Ok. Here is the next, weird, totally off chapter. Please review. please
:):)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the weird storyline!
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````` Chapter 4
"Come on, dear boy. How are your Divination skills meant to develop if you don't even let a expert to decipher your visions?" Professor Trelawney demanded, sounding uncharacteristically unfluttery.
"I didn't see anything." Muttered Harry, keeping his eyes glued to his crystal ball.
She heaved an annoyed sigh, then walked to Parvarti and Lavender.
"Hey, Harry, what did you see?" Ron whispered.
"I'll talk to you after class." Harry muttered.
~
"So, what did you see?" Asked Ron.
"I saw Hermione- with Malfoy."
"Malfoy?"
"They were um, kissing."
"WHAT?" Ron looked enraged. "Does Krum know?"
"Most likely not." Harry said, "I think that is why Hermione's so off these days. She was dating Malfoy on the side, I think he put a memory charm on her, cause she doesn't seem to know what happened."
"Well, what should we do about it?"
"Nothing."
"NOTHING?"
Harry nodded, "we should see what is really happening first." He warned.
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"Ms Granger!"
Hermione felt someone shaking her shoulder. Looking up, she saw her Arithmacy professor.
"Sorry, Professor." She mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
She heard Malfoy snicker behind her. "Getting beauty sleep, huh, Granger?"
"Unlike some people, I don't need it." Hermione retorted, concentrating on the board.
"If anyone needs it, its you, Mudblood." Hissed Pansy Parkinson when the teacher had his back turned.
Hermione simply ignored the comment, focusing on the board.
"Mr Malfoy, as you have so many comments to make, please solve this equation." The Professor boomed.
Malfoy quickly gave the answer, and then sent Hermione a smirk.
Hermione looked away. Strangely, the sight of Malfoy seemed to turn her on. But that was impossible. She told herself. He's a SLYTHERIN JERK.
When the bell rang, Hermione gratefully packed up her books and was about to leave when the Professor tapped her on the shoulder. "Ms Granger, you seem to be lacking energy these days." He said kindly, "if you want, give this note to Professor Snape and hopefully, he'll brew up a Pep-up potion for you." He scrawled a quick message on a piece of parchment, and then handed it to Hermione.
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, giving the Professor a grateful smile before running out of the classroom.
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"Hey, Mione!" Harry and Ron waved to her to sit down at Lunch.
"Hi." Hermione said, sitting down beside Ron, helping herself to the stew, which was on the table.
"Are you all right, Mione?" Ron asked. Harry jabbed him with an elbow.
"Yes, why?" Hermione gave them a curious look.
"No reason." Harry said quickly, glaring at Ron.
Ron whipped out his timetable. "We have Defence Against Dark Arts next!"
"Hooray." Hermione said darkly, looking at her stew.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, then at Hermione. Ron opened his mouth, but Harry elbowed him.
Sighing, Ron ate his stew. "Barking mad," he muttered.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````
Surprisingly, Krum seemed to have a pretty good lesson in plan. A big cage stood beside the door, where the things inside seemed to be making a lot of noise.
As soon as everyone was seated, Krum heaved the cage up to the table, muscles rippling. "I guess everyone is wondering what is in the cage."
Dean smirked, leaning over to Seamus to whisper something into his ear.
"What is inside are Swedish goblins. Each on of you will be in your cubicle, with a goblin. If it is any assurance, the goblins cannot get out of the cubicle. If you need any help, shoot up red sparks by saying 'Rougispracus' practice with me."
The class seemed to be slightly interested, even Hermione. They all got out their wands and repeated the word.
"Fery well. Can everyone get in 2 lines?"
The class did so silently, wondering what was to happen next. Krum waved his wand, muttering an incantation. Walls began to separate each person. Everyone had approximately 3m2 of space to themselves.
Carefully, Krum lifted up the cage and began to pull out the goblins.
Harry got a particularly nasty looking goblin, which made a face at him and instantly tried to run out of the cubicle.
At the entrance, the air crackled and spat the goblin back in. Furious, the goblin turned onto Harry, saying something in his language.
"Stupefy!" Harry said, getting out his wand.
Grinning, the goblin ducked, and the spell sailed over its head and smashed into the wand.
Frantically, Harry tried all the curses he knew, but the goblin ducked them every time.
"Furnunculus!" Harry shouted frantically, using the Jelly legs curse. The goblin wobbled about for a while, but snarled and rushed at him after the curse wore off. "Expelliarmus!"
Harry forgot that the goblin wasn't holding anything, so the curse didn't work. "Impedimenta!"
That froze the goblin temporarily. Harry tried to sneak past it, heading for the entrance, but the magic threw him back into the goblin, which had recovered and was currently looking very angry.
"Uh oh." Harry muttered, "Expecto Patronum!"
A silver stag came out of his wand, Harry's panic dissolved a little.
But the goblin barrelled right into it, and the stag took one last look at Harry before it vanished.
Harry sighed. He had run out of legal curses to use. His mind scrambled for a few more spells. anything.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry cried desperately. His spell hit the goblin and the goblin hovered above the ground, snarling at him.
Quickly, before he lost control, Harry directed it above the wall and let it splat down towards the ground on the other side.
"Very good, very good!" Krum congratulated, picking up the dazed goblin and putting it back in its cage. "You are the first one to free yourself from the goblin!" He undid the spell. Harry stumbled out, feeling a bit disorientated.
"You can go around and see the others, if you want." Krum said, hefting up the cage.
Curiously, Harry walked down the aisle. Ron was next to him, it seemed that his goblin was even nastier. It shot bolts of magic at him. Ron's robes were dotted with tiny holes.
Harry tried to signal for Ron's attention, but Ron was busily trying to put out the fire that the goblin had set on his robes.
Hermione's cubicle was next. It seemed that Hermione was worst off than any of them. Her goblin was on her shoulders, whacking her with her wand, which Hermione was frantically trying to get. When Hermione finally got hold of the wand, she stunned the goblin, and desperately threw it against the barrier.
Krum rushed to her cubicle. "You've done it! Congratulations!" Quickly, he picked up the goblin and threw it into the cage with Harry's goblin, and then he undid the barrier spell, letting Hermione through.
"Ugh!" Hermione shook out her hair, and then retied it. "What were we meant to learn from that?"
Seamus, however, seemed to be getting along quite well with his goblin, and was talking to it.
"Finnegan! You're meant to attack it, not converse with it!" Krum said, exasperated.
"Its teaching me Gobbledegook!" Protested Seamus.
"I don't care if it's teaching you how to fly! Attack it!" Krum said acidly.
Seamus shrugged, then relayed Krum's request to the goblin. It nodded, allowing Seamus to stun it.
"Here. Can I go now?" Seamus asked.
Krum sighed, then picked up the goblin and freed the barrier spell.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````
"What did you learn out of that lesson?" Krum asked his weary, worn out class after he collected all the goblins.
"Never take Defence against Dark Arts?" Hermione whispered.
Interestingly, the rest of the class seemed to be pretty taken by the lesson. Everyone shot up their hands.
"Swedish goblins are actually very intellectual. They have a relatively high IQ, that makes them hard to defeat." Dean said, shooting a glance at Neville, who had been the only one who couldn't defeat his goblin. Neville looked dazed.
"Um, yes. What did you learn about defeating goblins? What spell was most effective?" Krum demanded.
"The Stunning spell." Ron said.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Parvarti said impishly, looking flirtatiously at Harry, who looked away.
"Nothing." Neville muttered.
Just then, the bell rang, and the class dispersed. "Look up 10 hexes that work effectively on goblins. You are dismissed."
Just as Harry went out the door, Krum stopped him. "Thanks for the advice, Potter."
"No problems." Harry said, Krum was a decent sort, really. He wasn't sure about Malfoy though.
~
Hermione seemed totally slumped at breakfast the next day, Pig flew up overhead and landed on her head.
"Come off, Pig." Ron said exasperatedly, "Mione, shake your head."
"What?" Hermione asked sleepily.
"Are you all right, Mione?" Harry asked, "You don't seem yourself these days."
"I'm fine," Hermione said, "just a little tired."
"You always seem a little tired," Ron said sharply, "do you need to go to Madam Pomfrey?"
Hermione shook her head, "I'm OK, Ron," She said in a final tone, and then she took a black flask out of her bad, taking a tiny sip out of it. Immediately, she seemed more revitalised.
"What's that?" Ron asked curiously.
"Pep-up potion." Hermione said, wiping her mouth with a tissue.
"We have Care of Magical Creatures next," Harry said, checking his time table, "are you sure you're up to it?"
"YES," Hermione said, eyes flashing, "please stop acting like I'm a car crash victim!" She stood up and stalked out of the Great Hall.
"Malfoy's definitely gotten into her," Ron muttered, glaring at Hermione's back.
~
"What's wrong, Granger? Have you broken up with your boyfriends?" Pansy Parkinson sneered when she saw Hermione was in one side of the class, while Ron and Harry were at the other.
Hermione refused to dignify an answer, pretending to be very interested in the dirt.
"What's the matter, Mudblood?" Malfoy asked, smirking, "time of the month?"
She bit her lip, narrowing her eyes. No one's saying anything. Nothing is wrong. She told herself sternly.
She just couldn't concentrate these days, she always, always thought about HIM. When her mind wasn't on him, it was on MALFOY. There was something wrong with her.
The worst thing was she couldn't bring herself to speak to Harry or Ron. It was as if they weren't friends anymore. Ron's crush on her didn't help at all. If Ron knew she was sure, he'd be furious.
Sometimes, she wished she had never gone to Bulgaria, that way, she wouldn't be the flaky person she was now.
Other times, she chided herself at being so unfaithful to Dom. She loved him. She was sure of it.
But. Hermione had never been sure of one thing. Did he love her back?
Hagrid came out, with a couple of furry golden things cradled in his arms.
After a closer look, Hermione saw they weren't furry. They were feathery.
"Baby griffins!" Hagrid said cheerfully.
"You're to work in pairs for this." Hagrid began.
Immediately, all the Gryffindors darted to the Gryffindors and all the Slytherins huddled together.
"But. Professor Dumbledore is working towards a Slytherin/Gryffindor peace between th' two houses, so, you have to pair up with another house."
The Slytherins and Gryffindors backed up, glaring slit eyed at each other.
"Um, I'll pair up with Hermione." Malfoy said quickly, grabbing Hermione's arm.
Hermione looked pointedly at his hand, Malfoy flushed, then withdrew it. "Let's get the griffin then." He mumbled.
Ron looked insanely furious.
"Very good, Hermione, Malfoy. Now, would the rest of yer PLEASE pair up?" Hagrid asked pleadingly.
No one made a move.
Hermione picked up an adorable baby griffin, cuddling it.
It looked fairly sweet tempered, unlike some of the others, and gave little meowing sounds from its beak.
Hagrid cleared his throat. "Very well. Crabbe, go with Parvarti."
Parvarti looked enraged, but obeyed grudgingly.
"Lavender, Goyle. Harry, Pansy. Millicent, Ron." By the time everyone was paired up, everyone was less than happy.
"Ouch! The damn thing nipped me!" Pansy complained, immediately dropping the griffin on Harry's arms.
Millicent was watching as Ron tried to pick up a feathery bundle, laughing meanly every time he dropped the feathery thing back.
Hermione's griffin, however, was willingly eating the piece of meat jerky that was being offered.
"Now, ain't that nice?" Hagrid asked the class.
Nearly everyone was suffering from bleeding fingers, dripping blood on the griffin's golden feathers. Only two pairs got relatively agreeable griffins.
"They're so soft!" Hermione said speculatively, stroking the griffin's feathery body. Malfoy looked on boredly.
"This semester, yer'll be with the very griffin yer holdin' now." Hagrid explained, as practically everyone groaned, "yer'll be given collars with the griffin's name on it, the collars will not be able to be removed by anyone other than the griffin's owners."
Pansy, who looked like she wanted to make a switch, scowled angrily.
"Yer'll all be writing a paper on yer griffin, and yer have to make a ideal environment for it t' grow up in." Hagrid explained, "in the essay, yer to explain what griffins do, what griffins eat, basically, write a 2 foot parchment on griffins."
After Hagrid had explained the assignment, the pairs were given the collars, which they put around the griffin.
"Aren't you a sweet little thing?" Hermione cooed to the griffin, which had fallen asleep.
"Great, we've got a dumb, doped up griffin." Malfoy said sourly.
"Better than a griffin which scratches out your eyes," Hermione retorted, giving Crabbe a pointed look. Crabbe had four parallel scratches down his face. "You try carrying it."
Hermione carefully transferred the baby griffin into Malfoy's arms. The griffin stirred at little, then turned.
Malfoy had the queerest expression on his face, Hermione gave a smile, "griffins give a feeling of strength and vigilance to its owner."
"It gives you strength?" Malfoy asked, snapping out his daze.
"Maybe," Hermione carefully took the griffin out of Malfoy's arms, the cradled it, "its so cute!"
"Good, as you like it so much, you take care of it." Malfoy said hurriedly.
Hermione smirked, "think you're going to get out of it that easy? You chose me as your partner, that's fine with me, as long as you pull your weight. You write the draft reports, I'll finalize it. Don't even think about writing a crappy or short report, 'cause I'll make you write it again. If you don't pull your weight, I'll just go to Hagrid and tell him."
Malfoy glared at her.
She shrugged, smiling.
"What are you smiling about?" He snapped.
"You know what, Malfoy? This is going to be very fun!" Hermione said gleefully, putting the griffin back in its cage.
"I'll bet." Malfoy muttered, glaring at her.
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Hermione had exited the class quickly as soon as the bell rang, Ron glared after her. "She's HAPPY about working with Malfoy."
Harry sighed, "there's nothing we can do about it."
"Yes we can," Ron said, "get Malfoy."
Ron stalked up to Malfoy, who had just put back the cage containing his griffin. "What do you want, Weasley?" Malfoy drawled.
"What do you want out of Hermione, huh?" Ron demanded.
Malfoy smirked, "nothing. Unless you want me to want something from her."
"Malfoy, if you do anything to her." Ron said threateningly.
"Trust me, I won't be doing anything to her that she doesn't want me to do, Weasley." Malfoy sneered, "remember that."
Ron was just about to grab his wand when a big hand stopped him. It was Hagrid.
"I don't want any trouble, Ron." He said gruffly, then turned to Malfoy, "if you cause any trouble, I still have Moody's ferret spell in handy."
Malfoy scowled, then sauntered off.
Ron watched him go. "He's going to do something. I know it." He said flatly.
"C'mon, let's go, Ron." Harry said quietly, "we don't want to be late for Professor Sprout."
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Wow! That is like the longest chapter I ever wrote, so you people out there better review ^_~
Thanks to all the people who did review!
~Wev~*
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the weird storyline!
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````` Chapter 4
"Come on, dear boy. How are your Divination skills meant to develop if you don't even let a expert to decipher your visions?" Professor Trelawney demanded, sounding uncharacteristically unfluttery.
"I didn't see anything." Muttered Harry, keeping his eyes glued to his crystal ball.
She heaved an annoyed sigh, then walked to Parvarti and Lavender.
"Hey, Harry, what did you see?" Ron whispered.
"I'll talk to you after class." Harry muttered.
~
"So, what did you see?" Asked Ron.
"I saw Hermione- with Malfoy."
"Malfoy?"
"They were um, kissing."
"WHAT?" Ron looked enraged. "Does Krum know?"
"Most likely not." Harry said, "I think that is why Hermione's so off these days. She was dating Malfoy on the side, I think he put a memory charm on her, cause she doesn't seem to know what happened."
"Well, what should we do about it?"
"Nothing."
"NOTHING?"
Harry nodded, "we should see what is really happening first." He warned.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````
"Ms Granger!"
Hermione felt someone shaking her shoulder. Looking up, she saw her Arithmacy professor.
"Sorry, Professor." She mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
She heard Malfoy snicker behind her. "Getting beauty sleep, huh, Granger?"
"Unlike some people, I don't need it." Hermione retorted, concentrating on the board.
"If anyone needs it, its you, Mudblood." Hissed Pansy Parkinson when the teacher had his back turned.
Hermione simply ignored the comment, focusing on the board.
"Mr Malfoy, as you have so many comments to make, please solve this equation." The Professor boomed.
Malfoy quickly gave the answer, and then sent Hermione a smirk.
Hermione looked away. Strangely, the sight of Malfoy seemed to turn her on. But that was impossible. She told herself. He's a SLYTHERIN JERK.
When the bell rang, Hermione gratefully packed up her books and was about to leave when the Professor tapped her on the shoulder. "Ms Granger, you seem to be lacking energy these days." He said kindly, "if you want, give this note to Professor Snape and hopefully, he'll brew up a Pep-up potion for you." He scrawled a quick message on a piece of parchment, and then handed it to Hermione.
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, giving the Professor a grateful smile before running out of the classroom.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````
"Hey, Mione!" Harry and Ron waved to her to sit down at Lunch.
"Hi." Hermione said, sitting down beside Ron, helping herself to the stew, which was on the table.
"Are you all right, Mione?" Ron asked. Harry jabbed him with an elbow.
"Yes, why?" Hermione gave them a curious look.
"No reason." Harry said quickly, glaring at Ron.
Ron whipped out his timetable. "We have Defence Against Dark Arts next!"
"Hooray." Hermione said darkly, looking at her stew.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, then at Hermione. Ron opened his mouth, but Harry elbowed him.
Sighing, Ron ate his stew. "Barking mad," he muttered.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````
Surprisingly, Krum seemed to have a pretty good lesson in plan. A big cage stood beside the door, where the things inside seemed to be making a lot of noise.
As soon as everyone was seated, Krum heaved the cage up to the table, muscles rippling. "I guess everyone is wondering what is in the cage."
Dean smirked, leaning over to Seamus to whisper something into his ear.
"What is inside are Swedish goblins. Each on of you will be in your cubicle, with a goblin. If it is any assurance, the goblins cannot get out of the cubicle. If you need any help, shoot up red sparks by saying 'Rougispracus' practice with me."
The class seemed to be slightly interested, even Hermione. They all got out their wands and repeated the word.
"Fery well. Can everyone get in 2 lines?"
The class did so silently, wondering what was to happen next. Krum waved his wand, muttering an incantation. Walls began to separate each person. Everyone had approximately 3m2 of space to themselves.
Carefully, Krum lifted up the cage and began to pull out the goblins.
Harry got a particularly nasty looking goblin, which made a face at him and instantly tried to run out of the cubicle.
At the entrance, the air crackled and spat the goblin back in. Furious, the goblin turned onto Harry, saying something in his language.
"Stupefy!" Harry said, getting out his wand.
Grinning, the goblin ducked, and the spell sailed over its head and smashed into the wand.
Frantically, Harry tried all the curses he knew, but the goblin ducked them every time.
"Furnunculus!" Harry shouted frantically, using the Jelly legs curse. The goblin wobbled about for a while, but snarled and rushed at him after the curse wore off. "Expelliarmus!"
Harry forgot that the goblin wasn't holding anything, so the curse didn't work. "Impedimenta!"
That froze the goblin temporarily. Harry tried to sneak past it, heading for the entrance, but the magic threw him back into the goblin, which had recovered and was currently looking very angry.
"Uh oh." Harry muttered, "Expecto Patronum!"
A silver stag came out of his wand, Harry's panic dissolved a little.
But the goblin barrelled right into it, and the stag took one last look at Harry before it vanished.
Harry sighed. He had run out of legal curses to use. His mind scrambled for a few more spells. anything.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry cried desperately. His spell hit the goblin and the goblin hovered above the ground, snarling at him.
Quickly, before he lost control, Harry directed it above the wall and let it splat down towards the ground on the other side.
"Very good, very good!" Krum congratulated, picking up the dazed goblin and putting it back in its cage. "You are the first one to free yourself from the goblin!" He undid the spell. Harry stumbled out, feeling a bit disorientated.
"You can go around and see the others, if you want." Krum said, hefting up the cage.
Curiously, Harry walked down the aisle. Ron was next to him, it seemed that his goblin was even nastier. It shot bolts of magic at him. Ron's robes were dotted with tiny holes.
Harry tried to signal for Ron's attention, but Ron was busily trying to put out the fire that the goblin had set on his robes.
Hermione's cubicle was next. It seemed that Hermione was worst off than any of them. Her goblin was on her shoulders, whacking her with her wand, which Hermione was frantically trying to get. When Hermione finally got hold of the wand, she stunned the goblin, and desperately threw it against the barrier.
Krum rushed to her cubicle. "You've done it! Congratulations!" Quickly, he picked up the goblin and threw it into the cage with Harry's goblin, and then he undid the barrier spell, letting Hermione through.
"Ugh!" Hermione shook out her hair, and then retied it. "What were we meant to learn from that?"
Seamus, however, seemed to be getting along quite well with his goblin, and was talking to it.
"Finnegan! You're meant to attack it, not converse with it!" Krum said, exasperated.
"Its teaching me Gobbledegook!" Protested Seamus.
"I don't care if it's teaching you how to fly! Attack it!" Krum said acidly.
Seamus shrugged, then relayed Krum's request to the goblin. It nodded, allowing Seamus to stun it.
"Here. Can I go now?" Seamus asked.
Krum sighed, then picked up the goblin and freed the barrier spell.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````
"What did you learn out of that lesson?" Krum asked his weary, worn out class after he collected all the goblins.
"Never take Defence against Dark Arts?" Hermione whispered.
Interestingly, the rest of the class seemed to be pretty taken by the lesson. Everyone shot up their hands.
"Swedish goblins are actually very intellectual. They have a relatively high IQ, that makes them hard to defeat." Dean said, shooting a glance at Neville, who had been the only one who couldn't defeat his goblin. Neville looked dazed.
"Um, yes. What did you learn about defeating goblins? What spell was most effective?" Krum demanded.
"The Stunning spell." Ron said.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Parvarti said impishly, looking flirtatiously at Harry, who looked away.
"Nothing." Neville muttered.
Just then, the bell rang, and the class dispersed. "Look up 10 hexes that work effectively on goblins. You are dismissed."
Just as Harry went out the door, Krum stopped him. "Thanks for the advice, Potter."
"No problems." Harry said, Krum was a decent sort, really. He wasn't sure about Malfoy though.
~
Hermione seemed totally slumped at breakfast the next day, Pig flew up overhead and landed on her head.
"Come off, Pig." Ron said exasperatedly, "Mione, shake your head."
"What?" Hermione asked sleepily.
"Are you all right, Mione?" Harry asked, "You don't seem yourself these days."
"I'm fine," Hermione said, "just a little tired."
"You always seem a little tired," Ron said sharply, "do you need to go to Madam Pomfrey?"
Hermione shook her head, "I'm OK, Ron," She said in a final tone, and then she took a black flask out of her bad, taking a tiny sip out of it. Immediately, she seemed more revitalised.
"What's that?" Ron asked curiously.
"Pep-up potion." Hermione said, wiping her mouth with a tissue.
"We have Care of Magical Creatures next," Harry said, checking his time table, "are you sure you're up to it?"
"YES," Hermione said, eyes flashing, "please stop acting like I'm a car crash victim!" She stood up and stalked out of the Great Hall.
"Malfoy's definitely gotten into her," Ron muttered, glaring at Hermione's back.
~
"What's wrong, Granger? Have you broken up with your boyfriends?" Pansy Parkinson sneered when she saw Hermione was in one side of the class, while Ron and Harry were at the other.
Hermione refused to dignify an answer, pretending to be very interested in the dirt.
"What's the matter, Mudblood?" Malfoy asked, smirking, "time of the month?"
She bit her lip, narrowing her eyes. No one's saying anything. Nothing is wrong. She told herself sternly.
She just couldn't concentrate these days, she always, always thought about HIM. When her mind wasn't on him, it was on MALFOY. There was something wrong with her.
The worst thing was she couldn't bring herself to speak to Harry or Ron. It was as if they weren't friends anymore. Ron's crush on her didn't help at all. If Ron knew she was sure, he'd be furious.
Sometimes, she wished she had never gone to Bulgaria, that way, she wouldn't be the flaky person she was now.
Other times, she chided herself at being so unfaithful to Dom. She loved him. She was sure of it.
But. Hermione had never been sure of one thing. Did he love her back?
Hagrid came out, with a couple of furry golden things cradled in his arms.
After a closer look, Hermione saw they weren't furry. They were feathery.
"Baby griffins!" Hagrid said cheerfully.
"You're to work in pairs for this." Hagrid began.
Immediately, all the Gryffindors darted to the Gryffindors and all the Slytherins huddled together.
"But. Professor Dumbledore is working towards a Slytherin/Gryffindor peace between th' two houses, so, you have to pair up with another house."
The Slytherins and Gryffindors backed up, glaring slit eyed at each other.
"Um, I'll pair up with Hermione." Malfoy said quickly, grabbing Hermione's arm.
Hermione looked pointedly at his hand, Malfoy flushed, then withdrew it. "Let's get the griffin then." He mumbled.
Ron looked insanely furious.
"Very good, Hermione, Malfoy. Now, would the rest of yer PLEASE pair up?" Hagrid asked pleadingly.
No one made a move.
Hermione picked up an adorable baby griffin, cuddling it.
It looked fairly sweet tempered, unlike some of the others, and gave little meowing sounds from its beak.
Hagrid cleared his throat. "Very well. Crabbe, go with Parvarti."
Parvarti looked enraged, but obeyed grudgingly.
"Lavender, Goyle. Harry, Pansy. Millicent, Ron." By the time everyone was paired up, everyone was less than happy.
"Ouch! The damn thing nipped me!" Pansy complained, immediately dropping the griffin on Harry's arms.
Millicent was watching as Ron tried to pick up a feathery bundle, laughing meanly every time he dropped the feathery thing back.
Hermione's griffin, however, was willingly eating the piece of meat jerky that was being offered.
"Now, ain't that nice?" Hagrid asked the class.
Nearly everyone was suffering from bleeding fingers, dripping blood on the griffin's golden feathers. Only two pairs got relatively agreeable griffins.
"They're so soft!" Hermione said speculatively, stroking the griffin's feathery body. Malfoy looked on boredly.
"This semester, yer'll be with the very griffin yer holdin' now." Hagrid explained, as practically everyone groaned, "yer'll be given collars with the griffin's name on it, the collars will not be able to be removed by anyone other than the griffin's owners."
Pansy, who looked like she wanted to make a switch, scowled angrily.
"Yer'll all be writing a paper on yer griffin, and yer have to make a ideal environment for it t' grow up in." Hagrid explained, "in the essay, yer to explain what griffins do, what griffins eat, basically, write a 2 foot parchment on griffins."
After Hagrid had explained the assignment, the pairs were given the collars, which they put around the griffin.
"Aren't you a sweet little thing?" Hermione cooed to the griffin, which had fallen asleep.
"Great, we've got a dumb, doped up griffin." Malfoy said sourly.
"Better than a griffin which scratches out your eyes," Hermione retorted, giving Crabbe a pointed look. Crabbe had four parallel scratches down his face. "You try carrying it."
Hermione carefully transferred the baby griffin into Malfoy's arms. The griffin stirred at little, then turned.
Malfoy had the queerest expression on his face, Hermione gave a smile, "griffins give a feeling of strength and vigilance to its owner."
"It gives you strength?" Malfoy asked, snapping out his daze.
"Maybe," Hermione carefully took the griffin out of Malfoy's arms, the cradled it, "its so cute!"
"Good, as you like it so much, you take care of it." Malfoy said hurriedly.
Hermione smirked, "think you're going to get out of it that easy? You chose me as your partner, that's fine with me, as long as you pull your weight. You write the draft reports, I'll finalize it. Don't even think about writing a crappy or short report, 'cause I'll make you write it again. If you don't pull your weight, I'll just go to Hagrid and tell him."
Malfoy glared at her.
She shrugged, smiling.
"What are you smiling about?" He snapped.
"You know what, Malfoy? This is going to be very fun!" Hermione said gleefully, putting the griffin back in its cage.
"I'll bet." Malfoy muttered, glaring at her.
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Hermione had exited the class quickly as soon as the bell rang, Ron glared after her. "She's HAPPY about working with Malfoy."
Harry sighed, "there's nothing we can do about it."
"Yes we can," Ron said, "get Malfoy."
Ron stalked up to Malfoy, who had just put back the cage containing his griffin. "What do you want, Weasley?" Malfoy drawled.
"What do you want out of Hermione, huh?" Ron demanded.
Malfoy smirked, "nothing. Unless you want me to want something from her."
"Malfoy, if you do anything to her." Ron said threateningly.
"Trust me, I won't be doing anything to her that she doesn't want me to do, Weasley." Malfoy sneered, "remember that."
Ron was just about to grab his wand when a big hand stopped him. It was Hagrid.
"I don't want any trouble, Ron." He said gruffly, then turned to Malfoy, "if you cause any trouble, I still have Moody's ferret spell in handy."
Malfoy scowled, then sauntered off.
Ron watched him go. "He's going to do something. I know it." He said flatly.
"C'mon, let's go, Ron." Harry said quietly, "we don't want to be late for Professor Sprout."
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Wow! That is like the longest chapter I ever wrote, so you people out there better review ^_~
Thanks to all the people who did review!
~Wev~*