It was Friday. Almost a week had passed since the incident with Katie, but the castle was still tense, somehow, as if the very walls knew that there was more to come. Hermione shivered slightly and pushed these ridiculous thoughts out of her head as Professor McGonagall waved her wand and sent graded tests across the room. Hermione didn't even need to look at hers to know that it would be an Outstanding, but she did anyway. She couldn't help but notice the large, red D on Malfoy's paper across the aisle from her. Part of her wanted to point and laugh at him, to make him feel as horrible as he often made her feel, but she was better than that. So much better than that that she would even re-extend her offer to study together. Partly, she felt bad for him, but mostly, she wanted to win this valedictorian thing fair and square. Based on intellect alone, and not on how well one dealt with the stress of an injured classmate.
"What are you looking so happy for?" Ron asked, in a somewhat strangled voice. Hermione looked over to see the scarlet P on his exam. She pointed at her own high grade, trying not to seem too smug. Usually, she sort of hid her grades from Ron, so that he wouldn't feel awful in comparison, but she didn't exactly want to reveal that she was grinning at the prospect of studying with Malfoy. He groaned.
"I just don't know how you do it, Hermione."
"Well, staying awake for the duration of class doesn't hurt," she answered tartly.
"Come off it, Hermione, you know that's only Binns..." She shushed him as Professor McGonagall began to address the class. Then, there was only the sound of scratching quills until Professor McGonagall finished the lecture and set them to practicing. Human transfiguration looked to be difficult, so Hermione was rather glad when Harry and Ron paired off as usual. She was interested in keeping her face the way it was, thank you very much. Unfortunately, this left her on her own to find a partner. It wasn't like she had never had to before; Harry and Ron had spent the past five years working together on every assignment they could. Lavender and Parvati always paired up, and so did Dean and Seamus. Sometimes, Hermione worked with Neville, but he hadn't made it into NEWT-level transfiguration. The issue hadn't come up so far this year, as Human Transfiguration was quite difficult, and required weeks of note-taking on the theory of the thing before they could actually attempt it in practice.
Now, as Hermione scanned the room for someone to work with, she locked eyes with Draco Malfoy. He scowled at her, and she noticed that Crabbe and Goyle were absent, as well as Pansy Parkinson. Hermione's stomach boiled at the thought of her, although she wasn't exactly sure why the other girl was so much more repulsive than any other Slytherin. She was always hanging on Malfoy's arm, or stroking his silvery hair... She snapped out of it. While she had been in a staring contest with Malfoy, everyone else in the class had paired off. Hermione internally cursed the heavens as she picked up her things and moved to the empty desk beside him, casting a dejected look at Harry and Ron over her shoulder.
Hermione sat down. Malfoy was staring resolutely at the blackboard, and he kept sighing tersely.
"Look, I'm not exactly thrilled to be working with you, either. Can we just get on with it?"
"Granger, there is no way I'm letting you wave your wand anywhere near this." He gestured to his face. "I happen to like the way I look, and so do a great many girls." A smirk played at the edges of his lips. Hermione snorted derisively.
"Come on, Malfoy. It's the assignment. Besides, I'm not the one who failed our last test. I'm sure Professor McGonagall will be able to right whatever you do to my face." It was Malfoy's turn to snort.
"Anything I do would be an improvement."
"Well, get on with it." She composed her face into an expressionless mask. Malfoy smirked and raised his wand, muttering something unintelligible.
"Oh– Ow! Agh!" And then she couldn't talk anymore because her front teeth were growing, and this definitely wasn't the assignment, and Malfoy was so dead. He was sniggering meanly, but at least he had stopped the spell.
"I told you it would be an improvement." He would not stop smirking at her, and he looked so satisfied with himself, like this was the utter height of comedy. So unoriginal. "Actually, I see no change." She could barely get the words to the counterspell out around her enormous front teeth, and he was lucky it took her a little while, because when she finally did, her temper had calmed somewhat. As it was, she was furious.
"Malfoy, you are lucky I care about house points, because I am this close." She held up her fingers as if there were a knut between them. "This close to– to slapping that smug look right off your face. I've done it before, and I'll bloody well do it again." Her whisper-shouting seemed to be working. Malfoy's eyes had softened somewhat, in what looked like fear, or perhaps something else entirely. After a moment, she pushed her hair over her shoulder and straightened her back, adopting her most proper expression.
"Now, will you let me practice? The hour's almost over, and I have an average to maintain." Malfoy didn't have a chance to protest before she turned his eyebrows a vivid pink. "Oooh, I think they look rather nice. Maybe I'll do the hair, too." With a flick of her wand, Malfoy's white-blond hair, his pride and joy, turned bubblegum-pink. Hermione felt a fond tug at her heart, which she assured herself was only because it was the exact same shade that Tonks wore so often.
"Granger, what did you do to me?" Malfoy pulled a lock of his hair so that he could see it in his peripheral vision. He squawked. Literally, squawked. It was such an uncharacteristic thing to do, and at that, combined with the pink hair, Hermione started to laugh. At him, really. She supposed it was rude, but he was just so ridiculous... "I have a reputation at this school! My father will hear about this!" He started trying to turn his hair back to normal, muttering something and jabbing his wand at his head. Clearly, he hadn't been paying attention in the lesson, because instead of returning to white-blond, his hair spiked up, as if it had been done with hair gel.
"Oh, god, you've gone and made it worse," she said, tittering. "Actually, it looks quite fetching. Maybe I'll leave it like this."
"Granger, I will–"
"Patience, Draco." What was that? What had just come out of her mouth? She cleared her throat. "What I'm trying to say, Malfoy, is that I would like to use the leverage I have. Study with me this afternoon." Instead of answering, he glared at her. Jabbed his wand at his hair some more, muttering incantations. It wasn't working.
"I do have a life, you know. Some of us have interests outside of school."
"Look, Malfoy. It's either study with me for one afternoon, or walk around with pink hair until someone who actually knows what they're doing takes pity on you. Actually, if we go over the material, you'd probably be able to fix it yourself," she added, matter-of-factly.
"Fine." It sounded more like an exhale than a word, and it was not the polite thanks she might of wanted, but it would do. She smiled.
"Meet at the library after classes?" He grunted in lieu of a response, and she murmured the spell to return his hair back to its former blond glory. He sort of ran his hands through it and it was sort of really hot, and Hermione hated herself very much for entertaining these kinds of thoughts. First of all, she really had no time to pursue romantic prospects, considering the number of NEWTs she was taking. And secondly, more importantly, this was Draco Malfoy. Perhaps the last person in the universe that she should be having these kind of thoughts about. And besides, he and Harry had some serious unresolved sexual tension issues. She did not want to get in the middle of that.
The bell interrupted her musings. She hastily turned Malfoy's eyebrows back to normal before rushing off with Ron and Harry. They had a free period next, and had taken up the habit of walking her to Arithmancy.
"Hey, Hermione, d'you want to come to the quidditch pitch this afternoon? We've got practice," Ron asked. He always seemed to overestimate how much she cared about quidditch. It was an easy thing to do.
"I can't, I have to study."
"You can bring your books and sit in the stands, can't you?"
"It's much too cold for that, and anyway, I have to meet someone in the library."
"Ooh, Hermione. Got a hot date?" Harry jokingly asked, nudging her with his elbow. Her blush gave it away. "Wait, you really do have a hot date?" Ron stopped walking.
"Hurry up, I don't want to be late. And no, I don't. I'm meeting Malfoy to go over the transfiguration notes from the past few days. He really seems to be having trouble with it, and I think the stress of this year is getting to him..." She trailed off. Harry and Ron had stopped listening as soon as she said "Malfoy."
"Hermione, you should stay away from him," Ron said. "He's dangerous." He was always shooting down Harry's ideas that Malfoy was up to something, but when it came to simply studying, the boy was suddenly the embodiment of evil.
"Ron, I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, thank you very much."
"I'm just saying, you don't know that he hasn't got some ulterior motive for wanting to study with you–"
"What, do you think my company is so undesirable that no one would seek it out? Is it so impossible that I could make a single friend outside of you two?" It didn't matter that she had forced this study session, Ron was still insinuating that her only value lay with her intellect, and that she would be idiotic enough let anyone take advantage of her.
"No, Hermione, it's just– I mean, it's Malfoy, isn't that reason enough?"
"I can look after myself," she repeated vehemently, and stalked into the Arithmancy room.
