Chapter Four: Hermione's Lost and Found

"Merry Christmas, everybody! All right there, Marc?"

Harry and Ron smiled back and waved as a greeting to Hermione. Marcus, however, was curled up in Seamus' bed wearing all the covers around his small body, two chocolate eyes peering through the Ireland vs. Bulgaria with Viktor Krum after the Snitch and Aidan Lynch on his tail.

"Oh, about little Marcus?" said Harry, his good-natured bright green eyes gleaming with laughter. "He got a very bad encounter with a monster last night, and he's still scared."

It was true. Little Marcus' eyes became fainter under the 1994 Quidditch World Cup quilt, and finally shut in shame.

"A big, yellow-eyed, furry orange striped monster cat!"

"Just look at its fangs! Sprayed you with poison spit, it did!" Laughter rang around the dormitory. Marcus twitched uncomfortably and pulled the quilt so close to him that his bushy blond hair disappeared under it, and Crookshanks, under Ron's bed, threw his tail up in dismay and made movements of resentment toward the joke. Apparently, Marcus and Crookshanks had scared each other stiff last night.

"Honestly, Marc, I think you've been hanging out with Neville way too much! Not that the family needs a Squib!"

Marcus looked a little hurt. His eyes started to get watery.

"Oh, good grief, Marcus, it's just a joke." Hermione went over to the bed and hugged her little brother. The quilt came looser. At least you could see the Snitch on it now.

"Crookshanks scratched my face. It hurt."

Claw marks stretched across his face, and they looked like they bled a little last night. She couldn't really blame him.

"Get over it Marcus, Harry and I have gotten worse injuries than the horrible paw marks of our evil monster cat here." Ron gently pulled Crookshanks from under his bed and stroked him. Crookshanks purred peacefully and ran his bushy tail along Ron's chin, tickling it and making him laugh. Amazingly, Ron and Crookshanks got along with each other very well now.

"It seems like you gave him quite a fright last night. Look at his tail-lost a few good hairs because of you, same with your scratches. For all we know, Marcus, maybe Crookshanks wanted to wake you up early and wish you a Merry Christmas with a lick, not claws, in the face." He suddenly sent the cat flying in the air towards Seamus' bed. The two flinched.

"Now, you two kiss and make up. You know what I mean."

And a truce was declared with a petting and tail cuffing.

Hermione decided to go upstairs early. She's had her fill of her favorite cameo cookies and pecan-lemon logs, and besides, Harry, Ron and Marcus were downstairs horsing around with the Blake twins Tyler and Garfield from Ravenclaw. The idea of plopping down in an armchair beside the fireplace with a book sounded relaxing. But then she remembered that she wanted a new book to read, so she turned and steered in the direction of the library instead. Ron had gotten a CD player from Harry for Christmas. Trouble was that he didn't know how to work it, and he didn't have a CD to listen to. The Blake twins, who became close to the Weasley twins and the latter after the flunking of grades and the enmity of students last year, had stopped by Gryffindor table and lent Ron a CD they happened to be holding. They had taken turns listening to the player, and now Hermione had one of the songs played stuck in her head.

"My biggest fear will be the rescue of me," she sang.

"Strange how it turns out that way..." Hermione kind of had a good singing voice if she kept it soft and to herself.

"Would you show me dear? Something I've not seen? Something infinitely interesting..."

A soft mewling interrupted the song. Like that of a really tiny kitten with a really soft voice. But since Hermione was singing in the softest voice herself, she heard it and looked down to find a gray, black-striped kitten with sapphire-blue eyes.

"Hello down there. To whom do you belong to?"

Innocent blue, blue eyes stared back at Hermione. Seemingly afraid, the eyes closed and the kitten curled itself up into a ball on the floor, sticking out its tiny, furry tail.

"Oh, come here. Don't be afraid now. I won't hurt you."

"Sapphire! Kitty, where are you? Sapphire!"

A familiar voice echoed through the library corridor. If the voice was familiar to the kitten, it sensed it, and its eyes opened little by little, but it didn't uncurl itself.

"Sapphire-"

It was Draco Malfoy who went up to the corridor and scooped the kitten up from the floor. As he stood up, his eyes met Hermione's in a straight, steely gaze.

"Oh...hello Granger."

Hermione suddenly felt the anger and hate that all Malfoy had caused her before. She flamed then and there.

"What, you don't add `Mudblood' to that anymore because you have another brilliant line to use with me?"

The anger and hate retaliated to her.

"Wow, so now you miss my foul mouth so much that you actually want to be called `Mudblood'? Use your own brain, Granger, for all your smarts you have to depend on my dumbhead for brilliant, catchy lines!"

He tucked the kitten into his stomach pocket.

"My brain is perpetually dead, Granger. I only came down here to look for my cat, and not to pick another fight with you. You know I'm sick of that, don't you?"

"Yeah, well so am I."

"Then remember that you're the one who started it this time." Malfoy just smiled, a sarcastic one, but still a smile.

Hermione hung her head, angry at her defeat.

"Well, Granger, I hate parting with you, but Sapphire and I have business to attend to."

A soft mewling escaped his stomach pocket. Little Sapphire poked its head out of the pocket and stared at Hermione.

"Oh yeah, Granger..." his eyes looked back at her, dazzling gray-blue. Like the kitten's.

"If you're the one who found Sapphire, she says thank you, and so do I." This time he smiled, a sincere one, and his ice-colored eyes gleamed with gratefulness. Hermione felt awkward-she'd never seen him like that.

"Uh-you're welcome, Malfoy."

"It's Draco. Is it OK if you call me that from now on?"

"Yeah, sure. If you call me Hermione instead of Granger."

"Alright. Let's go, Sapphire." He looked back. "You're not so bad after all, Hermione."

"And you too, er, Draco."

Satisfied, he traipsed down to the Slytherin dungeon.

"Oh yeah, and Hermione," he called back.

"We think that you should try keep up your singing voice."