Hey... how are you holding up? Who: Draco and Hermione (as themselves!) When: During the Body Swap Plot Where: Coffee Shop What: Friends chatting Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Draco entered the arranged meeting point a little before Hermione had said to be there. He was looking forward to having a conversation with somebody who was actually themselves. It was beginning to hurt his head talking to Zuk or Pans, especially when they were both together.
He grabbed a couple of drinks, having asked Zuko previously what she would like and sat down to wait for her. It was Hermione so he knew it wouldn’t be too long.
It wasn’t long. Hermione was punctual. She saw Draco and bee-lined for his table. It would be good for her, too, to talk to someone who was in his own body. She’d had a conversation with Zuko that was a little awkward. Even though she and Draco were pretty much enemies in the Dreams, they were fairly close friends here. Which was nice. It was nice for her to have friends.
“Hey... how are you holding up?” She asked, sliding into the booth and pulling her bag off over her head.
It was nice. And Draco was glad of it. He was a complete idiot in the dreams especially to her so he was grateful she’d given him a chance to become her friend and she’d even supported him in his musical performances. Which he very much appreciated.
“As well as can be expected I guess. Rather anxious to have my husband back” he replied pushing her drink over to her, “You?”
“Yeah, I don’t blame you. For me? Thank you.” She said, accepting the drink. It was the kind that Zuko liked, which was sweet. She and Zuko bought for each other whenever they went out to the coffee shop, so it was nice that Draco did, too.
“I’m all right. My husband is a blonde woman right now, so I’m certainly exploring a different side of my personality.” Sexuality, too, if you catch the drift.
Draco smiled when she thanked him. It hadn’t occurred to Draco not to buy her a drink, he’d gotten there first and it was polite anyway.
He raised his eyebrows, “Really? Interesting” he nodded, no judgement just interesting information, “How’s Jim dealing with it?” he asked.
“Jim’s doing well. He’s pranked all his friends,” Hermione said, wearing a bit of a smirk. “I wish I could have been there. He said he kissed Leonard.” That bit was awesome and hilarious. The idea of Jim and Bones kissing? Priceless!
“Sounds like he’s having way more fun than Zuko is” Draco said, though he knew the circumstances were different of course. “Can’t imagine Leonard was too impressed” he said with a grin.
“I really do wish that Jim had set up a camera or something before it all happened,” Hermione said with a little chuckle and a wistful sigh. “I can only imagine the look on his face. It sounds absolutely hilarious.”
“It does” he agreed, “Jim definitely sounds rather well adjusted to this change” he said with a smile. It was good to see that not everybody was struggling with it.
“I think he’s really enjoying it, actually.” Hermione sounded as if she didn’t know whether that fact should please her or not. “I mean, we’re still... so it can’t be that bad.” She went rather pink at that thought.
“Definitely can’t be that bad” Draco said giving her a little smile. He was glad that Hermione wasn’t as affected but also a little envious. He and Zuko had spent an age deliberating over whether or not they should sleep normally or not. And even then hadn’t been able to fully relax.
“Yeah, he’s a great cuddler, even when he’s got boobs.” Hermione tried to make a joke out of it, but it just came out awkward. She blushed and laughed at herself.
Draco smiled, “I’ll take your word for it” he teased as she blushed.
Hermione laughed. “You do that.” She lifted her coffee drink for a sip, glad to have a friend during all this craziness.
“So apart from this, hopefully temporary insanity, how are you Hermione?” he asked.
“Apart from it? I’m good. Getting ready for school to start back up again.” She gave him a smile. “What about you? I saw that your sister’s not going back to school?”
“She’s not” he confirmed, “I’m not either. I’m gonna see if I can turn my music into a career, Zuko is gonna be my manager” he smiled, “And he’s thinking of taking some business classes too” It was all change in their house right now.
“Wow.” Hermione’s eyebrows raised. Of course, she had things to say about that, but she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to make Draco irritated, or try to dictate his life in any way. She nodded once. “That sounds like a good idea. Business, I mean. He’d need it to manage your career.”
Draco however recognised the look from the dreams, “Come on, out with it” he said still with a smile though, “You don’t approve of me quitting school right?” he guessed after all this was Hermione, pretty safe bet.
“He’ll be great with or without classes” Draco added confidently, “He’s scarily smart, like you”
Hermione broke into a smirk when he told her to spit it out. “No, I don’t. It’s not my life, so I won’t try and control it for you, but having more schooling under your belt can only help. Especially when you’ve got the money to pay for it. No one’s ever going to look at your transcripts and say ‘Jeez, why did you get that degree, it’s useless’ because you’re smart enough that it can only help.” She took a deep breath. “And I’m not sure why Pansy isn’t going for more schooling. In her line of work studying the legal system would only be an asset.”
He couldn’t hold the grin in anymore, “I appreciate your opinion” he told her, “And you’re probably right but I just can’t do it anymore. I want to write and play not sit in a room and just talk about and around it” he explained as best he could. “If I fail, I fail and you can be the first to say ‘I told you so’ but I just feel like I have to try” He took a sip of his drink, “As for Pansy I’m not touching that with a barge pole, feel free to tell her yourself though”
“I would never say I told you so.” Hermione said, shaking her head. “I’m not the Hermione from the Dreams.” She added, quickly. “Do you think you could cut down to part time? Work on theory and practice in a school environment and spend the rest of your time writing and performing?”
“I know you aren’t but in this case I’m giving you permission to say it anyway” he told her with a smile. “I appreciate your concern Hermione, I honestly do. But I just don’t feel that school is right for me. I don’t expect you to understand” After all she may not be the Hermione from the dreams but she was still Hermione and school was important to her.
“I know. I know. They all tell me that school’s not for everyone. I just don’t understand how more education feels like a waste of time. Like, people are so anxious to get to their lives, to start things. Like, things haven’t started already, and school is a waste of time. I just don’t understand it.” Hermione said, lifting her drink for a sip.
Draco smiled, “It’s not a waste of time I know that, but it also doesn’t feel like it’s for me. Not right now. I need to give it a go and if I stay at school I don’t want to regret not taking a chance”
Hermione nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. Do what you have to do in life to avoid regret.” She would have more regret leaving school. But everyone was different, right?
“Exactly” he replied, “How is your new direction going by the way?” He knew Hermione had changed her focus school wise.
“It’s fine. I’ll know more about how things are going this year when I start taking things other than general education classes. But I have a feeling it’s going to be all right. My own research has been very fruitful.” She loved bouncing things off of Jim when she learned about them. He knew it all already.
“I’m sure it has” Draco smiled, “You’ll excel at it I’m sure, and you do have access to things others don’t”
“That’s true,” Hermione said with a smirk. “I sure do.” She lifted her coffee cup to clink the plastic against his. “Here’s to the future, and not ever saying ‘I told you so.’”