Draco nearly choked on his coffee. What did she mean, "You had a rough night last night."? What had happened with the two of them? He didn't sleep with Mudblood Granger, did he? He thought it best to respond.
"Granger, please tell me you're kidding."
"Oh, no, I'm serious, Malfoy. There's still something you owe me." She looked at him expectantly.
How could he have been so stupid? How drunk was he last night? To go home with an ex Gryffindor was shameful enough, but a Mudblood?
"Granger, I might have slept with you last night, but I was very drunk, so don't expect any more now that I'm sober."
Hermione began to laugh softly.
"You thought… I knew you had a one-track mind! I'm actually waiting for a thank you. I saved your life last night."
He chuckled.
"I don't know what you're on about Granger, I'm – Ouch!" Draco had tried sitting up and his side was aching. He ran his hand down to the area in pain and saw bandages. "Ah…" he said.
"Be careful."
"Merlin… I remember what happened now."
"What?" Hermione leaned forward in her chair a little.
Reluctantly, Draco began to explain.
"It was another Friday night in the Three Broomsticks. I sat at the bar, relaxing with a tumbler of Odgen's FireWhiskey, my fifth of the evening. A wizard sat beside me, and we started to talk.
This wizard began to talk about a story in the Daily Prophet about a wizard who was put to death after he had been plotting inside Azkaban with his fellow inmates." Draco paused for a moment.
"I'm sure you know which death I mean. Anyway, the plot was to bring Voldemort back, and the wizard, my own father Lucius. I've never liked my father, this was something even you knew, but to hear another wizard saying how he deserved to die, hearing the things that were said about my father, it hurt. I wanted this wizard to feel my pain. Instead, I asked him if we could change the subject. He accused me of being a Death Eater. As if I would allow myself to follow an ancient relic who was always beaten by Potter and his golden boy Weasel?"
Hermione's eyes lowered as she heard Ron's horrible nickname.
"Don't mention them again."
Draco glanced at her strangely, but continued.
"So I told him the reason I wanted him to stop talking about it, and this only seemed to fuel his belief that I was as evil as my father. By this time, I'd had about seven FireWhiskeys, and I was pissed off. I started threatening him, telling him to back off, and the next thing I know, I've been hit with a Diffendo charm! Who would have thought a simple charm could do so much damage?"
"I ran from the Three Broomsticks, I ran until I was past all the shops, and then I found your place. I knocked, and then I don't remember anything after that."
"You passed out after I opened the door. And then I took you in and fixed you up." Hermione said quietly.
"Ah…" Draco said.
"Yes. Now for some more bad news," Hermione began. Draco looked puzzled again. "You're going to have to stay here until you're healed up. Don't look at me like that. It's standard procedure. It should take about a week."
"But…"
"No buts. I'm going to make some breakfast. Do you think you can walk down the stairs?"
"Yes."
"Good. How do you like your eggs?"
"However you cook them is fine."
