Hello... ! Here's the chapter you've been waiting for; the first Dramione encounter! Again thank you for reading, reviewing, subscribing, favoriting and all :D. Let me know what you think of this chapter (and the previous ones if you now have any opinion on them). Enjoy! Hope you like it! :)
CHAPTER IV
Draco Malfoy walked back and forth in the Slytherin common room. His long black robe swished every time he turned around to repeat his pace. He looked murderous enough that no one dared to come within visible range from him, the reason why the room was practically empty. Everyone knew better than to be near the Slytherin Prince when he was in one of his worst moods.
Even Pansy and Blaise, who could usually talk some sense into him, had been among the victims of his mad and rather violent barks.
Some silly younger girls thought he looked incredibly hot and sexy while being mad like that, although that did not mean they dared to come anywhere near. Others, meanwhile, were simply frightened and smartly stayed away without risking a single glance.
"Little prat! Look what I'll do to her as soon as I get my hands on her. Slimy, sly little git. Everyone knew she was too good of a slimy snake to be a Gryffindork, but still, she … she … arrggghhh …!"
Draco was sooo angry he had even passed the point where he could no longer form a coherent sentence. He tried to find something within reach to throw, to break, to whatever his hands find interesting to do to channel his anger away, but he had crushed all nearby fragile objects onto the floor that no more thing was left. He was so mad he didn't even flinch when his feet stepped on the sharpened, scattered remains of said objects during his pacing about (not that the soles of his expensive, magically-enchanted shoes would allow sharp objects to cut through and wound his bare feet).
"Arrrrggghhh…!" he again growled in frustration before dumping himself on the green couch; his head on his hands, elbows supported by his thighs.
Draco had actually passed through and survived the most dreaded moment. Just last night, he finally faced his father's wrath as Madam Pomfrey had kicked him out of the infirmary the morning after his fainting, and after he had intentionally avoided the Slytherin common room along the day soon after receiving a mail from his father during breakfast demanding his immediate presence before the fireplace in the common room.
In the evening, however, he had had no excuse to prolong his delaying facing his father. So, upon entering the Slytherin dungeon, he braced himself and went straight to the fireplace, sending everyone in the room away, and called his father through the flames.
Predictably, his father barked at him, calling him a poor excuse of a son and threatening to disown him and beaten him as soon as he returned home for Christmas holiday, which made Draco swear he would not spend the holiday at home then.
Lucius' angry shouts and barks were so loud he felt deafened until now, the next evening. But, at least that ensured no one would have been stupid enough to try to eavesdrop the father-and-son conversation because although they were scared of Draco, they feared Lucius even more. Surely he did not want his friends to catch the humiliating words Lucius used when he lashed out at him.
Anyway, the worst was over, and he felt considerably more relieved now. The only remaining problem, and the reason for his wrath now, was that he could not find that spoilt brat that was his sister to pass on their father's message, as he had ordered him to. Apparently the ignorant little prat had intentionally abandoned their father's owls aimed at her, only replying them once, saying she was okay and happy and had made some good friends in Gryffindor, which of course sparked further their father's fury, which he then unfairly directed to his son. Not that Draco blamed his sister for replying the dozens of letters sent within the course of two days with only one single, very brief letter. Heck, he might do just the same if he were in the same situation (not the being-in-Gryffindor part -that would never happen; but the part of being a subject to dozens of preaching letters). He only hated it that he was the one at the receiving end of his father's wrath when the mistake was his sister's. That was so unfair!
And, now, he did not want to face Lucius' wrath anymore, thank you. So he wished to do his order soon. That way he could immediately send his father a report by owl before the latter decided to again grace him with his undesirable presence through the fireplace.
"Look, Draco, the most sensible thing to do to find your sister is of course looking for her in her dormitory," Pansy finally braced herself to talk some sense into her friend, whom she had once had a crush on but then decided he was too immature for her taste (not that Draco ever saw her in that way).
She had listened quite some part of his rants, so she knew more or less what he was being mad about. She cautiously sat on the other edge of the couch as she talked, though, a safe distance from Draco and yet still within a conversational range.
"Shut up, Pansy! I know that already, alright?" he said in frustrated tone, not even looking at her way.
Pansy inhaled sharply, and replied, "If you know already, then why are you still ranting about here, destroying stuff and scaring people away, instead of getting YOUR LAZY ASS OFF AND CLIMB RIGHT NOW THE STAIRS UP TO THE TOWER!"
He flinched at her sudden screech (Pansy could be pretty scary sometimes!), but did not want to look deterred in front of others, as some people started to pop their heads out from behind the pillars or the doors of their dormitories. So he kept his angry face, and yelled back, "FINE! I'LL GO THERE! SATISFIED?"
He rose up swiftly, and swished his robe as he turned and stormed toward the dungeon's exit.
"Wait, Draco, look! You don't have to go alone. Do you need my company? Or, maybe I can get you Gregory and Vincent or Blaise?" Pansy stood up after him, her voice returned to normal.
Draco shuddered angrily before turning around again to face her and yell,
"WHAT?! You think I'm SCARED of those idiot, goody-goody two shoes Gryffindorks? You. WATCH. Me, Pansy! I'm going there myself!" He turned around again before marching angrily toward the exit, slamming the door as he disappeared behind it.
Pansy sighed, and pressed her temple as she threw herself back on the couch.
"Well, at least you can talk some sense into him," Blaise said behind her, shrugging, before drawing out his wand and cleaning away the mess in their common room.
Pansy only gave him a weak smile.
Draco had forgot about how exhausting it was to climb up to the tower from the depths of the dungeons. Just until fifth year, he had often gone up to the Gryffindor tower with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle just to spy on the Gryffindors, but decided it was not worth it anymore when he was in sixth year. Let Potter wander around at night as he liked, the prat might just be insomniac or a sleepwalker. Like hell he cared!
Now he was reminded again of the hundreds, maybe even thousands of stairs he had to climb up to get to the tower, and cursed the layers of wards placed at Hogwarts that made it impossible for him to just Apparate. He rolled his eyes, wondering what turning 17 meant if he could not use it to its fullest by using every kind of permissible magic he wanted. Surely Apparating and Disapparating would save time and energy. Not that he was packed with loads of schedules, but that was beside the point.
He finally arrived before the portrait of the Fat Lady, gasping for breath, prompting the fat woman in the painting to raise her eyebrow.
"What is a Slytherin lad like you doing here? It is the Gryffindors' area, you know," she said in a high-pitch tone, with suspecting look in her eyes.
Draco decided to ignore her, he was not pathetic enough to talk to paintings. The Fat Lady seemed upset, her eyes narrowed, but decided to ignore him as well, her chin up in the air.
As he managed to breathe normally again, he began to pace a little, thinking about the way he could get his sister to meet him. It would be easy if at least one of those stupid Gryffindors was around, thus he could tell them to get his sister for him. But, no one was around although he had been standing and pacing about at the entrance for at least 15 minutes!
Should he knock? But, that was too silly, he would surely laugh at anyone he saw doing such thing. Should he shout out before the painting, calling out for his sister then? But, people inside might just ignore him, and he would feel like a fool shouting without no one responding. No, a Malfoy could not look nor sound like a fool.
And, so, he decided to wait. Just after he leaned his shoulder against the walls at some distance next to the painting, though (he did not want to stand too near to the annoying painting, thank you), it was opened and someone, a girl, came out from behind it. She stopped in front of the painting after closing it, and did not see Draco as she was busy fixing the position of the bundle of books on her right arm and the bag on her left arm.
And Draco, quite uncommonly, was stunned. Since the brunette just came out, although he only caught her profile briefly, he was struck; thinking how stunning she was and wondering if he had ever seen her before. He decided to check her out while she did not notice, pushing himself slowly off the walls as he began focusing his eyes on her smooth, wavy chocolate brown tresses which framed her face nicely, with some soft-looking locks falling perfectly over her sweater-covered chest.
Then he stared down at her flawless face, with soft alabaster skin and rosy cheeks and a cute button nose, and then slowly at her deep red, lump lips... which made his heart skip a beat. He went back up then; staring at her dark, long and curly eyelashes, although unfortunately he couldn't see her eyes yet as they were looking down at where she was checking something inside her bag. So, his eyes traveled lower to her creamy white neck, and then down to her chest - where they lingered a while, and then to her slim waist and nice hip (oh, yes he knew they were slim and nice, all right, again he could quite see the outline despite the vest), at her nice school skirt that reached her knees, and finally at her long, slender legs that looked amazing enough despite being covered by black stockings.
It was only then he realized one of the feet was tapped. So, his gaze quickly traveled back up, and that was when he saw her eyes, the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen: big and rich in spectrum of browns, somehow seemed to range between hazel and the deepest shade of brown the nearer it was to the black pupils. They were deep, and seemed glittering, and emanated what he reckoned as passion and intelligence. He felt like drowning in those eyes until the owner cleared her throat, waking him up from his trance.
"Malfoy … What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" she gritted her teeth, and that was when the magic disappeared and he recognized her.
"M-mudblood…?" His eyes widened at the realization.
His remark, however, made the blush that had formed on Hermione's cheeks upon finding that the Slytherin Prince was checking her out turn instantly into an angry red.
"Don't you think you should have been more careful saying such a derogatory word in the den of the enemies?" she now folded her arms on her chest, which drew Draco's attention back there.
She cleared her throat again, blushing uncomfortably and loosening the fold of her arms as she realized what the Slytherin Prince was staring at.
Draco's face also reddened for being caught doing, err… whatever he was doing. Since when did the Mudblood turn out so hot? She was … what's the right word? Pretty? Beautiful? No, it's more like … stunning. Yes, Draco thought, she was very stunning. Suddenly, he felt like the air around him becoming too hot, so he unconsciously moved his hand to unbutton the top button of his shirt, which made Hermione narrow her eyes.
Realizing what he was doing, Draco quickly gathered himself and immediately restored his ignorant façade (it's not that difficult after lots of practicing). He lazily dropped his hand and put it in his pocket, leaning back against the walls, and examining the fingers of his other hand as if he had no care in the world.
"Actually, Mudblood, I just wonder if you could fetch me my little sister," he drawled lazily.
Hermione was positively fumed. Couldn't he at least try to ask more politely if he needed her help?
"And what makes you think I would want to do that for you, Ferret? Try asking more nicely if you want the person you're asking to to give you some help!" She decided to leave the jerk and head straight to the library, ignoring her helpful tendency because this was the rude Ferret Boy, for crying out loud!
But, her steps were soon interrupted as his strong hand grabbed her upper arm and forced her to turn back around and face him.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? Please, just fetch me my sister!" Draco, in moment of desperation, forgot to maintain his previous careless facade.
He also didn't remember to let go of her arm quickly, relishing at the feeling of the delicate arm despite its being covered by the wool of her sweater. He was staring at where his fingers curled around said arm.
Only after Hermione coughed nervously and tried to move her arm, her cheeks again turned slightly pink, that Draco again realized what he was doing and quickly let go of her.
"Okay, I'll get your sister," Hermione turned around quickly, trying to hide the blush she was sure beginning to again form on her face, but soon stopped at seeing the very object of their conversation approaching them slowly.
Both of them, as if being hypnotized, only watched the little girl as she bounced cheerfully on her small steps, until she stopped, grinning, in front of them.
"Oh, hello, Hermione! Hello, Draco!" she greeted them with highly cheerful tone, her face looked perfectly innocent and she showed them her perfect white pearl teeth.
"Oh, Crystabelle, your brother is looking for you," Hermione said, still somewhat nervously, before deciding to step away from the two siblings.
"Yes, thank you, Hermione. I bet Draco is," Crystabelle said, this time with certain mirth in her eyes and a subtly weird tone in her voice, which only Draco caught and was why his eyes were currently narrowed at the blond girl.
"Okay then, see you again, Crystabelle, Draco," Hermione nodded, before quickly escaping toward the library, her original destination.
Only after walking for a few hundreds meters did she realize she had just called the Ferret Boy with his given name! Gosh, she was sooo embarrassed and was cursing herself now. How could the intelligent, independent and powerful Hermione Granger, the current Head Girl of Hogwarts, act like a silly school girl, blushing and nervous and all, only after being given that look by the Slytherin prat? She prayed to heaven and Earth that Malfoy didn't catch her slip of tongue, or had to wish that the Earth would swallow her next time he was around. Otherwise, she would just have to pretend that there had been no big deal about her addressing him with his given name; it was just a slip of tongue.
She cursed herself here; of course there was no big deal. Why should she make it a big deal? She continued her journey to the library, again cursing herself for her momentary stupidity.
Her first prayer was evidently not answered, though, as Draco Malfoy was completely aware of the Head Girl's first time use of his given name, which made him feel something funny within the cage of his rib.
He was still in a trance, eyes fixed at the empty spot where she had been last seen, before being brought back to reality by his annoying sister.
"Earth to Draco, Earth to Draco," his sister irritatingly waved her hand in front of his face, with knowing look in her eyes and annoying tone in her voice.
"You. Better. Shut. Up," he said, catching her small hand somewhat abruptly, forcing it to stop, while his eyes glared daggers down at hers.
But, the younger Malfoy was barely affected. Despite her much inferior height, she kept looking up at him with those knowing smirk and look, which added more to his growing frustration and made him growl loudly.
Responding to MasterArbor's question of why in this story Snape was still alive when Voldemort had died (thx again for the review!), which might confuse some of you, too, I must say that I don't mean to make "Matchmaking My Brother" compliant with all JK Rowling's seven books. You can say that in the world of this story, Voldemort died before he was resurrected as in Book 4. So, Cedric Diggory was alive here and so on, although I don't plan to feature him at all. Feel free to ask more nagging questions! :)