Chapter 11
Halloween was only two weeks away and Draco and I were in charge of setting up the dance. We had help from prefects of course but we had to choose what years could go, assign everyone their jobs, choose the entertainment, and supervise everything so it all gets done.
We had just finished the first prefect meeting for the dance and were walking back to our dorm when we ran into Harry and Ron.
"Hello Harry, Ron." I said hoping they were finally going to forgive me. "What's up?"
"What are you doing with him?" Ron asked glaring at Draco.
"For your information Weasel I'm Head Boy," Draco said flashing his badge. "And I can do whatever I want."
"We were walking back to our dorm, that's all." I said trying to ignore Draco. "So what did you want?"
"We would like to talk to you, privately." Harry said looking between Draco and me.
"Go I'll meet up with you later." I said pleading silently with him. He knew how much I wanted to regain my friendship with them.
"Fine, but I'm not waiting up for you." Draco said before pushing past Harry and Ron.
"So what's up?" I asked trying not to sound too happy to have them talking to me again.
"What's gotten into you, hanging out with him?" Ron asked before Harry could even open his mouth. "I thought we were your friends."
"You are, but last I checked your two weren't talking to me!" I said placing my hands on my hips, in what Justin calls my Dictator stance. "You two were the ones to shut me out of your lives. So don't come back to me and complain if I have gotten new friends."
"Hermione don't listen to him." Harry said grabbing onto my arm as I tried to leave.
"I'm sorry Harry but I can't be around him right now."
"Fine but at least let me talk to you." Harry said knowing I couldn't say no to him.
"Fine come on." I sighed pushing past Ron, not even looking back to see if Harry was following.
He was.
"Hermione you know how thick headed Ron can get sometimes. He didn't mean what he said." Harry said falling into step with me. "He really wants you back…as a friend."
"Listen Harry if you want to talk to me about Ron you can just go back to him then. I'd rather not talk about him anymore." I said coming to a stop in front of him.
"No, I'm sorry, it's just…" Harry said placing his left hand on my shoulder. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before he continued. "It's just I really missed you and only didn't talk to you because of Ron. Please I won't tell him; just can we be friends again?"
"Harry I never stopped being your friend." I said trying to blink away tears that had suddenly appeared. "I love you like a brother, you and Ron both, you can never stop something like that."
Harry pulled me in for a hug. We stayed like that in silence for a while. When we broke apart we both had tears in our eyes, we laughed at each other and wiped them away.
"So you and Malfoy, you're friends now?" Harry asked as we continued our way to my dorm.
"Yeah I guess. We decided to call a truce for this year." I said smiling over at Harry. "We'll have so much to do together we thought it would be best. Also he's really nice when you get to know him."
"Yeah alright," Harry laughed. "What's that saying about a sheep in wolfs clothing?"
"Shut up." I said playfully pushing his shoulder.
When I made it back to my dorm I found Draco sitting in front of the fire taking swigs from a bottle. He was facing away from me and didn't look like he heard me come in.
"Malfoy?" I asked moving up in front of the couch. "Malfoy what you doing?"
"I'm getting drunk, what does it look like?" He said looking back at me the fire reflecting in his eyes. "What do you want?"
"I-nothing; do you want some company?" I said sitting down and placing my feet on the coffee table.
"There's only one bottle." He said turning back to the fire.
"You've got to be kidding; you mean you won't share with me?" I said with a slight laugh. "Or do you really just want me to leave you?"
"I don't really care Granger." He said before taking another swig from his bottle. "Here."
"Thanks." I took the bottle from him and looked at the clear liquid. Firewhiskey, I was sure of it. I shrugged and took a small drink; it burned all the way down. It was nothing like any muggle drink I had had before. "Ugh, here."
"What? Too hard for punk ass Granger?" He said with a deep chuckle. "I knew you couldn't handle it."
"No I liked it I've just never had it before." I said reaching for the bottle again. "Give it back."
"No."
"Give it back."
"No."
"Give it to me Malfoy!" I said falling off the couch and onto him. "Give it!"
"I don't think you can handle it, why don't you go get a butterbeer Granger." He said holding the bottle just out of my reach.
"Oh shut up Malfoy and give me the bottle." I said as my hand grasped the neck of the bottle. "Ha!"
"Shit, give it back Granger." Draco said as I pulled the bottle from his hand. Smirking at him I took a large swig. Then I took another. And another.
"So Drrraco, where did you get this?" I said my tongue sticking on the r. We had been drinking for a while now, but then again time went quicker when you were drunk. "I thought it was band from school."
"I'm a Ssslytherin Granger. I can do everything you can't do." He said with a grin. "I've done things you couldn't even dream of dearie."
"Oh really; I doubt that." I said taking a drink from the bottle, some of it leaked out of my mouth and down my chin. "Oops ha ha."
"Come on Granger don't waste my drink." He said laughing. "Can't you do anything?"
"Oh I can do lots of things you couldn't even dream of Mr. Malfoy." I said sitting up on my knees and poking my finger into his chest. "You wouldn't even know."
"Oh really?" He said sitting up too.
"Really," I said getting up. "Just wait here I need my jacket."
Making my way up to my room was easier said than done at that moment. But when I got there I was able to strip out of my school uniform and into Justin's hoodie and a pair of his boxers. Once I had those on I grabbed my jacket and made my way back to Draco and the booze.
"Did you change?" He asked when I sat down next to him.
"Yeah I wanted to be more comfortable." I said taking the bottle from him. "Wasn't this more empty before I left?"
"Yeah but I refilled it, it's called magic Granger." He said spinning his wand between his fingers. "Or did you forget that?"
"No I just, shut up." I said pushing the bottle back into his chest. "You're a jerk."
"Yeah so, are you just realizing that now?" He said smirking at me.
"No," I said pulling a cigarette from my jacket pocket. "I just wanted to tell you."
"Ah ok." He said still smirking. "What are you doing?"
"Lighting my cigarette, what does it look like?" I said leaning forward, sticking the end of my cigarette into the fire.
"It looks like you're trying to set yourself on fire." He said setting the bottle down.
"That would just be a plus." I said sitting back taking a drag from my now lit smoke. "What?" I said when he didn't say anything.
"You're crazy." He said with a smile. I real smile. It was the first time I had ever seen Draco Malfoy smile a genuine smile.
"Glad you finally noticed." I said with a smile. "So why are you getting drunk?"
"Just because I can, why did you join me?" He asked before taking another drink from his bottle.
"Because you're my friend now and I enjoy drinking with friends." I said taking the bottle from him. "Even if they are stingy with the booze."
"Hey it is mine." He said with that smile again. "I can't help it if I don't like to share."
"Yeah alright," Taking another swig I almost choked because Draco snatched the cigarette from between my fingers. "Hey."
"What, I just want to know what hard ass Granger likes about these things so much." He said before sucking the addicting smoke into his lungs. He coughed a little before handing me back the cigarette. "Yeah, never mind. Ugh that was not fun."
"I never said smoking was fun, it just calms me." I said trying not to laugh at him. There were tears welling in his eyes and it took a few drinks before he stopped coughing. "It's more addicting than fun."
"So that's why you do it?" He asked looking up at me. "Because you're addicted?"
"Yeah I guess," I said looking down at the smoldering cherry. "Why do you drink though, just to get drunk or because you like the feeling?"
"That's the same thing isn't it?" He said passing me the bottle. "Whether I enjoy the feeling or just want to feel it; drunk is drunk and that's why I drink."
I passed him back the bottle and we sat in silence for a while; just looking at our addictions. The only thing we had in common before our friendship was the fact that we had secret addictions and now we both came face to face with that fact. Now we both knew something about the other that very few did. We were becoming closer and closer and we didn't even realize it.
-Hello again, I know some awesome things happened in this chapter. Or at least I thought they were awesome, but then again I am the one writing it, lol. I hope you enjoyed reading it and it's still as awesome as it was in the beginning. Please remember to review and ask questions and I'll be more than happy to answer. Also the next chapter might take a little longer to get out to you. Sorry but I'm hitting a little writing snag. But I love you all so much just for reading. Thanks again!
-Ben Hallport