Hermione awoke in a sleepy haze of warmth. A yawn escaped from her supple, half-awake form as she arched her back and blinked the sleep from her eyes. She rolled over slightly, and curled up into the comfort that seemed to encompass her aching body. She welcomed it, too dazed to bother trying to figure out its source. It was enough just to feel safe and sound, with all the terror of her life held in by the enigmatic warmth.
Her eyes opened slowly, flickering under the weight of dreams. She took a look at the cold, empty room and quickly rolled her head back into the heat source, eyes closed and lips pout with desire for just a few more moments of peace. As the cognitive gears in her mind shook off the cobwebs of sleep and whirred into action, thoughts began to dance in her mind. The forefront of these thoughts was the source of comfort and warmth which enveloped her. With consciousness came the burden of curiosity. Her eyes creaked open once more, only to be blinded by alabaster skin. Her eyes snapped open and took in the full detail of the horrifying picture before her. Her face was planted in the crook of a pale faced, blond haired, devil's neck. She immediately threw herself back, only to be caught by his stony arms, locked in place as he slept. They draped around her shoulder, snared in her hair like pale white vines. Hermione squealed and tried harder to pull away, but his hand was caught in her curls, and refused to break free.
"Um… Malfoy?" Hermione whispered reluctantly. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to him, but it seemed like it was either that, or a hair cutting spell. Malfoy was sleeping heavy, like a log. He was snoring gently, and a thin line of drool dripped from his lips.
"Malfoy?" Hermione tried once again.
"Hmm…?" A still sleeping Malfoy responded from somewhere deep within the recesses of his dreaming mind.
"Malfoy! Wake up!"
"Huh…?" Malfoy's eyes fluttered slightly but he was still far from conscious.
"MALFOY!" Hermione debated for a moment before finally shouting. She wasn't about to let this idiot hold her hostage while he got his beauty rest.
"Five more minutes…" Malfoy groaned, tossing to the side, dragging her with him by the tendrils of her hair. Hermione gritted her teeth together. She wasn't about to cry out for something so trivial.
"For the love of Merlin…" Hermione muttered to herself once he had settled again, with his bony fingers still wrapped up in her famous mane.
Hermione furrowed her brow in thought, trying to peer through the situation and straight to the solution. She remembered something her mom had done to her when she was little and didn't want to wake up. She would put her fingers on Hermione's stomach and one at a time have the fingers creep up to her torso, like an insect. Then she would shout 'SPIDER!' at the top of her lungs.
Hermione sighed in frustration while chuckling silently at the memory.
Anything's worth a shot…
With one hand she touched Malfoy's stomach, and began to slowly creep it across his body. She noticed his eyes twitching, but they still refused to open. Once her hand was right at his neck she stopped, just moving her fingers lightly in place.
"SPIDER!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.
Malfoy's eyes snapped open and his head swiveled all around trying to locate the apparent arachnid. "WHAT? SPIDER? WHERE?" he roared. He actually seemed a bit afraid, clenching his arms close to his body (and dragging Hermione to his chest in the process/
After a few seconds Malfoy came into full awareness and tried to regain his stoic composure. His expression contorted into one of disgust.
"What the hell are you doing, mudblood? Get off of me."
Hermione untangled herself immediately, feeling a tinge of fear slip back in.
Malfoy got up and dusted his robe off disdainfully with his hand. "Now I stink of mudblood. Worst wakeup call I've ever had… Next time you stay on your side of the room, and I'll stay on mine, got it?" Malfoy muttered, glaring at Hermione. Hermione quirked her eyebrow at the idea of 'next time', but didn't pursue the idea further. Suddenly, fear hit her again and it hit hard. She didn't like seeing Malfoy angry anymore than she liked seeing Ron angry. She wished she'd just let him sleep. She'd forgotten how mean he could be when he was awake. Something about his waking form ensnared her in a web of fear, even when he wasn't being overtly aggressive He could just act moderately annoyed and it sent shivers down her spine. Even when he wasn't saying or doing anything, he just emitted a threatening feeling. Something that told the people around him it would be in their best interest to stay on their toes. He was like a snake. He didn't even have to do anything to appear sinister and dangerous.
Draco walked down the stairs with Granger trailing a little bit behind him. He stifled a yawn. He was still sleepy. He supposed that was to be expected considering he hadn't actually gone to sleep in several days. He was a bit of an insomniac.
He felt a little bit like he needed a good, long shower. He felt like his whole body was sticky with Granger's mudblood essence. It disgusted him. It had been drilled in him since he was just a little boy, not to associate with muggles, or those that shared their filthy blood. He'd been taught that they were loathsome, disease ridden creatures. Of course, his teachings were right. He had no doubt about that.
He glanced back at the mudblood in question, and debated rather or not to strike up a conversation. The silence between them was kind of awkward. It seemed like around him she was either crying or silent.
He decided not to bother. It wasn't like he had anything he wanted to say. In fact if he could have it his way, he would never talk to mudbloods at all. Especially that know it all, frizzy haired, buck toothed Granger.
He glanced back and couldn't help but notice that she wasn't quite as frizzy haired or buck toothed as she'd seemed in first year. Still repulsive but not as repulsive. Not that Draco cared about that. It was just an observation.
Finally, they arrived at the base of the tower. Draco opened the door, not bothering to check to see if Granger was still following or not.
He hardly had to look where he was going. It was as easy as breathing. He knew the directions to the great hall like the back of his hand. First a left, then a right, straight, a little diagonal, up two stair cases, turn left, turn left again, keep going straight and in no time you're right there in front of the Great Hall. It's doors were wide open still. Draco peaked his head inside and took a step back when he realized there was absolutely no one in there. Just a bunch of empty plates and cleaning house elves.
Granger looked at him with wide eyes.
"Shit." Malfoy hissed.
"We're late." Granger spoke, looking distressed to say the least.
"Alright… It's still only a few days into the school year. We'll just tell the teachers that we got lost." Draco swept his hand through his blond hair as he came up with the deception.
"You don't understand… I've never been late before…"
"There's a first time for everything, mudblood."
"Yes… but… I have Ron in my first hour today!"
"So?"
"He'll know something's up! I'm never late. He'll be suspicious. He'll hurt me…" Granger talked very fast, anxiously shifting from foot to foot. At the end of her statement she gave a barely there whimper.
"Don't worry about it." Draco shrugged.
"How?" Granger's eyes shone with fear and a dim pain. Like the memory of Ron beaming through, as she tried to hold it back.
"It's not like you've done anything wrong. You were just late. No big deal."
"You don't understand."
"Grow a back bone, mudblood. Nobody, not even him, can really throw the book at you just because you're a few minutes late."
"Most of the time he doesn't even need any excuse at all, Malfoy." Granger sighed.
"Well, you have to go to class sometime. The milk's already spilt. So, face facts. He already knows you're late, so no matter what you do now you're going to get hit. Now, you just have to live with it. There's nothing you can do but get your ass to class." Draco respond, intentionally trying to sound apathetic.
The mudblood just sighed once more, sadness and apprehension in her eyes.
She'll be fine, Draco thought to himself. A small part of him doubted it even as he thought the words.
She'll be fine… Right?
Hermione walked into her Potion's class looking down at her feet in anxiety and shame. Never before had she been late to a class, and she felt like she was letting herself down. She could feel Ron's eyes on her, and it made her nervous. Her heart was pumping double over time, panicking inside her chest, but on the outside she kept her composure, making a conscious attempt to appear normal and not fall to her knees. Every eye in the room was on her, but one pair of shocking emerald irises in the crowd held her ensnared in their hypnotic gaze. They saw through her guise of calm like her weak performance was made of gauze. It was almost as though he could see every frantic pump of her heart, hear every rabid tick of her inner clock.
She was glad her robe was long. It hid the trembling of her jello-knees as she walked.
"Ah, Ms. Granger. Glad to see you've decided to grace us with your presence this fine morning," Professor Snape paused mid-lecture, greeting Hermione with a hiss.
"I'm sorry sir, I was-"
"I don't care, Ms. Granger. Take your seat." Snape glared at her maliciously.
Without a word Hermione took her usual seat beside Ron. On the other side of the table sat Ginny, and Neville both with eyes transfixed on her.
"As I was saying…" Snape continued with his lecture on beetle eyes versus unicorn hair. Hermione hardly paid any attention.
With a nod of his chin Ron silently said: You're going to get it as soon as we're out of here. Where the hell have you been?
"Hi, Hermione. Where were you? We missed you at breakfast." Neville smiled kindly at her as he whispered.
"Yes, Hermione, where were you?" Ron inquired with a deceptive smile. Hermione knew nobody else caught the suspicion and anger in his eyes, but Hermione always noticed it even when no one else did. It seemed like that was just a piece of the beautiful and terrible world she lived in.
"I was just running a little behind getting ready is all."
"Well, that's a blatant lie. You weren't in the girl's dorm when I woke up. Where have you been these last couple of days Hermione?" Ginny's gentle and friendly voice asked, showing no suspicion, just mild curiosity.
"Fine… you caught me…" Hermione was never a very good liar, but desperate times called for desperate measures, "You see… over the summer I developed a bit of a medical problem."
Ron cocked one eyebrow, detecting the false note in her voice. Neville gulped heavily, his eyes wide in concern. Ginny just tilted her head to the side looking almost as skeptical as Ron.
"What kind of medical problem?" Ginny inquired cynically.
"Well, um… Sleepwalking." Hermione's voice took on a higher pitch as her heart fluttered.
"…So you haven't been in bed the last two nights, due to… sleepwalking?" Ginny's voices oozed with doubt.
Ron flashed Hermione a look. A deep, surprised, distrustful, angry look. He hadn't known she'd been away at night. Not last night, or any other night. He looked, for lack of a better description, suspicious and pissed off. To all others he looked so deeply composed, perhaps a little curious but Hermione knew better. Hermione could perceive easily the malice that other's could not.
Hermione turned back to Ginny, trying desperately to keep the obviousness of her lie out of her voice.
"Yes. Sleepwalking. The last two nights, I've gotten up in the middle of the night, and sleep-walked all around Hogwarts! Crazy, huh? I started doing it this summer at my house and you see… I just haven't quite kicked the habit."
"…If you say so…"Ron wasn't the only person in the Weasly family capable of sending looks. The look Ginny gave Hermione clearly read: Oh don't think you're off the hook yet, my friend!
Neville just shrugged his shoulders, as if to say: I'm just going to stay out of this one.
And Ron simply gave her a daring smirk and a quirk of his ginger eyebrow. Underneath the table he cracked his knuckles in anticipation and Hermione held back a flinch and put up a glaringly fake smile.
Draco walked into his charms class like he owned the place. It wasn't the first time he'd been late, unlike the stupid mudblood. Hell, he'd been late just yesterday to every one of his classes.
Professor Flitwick wasn't a very severe teacher. He seemed vaguely amused by Draco's lateness and just shook his head with a smile. "Glad to see you finally arrive, Mr. Malfoy. I was beginning to wonder if I should send out a search party," Flitwick chuckled good-naturedly, "As you can see I've rearranged the seating chart. Take your place next to Mr. Potter and open your text book to Page 4912."
Draco's eyes grew wide with shock. There was no way in hell he was going to sit next to the boy who was obnoxious enough to live.
Screw the damn seating chart!
From the moderately disgusted look on Potter's face he wasn't too happy about the seating arrangement either. Scanning the room, Draco noticed a seat at the back of the class, next to Pansy Parkinson. He chose to ignore the teachers instructions, walking over to take his place beside his fellow Slytherin.
"Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy, but I believe I told you to sit next to Mr. Potter."
"Sir, I'm sorry but I can't."
"Why ever not?"
"Because Potter is a complete and total git."
"Mr. Malfoy! Five points from Slytherin!"
"But it's true! He is as dreadful as they come! His face looks like a horse's ass, his magic is shotty, and he only wears glasses so he can look smart!"
"Another five points from Slytherin."
"But-"
"Mr. Malfoy, please see me after class."
"Father will hear about this!"
"Yes, yes… shut up and sit down!" Potter shouted at him, looking irritated.
"Shut up and sit down? Next to the likes of you? You're not even worthy of sitting next to anyone of my pure bloodline, you halfblooded idiot!"
Potter stood up with anger blazing in his eyes.
"Look, I've had a bad morning, Malfoy! I'm not in the mood to put up with you!" Potter drew his wand.
Malfoy whipped out his wand in response.
"I'm not exactly in the mood to play around either, Potter!"
Malfoy was tired, and suddenly in a very bad mood. He refused to take any abuse from his arch-rival today. He would wipe the floor with him!
"Boys! Wands away! NOW!", the normally relaxed professor Flitwick roared. Reluctantly both the boys obeyed him, slipping their wands back into the pockets of their robes as they glared menacingly at each other.
"Ten points more from Slytherin! Ten from Gryffindor! Both of you sit down right this instant, and I expect both of you to serve detention with me tonight!"
They both mumbled apologies to Flitwick and sat down, facing away from each other.
Hi everyone,
So I've come to a very important decision. I'm not asking for reviews anymore, and not holding anything hostage just to see reviews. It's ridiculous and childish, and good work should speak for itself. A reviewer brought it to my attention that I'm probably losing a lot of reviewers by demanding so much, and it's annoying and just doesn't sit well. I lost that person as a loyal reader because of my review whoring. So, I'm not going to ask for 20 reviews anymore, not even 1. A good author's work should speak for itself, and not need to demand reviews to get them. Anyone who actually likes the story and respects my work will review rather or not I demand it, and I might actually be turning off a lot of potential reviewers by being a review whore. Some of you might have noticed I deleted then reposted all my old chapters past chapter 5. I deleted all my comments about wanting X number of reviews, because looking back it's distasteful, and I also did some minor editing.
With love,
ICU