The Best Laid Plans
Chapter Two: Strange Reactions
Hermione couldn't understand what Professor McGonagall was telling them, though she was positive that her favourite professor was speaking English. Her mind was a blur while her heart was racing. And it was all thanks to a certain Malfoy sitting next to her.
Malfoy was remarkably composed and attentive to Professor McGonagall. 'Unlike me,' she thought grimly. Every word the Professor spoke seemed to be all he had ever wanted to hear, and tiny details like his right knee occasionally brushing Hermione's left, leaving her ignited, couldn't waver his attention.
It was killing her.
She felt like a vampire deprived of blood...Malfoy's blood. Her hatred for him was burning her insides. 'How can he act like nothing has ever happened between us before?' she thought bitterly for the second time that day.
"Miss Granger...Miss Granger," she heard the Professor call urgently for her. Startled, she swiftly shifted her gaze to the Deputy Headmistress. To her dismay, Professor McGonagall was looking at her with utter concern. Somehow, she felt guilty for not paying attention.
She nodded firmly, hoping to assure the Head of Gryffindor House that she was perfectly all right.
"Are you all right?" Professor McGonagall asked in her usual professional tone but with an unusual trace of concern.
"I'm fine, Professor. Sorry for not paying attention." Hermione almost convinced herself that she was all right with that sentence, even if she knew otherwise.
The summer break had been an experience for her- not only for getting over the Slytherin idiot, but also for learning to conceal her emotions behind a totally cool exterior. It was tough, but she knew it was worth it; Hermione could not afford to be hurt or humiliated again. Although, unfortunately, every once in a while, her emotions might slip like before.
"Well then, as I was saying, Malfoy and yourself will be sharing a Common Room together..." Hearing the sentence, Hermione restrained herself from screaming.
"And," Professor McGonagall continued, "I hope you two can cooperate well and forget the past resentment, after all, it is a new year."
The professor's last sentence hit Hermione hard...
'Yes, it was a new year, a new year for revenge.'
A bitter smirk graced her aristocratic features.
Suddenly, the world seemed to be clearer to Hermione.
Minerva McGonagall clearly showed her astonishment when there were no protests from either of her students. If she hadn't been wrong, there was some sort of hatred beyond their childish arguments, between the two Heads. The information she deprived from her sources was something like the Malfoy Junior breaking Miss Granger's heart or was it Miss Granger breaking Malfoy Junior's heart last year. She was hesitant.
Neither of her students was disclosing any emotions towards each other, making her less than ever doubtful about her sources. Knowing Draco, she had presumed that he would make a fuss over sharing his common room with a muggleborn; and Hermione would be enraged upon the knowledge that she would be sharing her common room with a conceited brat.
But nothing happened.
In fact, they were treating each other with indifference, as if they were strangers rather than enemies. In short, the Head Boy and Head Girl seemed hardly aware of each other's presence.
'Seems like things are worse than I imagined,' Minerva thought to herself.
---
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Edison Dougles drawled from across the table.
He continued eating, trying to ignore his best friend. Draco Lucius Malfoy wasn't even a bit interested in his best friend's love life. It wasn't that Edison chose ugly and devious girls, (no, Edison had good taste); it was that Edison only dated girls from other houses, never from his own house. He had even dated Ginny Weasley in his sixth year. It was creepy but it was none of Draco's business.
"That mudblood girl," Edison said.
"Which one?" Draco asked, suddenly quite keen.
"The one you'll never have, of course," Edison said, grinning widely, gazing at the girl.
Draco followed his gaze.
He frowned.
"Granger."
"Granger."
"Hmmm..." she mumbled half-heartedly, never tearing her eyes from the book.
"Have you ever make out?" he asked; his face devoid of emotions.
Her head shot up, her brown eyes blazed with surprise at him. "Why do you ask?" Her lips twitched, her cheeks flushed.
Somehow, a tingling sensation flew past Draco the moment he saw her blush. He felt even more triumphant when he realized that he was the reason. Frantically, he shook the feeling away. His heart only belonged to Cho Chang, nobody else, and he would not rest until he got her. However, he couldn't help boasting that Hermione Granger, the little know-it-all mudblood extraordinaire, was scheming with him to break a couple apart. He was quite proud of himself for having terrific persuasion skills.
"Why do you think I ask?" he replied, watching with amusement as her eyes glowed with horror.
They weren't friends or enemies. Their relationship was something like... business acquaintances, though he couldn't deny that he enjoyed her company.
"Come on, I'm not that bad, am I?"
Hermione muttered something incoherent like vulgarities under her breath while Draco plastered on his trademark smirk. It wasn't everyday that you could hear the Head Girl curse.
"But I thought it was just something like you making me prettier," she said.
"Change of plans. Potter still can't notice you. Are you with me or not?"
She stood up abruptly and advanced towards the door. His eyes fleet to her legs. Draco had made special arrangements for Hermione's skirt to be altered, five inches from her knee. The good thing was that Hermione had fabulous legs to show off, but the bad thing was that she was uncomfortable with the length. She kept tugging at her skirt-
"Fine, when?"
"Tomorrow, after potions, near the male restroom on the second floor. Potter always goes there."
"Okay..."
"Granger?" Draco repeated.
A cheerful grin tugged Edison's lips again. "Yeah, the one you can never have."
Draco couldn't resist putting on his trademark smirk, though he didn't really feel 'triumphant'. "Wrong, I had her last year."
Edison ignored his words and said, sounding thoroughly impressed, "But she dumped you. Hermione Granger, the first girl who dumped you."
Draco scowled.
"And you didn't take her," Edison remarked, awed.
Draco scowled harder.
"I didn't want to. I can't have her blood staining mine."
Beside Edison, Blaise Zabini, another best friend of Draco jeered. "She won't let you take her; she's different from the others."
Arrogantly, Draco snarled, "Different, yes, but nonetheless, she's like the others, she will crumble to my charm sooner or later."
"You can't," Blaise replied smoothly.
"Yes, I can. 400 galleons, are you with me?"
"Fine. 400 galleons, if you can get Granger into the bed with you, but you must make her fall deeply in love with you first."
"I'm with Blaise," Edison said.
"Deal."
"And that's about all," he finished, smiling down at her.
Hermione grinned, pinching his nose teasingly. "I knew I could count on you, dear."
She pushed herself up and planted a quick kiss on her lover's nose, before resuming her original position. Her head was rested on his lap while she lay down comfortably on the sofa.
They were together in silence for a few moments, before he made an attempt to start a conversation.
"Hermione?"
"Yeah?" she replied.
He grinned for the second time in the day. "You." His hand drew small circles on her neck.
"Are."
A familiar fluttery feeling aroused in Hermione.
"So," he said slowly, wanting to tease her.
"Beautiful."
A smile lit her lips. Hermione cherished every single time her boyfriend told her that. It inclined her to feel special in his eyes. She also treasured every time he held her in his arms, the way he said he never wanted to let go and last but not least, the way he never forced her to fuck him.
He never forced her and he was probably dating the only seventh-year virgin in Hogwarts.
Suddenly, something stirred in Hermione's stomach. "Oh sharks, Arithmancy!" she exclaimed after glancing at the clock.
She stood up abruptly and dusted her robes. "Darling, I've got to g-" she whispered and pecked his forehead affectionately.
"Go, you are running late, see you later, hun," he finished for her.
She beamed at him, gathered her books and stalked towards the door. "And Hermione."
"Yeah?" She spun on her heels.
"I love you."
She said nothing and ran off.
Although she didn't show it, his words were very disturbing.
"Sorry, Professor Vector, I had to search for some important notes," Hermione told her Arithmancy professor sincerely.
Truthfully, Hermione was more than sorry for being five minutes late. It wasn't a good impression for a Head Girl on the first day of school, but she had lost her previous year's Arithmancy notes and had to look for them after the last minute meeting with her boyfriend. Not that those notes was necessary, but Hermione Jane Granger wasn't one who took chances.
To Hermione's relief, Professor Vector only nodded and returned to her chart. She spun on her heels and scanned the class thoroughly. However, she became distressed as soon as realization dawned upon her that the only seat available was next to Malfoy. Plotting her revenge on Malfoy was one thing, but her grades were another.
Hermione was a sharp-witted woman. She knew that Malfoy was not worth letting her grades slip.
Having assured herself, she sat down, startling Malfoy who regained his composure the second he lost it.
"Granger," he acknowledged smoothly.
"Malfoy," she replied icily, without looking at him.
"Class, welcome to Arithmancy again, notice that we have a small class compared to last year. I have no idea what is going through those classmates of yours who have quit. They are definitely going to miss this class," Professor Vector spoke very cheerfully.
Hermione couldn't help but heaved a silent sigh of relief; the class hadn't commenced yet, meaning she hadn't missed anything. For the first time since she had entered the classroom, she noticed that the class was indeed much smaller than the previous year: eight Ravenclaws, one Gryffindor and two Slytherins, Edison Dougles and -unfortunately- Draco Malfoy. A total of eleven.
"Seventh year is a lot different from sixth year. We are going to do projects year-round. Those projects will occupy eighty percent of your N.E.W.T.s. The person you are sharing your table with is your permanent partner. Please learn to cooperate and work," Professor Vector turned back to her chart.
"Professor!" A female voice cried.
Miraculously it was Miss Page, not Miss Granger.
A look of amusement fleeted across Catherine Vector's face after answering to the protests of a few students about their partner. Strangely, THE BICKERING PAIR, none other than Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy, hadn't even spoken a word.
To amuse herself, Catherine had already thought out what would actually happen...
Hermione and Malfoy frowned in unison.
"Professor!" Hermione cried, ignoring Malfoy completely.
Professor Vector turned around and stared at Hermione, obviously very annoyed. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
Hermione tried her best to smile. "Could I change my seat? Because I absolutely sure that I wouldn't be able to concentrate with Malfoy next to me." Much to her annoyance, she heard a certain freaking Slytherin snigger.
To her disappointment, Professor Vector merely shook her head. "Then you just have to cope with him, Miss Granger. After all, you two are the best students I ever have. I'm counting on you two to produce the best Arithmancy N.E.W.Ts results this year."
Hermione bit her lips from screaming. She shot a glare at Malfoy and furiously, she hissed,
"If you ever touch or insult me, I'll personally make sure that you, Draco Lucius Malfoy, suffer a fate worst than death."
Astonishingly, nothing happened, not even one part of it. Her two students just watched the others protest without a word.
'Something is wrong.'
A/N: I've just finished rereading Sidney Sheldon's The Best Laid Plans where I got the inspiration for this story. Thank you mandy-jg, cenamarialover, Blood-In-The-Stars and artemisgirl for reviewing! I really appreciate your reviews and hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter. For the other readers, please read and review!