Snake Out of Water
The platform at King's Cross was overflowing with Muggles today despite it being a Sunday evening. The sea of humanity moved in waves of rolling suitcases and screaming children while unintelligible announcements were repeated over the loudspeaker overhead. Drusilla winced every time someone bumped her shoulder, and her fingers kept brushing against the wand hidden up her sleeve. Old habits died hard, and she was as cautious of Death Eaters as she was snot-nosed children and foreigners.
After what felt like an eternity of wandering, she finally spied a familiar mop of red hair towering over the heads of human cattle.
"About bloody time," she muttered.
Her grip tightened around her briefcase, and she went to work casually straightening her tie and skirt, as well as her hair. A loose strand tickled the thin, barely visible scar that ran along her right cheek. One of the countless reminders of Sectumsempra that never quite faded. Quiet reminders of her past sins. She brushed it away with the back of her hand and hurried on.
She still looked and dressed much the same as she did back at Hogwarts. Still preferring Slytherin blacks, grays, and greens even in her day outfits to fit in amongst Muggles, and wouldn't have looked out of place among her former housemates still attending.
When she approached the familiar trio, Harry was standing with his hands in his jacket pockets, trying not to bounce on his heels. Ron leaned against a pillar beside him, chewing on a piece of candy he had just popped in his mouth. Hermione had her arms folded, eyes scrutinizing every woman with blond hair that stepped off the train.
Ron caught sight of her almost immediately, and nudged Harry who spun to face her. Dru took a deep breath, and tried not to look too murderous when a foreigner jostled her shoulder.
Drusilla came to a halt in front of them, giving Ron and Hermione polite nods of acknowledgement before giving Harry a cursory glance up and down.
"Bloody hell. Did you get taller again? I thought I told you to stop that."
Harry's face split into a helpless grin. "I've missed you too, Dru. It's been a long three and a half weeks."
"That long?"
"Twenty-four days. Seven hours. And fifteen minutes exactly."
Ron disengaged himself from the wall and joined the pair with Hermione brushing up against him, keeping her distance.
"That's all you two have to say?" Ron said, popping in another piece of candy. "After nearly a month of not seeing each other? I was hoping for something a little more dramatic."
Drusilla's mouth twitched. The closest she usually came to a smile in public, and for half a second her eyes softened in a way that told Harry everything she'd never say aloud. A month apart had felt longer than the entire wizarding war, and he agreed.
"What do you want from me, Weasley?" she said, though not unkindly. "Potter might not be able to manage well without me, but he can manage. The Dark Lord had been trying to kill him since he was a toddler, and besides a few scrapes and bruises, and one particularly handsome scar, he's conducted himself rather admirably. In no small part because of you two. Shall we carry on to somewhere not teeming with Muggles?"
She started walking, and the trio shared one last uncertain glance at one another before following. Drusilla kept close to Harry's side, close enough that their arms brushed with every step. He offered to carry her briefcase but she politely declined. When Ron asked if she'd ever been to the cinema before, she craned her neck up at him.
"No. Though they did occasionally play classic films in the Slytherin common room. I remember one about a wizard from a land called Oz. Ridiculous story. Totally unrealistic. Most of the time it was just an excuse for couples to snog. Why, have you been?"
Ron nodded. "Takes some getting used to. Giant moving pictures. Sound everywhere. Popcorn. People eating and snogging in the dark. It's brilliant if you ask me."
"I see." She gave a small shrug. Accepting the information with polite detachment. "Don't expect two hours of snogging, Potter. I haven't missed you that much."
Harry chuckled and nudged her playfully. "You hungry first? The movie doesn't start for another hour."
"I could eat if you're all hungry."
Her stomach immediately growled, sounding like some kind of monster. She ignored it completely and continued walking. Ron and Harry snorted, sharing a grin with each other while Hermione let out a sigh and rolled her eyes.
"There's a cafe next door to the theater," she said. "If Drusilla doesn't mind slumming with us, I'm sure even she can find something appealing to her... selective palate."
"I'm always slumming when I'm with you three," Drusilla said lazily. "But I'm sure I'll manage, somehow."
Ron chuckled to himself, and whispered to Hermione that he'd been looking forward to this and wouldn't have missed it for the world.
A short while later they finally arrived at the cafe in a strip shopping center. Drusilla wouldn't have minded spending the entire evening just walking alone with Harry through the finer streets of London, watching the hopeless Muggles passing by, but if she didn't eat soon, she was afraid she might bite someone's head off. Figuratively, and literally.
They ordered and took the food outside to a little table with an umbrella. It was a rare day of sunshine, and although every Londoner was taking advantage of it, the couples found a table secluded enough to not have to worry about being overheard.
Ron and Hermione took their seats across from Harry, and Drusilla took hers in his lap.
"The seat looks sticky," she explained as though it should have been obvious. Drusilla smoothed out her skirt and rested one hand lightly on his thigh under the table. Every so often she'd glance at him through her lashes. Sultry and suggestive, but gone again in a flash.
Times like this were the few rare instances Harry felt he could almost read her mind, and he was fairly certain his would need to be scrubbed with soap and a brillo pad before he went to bed.
Ron coughed, and took turns glancing between them and back down at the table, grinning. "I think she's gone feral, mate." He took a bite from his burger, still grinning ear to ear. "Might need to have her looked at later."
Harry felt his face turn red and his ears go hot. Drusilla didn't even pretend to look offended. If anything it only encouraged her to be even more daring under the table.
Hermione watched the whole episode unfold with an expression that was a cross between watching a nature documentary and someone enduring an unpleasant medical procedure.
"Why don't I clean it for you?" she said pleasantly. She made an obvious hand motion under the table. "Scourgify."
Some dust rose off the bench, and Drusilla looked down at it, scowling, as if it had betrayed her. Holding her chin up high, however, she settled down off Harry's lap and took her seat.
Hermione sat up straight, looking rather proud of herself, and took a bite from her fries.
"Well-done, Hermione," Harry grumbled. He smiled when Drusilla scooted closer to him and laid a hand on his thigh under the table.
She smiled up at him, then turned and gazed at her food for the first time, and withdrew her hand. "What's this?" she demanded.
Hermione smiled smugly at her. "Food. You should try it sometime."
"It most certainly is not. I believe there's been some sort of mistake."
"They're chili cheese fries, Dru," Harry explained, clearly pleased by her reaction.
"Chili. Cheese. Fries?" Drusilla repeated. "These don't look like chips to me."
She turned to Ron who nodded, and once again spoke with his mouth full. "They're brilliant." He stole one from Hermione and somehow found room in his mouth for it. "They're American, I think."
Drusilla picked one up hesitantly, her growling stomach urging her on. Her nose wrinkled, and took an experimental nibble. Then another, and another.
"It's... alright," she said at last. "I've had worse."
Three minutes later half the carton was gone, and Harry was kind enough, or perhaps smart enough to share his own. Both he and Hermione failed to hide their amusement watching while Ron just nodded in solidarity.
"I thought those two were playing a prank on me the first time I tried them," he said. "Now I'm wondering where they've been my whole life. Hermione and I plan on holidaying in America next year. I can't wait to try all the food."
Drusilla dabbed her mouth with a napkin. "Understandable."
"Can I get you anything else to eat?" a middle-aged waitress asked suddenly, sneaking up behind them.
"No, we're alright," Harry said. "We're just letting the food settle before we head to the theater."
"It's my first time visiting the cinema and seeing what the Muggles call 'movies'," Drusilla explained, trying her chocolate shake. Her eyes lit up immediately. "Ridiculous word 'movie'. Then again I suppose moving pictures are quite novel to them."
Everyone at the table stared at her with their mouths open, but the waitress just looked at her with a curious expression.
"Muggle?
"What she means is-" Hermione began.
"It means non-magic folk," she continued. "We're in the entertainment business. Stage magicians, actually. I had a rather sheltered upbringing and don't get out very often."
The waitress grinned ear to ear. "I knew there was something different about you lot! That's wonderful! I love magic shows. Think you could perform a trick for me? No, I'm sorry, that'd be rude, and I have other customers. If there's nothing else I can do for you, I'll pick up your trash and leave you to your magic business."
She gathered their empty trays while giggling, stealing several glances back at them before going back inside.
"I can't believe you just did that," Hermione breathed, looking exhausted. "What were you thinking?" Beside her, Ron just grinned as if this was the most amusing day of his life.
"I'm not a dullard," Drusilla said hotly. "Intelligence doesn't always equal cunning, you know. Even dressed as we are to fit in amongst the Muggles, we still appear odd. Weasley most of all. 'Half the truth is often a great lie' as the American saying goes. They're much more convenient than outright lying in my experience."
She suddenly turned to Harry and batted her eyelashes. "Although, I don't hate the idea of being a Muggle magician. I quite like their outfits. What do you think, Potter? Would you like to see me wearing fishnet stockings sometime?"
Harry stared at her, mouth agape, ears scarlet, and seeing that she wasn't going to get an answer, Drusilla returned to her chocolate shake.
"I think we should be getting our tickets," Harry said awkwardly, standing up. "You three stay here. I'll go get them."
He paused, then leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the thin, barely visible scar that ran along her right cheek.
Drusilla's eyes fluttered shut for half a second, wishing he'd kiss all her scars just as tenderly.
"Don't take too long, Potter. Or I'll think you've gone on another adventure without me."
"Harry, Drusilla just got here," Hermione protested. "Ron and I will go get them. Won't we, Ron? You two stay and catch up."
"Why don't Hermione and I stay?" Drusilla suggested.
The trio looked at her as if she'd grown a second head, but Drusilla merely shrugged. "We never get to talk. It'll be nice to chat alone without you two chaperoning us."
Harry and Ron glanced at one another, then at Hermione who forced a smile. "It'll be fine. Drusilla's right. We have a lot to discuss."
The boys looked uncertain, but took deep breaths, and seemingly held them while walking across the parking lot to the theater, occasionally glancing back at them as if to make sure they hadn't killed each other. The girls forced smiles, and Hermione even waved, but neither smile touched their eyes. She wondered just what Drusilla was playing at, and whether she was fiddling with her wand as much as she was.
For a while they didn't say a word to each other, and avoided all eye contact with each other. Finally Hermione wiped an already clean spot on the table and was about to fill the silence with small talk about the weather when Drusilla spoke up.
"Don't think I'm not grateful for you testifying on me and my family's behalf," she said. "We are forever in your debts, Miss Granger."
Hermione stared at her in shock, then mistrust. "D-don't mention it."
"Not very politically advantageous of you," Drusilla pointed out.
"Doing the right thing often isn't."
Drusilla conceded the point, though her morality was still painted in shades of gray. The right thing to do was still very much subjective in her opinion, and guided by logic, loyalty, and convenience. Hermione's testifying on her behalf in court had been neither logical nor convenient, and Drusilla had her doubts that it was morally correct either. That left loyalty, which was even more doubtful.
"Regardless, I am grateful. Are you managing well back at Hogwarts without the boys? It's not too boring, I hope."
"It's… different," she conceded. "A lot's changed since I last attended." She bit her lip, and Drusilla suppressed a flinch. Their sixth year had ended with Dumbledore's funeral, facilitated by Drusilla even if the headmaster had technically planned it all out himself. It wasn't a fond memory for either of them, and neither was being used as a pawn by both sides of the war.
"It is a bit dull, like you said," Hermione continued, "but that's not a bad thing. For the first time, Voldemort isn't trying to ruin my education. It's given me plenty of time to catch up on my studies."
Drusilla snorted as if Hermione somehow falling behind in her books amused her. "I'm sure it can't be any duller than sitting in courtrooms, answering endless inane questions, and reliving the lowest moments of your life day after day after day. The last six months have been… sobering, to say the least. I'm lucky not to be in Azkaban right now."
Hermione fell quiet, and avoided looking at Drusilla, though couldn't help glancing out the corner of her eye at her, noting how exhausted she looked.
"But at least I'm finally a free woman," Drusilla murmured, watching the Muggles passing by. "Whatever that means."
"It means you and Harry can finally be together," Hermione said without thinking. "You two make a cute couple. When you're not trying to kill each other, that is."
Drusilla smiled. She did her best to keep it private, but her face and eyes lit up. She couldn't help playing with her scar. "Really? I think that's when we were at our cutest. The way the corner of his right eye twitches when he's angry. The way he pouts? It's positively adorable."
Hermione laughed through her nose and shook her head. Drusilla glanced at her, her smile no longer reaching her eyes.
"I'm not asking you to like me, Granger. I'm not even asking for your forgiveness. If you want an apology, you already have it. I was a child. I've since grown up. You can still hate me, even distrust my motives with Potter, but I'll do my best not to give you any more reasons to hate or distrust me. I'd even be willing to perform an Unbreakable Vow if you so desire it."
"N-no, that's quite alright. I believe you."
Drusilla smiled. Although it lacked humor, it wasn't without warmth.
"No you don't, and I hardly blame you. I'm not a saint, but I also no longer think of myself as the devil. Suspicion is good. Keeps you alive. Hate, however, robs a person of their soul. Trust me, I know from experience."
Hermione took a deep breath and slowly released it. "I don't hate you, Drusilla. At least not anymore..."
Drusilla's shoulders loosened a fraction. The closest she had ever come to looking comfortable in public. "Good. Two smart girls such as us, I never understood why we couldn't get along."
"You called me a Mudblood," Hermione said without hesitation, eyes suddenly furious. "Fifth day of our second year. In front of everyone."
"Did I? How tacky of me. Though I do recall someone implying I was only the Slytherin seeker because of my father's money. Not because of a year's worth of bruises, chafing, and hard work. Perhaps I'm misremembering."
Hermione scowled, and the usual cool silence fell between them. "I'll never understand what Harry sees in you," she said without thinking, not regretting it even in the slightest.
"Neither will I," Drusilla admitted to her surprise. Hermione's eyebrows shot up, and Drusilla sighed, shaking her head as if it should have been obvious. "I had a crush on him long before he had one on me. It's one reason why I hated him so much. One of many, anyway. And why I used to use your school picture for target practice. You moved too quickly to ever hit, for the record." She shrugged and finished her chocolate milkshake. "Your loss is my gain."
Hermione's mouth fell open. "You thought Harry and I were... dating?" She laughed suddenly, and covered her mouth when she caught herself hiccupping.
"Alright, Granger. It's not that funny. I never saw the two of you without the other, and you even went to Slughorn's dinners as his date. When you two didn't attend the Yule Ball together, I just assumed you both were too stupid to confess your feelings to each other. It was an honest mistake, really."
"I just can't believe you thought Harry and I... I mean..."
"Don't play dumb, Granger. It doesn't suit you. I'm not going to sit here and stroke your intellectual ego, so I'll just say that you're not half-bad to look at since you fixed your teeth and started doing something with your hair. Why Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, had an eye for me of all people instead of you or anybody else, I'll never know. If I wasn't so over the moon, I might be a little concerned about him. He obviously has terrible taste in women."
Hermione ignored the backhanded compliments she had grown accustomed to being around Drusilla, mostly because they cut both ways, and found herself laughing instead. Drusilla wasn't the first person to make the mistake, or the first person to ask her why Ronald Weasley instead of Harry Potter. The choice had never been a choice in Hermione's mind. Not really. It was as natural to her as breathing, and it was difficult imagining herself with anyone different.
"Harry's always been like an older brother to me," she confessed. "He's always been so serious all the time. So selfless and heroic even when we were children. Almost larger than life, which can be hard to get close to and confide in. Harry had his own troubles, and mine always seemed trivial in comparison. He didn't share his burdens with others, and I didn't want to burden him with silly school girl problems. I could always confide in Ron, though. If not him, his sister Ginny. The Weasley family don't take life as seriously as the rest of us. Family's the most important thing to them. It's the only thing, really. I think it's what drew us both to Ron."
Hermione smiled fondly, thinking of the early days when she couldn't stand Ron, and barely tolerated Harry despite them being her first and only real friends. Drusilla smiled too, her own experiences being much more recent and fresh in her mind.
"When I informed Father that I intended to pursue a relationship with Potter, he was furious," Drusilla said quietly. "Mother disapproved but was at least sympathetic. Father didn't speak to me for a whole month. Even while sitting in court together. He's since come around. He didn't have much choice, but he keeps repeating that Potter is beneath me. I politely disagreed, but privately I agree."
Hermione raised a brow, and spied the faintest hint of a thinly veiled coy smile.
"I quite like the idea of Potter beneath me. And on top of me. And behind. And even-"
Hermione's high-pitched cackles interrupted, and she looked at Drusilla incredulously, as if she were a completely different person from what she'd known all these years. "Drusilla!"
"Don't pretend to have virgin ears, Granger. And don't pretend you haven't had the very same thoughts about Weasley." Drusilla shuddered, and while she contemplated a memory charm to get the horrible image out of her head, Hermione focused on keeping her already scarlet face from becoming any redder.
"Ron's right. You are feral."
Drusilla shrugged, playful smile remaining. "Perhaps. But for the first time in my life, I know what I want. And his name is Potter."
Hermione's giggles finally won out, and she spent the better part of a minute getting them under control before she could breathe. "Why do you still call him that? Why don't you just call him Harry?"
"Old-blood habit, and because I like the way it sounds. Potter-Potter-Potter."
Courtesy of her posh, aristocratic accent that was considered exaggerated and even derided in that part of London, she pronounced it 'Pottah', which added to Hermione's hysterics.
"Drusilla Andora Potter has quite the ring to it, if I do say so myself."
"Already planning the wedding, are we?"
She nodded. "Of course. It's inevitable at this point. When he thinks the time is right, and when I earn the right to carry his name."
Hermione chuckled. "I can't believe I'm sitting here discussing weddings with Drusilla Malfoy."
"You have your own wedding to consider. You and Weasley were made for each other. I always thought so, though admittedly less unfavorably back then. You two don't have the same baggage that me and Potter do. Don't waste your time prolonging the inevitable. Life's short. People die. No one knows what tomorrow might bring."
She fell silent for a moment, and played with her drink, trying to scrape all the chocolate off the sides with her straw.
"You're marrying into an old-blood family too, Granger. Our names will be footnotes at best. If your children inherit even half your brains, and mine get half their father's sense of justice without his death-wish, this horrid world might actually become somewhat tolerable. Our job is to raise our children well and keep our men alive long enough to see it."
Hermione raised her brows but kept her expression hidden behind her drink. "How old fashioned of you."
"I am an old-blood, after all. But let's see if your Muggle egalitarianism and Auror aspirations remain once you have your first redheaded weasel running around."
The two women smiled at one another, warmly and genuinely this time. They couldn't have been more different if they tried. They fell into a comfortable silence, occasionally glancing at each other and giggling like they were school girls, which Hermione supposed she technically was.
"We probably look ridiculous," she noted.
"Life is ridiculous, Granger. Better get used to it."
"Please, call me Hermione."
Drusilla looked at her as if suddenly offended. "We're not friends, Granger. We're merely associates that tolerate each other for Harry's sake."
Hermione shook her head and laughed. Although Drusilla's tone hadn't changed, she finally heard the dry wit that Harry had told her so much about over the years that she simply could never hear no matter how hard she tried. Which admittedly wasn't very.
Harry and Ron arrived soon after, handing over the tickets. They glanced at the girls who remained silent and didn't give any indication they had spoken a word since they left.
"Did you two have a pleasant time without us?" Ron asked, always uncomfortable with silence.
"You're all we talked about," Drusilla said mildly. "Hermione and I were discussing your wedding. I was just saying that I don't know if there's a high school gymnasium or cow pasture big enough to hold the entire Weasley clan."
Ron's eyes widened, and he turned to Hermione for confirmation, who just nodded. "Actually, we were mostly discussing Dru and Harry's wedding. An old-blood family like hers, I'm sure it'll be quite the spectacle. As cheerful as a funeral, I suspect."
Hearing the humor in their voices, and the mischievous way the two looked at each other, Ron swallowed hard. "Blimey, Harry. I think the girls made up and are conspiring against us."
"We're doomed," he agreed, patting Ron on the back. He picked up Drusilla's briefcase and helped her out of her seat which prompted Ron to do the same for Hermione, and the two couples made their way to the theater, arm in arm with their significant other.
Drusilla laid her head against Harry's shoulder. The movie was some kind of romantic comedy he and Hermione had suggested. Something Muggle girls supposedly enjoyed. She didn't particularly care.
She suspected whatever public seating she was expected to sit on was going to be utterly unsanitary, but thankfully she knew of the perfect alternative.
"I wonder if Muggles don't like movies so much as they just enjoy snogging in the dark," she mused. "Perhaps I've judged them too harshly over the years."
Harry's arm tightened around her shoulders. "You're welcome to test that theory," he whispered in her ear.
His lips brushed against her scar, and she shivered from head to toe and everywhere else in between.
"Don't get me started yet, Potter," she murmured dizzily. "Twenty-four days, eight hours, and forty-seven minutes is a long time to be left with only one's imagination to keep them company at night. And Granger can confirm that mine tends to wander into gutters and roll around in absolute filth."
Ahead of them, Hermione laughed, and looked up at Ron much the same way Drusilla was looking at Harry. The girls glanced at one another, winked, and held their men a little tighter, all the while giggling and hurrying to their seats.
(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. If you did and would like to read more Harry/Drusilla, you might also enjoy "Love Pure As Hate", which is a rewrite of the Sectumsempra bathroom scene from "Half-Blood Prince". Speaking of, I can't express how thankful I am for the support I've received since posting it the other day. I've been writing fanfiction for nearly twelve years for some fairly popular fandoms, and NOTHING even comes close to the amount of support it has received. Thank you, and if you wish to read more from this series, please be sure to let me know. A little encouragement goes a LONG way.
As for "Snake Out of Water", I've had a lot of experience writing snobby, aristocratic type characters (Weiss Schnee from RWBY in particular), but Drusilla is probably my favorite thus far. I really like the idea that she's prim and proper on the outside, but she's absolutely feral when it comes to Harry. I think she has really great chemistry with the main trio. There's a great back-and-forth between her and Harry, antagonism with Hermione, and Ron being Harry's wingman and Drusilla's enabler. I hope you feel the same. It's my first time writing for Ron and Hermione, and Harry's personality was barely on display in my first one-shot, and I'm still discovering Drusilla's range. I really enjoyed seeing how she contrasts with Hermione, which in my experience is one of the best ways to figuring out how a character thinks. Let them argue, and see how they think.
Thank you again, and I hope you enjoy the coming stories.
All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)