Longing for You
Chapter 4
Eight o'clock Thursday night found Hermione and Draco waiting silently for Filch in the Entrance Hall. Hermione tried her best to avoid Malfoy's eyes while they waited. She was feeling very tense and nervous. She was determined to keep a very far distance away from him, in case he unexpectedly lashed out like a bomb on the brink of exploding.
However, he was currently totally ignoring her. Glancing occasionally at the wall in absolute boredom. His face was the epitome of snobbery, and every now and then he would take a turn around one of the pillars in the prefects bathroom, breathing impatiently.
After a few minutes the terse silence was interrupted by Filch, the school caretaker, who approached them gleefully. Obviously he was very happy over the prospect of bossing students around and making them do odd jobs. Mrs. Norris sulkily followed.
He motioned to Hermione and Malfoy to come over to where he was and they set out to the prefect's bathroom. He cheerfully gave the password to Boris the Bewildered, ('Strawberry Essence') and then led them inside where he handed them a toothbrush each.
"Scrub," he said peevishly showing them his horrible yellow teeth in a very sinister, manic smile.
"WHAT?" gasped Hermione and Draco in unison.
"Scrub," he repeated, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "Scrub this whole place till it sparkles and shines. floors, lavatories, basins, showers and baths! I'll make you stay till dawn if absolutely necessary. Now get a move on. Oh yes, remember no magic, otherwise you'll wish you never set foot in this castle." he concluded viscously.
They both stood flabbergasted on the spot for a moment before they both started glaring angrily at Filch, who seemed to be quite enjoying this very much. His eyes sparkled with malice as his mouth twisted into his trademark wicked toothy grin.
Malfoy was the first to speak, sounding both their thoughts. "You cannot be serious-," he said in a cool voice.
Filch gave a small cackle. "Yes, of course I am, Malfoy! Now I'd start scrubbing if I was you, or it'll be the ceiling too! And we wouldn't want that now would we?" And with that he slowly exited the bathroom giving off an extra evil cackle, leaving a stunned Hermione and glowering Malfoy.
"How on earth does that oaf expect me to do this? " Malfoy said flamingly.
Hermione groaned, Wonderful! Just wonderful, here she was stuck with one of her worst enemies in a prefects' bathroom forced to scrub everything insight with a bloody toothbrush! Things had really gotten out of hand. She shot Malfoy a nasty look and bent down, starting scrubbing the floor.
***
Several hours had passed and the pair of them had nowhere near finished. Hermione moaned underneath her breath. This was absolutely preposterous, surely Mc Gonagall would not have approved of Filch making them do this. Of all the detentions Hermione had ever done at Hogwarts, this was by far the worst of all. How on earth could they be expected to do all this in one night? She thought miserably.and then it occurred to her.
They weren't going to have to do this in one night. They'd have to do it for a whole bunch of nights to get it done. This was Mc Gonagall's way of getting them to cooperate. Huffily she got up and stretched her aching muscles feeling extremely irritated. Draco was a short distance away, mumbling to himself in menacing tones about 'student rights'.
After a while she was surprised to hear him speak to her. "This is part of her plan," he snarled, looking extremely vexed as he glanced at her momentarily. "That old miserable bat Mc Gonagall is trying to get us to work together." He almost spat at this, looking very indignant.
"I know," Hermione said shrilly, for once openly agreeing with Malfoy on something. Realising this she quickly tried to redeem herself, "- You're brighter than you look, you know Malfoy." She told him cattily.
At this he gave a slight sneer, but Hermione was sure she caught a slight shadow of a smile on his face. But it was gone as soon as it had appeared.
"I suppose you do a lot of this stuff being a muggle and all," he said with great disgust, after a short interval of scrubbing.
"Yes," Hermione replied. She was relieved that he was the one who was trying to break the silence again, even though what he said often was to try to give offence.
"But I dare say," she continued shrewdly. "That we have more effective appliances in the muggle world to clean with. As far behind as we may seem from the wizarding world Malfoy, we still have not sunk low enough to clean places with toothbrushes. We actually find them more useful to clean our teeth with. Thus comes the term: 'Tooth Brush'," she told him very slowly as if he was an incompetent person who didn't understand what she was saying. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"I suppose Filch hasn't used one in years then," he said somewhat absent- mindedly ignoring her patronising tone.
Hermione chuckled at this suddenly before she could stop herself; she bit her lip trying to pretend nothing had happened, and tried very unsuccessfully to scowl. He looked at her quite surprised and very fascinated, like she was some amazing exhibit at a Museum full of hidden meanings and addled with puzzles.
"You know Malfoy, it is rude to stare," she said after several seconds when he didn't look away. Blushing furiously and looking down, Hermione now seemed very interested in the tile in front of her.
"Yes," he replied tartly. "You didn't seem to think so before our last potions lesson." he told her, one eyebrow raised and trying furiously not to grin.
"Bloody hell! Not again!" she exploded viscously, almost making her bucket topple over. Her face was now extremely red.
"Oh touchy are we?" he replied charmingly, seeing her sore spot.
"I've slapped you once Malfoy, don't think that I won't dare do it again," she snapped.
"What so you can get more detentions with me?!" he asked her almost laughing, giving up entirely on hiding his glee. "Bit keen aren't we?"
"Har har," she said in a foul mood. "You're ever so funny and witty Malfoy," she oozed now giving him a full stare. Suddenly she got another idea as she did this. Deciding to change tack she put on a different expression, "You're absolutely right," she started as Malfoy stopped laughing. "In fact I've been fancying you so much I just have to-"
She lunged at Malfoy who was off his guard, and wrestled him down; Malfoy was rather surprised that she was quite strong. "Now," she told him angrily, making sure he was listening. "Let me get something across. I don't like you, I never liked you, I never will like you, so just stop these ridiculous jokes you keep cracking that seem to amuse you so, and leave me be."
"And why should I do this for you, Beaver?" he drawled giving her an inquisitive look, as he tried to struggle underneath her.
"Because then I shall go around pretending we are an item and humiliate you beyond belief, ferret." She told him, saying the first thing that sprouted up in her mind.
"And I know you're just looking forward to that, but won't Weasel be jealous?" he said grinning.
"Do I make myself clear?" she inquired sternly, pretending she didn't hear his last comment.
"Inescapably clear," he replied as she loosened her grip. He got up, smiling slightly, with all the dignity he could muster. "You know Granger for a Gryffindor you have quite a lot of cheek, you would have done very well in Slytherin I think."
She spluttered angrily at this, unable to find anything appropriate to say.
"Knew you'd like that." He told her, leaning very close to her ear so that she jumped back immediately.
"Har har har," she repeated. "Yes in fact I love it.do us a favour Malfoy, piss off."
"I'm afraid I can't do that you see. I'm unfortunately forced to serve detention with you, here because old Mc Gonagall can't understand house rivalry and differences. Stupid old bag that she is." He said in an annoyed voice with a pained expression on his face.
Hermione sat down and looking very unhappy said, "Ok, maybe we should just stop talking to each other. Then we can get through this punishment without ripping each other's hair out. Or of course we could be civil to one another, but I suppose that's out of the question for a Slytherin. I shouldn't have suggested it actually." she said, looking disgusted at the thought.
"You think I can't be friendly with a Gryffindor? Well I suppose you're right there," he grimaced. "Actually..say if I was nice to you Granger, what'd be in it for me?"
"You'd get good potions grades for a change," she smirked.
"Hey, you horrible little mudblood," he said looking a bit offended. "I do quite well in potions thank you very much."
"Not as well as me," she said smiling sinisterly.
"Lets say we make a pact Malfoy. You be nice to all of my house and stop being such a prick to me, and I'll make sure that in our potions assignment we get top marks."
Draco looked contemplatively around the room with a sour look on his face. " I'm not saying you're better than me at potions or anything mudblood. But knowing your clumsiness you could easily ruin our potion and our grade. So I'll agree for now because then you'll be extra careful. And if you're not, I'll sort you out, believe me."
"I'm sorry," replied Hermione giving him an oddly devious look. "That's not a nice enough comment for me. I'd be careful if I were you Malfoy. You know, if you keep going on like this and, my hand might just slip when adding an ingredient; which could in turn wreck the potion."
"It's your potions mark too!" he said, glaring murderously at his toothbrush that was in his hand.
"Yes, but I can always make up for it," she lied. She wasn't really going to ruin the potion; she just liked to see Malfoy suffer. "Whereas you can't afford to."
"Fine," he snarled, his face turning red, "we'll be acquaintances, just don't stuff up my potions grade.my father would kill me. And I'll have you know, I don't like being manipulated like this-"
"I hate to tell you Malfoy but your father's locked up in Azkaban," she pointed out to him sarcastically. She bit her lip noting Malfoy's face; she had gone too far this time.
Looking extremely vexed and upset. He said nothing as he got up and walked out of the door composedly, clenching his fists trying to control his anger. She watched him as he went up a couple of steps and closed the door angrily behind him.
Sighing she closed her eyes, she had crossed the line this time. What she had just said was cruel and vicious, very unlike her. What was she doing? She hadn't felt this guilty for at least a couple of years.she sighed. She mustn't do this again, even if it was her worst enemy.
It was nasty and uncalled for. She knew what being taunted about your parents felt like, the pain it inflicted on you when someone criticised them or said something bad about them. She didn't like Malfoy at all, but she figured she would have to try to set things straight with him sooner or later. Getting up she decided it was final; she would set things straight.
Chapter 4
Eight o'clock Thursday night found Hermione and Draco waiting silently for Filch in the Entrance Hall. Hermione tried her best to avoid Malfoy's eyes while they waited. She was feeling very tense and nervous. She was determined to keep a very far distance away from him, in case he unexpectedly lashed out like a bomb on the brink of exploding.
However, he was currently totally ignoring her. Glancing occasionally at the wall in absolute boredom. His face was the epitome of snobbery, and every now and then he would take a turn around one of the pillars in the prefects bathroom, breathing impatiently.
After a few minutes the terse silence was interrupted by Filch, the school caretaker, who approached them gleefully. Obviously he was very happy over the prospect of bossing students around and making them do odd jobs. Mrs. Norris sulkily followed.
He motioned to Hermione and Malfoy to come over to where he was and they set out to the prefect's bathroom. He cheerfully gave the password to Boris the Bewildered, ('Strawberry Essence') and then led them inside where he handed them a toothbrush each.
"Scrub," he said peevishly showing them his horrible yellow teeth in a very sinister, manic smile.
"WHAT?" gasped Hermione and Draco in unison.
"Scrub," he repeated, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "Scrub this whole place till it sparkles and shines. floors, lavatories, basins, showers and baths! I'll make you stay till dawn if absolutely necessary. Now get a move on. Oh yes, remember no magic, otherwise you'll wish you never set foot in this castle." he concluded viscously.
They both stood flabbergasted on the spot for a moment before they both started glaring angrily at Filch, who seemed to be quite enjoying this very much. His eyes sparkled with malice as his mouth twisted into his trademark wicked toothy grin.
Malfoy was the first to speak, sounding both their thoughts. "You cannot be serious-," he said in a cool voice.
Filch gave a small cackle. "Yes, of course I am, Malfoy! Now I'd start scrubbing if I was you, or it'll be the ceiling too! And we wouldn't want that now would we?" And with that he slowly exited the bathroom giving off an extra evil cackle, leaving a stunned Hermione and glowering Malfoy.
"How on earth does that oaf expect me to do this? " Malfoy said flamingly.
Hermione groaned, Wonderful! Just wonderful, here she was stuck with one of her worst enemies in a prefects' bathroom forced to scrub everything insight with a bloody toothbrush! Things had really gotten out of hand. She shot Malfoy a nasty look and bent down, starting scrubbing the floor.
***
Several hours had passed and the pair of them had nowhere near finished. Hermione moaned underneath her breath. This was absolutely preposterous, surely Mc Gonagall would not have approved of Filch making them do this. Of all the detentions Hermione had ever done at Hogwarts, this was by far the worst of all. How on earth could they be expected to do all this in one night? She thought miserably.and then it occurred to her.
They weren't going to have to do this in one night. They'd have to do it for a whole bunch of nights to get it done. This was Mc Gonagall's way of getting them to cooperate. Huffily she got up and stretched her aching muscles feeling extremely irritated. Draco was a short distance away, mumbling to himself in menacing tones about 'student rights'.
After a while she was surprised to hear him speak to her. "This is part of her plan," he snarled, looking extremely vexed as he glanced at her momentarily. "That old miserable bat Mc Gonagall is trying to get us to work together." He almost spat at this, looking very indignant.
"I know," Hermione said shrilly, for once openly agreeing with Malfoy on something. Realising this she quickly tried to redeem herself, "- You're brighter than you look, you know Malfoy." She told him cattily.
At this he gave a slight sneer, but Hermione was sure she caught a slight shadow of a smile on his face. But it was gone as soon as it had appeared.
"I suppose you do a lot of this stuff being a muggle and all," he said with great disgust, after a short interval of scrubbing.
"Yes," Hermione replied. She was relieved that he was the one who was trying to break the silence again, even though what he said often was to try to give offence.
"But I dare say," she continued shrewdly. "That we have more effective appliances in the muggle world to clean with. As far behind as we may seem from the wizarding world Malfoy, we still have not sunk low enough to clean places with toothbrushes. We actually find them more useful to clean our teeth with. Thus comes the term: 'Tooth Brush'," she told him very slowly as if he was an incompetent person who didn't understand what she was saying. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"I suppose Filch hasn't used one in years then," he said somewhat absent- mindedly ignoring her patronising tone.
Hermione chuckled at this suddenly before she could stop herself; she bit her lip trying to pretend nothing had happened, and tried very unsuccessfully to scowl. He looked at her quite surprised and very fascinated, like she was some amazing exhibit at a Museum full of hidden meanings and addled with puzzles.
"You know Malfoy, it is rude to stare," she said after several seconds when he didn't look away. Blushing furiously and looking down, Hermione now seemed very interested in the tile in front of her.
"Yes," he replied tartly. "You didn't seem to think so before our last potions lesson." he told her, one eyebrow raised and trying furiously not to grin.
"Bloody hell! Not again!" she exploded viscously, almost making her bucket topple over. Her face was now extremely red.
"Oh touchy are we?" he replied charmingly, seeing her sore spot.
"I've slapped you once Malfoy, don't think that I won't dare do it again," she snapped.
"What so you can get more detentions with me?!" he asked her almost laughing, giving up entirely on hiding his glee. "Bit keen aren't we?"
"Har har," she said in a foul mood. "You're ever so funny and witty Malfoy," she oozed now giving him a full stare. Suddenly she got another idea as she did this. Deciding to change tack she put on a different expression, "You're absolutely right," she started as Malfoy stopped laughing. "In fact I've been fancying you so much I just have to-"
She lunged at Malfoy who was off his guard, and wrestled him down; Malfoy was rather surprised that she was quite strong. "Now," she told him angrily, making sure he was listening. "Let me get something across. I don't like you, I never liked you, I never will like you, so just stop these ridiculous jokes you keep cracking that seem to amuse you so, and leave me be."
"And why should I do this for you, Beaver?" he drawled giving her an inquisitive look, as he tried to struggle underneath her.
"Because then I shall go around pretending we are an item and humiliate you beyond belief, ferret." She told him, saying the first thing that sprouted up in her mind.
"And I know you're just looking forward to that, but won't Weasel be jealous?" he said grinning.
"Do I make myself clear?" she inquired sternly, pretending she didn't hear his last comment.
"Inescapably clear," he replied as she loosened her grip. He got up, smiling slightly, with all the dignity he could muster. "You know Granger for a Gryffindor you have quite a lot of cheek, you would have done very well in Slytherin I think."
She spluttered angrily at this, unable to find anything appropriate to say.
"Knew you'd like that." He told her, leaning very close to her ear so that she jumped back immediately.
"Har har har," she repeated. "Yes in fact I love it.do us a favour Malfoy, piss off."
"I'm afraid I can't do that you see. I'm unfortunately forced to serve detention with you, here because old Mc Gonagall can't understand house rivalry and differences. Stupid old bag that she is." He said in an annoyed voice with a pained expression on his face.
Hermione sat down and looking very unhappy said, "Ok, maybe we should just stop talking to each other. Then we can get through this punishment without ripping each other's hair out. Or of course we could be civil to one another, but I suppose that's out of the question for a Slytherin. I shouldn't have suggested it actually." she said, looking disgusted at the thought.
"You think I can't be friendly with a Gryffindor? Well I suppose you're right there," he grimaced. "Actually..say if I was nice to you Granger, what'd be in it for me?"
"You'd get good potions grades for a change," she smirked.
"Hey, you horrible little mudblood," he said looking a bit offended. "I do quite well in potions thank you very much."
"Not as well as me," she said smiling sinisterly.
"Lets say we make a pact Malfoy. You be nice to all of my house and stop being such a prick to me, and I'll make sure that in our potions assignment we get top marks."
Draco looked contemplatively around the room with a sour look on his face. " I'm not saying you're better than me at potions or anything mudblood. But knowing your clumsiness you could easily ruin our potion and our grade. So I'll agree for now because then you'll be extra careful. And if you're not, I'll sort you out, believe me."
"I'm sorry," replied Hermione giving him an oddly devious look. "That's not a nice enough comment for me. I'd be careful if I were you Malfoy. You know, if you keep going on like this and, my hand might just slip when adding an ingredient; which could in turn wreck the potion."
"It's your potions mark too!" he said, glaring murderously at his toothbrush that was in his hand.
"Yes, but I can always make up for it," she lied. She wasn't really going to ruin the potion; she just liked to see Malfoy suffer. "Whereas you can't afford to."
"Fine," he snarled, his face turning red, "we'll be acquaintances, just don't stuff up my potions grade.my father would kill me. And I'll have you know, I don't like being manipulated like this-"
"I hate to tell you Malfoy but your father's locked up in Azkaban," she pointed out to him sarcastically. She bit her lip noting Malfoy's face; she had gone too far this time.
Looking extremely vexed and upset. He said nothing as he got up and walked out of the door composedly, clenching his fists trying to control his anger. She watched him as he went up a couple of steps and closed the door angrily behind him.
Sighing she closed her eyes, she had crossed the line this time. What she had just said was cruel and vicious, very unlike her. What was she doing? She hadn't felt this guilty for at least a couple of years.she sighed. She mustn't do this again, even if it was her worst enemy.
It was nasty and uncalled for. She knew what being taunted about your parents felt like, the pain it inflicted on you when someone criticised them or said something bad about them. She didn't like Malfoy at all, but she figured she would have to try to set things straight with him sooner or later. Getting up she decided it was final; she would set things straight.