Finished: Waiting (K+) - Draco/Hermione
Notes: For Heleen derryere. The style goes back to my Vanity days; I thought it was quite fitting. And, admittedly, this was fun. I urge everyone to proceed with caution - silliness abound and all that.
Date: 31 August 2007
Author: vexia
Pairing(s): Draco/Hermione
Summary: Hermione Granger decided she rather fancied Draco Malfoy. Preferably dead.
It was completely unexpected.
It began with Luna Lovegood, wide-eyed and dreamy as always, who noted something about misalignment and curious creatures with peculiar names that were unimportant. By this, she speculated that everyone should very much consider staying indoors for the remaining weekend. Much to her bemusement, many students who remained for the holidays sniggered and ignored her warnings, opting for a winter stroll in Hogsmeade.
A perfectly regular occurrence, really - to ignore the mad one - but it was also acknowledged that Luna Lovegood was never to be laughed at for she was relatively good at them, it seemed. Astronomy and relatives of the nargles notwithstanding, Luna was correct with her weekend forecast: a snowstorm had conveniently passed over Hogwarts and, therefore, heeded any notions that frolicking down charming Hogsmeade would be better than spending the time indoors.
Except for Draco Malfoy, who was smart as a whip and not privy to Loony's weather interpretations. He left the grounds hours earlier because he was Draco Malfoy. Not one to be alone on such grand adventures, he spotted her - Hermione Granger - making her rounds, immediately incapacitating her with a spell and dragging her along with him.
When she was fully mobile again, already far from the school, she screeched and harped until his ears bled. He stared blankly at her, then, and continued on without her, knowing full well she would follow him anyway to lecture him on the importance of morals and personal spaces and other silly things that only Hermione Granger cared to rant. It was his good fortune that they were well acquainted with one another and on the way to becoming friends.
Somewhere along those lines - the edges were blurred quite a bit.
Not that it mattered, of course.
The details of their budding friendship occurred exactly one year ago on Christmas Eve. He remembered because there was a little bit of alcohol and snogging indulgences - "It's the wine!" they declared - and she was his first kiss. Always something to remember. Their relationship - or whatever it is they called it - was rather awkward the first few weeks in the aftermath, but it mellowed and they agreed they would forget about the event, parting on Very Platonic terms. Granger punctuated this with a crack in her voice, but he pretended to ignore it.
The technicalities with Potter and the Weasel was something he didn't care to remember. A bit of yelling and kicking and biting - the usual. Though he was suspicious of the Weasel after he distinctly felt a hand on certain areas of his person. But - neither here nor there.
It was precisely their history and their growing together, so to speak, as a unit that Draco decided Granger was a perfect partner to his winter whimsies. She was also the better alternative to Crabbe and Goyle - even Parkinson - but he would never tell her that.
So he led her straight to the Shrieking Shack.
"Why in Merlin's name -
"- because I feel like it!" he said loudly, and proceeded to drag her by the hand.
As fate would have it, the snow started in, and it was here that Hermione Granger decided she rather fancied Draco Malfoy.
Preferably dead.
• •
"I am going to stab you in your sleep."
Draco leaned away from the window, although there was nothing much to see. A wall of snow blocked out what would have been a grand view of, well, nearly everything. Mostly trees and a bird or two.
He glanced at her with an annoyed expression.
"If you're going to threaten me, do it properly - like actually saying something you intend to do. You've not a drop of murderous rage in your system, so let's please be realistic, Granger."
"Realistic!" she shrieked. "You want realistic, Malfoy? Okay, we are going to die in here! And now we're bloody stranded here because you're spectacularly daft -
"- I fail to see how my range of intelligence has anything -
She interrupted him immediately. "By forgetting your wand, thereby leaving us stranded here in the snow with nothing but nothing to keep us warm."
Draco blinked. Stark raving mad, that one.
"You didn't bring your wand?"
"Well, I obviously don't have it!" she huffed. "I suspect it must've dropped in the halls when you accosted me. You know, dragged me here against my will -
"Shut up already, woman! How was I supposed to know this was going to happen? I merely took you because -
"Were you not listening to Loo - Luna?"
He arched a brow and expected her to retaliate even further. Really now, only very few people believed O' Loony One; it was well-known that her predictions were more or less coincidences. Even more, he highly doubted Lovegood actually meant to warn everyone from going outside based on dodgy weather patterns. Snow, sun, rain - all unpredictable. She probably meant to keep students inside to save their socks from being stolen or some other ridiculous thing like that.
Except he was missing two pairs of his favourite -
"You are impossible!"
Granger cursed beneath her breath - he was astounded by her range of colourful words - and sat near the empty, and therefore useless, hearth.
"What, are you not going to talk to me now?" he mocked. "Very mature of you, Granger."
"Oh you're one to talk! When Harry and Ron seek you out - oh, when they do!"
And he could've sworn he saw a malicious glint in her eye, but he pretended to ignore it. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. And to be quite honest, he was afraid of those two idiots - well, one of them anyway. If he allowed himself to be honest about it, Potter had the potential to be frightening, what with all his unusual mood swings for a boy and his mummy complex.
As for the Weasel? Well, the bloke towered over him, and Draco was already tall by general standards. He attributed Weasel's growth spurt as compensation for his mind - or lack thereof. He sniggered.
"What exactly do you find funny about our situation?"
He refocused his attention on her. Granger's cheeks were flushed, her hair wild, and she was sitting tensely upright. Legs crossed. Very Prim and Proper. If she wasn't comparative to a harpy at times -
"Get over yourself, Granger. I'm merely biding my time here. You, on the other hand," he paused and appraised her current state of distress, "I don't know about you. In fact, I don't care about you. Keep whinging for all the good it can do; no one will be able to hear us anyway. You'll eventually lose your voice, my ears will be saved, and we'll both be happy."
Upon catching her glare, he shrugged. "At least I'll be happy."
"Well, I'm glad one of us will be while the other is rotting away in the cold because -
"- and people call me melodramatic. Look at you!"
"I'm well-aware, thank you." She snapped.
The moments ticked by, and he fidgeted while she paced, sat down, and repeated the tedious process of human motion. Watching her made him dizzy - too dizzy, really. He just wanted to yank her by her skirt, pin her down, and keep her there. Knowing Granger, however, she was incredibly stubborn and no amount of glue could keep her still.
And it only reminded him how stupid he was for leaving his wand - well, it was somewhere. He wasn't always this forgetful, but he was too excited to start his day and his brief encounter with Granger made waiting all too unbearable.
He didn't know why, and he didn't care about the specifics; it only made him irritable. What he did know was that Granger was an interesting and favourable companion. That was all.
"I'm freezing."
Draco watched as she shuddered and hugged herself tightly. Perhaps he had been too hasty in borrowing her for the rest of the day. Or maybe -
"You know, we do have enough warmth in our bodies to -
"You stay away from me, Malfoy," she cautioned slowly. "You've caused me enough grief as it is, and I would just - I just want to go back, okay?"
"I just thought -
"No more thinking!"
"But -
"Stop!"
"Bloody hell, Granger! Can't I get more than a few words out before you -
"No! Shut up!"
"- interrupt me? Your manners are terrible! Kind of like Weasel -"
"I absolutely loathe you -
"- and the way he crams his mouth with all that food and -
"- and your stupid face -
"- chews with his mouth open, and what about my face?"
"- and equally stupid hair -
He balked. "That was low. If you want to talk about hair, maybe you should take care of yours for a change. It might be soft and shiny, but it's too wild, too much like you've had a nice sh - oops."
"'Oops?' Really?" she responded dryly. "Because it's not as if you've anything more to offend me with, right?"
Draco buried his face in his hands. His next words were muffled.
"If you wanted me to hear, you best speak louder."
"This was a right disaster."
"Yes."
"And to think I did all of this because I wanted you to accompany me of all people! That had been a grand mistake."
The following silence was deafening. It was probably worse than Granger yelling at him. He raised his eyes to look at her, and she stared open-mouthed at him.
"What did you just say?"
"That this was a mistake? What, are you going to hit me now?"
"Before that, you prat!"
"Oh, now we're name-calling, are we?"
"Draco!"
That had stunned him to silence. In another world, Granger calling him by his first name might have changed something about their relationship. It would grant him an epiphany of sorts, make him realise that there was something more between them than childish banter and petty arguments.
Unfortunately, this was not another world. The first name basis - well, it was actually rather awkward. He gathered she knew it too as her eyes widened at the sudden outburst, nibbling her bottom lip as she gazed everywhere else but him. To be sure, he said her name in order to catch her attention. It did, but she paled.
"Let's - let's not do that again, shall we?"
"Agreed." She let her response hang in the air before continuing, "So, what was that all about?"
Something changed, definitely.
"What?"
"The, um, you know," she stammered, "you bringing me here. And such."
"Now is not the time to be shy about it, Granger. Just say it already. I don't understand what you're trying to ask me."
If there were any objects in her reach, he was certain he would be running away from her right about now. Her hands were balled into fists, and it seemed as though she were desperately fighting the urge to pounce herself on him as a last resort. Claw his eyes out while she was at it.
"You wanted me, personally, to accompany you?"
Oh, that.
"Yes."
"Oh."
"So."
"So ... I reckon it won't - it won't take long for people to notice that we're gone, right?"
"Right."
"So it wouldn't hurt to just wait."
"Waiting is good."
"Good."
"About our current situation and the cold and our bodies -
"There will no touching, Malfoy."
"Okay. Just clearing that up."