Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Note: Haha, hmm I think this is a duller chapter. I'm going to introduce a change in Hermione's attitude. Yay! Lol and Snape is still teaching btw. Not much to say, but oh well, I don't think half of you even read this part, ahaha, but do you think there should be an autumn formal?
Special Thanks:to Dream-Like-State, kleipoppetje, lauredilian, Bethany, and PyroAngel8605 for being the first 5 review this chapter.
Well, hope you like this chapter, Please read and review. Enjoy.
As promised, weekly updates, lol and i had just got the 7 reviews needed as well.
Don't Tell Me What I Am
RECAP: The train ride back to Hogwarts had certainly been enlightening for Ginny and Hermione, Harry and Ron seemed to be missing for some odd reason, but with the small voice at the back of their heads incessantly chanting about Malfoy and Zabini, they were starting to doubt themselves as well. But, of course, they pushed that ALL the way to the back of their minds.
6. To Be or Not to Be
Lying on her four poster bed with the curtains drawn, Hermione stared at the roof of her canopy thinking about the long day. The feast had gone quite well, she thought. About as well as it could go without Dumbledore, she added bitterly. Turning on to her side, Hermione savored the peace and quiet of her dorm, rolling her eyes, she thought it couldn't last long since Lavendar and Parvati were bound to come upstairs soon once they finished seeing everyone in the common room.
She sighed when she heard footsteps, and here they come, she thought. But to her surprise, there was no giggling or whispers or squeals. In fact, the footsteps were hesitant and soft.
She heard a timid voice call out, "Mione?" and sat up, pulling the curtains aside to recognize Ginny's familiar figure.
She patted her bed as an invitation for Ginny to sit because the younger girl obviously needed to talk. Giving a small smile, Ginny got and the bed and hugged a pillow to her chest while crossing her legs.
Hermione waited patiently for her to say something, and she didn't have to wait long before Ginny finally heaved a heavy sigh and turned to Hermione.
"Mione…" she started, "I'm so confused.."
Confused, Hermione nodded for her to continue.
"It's that bloody player, Zabini.." she said kind of.. ashamed?
Eyes widening slightly, Hermione understood and put a consoling hand on Ginny's shoulders. She didn't know what to say to this and was confused if she should say anything at all.
"You're fifteen Gin, a teenager, a hormonal teenager at that," she started awkwardly and pausing once she saw Ginny's embarrassed face blushing.
"It's understandable to think certain.. thoughts per say, and since Merlin was so unfair to give those slimeballs certain… appearances, it's just a stage.." Hermione said kind of doubtfully.
"After all, Zabini's still a jerk, right?" At this, Ginny brightened up and looked more confident.
She looked relieve and exclaimed, "Thank you, Mione. Of course, why didn't I think of that? I was just having an off day, nothing special."
Then she burst into laughter, most likely cracking up at what she had just been thinking a few minutes ago. The idea of her thoughts on Zabini was now pushed to the back of her head and she smiled before calming down.
"It's just the rebellious side of me coming out, Mione. I get it, after Harry and the war, it would only make sense for me to tell myself to take interest in a Slytherin," pausing to laugh, she pretended to gag before adding, "even if that Slytherin happened to be the infamous arsehole…"
Laughing humorously alongside Ginny, Hermione felt herself loosen up as the girls talked casually about light topics.
Something didn't feel right when Hermione woke up the next morning. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but then she sat up on saw Ginny asleep next to her. Ginny. The two had stayed up until almost 2 in the morning talking.
She must have been too tired to go the fifth year dorms, Hermione thought. Yawning and stretching out her arms, Hermione moved to get out of bed and mentally made the decision to freshen before waking Ginny up.
As she got up, she noticed the unusually bright rays of sunlight peeping through the window curtains. Tossing them aside, the sudden shaft of light caused her to squint and look away. It's awfully sunny this morning, Hermione thought before glancing at the clock to see how much time she had left.
Doing a double take, she frantically glanced at the clock again. This couldn't be right. It read 9: 47 am! That meant classes started well over 45 minutes ago! They must have overslept! Rushing over to the bed, she frantically shook Ginny up.
"Wake up Gin!" she nearly yelled, "We're late for class!"
Not checking to see if Ginny got up, she ran to the bathroom in a frenzy to get dressed and wash up. Quickly running a comb through her hair, she hurriedly brushed her teeth before grabbing her school robes and messily changing into them.
Coming out of the bathroom, into the dorm again, she saw Ginny jumping around, putting on her Hogwarts uniform before she brushed past Hermione and rushing into the bathroom, muttering a quick apology.
My books! Where are my books?! Hermione looked around in panicking. Argh! They must still be in my trunk! I forgot to unpack last night! First day of classes too, way to go Mione! She thought all the while throwing things out of her trunk in a hurry. She didn't care that her clothes were presently flying around the room or that she would later have to reorganize everything.
"Mione! Where's my bookbag!?" Ginny yelled frantically.
"Check your dorm!" she yelled back before dumping her books into her own knapsack and putting on her socks and messily tying her shoes. When she was finished, she ran downstairs and yelled for Ginny to hurry up.
When Ginny ran down the stairs, Hermione glanced at the grandfather clock in the common room and saw that it was 4 minutes to 10. Groaning, she thought, great, now we're almost an hour late, and I have potions too.. Oh no! I HAVE POTIONS! Well, hopefully Snape won't mind that I'm only there for the last half hour. Hah! Who cares a bloody hell what he thinks!
The two girls sprinted through the hallways and parted ways on the 2nd corridor before the Great Hall. Hermione was running towards the dungeons, while Ginny was making her way to the Entrance Hall so she could reach the Greenhouses for Herbology.
Saying a quick farewell to Ginny, Hermione continued dashing down to the Potions room. Slowing to a fast paced walk once she reached the dungeons, she nearly cursed out loud when she saw an unmistakable platinum blonde head, resisting the urge to swear, she opted to groan.
Why now? Why today? Why ever? Why me? She thought. On hearing her groan, Malfoy snapped his head around. Seeing who it was, he smirked at her.
"Look what we have here," he taunted, "is the mudblood skiving off classes now?"
"Shut up Malfoy, move!" she ordered.
Why do I even try? She thought, before deliberately shoving roughly passed him. If only life were so easy though. Bluntly put, she failed to get past him. Instead she manage to provoke him and she saw anger rising in his eyes before he glared at her.
"I will not be pushed around by the likes of a filthy mudblood like you," he said icily before sneering at her. Probably trying to be intimidating, she thought. Hah, as if.
Taking a deep breath, she chose to ignore him. Irritated now, she looked at him carefully, hoping to show him that she was not to be messed with either.
"I. said. Move. Malfoy." She said in a strained calm voice, trying to keep her own anger in tact.
"What. If. I. don't. want. To. Granger." He mocked her snidely.
Once again attempting to go around him, he just had to be difficult, she tried pushing him and that in turn, earned her a menacing glare that was quite unnerving. Hermione forgot that her hands were still on his arm (from trying to push him) until he grabbed her wrists, quite painfully, she might add.
"Don't. ever. Touch. Me. Again. Got it?" Malfoy grounded out coldly.
Determined not to show that he was hurting her, she tried to snatch her wrist out of his grasp. He roughly let go of one hand and she involuntary flinched and subconsciously rubbed her wrist.
"Let go, Malfoy," Hermione said, in a forced voice. She was getting more and more ticked off by the second and clenched her free hand into a fist.
As he continued glaring at her, she lifted her fist slowly, hoping he didn't see, before suddenly swinging back and ready to give him a repeat of third year. To her surprise, however, he swiftly caught it and his eyes hardened.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said coolly, but his eyes remained unchanged.
"You're not in a position to be making assaults here, Granger." He then added. And as if to emphasize his point, he proceeded to twist her fist slightly, and despite her attempts to bite her lip and not show him vulnerability, she unwillingly let out a small whimper.
Thinking he would smirk and taunt mercilessly at her 'weakness,' she moved to looked defiantly at him, but in turn, was surprised to see his eyes soften a little before becoming impassive. His grip loosened vaguely as well. Throwing her hand down, he pushed past her in a rough manner.
She couldn't help but sigh in relief. Then she remembered where she was. And cursed underneath her breathe. Sodding bigoted idiot, Snape is going to kill me. Argh!
"Of course, little miss know-it-all, would hate to miss a class," she heard Malfoy say behind her. Glancing at her watch, she saw that there was still 15 minutes left, bloody ferret, she thought, held me up for 20 minutes.
"Look who's talking, you're late as well. Shouldn't you be getting to class as well?" Hermione whipped around and bit back.
Malfoy smirked and carelessly answered, "I'm not a mudblood bookworm like you, Granger, I. don't. care."
Glaring, Hermione was about to retort when he added another statement.
"Speaking of which, why should you of all people care whether I get to class?" She looked up to see that he was smirking even wider than before.
"I-I don't" She stammered. He's right. Why should I care? And why the sodding hell am I stuttering?
"Sure, Granger, keep telling yourself that," he gave a last smirk and a raised brow before turning and sauntering off.
Rushing to the potions classroom, Hermione tried to sneak in unnoticed and couldn't help but curse Ginny for getting lucky and having Herbology. That class was always noisy, she wouldn't be noticed. Snape, on the other hand…
"You're late Miss Granger, that would be 20 points from Gryffindor. And 10 more points since you're supposed to be setting an example as a prefect." Snape immediately rounded on her.
So much for sneaking in unnoticed, she thought gloomily. Walking briskly to an empty seat that Harry and Ron had saved for her, Hermione inaudibly sighed before taking out her belongings.
Once Snape's back was turned, Harry whispered to her, "Where were you?"
Sneaking a glance to make sure his back was still turned, she hurriedly whispered back, "I stayed up and forgot to set my alarm, I oversl—"
"Talking in class now, Miss Granger?"
Drat, she thought. Today is just my day. She mumbled a quick apology and stared at her notes. However, she heard Harry sit up beside her and inwardly groan, before turning to warn him not to say anythi—
"But she didn't do anything, professor." She heard Harry ground out coldly. Sighing, Hermione thought, too late.
"Questioning my authority now, are we Potter?" Snape sneered back at him. "That will be 5 more points from Gryffindor."
"What?! That's not fair though!" Ron exclaimed indignantly. Staring at the ceiling, Hermione slipped in her seat and wanted this all to be over.
"Talking back to the teacher, you three really are troublemakers, never learn do you?" He smirked coldly.
"That will be another 5 points, and to think that two of you are prefects, make that another 10 points, Mr. Weasley since you are supposed to be setting an example."
The Gryffindors in the class groaned loudly, while the Slytherins looked triumphantly at them. Hermione mentally sighed and grabbed Ron's arm warningly, this wasn't going to end well, something was going to happen for this…
"Complaining? That will be yet another 5 points from Gryffindor and more if you don't all stop."
And there it goes, Hermione thought. Immediately, the Gryffindors quieted down. Feeling bad, she couldn't help but think that it was her fault that they had just lost 55 points, and in ONE class too... Hopefully, they won't be in the negatives... If that wasn't enough, the Slytherins GAINED points for being "quiet and mature" while others were causing ruckus, how unfair is that?!
Seeing Zabini saunter in, she couldn't help but get pissed when she saw that he didn't get points docked off… However, on seeing his peeved, ticked off, and slightly murderous expression, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little better that at least someone's day hadn't gone well either. Especially if it was Zabini.
Ginny felt the adrenaline coursing though her veins as she ran down the corridor. Thank Merlin she had Herbology first thing! Poor Hermione, she had Potions. Passing the Great Hall and nearing the Entrance Hall, Ginny stopped to walk to get a breather, she could get there on time but she really didn't want to run again...
There was only half an hour or less left, and they never learned anything new in Herbology first day back. She might as well take the rest of the time to try to get to Care of Magical Creatures on time.
Opting to do this, she checked her watch and saw that she had 25 minutes to get to Hagrid's. Relieved, she felt a little guilty for skipping class, but slowed to a soothing pace. And of course, the peaceful atmosphere couldn't last.
Up ahead, heading in with his hair ruffled as if it had been in the wind, which it probably had, considering that he was heading from the direction of the Entrance Hall. Yes, it was the one and only Zabini.
He didn't seem to have noticed her yet… maybe, just maybe if she walked against the wall REAL quietly, she could just pas—
"Merlin, Weasley, what happened to you this morning?" he said, making a show of looking her up and down with a grimace.
Sighing, Ginny wanted to glare at fate for being so unfair, it was just TOO much to ask for…
"You look like you got stampeded by a herd of hippogriffs or something," he said chuckling, before adding, "and here I thought you could look no worse."
If Zabini didn't shut up, she was seriously going to hex him…
"Look who's talking, Zabini," she said frostily with a glare.
Completely disregarding her statement, which ticked Ginny off, he continued to give his oh so pleasant opinion on her.
"It's been over an hour since classes started, Weaselette, did you notice how hideous you looked and got too scared to even show your face in class?" Zabini mocked.
Feeling her temper start to act up, she gritted her teeth and snapped, "For your information, Zabini, next class doesn't start for another 15 to 20 minutes."
Zabini was clearly surprised and slightly impressed by this answer and raised an eyebrow as if to clarify.
"I overslept okay? Is that such a crime now?! It's not like we're learning anything new in Herbology, might as not be late to Hagrid's, okay? I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In fact, you shouldn't be talking, I don't exactly see YOU in class either, now do I?!"
It felt good to get that bit of pent up anger out, but now Ginny was quite embarrassed, Zabini was only asking a question… wait, what the bloody hell, why should I care anyways? Hmph
"Whoa there, Weasley, calm down.. I don't need a lunatic madwoman on my back now." He said coolly with a faint taunting edge to it.
"ARGH! What is your problem Zabini?!" Ginny was not having a good day and this was most definitely not helping.
"What stick got stuck up your arse this morning, Weaselette?" he answered, losing his cool a little as well.
"Can you leave me alone for once?!" She grounded out, clearly aggravated.
"Merlin, Weasley, will you SHUT UP for once?!" Zabini finally snapped, "NO ONE wants to listen to your trap all day, I was trying to be civil, but if you can't take that, fine, you've ruined my good mood from flying, are you satisfied Weasley?!"
Not feeling guilty in the least, Ginny instead felt an extreme surge of anger. How dare he talk to her like that, she didn't do anything wrong, she had been trying to ignore him at first, he started this whole thing, not her.
"ME? Look who's talking Zabini! I was the one trying to ignore you, and YES I'M VERY SATISFIED, you're just a nosy PRICK who won't mind his own bloody business! All you do is talk about MY family and pick on MY status, but you NEVER check yourself, do you?! That's right, what are YOU left with huh? Nothing. Thought so! Not with your Death Eater father in bloody AZKABAN, so I WOULDN'T BE TALKING!" Ginny yelled at the end of her tirade, not thinking that just maybe, she may have crossed the line.
Throughout her outburst, she watched Zabini's face slowly crowd up in anger and no more then a split second after she finished, she felt herself slammed against the wall with a VERY angry Zabini glaring fiercely and menacingly down at her. A small part of Ginny was afraid, very afraid, but she pushed that aside and was determine not to show fear.
Instead, she growled and said as coldly as she could, "Let. Go. Of. Me. You're no different than him or any of the—"
She felt her back get pushed even more intensely into the wall and met Zabini's glare.
"Don't you ever talk about my family or about things you don't understand, got it?" he hissed.
Narrowing her eyes, she hissed right back at him with tears prickling at her eyes, though she had no idea why, "You have the audacity to talk about me, when you know it's perfectly true, you dare show up at Hogwarts again, after the war…"
She trailed off as he said threateningly, "Don't you dare, Weasley."
Ginny saw the rage burning in his eyes and his expression a murderous one, she had no idea how she had the courage to do all of this while knowing this. Her eyes widened before turning into a glare when she saw him raise a clench fist, as if barely restraining himself from hitting her.
"Go on, hit me, I dare you, Zabini," she taunted in a low voice, once again, no idea where the boldness came from, "You'll be no better than them locked up in Azkaban."
Not thinking it possible, she saw the anger in his eyes tenfold, but Ginny knew that he knew she had a point. He glared so coldly at her, that it was then, that Ginny began to feel regret for her words.
"I—" she started, but he glared daggers at her once again before loosening his grip and grinding out his reply.
"Save it Weasley. Get the bloody hell away from me." He hissed before shoving her roughly and sending her a good 3, 4 meters down the corridor causing her to stagger.
Ginny looked up at him after she recovered and saw that he punched the wall so hardly with all the anger in him, that a sickening crunch reverberated off the walls. Seeing Zabini put his forehead to the wall and breathing ragged, enraged breaths, guilt began to build and settle in the pit of her stomach.
He was right, he was only trying to make civil conversation, she had taken it too far. Sullenly making her way to Care of Magical Creatures, it was a few minutes and she observed that people were starting to leave their first classes.
As both Hermione and Ginny headed to their second classes, they simultaneously thought, This day cannot get any worse.
A/N: So, a slightly longer chapter, what do you think? I slowed down Ginny and Blaise, I said from the start it would be natural, lol, but I still think that the run-ins are a bit coincidental, but hey, you guys are the reviewers and obviously want some action. XD Please review with thoughts and suggestions. Thank you, hope you enjoyed.