A/n - Once more, my co-writer, Nicole (finally her name is revealed, though it was never really much of a secret) and I must apologise... still no Gred and Forge. But fear not! They will make an appearence next chapter! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this little chapter, which is regrettably a bit short, but I didn't really have a choice when sorting tonight's upload, as this is the natural cut off point.
Also; this is the regular reminder to review... I don't care if you've reviewed once, twice, a million times or never before... Please review now! We like to know what you like!
That's it, enough of this A/N.
Hermione forced herself to eat the stew she'd spooned so liberally onto her plate, all the while struggling to keep her eyes open. It was a wonder that she had not already fallen asleep with her head in her food, and she had absolutely no idea how she was still functioning at all. She had barely gotten three hours sleep last night because she'd had so much on her mind, both with her Head Girl duties piling up and her personal life. Not only had seven people approached her in the past week demanding she change the rounds schedules because of homework or Quidditch or something equally stupid, another four people had not so politely asked her to change their partners too. The night before she'd been up until the early hours of the morning finishing a new schedule, only to be told this morning that Hannah Abbott couldn't patrol on Thursdays, disrupting the revised timetable entirely. Hermione had had severe difficulty trying not to hex her for making her life harder.
Also, she'd become aware that there was some stupid rumour circulating the school that she and Malfoy were an item. She'd ignored it, but that didn't mean she hadn't noticed the whispers and the glances and the giggles that followed her to classes and to meals. Malfoy himself hadn't mentioned the gossip at all; in fact, he'd said nothing to Hermione since she'd been caught listening to his row with Pansy on Monday. He'd been quiet and cold during their last patrol and had barely even looked at her, though she supposed that wasn't totally terrible given how much of an arse he was. To top it all, Ginny was now refusing to speak to her because Hermione had snapped at her over breakfast, demanding that she stop babbling about rubbish as Hermione had real issues. Ginny had sworn viciously at her, and she was now sat with Lavender and Parvati throwing Hermione vicious looks every so often. Clearly, Ginny was being incredibly immature, but even so Hermione had lost her only real friend over some silly bickering.
Hastily, she gulped down the last spoonful of her food, barely tasting it, before heaving her heavy body out of her seat and walking towards the doors. Perhaps, she thought wearily, she'd be able to nap for an hour before redoing the already rewritten prefect timetable. However, about halfway across the hall she noticed with a jolt that Theo was also making his way to the doors. Hermione sped up but so did he and they arrived at the entrance at the same time. For a fraction of a second they awkwardly made eye contact and then Hermione attempted to duck out of the doors. Theo caught her by the arm, which made her stomach flutter.
"Hermione, wait. Please, we need to talk about all of this. You've ignored me for weeks-"
"Not now. I promise we will talk soon," she said, laying a hand on his that was latched on her wrist. At the contact his grip loosened enough for her to pull her hand a little reluctantly out of his grasp. "Two more weeks is all I'm asking for and then I'll be able to talk to you. I know it sounds ridiculous," she said when Theo sighed, "but I need to clear my head."
He nodded meekly. "Ok. I can wait. But just so you know… I do still like you." Then he swished out of the hall, his robes flurrying behind him.
Hermione let out a relieved breath, glad that at least Theo understood and it was one less thing for her to worry about. She was thinking longingly of her bed and was about to leave too when she was roughly whirled around and came face to face with a very angry Pansy Parkinson.
"Is Draco not enough for you, you disgusting little Mudblood? Are you trying to seduce Theo too?"
She stared at her, not initially understanding her words through her exhaustion. She did notice however that a few students at house tables nearby had stopped eating and were looking at her and Pansy.
"What about Blaise, is he next? Or Crabbe and Goyle maybe? Are you trying to make your way through all the Slytherins?" A vein was pulsing dangerously near Pansy's temple and she was almost bright red.
"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" asked Hermione in confused disbelief. A few Ravenclaws to her right giggled. "I have absolutely no idea what you're suggesting."
Pansy ignored her. "Gryffindors not good enough for you? Are the Ravenclaws next on your list? Or do you just have a taste for men way out of your league?"
"Pansy, you aren't making any sense!"
"You've had him in your sights since the first week, ever since you saw us in the corridor before your silly little meeting at the start of the year. I knew you were jealous. And now you've split us up!" Pansy looked utterly deranged.
"Will you please explain to me what you mean?" pleaded Hermione once more, desperately looking over to the staff table, however all of the teachers had their attention focussed on Dumbledore, who appeared to be telling a joke. Even more students were now watching her and Pansy's encounter.
"I mean, keep your filthy Mudblood hands off Draco or I'll curse you into oblivion!" She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Hermione for emphasis. Even though she had been numbed by tiredness, Hermione was still livid.
"How dare you threaten me!" said Hermione indignantly. "I have no intention of getting my hands on Malfoy in the first place, you idiot."
Apparently, Pansy did not appreciate being called an idiot. The vein was still pulsing horribly and Hermione was surprised it hadn't burst. Her face turned more murderous and she raised her wand higher.
"Don't you insult me, you ugly cow! Stay away from my Draco!"
Hermione was furious. "But he isn't 'your Draco,' is he? Not from what I heard the other day."
She knew it was a low blow and that she was only stooping to Pansy's level but she was too angry to care. By now, they had attracted quite a crowd, mostly of Slytherins, who were surrounding the two girls as though watching some kind of sport. Several people were staring at Hermione open mouthed as though they couldn't believe she was engaging in an argument. Lots of girls were laughing, some boys were whispering what looked like lewd suggestions to their friends, and she noticed Malfoy stood relatively close by, frowning.
"Take that back!" Pansy screamed.
Hermione knew she was in dangerous territory but she didn't back down.
"No! You're deluding yourself! I don't fancy Malfoy; he's a vile, arrogant pig! But even if I did, what would it matter to you? I heard what he said to you- he doesn't want you! And now look at you- you're a mess!"
Suddenly, Hermione's head was thrown back and there was a large communal gasp and a few hoots of laughter from the spectators as she felt Pansy's hand connect with her cheek. It appeared she had thrown her wand away in favour of physical violence. Face stinging and pink, she stared angrily at Pansy with fire in her eyes. Just as she was about to retaliate, Malfoy strode over and placed himself between them. Still the teachers had not looked over, and if Hermione hadn't been so mad she would have regarded this as incredibly odd.
"What the hell, Pansy?" he asked. He had his back to Hermione and she had to peek around his frame to view their exchange.
"Why so defensive, Draco? I knew it!" she shrieked hysterically. "You have a crush on Granger!"
There was a low rumbling of whispers from the onlookers as Malfoy replied heatedly.
"Bloody hell, just drop it! I don't fancy Granger!"
"In case you hadn't noticed, he hates me," added Hermione angrily, as several watching Slytherins stared at Malfoy disgustedly with narrowed eyes. She was coming to her own defence as much as she was to his; she couldn't stand the idea of anyone thinking that she would stoop so low as to go out with Malfoy.
"Oh he hates you, does he? Then why is he stood in front of you like a fucking shield or something?"
More mutterings from the Slytherins, whilst everyone else watched dumbstruck. Malfoy groaned.
"I'm stood in front of her because if you hex her you'll be expelled! You think that McGonagall will go easy on you if you curse her favourite student? Not likely. I'm looking out for you, Pans, not her!"
For some reason, Hermione was a little insulted.
"Oh really? Then why are you holding her?"
Shocked silence met her words as everyone's eyes swivelled to Malfoy's right hand, which Hermione now noticed for the first time was resting softly on her waist. This could be bad. Quick as a flash, she shot a filthy look at Pansy and pretended to start forward, as though she was going to hit her.
"He's holding me back, because he knows if he didn't, you'd be in the Hospital Wing! And I'm sure you wouldn't want any more damage done to your ugly face, would you, you irritating bitch?"
Hermione was quite proud of her acting skills and she felt the swearing had given her performance a lot of believability- the other students had certainly believed her, because they were all staring at her looking half impressed and half shocked. Pansy seemed to have been convinced; she threw herself in Hermione's direction and had to be restrained by a nearby Millicent Bulstrode and Hermione saw out of the corner of her eye that Malfoy was smirking a little. His hand left her waist and Pansy was led away in angry tears by Millicent and a few other people. In the ensuing chaos as every onlooker returned to their seats or began chattering excitedly about what they had just witnessed, Malfoy took the opportunity to quickly drag Hermione, unseen, out of the Great Hall. His hand was tight around her wrist and once outside her pushed her against the wall of the Entrance Hall. Without letting go of her hand, he placed enough pressure on her to pin her to the wall so she couldn't wriggle away, and pressed her hand against her chest.
"You ought to be a bit more careful when you're dealing with Pansy in future. I might not be there to save your skin."
It was the first time he'd spoken to her in a few days, and she was still filled with residual anger so she didn't even question why he'd all of a sudden decided to acknowledge her existence.
"Get lost Malfoy. I didn't need you to 'protect' me. I can hold my own against her," she said defiantly, though in reality she had to admit that she had been quite glad he had stepped in when he had and prevented her from doing something stupid.
"Of course you can," he said condescendingly. "Oh, and I know what you were doing back there."
Hermione was confused. What had she been doing?
"Don't think that your little performance back then makes us even finally. Just because you agreed with me doesn't mean you defended me. They're two different things. You still owe me," he growled, pressing her a little tighter to the wall, which reminded her of the time he'd threatened her in the common room. "You won't owe me any more when I say so, got it?"
"Fine," she said aggressively, "but if Pansy ever tries anything like that again, I swear I will not restrain myself, so you better talk to her and tell her to stay away from me."
Malfoy leaned in dangerously close.
"And if I decide you have no right to tell me what to do, and so I don't warn her?"
"Well then, you can say goodbye to your Slytherin slut because the fight she will no doubt start definitely won't end in her favour," she growled, summoning the strength to push Malfoy away.
As she stormed off up the main staircase desperate to finally get to bed, she heard Malfoy muttering Cleaning Charms on himself and she could have screamed. What she didn't notice was how bored and irritated he sounded when he did it- almost like he didn't really care.
Just a little note; I'm aware some of you may find Hermione's behaviour in this chapter a little OOC but Nicole and I think that given her stress about Malfoy/stress about Head Girl stuff/stress about Ginny/general exhaustion, this is how Hermione would have reacted to Pansy- she'd be at her wits end. Just our opinion :) this is as out of character as she'll ever get as far as we're concerned but just a heads up for you. What do you think? Let us know. :)
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