Hermione
She collapsed heavily on her cot, remembering a thick mattress and silk sheets with something like regret. Last night with Draco had been great but she couldn't risk it again, not with Astoria already suspicious with him.
Despite this lack of frills her eyes slipped closed easily, and she sunk into sleep.
…
The dream started in a bed. Emerald sheets rested against her skin as a mouth kissed down her neck. Blonde hair brushed her jaw and she moaned as his hand traced over her breasts. He caressed her skin, played with her nipples and then his mouth was gone. She whimpered, squirming on his sheets. She smelt sandalwood and amber and far more faintly she could make out hints of apricot. Suddenly that mouth was kissing down her stomach, hovering over her mound. His tongue flicked out, stroking her sensitive bud. Fuck that felt good. And…then he was gone and she awake.
Something hit her face, she blinked dizzily, knocking the offensive pillow away as she sat up in her cot.
"For God's sake wake the fuck up!" A shrieking voice squawked. Hermione cringed, awkwardly untangling herself from her blankets and settling back in. It wasn't the first time that somehow had had an inappropriate dream in their room but it was the first time Hermione had had one, at least one that had been loud enough to wake everybody up. Oh lord, she was never living this down.
...
Draco
Draco woke to a bird in his bed. That wouldn't have been a terrible thing, accept it was not his bird.
"What the fuck!" He shouted. Pansy sat up easily, grinning like a shark.
"Oh don't be such a twat Draco, I came in to talk to you but you were asleep, so instead of disturbing you I waited. I must have fallen asleep." She shrugged as if that were a perfectly normal thing to say.
"And you needed to wait in my bed, under the sheets?" He questioned. She rolled her eyes.
"Well this bed is so much more comfortable than mine. Astoria and Daph have always have the nicest things." Her eyes went dark, and he suddenly regretting sleeping in just his pants.
"No, Pans. I'm with someone." He said firmly. She rolled her eyes again.
"Oh I know, I met her. Nice girl, if a little plain." She nodded nonchalantly.
"You what?" He demanded because that was bad, that was definitely very bad. Why hadn't Hermione mentioned that to him?
"You're not subtle Draco. I know your bedroom eyes and you were directing them at the girl like no one's business yesterday." Pansy accused airily.
"I was not." He balked. He certainly wasn't that transparent. He couldn't be.
"Don't apologize, it made that awful tea almost bearable. I thought Daph was gonna burst a vein." Pansy laughed.
"Can't you convince her to be nice to Blaise?" Draco pleaded, knowing that Blaise never would.
"No way!" Pansy scoffed derisively.
"Don't you pity the guy? Even just a little bit?" Draco asked. Even he pitied Blaise a little, even though he'd never, ever tell his best mate that fact.
"Not particularly." Pansy shook her head easily.
"Didn't you lose your virginity to him?" Draco pointed out, and okay, maybe he was fishing just a little bit, and he wouldn't, he was curious.
"Oh no, there was someone before Blaise." Pansy laughed and smiled fondly. That, that was interesting.
"Who?" He asked, studying her. She shifted, standing up and strolling around his bed room as if she lived there. She looked at her reflection carefully and smoothed down her hair before answering.
"A better lover than both of you put together and that is the only detail that I will give you." She smirked and he brushed off that answer. He was a wonderful lover, thank you very much.
"For someone who loves learning everyone's secrets you sure don't share very many." He pointed out.
"What would be the fun in that?" She smirked.
"Trust. Friendship." He pointed out. He was well aware he sounded like a prat but it was true and he firmly believed that Pansy wasn't as shallow as he appeared.
"That's what Daphne is for, among other things, and you can't tell me that you trust Blaise entirely." She pointed out.
"I'd trust Blaise with my life." He vowed stubbornly.
"But not all your secrets." Pansy asserted.
"Not all of them." He admitted. There were somethings that Blaise could do too much damage with. It was better for everyone if they operated on a need to know basis.
"Exactly! Now stop distracting me, I did have a purpose for coming here you know." She whirled back to him with fire in her eyes. If he knew anything it was that that was a very dangerous expression.
"And what would that purpose be?" He asked carefully.
"I want to help." She gave him a look as if all of his problems were now magically solved.
"Excuse me?" He swallowed nervously. It was never good when Pansy took a personal interest in things. They never turned out the way that you'd expect.
"You want out of your contract with Astoria." Pansy declared.
"Yes but…" He started.
"I can help you get out of it." She announced.
"I'm sure you could but…" He tried again.
"Really, it's simple, I'll…" She started again and turned away from him, inspecting the painting on the wall with an appraising eye. There was no way to stop her. At least, not gently.
"PANS." He snapped.
"What?" She snapped back, glaring at him.
"My father will disown me if I mess this up." He confided. She paled. The "D" word was particularly scary in their circles. They had no discernable skills, no talents, at least, none outside of social climbing and backstabbing, without their family connections they'd flounder in the real world and they both knew. To give that up they'd have to be crazy, or stupid, or have something much better waiting for them on the other side.
"You're crazy, I'm sure he wouldn't…" Pansy protested weakly.
"He's already told me." He explained. She got a little paler on his behalf before sitting down on the side of his bed again.
"You're his only son." She reminded him, as if that made a difference.
"Astoria's the only one left among the sacred twenty eight. That means more to him than anything. It was difficult enough to negotiate this courtship, because of the scandal no one else will touch us." He admitted. She cringed at the reminder of the embarrassment the Malfoy's had endured and how easily it could have been her family instead.
"And that's your fault." She said, exasperated.
"In his eyes it is." He shrugged. It sucked but there was nothing that could be done.
"Your father's an asshole." She stated the obvious. He rolled his eyes.
"I don't disagree but I can't agree. He has ears everywhere." He gave a pointed look at the walls dramatically. He was pretty sure his father didn't have people spying on him. Like eighty percent sure.
"Bullshit, my head would be on a stake if that were true." Pansy scoffed and he studied her carefully.
"Why are you even here Pans?" He asked finally.
"I told you, I…" She huffed but he cut her off.
"I don't mean in my room, I mean at the manor." He clarified.
"Why, Draco, do you not want me here?" She fake gasped pretending to be horrified.
"You don't do anything just because, you always have a reason." He pushed, not letting her change the subject.
"I do lots of things just because I want to." She pointed out, straightening as if he had insulted her free will.
"Sex maybe, but you're not getting that here, not with me and Blaise both turning you down, so why are you here?" He pressed further.
"There's more to life than just sex Draco." She said wisely and paired it with another eye roll.
"Maybe, but that's still not an answer." He pointed out.
"Maybe I just wanted to visit Daph, did you think of that?" She shrugged.
"Maybe, but Daph's so busy that you can't be seeing much of her." He reminded her.
"Quality over quantity." She said meaningfully and smirked and he wasn't quite sure what that meant.
"You're a weird one, Pansy Parkinson." He announced. She laughed.
"So are you, Draco Malfoy." She countered.
"By the way, Blaise is constantly accusing me of engaging in kinky sex every five minutes because of you." He groaned.
"Aren't you though?" She teased, winking. "You know as well as I do that I'm mostly vanilla." He shrugged. He wasn't embarrassed of his preferences but her preferred to keep them private.
"Mostly, most nights you were fine with just a good, hard fuck, but other nights you wanted me desperate, begging…" Pansy leaned towards him, her voice going breathy as she looked him up and down.
"No, Pansy." He admonished firmly. She rolled her eyes and flopped backwards very unattractively.
"Fine! It didn't used to be this difficult for a hot woman to get shagged." She grumbled, standing and making her way to his door.
"I thought you didn't come here for sex?" He called as she walked into her sitting room.
"I didn't but it's always a nice diversion." She called back and then he heard the click of the door swinging closed. It was shaping up to be a weird day.
Hermione
Hermione woke up in an awful mood with a debilitating migraine to boot. . She was tired and cranky and itching for a fight. One of the chamber maids had dropped Astoria's perfume and while a quick reparo saved the bottle, there was no hope for the liquid inside. That perfume had been customized and irreplaceable on short notice. Hermione had shouted at the girl for what felt like hours; only when she had been reduced to tears did she dismiss her. She may have felt bad about it later but right then it just pissed her off more. She was pissed at the world, immensely pissed, and she knew that she was taking it out on all the wrong people but she was exhausted and irritable and couldn't help it. She was doing everything in her power to be perfect, at least in public, why couldn't people just handle their shit.
By the time Astoria was out the door, on her way to meet her tutor, Hermione thought there was a good chance she could even manage a hex the next time someone got in her way. Hands grabbed at her, pulling her out of the hallway. She went easily, letting Draco pull her into the empty guest room. His mouth was on hers immediately but she pushed him off.
"I'm not in the mood." She snapped.
"Okay…" He sighed, stepping back. He perched easily on the back of a couch, watching her carefully. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"Are you calling me crazy?" She demanded, ready to snap.
"Yes, but you already knew that." He teased, smirking. She wasn't in the freaking mood.
"That's a very nice thing to say." She pointed out, her tone biting.
"Hey, what's wrong? You know that I'm only joking." He reminded her and yeah, she knew that didn't change the fact that she wanted to rip his perfect blond hair out by the roots for no apparent reason. Sleep deprivation sucked, hormones sucked, and whatever the hell this irritation was caused by sucked too.
"I'm just not in a very joking mood this morning I guess. I should, I should go." She sighed, stepping towards the door.
"Okay. Will I see you later?" He asked slowly.
"I don't know." She sighed again, shrugging. She was just so tired, all of yesterday's peace was gone and now, now she was just mad. Mad at herself for being so weak, mad at her subconscious for making a fool out of her, mad at him for making her feel this way, and mad at the world for not letting her have it that way she wants to.
"Wait, does this have anything to do with Pans?" He asked carefully.
"What about her?" She asked warily, watching him carefully. Should she know something about Pansy? If he cheated on her with perfect Pansy Parkinson she might have to fling herself out of a window.
"She won't tell anyone."He promised enigmatically and then, then she remembered. Pansy had revealed that she knew yesterday. Oh lord, she hadn't even thought about Pansy telling the world. There were far too many pieces in play for her liking.
"No it's not about Pansy." She shook her head, feeling exhaustion settling into her bones. Her shoulders felt heavy.
"Then why didn't you tell me that she confronted you?" He asked, and he sounded a little hurt. His perfect blond eyebrows scrunched together in the dim light of the room. This would all be so much easier if he wasn't adorable on top of being gorgeous.
"I'm sorry I just, I got busy. Astoria was really happy about yesterday and..." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. It hurt. Astoria had been giddy about how well her and Draco's dates were going and wanted to analyze every single detail at least ten times before going to sleep last night.
"Oh, okay that's fine. You should go if you need to go." He shrugged and it felt like a dismal. Her head bowed on reflex.
"Oh, okay." She murmured, slipping out the door, feeling like she couldn't possibly fuck up any more.
...
As if her day wasn't complicated enough as it was, Harry met her the moment she turned the corner from leaving Draco. She jumped, but he just launched right in to what was no doubt a highly planned question.
"Why is Ginny avoiding me?" Harry demanded, his tone bordering on alpha persuasion. Hermione shot him a dirty look, and he got enough composure to scale it down to like a seven, rather than a nine. His shoulders dropped, the tension in his torso relaxed, and he collapsed into the window seat beside her. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked, his face vulnerable, like a little kid. It made keeping things from him that much harder. Harry still didn't know that Ginny had presented and if she didn't want to tell him then that was her business.
"Ginny is avoiding you, but I can't tell you why, and no, you didn't do anything wrong." She explained slowly, careful not to give too much away. Harry groaned and gave her a petulant look, and she was reminded of how often she feels like his mother sometimes. "She's dealing with some stuff right now, and you just need to give her some space. She'll come to you when she's ready."
"I don't know what it is Mione, I just…" He closed his eyes, tensing beside her as he struggled to find the right words. "I keep feeling like something is wrong, like I need to see her, to protect her." It was Hermione's turn to stiffen and she turned to him with her eyes wide. Those were alpha urges and even if Harry didn't know what was happening, she did, he was giving into his instincts, trying to claim and protect the newly presented omega. She didn't know if he actually had feelings for Gin or if it was just pheromone confusion but either way Ginny could not deal with that right now, not with everything going on with Blaise.
"You need to shut that down right now, there's nothing wrong and even if there was it's not your job to get involved; you can't get involved." She gave directions, mimicking his alpha tone as she did it. She was hoping to trigger something biological but he just looked at her, stunned.
"Okay, okay, I won't get involved." Her promised, looking down at the ground morosely. Quick footsteps alerted the both of them to the new arrival. They both looked up as Katie stopped in front of them.
"Mione! Lady Greengrass wants to see both of us." Katie panted, distress in her eyes.
"Oh, I'll go get Astoria." Hermione announced, starting to set off, wondering why she would need to talk to her daughter right that moment.
"No, just us." Katie clarified, going pale at her own words. Her fear was mirrored on Harry's face.
"You better go." He instructed, nodding at her uneasily. Both girls took off.
…
Hermione had been called into Lady Greengrass's study twice in her life. The first time was when she had been promoted from playmate to personal attendant. The second was when Astoria's engagement negotiations had first been announced. Both times she had been greeted with teas and cakes and a warm, smiling mistress. This time was much less pleasant. The older woman studied Hermione and Katie like a hawk as they entered, sinking into deep curtsies immediately.
"Rise." Lavinia Greengrass instructed coolly. They both slowly straightened on shaky legs. "You may sit." Hermione pulled out the chair as carefully as she could, desperately trying to not make a sound, as if that would stop her impending doom. If she just didn't make a sound, maybe Lady Greengrass would forget that she was there. An omega could hope.
"Why aren't Daphne and Astoria succeeding?" Lavinia demanded and Hermione felt her stomach drop. There was nothing that she could say to answer that question that wouldn't get her fired.
"I'm sorry Lady Greengrass, I don't, I don't think that I understand." Katie stuttered nervously.
"You two know more than they do, are capable of hearing more gossip." Lady Greengrass asserted, leaning forward and staring down each girl in turn.
"Draco and Astoria's dates have been drastically…" Hermione offered nervously.
"I threatened his father; he's not charmed, he's desperate, there's a difference. He should be charmed. They should be. I have lovely daughters, at least Astoria is lovely." Lady Greengrass shrugged.
"Yes you do, my Lady." Katie agreed quickly.
"I'm well aware." She sneered dryly. "So why aren't their respective fiances interested? What is going on to stop these engagements?"
"I don't know Ma'am." Katie answered sincerely.
"How about you Hermione. What can you tell me? Has some kitchen girl caught Draco's eye?" Lavinia asked eagerly..
"I don't, I don't think there's a kitchen girl my lady." Hermione stuttered, she was sure her cheeks were coloring but she hoped that it could be passed off as naiveté.
"Stable boy? Is it Harry Potter?" Lady Greengrass asked in a very dramatic transition.
"No! I mean, no ma'am, I don't believe so." Hermione answered too quickly.
"If, when you two find out what or who is disrupting my daughters' engagements, you must tell me immediately. I will do anything to make sure that my girls are taken care of, no matter what." Lavinia ordered firmly. They nodded frantically. "Once they are secured, I will reward you both. I will ensure that Minerva speeds up your training and I will arrange a marriage for you Katie, someone of impeccable standing that you can wed with my approval, pending your consent of course."
"Thank you my lady." Hermione murmured, carefully keeping her eyes down.
"That is an incredibly generous offer." Katie sounded surprised but if she knew what was good for her, she wouldn't question it. This what they both wanted, what they both had always wanted.
"Pay attention and report to me the moment you hear anything. I don't care if it's just gossip, I don't need it confirmed, tell me immediately." She instructed. They both nodded frantically. "You're dismissed." She finished curtly and they both hurried to stand, curtsying once more on the way out. As soon as the door closed behind them, Katie turned to her, her eyes wide.
"This is going to suck isn't it?" Katie announced.
"Yes, yes it is." Hermione sighed.
...
Draco
Draco had a stressful day. After that weird encounter with Hermione, he hadn't been in the mood to deal with other humans so he had taken to the passageways for some quality people watching. With the impending wedding, the eldest Weasley had been escaping more and more often. That was going to be an intense wedding, he'd guess. The blonde kitchen girl still kept trying, dropping things and bending to pick them up every time that he stood behind her. He was totally oblivious. He actually looked kind of sad. Oh well, that would teach him not to touch another bloke's girl.
Later on, he had had a lesson with Severus which focused on brewing antidotes for poison. That included repeatedly poisoning him and giving him twenty minutes to identify the potion as well as brew the antidote before painful and or humiliating side effects set in. That was so much fun.
Lunch had included a lecture on how to meditate so that he wouldn't cheat on his future wife from his mother. Another wonderful experience. Afterwards, he had had to deal with Blaise freaking out because he was convinced that he had a lead on the bird destroying his life. He wouldn't tell Draco who he suspected of course, because he was convinced that Draco would tell Hermione and then she'd "tip off the culprit." That was another great use of his time. Then he had to fend off a girl who literally started unbuttoning his pants before he could say "hello" or more appropriately in this case "no thank you."She had left quickly, thankfully.
Now he was just waiting for Hermione, who was supposed to be coming at any given moment. A soft knock on his door cut off his train of thought.
"Come in!" He called lightly. The door creaked open slowly and an embarrassed looking Hermione slipped in through what was surely the smallest crack that she could manage. She slipped into the room, meekly perching on the couch in front of him with her hands folded in her lap. He sighed, sitting up because clearly something was still wrong, not that she'd tell him without some prying.
"Are you mad at me?" She asked quietly, not taking her gaze off her hands.
"I'm not mad at you. Why would I be mad at you?" He asked, genuinely surprised. She hadn't done anything wrong, everyone was entitled to not be in the mood for a snog every now and again.
"Someone's always mad at me." She sighed sadly, and it seemed like her eyes were watering. He could pick up hints of lilac in her scent. "And I snapped at you this morning when you literally didn't do anything wrong." She admitted and then shrugged as if it clearly wasn't difficult to say.
"Hey it's okay." He told her gently, pushing her hair out of her face and lifting her chin. "You don't have to be perfect, you know that right?"
"Of course I have to be perfect, at least when people can see me." She scoffed, turning away and looking at a painting on his wall as if it were fascinating.
"Why do you think that?" He asked seriously, curious how her brain worked, how she operated with so much pressure on her shoulders.
"I'm already so messed up. I have so many disadvantages; I can't afford to get caught making mistakes." She admitted and rubbed her arms despite the very apparent lack of a chill.
"You're not messed up." He assured her. She looked up from her fixed point on the wall and met his eyes stubbornly as she blurted out her answer.
"I don't sleep on a bed; I sleep on a mat on the floor in a room I share with twelve other slaves. I love libraries because I've never been allowed to read unless it was to make me more useful as a slave. I don't like jewelry because it's only ever hurt me, dampened my magic and made me weak. I love Astoria anyways because she didn't make the rules. She's just as trapped by them as I am. Now are you still going to tell me that I'm not messed up?" She demanded and laughed harshly.
"You're no more messed up than I am. I was an abusive, twisted sociopath of a child and then a horndog for the entirety of my post pubescent life. Trust me, where you sleep and your jewelry preferences don't mean shit." He assured her gently.
"And the libraries?" She asked, smiling a little now.
"Well, we met because of that misguided obsession with libraries, who am I to complain?" He teased, hoping they could skip the messed up part of that encounter. She smiled fondly and he took that as a signal that he was in the clear. "So do you want to tell me what was wrong this morning?"
"No, not particularly." She admitted, laughing at herself. He couldn't help but chuckle.
"So what would you like to do?" He had an activity in mind but it wasn't polite to ask for that straight out of the gate. Hermione stood and strode to the bar with a terrifying amount of self assurance. Her smile reminded him of Pansy in the most terrifying way possible as she turned to him with a very large bottle of tequila.
"I would like to drink and tonight I would like to drink a lot. " She announced, that grin not wavering for even a moment.
"I can accept that plan." He acquiesced as she took her first swig. This was going to be an interesting night.
A/N: Hello my loves, Happy Holidays, I hope you all had/have a wonderful whatever you celebrate. I have no idea where this chapter came from but it's very long and has a lot of moving parts so please leave me a review so that I know that I was clear enough everywhere. This story's quickly chugging along and should be progressing much faster starting very soon. I should be getting at least one more chapter out before this week is over so you all have that to look forward to. Reviews will make me write much faster though so please hit that little button below. Answer the questions if you feel like it or just say hello! Don't forget to check out my tumblr, directions are in my bio on my profile.
Some questions to get you started:
What did you think of that dream?
I love writing Pansy, how does she read?
Did you relate to Hermione's irritation this holiday season because I certainly did?
Wasn't Harry so sad?
Do you think Katie will hear anything useful?
Will Hermione give Lady Greengrass any info?
Do you think Blaise has figured it out?
Do you think Draco had to deal with any side effects?
What will happen once we throw alcohol into the mix?
A/N 2.0: Hey everyone, I was noticing that a lot of people were noticing some inconsistencies with Hermione's behavior in this chapter. I'll try to explain it as well as I can in the next chapter, which should be coming out either today or tomorrow. What's going on in this chapter is that Hermione's cracking under the pressure. She's stressed from all the work she had to do for Astoria, she's stressed from the pressure Minerva is putting on her, she's stressed about her relationship with Draco and where it's going, she's stressed because she's not getting enough sleep, she's stressed because she feels guilty for encouraging Astoria while dating Draco, and she's going through a teeny bit of what I refer to as O Drop because she was getting Alpha pheromones for twelvish straight hours and then she cut herself off suddenly for an extended period of time.
The characters in this novel are going to make mistakes; they're going to piss each other off. They're going to be jerks for no apparent reason because that's what people do. That's what teenagers do. They fuck up and they get mad and bite people's heads off for no good reason, or a vaguely acceptable reason such as dropping a perfume bottle.
Hermione is a little inconsistent and I wish that I had communicated this a little bit better (I did add a few details to try to guide you closer to that direction in this round of edits) but I do have a reason. She's acting out because it's not all rainbows and unicorns and she's coping with her stress by snapping in public and drinking in private, which isn't exactly an uncommon reaction. In private with Draco is the only time that Hermione feels like she can be anything other than meticulously controlled and perfect. It's the only place she feels safe to make mistakes and own up to them.
I hope this clarifies your issues with this chapter and I will be fleshing out the next chapter a little more to make sure that it is communicated thoroughly.