Always Something - Dramione

Chapter Eight

The front door of the flat slammed hard enough for Draco to feel it through the soles of his bare feet on the bathroom tiles. It was a frantic, desperate sound that sent him bolting into the corridor in his dressing gown.

"Hermione?" he was calling as he spun around the bannister, stopping dead at the top of the stairs, overlooking the front door. "Weasley?"

"Hey-a."

"Malfoy." Hermione was rushing up the stairs to meet him. "We've got a problem. Get dressed."

Before she could go down the stairs, back to Weasley's level, Draco had taken her by the wrist and was leading her upwards, toward the bedroom. "Won't be a moment, Weasley," he shouted with pretended lightness over his shoulder. "Go on through to the kitchen."

"Will you stop?" she was hissing at him in bedroom.

He disappeared behind the bathroom door to dress. "He can wait by himself."

"Malfoy, you are going to have to grow up about this right now. And I will tell you why."

He was walking into her sight again, buttoning his cuffs. "Do tell."

She took a huge breath. "There's paparazzi outside."

He startled. "Why?"

She opened the bedroom door. "That's what Ron's come to show us. Come see."

On their kitchen table, Ron opened the Daily Prophet to Page Four with its photo of Harry grabbing Draco by the collar and holding their faces close enough to whisper. Draco spun away from the gossip page, swearing. "Of course. Hermione, I am so sorry. I was out of my mind. It's no excuse, and now Potter's been dragged into it."

She glanced between him and Ron and her feet. "Well..."

"Will my mother have seen this? It's one thing for everyone to find out about your accident. It's quite another for them to come demanding an explanation after finding out we're in the middle of something this way."

"Malfoy listen," she said, taking him by both of his arms to stop his pacing. "It gets worse."

He remembered Weasley, looked from Hermione's face to his. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Ron echoed.

"What have the two of you done?"

Hermione was talking at full speed. "Ron didn't expect there to be cameras here this morning. I had no idea about it either but they were already here when we met in the street outside the flat. So we ducked into a lane, out of sight, to see if we could wait them out, but while we were distracted, one of them spotted us and sneaked up and took a picture."

"Distracted? How were you distracted?"

"It was me," Ron broke in. "I was getting all teary telling her a sob story about the joys of sticking with a spouse through hard times, and that's when they snapped a photo, just as she was giving me a friendly pat on the shoulder."

Draco's jaw fell open. "They got that on film?"

"Yeah. Sorry, mate."

"You've got no mate here."

Ron had played penitent long enough. "Look, I came to warn you about the scandal with Harry, and to tell your wife to fight for you."

Draco scoffed. "Well, thanks so much. Brilliantly done. Now all four of us can have our marriages scrutinized in the press."

"Malfoy, we need to calm down," Hermione said, one hand on his jaw, tilting his face to get him looking at her rather than glaring at Ron. "We've done a little damage management already. Instead of running away from the cameras outside just now, we held our heads high and walked calmly into the flat together as the innocent friends we are."