A/N: This is probably going to be a short chapter. I haven't written much lately because I had a bit of a writer's block, and school was in the way. I'm really not sure how the end of this story is going to turn out. The plotline I had for this I wasn't sure how to work it in, and now I have no idea. I want to work it in, but I haven't figured out how.
Hermione, Draco, and the other students all waited anxiously before the door of an old classroom. They were waiting for the headmistress to show up to teach their newest after-school class: Animagus Forms 101. Suddenly, their headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, rounded the corner and ushered them into the room after she unlocked it.
Each of the five students took a desk in the front of the room. Draco and Hermione were on opposite sides of the room, and were totally ignoring each other. The two Ravenclaws and the single Hufflepuff sat between them.
"Alright now, everyone, today we'll start off simple by learning the spell necessary to reveal your animagus form. Now, this spell will not allow you to become your alternate form, yet, but…" Professor McGonagall said, as the class began. Almost immediately, Draco's mind began to wander.
"Gods, doesn't she ever shut up? It's irritating, but I have got to take this class…" his mind wandered over every topic, and some random ideas, such as, "If penguins live in both polar hemispheres, are they bipolar?" and the like. Another one of his random thoughts was, "If stuff can explode, and stuff can implode, can it ever just plode? Like, just blink out of existence?"
Uncannily, the came thoughts were running through Hermione's mind. Well, maybe not the same, exact thoughts, but either way, she really wasn't paying attention. Her mind kept wandering back to the events of this year. All of the events, not just the normal ones. Her mind reeled, as it had for so many nights passed, about when Malfoy had spewed his secrets to her, when he had cried on her shoulder, when they became distant mortal enemies again, and when he had kissed her. She remembered when he fell through the fireplace bloodied, beaten, and half dead.
Suddenly, she snapped back to reality. "Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall said.
"What? Oh. Yeah, uhm…" she began, faltering. She had no idea what she was responding to. Deer in the Headlights, her mother used to call it. "What was the question, again, Professor?" she asked.
Professor McGonagall looked stern. "I didn't ask a question. I wanted to know why you were not performing the aforementioned spell, as the rest of the class." She said.
Hermione blanched. "What spell?" she asked, before she could stop herself. The bad look on her professor's face turned from merely being 'stormy' to 'this storm will blow away the castle' stormy.
"The spell, Miss Granger, is the spell to reveal your animagus form. Mr. Malfoy is a black leopard, Miss Abbott is an otter, Mr. Boot is an eagle, Miss Patil is a horse, and you have yet to perform your spell! Now, repeat after me: Animagus Revelus." She said, swishing her wand at herself. A brown-grey tabby cat appeared in front of her in a ball of light.
Hermione quickly snapped into attention and preformed the spell right the first time. Since she had not been paying attention, she didn't know that she had been the only one to do that. In a ball of light before her, an African savannah appeared. Suddenly, from the grass, a large female spotted leopard leapt up into a great tree. She gasped in surprise.
"Well, done, Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall said, and then turned back to the class. She began to hand out some appears, obviously copies of restricted-section book pages. "I want you to read this, tonight. If you think you are able, you may attempt a transformation since you are all good students, and I doubt any of you will be stupid about it." She said, and dismissed the class.
Hermione and Draco trudged back to their common room together. "Granger…" Draco began. "I think, well. I think we have to talk. About, well, you know. What happened…" he said.
Hermione sucked air through her teeth. It resulted in sort of a hissing gasping sound, and Draco refused to meet her eyes, or look at her even. "Can it wait until we get into the common room?" she asked. He nodded jerkily.
"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess." He said. When they reached the portrait, they quickly said the password and entered.
"What is it… that you wanted to, er, talk about?" Hermione asked, setting her bag down, careful not to look at him.
"That's just it. I'm not sure. We, I… I'm confused, damnit, Granger!" he said.
She began to put a pot of hot water on the stove for tea. "Confused? About what? I'm not confused, Malfoy." She lied.
"What the hell do you mean you're not confused!" he said, striding over to her, She hurried to begin taking books from her bags, as he did.
"I'm not confused, Malfoy. I know that you didn't… That it wasn't…" she said, pulling books from her bag and setting them on the table. She felt him come up behind her.
"Damn, you, Granger! At least look at me when you lie to me. You know damned well that it had to have meant something!" he said, his face thoroughly flushed. He didn't quite know how to go about telling her that he fancied her. After all, how would it be accepted in the school?
Hermione turned around wicked fast. "Did it, Malfoy? Did it mean something? After all, I'm just the filthy little mudblood! You can't possible feel anything for me, so it had to mean nothing!" she yelled, poking him in the chest with her finger. "Don't you dare try to tell me that it meant something, Draco Malfoy!" she shrieked, and attempted to hit him.
With one hand he reached up and grabbed her wrist. "Do not hit me." He said, barely above a whisper.
"I'll hit you if I damn well want to hit you, you filthy, egotistical jackass!" she said, attempting to hit him with her other hand now. He grabbed this one, too.
"Now, damnit, Granger, I wanted to talk to you, not take a pummeling because you think it meant nothing when I know it meant something! After all, I'm the one that did it, don't you think I would know if it meant something or not?" he said, releasing her and stepping back.
Hermione stood rooted to the spot. She was flustered, and never once imagined she would be having this conversation with Draco Malfoy. She had envisioned herself having this conversation with Ron, perhaps, but certainly not her best friend's sworn enemy. Or, at least, his former sworn enemy, as the case may be. "I uh, I…" she began, and suddenly really didn't want to be there. "I'm really tired, I think…" She began to say.
"No! No, we need to have this conversation. I… I fancy you, and you fancy me. You just have to admit it to yourself, and then we need to figure out what to do about it. Together." He said.
Hermione tucked her head into her chest, pretty much defeated. "Draco, honestly, I do like you. But this isn't going to work. You're a Slytherin. I'm a Gryffindor. It just won't work out. No one would accept it, and it's hardly as though either house would be happy about it." She said, trying to be logical. When she was overly-stressed, like now, she always tried to be logical.
"How do you know? Seriously, now… Hermione, how do you know that? Maybe it would work out." He said, softly. Now the two of them were standing fairly close together, within touching distance, but their hands were at their sides, and they weren't looking at each other.
"Draco, it just wouldn't…" she began, but stopped when he began to kiss her.
"Hermione, please, just try… For my sake." He said, kissing her again, holding her chin in his hands.
"Draco, no. We can't do this." She said, kissing him back. "It's wrong…" she began.
"And I don't care, and neither should you." He said, pulling her in close.
"Alright…" she agreed. "But you must Harry and Ron." She said, wickedly, and kissed him again.
