Chapter Twelve
Blaise woke up that morning and looked out of the crack in the curtains, watching the rain trickle down the glass. Getting out of bed he probed gingerly at his face, which was still swollen from where Draco had hit him. To be honest, he hadn't been expecting him to get so angry about that – surely he had been doing Draco a favour in pulling him away from Granger? But then he smiled lasciviously as he remembered Hermione's curves and sweet, innocent face. Maybe he did owe Draco some form of minimal apology.
He ran a brush through his hair quickly, pushed a flannel over his face and pulled on his robes and then left the room, moving swiftly through the corridors to get to the Great Hall. He walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down his usual place, smiling graciously at the people surrounding him, who were staring at him open mouthed.
''Morning. Could you pass the juice please?'' He spoke directly to Pansy but she just carried on gawping at him. ''Pansy? I know I'm gorgeous, but seriously, you've got to stop staring.''
She pulled herself together long enough to ask him ''Blaise? What's happened to you?''
''What are you talking about?''
''Blaise…'' She dug around in her bag and pulled out a small compact, and passed it over to him. ''There's something seriously wrong.''
Blaise flicked open the mirror and looked at himself. He had been expecting to see a good-looking boy, potential model, a devastating smile. What he actually saw was a face covered in pulsating boils, hair that was…Oh Merlin, hair that looked like it was falling out, and then his robes, they looked like they were moving. Blaise jumped up in horror and began clawing at his clothes – they were covered with some kind of insects that were slowly wriggling their way under his robes to nestle against his bare skin.
''What the hell is going on?''
Hermione heard his shout and smiled into her goblet, demurely carrying on her conversation and ignoring the commotion that was breaking out at the Slytherin table. All his friends were slowly backing away from Blaise, who was frantically brushing at himself, not sure what to attend to first : his receding hairline, his disgusting skin or the bugs on his skin. Then his slightly wild eyes fell on Draco, calmly reading the Daily Prophet and eating his breakfast.
''What have you done to me?'' Blaise yelled, pushing first years out of the way to make his way closer to Draco, who looked up as though he was noticing Blaise for the first time.
''Blaise? Is that you? Man, you look terrible.''
''What did you do?''
''Me? Absolutely nothing!'' Draco's tone was so sarcastic that he might as well have signed a written confession of his guilt. ''Why on earth would I want to do something like this to you?'' Of course, it had taken Draco and Hermione no longer than a minute to charm Blaise's hairbrush, flannel and robes, leaving him in the current, charming state that he was in.
''Because I gave something away.'' Blaise's meaningful tone was perfectly clear : admit to this and sort it out, or I will tell the entire hall what you and Granger have been doing.
''What would that be?'' Draco stared coldly at him, daring him to do it. ''I don't know where you've got this crazy idea from, Blaise, but maybe the person who's screwing with your appearance is screwing with your mind as well.''
''Shut up. I am not crazy! You and Granger have been having it off at every available opportunity, and I told her that you were just doing it for a bet! This is why you're doing this to me!'' Blaise was panting slightly, clawing almost absentmindedly at his skin.
Pansy cut in. ''Don't be so stupid! Malfoy would never do anything with that Mudblood!''
Draco's jaw tightened momentarily but he remembered the part he had to play and laughed derisively. ''See, they've been screwing with his brain as well.''
''SHUT UP!'' Blaise launched himself at Draco and began punching madly, desperately seeking his face.
''Get. Off. Zabini.'' Draco grunted the words and began fighting back, punching as hard as he could, landing a hit that sent Blaise flying backwards, just as the teachers noticed the disturbance.
''Malfoy! What are you doing?'' Snape stepped forward, his voluminous robes flapping.
''He attacked me sir.'' Draco breathed in heavily through his nose, and wiped the blood off his lip. ''No idea why. He's been raving away, and someone's clearly being playing a prank on him.'' He met Snape's eyes levelling, daring him to say that he knew Malfoy had played the 'prank'.
Snape looked at him and turned away, his face expressionless. ''Parkinson. Take him up to the hospital wing.'' He waved his wand and straightened the benches. Pansy stepped forward and gingerly raised Blaise to his feet, trying to avoid touching him too much. Hermione looked over her shoulder and caught Draco's eye. His hair was ruffled, and his shirt had been pulled open, destroying his normally pristine appearance. He winked surreptitiously at her and jerked his head at the door, indicating that he wanted her to meet him. She had to bite her lip to stop a particularly minxy smile spreading across her face as she turned back to the table.
''You ok Mione?'' Ginny looked at her curiously.
''I'm brilliant. Blaise is injured isn't he? I've got to go now.'' And with that, she stood up and walked out of the hall, swaying her hips slightly, perfectly aware that Draco was watching her.
He met her up in their quarters a few minutes later. ''Mione, I had the most excellent idea.''
''Mmm?'' Hermione sounded highly sceptical.
''You should go and seduce him.''
''We've been through this. That is hackneyed and demeaning and I won't do it.''
''No, do it! Because I have a cunning plan.''
''I'm failing to see the cunning part in this.''
''You know Millicent Bulstrode?''
''Hard not to notice her. You've got to run out of her way when you see her coming along the corridor.''
''Well, she has an enormous crush on Zabini.''
''No! Really?'' Hermione looked at him.
''So bad a crush that she would do almost anything to get close to him.'' Draco looked at her and grinned. ''You go in there, flirt and throw Zabini completely off balance. Then Bulstrode takes a little Polyjuice Potion with you in it – I'll tell her that it's a love potion and not let her look in a mirror, and tell her to go straight up to Blaise and kiss him, and not let him say anything. That way he's not going to say anything that'll give the game away. And he'll wake up in the morning next to Bulstrode which will absolutely horrify him.''
''That's really good…But what if someone sees 'me' going into Blaise's room and…you know.''
''Disillusionment charm on her as she goes in. And Muffliato charm on the bedroom.''
''Are you sure you only just thought that up?'' Hermione smiled at him, unable to resist the idea of playing that kind of trick on Blaise. ''Well…as long as I only have to flirt with him…''
''You're amazing'' Draco moved closer to her and took two handfuls of her hair and gently pulled her face up to his.
''You only want me because I'm good for revenge.'' Hermione pouted at him, her voice slightly muffled, not wanting to admit how real that fear felt.
''I don't.'' Draco's voice was serious as he looked at her. ''I don't want to use you. I just want you. More than you know.'' Unable to quite believe what he had just said, he kissed her again, her hands moving over his ripped shirt, feeling the muscles underneath.
''Should I go to Blaise now? That might be a good idea. Hopefully he'll be looking normal again now.''
''You aren't going now!'' Draco exclaimed, as he steered her into his bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him. Hermione laughed softly as he pushed her back onto his bed. ''You aren't allowed to kiss me like that and leave – I think that should be an official rule.''
Later, Hermione was pulling a shirt over her head as Draco lounged on the bed watching her. ''Open an other button.''
''No. That's not me and he'll notice that something's up. He might not be as clever as you but he certainly isn't stupid.''
''Fine. But I didn't want the shirt open for Zabini. That was for me.''
Hermione laughed. ''You're insatiable! You can get a hair for the Polyjuice Potion out of my hairbrush.''
Draco propped himself up on his elbows. ''Are you sure you want to do this? I'm not going to hold it against you if you decide you don't want to do it.''
Hermione smiled at him. ''I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was for some greater good. I don't particularly want to flirt with him, but he made me feel awful, he made you feel awful. So I'm going to make him feel awful.''
''Doesn't mean you have to do this.'' Draco said, thinking silently that he wasn't particularly relishing the idea of what she was going to do.
''I'll do this. This one thing. And then I'll consider myself even with him. I hate him for making that bet.''
''I made the bet as well.'' Draco looked at her with worried eyes.
''Draco, please don't remind me about that. I can't bear to think about it.'' She leaned over him and kissed him gently on the lips.
Draco kissed her back and watched her walk over to the door. ''Mione!'' She stuck her head back through the door. ''Why can't you bear to think about me making the bet?''
She looked at him wistfully. ''Because it hurts too much. I don't like to think of you hurting me. That's not what you do.'' And with that, she was gone, walking along the corridors to the hospital wing.
Pushing the door open, she saw that Madam Pomfrey wasn't there, and that Blaise was lying in a bed at the far end of the ward. She walked up to him and placed a tentative hand on his now insect free shoulder. ''Blaise, I thought that was so horrible what Draco did to you.''
''What do you want?'' He spat at her. ''I'm not mad, I know what I'm talking about.''
Hermione smiled sweetly at him, masking her true feelings of revulsion. ''I know. The thing is Blaise, you're just a much more attractive option than Malfoy.'' And with that, unable to even attempt any sort of banter, she pressed her lips to his.
And suddenly realised how spoilt she had been with Draco. Blaise didn't even bother spending any time kissing her normally before thrusting his tongue into her mouth, and circling it around as though he was attempting to clean her mouth. Hermione opened her eyes slightly and looked over his shoulder, trying to see how long it had been, trying to see if she could decently pull away yet.
Finally, she deemed the moment appropriate and disengaged herself from Blaise, the human washing machine. ''I've gotta go now.'' Blaise opened his mouth to say something, but she just pressed her finger to his lips. ''I'll come back later. And give you something to make you feel better.''
Blaise's eyes widened and he smiled appreciatively and let Hermione leave the room unmolested, although feeling slightly unclean.
That evening, Draco was handing Millicent a vial full of Polyjuice Potion, glowing a pretty pastel colour. ''Yeah, just drink this, and you will be irresistible to Blaise. More so than usual I mean. Can I suggest something? Don't let him say anything, because chances are he'll be so love struck he'll embarrass himself. Just…have your wicked way with him.'' Draco repressed the unpleasant image of Blaise forcing himself on Hermione, and reminded himself that it was just a potion and the real Hermione would be with him.
So Millicent went off happily, and that night, two Hermiones writhed in the arms of the man that they wanted. Just before she drowsed off, the real Hermione turned her head on the pillow to look at Draco, his hair shining silver in the moonlight, the light speckled from the rain on the windows. ''Draco…will an hour have been long enough?''
''Course it will. This is Zabini.'' They laughed together, and Hermione scooched closer to him so that she could nestle against his bare chest, enjoying the feel of their skin brushing.
Draco lowered his head and buried his nose in her soft hair, breathing in her warm scent. ''You always smell so lovely.''
''So do you. All strong, and lovely and Draco-like.'' Draco smiled slightly as he listened to Hermione's voice getting drowsier and drowsier,
''You're amazing.''
''So're you.'' Hermione's eyes were no longer open properly.
''I've never felt this way about anyone before.'' Draco whispered, thinking her completely asleep. But that one sentence hit Hermione's ears just before she drifted away, and when she did, it was with a glowing smile on her face.
That morning, Pansy (tipped off by Draco) walked into the hospital ward, surrounded by a crowd of Slytherins.
''Merlin!''
Blaise sat up, his eyes bleary as he took in the crowd. Then he remembered what had happened last night, and smirked. ''Yeah, well, last night, me and…'' His eyes rolled downwards ''Bulstrode!''
''You slept with Millicent!'' Pansy's voice was gleeful and she was already making her way to the door to spread the news.
''NO! No, she was Hermione when she came here…''
''No I wasn't!'' Millicent was awake now, and the entire Slytherin cohort was looking at him as though he were crazy. Blaise carried on gibbering, completely aghast at what he was supposed to have done, but the news was already spreading, as the real Hermione woke up stretching next to the sleeping Draco.
''I've never felt this way about anyone either.'' She whispered in his ear, and then settled back down to go to sleep.
AN: Well, there's chapter twelve at last. Sorry it took me a couple of days to alert. Now, firstly, the idea for the revenge where Millicent sleeps with Blaise was the idea of ILOVERWHPDM. So thank you very much for that, I thought it was a fab idea. And then I also wanted to say thank you to CutebIndegoddess, because she recommended that story to Emerald27. So thank you very much for that. Stats: at the time of writing, we have
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All in all, I think that's rather bloody good! So my fab reviewers for chapter eleven were : Amester, The Accountant's Daughter, Emerald27, CutebIndegoddess, ILOVERWHPDM, breezie, Fnicks-Gurlz, Wings of a Rebel, Pirateluver, Xblackdragonx, silent-mousie, mhaj78 and Crystal Slara. So thank you very much guys, please keep the reviews coming, I really love to get feedback! Anyway, much love to everyone…Petitesorciere xxx