Last Lesson in Love - (Sequel to Tutoring A Malfoy)

Chapter Ten - 'People change, Harry.'

The telephone’s incessant ringing was what brought Hermione out of her deep sleep that morning. She opened her eyes slowly and looked outside to see a light downpour of rain and a whole load of grey clouds that depressed the entire city. She was in her usual bed and fully clothed... she never slept fully clothed. Hermione frowned as the telephone continued to ring.

‘Pick it up!’ A voice groaned from beside her earning a little shriek from Hermione as she jumped out of bed. She stared at the figure and realised it was, obviously, Draco. He turned over and pulled the sheets over his head lazily, not bothering to open his eyes.  

‘What are you...’ Hermione frowned and then finally realised the phone was still ringing. She picked it from her bedside table and pressed the phone to her ear, whispering shakily, ‘hello?’

‘Hermione? Are you... Were you sleeping?’ the very familiar voice asked her. Hermione frowned, wondering why he was calling her on her house phone. Usually they just sent letters to each other by owl. The voice continued and Hermione could hear  his frown as he said, ‘it’s past noon and you’re in bed? Is everything okay?’

‘I... I’m very,’ Hermione shook her head and sat down on the bed as though to steady herself. She felt as though she might faint at the fact that Draco Malfoy was in her bed and Harry Potter, whom she had not spoken to for a couple of months, was calling her house phone. She took a deep breath and ignored Draco as he sat up, stretching and yawning. ‘I’m very tired because of Rose. She’s been keeping me up all of last night which is why I was in bed since noon.’

Draco stopped mid yawn and looked at her, raising his eyebrows at her obvious lie. He smirked and whispered, ‘lying, Granger? Sort of turns me on.’

 Hermione ignored him, pulling her feet onto the bed and sitting cross legged. She put her head down so that she wasn’t seeing Draco and listened to Harry on the other line.

‘So, is this a bad time? Shall I call back?’ Harry asked, hesitating slightly at the sound of Hermione’s voice. To Harry it sounded like she had suffered a major shock.

Hermione raised her eyebrows when she heard a rustling and then a flick of what sounded like a lighter. She stared at Draco as he lit a cigarette in her bed and took a long drag, holding the smoke in his mouth. His eyes met hers and he frowned, tilting his head slightly as he let the smoke leave his mouth, away from Hermione.

‘Hermione?’ Harry asked, making sure she was still there.

‘Yes, I’m here. I just... I’m not busy, what’s wrong?’ Hermione asked, dragging her eyes away from Draco as he leaned back against her pillows and smoked.

‘Well, we have some news and we wanted you to be in front of us to tell you,’ Harry said, his tone getting lighter and Hermione smiled slightly as he said, ‘it’s really exciting, you’re going to love it. Ginny and I were thinking of coming over with James this evening... if you weren’t too busy? We’d love to see Rose.’

Hermione’s smile grew wider, ‘of course you can come over. I’ll make dinner for all of us and I’m pretty sure Rose will be excited at the prospect of wearing a dress and seeing James of course.’

‘Brilliant! See you at seven then?’ Harry asked, sounding excited.

‘See you then, Harry,’ Hermione smiled and said her final goodbye before hanging up the phone. She let out a contented sigh and then looked at Draco, her smile disappearing when she saw him flick some ash into the little plant pot on the table, ‘Draco!’

‘Did you say Harry? As in... Potter?’ Draco asked, frowning and sitting up a little. He finished off his cigarette and put it out on the wet mud of the plant pot. Hermione watched this with narrowed eyes.