Well, it's been a minute, hasn't it. I don't know. Suddenly had the urge to finish this. Let me know if you're a past reader or a new one! Thanks!
Normally Granger came home from her job late. Normally it was long after Draco had gone to bed. Normally he didn't care. There was something comforting about the Muggleborn's insistence on routine. She arrived home like she lived in an hourglass, exactly at the same time, always in a rush. Every evening he heard her stumble out of the Floo Network and stomp into the kitchen to make herself some ungodly monstrous dessert before pounding up the stairs to start a shower and retire to bed. He wondered if she purposefully made as much of a racket as she could in the hopes of disturbing him. In retaliation, he always quarantined himself to his room to avoid her. However, before waltzing off to her bed for her mere five hours of rest a night, Granger always peeked in on him.
It was routine, just like the large ice cream related indulgences and the shower. The witch had decided that checking up on Draco every night before bed was mandatory. Thankfully this she did quietly and he would fain slumber as she hovered beside the foot of his bed, making sure he was indeed breathing.
In the beginning it had scared him. He had almost cursed her face off the first time she tried that stunt; an understandable reflex after sharing a household with Bellatrix for a time. His aunt had been known to show up unexpected and unwanted, even in one's bedchambers.
Granger learned fast not to startle him and Draco learned to trust her more. Or really, trust her enough to know she would tiptoe into his room at the same time every night. In a way, he had learned to expect it.
So when she didn't show up one late December evening, he began to worry.
Well, not exactly worry but at least he wondered if something had happened to her. Instead of wallowing on about it in his bed, Draco figured he might as well check around the house. Perhaps Granger had come home without him hearing her.
It turned out that he was half right. She had managed to make it home silently but she wasn't abed like he expected. Surprisingly, the stiff routined Gryffindor must have flooed home from work, took three steps to her living room couch, kicked off her shoes, and collapsed into the cushions; immediately passing out in her dress robes.
His best option would have been to leave it be, turn around, and head back upstairs. But something deep down had Draco move to the sofa instead.
"Granger?" He sat down and shook her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
She shot up to a seated position, wide eyed and afraid. Her hands scrounged the sofa pillows and then the ground searching for her wand.
"Hey. Calm down!" Draco raised his hands in defense.
She relaxed a bit but not without smacking him with one of the pillows. "Dammit, Draco. Don't do that! I would have hexed you horribly." Finally recovering her wand from her sleeve.
"Sorry." He mumbled. "I was just checking on you. Looks like you had a hard day."
"Really? What could have given it away?" She smirked then moved to wipe her hair out of her face. "Lightly putting it, I had a wretched day, thanks for asking."
Curiosity getting the better of him, he puzzled at her comment before asking her to elaborate. "Did something go down at the Ministry?"
She sighed. "No, not exactly." She paused to look him over. "I'm not sure I should tell you, though."
"Why, what happened?"
Another large sigh. "Well, I found out this morning that another Dark Mark had been cast today."
Draco blinked and felt his voice catch. "Wha…?"
"Yes, and if that wasn't scary enough, my old friend Pavarti Patil was killed."
He couldn't speak anymore, which allowed Granger to embellish on the tale. Parvati had been murdered by a Muggle weapon. Worse, she was another twin to be found dead.
"Only instead of exhuming an already dead body, these nutcases are killing people now!" Granger loudly lectured. Once the bottle had been opened she continued to spill out all her stressors of the day.
"Oh, but I still have a report due tomorrow, of course." She took a deep breath and nervously adjusted her robes. "Sorry, I shouldn't complain. Thanks for listening."
He shrugged. She had a right to be stressed a bit. "You should go to bed." Draco suggested. "Sleeping down here wouldn't be good for you."
Granger nodded but didn't rush to leave. Neither of them did. Instead, they continued to sit and stare into the fireplace in silence, watching the green flames of the floopowder die out.
"I think I'm too scared to go upstairs." Hermione admitted with a sharp laugh.
Again, Draco couldn't find his voice to respond. The fact that he didn't say anything proved that he felt the same.
The longer the silence stretched out, the more he became aware of the creaking and crackling noises that started to leak from the old house. A thud from the staircase echoed through the halls and caused them both to jump. Granger moved closer to him, clutching his wrist in her small palm.
"It's just the wind." She reassured herself. "I've placed the best safety charms and wards on this house. Don't worry."
Did he look that frightened? He must have. To assert some of his masculinity, he lit his wand and stood to examine the living room and hallway beyond it. After a quick walk that proved the area was empty, Draco returned to his spot on the couch, giving the witch beside him a reassuring nod.
Still, neither of them moved.
"You know, we could just sleep down here." She suggested after another fifteen minutes of scared silence.
"Right." Was all he managed to say.
Hermione pulled herself even closer to him. He could feel her shivering.
"Christmas is next week." She mentioned as a change of subject. "Your parents will probably send an owl."
"I doubt it." He figured that Wilson, his glorious Eagle Owl, didn't even miss him. The bird always favored his mother and with Theo around, there was plenty of company for him.
Granger crossed her arms and snorted. "Your mother wouldn't miss Christmas! I remember the boxes of treats you were sent at school even when it wasn't a holiday."
"You did?" It surprised him that the muggle born had taken notice in Draco's school mail.
"Everyone did. With that gigantic owl of yours. I'm pretty sure the entire great hall recognized your mail schedule."
Draco rolled his eyes. His mother may have sent larger gifts than some, but he doubted the entire school noticed.
"What of your family? Are your folks coming to visit this holiday?" He was pretty certain that Granger was an only child. Her parents were likely to stop by for the entire week.
"Um…" A long pause of quiet was the only answer she gave.
"Are you also having family issues?" He wondered aloud. The witch didn't respond, meaning she didn't want to discuss the topic. Draco could take a hint and didn't push her.
"Anyways, I think I should head back upstairs." He said, but didn't get up.
"Draco…" She paused, looking down at her lap and fiddling with her hair. The annoying habit reminded him of their encounter in the bathroom after he had passed out in the shower. Why was she always doing that?
"You know, my mum used to yank on her hair a lot." Draco mentioned without really thinking it through. "Could pull whole wads out of her scalp in one tug. I'm surprised she never had a bald spot show up, what with all the stress from the war and such."
Granger pulled her hand out of her hair with sudden embarrassment.
"Right, well, I should head upstairs too." She stood then and headed for the stairs at the other end of the room. Draco felt a cold emptiness from the absence of her body.
"Well," Curses, what was he doing? "Sleeping down here doesn't seem like a horrible idea."
She smiled at him. Raw and true. Strange really, seeing all the horrible things that had happened to her today, one would think the suggestion he made mattered little.
"Sure." She said. Was she blushing? Draco couldn't quite tell through the dim wand light in the darkened living room. For some reason, the idea of her face being flushed gave his stomach a nasty churn.
It was rather childish, staying the night in the living room. What with everything that had happened it probably was no safer downstairs than on the second floor. Yet knowing that another person would be sleeping nearby did help ease the nerves that had fluttered through his mind. Well, at least the nerves about the dark mark and the murder, not so much the nerves about her blushing.
Draco shook his head to rid his mind of stupid ideas and made himself comfortable on the couch. Granger went to the other couch on the opposite side of the coffee table from him. She tossed a handmade blanket over to him, startling him a bit as it flew through the air.
"Sorry." She smiled again. "Didn't mean to scare you."
He just grunted and pulled the blanket on top of himself.
"Get some rest, you're going to need it tomorrow." He told her before extinguishing his wand and attempting to fall back to sleep.
