Chapter four: the blood of an enemy

Hermione stormed out of their joined rooms and stomped through the corridors for a while before realising that she had absolutely no idea where she was. She knew she should have paid more attention the day before when Dumbledore was walking them to their rooms, but no she was too busy thinking about that idiot Draco. Hermione looked around her, hoping to see something relatively familiar. But she had no luck in that department so she sat down against the wall and waited. She was clinging to the hope that a teacher might just come around the corner and see her and she could get to breakfast. Oh Merlin! What if she was late for lessons? That would be horrible.

She didn't know how long she was sitting there for because there were no windows in this area and she didn't have a watch. So she just leant her head against the wall and closed her eyes. She heard footsteps coming towards her and was grateful that someone was coming but still didn't open her eyes. She felt the person crouch down and sit on their hunches and waited. She slowly opened her eyes and then gasped.

'Lost, Granger? What a pity, I had begun to think you had half a brain."

Draco, of course; who else would want to torment her? Hermione let out a large sigh before speaking in unamused tones,

'Draco, are you going to help me get out of here or not? Because even if you don't I'll still follow you.'

Draco was stunned; she called him by his first name. How dare she? And so he retaliated without thinking,

'Merlin, Granger, how many times have you read Hogwarts, a History?' he asked in mocking tones, 'You must know your way around the school, I mean, it is your only friend; isn't it?'

Draco almost regretted it once he'd said it, due to the tears that swelled in Granger's eyes. But he shouldn't have to regret anything he said to a mudblood. After all not only was he a Slytherin, but he was a Malfoy, and that had to mean something towards her. But Draco did the only thing that he could do in apology. He stood up and waited,

'Well are you coming or not Granger? You wouldn't want to miss breakfast with me and the Gryffindorks would you?'

Hermione stood up, hurriedly blinking the tears from her eyes, she couldn't believe that Malfoy was making her cry, it's not like he was doing anything out of the ordinary. But she was grateful that he came around otherwise she would have been stuck there for a long time. They walked along in silence for a while before Malfoy started to speak,

'You know Granger, for someone as smart as you I can't believe you got lost.'

Hermione fumed inside, he was always insulting her.

'Well really, Malfoy. It's not like I've ever been in this area before so it's not surprising that I didn't know where to go.'

Malfoy laughed, a big hearty laugh, at her.

'Granger, you are a witch aren't you? And don't you have a wand?'

With that Hermione stopped walking and inwardly hit herself on the forehead, she had forgotten all about magic when she panicked. She could have easily cast a locator charm, and now she had to live with Malfoy knowing that she had forgotten. It was going to be difficult, especially since Malfoy wouldn't stop laughing at her. He was still walking ahead of her and she did a little trot to catch up with him. But he was still laughing! It was infuriating. After another minute, Hermione got sick of it and pulled out her wand and pointed it at Draco.

'Draco Malfoy if you do not kindly shut up I will hex you into next week so you can go running to your daddy.'

Hermione knew she shouldn't have said it the moment it came out judging by the tick in Draco's jaw and his hands clenching. Quicker than Hermione thought Draco could move, he had his own wand out and pointed at Hermione.

'Take it back, Granger, or you'll regret it.'

Hermione almost laughed at him, he was acting like she had said something totally horrible.

'Malfoy, you don't scare me one bit; we've been through this for six years. You know I can hit back, do you remember third year?'

As soon as the last word left her mouth, Draco fired a hex at her. Only with quick reflexes did she miss it. Hermione was so shocked that Draco was able to fire another hex at her before she started to retaliate. But once they got started, it was hectic. Every missed hex hit the wall and caused severe damage. Ten minutes later Hermione was out of breath and getting quite tired. Lucky for her someone came round the corner. But it was a bitter sweet moment due to the fact that the person was Professor McGonagall.

'Miss Granger! Mr Malfoy! What on earth is going on here?'

Draco lowered his arm and stepped back, Hermione did the same, and both looked down at the ground and chorused together,

'Sorry Professor.'

'Well sorry is hardly good enough. You know well and good that fighting is against the rules. And from you Miss Granger, I expected better. You know what this means: detention for a month and 100 points from Slytherin and Gryffindor.'

With that she stood behind them and marched them to the Great Hall, making sure they weren't standing too close to one another. Hermione felt so ashamed, how did she stoop so low? What was everyone else going to say when they realised 100 points were gone. Hermione was so upset she could cry. This was going to be the worst year ever. Once they reached the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall walked them over to the Gryffindor table and practically shoved them onto the bench. Ron and Harry looked up in shock at Draco standing there smug as ever. Yes, this was going to be a very long year.