Sorry for being so late with this. I was busy. Enough said.
Here's the next chapter!
"Mione. You're getting boring. Please get a life." Ginny said in a matter of fact voice. Hermione continued to spin her fork in her lettuce.
"I'm having Lupin's child."
Hermione's eyes were still glazed over.
"And I think Harry wants to quit the team and become a Sherpa in the Himalayas." Ginny paused for a moment. Then slammed her own fork on Hermione's hand. "OK. That is it. What is so wonky about you?"
Hermione looked up startled and stopped herself from blushing in embarrassment. Bad enough her life was so disorderly, she didn't need a soon to be bride on her case as well.
"Nothing."
"oh, yes. Hermione. Smartest witch or not, I am not stupid." Ginny moaned.
"Sorry." She answered quickly, picking up the vinaigrette bottle to pour a little bit on her salad.
"For example…" Ginny intoned, "You are currently drowning your salad in dressing. For the fifth time in twenty minutes."
Hermione stoically placed the bottle back and grimaced as she ate a bite of overdressed tomato.
"Hermione." Ginny beckoned a little more gently. "We're mates, aren't we?"
Hermione bit her lip and didn't answer. Truth be told, lately she hadn't felt like she had any real friends. They were all rather transparent and superficial to her lately and she hated herself for it. The only person she couldn't figure out immediately was Dumbledore…and well Draco. Malfoy. No….malfoy was more impersonal. She sighed out loud.
"Its just the case Ginny. And everything."
"Gee."
"What?"
"Didn't think it was possible for you to get anymore vague. Apparently I was wrong."
Hermione let out a strangled sound.
"Sorry. That was bitchy of me. Now tell me. What's up."
Hermione stabbed another bit of cucumber and contemplated it translucent center.
"Let's see. Quietness. Inability to eat like a normal bloke. Bags under eyes. So, I must conclude. You're in love."
Hermione audibly choked on the cucumber and had to reach for her glass of water.
"WHAT!"
" I knew it. Who is he?"
"Ginny, I've told you many times, I don't have-"
"-Time for that nonsense I know. But really 'Mione, you're an old softie underneath that entire ice queen demeanor. So spill it. I'll buy us desert. Cheesecake. You're favorite."
"Well."Hermione said in a clipped tone. I'm afraid I'll have to be disappointed. There isn't anyone. At all. At- all."
"Well, I'll buy you dessert anyway. And I'll get this out of you if it kills me."
"Oh. Ginny. Don't make me commit homicide, not when its my line of work." Hermione quipped with a withering look. Her hands trembled a little as she pulled on her robes, and grabbed her shoulder bag.
"Oh….Mione, let's walk." Ginny said in a quieter tone. They both paid their half of the bill and strode out of the restaurant. They proceeded to walk down the winding path of a surprisingly quiet Diagon Alley.
"So tell me. What's bothering you."
Hermione glanced over at her friend, and to her shame, hesitated. She wasn't comfortable revealing intimate details as it was. And Ginny was fairly flighty. She wasn't sure if her mouth could stay sealed.
"Ginny, I swear if I find out you've told anyone, I will…I'll.."
"Do something violent. I know. And I believe it, so don't worry." She answered rubbing a hand comfortingly over her shoulder.
"Good. As long as we…understand that. Its just that…I got a kiss."
"'Mione! Then why are you so damn sad about it? Its hardly all that…well cataclysmic."
"Ginny." Her tone made Ginny look at her concernedly. "It was my first."
She was met by complete silence.
"Don't laugh."
"I'm not! I'm just…oh, 'Mione has it really been that bad for you? Your'e twenty eight…surely… I mean you were at least fourteen when you and Viktor…"
"Did nothing." Hermione's voice hardened. She was not happy that she had been used. Even all these years later, he was one of the many people she would never forgive.
"herm ninny! You must understand! I was having no choice!"
"Viktor! If I find that you have been anywhere near me, I will use the crutacious curse on you , make no bones about it." Hermione's hand shook as she held the wand in front of her, cradling Neville's head in her lap. Inside the chambers, she could hear Harry screaming. Sobs racked her body as she whispered the beginning words of the curse.
"Do not do this!" and his voice was calm as he backed towards the door of the hall. He turned and broke for a run. Hermione had come upon him in the potions room, shoving flask after flask of various locked up ingredients into his bag. For the Dark Lord. The same way he had been going through her letters in her room. The same way he had betrayed her.
"oh." Ginyn said quietly. "Well this is bit of a pickle."
":Its even worse than you think. He was drugged when he did it. I doubt he remembers." Hermione sighed.
They were on a street of shops, and they strolled a little bit more slowly, glancing in through the windows as they passed.
"Oh. My. Only you. This would only happen to you" Ginny shook her head. "Still…I guess that sort of good. You're…ahem…inexperienced, and he won't remember it, in a way it sort of works out."
"Except…well, it wasn't how I wanted it to be." Hermione said quietly.
"Oh what? You wanted Fireworks? With me and Harry, it was a broom closet, hardly any light, and Peeves found us."
"But it was nice?"
Ginny paused with a little smile. "Yes. It was nice. Hermione I'm sure yours was as well. You just can't see it now. Let it be. So. He was drugged? What was he, a patient? Who was-?"
Hermione blanched, and Ginny saw her cheeks turn a light pink. "I've got to go." Hermione said in a small voice, and rushed off towards the Hospital down the corner. Puzzled, Ginny turned toward the window where Hermione had suddenly stopped, the Book Shop. "-He."
She finished the question with a little bit of satisfaction. Draco Malfoy was standing right in front of the window, his head bowed down over a book that he was holding up to his eyes. His almost-white hair brushed the pages, and large finger traced the words. Ginny took a breath and opened the door.
The appearance of cadavers as a magical tool has been undocumented, though not unheard of in the past. It is thought that many of the voodoo lords of the West Indies, were in fact Witches and Wizards attempting a sort of mind control over unwitting muggles with their displays of cadavers…
Draco's mouth moved along with the words as he ran his finger along the old letters. He rubbed his index over his thumb, where a dot of a scar was all that indicated that he had taken another dosage that morning. Something inside of him however, was still in turmoil. He could feel his mind wandering of violently when he wasn't concentrating, and he shuddered slightly as he recalled vaguely his hands wrapped around Hermione's slender throat. The wild carnivorous feeling as he felt her hand beating against his in a pitiful defense. He closed his eyes and counted his breathing again as he felt the familiar wild side creeping up in his chest-
"So. You're not just a moron, but a well read moron." Said a voice coldly, somewhere near his waist. He turned around, then looked down at the figure of Ginny Weasly, hands on her hips, her gold lame robes a contrast to her (as usual) overdone face. She was practically snarling. Draco could only stare at the gold glitter the girl had artfully smeared on her eyes. He sighed, as he wondered why women could not simply dress for properness rather than a statement. He had had many a girl on his arm, especially since the war had ended. Like Ginny, they were overdressed, and usually simpering to lead him into bed. For the gifts of course. Not that he minded, he was one of the few men who could somewhat crassly about the women he had had at the office without lying…but when it came to what he enjoyed looking at… it was cleanliness and pretty.
"Why can't you ever look as though your light wasn't out of your closet in the morning?" he asked conversationally. "have a little more class?" Like her?
"You. Absolute. Git." She snarled. She grabbed the book out of his surprised hands, and threw on to a shelf. The owner gave her a horrified look.
"What? Surely insulting the Fashion Queen of The Alley hasn't hurt your ego all that much?" he said laughing, and picking up another book.
"If you ever hurt her like that again. I will personally seal your…your…poisonous lips with wax."
"my poisonous…honestly Ginny,What are you talking about?" he said searching his mind wildly. He hadn't gone out with a woman since three weeks ago…
"Listen." Ginny walked forward, until his tall frame was backed against the store window. "She may not be like those other floozies you enjoy tossing around in your mattress" He gave an indignant sound in the back of his throat. "But Hermione isn't. She's not some slut you can use and forget."
"Hermione? Have you gone mad? I haven't slept with Hermione!"
"Yeah, well you kissed her. And that's bad enough, considering it was her first and all. So…you either apologize to her, or I'll be sending your spare parts to Madrid, if you get my gist." She flounced out of the shop, winking at the shop owner.
Draco slid down to the floor.
"God. No wonder she's been treating me more like the plague than usual. She must hate me." He sighed.
It doesn't matter. You can have what you want. And she's what you want. Isn't she? The stars are always right. They do not lie. Take her as you please…
"No!" he whispered. He pulled out another small dosage of the drug, and jabbed it into the same finger. A feeling of warm bliss spread over him and he closed his eyes. "Merde. What am I going to do."
AN- ok. So that chapter, granted, was kind of pointless. Tell me what you think. Tell me what you think will happen, I enjoy reading those and comparing to what I have planned out. .
I promise the next chapter will be more exciting, this was just filler I wrote in about two hours of thought, and more of a precursor to explain their behavior I the next chapter.