Chapter III: Stupid Dewey!
Draco read another page of the book he held wearily. Pansy was sitting in a green chair right in front of the boy & looked at him longingly. There were logs crackling in the fireplace, though it was a Saturday morning in the Slytherin common room that was never too bright.
Slowly and without stopping to look at the boy, Pansy got up from the chair, slid gently swaying her hips, walking on a dark carpet towards the boy. Draco just looked at her dispassionately before returning his eyes to the book. Sighing loudly, Pansy sat in the armrest of his chair & leaned against the back, close to Draco. The Slytherin read another page while she started kissing his neck slightly, determined to get his attention.
For about a minute, Draco did not move or show any reaction to the kisses, though he passed each page with violence. After a moment, he got tired of her and sat up suddenly, making Pansy hit the ground.
"Not now." he said dryly "I'm trying to concentrate."
Seeing the tears that came to the eyes of the girl, Draco pursed his lips with a look of disgust and left the Common Room without devoting any more thought. He walked through the cold and deserted corridors of the dungeons and decided to go to the library so he could read in peace ... well, that was if none of the girls approached him with silly grins on their faces. He raised his face, congratulating himself for being so handsome, though talking honestly to himself, he wasn't in the mood for his usual fans but he didn't know why. Unconsciously, he thought it was likely to find Granger there; she was a bookworm after all.
He smiled maliciously. To bother her a bit, would surely put him in a better mood.
He was a little happier when he came through the library's door. Some girls sitting around the tables lifted their eyes from the books & whispered excitedly to each other. He definitely felt better.
He glanced at the library looking for a table to allow him some quiet and then he saw Hermione, sitting on a table in front of an open book, with the end of a pen between her lips. Draco observed her a moment plotting how to bother her, when he saw a boy his age, with dark green eyes coming to the table. Draco looked at him closely & saw the Ravenclaw crest on his robe. The boy said something but Draco couldn't quite make out what it was.
He felt an uncontrollable fit of rage spread through his body when he saw the boy put his hand on Hermione's table and leaned over to whisper something near her ear. She smiled softly and a little blush rose to her cheeks. Then he pointed to a shelf and said a few words. The Ravenclaw smiled stupidly and ran a hand through his brown hair before leaving the table with his back turned the other way, not taking his eyes off the girl. Malfoy almost vomited when she saw him bump against a chair and heard Hermione giggling. Furious, he grabbed a third-year girl by the robe & turning to her abruptly, he asked: "Who is that?" Draco said, pointing to the Ravenclaw.
"Dewey, Ben Dewey." The frightened girl said with a shrug. "He's captain of the Ravenclaw's Quidditch team & he's a prefect."
Malfoy let go of her suddenly, not taking his eyes from Dewey while the girl ran from the library. So Dewey, he thought, just remembering why he was so familiar. For several years, they had shared Herbology, but he no longer had that subject & he almost forgot he had. Draco had seen him play Quidditch a few times & apparently, he was popular among the girls, of course not as much as him. He watched Dewey for a moment and thought that this guy was not worthy of being his rival, he was nobody.
Again, he set his eyes on Granger, who was focused in reading a book. Apparently, she had not noticed his presence. Draco furrowed his brow slightly annoyed and looked for a table near the girl, in which he hoped he could put the book he had been trying to read in the common room. A couple of girls pushed aside their notes and quills to make room for him, but Malfoy ignored them & stood in a table just behind Hermione. He sat down and waited a few minutes, giving Hermione her last minutes of tranquil. When he saw the girl getting distracted from the book, he quickly followed her & placed himself on the other side of the shelf she was looking at, without being seen. He followed her path from the other side of the shelf, watching the girl's concentrated expression while searching for her book, ignoring that she was being observed by him. At last she stopped in front of some books & seemed to find what she wanted, but Malfoy was ready. When the girl took the end of the book, Malfoy was already pulling it off the shelf, to get it before her. Hermione looked surprised for a moment, and then struggled with him, an expression of annoyance on her face.
"Let go, Malfoy," she demanded irritably while pulling the book.
"No way, I picked up this book first, find another." he said feeling much better by teasing Granger.
"There isn't another one!" She said shrilly "Besides, I don't know why you want it, you don't even study Arithmancy."
"I don't have to give you an explanation, mudblood." He replied contemptuously, "I saw it first, so drop the book and get out of here.
"You're so ... " Hermione growled, unable to find a bad enough word to describe him. At the end, she sighed in exasperation & suddenly released the book, which unbalanced Malfoy for a moment. He looked furious as she walked away toward her table, but soon smiled triumphantly. He loved teasing her, even more than getting candy from the first-years.
With the book in his hands, he strutted in front of Hermione's table who wrote furiously on her parchment prepared to ignore his presence. Draco was going to read a page of the book aloud when Dewey was again approaching the girl's table with a stack of books in his hands. They landed noisily on the surface and Hermione looked up annoyed thinking it was Malfoy, but she smiled sweetly when she saw the Ravenclaw.
"Is something wrong, Ben?" She asked politely pushing her pen aside. Malfoy angrily discovered that she was nervous.
"Well, Hermione ..." Began the boy, scratching his neck a little embarrassed. "I have some problems with Transformations ... I have consulted a thousand books but I cannot quite make the Mutator Spell work ..."
"Oh, it's somewhat complicated but I learned to do it a couple of weeks ago, if you want to I can help you ..."
"Yes!" the boy cried excitedly, Hermione blushed a little & the Ravenclaw was as red as a tomato. "I mean I would appreciate it very much.
Hermione smiled softly and then she saw Draco watching them.
"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked cheerfully. Draco held the book in his hands so hard his knuckles whitened and his snake-shaped ring was embedded in his skin, and without a word he stood over & walked out. But not before he hit the Ravenclaw with his body.
"What has happened with him?" he heard Dewey say.
Draco violently threw the book at his desk and sat down with rage. That stupid Dewey & that mudblood had completely ruined his day, He rubbed his temples trying to calm down, he didn't know why that stupid had the capacity to infuriate him like this. His father had always taught him that feelings were weakness, and that mudblood managed to fool him everytime he saw her. What did it matter to him that Dewey would behave like a fool who'd just fallen in love with Granger? Just like that idiot Ernie McMillan & the Weasley had centuries drooling over her.
He looked at her a moment. She had her head really close to Dewey's, whispering and making movements with her wand while Draco thought she had nothing special. She was not even pretty... Well, maybe a little, but so what? She was still a mudblood; she had no magic ancestor, like dozens more who were at Hogwarts. Maybe Hermione was the best of their year, but that was because she spent hours in the library studying nonstop, while he, Draco Malfoy, needed half her effort to overcome her. And yet this guy Dewey seemed to be crazy about her...
He sighed; exasperated to see how the Ravenclaw approached her everytime he could & asked several times for the same thing. Draco was sure Dewey could do that spell but it served as a pretext to get closer to Hermione.
Unable to stand the little scene, he picked up his book and took off in the library with his head held high. Hermione watched him until he disappeared through the door, then turned to Dewey and continued explaining the Mutator Spell.
Draco adjusted his gloves with a serious and concentrated expression. After surrounding his broomstick with a gloved hand, he gestured the rest of his team to follow him outside the locker room. It was his first game as Slytherin captain, but he was not nervous. Slytherin would face Ravenclaw & Cho Chang, he knew, had finished her studies at Hogwarts. Malfoy knew that Ravenclaw's new search for a Seeker had no chance against him. The rest of the team was pretty mediocre and Captain Dewey was a complete waste. Malfoy clenched his teeth to remind his goofy expression whenever he was nearby Granger. From the day that he found them in the library, Malfoy noticed that the Ravenclaw happened "by chance" in front of her almost every day, when before that year, Dewey was never seen in the library. Draco doubted he was capable of reading and knew that the reason he went to the library was to see if the Smarty mudblood was there. He had also been waiting at the dungeon's door when they Potions, addressing Hermione to exit with any excuse, almost always associated with some spell trouble he had.
Draco did not understand how Dewey could use this technique to lure the mudblood in, which made him look pretty stupid, but on the other hand, he was. And Granger spent hours with him in the library trying to teach him various spells.
"Dewey, you know your time at Hogwarts has been a waste when you're taking classes from a mudblood." Malfoy snapped one of the times he found them in the library, their heads close together & moving their wands in the air.
Dewey had watched him with anger as he stood up abruptly and he pointed his wand. Draco's wand was already up, ready to throw a curse, but Granger quickly hung over Dewey's arm in order to stop him & asked him to ignore Malfoy. Dewey had taken a few seconds to react, but when he looked at the Gryffindor he smiled they both ignored the Slytherin.
Draco had been furious and from that day on he did not stop prodding the Ravenclaw every time he saw him, mocking his low intelligence and stupidity asking if it had to do with being hit by a bludger or if he had been born that way. Dewey raged and swelled like a puffer fish to each comment, and though he seemed about to hit a punch or throw a spell at the last second he always chose to ignore Draco making him further enraged. He suspected that his behavior was due to the mudblood's petition to ignore him & not give importance to his provocations & Draco's blood boiled everytime he saw either of them.
"Malfoy, what's happening to you?" Zabini's voice recalled him back to the present.
Draco watched his companion while Zabini looked at him shrewdly through slanted eyes. He wore a green Slytherin robe and he held a broom in his right hand. He entered this year's Quidditch team as a Keeper and Crabbe and Goyle were the new Beaters. Draco acknowledged that they were not very fit for Quidditch but they were useful because of their size & their capacity to play dirty.
"Nothing." Draco replied briefly, leading his team into the tunnel. When they finally reached the mouth that led to the Quidditch field, he felt the tingle of excitement he experienced in every game with a stinging sensation that gave it a bitter taste in his mouth. Revenge.
He looked at the exalted audience that packed the stadium and his eyes wandered between dressed in blue spots in search of something unconsciously. Found in the front row, a figure out of tune with the crowd. There was a girl who wore nothing blue, just her black cape and tousled brown hair loose. Beside her was the crazy blonde girl, Luna Lovegood.
Draco's face hardened. Granger had never attended any Slytherin match when they faced Gryffindor. He knew instantly that Smarty had gone to the stadium only to see Dewey and his thirst for revenge grew so that when turned to face his teammates, he could only distinguish green spots through the red mist that obscured his eyes.
"Let's beat them." He snapped and without another word, jumped on his broom and flew like an arrow towards the center of the field, where the Ravenclaw team huddled around their captain.
Dewey greeted Draco with a curt gesture of his head, Draco did not respond but he saw no reason to do so. The Ravenclaw had his eyes on the stands. Malfoy knew he was looking for Granger and his blood began to boil. The arrival of Ms. Hooch calmed down his desires to pounce on Ravenclaw's keeper. When she told them the captains of both teams to hold hands as required by protocol, both did with stiffness and tightened each other's hand as much as they could, though their faces remained expressionless except for a slight sneer in Slytherin's lips. After the whistle blew, Draco could not resist the temptation to beat Dewey past him with the broom.
Then he rose a little higher, looking for the Snitch & took a couple of laps on the field looking for it, but soon divided his attention between the golden ball and Dewey who had stopped several goals of Zabini and Valey. Slytherin was losing by ten points and Crabbe and Goyle were limited to flying like two gorillas lost looking for the bludgers. When his gaze met Dewey's, he smiled and with mocking air, making Draco lose any hint of control. Crabbe approached and Malfoy screamed at full blast to pitch all the bludgers toward Dewey, or at least hitting him with the bat.
"Malfoy!" Zabini shouted, interrupting his orders to Crabbe "Get the Snitch!"
It took Draco a few seconds to absorb Zabini's words & then he followed the direction of his gaze, & saw Boot, the Ravenclaw seeker, going down sharply after a flash of gold.
He quickly adjusted his gloved hands to handle the broom and ran after the blue stain that was Terry Boot with the nerves in the throat and mentally scolding himself for his stupidity. But both of the Seekers had been distracted because of Dewey, so Boot would not be ahead of him. He thought it was too late when he saw Boot's arm extended to catch the snitch, but when he was about to close his hand around it, Draco caught him and kneed him so hard that Terry deviated from the path of the snitch. Before anyone could realize what had happened exactly, Draco caught the snitch and stopped short with the upper hand, with fingers holding he frantic scurrying golden wings of the snitch. Immediately the stadium began to roar around, some cheering and others jeering, but Draco did not pay much attention. He looked for the Gryffindor feeling pleased with himself for having defeated the team of her "friend" but she was not looking, but her eyes were wide open and fixed on something beyond him horrified. Draco turned and saw Dewey slumped on his broom with arms and legs dangling. Later, Crabbe explained proudly how he had used the distraction to launch a bludger that hit him squarely in one ear and made him lose consciousness.
"What happened to you up there?" Zabini yelled when they all fell to the floor of the Quidditch field, invaded by jubilant Slytherins. "What were you thinking? We had been on the verge of losing & it's your entire fault!"
Zabini, instead of being happy for the victory, seemed resentful and angry with Draco for what had happened. Slanted eyes watched him with confidence and he lifted his face with arrogance, as was his custom. Zabini enraged Draco because he dared to treat him that way, as if he were the captain.
"Shut up."Draco snapped. Then he told Zabini menacingly "And remember that just as I got you into the team, I have the power to get you out." And after saying that, he walked away, ignoring the Slytherins & Pansy who held out her hand for Draco to hold, but he was too furious to pay attention to her.
He broke through sharply between some of his companions while tightening the Snitch in his hand, feeling that his sense of victory and joy had been tarnished by Zabini. Only when he saw that they took the unconscious Dewey on a stretcher, he rejoiced a little and showed the face that usually used to wear in place of a smile. His grin widened as he saw Granger following the stretcher with his eyes, her face full of concern.
"Poor Granger." He said, faking a concerned tone. "Do you think that he would turn more stupid after that? I know it's difficult because he's pretty stupid now, but there's a possibility."
Hermione seemed determined to follow the same policy as Dewey, so she didn't reply and hurried away from him, but Draco still had not finished with her so he followed.
"You have very bad taste, Granger." he insisted. "At first I thought you liked the poor ones, like Weasley, but Dewey is almost worse. Unattractive, unintelligent and untalented for Quidditch ... oh, and probably without an ear after that."
That comment got the Gryffindor to stand on dry and walk very slowly back towards him. When she did, Draco saw that she was flushed with anger and that she clenched fists.
"The only moron around here is you, Malfoy." She snapped, blushing even more. "Think you're pretty good, right? I've heard Zabini. Your own teammates questioning you and you just can silence them under threats, worthy of you, Malfoy, it shows your respect." she said wryly. "And let me tell you that your life must be very sad for you to enjoy watching Dewey on a stretcher." Hermione looked at him coldly and harshly repeated before going "Very sad." and then walked away with her head held high towards Hogwarts.
Draco was still raging long after the Gryffindor had gone, leaving him standing in the middle of the stadium. He went straight to the dungeons before everyone would mount the party to celebrate the victory, because he was in no mood to celebrate. He passed through the empty common room quickly and closed the door of his room in a violent slam. He threw his broom with violence. Only then did he realize that he had brought the Snitch, hidden in his tight fist. The Malfoy threw it hard against the wall but it had unfurled its wings and fluttering, it had made it to the ceiling of the room like a large mosquito. Draco ran his hands through his hair which was tousled by the wind messing it up even more, feeling an uncontrollable rage that he did not know how to vent. He recalled another time the mudblood's words. Granger had called him stupid and had also told him that his friends did not respect him & that they didn't believe in him either. That the only way he could shut them was under threat.
Instead she was perfect, he thought angrily, and had some friends who always supported her. She didn't even have an idea what it was to be him, & what it entailed. She didn't know what he went through. The mudblood's worries only concerned her studies and being the top of the class. Hermione was St. Potter's & Weasley's friend. They defended her like lions everytime someone messed with her, & everyone on Gryffindor appreciated her sincerely. She was every teacher's favorite student. And last but not least, a pure blood was following her around like a lost puppy.
And she was not even pretty, nor particularly smart. All her success was due to the hours she spent in front of a book like bookworm, she was flattering to the teachers. She always had to answer and know everything. She had always met standards. She always had to do what everyone considered fair or correct. She was a boring nerd, no life beyond the books.
"Your life must be very sad for you to enjoy watching Dewey on a stretcher." She had told him. Well, Draco would make sure that hers was a living hell.