Chapter 8: Halloween, at last!!!
Hello everyone!!! OK, this one I'm starting on the 23rd December. Reviews, reviews . . .
*~*Amy (all 5 billion of them): thank you for boosting the number of reviews. I'm aiming for 50 reviews by the time I make chapter 12. I think it's kinda possible. You need to tell people how much my story rocks though. And I'll try and look out for typos. Hermione will live, I guarantee it. She does come close though, to . . . yeah. And Hermione we shall keep happy as much as possible, but you have to realise that Hermione is human and will get sad sometimes.
*~*ILUVRONWEASLEY: how reliable is your source on this dream thing? It's probably a myth. Secondly, they probably will. I have problems with using the name 'Draco' for some reason. I don't think it suits Hermione to call him that. . . I really don't. Thirdly, thank you. Same goes to you. I dunno what about the eight candles and nine days. I get candles because I like them. . . that's all.
*~*Bombshell: yes sir/m'am! I'm working on it. And yes, you are an inspiration. Hehe . . . as for free coffee, well I dunno.
Disclaimer: Look, you seriously no the drill. I'll add onto the things I own my remote controls for my TV, this thing of Spray and Wipe, and this glass that previously contained a mango smoothie.dessert. :D
Right, let's roll.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up next day feeling well rested. Lucky for her, because it was, indeed, Halloween, and hers and Malfoy's event in the carnival required full attention.
She got up, got dressed, inclusive of 2-inch platforms. Feeling suitably taller, the raced down to the Great Hall.
Quite a few people were there this Saturday morning. . . mainly, Hermione noticed, people running various events in the carnival. Hermione got an avalanche of people asking her things.
'I told you, Lewis' said Hermione to a hysterical 3rd year. 'Your part's over near the Great Lake. . . no, not IN it, NEAR it. Calm down. . . Hello Susie.'
'Hi Hermione. Do you know where Draco is? He said he was gonna help us 5th years with the Show bags stand. I haven't figured out how to get the roof over it yet. . .'
'I need to find him too. Don't worry. We'll find him.'
'All right. Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you, where did you get that scar on your cheek?'
Hermione blushed and covered the scar with her hand. 'I hit a tree about a month ago.'
Susie tutted. 'How'd you manage to do that.'
Hermione blushed even more. 'I was unconscious,' she replied. She hurried off then, leaving Susie standing there in total confusion.
Hermione sat down at the table and bit into some toast. Harry and Ron came over fairly soon and sat down next to her.
'Hello Hermione. This carnival thing had better be good.'
'It will be,' she reassured them. 'Particularly the thing Malfoy and I have lined up.'
'I must congratulate you,' commented Ron, 'On how well you two have managed to keep this secret. Even the prefects don't know about it. I suppose this room only you two are allowed into helps.'
'Having that room to yourselves and yourselves only kind of freaks me out,' said Harry. 'One boy and one girl alone in a room like that. And to think that many years ago it was my parents . . . '
Hermione narrowed her eyes. 'Harry, that is disgusting.'
Harry shrugged. 'Just an observation,' he said airily.
Hermione saw Malfoy out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be waving her over.
'Gotta go guys. See ya.'
Hermione ran over to where Malfoy was.
'Good morning.'
'Same to you. Have you gotten taller?'
'No. Shoes.' Hermione showed them to Malfoy.
'Ahh. . . the self-hating shoes.'
'What?' Hermione was confused.
'Nothing,' said Malfoy. 'Shouldn't we go and get things organised?'
'Yeah, sure,' said Hermione vaguely, still wondering what Malfoy found so wrong about her shoes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Outside in the school grounds, things were beginning to take shape. Several events were beginning to be magically laid out by 7th year helpers. Everyone running the stalls was running around, fetching this, finding that and conjuring up the other. The Heads stood before it, very proud of what the team had accomplished.
'Where's our thing meant to be?' asked Malfoy.
'Over there, in the centre,' replied Hermione.
'Right.'
The two of them walked over to the centre of the commotion. Several 2nd years were there, surveying the progress.
'Hey Bill, hey Tom,' Hermione greeted the pair of them. 'How's the food stand going?'
'It's nearly done,' replied Tom. 'We were wondering though, did you want those pumpkin pasties filled with clotted cream or orange jam?'
'Both, didn't we say?' Malfoy said, looking at Hermione. Hermione nodded. 'Yeah. . . that was it.'
'OK, thanks,' said the pair of them, running off.
'Kids,' said Malfoy, when they'd gone. 'You can't live with them, you can't live without them.' He began rolling up his sleeves.
'You're still a kid Malfoy. 17 isn't that old, you know.'
'Yes GRANGER, I know how old seventeen is,' Malfoy replied dramatically, beginning to brandish his wand. 'You ready?'
'Uhhuh,' Hermione replied, taking out her own wand and shaking her wrist.
'Fantastic,' said Malfoy. With that he pointed his wand at the school building. 'Accio Podium!'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Half an hour later, people began coming out of the Great Hall, ready to begin having a day at the Halloween carnival. A lot of people, however, before enjoying the day, chose to try and find out what the weird thing happening in the middle of the carnival was.
Hermione's voice, magnified, began speaking over everyone else's.
'Good morning everyone! Welcome to the first Hogwarts Halloween carnival, organised by your Heads, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. We expect plenty of gifts and applause. Now Draco, could you kindly give the students a basic introduction to the layout?'
'Certainly Hermione,' replied Draco, also with a magnified voice. 'If you follow the red sparks in the air, (Malfoy emitted several red sparks from his wand), we have the Foods stall, the drinks stall, the rides.and some rides! These 6th years have really gotten decked out here! We have 50 foot broom rides and whirl-around dragons . . . yes, the dragons were just conjured up by the amazing Ginny Weasley, I believe . . . and various other things that will make you feel dreadfully sick afterwards. Don't worry about that though. We have plenty of this rejuvination potion (he held up a bottle) available. OK, now we also have games . . . these 1st years are a smart bunch, let me say . . . show bags, Stalls . . . what else. . . '
'Err, Draco,' said Hermione. 'I think you forgot this little something on centre stage.'
'Oh yes!' cried Malfoy, admirably forcefully. Hermione admired his courage. It must be hard for him to sound this cheesy. 'Students of Hogwarts. Allow me to introduce Hogwarts first singing competition! Don't cringe at the thought of singing, believe me, this is fun. The rules are as follows. Hermione and I have several charms that will alter the sound of your voice in some way. Then you have to sing a song we suggest to you. Best-sounding ones get some very nifty prizes, including first dibs on dinner, and this Honeydukes pass, giving you around . . . what was it, Hermione?'
'20 Galleons?'
'Yes. 20 Galleons worth of free sweets. You gotta admit everyone, that sounds good. So come on, give it a whirl!'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The singing competition was a huge success. Everyone loved it. The effects the two Heads put on everyone's voices was incredible. The Echo effect was most people's favourite. They also had this great 'Shower' effect, which made the singer feel like they were singing in a shower. The shy people tended to quite like that one. Hermione, who was the guru of the songs, got a few people to rap. That was interesting. For some people, she put the double-tracking effect on their voices and got them to sing 60's music. Also very interesting, because it could sound quite realistic.
At around 5.00 in the evening, the carnival was drawing to a close. Hermione smiled at Malfoy. Now it was time for the finale.
'Anyone here raised by muggles?'
Almost all the school put up their hands, most of them being half-and-half or muggle-born. The pure bloods just kind of hummed. Harry, who had had a very good day, despite needing to take admirable amounts of rejuvination potion after 6 rides on Ginnys dragon, put up his hand in mild curiosity.
'OK then,' continued Hermione. 'Then you may have heard of the song 'We are the Champions'?'
A general chorus of 'yes' was heard from the crowd.
'Therefore,' Hermione yelled out. 'I propose this. We're going to put different effects on all your voices, and by the time the chorus of the song comes on, we want you all to sing. Could you all do this?'
Everyone seemed to utter murmurs of consent. Hermione stood up, therefore, as tall as she could, and yelled out 'Everything dai bois!' and everyone was issued with different voice effects.
'All right,' said Malfoy, sounding slightly distorted. 'Let's begin:
. . . and we'll go on and on and on and on,
We are the champions, my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting, till the end,
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No time for losers,
Coz we are the champions,
Of the world. . .
As everyone finished, a great applause issued throughout the entire school. Hermione and Malfoy looked at each other, and grinned out to everyone. It was truly a touching moment throughout the school.
'We now recommend,' said Malfoy, that everyone, including helpers in this event, go into the Great Hall for the commencing of the Halloween feast. We two Heads shall clean up here. Off you all go now!'
'Oh, wait,' said Hermione. She raised her wand high into the air. 'Finite Incantatem!'
Everyone's voices sounded normal again, and they made their way to the Great Hall. Pretty soon only Hermione and Malfoy were left.
'I think,' said Hermione, 'That was a great success.'
'Indeed it was,' Malfoy replied. His voice sounded slightly hoarse. He obviously wasn't use to talking so much. He stepped onto the podium, where Hermione was. 'So how do you intend to clean this up?'
Hermione looked at Malfoy strangely. 'The way I always have, and I taught you how to do it too-hey . . . do you hear that? Something's . . . creaking.'
'Creaking?'
'Yes.'
Then suddenly, Hermione realised
'Oh s**t! I lifted -'
Hermione was interrupted by the sound of wood collapsing, and the two Heads falling three metres to the ground. They landed with a thump on a mixture of ground and wood.
'-the magic holding up the podium.' Hermione finished, getting up to her feet.
'Ow,' said Malfoy, irritated. He'd landed rather badly, and his foot was twisted slightly awkwardly. 'Granger,' he said, looking up at the massive hole their weight had created on the podium. 'Were you thinking about the podium as you took away all the voice effects from the students?'
Hermione blushed. 'Err . . . sort of. I was thinking about how the spell I'd put on it was working really well . . . '
'Clever,' said Malfoy, somewhat nastily.
'Oh don't get crabby,' replied Hermione. 'I made a mistake.'
'A very stupid one,' Malfoy interjected. 'Honestly Granger. What if one of our classmates was on this podium?'
'Well they weren't were they?' snapped Hermione, irritated. 'It was us instead.'
'Honestly Granger,' said Malfoy, looking at her critically. 'I thought you were smarter then this. Surely you knew that anyone could have said 'Finite Incantatem' while looking at the platform, or whatever? I cannot believe you were so careless. Someone could have fallen . . . and indeed someone did fall. . . us! I cannot believe you -'
'Oh SHUT UP!' yelled Hermione. Malfoy turned to look at her then, and her face had gone very red. 'Stop patronising me. It was a mistake, OK? No wonder I couldn't stand you before this year . . . you're so unbearably . . . unbearable.' She stomped over to a corner (an admirable feat with those shoes on) and sat down, maintaining a still stuck-up air.
Malfoy looked at her, shaking his head. 'What's your problem Granger? You're acting like I've just told you you've ruined my life. Why are you taking it so personally?'
'I'm NOT!'
'Yes you are. You can also stand not getting so crabby. Honestly. What's the matter with you?'
Hermione just glared at him for a minute, still angry. 'I'm just under a lot of pressure at the moment. I've got this disease that's potentially fatal, hence I haven't been sleeping. The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of one of my best friends, and we currently seem to be losing, and my parents are insane and in St. Mungo's and I'm becoming really good friends with someone my other friends hate-'
'Yes Granger. I do understand what you're going through. But you need to calm down. Things will get better. The disease shall be cured, but you have to sleep. I'm sure Potter will, somehow, defeat this extremely powerful wizard via. Some lucky miracle (Hermione narrowed her eyes), your parents will get better eventually -'
'Well, actually, they're making progress according to the staff at St. Mungo's. . .'
'Exactly.'
There was a pause. Hermione began to rationalise. Maybe the situation she was in wasn't that bad. Didn't really forgive Malfoy for being so horrible about not having enough precaution over a podium though.
'As for becoming really good friends with me . . .' he continued slowly.
Hermione blushed an extraordinary shade of magenta. She must have been going hysterical, to have said that. It wasn't frankly something the person in question had to know.
' . . . well what can I say to that?'
Hermione smiled slightly 'Nothing, really.'
Malfoy smiled too. He went over to where she was and knelt down opposite her. Hermione looked up into his eyes. Cold, piercing eyes, studying her curiously. The eyes were very cold. . . or maybe not so much cold as critical. She wasn't sure. She was beginning to feel strangely hypnotised by them, when Malfoy broke the ice.
'Just let me assure you,' he said. 'That the feeling it mutual.'
With that, he gave a wave of his wand, which he conveniently had in his hand, and the entire podium vanished. Malfoy had sent it back to the Quiet Room.
Now that they weren't below wooden planks, Hermione felt somewhat refreshed. Malfoy stood up and lent her a hand, which she took and stood up.
'Thank you,' she said, and not just about the lending of hand, obviously.
'Don't mention it,' replied Malfoy, smiling. He then turned and began making things disappear, ending the display with making all the rubbish fly towards the humongous garbage recepticals stored at the back of the school.
'Hmm,' said Hermione, watching. 'I can see I've taught you well.'
Hermione had, under a fit of desparation, crawled for it and taught Malfoy a whole bunch of cleaning spells. Mainly so she wouldn't be forced to clean up his messes any more.
'Indeed you have,' he replied.
At that moment, a noise was heard from the Great Hall. It sounded very much like the chinkings of knives hitting plates as people began to tuck into their meals.
'We should probably get inside,' said Hermione.
'Yeah, I guess we should,' Malfoy replied.
And with that the pair of them turned and walked into said hall, to the mild applause of their friends, as they separated and sat at their own house tables.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Phew! That was interesting to write, let me assure you. It's now the 16th December. . . :D
Did any of you yanks or brits see World Idol? Did you see our Idol, Guy Sebastian? Go the aussies! He rocks majorly. Well, if you did, vote Guy!
To comment me on my story, or to say that Guy rules . . . or even to say that he doesn't, come in and review! And if you haven't reviewed, review every chapter. The more reviews the merrier!
Hello everyone!!! OK, this one I'm starting on the 23rd December. Reviews, reviews . . .
*~*Amy (all 5 billion of them): thank you for boosting the number of reviews. I'm aiming for 50 reviews by the time I make chapter 12. I think it's kinda possible. You need to tell people how much my story rocks though. And I'll try and look out for typos. Hermione will live, I guarantee it. She does come close though, to . . . yeah. And Hermione we shall keep happy as much as possible, but you have to realise that Hermione is human and will get sad sometimes.
*~*ILUVRONWEASLEY: how reliable is your source on this dream thing? It's probably a myth. Secondly, they probably will. I have problems with using the name 'Draco' for some reason. I don't think it suits Hermione to call him that. . . I really don't. Thirdly, thank you. Same goes to you. I dunno what about the eight candles and nine days. I get candles because I like them. . . that's all.
*~*Bombshell: yes sir/m'am! I'm working on it. And yes, you are an inspiration. Hehe . . . as for free coffee, well I dunno.
Disclaimer: Look, you seriously no the drill. I'll add onto the things I own my remote controls for my TV, this thing of Spray and Wipe, and this glass that previously contained a mango smoothie.dessert. :D
Right, let's roll.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up next day feeling well rested. Lucky for her, because it was, indeed, Halloween, and hers and Malfoy's event in the carnival required full attention.
She got up, got dressed, inclusive of 2-inch platforms. Feeling suitably taller, the raced down to the Great Hall.
Quite a few people were there this Saturday morning. . . mainly, Hermione noticed, people running various events in the carnival. Hermione got an avalanche of people asking her things.
'I told you, Lewis' said Hermione to a hysterical 3rd year. 'Your part's over near the Great Lake. . . no, not IN it, NEAR it. Calm down. . . Hello Susie.'
'Hi Hermione. Do you know where Draco is? He said he was gonna help us 5th years with the Show bags stand. I haven't figured out how to get the roof over it yet. . .'
'I need to find him too. Don't worry. We'll find him.'
'All right. Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you, where did you get that scar on your cheek?'
Hermione blushed and covered the scar with her hand. 'I hit a tree about a month ago.'
Susie tutted. 'How'd you manage to do that.'
Hermione blushed even more. 'I was unconscious,' she replied. She hurried off then, leaving Susie standing there in total confusion.
Hermione sat down at the table and bit into some toast. Harry and Ron came over fairly soon and sat down next to her.
'Hello Hermione. This carnival thing had better be good.'
'It will be,' she reassured them. 'Particularly the thing Malfoy and I have lined up.'
'I must congratulate you,' commented Ron, 'On how well you two have managed to keep this secret. Even the prefects don't know about it. I suppose this room only you two are allowed into helps.'
'Having that room to yourselves and yourselves only kind of freaks me out,' said Harry. 'One boy and one girl alone in a room like that. And to think that many years ago it was my parents . . . '
Hermione narrowed her eyes. 'Harry, that is disgusting.'
Harry shrugged. 'Just an observation,' he said airily.
Hermione saw Malfoy out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be waving her over.
'Gotta go guys. See ya.'
Hermione ran over to where Malfoy was.
'Good morning.'
'Same to you. Have you gotten taller?'
'No. Shoes.' Hermione showed them to Malfoy.
'Ahh. . . the self-hating shoes.'
'What?' Hermione was confused.
'Nothing,' said Malfoy. 'Shouldn't we go and get things organised?'
'Yeah, sure,' said Hermione vaguely, still wondering what Malfoy found so wrong about her shoes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Outside in the school grounds, things were beginning to take shape. Several events were beginning to be magically laid out by 7th year helpers. Everyone running the stalls was running around, fetching this, finding that and conjuring up the other. The Heads stood before it, very proud of what the team had accomplished.
'Where's our thing meant to be?' asked Malfoy.
'Over there, in the centre,' replied Hermione.
'Right.'
The two of them walked over to the centre of the commotion. Several 2nd years were there, surveying the progress.
'Hey Bill, hey Tom,' Hermione greeted the pair of them. 'How's the food stand going?'
'It's nearly done,' replied Tom. 'We were wondering though, did you want those pumpkin pasties filled with clotted cream or orange jam?'
'Both, didn't we say?' Malfoy said, looking at Hermione. Hermione nodded. 'Yeah. . . that was it.'
'OK, thanks,' said the pair of them, running off.
'Kids,' said Malfoy, when they'd gone. 'You can't live with them, you can't live without them.' He began rolling up his sleeves.
'You're still a kid Malfoy. 17 isn't that old, you know.'
'Yes GRANGER, I know how old seventeen is,' Malfoy replied dramatically, beginning to brandish his wand. 'You ready?'
'Uhhuh,' Hermione replied, taking out her own wand and shaking her wrist.
'Fantastic,' said Malfoy. With that he pointed his wand at the school building. 'Accio Podium!'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Half an hour later, people began coming out of the Great Hall, ready to begin having a day at the Halloween carnival. A lot of people, however, before enjoying the day, chose to try and find out what the weird thing happening in the middle of the carnival was.
Hermione's voice, magnified, began speaking over everyone else's.
'Good morning everyone! Welcome to the first Hogwarts Halloween carnival, organised by your Heads, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. We expect plenty of gifts and applause. Now Draco, could you kindly give the students a basic introduction to the layout?'
'Certainly Hermione,' replied Draco, also with a magnified voice. 'If you follow the red sparks in the air, (Malfoy emitted several red sparks from his wand), we have the Foods stall, the drinks stall, the rides.and some rides! These 6th years have really gotten decked out here! We have 50 foot broom rides and whirl-around dragons . . . yes, the dragons were just conjured up by the amazing Ginny Weasley, I believe . . . and various other things that will make you feel dreadfully sick afterwards. Don't worry about that though. We have plenty of this rejuvination potion (he held up a bottle) available. OK, now we also have games . . . these 1st years are a smart bunch, let me say . . . show bags, Stalls . . . what else. . . '
'Err, Draco,' said Hermione. 'I think you forgot this little something on centre stage.'
'Oh yes!' cried Malfoy, admirably forcefully. Hermione admired his courage. It must be hard for him to sound this cheesy. 'Students of Hogwarts. Allow me to introduce Hogwarts first singing competition! Don't cringe at the thought of singing, believe me, this is fun. The rules are as follows. Hermione and I have several charms that will alter the sound of your voice in some way. Then you have to sing a song we suggest to you. Best-sounding ones get some very nifty prizes, including first dibs on dinner, and this Honeydukes pass, giving you around . . . what was it, Hermione?'
'20 Galleons?'
'Yes. 20 Galleons worth of free sweets. You gotta admit everyone, that sounds good. So come on, give it a whirl!'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The singing competition was a huge success. Everyone loved it. The effects the two Heads put on everyone's voices was incredible. The Echo effect was most people's favourite. They also had this great 'Shower' effect, which made the singer feel like they were singing in a shower. The shy people tended to quite like that one. Hermione, who was the guru of the songs, got a few people to rap. That was interesting. For some people, she put the double-tracking effect on their voices and got them to sing 60's music. Also very interesting, because it could sound quite realistic.
At around 5.00 in the evening, the carnival was drawing to a close. Hermione smiled at Malfoy. Now it was time for the finale.
'Anyone here raised by muggles?'
Almost all the school put up their hands, most of them being half-and-half or muggle-born. The pure bloods just kind of hummed. Harry, who had had a very good day, despite needing to take admirable amounts of rejuvination potion after 6 rides on Ginnys dragon, put up his hand in mild curiosity.
'OK then,' continued Hermione. 'Then you may have heard of the song 'We are the Champions'?'
A general chorus of 'yes' was heard from the crowd.
'Therefore,' Hermione yelled out. 'I propose this. We're going to put different effects on all your voices, and by the time the chorus of the song comes on, we want you all to sing. Could you all do this?'
Everyone seemed to utter murmurs of consent. Hermione stood up, therefore, as tall as she could, and yelled out 'Everything dai bois!' and everyone was issued with different voice effects.
'All right,' said Malfoy, sounding slightly distorted. 'Let's begin:
. . . and we'll go on and on and on and on,
We are the champions, my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting, till the end,
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No time for losers,
Coz we are the champions,
Of the world. . .
As everyone finished, a great applause issued throughout the entire school. Hermione and Malfoy looked at each other, and grinned out to everyone. It was truly a touching moment throughout the school.
'We now recommend,' said Malfoy, that everyone, including helpers in this event, go into the Great Hall for the commencing of the Halloween feast. We two Heads shall clean up here. Off you all go now!'
'Oh, wait,' said Hermione. She raised her wand high into the air. 'Finite Incantatem!'
Everyone's voices sounded normal again, and they made their way to the Great Hall. Pretty soon only Hermione and Malfoy were left.
'I think,' said Hermione, 'That was a great success.'
'Indeed it was,' Malfoy replied. His voice sounded slightly hoarse. He obviously wasn't use to talking so much. He stepped onto the podium, where Hermione was. 'So how do you intend to clean this up?'
Hermione looked at Malfoy strangely. 'The way I always have, and I taught you how to do it too-hey . . . do you hear that? Something's . . . creaking.'
'Creaking?'
'Yes.'
Then suddenly, Hermione realised
'Oh s**t! I lifted -'
Hermione was interrupted by the sound of wood collapsing, and the two Heads falling three metres to the ground. They landed with a thump on a mixture of ground and wood.
'-the magic holding up the podium.' Hermione finished, getting up to her feet.
'Ow,' said Malfoy, irritated. He'd landed rather badly, and his foot was twisted slightly awkwardly. 'Granger,' he said, looking up at the massive hole their weight had created on the podium. 'Were you thinking about the podium as you took away all the voice effects from the students?'
Hermione blushed. 'Err . . . sort of. I was thinking about how the spell I'd put on it was working really well . . . '
'Clever,' said Malfoy, somewhat nastily.
'Oh don't get crabby,' replied Hermione. 'I made a mistake.'
'A very stupid one,' Malfoy interjected. 'Honestly Granger. What if one of our classmates was on this podium?'
'Well they weren't were they?' snapped Hermione, irritated. 'It was us instead.'
'Honestly Granger,' said Malfoy, looking at her critically. 'I thought you were smarter then this. Surely you knew that anyone could have said 'Finite Incantatem' while looking at the platform, or whatever? I cannot believe you were so careless. Someone could have fallen . . . and indeed someone did fall. . . us! I cannot believe you -'
'Oh SHUT UP!' yelled Hermione. Malfoy turned to look at her then, and her face had gone very red. 'Stop patronising me. It was a mistake, OK? No wonder I couldn't stand you before this year . . . you're so unbearably . . . unbearable.' She stomped over to a corner (an admirable feat with those shoes on) and sat down, maintaining a still stuck-up air.
Malfoy looked at her, shaking his head. 'What's your problem Granger? You're acting like I've just told you you've ruined my life. Why are you taking it so personally?'
'I'm NOT!'
'Yes you are. You can also stand not getting so crabby. Honestly. What's the matter with you?'
Hermione just glared at him for a minute, still angry. 'I'm just under a lot of pressure at the moment. I've got this disease that's potentially fatal, hence I haven't been sleeping. The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of one of my best friends, and we currently seem to be losing, and my parents are insane and in St. Mungo's and I'm becoming really good friends with someone my other friends hate-'
'Yes Granger. I do understand what you're going through. But you need to calm down. Things will get better. The disease shall be cured, but you have to sleep. I'm sure Potter will, somehow, defeat this extremely powerful wizard via. Some lucky miracle (Hermione narrowed her eyes), your parents will get better eventually -'
'Well, actually, they're making progress according to the staff at St. Mungo's. . .'
'Exactly.'
There was a pause. Hermione began to rationalise. Maybe the situation she was in wasn't that bad. Didn't really forgive Malfoy for being so horrible about not having enough precaution over a podium though.
'As for becoming really good friends with me . . .' he continued slowly.
Hermione blushed an extraordinary shade of magenta. She must have been going hysterical, to have said that. It wasn't frankly something the person in question had to know.
' . . . well what can I say to that?'
Hermione smiled slightly 'Nothing, really.'
Malfoy smiled too. He went over to where she was and knelt down opposite her. Hermione looked up into his eyes. Cold, piercing eyes, studying her curiously. The eyes were very cold. . . or maybe not so much cold as critical. She wasn't sure. She was beginning to feel strangely hypnotised by them, when Malfoy broke the ice.
'Just let me assure you,' he said. 'That the feeling it mutual.'
With that, he gave a wave of his wand, which he conveniently had in his hand, and the entire podium vanished. Malfoy had sent it back to the Quiet Room.
Now that they weren't below wooden planks, Hermione felt somewhat refreshed. Malfoy stood up and lent her a hand, which she took and stood up.
'Thank you,' she said, and not just about the lending of hand, obviously.
'Don't mention it,' replied Malfoy, smiling. He then turned and began making things disappear, ending the display with making all the rubbish fly towards the humongous garbage recepticals stored at the back of the school.
'Hmm,' said Hermione, watching. 'I can see I've taught you well.'
Hermione had, under a fit of desparation, crawled for it and taught Malfoy a whole bunch of cleaning spells. Mainly so she wouldn't be forced to clean up his messes any more.
'Indeed you have,' he replied.
At that moment, a noise was heard from the Great Hall. It sounded very much like the chinkings of knives hitting plates as people began to tuck into their meals.
'We should probably get inside,' said Hermione.
'Yeah, I guess we should,' Malfoy replied.
And with that the pair of them turned and walked into said hall, to the mild applause of their friends, as they separated and sat at their own house tables.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Phew! That was interesting to write, let me assure you. It's now the 16th December. . . :D
Did any of you yanks or brits see World Idol? Did you see our Idol, Guy Sebastian? Go the aussies! He rocks majorly. Well, if you did, vote Guy!
To comment me on my story, or to say that Guy rules . . . or even to say that he doesn't, come in and review! And if you haven't reviewed, review every chapter. The more reviews the merrier!