AN: Thank you to everyone that wished me a happy birthday. My day was OK, and my week was awesome!
AN2: Sorry it took such a long time. This weekend, I was spending time with my sister who I'm very close to, but just went away to college. I also had to play my flute at the football game, and be called a band geek by cheerleaders. BAND GEEKS ROCK, BTW!!
~*~*~**~*~*~
The next few days didn't bring very many improvements to Draco's and Hermione's situation. They were still being ignored by the whole school.
Once in a while, in the Common Room, Harry talked to Hermione, but he didn't acknowledge that she was there whenever she was with Draco.
In their next Potions class, Hermione and Draco were partners, without any sarcastic comments from Snape. Just like Hermione, Draco had been shunned by his house-mates and his usual partner had chosen to be with another Slytherin.
Over on the other side of the room, Harry was privately hoping that the two perfectionists would get in a fight over their work. He knew, though, that the two were the top two in their Potions class, and the chances were very slim that one of them would make a mistake.
As it turned out, he was correct, and they got full points on their
potion.
It was their next class, DADA, where things started to get a little rough.
Some people knew that Shaylee was on Draco's and Hermione's "side", but they didn't exactly take that as the warning that they should have.
When the 5th years got to class, they were acting as they had been all day. Shaylee didn't like that.
She started class normally, then started in a deadly voice.
"As you all know, I did not get my schooling at Hogwarts. My father wanted his children to be educated in France, so we were."
She paused to hop up on her desk. "I had always been jealous of my cousins, who go to learn under the great Albus Dumbledore, and I was very pleased when I got a job here."
She crossed her arms and looked at them seriously. "Now, however, I realize that I was lucky to go to a school whose houses didn't try to kill each other on a regular basis." She shrugged indifferently. "Heck, if I had the whole school mad at me whenever I had a boyfriend from a different house, then I would have been a total outcast!"
The class was staring at her grimly, except for Hermione, who was trying to hold back her smile.
"Now, if you will all wipe off the 'She knows; now we must kill her,' looks off of your face, and get out your books, we can start learning about the creatures who are about to jump up from behind Neville and bite his hand off."
Neville jumped sky high and spun around with his wand, causing the rest of the class to break into hysterical laughter.
Shaylee grinned and commented with a chuckle, "Not bad, boyo. Very good reflexes, in fact."
~*~*~**~*~*~
Shaylee was sitting at the High Table at lunch, giggling. (Yes, she was actually on time for once)
"What did you do?" Severus asked dryly.
"What makes you think that I did anything?" Shaylee said innocently.
"You're looking very happy."
"And that's different from usual?" Shaylee pointed out.
"You're happy in an evil way," Severus amended.
"Ah! Well you caught me!" Shaylee fake swooned, then shrugged. "I just put a major guilt trip on my 5th year class by talking about how if I was ignored for having a boyfriend from another house, I'd have been a total outcast my whole school career..."
"Oh, how enlightening," Severus commented sarcastically.
"Aww... Sevvy's jealous... How cute..." Shaylee cooed.
Severus glared at her.
"Well, don't worry. They were all jerks anyway. And the ones that weren't jerks weren't as cute as you!" She grinned and tickled him under the chin.
"I'm not cute!"
"Oh, yes you are, and you know it!" Shaylee teased.
Snape became aware of Dumbledore watching them with laughter in his eyes.
They were interrupted by a single owl flying into the hall.
"That's odd..." Shaylee commented. "What's an owl doing here now? It's lunchtime."
Shaylee got even more confused as the owl headed her way and landed beside her plate.
She took the letter from the owl (who then flew away) and looked at the seal on the back. Her eyes widened in panic and she tore the envelope open.
She scanned through the letter quickly, and sighed with relief.
"Wow... They sure know how to scare a person..."
Severus had picked up the envelope and was looking at the back.
"St. Mungo's? Why did you get a letter from St. Mungo's?"
Shaylee rolled her eyes. "Because the idiots running the place think that they need to scare a person to death to tell them that their father is improving and can have visitors..."
"Oh..." Severus didn't quite know what he should say.
"Yeah. He's been in extremely critical care for a while. It's great that he's finally getting better." She rolled her eyes. "Maybe the old man will recognize me the next time I visit," she said bitterly, though there was a fond smile on her face.
~*~*~**~*~*~
Hermione and Draco were sitting on the gym floor in their PE clothes, waiting for Professor Weasley to show up.
Hermione sighed, exasperated. "Is she ever going to be on time?"
The door burst open and Shaylee ran in just as a bell sounded, signaling the start of class.
She grinned at them. "Sorry. I'm not quite used to being the teacher, and not the student..."
She allowed the few students who had missed the bell inside and then shut the door.
"OK, sit down on the floor around me. Time to listen!" Shaylee said, leaning against the wall.
The students sat down on the floor and looked up at her expectantly.
"Do you remember our first class when I told you that we'd be swimming soon? Well, that's going to start next week. There will be a few rules, however."
As Shaylee went on with her gruesome stories (which were meant to back up the rules, but only succeeded in giving the guys crazy stories to tell their friends), the gears in Hermione's head started to spin and she formulated a plan.
After the rules and details had been laid out, it was almost time for the class to end, so she let the students who had changed into their PE clothes go into the locker room to change.
Draco cringed. Hermione and him had gotten there before the rest of the class, so he hadn't had to put up with any abuse in the locker room. They had stupidly changed into their PE clothes before knowing what was planned for the day.
Draco sighed and walked into the locker room, resolving to change as quickly as possible.
However, there was a problem of getting to his locker, where his clothes were. His locker was in the midst of a bunch of other Slytherins' lockers, so he had to get to get there before the rest of his classmates, or else he knew he'd be pummeled.
He was buttoning his shirt when he felt someone behind him. He spun around to see Blaise looking at him intensely.
He sighed. "Look, Blaise, I--"
"It's for him, isn't it?"
Draco stilled as he realized what he meant, and when he remembered that Blaise was the only Slytherin he knew of that was openly opposed to Voldemort.
Draco moved closer to Blaise and said in a low voice, "Blaise, there are people around that can't hear what I have to say, so will you talk to me, in the dormitory after classes?"
Blaise looked at him for a moment, then simply nodded and moved away.
Draco pulled his sweater over his head, dropped his tie over his neck, and grabbed his robe to leave the locker room before Crabbe and Goyle got there to beat his brains out.
When he walked into the gym, he saw that Hermione was having a quiet conversation with Professor Weasley.
Professor Weasley was grinning, which wasn't necessarily a good thing, and Hermione was nodding and saying something, to which the professor answered.
By then, Draco had reached them, and reached out to touch her shoulder to tell her that he was there.
Hermione nodded at him, then thanked the professor and walked away, holding Draco's arm.
"So, what was that about?" Draco asked.
"Nothing really," Hermione said, and looked up at him, seeing his sloppy appearance.
She sighed. "Oh, really Draco, can't you find the time to fix your tie, at least?"
Draco rolled his eyes but let her straighten him up.
When she finally stepped back to admire her handywork, Draoc commented dryly, "Why, thank you for making me look like a gentleman..."
Hermione giggled and kissed his cheek as the bell rang, letting them out of class. "Why, Draco, you aren't a gentleman, silly!"
~*~*~**~*~*~
OK, just wanted to say before I start, the only real reason that Draco
was changing, and didn't think to use the spell, is so that we could use
our powerful imaginations to imagine him buttoning up his shirt... ::drools::
Sorry, just a really nice picture in my head...
DON'T FORGET: The 500th reviewer gets invited to a "party" with the characters at the end of a chapter. ^_^ Have fun, guys!
Like I said, it's very short for the time that it took for me to get it up. That's all my fault, but really, what are you guys gonna do? Kill me? I mean, if there isn't a me, there isn't a fanfic.... ^_^ It's pretty sad when you're stooped down to blackmailing people to let you stay alive..... ^_^
Thanks to the great reviewers! You all reminded me of my old ways, so I woke up and started writing my story in class again! ^_^
~*~*~**~*~*~
AlabamaBabe: ^_^ Thanks a bunch!
UndomielEvenstar: Thanks, thanks, and thanks. ^_^ Oh, and thanks for the kewl looking balloon too! ^_~
Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon: LOL. My Biology teacher is creepy too.... Geesh... I think any science teacher is creepy, tho. ^_^ And, hehe, you really should know by now that, no matter what you guess, I can't tell you until it happens! ^_^ Sorry!
water demon: Thanks. Sorry it took so long. Now I feel really guilty... ^_^
ChickFlick004: Heehee. Sorry. I didn't mean to provoke you... Really! ^_^
Tickled Purple Monkey: Heehee. Thanks a lot! And, I had a wonderful B-day.
KEL-71E: Hehe... My sisters and I sing that song REALLY loudly whenever it comes on the radio.... ^_^ And, thanks!
Static Wolf: LOL, I totally agree with you about school only being good for daydreams. I just sit in English (cuz we're doing icky grammar now) and plan out my story word for word, so that I can write it at lunch.... ^_^ Thanks bunches!!
ShadowRogue: Hehe. Yes, I put up with Legolas-Obsessed-ness all the time... I'm the official "get 'un-obsessed' psychiatrist" for my friends at school. All I hafta do is let them look at my collection of other hot actors.... ^_^
chelsea: Heehee. Thanks a bunch! My birthday was awesome!
skyleia: LOL. OK, I dunno if your name has anything at all to do with Star Wars, but it just reminded me of something, so I'm going to tell you! ^_^ The other day, when I had nothing at all to do (this was because my mom wasn't letting me on the computer), I decided to search through my closet for a possible Halloween costume (very early, I know...) So, I found a Princess Leia dress and put it on. That got me in a mood to watch Star Wars. So, I ended up watching Star Wars in a Princess Leia dress... Quite pathetic, huh? ^_^
Mystic Snow: Thanks a bunch! LOL. Ah, yes, the art of procrastinating... Stupid homework. I'm really happy with myself, though, because I accidently finished tonight's Algebra last night, so YAY! ^_^
Dying Angel1: LOL. The Phantom part is actually gonna be the last chapter... I have that figured out already... ^_^ But, there are others leading up to that part... So, pay attention! ^_^
Squish: Um... Were you trying to confuse me with the Shakespearian talk? Cuz it worked... ^_^ But, I think it means something like, "You get a good review, because the chapter is good also. And because the chapter is good, the author is also good." Am I relatively close? If so, wow, you're being nice for once.... ^_^
dracosgurl_chrissy: LOL. I might get mad at characters once in a while, but I'm not evil enough to kill a character that I actually like.... And, fortunately, I like most of the characters.... ^_^
cH0c0LaTe kiSseS: Thanks!
AWESOME: Oh dear... Lovely name... ^_^ Thanks, heehee. ::signs authograph sheet, slightly hesitantly:: ^_^
nuova*seduzione: ^_^ Thanks!
RonPLUSHermione4eva: Heehee. Thanks a lot!
Lady Coia: ^_^ Oh, go ahead and wonder. I feel so bad, hearing everyone wonder what's gonna happen, cuz I have it planned out... And, you poor poor people! I feel so sorry for you! ^_^
Kat Davi: Ugh. That sucks. Oh dear... Coffee beans.... Chocolate covered espresso beans are really good. ^_^ But, I've had some-- ::sweatdrops::-- slightly bad experiences with those....
Silbara: Heehee. You lucky person! You get the only clue out of all these reviewers who have a question! You asked the only clue-able question. ^_^ See, Lucius is a smart guy, right? But, he does lose his temper a lot. So one does wonder what kind of reason would keep him from hurting his son when he knows that he has been disobeyed. But, he is a very smart guy. A smart, evil guy, yet he's smart... You know, I just read that. And it really does no good, so try to figure it out if you want, I guess... LOL.
Genevieve Jones: Ahhhhh, the bansheee will be revealed near the end. Ahhhh! Look at that! You got a hint too! Oooo, I'm feeling so generous today! ^_^
Meg: LOL. I know. My older sister doesn't think that there is a point... But it keeps me from getting bored... And she can't do them, anyway... ^_^
Kelli: ^_^ Heehee! Thanks! Snape is falling really fast! Heehee, I pushed Snape! ^_^ Hehe, sorry, I've had too much caffiene.... ^_^
Pyrefly: LOL... Ooops, sorry I forgot to put Neville in there.... Er,
uh, yeah... Darn... You got it? Neville's the banshee? ^_^ Nah, you hafta
wait! That's confidential info!!!
