Bonding 3
Sinkin' In.
A/N: … sorry for the late as update, I keep meaning to write but I lose concentration and I forget about what I was going to write… well… yeah.
Disclaimer: If thousands of other HP fics have not already informed you, JK owns Harry and his Mates and That's That.
XxX
Hermione contemplated the delicate task of telling Ron the truth, keeping in mind she would prefer to avoid WW3. She went through a sleepless night, with the visible bags under her eyes exhibiting the very proof.
Sluggishly dragging herself down to the Great Hall for breakfast, she viewed the Gryffindor table as a danger zone and thought longingly of the warm, comforting library atmosphere.
And as if to further aggravate her disastrous state of mind, Draco Malfoy was holding court over at the Slytherin table. Loud, raucous laughter bounced around the large hall and resonated soundly in her ears. Malfoy was gesturing wildly with his arms, no doubt another likeness of humiliation suffered by someone else.
The Slytherins lapped it all up like an adoring puppy, with none less enthusiastic as Pansy Parkinson. Her bleached head bobbed up and down with every syllable pronounced from that albino bastard, and she blatantly attached herself to Malfoy's side. Not unlike a leech, Hermione had thought.
What she wouldn't give to not be a part of this. Compared to Malfoy, Ron was a knight in shining armour. As she sat down heavily, Harry immediately faced her with worried, but still beautiful eyes. Just because their relationship was purely platonic didn't mean Hermione didn't appreciate beauty when she saw it.
'Are you okay Hermione?'
What was she supposed to say? Scream out her frustration at the world, and stomp moodily back up to her room? No, the entire student body would just distance itself from her, wary of moodswings.
So instead, Hermione said what Harry predicted what she would say, and smile reassuringly at him after.
'Yes Harry, I'm fine. I was thinking about the new project for Ancient Runes- I want to study ahead for it.'
Harry looked relieved and smiled back. 'You know, sometimes I think that there never would be enough work for you to do.'
I think so too, Hermione thought miserably as she spotted Ron from across the hall. He ambled along amicably until he spotted her. Then his paces sped up and in no time at all he was at the Gryffindor table.
'Hey 'Mione, hey Harry,' His face was flushed already
'Ron! Have a seat mate,' Harry heartily clapped his back. As he sat down Hermione replied unsurely.
'Uh, hello Ron,'
'So, have you thought about what I said yesterday? About us going out?' He started hastily.
Hermione carefully avoided Ron's gaze. How long she had thought about this moment last night, and now her mind was completely blank.
'Ron… look. Maybe,' she began weakly, 'I just need a little bit more time to think about this, you know, so I don't rush into anything.'
Ron looked puzzled at this. The entire table had ceased talking to listen in on them. However realization dawned on Harry's face instantly. Hermione knew that he had put two and two together, namely her weird behaviour this morning and now her hesitation.
He hurriedly rushed to delay Ron. 'I think we should just let Hermione take her own time with this.' Then he sent a Look to Hermione that said 'I might be saving your ass right now but I expect a full explanation later on.'
Ron, fully unaware of the conversation going on under his nose, gave Hermione a crooked smile and shoved an entire pancake into his mouth. Having gotten used to this over the course of the last six years, their fellow seventh years took it as a good sign and conversation resumed.
Apart from a first year breaking a goblet and Hermione kindly mending it, breakfast passed uneventfully. Harry had put up a very convincing pretense to Ron, but as soon as everyone headed their own ways he pulled Hermione in and whispered something urgently to her. She nodded resignedly and visibly sagged as she headed to Advanced Charms.
XxX
Dumbledore's brows creased as he gazed upon the riddle that laid in front of him. He had only managed to extract this much about horcrux, and he was in doubt whether there would be anymore progress unless the two who were destined to fulfill it can cast aside their differences.
Many have wanted, tried and failed
And many more will break and crumble
Lest the two entwined
Forget and Forgive
Of that a man, pure-blooded
Years of harshness have hardened
The first part of the riddle was very clear in it's meaning, and as Dumbledore's eyes did their signature twinkling his pensieve began to swirl.
XxX
It was inevitable when class finished that Harry pulled Hermione aside. Striding rapidly outdoors, where the sunlight was fading and it really was a little chilly, he sat her down and waited for an explanation.
'Well?'
Hermione fidgeted. 'I'm really sorry Harry,'
His eyes widened. This must really be some big secret, he thought. 'Go on, Hermione, tell me please,'
She looked down. 'I… I really don't want to hurt Ron but…'
'But?' He prompted.
'I'm engaged to someone else.' Hermione blurted out.
Harry looked stunned for a second, then frowned. 'Why so sudden? And who is it? How come you didn't tell us about it sooner,' he chided gently.
She smiled with relief at his carefree tone. 'I didn't really have that much notice… you know it just kinda happened.'
Meeting his eyes for the first time, she debated in her head whether she should tell him who her fiancé was or not. Well, the worst that could happen is that he'd get a heart attack, she reasoned. So she leaned closer and said in a small whisper 'It's Malfoy.'
XxX
Narcissa Malfoy was a very intimidating woman. With her immaculately groomed self and designer clothes, everywhere she went was rewarded with a whiff of the best perfume gold could buy.
Today Narcissa had on a tight, cleavage enhancing silvery dress, complete with a smart tailored mini jacket that was black, matt, and indeed very expensive. The dress brought out the blue in her eyes and her hair was swept in a rather elegant up do.
If Blaise hadn't known that it was Draco's mother, he probably would have wolf whistled. But alas, it was probably not the best time to do it as her son was sitting in the very room, and in a very sour mood as far as he could tell.
Narcissa swept Draco up in an embrace, kissing his forehead.
'Mother!' Draco had the time to protest before being smothered by the looks of it, a very overpowering smell.
Narcissa looked positively glowing. 'Draco, dahhhling, you've got some simply fabulous news to tell me don't you sweetie?'
He opened his mouth, but was swiftly silenced by her whisking him out of the common room.
'Come on dear, mustn't waste time now,' the Slytherins could hear her say as they headed out.
Crabbe and Goyle were left staring blankly at where Draco was a minute ago. Of course it took their brains extra time to actually register the fact, but hey, what's new.
Blaise couldn't help it. 'That's one fine woman,' he said appreciatively.
Too bad she's a little too… old for a youthful man like me. He added as an afterthought. She WAS a mother of a 17 year old after all.
XxX
'Now dahling, we must get the word around as soon as possible- we wouldn't want everyone thinking we had anything to hide. That would be an absolute shame to-'
Draco only got more and more confused. 'What in Merlin's beard are you talking about, mother!'
'Don't be silly dahling, you couldn't possibly not know what I'm talking about!', Narcissa looked reproachfully at her son. 'So who's this lucky girl any respectable son would have already introduced to me a long time ago? Wait a sec, don't tell me dahling, I'll try to guess.'
The emphasis on respectable son didn't escape Draco, but he decided to take no notice of it as he looked at his mother as if she had, all of a sudden, grown horns.
'Is it that nice Bulstrode girl? No, no it must be that sweet Parkinson young lady. I always knew you'd fall for a Slytherin…'
Narcissa continued to talk non-stop excitedly as Draco finally clued in on what she was saying. His mother, aristocrat extraordinaire, had somehow found out about his supposed engagement. And not even two days after Dumbledore had informed him!
He wondered if it were as simple as a motherly instinct or whether she really did have spies spying on him. There was also a possibility that Dumbledore was pulling one over him. He never really understood what went on behind those startling blue eyes of his. There was no knowing what his old brain could come up with.
'-you listening? Draco dahling you certainly must invite me to the wedding, and oh, DO let me find a wedding planner, I know the best of the best and I simply LOVE doing such good deeds, especially for my little Dwako!' She cooed.
While Draco was busy digesting the new horrible nickname she had come up with, Narcissa had already conjured up several dashing tuxedos evidently for him to try out right now. Some of them were rather shall we say, bright and colourful. There was no way his mother with fantastic fashion sense was thinking these suits actually looked good!
'Mom, what are you doing! What are those hideously robe like things? I am not wearing those and I am definitely not-'
He broke off suddenly as he realized his mother was planning a wedding. HIS wedding. But there were to be NO wedding, or there wouldn't be if things went to plan.
After all, his role in the play that Dumbledore was orchestrating did not mention or include an actual wedding being held out. It was bad enough that he had to be associated with such trashy, stuck up mudblood like Granger, but to have his mother fawn over him as well. The horrors.
Quite suddenly he decided to break it to her that it was in fact a mudblood he was engaged to. 'Mother, it's not a Slytherin.'
Narcissa's face portrayed confusion for a few seconds before widening her eyes and exclaiming, 'Oh, you must mean it is a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff girl! Those girls do seem quite nice although I'm quite surprised my little dahling didn't choose one from your own house. I always liked that Parkinson girl. I guess this means we'll have to accommodate some changes in th-'
'I'm engaged to Hermione Granger, and she's a Gryffindor mother, a Gryffindor. Now if you'll excuse me I have a hideous amount of homework left to finish, I need to get started.'
And with that, Draco left his mother standing stunned in the corridor.
XxX
As Draco entered the common room he and Hermione shared, he was assaulted with an icy glare from the Queen of Ice herself.
Hermione, with a face of stone walked up to Draco and opened her mouth to speak.
'Ron is not talking to me and so is Harry. I'm not even sure if Ginny will be able to face me now. And you know whose fault this all belongs to? You, you pompous, egoistic prick!'
She raised her arm to slap him, but Draco with his superior arm muscles (playing all that quidditch had its perks) managed to restrain her.
'What the bloody hell are you talking about Granger! And since when did I express I had interests in your relationships with Potty and the Weasel?' Then he hurriedly removed his hand from her arm, wiping it on his robe.
'How distasteful. Mudblood germs.' He proceeded to cast a cleaning spell on his robe. 'Scourgify. Hah, that should do the trick.'
Hermione could not stop herself from rolling her eyes- after all, here was a 17 year old standing in front of her acting like a kindergartener- and said in a screechy voice, 'Why did Dumbledore have to ask ME to pursue a civil relationship with the ferret! YOU BLOODY ALBINO!' And with that, she collapsed onto the couch and started to sob.
Draco watched all this with amusement witch eventually resulted in alarm. Was this really Granger. The Bossy little Know-It-All. Crying. On the sofa. IN FRONT OF HIM? He had never known her to show any signs of weaknesses in front of her enemies, and as he reflected with what you could almost call pride, he had always been her number one nemesis.
'Harry PROMISED not to tell. He promised. But then he had to go tell Ginny, and he should have KNOWN what a bigmouth she can be sometimes. So now none of them are talking to me and it's not even my fault!'
Then a brilliant idea occurred to him. But it was no surprise, after all, ALL his ideas were brilliant, Draco thought with a certain amount of smugness.
'Lets make a deal, Granger.' He said crisply.
The shock of hearing those words come out of Draco's mouth sobered Hermione up immediately, though her eyes were still red and puffy from crying.
'About what, Malfoy.' Hermione replied acidly.
'You do realize that your so called, "friends" have betrayed you and that nothing you could say to them is going to make any difference?'
She had almost flared up again when Draco was discussing her friends, or now ex-friends but then she processed what he actually said and tsked impatiently for him to carry on.
'What shall you say we have a little fun with them? Make them think we really are in love with each other. See them squirm.'
Malfoy and Love do NOT go together. Ever. Hermione shuddered. 'I wouldn't mind, seeing how nice they've been treating me. But what's in it for you, dearest?' She added for good measure, watching Draco's face suddenly drain of the little colour it had in the first place.
Draco sighed. 'Pansy would leave me alone for once. And mother would be satisfied if you were to convince her that there is going to be no marriage whatsoever.'
That cant be too hard, Hermione reasoned. 'Fine.'
'It's a done deal.'
She put her hand out, and Draco unwillingly shook it before she suddenly snatched it away and blanched.
'Malfoy, you do realize this actually means physical contact with each other? In public?'
'I would have though you'd have figured that out by now, Granger. And you were supposed to be smart.' Draco smirked.
'We can't keep calling ourselves by our last names, it wouldn't be very convincing.' Hermione let the insult slide by, seeing as they were meant to be civil with each other.
'Her-my-o-nee' Draco pronounced with exaggerated pauses.
'Draco. Ew, what kind of a name is that anyway?' She couldn't resist poking fun at him.
'I'll have you know it comes from a long family tradition, my great great grandfather's middle name happened to be Draco.' He said indignantly.
'Right,' Hermione commented dryly. 'So you have the name of a long dead great great grandfather. How modern. He stubbornly ignored her last comment.
'Now about that aspect of physical contact you so thoughtfully brought up, Her-my-o-nee, does one think one needs a little practice in it?' Draco said in his seductive drawl. It never really failed to make girls swoon. He was pretty sure boys would too, but it was a theory he never really did want to test.
As predicted, Hermione blushed. She never really thought that much about guys, but even she had heard of what a playboy Draco was. One did not survive 6 years around Lavender and Parvarti without garnering a respectable amount of gossiping skills.
'N-now really, I d-don't think th-that's necessary.' She stammered, trying her best to hide it but failing miserably. She turning her head from Draco, trying not to see the amused smirk on his face.
'Oh, no need to be shy sweetheart.' He grinned maliciously and went to sit down next to her on the couch. Noticing how uncomfortable she looked, he licked his lips and watched the reaction.
Gods is he close to me, Hermione thought a little breathlessly. She was tempted to elbow Draco for good measure, but as she turned around she met his mesmerizing grey eyes and just about melted.
'Now we just do this,' Draco said soothingly as he put his arm around her shoulders, brushing the nape of her neck and making her shudder. Her hair is much softer than it looks, he thought.
Tearing her gaze from his eyes, Hermione took a moment to strengthen her resolve. Turning back to face Draco, she was about to firmly ask him to let her go, when she suddenly realized that the distanced between them had shrunken rapidly, and that he was kissing her.
Cupping her face with his slender hands, he deepened the kiss and the shock of it rendered Hermione useless. All she could do was wrap her arms around him tightly and inhale his scent. Huh, mint.
Then his lips left hers, and stared deep into her deep brown eyes. 'So how was that for genuine?' Draco asked.
Ignoring the odd feeling of disappointment that welled up in her when she realized he was just affirming his side of the deal, Hermione replied.
'It looks like we've got our work cut out for us.'
XxX
Erp. That was like 'the' longest chapter I've ever written. Anyway if you think the story suddenly changes halfway through this chapter, it is only because there was like a 2 month break between my writing the first half and the second.
And I was worried that Hermione seemed a bit lenient with Draco, but hey she was traumatized from the announcement the twinkle eyed headmaster had dumped on her and that Harry had betrayed her trust in him. So she's entitled to a little leniency.
Also I do not believe that you could possibly live with someone for an entire year without developing some kind of politeness so it seems Hermione and Draco's relationship had a little boost already.
So I'm going to shamelessly ask for reviews again, because it helps to read the feedback and it makes me get off my backside and start writing some stuff. D
Also does anyone notice something about the riddle? I made it up myself XD
I will be hosting a tea party for those who review. Cakes and cookies and all yummy goodies.
BUT
For those of you who do NOT (insert ominous music) review after I put so much effort into writing this chapter, you shall be visited by my Viking army. And I hear they are ruthless.
No I'm not threatening my precious readers. Really.
-Walks away laughing crazily-
Note from beta (Drakulya): Ignore her, she's always like this. –Kicks her away- Now please review!D
