Chapter V – Errare humanun est

"Very merry night to you, too, Mr Slimy Son-of-a-bitch. Just how exactly do you put up with him? If he was the Head of my House, I'd be running from Hogwarts, or at least begging the Headmaster to transfer me into Ravenclaw!" Hermione snorted as she pulled on her trousers.

"I usually don't have to, he doesn't give punishments to his House. But it's no big deal." Draco said, searching for his socks.

"Are you defending him? And in case you didn't notice, he just deducted you ten points!"

"I'm not defending him. And it must be the first time he took points from me. He only takes points from Slytherin if we act really stupidly, like… um." Draco's mouth snapped shut.

"Like the Gryffindor Couple Harry and Ron, right? Merlin. I just knew the subject would come up. The stupid little Gryffindors, always getting their points deducted…" She wasn't really listening to Draco.

"I didn't say anything about Gryffindors. It was you, who…"

"But you were going to say. Jesus Christ, Draco!"

His eyes widened in surprise. Hermione only used muggle phrases when she was really pissed off.

"I really thought you'd grown from that "Gryffindors-are-stupid-let's-bash-and-tease-them" attitude!" she was shouting her lungs out now.

"And that Slytherin attitude of yours! It's okay to keep one with your House, but for God's sake! You don't need to suck the bastard's arse every single time!"

||Now look who's behaving immaturely, Hermione!||

Draco's eyes flashed. Hermione could see he was getting angry, too, but was clearly holding himself back.

"I don't suck his arse. And wasn't it you flashing your innocent smile at him? Thought you'd get away with a little flirt?" he said dangerously.

"Flirt? You call that flirting?" she screamed.

There was knock on the door and it opened.

"Hi, you people. Thought I'd find you here. Snape was looking for you, Draco… Is everything allright?" Blaise said as she stepped in, looking a bit confused.

Draco and Hermione both glared at her.

"BUGGER OFF!" they shouted.

Blaise jumped a little and muttered "Allright, allright... take it easy, guys."

"Actually, I'm leaving, too. I don't want to look at your face, Malfoy."

"I'm not the one to blame, Granger. And I certainly am not the one who's been screaming about for the last fifteen minutes."

"Fuck you, Malfoy. Fuck the whole, bloody Slytherin House!"

She grabbed the rest of her clothes and pulled her robe on. Then she stormed past Blaise, who was standing her with mouth hanging open, watching the scene not believing her eyes.

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Hermione ran through the corridors and stairs with tears in her eyes.

||I can't believe myself. How could I act so stupidly? Why did I totally lose control of myself?||

She reached the sixth floor and quickly paced towards her rooms. She slammed the door shut and leaned her back against it. Crookshanks jumped and meeped, then looked at her irritated. Hermione walked to her bed and collapsed on it. She paid no attention to Crookshanks, who was trying to tell her he was hungry.

She lay in the darkness with her eyes open and switched her brain to Objective Observation-mode.

||What on earth was I thinking? Let's revise what happened. Everything was fine, I wasn't angry… before Snape came in. He stared at me horrified, I stared him back yet more horrified. Then he looked like he wanted to curse me. Merlin, the look on his face… I've never seen him that angry before.||

Crookshanks bit her toe to protest his sudden abandonment.

"Oww! Why did you do that? Hungry, are we?" she reached for her wand.

"Accio smoked salmon!"

A plateful of delicious fish appeared on the floor. Crookshanks jumped off the bed and tucked in purring.

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to catch her thought.

||I just can't believe he hates me that much. I've done absolutely nothing to him! Then again, it's Snape were talking about…||

She turned on her side and opened her eyes.

||But why did I react the way I did? It really is no big deal. He only deducted ten points, and yes, threatened to make a report, but we did nothing wrong! He can't make any of his petty little reports. I really don't think Dumbledore would give a shit about what we're doing in our spare time, especially if it's nothing forbidden. And we weren't needed in the common rooms, there are other prefects as well. What the hell is wrong with him? And what the hell is wrong with me?||

Crookshanks had finished his supper and was now purring next to Hermione. She stroked his back and pulled him closer.

"I need to apologise Draco, don't you think so? I acted like a moron today. I said those nasty things to him. I wasn't thinking about my words at all! You know I don't act like that, don't you? You know I'm not that kind of person. I think before I talk. I don't say stupid things that mean nothing. But you know what, Shanks?" She pulled the cat on her stomach.

"We humans sometimes behave like that. We get taken over by our emotions, no matter how well we could control ourselves usually. And that's what makes us humans. I just hope Draco will forgive me."

She pulled the blanket over Crookshanks and herself and soon fell asleep.

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The next morning she woke to a knocking on her door.

"Mmhh?"

She pushed her eyes open (they were a little puffy from last night's crying) and rubbed them. There was another knock.

"Mione? Are you there? You'll be late from breakfast soon!"

"Uhh… Yeah, I'm coming. Just gimme a minute."

She got up and hurried to the bathroom, yawning. She quickly splashed her face with cold water and swept yesterday's mascara away. ||No time for makeup. Too bad, I look like hell.|| she thought, looking in the mirror. She cast a cleaning spell on her robe, as there was no time to change clothes, either. A quick flick with the hairbrush and she was done. ||The first years will jump to the ceiling.||

Harry was waiting her outside. He no longer had blue hairs on his face. He took a look at her and said:

"Have you been up all night studying?"

"Yeah, something like that."

They hurried to the Great Hall, which was already filled with hungry students. As they took their seats on the Gryffindor table, Ron greeted them.

"Morning, Mione. Morning, Harry. Did you sleep well?"

Hermione gave him a glare.

"Like a baby."

"She's been studying. Again."

She kept quiet and grabbed an apple. She could clearly see the Slytherin table from where she was sitting. She glanced around it and noticed Draco looking at her. He looked away when he caught Hermione's eye.

She sighed and bit her apple.

||This might be harder than I thought…||

To be continued…