Disclaimer: I don't own Draco, he wouldn't be our sexy Draco if I did.
A/n;
Thank you for the reviews! I do hope that you would give more thoughts about our pairing, since sexy Draco is waiting for them. Waiting for them in his boxers. Yes, imagine his snitch-printed boxers. Silver and Green. *Drools... The button is just down there, *winks
Anon, I love you more! Thanks!
Anonymous, Thanks for the whopping Reviews! And yes, I did get the names from Heist Society another wonderful novel that you should definitely check out, guys.
Neeme88, Thans for the cheering words! I didn't update supper soon, but hey, I updated! Hope that You'll like this chappie :D
Opposites: Awwww, thank you dear! You made my day)
Fly With Me
"Draco," Hermione whispered. "Draco, wake up."
"Five more minutes," Draco grumbled burying his head in his pillow. "That's weird... this pillow smells like Hermione..."
"What a dope." Hermione muttered fondly as Draco started to babble about the complexity of her fragrance which was just her lavender shampoo and vanilla soap. She had grown to be Draco's best friend during the time when both of them had estranged themselves to the world that they had always known. Sweeping a lock of chestnut brown hair (he forgot to take off the spell last night) aside, Hermione thought back to all those moments when all she wanted was to kill this git, but thought that it wasn't worth facing charges, especially in her M.I.A. State. Their relationship not that you could really call it that had been rocky at first. She served as the reluctant party, but as much as she was reluctant, he responded with a stubbornness and perseverance to be her friend that was tenfold. And gradually, they started to call each other best friends something that she never thought Draco Malfoy and her would share.
Hermione stood up, sighing heavily. She went towards the Kitchen, recounting the recipe for Draco's favorite breakfast; Waffles with a special kind of batter.
Halfway through the cooking process, she felt a air of eyes trained on her back. Turning around, she saw Draco, hair all over the place and a lazy smirk present on his lips. "Morning," Draco said, yawning widely. He stalked towards the island where all the ingredients lay scattered. He reached towards the batter that Hermione was currently stirring and dipped his finger onto it.
"Good morning to you too." Hermione smiled as she slapped Draco's hands away, glaring at him. Draco, meanwhile, stuck his finger in his mouth, tasting the batter that she made.
He smiled at her, saying, "This combination is better. It just needs more salt. Try adding about a pinch more." Draco suggested, grabbing the salt and dumping some of it into the batter. Hermione glared at him before pointing the batter at him.
"No touching the batter again." Hermione said, clutching the materials closer to her. "Don't you have to worry about your appearance, or something. You know where the mirror is you can primp there."
Draco yawned, flicking his hand away in an uncaring gesture. He smirked lazily, resting his pale head on the table, "I look perfectly dashing like this. Don't you women love the whole rumpled-up-and-just-woke-up look? Besides, my body feels like crap from sleeping on that rock of a couch of yours.
"Hey, be nice to the couch." Hermione scolded as she poured some of the mixture into the mold. "It's perfectly fine and comfortable. It's your fault that you insisted to eat Hell-in-an-ice-cream-cone yesterday." Hermione huffed.
Draco rolled his eyes, smiling lazily as handed him the hot plate of waffles. Inwardly, he was delighted at the gesture Hermione only ever cooks for him, and he saw that as a good sign. Her cooking tasted like dinosaur pee the reason why she tolerated the general dinner and lunch-outs Draco threw regularly , but hey, he has to make sacrifices once in a while.
"So, what's our agenda for today?" He asked between mouthfuls of the gunk.
"About that," Hermione said as she tidied up her kitchen, "The kids down at Dr. Lightman's you know, the co-ed orphanage on Arlington St. are going to the zoo. Would you mind if we tag along?"
"But you're on vacation!" Draco complained. He had no qualms with spending the day with little tykes, but he does have issues with sharing Hermione. God only knows how much effort he put into planning these weeks off.
"They're short on volunteers today, so I told Sister Gabrielle that we could drop in,
"Why can't you just go on a break and not worry about everyone else," Draco grumbled, "But if you want to, then I can't see any wrong in spending a perfectly fine afternoon with little monsters who try their best at landing their food into your favorite sweaters."
"Draco," Hermione sighed, "You know that you can opt out of this. I'm not forcing you to go."
Draco looked defeated for a moment before saying, "You know I prefer spending my time with you rather than those dunderheads I call employees. It's work or the bar, and I definitely prefer you over both."
Hermione flashed him a grateful smile, turning back to her cleaning. Draco, meanwhile, continued to eat his food glumly, glaring at the brunette's blatant love for making him frustrated and pitting him in situations that madden him.
"Draco," Hermione said once she finished cleaning the counter tops. Then, she donned on her coat and grabbed her scarf, saying, "After you finish with that dish, put it in the dishwasher, and don't press any buttons you remember the last time you did that, right? It was utter mayhem. Plus, you turned your clothes pink. I'm going to go and do some errands. I'll meet you at the Zoo at about 2 o'clock."
Hermione was already at the kitchen door when Draco called out, "Hey! Wait!"
Hermione spun around, impatience evident in her tone. "What?"
"Let's visit mother later." Draco said, the words rolled off his tongue before his mind could even process what he was saying.
"Isn't she in the States?" Hermione inquired, baffled at the request for an audience something (although Narcissa quite adored her that was sparse because of all the traveling the elderly woman undertakes.
"She just came home last week," Draco pressed. "She would be delighted to see you, and I think talking to another person who actually knows what magic is would be a welcome change. She is the only other person from the magical world besides me who you still keep in contact with, don't you?"
"Not exactly," Hermione said, biting her lip. "I write letters to Ginny and Luna."
"Just accept the dinner offer." Draco sighed as he picked at his food. "It would make us even if you do."
"Alright." Hermione said begrudgingly. As much as she loved Narcissa, she hated any form of dressing up and with Draco's mum, nothing less than a trailing evening gown would do. Hermione sighed heavily, no doubt the evening was going to be dramatic.
And she wasn't sure if it was going to be good or bad.
"Draco, you're late." Hermione frowned. There were two children beside her, one was a 6-year-old boy who had strange blue-green eyes and ruffled raven hair that would have Harry run for his money. Draco recognized him; he was the son of one of Hermione muggle friends. Bree, was it? His mother, if he could still clearly remember, was another volunteer here at the orphanage. The other child was a pretty girl that was about four or five. She had strawberry blonde hair and large tawny doe-like eyes. The boy, Gabe, was fiddling with a little toy airplane and explaining its parts to the blonde as the little girl sat quietly, licking her melting Popsicle stick.
"Hey there, little tyke," Draco smiled at the boy fondly. Gabe reminded him of himself when he was young cunning, debonaire and quite handsome. Gabe smiled at him, revealing small even teeth.
"Sorry," Draco smiled apologetically at Hermione, "but I needed to make arrangements at Madame Galveston's. You know that you can't show up into another dinner in jeans and a t-shirt."
"I had a cardigan on." Hermione said defensively as they started walking towards the general direction of the other kids.
"Still, it was too casual."
"Whatever, but that doesn't excuse you from being late. I explicitly said two o'clock." Hermione scolded as they neared the commons. "Because of you, Gabe, Halley and I had to wait and miss seeing the sights with the others."
"So, young lady, your name is Halley?" Draco ignored Hermione as he asked the five-year-old. He stooped low and leveled his face with hers, extending his pale hand, he said "Pleased to meet you."
The girl shook it shyly. Draco then noticed that the little boy eyed him warily. Little Halley must be a special gal if Gabe was reacting that way. Draco chuckled, this kid really had Slytherin written all over him even if indeed he was a muggle.
Draco stood up, still looking apologetically at the brunette. "So, where shall we go?"
"I want to see the penguins!" Gabe smiled widely as he took Halley's hand and led her towards the penguin exhibit. "Trust me, Halley, you'll love them. And this will probably the first and last time a girl as poor as you would see them."
Hermione tutted as she moved towards the children, but Draco held her in place. She looked at him with question, but he just shook his head and gestured towards the children. Halley stopped in her tracks, making the Gabe lurch backward in the process. Tears sprung up from the little girl's eyes as she made the little boy let go of her hand.
"I hate you." Halley said with vehemence that vaguely amused Draco and certainly surprised Hermione. Halley pushed the boy and then proceeded to run towards the benches, leaving a shocked Gabe standing in the middle of the crowd.
"That is enough." Hermione said, trying to wrench her arm out of Draco's grasp, but his grip never dwindled. "I've had enough of those two fighting. They've been at it ever since they met."
"Wait." Draco said calmly. "Let's see what he does. Maybe he never had a chance to right anything he's done because we adults keep intervening."
"But I can't just stand here and let Halley cry! It's"
"Shut up." Draco admonished. "Look."
Hermione turned abruptly towards Gabe's direction. The little boy was staring determinedly at the little girl who was crying on the bench. He looked worried and scared, but stubborn at the same time. He seemed to make up his mind for a moment and then he set towards Halley's direction. The two of them watched as Gabe seemingly apologized and kissed Halley on the cheek, smiling sorry at her.
"Wow." Hermione breathed as the two children were now laughing on the bench. "He never did that for anyone before, unless of course Brielle forced him to do it."
"That's because he was never given the chance." Draco sighed. "You know, if those two sidekicks of yours never tried to keep me in a ten-feet distance away from you, I would've said sorry... you know, for everything."
"Really?
"No." Draco said sarcastically, making a face. "I would've kissed Weasley sorry."
"Ew." Hermione laughed, her whole face lighting up in the process. but thank you, for telling me."
"I really am going soft." Draco muttered snidely as he watched Hermione take the two kids towards the penguins. Smiling, he followed them just in time for him to ear Hermione saying,
"You know kids, penguins mate for life."
"Really?"
"Yes." Hermione nodded. "One they find their destined pair, they'll love each other forever."
"Are humans like that too?" Halley asked, her big eyes turning into saucers with surprise.
"No.
"How could you say that?" Gabe questioned. "I love Halley, and I don't think that will ever change."
Hermione laughed at the little toddler's frankness. Halley was one lucky girl.
"Because once upon a time, I met a boy and I loved him so much that the world revolved around the two of us." Hermione sighed as she pinched Gabe's cheeks. "I thought that he would be my penguin and that we would love each other forever."
"And then what happened?
"I needed to leave him because of things." Hermione said sadly. "So you see, humans don't necessarily love forever, it's just up to us to decide how long we can love."
"But you couldn't stop love, right?" Gabe said, his eyebrows scrunching up, "Mommy told me that."
"Yes, you can't." Hermione sighed wistfully. "But love can fade too."
"Do you still love him?" Halley said through unshed tears. "Do you still love the boy?"
"Well," Hermione started, her eyes glazed over in thought. "I used to think that I still did. That I was wrong for leaving, but then somethings changed and I forgot about it. So the answer to your question is, I still do, but not as much as before."
"So you don't stop loving a person, but you can start loving them less?" Halley said.
"So you can start loving them more, too." Gabe added, smiling brightly at Halley who smiled back at him with as much brightness.
Hermione chuckled then ruffled both their hairs, saying, "Now, come on, let's go find uncle Draco and make him get us something to eat."
Draco smiled at them as they spotted him a couple of meters away. "Hey guys, I take it that you're hungry?"
"I take it that you were eavesdropping?" Hermione shot back, eying him.
"Caught in the act," Draco chuckled, raising his arms. Somehow, he was sure that the 'Changes' that Hermione described pertained to him, and he couldn't help but feel giddy. Two years of work was finally paying off. If it meant Hermione and him could be HermioneandDraco forever, then he didn't mind waiting. It would be alright. "So, where do we go now?"
"Anywhere is fine," Hermione smiled, amused.
Peter Pan, the little cunning Slytherin, even kidnapped the muggle Wendy to get her. And they turned out fine.
He had the feeling that they too, would turn out alright.