Cadence
Title: Cadence Chapter 10
Summary: Draco and Hermione worked together. Trouble ensues once he takes an interest.
Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger
Genre: Romance
Rating/Warnings: Overall PG-13
Word Count: 398
A bouquet sat in an elegant glass vase, but small noises came from it, a rustling. Rustling flowers? Had Hagrid sent her a birthday gift a few months late? Tiptoeing to her desk, the witch poked the paper around the flowers from as far away as possible. White…things came out. Only once they calmed, were all out, and landed on her desk could she see what they were: origami swans, charmed origami swans.
“Er, I need my desk,” Hermione spoke aloud to herself. The swans flapped their paper wings, beating them to stay in the air. They reacted to what she said. Okay…“How about you…stay over on the bookshelves until I leave,” she clarified.
Most of them flew directly over, with elegant strokes and quite quiet. They were, she realized looking carefully, made of silk. They were some of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. But one - made of deep green silk - returned to the vase first, pulling out a small note with its miniature beak, an amazing feat, and dropped it in front of her chair before going over to the others.
Hermione unfolded the thick expensive parchment carefully:
Dear Hermione,
I made these for you - hand-folded and personally charmed. They can recognize your voice and will do what you ask them to, or be destroyed trying. I gave them the loyalty of a Gryffindor yet the cunning of a Slytherin. I hope they are to your liking,
Yours,
D. M.
It…it couldn’t be Draco. Draco Malfoy, of all things, was not a romantic young man who…sent people origami swans. Well he was a young man who sent her origami swans, but that did not make him romantic because Draco Malfoy was not romantic. He bloody told her he was going to seduce her and successfully did so, for that one night. But Hermione Granger would not be tried by such tomfoolery into thinking he actually cared for her. Malfoys “appreciated”…not cared for.
And Granger was determined to let Malfoy know her mind, but he had already left for the day, she discovered upon determinedly marching straight to his desk. Her mouth opened to demand an answer, but his pristine neatly cleaned-every-Friday desk was all that greeted her. She swore. She would not be wooed. He would not win her over, and she was stubborn enough to succeed!
Title: Cadence Chapter 11
Summary: Draco and Hermione worked together. Trouble ensues once he takes an interest.
Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger, Harry Potter
Genre: Romance
Rating/Warnings: Overall PG-13
Word Count: 597
“Tell me what I need to hear, Harry,” Hermione groaned across his dinner table, having managed to beg her way into interrupting Ginny’s night with him. She looked slightly annoyed but accepted the fact that occasionally, she even had to share Harry on “their night.”
“Draco Malfoy is a selfish bastard, who just wants to get under your robes,” Harry complied half-heartedly, “Why do you need me for that?”
“Ron hates him too much, and I am losing faith on the matter,” Hermione answered crossly.
“I don’t understand you when you speak in riddles,” Harry sighed. She could understand why he was frustrated, what with her barging through the Floo demanding to talk to him.
“Draco…he’s been acting nice. Well, he’s always been nice really since we’ve been there, as nice as anyone can expect - and don’t you say anything yet I’m not done,” the witch interrupted herself at the look on his face, “he sent me an amazing book, and I researched what it cost him, and it’s ridiculous. I would never ask anyone to do that for me. And then he made me those swans I showed you last week. They’re the darlingest things ever - really helpful around the house actually. And now…today, he, well, he left this note for a reservation for a B&B in France - portkey arranged and everything.” She paused for a moment to take a breath.
“An enchanting weekend of meals, sex, and more meals,” Harry snuck in a comment.
“But it’s just for me,” Hermione continued, feeling proud at the utterly shocked look on Harry’s face, “for one person. And it’s on the shore of a beach on the Mediterranean. And it’s still warm there. And it’s the most amazing thing I think anyone’s given me. I asked my boss, and he had expected me to ask for Monday off because of it. And it’s just…it’s from Draco, and I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that he’d be so…generous.” Her face was positively glowing at the end.
“Am I still saying what you say you need to hear?” Harry asked, apparently still uncertain about what women wanted him to do unless they spelled it out.
“Yes,” Hermione replied, “and you have to make me believe it.”
“Okay, well, you deserve the break. Who it’s from doesn’t change that. And as for Malfoy, well,” Harry barely sounded like he was convincing himself, “he’s rich. He can woo you with his riches, but we all know that’s not what matters in a person. You can’t start liking him just because he can shower presents on you. You aren’t the type to be a trophy wife.”
“The swans were hand-made!” Hermione pointed out, still pointing out the errors in his logic, even as she wanted to believe him.
“But the B&B is way over the top. I don’t even want to think about how much that costs,” Harry deflected the question.
“But you think I should go?” Hermione asked.
He covered his eyes with his right hand groaning something sounding unsurprisingly close to ‘women!’ “Yes, Hermione, go and relax. Even I would accept that from Draco Malfoy!”
Hermione pursed her lips, “Fine, but only because you say so.”
“Your welcome,” Harry pushed out.
“Oh, thank you Harry,” Hermione got up, walked around the small table and gave him a big hug, “I’ll do something for you sometime, to make up for all this.”
“You sure that’s possible?” Harry joked.
The witch narrowed her eyes, “Of course it is. Now, I’ll be off. I have a portkey to catch!”
Title: Cadence Chapter 12
Summary: Draco and Hermione worked together. Trouble ensues once he takes an interest.
Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger
Genre: Romance
Rating/Warnings: Overall PG-13
Word Count: 281
Her face positively glowed all week, partially due to the tan she had been able to catch lounging on the beach for so many hours, kindly attended by her personal flock of swans. And with Monday out of the way, the rest of the week flew past in a fury she had recently forgotten she had for her work.
And Friday - Hermione was growing to look forward to Fridays - the best gift out of them all, hands down, sat in a small envelop on her desk when she returned from lunch with Malfoy and a few others: tickets to the Dropkick Murphys concert the next night. Hermione loved their music! She’d vaguely been aware that they were coming to London soon, but she had not been sure of the date, much less considered buying tickets. And here were two tickets for her very own!
Two - that was just perfect. Harry enjoyed their music as well when she introduced the band to him, and he had been such a good supportive lately. He deserved to be treated to something like this.
Once she had sent the owl out to ask him, Hermione felt a small churning of guilt in her stomach. The tickets had to be from Draco, she knew it, and she was inviting someone else. But he said he had hated the music because it was muggle. And he had made such a fuss about going to a muggle bar. Certainly he couldn’t actually want her to invite him to it - that would be torture for him. No, Hermione told herself, it was just yet another one of his kind - and costly - gestures.
-Silyara, Slytherin
Summary: Draco and Hermione worked together. Trouble ensues once he takes an interest.
Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger
Genre: Romance
Rating/Warnings: Overall PG-13
Word Count: 398
A bouquet sat in an elegant glass vase, but small noises came from it, a rustling. Rustling flowers? Had Hagrid sent her a birthday gift a few months late? Tiptoeing to her desk, the witch poked the paper around the flowers from as far away as possible. White…things came out. Only once they calmed, were all out, and landed on her desk could she see what they were: origami swans, charmed origami swans.
“Er, I need my desk,” Hermione spoke aloud to herself. The swans flapped their paper wings, beating them to stay in the air. They reacted to what she said. Okay…“How about you…stay over on the bookshelves until I leave,” she clarified.
Most of them flew directly over, with elegant strokes and quite quiet. They were, she realized looking carefully, made of silk. They were some of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. But one - made of deep green silk - returned to the vase first, pulling out a small note with its miniature beak, an amazing feat, and dropped it in front of her chair before going over to the others.
Hermione unfolded the thick expensive parchment carefully:
Dear Hermione,
I made these for you - hand-folded and personally charmed. They can recognize your voice and will do what you ask them to, or be destroyed trying. I gave them the loyalty of a Gryffindor yet the cunning of a Slytherin. I hope they are to your liking,
Yours,
D. M.
It…it couldn’t be Draco. Draco Malfoy, of all things, was not a romantic young man who…sent people origami swans. Well he was a young man who sent her origami swans, but that did not make him romantic because Draco Malfoy was not romantic. He bloody told her he was going to seduce her and successfully did so, for that one night. But Hermione Granger would not be tried by such tomfoolery into thinking he actually cared for her. Malfoys “appreciated”…not cared for.
And Granger was determined to let Malfoy know her mind, but he had already left for the day, she discovered upon determinedly marching straight to his desk. Her mouth opened to demand an answer, but his pristine neatly cleaned-every-Friday desk was all that greeted her. She swore. She would not be wooed. He would not win her over, and she was stubborn enough to succeed!
Title: Cadence Chapter 11
Summary: Draco and Hermione worked together. Trouble ensues once he takes an interest.
Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger, Harry Potter
Genre: Romance
Rating/Warnings: Overall PG-13
Word Count: 597
“Tell me what I need to hear, Harry,” Hermione groaned across his dinner table, having managed to beg her way into interrupting Ginny’s night with him. She looked slightly annoyed but accepted the fact that occasionally, she even had to share Harry on “their night.”
“Draco Malfoy is a selfish bastard, who just wants to get under your robes,” Harry complied half-heartedly, “Why do you need me for that?”
“Ron hates him too much, and I am losing faith on the matter,” Hermione answered crossly.
“I don’t understand you when you speak in riddles,” Harry sighed. She could understand why he was frustrated, what with her barging through the Floo demanding to talk to him.
“Draco…he’s been acting nice. Well, he’s always been nice really since we’ve been there, as nice as anyone can expect - and don’t you say anything yet I’m not done,” the witch interrupted herself at the look on his face, “he sent me an amazing book, and I researched what it cost him, and it’s ridiculous. I would never ask anyone to do that for me. And then he made me those swans I showed you last week. They’re the darlingest things ever - really helpful around the house actually. And now…today, he, well, he left this note for a reservation for a B&B in France - portkey arranged and everything.” She paused for a moment to take a breath.
“An enchanting weekend of meals, sex, and more meals,” Harry snuck in a comment.
“But it’s just for me,” Hermione continued, feeling proud at the utterly shocked look on Harry’s face, “for one person. And it’s on the shore of a beach on the Mediterranean. And it’s still warm there. And it’s the most amazing thing I think anyone’s given me. I asked my boss, and he had expected me to ask for Monday off because of it. And it’s just…it’s from Draco, and I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that he’d be so…generous.” Her face was positively glowing at the end.
“Am I still saying what you say you need to hear?” Harry asked, apparently still uncertain about what women wanted him to do unless they spelled it out.
“Yes,” Hermione replied, “and you have to make me believe it.”
“Okay, well, you deserve the break. Who it’s from doesn’t change that. And as for Malfoy, well,” Harry barely sounded like he was convincing himself, “he’s rich. He can woo you with his riches, but we all know that’s not what matters in a person. You can’t start liking him just because he can shower presents on you. You aren’t the type to be a trophy wife.”
“The swans were hand-made!” Hermione pointed out, still pointing out the errors in his logic, even as she wanted to believe him.
“But the B&B is way over the top. I don’t even want to think about how much that costs,” Harry deflected the question.
“But you think I should go?” Hermione asked.
He covered his eyes with his right hand groaning something sounding unsurprisingly close to ‘women!’ “Yes, Hermione, go and relax. Even I would accept that from Draco Malfoy!”
Hermione pursed her lips, “Fine, but only because you say so.”
“Your welcome,” Harry pushed out.
“Oh, thank you Harry,” Hermione got up, walked around the small table and gave him a big hug, “I’ll do something for you sometime, to make up for all this.”
“You sure that’s possible?” Harry joked.
The witch narrowed her eyes, “Of course it is. Now, I’ll be off. I have a portkey to catch!”
Title: Cadence Chapter 12
Summary: Draco and Hermione worked together. Trouble ensues once he takes an interest.
Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger
Genre: Romance
Rating/Warnings: Overall PG-13
Word Count: 281
Her face positively glowed all week, partially due to the tan she had been able to catch lounging on the beach for so many hours, kindly attended by her personal flock of swans. And with Monday out of the way, the rest of the week flew past in a fury she had recently forgotten she had for her work.
And Friday - Hermione was growing to look forward to Fridays - the best gift out of them all, hands down, sat in a small envelop on her desk when she returned from lunch with Malfoy and a few others: tickets to the Dropkick Murphys concert the next night. Hermione loved their music! She’d vaguely been aware that they were coming to London soon, but she had not been sure of the date, much less considered buying tickets. And here were two tickets for her very own!
Two - that was just perfect. Harry enjoyed their music as well when she introduced the band to him, and he had been such a good supportive lately. He deserved to be treated to something like this.
Once she had sent the owl out to ask him, Hermione felt a small churning of guilt in her stomach. The tickets had to be from Draco, she knew it, and she was inviting someone else. But he said he had hated the music because it was muggle. And he had made such a fuss about going to a muggle bar. Certainly he couldn’t actually want her to invite him to it - that would be torture for him. No, Hermione told herself, it was just yet another one of his kind - and costly - gestures.
-Silyara, Slytherin