The next day passed by silently and rather un-eventfully; Draco choosing to sit brooding in his bed hour after hour, taking tablet after tablet as he tried to smooth his aching head. Well, his head was one reason why he hadn't moved downstairs to speak to the woman below him who was keeping herself busy by cleaning the house by hand from top to toe and back again, claiming the dust would make Draco's condition worse.
But, really, they were avoiding eachother. They were thinking of eachother. It's weird how being only feet from a person can still make you feel like a thousand miles away. Both of them had been thousands of miles away from people before-but this was different. This was something far from distance.
"How can I get this stupid idea out of my head?" Draco asked the door that he had placed a silencing charm on, before he turned on his heel again to face the large, netted window on the opposite wall.
"I can't stop thinking about her eyes. Her lips." he stopped dead in his path, "oh those lips!" he moaned, rolling his head back to watch the ceiling, scrutinising it to read it's hidden answers.
"No, you did not nearly kiss Draco Malfoy last night," Hermione mumbled to herself as she pressed hard on her cloth, scrubbing a particularly nasty stain that had found it's way onto her kitchen counter again, "and no, you certainly do not want to kiss him." she told herself firmly, looking up at the ceiling above her as if Draco would be able to hear her hushed tones from the floorboards. Biting her lip to stop herself saying anymore, she continued to watch the stain slowly itch itself from the wood.
"Why am I even here?" He rotated his feet in a circle, his eyes watching the walls as he spun himself around. He knew the answer to the question well enough not to voice it. He was here because he had to be. Because there was no one "But there was someone else," The man sighed out, collapsing down on the bed below him as he let his head stop twirling "There were plenty of people, muggles, muggle-borns…all just as capable of giving me a bed and teaching me the bus routes," he told the ceiling, "Yet, you chose her" He took a deep breath and sat himself upright, his legs swinging over the side of the bed.
"And what about Ron?" Hermione asked herself as she lay down in the middle of the living room, her arm stretched underneath the sofa, pointing a vacuuming charm at the carpet, "Not that you actually like Ron…he might just get upset if anything were to happen with Draco…not that anything ever would happen with Draco," Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed, coming out from under the sofa.
"Okay, look, yesterday was just a thing that happened when you were both upset and you wanted cheering up. And besides, nothing even happened! You're being a stupid boy who is getting all confused because your head is slowly eating itself up and you're losing brain cells. The real thing you should be asking yourself is why you walked for hours from the hospital to the Ministry. Or why you still haven't got that extremely hot doctors' naked body draped over you right now, in this bed," Draco zoned out for a moment and then shook his head, getting the image from his mind as soon as the doctors' face turned into someone else's. Someone who he really didn't want to be thinking of naked. Did he?
The clock in the living room chimed loudly, rattling over the house and knocking Hermione out of her trance. She peered over at the small object before grumbling and standing up. 5 o'clock was probably now time to start making tea; something she had only done once for both Draco and herself, finding it extremely difficult to get back into cooking for two. Plus the fact Draco didn't seem to eat all he was given anyway, which was even more infuriating. She really had no idea how the house-elves managed, and it was times like this she was glad for S.P.E.W.
Grabbing her hair quickly in a knot and thing it behind her hair, Hermione opened a cupboard above her head and searched for what she could use to make something. Although she could use magic, as she knew perfectly well, Hermione enjoyed cooking without using her wand, remembering the tricks and menus her grandmother taught her as a child.
Being the odd one out in her muggle family, Hermione always felt more connected to them when she cooked and baked, smiling to herself as she remembered helping her nan as she stood on a small box at the side of the counter in order to reach, or sitting at the oven door and watching the bread rise as she waited in anticipation. It was something she clung to when her parents were in Australia without her, without their memory of her.
The woman washed her hands under the sink, and then set to work grabbing various ingredients out of various cupboards until a bag full of pasta pieces, a jar.
"Draco," the man told himself firmly as he started to pace again after seating himself down on the bed for a rest his dizzying head so desperately needed, "you don't like her. You never will and never have,"
He turned himself around again, "Just because you like the feel of her hand in your hand and the look of her in the morning...or in the afternoon...or just before she goes to bed and you can see the tiredness build in her eyes..." He put his head in his hands, running them through his hair before moving his eyes away from the floor and to the mirror standing in front of him on the wall, "Why are you still talking to yourself?" he asked his reflection dead in the eye, but out came no reply, and instead, he watched it take two sharp breathes as he did so, and removed the silencing charm around the room, opting to go downstairs and watch a movie or two to distract himself from his mixed up thoughts on feelings he oh so obviously didn't have.
"There's a letter for you on the doormat." Hermione called from the kitchen once she heard the familiar sound of footsteps creaking down her tired stairs.
"Thanks." the man mumbled, rubbing his eyes and yawning pretense that he had just woken up.
The man reached down for the white envelope and flipped it over to reveal the blue and white letterings of 'NHS' standing on the header.
He had learned this was never a good sign.
Sighing, he took it into the kitchen and threw himself down lazily on a previously straightened chair.
"I didn't realise you told them my address." Hermione stated a little forcefully, her back to him as she flicked her wand towards a pan that lay on the stove, which flipped itself back and forth on command.
"Sorry, I had to as of yesterday. Or whenever it was. The days have all gone on so long." He was still staring at the undisturbed white envelope, unsure whether he wanted to read what it held inside.
"Well, maybe if you came downstairs a little more and helped with the housework you wouldn't have that problem." The woman snapped, a mixing spoon still in her
hand as she forcefully swept a price of hair from her face.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked, looking up to watch her as soon as he heard her stressed tones.
"Yeah, I'm just not used to cooking for two, that's all." She tried to be more calm, but the words just came out more angry.
A piece of hair came out of it's messy bun again, forcing the woman to pin it back behind her ear again, to which it refused to stay and popped back out in front of her face. Hermione slammed the spoon down on the surface, grumbling under her breath as she tugged her hair from her bobble and re-did her hair, a clip dangling from her teeth ready to be put back into the mess.
"Why don't we go out for lunch instead?" Draco asked softly, standing up to get ready.
"Are you joking?" She asked, turning around sharply to him, her eyebrows raised as she gestured around her at the stove and various chopped vegetables laid out on the counter beside her, "After I've done all this? I don't think so." She gave a small laugh before turning her back again to him, a small shake of her head following behind her body.
A small "Oh." was all Draco could muster as
he sat back down and continued to watch her back work as she peeled and chopped, much to Draco's amusement, as he was sure there were plenty spells that could be used for such trivial tasks.
"Are you just going to sit there and watch me?" The woman asked, turning around again to him, her teeth bared.
"No, I, of course not," Draco stumbled to his feat, confused at why she was being so hot-headed with him.
"What do you want me to do?" He asked from behind her, straining his head to look at her face as she bent down infront of him to put a dish of some kind in the oven.
"Why don't you get the milk out of the fridge?"
"Right. Milk." Draco turned on his heel a little too fast, knocking the back of Hermione and forcing her to bang her head on the top of the oven.
"Ow!" She screamed, a hand straight to her head as soon as she was stood up fully, the oven door lay wide open.
"Oh shit!" Draco shouted, turning back to the woman, dancing around behind her unsure what to do.
"Just sit down!" She told him angrily as she reached for for a towel to rinse under the water.
"Right. Sit. Yes," Draco was now completely confused, and extremely embarrassed as he dawdled to sit back down, continuing to watch the woman behind him to make sure she was okay.
"Oh fuck!" He announced after banging his side into the side of the table after not watching where he was going, sending the table screeching over the stone floor.
"Oh just get out!" Hermione practically screeched, leaving no time for Draco to argue against her before she threw the damp paper towel she was previously holding to her throbbing head, straight in Draco's direction.
Hurriedly, Draco grabbed his still unopened letter and practically ran out of the door, not even checking back to watch the stressed woman crumple onto the floor, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What should I do?" She asked herself, dragging her hand through her hair before taking it out of its ponytail again and slumping further down onto the floor, so one of the cupboard's handles was forcing it was into her back, not that she was in any state to let it win and move herself.
"I need to help him; but I can't just let him go on like this, living day after day in her spare bedroom. The sooner I get this house back to myself the better." Hermione dropped her head, sobbing harder as she let the guilt of what she just said wash over.
And then suddenly her head was back up, a hand on one cheek as her eyes opened wide in astonishment, "The library!"
"Draco, I'm going out!" She called up to the celling, crooning her neck as she shouted, before standing up and apperating outside of The Leaky Cauldron.