Hey, everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't updated earlier. My life has been a little hectic for the past few days. But all the things that were keeping me busy have since passed so I can focus more on my writing. Here's chapter four of Train Rides. Please read and review.

Response to Reviews:

DuLce aMoRe (Mel):Hey! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter and don't worry about your English, it's perfect. Thanks so much for reviewing and I hope you like this chapter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXPAND (Guest): Thank you so much! I plan on finishing it so don't forget to read and review!

Shardoozle: Hey! Thanks for reviewing. Honestly, I'm so glad you reviewed because I wanted to know if Draco and Hermione were falling in love too fast. I, too, like stories that show a build up to their romance so I'll definitely keep that in mind. I'm so glad you like where the story is heading (as I had some trouble figuring out the plot) and that you like their personalities. I still struggle with making them "believable"— that is, keeping their personalities as close to as they were in the books. Anyway, there will be more Ron bashing in this chapter so I hope you like it. Thanks so much!

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed/ favorited/ followed. Those are the only things motivating me these days.

Train Rides

Chapter 4

Dinners at the Weasley family were seldom loud and chattery — filled with the complaints and the laughter of its members. But today was an exception. There was a pregnant pause that hung in the atmosphere that even a blind or a deaf person could notice. Of course, Ginny Weasley could not pinpoint the exact moment it had settled over the large dining table but she was aware of it as she consumed her dinner.

There was not a single sound aside from the occasional clinks and clanks that the silverware made every time it came into contact with the glass plates. She toyed with her broccoli, lazily moving the fork so she could avoid the offending green sprout.

"Ginevra Weasley," her mother's shrill voice cried, cutting through the silence. "How many times did I tell you to not play with your food? Eat the broccoli."

She huffed. "Mum," she replied as she set the fork next to her plate. "I've been eating nothing but broccoli for the last two weeks. I think I've had enough."

Her mother looked at her, an expression of disbelief set on her face. "I've been monitoring your levels and the broccoli..."

"Can go shove itself on its arse," she finished. "Look, mum, I don't want to eat these damn vegetables anymore. Don't you get that? I want the ice cream and the muggle fast food Hermione bought for me. I think I'll go crazy if I see one more broccoli."

The tense silence that had engulfed the room had condensed into a more uneasy pause. She should have known better than to bring Hermione up into this. Her mum already disliked the brunette enough, she did not need to add salt to the wound.

"Do not talk about her in front of me," her mother replied folding her arms across her chest. "She's done enough damage."

"How so, mother?" Ginny said, ignoring how Harry squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Tell me, why are you so annoyed with her?"

Molly gave her a hard stare but she was no longer the fifth year girl who was afraid of her mother. No, she was done listening to her mum's banters about Hermione.

"How can you say that?" Molly had said after a while. "Think about what she did to Ron!"

"What did she do to Ron? Merlin mum, she broke up with him and she had a very good reason to. Relationships don't work out mother and you need to understand that!"

She was breathing hard when she finished, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Do you know how much your brother did for her," she questioned, standing up. "Poor Ronny-"

"Did not do anything for crying out loud," Ginny answered shooting a glare at Ron, who sat pale-faced and refused to meet her eyes. "Hermione has a very good job at the ministry, did you forget mum? She can take care of herself."

"Think about what your brother had to sacrifice! He gave up so much!"

"What did he give up?" She asked both her mum and her brother, who was busy sending her daggers. "No mum, enlighten me."

Her question was met with silence as she watched her mum struggle to find answers.

"Exactly, next time you accuse her, think about it," she said, her shoulder slumping as she grabbed her fiance's hand. "Let's go, Harry."

They had almost gone up the staircase when she turned around, flipping her red hair over the shoulder.

"She paid for a part of the wedding because she knew Harry and I had to save money for our son. She helped to rent this place out so you guys wouldn't have to stay at a hotel. Think about that for a second mother, please."

And with that, she disappeared.

Draco Malfoy scratched the back of his neck nervously as he stared at the single bed in front of him. It was barely big enough to fit Granger, let alone him. Blast it, why hadn't he request a room with separate beds. He ought to get back now and ask if they had a room with two beds. Of course, that damn muggle would ask questions and pry into his life. Why couldn't muggles keep their nose out of other people's business?

He was a Malfoy and he did not sleep on the floor and Granger would put up a good fight. He should put her on the floor and hog the bed to himself but the tiny part of his heart that actually had a conscience refused to do so.

Bed or no bed.

Granger on the bed or on the floor.

Share a bed with Granger or not.

Whoah whoah whoah. He was not sharing a bed with Granger. Period. She can sleep on the floor for all he cared, all that mattered was that he slept on a comfortable bedsheet covered muggle bed. He carefully tucked in the part of his heart with a conscience and leant down to put her down.

The plan should have worked flawlessly, really. He had almost put her down on the brown hardwood floor when her eyes snapped open. Brown met Grey and he dropped her, wincing when he heard her head collide loudly with the floor.

"Shit, fuck," he said, leaning down as she rubbed her head. "Are you okay?"

"What the hell are you doing? Why were you leaning down?" She asked, still touching the sore spot. "Why am I on the floor?"

He gulped. Not that he was scared of Granger but the girl would surely have a fit if she realised his intention.

"I..uh," he muttered nervously.

She looked around, her eyes widening as she put two and two together. "Malfoy, you git! You were going to make me sleep on the floor, weren't you?"

"No!" He replied a little too quickly confirming her nagging suspicion. "I..uh..yes."

She stared at him, arching a brow and quickly getting up. "No way. No way at all, there is no way I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Why not?" He huffed back. "Naturally, I deserve to sleep on the bed with my enormous —"

"Ego and cold heart," she answered as she propped herself on the bed. "I'm not sleeping on the floor."

"Well I'm not sleeping on the floor either," he replied jumping onto the bed.

"Fine," she said briskly, grabbing the quilt laying on one corner of the bed and wrapping it around herself. "We're sharing then."

"Like hell we are," he muttered, giving the quilt one hard tug.

What he had not expected was Granger falling on the floor with a loud thud. He laid on the bed, expecting her shrill voice to slice through the tension any moment. But she stayed silent and he felt a dreadful feeling pass through him.

Malfoys do not feel guilty, his father's voice chided him.

"Well this one does," he replied a moment, scrambling in his feet and running to the opposite side of the bed where Granger fell.

Her eyes were closed and her breathing was even. The light was on (thank goodness because he did not know how to work these muggle contraptions) and it fell gently on a trail of red. The sinking feeling in his stomach doubled as he realised what is was.

"Granger," he said, his voice holding a gentleness that even surprised him. "Granger, I'm so sorry."

She lay still and for the second time in his life, he was scared. He had hurt her. Dammit, he had become just like his father. Just like him.

"Gotcha," Granger's voice rang out like a bell, pulling him out of his trance. She laughed as she clutched her stomach and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You should have seen your face Malfoy."

"What the fuck Granger!" He yelled, pulling the girl up. "I thought I hurt you. Do you know what I felt when I saw you?"

"No, I did not know," she replied and he was suddenly aware of their proximity. "No, tell me. How did you feel? Malfoy you barely hurt me. Why do you care if I'm hurt or not?"

He ignored her question as he picked up his finger and trailed it down the blood oozing from her forehead.

"I did hurt you," he whispered. "Merlin Granger, I made you bleed."

"S'okay," she answered. "I've gotten more severe cuts than this."

He dropped his head, recalling images of her writhing with pain in his living room as his aunt tortured her. The way her eyes flashed to him, full of desperation and hope. Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood. His family had scarred her for life and he added to it.

"I'm sorry, Granger," he said, his eyes drooping down before they finally met hers.

"Malfoy, it's fine," she assured him. "I'm fine really, it's a minor cut, it'll barely hurt me."

She gave him a smile, mesmerising him for a moment, before getting on the bed and wrapping the blanket around herself.

"Just because I forgive you," she said, stretching her arms and propping herself up against the wall. "Doesn't mean I sleep on the floor. Either you stay here on the bed with me or on the floor."

At the end, he had decided that sleeping with Granger was much better than sleeping with filthy muggle animals and insects on the floor. He gingerly unbuttoned his shirt, tugging off its sleeves before moving towards his pants.

"W-w-what are you doing?" The girl next to him asked, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "Why are you taking off your clothes?"

He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked. He ought to have fun with her.

"I always sleep nude," he lied, his eyes settling on her rosy cheeks. "Why, do you have a problem with that?

"Yes!" She yelled covering her eyes with her dainty fingers. "Put your clothes back on. I don't want to see your horrendous... penis thingy."

"I'll have you know that my penis thingy has pleased many many girls in the past," he huffed back, taking off his pants and leaving his boxers on. "I can give you a personal tour if you'd like."

"Gross," she remarked, her eyes still closed. "Dream on. I swear Malfoy if you don't have pants on when I open my eyes, I'm going to hex you to oblivion."

"It's just a penis," he muttered back. "Dammit, are you too pure to say penis?"

She peeled her eyes open, a relief passing through her when she noticed that the blonde was not naked. Though he was close to it, the only thing that separated him from nudity were a pair of boxers. Her eyes travelled down to his chest that seemed chiselled by the Renaissance masters themselves. All smooth and pale like marble. She wanted to run her hands through them.

Whoah, she thought as her face heated. Why are you staring at that ferret's chest?

Because it's so good to look at.

Hermione, a voice warned. This is Mal-ferret. Control yourself.

"If you're done ogling at my chest Granger," he said, his voice laced with amusement. "I'd like you to help me with something."

Her eyes narrowed. Help him? At what cost? Yes he was insanely good looking (don't judge, she was a female after all) but surely Malfoy would ask her to do some impossible task and if she failed (or refused), he would tease her until her ego was a size of a peanut.

"Don't look so perplexed," his voice silenced her thoughts. "Yes, I need your help. They don't call you the brightest witch for no reason."

"Careful there Malfoy," she remarked dryly as she sat up. "You're almost giving me a compliment."

His eyes narrowed and he leant back against the wall. "I want you to make food."

"What? Why me? I won't help you. Is it because I'm a female? Huh, I should've expected this from you. This..this derogatory action can only be-"

"Hold your horses," his annoyed voice interrupted her. "Let me rephrase this, dear Granger. I was never good at transfiguration so I cannot turn an inanimate object into food. But you were McGonagal's best student so I'm assuming you can transfigure any object into food. So Granger, before your feminist ideals murder me, will you please make food for me?

"Fine," she muttered, slightly embarrassed. "But I don't have a wand so I'll have to use yours. And I want something in return."

"I'll let you use my wand," he replied. "But no funny business, Granger. I mean it. And what could you possibly want from me?"

"Iwantyourshirt," she answered her face a shade of red that rivalled Ginny's hair.

"What? I didn't quite catch that."

"Fine, I want your shirt," she whisper-yelled. "I'm wearing these stupid skinny jeans and itchy shirt and they're really uncomfortable to sleep in so can you please lend me your shirt?"

He smirked as he picked up his crisp white shirt. "This sweaty old thing. You want this?"

He waved it around her.

"Well, do you have any other shirt?" She said annoyedly as she eyed the cloth dancing around her.

"As a matter of fact, I do," he said, reaching for his jeans and pulling out two miniature luggages. "Engorgio."

The luggages enlarged back to their regular size. Hermione's face reddened. Why didn't she think of that? She watched as he unzippered the first leather baggage, opening the top until he pulled out another crisp white t-shirt.

"Here," he said, throwing the fabric at her. "Wear that."

"You have two of the same shirt?" she asked as she picked it up.

"Yes," he huffed back as he shrunk the luggages to their previous size. "White looks good on me."

He threw the wand at her along with a tiny wooden box.

"Now, turn that into food."

She looked at the wand, staring at the wand. She could make a run for it, tie him to the chair and be at Venice in the next two or three days.

"Don't even think about it," his voice interrupted her thoughts. "I said no funny business. I've charmed the wand so that it responds to me and only me, not matter how far away it is."

She looked up, fluttered. "That's.. preposterous. I wasn't planning on leaving you here tied to a chairs. But why did you charm it? Who'd want your wand?"

"You, for one, need it right now and my ex-fiance," he responded, his face twisting into an expression of disgust. "Astoria tried to put a tracking device onto my wand so she can monitor my moves."

"Wow," Hermione said after a moment later. "Um..that's certainly a-"

"Very deranged move," he retorted back. "Merlin, I'm glad I got rid of her."

"You didn't kill her, did you?"

"Merlin, no no," he answered, his eyebrows shooting up. "I'm not some murderer Granger. We broke it off. Took some time to convince that bint to leave."

Hermione looked around uncomfortably, recalling the rules she had set in the train. The nosy, eavesdropping part of her wanted to ask questions about his relationship with Astoria. Of course, she didn't care if he dated and who he dated. She was just curious, that's all.

"Granger," he snapped. "Are you going to turn that into food or not."

"Um..yes, of course," she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, thinking of the most appealing food.

In a blink of an eye, a plate of muggle fries and chicken appeared in the place of the wooden block. She had meant to conjure a plate of endless sandwiches, she really did but muggle food was so much greasier, unhealthier, better.

"What the fuck is that?" Malfoy asked a moment later, glaring down at the plate.

"Well this is a modified form of the endless sandwiches spell," she replied. "But it supplies us with muggle food."

She finished the sentence with a squeak and she could feel Malfoy's glare boring down on her neck.

"Look, I thought of the most appealing food," she answered honestly. "Any food is better than no food."

Malfoy grumbled beside her and sat down. "I'm not eating that muggle filth."

"Are you hungry or are you not?"

Just then, his stomach let out a great rumble that rivaled the mating call of whales. He looked around sheepishly, refusing to meet her eyes and picked up a fat fry.

"How do I eat this?"

"Just take a bite."

He narrowed his eyes and held his breath before taking in a big chunk of it. In the years to come, he would never tell anyone that muggle fries were the most delicious food he had tasted in his entire life. He closed his eyes and let out a groan.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't have an orgasm just by eating fries, Malfoy," the girl next to him said before standing up and grabbing the shirt. "I'm going to go change. You better save some from me."

He pretended he didn't hear her. Merlin, this was the best food he had ever had. Once he got out of this whole situation, he was going to make Granger take him to a muggle restaurant to have some more. Whoah, why did he want to go to a muggle restaurant with Granger? Once he got to Venice, he'd make sure that Granger was out of his sight once and for all.

But the part of his heart with a conscience tugged painfully and anger erupted through him about the thought of never seeing her again. He did not know why. Must be those damned fries, she must have charmed them or something.