Signum Vitalis (a dramione story)

The Gurdwara

Harjeet sighed and gestured towards two large pastry boxes sitting on the kitchen counter. "You can help Samir carry one of the laddu boxes."

None of them had a car and so they took the subway to the Gurdwara. It was mostly a straight shot, so they hunkered down in a corner and waited for their stop.

Hermione sat by the window and used Draco's bulk to block her hand as she cast Luna's spell to help block out the crowd. She would have never used it on herself if she had been alone, but with Draco there, even if he was sitting in a stony silence at the moment, she felt safe enough. In fact, she dozed off several times, her head bobbing back or to the side. She had just been jerked awake again by her head rolling off at an uncomfortable angle, when she felt a hand press against her head and force it down until it was resting on Draco's shoulder.

"You are giving me whiplash watching you," he mumbled.

Hermione smiled but drifted off again before she thought of an answer.

She woke up to Draco poking the tip of her nose. She brushed aside his hand and then rubbed at the side of her mouth to check for drool.

"You weren't being an idiot last night and studying for exams that are two month away, were you?" She could feel his voice rumble through his firm and rather bony shoulder.

She groaned and sat up. "I was researching you."

His eyebrow raised and his mouth morphed into a sly smile. "I didn't know you were the stalking type."

She rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder gently. "What would be the point? Your closet seems to shove all your skeletons out without me lifting a finger."

His face fell, and he glared out the window.

Hermione bit her lip, trying to come up with a way to fix what she just said, but Samir leaned towards them and waved a hand. "Come on, you flirts, this is our stop."

From then on, conversation stopped anyway. Even at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning, the subway stops were something that needed complete focus to survive, especially with two fragile pastry boxes full of laddu and a Hermione still given to panicking in crowded areas.

The Gurdwara itself was an unassuming brick building with no outward adornments or anything that even indicated what it was. Hermione followed the rest of the group into the entrance way where there were several groups of people sitting at tables and chatting over paper plates. Besides not being of Indian decent, Hermione and Draco stood out as the only ones in jeans and Hermione was happy Harjeet had let her borrow her scarf because it allowed Hermione to feel like she blended in at least a little with all the bright scarves of the other women. Draco was wearing a gold bandanna that had looked a little seedy out on the street, like he was trying to imitate the gangster style and failing spectacularly by wearing a button up shirt. However, now that everyone around them had their head covered, it didn't look that weird. The gold actually complemented the deep maroon shirt. Draco walked off to another table a little ways off there where other were arranging fresh fruit and other desserts Hermione didn't recognize. She observed the smallish entry way and decided there weren't nearly as many people as she had expected, given how much laddu Harjeet had had them make.

"Are we early?" she asked Draco when he came back from putting down the pastry box for Harjeet to arrange.

"Yeah. Come on." He grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her towards a smaller room off to the side. "We need to take off our shoes."

Having been warned ahead of time, Hermione had worn some Vans that were easy to slip off her feet. The smaller room was basically a closet full of cubby holes for shoes. She pushed hers into the same one as Draco over his black dress shoes. He wore socks of different shades of gray and Hermione wondered whether she should comment on it. He still seemed in such a bad mood.