Hermione lay down on the bed with her eyes closed, replaying her duel with Malfoy over in her head. She had beaten him fair and square, and in more ways then one. Malfoy had come out of it bleeding in many places and his fair skin mottled with purple bruises.
Sure, Hermione had come out with was a concussion and a massive bruise on her chest from where the spell had hit her. But she was quite pleased about her defeat, especially because it was in front of the seventh year Slytherin students.
Hermione heard the door to the Hospital Wing open, and opened her eyes to see Harry and Ron making their way over to her. She smiled and sat up to greet them. They both returned her smile and in turn, gave her a hug.
"How are you feeling?" Ron asked her.
"Fine. But Madam Pomfrey won't let me go. She says I might have a concussion or something." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Now I have to stay the night here with that." She gestured over to Malfoy ungraciously, who appeared to be sleeping on the bed opposite her.
"Are you serious?" Harry asked, looking slightly shocked. Hermione nodded at him. "That's too bad." He conceded, patting her arm in mock pity.
"Harry! It's not going to fun, so please don't patronize me."
Ron sat down on the edge of Hermione's bed. "Maybe he'll sleep the whole time, so you wont have to bother with him any-way." he reasoned.
"I doubt it. Knowing my luck, the tonic he had to drink probably has mood swings as a side effect. That will be catastrophic in his case. I'll be ducking for shelter the whole night."
Harry and Ron smiled. "Yeah, but you still have your wand," Harry told her. "So you can probably scare him off by challenging him to another duel." He paused, then looked at her as if he had remembered something. "By the way, the Dark Arts class was talking about your win over Malfoy the entire session. And let me tell you, that really pissed Snape up the wall."
"Great." Hermione groaned sarcastically. "Now the detention I'm going to get will be as 'creative' as he can manage. I hope he doesn't make me do the detention with Malfoy. That would be worse then any-thing Snape can think of." She glanced over at Malfoy and groaned again.
"Hermione, don't worry. Dumbledore will make sure Snape doesn't make you do anything dangerous."
Hermione and her two best friends talked for another half-hour or so, then they had to get going or else they'd miss dinner.
"We'll come back tomorrow morning before classes." Ron promised.
"Yeah, have fun Hermione." Harry said, grinning.
"Bound to." Hermione said unenthusiastically.
The boys closed the door behind them and Hermione lay back down on the hospital bed and stared at the ceiling in boredom.
"You don't want to spend the night with me, Granger?"
Hermione shifted her gaze to Malfoy who was now wide-awake and staring at her with a sly gaze.
"Eaves dropping, Malfoy?" Hermione asked him disgustedly. "I thought that would be below you. And no, I most certainly don't want to be stuck the night in here with you, no matter how asleep I am going to be."
Malfoy smirked. "Sure. I believe you."
Hermione frowned at him. Then turned her head quickly, as the door burst open. It was Professor Snape.
"I see you two made it here without setting your wands on each other again." He observed.
"I barely resisted the urge to curse him." Hermione muttered.
"What was that, Miss Granger?" Snape demanded sharply.
"Nothing." She replied.
"Good. Now I have given some thought to your detentions, and I think I have come up with a suitable punishment." He then smiled at them and Hermione and Malfoy both groaned, thinking about how bad it must be to make Snape smile so happily.
"You will complete the detention together, it-"
"What?" Hermione gasped.
"No!" Malfoy shouted. "You can't make us Professor!"
"I can and I will." Snape said sternly. "Now listen and do not interrupt me. You will complete the detention together; it will be on Thursday night after dinner. That gives you two full days to recover from your injuries. You will both go into the Forbidden Forest and collect bark from the Glowing Oak trees for the Potion storeroom."
"But they only grow where the sun can never be seen." Hermione objected.
"I know. You'll be gone most of the night because they grow in the very heart of the Forrest." Snape looked at the both of them with an icy glare. "I will allow you to take your wands with you for protection, but if either of you dare use them on each other you'll have me to deal with. Understand?"
They both nodded mutely.
"Good." Snape turned on his heal and swept quickly out of the room.
Hermione slept fitfully most of the night, thinking about her upcoming detention. She made a deal with herself that if Malfoy tried to curse her while they were in the Forrest, she would curse him back, no matter how mad Snape would get.
When she awoke from a light doze around midmorning, Malfoy was snoring slightly on the bed next to her. She rolled her eyes as she lifted the covers off her and pulled her shoes on.
She walked over to Madam Pomfrey's office and knocked softly on the door. It was opened after a few seconds.
"Ah, you're up now." Madam Pomfrey observed. She examined the bump on Hermione's head, then looked at her cuts and bruises but seemed grudgingly satisfied. "Fine. You can go, but I don't want this to happen again. Not soon any-way." She said with a small smile, then turned back into her office and closed the door behind her.
Hermione grabbed her cloak and quietly left the room.
She walked to the Gryffindor Common Room, and up to her dorm. Once she had collected clean clothing Hermione went and had a shower. She returned to her room and quickly did her hair and brushed her teeth.
She then grabbed her books and ran to Herbology to tell Harry and Ron about her detention.