Hermione woke up groggy; she was in the hospital wing. Knowing where she was helped her remember how she got there. She gasped and hesitantly felt her head. Oh god. She groaned in horror at her boyishly short hair. She glanced around to make sure no one had heard her. No one was around. She sighed in relief and focused on remembering what exactly happened last night.
She remembered getting ready for the party (hosted by the Sytherins this year) and hearing Ginny call down from the common room. She grabbed her purse before heading down to meet her. Reaching the bottom of the stairs she saw Ginny was wearing a tight sleeveless shirt, a black mini shirt and sporting nervous looking Neville. Hermione glanced at her own cloths: A black halter, cargo pants and her favorite 4 inch boots. Satisfied no one looked like a dork she looked at Neville.
"You going too Neville?" she knew he was, she just had to ask. It was part of her nature to know everything, including who went to what parties. "Y-yes" he looked pale and ready to faint, really not an unusual look since he started dating Ginny.
Ginny glared at Hermione for making her date even more nervous before she got impatient, "Are we going sometime tonight!?!" Hermione grinned in reply and headed for the door.
As they walked Neville asked, "Why is Slytherin hosting it this year? Isn't it the Hufflepuffs turn?" Hermione, ever the smart one answered him: "Well I didn't go to the one they had four years ago but it's legendary how boring it was."
"Whoever started this anyway?" Ginny interjected.
"It was started after Voldemort was defeated. The house's started hosting a welcome back party every year. And due to the fact that it was (and is) prohibited to have these kind of parties it's always been held in one of the four secret rooms. There are four, one allotted to each house."
Neville gazed at her in wonder "How do you know all this stuff?!?" Hermione couldn't help but preen a little with that little complement.
She shrugged and continued walking down the hallway to the Slytherin's secret room. They stepped up to the door and were inspected (they couldn't allow anyone uncool to enter could they?) by two Slytherins before being allowed to enter.
Every house had its own style of party. Hufflepuff's Parties were boring or excessively cheerful. Ravenclaw's loud, hopping and fast. Gyffindor's were loud too but also were crowded and crazy. Slytherin's parties were always sexy, sensual, and had plenty dark niches. There were rumors that up to 25 percent of the students here were conceived in this very room, at a Slytherin party.
This Slytherin party was no exception. The room was lit with black lights and though the music was slow it encouraged girls to get down and dirty. Half the room was carpeted and lined with couches and had the bar at the island.
Alcohol was strictly forbidden for students underage and was extremely difficult to get in, it was therefore really expensive. Ginny and Hermione got it cheap though, because the Weasley twins were the one who sneak it in.
Hermione would have objected to Ginny pulling her through the massive see of bodies but she was sure she wouldn't be heard over the music. So she wiggled and shimmied her way to the bar behind Ginny. Reaching the bar she found Ginny had already bought them drinks.
After the first few shots Hermione could only remember bits and pieces, her memory lost, swirling around the bottom of more than one shot glass. Hermione wasn't even sure what kind of alcohol she was given.
She vaguely remembered sauntering over to a sexy blonde boy in the corner and crawling into his lap. She dimly remembered kissing along his neck and him taking her to one of those dark niches. Then she remembered no more.
Hermione held back a moan at what she had done. Or rather what she assumed she had done because she couldn't remember what happened after the crawling into his lap. She couldn't regret doing something if she didn't know if she did it; it would be easier if she just KNEW.
Hermione started crawling out of bed when she realized, to her horror, she was naked under the blankets. Oh this is just dandy. "Hello?" She called out, just to be sure. After receiving no response she was sure she was alone and got up to wrap herself in her sheets.
After sneaking around like a guilty first year for awhile she found her cloths, she found them. In the last place she would have thought to look, consequently that was the last place she did look and as a last resort. They were under her bed, some of her school cloths, upon picking them up she found a black with stars bra and matching panties with them.
"Nice underwear you got there Granger, but I liked what you had on last night." Draco's voice rang out like nails on a chalkboard, an annoying but still rather surprising sound. Hermione whirled around clutching the sheets to her chest. She knew she was blushing but couldn't stop it.
"Wa-how-I...uh" She was lame. She couldn't even come up with a searingly witty comeback. Hermione could almost see herself as Draco saw her: a bumbling, stuttering idiot. She just stood there as Draco sauntered over to her, seemingly obviously to her near-nude state.
Draco fingered her hair. "Now Hermione I never knew you to be at a loss for words." Draco pulled her to him "what have you done to your hair?" he buried his face in what was left of it; "I like it."
Hermione stiffened and began to push at him, blushing madly. Draco held on and whispered in her ear, "I'll go Hermione, but we need to talk." He let go and walked away without once looking back at the confused and embarrassed girl behind him.
Hermione didn't even try to figure out what had just happened. Instead she got dressed and went to find Madam Pomfrey. She didn't get very far when she started to get tired and her body started to ache. It was when she finally couldn't walk anymore, when she had problems just lifting her arm when she found her. She was with Dumbledore in the library, in the forbidden section that Hermione had been allowed to go into for years. She got the feeling she was intruding (they stopped talking when she got near) but she didn't care.
"Hermione, you shouldn't be out of bed!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed when she got near. Though she didn't make any move to hustle her back to the hospital wing. Probably because she knew Hermione had to be carried back.
"Why did I wake up in the hospital wing?" Hermione saw no reason to dance around the subject; Hermione was in fact pretty sure she couldn't dance around anything.
Madam Pomfrey glanced at Dumbledore and after receiving a nod hesitantly answered, "Hermione…do you remember anything from the summer?" Hermione growled in frustration: "of course I do!" She paused, searching her memory, she didn't. "What's happened to me?" She whispered it, ravaging her mind for a single moment of last summer. Hermione snapped back into the present when Madam Pomfrey started talking.
"You were hit by a car Hermione." Madam Pomfrey snapped her fingers in front of Hermione's face when she saw Hermione was losing it again. "Since you were in America the nearest wizard hospital was 5 days away. When they finally got you there the wizards had no choice they had to…"
Hermione looked up "… what?" Hermione wasn't even sure she wanted to know, the question was just a natural habit of conversation.
Madam Pomfrey looked pleadingly at Dumbledore who nodded and looked to Hermione. "Hermione you must understand, you were mashed between a semi and an SUV. Your spine was broken in so many places if a wizard had not been nearby you would have died in moments, maybe less." He took a breath before continuing, "As it was, you didn't get to the hospital in time to fix your spine and limbs. They were replaced with mechanical versions. You are now stronger than the average bodybuilder, can see and hear great distances, and trust me it will be a lot harder for you to die in the future." His eyes had that little twinkle at the last part.
"I'm metal…" Hermione was lost to the world. She wasn't human anymore; she was some mechanical freak that looked like Hermione. What was she going to do now? How could she live like this, as a person who used to be great? She could no longer go to Hogwarts, she definitely couldn't go to a muggle school, she was useless…"Hermione!"
Hermione jerked "what?" her voice came out as a scratchy whisper.
"You're not all metal, only your main joints, your ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders and of course the whole of your spine." Hermione was sure that Dumbledore was trying to comfort her, but she just couldn't bring herself to give him a smile in return.
Hermione cleared her throat and tried to speak, it wouldn't come out. Ok, different topic then, "Why did I wake up in the hospital wing?" Not so scratchy, this meant she was accepting it, right?
"The alcohol seemed to have affected your mechanics." Ok not a different topic.
"It seems Mr. Malfoy brought you in" Hermione turned to look at Madam Pomfrey, daring her to tell the truth; surely DRACO didn't bring her in. Madam Pomfrey nodded. Hermione blinked in confused denial.
"But enough of all that." Madam Pomfrey bustled around gathering all her stuff, "Come on young woman, off the hospital wing for the both of us." Hermione dimly nodded and allowed Madam Pomfrey to use a levitating spell on her. She also allowed the gentle nurse to give her some dreamless sleep potion.
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Hermione woke with the knowledge she was part metal. Soon after she also knew Draco Malfoy was sleeping in the chair next to her bed. She wiggled around under her blankets to be sure she wasn't naked again. She wasn't. She had on a spaghetti strapped tank top and her pajama bottoms. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed so she could stand, she got up. And almost fell over.
Draco's arms wrapped around her from behind and stopped her fall. Leaning closer Draco asked, "Forget how to walk Granger?" He was nuzzling her hair again. Something about the soft feel and the mango smell captured him. "I'll help you remember"
Hermione blushed and tried to change the topic. "Why were sleeping by my bed?" Hermione almost cringed, why did she have to bring up beds?
"Because I want you. For a lot of different reasons but the main point is: I want you." Hermione was waiting for someone to pop out and say it was all a joke, but it didn't happen and Draco sounded sincere. Hermione was glad she didn't have to respond when she heard someone come in.
Draco turned, forcing Hermione to turn too as he was still holding her. "Yes my dear Madam Pomfrey?" He didn't say it, but you could hear very clearly: You Are Interrupting Me.
Madam Pomfrey gave him one of you no-nonsense looks and shifted her gaze to Hermione. "Hermione come over here and take these pills" She had a look in her eye so Hermione shrugged off Draco's arms and took a few steps in her direction but ended up wobbling and almost falling again, but Draco caught her from behind.
Draco helped her up and kept her standing as Madam Pomfrey gave Hermione her ugly green pills and a cup of water. Keeping an eye on Hermione (not very hard, he's holding her!) he addressed Madam Pomfrey, "How can I help?"
Hearing Hermione choke he gave her a slow lazy smile and winked. She blushed and looked away. Draco turned back to Madam Pomfrey.
"Well, she'll need help getting to her classed and just generally living for awhile while she gets used to her new joints." She seemed to be thinking for a moment then added," I'll talk to Dumbledore about your schedules but I assume both of you can live in the head boy and girl dorm for the remainder of the year. I'll go talk to him now" with that she left them alone.
Draco pulled Hermione tighter to him and brushed his lips over hers and kissing the edges of her mouth. Then, suddenly, He picked her up (bridal style) and carried her over to her bed. Hermione's heart was going wild. What should she do? She'd never been with an ice prince before. Did they do it differently than all other mortals? All thoughts of what she should do flew right out of her mind when he dumped her on the bed and turned to leave.
"H-hey!" Hermione felt mortified and couldn't hold back the indignant cry.
Draco turned. "What's wrong Granger?" He smiled cruelly, knowing what was wrong. Hermione turned red but defiantly glared at him, it's not like he didn't know he was winding her up. He shrugged and continued walking away.
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Three corridors away Draco sat gasping. As soon as he left the hospital wing he'd started running. Running from the strange little flip his heart had done at seeing Hermione glare at him with hate and want in her eyes. It's nothing. NOTHING. He told himself over and over again to no avail. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. Chocolate brown eyes with hate in them. Draco growled and banged his head against the wall in an attempt to dislodge the image. His head hurt but the image was still there.
Rubbing his head he sighed and got up. He'd have to talk to Snape about this and he had a feeling his reaction wouldn't be a happy one. He was right. Twenty minutes later in Snape's office was his proof. "Draco you can't be serious! Helping Miss Granger is like begging the dark lord for suspicious activities to do!"
Draco sat in one of the leather chairs adorning Snape's office, his face blank. "Frankly, you can't stop me. The question is if you want me to die knowing you did nothing to help me do this without getting killed?" Draco knew an ultimatum would bring Snape around.
Snape started organizing his desk, something he only did when he was mad. "Draco you know you father will not be happy about this." He spoke slowly and clearly like if Draco could hear him he'd discover the insanity of this. Which of course he wouldn't but one could hope.
"So?" Draco would have snorted but he was too much of a Malfoy. "Who has to tell him?"
Snape's shoulders dropped "No one" He sighed and sat down across from Draco in another of his leather chairs. "It's not going to be easy, helping her this whole time but still keeping it a secret. I suppose we could say something along the lines of you only doing it on a dare."
"Alright then I'm doing it on a dare to make Hermione presentable to civilized society" Draco nodded decisively and got up to leave but turned when he heard Snape say his name, "Yes professor?"
"Is this something I should worry about?" Snape looked paler than usual but other than that, none the worse for wear, considering.
"I thing I love her." He stated it matter-of-fact and left a stunned professor behind him. Draco decided to let his favorite teacher stew over that for a while before coming back again.
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Hermione was relieving stress. She was doing the homework she was behind on. Hold your wand in your hand and turn you wrist like your opening a door. Say very clearly Tanteriele. If done right this spell should determine if a female is pregnant or not. Wait, what? Pregnant? Hermione looked at the top of the page to see who this assignment was for. Oh god. It was from a sub in charms, a fat old lady called Trilla.
The first day they had ever had her they ignorantly (or she thought it was ignorance, they could have just been mean) asked when the baby was due. Now, she's always tormented by Slytherins who like to laugh at teachers. Poor girl. Mean little bitch to be sure, but to be pitied.
Hermione put her Homework away with a huff. God, does she have to give out Homework about pregnancy? She looked around for something to do (now that she couldn't bring herself to do homework) and spotted her favorite book of all time. Pride and Prejudice was lying on the table across the room. Great.
Hermione slid her legs off the bed and on the floor.
"1…2…3" she gently leaned forward to stand up. Wobbling a bit now, she put on foot in front of the other and fell to her knees. Crying out she looked down to see blood welling under the skin on her knee.
She started hauling herself back into bed when she remembered why she had gotten out of it in the first place. She looked at the book, at her knees. Taking a deep breath she resolutely set off to get Pride and Prejudice, the happy ending to rule them all.
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Draco found Hermione asleep on the floor her head resting on the last pages of Pride and Prejudice. He chuckled at her book of choice and walked over to scoop her up and gently place her on her bed. Lying asleep in her bed Hermione could feel Draco's goodnight kiss in her dreams
