Thanks for all the reviews ^_^ I love you guys. Yayness :D I'll try to name you each individually, but at the time I don't have time, so please forgive… also, I might start naming the chapters (Naming is not my thing) but, again, when I have time. I have lots of tests and homework.. L
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Other citations will be made where necessary.
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That evening, Hermione tried what Draco had told her to do. She got Bluey and set it on the table, where it blinked up at her. Then, she put some chicken she had saved from dinner in front of it, and hid behind a pillar.
Ron, who was playing wizard chess with Harry, stared blankly at her. "What are you doing?" he asked.
She rose a finger to her mouth, signaling him to quiet. Draco didn't say she had to be quiet, but she wanted to, just in case.
Ron stared from her to the Joggart, shrugged, and continued playing.
Hermione looked at the soft, blue creature. It was circling the chicken wing. Then, making sure no one was looking, it revealed a tiny mouth, and started eating it.
Hermione smiled inwardly.
"How did you figure it out?" Ron asked, coming next to her.
"We never got ours to eat!" Harry said.
"Malfoy told me," Hermione answered.
Both boys stared at her.
"Malfoy told you?" Harry asked in utter surprise.
Hermione shrugged. "Yes."
"Whoa," Ron said. "What'd you do to him? Torture?"
Hermione shrugged again. "I 'questioned a Malfoy's knowing,'"
Harry and Ron laughed out loud. "Yeah, no wonder he spilled the beans." Ron said.
"I don't know how you do it, Hermione," Harry said. "But you know how to handle a lot of situations."
She grinned.
***
The next day, in Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall gave the slytherins and Gryffindors some work:
"See the blocks of cement in front of you?" she asked pointlessly, since the big, gray squares were blocking everyone's view.
"You must transfigure them into a star-shaped ice cube."
Ron's mouth hung open. A star-shaped ice cube? Was she crazy?
"Any questions?"
Silence.
"Then start."
Ron looked at the huge square on his desk. "There is no way," he said. "I can do it."
Harry smiled at him weakly. "Come on, Ron, it…" he looked at his cement block, and gulped. "It won't be so bad."
"It's really quite simple," Hermione said with and air of superiority.
Ron gave her a murderous look. She shrugged. "It's just transforming the shape and the material. At least we don't have to transfigure something dead into something alive!"
"Right," said Ron, looking back at the gray square, and pointing his wand at it. "Then, since it's so easy, I'll try it."
But before he could do anything, Neville yelled loudly, and everyone roared with laughter. Hermione turned around, and gasped as she looked at Neville. Instead of transforming the cement block, he had turned his nose into a star-shaped ice cube.
"Oh, Neville," she groaned. "Not again."
Ron was laughing hysterically, not making the slightest effort to be polite. Hermione whacked him round the head. "Don't laugh,"
He glared at her, rubbing his head. "What'd you do that for?"
Professor McGonagall sighed. "Someone please take Mr. Longbottom to the Hospital Wing."
Neville sneezed.
"I'll take him, Professor!" Hermione volunteered. She walked over to the sneezing boy. "Come on, Neville,"
They both left the class.
Draco, who was also in transfiguration with the Gryffindors, continued to chuckle. Longbottom! What and idiot!
Pansy was giggling next to him. "Pretty funny, isn't it?"
He immediately stopped chuckling. Why did Parkinson have to sit next to him? All she ever did was talk to him, which made all the classes very annoying. He focused on his cement block again.
Soon after, Hermione walked in again.
"Did Madam Pomfrey say anything?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"She said Neville will have a cold for ages," Hermione answered.
Everyone laughed again. Hermione took her seat, and, in a few moments, she had a perfect star-shaped ice cube in front of her. McGonagall smiled, and awarded ten points to Gryffindor.
Ron gaped at her. "Don't know how you do it," he muttered, "but you always end up being perfect in every teacher's eyes."
Hermione's shoulders sagged a little. "Yes, I do."
She hated when Ron said that. It made her sound like an angel, a teacher's pet, a model student. And maybe she was all those things, but, sometimes, she felt foolish.
Draco looked at Hermione. There she was, showing off again. And meanwhile, he hadn't even scratched his cement block. How could a mudblood be better than him? He hated to admit it, but it was true. She always got top marks at everything, while he didn't. How did she do it?
Then, she looked up, right into his eyes. He didn't do anything, didn't show the slightest bit of emotion. He expected her to wave and smile, or to do something of the sort, but, to his surprise, she frowned and turned away.
He smirked.
She was mad at him.
Excellent.
***
Two days later, Harry and Ron tried to feed their Joggart.
"Why haven't you done this before?" Hermione asked as they both hid behind a pillar.
"Because," Ron whispered. "We forgot."
Hermione snorted, and then muttered something about careless boys.
"You also forget things," Harry reminded her.
"Well, that's odd," Hermione said.
"Odd? Excuse us, but-"
"I mean, Ron, that's," she pointed her finger towards the Joggart. "Odd."
Both boys looked at where she was pointing, and their mouths hung open. Their Joggart had opened its mouth to the size of half its body, and it was eating quickly. It didn't seem to be shy at all, either, since some first years had surrounded it, looking at it curiously.
"Scram!" Ron yelled, pointing his fist at the first years.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed.
The first years left, looking at him half scared, half angrily.
"Navy isn't shy at all!" Hermione said. "And did you see the way it eats? It takes huge bites out of-"
"Don't call him Navy!" Ron exclaimed.
He walked over to the Joggart. It didn't seem to mind though, because it kept on eating frantically.
"He must be hungry," Harry said, coming next to him.
"Congratulations," Hermione said with sarcasm. "You have just won the prize for stating the obvious."
Ron glared at her.
"You haven't fed it for two weeks," she pointed out.
Ron shrugged. "True."
Harry slumped on the couch. Ron, after watching the Joggart some more, got out his favorite game. "Wizard chess, anyone?"
***
Hermione ran into the library, huffing and puffing. She scanned it for Draco, and finally found him sitting on a chair, playing with his hands on the table.
She sat next to him.
"You're late."
"I forgot to take some parchments and a quill," she said, breathing fast. She got Bluey out of her pocket and set it on the table. It wobbled and took a few steps, blinking up at them, and examined Draco's hands.
"It's grown about an inch," Draco drawled.
"Yes, it has," Hermione said, laying out her parchments and starting to write. She had barely started to write a few sentences, though, when she heard Madam Pince shriek. She looked up.
Madam Pince was pointing a trembling finger at Bluey. "What is that- that- thing doing here?"
Draco looked at Hermione.
"It's a project for Care of-"
"Get it out! OUT!" Madam Pince got Hermione up by one arm, and told her to get that 'Thing out of here, creatures are not allowed!'
Hermione hastily stuffed her parchments and her quill in her pocket, and ran out with the Joggart. Draco followed her slowly.
"Right," Draco said. "That was interesting."
"It was not interesting." Hermione looked around. "Where can we work on it now?"
Draco simply looked at her.
She wasn't surprised, of course. She looked around, but didn't any suitable place. She sighed.
"Outside," Draco suggested.
"Outside? Where? Under a tree?" she asked.
"Yes, Granger. Somewhere outside."
"How about Hagrid's hut?" she asked. "I'm sure he would-"
"I am not entering that oaf's house."
Hermione glared at him. She gave up eventually, of course, since he didn't show the slightest bit of feelings or emotions.
"Right," she muttered. "Outside it is."
Draco and Hermione stepped outside. It was a bit cloudy, and the grass was wet because of previous rain.
For now they would have to sit on one of the rocks by the lake.
Hermione smoothened the parchments again and set them on the rock. She shivered, and wrapped her cloak around herself. Then she started writing, while silence filled the air around Draco and her. Bluey walked on the rock, tumbling now and then.
Draco got it, and finally said something. "It's heavier."
"I fed it," Hermione reminded him.
"Small claws are growing on its toes,"
"Really?" she asked, coming for a closer look.
He showed her.
"That's right! I never would've noticed!" she continued writing.
Draco was somewhat amazed. If it would've been him, he would have never admitted that he wouldn't have noticed. But Granger was different. She seemed so innocent and cheerful. And she tried to be nice, no matter how nasty he was to her. Or how nasty he tried to be to her. Sometimes her cheerfulness was contagious.
"It's growing quickly," she said, looking at him. "Do you think we should meet more than just once a week?"
He didn't say anything.
"How about twice a week? If Bluey keeps this pace up, then we'll probably miss a lot of details."
"All right, Granger. I have better things to do than to hang around with you, but I want to get good marks," he added.
"Ok," she said, wrote some more, and stood up. "It's your turn to keep Bluey. Feed it well."
They headed for the castle together.
When they entered the usual silent corridors, they could quickly tell something was up. There was a mass of students, apparently reading a paper pasted on the wall. Draco and Hermione went over to them.
"What's it say?" Hermione asked.
Draco fought through the mass of people struggling to read the paper, and cut to the front of the wild group unnoticed. Then he came out with not so much as a hair messed up, with an arrogant face. "There's going to be a masquerade at Halloween."
"What?" Hermione asked in amazement.
"A masquerade, Granger. It's a ball where you have to wear masks!"
"I know that!" she said. "But, really? Here? In Hogwarts?"
Draco was getting annoyed. "Yes. Here. In Hogwarts. And it's going to have a Medieval theme. On a ship Dumbledore will bring to the lake. And It'll be two days long. Clear?"
"Yes," Hermione answered. "This will be interesting."
"I have to go now, Granger," Draco said, and left.
Hermione went up the stairs to Gryffindor tower. A masquerade… it sounded like fun. And a Medieval theme! With medieval clothes, and maybe classic music! And on a ship! It sounded interesting. The only problem was that she probably wouldn't have a date.
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