Reposted: Feb. 23, 2011
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Quickly changing into her pajamas, she slipped under the covers and drifted off to sleep, feeling intensely satisfied with the way the day had passed.
.x.
The next morning at breakfast Hermione received a letter. A letter which was dropped into her porridge by a mediocre, brindled grey owl that wildly veered off. Raising an eyebrow as her eyes tracked the (slightly demented) owl, she glanced back to her bowl and sighed before gingerly picking the parchment out.
It was slightly damp and had a few soggy grains stuck on the back. Brushing those off, Hermione flipped it over and slid her finger under the seal and opened the letter.
At some point I imagine you'll be heading to the library. Most likely after double Transfiguration. We'll be partnering for our next project in Potions.
-D.M
It was written in a ridiculously elegant, flowing script. 'Spoiled pureblood snots.'
"Whatcha get 'Mione?" Ron had noticed her letter. She, in turn, noticed the food falling out of his mouth as he spoke. In a slightly frosty tone, and certainly without looking at him, she replied to his question.
"In case you have yet to notice Ronald, I'm not particularly inclined to speak with one such as yourself. And even if I were, which I must again point out, I'm not, it's no business of yours what I receive in the morning post. Or at any other moment of the day, or night or any circumstance in which we are forcibly together.
"If it does so happen to concern you, I'll be sure to let you know. Until that time, kindly avoid speaking to me. Go back to Lavender Brown. She's looking lonely over to your left, surrounded by girls giggling about your new couple-status."
She picked up her book-bag and stood. "And don't call me 'Mione!'"
Having fulfilled her morning attack on Ron's idiocy, she made her way across the Hall and to her first class of the day, double Potions. Today was the day they started their new projects, which meant that she was also meeting her new lab partner for the next several weeks, Draco Malfoy.
.x.
Being the first to reach the dungeon-classroom, she picked a spot that was near the front, but in the middle of the room. Harry, because of Snape's (obvious) dislike for him, sat with Neville as far away as they could on the Gryffindor half of the classroom. Not five minutes later the rest of the students began to filter in. Surprisingly, no one moved to sit next to Hermione. Malfoy was the last to enter before Snape magically shut and locked the door. It was a policy of his starting after OWLs. Those who didn't make it to class on time didn't deserve to learn.
Hermione surprisingly agreed with his statement. Especially since everyone was in their last year and NEWTs were coming up. Besides, if they didn't know to be early or exactly on time after six years of classes with the man, then really, they deserved to miss the class.
Slipping in just as the door slammed shut, Malfoy made his way to the empty seat beside the Mudblood Granger. It wasn't the only available seat, but he had advanced knowledge of the projects and didn't want to get stuck with some idiot like Bulstrode. Blaise would have been fine, but he and Granger needed to start on their act, and this project was a perfect way to start it off.
Plunking his bag onto the desk and sneered. "Morning Mudblood."
She didn't even look up from the page she was reading off. "Morning Ferret."
The class stared at them until Snape came in, cloak billowing to throw the edges out, making it look like bat wings.
He sneered at all of them. "We have just finished the basic review, though I have no understanding as to why it took you dunderheads such an impossibly long time to do something so simple.
"Starting today, you will be partnering with the people at your tables. There is a list of possible options on the board. Discuss with your group and then tell me which potion you will be making.
"This is a long-term project, going until Christmas. You will be graded on your materials, your methods, documentation of steps taken and overall performance. You will be using your own ingredients, if you need more or something you don't have, as you couldn't possibly begin to think of buying something beyond the basic set….You will come to me. If you have questions, you will try to find the answer before coming to me. If you want to book a lab to work on your potion outside of class, you will come to me.
Beyond these basic instructions, your time is your own. If anyone fails to meet any of the requirements, the entire group will fail the project." He smirked.
There was utter silence in the room. Never had Snape said so few insults. Most Gryffindors had their mouths hanging open, probably for the failing aspect. Hermione sighed. Idiots. She quickly copied the list of available potions down and turned to face Malfoy.
Apparently the two of them working peaceably together shocked everyone even more and they all turned to gape at the unlikely pair, who had yet to really trade insults.
"When I finish giving you instructions, it is presumed that you will all move and start the projects that are worth half your final grade!" The tirade ended in a yell and students clattered about getting their supplies ready and choosing a potion. Or complaining about who they were paired with and how much work this project would be.
Hermione let a small smirk through as she listened with half an ear to the voiced complaints throughout the class. She waited until Snape yelled at them to shut up before disappearing into his office, slamming the door shut, before letting out a quiet chuckle at her classmates' predicament.
Malfoy glanced at his new lab partner when he heard a soft, noise. She had a vague smile, it possibly could have been a smirk, on her face. 'Probably because she has something to occupy her time with now.' He thought snidely.
Looking at the list, he quickly picked out the hardest one possible.
"We're going to do this potion here, and I don't care if you agree or not." Hermione glanced to where his finger pointed and nodded in thought. It was the most difficult of all the ones offered and not many would dare try it. Ingredients were very hard to get and required impeccably precise timing. And because of the timing for some of the ingredients, they would need to get a pass from Dumbledore himself that would let them miss classes and be out past curfew.
She looked up at him and nodded. "Works fine for me Malfoy. We'll need to make a timeline of when each ingredient needs to be picked and added into the cauldron."
He sneered. "You can do that Granger. I will work on delegating all tasks necessary for the potion to succeed."
She snorted. "In other words, you're going to make me do all of it, or you're so sure of your skills and terrified of mine that you're going to do all the work!"
Reaching into her book-bag, Hermione pulled out a fresh journal to jot down the date, time, location and list what they had done so far; how they were 'dividing' the work load and a basic timeline for the project.
Malfoy quickly gathered his things and strolled out of the classroom. Hermione quickly followed. She knew where they were going. There were some ingredients that were so advanced neither of them knew where or when to get a hold of them.
.x.
Upon entering, Malfoy slowed his pace so the Mudblood would discretely pass him and lead him to a good work spot. And she did just that, though she noticed what he had done and gave him a small smirk. He scowled in return.
After setting their bags, and the books they had just finished collecting, on the table, which was somewhere near the back of the library, Hermione pulled out her journal.
"Do you have a journal or some bound object that you can write in Draco?" He hissed as she said his name. "Don't use my name in public you stupid Mudblood!"
Nonetheless, he tossed her a bound journal similar to hers; but only in that it was a series of pages bound together. There the similarities ended. Hers was a relatively cheap journal found in a bookstore while on vacation.
It was a deep, honey brown with a lightly pebbled surface. Oh. And her pages were white, unlike the ivory parchment the wizarding world seemed to favour, for some reason unknown by Hermione.
His on the other hand was made of soft, black, and most likely expensive, leather. Probably from some rare animal that hadn't needed to die, and had his initials, in a fancy, flowing script, embossed in real gold. The pages were impossibly even, and each page had his initials faintly showing on the bottom outside corner.
Quickly, before Malfoy could react, she muttered a spell over the two, linking the pages, and whatever would be written on them, together.
"What the hell do you think you're doing to my stuff Mudblood!" His voice was angry and loud, but not so loud as to attract the attention of Madame Pince.
"Calm down Ferret! It was just a spell that shares what is written in one journal, with the other; a kind of immediate messenger. We can jot down ideas and share thoughts or actions we've taken towards the end goal when we aren't together. It's just an easier method of knowing what has been done so we don't duplicate any actions or ingredients.
"I've also charmed it so it will look like random notations from classes or project ideas should anyone else pick it up, or see us writing in them. Which means," She paused meaningfully, "We can use it to share ideas for our own plan against the Weasel/Pug."
Liking the ingenuity of the books, but not wanting to comment on it's almost Slytherin quality; he simply snatched his book back and made some snide quip against mudbloods.
And so they spent the rest of the morning checking reference books on where to find several of the more labor-intensive ingredients. Hermione was looking forward to gathering liquid Moonbeams during the Wizarding Autumn Equinox, which took place later than the muggle equinox.
Malfoy was the one who decided that she would be getting that one, as a magical virgin needed to hold the vial. Expecting an angry, or at the very least embarrassed, retort, he was surprised when nothing issued forth from her mouth. He narrowed his eyes at her as she scanned the paragraph of directions before nodding and acquiescing.
He frowned and went back to his own books.
When the lunch bell rang, they agreed to meet up in the Head Commons after dinner and discuss their various projects before making their way to the Great Hall. Hermione let Malfoy enter first and spent a few moments straightening out her slightly rumpled appearance.
Unfortunately, she didn't seem to notice the few Third Years coming from the opposite direction. They had also seen her arrive with Malfoy, neither trading insults with the other. The three young girls looked at each and then back at Hermione. Quickly, they made their way to the Hufflepuff table and shared what they had seen with the others in their year.
It was proven, by dinner time no less, which was exactly four and a half hours after lunch, that the Rumor Mill of Hogwarts™ was indeed possibly the fastest way to get information around; especially if the particular rumor wasn't true. And as with most rumors, it was exaggerated.
So when Hermione walked in to the Great Hall, after dropping her book bag off in her room, it went noticeably quieter. She quickly glanced around, but found nothing out of the extreme ordinary, and so made her way to sit beside Harry, Ginny and the idiot known as Ronald Weasley.
She took no notice of Ron's red face and thus was not quite prepared when he suddenly began to yell at her.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING DATING MALFOY HERMIONE! DON'T YOU KNOW HE'S OUR SWORN ENEMY? HE'S THE FILTHIEST FERRET YOU'LL EVER MEET! HE'S A DAMNED SLYTHERIN FOR FUCK'S SAKE MIONE! A FILTHY AND COWARDLY DEATH EATER! I REALIZE YOU LOVE ME AND I'M DATING LAVENDER, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD WHORE YOURSELF OUT TO MALFOY FOR ATTENTION! I AM HENCEFORTH FORBIDDING YOU FROM EVER SEEING HIM AGAIN!"
The entire Hall froze after the first few words spilled out of the angry Weasley's mouth. Gasps of shock and outrage came from the whoring comment. While Hermione was shocked stupid by the first sentence, she quickly became angrier and angrier the more he said.
After he finished forbidding her from seeing Malfoy and crossing his arms in cocky assurance she would do as he said, Hermione slowly stood up, wand by her side and turned to glare at him. Several people, namely Ginny, Neville and Harry, winced from the tongue-lashing they knew Ron was about to receive.
Everyone else waited with baited breath to see what would happen next. McGonagall half stood before Dumbledore raised a hand to stop her. Even Ron took a small step backwards when he noticed the fierce glare Hermione was directing at him.
And despite the calm quiet of her voice, the entire Hall heard what she said next.
"You are -forbidding- me from seeing him ever again Ronald Weasley? You who has no control over my life whatsoever? You who had no control over my life even when we -were- dating? Oh, I realize he's a Slytherin, Ronald." His name was said in a patronizing tone. "I've realized he's Slytherin since I met him in First Year.
"And I've started to realize why his company is much more preferred over some half-brained twit who can barely do magic correctly; who is insanely jealous of his own best friend; who can't find himself inside his ridiculously large family; who depends on others to help him with flying and getting a position on the House Team; who depends on someone to help, which really means do, his homework for him; who has no manners whatsoever, who speaks before thinking and didn't know that he had a fucking Death Eater disguised as a pet rat for ten years of his fucking life!
"And even if you don't like Draco, which I couldn't possibly begin to understand why, you have no control over whom I do and do not speak to. And as it just so happens you moronic red-head, Draco is the Head Boy and I am the Head Girl. We are expected to WORK. TOGETHER. to accomplish a variety of given assignments throughout the year.
"And even if we weren't Head Boy and Girl, he is my lab partner for possibly the biggest potions project we have ever received. I, for one, am looking forward to this project immensely and will not have you ruin everything that I have worked so hard for. So good luck trying to keep me from seeing a. One. Draco. Malfoy.
"Hell Ronald, we even share a tower together. I might decide to go spend the night with someone who is intelligent and can actually understand the words and concepts that come out of my mouth! Without me having to resort to words usually reserved for speaking to toddlers!"
The Hall alternately gasped in shock at the female member of the Golden Trio spending the night with Draco Malfoy or chuckled in their seats from the comment of toddler language. Everyone was shocked at her swearing.
Her voice dropped about 50 degrees. "And I do not whore myself out to people. That's Lavender's job. Just because you have no standards when it comes to sexual proclivities, does not mean I share that trait.
"Yes, Draco is a Slytherin; yes he is -your- and Harry's enemy; yes he has an idiot for father; and yes he can be a bloody ponce, but you know what Ronald Bilius Weasley?"
The venom in her voice was now impossible to miss and Ron had crumbled from his earlier confidence.
"I would rather be stuck with Draco for the rest of my life, than be stuck with a bigoted, ill-mannered, and completely brainless idiot, such as you, for all of thirty seconds!"
She picked her book bag up to loud, raucous cheers and made her way over to the Slytherin table where she sat down beside Malfoy and began to eat, muttering away about idiotic redheads who don't know when to keep their disgusting mouths shut.
Draco looked over at her in shock, as did much of the Great Hall, never once expecting someone like Granger, of all people, to go off on a rant to a member of the Golden Trio and swear. He paused; the Golden Trio wasn't a trio any longer. In fact, it probably just died, especially since Pothead and Weasel wouldn't last a week as a 'Golden' anything without the Mudblood to keep them alive and together in one piece.
He smirked at the Gryffindor table and continued eating his meal.
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AN: Quite irritated with ... I had a lovely script I found for Dm's note. But once uploaded it turns normal...and I can only use italics to signify any change. urg.