Disclaimer: A face appears on the TV and says, "The Ring calls to you...and you don't own Harry Potter."
A/N- OMG! I just finished HBP! I am so depressed about it. He had to die sometime, but you know the middle of the next book seemed like a better idea then in this one. Damn you Snape! I trusted him too... I am not going to change my fic after the new developments of the book. This is how I want it to be. So there, I have spoken!
Chapter 9: One Almost Happy Day
Since I Met You
(intro)
Was at the end of my rope, had nowhere to go
Was at the end of my rope, I had nothing to show
Until the day I turned to you, was at the end of my
what?
you talking to me?
you talking to me?
you call me crazy x4
You call me crazy, man you make my day
My state of residence was disarray
At every party and as far as anybody knew - everything was cool, but
The truth was bottled up inside of me
I was as lonely as a man could be
And my 200 friends couldn't fill the void in my soul
It was a giant hole
Nothing made any sense
I thought there would never be an end
Then love came knocking at my door
(chorus)
Since I met you I've been alright
You turn all my darkness into light
Since I met you I've been okay, I've been alright
ya know I've been alright
Since I met you I've been okay
You're rolling my winter into may
And since I met you I've been alright
I've been okay since I met you
I've been okay since I met you
You got me feeling like a million bucks
Some people write it up as irish luck
But I know better, cause my rabbit's foot never did me a bit of good
The truth hit me like a sock in the eye
A revelation that I can't deny
Your love has overtaken every little part of me
You were what I needed
I'm carried away
Never seen the sunshine like today
You made something of my life
(repeat chorus)
(bridge)
Was at the end of my rope
I had no where to go, go
Was at the end of my rope
I had nothing to show
Until the day that I turned to you
Was at the end of my rope
I had nowhere to go, go, go
Was at the end of my rope
I had nothing to show
Until the day that I turned to you
Was at the end of my rope
yeah, that's right, I'm talkin' to you
Sick and tired x4
Sick and tired of the same ol' fluff
You took me in and you shook me up
You got me tripping on a vision of eternity
I can see it clearly
(chorus)
Was at the end of my rope
with nowhere to go
I had nowhere to go, go
nowhere to go
Was at the end of my rope
with nothing to show
Had nowhere to go, go, go
i had nowhere to go
Was at the end i had had nowhere to go come on of my rope
i had had nowhere to go come on
Was at the end nowhere to go come on of my rope
i had had nowhere to go was at the end, then I met you
nowhere to go
Hermione's alarm clock went off. It was the morning of the trip to Hogsmeade, and she couldn't wait to start shopping for her costume for the ball. She was going to spend the whole day with Draco to get matching costumes. I know, cliche right? But they thought since they were going together and were Head Boy and Head Girl matching seemed appropriate.
They had been getting closer as the weeks passed since their revenge on Blaise. They would sit up at night and just talk and get to know each other better. He told Hermione about why he just couldn't join the Death Eaters, and what happened to his family when his father escaped Azkaban. She told him what it was like living in the Muggle world after the war started, and what being friends with "The Chosen One" is like. Some days they would just sit there and talk about what they wanted to do when the war ended and they were out of school. They would tell jokes and play Exploding Snap. In other words, they were bocomin friends and confidants. Hermione couldn't help but wish that it was something more than that. It was going against all of her beliefs, but she couldn't deny the aching that she felt when he was near her, or the burning she felt when he touched her. But being who she was she kept it all bottled up inside her. She thought a few times he seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she was, but she couldn't be sure.
She slid out of the covers, stretched and yawned in a fashion much like that of a cat. Jumping off her bed, she went into her bathroom to take a quick shower, though she lit the candles around the tub so the smell of candle wax would spread through the room. She got out about of the shower and went over to where her scant amount of make-up and hair products littered the counter. She applied a light bit of black eyeliner and placed garnet red eye shadow on her eyelid and a little below the eye. She applied a little lip balm and added a small bit of gel to her hair (her hair would dry on its own). She was finished, and though it was much less make-up then most girls her age, it made her face glow with a light all its own. She went back into her bedroom and got changed. Her outfit for the day consisted of a black blouse with belled sleeves in a Renaissance-style, a long skirt that was blood red, black, stiletto high heels, and a crimson scrunchy to hold her hair in a messy bun with two strands hanging around her face. She headed down to the common room to wait on Draco.
She didn't have to wait long. Within a minute of when her butt touched couch, Draco was coming down the stairs. He was wearing a black shirt with a picture of Manson on it that had "Antichrist Superstar" sprawled across the back, baggy black pants with chains hanging all over the place, and combat boots. He was the image of teen gothdom, and he seemed innately comfortable.
"I didn't know you listened to Muggle music," Hermione said in greeting.
"Well, it's really hard these days to find good metal in the wizarding world," Draco replied as if it was the most common thing in the world.
"Maybe someday I'll get you to listen to some of my stuff," she said, getting up to meet him.
"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not destroy my ears with that junk you call music." He smirked at her while he said it, knowing it would annoy her.
"At least I don't try to deafen myself every time I turn on the radio," she snapped with her hip jutted out and a grin slowly making its way onto her face. She took a few more steps to him until she had to tilt her head back a little to look him straight in the face, stretched up on her tip-toes to make their faces even, leaned forward until their faces were only centimeters apart, and looked at him for a few seconds. She saw thoughts flash by in his eyes, she put her arms around his neck and leaned in a little further ,and at the last second she turned placed her mouth to his ear and yelled, "GOOD MORNING!" He placed his arms around her waist and twirled her around the living room until he was sure she was dizzy and tossed her onto the couch.
"That wasn't very nice, Miss Granger," he scolded in a tone very similar to Professor McGonagall.
"Do you want me to be sick and not be able to go shopping with you?" she said sounding honestly quite ill. When Draco heard this he quickly knelt beside her and started checking to see if she was clammy, which is the first sign someone is going to throw up, which Hermione used as her opening to point her wand at him. "Haha! Gotcha," she said with a huge grin.
"You little pain!" he laughed. "I was worried about you! That wasn't very funny," Draco said slowly looking more and more serious.
Hermione sobered fast. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." This time it was his turn to break out in a grin. He picked her up around the waist and flung her over his shoulder.
"Well, better go take you to Madam Pomfrey," he said, not even trying to hide his amusement.
"I'm okay! Put me down this instant, Mr. Malfoy!" she shrieked as he bore her towards the portrait hole.
"Oh, this must be serious! You've become delirious! I must hurry to the hospital wing," he said, obvious finding the woman who was kicking violently now very amusing. His steps never faltered, in fact they hastened.
"Put me this instant, Draco Dionysus Malfoy!" she yelled between laughs. In a few moments she felt her feet touch the ground.
"There. Better?" he said still smiling.
"Much. Will we be off?" Hermione said sharing with a smile of her own and holding out her arm, but, instead of hooking his arm with hers, he grabbed her hand. She gave him a questioning look but didn't pull away because, well, she just felt like it was right. She shrugged, and they started walking to breakfast. When they reached the door that led to the Great Hall, their hands dropped away like dead weight.
"Well, erm, I'll see you after breakfast..." Draco mumbled, barely audible.
"Yeah, bye," Hermione murmured and pushed the door open. How could she forget about her friends? They won't accept her plans to shop with Draco let alone being friends with him. It'd be like treason. All these thoughts ran through her head as she approached the table and sat down near Ginny who was leaning on Harry like a pillow and trying to get extra sleep. When she looked on the faces of her friends, she noticed they all looked rather sleepy. Given their condition, they might not even care where she was going that day. "I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm shopping with Draco today for our costumes for the ball."
"Uh huh... Okay, have fun..."mumbled a drowsy Ron.
"Just let us sleep a little longer, please Mommy," whined Ginny.
"Okay, I'll see you later," Hermione said and hurried away before they realized what they agreed to. Draco was already at the door.
"How'd your friends take it?" he asked looking truly concerned for his life, as if afraid Harry or Ron would suddenly appear and he'd get a black eye or a nose bleed.
"Great! They were too far gone to realize anything was amiss. Let's hurry before their brains fully process what I just said." She grabbed his hand and practically dragged him towards the oak doors of the Entrance Hall. Draco let her drag him for a while then caught his own footing and started walking beside her at the same determined pace. All the while she did not loosen her grip on his hand, so the effect was that they were holding hands as they approached Filch, who had a look of resentfulness on his face. He let them pass muttering something along the lines of "hormone-driven teenagers."
"So what do you think we should wear? I don't want it to be something you're uncomfortable in," she added quickly.
"Not that I don't like the idea for the ball, but if we could avoid the whole haunted house theme for the costumes I'd be much obliged," Draco said.
"I completely agree. Is it just me or is the whole idea of dressing up like some hideous monster sound totally unappealing?" she agreed. "Yes, one moment while I add more scars and bruises all over my skin so I look even more repulsive." They both cracked up laughing loudly at this point.
"Oh, wait a minute, I forgot to add the green to my face make-up," he added.
"How about we dress up like emotions?" she said with a burst of creativity.
"'How do you propose we do that?" he asked.
"Certain colors symbolize different emotions to the human mind. We also use symbols to relate them. A smiley face for happiness, a frown for sadness, money for greed and so on. The outfit can be in colors that our mind relates to the emotion, and we can include symbols to get the point across," she explained.
"Then what emotion should we choose, oh brilliant one? What about using two opposite emotions?" Draco proposed.
"That's a great idea! How about love and hate? As in there's a fine line between love and hate?" (A/N- I was thinking along the lines of Jackyl and Hyde.) The idea was really starting to grow on her. They continued to discuss the idea while they made their way down to the village. "Let's get some butterbeer."
They walked into the Three Broomsticks and almost all talking stopped. Every head in the room, that belonged to a student or teacher that is, turned to stare at the pair. "Well, there goes hoping that no one would notice," Draco said bitterly.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, two butterbeers I assume?" Madam Rosmerta said quickly seemingly worried she'd lose their business do to the attention they were getting.
"Yes, thank you," Hermione said, unfazed. She turned to Draco who looked slightly embarrassed. "What did you expect? We're not exactly the most likely pair to be shopping together. Loosen up, or are you regretting coming with me now that you have blatant evidence of what people will think?" she asked suddenly very uncomfortable with herself and refused to look at him.
"It's not that-"he said, realizing she wouldn't meet his eyes he grabbed her chin and made her meet his eyes, "it's not that, I just keep forgetting what our relationship is like when we aren't in the common room. I was just so excited about spending the day with you that I keep forgetting it's not normal to other people mind. I mean, I knew that our friends wouldn't take it lightly, but I thought the rest of the school would just let it go."
Hermione looked unsure for a moment, then seemed to settle on just letting it go. "Let's find a table," she said and grabbed his hand and led him to a table in the back of the tavern.
Rosmerta appeared with their butterbeers and left just as quickly. Hermione sat there, sipping her butterbeer, and refusing to break the silence first. Until, that is, the door opened and Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Neville filed inside. When she saw them, she shrunk down into her seat and covered her face with her hand. Please don't let them see me...please don't let them see me...she chanted to herself.
"Hermione, how about we start shopping now?" Draco asked, noticing her discomfort. She nodded furiously and stood behind him as they exited, trying to be as invisible as possible. When they finally got back onto the street, he pulled her out from behind him and said, "We're safe now. No hiding needed."
"Easy for you to say! They're behind us now, so let's start looking." She grabbed his hand, once again, and pulled him into the nearest shop. From that point on, they were totally absorbed into their mission to find the perfect costume. They were so at ease with each other that they didn't even notice the looks they were getting from people. By the time they returned to the castle, they not only had the perfect costumes they so desired picked out and in the process of alteration but a number of inside jokes referring to random things that had happened that day.
"Mr. Malfoy, I do believe that you are forgetting one thing," Hermione stated.
"And what would that be, my dear Miss Granger?" he inquired.
"Snugglepuffs, bloodpops, and raspberry tea!" she replied, and they both cracked up laughing. "Hey, do you want to go down to the kitchen for some snacks? We can bring them up to the common room ad have a party."
"Sure. Why not? It would be a horrible way to end this glorious day if we had to join our peers at dinner!" he declared.
They were two corridors away from the entrance to the kitchen when they noticed him. Seamus Finnagin was leaning against the wall with blood dripping down his face. Hermione ran over to the place where he stood. He kept blinking, but it started to take longer for them to open again. Her head kept telling her to keep him awake. 'Talk to him', it instructed.
"Merlin, Seamus, what happened to you?" Hermione said while looking him over to see if the head was the only serious injury. "Seamus, Seamus, talk to me! You've got to stay awake long enough for me to get you to the hospital." She turned and notice Draco was just standing there. "Make yourself useful," she commanded. "Conjure a stretcher." Draco who seemed to be pulling himself out of a deep hole, pulled out his wand and did as she asked. "Help me get him onto it." When Seamus was laying out on the stretcher, they picked it up and turned down the direction of the Hospital Wing. The trip seemed to take forever, but really it only took a few minutes. When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, Hermione knocked frantically on the door until Madam Pomfrey emerged from inside.
"What happened here?" she asked looking down at her patient. She waved her wand over his head injury, and he seemed to be in less pain. "Bring him inside." She moved out of the way to let them pass. They lowered the stretcher onto the nearest bed, and Draco tapped the stretcher with his wand, which instantly disappeared. "Out, out! I have work to do, and you can only get in the way."
They left the Hospital Wing with quite a damper on their moods. Neither of them said anything but simply walked off to the Great Hall in silent agreement that a party definitely wasn't in order.
A/N- The next chapter is going to be about the Halloween Ball. Review! Review! Review! Ciao!
twitchy-tennisplayer- Thanks for the review! You have no idea how happy they make me!
Kait1991- Haha! Yet another I have won over with my wonder writing physique!
Alexandra Warkel- Thank you once again for reviewing! I'm glad you liked my other story too:D
Riley Malfoy- I thought Blaise deserved that particular prank. I'm glad you agree. ; )
Babiblue754- Sorry, but you have one more chapter until the ball. Just one I promise, but unfortunately Blaise's revenge is going to be much later.
Queen of Duct Tape- Please keep your bubbles to yourself. I already have to deal with ninja monkeys! Haven't I been through enough? I hope this was long enough. I had serious writers block for a while...still do. It's very annoying. I suppose it would be better to be nuts and know it than to be sane and have doubts, but then the question of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac comes in, and well I simply don't see much of a difference.
anonimousXoXo- Thanks for the review, and I'm sorry you didn't like the other...to each their own. This is my happy, that is my sad. There's two sides to everything and mine two just tend to be slightly extreme. Na ja.
