Chapter 7: The Bad Hair Day
Hermione dressed with trembling fingers; hardly comprehending what had just come to pass. She must be clinically insane.
Why else would she agree to try to trust Draco Malfoy?
Yes, clinical insanity was the only reasonable explanation.
She examined her reflection as she pulled on her cloak and frowned. Why did he have to be Head Boy? She wowed while trying to smooth down her hair which, of course, would not cooperate. And why the bloody hell couldn't she have agreeable hair? She fumed; unable to stop fiddling with it. She couldn't deal with this alone! She pulled and primped and tugged and battled with her untamable mane, but all it did was make her more annoyed.
"I NEED SOME HELP!" she finally burst; turning away from the mirror in disgust. Besides, just who was she trying to look good for anyway?
"Hermione!" Malfoy called from the Common Room. Oh God. She felt her heart clench in dread as she walked to the door and poked her head out; must her ability to trust him be tested so early?
"Yes?"
"Sorry to bother you," he came closer, only serving to make her more aware of her hair disaster, "But where did you put my shirt after you…uh…took it off last night?"
She tried, honestly she did. But try as she might Hermione could not refrain from giving into the temptation to roll her eyes and sigh exasperatedly. This was just so typical.
"Is this your idea of thanking me for saving your life last night Malfoy?"
He grinned, "Yes, you just didn't give me a chance to get to the thanking bit yet, it was going to come right after I reminded you about seeing me shirtless last night."
Her mouth hung open in shock. That actually sounded like…the truth.
"I hope your mouth is hanging open in awe of my attractiveness,"
She snapped back to attention, "No, in awe of your honesty,"
His look became serious, "You see, I'll make a believer of you yet Hermione Granger."
She shook her head playfully and laughed, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch Malfoy; now I'm off to breakfast. Oh, and if you plan on rearranging any more seating charts in our lessons today I highly suggest that you check with the professors first."
Now it was Draco's turn to roll his eyes, "Thanks Hermione," he smiled, "See you later,"
She was grinning uncontrollably as she headed out of the Common Room and she didn't know why. That wasn't so bad she mused, pausing absentmindedly in the doorway. She looked back towards their living quarters and saw him organizing his school things. He's quite methodical and neat for such a big headed prat she noted thoughtfully. He dropped a book suddenly and she had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing, and clumsy to boot! She delighted…
It was so unnerving seeing this other side of Draco Malfoy; this vulnerable and honest side…What had he said earlier? He'd make a believer of her yet? Hermione bit her lip in worry, "I'm afraid that you just might," she whispered, almost inaudibly, before slipping out the door.
Draco collapsed onto the couch after she left feeling more satisfied than he had in a long time. Hermione had been watching him. Secretly watching him. And even better, the whole time she was watching him she hadn't looked annoyed, angry, disgusted, or even exasperated.
No, the emotion he had seen on her face made him feel almost more hopeful than he dared;
Fear.
He had seen fear on Hermione Granger's face; the very same emotion that had coursed through his veins all those weeks ago when he first started to fall for her.
Draco reached into his pocket and fingered her necklace that he had been keeping since she threw it at him. Oh yes, he definitely planned on rearranging some seating charts today. Heck, he'd even take her advice and ask permission.
Hermione made it to the Great Hall and had been sitting at breakfast for almost twenty-three excruciating minutes. She had that terrible anxious feeling making her stomach seem unbearably tight and her nerves were beginning to wear on her friends. And on everything else around her.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed after she spilled her third glass of pumpkin juice, "What's going on with you?"
She tried to control her shaking hands as she flicked her wand again cleaning the mess. She fixed a wobbly smile on her face, "I'm just a little tired this morning Harry, that's all. No worries," she decided that she wasn't going to recount her dilemmas with Malfoy to Harry and Ron. They were private dilemmas, not to mention embarrassing dilemmas, and she was capable of keeping things hidden if need be.
"What's the Mal-Ferret done to you now?" Ron managed through a mouthful of sausage.
Damn, she cursed silently, was she that transparent? "Malfoy?" she questioned, doing her best to sound innocent, "Why would this have anything to do with Malfoy?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other incredulously and Hermione felt beads of perspiration form on her hairline. It wasn't unusual for her to have troubles with Malfoy! She wanted to scream. It wasn't like she was friends with him or anything! They were worst enemies! And worst enemies always ended up running into each other and making things horrible!
That's when Ron and Harry started laughing uproariously. Hermione felt monstrously relieved.
"Hermione are you kidding?" Harry laughed clutching his sides, "How could this not have anything to do with Malfoy?"
Her expression darkened, "It's not like I'm with him all the time or anything!" she imploded, "We just happen to live together and that's not my fault!"
Both Harry and Ron looked surprised, "Hermione," Ron began, "We're sorry, we didn't mean to offend you or anything-"
"Yeah well, you did! Suggesting that I'm in cohorts with him or something,"
Harry's expression was quizzical, "We didn't do anything of the sort, we just know that he's usually the cause of all your bad moods."
Hermione smashed down her utensils silencing the entire Gryffindor table; she was livid. The silence trickled through the entire Hall as she stood up unsettlingly slowly and towered above him,
"Well," her tone was sickly sweet, reminding him hauntingly of Umbridge, "It seems that the famous Harry Potter is finally mistaken about something, because today, the cause of my 'bad mood,' is not Malfoy. It's YOU."
She turned on her heel and stalked out of the Great Hall leaving all of her fellow students in complete shock. All but one, who felt that she knew distinctly just what was bothering Hermione Granger, and bravely followed her friend.
The confrontation quickly became that morning's juicy gossip and by the time that Draco entered five minutes later and sat down with his Slytherin house mates, it was all anybody was talking about.
"Yeah she completely told off Potter in front of everyone!" exclaimed Blaise Zabini gesticulating wildly, "Said that he was the cause of all her problems!" He noticed Draco beside him, "Draco!" he slapped him on the back, "My man! Well done mate, whatever you did really riled Granger up. She's gone completely AWAL!"
Draco felt instantly alarmed, "Wait, I don't understand. What happened to Hermione?"
Zabini looked flabbergasted, "Whoa, since when have you and the bookworm been on a first name basis?"
Draco just shook his head, annoyed; he did not have time for this, "Blaise," he grabbed him roughly by the collar, "Just cut the crap and tell me what happened,"
Blaise pushed him off and narrowed his already slit-like eyes at him, "Chill Malfoy," he said warily. Blaise looked down at his plate and started moving his sausage around, "Her and Potter just had a row is all," he looked up and smirked evilly, "My guess is that…it's a lovers quarrel." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Draco felt his pulse heighten with intense rage; a lovers quarrel?! Were Hermione and Potter lovers? He'd always had his money on Hermione and the Weasel, but Potter. It was unthinkable.
"And now where is she?" he snarled, feeling insanely jealous,
Blaise inspected his nails, "Beats me," he shrugged, "She just stomped out of her. But that lanky redheaded friend of hers followed her out; I think she's the Weasel's younger sister. Real dog if you ask me,"
But Draco was already tearing out of the Hall and exiting the massive doors. Ginny, that was the Weasel's sister's name. Hermione had told him all about her in the future; they were good friends.
Draco had to find her.
Blaise watched his old friend go with a glint in his eye and a chip on his shoulder. Something bad was happening to Draco, and he was going to stop it.
Hermione had fled to the place that she felt sure would be deserted at this hour; the Astronomy Tower. She was completely out of breath as she climbed the last flight of stairs. Her lungs burned and her legs ached, but she could hear someone following her and she would not to be caught. "It's no use whoever you are!" she choked out, "I'm not going to tell you anything! I'm fine!"
But her pursuer climbed on, gaining ground, "Well I'm not going to stop following you until you answer some of my questions!" a girl responded fiercely, "What has he done to you?"
Shit, Hermione realized, It was Ginny. "Not listening!" she called back hysterically as she burst out of the tower door and onto the outdoor landing.
She took in the fresh, cold air in gasps; filling her lungs to capacity with each intoxicating breath. Then she drew her wand, "Colloportus!" she yelled, safely locking the door behind her and finally feeling calm.
She walked over to the railing and spread her arms out on the stone, resting her cheek against the rough surface and breathing heavily, her breath fogging in the chilly air.
Oh boy, just what was she doing? Besides making a supreme mess of things…her hair dropped irritatingly into her eyes and she tried to blow it away. But it was no use; her disastrous hair wasn't going anywhere. If only she could just get her blasted mop to cooperate it would all be so much easier she sighed; gazing out across the lake. It was impossibly still and reflected the solid grey sky above it, which had clouded over.
"Oh!" Hermione cried as something unexpectedly dropped out of her cloak pocket. She pulled some gloves onto her numbing hands and bent down to inspect the relinquished object.
It was a hair barrette, the barrette that her grandparents had given her for her last birthday more than a year ago. She had forgotten all about it…
Could it be? she wondered disbelievingly, picking it up gingerly and squinting at it, that this little hair clip was the solution to her bad hair day?
She stood, held the barrette in her mouth, scooped up her hair, and clipped it back. She smiled with glee, the clasp made her hair feel so bouncy and fluid and wonderful! She flicked it back twice, once with each hand, and pranced around the landing.
She breathed in deep and silently marveled at the world, it was amazing how one seemingly insignificant change could forever and significantly change everything, how a tiny tweak with something forgotten, like a hairclip, could be a solution.
She stopped moving and frowned pensively.
How instead of wishing her dilemma with Malfoy would go away, which was impossible, she really could change her attitude towards him and make things much more bearable.
"ALOHAMORA!" voices screamed behind her and she whipped around to see the door fly open. It was Ginny and Malfoy.
"Gin! Malfoy!" she smiled, "You found me!"
Ginny did not look amused, "Yes, after you so cleverly charmed the door into locking I ran back down the stairs and luckily ran into Malfoy here who was also searching for you. He also, luckily, had a wand on him. In conclusion, this is my second time climbing these bloody stairs this morning and I haven't even gone to my Astronomy class yet!"
Hermione's mouth twitched as she tried to suppress a grin, "I'm sorry Ginny, I just really needed some alone time."
"And now I need some explanations."
"Yes, as do I," Malfoy finally piped in.
"But first let's go inside," said Ginny rubbing her arms, "It's freezing out here."
Hermione shuffled in after the other two feeling unpleasantly like a naughty primary school student who was now going to have to face the headmaster. The three of them sat down on the stairs and Malfoy looked at her oddly, she raised her eyebrows,
"What?"
He stroked his chin, "You look different,"
Ginny's attention was immediately drawn to Hermione,
"Yes," she agreed, scrutinizing her, "It's your hair. Did you do something to it?"
Hermione twirled a lock around her finger, "I just used a barrette,"
"It looks very nice," Malfoy said in an unmistakably husky voice.
Ginny looked like she was about to explode, "Oh my!" she cooed, "This is just sooo romantic!"
"No!" Hermione stood up, "You've got it all wrong. This is not romantic. Malfoy and I have just decided to be friends,"
He looked stunned, "We have?"
She turned to him and nodded, "Of course we have," then she tried to say softly so Ginny couldn't hear, "I agreed to trust you last night didn't I?"
"Actually, you said I needed to give you a chance to trust me," he answered in a low voice.
Meanwhile Ginny was edging her way closer; desperate to catch every word.
"Same difference isn't it? Plus, I'm saying we're friends now so it's settled."
His head dropped, "So I guess it's true then…you did have a lovers quarrel with Potter."
"WHAT!?" both Hermione and Ginny roared; openmouthed.
"This morning you had a row with him at breakfast, it's all anybody was talking about,"
Hermione's cheeks were scarlet, "Harry is not my lover," she sputtered, "And we did have a row…but it was about you!"
Draco leapt up and flashed her a devilishly handsome grin, "About me?"
"Yes," Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down looking heated, "He said that you were the reason for all of my bad moods."
"Well it is true isn't it?" Ginny chimed in defensively.
Hermione glared at her, "No. Contrary to popular belief my mood is not determined by nor does it depend on Draco Malfoy."
Draco snorted, "Oh dream on Hermione, of course I'm the dependent variable of your daily emotions," he sat down very closely beside her and she smacked him on the arm.
"But oh," she dropped her head in her hands, "I just feel so awful about shouting at Harry. He didn't deserve it."
"You were feeling guilty," Ginny said wisely, "And you took it out on him. Don't sweat it though; it happens to the best of us,"
Draco looked puzzled, "Guilty?"
Hermione shot up, what had Ginny done? "Would you look at the time?" she said loudly, "We had better be getting to lessons!"
He scratched his head, "Guilty?"
Ginny stood up too, "By Jove you're right Hermione, and we need to get moving straight away, c'mon Malfoy. Head Boy and Girl can't afford to be late!"
He looked at Hermione fervently, "Why would you feel guilty?"
Hermione looked at Ginny desperately and started to quickly descend the stairs, Ginny followed suit,
"What's that Malfoy?" Hermione called up, "I can't hear you!"
"Hurry up Malfoy! We don't want detention!"
He picked up his book bag and started racing down after them, "I asked you why you would feel guilty!"
"God the echoes in here are just atrocious," answered Hermione, "I can't seem to make out a thing you're saying!"
He moved faster, spiraling downwards, he was only one flight behind them now, "Don't you play dumb with me Hermione Granger!"
"What?" yelled Ginny, "Of course we don't think you're a stranger!"
"Argh!" he growled in frustration, taking the stairs two at a time,
"Ginny!" Hermione squealed to her friend, "He's gaining on us!"
"RUN!" Ginny yelled as they both started sprinting down the stairs.
But it was no use, because two flights later the much taller and much faster Draco Malfoy had caught up. He grabbed Hermione and pinned her to a wall, Ginny stopped and cried out in shock,
"Let her go!"
Hermione squirmed relentlessly under his grasp, but he was too strong, "Granger," he growled, "Tell me why you would feel guilty, before I have to start feeling guilty about doing something else."
Hermione gulped, "Ginny go! I can handle this!"
"Yes Ginny," Malfoy nodded still staring at Hermione, "Leave. This is between me and Hermione."
But Ginny stood her ground.
"Go!" Hermione pleaded hoarsely, "You have potions first, you can't be late!"
"But Hermione it's my fault, I shouldn't have said anything about-"
"Ginny! I forgive you! Now GO!"
Resentfully she hoisted her bag up on her shoulder and trotted the rest of the stairs down the tower. The other two didn't move until they heard the door shut behind Ginny at the bottom.
Draco had her hands held against the wall by her wrists and it was beginning to hurt, "Malfoy if you would so kindly release me, we are friends now you know,"
"Not until you tell me what I want to know."
"What does it even matter why I fought with Harry-"
"Why are you feeling guilty?"
She sighed feeling crestfallen and took a breath. She was going to have to come clean to him sometime, "Because agreeing to trust you makes me feel like a traitor alright? I feel like Harry and Ron and, hell, my whole bloody house will think I've betrayed them."
Draco looked hurt; he released her and sank down onto the steps. They were silent for a few moments and Hermione began pacing,
"I'm sorry Malfoy," she whined, "See this is why I didn't want to tell you before."
He stared up at her, "And yet you're still going to be my friend? Even though it makes you feel guilty?"
She looked away, "…Yes," she answered softly.
"Why?" he breathed.
She looked out of the narrow window in the wall, the cold breeze swaying her hair, "Because I've learned that even the smallest change can be the simple solution to a problem. I don't want to have problems with you Malfoy I just want to get along, besides there's already enough bickering in the World without our contribution."
He smiled, "So we're friends then?"
She nodded and smacked her lips together, "Yep. We're friends."
Malfoy got a naughty gleam in his eye, "I feel like we need to do this properly, you know seal the deal somehow."
"Well," said Hermione clapping her hands together, "What do you suggest?"
He paused and pulled a thoughtful expression,
"Seal it with a kiss,"
Hermione looked severely startled, but he continued on suavely, "I believe it can also be referred to as paying a tax,"
"Uh-I", she was blushing and stammering furiously, "I-uh I def-definitely do not think that-err-that is a good idea nor-erm-would it be-ahm-uh appropriate under any uh circumstances-"
"Oh come on!" he boomed jovially standing up, "What's the odd kiss between two good friends?"
Hermione stared at him nonplussed. Would she really dare? His grey-blue eyes seemed to light up, did other girl and boy friends really exchange kisses?
Oh she felt so unsure, and he was ever moving forebodingly forward,
"Do you promise it's just a one time uh tax?" she whispered shakily as he slid his arms around her waist, "Just to um…seal the deal?"
"Hermione," his voice sounded all around her. His hands were in her hair, running unnervingly up and down her back, his body was pressed up impossibly close to hers, and his eyes were all she could see. She couldn't fight it if she'd tried,
"You could never expect me to promise such a thing,"
His lips softly met hers and she felt her eyes flutter closed and her body become languid. The kiss was teasingly slow and gentle and she felt herself grow hungry for more. His lips seemed to be telling her the most delicious and tantalizing secrets that she devoured and filled herself up with until she was glowing like a light bulb.
The sockets connected and sparked, the chorus sang in perfect tune, the bells rang out in melodic harmony; she had never been kissed like this before.
And then it was over, just as quickly as it began. She opened her eyes and prayed that her trembling legs wouldn't let her fall.
Draco was grinning from ear to ear, "Well," he said breathily, "I think it really is high time that we got to class now that we've made it official friend." He shouldered his bag and started plodding down the stairs, "Oh," he turned around, "And I also think that it's time you started calling me Draco."