Disclamer - Still don't own it, would be nice if I did though...oh well a girl can dream
AN- I was going through my computer and found this unfinished story, so I decided to finish it...it is pre HBP, so keep that in mind while reading it...
He spent the entire night in the library, searching through over 15 medical ailment books. It wasn't that their were no cases, or even cures, for people who are able to read minds - no the problem was there were far to many.
Throw a dirty sock over your shoulder then lick a teaspoon of salt.
Drink pureed wolfsbane with a dash of vinegar oil.
Or his personal favourite to date. Find a over sized stuffed toad (must have been alive at one point). Kiss said toad on the lips and do a semi rain dance (the book African Medical Cures gave a very detailed manifest of the steps to this dance.)
Furthermore, these were for different kind of mind reading abilities.
Who knew you could read the mind of a goat? Draco didn't even know goats were capable of intelligent thought (that and much more apparently, according to Animal Mind Reading for Dummies.)
Draco, although he was fairly certain he could not read the mind of goats as he had yet to pass one in the hallway, was otherwise unsure of what form of mind reading he was capable of.
He could hear the thoughts of those in his immediate vicinity, save for Crabbe and Goyle who seemed to posses no inner workings.
What he did not know what whether he was reading people on the conscious or sub-conscious level. He was unsure if he was reading the minds of people emotionally, physically or spiritually. And he sure as hell didn't know if he was hearing people intra-vires or ultra-vires , whatever the hell that meant.
He didn't know what caused this...gift. He didn't know if it was an accident or if it was given to him. He was praying it was an accident because being given this talent opened up a larger section of possible cures, all of which seemed more complicated and absurd than the last.
Yet as it stood, he still had half a shelf to go through on curing mind control. He was however grateful that he was not stricken with the sudden urge to burp the alphabet, because, although their were numerous number of books related to mind reading, there were twice as many on that particular ailment.
He trudged his way to class, avoiding as many crowded hallways as possible.
And he was doing quite well at avoiding people, and therefore uncomfortable and awkward situations, not to mention a pounding headache.
Then he heard it. Walking the back hallways towards the dungeon, passing a dark alcove, that he probably would never have noticed had he just kept walking.
A soft moan.
And... was that facts about today's Potions quiz?
His curiosity got the best of him, and he paused in front of the alcove.
He lit his wand and began inwards towards the source of the noise and the thoughts.
And then he ran.
Because low and behold, hidden in the dark of the deep alcove was non other than Ronald Weasley, (the moaner) and some twit named after a colour (the studier) stark naked.
Again, had he understood his situation, and been able to grasp his situation a little better, he might (MIGHT) have found the situation funny (after all the twit named after a colour - Rose? Peach? Aqua-Marine? prefering to study for her potions quiz rather than be pleasure by her boyfriend), but seeing Weasley's pale and freckled arse ruined any and all humour in the matter.
As he approached the potions class, a good number of students were already in the line outside the door.
"The proper ingredients for shrinking potion are..." He heard Blaise mutter "four ounces of crushed beetles, a teaspoon of dragons tooth powder and...and...and..." Blaise's face was crumpled in concentration "Fuck."
"I will not mess this potion up, I will not mess this potion up-" Neville chanted over and over in his mind.
"What should I get for Ginny...one year, she'll be expecting jewellery. Jewellery is expensive"
"Mam's going to massacre me when she sees I dropped Herbology."
"Nott's staring at me again."
"Dragon's tooth powder... mandrake leaf...and crushed beetles, boiled for 10 minutes-"
"Nott's staring at Pansy again, fuck, look at me... please"
"Something's up with Malfoy." Draco paused his tour, attempting to drown out the noise around him and locate the source that said his name. "He looks like he's looking for something, he's not sneering, insulting, preying or doing anything ...Malfoyish -maybe he has a cold. Gosh I hope I don't get it, I can't afford to miss the defence test tomorrow-"
That cinched it, his eyes drifted towards Granger, who was standing a few feet in front of Potter. The twit named after a colour was there as well, Weasley's arms draped around her waste, whispering in her ear. Whatever he said, it made her blush.
His eyes landed on Granger finally. He cocked an eyebrow waiting for her to continue with her thoughts.
"He seems to have a staring problem– What the hell is he cocking an eyebrow at, that son of a bitch?" She met his gaze and held it. "Oh now it's on Malfoy. I can beat you any day of the weak at a staring contest." Oh it was definitely on now. "What Malfoy? Bring it On!" He smirked at the very unlike-Granger thing she said - thought "Was that not a movie that was popular with the Yanks a few years back?" Despite the insane ramblings in her head, Granger remained cool and collected on the outside, not letting anyone suspect the inner workings of her mind were so very...flaky. "About some cheerleaders or something in that general area. What's he smirking at?" Draco had no idea what a cheer-lead- her or a Moo V was, but he found her train of thought rather amusing. Compared to the dullness and predictability of everyone else. "Bet he's never seen a movie before in his life. Probably doesn't know what it is. Wouldn't be able to recognize a cheerleader or anything remotely muggle if it smacked him on his ferret nose – He twitched –"
Before Draco or Hermione could act, the door to the dungeon class room swung open with a loud bang.
The swell of voices picked up again, adding Snape's cruel and disdained voice into the mix made it near impossible for Draco to read Granger's thoughts anymore.
"Well I'll be damned if I didn't ace that quiz" He heard Blaise announce to the table. He actually heard this, as in Blaise said it aloud. Draco was getting better at distinguishing the two. Although not very much better.
It showed what Blaise knew at the very least. Draco had heard the answers of everyone else, Blaise had forgotten about the mandrake leaves– being able to read minds was a very helpful commodity during an exam or test - Draco would have to be some form of idiot to fail the quiz he just took. Maybe even beat Granger.
Granger. She wasn't in the Great Hall at supper.
The Great hall was beginning to give him a headache. He wanted some quite time, and possibly to read Granger's mind once more. He knew just where to find her too.
She wasn't called the smartest witch of her generation (and possibly many previous ones as well) simply because she's able to Alohamora her way through a door.
She was very intelligent. She could retain information fairly easy. Her memory was impeccable. Her deductive and reasoning skills were superb. Her logic and perceptiveness made her a very reasoned thinker.
He twitched. At the very moment she called him a ferret in her mind no less.
He only twitched when he was called a ferret (probably from deep seated memories of being bounced around as one).
That and when she walked into the library at lunch Madam Pince was muttering in an angry whisper about having to put away over half the medical ailment section this morning. "Who would need to read Animal Mind Reading for Dummies is beyond me." Hermione heard the old professor whisper to herself as she passed by the librarians desk.
Hermione Granger was not called the Smartest witch of her generation for nothing, afterall.
She walked into the Medical Ailment section and grabbed one of the nearest books on mind control.
It had no dust on it, and the spine had been broken in. It had been read very recently.
If her theory was correct, which they almost always were (with of course the exception of the time she believed that a piece of bubble gum could be removed with peanut butter from her hair. It only resulted in a minty-peanut mix, that was promptly chopped off the day before her last year at primary school.) Draco would find her.
Draco had heard enough teenage melodrama to last him two lifetimes.
He was tired of hearing "Look at me", "Does he like me?"," Will she say yes?", "Will she give it up?" and his personal favourite, "If he likes me so much why won't he just ask me out and then maybe I'll give it up." It was all the same. Boys/Girls, school, parents, boys/girls, homework, lunch, boys/girls, periods (in the case of women), sexuality, and of course boys and girls.
He did however hear a very interesting fantasy of a pretty girl (one of the twins he believed – not the head girl, the other one) and another pretty girl (one from hufflepuff) involving whipped cream and whips.
So as he walked into the library and heard "Where does the dust in this school go? I realize there are house elves to clean it up -which is wrong on so many levels - but where exactly does the excess dust float off to? Are there air vents? I should find out and add it to my copy of Hogwarts: A History. Hmm, I could always get into a career in writing - I seem to do enough of it as it is." Draco stopped dead in his tracks. Granger's mind worked a mile a minute. "I really need to tell Harry and Ron I'm not going to pursue a career as an auror. Ok, it's settled then, tomorrow, I'll tell them tomorrow. Wait, tomorrow we have a defence test, it wouldn't do for them to be harping over my decision during the test." So the golden trio kept secrets from each other. That could prove very useful. "I wonder if Malfoy realizes I can see his shadow across the floor?"
Malfoy eyes dropped immediately to the ground, where his shadow was indeed pasted across the floor, dancing slightly as the torch light illuminating the wall flickered.
"Granger?" he announced moving forward.
"Malfoy!" she said not moving from her spot on the floor.
"What are you doing on the floor? Wait, no filth like you belongs on the floor now doesn't it." he said smirking.
" And wankers like you deserve to have your heads deflated painfully. I'm surprised you don't topple over under the weight of your ego." she said callously, still not making any attempt to move.
"Well at least I'm not a know-it-all prude with a mane that scares even the deadliest creatures away. Honestly Granger, if I had a weaker stomach I'd be retching all over you right now. It might even improve your state to be thrown up on by a pureblood." He said maliciously.
"Why you little bugger. If pure bloods are so much better, why are my grades superior to yours? Why is Harry better at quiddich than you-"
"Potter is NOT better at me in quiddich -Shit."
"I knew it!" she exclaimed finally standing to face him. "Bloody hell I knew it. Could he have been more obvious?"
"I thought I was doing a fine job of covering it up thank you very much" Draco announced primly.
"Whatever Ferret- twitch"
"Stop with the ferret jokes."
"So what did you do Malfoy?" she asked honestly. "Kiss up to Snape so much that he thought it would be best if you could just read his mind everytime he needed you to bark for him? Try practising ligillums on Crabbe and Goyle and realized they had nothing up there to read."
"Why you little bint." he stated rudely, "I don't need your help Granger. I'll figure it out on my own." He turned to walk away.
"Malfoy wait." she said stopping him in his tracks. "Stop being a wanker and admit that you need my help."
"Stop being a wanker and admit you need my help." she stated out loud this time.
"Do you always speak what's on your mind Granger, you must seeing as your always attempting to answer every possible question ever asked on the face of the planet. Do you get tired attempting to be bloody perfect? Because your not. Your tainted blood will never allow it." He said venomously.
"Sodding Malfoy. I'm not trying to be perfect"
"Really? It surely looks like you are. Never appeased with second best are you. Always have to have the perfect marks. Always attempting to give the look of miss-goody-two-shoes. Always helping the less fortunate, even if they don't bloody want your help."
"Is that what you are Malfoy? Less fortunate. Do you think I want to HELP you. Is that why you look afraid to come any closer to me. Because your afraid to receive help from a Mudblood?"
"WOULD YOU STOP THINKING!" he said loudly, cutting through her thoughts. "At least have the common curtsey to insult me aloud."
"Sorry Malfoy. I'll try harder to stop thinking that you're a bloody arse, and actually say it instead."
"Bloody... Granger...ARGH -When did you become such a...a...a bitch?" he exclaimed turning to face her.
"It's part of my perfect persona. I simply think evil thoughts, rather than say them. Besides you bring out the best in me Malfoy." She said sarcastically.
"Glad I could be of service" he replied sardonically. "Look Granger, I don't need, nor do I want your help. I'll deal with this...whatever it is on my own." He moved to leave
"Oh bloody hell Malfoy, admit that you have no idea what's wrong with you, the sooner we get passed this animosity between us, the sooner we can fix you" Hermione said, planting herself in front of him.
"Just SHUT UP Granger. Get off your bloody fucking pedestal. I don't want your help. Never in my life will I ever want the help of you, the lowly mudblood whore of Potters. Why would I go to you anyways, you aren't even the smartest witch in this school. I might as well go to Padma Patil if I wanted someone with real brains to help me. She did make head girl after all." He spat so viciously he was surprised he didn't knock her off her feet. "And you know what Granger? Want to know what I heard the professors talking about? They say you try to hard to impress everyone. That's why you didn't make head girl because you wanted it for the wrong reasons. You wanted it because you needed to prove you were the best." he said with a smirk growing on his face. He ignore her thoughts, simply speaking louder than she thought "And everyone in this bloody school thinks your fucking fake. They say you try to hard to be nice to that people will like you. Even your friends are bloody tired of you forcing your ideals down their throats. Take a hint Granger, EVERYONE finds you annoying."
He saw her face before he comprehended her thoughts. Her usually bright brown eyes were dimmed and lined with tears. Her cheeks were flushed. This was an emotion he was unfamiliar with for Granger. He was used to her anger and her banter, her mild resentment when he bested her, her superior attitude when he called her names, her passion when she got riled up. This was none of that. He had broken this girl with his lies laced with truths (no he had not heard anyone specifically speak of Granger since he developed this ability - With the exception of the Finnegan boy whose is mildly obsessed with Granger - but that doesn't mean he hasn't heard these things spoken about her before ,although most of this came from the Slytherin common room, from Pansy in particular, but that is besides the point).
"I...I...I...it's true" she thought, bringing Draco out of his own musings. "Ok...ok..." Before she could think or say anymore, she turned on her heal and ran away from him. He could hear a low "Can't let him see tears" before she was out of sight.
AN - Please review