~three~
Draco stood staring, wide-eyed at Hermione for several seconds, opening and closing his mouth like a beached grindylow. She was wearing what Draco understood to be one of Justin's rugby shirts - a strange and brutal muggle sport that he recalled trying to understand one afternoon, when Justin had put it on the massively over-sized television in their lounge.
Her legs were bare, apart from a pair of thick, oversized socks and her hair was a delicious riot of wild curls. She had a mug of coffee in her hand and it was clear that she could hardly contain the smirk that was growing steadily across her face. Draco's heart fell to the floor as the realisation that she must have finally spent the night with Justin dawned on him.
Hermione's eyes travelled down his body and he felt himself shrinking away from her wandering gaze.
"Nice cushion" she stated with a small nod towards his groin.
Draco snapped out of his shocked stupor.
"What?" he asked, looking down quickly.
To his horror, he realised that he had inadvertently grabbed one of the supposedly 'comedic' cushions that Theo had bought Draco as a moving in gift. They were large, white and square shaped, with crude message in large letters emblazoned on the front. Theo found them utterly hilarious. Draco found them utterly tasteless but Justin's horrified expression made it totally worth putting up with them, leaving them scattered across Justin's ridiculously expensive sofas.
Mortified, Draco realised that the cushion he had had grabbed happened to be plastered with the delightful phrase "Sit On It", complete with an embroidered hand giving the middle finger that at this moment was covered by his own hand.
"Shit!" Draco whispered, grabbing his jacket that was still strewn across the sofa from the night before, and using it to cover the embarrassing invitation that the cushion was proposing.
"Ah… erm, excuse me…" he stately mutely, removing the cushion from behind his jacket and tossing it down, before walking unsteadily backwards into his room and toeing the door shut.
He grabbed his bathrobe and a pair of pyjama bottoms from his wardrobe, putting them on swiftly, desperately wondering how to face Hermione again after yet another embarrassing encounter.
He thanked the gods that he had drunk himself into a coma the night before and so hadn't had to listen Justin's bedroom antics. Justin had a disturbing and annoying habit of forgetting to use silencing charms when entertaining ladies in his room, and it was always left up to Draco to put up the charms to protect his ears from his flatmate's ridiculous noises.
He took a deep breath, opened the door and walked quietly into the lounge once more. On the coffee table was now a pint glass full of water and a small vial of Soberup potion. Hermione was now over by the tall bookcase that housed what Draco called Justin's 'Ego Collection', consisting of photos of Justin at various celebratory moments, muggle sports trophies, framed certificates and the like.
Hermione however, was preoccupied by the contents of the highest shelves. These contained a collection of Draco's books that he couldn't fit on the bookshelf in his own room, as well as his small but growing collection of muggle vinyl records.
Since eighth year, Draco had developed a love of muggle music. Justin of course had an all singing, all dancing CD player in the flat, as well as something new called an iPod that he used to play his banal and trite music, much to Draco's disgust. Draco much preferred his vintage record player that he had picked up from a curiosity shop on Diagon Alley, along with some old vinyls of a band called The Who. The shop sold all kinds of strange muggle artefacts and Draco had always secretly enjoyed looking in at the window as a child, being careful of course not to let his father notice.
Since buying the record player, Draco had bravely begun to venture out into the muggle world, to markets and second hand sales to extend his collection. He found that he loved to immerse himself in the muggle music that he would never have entertained sullying his pureblood ears with in a former life.
Hermione had been flipping through his music collection, finding The Beatles and David Bowie among many others. She had then begun to turn her attention to his books and had clearly been leafing through a couple that were now lying open on a lower shelf, before she had spotted another which had caught her attention at the far corner of the topmost shelf.
With avid fascination, Draco watched as she went up on her tiptoes and reached up to pull his copy of 'Healing The Unhealable' by Epione Jones from its place. As she did so, the hem of Justin's rugby shirt rose slowly up, revealing the slightest hint of the curve of her peachy buttocks and a black, lacy edged pair of knickers.
Draco, who was still shuffling silently across the room, eyes glued to the sight before him, promptly crashed into the coffee table yet again, sending the water that Hermione had prepared for him sloshing everywhere. She whipped around quickly and gave him a devilishly mischievous grin, book in hand.
"Oh, hello again!" she said. "Almost didn't recognise you with your clothes on."
Draco laughed. "Disappointed are we, Granger?" he quipped, trying to divert attention away from his dreadful faux-pas earlier. She didn't answer, but rolled her eyes playfully.
"I made you a drink. And… I had a feeling you might be in need of some Soberup from the number of empty beer cans that are lying around this morning?"
"Thanks," Draco replied, settling down onto one of the sofas.
"I didn't realise Justin had got such good books hidden away over here," she said, thankfully changing the course of conversation from Draco's nakedness and state of inebriation. She started to flip through the book in her hand avidly.
"Oh… well those two shelves house my belongings actually," Draco explained.
She looked up questioningly.
"What? Even the vinyls?" she asked.
"Yes, Granger. Even the vinyls."
"Wow!" she mouthed with an impressed nod of her head. She grabbed her coffee and walked over to the lounge, sitting on the smaller two-seater sofa opposite. Hermione picked up the offending cushion from earlier and threw it across the room so that it landed next to Draco.
"You boys really do have interesting taste in décor" she mused, holding up her mug purposefully. It was emblazoned with the phrase "I Tried To Stop Swearing, But I Cunt" in large red letters.
Draco nearly choked on the mouthful of water that he was drinking when he spotted it. He coughed loudly and put his pint glass back down on the table with a slam.
"Ah…" he said after stifling a few more coughs. "Um, Theo's idea of a joke, apparently."
Hermione nodded and set her mug down on the table, across from his glass.
"So you and Justin, huh?" Draco ventured after a moment of silence. "How's that going?"
Hermione momentarily glanced down at her state of attire and pulled the hem of the rugby top down a little further over her thighs.
"Oh, erm… very well, thanks." She chewed her lip in a thoughtful demeanour, before continuing.
"I know this is going to sound totally shallow, but I'm really enjoying having someone spoil me a little bit, you know? It's something I'm certainly not used to," she added with a conspiratorial raise of her eyebrows.
Draco knew immediately that she was making reference to her well-publicised relationship with Weasley, whom she had been dating, albeit long-distance, during their eighth year at Hogwarts. He gave an understanding nod.
"I'm just finding dating someone with basic good manners and gentlemanly behaviours quite refreshing, I guess," Hermione concluded quietly, reaching for her coffee once more.
Draco absorbed her last statement with a churn of annoyance in his stomach. He couldn't deny that Justin would seem like an absolute Prince Charming when compared to Weasley. He decided to change the subject swiftly, regretting bringing Justin up in the first place.
"So, Healing the Unhealable then? I assume you've read it?" he asked gesturing with a nod towards the bookcase.
Hermione's eyes immediately came alive with a spark of interest.
"No! I haven't actually, but I've heard of it and been looking out for a copy."
"WHAT?!" Draco interjected, feigning shock and clutching at his chest as though his heart had stopped. "A book that Hermione Granger HASN'T read?! Quick! Call The Daily Prophet!"
"Oh, ha -bloody -ha!" she replied with mock scowl and a smile. "Seriously though, I'm fascinated by Jones' theories on restorative potions for brain healing. Just think of its potential applications!"
Hermione continued avidly, her eyes wide with enthusiasm as she raved about the subject that was clearly of enormous interest to her. Draco smiled to himself. "There she is," he mused to himself, "…the mega-brained bookworm from school."
Hermione caught sight of his broad grin and it stopped her in her tracks.
"What?" she asked, with a puzzled smile of her own.
"Nothing!" Draco answered. "Just remembering what a complete bibliophile you are. When I think about it, it's truly surprising that you've ended up with Justin, when you probably want nothing more than to engage in some kind of weird, kinky threesome with Flourish and Blotts."
Hermione gasped, before wrinkling her nose up at the suggestion of a sexual encounter with the ancient booksellers.
"Ew! They've been dead for 200 years, Malfoy!" she exclaimed with disgust.
"Well whatever levitates your broom, Granger…" he replied before getting hit in the face with another of Theo's cushions.
The pair continued their relaxed and playful conversation, Draco making them both more coffee as they chatted at length about books, work and school memories, before getting on to the subject of Draco's interest in muggle music. Hermione suggested a few musicians that she thought he might like, and was particularly animated when they discussed The Beatles.
She talked about how 'Here Comes The Sun' was her favourite song growing up, as her dad used to play it to her. She talked about family picnics in the Forest of Dean, where her dad would take along something called a cassette player, and they'd listen to favourite songs, read books, chuck a football around, eat sausage rolls and egg sandwiches and drink something she called Dandelion and Burdock, which Draco of course had never heard of.
Hermione's eyes were glazed with tears as finished reminiscing about her parents and an awkward silence fell over them. Draco had found out on the school grapevine about what Hermione had done to protect her parents during the war. It had left him feeling both horrified and completely in awe of the gifted witch. Her actions, he felt, were a stark contrast to his at that time, as he had chosen to mindlessly follow the values of an insane psychopath despite the clear threat to his family, whereas she had acted bravely and selflessly to protect the ones she loved.
"I'm sorry about your parents, Hermione," he stated quietly.
She sighed sadly and took a sip of her coffee.
"Well, obliviation was just a necessary evil at the time. And I'm a victim of my own success I guess. I wanted the spell to work so badly that when I cast it, I inadvertently added some unknown power into it, making it thus far irreversible."
Draco absorbed this information thoughtfully as she continued.
"I grieve for them every day, Draco. But I don't regret doing it for a second. They're alive and well, and I'm determined that the healers will eventually find a way to reverse it."
The room returned to silence again as the pair sipped their coffees thoughtfully.
A moment later, Justin's bedroom door opened with a click and its occupant stood in the doorway wearing his black, satin sheet wrapped around his waist. He leaned languorously against the doorpost, arms folded across his chest. Draco thought he was trying to look sexy but was pleased to see that Hermione didn't really pay him much attention.
"I thought I heard voices out here!" Justin said cheerfully. "For a moment, I thought you'd ran away from me."
Hermione gave a short laugh.
"No, no. Just needed a drink and bumped into Malfoy here."
"So I see. Gods Malfoy, you look shocking!" Justin remarked looking over and taking in his flatmate's appearance and messy hair. "Well it serves you right for drinking all my bloody beers again!"
Hermione gave Draco an appraising look and he reached for the vial of Soberup which he suddenly realised still lay unopened on the coffee table. It seemed that chatting to Hermione had somehow taken his mind off his hangover, which had now suddenly returned upon Justin's entrance to the room. He chugged the potion back in one go, wincing slightly at the unpleasant taste.
"Anyway..." Justin said, stalking forwards lecherously towards Hermione. "…I'm just heading off for a shower."
He perched on the arm of Hermione's sofa and cocked his leg up on the coffee table, allowing his sheet to fall open slightly.
"Care to join me?" he whispered a little too loudly in Hermione's ear.
Draco stood up swiftly, earning himself a surge of throbbing brain ache, as the vial of Soberup had unfortunately not yet taken effect.
"Excuse me…" he said stiffly, before retreating away to the solace of his room, muttering "…I have to go and clean my eyes out with fiendfyre". He closed the door firmly behind him, and hurriedly cast a silencing charm, not wanting to hear Hermione's response or what might follow.