Title: Examinations

(Subtitle: Loser. Kisses. Winner.)

Author: luckdragon

Rating: oh, PG again I suppose

Summary: Life is full of tests. There's nothing that says they can't be fun.

Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I have invited them out to play.

Author's Note: Well, with this chapter I break 10,000 words!  I'm amazed; I never expected this little story to go so far.  And, honestly, I have you all to thank for that.  So thank you for pushing me to write, and thank you for all your support.  Now, as for this chapter… it's not D/Hr heavy, but please bear with me.  The payoff is coming.  I have a plan.  This is all leading somewhere.  Let's see where it starts……

Harry and Hermione left the classroom together after brewing a vaguely successful potion.  Were it not for Hermione's state of distraction and her intelligence, the potion could have been far better… or far, far worse.

Ron hurried up alongside.

"So, Hermione," Harry said conversationally, and she turned to him pleasantly, eager for a course of conversation that might stop her fretting about Draco Malfoy for a few moments.

"Why was Malfoy winking at you in class today?"

Oh, hell and damnation. 

Hermione's stomach dropped so suddenly that she actually looked at the floor at her feet to see if it had fallen straight out of her body.

Ron sputtered, "What?" in quite a loud, undignified fashion.

"You probably missed it because Snape had just taken those points," Harry said, full of falsely cheerful reassurance.  "So?  Hermione?"

Both boys turned on her suddenly, and she felt the weight of their stares, which, when combined, easily could give Grawp a run for his money.

"I… uh… I don't know… I…" Hermione stuttered, again cursing her blatant inability to lie under pressure when it came to her personal life.  How did those Slytherins manage?  Sure, she could lead that dreadful Dolores Umbridge out into the forest to be carried off by centaurs, but could she convincingly spit out a believably haughty "I don't know!" at the moment? 

It was so bloody unfair.

And Harry seemed to be growing more irritated with each hesitant syllable.

"Just tell us the truth, Hermione," Harry said sharply.  "We're your friends.  That's all we ask, really."

Hermione sighed.

"Well, you see, Malfoy and I have made a bit of a bet about the exam, that's all.  Snape mentioned it, so Malfoy was obviously just trying to get a rise out of me because he seems to think he has some chance of winning."

Harry and Ron had stopped walking and were both looking at her agape.

"What?" Ron repeated incredulously.

"A bet?" Harry asked in amazement.  "What kind of bet?"

"Whoever wins is buying the other a bag of sweets on the next Hogsmeade weekend," Hermione said firmly, before she had a chance to hesitate. 

There, that hadn't been so bad.

But it wasn't enough.

"How on earth did this come about?" Harry firmly continued his questioning.

"Well…" Hermione began haltingly, "we were talking one day –"

"Talking?" Harry interrupted severely.  "Since when do you talk to that bigheaded prat?"

"Yeah!" Ron interjected, seemingly rendered monosyllabic.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Potty, but she can talk to whoever she likes," Draco's voice cut in heatedly.  "She's not your lapdog.  She doesn't have to answer to you."

Harry and Ron spun around, and Hermione's eyes flicked to Draco in shock.  Not one of the three had been aware that he had approached on them.

"Why don't you keep your ugly nose out of it, ferret," Harry spat in return.

"How dare you!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed, finding her voice in earnest at last.

All three boys snapped their eyes toward the angry girl.

But she was only looking at one of them.

Her furious eyes were aimed straight at Draco.

He stared back, his eyes actually reflecting some measure of surprise beneath slightly raised brows.

"Why can't you just leave well enough alone?" she finally spoke again in a voice much lowered and quite angry.

Draco's expression hardened dangerously.

"Fine," he snarled, and stalked away, maintaining his arrogant gait.

"Well done, Hermione," Harry said appreciatively once Draco had disappeared around the corner.  "How do you always do that?  Can you teach me?"

"Yeah," Ron said admiringly.

Hermione turned back to her friends still wearing a ferocious expression.  She spoke as though she hadn't stopped earlier, and as though Harry's words had never crossed his lips.

"And you!  Why must you always stoop to his level?" she continued furiously.  "Honestly, why can't you just leave well enough alone every now and again?"

Harry and Ron had switched their expressions back to "open-mouthed astonishment."  Really, they looked like a couple of fish when they did that.

"Are you… are you defending Malfoy?" Harry finally managed.

"No!" she cried out in frustration, and tossed her hands up in a brief moment of utter helplessness.  She began to stalk back to Gryffindor tower, with Harry and Ron at her heels.

"Then what are you saying, Hermione?" Harry shot at her back.  "That we should all just get along?  I don't like that pompous arse, and I'm certainly not going to hold his hand and go skipping down the corridor."

"I'm hardly asking you to," Hermione answered through gritted teeth.

"Well, what are you asking, then?" Harry returned angrily, grabbing her arm and forcing her to face him.  "Why were you talking to him in the first place?"

"Yeah! Why?" Ron exclaimed, doubling his prior capacity for speech.

Hermione yanked her arm away and glared at her friends, feeling all of the irritation that she had felt in the past few weeks exploding out of every pore.

"It's called common human decency!" she shouted.  "Perhaps you should look it up."

"Define human!" Ron fired back, scowling furiously.

"Something more capable of understanding than either of you two are at the moment!" Hermione exclaimed, simultaneously knowing that she'd gone too far and not sure if she was concerned about that fact.

She sighed and deflated just a bit.

Red spots blossomed on Ron's face, and Harry tugged on his arm, muttering, "C'mon, Ron, let's go."  The two boys made a hasty retreat in the direction of the Great Hall.

Hermione closed her eyes and slumped against the near wall.

Well, that had all gone marvelously.  Really.  Couldn't be better.

She managed to regain feet and locate her private room with dragging steps.

Once inside, she made every effort to make it seem like she would spend the next hour studying.  She sat at her desk, opened her bag, and pulled out a diagram of Gladys that was just waiting to be properly labeled.  She raised her quill and held it above the pot of ink.

Her hand hovered for a moment before letting the quill fall.

This was ridiculous.

She had to do something.

Hermione left her room hastily and walked decisively through the hallways.  She didn't break pace at any point; doors swung out of her way without giving her pause.  She only stopped when she reached a table near the back of the library.

"Why did you do that?" she asked harshly… but quietly, of course.

Draco glanced up from his own diagram of Gladys with a look of pure anger.