Hey-hey everybody!!!! OK, I answer reviews as I go.
Bombshell: dude, that was amazing. I had my story up there for 5 minutes and suddenly whoosh-ka there's a review. Thanks man! And as you can see I'm fast heading into the reading more thing!
Does anyone know how to get three dots. I use them often and they only come up looking like an annoying full stop. It should look like . . . that.but it doesn't as you can see. When you guys REVIEW!!!!! You can tell me.
Disclaimer: Dude, you know I own nothing yet.just the story and the Quiet Room, and the weird names of the prefects I'm gonna forget.
With all that said, let us continue.
Chapter 2: First Day, and detention.
Hermione woke up to the sound of bird chirping and Crookshanks teeth chattering. (ever seen a cat gazing at birds, and seen their teeth chatter? It's SO funny!). Hermione shook her head. She got up, dressed and walked down to the Great Hall, where Harry and Ron were waiting for her.
'Hi-za!' she said.
'Hi-za?' They both looked at her suspiciously. She shrugged, sat down, and pulled a bowl of porridge towards her. She was putting honey over the porridge when Professor McGonagall handed her a timetable.
'Thank you professor.'
The professor nodded curtly and handed Ron his timetable. Meanwhile Hermione opened hers and scanned it.
'Bugger! Potions first!'
Harry stared at her incredulously. 'I can't believe you decided to do Potions in 6th and 7th years. You're just welcoming more bullying from Snape and all the Slytherins.
Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Harry, I took all my subjects for 6th and 7th years. I couldn't give up anything.that would have affected my future savagely.'
Harry and Ron just looked at each other. Hermione ignored them. She kept scanning the timetable. 'Hey, I got Defense Against the Dark Arts the afternoon with you two though.'
'Oh cool,' replied both of them, just as the magical bell rang, sounding first lessons.
Hermione walked down to the dungeons where Potions lessons began. In 6th and 7th years classes took a different format. Everyone that took the particular class went together. The more subjects you took, the more classes you went to. Only one class ran at a particular time. Hermione only got two breaks ever in the timetable, during Muggle Studies and Divination. Harry and Ron, who were both doing the same subjects, didn't do Muggle Studies, Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, History of Magic and Potions. The free periods students used to study subjects they're doing. No- one did as many subjects as Hermione did.at least, not in 7th year.
Hermione had been considering not doing it, because it was a subject that would guarantee a lot of Slytherins, and not much else. Many people couldn't do it because they didn't get O's in the OWL's. Many more didn't want to do it. 6th year was a bit hell-ish for her.she spent her lessons with the Ravenclaw's, for lack of any Gryffindors being there. She just hoped this year Goyle didn't trip with a potion in his hand, spilling half of it on her and causing green scales to erupt on her legs. The Slytherins thought this bloody funny, of course. Hermione was less then amused.
She got into the classroom and sat down on the bench with Sarah Spunner, her Ravenclaw friend. Sarah smiled as Hermione sat down.
'Head Girl huh? Impressive.'
'Thanks. Did you hear that Malfoy's Head Boy?'
'Yeah.' She grimaced. 'Pity he's such a dickhead though.he's really quite cute apart from that.'
Hermione rolled her eyes and began setting up her cauldron. Honestly.everyone in the year semi or fully blinded by their own lust. Ever heard of goodness of heart?
The door sprung open then and Professor Snape entered. The students that weren't Slytherins stopped talking at once. Malfoy kept whispering to his friends because he knew he wouldn't get in trouble. The nerve of him.
'Welcome, some of you, to the N.E.W.T year,' Snape begun. Malfoy shut up. 'This year will be hard, believe me. I'll be pairing you all up with someone this lesson, and you'll keep that partner for the rest of the year. No swapping is permitted what-so-ever. I've done this so you can achieve supreme NEWT's in Potions. Complaints won't be heard. I'll send you to your partners now.'
Snape waved his wand and half the class vanished, including Hermione. She reappeared again at a different position in the room. She turned and nearly fainted.
Guess who was her partner.
'Instructions are on the board. Not a SOUND until you're done. All potions I'll grade according to NEWT standard. Begin.
Hermione considered pointing her wand to her chest and using Avada Kedavra. Mind you, Malfoy was probably contemplating doing that to her at the moment. She thought of a compromise.
Malfoy turned to her, and was about to say something, when she pointed her wand to him and muttered 'Silencio'. He spoke, but no words came out. He glared at her angrily.and of course didn't know the counter charm. He hadn't taken Charms.
'I'll take it off when I've had my say,' said Hermione. 'I'm not happy about having to be partners with you in this subject as well as in the general organization of our school year. I don't need you being a prat. Finite Incantatem.'
Malfoy just shook his head at her after his voice was regained, and said, in barely more then a whisper, 'You suck Granger.'
'Be more specific,' she snapped. She'd learnt that one from Ginny.
Malfoy's eyes widened at the less then clean remark.
'We've gotta get this potion started,' Hermione continued. She turned away to get the ingredients, blushing at the same time. She couldn't believe she'd just said that. She knew Malfoy would elaborate.she was basically encouraging him to rip on every fibre of her being.
Sure enough, they were halfway through constructing the potion, Malfoy just had to comment.
'Evidently you're not as much of an innocent shrinky as you seem. I never knew you said anything like that.'
'There are a lot of things you don't know about me Malfoy.exactly the same number as what you're not going to find out. Pass the Shrivelfig.'
'I was going to ask you to elaborate,' he said, passing the Shrivelfig. 'But I don't think I will.'
'Hmph.'
'Granger, look past your nose for two seconds and notice that you're not dicing, you're slicing. We're not making stroganoff here.'
'All right. God, why do you have to be such a prat?'
'I redirected you! We have to try this potion, you know. I don't want to be drinking something poisoned because you sliced it wrong.'
'Malfoy.I doubt the potion would be poisoned by incorrect slicing, for some reason.'
'Well, I'd choke to say the least. What kind of potion is this meant to be anyway?'
'Not sure. Snape said we'd find out when we drank it. He mentioned if anyone did it wrong they'd suffer tremendously.'
'Hmm.better do it correctly then. Never fear though Granger.you've got the Potions master here.'
'Where? I don't see him anywhere? Where is he? You're seeing things!'
'You think you're so funny Granger.'
'And you don't? Ferret.'
'Don't call me that.'
Hermione grinned. 'Ferret.'
'Don't.'
'Ferret.'
'I told you to stop it.'
Hermione inhaled.then.
'Ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret!!!!!'
'I'LL KILL YOU!'
'Granger! Malfoy! Detention for the pair of you! How dare you muck around in this class!' Snape was upon them. They stopped trying to murder each other and looked slightly sheepish.
'Now that Granger and Malfoy have decided to pay attention, I ask you all to stop preparing. It's time to give them a try. Report down anything you observe changes about you. There's no need to hand the results to me.I'd rather not know. Bear them in mind though.this potion comes in very handy, and you'll see why.provided you've done it right, which I doubt.'
God he's rude, Hermione thought to herself as she ladled out potion for herself and Malfoy.
Malfoy bowed fakely at her as she raised her glass. 'Ladies first.'
'Oh so polite,' she replied, drinking down the potion. It tasted.kind of flowery.probably due to the adding of roses and orchids. She saw Malfoy do it as well.
Nothing. She didn't feel anything. Hmm.she thought, awe inspiring.she wondered if Malfoy thought the same way.she turned to him.
.and had this incredible sensation. It was like.she was looking at a king.and she'd do anything he asked for, agree with anything he'd say. Hermione could see why this potion would be useful.it was a bit like the Imperious curse.except, weirder. She wondered if Harry would find this easy to fight off.
Malfoy obviously thought the same thing. He said to her 'Feel's weird?'
'Yeah. But I can't help it.I have to agree with you.'
'Yeah. Hey.that'll be funny.'
'Yeah.it would.'
'Let's see.Granger, you do agree that Draco Malfoy is the best looking, smartest, best student in the school, right?'
'Yeah.' Hermione slapped herself mentally. She said that before she could stop herself. Grr, she thought.oh well.two can play.
'Fine then, in accordance, Draco Malfoy must agree that Hermione Granger is far more smart then said Malfoy, and thinks that when this potion wears off, Hermione is allowed to hex him.'
'Yes.f**k!'
'Hehe.sucker.'
'Yes.that's me.bugger! You suck.'
'Yes.I do.'
'Finite Incantatem.'
Suddenly, Hermione felt like she had defence again. She pointed her wand shrewedly at Malfoy, and was about to whisper a hex to him, but he beat her to it.
'Tarantellagra!'
'OI!' She yelled, as her feet began tapdancing. Snape wasn't thrilled either.
'Granger, Malfoy, I am aware you two aren't thrilled with each other, but I do not need this in my class. That day of detention has moved up to a week. Mr Malfoy, reverse the hex or 20 points from Slytherin. Well.maybe not.but reverse it anyway. I'm disgusted.'
Malfoy sighed, performed the counter curse, and for the rest of the lesson (like, the whole 5 minutes of it), the two of them looked daggers at each other. It was impossible to decide which one of them hated the other more. Snape called them both to his desk when the bell rang.
'Professor Snape. You can't give me detention. I need the extra time.to.study.'
'You have no idea how much it pains me to do this to you Mr Malfoy. But Professor Dumbledore has asked me to be less.favourable.of my own students. To top that off however, you ARE Head Boy, and you do have about 200 students to set an example to.as do YOU, Miss Granger. I expected better from you as well. Anyway, your detentions are cleaning the Dungeon at 7.00 at night every night this week, starting tonight. If you haven't done it up to standard, I will assign extra days. Be prompt.I'll know, even if I'm not around.'
Neither of them doubted this.they just got out as fast as they could. Hermione rushed off ahead.she felt so.Malfoy-infested. She had to get to Harry and Ron.
They were both in the Great Hall, eating scones. She ran down to them, sat down and began bellyaching the second she got there.
'God. Snape made me partners with Malfoy. Like I don't have to put up with him enough! And, because I kept calling him a ferret and he hexed me, he's given us both detention for a week.think about the study time I'll be missing.and I have to spend even more time with him. Is it not enough that I have to be Head Girl with him, be his potion partner, and have to generally look at him every single day? After what his side did to my parents?'
Harry and Ron turned and looked at each other. They were each thinking the same thing. Hermione's hatred for Malfoy must be strong, because nothing else has managed to get her to mention her parents. They decided to approach her about the sticky subject.if only slightly.
'Does.do you think he knows?'
'Who?'
'Malfoy,' said Harry. 'About your parents?'
Hermione was slightly taken aback by either of them mentioning her parents. She was slightly protective about the issue.the kind of wanted to be.the ONLY person that.ever mentioned it.to anyone. It seemed like the sort of topic one shoved to the back of her mind.
But Harry and Ron were her friends. They had a right to know things like this. She was glad they'd put off talking about it for so long.she had had a chance to think about it.
'I don't think so. His dad wasn't involved. It was Bellatrix Lestrange.'
Harry didn't know this. His eyes widened. 'You mean--?'
'Yup,' replied Hermione sadly. 'Sirius's murderer.'
Harry smiled sadly. She'd put it bluntly, but she now knew her wrath.after all, her parents had been.
'Well, we better go to Charms,' she said, by means of distracting them from saying anything else, mainly. 'What did you do while I was in Potions anyway?'
Ron thought about this. 'Felt sorry for you?'
Hermione didn't credit that with a response.
At 7:00 Hermione made her way to the dungeons. She was quite happy with herself, because she'd managed to study for 3 hours, working mainly an a particularly difficult charm that was supposed to help you detect lost items around you. The incantation, 'Findoriabus', had to be say in a particularly prudent Liverpool accent, and the exact way you waved the wand had to be 100% precise, or it'll focus on something like the item, rather then the item itself. So if you were concentrating on finding a hat, you might instead find a cat. Hermione had a lot of trouble with it actually. She kept finding feet rather then sheets. The had finally, however, managed to find the sheet, in her drawer. She felt quite pleased with herself when she entered the dungeon.
It looked like a bomb had hit it (which it probably had, Hermione thought, remembering second year). Cauldrons lying around, bits of grime in them, and the desks themselves were covered with some kind of muck. She rolled her eyes and began Banishing Cauldrons to the other side of the room, then making sponges work themselves. She wasn't entirely sure that she was allowed to use magic, but what the hell, she wanted this done quickly.
'Nice wand work Granger,' said a sarcastic voice.
'Yeah, well, you were late.'
'Uh-huh. We're not suppose to use magic you know. You know that. We're suppose to sit here for hours and go through a whole lot of hard labour by the end of which we'll be hexing each other because of the snide comments we'd be passing.'
Hermione flicked her wand at the cauldrons. They stood in line, awaiting to be washed by the sponge and hot water she had set up earlier.
'Malfoy, you as much as me want to get out of here quickly, so come on.are you going to help me or not?'
'I'd rather eat poison,' he said, in a very posh way. Hermione gave him the evil eye. 'Or not,' he continued rather quickly. 'How do you do the whole making things work for you charm?'
'Mobiliarbus for just moving them. But if you want to direct things into working you just have to think about them really hard, then flick your wand in their direction, saying 'Emyebo.' Not that hard.'
'Maybe not for you,' he muttered. He tried it on a mop, but it just kind of jiggled half-heartedly.
'Emyebo', said Hermione to the mop, and it enthusiastically began cleaning the floor.
'I don't see why I bothered to come,' he said.
'Because you had to. Snape thinks we're doing this without magic.'
'Yeah.he'll give us another week when he finds out.'
Hermione rolled her eyes. 'What makes you think he's going to find out? I didn't spend the summer practising a non-detection spell for nothing. I put the charm on before we've left, and he won't be able to tell we've done it with magic at all.'
'Uh-huh. Smart, Granger.'
'Your lack of sarcasm astounds me.'
'As does yours.'
Hermione kept directing the stuff around the place. Malfoy just stood there, watching. It was obvious she didn't need his help. He decided to mildly torment her.
'How has your summer been, Granger?'
Hermione had a sudden, strange pang inside her. 'Fine,' she answered stiffly.
'Hmm. That's nice. My family went on our world trip.'
Hermione felt like she had to remark on that. 'Yeah, peobably to see all your death eater pals.'
Malfoy was slightly taken aback by that. The dark side wasn't something he liked to mention very often. 'As a matter of fact, no, Granger. We have relatives in America.'
'Uh-huh. They're death eaters anyway.'
Malfoy didn't like that. Who would? 'You don't know that Granger.'
'Yeah I do. The only people in the pure-blood tree are the Weasleys.and people that you've destroyed.'
'Take it easy Granger. I didn't destroy any of them.'
'No,' she said, dropping everything and looking at him. 'Just the people you support. You haven't got a heart at all. You and all your family, your death eater pals, ruin the lives of everyone that doesn't completely agree with you. And you enjoy it. You enjoy destroying all these people, and everyone that loves them.'
She made a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh. Tears were welling in her eyes. Malfoy just looked on. He didn't quite know what to say. He was just anticipating what she was going to say next.
'Why? Why do you, or your SIDE, do it? Why do you take such joy in something so inhumane? Do you enjoy seeing people's lives destroyed, because you've.I dunno.killed their loved ones.or.anything else? Is that it?'
'God Granger, settle down. I've never supported the harming of other people- '
'Yeah, right,' she cut him off. 'You're as bad as the rest of them. You love it, don't you? You love seeing everybody that you don't quite like having their lives fall apart in front of them. Do enjoy it, don't you?'
'No. You're acting as if something's happened to you, which it hasn't.they don't waste their time on muggles.'
Hermione didn't answer.she just shook her head, and turned away from him. The tears were starting to fall. She couldn't control them. She was fighting off every ounce of her being, which wanted to howl her lungs, and her heart, out. She slumped on to the floor, leaning against a bench. Her body was shaking. She must have looked like such a baby, but she didn't care. She didn't care about being adult any more. She just wanted.she wanted.
'Granger?'
Hermione turned her head, and looked at him again. Malfoy had a shock. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were wet, because of the tears.
'What? What is it?' she asked. Her voice sounded so shaky, so helpless, Malfoy actually pitied her. For what, he wasn't sure.but she looked so.pathetic, really, just sitting there, shaking. He knew the genre immediately though. Something had happened to someone she loved. Love, he thought to himself. Such a stupid emotion really. Yet it effects people so strongly. They really should learn to block all forms of love, like me. Then they wouldn't get so hurt.
'What have they done?'
Hermione replied immediately, but her voice was still shaky. 'My. . . my parents. They're. . . they're . . . '
'What?' he didn't really care, but he figured he might as well hear her out. Well, he didn't think he cared anyway.
'Bellatrix Lestrange.she found them.she used the Cruciatus curse on them.lots and lots.and.'
It clicked. 'They're insane, aren't they?'
Hermione sighed shakily, and nodded. She prickled slightly though. 'That must satisfy you. Another person you hate now with nobody that loves her. You must be ticking them off whenever they're been shattered-'
'Oh for God's sake shut up about that Granger. I know Bellatrix Lestrange. I don't like her. She kills people for fun.'
'So killing's only OK for you if there's a supposed purpose for it?'
'NO! God, if you must know, as soon as my family got back from the trip, I took off. They're never going to see me again. I was so sick of them talking to our relatives about how, when the Dark Lord takes over, they're all going to have super powers, or whatever. My father was ticking off the number of people he'd killed in the name of the Dark Lord. I didn't want to live with something so.evil. I thought it was the right side, because we would be in glory. Stupid pride.'
Hermione had stopped crying now. She was staring at him, her mouth open. She couldn't believe she was hearing this.
'But it's not. What kind of world is one that's dominated by evil. I mean.I'd have no-one to bitch about.'
Hermione smiled slightly at that. But she wasn't giving in that easily. 'Then why do you hate everyone in this school who's parents aren't part of the dark side.'
'Aren't in Slytherin, you mean? I don't even know most of them. Potter and Weasley just annoy me. Oh, I'm Potter and this is my loyal sidekick Weasley. We're going to go fight everything and be all glorious! What jolly good fun!'
Hermione's eyes narrowed. 'Don't talk about my friends like that.'
Malfoy grinned at her, despite himself. 'A truth universally acknowledged Granger. Everyone needs some kind of enemy. Potter, and Weasley, well.they work.'
'And me too, I guess,' she scowled.
Malfoy walked up to her and knelt down, so their faces were very close. 'Now Granger. I never said that. I've come to terms with the possibility that you might not be so horrible, and I might as well.we've got a year to live with, being partners. I mean, you hitting me in the side of the face during third year hasn't helped that, but-'
'Malfoy,' said Hermione dryly. 'You were insulting my friend.'
'The one that continuously tells the world not to think about things like that. Accept it Granger. I'm not evil any more. Or can't you hack that?'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I am now hereby declaring myself one of the worst writers in the world. To tell me how much my fanfiction majorly sucks, go straight to that review section at the bottom of the page, R and R, and be grateful I haven't quoted any Beatles songs yet.
Bombshell: dude, that was amazing. I had my story up there for 5 minutes and suddenly whoosh-ka there's a review. Thanks man! And as you can see I'm fast heading into the reading more thing!
Does anyone know how to get three dots. I use them often and they only come up looking like an annoying full stop. It should look like . . . that.but it doesn't as you can see. When you guys REVIEW!!!!! You can tell me.
Disclaimer: Dude, you know I own nothing yet.just the story and the Quiet Room, and the weird names of the prefects I'm gonna forget.
With all that said, let us continue.
Chapter 2: First Day, and detention.
Hermione woke up to the sound of bird chirping and Crookshanks teeth chattering. (ever seen a cat gazing at birds, and seen their teeth chatter? It's SO funny!). Hermione shook her head. She got up, dressed and walked down to the Great Hall, where Harry and Ron were waiting for her.
'Hi-za!' she said.
'Hi-za?' They both looked at her suspiciously. She shrugged, sat down, and pulled a bowl of porridge towards her. She was putting honey over the porridge when Professor McGonagall handed her a timetable.
'Thank you professor.'
The professor nodded curtly and handed Ron his timetable. Meanwhile Hermione opened hers and scanned it.
'Bugger! Potions first!'
Harry stared at her incredulously. 'I can't believe you decided to do Potions in 6th and 7th years. You're just welcoming more bullying from Snape and all the Slytherins.
Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Harry, I took all my subjects for 6th and 7th years. I couldn't give up anything.that would have affected my future savagely.'
Harry and Ron just looked at each other. Hermione ignored them. She kept scanning the timetable. 'Hey, I got Defense Against the Dark Arts the afternoon with you two though.'
'Oh cool,' replied both of them, just as the magical bell rang, sounding first lessons.
Hermione walked down to the dungeons where Potions lessons began. In 6th and 7th years classes took a different format. Everyone that took the particular class went together. The more subjects you took, the more classes you went to. Only one class ran at a particular time. Hermione only got two breaks ever in the timetable, during Muggle Studies and Divination. Harry and Ron, who were both doing the same subjects, didn't do Muggle Studies, Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, History of Magic and Potions. The free periods students used to study subjects they're doing. No- one did as many subjects as Hermione did.at least, not in 7th year.
Hermione had been considering not doing it, because it was a subject that would guarantee a lot of Slytherins, and not much else. Many people couldn't do it because they didn't get O's in the OWL's. Many more didn't want to do it. 6th year was a bit hell-ish for her.she spent her lessons with the Ravenclaw's, for lack of any Gryffindors being there. She just hoped this year Goyle didn't trip with a potion in his hand, spilling half of it on her and causing green scales to erupt on her legs. The Slytherins thought this bloody funny, of course. Hermione was less then amused.
She got into the classroom and sat down on the bench with Sarah Spunner, her Ravenclaw friend. Sarah smiled as Hermione sat down.
'Head Girl huh? Impressive.'
'Thanks. Did you hear that Malfoy's Head Boy?'
'Yeah.' She grimaced. 'Pity he's such a dickhead though.he's really quite cute apart from that.'
Hermione rolled her eyes and began setting up her cauldron. Honestly.everyone in the year semi or fully blinded by their own lust. Ever heard of goodness of heart?
The door sprung open then and Professor Snape entered. The students that weren't Slytherins stopped talking at once. Malfoy kept whispering to his friends because he knew he wouldn't get in trouble. The nerve of him.
'Welcome, some of you, to the N.E.W.T year,' Snape begun. Malfoy shut up. 'This year will be hard, believe me. I'll be pairing you all up with someone this lesson, and you'll keep that partner for the rest of the year. No swapping is permitted what-so-ever. I've done this so you can achieve supreme NEWT's in Potions. Complaints won't be heard. I'll send you to your partners now.'
Snape waved his wand and half the class vanished, including Hermione. She reappeared again at a different position in the room. She turned and nearly fainted.
Guess who was her partner.
'Instructions are on the board. Not a SOUND until you're done. All potions I'll grade according to NEWT standard. Begin.
Hermione considered pointing her wand to her chest and using Avada Kedavra. Mind you, Malfoy was probably contemplating doing that to her at the moment. She thought of a compromise.
Malfoy turned to her, and was about to say something, when she pointed her wand to him and muttered 'Silencio'. He spoke, but no words came out. He glared at her angrily.and of course didn't know the counter charm. He hadn't taken Charms.
'I'll take it off when I've had my say,' said Hermione. 'I'm not happy about having to be partners with you in this subject as well as in the general organization of our school year. I don't need you being a prat. Finite Incantatem.'
Malfoy just shook his head at her after his voice was regained, and said, in barely more then a whisper, 'You suck Granger.'
'Be more specific,' she snapped. She'd learnt that one from Ginny.
Malfoy's eyes widened at the less then clean remark.
'We've gotta get this potion started,' Hermione continued. She turned away to get the ingredients, blushing at the same time. She couldn't believe she'd just said that. She knew Malfoy would elaborate.she was basically encouraging him to rip on every fibre of her being.
Sure enough, they were halfway through constructing the potion, Malfoy just had to comment.
'Evidently you're not as much of an innocent shrinky as you seem. I never knew you said anything like that.'
'There are a lot of things you don't know about me Malfoy.exactly the same number as what you're not going to find out. Pass the Shrivelfig.'
'I was going to ask you to elaborate,' he said, passing the Shrivelfig. 'But I don't think I will.'
'Hmph.'
'Granger, look past your nose for two seconds and notice that you're not dicing, you're slicing. We're not making stroganoff here.'
'All right. God, why do you have to be such a prat?'
'I redirected you! We have to try this potion, you know. I don't want to be drinking something poisoned because you sliced it wrong.'
'Malfoy.I doubt the potion would be poisoned by incorrect slicing, for some reason.'
'Well, I'd choke to say the least. What kind of potion is this meant to be anyway?'
'Not sure. Snape said we'd find out when we drank it. He mentioned if anyone did it wrong they'd suffer tremendously.'
'Hmm.better do it correctly then. Never fear though Granger.you've got the Potions master here.'
'Where? I don't see him anywhere? Where is he? You're seeing things!'
'You think you're so funny Granger.'
'And you don't? Ferret.'
'Don't call me that.'
Hermione grinned. 'Ferret.'
'Don't.'
'Ferret.'
'I told you to stop it.'
Hermione inhaled.then.
'Ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret ferret!!!!!'
'I'LL KILL YOU!'
'Granger! Malfoy! Detention for the pair of you! How dare you muck around in this class!' Snape was upon them. They stopped trying to murder each other and looked slightly sheepish.
'Now that Granger and Malfoy have decided to pay attention, I ask you all to stop preparing. It's time to give them a try. Report down anything you observe changes about you. There's no need to hand the results to me.I'd rather not know. Bear them in mind though.this potion comes in very handy, and you'll see why.provided you've done it right, which I doubt.'
God he's rude, Hermione thought to herself as she ladled out potion for herself and Malfoy.
Malfoy bowed fakely at her as she raised her glass. 'Ladies first.'
'Oh so polite,' she replied, drinking down the potion. It tasted.kind of flowery.probably due to the adding of roses and orchids. She saw Malfoy do it as well.
Nothing. She didn't feel anything. Hmm.she thought, awe inspiring.she wondered if Malfoy thought the same way.she turned to him.
.and had this incredible sensation. It was like.she was looking at a king.and she'd do anything he asked for, agree with anything he'd say. Hermione could see why this potion would be useful.it was a bit like the Imperious curse.except, weirder. She wondered if Harry would find this easy to fight off.
Malfoy obviously thought the same thing. He said to her 'Feel's weird?'
'Yeah. But I can't help it.I have to agree with you.'
'Yeah. Hey.that'll be funny.'
'Yeah.it would.'
'Let's see.Granger, you do agree that Draco Malfoy is the best looking, smartest, best student in the school, right?'
'Yeah.' Hermione slapped herself mentally. She said that before she could stop herself. Grr, she thought.oh well.two can play.
'Fine then, in accordance, Draco Malfoy must agree that Hermione Granger is far more smart then said Malfoy, and thinks that when this potion wears off, Hermione is allowed to hex him.'
'Yes.f**k!'
'Hehe.sucker.'
'Yes.that's me.bugger! You suck.'
'Yes.I do.'
'Finite Incantatem.'
Suddenly, Hermione felt like she had defence again. She pointed her wand shrewedly at Malfoy, and was about to whisper a hex to him, but he beat her to it.
'Tarantellagra!'
'OI!' She yelled, as her feet began tapdancing. Snape wasn't thrilled either.
'Granger, Malfoy, I am aware you two aren't thrilled with each other, but I do not need this in my class. That day of detention has moved up to a week. Mr Malfoy, reverse the hex or 20 points from Slytherin. Well.maybe not.but reverse it anyway. I'm disgusted.'
Malfoy sighed, performed the counter curse, and for the rest of the lesson (like, the whole 5 minutes of it), the two of them looked daggers at each other. It was impossible to decide which one of them hated the other more. Snape called them both to his desk when the bell rang.
'Professor Snape. You can't give me detention. I need the extra time.to.study.'
'You have no idea how much it pains me to do this to you Mr Malfoy. But Professor Dumbledore has asked me to be less.favourable.of my own students. To top that off however, you ARE Head Boy, and you do have about 200 students to set an example to.as do YOU, Miss Granger. I expected better from you as well. Anyway, your detentions are cleaning the Dungeon at 7.00 at night every night this week, starting tonight. If you haven't done it up to standard, I will assign extra days. Be prompt.I'll know, even if I'm not around.'
Neither of them doubted this.they just got out as fast as they could. Hermione rushed off ahead.she felt so.Malfoy-infested. She had to get to Harry and Ron.
They were both in the Great Hall, eating scones. She ran down to them, sat down and began bellyaching the second she got there.
'God. Snape made me partners with Malfoy. Like I don't have to put up with him enough! And, because I kept calling him a ferret and he hexed me, he's given us both detention for a week.think about the study time I'll be missing.and I have to spend even more time with him. Is it not enough that I have to be Head Girl with him, be his potion partner, and have to generally look at him every single day? After what his side did to my parents?'
Harry and Ron turned and looked at each other. They were each thinking the same thing. Hermione's hatred for Malfoy must be strong, because nothing else has managed to get her to mention her parents. They decided to approach her about the sticky subject.if only slightly.
'Does.do you think he knows?'
'Who?'
'Malfoy,' said Harry. 'About your parents?'
Hermione was slightly taken aback by either of them mentioning her parents. She was slightly protective about the issue.the kind of wanted to be.the ONLY person that.ever mentioned it.to anyone. It seemed like the sort of topic one shoved to the back of her mind.
But Harry and Ron were her friends. They had a right to know things like this. She was glad they'd put off talking about it for so long.she had had a chance to think about it.
'I don't think so. His dad wasn't involved. It was Bellatrix Lestrange.'
Harry didn't know this. His eyes widened. 'You mean--?'
'Yup,' replied Hermione sadly. 'Sirius's murderer.'
Harry smiled sadly. She'd put it bluntly, but she now knew her wrath.after all, her parents had been.
'Well, we better go to Charms,' she said, by means of distracting them from saying anything else, mainly. 'What did you do while I was in Potions anyway?'
Ron thought about this. 'Felt sorry for you?'
Hermione didn't credit that with a response.
At 7:00 Hermione made her way to the dungeons. She was quite happy with herself, because she'd managed to study for 3 hours, working mainly an a particularly difficult charm that was supposed to help you detect lost items around you. The incantation, 'Findoriabus', had to be say in a particularly prudent Liverpool accent, and the exact way you waved the wand had to be 100% precise, or it'll focus on something like the item, rather then the item itself. So if you were concentrating on finding a hat, you might instead find a cat. Hermione had a lot of trouble with it actually. She kept finding feet rather then sheets. The had finally, however, managed to find the sheet, in her drawer. She felt quite pleased with herself when she entered the dungeon.
It looked like a bomb had hit it (which it probably had, Hermione thought, remembering second year). Cauldrons lying around, bits of grime in them, and the desks themselves were covered with some kind of muck. She rolled her eyes and began Banishing Cauldrons to the other side of the room, then making sponges work themselves. She wasn't entirely sure that she was allowed to use magic, but what the hell, she wanted this done quickly.
'Nice wand work Granger,' said a sarcastic voice.
'Yeah, well, you were late.'
'Uh-huh. We're not suppose to use magic you know. You know that. We're suppose to sit here for hours and go through a whole lot of hard labour by the end of which we'll be hexing each other because of the snide comments we'd be passing.'
Hermione flicked her wand at the cauldrons. They stood in line, awaiting to be washed by the sponge and hot water she had set up earlier.
'Malfoy, you as much as me want to get out of here quickly, so come on.are you going to help me or not?'
'I'd rather eat poison,' he said, in a very posh way. Hermione gave him the evil eye. 'Or not,' he continued rather quickly. 'How do you do the whole making things work for you charm?'
'Mobiliarbus for just moving them. But if you want to direct things into working you just have to think about them really hard, then flick your wand in their direction, saying 'Emyebo.' Not that hard.'
'Maybe not for you,' he muttered. He tried it on a mop, but it just kind of jiggled half-heartedly.
'Emyebo', said Hermione to the mop, and it enthusiastically began cleaning the floor.
'I don't see why I bothered to come,' he said.
'Because you had to. Snape thinks we're doing this without magic.'
'Yeah.he'll give us another week when he finds out.'
Hermione rolled her eyes. 'What makes you think he's going to find out? I didn't spend the summer practising a non-detection spell for nothing. I put the charm on before we've left, and he won't be able to tell we've done it with magic at all.'
'Uh-huh. Smart, Granger.'
'Your lack of sarcasm astounds me.'
'As does yours.'
Hermione kept directing the stuff around the place. Malfoy just stood there, watching. It was obvious she didn't need his help. He decided to mildly torment her.
'How has your summer been, Granger?'
Hermione had a sudden, strange pang inside her. 'Fine,' she answered stiffly.
'Hmm. That's nice. My family went on our world trip.'
Hermione felt like she had to remark on that. 'Yeah, peobably to see all your death eater pals.'
Malfoy was slightly taken aback by that. The dark side wasn't something he liked to mention very often. 'As a matter of fact, no, Granger. We have relatives in America.'
'Uh-huh. They're death eaters anyway.'
Malfoy didn't like that. Who would? 'You don't know that Granger.'
'Yeah I do. The only people in the pure-blood tree are the Weasleys.and people that you've destroyed.'
'Take it easy Granger. I didn't destroy any of them.'
'No,' she said, dropping everything and looking at him. 'Just the people you support. You haven't got a heart at all. You and all your family, your death eater pals, ruin the lives of everyone that doesn't completely agree with you. And you enjoy it. You enjoy destroying all these people, and everyone that loves them.'
She made a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh. Tears were welling in her eyes. Malfoy just looked on. He didn't quite know what to say. He was just anticipating what she was going to say next.
'Why? Why do you, or your SIDE, do it? Why do you take such joy in something so inhumane? Do you enjoy seeing people's lives destroyed, because you've.I dunno.killed their loved ones.or.anything else? Is that it?'
'God Granger, settle down. I've never supported the harming of other people- '
'Yeah, right,' she cut him off. 'You're as bad as the rest of them. You love it, don't you? You love seeing everybody that you don't quite like having their lives fall apart in front of them. Do enjoy it, don't you?'
'No. You're acting as if something's happened to you, which it hasn't.they don't waste their time on muggles.'
Hermione didn't answer.she just shook her head, and turned away from him. The tears were starting to fall. She couldn't control them. She was fighting off every ounce of her being, which wanted to howl her lungs, and her heart, out. She slumped on to the floor, leaning against a bench. Her body was shaking. She must have looked like such a baby, but she didn't care. She didn't care about being adult any more. She just wanted.she wanted.
'Granger?'
Hermione turned her head, and looked at him again. Malfoy had a shock. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were wet, because of the tears.
'What? What is it?' she asked. Her voice sounded so shaky, so helpless, Malfoy actually pitied her. For what, he wasn't sure.but she looked so.pathetic, really, just sitting there, shaking. He knew the genre immediately though. Something had happened to someone she loved. Love, he thought to himself. Such a stupid emotion really. Yet it effects people so strongly. They really should learn to block all forms of love, like me. Then they wouldn't get so hurt.
'What have they done?'
Hermione replied immediately, but her voice was still shaky. 'My. . . my parents. They're. . . they're . . . '
'What?' he didn't really care, but he figured he might as well hear her out. Well, he didn't think he cared anyway.
'Bellatrix Lestrange.she found them.she used the Cruciatus curse on them.lots and lots.and.'
It clicked. 'They're insane, aren't they?'
Hermione sighed shakily, and nodded. She prickled slightly though. 'That must satisfy you. Another person you hate now with nobody that loves her. You must be ticking them off whenever they're been shattered-'
'Oh for God's sake shut up about that Granger. I know Bellatrix Lestrange. I don't like her. She kills people for fun.'
'So killing's only OK for you if there's a supposed purpose for it?'
'NO! God, if you must know, as soon as my family got back from the trip, I took off. They're never going to see me again. I was so sick of them talking to our relatives about how, when the Dark Lord takes over, they're all going to have super powers, or whatever. My father was ticking off the number of people he'd killed in the name of the Dark Lord. I didn't want to live with something so.evil. I thought it was the right side, because we would be in glory. Stupid pride.'
Hermione had stopped crying now. She was staring at him, her mouth open. She couldn't believe she was hearing this.
'But it's not. What kind of world is one that's dominated by evil. I mean.I'd have no-one to bitch about.'
Hermione smiled slightly at that. But she wasn't giving in that easily. 'Then why do you hate everyone in this school who's parents aren't part of the dark side.'
'Aren't in Slytherin, you mean? I don't even know most of them. Potter and Weasley just annoy me. Oh, I'm Potter and this is my loyal sidekick Weasley. We're going to go fight everything and be all glorious! What jolly good fun!'
Hermione's eyes narrowed. 'Don't talk about my friends like that.'
Malfoy grinned at her, despite himself. 'A truth universally acknowledged Granger. Everyone needs some kind of enemy. Potter, and Weasley, well.they work.'
'And me too, I guess,' she scowled.
Malfoy walked up to her and knelt down, so their faces were very close. 'Now Granger. I never said that. I've come to terms with the possibility that you might not be so horrible, and I might as well.we've got a year to live with, being partners. I mean, you hitting me in the side of the face during third year hasn't helped that, but-'
'Malfoy,' said Hermione dryly. 'You were insulting my friend.'
'The one that continuously tells the world not to think about things like that. Accept it Granger. I'm not evil any more. Or can't you hack that?'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I am now hereby declaring myself one of the worst writers in the world. To tell me how much my fanfiction majorly sucks, go straight to that review section at the bottom of the page, R and R, and be grateful I haven't quoted any Beatles songs yet.