A/N: Ah, I am getting so much better at this updating thing. Lookie, another update in less than a month. You all should be proud, and congratulate me in a review! Yes you should. Thanks to everyone who reviewed
Neither Hermione nor Harry felt like they could break this bond they had going, so they stayed standing, fixed upon eachother for what felt like hours. Slowly, but surely, Harry started leaning in and Hermione closed her eyes. They were so close …
But just then, who should interrupt, but Professor Snape, who came into the Gryffindor tower, looking for Hermione to pass on a message.
"Miss Ganger, Professor McGonagall is looking for you. She says you are late for your less- Oh! Am I interrupting something?" Snape smirked and folded his arms, looking at the pair by the fire with an intense gaze. How or why he should have come in at that moment, was beyond Harry, but Hermione just blushed and dithered about.
"Oh, um, Professor Snape! No, no. Not I-interrupting anything a-at all. No." She blushed harder than ever before. Harry just stood, still staring at Hermione with something indescribable, lurking in his eyes.
"It looked remarkably like you were busy, Miss Granger." He said again, taking a step towards them and curling his lip in that infuriating way which seemed to drive Hermione up the wall – though she had no idea why.
"Well I wasn't," She snapped back at him "What did you say about Professor McGonagall?" She said, taking a deep breath and calming herself. It wouldn't do anyone any good to get a week of detention for yelling at a teacher. Especially for yelling at Professor Snape. The man was well known for his temper, and everyone knew you shouldn't get on the wrong side of him. Or any side of him, really.
"You had a lesson scheduled with her for today, at six O'clock sharp. It is now …" He looked up at the clock on the wall of the Gryffindor common room, "A quarter past six. This makes you fifteen minutes late to your lesson." He swirled his cloak around dramatically as he said this.
Hermione tutted and rolled her eyes. He could be such a drama queen sometimes. Not that she'd ever let him know that she thought that. She didn't have a death wish or anything.
"Six O'clock? Ahh, no! I forgot all about it! Oh my god, I've got to get ready!" She shrieked and turned to Harry. "Harry, could I use your bag of floo power to floo to my room? I don't feel safe to walk through the school on my own, you can't come with me as you have that Potions essay and the Transfiguration thing to do and I'm late enough as it is, because-" Once she started, she just couldn't stop. Harry clamped a hand over her mouth and said
"Ok, 'Mione, deeeeep breaths. Yes you can borrow my floo powder. You know where it is, now run. And calm down, you'll give yourself a head injury!" He said, rubbing her back and doing fake breaths like he saw this character do in a movie called "The Princess Diaries".
Dudley was going through his 'pretty princess' stage when he was seven so there was no getting away from it. But that image had always stayed with him, all the way through his pre-teens and Hogwarts years. Ah Dudley was a weird boy. Come to think of it, that had probably been why he had started hitting him and other kids; He needed to feel masculine.
"Thanks Harry!" She said, before giving him a kiss on the cheek and running up to his dormitory to fetch the floo powder.
"So, Mr Potter. Why are you not off saving the world again? It is what you usually do to feel manly, is it not?" Snape hissed at him. For some reason, he felt jealous at how close Harry had almost got to Miss Granger.
"No. Although I could say the same thing for you, Professor Snape." Harry said, smirking at the angry Professor.
"10 points from Gryffindor for being rude to a member of staff." Snape retorted, and the smug look from Harry's face slipped off.
"Ok, I'm off! Wish me luck, Harry. You know how McGonagall is when anyone's late to one of her lessons." Hermione came bounding back down the stairs with a small leather bag clutched in her hand. After giving Harry a quick kiss o the cheek, she walked over to the fireplace.
"The Head Girl's Room." She yelled, after throwing a pinch of green powder into the flames and tossing the pouch to Harry. The next moment, she was gone.
Harry turned around back to where Professor Snape had been standing, only to find that he wasn't there anymore. Confused, he headed over to ther Fat Lady's portrait and opened it carefully. Looking up and down the corridor, he saw no swishing black cloak. 'That man is incredibly good at disappearing quickly' Harry thought.
Meanwhile, back at the Head Girl's common room, Malfoy was sitting on a high backed red chair in the corner, facing the portrait hole. It had been nearly an hour, and there was no sign of Granger. Where the bloody hell could she be? There wasn't anything to keep her out wandering the school at six-thirty in the evening. He also knew she had a class with Professor McGonagall at six and that her books were still in her room, so why hadn't she come back to get them yet?
Suddenly, he heard a bang coming from upstairs. Ahh, so the little witch flooed here. Very clever. He thought, silently getting up from the chair and making his way to the staircase located in the middle of the room.
Creeping up it quietly and shuffling across the landing, he ended up right outside her door, when who should come rushing out of that very room, but Hermione herself. She ran straight into him, toppling them both right over.
"Well, well, well. Look what I caught." Malfoy smirked and grabbed both of her arms, rolling her over onto her back and pinning her down. "Hello Granger, I've been waiting for you."