"Draco Malfoy's Guide of Seduction"
Author's Note : Man, I am so loving all the awesome reviews! You guys are awesome! And because you're awesome I'm not gonna make you wait. ONWARD!
Chapter seven : Day Six, Steps Seven and Eight
The next morning, Hermione woke up feeling unusually happy. She had most of her friends back and she had her...Draco. "Everything's back to normal," she mumbled to herself. "Er...actually it's not even close to normal. It would be normal if I was still friends with Ron and not Draco. Er...anyway...I think I like this normal better..." She smiled to herself and got ready for the day.
"'Mione!" called Ginny from the common room. "Will you hurry up already? We're hungry!"
"I'll be down in a minute!" she yelled back. "I just wanna test something..." she added in a whisper.
"Alright...I'm happy now...so let's see..." She walked into the bathroom and got out her razor. "Here goes..."
She looked at the blade and thought, 'Uh-oh...' The urge was still there. 'I can't believe this! I'm happy now! I'm not supposed to want to anymore. ...right? That's how this works, isn't it? Oh...I don't know. Maybe I'll always want to...a little. No matter how happy I am. But that doesn't make any sense...'
And before she could do something she'd regret, she threw down the razor and walked downstairs to meet up with her friends and go to breakfast.
'Alright now,' Draco thought, walking into the Great Hall. 'You've made sure she's safe, now it's back to the bet. Because you do NOT care about her. All you care about is winning this bet, okay? That is all. Now get in there and perform step seven. Now. Move your feet. Why are you acting so nervous?You're going to win the bet and that's all that matters. Right? RIGHT!' He reached into his pocket to make sure "step seven" was there and then walked in.
"Goodmorning, beautiful," he said sitting down by Hermione. "Morning Potter...Lady Weasel."
"Goodmorning," said Hermione and Harry, while Ginny said, "Lady Weasel...I like it."
"Er...Hermione...I uh...got you something," Draco said, taking a small box out of his pocket.
She took the box and said, "What is this?"
"Open it."
She slowly lifted the lid to reveal, what was in her opinion, the most beautiful necklace she'd ever seen. "Oh my..."
"Here, let me put it on you," Draco said, taking it out of the box. Hermione turned so she was facing away from Draco and he place it around her neck.
"Wow," said Ginny, ruining the moment. "Malfoy's got moves..."
"Easy," Harry said. "You're my girlfriend, remember? And Malfoy's a prat."
"Harry! Apologize to Draco!" Hermione yelled.
Harry saw the look on her face and hastily said, "Sorry Malfoy."
'Focus, Draco! Think of the bet! Time for step eight. Be nice...'
"Listen, Potter, I know we hate each other...and...er...under normal circumstances, I would never dream of changing that. But...these," he glanced at Hermione. "...are clearly not normal circumstances. So...er...I was wondering if maybe we could...y'know...not hate each other. I'm not saying I want to be mates or anything. 'Cause I don't. I just mean...could we...I don't know, be civil, or something? For Hermione?"
"Oh, Draco, that's so nice!" Hermione squealed, flinging her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek causing him to blush.
"Er...Harry, I think he's waiting on an answer," Ginny prompted.
"Right...er...alright. I guess I can handle that."
Hermione and Ginny both squealed and started clapping. Then Ginny said, "Oh, by the way, I'll be nice to you too...Draco."
"Fantastic," he said. "Now, my love, shall we go to class?"
"We shall," Hermione said.
And the two of them left the Great Hall hand in hand, leaving Ginny to aww and Harry to roll his eyes.
"We should probably go to class too," Harry said.
"Right, see you later," Ginny said, skipping away.
Harry laughed and followed after her.
'Alright, Draco, what have you gotten yourself into?' Draco thought as he walked to class with Hermione. 'This was just supposed to be a bet. Look at how she affects you! Seriously! Are you falling for her? You need to add a chapter to that book...side affects of seduction. UGH! What are you gonna do? You can't fall for her! You CAN'T!'
"Draco...are you alright? You look...spazzy," Hermione said as they sat down in class.
Draco's mental tirade stopped abruptly at the sound of her voice and he said, "I'm fine...just fine..."
"Er...alright..." Hermione seemed slightly satisfied with that answer and focused her attention on the teacher's rambling.
'Now...where was I?' thought Draco. 'Oh right. WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO? Maybe you should call off the bet...you're getting in way over your head here. ...no! Draco Malfoy never turns down a bet! NEVER! Although...I technically wouldn't be turning it down...since I already agreed to it...I'd just be...er...canceling due to illness...of the brain...'
"This is all Blaise's fault!" he accidentally said out loud.
"...what is?" asked Hermione.
"What is what?"
"What is all Blaise's fault? You just said "This is all Blaise's fault!" so...what is?"
"Oh! I said that out loud? Er...it's uh...his fault that...I...er...have no idea..."
"Are you sure you're okay? You're acting very odd."
"I'm not acting odd!" he shrieked. "You're acting odd!"
Hermione blinked in confusion at him before going back to her work.
'Ugh...' he thought.
"Finally!" Draco said later that day as he walked into the Slytherin Common room with Blaise. "Time away from her."
"Trouble in paradise?" smirked Blaise.
"Paradise my arse... Listen, I uh...I think we should call off the bet."
"Nope."
"What do you mean, "nope"?"
"I mean nope. C'mon, mate. Tomorrow's the last day. You can do it! Have faith, little buddy, have faith! There's no mountain you can't climb! No star you can't reach! No...er...well, I don't know...but...I BELIEVE IN YOU!" Blaise yelled, jumping up on a table.
"Are you gonna start singing now?"
"Er...no..." he said, sheepishly, getting down.
"Right...ANYWAY...I guess I should go find her then...time for step nine."
"Good luck, mate. Remember :," Blaise said, then continued singing extremely off-key, "THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN'T DO WHEN YOU BELIEVE! B-E-L-I-E-V-E, YOU JUST GOTTA BELIEVE! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! BELIEVE IN LOVE! BEEEELIEVEEEEEE!"
"I thought you weren't going to sing!"
"The moment called for an inspirational song!"
Draco rolled his eyes, and left the common room with Blaise still singing his inspirational song.
"MUHAHAHAHA!" said Blaise, as soon as Draco was out of ear-shot. "My master plan is working! He's falling for her! Wait...I didn't have a master plan...but if I did it would so be working! 'Cause he's falling for her! Just like I knew he would! Er...okay, maybe I didn't know...but that's not the point. The point it that Draco is falling for Granger! Uh-oh...what if he wins the bet? I don't wanna be his slave! What am I gonna do now?"
"Blaise...," said a voice.
"WHO SAID THAT?" yelled Blaise. "OMG. Are you my conscience?"
"Er...no...it's me...Pansy. And I just heard something VERY interesting. Drakey is falling for the Mudblood, and you're about to lose your bet. Well, I think I can help you out and win Draco back from the Gryffinwhore," she said in her evil plan voice.
"Oh shit."
Author's Note Again : I must say, this has been one of my favorite chapters so far. I hope you guys liked it too! Review, kay? :)