AN: hi, this is my very first fanfic ever (!) so any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated...just a quick note about the title; i got it from that saying that these two colours clash terribly, so should never be worn together...hmmm, could this be applied to hermione and draco perhaps? especially when you think of house colours...i wonder...probably been done before anyhow :p id love it if you could tell me what you think of this, and let me know whereim going wrong etc. Enjoy!
Red and green should never be seen...
It was official. Hermione was having a rubbish day.
"Why do bad things always come in threes?" Hermione sighed to herself as she matched his trademark smirk with her own infamous glare. First, she'd spilt a whole bottle of Dorian Gray's Anti-Frazzle Hair Tonic (Parvati had introduced her to the stuff in 6th year, and she'd been addicted to it ever since) over her favouritest wool-knit dress. The dress had completely unravelled, and was unusable – and she'd been planning on wearing it on her date with Seamus on Saturday! This little mishap had made her late for Potions, and Snape had been merciless, as usual. She'd managed to bag her herself a whole weekend's worth of cleaning the dungeons (well, at least she wouldn't have to look for an alternate outfit for Saturday).
And now this.
She'd come up to the Astronomy Tower to look for some peace and quiet, to get away from the stress of another hectic day, just to be able to think without being disturbed. But it seemed that Fate would deny her even that small pleasure…but since when had Hermione Granger let her life be ruled by Fate? She'd just have to tell Malfoy to get lost, and leave her in peace. He opened his mouth to speak, and she just knew he was going to insult her and tell her to leave. The stuck-up prat! She was here first!
"Look Malfoy, why don't you just turn around and go and crawl back under your rock or whatever, cause I've had a rough day, and believe me, your presence is not making it any better. Yeah, I know , you probably wanna do the whole: "You Mudblood. Me inbred bigot" routine first, but don't you think that's getting kinda old?"
"Well hello Granger. Pleasure to see you too. Somebody's a bit..grouchy tonight, aren't they?". Another smirk.
"I'm warning you, ferret boy, there is no way I'm moving from here. I was here first!", Hermione fairly snarled at him.
"Whoah, what's with the personal attacks? We're both mature students, and as Head Boy and Head Girl we should be able to tolerate being within 2 metres of each other without there being any bloodshed. There's plenty room here for the both of us." With an elegant shrug he turned away from her, and went and sat on the circular stone bench opposite, his back to her.
How dare he! Hermione fumed indignantly. She hated it when Malfoy had the last word in their arguments (which was more often than not, she grudgingly conceded). This had totally ruined her evening. She'd brought up plenty of books, blankets and biscuits (what more could a gal want?), and had planned on spending the night just thinking…about the present – how much school work she had to do, the fact that Harry and Ginny had finally got it together (thanks to a little matchmaking on her part), whether she'd have enough time this weekend to go to Hogsmeade and replenish her stock of Anti-Frazzle Hair Tonic..Maybe she could even pick up a few other beauty essentials? Hell, after the day she'd had, she deserved it...But more importantly, she needed to think about the future – the impending war, the full implications of Harry's prophecy, how to protect her parents, how to protect her friends...perhaps she could even contemplate life after the war...What kind of career she wanted – or whether she even wanted a career. If the right wizard came along..who knew? But it seemed Hermione's night of peaceful pondering was not to be – not while she was breathing the same air as Malfoy, anyway. Well, since there was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction of leaving, she was just going to have to convince him to leave.
"So, Malfoy...", she oh-so-casually sauntered over to him, and placed herself on the seat next to him. Close enough that their knees touched, close enough to see the startled look in his eyes at her intrusive proximity. Ha, she'd managed to unnerve him already, and she'd only just begun!
"What would your slimy Slytherin cronies say if they could see you now, in the company of me, a lowly Mudblood?" She fluttered her eyelashes becomingly at him, as she leaned in even closer. To compensate, Malfoy was forced backwards, and only just managed to catch his balance. He was looking at her with a mixture of contempt and confusion, clearly baffled by her sudden change of tack. Where was Colin when you needed him? Hermione had to fight hard to stop herself from laughing , the look on his face was priceless! She placed her hand on his thigh as she murmured, "We wouldn't want then to catch you in such a...compromising position, now would we?" Malfoy jumped up as if he'd been scalded, and stared at her as if he'd never seen her before. He looked more than slightly afraid of her, she was pleased to note.
"Uh, Hermione – I mean, Granger..uh," Was Draco Malfoy blushing! He recovered himself, and his smirk reappeared. "Credit me with some taste, Granger. As if I'd be caught dead with a filthy muggle like you", he sneered. The conceited little ferret! He actually thought she fancied him! Sure, he was easy in the eye, but his personality soon put paid to any thoughts along those lines (well, most of them). She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at his arrogance. Ah well, it was only her pride, she didn't mind sacrificing it if it meant he'd leave. Sure enough, he pivoted on his heel, and strode towards the stairwell. The sight of him, all billowing cloak and indignation at the fact that a mere Muggle-born had dared to touch him, was enough to dissolve her already weakening resolve. She collapsed on the bench in a fit of giggles. The sound must have caused Malfoy to pause, as he turned back around. The next thing Hermione felt was a 'consoling' hand on her back.
"Uh..no offense Granger, but I thought you would have realised by now that...uh, you're not really my type." He cleared his thought uncomfortably.
The arrogant sod! He'd taken one look at her shaking shoulders and jumped to the 'logical' conclusion that she was sobbing her heart out over him! This only served to further increase Hermione's 'sobbing'.
"Uhh...not that I don't think your pretty..."
Hermione was almost gasping for breath. Draco Malfoy thought she was pretty? Sure, since she'd finally started taking an interest in her appearance, and taught herself some nifty cosmetic spells, she'd been aware that she had some admirers...but Malfoy!
"...its just that..."
What? You're a member of a xenophobic cult and I'm the unfortunate target of your ethnic-cleansing campaign? Hermione thought to herself.
"..we're too different."
Out of the corner of her (now watering) eye, she saw him shake his head in an infuriatingly patronising manner. Well, as amusing as this was, it was time to put a dent in that over-inflated ego of his. Hermione cleared her throat, and sat up straight, so that he could see her face. He was hunkered down beside the bench, so he was at eye-level, instead of towering over her as he usually did. She carefully rearranged her robes, all the while maintaining steady eye-contact with him. Again, where was Colin when you needed him? Hermione had never realised before exactly how expressive Malfoy's face was. First, she saw that look of bewilderment return, followed by a dawning realisation that she was actually laughing (good boy, you got there in the end), culminating in anger. His eyes narrowed menacingly. Teasing Malfoy was more than she imagined!
"You – you tricked me!", he stuttered angrily.
"Oh but Draco darling, I am sooo in love with you!" Hermione whined petulantly, doing a pretty accurate imitation of most of the female (and male) population of Hogwarts. She daringly clutched at his wrists. She was really getting in to this! Maybe it would be fun to see just how far she could push him...
"Let go of me, bitch!", he snarled, pulling his arm away and leaping to his feet. Whoops. Evidently she'd gone too far already.
"I can't believe I felt sorry for you! I tried to let you down gently – even comforted you," he shuddered, "but you were laughing at me the whole time!"
She rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a drama queen, Malfoy. You're the one that assumed I was crying. And we all know what happens when you assume..." She quirked an eyebrow knowingly at him. But Malfoy was obviously not in the mood for banter. Wow, he's taking this really badly, she thought to herself- he needs to lighten up.
"So, what was with all that flirting before?"
Hermione shrugged. She might as well be honest. "I was just trying to freak you out enough so you'd leave, so I could have some peace and quiet."
For some reason, this seemed to antagonise Malfoy even further. "So it was all an act, then – you're not attracted to me?"
Ok, Hermione definitely did not like the way this conversation was going...or the way he was looking at her...Since when did it get so warm out here?
"Of course not", she bluffed, "Anaemic little ferrets aren't really my type."
But it seemed she'd hesitated too long. Malfoy had noticed her pause, if the triumphant gleam in his eyes was anything to go by. He stepped closer. Way too close.
"Well now, Miss. Granger... I think its time you got a taste of your own medicine, don't you?", he drawled as he leaned in towards her. Wow, Lavender wasn't lying when she said he had the most amazing eyes. They were an unnerving grey, with flecks of blue, which contrasted to the black of his pupils. He was close enough to see herself reflected in their mercurial depths. Hermione was well aware of what was about to happen, but, despite the alarm bells going off in her head, she didn't protest. Ok, that was understatement. Adrenalin was coursing through her, and she could almost taste the anticipation. Malfoy didn't disappoint.
Yeah, she knew he was The Enemy, and she really shouldn't be here, alone with him, letting him kiss her, kissing him back...even if it was amazing. But the realisation of what she was doing seeped into her conscious (eww, she was practically smothering the poor boy), and guilt began to slowly drip down her spine. And not just because Malfoy was probably suffering from severe oxygen deprivation.
She shoved him backwards. Hard. She was furious, though mostly at herself for 'fraternising with the enemy' in this most basic way. And since Malfoy was the easiest target in sight for said anger, and because he had just kissed her ( ! ) she pulled her wand out from her robe pocket in one fluid movement, and aimed it at him. She chewed her lip thoughtfully, wincing slightly at the bruising, as she mused on which curse to hex his balls off with...
...Only to be distracted by the sound of approaching footsteps on the stairwell. Hermione and Malfoy both froze, neither wanting to get caught up here together. The sound of Ron calling her name caused Hermione to spring into action. She shoved Malfoy, rather roughly (she was still mad at him for kissing her), into the dusty space behind the gnarled oak door, sprinted over to her pile of blankets, and snatched up "Beauxbatons: A Background". (After seven years of reading "Hogwarts: A History", Hermione had got thoroughly sick of it, and had now moved onto studying other magical schools.) Just in time, she thought grimly, as Ron burst through the door in his usual energetic style. Ooh, that's gotta hurt, she winced as the door slammed into Malfoy with a muffled "Oomph!". Ron was as oblivious as usual though, bless him.
"Ginny said I'd find you up here Mione. What are you doing here on your own? You're missing all the fun. We're going to sneak out to Hogsmeade tonight to celebrate Harry and Ginny's 1 week anniversary...wanna come?"
Somehow, Hermione knew that by 'celebrating', Ron meant 'getting absolutely plastered on Firewhiskey'. She also knew that the 'we' he was referring to consisted of Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Tessa, his current girlfriend. Hermione didn't feel like playing gooseberry, especially tonight – and she had a feeling things weren't quite finished up here yet...
"Sorry Ron, not tonight, I've too much – ", she broke off momentarily at the sight of Malfoy trying to sneak out behind Ron's back. No way was he getting away without getting some sort of reckoning for kissing her! (The fact that she had kissed him back was totally irrelevant, of course.) With a whispered "Petrificus Momentus", she literally stopped Malfoy in his tracks before he could be seen by Ron. She knew practising her wandless magic would come in handy one day. The charm she used worked in much the same way as the "Petrificus Totalus" spell, only the effects of this weren't as long-lasting, and had the added bonus of not causing the victim to clatter to the floor and perhaps attract unwanted attention. Now all she had to do was get Ron out of the way...
He was looking at her with a strange expression on his face. "Mione, you ok? You kinda spaced out there for a second."
"Uh..yeah, couldn't be better. Erm, I don't think I can make it tonight though, I've got a lot of reading to catch up on..." she trailed off, gesturing towards the small mountain of books she'd brought up with her.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Course. Who're we to get between Hermione and her books?" he said with a cheeky grin, ruffling her hair in that way that he knew she hated. She smiled weakly back at him, mentally urging him to hurry and leave. With another grin he left, bounding away down the stairs, and Hermione breathed a small sigh of relief. It wasn't that she disliked Ron, far from it – they'd dated for a while, but things hadn't worked out (at least, that's what Ron said; as far as she was aware, things were working out just fine. But he'd asked for some space, and she could hardly refuse, could she?) He was now working his way through the list of Hogwarts' finer females. Hermione wasn't jealous, but she couldn't help thinking – no, knowing, that her two best friends were drifting away from her. Take now, for instance. She was more than a little hurt at the way Ron had agreed so easily to her refusal, and hadn't even tried to persuade her to go out with them. Instead, he's left her alone in the Astronomy Tower...with Malfoy.
As soon as Ron's footsteps ceased to be heard, Malfoy slammed the huge door shut. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Mud-Muggle! I could have got away easily without that lumbering oaf spotting me, but you decide now would be a good time to paralyse me!" he spat.
"I, uh..." Oops. Stopping Malfoy from leaving had seemed a good idea at the time, but now Hermione wasn't so sure. He looked kinda mad. His hair was unusually tousled, and pale fronds were hanging over his eyes, which were bright and clear in the moonlight. A slight flush had crept into his cheeks, emphasising his cheekbones, and his mouth was partly open. Wow. He looked kinda sexy too. Hermione took a deep breath, and decided that, for once in her life, she was going to act on her impulses, however irrational they were. The next thing she knew, she was pressing he lips against his, desperately seeking an antidote to the confusion within her. And it seemed that Draco was just as hungry for this as she was, so things carried along in this fashion for some time, until the two broke apart, both gasping for air, eyes wide and dazed.