AN: Thank you Cindy Vortex, bookwarmJ, XWickedGirlX (nice name!) and guardgirl07! If it weren't for your support and encouragement, the next chapter wouldn't be up so soon!
2nd chapter
To confront, or not to… Draco pondered frantically.
Not to. A small voice inside Draco told him. You wouldn't want Mudblood to know that you're hearing her despicable voice inside you now, would you?
Satisfied with this decision, Draco resumed eating.
Curiously, he stole a glance at Hermione- was she aware that he owed her his life?
She was glaring at him, ignoring some story Pothead was telling at her. The second she realized that he was returning her stare she quickly turned away.
Too late to pretend that didn't have all eyes for me just now, Granger! A strong glorious wave thought boasted. Better not let me catch your dirty muggle eyes on me again!
Hermione suddenly gasped, causing her friends to gape at her. She was eyeing Draco with shock, with something similar to realization dawning in on her. He didn't understand what was going on; neither did her friends, apparently.
"What wrong, Hermione?" Draco overheard Ron ask her, very concerned, and following her gaze towards the Slimy Slytherin suspiciously.
"Must be something she ate," Ginny added obliviously, wrinkling her nose. "Did they put salt onto these blueberry waffles instead of sugar? Made me want to barf the second I bit into one!"
"Yes, Ginny you're correct." Hermione said too quickly, pulling the plate of waffles away from her. "It tasted so awful I think it's making me nauseous. Don't touch them boys!"
"Well eat those scrumptious trumpets instead," Harry said, offering her some.
"Thanks Harry. But I'm put off eating now. I'll see you tomorrow. I've got an early Head Student/Prefect meeting tomorrow morning. Goodnight!"
Ron didn't feel it necessary to chip in that they didn't have any such meeting so soon. He was Prefect after all, so he would know. His eyes trailed after Hermione with curiosity.
Draco, meanwhile, acknowledged the event that took place before his eyes indifferently. He was imagining how his parents would react to the news that he was made Head Boy…
His mother's proud face vanished and was replaced by an irritating voice. Granger's voice, yet again.
"I heard you clearly, Ferret, ordering me not to make you catch me staring at you again. Like that's such an extraordinary request. If you can hear this, it would present a problem. You would do well to meet me at the Head's Lounge. The password's 'Butterbeer fingers'. I'm waiting."
Draco was full of chills. His foot lay ungrounded in his mouth. This was bizarre. He was insane. He'll go to the Head Lounge, not find Granger there; because this voice he just heard was purely made up. Then he could escape from this hellhole and spend the rest of his days with a Shrink instead.
He felt his feet leave the Great Hall, dragging his body along with him. This can't be happening. Why Granger? Of all people, why her?
He stood motionless before the portrait at the Head Quarters for a few minutes.
What if the password he was told was valid? It would certainly mean that… well, there was one way to know for sure.
"Butterbeer fingers," he drawled lazily.
"In you go." The portrait said, admitting him in.
He stepped in, feeling miserable. There was Granger, standing before him with her hands on her hips. Her presence made his heart skip a beat, and it wasn't due to hormones!
"So…" she said, "you got my message?"
"Of course I got your message," he said rudely, "why else would I be here?"
"Could be coincidentally." Hermione said in a soft voice.
Must she answer every question, even the rhetorical ones? He thought bitterly and furiously.
"It cannot be helped." She replied, as if having a perfectly normal conversation. "You can't keep the bees from creating honey. You can't keep the sun from rising every morning. Same way, you can't keep me from answering a question, especially those directed at me, so long as I know the answer."
Draco ignored her and the awkward situation they were in for a minute and looked around. The Head's Lounge was magnificent. Half the walls showed animated pictures of green silver-spotted snakes coiling around golden lions with scarlet manes. The serpents were strangling the lions despite their attempts to defy.
The other half showed the lions beheading the serpents with claws, otherwise biting it off.
He warily plumped onto a couch before him. "Well I want an answer from you now: why are we like this? What's with the mobile/MSN instant messaging thing?"
Too late. His words slipped out before he could stop them. Hermione was gaping at him with shock.
"You've just referred to Muggle objects…" She said, and once comprehension dawned in her surprise converted to rage "Why you little- how dare you frequently diss muggles and muggle-borns when you yourself have an interest in their ways and use them yourself?"
Draco shrugged.
He made a weak mental note to himself to practice the Memory-loss charm. He'll definitely need to use it on Granger.
"The reason I'm here enduring you has nothing to do with lamenting on my prejudice against muggles. I repeat: Why am I hearing your irritating voice in my head and vice versa?"
Hermione's cheeks turned red.
"This morning, before coming to school, I attempted brewing a potion that supposedly granted me luck throughout the entire year. Little did I know that this potion though, actually, was created by Fred and George Weasley. Its affects made your hair reek of flatulence throughout the entire year instead. One of their practical jokes."
She took a deep breath and sat in front of the mirror so that the fire lit her face, making her perfect features look- were those tears forming in her eyes?
"Well carry on," Draco said impatiently, moving his gaze away from her and onto one of the snakes and lions whom have stopped fighting with one another and were watching Hermione attentively themselves, as if adjusting to the story.
"After the awful revelation, it was high time to make the journey to the Platform. Naturally, I couldn't go with such a stench. I was Head girl and had to appear presentable in every aspect. In my panic and haste, I grabbed the nearest essence conditioner, Ginny Weasley's, and squirted it all over my hair before reading its affects. The affect of it is, apart from making one's hair smell heavenly of course, whomever the applier moves close enough to as to inhale it, leaves them with a psychoverbal communication with the applier. A… permanent one. So, whenever we choose to, we can send one another voice waves. Perceiving it optimistically, it's no biggie. Just never choose to, so it won't have to happen again."
Draco was frowning. This was all her fault!
He slowly stood up fiercely. It gave Hermione the creeps. He looked extremely tall… and dangerously intimidating. His blonde hair fell all over his icy glistening gray eyes and his muscles were bulging. With one strike, he would have her petite body stone cold corpse.
"Then why did you come close to me?" He said in a soft dangerous whisper, approaching her. "Why did you compel me to inhale it? Did you know that you scared me into imagining that I had lost it? That you humiliated me, making me look like a nut in front of the whole school?"
His face was extremely close to hers and his eyes were so lifeless.
He'll kill me…
"Malfoy please, spare me!" She begged, scolding herself for leaving her wand in her room so that she lay defenseless. "The scent also has some healing powers. I saved you! If it weren't for this mistake you could well be dead now…"
Draco though, looked hypnotized. He grabbed her face viciously. His freezing hands against her warm face scared Hermione into screaming.
Just then the Portrait was blasted open with Ron barging in, his wand aimed at Draco's chest.
"Unhand her!" He ordered.
Draco's hand immediately dropped to his sides.
"Ron!" Hermione cried, running into his arms on the verge of tears. "I was sure he was g- going to h- harm me! Wha- how did you know?"
"I noticed him leaving right after you did so I followed," He glared at Malfoy "You. You will get what's coming to you."
No I won't.
Within a second Draco had reached for his wand, aimed it at the couple before him and shouted "Disdumdiar!", a flash of yellow light later both lay sprawled on the floor before him, unconscious.
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