AN: Hey guys! Love you all for your awesome reviews. Been a bit busy, writing an essay for my UWC application, wish me luck! Apologies if this chapter is a tad draggy, am almost finished with the next one, it's my favourite, so watch this space!
Reviews: CourtneyUchiha94 Thanks so much(: Love your reviews...nope haven't, no time :( But I will! beautifly92 I was a bit worried about that, glad that you don't think they were OOC! beautifly92 I YouTubed it! Its really nice. But I've sort of planned it all out already, promise I'll keep that in mind though, thanks for your great suggestion! tigger93 Glad you like it. Well, thats for me to know and you to find out! Hehe. But they'll stay partners. wldnt separate them for the world! TheWitchOfTheSouth yay(: and, oh phew. haha. Lollo-BookLOOVEER Thanks! I'll try to keep em coming faster. Next chapter may be up sooner than you think! LadyOfTheLancashireManor Great! I'm glad you thought it wasn't too mushy. Nicconicco Your review made me smile :D Thanks ever so, here's your chapter! shadowontherun, 123Aqua123, Era Of Aequora, Karate Chic, LK-HoGwArTs-hEaDgIrL Thanks so much guys, your reviews are awesome:D
Chapter 13. Been Thinking Bout' You
Draco stretched, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. There was a dull ache at the side of his neck which explained itself when he recalled the previous night's events to mind. He slept on a couch! With Hermione to watch out for him! She tucked him into bed as if he were a five year old kid! He even called her by her first name. Oh, such unspeakable things.
It was not lost on him though, that the muggleborn now knew of his troubles. He shuddered as he remembered the nightmare. Ever since the competition started, he'd been experiencing them more frequently than usual. He hoped Blaise hadn't cottoned on to the subject of his dreams. If he had been muttering and tossing in his sleep enough that Granger could tell he'd been having a bad dream, it must be pretty obvious. Draco groaned. To top it all, he had gone and spilled all his nitty gritty secrets. Now Granger probably thought she had him all sussed out. He shook his head. Not bloody likely!
He cast his gaze around the room, landing on the sleeping brunette. He felt something close to affection wash over him. Unwittingly, he smiled at her. She had been just so selflessly willing to listen and to offer advice. And as cheesy as it sounded, she believed in him. It was probably part of her Gryffindor nature, to be so trusting and believing the best in everyone with alarming alacrity. Then again, maybe it wasn't part of her Gryffindor nature. Potter and Weasley were hardly as forgiving.
Draco checked the clock on the wall and found that it was half past ten in the morning. Good thing they had their usual day off, that came after each round of competition. He shrugged off the blanket, fished for his wand in his pajama pocket and magicked the said blanket back to it's original form. Gingerly getting off the couch, with his muscles screaming in protest, he walked over to where Hermione was sleeping. Looking down at her sleeping form, he wondered if he had ought to wake her. But, admitting his cowardice to himself, he was reluctant to face her after the embarrassingly revealing events of the night. Feeling a rare twinge of guilt, he turned and strode from the place, making his way to his room. He would have apparated, but although Disapparating was allowed when in the room, there were apparently wards preventing one from apparating to it, for security reasons, of course.
He didn't really regret sharing with her, but at the same time it was so uncharacteristic of him. However, it hoped it explained his spasmodic bad moods and crabbiness. It was hard for him to reconcile himself to all the changes and the turns his life had taken since his desertion. All his old habits and ideals, it was how he was raised. It wasn't all sunshine and daisies over his side of the fence and what more, he was not condoning his past behavior, just suggesting she be more understanding. Muttering the password, Draco waited for the portrait to grant him entrance, fervently hoping all the while that Blaise was still asleep or already at breakfast. He was reluctant to face the Slytherin too. In fact, he would have skipped going back to his room and gone straight for a solitary breakfast if not for the fact that he was still clad in his pajamas. Dashing as he was in nightwear, it was a grievous, criminal offense for a Malfoy to be seen in public in such outfits.
Stepping into the room as the portrait swung open, he froze, coming face to face with Blaise.
"Hey," he offered, not sure whether even a one word greeting would set off his roommate and thus bracing himself to face an irate and argumentative Blaise.
Blaise raked his hand through his hair tiredly, not meeting Draco's gaze. Draco shifted in his position, willing Blaise to say something to break the tension that permeated the air.
"Look here, Draco," Blaise said finally. "I've been a right pillock lately, I know. Stress of the competition getting to me, I guess. I haven't exactly been partnered with brilliant dancers so my performances haven't been top standard."
"S'fine," he replied noncommittally, though he was actually thinking something along the lines of about ruddy time and don't push the blame, you haven't been inspiring shock and awe with your dancing skills either.
"I wasn't apologizing," Blaise saw fit to remind him. Well, if he wanted to see it that way, then Draco would gracefully acquiesce.
"Right." He smirked.
"Where were you last night?"
His smirk faded. "Had trouble sleeping... so I took a walk and accidentally fell asleep in the Meeting Place," Draco answered, feigning nonchalance, hoping to Merlin that no one had noticed Granger outside with him and passed on the message to Blaise. Without waiting for a reply, he rushed on.
"So are you going to let me in?" He gestured towards their room, of which Blaise was blocking his entrance.
"You going to let me out?"
He was relieved to locate a light and teasing note in Blaise's voice, which led him to conclude that his friend was no longer pissed and their comradeship would continue as per normal. Blaise pushed past him, leaving Draco with the room all to himself. After taking his time washing up, donning a forest green robe, and combing his blonde hair, he apparated to the dining hall. It was relatively full, as it seemed that most dancers took the opportunity to sleep in close to noon and made it in time for lunch instead.
Finding a lone table, he sat down by himself and ordered pork chops and boiled potatoes, which appeared on his plate lickety-split. Draco tucked in enthusiastically and made quick work of his food, whittling down the meat and devouring it with gusto, maintaining the appropriate decorum in spite of his voracious appetite. Even when hungry, he refused to stoop to the standard of say, Weasley. He had seen the redhead at meals back in Hogwarts, shoveling down his food with the grace and propriety of a Kneazle. Upon polishing off his meal, he found his hunger not to be sated, and promptly ordered a treacle tart. And then another. And another. After all, Malfoy figured as he ate his fourth treacle tart, they were very small ones really, and anyway, a good dancer needs his energy!
Hermione got up off the couch, arching her back in a effort to stretch out her cramped back muscles. Giving the room a quick once over, she realised that Malfoy had gone, and had oh so helpfully transfigured his blanket back to a cushion. Glancing at the clock, she saw with a measure of surprise, she had slept in till noon. She mentally berated herself. She hardly ever slept in. With quick strides, she made her way to her room, gained entryway from the portrait, of whom she had built quite a friendly relationship with, and entered the room.
A surprising sight met her eyes. There was Ginny sitting cross legged on her bed, clad in Muggle clothing, as dancers had the option to wear wizarding or muggle clothing out of dance class, whatever struck their fancy that day. And next to the redhead, there was a tray, laden with food. Pumpkin juice, baked beans, rashers, hash browns, scones, mushrooms, sausages, grilled tomatoes, sunny-side up eggs, toast and waffles, enough to feed a small army, was piled artistically on various plates, presenting a pleasing, and not to mention tantalizing and mouth watering sight.
"I thought we'd have breakfast in bed!" exclaimed Ginny cheerfully, as if it was perfectly normal to have your roommate missing the entire night and then stroll in at noon.
"Isn't it lunchtime?"
"To eat well in England, you must have breakfast at least three times a day," Ginny quipped.
"Nice seeing you so chipper," Hermione muttered.
"Of course I'm cheerful! I got top last night!" she squealed, jumping up and down on the bed as best as she could in her seated position, shaking the tray rather precariously, the jug of pumpkin juice on the verge toppling.
"Right! Brilliant! Good on you, of course, let's celebrate!" Hermione agreed, rushing forward to steady the tray and taking a seat beside Ginny. Well, if she wasn't going to ask about her absence, she wouldn't broach the subject. In fact, she was grateful that Ginny had seemed to have forgotten about it all. Hermione grabbed a plate from the tray and motioned for Ginny to do the same.
She took a swig of pumpkin juice, selected suitably juicy looking sausage, and started to eat. The girls ploughed their way steadily through the tasty breakfast, maintaining a comfortable, friendly silence as the focused at the task at hand - eating.
"Mmm," Ginny sighed rapturously, "This is good stuff."
Hermione laughed, Ginny looked so content and happy munching on her scone liberally smeared with condiments.
"I agree! I didn't know you could order that much food and bring it to the room too."
"Well, I made friends with one of the house elves and she helped me transport the food here." Hermione opened her mouth to protest about the house elves bit, but Ginny silenced her with an accusing glare. "And, I had to charm it to keep it all warm. You took ages. Where were you?"
Ah, the dreaded question. To answer it honestly, or to fabricate an explanation? Maybe she should delicately and deliberately skirt the question. Hermione battled it out while ingesting her toast. Eventually, the truth won out. After all, Hermione was a stickler for such honesty.
"Uh," dragged Hermione, delaying the moment with a mouthful of pumpkin juice.
"Iwaskeepingdracocomapny," she blurted, all in a rush.
"What?"
Hermione felt her cheeks heating up. Bugger it all! "I was keeping Malfoy company," she said slowly and evenly.
"Ah, I see," Ginny grinned cheekily. "Why was that?"
Hermione made a loud tutting noise. "Nothing even close to what you're thinking now," she informed her snottily.
"Alright," Ginny said good-naturedly. "Wanna talk about it?"
"No thanks," she returned, finishing off her toast. She didn't like the way Ginny was looking at her. Like the cat's been at the cream. Hermione suddenly felt the overwhelming need to be by herself and think things through.
"You know what," she told Ginny. "I think I'm full. I think I'm going to, uh, go out for a bit."
"Mmhmm." Ginny said mildly, still smiling to herself. "I'll be here if you need me."
Well, of course. She looked quite satisfied surrounded by the remains of their hearty English breakfast. Hermione wrinkled her nose, and pushed herself off the bed. Whenever in doubt, whenever in need of some good solitary time, there was only one place to go.
The library.
She readied herself to apparate, but was stopped by Ginny's comment.
"Hermione," the witch said, amusement colouring her voice. "You're still in your pajamas."
After scowling at Ginny and dressing in sea green robes, Hermione spent a few, refreshing hours in the library, submerging herself in a pile of books taller than she was. She was satisfied indeed with what she learned from dusty tomes. (the library wasn't really often used by the hotel guests.) She re-read A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions as well as Where There's a Wand, There's a Way, Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms, and Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century. She even read Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches for a laugh, it was an amusing and ridiculous read. There was a whole chapter devoted to compliments and half of which, she was sure would not even work on her.
Her mind drifted off, and she thought of Malfoy. In one night, he had managed to sufficiently vindicate himself. Instead of anger, instead of burning injustice, she felt a sort of empathy for the misunderstood boy. Hermione didn't pity him, though. She suspected Draco wouldn't want to be pitied.
She smiled softly to herself. They had grown close. Malfoy would probably never admit it, but it was the cold, hard truth. They had grown pretty close over dancing together. It was hard not to develop a friendship with someone when you had to memorize the planes of his body and synchronize yourself with him. And honestly, it was hard not to like him, simply because when she was it him, it was easy, it was familiar. He brought out a different side of her, and she was quite sure she brought out a softer side in him. Hermione had grown to appreciate his sharp wit and wealth of knowledge to rival her own. And after the previous night, with so much of Malfoy's behavior now explained to her, it all made perfect sense.
At first, when he'd gotten protection from the Order, at Dumbledore's request of course, she had been just as suspicious as the lot of them. Everyone presumed he had forseen the defeat of the Dark side, and scarpered. But her feelings soon evolved into sympathy. Draco had been quiet, brooding even. And then he fought so bravely for their side that she came to believe that he had changed. But the blonde boy had sent it all straight down the gutter when they returned to Hogwarts as Head Girl and Head Boy, the Headmaster appointing him for reasons she couldn't possibly fathom. His acidic tongue and hostility angered her to no end, and made her regret ever thinking that he actually seen the error of his ways. But at least now, she understood.
If it were possible, she would even say that Malfoy's openness endeared him more to herself. But that was just plain awkward to admit. Like how it was awkward to admit that Malfoy made her pulse quicken and her heart hammer in her chest, that she felt inexplicably at home when she was around him, that she felt his touch long after he had left. But these were dangerous thoughts and she was treading in dangerous waters. What would Harry and Ron say if they knew she was consorting with the enemy? She shook her head to clear them of such thoughts and delved back into her books again.
The afternoon wore on, and half way through The Hexed and The Vexed, Hermione was disturbed by a burning sensation on her head. It wasn't uncomfortable, exactly, but it annoyed her to be interrupted from her readings. She reached up to pat her head, and realised that the source of the heat was coming from the black ribbon she tied around her hair, the one the judges had asked them to keep on their person at all times. She quickly scanned it, and saw that they were required to meet at the Meeting Place...and she was 10 minutes late! She must have been to engrossed in her books to have noticed the warmth before. Quickly, she waved her wand, saying, "Mobiliarus!" and sent the books flying through the air and back to their respective places on the shelves. She then apparated to the appointed place in a hurry.
Draco Malfoy waited impatiently. Elphie couldn't start their meeting because of one late Granger. They were all seated around the Meeting Place and Elphie was leaning against the wall, seemingly unbothered by Granger's unpunctuality. He had knew where the bookworm was long before the She-Weasel offered to search for her. It was so obvious. Had free time, wanted to have a bit of fun, where would Granger go? The library, of course. Draco smirked to himself. It was sad, really, when going to the library was considered recreational.
Everyone else didn't seem affected by Granger's absence either. They were all seated in their pairs, chatting animatedly with each other. At first, Draco had mingled around with a few others, like Galinda and Kate and Eugene, as Blaise and Iris seemed to be in deep conversation. But he soon grew tired of being sociable and retreated to a corner to sit by himself.
Suddenly, heads jerked up as a loud crack was heard. Granger stumbled as she arrived in the Meeting Place, looking a little bit disorientated.
"Ah, Hermione!" Elphie said cheerfully, clad in simple black robes. "Come, join us. We were waiting for you!"
"I'm sorry!" she cried, her face pink and flustered. "I lost track of time."
"It's fine! None of us minded a bit," Elphie said, and motioned for her to sit next to Draco. She did, casting an apologetic glance in his direction, which he pretended not to notice. However, he was secretly glad that she was late, because he had a hunch that if she had arrived under any other pretext, well...awkward. Now Draco could hide under the cover of annoyance of her tardiness and there was no need for uncomfortable conversation that glossed over the topic of last night.
"Now, we'll be letting you guys know what sort of dance you'll be dancing for Round Three!" Elphie told them, and received a mixed reaction of anxious anticipation and excitement. She gestured beside her, where a nondescript box lay. No one had noticed it before. She reached down to pick it up and continued to explain.
"Alright guys, just so you know, you'll be staying in your pairs!" Granger turned to beam at him, but he deliberately paid her no attention even though he too was secretly pleased. She huffed and turned back to face Elphie.
"This time, it'll all be by chance! Send up one person to pick a piece of paper from this box here. Come on now, look sharp."
There was the usual mutterings and nudging. Draco was felt lazy to get up, so he decided to volunteer the girl next to him.
"You go," he told Granger imperatively, assuming she was not one to shirk responsibility.
"No, you go!" He was surprised when she refused.
"Why can't you go?" his voice bordered on a whine.
"Why can't you go!" she countered annoyingly.
"I'm having a backache," Draco lied, none too convincingly.
"And I'm having a headache," she childishly retorted.
"I'm having a stomache."
"I sprained my ankle."
"And I'm a prancing hippopotamus."
"What's that?" he asked, not catching her muggle animal reference, and then continued mock sorrowfully. "No matter. Really, Granger. How would you feel if I got up and immediately fell over and broke my neck because of my various injuries?"
"Overjoyed."
"Gee, aren't you just delightful. I'm sore from dancing yesterday."
"You think I'm not?"
"Why won't you just get up and go!"
"I don't feel like it." Granger crossed her hands over her chest and leaned back against the chair. So infuriating! Draco had a hunch she was doing it on purpose to pay him back for turning the cold shoulder earlier. He also realised they were only ones that hadn't sent a representative up.
"You were the one who made us all wait," Draco drawled meaningfully, playing the guilt card.
"Oh, fine," she grumbled. "Don't blame me if we get something bad."
He watched as she stood and stalked over to Elphie. Everyone delved their hands into the box, and withdrew a piece of paper. Granger pulled a face and made her way back to him.
"So what did we get?" Draco asked.
"Beats me," she shrugged, handing over a blank piece of paper.
He looked around the room. Most of the couples were rummaging for their wands. Realisation dawned on him.
"Are you a witch or not?" he said, amused that the bright and brilliant Granger hadn't come to the same conclusion everyone else had. Grasping his wand, he tapped the piece of paper. "Aparacium."
A grey, loopy handwriting started to form, spreading across the paper like the thin fibers of a spider web. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Hermi-Granger fidgeting uncomfortably.
"I can't believe I didn't think of that," she admitted.
A wide grin spread across his face, partly because he one upped Granger, but also because he was reading the words that appeared on the blank card and it delighted him to no end. Triumphantly, he waved the slip of paper like a flag in front of Granger's face.
"Oi!" she attempted to snatch it, but Draco drew on his Seeker skills to deftly keep it out of her grasp. He grin grew increasingly larger as the brown haired witch became increasingly exasperated.
"Malfoy! Stop being childish and give it here!" demanded Hermione.
"Why should I?" he goaded.
Hermione took on a pained expression, and she replied him slowly, as if she were dealing with an extremely difficult kid. "Alright, Draco. Why don't you be a good boy and tell me what we're dancing?"
He lifted an eyebrow and adopted a ridiculous twang as he told her.
"Babyyyyy," he exaggerated. "We're doing the samba."
He did a little happy jig in his head.
"Samba! Bother. I'm not very good at it," Hermione confessed.
He halted in his happy jig to reassure her. "Oh, don't worry, I am!"
He was rewarded with a glare for his efforts.
AN: Like it, love it, can't stand it? Please review! Am nearly finished with the next chapter so I may post it up quicker:D