Dramione: stop calling me Malfoy

1. Leaving england

Draco didn't like muggles. Actually he didn't understand them. He didn't understand electricity either, and when the plane gained height and the wheels came back inside the aircraft, he flipped out. The poor guy began to shake, just a bit, but enough for his baby fine hair to sweep across his forehead. He got very pale, until his skin was the same color as his ash grey eyes. He had the window seat and gazed out the small window at all of the houses and cars below with fear in his eyes. He was gripping the padded armrests much to tight and he seemed so lost and small, so vulnerable. It was unsettling to see him this way. I had flown before and had grown up trusting planes my whole life but Draco had probably only heard horror stories about them falling out of the sky. I leaned over and looked at him cautiously.

"Draco?" I asked softly. "Are you alright?" He tore his eyes away from the window with much effort and looked right into mine. A jolt went up my spine, from my toes to the tip of every frizzy hair on my head. He nodded sharply and turned to face the window again. "Once we're up high enough you can have a glass of water." He shook his head and watched as clouds began to press against the glass. I turned back around and slid my headphones over my ears and began to channel surf, looking for a good song. Soon I found one featuring American muggle pop and relaxed. The cookie cutter beats about lost love soothed the nerves that Draco's stare had rattled within me. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I woke up from a nightmare in which Harry kept melting into the ground not remembering where I was. Snapping my head around I saw Draco next to me, still gazing out into the clouds, and it settled back in. Looking at my watch I saw I had napped for about ten minutes. We were well above ground now and soon the snack cart would come up the isle. It reminded me of the Hogwarts express, the many types of candy, and Ron's chocolate frog cards put a smile on my face. The last time I was on that train was the day of Dumbledore's funeral, three years previous. So much had changed since then. Hogwarts had indeed closed after my 6th year and Harry had gone on to search for the horcruxes. He had found them and killed Voldemort in two years and had gone on to be made head of the auror office at the ministry. Now that Voldemort was gone Hogwarts had reopened, and Ron took the place of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, a post he continued to hold, now that the curse on the position was no longer effective, as its spell caster had died.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when a sharp pain surged through my elbow. Instinctively I pulled my arm to my side, hitting Draco on the shoulder. He slammed back into earth, looking startles as I apologized. He nodded slowly and sunk back into his chair. I turned around in my seat and saw the flight attendant had banged into her cart into my side, must be one of the pleasures of her job.

"What do yah want?" She said bitterly, snapping a stick of gum. A strand of greasy hair slid down the side of her face and swung down by the side of her face. I turned to Draco, but he was lost in his own world.

"Can I have two diet cokes and..." There was still no response from Draco. "Do you have mars bars?" She showed no sigh of recognition, just snapped her gum began to rummage through her cart. I pulled down Draco's tray and mine. She put down the cups and chocolate in front of me, and then paused. She had seen him. He was still looking out forward into the seat in front of him, his hair falling into his eyes. He didn't seem scared any more, just... lost.

"You okay, cutie?" She said to him, suddenly warm and bubbly. He looked over at her slowly. She shivered, then plunked down the cans and pushed the cart forward. Had she seen the sadness in his eyes as I had? I handed Draco the mars bar and poured him his drink.

"This is muggle soda, I don't know if you'll like it, but you should try it." He nodded curtly. "This is just regular chocolate. If you want to listen to some muggle music you can put these on," I reached over and pulled his head phones out from the pocket on the seat in front of him. I plugged them into the outlet on his armrest, and then pointed to the buttons to change the channel. As I pulled away my arm grazed his leg and another ripple of excitement went up my spine. He shifted in his seat. "If you need to go to the bathroom you can walk up there." My voice was shaking. I gulped, what was going on? "Just ask if you need anything." I got no response, so I put my headphones back on and listened to the song playing, but not really hearing it. This was going to be a long flight.

Eight long hours passed as I sat there, listening to music, occasionally dropping to sleep. Four hours later, Draco finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and raspy, like he hadn't spoken in days. Now that I thought about it, he probably hadn't.

"How much longer till we get there?" He asked quietly. I looked over at him and made the mistake of looking into his eyes again. I felt woozy and focused instead on his eyebrows. They were straight and neat. They were just eyebrows.

"We're about half way there," I whispered. It was now dark outside and the tourists around us were falling asleep. He didn't react much to this, just blinked. "I'm sorry we couldn't apparate, but you need to be kept a secret." He nodded slowly, and then took a slow sip of his soda, finishing it. "Do you like that stuff?" I asked, and then added, "the soda?" He put it down on his tray and sunk back into his chair.

"It's okay," he rasped. I reached over for his empty cup and stacked it on top of mine and then slid both in the pocket in front of me. He folded up his tray, revealing a muscular arm from under his coat, which he hadn't taken off. I lifted up mine as well, then lent back into my pillow and breathed in deeply. The sent of rain and grass wafted through my nose and put a smile on my face just before I dropped off.

Draco woke me up as we were landing. He was shaking again. "Hermione?" He said softly. When I didn't answer he lifted a shivering hand and patted my shoulder. I opened my eyes slowly and saw his nervous face only a few inches away.

"Yeah?" I said, groggy from my nap and from looking into his face. The plane gave a shudder as the landing kit pulled away from the plane. It was almost cute to find the unshakable Malfoy being afraid of a plane landing. On my first plane ride my mother had held me close and whispered to me that everything would be fine. Draco didn't have that. I reached over and brushed his hair off his forehead. "Don't be scared," I whispered like my mother had. "It's alright." I had expected him to back away from my touch, but he leaned into it. It must have been a while since any one had tried to comfort him.

"I'm not afraid," he mumbled, without really meaning it.

"Just relax, it will be over soon," I murmured soothingly, and Draco stopped shivering. "See, there's nothing to worry about." I slid by hand down to the armrest and covered his. Suddenly I realized I was holding hands with Draco Malfoy, but I pushed that thought out of my mind. He needed a friend, and I was going to be one. The plane was getting lower and lower. We were below the clouds and you could see hundreds of lights out the window. He had noticed too. Gazing out at them in wonder he sighed. The grinding below us grew louder as the lights grew bigger. "This is it," I whispered, barely audible above the din below. With a lurch the plane touched down, and Draco laced his fingers into mine franticly. "It's over."