I'm so sorry, I haven't updated in what? Almost three months! Jesus! I promise I'll put up LOTS of chapters during this Christmas break because I have two weeks off of school! YAY!
Basically, this one's pretty important because… well… you'll see!
Chapter Ten: Gray BlueThe bushy brown head rose from her peaceful slumber and immediately jumped out of her bed and to the bathroom.
It was 7:45, just enough time to get ready for class.
Have you ever just woken up from a wonderful dream and all of sudden you couldn't remember it? And you had to think really hard to remember the slightest bit of something that happened? Maybe so, maybe not, but that's how Hermione felt right now.
As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, gently wiping her face with a cold towel, she realized her heart felt light and she couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face. For a moment she wondered what she had been dreaming about last night. Thinking hard with her eyes closed shut she was able to recall the scene.
They were outside the castle, walking along the shore of the lake, not really caring about anything.
What do you mean they you ask? Well to be honest, Hermione wasn't exactly sure who was with her. She just knew someone else was. She could feel the eyes of her companion boring down into her as if he knew everything.
She grew bored from the silence and was about to wander off closer to the water's edge when she felt a light pressure against her hand, pulling her back.
It was then that her heart leapt as she turned around to face a boy.
He was dressed in Slytherin robes, uncannily eliminating all other boys in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and to her disappointment, Gryffindor. But the identity of the boy was unmistaken with one glance of his hair.
The platinum blonde locks of someone she had grown quite accustomed to seeing greeted her eyes, making her smile. She looked down at their hands, intertwined with each other. Forcing back a blush, she tried pulling away regretfully, but his other hand reached up and tilted her chin so she could look into his beautiful eyes.
Gray-blue.
Attractive eyes to most people would be unique eyes, like blue, green, or even a light brown. But to her, his eyes were the most beautiful she had ever seen. They clashed with each other, the blue of the sunny sky trying to overtake the gray of the clouds and rain, each fighting for dominance. It was like a battle of feelings. His eyes would change everytime he felt a different emotion.
When he was angry his eyes were a dark gray. Then they would shift into neutral: Gray. And then when he was pleased, they would turn into the raging battle of gray and blue. When he was in love… well-
She snapped out of her daze, only realizing then that she was grinning uncontrollably and her hands were clasped together as if she were praying.
Sighing, she closed her eyes briefly and continued to prepare for her early morning classes. Later tonight, before dinner she would have her last kitchen duty and then it was blissful freedom. Well… maybe not blissful. She had the strangest feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was going to miss these bickering moments with Malfoy while they sorted spices on the racks.
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Her day had been hectic. Well, more like: bloody fricken annoying as hell. Or so Blaise would put it (they sat next to each other in Transfiguration)
She actually counted the hours till she would be able to possibly take her stress out on a bag of flour by beating it till it opened.
When she had arrived at the kitchens, Draco was lying across a spare bench.
"Good evening Malfoy," she said almost bitterly, trying to forget the images of last night's dream that kept popping up in her mind.
"Someone seems a bit tense."
She glanced at him, catching a glimpse of his smirk.
"I am not tense,"
"Of course not,"
"I'M NOT TENSE!"
"Okay, okay, I get it!"
Hermione glared at him and stalked off towards the bench Draco had been laying on earlier.
"So what are we making anyways?"
"Um… cookies?"
"What kind of cookies?"
"Cookies."
She rolled her eyes at him and began tearing open a bag of flour.
"Could you get me an electric mixer?"
"Can't we just magically summon it or something?"
"If you haven't noticed Malfoy, we don't have wands!"
"Fine…" He stomped off in the direction of the electric machines (the only place you'd find such in Hogwarts).
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Soon enough, they had found all the necessary ingredients for baking the cookies. It was already 5:00, only an hour before the Halloween Dinner was to start.
"I'm not kidding, Malfoy. If you don't hurry up and put those ingredients into the mixer then we'll both miss dinner!"
"It's not as easy as it looks!" he said, messily pouring in flour and eggs into the bowl. "Now what do I do?"
"Well, uh, I don't know. Maybe, TURN IT ON?"
He flipped the switch and the beaters started turning, mixing the milk, eggs, sugar, and flour.
"That's good," Hermione said, looking over his shoulder at the well-blended cookie dough.
"So… what do I do now?"
She sent him a daring glare.
"He he." He laughed jokingly, smiling like a young boy. He grabbed a handful of dough from out of the bowl and began shaping it with his fingers into a heart.
Hermione sighed and giggled slightly at how childish he was behaving.
Well… that was until he proceeded pull the beaters out of the bowl… while they were still spinning.
Her face and clothes were splattered with raw cookie dough, adding more messiness to her hair.
"Malfoy…" she growled, spitting out some of the batter that had flown into her mouth.
"Whoops," he smiled sheepishly.
Then an idea struck her. Reaching down slowly with a big grin on her face, she picked up a raw egg and pelted it at Draco.
The egg landed smack dab on his chest, the yolky mess dripping down the front of his robes.
"Oooh, Granger. That wasn't very smart."
He threw some flour into her face, turning her hair white.
"MALFOY! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" Hermione shouted at him, waving her arms around in the air.
"How many times do I have to tell you, HERMIONE? Call me Draco."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh I'm sorry, Draco dear. I forgot," she said in a mocking voice.
He smirked and stepped forward, leaning towards her slightly.
"You know, you look quite cute with white hair,"
"Oh please," she scoffed, pushing him away.
But Draco grabbed her hands, pulling her with him as he tumbled down to the ground.
"Oof… Draco Malfoy let go of me!" she laughed.
"Well actually, I kind of like this position," he said with a smirk.
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It took a while to convince Draco that they were going to be late for dinner if they didn't hurry.
By the time they had finished baking the cookies, it was already 5:55. But that soon turned into 5:58 because Draco just had to run over and ask Dobby something.
"Thank goodness that's over with," Hermione mumbled to herself as Draco shot past her yelling "I'M FREE!"
She caught up to him not long after. He had apparently grown tired of running up and down stairs and through corridors.
As he bent down to tie his shoelaces in front of the Great Hall's entrance, she was saddened to realize they wouldn't be spending time together anymore. But it was fun while it lasted.
"So whose going in first?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked her quizzically.
"You know..."
She began motioning towards the Great Hall.
"Uh… still not getting it,"
"Whose going to walk in first, because obviously we can't walk in together since we're supposed to be enemies and all, and furthermore, Harry and Ron would have a fit if I was even seen five feet near you since they're sort of overpro-"
"HERMIONE!"
"Uh-wha?"
He slowly got up and as he did so, took her two hands in his.
"Calm down. Usually I'm supposed to be the one to suggest that!"
She smiled and her heart seemed to lift.
"Thanks Draco,"
"What for?"
"For making my night seem a lot better then I thought it could be."
"…You know, your night could always be just a little bit better if we just hussied on up to our dorm room and…"
"What was that?"
"Uh…oh… nothing."
She smiled at him and he made an innocent face as if he wasn't thinking dirty thoughts of her at the moment. (A/N: As if…)
By the time they had finished their conversation, it was seven minutes past five o'clock and the feast had begun. Hermione and Draco had decided to go in separately. He would walk in first. Then she would follow after waiting a moment. She had had to explain to him how Harry and Ron really would be upset if they saw them walking in together. Not to mention the fact that they were not completely cleaned up from the fight down in the kitchen.
Hermione stood there for ten seconds from when Draco disappeared into the chattering hall. She decided to walk in now, since everyone was probably paying attention to their own personal conversations.
Boy, was she wrong.
Upon her entrance in the Great Hall, all the students fell silent and many turned to look at her. Draco had not yet made his way to his table and was in the mist of sitting down when he realized the talking had died away.
Hermione gulped, imagining what every one of her peers must be thinking…
"What were Malfoy and Granger doing?"
She should have waited longer… and maybe it would have helped to wipe off some of the cookie ingredients that were all over her.
As the student body recovered from shock, some boys gave out hoots and whistles. There was even a few Slytherins applauding Draco. Pansy didn't look too pleased at all though…
A Slythering fifth year leaned across the table so Draco could hear him, "Wow, Draco. Finally got the mudblood, huh? Was she good?"
Draco looked absolutely revolted.
"What the bloody hell are you talking about, man? NOTHING happened. We were cooking food down in the kitchens! You better bet I didn't put some poison in yours!" he shouted, glaring at the fifth year. "AND WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTHS?"
The whole hall was instantly silent once more and Hermione found herself thanking Draco deeply in her mind. She really was uncomfortable with all these dirty stares from a few Draco-Worshiping girls.
And the second she sat down in between Harry and Seamus, with Ginny and Ron sitting across from her, their questions were firing away like bullets.
"HERMIONE?" asked Harry, completely flabbergasted as was Ron.
Hermione squeaked out a shy, "Yes?"
"WOT YE AELL APPENED?" shouted Ron, his mouth filled with mashed potatoes.
"What Ron means to say, Hermione, is: what the hell happened? As I'm sure we'd all like to know…" said Ginny, giving her one of those looks that always made you tell the truth.
"Nothing happened! Now, will the both of you"- she pointed at Ron and Harry-"stop looking at me as if I've just murdered someone and-… Ron, it would help us all if you'd just stop stuffing your mouth with food and trying to talk at the same time!"
After a couple of minutes, the houses began talking again and the Great Hall was more relaxed. Hermione on the other hand was not having a rather splendid time. Ron couldn't help but continue to ask her about what had gone on down in the kitchens. It was only the desserts appeared on the table when she grew happy.
As if someone had asked a house elf to place a heart shaped cookie on her plate, there it was, lying there ready to be eaten.
She looked up and avoided Ron's curious gaze and caught Draco's eye. He looked at the cookie on her plate and smiled at her.
"You don't give heart shaped cookies on Halloween," said Ron, sounding annoyed.
Hermione stared down at her cookie and smiled. Perhaps Draco was a good cook.
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Later that evening, once the feast had ended and the students had made it safely to their houses, Hermione slipped into her Head Girl Dorm and found an owl sitting on her floor. There was a letter written in flowing script addressed to her. Just as she was about to open it, a sharp knock sounded on her bathroom door.
DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Well it's not much of a cliffhanger, but I know you're all wondering who it could be! Am I right? Yeah… I think you all pretty much know… I mean who else has access to Hermione and DRACO'S bathroom.
If you haven't realized by now, I give you guys A LOT of hints.