"You know, you really should turn that in to Professor Slughorn," Hermione scolded for the umpteenth time.
Harry lifted his head from the book in question, a frown on his features as he glared at her.
"What are you? Mad? Why in Godric's name would he do a thing like that?" Ron questioned, chuckling.
Hermione huffed, completely at a loss as to how they didn't understand how wrong it was for Harry to have such a book.
"…because," she began, slamming her own book shut. "It's practically cheating. Not to mention, it's a little unnerving how this person's own instructions completely contradict what's in the text. It kind of makes you wonder who this supposed 'half-blood prince' was."
"I think we can all agree that he was bloody brilliant," Ron said.
She threw him a scathing look.
"Well, I think it's a little unnerving that you're becoming chummy with the likes of Malfoy, but you don't see me complaining about that every chance I get," Harry finally spoke up.
Hermione felt her face redden, in anger or embarrassment, she wasn't sure. She resisted the urge to glare at him.
"I'm not becoming chummy with anyone. We live together, and we want to make this year just a tad more bearable. What's wrong with that?"
"What's wrong is that you've seem to forgotten how awful he really is," Harry snapped, finally slamming the book shut, ready for a fight.
Hermione scoffed, chest clenching just a bit. Had he forgotten how horrible Malfoy was to her?
"Believe me, I haven't forgotten. After all, I was just as much on the receiving end of his bullying as the two of you. What kind of person would I be if I completely disregarded someone's sincere apology? Someone shows regret for their actions, shows that they're genuinely trying to change for the better, and I'm just expected to stomp on their efforts?"
Harry reddened, jaw clenching.
"No, but that's if the apology is sincere, which I don't believe-."
"…and how could you possibly know that?"
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"You know what? You're right. How could I possibly know that, especially when he's made no effort to apologize to Ron and me?"
"He's not an idiot! He knows how stubborn and thickheaded the two of you can be. Any apology would be met with spit in his face," she replied.
"Well, you're not wrong there," he admitted.
Hermione shook her head, forcing herself to calm down as she took deep, even breaths.
"What do you want from him? He's a prat, you hate him. He tries to turn his life around, and you still hate him."
"I want him to stay away from you, that's what I want," Harry finally hissed, probably the angriest she'd ever seen him.
Hermione pursed her lips, not missing the way Ron was subtly shaking his head at their friend. Harry huffed, chest heaving.
"Both Ron and I agree that he's found the easiest way to get to us," he began.
"Harry," Ron warned.
Harry briefly glared at Ron.
"No! She's an easy target, and he knows it. I'm not going to stand by while he-!"
"Easy target? What is that supposed to mean, Harry?" she incredulously asked.
"Drop it, mate…"
"No! Don't drop it," she said, glancing at Ron. "The two of you have been talking about this, have you? Tell me."
All three of them were standing, now, she and Harry fuming while Ron tried to play mediator.
"Tell me what you meant by that," Hermione demanded, taking a step forward.
Harry went to open his mouth, but Ron interrupted him.
"Harry, don't. Just leave it," he pleaded, shooting worried glances at Hermione.
She crossed her arms over her chest, eyebrow raised as she glared at her dark haired friend.
"Tell me what that is supposed to mean. How on earth could I possibly be an easy target?"
Harry swallowed, exhaling.
"You're smart, Hermione. Brilliant," he hesitantly said.
"I know that. I don't need you to tell me that. What does that have to do with anything, anyway?"
He shuffled his feet, visibly uncomfortable.
"…you're not…unattractive, Hermione…"
Her frown deepened as Ron let out a sigh, accepting that there was nothing more he could do.
"Thanks…? I'm still failing to put the pieces of your oh-so-brilliant revelation together, so just spit it out, Harry," she threw out.
His lip curled over his teeth, a look of disgust crossing his features.
"I'm sure Malfoy has noticed, okay?" he sneered.
Hermione blinked, not expecting that.
"I mean, why else would he suddenly befriend you?"
"Excuse me?" she shouted, taking offense to that.
"He's hated your guts since day one! Now, all of a sudden he wants to be your best mate?"
"…because of what he was taught, because of how he was raised. He hated me for my parentage, not for me as a person. Blaise Zabini is also an arrogant know-it-all who thinks he's better than anyone, and they're always attached at the hip fifty percent of the time."
"Can't you hear me out for one second?" Harry desperately pleaded. "Don't you see that he just wants to shag you? That he wants to completely mess with your mind until he's gotten what he wants?"
"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Hermione chuckled to herself, throwing her hands up.
She turned around, running her fingers through her hair.
"He's going to do what it takes to slither into your pants like the slimy snake he is, and when he's done fucking you, he's going to toss you aside like trash. He's trying to make you think that he gives a damn about you," Harry continued.
Hermione resisted the urge to cry in exasperation, bringing her hands up to her eyes before throwing her head back.
"We're not even friends," she dragged out, feeling like a broken record. "We're not even close to being friends."
"Not yet. You won't even realize it's happening until you're spending all of your free time with him, and we'll barely see you, and he'll have you wrapped around his bloody finger!"
"Guys, come on," Ron begged, the growing tension almost suffocating.
"What happened to me being brilliant," Hermione mumbled with a scoff.
"Even the smartest people can fall for a pretty face, especially if they're inexperienced," he snapped.
Hermione froze, and Ron did the same, an awkward and painful silence filling the room. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, chest clenching with hurt as he sighed.
"That's not…," he swallowed. "I didn't mean it like that."
"Funny, because it's definitely what you said," she whispered, face hot as she glared at him.
"You don't see what he's doing. You don't recognize it, because you've never-."
"Let's just drop this," Ron interrupted.
"…because I'm some inexperienced idiot?"
Harry grabbed her arms, pleading with her.
"Men are…awful, Hermione. We're sleazy and manipulative and just plain careless. He's only befriending you to ruin you the best way he knows how, to get to me, to get to all of us. I know because I've seen it a million times. You don't really know what we're like."
"…because I'm some inexperienced idiot, right?"
"I never said that," he harshly whispered.
"You might as well have! How else would you think he'd be able to do such a thing if you didn't believe that?"
"You're not an idiot! You just…you just don't know, and… I mean, I see the way girls look at him and talk about him. He's a good looking bloke-."
"So naturally I would be one of those girls…"
"No, I mean-ugh. This isn't coming out right. I'm just saying…he's being nice to you, now…and he's smart, and you like that sort of thing. I just think that you might start seeing him differently…"
Hermione snatched her arms away, ignoring the memory of Malfoy in the shower earlier in the week, something she had never felt before stirring at the sight of him in such a vulnerable and…erotic position. Hermione closed her eyes as Harry grabbed her hands, squeezing them.
"Just…drop this. Forget this whole ridiculous truce thing. Don't entertain him, nothing good can come from it," he whispered, desperation coating his words.
Hermione backed away from him, eyes stinging as she looked away.
"Get out," she said.
Harry sighed.
"Hermione-."
"Just get out…"
She heard him beginning to collect his things, and Hermione wrapped her arms around herself.
"Hermione," Ron quietly said.
She spun around to glare at him.
"You agree with him, right? After all, the two of you have been discussing my naiveté and inexperience and came to this wonderful conclusion…"
Ron didn't say anything, and she rolled her eyes. Just as the both of them made it to the door, it swung open, the man of the hour stepping inside.
"Great," she mumbled.
There was a tense, awkward silence where Harry glared at her blond roommate before being forcibly dragged out by Ron. She closed her eyes at the sound of the walls shaking from the force of the door slamming. Malfoy briefly looked over his shoulder, eyebrow raised and a playful smirk on his lips as he rested his eyes on her still frame.
"Trouble in paradise…?"
Hermione scoffed before walking to her room, the door loudly slamming shut behind her.
The days that followed were uncomfortable for Hermione. She wasn't in the mood to speak to her friends, well, to anyone for that matter. Looking back, she couldn't blame Harry for coming to such a conclusion. Still, she didn't like that Harry and Ron sat around discussing her personal life or lack thereof like that. It made her wonder what else they did or talked about without her. Nor did she appreciate Harry practically insinuating that because of her inexperience, she'd fall right into Malfoy's lap. It was insulting…
Even so, Harry may have had a point, something that she did not want to admit, at first. Of course, there's no way Harry could know that his correct assumption had nothing to do with Malfoy's changed behavior, but something of her own doing. There were times, even during class, where she found herself thinking of that night she'd caught him and his…companion in the shower.
Perhaps caught was the wrong word. She supposed that Malfoy wasn't doing anything wrong. It would be unrealistic of Hermione to think he'd never have guests over. Contrary to what people may have liked to believe, Hermione wasn't a complete stickler for the rules. Malfoy wasn't harming anyone by 'getting his rocks off', and she saw no reason to make it hell for the both of them by preventing him from doing so. If she hadn't been half asleep and so focused on getting a shower, she would have paid attention to the unusual noises coming from the room. He'd had rights to the bathroom, and she'd walked in…and stared…like a pervert.
Hermione definitely noticed boys, attractive ones especially, but she'd never really thought of much past snogging, really. It wasn't like she was disgusted or uncomfortable with such thoughts, they'd just never occurred to her. At least, that was until the other night. Hermione had never seen something so…enticing in her life.
Watching Malfoy at perhaps his most vulnerable was an experience. She'd always noted that, unfortunately, he wasn't ugly. She even recalled thinking how unfair it was once that someone with such a revolting personality could have the opposite luck in the looks department, but… That night, Malfoy looked beautiful, pretty even. Hermione couldn't even put it into words if she wanted to about just how otherworldly he looked. He was completely in the throes of passion, at the mercy of a simple girl making him feel good, and yet…it still looked like he was the one completely in control. It was a mystery to her…
Hermione sometimes wondered what she'd experience in bed. What she'd be like, sound like, and look like. These thoughts were often accompanied by an onslaught of insecurities, but she'd never thought about a boy in such a way. She'd never thought of anything like that about them. What they would look like or sound like or how they'd move… Hearing those throaty and almost desperate moans coming from her roommate resonated with her long after the incident. For the life of her, she just couldn't get it out of her mind.
She'd avoided said roommate for days, unable to even be in his presence without thinking of it.
With a sigh, she exited the classroom, ignoring the gazes of her friends as she did so. It wasn't long before Ginny caught up with her, looping her smaller arm through her own.
"You coming to Quidditch practice, today?"
"No, I'm not feeling the best," Hermione mumbled, a lie.
Ginny sighed, before leaning in.
"Ron told me about the fight. I'm not going to sit here and defend Harry, because honestly, yeah, it was rather insulting. It's just…after last year, you know how he gets about the people he cares about. The few he has left, anyway…"
Hermione's shoulders sagged at the mention of Sirius, a sigh of her own escaping.
"He's just worried, and you know how he gets when he's worried. You're like a sister to him, and honestly, he has every right to be worried," she continued.
The two of them stopped on the outskirts of the corridor, a somber look on the redhead's face.
"I mean…Malfoy is nothing but a racist prat for years, and suddenly he has a change of heart? No, I'm not saying that I don't believe him or his apology. Let's face it, we all kind of knew that he was just trailing after his father, and we all kind of secretly hoped he'd either grow out of it or just keel over and die."
Hermione chuckled.
"I believe that people can change, I really do, and who knows… Maybe something drastic happened to knock sense into him, but…you can't exactly blame Harry and Ron for being skeptical. Come on, we both know that's unrealistic," she said.
Hermione released a shaky breath.
"I know, I know. It's just… I don't like the thought of them sitting around and talking about me like I'm some brainless bimbo. Harry thinks that because Malfoy is no longer insulting me on a daily basis that I'm just going to open my legs for him. The nerve of them both! Do they really think my standards are that low? Oh, he's no longer making me cry, guess I'll just jump into his bed," she scoffed.
Ginny chuckled, leaning against the wall.
"We both know how ridiculous and rather obtuse they can be…"
"It's insulting! I have never felt so…humiliated and poorly thought of in my life," she sneered.
"Just give it a minute. Harry will realize how rude he was being. I promise you, they'll be groveling at your feet in no time…"
They did not grovel. It had been a few more days since the fight, and there was no sign of either one of them seeking her out. She wasn't sure if they were simply giving her more time, thinking she needed it, or if they were simply firmly planting their feet into their beliefs. The idea of the latter both worried and angered her.
The portrait shut behind her, and she resisted the urge to sigh. She went to drop her bag beside the door when movement on the couch halted her own. Malfoy's lithe form was spread along the furniture like a panther, not an ounce of tension in his bones. She swallowed, tightening her grip on her bag strap before beginning to make her way to her room. It seemed like he was content to ignore her, too preoccupied by the book in his hands. She was just about to recite a silent 'thank you' when;
"You'd think I was the one who insulted you."
She froze at the sound of his smooth voice drifting across the room. She tensed before turning around, raising an eyebrow at him. His eyes were still focused on his book, the title in a language that she couldn't understand, but she could just tell that a stupid smirk was on his lips.
"I beg your pardon?"
He flipped the page, briefly glancing up at her over the top of the book before continuing.
"You've been avoiding me like the plague. Here I was thinking that Hermione Granger wasn't afraid of anything," he mused.
Hermione scoffed.
"You wish I was afraid of you…"
"I don't, actually. Things are much more interesting this way," he purred.
Hermione swallowed, glancing away from the pressure of his intense gaze. She suddenly sighed before dropping her bag by the table, taking a seat on the floor.
"I was just trying to decide where I'd prefer to study, is all. Don't think so highly of yourself," she said, taking her books out.
He hummed, a sound that grated on her nerves, because they both knew that she was lying. The both of them sat in silence for a few minutes, she working on her revision and he his book before he eventually broke it.
"Are we ever going to discuss the hippogriff in the room?"
Hermione's quill paused its journey as she froze, briefly glancing up at him through her hair before continuing her work. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest.
"What do you mean?"
He chuckled, and she fidgeted.
"Come off it, Granger. You saw me getting a blowjob from Tracey Davis in our shower…"
Hermione took a deep breath, not expecting him to speak of it so casually. She'd forgotten who she was talking to.
"Yeah…and…?"
"I imagine you're rather traumatized…having never seen something like that before…"
She glared up at him, loathe to admit that she was right about that stupid smirk on his face.
"…you don't know what I've seen. I repeat, don't think so highly of yourself," she sneered.
"…and don't you think of me as so easily fooled. Everyone knows about the fight and what it was about," he said.
Hermione's eyes widened as he finally put down the book.
"What? How?"
"It appears pothead isn't the quietest when ranting to his best mate, nor is he the brightest about where he's ranting at," he answered.
"Idiot," Hermione spat, embarrassment flooding through her.
"So do you agree with his sentiments?"
Hermione looked up to see that his attention was back on his book, a finger resting in between two pages.
"No," she honestly answered. "It's preposterous and insulting."
"Insulting, yes. Preposterous…no," he said, lips forming around the last word like velvet, the sound silkily dripping from his lips.
"You're not funny," she deadpanned.
The book was on his lap, now, arm propped up on the couch as he rested his head on it, unwavering gaze focused on her. He tilted his head, something unfamiliar swimming across his eyes.
"Who said I was being funny?"
Hermione pursed her lips, unsure of how to respond to that before her eyes landed on his book.
"Don't you have revision to work on? I know that isn't anything that we're being taught here," she nodded to his book. "…from your family library, no doubt."
She squashed down the envy she felt at the thought of Malfoy having a grand library at his disposal whenever he wanted.
"I can't be bothered with the useless rubbish we're being taught here. I have far more important things to study. Teddy is taking care of my work for the night," he distractedly answered, attention returning to his book.
It took Hermione a moment before she pieced together who Teddy was supposed to be, and she frowned, turning her nose up at him.
"Classy Malfoy. How on earth did you talk Nott into doing such a thing?"
"I shagged his brains out," he casually answered.
Hermione paused, a nervous chuckle escaping her as her eyes rested on him.
"You're joking…"
He glanced at her with a frown that slowly transformed into something else, a smirk dancing along his lips, one eyebrow raised.
"I assure you, I'm not," he whispered.
Hermione felt her face heating up before she bent her head back down, ignoring the sound of his laughter. A few moments passed before she realized that she wasn't even writing anymore.
"What's that like?"
Hermione was surprised by her own bold question, but it sort of slipped out before she realized. Malfoy didn't look at her, but she could see him smirking.
"You're more than welcome to watch…"
"Gah! Don't be…crude, Malfoy. It was a simple question," she replied.
"What do you think, Granger? I obviously enjoy it, otherwise I wouldn't do it…"
"I didn't…know that about you," she hesitantly said, looking up at him.
Malfoy glanced at her, a crooked smile on his lips.
"What's there to know?"
His expression suddenly shifted, eyes darkening and lips curling into something a tad more sinister as he placed his feet on the floor, hair falling into his eyes as he gave her his undivided attention. He shrugged.
"It's nothing different than what you already knew. I like what I like, and I get what I want."
~SD~