Warning: I could not for the life of me come up with a decent detention to write about, that's why I came up with the lame idea I came up with. ;)
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone once again for the reviews.
Disclaimer: Honestly, I'm not J.K. Rowling. I'm not even British.
Detention that night was being held by Professor McGonagall, which was in a lot of ways a great relief to Hermione, who had to admit she was nervous about serving detention with 2 Slytherins who hated her guts. At least she hadn't gotten stuck with Filch, or worse, Snape. McGonagall would at least sympathize with her.
Hermione was, of course, the first one to arrive. When she stepped into the classroom, McGonagall looked up at her with a stern look. "Miss Granger," she said, "I cannot tell you how shocked I was to learn that you would be attending detention this evening. And for fighting no less." She shook her head in disappointment.
"I know," Hermione said, hanging her head in shame. "I know I should not have resorted to violence. I'll never let it happen again."
"Yes, well." McGonagall stood up and walked around to the front of her desk. She placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I hope you at least made this detention worth it." She winked. "I heard from Madame Pomfrey that she had quite the time fixing Mr. Malfoy's nose."
Hermione grinned. She had never liked McGonagall as much as she had in that very moment.
Unfortunately, Hermione's good mood was instantly squashed about five seconds later, when Draco arrived, with Pansy trailing behind him, talking about her hair. Draco looked like he couldn't care any less. In fact, he almost appeared to be relieved to see Hermione standing there. Almost.
"Well," McGonagall said, interrupting Pansy, who shot her a dirty look. "It looks as though we are just waiting for one more person…"
"I'm here!" a voice said, as a tall dark-haired boy rushed into the room. Blaise Zabini.
"Zabini?" Draco said, looking surprised.
Blaise nodded. He looked at Professor McGonagall. "I'm terribly sorry I'm late, Professor. But something very urgent came up last minute." He looked over at Hermione and winked.
Hermione blushed. Draco scowled. Pansy sighed and twirled a strand of hair around her finger, looking terribly bored already.
"That is quite all right, Mr. Zabini," McGonagall said, waving her hand. "Well now that we are all here, I guess detention can begin. I was originally going to just have you all write lines about how you will not resort to violence ever again." She looked over her glasses at Blaise. "Or in your case, that you will not torture first years ever again." Blaise smiled as McGonagall continued: "But then I figured I should have you all do something that will have you working together." Pansy groaned. "Which is why you're going to help set up for a party."
Draco narrowed his eyes. "A party?"
"Yes," McGonagall replied. "Tomorrow is Professor Sprout's birthday, and the staff is planning a surprise birthday for her. Normally, we would just have the house elves set it up, but I think this would be the perfect opportunity to give them a night off, and you four a chance to work together."
McGonagall led them out of the classroom. "The party is being held in an abandoned classroom that hasn't been touched in Merlin knows how long. So you will have to pair up. Two of you will be in charge of cleaning, and the other two will be in charge of making the decorations."
"I call Granger as my partner!" Blaise said quickly. He grabbed Hermione by the back of her robes and pulled her toward him, causing her to stumble slightly. She glared at him, as did Draco.
McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "Very well." She stopped in front of a classroom door that none of the four kids recognized. "I have other matters to attend to, but I will be back in an hour or so. Until then, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Parkinson, you will be in charge of decorations. Miss Granger, Mr. Zabini, you will be in charge of cleaning." She turned to leave, but stopped. "Oh, and before I forget. Hand over your wands." She held out her hand. All four kids reluctantly handed over their wands. Without them, their work would be a lot more tedious. But then, that really was the whole point of detention.
"Alohomora," McGonagall said, pointing her wand at the door. The door unlocked and McGonagall pushed it open. "There you go. Have fun."
Hermione caught her eye before she left. She gave her professor a pleading look that clearly said, please don't leave me alone with three Slytherins!
McGonagall gave her a sympathetic look. "It'll be over before you know it, Miss Granger," she whispered, before disappearing behind the door. Hermione gulped.
The four of them stood in silence in the large, dark and dirty room, for what seemed like forever, not doing anything. Finally, Pansy spoke up. "I'm not making decorations for some stupid party. I am not a house elf. I refuse to be told what to do!"
"Fine, Pansy," Blaise said, picking up a bucket of soapy water that had been left for them. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. But when McGonagall comes back and sees you've done nothing, you'll get another detention, and you will keep getting them until you've done what you are told to do. Do you really want to spend the rest of your days at Hogwarts in detention?"
Pansy huffed and ignored Blaise. She grabbed Draco's sleeve and pulled him over to the table that was set up all the way across the room.
Blaise shook his head. "Merlin, she is annoying, isn't she?" he said softly to Hermione.
Hermione couldn't help but smile. "She is insufferable."
"You don't know the half of it. You don't share a common room with her." He rolled his eyes.
Hermione giggled. "Thank you," she said before she could stop herself.
"For what?"
"For picking me as your partner. I don't know what I would have done if I'd gotten stuck with either one of them." She motioned over to Draco and Pansy with a look of disgust on her face.
"Ahh. Well, you're welcome." He looked over at his friends. Pansy had a scowl on her face and was whining about something. Draco appeared to be ignoring her. "They make quite the lovely couple, don't they?"
Hermione's smile quickly turned into a frown. "Doesn't that bother you?"
"Me?" Blaise asked incredulously. "Why would it?"
"Well," Hermione said slowly. She took a rag, dipped it into the water and began to scrub the floor. Blaise quickly followed suit. "I mean…aren't you a bit jealous? After all, Pansy was your Valentine."
Blaise gave a loud snort, which caught the attention of Draco, who glared over at them. "Oh, right. Valentine's Day. I forgot about that. Yeah, she was my date. But only because all of the good girls were already taken."
"Oh." Hermione smiled. She wondered if Pansy knew this.
"Besides, it would never work out between us. She's too much 'in love' with Draco."
"Right," Hermione said coolly, concentrating on a stubborn spot on the floor. "And…how does he feel about her, exactly?"
Blaise had to suppress a laugh. He was wondering when Hermione was going to ask him about Draco and Pansy's relationship. He shrugged. "I don't know. He doesn't really talk about his feelings much. I can't see how he could return those feelings, exactly. I mean, Pansy is not exactly the most loveable girl in the world. But, I'm pretty sure he thinks she's hot."
"Oh," Hermione said, hunching her shoulders in what looked like disappointment. Blaise couldn't believe it – Hermione Granger was jealous of Pansy Parkinson's appearance.
"Well for the record, I don't find her to be all that attractive," Blaise said. "I don't really go for the heavily made-up type. I like my girls more natural and down-to-earth. And smart." He added, looking at Hermione when he said this.
Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly at him. He was looking at her funny. Almost as if he had been describing her…No. No way. She quickly pushed that thought out of her mind as she went back to scrubbing the floor. In response to what he said, she replied simply, "Well that's nice."
"Yes, it certainly is," he said, giving her a wink.
Beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable, Hermione quickly stood up from the floor, swaying a little as a sudden feeling of dizziness washed over her.
"Are you okay?" Blaise asked, his voice actually containing a bit of concern. He stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her.
"Yeah," Hermione replied lightly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the room had stopped spinning. "It's just low blood sugar, I think. I skipped the feast tonight."
"Oh," Blaise said. "You don't think you're fat, do you?"
This made Hermione chuckle. "No! I don't think I'm fat! I just…wasn't all that hungry tonight. So really, I haven't eaten for…" She proceeded to count the hours on her fingers since she'd eaten last. Once she'd gotten halfway onto the other hand, she said, "Well, let's just say I haven't eaten in a while."
"Ahh." Blaise reached into his robes, searching for something. Finally, he pulled out what looked to be a chocolate bar. "Lucky for you, I always carry one of these around."
"What is it?" Hermione eyed it suspiciously.
"It's not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking," Blaise said. He unwrapped the bar halfway. "It's chocolate. Nothing more than that."
He held it out to her. She went to take it, but instead of him handing it to her, he slowly inched it closer to her mouth, as if he were going to feed it to her. It was a little too weird for Hermione, but as the room began to slightly spin again, she decided to just go for it. She closed her eyes and took a bite.
Her eyes flew open as she heard a crash coming from across the room. Glancing over to the obnoxious couple in charge of decorations, she noticed a fuming Draco had knocked over his bottle of ink, which had then exploded upon impact with the floor.
"Oh, way to go, Draco," Blaise said with an exasperated sigh. "Just add more work for me and Granger why don't you."
Draco glared at his best friend. "What are you even doing in detention, Zabini?"
Blaise grinned. "Well, apparently, it's against school rules to hex first years. Especially in front of Professors."
Pansy gave a haughty laugh. "Were they from Gryffindor?" Blaise nodded, prompting her to squeal and clap her hands together in sheer happiness.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, Zabini, you're here, so I recommend that you do you what you've been told to do, and stop feeding the mudblood. They bite, you know."
Hermione shot Draco a death glare, while Blaise clicked his tongue. "Tsk-tsk, Draco. Now who was it that just threatened me the other day when I used the 'm' word? I do believe it was you. You said something along the lines of you would kill me in my sleep if I ever referred to Granger like that again?"
Draco's face turned an attractive shade of pink. "I did not. Well, I did, but that was just part of -"
"The prank," Blaise finished for him. "Yeah, yeah. I know that. You were very convincing, by the way, in case I never told you that."
"Drakie!" Pansy whined. "These decorations aren't going to make themselves!"
Draco ignored her. "About as convincing as you are?" he said to Blaise.
Blaise put on his best innocent look. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said coolly.
Draco snorted and looked at Hermione with contempt. "Oh I think you do, Zabini."
"DRAKIE!" Pansy yelled impatiently from across the room. "Get away from the mudblood. You might catch something and give it to me." She shuddered.
Hermione wished she had just gone and passed out when she'd had the chance.
"You'd better get back to work, Drakie," Blaise said teasingly.
Draco scowled, but headed back over to the arts-and-crafts table, where Pansy was just finishing up the "Happy Birthday Professor Sprout" banner. Besides the fact Pansy had misspelled both "birthday" and "professor", Draco had to admit it looked halfway decent.
He heard a giggle come from across the room, and he glanced over just in time to see Blaise splash Hermione with a bit of soapy water from his rag. Suddenly, Draco wanted to vomit. Apparently, the only thing that was more nauseating than courting Granger, was watching someone else doing it.
More than an hour had passed before McGonagall came back into the room. Amazingly, some progress had been made – the room looked a bit cleaner than it had when she'd left, and the sparkly banner looked quite nice hanging from the ceiling. She was actually quite pleased.
"I'd say you've all done quite enough for the evening," she said.
Draco looked up from the parchment he was currently folding into the shape of a swan. This was the most ridiculous detention he had ever served, and he hated everyone for it. "It's about bloody time," he mumbled. He got up as fast as he could and headed for the door, avoiding Blaise's gaze as we walked by.
"Yeah, really," Pansy said with a yawn. She stopped examining her fingernails and moved to follow Draco out the door. "What a complete waste of detention." She gave McGonagall a nasty look before exiting the room.
"What a lovely girl," McGonagall said sarcastically to no one in particular. She looked at a disheveled Hermione, who was still busy washing one of the windows. "Miss Granger, you may go now. You too, Mr. Zabini."
Blaise looked over at Hermione as she turned around. "Thank you, Professor, for such an enjoyable detention."
"No need to suck up, Mr. Zabini," McGonagall said with a slight smile. She turned to Hermione. "See you in Transfiguration on Monday."
Hermione nodded and McGonagall disappeared out the door.
"Can I walk you to your tower?" Blaise asked.
"No, I'll be fine, thanks," Hermione said, frustratingly blowing at a strand of hair that had fallen in her face. She couldn't help but blush when Blaise reached over gently and tucked the loose strand behind her ear.
"I'll see you later," he said softly, before he too left the room.
All alone now, Hermione began to pick up the cleaning supplies that were left on the floor. As she set them on the table, she picked up the paper swan Draco had been working on and smiled.
"Zabini?" came an irritated voice out of nowhere. Hermione jumped and spun around. Draco was standing in the doorway.
"No, Malfoy. I'm Granger, not Zabini," she said with a roll of the eyes.
Draco smirked. "You do realize what he's doing, right? I mean, you're supposed to be all smart."
Hermione shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about Malfoy."
"Don't you? He's using you, Granger. He can have any girl in this school, and he knows it. I'm sure he has some goal to get every girl in Hogwarts into his bed before he graduates, and you just happen to be next on the list. Don't think for a second that he actually likes you."
"I don't think he likes me!" Hermione said heatedly. "He doesn't even know me! And I don't know him! It just turns out that he's not as much of a hotheaded prat like you are, so he's easier to get along with! And if what you are saying is even true, then why are you telling me all of this? I would think you would love to see me get hurt yet again. You enjoyed it so much when you did it. But – oh yeah! You weren't just using me! You really had those feelings for me, whether they were caused by a love potion or not, and you cannot bring yourself to admit it! What are you so afraid of, anyway? It's not like I'm asking for your hand in marriage, or asking you to profess your love to me! All I'm asking is…" Her voice trailed off.
"Is what, Granger?" Draco said indignantly. "What is it that you want me to do? Acknowledge that I liked you for a couple of days? It was a spell, Granger. It wasn't real."
"I know that, you stupid git! But you can't even bring yourself to admit that for once in your life, you weren't so perfect! You were vulnerable, and you can't stand it. So what do you do? You pretend it was all just some stupid joke you were in on the entire time. What is so wrong in admitting that you were a victim of something you had no control over? What is so wrong in admitting…in admitting that…you felt something for me." She regretted saying it immediately after the words left her mouth.
Draco blinked. Well, that was certainly unexpected. If he didn't know any better, he would think maybe Hermione was pleading with him to admit he had feelings for her. But he couldn't do that. So, as usual, he did the one thing he was best at doing: he acted like a jerk.
"You want to know what's wrong with that, mudblood?" he hissed. "I cannot admit I felt something for you, because I didn't. I don't, and I never will. You're a filthy little mudblood who doesn't even deserve to breathe the same air as me. Whatever it was I might have felt for you while under the influence of a love potion, it wasn't real. That person who whispered sweet nothings into your ear, that person who gave you your first kiss…he does not exist; he never did. That person was me all along, no matter what some stupid potion might have made me feel at the time. I hate you with every fiber of my being, Granger, and nothing short of some temporary love potion is ever going to change that."
His words stung harder than anything he had ever said to her before. She shook, trying so hard not to cry, but it was no use. The tears were spilling out before she even had a chance to sob. She racked her brain, trying to come up with any sort of retort, but she was coming up empty. It was no use, anyway. She was pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to speak the words even if she had found them.
Instead, she brushed past Draco and ran out of the classroom as fast as she could. She had promised herself she would shed no tears over Draco Malfoy. Apparently, she had lied.
Draco stood numbly as he watched her go. He couldn't explain the feeling that had suddenly washed over him, but he knew he didn't like it. He'd never seen Hermione get that upset before, and it impacted him greatly – especially since he was the one who had been the cause of those tears. He knew he should be gloating, and feeling like he'd just won the Quidditch World Cup.
Instead, he couldn't help but feel like the biggest loser in the world.