Written for the Hermione Did What! Challenge by Zombie Reine.
J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.
( Hermione's point of view)
I have a secret: I did something bad.
I kissed him, and I don't mean some random him you can find anywhere.
I kissed Him.
Him, as in Draco Malfoy.
And he kissed me back.
I mean, it wasn't even my fault, I blame it on him for how I'm feeling now.
But now I can't stop thinking about him, and I have a feeling that this is mutual.
He hasn't kissed another girl since me, and it's been an entire week.
And so here I am, wondering how I could possibly change our dormant relationship.
I suppose you could call it plotting, but I prefer to call it crafty planning.
I also suppose you could say that I like him now, but it could be even more than that.
And then an idea hits me in the head so hard that I have a mental bruise on my brain.
Or perhaps physical too, because I'm starting to get a subtle headache.
But nothing, not even a headache, can destroy the joy in my heart, no matter how powerful, because guess what?
I've thought of a perfect plan.
In the next seven days, Draco will kiss me again.
A week later, I enter the Great Hall.
I am met by glares, grins, and sympathetic, weak smiles.
Because this is all my fault, according to them.
I secretly blame it on Draco.
Today is ColorSwap Day.
The houses have all swapped colors, so Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw have switched, and so have Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Aside from the fact that most of the people in this room are staring me, I can't help but notice something.
Draco, well, he looks very cute in red and gold.
As if sensing that I was thinking of him, he looks up.
His eyes widen, and then he swings his head back to his own table.
Now he is one of the only ones, if not the only one, who is not looking at me; he is completely immersed in his breakfast, ignoring everything else.
I take this a sign.
I am being optimistic, I know, but these are desperate times and call for desperate measures.
I am wearing my school robes, but with a green and silver tie.
And guess whose tie it is?
Draco's.
I kind of still have it from that one kiss, I'm not really even sure why I didn't give it back, but then I got my idea, and I couldn't.
It's essential to the plan that I wear it.
A few Slytherins have noticed Draco's bizarre behavior, and look over at me as I sit down by Ginny.
They look surprised for some reason, and then I get it.
Or rather, Ginny pointed it out to me.
"What's up with the tie?" she asks.
"Everyone's wearing Slytherin ties. It's ColorSwap day. Remember?" I say.
She rolls her eyes as if I'm missing something terribly obvious.
"I know that! I'm wearing one too. See? But...your tie..." she trails off.
What is it about my tie? It looks just like everyone else's!
Right?
I ask Ginny what's wrong with my tie?
"Well," she says, "You know how all our ties have diagonal stripes with our house colors?"
I nod impatiently.
"And for Slytherin, there's a thick green stripe and then a thin silver one?"
I nod again.
"Yours has a thick silver stripe and then a thin green one, just like..."
I know what she is about to say now.
Epic fail for the ingenious plan, I compliment myself.
"Just like Draco's?" I ask hesitantly.
"How did you get it? Everyone else just transfigured their own ties because the Slytherins wouldn't give theirs up. Unless..."
"Yes," I admit.
"You planned it?" she asks.
I nod.
And then a slow grin reaches the corners of her mouth.
"Mione, you like him!" she says cheerfully.
Hearing Ginny, Lavender Brown, sitting across from me, asks, "Who?"
"No one," Ginny and I say at once.
She frowns, then turns back to her previous conversation with Parvati.
But not before glancing once more at my tie.
I am in my refuge, my home away from home, my impenetrable fortress.
The back corner of the library.
I am planning again, I need to readjust some things.
So now everyone wants to know where I got the tie.
Did everyone know about Draco's backwards tie? I had asked Ginny.
Apparently, the answer was yes.
Thankfully, no one asks me directly; they ask Draco, who insists that I stole it.
As if I could ever get in their common room.
Well, technically, if I had the Polyjuice potion...
That'll fix it!
But wait, where would I get some?
My thoughts are interrupted by none other than the source of my planning himself.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he demands.
I laugh without humor, saying, "Did you forget where I got it in the first place? You started it!"
He rolls his eyes and says, "I was...er...I was drunk! I didn't recognize you!" he exclaims.
"So you're so desperate that you'll kiss anyone?" I ask.
His face flushes with anger, and he says angrily, "Will you just give me back my tie? Why couldn't you just have used your own tie?"
This time I laugh with humor.
"Did you forget that too? I don't have mine either," I raise my eyebrows.
"I-No, I- What exactly did happen?" he asks.
"You took my tie and changed its color so that you could pretend I was Slytherin. It was a bit scary. I mean, no offense, but I was walking back from the library and then you came and started flirting with me and swaying, you almost fell over!"
"I can't believe they even let me out of the common room!" Draco complains, "Would if I had gotten caught?"
"I didn't tell," I inform him.
He looks at me curiously, and asks, "Why not? Surely Miss Know-it-all would tell Professor McGonagall!"
"You promised me that you'd owe me a favor if I didn't," I explain.
His stormy eyes widen, and he complains, "That's not fair!"
"We pinky swore," I say.
"Oh. My. God. That's more binding than the Unforgivable curse!" he exclaims.
"And since you did, I thought we could have fun today. You know, hang out," I say brightly. "Just like nice old Gryffindor pals!"
"I hate you," he mutters, then, "What are we going to do?"
"If you be happy with my plan, I pinky swear that I'll take off your tie in ten seconds," I say.
"Done," he says quickly.
We touch pinkies and I take off the tie.
He starts to reach for it, but I shake my head. "We need it for the plan," I explain.
He nods, saying, "Go on."
"We use a sticking charm to put it on Snape. That's phase one."
"I'm listening," he said, a smile threatening to show itself on his face.
"Phase two is when we watch all the Slytherin girls chase Snape around the castle for your tie," I continue.
"Hmmmm..."
"Phase three is when we get in trouble and get a week of detention," I finish.
"Why would I want detention?" he asks, scoffing at the last phase.
"So people will know that that's why I had your tie. Otherwise they might guess about...our mistake."
"I'm in," he says.
"Pinky swear?"
"Of course."
Draco and I are hiding behind the statue of the one-eyed witch, in the old passageway to Hogsmeade, watching for Snape.
"There he is!" Draco hisses.
Using a permanent sticking charm, I cast the spell, careful to aim for his robes, not skin.
It looks as if he'd put it on himself.
Draco grins and gives me a high-five, as he has sworn to be happy during all phases of the plan.
"Phase two set," I whisper dramatically.
We watch with silent laughter as Snape calls angrily, "Who's there? Show yourself?" and tries to remove the tie.
He fails.
His eyes narrow, and he freezes when he realizes what has happened.
And then Pansy Parkinson walks around the corner and yells, "HEY! IT'S DRACO MALFOY'S TIE! THERE, ON PROFESSOR SNAPE! SOMEBODY GRAB HIM!
A group of Slytherin girls start to chase Snape, who has already started running.
"Come on," Draco grabs my arm and pulls me out into the hallway.
"What?" I ask, confused.
"Phase three! And besides, I want to see how this turns out," he explains.
We run after the girls, and soon more people are joining Pansy until Draco and I have to hold hands to fight our way through the crowd.
"Hey, is that Malfoy?" asked a girl as we rushed past.
We ran faster, almost to Snape.
He stops, then yells, "WHO DID THIS?" loudly.
Everyone surrounds him, eager to attack.
"We did!" I yell, dragging Draco to the center of the crowd.
Gasps and jealous sings ran throughout the room.
Snape glare accusingly at us, especially Draco.
"Er...The house elves made us do it!" he exclaimed.
That was random, I think.
"Two weeks detention!" he shouts at us, his face nearly purple with anger.
Too bad he is paying too much attention to the culprits, because Pansy is running up to him from behind.
She yanks the tie so hard that she pulls off his shirt, then starts running away, and the crowd follows.
She screams, "I LOVE YOU, DRACO MALFOY!" before rounding the corner.
"A month's detention," Snape says flatly.
"What-" Draco starts.
"Just go," Snape sighs.
Before we leave, we hear McGonagall exclaim, "Severus! Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
We laugh all the way back to the library.
We are back to my impenetrable fortress, the back corner of the library.
"That was fun," Draco breathes, and I smile.
"Told you," I tease.
"So..." he trails off awkwardly.
"If we ever do that again, we need more phases. That plan was much too short, unless you count the detention. I can't believe he gave us an entire month! I've never-"
Draco quietly interrupts me. "Hermione."
"What?" I ask. "Maybe we could go to Dumbledore, perhaps he can get it down to two weeks. I mean, it's not like we hurt any-"
"Just shut up and kiss me!" he exclaims.
"What? Are you drunk?"
"Wha-no!" he groans, then continues, "Shall I do this the proper way, then, for the bookworm?"
Is he about to...
"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday?"
I smile, but then I realize something.
"I would, but I have detention that day," I say.
"Oh," he remembers. "Look, I like you," he he informs me.
"That's all?" I ask, grinning.
"Don't push it," he growls.
"Love you, too," I say.
And then we kiss.
And it is absolutely wonderful.