Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything J.K Rowling thought up, all I own is the plot.
Chapter four: Telling off Malfoy
"Good afternoon class. Today I'd like to talk about the Sticking charm. It enables you to make the ground, or any other surface, sticky. This is such a powerful charm that it is very hard to move anything that got stuck to that surface. Now please repeat after me. 'Locomotor Impedus.'"
The class chimed the spell.
Flitwick smiled. "Good, good. Now please pair up in two's. Now I want the first people to walk up to the second. The second one's, raise your wand at the ground in front of the person walking up to you and say the spell. If your opponent can not move, you have successfully mastered this charm."
There was a bustling about in the class for a moment or two.
"Right, now go to the opposite ends of the classroom."
Another moment of bustling.
"Everyone ready? Right. Go ahead– what is it mister Weasley?"
Ron put his hand down. "I have no one to pair up with, professor."
"Of course you do. This class has an even number. Where's mister Potter?"
Harry raised his hand. "I'm over here sir. I paired up with Hermione."
Professor Flitwick seemed a little surprised by this sudden change in pairs. "Oh…well…who does miss Granger normally pair up with? Where's mister Longbottom?"
Everyone looked around, but Neville wasn't there. Hermione motioned Ron to come over to her.
"Ron, you pair up with Harry. I'll go look for Neville." She raised her hand. "Professor? Can I go look for him?"
"Yes, yes. Do that miss Granger."
She took her book bag and left the classroom. Why wasn't Neville in class? Neville was always in class. He was an eager student, even though he wasn't a very good one.
'Hermione! You can't think like that.' She thought angrily.
She looked at her watch. It was nearly time for her next lesson and she really didn't want to miss her first Muggle Studies lesson of the year. Today they would be talking about the internet. She couldn't wait to see the faces of all those kids.
Suddenly she stopped. She turned around and took a few steps back. Behind a door, a classroom door, she heard voices. By the look of the dusty number above the door, this room hadn't been used for a while.
She listened closer. The voices were those of Neville and Malfoy, no doubt about that.
'Did Malfoy push him in there? Oh, he's so dead! If he hurt Neville like last time…'
"Listen, I don't have time to listen to your worthless babble."
"Well, you'd better listen to me. Because I know-"
"You know nothing Malfoy! Now get out of my face, because you are wasting my time."
The door opened with a jerk and Hermione stumbled backwards. Malfoy came out and looked pale at the sight of her.
"Granger"
She didn't say anything and he used her speechlessness to escape silently. Hermione stared inside unbelievingly.
"Neville!" she squealed. "Neville, I'm so proud of you! Are you okay? You just told Malfoy off!"
She hugged him.
"You just told Malfoy off." She repeated as she let go of him.
"I- I was just-"
"What happened? Did he push you inside to make more fun of you?"
"I- I-" he stuttered. "I bumped into him on my way to Charms. He started…to talk to me…I- What you just heard…I didn't want him to…to make fun of me or my parents anymore."
"Did he do that again? Oh Neville, I swear…He'll pay for that someday. But you handled him yourself! See? I told you, you could do more than you think."
The bell rang, making them both look up.
"Hey…what were you doing here anyway? Class wasn't over…did you skip Charms?"
"No, professor Flitwick told me to go look for you. Well, actually I offered to do look for you but-"
"I'll be late for my next class, sorry Hermione. But I hate being late for Divination. That centaur means well, but he scares me."
"Oh…" she said. "Well, okay. I guess I'll see you at the library tonight. Eight 'o clock?"
"Make it nine."
She nodded. "Sure. See you then."
-
Hermione yawned and stretched out in her comfortable chair.
"What's the time?" she asked.
Ron looked up at the clock. "Ten to nine."
"Why, have you got a date?" Harry asked grinning.
Hermione got to her feet. "Something like that. I'm supposed to meet Neville at the library at nine."
Harry raised his eyebrow. "Neville? You're meeting Neville at the library?"
She nodded. "It's just a study thing. He asked my help and I agreed to tutor him for a bit.
"…Oh…"
"Listen Harry, you've got nothing to worry about, okay? I'm with you. You, not Neville."
She put her book on the table and stuffed her wand in her pocket. She kissed Harry and gave him another reassuring look.
"I'll see you two tomorrow. I have no idea how long this is going to take."
"Alright. Good luck Hermione." Ron said.
"Yeah, good look." Harry said with a smile. "See you tomorrow."
She left the common room with a last wave to her friends. The Fat Lady in the portrait hole gave her a strange look. "Where are you going this time of night?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored the question. She continued through the corridors, shivering as a cold draft of air passed her by. She pulled her cloak around her a bit tighter and walked down the stairs. She looked around when she thought she head someone.
"Is anyone there?"
Suddenly the swish of a cloak made her jump.
"Well, well Granger. Out on a little stroll? Meeting up with Potter? I'm sure you two like to leave the weasel behind sometimes. But, living in that small shack they call a house, all cramped up together, he's just not used to being alone. I'm sure he doesn't understand the meaning of the word."
"Oh shove it Malfoy." She said tiredly.
He had scared her and she didn't like being scared like that.
"So what are you doing here? You know I could report this to Snape. He'd love to dock some more points for you and Potter, sneaking about at night."
"Well what about you then, Malfoy? You're up and about too, you know. Don't you think Snape'll find that a bit odd?"
Malfoy just grinned. "Do you really think he'd rather take points from his own House than from yours? You really are a strange person."
Hermione opened her mouth to say something back, but she snapped around.
"…Did you hear that?"
Malfoy shrugged. "Hear what?"
"Footsteps."
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She shrieked and snapped back.
"Whoa! Don't scream Hermione! You'll wake someone." Neville hissed.
Hermione sighed. "It's you…you scared me Neville."
"Oh…sorry. Are you okay?"
She nodded. She turned around to continue her walk towards the library when she found herself staring into Malfoy's face. He was gloating.
"You were meeting him? Longbottom? Does Potter know about this, or are you going behind his back? Oh, this is just too much."
He started to laugh. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Oh, grow up Malfoy. I'm just going to help Neville with his Charms homework. And don't you dare gloat because Merlin knows you need help too."
Malfoy stopped laughing. "You'll regret that one, Granger."
She smirked. "Oh, I don't think I will. Honestly, what can you do to me that is really that bad? Come on Neville, I don't want to take too long. I'm tired so let's get this done."
He nodded and together they went on to the library. When they sat down, she opened a book she had hidden in her cloak.
"Read this chapter here first, then I'll help you."
He nodded, but didn't take the book. "…You handled Malfoy pretty well back there."
"He's not all that special, you know. You get used to his remarks and after a while you grow immune. In fact, I think I'm getting rather good at countering them."
He nodded silently. She shoved the book towards him and he took it.
"Just read the first chapter."
He started to read. Hermione watched him for a minute. Then she took out some parchment and began to draw symbols on it. Neville watched her from the corner of his eyes.
When she looked at him with a smile, he returned to his book again.
-
"Was it a long night? You look exhausted."
Hermione nodded and let her head lean on Harry's shoulder.
"Did it work out? Did he get better?" he asked as he caressed her cheek.
She nodded. "Yeah…but I have to go again tonight."
"Again?" Harry asked unbelievingly.
She nodded. "I'm really sorry, Harry. But he's making good progress and I want him to hold on to that."
"But you were only going to tutor him for a bit!"
"And it will only be a few more times. He'll be ready in no time."
Ron shook his head. "You have to think about your own life too, you know. You need to relax and unwind. And if you don't do it for yourself, then do it for me."
Her head popped up from Harry's shoulder. "What do you mean?"
"Listen, if you're gone all evening, then I have to listen to him all evening telling me how much he misses you."
She blushed and looked at Harry. "You really miss me that much?"
His face went red. "Well, yeah, of course I do."
"Aw, that's so sweet." She pecked his cheek, causing him to grin like an idiot again.
Ron started to laugh and Harry and Hermione soon followed.
"You know what, you guys are right. I'm taking tomorrow night off."
Harry smiled and pecked her cheek. "Good. That's settled. I am going to force you to relax, okay?"
She beamed. "Deal."
Lavender and Parvati joined them at the table.
"Have you seen this?" Parvati asked as she passed them a small flyer.
"What's that?" Ron asked eagerly as he peeked over Hermione's shoulder. Hermione read it out loud.
"Halloween Ball. A time of celebration should be celebrated. So let's celebrate Halloween with the Weird Sisters in the Great Hall! Dress code: Dressrobes."
She looked up. Parvati and Lavender were beaming.
"Doesn't that sound fun?"
Ron shook his head. "No. Remember what we had to g through two years ago, Harry? That was awful."
Harry laughed. "Only this time I already have a date."
He put his arm around Hermione's shoulder and pulled her closer to him. Ron looked away, grinning. Parvati jumped up as Seamus passed the table.
"Hey Seamus, wait up…have you heard about Halloween?"
Everyone laughed as they watched Parvati follow Seamus.
"So Ron…you're next." Hermione said with a smile.
Ron smiled back. He leaned over on the table and gave Lavender an over exaggerated sweet smile. "Say Lavender. How about it? Fancy going to the ball with me?"
Lavender laughed. "What happened to your shyness about stuff like this? You sound like Fred…"
He shrugged. "Well, how about it?"
He gave her another sweet smile and this time he threw in his puppy dog eyes.
"Alright!" She said a giggle. "Sure, that's fine."
Ron smiled normally this time. "Woohoo! I got a date!"
Lavender shook her head and stood up, suppressing a giggle. Hermione quickly followed her example.
"Lav, wait."
She turned around and looked at the boys. "You two, stay behind another minute. It's time for girl-talk."
Harry and Ron pretended to shudder with horror.
She ran after Lavender. "So…now I think it's time for you to confess something to me."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Hermione tutted and linked her arm in Lavender's. "Come on…you can tell me if you like Ron."
Suddenly Lavender started to laugh heartily. "Oh Merlin, that's what you think?" she laughed again. "Really, I don't like Ron, not the way you think."
"But you accepted his invitation!"
Lavender put her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Hermione, I'm going to say something that you yourself must've said a thousand times or more: We're just friends."
Hermione opened her mouth, but she knew she couldn't say anything. Because she'd had to repeat that sentence over and over again throughout the years. But still she felt she had to say something.
"Hmm, good answer, Lavender. Nice and normal, vague and dodging yet giving me no room to comment because I said it loads of times myself."
Lavender smiled. "Exactly! I thought that one was rather good. But seriously. Ron and I are just friends."
"Uhuh."
"Really!"
"Sure."
"Hermione!"
Ah, another chapter done. I'm sorry it took me this long raises fist and curses school but I had to prepare a mathematics oral exam and I had completely forgooten about it and there were loads of things I had to do besides that. So, here at last, chapter nr. 4.
Emma Barrows: I've started reading Ominix and it sounds good! I'll be checking that story out frequently, I promise! I'm glad you like this story and I hope you'll read it till the end.
Dark Angel's Blue Fire: I'm glad you like it! And it will become even more interesting further on. Just wait till they get to the Halloween ball and as for Christmas… I'm going to be mean here and keep all these little secrets to myself. You'll find out in due time.
I promise to update the next chapter a bit sooner than I did this one. And I hope to hear from all of you again!
Raven55