Confirmation Confrontation

No, Hermione thought as she walked briskly towards Brooks's office. It couldn't be. Ron must've turned back into himself before he went to the library. He just had to. She bit her lip as she approached his office, and then furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed something very strange. She wasn't alone. In fact, she thought as she looked around. She'd never seen a bigger crowd in front of a teacher's office. There were at least 15 other students around Brooks's desk. Most of them were girls, and most belonged to Slytherin. They were all so noisy, she almost couldn't hear Professor Brooks talking in the middle. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, attempting to join in the crowd. She failed. Staggering back into a wall, she was still thinking of how to listen to what Brooks was saying when she heard another voice much clearly, but more to her dismay.

"Come to confirm the story yourself?" she heard. "And I thought Mudbloods believed Harry Potter to be infallible."

Hermione turned and saw Draco Malfoy, a few feet away from the crowd, almost hidden behind the door of Brooks's office. She felt anger rise inside her. She should've known it was him at the library last night. She should've. She should've realized it the moment he called her 'Mudblood'. She should've known Ron would never ever say it. Even if they just had a fight, which, she briefly reminded herself, they haven't really resolved yet although Ron seemed to have already forgotten as he acted like nothing happened earlier before breakfast. But there was something more pressing that she needed to handle at the moment.

She scowled. "How dare you take advantage of me?" she demanded, pointing her wand at Malfoy's neck.

"Take advantage of you?!" Malfoy said, surprisingly steady. "Need I remind you Granger, you kissed me," he said, twiggling his eyebrows.

"I did not!" Hermione said, cheeks burning and looking around to see if anybody heard him. But the crowd was oblivious to them. "You knew I had feelings for Ron, and you used it to your advantage!"

"My advantage!" Malfoy said in disbelief. "And what could I possibly gain from touching a Mudblood?" he said.

Hermione lowered her wand, knowing it was pointless to argue. He didn't try to convince her anyway that he was Ron. She had just been really stupid. Feeling her face grow even redder, she turned to walk away, thoroughly embarrassed.

"How would you know anyway that it was me last night," Malfoy said, a mere two steps later. "Did you kiss your boyfriend Weasley again and realized he didn't measure up?" he said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the wall, not really waiting for an answer.

He got one anyway. And it's bloody painful too, he thought as he put his hand to his left cheek where she'd slapped him.

Author's Note: Okay.... I know it's a short one, but that's why I uploaded the next chapter right away. Hope you like it! And please don't forget to review! Thanks!