||Black Scarves and Careless Hearts|| A Dramione Fanfic

15. Bad Hair Day

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"I'd take a nerf bullet for you."
~anonymous
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Hermione was so furious at the Daily Prophet she would have very much liked to burn their office down. 

"MALFOY!" 

Mr. Blak was so startled by her sudden and violent entrance that he ended up dropping several gold vials to the floor. The vials tinkled and clanked noisily, but Hermione only stepped over them to get to the back, leaving Mr. Blak sputtering.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Hermione shoved the newspaper into Draco's face. 

"Language," Draco said carelessly, as he disentangled himself from the newspaper and looked at her disapprovingly, "Merlin, what happened to your face? And your hair?"

Hermione glared at him. 

Her alarm had failed her that morning. It had resulted in her having three minutes to have a bath and dress herself for work. That had led to skipping breakfast. Hermione's hair hadn't been brushed or tied, her eyes were crusty, and there were large bags under her eyes. 

Malfoy looked like a bloody prince in his work clothes. Pristine yet messy. 

Which shouldn't even have been possible, but it was true. 

The corners of Draco's mouth turned up, "This paper is three days old, you should get yourself updated on the happenings between the Greengrasses and the Malfoys. Haven't you heard everyone talking? Also, you have no idea how much this helped me."

Hermione snatched the newspaper away from him vindictively, "You knew about this? And why would I bloody care about what goes on within your families? And this rubbish helped you with what, exactly?" 

"I only got to know about this particular report the day before, and never you mind about how it helped me." Draco shrugged. He was in a peculiarly good mood.

But Hermione didn't care. She thought that she would enjoy quashing every last bit of joy out of him, "Do you even realise what people will think?"

"Who cares?" Draco asked, grinning.

"I care!" Hermione said, wanting very much to stomp her foot, "They'll think the engagement broke up because of me! They'll go around thinking I'm some - some-"

"Look," Draco said, still smiling in that curious way, "If people see us reacting to it, they'll think it's true. If they see we don't care, they won't care either."

Hermione closed her mouth which had been open, ready with an argument.

What he was saying actually made sense. 

Begrudgingly, Hermione huffed, "I guess you're right."

"As always," he said snidely, then walked past her and begin working. 

Mr. Blak hobbled over to them, spluttering furiously, "Explain yourself!"

Hermione flushed an embarrassed shade of red, "I'm sorry, I- I was just... I'm sorry."

"She's having a bad hair day," Draco said, patting Hermione's shoulder sympathetically while nodding at Mr. Blak, "So she's grumpy."

Mr. Blak grunted, looking unamused. Hermione turned around to begin yelling at Draco again, but Mr. Blak spoke. 

"So, where is your assignment?" he asked, looking expectant now.

Hermione's spirits sank to the pit of her stomach. 

"I couldn't make it to Granger's on time."

Hermione blinked for a few seconds, confused. 

The world was going crazy.