The Silver Envelope

Who Pays the Price

"Were you expecting someone?" Ginny asked her.
"No..." Hermione said, rising to go check who it was.
When she looked through the spyhole, her heart leaped.
"Who is it?" Harry asked, drawing his wand after noticing the shock on her face.
"Erm, it's-
More impatient raps against the door interrupted her. Swallowing, she decided to simply open the door. They would find out soon enough anyway.
Draco's lazy smirk greeted her from the hall. Again, she noticed how devastatingly out of place he looked in the drab, mugglish space.
"What are you doing here?" she asked in a low voice.
"Nice to see you again too, Granger," he drawled, surveying her Boxing Day outfit of jeans and a thick, coffee-colored jumper. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"
"Erm," Hermione said, looking over her shoulder at Harry and Ginny.
But Harry was no longer on the sofa. He had come to see who was at her door.
"Malfoy? What are you doing here?" he said, echoing Hermione's words.
Draco's smirk slipped slightly when he saw Harry.
"Oh. Hello, Potter. How was your Christmas?" Draco asked lightly, breezing past the both of them and into Hermione's flat as if he owned the place. Ginny's brows shot upward when Draco smiled and nodded to her as he passed, settling himself casually right into the chair Hermione had just been sitting in. He stretched his long legs out on the rug in front of him, dominating the small
"Sorry to intrude," Draco said, not sounding sorry in the least. "But Granger and I have business to attend to.'
Harry and Ginny looked at Hermione, both of them stunned into silence.
Hermione deliberated for a moment. Had she made plans with him last night? She couldn't remember doing so.
Then again, she didn't exactly relish the idea of continuing her conversation with Harry and Ginny.
Especially not now.
"Er, that's alright," Hermione said. "I think we were finished, actually."
From his place in the corner, Draco watched with his sharp, silver eyes, an amused smirk tugging at his lips.
"Um, okay then," Ginny said, tugging Harry's arm toward the door. "We'll call you later, then."
She led Harry out, who followed reluctantly, eyes darting between Hermione and Draco with confusion as he went. Relieved, Hermione said her farewells and shut the door behind them. She let out a long breath before turning around.
"Draco," she said, facing him.
"Hermione," he returned pointedly, his voice scratching over her name in a way that made her want
tO shiver.
"What are you doing here, exactly?" she asked.
"Two things," he said. "First," he began, pulling something red from his pocket, "You left your scarf behind last night. I came to return it to you."
"Oh," Hermione said thickly. That was not what she had expected.
"And second," Draco said, depositing the scarf gently on a table nearby, "I came to ask for your telephone number."
Hermione blinked.

"My phone number?" she repeated.
"I'm told it's eleven digits long," he said, offering no further explanation.
"Why do you want my phone number? You don't even have a telephone," Hermione said.
"I had one installed this morning," Draco said, smoothly making to stand. "Muggles get things right, occasionally. Waiting for owls can be tiresome.
He made his way over to her kitchen, where a pad of paper and a pen was sitting near her telephone.
"Go on then," he said, holding the pen above the paper.
Numbly, Hermione recited her phone number for him. He wrote it down, ripped the page out, and tucked it into his pocket. Then he strode for her door.
"That's all I needed, friend," he said with a wink as he passed, causing Hermione's stomach to flip.
Was he leaving? Already?
"Wait," Hermione said, feeling as though she might burst.
Draco stopped at once, turning on his heel to face her.
"They want me to make up with Ron so that we can both attend the wedding," Hermione said, sure she would regret telling him as soon as the words left her mouth.
Draco's expression went from light amusement to dark fury in a fraction of a second.
"Are you serious?" he growled. "Potter told you to get back together with that-
_"
"Not get back together!" Hermione corrected. "Just. smooth things over. Let him apologize."
Draco's jaw flexed, his nostrils flaring. Hermione half expected to see smoke rise from his nose.
She waited, watching him mull the situation over. Finally, he relaxed a bit, leaning against the wall of her flat, though he still looked thunderously angry.
"He does owe you an apology," Draco said slowly. "But you aren't obligated to listen."
"If I don't, they might uninvite me from the wedding," she sighed. "And I can't ask Harry to ban his best mate and Ginny's brother from attending. He's inseparable from practically all my friends and loved ones. I don't have a choice, do I?"
Her voice started to break at the end. Draco's eyes widened a bit, and he stepped closer to her. She felt his cool hand cup her elbow in a gesture that was both supportive and respectful of the
boundaries berween them
"I could just stun him and stuff him into a closet right before the wedding, if you want," Draco teased, his face still tight with anger. "Then everyone can just blame me.
Hermione's laugh came out watery, and she collapsed onto his chest before he could see her tears.
He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, and she couldn't help the sob that jolted her body.
The relief that someone, that Draco, was fully on her side and understood how fucked up the whole situation was, felt visceral. She couldn't help the way her body melted into his embrace,
soaking up every drop of support she could get.
She wasn't aware of how he moved her to the sofa, just that it was suddenly next to them and he was lowering her next to him, keeping his arms around her as she leaned into him.
"Why is it that every time I see you, I end up falling into your arms?'
" Hermione complained
thickly, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her jumper. She felt Draco's chest shake a bit with laughter.
"Just admit you can't keep yourself off of me, Granger," he joked.
She let out a small, wet-sounding squeak of a laugh.
For another few heartbeats, she permitted the embrace, feeling oddly fragile as she felt his palm tracing soothing circles around her back. But eventually, she knew she had to pull away, lest their friendship boundary become blurred yet again.
Draco swallowed as she pushed away from him, feeling suddenly shy. She scrubbed at her eyes and pushed her hair behind her ears, self-consciously averting his gaze.
Suddenly, Draco stood.
"Come on," he said shortly, holding his hand out to help her stand.
"Where are we going?" she asked, taking the hand tentatively.
"You'll see," he said cryptically, leading her out the door.