Hermione was walking up and down her room, mumbling feverishly under breath. She’d been doing this for the past half an hour and Violet was getting tired of Hermione’s antics. Hermione was debating on whether she should go to the bar that night or just let Malfoy go alone. The worst part was that a part of her didn’t like the idea of Jessie getting a clear shot at Malfoy.
Her head screamed in frustration. I’m not going. Who cares if Jessie tries to hit on Malfoy! What will I do in a bar anyway? Who cares if Malfoy falls for Jessie...? But that’s what bothered her! She did care! Hermione stopped in her tracks and tangled her hands in her hair. I shouldn’t be feeling this way! I’ve got to stop it right now!
Violet looked at the distressed Hermione and walked over to her. She rested her hand on Hermione shoulder and said, “What’s wrong? How can going to a bar stress you out so much! It’s just a place where you can drink and relax! Will you calm down!?”
“It’s not that! It’s just that I feel “ forget it! I’m not going. I’m not going to that stupid bar with Malfoy. I’m not going anywhere where he’ll go. I’ll just stay in my room and watch some television or something.” Violet shrugged her shoulders and said, “It’s up to you. But then Jessie will definitely make her move on Draco.”
“So? I’m not even his girlfriend “ not that I want to be. Why should I care?”
Violet raised her eyebrow. “But you’ll be letting Jessie get exactly what she wants. You’ll be playing right into her hands!”
Hermione looked at her skeptically and said, “No offence but aren’t you Jessie’s friend too? I mean I’m grateful for what you’re telling me and everything but you’re totally turning against one of your friends. It’s not that I don’t want to be your friend or anything “ I really do…!”
Violet laughed and shook her head. “I know what you mean. It’s just that I’m sick of Jessie’s behavior. I’ve told her a million times not to do what she usually does “ you know, treat other people like dirt and stuff but she won’t listen!” She sighed, “Believe me; I would never talk behind someone’s back. It’s just that you’re my friend too and I don’t want to see you get hurt just because of Jessie.”
Hermione smiled and threw her hands around Violet, pulling her into a tight hug. “You’re the best friend a girl could ask for.” Violet chuckled and replied, “I know right? No one could be a better friend than me.” Hermione pulled away from her and playfully smacked her arm. “Alright, Miss Modesty, now tell me why should I care whether I let Jessie get what she wants or not?”
“Because you’re a fighter,” said Jessie simply. “A fighter never lets her opponent win; no matter how much she feels like giving up.”
Hermione smirked and said, “Oh, alright. I’ll come for the sake of being a fighter. Happy?” Violet nodded and started to circle around Hermione, frowning; her hand massaging her chin as if she were deep in thought.
“Violet, why are you circling around me like a hawk?” Violet stopped and looked at her, a grin spreading across her face. Hermione looked at her curiously.
“Well,” said Violet cautiously, “We need to figure out what you should wear tonight. Something to knock him off his feet.” Hermione looked at her in disbelief and snorted, “I’m not dressing up to impress Him!”
Violet rested her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. “Alright, fine. Wear some jeans and a t-shirt to a bar. Everyone will be wearing something fancy, Hermione! You don’t want to feel left out, do you?”
Hermione huffed and mumbled, “Alright, alright. I’ll wear something nice. But I’m NOT wearing it to knock him off his feet.”
Draco sat on his bed, his back resting against a pillow which was propped against the head board. He twiddled his thumbs and absent-mindedly stared into space. Tonight was going to be very enjoyable; he could feel it. For the first time, he would be able to spend time with Roger, Alex, Tom and Jake; with friends. The friends he had in the past were no true friends. They didn’t really care for him; they barely even knew him for that matter.
Draco blinked several times; waking from his reverie. He looked at the clock hanging from the wall and lazily stretched. What time was he supposed to be at the bar? Nine o’clock?
Draco suddenly jumped from the bed as he realized that he was supposed to go with Granger to the bar. He slapped his forehead and thought, what am I supposed to do now? Should I pick her up or just go and meet her there?
Draco knocked on her door until he heard the door knob moving. He took one step back as the door swung open, revealing a very annoyed Hermione.
“You!” Hermione exclaimed, holding onto the door frame.
“Hello to you too,” replied Draco, shoving past her and inviting himself into her room. Hermione looked at him in incredulity and said, “You can’t just come in!”
“I thought I already did,” he said casually, “Violet! What are you doing here?” Hermione rolled her eyes and shut the door behind her. Wasn’t he ever going to leave her alone?
“I’m her friend, Draco. Can I not visit my own friend?” said Violet, leaning back against the sofa. She motioned for him to sit down and he immediately flopped down on the opposite sofa.
“Of course you can. I was merely wondering. So what do you girls do usually? Have a little ‘girl talk’?” he said, smirking his trademark smirk.
“Girl talk!? Malfoy, you haven’t come here to discuss what we do in our personal lives! What are you doing here?! You can’t just waltz into someone’s room! What if someone was changing?!” yelled Hermione.
“Well, all the better for me,” he smiled, a mischievous grin forming on his face. Hermione scowled.
“You’re such a pervert! Just get out of my room, right now!”
Malfoy chuckled. He loved their usual arguments. She would get so worked up over small things. “Just calm yourself, Granger. I’ve just come to ask you a question.”
“A question? You nearly knocked my door off to ask a question? Couldn’t you just knock once? I would have heard it, you know.” Malfoy stood up and said, “Oh for god’s sake Granger. It’s just a few knocks; it’s not going to kill you. Anyway, I was wondering about tonight.”
“What about it?”
“Well…what are we going to do? Should I pick you up or will you just come by yourself?”
Hermione was just going to say that she would come by herself when Violet said cheerily, “Pick her up at nine o’clock sharp. She’ll be ready by then.” Draco nodded slightly and left her room, leaving Hermione confused. Once he left, she furiously said, “Violet! I’m perfectly fine going on my own!”
Violet dismissed it by waving her hand in the air. “Oh, so what if he picks you up? There’s no harm in a guy picking you up. I actually find it pretty romantic.”
“Except it’s Malfoy we’re talking about,” moaned Hermione. “And anyway, it’s not like he told me he would pick me up; he just gave me choice. So even if I said I would go alone, it wouldn’t really matter. That’s not romantic.”
“True,” agreed Violet, nodding her head. “Absolutely true.”
Draco rolled up his sleeve so that it was folded up till his elbow and briefly looked at the mirror. He put a little perfume and quickly slipped out of his room. He was late; twenty minutes late. He stood in front of her door and was about to knock when it suddenly swung open.
Draco stared at her simple beauty. She wasn’t one of those girls who had to put a lot of make-up to look good; in fact you could barely make out whether she had put any or not. Her hair was tied up in a simple knot with a small, black flower sticking out from behind. She wore a white blouse with a black skirt which came up to her knees.
“You’re late,” she said, stepping out from her room and closing the door; not even once looking at him. She was angry and he could tell, but he could hear a hint of sadness in her voice. He wondered why…
“And where do you think you’re going? I was just about to knock on your door when -”
Hermione looked at him angrily and said, “I was just about to go to the bar myself, that’s where I was going! You decided to show up late and I, like an idiot, was waiting!” Hermione took one step closer to him and he flinched backwards.
“Do you think that I would wait my entire life for you to come and pick me up?” she continued, “I am not like other girls who would wait night and day at your feet!” He looked at her in bewilderment; he didn’t mean to upset her or be late on purpose…It had just happened!
Hermione saw the look of surprise on his face and realized that he didn’t intend on being late; he didn’t mean to keep her waiting. But twenty minutes was too much. She could understand if someone was five or ten minutes late, but twenty?
“I didn’t mean to “ I mean it just happened. One minute it was eight o’clock and suddenly it was quarter past nine!” he said, flabbergasted. He didn’t know how to explain it to her.
“Well obviously! Time keeps on ticking, Malfoy!”
He smirked and said, “Well let’s not let the time tick any longer. We’re late as it is.”
“This is all your fault! If you -”
“Oh, just shut that hole under your nose, Granger. Did I say it wasn’t my fault?”
Before she could argue back, Malfoy took her wrist and pulled her behind him. “It’s my fault, I understand! Now let’s just go, shall we?”
“Do I have a choice?” she sighed, keeping up with pace; his hands still clutching into her wrist. Oh, why did she listen to Violet? She couldn’t stand his behavior! She wrenched her wrist from his grasp and said, “I can walk on my own, you know. You don’t have to pull me along like I’m some kind of retard.”
“Aren’t you?” he laughed, “I’m just joking…Let’s just find our way there.”
They both made their way to the Cocktail Bar, neither of them talking much. They found Violet and her group of friends sitting near the bar. The place was crowded! People drinking, people laughing, talking, dancing…The place was like a nightclub; music was playing and it was dark but there was enough light to see everything.
Hermione looked around her, feeling a tingling sensation; she felt someone was watching her. Draco looked at her as she searched around with confusion.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Hermione continued to look around. “Nothing it’s just “ I think…”
“What?”
“I feel like someone’s watching me.” Hermione stopped as she found the pair of eyes. They belonged to a man, who was looking at her with interest. He was definitely drunk, Hermione could make out. She cringed and instinctively moved closer to Malfoy. He looked where she was looking and saw the man staring at her. He saw her give Hermione a small wink and felt her move closer to him; trying to hide. A sudden feeling of resentment swept over him and he protectively laid an arm over her shoulder. Hermione, who was feeling extremely uncomfortable with the man staring at her like that, moved towards Draco’s touch and looked somewhere else.
The man looked at Draco who gave him a warning glare; a glare that meant ‘don’t you look at her again’. The man turned away and continued starting at someplace else.
Draco let go of Hermione’s shoulder and said, “It’s alright, he won’t look at you again.”
“Merlin, what was that man’s problem?”
“He was just drunk, that’s all,” he said, having no idea that he was unintentionally comforting her. He waved at Roger and the other guys who cheerily waved back. They made their way towards the bar and greeted the others.
“You’re almost half an hour late! What took you?” Violet whispered in Hermione’s ear.
“All Malfoy’s fault,” she sighed, “I’ll tell you about it later. Hermione and Draco joined their table and they all started to talk. Fortunately for Jessie, Draco was sitting right next to her. Hermione ended up sitting right opposite Malfoy, much to her disgust. She could see exactly what was going on between the two of them and started to get annoyed as she witnessed Jessie’s pathetic ways of getting Malfoy’s attention.
All of them, except Hermione, ordered a drink and she felt the pressure of being the only one not drinking, but she ignored it; she didn’t have to just because the others were. Roger, who was sitting next to her, started up a conversation and they both talked cheerfully. Roger was easy to talk to and she didn’t feel in the least bit uncomfortable. Usually, she would feel extremely awkward because the boys she would talk to would have nothing much to say and they would struggle to find a topic to talk about.
Draco, looked at Hermione from the corner of his eye and saw that her full attention was on Roger. She was laughing at something he had said and saw her gently lay a hand on his arm. Draco quickly looked away; he shouldn’t be looking at her in the first place.
“So, Draco,” Jessie said, laying a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it. “How long have you known Hermione for? A long time? Did you meet her recently? Did you…”
Hermione saw Jessie talk to Malfoy with passion and saw him look at her intently. Hermione wrinkled her nose as she looked at Jessie’s clothes again. She was wearing a short, black skirt and a shimmering, black tube top. It was too revealing in Hermione’s opinion but Malfoy didn’t seem to mind at all. Stupid boys with raging hormones!
“Oh, Draco!” exclaimed Jessie, pulling on Draco’s arm, “They’re playing my favorite song! You have to dance with me!” Draco leaned back on his chair and waved his hand. “No, thanks. I don’t feel like dancing.” Jessie saw him look at Hermione. “Hermione won’t mind. Do you, Hermione?”
Hermione looked at Jessie coldly. What was she supposed to say? If I say that I do mind, Malfoy will probably think that I ‘want’ him or he’ll probably assume that I’m taking this whole ‘pretending’ thing too seriously.
“What if I do mind?” Hermione said. She could think of nothing else to say.
“Oh, nonsense!” Jessie laughed, “It’s not like I’m going to steal him away from you!” She pulled Draco up and said, “Come on! No need to be shy!” Draco helplessly followed her, glaring furiously at Hermione. Why didn’t she say, ‘I do mind’!
Hermione watched as Jessie pulled him onto the dance floor. I do mind. Inside, she was having an emotional battle. She wanted to stop him; tell him not to dance with her but another part just wanted him to go away. Violet got up from where she was sitting and walked over to Hermione.
“Why did you let him go?!” she whispered frantically.
“What was I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know! Something!”
Hermione saw Jessie’s arms curl around Malfoy’s neck and his hands resting on her waist. Jealousy took over her and her face flushed as she saw Jessie bring Malfoy’s head closer to hers.
“I knew you had a thing for Draco,” said Violet, looking at Hermione stare at the two of them dancing. Hermione shook her head furiously. Violet sighed; it would still take time for her to admit it to herself.
Hermione suddenly put her hand in the air and caught one of the waiter’s attention. Once he came over, she quickly ordered herself a drink. Violet looked at her friend curiously and said, “I thought you don’t drink.”
“I don’t. I just feel like drowning all my stress on something.”
Once the song was over, Draco quickly walked towards Hermione and the others; he didn’t want to dance any longer with Jessie. He flopped onto his chair with relief and looked at Hermione to find that she was drinking. He cocked his eyebrow up and said, “That doesn’t look like juice to me.”
Hermione quickly gulped the rest of the drink down and said, “Ahh! That was good! I didn’t know it would taste good!” She immediately ordered herself another one and looked at Malfoy.
“It doesn’t look like juice because it isn’t juice!”
“I thought you said you don’t drink,” said Malfoy, propping his elbow on the table and resting his head on his hand.
“I don’t but I felt like having one, have you got a problem with that?” Hermione took a long gulp of the drink that the waiter placed on the table. Jessie came over and looked at Hermione with surprise.
“Oh, Hermione! You decided to have a drink! What caused you to change your mind?” said Jessie as she took her place next to Draco.
“What is everyone’s problem!?” Hermione exclaimed. “Is it too much of a shock if I drink?!”
Jessie laughed, “No, no! Drink all you want!”
“Cheers to that!” said Hermione. She gulped down the rest of her drink and slammed the glass down on the table. “Waiter!” she said, clicking her finger in the air, “Another one here, please!”
A couple of drinks later, Hermione was intoxicated. Draco also realized that Hermione was drunk and tried to take the glass away from her, but she slapped his hand away.
“What are you taking my drink away from me for!? You’re drinking, she’s drinking, you’re all drinking and I can’t?”
Draco rolled his eyes and said, “You’re not used to it that’s why! You’re already drunk!.”
“I’m not drunk! You’re drunk for thinking that I am! Hah!” Hermione hiccoughed.
“Oh, let her be,” said Jessie, slinging her arm around Draco, “She wants to drink, so let her.”
Hermione hiccoughed again and eyed Jessie’s arm. “Jessie…why don’t you just kiss him and get it over with? Dr-Draco won’t mind. H-he said he wouldn’t mind if you made a move on him…” Hermione giggled to herself.
Draco flushed furiously and looked at Jessie with embarrassment. “No, no…I said no such thing. Don’t believe a word she said. She’s drunk.” Jessie nodded her head but she continued to smile; she’d rather believe what Hermione had said.
Hermione tried to stand up but instead, she fell flat on the floor. “Whooops!” she giggled, as she tried to stand up. “I’m alright, I’m alright!” she said as the others came over to help her. She grabbed onto the table and steadied herself.
“My legs do feel a little wobbly, though.” Once she was fully upright, she walked over to the bar; swaying as she couldn’t really keep her balance. “Woah! Look at all the pretty colors!”
Malfoy got up and took hold of her arm. He looked at Jessie and the others, who were looking at Hermione with amusement, and said, “I’d better take her back to her room. She’s too drunk.”
“I don’t want to go! I want another drink!” Hermione tried to push him away but he held onto her firmly. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. No, don’t worry, Violet. I can handle her.” And with that, he pulled Hermione out of ‘Cocktail Bar’.
“Are you sure I can’t have another drink?” she slurred. Draco took one of her arms and draped it over his shoulder to support her.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Just a tiny sip?” she said, looking at Draco with pouting lips. He laughed. Who knew Granger could get drunk? Suddenly, she stopped walking.
“Could you do me a favor?” she asked, looking at him questioningly. Draco smiled as she asked; she looked so…vulnerable, so adorable…He shook his head and asked, “What?”
She frowned and slowly said, “Well…my father used to do this thing when I was small. He used to carry me on his back…I don’t feel like walking anymore…”
So Draco, carried her on his back; his arms supporting her by putting them under her legs, and her arms tightly clutching onto his neck. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this but the way she said it was hard to resist; she had looked absolutely adorable when she asked him.
“Am I heavy?” she asked as she hiccoughed once more. Draco chuckled and said, “Oh yes, Granger. You’re too heavy. You should really lose some weight.”
“No, no, no….I don’t care what you say,” she babbled, “I’m not getting off.” She held onto him tightly and rested her head on his shoulder. He laughed again and headed towards their rooms.
Once there, he let Hermione down. “We’re already there?” she asked.
“Yeah. Where’s your card?”
“My card? I don’t have a card!”
“The key-card, Granger!”
“Ooohh!” She looked at him with confusion, paused and said, “Where is it?” He sighed loudly and snatched the purse she was holding, from her.
“Hey! You give that bac -” He looked through her purse and took out the card. He swiped it and swung open the door. She slowly went inside her room and flopped onto the bed; her face on the pillow.
Draco saw that she was fast asleep so he slowly crept back, but quite suddenly she lifted her head from her pillow and said, “Malfoy!”
He jumped in surprise; banging his knee against one of the chairs. Cursing, he looked at Hermione. Bloody hell! What’s her problem!
“What?”
“Malfoy…come here...”
Sighing, he slowly walked over to her and kneeled down next to her bed. “What?” he asked once more.
“Goodnight kiss…”
Hermione suddenly leaned in and kissed him squarely on the lips; catching Malfoy by surprise. She pulled away and giggled, “Goodnight.” She fell back onto the pillow and fell asleep as if nothing had happened at all.
Once back in his room, he lay down on his bed; completely dazed. Granger had just kissed him! He touched his lips. What was that all about?!