While You Were Sleeping

I awoke the next morning to Mrs. Weasley and Ginny fussing about the room. I was overjoyed to see them. Mrs. Weasley informed me that she and Ginny had been coming by every other day to sponge bathe me and make sure my muscles were exercised to keep them from atrophying. Up until this point I hadn’t even given a thought to how much ‘care’ Snape had been giving me. Thank the Gods for the Weasley women!

Once I had showered and dressed we proceeded downstairs for breakfast. Snape was already seated in the dinning room, brooding over coffee. Malfoy was seated to his right, deeply engrossed in the Daily Profit.

I seated myself at the opposite end of the long table while Mrs. Weasley and Ginny took seats on either side of me. We must have looked to be quite the formidable trio judging by the pained expression on Snape’s face. After surveying each of us, his gaze settled on me. My eyes meet his and I merely raised an eyebrow. ‘Say something.’ ‘Go ahead’, the eyebrow taunted. The corner of his mouth twitch slightly but that was all I received.

“Malfoy, don’t you have a home?” I was agitated. The reality of my situation was setting in. It wasn’t like me to take my frustrations out on others but, well, it was the ferret. He had harassed me for seven years. I figured I had earned the right.

“Yes Granger, I do have a home. Several in fact.” And then, as if the question had never come up, he turned back to reading his paper. I just stared. No sneer? No stinging jab? Maybe Snape finally put him on a potion for his bipolar tendencies. Perhaps Hogwarts had started offering an anger management class? I’m sure it was over run with Slytherins.

I only managed to make my way through half a bowl of porridge. It would have to be enough. I was just too irritable to finish. I felt like I was in limbo and all these feelings that I didn’t want to deal with were beginning to creep up on me. The struggle of pushing them back down was making me tense. I needed to get out for awhile.

“I’m going out to run some errands. I should be back by dinner.”

“Are you sure you feel up to it? Perhaps you should give yourself a few more days to regain your strength.” Concern creased Snape’s brow.

‘Well, he finally speaks!’

“I feel perfectly fine. Besides I’m sure Ginny or perhaps Mrs. Weasley would do me the honor of accompanying me so I won’t be going alone.” My facial expression dared him to argue.

“Oh I’m so sorry Hermione dear, but I’m up to my ears in housework that I’ve been putting on hold for far too long. Perhaps Ginerva could accompany you?”, replied Mrs. Weasley.

“Unfortunately I can‘t. I promised George that I would mind his shop for a few hours today. Sorry Hermione”, Ginny apologized.

The room got awkwardly quiet after that. My eyes meet Snape’s across the table. He leaned forward and looked like he might be about to say something but Malfoy spoke up before he could get out a word.

“I’ll go with you Granger. I need to hit Gringotts anyway.”

My eyes widened a bit and I fought to hold back a groan. I so did not want to go shopping with the ferret!

“I had also planned on visiting my parents graves. I’m sure visiting a muggle cemetery is not on your ‘to-do’ list in this lifetime or the next Malfoy.” Snape was back to staring at me with burning intensity. My agitation was increasing by the second. I really needed to be the hell out of there already.

“Actually that wouldn’t be an issue, if it was the issue, which it is not because your parents are buried in a wizarding cemetery. In Godric’s Hollow to be exact. I believe you’ve been there before.” Even though his face held a blank expression, his eyes twinkled with restrained amusement. It reminded me of Dumbledore. I think I liked Malfoy better when he was an insufferable git.

I gritted my teeth and looked to Snape who had snatched up Draco’s newspaper and was now hiding behind it. Arrrgghh!

“Fine. Be ready to leave in 15 minutes.” With that I got up from the table and gave both Ginny and Mrs. Weasley a nod and a ‘have a nice day’. I glanced at Snape once more, just in time to catch the sneaky prat trying covertly to watch me over the top of his paper. He quickly looked back to the paper as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I narrowed my eyes and stocked out of the room.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

After a moment or two of silence the Weaslette began to giggle.

“Good luck Malfoy. I hope you come back in one piece. Blaise will most certainly be disappointed if you don’t.” With that the little tart winked at me. Minx. ‘I wonder if she got around to shagging Potter yet? The poor sod was wound far to tight in my opinion. Too bad I wasn’t into the whole ‘hero’ thing. I might have been willing to help him out.’

Mrs. Weasley scowled at me from behind her tea cup.

“What are you doing today Uncle Sev?” His shoulders appeared to be shaking slightly as he continued hiding behind the Profit. Was he laughing? Nah. Not possible.

He let out a raspy breath. “I think I will work on some potions today. I’m almost out of the pain potion I gave Miss Granger yesterday. Draco, do mind that she not over exert herself. Make sure you take frequent breaks. She is not apt to request one on her own. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how stubborn she can be.”

Uncle Sev’s face showed deep lines of worry. ‘Dear Merlin, Blaise was right. The man has it bad.’

“Of course godfather. Not to worry, she is in good hands. Well I better be off. Don’t want to keep the lioness waiting. Mrs. Weasley. Weaslette. Uncle Sev.” I gave each of them a slight bow and then headed to the foyer to await Granger.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Snape’s flat was located in a small wizarding complex along the Thames. When I questioned Malfoy on it he explained that the building was heavily warded, protecting it from detection by muggles. We made our way to the Leaky Cauldron. It was pretty dead this time of day. I didn’t see anyone I recognized. Once we stepped into Diagon Alley I took a deep cleansing breath.

“Granger, you were in a coma for ten months, not out of the country. For you, it should be like no time has passed at all.” Ah well, at least he was still sarcastic.

“Come on Malfoy. I only need to hit a few places and then we can go to the cemetery. The less time I spend with you the better.” I needed to get this show on the road.

Malfoy placed a hand over his heart. “Granger, you wound me. I’ve completely changed you know. Even before the battle. I never believed in all that pureblood superiority drivel anyhow.”

His mention of change made me think of Blaise and curiosity go the better of me. I was too nosy not to speak with him for the sake of finding out.

“So you and Blaise. Care to elaborate on that because there is a definite change if I ever saw one.”

“Blaise and I have been together since 6th year.”, replied Malfoy.

My eyes widened and I did a double take. “How the hell did you manage to keep it a secret for two whole years? No one ever suspected?”

“I think Pansy might have had her suspicions but she never let on. It was hard at times but we knew the danger we’d be in if it came out. Fortunately, Slytherins are masters of deception. We needed to be outstanding actors so that’s exactly what we were.” He threw a patented Malfoy smirk my way.

“Wow. I guess you were. So are you two still keeping it under raps or are you ‘out of the closet’ so to speak?” This was the longest conversation I had ever had with Malfoy. And had I ever entertained the idea of a discussion with him in the past, this wasn’t even remotely what I thought the topic would be.

“Oh, it’s all out in the open now. We’re practically regulars in the society rags.” With a snicker, Malfoy rolled his eyes.

“I can only imagine what Pansy has to say about that.”, I laughed. Malfoy’s expression changed from amusement to somber reflection.

“I’d imagine she must be rolling over in her grave.”

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Note:
Hello again lovies. Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews. Going forward I will probably only be updating once a week. Twice a week if the muse is feeling particularly generous.

Sorry about "Zambini". I actually stared at it for a couple of minutes because something didn't feel right. But I thought it was just me so I left it alone. Duh!

The Malfoy angle will start to make sense in the next couple of chapters. Hermione is really in need of a 'friend'. The Golden Trio is not what it once was as you'll come to see. And Malfoy brings a laugh or two. So does Blaise at times. Good entertainment value. ha ha!

Malfoy in a relationship with Blaise is definately not something I have seen too often in fan fics. Not sure how everyone feels about it. I have seen some 3 some relationships with Hermione but that is about it. So I have to give it a go and see where it leads.

As for the comment on Blaise not having cerulean blue eyes: Hey this is my fantasy - get your own! ha ha! :-)