Posted Apr. 8, 2010
"So expect to be proposed to sometime between my Coming of Age and our graduation."
Hermione knew that many of the Sixth and Seventh Years didn't believe they were together, and she understood the need to make it seem real. But she froze when the words 'proposed to' came from Malfoy's mouth.
"Whaaat!? Proposal? Why? We don't need to get engaged!! Nobody would believe that! Dating sure, maybe; but marriage? Never!"
Malfoy's height towered over her own even as she stood and he used that to his advantage; leaning in close, making his height even more imposing to the petite girl.
"This is what my plans consist of Granger. And wasn't it you who said 'I'm up for anything if you help me'?"
Hermione paled at Malfoy's smirk. Those had been her words. Damnit! She glared at Malfoy. "Fine. I'll accept your proposal when it comes. But we'll only keep up the charade until such a time comes when it is unnecessary. I will not actually marry you Malfoy. And when we do break it off, either we both decide on irreconcilable differences or I dump you for some random reason."
Her eyes were sparking in anger and her mouth tightened, reigning in the furious tirade that longed to pour forth.
Hermione gave Draco an extra malicious glare before thumping her books into her bag.
"You want me to be your girlfriend Malfoy, you figure everything out."
She stormed out of the library, Draco smirking at her retreating back.
A group of Fourth year Gryffindors saw Hermione storm past them, hair lifting up into treacherous waves that ancient Greeks would have mistaken as Medusa's own snakes.
Her muttered rant contained various dark words, the name Malfoy, castration, numerous pain-inflicting spells and a few choice descriptions about arrogant, pureblooded ferrets.
The Fourth Years chattered amongst themselves in their next class, Herbology with Hufflepuffs, and word about a fight between the Malfoy scion and the Muggleborn Bookworm spread, not-so-slowly and very surely.
Harry knew, the moment Hermione stepped through the portrait, that he was about to be a forced listener in one of Hermione's rather infamous tirades. He wasn't disappointed.
Hermione threw herself into the plush, over-sized, red chair beside Harry, after scowling at some poor First Year to get him out of that particular spot; and went into a wild tirade that soon had her up and pacing like a caged lioness.
Harry tuned most of it out, having heard the majority of it before.
"Stupid, idiotic, brainless moron thinks he can just decide we're going to get engaged just like that! No asking, just telling, Because I'm a Malfoy and you're a lowly muggleborn witch. You should bow before my superior breeding and talent. Bah!! Deficient, half-baked, mindless, nonsensical, obtuse, puerile, simpleminded, thick-headed, witless excuse for bloody wizard!!"
Harry always found this to be the best part of Hermione's rants. She knew so many different words that, while essentially meaning the same thing, could lend colour and flavour to an otherwise boring insult. Though the part where she mentioned her engagement and Malfoy in the same sentence had him more than a little concerned.
Harry quickly checked around to see if anyone had heard her outburst. No one was looking their way and everyone in the common room seemed to be involved in their own activities. All in all, a very normal situation; minus the Hermione + Malfoy = engagement scenario.
"Oh, for bloody-fucking-Merlin's sake Harry! I'm not so stupid as to go on an enraged rant while fuming about something some idiotic prick said, without first throwing up a silencing ward. Give me a little credit please!"
Harry was shocked at the swears coming out of Hermione's mouth. She ignored him and fell back into the chair, adrenaline from her diatribe wearing off. Flopping an arm across her eyes she sighed. She had no illusions about the conversation she knew was coming. And coming it was, at full speed ahead, ready to bowel her over at a moment's notice.
Throwing up as many silencing and privacy wards as they knew (combined), Hermione conjured two large mugs of hot chocolate and settled in for a long, long talk with Harry.
Several hours later, the common room clear of everyone, Harry knew the full story of what had been going on since the summer before their final year at Hogwarts.
"Can't you do anything to get out this Hermione? I mean, you just said those words to get his help right?"
"They were just words to get help. But later on we signed a binding contract. And he did help me with my situation, so it's not like I didn't walk into this with both eyes open. But now that you know, I'm going to have to invoke a Vow of Silence from you. We can't have this getting out in any way."
Harry agreed and performed the requested vow. When the magic settled again, Harry asked a question that had been tugging at his mind since the beginning of the conversation.
"Hermione, those plans you devised, for Ron and Hallowe'en and everything else, they're ridiculously thought out and planned so well that you had back up plans for every sort of incongruity. It's incredible!! I'm curious as to you came up with the ideas and…and …everything really!"
Hermione 'hmmed' while sipping her hot chocolate.
"I suppose I thought of what I wanted, and how I might go about getting it. Then I factored in Ron and his reactions, which I know extremely well after living in close quarters with him for nigh on seven years.
And each time I had a plan, I would go through it piece by piece as an opponent to find cracks in my logic. Each crack I found, I created a back up plan that would counteract such a leak. It really isn't as hard as it seems, though it is highly time-consuming."
"I realize this is slightly odd, but during your Sorting, what did the Hat tell you?"
Hermione gave a mocking smirk, "It actually told me I would be fine in Ravenclaw, though I might find them a tad dull. I would be bored to tears in Hufflepuff; and if I could get past the pureblood racism, I would have done extremely well in Slytherin. I think that was more for my ambitious plans than anything else. But I'd had an incident with Malfoy on the train and heard he'd be in Slytherin, so I opted for Gryffindor. Why?"
Harry returned her smirk, "The Hat told me I could be great in Slytherin as well. I'm guessing that had a little to do with Voldemort, but more for my thirst to prove myself."
Their smirk turned to grins. "Imagine what Ron would say if he knew all this?" They shared a good laugh and continued to talk about random topics throughout the night.
Sunday morning, not quite bright and early, Draco Malfoy received a letter, carried by a school owl.
If you want to make your relationship seem realistic, take Hermione out flying sometime in the future. No one's been able to get her on a broom since our lesson in First Year (where she didn't even get on a broom because of Neville's accident), and she never went with Ron or me. Hermione told me everything. She needed to unload; and I've taken a Vow of Silence. So let go of your breath.
P.
Draco had sucked in a small breath when he read Hermione had told someone everything. He scowled at the chicken-scratch as he breathed out. Stupid Potter.
When lunch came around, Hermione was sitting munching on a veggie sandwich when a single, beautiful, brindled gold eagle hawk swooped down with a bouquet of pink, yellow and orange roses. Small white rose buds were peppered throughout.
Everyone had noticed, it was the only bird delivering something that meal. A small card was stuck to the centre-most rose bud.
Sorry
Hermione smiled. Not looking across the room to find him, but knowing he'd be watching, she nodded her head.
Over the next three weeks, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were almost always seen with each other. Between classes, more Head duties with the Christmas season coming upon them; finishing their potions project; and of course making sure to be seen together as much as possible.
Their relationship had to be a natural thing. One that when it came out in public, everyone cheered while muttering 'Finally!'
Dumbledore had told them there was to be a ball on the final day off classes before Christmas Break started and everyone went home.
Hermione had just finished her breakfast and stood up when Malfoy waltz over to the Gryffindor table.
"If you have time later today, I'd like to go down to Hogsmeade with you to get some things for our Head project. I'm not sure how long we'll be there, but we'll probably be there for lunch and maybe dinner as well. The Headmaster has already given me the passes, so if you can meet me in the Front Hall in two hours it would be greatly appreciated."
Lavender and Pavarti squealed as Malfoy walked away.
"Ohmigosh!! Hermione!!! You're going on a date with Draco Malfoy!!"
"It's not a date Lavender, we're getting some things for the Christmas Ball as Heads, that's all."
Pavarti threw her two cents in. "Maybe so, but it's not a Hogsmeade weekend thing, so no other students will be around…" She waggled her eyebrows. "And he basically asked you out for lunch and supper!"
"Oh Hermione, you have to let us help you get ready!! PLEASE!!!!" Lavender was practically on her knees begging. Pavarti joined her. Chuckles of laughter were soon echoing up and down the tables. Hermione, in an effort to contain this ridiculous situation agreed.
"Okay, fine! Just stop it, will you? And nothing drastic!" She was promptly hauled off the bench and rushed to Gryffindor Tower before she could finish her sentence. Harry began laughing so hard he started crying. Ginny and Neville joined him, though they didn't cry.
"Okay, Pav, put her on the bed." Lavender was rummaging through her trunk for her monthly issues of Beauty Witch. She kept all the old issues in a special box that had feather-weight and bottomless charms.
Finally she stood with close to fifteen magazines in her arms and dumped them on the bed beside the Head Girl.
"Okay, what style were you going after for today?"
Hermione looked at her. "I wasn't going after any style. I was just going to wear some of my normal clothes and leave my hair down. You guys are the ones going after style."
Lavender grinned at her partner in crime. "Too true!" They chimed. Immediately they began flipping through the magazines, discussing hair styles, looks, clothing fashions and make-up.
For the next hour, Hermione was an unwilling model as the two fashionistas tried different styles of up-do's and curls; ponytails, braids, and everything in between. Pavarti was picking through her own closet, as well and Lav's, to find some nice semi-casual clothes that would be comfortable and still look great on their 'model'.
Finally, when Hermione had five minutes to meet Draco in the Front Hall, Lavender and Pavarti let her go.
Her hair had been subject to several spells, which got rid of the bushiness; added a bit of shine and gloss; turned her gentle waves into slightly more curled strands and placed into a ponytail. And then taken out and roughed up into a sexy, loose bun, with a few pieces falling out here and there.
Hermione was worried that the entire structure would just collapse and fall apart at some point in the day. Lavender assured her it would not. She had soft golds and gentle browns for her make-up, really just a light brush across her eyelids. Wood brown eyeliner and black-brown mascara completed her eyes.
She was given a peach gloss that would accompany the delicate brush of blush on her cheeks and lend freshness to her face.
Pavarti had chosen a pair of dark blue skinny jeans that were molded to Hermione's legs, and placed in matte black, knee-high, heeled, leather boots. She had wanted to put Hermione in a halter top, but Hermione had flat-out refused because of the weather, so Lavender pulled out one of her turtlenecks.
It was a smooth cream colour and was such a soft wool that Hermione had mistaken it for cashmere at first.
As a final touch, a gold scarf with touches of honey-brown mixed in was tied around her neck in a fashionable way. Gold hoop earrings accompanied the outfit.
Many students had gotten together to line the hallways from Gryffindor tower to the Front Hall and Hermione was more than a little nervous as she ran down the line to meet Malfoy on time.
Her dark brown winter jacket was a slim, form-fitting jacket that went to mid-thigh and fit her figure wonderfully, though it was currently undone as the castle was still warm. A warm, light brown shoulder bag finished the entire thing.
Draco heard the running footsteps behind him and had half a mind to reprimand her for being late. She wasn't really. She was exactly on time, but he knew that she was usually early for appointments, or meetings, or class; or everything really. He huffed and turned around.
And promptly sucked in a breath at the vision that was running toward him. Her skin was glowing with a freshness that most attempt to achieve in spring, but came to her naturally.
The colours of her outfit mixed very well with one another and she had little ornamentation, which was a god-send. He had hated it, and still did, when Pansy had gotten dressed and put on all her jewellery, which would jangle and clash as she walked around.
The run had left Hermione's cheeks rosy, and she greeted him with an apology for being late, her words punctuated with slight gasps.
He offered her his arm, and with an amused glance she took it and they walked out the door together.
Alrighty guys, PLEASE tell me your thoughts on Hermione's rant and her interaction with Harry!!
AM