Recap: He snorted out a laugh, but stood up anyway. He passed her on his way out, and he whispered unnecessarily in her ear. She shivered as she felt his hot breath on her throat. "You're not that bad a kisser, Granger" he said, and then he was gone.
She stared after him, trying, and failing, to regulate the speed of her beating heart.
Hermione spent most of the day hiding from her beds. She saw Harry and Ginny coming; she ducked into a broom cupboard. And then was late for Charms while she was waiting for them to leave. She spotted Draco's platinum-blond head coming towards her; she took a secret passage to Ancient Runes, and was late for that as well.
Her entire day compromised of mostly this, and she had been late to almost all her classes. She hadn't managed to dodge Harry in the classes they shared, though, so she had spent most of the class not even looking in his direction. Her last class for the day was the one she was dreading, though; Potions.
There was no way she'd be able to avoid Draco, and she shuddered to think what Professor Snape might say if he caught her distracted. They also happened to be Potions partners, so there was no possible way she could avoid talking to Draco, short of not showing up entirely. But there was no way she was doing that; Professor Snape would never let her live it down.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed past the doors to the Potions dungeons. She had been late this time, as well, since she had spent most of the free period hiding from Ginny in the Prefect's Bathroom.
Harry looked at her as she entered, but she looked away. She reluctantly sought out Draco, and stiffly joined him at his table, setting up his equipment.
"Ah, the Golden Girl has finally decided to deign us with her presence" he sneered. "10 points from Gryffindor for being late" he snapped, and then gestured to the board. A set of instructions appeared on the board.
"Today, we will be preparing a very lethal potion, if brewed incorrectly" his eyes swept over the classroom. "We will be brewing Veritaserum. Instructions are on the board. You will test your potion on one of your classmates when an hour is up"
He sat down, and Hermione went to retrieve the ingredients needed, not bothering to talk to Draco. She sat down rigidly and methodically began preparing some of the ingredients while Draco stirred the potion and adjusted the flame. It was a well-practiced routine they had established, since Professor Snape had paired them as Potions partners.
Finally, when the hour was up, Hermione and Draco's table looked like it had the best potion, but Harry and Ron's was a close second. He winked at Hermione while he was supposed to be adding the powdered beetle eyes, and the potion turned a nasty shade of green. Harry salvaged it, though, glaring at Ron.
They all lined up to give Snape their potion, and he examined each with a scornful look on his face. Once everyone was done, he leaned back lazily.
"Now, the classmates on the right will be testing one partner, while the table on the left will be testing the other; there will be one tester and one subject at each table" he said, smirking at them.
Everyone turned to look, and Hermione groaned. On the right was Harry and Ron's table. The left was Dean Tomas and Pansy Parkinson, but Hermione was more worried about Ron.
Draco turned to her. "I'll take the potion if you want" he offered, but Hermione shook her head.
"No. That'll just show Ron I've got something to hide, and he'll think it's about him" she said, gritting her teeth. "And it might be Harry testing me" she added hopefully
On the right table, Harry and Ron were arguing over who would test their table. Before they came to a decision, Snape called them all to test their potions now.
Most of the potions worked, and she was betting a few people were regretting it. Seamus had admitted he had a crush on Professor McGonagall, and Justin Flinch-Fletchity had said he had once kissed Pansy on a dare, and enjoyed it.
Finally, it was Hermione and Draco's turn. Hermione stood up first, trying to conceal her shaking hands. Immediately, Ron jumped up, and Snape gestured for him to come forward before Harry could tug him back down.
"Ah, the dunderhead and the golden girl" Snape sneered, handing the potion to Hermione. "Weasely, you may ask five questions before the effects wear off"
Hermione drowned the flask in one gulp without looking at Ron. She really had her doubts about doing this, considering the last time she was involved with Veritaserum.
Ron looked her up and down in an obvious manner, and leered at her. She fought the urge to slap him.
"How do you feel about me, Hermione?" he asked in a tone that suggested he already knew the answer.
Hermione felt smug at the fact he would be publicly rejected. Maybe now he would finally take no for an answer.
"I would rather trust Professor Snape than you, Ronald. I border on hating you, and I will never consider you in a romantic light as long as I have my own mind." That was all she wanted to say, but the potion made her go on. She was beginning to regret their perfectly-made potion. "I cannot see a situation where I will ever trust you, and if you continue to harass me, then you will never be my friend again, either. If you do continue to act as you have done recently, then I plan to curse you in a very unfriendly way"
There. She struggled to keep her mouth shut before she told exactly what she would do, and to her relief, her mind won out. But there were still four more questions to go.
Hermione watched as Ron's face twisted angrily, and then relax slightly. "But you did like it when we were together" he smirked.
"No" she said truthfully, the Veritaserum interpreting his words as a question. "I never felt any passion for you, and I've never felt more for you than a brother."
"Why?" he barked out, his face twisting again with rage.
Another answer spilled from her lips before she could stop it. "Because even before we kissed, I always thought of you as a brother. I believe you are pig-headed and insensitive, but I thought that maybe I could grow to love you. I knew I was wrong after a few weeks, and I was trying to figure out how to tell you when you cheated on me" she said, the potion ignoring her attempts to stifle the flow of words. She heard a few gasps around the room, and a small murmur of conversation.
Two questions left. Her answers had taken long, though, so maybe the effects would wear off before he could ask the question she was dreading.
"Who, then! Who do you love?" he snarled, and everyone seemed hinged on her answer.
She clapped her hand over her mouth to stop the truth, but he grabbed her wrist, dragging it away from her mouth. Draco leapt up, his eyes glittering with hatred and concern, and suddenly Ron was blasted forcefully through the room.
Draco advanced to stand in front of her protectively, but the rest of the class was staring at Hermione, agape. In the brief moment that Ron had managed to pry her hand from her mouth, an answer had slipped from her lips.
"Draco Malfoy"
Um, yeah, soo…. I know, I'm a slow updater. Going on a holiday soon, so no updates then. Doubt I'd be updating anyway, I'm lousy at this stuff.
Still, for anyone that's still reading this, I'll update.
On another note: BETA NEEDED, PEOPLE! Seriously, most of the time I type during the night, so my brain ends up being mushed, and then when I check it later it has lots of errors.