Late-night Monopoly Meetings: Chapter Seven
'V' is for
just violet
Due to their impromptu Game of Favourites, last night's Monopoly meeting had lasted far longer than usual – much to Hermione's displeasure. She had to admit though, it'd been interesting. However, the lack of sleep had put her in a sullen mood and that morning at the table, all she wanted to do was bury herself back in her comfortable bed. For a brief moment, she wondered if there was a spell that could make you sleep with your eyes open. "So, 'Mione," came Ron's voice, breaking into her thoughts. "I finished all my essays the other night," he declared proudly, obviously waiting for some form of congratulation.
"Good for you," she muttered half-heartedly, then seeing the disappointed look on Ron's face, she felt bad for him – and it really was quite an achievement – so she added, "no, really. That's great! I'm just a little tired, is all."
Ron grinned at her, before going back to tackle his food. Harry, on the other hand, continued the conversation. "Didn't sleep well?" he asked, with sympathy in his voice.
Hermione hesitated before answering. ".. yeah. I slept awfully late," she told him, stifling a yawn.
"I can see that," he replied, raising an eyebrow at her, and soon returned to the usual topics of conversation, while she struggled to stay awake.
The distinct sound of metal against glass chimed throughout the hall, and the steady hum of voices grew to a stop. Ron hastily lowered the two pieces of bacon he had enchanted to fight each other, and Hermione just rolled her eyes in response. He later called this the Brutal Battle of the Bacon, but that's another story.
"As most of you well know, your examinations are just around the corner. For those of you who did not know, I suggest you get yourselves Remembralls. We have been reminding you every other day about this," Dumbledore said, chuckling. At this, a few Slytherins snickered, and Neville's face turned a bright red. "No doubt most of you will be studying your time away in the coming weeks," he continued, "and we will see a lot of tired and worn out faces, much like my own." Light laughter erupted in the hall, and was silenced once again by their Headmaster as he cleared his throat. "And so, I have decided to introduce a new class to Hogwarts –," curious mumbling immediately rose from the students, and Hermione's interest was piqued. Draco, on the other hand, groaned and rolled his eyes. They hardly needed another sodding subject to study for.
"I do believe that this particular subject will help all of you to relax, learn more about the Muggle world, and have a little bit of fun." Get on with it! Hermione felt like screaming. One of the slightly annoying things about their Headmaster was that he tended to drag out suspense for a little too long and loved being dramatic. "This class will start with the seventh-years, and if it works out, introduced to the fifth and sixth years," cries of protest were heard from the younger students, and older ones grinned smugly. "This class!" Dumbledore shouted above the noise, and everyone quietened down, "Will be known as 'Monopoly'."
Hermione's jaw dropped (not literally, of course). Draco choked on the water he'd been drinking to appear like he didn't care (literally, of course). There was silence.
Said silence was suddenly broken when Muggles, or those who had come in contact with them, started talking excitedly, trying to let as many people as possible know that they knew what Monopoly was. Hermione was one of these people. "I told you it was a good game!" she declared in triumph, all lethargy gone, "I told you!"
"Yes, yes, 'Mione. Of course you did," Ron grumbled, and Harry grunted in agreement. They'd already tried and failed at the game, but had never thought that they'd have to think of it ever again.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Slytherins had got word that it was a – what? – Muggle game? They sneered at the idea of playing something like it, and most were already going around declaring their hatred for the game they did not know. "Do you know what it is, Draco? Because I sure as hell don't," Blaise sneered in contempt. Of course, all of them were secretly curious.
"I've no idea what the sodding fool is –," Draco started.
"It has also come to my attention that Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger are knowledgeable with the game," Dumbledore said, "and so, I hope you look up to them in regards to this."
" – talking about.. blast." he trailed off, looking around shiftily at the eyes which were now all on him. It wouldn't be long until the muttering started, and Draco had no intention of sticking around to hear it. "Well!" he declared, standing up, "I wouldn't want to be late! Goodbye, my fellow house mates!" And with an overly-cheerful wave, he scurried out of the hall, stopping by the Gryffindor table to drag Hermione ("What the –?" "Shut up." "Okay.") with him. The rest of the school stared at them. Then the muttering started.
Once they were in a fairly secluded place, Draco dropped Hermione's wrist in a flash, while she attempted to yank her arm out of his grasp at the same time, which resulted in her falling backwards and landing on her bottom. She huffed angrily and waited for him to help her up, but when he was still looking up and down the corridor for anyone who might be coming, it became evident that the thought hadn't even occurred to him. "Git," she muttered, getting up and evening out her robes.
"Four-eyes," he shot back without thinking.
"Ruddy ferr –,"
"Why are we doing this?" he snapped.
"You're asking me?" she returned.
"Nevermind," he snorted, "that's not the problem here."
"There's a problem?" she sounded genuinely surprised, which only served to make Draco even more exasperated.
"Merlin, yes there's a problem! People are going to know I play Monopoly. With you."
".. not really. They won't know I play with you," she pointed out.
"Granger, we're the heads. We stay in the same dormitory. You're a mudblood. You love Monopoly. Suddenly, I know how to play, too. They're going to put it together faster than you can say 'flying hippogriffs'," he snapped.
"What's so bad about associating with me?" she bit back, then realised what she had said and waved off his incredulous look – though she was slightly stung by it, "Contrary to popular belief, I don't want to be associated with you, either."
"Which is why we have a problem," he said dryly.
"Remind me again what the problem is, Malfoy?" she asked, half just to be difficult, and half to aggravate him. She didn't mind as much as he did, and realised this, knowing she could abuse it.
"And I thought you were supposed to be smart," he muttered.
She smiled innocently.
"They are going to associate you with me."
"Ohh," she mused, as if hearing it for the first time.
"Grow up, Granger," he said, rolling his eyes.
Unfortunately, neither of them came up with any worthy ideas to solve this huge 'problem' (there'd been vehement denials, along with running away, then followed by hexing and/or enchanting the entire school, and that went all the way back to vehement denials) and soon breakfast was over, and they quickly made themselves scarce.
o
It did not help Hermione's mood that they had potions that day. After practically spending an entire day mulling over the previous test, she'd come to the conclusion that she had failed it. And she did not take failing well. The fact that Malfoy had tried to help her cheat – and she'd missed it – also contributed to this sour mood. The cauldron in front of her seemed to be laughing at her guilty face, which she was desperately trying to hide. She had tried to tell herself that she'd done nothing wrong, and that was the end of that, but it hadn't worked, and now she was stuck with the face Crookshanks often had on after Ron complained about Scabbers being missing. Bother.
It did not help even more when Snape swooped into the room (yes, he actually swooped – like a bat, if you must know) with a smirk on his face, and turned to the class. "Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy," he almost looked like he was about to burst due to his smugness, "Headmaster's office, please." Hermione paled in horror, and I'm quite sure Draco did, too, but thanks to his already-pale complexion, it didn't show as obviously. She gathered her books silently, under the eyes of the entire class, and left without even glancing back.
"Hey!" she heard him shout from behind her, and a few quick steps and he was soon walking next to her, "Wait up, Granger. Don't be in such a hurry."
"Don't try acting cool; I'm not in the mood for it. I'm sure you're just as terrified as I am," she said, frustrated at his silly antics.
"Merlin, Hermione Granger? Terrified? I wouldn't have thought it possible," he replied instead, earning a dirty look from her.
"Drop. It," she growled, and though she didn't get a response, he didn't say anything else. She walked on in satisfaction.
To their surprise, Dumbledore was talking to the gargoyle as they arrived and didn't seem to notice the pair. After hanging around for a minute or so, Hermione coughed loudly, while Draco rolled his eyes at her. "You could've just said hello," he hissed.
"That would've been rather rude," she replied, before the Headmaster turned to face them.
"Well, well!" he said delightedly, "To whom do I owe this pleasure?"
They exchanged glances. ".. you called us here," Hermione said, a frown of confusion on her face.
"And I cannot use pleasantries?" he asked, looking over his half-moon glasses (he was always looking over them. Makes you wonder what purpose they actually served), "No matter. Violet." He told this to the gargoyle, who turned and let them in, and they were soon in his office.
"Just violet?" asked Hermione curiously, "Not.. violet popsicles? Or something?"
"Just violet," Dumbledore confirmed, looking amused, "It is the last colour of the rainbow, and I quite like that thought, so for now it's just violet." Hermione just nodded, while Draco quirked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "Anyway, I presume you wish to know why you are here?" They nodded. "I'm sure you must have gleamed the gist of it this morning – and judging by your very dramatic exit, I suppose you weren't too happy about it," he continued. Hermione nodded meekly, while Draco was nodding with renowned vigour. "Too bad. I will not take back what I said," their faces fell, "But Ms Granger, I have been told you like teaching, so I hope you will at least enjoy this task."
"What is 'this task', specifically?" Hermione asked all business.
"Both of you will be the teachers of this new class," Dumbledore said, smiling.
Hermione's jaw dropped (again, not literally), and then formed into a beaming grin. "I can't wait!" she squealed without thinking, and turned to face Draco, who had a look which was a cross between amusement and horror plastered on his face. "Can you?" she asked him hopefully.
He paused for a moment, then relented and sighed.
"I suppose not."
an; SO. While editing this massive thing, I stupidly deleted my author's note. T.T I can hardly remember what was on it, so here's a brief version of it.
Thank you so much for supporting me up until this stage - for all the reviews, and favs, and alerts and whatevers.
Thanks will be up in a moment when my email isn't being as screwy. D:
Also, I was deciding between switching this genre from 'romance' to 'humor', and I've decided to go through with it. :3
