From Venice with Love

Thank you for the nice reviews! Here's Chapter 4!




Hermione woke up the next morning blinded by the light streaming through her window and a sour taste in her mouth. She lay there, confused for a few minutes, until faint memories from the night before came rushing back. She sat up suddenly, which was a bad idea. “Ugh!” she held her head and moaned. Looking around at the clock, she saw it was almost noon. Hermione groaned and struggled to get out of bed. Her parents would be worried sick or mad that she got home so late. “Wait,” she thought. “How did I get back to the hotel?” It was a blur. She remembered leaving the club with Malfoy and him dragging her back into the water taxi and then… She shook her head to remove the cobwebs in her mind and ventured into the bathroom to take a shower. Hermione stood in the shower until the water began to cool before getting out and getting dressed. She struggled to remember the rest of her evening before facing her parents’ certain wrath, but, coming up blank, she meekly opened the door that separated their suites. “Hello?” she called meekly.


“Hermione?” her mother called. “Are you feeling better this morning?”


“Yes?” Her mother didn’t sound mad. Hermione came out to see her parents in the sitting room watching TV, smiling.


“Good. We were so worried!” her mother said, still smiling. “You seemed so unwell. Good thing Draco was there.”


“Umm, yes,” Hermione was at a loss for words.


“Next time dear, watch out for shellfish. You never know when it can make you sick,” her father said.


“Yes, shellfish,” Hermione felt like a parrot, but she was still unsure of what her parents were talking about.


“Hermione, you should have told us you were meeting a young man last night. We would have understood. Imagine meeting a school chum so far away from home,” her mother stood and hugged her. “I’m glad you’re feeling better dear. Such a handsome boy,” she whispered. “You could have told me.”


“Sorry?” was all Hermione could muster. She was torn between wanting to find Malfoy to find out what he said and hiding from him in sheer embarrassment. “I’m going to…get some fresh air,” she managed.


“Good idea,” her father said.


Hermione fled the hotel and stopped by an Italian drug store to find some aspirin. She wished she could use a potion but had none with her as it was not a habit of hers to get drunk. “Scusa,” she said to the man behind the counter. “I have a …testa, umm-ow!” she pointed to her head.


“Ahhh!” the man’s eyes lit up and he pointed her to a shelf.“Aspirina.”


“Grazie,” Hermione smiled, grabbing a bottle. She paid and walked toward the Piazza in search of coffee and Malfoy. She found both. He was facing away from her with sunglasses on so she could not see his eyes, but she felt a change in his demeanour as she came closer.


“Granger,” he drawled, without turning. “Feeling better?”


She stood awkwardly until he pushed out the seat opposite him with his foot. “Yes, thank you,” she said primly.


Malfoy laughed and took off his sunglasses. “Aren’t we better acquainted than that now, Granger?” he said, smirking at her.


In a flash, Hermione’s head filled with memories. “Oh, Merlin! Did I,- oh I did!”


“Yes,” Malfoy made a face. “You vomited everywhere- all over the water taxi. Do you have any idea how many Euros that took to fix?”


Hermione put her head in her hands, mortified. Malfoy signalled the waiter, who hurriedly brought her a coffee. “You told my parents I had food poisoning?”


Malfoy nodded. “You must never go home pissed; they believed me, even though you reeked of alcohol. I told them we were school friends, met by accident and went out where you ate clams and got sick.”


Hermione opened her mouth to thank him, but just eyed him instead. He didn’t even really look like himself without a sneer on his face. He looked pleasant, even handsome, not anything like the prat he usually was. She wasn’t sure what to say. “Why?” she finally said. “Why would you lie for me?”


Almost immediately, his face closed up and his features resumed their normal sneer. “What would you have me do? Leave you in an alleyway so you could tell Potter? “He crossed his arms in front of him. “I rather keep a low profile next year, thank you.”


Hermione sighed. She knew it had been too good to last.”Well, whatever your reasons, thank you.”


Malfoy shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. “I won’t do it again,” he snapped, but his words lacked malice and Hermione just smiled.”Granger, don’t go thinking we’re friends.” He snapped. “I didn’t lie to help you. It helped me.”


“Of course,” she replied, though to her his argument was very thin. She took a sip of her coffee, trying to decide whether to leave. Malfoy made the decision for her though, by getting to his feet.


“You’ll be here tonight?” he asked, as he turned to leave.


“Tonight? No way, Malfoy. Never again!” She shook her head.


“Oh, come on Granger. You had fun. Besides, I can hardly be seen without you this week. After all, you’re using me for sex, remember?” he grinned wickedly at her and disappeared before she could reply.


“What?” And then she remembered. “Oh, Merlin!”