It's Complicated

A Lil' Bit A...

Draco wasn't sure what he was expecting when he offered her the hot beverage.

Maybe, he thought wearily, she'd throw it in his face or maybe to add insult to injury she'd laugh and tell him to piss off.

She did neither and did something that surprised him completely - she nodded and came plodding back down the stairs taking the mug from his hands.

"Thank you" She murmured and the blond boy could think of literally nothing to say. I was all very well asking her to stay and talk, but he'd bloody forgotten how to speak!

Hermione sat herself down on an armchair feeling, not for the first time tonight utter confusion.

Was it a trap? Was the hot chocolate poisoned?!

She took out her wand subtly hoping that the Slytherin couldn't see her and muttered an incantation under her breath. Nothing happened.

The coco was untouched, Draco sat in the chair opposite her and opened his mouth at least ten times before he just slumped back into the cushion covering his pale face with his even paler hands.

"....Malfoy?" One of them had actually spoken and it felt like years since Draco had ever heard anyone speak. This must have been one of the longest and most awkward conversations he'd ever had - and they weren't even talking!

He didn't answer her but took his hands away from his face to study hers. She looked nervous and he was glad to see he wasn't the only one suffering.

Asking a mudblood to stay and chat?!

It was barbaric it! It was wrong! It was-

"What's your favorite song?" She asked abruptly and he cocked his head to the side.

"I don't know" he answered honestly, music wasn't something he'd ever learnt to enjoy and some of the 'music' he heard coming from muggle contraptions hardly made him curious. Granger gaped at him and he began to feel a nag of annoyance. That was normal and he was glad it was there, going through a conversation and not getting annoyed with the bucktooth? That would be weird.

"Stop looking at me like that! Music is a stupid muggle thing, something I wouldn't waste my time on" He snapped at her and it felt good to be back to normal. Except he wasn't back to normal because when she flinch he felt a deep pull of guilt.

"Yes, maybe it is a stupid muggle thing but you know, I enjoy it" She was looking down at the hot chocolate in her hands and moving her thumb slowly over the rim in rhythmic movements. She still hadn't taken a sip. He watched with fascination, could she really enjoy something so trivial?

"Well then Granger, what's your favorite song?" Draco couldn't believe she had the audacity to smile but she did, nothing big but a small lilt of the lips like a tipping scale.

"I'm not sure...I think at the moment Mambo No. 5, it makes me want to dance" Her eyes sparkled with something mischievous and he didn't like it. Women had looked at him like that before and it never got him anywhere good.

"Never heard of it, not a very inventive title either - have there been four other mambos?" He could feel his forehead crinkling in confusion as she laughed at him. She sure was doing that a lot lately. He scowled in anger, here he was trying to be polite and she was laughing at him! How dare she!

"I suppose you treat all the people who take an interest in your life this cruelly, or do you reserve it only for devilishly handsome blonds?" He sneered and she stopped laughing immediately.

"Oh please Malfoy, don't get your panties in a twist. It's funny to me because any muggle would know what song I was talking about" She huffed, he rolled his eyes this whole plan was going to the dogs. He wasn't really aware he'd had a plan at all but apparently Granger was harder to befriend than the Bloody Baron.