This chapter is a little Christmas present :) I actually wanted to wait a few more days before updating, but I just finished a new chapter and felt ready to publish this one.
Much love to all my readers, betas and the people you love! Merry Christmas!
Previously:
"Granger, we have to talk about some serious issues."
::::::::::::
Hermione had to suppress a satisfied smirk when she saw his jaw tighten at her obvious disinterest in whatever he wanted to discuss.
"What is so important that you come to me out of your own accord? Do you need help with something, Malfoy?" she asked sweetly.
"Careful, Granger, or I'm running straight to McG to tell her how sloppy you are with your Head chores."
"Mac Gee?" Hermione echoed. "Show some respect, won't you? Professor McGonagall wouldn't even grant you the time to tell her whatever you want to complain about, if she knew how you call her!"
"Good thing, the old hag will never know," he growled. "And I'm not discussing the appropriate way to address our teachers with you, Granger. We are talking about you not doing your job here."
"Me- WHAT?" Hermione spluttered.
"Oh, you heard me just right. See, I really don't give a flying fuck how you deal with your share of consultations, but I don't appreciate when the students you send away come to me the next day to solve the problem you didn't care to acknowledge."
Hermione gaped at him like a fish out of the water. No way! "You mean that boy -" she had to swallow. "He came to you today? Of all people?!"
"What has this to do with me? I refuse to do your tasks as well as mine!"
Hermione couldn't believe it. Who in the world would go to Malfoy for help of their own accord? She felt betrayed somehow. Wasn't she good enough for the insolent Ravenclaw? She had listened to him whining for half an hour! She had given him helpful advice how to handle the problem himself. Why in Merlin's name did he have to go to Malfoy now?
"You're sure it was the same problem? I'm certain he has managed to find another thing to complain about today."
Malfoy scoffed. "Do you think I'm that forgetful? I was there yesterday, I remember exactly what his problem was."
"You must have confused it with something else," Hermione shook her head. As if that boy would go back with the same problem to ask Malfoy for help. That simply couldn't be possible. She heavily doubted Malfoy's version of things.
"You think I'm lying?" he growled and leaned in menacingly. Hermione had fought with him enough times to know when his tipping point was reached. One really wouldn't wish to be around him in that mood. It certainly wasn't safe for mind and body to keep riling him up at this stage.
She held up her hand. "Listen Malfoy, I don't have a clue what you think his problem was and I really don't have the time or patience to discuss this with you."
"Don't fucking act all patronizingly! I'm telling you to do your effin' job!"
She sneered at him and got up, tired of Malfoy towering over her. "I won't stoop to your level, Malfoy. Talk to me when you've calmed down. I won't let myself be yelled at." With that she left to the library. Who did he think he was, talking to her like that?
Hermione settled down in her favourite spot in the rarely used History Section of the library. She had discovered long ago that most students preferred being surrounded by the more interesting subjects. Hermione didn't mind the contents of the books around her, as the promise of knowledge was calming her regardless of the topic. Opening her books, she began her research for her essay about the Devil's Snare and how to pacify it until it became as tame as a baby Niffler.
Her tired mind didn't allow for much concentration, however and she mulled over the problem with the consultations in her head. Instead of reading the texts she had researched, she pondered on a solution. She couldn't simply let the students down. No one should have to go to Malfoy for help just because she didn't have enough time for every one of them. On the other hand, she couldn't manage everything on her own. The constant pressure was robbing her off her sleep already. When could she relax if not at the dead of the night, when no one could ask her to do anything? If only the more organisational problems could be dealt with separately from the personal and scholarly ones. Hermione had no doubt that Malfoy was perfectly capable of handling drawing up documents and dealing with the preparations for Quidditch matches with the teams. If she could manage to dump those tasks on him completely, no student would be forced to go to him for the more serious topics any more.
After what must have been two hours, she felt her Joint Mirror grow warm in her pocket. Professor McGonagall had given one of these magic mirrors to each of the Head Students as a means of communication at the beginning of the school year. Hermione didn't want to use it in the quiet library, so she packed her stuff and quickly left her desk to use it without disturbing someone else's studies. The wizarding version of a mobile phone was formed out of fine china. There were delicate and beautiful blue and golden floral elements adorning the lid, below it was fitted with a golden mount. It worked a bit like the fake Galleons she had cast a Protean Charm on to use for communication with the members of Dumbledore's Army. As Hermione pushed through the heavy double doors, she opened the lid and Malfoy's face appeared on the small glass surface. In his usual rude mannerism, he began speaking without even greeting her.
"Granger, my friends are coming over tonight so you'd do best to steer clear of the common room." Malfoy casually flicked a loose strand of hair from his eyes. In her most vicious fantasies, Hermione imagined hexing him a head of hair like her own that wasn't looking so well kept and meticulous all day. It would be hell for him. She noted, that he seemed to have calmed down a bit, but typically Malfoy he still resonated an air of condescension, not even looking at her while speaking.
"Oh no, no, no. No! We'll be discussing this!" she demanded as he rolled his eyes. "I'll be back in the dorm in five minutes," Hermione huffed.
A double-sided mirror rippled as an agitated Hermione passed through it to enter the Head Students' quarters. "You will not use our common room as your private party location!" she shouted, motioning to the room in front of her.
"I will use it however I please," Malfoy retorted, not even bothering to look up from the book he was reading which irked Hermione greatly. He had propped his feet up on the table, making her twitch with annoyance. "What are you going to do to keep me from inviting my friends over, Granger?" he grinned, already knowing that she couldn't do anything at all.
Oh, she would pay him back for that. Hermione dropped her school bag at the foot of the spiral staircase to their private dorms and took two steps at a time up to her room. Grabbing parchment, some ink and a quill from her small desk, she returned downstairs with the plan of implementing her idea about the consultation problem. She wanted to seize the opportunity of catching Malfoy off guard to wrestle this onto him without him even realising. This way Hermione calculated her chances at persuading him way higher than by discussing the matter officially. Usually they would not disturb their free time for Head Organisations but Hermione knew, if she made this an official meeting she wouldn't stand a chance against his way of reasoning. So she had to play Slytherin and be a bit more sneaky and cunning about this than her usual brash Gryffindor nature.
"Listen Malfoy, we need to rearrange some of our duties," Hermione said, spreading her work neatly on the table in front of Malfoy.
"So you admit that you fucked up?"
"Well, no," she answered and plopped down in one of the dark, wooden chairs. "But I need to make more time for our student consultations. The office hours clearly are too short to deal with every student. We can't have them pester the teachers with their minor problems, now can we?"
"I don't care, as long as I don't have to do extra work," he brushed her off, as he was clearly uninterested in having this conversation.
"That is exactly what I was proposing," she nodded and critically eyed his feet still propped up on the table, pondering whether it was a good point to scold him for dirtying their furniture or if it would only derail her cause.
"No, you weren't!" Malfoy growled taking his feet off the table and leaning forward. "You already decided on it. How about asking the Head Boy first before making decisions?"
"Do you mean to skive off your duties?" she asked, looking at him menacingly. "Because I will not put up with that."
"You insolent bint!" he snarled.
Hermione just raised one of her eyebrows at him with the signature Malfoy peeved look that only infuriated him further.
"Half an hour," he relented finally, after they had stared each other down for several seconds. "I'm not doing more than half an hour."
"I'll see what I can do." Hermione scribbled a quick schedule on a piece of parchment. Then she switched some around and erased some others. When she was satisfied with the plan, she made a magical copy and slid one over to Malfoy.
"Wait," he eyed the schedule critically. "You added topics for every consultation? What's this? Quidditch and other after school activities? Official matters? Personal problems and problems of academic nature? What is this Unicorn Dung? Over planning much?"
"It is my strategy of improving our consultations," Hermione offered.
"And why the heck do I get all the organisational stuff? I don't want to draw up permissions for every tit and tat all the time!"
"If you want to complain about the tasks involved with the position of Head Boy, you can ask Professor McGonagall to resign from your post," she brushed him off.
"You are not the only one in Head position, so you don't get to make all the decisions on your own," he growled.
"I've always consulted you about my decisions like Professor McGonagall told us to," Hermione cried in outrage.
"No, you haven't," he said hotly, putting his schedule down to regard her with a menacing glare. "You suddenly tell me that we have to make more time for consultations and take charge of the redistribution without even asking me about my opinion on the matter!"
She threw her hands into the air. "That's because I already had it figured out! That was the easiest way to solve the problem."
"Which fucking problem?" he asked sourly. "The problem here is you not taking the students' matters seriously!"
"That's not true and you know that," she told him calmly. She was the one with the upper hand here, no need to give up on it because of his silly accusations.
"So why did you assign topics to our consultations?"
"Not all issues of the students could be dealt with, so I decided to expand the office hours. That's only logical," she skirted the topic. No need to tell him that she thought him inappropriate for the job to his face.
"You're lying," he claimed.
"N…no, why would I be lying?"
"You think I'm not competent enough, do you?" he scoffed, leaning back in his chair, rocking it backwards and balancing it dangerously on only two legs.
"What? No!" Hermione denied fiercely, withstanding the urge to push him and watch him tumble over. He always managed to hit the mark with his assumptions.
"You actually do!" Malfoy laughed. "Otherwise you would have distributed the tasks evenly, wouldn't you?" he asked in a low voice, letting the chair fall forward again and leaning his elbows on the table.
Hermione pressed her lips together angrily. "Fine, I don't think it is acceptable for the students to be forced to go to you for consultation," she growled.
"When you're the one who's too insensitive to help them at all," Malfoy grinned. "I can't wait for this to blow up in your face." Hermione couldn't stand looking at his smug grin for another moment, so she decided to barricade herself in her room. How dare he assume her to fail at anything at all!
They were in her common room! Hermione pulled a face at the thought of having to march past them to leave her quarters, but she had missed dinner and was growing hungrier by the second. Just a quick visit to the kitchens to get some delicious sandwiches from Dobby and she'd be good!
Couldn't Malfoy meet them in the Slytherin Common Room just once? No, he had to lounge out there, talking and laughing extra loud for the sole purpose of annoying her! She tied her hair and pinned it up into a messy bun. Not that a neat bun was ever possible with her hair.
'Well, I can't help it,' Hermione thought, as her stomach grumbled angrily.
She threw on a light wool cardigan, donned her coat and made her way down the narrow winding staircase, catching a glimpse of the moon-lit Hogwarts grounds and the night sky through the gothic windows before the view was swallowed by the murky lake when she reached the lower level with it's entrance to the dungeons.
"If that isn't our dear Head Girl!" Pansy's shrill voice greeted her at the foot of the stairs.
Hermione ground her teeth to keep herself from returning a snarky comment of her own. No use wasting energy on an airhead like Pansy.
"Are those ickle ducklings on your PJs?" Pansy squealed from her position on Malfoy's lap. Malfoy turned his head to smirk at her as she passed.
"Cheers, Granger," he said, toasting her with a raised glass filled with a golden liquid.
"Is that alcohol, Malfoy?" she asked, her voice low.
"It's Virgin Tears," he grinned and Hermione turned bright red.
"Don't dare me, Malfoy. We are not allowed to have alcohol."
"Well, as a matter of fact this brand of whiskey is actually called Virgin Tears, no need to feel offended because no one took pity yet."
Hermione felt her blood boil with rage and embarrassment, which she desperately tried to quell. Who cared about what Malfoy said anyway? Right?
"Whoa, look at her getting all worked up," Theodore Nott remarked drily. "Guess you hit a nerve there, Draco."
They laughed at her! Hermione took a deep breath to calm down. She was the superior one here, she reminded herself. Let them laugh.
"Well, if you have the urge to ruin your education for a cosy evening, never mind. But if you want to stay in school until you've finished your N.E.W.T.s," Hermione lowered her tone to get all of their attention. "I advise you to be gone when I return and take that disgusting stuff with you, or I'll tell Professor McGonagall what you are up to every other night."
With that she turned towards the exit without bothering to see their reaction and left through the double sided mirror leading to the dungeons not far from a tapestry of a sneezing Sea Serpent. The cool corridors of the never sleeping castle greeted her with calming silence that bustled with the magic surrounding her in the walls and rooms of the century old building.
When Hermione returned, after having her midnight snack and bidding the attentive House-Elves working in the kitchens goodnight, the common room lay dark and silent before her to her great surprise. She couldn't restrain the small smile forming on her lips at her obvious victory.
When she spotted snack papers and empty glasses strewn all over the beautifully carved coffee table in front of the fireplace that was now nearly burned down, she stopped short, however. Hermione frowned and angrily made her way towards the mess to clean it up with a few measured charms. Typical Slytherins to not tidy up after themselves!
"Finally found your place in the world?"
Hermione whirled around clutching at her chest in shock to find Malfoy still sitting in one of the comfy armchairs turned with its back to the entrance. She hadn't noticed him masked in the shadows.
::::::::::::
Next Chapter:
"You wouldn't want to lose your Head position, would you?" he asked without a hint of threat in his voice, but it lay in his words heavily and Hermione swallowed.
Typical Malfoy to blackmail her to keep her mouth shut!
I love writing Draco, he is just so mean! :D How do you like him in this chapter? Do you think he was right accusing Hermione of not doing her job?
Thank you to CeeCeeSings, hunnybunny81 and chefke for the help on the first two chapters!
Thank you Nora Fares for helping me to rewrite this! 3
