People have been asking: why stingy on the magic? --I don't want them to be too dependent on magic to do everything—plus, one might note that it is STILL summer vacation and they can STILL be warned/expelled from Hogwarts even though they are at the school…I got my self into a predicament here…
Sorry forgot bout this: Here's a list of all the songs/artists I've used in my story so far:
Girls Lie Too—Terri Clark
Break Away—Kelly Clarkson
Breaking the Habit—Linkin Park
Solitude—Evanescence
Anywhere—Evanescence
Perfect Day—Hoku
Tourniquet—Evanescence
Clowns—TATU
If I Ain't Got you—Alicia Keys
Tangled Up In Me—Skye Sweetnam
The Reason—Hoobastank
Mood Rings—Relient K
Don't expect any songs written by me, I write poems. Poems and songs are two VERY different things.
Also don't expect to see any poems of mine in here; it's just not appropriate/relevant to the story.
Okay, on with the story that I have no idea where I'm going with…
---
"Squeak! Squeak-squeak squeaky squeak!" The ferret scampered around the stage in alarm.
"Quack! Quack quack!" the duck did the same.
Blaise and Xavier watched in amusement.
"Well that's interesting…" Xave mused.
(-Quite)
(-Rather)
(-Very)
(-Indubitably)
The duck waddled up to the ferret, quacking at loud intervals.
"Quack quack quack!"
"Squeaky squeak squeak!"
The duck went mad. "QUACK QUACK! Quacky quack quacky quack QUACK!!!" It began chasing the ferret around the stage, snapping its beak and hissing.
"SQUEEEEEAAK!" the ferret ran. Fast little ferret. (Twitchy too, hehe, also, very flinchy)
"Should we change them back?" Blaise questioned, suppressing laughter.
"Maybe just the mudblood, I think I like Malfoy better that way…"
---
Hermione felt strange. And short. Very short. She looked around. Everything was bigger. Except that ferret, that was the same size as her.
Wait a minute, either that's one big ferret or…Hermione looked down.
"AHHH! Oh my God! I'm a duck!!" But she didn't say the words. All she heard was quacking. Malfoy was a different story.
"Ahh! Not again!!! Merlin PLEASE not again!" he was running around in panic, and Hermione could understand what he was saying.
"MALFOY! WHAT did you do to us?!"
"Me? You think I would do this to myself you retched…duck?" Malfoy stared at Hermione, and then began to laugh.
Okay, that's it. Anger boiled in Hermione so much she could have sworn her feathers were red. "MALFOY I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! Ducks EAT ferrets!"
"No they don't!" Malfoy argued.
"THEY DO NOW!" Hermione snapped at Malfoy and he took off on his quick ferret feet.
Hermione tried, very unsuccessfully I might add, to waddle after him.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Malfoy zinged around the stage, screaming his little white ferret head off.
All of a sudden Hermione was being lifted off the ground. She tried relentlessly to kick her webbed feet to be released, but Blaise held tight.
---
"Good luck with Malfoy, Xave." Blaise picked up the duck.
Xavier chased after Malfoy a bit, finally catching him and setting him on the table next to Hermione.
The duck snapped at the ferret and the ferret bared its sharp little teeth.
"Enough!" Xave said firmly.
"How are we supposed to change them back?" Blaise asked.
"Don't know, don't care."
The ferret gave an indignant little squeak, causing the duck to roll her eyes.
"What should we do mudblood?" Blaise asked the duck.
"Quack."
"Okay…any suggestions, Malfoy?"
"Squeak squeaky squeaky squeak!" the ferret yelped urgently, jumping up and down on all fours.
The duck rolled her eyes again.
---
"Why did you have to go there, Malfoy? Why do you always have to go there?"
"Shut up, mudblood, I'm trying to figure something out."
"Oh how cute…Malfoy is thinking."
"What was that big bang?"
"It had nothing to do with us, you did this to us!"
"Did not! We hit each other. And I think it did…"
Hermione snapped at Malfoy again. "Shut up, it didn't."
"Then how come we all started freaking out afterwards, mudblood?"
"What do you care…ferret."
The ferret's eyes narrowed. "I didn't hate you before. It was just…all of a sudden…I reverted."
"Yeah, Malfoy. We were all friends, then we reverted back to our old states."
"That's it!" Malfoy squeaked excitedly.
"What's it?" Hermione questioned, but Malfoy ignored her.
Instead he began to jump up on all fours, squeaking "It was Recurro! The reverting spell! You have to use Retexo!"
But Blaise and Xavier only looked at him strangely, and Hermione only rolled her eyes.
"How will that help us turn back to normal?" she asked impatiently, tapping one of her webbed feet.
"It will change our personalities, don't you get it mudblood? Someone cast Recurro so we would all go back to the way we were before we became friends!"
Hermione ignored him and began to think. "Let's see…the transformation charm should take care of it…oh but what was the spell?"
"Liturae." Malfoy answered her.
"But how do we let them know? I dropped my wand, and even if I had it, well, what would a duck do with a wand?!"
---
"We need to change them back, start thinking of spells."
"Let's go to the library." Xave suggested, picking up Hermione, who promptly snapped at him. "Watch it, mudblood; I know how to make Peking duck." The duck narrowed its eyes and hissed.
Blaise picked up the ferret Malfoy and followed Xavier to the old books.
It was at least forty minutes before Blaise found the spell they needed.
"Squeak squeak!"
"Quack…"
"Liturae!" Blaise yelled, waving his wand at them.
There were two small pops, and in a purple poof, Hermione and Malfoy were crammed on the table next to each other.
"Ouch! Get off mudblood!"
"Screw you, Malfoy; I could have snapped your fuzzy little neck if I wanted to!""Yeah, if you could've caught me! Merlin knows how you got anywhere waddling like that!" he sneered.
"Die!"
They weren't on the table anymore; Hermione had made sure of that when she tackled Malfoy.
They were now rolling around on the floor, slapping and punching and clawing and…biting…creepy.
Blaise and Xave stood watching for a moment, cheering Malfoy on to "kick her impure arse.", but pulled them apart when they realized that Hermione was in fact the one kicking arse.
"Alright that's enough." Blaise said, holding Hermione back.
She looked over to Xave, who was holding back a bloody Malfoy. Hermione felt flushed, and was drawing breath in great gasps. She touched her lip and felt it covered in warm, sticky blood.
"Sorry, I kind of…lost my mind…don't touch me chaste." Hermione ripped her arms from Blaise's grip, sulking off to a corner of her own.
"I figured out what happened. Recurro. Someone used it on us, so we would fight."
"Why?"
"It doesn't matter right now, all that matters is getting back to normal. What was that spell again Granger?"
"What's it matter Malfoy?"
"WHAT WAS THE SPELL?" he roared.
"Retexo." She stared into his cold, hard eyes and tried to suppress a shudder. She failed.
Blaise preformed the spell. Again the room spun a bit and for a moment, Hermione thought he had blinded them all. She blinked a few times and shook her head and the world came back into focus.
She looked over to Malfoy, who had just grabbed a chair to keep balance and was also shaking his head.
He looked up at her and their eyes locked, sending a pang of guilt through her for making him bleed. She apologized with her eyes and quickly looked away.
The four of them looked at each other sheepishly, apologizing silently to each other for their words and actions, as Hermione had just done.
"Who…" Hermione started.
"Or what." Malfoy added.
"How did that happen?" Blaise asked, befuddled.
"How could it happen?" Xavier posed.
"Who could've…" Hermione started again.
"What could've…" Malfoy interrupted again.
"Unsolved mystery." Blaise sighed. "There's no way to find out, is there?"
"We're going to have to, if I'm ever going to feel safe here again…" Hermione muttered.
"Oh piffle, Dumbledore's here; as long as he's here we're safe." Malfoy likes to interrupt people.
"Yeah I suppose—wait a minute…did you just like compliment Dumbledore?" Hermione plopped down in a chair, holding her head. "I'm amazed…"
"Piss off, Granger; I'm just saying…"
"That Dumbledore is useful! Which you have never admitted!"
Malfoy sighed and rubbed his temple. Please just belt up…"-Bout 2 weeks later-
"Sing something."
"I don't want to sing anything!"
"Just sing something!" Malfoy insisted. They were in his room, Hermione having followed him after he had showed her the Slytherin common room.
"If I do, will you leave me alone?"
"If I'm satisfied, yes."
Hermione sighed and walked over to the recently conjured keyboard and began to play.
After a short solo she began to sing.
I've been looking in the mirror for so long.
That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side.
Oh the little pieces falling shatter.
Shards of me,
Too sharp to put back together.
Too small to matter,
But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces.
If I try to touch her,
And I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe no more.
Malfoy was slightly taken aback at how much of herself she put into this song, obviously written after she had changed.
Malfoy realized something then. She didn't want to be like this…he thought. She doesn't like to act tough and push everyone away…she has no other choice…
Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well.
Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child.
Lie to me;
Convince me that I've been sick forever.
And all of this
Will make sense when I get better.
But I know the difference,
Between myself and my reflection.
I just can't help but to wonder,
Which of us do you love.
Alarmingly Draco realized he was suppressing tears from falling from his eyes, stifling a cry that was forcing its way out.
So I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe now...
Bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe,
I breathe-
I breathe no more.
Another short piano solo and there was silence, broken only by Hermione's slight sigh.
The quietness stretched before them, and after a while Malfoy got up and sat down next to Hermione.
After a bit he spoke quietly. "You don't have to be the way you are…"
"But I do…" came her small voice."Why?"
"Because, my soul is in the mirror, and the mirror is broken…there's no way I can get it back…"
"I can help you…" he breathed. "I can help you be the way you were."
"I don't want to be the way I was!" Hermione breathed angrily through her teeth. "Why do you think I became this in the first place?"
"Well," Malfoy hesitated. "Maybe you can be both. Just don't go as extreme as a freaky Goth, but also not as far as a boffin bookworm. You know…neutral."
"I can do that?"
"Sure. Just dye your hair back to its natural color, get a little color into your clothes. The make up really works with you, but you might want to try something a bit more feminine than black, as good a color as it is."
A tear slid down Hermione's cheek. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
Malfoy considered this before he answered. "I already told you, Granger, you enthrall me. You're voice is so beautiful, but it's trapped in a body that it doesn't belong to. That voice belongs in a human's body. You've become a robot, Hermione, a machine. The death of your parents, of Black, everything that happened in the Department of Mysteries…that's what's changed you."
"Why are you trying to be my friend?" she asked desperately, so quiet he had to lean closer to hear her.
"I didn't know I had to try." He answered, producing a weak smile from Hermione.
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
Hermione looked over at Malfoy, once again locking gazes with him. "You know, once you get past the prattiness, the self-centeredness, the vanity, the idiocy, the prejudice, the pride, the egotism, the arrogance, the surreptitiousness, the difficultness, the haughtiness, the superiority ness, the holier-than-thou-ness, the contemptuousness, the babyishness, the spoiled ness, the immaturity ness, the foolishness and let's not forget the prattiness, you're a really good friend."
"You said prattiness twice."
"I did? Hmm, well, you are quite a prat. A double pain in the arse if you ask me. You are quite a clever dick. You can be somewhat of a git also. Kind of a toff…hmm. And the fact that we get along when we're chalk and cheese, well it's just great."
"Thanks, Granger. You're just boosting my self-esteem here."
"Glad to be of help." She smiled, slapping his leg, then looking down and promptly removing her hand.
"So what do you say? We start the transformation tomorrow?"
"I say, Malfoy, that that is the best thing I've heard out of your mouth since I got here."
---
It was a nice sunny day. Perfect for a trip down into Hogsmeade.
Malfoy showed her to a sub-street she had never noticed before. It had only a few shops, including clothing stores, a shoe store, and a hair salon.
"How did I never notice this?" Hermione asked in amazement."
"Search me." Draco shrugged, pulling her into a clothes store.
Hermione immediately grabbed a lime green boob tube (tube top) and a black miniskirt and went to the dressing room to try it on.
She walked out, scanning herself in the mirror and gaining an appreciative whistle from Malfoy.
She turned and scowled at him.
"How bout these?" he asked raising his eyebrows, holding up a pair of knickers.
Hermione laughed. "I'm good thanks."
When time came to pay, Draco stepped up, amazing Hermione.
Next came the hair salon. She had her hair trimmed a bit, and dyed to a medium brown, with a few blonde highlights. She then looked into some lighter makeup that accented her cheekbones and drew out the gold specks to her brown eyes. Again Malfoy stepped up to the cash register and paid the expenses.
When they had finished shopping they ate lunch at a small café (on Hermione) and headed back to Hogwarts.
"Ooohh, we have to stop in here!" Hermione drug Malfoy into a bookstore.
Smirking he shook his head and muttered something like. "You can take the girl out of the bookworm…"
---
So there they were again, sitting on top of that bloody Astronomy Tower, in silence might I add.
Hermione pulled out a cigarette and lit up.
"Ahem."
She turned to Malfoy. "You want one?"
"Yeah." Draco reached over and took the cigarette from between her fingers and dropped it to the ground far below.
"Hey!"
"We're quitting."
"We're whatting?"
"We are quitting. No more smoking, very unnatural for you."
"Buzz off." Hermione scowled at Malfoy as she pulled out another cigarette.
Again Malfoy pulled it from her and dropped it, then proceeded to wrestle the whole box from her.
"Stop it, those are expensive!"
"Good, then you won't waste your money on them." Malfoy gave her a malicious grin. "And neither will I."
"Ugh! You are so exasperating!"
"I know."
"Completely infuriating!"
"Who isn't?"
Hermione turned and stared at Malfoy. "Why are you doing this?"
"Why do you keep asking me that?" he shot back.
"Just curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat who pried, you know."
"Yeah and the duck killed the ferret that took away her cigarettes." Hermione glared at him grudgingly.
"Don't be so sour, it doesn't suit you."
"I'll be however I want!" she snapped.
"Intervention, remember?" Malfoy paused. "Or do you want to stay trapped in that mirror?"
Hermione looked away, into the Forbidden Forest.
There was silence for a while, could have been ten minutes, could've been two…there was no way either could know.
"What does it matter why? I just want to help you."
Hermione turned back to him, staring into his eyes. "What do you get out of all this?"
Malfoy's eyes flickered, but he didn't answer.
"There's something, isn't there. A reason why you're so nice to me all of a sudden…" her voice got quieter. "What is it?"
"There's a contest. We need you in our band to win it."
"What do you win?"
"Galleons. Twenty-thousand galleons."
"Twen…twenty-thousand?!?" Hermione breathed.
"You don't understand, I need it. If my parents found out…I need the money, okay?"
"Find out what?"
Draco muttered something under his breath, deliberately slurring his words.
"What?"
Malfoy sighed. "I'm not sure if…I don't know…how…loyal I would be to the Dark Lord."
"You mean—you don't…you don't want to?"
"I mean I don't know. And if they found out, I'd be gone like that." Malfoy snapped his fingers. "One of two things would happen. I would loose everything, become a blood-traitor, or I'd be…"
"Would they? Just because…"
"They would for pettier reasons."
More silence passed between them. "So that's…" Hermione started, but hesitated. "Never mind."
"No, what?"
"That's the only reason then?"
Malfoy shrugged. "I don't know…"
"I want a yes or no." She paused. "Which one, Malfoy? Which one of us do you love?"
Draco sighed. "It's more complicated than that."
"How?"
"I didn't want to be your friend. I hate it; always fearing what would happen if anyone else found out. I just wanted you in the band so we would win and I'd have the money. Then if they did find out, I'd have something they couldn't take from me. That they didn't know about."
"So it's her, then? The depressed, lonely Hermione, feeling only regret and hatred?"
"It's both of you." Malfoy whispered. "I don't want one or the other. I want both of you."
"You can't have both, Malfoy. And if that's all you tried to accomplish today—" Hermione stood up. "Then I have better people to waste my time on."
"Wait!" Draco grabbed the wrist hanging at her side. He stood up. "Don't go, I didn't mean it like that."
"That's the thing, Malfoy. You never mean it."
She turned again to leave and he, again, stopped her. "Don't go." He said more firmly.
He stared down into her eyes, and moved a little closer. "What…" but Draco cut her off with a swift kiss.
He broke it off just as fast as he had laid it on her, and Hermione looked confused. "What was that?" she asked dazedly.
"That was what one would call a kiss, Granger." She looked up into his face; amusement dancing in his eyes.
She blushed quickly. "I knew that, I mean…why?"
"Don't know." Malfoy laughed. "That's the beauty of it."
Hermione gave him a slight smile and shook her head. "You are very odd, Malfoy."
---
Looking back she didn't know why Malfoy had kissed her. She almost knew he meant nothing by it, that he was just trying to confuse her into staying (which she did, for three more hours in blissful silence).
But she didn't like looking back on it, because it brought back everything she had felt in that split second—comfort that only Malfoy could give, sadness she could never have him, confusion because she wanted to kiss him again, lust (blatantly obvious one there), anger that he dared kiss her without her permission, more anger that he would not kiss her again, even more anger and sadness because he had never meant anything by it, and loneliness, because she now knew everything she was missing. She hated it.
Best thing was to put it all out of her mind, and focus on wondering why any of them hadn't received any letters of warning when they used their wands…
---
Shorter one, whatcha think? I'm getting really tired of making confusing plots because I'll have about 30 questions in my reviews that I can't answer…
Grr…
Umm, I should give you a list of all the British slang I used, but I don't feel like writing it all up.
So if you have any questions on the words/expressions I used go here and look em up!
:: effingpot :: (Take out spaces!) add www. and .c o m
Alright well nighty night then!
