Ordinary Just Won't Do

"Ordinary Just Won't Do"

Ch. 6

 +Two Months Later+

 Hermione was tired of looking up at the moon every night praying to whomever would listen to bring him back. She knew because of Jaden that all his things were still at the Corner Tavern so technically he was still supposed to come back.

 A week had turned into two, two had turned into three until his absence had turned into a two-month trip without any Owl's to reassure her. For the first time since she arrived in Waving Wands, she used her memories to keep her warm. Those of Harry, Ron, Draco, and even other Slytherins.

 "You know, you are a great friend," Draco smiled one day as he followed Hermione into the Prefect common room.

 "Look if you want me to put a word in for you next year to be Head Boy, I will," Hermione smirked, throwing herself down onto the neutrally colored couch.

 "No, that's not why I said it. However, you can do that too," he laughed, snuggling himself closer to her, smelling her Lilac shampoo.

 Hermione raised an eyebrow looking over at him, "Then why did you say that?"

 "Because out of my three real friends, you are the best. Pansy is purely for secret keeping and having private conversations with someone whom I've known since diapers. And Blaise is the best friend that every man should have, like Potter and Weasely. Still, you, I can do a combination of both with you yet achieve so much more. I can tell you the world without worrying about how you'll look at me in the morning. I love it," Draco whispered, laying his head on his shoulders as the fire warmed his winter bitten fingers.

 "Thanks Draco, I thought only Harry thought of me like that," Hermione replied opening the book that sat beside her.

 "Yes, yes, well, Potter does have good taste at times," Draco mumbled glancing down at the book in her lap.

 "Tell me something Draco," Hermione whispered turning the page to look at another Wizarding Psychology chart.

 "No, my father is not an extreme case of Depression and Stress in Wizards," he replied, looking at where she was reading.

 "That's not what I was going to ask but since you mentioned that, it would be a nice extra credit essay," Hermione laughed at the expression that covered his face.

 "Don't even joke like that! What did you want to ask?" Draco replied flinching at the anarchy that would erupt if his father ever found out.

 "I wanted to know what kind of secrets Pansy would tell you?" she asked closing her book with a short giggle, probably from the thought of the embarrassment it would cause him.

 "Hmm, what we talk about most of the time is her crush on the Weasel," he replied without a flinch or grimace, as if it were the most natural thing he had ever said. As if he were honestly used to hearing that.

 "The Weasel? My Weasel? Harry's Weasel?" Hermione stuttered surprised she had never suspected.

 "Yea, she wants to take him to the Ball next year before graduation but is afraid she'll never get the guts to ask in the next year. Nevertheless, I always hug her and tell her if he doesn't want her he's a fool. I kiss and hug all her tears away," he replied staring into the fire.

 "You really are a sensitive man, kissing & hugging her tears away? Saying that he's a fool for not wanting Pansy? Who are you and what had you done to my Draco?" she laughed not believing what had just told her.

 "Don't ever tell anyone about that, I am NOT sensitive! I just feel it's my place to comfort her, I mean, I am her ONLY true friend," Draco replied with such an air of arrogance that it pulled a grunt from Hermione.

 "I wonder if I could help the poor girl out?" she whispered opening her book again.

 Draco looked up at her hopefully, "It would really help, I get slightly tired of hearing about the Weasel and how cute -- um excuse me, these past couple of years it's been how sexy -- he is."

 "I'll talk to him, I'm sure after six years he may take my word for it," Hermione mumbled that, that statement was anything but true. Ron did anything but listen to her sometimes.

 "If he doesn't, he's a fool," he whispered as he snuggled closer to her on the couch.

 Everything was different once they stepped into the Christmas Ball, hand in hand. Hermione smiled at the memory, everyone stopped and stared, mouths hanging open. Many didn't get it then but she knew before the war was over they all got it. Yet it wasn't so much the Ball itself that made her smile. It was what happened afterward.

 They walked hand in hand down the lake watching as they Giant Squid created ripples along the surface, giving the reflection of the moon a more shadowy like look. Hermione had her shoes in one hand and her other in Draco’s hand, they stopped and sat against a tree right beside the lake.

 Draco looked over her, his dark robes making him look even more handsome in the moonlight, "You having a good time?"

 She smiled, looking down at their intertwined hands, "A great time."

 "You know, it's been a good night but I keep feeling like I'm missing something or someone," he whispered looking down at the lake, his gray eyes looking like he was looking at the Moon.

 "They always say that the worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can't have them," Hermione replied thinking that she was right.

 "Don't I know it," Draco whispered squeezing her hand.

 "Who do you miss Draco?" Hermione asked turning to look at his as her long hair fell to one side.

 "Someone who means a lot to me. I mean I have her, but then again I don't have her," he replied, staring deep into her dark eyes.

 "Who is this girl?" she asked, trying to hide the fluttering going on in her stomach.

 "Someone special, someone beautiful, someone intelligent, someone like you. She's the most important person in my life at this very moment," Draco whispered, moving closer to her, his stomach was fluttering every time she looked up at him, he almost fainted.

 Hermione's lips turned up in a soft delicate smile, "Then how do you know that you don't have this oh so special girl?"

 "I'm not her type, I'm just another person in this world, another bastardly person," he replied, serious as ever, wrapping his arms around her as her head landed softly on his chest.

 "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. And to me, you are the world Draco," she whispered into his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his chest.

 Draco liked this feeling of having his her in his arms, he loved her soft female smell, he was intoxicated, "Merlin, sometimes I think I love you."

 "I think it's possible," she smiled as his cologne filled his senses.

 Draco lifted her chin with his index finger, they stayed like that for a moment, brown meeting gray, gray meeting brown. They knew, even then, it was something that would never end for them, long into their adult lives this would lie just within their reach. It would always be up to them if they reached it. He pulled her close to him, touching her lips for the first time in weeks, she kissed him back with such urgency that she couldn't stop herself. Draco traced her bottom lip with his tongue before pulling back but she pulled his lips back making both their temperatures rise, the kiss got deeper and deeper as the moments went on.

Hermione pulled away finally, placing her fingers on her swollen red lips, "God, Draco what is happening to us?"

 "We're falling in love Hermione," he whispered kissing her on the neck, his hands roaming up and down her frame desperately.

 "Lord, I want you Draco Malfoy," she panted, straddling his legs, and placing her hands in his hair.

 "I want you too, but we can't. Not tonight," Draco smiled at the pout that arrived with his words.

 "I thought this is what all Slytherin's dreamed about? Having a tryst with a horny little Mudblood so they could have something to live off later," Hermione grinned, as his rested his hands on the small of her back.

 "Oh, we do, but you are different. I don't plan on it being a one time thing and it has to be perfect," he replied as she nibbled on his ear lovingly.

 "Why? It's not like I'll be the first virgin Mudblood taken by the handsome Slytherin king," she whispered into his ear, feeling his reaction, and feeling oddly very pleased by it.

 Draco grimaced, her light use of the word Mudblood, "Merlin, how I hate your sick humor Hermione."

 "I picked up it from you," Hermione laughed, sitting beside him, trying to hide her flushed cheeks.

 "I promise you Hermione, when you give yourself to me it will be perfect. I know it'll make you happy to have the perfect time, just like most girls want, and it will be perfect," he whispered into her ear as a cool wind blew against them.

 Hermione grinned, he made the rational side of her disappear, and left her with a wanton Hermione that she barely knew, "Why do you want to make me happy all of a sudden?"

 "Love is about making happy . . . not being happy. You know Malfoy's are only out for themselves, so if this is perfect you'll be happy and give me the greatest moment of your life," Draco smirked, as she laughed softly.

 Hermione closed her eyes as a tear treaded softly down her cheek, she bit her lip a moment before looking up at the stars, "Please, Draco, come back to me. Please, don't give up on me, not yet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Draco stormed into Harry's house, angry, nothing had gone as planned. It had taken them two whole months to convict all four, none got death, they all just got kissed. Draco was pissed, he wanted more, he couldn't go back to Waving Wands and say 'hey they aren't dead but you are safe'.

 "Hey, Draco, I'm sorry man. I wanted more too," Harry whispered, trying to console his friend on a disappointment that most of the Wizarding world would feel.

 "I know it takes forever to piece all the pieces of a puzzle from a Pensieve together. Still, damn, she should have died several times," Draco yelled as Ginny entered the room with two cups of coffee.

 "Here, both of you drink, now. I'm sorry Draco, do you think she'll ever come home now?" Ginny asked, placing a small hand on his back, trying her best to comfort him, like she had seen Hermione do many times.

 "Damn, I was supposed to be back two months ago to talk to her. What will she think now?" Draco groaned laying his head on the table. He was tired. In the past month he, Blaise, and Harry barely slept a full night. It was almost like war again.

 "She'll think, 'Draco my hero'. You never gave up on her Draco, why start now?" Ginny whispered, sounding a bit like her Mother.

 "Have you Owled her?" Harry asked finishing off his cup of black coffee.

 "Not since I left," he replied as Ginny massaged his shoulders and mouthed to Harry to get him some parchment & some Quill.

 "Draco, absence does for love what the wind does for a flame: it extinguishes the weak, and feeds the strong. I believe you and Hermione are strong," Ginny whispered, as her long time boyfriend returned.

 "Thanks," Draco whispered taking the Parchment as Harry and Ginny walked out of the kitchen.

 Hermione,

 I'm sitting in Harry's kitchen wishing I could have done more. I know it's been two months but things didn't go as planned. In a sense everything is cleared up, the men are in Azkaban, and you are free to walk the streets of Waving Wands, England, or wherever. However, I'm very disappointed right now, I feel like I could have done so much more for you. Expect me in the next day or so.

Draco

 He folded the note and stood up to find an Owl when he noticed Hedwig, in her old age, watching him. He smiled at her and held the letter out to her, "Hermione Granger."

 With that she flew away, to bring hope to the one who needed it. Draco sat back in the chair and stared into his now cold coffee, what was he going to do now? He couldn't return without an inkling of what he was going to say to her.

 "Malfoy you look nervous, like you are proposing or something," Harry laughed as he exited the Head Boy/Head Girl common room.

 "She's in there right?" Draco asked, biting his perfect pink lip.

 "Yea," Harry replied, watching as Draco headed for the painting.

 "Thanks Potter," Draco replied wringing his hands nervously.

 "Whoa, Malfoy, what’s up?" Harry asked stopping his enemy before he said the password.

 "What's up with what, Potter?" Draco asked, glaring at the young man who had just made him forget his line.

 "You are never nervous when you go see Mione. Why now?" he asked ignoring the painting that was asking them if they were coming in.

 "If you just have to know Potter, want to ask her what are we exactly and I have yet to find the right words," Draco replied, to someone he once pledged never to confide in.

 

Harry laughed like that was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard, "It's you Malfoy! Sometimes I wonder do you mean more to her than I do."

 "What are you saying Potter?" Draco asked, his eyes narrowing.

 "That with you, Malfoy, all Mione wants is a smile and some simple words. She doesn't need much from you, I think you already struck her heart," Harry replied matter-of-factly.

 "Thanks Potter," Draco whispered as Harry patted him on the shoulder.

 "Good luck man and remember you are already there," Harry replied before jogging down the hall toward the Gryffindor common room.

 "I'm already there," Draco whispered, to himself before walking up to the painting of a King on his throne.

 "Password young man?" the king asked looking down at Draco with a turned up nose.

 "Quaffle toes," Draco said just as the Painting opened and he stepped in.

 Hermione was sitting on the couch when he walked in, probably studying for her N. E. W. T. S. Just seeing her there threw him for a loop. She wasn't supposed to be sitting there just yet. He wasn't ready, hell, when it came to asking her things, he was never ready.

 "Hermione," he began, moving slowly to stand in front of her.

 She looked up at him, a genuine smile sitting complacently on her lips, "Hey Draco."

 "I want to talk to you," he said, trying to hide his obvious nervousness.

"Come sit beside me and talk," Hermione replied moving all her paper's and books onto the floor beside her feet.

 Draco sat, took deep breaths, and tried not to stumble. But she spoke first, "What is it? I know it can't be that hard Draco, not with me."

 He sighed loudly, "It is hard Hermione. For the first time, in my seventeen-year-old life, I want to tell someone how I feel. It’s so hard.

 She took his hand, with a friendly half smile, "Then if it makes it any easier, I'll stay quiet."

 Draco looked up into her deep sultry brown eyes before he spoke, "Sometimes, at night, I ask myself 'Can this be true' or 'Can this be real.' I think about everything we’ve done, said, been through and I know it's real. I just can't seem to put into words how I feel."

 Hermione squeezed his hand, "Well, I think you are doing that now."

 That made him smile for the first time since he had decided to come talk to her, "There was once a time when I thought I was complete, that all I thought and had was real. But the moment I met you, I mean really met you and got to know you, I lost control. I never knew love and I never knew it could feel like this. Everything between us changed with just one kiss and now I know I can't let you go. Hermione, I wanted to ask you what are we?"

 She smiled and kissed his cheek softly, "We are everything you just said Draco. I can't seem to let you go either, so look, I promise, if you hang around you'll see that there is no other place I'd rather be."

 "With me?" Draco asked turning to look at her and their faces were just inches apart.

 "Only with you Draco Xavier Malfoy, only with you," Hermione replied as she pulled him into a hug, she was sure that the hugs she gave were all that he'd had in a while.

 Draco smiled that like most of their times together was perfect. Just for them, he never thought he could have had such an emotionally stable relationship with any other girl, to this day. She made him remember that he was person and that he had a heart. Even if her way of reminding him was less than tactful. Arguments often broke out between them, he could never make himself think that it was perfect love between them, but it was a perfect balance between love, friendship, and brutal honesty.

 "How could you be so heartless? You're glad she died, how could you be?" Hermione yelled, turning to face the angry young blond who stood behind her.

 "Heartless? I'm not heartless, if I were heartless how, could I love you? Tell me that Little-Miss-Know-it-all," Draco yelled, forgetting the countless people who could hear them.

 Hermione glanced at the closed door of the Great Hall and continued, "Maybe you don't love me, maybe you are using me! I can't believe I love someone who could be glad that MY FRIEND died!"

 Draco glared at her tiredly, today was the day after the school found out that Parvati Patil had died in a Freak Cauldron accident in Hogsmeade, "I never said I was glad, I just said I honestly did not care! She was some useless Gryffindor. I am programmed to say things like that! Am I supposed to be begging to be murdered by my own House mates?"

 

"You don't have to be so cold and heartless about it, Draco! Especially in front of Padma," she cried. He couldn't whether her tears were from her anger or from her grief.

 "I have to be cold Hermione. It’s just the way it has to be!" Draco yelled trying to drill reality into her head.

 "Still, couldn't you wait to laugh about her when I was out of your sight? It's disgusting to hear your laughter when all I want to do is cry! I hate the grins and the heartless 'humph's' coming from your damn House mates when my House mates and I are all depressed! I don't get you people, how could you be so vile and heartless? Somebody died, a real person is dead, six feet under, we will never see her again," Hermione screamed, not noticing how the entire hall was quiet. Dumbledore held the teachers from stopping the argument, saying that something's that were said, some of them needed to hear.

"It's who we are Hermione, we can't feel sorry for someone whom we've treated like dirt from the moment we met and still expect to have a place among each other in the morning!" he yelled, trying his best to remain a Slytherin in his words. But it wasn't working, Hermione's words were shaming his House mates and he wasn't helping.

 "How childish! Don't you think that attitude is a bit antiquated? You are a person, if you claim to love me, then you could at least have PITY on a dead soul and keep your comments to yourself within your common room! Or is that too much maturity for you?" she demanded, her voice ringing loudly throughout the Great Hall.

 "Merlin, Hermione this isn't a Boarding School Utopia! We can't all be perfect happy little Gryffindors. It's just not in some of us," Draco replied as she stepped closer to him fighting the urge to just stop fighting and just fall into his arms.

 "I'm not asking any of you to be a Gryffindor, any of you, I'm asking you to have pity! Act like you have a piece of a soul and let the rest of us grieve over a lost life. Someone that we cared about, I don't give a shit if any of you liked her, but give me a moment to remember someone I loved and respected. Can you do that?" Hermione asked, turning away from him to wipe away her tears, she knew she was mad, she never cursed.

 "I love you Hermione and I will do whatever you ask. But I refused to apologize for actions that I could not help," he said as he stepped behind her so he could wrap his arms around her.

 But she pushed him away with a snarl, "Then you don't love me!"

 "Don't say that Hermione," Draco replied, still not caring that the entire school was listening to them.

 "Then respect me and my friends, just for a little while. Please, because when she died we all lost something. A friend, a sister, a partner, a girlfriend, a daughter, a maid of honor, and so much more. She may not have meant anything to you but to the rest of us she had a part of our hearts and memories of this place," Hermione said, tears falling freely but her voice stayed strong as if speaking for the other three houses and herself.

 "Hermione we could be in big trouble with our parents if we do that," he argued, knowing that at seventeen, most of them didn't care what their parents thought but they did value their lives.

 "Be your own person and stick up for what you know is right then. Forget your parents for one-second and just give us a moment of peace. Then next month you can go back to torturing us, bullying us, and calling us names," she yelled, as he embraced her.

 "Hermione," Draco sighed, closing his eyes, she always did seem to point out things that he needed to hear.

 "Draco, please, please, just let me grieve," Hermione yelled into his shoulder, before her body shook with sobs, that had come from several girls that morning.

 "You're right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Go ahead, it's OK, I understand," he whispered as he held her tighter and fought back his own tears. He didn't want to cry because of the Patil girl but because she was crying.

 That was the moment that very angry and red-eyed Ron Weasely opened the doors to the Great Hall, followed by Harry, Pansy, and Blaise. They stood and just watched the couple. Surprised at the cries that were coming from Hermione, she hardly ever cried, and no one, except Pansy, had ever seen Draco be so caring.

 Blaise sat a hand on Harry's shoulder, "We Slytherin's agree to leaving you all alone for the time being."

 "Thanks, we appreciate it," Harry replied struggling with his own emotions, she had been a good friend to him and everyone she knew. Even if they didn't talk much, she was a Gryffindor girl no less.

 "We are doing it for Padma. She really needs support Potter. What kind of heartless bastards would we be if we gave her anything but?" Pansy whispered, looking over at Ron, who had just noticed her tear stained cheeks.

 "Still, thanks Pansy," Ron smiled as Draco led Hermione to their common room.

 "For you anything," she whispered to him before going back to sit at the table in silence.

 Draco smiled at the memory, the death of one girl changed so much for them. They didn't all become buddy-buddy but they got on a lot better. Fewer fights, fewer arguments, fewer insults in the hallway. By the time Graduation came up the whole Slytherin house had their own tribute to Parvati Patil which they joined the other three houses in presenting to Padma Patil and her family. Through the years he had gained respect for Parvati, in death she did so much more for him than she ever did in life, she allowed him to show the world that he did have heart. She allowed his relationship with Hermione to become more of an OK thing at Hogwarts.

 Draco laughed remembering that he had been a cold heartless bastard most of his adolescence, "I guess even now I can't give up, no matter how much you beg me to."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 +Three Hours Later+

 "Hey you," Pansy smiled as Draco stepped into her Gardens looking regal yet tired.

 "Hey Pans," Draco smiled, kissing her on the cheek, and sat down beside her on a bench next to some Yellow Tulips.

 "It didn't go as planned huh?" Pansy asked watching her old friend fidget, she knew he wasn't too thrilled to be at the home of Ronald Weasely but that's not what he really wanted to discuss.

 "Far from it," he whispered rubbing his wand in his hands.

 "Don't give up, at least they are in Azkaban, not somewhere trying to kill the poor girl," she replied placing a friendly hand on his thigh.

 "True. Where's the future husband?" Draco asked looking up at the nice sized property Ron and Pansy owned.

 "Practice, Wood is here for the game next week and they have to get things in order. You know with him being a member of the Cannon's and the USA World Quidditch team," Pansy replied, rolling her eyes, she was never a big fan of Quidditch and she was marrying a Quidditch player.

 "I saw your father today, when the men were put in Azkaban," he said watching her expression go from Happy too sullen with a mention of Stephson Parkinson.

 "How is he?" she asked looking down at the flowers in her hand, it was her favorite hobby on her off days, picking flowers and sitting them throughout the house.

 "Probably going to get hung for the extra connection with the attempts on Hermione's life," Draco replied softly, knowing that she loved her father no matter what he did. Her childhood was much different from Draco's, Pansy's father gave her reason to miss him when he was in Azkaban, Lucius did nothing for Draco but show him how to hate.

 "What is his connection?" Pansy asked, forcing back tears, she had loved her father even after he was Kissed. She knew that love would never go away. She was her father's only daughter.

 "Your cousin Antonius Rosier, was hired by Stephson Parkinson to assist the other men in trying to dispose of Hermione," he said, turning to look at his old friend whose breath was caught in her throat.

 "Antonius? But he wasn't a Death Eater," Pansy whispered, her tone begging Draco to tell her that everything, from her Grandfather's death to her Father's Death Eater ways were a joke.

 "True, but he looked up to your father. Mr. Parkinson used that to his advantage," Draco replied taking her hand, his old friend was a feisty woman most of the time but Draco had seen these moments very few times in his life.

 "So my father never had a soul to begin with?" she asked looking up into her friends gray eyes pleadingly.

 "He had one, when you were at his Manor under his care. Nevertheless, the moment you went to Hogwarts he became close to my father and took the second in command place. He lost any trace of his soul, he could show you the skeleton by acting like he used to act. Still, it was never really there anymore," he whispered as the first tear rolled down her cheek, Pansy wasn't a crying woman, and these few tears were all he was going to get.

 "Merlin, Draco. Is this really our life? Living with the Past on our backs and trying to love someone but they have to teach you first. Is this really our fault?" Pansy sniffed, as her grip on the flowers became tighter.

 "It's our life Pansy but it's not our fault. That belongs to Lucius Malfoy and Stephson Parkinson," Draco replied as another tear fell down her cheek.

 "Remember when Narcissa met Hermione?" she whispered, trying to hold on to a memory that could bring a smile.

 "Yeah, I was so scared but mother loved her," he smiled, remembering the moment himself.

 "You told me that night in the common room that you were scared because the two women you loved the most were meeting," Pansy asked turning to him.

 Draco nodded his remembering, "It was a nerve-racking moment."

 "I was always sad because the two most important men in my life never got to meet. I always wanted daddy to meet Ron but it can never happen," she whispered looking down at the bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"Pans, I'm sorry," he whispered laying a hand on her arm.

 "No, I'm not. I just realized a couple of years ago that the two most important men in my life had already met. And made peace, Draco, you are my best friend, and therefore the most important man in my life. Thank you so much," Pansy smiled, hugging her long time friend with a sigh.

 "Pansy --" Draco smiled as she pulled back, a beautiful smile lighting up her face.

 "No, I feel like we are Harry & Hermione of the Slytherin Alumni," she laughed interrupting his nobleman speech, she knew him.

 "We are. No matter what happens we are here for each other," he replied, as she handed him a flower.