"You're late," Hermione said, piqued, and crossed her arms. "As always."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Granger, get used to it," Malfoy replied, carefree.
"It's fine when we meet in libraries or whatever, but this is prefect patrol, and you should be responsible enough to know your duties!" She said viciously.
He raised an eyebrow. "What's got you all riled up?"
She ignored this question and started to walk quickly out of the big doors of Hogwarts' entrance.
Malfoy had to jog to keep up. "No, really, Granger, why are you mad?" He asked curiously.
"I guess we should start by the Quidditch field first, and go around," she said, swiftly changing direction.
He was slightly upset that he was being ignored. To be answered, he decided to try the method he was best at, which was provoking her. "What's annoying you, Granger? What's vexed you, Granger? What's made you angry, Granger? Irked you? Exasperated you? Granger, what's nettled you-"
"Shut up, Malfoy! It's none of your business!" She said, her voice rising in pitch, but still walking fast.
"Got on your nerves, Granger? Tried your patience, made your hackles rise-"
"Merlin, please, stop talking!" She covered her ears.
"Ruffled your feathers? Maddened you, pestered you, Granger? Rubbed you the wrong way-"
"Shut up!" Hermione shouted, her anger rising word after word that came out of Malfoy's mouth. She finally snapped, and turned around sharply to the other direction, and ran.
She ran as fast as she could until she couldn't anymore, and sat on the ground, against a tree.
She cried. The tears that she had been bottling up ever since the beginning of the afternoon after that encounter were finally coming out. The tears she had been hiding all throughout the afternoon, throughout dinner.
Even though she would never have wanted to go back to that encounter, her mind flash backed to it and remembered every detail like it just happened a minute ago. And the words echoed, "W-ell, I don't know h-how to tell you this, 'Mione but…" The redhead told her awkwardly. He was hesitant, but finally he managed to blurt out the words he wanted to say.
"Er, we're d-dating."
"We're dating."
"We're dating."
Hermione covered her ears. "We're dating," the echo wouldn't go.
She remembered the smile she faked, and her voice filled with false cheer when she congratulated them.
She furiously wiped her incessant tears away, but they kept flowing. "I…I don't care. I don't care!" She said out loud. "I DON'T CARE!"
Of course she didn't care, I mean, they were just friends, right? They always had been just good friends, and nothing more, after that spectacular troll fight in First Year. She didn't care! Why would she care? It was his life, he could do whatever he wanted! She didn't have a say in who he would snog in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room! She didn't care! It wasn't her who would decide whose lips his would kiss, she was just his friend! It wasn't her decision to choose what he was doing when everyone was in the Great Hall!
She didn't care!
Oh, but who was she kidding? She sobbed, and punched the tree trunk as hard as she could.
She did.
She cared.
Who knows when she started liking him as much more than just a friend? The feeling was mixed in with feelings of friendship, and that was why she didn't realize it in the first place. Was it since third year? When they had the big fight, when she realized how much she needed him? Or was it much before that?
A know-it-all, huh? she thought bitterly. If I was as smart as everybody said, why am I here? Why was I stupid enough not to realize it before?
xxx
Malfoy stared, dumbstruck, at the direction where Hermione ran.
He scratched his head, confused. All he did was enumerate synonyms of 'why are you mad', right? Was that enough for her to get sick of it and run?
No, it wouldn't, he shook his head. Not Hermione Granger.
Something was wrong, he knew.
xxx
"Granger?" he found her under a tree by the lake. The moon was full and shining bright, along with the scintillating stars, and was reflected beautifully on the middle of the lake, like a spotlight. It was a beautiful night, and yet a beautiful girl was crying her heart out in misery. And the question was, why?
xxx
"So you're here," he said slowly, not following as well as one normally would, "because of Weasley?" He asked incredulously. "Seriously?"
"Shut up. I knew I shouldn't have told you," her voice was muffled because she had buried her face in her hands when she started telling him the time she walked in on Ron and Lavender snogging, and Ron telling her that they were dating.
"You have terrible taste, Granger! Weasley? Not only is he dense, he's utterly-"
Slap.
"Hey!" Malfoy winced. "The slap rule!"
"I know," she said, her face still hidden. How was she aware of the location of his cheek? "I quit."
"What?" He was appalled.
"I quit," she repeated with finality. "I won't help you anymore. Give me a minute and let's get the patrol over with-"
"No! Why?" His heart sank.
Hermione looked at him expressionlessly."You ask why? Why would I help you? I don't have any idea why I agreed to help you in the first place, I don't need a stupid favor. It's your problem!" She was on a roll. "And not only are you the one of the most insensitive and inconsiderate people I have ever met-"
Impulsively, he kissed her.
It did not last as long as the others before, because this time Malfoy had something to say afterwards. "That, Granger," he said, looking at her directly in the eye. "Is why."
They stared at each other for a few moments, Hermione unable to speak, and Malfoy mesmerized by her tear-streaked face's expression.
"It's not just my problem," Malfoy broke the silence and stood up. He walked to the other side of the tree and sat down, leaning against the tree trunk like what Hermione was doing, but on the opposite side. "It's yours too."
Hermione was silent.
"And if you're wondering why it's yours too, though I'm pretty sure you already figured that out, but I'll say this anyway," He counted the reasons off his fingers. "One, you have to be aware that I could jump you at any moment, at any place, be it a corridor on the way to a class or somewhere very public, I'm pretty sure if this potion gets out of hand I'll become that desperate-"
The sound of Hermione standing up made him stop speaking. She went to his side and to Malfoy's pleasure, she was slightly smiling.
"Shut up and I'll go help you." She offered her hand to help him up. "Let's go look for potion ingredients in the forest. I've got the list."
xxx
"You're late, Ginny," Blaise said and tossed her omnioculars. They had chosen the Astronomy Tower because it had a 360-degree view of the Hogwarts grounds, where Hermione and Malfoy were patrolling.
Ginny panted and beamed at him as she caught the magical telescope. It was just like the one they used watching the Quidditch World Cup last year. "Sorry, Blaise. I tried to come as fast as I could, but then Ron and Parkinson almost caught me. Seems they were assigned to the Astronomy Tower, couldn't you have fixed that? I had to hide inside those weird knight armor things too," she wrinkled her nose. "I took too long."
"Sorry, I only took care of Malfoy and Granger's patrol assignments," Blaise grinned. "Well, come on then," he motioned for her to come see what he was looking at with his omnioculars.
"Where are they?" Ginny asked, looking through the omnioculars.
"There, by the lake. Under the tree. Arguing?"
"Hmm," intoned Ginny suspiciously. "Weren't they supposed to be patrolling? What are they doing…wait, oh my God!"
"What happened? I was replaying* something before!"
"They kissed, Blaise!" She said, almost exploding with giddiness. "There is something going on between them!"
"What! Kissed? Seriously?"
"Seriously!" She shoved her omnioculars in Blaise's hands. "Replay it!"
Blaise did and his jaw dropped. "Woah." He had thought there must have been a legit reason for them to spend a night in a bed together and not just because they had something going on, because sometimes crazy things do happen, after all. Well, in the Wizarding World, at least. But here…they kissed! So that must mean either development or they're getting too close for their own good. But knowing the two, it would probably not be the latter.
Ginny grabbed her telescope back and they continued watching the pair below.
"Ooh, they're probably going to start patrolling now…"
"Yeah…wait, they're not. They're…going into the forest?"
"No way! What are they going to do there?"
"Well, we'll never know. The foliage is pretty thick. Can we still see?"
"No," Ginny said miserably. "No matter how much I try to zoom."
"Damn it!"
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*well, if you didn't read book four or have forgotten, omnioculars are just like normal muggle telescopes but can pause and replay stuff you see in 'em. Just in case you didn't know. But I bet you do. :)
x
A/N: Recently I've always been in the mood for fan fiction, I don't know why, but that's good because, yay, fast updates!
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! They'll be patrolling on Tuesday until Friday (and in the process uncover some things), and on Saturday they will finally succeed in removing the potion, and Sunday is the last day, that's when the fic's going to end. Worry not! I guarantee unexpected things and a happy happy ending you'll love (I hope, hah)!
Please review if you'd like to offer me some writing advice or point out errors if I have committed any, or any comment about the fic. Thank you so much, it will be appreciated!