CHAPTER 2; THE SNAKE & THE LION

Hermione's day was getting worse.

Her first lesson was History of Magic, with Professor Binns.

Even she found his monotonous droning unbearably dull, so it would be a good opportunity to dream up ways of dealing with Malfoy. Something that was long overdue.

However, it seemed her classmates had other ideas.

Before she'd even had chance to sit down and unpack her books, Lavender Brown appeared before her.

"Is it true?" she asked, wide-eyed.

Hermione frowned at her. "Is what true?"

"About you and Draco Malfoy?"

Hermione didn't like having her name tied to Malfoy's in such a way. "That depends what you're talking about," she replied tersely.

Lavender appeared uncomfortable saying it…but she did anyway. "That you and he kissed in the Great Hall at breakfast."

Hermione's jaw dropped. The Hogwarts rumour mill was in overdrive apparently. "Weren't you there?"

Lavender shook her head. "I had to see Madam Pomfrey about my headache. So is it true then?"

"Who told you that?"

Lavender glanced briefly at Parvati Patil but didn't answer.

"Well, what exactly were you told?" Hermione asked, darting a glare at Parvati who hastily looked the other way.

"That you and Draco were arguing over something and next thing he was kissing you." Lavender was looking at her expectantly.

Hermione noticed that almost everyone in the room was listening to them with interest. "What do you think?" she snapped irritably.

Honestly, didn't they know her? Did they seriously think she would kiss any Slytherin at all, never mind Mudblood-hating pureblood Draco Malfoy, possibly the person she loathed most in the world.

It was ludicrous.

Unfortunately, Lavender took her answer the wrong way. Her eyes were almost popping out of her head as she caught Parvati's eye and nodded.

"No, wait a minute!" Hermione tried to grab Lavender's arm but the blonde girl hurried back to her seat just as Professor Binns floated through the door.

Ron and Harry were close behind, entering through the more conventional way of opening the door. Both were panting after a sprint back to their dormitory to get their assignments.

Hermione dropped into her seat with a sigh, conscious of the whispers all around her and the sneaky looks in her direction.

Harry and Ron took their seats next to her and tried to get her attention but she ignored them.

She really didn't feel like talking to anyone right now.

It felt like the lesson would never end.

When it did, Hermione dashed out before anyone could intercept her. She needed a few minutes on her own.

She raced up to the girls' bathroom on the second floor.

Although it had been restored to full working order after the events of their second year at Hogwarts, hardly anybody used it because of Moaning Myrtle's presence.

Thankfully, Moaning Myrtle was nowhere in sight when Hermione entered.

She slammed into one of the cubicles and sat on the edge of the toilet bowl, her head in her hands.

What a mess.

And it was all her own fault. All because she was too damn proud to back down when Malfoy had challenged her.

She knew this wasn't going to go away easily. The idea of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy in a clinch was a big deal.

Even so, Hermione found herself stunned that people who knew her could believe she would do such a thing.

And Parvati Patil had been in the Great Hall when it supposedly happened. Why was she telling Lavender Brown a complete pack of lies when she surely knew the truth?

But Hermione already knew the answer.

Because it was more interesting to hear that she and Malfoy had argued and kissed, than just simply argued.

The school was full of wannabe Rita Skeeters' it seemed.

A familiar watery giggle came from the adjacent cubicle.

Hermione groaned and grabbed her bag, scooting out of the bathroom just as Moaning Myrtle floated up the u-bend.

Before the door slammed shut behind her, she heard Myrtle call after her; 'So little miss goody goody has fallen off her pedestal…'

Harry and Ron were waiting for her outside the Charms classroom.

Harry gazed at her in concern as she approached. "You ok?" he asked.

She nodded and smiled, stepping aside as a group of Hufflepuff boys passed by. They stared at Hermione with open humour, and as they walked away they started hissing.

Hermione rolled her eyes. She'd had to endure people hissing at her like a snake all the way down the corridor.

Ron made to move after them but she stopped him. "Don't worry about it. If the worst I get is a few people making Slytherin snake noises at me, I can handle that."

She smiled again, with more conviction. "Come on, let's get inside."

The Charms class passed without much incident, unless you counted Professor Flitwick being planted upside down in the waste bin by one of Dean Thomas's errant purgatio charms.

The three friends, Hermione somewhat reluctantly, made their way down to the Great Hall for lunch.

Hermione kept her eyes firmly on the plate of untouched food in front of her and refused to look at anyone except Harry, Ron, and Neville.

Nevertheless, she could feel the weight of so many pairs of eyes on her.

Draco Malfoy was nowhere in sight. She wondered if he had been getting the same kind of treatment. She doubted it very much. Not to his face anyway. People would be too scared of the repercussions.

It was at this point she suddenly became aware of Harry nudging her, and Neville hissing her name.

She gazed at them vacantly. Ron's eyes were bulging at her.

"What?" she asked.

Neville pointed at her robes. "Look!"

Hermione looked. And looked a bit harder. She shook her head. "What am I-"

And then she noticed it.

She grabbed a handful of her robes and peered in disbelief at the house crest on it.

Wrapped around the body of the golden Gryffindor lion was an evil-looking Slytherin serpent.

She stared at it in horror.

Harry leaned across. "It looks like a simple charm," he said. "I'm sure one of the professors can remove it."

"Who did it?" wondered Neville.

Ron found his voice again. "Could've been anyone," he murmured, watching the snake writhe almost provocatively.

"We'll leave early and find Flitwick. He'll get rid of it," Harry reassured Hermione.

But to their surprise, Hermione shook her head. "No."

"Why not?" Neville asked.

"Because I'm fed up already. I'm just going to ignore it all. If nobody gets a reaction out of me, they'll soon get bored and find something else to talk about." She nodded firmly.

Harry glanced sceptically at Ron, who shrugged, but they let the matter drop.

Hermione spent the rest of lunch chewing resolutely on a plate of chicken sandwiches.

Her breaking point came after lunch.

Her first lesson was Potions. Harry and Ron had popped back to Gryffindor tower to collect more forgotten essays, so she went down to the dungeons where Snape's classroom was on her own.

She had to pass the Slytherin common room on the way. A group of 2nd year Slytherins were stood outside.

They waited as she walked by. Then as soon as she had her back to them, there was an array of kissing noises that followed her down to the Potions classroom door.

She sighed.

But what she didn't expect was the scene that greeted her when she walked in.

She stopped in her tracks and stared at the blackboard.

Someone had written, in what looked like permanent chalk:

'When's the wedding, Malfoy and Granger?'

As if that wasn't bad enough, Draco bloody Malfoy entered the room immediately behind her.

Everyone assembled either giggled or burst into a chorus of wolf whistles. Hermione could feel her face flush.

Malfoy simply smirked and brushed past her, a little too closely for the amount of room there was.

This prompted another chorus of wolf whistles, intermingled with a few "Ooooohs!"

She found a seat as far from him as possible.

Harry and Ron joined her not long after, both of them staring at the blackboard.

Harry looked at her red face and wished he could clear the board to relieve a little of her embarrassment, but he knew he couldn't. It was Snape's own blend of permanent chalk, only he could remove it.

The class settled down as Snape swept in. His beady black eyes immediately settled on the blackboard.

Hermione resisted the urge to bury her head under her arms on the desk and stay that way until the end of the class.

Snape merely raised an eyebrow. "Would either Malfoy or his betrothed care to supply an answer before we begin?" he asked in his quiet, yet commanding, voice.

Everyone turned to look at Draco. He was sat beside an obviously fuming Pansy Parkinson.

He leant back with a smug grin on his face and said, "How about when Hagrid has a shave…he certainly isn't coming to our wedding until he does. Isn't that right sweetheart?"

Hermione couldn't believe it. She stared past Ron to Malfoy who grinned at her cockily.

He was actually getting a kick out of this.

Everyone else had collapsed into riotous laughter. Snape quietened them in his own inimitable style (a threat of two weeks detention and forty points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor).

He walked to the front of the class and, to Hermione's relief, cleared the board with a wave of his wand.

She was only half listening to Snape as he started the lesson.

So much for ignoring it and it would go away. No wonder the rumours had been flying…Draco Malfoy wasn't even denying them.

If anything, he was fuelling them!

When the lesson was over, Hermione asked Harry to take her bag to their final lesson of the day, Herbology.

He looked at her quizzically but nodded. "Sure."

"Thanks," she said over her shoulder. She was already weaving between the tables. People on their way to the door stopped and turned to watch.

Malfoy had his back to her but Pansy Parkinson saw her and scowled. Hermione ignored her. She cleared her throat. "Can I have a word with you?"

Draco looked over his shoulder. "You don't have to ask sweetheart." He winked at her.

"Outside," she said, through gritted teeth.

Pansy opened her mouth, more than likely to object, but Draco shoved her toward the door. "See you in Arithmancy," he said firmly.

At first, she didn't look like she was going to leave, but then she caught Draco's eye and turned sharply on her heel.

Hermione stalked out after her, and glared at all those hanging around to watch. One by one they reluctantly drifted away.

Malfoy was leaning against the wall, arms folded, watching her with a mildly amused expression.

When she turned to him, he grinned wickedly. "Couldn't wait to get me on your own, eh Granger?"

She glared at him. "What are you playing at Malfoy?"

He adopted an innocent expression. It looked completely out of place on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about sweetheart."

"And stop bloody calling me that!" Her temper was starting to rise. Damn him, he always knew what buttons to press.

As if reading her mind, he pushed away from the wall and approached her slowly.

She stood her ground despite the dangerous look in his eyes.

"I enjoy seeing you squirm, Granger…" he whispered.

Hermione held her breath. He reminded her of a wild beast that had it's prey cornered and was playing games with it before the kill.

Contempt laced his every word. "You represent everything I hate in a person, Mudblood or not," he continued, "and to know that I can make you suffer excites me." He was only a few inches from her.

He raised a hand and she backed away uncertainly. "Oh, get a grip, Granger," he muttered, irritated.

She watched as Malfoy reached for the house crest on her robes.

The charm was fading slightly but it was still obvious. He chuckled and stroked the embroidery with his thumb. It was such a gentle caress, not what she had expected at all.

And neither was what happened next.

"The snake…" Draco's voice had softened. He lifted his eyes to meet hers, "…and the lion…"

Hermione swallowed somewhat nervously.

"…inextricably entwined."

For a moment, their eyes were locked. A shiver ran down Hermione's spine at his words. She didn't like this.

"It will fade!" she hissed, pulling her robes from his touch.

He leered at her. "Maybe, Granger, but the lion will always have the shadow of the snake on its body." His eyes strayed over her slender figure.

She had to get away.

"Stop it Malfoy," she hissed. "Put an end to the rumours."

He smiled sweetly. "But why sweetheart? I'm enjoying myself."

"Im sure Pansy Parkinson can keep you amused if you're that desperate!" she spat, through clenched teeth.

"Granger…that wouldn't happen to be a note of jealousy I detect in your voice?" Draco grinned.

Hermione was visibly seething by now.

Then, too late, she noticed the satisfied look on his face.

In losing control, she'd given him exactly what he wanted. Again.

"Pansy has her uses…believe me." He turned away and strolled nonchalantly down the corridor.

"Damn you Malfoy," she yelled after him. "Just stop it!"