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With the holidays over, the students returned to Hogwarts with a heavy heart—especially Pansy—since unlike the other couples, Charlie wasn't a student and wouldn't be returning with her. Hermione noticed a worried look on both Goyle and Ginny's face as they held Greggie and Georgiana tightly.
"I want to welcome back every student from their holidays!" Headmaster Dumbledore announced as he stood in the Great Hall. "There are some things that I want to announce before we can enjoy your welcome home banquet."
Deacon made an impatient noise in the back of his throat, and Hermione gave her baby a smirk before looking across at the Slytherin table, where Draco looked just as bored and impatient as his son.
"First, I want to announce the impending marriage of Serverus Snape, Potions Master, and Padma Patil." Only a few had been sent wedding invitations throughout the holidays, so when that news broke out—so did the gasps and whispers.
Snape remained stoic as ever in the teacher's table.
Padma preened at the Ravenclaw table.
Parvati sent her twin an evil glare.
"Secondly," the headmaster cleared his throat. "I'd like to congratulate Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger for their engagement as well."
Hermione winced, not enjoying everyone turning to look at her---the guys in surprise and the girls in utter hatred.
"But she's a MUDBLOOD!" Ariana Malkovich, a 6thyear Slytherin, hissed to her friend.
"Little bitch wasn't happy enough because she bore him a HALF-BLOOD bastard!" Dahlia Harpers snapped. "She bewitched him and--."
Both girls cried out, eyes wide, when their mouths mysteriously stitched together. They looked around them murderously, trying to figure out who'd done that, never seeing Pansy discreetly putting her wand back into her pocket.
Hermione noticed it though, and smiled thankfully at the Slytherin, who raised an eyebrow at her in amusement and bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement.
"Thirdly, I'd like to congratulate all those who have passed The Project and will relieve you of your 'children'." With a swish of his wand, Dumbledore watched as the babies all disappeared in the blink of an eye—all except Goyle and Ginny's twins.
Everyone turned to look at the silent teenaged parents, each holding a twin in their house tables.
Goyle raised his chin defiantly, as if daring anyone to comment, while Ginny gulped nervously and held onto Georgiana tightly.
Dumbledore quickly cleared his throat, although he looked somewhat amused with the turn of events. "I also want to congratulate Mister Goyle and Miss Weasley. May parenthood fill you both with happiness."
Goyle smirked.
Ginny managed a thankful smile.
Ron fainted.
"Ronniekins!" Lavender cried, hurrying towards her boyfriend, who'd fallen back in his seat, eyes rolled in the back of his head, the bread and jam he'd been about to bite into messing up his face.
Harry snickered good-naturedly at his friend's reaction to his permanent 'uncle' status.
"You think he'll be okay?" Neville asked softly on Hermione's left as they watched Lavender use Levicorpus to take an unconscious Ron to the Hospital Wing.
"Sure." Hermione smiled brightly at him. "It's just a big shock to him."
Neville blushed softly at her smile and ducked his head, shoving food into his mouth.
Hermione tilted her head and smiled tenderly at him. He was always so shy.
Dumbledore's clearing of his throat proved that he hadn't finished with his announcements. "I want us to welcome Marguerite Bardot, who will be teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts. She has come to us from Paris and I am sure she will receive a warm English welcome from everyone here at Hogwarts."
A beautiful, blonde woman (who could only be a year or two older than them) stood from where she sat next to Snape. Her eyes were cold blue, her skin pallid, and her expression stony. When she raked her eyes over the students a strange coldness settled upon them despite the warmth of the room, and a couple of first years began to cry.
The young woman smirked at this, allowing her gaze to rest on…Blaise?
Harry stiffened in his seat.
Hermione frowned, holding Deacon close to her. There was something about that woman that she didn't like, not one bit.
The teacher smirked at Blaise (who only raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her) before sitting down once more and turning to Snape, who smirked at whatever it was she whispered in his ear.
Padma's jealous growl could be heard over the silence of the Great Hall.
"Is it me, or does that bird give you the willies too?" Seamus whispered loudly, hand shaking around his glass of pumpkin juice.
Several people from the Gryffindor table nodded vigorously.
"Also, I'd like to welcome Luca Miretti, who joined us over the Yule holidays and was sorted into Ravenclaw."
Everyone turned to the Ravenclaw table, and the girls gasped as they suddenly noticed the handsome guy sitting at the edge of the table. He had shoulder-length dark hair with red streaks and the most stunning blue eyes that made females (and some males) drool. He ignored everyone in the room, scowling at the table.
Blaise stiffened suddenly, turning to look at the Teacher's table and then back at the Ravenclaw table in time for Miretti to look up and smirk at him.
No one noticed this other than Harry and Hermione. She'd never known Harry could sound so vicious as he growled once more.
"And last but not least," Dumbledore continued. "I'd like to remind everyone that the Forbidden Forest in indeed forbidden." A concerned look entered the old man's eyes. "These are dangerous times and not even Hogwarts is impenetrable."
Hermione shivered at that, but the ominous feeling that had settled over the students dissipated the moment two Ravenclaw girls collapsed on the ground, shouting at each other and trying to strangle the other while screaming things like "I AM GOING TO SHOW LUCA AROUND THE CASTLE!"
Luca watched the girls in obvious boredom.
Padma seemed to be the only girl not to notice the godlike Luca Miretti. She was too busy glaring holes into their new teacher's head, while said teacher had turned all of her attention onto Professor Snape.
Hermione breathed out a sigh of embarrassment at the girls fighting on the floor over the new student, and shook her head as the professors went to break them up.
Deacon grabbed one of her curls, tugging it, causing her to yelp.
A throaty chuckle caught her attention and she looked towards the Ravenclaw table, eyes widening and blushing when she saw Luca Miretti smirking teasingly at her. The utterly sexy chuckle had come from him, and those blue eyes raked over her before he winked.
Deacon gurgled angrily at the newcomer.
Hermione blush deepened, and right before she could even look away, Luca's mouth moved wordlessly and a bright blue baby rattler appeared in front of Deacon, playing a catchy tune. The baby squealed in delight and grabbed the rattler, shaking it around, a large smile on his face, obviously won over.
Hermione giggled at her son's antics and then turned to mouth a thank you to Miretti when all of a sudden a red rose appeared in front of her face. The brunette turned as red as the rose as she reached for it, hiding her wince when she pricked her finger on one of the thorns, and sent a timid, embarrassed, and awkward smile in Miretti's direction before bringing the rose to her nose and sniffing in the enchanting, intoxicating scent.
She never noticed Blaise grabbing Draco's robes and pulling him back down and stealing the wand out of his hand before he could do something to Miretti out of violent jealousy.
Sneezing, Hermione placed the rose by her plate and began to eat, never realizing that things were about to change drastically.
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Padma Patil wasn't an overly possessive person, but when she hooked her claws into something she never unhooked them, and the fact that Professor Bardot had been constantly touching her man throughout the dinner had worn her nerves to the point that she actually bent her fork backwards with the pressure in her hold.
So that was why she was stomping towards Snape's room. She didn't give a shit that the professors believed that they shouldn't be intimidate or alone until after the wedding. There was some harpy after her fiancé and Padma wasn't about to let Snape forget that he was going to marry her, not the blonde ice bimbo.
Without even knocking, she flung the door open and stormed inside of his room. Snape gave a little squeal and jumped, twirling his sheets up around him before realizing who she was and smirking, shaking his head.
"Miss Patil, what are you doing here?"
"Don't you 'Miss Patil' me you old fart!" Padma growled, stalking to the bed and beginning to undo the buttons on her clothes. "Who the hell do you think you are?!?!" She exploded, nearly tearing the buttons off of her cloak.
"You're Potions Master while at Hogwarts." He relaxed and leaned back on the bed, hands cushioning the back of his head as he watched her violently and jerkingly tearing her clothes off.
She wasn't listening to him. "Any old bastard would give his gut to have a fine-ass girl like me—his STUDENT—as his own little sex slave forever, and WHAT does MY old bastard do?" She had a nasty war with her shirt, which caught on her chin as she tried to pull it over her head. "He flirts the whole time—in front of everyone!—with the stupid bottle-blonde next to him!"
"I dare to differ…she looked like a natural blonde…but I'd have to examine her a little closer to be sure." Snape was amused with her anger, absolutely relishing it, which only pissed her off even more.
"You do any examining and I'll let Fluffy play with your balls!" She hissed as she threw her bra at him angrily. "And you know he'd do it gladly!"
Snape frowned. "That cat has an unhealthy fixation with me." His smirk suddenly returned as he watched a now naked Padma climbing into bed with him. "As does his mistress."
When she straddled him and attacked his lips with hers, the young Ravenclaw swallowed his darkly amused chuckle.
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"So, they are all there?" Voldemort asked, looking out of the window, hands clasped behind him.
"Yes Master." The face in the fire said. "They are back in Hogwarts and vulnerable to your attack."
"And the agent I sent?"
"Here as well." The traitor replied evenly. "I don't know if your agent will do well though."
The Dark Lord really didn't give a shit what the traitor thought, but asked out of boredom. "And why is that?"
"Your agent isn't someone I see them getting close to, much less trusting."
He snickered and shook his head before pausing and asking: "And Hermione? What news do you have of her?"
There was a pause. "Dumbledore announced her engagement to Malfoy during the welcome-back banquet."
The Heir of Slytherin froze, eyes flashing red once more before he calmed himself and spoke. "We're just going to have to discourage her, won't we?"
" If that is your will, my lord." The face replied seriously. "What would you like me to do?"
"Find a way to have her grow disillusioned with him." He replied slowly. "Maybe make him look unfaithful—gay—whatever. Just break them apart and make it be her to break up with him, I want that traitor to suffer."
"What about Zabini? He and Potter were also on the raid that took her away from you."
"Oh, I already have plans for those two." Voldemort snickered. "You just stick to your mission and leave those two to me."
"Yes Master."
When the face disappeared, Voldemort asked the question that'd been intriguing him ever since he'd initiated this new member to the Death Eaters. "I wonder what could have made a Gryffindor turn traitor."
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Blaise couldn't concentrate the whole day.
Classes went on as usual and they were now in Transfigurations, but Blaise's mind wasn't on one of his favorite subjects—it was on Maggie and Luca. What the hell where they doing there? And at the same time? Right when he was starting a new relationship—or whatever they hell they had—with Harry?
Were the cosmos against him?
His two former lovers here in Hogwarts?
Why BOTH of them?
"Miss Granger, please pay attention." Professor McGonagall reprimanded.
"Sorry Professor," Hermione didn't sound too good, nor did she look so good either.
Blaise was worried about her. She was pallid, with dark bags under her eyes, and her hands shook ever so often. He didn't remember her being like this before, and although she'd shrugged it off as her getting a cold and being tired from all the late nights taking care of Deacon—Blaise wondered if it mightn't be something else.
It was as if the moment Hermione touched Hogwarts grounds this happened.
And that didn't ease his tension.
What if Voldemort had something to do with this?
What if he'd had some Slytherin place a curse on her?
I'm going to have to talk to Harry about that possibility.
"Now I want you to split into pairs and try this assignment together." Their strict professor then began to name out the partners, and Blaise wasn't paying attention until he heard that Harry had been partnered with Crabbe.
He frowned. He'd hoped that Harry and he might be bale to be partnered together.
"Granger and Miretti."
Blaise raised an eyebrow and watched as Hermione's eyes widened and she looked slightly panicked at that. Luca, on the other hand, smiled broadly and went to sit way too close to her, placing a casual hand around the back of her chair.
Blaise shook his head, glad that Draco was having a Quidditch meeting with his team right about now. He'd had enough problems with him during breakfast without this added touch.
The Slytherin watched Hermione and Luca as they began to work together, tense until Luca said something that eased the tension and had Hermione laughing. They made a pretty couple—but Blaise was totally against it because he knew that losing Hermione would kill Draco.
I'm going to have to keep Luca away from Mione.
He frowned darker.
That would take time away from Harry.
Well, we never spoke about what was going to happen to us when we returned Hogwarts. And what happened at the Burrow could have been a one-time thing.
Blaise didn't like that thought, but it was true.
Hearing giggles, Blaise followed Lavender's gaze and frowned when he saw Hermione's eyes wide like fish, face red like a tomato, and Luca with his fingers on her face, pulling back a stray curl.
Hermione hurriedly pulled away and brought up her ring finger, showing him her engagement ring almost desperately.
Luca stared at the ring, said something that had Hermione's eyes widening even more, and smirked at her, moving the hand from around the back of her chair to around her shoulders.
Hermione shot up from her seat, face burning.
Luca's smirk grew as he eyed her.
Blaise frowned. He was going to have to talk to Luca and tell him to stay away from Mione—or Draco would very well kill him.
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Harry didn't like Professor Bardot.
He really didn't like Professor Bardot.
Frowning as the professor (who'd insisted to use Blaise as an example during the class) showed the class how a female vampire would seduce ignorant men before draining them dry. Although she was French she spoke with a perfect British accent, and her smiles were chilling.
Harry's pencil snapped in his hand when he noticed her hand 'accidentally' brush against Blaise's groin.
Thankfully, there was no 'tent' in sight, and the Slytherin looked angry with her, viciously jerking away from her touch and storming back to his desk.
So the attraction was one-sided.
Good.
Still…
Harry hoped that Professor Bardot lived up to the curse of their previous DADA professors and ended up evil so he would have an excuse to hex the bitch.
When Professor Bardot taught the class a new spell and Neville tried to do it---well, of course something went wrong, and in seconds, instead of creating a fake illusion of himself, he turned Parvati into an abnormally large and hideously wart-covered frog.
And what was worse?
Parvati suddenly had the desire to jump around.
That wouldn't have been so bad if the girls hadn't all jumped up on their desks screaming and clutching the guys.
…and some of the guys competed with the girls with their high-pitched squeals.
Harry, Draco, Ron and Blaise tried chasing Parvati around to catch her, but she was slippery, icky to the touch, and damn fast.
Plus, the screaming, running girls were somewhat distracting.
And to make it worse---Parvati had decided she wanted to hide in the folds of the girls' cloaks---so now the girls were screaming and jumping from desk to desk as Parvati jumped after them, trying to out-hop the other boys.
While the boys ran after the frog, the girls and other classmates hurried out of the door and shut it closed behind him to make sure that Parvati was forced to stay in the room.
Hermione had fallen asleep on her desk long before Parvati's transformation, and was dead to the world, despite the loud screams.
Which was probably good considering that Harry knew of her insane fear of frogs…
…and the fact that Padma had just jumped down her cloak.
The four boys froze around the sleeping Gryffindor, trying to figure out how to go from there.
"We have it trapped." Ron announced, breaking the silence. "I say we grab it and pull it out before Mione wakes up."
"She'll have a heart attack if she wakes up and Parvati's still in there." Harry nodded in agreement.
"If you think about it," Blaise announced as they watched a large bump jumping up and down inside Hermione's clothes. "This could qualify as a quasi-lesbian moment for Granger." That earned him a slap in the back of his head from both Draco and Harry. "Ouch! What?" He whined, rubbing the back of his sore head while Ron laughed at him.
Draco shook his head at his friend before taking in a deep breath, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, and shoving his hand inside of her clothes…
…Unfortunately for him Hermione woke up because of that, and since Parvati had decided to stop jumping at that exact the brunette got the wrong idea, went red, and before Draco could hurriedly explain anything she'd screeched: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!? WE'RE IN PUBLIC YOU PERVERT!!!" And the slap she gave him sent him flying backwards.
The movement must have disturbed Parvati because she began jumping again.
Hermione's face went white and she screamed, jumping up and down and beginning to cry, not getting what was happening except for the fact that she knew there was something slimy inside of her clothes. "Get it out! Whatever it is…GET IT OUT!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Hermione went board stiff and fell down, though tears continued to make their way down her cheeks.
"Sorry luv." Draco arrived, cheek still red from her slap, and shot his hand down her clothes, retrieving a squirming Parvati.
Despite being paralyzed, Hermione's eyes grew comically huge when she saw when had been down her clothes.
Shoving Parvati into Ron's arms, Draco wiped his slim-covered hands on his pants and undid the spell on Hermione in time for her to fly into his arms, incoherent in her sobs as she shook and trembled.
Holding her close, Draco breathed in her scent and whispered comforting words to her like she'd do to Deacon whenever he was crying.
"I'm sorry---I'm sorry!" Hermione murmured against his shirt.
"S'Okay." Draco chuckled, helping her up and keeping her trembling form against him.
Harry shared a smile with Blaise as they watched them together. He was glad that he wasn't resentful towards Malfoy anymore---and that he was glad for Hermione to have found someone who absolutely adored her like Malfoy did.
Since he was standing next to Blaise in the nearly deserted room, he allowed his fingers to brush Blaise's while looking at Draco and Hermione kiss---and the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain smiled when Blaise's fingers—hidden by their cloaks—entwined in his.
Hearing someone clearing a throat, they turned to see Professor Bardot frowning at them---especially at Blaise and himself---as if she knew what was going on—could see their hands.
Despite the fact that their hands were hidden, Harry tried to pull his from Blaise's only to have the dark boy tighten his hold. He snuck a glance at the Slytherin and was surprised to find him glaring defiantly at the professor, who then turned and glared at Harry with her cold blue eyes.
Harry, emboldened with Blaise's attitude, smirked in a purely Slytherin way at his DADA professor. It would seem that he'd have another professor completely against him this year.
But as he entwined his fingers even tighter with Blaise's, Harry didn't care.
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"Stop laughing. I've been scarred for life. I'll never close my eyes without having nightmares ever again."
That only made Draco laugh louder as he sat next to the fire in their Common Room that evening. They'd somehow survived their first day back at Hogwarts, and he couldn't help but tease Hermione about the Parvati episode.
"I'll never be able to look her in the face again." Hermione complained, book in hand. "She was under my clothes for Merlin's sake!"
"Quasi-lesbian moment." Draco snorted, quoting Blaise. He laughed and ducked the pillow Hermione threw at him. "You have to admit it---if it'd happened to someone other than you you'd have found it funny!"
She ignored him and continued to read.
Chuckling, Draco turned to Deacon, who was lying between them on the floor on a warm blanket. "You should have seen your mother…she nearly had a heart attack. It was so cute." This time the pillow connected with his face.
"You're such a prick." Hermione giggled as she returned her attention to her book.
"But you love me." He smirked.
"Against my better judgment." Easily ducking the pillow he'd thrown back at her, Hermione giggled. "You throw like a girl!" Squealing when he threw himself at her, they tumbled around on the floor until they laid next to Deacon, who was gurgling in amusement at them. "I love you." She whispered before pressing a soft kiss against his lips.
"I love you too." Draco smiled back.
They smiled into each other's eyes, both ignorant to what was soon to happen.
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A somewhat longer chapter! I personally liked it, because we're getting closer and closer to the end of BEST LAID PLANS, and things are beginning to set up for what is to happen.
How about reviewing?