ohh boy this sure took long.. when people started to follow this story i was like TOO MUCH PRESSURE hahaha. anyway, in hopes not to dissapoint anyone, here is the second part. please leave a review!
Getting ready for bed that same night, Harry and Ron stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Harry was brushing his teeth while Ron was checking out his bruises and cuts.
"Lavender said I look 'Bad-Ass'" he grinned at Harry. But Harry's mind was far from their bruised appearances. He finally asked Ron the question that had been burning on his tongue.
"Don't you think that Malfoy hates me more than Hermione?" he asked in a monotone voice while he got in his bed. Ron hesitated for a moment before he answered.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Isn't it weird, that.. I mean.. Wouldn't you think he'd like to humiliate me more than her, then?"
"I don't know.. Maybe he thought you wouldn't go through with it?" Ron tried to reason with him.
"Yeah. Maybe." he said after a moment, but Ron had already turned away from him.
The next morning Harry was already in the Common Room when Hermione slowly walked down the stairs from her dormitory. He seemed intent on being positive, a bright smile plastered onto his face when he said, "Good Morning! Wanna go to breakfast? Ron said not to wait for him, he just woke up."
Hermione nodded and started walking when, encouraged by the previous night, he grabbed hold of her hand and led her through the Portrait. He held her hand all through the castle to the Great Hall, and occasionally swung it, while making small talk.
Hermione did believe he was acting a little odd, but amusing, and so let him. Harry only let go of her hand once they had reached the Gryffindor table, guiding her over the bench with a hand on the small of her back.
For anyone who cared enough, it was noticable that Harry was very close to Hermione throughout the entire day. Most of them assumed that Harry was intent on making sure that no Slytherins would find her alone and in a position to be intimidated, which was only party true. He also quite enjoyed having an excuse to hold her hand while he led her away from Malfoy and his friends, to pull her tightly to his side and squeeze her waist in reassurance.
A particular blond Slytherin seemed to be particularly annoyed by this. Draco Malfoy had begun discussing the best things to force her to do whenever any Gryffindors were near and enjoyed leering at Hermione whenever he saw her. It certainly had it's effect, as it visibly made Hermione very uncomfortable. She'd never admit to anyone that she needed someone by her side, but Harry's presence and protective stance were indeed quite appreciated. The possibilty of Gryffindor losing the bet was making her more and more anxious, and Harry calmed her.
Pansy Parkinson appeared to be extremely irritated. Her comments were getting nastier, but Hermione wasn't exactly one to be intimidated by comments about her exterior. The days of shutting herself into the bathroom and crying her eyes out because someone insulted her hair were left in her third year. It didn't bother her nearly as much as Malfoy's indecent comments.
As intent as Hermione was on not showing any sign of intimidation or anxiety, the loss of appetite and the bags under her eyes made it pretty obvious to Harry how affected she was by the bet. He was angry.
It was only a small comfort for Harry when he realised that when he wasnt the only one looking out for Hermione, trying to keep the worst of the bullying away from her. Dean, for example, had made sure to sit beside her in Arithmancy, which was one of the classes she didn't have with Harry and Ron. Seamus had accompanied her to the Ancient Runes classroom, even though he didn't share the subject.
However, keeping her away from the Slytherins wasn't the only strategy they had.
"Harry, listen, we just followed Pansy Parkinson and her friends to the toilet, right, and-" Ginny hissed at Harry when she found him in the common room after lunch.
"What? Why would you follow her to the-"
"Because Robin from Ravenclaw found this new jinx that makes you leg hair grow like five times faster and we wanted to try it out, anyways that's not the point, but we overheard something.", she paused, fidgeting.
"Well? Out with it, Ginny!"
"Did you notice how she's been acting weird towards Malfoy? Like, she'll watch him bully Hermione, but occasionally she'll just sneer at his comments instead of giggling like she normally does."
Harry was blinking at her stupidly, he had not noticed any weird behaviour at all and was in awe of how Ginny had focused on this minor detail.
"We were just about to go into the bathroom when we noticed she was crying! So we eavesdropped-"
"Naturally." Harry interrupted.
"-and she was crying about Malfoy. And.." Ginny hesitated for a moment.
"Well, she was basically crying about how Malfoy was obsessed with Hermione and how he's been watching her all the time now and that he's been talking about nothing but the bet. She seemed really upset and I don't think she'd cry about it if she wasn't genuinely jealous, right?" she finished, with a concerned look on her face.
Harry's head was spinning. So that was why Malfoy had included Hermione in the bet and not him. Could it really be that there was more behind it than just the humiliation? Harry couldn't grasp the concept of Malfoy harbouring any kind of feeling towards Hermione beside hatred.
The creature inside his chest that Harry had gotten familiar to by now had returned to its place right between his ribcages a few months previously. It had done little except for the occasional purr whenever Hermione got especially close to him. The idea of Malfoy being after Hermione, however, made it roar inside his chest.
After a minute of silence he saw that Ginny expected a reaction.
"That's...disturbing." he said. She nodded.
"I'm quite worried actually. If Malfoy really has... feelings... for Hermione, who knows what he'll do if he wins the bet. I'm just saying, maybe Malfoy wasn't only trying to piss you guys off the other day?" Ginny explained with a grimace, looking at Harry as though she was expecting him to tell her she was wrong. Before he could say anything however, a great uproar on the couch in front of the fire distracted him.
Looking over, he saw Ron, his face concealed behind a green jersey.
"Is that a Slytherin shirt?" Ginny asked, sitting down next to Hermione.
"Oh, it's not just any Slytherin shirt. It's Malfoys Quidditch jersey! That git must've smuggled it in her bag." Ron growled, turning the shirt so that they could see Malfoys name above a number seven printed in silver letters on green.
"There was a note as well." grimaced Hermione, passing a piece of parchment to Ginny.
Something to wear for the match.
"He is absolutely disgusting. As if Mione would ever wear his shirt." Ginny scoffed, showing the note to Harry.
"That's the thing though, she'll have to if we lose." Fay said. Harry was suddenly overcome by a picture of Hermione wearing Malfoys shirt, making it hard for him to swallow.
"Can you guys stop talking like I'm not here?" said Hermione in a small voice. Her arms were crossed, her back straight and a strong look on her face, but she hadn't been able to stop the quivering of her lip.
Ginny and Harry shared a look, silently agreeing not to tell Hermione anything about what Ginny had overheard in the bathroom and to what conclusion they had come.
It wasn't long before Dean and Seamus arrived in the common room. In an effort to cheer everyone up, Dean threw on Malfoys jersey and drew a lightning bolt on Seamus' forehead before reenacting hilarious scenes between Harry and Malfoy. At the end of the evening each of them went to their dormitory, their stomach aching from laughter and smiles still on their lips.
On friday the usual animosity before a match started. Slytherins hissing at Gryffindors, Gryffindors tripping Slytherins, and everyone in each house insulting everyone in the other. The usual methods of intimidation seemed to not work on Ron Weasley. He refused to show any weakness but made sure to show confidence in the outcome of the match.
Hermione Granger had disappeared shortly after her last lesson, and though everyone knew where she was, only two boys made their way into the library. Harry Potter was walking confidently along the rows of bookshelves, he knew the exact table where he'd find her, the secluded corner just before the Restricted Section.
Contrary to popular expectation, however, the second boy was not Ron, but Draco Malfoy.
TBC.
PS. the timeline was completely fucked up so i changed a bit, so they find out about the bet on tuesday, the fight is on wednesday, on thursday ginny explains what she overheard and the next chapter will start where this one left off, on friday evening. :) thanks for pointing it out xx