Chapter Thirteen
Severus Snape was feeling slightly disoriented when he ended up in Paris, in the September of 1788. He was dressed very peculiarly for the time, but no one noticed as he had appeared in a dark alley of the French Wizarding Quarter. He quietly walked out to one of the clothes shops in the Quarter and bought himself a suit so that he didn't look as conspicuous in the crowd.
After that was accomplished, Snape decided to go where the Headmaster had advised he try first to look for Draco - the Malfoy chateau.
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Meanwhile, on board the Lady Madeline, Draco and Hermione were really quite enjoying themselves at dinner. They had made friends with several other young couples apart from the Griffiths and the men were becoming quite rowdy as the night went on due to the copious amount of alcohol they had consumed.
After the dinner, the women and the men split up and went to their respective parlours to chat and play cards.
"So how did you meet Oscar, Lucinda?" asked a girl named Meagan curiously.
"Well…its really quite a long story." she said.
"We'd like to hear it, wouldn't we girls?" Meagan replied with a grin. The rest of the women nodded in agreement. Hermione sighed a little, but obliged them.
"We've known each other since we were eleven years old…" she started off.
"Was he always this charming and good looking?" interrupted another girl called Susan dreamily.
Hermione was starting to feel a little annoyed with this group of girls - they obviously thought that Draco was attractive and that thought made her feel protective of him…because he was her 'husband' and he also happened to be the boy that she liked. She was starting to feel a little bit irritable because of the company and also because of the little bit of alcohol she had consumed.
"No he was scrawny and obnoxious for a very long time." snapped Hermione in response. The girls raised their eyebrows at her in disbelief.
"So when did he become so attractive?" asked another familiar voice. Hermione turned around and saw Priscilla Griffith walking towards her, joining in on the Draco discussion.
"Good evening, Priscilla." Hermione greeted. Draco was right - that woman was insufferable.
"You haven't answered my question, Lucinda." Priscilla said sweetly.
"Uh, well I've forgotten what it was." Hermione answered curtly.
"She asked when did he become so attractive." Meagan quipped helpfully. Hermione groaned inwardly. She was getting sick of discussing Draco with these women - they had their own husbands…why couldn't they discuss them instead!
"I've always been very attractive actually." drawled Draco's voice from the entrance to the parlour. Some of the women squeaked in surprise at the object of their discussion who was walking slowly towards his wife.
"Oscar." Hermione said a bit breathlessly. She was so relieved that he was here - it meant the end of the girls' discussion about him. When Draco reached her, he kissed her lightly on the cheek and whispered -
"Its getting late, we should get going." Hermione nodded and smiled at him, sneaking a look at the rest of the women who were giving her what could only be described as glares of envy.
"Good night everyone, sleep well." Hermione said sweetly to the group.
Then with her arm looped through Draco's, they exited the parlour elegantly.
"So what did the girls say about me?" asked Draco with a lopsided smile - Hermione could smell a hint of whisky on his breath.
"How much have you had to drink?" Hermione replied, looking at him in concern.
"Don't worry - not nearly enough to make me dizzy…this Muggle liquor is nothing compared to Giant wine." Draco answered, patting Hermione's hand in what was meant to be a reassuring way, but the affect was ruined by Draco hiccuping.
"Fine. But just don't complain about being hung over tomorrow morning." Hermione replied in a stern voice.
"Just lighten up, Hermione. Live a little." Draco said, his words slightly slurred.
"Ok so you are drunk." Hermione concluded, seeing him stagger - his usual catlike grace gone from his strut.
He rolled his eyes at her but allowed her to use herself to support him. They walked slowly and a little bit unevenly back to their room - Hermione saw passers-by giving them slightly disapproving looks because of Draco's tipsiness but she ignored them, and also tried to ignore how Draco's arm was slung across her shoulders and how strangely warm and tingly that area felt…
"Are you really that relieved to be back?" Draco asked sceptically, when Hermione let out a small cheer as they entered their room. He leant on the bedpost when Hermione let go off him, in order to support himself.
"Yes! Its such hard work to support you - you're so incredibly heavy! Besides, its not just that - pretending to be someone that you're not for a whole day is tiring." Hermione replied, flopping down onto the bed, flashing him a grin.
"I'm not that heavy am I!" Draco said indignantly. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"Fine. Sorry - thanks for helping me walk back to the room, darrrling." he said politely, waving his arms out, offering her a hug.
"You're welcome." She replied, ignoring his outstretched arms.
"Fine. Don't accept my hug." he muttered, pretending to be upset.
Hermione wasn't sure whether he was being serious or not, but she didn't really want to have anymore physical contact with him - god knows what might happen…alcohol can do strange things to people's minds…
"Anyway, back to what you originally said - I'm actually enjoying pretending to be this Oscar fellow. I mean everyone assumes that we're adults because we're married and doing business, which means as much alcohol as we want." Draco said with a grin.
"Draco, don't abuse your luck." Hermione mumbled from the bed.
"I can do whatever the hell I want with my luck." He replied.
Draco then moved over to where Hermione lay on the bed and sat down next to her. Absently he played with her chocolate brown hair as he kept talking.
"Its pretty fun pretending to be married to me isn't it?" he smirked.
Hermione wondered if he really was drunk - he had had a lot to drink tonight and he was probably not thinking straight - which probably explained why he was stroking her hair and tearing her nerves to shreds in the process. But on the other hand, he was making very sober comments about her…it just didn't fit in.
"What are you talking about!" Hermione exclaimed, her hand coming up to stop his from doing anything more to her hair.
"Well, I know you must be enjoying it because you're not putting up a fight every time I touch you now." Draco said nonchalantly, catching her hand in his.
"Wha-no, wait a minute -" Hermione spluttered.
"Don't say that you're only doing it for other people's benefit…" Draco murmured, his eyes meeting hers.
"Maybe this whole thing isn't only for show anymore…" He continued, his eyes now searching hers and for a moment Hermione was sure that he was most definitely not drunk because he had such an all-knowing look on his face.
She was like a rabbit caught in the headlights again.
Completely tongue-tied.
Unable to formulate a coherent comeback to his half-drunken remark.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" Hermione said breathlessly, as he drew closer to her.
"You might not know, but I do." he replied, placing his arms on either side of her - effectively pinning her down on the bed.
And in that split second, she knew that he knew, but she could do nothing about it because Draco's lips were on hers.
It was a slow, unhurried, intense kiss - and Hermione had never been kissed that way before. It felt so incredible, and so surreal …she wasn't even sure he was sober. But Hermione tried to put that thought to the back of her mind and let herself enjoy the feeling of his soft lips caressing hers.
When he pulled away, Hermione looked up at him, trying to figure out whether he was sober or not.
"Draco…" Hermione started off quietly.
"Hm?" he replied, lying down next to her.
"What was that for?" she asked seriously.
"Nothing. I just wanted to shut you up." he answered, his words slightly slurred again.
Hermione propped herself up on her elbows and gave him a long, piercing look. He seemed unaffected by it - he even had the audacity to laugh.
"What are you doing Hermione? I mean I know I'm devilishly good-looking, but really must you stare?" he asked, sounding sober again.
"Argh. I give up." Hermione grumbled to herself, and got off the bed, stalking to the bathroom.
-
Draco watched her go. To tell you the truth, he didn't know what had possessed him to kiss her - maybe it was the Muggle liquor, maybe it was because she looked so beautiful lying there on their bed, or maybe it was a combination of the both.
All he knew was that it had made things so much more complicated between them.
He knew she was wondering whether he had kissed her out of drunkenness, and right about now he was wishing that he had because it would've been so much simpler if he had - because he wouldn't be able to remember feeling her soft lips responding to his, and how great it had been to kiss her. He honestly didn't remember ever kissing a girl slowly like that before - it had always been a fiery quick joining of the lips.
He really wasn't that tipsy at all when he had kissed her - his mind had been quite clear in what it intended him to do, but it didn't make the situation any better. He had resolved not to allow his feelings get in the way of their friendship, but judging by the way Hermione had responded to his kiss…he wasn't so sure anymore.
He didn't want to hurt her, and he didn't want to lose her, both of which would inevitably happen if they had a relationship. So there was really one thing he could do - pretend that the kiss had never happened. It was the best way out of this.
Draco rolled over in the bed - his head was throbbing and it was all because of Hermione. And a bit of the Muggle liquor of course. He was still thinking about the kiss when he drifted off to a fitful sleep.
He didn't see Hermione step out of the bathroom, with her dried tears on her cheeks.
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A/N: Argh! That was such a horrible chapter to write! I mean it was good, because Draco and Hermione kissed, but there's so much angst about it! Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed it anyway.
First: thanks soooo much to my lovely reviewers:
ILoveOrli-27 - Yeah the Griffiths are supposed to be nosy and suspicious. They're just those characters that you're supposed to hate cos they're just so annoying. Thanks for your reviews!
Shimmering Evil - thanks for your continued support!
Vote-larry4prez - thanks for your reviews!
Meg - Well, Snape hasn't found them yet (sorry) but he will either next chapter, or the chappie after that, just stay tuned ok? Thanks for your continued support again!
MioneAndMalfoy - hahaha glad to see you like the plot. Yeah, I love hr/d fics because they're just such a good couple. Anyways, thanks for your review!
Chalindra - thanks for your positive review! Hope you liked the chapter.
Zoey-lou - glad you like the story, and hope you like the new chapter
Foxeran - yay! I'm glad that you like how I've kept the characters in character - I just hate fics that make Hermione and Draco completely OOC - its just so unbelievable. Thanks for your review!
who cares? - hi again! Hope you like the new chapter.
Lady-Delphinea - hey! Wow what a positive review! It really makes me feel happy to hear such good feedback - thanks so much for your continued support!
Heather bug - glad to hear your hairs ok! Well hopefully you like this new chapter! Thanks for your review.
ILUVCANDY - Thanks for your review…and in response to your question no I haven't thought about writing a Snape and Hermione fic because I don't like Snape very much…I prefer the younger characters I guess. But I do like Sirius and Lupin. Anyways, hope you liked the new chapter.