Chapter 9

Early Hours

Hermione awoke the next morning feeling quite out of place. It was then that she realized she was in her bed, or in her room for that matter. She felt extremely dazed. As she rolled over she was shocked to find some next to her. No, she didn't. Did she? She wouldn't. She wasn't that stupid.

Hermione found herself in a panic, it was then that she realized that she was in the boys' dormitories in Gryffindor tower; no one there would take advantage of her, right? Upon closer examination of the person lying next to her she found that it was Harry. She suddenly felt even more uncomfortable and found the urge to jump up and run out.

She did exactly that.

Grabbing her stuff on the way out she made her way quickly into the common room and was surprised to find no one there. Hermione had never been an early riser and it shocked her to find out the time.

She took a seat by the common room fire and only then did she allow her thoughts to venture back to the night before. She was having a great deal of trouble remembering, an obvious sign that she was not a morning person.

Then in one moment, it all came flooding back. Draco. No, Malfoy. Their kiss. And his ego-inflating declaration. And lastly...Harry.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, nothing had happened, she knew that much.

She recalled her conversation of late, with Harry and knew she had to thank him. He'd made things remarkably better, he had that gift.

Hermione had never understood (nor did she anyone else did, not even Dumbledore) how Harry could be so helpful in dealing with other peoples problems when he had the biggest one of all. The fate of the wizarding and possibly Muggle world rested on his shoulders. He couldn't be selfish, troubles that plagued normal teenagers couldn't bother him, he couldn't let himself get overworked and upset, because if he did something irrational and quite stupid, such as taking his own life the world as they knew it (A/N: cliché, I know. I couldn't help myself. Complain in your reviews, cuz that means I'll at least get a few.) would come to a crashing halt.

So, in Hermione's eyes, Harry was one if the most emotionally strong and yet, emotionally fragile human beings she'd ever known. And to dump her problems on him, like she knew Ron did, made her feel quite guilty.

Hermione summoned some parchment from a corner desk along with a quill. She wrote Harry a quick, and quite general thank you before banishing it to his bedside table and disappearing through the portrait hole back towards her quarters.

As the portrait swung open Hermione was surprised to see Malfoy, that git sitting on the couch of their shared common room.

"Where the hell have you bee, mudblood?" he asked, smirking.

"As if you care." Hermione responded, remembering why she'd hated him, "Sod off."

"Oh, but I do care," he started lazily, he suddenly sat up straighter, a menacing look in his eyes as they snapped toward her. "especially when your whereabouts could get you expelled. Because that, you see, Miss Mudblood, Goody-Goody Granger, can be used to my advantage."

"Bloody hell." she muttered to herself. She stopped mid-stride and turned to face him, putting on a face she rarely used; her clueless face. "What are you talking about, you bloody git? The only one of us who has ever come close to being expelled is you. And you should've been....five times over. Oh, but that's right, your daddy paid your way out of that. And I'm assuming that's how you got to be Head Boy as well." Hermione finished triumphantly.

Malfoy looked a little paler, much to Hermione's amusement. There was no doubt he'd been expecting her to beg him to keep his mouth shut. Yet he recovered quickly, he stood, rapidly approaching her. Grabbing her forearms she slammed her against the wall. "You know damn well that Lucius' money has nothing to do with me being Head Boy."

Hermione's hands were beginning to lose their feeling but she pushed that from her mind as she spoke, "Oh yes, now I remember. It wasn't Head Boy, your mummy and daddy's money bought you your spot on the quidditch team, isn't that right?"

Hermione was pushing it and she knew it, but it was just too much fun to stop now. Malfoy's rage was radiating from his body as he spoke, "Granger." he warned.

"What?! It wasn't your parents money?" she asked in disbelief, "Then how'd you do it? God knows it wasn't talent." she pretended to look thoughtful, "Ooo...did you fck Snape for it then?"

It was at that moment that Malfoy pulled her off the wall, his hands still wrapped painfully around her forearms, "Stupid mudblood btch. you should've known not to start with me." he screamed in fury, slamming her back into the wall once more. Hermione's head bashed into the wall, bounced forward and shot back once more. She winced, and Malfoy, noting her pain, laughed. Finally he spoke again. "Speaking of fcking how was your night with the Poverty Prince?"

Hermione just stared, not willing to dignify that with a reply.

"You know Granger, I went into my room last night after our little...incident thinking you'd lock yourself in your room and cry, not go off and screw Weasel. So when I came into the common room this morning I expected you to show up all red and puffy-eyed. But instead you come back with your robes slung over your arm and in a wrinkled skirt and blouse and that told me all I need to know."

Oh this is priceless, thought Hermione, first he thinks I was off doing somebody last night and then he actually makes the deduction it was Ron?! Ha!

Hermione figured she'd let the git have his fun, he'd never expected what she had in store.

"I wasn't with Ron, you bloody git!"

"Ah, brilliant, Wonder Boy then. Even better. I'm sure the Dark Lord wouldn't mind both of you being expelled. The only problem I've got now is that Muggle-loving dunderhead of a headmaster."

At the mention of Voldemort Hermione stopped struggling. Surely Malfoy was joking, right? Right? Hermione reasoned that he had to be, he wasn't even of age.

"First off, Malfoy, the only reason you hate Muggles is because you're afraid to do anything your father wouldn't approve of. Making friends with a Muggle, or Muggle-born would get you into his 'bad books'. Such a shame, always living in his shadow. Secondly, you hate Dumbledore because the Dark Lord fears him and because he has more knowledge than you, your Dark Lord and all his followers will ever have.....put together."

"Right Granger, then why is the Dark Lord said to be the most powerf-"

Hermione cut him off, she wasn't anywhere near finished, "Dumbledore is just as, if not more powerful than the Dark Lord, he's just too noble to use those powers, dumbass. Especially when it means causing destruction of his own damn race!"

She paused to let that sink in, and to calm down and gain enough courage to say what she was about to. It was time to have her fun.

Hermione broke free of his grasp and stalked off toward her bedroom door. She looked back at Malfoy, whose attention was now on the fire, a searching look now adorned his face. He was probably trying to think of an insult, evidently 'mudblood' wasn't good enough.

"Oh, and Malfoy?" He looked up, "The only reason you went on ranting about how I spent my night was because your bed....was empty."

And with that she strode into her room slamming the door behind her, putting a last bit of emphasis on her words.

Upon entering her room Hermione flopped down on her bed intending to sleep. She wondered why the hell Malfoy had been up at six-thirty, showered and dressed for classes but quickly pushed him out of her mind, he wasn't worth her time. Breakfast wasn't until eight and her argument with Malfoy had only taken ten minutes. This left Hermione with a lot of time, she considered going back to sleep, but her adrenaline was now flowing. So Hermione spent the next twenty minutes committing their argument to memory, for she was planning on telling Ginny at breakfast, she'd decided that telling Harry and Ron would be too awkward, and this was what she settled upon as she showered and dressed for class.

"Wow! Go, Hermione! I never knew you had it in you." Ginny said after Hermione's recap of the argument. "But there are two things I don't get."

"What?" Hermione asked, sort of confused.

"First, do you think he's really in league with You-Know-Who?"

"Nah, Gin. I don't, I think he was just trying to put a scare in me. You know Malfoy, always the 'big man with connections'" Hermione answered honestly.

"More like big-headed man." Ginny said, laughing.

"Yeah. What was the other thing, Gin?" Hermione asked curiously, referring to Ginny's earlier comment.

"Oh, right. Ummm...what was the 'incident' last night?" Ginny questioned.

Hermione hesitated, Ginny was her best girl friend, she could tell her about the kiss, right? Would she make a big deal about Hermione liking it? And kissing back? Making up her mind, Hermione said, "We just had a fight last night. You know, the usual: mudblood, stupid Gryffindors, egotistical Slytherins and the usual crap you argue about with Draco-I-own-the-world-Malfoy.

Ginny nodded, Hermione's story was believable enough.