Chapter Text
'Arrogant, selfish, know-it-all bitch' was Hermione's choice of words for Narcissa Black, and the bad thing was not that Hermione would never actually say such a thing and knew it, but that she had insulted Narcissa in front of the whole class.
Of course Hermione regretted it, but she didn't know what to do either. Of course, she could go to her and apologise, but what could she say? Sure, she could say that she was just having a bad day, which had been the case for a few weeks now. Only she'd always been very good at hiding it until Narcissa had labelled that one homework assignment... a short story, a wasted talent.
Hermione was at a loss. She had worked on this short story for about an hour and thought it was good. She couldn't understand why her teacher had said such a thing. And the worst part was... that Narcissa Black... of all the people Hermione didn't want to see right now, was sitting just a few tables away from her.
Sighing, she looked around the café where she sat for a few hours every Saturday, reading one of her books. Sometimes she bought a new book, even though she had enough books at home that she had started, which was relatively rare. Actually. For a few weeks now, she had a lot of books she had started and she didn't really know why she couldn't manage to finish at least one of them. She also didn't know whether it was Narcissa's presence that afternoon that made her unfocussed or what she was suppressing. The thing she just didn't want to think about, and at that moment she thought about just getting up and leaving. However, there was one tiny problem with that. It was raining. It was pouring and all she had with her was a cardigan, which was perfectly adequate for autumn, but would be completely soaked after a few minutes in the rain. She could kick herself for not having thought of an umbrella. Or that she hadn't thought to put on a thicker jacket. Sighing, she took another sip of her latte macchiato, looked out of the window and just watched the rain for a moment.
Passers-by hurried past the café or ran as fast as they could through the shopping arcade to get to the warm and dry shops. Hermione was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realise at first that the window was reflecting someone. She let her eyes wander higher before she finally turned round and looked directly at Narcissa.
"The way I see it, there are two options here. Number one, you try to drink something from your empty cup and stare at the same page in your book for another half hour. Or the second option... you accept my invitation and let me drive you home."
"What?" Hermione had understood the question, but she was surprised and a little confused. Why would someone offer a lift when said person had been insulted just a few days ago?
"Or would you rather run home in the rain?" the woman took Hermione's cardigan from the back of her chair and handed it to her. Hermione took a deep breath, took her cardigan gratefully, stood up and put it on.
The two women left the café very quickly and were sitting in Narcissa's white Ford Mustang a little later, breathing heavily, before Hermione had to chuckle.
"What's so funny? That you saw me running?"
"Your car..." Hermione said, adding: "There's a rumour going around the university that you have a driver." Narcissa grinned, started the engine and said that she didn't pay much attention to rumours.
"No attention at all, to be honest." she pulled onto the main road and there was a long pause, accompanied by an uncomfortable silence.
Hermione knew she should say something, but not what... or rather... how to start. Apologising could be really hard, even if she didn't understand why even at that moment, and she clutched at her bag in which she had taken the book.
"I..." she finally began: "I didn't mean to insult you."
"I know." Narcissa said completely calmly and stopped the car at the next red light. She turned to Hermione and looked at her with a certain look that she couldn't quite interpret...
"I know there's more than a hurt ego, Hermione. I don't know what it is, but I know that you're not yourself right now." and at that very moment, everything inside Hermione seemed to collapse. She felt a lump forming in her throat and she felt tears welling up...
"Alright." mumbled the woman next to her, driving on and changing lanes. She put her hand on Hermione's arm and squeezed it gently, causing the dam to break. She swallowed again and again, trying to hide the tears. She pulled her mobile phone out of her pocket, saw on the screen that Mike was calling, but said nothing as Narcissa gently took the phone from her.
She pulled into an empty car park, switched off the engine and turned to Hermione with a worried gaze and asked: "So... what's wrong?"