Charming

Chapter Six – Something About Mistletoe

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, bar the plot... but you knew that. Enjoy. :)

~oOo~

At the end of class, Hermione asked her two best friends the usual question that followed a piece of assessment. "So, how do you think you went?"

Harry said, "All right. Ernie's almost as bad as – I mean, he's um – he's a bit like you, Hermione. He... studies hard."

Hermione only smiled at that; she knew what he meant.

"You got lucky, mate," said Ron bitterly. "I got stuck with Hannah Abbot, and all she wanted to do was gossip." He put on a high-pitched voice that actually sounded nothing like Hannah's. "Have you heard? Apparently, Blaise and Padma are together! I heard they were caught snogging in a broom cupboard by Daphne Greengrass, but she says they swore they were only kissing because of – something about mistletoe – oh, the Mistletoe Charm! Speaking of, have you heard about that? The Mistletoe Charm, that is. Apparently, Susan was telling me the other day, it's becoming all the rage nowadays – and it's supposed to be all over the Wizarding world! So funny, but apparently people are casting it everywhere, even in Muggle places – for laughs, I suspect – and apparently they caused a right riot when they – the Muggles, that is – started kissing! In the streets! Can you imagine? The Ministry were busy with that, or so my aunty tells me, for ages! Though I'll bet they had a right good laugh about it at the time – I know I would have!"

He dropped back to his normal voice. "I mean, honestly, the girl's a complete nightmare! She didn't even pause to take a breath, I swear she – what are you looking at?"

He scowled at some passing fourth-years before turning back to his friends. Harry was trying to muffle his chuckling with his fist, and even Hermione was visibly trying not to grin.

"Ron," she said, still smiling, "be nice. Hannah's not that bad. But did she ever explain what this Mistletoe Charm actually does?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I made the mistake of asking her that." His voice became high-pitched again as he mimicked, "I can't believe you don't know! Everybody's heard of it! The Mistletoe Charm conjures this gorgeous, sparkly, sort of glowy bunch of magical mistletoe in the air, and to get past it you have to kiss someone! Like what I heard about Blaise and Padma – apparently they were stuck inside this broom cupboard 'cause there was this glowing mistletoe over the door and to get past it they had to snog! What I want to know is how come they were in the broom cupboard to begin with! Oh, it was ever so funny when I heard about it! But anyway, apparently when you stand underneath this mistletoe you get frozen to the spot and the first person to come within three feet of you gets stuck too – and then you have to kiss them or you both stay stuck there forever! Imagine if you got stuck under it with someone really horrible! Wouldn't that be just hilarious to see? And apparently the Ministry are having lots of trouble finding a counter-charm – and since they haven't actually got one yet the only way to undo the Mistletoe is by snogging! Isn't that just droll? Hahahahaha..."

Ron trailed off as they reached the Great Hall for dinner; he seemed somewhat peeved that both his friends were clutching their sides and giggling hysterically. They sat down at their table and he added in his usual register, "It's not funny! I got so sick of her prattling by the end I would've happily Stupefied her if I wasn't sure she'd just keep babbling anyway. Merlin..."

By this time Harry and Hermione had recovered somewhat. Harry shook his head in sympathy with Ron, but the action was less than reassuring considering that he was still grinning like a loon. He turned aside and said, "What about you, Hermione? Must have sucked to be put with Malfoy."

"He didn't try anything funny, did he?" asked Ron. "I wouldn't put it past him to try a sneaky hex or something. In fact, I wouldn't put much past him." He scowled.

Hermione started; she hadn't even really thought about things like that – which was kind of odd, come to think of it. What happened to watching her back? What happened to the old Hermione? Just a few months ago on the train she'd been worried that Malfoy might jinx her when they were alone, and neither of her friends had even thought about it; now, strangely, their roles were reversed.

"Um, no... He didn't try anything at all. It wasn't at all that bad, working with him, actually..." she mused.

"Right nasty piece of work, though, inne?" said Ron, who appeared not to have heard most or all of what Hermione had said. "Don't know why they let Death Eater scum like him back in here. Hogwarts is better off without people like him."

At that point Ginny came over to the eighth years' table, and Harry got up to talk to her.

Hermione turned to Ron. "Don't you think that might be a bit harsh, Ronald?" she said rather sharply. "He might have changed, you know."

Ron's face said it all: he was simply stunned that someone as smart as Hermione would suggest something like Malfoy not being all bad. "Hermione," he said incredulously, "he hasn't changed. He can't." Again with the 'DUH' tone. "You do realise we're talking about Malfoy, right?"

Hermione frowned at him and was just about to say something more when dinner appeared. The hundreds of silver platters spread over the tables were suddenly spilling over with food... and Ron's attention was suddenly far removed from conversation. Seeing that he was beyond retrieval, Hermione sighed and helped herself to some pumpkin juice.

~oOo~

On Monday, Professor Slughorn seated the class in their pairs and handed back their assignments, saying, "On the whole, well done, class. Most of your essays were up to scratch, though there were a few..." – here he cast a significant glance at Ron and Hannah, Hermione noticed – "...that didn't quite meet the mark. Still. Most of you got at least an 'Acceptable'. You've got five minutes to look over your essays and copy down what's on the board before we start brewing Beowulf's Senility Solution; hop to it."

Hermione looked down at her and Draco's essay in front of her before unrolling the parchment just a little apprehensively. On her right, Malfoy sat, impassive and apparently uninterested.

Hermione let out a small squeak of delight and he turned slightly in his chair. "What is it? Tell me you're not going to expire from disappointment if we only got an 'Exceeds Expectations'."

"Actually I think you'll find we did a bit better than that," she bubbled happily, passing him the parchment.

He took it from her and looked down at the essay. A large red O marred the top corner of the page, accompanied by a note in Slughorn's hand. Absolutely outstanding work! I knew I could expect great things from the both of you, Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy! Keep this up and you may gain extra credit at the end of the semester! Jolly well done!

Malfoy almost snorted at the old man's enthusiasm. Slughorn clearly had some sort of a fetish for exclamation marks. He looked up at Hermione, who was positively grinning at him. "What are you smiling at? Isn't this kind of everyday for you?"

She shrugged. "That doesn't mean I can't still take pride in my work."

"Hah! If you took any more pride in your work, your head'd be so puffed-up you wouldn't be able to walk through doorways! What a sight that'd be, Hermione Granger unable to attend class due to the size of her own ego," he almost chuckled.

Hermione laughed brightly, unable to be insulted at that moment. She said, "Draco Malfoy, I do believe that is the first time I have seen a smile on your face in years."

Malfoy started, and realised she was right – his mouth was definitely pulled up at one side, a tell-tale sign of mirth. Mirth? he thought, surprised. I didn't know I still had a sense of humour.

She laughed again, gathering her books. "You might want to consider smiling more often, Draco. It really does something for you." With that she picked up her things and went to sit with Harry and Ron closer to the front of the class, leaving Malfoy with the essay in his hands and a bewildered expression on his face.

Did she just call me Draco? his mind gasped. And… was that a compliment? He just shook his head, and noted in surprise that he was smiling yet again.

~oOo~

Author's Note: I AM SO SO SO SORRY ABOUT BEING AWAY FOR ALL THIS TIME! D: I know I've been on hiatus for a horrendously long time, and I'm truly, truly sorry. :( Unfortunately, my final year of highschool has priority over fanfiction, and it's been a bit crazy, to say the least!

A MASSIVE thank-you to those of you who've stuck with me this far and have been sending me wonderful reviews begging for me to continue. I hope this'll tide you over until the final few months of the year, because I don't expect to get any more writing done before then. I vow that this fic will be finished, though, so hang around and you won't be disappointed.

If you enjoyed this somewhat sporadic update, please leave a review! :D And even if you didn't like it (I know there wasn't a terrible lot of substance to this chapter; it was more of an in-between point in the story, I guess) please leave one anyway. I adore your comments and feedback, good or bad, and I reply to every review I receive!

Thanks again for reading and I'll see you in November or December! :)