So Long Sweet Summer

Chapter Two

Under the Robes

Her eyebrows rose in suspicion. "Your town, Malfoy?" she remarked in disgust.

"Yes, Mudblood," he spat, noting triumphantly how she tensed at her nickname. "MY town; as in the Malfoy's own this place. Actually," he continued turning slightly, looking out across the lake, "you have quite a nice view of the Manor from here. Not to mention my room. Have you been spying on me, Granger?"

He really hoped that she would get into a strop over his implication. But she merely rolled her eyes and bent down to sweep up the shards of broken glass on the floor with a ratty old dish rag.

"If I had known..." he heard her mutter quietly.

"If you had known - what would you have done?" Draco questioned.

She glared up at him from the floor. "I would have taken Ron up on his offer to stay at the Burrow for the summer."

Draco couldn't help but let out a snort of amusement at this. "Summer chez Weasley? Barrel of laughs no doubt. Do they haul in extra straw for your bed - or do you share with the littlest one?"

To his amazement, Hermione didn't send a retort back at him. Instead she just shook her head and continued to clean up the mess on the floor. Not knowing what else to do, Draco casually leant up against the frame of the door and continue to pester her.

"Has it not occurred to you that we are of legal age now, Granger? Using magic would be so much easier," he remarked smugly.

She met him with a piercing glare. Standing up with the broken shards of glass in hand, she walked slowly towards him. Apprehension flickered through Draco's eyes for a second, but disappeared as he watched her just toss the broken object in the rubbish bin beside him.

Instead of answering his question, she turned quickly away. But before she spun away, he could see the angry look on her face get replaced with a blush. Hermione walked across the room to lean casually against the counter top. Draco cocked an eyebrow at her questionably waiting for a response. Her cheeks continued to colour.

"'M'oly'ixteen," she mumbled.

"Pardon?"

Hermione heaved a sigh. "I'm only sixteen," she admitted quietly. "My birthday isn't until September."

Draco appeared to be slightly shocked. He had forgotten the slight glitch in that particular law. But he shook it off, it just made the fact that he could use magic on a whim even more enticing.

He rubbed his chin slightly, as if in thought. "So what you're saying is, I could hex you right now, and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Draco, and stalked across the kitchen back towards him. She poked him soundly in the chest. "There are certain things I can do to you that don't involve magic," she threatened. Turning back around, she made her way through the kitchen and into the adjacent room.

Quickly striding across the room, he followed her. "Is that a threat, Granger?" he called, as he entered the small front sitting room of the cottage.

"You bet it is, Malfoy," she replied. Suddenly with a sigh, he saw the angry fire fade from behind her eyes. Talking almost in exasperation she addressed him again, "look, Malfoy, I was trying to get ready to go out. But if you would like to continue our enlightening conversation, be my guest and take a seat. I'll only be a second."

He almost blanched in disgust. "Take a seat? On your Muggle furniture? Are you completely daft?"

She had already started out of the room and was in the entrance hall to the home; she laid a hand on the railing of the stairs leading up to the second level. "You're right, Malfoy," she said decidedly, and he smirked. "I'm sure the Muggles that my family is renting from wouldn't appreciate you defacing their furniture. It's probably best if you stand - or better yet, leave." She flashed him a fake smile with her second suggestion.

He considered this for a split second before deciding. "Well if my presence here bugs you, then I suppose I'll have to stay."

With that he tossed himself on the ridiculously orange couch that faced the stairs, and smirked up at her. Again he was surprised that she didn't respond, and merely shook her head as she continued up the stairs.

It had been quite a few minutes since she had disappeared, and Draco began to get impatient. Originally, he had allowed himself to be captivated by the wonders of a Muggle home, but after spending 5 exasperating minutes trying to work some piece of plastic with a multitude of buttons on it, he gave up. Other than the hideous couch, only a large oak cabinet occupied the opposite wall, as well as a book shelf that overflowed with numerous books on the wall leading back into the kitchen.

Then his mind wandered to Hermione. Why didn't she respond to his insults? Usually she took the bait immediately when provoked by him. She seemed almost - amused - by his taunts. What had changed between the end of the school term and now?

Suddenly a loud ringing sounded out across the house. Draco started - it sounded as if the noise came from multiple places at once. Upstairs he heard a thumping noise, followed by a loud bang. Following this was a string of obscenities that he never thought could be a part of Hermione's vocabulary.

"MALFOY!" she screeched from over head. "Could you get that?!"

'What the...' he thought. "What?" he called back.

"The phone!" she screeched again in her high pitch voice, sounding even more desperate than before. "Get the phone!"

"What in Merlin's name are you talking about, Granger?" Draco replied in amusement. The ringing noise continued, as did her constant swearing.

He heard her skidding down the hallway above him, and saw her practically fly down the stairs. He gaped at her in shock - was she wearing only her knickers and bra? Diving across the couch where he was still sat, she lay sprawled out across him, grabbing at a Muggle contraption that sat on an end table. Bringing a curved object to her face, he watched her place one end at her ear and the other next to her mouth.

"Hello?" she said.

Draco rolled his eyes. "What are you playing at, Granger?"

She glared at him, and pressed a finger to her lips. Suddenly aware of the location that she was, Hermione hastily pushed herself up off of him, and much to his dismay (although he would never admit to it) moved across the room. He saw now that she wasn't dressed in her undergarments like he had originally thought, but instead in a string bikini, which really seemed like essentially the same thing.

"Shannon, Shannon, calm down," she said into the Muggle object.

'Shannon?' Draco thought, 'did she just call me Shannon?' "Granger..." he started.

"SHHH!" she hissed at him. "Sorry, Shannon," she said, speaking back into the piece of plastic. "I've got a bit of an unwanted guest right now... Yes, yes I know you told me already... No, you know I can't... Yes I'll be there..."

Draco stood up, and crossed the room to where she stood, intent on solving the mystery of the strange Muggle contraption. He ran a finger along the long cord that ran to the bottom end of the thing. Hermione absentmindedly twirled the line around her finger as she talked. When she saw him coming over she waved her hand frantically at him to sit back down, but he continued on anyway.

"Hold on a minute, Shannon," she said into the object. "Malfoy, sit down," she said to him, covering the end of the contraption that was next to her mouth with a hand. Annoyed he obliged puffing up in rage. "No, Shannon, you don't know him," she said. "No he isn't coming... He's from school... No you can't meet him! Look, I've got to run; I'll meet you soon OK? Bye." Hermione walked back across the room and replaced the thing in its holder on the table.

He raised an eyebrow questionably at her.

"Not now, Malfoy," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm in no mood to explain Muggle telephones to you right now."

Draco fixed her with a piercing glare, but then allowed his gaze to travel down her body. Covering his eyes he remarked, "Eurgh, Granger, go cover up I don't want to see that!"

Watching her from between the large gap he conveniently left between his fingers, he saw her puff up her chest in anger. Essentially, she was just pushing her chest out even more at him, so Draco couldn't complain.

"It's just a bathing suit you prude," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

'Indeed,' he thought, 'just a bathing suit. I knew Hogwarts' robes weren't exactly flattering, but had I known that was hidden beneath them..." Draco's thoughts trailed off as he lowered his hands from his eyes.

Looking at her, the first thing he really noticed was her hair.

"Granger, what have you done with your hair? It looks almost... normal," he remarked.

She reached up and patted her unusually flat and frizz free tresses. "Oh - Shannon, she straightened it for me last night. It's not permanent though," she replied self-consciously.

Raising an eyebrow, he allowed his eyes to move downward from her hair, roaming up and down her barely covered body.

Suddenly aware of the attentions he was paying her, Hermione began to blush, and self-consciously cover her stomach and chest with her arms.

"Come on now, Granger," he said amused. "You weren't too shy a minute ago when you were throwing yourself onto my lap."

He gave her his trademark smirk, and tried not to laugh as he watched the colour on her cheeks deepen. She quickly bounded up the stairs and out of sight. Seconds later Hermione reappeared, having thrown on a short sky blue sundress, covered in large green outlines of flowers.

She looked almost annoyed at the fact that he was still there. 'Good,' he thought smugly, 'then its working.' She stood in the doorway for a few seconds unsure of what to do, wringing her hands in a nervous fashion.

"So," she said as she chewed on her bottom lip anxiously. "Would you like some tea then?" He raised an incriminating eyebrow at her. "If you keep raising an eyebrow at me, Malfoy, you're face is going to freeze that way," she said nastily. "I'm only trying to be hospitable." Hermione threw her hands in the air and sighed in exasperation. "But I doubt that word is even a part of the Malfoy vocabulary."

Draco coughed slightly. "I'll have you know the Malfoy's are very hospitable - to whom they choose to be."

"Touché," she remarked sarcastically under her breath, and rolled her eyes. Hermione began to move towards the door heading out into the kitchen.

He stepped in front of her. "Granger, why must you insist on leaving the room every few minutes?"

"Malfoy, why must you insist on not getting the hint and buggering off?" Hermione sneered at him.

'She's turned into quite a feisty one in the past week,' Draco thought. He cocked his head at her. "Do you have a date tonight or something, Granger? Why the hurry?" Then he began to laugh. "Wait - you? Date? My bad."

He watched the fury blossom behind her chestnut eyes. "For your information," she hissed at him, "I'm meeting some friends for dinner."

Draco snorted. "You don't have friends, Granger, remember?"

"Actually I think you're mixing the two of us up, Malfoy." Hermione grinned at him.

Draco just laughed at her. He didn't know exactly how to respond to her accusation. Hermione had hit on the truth; he didn't have any true friends. Not that Draco cared. To him, a friend would just be a liability. Look at the way the bloody Golden Trio were; always going around having to save each others hides. It all seemed such a waste of time to him. Draco only cared about himself. Feeling obligated to protect someone else in dangerous situations would just be a hassle. Why bother? He had the companionship when he wanted it and that was all he needed.

She caught him unaware while he was still lost in his thoughts, and finally pushed past him into the kitchen.

"Out. Now," she demanded pointing to the door.

He spun around to face her. "Oh I don't think I'm ready to leave yet, Mudblood," he said with a smirk.

"Well, ferret-boy, I'm leaving, so you are too," she replied.

"You're not still going on about this non-existent dinner are you, Granger?" he asked with amusement.

Hermione stomped her foot in agitation. "I do have a dinner to go to you obnoxious prat. Now out!"

He allowed himself to be ushered out of the Granger's house. 'This is more like the normal Hermione,' he thought after her little outburst. He watched her take out a small key and turn to lock the door. Remembering she couldn't do any magic, he got an idea.

With a smug look, he took out his wand and pointed at the door. "Sealus Porte," he muttered.

Hermione turned to him with a look of outrage on her face. "What are you doing?!" she cried. "I can't do magic, how can I get back in?"

Draco rolled his eyes at her. "That's the point of it, Granger."

Hermione clenched her jaw, and he could have sworn emitted a low growl. Before he knew what was happening, she was standing behind him and had an arm wrapped about his neck. The key was still in her hand, and the spikes were pressed up against his throat.

He scoffed at her. "What are you going to do with a key, Granger?"

In response she tightened her grip about his neck and pressed the spikes of the key harder into his flesh. Involuntarily he coughed from the combination of the pain and the fact that he found it hard to breath.

"OK, OK," he gasped. When she slowly pulled away from his neck, his hand immediately came up to rub the spot where the metal had been pressing against his skin. He could feel several small indents in his flesh.

Hermione now faced him, hands on her hips waiting for him to perform the unlocking spell. "Alohomora," he mumbled. "Damn it all, Granger, are you trying to kill me?" he spat at her angrily, finally catching his breath.

She laughed at him, "I don't want to kill you, Malfoy." Leaning closer to him she whispered in his ear, "just cause you lots of pain."

He shivered as her breath washed over his neck. But then Draco noticed that she was gone. Looking frantically from side to side, he saw her walking down the same beaten path he had been following earlier.

He didn't know why, but he called after her. "Granger! Granger!" he yelled as loud as he dared. But she didn't turn around, and he was forced to watch her retreating form until it disappeared around a bend.

Draco didn't know why he cared, but the loss of her conversation left him feeling empty. It may have been Mudblood Granger, but it was at least nice to have a real conversation with someone every once in awhile. Sighing with dejection, he turned and started down the trail in the opposite direction, making his way back to the Malfoy Manor.