Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Placing:Mid of fourthyear.
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THE SLYTHERIN WAY
PART XI
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"Miss Granger," Hermione stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned around after being addressed so formally.
Behind her, stood Malfoy.
He was dressed in his best robes, his hair was carefully slicked back and he had a single flower in his hand.
He held out the flower to her, his face showing slightly hidden disgust and desperation.
"Miss Granger," he repeated. "Please accept this flower from me as an apology for my previous behaviour. It was inexcusable."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at the Malfoy Heir.
"If it was inexcusable, why do you even bother to try and get me to accept your apology, Mr Malfoy?" She asked as formally as he had been.
Malfoy blinked in confusion and surprise.
"What?" He asked, clearly out of his comfort zone with that question. "What are you talking about, Granger?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow at the boy in front of her.
"You yourself declared your behaviour inexcusable – yet you wish me to accept your pitiful flower as an apology for something that I shouldn't excuse according to your own declaration," she replied.
Malfoy gawked.
"But… but…," he stuttered, now totally thrown. "You have to accept my apology!"
Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" She asked plainly.
"Because I did it right, this time around!" Malfoy argued.
Hermione just stared at him.
"You were the one who told me what you did was inexcusable – so why should I forgive something that shouldn't be forgiven according to you?"
"Because… because," Malfoy stopped, clearly not sure what to say to that, then his face hardened. "Because that's what properly raised witches would do! That you don't just shows me that you aren't raised properly!"
"Is it?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow. "But if properly raised witches forgive words and actions like the ones you showed towards me – shouldn't those actions be excusable somehow and not inexcusable as you called them?"
Malfoy stared at her with an open mouth, clearly unsure what to answer to that.
Hermione just looked at him calmly.
"Don't look at me like that, Malfoy," she said. "I just pointed out the discrepancy in your logic."
"But… but you have to forgive me, Granger! I'm a pure… I mean you're just a mu… I mean you… you just have to forgive me!" He stuttered.
Hermione looked at him interestedly.
"Why?" She repeated.
"Because it's simply done like that!" Malfoy whined.
Hermione thought it over, in the end she shrugged.
"If it's so important to you, you can have my forgiveness for your name calling as long as it won't happen again from now on," she replied. "Just know that everybody will know if you break your oath from now on."
Malfoy nodded eagerly and Hermione took the pitiful flower he held out to her.
"So… does that mean you're going to the Yule Ball with me?" Malfoy asked.
Hermione frowned.
"That means that I forgive you the name calling in the past," she corrected him. "I already have a date for the Yule Ball – and as far as I know you have one, too."
"Yes, of course," Malfoy replied. "It's a day before the ball, after all."
Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"So if you have a date and know that I have a date – why do you even bother to ask me out to the Yule Ball again?" She wanted to know. "That doesn't seem very logical to me."
Malfoy frowned.
"But that's what it all started, isn't it?" He asked confused. "You and everybody else wanted that I go to the Yule Ball with you…"
Hermione sighed.
"Oh, Malfoy," she said and shook your head. "You have still a lot to learn."
Then she smiled at him in amusement.
"But maybe, just maybe, you will actually manage to grow up before Harry and Ron do," she added to sooth the other boy. "But then, that's as likely as you being Professor Snape's lovechild with your mother…"
"I'm not the lovechild of the Professor and my mother!" Malfoy screeched.
"Exactly," Hermione said smiling. "That was exactly the point I wanted to make. Well done for pointing it out so clearly."
And with that, she sent him another evil smile, turned around and left, leaving a confused looking Malfoy and some hidden listeners in her wake.
"Snape's lovechild," Theo said thoughtfully. "Hmmm… maybe if I tweak that rumour and change Snape into somebody else…"
"Like Filch?" Neville asked him interestedly. "Or Hagrid?"
Theo flashed him a smile.
"Oh!" He said amused. "You're evil, Nev, really, really evil!"
"What exactly are you two… planning again?" A voice interrupted the two plotters before they could develop a plan of action.
Theo's eyes widened, but then he smiled, Neville on the other hand looked as if he wanted to be everywhere else but where he was.
"P… Professor S… Snape!" He stuttered fearfully.
Theo threw his friend a concerned glance and then looked back at his Head of House.
"We're just planning to tweak the rumour mill a bit further, sir," he said unconcerned.
"They're planning to exchange your name with the caretaker's or Hagrid's," a dreamy voice spoke up. "We could also add to the list that he is the lovechild of Professor Trelawney with his father."
The two boys looked surprised at the airy looking Ravenclaw that was following the Professor in his wake.
The Professor raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed," he said slowly. "You are aware, Ms. Lovegood, that as a teacher I should stop the defaming of another student's character?"
The Ravenclaw just looked up at the Professor innocently.
"It's not as if we're spreading the rumour, sir," she said unconcerned. "We're just tweaking it. Spreading it is done by others already."
With that she gestured at the other students who had been listening to the new exchange of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger.
The Professor followed her hand with his gaze.
"Indeed," he said slowly. "Then I guess there's no reason to stop you."
With that he turned around and walked swiftly down the hallway towards his office.
Neville looked at his Slytherin friend, still green in the face.
"Did he just now actually approve of our plan?" He asked faintly.
"Of course," Luna Lovegood replied. "He's even willing to help. Now – don't dandle. We have a rumour to plan, after all!"
With that she grabbed Neville with her right hand and Theo with her left and dragged them off to do just that.
Just a few hours later, half of the school was talking about the fact that Hermione Granger accused Draco Malfoy of being the lovechild of Filch after he refused to understand that she was already taken for the Yule Ball…
Poor Malfoy would hide away for the rest of the day and the next one until the Yule Ball. It seemed to him, that he would never get rid of the rumour of him and Granger ever again…
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And I've reached the Yule Ball. I've still planned a scene or two, but the story's nearly finished now…
Hope you liked the chapter
'Till next time
Ebenbild