Okay, well, I've actually had this done for a few days. I've just been procrastinating on posting it, which I'm really sorry for because I know all you wonderful readers have been readers! (I hope anyway... o.O )
Chapter 05 / Dancing in the Sheets
The divination classroom looked and smelled about the same as I remembered it and as I watched Professor Trelawny gazing furiously at her crystal ball, I yawned and I leaned on my arm in sheer boredom and complete disbelief that she would ever see anything about myself or Draco. Her determination was clearly a sign that she'd fallen off her rocker since I'd seen her last, which was really no great surprise. After all, she was the divination teacher – lunacy was her specialty. She ignored my cynicism as she moved her hands over the ball. My nose itched from the smell of the incense and watching her, I couldn't help but wonder exactly how she'd come to be where she was. Was this really the only job she could get? Surely she didn't enjoy this insanity. I glanced over at Ginny, who looked thoroughly entranced by Professor Trelawny's actions, and sighed. This was going to be a long day. "You know, I could always... take a remembrance potion or something." I suggested.
"SHHH!" the Professor and Ginny both hissed at me at the same time, a scowl on their faces. I scratched my head sheepishly, wondering exactly what she was going to do. She hadn't gotten a thing right back when I actually took her class. How was she supposed to figure out what had happened that night?
I groaned as I listened to Professor Trelawny begin to hum, moving her hands around the crystal ball in a circular motion. I'd seen the action many times in the movies when I was younger, but I'd always thought it was a bad joke. It was around the time that her eyes rolled back in her head that I stood up to head for the door.
And that was when I heard it. "Draco Malfoy, you are too good at this!" It was weird to hear my voice when it wasn't coming from me. It was even stranger to see myself in a high definition crystal ball, lying on my back with my skirt pulled up over Draco's head. My jaw dropped and I was pretty sure everything in the room stood still. Except for Ginny, that is, who was looking between giggling crystal ball me and real life me. Personally, I didn't see the resemblance.
I reluctantly inched my way back to the table and sat back down, my eyes glued to the glass in front of me as I watched my hips arch and my hands shove Draco's face into the place where my panties were supposed to be. "Ugh... Ooh... Draco... oh, yes..."
"How does he do that with his tongue?" Ginny asked suddenly. Professor Trelawny gave her a thoughtful look as she tried to work out the particulars. I couldn't take it anymore and hid my face behind my hands. "'Mione, you know you should really shave down there."
"Ginny!" I scolded behind my hands.
"Oh, yes. Sorry."
"Oh, yes. Oooooh..." Apparently I hadn't suffered enough indignities in the past forty eight hours. I had to sit in the divination classroom while my best friend and least favorite teacher were taking notes on Draco's techniques and I was screaming up a storm. "Oh, fuck, Draco, YEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!" I peaked through my fingers covering my eyes and watched as I fell and Draco pulled his face away, sending a rather evil smirk in my direction.
He climbed up the bed, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and leaving me completely exposed. "You make a lot of noise, Pet." He slid his hands under my shirt and squeezed my breasts generously, earning a squeal. "I like it!" I laughed and pulled his hands away, shoving him back and climbing on top of him. He went to move, but I grabbed him hands and pulled them above his head, grabbing the scarf I'd worn in my hair that day and tying his hands to the headboard. I stared in horror as I pulled my shirt up over my head and glared down at him with a rather superior expression. Draco wasn't in the least bit put off - in fact, he looked rather excited. Oh, tell me I didn't just think that!
"Draco Malfoy, you've been a bad boy." I told him. He grinned up at me.
"What are you going to do?" he asked me huskily. His eyes followed me as I reached down and unbuttoned his pants, smirking at the bulge. I slid them down his legs and slid my hands inside his boxers. I closed my eyes again when they finally came off and I straddled his waist. I hopelessly listened to the sounds of the bed creaking and Draco and I moaning and grunting. I shifted in my seat, growing more and more uncomfortable the longer I listened. I looked up at Professor Trelawny when I heard the sound of crumpled paper and found her fanning herself, her face flushed with color. Ginny glanced away for a moment and directed a question at the Professor as I hid my face again.
"Oh, yes! Draco, you fowl creature! Fuck me harder! Oh, deeper! OOOH!"
"Can I get a copy of this?" she asked. I glared over the table at her then looked at the ball again, watching myself bounce up and down on top of Draco. This wasn't right. I'd never seen Draco look quite as happy as he did then, watching my breasts bob up and down. It was terrible. It couldn't possibly get any worse, I thought.
And then I heard the goat.
I practically screamed right then as I watched in complete terror. "Wicked." Ginny said, completely entranced.
"Indeed." Professor Trelawny agreed. That was the final straw. I shoved my chair back as I stood up, ignoring when it clacked and fell to its side on the floor, and marched out of the classroom and down the stairs, not looking back for a second. I ran as quickly as I could down the halls, passing student after student.
I didn't know where I found myself, but I began to pace back and forth, screaming at myself. "It's a lie. It's a lie! It wasn't me!"
"Umm..." I stopped and glared at a wandering first year.
"What the hell do you want?" I screamed. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY??" The first year stared at me for a long moment before his eyes started to tear up. He ran away quickly, sobbing loudly. I growled at the other students who'd stopped to stare at me. "What? Haven't you any of you ever seen A CRAZY PERSON BEFORE??" I turned around and charged in the other direction, groups of students parting in the halls as I ran past them.
I knew exactly where I was going. I turned a corner and ran up a short set of steps, scowling as I met with a set of tall double doors. I rammed them with my shoulder, yelling and wincing when it didn't open and I heard a loud crack from my shoulder. I growled and pulled out my wand, muttering a charm. The doors burst open and everyone in the room jumped as I thumped into the full classroom. I ran right up to Draco Malfoy and pointed my wand in his face. "YOU." I growled.
"Draco, what did you do to the little tart now?" Blaise asked.
"SHUT IT, BLAISE." I yelled. "YOU." I turned to Draco.
"What?" he asked.
"YOU."
"What?"
"GOAT!" I screamed. His brows furrowed in confusion. What? Was I speaking German?
"What?" he asked me again. I growled.
"YOU. GOAT. YOU!! SCARF! YOU!!" He gazed at me, completely lost, before realization flashed across his face.
"Oh, right. The goat." he acknowledged calmly. Blaise burst into laughter, watching the scene.
"Draco, I thought you weren't going to do that anymore." Blaise scolded him happily. Draco shrugged.
"I wasn't, but she insisted." Draco defended. I tried to keep from strangling him, and believe me, it wasn't easy.
"You're lying!" I yelled at him. He looked offended at the accusation.
"I am not!" he snapped.
"The goat, Draco!" I yelled again. His eyebrows rose. "Explain the goat!" I heard Blaise' annoying laughter again.
"You mean she doesn't know?" Blaise asked. Draco shot him an angry look in warning.
"Doesn't know what?" I asked.
"Blaise..." Draco growled.
"Doesn't know what?" I asked again. Blaise was laughing so hard, he was crying. "Tell me Blaise Zabini, or I'll hex your testicles to the size of raisins!" He seemed a little worried by this and, ignoring Draco, stood up and walked over to me, whispering in my ear. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened as I stared ahead in sheer horror. "I DID WHAT?" Draco winced. Blaise looked between us, grinning maliciously.
"You enjoy this too much." Draco commented to Blaise dryly. I turned to him, my face white as a sheet, but running quickly from the room, ignoring the cat calls and woops of laughter from the other students.
I wound my way through the halls, trying to ignore the whispers from the other students as I went. I got lost a couple times, something that had never happened to me before. I turned the wrong corner and found myself in the same place I'd started in, alone and confused. I fell to the floor, choking back tears. It was growing hard to breathe and I pulled my knees to my chest, wincing at the limited movement in my arm. I closed my arms and the tears fall, sobbing silently until everything went dark.
"Draco..." The words escaped Hermione's lips barely above a whisper. She looked down at where he'd fallen asleep, head resting in the gap between her breasts. She ran her hands through his hair, smiling at how soft it felt. She watched his back rise and fall as he breathed, her eyes straying to his perfectly developed muscles. He looked so soft, so fragile in his sleep.
I woke up in my room, not sure how I'd gotten there. My eyes felt impossibly sore from crying and my shoulder ached. I sighed. The silence in the room was almost deafening. I looked at my watch on the table beside me and scowled. I'd missed another day of class. Not to mention I was still wearing that awful cast and I had a bad feeling about my shoulder. Madame Pomfrey and I were going to be best friends by the time this whole thing was through. I rubbed my head and sat up, pulling myself back as best I could and leaning gratefully against the head rest.
The past few days were spinning around and around in my head like a hallucination from some kind of drug. I wished that was all it was. I hated that I'd ended up here. This was never a part of my plan. I was supposed to be the best Head Girl in the history of Hogwarts. I was supposed to study hard and pass all my exams with flying colors. I was supposed to graduate and go to work directly at the ministry. I was going to change things in the wizarding world. People would be moved by my example. Instead, I was neck deep in the middle of some stupid drama with my greatest enemy who also happened to be Head Boy and a really good kisser and who I couldn't stop thinking about. To make matters worse, he wouldn't stop being nice to me. Damn Draco Malfoy for not being a prick!
I looked over at my desk, at the pages and quills and books lying about, and I knew what I had to do. I didn't want to do it. I really didn't want to do it. But I had to do it, because it was the right thing and because in the end, it had to be done. I would bring this silly little drama to its head and end it so I could get on with my life!
I threw my blankets off me and walked over to the desk, sitting down in my chair. I grabbed a quill and a fresh sheet of parchment, tentatively dipping the quill in my ink. I stared at my parchment for a long moment, thinking over what to say. This certainly wasn't going to be the easiest thing I'd ever done. I wasn't sure how long I'd been staring, trying to decide how to start, when I finally put quill to parchment. The scratching sound the quill made as I wrote everything down filled the air, seeming almost to echo off the walls like a warning of something ominous to come. I ignored it, trying to focus solely on my task.
Eventually, I finished, though it took a while. It was just past dinner by the time I finished, and I abandoned my quill by the open ink bottle, folding the note and sealing it closed with some melted candle wax. I sighed and stood up, making a mental note to stop at the hospital wing on my way back. I walked toward the portrait hole and peaked outside, looking up and down the halls. Was I really ready to this after what had happened earlier? Better yet, did I have a choice either way?
My foot touched the floor like I was dipping a toe in the water to see if it was cold. Maybe I was just checking to be sure that the ground was really there and that I wasn't really about to fall into a trap. I almost wished that I was – at least, I would probably wake up and find out that this was all just a bad dream. I just hoped that I didn't run into Professor Trelawny.
I stepped outside and closed the portrait hole, nodding politely to the old man on the front before making my way down the halls. I hadn't gone this way much. I hadn't really had a reason to. The year had only begun and I'd gotten my own room with the position of Head Girl. Plus my parents weren't big on owls. Oh, they didn't mind getting my letters to be sure, but there was also the fact that going up to the owlery was never my idea of a good time. I caught Goyle and Parkinson snogging up there once and I was struggling to hold my lunch for the rest of the night. I frowned, turning another corner and hoping I was going the right way, until at last I saw the long, spiraling staircase that headed up to the tower. I froze, seeing Charlie in the doorway heading down the steps. He caught sight of me. "'Ello Hermione. Didn't see you at lunch."
"Oh, um... I got caught up with something." I told him. It wasn't a total lie. I did get caught up with something. I just didn't say what. He nodded in understanding.
"Draco was worried." he said. "But he picked up a copy of your homework assignments from the teachers for you." Homework. Great. Just what I needed! Something to take my mind off of Dra- wait... Draco picked up my homework? This plan could prove a little counterproductive.
"Okay, I'll catch up with him." I said. He walked past me and headed down the stairs. It took me a minute to work up the courage, but I turned around quickly and stopped him. "Uh, Charlie!" He stopped and looked up at me. "Um... about earlier..." He looked at me rather sheepishly and I felt my stomach turn. "People are talking, aren't they?" He let out a laugh.
"Oh, yeah." he said. "They're talking alright." I frowned.
"Is it really bad?" I asked. It was a bad position to put him in, I knew. I knew, by experience, that there was always bound to be some bad gossip, and that lately I'd probably attracted more than most. Still... He thought for a moment and took a deep breath, walking up a few steps so that he and I were level.
"'Mione, you shouldn't be bothered by what people think or say." he told me. "You're always going to hear bad things if you're always looking to hear them. Besides, friends will never gossip about friends." He laid a comforting hand on my shoulder and I winced, earning me a worried look. "Go to the hospital wing after you're done here." he told me. I smiled and nodded appreciatively, watching him turn and leave. I gazed at where he'd been for a moment before looking up the stairs, grabbing the railing and scaling the last of the steps to the tower.
When I reached it, I found a friendly owl from the school and attached the letter, telling the owl to the deliver it as quickly as possible. It gave me an annoyed look as if to say 'it will get there when it gets there' and took off at a leisurely pace. I stared after it, hoping that things would turn out okay, and knowing that they probably wouldn't.
It took me a lot longer to get down the stairs than it'd taken me to get up then. There was another reason why I never came to owlery. I had this little thing about heights – they completely terrify me. I was gripping the railing with all my strength, even straining my sore shoulder to hang on, and I took step by step, careful not to slip. I'd had vertigo since I was a child, which is why when I got to Hogwarts I'd only attended the bare minimum of classes for using a broomstick. After I'd gotten the basics down, I'd never used one again. I almost died when I'd been on the hippogriff with Harry. It was late when I made it to the bottom, cursing the day that towering castles were considered fashionable and wondering why Dumbledore hadn't moved the school to a better location.
I tried to ignore the students' whispers as I passed them in the halls, but even though I couldn't make them out, I got the general gist of them and had to keep reminding myself to breathe. I just had to make it to the hospital wing, and then I could sleep it all off. Tomorrow morning, things would be better. Well, at least a little better. That didn't mean that every student in Hogwarts didn't take their time walking past me, saying things just loud enough for me to hear like 'slut' or 'take a ride on my broomstick'. I decided that my first and second impressions were wrong. Sure, Hogwarts students were an unobservant lot, but they were also insolent, uninspired, callous, vicious, apes, most of whom deserved to end up in Filch's care back before certain forms of punishment had been banned from Hogwarts. I understood his look at the issue now, and I added it to my mental list of things I was going to change once I worked at the ministry.
I stopped when I passed by the Gryffindor common room, staring at the portrait longingly. If only I'd had the courage to step inside. They were my friends. Surely it'd be different in there. But the day when the rumors started had been chaotic. I'd been cornered and had to be rescued by Harry and Ron, and I wasn't sure they were at all in the mood to be doing any rescuing. I sighed, the aching in my shoulder reminding me of where I was going and continued on.
The hospital wing was quiet when I got there, which wasn't really surprising. There was one person there who had a cough and was getting some medicine from Madame Pomfrey, but other than that it was empty. People came and went from the hospital wing quickly. It was a wonder what magic could that modern muggle medicine couldn't. I still had trouble believing it sometimes. Someone with a broken bone could be healed in a single day. There were fewer unplanned pregnancies, cancer was almost nonexistent. Of course, there were also hexes, curses, and various poisons and potions to deal with. Not to mention when spells backfired... that was when things really started to get messy, but Madame Pomfrey didn't handle the really severe cases, they were sent to St. Mungo's.
I took a seat on one of the beds and waited for Madame Pomfrey to find me. She came to see me a few minutes later, a disapproving look on her face. I cringed. "What can I do for you Miss Granger?" she asked me rather tersely.
"Um... I was hoping I could get this cast off?" I asked. She glanced down at it for a moment and sighed. I almost thought that she was considering leaving it on just to torture me, but she pulled out her wand and slid it off my arm easily. She turned to leave. "Uh, there is one other thing." She stopped and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" she asked. I couldn't help but notice how unhappy she looked when she said my name. I wondered what could possibly have made her so unfriendly. She didn't have a reason to be cold to me... did she?
"I banged my shoulder earlier today, and I think I did something serious." I told her. She reached over and felt it, growing a little more sympathetic towards me when she saw me wince. She frowned and went to get something. I stare hopelessly at the floor, waiting for her to return. She came back with a bottle of something and a few bandages.
"I think you've fractured the bone." she told me. "It'll be fine, but we should bandage it up. I'm surprised you managed to endure the pain this long." I glanced at her curiously. "Most students would've come running to me the second it happened." she explained. I nodded and undid my shirt, sliding it down my arm. She wrapped the bandage oddly, mostly just to give my shoulder a little extra support. I did my shirt back up and scowled at the bottle she'd brought with her. "This'll help with the pain. It's just the same thing I gave you before." I sighed.
"Can I take it back in my room?" I asked. She nodded and I slid off the bed, getting ready to leave.
"Miss Granger?" I glanced at Madame Pomfrey's worried face. "Do try to be smart and keep out of trouble." Now what did that mean? Was it because this was my second visit in a week? I smiled and nodded and left, confused and worried.
I didn't think about stopping at the Gryffindor common room this time, I just headed straight to my room, my head echoing with the cruel jabs from classmates that I hadn't even wronged over the years. Well, I supposed that the first year from this morning probably had a right to say a thing or two, although he probably wouldn't. I opened the portrait to my room and fell inside, collapsing on my bed as it closed. I was beyond happy to have the cast gone and to have full use of my hand again, though movement of my shoulder was now somewhat restricted. I sat up and drank the bottle she gave me in small sips, letting the drowsiness wash over in small waves.
Madame Pomfrey's behavior was still on my mind. Teachers and staff at Hogwarts suddenly acting strangely was never really a good sign. Professor Lupin missing classes back in third year meant that he was hidden away in the shrieking shack transformed into a werewolf. I wondered what could've gotten into Madame Pomfrey. I'd been handling all of my Head duties well, I hadn't been shirking my homework – until this week, that is – I was probably the responsible student at Hogwarts. Everyone knew that. That was why I got named Head Girl. The only thing that'd happened lately was this whole Draco thing and there was no way that sh- oh, right. I'd gone to Professor Trelawny and there were rumors all over school. Not to mention the fact that he'd been the one to escort me to the hospital wing to get my wrist patched up. I slumped in the bed and sighed, closing my eyes. This was all getting far too complicated...
"You worry too much, Granger." Draco said, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. Hermione looked at him curiously, sniffling and wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
"Are you saying this isn't all my fault?" Hermione asked in a whine. Draco threw back his head and laughed, surprising her. "What's so funny?" He shook his head, needing a few minutes to recover.
"The idea that you could do anything wrong." Draco replied once he got himself under control. Hermione smiled slowly taking another sip of her drink and getting up and moving around the table to sit next to him. He gazed at her curiously as he climbed up on her seat a little, moving her face in very close to his. "What are you doing?" he asked her suddenly. She giggled and placed a finger to his lips lightly.
"Shhhhhhhh." Hermione leaned over and took a deep breath, inhaling his scent, before kissing him.
Morning came too quickly for my liking and I found myself reluctantly facing the day with bed head that was twice as bad as it normally was, in my wrinkled clothes, and somehow completely relaxed despite all of the chaos. I had to admit, as much grief as Draco was giving me, the last night's dream had been soft and warm and just what I needed to face the day – not that I'd ever tell him that. I slid out of bed and walked to the bathroom, shrugging out of my skirt and leaving it on the floor as I walked. I unbuttoned my shirt and threw it with my skirt before turning on the tub faucet and letting the water heat up until my mirror grew foggy from steam. I discarded my underwear by the door and stood, staring at the tub for a long moment. I didn't know how I was going to manage getting a bath with my shoulder bandaged, but I'd already skipped one bath that week and I could feel my muscles growing tense with anticipation of soaking in the near scalding bathwater. I was going to bath, dammit!
I stuck one toe in gingerly, getting used to the heat for a moment, before stepping in completely and sinking into the tub. I could practically feel the tension in my muscles begin to melt away as I simply sat there. I rubbed my sore neck and looked at the ceiling in thought. My letter should have arrived by now. Today I would be getting a response. Today I was going to talk to Draco and set things straight. Today, I was going to patch things up with Harry and Ron, and we'd all be good friends again. Today, everything was going to change and things would start to get better.
I smiled. My plan was set. I was getting my second wind and this time I was determined that things would be okay. I continued to soak for a while until I realized that if I really did want to patch things up with Harry and Ron, I'd best catch them at breakfast. I scowled at having to get out of the tub so quickly and stood up, grabbing a towel to dry myself off. I wrapped it around myself and walked back into my room, grabbing a fresh pair of clothes from my trunk. I dressed quickly and pulled my wet hair back, hoping that it could remain tame in a low ponytail for at least the duration of my classes. After that, I slid on my shoes and grabbed my bag and left through the portrait hole.
I stood, looking around for a moment. I frowned, wondering why Draco wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't growing attached to him or anything, and I hadn't been looking forward to him walking me to class. No, of course I couldn't be. I was about to tell him that we couldn't see each other anymore. Wait... not that we'd been seeing each other in the first place. I groaned and put a hand to my head as I walked, ignoring the people I passed until I got into the Great Hall. Charlie spied me immediately and ran up to me with an excited look on his face. "Did you hear?" he asked.
"Hear what?"
"Rodney Sellers is coming to Hogwarts!" Charlie announced. I laughed. He looked Ginny when I admitted that I'd slept with Draco.
"Who?" I asked, still laughing. I laughed even harder when Charlie fixed me with a glare.
"Rodney Sellers. He's the seeker for the Chudley Cannons!" Charlie told me. I stared at him with a rather blank look. "Quidditch! We were talking about it yesterday!" Oh! Right!
"Wow, that's so cool!" I said happily. He watched me for a moment.
"You don't care, do you?"
"Nope." I told him, a big smile on my face. He looked angry at me for a moment before laughing and going off to tell more people. I watched him go a minute, laughing and shaking my head. I turned around and spotted Harry and Ron before heading over to them, praying that I looked confident and cool instead of completely anxious. "Hello Harry, Ron." Harry looked up at me and nodded with a friendly but tentative look on his face. Well, that was an improvement from yesterday. Ronald, on the other hand, seemed to have digressed. He refused to acknowledge my presence. I took a seat and grabbed a piece of toast sitting in front of his face. "Ron, did you hear about Rodney Sellers?"
"Harry let's go." Ron muttered quietly, getting up to leave.
"So you're not even going to talk to me?" I asked. "You're going to pretend that I'm not here? That I don't exist?"
"You don't exist!" Ron yelled. I jumped, scowling.
"What do you mean I don't exist?" I asked.
"Not the 'Mione we knew! The 'Mione we knew wouldn't have been caught dead with the likes of Draco Malfoy!" Ron yelled. By now we were beginning to attract the attention of the entire hall. I stood up and yelled right back at him.
"For goodness sakes, he's Head Boy!" I screamed. "We're supposed to be on good terms!"
"Oh, is that what you call shagging him in Hogsmeade?!" Ron growled. "And the bit with the goat?!" All of the color drained from my face. "So it's true then?" he asked. "You and the Ferret?"
"Come off it Ron!"
"You come off it!" Ron yelled. He turned to leave, but I wasn't about to give up that easily.
"Look, I'm not the one shagging everything that moves!" I yelled at him. "Or hasn't Pavarti noticed your extracurricular activities?" His face turned a red to rival that of his hair as he glared at me. I took a deep breath. This wasn't going at all the way I'd planned.
"Maybe I fool around a bit, but at least I'm not fucking a death eater!" Ron retorted. We didn't notice until it'd neared the Gryffindor table that the Slytherins hadn't taken too kindly to Ron's remark about death eaters. In fact, they'd had a rather adverse reaction, meaning they were charging over to give Ronald a good old fashion pounding, sans magic. They'd probably have done a good job of it too, had Dumbledore's voice not suddenly boomed through the Great Hall. Everyone separated and we all stood glaring at each other. I didn't think I'd ever seen so much hate in Ron's eyes before, yet there it was for all the world to see.
That was when I knew for certain, in that one moment, that nothing between the three of us or at Hogwarts would ever be the same again.
A/N: I'm not sure. Does this warrant a higher rating now? I've been thinking since the beginning that the rating would probably end up at M because of what's to happen in later chapters... tell me what you think!
Oh, and if you like my fanfiction, keep an eye out for me at fictionpress! You can find me under the same username, neome89!