A/N: I apologize about the really late update. I haven't had the time! This chapter has a bit lot more Dramione action, but really isn't that eventful. Anyhoo, hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to review Also, thanks to all those who are reviewing!
---------------------------------------------------------INFURIATION-----------------------------------------------------------
Hermione yawned loudly as she got up from her bed early the next morning. Mondays were the worst. Whether you were a Muggle, a Pureblood, Half-blood, Muggleborn or Squib, everybody hated Mondays. Having to wake up to another day, be it sunny or not, it was still the day after a weekend, and everybody loved weekends.
She threw back her covers, and stretched like a cat. She winced as she felt muscles in her legs respond negatively, and she thought, I really should partake in yoga. She patted Crookshanks' head, and rolled off her bed. Rule number one: rolling off your bed when you wake up – whether it was a Monday or not – is not a good idea. She landed with a thud on her (thankfully) carpeted floor. Thinking that her bottom took one hits too many over the past couple of days, she got up, grabbed her clothes, and made her way to the bathroom.
She opened the door, which creaked loudly, and was shocked to find her co-head drying his hair with his towel. Thankfully, the rest of him was clothed. Hermione glanced back at the door, deliberating whether she should just leave, when Draco said, his face emerging from beneath the towel. "No matter, Granger. I was just finishing off."
Hermione folded her arms across her chest. "Why are you here?"
Malfoy looked at her blankly. "Well, this is a bathroom, and I came here to sho –"
"That's not what I meant," she snapped. The fact that Malfoy had tried to joke with her hadn't come to her attention yet. She was still irked that he was in their bathroom when he wasn't supposed to be.
"Why are you in our bathroom when you aren't supposed to be?" she repeated her thoughts out loud. Before he could say anything, she continued, "We have a schedule, Malfoy. And generally, schedules are followed."
He didn't say anything. Instead, he crossed the enormous bathroom in a few strides, and hung up his emerald towel on the rail.
Hermione said, "What if you were doing something else, Malfoy? I mean, would you like it if I intruded while you were nak- uh ... while you were showering?"
And in customary Draco Malfoy fashion, he walked passed her, opened the door, and shut it behind him.
Hermione let out an agitated noise. "Why won't he bloody answer my bloody questions!" she cried out angrily, not caring if he heard her.
She decided she needed a shower, not a bath, to calm her down. The pulsing water really did wonders. She turned the water on, and whilst she waited for it get hot, she shrugged out of her clothes. She stuck out her hand to test the water.
"YEOW!!!" she screeched, cradling her hand to her chest. Stupid, bloody shower. This is why she preferred having a bath. She cautiously manoeuvred her hand around the streaming water to locate the cold tap. She swiftly turned it on, and the temperature of the gushing water gradually decreased to a manageable one. Well, the shower did help with one thing: her irritation with Malfoy had now moved to the shower.
She thought too soon.
She heard the door to the bathroom open quickly, and Hermione, upon reaction, hastily stumbled into the shower. She managed to close the shower door ... at around about the same time she slipped to the floor, her butt earning another bruise.
"If that's you, Malfoy, I'm giving you exactly one minute to arrange funeral plans for yourself," she muttered scathingly.
"But I heard a scream," Malfoy replied in a calm, emotionless voice. Although completely devoid of emotion, the corner of his mouth actually lifted up fractionally.
Hermione couldn't see him, due to the (thankfully) frosted shower doors. "I could've been screaming for anything, Malfoy – out of sheer excitement maybe – but that doesn't warrant you an entrance into the bloody bathroom!" She tried to sound calm and collected, but her voice picked up as she got towards the end f her statement...or exclamation, rather.
Malfoy stuck his wand back into his pocket. He felt uncomfortable talking to Hermione when she was on the other side of a shower door, so he tried wrapping up the conversation. "Well, you could've been hurt or something," he replied.
His words touched her, and Hermione thought, Maybe he isn't so far gone after all. Hermione got up from her place on the shower floor, and almost slipped again. Her irritation for the shower returned, and when she remembered why she was in the shower in the first place, irritation for him was refreshed. "So you thought you'd come and save me? Trying to save the day now, are you, Malfoy?"
She bit her tongue to refrain from speaking further. She didn't mean to say that.
Malfoy let out a low hiss. "Merlin save the day when we all need saving."
Before Hermione could explain to him, she heard the bathroom door snap shut.
He'd left.
Hermione pondered his words, trying to decipher them. She truly was touched that he thought she was hurt. If she was in a great deal of pain, would he have helped? Or would he have just come in, alarmed by her scream, and figure that it wasn't that much of a big deal? Maybe he would have helped.
Then again, maybe he would not have.
She dried herself off and changed into her uniform. Wrapping a towel around her head, she walked out of the bathroom. He was just exiting the Common Room. "Malfoy!" she called out to him. He put a hand on the portrait's frame, halting himself. He turned towards her, stepping back into the room slightly. "Yes?"
Hermione held the towel on her head tightly so that it wouldn't fall off – the towel, not her head, that is. She walked quickly towards him, and said, "Look, I didn't mean what I said earlier. That was just emotion speaking."
"Emotion," he repeated. It sounded as if he was mocking the word.
She nodded but thought that she was losing him. She grasped at loose straws. "You see," she explained, "I was first irritated with you, then I got burnt, so I was irritated with the shower next, and then you came in, and I almost slipped in the shower, and then I remembered why I was in the shower, and then I got irritated with you again."
Draco arched an eyebrow. "I see," he stated. Yes, she had clearly lost him. This was clarified as he nodded once at her, and turned to go.
"What it comes down to," Hermione persisted, "is that I acted purely out of emotion. So, there."
Malfoy turned back to face her, and his eyes gleamed briefly. "Emotion means nothing to me, Granger."
Hermione flinched as the portrait swung shut behind his departure. "Well, clearly," she muttered, perplexed.
When the bell for second period sounded, Hermione reached for her bag. However, when she picked it up, it felt extraordinarily light. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. How is it that she hadn't realized the lack of weight in her schoolbag when she had left the Head Tower? She rested her schoolbag on the table in front of her, careful not to knock over the cauldron that was already on it, and flicked the latch. The bag opened, and Hermione wasn't greeted by the usual sight of books upon books rushing out.
She opened the bag fully, and saw to her amazement, that she had only packed her Potions textbook! She clearly wasn't thinking this morning when she was packing her bag!
Most of her first-period class had already left. The few that remained behind were either too slow, or weren't too bothered to go to their next lesson. She, Hermione Granger, was neither slow nor not keen on going to her next lesson. She was the very opposite! Glancing at her watch, she realized that there was no way in this world that she would be able to make it on time for her next class without fetching all of her other school necessities that rightfully belonged in her bag.
She grabbed her bag off the table, and ran, but just before she got to the door she heard a dull clang as the cauldron dropped to the floor. Hermione, not caring to go back, withdrew her wand, and flicked it. Hopefully, the cauldron had returned to its place, and not over somebody's unfortunate head.
She sped down corridor after corridor, panting, until she finally came to the portrait to the Heads' quarters. A stitch in her stomach caused her to wince in pain, but she gasped out the password, and the portrait door swung open, even though the portrait lady looked a tad baffled at the panting Hermione.
Hermione clutched her side as she stumbled into the Common Room.
The stitch was momentarily forgotten as Hermione saw Draco Malfoy reading a book on the couch. She raised her eyebrows, and felt her eyes widen, as she asked in between pants, "How - how come you're - you're here?"
Malfoy looked at her over his book. "I could very well ask you the same question," he replied. The sight of Hermione panting, her hair plastered to her face with sweat, and she clutching her sides, seemed to trigger an ounce of amusement deep within Draco. So deep, he hardly registered it.
Hermione threw her hands up in the air, her mouth dropping to form an O. "But of course!" she practically yelled. She raced to her bedroom, stowing almost everything school-related into her bag. Her eyes swept her room swiftly, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Nodding to herself, she all but galloped out of her room, almost forgetting Malfoy.
Just before she got to the portrait, he called out to her, "You might need this."
She turned around, a little annoyed. She was late, for Merlin's sake! "What?" she barked.
Malfoy held out a voluminous book to her. She stalked forward, and grabbed the book from him. Her annoyance faded away as she read the title. She looked down at him. "How did you know I have Muggle Studies now?" she asked, shaking the book at him.
Malfoy stared back at her impassively, before saying, "Because I share the same class with you."
Hermione felt uncomfortable at his words, and she felt her eyes widen slightly. How could she have known that he shared the same class with her? "In my defence," she said, "I sit in the front of the class. Subsequently, I don't know who sits behind me."
Malfoy inclined his head in acknowledgement of her statement, and refocused his attention on his book.
Hermione shifted from foot to foot, and cleared her throat, trying to call his attention.
He didn't look up.
She cleared her throat again.
He still didn't look up.
She placed a hand on her hips. "Well," she said loudly, "aren't you going to come then?"
Malfoy turned the page, and said, "Not at all."
Hermione was shocked. "May I ask why?"
"You may," Malfoy murmured, still reading his book intently.
"Don't play bloody games with me, Malfoy! I'm getting late!"
"Well, nobody's asking you to stay here," Malfoy replied.
Hermione battled the urge to slap him. "Why won't you come, then?"
Malfoy didn't answer.
Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously. A few moments drew out into a few more moments, and still he hadn't uttered a word! Her heart beat picked up as she grew more and more irritated. Hermione aimed a kick at the couch. "Damn it, Malfoy! Why don't you bloody answer any of my bloody questions?"
Malfoy flipped over another page. "I said you may ask; I didn't say that I was going to answer," he answered.
Merlin, he was infuriating!
Hermione slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, feeling briefly satisfied at the heaviness of the bag. "Fine," she huffed. "Don't come then."
She stalked towards the portrait, and slammed it shut behind her.
She knew she was acting childish, but did he not realize how extremely annoying he could be? She rushed to her Muggle Studies class – she was well over ten minutes late.
When she got to the door, students looked up in wonder. Hermione Granger? Late? Hermione ignored their looks, and squared her shoulders. She walked into the classroom, apologised to the professor, who was holding up a plug, and took her seat. Once she got into the lesson, she forgot all about Malfoy.
Back in the Heads' Common Room, Malfoy flipped another page of his Muggle Studies textbook.
--------------------------------------------------------to be continued--------------------------------------------------------