The Clique Look
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the Harry Potter books,movie...etc, they belong to J.K Rowling.
A/N: Ok, so got back from London its so awesome:D aaaand, I got my beta'd copy of Chapter 6, so...I decided to replace it with my old Chapter 6. If you already read the old one, its not essential you read the new version, but its a bit better..., so enjoy! R&R xxx
What is he talking abou – oh no. Aaaaargh! SHIT, how the fuck could I forget!
Hermione ran back up the stairs to the safety of her room and, with dread pooling in her stomach, looked in her mirror. She couldn't believe what she saw staring back at her.
She had grown taller, and she had lost a lot of weight. Her cheekbones were more defined, and her eyebrows had the just-waxed look to them – without the redness. The perfectly shaped eyes in the mirror were a bright blue, and her nose had lost the uneven bump in the middle. However, the biggest change was her hair. Falling to below her shoulders in sleek waves of brownish black, it looked like she could be in a freakin' L'Oreal commercial. Her figure was long and sleek, with her legs seeming to fall for miles. She was beautiful.
Well, more like hot.
Oh god, Hermione, she thought, and, unknowingly echoing Malfoy's earlier words, muttered desperately to herself,
"What have you gotten yourself into now?"
Hermione turned to Malfoy, who had followed her to her room upon seeing her transformation . . . . and burst out crying.
Although her natural self-preservation instincts told her it was certain death to cry in front of a Slytherin, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing. She just couldn't believe what had happened to her. She had only just agreed to (well, more like forced to) join the clique, and she could already see the drastic changes it was going to make on her life. Was this really the right decision? Hermione was happy with her appearance, and she always the beauty-comes-from-the-inside person, and now…everything had changed. All she could do was stagger over to her desk, bury her beautiful face in her beautiful hands, and sob. She had completely forgotten about the stunned Slytherin standing only feet away from her.
Meanwhile, said Slytherin was standing awkwardly in Hermione's room, trying to remember how one dealt with a crying girl one didn't even like. However, all etiquette and training flew from his head as he realized he was actually seeing Hermione Granger lose control. While one side of his head was repeatedly screaming blackmailblackmailBLACKMAIL (that would be his Slytherin side), the majority of his brain was still on fumbling-teenage-boy-in-pretty-girl's-room-while-pretty-girl-is-crying-her-eyes-out-holy-crap-what-do-I-do mode. That changed rather quickly though, as he saw the perfect opportunity that was being handed to him. There was a sad, vulnerable, hot girl standing in front of him with a helpless expression on her face. Suddenly his instincts came in. His chauvinistic, manipulative, Slytherin-Sex-God instincts.
He walked over to Hermione and, with the most Hufflepuffian attitude he could muster without vomiting, gathered her in his arms and attempted to comfort someone for the first time in his life, however insincere the action may have been. He knew most girls got off on the 'sensitive' types . . . .all he had to be was the shoulder she leaned on, right? Her mind would do the rest.
Of course, one thing Malfoy had forgotten was that Hermione was not like "most girls". Quickly realizing what was going on, she gained her composure and stared at Malfoy with mock confusion in her eyes. If he wants to play that game, well then so can I. She freshened up, putting on a fresh layer of mascara to hide her puffy eyes, and briskly walked down the stairs, leaving Malfoy staring behind her in real confusion and more than a little frustration.
Hermione was totally confused as she hurriedly made her way to the Great Hall; she knew the classic game Malfoy was playing, she wasn't stupid . . . but why her? Wasn't it Pansy he wanted back? But before she could ponder more on this thought, she saw Pansy, Hannah, Parvati and Padma in the distance. She waved and smiled, and quickly walked towards them. If I'm going to play this charade, might as well play it the whole way through. I only hope that when this is over, everyone will realize this isn't the real me.
"Eeehmygaaawd, you look stunning!" Pansy gawped, running towards her and pulling the girl into a hug.
"We out-did ourselves, ladies!" Parvati agreed.
"Thanks girls," Hermione replied to both of them, making sure to pitch her voice a few notches higher, "You're the best friends a girl could have!"
With a start, she realized that acting like a clique member wasn't as hard as it should be. The transformation of looking pretty had made her act more girly inside. She had always wanted to be that "popular girl" in all the muggle movie chick-flicks she had seen. And now that she was, she knew exactly how she should act. Careful, Hermione . . . don't let this go too far.
And with that, as if they had been best friends for their entire lives they walked into the Great Hall, smiling and strutting as if on a catwalk . . . which they basically were. Their entrance was marked with uproars, whistles and catcalls from the male population of the school. Hermione waved to the girls as they split ways towards their tables and sat down with Pavarti beside Ron and Harry.
They had exactly the same reaction as Malfoy – without the thought processes, of course. But you couldn't really expect that much from the poor boys . . at the moment, breathing appeared to be overly difficult for them.
"Hermione…is…is that really you?" Ron stammered, blushing the trademark Weasley scarlet.
"Why yes it is Ronald, surprised to see me?" she replied, smiling. Elegantly reaching out for some toast, she was stopped when about five boys grappled to be the first one to hand it to her.
"Why, thank you!" She smiled. She took the slice offered from Harry, who was trying – and failing – to look as if Hermione wasn't any different from yesterday.
"So, erm…Hermione…" Ron began uncertainly.
"Yes, Ron?" This was going to be fun.
"What did you do?"
"How do you mean?" Hermione teased; she knew precisely what he meant.
"Well, how did you get so, so…"
"So what Ronald?" Come on, you can articulate . . .
"Beautiful" he muttered, flushing yet again.
"Awww…thank you, Ronnie!" She smirked as both boys adopted twin expressions of horror at the nickname. She was only joking around, her "clique" self was reserved only for everyone who she didn't really know or liked. But with Ron or Harry she would remain herself. It's not as if she had totally forgotten how to be normal!
"I'm kidding Ron," she laughed. "It's a long story, but basically I found some new friends from last night – and they made me the way I am now!" She smiled at the apparent confusion of her friends. She knew that her explanation was brief, but she couldn't really be bothered to explain everything.
"Wait, you mean you're friends with Padma, Parvati, Hannah and Pansy?" Harry asked.
"Yes! . . . How did you know?"
"Well, you look as hot as they do!" Ron guffawed. Harry punched his shoulder and grinned.
Boys will be boys, Hermione thought, as she turned to her toast with a sigh.
She was glad to be back though, she had missed Hogwarts, and she had this feeling that this year was going to be very special.
Slowly everybody filtered out of the Great Hall, and Hermione waited for Malfoy. They always had first period off as Head Girl and Boy, to check that nobody was skiving classes and that the corridors were empty before proceeding to their second lesson in the day, which happened to be Potions. Both of them took almost the same classes and had the same schedule, except Hermione took Arithmancy instead of Divination.
She saw the Head Boy walk towards her, casually shouting a parting comment to Zabini over his shoulder as he approached.
"Hey," she said "What's up?" She didn't really want to talk to him, but if they were doomed to spend the morning together for the rest of the year, they might as well make the best of it – she didn't want to be docked of the Head Girl position.
"I must say Granger, it must have taken you a long time to find a spell which can transform you into anything remotely passable" he smirked.
Well, there goes that idea.
She couldn't think of a decent insult to throw back at him, so she simply replied.
"Yeah, it sure did. Took hours in the library – had to look in the Restricted Section!" she savored the taken aback silence before he recovered.
"So Hermione, you've been thinking about my "lessons"?
"Yes, how could I forget," she sighed in mock despair.
"Great," he sneered, either missing or deliberately ignoring her sarcasm. "Can't wait to hear what you think will turn a girl on…You know Granger, you look nice today, for a mudblood that is…"
"Oh gawd, shut up Draco!" she desperately stuttered – she knew she had not planned that comment to slip out. She was starting to sound like Pansy when she wasn't even meaning to!
But Hermione couldn't control her own feelings. She was, to her chagrin, rather pleased that Malfoy, the Slytherin Sex God, actually thought Hermione was pretty. It was a huge compliment towards her, and although he was an asshole, for any girl a compliment on her appearances is always appreciated!
Other than a strange glance, he didn't make any comments on Hermione's slip of the tongue, much to her relief. "I guess its time for us to go to Potions," he yelled above the ringing of the first bell.
And before she could call anything back to him, she was engulfed by the tidal wave of students who were coming out from all the available doors. She hurriedly tried to push past the masses shouting "Head Girl coming through! Out of the way, please, important Head business . . . "
Another plus side to being a Head Girl she grinned, as people let her pass.
She rushed down to the dungeons, and pushed the door open, praying that Snape wouldn't be assigning the first detention of the year to her.
"Sorry professor, it's just that all the students…"
She was interrupted by a screeching noise one normally associates with a dying bird, coming from Pansy.
"Miiiiiioneeee, girrrrlfriend! How are yaa?" the brunette impatiently beckoned her to the empty seat beside her.
Blushing, she walked to the empty space besides Pansy, ignoring the injured looks from Harry and Ron as Millicent Bulstrode was forced to sit between the two boys.
She knew that everybody was watching her, in awe of her transformation. As soon as she sat down, whispers spread around the room. She tried to block out the ones from the female half of the room, the ones calling her a traitor and a fake. Instead, she half-heartedly smirked at the things she could hear the boys say.
"Bloody Merlin! Wasn't she ugly yesterday?"
"Damn, Granger's looking fine today . . ."
"What d'you reckon happened over the summer?"
"Who cares, mate? Look at tha"-
As the class was abruptly silenced by Professor Snape's shouting, Hermione closed her eyes.
It was going to be the start of a very strange year.
A/N: Questions; How did Pansy's and Draco's breakup really happen? How will Hermione react to her first Clique party and how will she keep her new -secret- a secret from Pansy? Answers: You will have to wait untill I update! Hehe, R&R