Chapter 6
Hermione was walking towards the Quidditch pitch one warm spring day, the sun melting the very last of the snow and making it run everywhere in muddy streams. She jumped over these as she went, careful not to get her black robe all muddy. Harry was playing Quidditch and she and Ron were going to watch him, without Pansy.
The whole school was walking out too, the younger kids splashing around, and the older ones stepping over the puddles. Ron was up ahead, talking to Dean Thomas, and Hermione hurried to catch up to them. But suddenly, without warning, she felt two hands give her a nice, sharp push and she went flying forward into the mud.
Blech! she thought, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. Looking up she saw Marcus Flint and Warrington sneering down at her.
"Look, the Mudblood is all muddy," Marcus sniggered. Hermione glared at such at childish insult.
"Shut up, Flint," came a voice. "Don't call her a Mudblood." And Hermione's mouth dropped open. Draco Malfoy stood there, arms crossed. Marcus Flint rubbed his eyes.
"What did you say?" Warrington asked.
"Don't call her a Mudblood," Draco repeated calmly. Both Flint and Warrington were too thick to remember Draco himself had called her one. They just shook their heads and slunk away. Hermione sat in the middle of the puddle, frozen in shock.
"Um, yeah," Draco said. He reached down and pulled her up. Hermione suddenly realized the only other time she'd touched him was when she'd slapped him in third year.
"What was that all about?" she asked. "You always call me a Mudblood."
"Oh," Draco said. "I don't want you to be mad at me."
Hermione supposed he was thinking of what she knew about his father.
She pulled her wand out of her pocket and started using magic to get the dirt off her robes. Her hair hung in rat-tails down her back, but there wasn't much she could do about that.
"Uh, well, thank-you," she said. "See you."
And she hurried off towards the stands.
*******************
Angrily Hermione slammed her book bag on the desk beside Draco. Professor Snape had accused her and Harry of talking too much (they hadn't!) and had moved her to the Slytherin side of the classroom. Hermione put her chin on her arms and sulked.
Snape was explaining about some Crunjuctius Potion invented thousands of years ago, but for once Hermione wasn't listening. She was too busy either glaring at him or sneaking glances at Ron. The Gryffindors were all sitting neatly at one side of the classroom, not anxious to draw attention to themselves, but the Slytherin side was complete chaos. Hermione ducked her head under a flying Potions' textbook and shot another furious glance at Snape. He didn't even care!
"The Crunjuctius Potion has an extremely long history," Snape informed them nastily. "And I want you to write a forty-inch long parchment on it for me."
"In partners?" Parvati asked. Snape glared.
"You are to work in partners," he said, and immediately everyone in the classroom began looking around them. Snape quashed all conversation with a glare. Hermione dragged her eyes away from trying to get Ron's attention and looked at him.
"You will work with whomever you are sitting beside now," Snape said. Hermione's hope of going with Ron died. She looked beside her and met Draco's eyes.
"Don't want to go with me, Granger?" he smirked. Hermione turned away. Luckily the bell rang just then, and she didn't have to answer.
"Poor you," Harry said as they walked out of the classroom. "Good thing I was sitting by Ron."
Hermione ground her teeth.
She wondered if they would get any work done. At the moment she and Draco had a sort of a truce, but they were still liable to fly into fights. And she certainly wouldn't do all the work by herself.
She spent the rest of that day in Astronomy, trying to plot the different paths of all of Saturn's moons. It was giving her a headache.
The Potion's report was due in two weeks, and it was the only piece of homework she had ever not started on right away. It wasn't until nearly a week had gone by that Draco suggested they start on it.
Hermione had been letting Ginny experiment on her hair lately, so Ron and Harry were no longer shocked when she came down with something in her hair. Inwardly Hermione was hoping they'd make an impression on Ron, and that was why she wore them.
Today Ginny had made it go into ringlets that kept falling annoyingly into her face, and had tied part of it back loosely with a black ribbon. She blew her curls out of her face as she went down to the Library where she and Draco were to meet.
"Me and Ron would join you if we could," Harry said as she exited the Common Room, "But I got Quidditch and Ron's going somewhere with Pansy." He winked.
Pansy. Somehow it always came back to Pansy.
Hermione entered the Library and found Draco already there, sitting in a corner with his arms crossed. She went over to him.
"Hi Malfoy," she said, sitting down. She pulled out a list of books she'd thought would be good to research out of her bag.
"Hey Granger," he replied. He had 'The History of the More Famous Potions' in his hands and Hermione checked that one off one her list.
"Well, you're organized," he said, his voice drawling. "Why don't you just finish this off? Then we won't have to hang around each other.
"In your dreams," Hermione snapped. "You're just lazy."
"I am," Draco agreed. He smirked.
Hermione walked around the library, pulling out the books on her list and checking them off. Half of these she dumped in front of Draco.
"Make notes on these ones," she said. His eyes widened.
"All of that?"
Hermione ignored him and stuck her nose in a book.
They sat in silence, occasionally writing things down, not looking at each other. Hermione was thankful no one came in because she didn't like to be seen hanging out with a Slytherin.
Hermione threw down her quill. "I hate this. I hate Professor Snape."
"Now look who's lazy," Draco muttered.
"He didn't want me to go with Ron," she continued, "So he put me with you."
"You had to talk so he'd move you," he said. "And so I couldn't go with Pansy."
"Ron's so block-headed!" she complained. "I've tried everything I can think of to get him to notice me but he sticks to Pansy."
She glared at Draco. "You haven't been helping very much."
"You can't think of any ideas," Draco replied. "The only idea we came up with I thought of."
"Some idea that was," Hermione muttered.
"Well, I've been working on Pansy," he said. "But she's so blind."
"Maybe for a good reason," Hermione said under her breath. Draco stared, then burst out laughing.
"Here I am, complaining to a Gryfindor," he said. "And I thought you'd sympathize. I never thought I'd do this in a thousand years. Much less team up with one."
"Some team," Hermione replied. She flicked a crumpled piece of parchment at him.
"And in a library too," he said. "I never go in here if I can help it." He flicked a piece of parchment back at her.
"Hey!" Hermione said. She ripped at corner off her roll of parchment, prodded it with her wand and sent it zooming at Malfoy. He set back two at the same time. Hermione dipped her next one in ink and let it go. It splattered on Draco's nose.
Before she knew it Hermione was dotted all over in ink-covered parchment, trying to keep from laughing and aim her ink-covered parchment at Draco. He was spotted mostly on his robes, which were black so you couldn't see it much.
Hermione brushed an inky curl out of her face and flicked black, inky rain at him with her fingertips. He looked like a Dalmatian.
He picked up his inkbottle and lobbed it at her. She gasped as it broke across her chest and suddenly her robes and the table beside her was covered in black liquid and glass. Snatching up her inkbottle she was just letting it fly when she heard an outraged 'Hermione!' behind her. She whirled around. It was Madam Pince.
"Out! Get out!" she screeched. Hermione grabbed up her quill, extra inkbottles and parchment and ran for the door with Draco behind her. She dimly heard Madam Pince saying she was going to the Headmaster and wouldn't allow them either of them in the library again for the rest of the year. Hermione dashed out the door.
"Sorry," she said to Draco, panting. "I guess I got your library privileges taken away."
"Are you kidding?" Draco gasped. "Do you think I care?"
They stood there looking at each other.
"Well, good night Hermione," he said.
It wasn't until Hermione reach the Gryfindor Common Room that she realized it was the first time he'd called her anything other than 'Granger' or 'Mudblood'.
Hermione was walking towards the Quidditch pitch one warm spring day, the sun melting the very last of the snow and making it run everywhere in muddy streams. She jumped over these as she went, careful not to get her black robe all muddy. Harry was playing Quidditch and she and Ron were going to watch him, without Pansy.
The whole school was walking out too, the younger kids splashing around, and the older ones stepping over the puddles. Ron was up ahead, talking to Dean Thomas, and Hermione hurried to catch up to them. But suddenly, without warning, she felt two hands give her a nice, sharp push and she went flying forward into the mud.
Blech! she thought, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. Looking up she saw Marcus Flint and Warrington sneering down at her.
"Look, the Mudblood is all muddy," Marcus sniggered. Hermione glared at such at childish insult.
"Shut up, Flint," came a voice. "Don't call her a Mudblood." And Hermione's mouth dropped open. Draco Malfoy stood there, arms crossed. Marcus Flint rubbed his eyes.
"What did you say?" Warrington asked.
"Don't call her a Mudblood," Draco repeated calmly. Both Flint and Warrington were too thick to remember Draco himself had called her one. They just shook their heads and slunk away. Hermione sat in the middle of the puddle, frozen in shock.
"Um, yeah," Draco said. He reached down and pulled her up. Hermione suddenly realized the only other time she'd touched him was when she'd slapped him in third year.
"What was that all about?" she asked. "You always call me a Mudblood."
"Oh," Draco said. "I don't want you to be mad at me."
Hermione supposed he was thinking of what she knew about his father.
She pulled her wand out of her pocket and started using magic to get the dirt off her robes. Her hair hung in rat-tails down her back, but there wasn't much she could do about that.
"Uh, well, thank-you," she said. "See you."
And she hurried off towards the stands.
*******************
Angrily Hermione slammed her book bag on the desk beside Draco. Professor Snape had accused her and Harry of talking too much (they hadn't!) and had moved her to the Slytherin side of the classroom. Hermione put her chin on her arms and sulked.
Snape was explaining about some Crunjuctius Potion invented thousands of years ago, but for once Hermione wasn't listening. She was too busy either glaring at him or sneaking glances at Ron. The Gryffindors were all sitting neatly at one side of the classroom, not anxious to draw attention to themselves, but the Slytherin side was complete chaos. Hermione ducked her head under a flying Potions' textbook and shot another furious glance at Snape. He didn't even care!
"The Crunjuctius Potion has an extremely long history," Snape informed them nastily. "And I want you to write a forty-inch long parchment on it for me."
"In partners?" Parvati asked. Snape glared.
"You are to work in partners," he said, and immediately everyone in the classroom began looking around them. Snape quashed all conversation with a glare. Hermione dragged her eyes away from trying to get Ron's attention and looked at him.
"You will work with whomever you are sitting beside now," Snape said. Hermione's hope of going with Ron died. She looked beside her and met Draco's eyes.
"Don't want to go with me, Granger?" he smirked. Hermione turned away. Luckily the bell rang just then, and she didn't have to answer.
"Poor you," Harry said as they walked out of the classroom. "Good thing I was sitting by Ron."
Hermione ground her teeth.
She wondered if they would get any work done. At the moment she and Draco had a sort of a truce, but they were still liable to fly into fights. And she certainly wouldn't do all the work by herself.
She spent the rest of that day in Astronomy, trying to plot the different paths of all of Saturn's moons. It was giving her a headache.
The Potion's report was due in two weeks, and it was the only piece of homework she had ever not started on right away. It wasn't until nearly a week had gone by that Draco suggested they start on it.
Hermione had been letting Ginny experiment on her hair lately, so Ron and Harry were no longer shocked when she came down with something in her hair. Inwardly Hermione was hoping they'd make an impression on Ron, and that was why she wore them.
Today Ginny had made it go into ringlets that kept falling annoyingly into her face, and had tied part of it back loosely with a black ribbon. She blew her curls out of her face as she went down to the Library where she and Draco were to meet.
"Me and Ron would join you if we could," Harry said as she exited the Common Room, "But I got Quidditch and Ron's going somewhere with Pansy." He winked.
Pansy. Somehow it always came back to Pansy.
Hermione entered the Library and found Draco already there, sitting in a corner with his arms crossed. She went over to him.
"Hi Malfoy," she said, sitting down. She pulled out a list of books she'd thought would be good to research out of her bag.
"Hey Granger," he replied. He had 'The History of the More Famous Potions' in his hands and Hermione checked that one off one her list.
"Well, you're organized," he said, his voice drawling. "Why don't you just finish this off? Then we won't have to hang around each other.
"In your dreams," Hermione snapped. "You're just lazy."
"I am," Draco agreed. He smirked.
Hermione walked around the library, pulling out the books on her list and checking them off. Half of these she dumped in front of Draco.
"Make notes on these ones," she said. His eyes widened.
"All of that?"
Hermione ignored him and stuck her nose in a book.
They sat in silence, occasionally writing things down, not looking at each other. Hermione was thankful no one came in because she didn't like to be seen hanging out with a Slytherin.
Hermione threw down her quill. "I hate this. I hate Professor Snape."
"Now look who's lazy," Draco muttered.
"He didn't want me to go with Ron," she continued, "So he put me with you."
"You had to talk so he'd move you," he said. "And so I couldn't go with Pansy."
"Ron's so block-headed!" she complained. "I've tried everything I can think of to get him to notice me but he sticks to Pansy."
She glared at Draco. "You haven't been helping very much."
"You can't think of any ideas," Draco replied. "The only idea we came up with I thought of."
"Some idea that was," Hermione muttered.
"Well, I've been working on Pansy," he said. "But she's so blind."
"Maybe for a good reason," Hermione said under her breath. Draco stared, then burst out laughing.
"Here I am, complaining to a Gryfindor," he said. "And I thought you'd sympathize. I never thought I'd do this in a thousand years. Much less team up with one."
"Some team," Hermione replied. She flicked a crumpled piece of parchment at him.
"And in a library too," he said. "I never go in here if I can help it." He flicked a piece of parchment back at her.
"Hey!" Hermione said. She ripped at corner off her roll of parchment, prodded it with her wand and sent it zooming at Malfoy. He set back two at the same time. Hermione dipped her next one in ink and let it go. It splattered on Draco's nose.
Before she knew it Hermione was dotted all over in ink-covered parchment, trying to keep from laughing and aim her ink-covered parchment at Draco. He was spotted mostly on his robes, which were black so you couldn't see it much.
Hermione brushed an inky curl out of her face and flicked black, inky rain at him with her fingertips. He looked like a Dalmatian.
He picked up his inkbottle and lobbed it at her. She gasped as it broke across her chest and suddenly her robes and the table beside her was covered in black liquid and glass. Snatching up her inkbottle she was just letting it fly when she heard an outraged 'Hermione!' behind her. She whirled around. It was Madam Pince.
"Out! Get out!" she screeched. Hermione grabbed up her quill, extra inkbottles and parchment and ran for the door with Draco behind her. She dimly heard Madam Pince saying she was going to the Headmaster and wouldn't allow them either of them in the library again for the rest of the year. Hermione dashed out the door.
"Sorry," she said to Draco, panting. "I guess I got your library privileges taken away."
"Are you kidding?" Draco gasped. "Do you think I care?"
They stood there looking at each other.
"Well, good night Hermione," he said.
It wasn't until Hermione reach the Gryfindor Common Room that she realized it was the first time he'd called her anything other than 'Granger' or 'Mudblood'.