Hermione threw her bag roughly to the ground before taking her seat at the front of the classroom awaiting Professor Flitwick's instructions on their work for the day. Needless to say, her day, after the encounter with Malfoy on the way back to the dorms, had gone horribly. Despite the compliments on her sudden change in hairstyle, and the stares from a number of different boys in her year group, she was unable to ignore the hateful whispers coming from the ignorant boy sitting behind her.
His whispers were loud, leading Hermione to believe that he intentionally wanted her to hear what he had to say about her new, 'trampy' appearance and his thoughts on how she was 'slutting around' with 'that arrogant blonde git.' Every once in awhile, she could hear Harry shush his friend in exasperation, begging him to just shut up and pay attention to the task at hand, no doubt sick of hearing the same conversation repeatedly from the same wizard throughout the day.
Hermione sighed and leaned her head against the cool wooden desk, taking a moment to relax before refocusing her attention to the front. Ron may not see her waver, she was going to seem calm and collected the entire time until she dropped the bombshell of knowing about his library visits with the other girls. She twiddled her wand between her thin fingers mindlessly going over her conversation with Malfoy earlier that morning.
"Malfoy?" She called out expectantly waiting for the boy to enter the room behind her. She saw him stick his head through the portrait hole, raising a questioning eyebrow at the call of his name, and she smiled softly. "Are you planning on coming in or are you going to stand out there like a prat all day."
"Inviting me into your living quarters Granger? Take me out to dinner first, please." He grinned like the Cheshire Cat, and Hermione wanted to smack him, but without further hesitation he entered the room. "I honestly don't know how you put up with him so long."
He watched her smile fade quickly at this remark, but his words hung clearly in the air. "He wasn't always like this. I mean, he's always been fairly immature… but angry and bitter? No… he used to be sweet and endearing. Goofy and frustrating yes… but in a loveable way. He was the kind of guy I imagined a future with, a happy marriage, two children… just a blissful eternity. But I suppose fate works in mysterious ways. He will never understand the true act of commitment, and I…" She put her head down, sinking slowly into the love seat, "I will never trust someone so easily again."
"You can love without trust Granger, the two don't go hand in hand."
"How often have you loved Malfoy? How often do you place your trust in someone. Really think about it, and tell me the two were not placed together."
"All I know Granger, is that in the time of The Dark Lord, I did not love those with whom I trusted, and I did not trust those with whom I loved. At the end of the day what you choose is up to you, but if emotions were made to be felt, why deny yourself that after one bad encounter? The world is filled with opportunities, and throwing that away because of him seems to be a bit of a waste don't you think?"
She sighed in defeat, realising with some surprise that there was truth in his words. "I think it's time I let him know I know."
Malfoy slowly grinned at this, "What are you going to do?"
What was she going to do. Hermione had been going over that question for many days in her mind, recycling and going through the possible revenge strategies to inform the redhead of her knowledge, but nothing came up which would seem bad enough. "Well I could always tell his mother."
Malfoy did an ungraceful snort, surprising Hermione at how unlike him the sound was, before he shook his head, "A howler and a beating would be too quick."
Hermione hesitated, his words making a plan form in her mind. "Well there is this one thing I've been working on for a while.." Malfoy's eyes were questioning and Hermione knew she had to elaborate. "Do you remember a girl named, 'Marietta Edgecombe?"
"—thinks it makes her better, but she just looks vain and shallow now. A stuck up-" Hermione whirled around to face the redhead, a mad glint in her eyes causing him to silence himself immediately. Harry threw a nervous glance towards the witch, but her eyes remained solely on the face of her ex boyfriend.
"Hey Pavarti." She said loudly, without breaking eye contact. The witch looked up from her work expectantly, giving Hermione the chance to continue almost without pausing. "I was planning on going to the library later to do the Defence essay. You said you wanted help right?" Pavarti nodded, confused as to why Hermione was staring at Ron but speaking to her. "I know a good spot, at the back of the library. It's quiet. Almost no one goes there so we can get a lot done without being interrupted." Hermione was emphasising the words strongly, not blinking or breaking eye contact with Ron, whose eyes had widened considerably at her words. "A blonde Hufflepuff girl in the year below showed me where it was." Ron flinched in shock, "It's just a thought."
"O-Okay Hermione?" Pavarti responded, seemingly desperate to end the awkward encounter that was taking place. "I'll see you there after dinner."
Hermione turned around to face the front, once more giving her attention to Professor Flitwick. Inwardly she was slightly proud to be the reason he was wearing a dumb look of shock upon his freckly face, and she knew that he'd be wondering how she'd found out… or even whether she knew at all. He'd probably think it was a strange coincidence. He was to thick to actually realise she'd known all along despite the heavy hints she'd dropped.
She could hear Harry whispering curiously to his friend, asking him what the hell that had all been about, but Ron shushed him aggressively, and proceeded to remain silent for the rest of the lesson. Maybe he had picked up on her hints after all, something seemed to have him flustered.
Hermione smirked, he was not going to enjoy what she had prepared for him.
"Marietta? Isn't that that girl from fifth year whose face you permanently disfigured?"
Hermione scoffed softly, "It wasn't permanently disfigured, it was just a slight amount of acne. Besides, if she hadn't have given us up, she would have been fine."
"You're far less nice than us Slytherins had you pegged for, golden girl." He slumped back into the chair and pushed the fallen strands of hair from his face. "So you're going to give the Weasel an even more unfortunate face than before?"
"No… I'm going to give him a chance. I'll hint that I know what's happened. Hopefully he will come out and admit to it… but if he doesn't… the moment he sets foot past a certain bookshelf towards the back of the library, the spell will be triggered…Let's just say when that happens, his lady friend won't want to be kissing his face any longer."
Malfoy chuckled darkly, "Granger I had you all wrong. You are much more cunning than I thought."
"Thanks Malfoy…"
"I don't know if that's a compliment Granger, it's actually fairly dangerous." Hermione grinned cheekily in his direction, earning a small smile from the blonde in response.
"I'm only dangerous if you break my heart."
Malfoy stared at her for a long moment, causing her cheeks to redden slightly in embarrassment. The corner of his lips quirked in amusement at her red face."Well then Granger," he said slowly, shaking his head at her reaction, "I'll have to try my hardest to avoid doing that, won't I?"