Disclaimer (as for chapter 1): I do not own Harry Potter. Be glad I don't, for I have the oddest ideas when it comes to Harry Potter stories.
~* 2 *~
Hermione closed her eyes, finally.
" This isn't happening."
" I'm afraid it is." Professor McGonagall seemed to frown deeper, and the deep crease between her eyebrows deepened, if possible. " Now, both of you! I need to know your decision."
" I most certainly will not apologize to him!" Hermione turned away from Draco. She looked down with the most remorseful sigh at the simply destroyed paper in her hand. " I see no reason why I must apologize as well. He was the one who pushed me, destroying my paper…"
" …it was an accident." Draco interluded. " I didn't do anything either. I have nothing to apologize for. It was she who pushed me, and on purpose." He kept his eyes down, not even looking at Hermione as he spoke. " It's childish to argue. I'm not apologizing, and I'm not taking the punishment."
" I've had enough with you already, and if I had any sense whatsoever, I'd have done this a while ago." Professor McGonagall turned to Hagrid, who was trying desperately to keep Draco from squirming away. " Hagrid, take him to the spare room."
" 'Ere's no reason to take 'em down to the spare room, it's fall now an' poor 'Ermione an' - - an' Draco will be cold." Hagrid protested, his dark eyes sad for Hermione. She was one of Harry's friends, and therefore a friend of Hagrid's. It was never pleasant to watch a friend get into trouble, no matter who was at fault.
" Are you telling me it's in the underground dungeons? Near Snape's room?" Hermione cried out.
Just then, Harry, red-faced and still in his Quidditch robes, followed by Ron who had summoned him, appeared. Harry looked at Hermione, then at Draco, and then at the mud pit. The very picture seemed to speak for itself. " Oh, Herm…" Harry began.
" Shut up, Potter. Stay out of this." Draco said, angrily.
Harry ignored Draco and went right on: " Professor McGonagall, don't let Hermione get in trouble. It'll kill her, you know how much she wants to keep her reputation, being a perfect and all…"
" I'm afraid that my decision stays." Professor McGonagall felt a twinge of pity. "Say goodbye to Hermione for she will be away for a while. Don't worry, she will be well-provided for, with food, and we'll take her out every morning and evening for a brief session in the bathroom for showering and anything else a lady might prefer to do." Professor McGonagall looked sternly at Ron and Harry. " Nobody is to visit – or talk through the door – to Hermione while she is in the chamber with Draco."
" You can't leave her with him!" Harry shouted.
" Professor, you're practically sending Hermione out to her death!" Ron said in an agitated voice. "What is it with Hogwarts and all these odd punishments?" Only a few days ago, Ron had cast a spell that managed to turn his desk into a mule, and after a desperate struggle to keep the mule still so it could be turned back, Ron was forced to polish Quidditch trophies – the Muggle way. He was used to it by now, anyway. The trophies looked like mirrors.
" Order will be maintained. This is fool-proof, I've done it before." Professor McGonagall then said: " Let's get this over with. Will someone go to tell Professor Dumbledore about this, so he is aware? I believe he is in the entrance hall, using various spells fix up the mess on the stairway. It appears Neville has spilled more then his jellybeans lately."
Neville, standing nearby, turned a deep shade of red.
" See ya, Hermione." Harry said, softly.
Hermione looked at him and felt her chin quiver. She'd miss Harry the most, being locked away from all civilization.
' Scratch that. All sane civilization.' Hermione thought, taking a look at Draco. He was saying something in a low voice to his goonies, Crabbe and Goyle. Both of them seemed to be grinning rather stupidly, and not just in their normal manner. It was a grin that also included some sort of ape-like mischief. No doubt, Draco had set up some plan to get himself out of the room already.
" Can't you use a spell to break out?" Ron asked Hermione, in a whisper. "You're bloody brilliant, you know. You should know some spells that could do that."
" If I know McGonagall, she'll seal the room with anti-magic spells, and perhaps anti-charm locks too. Even jinxes could be sealed, since those could do considerable damage to doors or walls." Hermione thought hard. " I suppose I won't have any defense against Malfoy then."
" I wouldn't even touch you." Draco sneered at her.
" Stop listening to our conversation!" Harry shouted at him. " For once, mind your own business. You're meddling with our conversations an awful lot lately."
" Like you don't meddle with my business?" Draco inquired. He was right, of course. Harry had often tried to catch up on Draco's daily rounds of whispering evil ploys to his friends. Harry did this as an attempt of self-protection, though, since he was afraid Draco's evil-doings might be aimed at Harry or his friends.
Hermione was slowly led away by Professor McGonagall. Hagrid followed closely behind, dragging Malfoy rather roughly. Malfoy turned to his friends and said, almost menacingly:
" I'll show her. I won't speak to that Muggle-loving idiot, if I spend eternity in there."
Goyle called back: " Can we have your stuff if you die?"
Malfoy's eyes narrowed. " Father will hear of this, and he will NOT be happy. I will have him withdraw me from this school. I'd rather be home-schooled then go through this nonsense."
" Good luck." Hermione murmured.
" I don't need your good luck!" He said.
" I was sarcastic."
" Well, good for you." He kicked through a clump of grass and then struggled to turn around again. He had a few last words to say.
" Bye Harry! See ya, Ron!" Hermione shouted, then winked at them while adding: "Remember not to go see me."
Harry and Ron nodded back.
~*~
As the doors of Hogwarts closed behind Hermione, a sickening feeling filled her body. She was led down what seemed a million staircases, walking for endless minutes like a prisoner to the guillotine. She looked back at Professor McGonagall. " Please, professor…"
" Not another word, Miss Granger. I am sick and tired of your arguments with Draco. I have dealt with this before and I will deal with it now. You might thank me someday."
" I'll send you a postcard from the grave." Hermione murmured.
They stopped in front of a room. The door swung open. Inside the room (a basic twenty by twenty feet room with walls painted a grayish-white, with an old chart of England hanging on one wall), Hermione saw two chairs, one in each corner of the room. In the middle of the room was a desk on which there were a few stacks of papers and a few quill pens and ink canisters. The windows were gray and ghastly and the room smelled of some sort of sickening flower.
" How depressing." Hermione commented.
" This is an insult. What is this, the servant's quarters? I demand to speak with my father at ONCE!" Draco shouted.
" Stop acting like the spoiled child you are, and listen." Professor McGonagall motioned at the two chairs. " You can sit over there, and Hermione can sit in the other one. You can move your chairs to the desk and draw or write if you'd like, and when you eat you can share the desk."
" I'm not sharing any desk with a Mudblood." Draco said under his breath.
" Never say that word on the Hogwarts premises again!" Professor McGonagall's mouth formed a tightly squeezed line. " And if you do not share, you do not eat!"
" I vow not to even speak to… to her." Draco looked ill.
Professor McGonagall shrugged. " You will learn to be good friends in the end."
Hermione looked at Hagrid as the door was being shut to the room. "Who were the two people who hated one another that ended up in here?" She asked.
" Lily and James Potter." Hagrid replied, unanimously with Professor McGonagall.
Then, with a rusty creak, the door slammed closed.
~*~
A/N: Please review me! Please, I beg you! I have only 1 reviewer! Don't make me beg… oh and remember, there is no Hrm./Draco in this, only Hermione and Harry, and then if you haven't guessed by now then you didn't read carefully but there might be a certain one-sided pairing approaching.
