An Honest Face – Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Okay, so by now you know I don't own it... at least, I hope you do. If you don't, count your sandwiches and check to see whether you've got the full picnic. :P

~oOo~

Hermione didn't stop running until she was three floors above where she'd left Malfoy. Clutching the stitch in her side and breathing hard, she walked on more slowly as she tried to gather her thoughts. Foremost in her mind was a hysterical voice screaming, What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck! She ran a hand over her face. Hermione Granger didn't normally swear, not even in her own head, so you knew something was up when she did.

Okay, I've got to try to be rational about this, she told herself. Easier said than done; she found it hard to be coherent with so much running through her head. I need to think of a motive. What could possibly have made him... do that? Why would he? He must be under a spell. But then who's bewitched him? Why? To what end? And what spell? I can't think of any spell that would cause someone to want to kiss one of their worst enemies. The Imperius? No, the Ministry's put a Taboo on that one, so it can't be. What in the name of Merlin's baggiest Y-fronts is going on? How can this be happening? He never answered any of my questions either. What does he know? What is up to and why! Argh!

She was so distracted everything going through her head that she didn't notice she'd stopped in front of the Gryffindor portrait door until the Fat Lady coughed and said icily, "Well, are you going to stand there all day or give me the password?"

Hermione looked up in surprise. "Sorry," she mumbled, still distracted. "Serpentis bemanus." The Fat Lady nodded and swung inwards to admit her.

Usually the common room was all but empty at this time of day, but as luck would have it, among the few people there were Harry, Ron and Ginny. They were sitting at a table near a window, actually doing their homework for once. As she walked towards them, she was almost shocked at the normalcy of it all. She felt as though the image of peace and regularity all around her was an illusion, as though it was transparently obvious that something big had just happened to her. Surely it was written clearly on her face?

Reflexively, she wiped a hand across her mouth, as though the message 'MALFOY JUST KISSED ME HERE' she felt must be printed there could be erased by the action. But there was apparently no evidence of her latest unwelcome escapade to be seen; Ron looked up as she approached and smiled goofily at her as he always did.

"Hey, Hermione! C'mere. Where've you been?" he said, but it was clear that he didn't really expect an answer. It was then that she realised she couldn't tell Ron, Harry or anyone else about what had just happened. Especially in their current mindsets, they certainly wouldn't understand. Then Ron pulled her in for a kiss. It wasn't exactly unexpected, but she was more than a bit distracted, and so when Ron's lips came down on hers, she jerked back in surprise, reminded vividly of that other recent incident.

"What? What is it?" he asked concernedly.

She recovered herself. "No, nothing, Ron. Sorry. I was just... thinking of something else." And she leaned back in. But as Ron kissed her, she couldn't help comparing her boyfriend to Malfoy and the way he'd kissed her in the corridor. Sure, she had all of the two seconds to go on, hardly enough to base a comparison on, but a tiny voice inside her head stubbornly insisted, Ron's not much of a kisser, is he? She pushed it away and tried to think only of her boyfriend, here and now.

Familiar, sweet, loving, regular...

...predictable, boring. That damned little voice again.

I've got to stop this! she told herself firmly. I have to figure out what Malfoy's up to. She pulled away from Ron and, excusing herself, went upstairs to her room. She'd meant to go and get her Arithmancy homework and return to the common room, but when she got to her dorm all she could do was sink down on her bed.

The weirdest situation ever, and she couldn't even tell her friends about it, lest they take it the wrong way – as she knew they would – and thought that she was actually getting it on with Malfoy or something! She could see the situation clearly in her mind's eye. "Um, hey guys, the thing is, Malfoy just kissed me." Oh yeah, that would go down well. She could see Harry's face as she screamed at her about trust and enemies, and Ron's look of absolute disgust as he yelled about betrayal and deliberately consorting with the enemy.

Both of her best friends understandably felt strongly about 'good and evil', but when they got worked up about that, it was nigh on impossible to calm them down or make them see reason. She closed her eyes. No, she'd rather not face Harry's CAPSLOCK-Y temper or Ron's apoplectic rage if she could help it. She couldn't tell anyone.

Tomorrow, I'll figure it out by myself, she vowed silently. If only it were that easy.

~oOo~

A week later and she still had nothing. She'd thought long and hard about it all – well, not all; she'd deliberately avoided dwelling on the scene in the corridor – and even researched some spells in the library, but she was no further towards discovering the reason behind Malfoy's seemingly out-of-character behaviour than before.

It was, in a word, hopeless.

And now he's looking at me again, she noted in Potions as she reached for a container of armadillo bile. Malfoy was indeed staring at her over his cauldron, trademark smirk on his face. Hermione looked a question at him, something that she hoped came across as a furious, Why are you bloody staring at me, ferret? He simply twitched an eyebrow in response and she shot him her deadliest glare of disgust back. She'd had well and truly enough of being assaulted by those cold grey eyes, and she was sick of his games. Games were no fun if you had no idea what was going on.

She turned back to her potion – and a ball of parchment hit her in the side of the head. Picking it up, she looked around, but no one seemed to have noticed. She straightened it out and read the message, written in what could only be Malfoy's handwriting.

After class, same place.

He could only mean the corridor. She looked up sharply, but he only smirked at her some more. Narrowing her eyes at him, she mouthed, "So be it."

~oOo~

A/N: Well, it was going to be longer, but this is already at chapter length. You'll just have to wait… and I promise you'll hear more about Malfoy soon, rather than just Hermione. I've already got part of chapter 4 written, so that'll hopefully be up quicker than this chapter was. Make me happy and drop a review! :D