A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! I don't know how you guys are going to feel about this one...but I'm excited to hear. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions! Huge thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twelve and be on the lookout for chapter thirteen soon!
Just when things were starting to get a bit better between Hermione's relationship with Ron and Harry, Draco had to go and stick his pointy nose where it didn't belong and stir up some shite. Even though he acted all innocent, she knew that he delighted in making her friends upset.
She had been talking to Harry and Ron about their weekend (which honestly had sounded pretty dull to Hermione's tastes) when her cousin had come sauntering over to them in the hallway to let them know about the wild night she'd missed out on.
"You missed an absolute rager on Friday, Hermione," Draco said, not even bothering to acknowledge Harry or Ron. "I'm not sure how, but Daphne got us all into this great club. You should have come."
"Hermione had to work on Friday," Ron piped up, making no secret that he was glaring at Draco.
"So? Only until ten," Draco countered with a snort. "Do you set her curfew now?"
"No, but Hermione's always been home by eleven, even on the weekends," Harry said, looking at her to confirm. "Even if Ron and I stayed out later."
Hermione bit her lip, unable to keep quiet now that the ground was so uneven between her and her former guardian. "Well, that's because Sirius only gave me a curfew. Don't you think I would have preferred to stay out with you guys?" she asked, tentatively, seeing Harry's eyebrows knitting in confusion. "I hardly think it was fair."
"Well, whatever that was all about, Hermione doesn't need any silly curfew now," Draco said, puffing out his chest a bit, eager to rub salt into the wound that Hermione might have interests they didn't know about. "She's a big girl."
She was a little bit pleased to have someone on her side for once, even if it was just Draco, who'd never been very interested in her previously. Still, she was unsure how to handle all these people who'd just automatically decided they were friends, without putting any work into it.
Ron scoffed. "I never doubted that," he countered. "But our Hermione? Going out to a club? She doesn't even drink!"
Draco laughed. "Do you even know Hermione at all?" he questioned.
"Yeah," Hermione agreed with Draco. "Why can't I drink? You and Harry drink all the time."
"But...you'd never even drink even when we were at home!" Harry said, confused once again.
"Again, just because Sirius turned a blind eye to you, that doesn't mean that he did it for me," she said, knowing that it probably had something to do with her parents' own use of drugs and alcohol that gave him pause. "I like to have fun."
What she was insisting on simply did not sit well with Ron. He began to laugh — at her this time. "Come on Hermione. We all know that you are a wet blanket. No one would want to go to a club with you," he sneered.
She was completely taken aback by the nasty way that her supposed friend seemed to think of her when she challenged his perceptions of her and was left speechless. Lucky for her, Draco was willing to step in. He gave Ron's shoulder a shove back. "No one gets to talk about my cousin that way, you prick," he snarled. "Except me, of course. You were a wet blanket not coming out with us," he quipped, giving Hermione a quick wink.
"Easy Malfoy," Harry said, quick to stand between Ron and Draco. "It's just a little hard to believe...this doesn't sound like Hermione at all."
"Well, maybe you don't know Hermione at all, Potter," Draco said with a sneer. "She seemed to keep up with us all right at the last party she came to. Didn't even come in last place in our drinking games. Maybe you two are the wet blankets?"
There was going to be no smoothing anything over after Draco had released that bombshell to her friends. She certainly hadn't told them about Adrian's party because she knew how they would take it — how they would see her as abandoning them for her new, popular friends. They wouldn't care that she'd only gone because Sirius had told her he wasn't going to fight to get her back. They couldn't see anything outside of their narrow world view.
Draco threw his arm around her shoulder, protective and guided her away from the two sputtering boys and towards the library. "Now that we are done with them, you can join us in the library," Draco said, cheerfully. "Daphne's been dying to chat with you."
"You shouldn't have done that," Hermione scolded him, feeling prickly and hurt. Yes, Draco had been nice to stand up for her, but she also didn't need a barrage of attacks from her own friends just because they were sensitive. It hurt to know that they honestly thought that she was a wet blanket. She didn't need to also question if they had only ever had her around because they felt like they had to.
"They should grow up," he countered. "Honestly, if Weasley thinks he is more likely than you to go to a club, he needs a wakeup call. I don't know why you'd want to hang out with those two losers anyway."
She didn't have a response for that, not when she was feeling so hurt.
Draco guided her through the library to a back corner where they were unlikely to be overheard by the strict librarian (honestly, the last place Hermione would go to study). The table was already partially filled by the trio of Daphne, Tracy and Pansy. Pansy's face immediately dropped when she saw the way that Hermione was under Draco's wing.
"I think your girlfriend might kill me if you keep holding onto me like that," she said to him with a smirk.
"Gross, Hermione," Draco said, making a fake gagging noise. "For one, Pansy isn't my girlfriend. Secondly, you are my cousin. I wouldn't touch you for all the money in the world."
She laughed, glad to know that Pansy was the first reason. But it was fair enough. She didn't want anything to do with her cousin that way, either.
Tracy seemed neutral to have their little corner invaded by Hermione, but Daphne was positively buzzing to see her. "Hermione!" she greeted, cheerfully. "You missed the best party ever. You have to come with us next time."
Tracy leaned forward, her lips pursed in anticipation. "Daphne got us into the Den, can you believe it?" she asked.
Hermione had heard of the Den and it's massive parties, so she knew to be suitably impressed, even if it wasn't somewhere she'd necessarily do it. "How'd you do it?" she asked, conspiratorially, pulling up a chair.
"Oh, I just had to flirt a little bit with the doorman," she said casually, like it was the most obvious thing in the world to do.
"Adrian was so aggy," Tracy said with a surprising amount of delight.
"He shouldn't have been," Daphne said with a roll of his eyes. "He's the only one I've got eyes for — and lips," she added with a cheeky, self-satisfied smirk.
Hermione's cheeks went pink at that suggestion. This was certainly not something that she talked about with either of her friends, not even Ginny, who was generally bold enough for the pair of them. None of the others batted an eyelash at her pronouncement, so she figured it must have been a regular occurrence.
"They had the best shots with raspberry puree in the bottom. I swear I had about ten of them," Daphne continued on. "I think we are going to make them at our next house party. You have to try one."
"I'd be delighted," Hermione said, only she hoped that Daphne wouldn't make her take ten shots. She'd end up dead!
"You probably did have ten shots," Pansy said with a knowing look. "That would explain the tattoos. We all got one."
Oh, Hermione thought to herself. Pansy was trying to make her feel left out. Only, she didn't think she'd be able to be convinced to get a tattoo, even if she was completely pissed.
Daphne stood up and shoved down one side of her jeans to show off the dip of her hip with a squeal. "Look!" she instructed, absolutely thrilled with the dainty little Tinker Bell that was permanently etched into her skin.
Hermione smiled, Daphne's joy infectious. "It's so perfect for you," she said with a grin. "Well, what did you three get?" she asked the others at the table.
Tracy and Pansy had each gotten a tattoo in the same spot as Daphne — a playful dolphin and a crown with the word princess under it, respectively. Draco had pulled up his shirt sleeve to show off his own tattoo on his upper arm. It was a small dragon in all black ink, curling around his bicep.
"Oh my god!" Hermione said with a laugh. "Your mum is going to kill you."
"She will not," Draco argued. "It's like my name! She'll love it!"
"Adrian got a print of my lips on his collar bone," Daphne gushed, pressing her hands to her heart with a big overdone sigh, like it was the most romantic thing she'd ever heard of in her whole entire life.
"Blaise got a tattoo that says 'Mum'," Tracy said, perhaps a little bit irked that the boy she was interested in hadn't gotten a tattoo of her lips. But then again, it was so on brand for Blaise. He was a total mama's boy. "And Marcus got a little devil with the horns and the pitchfork."
Hermione licked her lips, desperate to know what sort of tattoo Theo had gotten. She was unable to stop herself from asking. "And Theo?"
Daphne gave her a knowing look. "Oh, you'll just have to ask him. I'm sure he'd love to show you," she said, biting her lip.
Immediately, Hermione's heart skipped a beat. What could the tattoo be that he would want to show her? Or was it in some place that he might want to show off? Maybe he'd done it on his upper arm like Draco had.
"Don't be daft," Pansy said with a roll of her eyes. "Hermione doesn't want to see Theo's tattoo. She's too much of a priss. She's probably disappointed in all of us for having one."
She wrinkled her nose at Pansy's barb. "Why would I be disappointed? It's your body. You can do whatever you want with it," she argued back. "Both my parents have tattoos and I see nothing wrong with it."
Aside from the fact that one was almost like a brand from Tom Riddle, that is.
"We all know that you don't care for your parents at all. So why would you care if they have tattoos?" Pansy questioned.
"Sirius has tattoos, too. Lots of them," she countered once again. "I don't care what other people do with their bodies, even if I wouldn't necessarily do it."
"See, she's looking down on all of us for getting tattoos," Pansy said, triumphantly, like she'd proved some sort of massive character flaw in Hermione. "Probably can't wait to run off to Potter and Weasley to talk shit about us."
That was the wrong thing to say to Hermione after the argument she'd just had with the boys. "What is your problem with me, Parkinson?" she demanded, feeling nothing but ire for the other girl.
"You're the one with the problem," Pansy snapped back, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I'm not," Hermione insisted. "And I certainly don't look down on you lot. I don't think I'm better than anyone."
Pansy scoffed at that suggestion. "You aren't fooling me, Granger," she said with a sneer, twisting every knife that she could. "Or should I say Lestrange? You hated your own family so much that you couldn't wait to change your name. And even your Mum's name wouldn't do for you because you're so much better than us and the neighborhood that you came from."
Hermione took a deep breath and tried to ignore Pansy. She turned to face Daphne, who was looking between the two girls nervously. "It sounds like a great night, Daph," she said. "I wish that I would have come with and I can't wait to go to the next one." It seemed it was decided now that she would have to go to the next one, even if she didn't necessarily want to, just to prove that she didn't look down on the people from her neighborhood.
Daphne gave her a cautious smile, but worry was still reflected in her seafoam green eyes. "I'm sure Theo will be pleased to hear that," she said, unsure of herself.
But that only set Pansy off a second time. "Why are you still trying to set her up with Theo?" Pansy questioned sharply. "Stop getting his hopes up. This priss isn't going to put out for him. She's not like you and me, Daphne. She's a fucking prude."
"What Theo and I do or don't do is between me and him," Hermione said, stepping up from her chair and pushing it back. "He's my oldest friend."
"You're a bloody cocktease, Granger," Pansy argued. "You don't get any extra points for keeping your virginity through secondary school, so fuck off with your holier than thou attitude."
Something inside Hermione snapped. She couldn't stand someone telling her what she was or wasn't for another second. She had so much rage boiling up inside her and unfortunately, it was all aimed at Pansy. "That's it, you bitch," she snarled, stepping out from the table.
Pansy was just as eager to jump up from her spot at the table. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?" she asked.
The words weren't even out of Pansy's mouth before Hermione was launching herself at the other girl, giving her a firm shove that had her stumbling backwards into the windows with a thump. But Pansy wasn't phased and let out a feral shriek before running back at Hermione, tiny fists raised.
Their assembled friends were stunned for a moment, but she quickly heard Daphne's pleas for them to stop and Draco's demands that Pansy leave it alone. Hermione scoffed, realizing that none of them thought that she would actually do anything to the other girl. But Pansy was about to be in for a big surprise.
She swung back and hit the girl in the jaw, with a firm hit, but Pansy was unphased. Instead, she grabbed hold of Hermione's long hair and pulled her close so that she could hit Hermione in the face. The sting stunned her momentarily and she yelped in surprise, just glad that it hadn't landed on her nose. Shoving herself free of Pansy's grasp, Hermione was able to land one more punch to the other girl's side, before Draco was pulling her back, holding her arms off.
The librarian, Mrs. Pince, came upon the rowdy bunch seconds later, shouting in absolute outrage. "There is no fighting in school," she said shrilly. "And absolutely no fighting in the library!"
Immediately, Hermione felt poorly for disrupting a place that she loved so much and for the way that she behaved. She stopped struggling against Draco's hold, but she could still feel the chip on her shoulder, knowing that this thing with Pansy wasn't actually settled yet.
"Both of you march to the Headmaster's office, immediately!" Mrs. Pince demanded, standing between the two girls.
Draco walked next to Hermione with a grimace on his face. "You've really gone and done it," he said with a frown, making Hermione wonder if his precious mummy had asked him not to spend time with her even though she was family. Was he regretting trying to be friends with her now that he was forced to see how wild she really was.
Mrs. Pince muttered the whole way about how disrespectful they were. Hermione felt nothing but dread as she and Pansy were made to sit in separate rooms to await their fate. Once she was alone, she began to wallow, wondering just what had come over her. Maybe there was a little bit more of her mum in her than she wanted to acknowledge. This was exactly how Bellatrix Lestrange would have handled things.
And now...just think of the consequences. What if she was going to be kicked out of school? All of her dreams of a better future at University dashed? Had it really been worth it just to get a couple of hits in on Pansy?
She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there but her cheek was throbbing and she was sure she was going to end up with a bruise for everyone to see. Fuck, she was never going to live it down. Perfect Hermione Granger getting in a physical altercation with Pansy Parkinson. She just hoped that Pansy wore a mark, too.
No, she probably knew how to cover it up better with makeup, Hermione thought snidely.
Eventually, though, the door was being wrenched open and the form of Sirius Black stood in the entry. He was positively seething when he looked at her.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, still feeling a bit petulant. Why did he only show up when she was down? Why couldn't she show him that she didn't need him the way that he clearly didn't need her?
"I'm so disappointed in you," he said, his voice even and low, but obviously disdainful.
Fuck, that hurt worse than she thought it could.
"Get up, I'm taking you home," he instructed. He didn't even wait to see if she was going to comply with his order, but instead turned on his heel and strode out the building.
Hermione hauled her book bag over one shoulder and had to jog to catch up with him, never mind the fact that her face throbbed with every step. She followed him out of the Headmaster's office and out of the school, until they stopped in front of his police cruiser.
"Get in. We'll talk in the car," he said, furious, before sliding into the driver's seat and slamming the door shut. Hermione walked around to the other side, her stomach dropping, dreading whatever it was he was going to say to her.