Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, etc…
A/N: Well, to my few reader I hope that you'll like this chapter, in some parts I think it's really funny. I enjoy writing it. And that's a really fast update, isn't it?
To Halo of Darkness: Thanks a lot for beta-reading this chapter so quickly, you are really nice.
Tuesday
"Hermione! Hermione, will you please slow down a little?" asked Ron, trying to follow her up the stairs.
"Why?" she asked, absentmindedly.
"Because we have to talk to you," said Harry, running after her.
"About what?" she asked, heading for the Charms classroom. "Horcruxes?"
"Not exactly," said Harry.
"Well, what then?" she asked, stopping abruptly in front of the door of the Charms classroom.
"About you," said Ron, suddenly finding his hands very interesting.
"Me?" she asked, raising her eyebrows, "What about me?" Harry and Ron exchanged strange looks. "Well?" she asked them.
"Well, you see the problem is that – we don't how to tell you that-"
"That you spend lots of time with Malfoy and they are jealous," said Ginny, appearing next to them with Luna in tow.
Hermione burst into nervous laughter, "Don't talk rubbish, Ginny, they would never-" Harry and Ron looked at the floor, their cheeks flushed a little. Hermione glanced at them, "You would never think something like that, would you?" she asked softly.
"Actually, we are not jealous," said Harry, glaring at Ginny, "I mean if you want to spend so much time with Malfoy, you can – no, wait. I wanted to say that if you have to spend all that time with him you can do that, and we-"
"Harry, I'm not understanding a word you are saying," said Hermione, waving a hand in front of him, "Anyway I'm in this for a week. Then I'll be all yours," she said, smiling brightly. Then she turned her attention to Luna. "Hi Luna, how are you?"
"Fine, thank you," she said, looking at Hermione with protuberant eyes, "You know, I think that you and Malfoy are a really nice couple."
Hermione turned a bright magenta colour; Ginny burst into giggles; Harry was staring at Luna with his mouth half opened and Ron was choking himself.
"Really?" asked Hermione in a high tone of voice.
Luna nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, Head Boy and Head Girl. That sounds pretty nice and all your children will be Head Girls and Head Boys."
"Hey, hey, hey," said Ron, jumping in front of Luna, "How do we come to children?"
Luna looked at him. "I don't know."
Hermione cleared her throat. "Ron, calm down, Luna was just joking, weren't you Luna?"
"No," she answered dreamily.
Ginny brought her hands to her stomach, laughing hard. "Oh no, please stop that; I can't breathe," she managed to say between giggles.
Hermione looked at her and raised her eyebrows. "What are you laughing for, Ginny? Don't you like Malfoy?" something in Hermione's tone of voice made Ginny stop and look at her.
"What do you mean?" she asked bemused. There was something going on between the girls that Ron and Harry simply couldn't understand.
"Nothing," said Hermione, smiling, "It's just that I heard some Gryffindor girls saying that Malfoy isn't that bad looking after all," she lied.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Well, he isn't actually," she replied.
"What?" asked Ron, looking at his sister with his eyes wide open.
Ginny looked at him annoyed. "He is not, after all. He is only a little bit unkind sometimes," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Unkind?" Ron asked to a speechless Harry, "Unkind?"
"Luna, what do you think about him?" asked Ginny, turning towards her.
"Well, sometimes he is a little bit dumb, but-"
"No, no, no, Luna," said Ginny, waving a hand in front of her, "I was talking about Malfoy, not my brother."
"Oh," she said simply.
Ron looked at them. "How did you know that she – dumb?"
"Oh, well, Malfoy is quite good-looking, and after he returned here at the beginning of the year he had becoming nicer, in a sort way," she said thoughtfully.
"What?" asked Hermione scandalized, "You really thing these things about him?"
"Yeah, shouldn't I?" she asked considerately.
Hermione seemed taken aback. "I don't know – no, you shouldn't." Ginny burst into giggles again.
Harry and Ron looked at them. "Girls are crazy," muttered Ron while Harry nodded in agreement.
Hermione snorted. "I better take a seat. Professor Flitwick is coming," she said, entering the Charms classroom.
"See you later," she heard Ginny telling her between silly laughter.
Hermione sat down and stared at the Professor desk in front of her. 'That cannot be,' she thought, 'I chose Luna for him, that's not right. Crabbe hates me and Luna is almost in love with him. How stupid I am.' She slammed her textbook on her desk and pulled out a quill and a small bottle of ink.
Harry and Ron sat down one on each side of her, "I can't believe that Luna and Ginny think that Malfoy is handsome," Ron said out loud.
"Yeah," answered Harry, "I can't believe that, too. I mean, we all know that Luna is a little bit odd, but Ginny, I would expect her to have better tastes."
"What did you expect? She was with you last year," said Ron, laughing.
Harry threw his Charms book at him, which flew only a couple of inches above Hermione's head. She didn't pay any attention to them; she was too busy in thinking how stupid she had been.
"Hermione, are you with us?" asked Ron, beating her softly with his finger on her head.
"What?" she asked, rubbing the spot where Ron had just beat her, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"You seem like you think a lot in these days," said Ron, throwing Harry's book back to him.
"I think as much as a normal person does," Hermione said, pulling out her wand.
"I don't think so much," said Ron, sitting next to her.
"I said a normal person, Ron," she said, smiling.
"Very funny," he answered sarcastically.
"Thank you," she said while Professor Flitwick entered the classroom and climbed onto a pile of books.
Hermione looked around her. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini were sitting at the bottom of the classroom. Zabini was almost sleeping; Crabbe and Goyle were passing something to each other, which Hermione was almost sure was something to eat; and Draco was looking at her with a smirk on his face. He was sure that Hermione looked slightly agitated, but he didn't know why. He looked away from her and tried to concentrate on what Flitwick was saying.
"Today we are going to try Freezing Charms," the professor squealed from the pile of books, "Now, I want you to choose a partner and work together. One will use the Incendio Charm, and the other one will try to freeze it with the Freezing Charm – Miss. Granger, I think that our Head Girl will be best paired with the Head Boy," said Professor Flitwick, looking at Hermione brightly. She smiled weakly and moved from Harry and Ron to where Malfoy was. "Now, you can all try for the remainder of the lesson," he said, climbing down the pile of books and starting to walk through the students.
Hermione sat down next to Draco, pulled out her wand and said "Incendio." The desk in front of Draco set on fire immediately.
"Hey, would you please wait a minute, I have not yet tried that Charm," he protested, pulling out his wand.
Nevertheless, Hermione didn't seem to hear him. "You knew that Luna thinks that you are good-looking?" she asked broodingly.
"Really?" he asked her, moving his wand up and down without looking at the fire.
"Yeah, I've been really stupid to choose her for you," she said bitterly, "Crabbe doesn't even know that I exist, and Luna is madly in love with you."
"Madly in love with me?" asked Draco, laughing, "She just said that I'm good-looking."
"Oh, well, Crabbe didn't say anything about me?" she asked hopefully.
"Nope," said Draco sweating from the heat of the fire in front of him, "He doesn't speak about girls, usually he talks about food."
"Interesting," said Hermione sarcastically, "Can't you tell me something that I don't know yet?"
"No, I can't," said Draco glaring at her, "And I shouldn't have told you even that."
"Yeah," she said bored, "Malfoy, your book is on fire," she said, nodding towards the desk. Draco looked at his book and jumped to his feet waving his wand up and down, but the only thing that he obtained was a hot wind that made the fire grow bigger. Hermione looked at him and raised her eyebrows and then she lazily picked up her wand and waved it gently over the fire. The flames faded away leaving a half-burned book on the desk.
"Was it so difficult?" asked Hermione, in her bossy tone of voice.
Draco glared at her. "You kept distracting me."
"Rubbish," she said sharply, "Set a fire." Draco looked at her with a murderous look and set a fire so close to Hermione that he almost burned her robes. Hermione glared at him and did exactly what she did with her own fire. The flames died away immediately.
"Very good, Miss. Granger," said Professor Flitwick, as he was passing by, "Mr. Malfoy, don't set a fire so near to your partner; you could have burned her hair."
"That would be funny," mumbled Draco.
"What?"
"I was saying that I would never do such a mean thing to our dear Head Girl," he said, smiling quickly.
"Very well, very well," said Professor Flitwick, hurrying towards Crabbe and Goyle whose hair were in flames.
"Ha, ha, ha. Really funny," said Hermione sarcastically, "Just try to set my hair on fire and I swear that I'll send you a Freezing Charm in that place," she said, pointing her wand at Draco's lower belly.
"I was just joking, Granger," he said, slightly concerned and pulled away her wand.
"Better for you," she said, putting the wand on the table.
"Oh, no, no, Mr. Weasley you have to extinguish the flames, not freeze Mr. Potter," said Professor Flitwick, heating Harry with his wand, "Class dismissed; for the next time, you have to try the Freezing Charm." Everybody stood up and moved towards the door.
"What are you going to do this afternoon?" Hermione whispered to Draco.
"Why do you want to know?" he whispered back.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders and smiled innocently. "Curiosity."
Draco raised his eyebrows. "I don't know yet."
"Never mind," said Hermione, waiting for Ron and Harry while Draco left the classroom with his fellow Slytherins.
"Hermione, did really Malfoy tried to set your hair on fire?" asked Harry as he and Ron approached her.
"Actually, he didn't mean to, but he was really close," she said wistfully.
"I swear that I'm going to make him pay for that," said Ron angrily.
"Don't worry, Ron, I can look after myself," she said, walking quickly out of the classroom.
"Hey, I was just trying to be nice," protested Ron while he followed her.
Hermione sighed. "I know that. Just let's go and have lunch, ok?" Both Harry and Ron nodded.
When they reached the Great Hall, Hermione carefully chose a seat where she had a good view of what was going on in the Slytherin table. Nothing new, though. Crabbe and Goyle were eating, and Draco was trying to do the same thing, but he was being constantly distracted by Pansy.
Hermione tried to ignore the fact that she felt something like jealousy when she saw Pansy talking in her silly voice to Draco and looked back to Crabbe. He was eating everything he found on the table; Hermione observed him for more than half an hour, but he didn't seem to have any preferences on food. But when he finished his meat, Hermione's eyes brightened with joy. "Sweets," she exclaimed.
"But you have not yet finished your meat," said Ron, nodding towards her plate.
Hermione looked at her puzzled. "What the – oh, yeah. You are right, but I wasn't talking about me."
"No?" asked Harry.
"No, or better, yes. I was thinking that I have no sweets and I really would like to eat something like a Chocolate Frog," she lied.
"Are you pregnant?"
Hermione looked at Ginny as she sat down in front of her. "Ginny, what did you drink today? Euphoria Potion?"
Ginny giggled. "You just said that you wanted to eat Chocolate Frogs very much and I thought that maybe-"
"You thought wrong," said Hermione quickly, "Anyway, do you have any sweets to lend me? I'll pay you back this Saturday in Honeydukes."
"Actually, I have only some Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties, but no Chocolate Frogs," Ginny answered pensively.
"They are okay, thank you," said Hermione smiling.
"You know that you are acting really strangely lately?" asked Ginny, looking at the older Gryffindor intently, "I mean, you never asked for sweets, and always look towards the Slytherin table," she said following her gaze.
"What?" asked Hermione blinking, "What are you talking about, I'm not-"
"Hermione, it's me, Ginny, not Harry or Ron; I'm not as blind as them," she said gently.
"Blind?" sputtered Ron, almost choking on his pumpkin juice, "Harry, is this 'Wacky Witches Week'?"
Ginny ignored him. "Hermione, remember that you can talk to me whenever you want."
"Ginny, seriously there's nothing to talk about here. I've just too many things in my mind, and, yes, sometimes I stare, but I'm not looking at any Slytherin boy," she said nervously.
Ginny seemed unconvinced. "Ok, if you really think that."
"I do."
"Ok, then, I'm going to collect all my sweets for you, I'll be right back," she said standing up.
"Hermione, I didn't understand what she meant with saying that she is not blind as Ron and me," said Harry puzzled.
"She didn't mean anything, that's why you didn't understand her," said Hermione quietly.
Harry nodded and looked at Ron who shrugged his shoulders and murmured, "Girls."
Hermione looked at Crabbe again; luckily for her, he was the first who sat down for lunch and the last one to get up.
"Here you are, Hermione," said Ginny smiling, "I found also a couple of Licorice Wands, if you'd like them."
"Yeah, of course; I like everything," she said, taking the small bag that Ginny passed her.
"What are you going to do this afternoon, Hermione?" asked Harry.
"I don't know, yet. I have to study, but I don't know where to find a quiet place to do it," she answered, hiding a smile. All she had to find was the place where Crabbe would have gone.
"I told you to get off me, Pansy."
Hermione was snapped out of her thoughts by Draco's voice. Everybody's heads in the Great Hall turned towards the Slytherin table, where he was trying to pull Pansy away from him.
"But, Drakey-" she tried to throw her arms around his neck again.
"Don't call me that," shouted Draco.
Hermione and Ginny tried to suppress a giggle, while Ron and Harry burst into laughter like almost everybody in the Great Hall. The only one who was not even smiling was Luna, who looked slightly annoyed.
"Are you going to talk to me like this when we will be married?" asked Pansy between tears.
"Married?" asked Draco widening, "When did we decide to marry?"
"Oh, but Drakey-"
"No buts, Pansy, just get off me," he said rudely to her. Pansy looked at him with her eyes full of tears and stormed out of the Great Hall. Draco sighed in relief and turned his head once again towards Luna Lovegood who sat at the Ravenclaw table. He was surprised that she was looking back at him. The Slytherin smiled to her in his most handsome way, but she just looked away. 'Strange way to demonstrate that she likes me,' he thought angrily.
"Hey, Malfoy, you are still staring at that Loony Lovegood; are you okay?" asked Blaise Zabini, looking at him.
"I was? Yeah, I'm okay," said Draco, looking away.
"Well, I think that I will-"
"Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall was standing in front of him, "I checked your timetable and I saw that you and Miss. Granger had no classes this afternoon." Draco looked at her fearing what was going to follow that introduction; he nodded almost imperceptibly. "Very well, because I need your help with something," she said firmly, "Please follow me."
"But I have to study, you know-" the words died in his throat when he saw her eyes flashing dangerously, "Never mind," he said.
They moved quickly towards the Gryffindor table. "Miss. Granger, do you have something to do this afternoon?" Draco couldn't help but notice that she hadn't asked him that.
"Besides studying?" asked Hermione hopefully.
"Besides that, yes."
"Nothing, Professor McGonagall," she answered miserably.
"Very well, because I need you and Mr. Malfoy," she said, heading for the door with Hermione and Draco on her trail. They spent all afternoon in the Professor's Room, trying to help the Headmistress with a huge pile of decrees and notes about the students. Professor McGonagall made them eat the dinner while they were working. When she finally dismissed them, Hermione seemed simply furious.
"I could have spent all afternoon with Crabbe but I had to stay here with you and Professor McGonagall for those stupid notes," she screamed, walking down the corridor.
"You would have spent all the afternoon with Crabbe? Please, don't make me laugh, in two days you have not yet talked to him," said Draco, laughing.
"Shut your mouth," Hermione retorted angrily, "If you really want to know, I have a plan and I'm sure to win Crabbe's heart earlier than Saturday," she said, walking in front of him.
"Please, do you think that I'm really that stupid? You are saying that just because-"
Hermione stopped and turned towards him. "Whatever, Malfoy, I don't need you to believe me, but victory will be so nice. See you tomorrow," she said, climbing up the stairs for the Seventh Floor and leaving Draco there with a look of pure loathing.