A/N: A little over due I know, I'm sorry. I've been kind of busy really. I have tons of homework to do, and I'm also writing my own book, which if it doesn't get published then it will be probably put up on here in the misc writing. xD Enjoy the chapter, I don't know when the next one is going to be out.
Sometime during their planning they both ended up falling asleep. Even though they might not show it, what with preparing everything for their wedding and all the planning and decisions that had to be made, life just now was actually very stressful. They'd not been sleeping that much each night, with Hermione sitting up way into the night writing out her plans and Draco staying up and trying to coax her to go to bed. They were both waking early, too, and it was finally catching up with them. The television was still on and so was the light; they'd slept through it all, something Hermione had never been able to really do before. She couldn't sleep if there was any light in the room; she had to have the room dark. She found it hard to go to bed early in the summer.
Draco awoke when the sunlight shone in his eyes. Keeping that eye shut, to avoid the glare of the sun, he opened his other eye and looked at his surroundings. He wasn't comfortable enough to be in their bed, and the surface he lay on wasn't hard enough to be the bedroom floor – Draco knew from experience. He could hear the quiet whisper of the television and he knew that he was in the living room, on the sofa. He could feel Hermione next to him and woke up properly at that. She couldn't be comfortable with the way she lay, he knew. He shifted slightly and shook her shoulder, trying to gently wake her so that wouldn't be startled. The shake didn't do much except make Hermione shift position and mumble something Draco couldn't make out. He smiled slightly and shook her again. This got a little more reaction out of her; she at last opened her eyes and turned to look at Draco before closing them again. Draco was getting fed up; she wasn't usually this hard to wake. He looked at the clock and noticed he was already late for work. It didn't really matter, though; he was one of the managers so he didn't have to go in every day, he just did because he wanted to. He rose from the couch and stretched his stiff muscles before bending back down and lifting Hermione from the sofa and carrying her into the bedroom.
It was hot outside, so rather than cover her up with the thick blanket he just pulled a thin sheet over her. He walked across the room, pausing at the door and smiling at her sleeping form before stepping out and closing the door with a soft click behind him. He didn't see much point in going to work now, it was close to midday; and if he was honest, he was feeling quite lazy. Work would last without him for one day – well, technically three days, because of the weekend, but who cared? Draco decided to make some plans for their date whilst Hermione was asleep; that way she'd be none the wiser – although knowing his luck, Hermione would be able to figure out what he was doing before he even knew himself. Damn that clever witch. Draco's feet led him to the bathroom, and his mind was urging him to take a shower. He needed one after being squashed up on that small sofa for that amount of time. It wasn't exactly the biggest sofa they owned. He flicked on the water and waited for it to heat up before he stood under its spray.
He spent longer than he'd planned in the shower, but he'd managed to get a few ideas about what they could do on their date. Now it just remained to arrange it, but that shouldn't be too difficult, should it? Draco stepped out of the shower and pulled a towel around his waist. He wasn't sure if Hermione had woken up yet ,so he went to check. When he entered the bedroom he found that she wasn't in bed where he'd left her; he backtracked and found her in the kitchen, dressed and with a mug of coffee in her hand.
"Draco," she began, "Blaise phoned. He said he'd be 'home' tonight, and that he wasn't here last night because he woke up on a park bench this morning with a 'terrible hangover'. And I'm going to your mother's, do you want to come?"
Draco blinked; he hadn't even thought about Blaise or noticed he wasn't here – what a good friend he must be! Blaise didn't officially live with them, or wasn't supposed to be. Blaise did, however, think of the place as his home, and was usually here; he never seemed to leave them alone. If both Hermione and Draco were perfectly honest, they didn't care – they liked having him around. In many ways he was like a little child, and he needed guiding and looking after.
"Um…okay?" Draco said, although it was more of a question, "and nah, I don't think I could stand my mother for the rest of the day. I'll go down after work on Monday or something," he said slowly. With Hermione out of the house, now would be a perfect time to plan their date, without her there to hear him talking or see him planning things. She always seemed to know when he was up to something.
Hermione was secretly happy that Draco didn't want to go to his mother's; that way she could get Narcissa's opinion on what would be a good date and what she thought her son might like. Hermione wasn't too sure; after all, they hadn't done much dating. They were always content with just being with each other; dating was never really an important issue. It wasn't as if they'd rushed anything – they had been technically dating for five years before they got engaged and they'd remained strong throughout the whole time. People sometimes made comments that marriage could be the thing that would break them and some had been of the opinion that they shouldn't get married; because in all honesty, they insisted, who needed a piece of paper to say they loved someone? The people who expressed these views were usually Harry and Ron, but Hermione and Draco had learnt to ignore them.
Hermione smiled at Draco before picking her jacket up from where she'd placed it the night before, slipped into her shoes, and grabbed her car keys off the table. They didn't need to exchange words; they knew what the other was going to say. Instead, Hermione just waved and walked out of the door, heading towards her car. She was looking forward to spending some time with Narcissa today – not that she didn't usually. Narcissa was an extraordinary woman, full of wisdom. She'd never been allowed to express what she knew when she was with Lucius, but now there was nothing to stop her and she often shared things with Hermione. Sometimes, to Draco's dismay, what she shared was old baby pictures, especially ones of Draco as a toddler. Draco hated the fact that his mother still had those – they were embarrassing!
Draco waited until Hermione had driven off down the street before throwing himself down on the sofa and closing his eyes. He was tired again now, and he knew Hermione and his mother could talk for hours. He had time for a short nap. His breahing soon evened out, and he looked peaceful. He was asleep and could probably stay that way for a few hours.
Draco remained asleep until Blaise pushed his way into the house, with a lot of noise, and woke him up. If he hadn't been so tired, Draco would have been ready to kill Blaise. It was almost as if the man knew what he'd done. As soon as he saw Draco he grinned, then ran in to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Draco had to admit that Blaise did look a mess and he assumed it was because the man had spent a night on a park bench in the cold and awoken with a hangover, although Draco did wonder if that was the truth. He knew Blaise too well sometimes, and he knew his friend lied about what he did when he was ashamed or annoyed at himself.
Blaise's POV
Blaise came in and headed for the bathroom as soon as he saw that Draco was awake. He needed a shower anyway; his the "story" he'd told Hermione was true –he had spent the night on a park bench. He smelt bad generally, and of stale alcohol in particular; he knew Hermione couldn't stand the smell of alcohol and would probably force him into the shower anyway, so it was easier to take one by choice, not force.
Blaise had always had one problem: getting out of showers. But he hated to get into them. Once he was in he enjoyed them, and it usually took Draco shouting at him through the door to make him get out. Today, though, he got out without being prompted. He didn't feel like having a long shower. He needed something to eat, and he still had a headache. He wasn't ever drinking again…wait, yeah, he would. It was the most common thing anyone said: "I'm never drinking again"; yet they did. It was almost as if they never learnt. Blaise decided he would drink again, he just wouldn't drink as much as he had the previous night – and he wasn't going to sleep on a park bench again. Those things just weren't comfy, and he'd rather listen to Hermione shout at him and force him to sleep in the bath…again. Ha! That had been a funny night. Blaise remembered it happily. He'd walked mud all over Hermione's clean floor, so to teach him a lesson she'd made him have a bath, then sleep in the empty tub. She'd been nice enough to give him pyjamas, but mean enough to give Draco a camera and remind him how to use it. The pictures had been sent around to people and Blaise, to Hermione's dismay, loved the attention. There was just no teaching this boy.
Blaise walked into the lounge, his bare feet padding along the floor and a white towel wrapped around his waist. an He made a beeline for Draco. "Hey," he said lightly.
"What's up?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes. His friend only used that tone when he needed help.
"You know me too well," Blaise chuckled. "Do you have any Hang-Over potion left?"
"Yup…it'll cost you, though." Draco smirked.
"How much?"
"Not money."
"What ,then?"
"Your soul!" Draco made his voice sound rather scary and then grinned. "Nah, you have to cover for me when I need to leave the house without Hermione knowing exactly where I'm going."
"I think I can manage that."
"We've a deal, then." Draco stood and walked into his room. Blaise heard him move something around, then swear – quite loudly and repeatedly – before he obviously found what he was looking for, if the cry of "Aha! Got you!" was anything to go by.
"Here," Draco mumbled when he returned. He thrust a clear bottle into Blaise's hand and took his place on the sofa again. The TV was still on but no one was really paying any attention to it. It was once again there only for background noise, to stop them from completely being lost in their thoughts –although it was rare for Draco and Blaise to have thoughts that were worth getting lost in.
"Bondage!" Blaise squeaked out.
"What?"Draco practically screeched.
"Oh…sorry, did I say something?" Blaise asked, blinking. He looked dazed.
"You said 'bondage'."
"I did not!" Blaise looked offended. "You disguisting little boy! Wash your mouth out right now! With soap…and coffee! Now! Go! March it, mister!"
Draco blinked; he just blinked. Blaise was a weird child and there was no point trying to get through to him and make him see sense.
Hermione came back a few hours later, a small smile on her face. She saw Draco and Blaise curled up together on the sofa asleep and she turned the TV off. She was rather glad Blaise was home, and glad Draco was asleep. That way she could make more plans for tonight rather than having to go out and stand in the cold. outside some nightclub She'd arranged most of tonight's events while she was at Narcissa's house. She was about to leave the living room but she couldn't resist snapping a picture of Blaise and Draco on her cell phone. It was too good a photo to miss out on, and it was something to blackmail them with…although Blaise would probably want a copy to show people himself. That boy just never got embarrassed.
It took a couple of hours more and then everything was done and arranged, and now she just needed Draco up. There wasn't that long until their date, and he had to be ready.
"Draco, get up," Hermione said. She pulled Blaise off of him and then pulled on Draco's arm.
"Blaise, get lost," Draco moaned. "I will not partake in bondage conversations with you again."
Hermione raised one eyebrow towards Blaise, who just shrugged.
"I don't know what he's talking about…honestly!" Blaise said, his eyes moving side to side, not quite looking at Hermione.
"Draco! Up!" Hermione raised her voice slightly, hoping to disturb Draco from his sleep, whilst rolling her eyes at Blaise. She lightly shook Draco's arm again.
"Right," Draco mumbled, "I'm up…what's the matter?"
"Nothing," Hermione told him. "Go and have a shower, and dress nicely."
"Why?"
"We're going somewhere."
"Where?"
"A party."
"Whose?"
"Just go!"
"Aye aye, captain."
Draco stood and left, aiming for the shower, and Hermione turned to Blaise.
"You," she began, "are to stay indoors – and no alcohol."
"Yes, Hermione," Blaise said, rolling his eyes. He watched as Hermione walked off, probably to get ready.