grinned at him.
"Thank you sir."
And he with that he went back to where Hermione was sitting.
"I got us a ride…but if anyone asks, you're my wife Lucinda and I'm Oscar." Draco explained quietly. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.
"Oscar and Lucinda? How original." she remarked dryly as they trudged towards the horse and cart.
"What is that it? No complaints about being my wife?" Draco teased.
"Well, if that's what I'll have to be to get a ride into city, it's a small price to pay." replied Hermione nonchalantly.
"Ah, Oscar what a lovely wife you have." commented the horseman as they ungracefully tumbled into the cart.
"Why thank you, sir." replied Draco, nudging Hermione, "Did you hear that sweetheart?"
Hermione almost burst out laughing.
"Yes I did, darling. I'm very flattered sir." answered Hermione with the straightest face she could manage. This was so absurd!
"Hope this ride isn't too rough for you, madame." said the man.
Hermione shook her head. It was rather soothing in fact…the gentle rocking of the cart was slowly lulling her to sleep…sleep…her head dropped onto Draco's shoulder and he was startled by the sudden weight. But he smiled when he saw her face look so peaceful in her sleep. She had had a hard day, and she deserved a good night's sleep.
The ride into Paris continued silently until they reached their destination. It was a modest Parisian inn that the horseman was to lodge at, which Draco decided for the sake of keeping a low profile, where they would also stay.
He didn't want to wake Hermione, so with the help of the horseman, he picked her up and carried her to the small room that they were to share - of course there would only be one room left, Draco thought sarcastically - it was their fate. He only hoped that she wouldn't mind too much when she woke up and found him lying next to her in bed.
Draco gently lay Hermione down on the somewhat musty looking bed and tucked her in. She was still sleeping soundly. He marvelled at her ability to sleep through all this, yet he also pitied her - as she must be extremely exhausted to have not woken up throughout the whole ride or on the way up to the room.
He went to the washbasin in the corner and washed his face and hands. Refreshed, he came back to the bed in the centre of the cramped room. He debated whether to wake Hermione and tell her that they would be sleeping in the same bed and risk being thrown onto the streets for the night, or to just climb in and face the consequences later.
The latter seemed much more appealing to Draco. So with that he climbed in quietly and blew out the candle that was providing flickering light in the room.
--
"Mr. And Mrs. Granger! Welcome! Please come in and make yourselves comfortable." greeted Dumbledore cordially as Hermione's parents were met at the door of his office.
They smiled a little bit nervously - after all they were still Muggles. They tried to make themselves 'at home' in Dumbledore's office but it was hard with the array of moving paintings and magical instruments decorating the room.
"Have you brought the family tree?" asked Dumbledore softly as they settled themselves into the chairs.
"Yes we have, Headmaster." replied Mr. Granger, handing over a scroll that looked remarkably like a wizard's scroll.
"And have you found any relatives who possibly could have lived in France in the past?" asked Dumbledore.
Mr. And Mrs. Granger glanced worriedly at each other. After hesitating Mrs. Granger spoke up.
"Well Ned did find a branch of the family that had lived in France for one generation. From the history books, it seems as though some sort of scandal happened to move the Grangers back to England."
"I see…and which year was this?"
"They lived in France from the1770's until the 1790's." replied Mrs. Granger.
"Ah I see. Well that fits perfectly…" Dumbledore murmured, pointing a spot on the family tree.
"Marie Hermione Granger. 1772 - ??, daughter of Clarisse and Ernest Granger." read Mr. Granger.
"I'd say that Hermione is almost certainly the French Marie Hermione of the 1770's." said Dumbledore. The Grangers nodded in agreement.
"How will you bring her back then, Headmaster?" asked Mrs. Granger tentatively.
"We have our ways, Mrs. Granger. Don't worry, she'll be fine." assured Dumbledore.
"Okay…" replied Mrs. Granger.
"Well thank you in advance, Headmaster. Please bring her back safely." said Mr. Granger, getting up to leave. They shook hands, and then the Grangers left the office.
Dumbledore accompanied them out the door, he needed to talk to Snape immediately.
--
Hermione felt so groggy. She could feel the rays of the sun shining on her face, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She stretched, and pulling the covers closer to herself, she rolled over…
And found herself pressed up against another body. A nice body, she might add…but that wasn't the point. What the hell had she done last night?!
She quickly ducked under the covers to check if she still had her clothes on. To her immense relief she did. Memories of last night flooded into her brain…ending with the cart ride with Draco.
Draco?
Argh! Had she slept in the same bed as Malfoy??!!!
She nervously looked up…and saw the tousled white-blond hair which confirmed her fears.
"ARGH!!!!" she yelped.
"Ah. Morning, Hermione." responded Draco gingerly, turning around to face her.
He was met with a stinging slap across the face.
"HEY! What was that for?!" he exclaimed, clutching his flushed cheek.
"For taking advantage of my exhaustion!" she shot back indignantly.
"What?! I did not take advantage of you in any way! You've still got your clothes on haven't you?!" reasoned Draco.
"Yeah but you still slept in the same bed as me! You should've asked me for permission." she fumed.
"Look, get over it. I didn't do anything to you. I had nowhere else to sleep…this was the only room left. I would've asked for your permission had you been awake, but since you were sleeping so soundly I didn't want to wake you up…" explained Draco.
"Oh. Well I wouldn't have minded you know, if you had woken me up first." Hermione stubbornly maintained.
"It wouldn't have made a difference. You would've told me to sleep on the floor or something…and we would've gotten into an argument anyways because there is no way in hell that I'm going to sleep on the cockroach-rat-vermin infested floor." replied Draco quietly with a grin.
Hermione paused and then grinned back at him.
"Fine. You are forgiven…just don't do it again…and if you must sleep in the same bed as me, please ask me first ok?"
"As you wish." answered Draco charmingly.
"Ok. I'm putting my trust in you - don't abuse it." Hermione said seriously.
"I wont abuse it." Draco solemnly replied.
There was an awkward pause after this and they avoided each others eyes. They both felt as though an unspoken barrier between them had been breached and something had shifted in their relationship. But this was soon forgotten when Hermione pushed Draco off the bed.
"HEY! That was uncalled for!" spluttered Draco indignantly from the vermin infested floor.
"Sorry, just needed more space to stretch." replied Hermione playfully, justifying herself by stretching languorously on the bed.
Draco was suddenly hit with a realisation as he watched her stretch her slender body.
Hermione a) was female
b) had a really nice figure
c) and was…well…attractive.
"Um. Draco?"
The object of his thoughts was looking at him quizzically. He quickly looked away from her…he had obviously been staring at her. What the hell are you doing Draco?! He was furious at himself. Here he was, telling her that he wouldn't abuse her trust, and already he was thinking about things that couldn't happen…shouldn't happen…
"Draco?" Hermione was getting a bit worried. He was sitting on the floor, staring at the floorboards with a frown on his face.
"Look, um I'm sorry about pushing you off the bed…it was just a joke…" Hermione said softly.
"Huh? Um yeah, I know it was just a joke. I'm not angry, I was just thinking…that's all." stammered Draco in response. He met her eyes for a moment and then looked away again.
Hermione raised her eyebrows. What the hell was up with Draco? He was acting so strange all of a sudden.
"Is anything wrong?" she asked him slowly.
"What? No, nothing's wrong." he replied.
"Then why are you acting so strange?" she tried, getting off the bed and sitting next to him on the floor. He jumped slightly at their closeness. He could feel the warmth of her arm on his and the tingling that he felt was definitely not a good thing. He reluctantly got up, being this close to her was doing weird things to his mind.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, getting up as well.
"Um. To the bathroom, I'll be out in a moment." he answered quickly, striding quickly to the pitifully small bathroom in the corner of the room. He disappeared into it, and shut the door, leaving a very baffled Hermione outside.
A/N: Sorry about the horrendously long wait for this not very interesting chapter guys! I had a really bad case of writer's block and I just couldn't get the chapter to work. So I hope its not too bad, and that you guys enjoyed reading it. Thanks for all your reviews…there weren't as many as last chapter though : ( Ah wells. I'm not complaining. Anyways! Read and review everyone - and I'll get another chapter up before Christmas!