Disclaimer to JK Rowling
The second half of Chapter 8, as promised.
At first your mother said…why me! why me!
But she got over that. Now she enjoys
her dull daily care and her hectic bravery
Anne Sexton from The Hangman
Lacie had changed. Hermione could tell. It was all her stupid brother's fault as well. Lacie didn't truly recover from being publicly embarrassed but she wasn't going to wallow in agony. Hermione knew Lacie was impeccable when it came to concealing her emotions. She was no longer defending her brother and was siding whole-heartedly with Ron when it came to insulting him now. She also didn't care about being a Malfoy and looked like she resented it. Sometimes, Hermione wondered what Malfoy had said to her, but it was a good thing. Ron and Lacie got on better. Almost too well.
Except for when he beat her in chess. That was when she got irritated.
Harry was spending more time on the Quidditch Pitch than in the Common Room, so the pair playing chess was becoming a more frequent sight. It was usually these moments when Hermione preoccupied herself with schoolwork or general knowledge. She rarely peered up from her new volume, but it was definitely when there was an unjust checkmate.
Harry climbed through the Portrait Hole, looking as if he had been told to lick the mud off his Quidditch uniform.
Hermione dropped her book and looked at him in concern, "What's wrong?"
"Snape's refereeing the Quidditch match on tomorrow," Harry said with a sigh.
"But-But, he'll kill you!" Ron said, standing up and knocking over the chess board. Lacie hissed as she had just been planning a move.
"I was going to move something," she said angrily.
"I was going to checkmate you in three moves, anyway," Ron said dismissively to her before turning and saying to Harry, "don't play."
"If I don't play, then no one else can, I'm the only Seeker. We'd have to forfeit and there would be no way Gryffindor would take the lead if we forfeit," Harry said in a depressed voice.
"Harry, Snape won't hold back, it's not like I can fire a curse at him without people noticing like last time," Hermione said.
"Snape won't do anything!" Lacie said finally standing up, "he isn't like that."
"He knows, Lacie!" Harry exclaimed and saying in a quieter voice as people were looking at them, "Snape knows, don't ask me how, but he knows that we know about the Philosopher's Stone and that we're onto him."
Lacie laughed half-heartedly, "You mean Snape read your mind and found out?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," Harry said, starting off unsure but growing more determined. "He read my mind."
"Absurd."
"You're absurd, Lacie, can't you see past your opinion of him and see what he's really like?" Harry asked, "He terrorises Neville, mocks me and my scar and Ron can't concentrate because of the insults the Snape says to him. Hermione gets called a know-it-all and that makes her sensitive, God knows why."
"I admit he favours - ..."
"Your brother, who by the way, made the whole school laugh at you. Snape likes that type of person, maybe because, he's a stinking Slytherin like your brother!"
Harry stormed off. Lacie stared at his back and turned to the girl's dormitory and stomped her way up. Hermione looked at Ron, slightly open-mouthed. It was the first time that Hermione had seen Harry really lose control like that and snap at someone. It was the first time that Lacie had an argument with Harry – the first time that Harry had an argument with someone. Hermione had always expected it to be Ron.
When Hermione went to the dormitory, she saw Parvati, Lavender and Cheryl all giggling in their designated corner of the room. Lacie's bed was the only one that had its curtains drawn around it, separating her from everyone else. Hermione walked towards it, knowing that something was definitely wrong.
"Ooh, I wouldn't, Hermione," Parvati said. Hermione, as she always did, ignored her and opened the curtains. There was a frantic jolt of movement and Hermione saw Lacie cover her face with her pillow. Hermione ignored Lavender's warning too and climbed onto the bed.
Lacie had been crying. That much was obvious when Lacie looked at her. Her eyes were red, redder than when she had an argument with Draco and he'd called her a changeling and threw a drink at her.
"Harry doesn't mean what he said," Hermione said quietly, so the other three girls in the room couldn't overhear them.
"He's right, though," Lacie said, wiping her eyes, "Snape's a bully, like my brother. Draco was right, I was like him once, and I was the one who basically told Draco to take Neville's toad. I used to see Muggleborns as dirty blooded too, despite my mother telling me that all magical folk were equal and now it's coming back to me." She sobbed, "Oh, Hermione, why is everything that I believed in crashing around me?"
Hermione leaned forward. She didn't mind that Lacie had admitted to once being prejudiced. She remembered the first time that she had met Lacie and how she had defended her from her brother and had apologised the moment she saw how upset Hermione was. She wrapped her arms around Lacie. It was in the past. All of it.
"Lacie, you're just seeing," Hermione said. "It's not that Snape is a bully, well, he is, but he's your Uncle Severus too. Draco's always been a bully and I know it's hard to accept that he wants to make you one of his victims too but it doesn't mean they've changed. It just means you've seen a new side to them that you're not used too."
"How come you haven't changed?" Lacie sniffed.
Hermione laughed awkwardly, "I have nothing to change into."
Lacie looked at her and considered her, she opened her mouth but closed it. Instead of saying something, she reached for Hermione and hugged her. "You're the only one I need, Hermione. You're so strong."
Lacie didn't let go, and after a while she had fallen asleep. Hermione had grown steadily wearier as she listened to the sounds of Lacie's breathing and fell asleep too.
The next morning, Hermione found herself strewn between sheets on a bed that wasn't hers. She looked around groggily and realised that she must have fallen asleep on Lacie's bed. She clambered out of bed and saw that the dormitory was empty. Sunlight was streaming in through the normally closed curtains. Stretching, Hermione yawned and slid off the bed. Her eyes lazily glided over the clock that hung next to Lavender's bed. She stopped. For a second she thought that the clock said that it was half-past twelve. She looked at the clock and jumped. It was half-past twelve! The Quidditch match was about to start in half-an-hour, and she hadn't thought of anything to help against Snape who was sure to make Harry suffer a fifty-foot dive.
Hermione could imagine it and there was nothing Hermione could do to distract him. She couldn't exactly shoot a spell across the pitch at him, especially if he was on the opposite end. What if she hit a Gryffindor team member?
She wrung her hands, shaking them out until it hurt.
A scream made Hermione scream and jump out of her skin. Hermione looked at the person who had screamed first.
"Lacie? Why aren't you at the Quidditch Pitch?" Hermione asked, her heart calming itself down from the fright that she had just put it through.
"Why aren't you at the Quidditch Pitch?" she countered.
"I just woke up, why didn't you wake me up?" Hermione demanded to know.
Lacie looked at her feet and didn't answer. She shifted her weight around, from one leg to another. Hermione narrowed her eyes and actually looked at Lacie. She was wearing her school robes tightly around her, pale skin-coloured tights, grey leg-warmers and her school shoes. Lacie had never worn that combination in her life,
Hermione snickered, "What on earth are you wearing?"
Lacie rolled her eyes and threw something by her trunk. Hermione took a look at what it was. Ballet shoes.
"What - ..." Hermione looked up at Lacie and took a step back. Her friend was dressed in a pale blue leotard that was covered from the waist down by a sheer, flowing pale blue skirt.
"You do ballet?" Hermione asked a little hoarse.
Lacie sighed, "Yes."
"Since wh - ..."
"Since I was three," Lacie interrupted, walking into the dormitory towards her bed, "Mother wanted me to continue with lessons when I came to Hogwarts, so every morning I wake at half-past five and train from six o'clock to eight o'clock on schooldays and on weekends I dance until twelve o'clock."
"Why - ..."
"I never told you because you never asked," Lacie replied curtly, "I-I wanted to keep this a secret."
Hermione crossed her arms, "Obviously, since you've been sneaking around doing ballet behind everyone's back."
"Everyone has secrets, even you do," Lacie snapped.
"What's come over you?" Hermione asked, uncrossing her arms and walking to her friend.
"Who is Lauren? Is she your best friend in the Muggle world you live in?" Lacie asked through gritted teeth.
"How do you know about Lauren?" Hermione asked, everything froze in her and she took a step back.
"You were muttering her name in your sleep and twitching, what, do you miss her?" Lacie spat pushing past Hermione to her bed.
"L-Lauren is not my best friend," Hermione said after a moment, why was Lauren's ghost haunting her even so far away? "She was someone I knew."
"She obviously was important," Lacie sniffed. Lacie was playing with the bracelet that Hermione had given her at Christmas.
Ron was right. Malfoy jealousy was legendary.
"Not as important as you," Hermione said, walking to Lacie and leaning on one of her bedposts.
"You say that now," Lacie said, deciding to light up the bracelet unnecessarily and to turn the lights off.
"If you are my best friend that I know you are, then you should know that Lauren Fullkomna is not my best friend, nor is she important to me anymore," Hermione said, "Trust me."
Hermione knew that she had won Lacie over when she pulled the bracelet onto her wrist. Hermione smiled at her, slightly relieved.
"Do you know that I was worrying so much over how much you prefer this Lauren person that I couldn't concentrate on my steps? I couldn't pirouette properly and Miss Belle-Faire threatened to not let me do en pointe until fourth year," Lacie said pouting.
"En pointe?" Hermione asked in a confused tone.
"The dream of every aspiring ballet student!" Lacie exclaimed, throwing her white school blouse over her leotard and buttoning it up, "dancing on your toes."
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
"Don't be sorry!" Lacie laughed with a wide grin, "but I am relieved that I'm still the most important person!"
Hermione shook her head and looked at the time. Twelve forty-five! Hermione still hadn't found something to distract Snape. She guessed that she was probably going to have to throw herself on the pitch to distract everyone, even Snape. She really didn't want to visit the Hospital Wing again. She changed out of her slept-in uniform and threw it onto her bed. Someone was probably going to take it to wash today if she left it on the bed. She rooted through her trunk and found something that she hadn't thought would be in the trunk.
Well, I think I know how I'm going to break Snape's eye contact.
X-x-x-x-x
"What on earth is that?" Lacie asked as Hermione pulled it out of her pocket at the stands. She had arrived with Lacie just as the captains of each respective team were shaking hands.
"A slingshot," Hermione grinned. Ron took it from her fingers.
"I never thought this of you, Hermione Granger," Ron said admiring the elasticity of it. He pulled it back, and pretended to aim at Snape.
"I'm not all about reading books, you know," Hermione rolled her eyes, "I've been told that I can fire a slingshot better than any other person, bar David, of course."
The David and Goliath reference was lost on Lacie and Ron. Hermione rolled eyes and took the slingshot back from Ron and slipped it in the waistband of her skirt next to her wand. If her slingshot skills failed on her, she had also learnt the Leg-Locker Curse, getting the idea from Draco Malfoy.
The same person was strolling towards Hermione, Lacie and Ron. This earned another eye-roll from Hermione. Hermione looked away from Malfoy to concentrate on the match.
"Finally admitted that Gryffindor have a better Quidditch team?" Lacie asked loftily, "unable to support your terrible House team?"
"Hardly," Malfoy retorted just as airily. "The Gryffindor team are so pitiful."
"How?" Ron asked, distractedly, Snape had just flown in front of Harry, a move that almost knocked Harry off his broom but also stopped him from following something glittering. There was a cheer of 'boos' from the Gryffindors. Ron roared at Snape, demanding him to be removed and called him a handful of names that was lost to the Gryffindor ire.
Fred and George Weasley had gone complaining to Snape and as a result, Hufflepuff were awarded a penalty, causing more boos. Hermione was so focused on the match that it took Neville's shove for Hermione to look away.
"What?"
Neville's words were lost on Hermione as the Gryffindors booed Snape once more for giving Hufflepuff a free pass. Instead, he pointed over at the teacher's stand.
Dumbledore.
There was no way that Snape was going to jinx Harry after all! Hermione sat down in her seat, but she was the only one who did. Neville, who had been seated next to her, was no longer there and Ron was rolling on top of Malfoy. Lacie was trying to pull Ron off him. Neville was challenging both Crabbe and Goyle, who were both taller than he was and looked more terrifying.
"He isn't worth the detention!" Lacie kept shouting. Everyone else was more interested in the match, with the occasional insult towards Snape. Hermione pulled her wand and said the first spell that came into her mind, not caring which one she hit. Ron's legs forced themselves together and he rolled to the side. Lacie fell on top of him. Malfoy scrambled from underneath Ron sporting a bloody lip. He stood up awkwardly, brushed himself off and chuckled.
"Granger you missed!" he laughed at Hermione, "you missed me!"
"I won't!" Lacie said aloud as she pointed her wand directly at Draco.
"You wouldn't dare," Draco said through gritted teeth. "I'll tell Mother and she'll really hate you then!"
Lacie kept her wand pointed at him for a moment before dropping her arm. She pointed at Ron and performed the counter-curse to the Leg-Locker Curse that Hermione had put on him. Once Ron was able to move, he jumped to his feet and was ready to pounce on Draco. Lacie held him back, raised an eyebrow and bit her lip. Draco snickered in a smug manner and pulled on the lapels of his robes and nudged Crabbe and Goyle, who were in the process of lifting Neville up by his robes.
There was a small clapping noise. Hermione looked across at Lacie who had started clapping in a rhythmic manner.
"Draco Malfoy is a wimp,
He goes running to his mum.
Draco Malfoy is a coward,
Maybe because he's too dumb"
Lacie continued her chant and after a while, Ron joined in. Surrounding Gryffindors heard the chant, and the message that was spreading by it. As most of them disliked Malfoys, they joined in for the fun of it. Soon, most people who didn't know what was going on were clapping along to it.
Draco was getting redder and redder with every repetition of the verse. The clapping, the chanting, the laughing and pointing made it worse.
The laughing and the pointing.
Hermione remembered this exact scenario. The laughing and the pointing. Her cheeks flushed. Her breath grew shallower. She wanted it to stop! It needed to stop! She rushed towards Lacie and pulled on her arms, stopping her from leading the clapping.
"Enough, Lacie."
Lacie laughed, "Don't defend him, Hermione."
"I'm not, but this isn't funny anymore," Hermione said, "Remember what it was like to have people laughing at you?"
"This is why I'm doing it, I want him to feel the same, an eye for an eye, Hermione," Lacie said, trying hard to clap along despite Hermione holding her wrists apart.
"You're not like your brother, remember?" Hermione said.
Lacie paused and her arms stopped resisting. She gave Hermione a dirty look and pulled her hands out of Hermione's arms. With one final resentful look at her brother, she turned around and tried to stop the people chanting. She wasn't trying hard enough as she was laughing along with the people, and finally, when Harry caught the Snitch, the chant was clapping was engulfed by the cheers of the Gryffindors.
"I would thank Hermione," Hermione heard Lacie say as the Gryffindors ran from the stands to get on the pitch to cheer Harry.
"I didn't need her help," Draco spat.
Lacie gave him a contemptuous look and turned away, pulled Ron with her as she went with the other Gryffindors to the pitch to cheer Harry for catching the Snitch. It was possibly one of the quickest catches of all Quidditch matches, and it had come at the right time too. Neville was nursing a black eye but he stumbled over to the pitch. Soon, Hermione was the only Gryffindor left to celebrate Gryffindor's victory, and the fact that they have surpassed Slytherin in the race to the House Cup.
Hermione walked to the steps that were past Draco. She was intending to ignore him, seeing as he had not really needed her help, however, he never seemed to want to let her ignore him.
"I didn't need your help," Draco sniffed as she passed him.
"Of course you didn't," Hermione said angrily, "it would taint your reputation to have a Muggle-born help you."
"I - ..." Draco started but Hermione had started to walk away, "I'm glad Lacie has a friend like you."
Hermione stopped and looked back at him, she looked at the empty stands and opened her mouth slightly. She wanted to say something back but he probably wouldn't listen to her.
Hermione turned away, with a small smirk.
It wasn't every day that she got a compliment from someone, especially Draco Malfoy.
To resolve confusion, Narcissa doesn't hate Lacie, nor is she shunning Lacie from the family. Lucius, is merely putting words into Draco's mouth to try and get Lacie 'back' from being too Gryffindor-ish shall I say.
Love, Becky.
