Chapter 10: Standing up for a Gryffindor
I walked confidently into the Great Hall ignoring the murmuring that soon surrounded me as I entered. My marriage announcement yesterday was obviously the center of gossip, that and the fact that Hermione had refused to have sex with me in front of everybody. A minor setback. But that would soon change, after classes she would be begging me to shag her. I might not even need to use the spell because the Malfoy charm never failed, never.
I sat down next to Blaise who was looking seriously at his soup. He noticed I was a there and looked up his face sullen, "What's wrong, mate?" I asked only a hint of concern in my voice. I knew Blaise could take care of himself.
"Rumors that I am shagging my cousin and your wife." He paused for my reaction but I said nothing, "When I walked into the Slytherin dorms with her yesterday, the people in the common room thought I was bringing her in there to bed her and then she walked out with you which meant that they thought were all well…ya' know."
I stared at him and then started to laugh, "Did you explain to them that she was your cousin?" Blaise shook his head and said that it was no use. All of a sudden an angry, shrill voice cut through all of the voices in the Great Hall, "I DID NOT HAVE A THREESOME WITH DRACO MALFOY AND MY COUSIN, BLAISE ZAMBINI. PARVARTI, HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK THAT OF ME!" I chuckled. I knew exactly who had just lost their temper. I just can't wait to marry her, I thought sarcastically.
I saw Blaise shake his head but a smile appeared on his face, "Well, now that's taken care of…" He started to dig into his food and I did the same. Soon after we got our schedule from Snape and he gave me a weird look but otherwise said nothing. I read through it and heaved a sigh, I had three classes with the Gryffindors and more importantly Hermione.
I turned to look for Pansy but she wasn't anywhere in the Great Hall so I set off for my first class: Potions. As I descended towards the dungeons I pondered over how I was finally going to get Hermione in the sack. I had contemplated for a while just letting it alone, not bothering to try and waiting for our wedding day. But it would be a year before that was a possibility and that is a long time to go without a good lay. Besides Granger was obviously no virgin so I wouldn't be tainting her innocent facade or anything, the only real problem was her hatred and disgust that she seemed to save only for me. But I knew that even Granger had to have needs and I was sure that if she went out with Weasley I would only be an improvement.
I smugly went inside the classroom with that thought floating in my mind and saw a few Gryffindors already present, including Potter and Weasley and that is when I realized that I was the only Slytherin there.
Don't panic...if they attack you, just hex them. I continued to my usual seat on the other side of the room and pretended to be unperturbed at the fact that I was alone with a bunch of bloody Gryffindors. I saw Potter and Weasley get out of their seats and head over to where I was sitting. Shit…
"Well, what a surprise to meet you here, Malfoy." said Weasley with a sneer. Potter stood behind him not saying anything but looking broody about something.
"Not really, Weasley. I've had this class with you idiots since first year." I said trying to be my same confident self. Weasley scowled but Potter still said nothing which was unlike him seeing as he always had some stupid comment to contribute.
"Are you really going to marry Hermione?" he blurted out a trace of nervousness edged into his voice. Weasley looked at him looking curious, this had not been part of their plan.
"No, I'm not, I had my parents announce to the whole school that I was going to marry Hermione as an elaborate ruse." I said in a serious voice which made both of them scowl. I guess they caught the sarcasm.
"You just called her Hermione. What happened to calling her a lowly, dirty mudblood, Malfoy?" asked the red-haired idiot while scar-head stood, hands on hips, looking expectantly at me for the answer.
"Usually when you are about to marry someone you have to call them by their first name…" I said slowly as if they couldn't understand this if I said it a normal speed, which they probably couldn't.
"You better not touch her Malfoy!" Weasley exclaimed red in the face like he had been earlier this morning. Potter grabbed a hold of his arm trying to calm him down.
"If sex is considered touching her then you're a little too late, unlike you fairies, I know how to get a good shag." I said with a smirk and then Potter let go of Ron's arm and whipped out his wand but mine was already at the ready.
"Let's not to do anything foolish, Potter." I drawled in an unaffected tone.
"Shut-up Malfoy, you good for nothing wanker." Weasley hissed pointing his own wand at me and waving it around threateningly. I scowled and stood still, noticing all of the Gryffindors had turned their attention towards us and were starting to laugh at my predicament. Nothing was more amusing than a trapped Slytherin. Although, it seemed they were out of luck because at that moment Blaise, Hermione, and Pansy walked through the door. It was a weird sighting but they were going to be my salvation. Blaise and Pansy both reacted quickly getting their wands out of their robes. Hermione hesitated for a second before also getting her wand out.
"Wand down, Weasley or you'll be hexed into oblivion!" said Pansy angrily and I couldn't stop the smug smile that found its way onto my face. Pansy would destroy Weasley.
"You too, Potter." added Blaise with a hint of arrogance in his voice. He smirked at me as they both lowered their wands. I waited for Hermione to do or say something but she said nothing. They both glanced at Hermione in an 'I can't believe you're with them' look but started to head back to the Gryffindor side of the room where people were staring at Hermione in awe. She hadn't helped her two best friends since first year. The world was coming to an end.
"What is your problem, Hermione?" called Dean Thomas looking at her as if she disgusted him. Hermione turned a light shade of red and seemed to be at a loss for words.
"You better not be talking to my cousin like that, Thomas!" warned Blaise his wand still out threateningly.
"Blaise, its okay. Dean doesn't know that my friends want nothing to do with me this year because I was of no further use to them." said Hermione with a glare at the two boys. The whole class turned their attentions to the subjects in question and a few more Slytherins came in joining in staring at the idiots.
"That's a lie!" shouted Potter with his usual 'holier than thou' expression, "Hermione said that since she was a pureblood now she didn't want to hang out with a lowly half-blood and a poor Weasley."
"I would never say that!" Hermione cried out indignantly. I couldn't believe that Saint Potter had just lied about what happened. This was the boy that was supposed to save wizarding kind? Our savior? I couldn't take this. It was one thing for them to ridicule Granger, but I was tired of letting everyone thing that Potter was some kind of faultless hero.
"Well, Potter, we all known my wife to be and I were never really on good terms but even I'm not as big as an arsehole as to lie about her when she's standing right in front of me. No wonder you're not in Slytherin, you can't lie to save your pathetic life."
I turned my gaze to the curious Gryffindors, "What your little savior has failed to tell you is that he has stopped being friends with Granger and she has been crying about it ever since. She's been going on and on about how she hoped Potter and Weasley would understand her situation about her heritage but instead her best friends just said that she would get in they way of their plans. And aren't Gryffindors supposed to be loyal? Your precious Potter is a little liar and as hard as this is for me to tell you Hermione Granger actually doesn't deserve to be called a liar. Especially now that she's going to be a Malfoy…besides it's obvious who the better person has always been at this school. Potter wouldn't be famous if it wasn't for Granger. Think about it really hard, who is a better person? Potter or Granger?"
The room grew silent, I think I had just made history. A Slytherin standing up for a Gryffindor was unheard of. Hermione looked at me like I was another person entirely. Had I really just stood up for the annoying know-it-all? Of course, it was all because she was going to become a Malfoy meaning that I did it for myself and not for her. So everything was still as had been before. I wasn't going soft or falling in love with Hermione. I had long ago realized that was unacceptable even if she was going to become my wife, to me she would always be Hermione Granger, the buck-toothed side kick of Potter who seemed to always beat me in every class.
"Malfoy's right." said Lavender Brown, "Without Hermione, Harry wouldn't be alive, and she is the one always helping us all out. What has Harry done? Fight Voldemort but only with help from Hermione every time even when she was petrified in second year. Imagine what would have happened without her? Sure, she sometimes has a bad temper but she is always caring so I think we should respect her even if she is going to marry Malfoy…"
"I agree with Lavender." said Parvarti with a smile towards Hermione. Hermione smiled back and the rest of the girls present murmured their agreement. The boys stayed silent and said nothing.
"I'm on Harry' side." said Thomas with a grin towards Potter who smirked in return, "I mean the whole prophecy is about the boy-who-lived, it said nothing of some girl that keeps him alive." The rest of the boys murmured their agreement with this statement and the girls scowled.
"Well, none of you are getting laid this year." said one of the prettier Gryffindor girls with a smirk, "I always found the other houses cuter anyway." The girls giggled and turned haughtily away from the Gryffindor boys who looked horrified.
"The other houses will still be willing!" exclaimed Seamus Finnigan seeming to be trying to convince himself. I smirked, not the Slytherins.
"Not the Slytherins." said Pansy voicing my thoughts aloud.
"I will tell my sister to tell the other Ravenclaw girls about this encounter." said Parvarti with a smile towards Pansy who nodded approvingly. The rest of the girls giggled and laughed at the boy's reaction to these statements.
"That means Hufflepuff." I said smirking, "you get the lowly leftovers." I said laughing and the rest of the Slytherins and some Gryffindor girls laughed with me. It was true, the Hufflepuffs were not touched by other houses, especially not the Slytherins. Then suddenly Snape came billowing in the classroom with a look of disgust on his face.
"In your seats now!" he shouted as the all of the students went to their seats. I sat down and Blaise and Pansy sat beside me as always. To my ultimate surprise, Hermione took a seat with Parvarti and Lavender in row in front of ours. A clear part of the Slytherin side. Snape looked at them confused but started his lesson without commentary. He wouldn't insult her now that she was going to become a Malfoy.
By the time the class was over, Neville had successfully turned his potion into a solid form and the Slytherin girls hadn't taunted the Gryffindor girls that had intruded into out territory. They had actually asked Hermione for help on a certain section and she had actually showed them how to do it. This is weird. I slowly made my way to my next class which was Herbology but as I got to the end of the hall Hermione stood in front of me blocking my way there.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked nervously.
"What?" I asked trying to sound irritated even though I wasn't. She clucked her tongue on the roof on her mouth and then suddenly stopped.
"Why did you do it?" she asked meekly. The clucking started again and she put both her hands inside of her robe pockets.
"Do what?" I asked even though I knew exactly what she was asking. She was kind of cute when she did that. I shook my head, actually it was just annoying. Not cute at all.
"Why did you stand up for me in front of everybody?" she asked not sounding so nervous but actually sort of annoyed.
"Malfoy's can't be accused of lying. I needed to protect your title." I said in one quick sweep of words. I wondered why I had rushed this all out, it was the truth after all.
Hermione looked a little confused but then broke into a smile. She had never smiled at me before and she looked…prett-I mean she looked just like she always does.
"Thank you, Draco Malfoy." She said and then she kissed me on the cheek and walked off to her next class. I had the sudden urge to touch the spot where her lips had been a second before. I felt like running after her and locking her in a passionate kiss which we would both want to never end. There were two problems with that: Malfoys didn't run and I always wanted a kiss to end so that it could get to the good part. I smirked feeling like my old self again but I also had a weird feeling tugging at me. Like what I was feeling wasn't all wrong. Hermione was supposed to be one of my enemies so why did I want to even touch her at all. Why did I keep…thinking about her?
Because, maybe you like her. The annoying voice has appeared to torment me.
I hate her. I just need to uphold the Malfoy name.
Whatever you say…