One Wrong Move

Chapter 2

Hermione got out of the Slytherine common room much the way she had got in. Draco threw the invisibility cloak on top of her and she followed close behind him through the hall and common room and then the portrait hole. Once in the outside corridor, Draco lifted the cloak up off Hermione's face and pressed his lips to hers once more. Hermione looked at him and smiled.

'I should go.'

'Mm… yeah. Probably. See you tomorrow.'

'Mm-hm. See you.'

Hermione turned down the hall and made her way back to Gryffindor.

Just outside the portrait hole, Hermione saw a very frustrated Neville Longbottom, fighting with the Fat Lady in the picture.

'Are you sure?' Neville whined.

'Of course I'm sure,' said the Fat Lady taken aback. 'What do you take me for, a tea cozy? That's not the password.'

'Err… is it Chocolate Frog?'

At the precise time Neville said chocolate frog, Hermione whispered, Wolfsbane. And the Fat lady said, with plenty of exasperation, 'Finally.'

'I got it!' Neville had a large smile on his face.

'No,' the Fat Lady said rolling her eyes. 'It was that girl.' She waved her hand, and opened, leaving a very scared looking Neville looking around him in the corridor the poor lad shaking in his shoes. Hermione just had enough time to slip in through the hole before Neville, whimpering, clamored in and falling over in the process. Hermione dodged many people as she made her way through the crowded common room. When she got to the stairs she had a hrad time not bumping into the girls on the stairwell. Pressing her ear to the door to make sure no one was inside, she listened hard and not hearing a sound, she glanced behind her to make sure no one was watching and she pushed the door inward. She slid the door back into place in the door frame and tip-toed to her bed. She slid off the cloak, shoving it under the bed and crawled under the covers.

Not 20 seconds after she had gotten into bed, pulled the covers up to her chin, closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, did the door open again. Slowly it shut and Hermione heard a pair of footsteps tip-toeing across the floor.

'Hermione?' a voice whispered. 'Are you awake?'

Hermione let her eyes open slowly giving it the effect that she had been sleeping. She moaned sleepily.

'Hey,' it was Lavender Brown. 'We missed you in class today.'

'I know,' Hermione replied rubbing her eyes. 'I was tired and I felt really sick and I could barely get up.'

'Are you feeling better now?'

'Mm-hm,' she propped herself up onto her elbows. Before she could even steady herself, Lavender swung toward Hermione throwing her arms around her neck.

'I'm so sorry Hermione.'

'W…what?' said Hermione in a state of shock.

'I'm sorry.'

'For what, Lavender? You haven't done anything.'

'Exactly!' Lavender said pulling back. 'I see the way Ron and Harry treat you and I hear what they say, but I never do anything about it, I only laugh along with everyone else.'

'Lavender, I… I don't know what to say.'

'Hermione, I'm your friend I want to be. I Ron and Harry aren't there for you then I want to be. Please, Hermione can we be friends? Please?'

Hermione didn't know what to say still, she nodded her head and was again shocked when Lavender hugged her. Hermione hugged her back this time and instantly they both began crying. Hermione, because it seemed that right when there was no hope everything turned around and Lavender, because she felt she was doing the right thing and she knew she had found a true friend.

That night, everything seemed somewhat normal. Hermione went down for dinner in the Great Hall with Lavender. She was able to catch Draco's eye from across the hall at times throughout the night and he would wink at her and she gave a cheesy, blushing smile. After dinner Hermione and Lavender returned to the common room, all smiles. After changing into their nightwear, the y lounged out on Lavender's bed till all hours of the night drinking Butter Beer and eating sweets; pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs, licorice wands, and Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans. They cracked jokes and fooled around until the Patil sister finally had enough and got angry.

'Is this really necessary?' Pavarti complained sleepily. 'If you're going to stay up all night then please keep it down so the rest of us can sleep'

'Right,' Hermione whispered. 'Sorry P.' Lavender laughed quietly and turned to Hermione again smiling. 'Hey umm…' Hermione looked down at her hands smiling too, 'I have a secret and I can't tell anyone.'

Lavender's eyes suddenly went very wide. 'Oh boy. You wouldn't have told me that if you're not going to tell me the secret. I'm all ears and I won't tell a soul I promise. You can trust me Hermione.'

Hermione looked up grinning, 'okay, come here.' Lavender scooted closer and put her ears closer to Hermione's lips. 'Somebody asked me out today. I said yes but I'm not sure what to do because no one here really likes him.'

'Oh,… my… gosh… Who is it?' Lavender quietly squealed. 'Who doesn't like him, the school or Gryffindor?'

'Gryffindor,' stated Hermione.

Lavender stifled a squeal as she pulled back. Hands over her mouth, she carefully half squealed half whispered, 'Malfoy?!'

Hermione nodded carefully, grinning ever so slightly. When Lavender drew back her hands she had the biggest smile on her face. Oh, my gosh this is insane. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's perfectly wonderful, but I never would have thought! He's so mean to you.'

'I know,' said Hermione putting her face down, her hair falling over her shoulder's veiling the sides of her face. When she looked up again, tears were swimming in the base of her eyes, glinting with sadness. 'I just… I feel like something's missing and when Draco kissed me it was like it wasn't missing anymore. I need this. More than anything I needed that. I need you too, believe me I do. Do you know what it's like to feel like the whole world is falling slowly from beneath you but the faster you run away, the faster it keeps coming? Like everything someone says about you is like piercing knives all over you and your skin being agonizingly slowly ripped from your body? Do you? Because it hurts. More than any curse it hurts. It's not magic that we're familiar with but it's still there.'

'Hermione… I had no idea. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything,' Lavender looked to the mattress and then slowly raising her head she smiled brightly at Hermione. 'So what's he like?'

Hermione grinned and giggled, 'I swear Slytherine is the house to be in,' she was trying hard to whisper and she couldn't keep from giggling. Neither could Lavender.

'Really? That good huh?' Hermione rolled her eyes nodding. 'So do you think Vincent is seeing anyone?'

'Vincent?'

'Yeah. Vincent Crabbe.'

'Definitely not. I mean I haven't seen them with any girls. You should ask him.'

'I was thinking about it, but I never wanted to say anything because I thought our houses hated each other.'

'You shouldn't let that change who you are or who you wanna be with.'

'I know but you know the drill. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? I wouldn't fit in.'

'Well,' Hermione put her hand on top of Lavender's, 'now we can not fit in together.'

Lavender smiled, 'Mm-hm.'

Being with Lavender all the time, earned Hermione – and Lavender – a few displeasing looks, but they didn't seem to notice at all. It was now two days after Hermione had learned Draco loved her and also the first day since then that they had a class together. Hermione was scared about how it was going to go over and she figured it out about ten minutes into Potions.

Hermione and Lavender sat at their cauldron, stirring their potion and giggling about Draco quietly. Hermione looked up to see Draco grinning slightly looking half up at her and half at his mixture of ingredients. He caught her eye and held her gaze. Turning to Goyle, he ordered him to keep stirring and he took a piece of parchment from his bag scribbled something down with his quill and then looked up at her as he folded it up. He straightened himself up and wiped the smile off his face looking utterly posh and rude. He strode his high-and-mighty walk past Hermione, who had ingredients in her hands, and shoved her slightly with his hip, knocking her ingredients all over her desk top, acting like it was an accident but throwing the note onto her note book and then saying, 'Hey watch it mudblood.' Slytherine laughed along with Draco as Snape, in turn, chuckled under his breath then told him to be respectful. Hermione put on a hurt face but placed her hand down on top of the note so no one would see. Once Draco had gone into the ingredients closet to get more dried toad blood, Hermione and Lavender leaned over the note and Hermione unfolded it slowly.

Scrawled on the piece of parchment, in Draco's elegant script, Hermione read:

Hey baby,

Meet me round back of Greenhouse 4 before lunch.

Draco .

Lavender nearly fell right off her chair because she couldn't stop giggling.

'Lavender,' Hermione hissed, 'shut up!'

'Sorry,' Lavender was practically in hysteria.

Hermione did a quick glance round the room then found Lavender's calf under their table and she kicked her hard. Her giggles came to an abrupt chocking stop. 'Ouch.' She whispered.

'Is there something the matter over here Miss… Granger?' Professor Snape's sly toned voice cast down a shadow on Hermione like a Dementor.

Her hand slid on top of the note very slowly as she turned slightly to glance up at Snape. 'No sir. Nothing is the matter. I'm just needing to regroup my ingredients… sir.'

'Hmm…,' replied Snape as very slowly he leaned forward bending his arm over Hermione and taking her hand away from the crumpled parchment beneath it. 'What's this?' he asked with a slightly annoying edge in his voice. 'Has Miss Granger got a note?' He took the piece of paper in his hand and slowly, as if to make Hermione die with defeat, he began unfolding the parchment. Hermione looked down to the table and slid her hand into her cloak, grasping her wand. She really didn't want to cast a spell on a teacher but she didn't really have a choice. She was just about to whisper Confundus (a spell meant to confuse ones opponent) under her breathe when a certain someone came rampaging into Professor Snape causing him to drop the note and loose his balance, falling flat on to his face on the floor and the infamous Draco Malfory landing on top on him. Hermione seized the note and grabbed her wand whispering Incendio causing the small parchment to burst into a tiny flame and shrivel away.

'Mr. Malfoy!' Snape boomed. 'Would you care to explain what your problem is?'

'S… sorry sir,' Draco struggled to a solid standing position. 'Potter tripped me and I lost my balance.' Draco glared his smug little glare at Harry who was sitting completely oblivious to everything going on and talking with Ron.

'Potter!' Snape snapped up and stomped his way to Harry and Ron's desk and loomed over them. '3 weeks detention for you! There will be no tripping in my class. I will not have you and your friends lollygagging around and causing disruption.'

'But Professor I…'

'Want to make it 4 weeks Mr. Potter?'

'No sir.'

'Granger!' he turned back to Hermione, hand outstretched. 'Where is the note?'

'I don't know sir. You must have dropped it.'

'Fine play your games.' Snape snapped around and strode off to his desk at the front of the dungeon.

Hermione glanced at Draco who took a deep breath and raised his eye brows at her. She nodded slightly showing she understood his message and then he turned and strutted back to his seat between Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe.