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Mutom Beatitus

Chapter 10: The Conclusion

"Look, fine, you're objectively attractive and intelligent, ok? And clearly desperate to have these facts constantly affirmed by everyone around you."

Hermione looked at him, eyebrows raised, unfazed.

He continued explaining with a little frustrated grunt. "I'm allowed to have opinions, aren't I, Granger?"

"No," she answered, frowning, "You're really not. You have no right to admire anything about me when you treat me like-like dirt, all the time. That's absolutely not alright."

She couldn't register exactly when, but something seemed to snap in Draco. Maybe it was because he was still messy-haired and in his pricey pajamas, but he looked broken.

"Well what am I supposed to do?" he demanded in a strained whisper. "How am I supposed to even deal with you, Granger? Don't you get how freaking weird it is, for the smartest, prettiest girl to be a mu-muggleborn? Not only are you not supposed to be smart, or pretty, or anything, but I'm not even allowed to want you. I don't have the luxury that freaking Potter and Weasel do, to just gawk at you and compliment you all day. I have to hate you, don't you get it? Because if I don't, for even one freaking second, then-then I'll ruin everything."

~o~

"Your essay is to take up no more than 4 and no less than 2 meters of parchment. I'm sure you'll use all of the allotted class time, Mr. Longbottom, but if for some reason you have some sort of pathetic breakdown and quit early, please do stay so that I might speak with you after class," Snape drawled.

Poor Neville seemed caught between his dual fears of staying after and of breaking down before he could finish the essay, which caused his handwriting to become quite hysterical.

Harry tried to catch Ron's eye so that he could not to Malfoy's empty seat. He caught Snape's instead and earned another 5 point deduction from Gryffindor, as well as a change in seating. Once he'd moved across the room, he quickly became aware that Crabbe was now copying off his essay. He dedicated the rest of the class to laying very, very incorrect answers in his essay to cross out and correct only just before turning it in. He was quite pleased with himself.

~o~

Hermione took advantage of the opportune moment and pounced. In a swift movement, the wand was hers, and he withdrew just as quickly. Malfoy looked a mix of annoyed and hurt.

"Seriously, Granger? You would stoop that low-"

She practically pounced again, but this time the endgoal was contact with Malfoy's lips. After a moment, she pulled back only slightly. "Wouldn't want you thinking I'm just in it for your wand again," she explained, somewhat serious.

She didn't have much time for further explanation before Malfoy pulled her close, kissing her with such enthusiasm as to make Viktor Krum seem prudish.

And she knew it was wrong to do. The moral thing would be to accept that Malfoy was basically right. Wanting her would destroy him. But it was pretty hard to put his feelings first after all these years. And the desire she'd hardly realized she'd been harboring pushed her not to miss this chance.

Eventually one can tire of kissing, but neither Malfoy nor Hermione were ready to give up closeness yet. Relishing the new and burning feelings, Hermione curled up beside him like a cat. Somehow they had almost drifted into sleep when the door to the dormitory loudly opened.

"What in Merlin's..." Theodore Nott began, but seemed to lose the ability to speak. He gaped at them, reopening his eyes several times as if it would change the scene before him.

Hermione looked from him to Malfoy. It seemed like his place to offer an explanation.

"I-I found out Muffin's real name," Malfoy explained lamely.

"Oh yeah?" Theodore asked, eyes still wide.

"Yeah. It, well it certainly wasn't Cat. So Blaise will be disappointed."

"You don't say," Theodore replied airily, shocked eyes locked on Hermione's flushed face.

Internally, she wanted to kick herself. What had she been thinking? Kissing Malfoy? Had she just become way too comfortable around him? How could she ever even explain this? Even he couldn't explain this.

Malfoy coughed. "Yeah, that's the truth of the matter," he replied pointlessly.

Theodore seemed to shift from one foot to the other, before finally clearing his throat and forcing a weak, queesy sort of smile. "Well, um, you've been real great about this whole Terry thing, so, uh, no need to let anyone else in about Muffin, yeah? The others should be finishing their exams within the hour, so, uh, yeah. Um, see you." He practically ran out of the room.

"What now?" Hermione asked.

"You could always turn back into a cat," Malfoy suggested unhelpfully.

"I should probably turn you into one. It's only fair," she found herself teasing back

"Don't you dare, Granger."

"Dare, eh?"

~x~

Author's Note: I think with the infrequency that I'm able to update this, that should probably be the end of it. Thank you all so much for reading, whether you just found this fic today or you started reading ages ago, it sincerely means the world to me. This started out as me toying with the idea of taking the cracked-iest plot I could think of and just running with it, and you've all done me the great honour of coming along for the ride and even taking things with a straight face.
Thank you so, so much for your support. Have a wonderful winter, wherever you are. And feel free to let me know what you think, even if you thought this was awful and cringey and rushed-lay it on me.