Chapter 12 Return Of The Disgraced Ex-Head Boy

"I say we run on three", Harry yelled out above the gale force winds that were whipping across the castle grounds. Currently Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing at the edge of the stone courtyard, cloaks and scarves wrapped tightly around their bodies, schoolbags slung over their shoulders as they dismally looked at the trees bent almost backwards in the heavy winds, students streaking across the grounds, letting out dull shrieks at the weather, though their voices were quickly drowned out by the deafening winds.

"I still think we're mad for going to class!" Ron roared in reply.

"What?" Hermione shouted out, leaning closer to Ron to hear him better.

"I think we should just skip the class!" he yelled in reply.

"Come on, one, two three, run!" Harry bellowed, and pulled Hermione's arm. All three held tighter to their cloaks and dashed across the muddy, windswept grounds, not stopping until they reached the safety of the greenhouse. How the glasshouse could maintain its structure in the fierce winds was beyond Hermione, though she severely doubted if there wasn't some magical help in the matter. She shuddered as she reached the slightly warmer greenhouse, though it was not much of an improvement, even if it was dry and wind free. She took of her thick winter cloak and brushed her wild and frizzy hair behind her ear.

"Come on, let's go find a good spot", she called out to the boys, but they were already deep n conversation again and hadn't heard a word she said. Hermione let out a sigh and grabbed Ron's hand, dragging him along. They reached a spot near the middle of the greenhouse, closest to the warm ducts running above their heads along the roof, and furthest away from the draughty corners.

"I'm telling you, she just cornered me the other day, while I was making my way back from Quidditch and literally pushed me into one of those alcoves. It was strange, I never would have thought of Susan Bones to be so… so forward!" Harry continued on, though what exactly he was on about Hermione wasn't sure, but Ron had obviously been privy to the whole of the conversation and was nodding his head emphatically.

"That's mental mate! I'm telling you, those Hufflepuff girls sure know how to catch you off guard!" Ron let out a low whistle and laughed, to which Harry cracked a grin and laughed as well.

"What do you think Hermione?" Harry asked, noticing that she should probably be involved in the conversation too.

"Oh honestly!" Hermione sighed shaking her head and putting down the Herbology book she was reading over. "Is that all you two can really think of? You boys are all the same! And might I remind you Harry, you have a girlfriend!"

"Hermione, relax will ya", Ron cried out, placing a placatory hand on her arm in an attempt to calm the obviously irate girl down. "I mean it's not like he's actually gonna cheat on Ginny, now is he?" Ron quickly snapped his head around to face Harry and shot him a look that screamed that Harry had better not dare.

"No worries there mate!" Harry replied raising his hands in defence.

"Honestly!" Hermione sighed and pulled her Advanced Herbology: The Plants And Their Magical Properties out of her bag, flipped it open to where her bookmark had kept her place and read on.

"First thing Hermione does when she loses an argument", Harry smirked, and leaning his head closer to Ron and pretending he was whispering something conspiratorially to him, even though Hermione could perfectly hear what he was saying. "Is go into a huff and pull out a book to read to prove she is superior to us".

"I totally agree with you mate, look she's creasing her brows together. That's a sure-fire sign that she's getting pissed off!" Ron quipped and laughed good-naturedly.

"I'm not in a huff and we weren't arguing!" Hermione shot out irritably.

"Whatever you say 'Mione!" Ron replied, using his pet name for her, which caused Hermione to shoot him a look, though it was not as filled with irritation as the one before. They lapsed into silence and after a while Ron turned to Harry and they began conversing about Quidditch or something along those lines, and Hermione, who had set her book down on the nearest pot, wanted to join in the conversation, but found she had been frozen out. The boys were too busy talking amongst each other to notice Hermione sitting next to them, staring absently into space, bored and feeling very left out.

As the late November setting sun slowly made its way through the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and finally disappeared under the Earth for one more day, found Hermione sitting at the large wooden table at one end of her Heads common room, her reading books, notes and parchments scattered around her in what looked like to everyone as a complete mess, but to Hermione held a meticulous system that only she knew. Currently her head was leaning so close to the table, her nose was almost touching it, her left hand scribbling along the parchment so frantically it was a miracle she hadn't torn a hole in the parchment yet.

"Granger, keep on going that way and you'll actually manage what you've been threatening to do since your know-it-all first year and disappear behind all those notes of parchment", Malfoy drawled into her ear.

Hermione let out a shriek and dropped her quill on the parchment in fright, one hand placed over her heart as she tried to calm her breathing.

"For God's sake Malfoy!" she cried out angrily and let out a sigh of dismay as she spotted her quill on her parchment, the ink soaking its way into the parchment, leaving behind a large black spot that obscured her tiny handwriting. She picked up her quill and placed it in its inkwell once more, before she turned to face Malfoy and fix him with a glare.

"Have you got nothing better to do than to scare me?"

"No", he replied simply, smirking down at her.

"Don't you already have all your homework completed for the next two weeks?" Malfoy asked, scrunching up his nose to which Hermione could only chuckle.

"Yes I do!" she replied pointedly, the smile quickly vanishing from her face, "But since you, like everybody else seems to have forgotten, we've got the NEWTs to sit this year!"

"It's November Granger!" Malfoy exclaimed, shaking his head at her absurdity.

"Your point being?"

"I give up you're a lost cause", he said and turned to walk away from her.

Hermione sighed to herself and rolled her eyes, before turning around in her chair and picking up her wand, which she promptly pointed at her splatter-covered parchment, intending to siphon of the excess ink, but she sighed in dismay as she saw that the ink had already dried. Stupid Malfoy!

Two hours later, after having unsuccessfully managed to complete her History of Magic revision work, Hermione had grabbed her cloak to stave of any draughty chills and decided to go for a walk along the corridors of Hogwarts castle in an attempt to stay away from Malfoy and get a chance to just think. With her Head girl badge clipped onto her robe and her ponytail bobbing merrily behind her, Hermione made her way through the corridors of the fifth floor, having already caught three fourth years with fireworks and disengaged a sixth year couple from a very public display of affection in the middle of the corridor, to which Hermione had disengaged themselves from each other and sent them off with an, "Honestly!" She was feeling in a much better mood these last few minutes, she had stopped and talked to Parvati and Dean Thomas and had taken great delight in seeing that they were still very much together and rather crazy about each other. She had sighed happily at this sight, but despite the fact that her heart yearned for the same, she had pushed that emotion away and continued on in her ramblings.

Hermione was about to give up on her walk, her toes were becoming incredibly cold and she silently cursed herself for not wearing heavier shoes, when she saw that she was close to the Ravenclaw common room, and who could be ahead of her, leaning against the wall, but none other than that familiar tidy brown hair, large nose and brown eyes of Anthony Goldstein, the Ex-Head Boy. He was not aware of her presence and had pushed himself off from the wall, intent on going back towards the Ravenclaw common room, when Hermione cried out, quite surprised with herself and his sudden reappearance.

"Anthony!" she called out, "Wait!"

The boy stopped momentarily, his back to Hermione and slowly swivelled on the spot, turning around to face her. It took him a second to recognise her voice, and at her sudden appearance he smiled, a little unsure of what to do.

"Hermione…" he said, "I can explain about everything!"

"Where have you been? I've heard that you were expelled and others said you were suspended. No-one quite seems to know what happened to you. You just done a disappearing act after that night".

"Yeah about that…"

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, cocking her head a little to the side and taking a few steps towards him. "You look a little scared of me", she laughed somewhat nervously at this.

"You must hate me after all that, not doing a thing all year, leaving you with the job of doing both our Heads jobs, trying to get you to vouch for me when Mc Gonagall came in and now leaving you with Draco Malfoy as Co-Head. I'd heard", Anthony replied in quick succession.

"I'll admit that I wasn't the happiest person to be left with all the work, but it was ok and I managed just fine. Mostly I was worried about you and your constant disappearing acts. Did they really expel you, I mean it can't really be, you're here and in your uniform no less, but what do I know?"

"No Hermione, I'm not expelled and you needn't worry so much about me", Anthony smiled at this last part. "I got suspended for being in Hogsmeade that night without permission. You can imagine what kind of an outcry that caused among the Professors. They suspended me for four weeks and I just got back this morning. Frankly to be honest I've been a little unsure of my return. It seems quite a few rumours have built up in my absence!"

Hermione laughed to this and nodded her head, smiling with mirth. "Well you're right about that! Anthony Goldstein the amazing disappearing act. I believe one fourth year Hufflepuff was certain she had seen you in Australia, God knows how she could have been there to see you there, but then they were all as crazy as that theory. You would have been proud of their bouts of imagination. If you want you can always talk to me Anthony, you and I, we got on well", Hermione said.

"Thanks Hermione, I really appreciate that, and you know what, why don't I take you up on that offer? You can fill me in on life in Hogwarts since I've been gone and what it's like to have the Slytherin Prince as Head Boy!"

"Oh God don't you start on that too!" Hermione cried shaking her head, but her act of trying to appear perturbed was lost when she cracked a smile. "And you can tell me all about what happened to you".

"Well then why don't you lead the way?" Anthony replied, motioning politely with her hand that ladies should go first. They ambled comfortably down the corridor and slowly but surely made their way down the many staircases to the ground floor.

"So you're telling me, they just gave Draco Malfoy the job?" Anthony queried, quite flabbergasted.

"Yeah, honestly I don't know why, I mean he has good grades and in a way I suppose he does command respect, but I do still worry about him abusing his power. Why they couldn't have made Ron or Ernie Head Boy is beyond me!"

"Well then he has the perfect Head Girl to keep him in line", at this comment Hermione blushed a deep scarlet, but Anthony either didn't notice or didn't comment on it for he continued on, "But don't be so surprised with Ernie not being made Head Boy, he was with me in Hogsmeade a few times when I was there".

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, eyes wide.

Anthony made a motion of drinking from a bottle with his hands and Hermione's eyes went wider.

"You don't seriously say he was drinking?!" she cried shocked.

"I did say not to be so surprised, the stress of the exams were getting to him and he has a lot to live up to, high expectations from himself and his family".

"Was it the same for you?"

"Me?" Anthony mused, stopping for a moment to think, "I suppose you could say something like that. Honestly I don't know why I done it, the thrill of danger, getting caught; the kind of friends I had. I suppose that's what you get if you decide it would be a fun idea if you break out of Hogwarts at night and go drinking with some Slytherins".

"Slytherins, but I heard nothing of them getting caught that night!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah that's the thing when you have Slytherin buddies when you're doing something against the rules, they're not going to stick their neck out for you, and if faced with the threat of being discovered, they will leave you in the lurch and let you fall and take the blame".

"Oh my God, why didn't you say something?"

"And say what? Sorry for drinking underage in the Hogs Head late on a Saturday night, yeah I've a few buddies too, but they scarpered off and left me to face the music!" Anthony ground out bitterly. "Either way it wouldn't have helped the situation and just because the Slytherins have no problem with doing shady things doesn't mean I have to".

"I'm so sorry Anthony, I know I could just say you shouldn't have let yourself in with Slytherins in the first place, but who am I to talk?" Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"So tell me about yourself, how are you doing with Malfoy as Co-Head?" Anthony asked, stopping for a moment to gaze down at Hermione.

Hermione let out a laugh that quickly subsided and sighed deeply. "Oh where do I start?"

"Well you can start with telling me why you blushed when I insinuated that you could keep Malfoy under control and what you just meant with not letting yourself in with Slytherins. What's going on with you and Draco Malfoy?"

"I forgot you were always so good at reading people", Hermione replied. "Well what is there to say, other than what a big mess".

"You're still with Ron Weasley or did you two break up?" Anthony added, starting to walk on again.

Hermione blushed even deeper at this and looked down, unable to reply.

"Hermione you alright?"

Hermione looked up and for a moment he thought he detected her eyes glistening, but she blinked a few times and the unshed tears were gone. "I don't know why people always paint me as this saint. I certainly amn't one".

"You won't get those type of judgements from me". To this, Hermione looked up and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you!"

"What for? You watched out for my back I'll do the same. Us Heads have to look after each other", Anthony replied stoically, though Hermione detected a glimmer of a smile.

Feeling a lot better than she had been in days, she grinned back at him and teased, "Yes well Anthony, you might want to get your head checked out. You're not a Head anymore. And there I thought the Ravenclaws were meant to be smart!"

"Oh touché Hermione. I forgot you can have an acid tongue comparable to that of Rita Skeeter!" A muscle in Anthony's face twitched as Hermione scowled.

"Low blow Goldstein", she quipped, a mock scowl on her face.

"And insulting my intelligence isn't?"

"Ah but you're forgetting I'm still a Head!" Hermione smiled at her response and Anthony let out a laugh, swinging an arm around her shoulders and tapping her on the shoulders.

"That you are Granger, that you are!" Hermione's smile disappeared at his mentioning of her last name. It reminded her too much of Malfoy. They walked on in silence for a few moments, leisurely strolling down the darkening corridors, torches in their brackets springing to life and magically igniting themselves, so that it looked like as they were walking past a torch in a bracket the flame would burst to life.

Hermione looked up a few times to see that Anthony was looking ahead, a serious look on his face, as though contemplating. She noticed, when the light of the torches flickered across his face that he looked a lot healthier than he had been a month ago, just before he was suspended. His face had a lot more colour and life in it, the pallid look was gone and he no longer had deep rings under his eyes. She smiled, glad to see he was doing better now. She had been worried when he disappeared without so much as a word to her all those weeks ago, but Malfoy had soon taken away every spare thought she would have had for Anthony. It amazed her fast things had changed, just a mere five weeks ago, Anthony was still Head Boy, she shared her duties with him, her and Ron were a lot better and Malfoy was nothing but a slight irritation. She sighed, and at this Anthony glanced quickly over at her, before casting his gaze back on the corridor in front of him.

Hermione stirred herself out of her thoughts and looked up at Anthony, "How have the Ravenclaws been treating you since you came back?"

"Not good", Anthony replied, scowling slightly at this and looking down at his feet.

"How do you mean?" Hermione queried, eyes wide.

"Well Ravenclaws aren't the most prideful of houses. I mean Gryffindors support everyone, especially themselves, Slytherins wouldn't deign being seen supporting any other house so they rally all that energy into sticking together and Hufflepuff, they don't have much other than each other. Ravenclaws are a funny lot, they will completely support you when you're at your best, the top, but you make a mistake, you fall from grace and the whole house can turn against you".

"What about Terry and Michael? Surely they haven't abandoned you", Hermione asked, the worry evident in her voice.

"Oh Michael was a bit pissed with me and what I done, but if you mean have they ditched me too, then the answer is no", Anthony replied and he let out a smile as he saw Hermione's visible relief.

"What are you going to do?" she asked him.

Anthony just shrugged his shoulders and stayed quiet. A moment of silence passed before he opened his mouth. "What's left for a disgraced Ex-Head Boy?" Anthony asked, sighing heavily.

"What's left for a cheating, hypocritical Head Girl?" Hermione quipped, raising her eyebrows and shaking her head at this.

"We make a fine pair of Heads, don't we?" Anthony asked, a trace of a smile gracing his elegant features. At this Hermione looked up and their eyes met for a moment. Both in unison tried to stop themselves from smiling, but when they saw the other trying to remain serious, they cracked and Hermione and Anthony burst out laughing, their chuckles reverberating down the empty corridor. Hermione clutched her sides as she tried to contain her laughter while Anthony leant against the wall for support his head bent low, his shoulders shaking.

Eventually the laughter subsided and Hermione heaved, gasping for air as she clutched her aching sides. Anthony still had his head bent low, and she detected his swiping a lone tear from his eye. He righted himself up again and grinned at Hermione.

"Well anyway", he said, trying to compose himself and the situation once more.

"Yes, let's act like the mature people we are. I have a reputation to uphold", Hermione replied primly, flattening down her hair and straightening out her school skirt.

"Come on I'll walk you back to your common room, it's getting late anyway", Anthony spoke up, turning to face her, his arm held out as if ushering her ahead of him.

"You were always such a gentleman!" Hermione teased and walked on ahead, letting Anthony come up behind her, until he was walking next to her, matching his long stride with her short one. They walked along amiably in silence, walking along oblivious to the stares and whispers that were following them from other students, either shocked that Anthony Goldstein had returned or that Hermione was actually still talking to him. They glanced at each other for a moment, smirking at each other and walking on both with a spring in their step.

When they reached the outside of the Heads common room, Anthony stopped and Hermione halted next to him.

"Well here you are, see no monsters attacked you along the way. You're safe in my company", Anthony joked, his tone light and humorous.

"Well I don't think the rest of the student body would agree with you", Hermione replied, smirking slightly.

"Pfff, what do they know?"

"Thank you for being a good friend", Hermione spoke quietly, almost timidly.

"For what? You know you can always talk to me, I won't ever judge you for what you do. I would be too much of a hypocrite if I did".

"Well thank you anyway, and you know you can always talk to me", Hermione replied, relaxing a little and letting a smile through.

"No sweat, now you'd better go in there and go annoy Malfoy for me", Anthony said, clapping her on the shoulder.

Hermione smiled and Anthony added, "Can I give you a bit of advice though?"

"Sure go on ahead".

"Don't sell yourself short, that's the only thing I can say. Don't ever forget who you are", Anthony said, his tone sombre. Hermione nodded her head, gave him a last grateful smile and spoke the password for the portrait, which opened promptly and she slipped in through the gap before the painting closed behind her. She sighed, a contented look washed over her face, glad in the knowledge that despite everything she would always have one person who would stand by her side and not judge her. She secretly thanked the heavens for Anthony's character and wondered why she had never seen it herself or made an effort to really get to know and become friends with him. That thought she never got a chance to ponder on as the cold tone of Malfoy disrupted her musings and once more pulled her out of her reverie. He had a real knack of doing that, she thought irritated.

"Granger close your mouth you look like a dying goldfish like that. Although with that mess you call hair, goldfish might be too much of a compliment for you", Malfoy drawled, turning around on the sofa that he had been lying on to smirk at her.

"Oh Malfoy, you do know how to compliment a girl!" Hermione replied dismissively, adding a large sigh for dramatic effect. She walked on across the common room, clearly her destination was her private room and from the determination in her step it was obvious nothing that Malfoy would say would stop her.

"Oh Granger, you have a letter. It's lying on the table. The owl nearly clawed out my eyes when it arrived with the letter when I wouldn't take it", Malfoy complained, as if the arrival of a letter for Hermione had been such an imposition on his life.

"Stop whinging Malfoy, you sound like a three year old child!" Hermione sighed, irritated even more by his childishness. She walked over to the table n the common room and picked up the letter.

Malfoy, who was either curious as to its contents or thinking of another way to irritate her got up and walked towards her, slinging an arm around her waist and began leaving a trail of kisses running down the back of her neck. He latched onto her pulse point and sucked it lightly, eliciting a groan from Hermione as she lowered the letter she had begun reading.

"Malfoy…" she groaned. Malfoy in turn flicked his tongue along the underside of her ear and left butterfly kisses along her lower jaw, which caused Hermione to let out another barely audible groan. She tried to hold onto her concentration.

"Shush Granger", Malfoy whispered into her neck, his left hand wrapped tighter around her waist, while the other began leaving a trail of tingling skin as his hand trailed down her upper thigh, to where her skirt ended. His fingers played with the hem of her skirt and this finally broke Hermione's resistance and damning her concentration, Hermione allowed herself to be turned around. She seized Malfoy by the collar, kissing him deeply. Malfoy's hand fisted deeply in her wild hair, while the other cupped her rear, his hand trailing down her thigh under it reached the crook of her knee, which he brought up closer to him, relishing in the contact their provocative stance gave him. Hermione let out a whimper as he ground into her, her skirt falling down, revealing more of her upper thighs, which Malfoy used to his full advantage, running his hand up and down her leg. Their tongues in the meantime twirled in their fiery dance, both craving more contact and more passion.

Hermione suddenly remembered her letter and disengaged her arms from around his neck and lowered her leg, taking a step away, panting slightly. Her lips were red and swollen, her hair mussed and her cheeks were tinged pink. Malfoy's own eyes were a stormy grey, a clear contrast to his usual emotionless silver orbs. His gaze, which was fixed on her was deep and penetrating and Hermione took a step back, knowing how close she was to jumping him again or that he would do the same to her. She bent down and picked up the letter and began reading, slowly walking away from Malfoy. Though she had initially been wary of the letter and its contents, due to the unusual time of arrival, nothing could prepare her for its news.

From Malfoy's angle he saw how she began reading the letter her eyes drinking in every word and meaning, but he noticed the change in expression that washed over her delicate features. A look of shock followed by disbelief and then sorrow as grief overcame her and she let out a strangled sob.

As the tears began to flow down her cheeks and the sobs started in earnest, Malfoy was snapped out of his observation and before he knew what he was doing, he was walking up to her, not quite sure what he was doing. When it came to seducing a girl or getting his way he was an expert, but dealing with emotions or those of others he was as naïve about them as Hermione Granger was about his character. Malfoy wasn't quite sure what led him to do what he was about to do, but he had nevertheless taken those extra steps, crossed the boundary they had set long ago and enveloped Hermione in a hug.

She had either forgotten who he was or didn't care, for she flung her arms around his neck and cried into his chest, her whole body shaking with sobs. Malfoy wrapped one arm around her back, subconsciously rubbing the small of her back in circles, while the other entwined itself with her luxurious hair.

Hermione cried into his chest and Malfoy let her. Neither were sure exactly why both had temporarily let down their guard, but they had. Hell didn't freeze over either, then again that's the curious thing about feelings.


A/N: Well there we go, I'm really sorry it took me what over six months for this to come out. If this chapter feels a bit weird, I'll say an extra sorry because I've seem to have gotten myself out of the swing of writing and it'll take a bit until I'm back to my best.
Anyway, for that long wait you get an extra long chapter. Also i had so much fun writing Anthony Goldstein. He's a really fun character to write and apart from Draco and Hermione one of my favourites. I don't think people give him enough credit, in a way if it weren't for him Malfoy and Hermione might never have gotten together. I love the way how he instigates and resolves things. I also saw him as a bit of a preppy boy, I mean he is in Ravenclaw so I hope you agree with me.
Just to add some details were left vague on purpose, you will either find out later in the story or it wasn't central to the plotline so no need to fret.
Also the last scene of this chapter is rather telling and revealing, but I must caution you guys not to read too much into it. No jumping the gun here and declaring both have fallen madly in love with each other because they haven't but it is significant to their rather twisted relationship. You'll just have to see!

Now the last thing I can say is thank you for reading all the way through and please don't forget to review.
As Samantha from Sex and The City once said, "Flattery will get you everywhere!"

Agrolass