Another one of my failing attempts to write good fiction. Well here is another chapter and I promise the actual plot will start soon. I seriously need to write it all out before I forget everything. Well, I can only say one thing: enjoy! …. Hopefully…
Chapter Four – Appealing
It was another day in the School life of Hermione Granger, working tirelessly in the Library on an incredulously long Transfiguration essay and her Ancient Rune translations. It was nearing the end of the free period when Madame Pince quietly walked over to her favoured student and sharply tapped her on the shoulder. Hermione jerked in her seat. She was too deep in concentration to realise that people had actually occupied her surroundings.
"Wha - ?" She gasped in surprise, "Oh, Madame Pince…"
"Oh, so sorry to disrupt you dear, forgive me but the new books I ordered are to arrive later tonight, will you or Mr. Malfoy be available to retrieve them from me?" She asked.
"Oh yes! Those!" Hermione lit up as she clasped her hands together, remembering the words her Headmaster had said two weeks before. "Yes I will be able to pick them up when they arrive. I am highly anticipating that these new books will come to great use in future. No need to worry I will definitely be here tonight." Hermione assured her excitedly.
As the day progressed on Hermione soon realised her classes were over and she made her way to Gryffindor Tower. She exhaled deeply as she sank into the squishy chairs by the fire. Ginny joined her on the floor while Harry and Ron seated themselves by the fire also.
"You know," Hermione yawned, "It's a crying shame that Fred and George are gone…"
"Well their shop is doing pretty well their getting richer and richer by the minute." Ginny piped up as she unwrapped a Chocolate Frog and shoved the contents into her mouth. "I do miss them though…"
"Yeah," agreed Ron. Harry nodded also. Seeing as he was Quidditch Captain he did miss Gryffindor's two best beaters, not to mention the (not entirely delectable but ever so useful) skiving snack boxes. Although he knew Hermione would gravely disapprove of skiving off class in a NEWT year.
"It's a shame, I could use a good joke right about now." Hermione sighed and yawned.
"Night Hermione." Harry chimed. It was the last thing she heard. Very thankful that there was no pending assignments and that she had completed all her homework, she dreamily drifted off to a sleep to the comforting cackle of burning wood and familiar sounds of the Gryffindor Common Room.
When she woke, the moon was high in the air and the fire was dying down. Some chatter could still be heard here and about and she could hear crickets chirping outside. She woke from a very fitful sleep very unaware of how much time had elapsed. Rubbing her eyes, she checked her watch. Eight-forty five, it read. It took a few seconds for it to fully register in her mind. She suddenly realised.
"Malfoy!" She yelled. Bounding from the chair, she bolted out of the portrait hole and ran as fast as she could towards the library. "O shit, o shit, the books! Madame Pince is going to kill me!" Hermione panicked as she skipped three stairs at a time. Waywardly bursting through the Library doors she ran to the back of the library almost knocking into people, bookshelves and the books themselves. She skidded to a halt at their study table, where she found a sitting Malfoy already reading a book that belonged to a very new looking stack beside him. "Oh Crap, jeez I'm sorry I forgot to pick up those books from Madame Pince and…oh…"
Draco held one of the books up to her. "It's called initiative Granger." He said as he smirked. "I saw those books arrive earlier so I figured that I should pick them up."
"Oh, right, um ok." She said as she sat down breathlessly.
"Call me old fashioned Granger but I had the eccentric idea that I was doing the right thing."
"Well you were…" whispered Hermione almost inaudibly, "er…thankyou…" She lifted a hard covered blue book from the pile and opened it.
"Oh please, spare me." He droned as he leaned back and propped up his legs on the table. "Why are you late?" He asked suddenly, looking reproachful. He began to scowl. "Head Girl duties I presume?" He asked with a hint detestation within his voice.
"You…could say that." She lied. If he ever knew the real truth, he would never, ever as long as he lived, ever let her live it down. "There was a bit of an argument with a few students." She explained, a clearly false story conjured from the top of her head. "I – I had to go and… help."
"Never thought I'd see the day, trouble in Paradise. The saintly Gryffindors up for a nightly brawl, how highly uncharacteristic of you." Said Draco. He still looked annoyed at her tardiness even with her fabricated explanation. He gave a humourless chuckle. "Lack of contribution…"
"Don't need to elaborate, I'm late and I'm aware of that so let's get on with it." Said Hermione brusquely. "Are the books any good?"
"You're avoiding the subject. You just don't want little old Malfoy to taint your reputation, Hermione Granger beat the record, forty-five minutes late – you might have outdone the Weasel Twins on this one Granger - but yeah, the books are quite informative." He replied tersely. Hermione had accidentally creased the page she was holding on to in order to stop herself from pummelling him into the ground. After relieving herself of her anger, the usual silence ensued. All the while Hermione tried to divert her attentions by trying to think of a topic to initiate conversation and she was more than sure they were both past the stage of 'small talk.' All their previous conversations had been strictly work-related or consisted mainly of insults.
"So…" she mused, "Are you attending the next Hogsmeade weekend?" she asked, she didn't know she asked him this completely random question, but it was the first thing that popped into her head. Though the silence was comfortable, these study sessions were dull.
"If this is your attempt at conversation, you're wasting your breath Granger." He replied, in an almost bored tone. Looking affronted Hermione snapped her head away.
"You're such a git." She exclaimed in great annoyance.
"And you're such a Gryffindor."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you're so stupid." He stated simply. Hermione stared at him, mouth hanging slightly open. No one had ever called her stupid before, in fact it was the exact opposite. It was almost a ridiculous insult for someone to call her that.
"I'm not stupid Malfoy, being here is proof enough."
"Well you're stupid enough to think that I would participate in civil conversation with you." Draco closed his book, placed it on the desk and picked up another one from the pile feeling satisfied with himself.
"Jeez, have you no respect?"
"What on earth gave you the slightest notion that I'll ever be willing to respect you?" He asked looking surprised, she almost seemed as thick as Crabbe or Goyle. Well maybe not that thick. He did (quite reluctantly) grant her some credit. Her answer to his question came in the form of one word.
"Hope."
Her answer had really taken him aback. She actually had hoped in this sort of situation? This girl was more surprising than he thought. "Why do you have to be so… so…" He trailed off as he tried to find a word.
"So, what?"
"So… good." He finished.
Hermione looked confused. "I don't know whether to treat that as a compliment or a question."
"It's annoying." He added. "You and this whole 'noble Gryffindor goody-two-shoes' concept, it's bloody infuriating."
"Don't blame me for believing that everyone has a right to respect…" she said softly, "That is until they do something to lose that respect." She glared at him.
"Well I believe that respect has to be earned." He said. "So if supposedly had lost your respect, why did you still expect -"
"There is always hope Malfoy," she interjected, "Remember that."
"Spoken like a true Gryffindor."
"Well forgive me for not being cynical." She spat disdainfully. She sighed in hopelessness and tucked a stray tendril behind her ear. So much for the conversation idea… Perhaps their history ran too deep, though she didn't really hate him as much as she used to. Probably in being around him more than she would usually be, she allowed herself to be tolerant of him. She got used to him. Hermione flipped the page and continued reading. It was probably already too late to try to be civil with him. There had already been too much conflict for such a bond to take place. She practically slapped him in third year, it was probably being silly to hope and yet she did. A few minutes dragged by and neither had spoken a word.
"I don't think I'm going…" Draco said thoughtfully, finally breaking the silence. Hermione looked up.
"What…?" she asked, startled.
"I don't think I'm going to the next Hogsmeade weekend." He said again.
"Wha – Oh! Oh!" Hermione said in realisation. She started to smile.
"Yes, in response to your question." Said Draco as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yes, yes I know…and, thankyou."
"For what?"
"Trying." She continued to smile radiantly at him. Draco looked down from her smile and tried to resume reading. He felt very uncomfortable under her smile, she had never smiled at him before. He tried as hard as he could not to glance at her because when he did she would still be smiling at him. As much as he really hated and loathed admitting, it was a pretty smile. Her eyes sparkled and her face shone radiantly. God it was infectious.
Hermione saw the ends if his mouth twitch. Which only caused her to smile even wider. It was the closest thing she had come to see him smile. Hermione, feeling satisfied with herself was in quite a pleasant mood for the time pending.
"Stop it Granger. You're beginning to look like a maniacal ape." He snapped. Grumbling, he cursed himself for almost allowing himself to smile. Immediately he exercised the control to set his features blank. Although the moment had passed the suppressing atmosphere of cold tension between the two was now void. For the remaining time of the session they remained relatively silent. Aside from begrudgingly taking the first step of a relationship:
Small talk.
It was a few days afterwards in Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. It was a hot day in the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid actually had the nerve to once again (with some encouragement), teach them about thestrals considering the absolute disaster it turned out to be two years previously. Evidently Hagrid had received an anonymous tip from a certain Headmaster, and it was apparent that due to the upcoming rise in Voldemort's power and imminent attack, thestrals were now to be included in their NEWT exams.
But due to Hagrid's rather – to put it lightly – poor teaching reputation, not many of the students were as thoroughly interested in the topic as Harry, Ron and Hermione. Most were afraid or too lazy to listen to Hagrid's explanations. Though this was deeply discouraging to Hagrid he still went on.
But of course Draco being Draco, he stood towards the back of the class making purposefully loud whispers of criticism and snide remarks whenever he could manage it. This was more than discouraging to Hagrid it was maddening. Eventually Hagrid's patience with him was thinning. Upon hearing his next remark, he cried out.
"Got something to share with the class there, Malfoy?"
He ceased his speech immediately and muttered. "No… sir."
"No I insist, tell us." Hagrid urged on.
"It's nothing sir."
"No tell us so you can stop talking and I can get back tuh teachin' ?" He roared. Draco wore a disgruntled expression.
"Fine…" He said. "How dare you allow that savage herd of possessed swine in my presence? Do you all wish us dead man?"
The expression that then happened upon the giant's face made even Draco almost sympathetic.
"How could you do that!" Hermione yelled as she dragged him by the arm half and hour later towards secluded tree. It was after class, Hermione had whispered a quick 'I'll be right back' to Harry and Ron before surreptitiously grabbing Draco and somewhat violently dragging him away.
"How could I do what?" He snapped back, looking very annoyed as he fixed his robes.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! I don't believe you! Stop victimising him, he's only trying to teach!" Hermione yelled, looking very red in the face as a fire in her eyes burned.
"And he's doing a very poor job of it." Draco commented wryly. "I could learn more from the old bat up in that divination tower than from that brainless oaf -"
Reaching to the point of her temper, Hermione whipped out her wand. "Say. That. Again." She threatened dangerously. She had scary murderous glint in her eye again. But Draco remained stoic and calm.
"Why are you so mad Granger?" He asked as he folded his arms.
She knew exactly why she was mad, he had been continuously insulting Hagrid one of her best friends. But on the contrary that was Malfoy and she had already gotten used to it over the years. Why had his petty insults got to her now? This was how he usually was, why was she so worked up? Hermione couldn't find an answer to that.
"Because of our study sessions, are you expecting something different? Something more?" He asked. He was right on the money. Hermione lowered her wand and looked away. She could have been asking herself the same question. Did she really expect him to have changed? Did she really think that a bit of civilised conversation would change his opinions on everything else, including her? She wasn't that much a of a fool but she did expect civility to the least. In the need to answer him, she spoke.
"I…" She didn't know what to say, she just held an expression of extreme disappointment. In seeing this, Draco felt an unpleasant twinge inside of him. "I had hoped…"
"Don't waste your time Granger." He said wisely. Hermione looked down and realised he was right, there was nothing she could do. Draco Malfoy would always remain to be Draco Malfoy, his polite conversation could not alter that fact.
She hoped in vain. That was her innocent quality, hoping to see the best in people. But with Malfoy, he didn't want her to see the best of him and at times her vision was obscured by hate.
"Well – you still shouldn't have done that to Hagrid!" She yelled without anything else to say.
"I always do that -"
"Well it's not right so stop. You're bullying him that's what, and it's… it's my duty as Head Girl to stop you." Hermione said indignantly. Though she was not as confident as she seemed. Malfoy seemed as if he owned the world, strutting about the place. His self-confidence was monstrous compared to hers at the moment. The very sentence 'I am a Malfoy' seemed to be reason enough for him.
"Oh I quiver with fear." He said, sarcasm hanging on to every one of his words.
"You're so despicable." She huffed as she crossed her arms. If Draco Malfoy was an undignified, cheesy romantic type of guy he would of admitted at that moment, that when Hermione was pissed she looked sort of… he wouldn't dare call her cute, but…appealing. He'd feel better complimenting a Blast-ended skrewt rather than complimenting her. Hermione faced him again. "Look," she said bracingly, " I know Hagrid's teaching methods aren't exactly interesting but -"
"That's the understatement of the century." He interrupted which won him a glare.
"But you could…" She sighed. She couldn't ask him to try being nice again. That small margin of hope that she harboured for him was slowly diminishing. She may have gotten to know him better but he was still rotten through and through. "Forget it. We have an Arithmancy Class to attend."
"And you wouldn't want to be terribly late for that." He mocked, remembering their previous meeting when she arrived forty-five minutes after the agreed time. Saying that she Head Girl duties, but he knew better, that Granger girl was a terrible liar. She couldn't keep a straight face to save her life.
"Shut up Malfoy!" she yelled angrily. If he hadn't riled her up so much already she wouldn't have yelled at him with such vehemence. Swerving on her heel she stomped off while Draco casually trailed behind her. Malfoys did not stomp. However, he did try to annoy her where he saw fit. Which was actually the entire way up to their Arithmancy class.
That night when Hermione entered the Library, she did not know what to expect from him. There was one piece of information that she had gained from Malfoy during this experience: he was unpredictable. As hard and unbelievable that may have sounded, he was. Insults and condescension was to be expected, but his personality was not something you could define very easily.
As she rounded an umpteenth corner, his smooth voice could be heard. "Evening, Granger."
"Evening." She said shortly in return. The new books from Madam Pince had already been laid out on the table and had been meticulously laid out according to which topic they covered. There were only about ten books to the most. "Did you lay all these out?" she asked. A short 'yes' was his reply.
"I like to be organised." He added.
"Thank you." Said Hermione. Draco looked up at her for a moment, she could have sworn she saw a flick of emotion flitter across his features, but he glanced back down. "I expected there to be more" she said commented airily.
"There's at least ten books here and you're telling me you expected more?" He asked, looking slightly astounded. "God, you are a bookworm."
"Well, yes." She said completely ignoring his last remark. "They made it seem as if they had an entire library for us to research." Hermione said, with a tinge of disappointment in her voice, however, her disappointment was different to the one that Draco had experienced earlier that day. It wasn't the type that made you feel twinges of guilt, the type that seemed to say 'you let me down.' It was the type that said 'oh well, tomorrow's a new day.'
Draco listlessly skimmed through the new books, they had been informative but nothing really had spiked his interest. He was still not at ease with the fact that earlier, Hermione had made him feel guilty and that was enough to put him to shame, the other fact that he actually found her somewhat appealing lead him to this next sense. His eyes fell upon her. Her face was always occupied with deep, caring emotion whenever he looked upon it. He had never met someone who blatantly wore their emotions on their sleeve, without either the will or self-control to hide it. It was obvious that Hermione was never taught to conceal her emotions, or hide them away. She was so carefree. He watched as a look of thoughtfulness came upon her features as she tucked a stray curly lock behind her ear. Because it was of the words in front of her, or something else, was unknown to him.
She looked so innocent.
Something, he certainly was not.
The girl in front of him was looking more grotesquely appealing accompanied with the annoyingly romantic, yet strangely eerie glow of the candles. He was mesmerised. It was in this private revelation that Draco tore away his gaze from her and continually berated and reminded himself of his beliefs and her inferiority. But as much as he had reminded himself that she was a 'mudblood' so to speak, it gave him little confidence. Although his face did not display it but at the moment, Draco was practically furious with himself. He was furious for actually thinking that the Head Girl, the disgusting little mudblood, was well… He did not dare repeat it.
Hermione slowly glanced up at him. She knew he was looking at her, she could feel his gaze. At first she had considered it to be a glare but his gaze felt far from hostile. He wasn't looking at her now but she knew he had just stopped. He looked so normal and boyish as he wrote notes on his parchment, with a few strands of his shimmering silvery-blonde hair falling into his pale face and his grey eyes written with concentration. In the pale moonlight his hair seemed to shine like silk, and made his eyes look soulful, yet cold at the same time. She didn't know how it was possible, but he had managed it. Hermione watched through her eyelashes as he wrote his notes with meticulous care. She really, really loathed to admit this to herself as if it were poison on her tongue but she found it somewhat… appealing. She was mesmerised. Entranced by his aura and filled with intrigue wanting to discover what lay behind his cold eyes. She suddenly snapped out of her gaze. If at that moment, anyone asked her if she was crazy, she would have confidently and enthusiastically answered 'yes.' Her thoughts were beyond belief and too damn insane to be classified as her own. But… they were.
Unable to resist temptation he chanced another glance as she absent-mindedly thumbed through her hair and unknowingly moistened her lips. At that he forced his eyes down, but it was not long before they soon returned to her. He watched as the candlelight illuminated her features yet cast light and dreamlike shadows on her face. He watched her eyes as they danced across the page, full of interest, innocence and care. She was strong, brave and independent but vulnerable all the same. How this mudblood in front of him managed to deviously creep into his thoughts, he didn't know. But he was willing to declare himself confounded and was more than willing to check himself into the insanity ward at St. Mungos if the opportunity ever presented itself. Insanity and lack of mental health, he figured, was the only feasible and sensible explanation to his impossible thoughts.
Furtive glances ensued between them. It was only five minutes afterwards when either one of them was able to concentrate. Hermione read on. It was a very interesting chapter in her book about the Dark Arts. It was fascinating filled with gore, prophecies and ancient rituals used by the wizards of old. She chanced upon a very interesting and intriguing prophecy, which she had the urge to tell her partner about.
"Malfoy?" she asked.
"What do you want?" He snapped. She rolled her eyes.
"Cut the crap. I just wanted to show you this really interesting prophecy with the Dark Arts." She snapped back and shoved the book across towards him. He raised an eyebrow.
"Must be fascinating." He drawled with sarcasm. She shot him a glare.
"Shut your mouth and read."
Taking an annoyed breath and rolling his eyes he turned the book around so it was facing him the right way up. He read. In a few short minutes he stopped and slowly lifted his gaze from the book and up to her. He was slack-jawed and looked absolutely aghast. A dawn of realisation came across his features. In a wavering shock, he spoke.
"Granger, I think you've found something."
- A little semi-cliffhanger, well Christmas is just around the corner and if you're feeling generous, I rather like reviews they're much like beautifully wrapped Christmas presents. hint hint