In a hurry to reach the dungeon for Potions, Hermione rushed towards the corridor and didn't slow down before turning around a corner. She bumped to another person with such force that both of them fell on the floor; sending her books in scattered disarray.
"Sorry, I'm in such a hurry. I-" an extremely flustered Hermione started saying. She abruptly stopped apologizing and stared at Draco Malfoy in disbelief. The color on her cheeks started to deepen as she remained on the floor in a half sitting, half sprawling position.
Malfoy, on the other hand, regarded her unblinkingly.
Hermione held his gaze, unable to look away. Being this close to him, she couldn't but help but feel self-conscious. Eventually, she realized how long she had been staring and blushed even more. 'He's not even that good-looking, anyway.' She caught her breath. 'What am I thinking?' Grim-faced, she started picking up her scattered books on the floor.
Draco stood up as well. With his expression impassive, he leaned against the wall as he watched her cram the rest of the books into her already bulky bag. He watched in silence as she uttered a curse, then frantically searched the floor, looking for something in particular.
"Looking for this?"
She stared at his outstretched hand. He was holding a tiny, round and glittering object. It was a cherished possession; Professor Lupin had given her that key chain. "Thanks," she mumbled, grabbing the moon-shaped key chain from his hand. Avoiding his gaze, she shoved the key chain into her pocket and hurried away from him.
"What's the hurry? Class was suspended, anyway."
She swung around to face Malfoy who was still leaning against the wall. Feeling distrustful of him, she openly studied his expressionless face. Strangely, his usual smirk was nowhere in sight.
"McGonagall made the announcement just a while ago," Draco explained, his voice slightly cool. "If you're looking for Potty and Weasel, they're still back there." He pointed to the stairs leading directly to the Potion's classroom.
"Why are you so certain that Harry and Ron are still there?" she queried, giving him a withering look. "You're up to something, I just know it," she snapped at him. Throwing him a suspicious look, she stood firmly on her ground. "If this is another sick joke, I will make you sorry, Malfoy."
"Dumbledor ask me to deliver a note to Potter," Draco said, sounding irritated.
"Dumbledore asked you?" Hermione's brow lifted in surprise.
"Don't believe me?" He scowled at her. "Suit yourself."
Hermione fell silent. An awkward silence followed as she simply gaped at him, disbelief written all over her face.
"Fine," Draco snapped. He turned and started to walk away. He had barely taken three steps when Hermione sidestepped in front of him, completely blocking his way.
"You know what your problem is, Malfoy?" she asked, glaring at him. When Draco merely looked at her, she continued in her most haughtiest voice. "You're probably suffering from a multiple personality disorder complex."
Draco's eyes darkened with anger. "What are you talking about, Granger?"
"You really don't get it, do you?" Hermione gave a disbelieving snort. "Surely, you don't expect me to fall for your 'Mr. Nice Guy' act. I've known you far too long to be fooled so easily."
He didn't say anything, his face remained impassive but something flickered in his eyes.
With his continued silence, she rattled on. "Either you're under the Imperius Curse or you're not really him . . ." Her eyes widened. "That's it! Whoever you might be, you took a PolyJuice Potion to look like Malfoy." She looked at him suspiciously. "Who are you, really?"
Draco's mouth twitched into a bemused smile. He seemed totally amused at all the accusations she just hurled at him. Seeing the glint of amusement in his eyes, Hermione's temper flared. She had this sudden urge to smack him hard on the head and wipe that smile on his face.
"Why are you smiling?" she snapped, her eyes sparkling angrily. "Did I say something funny?"
When Draco didn't respond, she glared at him. "Fine. I'm giving you to the count of three to answer me. One, two, three! Well?"
"You talk too much."
Before Hermione could make a retort, Draco leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She was so stunned that when Draco ended the kiss, she simply stared at him in shock. Draco appeared to be equally surprised as well. For the first time in her life, Hermione couldn't think of anything to say. She just continued to stare at him in shock, thoroughly speechless. Draco, however, pulled away abruptly. Without thinking, she reached out to him but Draco stepped away. He turned on his heels and walked away, while she remained rooted to the spot.
Hermione could not believe that Malfoy had just kissed her. And that she kissed him back. Her cheeks went pink. 'Oh, no. What had I gotten myself into?'
"Hermione!"
Hermione nearly jumped in surprise. She turned and saw Ron and Harry coming towards her.
"What took you so long?" Harry asked.
"We thought you weren't coming at all," Ron added.
Harry gave her a questioning look. "What's wrong, Hermione?"
Whe she didn't respond. Harry and Ron exchanged looks.
"Hermione, are you all right?" Ron asked, sounding a bit worried.
"I'm fine," Hermione said distractedly.
"You seemed kind of flushed," Harry noted.
"I'm fine, really." Hermione forced a smile.
"You don't look fine," Ron commented. "Right, Harry?"
"I said, I'm fine!" she said rather sharply. "I mean, really, I am." She smiled weakly at them. Relieved that both had absolutely no idea what just happened earlier, she decided to change the topic. "Were classes really suspended?"
"How did you know that?" Ron asked, giving her a strange look. "Professor McGonagall just told us."
Since Hermione didn't want them to know how she knew, she simply shrugged.
"You won't believe what I'm going to tell you. Dumbledore sent Harry a note," Ron confided to her.
"What's so surprising about that?" Hermione retorted.
"He sent Malfoy to give the note to Harry. Could you imagine Dumbledore trusting that slimy git?" Ron said heatedly. "You should've seen how we look when he entered the room, claiming Dumbledore instructed him to hand the note."
Hermione suddenly remembered the kiss and blushed furiously. She quickly averted her face so Ron and Harry wouldn't notice her flaming face.
"What was the note all about?" Hermione finally asked, as thoughts of Draco Malfoy swirled inside her head.
"Dumbledore will be having a secret meeting with Moony and Padfoot tonight."
"Why?" asked Hermione curiously.
"He didn't say." Harry was about to say something when they heard the loud announcement reverberating across the castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you sure you're not hungry?" asked Ron, his mouth filled with pasties.
Hermione nodded to Ron. Her mind was somewhere else. She kept recalling yesterday's event. 'Did it really happen?'
Dean tapped Ron by the shoulder. "Hey, Ron, I have something to show you."
"You've got it?" Ron excitedly turned to face Dean. "Where is it?"
Hermione decided to leave Ron with Dean. When Hermione stood up, Ron looked surprised. "Hermione, where are you going?"
"I'm going to look for Harry." She gave him a little wave. "See you in Potions."
She was already halfway across the corridor leading to the dungeon, when she was suddenly overcome by dizziness; then everything went black.
Someone was shaking her shoulders roughly. "Granger?" The voice sounded oddly familiar. She couldn't recognize immediately who it was because her brain felt muddled at the moment. When she finally opened her eyes, Malfoy's face focused into view. Thinking this must be another weird hallucination, she shut her eyes tightly. Convinced that the moment she open her eyes again, the hallucination would thankfully disappear.
"Granger, we still have Potions to attend in exactly fifteen minutes!" he said tersely.
Her eyes opened in a snap. Apparently, this was not a hallucination.
"Sod off!" she snapped irritably, trying to avoid looking straight into his eyes.
"I found you lying on the floor, " he said angrily, gritting his teeth. "What do you want me to do? Just walk away?"
His angry tone surprised her. With a start, she realized that she was indeed lying on the floor with Malfoy kneeling over her. She immediately tried to stand up, refusing his outstretched hand. But the moment she stood up, she was again hit by a wave of dizziness. She took a faltering step, swaying slightly. He quickly took hold of her shoulders, steadying her.
"I'm fine," she muttered, pulling away from him. She leaned weakly against the wall of the corridor for support. Slowly, she took several deep breaths until the dizziness abated. She forced herself to look at him.
"You can go, Malfoy."
When he didn't budge, she glowered at him. With an irritated sigh, she decided to ignore him and took a step forward. She had barely taken three steps when she missed a step, tumbling forward.
Before Hermione could react, Draco caught her easily. Without a word, he scooped her up and headed to the stairs leading to the Potions classroom.
"Put me down!" she hissed in a threatening tone. "I'm warning you, Malfoy, let me down or I'll . . ." She was suddenly at a loss for words, feeling too embarrassed and indignant that the detestable Slytherin was holding her in his arms. She was totally unprepared for this.
"Shut up, Granger!" he hissed back, a scowl on his flushed face, his breathing erratic. "Do you want someone to see us?" Draco saw her cringe. His eyes suddenly blazed with anger, his mouth set into a straight line. "Good, then do as a I say!" he spat, getting angrier by the moment.
She immediately stopped struggling. However, being pressed so close to him made her think of the brief kiss they shared yesterday. Her heart started pounding loudly, and she had this sudden crazy urge to wrap her arms around his neck. She closed her eyes as another wave of dizziness coursed through her. 'I must be going mad,' she thought shakily.
When they were a few steps away from the classroom, Draco gently put her down, then without a word, pushed the classroom door open and went inside. Hermione was left standing outside, shaken and confused.
'Malfoy is an insufferable git. He called me Mudblood and had insulted me for years,' she tried to remind herself. And yet, she couldn't help but react to his touch alone.
"Hermone, wait up!" Ron shouted from a distance.Seamus and Dean were just a few steps behind him.
When they entered the classroom, Harry looked up from where he was seated, and waved at them. Ron glumly took his seat next to his partner, Millicent Bullstrode. With growing dread, Hermione slowly inched her way to the table she shared with Draco Malfoy. She gritted her teeth. It had been Snape's brilliant idea of torturing the Gryffindors, by pairing them with the Slytherins for the whole term. She saw him standing next to Goyle. They were talking earnestly in a low voice.
Goyle, Hermione noted, seemed to notice her watching them. He said something to Draco before walking away to sit next to Neville. Where as Draco simply stared at her. They gazed into each other's eyes for several minutes. Hermione was still deciding whether to thank him when Draco finally spoke out loud.
"So the Mudblood finally decided to grace us with her presence."
The mockery in his voice angered her. The usual smirk on his face made her want to smack his face hard.
"Better that than being a Malfoy," she said furiously.
Everyone were staring at them, including Harry and Ron, waiting for what would happen next.
"I was afraid you might start fainting again." Draco's voice was alarmingly soft. "Don't expect me to help you again."
"I didn't ask for your help in the first place." Her voice shook with anger.
Draco was about to make a sarcastic retort when Snape entered the room. He shot her a look that seemed to imply, 'I'm not through with you, Mudblood'.
She was so furious that for a few minutes she simply stood rigidly with her fists clenched tightly. It took her awhile to digest what Snape was saying to the class.
"Today, we are going to make Polyjuice Potion. Can anyone tell me what it is?" Snape asked the class.
"Mr.Weasley?"
Ron looked startled but was able to answer quickly. "It transforms you to another person," he replied smugly.
Hermione grinned slightly. She remembered during their second year how she convinced Harry and Ron into making the PolyJuice Potion. And how they changed themselves to Crabbe, Goyle and she into a furry, black she-cat.
"Not quite but sort of," said Snape dourly. He then launched into a long explanation of the PolyJuice Potion's use. After an overly drawn out lecture, Snape instructed them to start brewing the potion.
"For your consideration, some of the ingredients had been prepared earlier. The fluxweed, for example, had been picked during full moon, while the lacewings were stewed for twenty one days." Snape crossed his hands across his chests. "Some ingredients like the horn of Bicorn and skin of a Boomslang should be used with restraint. They were taken from my private storage, and I will not allow careless and excessive use of such important ingredients."
Hermione stole a covert look at Malfoy. It was obvious he was not at all familiar with the PolyJuice Potion. He kept scanning the page containing the potion's ingredients.
'I'll show him,' she thought smugly.
Draco did look surprised when she had all the ingredients lined up in order. He silently watched her grind the Bicorn horn into fine powder. He eyed the Boomslang skin and started shredding it into pieces, working silently beside her.
She worked furiously on the potion, adding more lacewing into the bubbling cauldron. She didn't care that she was working with such ease and familiarity that it was obvious that it wasn't her first time in brewing Polyjuice Potion. Finally, thick black smoke issued from the cauldron, a sign that the potion was finished. Hermione shot Malfoy a look of triumph. She looked around, and discovered that the rest of them were just at the stage of putting the ingredients in their respective cauldron. Even Harry and Ron.
Snape chose that moment to stand next to their cauldron. He looked at Hermione pointedly.
"Err, Professor," Hermione started saying. "The potion's done."
Startled by the look of dubious surprise on Snape's face, she waited for Snape's comments.
"Finished already?" He flashed a suspicious look at her. "Hmmm."
Paling slightly, Hermione began to feel slightly nervous. Snape might realize that she was the one who stole the Bicorn and Boomslang three years ago.
"Very well," Snape said. He stopped in front of their cauldron and tested their potion. He ladled dollops of the dark, treacle-thick potion into two glasses. After a lengthy silence, he finally announced. "Well done."
"Now for the final test. Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, give me a strand of your hair," Snape instructed, his tone brisk.
After both of them handed their strand of hair to him, Snapeturned to where Neville Longbottom was seated.
"Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Goyle, come over here," he barked crisply.
Snape separately place Hermione and Draco's hair into the two glasses and made Goyle and Neville drink them. Neville gulped down the potion containing Hermione's hair, while Goyle had the one with Draco's hair in it. Within minutes, the two transformed right before their very eyes.
Goyle, who now looked exactly like a poor man's version of Draco, grunted in confusion. Because Draco was smaller in build, Goyle's clothes hung loosely on his transformed body.
Neville, on the other hand, stared with bulging eyes at his feminine appearance. He kept touching his no longer flat chest in wonder.
"Neville, stop that!" Hermione hissed under her teeth.
"S-so-sorry, Hermione," Neville stuttered, getting red on the face.
Crabbe and the rest of the Slytherin snickered loudly. Hermione furiously glared at them.
"Excellent," commented Snape. "It will take an hour before you two transform back to your original appearance," he told Goyle and Neville, who now looked like Draco and Hermione's bedraggled twins.
"Well done, Mr. Malfoy," said Snape, who was practically beaming.
Hermione's jaw dropped. Snape made it sound as if only Malfoy did all the work. She was about to voice the unfairness of it, but the Potions master had already moved on to the next table, leaving Hermione seething inwardly. Draco Malfoy looked wickedly amused. It was all her handiwork but he still got all the credit. Hermione glared angrily at him. She was so mad that when the bell rang, she stormed out of the room, leaving Harry and Ron behind.
Draco stared at Hermione's retreating figure, an unreadable expression on his face.
To be continued
When I ask you to be nice
You say you gotta be
Cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind, means that I love you
Baby, you gotta be cruel to be kind