A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! Max is definitely in over his head, isn't he? You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions. Also, I am working on a pretty big rewrite of Wildest Moments - if you are interested in alpha or beta reading, please let me know!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twelve and be on the lookout for chapter thirteen soon!
Hermione hadn't been able to stop thinking about Pucey since she left his room. She didn't think she would ever get over the absolute mortification of having fallen asleep on his couch, especially when he was so nice about it. It was something that she wouldn't expect.
Ginny hadn't given up on getting the full story of Hermione's non-return to Gryffindor, perhaps sensing the lie that her friend was telling. Having to replay the night over and over again, only made her stomach squirm, wondering if she should apologize to the wizard.
It had been so nice that he was willing to roll up his shirt sleeves and spend time paging through endless census records, sharing some of the hard work with her. When they had been working towards a common goal, they had really complimented each other in their work. Hermione had been hopeful that maybe things were turning a corner with her and Adrian Pucey, but it seemed that in less than twelve hours she had completely messed that up.
There was something in between them, some tension simmering under the surface that they could never seem to shake. Instead, it was constantly bubbling up in mean little snipes at one another, absolutely destroying any progress that they might have made in improving their inter-personal relationship. Oh, what was wrong with her that she couldn't help but argue?
Because, she was quickly realising that she didn't want to argue with Pucey. She quite liked working with him and thought that they might actually be able to be friends if they could put the animosity behind them. She didn't like hearing what he thought of her - that she somehow got away with things that other students didn't.
And maybe it only stung so much because she knew there was a seed of truth to that.
But, it wasn't as if he hadn't used his dubious personal connections to get access to classified census records. Maybe he could see the benefit in using that special treatment if you were using it for the right reasons.
By the time that her lessons were over, Hermione was completely consumed with thoughts of Adrian, but mostly to do with their joint venture in figuring out what was up with Max Purney. Even though they still had several census records to review still, she didn't think that they were going to find any confirmation of a wizard named Max Purney.
Reviewing the muggle records had some merit, but she was pretty certain that a muggleborn wouldn't select Slytherin as his chosen house to join while at Hogwarts. Not enough time had passed since the war's end, and there was no way that a muggleborn could feel welcome in the house of silver and green. It was a sad reality to face.
An uneasy feeling twisted in her stomach when she came to the logical conclusion about the wizard - Max Purney must be lying about who he really was.
She doubted that she and Pucey would be able to get him to reveal who he really was in a way that she would approve of. Hermione thought that Pucey might be able to come up with several creative ways to get him to talk. There had to some other way that they could get to the bottom of it, though, with Max none the wiser.
Hermione was struck with a bit of brilliance during her potions lesson. She honestly didn't know why she didn't think of it sooner. She would just have to ask Harry to borrow the Marauder's Map. They could find Max, and the Map would clearly label who he was.
Of course, this would mean revealing the nature of the Map to Adrian Pucey, a Slytherin, but she thought the sacrifice would be well worth it. Hopefully, he would be intrigued by the brilliance of the charms work, and not too focused on how she and her friends had used it while they were students. Hopefully, he wouldn't just see it as another way that she had gotten special treatment.
As soon she was done with classes for the day, Hermione knew that she would have just enough time to head off to the owlery to pen Harry a quick note to ask him to borrow the Map. She wasn't sure how much convincing the now auror Potter would need to lend it to her. Hermione didn't particularly fancy telling him about Max. It would just complicate things unnecessarily, and she was sure that Harry would want to get involved. If Max ended up being harmless as a fly, she was certain she would be embarrassed for dragging everyone into the suspicion.
Hermione made her way up out of the dungeons, focused on getting back to the Great Hall before dinner started. By the time that she was on the main floor, she almost didn't register the sound of someone calling her name.
"Hey Granger, wait up!" a voice said, finally close enough for her to hear it.
Turning around, she was surprised to come face to face with none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Salazar, Granger, how can you possibly walk so fast when you are lugging so many books around?" Malfoy asked, sounding amused and a bit out of breath.
Hermione laughed. "I think you might need to get back into Quidditch training, if keeping up with me has left you that winded, Malfoy," she countered, thinking it was a bit amusing to find him so ruffled - so very un-Malfoy-like.
"If they needed a seeker this year I would," he told her, in a moment of candor. "But my skills are probably lacking after not playing a few years. And it wouldn't be the same...not playing against Potter."
She raised her eyebrows, finding it surprising that Malfoy would actually admit that his rivalry with Harry was at least part of the reason that he had played Quidditch to begin with.
"So, where were you off to in such a hurry anyway?" he asked, casually.
Hermione felt her irritation rise. If he had seen that she was in such a hurry, why had he stopped her to begin with. "I was actually off the owlery. I hoped to get there and back before dinner," Hermione told her, biting her lower lip. Now, she didn't think she was going to make it, and would have to go afterwards. Maybe on the way to Pucey's apartments. "But, what did you need, Malfoy?"
"What did I need?" he asked, sounding confused.
"Well, yeah, you are the one that stopped me in the hallway," she answered, a bit snarky now that he'd ruined her plans. "So...?"
Malfoy searched her face. "Uh, I'm sorry Granger," he said. "It's just...well Max Purney said that you needed to speak with me. He said it was urgent."
Hermione made a noise of annoyance. Now why would he go and do that? "That is so odd," she said, wondering if there was something going on in the background that she wasn't aware of. "I haven't spoken to Max in days. Not to mention that I didn't tell him I was looking for you."
"He lied?" Malfoy asked, sounding equally perplexed at the turn of events.
"Apparently," Hermione answered, thinking that Malfoy was probably not involved in the plot. "But it is so odd, because Adrian Pucey was just asking me what I thought of you yesterday. I wonder why people are trying to put us together."
"Oh, I think I understand it now," Malfoy said, with a smirk.
"Understand what?" Hermione asked, not thinking that it seemed any clearer than the minute before. Maybe Malfoy wasn't so innocent in all of this?
Before Hermione could even register what was happening, Malfoy had grabbed her by the jaw, pulling her face up to compliment the angle of his. Then, he was dipping his head and pressing his lips to hers.
She was stunned, unmoving like a baby bunny who had forgotten that it could bolt when danger approached. Hermione was frozen, unable to respond to the fact that it was Draco Malfoy who was kissing her - and so randomly! With her eyes still wide open, she was treated to a rather unflattering look at his face; his eyes were shut tightly and his lips were as well, leaving no opportunity to deepen the kiss should she want to.
It was almost amusing how much he seemed to be hating it.
But then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Adrian staring at her and Malfoy, dumbfounded, apparently disrupted on his way to dinner. A darker look came over his face, and before she could react he was storming off in the direction that she had come from.
Hermione broke away from Malfoy's grasp and tried to call out to him before he got too far away. "Pucey, wait!" she said, only to see him get further and further away.
"What was that all about Malfoy?" she demanded, swirling around to stare down her blond classmate.
"Just trying to give you a push in the right direction," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Now, I have to go speak with Astoria."
Before she could castigate him for his impulsive behavior, Hermione realized her window to find Pucey was closing quickly. Running off in the direction that he stalked off to, she didn't know why she felt like she needed to apologize to him for it. It wasn't as if she had kissed Malfoy - it was the other way around. But even if she had kissed Draco Malfoy in the main hallway where anyone could see, why did she feel like she needed to embarrass Pucey?
She was halfway up to his apartments when she realized the answer to that question. Obviously she wanted to make it clear to him that she was not romantically interested in Malfoy. He'd asked that same day and she had been honest with him.
If he would believe her was another question.
But, Hermione decided, she would just have to make him believe her.
She didn't see any evidence of Pucey when she got to the portrait that guarded his rooms, but she would bet anything that he was in there. Hermione knocked furiously against the frame of the door. "Pucey? Pucey, come on, please talk to me," she asked from the other side. "I don't want you to be upset with me for something that I didn't even want."
Hermione held her breath while she waited for him to open the door. She strained her ears, hoping to hear any sign of him on the other side, but was left disappointed. "Come on Pucey," she practically begged. "We should talk about...about what you saw," she added, not really wanting to announce to the hallway what had actually happened with Malfoy.
Then she heard a shuffling on the other side and she knew that Pucey was there and he was listening. He still made no move to open the door.
Hermione saw red. Just what was he playing at, standing there and letting her make an absolute fool of herself on the other side of the door? Was this all a big joke to her? Well, if he didn't want to talk about it, then she didn't want to either!
"Fine then, I'll just leave!" she practically shouted. "I don't know why you care if Malfoy kissed me anyway. What's it to you, Pucey? Huh?" She pressed her hands to her hips, defiant, even though she was talking to a rather unimpressed portrait and not the wizard she was continually sparring with.
Just as she was about to leave him to stew in whatever mood he was in, lamenting a wasted night of research, Hermione gasped when the portrait was opened abruptly. Adrian was revealed, staring at her with a hurt sort of look. But it was his brown eyes that were filled with a sort of...jealousy that really stole her breath away.
Was Adrian jealous of Malfoy?
"Well, come in then," he ordered. "Let's talk."