Round 3, Challenge Eleven: The Screening
Grab a soda and some popcorn, movie fans … It’s time for the week ten screening!
Welcome all to the World Premiere of "She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me."
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
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. 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
Please remember writers, that you may not vote for yourselves.
Here we go for week Eleven!
Choose your favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote.
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Friday,April 10th.
She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me.
Scene (inspirational movie): Pride & Prejudice
Action (must include): Draco in a wet shirt
Theme (additional information): Mistaken judgement
1
Title: Rain, Rain, Go Away
Author: greenschist
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 499
Hermione noticed the loud swearing coming from Draco's office at the same moment she noticed water trickling out from under the door.
"Malfoy? It's Hermione Granger." She knocked three times in rapid succession over the tarnished nameplate reading Supply and Acquisition, D. Malfoy, Junior Assistant.
The sudden silence was broken only by a faint squelch as she shifted her feet. She knocked again.
"Go away." His voice was muffled by the sound of water.
"But I wanted to speak with you. Can't I come in?" Ignoring his protests, she opened the door, releasing a small flood into the corridor. "What's happen-" She broke off and covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Draco stood in the only open bit of floor space available in his shabby office, his mouth flattened into a thin line. Inches over his head, a small cloud hovered, dumping torrents of rain. It flattened his hair to his head and dripped steadily from his nose, chin, even his earlobes. His shirt clung, transparent, to his body like a second skin. With some effort, Hermione dragged her eyes away from the tiny nipples visible through the material and followed his soaked trousers down to the floor where interdepartmental memos, too sodden to fly, flapped against his feet.
"Oh, Malfoy," she sighed. "Who's angry with you?"
"This time? Maintenance." He licked rain from his lips. "Someone's stealing supplies, so I changed the locks on all their cupboards."
Hermione tried to get rid of the cloud with an Atmospheric Charm. If anything, it rained harder. "Go to the department head."
"I already did." Draco's eyes were shuttered and blank. "He said he wasn't going to listen to a Death Eater accuse his people of thieving." His hands clenched into fists. "Because that's all I'll ever be, of course. Never mind the fact that I sit faithfully this shoebox of an office buried under the Ministry, counting quills and paper clips all day long. Or that the closest I've come to battle since I was seventeen is my current struggle with the Great Toilet Roll Bandit of Maintenance."
Hermione leaned against the door frame. "People have long memories."
"Long on memory, short on forgiveness," he muttered.
"I'm sorry."
"Are you?" He shook his head skeptically. "I assume you're here to respond to my ill-conceived invitation to dinner. Well, go ahead." He held his arms out wide, as if defenseless. Rain dripped from his elbows. "Turn me down. Put the final cap on this horrible day, so that I and my little friend here," he pointed up at the cloud, "can go home and crawl into bed with an umbrella and a bottle of whiskey."
She looked at her watch. "It's nine a.m., Draco."
"Like I care. Get on with it."
"I'd love to go out with you."
He gaped at her. "You would?"
"Pick me up at seven." She glanced at the seemingly bottomless cloud over his head and smiled. "If I have to, I'll wear my raincoat."
2
Title: A Capital Offence
Author: kalina_blue
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Post-DH, EWE
Word Count: 499
Draco sneered. Why he had let Potter talk him into going out with their team of Aurors was beyond him. Draco generally disliked the people he had the misfortune to work with. Potter might be tolerable-or at least he was somewhat competent, making him less of a liability in the field-but as far as Draco was concerned the other team members were all as daft as Muggles.
The evening was turning out to be just as unpleasant as Draco had anticipated and before he had finished his second glass of mediocre Firewhiskey, he had already vowed to succeed where the Dark Lord had failed and kill Harry Potter for subjecting him to such a terrible outing.
Matters were made even worse by the fact that Draco found himself seated next to the Weasel who was attempting to prove that he was indeed as dumb as he looked. After his third ale he had begun flirting excessively with some random gal and Draco was afraid that having to witness the Weasel stick his tongue all the way down the chit’s throat might have ruined his appetite for months to come.
Not that Draco cared much, but he rather thought that if Weasley was to cheat on his fiancée, it would probably be wise not to do it in front of twenty or so witnesses. Apparently, though Weasel’s two brain cells were already swimming in too much alcohol for him to reach the same conclusion.
Draco was only surprised that Potter hadn’t swooped in to rescue his mate from making an even bigger fool of himself than normal, but one look around the pub confirmed that the boy-wonder was having an animated conversation with Kingsley and had yet to notice his best friend’s transgression.
However, someone else must have seen and thought it prudent to inform Granger because soon enough she stormed the pub, bushy hair surrounding her head like an angry cloud.
She immediately marched up to her unfaithful fiancé and demanded an explanation. Before the Weasel had the chance to say ‘It’s not what you think,’ or something equally as idiotic, Hermione had already thrown his drink into his face, drenching the Weasel-and everyone else in his vicinity-in ale.
Draco’s shirt got wet as well and under any other circumstances he would have complained. But Granger followed the shower with a punch that was right on the mark and sent Weasley to the floor, so Draco was willing to forgive his beer stained shirt.
While Weasley was busy seeing stars, Granger turned her attention towards Weasley’s would-be-conquest. Within 23 seconds-Draco timed it-the other girl broke out into tears and fled the pub. Granger didn’t even have to use her wand.
Her mission complete, Granger threw her diamond ring onto the floor and stomped away, leaving a group of gobsmacked Aurors and a dismayed ex-fiancé behind. Draco only smirked, thinking that it was a shame Granger wasn’t handsome enough. Otherwise he’d really be tempted.
3
Title: Rain or Shine
Author: floorcoaster
Rating: G
Word Count: 493
Warnings: None
The storm had been brewing all day. Dark clouds stretched from one end of the horizon to the other. In Hogsmeade, people were hurrying to and from their errands, anxious to be inside when the deluge began.
Hermione considered joining them, thought about getting up from the bench where they’d agreed to meet and running back to the castle. She had a dozen things that needed to be done before the school year began.
No. She had agreed to meet him here today, and she would be there. Rain or shine, she had said, and the peal of thunder in the distance indicated it would probably be the former.
A glance at her watch revealed that he was late. She sighed, unsurprised. Their parting had been horrible, an emotionally charged argument that had effectively put an end to their relationship nearly eight months ago. She had been ready for more, while he couldn’t commit. It was so trite it made her angry, but when she thought about the reality of what he would have to give up, she only felt sad. It wasn’t fair that anything outside of them could influence their lives, but it was reality.
Another clap of thunder and a flash of lightening heralded the deluge, and Hermione barely had time to open her umbrella and cast a repulsion spell before the rain started. It came down in thick sheets, so heavy that she couldn’t see the other side of the street.
He had been the one to write her, to ask for a meeting, but he was late and it was pouring. The repulsion spell wasn’t perfect and, little by little, she was getting wet. She decided to wait another ten minutes, and if he didn’t show, she would leave.
When she finally concluded he wasn’t coming, she was soaking, cold, and hurt. Part of her had hoped he’d wanted to reconcile, to apologize, to admit his wrong-anything!
Hermione stood and pulled her cloak tight around her, glancing one last time into the rainy fog around her.
She had just turned toward the school when someone shouted, “Wait!”
Her heart leapt when she saw someone-a man-him-running across the street, through the downpour, a newspaper vainly held over his head to ward off some of the rain.
When he joined her under the umbrella, he smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry I was late.”
Everything about him-his eyes, his voice, his perfectly sculpted lips, his toned body, easily visible underneath his rain-drenched white button-down-reminded her of the good times, of everything she had loved and still missed.
“Draco,” she began, then stopped, unsure of what to say.
He stepped closer, the heat from his body radiating to hers. “I-I love you. That’s all I know, that’s all I want. I don’t know about the rest, but-”
She silenced him with a finger to his lips. “You came. In this.”
“Nothing could have kept me away.”
4
Title: Just a Little Wager
Author: bookishwench
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: suggestive imagery
Word Count: 499
“I most certainly will not!”
Hermione felt her face turning bright red as Draco grinned at her.
“Why not?” he taunted her.
“You’ve got to be joking!” Hermione said loudly.
“Half the bar is already staring at you after that outburst,” Draco said, chuckling. “I don’t see the difference.”
“It’s a wet t-shirt contest,” she said with disgust. “They’re the epitome of chauvinistic male fantasies.”
Hermione glared at the men hooting enthusiastically at a twenty-something blonde prancing across the top of the bar and wearing a soaked pink shirt.
“Pigs,” she sniffed.
“You think they’re reacting like that only because they’re male?” he asked.
“Women wouldn’t be shrieking their lungs hoarse over some bloke in a wet button-down,” she said.
“You,” he said, smiling wickedly, “are prejudiced. I think I’ll have to disprove your theory with a little wager.”
“What are the terms?” she asked suspiciously.
“If I prove women can turn into salivating, animalistic, blithering idiots too, you’ll put on your own little show,” he said.
“And if they don’t?” she said, folding her arms defiantly.
“I’ll do anything you want,” he said, then repeated with heavy emphasis, “anything.”
Hermione knew she was asking for trouble, but that last word crumbled her self-control.
“Fine,” she said, and he turned abruptly, walking towards the bar.
“He wouldn’t,” she murmured, assuming Malfoy pride would stop public displays of indecorous behavior.
As the DJ nodded at Draco and started playing “It’s Raining Men,” Hermione realized assuming anything about a Malfoy was deeply stupid.
With a flourish of well-toned muscle, Draco vaulted onto the bar in time with the music, grabbed a bucket of water, and emptied it over his head, turning his pale blond hair a dark honey color. His white cotton business shirt was immediately soaked through, displaying the sharply defined contours of his chest, the material clinging to him like a second skin.
He looked like the personification of sex.
As he loosened his tie, a chorus of squealing, screaming voices greeted him. He threw the tie into the audience, where it immediately caused a stampede of crazed women fighting over it, and Hermione noticed an odd look cross his face. The women continued pushing forward, their arms waving almost violently, clawing at his trousers and starting a chant of “More! More! More!”
“That’s it for tonight, ladies!” he called, jumping behind the bar and exiting quickly through the door to the kitchen as the women groaned disappointedly.
Seconds later, he Apparated beside her, his shirt completely dry.
“You won,” she admitted, taking a tentative step towards the bar, “and I don’t back out of a bet.”
“Are you out of your mind, woman?” he whispered ferociously. “That was the most degrading thing I’ve ever experienced! Bloody creepy, that was.”
“So I’m off the hook?” she asked, relieved.
“Not quite,” Draco said, ushering her from the pub. “You still need to pay up, but only with an audience of one.”
“I can manage that,” she said, returning his smirk.
5
Title: Childhood Games
Author: luvscharlie
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 497
The Ministry had a poltergeist wreaking havoc in the Department of International Cooperation, and Hermione had been given orders to "take care of it."
In the Department of Magical Law Enforcement they usually worked in pairs. She normally worked with Susan Bones, but there had been that incident last week-which was entirely not her fault, though Susan didn't believe it-quite the nasty scandal actually. Rumours of sabotage and-oh, if she thought about it much more, she'd only get angry all over again.
She took a deep breath as the lift door opened, then attempted to stifle a giggle at the sight before her. Draco Malfoy, Department Head, was covered in-was that bubotuber puss? No, couldn't be. He wasn't screaming in agony. She was a bit taken aback by the sight before her. Draco had always seemed a bit scrawny growing up. Or at least that had been Hermione's opinion. But grow up, he clearly had… and well. His hair was in his eyes and his soaked shirt clung to the sharp lines of the muscles beneath.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Hermione asked, taking her time as she leisurely looked him up and down. She received little more than a snarl in reply. "Someone's covered in-well what exactly is it that you're covered in? It's not bubotuber puss, though I think the boils might be an improvement to that face of yours," she lied.
"For your information, Granger," he spat, "it's water. The poltergiest apparently watched some Muggle sprogs throwing water balloons at people yesterday and decided that he liked them. I've been dodging the bloody things all morning."
She hid a smile behind her hand. "Looks like your dodging skills could use some work." About that time, a large balloon splattered against her back, drenching her. Okay, this was less funny now.
There was large cackle, then the singsong sound of, "Run, run, as fast as you can. Can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man."
"The little beasts apparently taught him that as well. Oh, and that run part, he rather means it. Move," Draco said, grabbing her hand and diving into the nearest office, as water balloons exploded all around them, thrown in rapid-fire succession. They huddled under a desk, where there was just room for the two of them to squeeze in together.
"That was pretty quick thinking on your part, Malfoy," she said, admittedly impressed that he hadn't left her to fend for herself against the poltergeist.
"Yes, well, I've had plenty of practice this morning."
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," sounded the voice of the poltergeist from somewhere above their hiding spot.
"I think he believes we're playing hide-n-seek with him," Hermione whispered. "How long did he spend with those Muggle children?"
Several water balloons smacked them in the face in an explosion of water. "Tag! You're it!" shouted the poltergeist.
"Entirely too long," Draco said.
"So it would appear," she agreed.
ooo
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Poll round 3 challenge #11
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Come See Draco & Hermione in Their New Movie
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This Week: Pride & Prejudice
(Draco in a wet shirt)
To Get this Pretty for your Journal - Spread the Drabble Love!
Come See Draco & Hermione in Their New Movie
Click the Ticket to Read & Vote!
This Week: Pride & Prejudice
(Draco in a wet shirt)
Please spread the word and thanks for dropping by!
Welcome all to the World Premiere of "She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me."
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
- Which drabble best incorporates the prompt?
- Is the drabble clever, different, fresh? Does it evoke an emotional response (good or bad)?
- Does the drabble contain grammar, canon or spelling errors?
- The movies merely serve as inspiration for the prompts. The requirements and theme are most important.
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. 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
Please remember writers, that you may not vote for yourselves.
Here we go for week Eleven!
Choose your favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote.
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Friday,April 10th.
She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me.
Scene (inspirational movie): Pride & Prejudice
Action (must include): Draco in a wet shirt
Theme (additional information): Mistaken judgement
1
Title: Rain, Rain, Go Away
Author: greenschist
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 499
Hermione noticed the loud swearing coming from Draco's office at the same moment she noticed water trickling out from under the door.
"Malfoy? It's Hermione Granger." She knocked three times in rapid succession over the tarnished nameplate reading Supply and Acquisition, D. Malfoy, Junior Assistant.
The sudden silence was broken only by a faint squelch as she shifted her feet. She knocked again.
"Go away." His voice was muffled by the sound of water.
"But I wanted to speak with you. Can't I come in?" Ignoring his protests, she opened the door, releasing a small flood into the corridor. "What's happen-" She broke off and covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Draco stood in the only open bit of floor space available in his shabby office, his mouth flattened into a thin line. Inches over his head, a small cloud hovered, dumping torrents of rain. It flattened his hair to his head and dripped steadily from his nose, chin, even his earlobes. His shirt clung, transparent, to his body like a second skin. With some effort, Hermione dragged her eyes away from the tiny nipples visible through the material and followed his soaked trousers down to the floor where interdepartmental memos, too sodden to fly, flapped against his feet.
"Oh, Malfoy," she sighed. "Who's angry with you?"
"This time? Maintenance." He licked rain from his lips. "Someone's stealing supplies, so I changed the locks on all their cupboards."
Hermione tried to get rid of the cloud with an Atmospheric Charm. If anything, it rained harder. "Go to the department head."
"I already did." Draco's eyes were shuttered and blank. "He said he wasn't going to listen to a Death Eater accuse his people of thieving." His hands clenched into fists. "Because that's all I'll ever be, of course. Never mind the fact that I sit faithfully this shoebox of an office buried under the Ministry, counting quills and paper clips all day long. Or that the closest I've come to battle since I was seventeen is my current struggle with the Great Toilet Roll Bandit of Maintenance."
Hermione leaned against the door frame. "People have long memories."
"Long on memory, short on forgiveness," he muttered.
"I'm sorry."
"Are you?" He shook his head skeptically. "I assume you're here to respond to my ill-conceived invitation to dinner. Well, go ahead." He held his arms out wide, as if defenseless. Rain dripped from his elbows. "Turn me down. Put the final cap on this horrible day, so that I and my little friend here," he pointed up at the cloud, "can go home and crawl into bed with an umbrella and a bottle of whiskey."
She looked at her watch. "It's nine a.m., Draco."
"Like I care. Get on with it."
"I'd love to go out with you."
He gaped at her. "You would?"
"Pick me up at seven." She glanced at the seemingly bottomless cloud over his head and smiled. "If I have to, I'll wear my raincoat."
2
Title: A Capital Offence
Author: kalina_blue
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Post-DH, EWE
Word Count: 499
Draco sneered. Why he had let Potter talk him into going out with their team of Aurors was beyond him. Draco generally disliked the people he had the misfortune to work with. Potter might be tolerable-or at least he was somewhat competent, making him less of a liability in the field-but as far as Draco was concerned the other team members were all as daft as Muggles.
The evening was turning out to be just as unpleasant as Draco had anticipated and before he had finished his second glass of mediocre Firewhiskey, he had already vowed to succeed where the Dark Lord had failed and kill Harry Potter for subjecting him to such a terrible outing.
Matters were made even worse by the fact that Draco found himself seated next to the Weasel who was attempting to prove that he was indeed as dumb as he looked. After his third ale he had begun flirting excessively with some random gal and Draco was afraid that having to witness the Weasel stick his tongue all the way down the chit’s throat might have ruined his appetite for months to come.
Not that Draco cared much, but he rather thought that if Weasley was to cheat on his fiancée, it would probably be wise not to do it in front of twenty or so witnesses. Apparently, though Weasel’s two brain cells were already swimming in too much alcohol for him to reach the same conclusion.
Draco was only surprised that Potter hadn’t swooped in to rescue his mate from making an even bigger fool of himself than normal, but one look around the pub confirmed that the boy-wonder was having an animated conversation with Kingsley and had yet to notice his best friend’s transgression.
However, someone else must have seen and thought it prudent to inform Granger because soon enough she stormed the pub, bushy hair surrounding her head like an angry cloud.
She immediately marched up to her unfaithful fiancé and demanded an explanation. Before the Weasel had the chance to say ‘It’s not what you think,’ or something equally as idiotic, Hermione had already thrown his drink into his face, drenching the Weasel-and everyone else in his vicinity-in ale.
Draco’s shirt got wet as well and under any other circumstances he would have complained. But Granger followed the shower with a punch that was right on the mark and sent Weasley to the floor, so Draco was willing to forgive his beer stained shirt.
While Weasley was busy seeing stars, Granger turned her attention towards Weasley’s would-be-conquest. Within 23 seconds-Draco timed it-the other girl broke out into tears and fled the pub. Granger didn’t even have to use her wand.
Her mission complete, Granger threw her diamond ring onto the floor and stomped away, leaving a group of gobsmacked Aurors and a dismayed ex-fiancé behind. Draco only smirked, thinking that it was a shame Granger wasn’t handsome enough. Otherwise he’d really be tempted.
3
Title: Rain or Shine
Author: floorcoaster
Rating: G
Word Count: 493
Warnings: None
The storm had been brewing all day. Dark clouds stretched from one end of the horizon to the other. In Hogsmeade, people were hurrying to and from their errands, anxious to be inside when the deluge began.
Hermione considered joining them, thought about getting up from the bench where they’d agreed to meet and running back to the castle. She had a dozen things that needed to be done before the school year began.
No. She had agreed to meet him here today, and she would be there. Rain or shine, she had said, and the peal of thunder in the distance indicated it would probably be the former.
A glance at her watch revealed that he was late. She sighed, unsurprised. Their parting had been horrible, an emotionally charged argument that had effectively put an end to their relationship nearly eight months ago. She had been ready for more, while he couldn’t commit. It was so trite it made her angry, but when she thought about the reality of what he would have to give up, she only felt sad. It wasn’t fair that anything outside of them could influence their lives, but it was reality.
Another clap of thunder and a flash of lightening heralded the deluge, and Hermione barely had time to open her umbrella and cast a repulsion spell before the rain started. It came down in thick sheets, so heavy that she couldn’t see the other side of the street.
He had been the one to write her, to ask for a meeting, but he was late and it was pouring. The repulsion spell wasn’t perfect and, little by little, she was getting wet. She decided to wait another ten minutes, and if he didn’t show, she would leave.
When she finally concluded he wasn’t coming, she was soaking, cold, and hurt. Part of her had hoped he’d wanted to reconcile, to apologize, to admit his wrong-anything!
Hermione stood and pulled her cloak tight around her, glancing one last time into the rainy fog around her.
She had just turned toward the school when someone shouted, “Wait!”
Her heart leapt when she saw someone-a man-him-running across the street, through the downpour, a newspaper vainly held over his head to ward off some of the rain.
When he joined her under the umbrella, he smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry I was late.”
Everything about him-his eyes, his voice, his perfectly sculpted lips, his toned body, easily visible underneath his rain-drenched white button-down-reminded her of the good times, of everything she had loved and still missed.
“Draco,” she began, then stopped, unsure of what to say.
He stepped closer, the heat from his body radiating to hers. “I-I love you. That’s all I know, that’s all I want. I don’t know about the rest, but-”
She silenced him with a finger to his lips. “You came. In this.”
“Nothing could have kept me away.”
4
Title: Just a Little Wager
Author: bookishwench
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: suggestive imagery
Word Count: 499
“I most certainly will not!”
Hermione felt her face turning bright red as Draco grinned at her.
“Why not?” he taunted her.
“You’ve got to be joking!” Hermione said loudly.
“Half the bar is already staring at you after that outburst,” Draco said, chuckling. “I don’t see the difference.”
“It’s a wet t-shirt contest,” she said with disgust. “They’re the epitome of chauvinistic male fantasies.”
Hermione glared at the men hooting enthusiastically at a twenty-something blonde prancing across the top of the bar and wearing a soaked pink shirt.
“Pigs,” she sniffed.
“You think they’re reacting like that only because they’re male?” he asked.
“Women wouldn’t be shrieking their lungs hoarse over some bloke in a wet button-down,” she said.
“You,” he said, smiling wickedly, “are prejudiced. I think I’ll have to disprove your theory with a little wager.”
“What are the terms?” she asked suspiciously.
“If I prove women can turn into salivating, animalistic, blithering idiots too, you’ll put on your own little show,” he said.
“And if they don’t?” she said, folding her arms defiantly.
“I’ll do anything you want,” he said, then repeated with heavy emphasis, “anything.”
Hermione knew she was asking for trouble, but that last word crumbled her self-control.
“Fine,” she said, and he turned abruptly, walking towards the bar.
“He wouldn’t,” she murmured, assuming Malfoy pride would stop public displays of indecorous behavior.
As the DJ nodded at Draco and started playing “It’s Raining Men,” Hermione realized assuming anything about a Malfoy was deeply stupid.
With a flourish of well-toned muscle, Draco vaulted onto the bar in time with the music, grabbed a bucket of water, and emptied it over his head, turning his pale blond hair a dark honey color. His white cotton business shirt was immediately soaked through, displaying the sharply defined contours of his chest, the material clinging to him like a second skin.
He looked like the personification of sex.
As he loosened his tie, a chorus of squealing, screaming voices greeted him. He threw the tie into the audience, where it immediately caused a stampede of crazed women fighting over it, and Hermione noticed an odd look cross his face. The women continued pushing forward, their arms waving almost violently, clawing at his trousers and starting a chant of “More! More! More!”
“That’s it for tonight, ladies!” he called, jumping behind the bar and exiting quickly through the door to the kitchen as the women groaned disappointedly.
Seconds later, he Apparated beside her, his shirt completely dry.
“You won,” she admitted, taking a tentative step towards the bar, “and I don’t back out of a bet.”
“Are you out of your mind, woman?” he whispered ferociously. “That was the most degrading thing I’ve ever experienced! Bloody creepy, that was.”
“So I’m off the hook?” she asked, relieved.
“Not quite,” Draco said, ushering her from the pub. “You still need to pay up, but only with an audience of one.”
“I can manage that,” she said, returning his smirk.
5
Title: Childhood Games
Author: luvscharlie
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 497
The Ministry had a poltergeist wreaking havoc in the Department of International Cooperation, and Hermione had been given orders to "take care of it."
In the Department of Magical Law Enforcement they usually worked in pairs. She normally worked with Susan Bones, but there had been that incident last week-which was entirely not her fault, though Susan didn't believe it-quite the nasty scandal actually. Rumours of sabotage and-oh, if she thought about it much more, she'd only get angry all over again.
She took a deep breath as the lift door opened, then attempted to stifle a giggle at the sight before her. Draco Malfoy, Department Head, was covered in-was that bubotuber puss? No, couldn't be. He wasn't screaming in agony. She was a bit taken aback by the sight before her. Draco had always seemed a bit scrawny growing up. Or at least that had been Hermione's opinion. But grow up, he clearly had… and well. His hair was in his eyes and his soaked shirt clung to the sharp lines of the muscles beneath.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Hermione asked, taking her time as she leisurely looked him up and down. She received little more than a snarl in reply. "Someone's covered in-well what exactly is it that you're covered in? It's not bubotuber puss, though I think the boils might be an improvement to that face of yours," she lied.
"For your information, Granger," he spat, "it's water. The poltergiest apparently watched some Muggle sprogs throwing water balloons at people yesterday and decided that he liked them. I've been dodging the bloody things all morning."
She hid a smile behind her hand. "Looks like your dodging skills could use some work." About that time, a large balloon splattered against her back, drenching her. Okay, this was less funny now.
There was large cackle, then the singsong sound of, "Run, run, as fast as you can. Can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man."
"The little beasts apparently taught him that as well. Oh, and that run part, he rather means it. Move," Draco said, grabbing her hand and diving into the nearest office, as water balloons exploded all around them, thrown in rapid-fire succession. They huddled under a desk, where there was just room for the two of them to squeeze in together.
"That was pretty quick thinking on your part, Malfoy," she said, admittedly impressed that he hadn't left her to fend for herself against the poltergeist.
"Yes, well, I've had plenty of practice this morning."
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," sounded the voice of the poltergeist from somewhere above their hiding spot.
"I think he believes we're playing hide-n-seek with him," Hermione whispered. "How long did he spend with those Muggle children?"
Several water balloons smacked them in the face in an explosion of water. "Tag! You're it!" shouted the poltergeist.
"Entirely too long," Draco said.
"So it would appear," she agreed.
ooo
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