Title: The Carriage Ride
Summary: The Golden Trio is forced to take a painfully long carriage ride with none other than a grumpy Draco Malfoy. Unfortunately for the clueless Hermione, Malfoy's plan to flirt with the witch to get "her bodyguards" all angry gets a little bit out of control.
Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter characters.
A Draco/Hermione story
Chapter 1- Raining Cats and Dogs
The majestic train had finally come to a stop. People rudely shoved Hermione Granger as they eagerly tried to be the first ones to grab a carriage. Hermione frowned in annoyance as someone's sharp elbow connected to her upper arm. The young brown haired witch bit her lip, fighting the urge to give the person a piece of her mind. Crookshanks, who was sitting uncomfortably within Hermione's arms, kindly hissed angrily at the student.
Good cat, thought Hermione as she petted his head absentmindedly.
Five minutes later, Hermione's feet landed on the platform. She stared around her, her eyes wide with disbelief. The Gryffindor student faintly remembered hearing people talking about the weather outside. She had thought that they were a little bit exaggerated, saying it was raining cats and dogs outside. Unfortunately, Hermione found that it was actually true as the rain started to pour on her.
A low moan escaped from her lips as she heard the whistle from the Hogwart's Express.
"This is utterly ridiculous," she said as she desperately tried to cover herself with her arms. She quickly forgot about that plan as she remembered that she was carrying Crookshanks.
"What the hell!" exclaimed a surprised voice. The voice belonged to a surprised Ronald Weasley, as he jumped down from the train.
"Wow," was all Harry could say as he stood beside Hermione's right.
Although it was only six o'clock at night, the sky was a dark blue, looking as though it was nearing midnight. Dark purple clouds stood menacing over the castle and the train station. It was as if huge buckets were being poured from the sky, the droplets bigger than Snitches. The rain was too heavy for anyone to see more than a meter in front of side.
"I'm soaked already," whined a Ravenclaw girl angrily. "And it took forever to straighten my hair!"
Hermione gave a silent prayer that she hadn't decided to do anything special with her hair this morning. Her brown bushy hair was soaking in the rain like a sponge, looking like a terrible mess.
People ran in every direction, bumping into each other and the most unfortunate ones fell down, their clothes getting mixed with the thick mud.
Hermione could hear Hagrid's panicked voice booming through the screams of younger students.
"I feel so sorry for the first years. They have to take the lake," yelled Hermione sympathetically to Ron and Harry.
"Who cares? I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a ride because I'm not walking," declared Ron as he stomped to his left, where he assumed the "big black thing" was a carriage. The rain had instantly dampened his mood and the redhead continued to grumble under his breath as he walked away.
And with that said, Harry and Hermione closely followed. Unlucky for Hermione, the water reached to her knees and she was having trouble walking.
I'm wearing a skirt for crying out loud! she cried in her head as she stared at Harry and Ron with obvious jealousy. They at least have pants.
"Hermione, hurry up!" yelled Harry, turning around to see his friend struggling with an angry cat in her arms. He tried to move his wet hair from his face without success.
"Easy for you to say," Hermione yelled back scowling, "Plus Crookshanks is holding onto me for dear life. You know how she hates the water, let alone the rain,"
"So leave her," suggested Ron loudly, momentarily looking over his shoulder. Hermione glared at the redhead's back.
"Are you telling to let my own cat drown, Ronald Weasley?" asked Hermione loudly, her eyes accusing.
Ron muttered something under his breath but didn't look back while Harry tried to console the cat lover.
"Don't worry Hermione, Ron never means what he says. He just says it for the sake of saying it," Harry rushed in before Hermione could reply.
"You're just sticking up for him Harry, like you always do," retorted Hermione unkindly.
She continued to glare at Ron's back, wishing for once that she had the ability to drill holes with her eyes.
"No need to get all hysteric about it," said Ron after a while.
Harry groaned to himself, looking up at the sky, as if it had the answers as to why he had to deal with this every single day. It wasn't a good idea as the big raindrops slapped his face until Harry hid his face in his scarf.
He turned to see his friends and noted silently that a heated argument was starting to form. Hermione was accusing Ron of being inhuman and inconsiderate. Rnop retaliated, saying that Hermione had the weirdest taste in animals, also noting that Crookshanks was an ogre in disguise.
The angry witch ignored Ron since she was sure that if he insulted her cat again, she would hex him real good. Most of the carriages were leaving and about four were left. A few students were quickly entering a carriage nearby and someone's hand was pulling the doorknob from letting the rain come in. Just as the door was closing, Ron grabbed the doorknob with such unexpected force, that he swung the door, letting the rain spill inside.
"Hey Harry, hurry up," he called grinning, purposely ignoring Hermione as well. Hermione glared at Ron, feeling hurt.
"Having some trouble, Mudblood?" a male voice roared in Hermione's ears, a hot breath tickling her ear. It belonged to none other than Draco Malfoy.
Hermione jumped in surprise. She hadn't heard anyone coming behind her since she had been so absorbed in glaring at Ron. Losing her footing, she fell backwards, hitting Draco and the two crashed into the ground, Hermione on top of Draco. The blond Slytherin shoved Hermione off of him while trying to get up himself. Hermione vaguely heard Harry yell her name as the dirty water filled her mouth and nose.
Quickly getting up, Hermione spat the water out, a look of utter disgust on her features.
She opened her eyes to see Harry splashing his way towards her, a look of worry on his face. Ron, in the distance, was yelling something incoherent; swinging his one arm while his other arm held the carriage door opened. If Hermione didn't know any better, she was quite sure that she saw Ron kick a hand that was reaching for the door.
"Hermione, are you all right?" yelled Harry as he gave her his hand.
Before she could answer, a flash of lightning appeared in the dark blue sky that made the wet hair at the back of Hermione's neck stand up. The rumble closely followed.
Oh, I hate lightning, she thought, fear starting to spread.
Finally finding her voice, Hermione squeaked, "Yeah, I'm fine thanks."
Just when Hermione was getting up, with the help of the still concerned Harry, a hand behind her grabbed her waist and pulled her down. Hermione let out a cry of surprise as she fell down once again.
What is going on? she thought angrily.
She sat up as she spat out the water a second time today.
"Do you think that was funny, Granger? Pushing me down like that?" yelled an outrage Draco. His usual shiny blonde hair was covered with muddy water, his hair sticking to his face. Crookshanks was hanging off of his shoulder for dear life, sinking his claws into the fabric and Draco's skin. His gray eyes stared at Hermione accusingly.
"Get this ugly beast away from me!" he yelled furiously, grabbing Crookshanks by the tail and yanking hard.
"Don't do that!" cried Hermione as she rescued her cat. She was feeling pleased as Crookshanks scratched the Slytherin badge on Draco's wet robes. However, what Draco had said earlier came back to Hermione's mind.
"It wasn't my fault, Malfoy! Maybe if you didn't scare me then we wouldn't be in this situation," she retorted, jabbing a finger on Draco's chest.
"Don't touch me, Mudblood. I don't want to get contaminated," snapped Draco, brushing where Hermione had touched him.
A ball of white-hot fury burst and surged through Hermione's body.
How dare he call me that when this is his fault? And besides, can't he think of anything intelligent to say to me? Hermione thought.
"Don't call me Mudblood!" exploded Hermione in frustration and jabbed a finger on Draco's chest with more force.
"Mudblood, don't poke me!"
"Don't call me Mudblood, you ferret."
"Stop poking woman!"
"No!"
"What's wrong with the name Mudblood? It is a fit name for you after all," said Draco, smirking, low enough for only Hermione to hear.
Hermione opened her mouth to give Draco a piece of her mind when she felt someone trying to lift her up. She turned around to see Harry yelling.
"Oh right, sorry," Hermione said lamely as she got up. Before walking, she gave Draco one last dirty look and kicked water right in his face.
"Would you two go faster? There's only two more seats left," yelled a faraway voice. Ron was waving his free hand, impatiently telling them to run. His other hand was glued to the doorknob, keeping it open for his friends to enter.
An object hit Ron hard on the head and Hermione could faintly hear a string of profanities coming from him towards someone inside the carriage. Hermione reminded herself that she would talk to him about swearing to students since he was a Prefect as she ran as fast as she could to the carriage. There were three people outside. Harry, Hermione and Draco. And Hermione was sure as hell getting a seat in that carriage. She had enough swimming for the day.
But then to her horror, she saw Draco suddenly running past her, yelling a rude comment that was obviously directed towards her. Harry, who was oblivious that Draco was behind him, was pushed face first into the water.
No! How dare he?! thought Hermione aghast as Draco reached the door.
But luckily Ron was ready for him. The moment Draco stepped on the stairs; Ron kicked him in the stomach, making Draco fall back. Ron laughed rather wickedly at the fallen Draco. Usually Hermione would have frowned upon Ron's disgusting behavior but today she'd let it pass.
Harry was second to reaching the carriage, his broken glasses hanging on his nose, a furious scowl on his face. Ron gave his friend a pat on the back, as he moved aside for Harry to enter.
"Hermione, you're the last one. Come one, you can make it," cheered Ron helpfully. Another flash of lightning slashed the dark sky.
I hate lightning, thought Hermione.
Since as far as she could remember, Hermione had always been afraid of lightning. It simply terrified her. She ran as fast as she could, passing by Draco who was still trying to get up.
Amidst her appearance, Hermione gave a small smile at her two friends as they helped her up. But the moment she sat down on the plush black leather, something overcame her as Ron closed the door, grinning from ear to ear.
"Weasel, open that door now," yelled Draco as he pounded against the door. The rain outside drowned his voice.
Hermione recognized the emotion that was bugging her. It was guilt. She was feeling guilty and starting to pity Draco, the wizard who had pushed her down and insulted. The same wizard who was yelling outside, freezing in the cold rain.
And besides, wouldn't we get in trouble for leaving a student outside in this weather? thought Hermione, trying to ease her guilt.
"Ron?" said Hermione, trying to her redhead friend's attention as he high fived with Harry.
"Yeah?" he said, turning towards her, expecting a thank you.
"Let Malfoy in," said Hermione.
Whatever Ron was expecting, by the look of his reaction, it wasn't that.
"What?" asked Ron as though she had just asked him to marry one of his brothers.
"Let Malfoy in. It's not fair that he has to walk all the way to the castle," explained Hermione quietly.
"Are you off your rocker, Hermione? This is it! This is what we've been waiting for," cried Ron excitedly, his eyes sparkling.
"This is what?" asked Hermione, suddenly feeling annoyed. The other students sitting, all Hufflepuffs except for Luna, stared at Ron to Hermione back and forth as if it was a tennis match.
"I think that the redhead likes the girl," whispered a second year Hufflepuff girl with pigtails to Luna. Hermione, being the only one who had heard the girl's comment, blushed slightly.
"This is new ammunition to mock Malfoy for the rest of our lives!" declared Ron as though it was the most brilliant thing ever thought in human kind. Hermione rolled her eyes, at her friend's childish and immature thinking.
"Ron, seriously? Ammunition? Mock Malfoy for the rest of our lives? What's wrong with you! Just open the door," ordered Hermione, her patience dropping rapidly.
"I think they're going to kiss," the second year Hufflepuff girl continued to whisper to Luna.
Luna, who was wearing an odd expression on her face, while wearing something that looked similar to a turban, shook her head.
"No, they'll kiss in the rain. It's more romantic because the Sluggy Slugs give great luck to couples," explained Luna with an air of wisdom surrounding her. The Hufflepuff stared at Luna with an expression on incredulity.
"You know mate, she does have a point," said Harry, speaking for the first time.
"Oh betray me, who don't you?" cried Ron dramatically while Harry grinned, pushing his glasses back.
"I agree that we shouldn't mock Malfoy for the rest of our lives. Do you know how bored we'd get?" asked Harry with a crooked smile, earning a glare from Hermione and a pat on the back from Ron.
"Ron," said Hermione in a warning tone. Her tone reminded the two boys of Mrs. Weasley before she exploded. Ron muttered something under his breath, which only Harry caught, snorted with laughter.
"And ignore him," advised Hermione sternly as Ron unwillingly opened the door.
"Oh look! It bet he's her ex-boyfriend. The way she's sticking up for him is so cute," gushed the Hufflepuff girl. Hermione threw an annoyed look at the petite blonde blue-eyed girl seating in front of her.
But very quickly her attention came back to the blonde teenage boy standing in the rain.
A/N: Just doing a little bit of editing. I haven't given up on this story, I'm halfway through chapter 10.
Well, there you guys have the first chapter of "The Carriage Ride." I would really like some reviews! Thanks for reading.
blue sapphire lady