Chapter 3
Malfoy tipped all of the cosmetics onto Hermione's bed and made scrutinizing glances from the make-up to Hermione's face and back again.
He picked up a tube of light concealer and opened it and with is brow wrinkled in concentration, he took the wand and dotted the concealer underneath her eyes. Then, he closed the tube and used his finger to blend it. Having done this, he stepped back to survey his work, giving a tiny nod of approval.
He then reached for the lavender shade of eye shadow. He looked at it, and shook his head.
"This won't suit you, Granger. I'll have to change it." Malfoy said reaching for his wand.
"No!" Hermione gasped. "If you change it, Lavender will know!"
"I'll change it back to its normal colour after we are done using it!" He reassured her.
He tapped the little pot of eye shadow and muttered a spell. The shadow changed from lavender to an earthy light copper.
"There, much better!" He said happily. He dipped the application brush into the powder.
"Now, close your eyes, Granger." He instructed.
Hermione did as she was told and closed her eyes, jumping slightly when she felt the brush touch her eyelid.
A rough growl came from Malfoy. "Hold still! You made me smudge it!"
"Sorry." Hermione said apologetically as Malfoy used his finger to correct the problem.
He continued applying it carefully, making sure it blended just so until he was satisfied with it.
He changed the eye shadow back to its original colour and put it down, then picking up a tube of mascara.
He opened it. "Granger, open your eyes and look up at the ceiling." He told her.
Hermione sighed and obeyed…until she saw the black-brushed stick heading straight for her eye.
She gave a shriek and leaned away.
"What are you doing Granger!" Malfoy protested
"You were going to poke my eye out!" She replied.
"No, Granger, I wasn't! This stuff goes on your eyelashes!" Malfoy told her.
"What is it?" She asked curiously, peering at it.
Malfoy shrugged. "I don't know, but I know where it goes, so just trust me!"
"Trust you, a Malfoy! That's rich!" She deadpanned.
"Yes I am, very rich…now hold still!" He smirked.
Hermione had to force herself not to jerk away from the mascara wand as Malfoy applied it to her eyelashes.
After three sweeps to each eye, he put it down and picked up some lipstick and applied that to her lips, shaking his head as he did so.
"Ack?" Hermione asked, trying not to move her lips.
"Your lips are in serious need of exfoliation and moisturizing Granger!" Malfoy told her "But we'll do that some other time."
He was leaning very close to Hermione, his face only inches from hers and Hermione studied his face as he applied some lip-gloss and blush. She was suddenly very aware of how handsome he was without his trademark smirk in place, and felt a blush spread to her cheeks and it wasn't the make-up kind.
Thankfully, Malfoy hadn't seemed to have noticed. He stepped back to check out his masterpiece, much like an artist would and turned her head from side to side with one finger underneath her chin. He gave her a satisfied smirk.
"There, simple yet effective!" he announced handing her a mirror.
Hermione nervously took the mirror. Truth be told, she was scared to look! Taking a deep breath, she brought the mirror up to look at her face. A gasp escaped her.
"Oh…my…" she whispered, then a smile appeared. "I look so much better!"
Malfoy smirked, pleased with his work "It's not much, but as you can see, the smallest amount of make-up can make a big difference. All I did was bring out your best features."
"Thank you!" she gushed.
Malfoy shrugged nonchalantly, and then glanced at his watch. "We'd better get back to class, we have an hour left of potions."
Hermione nodded and picked up the make-up and delivered it back to its respective owner's beds.
She and Malfoy left the dorm, Hermione levitating Malfoy back down the stairs and then the exited the Gryffindor common room.
They hurried through the castle back towards the dungeons and arrived rather breathlessly outside Snape's classroom.
"Ready?" Malfoy asked.
Hermione nodded and Malfoy opened the door.
Everyone looked up to see who was coming in, and did a double take.
Not only were Hermione and Malfoy arriving together, there was something different about Hermione.
Snape stopped in mid sentence, realizing the class's attention was no longer on him and looked up to see his two missing students making their way hastily to their desks.
Snape made to turn away again, but did a double take on Hermione instead before sweeping over to Malfoy.
"What did you do to her!" he whispered so the rest of the class couldn't hear.
"Made some improvements." Malfoy replied with a smirk.
Snape looked over at Hermione again. Harry and Ron were gaping at her and he swore he saw Ron drooling.
"Mr Weasley!" Snape snapped, bringing Ron out of his thoughts.
"Yes Professor?" Ron asked.
"Get on with your potion. You too Mr Potter!"
The two boys glanced once more at Hermione before bowing their heads to continue with their potion.
Snape went and sat down at his desk, casting fleeting glances at Hermione now and then, shaking his head and muttering.
Malfoy took the opportunity to look around at the Slytherins. The boys were staring at Hermione like she was a new student they hadn't seen before. The girls had their noses in the air, for once at a loss for words.
Malfoy smirked as Pansy Parkinson practically began throwing ingredients into her cauldron, muttering under her breath and sending death glares at Hermione.
"Professor!" Hermione said putting her hand in the air.
Every eye was instantly on her, she didn't notice apparently as she was staring straight at Snape.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" Snape answered without looking up from the essays he was marking.
"Could you come and see if my potion is correct? I missed the first part of class and so I'm not exactly sure how it's supposed to look." Hermione replied.
Malfoy noted the class' riveted attention and stifled a laugh. If this is what they reacted like with just a simple natural look, what were they going to be like when he gave her her real make-over, with his mother's help of course!
Snape sighed irritably before slinking out of his chair and heading toward Hermione's desk.
Malfoy watched briefly, before something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Pansy had an evil smirk on her face and she was nudging Millicent Bullstrode and another Slytherin girl. Malfoy got suspicious. Some foul plot was afoot! He could feel it. He saw her inch her foot out as Snape approached, but before he could open his mouth to warn Snape, the deed was done.
Snape was almost at Hermione's desk when Pansy stuck her foot out and sent the potion's master tumbling into Hermione, bowling her off her chair.
The class gasped and a horrified silence ensued. Pansy, however, was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Malfoy was first on his feet, followed by Ron and Harry. They rushed over to the tangled heap that was Snape and Hermione and set about detangling them.
Hermione groaned, having had the wind knocked out of her.
"Mione!" Ron called searching for her face in the mass of robes. "Mione, speak to me!"
Malfoy, meanwhile, was trying to locate Snape in order to help him up.
"Professor!" Malfoy said anxiously. "Are you alright Sir?"
"Do I bloody look alright!?" Snape snapped in a pained voice.
He was sprawled on top of Hermione wincing each time he moved.
"I think I broke a rib!" Hermione suddenly squeaked.
"I think I broke something else!" Snape commented gruffly. "Is it a reflex action, Miss Granger, to lift your knee in such a situation as this?"
All the boys in the room winced, knowing now why Snape hadn't leaped to his feet. He was quite literally incapacitated.
"Sorry, Professor!" Hermione said in a pained voice "It all happened so quickly!"
"I'll go get Madame Pomfrey." Harry announced and hurried out of the room.
He returned a few minutes later with the school nurse in tow.
"My goodness!" Madame Pomfrey gasped as she hurried to their side "What happened?!"
Malfoy glared at Pansy.
"I'm not entirely sure. I think I tripped over something and fell into Miss Granger, and here we are!" Snape said sarcastically. "Did anyone see what happened?"
Silence. A cricket chirped.
"DID ANYONE SEE WHAT HAPPENED!?" Snape shouted more forcefully.
"I did." Came a voice.
Everyone gasped and turned to see Malfoy. Pansy looked at him, terrified, begging him with her eyes not to tell.
But Malfoy was loyal to Snape.
"It was Parkinson, Sir. She stuck her foot out and tripped you." Malfoy said.
Ron spun around to glare at Pansy, who was looking crestfallen that Draco had told on her.
"What is your problem, Parkinson!" Ron demanded "Are you trying to kill our Mione?! Look at her! She's almost squashed flat!"
"Weasley, be quiet!" Snape snapped as Madame Pomfrey and Malfoy helped him get up.
"Miss Parkinson, is this true?" Snape demanded when he was on his feet.
Pansy looked wildly around for an escape, but there was none.
"I…I…Yes!! I did it alright! She deserved it!" She screeched pointing at Hermione.
Snape looked down at Hermione who was being healed by Madam Pomfrey, then looked back at Pansy. "I fail to see what Miss Granger was doing that caused you to commit such a low trick, in which I was used!" Snape roared.
"She was…she was…" Pansy spluttered.
"She was looking prettier thannormaland you got jealous!" Malfoy shouted in triumph, pointing at Pansy so dramatically, the class half expected him to let out amanic'MWAAAHHAHAHA' sort of laugh.
Snape looked livid. "You mean to say, I was almost castrated because of your petty jealousy Miss Parkinson!?" He said in a dangerous voice.
"Yes, broken rib!" he heard the nurse say behind him in confirmation of Hermione's condition.
"I thought so!" Hermione sqeaked painfully.
"And Miss Granger broke a rib!" he added, gesturing behind him at Hermione.
He stalked towards Pansy, in very much a predator manner.
"This is unacceptable behavior, Miss Parkinson, 50 points from Slytherin and you will serve detention with Mr Filch, Tonight!" Snape spat. He looked around at all the other Slytherins. "See to it that Miss Parkinson is made aware of what she has cost her house!" he hissed angrily before spinning around to face Hermione.
Madam Pomfrey was healing her broken rib.
When she was done, Snape offered his hand to help Hermione up. She accepted and got to her feet, brushing herself down.
"My utmost apologies, Miss Granger." Snape said quietly "I failed to forsee Miss Parkinson's plan."
Hermione nodded. "I'm sorry for my erm...reflex action, professor." She said quietly. She wasn't about to say 'sorry I kneed you in the nads, professor!'.
Snape nodded.
"Now, Severus, are you all in one piece?" Madam Pomfrey asked, looking the potions master up and down.
"As far as I know." Snape replied curtly.
"Well let me check just in case." The nurse said fussily. She pulled out her wand and muttered a spell, waving her wand over snape.
When she got to just below his waist, the wand tip glowed, and she looked up at him questioningly.
"That was the fault of a well placed knee." Snape informed her gruffly. "Reflex action on Miss Granger's part."
Madam Pomfrey held back a laugh and continued down to his feet, then stood upright. "Well, everything looks fine, save for a few bruises, but you'll live." She informed him.
Snape nodded. "Thank you madam Pomfrey."
The nurse nodded and left to go back to her infirmary.
"Well? What are you all waiting for? Get back to your potions!" Snape snapped, glaring.
Everyone obeyed immediately. No-one wanted to mess with a Snape who had just had his crown jewels practically obliterated!