Recap:
"Friday night," she said, locking his eyes and holding them with a deep glare. "One a.m. We each bring one witness. One. No audiences."
"Fair enough," he said, smirking down at her. "One more thing."
"What?"
"Don't ever touch me again."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Chapter 3: The Duel
Hermione moaned softly. But her mind was in a different place, her thought as far from Ron's hungry kisses and nips as it could get. After five minutes of playing along, Hermione decided that her wayward thoughts had to be voiced. In the past when something had been bothering her, Hermione's mind had never strayed during foreplay or sex. It seemed it was the only good and healthy part of their slowly crumbling relationship. Only now her worries were beginning to affect this too.
"Ron," she sighed, pushing him back gently. He looked down at her with his big sad puppy eyes; it was the look he always gave her when she insisted they continue studying instead of fooling around. Tonight would be the first time it failed. "Ron, there's something I think I should tell you."
His playful frown immediately became real.
"Well Harry thinks I should anyway."
"What's wrong, 'Mione?" He sat up, brushing his bed-messed hair from his eyes. She was silent for a moment, then sat up as well.
"Are you happy with me Ron?"
He stared at her blankly for a long while, then burst into a fit of laughter.
"I'm serious Ron." He continued to laugh until her fixed expression proved her words. With a heavy sigh he answered.
"Of course I'm happy Hermione. But what's really going on? And why did you go to Harry before me?" There was nothing accusatory in his words.
"You know the answer to that, Ron. Harry calms me down. Its easier to talk to him with serious stuff."
"You're stalling."
She looked away; he was absolutely right. But how to begin?
"I love you Ron," she said, then stopped, collecting her thoughts and organizing her words. "And I know you love me—"
"But?" There was a slight tremble in his voice. What was she saying?
"Do you get bored with me?"
"Hermione—Do I what?"
"Do you get bored with me?" she repeated, her eyes misting.
"I love you 'Mione," he sighed, pulling her into a loving hug. "My 'Mione. Of course I don't get bored with you."
"But you and Harry—"
"Me and Harry are the boring ones. I'm surprised you don't get bored with me."
"So I'm not boring? Our relationship isn't losing its fire?"
"I'll show you fire, you little witch," he purred, tackling her into the soft bed sheets.
Needless to say, Hermione's mind didn't wander for the remainder of the evening.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"I still don't understand why we have to do this," Ginny whined, her wrist beginning to hurt where Hermione was pulling her along down the darkened halls of after-hours Hogwarts.
Ginny. That's who Hermione chose to bring with her. Not Ron. Not Harry. But Ginny. Why she picked her was beyond Hermione; she had been the first person to come to mind. She was a loyal and trustworthy friend. If Hermione didn't want Ron or Harry to know about the duel, then Ginny would not be the one to tell them.
"Ginny," Hermione sighed, pulling her up along side her, her arm secure around her shoulders. "I have to protect my honor as a witch. How could I let Draco Malfoy, of all people, take that away from me?"
"But a duel? Hermione, that's dangerous!"
"Look Gin, if I don't show up then Malfoy will tell the whole school and everyone will think I'm all brains and no action. I can't wuss out on this. Not after everything I've been through here."
"You know Ron is going to be really miffed about this. Especially since you didn't bring him."
"If I told Ron then he would have tried to stop me from coming. Besides," she huffed, coming to a halt in front of the side door they were sneaking out, "he'll get over it." She whispered a silencing spell, just incase the door creaked, then slowly pulled it open and slipped through, pulling Ginny along with her, and praying that she would begin to cooperate.
"Well, well, well," came Malfoy's snickering voice in the distance as he heard their footsteps approaching. "I really thought you wouldn't show. Bravo, Granger. You're halfway to proving yourself."
"Crabbe?" she laughed as they came into view. "Where's Goyle? Oh!" She covered her hand over her mouth in mock astonishment. "That's right! I forgot. Silly me."
"You know, Granger, I was going to go easy on you. But now that you can't seem to keep your big mudblood trap shut I'm going to have to teach you a lesson."
"Easy on me?" she scoffed. "Please, it should be the other way around. I've seen how you handle a wand. We've graduated second year, Malfoy. Time to play with the adults."
Malfoy opened his mouth to retort, but stopped at the last moment, a devious smirk spreading across his gorgeously chiseled features. He took a few carefully calculated steps forward, drawing his wand.
"The time for talking is over, Granger," he said, lifting his chin just a little higher. "Arm yourself."
"I'm going to knock you off that high horse, Malfoy," she laughed, her wand drawn and aimed at the dead center of his chest. "And then you're going to look up at the face of the person who finally put you in your place."
They stared each other down, each one bearing a glare that could frighten a small child, a possibly even an adult. They were ruthless, vicious, angry, and in defense of their own personal honor. Hermione fought for muggle born witches and wizards; Draco fought for purebloods and the lifestyles they ought to lead.
"Ready mudblood?" Malfoy sneered, pulling back his arm to hold his wand eye level.
"I've been ready for seven years, Malfoy. On your count."
"One," he said, catching her eyes and holding them, the exact pronunciation of his curse running on a constant loop in his mind. "Two," he continued, tightening his grip on his wand. Oh, he was so ready; it was so close! "Thr—"
"Wait!" Ginny cried, running in between them.
"Ginny!" Hermione snapped, retracting her wand immediately so not to harm her. "What the hell—"
"Someone's coming." She pointed frantically at the Hogwarts castle in the distance. The side door they had so cleverly snuck out was open, a brilliant rectangle of light in its place. For an instant there was a silhouette in the doorway, and then nothing.
"I thought you were smart, Granger!" Malfoy hissed. He turned sharp and pushed Crabbe along, intending on circling the castle for another side door. He didn't get more than two steps, however, and was yanked back by the back of his robes, falling square on his rear end. When he looked up, Hermione was smiling down at him. Crabbe was nowhere in sight.
"Where's your horse?" she laughed. "Ginny, get the hell out of here. This is my problem."
Ginny was about to protest, when Hermione aimed her wand and said:
"Don't make me tell you again."
She was gone just in time to miss the arrival of Professor McGonagall and Filch, his favorite feline friend rubbing against his leg. Hermione cursed herself silently for forgetting about that damn cat.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"This is completely unacceptable!" Professor McGonagall sighed, exasperated. How were the professors supposed to run a school when their prize students were breaking the rules? "The Hogwarts' Heads sneaking out in the middle of the night? What on Earth were you doing out there!"
Filch stood behind McGonagall, whispering what Hermione mused as sweet-nothings into his cat's ear. He was beside himself with glee.
"You're right professor," Hermione sighed, bowing her head. "We were out of line."
"What am I going to tell the Headmaster? That his two best students—who are supposed to set examples for the others—were caught outside after-hours? Are your reputations as enemies too important that you have to sneak out to steal kissed?"
Hermione and Malfoy gasped in unison. She thought—
"That is NOT what we were doing!" Malfoy snapped, almost forgetting that he was talking to a teach and they were already in an unbelievable amount of trouble.
"Then what were you doing, Mr. Malfoy?"
"Malfoy, don't—"
"She doubted my abilities as a wizard," he huffed, puffing up his chest. Hermione stared on in muted awe and complete horror. He wouldn't— "We decided to settled out differences and prove who was greater."
"Is this true Miss Granger?" came McGonagall's disappointed voice. "Were you and Mr. Malfoy actually planning to DUEL?"
Hermione sighed and nodded, bracing her sanity for the inevitable outcome: expulsion.
"Two weeks detention—"
"Detention?" Hermione gasped excitedly. "You mean we're not expelled?"
"Most certainly not," McGonagall laughed. "I am very disappointed in both of your behavior, however. Your disagreements with one another should not have escalated to such an extreme. For that I am assigning you two detention together." They had expected as much. "For the duration of the two weeks you will be assigned a series of tasks in which you must work together. Failure to complete a task or to cooperate will result in another week of detention for each infraction."
"So we're not expelled?" She still couldn't believe it. Her heart was still racing, ready to burst from her chest.
"No Miss Granger. Now get back to your dormitories. Its very late."
Hermione was so happy not to be expelled from school that she didn't notice the more prominent than usual scowl on Draco's face. They were almost to the fork in the corridor where they'd go their separate ways, when suddenly he roughly grabbed her arm and slammed her against the nearest wall.
"Malfoy!" she hissed, pushing him off her. "What gives!"
"What gives?" he bellowed. "What gives! We will NEVER be able to cooperate Granger, that's what gives! We're going to be in detention until graduation!"
"No," she corrected, poking him hard in the chest for emphasis. "If you keep your big mouth shut we'll be done in two weeks."
"And your mouth? It's not so small, mudblood."
"You see?" she said, motioning to him. "Its things like that that can easily be avoided and save us both headaches."
"This isn't going to work," he groaned, hanging his head. "You know I'm right. When you come down from the clouds you'll see it too."
"Relax, Malfoy. If you feel an insult coming on just remember that that's one more day together. If it's too much for you and you're willing to risk it then that's your problem. I'm mature enough to handle two weeks of detention with you."
"Let's hope you're right." He disappeared into the shadows before she could even think of a comeback, which was probably a good thing. She was going to need the practice if they were going to get through the next two weeks.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Hermione opened her eyes and screamed. Backing into the headboard, her heart beating ten times faster than normal, she stared at the petrified face of Ginny Weasley.
"Ginny, what the hell!" she snapped, clasping the front of her nightshirt. "Do you want to give me a heart attack?"
"Sorry 'Mione," she sighed. "Ron and Harry know."
"I—How do they know?"
"I don't know! I swear I didn't say a word! Harry just spent the last half hour chewing me out about it…"
"Damn it…" She looked around for her robe, and when she couldn't find it, shrugged and climbed out of bed. It disturbed her slightly that she was not afraid of Ron's anger. Harry, on the other hand, she was not looking forward to seeing. The look on his face alone would probably be enough to keep her shut up in her room for the next week. When angry with her, which was hardly ever, Harry seemed to be the only person capable of making her cry. Over the years she had become a hardened individual, having only cried probably a total of three times in the past two years. "Did they send you up to get me?"
Ginny nodded, her eyes focused on the floor, as if the carpet were the most fascinating thing in the world.
"How mad is Harry at me?"
"At you?" She looked up, her eyebrows knit in slight confusion. "Not at all. Ron's the one who's fuming at you."
"Not even a little?"
"I think he's afraid for you, 'Mione. You're like a sister to him. If he lost you—"
"What did Ron say?"
"You mean besides that he's going to personally disembowel Malfoy?" Hermione laughed beside the situation, and nodded. "He doesn't understand why you didn't tell him. When I told him that he would have tried to stop you he said, 'Damn right I would have.' So I guess you were right about that."
"This should be fun."
"Do you want me to come down with you?"
"If you want." She shrugged and headed for the door. Why was her attitude towards Ron so indifferent? Why did it seem that his anger was insignificant? Wasn't she supposed to care when the love of her life was furious with her? She thought so, but at the same time she thought that was completely ridiculous. It was her life and she was old enough to make her own decisions and do whatever she wanted. He would argue that she could do whatever she wanted but within reason, and her answer to that would be, "But I did have a reason." That perhaps was the only reason Harry was not mad. He understood the concept of protecting honor, especially against Draco Malfoy.
She wasn't even halfway down the steps when Ron confronted her, pulling her the rest of the way down, his grip strangely familiar and a little scary. He was never rough with her, not for real.
"Would you mind explaining yourself?" he hissed, glaring heatedly into her eyes. She wanted to laugh suddenly; he was so damn adorable when he was angry. Those eyes; that must have been what drew her to him in the first place. Big passionate green eyes.
Before answering, she looked around the room, noting how many of their fellow Gryffindors were there. As expected nearly half the house was congregated in the common room; most must have come down during Harry and Ginny's fight.
"What's there to explain, Ron?" She crossed her arms rigidly over her chest, feeling an abrupt wave of anger herself. What right had he to tell her what she could and could not do? "Malfoy said that I wasn't as good a witch as he was a wizard. What would you have done? No, wait!" She pushed him back onto the couch. "You did the same thing! Second year you tried to make Malfoy eat slugs. And Harry, he dueled with Malfoy too."
"That was supervised by professors!" Ron protested, ignoring her first point.
"Face it Ron. You're just upset because I picked Ginny to bring with me and not you. You're sore and jealous."
"Hermione!" he gaped. Of course she knew it wasn't true, but she wasn't about to lose this fight. Not when she knew that both her boyfriend and best friend would have done the exact same thing has they been in her place. "You could have been killed!"
"You think Malfoy's better than me?"
The room fell completely silent, all eyes on the arguing couple.
"Right. I'm going to go take a nice warm bath, and then I'm going to breakfast." She turned her back on his sharply, her eyes stinging with tears of anger. "Thanks for believing in me Ron."
"Hermione, wait!" But she was already gone.
No one bothered to say the obvious. He was screwed…
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Ahhhhhhhhhh! Well now everything is a mess! What a perfect time to throw in added angsty emotions and confusing feelings! Hahaha!—Detention time! Wooooo! This is going to be good :P
REVIEW! Pretty please :D
Note: Wow, I'm dumb. Haha! A few times someone mentioned that it was prefect, not perfect. But I was always really confused. When I read Harry Potter I always read it as perfect, because that just made sense to me…Now I get it! Hopefully I won't keep making that mistake out of habit :P And thanks to whoever told me that, even if it did take it awhile to sink in.