Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, and various other publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
When they reached the gates to the castle, they were surprised to find Professor Snape standing outside waiting for them, and he most certainly did not look happy.
"Mr. Malfoy, perhaps you could explain to me why you and Miss Granger are the last two students off the train when everybody else is already waiting in the Great Hall?"
Hermione was about to make a witty reply, but Draco beat her to it.
"I was helping Hermione, Sir." Severus Snape's eyebrows rose at the comfortable use of her first name; so she was friendly with the Slytherin then, he mused. "I helped her to get her bags off the rack; she's too much of a midget to reach them, Sir."
Brilliant Draco, absolutely bloody brilliant, Hermione fumed. There were at least three problems wrong with that excuse, and by the look on Snape's face he knew every single one of them.
"I see," the man drawled. "Tell me Mr. Malfoy, is Miss Granger a witch?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Then, tell me Mr Malfoy, why didn't she levitate her bag with magic?"
Hermione sighed, sometimes Draco could be a real prize idiot, and at the moment, his appearance certainly made him look like one. His usually stoic Malfoy mask had cracked, and his mouth hung open as though he was a baby waiting to be fed. She could even see the panic in his eyes; way to go Draco, now the man thinks we've done something like had a quickie on the train.
"Mr. Malfoy, do shut your mouth, you are starting to look ridiculous."
Severus Snape scowled down at the blond haired Slytherin in front of him, sneering when the girl next to him opened her mouth in protest.
"I have neither the time, nor the inclination to be bothered by what you do in your own time Miss Granger, but as everybody in the Great Hall is hungry and cannot start eating until you two appear I suggest that you to make you way up there. Post haste."
For some reason he felt hurt. It was a strange emotion, one that he was not comfortable with at all. To cover his confusion over his emotions he sneered at the pair before him and turned on his heal, disappearing into the night.
Hermione turned to face Draco, her wand had twitching.
"Draco," her voice was sickly sweet, and he just knew he was in trouble, "tell me something. Do I have a voice?" He nodded. His palms were sweating. "Do I have a brain?" He nodded again; it was only his Pureblood which upbringing kept his face devoid of any emotion. "Tell me Draco, do I have a wand?"
"Yes." As soon as he had answered her, he wished that the ground would open up and swallow him whole.
She had her wand out.
"So tell me, Draco Malfoy, why you wouldn't let me talk our way out of this mess? Now the man thinks we've done something stupid, something like having a quick shag on the train, if the holding of hands and the breathlessness is anything to go by!" It was so tempting to hex him, but she didn't choosing instead to hex the tree across from her. The tree that, unbeknownst to them, their potions master currently hid behind.
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The conversation they that started after he had left the area was, to him, quite intriguing. Miss Granger was correct in her assumptions of what he thought they were doing on the train. She had gotten all 'chummy' with his Slytherin's last year, and when the Gryffindor Princess and the Slytherin King were the last off the train; he had become suspicious. If he had found any proof of, as Miss Granger had so delicately put it, 'shagging' he would have docked so many points from her it would have sent them into the negatives before term had even started, a new record, and given her even more detentions than the ones she was currently receiving.
Alas, he hadn't found any proof; both their breathlessness and sweaty palms could be accounted for by rushing to the Great Hall, so he had resorted to sulking behind a tree.
He saw Miss Granger take her wand out with a flick of her wrist, and he smirked at the Malfoy boy's reaction; it was as if he hadn't been raised in a Pureblood family. Draco looked aghast, and his complexion had turned ashen. What he wasn't expecting though, was the hex that she flung at a tree, the same tree that he was currently hiding behind. Years as a spy had taught him many things: how to read people, how to deceive people, and how to get what people wanted with minimal effort on his part. However, as he was convinced that she was going to hex the Malfoy boy his reactions to the tree being blown up were somewhat delayed, resulting in blackness.
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Neither spoke after she had flung the hex at the tree. They were both silent for a few minutes; Hermione was trying with all her might not to hex the rest of the trees, and Draco who had decided that if he wanted to have children when he was older he would not disturb her, however as he was a Malfoy, he could only keep quiet for so long.
"Hermione … you blew up a tree!"
"Thank you for stating the obvious Draco," she snapped, smirking, and with a flick of her wrist, the mess had vanished. "See, all gone, nothing to worry you pretty little blond head about."
Her smirk could rival Snape's on a bad day, something that unnerved him slightly.
"We had better make a move Hermione before they send out a search -"
He was cut off by a sound. A sound that didn't sound human. They both whipped their wands out simultaneously; Hermione cast a shield around them both while Draco cast Lumos. They both made to move forwards towards the sound, but Draco put a hand out to stop her.
"Perhaps I should go first Hermione, after all I'm supposed to protect the helpless female," his usual Malfoy smirk rested his lips, but a faint tremble of his wand hand gave him away.
"And let you blow something up because your arm is shaking so much? I don't think so. Anyway, aren't you supposed to be afraid of nothing? You are a Malfoy, and you are a boy." Hermione pointed out unnecessarily.
"Yes, well, weird noises in the dark are where I draw the line. You never know what's out to get you in the dark."
Hermione knew what he meant, then again that wasn't something you thought about when there was the possibility of attack looming over your head.
The noise was louder this time, and they could both hear faint mumbling.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid."
As they had been in the dark for so long, their eyes had adjusted and they could now see a cloaked figure rise from the ground, and what looked to be an arm holding it's head. 'It' was mumbling something else but this time 'it' was incoherent.
It was as though they were stuck to the spot; all their previous training was fruitless, their brains turned to mush. They could see 'it' getting closer and closer but they could do nothing about it and had they been questioned afterwards they could have sworn that they were under some kind of spell.
"You do realise that once we get back to the school you will both get a month's worth of detentions, and yours will be added to the month you already owe me, Miss Granger," the voice growled.
Neither of them dared to breathe as the distinctive tones of the Potions Master met their ears.
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The blast hadn't knocked him out for long, only a few moments, but it was long enough to make his head thump and his disposition turn sour. The blast had also made, momentarily forget why he was lying on the floor by a blown up tree.
He was brought out of his stupor when the bits of tree that were scattered on his cloak disappeared, and the piece that had lodged itself into his side had vanished. An involuntary groan came from his lips and he smirked as the two people arguing fell silent, but then proceed to start bickering again, at a much louder volume, this time about things that go bump in the dark. Had it been a bloodthirsty death eater or a wild animal they would have been dead by now ... had they not learnt anything at school?
"Stupid, stupid, stupid."
With energy he didn't know he possessed, he managed to force himself to get up taking out his wand at the same time and with a wave of his wand they were both unable to move or speak, that was until he released them. Every step he took felt like newly sharpened knives were piercing his side, but he had to make them realise just how stupid they were, and nothing told a pupil they were stupid like a handful of detentions from the most feared professor in school. He walked towards the opening until they could see his silhouette, but made no move to walk any further.
"You do realise that once we get back to the school you will both get a month's worth of detentions, and yours will be added to the month you already owe me Miss Granger," he growled.
Had either of them been able to move, they would have cringed, but as they were, they had both been frozen to the spot with one of his own personal charms, so they could do no more than breath and blink.
"Finite Incantatum," he dismissed the spell with a wave of his hand but they still didn't move the first wise thing they had done this evening.
"Mr. Malfoy, you will go up to the Great Hall and take your place at the Slytherin table." He dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand and turned back to the girl that now dared to smirk at him.
"Miss Granger, you will stay here."