Ch.6: The Brightest Witch of her Age
Hermione woke slowly, first noticing the terrible pain in her neck. The pale light of predawn filtered into the room from the eastward window. She then looked down to see the blonde head in her lap, and the events of the previous night came flooding back to her.
Tears filled her eyes, and she bit her lip to stop herself from crying. Draco looked peaceful in his sleep, and she didn't want to disturb him.
Carefully, she lifted his head, and scooted off the couch, holding her breath as he stirred briefly when she placed his head back on the couch. He stilled after a moment, and Hermione exhaled quietly, relieved.
She opened the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch and placed it over Draco's body, looking down at him. Smoothing back a lock of hair that had fallen in his face, she smiled sadly at her friend, before retreating to her own room.
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Lying in her own bed, Hermione let the tears that had been building up spill down her cheeks. She could not imagine what it would be like to receive a letter like Draco had opened last night. She could not imagine what it would be to lose her mother.
Her mother. Hermione smiled, thinking of her mother's cheerful face, eyes sparkling behind her glasses.
Coming home from work, Mona Granger would push aside her weariness, greeting her daughter warmly. Together, they would try to pull together a quick dinner before Owen Granger walked in the door.
Usually, the two would muss up even the simplest curry, and Mona would run out to Marks and Spencer to pick up sandwiches, or chicken provencale, as well as one of the berry smoothies Hermione loved so well.
The light slowly changed as Hermione thought of her mother, and soon her alarm clock quipped "8:30! Rise and Shine! 8:30! Rise and Shine!"
Hermione flicked her wand at the clock, silencing it.
She walked to the bathroom, noting that Draco still lay asleep on the couch.
Inside, she slashed some water on her face, ignoring her reflection, knowing her eyes would be red and puffy, her complexion blotchy.
A shower will do me well, Hermione thought as she stepped under the warm spray.
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Draco was confused. He woke in the now cold common room, on the couch.
Morning light poured through the window, making his eyes hurt, and he squinted, wondering how he had gotten there.
As he sat up, he felt a hard object clenched in his hand, and he opened it, revealing the key he had been holding tightly through the night.
His mother,
Realization flooded through him, and his shoulders crumpled with grief. His mother was gone.
And then he remembered falling asleep to the comforting feel of Hermione's hand running through his hair.
Where did she go? He thought to himself.
As is he had conjured her image, she climbed through the portrait hole, carrying a piece of toast on a plate, a flagon of juice.
"Oh good, you're awake." She said warmly. "I thought you might like some breakfast."
He reached for the plate she offered, realizing that he was indeed very hungry. She sat next to him, and handed him a container of pumpkin butter, which he slathered onto his toast.
He ate silently, concentrating on the piece of toast, and Hermione sat beside him, clearly a little uncomfortable.
When he finished the toast and juice, he turned to look at her. Her eyes were red, but her expression was composed.
"Draco-" She began softly.
"Don't," he cut her off. "I'll be fine."
"Sorry." She said in a small voice, and he realized he had hurt her feelings.
"It's okay…Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For everything."
She smiled at him, and laid a hand on his shoulder fondly.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
"You know, actually there is. Hermione…can we act as if nothing went wrong? Harry and Ron too…I can't deal with pitying looks or people avoiding me as though I were a fragile doll. I just…I need my…friends." He finished, saying the last word uncertainly.
Hermione nodded enthusiastically, her wild curls bouncing.
"Draco, of course. We'll do whatever you need us to!" She said. "After all, that's what friends are for."
Surprisingly comforted and cheered by this confirmation of their friendship, Draco smiled down into his pumpkin juice.
"Well, I must be off. I have 6 more inches of Ancient Runes to finish, and I'm supposed to meet Harry and Ron for tea with Hagrid. You're welcome to come, but I don't think the two of you get along so well…" she trailed off.
Draco smiled at her genuinely, and said, "You're probably right. I'll stay here and finish my work for the weekend. Do you guys want to do something this evening?"
"I'll check with Harry and Ron, but I think that sounds wonderful. See you!"
The portrait door swung shut behind Hermione and Draco settled onto the couch.
Being around her, he didn't think so much about the pain in his heart. Now, sitting by himself in the Heads Common, he fingered Narcissa's key and almost wished he'd gone to Hagrid's with his friends.
Friends.
For the first time in his life, Draco had people to truly call his friends. He smiled to himself, feeling rather silly, and got up, placing the key gently down on the table. His mother would have been proud of the steps he had made since coming to school. She would have been proud of the person he was becoming.
He could almost feel her cool hand on his face as her brilliant blue eyes stared down into his own. Whenever she was proud of him, her lips would form a slight smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners, the right eye more so than the left. In his mind's eyes, Draco could see her face, and knew that he had made the right choice in his life.
He walked over to the table he had claimed as his own, books spilled messily across it.
Hermione's table, by contrast, was surprisingly neat. Her books were stacked in an ordered pile, and her papers, while spread across the table, were stacked neatly.
His own disordered books, however, looked inviting to him, and he pulled out his Advanced Potions text.
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The light from the window stretched lazily across the carpet, the golden glow of an autumn sun climbing westward.
Draco had light a candle in order to better read his textbook and was taking careful notes on the side effects of Euphoria when the portrait hole banged open and Ron scrambled through, Harry in hot pursuit.
A wrestling match ensued on the floor of the room, while Hermione stepped through portrait hole primly.
"Now really, you two. Grow up a little. I mean, really, it's no way for two young men to behave," she said, removing her scarf.
The two rolled away from each other reluctantly, and Ron rubbed at his shoulder.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm your nanny, rather than your friend," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, a regular Mary Poppins you are," Harry said sarcastically.
Ron laughed; the story of the peculiar witch interacting with Muggles had always been a favorite in his household.
"Mary Poppins?" Draco inquired from the corner, confused.
"Well yes, it's a popular children's story for both Muggle and magical children. Written by a witch, I believe." Hermione explained, looking at Draco peculiarly.
"Never heard of it," he said with a scoff.
"Never heard of it?" Ron said incredulously.
"Well, I AM a Malfoy after all, you don't expect my father would have let me read anything having to do with Muggles…or Muggle relations…" Draco said, a little softly.
Hermione, sensing that Draco did not wish to talk or think of his family, smiled and interjected smoothly.
"Why, I have a wonderful idea of what we can do this evening!"
"What's that Hermione?" Harry asked, amused by the glowing expression on Hermione's face.
"Mary Poppins was not only a book, but a Muggle movie! We can watch it this evening!" she exclaimed triumphantly.
"But…Hermione…it's a Muggle film. How do you expect us to watch it here?" Ron reminded her.
"Don't worry, I'll manage it. You all go to dinner, and when you return, everything will be set."
Hermione strode out of the portrait hole, and looking at each other with a shrug, the three boys walked down to the Great Hall.
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When Harry, Ron, and Draco returned that evening, a rather outstanding sight greeted them.
The wall that housed the fireplace was hidden behind a large projection screen. Four comfortable chairs had been pushed in front of the screen, two on the right of what appeared to be a large projection machine, two on the left.
Bottles of Butterbeer, bins of popcorn, packages of Chocolate Cauldrons and Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour beans lined Hermione's table, which had been cleared of books and placed near the seats.
The projection machine was old and rather dusty. A canister of film had been loaded onto it, and there, standing beside it was Hermione, smiling proudly.
"Hermione, how did you do all this?" Harry asked as Ron and Draco gaped at the set up.
"Why, it's all quite simple, really," she smiled. "The chairs and screen of course, were no work at all. I borrowed the projection machine from Professor McGonagall, she has it to show bits of film on proper wand handling technique in Remedial Transfiguration."
"Then," she continued, "I asked Dobby if he would supply us with food and drink- don't worry, I paid him for helping me out!- and all that was left was to get the film."
"I did, of course, had the book in my trunk. It's one of my favorites. Except, of course, the muggle film is much different from the book, and there is the trouble of it being a musical. Then I remembered that the Cinevite charm allows you to rearrange the contents of a book into a film. I read about it in one of the books here in the Head Library. So, I concentrated very hard on my memories of the musical while performing the charm, and luckily for me, it came out right."
Draco shook his head in amazement at Hermione. "They don't call you the brightest witch of our year for nothing Hermione…Bloody hell, that is one impressive bit of magic."
Ron and Harry, used to (and not particularly interested in) Hermione's long-winded explanations of the various curious spells and charms she learned, had sat down side by side, and had helped themselves to the sweets.
"'Arry ook oi an it our ooghs enmy ouff" Ron said, around the four frogs he had crammed into his mouth.
Hermione sighed, gestured for Draco to take a seat, and opened the side door of the projection machine.
"Incendio!" Hermione said, lighting the candle in the door, and the light flickered on. She tapped the top of the machine with her wand twice, and the film began to roll.
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Draco looked at the blank screen as the last chorus of "Let's Go Fly an Kite!" faded from his hearing.
Harry and Ron had fallen asleep half an hour ago, but Draco had been transfixed by the movie, the cheerful singing and dancing.
He noticed Hermione watching him out of the corner of his eye, and turned to her.
"That was…that was fantastic." He said happily.
She smiled, nodding.
"What was your favorite bit?" she asked
"I really enjoyed the part where they jumped on to the Portkey and went to the countryside. I wish I could do that sometimes, just get away." Draco said.
"That's my favorte bit as well. I love the tap dancing penguins. And Mary's outfit." She said, blushing a little as she though of how lovely the dress was, and how she wished she were as pretty as Julie Andrews.
"Well, we better wake up those two," she said briskly after a pause.
They woke up Ron and Harry, who stumbled off to Gryffindor Tower.
Hermione sat down on the chair with a thud.
"I'm absolutely exhausted. I think I'll clean this al in the morning," she said, surveying the empty food wrappings and cinema set up.
"Oh don't worry about it," Draco said lightly, " I'll pick it up, you go on to bed."
Hermione looked at him in surprise. Had Draco Malfoy, spoiled brat, just offered to clean up the mess they had all made of the common room?
"Go on," he said, "it won't take me long at all."
Smiling gratefully at him, Hermione hurried up the stairs, stopping when Draco called her name.
"Yes?" she answered
"You know…you really are a lot like Mary Poppins, Hermione." he said simply.
She ducked her head, smiling to herself, and hurried into her bedroom.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to update…it's been rather busy around here what with the holiday and all. I sliced my finger open cooking, so the typing has been a bit slow. Also, I've been putting in some research on various spells, charms, plot lines, etc, to make the rest of this story go more smoothly. This was a longer chapter to make up for the wait, I hope you all enjoyed it! Happy Christmas!
Damsel of Distress: I'm glad you like the story so far, I've had fun writing it! In answer to your question, I made Draco suffer because something has to explain his change. I know he is out of character, and I felt there should be a reason behind it. I don't like seeing him hurt either, though!
Rebellion Author: I'm glad you approve of the story so far, I want to make this as plausible a story as possible…Also, I agree with you, the extreme love/hate relationships can get tedious rather quickly.
WritersBlock17, Insignificant-Raindrop, and Mrs. St. John Allerdyce: Thanks for the encouragement! I hope you liked this next bit!
As always, review, review, review! I love to hear what you think!
As always, I do not own Harry Potter, only the storyline of this particular piece.
Elizabeth