When Hermione awoke the next morning she was more than a little confused. For starters, she'd forgotten about the alarm she set when she'd unpacked yesterday. How had she gotten into her bed? She tried to sit up but immediately her head disagreed. The night came rushing back to her. Most of it anyway…
She remembered getting her second glass of wine. She struggled to remember what happened afterwards though. Something about Quidditch? Not in the mood to dwell on things, she decided a shower and some breakfast would do her some good.
She traversed from her room to their shared bathroom, being careful to bring all her toiletries with her. She didn't trust that if she left her shampoo in the bathroom where Draco could get it that her hair wouldn't suddenly be blonde. 'Wait a moment….did I just call him Draco?', Hermione thought to herself. It hadn't even sounded unnatural...even if it had just been in her head.
Brushing away the thought she deposited her towel and belongings on a little bench outside the shower curtain and turned on the water. Her hangover had faded slightly but she'd neglected to turn the bathroom lights on, instead favoring a candle light charm emitting from her wand. Soft, natural light was always much more soothing than the fluorescent devil's they'd had installed when they'd rebuilt Hogwarts. Unfortunately, someone had the bright idea, literally, to add a touch of Muggle culture to the building in an attempt to demolish old wartime beliefs. Why they'd picked light bulbs and not television and phones she'd never understand.
Stepping under the now scalding water Hermione let out a small moan of happiness. She lived for the simple pleasures in life like hot showers, reading in hammocks, and petting cute animals. She took her time going through her basic routine. Slowly massaged her headache away with shampoos and conditioners. Spent time lathering her body in her favorite body wash. And her favorite thing of all was reaching across the bathroom, grabbing her wand, and casting a targeted hair removal spell. Sometimes she shaved the Muggle way, but even she indulged in doing things magically occasionally. Plus, with how hot it had been she didn't want to sport chopped up legs from her own attempts when she donned a pair of shorts. Finally stepping out of the shower and drying off Hermione felt about a million times better. No more hangover which was great, but she also found herself lacking much memory from last night's affairs.
Not one to be bothered with things she couldn't control, Hermione dressed and dried her hair. The short bob didn't take much styling for it to look manageable, one of Hermione's favorite features of her new do. She through on a white headband to keep her sidebangs tucked away and was out the door to get some breakfast….if they had anything in the cupboards that was.
As she descended the staircase her daydream of food was interrupted. "Ah, look who's finally awake." Called Draco from one of the seats at the island. In front of him sat a plate of scrambled eggs and toast that looked beyond delicious to Hermione.
"Finally?" Hermione stated incredulously. "It's 7:30 and we're not needed till 8 for the counselors meeting." Hermione Granger was never late and always punctual. Even on mornings when she woke up hungover.
"Right, right." Draco brushed away her comment and offered her a spread similar to his. "So how's your head this morning?" He said with a knowing look.
Hermione choose to eat rather than dignify him with an answer. She couldn't believe she'd gotten drunk with him last night. She also couldn't believe what she was eating. "Oh my goodness, Draco!" The aforementioned jumped at his companions sudden outburst. "These are the best eggs I think I've ever tasted! Where on earth did you get them from?"
"I made them." Draco said between barely concealed laughs. Hermione was dumbstruck for a moment before she actually looked around the kitchen. She realised there were eggs, milk, bread and butter, pans, and basically just a huge mess right in front of her. She'd been a little preoccupied by the sight of food to have noticed.
"Where'd you learn to cook?" She asked to sedated her curiosity. When would the pureblood prat have ever needed to cook for himself.
"Well I started to learn when I was younger. My parents both traveled a lot and left me with maids. They were lovely women who could cook things from all over the world." Hermione was too stunned by his honesty to butt in with questions about why they'd had maids, not house elves. "I don't suppose you know this but I was forced to live in Muggle London for about a year after the war. I had very limited use of magic and the Ministry gave me a percentage of my savings I had monthly access to. I just started to cook more then I suppose." He snuck a look at her from the corner of his eye to see her reaction. He almost lost his cool and laughed in her face. She was wearing the most dumbfounded expression Draco had ever seen on the wiz kid.
"Draco that's incredible…", Hermione would have never guessed about any of it. It did explain his lack of prejudice towards her and why he'd taken to Muggle clothing. "I mean, I'm sorry you were mostly raised by maids. Why not house elves? And that's incredibly lucky for you to have just gone to Muggle London. Had you ever been before? Did you like it?" Hermione felt herself babbling and asking question after question, but she couldn't help it. That was the most information the infamous Draco Malfoy had ever given to her. And of course, her curiosity was rivaled by none.
Draco tried and failed to contain a laugh, a noise Hermione had never quite heard before. He just laughed for a minute and Hermione thought it was… wonderful. He looked so happy and she could glimpse over the tops of the high walls he always had up and see what he looked like unguarded. Well, less guarded than usual. Much like Hermione she suspected he never really put his walls down one-hundred percent. "I think you've learned enough about me for now, Hermione." The use of her first name causing her to blush slightly. Draco calmed down a bit more and leveled his gaze with hers. "Do you remember last night Hermione?"
"Uhm… to be honest no. I just remember your debriefing and then getting another glass of wine. I assumed that I just got sleepy and went to bed. Why? Is that not what happened?" Instant panic flooded through her as she thought of all the possible scenarios that could have happened. Draco did have a reputation after all, and Hermione highly doubted time in the Muggle world had much effect on that. Or had she done something in a drunken stupor?
Draco could hear the wheels spinning in Hermione's brain, could see the smoke coming from her ears due to the fast thought process. "Hermione, calm down." He raised his voice slightly to get her attention. Her gaze snapped to meet his, a mix of emotions swimming in them. "Nothing happened between us, don't worry." He hadn't realized how freaked out the thought of them even kissing would make her, but he'd never let her see how that affected him. "Nothing will happen. You just talked about that smarmy bastard Weasel and why you ended up here. You got pretty upset so I put you to bed."
'Oh.' Hermione felt like a total idiot. She was insane to ever think Draco would try something on her anyway. It was clear he didn't care about blood anymore, but she was still her and he was, well him. Hermione moved from one embarrassment to the other as she started to remember their conversation. "Oh…. I'm sorry to have dumped that on you Draco. I really should learn to handle myself better."
"Hermione, if you handled yourself any better you'd be a robot. Now hurry up, we have a meeting in five." She hadn't even noticed the time slipping by. She hurried to finish her eggs and cleaned her dishes. Grabbing her bag and plopping sunglasses on her head she was ready to go. As she tied her sneakers by the door she saw that Draco was waiting for her.
"I can't wait to get to quidditch practice today, Granger. We're gonna have so much fun." The smirk and evil reminder made her stomach flutter uneasily. Hermione knew today was going to be a long day.