School Camp – fire-and-ice89
A/N: I think that's the longest I've ever made you guys wait for a chapter, but hopefully, this chapter is worth the wait. A lot more contact between Draco and Hermione!
For anyone who doesn't usually read my author notes, please do! I know that some people don't, because they ask questions in their reviews, and if they'd just read the author notes they wouldn't have had to! Also, it might be helpful to scan over the replies to reviews, because sometimes there's some helpful stuff in there as well.
Replies to reviews:
Mocha Dragon: You're just suspicious of everyone! Poor Neville, can you picture him doing anything bad? Thought not! As you'll see in this chapter, Neville's confession is DEFINITELY nothing anyone should be concerned about!
paris97: American? I'm Australian, and I've never even been to America! Touch football the way I was writing it was Australian. Okay, just for you I added a very British word in here, or at least, I think it's British. See if you can spot it. Another thing: I understand that being a Draco/Hermione shipper, you probably don't want to hear about other characters, but I think it creates a better balance in the story.
Filthy X Gorgeous: LOL! I can't think of anyone who wouldn't mind being tackled by Draco!
jods-luvs-draco: Thanks for adding me to your favourite authors! Luv the name ;)
dmhg: Actually, I don't think you ever did! Hahaha, thanks!
JewelBlossom: Who screamed? I hope it didn't bother you too much since I took a while to update, but now you get to find out!
Taurus Girl: So you know who screamed, eh? (ahhhhh, I'm turning Canadian!). Well, in this chapter you get to find out how and why!
Flair Verona: You seem to have a knack for being the first reviewer of a chapter, don't you! Sorry for the wait.
The Black Pearl is Freedom: Let me guess…you like Pirates of the Caribbean? Me too! It's my favourite movie. I'm glad you liked the chapter.
Last Time:
He wished he could stop Malfoy, he really did. But he seemed to have it in for Hermione, and Harry couldn't do much when he wasn't in Hermione's group. He couldn't help her out when he wasn't there.
He could see a large group of people spread out on the field. He could tell they were about to begin playing, and started jogging towards them.
When he was about halfway there, he heard a scream.
Chapter Five – Hermione Strikes Back
Hermione was at her wit's end.
When she'd first heard about the afternoon's activities, she'd been glad. For two thirds of the time, she'd have either Harry or Ron there to protect her, and she doubted that Malfoy would try anything around them.
But she'd been wrong.
The whole point of Touch Football was to tag people. Not tackle – tag. But Malfoy couldn't seem to get that through his thick skull, and every single time someone passed Hermione the ball, Malfoy lunged at her, pushing her to the ground.
People eventually learned and stopped passing her the ball, but even then Malfoy would sometimes trip her or push her, claiming that he thought she'd had the ball.
She was sick of it. Ron hadn't been much help, and Greg had no idea how to control Malfoy. In fact, Hermione suspected that Greg thought Malfoy liked her, and that tackling her was his guy way of showing it.
Fat chance.
She looked up with relief to see Harry's group straggling out from the mess hall. Harry would provide better protection than Ron.
She saw him stop and talk with Ron for a minute, then continue to the field. Most people had arrived, and were already spreading out to play. Girls against boys. She took a few steps towards Harry, when she felt a familiar foot sneak in just as she stepped forward.
The oldest trick in the book.
Hermione stumbled over, and fell forward onto the ground. She put out her hands to save herself, and scraped them raw on the hard dirt surface.
It was the last straw.
"Malfoy!" She shrieked up at the smirking blond haired boy. "I am so sick of you. Why can't you just leave me alone? I'm trying to have fun, and you're just trying to spoil it for me. I hate you."
"Oh, I'm so hurt." Malfoy said with mock hurt, covering his heart with his hand.
With a scream of rage, Hermione leapt of the ground and lunged at him, but someone was holding her back. She struggled against them, but they had her in a firm hold.
"Calm down, Hermione, it's okay," She heard Harry say.
"Let me go, Harry," she said through clenched teeth.
Malfoy had retreated behind the gathering bunch of people. Hermione went limp in Harry's arms, and felt him slowly release her. She stood still, defeated. Everyone was gathered around watching her with wide eyes.
Greg jogged up to her, and inspected her hands.
"Ouch, they got a good grazing," he said, concerned. "Come with me, I'll get something to put on them."
Hermione sniffed. For some reason, she was on the verge of tears. Why did Malfoy always have this effect on her? Why did he have to be such an insufferable git?
Greg took her gently by the elbow and led her towards the mess hall. Harry patted her shoulder sympathetically as she passed, but she didn't look at him.
Her two friends had failed to protect her. She was going to have to do this alone.
Greg took her through the mess hall. "We've got a little nurse's room out through the kitchen, so I'm taking you through there," he said. Hermione understood, but she didn't really appreciate being stared at by all the people doing arts and crafts.
"It's all right," Greg said to everyone in general. "Just a little accident out on the field."
Ron was looking shocked. He was about to stand up and go with Hermione, but she gave him a death glare, and he stayed where he was.
Neville got up instead. He followed Greg and Hermione through the kitchen, into the nurse's room.
The room was very small. There was a single bed, and some benches along a wall. Greg sat Hermione down on the bed, and rummaged through a cabinet until he produced a small brown bottle.
"Betadine." He said with a smile. "Works miracles."
Hermione smiled back distractedly and held her hands out. She had just noticed Neville hovering in the doorway.
"You don't have to stay, Neville," she said as Greg dabbed some of the brown liquid onto her hands. "It's nothing major, really, and you're missing out on arts and crafts."
Neville shrugged, and came into the room. He sat down on the bed, right on the corner. "I'm not very good with arts and crafts, anyway," he said casually, then startled her with a blunt question. "Did Malfoy push you again?"
Hermione paused. "Yeah."
"I'm really sorry about that, Hermione," Greg said sincerely. "I didn't realize he was bothering you that much. I thought it was a sort of game between you two."
Hermione snorted with laughter. "Yeah right, a game. Like we've ever been friendly to each other." She saw Greg's slightly hurt expression, and changed her tone. "I'm sorry, Greg. You couldn't have known. We're arch enemies, something that's so well known around Hogwarts that I tend to forget that some people have no idea about us."
Greg nodded, finishing off her hands. "Well, I'll try and keep an eye out for you from now on, okay? Now, is it alright if I leave you here? I think I should get back out there and supervise everyone."
Hermione nodded. "Go. I'll be fine."
"Good. You just come out when you feel like it, okay?" Greg left, shutting the door to the room gently.
Hermione looked awkwardly over at Neville. He had a protective look in his eye.
"If he ever bothers you again, just come and tell me, okay?"
It was very sweet, but Hermione had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing. Neville couldn't do anything against Malfoy.
"Thanks, Neville. I'll do that." She said.
The two sat in silence for the remainder of the activity.
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In the mess hall at dinner time, everyone was still talking about the incident on the football field. Tension was rising between Slytherins and Gryffindors, and it seemed as though the two houses were more separate than ever before.
The feud between Hermione and Malfoy was defeating the whole purpose of the camp.
Harry saved a table while Ron got dinner for the both of them. When he brought the plates to the table, he made a face down at them.
"Spam disguised as burger meat," he said with disgust. "Honestly, these people are really taking the cheap way out."
Harry accepted his plate with a grin. "That's why we brought the lollies, remember Ron?"
"Oh yeah," Ron said with enlightenment. "I'd almost forgotten about them."
"Harry, Ron, I need to talk to you."
The two looked up in surprise to see Neville approaching the table.
"What's up, Neville?" Harry asked. The other boy looked around, then sat down beside Harry. He was acting very strangely.
"Well, I went and talked to Hermione after Malfoy tripped her on the field." Neville said slowly.
"Oh," said Harry, "I would have gone but she seemed angry at me."
"Yeah, me too," said Ron through a mouthful of spam/burger. "I have no idea why, though. Girls, who understands them?"
"Was she okay?" Harry asked with concern. "I haven't seen her since then."
"Oh yeah, she's fine," Neville said casually. "She's coming to dinner, she just went to her cabin first to get changed. But what I meant to say was…" he paused, looking from Harry to Ron.
Both were extremely confused. "What did you want to say?" Harry asked, slightly impatiently.
"Ummm…well, what I wanted to say was…" Neville started speaking all in a rush. "Do you think I'd have a chance with Hermione?"
Harry and Ron stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Er…" said Harry.
"Um…" said Ron.
"Well?" asked Neville.
Harry and Ron were still speechless at this confession.
"Never mind. It was just a thought. Just me being stupid again. Don't worry about it. Oh, and by the way, could you not mention this to Hermione? Please?"
Neville started to get up from the bench, flustered and turning red very quickly.
"Wait, Neville," Harry said quickly. He could tell this meant a lot to the other boy. Neville paused, looking at Harry. His eyes were so full of hope that Harry couldn't stand to look straight at him.
"Perhaps," Harry started carefully, "perhaps you might. Hermione's very hard to predict sometimes, and she doesn't always say what she's thinking or feeling. She hasn't mentioned anything to us, but we don't know everything about her."
He looked desperately at Ron, who nodded wordlessly. Harry was doing a far better job than he could.
Neville looked thoughtful. "I know what you're saying," he said, "but do you yourself think that I'd have a chance with her?"
Dammit, thought Harry desperately. He's making this hard.
"Well…" he began, hoping that he'd think of something brilliant to say and bluff his way through the situation. "I…"
"Hey guys!" A bright voice chirped, and Hermione slid gracefully onto the seat beside Ron. "Hi Neville. Oh, I wanted to say thanks. You know, for coming with me to the nurse's room before. I really appreciated it."
"Well, I would have come, except you gave me the evil eye as you came through the hall." Ron said defensively, receiving a playful slap from Hermione.
Neville got up from the bench. "Well, I just came to say hi to you guys. I should go get my dinner now." He hurried away. Hermione hardly seemed to notice his departure, as she was now examining her own spam/burger with disgust.
"Foul, isn't it?" Ron commented, looking over her shoulder.
"Absolutely," Hermione agreed, but took a large bite anyway.
Harry watched her carefully. She was in a very good mood, though he had no idea why. She seemed to have bounced back from the whole Malfoy incident very well. He wondered if Neville had something to do with it. Perhaps he did have a chance with her after all.
"Hey, you'll never guess what Neville said to us just before," Ron started, grinning to himself.
"Ron." Harry said sharply. "Don't."
Ron looked over at Harry, confused. "It was funny."
"It wasn't." Harry said truthfully.
Hermione looked suspiciously from one to the other. "What happened? Tell me."
"We can't." Harry said abruptly. "If you're meant to find out, you will."
Hermione eyed him carefully. "Okay, but I hate not knowing."
"It's for the best," Harry assured her, looking past to where Neville was getting his dinner.
Crushes made things so much more complicated, Harry thought to himself. He himself had agonized so often over his chances with Allie, but he'd never had the guts to go and ask one of her friends if he had a chance with her.
Once again, Neville had proved himself a true Gryffindor.
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"Group B is on washing up duty," Joyce called to the students as they finished off their dinner. "Could everyone from group B please come over to the kitchen as soon as they're finished."
Hermione stood up. "That's me. I'll see you guys later."
She took her plate over to the bin and scraped the leftovers into it. Then she carried her plate into the kitchen, where most of the group had already gathered.
"Okay, I need a group of washers over there by the sinks, a group of dryers beside them, and some people over there to put everything away."
Hermione went over to the sinks, as a dish washer. Fiona came over beside her, and the two girls picked up a sponge each. There were piles of dirty dishes beside the sink. Hermione selected one from the top, and dunked it in the sudsy sink. She passed a dish across to Fiona, who did the same.
"I always wash." Hermione said to Fiona. "My hands are always cold, and on camp they're usually worse than normal, so washing the dishes in hot water always warms them up."
"Clever," Fiona said, smiling at her. "I just came here because you were here."
Hermione smiled back, feeling a sense of belonging.
But her smile dropped right off her face when she saw Malfoy stroll through the door. He surveyed the busy students with a smirk.
Joyce had left them alone momentarily, to go and speak with Greg. Unattended, Malfoy approached Hermione and Fiona.
Hermione tensed up, and scrubbed her dish viciously. She heard footsteps behind her, and then felt warm breath on the back of her neck.
She shivered, feeling goosebumps rise all down her arms.
"Leave me alone, Malfoy." She hissed gently. Fiona glanced sideways in surprise, then saw where Malfoy was, and understood. He was standing directly behind Hermione, leaning over so that his head was positioned right over her shoulder.
"Sod off, Malfoy," Fiona said bluntly. "No one wants you here. In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone wants you anywhere."
Hermione sighed with relief as Malfoy withdrew, and turned his attention to Fiona.
"Bitch," he muttered, and stalked off.
Fiona shook her head and continued scrubbing her dish. "He makes me so mad sometimes, the way he treats people. But damn, is he good looking."
Hermione giggled. "I wouldn't say so. One day the wind will change while he's scowling, and then no one would think he's so hot. Oh, and make sure he doesn't hear you say that. His ego's blown up enough as it is."
Fiona wrinkled her nose and laughed with Hermione. Malfoy was standing on the opposite wall, watching the two darkly.
When Joyce returned, she tried to put Malfoy to work.
"Look," she said, pointing to the sink beside Hermione and Fiona. "There's a space there."
Malfoy looked her straight in the eye. "I'm allergic to dish washing detergent."
Hermione let out a loud snort. Joyce glanced over at her with interest, and she looked back down into the sink quickly, trying to appear busy.
Joyce looked back at Malfoy suspiciously. "I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but I can check on your medical form, and if you do have this…allergy, then it should say so there."
"Oh, my medical form," said Malfoy breezily. "I might have forgotten to put that allergy on the list. I kind of have a lot of allergies, you see, so I tend to forget them sometimes."
Joyce frowned at him, and walked away.
Good move, Hermione thought to herself. Don't pick a fight with Malfoy.
Pleased with himself, the boy in question wandered back over in her direction. He stood beside her, watching her wash the dishes with a smirk on her face.
"Careful, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. "You wouldn't want to touch the nasty detergent now, would you?"
"I'm a Malfoy. We don't do dishes." He leaned against the bench and stared at Hermione. She glanced sideways at him, and grabbed a dish from under his nose.
"Allergic to detergent?" She continued, scrubbing the sauce from the plate. "Allergic to housework, more like it."
"Housework is for house elves." Malfoy said with a derisive snort. "Notice how the name coincides? But of course. I forgot. Hermione Granger just couldn't have a house elf doing all the work for her, could she?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're a slave driver. I bet when you look at all the students right now, all you can see is little house elves, running around doing chores that you should be doing."
"Save the speech, Granger. I'm not joining your little SPEW club."
Fiona looked over at Hermione. "SPEW? What's that?"
Hermione blushed, a deep crimson red. She'd never approached Fiona, Allie and their group to ask them to join. She knew they'd never consider it, and she didn't want to appear any more un-cool in their eyes than she already did.
Malfoy's eyes widened as he realized that he'd hit a sore spot.
"You don't know about SPEW?" He asked Fiona casually, and she shook her head slowly, eyeing him with distrust.
"You don't want to," Hermione said hurriedly. "It's just some stupid thing I did in fifth grade."
Malfoy smirked. He was going to have fun with this. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Fiona cut him off.
"Look, whatever SPEW is, I'm sure Hermione can tell me about it. I don't need your warped explanation."
Malfoy closed his mouth, flabbergasted, and Hermione grinned.
"Done," sang out Fiona, lifting her last plate out of the suds. Hermione finished off her last one as well, and handed it to Fiona, who put it on the pile.
"Come on, Hermione, let's go back to the cabin," Fiona said, taking Hermione's arm. Malfoy stepped in front of them, blocking their way.
"No one speaks to me like that," he hissed at Fiona, his voice dangerously soft. Fiona stared straight at him, saying nothing.
Hermione had a brilliant idea.
"Well, you know Malfoy, it's very hard to trust you sometimes. You're just…" She gazed upwards, pretending to search for the right word, "untrustworthy. With the whole allergy thing, for example. How are we supposed to know whether you're really allergic to detergent? We can't really take your word for it. Actually, you yourself probably have no idea, since I doubt you've ever touched detergent in your life. How about we find out for you?"
Malfoy was staring at Hermione like she'd suddenly grown two heads, but her meaning became all to clear when she reached behind her and grabbed the bottle of detergent.
"Granger," he warned, backing away.
Quick as a flash, Hermione whipped off the lid, leapt forward, and poured the entire bottle's contents over Malfoy's head.
"Fuck!" he yelled out, blindly reaching out and grabbing Hermione's wrist. The detergent was in his eyes. "Ow, it stings."
The detergent had made his hand slippery, and Hermione easily slipped her wrist from his grasp. Quickly, she and Fiona turned and slipped out the door.
Just before they ran into the dark of the night, Hermione turned back for a last look.
Malfoy was crouched on the floor, scrubbing at his eyes with his hands and yelling out with pain.
For a moment, Hermione felt a pang of regret.
That was mean.
But he deserved it, she reasoned, and felt a thrill of triumph when Fiona squeezed her arm and laughed.
Revenge was sweet.
A/N: Revenge! Finally!
I wasn't going to let Hermione sit around and be beaten up all the time. She's too smart for that! Of course, there will be major retaliation on Malfoy's part, but nothing Hogwart's smartest girl can't handle! From now on, the stakes will be more even.
Next Chapter: A little late-night girl talk reveals that Harry's 'subtle' attempts weren't so subtle after all, and Hermione has to fight in his favour. Another hot topic of the night is…Malfoy!
Please review!