I'll Always Be There for You...

I'll always be there for you...

Chapter 11

I let myself into the studio that was now known as my home. I walked upstairs to my bedroom, as if I was on autopilot.

Dumping my stuff on the bed, I sat down and took a few calming breaths of air. Air is good, I told myself. Air is always good. It's good to breathe.

After that was over, I relaxed a bit. I didn't even know what I was so tense for.

So what if Ron came to my shoot? So what if he started accusing me? I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. I knew he was bound to find out about me modeling eventually.

But what if he came here and started demanding me things? Having spent seven years with Ron Weasley made me know that he was no one to be afraid of. But now that we were no longer engaged, least of all friends, made me a bit uneasy around him.

I pushed all thoughts of Ron and his family out of my mind and looked down at the contract on my hands. It all made sense now. When I first met Malfoy and found out what he was doing, I couldn't believe it: modeling was so not his thing. Not that I knew what his thing was, but still.

I read over the contract, slowly absorbing all the information. My mother had taught me that. Being a dentist, she had to go over several contracts and she had learnt some tricks. Although I didn't think they would help me with this, since it was probably a magical contract, making it ever stronger.

It was a six-month contract, just like Malfoy had said and included lots of endorsement deals with various companies, including commercials and ads in papers and billboards.

For the six months that I would work for Malfoy, I wasn't allowed to have contact with anyone other than the people from my work. No family, no new relationships, no new 'friendships'. I couldn't get married either.

I got a little upset when I read that I couldn't see my family for those six months, but then I realised that I hadn't seen my family for two weeks. My parents were probably worried sick about me.

I skimmed ahead and continued to read the contract for the rest of the day.

I had made my decision by the next day. I had decided to stay and help Malfoy. After all, what else was I going to do? Plus I felt great in my new image. And it was kind of duty to help an Auror, even though I wasn't one myself.

I just had one thing to discuss with Malfoy though. So I rang him up and told him that I had made my decision.

"I'm downstairs," he said. "Come on down."

Downstairs was the studio and I was surprised that he was here. I hadn't even heard his car or even him opening the door. I guess I was too engrossed in the contract.

After quickly glancing at the mirror, I walked down the stairs to see Malfoy's office door open.

I knocked on the door and he looked up from his desk. "Come in," he said.

I walked in and sat down after he gestured to the chair in front of him.

"So?" he asked me, putting his pen down.

He wanted to get to the point? Fine. "You've set your conditions, but I have some as well," I said.

"Conditions?" he said, raising his eyebrows. He looked way better and natural in his usual blond hair. It made the situation less scary, him and I being employee and boss.

"Just one. But first, you said I couldn't see my family during that period, so I want to visit my parents today before I sign anything."

He nodded and I continued, "As for my condition, I want somewhere else to live, if I'm going to work with you. I'm tired of living in a cramped up attic on top of a modeling studio."

"That's fine," he said, appearing thoughtful. "I was going ask you about that."

I waited for him to continue and he did. "I was thinking that maybe you should stay at Malfoy Manner for that..."

"What?" I blurted out. "Stay at your house?! Never."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Like I have any desire to have you stay with me, Granger. I was just saying that for your safety from a certain someone as well as the press, it would be better for you to stay on a floor in Malfoy Manner, just so that no one bothers you while you're working."

Hmm. The idea didn't seem that bad, coming from Malfoy. Ew, I might just see him more often, but I could live with that, as long as it gave me a break from my usual life. I probably wouldn't have to worry about eating or anything like that. Hm, I was liking this more by the second.

But not to make it so obvious that the idea actually sounded pleasant to me, I said, "Oh fine. I guess I can live with it."

He smirked at me. "No need to act, Granger. I can tell that under all that you're dying to come and stay with me."

"Thanks, but no," I said, almost barfing, getting up from my chair. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to meet with my parents."

And with that I left his office and got ready in my room to meet my parents. I first called their home to see if they were back.

"Hi, Mum," I said, when she picked up.

"Hermione Granger! Where are you?" she screamed, sounding a lot like Mrs. Weasley.

I held the phone a bit away from my ear. "I'm fine, Mum. I'm coming over to see you in a bit, all right?"

"You better have a very good excuse, Hermione," said my mother, before I shut the phone. It figures, I'm nineteen years old and my Mum still wants to know where I'm sleeping every night.

So I told Malfoy to lift the Apparating/ Disapparating charm for a few hours, while I nipped down to my parents and came back.

I was there in less than ten seconds and when my mum opened the door. She was yelling so loudly at me that neighbours started poking their heads out of their windows to see what the problem was.

I smiled sheepishly at them and followed my mum into the house.

After listening to ten minutes of my mother yelling at me and my father saying he was 'disappointed' in me about how they came back from their vacation three days ago and called me to find that I wasn't there anymore.

When Mum paused for a breath in her rant, I quickly spoke and explained it all to them.

Ok, not all, but most of it. I told Mum about how Ron and I broke up and I needed a break from the Wizarding World. Then I told her about how I was modeling now and my dad nearly spat his tea in my face.

They couldn't understand why I would want to do that since I had never shown any interest in it and always complained about the media world and it was always books and learning with me.

After convincing them that I was really their daughter Hermione Granger, I told them that I just wanted a break. Vague stuff, not really explicit. They sort of understood and then my Mum actually said she was sorry about Ron.

When I asked her why and she said that while she was on vacation, she thought a lot about it and thought that if I were happy then she would be happy too. Plus there were so many other mental people out there that were scary and she knew that Ron was a nice guy, so she would accept him. She didn't want to get in the way of us.

"That's not why you broke up is it, Hermione?" she asked me. "Because of me?"

"Mum! Haven't you heard a thing I've said? It was a million other reasons."

"Of course, dear," she said and I continued to tell them that I would be super busy with a new contract and couldn't see them for six months.

It took them a while to grasp that one, but I think in the end they were okay about it. Especially when I showed my Mum every single one of the magazines I had been in.

By the end she was in tears and kept saying that I looked 'gorgeous' and she couldn't believe that the girl in the photos was actually her little baby.

By the time I left, I had given them all the magazines plus two hours of my time. I got 'home' pretty late and jumped into bed; my stomach full from Mum's delicious cooking.

The next morning, I got up pretty late and got ready to meet with Malfoy. He told me that he would be in his office in ten minutes, so I patiently waited beside his door for him to come, with the signed contract in my hand.

Suddenly the door opened of his office and I jumped.

"What were you doing in there?" I asked. "I thought you were coming."

"I just came," he said, giving me a weird look, like I was crazy.

"No you didn't," I said. "You just came from your office."

"Yeah," he said slowly, waiting for me to comprehend. "I Apparated into my office."

"Oh," I said, immediately shutting up. "Right."

He smirked at me and then said, "Come in."

I followed him in and he sat down at his desk. I didn't sit today, but handed him the contract, all signed.

He took it from me and looked over it. "I hope you understand the conditions."

"Of course I do," I said. "I'm not stupid."

He raised an eyebrow. "I beg to differ."

"Oh shut it," I said.

He didn't say anything for a while. "Tomorrow is when you officially start."

I nodded and he said, "Do you want to pack your things and we can take them now?"

"Sure," I said, getting up. "Give me five minutes."

I ran up the stairs and shrunk all my stuff and packed it into a small suitcase that was compact. Hopefully my closet at Malfoy's room would be bigger, as my closet right now was so packed that there wasn't even room for a pair of knickers.

I packed everything as quickly as I could, shrinking it down to a lunchbox size and taking it with me, along with my purse. I left all the furniture there because I expected Malfoy would have better.

Back downstairs; Malfoy was shutting the door to his office. He said, "Ready?"

"Just about," I said, slipping my phone into my purse.

"Malfoy Manor is pretty far, so hold on tight," he said taking my hand.

I grimaced at his cool hand in mind and said, "Fine."

He didn't even warn me, when I felt a whooshing sensation and all was black around me with different scenery flashing by. I closed my eyes and held onto Malfoy's hand tighter.

Soon we stopped and I opened my eyes. We were standing in an upstairs floor of the manor. I let go of Malfoy's hand and looked around.

Draco ran a hand through his blond hair, which was MUCH better blond now, may I add, and said, "That's your room."

He led me to a room at the end of the hallway with double doors. He opened them and I gasped as I gazed about the room.

The room was humongous with a big king sized canopy bed in the centre with three big windows on the side. It was carpeted, with beige carpet and the walls were painted a nice creamy colour, giving the room a nice glow. On the other side of the room was a dressing table and armoire similar to the bed. Near the end window, there was a door, which I opened to find a bathroom attached, complete with a massive mirror, shower stall and Jacuzzi. On the other side of the room, parallel to the bathroom was another door that opened out to be a closet, five times the dinky one in my old room, filled with hangers, waiting for my clothes. Then on the other side was a desk beside the window with an attached bookcase filled with books.

I was in heaven.

"It's...beautiful," I said, loving everything about it.

He didn't say anything. He just kind of nodded and left me in my new room, where I spent the rest of the evening unpacking. By the end of the day, I was tired but the end result was that my room looked fabulous and more lived in now, even though it was still neat and tidy.

I was starving, so I decided to find out where the kitchens were.

Closing my door to my room, I walked into the hallway that was filled with closed and some open doors.

I heard some voices on the end of the hall, so I walked that way. There were two double doors that were closed, where the noise was coming from.

They weren't fully closed though. There was a tiny creak in which I could see Draco standing and talking to someone in the fireplace.

"The mission is going well," he said to the person.

"What of the girl?" the person asked.

Even through the tiny crack I could see Draco smile. "The girl signed the contract. Everything's working out."

A floorboard must have creaked under me, because suddenly Draco said, "Hold on."

He came walking towards the door, towards me, while I scrambled to my room, not far off and ran inside. I opened my closet door, as if contemplating what to wear, just as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," I said, trying to sound as if I wasn't out of breath.

Draco came in and looked around my room, noticing that I had unpacked. He had changed out of his office clothes into sweat pants and a t-shirt. His t-shirt stretched across his muscles so that I could see them flexing under.

"Were you listening to my conversation?" he asked me, coming straight to the point. No 'like what you've done to the place' or even a 'are you hungry?'

"No," I said, trying to sound inconspicuous. "What? You think I'm dying to know what you're talking about? I've been here all along, since this morning."

His grey eyes met mine and his lips twitched. "You forgot to turn on the light," he said, switching it on immediately. It had grown dark over the last half hour, but I had forgotten how dark it was when I ran in.

"I was about to go to bed," I answered, keeping my voice steady.

He fully smirked now. "At seven o'clock?"

I checked the clock on my wall. Oops, bad excuse.

The smirk faded in a second and he frowned. "Don't listen to my conversations again." And with that he stalked out.

"Like I'd want to," I said after him. After he left, I thought about what I had heard him saying. He was most definitely talking about me, because I had just signed the contract. Whatever, I thought. I'm too hungry to even care.

I left my room and tried to find the dining room, without eavesdropping on anyone's conversations this time.

It took me some time, because the house was so big and there was a lot of walking, but I finally found it.

It was a big room with a wooden table in the middle and chairs all around. I sat down in a chair, only because I didn't exactly know where to find food.

I sighed. I really feel liked some pizza right now. Especially my mom's pizza. She makes the bets homemade pizza ever, even though there are a million takeout places.

Suddenly there was a pizza in front of me. My eyes widened and my mouth watered as I saw the steam rising. I was about to dig in when I decided to test the system once more.

I feel like garlic bread, I said firmly in my mind, and garlic bread appeared. Happily, I started to dig in when I heard Draco say, "I see you found the Dining Room."

I gave him a look as he sits across from me. "Well, you didn't exactly give me a tour of your Palace now, did you?"

He helped himself to a slice of pizza. "Didn't know I had to."

I ate in silence for a minute and then a thought occurred to me. "This was all done by House Elves, wasn't it?"

Draco smirked. "Don't tell me you're going to start that SPEW thing again?"

"Hey, how do you know about that?" I demanded. "And it's not Spew. It's S.P.E.W."

He shrugged.

"Well?" I asked him. "Who told you and is it made from House Elves?"

"Potter told me and yes, I have House elves," he said.

"How dare he!" I said. 'And how dare you? Don't you know that they have feelings and are living, breathing things. Honestly, I should..."

"Do me a favour, Granger," he said. "Shut up."

"Well I never!" I huffed. "I do you a favour, and what do you do?"

He frowned. "What favour would that be?"

"Helping you with your stupid mission!" I reminded him.

He took a bite of pizza. "No one asked you to help me. You could have quit the job."

"Yeah, well..." I can't think of anything to say so I eat my pizza.

After Malfoy finished eating he said, "While you're here, try to stay out of my way as much as possible."

"Likewise," I said, getting up and storming off to my room. When I got to my room I sat down on my bed.

Who does he think he is bossing me around? I was a model now. I had better show him that same confidence that he taught me in the beginning.

It was a bit late to go back down and say something to him, so I waited until I heard him walking up the stairs to his room.

I knocked on his door and when he answered it, I said, "Now you listen to me. I am a famous model and it would do you good to stay out of my way, as I am the one agreeing to help you. So you better stay out of my way."

"Fine whatever," he said, slamming the door in my face.

I stood there for a minute and then huffed off to my room.

For the rest of the week it was like that. We barely spoke, except when it was him telling me when and where my shoots were and if I had any questions with each other. Other than that, we were completely cold to one another.

On Friday night, I was invited to a party in honour of Paris Hilton while she was in London. It wasn't like I knew her personally but Draco had contacts and he got us invited. It was a formal dress party, I read from the invitation Draco gave me.

So I got ready in a gorgeous red dress that Channel gave me. It was a darker red, not yet maroon but not really red either, that was made of pure silk. It had two thick straps and the silk hung loosely for the neckline, not going too low. It fit my body nicely, exenterating all the right areas. The bottom wasn't a straight line, but was at an angle and had ruffles. I let my hair down after a while and combed it and styled it. Then I put some makeup on (yuck), pulled on my open toed sandals and purse and I was ready.

There was a knock on the door as I was doing the finishing touches on my hair. I don't know why but I felt that it didn't look nice today, even though I had worn a ribbon headband in it to keep it back.

"Come in," I said, adjusting my headband.

In came Draco, wearing a black suit and a maroon shirt under. His blond hair was neatly combed and he looked adorable.

If I had been looking at Draco and not at the mirror, trying to fix my hair, which was standing on end, I would have noticed that Draco looked me up and down.

I shook my hair back and decided to leave it. "Sorry. Shall we leave?"

He nodded and walked into the hall and downstairs.

"Aren't we going to Apparate?" I asked him.

"It's a Muggle party," he said. "It makes sense to go in a car."

"Right," I said, stepping into the warm summer night and following Draco to his car.

This was the first time I had ridden in his car in a long time. Usually we Apparated.

I sat down in the car after straightening my dress.

Draco got in and started the car and backed down the driveway towards the gate. Once we were on the road, the gates automatically closed and soon the manor was out of view.

The car was silent as he drove. I wanted to say something, but couldn't think of what, since we had been cold to one another all week.

I played with my purse for a while, opening the little bow over and over again.

We finally reached the hall and I stepped out of the car, only after a valet opened the door for me.

"Thank you," I said, stepping out and standing at the front.

Draco offered me his arm and I took it and we walked in.

Inside, there was a bunch of people milling around. Several of them were Hollywood stars and several were local stars like a very good looking man by the name of Daniel Radcliffe, as well as his friend Rupert Grint and a flaky chock by the name of Emma Watson.

"Some party," I said.

Suddenly a woman came up to me and hugged me, air kissing me twice. "Hi, thank you for coming."

The woman was Paris Hilton.

Do I know you? I wanted to say. I didn't know how to respond to this and Draco muttered, "Just act natural."

Right, easy for him.

"Hi," I said, just as eagerly.

"Thanks for coming," she said, in an airhead type way. "By the way, who are you?"

My smile still frozen in place, I shot a glance at Draco. He just nodded.

"Um, my name's 'Mione. I'm a model?" I said.

She smiled. "Of course. Enjoy the party." She rushed out to greet other guests.

Draco shook his head after she left.

"That was weird," I said.

Draco didn't say anything, but took my arm and steered me over to some famous people he wanted me to meet.

After about five minutes of meeting people, I felt really out of place. First of all, all the people were really rich with snooty attitudes and personality. Plus all the women were super skinny and tall, wearing tight, short dresses that dipped so low that I had to avert my eyes. They were all wearing their hair in fancy styles with rubies, sapphires and diamonds adorning their necks, ears, wrists and fingers.

Plus no one was really talking to me. Even Draco had ditched me to talk to some people, but was actually spying on them.

I yawned, already bored.

Soon dinner was served and Draco came back.

"Remember your manners," he said quietly as waiters served us at table.

I kicked him under the table, hoping that Garry Oldman and his wife, who were sharing a table with us, didn't notice.

He winced and I shot him a look. He took a sip of water.

After dinner, desert was served and then people mingled and danced if they wanted to.

I was coming back from the bathroom when I heard someone say my name.

"Who, 'Mione?" someone said. "She's no model."

"Yes, she is," came another voice, seeping to my ears, in between all the other voices. "I heard her say so."

"She's probably lying. Does she look like a model to you with that body? She needs to head over to Jenny Craig or something. Anyone can tell what a liar she is. No one would hire her when she's so fat."

I gasped and then located the person who was talking. It was Lindsay Lohan talking to some girl.

I walked up to the pair of them and slapped Lindsay across the face. "How dare you!"

Her mouth was an O as she stared at me. Suddenly it went all quiet.

"How dare you slap me?" she said. "You bitch!"

"Don't you dare call me that and don't you dare talk about my body like that," I said to her, my blood boiling. "Just because you want to look like a stick doesn't mean we all do!"

Suddenly I felt someone's hand on my arm.

"Mione, let's go," I heard Draco say through clenched teeth.

My teeth were also clenched as I looked at Lindsay Lohan. Her face was red and she looked mad as well.

"Fine," I said, turning around and going out the door.

Draco followed me and called the valet to bring the car.

I really knew that I was in for it, but I couldn't care less right now. How dare Lindsay call me fat? She didn't even know me!

The car came around and I got in and so did Draco.

Draco didn't say anything throughout the whole ride home. Maybe he wasn't going to yell at me? Or maybe he was waiting until we got home. Or rather Malfoy Manor.

We reached the manor and got out. Draco opened the door and I got ready for him to yell. Except he didn't yell.

"Sit," he said, pointing to the living room.

I sat down tentatively on the couch.

He stood and ran a hand through his blond hair. "What the hell were you thinking?" he asked me.

I looked at the floor. "Nothing..."

"Exactly. Nothing!" he said. "You never think, do you?"

I didn't say anything.

"What the hell's wrong with you? Do you not see anyone but yourself?" he demanded.

"For goodness sake, Draco. She was calling me fat and saying God knows what!" I said.

"That's no excuse to slap her and create a scene," he screamed right back.

"How do you know? How do you know what it feels like to have people talk about you behind your back! How do you know?" I demanded.

He clenched and unclenched his fits and took a deep breath, as if trying to keep in control.

"You should have told me and I would have taken care of it."

"Yeah right," I said. "You were going to take care of it? I'm not a baby, Draco that I come running to you whenever something's wrong. I did whatever came in my mind!"

"You felt like slapping her, is that what? Now thanks to you the whole mission's messed up! You and your big mouth!" he ran his hand through his hair again. "You can't think of anyone else except yourself. You're not going to get invited anywhere else, and I won't be able to follow you, spying on anyone."

I stood up on the sofa, tears running down my face. I couldn't stand it when people yelled at me. "You're calling me selfish! You're calling me selfish! You're a bloody hypocrite! All you care about is your stupid mission, that's it!"

"All you care about is yourself," he shot right back. "You never think that maybe your actions could impact anyone else."

"Just shut up!" I screamed, sitting back on the couch. "How would you know how it feels to have people talking about you and observing your every mood? How do you know what it feels like to be compared every two seconds? How do you know what it feels like not being good enough for someone? You don't know anything! All you can do is stand there and yell at me!"

Tears were streaming down my face as I yelled at him. I had to get my anger and frustration from the past few days out.

He collapsed next to me on the couch.

"Fine, I'm sorry," he said, in an attitude filled voice.

"You don't sound sorry to me," I shot back, wiping my eyes.

He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about yelling at you."

I didn't say anything. I just stared out the window, where the moon was shining brightly.

I sniffed a bit and pushed back my hair from my face. After a few minutes of silence, I said, "Do you think I'm fat?"

There was a slight pause and then he said, "No."

I turned to look at him. "You're lying!"

He half smiled. "No, I'm not. You're not fat. You're normal."

The few leftover tears in my eyes gushed out. "Yes, you are. Why didn't you make me like those models who are thin?"

"Like a stick?" he asked me.

"You're laughing at me!" More tears streamed out.

"I'm not," he said. "I didn't make you like those thin models because then you wouldn't be who you are." He wiped the tears off my face, his fingers gently caressing my cheek.

My breath caught in my throat as I felt his cold finger touch my cheek. Our faces were really close.

Like a magnet, I felt my face being pulled closer to his and soon my lips met his in the middle of the distance that had been between us.

His lips were soft on top of mine and this kiss wasn't rough or brutal like the one before. It was gentle, sweet and slow.

Soon though, I felt him pulling away.

We stopped suddenly and then he said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have." He got up of the couch. "I'm sorry." The he left and I heard him walking up the stairs, leaving me, sitting there with the sweet feeling of his lips still on mine, to ponder about what had just happened.