Chapter beta:Dark Akuma Hunter
Once again Draco watched Granger discreetly pass off their homework assignments for the day during breakfast in the great hall. Draco glared at the boys from across the hall. His eyesight might not be good up close, but far away, he could see very sharply. This was part of what made him such a great seeker. More than ever Malfoy wanted to ditch classes and just spend a day flying above the pitch. But to miss that many classes would mean he might either be forced to sit out his first game of the year or even be kicked off the team before the season even started.
"What's the weather like out there?" Graham, Slytherin's best chaser and current captain, asked.
"Eh, one might say it looks like we are in for a storm, but I on the other hand say we should plan for a picnic." Graham didn't really care about the weather, and Draco cared even less about having picnics. While it was true that Draco had study room three's charmed window set on the quidditch pitch because it was his favorite view, he also chose that particular view because it had the advantage of letting him view who was using the pitch for practice. Still, rather than outright asking Draco his opinion of this year's quidditch competition, Graham and he had developed this code.
"Still, even a picnic needs preparation. See you at first break?" Graham didn't even stick about to see if Draco would respond. He didn't need to. Of course Draco would be there.
He turned back to his food, a bowl of oatmeal, and began to add cinnamon to it. As he stirred the bowl he thought back to last night. He wasn't thinking about the assignments, but rather about his conversations with Granger, namely the end piece where he stuck his foot in his mouth. 'See you in Potions tomorrow.' Looking back he was surprised she didn't turn around and correct him. Today their shared class was Care of Magical Creatures, not Potions. They didn't even have potions until tomorrow. Stupid. How did he allow himself to trip up that much to make such an easy mistake?
Last night showed that they could be alone in the same room for hours and still be civil towards one another. Working with her had been so… comfortable. The look on her face when she first saw the charmed window gave birth to a weird feeling inside him. He found himself wanting to find incredible items to show her, just so he could see that look of amazement on her face again. Then when she made the comment about there being no reason to write a paper more than twice, he felt so angry. Those two will get what's coming to them sooner or later, and hopefully it will be by my hand! There is no reason to write a paper more than once!
Rather than make that kind of statement he had chosen to change the topic back to how they were going to split up the homework. The actual work itself wasn't too hard, remembering to change his tidy handwriting to look like a troll wrote it was the hard part. She hadn't noticed when he pulled out his glasses to make things easier. He paused every now and then to watch her work. He saw her face scrunch up as she skimmed the books for answers, her eyes lighting up when she found them. He watched as she chewed on her bottom lip as she figured out how she wanted to word her answer. He found she didn't have the annoying study habits of his friends, who would tap their quills, make noises, shake the table as they worked to erase a mistake, and stopped constantly to talk because they were bored.
He also remembered the look on her face when he caught her staring at him in his glasses. At first he wasn't sure what to do, she had already seen them, and he wouldn't be able to slip them off without her noticing he was trying to hide them. He really didn't want to look like a dork. Then he had noticed that her face had turned pink. Why was she blushing? He threw some sort of sarcastic remark at her so that she would stop staring, and that only made her blush deepen.
Of course she couldn't just let it go and he ended up telling her about his stupid eyes. Even then she wouldn't let the subject drop. After poking at him for a bit he made it clear to her that he didn't want others to know. That made her change the topic, but it also brought back that blush. Why did she keep doing that? Every time he saw her blush it did something to his insides, coming from that same spot that made him want to be nice to her and show her things. He was supposed to be getting help with his homework, not battling weird feelings. Especially over a mudblood.
He was glad when she had asked about his Muggle Studies homework; it gave him a chance to escape for a moment. He didn't even look at the books he grabbed. It wouldn't really matter for this assignment; he had a muggle expert with him and most probably wouldn't be using any books. When he had returned she was looking out the window once again. At first he froze in the doorway when he saw her standing so peacefully in front of the window. Not wanting to be caught staring he had rushed to his seat and dove right into his work.
He had listened carefully, not wanting to add the wrong item to his portfolio. He asked a lot of questions as well. Then he made the mistake of remarking on her lack of muggle friends. Seeing her current situation with her wizard friends he should have known to tread carefully around that topic. She completely blew up at him when he didn't respond correctly. This made him want to yell back, but he didn't want to risk being kicked out of the library.
After he calmed her down he had tried to make things go back to how they were moments before, when things were slightly awkward but comfortable. It had worked for the most part; she even gave him the suggestion of a watch. When she had shown him her watch, he was amused to see Slytherin colors on her. Then he had decided that Slytherin colors looked good on her. He wanted to surround her with green and silver, to steal her away from the gaudy red and gold.
This thought had startled him. He tried to distract himself by showing her his own time piece. This didn't work so well as when he saw the snake that marked it as a property of Malfoy, his thoughts went to a similar item back home. He couldn't think about it. He decided to end this strange study session, casually telling her he would think about it. When she began to leave he realized there had been a fourth year using the registry when he had exchanged books. Stopping her he checked. The fourth year was wandering about the isles still. He had snapped at the girl, making her run off crying.
It was after he had told Granger it was safe to leave that he had decided to eat his foot. 'See you in Potions tomorrow.' His memory taunted him, mocking him. 'See you in Potions tomorrow.' Stupid weird feelings making me look stupid. 'See you in Potions tomorrow.' That was nowhere near cool and suave, more like stupid and dorky! Draco continued to grumble and grind his teeth as he stirred. Next to him Blaise was whistling a light and airy tune. Apparently Draco's dark mood wasn't even registering at all.
"Can you cut that out, you are ruining my mood!" Draco snapped at Blaise. The whistling stopped and Blaise turned to him.
"Looks like your mood was ruined before I got here," Blaise commented.
"What do you have to be so happy about anyway," Draco ground out.
"Well, if you must know, it has come to my ears that the Weasley girl was rejected by Potter. Something about being involved with someone else and her being his best mates little sister. Apparently she cried her eyes out all night. Look how puffy her face looks under her makeup. Ha!" Blaise was smiling as he spoke.
"You really ought to be careful how much you go on about the She-weasel. Someone might think you fancy her." Draco really didn't care, but he wanted everyone to feel as crummy as he did now. Blaise went back to his own food, but continued to hum in-between bites now. Draco was sure he was doing it on purpose, just to get back at him.
And so another day trudged by where he oddly looked forward to the class he shared with Gryffindor, only today he didn't have any of those delectable tater-tots in which to break the monotony. Each class he sat through seemed absurdly dull when compared to his thoughts on last night's study session. It wasn't like he could buckle down and get lost in the lessons; it seemed everything reminded him of something that happened. The most frequent reminder was when he went to squint as he took his notes. He knew she had a point about his glasses, but she would never hear him admit to that!
Draco seemed to be picking up a new eating habit where he watched the Gryffindor table like a hawk. During this lunch period he noticed Granger scribbling furiously throughout her whole meal, her food pushed to the side of the heavy books she was reading.
Later that day as he walked from his after lunch class to his Care of Magical creatures class he saw the most unusual thing. Walking in the opposite direction was a group of Ravenclaw girls sniffling, and one outright crying. Following them were the Ravenclaw boys, each one looking glum or angry. If he was on his way to Potions he wouldn't have thought anything of it, but what could Hagrid have done to offend them all?
Arriving around the same time as the rest of the class, Draco saw he wasn't the only one with a confused expression on his face. Nearly all of them had seen the upset Ravenclaws pass by. Looking into the pen that Hagrid usually kept the creature they were to see in, Draco almost laughed.
"Why, it's just a stupid fat ugly ferret!" Draco crowed. The ferret, which was an unusual size, turned its head toward Draco. Then it spoke.
"Well if that's true, it must be like looking in a mirror!" Draco gasped as the class laughed. He wasn't sure what to think at all. Had he really just been insulted by a ferret?
"Ha, looks like Malfoy has met his long lost twin!" Weasley barked out through his laughter.
"Who are you to speak you flaming fairy! Did your mum's venereal disease wipe off on top of your head, or does your family just breed ugly?" The vile ferret was awfully rude, but Draco decided that he might like it to stick around if it continued to insult Weasley.
"Hey, you will not speak about my mum that way!" Weasley's face coloured, matching his hair.
"Oh, but I think I will say what I like about your whore of a mum, she couldn't get enough of me last night!" Not very creative, Draco decided, but still, effectively hilarious. Potter had to physically restrain Weasley. "Is that your mate holding you back, or your girl? Such ugly hair on an even uglier girl!" Potter's hold loosened, his own anger beginning to show on his face. Pansy must have shared Draco's amusement because she snorted. "Didn't know there were any swine about, sue wee! Anyone fancy some bacon from this revolting pig!" Pansy might have been amused before, but once the ferret turned on her it was no longer funny.
"I am not a pig you dumb ferret! I am a pureblooded Slytherin and I demand some respect!" Pansy huffed, stomping her foot on the ground.
"And I demand someone get this ugly pig a bag to put over her head, I might vomit if I have to look at it anymore!" The ferret was relentless, his offensiveness coming out in a near constant stream. "If that's what a pureblood looks like I must say I have seen better looking things drop out of a muggle's backside!"
"Al'right here, this 'as gone far 'nough." Hagrid boomed as he came near them. "Sorry I'm late, 'ad ta take a Ravenclaw ter Professor Flitwick, poor lass coul' 'ardly see through all 'er sobbin'! Now, anyone know what this 'ere creature is?" If Hagrid didn't talk as loud as he normally did, the class might have not heard him over the ferret's torrent of offensives. Draco was sure there had been a comment in there about Hagrid's mum being humped by a sheep.
"Yeah, it's a Malfoy!" Potter jeered. The ferret aimed a few explicative towards Harry implying that Harry liked to suck dragon dick.
"Harry!" Hermione snapped at him in an admonishing tone. Straightening her robes she addressed Hagrid, "That foul mouthed thing is a jarvey." The jarvey was not to be outdone.
"And you are a know-it-all, rug munching mudblood!" The jarvey looked at her expectantly, his teeth glinting in an expecting smile. When Hermione ignored him he tried again. "Your blood is as filthy as you are, you dirty cunt humping whore! The only reason your parents didn't kill you at birth was so they could get welfare checks for you." Hermione didn't even bat an eye nor look at him. This seemed to enrage the jarvey even more. "You are so revolting not even a desperate disease ridden dog would try and jump your bones!" Still receiving no response the jarvey looked about as if trying to come up with a greater insult, but in the end all he could come up with was, "Well, you smell so bad I don't want to talk to you anymore!" Hermione laughed as the jarvey turned about and flopped onto the ground.
"Very good 'ermione! You see class, if you don't pay any mind ta a jarvey they will lose interest in you! Ten Points ta Griffindor! An' now that we 'ave seen the down side of the jarvey, I want yous to spend whats left of the class time ta write about what a jarvey is good fer! Now I 'ave ta go 'n see Professor Sprout 'n apologize fer the knarl I was keepin' near the jarvey for class. I thought they would be a good comparison, but oh well, guess you can jus' look tha' one up."
Leave it to Granger to know that the only way to win against a jarvey was to ignore it. Then again, she probably had more experience than anyone else when it came to ignoring offensive ferrets. Man, this jarvey even has me insulting myself, no wonder those Ravenclaws were so devastated!
Draco found himself a comfortable place to sit near the corral as he opened his text to the part on jarveys. There wasn't too much good about them past the entertainment value. They lived underground, eating rodents and gnomes. De-gnoming a garden was their best attribute. Flipping through the pages, he laughed as he read about the knarls. Apparently they are very easily offended, and when they get into an agitated state they tend to destroy the surrounding vegetation! Satisfied that he had done enough for this class he headed off toward the Great Hall for dinner.
Draco's new eating habits gave him the ability to completely block out all the upset students in his year. His focus stayed with Granger the whole way through the meal. Once again she could be seen pouring herself over large dusty books and neglecting her meal. He didn't even pay attention to Pansy as she simpered to the other Slytherins about how the jarvey was ruder to her than anyone else that day.
He didn't stick around too long; he wanted to beat Granger to the lower library tonight. He thought back to the previous night and chuckled to himself. He was right behind her when she had arrived, but when she started rummaging around the bookshelf he realized that he hadn't told her how to get in. It was just so natural to him now that he forgot about it being any different that the entrance to his common room. He had watched her struggle, and had almost gone over several times to help her, but had stopped himself because not only was it interesting to see her try and figure it out, it was just too funny.
He arrived at the mirror that represented Slytherin's quest for knowledge, and glanced at his reflection. He spoke the password and his reflection smirked at him, giving him a nod to let him know the passage was open. He turned from the mirror and walked straight through the book case. Draco casually walked around, checking to see if any other Slytherins were present. As he walked past the study rooms towards the main sitting area he heard voices softly talking in the rooms.
Not all the Slytherins knew about the lower library, keeping the traffic low. It was forbidden to tell first years. This was one of the many safeguards for the lower library. Why tell someone about it if they don't even use the main library? Many of the students in Draco's year didn't seem to realize there was a library, so of course they wouldn't need to know about this one. Bunch of pampered pussies. Due to his own course load Draco had taken to coming to this library more and more often. On bad weather days, when it was impossible to go outside, Draco would even come just for the peace and solitude.
Another rule was that you were not to tell muggle borns about the library, or bring in members of other houses. Draco had effectively broken two rules with one stone. But that was one of the things about Slytherins, they had a certain disrespect for the rules, and Draco was no exception. Draco had a feeling that even if the whole school knew that it wouldn't change the traffic patterns much. Hufflepuff was the only other house that was located in the lower levels, and they were much too fearful of the Slytherins to tread on Silver and Green territory. A stray Ravenclaw or two might make their way in, just to see what it was about, but in the end Ravenclaw would be logical about this, the main library was closer to their tower. The worst that might happen is a bunch of rowdy Gryffindors would come about on a dare.
Still, Draco knew that Granger was all about libraries and books, and most probably wouldn't share this secret with the other Gryffindors, especially now that they were not on good terms. That was one of the things that was still plaguing his mind. Why would Potter and Weasley turn on their own friend like that? The other item that was bugging him was the outlandish feelings that were rattling around his insides. Surround her with Slytherin colors? What type of nonsense am I thinking? Why am I feeling so…possessive?
His thoughts were interrupted as Granger came through the door. He motioned for her to go to the study room, and followed. The pitch was bathed in the amber red glow of a setting sun. Funny how those were the very colors he hated, but when he looked at the pitch at this time of day he couldn't find himself to begrudge it. He watched the distant shapes and forms that made up the Hufflepuff quidditch team. In years before Hufflepuff was never a big contender, but their new beater was brutal, something Draco would have to look out for.
"What's on the menu tonight Granger?" He asked almost lazily as he watched her arrange her materials on the desk.
"Well I have Astronomy tonight, so I finished most of the assignments already. All that is left now is Potions, Charms and your Muggle Studies." Granger beamed as she said this, proud of all her efforts.
"Are you stupid?" Draco spat and Granger visibly flinched. "I don't have Astronomy! I could have finished the work for you!" Seeing her anger mixed with a slight amount of fear on her face Draco sighed. "I know you were just doing what you felt needed to be done, but when I told you I would help you I meant it!" He thought for a moment before continuing. "Can you draw out a schedule for me? That way we can split up the work ahead of time, and get it done when we can. Anything left over or too complicated we can work on together during this time."
"That's actually a pretty good idea Malfoy, why didn't I think of that?" Granger pulled out a piece of parchment and began to draw out a time table. The classes didn't differ too much from his own; the biggest difference was the time changes.
"That's because you were stunned by my good looks?" Draco threw out jokingly.
"As if, I might have to say that jarvey we met earlier was more handsome than you." Granger retorted playfully.
"He was such a pleasant creature, wasn't he? I will have to remember to invite him to Christmas dinner when the time comes." Draco found he was smiling with Granger, and then their eyes met for a moment. Horrified Draco realized he might be flirting with Granger. He quickly turned the conversation back to safer waters. "So, how are we going to split tonight's work?"
"Well let's see, I would rather do the charms essay because I want to review it again. Would you mind taking potions? It should be fairly easy tonight. After all, we learned how to make the wit-sharpening potion back in fourth year, so this essay on the ill effects that wrong ingredients can have on the potion is more of a review really." Granger was already passing him the potions work. He didn't care to argue, he was pretty good with Potions anyway.
Even though they had less work to do tonight Draco found he was getting bored and agitated. He began to write silly things to amuse himself for a moment, but quickly erased them before finishing. Before he knew it, they were done and only had ten minutes to talk about Muggle Studies before Granger had to leave for her Astronomy class. It was a good thing she had taken the initiative to get the work done ahead of time.
"Well, I did go with the watch, I figured you grew up with muggles so you should know what was acceptable and all. I will have more later." He didn't have the class until tomorrow so other than what they talked about the other night he didn't have much more to do.
"We still need to figure out how we are going to split the classes." Granger pointed out. So they spent the rest of their time dividing the extra class work. With all this extra study time he was sure to pass all of his tests this year! The exact opposite will happen to Potter and Weasley! There was a sneer that accompanied these thoughts. "I know this wasn't as long as yesterday's study time for your Muggle Studies, but I have to admit working with you is quite pleasant." Draco noticed that cursed blush on her face again and he realized she was staring at his glasses again. "You should really wear those during class," she commented, "they aren't as dorky as you think they are."
"While I will have to agree that these study sessions are nice, you will not be seeing me wear these things in class." Draco punctuated his point by taking them off and placing them in their case. "Let me check for other students before you leave." Thus he established the routine of making sure there were no Slytherins slinking around the library. He could still hear the muted voices coming from another study room, but as there was no one currently in the library, he ducked back in to let her know.
As she brushed by him to leave she turned and said with a grin, "See you in Creatures tomorrow," knowing full well that tomorrow was Potions. Draco wasn't a hundred percent sure, but it didn't seem like she was mocking him outright, it felt more like she was returning an inside joke.
"Yeah, tomorrow Granger."