Hogwarts' Hero
Chapter 8
A/N: Bonjour! How is everyone? Erm, it took me a while to get this chapter out, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. A lot of setup happened in this chapter, so beware.
Thanks to Holder of Syaoran's Heart, SadisticKitty, that-silent-scream24, bk, pequeno senoretta, Kadoatie24, Solain Rhyo, Lenai Riddle, horseluver13, Tacky Socks, thoroughbredchickie, Karana Belle and Laina. I really really appreciate all the support!
Now, on with the story:
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Draco hurried down the stairs after Hermione. As they reached the corridor, he reached out for her and grasped her shoulder. Draco spun her around and growled, "What exactly were you thinking, Granger?!"
Hermione paused, seemingly searching for an answer.
Draco waited, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the prefect.
"Well, uh . . ."
Hermione paused and sighed resignedly, dropping her eyes to her shoes. She took a shaky breath and looked back up at Draco. "C'mon, Malfoy. You saw the look on Dumbledore's face when he thought we'd solved our petty rivalry. He was so proud. Then you had your little outburst and he looked so disappointed in us. We can't do that to him, Malfoy. I can't do that to him."
Hermione looked at Draco earnestly, willing the emotional, caring side of him to rise forth from the depths. Obviously, that was just too much to ask.
"Well, if you'd taken a second to think instead of shooting off your bloody mouth," Draco rebuked scathingly. "You'd have realized that the Welcoming Celebration is coming up at the end of this week. The one Dumbledore announced at the Sorting, designed to encourage inter-house unity. The one you suggested at last year's final prefect meeting. The one Dumbledore will now be expecting us to attend as a couple!"
Draco's anger at the situation had risen higher and higher as his speech went on, and he was now trembling with fury.
Hermione was outraged. He'd made out this entire thing to be her fault. She stared up at him rebelliously. "Well, Malfoy, if you hadn't been so stupid and yelled out when Dumbledore was talking to us, then I wouldn't have had to do damage control," she argued coldly, her eyes narrowed.
"Well, Hermione, don't you think Dumbledore will be even more disappointed in us when he finds out we've lied to him," Draco patronized, stepping towards her.
"Then what do you suppose we do about it, Malfoy? After all, you seem to know everything," Hermione returned sarcastically, inching forward.
"At least I'm not a buck toothed Mudblood, who's only chance at a social life is if one of the house elves goes blind."
"At least I'm not a stuck up brat, who'd rather take a mirror to the celebration than an actual date!"
Draco was now so close to Hermione, he could feel her breath fanning his face. Both had their eyes narrowed and stared intently at the other.
Draco opened his mouth, and began, "At least I'm not a―"
"What is this?!" exclaimed a surprised Professor Sprout as she entered the corridor. "My word! Two prefects howling at each other like rabid dogs."
Hermione whipped around towards the voice, hitting Draco with her hair in the process. Draco backed away from Hermione to avoid any further injuries, and turned to Professor Sprout.
"Well?" the Professor asked, placing her hands on her hips. "Out with it! What was so horrible that it had you two bickering like a bunch of first years?"
"Uh . . . um . . . err . . ." sputtered Hermione.
'I'll never know how that girl does so well in class,' thought Draco. 'She always seems to be at a loss for words.'
Malfoy looked over at Hermione's desperate expression and swung an arm over her shoulder. She looked up at him, surprised, as Draco turned back to Professor Sprout and smiled.
"Oh, you know how it is. Lover's spat, and the like," Draco explained. He winked at the professor, drawing Hermione closer.
Professor Sprout turned a bright shade of pink and giggled, "Yes, dear. I know exactly what you mean. Now, you two run along. You wouldn't want to be late for class."
Professor Sprout gave them a small smile and walked up to the stone gargoyle. As soon as the two students heard it close behind her, Draco quickly pushed Hermione away from him.
"What was that Malfoy? I thought we were trying to solve this problem, not make it worse!" shrieked Hermione, once she regained her footing.
"Well, you weren't much help," Draco responded smartly. "You couldn't even get a coherent sentence out."
"I'm not the one who started this whole thing," Hermione screeched, waving her arms around wildly. "Really, Malfoy, this is your entire fault. If you hadn't gone and kissed me, this wouldn't be happening."
Her face had gone beet red and her eyes were filled with pure loathing. Anyone else would have run away from Hermione screaming, but Draco just gave her a small smirk and knocked her shoulder as he brushed past.
Hermione turned round and gaped at his back as he sauntered down the hallway.
"Meet me in the library after classes, we'll figure something out then," Draco called over his shoulder. "Oh, and Granger, stop staring."
Draco turned the corner and headed towards his Charms class. Hermione must have been extremely frustrated at his abrupt departure, and that was just enough to slightly lift his dark mood.
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"Good morning, Albus," Professor Sprout greeted when she entered the Headmasters' office, and sat down across from him.
Dumbledore smiled. "Pomona, how are you today?"
"Just fine, Albus," she answered. "Now, what did you need me for?"
"Well," Dumbledore responded. "Severus has just informed me that his store of fluxweed has run out and he'll need some immediately."
"Sounds easy enough," Professor Sprout replied.
In the silence faint shrieks and yells could be heard from the corridor.
Professor Sprout looked at Dumbledore and said, "Who's that? It can't be Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger. I've just spoken to them."
"Don't worry," he stated easily. "They've been bickering outside my office for the past 10 minutes. I find it quite amusing. Reminds you of another young couple, doesn't it, Pomona?"
Professor Sprout scoffed, "You can't be talking about Lily and James?"
Dumbledore didn't reply, but the twinkle in his eye answered her question satisfactorily.
She paused. "I will need some students to help me with the collection of the fluxweed."
"May I suggest Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy? They have high marks in your class, correct?"
The twinkle was still present.
"Oh, Albus! Not again, remember what happened last time? Lily and James nearly killed each other," Professor Sprout protested.
"Everything worked out, Pomona. They got married and soon the Potters' were blessed with a lovely baby boy. Couldn't have been happier," Dumbledore assured.
"But Albus, you can't thrust two people together and expect results. You got lucky. Chances are it won't happen again," she argued.
"Nonsense," Dumbledore said, waving off her complaints. "Besides, you can't deny they'd do a very good job. We can't have unqualified students complete this task. The extraction of fluxweed is a very intricate process."
Professor Sprout sighed and surrendered to the headmaster's matchmaking efforts. "Oh, alright."
0000000000000000
'How dare he?! How dare he?!' Hermione raged as she hurried to Transfiguration.
When Draco had left her suddenly, she'd stood there in a stupor, mentally recreating what had just happened. Hermione had never encountered anyone else who could make her mind go completely blank and cause her to lose all the common sense and logic she prided herself on.
Malfoy was the only person who could make her completely forget herself. When Hermione was around him, she didn't think, she acted. Draco Malfoy brought out the Gryffindor side of her. How's that for irony?
Hermione walked briskly through the halls. Malfoy had caused her enough misery as it was, she'd be damned if she'd let him make her late for class again.
The one thing that kept bugging Hermione was that she hadn't remembered about the Welcoming Celebration. This was her idea; surely she took great pride in it. But, if this were true, why did she forget? Malfoy had said Dumbledore announced it at the Sorting, but Hermione didn't remember him doing so.
Hermione remembered back to the grand feast.
She'd had a slice of Ham, and it was just lovely . . . but that wasn't what had distracted her.
'What was it?' Hermione questioned herself agitatedly. She could feel the answer niggling in the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp it.
As Hermione walked through the hallway, she passed by a portrait of a beautiful woman with vibrant red hair.
Hermione paused.
Red hair.
"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed triumphantly, with a brilliant smile. "I was talking to Ginny about Malfoy."
Hermione's smile dimmed and her eyes narrowed. She growled. That boy was the root of all, err, distraction.
Hermione shook her head in annoyance, and continued down the hall.
'But what did she say about Malfoy?'
Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by her arrival at the Transfiguration classroom.
When Hermione entered, she searched through the student's preparing themselves for the lesson and found Harry and Ron. They'd taken one of the tables in the second row for themselves, and when they saw Hermione they motioned towards the table in front of them. They'd saved it for her.
Hermione slid into her seat and went to retrieve her quills and things from her bag. Hermione soon realized this was an impossible task, as she didn't have her bag with her. She must have left it in the Great Hall when she left to follow Malfoy.
'Damn him! Damn him to hell!' Hermione cursed. This was it; Malfoy had successfully managed to completely ruin Hermione's life. There was no end to the continuous torture he seemed to cause her almost every second of every day. As soon as Hermione found out what she'd gotten on her essay, she was prepared to go off and live as a hermit in the Forbidden Forest. Malfoy could never bother her there!
Professor McGonagall entered the classroom, and walked up to her desk.
"Mr. Macmillan, if you could please find a seat, so we may start the lesson," the professor demanded harshly.
Gryffindors shared their Transfiguration class with the Hufflepuffs, and Ernie Macmillan had been looking for a place to sit near his friends when McGonagall had entered.
Realizing all the seats near the back of the room were full, he trudged up to the front of the class and plopped down beside Hermione.
"Thank you, Mr. Macmillan. Now class, I'd like you open up your texts to where we left off yesterday," McGonagall commanded. "Ms. Patil will come around and collect your essays. Now, if I remember correctly, I asked you all to finish reading the chapter last night. Mr. Finch-Fletchley, what did you think of Ephron's theories?"
As Justin stuttered through an answer, Hermione thought franticly of what she could do. She had come to class unprepared, without her books.
"Hermione," whispered somebody behind her.
Really! Didn't they know what a serious moment this was! Hermione had forgotten her precious books in the Great Hall, where any illiterate slob could steal them and touch them.
Hermione shuddered at the thought.
"Hermione!" the voice whispered more urgently. This time Hermione recognized it as Ron's.
"What?!" Hermione snapped, turning to look at him.
Ron visibly shrank in his seat, frightened of Hermione's reaction.
"Uh-uh-um, y-your books," Ron managed, trying his hardest not to do anything that would make her angry.
"What about my books?" Hermione growled suspiciously.
"We-we-we-we-we―"
"We got them for you," Harry finished mercifully. Ron held them out for her.
Hermione looked at the books Ron clutched between his fingers and her eyes filled up with tears. They'd brought her books.
Hermione's lower lip quivered and tears threatened to escape as she took her books from Ron, and turned back around to face the front.
Hermione scrunched up her face and squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to stop herself from crying.
Ernie looked over at Hermione and noticed that she was on the verge of tears. "Are you alright?" Ernie asked awkwardly.
'Everything is wrong,' Hermione thought to herself.
She was late for classes, she was forgetting her books, everyone wouldn't stop talking about her, she hadn't gotten any closer to figuring out Malfoy's secret and Dumbledore now thought she was dating the biggest git to ever grace Hogwarts.
Hermione looked over at Ernie and answered in a small shaking voice as tears cascaded down her face, "I'm fine."
Not to mention, her face was now red and blotchy from crying.
Hermione whimpered loudly in her seat.
"Ms. Granger? Hermione? Are you ok?" Professor McGonagall asked, coming forward in concern.
"I'm f-fine professor," Hermione hiccupped, wiping at her eyes.
McGonagall took one look at Hermione's bloodshot eyes and the sweat that covered her brow, and replied, "Ms. Granger, I'd like you to go see Madame Pomfrey."
Hermione was about to protest when the professor held up a hand to stop her.
"It won't do anyone any good if you were to fall ill because you were too stubborn to admit you weren't feeling well," McGonagall reprimanded. "Now go."
Hermione nodded meekly and sniffled as she grabbed her bag and left the room.
"I heard Malfoy and Hermione may be having problems," Hannah Abbott whispered to Susan Bones as the professor returned to her lecture on the advancements Ephron's research gave to modern Transfiguration.
"That would explain why she's so moody lately," Susan agreed. "Did you see how mad she was when she entered? I wonder what happened."
Both girls picked up their quills and began taking notes.
Suddenly, Susan piped up, "Do you think this means Malfoy's single again?"
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A/N: So, what'd you think? Did you enjoy Dumbledore the village matchmaker and Hermione the basket case? Hehe. I know I did. Like I said, this is the setup to more conflicts within the story. Sorry about the lack of Malfoy secret action in this chapter, but there was really no place to put it. A big thing with that happens next chapter, so watch out for it! Now, go evil minions, and REVIEW!
