Chapter XI
Golden Egg
Hermione had received so many letters she almost didn't see Dumbledore's note. She had stopped opening the envelopes after the fifth death threat. It wasn't that she was afraid of them – most spelled her name wrong, anyway. As if Hermione was such an odd name – Shakespeare and Homer used it. Plebeians. Plebeian wizards. If they couldn't spell her name she had no doubt that they were the type of wizard to try to kill her with the jelly-leg curse. Amateur plebeians.
No, she stopped because they were so tiring. And infuriating. The sheer ignorance and self-righteous anger that seeped out of their words made Hermione cringe. These were supposedly witches and wizards educated at Hogwarts. But she supposed that the readership matched the authorship.
Dumbledore scheduled another meeting for Sunday night. Finally, a time to forget all of her social problems and focus on herself. Well, focus on someone else – just not the petty entanglements she had gotten herself into. She just had to get through her Friday classes and the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow.
I-I. ⌡. Γ┐
Hermione dipped her toe into the pool. The water was warm, so she sat down on the edge and dangled her legs in. She hadn't been in a pool for a long time. A very long time. Her parents made her learn to swim, of course, but it was never anything Hermione got excited about.
Potter walked up and quickly jumped into the pool, holding the egg at the perfect height to preclude Hermione's vision of his trousers – or lack thereof. As if Hermione wanted to catch a glimpse. But he was shirtless and couldn't cover that up. His chest was pale and flat and not too different from Draco's. Hermione felt a pang in her heart. She was conflicted as to whether it was a good pang or a bad pang - or what even a pang was, exactly - but it was the only description that fit.
"You're not getting in?" he asked.
An amused smile played across Hermione's lips. "Are you asking me to get undressed?"
"No," he said quickly, blushing. Though he summoned the gall to be rude and blunt often, Hermione had never seen him to be forward. At least, not in the way she expected boys to be. Draco would worm his way into her arms and insist on kissing her. Blaise had that mischievous grin and his fancy turn of phrase, implying his meaning without divulging anything of substance. Potter just didn't have their... confidence. "I was just… I'll just open the egg." He fumbled with the latch and the shell broke into four segments. The room echoed with a deafening wail, causing Potter to drop the egg and cover his ears. The moment the tip of the egg fell beneath the surface, the wailing dulled to a low, soft melody.
The egg sat on the bottom of the pool, rippling waves making it look like it was swaying. Potter looked at it a second. "I guess Cedric was on to something." He sucked in a breath and plunged underneath for a minute. He surfaced with a splutter. "Huh. I'm not sure…"
"What did it say?" she asked, reaching for a quill and paper.
"Uh… 'Come seek us down here… below the ground? We've taken something…'"
Hermione flicked her leg out, sending a spray of water at him. "I can't hear it from up here and if I don't know what it says, I can't help you, you know… not die."
Potter wiped his soaked hair out of his face and splashed back at her. "You want to jump in here and listen to it yourself?"
"Water and paper don't mix, Potter. Go down and get me an accurate transcript."
He grimaced, but submerged himself again. He had to take four more dives to get it right to Hermione's standard. It all sounded a bit melodramatic. "'Taken what you'll sorely miss…'" she repeated. "I'd miss my wand."
"I'm not letting them take my wand," Potter said immediately, wading over to the edge she was sitting on and placing the egg next to her.
"You have to retrieve something. And probably from the lake."
"It's the middle of winter. They won't make me go into a freezing lake."
Hermione sighed. "No, they're going to make you do a lap in this pool. Come on, Potter, you're a wizard. You can handle freezing water."
"I'm not even supposed to be in this damned thing."
"I wasn't supposed to be in the Chamber of Secrets," she said.
"No," he replied, looking up at her. "You weren't." His green eyes were really something.
"But things happen and we have to deal with them," Hermione said quickly. "Are we going to win or are we going to throw a pity party?"
Potter shrugged. He leaned against the pool wall and floated there, staring out at the waves his feet made. "I could do with a party."
Hermione carefully set her quill and paper away from the edge and slipped into the water. The warm water made her squirm with pleasure and her skirt floated on the surface. She might have been embarrassed had there been anyone else there. "Tell me, Harry," she said, pulling herself next to him, "What are you going to sorely miss?" Hermione leaned in and kissed him lightly. "Who would you miss most?" She kissed him harder now, and brushed his lip with her tongue. She ran her fingers through his sopping wet hair and swung her leg around so she straddled him.
"Malfoy isn't here, Granger," he said, pulling back a bit.
"I know," she said with a coy smile. It had been for show in Hogsmeade. Now there wasn't an audience. Just the two of them.
"Look," he pushed back when she went in for another kiss, "It's one thing to act like this to get Malfoy to react, but you have to stop pretending."
"Stop?" Hermione snorted.
"Yeah. You aren't my girlfriend. You're doing this to get back at Malfoy."
"What do you care? You've got an actual girl in a pool with you, alone, kissing you. Don't you like kissing me?"
"Sure, but… you're doing this because you want to – I mean, you're not here because you want to kiss me… what I'm trying to say is that…"
"You're not into boys, are you?" Hermione frowned.
"What?" he sputtered. "No. No!"
"Because that's okay, I guess. Apparently I'm not good at noticing what people like…"
"No – is that why you and Malfoy…?"
"What? No!" Hermione gasped. "There were circumstances - and - it's none of your business."
"Okay. Good, it's a no for everyone, then." Potter reached for a towel on the floor. "We can pack up and –"
"You're not really saying no to this?" Hermione asked, pulling him back. "I'm throwing myself at you."
"Look, Granger, it's just… even if I thought you were a hundred percent sincere about fancying me and you actually wanted to go out, I'm still not sure I would. That I know you're only here because Malfoy upgraded makes this a much easier decision."
Hermione bit her lip and looked off over his shoulder. Oh, he had gall alright.
"You're smart and… pretty, I guess – and good at magic, too, but, regardless of what you think of him now, you were squarely on Malfoy's side for years. They never liked me, and I'm not entirely sure that you like me, either. It's just like we said – Romeo and Juliet without the plot. We're on opposite sides and… that's it. There's no story between us. If you can help me out, I'm willing to go along with whatever you want to do out there, but it's not going to be anything more than that."
"I see." Hermione said flatly. So it was like this, then. Confidence had nothing to do with it.
She lifted herself out of the pool with a whoosh of water.
"I'm not trying to be mean or anything."
"No, I get it. I get why the most famous boy in Britain doesn't have a girlfriend." She grabbed her wand in her dripping hand and performed a drying spell, wicking all of the water out of her clothes before banishing it directly in Potter's face. "He's just so very good with his words."
I-I. ⌡. Γ┐
Daphne was on her bed, propped up by her pillows and reading from a book. She raised her eyes to meet Hermione's, then glanced back down.
Hermione was done with this cat and mouse. If people wanted to screw with her - if they wanted to mess with her feelings, she wasn't going to take it laying down. She took the three steps across to Daphne's bed, swatted the book away and grabbed Daphne by her bony little shoulders. Hermione seized her lips in a rough, passionless kiss and then shoved her away.
"That happened. What the hell was it?" Hermione hissed at her. "What the fuck was it all about?"
"Hermione…" Daphne said, pressing her fingers to her lips, blood rising in her face, "I…"
"I want to know what kind of person does that."
"Does what?"
"I told you I'm not interested in Draco," Hermione mimed. "I like you, Hermione. I like you when I'm not drunk."
"I –"
"Real nice, Daphne. Real fucking nice. Because that was exactly what I needed that night. I really needed you to steal my boyfriend, wait until I got drunk and just fuck with me like that."
"I wasn't –"
"Do you know how much this has messed me up? Of course you do. You never stop watching me. You sleep five feet away from me. Of course you know."
"Hermione, I didn't do it to hurt you."
"No? You thought you'd just come in and take Draco from me and then smooth it over when I couldn't control myself?"
Daphne shook her head.
"You're a real good friend, you know that, Daphne? Real good. You told me you didn't want Draco. You told me that you wanted to be friends. How could you do this to your friend? Is it because you're some pureblood goddess who can trample all the lowly humans she wants? You're entitled to anything and everything you want? I just can't fathom the sheer selfishness you had to buck up to pull this off. Not only did you betray me, you had the gall to show up that night and pressure me into pleasuring you? Do you think I'm just a slave to do your bidding? Keep your boy warmed up and your bed warmer? You're the most stuck up, selfish, entitled little bitch I have ever met."
"Are you done?" asked Daphne stiffly.
"Am I done? Oh, are you done? Do you want to take my wand, too, princess? Should I lay on the floor so you can step off your bed every morning without touching the floor?"
"I understand that things have been tough," she said slowly, like Hermione was a child in the middle of a tantrum - not even having the decency to look at Hermione. "But I never meant to hurt you in any way."
"The road to hell is paved –"
"I would never hurt you if I had a choice. I told you that I wasn't interested in Draco, and I was telling the truth."
"Yeah, you just wanted me for yourself, huh?"
"I don't want Draco, but our parents have their own ideas."
"And what happened to your choice?"
Daphne sat up, hugging a knee to her chest. "There was only ever one option."
"I've met your parents. They wouldn't make you do anything you didn't want."
"They were setting me up with Draco. I didn't want that."
"Yet here we are."
Daphne finally turned her eyes to Hermione. She didn't see any malice in there, but Daphne was excellent at hiding her true feelings - at lying to Hermione. "They were also setting Astoria up. With Theodore Nott."
Hermione wavered. Momentarily. "Astoria? With Nott? No, that's not true."
"Yes, it is. His father was pushing to make it official. But I couldn't allow that to happen. You've seen Nott, and he's usually on his best behavior. I couldn't let Astoria… I had to, Hermione."
"Had to what?"
"My father wants connections. Stability. A match. My father preferred both of us, but he could settle for one. If I committed to his choice, Astoria didn't need to. If I consented to Draco, I could get Astoria away from Theo."
"You set Blaise up," Hermione said slowly, pieces falling into place. "You set him and Astoria up. It was your idea." Part of her bristled at Daphne pushing her sister to Blaise. Part of her respected Daphne a bit more.
Daphne nodded. "If Astoria went with someone else to the Ball, well, that didn't really change anything – not if Theo's behavior was acceptable. But I knew he would react… adversely. Once he started in with Pansy, Astoria had enough reason to reject him."
"Except now your daddy is down one match."
"Except now my father was down one match. I had no choice."
"You always have a choice." With Astoria in the clear, Daphne had no reason to continue the charade. Yet she did.
"Then I chose my family," Daphne said.
"You chose to betray me," shot Hermione.
"I'd do it again, too," she said firmly, shaking her head. "I'd betray you every time, Hermione. My family comes first. Astoria comes first."
Hermione glared at her.
"That doesn't mean that I wasn't being honest with you, Hermione. I don't want Draco and… and I – I do like you." She said the last part quietly, averting her gaze again.
Hermione crossed her arms. She wasn't going to fall for the cute puppy dog look. It may have worked on an intoxicated Hermione, but not now. "That doesn't excuse what you did."
"What did I do?" asked Daphne. "I kissed you."
Hermione shook her head. "I was drunk. I couldn't control myself."
"Hermione, please don't do this. You know as well as I that you were in complete control of the situation. I've explained myself and you're trying to take the easy way out by not listening. I kissed you, you chose kissed me back. Why can't you admit it to yourself? You're being so immature – and it's so mean." Daphne's voice quivered, and she seized her curtains and ripped them closed.
Back to some more Bellatrix next chapter.
