"Is it just me, or is Hermione acting…a little bit strange since we've been back at school?" The green eyed boy asked.
As two thirds of the golden trio sat in the increasingly crowded Great Hall area, they were soon joined by the youngest female Weasley.
"In what way?" Ron replied.
"Well, she seems sort of grouchy at times. Like when she snapped at you asked her why she looked sad; or when she snapped at us for trying to wake her up, and she ended up arriving to class late twice. She hardly ever oversleeps, and she's NEVER late to class. I'm telling you, I think something's up with her," Harry proclaimed.
The red head pondered what his friend was saying. "Maybe it's her time of the month," he suggested. This earned a smack on his arm from his younger sister.
"Ouch!" he rubbed his arm in irritation. "Nah, I think she's just having an off week. I mean she's not perfect, and there is a first for everything. I'm sure it's nothing to be even remotely worried about."
"I think Harry's right," Ginny chipped in. "I don't think it's anything to worry about, but I do think she's been acting just a little bit strange."
"What other things have you noticed that's slightly off about Hermione?" Harry directed his question to Ginny.
"Whenever I catch her alone, I notice that she always stares into space. Almost like she's thinking really hard about something, and it looks like it troubles her a bit. Like just a few moments ago, she had her textbook open, but she was so deep in thought that she wasn't even reading it. And the look on her face was just plain miserable."
Without a sound, the delicious food magically appeared on all the house tables.
Ron looked at Harry. "Well maybe something is bothering her," he said nonchalantly as he dug into the platter of food before him.
"How bout we just ask her if there's anything she wants to talk about?" the black haired wizard suggested as he followed Ron's suite.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Ginny agreed.
After hurriedly chewing his food, Ron said, "Fine we'll ask her when she comes down, but I still think there's nothing to worry about. She's probably just upset that she hasn't read three chapters ahead of schedule or something."
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Hermione had really been fed up with all his little jabs about her having a boyfriend, or hinting that she's not as pristine as everyone thought. Seeing him alone in the hallway was the perfect time to approach him and tell him to cut the crap.
As Hermione approached the blond jerk, she saw him look up and say, "Hello, Herms." He purposely stressed the nickname given solely by her summertime friends. "Do scar head and weasel also call you by that name, or is it just the filthy drug addicted muggles you associate with that call you that?"
She drew out her wand, and he was now a little more vigilant. He mimicked her and pulled out his wand too. He knew she was not the one to start fights; however he did not want to take the risk of being at the end of one of her curses. Though, her blood was dirty, he had noticed she was pretty quick with her wand. Not to mention that could be surprisingly violent at times, like the time she had punched him in third year.
"Let's get one thing straight, I don't associate myself with anybody who abuses illegal narcotics," she said as she approached even further. At this point she looked livid.
"Really, because I've been told that many people that go to those parties, what is it raves they call them, are often under the influence of T. And I've been further informed that people under T get extremely happy, don't they Granger? Judging from the look of pure ecstasy on your face as you were dancing like a whore on the dance floor, I'd say you've been 'taking', haven't you?"," he accused her with a cocky grin.
Her eyes widen at the terminology 'taking', knowing that it's code for taking T. She shakes her head and denies the accusation. "You're wrong, you don't know what you're talking about," she defensively stated, started to raise her voice.
"If I'm lying, then why didn't your friends know about your little rave adventure with your boyfriend? I'm sure it's because you know that if they ever found out that their sweet, innocent Gryffindor princess was reveling in illegal substances, it would tarnish your perfect reputa-"
"Oh sod off, Malfoy!" She cut him off. "Since you want to drag reputation into this, why the hell were you at a party were only muggleborns could be found?" she shouted, red faced. "If it's such a bad place, why were you lurking about in the first place? I thought all muggles were beneath you! Tell me, do YOU 'take' as well? You must be using it since you know so much about it, you hypocrite! I assume your reputation as a muggle-hating elitist would significantly decrease if people found out you attended those parties and frolicked with muggles."
"For your information, I've only ever set foot in the place once, and that's because I got dragged there by a friend. But I assure you, I would never go back there with those wastes of space." He said with exaggerated distain.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "You were probably hunting muggles for sport anyways; I mean the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree, right". She normally never brought up anyone's family in arguments because it was always a low blow. But this time she didn't care.
At this comment, Malfoy's expression quickly shifted from distain to anger. Furious, he stepped closer to Hermione, trying to intimidate her by towering over her. But the witch wasn't fazed by his attempt to bully her. Sure he was almost half a foot taller than she was, but that didn't scare her.
"Don't you ever talk about my father. You're too filthy to even bring him up in conversation," he said in quite, but anger filled tone.
Just as the pair of them looked ready to exchange curses and spells, Professor Flitwick, came around the corner of the hallway, but the two didn't even see him. "What is going on here?"
They both diverted their attention to the professor down the hall. "Nothing," Malfoy responded.
"Good." He said sternly as the two distanced themselves a little.
"I think you two should best be off to where ever it was you were heading to."
Before, Malfoy could leave, Hermione leaned in whispered, "If you ever tell anyone that I 'take', I will tell everyone that you attend the same 'muggle infested, narcotic abusing parties that I do'. I assure you, I will drag you down with me."
With that she spun away from him and continued on her path to the Great Hall.
Now Malfoy was really mad. This witch thought that she could make threats to him. Ha! Over his dead body.
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With an aggravated march, Hermione made her way to the Gryffindor table in the Hall. It was clear to her friends that she was angry about something. As she took a seat to join them, they eyed her carefully.
"What's got you so wound up?" Ron asked.
"Nothing." She stated bluntly. It was clear that she was not in the mood to discuss what had gotten her so agitated.
The boys briefly looked at Ginny with curiosity etched all over their faces. She mirrored their expressions and rose her eye brows to indicate 'I have no idea what's up with her'.
'She wasn't mad when I saw her a few minutes ago,' the Weasley witch thought.
There was then a growing silence. The three of them weren't sure if now was the time to ask Hermione if something is bothering her and causing her to act the way she was during the past week. She already looked peeved at the moment, and they were not sure if this was the perfect moment to question her about her cranky attitude.
Harry decided to be the brave one of the three, volunteering to ask her first.
He cleared his throat, "Umm… Hermione…we've noticed that you've been acting slightly…different since you've come back to Hogwarts." He was trying to choose his words wisely to not tick her off any further.
She eyed them with what was both a quizzical and slightly defensive expression. As she was about to ask what they were talking about, Harry continued.
"It's just that we've noticed you've been a little…moody lately. Not to mention, you've overslept and came to class late…twice."
"Is there something going on that you want to talk to us about?" Ginny stepped in.
Hermione looked at all three of her friends and her anger towards Malfoy started to dissipate. Her expression softened, "I hadn't realized I was acting any differently." She looked down sheepishly, "Sorry if I've been acting a little short-tempered with you guys lately, but don't worry nothing is going on. I was probably just stress of having to complete the first essay for History of Magic," she said which wasn't fully a lie. As much as her views taking illegal pharmaceuticals have drastically changed, she was still the same meticulous school girl that needed to complete her assignments as soon as she received them.
"But that paper is not due for three weeks," Ron said wide eyed.
The brown haired witch nodded, "Yeah, well you know how I am with getting a jump start on the assignments," she said animatedly.
The red head diverted his attention to his best mate and sister, "See, I told you it was nothing to worry about."
The two nodded their heads slight agreement. Harry wasn't quite sure, but he still was not fully convinced. However, they all dropped the subject as Hermione switched the topic.
"So what have you lot been up to on this lovely Sunday afternoon?" Granger asked.
And so commenced a new conversation about what they did during the day.
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It was a particularly dreary Monday afternoon, and Malfoy was sitting bored in class. Occasionally focussing on what the professor was saying, he idly twiddled his quill in his fingers. He just wanted to get out of class and relax with his mates for a bit.
As professor Snape droned on, the teen started to wander his eyes around the class, which didn't harbour many students because of it was an advanced potions course. As he seized up an assortment of students belonging to various houses, his eyes landed on Hermione. She was staring up at Snape, listening attentively and drinking every word he was delivering.
Draco just didn't understand it. She was still the same annoying know it all who constantly felt the need to answer every question, much to his irritation. But he couldn't get the image of her dancing seductively with that other guy from rave out of his head. He hated to admit it, but she wasn't too sore on the eyes that night, especially when she was out of her loose fitting uniform and wearing the tight fitting summer attire.
There was just such a big dissociation about the way she acted that night and the way she portrayed herself to her peers at Hogwarts. It was just so… uncharacteristic of her.
Thinking about how carefree and happy she looked made him think about how he ended up at the warehouse that night.
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It was a warm August day and the only Malfoy air felt like going out with his friend of two years, Nikolas. He was bored and didn't feel like spending time with many of his Slytherin classmates during the summer holidays because they were more like acquaintances. Of course he socialized with them outside of school on occasion but he just felt like heading out with a true friend tonight.
Nikolas had told him that he knew the perfect place to have fun. Though, Malfoy and his friend sometimes differed on what they perceived as fun. Malfoy preferred to stick to his own kind and only socialize with the purebloods; whereas Nikolas didn't really care with whom he was socializing with, as long as he was having a good old time. Though, that wasn't to confuse him for ever wanting to become seriously involved and procreate with a muggle. It was still a core value ingrained in him to only ever marry a pureblood and keep the magical blood untainted.
Nikolas was definitely a rebel when it came to having a wild night out. During the school year, he attended a school in Dusseldorf, Germany. Though originally born in England with German heritage, his parents thought it would have been better to send him to a school which had a higher rate of pureblood student attendance because they did not approve of Hogwarts accepting the so many muggle-borns. His parents did not want him to get influenced by muggles and their strange habits, and they did not want him to be brainwashed into thinking it was ok to mix the bloodlines. But, little did they know that their son was frequently associating with muggles during his spare time.
"So this old rickety shack is supposed to be fun?" Draco asked unimpressed, eyeing the huge warehouse in the deserted grungy looking area. "The place looks like it's about to cave in at any minute. Come on Kol, there must be another place that can be more fun than this."
"Tsk, tsk. You're always too quick to judge. Just give it a chance, it might surprise you; you might even have fun," he answered back smiling. "Besides, we're not just here to have a good night."
At that last statement, Draco looked at him questioningly. "What else are we here for?"
"I'm also here to make some quick money," Kol replied with a smirk.
"Make money on what?" He asked even more curious.
His blue eyed friend took out a little transparent bag with a light pink powdered substance. "This little bag full of fun makes people have a really good time. Muggles seem to be especially fond of it; so I thought, why just stick to selling it to wizards and witches? I might as well distribute it to the muggles, make a little bit of money on the side.
Examining the bag, Malfoy asked, "What's it called?"
"It's called pixie dust" Kol says with a smile.
Draco bursts out laughing, "You can't expect me to believe that's actually the dust produced from pixies."
"Of course not, it's just the street name for it. It actually comes from a magical plant originally grown in South America."
"Do you want to try some? First trial's free" he says with a sly smile.
"No thanks, I'm not in the mood to try you're pixie powder tonight," he refused, lightly mocking the name of the substance. "Besides, I'm already starting to feel the effects from the firewhiskey we drank earlier. I assume mixing the two would end badly."
"Suite yourself," Nikolas said heading towards the entrance of the abandoned building.
Minutes after they entered, Kol began scouting boys and girls to see if they would buy the 'dust'. Some people gleefully accepted, while others hesitantly declined.
This environment was so foreign and bizarre to Malfoy. The music was ear splittingly loud and many teens were sporting these bracelets and sticks which glowed fluorescently in the dark. Many of what appeared to be an adolescent and young adult crowd were behaving in ways that were too sexually open in public. He even saw one bloke massaging the breast of girl he was dancing with. The blond wasn't in any way a prude; however this display was a culture shock. This type of public behaviour was definitely not common within the wizarding world. 'Weird, filthy muggles' Draco thought.
After 15 minutes of watching his friend make a profit and dance his way through the crowd, he had enough, and was about to tell Kol he was bored and he was leaving.
Just as he was about to approach his friend, the drum of the beat began to drop and he heard various whistles of enthusiasm in the crowd. He took note that people clearly liked when the beat dropped because many people started to raise their arms in joy. It was at this moment that he noticed her. She had on a tiny white string strap tank top and bright red shorts. They weren't the shortest shorts, but they weren't the most modest shorts either.
Raising her arms in the air with her big curls were cascading from left to right, and eyes closed supporting a huge smile, she looked as if she was experiencing an intimate type of pleasure. 'That cannot be mudblood Granger,' he thought in pure shock. He then noticed that a tall brunet with white framed sun-glasses was dancing close behind her. The brunet suggestively snaked his arms around her small waist as he leaned his head close to her ear to tell her something. Their dancing was getting really intimate. Her partner's arms were slowly starting to wander upward towards her chest while she started to move her hips into his groin to the follow the rhythm of the music. Draco had never thought it was possible for the witch to act in any other way than a prudish, self-righteous, know-it all. He still could not process what he was witnessing. As she answered the mysterious guy, he noticed that her hands started to seductively wander up the back of his neck and grabbed the back of his brown locks.
'No, this can't be Hermione Granger!' he thought. She would never be in a place like this, let alone interact with the opposite sex that way in public. It was just so out of character for her that he just kept staring to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
"Who's that you keep staring at?" Kol shouted in his ear. "Are you looking at Herms?"
"Herms?"
"Yeah, the girl in the white top and the red shorts. I've heard about her from Kris, the guy she's dancing with. She's quite the firecracker when she gets high, but I've never really talked to her," the blue eyed wizard confirmed.
At that moment, Hermione opened her eyes and made direct eye contact with the blond. At the realization that one of her schoolmates was here witnessing her acts of debauchery, her eyes started to widen in realization that she was caught in the act.
Malfoy stared right back at her, with wide eyes as well, still trying to process the whole situation.
That's when the yells started, and Kol told him to immediately get away from the premises. Before he could think, he just ran with Nikolas away from the party, as they headed towards the portkey which brought them there in the first place.
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"Am I boring you Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Snape droned.
This snapped the blond out of his reverie. "No, professor," he answers.
"If you want to daydream and not take pertinent notes, I suggest you save your time and not come to class at all," the potion's teacher irritably stated. As he returned his attention to the class, he instructed them to complete the remaining chapters from the textbook and dismissed the class.
With his dismissal, the students grouped up with their friends and slowly exited the class. As he departed the class room, Hermione accidently pushed into him, apologizing automatically out of courtesy as she was rushing off to God knows where. It really annoyed him when people pushed into him, especially her of all people. Suddenly coming to mind, he thought back on last night's events, when she threatened to 'bring him down with her'. He wanted to establish that he was not one to be blackmailed.
"Watch it Herms," he says with a sly smile. "Are the drugs really affecting you that bad that you can't even walk properly without stumbling into people?" He says loudly for the whole class to hear.
The volume of the surrounding students' voices quickly quietened at Malfoy's comment.
All eyes fell on her to see what Malfoy was referring to. It was at this moment when Hermione finally lost it. She dramatically dropped her books to the floor and swiftly turned to face him. Quicker than he could react, she impulsively punched him in the face.