A/N: DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF HARRY POTTER AND REALLY
WISHED I DID BUT I DON'T.
Reviews: I do not care what kind of reviews you give, any is fine. Compliments, flames, tips, ideas, anything.
Thank you to all my reviewests! I am so happy that you all reviewed! Now please. . .
READ ON!
*~+~* (*~+~* is kindly taken from another story)
Hermione woke up to the fresh dawn of Sunday morning, feeling bright and bubbly. She slipped out of bed and padded over to the girls bathroom, and took a shower.
Before long, she had gotten dressed and had crept out of her dorm, without waking Harry up. Smiling, she exited the Gryffindor area and went over to the Slytherin area.
Walking up the stairs, she found herself facing two green doors (A/N: last chapter, Harry had seen Malfoy through the door and had like, stepped in. Hermione had been able to take a shower and sneak past Harry's door without waking him up).
Confused as to what to do, Hermione hissed the password to Draco's room softly.
"Die mudbloods, die!" Hermione whispered softly. Giggling to herself, she saw the door on the right click open. When Draco had first told Hermione the password, she was downright shocked, but overall amused.
Upon entering the familiar rooms (A/N: Ok, I know there are a lot of these but, I thought I had the need to explain. Draco's private rooms are his prefect rooms, and the other prefect is Pansy, who was mentioned in earlier chapters.) Hermione felt as though she was being watched. It was eerie and an unnatural feeling and Hermione didn't like it one bit.
As Hermione prowled around the room, in hope of finding some sort of device to wake Draco up with a big BANG, she heard a distinct but soft rustle of feet in the direction of the bathroom.
Whipping out her wand, Hermione advanced to where she had heard the rustle. Suddenly she felt a change in the still air. She felt a breeze pass her to the left.
Grinning, Hermione said, "You want to play it that way? Well fine, I'll play your game." Deftly Hermione disillusioned herself and had become a human chameleon within a matter of seconds.
Hermione stealthily moved towards the bed and stood absolutely still, waiting for the signs of air movement or sound.
Minutes passed and just as she was turning to despair, she felt the air move again and quickly she had the whole area from which the change came from, netted.
She watched as the net closed in around the empty air and was disappointed to find it disappear into nothing. Sighing she sat down on the ground and took the spell off.
When another five minutes passed, she produced a white flag and made it wave around. Still, the other in the room didn't show themselves.
Finally Hermione couldn't take it anymore. Standing up, she gathered up her strength and threw a gigantic net over the whole room.
She watched with pleasure as she saw a distinct form take shape. When the net had finished contracting, she saw herself looking at a glowing red net that was squirming on the ground.
Circling her prey, she said softly, "Show yourself!"
When s/he didn't obey, she levitated him/her and sent him/her flying at the wall. At the last second she stopped him/her and said in a dangerously quiet voice, "Show yourself or you'll find yourself in considerable pain!"
Then she heard the most inexplicable thing in the situation. Someone had laughed. Hermione whirled around and found herself facing Draco Malfoy.
*~+~*
"No doubt my simulation ran well. You reacted perfectly." Draco purred.
"So this was all a simulation? Well a simulated body wouldn't have worked because a net doesn't capture nonliving things. Who was your guinea pig?" Hermione said, all the while never leaving the struggling red net out of her gaze.
"For god's sake Vincent! Take off the goddamn spell!" Draco drawled as he casually played with his wand.
"The thing is Draco, I don't know how. You put it on and I don't know how to take it off." Vincent wailed.
"Stupid bumbling fool! However, you are useful even in your low IQ." Draco sneered before removing the spell to reveal a very-red faced boy, struggling to remove his bonds.
"TAKE THE NET OFF ME!" Vincent yelled.
Hermione heard footsteps outside the door. Quickly pulling her wand out, she locked the door with several spells and silenced the room.
"Come on Vince. You'll have to convince us!" Draco said, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Don't play rough Draco. Sometimes it can be more damaging than the Crutacious curse." Hermione pleaded.
Draco's expression softened and he lifted the net with a quick flick of his wandhand.
"You're going soft Draco." Vincent said as he stood up, wincing.
Hermione rolled her eyes emphatically and left the room.
*~+~*
Harry watched Hermione intently as she walked over to the Gryffindor table. She had disappeared from the dorm early in the morning and he hadn't seen her until now.
"Hi Harry!" Colin Creevy came bouncing up to the elder boy, camera in hand.
"Colin, how many times do I have to tell you? Get lost! I have to concentrate on my work!" Harry said in a bored voice.
"Hi Harry!" Hermione had just cut across the hall and was now sitting opposite Harry.
"Oh, hi 'Mione." Harry said brightly.
"What are you doing after breakfast?" Hermione asked casually.
"Oh I am going to laze around in the GP common room or perhaps in the Prefect Common Room. Then I'll get up and eat lunch and then I'll probably return to the tower, do a little revision and go eat dinner. Then I'll go off to Gryffindor tower to go talk to Ron and Lavender and Parvati and Seamus and Neville. Then I'll come back to the Prefect Tower and go to sleep." Harry said. "Need I elaborate?"
Hermione refrained herself from rolling her eyes and spitting back a sarcastic remark.
"Oh, since you are going to be so busy today I guess I'll have to go to Hogsmeade with someone else then. I'm sure Draco won't mind. He's been very nice to me over the holidays." Hermione said cheekily.
"I won't have my girlfriend go off with a Malfoy to Hogsmeade." Harry snarled. "Of course I will go with you to Hogsmeade. I've just got to do some things up in Gryffindor tower. I'll meet you at the Entrance Hall in about an hour and a half?" Harry asked as he checked his watch. It was 9:30 a.m. and he would have plenty of time to do the assignments given out by Snape.
"Sure. That's fine with me. I'll be there at 11 o'clock. You better be there right on the dot or I'll leave without you!" Hermione warned.
"Ok. Well I better get going then!" Harry then left the table and headed off to Gryffindor Tower.
Hermione sighed as she gazed wistfully at the Slytherin Table. Draco was talking to the COW Pansy and the dunderheads Vincent (Crabbe) and Gregory (Goyle).
Pushing her plate away, Hermione headed off to the Prefect dorms. She wasn't hungry and there wasn't anything she could do. She had finished all her assignments, had revised and had nothing to do.
As Hermione dragged her feet over to Prefect Tower, she decided she might as well go over to Gryffindor Tower. She abruptly changed direction and headed up the stairs to her house tower.
When she arrived she realized she hadn't been told the new password.
"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.
"Um. . . Phoenix Tears?" Hermione said hopefully, wondering whether the password had been changed already.
To her relief she saw the portrait swing open.
She stepped in and took in her old dorm. It had been a month before Hermione had even stepped into the common room and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw everything as she had last left it.
Hermione could see no sign of Harry in the common room so she headed up the stairs to the boys dormitory.
She stopped at the door as she heard muffled moans from inside the room. With her suspicions aroused, she listened to the muffled moans and the disconnected words.
"We. . . should. . . stop. . . this. . ." came a feminine voice that Hermione was sure belonged to Lavender. "Someone. . . might. . . find. . . us. . ."
"Relax Lavender!" came a male voice. Hermione couldn't distinguish the owner but she was now sure that Lavender was in the room with her boyfriend.
Grinning to herself, she headed down the stairs and decided that Harry must've gone over to the Prefect Tower to do his work.
Heading down the stairs she spotted Ron and sighed. Walking down purposefully, she sat down opposite Ron and waited for him to look up from his book.
"Hermione!" Ron said, surprise written all over his face.
"Ron, I have decided to forgive you. Even if you did cheat on me for that Cho Chang." Hermione shuddered in mock disgust.
Ron grinned. "Apology accepted!"
"Do you know where Harry is? He said he was coming here, but I'm sure he's not in his old dorm coz Lavender is up there with her boyfriend and he isn't in the common room."
Ron gulped nervously and feigned puzzlement. "Well, he might have gone to his new dorm. You know, the prefect dorm."
Hermione smiled. "Cool. Thanks Ron!" She then left the Gryffindor Tower and stepped out into the corridor.
*~+~*
Hermione was now really confused. She had checked the Prefect Dorm, the GP common room, the Prefect common room, Gryffindor tower, and all the other places Harry might be but she couldn't find him.
She could nearly scream in frustration. She checked her watch and saw that it was five minutes until 11 o'clock. Sighing impatiently she went down to the Entrance Hall and waited for five minutes. When Harry didn't show, Hermione went off to find Draco.
Once she found him, the pair went off to Hogsmeade together. She needed to ask him a couple questions about the Dark Lord and his motives and such and such.
By the time the two had reached the Three Broomsticks, a blizzard had blown up and everyone had rushed to the Three Broomsticks.
"Come on. Let's get a table." Hermione grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him over to an empty table (can you say empty table?) and they sat down.
Looking around, Hermione saw that it was mostly Hogwarts students that crowded the small bar. Grinning, she spotted Harry with Lavender, Ron, Seamus, Neville and Parvati.
The group was drinking butterbeer and by the looks of things had been at the bar for quite some time. This angered Hermione and she couldn't help but feel annoyed at Harry for leaving without her when she had spent the whole morning looking for him.
Hermione turned to Draco and said quietly, "What is there to gain being Potty's girlfriend? All I'll get is kisses not information!" Hermione hissed.
"He'll learn to trust you better." Draco replied.
"I've got a better idea. How about we watch what he does and who he talks to the most and who he confides in and then befriend that person. It's less conspicuous and I don't want to date Potter!" Hermione whispered.
"Fine. We'll try that." Draco nodded and they watched the group chatter.
*~+~*
By then end of an hours worth of watching, examining, and observing they figured that Ron and Lavender were his 'confidants.'
Hermione was cheered.
"That's easy. I'm good friends with Lavender and I've forgiven Ron. I can use Ron's guilt for him to talk, and I can use Lavender's obvious stupidity to my advantage." Hermione grinned cruelly.
"I have work to do up at Hogwarts. Snape wants me to look up some stuff for him." Draco sneered.
"See you Draco." Hermione said heartily as she eyed the group who were now getting up. Glancing outside, she realized that the blizzard had stopped.
She followed the group at a safe distance and watched as they followed Draco up to the castle. Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she saw them draw a circle around Draco.
Snorting to herself, Hermione knew that they would probably be damaged more than Draco. Smiling, she joined the circle and watched as they threw insults at Draco.
"Come on Malfoy. Too scared to take on someone your size?" Harry taunted.
"No Potty. But I suppose you wouldn't have the guts to have a duel with me. That's too bad because I was personally looking forward to humiliating you in front of all your friends." Draco sighed sarcastically and conjured up a nail file and began filing his nails (A/N: hahahahaha! In your face POTTER!).
"Oh are we a pretty boy now?" Lavender teased.
"You should talk Lavender. You know what?" Draco said as he took an experimental whiff. "You should really stop using that cheap perfume. It might tarnish your reputation as a slut."
Grinning evilly, Draco took his wand out and began to play with it idly.
Harry glared at Malfoy hatefully.
"Watch what you say Malfoy. You might find yourself in a very bad situation. In case you haven't noticed, it's 7 to 1. Give up now and we might just go easy on you." Harry snarled.
"Well then Potty. If you want to start the duel now, then by all means start it. I have no objections. In fact, I will enjoy blasting you to outer space." Draco smirked.
Harry pushed forward and knocked Ron's restraining hand away.
"You think you're so good Malfoy but you are nothing, I repeat NOTHING." Harry took his wand out.
Hermione rushed forward and pushed Harry out of the way.
"I want to have the pleasure of dueling with him. Harry, I'm better than you at DADA. Let me handle this. You might get hurt. You have no idea what Malfoy's capable of." Hermione ignored Harry's protest and turned to face Draco.
"You know what Malfoy? I really despise the way you push all those buttons that lead to self-destruct. You make snide remarks about things that people rather not discuss and yet you don't care. You insult people and it makes me sick!" Hermione said, putting on a very good mask of hate.
"Tut, tut! Hermione, you forget that your parents are staying at my Manor and I can alert them at any time of you're not-so-lady-like behaviour." Draco smirked at Hermione's so genuine look of indignation.
"I hate you Malfoy! You think you're so good and that you are the king of everyone. You strut around the corridors like you own the bloody place. You're always gloating about your money, your good looks and always complaining about muggle-born's. Every single time I lay my eyes on you I want to hex every single damn bit of your body!" Hermione shrieked.
Draco smirked again.
"Well Avery, this is your perfect opportunity to 'hex every single damn bit of my body' as you so eloquently put it." Draco flicked his wand into the air and it landed square into his outstretched hand.
Hermione whipped her wand out and pointed it at Draco. Her heart was hammering against her chest and as she searched for a reason to not duel Draco. She hardened her face and prepared to duel.
"Bring it on."
*~+~*
It was an exhausting duel and by the end Hermione was thoroughly worn out. Draco looked a little stretched as well. They had dueled for an hour, none doing much harm to the other.
Harry narrowed his eyes at Draco and cursed him under his breath. How did Malfoy know so many curses? They weren't written in the book that he had studied all summer.
And Hermione! She knew how to counter every single curse that Draco shot at her. How is that possible? Harry shook his disturbing thoughts of his shoulders and went off to the castle.
Pushing through the crowd (the crowd had come to watch the duel as they heard the bangs and cries of horror from the group of friends watching), Harry walked up to the castle. He had a meeting with a friend to attend to.
*~+~*
Hermione walked up to the castle, nearly fainting from exhaustion. Never, in her whole life had her powers been tested so sorely. Of course the duel was realistic enough, but it very nearly cost Hermione her life (A/N: it's a figure of speech).
Sighing, Hermione decided that she better go see Harry. After all, she's supposed to be leaning on him for support as her 'boyfriend.'
Hermione headed off to Gryffindor Tower and staggered in front of the Fat Lady.
"Password?"
"Phoenix Tears." Hermione said softly. The portrait swung open to reveal a very loud party.
Hermione was confused as to why the Gryffindors were partying, but she shrugged the thought off and stepped inside.
Hermione wound her way through the thick crowd of Gryffindors and went to Harry's favourite seat. She stopped dead as she watched the scene before her.
Hermione's first reaction was to disappear into the crowd and watched, unseen. She followed her instincts through and waited for the right moment.
Several moments passed and Hermione decided that now was the best time to step in.
"Hello Harry. Care to explain what you're doing?" Hermione asked sweetly.
Harry broke off from Lavender and looked at Hermione guiltily.
"No answer then? Well I guess that even though I'm nearly spent, I could teach you a lesson or two. Perhaps I should demonstrate the curse I'm going to use. Incendio prolongus!" Hermione pointed her wand at the table in front of her.
Harry watched in fear as the table burst into flames. The table danced with flames but didn't burn to ashes.
"You see Harry, I don't take cheating lightly. I thought you would've got that after Ron cheated on me. It seems to run in your blood. After all, your father was always going out with different girls and had, I believe, about 4 girls strung on at once?" Hermione sneered.
Harry stood up and took his wand out.
"Take that back!" Harry snarled.
"Oh, you wanna play rough? Well I guess we'll play rough." Hermione raised her wand and flicked her wrist imperiously. Immediately a pair of snake- like ropes shot out and bound Harry.
"HERMIONE! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO HARRY? HE HAS BEEN SO KIND TO YOU! HE HAS SAVED YOU FROM SO MANY PERILS AND YOU REPAY HIM IN THIS FILTHY WAY?" Lavender shrieked.
"Why Lavender, I suppose I could give you several examples of his 'heroism!' " Hermione began circling the bound Harry.
"Let's see, first year: he got me to save him from Devil's snare, Ron saved us from the giant chess pieces, not Harry, and if I wasn't there when we came to the seven bottles, he would've died, either from poison of the inability to move forward or backwards through the flames." Hermione took her wand out and began to play with it.
"Now, second year: if I hadn't found out that there was a basilisk in the school and that it was traveling through the plumbing, Harry and Ron would've never found out where to go to kill the basilisk. Third year would be the only time he saved us, which was from the dementors." Lavender looked thunderstruck that her 'brave and almighty hero' was bathing in glory that wasn't his.
"Fourth year: if I hadn't helped him with the summoning charm, Harry would've been torn to shreds, and I helped him practice and look up curses and spells for the third task, and for the second task, if Dobby hadn't gotten the gillyweed for Harry, he would've made a spectacle of himself. Need I go further?" Hermione took her wand out and created an invisible shield around herself.
Lavender opened and closed her mouth several times before saying hotly, "You're lying. You're just jealous that Harry likes me, not you! So, you're just weaving a web of untruths! Ron will tell us the truth, won't you Ron?"
Ron closed his eyes peacefully before answering.
"Hermione is telling the truth. Now if you don't want to die anytime soon, you might want to run, or get Hermione the hell out of here!"
All the while everyone had been looking at Ron with held breath and hadn't noticed Hermione's departure. They all looked around fearfully for a bit before calming down.
All of a sudden, a huge bang erupted in the room, and right on top of Lavender, a parchment formed and dropped into her lap. It read:
Lavender,
I'm sure that if you don't want me to leak your secret about certain
things, I suggest that you tread carefully. You're on enemy grounds and
not even Harry can protect you.
You-know-who (A/N:not Voldemort)
*~+~*
A/N: Well, her secret about doing 'it' with Harry when Hermione had gone looking for him before going to Hogsmeade. You know how Lavender was going 'We. . . should. . . stop. . . this. . . Someone. . . might. . . find. . . us!' yeah. Ok, onto lighter matters. I am really sorry for all you readers out there! My internet got cut off and I had to wait till I got back to school! SORRY!
sLy7h3r1n H3@rT
*~+~*
Reviews: I do not care what kind of reviews you give, any is fine. Compliments, flames, tips, ideas, anything.
Thank you to all my reviewests! I am so happy that you all reviewed! Now please. . .
READ ON!
*~+~* (*~+~* is kindly taken from another story)
Hermione woke up to the fresh dawn of Sunday morning, feeling bright and bubbly. She slipped out of bed and padded over to the girls bathroom, and took a shower.
Before long, she had gotten dressed and had crept out of her dorm, without waking Harry up. Smiling, she exited the Gryffindor area and went over to the Slytherin area.
Walking up the stairs, she found herself facing two green doors (A/N: last chapter, Harry had seen Malfoy through the door and had like, stepped in. Hermione had been able to take a shower and sneak past Harry's door without waking him up).
Confused as to what to do, Hermione hissed the password to Draco's room softly.
"Die mudbloods, die!" Hermione whispered softly. Giggling to herself, she saw the door on the right click open. When Draco had first told Hermione the password, she was downright shocked, but overall amused.
Upon entering the familiar rooms (A/N: Ok, I know there are a lot of these but, I thought I had the need to explain. Draco's private rooms are his prefect rooms, and the other prefect is Pansy, who was mentioned in earlier chapters.) Hermione felt as though she was being watched. It was eerie and an unnatural feeling and Hermione didn't like it one bit.
As Hermione prowled around the room, in hope of finding some sort of device to wake Draco up with a big BANG, she heard a distinct but soft rustle of feet in the direction of the bathroom.
Whipping out her wand, Hermione advanced to where she had heard the rustle. Suddenly she felt a change in the still air. She felt a breeze pass her to the left.
Grinning, Hermione said, "You want to play it that way? Well fine, I'll play your game." Deftly Hermione disillusioned herself and had become a human chameleon within a matter of seconds.
Hermione stealthily moved towards the bed and stood absolutely still, waiting for the signs of air movement or sound.
Minutes passed and just as she was turning to despair, she felt the air move again and quickly she had the whole area from which the change came from, netted.
She watched as the net closed in around the empty air and was disappointed to find it disappear into nothing. Sighing she sat down on the ground and took the spell off.
When another five minutes passed, she produced a white flag and made it wave around. Still, the other in the room didn't show themselves.
Finally Hermione couldn't take it anymore. Standing up, she gathered up her strength and threw a gigantic net over the whole room.
She watched with pleasure as she saw a distinct form take shape. When the net had finished contracting, she saw herself looking at a glowing red net that was squirming on the ground.
Circling her prey, she said softly, "Show yourself!"
When s/he didn't obey, she levitated him/her and sent him/her flying at the wall. At the last second she stopped him/her and said in a dangerously quiet voice, "Show yourself or you'll find yourself in considerable pain!"
Then she heard the most inexplicable thing in the situation. Someone had laughed. Hermione whirled around and found herself facing Draco Malfoy.
*~+~*
"No doubt my simulation ran well. You reacted perfectly." Draco purred.
"So this was all a simulation? Well a simulated body wouldn't have worked because a net doesn't capture nonliving things. Who was your guinea pig?" Hermione said, all the while never leaving the struggling red net out of her gaze.
"For god's sake Vincent! Take off the goddamn spell!" Draco drawled as he casually played with his wand.
"The thing is Draco, I don't know how. You put it on and I don't know how to take it off." Vincent wailed.
"Stupid bumbling fool! However, you are useful even in your low IQ." Draco sneered before removing the spell to reveal a very-red faced boy, struggling to remove his bonds.
"TAKE THE NET OFF ME!" Vincent yelled.
Hermione heard footsteps outside the door. Quickly pulling her wand out, she locked the door with several spells and silenced the room.
"Come on Vince. You'll have to convince us!" Draco said, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Don't play rough Draco. Sometimes it can be more damaging than the Crutacious curse." Hermione pleaded.
Draco's expression softened and he lifted the net with a quick flick of his wandhand.
"You're going soft Draco." Vincent said as he stood up, wincing.
Hermione rolled her eyes emphatically and left the room.
*~+~*
Harry watched Hermione intently as she walked over to the Gryffindor table. She had disappeared from the dorm early in the morning and he hadn't seen her until now.
"Hi Harry!" Colin Creevy came bouncing up to the elder boy, camera in hand.
"Colin, how many times do I have to tell you? Get lost! I have to concentrate on my work!" Harry said in a bored voice.
"Hi Harry!" Hermione had just cut across the hall and was now sitting opposite Harry.
"Oh, hi 'Mione." Harry said brightly.
"What are you doing after breakfast?" Hermione asked casually.
"Oh I am going to laze around in the GP common room or perhaps in the Prefect Common Room. Then I'll get up and eat lunch and then I'll probably return to the tower, do a little revision and go eat dinner. Then I'll go off to Gryffindor tower to go talk to Ron and Lavender and Parvati and Seamus and Neville. Then I'll come back to the Prefect Tower and go to sleep." Harry said. "Need I elaborate?"
Hermione refrained herself from rolling her eyes and spitting back a sarcastic remark.
"Oh, since you are going to be so busy today I guess I'll have to go to Hogsmeade with someone else then. I'm sure Draco won't mind. He's been very nice to me over the holidays." Hermione said cheekily.
"I won't have my girlfriend go off with a Malfoy to Hogsmeade." Harry snarled. "Of course I will go with you to Hogsmeade. I've just got to do some things up in Gryffindor tower. I'll meet you at the Entrance Hall in about an hour and a half?" Harry asked as he checked his watch. It was 9:30 a.m. and he would have plenty of time to do the assignments given out by Snape.
"Sure. That's fine with me. I'll be there at 11 o'clock. You better be there right on the dot or I'll leave without you!" Hermione warned.
"Ok. Well I better get going then!" Harry then left the table and headed off to Gryffindor Tower.
Hermione sighed as she gazed wistfully at the Slytherin Table. Draco was talking to the COW Pansy and the dunderheads Vincent (Crabbe) and Gregory (Goyle).
Pushing her plate away, Hermione headed off to the Prefect dorms. She wasn't hungry and there wasn't anything she could do. She had finished all her assignments, had revised and had nothing to do.
As Hermione dragged her feet over to Prefect Tower, she decided she might as well go over to Gryffindor Tower. She abruptly changed direction and headed up the stairs to her house tower.
When she arrived she realized she hadn't been told the new password.
"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.
"Um. . . Phoenix Tears?" Hermione said hopefully, wondering whether the password had been changed already.
To her relief she saw the portrait swing open.
She stepped in and took in her old dorm. It had been a month before Hermione had even stepped into the common room and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw everything as she had last left it.
Hermione could see no sign of Harry in the common room so she headed up the stairs to the boys dormitory.
She stopped at the door as she heard muffled moans from inside the room. With her suspicions aroused, she listened to the muffled moans and the disconnected words.
"We. . . should. . . stop. . . this. . ." came a feminine voice that Hermione was sure belonged to Lavender. "Someone. . . might. . . find. . . us. . ."
"Relax Lavender!" came a male voice. Hermione couldn't distinguish the owner but she was now sure that Lavender was in the room with her boyfriend.
Grinning to herself, she headed down the stairs and decided that Harry must've gone over to the Prefect Tower to do his work.
Heading down the stairs she spotted Ron and sighed. Walking down purposefully, she sat down opposite Ron and waited for him to look up from his book.
"Hermione!" Ron said, surprise written all over his face.
"Ron, I have decided to forgive you. Even if you did cheat on me for that Cho Chang." Hermione shuddered in mock disgust.
Ron grinned. "Apology accepted!"
"Do you know where Harry is? He said he was coming here, but I'm sure he's not in his old dorm coz Lavender is up there with her boyfriend and he isn't in the common room."
Ron gulped nervously and feigned puzzlement. "Well, he might have gone to his new dorm. You know, the prefect dorm."
Hermione smiled. "Cool. Thanks Ron!" She then left the Gryffindor Tower and stepped out into the corridor.
*~+~*
Hermione was now really confused. She had checked the Prefect Dorm, the GP common room, the Prefect common room, Gryffindor tower, and all the other places Harry might be but she couldn't find him.
She could nearly scream in frustration. She checked her watch and saw that it was five minutes until 11 o'clock. Sighing impatiently she went down to the Entrance Hall and waited for five minutes. When Harry didn't show, Hermione went off to find Draco.
Once she found him, the pair went off to Hogsmeade together. She needed to ask him a couple questions about the Dark Lord and his motives and such and such.
By the time the two had reached the Three Broomsticks, a blizzard had blown up and everyone had rushed to the Three Broomsticks.
"Come on. Let's get a table." Hermione grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him over to an empty table (can you say empty table?) and they sat down.
Looking around, Hermione saw that it was mostly Hogwarts students that crowded the small bar. Grinning, she spotted Harry with Lavender, Ron, Seamus, Neville and Parvati.
The group was drinking butterbeer and by the looks of things had been at the bar for quite some time. This angered Hermione and she couldn't help but feel annoyed at Harry for leaving without her when she had spent the whole morning looking for him.
Hermione turned to Draco and said quietly, "What is there to gain being Potty's girlfriend? All I'll get is kisses not information!" Hermione hissed.
"He'll learn to trust you better." Draco replied.
"I've got a better idea. How about we watch what he does and who he talks to the most and who he confides in and then befriend that person. It's less conspicuous and I don't want to date Potter!" Hermione whispered.
"Fine. We'll try that." Draco nodded and they watched the group chatter.
*~+~*
By then end of an hours worth of watching, examining, and observing they figured that Ron and Lavender were his 'confidants.'
Hermione was cheered.
"That's easy. I'm good friends with Lavender and I've forgiven Ron. I can use Ron's guilt for him to talk, and I can use Lavender's obvious stupidity to my advantage." Hermione grinned cruelly.
"I have work to do up at Hogwarts. Snape wants me to look up some stuff for him." Draco sneered.
"See you Draco." Hermione said heartily as she eyed the group who were now getting up. Glancing outside, she realized that the blizzard had stopped.
She followed the group at a safe distance and watched as they followed Draco up to the castle. Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she saw them draw a circle around Draco.
Snorting to herself, Hermione knew that they would probably be damaged more than Draco. Smiling, she joined the circle and watched as they threw insults at Draco.
"Come on Malfoy. Too scared to take on someone your size?" Harry taunted.
"No Potty. But I suppose you wouldn't have the guts to have a duel with me. That's too bad because I was personally looking forward to humiliating you in front of all your friends." Draco sighed sarcastically and conjured up a nail file and began filing his nails (A/N: hahahahaha! In your face POTTER!).
"Oh are we a pretty boy now?" Lavender teased.
"You should talk Lavender. You know what?" Draco said as he took an experimental whiff. "You should really stop using that cheap perfume. It might tarnish your reputation as a slut."
Grinning evilly, Draco took his wand out and began to play with it idly.
Harry glared at Malfoy hatefully.
"Watch what you say Malfoy. You might find yourself in a very bad situation. In case you haven't noticed, it's 7 to 1. Give up now and we might just go easy on you." Harry snarled.
"Well then Potty. If you want to start the duel now, then by all means start it. I have no objections. In fact, I will enjoy blasting you to outer space." Draco smirked.
Harry pushed forward and knocked Ron's restraining hand away.
"You think you're so good Malfoy but you are nothing, I repeat NOTHING." Harry took his wand out.
Hermione rushed forward and pushed Harry out of the way.
"I want to have the pleasure of dueling with him. Harry, I'm better than you at DADA. Let me handle this. You might get hurt. You have no idea what Malfoy's capable of." Hermione ignored Harry's protest and turned to face Draco.
"You know what Malfoy? I really despise the way you push all those buttons that lead to self-destruct. You make snide remarks about things that people rather not discuss and yet you don't care. You insult people and it makes me sick!" Hermione said, putting on a very good mask of hate.
"Tut, tut! Hermione, you forget that your parents are staying at my Manor and I can alert them at any time of you're not-so-lady-like behaviour." Draco smirked at Hermione's so genuine look of indignation.
"I hate you Malfoy! You think you're so good and that you are the king of everyone. You strut around the corridors like you own the bloody place. You're always gloating about your money, your good looks and always complaining about muggle-born's. Every single time I lay my eyes on you I want to hex every single damn bit of your body!" Hermione shrieked.
Draco smirked again.
"Well Avery, this is your perfect opportunity to 'hex every single damn bit of my body' as you so eloquently put it." Draco flicked his wand into the air and it landed square into his outstretched hand.
Hermione whipped her wand out and pointed it at Draco. Her heart was hammering against her chest and as she searched for a reason to not duel Draco. She hardened her face and prepared to duel.
"Bring it on."
*~+~*
It was an exhausting duel and by the end Hermione was thoroughly worn out. Draco looked a little stretched as well. They had dueled for an hour, none doing much harm to the other.
Harry narrowed his eyes at Draco and cursed him under his breath. How did Malfoy know so many curses? They weren't written in the book that he had studied all summer.
And Hermione! She knew how to counter every single curse that Draco shot at her. How is that possible? Harry shook his disturbing thoughts of his shoulders and went off to the castle.
Pushing through the crowd (the crowd had come to watch the duel as they heard the bangs and cries of horror from the group of friends watching), Harry walked up to the castle. He had a meeting with a friend to attend to.
*~+~*
Hermione walked up to the castle, nearly fainting from exhaustion. Never, in her whole life had her powers been tested so sorely. Of course the duel was realistic enough, but it very nearly cost Hermione her life (A/N: it's a figure of speech).
Sighing, Hermione decided that she better go see Harry. After all, she's supposed to be leaning on him for support as her 'boyfriend.'
Hermione headed off to Gryffindor Tower and staggered in front of the Fat Lady.
"Password?"
"Phoenix Tears." Hermione said softly. The portrait swung open to reveal a very loud party.
Hermione was confused as to why the Gryffindors were partying, but she shrugged the thought off and stepped inside.
Hermione wound her way through the thick crowd of Gryffindors and went to Harry's favourite seat. She stopped dead as she watched the scene before her.
Hermione's first reaction was to disappear into the crowd and watched, unseen. She followed her instincts through and waited for the right moment.
Several moments passed and Hermione decided that now was the best time to step in.
"Hello Harry. Care to explain what you're doing?" Hermione asked sweetly.
Harry broke off from Lavender and looked at Hermione guiltily.
"No answer then? Well I guess that even though I'm nearly spent, I could teach you a lesson or two. Perhaps I should demonstrate the curse I'm going to use. Incendio prolongus!" Hermione pointed her wand at the table in front of her.
Harry watched in fear as the table burst into flames. The table danced with flames but didn't burn to ashes.
"You see Harry, I don't take cheating lightly. I thought you would've got that after Ron cheated on me. It seems to run in your blood. After all, your father was always going out with different girls and had, I believe, about 4 girls strung on at once?" Hermione sneered.
Harry stood up and took his wand out.
"Take that back!" Harry snarled.
"Oh, you wanna play rough? Well I guess we'll play rough." Hermione raised her wand and flicked her wrist imperiously. Immediately a pair of snake- like ropes shot out and bound Harry.
"HERMIONE! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO HARRY? HE HAS BEEN SO KIND TO YOU! HE HAS SAVED YOU FROM SO MANY PERILS AND YOU REPAY HIM IN THIS FILTHY WAY?" Lavender shrieked.
"Why Lavender, I suppose I could give you several examples of his 'heroism!' " Hermione began circling the bound Harry.
"Let's see, first year: he got me to save him from Devil's snare, Ron saved us from the giant chess pieces, not Harry, and if I wasn't there when we came to the seven bottles, he would've died, either from poison of the inability to move forward or backwards through the flames." Hermione took her wand out and began to play with it.
"Now, second year: if I hadn't found out that there was a basilisk in the school and that it was traveling through the plumbing, Harry and Ron would've never found out where to go to kill the basilisk. Third year would be the only time he saved us, which was from the dementors." Lavender looked thunderstruck that her 'brave and almighty hero' was bathing in glory that wasn't his.
"Fourth year: if I hadn't helped him with the summoning charm, Harry would've been torn to shreds, and I helped him practice and look up curses and spells for the third task, and for the second task, if Dobby hadn't gotten the gillyweed for Harry, he would've made a spectacle of himself. Need I go further?" Hermione took her wand out and created an invisible shield around herself.
Lavender opened and closed her mouth several times before saying hotly, "You're lying. You're just jealous that Harry likes me, not you! So, you're just weaving a web of untruths! Ron will tell us the truth, won't you Ron?"
Ron closed his eyes peacefully before answering.
"Hermione is telling the truth. Now if you don't want to die anytime soon, you might want to run, or get Hermione the hell out of here!"
All the while everyone had been looking at Ron with held breath and hadn't noticed Hermione's departure. They all looked around fearfully for a bit before calming down.
All of a sudden, a huge bang erupted in the room, and right on top of Lavender, a parchment formed and dropped into her lap. It read:
Lavender,
I'm sure that if you don't want me to leak your secret about certain
things, I suggest that you tread carefully. You're on enemy grounds and
not even Harry can protect you.
You-know-who (A/N:not Voldemort)
*~+~*
A/N: Well, her secret about doing 'it' with Harry when Hermione had gone looking for him before going to Hogsmeade. You know how Lavender was going 'We. . . should. . . stop. . . this. . . Someone. . . might. . . find. . . us!' yeah. Ok, onto lighter matters. I am really sorry for all you readers out there! My internet got cut off and I had to wait till I got back to school! SORRY!
sLy7h3r1n H3@rT
*~+~*