Round 5 Challenge #3: VOTING!
Are you ready to RUMBLE?? This week, we’re rumbling in Tokyo, Japan! Join us!
Welcome to the third week of voting for Round 5 of Dramione LDWS-Rumble Edition!!
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
1. Which drabble best incorporates the prompt?
2. Is the drabble clever, different, fresh? Does it evoke an emotional response (good or bad)?
3. Does the drabble contain grammar, canon or spelling errors?
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. You can also leave feedback for ALL drabbles in a screened comment if you wish. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Now that all of that is done… We present the drabbles for week 3!!
RULES
[1] Choose your most favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote. Each drabble’s MF and LF scores will be added together. Drabble with most points wins!!
[2] Points will be awarded to the top THREE (3) drabbles, Mod’s Choice, and any other awards we want to throw in!
[3] You may NOT vote for yourself.
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Friday, October 16, 2009.
PROMPT:
AROUND THE WORLD with Draco and Hermione!!
This stop: Tokyo, Japan! Pick a fact - any fact (historical, a festival, local color - whatever) and incorporate it into your drabble.
Two people did not submit drabbles and are ineligible for rewards this week:
thebigdisaster
marlaichen
If you don't wish to participate in the rest of the rumble, please let us know so we can find someone to fill your spot.
1
Title: Up From the Ashes
Author: greenschist
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Married!Dramione
Word Count: 499, per Word. (whew!)
Draco leaned toward Hermione while tugging at the collar of his Muggle-style suit and tie. "Tell me what we're here to see again?" His warm breath ghosted over her ear, and a pleasant tingle danced down her spine.
"Noh," she whispered.
He pulled back, surprised, mouth open. "Well, pardon me for asking!" In a huff, he crossed his arms and slouched in his chair.
Hermione laughed quietly, conscious of the quiet and predominantly Japanese crowd surrounding them. "Not 'no,' Draco." She tugged his arm until she could hold his hand. "Noh, also called Nōgaku, is traditional Japanese dance theater." She stroked the back of his hand with her thumb and went back to deciphering her program.
"You could have just said that to begin with. You know all of this is strange to me."
Hermione looked up at her husband, but he kept his eyes glued to the darkened stage.
"It certainly wasn't my intent to make you feel foolish," she said after a moment. Setting her program down, she inched closer. "Aren't you enjoying Japan, Draco?"
He said nothing, but looked down at their joined hands instead.
"I'm sorry." Hermione was dismayed. "I wanted this trip to be special, both because it's our anniversary and because it's our first holiday without the children. I wanted to go somewhere different, somewhere we've never been."
"It's definitely different." He gave her a small smile then and pressed a discreet kiss to her forehead. "I'm the one who's sorry. I should have prepared better for the trip, done some research or something."
"Besides just watching Godzilla and Kill Bill, you mean?" Happy to see him smile again, she laid her head on his shoulder. "You liked the Tokyo National Museum, didn't you? And Tokyo Tower?"
He nodded against her hair.
"What did you think of the cherry blossoms?" she asked.
"Those were beautiful." He sounded more enthusiastic now. "If we'd been alone, I would have laid you down on a blanket of flowers, and-"
Hermione hushed him, smiling blandly at a matron who turned in her seat to stare at them.
"I want to take a box full home for our bedroom," Draco whispered.
"Good luck with that," she whispered back.
He grinned and Hermione made a mental note to search his bags for miniaturized boxes.
"At least you're not dragging me through one ancient, musty building after another," Draco offered unexpectedly. "That's one thing about Tokyo: everything seems pretty new."
"There are very few old buildings in Tokyo," she whispered. "It's mostly new construction since World War II."
"That was the Muggle war during Grindelwald's war?"
She nodded, looking around to make sure no one was staring at them.
"And Japan was on the losing side, right?" Draco sounded thoughtful. "But they rebuilt and now they're strong."
She nodded again. "Tokyo is one of the world's economic powerhouses."
"Hmm." Draco turned back to the stage as the theater lights dimmed. "Maybe this is my kind of town after all."
2
Title: Oh No, There Goes Tokyo
Author: ayane_tsurugi
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Silliness.
Word Count: 388
“Okay, so we need to find the Tokyo National Museum,” Hermione said after they’d Apparated into the middle of Tokyo’s Magical District.
Draco frowned and looked around warily. “Which, of course, the goblins couldn’t give us any clue how to find.” The two of them had been working for Gringotts for nearly six years, and they’d been partners four of those. He followed Hermione through a nondescript corporate building into Muggle Tokyo, clutching tightly at his wand in its holster.
“We’ll just have to ask, then,” she said, and walked promptly up to the nearest local and bowed. He rolled his eyes; of course she’d had the foresight to use a Japanese language spell.
He scowled deeply as yet another person nearly knocked into him. They’d had a retrieval mission at a museum in New York City, which had put him in a foul mood for nearly a week due to the sheer amount of people, but that was nothing in comparison to the streets of Tokyo. As if he wasn’t nervous enough.
He followed as closely behind Hermione as he could, but she turned around so many times to bow at people that he wasn’t even sure they were going in one direction anymore. “Would you stop? You don’t need to bow to every person in Tokyo to get directions to the bloody National Museum.”
Hermione glared at him. “It’s common courtesy in Japanese custom. I never figured you for one to ignore societal etiquette. What would Mummy say?”
She was saved his scathing response when a loud scream from a ways down the sidewalk caused Draco to jump nearly a foot in the air. As the screaming woman, a tourist who had apparently been lost, hugged her newly rediscovered companion, Hermione raised an eyebrow at her partner and lover of two and a half years. “What’s got you so jumpy today?”
He smoothed his robes needlessly and frowned at her. “I don’t understand why you’re so calm! I mean, we have no protection, and at any moment that horrifying Godzilla creature could round the corner and flatten us!”
He saw her mouth curve into a smile before she burst into quiet laughter.
“What?”
She walked up to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “So cute.”
“Are you even listening to me? Granger!”
3
Title: A New Experience
Author: bookishwench
Rating: PG
Warning(s): none
Word Count: 490
“I thought we were going to a tea ceremony,” Hermione said uncertainly as she looked up at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
“No, I said we were going to a cultural event,” Draco said. “For pity’s sake, Hermione, we’re English! It’s not like we’ve never drunk tea before! I thought you wanted to do something we could only do in Japan.”
“Well, yes,” Hermione said, still not sounding entirely convinced. “What exactly are we going to see?”
“A honbasho,” Draco said, sounding eager. “It’s one of the biggest sumo wrestling events!”
“Sumo?” Hermione asked, trying to keep the distaste from her tone, but Draco seemed to have picked up on her note of disappointment.
“It’s supposed to be very exciting,” he said coaxingly. “Robbins down at the office went last year, and he said it’s really something.”
“Oh, fine. I’m willing to give it a go,” Hermione said, her nose still wrinkling a tad in a way that reminded him not unpleasantly of his mother.
As they took their seats in the unfamiliar stadium, Hermione realized that for once in their lives she and Draco were on equal footing. Japan was as foreign to her as it was to him. While Draco was still baffled by Muggle technology, Hermione often felt similarly out of her element with the intricate etiquette of pure-blood families. Here in Tokyo, they were both beginners. It was really quite exhilarating.
Finally, the crowd roared as the wrestlers appeared.
“They’re not wearing very much, are they,” Hermione said delicately as she stifled a giggle.
Draco gulped rather loudly as he saw the sheer size of the men in front of him.
“Traditional, I suppose,” he said.
They watched as the two wrestlers took sips of water, patted their mouths dry, and then threw handfuls of salt in the ring. Hermione and Draco looked at one another and shrugged.
It was clear enough, though, when the wrestling began as the crowd cheered wildly and the men grappled in the ring. When one of the competitors broke the circle, obviously the other fellow had won. After the first match came a second, then a third, and a fourth, and on until finally both of them began to cheer for wrestlers they recognized from earlier rounds. By the end of the day, they were hoarse and tired, but they left the stadium smiling.
“I admit, that was definitely a new experience,” Hermione said.
“So you’re saying I won our bet?” he asked.
“I don’t remember making any bet with you,” she said testily.
“Ah, but wouldn’t it be more fun if we had and you could spend this evening paying me back?” he suggested with a wink.
“Maybe,” she said, smirking at him, “but only if tomorrow night I get to win.”
“Shall we wrestle for it?” he asked.
“Maybe back in the room,” she said as the Tokyo night swept them off into a sea of sparkling lights.
4
Title:Miscommunication
Author: moxicrimefightr
Rating:PG
Warning(s):mentioning of underthings, oh my!
Word Count:499
In a city with a population of over 35 million people it's exceedingly easy to lose oneself. Though this particular evening it was not herself that Hermione Granger was trying to lose as she aimlessly wandered the streets of Tokyo's Shinjuku ward. It was helping a little bit, to be consumed by the throngs of people scurrying along sidewalks she had never walked with him, but every corner she turned the memory of him and that unfamiliar scrap of lace stayed with her.
You were dating Draco Malfoy, you silly girl, how did you expect this to end?
She knew it was a bad idea from the start but 6 months later he had managed to have a toothbrush at her flat and an unrelenting grasp on her heart. Fleeting thoughts of going home and asking him to explain ran through her head. Maybe there was a good reason to find another woman's undergarments in his bathroom.
"It's not what you think." was what he would say and she'd wish he could make his white lie big enough for them to crawl inside and go on with their life as if it never happened. But it did.
And it will just happen again.
Hermione found herself wondering what Draco was doing at that very moment, wondering what fresh nubile young thing he'd sunk his claws into that evening. Was she happy to be hooked and on his arm? Did she feel as alive as Hermione felt with him?
"GRANGER!"
She knew that voice like she knew the halls of Hogwarts. It was coming from behind her so she careened full speed ahead.
"GRANGER! GRANGER! HERMIONE!"
A hand was on her arm and with a tug she was face to face with her reason for being in Japan.
"Ginny told me I could find you here. What the hell are you doing in Tokyo you crazy woman?" His eyebrows knitted together and she felt his Quidditch-calloused thumb rub her cheek which she suddenly realized was damp.
Trying desperately to maintain the outrage that drove her halfway across the world she smacked his hand away.
"Oh I think you know! I found them!"
"Found what?" asked a genuinely confused Malfoy.
"Those knickers in your bathroom!"
"Top drawer next to the loo?" he finished her sentence in a tone one might use to talk about the weather.
"Yes, those! If you can hardly call them knickers they were just..."
"Black lace, red embroidery."
She felt fresh tears prick her eyes.
"Could you atleast act like you feel some remorse for sleeping with some slag behind my back?"
"I'm guessing you didn't notice the price tag on them. If you don't like them I can always take them back." He smirked that scrumptious Malfoy smirk as he watched the comprehension wash over her face.
"Merlin Granger, you are a basketcase."
Hermione's only response was a swift and gentle elbow to the ribs as she wrapped her arm around his waist and together they walked into the flurry of people with places to go and things to do.
5
Title: I Want You To Want Me*
Author: mister_otter
Rating: PG13
Warning(s): Suggestiveness
Word Count: 458
“Granger-grab my hand!” Draco shouted across the surging, costumed crowd. “If we’re separated, I’ll never find you again!”
A faux-redhead sporting towering platform shoes wriggled between them, flashing lacy knickers and accidentally elbowing Draco in the stomach.
“Bloody hell!” he grunted. “What was Potter thinking, suggesting an Auror meeting here?”
”I think it’s brilliant!” Hermione called. ”A hide-in-plain-sight strategy-- in the middle of a cosplay convention!”
“A what?”
“A worldwide phenomenon now, but it started here in Tokyo! It’s costume-and-role play, Malfoy!”
The crowd suddenly parted and Draco lurched forward, grabbed Hermione by the arm, and pulled her to the wall.
“Whew! That was quite a crush!” she exclaimed.
For the first time that day, Draco saw her clearly. Or rather, he saw a very un-Hermione-like Granger.
Beneath her open robe, she wore a tight, white blouse tied just under her heaving breasts and a green plaid skirt so short it barely covered…well. Just below that were sleek, silver, thigh high boots.
She was…she looked…Draco gulped. Those boots…
“What are you staring at, Malfoy?” she asked. I’m dressed to blend in.” Then, “Are you alright? You look pale enough for kabuki theater.”
Draco merely shook his head and pointed at her chest. “Where did you get…”
“This?” Grinning, Hermione flicked her Slytherin House tie with one finger, exposing the deep cleavage hidden underneath. ”Let’s just say I like old-school. I borrowed it from Ginny--she uses it sometimes when she and Blaise…”
Draco held up a hand. The changes in the wizarding world still amazed him. Blaise and Ginny. Harry and Pansy. Himself and the Auror Department.
That is--the outward changes amazed him. Inwardly, some songs remained the same, playing on in a continuous loop. He still thought Hermione Granger was damned hot-had for years, always would.
“There’s Harry!” Hermione suddenly stretched and waved vigorously while Draco stared, mesmerized by the seismic bounce under her Slytherin tie.
“Malfoy-when we’re done here, would you like to go with me to Ueno Park, to see the cherry blossoms?” she asked. “There are museums and … what’s the matter? You’ve gone white again.”
Granger…cherry…was she serious, or was she having him on? Did he detect the shadow of a mischievous smile at the corners of those pretty lips?
“Are you unwell?” Hermione asked solicitously. “Perhaps some bad sushi?”
There it was again--a tiny, unmistakable smirk.
“Granger, you minx.”
Hermione tossed her head. “It’s about time you noticed, Malfoy.”
Draco grinned. Time enough later to tell her just how long he’d been noticing.
“So, yes or no-will you go with me to see the cherry blossoms?”
”I will go anywhere you suggest, Granger. Just promise me you’ll keep wearing those boots.”
*Cheap Trick, Live at Budokan
6
Title: Diplomacy
Author: midnight_birth
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None.
Word Count: 395
“So,” Draco was saying, dragging Hermione along the The Fukiage Garden, “there are a couple of things to remember. Respect is the biggest thing, I would say. And... Granger, are you listening?” he snapped.
Hermione jumped and stopped, taking a deep breath and shaking her head. When Kingsley had called her up to his office and told her he had a serious job for her, she had assumed it was at most compiling some kind of top secret research. The last thing she had expected was to be shipped off to Tokyo to meet a man who actually carried the title “Emperor”.
“I’m too nervous,” she mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose and shutting her eyes tightly.
Draco let out an irritated sigh. “What is the big deal, anyway? So the man’s the emperor of some foreign land, so he lives in a palace? It’s not like you’ve been sent to assassinate the man, for Merlin’s sake.”
Hermione frowned at him. “This is a question of international cooperation,” she said. “Do you know how much rides on our meeting tonight? What this means to the wizards and witches like us that live here in Japan?” She looked down. “I don’t even know why I got chosen to do this; my job has nothing to do with stuff like this.”
“I asked.” Hermione looked up at Draco, who was now staring everywhere but at her, in shock. He continued, “I’m good at my job, Granger, but when Kingsley told me how important he thought this was... Well, considering this emperor is a Muggle and everything, I suggested I needed someone who would be diplomatic, smart, charming, alluring, and know all about Muggle stuff...” He trailed off when he noticed Hermione’s eyes get wide and examined his shoe.
When Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times, obviously lacking an adequate response, he walked up to her determinedly and grasped her chin tightly, forcing her head up to meet his eyes.
“I don’t say things like that lightly, Granger,” he murmured, his lips almost brushing hers. “Now go in there and do your job and don’t prove me wrong.”
His lips hovered above hers for a second, as if considering, and then he cleared his throat, releasing her, and took a step back. With a small smirk, he grabbed her by the wrist and continued walking.
7
Title: Perspective
Author: alexajohnson
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 343
The sunset was a dazzling palette of rich colors, making the white cap of Mount Fuji shine like a beacon of light.
“It’s beautiful,” Hermione gasped, clutching Draco’s hand. “How did you ever know that I wanted to come here?”
“Well, I was being my usual cunning Slytherin self and came across your list of places you wanted to see before you died. So I thought we’d start with the one farthest from England and work backwards.”
“You still go through my things?” she demanded with a laugh. If this were the end result, she really couldn’t be that angry with him.
He chuckled, tightening his arms around her. “You’d left it out on the table by your bed one morning. It was practically begging to be read, and what did you expect? Besides, I know you’d have thought less of me if I’d resisted temptation.”
“You do have a point-and I suppose a part of me wanted you to find it,” she confirmed, gazing out passed the mountain to the point where the sky melted into the deep cerulean blue of Ashinoko Lake. “I like just reminding myself that places like this exist. It helps put things into perspective sometimes.”
“Mmm.” Draco rested his chin on top of her hair. “And it’s nice escaping the glares and the insults.”
“You know I never cared about all that.”
“I do. But it makes it so much easier to enjoy the present when I’m not being constantly reminded of the past.”
“And I don’t remind you of the past?” She twisted around to face him, lifting a skeptical eyebrow.
“Once, maybe,” he admitted, words heavy with thoughtfulness. “But now I only see the future, the man I’d like to be.”
“Oh, Draco,” Hermione sighed, lifting a hand to touch his cheek. “You already are that man for me.”
He caught her hand in his and kissed her deeply, leaving her breathless. “Hopefully one day I’ll be able to believe that.”
She gave him a sad smile. “Well, until then, I’ll gladly be your window.”
8
Title: On the Train
Author: somandalicious
Rating: G
Warning(s): *Muggle repelling charm- if Muggles got anywhere near it, they would suddenly remember some appointment they were late for and hurry off
Word Count: 499
At the previous stop, the entire railcar emptied completely, leaving Hermione Granger alone with Draco Malfoy. With over eight million people living in Tokyo, it should have been bizarre and suspicious, but Hermione could sense a Repello Muggltum* like a maple leaf senses the coming rain.
He stood at the far end, his jaw locked with quiet seething while his grey pierced through her and sending acute stabs of apprehension. His grave expression was a stark contrast to his Muggle clothing; an atrocious mash-up of punkish plaids and vibrant neons as if he had spent the afternoon loitering Harajuku Station with the teenagers. There was a time, so long ago, when she would have mirthfully teased him about his attire, however, those days where lost. Or more aptly, she had thrown them away.
With a heart that was rattling madly against her sternum, she put away her book and feigning nonchalance, solemnly whispered, “Long time, yeah?”
The silence, although ephemeral, was fat-full of everything that had been left unsaid. His jaded bitterness buzzed into her bones and shook her up until all she felt was the constriction of anxiety.
“You left me,” he said, accusation and pain flowing along the current of his timbre.
Hermione inwardly winced. She didn’t own the words to explain herself. She had reasons, sure, but in her head, they sounded like petty excuses. The truth was worst though, and although there was a ghostly whisper of it blowing through her mind, she ignored it. So she said the only thing she that seemed to make sense. “I know.”
Suddenly he was sitting beside her, his palms nervously rubbing his corduroy trousers. “At first, I thought I didn’t care. That I could do without you, especially if you were going to leave when I needed you most. But then I realized that I was more afraid of never seeing you again, never touching you, or hearing your voice. That’s what it was, yeah? You were scared, so you left?”
Hermione lifted her head and glance side-long at him. Her heart swelled with affection and endearment and the painful needle-pricks of shameful regret stabbed at her soul. Saline filling her eyes and she silently begged them not to fall. Her throat was lumped, stifling her, but she forced herself to speak. “It was suffocating. All the secrecy and deceit. I couldn’t breathe without wanting to shout how I felt and it wasn’t fair that nobody was allowed to hear.”
“I never meant that we had to hide our relationship, Hermione. I just didn’t want it to turn it into a spectacle.”
She felt stupid for never seeing it that way and chastised herself for being so obtuse. “I’m sorry.” And she was, for it all. For feeling trapped and running away. For not believing in their love. “I don’t know how to fix it”
He took her hand, sliding his palm slowly against hers and entwining their fingers until it was a perfect fit. “Come home.”
ooo
REMEMBER: Vote for the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT the title. It just makes it easier on the mods!
Poll
NOW, for voters! If you’d like to participate in our side challenge this round, in a screened comment, please rank the 3 drabbles YOU think will place in the top 3. PLEASE use the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT the title.
You may also leave feedback for each drabble if you'd like. This will be helpful for the participants as they continue through this challenge. Since no one will be eliminated, writers will be able to use their feedback to improve week to week. Thank you!
Top 3 Drabbles:
[1]
[2]
[3]
Here's your boarding pass for A Trip Around the World Click the Pass to Read & Vote! This Week's destination: Tokyo, Japan Voting Ends Friday, October 24th at Midnight EST (GMT -4)
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http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q243/pokeystar/comms/r5pimp.gif"> Here's your boarding pass for A Trip Around the World Click the Pass to Read & Vote! This Week's destination: Tokyo, Japan Voting Ends Friday, October 24th at Midnight EST (GMT -4)
Use the textbox to Get this Pretty for your Journal - Spread the Drabble Love!
Welcome to the third week of voting for Round 5 of Dramione LDWS-Rumble Edition!!
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. You can also leave feedback for ALL drabbles in a screened comment if you wish. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Now that all of that is done… We present the drabbles for week 3!!
RULES
[1] Choose your most favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote. Each drabble’s MF and LF scores will be added together. Drabble with most points wins!!
[2] Points will be awarded to the top THREE (3) drabbles, Mod’s Choice, and any other awards we want to throw in!
[3] You may NOT vote for yourself.
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Friday, October 16, 2009.
PROMPT:
AROUND THE WORLD with Draco and Hermione!!
This stop: Tokyo, Japan! Pick a fact - any fact (historical, a festival, local color - whatever) and incorporate it into your drabble.
Two people did not submit drabbles and are ineligible for rewards this week:
thebigdisaster
marlaichen
If you don't wish to participate in the rest of the rumble, please let us know so we can find someone to fill your spot.
1
Title: Up From the Ashes
Author: greenschist
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Married!Dramione
Word Count: 499, per Word. (whew!)
Draco leaned toward Hermione while tugging at the collar of his Muggle-style suit and tie. "Tell me what we're here to see again?" His warm breath ghosted over her ear, and a pleasant tingle danced down her spine.
"Noh," she whispered.
He pulled back, surprised, mouth open. "Well, pardon me for asking!" In a huff, he crossed his arms and slouched in his chair.
Hermione laughed quietly, conscious of the quiet and predominantly Japanese crowd surrounding them. "Not 'no,' Draco." She tugged his arm until she could hold his hand. "Noh, also called Nōgaku, is traditional Japanese dance theater." She stroked the back of his hand with her thumb and went back to deciphering her program.
"You could have just said that to begin with. You know all of this is strange to me."
Hermione looked up at her husband, but he kept his eyes glued to the darkened stage.
"It certainly wasn't my intent to make you feel foolish," she said after a moment. Setting her program down, she inched closer. "Aren't you enjoying Japan, Draco?"
He said nothing, but looked down at their joined hands instead.
"I'm sorry." Hermione was dismayed. "I wanted this trip to be special, both because it's our anniversary and because it's our first holiday without the children. I wanted to go somewhere different, somewhere we've never been."
"It's definitely different." He gave her a small smile then and pressed a discreet kiss to her forehead. "I'm the one who's sorry. I should have prepared better for the trip, done some research or something."
"Besides just watching Godzilla and Kill Bill, you mean?" Happy to see him smile again, she laid her head on his shoulder. "You liked the Tokyo National Museum, didn't you? And Tokyo Tower?"
He nodded against her hair.
"What did you think of the cherry blossoms?" she asked.
"Those were beautiful." He sounded more enthusiastic now. "If we'd been alone, I would have laid you down on a blanket of flowers, and-"
Hermione hushed him, smiling blandly at a matron who turned in her seat to stare at them.
"I want to take a box full home for our bedroom," Draco whispered.
"Good luck with that," she whispered back.
He grinned and Hermione made a mental note to search his bags for miniaturized boxes.
"At least you're not dragging me through one ancient, musty building after another," Draco offered unexpectedly. "That's one thing about Tokyo: everything seems pretty new."
"There are very few old buildings in Tokyo," she whispered. "It's mostly new construction since World War II."
"That was the Muggle war during Grindelwald's war?"
She nodded, looking around to make sure no one was staring at them.
"And Japan was on the losing side, right?" Draco sounded thoughtful. "But they rebuilt and now they're strong."
She nodded again. "Tokyo is one of the world's economic powerhouses."
"Hmm." Draco turned back to the stage as the theater lights dimmed. "Maybe this is my kind of town after all."
2
Title: Oh No, There Goes Tokyo
Author: ayane_tsurugi
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Silliness.
Word Count: 388
“Okay, so we need to find the Tokyo National Museum,” Hermione said after they’d Apparated into the middle of Tokyo’s Magical District.
Draco frowned and looked around warily. “Which, of course, the goblins couldn’t give us any clue how to find.” The two of them had been working for Gringotts for nearly six years, and they’d been partners four of those. He followed Hermione through a nondescript corporate building into Muggle Tokyo, clutching tightly at his wand in its holster.
“We’ll just have to ask, then,” she said, and walked promptly up to the nearest local and bowed. He rolled his eyes; of course she’d had the foresight to use a Japanese language spell.
He scowled deeply as yet another person nearly knocked into him. They’d had a retrieval mission at a museum in New York City, which had put him in a foul mood for nearly a week due to the sheer amount of people, but that was nothing in comparison to the streets of Tokyo. As if he wasn’t nervous enough.
He followed as closely behind Hermione as he could, but she turned around so many times to bow at people that he wasn’t even sure they were going in one direction anymore. “Would you stop? You don’t need to bow to every person in Tokyo to get directions to the bloody National Museum.”
Hermione glared at him. “It’s common courtesy in Japanese custom. I never figured you for one to ignore societal etiquette. What would Mummy say?”
She was saved his scathing response when a loud scream from a ways down the sidewalk caused Draco to jump nearly a foot in the air. As the screaming woman, a tourist who had apparently been lost, hugged her newly rediscovered companion, Hermione raised an eyebrow at her partner and lover of two and a half years. “What’s got you so jumpy today?”
He smoothed his robes needlessly and frowned at her. “I don’t understand why you’re so calm! I mean, we have no protection, and at any moment that horrifying Godzilla creature could round the corner and flatten us!”
He saw her mouth curve into a smile before she burst into quiet laughter.
“What?”
She walked up to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “So cute.”
“Are you even listening to me? Granger!”
3
Title: A New Experience
Author: bookishwench
Rating: PG
Warning(s): none
Word Count: 490
“I thought we were going to a tea ceremony,” Hermione said uncertainly as she looked up at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
“No, I said we were going to a cultural event,” Draco said. “For pity’s sake, Hermione, we’re English! It’s not like we’ve never drunk tea before! I thought you wanted to do something we could only do in Japan.”
“Well, yes,” Hermione said, still not sounding entirely convinced. “What exactly are we going to see?”
“A honbasho,” Draco said, sounding eager. “It’s one of the biggest sumo wrestling events!”
“Sumo?” Hermione asked, trying to keep the distaste from her tone, but Draco seemed to have picked up on her note of disappointment.
“It’s supposed to be very exciting,” he said coaxingly. “Robbins down at the office went last year, and he said it’s really something.”
“Oh, fine. I’m willing to give it a go,” Hermione said, her nose still wrinkling a tad in a way that reminded him not unpleasantly of his mother.
As they took their seats in the unfamiliar stadium, Hermione realized that for once in their lives she and Draco were on equal footing. Japan was as foreign to her as it was to him. While Draco was still baffled by Muggle technology, Hermione often felt similarly out of her element with the intricate etiquette of pure-blood families. Here in Tokyo, they were both beginners. It was really quite exhilarating.
Finally, the crowd roared as the wrestlers appeared.
“They’re not wearing very much, are they,” Hermione said delicately as she stifled a giggle.
Draco gulped rather loudly as he saw the sheer size of the men in front of him.
“Traditional, I suppose,” he said.
They watched as the two wrestlers took sips of water, patted their mouths dry, and then threw handfuls of salt in the ring. Hermione and Draco looked at one another and shrugged.
It was clear enough, though, when the wrestling began as the crowd cheered wildly and the men grappled in the ring. When one of the competitors broke the circle, obviously the other fellow had won. After the first match came a second, then a third, and a fourth, and on until finally both of them began to cheer for wrestlers they recognized from earlier rounds. By the end of the day, they were hoarse and tired, but they left the stadium smiling.
“I admit, that was definitely a new experience,” Hermione said.
“So you’re saying I won our bet?” he asked.
“I don’t remember making any bet with you,” she said testily.
“Ah, but wouldn’t it be more fun if we had and you could spend this evening paying me back?” he suggested with a wink.
“Maybe,” she said, smirking at him, “but only if tomorrow night I get to win.”
“Shall we wrestle for it?” he asked.
“Maybe back in the room,” she said as the Tokyo night swept them off into a sea of sparkling lights.
4
Title:Miscommunication
Author: moxicrimefightr
Rating:PG
Warning(s):mentioning of underthings, oh my!
Word Count:499
In a city with a population of over 35 million people it's exceedingly easy to lose oneself. Though this particular evening it was not herself that Hermione Granger was trying to lose as she aimlessly wandered the streets of Tokyo's Shinjuku ward. It was helping a little bit, to be consumed by the throngs of people scurrying along sidewalks she had never walked with him, but every corner she turned the memory of him and that unfamiliar scrap of lace stayed with her.
You were dating Draco Malfoy, you silly girl, how did you expect this to end?
She knew it was a bad idea from the start but 6 months later he had managed to have a toothbrush at her flat and an unrelenting grasp on her heart. Fleeting thoughts of going home and asking him to explain ran through her head. Maybe there was a good reason to find another woman's undergarments in his bathroom.
"It's not what you think." was what he would say and she'd wish he could make his white lie big enough for them to crawl inside and go on with their life as if it never happened. But it did.
And it will just happen again.
Hermione found herself wondering what Draco was doing at that very moment, wondering what fresh nubile young thing he'd sunk his claws into that evening. Was she happy to be hooked and on his arm? Did she feel as alive as Hermione felt with him?
"GRANGER!"
She knew that voice like she knew the halls of Hogwarts. It was coming from behind her so she careened full speed ahead.
"GRANGER! GRANGER! HERMIONE!"
A hand was on her arm and with a tug she was face to face with her reason for being in Japan.
"Ginny told me I could find you here. What the hell are you doing in Tokyo you crazy woman?" His eyebrows knitted together and she felt his Quidditch-calloused thumb rub her cheek which she suddenly realized was damp.
Trying desperately to maintain the outrage that drove her halfway across the world she smacked his hand away.
"Oh I think you know! I found them!"
"Found what?" asked a genuinely confused Malfoy.
"Those knickers in your bathroom!"
"Top drawer next to the loo?" he finished her sentence in a tone one might use to talk about the weather.
"Yes, those! If you can hardly call them knickers they were just..."
"Black lace, red embroidery."
She felt fresh tears prick her eyes.
"Could you atleast act like you feel some remorse for sleeping with some slag behind my back?"
"I'm guessing you didn't notice the price tag on them. If you don't like them I can always take them back." He smirked that scrumptious Malfoy smirk as he watched the comprehension wash over her face.
"Merlin Granger, you are a basketcase."
Hermione's only response was a swift and gentle elbow to the ribs as she wrapped her arm around his waist and together they walked into the flurry of people with places to go and things to do.
5
Title: I Want You To Want Me*
Author: mister_otter
Rating: PG13
Warning(s): Suggestiveness
Word Count: 458
“Granger-grab my hand!” Draco shouted across the surging, costumed crowd. “If we’re separated, I’ll never find you again!”
A faux-redhead sporting towering platform shoes wriggled between them, flashing lacy knickers and accidentally elbowing Draco in the stomach.
“Bloody hell!” he grunted. “What was Potter thinking, suggesting an Auror meeting here?”
”I think it’s brilliant!” Hermione called. ”A hide-in-plain-sight strategy-- in the middle of a cosplay convention!”
“A what?”
“A worldwide phenomenon now, but it started here in Tokyo! It’s costume-and-role play, Malfoy!”
The crowd suddenly parted and Draco lurched forward, grabbed Hermione by the arm, and pulled her to the wall.
“Whew! That was quite a crush!” she exclaimed.
For the first time that day, Draco saw her clearly. Or rather, he saw a very un-Hermione-like Granger.
Beneath her open robe, she wore a tight, white blouse tied just under her heaving breasts and a green plaid skirt so short it barely covered…well. Just below that were sleek, silver, thigh high boots.
She was…she looked…Draco gulped. Those boots…
“What are you staring at, Malfoy?” she asked. I’m dressed to blend in.” Then, “Are you alright? You look pale enough for kabuki theater.”
Draco merely shook his head and pointed at her chest. “Where did you get…”
“This?” Grinning, Hermione flicked her Slytherin House tie with one finger, exposing the deep cleavage hidden underneath. ”Let’s just say I like old-school. I borrowed it from Ginny--she uses it sometimes when she and Blaise…”
Draco held up a hand. The changes in the wizarding world still amazed him. Blaise and Ginny. Harry and Pansy. Himself and the Auror Department.
That is--the outward changes amazed him. Inwardly, some songs remained the same, playing on in a continuous loop. He still thought Hermione Granger was damned hot-had for years, always would.
“There’s Harry!” Hermione suddenly stretched and waved vigorously while Draco stared, mesmerized by the seismic bounce under her Slytherin tie.
“Malfoy-when we’re done here, would you like to go with me to Ueno Park, to see the cherry blossoms?” she asked. “There are museums and … what’s the matter? You’ve gone white again.”
Granger…cherry…was she serious, or was she having him on? Did he detect the shadow of a mischievous smile at the corners of those pretty lips?
“Are you unwell?” Hermione asked solicitously. “Perhaps some bad sushi?”
There it was again--a tiny, unmistakable smirk.
“Granger, you minx.”
Hermione tossed her head. “It’s about time you noticed, Malfoy.”
Draco grinned. Time enough later to tell her just how long he’d been noticing.
“So, yes or no-will you go with me to see the cherry blossoms?”
”I will go anywhere you suggest, Granger. Just promise me you’ll keep wearing those boots.”
*Cheap Trick, Live at Budokan
6
Title: Diplomacy
Author: midnight_birth
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None.
Word Count: 395
“So,” Draco was saying, dragging Hermione along the The Fukiage Garden, “there are a couple of things to remember. Respect is the biggest thing, I would say. And... Granger, are you listening?” he snapped.
Hermione jumped and stopped, taking a deep breath and shaking her head. When Kingsley had called her up to his office and told her he had a serious job for her, she had assumed it was at most compiling some kind of top secret research. The last thing she had expected was to be shipped off to Tokyo to meet a man who actually carried the title “Emperor”.
“I’m too nervous,” she mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose and shutting her eyes tightly.
Draco let out an irritated sigh. “What is the big deal, anyway? So the man’s the emperor of some foreign land, so he lives in a palace? It’s not like you’ve been sent to assassinate the man, for Merlin’s sake.”
Hermione frowned at him. “This is a question of international cooperation,” she said. “Do you know how much rides on our meeting tonight? What this means to the wizards and witches like us that live here in Japan?” She looked down. “I don’t even know why I got chosen to do this; my job has nothing to do with stuff like this.”
“I asked.” Hermione looked up at Draco, who was now staring everywhere but at her, in shock. He continued, “I’m good at my job, Granger, but when Kingsley told me how important he thought this was... Well, considering this emperor is a Muggle and everything, I suggested I needed someone who would be diplomatic, smart, charming, alluring, and know all about Muggle stuff...” He trailed off when he noticed Hermione’s eyes get wide and examined his shoe.
When Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times, obviously lacking an adequate response, he walked up to her determinedly and grasped her chin tightly, forcing her head up to meet his eyes.
“I don’t say things like that lightly, Granger,” he murmured, his lips almost brushing hers. “Now go in there and do your job and don’t prove me wrong.”
His lips hovered above hers for a second, as if considering, and then he cleared his throat, releasing her, and took a step back. With a small smirk, he grabbed her by the wrist and continued walking.
7
Title: Perspective
Author: alexajohnson
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 343
The sunset was a dazzling palette of rich colors, making the white cap of Mount Fuji shine like a beacon of light.
“It’s beautiful,” Hermione gasped, clutching Draco’s hand. “How did you ever know that I wanted to come here?”
“Well, I was being my usual cunning Slytherin self and came across your list of places you wanted to see before you died. So I thought we’d start with the one farthest from England and work backwards.”
“You still go through my things?” she demanded with a laugh. If this were the end result, she really couldn’t be that angry with him.
He chuckled, tightening his arms around her. “You’d left it out on the table by your bed one morning. It was practically begging to be read, and what did you expect? Besides, I know you’d have thought less of me if I’d resisted temptation.”
“You do have a point-and I suppose a part of me wanted you to find it,” she confirmed, gazing out passed the mountain to the point where the sky melted into the deep cerulean blue of Ashinoko Lake. “I like just reminding myself that places like this exist. It helps put things into perspective sometimes.”
“Mmm.” Draco rested his chin on top of her hair. “And it’s nice escaping the glares and the insults.”
“You know I never cared about all that.”
“I do. But it makes it so much easier to enjoy the present when I’m not being constantly reminded of the past.”
“And I don’t remind you of the past?” She twisted around to face him, lifting a skeptical eyebrow.
“Once, maybe,” he admitted, words heavy with thoughtfulness. “But now I only see the future, the man I’d like to be.”
“Oh, Draco,” Hermione sighed, lifting a hand to touch his cheek. “You already are that man for me.”
He caught her hand in his and kissed her deeply, leaving her breathless. “Hopefully one day I’ll be able to believe that.”
She gave him a sad smile. “Well, until then, I’ll gladly be your window.”
8
Title: On the Train
Author: somandalicious
Rating: G
Warning(s): *Muggle repelling charm- if Muggles got anywhere near it, they would suddenly remember some appointment they were late for and hurry off
Word Count: 499
At the previous stop, the entire railcar emptied completely, leaving Hermione Granger alone with Draco Malfoy. With over eight million people living in Tokyo, it should have been bizarre and suspicious, but Hermione could sense a Repello Muggltum* like a maple leaf senses the coming rain.
He stood at the far end, his jaw locked with quiet seething while his grey pierced through her and sending acute stabs of apprehension. His grave expression was a stark contrast to his Muggle clothing; an atrocious mash-up of punkish plaids and vibrant neons as if he had spent the afternoon loitering Harajuku Station with the teenagers. There was a time, so long ago, when she would have mirthfully teased him about his attire, however, those days where lost. Or more aptly, she had thrown them away.
With a heart that was rattling madly against her sternum, she put away her book and feigning nonchalance, solemnly whispered, “Long time, yeah?”
The silence, although ephemeral, was fat-full of everything that had been left unsaid. His jaded bitterness buzzed into her bones and shook her up until all she felt was the constriction of anxiety.
“You left me,” he said, accusation and pain flowing along the current of his timbre.
Hermione inwardly winced. She didn’t own the words to explain herself. She had reasons, sure, but in her head, they sounded like petty excuses. The truth was worst though, and although there was a ghostly whisper of it blowing through her mind, she ignored it. So she said the only thing she that seemed to make sense. “I know.”
Suddenly he was sitting beside her, his palms nervously rubbing his corduroy trousers. “At first, I thought I didn’t care. That I could do without you, especially if you were going to leave when I needed you most. But then I realized that I was more afraid of never seeing you again, never touching you, or hearing your voice. That’s what it was, yeah? You were scared, so you left?”
Hermione lifted her head and glance side-long at him. Her heart swelled with affection and endearment and the painful needle-pricks of shameful regret stabbed at her soul. Saline filling her eyes and she silently begged them not to fall. Her throat was lumped, stifling her, but she forced herself to speak. “It was suffocating. All the secrecy and deceit. I couldn’t breathe without wanting to shout how I felt and it wasn’t fair that nobody was allowed to hear.”
“I never meant that we had to hide our relationship, Hermione. I just didn’t want it to turn it into a spectacle.”
She felt stupid for never seeing it that way and chastised herself for being so obtuse. “I’m sorry.” And she was, for it all. For feeling trapped and running away. For not believing in their love. “I don’t know how to fix it”
He took her hand, sliding his palm slowly against hers and entwining their fingers until it was a perfect fit. “Come home.”
ooo
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