Chapter 6

You're such a stubborn little witch

~Chimera~

'I'll ask you one more time, Miss Granger, who did it?'

I look at my DADA teacher and then back at my feet. Even if I want to, I can't answer, for I do not know his name.

'I don't know. I found Malfoy on the ground.'

'Then who told you to come to me?'

'No one did.' I lie once again 'you're the defense against the dark arts teacher! I found it natural to come to you, plus, he is your student, and you are his godfather.'

'Why not take him to the hospital wing?'

'I don't know!' I almost yell jumping from my seat. We look at each other for long minutes until he finally looks away.

'You know, Miss Granger, there are always other ways to persuade you.' I follow his eyes and land mine on a bottle of Veritaserum.

There was a time in which I would have feared Snape. But not now. I look back at him with my eyes set. I am no longer a first grader and he should finally realize that... I am no longer a child, not by choice, mind you.

'Very well, Miss Granger, you may leave now.'

I do so, making my way to my dorm. I am exhausted, I am dirty (with Malfoy's blood of all things), cranky and starving. And since I have skipped dinner to come to the aid of the bane of my existence, I will now have to wait till morning to eat, which leads to all the other stuff…well, except dirty I think, though Merlin only knows I am so tired I can't find it inside of me to take a shower, but given that, as I have already mentioned, this is Malfoy's blood, I somehow manage to make it to the shower and ponder setting my clothes on fire. Finally I decide to leave it to the house elves to see if they can get rid of the germs or not, and dress in my pajamas.

The next day, at breakfast I don't see Malfoy. He's probably still recovering. I can't seem to stop my tummy from crunching at the thought of Malfoy telling Snape that I had been lying the previous day. I guess I'll just have to wait until either Malfoy confronts me, or Snape attempts to kill me.

Averting my mind from such optimistic thoughts, I now find myself musing over his behavior. Granted, I needed help, and it's not like I give a damn if anyone draws a little blood from Malfoy's pampered skin, but what he did was beyond my expectations and my wishes. Somehow I know that something more than my dignity stood at the core of the fight. He hadn't just been protecting me, he had been vengeful. Those two have a history, and I'll be damned if I let them get away with it without figuring it out.

'Mione?'

I turn to Ron and glare at him 'What?'

'well…I was just…I mean. What I'm trying to say is that…'

'Oh, for Merlin's sake, Ron, just spill it out!'

'I was just wondering if you were alright. You've been cutting your tissue for some time now, and while I know you were on a diet, I just can't imagine you eating tissue.'

I look down in my plate and see that indeed I'm not cutting what I thought was lettuce. At least that explains why it was so difficult to cut.

'Yeah, Ron, I'm oky…just thinking about Potions.'

'Ooh!' he says and nods, as though Potions is the answer for everything bad in this world. Now that I think about it, maybe he's not exactly wrong. I mean, potions means Snape, which leads to either Malfoy, or Dark Mark, or slime. Which all lead to other dark and greasy things. It seems I have to agree with Ron on something. Just this once, mind you.

'Hey, you two.' Harry whispers. 'I have to tell you something. Tonight, in the common room, at midnight.'

I look at him. With all that has happened, I haven't looked at Harry in a long time. He has dark circles under his eyes, his hair is messier than usual, his skin paler. I suddenly realize what a bad friend I have been. Granted I have my own problems to think about, but if I know something, is that whatever happens in my life, I can never turn my back on my friends. Ron, Harry and I have faced a lot of things together, and while Ron is just getting on my nerves lately, Harry isn't talking to me like he used to and I have a man and a half dead Malfoy (consequently a frightening Snape) on my mind, we still are like brothers and sister and I still love them to death.

'Sure, Harry' I tell him putting my hand over his 'do you need any help with the Transfiguration essay?'

'HEY!' Ron says lifting his head from his plate, gracing me with the wonderful sight of the half chewed food 'how come you never say stuff like that to me?'

And so, with all our separate problems, with the war standing on our doorstep, NEWTS approaching, we start laughing.

I guess you can always count on friends.

It's already Thursday night.

I've been biting my nails all day long, praying to Merlin that Malfoy will suddenly decide not to come. I've seen him in class; he doesn't even have a scratch. Snape hasn't killed me yet, so I'm betting my money Malfoy kept quiet. My question is why?

As I'm making my way to the library, silently, as I have said, praying Malfoy decides to skip our nightly encounters, I can't stop thinking about Harry. Dumbledore was really going overboard with this. And though Harry disagrees, I think there's more to his plan than just informing Harry. I think Dumbledore is preparing him for something, and I want to know what that something is. I hate it how our Headmaster always knows everything from the start. At first, I thought he was just a good judge of character, then, when I learned that wizards where capable of reading peoples minds, I thought that was how Dumbledore got all his information, and I felt the need to gag; what he did, or at least, what I thought he did, was beyond revolting. It's bordering on the Dark Arts to read someone's mind without their permission, and I expected more from the brightest wizard of all time, to say the least. But then things just didn't add up. I put the two things together, but still, some facts remained unanswered. I'm beginning to think the sneaky old man has a time turner and uses it to spy on people… then again I hope I'm wrong, for everyone knows that messing with time has serious repercussions. To sum up my discussion with Harry, Dumbledore keeps showing him bits and pieces of Voldamort's past, trying to make Harry understand why Tom Riddle is the way that he is. He even asked Harry to obtain a memory from our Potions Professor, one that presumably holds great information. I can't say I'm not interested.

Finally I get to the main corridor that leads to the library. One thing people outside of Hogwarts don't know, is that it's bloody difficult to get anywhere in this school. The staircases change almost every 10 minutes or so, making you take numerous detours and maybe even lose yourself in this endless building.

'I see you saved him.' he says 'I knew you would. Sometime you're just too kind for your own good.' I turn around and look at him. My first reaction is to fling my arms around his neck and kiss him, but then…this is almost, hopefully just almost, a criminal. I look at him. He seems tired.

'you went too far, you know that.' I find myself saying.

He looks at me with sad eyes and then I find myself pulled into his embrace. 'I'm sorry I dragged you into this. But you must understand. I had every right.'

Though I love the smell and feel of him, the second I hear those words I struggle to get out of his embrace. 'No one has a right to do such a thing. Malfoy may be evil and disgusting, but no one deserves to be beaten to a bloody pulp. You didn't even give him time to retaliate; it was hardly a fair fight. You purebloods pride yourselves on being all powerful and hating Muggles, but when it comes down to rage you set things the muggle way, like brutes.' I stop, taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down.

'I never told you I was pureblood.' Is the only thing he says.

'Well are you?' I ask rising my hands in mid air, tired of all this nonsense.

He looks at me and I can practically see him thinking whether to tell me or not. Finally he seems to make up his mind. 'Yes, yes I am.'

Well at least I know one thing about him. 'Now will you tell me your name?'

'No.'

'Why not?' I half yell.

'Hermione! We both know there are books filled with everything, and we both know you would never give up on something. If I do so much as tell you my middle name then by the end of next week you'll even find out what I eat for breakfast.'

I can't stop myself from smiling, but only to some degree. 'How do you know that?'

'I've watched you…a lot.' He says in a quiet voice, his eyes softening.

I sigh. How come he gets to me like this? He makes me turn into a puddle at his feet. I hate it! It's so annoying, I can't get anywhere if I'm all girly and giggling.

'I need to ask you something.'

I roll my eyes 'of course you do. Because it is only fair that you ask things of me and give me nothing in return.' I look at him, with hope in my eyes, but he doesn't seem to budge. 'shoot!'

He smiles 'Muggle phrasing.' But then turns serious 'I need you to take a book from Malfoy. Make sure he doesn't see you. It's a brown, leather book with gold inscriptions. He keeps it in his schoolbag.'

I eye him suspiciously. 'Why?'

He shakes his head. Uh! I never want to see another human being shake its head again!

'FINE! But listen to me and listen good.' I say poking him in the chest – and what a fine chest that is- ' this is the last time I do something for you without getting something in return, and I'm not talking about presents, I'm talking about information, so next time you want to ask something of me, be sure to have something to bargain with.'

He smiles a wide, bright smile and pulls me in his arms, giving me a peck on the lips. It was the chastest thing ever…still, I have no words to express the joy and happiness and…maybe something a lot more on the lustful side, that engulfed me.

I make my way to the library smiling. I know that behind my back he'll disappear, I don't know how he does it, but at this exact moment I don't even care.

'What are you smiling at, Mudblood? That happy to see me?'

And of course Malfoy has to go and ruin it. But as I look at him, I can't find it inside me to want to hit him in the face, like in 3rd year. He looks so tired and worn out. I almost feel pity for him. I actually have to stop my hand from caressing his head. I blame it all on my hormonal stage, being a girl is some times too difficult.

'No Malfoy, although this might come as a shock to you, the world does not revolve around your pampered ass.'

He rubs his eyes and looks at me straight in the eyes, all features serious 'You're right, Granger…it does come as a shock to me.'

I inwardly laugh, but don't give him the pleasure of showing weakness.

'Now, lets get down to business, shall we?' I say.

He takes out his Trans book and while I sit myself at the table, I see another book, one that he had been keeping his head on mere moments before. Various notes come out of it, a quill squashed between it's pages, ink sprawled on Malfoy's hands. So that's the book he wants me to get, and as it seems, Malfoy's really fond of it.

'Now, I thought we should start with the basics, just to have everything clear, then we'll make a plan of the chapters we've learned and outline the ones that we have for the upcoming test, I think it's best we focus on those seeing as we don't have enough time to go through everything.'

'Well, Granger, to use you're phrasing, it might come as a shock to you, but I'm not really stupid.'

'Well, Malfoy, as you've previously so well said: yes, it does come as a shock to me.'

We glare at each other. Only one thing on my mind… "Merlin, it's going to be a long night."

A/N: I'm sorry my chapters aren't very long, it's just that while i like coming up with ideas for stories and i often not find it difficult to read fanfiction, i don't have that much experience with writing...anything. i don't exactly need imagination and big words in my field of work (i.e. collage). However, i hope to gain experience... and then hopefully my chapters will get longer. Practice makes perfect, right?