Hey, this is your last update before February so I hope you like it. I will try and write more of this during the break but in the meantime, read and enjoy. Istalindar
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The time before the meeting past very quickly. Too quickly, in Hermione's opinion. She just wanted to forget everything that had happened and go back to being normal, not knowing about new prophecies that could involve her.
Before she knew it, Harry came to get her from her common room, and the three of them (including Ron) went up to Dumbledore's office, which was suddenly quite big enough to fit quite a few people. Hermione and the boys sat together, and watched as the chairs in the room filled up. Some Ravenclaw, some Hufflepuff, Lavender, Parvati and Seamus from Gryffindor, and an amazing number of Slytherins. In fact, the larger part of the student majority in the room were Slytherins, and it seemed to Hermione that most of them were seventh years she had always suspected of being in line with Voldemort. Fuck, even Pansy Parkinson was there! She was sat filing her nails, her legs crossed, her shirt too tight, looking like a slut, as always. But she was here! And at the last moment, someone came in the nearly made Hermione fall off her chair. Snape (which she knew and expected anyway) and Draco Malfoy! They were closely followed by Dumbledore.
"We've come here to find someone who will protect miss Granger and help her look out for herself." Dumbledore said without any of his usual preamble. Hermione didn't look at Malfoy – after her comment the other night about her taking care of herself and 'killing' him (she had been joking) this meeting was humiliating. Especially as she fully expected him to tease and mock her about it anyway. When she risked a glance towards the blonde Slytherin, he was slumped in his chair, his arms crossed and his legs extended in front of him, watching Dumbledore.
"We're going to use a Choosing Cup to decide who will tutor Miss Granger (which sounded all wrong to Hermione's ears. She didn't get tutored! She tutored others!) in self-defense and other skills she may need so she can be safer no matter where she goes." Dumbledore said. "The cup will choose the person who is best suited and most capable of teaching Miss Granger what she needs to know, regardless of house, age, etc. it is completely fair and cannot be tampered with." He didn't direct his comment at anyone in particular, but Hermione was sure that he would not have said it if he had not have thought that someone would need to know.
Dumbledore took a plain wooden cup out of a box, and handed it to Professor Snape who passed it around. "Pass the cup around, it will take your measure in the brief seconds that you hold it." The cup went around the present members of the Order, then came back to Dumbledore, who set it on his desk, and tapped it with his wand. It immediately began to glow reddy orange, and before long, a stream of silver sparks began spraying out of it in a neat fountain.
"It will spell out the name of the person most suitable." Dumbledore explained. But Hermione was watching the cup, as the sparks suddenly took on minds of their own and scattered around the room, racing around the members of the Order in the room before returning to hover above the cup before dashing into place to clearly spell a name that did not make Hermione jump for joy.
Draco Malfoy.
Harry and Ron leapt to their feet immediately, while Hermione rolled her eyes. She distinctly heard Malfoy groan.
"He cant train her!" Ron exclaimed.
"It's his son that's meant to help the dark side win! So you're going to let him teach her?" Harry demanded.
"Trust me, Potter, I'm not too happy either." Malfoy drawled.
All the students present began protesting loudly, the Slytherins that their leader wouldn't waste their time on a muggleborn, and the rest of the houses saying they wouldn't trust Malfoy with a pen, let alone Hermione.
"Be quiet." Snape snapped. Silence fell. "The choosing cup cannot be tampered with. And the test cannot be repeated, and even if it could there would be no point. Mr Malfoy would simply be picked again. So I suggest you accept it, because it wont do you any good to fight it constantly."
"I cant believe he said that!" Ron exclaimed.
"He's got a point." Hermione said with a shrug. "The choosing cup chooses the person best suited to perform a certain task. It doesn't make exception for inter-house hated, distrust, misgiving and so on. So if we did it again we'd still get –"
"Ferret boy." Harry said flatly.
"Yeah." Hermione agreed.
"It's not fair." Ron complained.
"Neither's life, Weasley. Get over it. I'm not particularly looking forward to looking after your pet mudblood until she can look after herself." Malfoy said from beside them. Hermione stood up.
"When you've dragged your head out your ass, tell me." She said levelly, and walked out.
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"Granger! Wait!" Hermione turned around and nearly collapsed from shock. Pansy Parkinson was half-jogging half-walking to catch her up.
Hermione obligingly waited. When Pansy caught up, she smiled. Again, Hermione nearly toppled over from shock. "thanks. So you've got Draco teaching you? Ouch."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked obligingly.
"He's harsh. And beats the shit out of you so you learn to defend yourself if only to stop him pummelling you into the ground. It's not fun."
"He taught you?"
"Yeah. When I first joined, I knew, like, nothing. So he taught me. I have scars."
"Ouch." The two of them began walking.
"Um…yeah. I was just gonna ask you, though. I do dancing, and I wondered if you wanted to come along, because if you're agile and quick, Draco doesn't completely destroy you." Hermione considered it. Then she shrugged.
"Okay, sure. Whatever."
"Cool. You know where the room of requirement is? Tomorrow at six, I'll see you there. Bye!" And Pansy ran off. Hermione went into her common room thinking that was possibly the most surreal conversation she had had in her life. And being friends with Harry Potter meant that a lot of her conversations were surreal.
In her common room, she was reading a book when Malfoy came in. He dropped onto the other end of the couch, and stared at her. Eventually she looked up.
"Stop staring at me." Was all she said, then she went back to her book.
"How did I get loaded with you?" He asked.
"It must have been your superior traits." Hermione said tonelessly.
"So you admit it!" He crowed triumphantly.
"Yeah. I'm not very good at being an insufferable git, or a complete fuckwit, so the cup picked you to teach me, since you're obviously better at it than anyone else in the room." Hermione answered. That shut Malfoy up.
"Room of Requirement at seven." He said presently. Then he went to his room, and didn't quite slam the door. Hermione shrugged and continued reading.
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That night, Hermione turned up at six at the Room of Requirement and found Pansy already waiting for her.
"Good, you're here. We can start. Are you training with Draco tonight?"
"Yeah, straight after." Hermione nodded.
"Well, at least you'll be warmed up. You always have to warm up before Draco arrives, because he just goes straight into beating you up. He doesn't wait around."
"You know, you're really encouraging about this."
"I prefer truthful." Pansy said with a grin. "Lets go."
For the next hour, Pansy taught Hermione a hybrid style of dancing. It was a mix of moshing, jazz, ballet, modern, tap and just about anything else Pansy could think of. They had just finished, (and Hermione was exhausted) when Malfoy walked in.
"Parkinson." He acknowledged her, and Pansy nodded back. Hermione was becoming seriously confused. Normally, whenever she saw the two in one place, they were all over each other. Here, they were barely acknowledging each other. He turned to her. "You ready?" She nodded, and had a moment to hear Parkinson laugh, before Draco's fist collided with her stomach. She doubled over.
"Get up, mudblood. If I'm about to hit you, move. Or hit me first. Trust me, I can take anything you throw at me." Hermione brought herself upright, only to get punched again. "Come on, mudblood. Shift yourself!" Malfoy commanded.
Three punches later, Hermione was finally ducking and dodging. But she never got a punch in. Malfoy was way too fast for her. Everything she tried he blocked and she had to move quickly before she got walloped again. Malfoy's way of teaching wasn't particularly nice, but it did have the advantage that it made her learn quickly.
Two hours later, Malfoy kicked her and let her stay down, breathing heavily. "We're done." He said flatly. He extended a hand to her, and she took it. He pulled her to her feet, and she hastily let go of his hand. "At least you've started moving a bit quicker." He commented.
"I'm seriously bruised, thanks to you." Hermione complained, clutching her stomach. He raised her shirt and glanced at the collection of bruises forming across her pale stomach before he waved his wand and they disappeared.
"No you're not, so stop complaining." He walked out of the room, leaving Hermione staring at the door that swung shut behind him.
When she went back to her room, she collapsed on her bed. She was tired. Very tired. She dashed through the shower and put on her white silk shorts and cami before going straight to bed and so to sleep.
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The noise of someone banging on her door slowly brought her back from dreamland, although she soon let herself slide back again, unwilling to get up as just about every muscle in her body really, really hurt. Then the banging stopped, and Hermione fell asleep again.
Ten minutes later, she heard someone saying her name, and then the covers were gone, and the cold air made her shiver. Her eyes popped open, and she saw Malfoy standing at the edge of her bed.
"Malfoy!" she exclaimed. "I could have been starkers under those sheets!"
"You werent." Malfoy said with easy confidence. "I saw the strap of your top."
"I could have only been wearing the top then!"
"Then I would have had an interesting view, wouldn't I?" He said with a shrug. "Either way, you've got five minutes before classes start. I suggest you get up." Hermione jerked upright.
"What?" she exclaimed.
"Four minutes, now." He said with a grin. "Until you have to be at your first class." Hermione ran past him into the bathroom. He knocked on the door, and she opened it a crack. He handed her her uniform, and she snatched it and shut the door, but not before he saw that she was wearing only a towel wrapped around her torso. He grinned.
"Three minutes and counting until double Potions with Snape and the Slytherins." He muttered with a smirk before he hurried down to the dungeons. It wouldn't be half as satisfying if he was late as well.
Hermione arrived, red-faced and breathless, at Potions twenty minutes late. She knocked on the door and walked in, bracing herself.
"Kind of you to join of, Miss Granger. Twenty points from Gryffindor for your tardiness. You're now sitting next to Mr Malfoy, due to a change in seating arrangements. Had you been on time, you would have been able to choose a partner towards whom you were more…amicable. But as you did not…well." Hermione slid onto the chair besides Malfoy.
"You're a bastard." She hissed.
"No, I'm not. My parents were married when I was conceived." Malfoy answered blandly while he copied down notes from the board.
"Fuckwit." Hermione murmured.
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger. And will you please discuss your love life at another time somewhere else." Snape said, glaring at her.
"But professor!"
"Twenty, Miss Granger. That's fifty today. Would you like to make it any more?" Hermione was quiet.
"She just cant resist me, professor." Malfoy said cheerfully.
"That as may be, Mr Malfoy. I just don't want to hear about it in my class." Malfoy smirked, and Hermione elbowed him, hard, in the ribs.
"What was that for?" he demanded in a whisper. Hermione glared at him and he blew a kiss at her.
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