"Why would you ask for my help? Go ask your little lapdogs."
"They wouldn't understand. I need help…" Hermione trailed off. She looked down at the floor. Her heart was racing, but she couldn't comprehend why. This was Malfoy. Oh, right. If he didn't want to help her he could hold it against her. Tell everyone what she wanted. She inhaled deeply.
"Well, I'm waiting." She looked up at Malfoy, who was lying there staring at her. He was confused, but not showing it, and Hermione could tell.
"I need you to help me be more…" She paused, trying to find the right words.
"Tolerable?"
"No! More…unpredictable. Or more spontaneous. I'm tired of everyone, including you, thinking I'm so predictable! That they can come to me and ask me for something and they already know I'll do it for them!" Hermione said, her face red. She looked up from her feet to Malfoy. He was smirking.
"I don't think I can help you. I don't think I want to. But I'll tell you this, if you want to quit being so predictable, then stop doing predictable things. Do things you wouldn't normally do." He said, "Now. Get out of my room, it's bad enough you interrupted my blowjob, now you're in here trying to have a conversation with me."
"I… I was not." She replied, turning on her heel and got out of the room as quickly as she could.
The conversation didn't help Hermione much, but it did give her something to think about as she slid into her bubble bath. The peppermint scent tingled her senses. She played with the bubbles for a minute as she went over the conversation in her mind again.
"What the hell did he mean, don't be so predictable?!" Hermione glared over at Crookshanks, who was sleeping on the floor beside the door, "How do you know when you're being predictable? I mean, it's not like I think about everything I do, I just do it."
Crookshanks opened his eyes slightly at her, giving her the unpleasant cat stare. She smiled at him, but then frowned, remembering her dilemma. Her forehead creased as she tried to think. She was the smartest student in the school, how difficult could it be to figure out how to not be predictable? She didn't understand. How could she achieve her goal, without changing everything? She slowly sat upright.
"That's it. Being unpredictable means that I need to just stop being myself…" She said softly. Crookshanks shook his head, then lifted his leg to scratch an itch. Hermione slid back down into the water, smiling at her epiphany.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall the next morning, with stares on her back and whispers trailing behind her. She turned her head to the side, to glare at a couple of kids staring at her, and noticed Harry and Ron doing the same. She rolled her eyes and made her way over to them, ignoring the people who were glued to their tracks when she walked by.
"Hey, guys." She said, plopping down in-between them, and reaching out in front of her to grab a piece of toast.
"Uh, hi, 'Mione." Harry said. Ron was speechless.
Ginny just smiled at her friend, and at the courage she knew it took to make such a transformation. The sight was enough to make guys drool, and a few girls, too.
Hermione straightened her hair all he way down to her back, the same as it had been the night of the Masquerade ball. She wore a black button up shirt with her uniform skirt, a red tie was loose around her collar and the buttons on her shirt were left unbuttoned to where her cleavage was an object of conversation between the young men. Her skirt was pulled a little higher exposing the skin of her legs to the world, her black heels emphasizing the curves her legs even as she stood still. Ron's speechlessness continued all the way through breakfast.
Hermione's change had been the topic of conversation all morning and the ones who were effected the most were the two boys closest to her. But their reactions weren't as nearly monumental as Malfoys had been. Especially since Ron couldn't talk and Harry just seemed a little taken aback for about ten minutes.
Hermione walked into the Head Boys' room after breakfast, carrying a tray of liquids for him. He opened his eyes, and reached for the medicine himself. She grabbed the syringe away from him and gave him the release from the pain that he needed, and as soon as she did, his thoughts cleared and his mind was able to process what he was seeing. Granger was bending over, her cleavage in view, reading the medicine names from the bottles.
Malfoy blinked once.
He blinked twice.
And he blinked a third time.
Then a thought smacked him so hard that he had to turn his head to the side. She is hot. Granger is actually sexy. He shook his head to make the thought retire, but it lingered as he turned back to see her opening a pill bottle.
"So, I see that you took the advice. How many blundering idiots enjoyed watching your mudblood tail swish around under that skirt?" Hermione was offended, but she knew that she should have only expected as much from Malfoy. She sent him a glare and continued picking out the pills for him to take.
"First of all, don't offend or anger the person who is administering your medication. Secondly, nobody was affected by my quote, unquote, tail. Besides, no one can see that part, my skirt isn't that short. It's just above the knee, that's only two inches higher than the normal uniform skirts." Hermione corrected him and then handed him his morning medicine. He glared at her once then took it, handing her the water cup and turning to his bowl of "food". After this was over he was going to need a steak. Malfoy glanced over at Hermione as she bent over to pick up something off the floor and realized that she was right about the length, but wrong about what people could see. As she bent over the skirt rose and the backs of her thighs were visible. Nicely tanned and tight. Malfoy bit his lip to keep a comment from escaping his mouth. Not that it was a bad insult, it was that it was a sexual compliment, and Malfoys do not compliment Mudbloods. On anything.
As Malfoy continued his inner battle against the thoughts about Hermione, she stood up, placing the used syringe in the trash. She turned to watch him glare into his broth, and then she walked to the other side of the bed. His head jerked up when he felt the bed move slightly and realized she was sitting beside him, legs to the side, skirt smoothed out over them, and turned so she was facing him.
"What are you doing Granger?" He asked, blinking as she began to remove the blanket from over his arm. The cast was plain white, and the pieces of skin she could see were bruised. Hermione slid the blanket down further to get a look at his chest. She absentmindedly noticed how tight his muscles were and how gorgeous he was as she registered how many bandages she counted across his side. She went to go move the blanket further, but Malfoys hand caught hers and she moved her face to see him, "What are you doing, Granger?" he growled this time. She blushed when she realized what he must have been thinking.
"I was-"
"I am not going to be your little "unpredictable" fuck." Malfoy stated.
Hermione blinked once.
Then twice.
Then a third time.
And the laughter shook her. Malfoy glared. No woman had ever laughed at the thought of being with him before. His anger rose and he could feel himself growing hot.
"You, really thought that's what I was wanting to do? Are you crazy?" She fought to control her laughter to force the words out, "I was checking your bandages. I have to change them sometime, you know! Why would I ever want to sleep with you?!"
"You do have a point, there. Why would you want to unpredictably fuck me, when you've already done that with someone once this week?" His words made the laughter catch in her throat. She looked at the bed, and could feel her barrier start to break down. Before two seconds passed she noticed a tear drop to the comforter she was sitting on, "There you go, Granger. Cry. Always so predictable, our little Mudblood."
And that was the final straw. The final sentence that broke her. Broke her into a million little pieces that were impossible to glue back together. She stood up slowly, and made her way over to Malfoy, taking his tray of broth away in utter defeat.
Hermione did everything she was supposed to do for the next week. She gave Malfoy his medicine, tended to his wounds, and brought him food. As she did, she never spoke one word to him, and locked out anything he said to her. As much as she hated to admit, his words had hurt her. They made her feel like a slut, so that when she left his room that day, she buttoned her shirt up, and tried to pull her skirt down some.
Malfoy enjoyed not having to do anything for that one week. The pain however, was another story and he tried to do anything her could to not think about it. He called for Parkinson often. He also enjoyed having the Mudblood watch over him. He believed it put her in her right place, and the fact that after that day she never once spoke a word to him made the situation all the more better. He noticed her change from the predictable girl, to the unpredictable girl, and then back into the predictable girl. He knew his words harmed her, and this brought a pleasure that made him smile.
It was the very last day of Hermione's duties. She only had to deal with him two more times this day, and then Madam Promfrey would return and everything would be in the past, and she could continue her normal routine of avoiding Malfoy every chance she got.
She walked into his dark room and lit a candle by the bed, casting a glow on the sleeping boy. She then considered if it was right to call him a boy or a man. He was almost 17 and would be considered a man in the wizarding world, but his mindset was that of a seven year old. His taunting and teasing were always on his list of favorite things to do and he never once gave up the chance to do it. This thought made her glare at the, just now decided, boy, and found his medicines, which she had, one day while he was in the bathroom, arranged by what time he had to take them.
Hermione opened the curtains loudly and let the sunlight shine through the windows and Malfoy opened one eye, and if possible, glared at her, then closed his eye again. He despised waking up to her every morning. As she began to tie the cloth around his upper arm, he realized he was cold, and the warmth of her fingers felt good on his cold skin. He then cast the thought out of his mind as she gave him the shot. His mind once again felt that release and he sighed audibly. It was content and happy and he smiled as he did so.
Hermione blinked at the boy as he sighed and smiled. She couldn't remember a time where he was smiling out of happiness, instead of the smirk that constantly plastered his face. She poked him on the arm and he opened his eyes, and she just handed him his morning pills, then a cup of water. He downed them quickly and handed the cup back. Hermione placed it on the table and turned to walk out, but Malfoys voice stopped her.
"Granger, have I ever told you what a wonderful house-elf you'd make?"
Yet again the words that came out of his mouth made her blood boil. She could hear him smirk. She turned on her heal, walked calmly over to his bedside, and began to hit him. In the face.
His good hand caught her arm, but her other hand was free to hit him all she wanted as he yelled at her. He tightened his grip on her wrist, but it didn't phase her any and she began slapping him. He tried to bite her, but she just smacked him harder. Finally she began to calm down, and tears began to fall as she dropped to the side of the bed. Malfoy kept his grip on her arm until he was sure that she wasn't going to continue her assault. He glanced down at her and realized that she was sitting with her forehead resting on her brought up knees, and she was sobbing. Crying to the point that her body was shaking and her breath was rigid.
She let it all go and forgot about where she was, and who she was with. Malfoy was totally forgotten as she let out her frustrations and fears, all packed into those tiny little tears forming wet spots on her pajama pants.
"Granger, will you shut up already?" Malfoy said after about five minutes.
Her face emerged, and he grimaced. Her face was red and her brown eyes were sad and confused. He forgot about his anger for one moment.
"What is your fucking problem?" He questioned.
"Everything." She said in a small voice barely audible.
"Will you just get over it?" He said, his voice getting louder, "So what if you fucked yourself over?! So what! You had a one night stand and now your life is over? Where's that know-it-all that everyone has drown to hate! Your life is not over and you should know that, you idiot! Nut the fuck up and deal with it. Your so called life is no where near as bad as some other peoples' lives." His voice was loud and harsh now and she felt a single tear escape from her right eye. Malfoy glared at it and sighed.
"You don't know what you're talking about." She replied in that tiny voice. Malfoys' anger had reached its peak. He reached down and pulled her up by one arm, and she gasped to draw in breath. He held her in place and bit his tongue as he slowly lifted his other arm and pulled the covers off of him down to his hips and he rolled over slightly.
Hermiones' breath hitched in her throat as she registered what she was seeing. Scars trailed down his back, brilliant white against his already pale skin. Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. Why was he showing her this?
"Next time you go thinking that your life is bad, compare it to mine." He spat, "Growing up in a household full of dark wizards isn't exactly fun."
Hermione instantly felt stupid for her outburst. Her breathing returned.
"I-I'm sorr-"
"Don't." He growled. He rolled back over. His eyes were distant and his face hid all emotions, "Just get out."
I know I haven't written anything in forever, and I just rediscovered the original files of my story and I apologize. I'm going to be writing more and more, so don't worry. I hope you enjoy.
-Twilight-in-Winter-
