Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my Ocs and the plot!
A/N:
Me: "Man! It took me a long time to write this one!"
Pansy: "Writer's blocks can be evil things!"
Me: "And then I had some technological problems.... At least now I have my own laptop with internet connection so I don't have to send the chapters for submitting to my friend anmore..."
Mione: "At least the chapter is really long!"
Me: "Yeah! Longest chapter up to now, and probably for some time! So much happens in here!"
Pansy: "No telling though, you guys have got to read it yourselves."
Mione: "We won't hold you up anymore, you've waited enough, just read!"
This chapter is dedicated to Lusiki who has been supporting me from the start, thanks for caring and for being one of the best friends in the world!
Chapter 8: Lions don't always roar, Snakes don't always bite
The long awaited Hogsmeade weekend had finally begun. It was Saturday morning and everybody was sitting in the Great Hall, enjoying their breakfast. Like every other day a swishing could be suddenly heard above their heads and dozens of owls flew into the room, carrying letters, packages or simply the Daily Prophet. When an owl had deposited Hermione's copy in front of her she immediately put her goblet down and opened it in the section for creative writing like she had been doing for the last four weeks, since that day in DADA....
Flashback....
The third day of school, Alex entered the classroom with a huge grin on her face, a package of papers tucked neatly under her left arm, she practically bounced down the stairs.
"I must say, I was already surprised that almost all of you handed a story in yesterday.... But I wasn't prepared for such a good artistic work from all of you! They were all really good.... Still, I must confess, the decision wasn't difficult...or rather, not too difficult. There were two stories which were really outstanding, but the ten points extra go to.... Pansy Parkinson! Great job Pansy!" she said, beaming at the young girl.
"Thanks!" she answered smiling, but, at the same time, blushing a little.
"Say Pansy, did you consider taking a career which involves writing, you could be a good reporter, you should also try to write a book though. If you do, you can be sure I'd be one of the first to read it."
"Do you really think I could become a writer?" Pansy asked, hope and happiness clearly audible in her voice. Alex nodded. Hermione was happy for her best friend, she had known for a long time of Pansy's passion for writing and had told her herself she would make a good writer. But somehow it is better to hear that from a teacher instead of your best friend.
"Another thing." Alex continued, "The other story I mentioned was written by Ron. The only bad thing it had was, that it was slightly out of the task. You wrote more of a horror comedy. A pretty good one, mind you, I was laughing so hard, I almost suffocated! You should also think of a writing career, such combinations between humour and horror are fun to read, especially for teenagers. I also have a proposition for the two of you, if you agree, I'd like to send both your stories to the Daily Prophet's section for creative writing with an explanation on how they came to be, perhaps they'll print them."
Ron and Pansy were excited and immediately agreed. Both went to send owls to their mothers as soon as they had some time. Mrs. Weasley had rapidly written back to congratulate her son, telling him how proud she was. She also commented on what a wonderful person Hermione's cousin seemed to be and that she would love to invite her for dinner sometime during the holidays. When Ron had told his teacher about it she laughed and said she would love to come, for after Hermione's stories she was dying to get to know the whole family. Pansy's mother was also very proud of her daughter, especially since she had been a reporter for the Daily Prophet herself before her marriage and had just been offered a job there again.
Two days later Alex had announced during class that she had received a letter from the Daily Prophet telling her that the stories had been accepted and would be printed sometime soon. Since then, Hermione looked every morning for them in her example.
End flashback
"Hey! It's here!" she shouted suddenly, placing the open newspaper in front of her red headed friend.
Grinning he took the paper from her and the whole group leaned over to him in order to have a closer look. Hermione meanwhile glanced to the Slytherin table and saw Pansy engrossed in hers. She seemed to notice her best friends eyes on her however, for she looked up and grinned at her. Hermione grinned back and gave her a thumbs up which the blonde returned before going back to her reading.
Soon afterwards the castle was swarming with activity, almost every student from third year on was busy preparing himself for the trip to the only entirely magical village in Great Britain. Only those who had been there very often and had to prepare themselves for upcoming exams stayed behind. These were mainly seventh years, but surprisingly not Hermione Granger, although she did have an exam the following week. Instead of staying behind together with Ron and Harry (Yes, Ron and Harry) and study (yes, study!) she and Pansy decided to walk together to Hogsmeade and visit Pansy's mother who would be awaiting them with her famous chocolate cake and some tee. Ginny and Luna, who both had no tests to prepare for, were invited to tag along with them.
"Really Hermione! You don't cease to surprise me this year. First you publicly embarrass Malfoy repeatedly and then you skip an opportunity to study in order to have some fun!" Ginny said ginning.
"Well, first, I already know the stuff by heart and second I want to see Joyce again. I wonder what she will say about today's Daily Prophet!"
Joyce Everett was Pansy's mother, after escaping from her husband she had changed her name back into her maiden name and they had also already changed Pansy's surname into Everett, only a week ago as the young girl didn't want to carry "that bastard's cursed name" as she had expressed herself in front of the members of the Law Enforcement Squad.
Laughing and chatting the four friends walked out of the castle and made their way into Hogsmeade, not noticing the many guy's glances following them, they were, after all, four of the most sought after girls in the whole school. Many of them had already tried to get a date with either Luna, Pansy or Hermione and the only reason they didn't ask Ginny was because she was Harry's girlfriend. The girls however had politely refused every date, excusing themselves with the amount of study they had to do. In reality however Luna and Pansy both already had crushes who hadn't asked them out and Hermione was just out of a relationship which had left her pretty down. Her ex, Jeremy Hilton, a Ravenclaw, had betrayed her with Cho Chang. Unluckily for him, Hermione had found out and broken up with him and his relationship with Cho hadn't lasted too long either for she had found out her problem to keep a relationship more than a month was due to the fact that guys weren't really her thing.... Now Jeremy was the fool of the school, much to Hermione's and her friend's amusement. Still she preferred not to go out with anyone until she got a good feeling about it.
Soon they had arrived at their destination and were knocking on the door of Pansy's new home. Not even five seconds later the door was swung open and a woman was embracing them tightly.
"Welcome my dears! I've been waiting for you impatiently! Come in, come in, the cake is waiting to be eaten!" she said without even catching a breath. Then she looked at Ginny and Luna. "You two must be Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, I'm so happy to finally meet you, Pansy talks so much about all of you...but where's the rest?"
"Learning for a Potions exam, Pansy and I already studied everything thoroughly and these two are a year below us and have no major exams next week." Hermione answered, grinning at the older woman's enthusiasm. Last time she had seen her, though friendly, Joyce Everett still was rather depressed as the memories of her marriage were still too fresh. The holidays and spending some time alone with her daughter however had transformed her completely and now she was radiant and somehow happy go lucky.
"Oh Pansy! Now that I think of it, congratulations on your story. I saw it printed today, it is really good, I'm so proud of you!" Joyce exclaimed suddenly, embracing her daughter tightly.
"Mum... can't.... breath!" Pansy said with difficulty, still smiling at her mother's outbreak though.
"Sorry honey, I was just so happy for you! And your friend Ron's story...it was hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing."
"Yes, it's really funny," Pansy agreed.
Ginny nodded, "I had no idea my brother was capable of such a thing. I'm really impressed!"
Ms. Everett laughed, "Well, now that that's clear, the cake and some hot chocolate is waiting for us, I thought that might be better than tea."
The five women went into the dining room and sat down around the beautifully decorated table, the four younger ones immediately attacking the cake.
"I'm glad you like it so much!" Pansy's mother said, her eyes blinking with joy.
They sat there for about two hours, talking animatedly about everything and nothing until it was time for Joyce to go back to the article she was currently writing.
"I'm sorry we can't spend more time together, but I have to finish this until tomorrow, I hope you are not upset with me."
"Not at all mum, don't worry!"
"Yes, we need to do some shopping anyway." Hermione chimed in.
"We promise to come next time we're here though." Luna said.
"Do that, and bring the others with you."
"All right, but I fear that if my brother is to come you'll have to make at least three cakes." Ginny warned their older friend.
After many hugs and goodbyes, the girls were on the road again. They decided to go to Gladrags first, they wanted to already buy their robes for the Christmas Ball, that way they wouldn't have the stress of doing so when every other girl attending was there. The three skimmed through each and every dress robe hanging in the store with occasional comments of "Look what a beautiful colour!", "Why should anyone wear this on their own will?!?", "Does this match with my hair?" or "What do you think Harry will say to this one?"
The latter was said by Ginny when she pulled out simple, yet elegant forest green, velvety robe which was cut in a way that would show her curves nicely without being to tight to breath in and had the neckline cut strategically so it would show skin without being slutty. Another plus was that the colour contrasted beautifully with Ginny's hair and would match with Harry's eyes.
"Seems good, try it on!" Luna encouraged her.
When Ginny stepped out of the dressing cabin a little later the girls gasped in amazement.
"That good?" the redhead asked, smiling shyly.
Hermione nodded, "That's the one! Harry will be knocked out when he sees you in that."
"Yep!" Pansy agreed, "All the girls will want to be you and, even more important, all the guys will want to be him when you two enter the Great Hall on December the 21st."
"Then I'll be keeping it." Ginny said grinning before retreating again into her cabin in order to change back into her normal clothes.
The next to find a dress was Hermione. Her silk robe was of a wonderful burgundy colour which brought out the brown of her hair and eyes, making both seem to shine. The sleeves were long, tight fitting from shoulders to elbows, then widening, flowing loosely around her arms. The half low neck had a square cut with golden embroidery along it, a decent eye catcher. The robe was tight fitting till under the breasts, then it flowed freely down her body, but still tight enough to show her nice figure.
Luna found satin robes which were royal blue on top, tight fitting till her waist and then turned night blue. The two parts were separated by a kind of thin, silver coloured belt. The tight fitting, long sleeves were of the same colour as the upper part of the dress, but made of a see through material. Lucky her, she immediately found matching shoes. A pair of beautiful silver sandals which were held by delicate straps, thin enough to look classy and broad enough not to cut into her feet.
Pansy finally settled for a pastel pink, velour dress robe which was pretty similar to Luna's. The difference was that hers was cut so that it had long sleeves but still was shoulder free. The belt was missing and the dress had only one colour but the skirt was wider and had three layers. The bottom layer was also of velour and of a dark pink colour, the middle layer was made of a see through material of a softer shape of pink and the top layer, also a soft see through material, was a light pastel pink of the same shade as the bodice.
When they were done with dresses they went for shoes as not everybody had had Luna's luck of finding them in the same store.
5 stores and 27 "trying ons"of shoes later the other three had found theirs. While Ginny and Hermione both had golden sandals (Hermione with high heels and Ginny without as she was quite tall anyway) and Pansy had got herself white ones, the three pairs pretty much in the same style as Luna's.
When they were done shopping they went to the Three Broomsticks were they already started to discuss how to do their hair and which make up to use ("You can never get started too early. Oh my god, I'm starting to sound like Lavender and Parvati! That's what six years of sharing a room do to you!"). Afterwards they bought some extra butterbeers to take for the guys and went to explore the other shops calmly.
When they finally headed back to the castle they were not only loaded with bags from Gladrads, Magical Feet, ShoeCharm, Apollo's and The Three Broomsticks, but also from Honeyduke's and Zonko's .
Meanwhile, Head Boy/Girl Common Room...
Draco Malfoy sat lazily on the couch reading a book. The title read "100 ways to frighten others by simply looking at them." In reality however it was only a cover for he was actually reading "Hogwarts: A History". Being seen with that, he felt, would do great harm to his Dumbledore-hating bad boy reputation and he didn't want that.
Meanwhile he wondered about Pansy Parkinson, how could a person change so much? In their first five years she had been a conceited bitch, harassing muggle borns, only preoccupied about her looks instead of her grades and clingy to him. Now she was best friends with mudblood Granger, spoke openly against Voldemort and didn't care what her housemates thought of her even though she had a pretty rough time whenever she went into the common room and was ignored during meals.
Even as it annoyed him, he had to confess that he admired her perseverance and her courage. He wasn't very fond of the dark lord himself, too afraid though about what others would say if he voiced his thoughts. Six years of attending school with Granger had shown him, that the theory of muggle borns being less worth than purebloods was utter crap. He could try as hard as he wanted, she would always be better than him in their exams, she had helped Potter defeat Voldemort countless times and she had friends which would do everything for her. He didn't know if his friends were with him because they really liked him, because he was a Malfoy and rich or worse, because they were afraid of his father. Sometimes he wondered what would really happen if he crossed to the light side, he still wasn't a Death Eater after all. Would they trust him? Would they think he was a spy for Voldemort? He remembered the difficulties Pansy had had at the beginning, only Granger had accepted her new self from the start, later convincing the others that she had really changed.
Potter and Weasley, he'd like to see their faces if he really decided to change sides. He knew for sure he wasn't the only one who doubted Voldemort's cause, he had seen Blaise Zabini's face whenever one of their housemates commented excitedly that they would soon be initiated in Voldemorts circle, he also had his doubts and his parents weren't Death Eaters themselves. That was a strong point of the Malfoys, they were observant, a fact which had helped him greatly in the past. He also knew Zabini had a crush on Pansy, which the boy himself would never admit, the reason probably being she had refused many dates with guys who didn't have the stamp "Future Death Eater" printed on them. That's why it wouldn't be long, Draco guessed, till he declared himself supporter of the light side.
His thoughts were interrupted when the entrance to the common room opened and Hermione, Pansy, Luna and Ginny walked in.
"You can leave the robes in my bedroom, then you won't have to show them to everybody, you won't even have to say you already have them!" Hermione said to her friends, opening the door to her bedroom from which Crookshanks emerged, meowing in protest.
"Sorry sweetie, did I leave you alone too long? I brought you some cat goodies!"
When he heard that the tomb cat was all friendly again and rubbed his head enthusiastically against his owner's leg.
The girls laughed and entered Hermione's room, loaded with bags from many different stores as Draco noticed. When they came out again they carried significantly less.
"Did you buy all of Hogsmeade?" Draco asked smirking.
"Oh, hello Malfoy! No we only did some major shopping, girl's speciality." Pansy said. Since she had turned her back on Voldemort she had started to call her housemates by the surname for she felt they weren't really her friends, plus, they also called her by her surname so there was no need to pretend.
"Let's go to the Gryffindor common room and bring the sweets and the stuff from Zonko's to the guys, they'll be waiting for it." Ginny said, trying to avoid the confrontation between Hermione and Draco which would undoubtedly start if they stayed much longer.
As soon as they had vanished through the portrait hole leading to the Gryffindor common room he continued reading, forgetting about his earlier inner musings.
For everybody who was interested, Alex had started a DADA club which would deepen the things covered in class and teach things which weren't on a normal schedule. Unofficially it was a chance to prepare the students for the upcoming war and a kind of second DA as the original had been forbidden. The good thing was, now a teacher was in charge and no one could say they were breaking school rules anymore. Harry had been declared Alex' official assistant in tutoring the group which consisted mainly of the students who had been in the DA (except those who had already graduated) and a few new ones, like Pansy. Every Wednesday afternoon at five o'clock the group met outside the Room of Requirement.
The Wednesday before the Quidditch match the club got a new member.
When Alex arrived in front of the Room of Requirement one Blaise Zabini was walking beside her and she was grinning sheepishly at the waiting crowd.
"Hello everybody! I hope you don't mind Blaise joining in on the fun?"
"I sure as hell don't...." Pansy thought, Blaise was, after all, her secret crush about whom only Mione, Luna and Ginny knew.
"Of course not!" her best friend said, knowing exactly what Pansy was thinking, "The more people, the better. So, welcome in our group Blaise!"
The others also welcomed him warmly for everybody knew that if you joined the club you were officially against Voldemort, also, as no secrets were discussed there, it wouldn't help coming in as a spy.
Alex, having noticed Pansy's and Blaise's interest in each other put them together for the training of the new curses and protection charms, this time they would learn how to create a magic shield which was strong enough to protect them from more powerful hexes (of course there still wasn't any protection form Avada Kedavra).
"Well, that's it for today. You did great! I think we have this covered, next week we'll train how to fight the Imperius curse, Harry is the only one who can do this without much difficulty and being able to is very important. That's why I got a special allowance from the Ministry to use it so we can practice. OK, now go and have fun, play pranks, do whatever you want, just give your brains a rest from all the information they were fed today in class. That is of course if you already did your homework.... That reminds me I have some first year exams left to grade, see you tomorrow everybody!"
While Ginny and Luna walked off together in order to do their homework, Pansy and Hermione went to the latter's common room in order to revise their Potions essay which was due the next day.
"I'm so happy Blaise joined us!" Pansy exclaimed as they walked through the portrait after telling Arianne about their class (she had been DADA teacher in her lifetime, so she was interested).
"Yeah, who knows, perhaps now he'll ask you out! You just keep smiling at him like you did today and he'll be claimed first human street light of history, I've never seen anybody blush so badly, not even Ginny when she started with her crush on Harry!"
"Really?" Pansy asked hopefully.
Hermione laughed and opened the door to her bedroom in front of which they had meanwhile arrived, "Really!"
Neither of them had noticed Draco who was again siting on the couch, reading a book, this time it was "Quidditch through the ages" covering up for "Hamlet", he didn't want anyone to see him enjoying muggle literature, now did he?
"Now that was interesting!" he thought, "So Pansy likes Blaise, too... and he finally joined the light side. It will only be a matter of time until those two hook up. Well, I wish him luck! Who knows, if everything goes right for him I'll join the light side, too. There's no sense in supporting something you don't believe in, especially if it's shown to the world in a manner you detest like killing and torturing people.... It would also be worth alone for seeing the Griffindor's reactions if I turn out to be good!" he smirked at the thought, "Yeah, it's worth thinking it over..."
Word spread pretty quickly that Blaise had joined the light side, or that he was a traitor as some of the Slytherins saw it. He didn't mind very much though for now he sat beside Pany during meals and four or five other supporters of the light side, but that wasn't so important.
The rest of the week passed by pretty fast and soon it was Saturday morning, the Quidditch match would start at ten o'clock, it was 8.30 am when Harry and the rest of the house team came down for breakfast, Hermione was already there.
The weather was fabulous, the sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue and no wind blew, ideal conditions for a Quidditch match. At 9.15 the team left to discuss their strategy and Hermione went to her common room in order to read, at least today she would be sure to find it empty. While walking there she thought it was a shame that she had to wait for a Quidditch match in order to have peace in her own common room, she decided to ask Arianne what she thought about it.
The young woman debated the question for a moment and then said, "I think you should make a truce with Draco, you have to live closely together and if you are constantly arguing it would spoil your last year here big time! And that would be a real shame!"
"I don't know, what if he doesn't accept the truce?"
"I don't think he won't, he may appear to be cold but I think there's more to him than he shows. He somewhat reminds me of.... Never mind, that's not so important!"
Hermione was going to ask whom Draco reminded her of when she saw the sad expression in her eyes, the same they had held when she first saw her, however Ariannne covered it up quickly and, smiling, she added, "And if I'm wrong and he does refuse, he's not worth of you getting a headache over this whole situation, just ignore him. That might piss him off at first and he'll try desperately to annoy you but after some time he'll eventually let it be and you'll have the piece you desire."
"Thanks Ari, I'll try the truce, just like you I have a feeling deep inside me that Malfoy might be jerk, but not really evil at least not on Death Eater level!"
Instead of going into her common room to read like she had intended to do, she stayed talking with Ariannne until 9.45 and then left for the Quidditch pitch with Arianne shouting after her to give her old house team her support from her (she'd been a Gryffindor, too as she had told Hermione during their conversation).
The Quidditch team had gone through quite some changes since Harry's first year. Wood had graduated when Harry was in third year, during their fourth year there had been no Quidditch because of the Triwizard Tournament and in fifth year Angelina had become their Captain and Harry, Fred and George had got a life ban from Quidditch because of... a certain incident. Of course the ban had been lifted as soon as Fudge heard about Umbridge's plot to silence Harry, he had been "shocked". In their sixth year Harry had been made Quidditch captain and visibly enjoyed his job. The first thing to do had been forming a new team, after all their three Chasers along with the two Beaters had graduated or partly dramatically left school in a way which would never be forgotten among Hogwarts students. The new team consisted of Ginny, Dennis Creevey and a fourth year student called Caroline Smith as Chasers and Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas as Beaters. Colin Creevey had taken over the job of commenting on the matches since Lee Jordan had also graduated.
Now the team came walking into the field to meet their adversaries, Hermione already crossing her fingers for them.
"Captains, please shake hands!" McGonagall said.
The boys complied, even though they made disgusted faces and the actual shaking lasted only about two seconds, quite an accomplishment thinking about their history together!
"OK now, teams. Mount your brooms!" she said and released the Snitch, the Bludgers and the Quaffle.
"And off they go!" Colin shouted excitedly "Weasley immediately takes possession of the Quaffle and starts towards the goal hoops... Ouch, that was close, good job on the side of Thomas, that Bludger would have hit her head!.... There, she throws the Quaffle aaaaaaaand..... YES that's ten points for Gryffindor! Now the Quaffle is in possession of Slytherin, Stevenson flies over to the Gryffindor side, Finnigan hits the Bludger... Stevenson can dodge it, he passes the Quaffle to Greene... he tosses it.... Weasley can stop it! I swear that guy's a wall. Wood would have been proud of him! Slytherin have the Quaffle again, there, Carter is hit by the Bludger and drops it, good job Finnigan! .... I'm not being subjective professor, I'm just stating the facts... Smith has the Quaffle, she passes it to Weasley who passes it back, they are throwing it to each other so rapidly I can barely see it...wait a minute! Smith tosses and YESSSSSS another ten points for Gryffindor, they're leading twenty to zero!!!!"
Meanwhile Harry and Draco were circling over the Quidditch pitch, listening to Colin's comments and at the same time looking out for the Snitch.
"Great!" Draco thought gloomily, "Ten minutes into the game and Gryffindor is already in the lead! Why am I punished with such idiots as team members?"
"Ahem," a little voice in the back of his head said, "You elected them for the team, you are the captain, what does that say about your intelligence?"
"Oh, shut up! Will you?"
"Try to make me! I'm you, remember?"
"Man! I didn't know I could be so.... Annoying!"
"Ask Potter and his friends, they will be able to tell you just how annoying you are!"
"Haha! Very funny!"
"Instead of arguing with me... or rather with yourself, you should pay more attention to the match and finding the Snitch!"
"Hey, you started this in the first place!"
"Maybe, but I already said that I am you, so you started it, ha!"
"OK, no more inner arguments for me, that's just too weird!" the blonde decided. When he directed his attention back to the match he found that meanwhile the score was 60:10 for Gryffindor. He sighed, "Well, at least we made one goal."
The game was fast and exciting. Slytherin managed to score two more goals, both times Ron had been too occupied saving his head from a Bludger to prevent it, no surprise there, Slytherin not playing dirty would have been a shocker. Even so, Gryffindor had scored much more than Slytherin and were in the lead, 110: 30
Suddenly Draco caught movement from the corner of his eye, he turned his head to see Harry diving full speed towards the ground. Was this the real thing or just a feint? Deciding to play it safe the Slytherin captain followed, putting all his energy on catching up with his raven haired opponent while searching frantically for the glimmer of gold which would tell them were the Snitch was. Just when he was thinking that it might not be there at all Harry pulled up again, just a few inches above the ground. Draco had just time to register that there was no Snitch in his hand whatsoever before forcefully pulling himself up and almost not managing it. Much to his displeasure he had to admit to himself that "Potter" had been nearer to the ground when he had pulled his broom up and hadn't even had half as much trouble with doing so. (A/N: No offence here, Draco is one of my favourite characters, more than Harry, but let's face the truth, the latter is a way better flyer).
Hermione had been sitting in the crowd, awaiting with fear the moment Harry would do the Wronski Feint. He had been practising it all of last year and had decided that this game was the ideal occasion to pull it off in an actual game, one of the benefits would be pissing Malfoy off. Hermione had seen him do the trick perfectly many times, but she was afraid every time again and that had only been in training sessions, this was a real match, who knew what could happen! When she saw him dive for the non existent Snitch she held her breath and her heartbeat quickened, in all the excitement she still managed to notice that his trick had worked, Malfoy was right behind him. The two captains neared the ground at top speed, they came nearer, nearer, nearer... just when Hermione thought that her friend would collide with the ground and his brains and intestines would decorate the Quidditch field (she had been watching a lot of horror movies over the summer) he pulled his broom up with an astounding ease which made her wonder if he had an army of guardian angels flying with him. She let out the breath she had been holding and observed how Malfoy pulled his broom up at a higher distance from the ground and with more difficulty than Harry. He almost didn't make it and Hermione was surprised that, when he threatened to lose control she was preoccupied.
"Well," she thought, "I guess that's due to my earlier conversation with Arianne, after all, I really don't think he is truly evil. Let's see how this truce thing works out!"
She hadn't even completely finished her thought when Harry dived again, Mione noticed the determination on his face and knew, this time it was for real. Following his gaze she also spotted the little golden ball about two meters above the ground, right from the Gryffindor goal hoops. Malfoy was a few inches behind him, but he didn't make it on time. When Harry's fingers closed over the Snitch a big grin appeared on his face and he pulled up, the fluttery orb clutched tightly in his hand. Soon he found himself engulfed by six red blurs in an equally tight hug. When they pulled away he motioned Ginny near and kissed her passionately, well as passionately as possible with both of them on different brooms and hovering about thirty feet above the ground... The whole Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw student body cheered and whistled, along with some of the "traitors" (Blaise, Pansy...)
The young Head Girl immediately ran down to the Quidditch pitch in order to congratulate her friends, passing a very gloomy looking Slytherin Quidditch team on her way there.
"Guys that was awesome!" she exclaimed when she arrived at their side. After she had hugged each of her friends tightly they went to the Gryffindor common room in order to party like there was no tomorrow as Ron put it.
About an hour before dinner Hermione entered the Head common room, still grinning from the happy mood at the party she had just left.
"Hey Malfoy!" she cheerfully greeted the boy who was sitting by the fire and, judging from the look on his face, in just the opposite mood she was in.
He looked at her darkly and said with a voice matching his gaze, "Just get it over and done Granger!"
A puzzled look appeared on Hermione's pretty face, "What are you on about Malfoy?" she asked quizzically.
"You know very well what I'm talking about, all those funny comments you had in mind about how I'm a lousy Quidditch player, all the taunting about the match today!"
"So he thought I was going to make fun of him.... Well, he obviously doesn't know me at all, I don't taunt a person who is so visibly down," she thought. Out loud she said, "Well Malfoy, you got that pretty wrong, I'm not here to make fun of you. And you aren't a lousy Quidditch player!"
When she noticed the surprised look on his face she shrugged, "What? It's true! You are probably the second best flyer in this school, Harry's just a natural born talent, at this level he's probably even better than Victor... I mean Krum."
"You might be right," the blonde answered slowly, still not getting the fact that she wasn't making fun of him and had even sort of complimented him, "But I still don't get why you aren't making fun of me, you are a Gryffindor after all!"
"That's true, but Quidditch isn't so important for me, I'm happy for my friends because it means a lot to them, but that's all. Besides, I'm sick of all this arguing, at the beginning it was fun, but it's getting tiring, especially since we're sharing the same living space. That's why I wanted to propose a truce. We can still call each other by the surname, but let's just leave insults, hexes and taunts aside. After all we are supposed to be an example for the younger students. So, what do you say?"
Draco meditated her words. Hadn't he been thinking about joining the light side anyway? This truce could be a first step to do so. Being on normal speaking terms with Granger didn't seem to bad either, she was smart and would be a good partner for intellectual conversation, at the moment his only speaking partners were Crabbe and Goyle and the only themes they knew were food, meals, food, lunch... you get the picture. Finally he nodded.
"Yes, I think that's a good idea, I'm tired of all this arguments myself. Still, I'm surprised that you proposed it, I always thought Gryffindors would never even dream about being polite to Slytherins!"
"Well," Hermione said grinning, "Lions don't always roar you know? But I thought a Slytherin would never agree on a truce with a Gryffindor."
He grinned back at her, it felt weird but in a good way, "Snakes don't always bite either Granger. Truce?" he said holding out his hand.
"Truce!" she agreed shaking it.
"Yahooooooooo!" came Arianne's voice from outside the common room. Hermione laughed.
"What's up with Arianne?" Draco asked her confused.
"Well, I talked to her about all this truce thing before the match, it was her idea actually, I was just wondering about the difficulty of us sharing this common room and asked her for her opinion. I must say her idea was great."
The blonde nodded, "For once I agree with you."
"If you excuse me now, I have to get ready for dinner!" Hermione said walking to her room, "See you later Malfoy!"
"Later Granger."
When she closed the door behind her, closed, not slammed like she usually did after their conversations, Malfoy leaned back in the couch and continued staring at the fire, his mood was considerably better though.
Me: "That was it! Did you like it?"
Mione indignantly: "I still can't believe you made me compliment Malfoy!"
Draco grinning smugly: "Come on Granger, just confess that you want me!"
Pansy whacks Draco over the head
Me: "Malfoy! Where did you come from?"
Draco dryly: "Disneyland."
Mione sarcastically: "Ha, ha, Malfoy, I'm laughing my head off!"
Draco glares at Hermione: "Shut up Mudbl..." shuts up and ducks under table when pierced by fierce glare of the three girls
Me: "You should be nicer to Mione Draco, after all she'll be your girlfriend in this fic!"
Draco horrified: "What? Are you nuts you crazy muggle woman? You can't do that!"
Me rising eyebrows: "No? And why if I may ask?"
Draco arrogantly: "Cause I'm the great Draco Malfoy and my blood is of the purest in the wizarding world. You are just a muggle."
Me grinning at the sight of Pansy and Mione mimicking Draco behind his back: "Well, you're right, but I'm also the author grins evilly and that means I can make you do what I want! Even turn gay and snog Harry or Ron or.... frighteningly evil grin Snape! So you better be nice to Mione!"
Draco nervous: "Hehe, Mione, did I ever tell just how much I like and respect you?"
Mione amused: "No, never! Tell me!"
Draco sighs in defeat and begins some speech
Me: "Well that was all for this time! We'll leave now so Draco can tell Hermione what he has to tell her!"
Pansy: "See you next time!"
Mione diverting her attention from Draco: "And don't forget the inquiry about Crabbe and Goyle, Winterbreath here got only one answer."
Draco confused: "Crabbe and Goyle? What's with them?"
Me sheepishly: "I want to know just how much hotter than you the readers think the two are!"
Draco shocked: "What? looking at Hermione and Pansy: "Really?"
Mione laughing: "Of course not you twit, just read the final authors note of last chapter and you'll find out what it is about."
Me: "And now, goodbye for real!"
Mione, Pansy, Draco: "Goodbye!"
Readers muttering: "Thank god!"
Answers o your reviews:
Lark227: Thanks for your review! I'm glad you like the story, hope you find this chapter good, too!
Cassie and Cutie: Well, that's my sense of humour and not everybody has the same, if you don't like my story, read another!
Phi-cong: I hope you like the story so far and that this chapter reached you, I'll send it to you by mail like the ones before.
Dracosgurl-chrissy: Thanks for answering to my Crabbe and Goyle question. Don't worry, if I ever stop writing (which I don't intend to do) I'll post an author's note saying so! Sorry for the long wait anyway!
Lady Jupiter-Thunder: hands you a silver Tibbelupp with green stripes My readers get what they want (as far as possible). I hope you like the new chapter as much as the last one!
KeWIGaL9tH: Well this isn't exactly soon... but I updated! I'm glad you love the fic!
Lymaris: Thanks for your review! Good to hear that you find it funny. I must be doing something right then! winks
Lusiki: My friend my sister in the soul... Love you very much, thanks for the help with all the chapters and thanks for your reviews, couldn't have done it without you!