Chapter Five
Whoa, I'm really getting these done. I guess I'm starting to get into the story more. Which is a good thing.
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter. Oh snap.
Draco saw Granger walk into the house, and he couldn't tell she had been crying right away. Her eyes were a little puffy, but that was the only tell-tale sign.
"I'm going to go bathe in the stream. So please don't come outside." And with that, Granger turned and left again. Malfoy toyed with the idea of surprising her, but that would be mean, even for him. As he surveyed his bleak surroundings, he looked for something to amuse himself.
Hermione dipped her now-bare foot into the brook. It definitely wasn't warm. It was downright chilly even. But she was hot and sweaty and dirty. Carefully looking back at the shack to make sure Malfoy wasn't peering out the window, she quickly pulled off her shirt and pants. Now only in her underclothes, she quickly got into the water. She'd rather have damp underwear than have him see her naked.
The water was freezing. Hermione quickly scrubbed herself pink with some of the sand at the bottom of the river. With another quick glance at the small house, she got up, shook herself off, and pulled on her shirt and jeans.
Hermione was shivering with cold by the time she got to the Matchmaker's house, and she had brought the supplies that were outside, in. When she got inside, she saw a very red faced Malfoy sitting by the hearth, with the flint and steel in his hands.
"Come ON, damn it!" Malfoy was trying to start a log on fire, as he had seen Hermione doing earlier.
"Malfoy, you can't do it that way! The log will never start on fire! You have to-" Hermione started.
Draco cut her off. "I don't need help from you. I can figure it out by myself!"
"Fine! I'll just go to sleep then, since you obviously don't need my help. Good night, Malfoy." Hermione seethed. She then walked over to one side of the little hut, grabbed one of the blankets, and settled herself on the floor. It was almost an unspoken agreement that she would sleep on the floor. Hermione curled herself into a little ball and tried to get comfortable while hearing mutterings from over where Malfoy was still crouching, sounding like "stupid mudblood", "I'll do it myself", "Damn muggle contraption".
Eventually Hermione fell asleep, but slept fitfully. She had strange dreams all night, where she was trying to find something, but she couldn't tell what.
Hermione awoke to chirping birds and a small amount of sunlight filtering through the grimy window. She looked over at Malfoy's bed. It didn't look slept in. The flint and steel were lying in near the hearth, with splintered twigs and the unburned log. She inwardly smiled. So she was useful for something.
Hermione rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Time to get breakfast going. Where was Malfoy? Probably outside, doing nothing, just wandering around aimlessly. For breakfast, there would most likely be berries; indeed, she found two handfuls of raspberries that looked a little overripe. She put one of the handfuls on Malfoy's bed, and went out for a walk after eating her own.
There wasn't much to do around in the clearing, so she went into the forest a ways again. Not really noticing anything out of the ordinary, she started back for the little garden again. It must have been near noon by then, and Malfoy would surly be back by then.
But he wasn't.
A/N- Thanks for all of you who reviewed! A tiny cliff-hanger here, but I wanted to get it up before I go to bed. Not quite as long as I'd like it to be but…. Ah well.
