Pure Happiness
Chapter 7-
The Library Meeting
The following evening had Draco's nerves frazzled. He wanted nothing to do with that… girl, and yet he had to spend a few hours with her that night. She was an annoying, stuck-up, beaver-faced Mudblood who knew exactly how to piss him off. The only reason he was doing this civilly, and he told all of his fellow Slytherins this, was for two reasons. First, he had promised his father that he'd be the top student of the year, and second, he wanted to support the Slytherin decision to "get" all Gryffindorks.
Draco did the one thing he could think of… he went to go find Pansy. She'd know what to do. She was a female… and Draco had no idea what when through that… species' minds. He rushed down the steps from his dormitory and into the common room. He darted to the other staircase, and yelled,
"Pansy! Pansy! I'd like a word with you!" He waited and saw a pug face sticking around the wall at the top of the staircase.
"What?" Pansy hissed. "I'm busy!" Draco narrowed his eyes and motioned for her to come down. Pansy growled, but trudged down the wooden steps, clad in a pink fuzzy bathrobe and curlers. Draco, at the sight of her, snorted loudly, which evolved into a series of uncontrolled giggles. Pansy went red.
"Merlin, Parkinson- haha- you're wear- giggle- pink- snort- fuzzy- hahahahaha!" Draco laughed. Pansy sneered at him.
"Oh, do shut up, Malfoy," she spat. "I just got out of the shower and I had nothing to put on. Luckily, Millicent had a spare bathrobe her grandmother got her when she was at her house on holiday." Pansy tugged at the tie holding it together angrily. "Now, what the bloody hell do you want?" Draco shut up, remembering his problem.
"Ah… yes," he sighed. "Pansy, I need your help." Pansy narrowed her eyes. She strutted over to one of the emerald armchairs and sunk down in one.
"Girl troubles?" she smirked. "Didn't think you'd come to your ex-girlfriend for help like that!" Draco's cheeks tinged pink.
"Don't be daft, Parkinson," he sneered. "Tonight's the meeting with Granger, and I don't know what to do!"
"It's simple, Malfoy," she stated, still smirking. "All you have to do is…."
Hermione sat at a hard wooden table in the library. She was surrounded by a great number of thick, dusty volumes dealing with Potions. A stack of parchment was to her left, accompanied with four quills and two bottles of ink. Her face was set in a smug expression, showing that she was content and waiting for the Ferret- no, Malfoy to show up.
In all, Hermione was prepared. She didn't want to waste any time having a row with Malfoy. When Harry had been in the Triwizard Tournament, she'd been immensely jealous. All of the events were so interesting to her, and she had been quite angry at Harry for not being prepared properly. He had beaten everyone by a hair, but Hermione wanted to crush the other opponents.
While she was thinking about the situation, she heard a thunk! across from her. She focused her eyes, and looked at Draco Malfoy slumping in his seat across from her. She grimaced at the sight of him, while he merely yawned.
"Cor, Granger," he said, putting his feet on the table, mud splattering on the clean parchment. "It looks as if you're ready to start an all-night study session!"
"Hmm," Hermione murmured. "That sounds like a good idea! We'd be, then, super-prepared for the first event!" Draco sat up straight, bringing his feet down to the floor with a thud. He narrowed his eyes knowing that she was dead serious.
"Don't get any ideas, Granger," he whispered dangerously. Hermione sighed, and picked up a novel from the top of the stack.
"Let's get working," she said. "Just take notes on anything you find interesting or useful."
"Fantastic," he mumbled sarcastically. He grabbed one of the Potions books out of the middle of a particularly large stack, and then books went toppling down on Hermione. She grunted when they hit her, and completely ruined the note she had been copying down. She looked up at her partner, who merely smirked at her.
"Nice," she murmured. She shoved the books back onto the table, and grabbed some new parchment. She started to copy a quote on Wolfsbane Potion. Draco watched her write slowly and steadily, her small cursive writing flowing across the page. For a while, he was entranced, sitting watching her write, until she stopped and turned back to the textbook. Then, he watched her face. She had the same expression as the other night, yet sometimes she bit her lip in frustration.
'She actually looks quite nice when she does that,' Draco thought. A look of horror suddenly spread across his face. 'Blast! If father ever finds out I thought that, I'll be completely shut off from the sweets mother sends!' he thought frantically. He ran a hand over his gelled hair, and immediately started reading his own textbook.
But every time he started a new paragraph, he took a glance at the studious girl sitting across from him. And it wasn't just to distract her from her work.
Hermione wasn't oblivious. She felt his stares, but never acknowledged them. She was too shy to do something like that, and she knew it. But it was getting quite uncomfortable, so she finished some un-needed notes on the Polyjuice Potion, and set the book down. She grabbed a couple of large textbooks, and trotted away from the table. Once she was out of earshot and sight, she dropped them and sighed angrily.
'Why on earth is he doing that?' she thought. 'It's so annoying! I'll never be able to finish at least five feet on the Elementary Potions for Mediwizards if he doesn't quit it.' At once many thoughts flew into her head- 'Should I say something?' was the main thought. But when that was "voiced", she shook her head fearfully, knowing she'd never have the courage to do something like that.
She growled at a nearby Transfiguration book and hit it as hard as she could. Of course, with her strength, all it did was move backwards a bit and hurt her hand. She snatched her wand out of her robes and muttered the levitation spell on the books. After every book was put away, she returned to the table where Malfoy was sitting. She coughed, and he looked up at her.
"Er…" she started. "Don't you think we'd better call it a night? I mean, I've got loads of notes down and a basic idea concerning many potions. It's not like we won't be prepared, but…" She stopped herself. She'd started rambling on again. 'Oh, bugger,' she thought. Draco slammed his book shut.
"Fine," he muttered, stretching his arms. "It's not like I need any more help. I'm Snape's favorite student, and I already get extra lessons in Potions. Of course, that option's not open to people like… you." Hermione opened her mouth in horror.
"How dare you!" she hissed. "We made a truce." She stepped up to him, her notes crumpling in her fists. "You can not call me a… a… Mudblood. It's unheard of in civil conversations…." She kept droning on, and on, and Draco was getting worried about what he had to do.
'Damn Pansy,' he thought. 'I simply can not do this!' When he found out what Pansy had told him to do, he had thrown what girls liked to call a "hissy fit". It was ludicrous, he had said. But she convinced him that it worked every time. 'Here I go!' he thought frantically.
"… honestly, I mean, stupid Slytherins…" Hermione was being bitter, he knew, but he went in for the plunge. He laid his lips on her own, and- to his utter surprise- she didn't fight back. She melted into the kiss, which was sweet and innocent, their mouths closed. Gently he held her back, and her arm dropped. He quickly grabbed the papers out of her hands, and she didn't even notice.
He broke the kiss, grabbed his bag, and left swiftly out of the library, leaving Hermione hanging onto what had just occurred for the first time in her life.
Hermione, a bit shaken, closed her eyes, and remembered what had just happened. At the moment, it had been pure bliss, seeing as it was her first kiss. But then, a wave of anger washed over her.
"Blast, blast, blast!' she thought angrily, stamping her foot on the ground. "How could I let my hormones take over me like that? I wasted my first kiss on someone completely rude!' She ran her fingers through her frizzy hair, then through her hands up in the air. Grumbling, she turned back to the table, and grabbed her bag. She stuffed her papers, quills, and ink into her bag, and raced back to the Gryffindor common room.
When she ran in, she spotted Harry and Ron sitting in front of the fireplace, playing what looked like a particularly violent game of Wizard's Chess. Just as Ron's queen was smashing one of Harry's pawns into smithereens, she slid down next to them on the floor.
"Hey, Hermione," Harry said, his eyes focused on the game. "How was the study session with the Ferret?" Hermione growled at his name, and snatched her bag off of the couch, where she had dropped it. Just as she was taking her notes out of the bag, Crookshanks laid down on her lap, curling up like a giant ball of fluff.
"I got plenty of notes done," she remarked. "But I didn't finish the notes on Elem- oh no!"
"What is it, Hermione?" Ron asked, shoving a piece of fudge that was laying nearby into his mouth. His eyes never left the board, just like Harry. They were barely paying attention to Hermione.
"Oh, cor! No, no, NO!" she screamed. "How could I have been so stupid?" She dove into her bag, throwing out books and papers. Ron glanced at her.
"What's wrong? Did you lose something? Like you're first paper with a nine out of ten?" he laughed. Hermione looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Oh, shut up, you!" she snapped, clearly distraught. Harry hit Ron's shoulder, mumbling something about how stupid that remark was.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" Harry nearly yelled. But she completely ignored him.
"It's not here!" she wailed. "And how thick could I be?" She turned to them, showing them multiple pieces of parchment that were completely blank. "I'm such an idiot! Malfoy… he… he… oh, Harry! Ron!" She threw her arms around them both, who awkwardly patted her on the back. She stood up, grabbed her bag, and ran up to her dormitory, bawling the whole way.
"Poor Hermione," Harry said, shaking his head. "I bet it was just girl problems." Ron nodded in agreement.
"Mental, that one," Ron said, while folding up the chess board. "I'm telling you…."
How was it? I know I completely botched up the ending by using that quote. But I think it's really cute. Review! And if it's not long enough… then too bad. This is as good as it's gonna get, people. Ha ha!