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Chapter 12-Look Pretty in Detention

Break time came and Harry and Ron found themselves an empty classroom so that they could talk privately.

"Do you fancy him?" Harry asked bluntly referring to Theo.

Ron nodded as he fiddled with the sleeves of his robes.

"Harry, mate, you know I care about you more than anything." Ron told him. "I mean I'd follow you through hell and back without complaint…you wouldn't even have to ask me to come with you, I'd just come anyway."

"Yeah I know." Harry replied finding it weird to look at his best friend and have Malfoy's face look back at him. "And we'll always be mates…right?" He asked with a touch of uncertainty.

"Course we will you idiot." Ron assured him with a big stupid grin.

"So…is this it then?" Harry asked. "Is this our…break up speech?"

"I suppose so." Ron mumbled with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Right…well, it's not too uncomfortable." Harry replied.

Ron chuckled slightly and as he did the tension between them broke and they moved to embrace one another in a purely platonical hug.

"So, Theodore Nott?" Harry asked. "You could do worse I suppose."

"Cheers." Ron said sounding relieved that Harry wasn't throwing a tantrum over the face his best friend had feelings for a Slytherin.

"If he hurts you in anyway I will massacre him." Harry said in full seriousness. "You know that right?"

"The girls would probably beat you to it." Ron pointed out thinking of Hermione and Ginny.

"True." Harry conceded. "How is Ginny? Have you spoken to her yet?" Harry asked.

Ron shook his head and shivered in revulsion as the memory of his sister forcing a kiss upon him passed through his mind.

"I'm sure we'll be able to put it behind us." Ron said. "Give it enough time and we'll laugh about the whole thing."

"Just think Ron, it could always be worse." Harry told him. "You could have been kissing Moaning Myrtle…or Umbridge."

***

Meanwhile, Draco was catching up with his Slytherin friends. Pansy, Blaise and Theo all sat around him as he told them how his feelings for Harry had developed and how the boy-who-lived now hated him more than ever. He even told them about Harry's reaction upon learning who he really was, however he left out the fact he wet his pants and that he was practically rescued by the other Gryffindor boys.

"Oh my poor Drakey." Pansy whined as she clutched him in a tight hug crushing his head to her bosom. "Just you wait till I see Potter…I will cause him so much pain and suffering he'll be begging for the dark lord to murder him."

"Just leave it Pans." Draco sighed.

"Dude, we just want to help." Blaise said. "Potter's hurt you so now as your friends it is our duty to crush his bones into dust and mangle his face beyond recognition."

"I like his face how it is thank you." Draco replied as Pansy finally released him from her suffocating hug. "Anyway I don't want to talk about this anymore alright. I love Harry and Harry hates me, there's nothing I can do about it and you can't do anything about it either so just…just leave it."

"Draco darling, Potter will come round." Theo told him bracingly. "It might take a while but eventually he'll realise how amazing you are."

"Me? Amazing? Yeah right." Draco grumbled sourly.

"You are Draco, and don't let anyone tell you different." Pansy said vehemently.

"Just be yourself around him Draco." Theo advised. "He feels something for you too, he must, otherwise he wouldn't have enjoyed your company when he thought you were Ron."

"I've got a headache." Draco complained. "Tell Flitwick I'm not well enough to attend Charms today…I'm going to go lie down…in my own bed."

The three Slytherins watched Draco slouch away with his eyes on his feet and his shoulders slumped. He looked so melancholy, as if everything had been ripped away from him and he had nothing left. He looked lifeless.

"Raise your hand if you want to punch Potter in the face." Pansy said as she raised her hand high in the air, Blaise and Theo doing the same.

***

That evening, Hermione had her first detention with Snape. Throughout dinner she grumbled and complained about how much revision time she was losing before skipping pudding and heading straight to the Potion Master's office so that she wouldn't be late.

On the way she passed by Blaise Zabini and she glared mutinously at him. He gulped slightly and ducked his head before hurrying away from her at top speed.

"Stupid idiot boy." Hermione snarled under her breath as the Slytherin disappeared; she was still angry at him for kissing her as a bet to determine her sexuality. "Just who does he think he is anyway? And Ronald's just as bad…he knew I had a little crush on Zabini yet he convinced him to kiss me anyway just so he could win a few galleons. I suppose they all think its funny…well I don't…not funny at all. And I don't even like Zabini anymore…he's completely immature and he has really bad hair. Why did he think I was a lesbian in the first place? I'm not a lesbian…ok I might not be some pink-loving girly-girl like Lavender Brown and maybe I'm not into fashion and make-up like Cho Chang and I don't have perfect hair but that doesn't mean I'm a lesbian."

"Do you often speak aloud to yourself Miss Granger?" A cold voice asked.

Hermione gasped in shock before realising she was now stood directly in front of professor Snape.

"Occasionally." Hermione answered when she recovered from her initial surprise. "Though no way near as much as I did when I was a child."

Snape just raised a single eyebrow at her before opening the door to his office and signaling for her to step inside. Somewhat nervously Hermione entered and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. The death-eater-turned-spy walked in after his pupil and shut the door with a loud snap that echoed around the room before he waved his wand and cast a spell that locked the door.

"Is that really necessary?" Hermione asked before she could stop herself.

"Whilst you are in my office Miss Granger you will only speak when spoken to is that understood?" Snape questioned.

"Yes sir." Hermione stammered feeling her knees grow weak.

"Sit." Snape ordered gesturing to the hard-backed chair on one side of the desk.

Obediently, Hermione dropped into the seat and crossed one leg over the other as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt. She suddenly felt uncomfortable with how much of her legs she was showing.

Seemingly unaware of his student's discomfort, Snape strode around to the opposite side of the desk and sat comfortably in his large black leather armchair.

Hermione watched him expectantly waiting for instructions on what she had to do. As she looked on, Snape took out a stack of essays and dipped his feather quill into the ink well before he began marking.

When he was part way through marking the fourth essay in the pile Hermione cleared her throat purposefully to remind him of her presence.

He ignored her the first time, he ignored her the second time and he ignored her the third time. However, when she cleared her throat for a fourth time Snape paused in his actions and glared at her menacingly. To his irritation she did not recoil in fear from the harsh stare as many in her position would. She simply sat up a little straighter.

"Do you practice being such an insufferable Gryffindor or does it come naturally?" Snape snapped at her as he dipped his quill in the ink well again and marked the essay with a black spiky D.

"I just wondered what I ought to be doing sir?" Hermione asked.

"Miss Granger, I believe I told you to only speak when spoken to." Snape replied.

"And so you did." Hermione told him with a smile. "And you asked me a question which thereby gives me permission to speak."

"Know-it-all." Snape muttered under his breath when he realised the young witch was right.

"You didn't answer my question sir." Hermione pointed out. "What am I supposed to be doing?"

"Just sit still, be quiet and look pretty." Snape hissed as he continued grading papers.

"Look pretty?" Hermione asked after just a few seconds of silence.

"Detentions over Miss Granger." Snape said in that ice-cold low voice of his that meant he was truly angry. "Remove yourself from my office."

"But…" Hermione began about to argue but the look he gave her in response chilled her very bones and she wisely scampered from the office.

When she returned to Gryffindor tower the first person she came across was Draco curled up on one of the sofa's stroking Crookshanks.

"Is Harry being nice to you?" Hermione asked as she knelt on the floor beside him and petted Crookshanks too.

"Haven't seen him." Draco replied. "I was planning to move back into the Slytherin common room but McGonagall told me I had to remain here until I get my body back. Anyway, how was your detention?"

"I'm not really sure." Hermione admitted. "I just had to sit in a chair whilst he graded papers…and I think Snape told me I was pretty."

"Well you are pretty." Draco told her and Hermione smiled as her cheeks turned a little pink.

"Thank you." She said shyly. "But…Snape shouldn't really be calling students pretty should he?"

"Probably not." Draco answered. "What exactly did he say?"

"He said 'sit still, be quiet and look pretty'." Hermione quoted putting on a dreadful imitation of Snape's silky voice.

"I take it you were pissing him off then?" Draco asked with a touch of amusement to his voice. "He was probably too angry to think about what he saying and it must have slipped out. My father used to say that to my mother a lot when he was annoyed with her, I don't think it really means anything…maybe it's just an expression."

"But he wouldn't have said it if he didn't think it would he?" Hermione asked. "I mean, he could have easily just told me to sit still and be quiet…he didn't have to say for me to look pretty."

"Hermione, if you're getting a crush on Snape I suggest you drown yourself in the lake now." Draco told her.

"What? I'm not getting a crush on him." Hermione replied as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "That's utterly ridiculous. He's my teacher and he's old enough to be my father I really don't know what you're talking about Draco."

"Of course not." Draco replied dryly. "Well, good…it's nice that you don't fancy Snape because if you did that would be bad."

"Why would it be bad?" Hermione asked. "It wouldn't really mean anything, students fancy their teachers all the time."

"I'm just saying that if you did have an interest in Snape, you'd have about as much chance with him as I have with Harry." Draco said. "Which is virtually no chance at all."

Hermione frowned before heading up to her dorm to talk to Ginny.

Draco remained on the couch and gradually the students around him made their way up to their dorms. Even Crookshanks scuttled up the stairs towards Hermione's room leaving Draco alone with just the dying fire for company.

I'll just sleep here tonight Draco told himself as he shifted to get more comfortable. I won't be in Harry's way here…ok I might have a sore back in the morning but that won't matter. Nothing can hurt more than the gaping hole in my heart, the hole Harry unknowingly created with his hurtful words and blinding hatred.

Although Draco settled down to sleep on the couch, when he awoke the following morning he was lying comfortably in Ron's bed. For one wild moment, Draco thought perhaps Harry had carried him up to bed during the night but he soon banished that unlikely thought. It must have been someone else, Dean perhaps…Dean was nice to him.

Yeah, it must have been Dean Draco decided as he climbed out of bed and prepared to face the school day.

To Be Continued

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