Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling. I only own the plot!
A/N: Yeah, another update smiles. Thanks to all of my reviewers, I really enjoyed reading your opinions on the whole 'property' thing.
Okay, this fic is nearly at the end. There will only be two or three chapters left.
Chapter 12 – You owe me
She walked down the grey stairs, walking to the Great Hall alone. She had woken up a lot earlier than Lavender and Parvati, so she couldn't see why she should hang around and wait for them.
It wasn't like anybody could really do anything to her. Because four days ago, she had been stupid enough to accept a gift (if you could call it that) from Draco Malfoy, and now she walked around with a bracelet that was saying, 'property of Draco Malfoy'.
Although she hated the bracelet, it had given her some sort of immunity. Nobody dared to do anything, accept those among the Slytherin's that had a special permission from Malfoy to make her life a living hell. And those people would of course be Potter, Weasley and the asshole himself.
Actually, when she first had gotten it, she thought that it would be able to get rid of Weasley and Potter, but they could -unfortunately- still mock her. She couldn't see how it would 'help', because it had always been the amazing (cough NOT cough) Slytherin trio that mocked her everyday. Yes, and they were still able to do it. She really needed to tell Mr. Blondie that!
She looked at the not so beautiful bracelet anymore. At first she had thought it was amazing, the way it was simple, yet looking very expensive. Not that she was a very material girl, or anything like that. But someway it was nice to get something really expensive you could show your friends (Lavender and perhaps Parvati?) and say, 'Look what my boyfriend gave me!' She would never get a chance to say that, because; first, Malfoy was not her boyfriend, and she doubted that she would ever get one as long as she walked around with this stupid bracelet. And second, she would never show anyone this bracelet of her own will, simple as that.
She had yet to find a way to get it off, but right now that was the least of her problems.
The date was today! She still hadn't found anything to wear, although Lavender had made her try hundreds of different outfits in the last three days.
She walked down the last stair, the one leading to the main hall. The hall was empty, and she kind of hoped that the Great hall would be empty as well.
Since she had gotten that stupid bracelet, people would glare at her, hoping that they would get a look of the famous bracelet. Why say famous? Well, it was famous because Weasley bragged about it. He had found the whole idea quite amusing and had therefore told everybody, who would listen to him, about it.
She entered the Great Hall, and looked around for an empty seat; the hall was empty which meant that she had the whole hall for herself. She silently thanked God for that.
She quickly ate her breakfast, and decided to go to the library before first class. She still had nearly two hours, and she intended to go look for a solution for her problem.
She entered the library, and was about to greet Madame Pince, but she was no where to be found. She shrugged, and walked to the row with curses.
She scanned the books, and stopped when her eyes landed on 'Minor Curses against Others'. She took it down, and looked in the register. She almost jumped with joy when she saw that there was a section in the book with property spells and how to get rid of them.
She opened the books, and started to read. She had now read for nearly one hour, and still hadn't found what she was looking for. She decided to try the counter spells incase she had missed something in the books, but was furious when none of the counter curses would work. What could it be if it wasn't among those spells?
"Miss Granger?" asked a concerned voice. Hermione turned around and came face to face with Madame Pince. "Is everything alright dear?" Hermione thought about telling the librarian, but then she looked at the clock on the wall. Shit! She had five minutes to get to History of Magic! Had she really used two hours in the library?
"Everything is alright Madame Pince. Have to go, or I'll be late for class," said Hermione and quickly ran to the row where she had found the book. She placed it carefully at its rightful place, and walked as fast as she could out of the library.
She reached the classroom just in time, before Professor Binns would close the door. She slipped inside, and found a seat in the back.
'Thank God there are no Slytherin's here,' she thought, and tried to picture Malfoy's look, when she finally did manage to get rid of that bracelet.
"Today we will be talking about the wizard community during the 1780's..." Hermione tuned the rest of the Professor's lecture out. She had read about that once, so she knew everything there was to know about it. She sighed, and looked out of the window instead.
'I don't get it... If it's not among those curse in the book, where can I find it then?' she though about that, but couldn't figure out how. She was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn't heard the school bell ring, so she yelped when Lavender nudged her side, breaking her trails of thoughts.
She heard some giggling, and rolled her eyes of the horrible noise. Why was it that when a girl saw boy she found attractive, she would giggle? Hermione had for sure never done a thing like that, and she detested those who did it.
"Hi Draco," said a girl, and giggled.
Hermione ducked behind her chair, hoping they would walk away.
'Why are they out in the corridor?' she thought, and tried to crawl to the corner, where she knew she couldn't be seen if they just lazily looked inside the classroom.
'Almost there...'
"Hermione is still inside."
Damn Lavender! Why did she have to tell Malfoy where she was? Hermione, who had just begun to crawl from behind the table, when Lavender had spoken, tried to find a new hiding place. She would never make it to the corner.
"Looking for something?" asked a drawling voice, and Hermione let go of the breath she hadn't known she had held. She looked up, still on all four, and and met Draco Malfoy's grayish eyes, who in turn looked rather amused of this whole situation. She had a slight feeling that he knew her intension, which only made it worse.
'Keep it cool,' she thought and smirked at the sudden idea that formed inside her head. She looked over his shoulder, and saw that neither Potter nor Weasley was standing outside in the corridor, which meant they were alone.
"Oh, I lost the bracelet, so I was just..."
"What are you talking about Granger?" asked Malfoy, and gave her a funny, perhaps a bit scared look? He yanked her up, causing her to yelp at the sudden movement. He rolled her sleeve up, and studied the bracelet, which was still placed tightly around her wrist.
"Oh... There it is!" she exclaimed, and hugged him and then proceeded to give him a somewhat sheepish smile. She even dared to give him a small peck on his cheek. "You know, I'm so happy you gave me this bracelet! I just simply adore it!"
'Okay, perhaps I should cut down a bit on the acting.' He looked confused.
"You do...? Well, of course you do! That's why I gave it to you!" he smirked, satisfied. Oh, she couldn't wait until that day she could burst his ego.
"There is just one thing though," she said, and tried to look as if she really did love the gift from him, although inside she was starting to get sick of the sight of it – and him.
"Oh? And what, pray tell is that?" he chuckled, and she took it as a good sign.
"I think that both Weasley and Potter believe that their names are on the bracelet too..." she said, and noticed his jaw tighten. "Yesterday, Weasley nearly attacked me in my own dorm room, saying that I would be his soon..." she looked at him with big brown eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible. It wasn't like she had lied or anything. Every single thing she had told him was true, in some way. She had just... slightly exaggerated.
"Oh really?" he sneered. He was mad now. The anger was visible in his eyes, and she couldn't help but feeling a bit sorry for Weasley... or maybe not. She looked forward to both see and hear Weasley being yelled at.
She gave her self a mental congrats slap on the shoulder, happy that she had got it right. She had had a slight feeling that Malfoy was very possessive, and she had been right. Now, if she played her cards right, she wouldn't be troubled more by Potter and Weasley... or at least Weasley.
He kissed her on the cheek, and she caught herself blushing at this act. He smirked, and she bowed her head, trying to hide the blush. He strolled out of the classroom, and she felt weird. It almost seemed innocent when he had kissed her on the cheek, like he really cared for her. But he didn't, he just thought of her as a property, and the bracelet was a visible evidence of that.
She walked the way to her next lesson, but the rest of the day seemed like a blur. She didn't really listened to what the teachers said, and she even forgot to go to lunch. Why had his simple kiss on the cheek affected her so much?
'What is wrong with me? I'm supposed to hate him! Not think he's cute when he's angry, and not think he was adorable when he kissed my cheek... I'm totally losing it!' she thought.
She walked from her last class, muggle studies, to her dorm room. It was soon dinner, and she needed to unload all her books, and perhaps freshen up a bit. The common room was one big chaos when she reached it. The young ones played games, lying on the carpets. The older ones had conquered all the chairs, and were deeply involved in some sort of discussion. They all looked up when she entered, and everybody stopped talking. Even the little ones stopped playing, and looked at her.
'That was odd,' she thought, and continued walking upstairs. She heard that they had begun talking again, but the voices were nothing more than whispers. Was something going on, that she could know about?
She opened the door, and nearly had a heart attack. All her clothes were sprawled out on the floor and her bed. Lavender and Parvati were rushing around the room; none of them noticed she had entered.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and that made the other girls stop up, and look at her.
"Oh, hi, I didn't know you would be here that early," answered Lavender, and rushed to Hermione's side.
"Close the door!"
Hermione closed the door just like Parvati had told her to, and she walked to her bed and found an empty spot where she could sit. She looked at them, waiting for why they were messing up the room, and why her clothes were all over the room.
"You're probably wondering why your clothes are lying everywhere, right?" asked Parvati, and Hermione nodded.
"Well, Draco told us to help you get ready, so we were just looking through your clothes, trying to find something you can wear later."
"I can dress my self perfectly without help. I'm not three years old!" Hermione pouted, and crossed her arms across her chest. That was just a typical thing for Malfoy to do! As if she didn't knew how to dress nice herself!
"We know Mione, but Draco..."
"I don't care what he says!" yelled Hermione, and looked at Lavender who looked like she would start crying.
"Don't you want him to think you're beautiful? Don't you want him to desire you?" asked Parvati.
"But... Okay, you can help, but don't pick anything to revealing..." she sighed.
Minutes past, and none of them said anything. Parvati and Lavender was running around the room, trying to pair every single shirt and skirt together, to see which one fit best.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting in the room, just watching the door. She thought about what had happened downstairs, and why they acted the way they did.
"Parvati..." she turned to the girl, who stopped up, "Why do I have a feeling that they were talking about me down in the common room?"
"Because they were talking about you, and they have been talking about you the last couple of days..."
"Oh? Really?" Hermione stared at the other girl, stunned of the answer. That wasn't exactly what she had thought she would hear. She would have guess Parvati would just had said she was paranoid or something like that, but she had agreed with her, they were talking about her.
"Some of them don't like the idea of you being the one Draco wants. And then there is some who think you're a traitor, fraternizing with the enemy..."
"What!" She nearly fell off the bed when she heard the last one. A traitor? It was a joke, right? It had to be!
"Yeah, well. Don't worry about it. Draco knows, and he says he'll take care of it."
Wait, would he take care of it? Could it be possible that he really did care about her – in his own sick kind of way? She felt herself blushing at the mere thought of Dra-Malfoy actually liking her.
"Okay, we have found the outfit! Now, lets go down to dinner, I'm so hungry," said Lavender, and rubbed her stomach. Hermione giggled and followed the other two out of the room.
They talked about the date she would have later, but she waved it off. She didn't want to think about it right now. She tried to change the subject, but neither Parvati nor Lavender wanted to do that, so she tuned them out, trying to clear her mind. She suddenly remembered that little thing with Weasley, and she started to walk faster.
They entered the hall, and a few people looked up, other was just sneaking glances of them, and then there was some who didn't care about it. But all of them were talking about Draco, and apparently her too; at least she thought that was why some of the girls shot angry glances their way.
She noticed that the Slytherin trio hadn't arrived yet... Not that she was looking! Okay, maybe she looked just one second towards the Slytherin table, but only to see what had happened to Weasley. She couldn't wait to see it.
As on cue, the Slytherin trio walked inside the hall, Malfoy and Potter walking in front, and Weasley walking behind them with a huge black eye.
'Suits him...' she thought, and couldn't help but smirk.
Potter and Weasley continued towards their house table, but Malfoy suddenly stopped up, and then change his direction – towards her.
"Hello Granger, as you can see I've taken care of the problem," he said, and smirked. "So, I think that you owe me..."
"What did you have in mind?" she whispered, hoping no one could hear their conversation.
"Oh, you'll find out tonight exactly what I had in mind... See you later, Mudblood."
Hermione flinched when he used the foul word, but nodded nevertheless. Now she was certain... She would not meet him! She would just let him think she would come.
"Oh yeah, just for your information... If you're planning on not showing up, I know the password to your common room AND I know how to visit the girls' dorms. Meaning that I will come and get you, and I will find you!" he sneered, and she looked at him with widen eyes.
'Shit!'
A/N: So, did you like it? Hate it? Review and let me know! I know that the chapter was not that long, but I promise that the next one(s) will. Oh yeah... Only leave your email address (if you don't have a profile on) if you want to receive an update-mail, every time I update. I think that is all. Review!
Next chapter: The Date!
And thanks to Cleopatra22 and EuphoniumGurl0 for helping me with my grammar and spelling!