'WHAT?!'
Hermione let the letter drift to the ground. As she bent over to pick it up, she suddenly realized something. She was wearing a small spaghetti strap top and short hip hugger exercise pants. She immediately righted herself and flushed under Malfoy's open stare. Bugger. Malfoy opened his mouth to say something, but then realized, as Hermione had at that exact moment, and he was dressed worse, clad only in boxers. Hermione turned away, she was even redder than he had turned just then. Hermione opened what looked to be a closet door and went in. A light flashed on and Hermione gasped. There were dozens of undoubtedly designer robes. There were slim-fitting witch's robes on one side, and well-tailored wizard's robes on the other. She ran her fingertips over sets of robes before they came to rest on a set of midnight blue robes in silk.
After changing, Hermione opened the door and went back into the bedroom. Draco rushed past her and shut the door to the closet door behind him. Hermione sat down in a chair to wait for Malfoy, as she hadn't the slightest idea how to get to the kitchen.
About fifteen minutes later, he emerged. 'Why are you still here?' he asked coldly.
'Because I don't know my way to the kitchen,' Hermione replied, her voice dripping with an equal amount of disdain. She opened the door after unlocking it. 'Would you show me the way?' she finally conceded to ask.
Malfoy didn't say a word, but merely stalked out of the room, his robes billowing.
I hate to admit it, but Malfoy is strangely attractive at whatever age we are. And since when can he manage to make his robes do that?
Bad, Hermione! Malfoy is the epitome of evil, well, maybe not since, Dumbledore wouldn't try to make me fall for him if he were truly evil, but I refuse to admit my feeli – to fall for Malfoy. Hermione looked at Malfoy again.
Arrogant git! Swaggering down the hallway.
Hermione and Malfoy arrived in the kitchen, where Aria was happily employed in devouring a rather large stack of pancakes for a person so small.
Malfoy went over to the counter and picked up a cup of steaming hot tea that had been prepared, no doubt, by a house elf. Hermione, still in a silent rage, especially because Malfoy was ignoring her presence, sat at the table and stabbed a pancake onto her plate with a fork. Aria suddenly dropped her fork onto her plate.
'Are you mad at Mummy?' she directed at Malfoy, who was refusing to sit at the table, and was looking out the window.
Malfoy forced down a gulp of tea and unbelievably said, 'No, of course not.' He sat down at the table and served himself a few pancakes.
Aria still looked concerned. 'You do still love her, don't you, Daddy?'
Malfoy spluttered and coughed, choking on his mouthful of pancake. Hermione flicked her wand, and he stopped gagging. She went back to angrily jabbing at her pancakes, and drowned them in syrup.
Tears welled up in Aria's eyes. 'You have to love Mummy!' she cried. 'Daddy, look at Mummy, she's sad. Kiss her and make her feel better.' Hermione stiffened.
'That won't make her feel better at all,' Malfoy said, forcing himself to stay remotely calm.
Aria started bawling. 'Yes, it will!' she wailed.
Malfoy looked Aria in the eye. 'If I kiss your mum, will you please stop crying?' he asked desperately. He seemed truly uncomfortable with having made such a little girl cry.
'Yes,' Aria sniffled.
Hermione blanched and then flushed red all the way up to her hairline. Oh no! Malfoy is going to kiss me!
Malfoy grimaced for half a second, and the got up and went over to Hermione's chair. He bent his head down to hers and quickly kissed her on the lips. Then he went back to his seat, and sat down to finish his meal silently. Aria smiled.
Hermione could still feel the warmth of his lips upon hers, even though the kiss had lasted less than a second. She tried to wipe it off, but still it lingered.
Damn those lips.
Hermione quickly finished her pancakes and picked up her plate to put in the sink.
'You could leave it for the house elves,' Malfoy pointed out.
'Oh, but I'm already up,' Hermione replied with saccharine sweetness. She set the plate down in the sink and left in a huff.
Damn it. I've got to go back there because I don't know where to go. As she turned back towards the kitchen, Aria ran out of it and down the hall. And now I have to talk to that cockroach.
'Back so soon, Granger?' Malfoy taunted her. 'Don't think I'm going to kiss you again. I still can't get that awful feeling off my lips.'
Hermione smirked. Ha-ha. You can't get rid of it either.
'Yeah right, ferret-boy. I just came to ask if there was a sort of map or something I can use, so I don't have to stick with you all day to find my way around.'
'Well I don't know,' he stalled, examining his wedding band.
Hermione gritted her teeth and grimly replied, 'Please, Malfoy?' and held her head up higher.
'You'll have to find it in my study.
'Our study.'
'My study.'
'Fine. Your study.'
'Follow me, then.'
Hermione followed him down several hallways, and into his study. Malfoy motioned to his desk. 'Considering we're supposedly married, I can't imagine there's anything you aren't allowed to see in there,' he said, and with that he left.
Hermione sighed and walked over to the intricately carved mahogany desk. There were piles of papers scattered haphazardly al over the desk.
Holy Cricket. I need to organize this mess.
She began sorting. The papers were mostly just newspapers, which she stacked neatly on the floor beside the desk.
Underneath the newspaper, she found newspaper clippings. They were about her, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Malfoy, mostly. Several of the pictures showed Malfoy, Harry, and Ron, seemingly good friends, laughing together, or at a Quidditch match, but many of them were of Hermione and Malfoy together. Some of them were of them at formal occasions, and others just in the office at work. They were smiling at each other in almost every one, either holding hands, or Malfoy's arm about Hermione's waist.
Wow. We're really happy with each other in the future. She smiled wistfully. What ever happened to make that come about?
She transfigured a page of parchment into a portfolio for the clippings.
After cleaning crumpled scrap parchment and other rubbish off the desk, she found some framed, moving photographs that had been knocked flat. In one, she and Draco were bickering and then suddenly she grabbed him by the shirt collar and kissed him soundly on the lips. Well, anyway she thought, hastily opening a drawer. Hermione organized the entire desk, without finding a map. But then, a parchment floated to the floor while she was putting the stack of newspapers back on the desk. It was a map. It was in the style of the Marauders' map, Hermione could see Malfoy pacing up and down the length of the living room. She smirked.
Look who's nervous, the Slytherin Prince. Across the house, Aria was in her room, presumably sleeping, for her dot was still.
Hermione drew her wand. 'Mischief managed,' she said, tapping the map. It remained marked. 'Oh well, it was worth a try. I'll just have to hide it from Malfoy.' She slipped it into a pocket in the side of her robes, and went to the living room, which was only a few doors down the hall from the study.
Malfoy jumped when she came in. 'Bloody hell! What are you doing, sneaking around like that?' he exclaimed.
'Nothing,' she replied. Hermione walked over to the couch and curled up at one end of it, her head on a pillow. She closed her eyes.
'Granger, if you're going to sleep, would you please do it in a bed?'
'I don't intend on walking all the way back up to a bedroom. And there are still two empty cushions, so you can't say I'm hogging the couch.' She fell silent again. She drifted off to sleep, despite Malfoy's grumbling.