CHAPTER XIV

Hermione awoke the next morning with a throbbing headache and a feeling of emptiness in the pit of her stomach. Twisting her head the left, she glanced at the clock facing her; it was half past seven. Hermione groaned loudly; closing her eyes in an attempt to block out the sunlight which was streaming through the open curtains. Holding an arm across her stomach, Hermione walked to the other side of the room and tugged the drapes closed.

Falling onto her bed again, she caught a glimpse of a small white card standing upright on her bedside table. Intrigued, she sat up again and gingerly poked the card. It was a single sheet yet it didn't even waver when she poked it. Hermione knew instantly who had left it; Malfoy. In the bottom corner, as was accustomed, a small green serpent was stared out at her.

Hermione groaned, remembering what had happened the previous night. My room. 10 tonight. Yule Ball prep. Be there. M. The letter was short, but Hermione had to read it a few times. She didn't know if she could trust Malfoy, especially after the previous night. Would he try anything else, she wondered, or worse, would she let him? Hermione sank back into her pillow, holding the card to her chest. She fell asleep in such a position and was only awakened two hours later with the loud whispers of Lavender and Parvati.

"How shall we wake her up?" Hermione heard a voice in her thoughts, "what's that in her hand. Who's it from?" Hermione's eyes shot open. "Oh, Hermione, it's – err – it's time to go for breakfast," Lavender turned to look away from Hermione's face; her own reddening. The two gossiping girls left quickly, leaving Hermione to wash and change quickly before going down to the Great Hall.

She hurried down the stairs from the Gryffindor area, although knowing she wasn't particularly late. She was caught up in a group of first-years who dwindled their way towards the Hall, possibly trying to walk the slowest whilst talking the loudest. Hermione let an exasperated moan slip through her lips, causing a few of the younger students to turn their heads towards her. Ignoring them, Hermione wrestled her way through the group of friends to try and catch up with some of the seventh-years.

"Yes, that's her," Hermione heard a cold voice coming from behind her, in the midst of the group she had just pushed through. "My cousin told me to watch out for her; nasty Mudblood she is," the student said, matter-of-factly. That voice was all to familiar. Hermione turned around to find herself looking down at a boy who couldn't have been more than twelve. Hermione recognised his face and, casting her memory back, remembered him as the small sandy-haired boy she had singled out at the Sorting Ceremony. Then, there had been something in his expression she had recognised, but now the resemblance was undeniably striking.

"And your cousin would be Draco Malfoy?" She spoke down to the younger boy, not at all intimidated by his cocky attitude. She wondered now why she hadn't realised before. Presumably Harry and Ron hadn't notice this younger version of Malfoy or else they would have said something. The young boy had grey eyes and, although his hair was a different shade to Draco's, it was clear that he was of the same family. This child had the same pointed features, the same sneer on his lips, even the same posture as Draco.

"Yes, that's right, Accipiter Malfoy, which," the boy sneered, "I don't suppose a Mudblood like you would know means Hawk in Latin." Hermione must have looked unimpressed, because the boy suddenly spoke again; "Graceful as a swan, lethal as a serpent." She had only been in his presence a matter of minutes and already she could feel her blood rising; Accipiter was just like his cousin, she thought angrily.


"That's it," she said, making her mind up suddenly, "twenty points from Slytherin for your attitude, and don't you dare let me hear you using that word again." Hermione was shocked as she finished her sentence, she was sounding a lot like her mother.

"What word?" Accipiter asked, his voice innocent but his eyes glinted mischievously, "Mudblood? I can't say Mudblood. Too late!" Laughing loudly with his friends, Accipiter pushed past Hermione and walked towards the Great Hall. She could hear him laughing in the distance.

"A further fifty points from Slytherin," Hermione shouted at his retreating back. He made no movement to show that he had heard but Hermione knew he had. She shook her head; Accipiter got her nerves just as Draco had. And just why, she thought angrily, did he expect to get away with calling her a Mudblood? Hermione was now lost in her own thoughts and she was no longer pushing through the crowd.

"Don't let him get to you." A voice in her ear made her froze. The warmth of breath tickled her cheek as he chuckled softly, "he's still learning." An arm quickly snaked around her waist, holding her tightly against his chest. Hermione sighed and, without even thinking about it, raised her arm, placing a hand against his cheek. She couldn't describe how she felt at that moment; it seemed as though all the other students in the corridor had disappeared and it was only her and Malfoy standing there, alone.

"Draco," Hermione raised her head, leaning further into him. This was perfect, she thought blissfully. Without saying another word, Malfoy moved his hands from Hermione's waist and began to walk away from her, in the direction of the Great Hall. Hermione ran after him, instantly missing his touch on her body. When she had caught up with him she linked her arm in his, trying to get him to slow down. Malfoy, however, only sped up. He was enjoying this; his potion had, this time, been a complete success; Hermione was almost totally under his control.

Pushing Hermione away from him roughly, he mumbled a few words so that only she could hear him; "be there tonight." He turned sharply, continuing on his way to the Great Hall. Hermione didn't follow him; the last thing she wanted was to have Harry and Ron see her with him. And then she remembered; Harry was in the Hospital Wing and Ron wasn't talking to her. Hermione changed direction, heading for the Hospital Wing. The door had been left open and Hermione slipped through silently. She could see where Harry lay, the curtains were still drawn, hiding him from view. Not knowing whether or not Madam Pomfrey was around, Hermione tiptoed closer to where Harry's bed as. She gradually pulled back the drapes and gasped.

Harry was staring straight back at up at her. She muttered his name in surprise, she hadn't known he had been awake. "Oh, Hermione." Harry sounded surprised, and she raised an eyebrow in curiosity. He continued, "I was expecting Ron, he said he'd come along." As Harry spoke his friend's name, he lowered his eyes, evidently avoiding her stare. Hermione instantly noticed this and pondered as to whether she should mention it's possible cause.

Harry said no more, looking intently at the edge of his pillow. In his first few minutes of regained consciousness, Ron had told him all that he had known. Harry had learnt about the potion, about the kiss shared between Hermione and Malfoy, and also that his two best friends were no longer talking.

The silence lasted a while, neither teenager wanted to break the stillness. Finally Hermione spoke, but only in short bursts. "Has he - I mean Ron, has he - well, has he said anything to you?" Harry, in any other situation, would have laughed at even the thought of Hermione speaking in such a way, but knew better than to do that now. Instead, he sighed before turning and lifting his head to face her.

"Hermione. I need to hear it from you. What happened that first night? And what's happening between you and Malfoy now?" Harry looked almost disgusted with himself for having to say Malfoy's name. He looked up eagerly into his best friend's eyes, pleading with her to tell him that Ron had been wrong. His hopes were diminished, however, when Hermione lowered her head, desperately trying to avoid his gaze.

"Yes," Hermione began slowly, "He did give me a potion that night, but I still haven't found out anything more." Hermione debated over whether or not to tell Harry about what had happened the previous night. "And last night, he forced me to take it again." Hermione didn't know why she had told Harry this, she knew how he would react.

Sitting up quickly, Harry squeezed his hands into tight fists. "Wait till I get my hands on him, I'll beat him to a pulp; he'll never even set foot on a Quidditch pitch again. With that, Harry tried, in a desperate attempt, to stand. He managed to swing his legs around so that they were dangling off the side of the bed but when he tried to stand, he was struck by a spell of dizziness. Hermione ran to help him and managed to direct him back to the bed. He landed on the bed with a soft thump and scowled.

He closed his eyes as Hermione fussed around him. She fluffed up his pillows and helped him slip back under the duvet. She pulled the bedcovers up to his chin and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Don't worry Harry; I know what I'm doing. I'm fine." Harry only scowled at her, not believing a word of what she said. Hermione sighed and left Harry to his thoughts.

Hermione walked past the Great Hall, without even looking through the doors to see if Ron was there. She knew she had about twenty minutes before her first lesson of the day, Potions, but she decided she would walk slowly towards Snape's dungeon. She reached the dungeon within ten minutes and leant against the stone wall of the corridor, deep in her own thoughts. She thought of Malfoy and the way he had given her the potion the night before; she thought of Harry and the disappointment on his face when she had told him the truth and finally, she thought of Ron and their argument.

The time before the lesson sped past quickly. Slowly, the Gryffindors and Slytherins who took the class gathered in the corridor outside of the dungeon. Hermione could see Ron standing with Parvati and Lavender, looking thoroughly bored as the two girls gossiped and giggled together.

The class began to disperse into the Potions dungeon and sat at their various desks. Hermione walked towards the back of the classroom where she usually sat with Harry and Ron. She laid her books neatly on the desk and waited for Ron to join her. After a few moments, having not seen her best friend, Hermione looked around the room. She could see the back of his head sitting a few rows in front, next to Parvati.

Hermione frowned, Ron was still angry at her. She opened up one of her books and listened to Snape's instructions. Today, they were to make a relatively simple potion, one that would change a person's hair colour for two days. She studied the ingredients that were listed on the page and walked towards the front of the room to collect what she needed from Snape's desk. She passed Malfoy on the way and was immediately aware of his eyes on her. An overwhelming urge to go over to him suddenly came over here. She turned her head, but carried on walking.

Malfoy was watching her intently, ignoring what Pansy was whispering in his other ear. His eyes followed her as she watched past him, up to the front desk and then back to her empty desk again. He smirked at her retreating back before returning his attention to his girlfriend. Taking his time, he stood slowly, after all the other students had collected their ingredients, and sauntered up to the Professor's desk.

"Mr Malfoy. A word please." Snape spoke quietly to his student. Malfoy blinked, obviously shocked, as she walked round to the other side of the desk. Snape remained sitting in his chair and nodded his head, indicating for Malfoy to sit in the chair next to him. "Mr Malfoy," the Professor began again, quietly, "something of an urgent matter has recently come to my attention." Malfoy held his breath; he knew what was coming, "A bottle of Cochgrayne Juice has gone missing from my private stores."

Malfoy looked up at the Professor, debating his options; he could lie and say that there was no way that Snape would be able to prove it was him. Alternatively, he could admit to it and just say it was part of an experiment, to which Hermione had agreed to. He decided on the latter, but Snape spoke out before Malfoy had the chance to open his mouth.

"And don't tell me that you were just trying to see the effects it would have; that will not work this time. I want the truth, Draco." Malfoy sat, frozen in his seat, wracking his brains. Even though Snape hated Gryffindors and held a grudge against Hermione, Malfoy thought, there was no way that he would condone the misuse of a potion.

"Professor … I, well, you see," Malfoy stuttered, thinking as he spoke. "It was him, over there," Malfoy nodded in Crabbe's direction, "he had an idea that the Juice would make one of the younger Slytherins do anything he wanted." Malfoy held his breath, waiting for a reaction from Snape. He would talk to his friend later but he was certain that Crabbe would have no objections to taking the blame for anything he had done.

Snape narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Malfoy's story, he thought, was highly unlikely. The Professor had his own suspicions over the real culprit; he had seen the way Hermione had been compelled to look at the Slytherin as she had passed his desk, and he had also seen Malfoy's smirk. The Professor also knew enough of his students to know that of Malfoy's rather clumsy entourage, both Crabbe and Goyle would take the blame for anything he had done. Snape excused Malfoy and watched as the student strolled back to his place.

Pansy immediately leant over him, wrapping her arms around his neck and roughly licking his ear. Malfoy, annoyed by her actions, pushed her away from him and bent his head over his book. Handing two of the ingredients over to Pansy to put into the cauldron, Malfoy risked a glance at Snape. The sullen-faced Professor was now looking at Hermione, staring at her with his eyebrows raised.

For a second, Snape's eyes flickered over her features before he stood and began to walk around the classroom. The first desk he came to was Malfoy's and he stood behind it, inspecting their potion. He leant down and whispered quietly in Malfoy's ear; "I know, Mr Malfoy; just don't let it get out of control."

Malfoy didn't move until long after Snape had moved on to inspect the next cauldron. He breathed out heavily, "what was that about, Draco?" Pansy's thick voice floated up to his ears. He turned to face her and shook his head gently, letting her know that he wasn't going to talk about it.

Hermione sat at the back of the dungeon, working silently and stealthily on her own potion. She had strained her ears, trying to hear what was being said, when Malfoy had joined Snape at the front of the room. This had, however, been in vain and, instead, she had stared at the two trying to work out what they were talking about. As soon as she had thought it, she had almost shaken herself; of course they weren't going to be talking about the potion, how would Snape know and why would he blame his favourite student? she thought.

Convinced that they were discussing Malfoy's grades or something similar, Hermione studied her book and began to prepare her ingredients. She poured a couple of mixtures into her cauldron and watched as they bubbled furiously. She peeked up at Malfoy again; he was back in his seat with Pansy wrapped around him, but was staring at the Professor. She, too, directed her gaze in Snape's direction. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickling; he was looking straight at her. Defiantly, she stared back at him, daring him to be the one to break the gaze.

Eventually, Snape looked away and rose from his desk to walk around the room checking on his students. Hermione stood and looked into her cauldron. She stirred the thickening mixture whilst still watching Snape's movements. He went first to inspect Malfoy and Pansy's potion and stood behind them. From where she was positioned, Hermione couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw Snape bend his head to Malfoy's ear and whisper something.

Snape took one last look at Malfoy and Pansy's cauldron and then moved on to examine Crabbe and Goyle's. Hermione glanced back at her own potion; it had stopped bubbling. She looked back at the book and read what it said; Potion should bubble for at least ten minutes. Looking at the clock on the wall, Hermione saw that it had been only three minutes since she had put the two liquids into the cauldron.

Hermione furrowed her brow; something had gone wrong. Snape had been standing a few desks in front of her and had caught her confused look. He had made his way instantly to her side and, looking into the cauldron, had tried hard not to snigger out loud. He knew instantly what had happened; she used the wrong mixture and had probably put it into the cauldron in the wrong order.

"I would suggest you pay a little more attention, Miss Granger," he said haughtily, "I would not expect a student like you to use the ingredients in the wrong order." Hermione lowered her head, feeling a blush creeping over face. "I should take points from Gryffindor for this, but I will leave it at a warning, this one time; and," he continued, flicking his eyes over to Malfoy, "try not to be so distracted."

He turned and walked away, leaving Hermione standing there, stunned. He knew, she thought, but he wasn't going to do anything about it. Hermione clenched her fists and gripped the edge of the table. Ron had turned to face her, obviously interested in what Snape was saying to her. She scowled at him, not wanting him to know that she hadn't been able to get the potion right. Eventually he turned back to his own cauldron and Hermione begun the process of sorting out her own.

The rest of the Potions lesson passed without any more interruptions; other than Neville knocking over his cauldron, spilling it's contents over the stone floor. As soon as the lesson ended, Hermione left the room and walked quickly towards the Gryffindor area. She didn't want to see Ron; nor did she want to find herself walking alongside Malfoy.