Pure Happiness
Chapter 5-
Unwanted Truces
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The next morning at breakfast, Dean and Seamus nudged each other when Hermione walked in. Ron noticed this, as he was sitting directly across from them. When Hermione sat down next to Ron, she tucked a strand of her frizzy hair behind one of her ears, and reached for a blueberry muffin in front of her. Seamus winked at Ron, and asked Hermione,
"So… Hermione… how were things last night?" Hermione looked up at him, her mouth full of muffin. Her cheeks were turning a bit red, but nothing major. She rolled her eyes and reached into her bag for a copy of Hogwarts, a History. "No, really Hermione," Seamus kept on. "Dean and Ron and I had an excellent time last night… we got to see a girl in her knickers! In fact, I believe you might have been there to see it…." Hermione swallowed and glared angrily at them.
"I have no idea what you're on about," she squeaked. 'Oh, bloody hell!' she thought. 'Why'd my voice suddenly get little girlish?' She felt a bit nervous, but then she regained her composure and faced the three boys with confidence in herself. Dean opened his mouth to retort to her statement, but thought better of it when Hermione pulled out her wand. "You three… if you ever mention what happened last night… you'll be… hexed into oblivion," Hermione hissed. The three boys turned pale and nodded quickly. No one liked to see her angry- oftentimes it got ugly. Hermione then shoved her book and wand into her bag, grabbed another muffin, and stalked off to find her favorite corner in the library.
"She's not even Irish and she's got the temper of one," Dean muttered. Seamus laughed and Ron scoffed. "You have to admit though… for someone like her, she does look quite nice and all that rot when she's in her undies…."
* * *
Hermione sat in the dusty scarlet chair in the Potions section in the library. She was utterly horrified... she'd never cared about her appearance before- it was obvious, due to her awfully low-maintenance hair- but suddenly she was a lot more conscious of her body. Nobody'd ever come close to seeing it before the boys did last night- she'd always made it a point to wear big t-shirts and floppy hats to beaches on holiday with her family. When she had gone to France, she'd been mortified when they'd gone to the beach and found all the women with their tops off. Even more when her mother tried to make her do the same as the French women who resembled sticks.
Although she did have to admit that the attention was somewhat flattering. For a bit she wondered what it'd be like to have a boyfriend again, one who'd hold her and kiss her and whisper sweet nothings in her ears…. 'No,' she thought suddenly, reprimanding herself. 'I really have to concentrate more on my studies… after all, it is my N.E.W.T. year! And I really want to get into training at St. Mungo's, so I better get cracking on those books!" With that, Hermione went over and retrieved many books, all entitled with something to do with the upcoming tests, and started to study some Transfiguration.
* * *
Draco rushed through the crowded hallways, eager to find a particular Mudblood. 'No," he thought after using the nickname he so dearly loved. 'I have to start being- ugh- nice to her now… for the Slytherin's sake and for my father.' He scowled at the mere thought of her, and then spotted two-thirds of his least favorite people at Hogwarts- the Poor Weasel and Stuck-Up Potty. He rubbed his temples, annoyed, and stalked after them.
"Er… Potter…" he muttered, tapping Harry on the shoulder. Harry whipped around and stared at him. "Do you happen to know where the Mud- er… Granger is?" Harry looked him up and down, scowled himself.
"Why on Earth would I tell you that, Malfoy?" he spat. "We don't want you going anywhere near her!" Malfoy closed his eyes, and then started again.
"If you didn't know, Potter, she's my partner for the upcoming tournament," Draco said slowly, as if talking to an uneducated three-year-old. "And it's not like I want to talk to her on my own account. She's got to be the filthiest person I've ever laid eyes on!" Ron turned bright red. Even the tips of his ears were red, which was a warning sign of trouble brewing.
"For that, Malfoy, we wont tell you where she is!" Ron said hotly. Both he and Harry drew their wands and pointed them at Draco's throat. "Back away now… or else," Ron said through clenched teeth now. Draco snorted quite unappealingly at him.
"Or what, Weasley?" Draco scoffed. "You'll hex me just like in second year? Because really, I'd love to see you retch up some more snails. Perhaps then you'd be able to sell them and buy yourself some decent robes!" Ron yelled out in fury, dropped his wand, and started for Draco's head. Draco was too quick for him, though, and he backed away and ran as fast as he could.
* * *
A couple minutes later, Draco stood behind a statue of Godric Gryffindor, wheezing from lack of breath. 'Damn Weasley…' he thought. 'Now, if I was a know-it-all like her, where would I be?' After a few seconds thought, he smacked his head. 'Duh…she'd be in the library!'
He rushed down to the near-empty library, and looked for a big bush of hair. After several minute's searching, he came across Hermione sitting in a scarlet chair, reading a thick textbook with her index fingers in her ears. Her eyes were skimming the pages so quickly that her eyes appeared blurred, and her mouth was forming the words she was reading faster than humanly possible. What Draco thought was most remarkable was her ability to retain the information and quote it back verbatim. It was one of the only things he admired and respected about her. Of course, he never let on about it, though. It was secret.
He slouched up to her, and muttered, "Granger?" She didn't appear to hear him. He tried again, this time a bit louder. When she still hadn't responded, he yelled quite loudly and flailed his arms all around, startling her quite a bit.
"My Lord, Malfoy…" she winced. "You didn't have to shout!" Draco rolled his eyes and pulled up a hard wooden chair. "What would you like?" Draco looked at her straight into her cinnamon eyes.
"A truce, Granger," he lied through his teeth. "Since we are partners for this… tournament, I believe we'll be spending many hours together studying. And I want to win this, Granger. More than you know. And since we are the smartest students in the school, we have a huge chance at winning. If we could only work together civilly, we'd kick everyone else's arses. Think of the opportunities this will present for you!" Hermione was taken aback for a moment.
"You're lying, Ferret," she hissed. "You want me to do all the work to make you look good." He looked at her unblinkingly. Then he scowled.
"No. I think this is a great opportunity to show our… er… skills," Draco said, nonchalantly. "If we won, we'd be hailed as the smartest students ever to attend this school! We'd go down in history." 'I'd go down in history,' he thought. 'I'm going to make you look horribly stupid!' Hermione narrowed his eyes at him.
"Are you serious? Or are you taking the mickey out of me?" she asked. "You must swear to me that you won't stab me in the back." Draco raised one of his hands, and said,
"Death Eater's honour!" When Hermione opened her mouth in horror, he laughed. "Only joking, er… Hermione. Of course I swear I won't 'stab you in the back'!" He extended his right hand to her. "Truce?" Hermione was hesitant, but finally grasped his hand in hers. She repeated to him,
"Truce." Draco smirked at her, and rushed out of the library, robes billowing behind him like his father and Professor Snape. 'I'm such a good liar!" he thought.
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I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was on holiday… ahaha. This chapter was really difficult, as I had to redo it like, three times. Oh! And a very special thanks to CaramelSweetness66, one of my top three favourite authors on this site. Check out her two amazing stories. REVIEW again! Everyone!