Thanks for your reviews. And for those of you who asked, Draco accused
Hermione of cheating on him with Cole basically as a way of hitting back.
And he didn't sleep with Juliann. It was just her being really nasty.
Draco's 'reputation' is that basically he's the man-whore of the school,
and sleeps with just about any girl that's pretty, hard to get or just
plain loose. Hope you like chapter 19. Istalindar.
"You-know-who is getting stronger. You know that." McGonagall said. Hermione nodded, but Malfoy was busy looking around. They were in the staff room, where McGonagall had led them because she wanted to talk to them.
"Dumbledore has unearthed some rumours that need investigating. As the top pupils in the school, we want you to do the investigating."
"You're going to offload that onto us?" Malfoy asked.
"No, Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall said sternly. "We're asking you to do this because you two make up the perfect combination: a pureblood wizard and a muggleborn witch. You two know the limits of both societies and might be able to help us."
"So what is it you want us to do?" Hermione asked.
"There's been a rumour that Voldemort might be injured with muggle weapons. We need you to look at that."
"You mean, like...guns? That kind of thing?" Hermione asked.
"Precisely. If the rumours seem reliable, the next step will be training."
"You're going to train us to take on You-Know-Who?" Malfoy demanded.
"What about Potter, I mean Harry?" Hermione asked. McGonagall looked a little sheepish.
"We want to see how you manage first." She said.
"You mean you're going to sacrifice us to see if it works." Malfoy said flatly. Hermione watched the two of them, Malfoy accusing, McGonagall defending.
"I'll do it." She broke in. the two stared at her. "I mean...if we fail...well, we'll be dead, wont we? But if we succeed, Voldemort's gone. And that's a good thing, right? And anyway. If we don't do this, and Potter's left to fight Voldemort, we'll all be drawn into a war where we might die. So either way we might die, and we're eventually gonna die anyway...so what the heck. I'll do it." Malfoy raised a blonde eyebrow and Hermione grinned in spite of herself.
"I'll do it as well. How can you argue with Know-it-all logic?" he said grudgingly.
"I'm glad you agree. This," McGonagall whipped a piece of paper out of her robes, ready-signed, "Will get you into the restricted section of the library. You're excused from lessons...while you're working on this you'll be completely separate from the school. The only time you need to see your professors is when we ask to see you to see how you're coming on"
"Does that mean we have to wear uniform?" Malfoy asked. McGonagall looked at them sternly.
"No, you don't. like I said, you're completely separate from the school. You'll eat meals with the others if you want to, and there will be some other things to be sorted out later, depending." She nodded sternly to them and swept away.
"Well." Malfoy said.
"Truce?" Hermione offered. Malfoy looked down at her, and nodded.
"Yeah. I don't suppose we can fight Voldemort if we cant stop hexing each other."
"Nah."
"Damn." Malfoy grinned.
"You're such a moron, Malfoy."
*&*
Malfoy tapped Hermione on the shoulder then dodged to the other side, dropping a stack of books onto the table beside her, making a loud thump in the still library. She glared at him reprovingly and Malfoy stuck his bottom lip out. Hermione laughed and swatted him with one of the thinner books.
"Found anything?" he asked. Hermione shrugged.
"Rumours, rumours and more rumours. Nothing but fucking rumours!"
"Rumours are what we're investigating, Mia. What did you expect?" Hermione gave Malfoy a strange look as he called her the name he had used when they were going out.
"I don't know. Some hard evidence, maybe?" Malfoy laughed.
"You try too hard, love. Just note down as many rumours as you find, and we'll deal with that for now."
"Fine!" she exclaimed, and pushed her notebook, books and quill in his direction. "You do some. My wrist's killing me!" she stood up from the table, and wandered around the table, looking at the books on the shelves. These books were the books she never had access to, being in the Restricted Section. She looked at the books while Malfoy looked at her.
She was wearing a black hoodie over a black pleated corduroy miniskirt, along with big-knit fishnet tights and black stiletto workman ankle boots. Her hair was tied into a scruffy half-bun at the nape of her neck, and the bits hanging around her face made it look like her hair was seriously in need of brushing, but to Malfoy it just made her more endearing.
"Look here!" she exclaimed. She pulled a huge book off the shelf. And it was huge. It was about as thick as she was wide, literally. Malfoy jumped up and helped her shift it from shelf to desk. The two of them stood looking at it, Malfoy sucking his finger which got squashed underneath it.
"That's a stupidly sized book." Hermione said.
"It really is." Malfoy agreed. "It's as big as you are."
"What are you implying?" Hermione asked, glancing at him with a grin.
"Nothing, nothing." He said hastily, hands up in surrender.
"Look at this." Hermione wrestled the huge book open, and it immediately starting talking in a deep voice.
"Beware, beware. Deepest secrets and blackest moments are hidden here. Beware, beware-"
"Shut up." Hermione snapped, and the book was silenced. "Now look...it notes all the rumours, dated and everything!" Malfoy turned to the back page, which was blank. He leafed back, and found a half finished page, and even as they watched, the page continued to write. Hermione laughed. "It's writing about us!" It was. Even as they watched the book wrote in neat penmanship about how they watched the book writing 'and were delighted by the fair heroine's discovery.'
"I'm not sure I'd describe you as a fair heroine." Malfoy commented. Hermione punched him in the shoulder, muttering 'dead arm' as she did so. While Malfoy flexed his arm in an attempt to get the feeling back, Hermione watched in delight as the book recounted how 'the fair heroine defended herself against the taunts of her sadistic partner.'
"I could like this book." She said with a smile. Malfoy read over her shoulder.
"That book is biased! It's not fair. Why, book, why?" he demanded of the book
"She's prettier than you are." The book answered in a normal voice. While Hermione dissolved into peals of laughter, Malfoy scowled.
"Um...book, is there anything you'd like us to call you?" Hermione asked, when she recovered.
"I quite liked the name Archibald." The book answered. Hermione and Malfoy exchanged looks.
"Alright, um...Archibald. Do you know if muggle weapons can destroy Voldemort?" Hermione asked. The book fluttered its pages at her, leafing back and forwards, before returning to the half-finished page.
"There have been many rumours regarding the destruction of Voldemort with muggle weapons. It seems that if he is given a direct hit, he might be destroyed."
"Yes!" Malfoy exclaimed, and he picked Hermione up and swung her in circles. "We got it!" Hermione was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face.
"Draco, please! Put me down!" he eventually put her down.
"Sorry."
"That's okay."
"We got it."
"We did!"
"Enough now." Hermione said.
"Yeah." He agreed.
*&*
Two weeks later, Hermione was emptying a gun clip into a dummy in the classroom they had adopted as a shooting range. When she had finished, someone tapped her on the shoulder. she whirled, but Malfoy caught the gun before she had a chance to aim at his face. He took her ear muffs off her.
"We've got trouble." He pulled her out of the room, chucking to extra clips at her and shoving his own gun in his pocket. She caught them both, loading the gun and putting the safety catch on before shoving it in the waistband of her black trousers at the small of her back.
"You think-" Hermione had to jog to keep up with his long strides, the sleeves to her gauzy red top fluttering behind her as she went. They came into the huge entrance hall, and stopped dead. A black cloaked and hooded figure stood on the other side of the recently installed water fountain. Hermione passed a clip to Malfoy.
"Ah, students." The voice was deep and rasping. It made Hermione shiver, and Draco took her hand and squeezed tight.
"Oh my god. What is he doing here? We're not done yet! He's not meant to be here!" Hermione whispered.
"Draco Malfoy. How pleasant to see you. Your father will be pleased to hear you helped me take over Hogwarts."
"Yeah." Quick as a flash Draco whipped the gun out and sent nearly the entire clip into Voldemort's stomach. When it was empty, Draco chucked the gun at Hermione, who let the empty clip fall to the floor before shoving the new one in. she was about to pass it back when Draco gave a yell and threw himself at her, the both of them falling to the floor, just as the killing curse sped over their heads in a flash of green light. She tried to give him back the gun as they lay there, but he shook his head.
"You're better than me at muggle weapons." He whispered. "I'll stick to the wand." The two of them rose, and went on opposite sides of the fountain, running at Voldemort and hexing as fast as they could. Voldemort waved his hand negligently, and Hermione was thrown back, spinning through the air until she landed to the floor with a sickening thump. Her gun skittered out of hand across the floor and even as she scrambled for it, it was hit by a beam of orange light and it melted. Hermione turned and got up, just in time to see the fountain disintegrate into sand and sink, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the floor filled with clear water which got darker the deeper it seemed. Hermione screamed as Voldemort sent Draco spinning back , straight into the pool. He sank and disappeared. Hermione ran forward, so furious and scared she didn't think at all. Voldemort easily lifted her up, and she froze when she found herself several feet above the stone floor.
"Well, mudblood." Voldemort said conversationally. Hermione frantically looked for a sign of Draco returning to the surface, but there was none. Voldemort drew her closer, until she hovered at eye level before him. He touched her cheek with white ravaged fingers. "I can see why he was led astray by you. You're rather pretty." Hermione spat, straight into Voldemort's red eye. He dropped her with a thump, while he wiped the spit out of his eye. Then he grasped her arm and dragged her up. He looked her straight in the eye for a moment, then he kissed her.
Hermione's stomach rebelled, making her choke. But Voldemort wouldn't let her pull back, and she couldn't breathe. 'If I die from kissing Voldemort, I'll be shamed for the rest of my un-life' she thought. Then there was a splash, and Voldemort broke away to stare over her shoulder. Hermione grabbed the gun from the waistband of her trousers and held it pressed against her leg tightly, undoing the safety catch.
"Mia!" Hermione turned her head to see Draco, wet and dripping, emerge from the pool. Voldemort grabbed her head and kissed her hard, and Hermione felt herself slipping into darkness. With the last vestige of her sanity, she jammed the muzzle of the gun under Voldemort's chin, and pulled the trigger.
The shockwave sent both students flying to the other side of the hall, slamming against the walls six feet above the ground. They forward in unison, landing with identical thumps.
"Oh...ow. OW!" Hermione groaned. She pushed herself to her hands and knees, and saw the back of her hands. This led to a quick inspection of the rest of her.
"OH MY GOD! HOW FUCKING GROSS IS THIS! EWWWWWWWWWW!" she screamed. Draco looked blearily up from where he sat on his knees, trying to get his head working again. He did a classic double take when he saw her. Instead of being pale skinned, brunette, wearing a scarlet top and black trousers, she was completely covered in green-black blood.
Draco couldn't help it. He laughed. And laughed. And laughed. Hermione scowled, but then a smile crept across her face, flashing white teeth in a green-black face.
"So does being covered in evil blood make you evil?" Draco asked.
"I'll show you evil, you sadistic, moronic madman!" Hermione chased him around the hall, the two of them shrieking and laughing like they were demented. When Draco finally stopped, Hermione took the opportunity to flick the dark blood in his face.
"Now you're evil too! Oh wait, you already were."
"Oh very funny." Draco sneered. He looked down at himself, splattered in blood from both the explosion and Hermione. "Oh, ew. Ew, ew, ew."
"You sound like a girl." Hermione commented, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.
"Ew, ew, ew." Draco deepened his voice, and Hermione burst into giggles.
"Now you sound like a hairdresser." Draco looked confused. "Don't worry about it. Muggle thing." She looked around, and saw the wall they had hit. "Oh wow, look at that. That was me!" she pointed at the wall, and in the place she had hit the wall, was a Hermione-shaped figure painted on the wall in Voldemort blood.
"You're so-"
"Merlin! Are you two alright?" Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Harry ran up.
"Harry! Watch out for the-" It was too late. Harry slipped on a patch of blood and slipped, falling head first into the fountain and hitting his head on the side. He sank, unconscious. Hermione dived in after him, playing the heroine. A minute later she surfaced, dragging him with her. Her top was running everywhere, red dye sluicing down her arms.
"Are you alright?" McGonagall asked.
"This is meant to be dry-clean only!" Hermione shrieked, staring in horror at her top.
"Why did you wear a dry-clean only top to fight Voldemort?" Draco asked.
"If I'd knew I was going to be fighting Voldemort today I would've worn it tomorrow!" Hermione cried.
"Are you alright, Miss Granger? You're bleeding." Snape demanded.
"I'm not bleeding! It's dye! My top! It's dying! It's dying all over me! Look at me, I'm going pink!" She shrieked, looking hysterical.
"Miss Granger, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked.
"Of course I'm not alright! Look at my top! My top!" She moaned, plucking at the wet sleeve that came away from her skin with a sucking noise, leaving a red mark.
"Hello? What about me?" Harry demanded. Draco and Hermione turned to him.
"What about you?" Draco demanded. "You didn't do anything except slip and nearly kill yourself. Mia's the one that killed Voldemort. You didn't do jack shit."
"Mr. Malfoy!"
"What?" He asked defensively, turning to McGonagall. "He didn't. Hermione did it all. I was too busy trying not to drown, and I don't know where Potter was."
"Nice new scar, by the way." Hermione added. Harry's hand went up to the cut by his lightning scar.
"We'd better get that seen to." McGonagall said busily. She and Dumbledore ushered Harry away, but Snape hesitated.
"You both fought and destroyed Voldemort without getting injured. Rather amazing."
"What d'you mean, not injured. I'm going to be pink for days!" Hermione exclaimed. Draco clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Thanks professor." Snape nodded and walked off. Draco snatched his hand back.
"Ow! You bit me!"
"No need to tell me that." Hermione grinned. Draco pulled a face, and lunged for her, and she shrieked and ran off. He chased her around the room until she slipped on the copious amounts of blood lying on the floor and fell over. He promptly tripped over her and landed flat on his stomach.
"Watch where you're going." Hermione mumbled.
"Watch where you're falling." Draco shot back.
"What? How the hell am I-" Draco, tired of her smart-alec remarks, stopped them. when he pulled back for air, Hermione stared at him.
"Well. We haven't done that in a while." She commented.
"No shit."
"Nope." Draco kissed her again. Hermione braced one hand on the floor and put her other hand around his neck, stopping him from moving away. Then her hand slid out from under her on the slippery floor. The two of them fell back.
"Oh...ouch. That hurt." Hermione commented.
"Someone should really clean this up." Draco murmured.
"Yeah, I'm lying in a big puddle."
"Roll." Without any warning, Draco rolled her over the top of him, and then onto the other side. With a shriek, she fell into the pool, dragging Draco with her. When they surfaced, spluttering, Hermione began to laugh at the look of outrage on Draco's face.
"Well at least I don't have blood on my back anymore." The two of them treaded water, and Draco kissed her. When she pulled back, she looked down. "Draco? Your shirt's going pink." It was true. His white shirt was absorbing the red dye as quickly as it was bleeding out of Hermione's top.
"Oh, fuck!"
"I've got dye in my hair. Is it going pink?" Hermione asked. Draco stared at her, aghast.
"My shirt's going pink!" he exclaimed, swimming to the side and hauling himself out of the water.
"What's wrong with a pink shirt?" Hermione asked as she pulled herself out of the water.
"It makes me look camp!" Draco exclaimed. Hermione kissed him on the cheek.
"Aww. Poor little Draco."
"You-know-who is getting stronger. You know that." McGonagall said. Hermione nodded, but Malfoy was busy looking around. They were in the staff room, where McGonagall had led them because she wanted to talk to them.
"Dumbledore has unearthed some rumours that need investigating. As the top pupils in the school, we want you to do the investigating."
"You're going to offload that onto us?" Malfoy asked.
"No, Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall said sternly. "We're asking you to do this because you two make up the perfect combination: a pureblood wizard and a muggleborn witch. You two know the limits of both societies and might be able to help us."
"So what is it you want us to do?" Hermione asked.
"There's been a rumour that Voldemort might be injured with muggle weapons. We need you to look at that."
"You mean, like...guns? That kind of thing?" Hermione asked.
"Precisely. If the rumours seem reliable, the next step will be training."
"You're going to train us to take on You-Know-Who?" Malfoy demanded.
"What about Potter, I mean Harry?" Hermione asked. McGonagall looked a little sheepish.
"We want to see how you manage first." She said.
"You mean you're going to sacrifice us to see if it works." Malfoy said flatly. Hermione watched the two of them, Malfoy accusing, McGonagall defending.
"I'll do it." She broke in. the two stared at her. "I mean...if we fail...well, we'll be dead, wont we? But if we succeed, Voldemort's gone. And that's a good thing, right? And anyway. If we don't do this, and Potter's left to fight Voldemort, we'll all be drawn into a war where we might die. So either way we might die, and we're eventually gonna die anyway...so what the heck. I'll do it." Malfoy raised a blonde eyebrow and Hermione grinned in spite of herself.
"I'll do it as well. How can you argue with Know-it-all logic?" he said grudgingly.
"I'm glad you agree. This," McGonagall whipped a piece of paper out of her robes, ready-signed, "Will get you into the restricted section of the library. You're excused from lessons...while you're working on this you'll be completely separate from the school. The only time you need to see your professors is when we ask to see you to see how you're coming on"
"Does that mean we have to wear uniform?" Malfoy asked. McGonagall looked at them sternly.
"No, you don't. like I said, you're completely separate from the school. You'll eat meals with the others if you want to, and there will be some other things to be sorted out later, depending." She nodded sternly to them and swept away.
"Well." Malfoy said.
"Truce?" Hermione offered. Malfoy looked down at her, and nodded.
"Yeah. I don't suppose we can fight Voldemort if we cant stop hexing each other."
"Nah."
"Damn." Malfoy grinned.
"You're such a moron, Malfoy."
*&*
Malfoy tapped Hermione on the shoulder then dodged to the other side, dropping a stack of books onto the table beside her, making a loud thump in the still library. She glared at him reprovingly and Malfoy stuck his bottom lip out. Hermione laughed and swatted him with one of the thinner books.
"Found anything?" he asked. Hermione shrugged.
"Rumours, rumours and more rumours. Nothing but fucking rumours!"
"Rumours are what we're investigating, Mia. What did you expect?" Hermione gave Malfoy a strange look as he called her the name he had used when they were going out.
"I don't know. Some hard evidence, maybe?" Malfoy laughed.
"You try too hard, love. Just note down as many rumours as you find, and we'll deal with that for now."
"Fine!" she exclaimed, and pushed her notebook, books and quill in his direction. "You do some. My wrist's killing me!" she stood up from the table, and wandered around the table, looking at the books on the shelves. These books were the books she never had access to, being in the Restricted Section. She looked at the books while Malfoy looked at her.
She was wearing a black hoodie over a black pleated corduroy miniskirt, along with big-knit fishnet tights and black stiletto workman ankle boots. Her hair was tied into a scruffy half-bun at the nape of her neck, and the bits hanging around her face made it look like her hair was seriously in need of brushing, but to Malfoy it just made her more endearing.
"Look here!" she exclaimed. She pulled a huge book off the shelf. And it was huge. It was about as thick as she was wide, literally. Malfoy jumped up and helped her shift it from shelf to desk. The two of them stood looking at it, Malfoy sucking his finger which got squashed underneath it.
"That's a stupidly sized book." Hermione said.
"It really is." Malfoy agreed. "It's as big as you are."
"What are you implying?" Hermione asked, glancing at him with a grin.
"Nothing, nothing." He said hastily, hands up in surrender.
"Look at this." Hermione wrestled the huge book open, and it immediately starting talking in a deep voice.
"Beware, beware. Deepest secrets and blackest moments are hidden here. Beware, beware-"
"Shut up." Hermione snapped, and the book was silenced. "Now look...it notes all the rumours, dated and everything!" Malfoy turned to the back page, which was blank. He leafed back, and found a half finished page, and even as they watched, the page continued to write. Hermione laughed. "It's writing about us!" It was. Even as they watched the book wrote in neat penmanship about how they watched the book writing 'and were delighted by the fair heroine's discovery.'
"I'm not sure I'd describe you as a fair heroine." Malfoy commented. Hermione punched him in the shoulder, muttering 'dead arm' as she did so. While Malfoy flexed his arm in an attempt to get the feeling back, Hermione watched in delight as the book recounted how 'the fair heroine defended herself against the taunts of her sadistic partner.'
"I could like this book." She said with a smile. Malfoy read over her shoulder.
"That book is biased! It's not fair. Why, book, why?" he demanded of the book
"She's prettier than you are." The book answered in a normal voice. While Hermione dissolved into peals of laughter, Malfoy scowled.
"Um...book, is there anything you'd like us to call you?" Hermione asked, when she recovered.
"I quite liked the name Archibald." The book answered. Hermione and Malfoy exchanged looks.
"Alright, um...Archibald. Do you know if muggle weapons can destroy Voldemort?" Hermione asked. The book fluttered its pages at her, leafing back and forwards, before returning to the half-finished page.
"There have been many rumours regarding the destruction of Voldemort with muggle weapons. It seems that if he is given a direct hit, he might be destroyed."
"Yes!" Malfoy exclaimed, and he picked Hermione up and swung her in circles. "We got it!" Hermione was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face.
"Draco, please! Put me down!" he eventually put her down.
"Sorry."
"That's okay."
"We got it."
"We did!"
"Enough now." Hermione said.
"Yeah." He agreed.
*&*
Two weeks later, Hermione was emptying a gun clip into a dummy in the classroom they had adopted as a shooting range. When she had finished, someone tapped her on the shoulder. she whirled, but Malfoy caught the gun before she had a chance to aim at his face. He took her ear muffs off her.
"We've got trouble." He pulled her out of the room, chucking to extra clips at her and shoving his own gun in his pocket. She caught them both, loading the gun and putting the safety catch on before shoving it in the waistband of her black trousers at the small of her back.
"You think-" Hermione had to jog to keep up with his long strides, the sleeves to her gauzy red top fluttering behind her as she went. They came into the huge entrance hall, and stopped dead. A black cloaked and hooded figure stood on the other side of the recently installed water fountain. Hermione passed a clip to Malfoy.
"Ah, students." The voice was deep and rasping. It made Hermione shiver, and Draco took her hand and squeezed tight.
"Oh my god. What is he doing here? We're not done yet! He's not meant to be here!" Hermione whispered.
"Draco Malfoy. How pleasant to see you. Your father will be pleased to hear you helped me take over Hogwarts."
"Yeah." Quick as a flash Draco whipped the gun out and sent nearly the entire clip into Voldemort's stomach. When it was empty, Draco chucked the gun at Hermione, who let the empty clip fall to the floor before shoving the new one in. she was about to pass it back when Draco gave a yell and threw himself at her, the both of them falling to the floor, just as the killing curse sped over their heads in a flash of green light. She tried to give him back the gun as they lay there, but he shook his head.
"You're better than me at muggle weapons." He whispered. "I'll stick to the wand." The two of them rose, and went on opposite sides of the fountain, running at Voldemort and hexing as fast as they could. Voldemort waved his hand negligently, and Hermione was thrown back, spinning through the air until she landed to the floor with a sickening thump. Her gun skittered out of hand across the floor and even as she scrambled for it, it was hit by a beam of orange light and it melted. Hermione turned and got up, just in time to see the fountain disintegrate into sand and sink, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the floor filled with clear water which got darker the deeper it seemed. Hermione screamed as Voldemort sent Draco spinning back , straight into the pool. He sank and disappeared. Hermione ran forward, so furious and scared she didn't think at all. Voldemort easily lifted her up, and she froze when she found herself several feet above the stone floor.
"Well, mudblood." Voldemort said conversationally. Hermione frantically looked for a sign of Draco returning to the surface, but there was none. Voldemort drew her closer, until she hovered at eye level before him. He touched her cheek with white ravaged fingers. "I can see why he was led astray by you. You're rather pretty." Hermione spat, straight into Voldemort's red eye. He dropped her with a thump, while he wiped the spit out of his eye. Then he grasped her arm and dragged her up. He looked her straight in the eye for a moment, then he kissed her.
Hermione's stomach rebelled, making her choke. But Voldemort wouldn't let her pull back, and she couldn't breathe. 'If I die from kissing Voldemort, I'll be shamed for the rest of my un-life' she thought. Then there was a splash, and Voldemort broke away to stare over her shoulder. Hermione grabbed the gun from the waistband of her trousers and held it pressed against her leg tightly, undoing the safety catch.
"Mia!" Hermione turned her head to see Draco, wet and dripping, emerge from the pool. Voldemort grabbed her head and kissed her hard, and Hermione felt herself slipping into darkness. With the last vestige of her sanity, she jammed the muzzle of the gun under Voldemort's chin, and pulled the trigger.
The shockwave sent both students flying to the other side of the hall, slamming against the walls six feet above the ground. They forward in unison, landing with identical thumps.
"Oh...ow. OW!" Hermione groaned. She pushed herself to her hands and knees, and saw the back of her hands. This led to a quick inspection of the rest of her.
"OH MY GOD! HOW FUCKING GROSS IS THIS! EWWWWWWWWWW!" she screamed. Draco looked blearily up from where he sat on his knees, trying to get his head working again. He did a classic double take when he saw her. Instead of being pale skinned, brunette, wearing a scarlet top and black trousers, she was completely covered in green-black blood.
Draco couldn't help it. He laughed. And laughed. And laughed. Hermione scowled, but then a smile crept across her face, flashing white teeth in a green-black face.
"So does being covered in evil blood make you evil?" Draco asked.
"I'll show you evil, you sadistic, moronic madman!" Hermione chased him around the hall, the two of them shrieking and laughing like they were demented. When Draco finally stopped, Hermione took the opportunity to flick the dark blood in his face.
"Now you're evil too! Oh wait, you already were."
"Oh very funny." Draco sneered. He looked down at himself, splattered in blood from both the explosion and Hermione. "Oh, ew. Ew, ew, ew."
"You sound like a girl." Hermione commented, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.
"Ew, ew, ew." Draco deepened his voice, and Hermione burst into giggles.
"Now you sound like a hairdresser." Draco looked confused. "Don't worry about it. Muggle thing." She looked around, and saw the wall they had hit. "Oh wow, look at that. That was me!" she pointed at the wall, and in the place she had hit the wall, was a Hermione-shaped figure painted on the wall in Voldemort blood.
"You're so-"
"Merlin! Are you two alright?" Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Harry ran up.
"Harry! Watch out for the-" It was too late. Harry slipped on a patch of blood and slipped, falling head first into the fountain and hitting his head on the side. He sank, unconscious. Hermione dived in after him, playing the heroine. A minute later she surfaced, dragging him with her. Her top was running everywhere, red dye sluicing down her arms.
"Are you alright?" McGonagall asked.
"This is meant to be dry-clean only!" Hermione shrieked, staring in horror at her top.
"Why did you wear a dry-clean only top to fight Voldemort?" Draco asked.
"If I'd knew I was going to be fighting Voldemort today I would've worn it tomorrow!" Hermione cried.
"Are you alright, Miss Granger? You're bleeding." Snape demanded.
"I'm not bleeding! It's dye! My top! It's dying! It's dying all over me! Look at me, I'm going pink!" She shrieked, looking hysterical.
"Miss Granger, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked.
"Of course I'm not alright! Look at my top! My top!" She moaned, plucking at the wet sleeve that came away from her skin with a sucking noise, leaving a red mark.
"Hello? What about me?" Harry demanded. Draco and Hermione turned to him.
"What about you?" Draco demanded. "You didn't do anything except slip and nearly kill yourself. Mia's the one that killed Voldemort. You didn't do jack shit."
"Mr. Malfoy!"
"What?" He asked defensively, turning to McGonagall. "He didn't. Hermione did it all. I was too busy trying not to drown, and I don't know where Potter was."
"Nice new scar, by the way." Hermione added. Harry's hand went up to the cut by his lightning scar.
"We'd better get that seen to." McGonagall said busily. She and Dumbledore ushered Harry away, but Snape hesitated.
"You both fought and destroyed Voldemort without getting injured. Rather amazing."
"What d'you mean, not injured. I'm going to be pink for days!" Hermione exclaimed. Draco clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Thanks professor." Snape nodded and walked off. Draco snatched his hand back.
"Ow! You bit me!"
"No need to tell me that." Hermione grinned. Draco pulled a face, and lunged for her, and she shrieked and ran off. He chased her around the room until she slipped on the copious amounts of blood lying on the floor and fell over. He promptly tripped over her and landed flat on his stomach.
"Watch where you're going." Hermione mumbled.
"Watch where you're falling." Draco shot back.
"What? How the hell am I-" Draco, tired of her smart-alec remarks, stopped them. when he pulled back for air, Hermione stared at him.
"Well. We haven't done that in a while." She commented.
"No shit."
"Nope." Draco kissed her again. Hermione braced one hand on the floor and put her other hand around his neck, stopping him from moving away. Then her hand slid out from under her on the slippery floor. The two of them fell back.
"Oh...ouch. That hurt." Hermione commented.
"Someone should really clean this up." Draco murmured.
"Yeah, I'm lying in a big puddle."
"Roll." Without any warning, Draco rolled her over the top of him, and then onto the other side. With a shriek, she fell into the pool, dragging Draco with her. When they surfaced, spluttering, Hermione began to laugh at the look of outrage on Draco's face.
"Well at least I don't have blood on my back anymore." The two of them treaded water, and Draco kissed her. When she pulled back, she looked down. "Draco? Your shirt's going pink." It was true. His white shirt was absorbing the red dye as quickly as it was bleeding out of Hermione's top.
"Oh, fuck!"
"I've got dye in my hair. Is it going pink?" Hermione asked. Draco stared at her, aghast.
"My shirt's going pink!" he exclaimed, swimming to the side and hauling himself out of the water.
"What's wrong with a pink shirt?" Hermione asked as she pulled herself out of the water.
"It makes me look camp!" Draco exclaimed. Hermione kissed him on the cheek.
"Aww. Poor little Draco."