“Perfect,” she groaned. She pulled the blanket over her face and tried to fall back to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come.
She knew she shouldn’t have drunk yesterday. She knew she shouldn’t have let herself unwind, lose control. She sighed. She had let Jessie get the best of her after all…
She whimpered as last night’s events flashed through her mind. She couldn’t remember all that had happened, some parts were a blur. She tried to force herself to remember but it just made her headache worse, so she gave up.
Hermione licked her dry lips and slowly came out from under the blanket. She wanted water so badly but she didn’t have the strength to move from her bed. She looked for her wand and realized it was stashed in one of the drawers, too far to reach out with her hands. She was about to summon her wand when “
Knock. Knock. Hermione wearily looked at the door; she hadn’t the strength to ask who it was, so she helplessly stared at the door
“Hermione! Hermione, are you awake? It’s me Violet.” Still Hermione didn’t respond. Violet knocked on the door again and said, “Hermione! Wake up! Open the door!” Knock. Knock. Hermione shut her eyes; the knocking was making her headache even worse.
She gathered up her strength and shouted, “I’m too weak to come to the door. Let me sleep.”
“Oh, just let me in will you? It’s better if someone’s there when you’re sick! Open the door or I’ll knock all day.”
Hermione groaned and slowly got out of bed, clutching onto her head to stifle the pain. She opened the door and croaked, “Hey…” Violet clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“You look like a wreck,” chuckled Violet, taking Hermione’s hand and leading her back towards her bed. Hermione did look like a mess. Her hair was sticking out from different places, her face looked pale, her eyes were tired-looking and her lips were dry as a prune. She made her lie down and went into the bathroom. “Don’t get out of that bed.”
Hermione snuggled under the covers and said hoarsely, “Can I get a glass of water, please…”
Violet came out of the bathroom holding a glass of water and a wet towel. “I knew this would happen… Oh, you’re so silly! What made you drink so much?!”
Hermione eagerly took the glass of water from Violet and gulped the water down, immediately quenching her thirst. “Why? How many did I drink?”
Violet slapped the wet towel on Hermione’s forehead, receiving a small ‘ouch’ from Hermione. “You had like ten, I think. Definitely not less.” Hermione gaped at her in wonder.
“Ten?” Hermione mouthed. Violet nodded her head and held up ten fingers.
“Ten,” confirmed Violet.
Hermione blinked several times and said, “How did I manage to do that!? I mean I knew I drank but I didn’t know I gulped down ten glassfuls!”
Violet sat down on the bed and said, “Well, you did. You are quite a sight when you’re drunk.”
Hermione grimaced. “Don’t make me feel worse. I must have made a fool out of myself.” She pressed the cool towel on her forehead and whispered, “What did I do?”
Violet frowned and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Well… you did do some embarrassing things. You fell flat on the floor, you were rambling on about how Draco and Jessie should get together, you -”
“Oh, don’t go further,” said Hermione distressed, “It’s better if I don’t know.”
Violet nodded slowly in agreement and then added, “Do you know who dragged you away from that place?”
Hermione looked at her questioningly and said, “No. Who?”
“Draco.”
Hermione pursed her lips. It seemed that Draco was always around to help her. He was there to ‘save her form humiliation’, he was the one who rescued her in the water and protectively put an arm over her when the man was looking at her. But she hadn’t done anything in return; she had just insulted him all the way. But how could she be nice to him? He was so arrogant at times. And when she was being nice, he told her not to because it was ‘weird’. She must have made a complete fool of herself if Malfoy had to drag her away. She was surprised she didn’t remember much of what happened last night.
“Hermione, are you okay?” asked Violet curiously. Hermione sighed loudly.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” she said, closing her eyes.
Violet nodded and said, “Good. Anyway, I have to go now. You stay in bed and get some sleep. I’ll put a glass of water next to your bed.”
Hermione nodded and said, “Thanks.”
Hermione woke up a few hours later feeling much better. She took a nice long bath and changed into her clothes. It was time to talk with Malfoy, she decided. She needed to talk to him about yesterday night. She needed to thank him, something she’d been doing quite frequently. Why was he always the one to save her?
Once outside his room, she let out a long sigh and mumbled, “I can’t believe I’m going to try and have a civilized talk with him.” She knocked on the door and waited quietly, holding her breath though she didn’t know why.
Draco opened the door to find a very nervous Hermione. She was biting on her lower lip and anxiously wringing her hands. He cocked up an eyebrow and said, “Fancy seeing you here after what happened last night.” He opened the door wider to let Hermione in. She looked at him curiously as she entered.
Hermione walked over to the sofa and sat down. “Why? What happened last night?” she asked. She watched as Draco sat opposite her, looking at her intently.
“So you have no idea about last night?” he asked, somewhat relieved. He didn’t want to feel awkward whenever she was around.
“No. What happened?”
“Nothing,” he chuckled, “nothing at all.” Hermione sat up properly and glared at him. She knew he was lying, she knew he was not telling her something.
“What happened,” she demanded, “tell me right now.”
Draco’s smile disappeared as he saw her get angry. What should he her tell her? He wasn’t gong to tell her that she kissed him squarely on the lips! It would be too weird.
“Well, I dropped you to your room,” he said shrugging.
“And..?” she said, restlessly tapping her feet on the floor.
“And then we both went into your room,” he said slowly.
Hermione looked at him nervously and said, “And..? That’s it right? And then you went into your room, right?” Draco smiled wickedly. Hermione’s eyes widened in fear. They couldn’t have!
“Let’s just say, you made noises that I never knew a woman could make,” he smirked. This was true. Just before he had left her room, he heard her snore so loudly that it could’ve woken up the dead.
Hermione stood up and shrieked. This is not happening to me! I didn’t do it with Draco Malfoy! I did not! I did not! Did I? Hermione angrily stomped over to where Malfoy was sitting and poked him on the chest with her finger.
“Tell me we didn’t!” she screamed, poking him again. “Tell me -”
“We didn’t!” he said, taking hold of her finger with one hand and rubbing his chest with the other. Hermione gaped at him. Was this his idea of a joke?
Hermione wrenched her finger away and said, “Tell the truth.”
“We didn’t,” he chuckled slightly, “I was referring to your snores.” Relief spread through Hermione. She flopped down next to Draco and fanned her face with her hand. She knew she should be angry with Draco but she was too relieved to be mad at him.
“You’re the most biggest jerk on the planet!” she exclaimed.
“Now that’s just silly,” he said, facing her, “have you met everyone on the planet?”
“Oh, bug off!” she said, folding her arms across her chest and sinking lower onto the couch. Draco smiled to himself. She was acting like such a kid.
“So... are you going to tell me why I have the pleasure of your company today?”
“I’m here to say thank you, something I’ve been doing quite often ever since I’ve arrived. And,” she said, absent-mindedly scratching her head, “to ask you a question.”
“Which would be?”
Hermione took a deep breath and sighed, “Why are you helping me? I mean, when I’m not in trouble. You help me at times when I’m not in any serious danger or anything. Why are you always the one to lend a hand?”
Draco looked at her questioningly and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” she said, getting up and pacing up and down, “For instance, yesterday. Why were you the one to take me back to my room? Why not someone else ““
“Why not? Is it wrong if someone such as me helps someone such as you?” he snapped, getting angry. Was it wrong for him to help? Was it wrong because he was a Malfoy? “I thought a little gratefulness was in order but you decide to question my actions.”
Hermione looked at him with surprise, “No, it’s not wrong for you to help. And I am grateful!”
“Well then? What could possibly be the problem? Tell it straight out,” he said, standing up and glaring angrily at Hermione.
“It’s just that whenever you do something like that, I feel like an idiot!”
Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said sarcastically, “But if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been saving you from acting like a complete idiot rather than you feeling like one.”
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but nothing came in mind, so she shut her mouth. After a short pause, she said, “Right.”
“And may I ask why you feel like an idiot when I help?”
“Well it’s hard to explain. When I woke up this morning, Violet told me what had happened yesterday and told me that you had taken me back to my room. When she said that, I was like ‘oh, no. What did I do yesterday that he had to take me back? Was I that uncontrollable?’ That kind of feeling. An embarrassing, idiotic sort of feeling.”
Draco slowly nodded his head and sat back down. Hermione followed suit and said, “I didn’t mean anything in a bad way.”
“We’ve almost had a civil conversation, haven’t we?” said Draco.
Hermione nodded her head and replied, “Yes, almost.” She stood up and was about to tell him that it was time for her to go when someone knocked on the door.
“Draco? Are you in there?”
He walked to the door, opened it and found Roger and Alex standing outside. They smiled and said, “Hey, can we come in?”
Draco smiled happily and let them in. “What are you guys doing here?” he asked cheerily.
“Well you’re our friend now! And anyway we wanted to ask you if you’d like to come with us tonight,” said Roger. “Oh, Hermione! Good to see you!”
Draco was bursting with happiness. Roger and Alex had both come over to personally invite him! For the first time, he had gained true friends and that was all he could ask for. “What are you guys doing tonight?” he asked, his smile still plastered on his face. Hermione looked at Malfoy curiously, a little taken back with his sudden cheeriness.
“Well we’re going to a bar tonight; another one rather than Cocktail Bar. Are you free to come?” asked Alex.
“Brilliant!” he exclaimed, receiving a strange glance from all three. “Oh, well I mean I’m free. Yeah, I’ll come,” he said slightly embarrassed.
“Hermione, we’d love for you to come but today is only for the guys; you know, like a boy’s night out kind of thing,” said Roger.
“Oh, no no! I don’t mind at all! I think it’s a great opportunity for you guys to have a little ‘boy talk’,” she chuckled, looking at Malfoy who rolled his eyes.
“Right, then. Anyway Draco, the place is called ‘Cheers’. We’ll meet around, say half past nine?” asked Roger, opening the door and closing it halfway.
“Sure. I’ll see you guys then.” Draco closed the door and grinned widely.
Hermione cocked one eyebrow and asked slowly, “Do you have a fever or something?”
“No,” he said, striding past Hermione. She rested her hands on her hips and looked at him in a what-is-going-on sort of way.
“Then why are you so happy all of a sudden?”
“Oh now it’s wrong for me to be a little happy, is it?”
“Did I say that?! You know what I mean,” she snapped, getting irritated.
Draco plunged his hands into his pockets and said, “I’m happy because for the first time “ I can’t believe I’m telling you this “ I have real friends; like they actually do care what happens to me or something.”
A pang of sympathy washed over Hermione as she realized how much friends really meant to him. He had absolutely no one in the past. His old cronies hadn’t really cared what happened to him and his parents were cold and probably didn’t show him enough affection, something every child yearns for.
“Oh,” she whispered. Draco’s smile still hadn’t wiped off and she couldn’t help grin herself. She felt a tiny bit happy for him. She couldn’t imagine life without Harry and Ron, and her parents gave her so much love and affection that she never truly appreciated how lucky she was.
“I’m happy for you too,” she said.
“You are?”
“Yes. I never really knew you didn’t have true friends who cared for you or help you.” Hermione opened the door and said, “But then again, you had no one to teach you how to make friends, to help one another, to love...” Hermione laughed to herself and chuckled, “I’m just rambling on, aren’t I? I’ll just leave you to your stuff.” She closed the door behind her and slapped her forehead. Oh, Merlin! Did I have to talk so much? Hermione shook her head in irritation. Now she really felt like an idiot.
Draco stared at the door; the things she said replaying in his head. He smirked to himself. Something about that girl intrigued him, but he just didn’t know what...
“Hermione, did you know eight days have already passed? Days go by so quickly...” sighed Violet. Hermione and Violet were both sitting in her room and watching television.
“Yeah... Scary how time seems to fly by.”
“We’ve got what... less than a week left?” asked Violet, taking up the remote control and lazily flipping the channels.
“Yeah.” Hermione reached for her glass of juice, but her hand slipped and the glass fell. “Oh, no!” she exclaimed. Violet looked at her and saw the glass slip from Hermione’s outstretched fingers.
It happened in slow motion. She saw the glass fall... fall... and finally hit the floor. Hermione expected to hear a tinkle of broken glass but no sound came. Instead, the glass was intact on the floor, with the juice still inside as if it had been intentionally kept that way.
“What?” Hermione gasped. “How “ that’s not possible!” She picked up the glass and looked at in every angle. “How could it fall like that?”
Violet shrugged and said, “Who cares? I mean there might be some scientific explanation or something...”
“Yes, but that’s just weird!” Hermione touched the glass, searching for a crack but no harm was done.
An hour or so later, Violet left for her room and Hermione went around for a short stroll. She found out there were loads of places that she still hadn’t been to. There was a library, much to her joy, a casino, a small movie theatre... She decided to visit the library soon but for now, she needed to go back to her room.
Walking cheerily back, she stopped in her tracks as someone said, “Stupid, muggle boats! I don’t know why I came here in the first place!”
Hermione’s mouth fell open and her eyes became round as tennis balls. There was a witch, by the sound of the person, on board the ship! She peered around the corner to get a good glimpse of her; something about her was very familiar. She was strolling along, her back towards Hermione. She looked very familiar from behind but she couldn’t make out who it was. Who is she? Hermione thought. Who could this witch be?
Hey! I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter...cliffie! All my other chapters don't have one so I thought it was time... In the chapter, I've used to phases which were in 'Two Weeks Notice'. It was so funny that I just had to use them. Please leave a review before you leave. Means a lot and I read and respond to every one of them!