Money Bought
Author: Tigre
Rating: PG-13.
A/N: Back to the writing board! Seriously, I can't GO back to the drawing board because I cannot draw for beans. ^_^ Well…this should be funny.
Hermione Granger was a studious young girl, getting all A's at her 6 long years at Hogwarts. She was the sort of person that if you cheated off of her, you were guaranteed perfect marks. You were also guaranteed to get a long lecture about how important it was to do your own work. Not the type of person you expected to go out on a late Saturday night and party until she hit the floor.
Hermione was also the girl that nobody expected to get married. She was passionate about nothing, except for maybe her homework. All of the girls in her year would either frown upon her for being brainy, or scowl at her for being a teacher's pet. Either way, it was kind of hard to tolerate.
That was why, she decided as she walked into the 6th year girl's dorm one Saturday evening at around 9 o' clock, she needed a change. Flopping down on the plush bed, she picked up a dog-eared book from the nightstand, and began to read. It was 'The Phantom of the Opera', one of Hermione's all-time favourite stories.
She heard giggling coming from the other half of the dorm. The noise was high-pitched, and quite deafening. Hermione groaned. It was none other than the notorious Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. They had probably just gotten back from a perfectly happy snogging session with their boyfriends, and were going to yammer on about it for the rest of the afternoon. Just what Hermione wanted.
She caught glimpses of their long chat, trying unsuccessfully to get submerged in her book. "And then…" Parvati's voice travelled across the room and bounced back off of the walls, "He said I had never looked more beautiful. I said that he looked drop-dead handsome, as always. We kissed, and it was wonderful…"
"Yeah, Parvati. Whatever you say!" Squealed Lavender, and they both broke into another fit of the giggles. Apparently, this was some sort of inside joke. The giggles stopped gradually. "You're lucky that your date with Dean went that well. Mine with Seamus was a complete and utter disaster! I mean, he talked about how much he loves Quidditch! Everyone knows that dates are meant for some serious snogging, and every minute wasted is absolutely precious!" They started laughing again. Hermione made a desperate attempt to cover her ears with her pillow- she had no desire to hear of such fanciful, romantic happenings- but failed pitifully.
There was some uneasy silence. The girls had not realized that Hermione was there. What if she exploited all of the information she had gotten? After all, they had seen her in class- the brainy one, soaking up information like sunlight. Parvati and Lavender could just see the end results of this catastrophe. They would have at least fifty points from Gryffindor, for sneaking out after hours.
"It's all right. I won't repeat the details I unfortunately had to hear," Hermione stated sarcastically. "why would I want to repeat anything about a wild snogging session when I am having trouble even knowing that?"
"Because…well, because you're Hermione. You're a perfectly good candidate to be Head Girl. If McGonagall or any of the other teachers knew that you were keeping secrets, you wouldn't BE head girl. Your spotless name would begin to rust away, and anything that Ron and Harry were to do, you would also be blamed." Lavender's words cut caustically. The blade that she had given the wound with was rather dull, but sliced quite deeply.
Hermione stood standing, looking stolid. She didn't know whether to yell at Parvati and Lavender for their ditzy remarks, or to cry. She had never thought of herself as a snitch- she didn't go off telling secrets all of the time- but then again, there was that whole incident with the Firebolt back in third year…
"I wouldn't do that, Lavender. I wouldn't bring myself to tell on someone for just having a little bit of fun. If you sneaked out every single night, then I might consider informing McGonagall. By the way, my reputation is not spotless. It does have little specks of dirt on it, and I am not sorry that it is tarnished. So, therefore, keep on talking about your happy, monogamous relationships. But, if anyone asks my input if Harry and Ron are in any means cute, I say NO." With that, Hermione flopped back on her bed, and commenced to read.
Lavender and Parvati's voices were hushed this time, but she caught that they were talking about her again. They snickered occasionally, but Hermione let this cruel laughter bounce off of her like water does from a duck. She couldn't get immersed in her book. Hermione knew the tale by heart, of how Christine Daae had to choose between her true love and being blown up, but somehow the horridness of it all wasn't consoling.
Parvati piped up again. "Hermione, what would your type of man be? You know, the one that you go out with…"
Hermione's face was frozen into astonishment. Many times she had considered the question, and not come up with any straight answer. For one month, it had been someone like Ron, kind, loving, humorous, and cute. Another time, it had been Harry, chivalrous, mysterious, adventurous, and just…spur of the moment attractive. Once, Hermione was afraid to say, she had fancied someone rather like Malfoy or Snape, enigmas.
She rolled her eyes. "Okay…that's a tough question. I don't know…someone who's intelligent? Handsome? Romantic?"
Parvati and Lavender scoffed. "So, you'd go out with a guy like Percy Weasley, right? Intelligent, bookish, ugly , boring…Or would you rather go out with someone like, oh, I don't have any idea, Draco Malfoy? I mean, he is pretty smart, but he also looks great in leather, and he has the whole tough-guy aura around him!"
"Are you sure that this is Draco Malfoy that we're talking about? He also looks great in ferret skin, we all have to remember that." Hermione shot back. She did too have taste in guys! So what if she didn't want to have a huggy-kissy relationship any time soon? Contrary to the saying, love did not make the world go 'round. She could be just fine without a boyfriend! As a matter of fact, better than fine! There was nothing that made Hermione sicker to her stomach than the type of muggle romance novels in which every other word is kiss, hug, snog, or something to that equivalent.
Deep down inside of her, Hermione wanted a boyfriend. True love was something that she had read about many times in all of the stories she cherished, and she would love to experience it. But love was meant for the beautiful, not for the intelligent. It was true that in the movies, most of the time you saw the pretty, petite blonde girl falling for the handsome, dark man. They got married about a day after they met, and had loads of kids. The man had lots of money, so the blonde wife didn't have to do anything except for worry about her new pedicure.
Her heart ached every time that she went to a dance at Hogwarts. There were so many happy couples, all whispering lovingly to one another. The words a loved one said to their soul mate were precious. There was so much gossip at these dances, about who was going out with who. Ron and Harry would occasionally be asked to dance by a blotchy-faced Ravenclaw, or a completely smitten Hufflepuff, but would refuse for Hermione's sake. They didn't want to see their best friend unhappy, after all. Not once was the girl in the periwinkle blue robes ever asked. Her hair was always in place, makeup was sparingly applied, but not one boy noticed.
The uncomfortable, depressing train of thought had been formed when the talk had ceased. It was as easily broken as it was made. "Okay, Hermione. Since Lavender and I are really bored, we have a bit of a dare for you. We're offering to pay you 40 galleons if you go out with someone for at least a month. The bet will be raised if you go out for longer than a month, let us give you a makeover, or do some of the Bonuses. The catches are, it can't be Harry or Ron, and it has to be a guy that we approve. Every kiss is worth around 2 more galleons, a snogging session is 5, rumours are worth 10, and dancing is worth 12, for all slow songs. Do you accept? Because, if you do, and you lose, you have to do our homework for at least a month, and pay us 40 galleons." Parvati smirked, apparently happy with herself. This could be fun.
Hermione's temper flared. She could, probably, go out with any guy that she wanted to at school! She just never had the desire for a moonlight stroll. She was seeking a change in the doldrums of her life, and having an exciting, wild, uncontrollable ride on the roller coaster of love was just what the doctor ordered. And, as an added prize, she would get paid at least 40 galleons for it.
"You're on, Parvati and Lavender!" She exclaimed with great drama. "When Hermione Rie Granger takes a bet, rest assured that she never loses!"
Parvati and Lavender smiled at one another. "40 galleons and homework-free nights, here we come!" They grinned mercilessly. All was fair in love and war, and this was a combination of both.
* * *
A/N: The song in this is "Money Bought" by the great Canadian rockers, Nickelback! *Most people will know them for their song "You remind me"* I was thinking about this very plotline the weekend before 9/11, when I was in Canada, but never managed to write it. J All Draco fans should be happy that there is going to be lots of Draco in this story! Seriously, the guy's one of my favourite characters. Tom Felton rocks. So does Alan Rickman. I'm done babbling now. Please R&R, and tell me what you think about this story! Any other spontaneous questions will be answered in the next installation, coming very very soon!
Peace out, minna-chan!
~* Tigre *~
