The Axe Effect
By: VoldemortsIllegitimateChild
Chapter Three: Those Greasy Slytherins
A/N: Okay, Voldie up and disappeared last year, okay? Oh, and, for the purposes of this story, they have an en suite bathroom.
~*~
Hermione and Blaise were together in the library, working on the project, which they had been doing for nearly an hour. Blaise leaned back in his chair, and grinned at Hermione. He tipped back dangerously. "Come on, let's take a break," he suggested, reminding Hermione forcefully of Ron.
"We still have another chapter to look over," she said, shaking her head.
"Is this how you are all the time?" Blaise asked. "How do you keep managing to save the world if you're always studying?"
"It's my studying that let's us save the world," she responded.
"Like how?" Blaise propped his head on his hand, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair, the picture of interest.
"In first year, Harry and Ron managed to get themselves wrapped up in Devil's Snare. And I had to get them our. Or, in second year, I had the piece of paper in my hand, the one that talked about the Basilisk."
Blaise raised his eyebrows at the mention of the Giant Serpent. Like most other students that were at Hogwarts at the time, he had been told only the bare minimum about the Chamber of Secrets, that Harry and Ron went in and saved the girl (her name had never been given; it was top secret). "There was a Basilisk?" he asked.
Hermione explained all that had happened. Blaise was surprised. "So, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was born Tom Riddle?" The name clicked something in his head, and he thought hard. "My grandfather knew him. They were the best of friends, he was telling me about him. He was an orphan, and my grandfather always wanted his parents to adopt him. My grandfather was nearly You-Know-Who's brother!"
"Don't call him You-Know-Who, Blaise. It's stupid. It's proving that you're scared of him, that he has a hold over you," Hermione said, tucking her hair behind her ear, and self consciously smoothing her ponytail.
"I suppose," Blaise said, his gaze focusing on the window facing the lake, the trees blowing slightly in the wind. "It's hard, though. He had the whole world in the palm of his hand, and he crushed it. Until Potter came along."
Hermione thought back to the night she helped save the world. She had been more terrified then, then she had in her entire life. And, with each year that passed, something new, and more frightening happened. But Harry always overcame it.
Blaise smiled at her. "Come on, let's take a walk." He grabbed her hand and led her away from the table. She tried to protest, but Blaise was holding her hand, his skin soft, his blue eyes bright, and he smelled like mint. She couldn't resist…who could?
She floated back to the common room an hour later. She sat down on the couch next to Harry and smiled brightly. There was a glow about her, and, unless Harry's ears were deceiving him, she was humming.
"Someone had a good day," he observed, his green eyes looking down at the (rather short) girl next to him.
"I did. You know, I always thought working with Blaise would be like working with Malfoy, you know?"
Harry thought about this, and realized he would have assumed the same thing. This was odd, because he had never spoken to Blaise, as far as he knew.
"He's not?' he asked.
"No, not at all. He's actually smart! I think I expected him to be stupid, which is odd, because he is in an advanced class with me. And he's nice, too. I figured he would be a typical Slytherin, and call me a Mudblood, but he didn't, not even close." Harry's eyes flashed. He almost wished Blaise had called Hermione a Mudblood. Then Hermione would hate him, and Ron could team up with him and beat Blaise up.
Hermione continued, not noticing the look on Harry's face. "He's fun. After we'd been working for a while, he took me outside for a walk, and I had the best time. It's been so long since I just left my books behind and had a good time."
"Yeah," Harry said uncomfortably. "Ron and I always do stuff, Hermione. How come you never come with us?"
Hermione considered this. "I don't know. There's just something about Blaise. It's something different, a quality about him. You know?"
"No," Harry said flatly.
Hermione laughed a little bit and stood up. "I'm going up to the dorms. Crookshanks has a slight cold, I think, and I want to check on him."
Harry nodded. He watched her disappear upstairs and began to bang his head on the armrest of the couch. "Stupid Blaise, so smart, so special, so SEXY!" he accidentally yelled the last part out, and felt heat rising on his face as the whole Common Room turned to look at him. "Uh…hello," he said, waving at them all. He could hear the rumors starting now. The Boy Who Loved Other Boys- it would be around the whole school in an hour. He hoped Hermione, who tried to avoid petty gossip whenever possible, would not here about this.
Hermione had lied to Harry. Crookshanks didn't have a cold; on the contrary, he was walking around her legs, purring happily. Hermione was upstairs, writing in her diary…journal.
Dear Journal,
I just spent a few hours with Blaise. At first we were working on our project, but then we started talking. About the Chamber of Secrets, of all things, and he took me outside for a walk. And so we went. And I had a good time. A really and truly good time. Blaise was intelligent, funny, charming, and sweet- the kind of guy every girl wants. And he was spending time with…me! It's nice to know there's one guy in this school who knows I'm more than a busy-haired, know-it-all.
I thought Harry knew it too. All year, I hoped he would see me as something more, something better then I was. I was falling for him, fast and hard, like a bowling ball thrown of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Harry was always Mr. Perfect…perfect for me, I thought. But now I don't know. It's strange that I like two boys now, when I went for a long time (five years longer than Parvati and Lavender) before I felt something for anyone…that was Ron, in sixth year.
Speaking of Ron, he has a date on Saturday, with Lavender. I was treated to a play-by-play before I sat down next to Harry. It was both amusing and annoying, but I have a bad feeling about it. Something's going to go very wrong on this date, I can tell. I have good intuitions.
At that moment, Ron Weasley was also thinking about the Date on Saturday. He was looking through his wardrobes (and Harry's, Seamus's, and Dean's) trying to find something to wear. He caught sight of his face in the bathroom mirror through the open door and rushed over to it.
Bathroom mirrors were so much more unforgiving than any other one. They were smaller and closer to your face and made everything that looked right elsewhere completely wrong. According to the mirror, the spiked hair he sported was flopping down, his eyes were a dull, nasty shade of brown, and his freckles spelled out LOSER in gigantic letters.
"Oh, bloody hell!" he moaned.
"What's a matter?" Seamus asked, coming in with Dean.
"I have a date on Saturday and I look like…like a FREAK!" Ron said, still gazing wildly at the mirror.
"No you don't," Dean said, though his voice was covered by Seamus's (very surprised) "You have a date?"
Ron felt a stupid grin make its way across his face. "With Lavender."
Dean let out a hoot. "Impressive, mate!"
Ron turned from the mirror. "She asked me out!"
"No, really," Seamus said, completely disbelieving his friend.
"She said, direct quote: 'Are you going to ask me to Hogsmeade or not?'"
"When did she ask you out?" Dean asked, appearing to be thinking hard.
"After Quidditch practice," Ron answered.
"When you were sweaty, dirty, and tired?" Seamus asked.
"Yeah, and muddy," Ron replied.
"She wanted to date you then, mate, you can't be worse then you are now," Seamus reassured his friend.
"Yeah, you're right," Ron said, relaxing. Then he straightened up again. "I still don't know what to where!"
~*~
Ginny was feeling very unhappy. She was in detention. She would be for…until she learned how to make an antidote to the potion, which could be a long time. She had to spend this time with Malfoy. The one good thing was this: she learned the Axe Effect worked through the nose, and she had stopped hers up.
Draco looked at his very expensive silver watch. "Come on, Weasley. I know you don't have a life, but I have a date tonight."
"Go to hell, Malfoy," Ginny murmured under her breath.
"What's that?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," Ginny sighed, pulling a large book from the shelf.
"Of course you'd pick the heavy one. Best friends with Granger, the resident know-it-all Mud-" Draco stopped talking and stared down the wand, slightly shaking in Ginny's trembling hand.
"If you say it, Malfoy, I will jam this so far up your arse it'll come out of your nose," Ginny hissed.
"Calm down, before I take points for threatening a prefect," Draco said, fiddling with his tie, something his father would not have stood for. Malfoys did not … fiddle.
Ginny flopped down, muttering to herself. "Ooh, Malfoy has a date. I hope she doesn't regain her eyesight before he picks her up, or she'll go screaming in the other direction."
"I heard that Weasley," Draco said. "At least I can get a date. You couldn't get one without paying for it, and you're too poor for that, so it looks like your out of luck, doesn't it?"
Ginny tossed her hair behind her shoulder. She used her free hand to flip Malfoy off. "Hell's waiting, Malfoy. Don't stand them up."
Draco pulled out his journal and began to write.
Dear Journal,
I'm stuck in detention with the Weasel. She's being even more irritable then she used to be, but even that's and improvement on her scurrying mouse act. That's the way she acted when Father tried to kill her. I think it'd make me nervous if she acted like that again.
Pansy is stalking me again. When will that girl learn? I, nor any other male in the universe, will ever feel romantically inclined to her. I do wish she would stop trying, as it's giving me a headache. Perhaps I'll leave this open fore her to read, and then she'll leave me alone.
I'm tired. As you very well know, I haven't slept well at all. Father keeps talking of the initiation this summer. I want this school year to go on forever.
And so I remain,
Draco Augustus Malfoy
Ginny watched Draco as he wrote. His eyelids began to droop, and his head dropped back. His hair fell from his face. He looked younger then, and more innocent. Ginny watched him for a moment or two, forgetting herself. He looked so different then he did awake. There was no sneer, no cold, malicious grey that had the potential to be even more mesmerizing then Harry's. He was completely real then, totally unmasked and naked to the world.
Behind her, a large book was dropped by a small first year. The large boom noise it produced brought her back to life and woke Malfoy up. She did not think he was cute…or innocent, or anything else unless it was negative.
She checked her walk, feeling sorry for herself because it was more masculine than Malfoy's, and found she could go. And so she left, and made her way to the dorms. On the way, though, she realized she was hungry. She made a left, and walked until she reached the kitchens.
She was happily eating some pastries when the portrait swung in. She stopped mid-bite, fearing it was a teacher. She knew she must look faintly ridiculous, an éclair sticking out of her mouth, and chocolate on her nose. Someone stepped in, and Ginny's eyes widened in surprise.
~*~
That's all, folks! Only three people reviewed the last chapter, which made me sad, so you deserve the overly long wait! Hah! Actually, it will probably be a while for the next chapter too, so yeah. What's with me having a life?
Ohepelss Oramtnci: You and your name. ::Sticks out tongue:: Thanks!
Kitty Felton: None of my guy friends smell good…but they do have hot friends, who have girlfriends. Why??!! Um…anyway, LOL chokes on a jellybean reminds me of 3 Ninjas. We see some more Ron-ness in this chapter.
Asia: D/G kicks royal monkey ass!
Kristal Scarlett Sparkling: Thanks! I never tire of compliments.
So…30 reviews for chapter four isn't too much to ask is it? It's only seven.