Fight Or Flight

A week had passed since the rumor had spread around The Great Hall and Hermione was a reck. People were brutal as ever about making jokes and calling her names. Some of their favorite names were "Mrs. Malfoy" "Pureblood lover" and "Malfoy's Stalker". Pansy was the worst when it came to name calling, but that wasn't the worst part for Hermione. The worst part was seeing Malfoy's smug, snickering face when ever he'd catch her eye. Knowing that he knew was worse then anything Pansy could ever call her or say to her.

"I don't know why people believe that. It's absolutely absurd! Malfoy? Of all people, Malfoy?" Hermione groaned, her head laying on the table in the Gryffindor common room. "People can be so stupid!" She glared down at her textbook, the will to over come spread through out her. "But, I won't let this nasty little rumor distract me from my studies. So what if some pathetic little Slytherins are dissatisfied with their lives. It doesn't have to affect me." She began reading again with almost frightening determination.

"How can you be so calm about this, Hermione? Malfoy is spreading rumors of you being in love with him. I say we go and spell his testbooks to give him the wrong answers!" Ron suggested. But Hermione glared over the top of her book at him.

"No, we will ignore this. They'll get bored and then everyone will move on." She went back to her book. 'I WILL ignore this and it WILL go away. I'll make sure of that.'

But it didn't go away. The students had been at school one month and people were still talking about it. They were still saying that they saw Hermione drooling over her own robes at Malfoy during potions. When in fact she avoided looking at the Slytherins at all, especially Malfoy to avoid nasty little comments like that. Also Pansy had begun walking past Hermione in the halls snarling biting comments.

"Oh, Hermione. You have a drool spot on your robes, did you skip last class again to stare at Malfoy through the window?" Pansy laughed and starting walking off. Hermione had endured weeks of torture such as that and finally she had had enough.

"What is the matter with you, Pansy?" Hermione screamed, several heads turned. "I do not like Malfoy! He is obnoxious, foul, and annoying! Why on Earth would I like him? Even if you are obsessed with him doesn't mean the rest of us are! So I would appreciate it if you'd stop putting your nose where it doesn't belong. Thank you!" She turned sharply on her heel and stomped away.

Pansy stared after her completely lost for words, she hadn't expected Hermione to react. But soon she regained herself, "Well mudblood, you'll regret crossing me." She turned and left in the opposite direction.

Harry and Ron were left in the dust after Hermione had stormed off, finally they caught up to her. "Hermione, that was genius! You really showed her." Ron said, Harry nodded agreeing.

"No, it wasn't genius. I wanted to avoid this because now they know it bothers me. Now they'll never stop." Hermione sat on the grass beside the pond. Bubbles came up warning that the thing in the lake was close by.

"But maybe they'll stop. Now that they know you won't take it anymore, Pansy will definately think twice before saying anything that's for sure." Harry laughed and sat next to her. Ron sat beside him.

"Especially Pansy, saying that she was obsessed with Malfoy was brilliant. No one's ever said it out loud but everyone knows." Ron said smiling. Hermione smiled back and they continued to recap Hermione squashing Pansy like a bug.

After about 15 minutes Hermione stood. "I have to go to the library to get a book for one of my classes. I'll see you two later." She turned and walked toward the castle. The sun shined down at her and she looked up enjoying it. Hermione felt as if a huge weight was lifted off her chest, there was hope that the Slytherins would stop and she was going to her favorite place in the castle.

Hermione arrived at the library, the musty smell of books soothed her even more and she felt the hum of centuries worth of knowledge simply waiting to be read. She was so absorbed in thinking about which books she'd like to borrow besides the one she needed that she didn't notice the pale blond boy in the corner. But he noticed her. She scanned the shelves picking up a few books, then setting them back down and drifting on. Hermione had gathered five or six in her arms and turned the corner to find a table to sit to read.

Malfoy appeared from around the corner, and they collided. Hermione cursed quietly under her breath and bend to pick the books up. To her surprise Malfoy knelt down as well, she gathered about three books and he grabbed the rest. Malfoy's pale eyes darted over the covers, he raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

They knelt next to each other for a few moments before Hermione broke the silence. "May I have my books back please?" She gritted her teeth, although she did find him extremely attractive she also found him extremely annoying. His being right in front of her face pushed the annoyance levels higher. 'Annoying little tart.' She growled to herself.

Malfoy took his sweet time before looking at Hermione. "Sure, Hermione." Hermione blinked in, 'He just called me by my first name and he didn't say anything offensive... who is this and what did he do with Malfoy?' Malfoy handed the books back to a stunned Hermione before standing and walking away. Hermione followed him with her eyes in surprise and shock. 'Maybe he took some potion that forces you to be nice.' She shrugged and stood to find a table.

Hermione found the table that she had been looking for and started on her books. Several minutes later she was so absorbed in her books that she completely forgot about Malfoy. In fact she was so oblivious to the world around her that she didn't even notice when Malfoy sat down in front of her. The only reason she even saw that he was there was because he cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Malfoy?" Hermione blinked, "Are you lost?" She asked, she meant it to be only slightly sarcastic since it was a library and many things might be foreign to him.

Malfoy gave an annoyed smile that was there for and instant then gone in a flash. "No." He said sharply and flattly. She waited for him to continue but when he didn't she pressed him.

"Well excuse me for being rude but why are you sitting there? I thought that the great pureblood wouldn't dirty his hands with a lowly mudblood like me." Hermione snarled, she still felt hurt from when he called her a mudblood. But since they never talked except in biting comments she never got to extract her revenge onto him.

Malfoy sat glaring for a few seconds then asked, "Are the rumors true?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"What?" She growled, this was so not a conversation she wanted to have.

"You heard me, are the rumors true?" He placed his hands on the table and she saw his delicate, perfectly manicured white finger nails.

"Which rumors there are so many. You really should learn to be more specific." Hermione said in a flippant voice. She was against lying and she didn't want to tell him the truth. So she decided to give him a song and dance in hopes of distracting him. Hermione opened the book and pretended to read but she was absolutely focused on Malfoy.

"Don't play dumb, Granger. The rumors of you liking me, are they true or not?" Malfoy asked, his voice getting annoyed. An idea occured to Hermione, the way Malfoy had asked the question meant that she could say either yes or no and he would still have no idea which one she had decided.

"Yes," She said, a malicise glint in her eyes.

"So you like me?" Malfoy said, an expression Hermione couldn't read crossed his face.

"I didn't say that. You asked if the rumors were true or not. I said yes, that doesn't answer anything." Hermione stood and left a dumbfounded Malfoy sitting at the table. She checked out the books and started to leave. But Malfoy cut her off.

"I want an answer Granger, and you'll give it to me." He snarled at her, they left the library with her walking very quickly and him trailing beside her.

"I don't have to give you anything, Malfoy. Now leave me alone." She increased her pace. She knew that she'd never lose Malfoy simply by walking, but she might be able to out run him.

But Malfoy did something Hermione didn't count on. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around to face him. "Tell me the truth, Hermione!" He nearly screamed in her face. His sudden reaction frightened her, she did the only thing she could think of. Hermione threw her books at him, jerked away, and ran. She ran and ran until she came to the Fat Lady, she shrieked the password, climbed through the hole and into the warm quiet common room. Everyone was outside enjoying the last few days of good weather so the common room was empty except for Fred and George Weasley. They both looked up and saw a sweaty, panting Hermione.

"Hermione, what's wrong? What happened?" One of the twins asked, the two went beside her and led her to a chair.

"Malfoy... cornered me... in hall... screamed at me... got scared... ran away... threw books... so scared..." Hermione panted, her ribs ached and her head was pounding.

Fred and George were quiet for a moment then one tried to get the story. "So Malfoy cornered you in the halls, he screamed at you, you got scared, threw your books at him, and ran away? Is that about right?" Hermione nodded, she was still panting.

"Let's kill him!" One stood and snarled. The other one grabbed him.

"No, no. We have to handle this logically. And since it happened to Hermione, I think that we should let her decided the proper course of action." They looked down at her, one of their eyes burned with the desire to beat Malfoy to a bloody pulp while the other one waited patiently for her decision.

"Forget it ever happened... He didn't hurt me, just scared me. Really, I over reacted. If he ever tries it again, I'll spell him." Hermione said, she pulled out her wand as proof. "But, will you two come with me to get my books? I just threw them and ran."

They both laughed, "Hermione, always thinking of her books." One said to the other. "Of course we'll go with you." The other one said. Sometimes Hermione wondered if they were mentally connected, but she'd put it off for a later time to ask.

Hermione was still shaking when they went to pick up her books, but only one was sitting on the ground. A note was sticking out of it. One of the twins pulled it out, read it, handed it to the other twin and then he handed it to Hermione. It read, 'Hermione, if you want your books back come to the Quidditch field at noon tomorrow. They'll be there.' The note was unsigned but she knew it was from Malfoy, who else would steal her books?

"I don't think you should go Hermione. Could be bad, couple of Slytherins may be there waiting for you." Said the twins in unison.

"I have to go, I need my books back."