Thanks for all the support so early on! I hope this chapter is to your liking and make sure your review! Oh and Draco and Hermione aren't just going to jump up and fall in love, there'll be build up. Enjoy.
"Oh and did you see this morning when…" A group of Hufflepuff's stopped talking as soon as Hermione came within three meters or them. It was official, there was no good side to being in Slytherin, and she was going to get to the bottom of this mix up. While thinking of ideas she ran into Pansy Parkinson who was walking alone, head down and her footsteps were loud and wonky. A small part of Hermione was worried that maybe something bad happened, but a bigger part reminded Hermione it was probably a joke.
"Hermione!" Ginny called from the seats in the outside courtyard. Hermione sighed in relief and walked over to greet her friend.
"I got your message, what's the matter?" Hermione asked then Ginny grimaced.
"You haven't heard from Harry have you? Or Ron?" she questioned quickly.
"Not recently… why? Did you hear something?" Hermione's eyes flashed with worry.
"No, nothing! And Harry's been owling me non-stop before now! Hermione something bad must've happened!" she was standing up now, waving her arms frantically.
"Ginny, really, they said they may not be able to contact us for a few days, they've found a new lead so they need to concentrate." Hermione said, if not just to convince herself.
"Oh. I hope you're right then…" Ginny bit her lip.
"You're really worried about him aren't you?"
"Hermione, he's my brother." Ginny stated with a pointed look.
"I meant Harry."
"Oh, well, him too I guess." Ginny went a very light pink but then shook it off and changed the subject, "are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" she asked curiously.
"Maybe… I was going to do some studying…" Hermione deliberated for a minute
"Oh please! Hermione we haven't been talking all week, at least say you'll come to the village!" Ginny complained, her statement making Hermione feel insanely guilty.
"I guess one day off couldn't hurt…" Hermione sighed
"That's the spirit! Speaking of which we have classes soon, I should probably go do my Divination homework…" Ginny said grumpily then ran off towards her common room. Hermione sighed again and reached into her bag and pulled out her Magic History: For the advanced Witch or Wizard and began flipping through. The text was boring to say the least, it was all things she'd read before and the pictures were not accurate enough to hold her attention. She slammed the book and put it back into her bag and then pulled out the book Draco had given to her. She was almost finished and it was rather fascinating.
"Hello." An unfamiliar voice from behind her nearly made her jump off her seat. She flipped her head around to see who had scared her so readily; it was someone she'd never met before.
"Can I help you?" she asked, taking a few breaths to calm down.
"Maybe." The boy grinned a cute, impish grin.
"Did you want to sit here?" Hermione asked patiently, unaware that there were only a few other people in the courtyard besides the two of them.
"Maybe." He said again, looking at her as if she was on display in a shop window.
"Stop saying maybe. Do you have a name?" Hermione questioned and he grinned again
"Blaise." He replied coolly then swung a leg over the long wooden seat Hermione was sitting and smiled sweetly at her.
"I'm –
"You're Hermione Granger, did you get my letter?" he asked innocently
"What letter?" she replied blankly then remembered her mystery notes from the unknown person 'B'.
"You didn't figure it out?" he seemed confused now
"Well no, I've never met you." Hermione pointed out meekly.
"Fair enough, well anyway, how are you finding Slytherin?" he asked casually, as if he were just asking about the weather.
"Insufferable." Hermione replied bitterly, to her surprise Blaise laughed.
"Well at least you've lasted longer than most people thought you would." He was still looking at her with a smile on his lips. Hermione was a little unsettled that he was so casually talking to her when she didn't know the first thing about him.
"You'd be referring to the bet Pansy and Draco are made?" Hermione asked, suddenly interested in knowing what exactly the bet had been.
"Pansy and Draco? I'm talking about half of Hogwarts," Blaise stated, wide eyed "see Slytherin reckons you'll run crying back to Gryffindor once you've had enough but some people think you'll end up replacing Pansy." Blaise explained in a friendly tone.
"Replacing? What do you mean by that?" Hermione was slightly offended that she was being compared to such a stuck up girl like Pansy.
"You'll be the new Slytherin princess, you're already Head Girl after all." Blaise looked at her appraisingly, Hermione crossed her arms sourly.
"That's not my objective I'll have you know!" she glared at him, she didn't want to be in Slytherin, let alone be famous in Slytherin.
"Then what is?" he asked rather suggestively.
"To finish my year in peace!" she bellowed then stuffed her book in her bag, sending one final glare at Blaise "now if you'll excuse me, I have classes to attend to." She stormed away with her bad swinging from her shoulder.
"Strange, strange girl…" Blaise laughed as he watched he stomp away back into the castle.
---
After hours of sitting through classes and being ignored and sitting in the Great Hall being laughed at, Hermione was worn out. She sat alone in the common room of the Head's room with her study timetable set out in front of her. She glared at it, she was far too upset to study but it felt like the timetable was mocking her – just like the rest of Slytherin surely was right now. Shaking her head she pulled out Draco's book and opened to where she had last been reading. Every few paragraphs her mind would wander to things like where Harry and Ron were, when she would see them again and if she could have time of Hogwarts to go see them. She doubted it, her parents would want her home in the holidays and they were in no mood to be asked about her taking time off school. They still hadn't spoken since the train, nor had they tried to contact her. It was then that Hermione thought something was odd, usually her mother wrote her and asked how things were on her first week. Had something happened? Were they still angry with her? Would they even want her back in the Holidays? While she was lost in her frantic thoughts she didn't notice Draco walk down his stairs into the room. She stared at the wall while he looked at her in an annoyed way.
"Granger?" he asked, like he'd been calling her name for a while, even though he hadn't. Hermione kept staring at the empty spot on the wall in front of her, just above the warm fireplace, oblivious to Draco's calls.
"Granger!" he tried again, taking a few steps forward but still getting no response.
"GRANGER!" he yelled angrily and she jumped and looked up at him innocently.
"Draco, there's no need to yell, I'm right here." She said then looked up at the clock on the wall, no doubt enchanted somehow since it had seven different hands on it instead of two.
"Well you weren't listening!" he growled defensively.
"Do you want something?" she asked quickly, slightly annoyed that she'd been so rudely pulled away from her thoughts.
"Do we have Head duties tonight?" he asked with an impatient glance at Hermione then his eyes flickered away again.
"No." she shook her head then looked around the room awkwardly "is that all? I have some reading to do." She said holding up the cover of the book with a sheepish grin.
"Do you mind if I do some work out here? It's raining and I can't concentrate up there." Draco said revealing a few rolls of parchment and two quills, one red and one black.
"Why would I mind?" she questioned and then returned to her book. Draco too absorbed himself in the essay he was writing and they both sat in comfortable silence. Draco was sitting on the edge of the well-cushioned white couch while Hermione was snuggled up in the huge red armchair that almost felt like she was falling asleep in it.
"Granger?" Draco said, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts and the sleep she was almost falling into.
"Hm?" she asked groggily
"You haven't… told anyone have you?" he placed his quill down on the table carefully and spoke as though he were stepping on eggshells.
"About yesterday?" she replied, putting the book down and giving her full attention to the very awkward looking Draco on the couch beside her.
"Yeah? You haven't said anything, to anyone not even Potty and Weasel right?" he eyed her carefully and she shook her head.
"No I haven't." she replied
"Good, keep it that way." He said, his awkwardness switching to his age-old anger.
"Don't get me wrong Draco, you really should talk to someone about it, but it's private so it's not my place to tell."
"No, it's really not is Mudblood." He spat.
"Prat." She replied easily
"I am not!" he replied, surprised that she would even dare insult him back.
"Oh you know you are too." She rolled her eyes.
"Don't call me stupid things like you know who I am!" he warned.
"Then stop calling me Mudblood!" she slammed the book shut and threw in onto the table "I'm done." She replied; though her words held double meaning that Draco didn't quite catch onto. She gave Draco her meanest glare then ran angrily up to her room and slammed the door as loud as humanly possible.
---
When she woke up the next morning to her incredibly loud alarm she was still in the same horrid mood as she was last night. She changed into her robes and stomped into the bathroom to do her hair. Once she was inside she pulled a hair tie out of her drawers, which she'd managed to get on the opposite side of the room from Draco's. After a lot of persistence and the use of a few hair-care charms her hair was successfully in a neat ponytail atop her head. While fixing her dress shirt collar she noticed a note pinned to her bathroom door through the reflection of the mirror. She recognized the handwriting from five meters away. She took the pin out and placed it on the counter and read the short note.
Meet me behind Honeydukes. I need to talk to you.
DM
She sighed and placed the note on the counter next to the pin and left the bathroom. She slipped on her school shoes and made her way down to the departure for Hogsmeade.
---
"Since this is your last year, or your second last year if your in sixth year, at Hogwarts we trust you enough to be in Hogsmeade without teacher supervision, however the Head's will report back to me if any signs of trouble should occur." McGonagall looked down at Draco and Hermione who were standing on either sides of the group. Not because McGonagall had asked them too but because they refused to maintain eye contact all morning throughout breakfast.
"You will have a total of four trips, I would suggest you make the most of them." She finished and nodded them all to begin their walk towards the village. Hermione walked with Luna, Ginny and Neville who were excitedly filling her in on how there classes were this year. However they refused to share any news about Gryffindor, it was clear now that they would be sharing information with someone on the enemy's side.
---
"Luna! You've got to try these new Mint-Chocolate Frogs! They're delicious!" Ginny exclaimed and started filling up her basket with several small boxes of them. Hermione on the other had already been to the Chocolate Frogs and gotten her supply, now she was looking at a new candy called Mood Applicable Lollipops. Curiously she picked one up and watched as she touched it, it turned into a light blue colour.
"Feeling nervous?" Blaise's now familiar voice joked from behind her. She turned around to see him reading off the sign in front of the lollipop shelves.
"Pardon?" she quirked an eyebrow and he turned the paper around and sure enough there was a list of all the flavour, colours and moods the lollipops reacted and changed to.
Mood Applicable Lollipop's – You are what you eat! From Chompin' Charms ™
Light Blue – Nervous (blueberry)
Dark Blue – Depressed (blackberry)
Black – Angry (licorice)
Yellow – Happy (lemonade)
Orange – Creative (orange)
Red – Excited (strawberry)
Green – Jealous (apple)
Pink – In Love (fairy floss)
"It's amazing the things they come up with isn't it?" Blaise said picking one up, as it turned yellow and he grinned at Hermione.
"Well they are amongst the leading wizarding manufacturers this year so it's no surprise that they're new products are a hit here, after all students always get excited over new candy no matter how odd it may be." Hermione replied with a bored sigh.
"I wasn't after a history lesson." Blaise laughed awkwardly
"Then what were you after?" Hermione asked, quickly putting her light blue lollipop back in its holder, still secured in its wrapper. She took down two boxes and put them in her already full basket, she walked over to the line leading to the spot at the front of the store where students paid for their purchases.
"Just thought you could do with a bit of company is all!" Blaise hummed and Hermione looked around the store suspiciously.
"If Pansy put you up to this, you might as well leave now, I'm in no mood for childish games right now." Hermione warned him, thinking about her meeting with Draco – what if he was bored of waiting for her? She was beyond curious as to what he could possibly need to talk about.
"Well if it makes you feel better I'm here of my own accord." He bowed to her mockingly and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Fine." Hermione tapped her foot as the line moved forward a few steps.
"And Pansy's not as bad as she seems you know," he said, then off Hermione's look her decided to pledge his case "she acts that way to keep up airs, she's really just terribly misunderstood, parents and whatnot, you know how it is." He stated as if it were common for everyone at have messed up parents.
"It's not an excuse though." Hermione pointed out
"Guess not, but it's a fairly good reason for most people." She shrugged then turned as someone tapped her on the back. It was Luna and she was holding a letter in one hand and a light brown owl was perched upon her shoulder.
"A letter just arrived for you," Luna alerted and handed over the envelope "be careful though, there's a Gnorsnak attached." Luna nodded slowly then walked away, the owl still safely gripping her shoulder. Hermione tucked the letter into her robes and paid for her items. There was no address or reply address on the envelope so it was safe to assume it wasn't anything urgent. She decided she'd open it later; right now she needed to go and meet with Malfoy.
---
When she managed to make Blaise leave her alone and slip around the back of Honeydukes without being noticed she already had only half an hour before they all had to return to Hogwarts for the night. She found him sitting up in a tree, on the lowest, but thickest branch of the tree, just staring off into the distance. He also had a book and a roll of parchment on his lap, though he seemed to have forgotten about them.
"Hi." Hermione greeted him with a timid wave.
"Hey." He replied emotionlessly, Hermione deliberated for a moment before she carefully began climbing up the tree to sit with him. Her foot slipped though and she felt her knee graze the trunk of the tree, but Draco caught her arm before she could fall.
"Thanks." Hermione breathed once was safely sitting next to him, both their legs hanging lazily off the branch. Draco shrugged and glanced down at his nearly finished essay and began scrawling down his paragraph. He wasn't entirely sure why he'd asked her to come here today, somewhere in the back of his head though he remembered. He was going to apologize, though that notion had gotten lost when he'd spaced out before.
"Yesterday night…" he began and she glanced patiently at him, feeling somewhat frightened at being so high up. How she longed to have both her feet firmly planted back on the dusty ground.
"Yesterday night, I called you a Mudblood again." He recalled and she looked away remembering why she'd been so annoyed this morning.
"It's not like you haven't done that before." She reminded him bitterly.
"Yeah but this time I didn't mean to," He corrected her and she looked back at him, seeing the struggle in his eyes "I know you wouldn't tell anybody… I know that… but…" no matter how hard he searched he just couldn't find the right words.
"You don't have to force yourself, I understand what you're trying to say… and I accept." She smiled warmly at him and he looked at her in confusion.
"Accept?" he prompted her
"Your apology." She explained
"Oh." He said, meeting her kind eyes for a moment then turning away "well, good then." He nodded and went back to writing, Hermione looked over his shoulder as he wrote each word neatly and quickly.
"You spelled that wrong, the 'e' goes after the 'l' not before it." She pointed at his parchment and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Did I asked for help?" he asked sarcastically
"Do you want to fail?" she retorted then continued helping him with the essay. After a while she'd helped point out every little error she could spot and he'd put his parchment out of her view.
"We have to gather everyone now." Draco stated hearing a bell sound in the distance and then watched rather impatiently as Hermione carefully climbed down the tree again. He was surprised when she took a huge sigh of relief when her feet hit the ground. Surely the golden trio's heroin wasn't afraid of heights?
"See you later then?" Hermione checked that this weird, but friendly encounter hadn't just been a once-in-a-Muggle-blue-moon thing.
"I guess." Draco replied and they set off in opposite direction with their belonging to get the rest of the students and get back to Hogwarts.
I'm going to put a random disclaimer at the end here – I don't own, I am not J.K Rowling and if I were I would own an island somewhere with Irish dancing panda's who would serve me margaritas. Because you know, what else would you do with that much money? If anyone would like to help me think of things to do with that much money I encourage you to! I'd love to hear some random ideas! Review! Review and let me know how you liked this chapter!
P.S – don't worry about the metaphor Panda's though, they have the good life, and they live like Panda kings!