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Chapter 11-Crucial Missing Pages
As soon as they entered Dumbledore's office, comfy looking chairs materialized out of thin air and placed themselves in front of the headmaster's desk.
"Make yourselves comfortable." Dumbledore said pleasantly as he sat in his own seat on the other side of the desk, Snape choosing to stand beside him looking menacing. "Help yourselves to chocolate frogs. Now who would like some tea?"
Even though neither of his students replied Dumbledore bustled about making tea for them all and handing them a china cup and saucer.
I don't even like tea Draco thought as the cup was handed to him. Why can't the old man hurry up and get this over with? Does he get some perverse glee from making me suffer?
Five minutes later, Dumbledore still hadn't said anything. He was simply stroking Fawkes' red and gold head as the phoenix perched on the old man's knee. Snape was tapping his foot impatiently waiting for the bearded man to speak, Hermione was nervously wringing her hands together, Theo was staring in wonder at all the magical and muggle contraptions in the office, Ron was staring at his feet, Harry was glaring daggers at Draco and Draco was staring into the depths of his untouched tea.
I'm actually starting to wish Harry had pushed me out the window last night Draco thought to himself.
Finally, Dumbledore smiled at his students over the rim of his half-moon glasses.
"Draco, Ronald, tell me have you been enjoying your experience as one another?" Dumbledore asked sounding genuinely interested.
"Er…well, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be." Ron admitted. "Although it has had its scary moments." He added as he thought of Ginny's behavior.
"Oh brilliant." Dumbledore exclaimed sounding delighted. "What have you learnt from being in Mr. Malfoy's body?"
"Well…um…I guess I've been able to look at things and people in a different light." Ron answered. "I mean I always thought the Slytherins were a bunch of evil tossers…"
"Ronald, mind your language." Hermione reprimanded.
"Right, sorry." Ron mumbled before continuing. "But, the Slytherins aren't really as bad as I thought…and I've got to know Theo. If it wasn't for the body swap I wouldn't have looked twice at him so I'm glad Mione did it because…I've made a really good…um…friend." He finished somewhat lamely.
"Friend?" Harry asked. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Harry not now." Hermione said firmly. "You and Ron can talk later, privately."
Harry nodded before slumping back in his chair and staying quiet.
"Draco, how has your time been?" Dumbledore asked kindly. "What have you learnt?"
"It's been painful." Draco said in a small voice after a moment's thought. Hermione reached for his hand and squeezed it gently. "I've learnt…I've learnt what Harry thinks of me. He hates me…and that hurts. It hurts that he hates me because…even though I'm supposed to hate him too being Ron has…it's allowed me to be close to Harry and not have to put on a show. I could, to a degree, be myself. And I liked it, I liked being with Harry…I enjoyed spending time with him. But then…then there were the times when he'd insult me and I'd have to listen to all the awful things he said and despite how nasty he was about me I still wanted to be around him and I wanted…I wanted him to like me too. And I've learnt that I'm an idiot. I should have kept my heart and my feelings closed to him so I wouldn't get hurt but…I'm a stupid idiot who went and fell for the one person who could never love him back."
"Love?" Dumbledore asked with a raised eyebrow.
Upon realising all that he'd said, Draco stood up, his tea cup slipping from his fingers and dropping to the floor, before he ran from the office.
"Sir, Draco's my friend; I think I should go after him." Theo said.
Dumbledore nodded giving both Theo and Ron permission to leave. Now it was just Dumbledore, Snape, Hermione and Harry in the room.
"Tell me Harry, why is it you profess to hate Draco so much?" Dumbledore asked. "He seems to care a great deal about you."
"Malfoy doesn't care about me." Harry scoffed. "He doesn't care about anyone other than himself."
"Harry are you blind as well as stupid?" Hermione asked. "Draco has fallen madly in love with you, though right now I really can't think why. How can you be so cruel?"
"Why are you making me out to be the bad guy?" Harry asked hotly seeming to forget the two professors for the moment. "Malfoy's a slimy little git who's done nothing but try and get me expelled for the past five years, not to mention all the horrible things he's said to you and Ron."
"You've said some horrible things too Harry." Hermione pointed out.
"I don't believe Draco did anything to deserve having to live in Mr. Weasley's body either." Snape said interrupting the argument between the two friends. "Enlighten me Miss Granger, why is it that you think you are above the rules and are at liberty to interfere with other people's lives?"
"Yeah, why did you swap Ron and Malfoy around?" Harry asked.
"I just thought it would help." Hermione told him.
"You foolish girl." Snape snapped. "Do you have any idea what damage you could have caused if either potion had gone wrong? You have absolutely no right meddling with other people's lives in such a way."
"Calm down Severus." Dumbledore said soothingly as he fed Fawkes a piece of orange. "Miss Granger, how did you think this body change would help?"
"Well sir I was thinking about the sorting hat's advice on how we needed to unite together as a school in order to be stronger." Hermione explained. "And most of the hostility within the school comes from the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor, so I decided to promote house unity."
"By switching two of your peers into one another's bodies?" Snape sneered. "That's hardly the most intelligent form of action to take."
"If you'll allow me to finish explaining professor." Hermione continued daringly which caused Snape's lower lip to curl. "I chose to go with the body switching method because…well I saw no other option. Getting Gryffindors and Slytherins to interact in a civil way is practically impossible. To achieve what I wanted I knew I'd have to use some kind of force and by having two people living as one another for a while seemed the best way. And I really believe it has done some good."
"Yeah right." Harry snorted causing Hermione to scowl at him.
"It has." Hermione insisted. "You heard what Ron said, he was happy I did it because of the friendship he's formed with Theo, something that wouldn't have happened had he not been forced into a situation that meant he had to live life as a Slytherin for a while."
"That's quite right Miss Granger." Dumbledore agreed with a twinkle in his eye. "A very admirable idea."
"Albus, she has broken school rules." Snape pointed out.
"Indeed yes." Dumbledore admitted. "But even though Miss Granger has done some things that are wrong I believe she did them for the right reasons."
"Well I think it was a stupid idea." Said Harry.
"I…agree…with…Potter." Snape grit out as though the words caused him intense pain. "What good has come of this really? Weasley and Nott may be getting along but for Potter and Draco it's caused nothing but trouble."
"Now, Severus don't be like that." Dumbledore said. "I think much good has come from this. After all, young Draco has fallen in love. That in itself is a miraculous thing. You're very lucky Harry."
"Lucky?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.
"Somebody loves you Harry." Hermione told him. "Draco, he truly loves you. All your life, that's all you've ever wanted. You've wanted to be loved, not for being the boy-who-lived but for being who you are, and Draco loves you for who you are. For years, he only saw the scar and the fame but being in Ron's body enabled him to get to know the real you and he's fallen in love with you. You shouldn't sneer and scoff at that."
"Very wisely said Miss Granger." Dumbledore complimented and Hermione beamed. "You may go and attend your lessons now."
"What about Miss Granger's punishment?" Snape asked before she could leave. "Surely she can't get away with this?"
"Very well." Dumbledore sighed. "Miss Granger you are to serve detention with professor Snape every night for the next two weeks."
"What?" Snape blanched. "I don't want to waste my evenings babysitting some silly school girl."
"You insisted she be punished Severus." Dumbledore reminded him as his eyes twinkled brighter than ever. "Therefore I think it is fitting that you be the one to oversee her detention. Off you go children."
Harry and Hermione left the office leaving an infuriated Snape and an amused Dumbledore behind. As the door closed behind them they heard a smash that sounded as though the potions master had just thrown something at the now chuckling headmaster.
"Harry are you mad at me?" Hermione asked as they stepped off of the spiral staircase and onto the corridor.
"Of course I'm fucking mad at you." Harry answered even as he slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled the girl close to him. "You are insane, you do realise that right?"
"For what it's worth, I am sorry." Hermione said. "I thought I was doing the right thing. I was never trying to break you and Ron up or encourage Draco to fall in love with you or anything like that…I just wanted Draco to make friends with you, me and the other Gryffindors and I wanted Ron to make friends with the Slytherins so that when they were returned to their real bodies they could both continue those friendships and promote house unity."
"I almost killed Malfoy last night." Harry admitted in a quiet voice laced with an ounce of shame.
"Wh-what?" Hermione stuttered as she gaped wide-eyed at the bespectacled boy.
"When I found out who he really was I…I overreacted a little and…um…sort of hung him upside down at the window." Harry told her.
A few seconds later he felt a stinging slap to his cheek courtesy of Hermione hitting him around the face.
"Look, let's go to Transfiguration, then at break you can talk to Ron." Hermione said. "And in the mean time…please be nice to Draco, can you not see how much you've hurt him already?"
"It's not my fault the freaks in love with me." Harry mumbled.
"It's not his fault either." Hermione retorted. "Just be nice and at least try to be his friend. There must be something you like about him."
"How'd you work that out?" Harry asked in confusion. "I hate Malfoy remember?"
"Well you obviously don't hate him as much as you pretend to." Hermione replied. "Otherwise you wouldn't have enjoyed spending time with him the past few weeks."
"I thought he was Ron." Harry said defensively.
"You've faced Voldemort and survived on numerous occasions but you can't even tell the difference between your boyfriend and your school enemy." Hermione marveled as she stared at Harry as if he was a book that had a few crucial pages missing that meant she lost what was going on in the plot. "Boys." Hermione sighed before leading the way to Transfiguration.
To Be Continued
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