"We'll need a fourth won't we?" Nott said, "I don't think Pansy is going to oblige, so does anyone else have suggestions?" Before either could get a word out, Nott continued, "Not Greg, Drake, not if you value your shoes."
Draco's response was a dry, light chuckle. Hermione Granger stepped in to fill the breach. "I've three in mind, your choice. Gin Weasley, Harry Potter, or Luna Lovegood."
Draco rolled his eyes, but said dryly, "I think two Gryffindors across from two Slytherins sounds entirely too much like a jest in the making. Lovegood it is." And Draco Malfoy found himself hoping to hell that Granger knew what she was doing - and that it wasn't too terribly nefarious at that. He knew a forced move when he saw one, and expecting him to choose either a Weasley or Harry Potter was completely unthinkable.
Nott eyed the proceedings skeptically, before saying laconically (he knew a forced pick as well as Draco did), "They're your enemies, not mine. Still, I think you have the right of it. Lovegood looks to be an easy mark, and that's before you start listening to her stories. I bet she's got a mouth to her, if you care to get her going..." Typical Nott, eye on the gold this time.
"My place will do, if there are no objections?" Hermione Granger said with a stilted smile - was she smarting at the comment about her ditz of a friend, or about the obvious skepticism of Mr. Nott? Draco wasn't quite sure. Still, his own home was rather inconveniently crowded with his parents, and Nott's small flat was hardly the place to have a card table (besides, it smelt like hamburgers). And so both men simply nodded at her, and she asked with a smile, "Do you have a floo?"
"Of course, but you can just apparate us, can't you?" Nott said, still not willing to give an inch.
"Oh, you'd hardly have slaves in your attic, now would you?" Hermione Granger said, and if at first that sounded like she was simply laughing at him, by the end she was eyeing him a bit closely.
"Oh, very well." Nott conceded with ill-borne grace. "My floo." Draco Malfoy strode upwards, and was glad momentarily that Granger hadn't stopped to stare - or to mouth off. She simply stepped into the floo, as if she owned the place. Nott, of course, fixed the door before heading out, leaving Draco and Hermione standing on the other side for a moment.
Draco used the moment well, giving himself a glance at the horribly clashing orange daybed, and the minty green color scheme of everything else in the room. Mentally, he shrugged. It's not gold and red, and you'd better get used to it.
Nott emerged, smirking a bit as he caught sight of Hermione Granger wrestling a card table by herself into the middle of the floor. "Well, aren't you going to help her, like a gentleman?"
"And since when have I been a gentleman?" Draco Malfoy replied smoothly, pasted on his face a smugly smooth smile.
"Since your mum caught you shoving Pansy's face into your birthday cake!" Theo Nott said with a triumphant snicker.
"Where are the cards?" Draco Malfoy said to Hermione, perhaps in an effort to be helpful. Then again, he might just want to pinch the aces.
"I suppose I'd better let you talk to the Ravenclaw. She doesn't know me from Merlin!" Nott said, consciously trying to be more of a gentleman than Malfoy.
"The cards are buried in a drawer - I'll have them out in a trice. And you're right, Mister Nott, I should get Luna next."
[a/n: Did anyone guess Luna? Drop a review if you like this - or even if you don't.]
