The Power of the Umbrella by WeasleyForMe

Hermione and Draco are surprised by how much they enjoy sharing an umbrella during a Quidditch match! Thanks to HermioneTwin for beta reading for me!

This was written for the Twin.Exchange Round Robin challenge, in which I was assigned Draco as the main character of my story.

Scenario - At Hogwarts, it's raining, and the characters are playing or watching Quidditch.

Prompts - Reese's peanut butter cup, a Remberall, wizard's chest set.

Quotes - "You stuck your what, where?"

Hermione scowled as she rose from her seat in the Quidditch bleachers. The Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match hadn't even started yet and already her fellow house members had asked her to leave her spot.

"Please go sit somewhere else, Hermione," Lavender had said with a frown, and several others had agreed with her. They didn't appreciate the way she watched the matches, which Hermione thought was really unfortunate for them.

Stomping down the wooden stairs, umbrella in hand, she glanced at the cloudy sky and shook her head. She positively seethed over the fact that nobody minded when Neville fidgeted with his Rememberall during matches. It was also just fine and dandy for the Creevy brothers to set up their Wizard's Chess board to play a round instead of watching the game at all. Shaking her head, Hermione stopped to look around. Nearly all of the seats were taken, save for an open spot right next to the Slytherin bench. Having little choice, she stood tall and headed to claim her new seat, where she was squished against a large, unfriendly looking Slytherin bloke.

After the two teams were announced, Hermione watched the whole of Slytherin's team march over to their bench. From her spot, she could even hear their strategy, and if her House wasn't being so rotten, she would have shared the information with Harry and Ron. Instead, she crossed her arms and stared straight ahead.

Draco hobbled over to the end of the bench and took a seat. He turned around to wave at his friends higher up in the stands and was quite surprised to see Hermione Granger sitting next to him. He forced his wonder and shock into an angry sneer before asking, "Granger, what the hell are you doing here?"

She turned to face him and narrowed her eyes. "Mind your own business, Malfoy."

"This bench is my business, and you don't belong here."

After making steady eye contact, Hermione dragged her finger along the seam between them in the wooden bench. Draco followed the movement of her finger as it drew an invisible line next to her shapely, right thigh. "See that, Malfoy? That is where your team's bench ends and the regular bleachers begin. I'm not sitting on your precious bench," she spouted rather rudely. She had deliberately made sure that she was smashed against that unpleasant bloke, instead of even touching the Slytherin area.

Draco couldn't help but admire her attitude and her thigh, and he worked very hard to ensure that a smile did not surface on his lips. They sat wordlessly next to each other, staring out at the pitch. Hermione watched as the two teams took to the air, noticing that Pansy seemed to be playing as Slytherin's Seeker. "Why are you sitting out instead of playing?" she asked Draco.

He turned to face her with mock adoration on his face. "Oh, the princess has spoken to me," he said as he placed his hands over his heart. Scowling, he dropped his hands back to his sides and imitated her voice as he said, "Mind your own business."

"I was just asking," she retorted, watching Pansy, who was doing a terrible job against Harry. "Parkinson isn't as good as you are," she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

Draco sighed smugly. "If you must know why I'm not playing, it's because Goyle shoved me out of the way in our common room when he was reaching for a Reese's peanut butter cup, and I fractured my shin. Madam Pomfrey is making me sit out." Hermione chuckled slightly, causing Draco to glare at her. "Why are you here?" he demanded again.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "I had a disagreement of sorts with some of my housemates."

Draco rolled his eyes, annoyed at her vague answer. He became even more annoyed when he realized that he actually cared about why she was stuck sitting next to his team's bench instead of with the people who were supposed to be her friends.

Just as Gryffindor scored their first goal, a loud clap of thunder sounded and everyone in the stands tilted their faces skyward just as large, heavy raindrops began to fall. Hermione pulled her black umbrella out from under her seat where she had stashed it. She opened it quickly, managing to cover herself in time to keep completely dry. She watched the match for a few moments, trying to ignore the way she could feel Draco's eyes boring into the side of her face. She finally snapped around to the right to face him. "What?" she barked.

He just continued to glare and she realized that all of the rain had been rushing off of her umbrella and pouring onto his left shoulder and arm like a waterfall. Not only was he soaked from the falling rain, but her umbrella was making it a lot worse. She had to stifle a giggle as she looked into his temperamental eyes. Although he looked extremely angry, he also looked somewhat amused and, she was surprised to realize, strikingly handsome.

"Is my umbrella bothering you?" she asked sweetly.

"Actually, yes," he replied through clenched teeth.

"Oh, that's too bad. You see I'm kind of wedged in here, and I can't move over anymore." The false, sugary tone to her voice was grating on his nerves. "But I suppose that I could share it with you if you'd stop acting like a troll and share your bench with me," she finished with a satisfied look, watching the water splash onto him.

"Fine," he snarled. Hermione squared her shoulders in victory as she slid to her right and placed the umbrella over both of them. Although her right leg was flush against Draco's left one, she had plenty of room on her other side. After sitting in silence for a while, watching the rather boring and wet match, Draco asked, "Are you going to tell me why you're sitting down here or not?"

She turned to face him, and their noses were only a few inches apart. She listened to the rain pounding onto her umbrella while she argued with herself whether or not to tell him. He was supposed to be her enemy after all. But the sincerity in his eyes was alluring. "The other Gryffindors don't appreciate the way I cheer for our team. They all sit there, foolishly cheering, eternally optimistic. I for one try to follow the match realistically. If our team looks like a bunch of kneazles on twigs, then I'll make it known that I feel that way! But they don't appreciate it," she said, tilting her head in the direction of her Housemates.

Draco nodded slowly. "Makes sense to me. Eternal optimism pissed you off, and rightly so." Hermione broke out into a smile, and he couldn't help but follow suit. He glanced up at Lavender Brown, saying, "But that still doesn't explain why Lav-Lav looks so miffed."

Hermione rolled her eyes. She took a deep breath and began to ramble on and on so quickly that Draco could barely make out what she was saying.

"Whoa! Slow down!" he said, interrupting Hermione. "She stuck her what, where?" He was thoroughly confused as to what the know-it-all was talking about.

"I said, Lavender stuck her big, obnoxious, lion shaped banner in the air in front of me. I asked her to put it down so I could properly see the match that our team was going to lose," Hermione said, talking slower.

Draco cracked up. "That really is pessimistic! You actually said that in front of your precious Gryffindors?"

Hermione blushed slightly. "Yes, but that was before I knew you were sitting out. Now Gryffindor might win."

Draco was dumbstruck. Hermione Granger actually thought he was a good Quidditch player. He hadn't even thought that she liked Quidditch, but she seemed to notice how he played. He was flattered, sitting under her umbrella, pressed up against her. "Thanks."

She looked slightly uncomfortable and wanted to change the subject. "Yeah, but at least I got some revenge before I left. I changed the letters around on her banner. It used to say 'Gryffindor is Number One'."

Draco leaned past Hermione and squinted until he could read the wording clearly. Lavender Brown was now holding a sign exclaiming 'I am an Annoying Bint'. Draco couldn't contain his laughter, especially when he noticed that other people were looking at it but not telling Lavender what she was holding.

"Merlin, Hermione!" he gasped. "You were sorted into the wrong, bloody House!" She laughed with him, happy that someone understood why she had been upset, yet surprised that the one who made her laugh was Draco.

They laughed and chatted until the match ended, neither one of them sure which House had come out on top. They both just enjoyed the company of a likeminded, intelligent person who was willing to talk to them.

"Draco, look," Hermione finally said as she looked away from him, surprised that they were the only ones left in the stadium. They both blushed and stood together. Wordlessly, Draco limped back to the castle under Hermione's umbrella, his hand gently grasping her fingers where they were wrapped around the handle. Hermione made sure to walk slowly because of his injury, and also because she wanted the feeling of his fingers over hers to last as long as possible. As surprising as it was, she found that she didn't want their time together to end.

"Thanks for the umbrella," he whispered as they reached the Entrance Hall.

"Thanks for the seat," she replied with a smile. Just before he turned toward the Dungeons, he placed a chaste kiss across her lips, surprising both of them. Hermione watched him go, suddenly eternally thankful that Gregory Goyle loved chocolate and peanut butter.

Thank you so much for reading my first attempt at a Draco story! Please Review!! :D