I quite literally feel like roadkill (I'm sick) so forgive me any grammatical oversight.
Hermione was sitting at the conference table, working on another one of her blasted patrol schedules. It was hard to plan very far ahead, because something always came up. Quidditch practice, a cold, detention… Prefects weren't supposed to get detentions! And she had to make it fit with one boy and one girl per round, because, naturally, there could be no mention of two boys or two girls going together! It was bothersome to say the least, but she was told over and over again that it was tradition to have boy/girl shared responsibilities, so who was she to argue? And, of course, nobody wanted to go too often and, gee, what about some inter-house mingling, while she was at it? She realized she had dug herself into another hole with her planning and angrily crossed everything out.
"Are you sure you can't go tomorrow?" she asked Nott. I will give you my firstborn!
"Yes," he very calmly replied. "I went yesterday and I need to study for a test. I told you this three times already."
Hermione groaned. He had told her. Her fingers were stained with ink and her quill was frayed at the end from her chewing on it. She was going to have to ask Malfoy if he could do it. He was her absolute last hope. She sighed.
"Does Malfoy have that test too?" she asked.
"No, he does not take Advanced History of Magic."
Hermione snorted before she could help herself and Nott stopped writing something in mid-sentence and looked up at her from where he was seated at his desk.
"Um, good," she hurriedly said. "He'll get a chance to save the day, then."
The glance he shot her clearly told her that he wasn't buying it, but he didn't comment and continued his scribbling instead.
Suddenly, the door opened and her least favorite person entered. He was early. He must have gotten impatient, or perhaps he hoped to find her without a list so that he had an excuse to pick one of his own friends. Unfortunately for him, she had a list.
Without a greeting, Draco strolled in and noisily pulled out the chair in front of Hermione and sat down. He put his elbows on the table and folded his arms, staring at her, waiting for her to look up from her schedules, which somehow suddenly required all of her attention.
"Play nice, Draco," Theo said from his desk, not indicating any surprise that Draco had arrived. "Don't bother her."
A flash of irritation flittered across Draco's features before he adopted a smug look. "I'm not bothering her," he replied. "Granger and I are the best of friends. Aren't we, Granger?"
Hermione couldn't keep her head from snapping up and Draco smirked at her. Damn it. She scowled at him and his smirk widened.
"Yes…" she finally answered. "We're bosom buddies." She smiled very sweetly at him and his gaze flickered. "So, tell me, friend… Can you do rounds tomorrow?"
Draco wrinkled his nose in a look of pure disgust. "No," he replied.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
Because I don't bloody feel like it.
"Err…" He glanced at Theo. "Quidditch practice."
Hermione's eyes snapped. "Hufflepuff has the pitch tomorrow."
Oh, bother. She kept up with that, did she? He supposed she had to.
"I have to study," he said.
"Oh, you mean for the test in Charms?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, that."
"Thereis no test in Charms," Hermione coldly informed him. "I'm putting you down for rounds."
Draco looked to Nott for help. "She can't do that, can she?"
"I would prefer you leave me out of this," Nott replied. "But yes, she can."
Hermione smirked and Draco groaned. He really didn't want to do rounds tomorrow. He'd just finished doing his week of solitary rounds a couple of days ago. He'd been looking forward to lots of rounds-free nights.
"Buck up, Malfoy," Hermione smugly said. "Perhaps Unspeakable Evil will kill you before you have been out long."
He made a face at her. "Just tell me I'm not doing them with you."
Hermione hesitated and Draco felt his panic rising. "Well, I'm sorry but…" she began. His fingers were digging into his own arms as he prayed fervently to hear anything but 'yes, you are'. "Your partner will be… Tara Stanwood!" She smirked. "Fifth year Hufflepuff. Very friendly, there won't be a quiet moment. You'll love that." Her smirk widened at the thought of the annoying Hufflepuff girl that she'd just paired him with.
He slowly let out his breath and closed his eyes as relief swept him. He wouldn't have to deal with the intolerable Mudblood again before one of them was on a leash, so to speak.
"I don't bloody care as long as she's not you," he said, meaning it with all his heart. "Did you have something for me?"
Hermione pulled out the parchment and handed it to him. He stared at it for a few seconds, before he finally spoke.
"Granger," he said in a strained voice. "There are only two names on here."
She nodded. "Yes, that is correct."
"You had to spend the better part of a week before you could come up withtwo people?"
"Well, it's not easy when three houses are disqualified per default," she replied indignantly.
"Three… Why on earth are three houses disqualified?" he asked, his voice rising slightly.
She gave him a look of utter contempt. "Please," she said. "You won't accept Gryffindor, I won't accept Slytherin, and you are always after Hufflepuff."
"So you already decided who I would and would not accept, did you?" he irritably asked.
She rolled her eyes. "It's not as if I didn't have a pretty good idea!"
"I'm almost afraid to ask…" a musing voice interrupted them.
Nott. They had both temporarily forgotten him. Hermione's head whipped around to look at him and then back at Malfoy, her eyes wide, and her lips parted, as she considered whether he was going to say anything and what she'd do if he did. Nothing could be further from Draco's mind, though. Theo was possibly the only Slytherin, who would turn Draco in for what he was planning. It was the downside of him knowing him so well. A slight look of panic crossed Draco's face and then when he realized that Hermione was looking at him, he gave a small shake of his head. So they both stayed quiet.
Nott's eyebrows went up. "I see," he said, sounding almost amused. "Well, if you two agree, it can't possibly be good and I think I prefer not to know. Just tell me that whatever it is, it's not against school rules."
Hermione and Draco looked at each other again and Nott actually moaned.
"It… It isn't. Not really," Hermione ventured. The bet itself and holding a contest wasn't against any school rules. Enslaving a fellow student, however, might be slightly frowned upon.
Draco must have thought the same thing, because he raised one sardonic eyebrow and stayed quiet.
"Why are you corrupting the Head Girl, Draco?" Nott asked with a sigh.
Draco gaped in indignation. "Me? I'm not doing anything!"
Hermione snorted and got a curious glance from Nott and a warning one from Malfoy.
Malfoy took the parchment and got up before Nott could ask any more questions. "Right, I'll leave you two to it, then," he said. "Have fun."
"You, too, on your rounds tomorrow," Hermione sweetly replied, earning her a murderous glance from Malfoy before he left.
Hermione wearily rolled her neck as she left the Charms classroom. It had been a long, long day in a long, long week and she was glad it was finally over. She was more than ready for a weekend of just hanging around the common room with her friends, possibly helping Ron learn how not to set fire to things or cover people in scales. She turned a corner and wrinkled her nose in distaste, when she saw Malfoy with his bag slung over his left shoulder, leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for someone. Was it really too much to ask to go for any length of time without seeing his hateful face?
"Took you long enough, Granger," he drawled. "I was beginning to think I had to stand here all day."
"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked, not thrilled that he was cutting into her weekend time.
"It's all set up," he said. "So be at the Heads' office tonight after my rounds."
Hermione shook her head. "What? You… What? Did you find someone?"
He sighed and rolled his eyes as if she were slow. "Yes, one of the many, many prospects you gave me, actually. Cornfoot, his name was."
"But he still needs time to make questions," she protested. "Enough that we won't run out!"
"He says he can do it by tonight," Draco calmly answered. "You put him on the list, so you should have some faith in him."
"We also need to work out a contract of sorts," Hermione insisted.
"Awhat?"
She waved her hand. "To make sure that certain boundaries aren't crossed."
At this, his eyes glinted dangerously. "A little late for that, isn't it?"
Hermione sighed and shook her head. She hadn't done anything that was that bad. Why didn't he just get over that she'd asked him a couple of questions? "No, I mean it, Malfoy. There are certain things that we simply should not be able to do!"
"Afraid you're going to lose, are you?" he asked with a smirk.
She glared at him. "Maybe I'm afraid that I'm going to win," she said in a cold voice. "And that without anything to stop me I will do irreparable harm."
Draco nodded at that. "Fair enough, we'll do your little contract thing."
Hermione's eyes widened slightly at how quickly he'd given in. She studied him, but he didn't seem to be up to anything; he looked perfectly serious. It was odd. She didn't like it.
"Then we need time to do it," she pointed out.
He shrugged. "You've got plenty of time, haven't you? Just bring around whatever you've got and I'll look at it after the bloody rounds that you forced on me."
Her eyes narrowed. "Why are you rushing this?" she asked him.
"Because I'm tired of wasting time," he retorted, as he pushed away from the wall and turned his back on her. "Come tonight, one of us is wearing that bracelet!"
The Gryffindor common room was still half full. Hermione checked her watch. It was 1 a.m. and Draco's rounds would be done soon. She had promised she would do this, and she hated not to be on time. Besides, she couldn't wait to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face. The first thing she would demand would be that he became the protector of all first years and Hufflepuffs. He would love that. The thought made her almost anxious to win.
She stood and began collecting her parchments from the small table, she had been sitting at, and getting ready to go.
"Going to bed?" Ron asked her, looking a little disappointed.
She shook her head. "I have to go take care of something. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but don't wait up for me."
"What, now?" he asked, leaning towards her. "Can't it wait till tomorrow? Look around you, Hermione. There's actual fun here!"
She sighed. "I know, Ron. I'll try to hurry, but it really has to be now. I'm sorry." She bent to peck him on the cheek. "See you later."
Ron didn't reply, but just leaned back in his chair again, gazing darkly at her.
She turned around and bumped into Harry.
"Whoa," he said good-naturedly. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"Away to a place that doesn't have us in it," Ron grumbled.
She glanced back at him. "That's not fair, Ron. I still need to do my job. It's an honor to be Head Girl and I have responsibilities."
"Yeah?" he asked, rising from his chair. "Well, sometimes I wish you hadn't gotten Head Girl at all, then maybe you'd still have time to be a friend!" He brushed past her to his dormitory.
Hermione stood, staring after him in shock for a few moments, before she felt Harry touch her arm.
"He just misses you," he said. "He'll be ok once he sees you taking more time for him."
She sighed. "I just feel so guilty," she mumbled.
"Don't," Harry replied with a self-deprecating smile. "It's just as much my fault. With Ginny and all… Ron is left to his own devices most of the time. He's probably mostly bored."
Hermione didn't know what to reply to that. "I'll hurry back," she said. "But I really must…"
"Of course," Harry said with a smile and a hug. "See you tomorrow."
The office was mostly dark when Hermione let herself in, but, of course, it would have been too much to hope for that Malfoy hadn't arrived yet.
"You're late," he pointed out in a weary and slightly annoyed voice from his chair by the fireplace. "And, by the way, thank you for pairing me with that tiresome little bitch. I'll get you for that."
Hermione shrugged and hid a smirk. "It was difficult to get away," she said, intentionally ignoring his crude statement about Tara and revenge. She went to the table and spread out her parchments. "Where's Cornfoot?"
Draco waved a hand dismissively. "He'll be here in a few minutes. There was no reason for him to stand around for this, was there? Of course, since you're late, he's probably going to have to, after all."
She shot him an annoyed glance. "Some of us have friends, you know. What was I going to say? That I was coming here to meet you?"
Draco snorted at that. "I don't like waiting," he grumbled. "When I win this thing you'd better be quicker about doing what I tell you to."
Her head snapped up from where she had been organizing her documents. "In the unlikely event that you win, I should gladly be at your beck and call," she sneered, losing patience with him. "But right now – stop your prattling and come look over this."
He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Instead, he did as she asked. She lit a lamp, while he sat down at the table to look at her first draft for a contract. He wearily rubbed his eyes, and then he began reading. He went completely still and then he smirked. Before Hermione could ask him what was so amusing, he burst out laughing.
"What?" she asked with a frown. She didn't appreciate him just laughing at her efforts.
"This is your contract?" he asked with a shake of his head and another snort of laughter. "All I can say is: You wish!"
Next chapter: More about the contract and the winner is...