"Young Master Malfoy..." Draco heard a voice calling out before feeling a light shake on his arm. "Master Malfoy..." Fighting off the voice begging him to wake up, Draco rolls over, the desire for five more minutes of sleep taking over.
"Not now..." He answers, waving his arm to try and shake off the voice as he felt something tugging on his arm lightly.
"Young Master Malfoy..." The voice repeated, tugging on him a little bit more firmly.
"Five more minutes.." Draco mumbles, pulling the scratchy blanket of the worn four poster bed over his head to block the light coming in through the cracks of the wood in the Shack.
"Five more minutes until what Young Master?" The voice asks confused, pulling the blanket down from Draco's face causing him to groan out.
"WHAT!?" He now yelled out in fury, opening his eyes to see two over-sized brown eyes staring back at him, a button nose between them that was surrounded by the grey flesh of the House Elf.
"I'm so...so...sorry..." The House Elf stuttered in fear. "Yo...Young Master Malfoy requested the...the hairs of Ma...Master and Mistress Malfoy..." It answered, terrified of it's master's reaction. "Kr..Kritter brought Young Master the...the hairs sir."
"What time is it?!" Draco groans out, rolling over in exhaustion from the prior night, still trying to piece together in his mind what exactly he had done with Hermione.
"It's nine in the morning sir." The House Elf answers quietly as Draco opens his eyes a little bit more to see the House Elf's ears bandaged sloppily with old rags.
"Sodding hell," He exclaims, rubbing his eyes, still squinted open to avoid letting too much sunlight in. "What did you do this time?"
"My apologies Young Master," The House Elf answered quickly, "but Kritter had to punish herself before delivering the hairs to Young Master. You see, Kritter did as was asked of her, getting the hairs of course, and when she did, Master Malfoy was furious."
"Furious?" Draco asks, still in disbelief and sleep. "Why would father be furious?"
"Kritter did as Young Master asked. Kritter got the hairs." She answers, holding up two single strands as Draco suddenly woke up from his half-sleep, realizing what the House Elf was saying.
"How did Kritter get the hairs?" Draco asked firmly, realizing what he may be dealing with now.
"Kritter took the hairs from Master and Mistress Malfoy. Kritter waited until they were eating their breakfast, Young Master. Then Kritter walked over and she picked the hairs from Master and Mistress Malfoy's heads."
Draco smacked his forehead, unable to believe how dim the House Elf could be. "AND what in the bloody hell did they say?"
"Master Malfoy was furious Young Master." The House Elf answers, "But Kritter wasn't allowed to explain why she did what she did, which made him more furious. Kritter is being punished, Young Master."
Draco knew that the House Elf wouldn't be dismissed. Here he was, at fifteen years old and they still had the pathetic excuse of a servant in their home, but it was the point of the matter. "You may go..." He says in a heated fury, taking the hairs from the Elf, unable to believe how dim it could really be.
The House Elf disapparated, leaving Draco now alone with a single long white strand of hair, a single long black strand of hair, and his thoughts. As he lay in the bed, staring up at the ceiling, Draco tried to piece together in his mind what exactly had happened the night before. He could still feel the warmth of Granger's body against his, the way her skin felt beneath his lips, how extremely soft she was surrounding him. What had he done? It wasn't supposed to have gone that far. He wasn't supposed to have had those few moments of passion with a mudblood. He wasn't supposed to want to have them again. It was disgusting, he kept reminding himself as he stared up at the single crack in the ceiling, the thought of getting so close, so personal with something as disgraceful as a witch born from muggle parents but somehow now he knew as he got up and got dressed, that things wouldn't be the same between him and Granger, that everything had changed.
Hermione finally got the courage to walk back up from the basement of the Shrieking Shack. She still couldn't help but feel used, like Draco had taken advantage of her anger just to get inside her pants but despite her fury, Hermione knew they still had a mission to complete and the sooner she got it done, the sooner she could return to not saying a word to the Slytherin but first, they needed to eat. Walking back into the bedroom, and making sure not to look at the bed where she had just lost her virginity merely hours prior, Hermione tries to focus her thoughts. "We should go back to that cafe, the muggle one. We need to eat and get back to work."
Not looking directly at her as he tried to focus on his own thoughts, Draco mumbled under his breath, "Yea sure, the muggle place again. Great..." Quickly he turned and made his way to the fireplace not thrilled about having to step foot back in a muggle eatery again so soon.
Hermione followed slowly behind him, her face red as they floo'ed out and back into the dark, dampened pub. She made sure to avoid eye contact with any of the current customers of the pub, not just for the sake of avoiding being discovered anymore, but also out of disappointment in herself, as if if they looked into her eyes, they would see the scarlet letter she wore upon her muggle clothing. Walking out into the muggle streets of London, Hermione led the way to the cafe. "You still have ummm...the hairs right?" She asked him, not looking up.
"Yes." He said curtly not wanting to carry on a conversation with her at that particular moment. He was still contemplating the events of the night before. He wasn't a virgin anymore. The thought that bothered him the most was that he thought he would feel different. Like more of a man. But truthfully not only did he not feel like more of a man, he didn't feel any different at all. He'd spent most of the morning trying to recall every conversation he'd ever had with Blaise on the subject of losing their virginities and he couldn't once remember them talking about how they would feel afterward. Never even thinking that it would feel this awkward.
Hermione nodded her head, giving up on trying to have a conversation with him. It was pointless, now not only was she not a virgin, having done the one thing she swore she wouldn't have by sleeping with just any guy. She wanted to have done that with a man who respected her, who loved her for everything she was, faults and all. She wanted it to be with a man who would kiss her passionately, asking her if she was sure this was what she wanted before making love to her, only for her to fall asleep on his chest and wake up with him still holding her the next morning and yet here she was instead, telling a minimum wage waitress with an attitude problem at a diner that her and the...the boy...she had slept with the night before would like to drink. "Two orange juices please," She says softly, looking at the menu before sighing and throwing it down on the table. "You are going to have to talk to me eventually Malfoy. We have to get this done!"
Draco's head snapped up and he quickly retorted, "You don't think I know that? You don't think I want to get back to our time as soon as possible? But what would you have me do ? Its not like I can do something right here right now, now can I? We need to eat if were going to have the energy to get this done so be patient dammit. And, by the way, you better watch your tone with me. Just because we slept together doesn't mean you own me!" He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest glaring around at the stunned looks of the other diners daring anyone to say anything.
He watched as the muggle-born blushed, looking back down at her menu in embarrassment as she fought back the tears burning in her eyes, as she gulped back the tightening feeling in her throat, trying to keep from losing it right there in the cafe.
Seeing Hermione on the edges of tears, Draco's gaze softened and he leaned forward, lowering his voice to say, "Listen I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bite your head off Granger. Its just, I hadn't planned on being in this situation at all. Here in this time with you, doing a mission, and what we...what happened last night. I'm just a little overwhelmed, okay?" Running his hand through his hair he tried to relax the tension in his shoulders to show her he didn't want to pick a fight.
Hermione nodded her head, staring down at the table. "Well, I wasn't exactly planning on this happening either." She says softly, still fighting back the urge to cry. "Not all of this, not with you. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen." She whispers, unsure of why she was even trying to explain it to someone as selfish as Draco Malfoy who cared about no one but himself. "I just want to go back home." She says, holding herself with her arms. "And the sooner we get this done, the sooner I can."
"Ok. Then whats the plan? And this time lets try to keep the distractions down to a minimum, okay? I don't think this place would like it if I had you bent over the table begging like you did last night," Draco replied with a smirk as he picked up his menu trying to decipher its contents.
Hermione felt excitement overwhelming her, a feeling that she had only felt one other time in her life, the night before, a level of frustration that made her want to do nothing more than both kiss Draco and smack him all at the same time. "You know what, I don't even know if I'm hungry anymore thanks to that!" She said, putting the menu back down. "And don't think just because you took advantage of me once, that we are ever going to...going to...do THAT again." She said firmly, blushing at even the words of what had happened between them.
" "Took advantage, eh? I wouldn't exactly call that taking advantage of you, Granger. You wanted it and don't try to deny it. If you would have fought me off in the least then it would have been taking advantage of you. But you didn't. You all but begged me for more. And I don't care whether you hungry or not, your going to eat or we'll sit here until you do. I may be in a hurry to get back to our time but not at the expense of your health for not eating." Draco replied not looking up from his menu.
Fighting back a laugh, she looked at him. "Don't make me laugh Draco, since when do you ever care about my health? EVER? And I was not...begging you." She says, shifting uncomfortably in her chair as she looked around, making sure no one was listening in. "Besides, there really wasn't much time there to enjoy Malfoy." She said suddenly with a swift bite.
""Well for it being so short you sure weren't complaining. As a matter of fact how did you put it last night? Oh oh Draco yes. Please yes!" He said in a tone of mocking her voice. "Anyways what exactly is your plan for breaking the cabinet? I figured out how to get the hairs. Now its your turn to figure something out," Draco asked as he put down his menu finally deciding on eggs Benedict, whatever that was.
" "I was actually doing some research on it downstairs and there was nothing on it. 'Reparo' will fix things, but even then, it is only simple items." She says, explaining herself as she ignored his crude comment. "For example, 'Reparo' doesn't work on mending broken bones, it's the same way with more complicated magical objects. You can't tell me, growing up in a wizarding house though, that you never broke anything? Something?" She asked, pulling for strings before stopping the conversation as the waitress came back up to them. "Hotcakes please."
"""""""'Eggs ben...a..dict? Whatever that one is." Draco said pointing at the menu. As the waitress walked away he looked at Hermione and replied, "Of course I've broken things. Usually I used something else to do the breaking. I was waving my mother's wand around once when I was a child and I smashed my fathers magical clock. So I guess if you have an object with stronger power than the one your trying to break then, yes its possible."
"Yes, there's an idea." Hermione answered sarcastically. "Let's just walk into Borgin and Burkes with a sludge hammer and have our way with the vanishing cabinet." She said with a laugh before looking back at Draco, who was staring at her confused.
"Whats a sledge hammer?" He asked in confusion.
"It's a giant...oh, forget about it." Hermione answers, figuring it would be easier to just skip than try to explain. "Anyway, it did have the incantation for how to use the Vanishing Cabinet."
"Really? What is it?" Draco asked intrigued. The way he figured it, this come in handy in the future in case he ever needed to disappear in a hurry.
"Harmonia Nectere Passus." She says precisely, figuring it couldn't hurt them figure out how to break the cabinet if they knew how to use it. "It means Harmony, to connect or join, and to pass. Every Vanishing Cabinet has a twin, was what the book said. That means that only one cabinet can travel to that one."
Draco nodded with understanding. It made sense because if you weren't carefully you'd end up literally 'Passing' from one bad situation to a worse one. "Okay, so then that still doesn't answer the original question. How do we break something, and do it without getting caught?"
"Well," Hermione answers matter-of-factly, thinking about it. "Have you ever been in Borgin and Burkes? I haven't."
"I remember going in once with my father when I was younger. It was a long time ago though. I remember where it is but that's about it." Draco said despairingly. Why did Dumbledore pick him for this? What help was he going to be once they got inside?
"So you don't remember anything in there? Or even what they keep in there?" She asked before sighing heavily. "Come on Draco, we both know your father is a Death Eater, what kind of Death Eater stuff is there?" She finally asked blatantly.
"""'I can't remember, okay?! Bloody hell Granger, it was a long time ago. I try not to remember a lot of that time. They have all sorts of junk in there. Its really a junk shop more than anything else. Odd's and End's kind of items." He said before sighing in frustration. "I remember the giant Vanishing Cabinet and my father talking about something my second year, then he told me not to touch anything and we left."
"What were you trying to touch?" Hermione asks with curiousity.
"One of the cabinets." He answered, shrugging his shoulders. "A Torture Cabinet, but my parents wouldn't be interested in anything severe like that."
"So if I went in there with you as your mother, I could distract the shop keep? ""' She asks in questioning.
"Of course. But my mother wouldn't be caught dead in a place like Borgin and Burkes. Unless they had something she couldn't get anywhere else," He replied thinking about it.
Hermione seemed dumbfounded at this point. "They are a junk shop. I mean, they have to have something there. Necklaces? Something." She said, trying to think of something that his mother would need from there.
At the mention of necklaces Draco had a flashback to his childhood. His father had come home from work and given his mother a necklace, a silver one with bright green saphires, if he remembered correctly. When she had asked where he'd gotten it from, his father had replied, "Borgin and Burkes." Draco ran through the memory over and over to make sure and it kept coming back the same. "They do carry necklaces. My father bought one there for my mother a long time ago. She or you I mean could claim that she had lost it and not wanting to upset my father wanted to know if he had another one for replacement. It might just work," Draco said scratching his head deep in thought.
"But you are going to be with me as LUCIUS," Hermione says obviously before it clicks in her head. "Draco, that's it! You're genius! I could have the shop keep go to the back with me to look at jewelry. Then he wouldn't see you anywhere near the cabinet." She says with satisfaction. "It's perfect. And they will be at the train station tomorrow to pick you up from Hogwarts. They won't be anywhere near Borgin and Burkes."
Draco nodded, smiling at just how fast Hermione had picked up on his logic. "As long as we time it the same we should have no problem getting in, breaking the cabinet, and getting out before anyone notices. You'll actually have to buy the necklace so he doesn't get suspicious though," Draco replied as their food arrived. He looked at his plate confused at the dish placed before him. Picking up his fork he picked at the layers of food before grabbing his knife and cutting himself a piece. Bringing it to his lips, he raised his eyebrows at her before saying, "Muggles... Anyways it gives us one more night to solidify the plan. And anything else..." , before eating his food and grinning wickedly at Hermione.
Hermione blushed slightly, trying to hide her smile as she took a bite of her hotcakes. What was her problem? Why did the thought of spending another night alone with Draco Malfoy entice her so...