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A Week in November	By : TempestLore Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 8838 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
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Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Chapter Two
     We were wearing black robes, typical of a graduate student and we were standing at the back of an enormous room that was littered with potion stations. I say littered because there was no organization to the seating chart, no rows or any semblance of a normal classroom. There were stacked cauldrons, some bigger than a bass drum and they were stacked like dominoes clear up the rafters. I swear if you pulled the wrong one the whole lot would go tumbling down. I just hoped that I wasn't the student to do it.
CRASH
     It was too late though, a mousy looking girl with bifocal, cat-eye, spectacles, while admiring one of the antique copper pots managed to knock the whole stack down. She just stood there with her jaw hanging open looking at the mess she'd made. Nobody moved to help her clean up the mess either, not even me. That was because the Professor whisked into class. He stopped, looked at the mess and then scoffed as he approached the front of the classroom.
     "Right, who did that?" Nobody piped in. "Who did it, come on?"
     "I did Sir. I'm sorry. I just--"
     "Your out. Gather your things and leave. If you hurry you can catch the train, if not it will be quite the cold night at the train station. My eyes went wide and my heart broke for the girl when I saw the tears in her eyes. I was brought to attention though when the Professor picked up the seating chart and began to shout at us. I noticed Malfoy in the crowd of students and so long as I wasn't paired with him I figured that I'd be good to go. I was smart. It didn't matter who my partner was so I needn't have worried, or so I thought.
   "Know-It-All. Deatheater. You lot are lab partners. You will work at station twenty-two. Get a move on," Professor Snively called out our names from amongst the group of thirty, post graduate students and we reluctantly took our seats. Apparently my new nickname was Know-It-All, to which I found quite offensive. It was better than Malfoy's though, so I didn't complain. I was about to raise my hand in protest at being partnered with him of all people, that is until Malfoy beat me to the punch as he rudely interrupted the Professor.
     "My name is Draco. Not Deatheater," the blond quipped and he leaned back in his chair and smirked.
     "Draco is it?" The Professor spun on his feet to face him where he shot him a scathing glance.
     "It is. Malfoy is my surname. I'm sure you're aquainted with it," he replied, arrogantly.
     "I am. Oh, I truly am," the Professor smiled sinisterly. "So roll up your sleeve then. Go on. Let's see if you have the mark of a Deatheater. If you don't then I will gladly find you a more suitable name. Your real names are boring and that goes for the lot of you. This is how I do things so you'd better get used to it. So go on then, Malfoy, the Deatheater, show us your arm." I watched the blood drain from Malfoy's face when he asked the blond to roll up his sleeve. You could have heard a pin drop the class was so quiet. Malfoy froze in his seat, unwilling to bare his arm. "No? You look a little peekid, dear boy. So Deatheater it is," he chuckled.
     "Moving on. Please open your text to page four thousand, twenty. Tomorrow you will be brewing the Death Becomes Her Potion. Read the chapter, all five hundred pages tonight. There will be a quiz on all this useless rubbish tomorrow. Honestly who cares why Fidelia Snodgrass wanted to kill herself after she contracted syphllis. Even so, the Ministry states that you should know the history of each potion, even the minor and mundane details such as how many trollups were used in the testing of said potions, and who consequently died before they got the potion correct. Bollocks it's rubbish. " I gave a quick glance in Malfoy's direction and he looked as if he might be sick. I nudged him and when the same morose expression was still plastered to his pale face, I nudged him again. That seemed to work and he looked up. "Thanks," Malfoy whispered under his breath. I blinked twice in disbeleif.
     "Uh, your welcome?" I said in response.
     "Let me go over the rules before we proceed. Listen up because I will not remind you again. There will be no warnings, no reminders of the rules and no excuses for breaking them. Should any of my rules be broken you will face automatic expulsion." I gulped whilst Malfoy took out parchment and quill and readied himself to write them down. I followed his lead.
    "Rule one--Don't botch a potion. Ever. You have your syllabus and all students will have dedicated hours in which they may use the lab. Make your mistakes there, before you come to class. Any mistakes in brewing and you will be dropped." Malfoy looked at me and our expressions matched one another's, identically. We were both in a minor state of shock.
     "Rule number two--You must score at least an Above Average on each of the written tests or you will be dropped from the program. Obviously, I expect Outstanding marks in my class, so an Above Average may not get you dropped but it will land you on my shite list. Trust me when I say that you do not want to be on that particular list."
     "Rule number three through to the end of my mandatory rules that must be followed at all times--No talking when I'm talking." I couldn't help but notice that he was glaring at me when he said it. "Time saving shortcuts are encouraged but you must never compromise the potion in doing so. No leaving your dorms after nine o'clock in the evening, l'est you be torn to shreds by the centaurs. The blooming idiots who built this castle erected it on centaur grazing lands. Our institution was built in the valley between two cliffs, which any sad sod could see. It's for that reason that we must leave the front and back doors of the castle open at night, so that the centaurs can make their way to the river for a proper drink. They wait all day for a bloody drink, and you can imagine how dry their throats are and how foul their moods are at having to wait for us to open our doors. So just to be clear, leave your room at night and be disembowled. Nod your heads if you understand," he said and we all nodded our heads frantically. "Good, I have to ask for the nod after last year when we lost a girl to a real bitch of a buck. There were pieces of her everywhere. It was a right fine mess to have to clean up. And lastly, if you blow up the lab you will of course be dropped from the program. By the time this year is over only ten of you will graduate. The rest of you will either quit because you can't take the stress, or you will be dropped for one of many reasons, death by centaur being the most heinous but, well, no that one is the worst I suppose," he chuckled. It was clear that our Professor truly wanted us to die by centaur, in fact he seemed to revel at the thought as noted by the way he eagerly rubbed his hands together.
     "Each week I post the lab rotations. Do not whine to me if you don't like the hours you've been assigned. Whining will also get you dropped. That's all, now piss off. See you tomorrow. Oh, I almost forgot--Nobs you've been dropped."
     "But why Sir, I haven't broken any rules yet?" One of the students, a short and rather scrawny boy who sat behind me said in his own defense. I watched as Draco slouched in his chair as not to be noticed.
     "Ah, no good reason really. I like to drop someone on the first day. You know, for effect," he laughed. "Since your scores weren't as high as some of the others and I was on the fence over your application anyways I decided that it should be you who goes first. You're out. Leave. Now, boy!"
     "But you already did drop someone on the first day," Nobs defended again.
     "I did? Who?"
     "The girl, the one who knocked the cauldrons down."
     "Oh right, I did didn't I? Alright, Nob clean up the mess she made and watch yourself, I'm just itching to drop you. Make the slightest mistake and you're gone."

      "That was utterly brutal," I said when class was over but not before I was absolutely sure that Professor Snively was no where in earshot.
     "Yeah, he's a prick. Although, the way he tried to cut Nobs was quite a lark. Classic," Malfoy chuckled. "So your dorm or mine?" he asked and I choked on my spit.
     "Pardon me?" I asked.
     "We have one text book and there are two of us. We have to study together if we hope to do all the bloody homework Professor Sniveling Pussy assigned." I cringed at that particular nickname.
     "Well we have to get another text book is all. I'll just take this one and you, with all your galleons, can just buy a new one," I said and I began to haul the heavy book into my arms. It felt like a ton of bricks in my hands. Literally!
     "I can't afford this book, I mean, not at present moment," Malfoy divulged. Almost the second he said it he wished he could eat his words, as noted by the unfriendly scowl that marred his face. "Not that its any of your business, but, the Ministry froze the family funds. It's temporary of course. As soon as Father is found innocent I will have a shit ton of gold galleons again."
     "Innocent huh?" I couldn't help but laugh, but when I saw the dourness in his expression I stifled my giggle.
     "I don't want to talk about the war. Ever. We clear?"
     "Who says that we are going to talk at all?" I fired back.
     "Oh shut up, Granger. Don't get your panties in a twist. We need to find our dorms. M14," he said as he read from the parchment that had his dorm assignment scrawled on it.
     "I'm in M14, so you can't be in that dorm. That has to be a girls dorm," I said as I fumbled the heavy book in my arms, trying in earnest to reach into my purse in order to recheck my own dorm assignment.
     "Girls dorm, boys dorm, really Granger? We're not at Hogwarts anymore, though I rather wish we were. This castle is in bad shape. I'd be best to watch for falling rubble. What a piece of shit castle!"
     "It was built in the Dark Ages, hence the gothic style and architecture." I cringed when we passed by a stone, gargoyle statue. "It has character," I said on a positive note but in all honesty I agreed with Malfoy.
     "Character my arse, this place is a total dive. If my father were here he would--"
     "Now it's your turn to shut up. I'm not going to listen to that prattle for a solid year, Malfoy."
     "Fine," he said without any protestations at all. It was as if he'd only said that bit about his father in order to get on my every last nerve and for his efforts, it was working. "Wonder what the M means? Ha, I bet it means Malfoy."
     "Don't you mean D for Deatheater?" I said cruelly. He neither laughed nor responded in foul. "Oh I bet the M is for mezzanine," I deduced. "Malfoy we need to find the stairs." I could barely carry the oversized book and I was lagging behind the blond. "If we are forced to share the text book then you could at least be a gentleman and carry this blasted book. It must weigh a kiloton," I called out, my voice echoing down the long hall. I watched as he stopped in his tracks and then just stood there. He did not turn around but rather just stood there with his back to me! So much for chivalrous acts. This was Malfoy we were talking about so I shouldn't have been surprised. At that the book slipped from my hands and it made a loud crack as it hit the stone floor.
    "Fine," he huffed as he paced back to me. "But I get first dibs once we get to our room."
     "What? We are not sharing the same room. I'm betting that M14 is just a common room. We won't actually be in the same room, but will rather share the common room is all," I countered.
     "Keep dreaming, Granger. We will be lucky if there is a functioning shower and two beds. Just so we're clear, if there's only one bed, I have shotgun."
      We walked the castle for an hour before we found M14. It was on the middle floor just as I'd suspected. I was however wrong about it being a common room. The room was small. Entirely too small. It contained nothing more than a table, two beds, a fireplace and a window that overlooked the river. It was shabby. There was a small wardrobe and an even smaller loo that had only the basics. The bath tub was filthy and I spared no haste in performing a cleaning spell over it and then over the whole room. I would definitely be speaking to the school administration about the accommodations. Most students were unmarried and it wasn't proper having co-ed, shared dorms. Not to mention that I was not at all enthused about sharing a dorm with Malfoy. The whole idea was causing me to become hot under the collar in fact.
     "This can't be happening. Why did I even accept this scholarship?"
     "Because it's the top Potions school in Europe," he replied. "Stop whining Granger, it's only a year. There are worse things than attending a dilapidated school in the Swiss Alps, where centaurs prey upon us and where our teachers would rather see us dead than to succeed and graduate," he drawled and sneered.
     "Well when you put that it way, there's clearly no cause for worry. Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" I went on alert when Malfoy stood, kicked off his shoes and then began to unbuckle his pants.
     "I'm tired. I thought I'd catch some zzzz's."
     "We have five hundred pages to read and study for a quiz tomorrow, or did you forget that fact? Besides, you can't undress in here."
     "Bloody hell, why not? This is my room."
     "It's our room and you will respect my wishes."
     "Why the hell should I?" he asked.
     "Because I'm a lady you stupid prat!"
     "Oh, right. You're a lady, silly me, I must have forgotten," he said with a noticeable eye roll for my benefit. We were not off to a great start.
     "I can't share this dorm with you, Malfoy. Merlin knows what sort of dastardly hexes and curses you'll throw at me whilst I sleep."
     "Please Granger, don't flatter yourself."
     "Please nothing, you've hated me since our first year! Why should I trust you? The mere notion is preposterous. Your whole family hates me. Your Aunt Bellatrix used the Crucio curse on me back during--"
     "Listen up Granger, because I will only say this once more," the blond hissed and he gripped me by the arms, holding me in place. I tried to pull away and when he noticed his hands on me, he let go. "I'm sorry, but you really must understand that I cannot talk about the war."
     "Can't or won't?" I asked becoming ever the more irritated by him. I mean, it wasn't as if I wanted to rehash it either, not really, but I also didn't care for the way he was attempting to censor me either. "Give me one good reason why I should watch what I say around you, especially in regards to the war. Our side won in case you weren't aware."
     "I'm a key witness for the prosecution. I turned on a lot of people. Friends. Because of that FACT I had a gag order placed upon me and I don't want to find out what sort of nastiness the Ministry has planned for me should I break that gag order," he confessed. "So shut your bloody trap in regards to the war."
     "Merlin! So you're the one who helped the Aurors nab all those Deatheaters?" I asked with genuine surprise.
     "What did I just say, Granger?" The way his eyes bore into me made me nervous and I quickly looked away. I watched as he plopped down at the table and opened the ten thousand page book while I unpacked the clothes from my trunk.
     "No war talk. Got it," I murmured.
     "Look, Granger, you and I need to come to some sort of a truce. I can't have you fucking this up for me."
     "Screwing it up for you?" he was incorrigible. "I'm the one on a scholarship, not you."
     "Yeah, and what does that mean?" he fired back.
     "It means, that if anyone is going to screw anyone up, it's going to be you messing it up for me. You can afford to get tossed out of here, you can simply reapply the following year, but me, I can't afford this school. I'm on a scholarship, so I really have to watch myself."
     "What if I told you that I'm in the same situation as you?" he asked.
     "I'd say that you're lying," I answered honestly.
     "You spoiled, know-it-all, bitch!" he shouted and he stood and wagged his finger at me. I couldn't help but notice that his shirt was unbuttoned, nor could I help but notice the way that his pale chest glinted in the late afternoon sun as it fell in streaks across the dimly lit dorm room. I inhaled sharply when I saw the thin trail of blond that started at his chest and fell in a line below the waist band of his black trousers. I quickly averted my eyes but I secretly worried that he saw me gawking at him. I'd never live it down if he did. What were we even talking about, I wondered? Scholarships, that's right.
     "What, oh I suppose you're going to tell me that you earned such an esteemed grant too?" I should have just shut my mouth, but I didn't. It was something about being around Malfoy that brought out the cheeky side in me.
     "I did. Gods you're so bloody conceited! Did you really think that you, the Gryffindor Princess, were the only student in all of Hogwarts to ace your O.W.L.s? You did, didn't you? For your privileged information, I earned this scholarship, Granger."
     "Privilege, you want to talk about privilege? You, who grew up in a mansion, versus me, the poor, filthy Mudblood? Don't talk to me about privilege. You and your whole family are nothing but rot."
     "Thank you so much for blessing me with your unwanted opinion of me and my family. You think I don't know what others say about me behind my back? Or hell, many don't even have a shred of manners at all. They are the ones who say it right to my face. They can't wait for me or Mum to pass by before the whispers start. Fuck, why can't they wait until we are out of earshot before they start their gossip-mongering? No bloody manners at all. I hear it all Granger, so don't congratulate yourself too much for getting under my skin. Your assessment of me and my family is strictly UNORIGINAL. Come up with something better next time if you want me to give two fucks. Otherwise, shut your festering pie hole of a mouth, woman!" With that he threw on his shoes and left in a huff, slamming the door behind him.
     It was several hours later when the blond finally made a reappearance. I felt like total crap over what I'd said to him. It was unwarranted and wrong, and furthermore I really didn't feel that way about Draco Malfoy at all. What he'd done, rolling on so many former Deatheaters was a noble act. The round up was ongoing and his information probably saved any number of Aurors lives, Harry and Ron included. For his actions I was apt to forgive him. It seemed the right thing to do. Besides, I'd not always hated the little ferret. The first time I'd lain eyes upon Malfoy, way back in our first year, I'd thought him to look like an angel. He was the cutest boy I'd ever seen with that platinum blond hair and devilish smile. Of course later he would open his mouth and I'd realize that he was a foul, little git, but for a time I was infatuated with the younger Malfoy. Perhaps I'd tell him that in order to gain favor with him. I couldn't bear the thought of spending an entire year fighting with Malfoy. I cleared my throat when I saw him saunter through the door. He ignored me completely when and then immediately plopped down onto the bed.
     "I wrote you up some cliff notes, you know, from the homework assignment. You want them?
     "No," he said flatly and he rolled over onto his stomach and buried his head into the pillow. I frowned.
     "If you fail the written test tomorrow you'll be booted. Come on, just have a look at my notes. It will save you from having to read all five hundred pages of text."
     "I said, no. Are you deaf? Besides, if I fail the test it solves all your problems. You'll be rid of the ROT that infests your precious dorm room," he said sounding entirely wounded.
     "I'm sorry, alright. Malfoy, stop, please. Please except my apology. That was really quite smug and rude of me."
    "You're bloody right it was, though somehow I'm just not buying your performance. You're not a very good actress."
     "I thought you were cute in our first year."
     "What?" he sounded shocked and he sat up in bed and stared at me. "And now, is that what you think of me now or was your brain not fully developed back then? Somehow I have a feeling that will be your next excuse."
     "Well...No, I wasn't going to say that."
     "So what's the answer? I was cute then but now I'm what? Oh that's right. Rot."
     "You're older now so no, you're not cute. You're more...Oh I don't know...Not rot, alright?"
     "No, I don't know. You're going to have to say it," he pushed and to say that I felt uncomfortable was a drastic understatement.
     "Handsome. You've grown into a handsome man."
     "Wait, so are you saying that you're hot for me?"
     "No! I certainly wasn't saying that. One can appreciate a person's outward, physical appearance without being however it is that you put it." I couldn't bring myself to say the words.
     "Hot for me. You're hot for me. Why not just cop to it?"
     "Because I'm not!"
     "Yes, you are. You just so much as admitted it. I heard it with my own two ears."
     "I didn't say that. Can we just stop this already? We need to make a pact."
     "Does this pact involve sex? You know, since you find me so hot and all."
     "No! Cut it out."
     "Why not? I wouldn't be opposed to some sort of an arrangement. Purely physical of course."
     "And that is precisely why there will never BE any sort of arrangement. That's not the only reason though. Now I lost my train of thought. Where was I?"
     "I dunno. I think you were about to ask me for a snog."
     "What? No, I wasn't. Malfoy, what say from here on out, neither of us fight? I didn't know that you liked potions Malfoy, but clearly you do. I guess I always assumed that you were Snape's pet simply because of who you were. Obviously there was some merit there that I was not privy to. I'm sorry, now don't make me regret saying that. Bygones? I mean, at least while we're here at this school. We can go back to hating one another after graduation."
     "I dunno' if I can make it that long. A year is a long time," he smirked and I just shook my head. "Alright Granger. Bygones. For now, like you said."
     "I think we should shake on it," I said and so we did. "Bygones," we both said in unison. He wagged his eyebrows and made a crude tongue gesture at me when he shook my hand and I cringed.
     "I'll take a look at those notes now. If you want a snog as a sort of payment I'd agree to it. I'm not any sort of a charity case, though perhaps I'd be offering you charity, since you're so hot for me."
     "Malfoy!" I reached for my pillow and threw it at him, hitting him in the face.
     "Pillow fights? Kinky. I like it. So is that what the Gryffindor's got up to at night?"
     "Stop it, your making my sides ache," I said through a fit of giggles. "Bygones," I reminded myself.
    "I think you're hot too," he said under his breath and my heart stopped in my chest.
_______________
     "Bygones...," she murmured and a ghost of a smile passed over her lips. Goosebumps erupted over Draco's arms and he thought to himself, is this it? Is she caught up in a vision from our past? Is she remembering? He grabbed a pillow from the loveseat where he propped it under her head and he stuffed the smelling salts that he already had ready back into his pocket, deciding to let her vision play out a little more before he roused her from sleep. She'd fainted, there was little doubt in his mind about that. He knew that he would go over every syllable of every word, every action that he'd taken with Hermione to provoke such a response in her. It was the best news he had in four years, the first and only sign of hope. Bygones he thought to himself and he smirked when he remembered the first time she'd said it to him. "That's it! I just need to lay a path of bread crumbs for her-words, sights, smells perhaps, just anything to jog her memory. I can't tell her 'lest she try to off herself again, but I can help her in other ways. The first time was bad enough. He'd never forget the way she looked as she stood atop the roof of the hospital, her gown flapping in the wind as she threatened to jump and end it all. He'd never been so scared in his life and it took him months of therapy himself to rectify the notion that his beloved wife would rather kill herself than accept that she'd married a former Deatheater. Talk about brutal. How many nights he spent alone, weeping like a pathetic babe, alone in the apartment above The Apothecary--the potion shop that he and Hermione intended to operate together. Hell, they had just signed the lease on the place just the day before the accident, where they intended to start a brand new life together as a newly wedded couple with a brand new business, something that they could cultivate and grow together. He was all set to retire as a Healer and she as an Auror, but that all changed in the blink of an eye on that fateful night when he lost everything that he cared about. Their lives were just beginning back then but now Draco wondered if he'd ever have his wife back. Still, he couldn't let the dream go, for whatever the reason, so he made the monthly payments on the expensive, Diagon Alley property and yet it sat empty.
     "Baby, you have to come back to me. I can't do it alone and I miss you so damned much," he whispered and he fingered a stray curl that had fallen over her cheeek where he moved it out of her face. "I still love you so much, Hermione. Please remember, and come back to me."
     "Hey mate, sorry I just heard," Ron said as he bounded through the door of the cottage. Draco scowled and then climbed to his feet as he raised his wand.
     "You hit her," he hissed and he raised his wand on Ron.
     "Whoa, Draco, no I didn't," Ron said and he reached into his back pocket for his wand.
     "Expelliarmus," Draco chanted and Ron's wand was tossed from his hand.
     "Just calm down, alright. It was only one time. One time that's all! I was cranky because I thought Lavender hooked up with some other bloke all because I was staying home and playing bloody house with Hermione. She was pestering me for sex and then when I said no she got violent and threw a vase at me."
     "Good, I hope she hit you with it. Stupefy," Draco threw a stunner at him, and then another.
     "At least let me get my wand, this is hardly fair Malfoy!"
     "Right, get your wand then," Draco said and Ron climbed out from behind the couch and Draco hit him again, the blast hitting him square in the knee and Ron fell to the floor.
     "That was a dirty trick. I never should have trusted a Slytherin. Ow!" he cried and Draco smiled.
     "If you ever lay one finger on her again--"
     "Look, I love 'Mione, as a friend I mean but this shit is getting old! You said six months at most back when I agreed to this. It's been four bloody years! I have a girlfriend and I want to marry her. You can't blame me for that."
     "Oh, I'm sorry, am I supposed to care?" Draco was seething. "You and Potter did this to her. Do you know that I've not had sex in four years?"
     "Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Ron said holding his hands up, afraid to provoke the blond any further.
     "All I have is a nudey shot and the memory of being between my wife's thighs, so don't give me your bloody sob story. This is hardest on Hermione, so don't forget that either."
     "How's Edmond? Why is 'Mione laying on the floor?" Ron changed the subject when he could see that the former Slytherin was close to losing his cool completely.
     "My son is not your concern, but he should be fine in a few days, no worse for wear. Does he call you Father? Nevermind, don't answer I don't want to know. Does he like you? I can't imagine any son of my liking you. No, don't answer."
     "Er--So I'm just worried that if the Ministry catches wind of this, they might take little Eddie from 'Mione and me. She isn't really fit to raise a child. You might want to take him with you, you know, for his own well being?" Ron offered.
    "Eddie?" Draco scoffed at the nickname. He ignored the redhead after that. He didn't want to admit that he was right and that he had considered taking Edmond with him, but he knew that it would devastate Hermione to lose the only thing she felt connected to that was good in the world. He read her journals, he knew how she felt about a great many things. He also knew that she was depressed, but he knew that the depression would go away if she would just remember their life together. "I'm going to be here for a few days. It would be better if you weren't here. Please arrange that, and let Potter know in case Hermione starts to ask questions. We've had a small breakthrough," Draco said flatly and then he turned back to Hermione.
     "Thank, Merlin! I'll get out of your hair. Kiss Edmond for me, won't you? And hey, I'm sorry about that nonsense with Hermione, it was wrong of me. It won't ever happen again, I swear it."
     "Get the fuck out," Draco said. "I'm going to wake her now and I don't want you to be here when I do."
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Two chapters in a day! I won't be able to do that again, but this was such a long chapter that I broke it into. Hope you enjoy. Thanks.
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A Week in November