Note: This is not the corrected version. I decided to go ahead and post this and put up the corrected version later, okay? Good. Enjoy!
Chapter 8: The Willow Meets the WispIt was turning out to be a very dreary day. A storm was raging outside of the windows of the castle and the torches were lit early in the morning. The student's celebrated in then fact that Herbology was canceled.
Hermione was sitting with Lavender in one of the classrooms where the Herbology students for that period were being held. The door opened and some very wet Slytherin's came in. Professor Snape was seen streaking down the hall to the headmaster's office to report something.
At the looks from the student's already occupying the room one of the green and silver tied boys said, "Dungeon's have flooded." There were nods of understanding as the student's went back to their conversations and studies.
To Hermione's utter surprise, Draco Malfoy sat down next to her. Lavender smiled and left them to go help Parvarti get the comb that was stuck in her hair out.
"Hello, Draco. Do you need something?"
"By chance, yes. Tell me if I'm out of line, but you look lovely today."
"Thank you. Now, what is the real reason you are talking to me?"
"Well, this is a bit embarrassing for me," he said, fiddling with the edge of his robes. "I, er, I need, um. Well, see the thing is, I……"
"Spit it out, Malfoy," said Hermione, exasperated at this boy who was wasting her time babbling away.
"I was wondering if you would be willing to give me a hand in, in," he thought fast, "in Charms. That new assignment has got me all confused and you seemed to understand it pretty well when you were helping Longbottom and that lot you run around with."
Hermione sat, hands folded, head slightly cocked as she looked at him. What a stupid question. He was excellent at charms and she was damned if she was going to believe his sad and sorry excuse. Then again, this could work to her advantage. It was like Kelly had said earlier, "How are you ever going to begin to understand the male mind unless you get to know all different kinds of them?"
For a moment Hermione thought about refusing to help him, but then Kelly's words and her own misunderstandings of the opposite sex over took her decision. Before she could stop herself, Hermione had blurted out, "Okay, I'll help you."
Draco smiled, a good look for him, and opened his mouth, but at that exact moment Harry and Ron decided Hermione had sat talking a bit too long for their taste.
"Hermione," began Harry," why don't you come and sit with us for a while?"
"You know, away from Malfoy," finished Ron.
Hermione shook her head at them and flashed Malfoy an eat-your-heart-out smile before gathering her things and following two of her dearest friends to another table.
A little bit later, the students were filing out of the classroom for lunch and the rain had slowed to a lulling drizzle for a few minutes. Hermione was walking far enough away from her friends that they didn't see Draco come up behind her and whisper in her ear, "I was interrupted before I could thank you. I'll see you tonight in the library, table by the care of creatures section right after dinner, okay?"
Hermione shook her head yes and rushed to catch up to Ron and Harry who had finally realized she was not walking with them. Draco watched her go and couldn't help but notice that the view was not at all unpleasant.
Tutoring Draco Malfoy. Who would have thought? Hermione was mulling this whole scenario over in her head as she walked with her bag to the designated meeting place. Draco had not arrived yet and she was glad for small favors. Kelly had been bugging her all through dinner to spill what was on her mind. When asked, Kelly had said she had a sixth sense about these things. Although, what these "things" were, she would not clarify.
Hermione took out her Charms book and tried to think of what Draco could not possibly be getting about the subject. If he was as intelligent as he was said to be then why should he need her help? The whole situation was just a bit fishy. The lamps had been lit as she walked in and now they flickered with a bright and happy light that seemed to dance across the shelves of dusty volumes. Schoolrooms were generally a warm atmosphere except when they dripped rainwater through the ceiling onto your head.
The gentle creak as the door opened made her turn to see Malfoy quickly closing it and coming over to her, charms book in hand. He had that "I know something you don't know" look on his face and Hermione felt immediately annoyed. How dare he think she didn't know something when she was the one helping him. The nerve.
"Well?" he asked.
"'Well' what?" she retorted.
"Well, are we going to begin anytime soon? I do have a life to get back to, you know."
"It might help if you told me what the problem is, wouldn't it? Honestly, think before you open that big mouth of yours.'
"Funny, no one else seems to complain about my "big mouth" as you so gracefully put it. At least, none of the girls anyway." She smirked.
"Oh, honestly. Sit down and open your book to whatever it is that is giving you trouble. I could be studying."
"Terribly sorry to have taken your nose out of a book, Granger," he remarked, sarcasm dripping like venom from every word as he sat down at one of the long desks.
"Fine," Hermione sighed. "Just show me the problem. The sooner we're done here, the sooner we can both get back to things we'd rather be doing."
The sound was loud as he nearly slammed the charms book's cover down on the table and began viciously flipping through the pages looking for something she could explain. She hovered over him, looking at the pages over his shoulder. 'His hair smells really good. Wonder what shampoo he uses?" Hermione thought as she inhaled the sweet, masculine smell of his apparently clean hair.
"Here, why don't you explain this one," Draco said, pointing at the page marking the beginning of "Levitation and other such Everyday Spells."
"Okay, well, which one do you want to start with? These are very easy."
Draco clenched his teeth and held his tongue. He had to get through this without killing her or he'd get in trouble and that would be very bad.
"This one," he said, pointing one long finger at the heading of a page."
"Oh, well that ones fairly new. Not exactly a spell I can see you using, but we'll see how you do. Okay, do you understand the principle of the spell itself, because understanding is the first step 'towards learning it?" Draco nodded. "Good. That saves me a lot of time that can be used for practice. This one, I think, would be good for when you can't fall asleep and you want something to look at. In this form it is not permanent and will wear off in a few minutes, depending on how much power you put into it. You need to state clearly at the end of the incantation what time of day you would like the wall or ceiling to portray or God only knows what you'll end up with."
She made a quickly flicking motion with her wrist and said, very simply, "Change, eight o'clock," and pointed at the ceiling.
The sky above them appeared will with stars and a sliver of a moon, silver like a cut filled with silver-white blood marring the smooth surface of the sky. It was beautiful, even if it was only artificial.
"The most important thing to remember about this spell is that you have to envision what you want to see, even if it is just a rough sketch. The spell works off of your imagination. Understand? Malfoy? Hello, do you understand?"
He wasn't answering, just looking up as the picture disappeared and above them became dim stones again.
A/N:
Thank you to my lovely readers and reviewers.
Starrynight girl- I finally updated. Hope you liked it.
HnDluver- Thanks for reviewing. It means so much to me
acpromes- Oh, thanks. Glad you like it so much. I hope I didn't have any errors, but typos happen.
Serpinete-oscura- Glad you want to read more. Thanks for the offer to beta.
mirage05- Thanks for the compliment. My story feels appreciated now. Glad you think it was a good chapter. Thank you very much for offering to look over the stories, but I think I may have found someone.