July 5 11:27pm
Draco: Hello.
Hermione: Hey :) I hope you enjoyed today
Draco: I did, thank you very much.
Hermione: Still getting the hang of the phone thing huh?
Draco: It's so strange.
Hermione: Wait, are you still out in the muggle world? How is it working if you're at home?
Draco: Why do you use so many question marks? Yes I'm at home, I'm not quite sure how it is working.
Hermione: Hahaha you don't have to be so stiff when you type
Draco: What do you mean?
Hermione: The period after every sentence, the perfect spelling, that sort of thing
Draco: I see. How did you get the smiling face?
Hermione: You do a colon and a end parentheses right next to each other
Draco: :)
I did it!
Hermione: Good job! Haha Xp There's lots of different faces you can do…you'll figure it out
Draco: I feel like I'll be at this forever
Hermione: It won't be so bad. But I gotta go to sleep now
Draco: It's so early Granger
Hermione: It's late! I wake up early
Draco: Why?
Hermione: I just do. Can't help it. Either way goodnight
Draco: Goodnight.
July 6 7:18am
Hermione: Good morning…
Draco: Morning.
Hermione: You're awake? :0
Draco: Never went to bed
Hermione: Why on earth not?
Draco: I had to figure this phone thing out. I'm pretty good at it now I think.
Hermione: You are going to crash later today
Draco: No I won't
Hermione: Either way you should try and get some rest
10:43am
Hermione: Do you think you'll be busy later this week?
2:06pm
Hermione: Draco?
3:51pm
Draco: I fell asleep.
Hermione: I knew it.
Draco: Don't gloat
I'm pretty much free all of summer
Why do you ask
Hermione: Just curious.
Draco: We could do something
Hermione: Like what?
Draco: *shrug* anything I guess
As the days passed and they got deeper into summer, Hermione and Draco were forming what one would call an average friendship. They saw each other every week, and recently he had even stayed at her house for dinner. She was surprised to learn that he liked carrots, but not broccoli. "So what, are you biased against anything that's not orange?" He laughed. "Broccoli is just gross." He said. "Not if you drown it in ranch." She insisted. As he was headed out, he turned around, eyes shying towards the ground. "So listen," he tossed his phone in his hands and Hermione could hear the crickets chirping outside. "My mom wants to meet you. She's back in town now. But only thing is she's out during the day. Wouldn't really be at home until about nine or so. Think you could drop by one day? You could show me those pictures of Paris to kill time." Hermione leaned on the door for support. Something about meeting Narcissa made her blood run cold. "Yeah," she nodded a bit more than could probably be considered normal, "Sure." Draco's face broke in a smile. "Great, I'll let her know. Maybe Thursday? That work?" Hermione could only nod.
Hermione tried her best to not be nervous that Thursday, but she had hardly slept the night before, and her anxiety was getting the best of her. Because of this she showed up at Malfoy Manor nearly seven hours before she was due to meet with Narcissa.
"Whoa. You're here early." She smiled and shrugged, "I have lots of pictures I wanted to show you." Hermione couldn't help but smile every time she saw the orange blanket she had given him resting on the edge of his bed. It really did give the room a pop of color. They went and sat on the floor, leaning against the edge of the bed, and Hermione went through her numerous pictures of Paris, describing where she took each one, and which places were her favorite. Draco had dinner brought up to the room, extra cheesy mac n cheese, just how Hermione liked it. "You keep yawning, you all right?" he finally asked, when they had sorted through nearly all the pictures. She nodded, shaking off yet another yawn. "I just didn't get a good night's rest I guess." She explained. "Why don't you go lie down? My mom won't be here for a while." She shook her head. "No, it's fine, really." "Well at least rest your eyes," he told her. "Draco." She said. "Hermione. Go on, resting your eyes won't do you any harm. I'll wake you if you fall asleep." She looked at him with doubt on her face but leaned her head back to rest on the bed, stretching her legs out on the ground. "Fine, I'll rest my eyes but I won't fall asleep."
"Oh my god what time is it?" She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up. "You're fine," he said, "Relax." "Did I fall asleep on you?" He nodded, "It's fine though. You were only out for a bit." She yawned. "God I'm so sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought."
She exhaled.
"It's really dark in here, even with the windows open."
"You afraid of the dark or something Granger?"
"Kind of. Yes."
"You're afraid of a lot aren't you?"
"Oh bugger off." She rolled her eyes.
"Well come on then," he patted the patch of ground next to him. She scooched in closer. He wrapped his arm around her and guided her head onto his shoulder. "Boogie monster can't take the both of us." For no reason at all Hermione's heart was practically pounding out of her chest. And she kind of liked it.
It was a different and new kind of feeling, and being this close to him seemed to sharpen her senses. She could feel his chest rising and falling with each breath he took, and she became aware of her own breathing. They weren't talking, but they didn't really need to, letting the peaceful silence cover them like a blanket. Her hair was probably getting all scrunched up on one side but she didn't really care. Sitting next to her friend, sharing in his warmth was all she could have asked for in that moment.
Draco had been playing around with his phone in his left hand, and his sleeve was rolled up. She almost would have closed her eyes again, if not for his tattoo. It was the first time his dark mark was completely visible to her. Without thinking she sat up and took her head off of his shoulder. She gently grabbed him by the wrist and began to trace the tattoo. Draco surprisingly stayed quiet, letting his phone drop to the ground. "Did it hurt?" she looked up at him. He winced. "Yeah. It did." She continued to trace with her right hand, as she held his left hand in her own. "I'm sorry," she glanced up at him, "I'm sorry this happened to you." He then pulled her left hand out into view, stretching out her arm, and in turn traced her thin scar. "I'm sorry this happened to you." She pulled her arm away, suddenly very aware of how close their faces were. "It could have been worse." She smiled weakly.
"Draco! I'm home!" Draco sat up immediately, nearly knocking Hermione over. He rushed out of the room and she could hear him running down the stairs. Within a few minutes he was back in the room, telling Hermione his mother was ready to meet her. Hermione stood up, legs shaking, and followed him into one of the studies. "Just be you. It'll be fine. I'll be right outside." He told her as they walked. "You're not coming in with me?" her voice was panicked. "It'll be fine. Promise." He gave her hand a squeeze and closed the door behind him.
"Come in, dear." Hermione cautiously took a few steps forward. "Fire whiskey?" Hermione politely refused. "Relax, darling you look like someone stapled a pole to your back. I'm not like my husband, may he rest in peace. I care nothing of your bloodline." Narcissa's voice seemed to echo in the giant room. Hermione sat in the chair Narcissa pointed out to her and tried to relax a bit. "You've been spending an awful lot of time with my son." Hermione nodded, "Yes, we've become good friends." She explained. Narcissa looked at her. "My family has a long history, and when you have a last name as old as mine, you expect to keep it that way. Do you know what I mean?" Hermione nodded even though she didn't quite understand what Narcissa was talking about. "Tell me," she went on, "what are your parents worth?" Hermione blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, worth?" "Yes, everyone has a price attached to their name. Draco tells me you're a bright girl. What are your parent's net worth?" she said, pouring herself some whiskey.
"I-I can't imagine they'd be worth much at all." Narcissa nodded. "I didn't think they would be. You see the problem here don't you girl? Tell me, are you sleeping with my son?" Hermione froze. "What? No. No! No it's nothing like that." She shook her head, "We're just friends, that's all." Narcissa raised an eyebrow. "Well then I can't imagine why he'd want to spend so much of his time with a girl of your status." Hermione swallowed awkwardly. "I can assure you, he doesn't see me that way. And I don't see him that way." Narcissa sighed. "It always starts out this way. Surely you understand. A girl like you could never be with a man like him." Hermione's hands were sweating like crazy. She didn't quite know what to say. Should she mention she wasn't after his money? Maybe it would be best to stay quiet. Narcissa wouldn't stop looking at her. Finally she gave a long sigh. "If friendship is indeed your only goal, then I will allow it." Hermione nodded, feeling about five years old. "You may go," Narcissa said with a wave of her hand. Hermione stood up to leave, "But girl. If it gets to be anything more than that, I'll have to step in. And believe me child, you don't know the meaning of the word pain." "No, ma'am." Hermione practically ran out of the room and bumped right into Draco.
"What happened?" Hermione looked up at him. "Nothing," she stumbled, "She approves of our friendship," she gave a weak smile. Draco smiled and nodded. "Great. Awesome. Listen. I got you something." Hermione held her hands up, "Oh, Draco, no you really don't have to." He swung a small gift bag in front of her face. "It's not much," he said, "But I think you'll like it." "Shall I open it now?" Draco shrugged, "If you like." They made their way into parlor, so that she could open it. As she removed the layers of tissue paper and saw what was inside, she couldn't help but smile at him. "Cloud pajamas. How very original." She laughed. He smiled at her, "I figured if you liked em so much, you should have a pair." "Thank you Draco. Really." He smiled, hands folded in his lap, "You're welcome Mione." Hermione couldn't help the beat her heart had chosen to skip as he called her by the nickname. Perhaps it shouldn't have, and it scared her that maybe she was developing feelings for the blonde haired Slytherin. But she quickly shook it away as nonsense. Draco was just being a good friend. And besides, Narcissa was having none of that.
A:N/ Stay tuned! The next chapter is almost done :D