"Why is he here, Daphne?" Hermione dragged Daphne to the opposite corner of the Common Room, away from Malfoy and the other boys.
"How am I supposed to know? I knew Malfoy was Theo's friend, but I didn't anticipate him agreeing to drink with us… especially after what just happened." Daphne ran her hands through her hair and darted her eyes to where they were sitting.
"Maybe he didn't know it was us," Hermione was biting her lip with such vigor that it shot a painful shock down her spine. It reminded her of the many times Daphne informed her that she was waiting for the day her bottom lip would fall off.
"In any case, they'll get worried if we don't join them now. Come on, let's go." Daphne straightened her skirt down and tugged at her tie then led them to the others. She walked with such poise that no one would guess she had just been chased down the halls.
Hermione followed with less elegance and a sour look painted across her face. Her hand gripped her bag, leaving her knuckles white. She felt the contents of the large bottle in her bag slosh back and forth as she walked. It reminded her of the dinner in her stomach that was threateningly close to reappearing.
She tugged out the firewhiskey and put it on the small wooden table that sat in the middle of two dark green armchairs and a couch. Once she had displayed all the drinks she snagged from the kitchen she sat on one of the armchairs closest to the fire.
She realized that Malfoy hadn't noticed her yet since he was seated on the edge of the table, and his back was facing her and the fire. He was too busy telling Theo he may as well give up if he wanted to keep his dignity intact, to notice the bottles being placed behind him. If she stayed still, he may never notice.
"Daphne! I was starting to wonder where you've been," Theo stood and knocked over the chessboard with his leg. "Oh, sorry mate."
Blaise grumbled quietly. "You did it on purpose, you were losing." He tapped the fallen pieces with his foot gently.
Theo chuckled and grabbed the large bottle of whiskey then plopped back onto the couch with Daphne tucked under his arm. Blaise looked longingly at the disregarded chess pieces. She knew he wouldn't be willing to play with Malfoy since he'd beat him senseless, and Crabbe and Goyle, who were seated directly in front of the fire warming their hands, wouldn't even understand checkers.
Hermione curled herself into the comfortable chair and felt her eyelids drooping. The small party wasn't cut out to be as disastrous as she thought it would be. Theo and Daphne were chatting with Malfoy and Blaise about the quidditch game tomorrow while passing the bottle between them.
"Are you sure you should be drinking, Draco? Big day tomorrow," Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We haven't even had practice yet, we'd beat Hufflepuff even if they practiced all summer while we were out at the beaches." He took a short swig and leaned back onto the table, knocking over a small bottle of pumpkin juice.
Blaise glanced to where it landed then his eyes widened when they fell onto the nearly asleep Hermione.
"Hermione? I didn't realize you were here," He picked up the chessboard and placed it back on the table. "Fancy a game of chess?"
Hermione's eyes popped open and her heart began to pound. She glanced to where Malfoy was seated, but he didn't even spare a glance. It seemed he couldn't be bothered with her at the moment.
"Oh, I'd love to, Blaise." She offered a tight smile then gathered her large hair into a small tie so it wouldn't interfere, and knelt in front of the chessboard. The pieces had trotted back to their spots and were looking at her expectantly. She loved chess, she could have beat Blaise with her eyes closed.
She lost. Her heart had been hammering against her chest, threatening to escape. She felt Malfoy's presence hung over her in a dark fog. The anxiety had turned into a parasite inside of her and was eating her alive. She felt her fingers trembling uncontrollably so she retired back to her seat once the game had ended, playing it off as embarrassment.
She had never lost a game of chess at Hogwarts. Oftentimes, she would play by herself to study the infinite possibilities that people could try and fool her with. Her mind had felt as if it were flooded with murky water and it clouded every thought.
She gripped the book that she grabbed once she sat down with ice-cold fingers. She believed that all her blood had been drained from her body. She was frigid but decided to ignore it and pour herself into her potions book.
--
Draco POV
Draco was seething. His anger fell over him in dangerous waves. He had been humiliated by Peeves and the shaking girl who was seated behind him. No one seemed to have noticed his frightening mood besides Granger. It only made him angrier. He perfected an indestructible mask to cover his emotions, whether they're good or bad, yet she was always able to chip away at it until she uncovered his raw feelings.
It made him weak.
Weak to her.
At first, he planned to douse Granger in the firewhiskey that was tightly gripped in his hand, simply because he heard her whisper her plans to Daphne in the hall, but instead decided to do something that would make her weak.
Weak like him.
He wanted to break her.
So he waited. He drank. He laughed. He was ready.
It was past midnight now, and he noticed that Granger stood soon after Daphne retired to bed for the night. He spun around on the table and stopped his foot onto hers, then knocked over the glass whiskey bottle so it would cover her small yelp.
"Sit, Granger." He whispered in her ear when she bent over to attempt to take her shoe off, since tugging her leg didn't accomplish anything.
He heard her swallow, he felt her breath hit his ear, he could smell her sickly shampoo. She was too close. She needed to sit. Now.
She moved too slow, he shoved her into the chair behind her. His lungs were burning and he felt bile scratching his throat. He drank too much, his head was clouded. He looked at her tie and attempted to focus his vision. She was wearing her striped dark green tie, it was loosened. Crooked. It always made him sick looking at her dressed in his house's colors. They weren't hers. She was a mudblood. He almost reached to tear it off her neck.
"Malfoy?" Granger's voice was soft and shaky.
His eyes snapped to hers. Then he saw it.
The pity.
It was laced in her expression.
He felt something crack inside of him.
He lunged at her and grabbed her tie, then ripped it off.
"You don't fucking deserve this! You don't!" He was gripping the tie in one hand while the other was shoving his wand into her throat.
He felt his foot burn and looked down, she had cast a wandless spell that spat out fire onto his shoe. In the second that he looked down, she shot him flying back into the wall.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" She had her wand raised, threatening to do far more damage to him if he moved from the wall.
"You know it, don't you? I see it in your eyes." He saw a flash of pain run across her face and took the opportunity to disarm her. He knew now that she could perform some wandless magic, but she would be at a serious disadvantage without her wand.
"I belong here, Malfoy. I was sorted here," She stepped closer. "I am a Slytherin." She was close now. He felt her anger.
"Shut up."
"I deserve this more than you do," She paused before bringing her face near his. "But you already knew that."
"Shut up." His teeth were grinding against each other.
"You've been bested every year by a Slytherin mudblood."
"SHUT UP" He shoved her with such force that she fell onto a table and shattered a mug beneath her.
The Cruciatus Curse was pushing at his lips. His body felt as if it were covered in fire ants. His hands were twitching. He thought he was going mad. Then he realized that he never broke her. Granger made him snap. He was more broken than ever before. He hated her. He never felt such hate for anyone before.
Before he could torture her, he was shot in the face with a hex. She had retrieved her wand somehow.
His head felt heavy, his front two teeth painfully grew out until they touched the ground. He often called Granger 'beaver teeth' so the hex was incredibly successful since she had such emotion tied to it.
He tried to shout the forbidden curse but it was garbled under his new teeth.
He was thrown back against the wall once more, but he saw Granger fly in the opposite direction.
"50 points from Slytherin for fighting in the Common Room." Snape's dark figure crowded Draco's eyes.
--
Hermione POV
Her head felt like it was splitting open. She crashed against the wall with glass shoved in her back and saw large black dots dance across the room. She knew Snape had arrived, he was bound to eventually. But he seemingly did not notice her back that was riddled with glass from a broken mug before he suspended her to the wall.
She dropped her head and stared at the small puddle of blood that sat on the dark floor. She couldn't pass out, she had to defend herself since she knew he would be a snivelling weasel and pin the blame on her.
"Why are you bleeding, Ms. Granger?" Snape dropped her to the floor after he was done with Malfoy.
"There was- there was a mug. I fell." She was gripping her knees so her nails digging into her skin would distract her from the earth-shattering pain in her back. "I was pushed, Professor."
She lifted her head to meet his eye. A cold draft brushed against her face and she felt streaks of tears she wasn't aware she shed.
"I will take you both to the hospital wing. However, expect to have a meeting with the Headmaster immediately after you have recovered." He seized hold of Hermione's arm and half carried, half dragged her to the hospital wing with Malfoy in tow, scraping his massive teeth across the floor.
The healing was quick work, she only needed a few stitches in a few deep cuts but most of them were healed with a simple spell. Her head was still swimming in pain, but she was overall healthy.
Malfoy's teeth were shrunk back to normal, with the exception of a minuscule chip in his left tooth. She figured it would act as a reminder to not corner her.
Madame Pomfrey attempted to make them stay over the night, but Snape had already dragged them out.
Hermione's vision drifted in and out of focus while she followed him down the hall. Her hands were clenched by her sides. He could have killed her. She knew he intended to.
If she didn't kill him first, she would die to his hands.
She would never let Malfoy kill her. Never.
"I will kill you, Malfoy. I promise it."
"And I promise the same."
Malfoy was walking beside her with his hands locked behind his back with perfect posture. He was completely calm. His usual cloud of emotion that hung around him had completely vanished. She was worried, he had almost murdered her over a tie. Why was he so calm now?
She hadn't noticed that her tie was still being crushed in Malfoy's hand.