Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! I'M POOR! (heh heh. I WAS actually hit by Hurricane Katrina. Vive la Mississippi!)
BIG HUGS and thank-yous to all of you guys who reviewed! It seriously made my day!
TonksFan693-Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! Because I have...um, like, no social life, I'll update fairly often! giggles And if I hit a dry spell, I'll definitely give you fair warning!
SportsLuva13- I'm soooo glad you think so! If you like fics like this, you might try "I'm With the Band" by AZgirl215. She's really where I got the idea for mine, so there will be some definite similarities, but I tried to keep mine as original as possible. BTW, what kind of sports do you like? I'm way into softball. (Like, "has-played-for-eight-years-" Into!)
Crazysugarhighpixie-Thanks ever so much! I know EXACTLY what you mean about Harry and Ron. (annoying prats) Harry's OK, but I really wish J.K. Rowling would let Ron just DIE ALREADY! laughs nervously (I'm NOT insane. Really!)
"Have you ever considered joining a band? Because I can name at least five who'd kill for that kind of talent on their roster"
She shook his hand. " I'm Hermione Granger, and no. I didn't know there were even any at Hogwarts"
Salem looked incredulous. " Granger? YOU"re the muggleborn genius my unle Lucius is always bitching about? Wow. You are NOT what I expected."." She shot a bold glare in Draco's direction.
"This is true. She was rather ugly and bookish," the blonde nodded sagaciously. "What happened"
"Keyword there being 'was'. Anyway, what do you care?" she snapped. "You never expressed any interest in the past other than making my life hell." She scoffed. "In fact, what am I DOING! Get the bloody hell out of my cabin! It was nice meeting you, Salem, but you must understand that I cannot STAND your cousin"
"That's quite understandable," he said, ever cheerful. Then, to her surprise, he said, "Draco, you heard her: go away. I'll find you later. Oh, and gather the Sovereign. We need to have a band meeting later"
"But-" Draco protested.
"Gather. The. Sovereign," Salem commanded with SOME authority. His cousin looked hateful as he left.
"Thanks for that," Hermone grinned.
"No problem. Draco's a bit younger than me, so I get to boss him around!" he said playfully.
" Hey," Hermione asked as something occered to her. "You said you just tranferred from Durmstrang, right?" At his nod, she continued, " You didn't hear anything about me there did you"
"Mmm," he thought about it and replied, "no. Can't say that I did. Why"
She looked relieved. "Well, I was sort of going out with someone there who was...somewhat, well, about four years older than me"
" A Durmstrang grump can get a girlfriend!" he demanded, shocked. "I must know who this luck man was"
"...errviktorkrum," she replied quickly, all the word blending together.
"Who?" Salem asked.
She took a deep breath. "Viktor Krum. We aren't... together anymore, though"
" Holy hell!" he exclaimed. " That was YOU!"
She nodded hesitantly.
" Dear God, if that meathead said one thing about his 'Her-my-nee', he said rattled on a million times! I can't believe you broke up"
She laughed. " Yeah. He was so much older. I went to visit him a summer or two ago, and we were just... on different levels"
"Wow," he repeated. " You have gooooood tastes"
" Er, thanks. I've never gotten that reaction from a guy before. From girls, absolutely! But not from any straight man I've ever met"
"Oh, don't worry; I'm not," he confided.
This was a bit of a shock to her. "Oh...well, I'm glad I know." Truth be told, she was slightly attracted to the brown-haired Malfoy. Darn.
As he was about to reply, the cabin door slid open. Draco Malfoy poked his head in. ( He's not bad looking, Hermione thought to herself. NO, I DID NOT JUST THINK THAT! I blame it on hormones)
"Salem, the Sovereign is all together. If you want to meet now, you'd better come on"
"Alrighty," Salem grinned. " Come 'long, Hermione." He was met with two confused looks.
Draco was the first to speak. " She's not coming! It's a BAND meeting"
"You seem to forget, my dear little cousin," Salem smiled peacefully. "While we have a full instrumental section for the Sovereign (that's our band, he added for Hermione's benefit), we are in DESPERATE need of lead singer." And in one grand, sweeping motion, he gestured to the dazed-looking brunette holding a guitar case to his left.
Both Draco and Hermione had to employ metaphorical spatulas to scrape their jaws off the floor.