Chapter Nineteen
Hermione sneezed as she entered the Great Hall for breakfast after her talk with Malfoy. She was still sniffing a little as she sat down next to Ron and Harry who were busy shovelling down their food as usual.
"Good morning guys." Hermione greeted them with a slightly nasal voice.
"Hi Hermy. Are you sick?" asked Ron, using the nickname that she hated the most.
"Don't call me that, Ron!" she exclaimed, playfully swatting his arm.
"Fine I wont. Well? Are you sick?" he asked again.
"I might've caught a cold." Hermione admitted.
"From what?" Harry asked.
"Oh…I went for a walk this morning and you know, it was a bit chilly and all." Hermione lied smoothly.
"So that's why you weren't there when I knocked on your door this morning! I was worried about you because I was scared that Malfoy had kidnapped you or something." Harry said with a grin. Hermione forced a weak smile in response.
"Sorry, I should've left a note but I guess I forgot." she said.
"That's alright, just tell me next time ok?" Harry answered. Hermione nodded and Harry noticed that her eyes flicked subconsciously to the Slytherin table.
"Anyway, I should go and meet Blaise now for my tutoring lesson." Hermione said, grabbing two bread rolls and walking off, "See you guys at the Quidditch game."
"What's wrong with her now?" asked Ron.
"I have no idea, but I'm sure its not good." Harry replied, gazing after her quizzically.
Hermione was waiting outside the library once again, munching on her breakfast and thumbing through her textbook when Blaise arrived. She looked up and smiled when she saw him.
"You're on time." she said mock-surprisedly as they walked into the library and found a free table at the back.
"Of course I am. Zabinis are always on time." Blaise replied with a fake smirk.
"Oh right, I guess you don't remember our last tutoring lesson?" Hermione pointed out.
"Fine. Let me rephrase - Zabinis are always on time when they're not having arguments with Malfoys." he said with a sad smile.
"Hey, about that…" Hermione started off.
"Did you talk to him?" Blaise asked.
"Yeah I did, this morning actually." she replied.
"I guess that explains why he wasn't at breakfast and why you're still holding onto yours." Blaise said, pointing to her half-eaten bread roll.
"Yeah, I had better eat this before Madame Pince finds it and throws me out of the library." Hermione said sheepishly, putting the whole thing into her mouth and immediately regretting it as Blaise cracked up laughing.
"God, Granger…you're such a boy." He commented jokingly.
"Mmmph" Hermione spluttered indignantly with her mouth full.
"I guess that shouldn't came as a surprise considering you're best friends with Potter and Weasley." he continued on teasingly.
"Shut up! Do you want to know how the talk went or what?" Hermione threatened Blaise who sobered up straight away.
"Yes I do, m'am." he drawled with a straight face.
"Ok…well I think he's back to normal now." Hermione said with a smile.
"Really? Wow, how'd you pull that one off Granger?" asked Blaise curiously.
"I - erm…made a deal with him." she said quietly.
"Ooh what kind of deal?" he prompted with a sly smile.
"Not the kind of deal you're thinking, you dirty Slytherin!" Hermione replied shrilly, earning herself a disapproving glare from Madame Pince.
"Well I cant think of what other kind of deal Draco would agree to." Blaise said truthfully.
"Well like you said, Draco has changed since he's been back…so maybe this one of his changes." Hermione said naively.
"Oh Granger, you've got so much to learn about him. You know, no matter how much you think that he's changed, he's still a Malfoy and a Slytherin on the inside and that's one fact that even you cant change." Blaise said suddenly, moving closer to her. She gulped and moved a little bit away again - he was scaring her.
"What are you trying to say, Blaise?" asked Hermione quietly.
"Nothing. I just think that you shouldn't get too close to him - you'll regret it later." He replied darkly.
There was an awkward silence after that and Hermione stared determinedly at her book while Blaise stared just as determinedly at her - making her feel very uncomfortable. After awhile, Hermione decided to break the ice.
"So, what exactly did I miss in Transfiguration?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing much. We've basically been working on changing animals into their baby forms you know, a sheep into a lamb, a frog into a tadpole etc. Oh, and we've also started researching about Animagi." Blaise answered nonchalantly.
"Oh, that's alright then. I already did some research about Animagi back in third year and I practised changing my cat Crookshanks into a kitten at the beginning of the year before I got sent back with Draco…" Hermione trailed off, feeling Blaise's eyes on her again.
"Look, Granger are you trying to say that you don't need a tutor?" Blaise asked bluntly.
"No! I'm just saying that I'm not as behind as I thought." Hermione answered quickly.
"Well it seems to me as though you're hinting that you don't need me to help you catch up since you're sooo far ahead of the rest of us anyway." Blaise continued.
"That's not what I mean Blaise and you know it! I want you to be my tutor ok? I appreciate that you're giving up your free time to help me." Hermione said softly. Blaise hesitated before answering.
"Ok then Granger. That's all I needed to hear." he said.
"So are we alright now?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Yeah. I think that we should finish up now - there's no point teaching you about Transfiguration since you already know it. I should go and talk to Draco before the match anyway…so I'll see you later." He said getting up to leave.
"When's the next tutoring session?" Hermione asked.
"Next Thursday night, same time same place." He replied, walking away already.
"Good luck for your game!" she called out after him.
"Thanks for talking to him for me, Granger." He turned around and called back to her and then, he was gone.
Hermione had just found Ron sitting with Parvati in the stands and she scrambled over several disgruntled people to get to the seat that they had saved for her.
"Sorry I'm late guys." She apologised, sitting down next to Ron.
"Don't worry about it. How was Blaise?" asked Ron.
"A bit strange actually, but he's alright now I guess." Hermione replied.
" I meant how the tutoring session was, not how he was." Ron clarified, giving her a strange look.
"Um yeah. It was very unproductive - turns out I knew all the stuff anyway." Hermione answered with a wry smile.
"Yeah I thought as much - me and Harry were wondering why Dumbledore thought that you needed a tutor at all since you're like sooo far ahead of the rest of us." Ron half-joked, eerily echoing what Blaise had said.
"Well sometimes even the best of us need a bit of help to catch up after missing a few weeks of school." Hermione answered in a clipped voice, making Ron glance at her in surprise.
"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, Ron." she replied, staring at the Quidditch pitch, where the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams were filing out onto the field.
They stood in two straight lines facing each other and Hermione saw Draco's silver hair glint in the sunlight as he head turned towards where she was sitting in the stands and she thought for a split second that he was smiling at her. Ron followed her line of sight and saw Draco.
"Hermione, are you smiling at Malfoy?" he asked suspiciously.
"What? Err no why would I do that?" Hermione answered a tad nervously. Ron gave her a narrow look.
"Are you sure?" he asked again.
"I'm perfectly certain that I am not smiling at him, Ron. OK?" she said more firmly.
"Ok." Ron responded, still suspicious.
"You know, he might be smiling at Parvati for all you know - she is his tutor after all." Hermione said slyly.
"Ugh! Why did you have to remind me!" Ron groaned, and Parvati gave him a surprised look.
"What's wrong, Ron?" she asked concernedly.
"Hermione's teasing me about how you're Malfoy's tutor." he replied deadpan.
"Hermione! You know how sensitive Ron is about Malfoy, why did you have to remind him? I mean personally, I find him quite charming and I really cant see why -"
"SHUT UP!" Ron bellowed, making everyone around him stare at him in surprise.
"Sorry." He apologised a moment later to a very embarrassed Parvati who slapped him forcefully on the shoulder. Hermione rolled her eyes at their childishness and tried to concentrate on the game. Colin Creevey was the new commentator after Lee Jordan had left the previous year and he was doing quite a dismal job even though he was so eager - so McGonagall had ordered Harry to help him commentate when he wasn't playing in the matches himself.
"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year - between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The game is due to start soon." Harry said cheerfully over the purple magical megaphone.
The crowd erupted in cheers and clapping and supporters of either side started waving their banners around creating a sea of dancing colours.
"The captains are currently shaking hands - Terry Boot, the Seeker for Ravenclaw is captain this year and he's put together a fine team this year, including Padma Patil, Harry's girlfriend -" Colin was cut off as Harry wrestled the megaphone away from him.
"Sorry Harry, I just thought people would like to know that your girlfriend's -" he was cut off again as Harry took over.
"Anyway, the Slytherin captain is Malfoy, and its really quite a surprise that he's been allowed to play considering that he hasn't even been at school for the past few weeks and missed countless training sessions with his own team -" Harry was drowned out with boos from the Slytherin side of the stands.
"So we'll be able to see how good he really is during this match." Harry finished off after the Slytherins had stopped jeering.
"Andddd they're off! Ravenclaw with the Quaffle first, Harry's girl-"
"Colin, just say Patil." Harry growled.
"Ok, Patil with the Quaffle racing towards the hoops and dodging those Bludgers very skilfully and she's about to score and GO PADMA!" Colin yelled as Padma shot the Quaffle through the centre hoop neatly.
"So Ravenclaw is leading ten to none and no sign of the Snitch - Slytherin in possession of the Quaffle, looks like Blaise Zabini is about to score but OH good shot of the Bludger by Ravenclaw Beater to make Zabini drop the Quaffle right into Ravenclaw Chaser Williams arms and now Ravenclaw racing towards the hoops once again and YES they score again putting them in the lead twenty to none." Harry commentated.
The game continued on uneventfully for the next half an hour with Harry getting increasingly irritated by Colin's commentary and the crowd starting to get bored with the monotonous nature of the match.
"So where's the Snitch, Harry?" Colin asked over the megaphone, causing the crowd to snicker tiredly.
"I don't know, Colin. I cant see it from this far." Harry replied annoyed.
"But you always find the Snitch!" Colin exclaimed.
"Shut the hell up, Colin." Harry muttered through the megaphone.
"Oh speaking of the devil, it looks like the Snitch has finally been sighted, Terry Boot is going into a dive after it and Malfoy is right on his tail, Malfoy gaining, Malfoy almost level with Boot…WHAT I DON'T BELIEVE IT! MALFOY GOT THE SNITCH! SLYTHERIN WINS THE MATCH 150-20!" Colin screamed out in shock and the rest of the Ravenclaw supporters let out disappointed yells too.
"I cant believe its over so suddenly!" Hermione exclaimed back in the stands.
"I cant believe Slytherin won." Ron said in a wooden voice.
"Aw cheer up, Ron. At least it wasn't against Gryffindor." Parvati tried to comfort him.
"Ugh, now Malfoy's going to gloat about it all the time just because he got the Snitch even after his complete lack of training with his team." Ron muttered under his breath.
"Really, I cant see why all of you are so competitive about Quidditch. Its just a game!" Hermione pointed out.
"It might be just a game to you, Hermione but to us - its so much more." Ron said dramatically.
"Oh whatever! I'm going to go and find Harry." Hermione said, walking away from Ron and Parvati.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Parvati.
"That's what I've been wondering all day." Ron sighed.
A/N: Well that was a very boring chapter, but essential for plot and character development! Hope you guys enjoyed that! Keep the reviews coming please and of course thanks to my wonderful reviewers:
Kace08, phoenixtamer150, HgBookworm, hp-paddy, lindylicious, Mandie, The Lady of the 4leafed Clover, Monday Mornings, Lady Delphinea, kKrEiLsLtYa, ShimmeringEvil, POTTEROX.