Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Muggle Things	By : RavieSnake Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 54521 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the concepts or characters from it. I make no money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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"I found a few more," Hermione announced, coming back into her parents' living room and presenting a stack of magazines.
Draco glanced up from the one he was already perusing from his place settled on the floor in front of the couch. "Thanks," he said, going back to reading, "I've almost finished with this one.”
Hermione watched him flip through pages for a moment and then lowered herself to sit next to him. She set the magazines beside his outstretched legs and then took to watching him read again.
"I know I'm gorgeous," he said without looking up, "but it’s rude to stare.”
"I don't know when I'll ever get used to seeing you like this," she replied. He set down the magazine and turned a curious look to her.
"Seeing me like what?”
Hermione let her eyes roam over him as she answered. "Like this," she shrugged, "happy, comfortable, not sneering at me.”
Draco smiled. “You’d rather I was cutting and sullen? Shall I start adding casual insults into our conversations to set you more at ease?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, giving his shoulder a playful shove before picking one of the magazines back up. “I love you like this.”
"I love me like this too," he said, turning his attention back to his reading.
Hermione smiled as well as she idly flipped through the men’s fashion magazine. "You'd look good in this," she commented, pausing on a page to point out a suit.
"Of course I would," he teased. He lowered his magazine again and frowned down at the small stack that Hermione had brought him. "Is that all you could find?" he asked disappointedly.
"You're lucky I found that many," she laughed. "Mum and Dad are very tidy people. They tend not to keep a lot of unnecessary things."
Draco reached down to hand through the pile. "Well, I suppose they’ll have to do…”
Hermione closed her magazine and tossed it back onto the stack. “So, what else did you want to do today?”
“I’m doing it,” he replied surely. “After the park the other day and that snork-a-thing yesterday, I’m ready for a nice, long day of loafing about, thank you.”
“I thought you enjoyed the snorkeling…?”
Draco glanced up at her. “Oh, I did. The salt water up the nose was my favorite part.”
Hermione chuckled. “I told you to keep the mask on.”
“It was uncomfortable. Anyway, all I have to say is thank Merlin for bubble-head charms.”
Hermione made an amused hum, and Draco went back to his magazine. He tossed it aside with a dissatisfied grunt and reached for another.
“I still don’t understand why you insist on looking through these,” Hermione said to him. “You have a complete Muggle wardrobe of designer clothing.”
“I don’t have anything overtly professional,” he disagreed. “If I’m going to find work then I need to look the part and Gene has a great business style. It can’t hurt to see where he gets his inspiration.”
Hermione laughed. “If you’re worried about appearing professional, the first thing you’ll want to do is lose this,” she said, reaching up to tug at the bill of the baseball cap he’d taken to wearing since their day at the amusement park.
Draco swatted her hand away and shielded the hat in an exaggerated manner with his arms. “What’s wrong with wearing this?” he demanded to know. She laughed at him again as he lowered his arms to straighten the cap.
“If you wear that back home, the Muggles will think you’re either a tourist or a social delinquent,” she explained. Draco gave her a playful glare.
“I haven’t been a delinquent in years,” he said, snatching up a new magazine and opening it roughly.
Hermione rose up to sit on her knees. “Well, the Muggles won’t know that will they?” she challenged him. He merely gave a hum and shrugged as he went on scanning the magazine and Hermione twisted her mouth in thought. “Did you give any consideration to the suggestion Dad made at dinner last night? About you possibly going to work for Uncle Mark?” she asked him seriously after a moment.
Draco’s mouth thinned into a line as he thumbed the pages. “I did…”
When Hermione rose her brows and leaned toward him seeking a better answer, he sighed and set the magazine in his lap. “It was a good idea,” he said, “a tempting idea even…”
“But…?” Hermione prompted him at his hesitant tone. He shook his head and raised the magazine again.
“I’ll find my own work.”
It was Hermione’s turn to frown. “Mark’s track would be a perfect fit for you. Since you’re set on attempting to secure Muggle employment, and have an affinity for automotives, this is really a quite fortuitous and advantageous opportunity.”
“You’re using big words again,” Draco said in a taunting voice, his eyes set determinedly forward as he turned a page.
“Think about it,” she went on, undeterred, “you’d be working with someone that we know and trust, someone that won’t get upset if I come around often, someone who will pay you fairly and be enthusiastic about teaching you.”
Draco didn’t respond and Hermione readjusted herself on the floor to face him. “Draco, you love cars,” she said somewhat forcefully to try and drive the point home. “When the subject came up over dinner last night, you lit up like a Christmas tree and Mum had to pretend to spill her water to distract you and Dad long enough to derail you two from talking about cars all night! Why wouldn’t you jump at an opportunity to go into a field you’re actually passionate about?”
He finally looked up at her. “Honestly…? Because Mark scares the shit out of me.”
Hermione blinked at him and then burst out laughing. “Of all the people you’ve met, Mark scares you?”
“Yup,” he said, refocusing once more on the mag and flipping another page.
“Just what exactly is so scary about him?”
“He’s your father’s best mate,” Draco answered in a tone that suggested that explanation should have been obvious. Hermione shook her head with another laugh, but let it drop. She went back to watching him quietly and her eyes traveled back up to his hat.
“Why do you like wearing that so much?” she inquired curiously.
Draco shrugged. “I just do.”
Hermione smiled and reached up without warning to snag it off his head.
“Hey!” Draco protested at once, flinging the magazine aside as Hermione skittered back out of his reach and placed the cap on her own head.
“How do I look?” she grinned at him, sitting back on her heels and posing with one hand to her hip.
“Delightfully Muggle,” he said, moving himself into a crouching position. “Now, give it back.”
Hermione shook her head and readjusted the cap more firmly over her hair.
Draco’s eyes dilated. "You have precisely three seconds to give it back," he threatened. Hermione merely smirked mischievously at him and he chuckled low in his throat.
“Time’s up!" he shouted before pouncing on her to pin her to the floor. Hermione shrieked mirthfully as she gripped her hands tight to the hat on her head while Draco proceeded to tickle her.
"Draco!" she laughed, thrashing beneath him.
"Give me the cap!" he ordered, smiling.
"Never!" Hermione yelled back as she shifted her leg up over his hip and then pushed to flip them.
"Oh, no you don't!" Draco said from under her, his face pulled into a gleeful expression. He gave her an extra hard tickle under her arms and she doubled in on herself over him. Draco took the opportunity to try and grab the hat, but Hermione surprised him by attacking his ribs with her fingers.
He barked out a laugh as she tickled him and he flipped them again to try and halt her assault. They rolled over one another then back and forth across the living room floor, laughing and shouting as they alternated between tickling each other and struggling over the hat. When Draco finally managed to snag it from her they rolled a final time and stopped. They stared at each other, both flushed and panting with wide smiles.
Draco’s eyes moved affectionately over her frazzled hair and pink cheeks. Hermione peered up at him and brought her hand up to set her palm to his cheek. She pulled his face down and kissed him.
(((TAP TAP TAP)))
Hermione and Draco both startled and broke their kiss to look up at the sudden tapping noise.
"What was that?" Draco asked, pushing himself up to sit back on his heels. Hermione quickly sat up as well and pawed away the strands of her hair falling into her face.
"I don't know," she said just as the tapping sounded again. "It's coming from the kitchen."
She stood and jogged the short distance to the kitchen doorway and then groaned.
Draco got to his own feet. "What is it?"
Hermione let out a lamenting huff. "Owls," she said. "It seems our post has finally arrived."
Draco said nothing as he looked back at her, all evidence of their previous frivolity gone from his expression. He watched her go to the back patio doors and open them.
"How many owls?" he asked as he finally moved to join her in the kitchen.
"Four," she called out, stooping down to unstrap the bundle of letters from her barn owl’s leg. "Hey, Hoo baby.”
The bird nipped affectionately at her fingers. "Draco, get something for them to eat, would you?" Hermione requested, reaching over to undo the parcel carried between Draco's owl Artemis and another unfamiliar post owl.
Draco merely blinked down at the rather large amount of correspondence the four birds had delivered.
"Draco?" Hermione turned to look at him over her shoulder when he didn't move. He didn’t respond other than to continue to scowl down at the pile of post. Hermione pursed her lips, her brow furrowing in concern, as she stood and quickly retrieved a small container of sausages from the refrigerator herself. She cast Draco another worried glance before crouching back down to feed each owl.
“Thank you, Buxton,” she said, exchanging a bit of sausage for the letter held in Harry’s owl’s beak. The bird turned after it ate and was unburdened of its additional parcel on its legs. It flew off into one of the palm trees in the back garden. The other three owls followed it and Hermione got to her feet again to shut the patio doors.
“This is more than I expected,” she said quietly, nudging the mound of scrolls and envelopes with her foot. Draco still kept silent, his eyes trained down as well, his knuckles white as they gripped his hat at his side.
Hermione sighed at his reaction but said nothing as she opened the letter from Harry she’d taken from his owl. She read it swiftly and then held it out to Draco. He shook his head without looking at it.
“I don’t want to read any of this,” he finally spoke.
“Harry says it’s all safe,” she replied, rereading the letter in her hand.
“Don’t care. We should just burn it.”
Hermione frowned. “We can’t just burn it.”
“Why not?”
“There might be something important in here.”
“Doubtful. I’m not dealing with this shit,” Draco stated tersely before putting his cap back on and starting to stalk away. Hermione scowled after him.
“Oh, yes, you are! You’re not leaving me to sort this out,” she called after him angrily. “Or is this what I can expect from you? When things get tough and you don’t like it, you’ll just leave?”
Draco stopped in his tracks. “Really, Hermione? I don’t want to read a bunch of hateful letters and so you automatically think I’m leaving!?” he said, turning back slowly.
Hermione gaped at him. “I didn’t mean-”
He pointed a finger at her. “I told you I was committed. I’m not leaving you. Not ever. So get that out of your pretty little head right fucking now.”
“That is not what I meant!” she snapped back. “I don’t want you just running and hiding when things happen that you don’t like so I have to deal with it!”
“You shouldn’t deal with this rubbish either! No good can come from reading this!”
“We don’t know that!”
Draco sniffed. “No? This is just a pile of happy well-wishes then, I suppose?” He stomped back over to the mess and bent over to snatch up a handful of post. “Well, let’s confirm it, shall we?” he said snidely.
Hermione stared at him wide eyed as he ripped an envelope open. He laughed obnoxiously. “Oh, you were right…such pretty words,” he smiled sarcastically. “Look here…this lovely person suggests that I walk off a cliff. Cheerful. How about this one? Well…and I thought Weasley was creative with the profanities…”
“Draco…”
“Oh, now, this one is rather good,” Draco went on, ignoring her and tearing open another scroll, “Ms. Sally Jenkins from Shrewsbury says, and this is addressed to you, princess… ‘You’ll want to be careful, my dear. Associating with the wrong sort, no matter how wealthy and alluring, can only serve to besmirch your honorable legacy.’ I like that. We should have it embroidered on our new family tapestry. ‘The Malfoy-Grangers – besmirching honorable legacies since 2004.’ What do you think?”
Hermione stared at him. “I think you’re being an arsehole,” she said.
Draco chucked the parchments he was holding to the floor. “I’m an arsehole. I tried to walk away from a situation that I knew would set me off and you fucking pushed it. And now I’m the areshole. Brilliant.”
“You’re the one making such a spectacle,” she snapped back. “It’s just letters.”
“Just letters?” he said with exaggerated disbelief. “Just letters that detail what a piece of shit I am, you mean. Like I don’t already know…”
“You’re not-“
“Like the looks I get haven’t already made it very clear? Because I don’t see this damn thing every day,” he spat, holding out his left arm to show off his Mark, “and don’t already know I’ll always be judged by it!?”
He wandlessly summoned another set of letters and brandished them at her. “So, now I have to read it too!? And get to see the look on your face when you read them and finally remember that I’m really not worth being with!? ”
Hermione said nothing. She pursed her lips rather defiantly and then pivoted to walk away. Draco shook his head as he watched her cross the living room and then ascend the stairs. “And now you’re just going to leave!?” he hollered out as she disappeared into their bedroom. “That’s rich, Hermione. Real fucking rich!”
He shook his head again and threw the letters in his hands back onto the floor and simply glared at them until he heard footsteps on the stairs again. He looked up to see Hermione stomping back toward him.
“You,” she said with a glower at him, “you are an arsehole.”
Draco let out a spiteful laugh at her but stopped at once when she grabbed his hand and yanked it toward her. “What are you-” he started.
Hermione cut him off forcefully as she jammed a gold band over his left ring finger. “You are an arsehole,” she repeated, “but you’re also a good man and I love you and I have no intention of leaving either, no matter what Ms. Sally Jenkins has to say.”
She pushed his hand back at him. “So there,” she added forcefully.
Draco stared at her. His mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out and Hermione crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for him to say something.
“Where did you get this ring?” he finally managed to ask, his gaze returning to his hand.
Hermione’s rigid stance sagged a touch and she gave a small, self-conscious shrug. “It…it was my grandfather’s.”
“Your…your grandfather’s…” Draco said quietly, his eyes still on the smooth, polished band.
“My mum’s father,” she confirmed with a tiny nod. “I…I told her I wanted to give you a ring like you’d given me and she offered it to me and, well…there you are.”
Draco blinked at his hand a moment more before shifting his eyes to the pile of post and then up to Hermione.
“I was sort of hoping for a rather more romantic setting for when I gave it to you,” she went on, “but…
“So, why now?” Draco asked, his focus back on the ring.
Hermione watched as he touched reverently at the metal and then sighed and looked down at the mess of parchment and paper on her parents’ floor. “If this is what we can expect to face” she began, “then we must trust in one another enough to face it together. This won’t work if there’s any doubt about the other’s commitment.”
She lifted her face to find Draco staring back at her. He looked for a moment as if he were going to speak but instead reached up to pull the bill of his cap to turn it backwards on his head. He stepped up to her, and, before she could react, placed his palms to the sides of her head and kissed her.
Hermione let her crossed arms fall to rest her hands on his hips as she gave in to the kiss. “You’re worth being with,” she whispered when Draco pulled back slightly to gaze down at her, his hands still on her face. “No amount of ignorant, self-righteous letters or looks will ever convince me otherwise.”
She raised one hand and snapped her fingers to suddenly send every letter up in blue flames. Draco squinted into the bright light of the magical fire consuming only their post and then returned his attention to her with a look of complete adoration.
Hermione smiled back and set her lips to his again.
(((FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!)))
Draco laughed into her mouth as the security system began blaring.

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A/N: I'm back!! Hi everyone! I missed you. Things got rough, life sucked, yada, yada... But I've not forgotten my stories nor your kindness and support while I was away. Thank you for continuing to read and review!! Love to you all.
Oh, yeah... and in case anyone missed it, I posted the bonus chapter detailing Draco's experience with Muggle sex, too. It's aptly titled: Muggle Things Bonus Chapter. Hehe. :)
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Muggle Things