Work of the Prumples

Authors Note: Hope you enjoy. This one's a lot longer!

Disclaimer: It's all J. K. Rowlings.

The next morning at breakfast, Hermione was munching on toast with jam when Ron cleared his throat.

"Ahem" He said, reminiscently of Umbridge.

Hermione froze and stared at Harry who dropped Ron's Daily Prophet that had just been delivered and which he'd been reading, he was stunned. Ron never cleared his throat to talk while eating. Ever.

"Hermione, I insist that you and I be partners in Potions. Goyle and Pansy can blow up the dungeon together if they like, but he creeps me out" Ron said angrily.

Hermione did some fast thinking before responding.

"Ron, I know that you're worried about me but honestly, Goyle is no harm, he just sits there, grunting away to himself about food. I can handle it"

"Then why were you two talking yesterday?" Ron asked pointing over at the Slytherin table with his fork.

"Because… because he'd asked me what my favourite dinner was. He is a bit gone in the head in my opinion but seriously Ron, do you think I can't take care of myself with Goyle? Merlin, you think I'm that incapable?" Hermione said, regrettably, pulling out the guilt trip card.

"No, that's not it. I just… never mind… I'll stick with Parkinson" Ron said stuffing a sausage into his mouth. Then he got up and left. Hermione looked at Harry.

"Why's he odd? He just wanted to get away from Pansy!" She asked.

"I know that, but, you don't think you should go apologise about snapping at him?"

"No Harry. I don't. I didn't snap at him" Hermione snapped at Harry.

Harry decided against correcting Hermione, so they finished eating and headed off to Charms class in silence.

After class Ron still wasn't talking to Hermione and Hermione wasn't talking to him or Harry. So at lunch there was quite a tense atmosphere.

"Harry, when's the next Quidditch practise?" Ron asked his best friend, ignoring Hermione. They purposely talked about Quidditch when they weren't talking to Hermione, because they knew it annoyed her.

"Friday. But its tryouts, we need a new chaser, since Katie's gone" Harry replied.

Suddenly their exclusion of Hermione was interrupted when she received two letters.

"Bit late for mail isn't it?" Harry asked.

Hermione ignored him and opened the first envelope. The writing was curly, but she could tell it had been written by a guy, call it a woman's intuitive. It read-

Hermione,

I know this is late for mail so tell your friends when you're done it's just something from the Daily Prophet for advertising. I just wanted to thank you in advance for helping me. I know it's hard for you, seeing as we were arch enemies until yesterday, but I want you to know I'm no Goyle. And I hope the second letter you'll receive won't be too violent!

Your friend,

Greg.

"What is it? Who's it from? What does it say?" Ron demanded.

"Overprotective much?" Harry sniggered.

"It's just a rubbish advertising letter from the Daily Prophet, since I've stopped ordering it they keep plaguing me with letters about new stuff they sponsor, I think I'll have to sign up for it again, just to stop these!" Hermione said irritably. Ron then forgot about the other letter and went back to ignoring Hermione and talking about Quidditch with Harry. Hermione opened the second letter. The writing was beautiful but the content wasn't, it read-

Mudblood,

I am being watched by Greg and forced to write you, like you said yesterday. Trust me, if I had my way, this would've been a howler with Longbottom's voice. Greg says we should meet at the library halfway through dinner tonight. Please come with some sort of anti-mudblood spray. I don't want your mudblood-ness on me.

Yours Hatefully,

D.M

Hermiones was livid, how dare he say those things to her, they were meant to be working together to help Greg, and here he was, confessing his hatred, just like he'd done in the corridor when they'd passed each other between classes. She glared at the paper with such pure and utter hatred that to everyone's surprise, including her own, it burst into flames. After a few seconds it was just a pile of ash next to her soup.

"Mione, what did the second letter say?" Ron asked fiercely. Hermione suddenly had the massive urge to tell him the truth but she knew she couldn't.

"That the stupid Daily Prophet would continue to write me unless I signed up"

"I'll tell dad-" Ron started.

"No Ron, I don't need your help. I don't want your help. I can sort this out myself" Hermione nearly shouted at him. He looked really hurt and Harry was shocked. Hermione stood up and left, grabbing the first letter. As she did so she caught Malfoys eye. He looked scared and slightly impressed. Greg mouthed to her-

"He saw you burn the letter with just hate!" He winked too.

Hermione smirked at him as she left the Great Hall. She waited outside the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom. She could hear what sounded like a stampede approaching after awhile and knew lunch was over. Hermione entered the classroom and sat by herself; she felt bad about freaking out to Ron and Harry but couldn't face them yet. After that they had History of Magic. Hermione took notes; she knew that her friends would need them. Finally Hermione decided she had to apologise to Harry and Ron. But they'd left straight away. She knew they'd be in the Great Hall. So Hermione ran after them. Five minutes later, she found herself in the Great Hall that was fast filling up with hungry students. Hermione ran up to her two best friends as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. She took a deep breath before starting her apology.

"Ron, Harry, I am so sorry for the way I've acted today. The… Daily Prophet is just getting on my nerves, but I've sorted it out now and I just hope that you can forgive me for being such a… banshee all day! I took all my anger out on you when it wasn't your fault, you had nothing to do with it and I'm sorry… again" Hermione said nervously, twisting her fingers. Harry grinned at her and she knew he'd forgiven her, she grinned back. Hermione looked at Ron. He stood up, his face was impassive.

"Ron, I'm sorry. I know that I shouldn't have-" But she broke off because Ron had wrapped his arms around her and given her a big hug. He'd never been this forward before and Hermione hugged him back, after awhile her knees started to buckle. Ron was finally hugging her! He let go and sat down, then he grinned up at her before he started eating. Hermione blushed and put her head down as she sat down and started eating. A few people had noticed and wolf-whistled. Hermione caught Harry's eye, he had a look in his eye and had a knowing look on his face. Hermione ignored him and then things resumed to normal. She ate fast though; she had to meet up with Malfoy in five minutes. Looking over at the Slytherin table, Hermione saw an empty space next to Greg, Malfoy was already gone. She had to leave now. Hermione stood up and before the guys could ask anything, she said- "Library"

"But why?" Ron asked, his mouth full.

"S.P.E.W" she replied, remembering her house elves support group. Ron and Harry groaned as Hermione ran from the Great Hall.

She raced to the library and was panting when she pushed through the heavy oak doors. She was not going to let Malfoy hate her for being late on top of everything else.

"Shhh" Madame Pince scolded. Hermione ignored her and set off searching for Malfoy. She found him, at the back of the massive library. He was sitting on a table and glaring at her.

"What? I'm only a few minutes late! Not even, you were early." Hermione growled. She put her bag down, crossed her arms and glared straight back at him.

"Did you bring the anti-mudblood spray?" Malfoy taunted.

"No, I brought the anti-egotistical spray. I didn't want any of your ego on me"

He glared even harder.

"I can't believe I'm secretly meeting with a mudblood. If people knew…" Malfoy said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Yeah, well people don't. Can you imagine what they'd think of me if I was seen with you?" Hermione said scathingly.

"How's the Weasel anyway? You should've brought an anti-weasel spray, considering you're full of that stench since your hug" Malfoy smirked.

"Oh, and what's your cologne? Eau de slut? Pansy style?" Hermione retorted. Malfoy continued to glare at her. She was quite happy with her reply, she never could get good come backs most of the time.

After awhile, Hermione broke the silence. "We need to focus on Greg and Luna. Not ourselves" She said quietly, avoiding his gaze.

Without saying a word he sat down at the table he'd been sitting on. Hermione sat opposite him. She took out some parchment and a quill. She wrote Greg & Luna in the centre of the sheet and looked up at Malfoy.

"Any ideas?" Hermione asked.

"Get him to be her secret admirer with letters, chocolates, flowers- the works. Girls love that stuff" He replied stiffly. Hermione was about to point out that Pansy wasn't a girl, but kept it in and said instead-

"Luna's not your normal girl. She won't fall for that. Plus it's so un-original"

"Well what, in your mind, is 'original' then?" He asked her.

"A makeover – on Greg, to de-Goyle him"

"Then he'd have to be smart and he doesn't want everyone knowing!" Malfoy protested on behalf of his friend.

"I know that. I have a plan. I go to Hogsmeade with Luna and you go with Greg, but I'll make him over. He'll look totally unlike Goyle and he can sweep Luna off her feet. We'll give him a false name; say he's one of the locals. Then they can correspond and eventually he can reveal himself as Greg!"

Malfoy stared at her. "I like my idea better" He finally replied.

"Well I prefer mine"

"Yours sucks"

"Not as much as yours"

They turned away from each other and endured a thirty minute silence. Then Malfoy broke it.

"Maybe we should think up more ideas. Then see what ones Greg wants" He said awkwardly. Hermione turned back to face him. He stared at her then looked away and with a great struggle said, "We can have yours on the list too, it's not the worst idea I've ever heard" Hermione, for some reason respected him, for around five seconds. He was negotiating with his enemy, to help his friend; it was more than Hermione could've done. She hated him too much. So they got back to brainstorming.

"A flower with meaning! Like, when he's talked to her, say, as the plan I said earlier, he could give her Forget-me-nots. How romantic is that?" Hermione asked.

Malfoy gagged and made retching noises.

"Maybe a Love Bird then?" Hermione suggested.

"Meh… what about jewellery?" Malfoy asked.

"Bit soon, don't you think? First meeting and all" Hermione said dismissively.

"A secret meeting in the Astronomy tower?" Malfoy wondered.

"Creepy. It screams rapist!" Hermione shivered.

It carried on like this, the suggestions getting weirder and weirder until Hermione glanced at a clock and saw it was eleven o clock.

"Argh! I'm dead! Gryffindor is on the other side of the school, if I don't get caught it will be a miracle!" She said as she packed everything up.

"You're such a wimp Granger. Afraid of Filch!" Malfoy said as he watched her fret.

"Would a wimp have been able to fight the Death Eaters? Something you've never done" Hermione retorted. Malfoy shut his mouth after that. Hermione glared at him as she swung her bag over her shoulder. She ran to the doors but it was locked. Malfoy who'd run behind her hadn't noticed she'd stopped so he collided with her and knocked her to the floor. He was lying on top of her. Hermione couldn't breathe. She looked up at Malfoy who was staring down at her. Something flickered in his eyes but she blinked and it was gone.

"Get off me Mudblood" He whispered in a deadly voice.

"You're on top of me Malfoy. I can't breathe" Hermione said breathlessly.

Malfoy jumped to his feet and wiped what could only be "Mudblood-ness" off his clothes.

"Why did you stop Granger?" He asked.

"The doors locked. Give me a second" Hermione said, she took out her wand and cast Alohamora. It opened. She guessed that it was easier to open from the inside than the outside. And they tumbled out of the door. Malfoy pulled it shut behind him and they heard a click as it locked again. Hermione headed off in the direction of Gryffindor tower.

"Hey Granger" Malfoy called after her, she turned around, "Maybe invest in some breath mints!" He said as he turned away, smirking.

"Hey Malfoy, lay off the chocolate frogs!" Hermione said, grinning evilly. She turned on her heel and left Malfoy alone outside the library.

"Screw the Mudblood! She got the last word… again!" He whined to himself before setting off for the Slytherin dungeons.

--------------------

Next morning Hermione was last down to breakfast, she was too tired.

"Where were you last night?" Harry asked as she sat down and helped herself to some porridge.

"Library… I really wanted to start things off again with S.P.E.W and I guess I got carried away. Sorry"

"Jeez 'Mione, you look worse than death and it's only Wednesday!" Ron said as he looked up from his bacon and eggs.

"Wow. Thanks for that Ron" Hermione said distractedly.

"No problem" He said, his mouth full again. Hermione and Harry rolled their eyes. Mail came and Hermione ate her porridge hungrily, she was lost in thought.

"HERMIONE!" Ron roared into her ear. She jerked back to reality.

"What is it?" She asked shocked.

"You've got mail" He said, "I think you should unsubscribe to the Daily Prophet" Harry nodded in agreement and they stared talking about Quidditch again- what else?!

Hermione stared at her letter. She gingerly opened the white envelope. It was familiar writing. It read-

Hermione,

Meet M behind the tapestry of the troll on the second floor. During History of Magic. Thanks.

Your friend,

Greg

Hermione tucked the letter away. She'd never purposely skipped class. Ever. What would Greg want with her at that time? It was second class. She resumed her porridge with a confused mind. She glanced at the Slytherin table and Greg was avoiding her, she looked at Malfoy, he was chatting to Pansy. Pig, Hermione thought to herself. Breakfast continued on.

"…Hogsmeade we'll go to Zonkos… need to do market research for Fred and George" Ron was saying.

"Hogsmeade?" Hermione interrupted, "When?"

"Saturday" Ron said before continuing on with his plan. Then the Great Hall emptied and everyone headed off to class.

Hermione couldn't sit still. Should she go meet Greg or not? She sat through transfiguration, not even getting annoyed when Ron and Harry resumed their Hangman game. The bell rang and Hermione had made up her mind. She zoomed out of the class first and ran as fast as she could to the second floor. Hermione pulled back the tapestry of the troll and stepped behind it. There was a door. How come this wasn't on the Marauders map? she thought to herself. She opened it and stepped inside.

"Greg?" She called out.

Someone laughed in the dark room. "No, guess again"

"Malfoy?!" Hermione screeched.

"The one and only"

"B-b-but in the letter Greg said 'Meet me…' and it's you" Hermione protested.

"No, he actually said 'Meet M' as in Malfoy. You thought he'd spelt me wrong or something!"

"Okay. But why do you want to meet me in a freaky room?"

"To talk" Came his voice from nearby.

"Malfoy, I've never cut class for any reason except for a sickness"

"Well, now you have"

"But-"

"Look, Greg… likes your idea best. The makeover idea" Malfoy said begrudgingly.

Hermione smiled, she'd known he would.

"So we need to make him over by Saturday" She said.

"If that's possible, yes" Malfoy agreed.

"Malfoy, where did this room come from?"

"I conjured it"

"How?" Hermione was astounded. He was very talented. No, he's spiteful, horrible Malfoy, He's not talented. She corrected herself.

"You just mix a placement spell and an enlargement spell together. Easy"

"I read about that now I think of it" Hermione muttered, to no one in particular. Another of the many silences they shared filled the small room.

"Why are we in a dark room, alone?" Hermione asked quietly.

Malfoy laughed, "Because I don't want to be seen with you, duh!"

It was weird. It was like they were forgetting the hatred and mocking it instead. They were opening up to one another.

"Well I've got a reputation to uphold you know" Hermione joked.

"You'd only lose that reputation if you were seen without a book!" Malfoy laughed.

Then they got back on topic.

"So, um, will I make him over, or do you want to?" Hermione asked.

"I think I should do it, seeing as I'm handsome and desirable when you are neither" He drawled.

"Yeah, well, I do have the Yule Ball to my credit" Hermione replied huffily. Malfoy stayed quiet. "We could both do it, you could dress him and I work on his hair and his walk and whatnot"

"That would work" Malfoy agreed. They left the room and the door disappeared, "Its only temporary" he explained. So they stood behind the troll tapestry. It was a very confined space. Hermione looked up at him.

"Just think" she started, "By Sunday this will all be over and we can go back to hating one another until the other dies!"

"I can't wait" Malfoy replied sarcastically, Hermione could feel him roll his eyes.

"Well… I better go" She whispered.

"Me too" Malfoy whispered back. They stood, staring at one another in the feeble light the tapestry let through. "I thought you were leaving?" he asked, smirking.

"I am" Hermione gulped.

"You're not moving" Malfoy commented still smirking.

"I thought you were leaving" Hermione said, the closeness was becoming too much, why couldn't she move?

"I am" He replied. Why the hell can't I move? Brain, tell legs to walk away from the girl. Just walk away…Malfoy thought to himself.

"You're not moving either!" Hermione pointed out.

Malfoy leaned towards her but as he did so the tapestry was pulled back.

"ARGH" Hermione screeched, covering her eyes, elbowing Malfoy in the process. She wasn't used to the strong sunlight that blinded her. Her eyes adjusted before Malfoys and she saw they were barely an inch from one another. She quickly stepped into the corridor, stumbling into Greg.

"So, what were you two doing?" He asked grinning madly.

"Talking about your bloody makeover" Malfoy cursed as he shielded his eyes with one hand and rubbed his stomach with the other muttering, "Shit that hurt" as he did so.

"Really? Did that have to involve such closeness?" Greg continued.

"It does when there's no space behind a stupid tapestry" Hermione grumbled.

Malfoy stumbled out aswell and found himself next to Hermione. He looked down at her as she talked to Greg about the plans for Saturday. He'd never noticed the fact her hair shone bright in sunlight, the way her hair seemed to have a million different tones to it. He shoo his had adn glared at her hair. She looked up at him, and then stepped away.

"What?" She asked, scared.

"You have dandruff" Malfoy announced randomly.

Hermione glared at him. "I guess your hair hides yours then" She replied coolly.

Greg's grin slid off his face as they returned to arguing.

"At least I don't have a bush on my head" Malfoy glared.

"And your hair… what colour do you call that? Radioactive?" Hermione asked faking interest. Greg snorted with laughter and she turned from Malfoy and walked straight into Luna.

"Luna!" Hermione exclaimed, "I didn't see you there! How are you?"

"I'm searching for nargles" She replied dreamily. Hermione looked at Greg who had gone very quiet. She nodded at him and he stood up properly and widened his eyes- he didn't look like Goyle anymore. Luna stared at Hermione, then at Malfoy.

"You two are awfully close" She commented. They were. Even though Hermione had stepped away they were still too near each other. That means they must've been extremely close awhile ago. Luna's gaze fell on Goyle, she turned her head this way and that.

"Hermione, why are you alone in a corridor with Draco Malfoy and a guy?" She asked sounding concerned, and un-Luna-ish. Greg sort of wilted when she said 'and a guy'. Hermione stuttered her answer.

"B-b-b-b-because Malfoy was tormenting me about being Muggleborn. A-a-and I was just about to curse him when you arrived!" Hermione exclaimed. It was such a bad cover up but Luna just stared again at Greg and Malfoy and Hermione in turn. Finally she started rambling about Nargles again so Hermione put her bag on her shoulder and walked away. She looked back at Greg and gave him a thumbs up, he smiled meekly. She glared daggers at Malfoy. It's Malfoy. You hate him… hate him... absolutely hate him Hermione. He's tormented you for seven years. He's not changing. You hate him. She convinced herself.

"Gregory Goyle isn't the same anymore. He's changed. He seemed more aware… smarter" Luna said in her dreamy voice, "Malfoy seemed quite taken with you though Hermione" Hermione was stunned but recovered quickly.

"Luna, please, as if we'd ever like each other we're enemies. We HATE each other"

"You have to convince yourself of that before you try and convince anyone else" Luna said softly.

"I- Luna, don't tell anyone, okay?" Hermione pleaded.

"Of course" Hermione resumed thinking about the closeness her and Malfoy had shared. Hate... I hate him…She said to herself.

Luna was looking at her strangely, "Prumples were in the air back there"

"What?"

"Prumples they affect peoples attitude and personalities. Trust me, what passed between you and Malfoy was just the work of Prumples" Luna said vaguely. As Hermione waved goodbye to Luna and entered Arithmancy, she wanted, just this once to believe Luna with all her heart… so she did. And ten minutes into class she believed it and was doodling what she thought Prumples would look like. Truly, she hated Malfoy; he hated her… stupid bloody Prumples, screwing everything up.

Authors Note: This is much longer than Owl Me (for aerochick06) And a lot of things have happened in this chapter. But don't be fooled! It really is the Prumples! Or… is it?? Dun dun dun dun!! I updated ASAP. Special thanks to jessirose85, slytherin-principessa, becky, sm, and fawkes 713, you guys were awesome! Lemme know if it matches the first chapter, thanks! I guess it's not being scrapped anymore-I had my doubts!

FireboltPheonix

xo