Author: The*Spangled*Pandemonium
Title: In the Hands of the GodsChapter Title: When We Were Both Together
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Draco:
The wind whipped my blond hair into my eyes, impairing my vision. My knuckles were clenched tightly on the broom handle as I scanned the darkening skies furiously for the Snitch.
It was the first Quidditch match of the season, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw, and the weather conditions could not have been worse. Those gray clouds looming menacingly over the field were threatening to let loose a torrent of rain and thunder. I wanted this to be finished fast, and from the way Cho Chang was buzzing relentlessly around, she wanted it done too.
"Damn it." I muttered under my breath, as the scattered drops around me turned into a heavy curtain of rainfall.
Barely dodging a Bludger as it whizzed its way towards my head, I looked frantically around for a faint glistening of gold. Nothing. Flying to the center of the field, I let my silver orbs eat up the view again. Gold…gold…gold. The closest thing to that color were the stripes on the Gryffindor scarves. From where I was flying, I could see Potter, Weasley, and Granger sitting in the crowd.
I'd have to give her the books and papers I borrowed from the Malfoy library later.
Mentally slapping myself, I tore my eyes away from the spectators, and back on the players zipping around me. Concentrate, you idiot! I silently scolded myself. We need to win this!
Out in the distance, I heard a weak, "60-10 to Slytherin!" coming from somewhere.
We were ahead, and that was good, but where was that Snitch…? I circled around, brushing back the sodden strands from my forehead with the back of my hand.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a tiny glimmering from the Ravenclaw stands… I urged my broom forward. The roars from the crowd were deafened by the urgency of the moment. But as luck would have it, Cho, who was miles ahead even with her crappy broom, swiped the air nimbly, and…we lost the game.
The rest of the morning passed by like some horrible fog, and soon enough, I was standing in the corridor, grasping the volumes tightly in my hands.
I was alone, both literally and figuratively. After lunch, I had told Crabbe and Goyle to just go on to our next class, that I had some business to attend to, and there I was, cowering behind a suit of armor just outside the Great Hall.
I was waiting for Hermione to pop that bushy head of hers from the front door and walk with Potter and Weasley down the corridor. Then I could toss those books at her and haul ass before her two boyfriends could snicker about my trouncing earlier.
I'd never hear the end of it! All afternoon the nastiest of the Slytherins had whispered their snide comments into my ear, asking me why I didn't grab Cho's broom like I did to Harry's before, or why I didn't crash into her… That damn Snitch was practically flying in her ear! I wasn't even close to it! I felt like yelling at them. But of course I held everything in, being the martyr like I was. I merely nodded grimly and turned away whenever they brought up the topic. It was my fault for not paying attention. The other Houses were even worse. Each time they turned their eyes towards me, I could feel the sticky waves of victory sliding off of them. The haughty sense of triumph flashed in their expressions each time they glanced at me. It was enraging, yet I could do nothing. Because I deserved all of it.
The thick wooden doors burst open, letting out a fresh stream of sunlight from the ceiling. The dream team came out, having a heated conversation about something-or-the-other. Ron seemed the most animated, gesturing enthusiastically as Harry grinned at him. I slid out from my hiding place, and sneered appropriately at her friends, then turned towards Granger.
"I got these books from home." I said leisurely, enjoying the way I saw her companions' jaws clench at the sight of me. Their smiles faded away and they fidgeted uncomfortably. "Since we aren't exactly allowed in the library right now…" I let my words trail off and stood there with a question in my eyes.
"6:00 today. Flitwick's classroom." She said shortly, looking briefly at me then turning her attention back to the pile of books and parchment I had just dumped on her.
I nodded abruptly and started in the opposite direction as I heard Ron begin to say something. With a sinking feeling, I hastened my step a notch, knowing that the words were about that disastrous game earlier.
Once they were out of sight, I dropped that lackadaisical amble, and ran the rest of the way until I reached McGonagall's classroom. I quickly spotted Crabbe and Goyle sitting patiently in their chairs, laughing as Blaise related to them an unfortunate accident with Sally-Anne Perks during Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"So I was just standing there, gaping at that glob of horned toad's bladder in her hair, then she turns around and asks what's wrong with me! So I was like, look Sally, don't get mad, but I accidentally…" He pointed to his own mop of brown hair, grinning sheepishly, "So she touches it, and there was all kinds of muck on her hand, so you know what she did? She chucks it at me! I've never seen such a fit my entire life! The professor had to practically hold her down before we could get her to stop swearing at me!"
"Why'd you have a jar of toad's bladder in class anyway?" I asked, taking a seat next to him and fishing out my wand from its contents.
Blaise turned his bright green eyes at me, and smiled good-naturedly, ignoring my grumpy inquiry. "So, Malfoy? What was the 'pressing business' you needed to attend to?"
I felt a grimace form in my face. "Stupid project…" I mumbled, putting my elbows up on the table and staring blankly at the empty teacher's table. "Stupid Gryffindors..."
"Ah ha!" He said, a look of triumph worming its way onto his smug face. "How was it with the school's princess? Didja charm her into doing all the work yet?"
"Draco has the bad habit of doing his share of the job." Crabbe said, smirking at me.
"How else will I pass?" I deadpanned. "I constantly get paired with lazy retards such as yourselves." That comment brought another round of laughter, and I finally let out a small chuckle.
The afternoon passed rather pleasantly, despite the continuing glares of some of the more bitter Slytherins. It felt way too soon before I cracked open the door to Flitwick's classroom and saw her again.
"You're late." Hermione said, not bothering to look up. Her hazel eyes scanned the pages of the book and with her right hand, she wrote notes on a separate piece of parchment. I couldn't help but notice how her curly hair fell onto the tome as she bent over it, and how she was mesmerized by its boring words.
The high windows revealed a spectacular sunset which painted the sky in shades of orange and purple, yet the resident workaholic took no notice of it.
"I was getting these." I dropped the new mound of information noisily on the table next to her. She straightened up, jolted out of her note taking.
"I'm glad you've decided to do your share. Ron hasn't had the same luck." She looked me in the eye pointedly, pursing her lips in a way that antagonized me all over again.
"I said I would. And if Weasley has something to say to Pansy, he had better do it himself."
The silence that followed was painful and offensive.
I grabbed a blank piece of paper and a quill from my bag, and opened one of the books I had just brought. We sat there for about an hour or so, concentrating deeply on our research, deliberately ignoring each others odious presence. The only noises were the rustles of pages being turned and the soft sound of two people breathing. After a while though, the nighttime heat and bland writing started getting to me, and I found myself either glancing at Granger or sinking into a reverie once a paragraph was finished.
All of a sudden, I couldn't take it anymore.
"You're using a muggle pen." I blurted out stupidly.
Startled into looking up, she reminded me of a deer caught in a Mudblood's car's headlights. "Yes, I find it easier to grip than a quill, so I use it sometimes."
"Right.…" I pretended to think deeply on this. "I've never heard of Dumbledore using anti-cheating pens. Only quills. Is that how you get your impeccable grades?" I had deliberately upset her with this, wanting to rile her up again. This witch really brought out the sadist in me. "No one's perfect, but your test results always seem to be."
"I'm willing to embrace the hard work of studying, which is much more than can say for you."
"Embracing hard work? Sound's like a Hufflepuff trait. Nothing like that in me." I raised a speculative eyebrow at her. "Perhaps the Sorting Hat was wrong about you…"
"There is nothing wrong with Hufflepuff, you git." She narrowed her eyes at me. "Cedric came from that house and he's an infinitely better wizard than you are!"
"He's dead." I shrugged indifferently like the asshole I was, conveniently forgetting that I once brandished pins with his name on it.
She stood up, jabbing her finger threateningly at me. And I had no choice but to do the same. "What the hell is your problem, Malfoy? Too busy stuck on your rich, inbred, aristocratic life to take notice of things like simple respect?!"
Alright, that stung.
"My only problem," I said acidly, "is that I've wasted too much time being insulted by you."
The torchlight from the classroom's stone walls dimmed, then rose up violently. The shadows danced upon the room, and I was suddenly aware of how peculiar the fire was behaving.
Hermione froze, her unfathomable brown eyes looking straight at me. The air was thick with tension, and I could tell she was thinking very seriously about pulling out her wand and hexing me. I got the shock of my life when she closed her eyes, rubbed her temples edgily, and plopped back down on the chair.
The torches seemed to relax, and eased slowly back into their regular height rather cryptically. It was really starting to freak me out.
Slowly, I sank into my own seat and stared sullenly at her. Granger was glaring at me in that annoying manner that seemed to analyze everything in my head. When she finally spoke, it was as if she were choking on the words.
"We should really stop arguing… We'll never get a reasonable grade, much less a good one, if we continue on like this. Quit insulting me, and I'll stop fighting with you. Do we have a deal?"
I couldn't help notice her attention shift uneasily towards the torches as they burned merrily. It was as if it hadn't risen to a cringe-worthy inferno just a moment ago!
"Yeah, well, us 'rich, inbred aristocrats' need passing scores as much as filthy Mudbloods do." I let out a deep, dramatic sigh, then quickly adapted a somewhat conversational (but sardonic) tone. "I was thinking of spitting on my hand and asking for us to shake on it, but I believe you commoners have stopped doing that by now. Basic hygiene, you know." I smirked at her.
I was pleased to see a small grin appear on her normally contrary face, though it was quickly smothered by a frown.
There was a minute of silence as we gazed at each other suspiciously.
"Have you found anything interesting yet?" She finally asked, tapping her muggle pen lazily on the table, "All I can get are bits and pieces about the rituals the Greeks did to appease the Gods. Oh! And I did find something about how they wove hazy facts about the magical creatures near their area into their mythology. It's all quite fascinating actually, but its such a wide topic, I don't know where to begin!"
Looking at the growing pile of notes she had next to her, I would think she'd begun years ago.
"Why don't we make an outline? Then we can organize whatever data we scrounge up and write it out neatly."
" Now why didn't think of that?" She said, bringing that pen to her mouth and nibbling on it thoughtfully.
I really wish she wouldn't do that. It was awfully distracting.
"You were too busy picking a fight with me, I suppose." I mumbled, shifting my paperwork around.
"I heard that." She said, yawning lightly as she assessed the papers around her. "And you were the one that started it."
"I did not!" I replied, mock-horrified, knowing perfectly well I did.
"Did too"
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did too." I grinned, propping my long legs up on the table..
"Did n—" She rolled her eyes at me warily. "C'mon, Malfoy. That was so unbelievably childish. Even for you."
"So sue me. I'm dead tired. My brain's unused to all this bloody researching. I mean, its been over an hour!" My silver eyes regarded her with half-closed lids as she peered quizzically at me.
"How'd you get such high grades then? You're too damned
lazy."
I smiled amiably. "Who said I have high grades?"
"Doi… If you're paired with me in this terrible thing, you must have some kind of brain hidden in there, however miniscule."
"You're a bitch, you know that? I'll tell you about it some other day. Not now. Time sure flies when you're ripping someone's throat out."
"Right on..." She muttered dryly. "See you tomorrow then. Same time?"
"Umm, no, actually. We've got our detentions to carry out."
"Oh, right. God, I'm getting old! I'm starting to forget the simplest things."
"The effects of too much studying."
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"All right, all right… G'night."
"Goodnight… Draco."
We gathered our books and went our separate ways.
~*~*~
Despite her grand exit yesterday, Hermia came back again to meet me. I have no idea why some gorgeous goddess would even be remotely interested in a man who had almost thrown up on her immortal feet, but I sure wasn't complaining.
I could even use her curiosity of my to my advantage.
I mean, I (and nearly all the people in Greece) have heard all these stories about the gods of Olympus whisking away mortals and granting them immortality. Like Zeus grabbing up Ganymede, though that was based entirely on looks alone. The idea of being a cup-bearer to those slothful deities up there didn't please me, perhaps I could appeal to them for something better…
Maybe, I could convince Hermia that I just wanted to be with her forever…And being an average human with a time limit was the one thing that would separate us.
That blissful thought made a slow smile emerge on my face. Olympus… I had always imagined myself surrounded by the rich and famous, though I never expected a divine power being the cause of such luck…
"What are you so happy about, Damian?" Hermia asked, nudging me carelessly with her elbow.
"Why shouldn't I be happy? After all, I'm in your company, aren't I?" I looked down at those intriguing dark eyes, applauding myself as I saw the light blush on her face. Hehe. I could already see myself living the life of luxury…
We were strolling companionably in the agora of Athens, an open area at the center of the city that served as a market and a meeting place. I use the term 'strolling' very lightly, since I had to contend with the massive wave of merchants and citizens pressing about me. Remarkably, Hermia was simply wading into the crowd, keeping up pleasant conversation as I very nearly crashed into a cart of vegetables. No one dared to come too close to her, and I could see their curious stares upon that lean frame. All who saw her knew exactly what she was… But she didn't seem to notice at all, smiling at random strangers and running her fingers through a peasant boy's hair (who yelped excitedly and was quickly surrounded by a grubby group of friends). A group of thuggish men with dirty ripped chitons watched her unpleasantly and I suddenly realized the potential danger she was in.
What kind of fool was I? Just because she was a goddess it didn't exclude her from things like pain and loss! She could very well be robbed, or even kidnapped for ransom! And whose head would be on the platter for putting her into such a mess?
The thought made me tremble, especially when I realized that she wasn't next to me. I stopped, looked back, and spotted her looking at a stall of musical items. Hurriedly, I shoved past a crowd of people until I was at her side once more.
Grabbing her arm apprehensively, I tried not to think about how soft her skin was against me. "We have to leave." I said shortly. Everywhere I could see some shady character ready to throw a sack over those butterscotch curls and snatch her away. "It really isn't safe for you here."
She blinked twice, and I saw her gaze flit past my face and towards the direction I had come from. She put down the lyre she held, and firmly planted her hands at her sides. "Damian! You knocked over that poor man's belongings! The least you can do is help pick them up."
I gaped at her incredulously.
"We have to leave." I repeated, assuming she didn't hear me correctly.
She bit her bottom lip, walked over to the fallen items, and gathered up every last bit. She dumped all the objects into the man's waiting hands, and marched back to me. "See! That wasn't so hard… NOW we can go."
Hermia walked on, leaving me to trail behind her.
Damn it. I had disappointed her already. I'd never be immortal at this rate… Why hadn't I picked up those things anyway? I was too darn callous for my own good… Now Hermia had gone off in a snit and I'd have to make up a rotten excuse. I'd better say I didn't hear her properly… Yeah, that would be good enough…I followed her until she reached a grassy knoll, which lay a few blocks away from the market. I was a bit surprised that there was such a place in the middle of the busy city. Finally, she halted beneath a tree and turned around to face me.
"I know what you're up to, Damian."
"What on earth are you talking about?" I asked pretending ignorance, and knowing exactly what she meant. "I was just trying to get you away from the crowds…"She ignored my hasty babbling.
"So you want to be immortal, do you?" Hermia crossed her arms and looked amusedly at me. "I knew it the moment you stopped being rude and arrogant. Not to mention that glint in your eye. And you overdid the compliments."
I collapsed on the ground and picked dejectedly at the soil with a twig. I realized now that I was on the dirt, I'd have to look up at her when I talked. That didn't improve my mood a fraction. "Was it that obvious?" I mumbled, covering my face with my hands.
"I'm sorry to say it was obvious. REALLY obvious." She laughed. It was not a throaty chuckle or flirty giggle (like what Philomena had). It was a real laugh, overflowing with the joy of life. Hermia had a laugh that made you want to laugh right along with her…It was so completely without malice or scorn that I risked peeking between my fingers.
What I saw in her took my breath away. Her tumble of curls was dappled in sunlight and her wide smile revealed pearly white teeth. She had sat down next to me, and looked perfectly at home sitting on that hill. Hermia had stretched out her sandaled feet in front of her and crossed her legs demurely.
"I'm sorry, Hermia." What else could I say? "I wont do that again." But I knew I would…maybe next time I'd convince her. Greed and ambition always held the tightest hold on me.
"You'd better not." She said, then pointing up to the sky. "What is your opinion on that cloud over there? I think it looks rather like a ship!"
I gazed at that azure sky, wondering how life had brought me to this moment. "I don't think so… It reminds one of a somewhat fat dog."
We then proceeded to do the ageless tradition… Hermia and I looked at those clouds all afternoon.
~*~*~
I sat up in bed, the memory of her sweet laughter still ringing in my ears. Squinting sleepily at the clock next to me, I read the time… 2:35 again! That was the same time I woke up yesterday! I felt a queer shiver down my back. It was Damian and his goddess again, come back to haunt me for the night. I pressed my face back into the pillow, desperately wanting to know what all of this meant… but there was no way I'd talk to bug-eyed Trelawney, my only mentor in things like dreams… I felt like yelling. There was something so familiar about all of it! So why didn't I understand?
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Author's Note: I heartily apologize for the two month wait and I hope you forgive me… I typed the first one fifth of this chapter right after the last one, eager to please myself and others… The next day, when I woke up to write, I found myself at a dead halt. I remembered the horrible feeling of writer's block, and I knew it had discovered me once more.
Right after that, my brother brought his computer back from the dorm, and I found myself being drawn to the addictive game of Neverwinter Nights… I finished the whole thing, as I impatiently waited for my groove to come back. _
Finally, I remembered my sad story, lying in the rain, abandoned, and I decided to get at it once more. My writer's block had dissolved into a puddle (yahoo!). Please review this chapter. I made it longer than the other ones… Just for you. *wink*
I also thank you for the gentle prodding that urged me to continue this story… Thank you for sharing your knowledge of Ancient Greece with me... It makes researching much easier. *huggles my World Book Encyclopedia*
Oh, and I used the word chiton earlier. It is pronounced KY tuhn. A chiton is a belted garment of linen and wool that Greek men and women wore… Love you all!