"Wake up," Lavender grumbled, smacking me over the head with a pillow. "Rise and shine, Beauty Queen."
I snorted out of my restful slumber but yanked the sheets higher over my head to protect my eyes from the assault of the morning sunlight. "I am not," I informed Lavender, "getting out of bed. There is no way you can make me."
"I have a cookie."
"Wha?" I sat up in my four-poster with eager eyes. "Where?"
"There's no cookie. You ditz. You're so gullible."
"You meanie. You're so evil." I sighed and pulled the sheets off my body. As long as I was up, I might as well get ready for the day. "What made you do that, anyway?" I grumbled under my breath, sliding my feet into slippers and trudging across the room to the mirror. "I would have gotten up myself."
"I figured the mention of a sugary food would enthuse you to get up quicker. There's things to do, people to flirt with. We haven't got all day."
Rolling my eyes, I checked my reflection in the mirror. Hm. Pretty. I still hadn't quite gotten used to it. My hair, which pre-makeover had looked like a tumbleweed in the mornings, now looked almost as though I just gone to an expensive salon. There was no frizz in sight. Also, there weren't any bags under my eyes like usual. My raccoon days were over, halleluiah.
I pulled on a skirt and yanked a shirt over my head. With my new look, just about anything looked designer on me, so it wasn't particularly hard to choose outfits anymore. I pulled a pair of socks over my protesting toes and slipped my feet into shoes. New Hermione Granger was ready to take on the world.
Lavender was already dressed and waiting for me at the door. She looked as immaculate as always, her skirt smooth and wrinkle-free, her hair tamed into a silky, shining French Braid. "Ready to eat?" she asked, opening the door. "Parvati and everyone else are down there already."
I nodded and followed her out the door. The Common Room was sparsely populated. Most everyone was down at breakfast except for a few third years playing Wizard's Chess. We climbed out of the portrait hole and started walking down the corridor. A tall fourth year smiled at us as we approached him. "Hi Lavender," he said pleasantly. "And hi… gorgeous. I'm sorry, but I don't know your name."
"Hermione," I said, patting his shoulder as I walked by. "Not 'gorgeous', I'm afraid." He stumbled slightly and I smiled.
Lavender winked and linked arms with me as we continued on our way. "Now that," she said once we were out of earshot, "is how to get a guy. Cute comment, small physical touch. Keeps him interested. I must say, you're improving."
I flashed her a quick grin. "I'm actually living up to your standards? Wow, this must be a first."
"Never thought I'd see the day," she grumbled good-naturedly. "Come on, we have to keep up our pace. Breakfast isn't going to wait for us."
"Okay."
We walked to the Great Hall and were met with the delicious morning aroma of toast and eggs. The House Tables were almost completely full, but we found a spot next to Neville and Ron, who were animatedly discussing various brooms.
"No mate, I'm telling you, the Firebolt's the best in the business."
"Oh come on, Neville, don't be foolish. There's a new model that'll knock it right out of the Quidditch pitch."
"No way!"
"It's true, Longbottom. I heard rumors about it in class the other day. It's supposed to be called the Firestreak. Catchy, huh? I heard it can go from 0 to 60 in a quarter of a second."
"What?"
Lavender and I smiled at each other and sat down. "Hello boys," she said airily.
"Wha – oh, hi Lav," Ron said. "Hey Hermione." A faint blush was creeping up his cheeks. It was stark red in contrast to his pale skin. "Just, eh, just talking with Neville," he said amiably. "What're you two doing?"
"Eating breakfast," Lavender said rather dryly.
"Right," Ron amended quickly. "Of course you are."
Poor Neville, though he did not attempt conversation, just smiled at us apologetically, as if trying to express his sympathy over Ron's sudden and unusual bashfulness.
I grabbed a piece of toast from the platter in the center of the table. It was perfectly crisped, not black around the edges like I was used to back home. Hogwarts food was magical indeed, if not a bit heavy on the stomach. I took a thoughtful bite. "So Ron," I said, munching quietly. "I was under the assumption that you and Harry had Quidditch practice today. Has it been cancelled?"
The resident blush faded from Ron's cheeks, only to be slowly replaced with a sallow, sickly pale. He looked extremely aghast. "Oh no," he mumbled. "Harry's gonna kill me." He rose abruptly from the table, gathering his belongings in a single sweep. He hefted his bookbag over his shoulder with a somewhat panicked expression. "Gotta get to the Quidditch pitch. Fourth time I'm late for practice this week, this is not good, not at all, Harry's going to murder me, he is…" He nodded his head in a distracted goodbye and sprinted away, leaving me, Neville, and Lavender in a bit of an awkward silence.
Lavender drummed her fingers on the table. Neville seemed to take the hint. "I'll – I'll just be going, then," he said, much to our relief. "Things to do. Professor Sprout needs my help in the greenhouse this morning, so I'll be off." We both waved as he walked away, breathing out identical sighs.
"Thought they would never leave," said Lavender, rolling her eyes. "We need to get to work." She analyzed me quickly. "Anything specific you want to brush up on today?"
"I believe it's more of your department to decide my flirtatious aptitudes," I said loftily, examining my nails. "Though I do think – "
"Shh!" Lavender grabbed my arm in an excited frenzy. I lost my train of thought.
"What?"
She looked like she was about to burst off the edge of her seat, propel through the ceiling, and explode into a massive fireworks show. "Merlin, Lav, what is it?"
"Don't look," she muttered under her breath, clutching my arm in a steely, unshakable grasp, "but King Slytherin has just entered the building."
I sneaked a glance anyways, much to Lavender's extreme frustration.
True enough, the Prince of Darkness glided in with a gust of cold wind. Everything in the room seemed to freeze over, as if his cold heart had a hardening, frigid effect. Nah, just kidding. Malfoy didn't have ice powers. But still. I couldn't help but suppress a shiver as his eyes trained across the room, searching for something. I stayed in my seat, fighting to remain seated, fighting to curb the unexplainable urge I had to jump up and stare him in the face and scream I'm here! It's me, Hermione, right over here!
I bit my lip, but I couldn't tear my gaze away. This was Malfoy, the ultimate prize, the decider of my fate, the pawn of our bet. His eyes kept tearing up the room, looking, a longing look on his face, searching for something. Was it… could it be… me? In that instant, I realized I was right. He was looking for me. Not Crabbe, not Goyle, not even stupid Parkinson. Me. So I raised my quivering hand, trying not to look like a dunce, and waved in his direction.
Almost immediately, his eyes were drawn to me. Lavender cursed under her breath, but I ignored her, and held his gaze. He looked surprised, but not exceedingly so. There was intuition in his features that I had never seen there before, and the look he gave me was one of an equal, a challenger, not one about to back down. Of everyone, he seemed least immune to my newfound beauty. Those shapely lips (why had I never noticed they were shapely before?) mouthed three words.
"Game on, Granger."
And I smiled.
It was indeed on.
a/n: Hullo ya'll. Sorry for the wait again. New chapter will be up soon, but I need ideas. How should the game play out? Does Hermione make the first move, or does Draco beat her to it, resisting her attempts at charm? Will he cave in, a target of her seduction, or will he take it in stride and just ignore it all? Should Hermione do something drastic to gain his love? That's my personal opinion, but I'd love to hear yours.
Love potion, flirtatious bewitchment, potions, spells, flaunting, teasing... it's all up to you. Send some ideas my way, hm?
An Abundance of Kisses,
Sianatra;)