"It makes sense!" Hermione protested to Ginny and Padma. "The Malfoys probably couldn't, you know, reproduce and they needed an heir. And..."
"Hermione. Listen to yourself." Ginny poked her. "That's about as ridiculous as you can get. Draco Malfoy is a human. Trust me on that one."
"Yeah," Hermione sighed, "I guess so. Well, it sounded better in my head. And what other explanation is there?"
"Maybe it was really just a slip of the tongue. Everyone's human. Well, I mean, everyone makes mistake," Padma suggested.
"I don't know...I've just got this feeling that it means something. But you guys are probably right. I mean, Ranger's courteous and friendly, and Malfoy's...not."
"Except for those three times he saved you..." Ginny said in a sing-song voice.
"That is not helpful, Ginny!" Hermione grimaced.
Ginny sighed. "Maybe it was somebody else, Polyjuice-d."
"I don't think 'Polyjuice' is a verb," Hermione and Padma said simultaneously. Ginny glared at them. Hermione blushed and Padma rolled her eyes. :)
"Anyway," the Ravenclaw said, "why would anyone want to pretend they were Malfoy? Anyone nice enough to help you, anyway. I think we can scrap that idea."
"Hey, I just remembered something--Ranger knew I was in the Slytherin dungeons, and I didn't mention it." Hermione frowned. Her head was beginning to hurt. "Then again, maybe he just guessed. After all, where else would Malfoy be at that hour?"
After an hour of trying to fit together pieces of an incomplete puzzle, the three were no further. "Sorry girls, I'll have to kick you out," Padma finally yawned. "Maybe we can meet in your dorm tomorrow, Hermione?"
"Sure." Hermione tried to stifle her own yawn. "You know, I think I'll take a short nap before meeting Ranger. I hardly remember how to sleep nowadays."
She and Ginny trekked back to Gryffindor hall, where they parted with token farewells. Once Hermione reached her own dorm, she barely had time to change into nightclothes before she was out like a light.
Light...it was filtering through the window...the sun was far, far too bright. Hermione couldn't remember the last time she'd woken up to the sun shining like that...that meant...she'd...slept... through...the...night. She'd slept through the night? Suddenly, her mind snapped back into focus. "Damn! Ranger!" And, her mind added, she'd missed out on cat time. She'd have to risk cat-ness during the day--she'd made a point never to miss a class since third year, when she'd lost track of time thinking about Malfoy and missed her Charms class. Now she couldn't even remember what she had been thinking about Malfoy...at any rate, breakfast had probably started already, and she wasn't particularly hungry. "I might as well go straight to class," Hermione said to the empty room.
Several minutes later, Hermione pushed open the door of the History of Magic classroom. There, sitting at one of the tables with his head buried in his arms, was an all-too-familiar blond Slytherin with his hair uncharacteristically messy. And soft, regular snores were issuing from him. Hermione stifled a giggle. A Malfoy, snoring? It was too precious an opportunity to be wasted. "Merlin, Malfoy. Has anyone ever told you that you snore like a hippo?"
The snores ceased, but Malfoy's head remained down. "Sod off, whoever y'are." His voice was muffled, but distinct enough. Hermione sniffed and sat down in her usual spot, flipping open her textbook to the appropriate page and placing her wand neatly beside the book, exactly parallel to the edge of the table. Soon, however, a repetitive, irritating noise began to intrude upon her consciousness. She tried to ignore it, but finally her fragile patience snapped.
"Malfoy! Can't you snore somewhere else?" Either he was a very good actor, or he was sleeping too deeply to hear her. Marching over, she jabbed him with her wand. "Some of us are trying to study before class! And you snore like a hippo!"
.
Draco had been having a nice dream...something about oranges and cinnamon and brown curls that caught the sunlight...when he became sharply aware of something poking him in the side. Mumbling incoherently, he shifted, hoping whatever it was would go away. When another poke came, he lifted his head and blinked at the offending object. A wand...clutched by a dainty hand...his eyes traveled up a black robe sleeve to the face of an annoyed Hermione Granger. "Can't a wizard get some sleep around here?" he groaned.
"Why didn't you get some sleep in your dorm?" she snapped.
Come to think of it, why hadn't he? Draco closed his eyes, trying to remember the previous night. Ah. Mala hadn't come. He'd stayed up, waiting for her, and finally decided to go to his first class when she didn't come. "None of your business, Mudblood."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, can't you come up with something better than 'Mudblood'? You've been using it for the past three or four years. It's not like it means anything anymore."
"Oh, but it's so perfect. Besides, when I see a dog I call it a dog; when I see a Mudblood I call it a Mudblood." That cool, arrogant smirk of his...Hermione barely restrained herself from attacking him the way she had the other night.
"If I followed the same practice I'd have to call you 'nauseating, malevolent, malicious, foul, vile, evil, obnoxious, intolerable prat' every day. And that's too much breath for me to waste on you."
Just then, Professor Binns floated through the chalkboard, clutching a ghostly tome, and the 'conversation' was terminated.
