freakfairy - yeap, I agree. Draco deserved it. =) I reviewed your story
too.
Imperfectionist - Now you don't have to wait anymore, do you? ^_^
Angel125 - thanks, I like it too. . . I guess that was a redundant thought, wasn't it?
The SimonCowel of Fanfiction - Thanks! I liked writing it too. . . I also wanted to ask you, do you watch American Idol? That's where you got "Simon Cowell", right?
Anyway, thanks to the reviewers. They make me feel GOOD INSIDE! (tee hee, I was corny!)
Chapter 5
It soon became evident that some of the alterations made would not be ones that she could hide. Her hair, for instance, was going to be green until the day she died. Other things, like her robes, would be easy to fix. She looked down at her feet in dismay. She decided the only thing to do, because Professor McGonagall wouldn't change them back, was to wear very long robes and walk carefully.
On a happier note, she realized that she had done more things to Malfoy that he couldn't change than he had done to her. His hair, eyes, and his teeth couldn't be changed until they were nice to each other, and this seemed to soften the blow of having huge feet and green hair.
Sighing, she was about to leave the dormitory when the door burst open, and she had to jump back to avoid being hit. Malfoy stormed back in and he looked angrier than ever.
"What did you do with the rest of my pants?" he demanded, and it was all that she could do to keep from laughing. She hadn't done anything to his pants, but if he didn't have any, then he would be forced to wear a skirt all day.
"Nothing." Hermione told him truthfully, but he narrowed his eyes in disbelief. Obviously he didn't believe anything that she said, and to be truthful, she couldn't blame him. It DID look oddly suspicious.
"I swear!" Hermione said, now trying to keep him from hexing her more than he already had. She almost lost her cool when she glanced back at him and saw him glaring at her through red, curly hair.
"I know you did something with them." He hissed at her, and she shook her head, and caught sight of her green hair again. It was getting rather annoying to see herself in green hair and she didn't want to look like this for her classes, but at this rate, she was going to look like this for life.
"Look, I don't care what you THINK, I wouldn't touch your pants with a ten foot - no, twenty foot - pole. Alright?" Hermione slung her book bag over her shoulder and walked down the stairs, where she was pointed at while the three stupid Ravenclaws whispered to her, but this time they had a reason.
Malfoy looked at her, obviously trying to determine whether she was lying or not. Hermione just stared back at him, knowing that she didn't do anything with his pants, but wishing fully that someone else had hidden them well. He deserved to have to wear a pleated skirt all day.
Fuming, Malfoy spun around and marched out. When the door closed, Hermione could contain her laughter no longer. Falling onto her bed, she was shaking with laughter so hard that she wasn't issuing a noise.
She couldn't get the image of Draco Malfoy wearing a skirt. Never would she have believed someone if they had told her that he would be wearing a skirt, but now that she had seen it, she knew she would never forget it.
She secured her book bag around her shoulder and walked out of the Advanced Transfiguration common room toward the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat down alone near the end of the table, and glanced over where she saw Harry and Ron.
Memories that she had been trying to ignore flooded back to her. Their friendship had been slowly falling apart. Hermione had been withdrawn when she found out that her father had cancer, and she had refused to talk to anyone. She knew that was her first mistake. Things had been getting steadily worse - the boys were playing Quiddich, the boys were in detention, the boys were hanging out, there was now no time for Hermione. She knew it was all her fault too. She was the one that had started it. She turned down any time that she could have had with the two of them, and now they had gotten used to it.
She had then gone further down hill. She was losing friendships with many people, and every aspect of her life had suffered. Harry and Ron had been slowly moving on, and buy the time she realized it, it was far too late to fix. The damage had been done, and they had moved on, leaving her in the dust that she had created. They still talked off and on, but they were no longer included in the tight circle of three. The three musketeers turned to the outsider and the two best friends. But one night, things had gotten much worse than she had expected.
Harry had announced that he was going to be Cho's girlfriend, and she had tried to tell him that this was a total waste of time and that she was already dating Roger Davies, but he wouldn't listen, and seemed to think that this was a bad attempt to keep him from dating. He was angry and they had a huge row - His cruel words still rung in her ears. "I don't care if you're jealous, because I really like Cho." Of course, this relationship hadn't lasted long, but Harry now wouldn't talk to her because he didn't want to tell her that she was right.
This left Ron in the middle, and it became apparent that Ron didn't like being stuck in the middle. Ron and her got into numerous fights over things that were stupid, but they couldn't agree with anything, and he reminded her, time and time again, that he never fought like this with Harry, so she had screamed at him and told him that he should go be with HARRY then if he didn't like arguing with her, and to her immense surprise, he had walked away, sat down with Harry, and began talking, as though nothing had happened. She couldn't blame him though - she and Harry both knew that he hated being in the middle.
Hermione ignored the food piled around her and stared at her plate, feeling tears stinging her eyes. She didn't want to cry - not now, and not ever. She felt that wall that she loved beginning to come up around her, shielding her from ever feeling emotion again. This must be how everyone else did it. Hiding behind a wall of cruelness, she would never have to smile or show emotion again. She could finally have the alone time that she needed to sort out her life.
Without eating, she stood up and began walking toward her first class. She was halfway to Potions before she realized that she had to go to Charms first. She continued thinking of what she could fix in her life, and what was unavoidable.
She felt a surge of anger toward her father. If only he would let someone use magic on him, the cancer would be gone and he would live much longer, but he wouldn't allow it. He said that he never grew up with magic, and that he should let his life last how it was meant to last. Hermione balled her fists up and felt her nails digging into her palms, and she clenched them harder.
Somehow, this was her fault - she knew it. Something had happened because of her. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't there enough. She was always away at Hogwarts, and perhaps this had made him weaker, meaning that he was more prone to illness, or maybe it was just the fact that she was alive. Perhaps having her as a child made him sick. She knew that she hadn't exactly been a dream child. Then with the added stress of her sibling dying, she had made it worse, and he had finally cracked under pressure.
Even though she knew that these ideas were farfetched and stupid, she still felt as though it was he fault that he father was dying while she was here at school. What for? Did she need to know magic? No, absolutely not. There was no reason that she needed to learn magic, she could live her life perfectly well as a muggle.
Even as she thought it, she knew that she would never be able to pretend that she was a muggle now that she knew what she really was, now that she knew what really was out in the world. She had had a taste of magic and it was like a taste of ice cream or soda pop, once you have that first taste, you want more. She never wanted to have to leave any of it behind.
Even as she thought this, she knew she was going to want to leave it behind when she left school, because the thought of magic brought her pain. Everything related to magic brought her pain, and she didn't want to have the pain. She wanted to be numb to everything, and just exist.
Before she realized it, she was at the large and heave oak door of the Charms classroom. She slowly and reluctantly pushed it open and ambled over to sit down at her assigned desk, which was, unfortunately, next to Ron and close to Harry. Groaning silently to herself, she awaited their arrival, because she was completely sure they were going to be whispering about her hair and feet, and she didn't know if she could take ant more whispering now.
She didn't have to wait for Harry and Ron to come to enjoy this treatment because anyone that came in noticed it, and who could blame them? It isn't every day that you see a Gryffindor with emerald green hair. Of course, it got steadily worse as more people came into the classroom, because that meant there were more people to be whispering, and it turned to a dull roar.
Nothing, however, could compare to the looks on Harry and Ron's faces when they walked into the room. She knew this was probably one of the last things they were expecting, but they didn't have to look dumbfounded like trolls. It wasn't as though she DIDN'T know that her hair was green.
"What did you -" Ron began, but Harry elbowed him and he stopped. Hermione did know whether Harry didn't want Ron to talk to her at all, or if he was trying to stop Ron from being rude and embarrassing her more than she was right now.
She ignored everyone, which was an amazing feat, and managed to ignore the looks that Professor Flitwick kept giving her whenever she answered a question. Charms class today was the worse Charms class she had ever taken, and she hoped that it wouldn't get worse from here.
When class was over, she was the first person out of the door and she hurried to the bathroom to try to but a glamour on herself to make her hair and feet appear to be different, but nothing worked. Apparently, Professor McGonagall had thought of this too, because the spells bounced right off.
"Auuugh." Hermione groaned and she was left to stomp out of the bathroom, angrier than she had been five minutes before. Didn't Professor McGonagall realize how horrible she was making this for her? She was going around, looking like a FREAK and everyone was pointing and laughing at her. It wasn't like she didn't know she didn't look normal today, so she saw no reason for them to have to point it out to her.
Grumbling, Hermione walked toward the Potions class. This was the class that she was dreading the most. She was sure that Professor Snape would make some comment about her hair and then she would endure rude comments from Slytherins to top off the worst morning in the world, but her mood lifted when she realized that Malfoy was still cursed too. Perhaps they would make fun of him too. That would make it more bearable.
Almost smiling, Hermione walked into the Potions class, and everyone was staring at her, which meant Malfoy wasn't here yet.
Hermione smiled and waved to them while everyone continued staring at her, apparently at a major loss for words, but Crabbe and Goyle looked like they were in their habitat. They always looked stupid and dumbfounded.
Hermione was on the verge of exploding in a Slytherin's face when Malfoy walked in, and their attention turned to him. Apparently it was worse to see a Slytherin in red than a Gryffindor in green.
Hermione almost felt sorry for Malfoy, because people seemed to be on the verge of pelting him with sparks and hitting him with tight fists. He looked like he was in a horrible position, and she almost felt like telling them that it wasn't his fault that he was red, but then she stopped. She was enjoying seeing him suffer the same treatment that he had given her for years and she had no doubt that he fully deserved every last insult and spark he was getting, so she satisfied herself by watching him being taunted and insulted by people that used to respect him with fear.
Professor Snape swept into the dungeon, took one swift glance at Hermione and Malfoy, and turned to begin addressing the class. While the class awaited his words, nothing came from his mouth. He was gaping at Hermione and Malfoy, as though, for once in his life, at a loss for words.
Hermione smiled angelically at him, knowing the thoughts that were going through his head, because she herself had thought them when she saw what she and Malfoy currently, and for evermore would, look like.
It seemed to be worse to look at Malfoy, because she had managed to hide her humongous feet from view, so all that could be seen was her hair, and that was nothing compared to what Malfoy was suffering, not that she cared.
Malfoy had his teeth, hair and eyes to be laughed at for, and Hermione was sure that she could get used to green hair. After all, it didn't matter if it was green or not because it was straight, and she didn't have to worry about how she brushed it, because with her wavy curls she would have to brush it carefully, or suffer looking like dynamite had exploded on her head, and she didn't need that.
For the first time in Potions class, Snape made fun of Malfoy, and didn't give him full credit. But even more surprising that that was that Snape didn't have his usual stupid smirk on his face, and Professor Snape appeared to be almost smiling, as though even he couldn't keep his amusement inside.
But most surprising was that Malfoy seemed to be resigned to being laughed at, and he didn't say anything or make any move to stop the stem of insults and nasty comments being pelted at him, and Hermione felt quite satisfied that he was now on the receiving end of the insults, because, in her mind, he totally and completely deserved every nasty thing said to him.
"Mr. Malfoyetta," Snape said in his usual cool tones, but even so, his words of which caused an immediate uproar from both the group Slytherins and the majority of the Gryffindors. It seemed that this comment was or was close to something that everyone had wanted to say, and there was no denying it. With his hair curly, Malfoy looked, quite awkwardly, like a girl.
"Please tell me the properties of. . . the curled moon spike. . ." Again, the rest of Professor Snape's words were drowned out by laughter that exploded inside of the dungeon. Even Harry and Ron were in such a good mood that they spoke to Hermione, and she felt a rush of sadness come back to her.
She really missed Ron and Harry.
Pushing this to the back of her mind, Hermione turned to her potion, which she had to concentrate on more than usual because of occasional comments directed toward Malfoy and she almost added the wrong ingredient when Pansy asked Malfoy whether he wanted her to do his nails that night in pink or purple.
Shaking her head and thinking that she had gotten the better end of the deal, Hermione continued her potion, all the time thinking that there were only five more lessons until she could hide in her bed and forget everything for the glorious hours while she slept.
~+~
Unfortunately for Hermione, sleep would not be the glorious time of rest that she had wanted, because Malfoy cornered her in the room that night while everyone else was at dinner. He looked angrier than she had even seen him, and she realized that she had only seen him angry once, other than that he never showed his emotion.
Hermione's thoughts evaporated from her mind, because every thing was focused on the towering figure in front of her and she was sure that she could see steam issuing from his ears and mouth. He was glaring at her with such vehement that she was surprised that she wasn't dead.
"Do you have ANY idea how much hell you've made today for me?" He asked her, and she had to strain to listen, because he was whispering in a deadly whisper as though the quieter he spoke, the angrier he was.
"Yeah, I have a pretty good idea." Hermione said coolly as she continued folding random items of clothing and blankets that had seemed to have exploded that morning in her anger.
"You have NO idea. I used to be respected." Malfoy told her, and his voice dropped another decibel so that it was almost inaudible.
"No, people used to be scared of you, now they laugh at you, because you look like a clown." Hermione said, and she still didn't even bother to look at him while she was folding her clothes.
"Today has been living hell for ME." He said, and he put great emphasis on "me", which made Hermione throw down the shirt she had been folding, stand up, and glare directly at him.
"Today hasn't exactly been a walk in the park for me," she said then she added, "Malfoy." She spat his name as an after thought, shoved some of his clothes that had also exploded into her space into his arms and sat back down to continue cleaning her space as best as she could.
She didn't even want to know how his clothes had gotten to the other end of the room, because she was sure it had something to do with throwing things at Pansy, which she highly supported.
"I should have cursed you worse. Believe me, I would have if I knew you were going to be STUCK with the curses." Malfoy told her, and she almost didn't hear him.
"Don't think I gave you my worst." Hermione said simply, and she didn't bother to look at his reaction. She already knew that he would have his smirk plastered across his face and any second now he was going to say something about her being a mudblood and not deserving to be here.
To her surprise, he said nothing, but simply turned back to his bed and threw the shirts on his bed.
Next time I'll hex him, Hermione thought as he set fire to the shirts she had folded for him. I'll hex him until he dies. She thought as she glared angrily at him, wondering how he could stand to be so rude all the time.
~+~
A/N: Stay tuned (that was corny) for the next chapter.
--Saquoia--
Imperfectionist - Now you don't have to wait anymore, do you? ^_^
Angel125 - thanks, I like it too. . . I guess that was a redundant thought, wasn't it?
The SimonCowel of Fanfiction - Thanks! I liked writing it too. . . I also wanted to ask you, do you watch American Idol? That's where you got "Simon Cowell", right?
Anyway, thanks to the reviewers. They make me feel GOOD INSIDE! (tee hee, I was corny!)
Chapter 5
It soon became evident that some of the alterations made would not be ones that she could hide. Her hair, for instance, was going to be green until the day she died. Other things, like her robes, would be easy to fix. She looked down at her feet in dismay. She decided the only thing to do, because Professor McGonagall wouldn't change them back, was to wear very long robes and walk carefully.
On a happier note, she realized that she had done more things to Malfoy that he couldn't change than he had done to her. His hair, eyes, and his teeth couldn't be changed until they were nice to each other, and this seemed to soften the blow of having huge feet and green hair.
Sighing, she was about to leave the dormitory when the door burst open, and she had to jump back to avoid being hit. Malfoy stormed back in and he looked angrier than ever.
"What did you do with the rest of my pants?" he demanded, and it was all that she could do to keep from laughing. She hadn't done anything to his pants, but if he didn't have any, then he would be forced to wear a skirt all day.
"Nothing." Hermione told him truthfully, but he narrowed his eyes in disbelief. Obviously he didn't believe anything that she said, and to be truthful, she couldn't blame him. It DID look oddly suspicious.
"I swear!" Hermione said, now trying to keep him from hexing her more than he already had. She almost lost her cool when she glanced back at him and saw him glaring at her through red, curly hair.
"I know you did something with them." He hissed at her, and she shook her head, and caught sight of her green hair again. It was getting rather annoying to see herself in green hair and she didn't want to look like this for her classes, but at this rate, she was going to look like this for life.
"Look, I don't care what you THINK, I wouldn't touch your pants with a ten foot - no, twenty foot - pole. Alright?" Hermione slung her book bag over her shoulder and walked down the stairs, where she was pointed at while the three stupid Ravenclaws whispered to her, but this time they had a reason.
Malfoy looked at her, obviously trying to determine whether she was lying or not. Hermione just stared back at him, knowing that she didn't do anything with his pants, but wishing fully that someone else had hidden them well. He deserved to have to wear a pleated skirt all day.
Fuming, Malfoy spun around and marched out. When the door closed, Hermione could contain her laughter no longer. Falling onto her bed, she was shaking with laughter so hard that she wasn't issuing a noise.
She couldn't get the image of Draco Malfoy wearing a skirt. Never would she have believed someone if they had told her that he would be wearing a skirt, but now that she had seen it, she knew she would never forget it.
She secured her book bag around her shoulder and walked out of the Advanced Transfiguration common room toward the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat down alone near the end of the table, and glanced over where she saw Harry and Ron.
Memories that she had been trying to ignore flooded back to her. Their friendship had been slowly falling apart. Hermione had been withdrawn when she found out that her father had cancer, and she had refused to talk to anyone. She knew that was her first mistake. Things had been getting steadily worse - the boys were playing Quiddich, the boys were in detention, the boys were hanging out, there was now no time for Hermione. She knew it was all her fault too. She was the one that had started it. She turned down any time that she could have had with the two of them, and now they had gotten used to it.
She had then gone further down hill. She was losing friendships with many people, and every aspect of her life had suffered. Harry and Ron had been slowly moving on, and buy the time she realized it, it was far too late to fix. The damage had been done, and they had moved on, leaving her in the dust that she had created. They still talked off and on, but they were no longer included in the tight circle of three. The three musketeers turned to the outsider and the two best friends. But one night, things had gotten much worse than she had expected.
Harry had announced that he was going to be Cho's girlfriend, and she had tried to tell him that this was a total waste of time and that she was already dating Roger Davies, but he wouldn't listen, and seemed to think that this was a bad attempt to keep him from dating. He was angry and they had a huge row - His cruel words still rung in her ears. "I don't care if you're jealous, because I really like Cho." Of course, this relationship hadn't lasted long, but Harry now wouldn't talk to her because he didn't want to tell her that she was right.
This left Ron in the middle, and it became apparent that Ron didn't like being stuck in the middle. Ron and her got into numerous fights over things that were stupid, but they couldn't agree with anything, and he reminded her, time and time again, that he never fought like this with Harry, so she had screamed at him and told him that he should go be with HARRY then if he didn't like arguing with her, and to her immense surprise, he had walked away, sat down with Harry, and began talking, as though nothing had happened. She couldn't blame him though - she and Harry both knew that he hated being in the middle.
Hermione ignored the food piled around her and stared at her plate, feeling tears stinging her eyes. She didn't want to cry - not now, and not ever. She felt that wall that she loved beginning to come up around her, shielding her from ever feeling emotion again. This must be how everyone else did it. Hiding behind a wall of cruelness, she would never have to smile or show emotion again. She could finally have the alone time that she needed to sort out her life.
Without eating, she stood up and began walking toward her first class. She was halfway to Potions before she realized that she had to go to Charms first. She continued thinking of what she could fix in her life, and what was unavoidable.
She felt a surge of anger toward her father. If only he would let someone use magic on him, the cancer would be gone and he would live much longer, but he wouldn't allow it. He said that he never grew up with magic, and that he should let his life last how it was meant to last. Hermione balled her fists up and felt her nails digging into her palms, and she clenched them harder.
Somehow, this was her fault - she knew it. Something had happened because of her. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't there enough. She was always away at Hogwarts, and perhaps this had made him weaker, meaning that he was more prone to illness, or maybe it was just the fact that she was alive. Perhaps having her as a child made him sick. She knew that she hadn't exactly been a dream child. Then with the added stress of her sibling dying, she had made it worse, and he had finally cracked under pressure.
Even though she knew that these ideas were farfetched and stupid, she still felt as though it was he fault that he father was dying while she was here at school. What for? Did she need to know magic? No, absolutely not. There was no reason that she needed to learn magic, she could live her life perfectly well as a muggle.
Even as she thought it, she knew that she would never be able to pretend that she was a muggle now that she knew what she really was, now that she knew what really was out in the world. She had had a taste of magic and it was like a taste of ice cream or soda pop, once you have that first taste, you want more. She never wanted to have to leave any of it behind.
Even as she thought this, she knew she was going to want to leave it behind when she left school, because the thought of magic brought her pain. Everything related to magic brought her pain, and she didn't want to have the pain. She wanted to be numb to everything, and just exist.
Before she realized it, she was at the large and heave oak door of the Charms classroom. She slowly and reluctantly pushed it open and ambled over to sit down at her assigned desk, which was, unfortunately, next to Ron and close to Harry. Groaning silently to herself, she awaited their arrival, because she was completely sure they were going to be whispering about her hair and feet, and she didn't know if she could take ant more whispering now.
She didn't have to wait for Harry and Ron to come to enjoy this treatment because anyone that came in noticed it, and who could blame them? It isn't every day that you see a Gryffindor with emerald green hair. Of course, it got steadily worse as more people came into the classroom, because that meant there were more people to be whispering, and it turned to a dull roar.
Nothing, however, could compare to the looks on Harry and Ron's faces when they walked into the room. She knew this was probably one of the last things they were expecting, but they didn't have to look dumbfounded like trolls. It wasn't as though she DIDN'T know that her hair was green.
"What did you -" Ron began, but Harry elbowed him and he stopped. Hermione did know whether Harry didn't want Ron to talk to her at all, or if he was trying to stop Ron from being rude and embarrassing her more than she was right now.
She ignored everyone, which was an amazing feat, and managed to ignore the looks that Professor Flitwick kept giving her whenever she answered a question. Charms class today was the worse Charms class she had ever taken, and she hoped that it wouldn't get worse from here.
When class was over, she was the first person out of the door and she hurried to the bathroom to try to but a glamour on herself to make her hair and feet appear to be different, but nothing worked. Apparently, Professor McGonagall had thought of this too, because the spells bounced right off.
"Auuugh." Hermione groaned and she was left to stomp out of the bathroom, angrier than she had been five minutes before. Didn't Professor McGonagall realize how horrible she was making this for her? She was going around, looking like a FREAK and everyone was pointing and laughing at her. It wasn't like she didn't know she didn't look normal today, so she saw no reason for them to have to point it out to her.
Grumbling, Hermione walked toward the Potions class. This was the class that she was dreading the most. She was sure that Professor Snape would make some comment about her hair and then she would endure rude comments from Slytherins to top off the worst morning in the world, but her mood lifted when she realized that Malfoy was still cursed too. Perhaps they would make fun of him too. That would make it more bearable.
Almost smiling, Hermione walked into the Potions class, and everyone was staring at her, which meant Malfoy wasn't here yet.
Hermione smiled and waved to them while everyone continued staring at her, apparently at a major loss for words, but Crabbe and Goyle looked like they were in their habitat. They always looked stupid and dumbfounded.
Hermione was on the verge of exploding in a Slytherin's face when Malfoy walked in, and their attention turned to him. Apparently it was worse to see a Slytherin in red than a Gryffindor in green.
Hermione almost felt sorry for Malfoy, because people seemed to be on the verge of pelting him with sparks and hitting him with tight fists. He looked like he was in a horrible position, and she almost felt like telling them that it wasn't his fault that he was red, but then she stopped. She was enjoying seeing him suffer the same treatment that he had given her for years and she had no doubt that he fully deserved every last insult and spark he was getting, so she satisfied herself by watching him being taunted and insulted by people that used to respect him with fear.
Professor Snape swept into the dungeon, took one swift glance at Hermione and Malfoy, and turned to begin addressing the class. While the class awaited his words, nothing came from his mouth. He was gaping at Hermione and Malfoy, as though, for once in his life, at a loss for words.
Hermione smiled angelically at him, knowing the thoughts that were going through his head, because she herself had thought them when she saw what she and Malfoy currently, and for evermore would, look like.
It seemed to be worse to look at Malfoy, because she had managed to hide her humongous feet from view, so all that could be seen was her hair, and that was nothing compared to what Malfoy was suffering, not that she cared.
Malfoy had his teeth, hair and eyes to be laughed at for, and Hermione was sure that she could get used to green hair. After all, it didn't matter if it was green or not because it was straight, and she didn't have to worry about how she brushed it, because with her wavy curls she would have to brush it carefully, or suffer looking like dynamite had exploded on her head, and she didn't need that.
For the first time in Potions class, Snape made fun of Malfoy, and didn't give him full credit. But even more surprising that that was that Snape didn't have his usual stupid smirk on his face, and Professor Snape appeared to be almost smiling, as though even he couldn't keep his amusement inside.
But most surprising was that Malfoy seemed to be resigned to being laughed at, and he didn't say anything or make any move to stop the stem of insults and nasty comments being pelted at him, and Hermione felt quite satisfied that he was now on the receiving end of the insults, because, in her mind, he totally and completely deserved every nasty thing said to him.
"Mr. Malfoyetta," Snape said in his usual cool tones, but even so, his words of which caused an immediate uproar from both the group Slytherins and the majority of the Gryffindors. It seemed that this comment was or was close to something that everyone had wanted to say, and there was no denying it. With his hair curly, Malfoy looked, quite awkwardly, like a girl.
"Please tell me the properties of. . . the curled moon spike. . ." Again, the rest of Professor Snape's words were drowned out by laughter that exploded inside of the dungeon. Even Harry and Ron were in such a good mood that they spoke to Hermione, and she felt a rush of sadness come back to her.
She really missed Ron and Harry.
Pushing this to the back of her mind, Hermione turned to her potion, which she had to concentrate on more than usual because of occasional comments directed toward Malfoy and she almost added the wrong ingredient when Pansy asked Malfoy whether he wanted her to do his nails that night in pink or purple.
Shaking her head and thinking that she had gotten the better end of the deal, Hermione continued her potion, all the time thinking that there were only five more lessons until she could hide in her bed and forget everything for the glorious hours while she slept.
~+~
Unfortunately for Hermione, sleep would not be the glorious time of rest that she had wanted, because Malfoy cornered her in the room that night while everyone else was at dinner. He looked angrier than she had even seen him, and she realized that she had only seen him angry once, other than that he never showed his emotion.
Hermione's thoughts evaporated from her mind, because every thing was focused on the towering figure in front of her and she was sure that she could see steam issuing from his ears and mouth. He was glaring at her with such vehement that she was surprised that she wasn't dead.
"Do you have ANY idea how much hell you've made today for me?" He asked her, and she had to strain to listen, because he was whispering in a deadly whisper as though the quieter he spoke, the angrier he was.
"Yeah, I have a pretty good idea." Hermione said coolly as she continued folding random items of clothing and blankets that had seemed to have exploded that morning in her anger.
"You have NO idea. I used to be respected." Malfoy told her, and his voice dropped another decibel so that it was almost inaudible.
"No, people used to be scared of you, now they laugh at you, because you look like a clown." Hermione said, and she still didn't even bother to look at him while she was folding her clothes.
"Today has been living hell for ME." He said, and he put great emphasis on "me", which made Hermione throw down the shirt she had been folding, stand up, and glare directly at him.
"Today hasn't exactly been a walk in the park for me," she said then she added, "Malfoy." She spat his name as an after thought, shoved some of his clothes that had also exploded into her space into his arms and sat back down to continue cleaning her space as best as she could.
She didn't even want to know how his clothes had gotten to the other end of the room, because she was sure it had something to do with throwing things at Pansy, which she highly supported.
"I should have cursed you worse. Believe me, I would have if I knew you were going to be STUCK with the curses." Malfoy told her, and she almost didn't hear him.
"Don't think I gave you my worst." Hermione said simply, and she didn't bother to look at his reaction. She already knew that he would have his smirk plastered across his face and any second now he was going to say something about her being a mudblood and not deserving to be here.
To her surprise, he said nothing, but simply turned back to his bed and threw the shirts on his bed.
Next time I'll hex him, Hermione thought as he set fire to the shirts she had folded for him. I'll hex him until he dies. She thought as she glared angrily at him, wondering how he could stand to be so rude all the time.
~+~
A/N: Stay tuned (that was corny) for the next chapter.
--Saquoia--