AN- Hey, same chapter 9, but with minor adjustments. If Harry Potter belonged to me, I'd be rich. I'm NOT rich. On with the story!
Draco and Hermione got ready for the day's classes quickly in poorly-hidden anxiousness. Hermione was done first, so she made herself comfortable on the couch.
"Hey, Granger. Give me a hand."
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
Hermione looked up to see Malfoy descend the stairs from his room, trying to glare, but not able to pull of his usual threatening demeanor. He was fiddling with the back of his dress. Hermione couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips. She wasn't even aware that she giggled until now. Malfoy was now standing with his back to her, waiting expectantly.
"Wow, Draco. Pink really is your color. It enhances your complexion and really makes your eyes pop." Hermione joked as she zipped the back up. Draco's dress was pink, frilly, and sparkly, every 5 year olds dream princess dress.
Malfoy twirled to face her and batted his eyelashes, "Oh, puh-lease, girlfriend!" he said, in his best feminine impression. Hermione bust out laughing and collapsed onto the couch, holding her sides. The laughing was contagious and soon, Malfoy was doubled over clutching his gut and laughing. Hermione took a few gasps of air and wiped the tears from her eyes. When they both calmed a bit, content with smiling like idiots, Hermione continued with her attempts at dissuading him. Hermione figured that it was enough that he dressed like this in her sight.
"Are you completely sure you're going to go through with this?"
"Merlin, when will you just let me do this? Really, it's the only way to get them off your back."
Hermione faked a worried glance at her back, which earned a chuckle from Draco.
"Now, come on, before breakfast is finished."
Draco and Hermione both took deep breaths as they prepared themselves before entering the Great Hall. They opened the doors and started walking. Whispers started, but it seemed to get more silent with each step they took. Hermione spotted Ginny, Harry, and Ron, who currently had a sausage half hanging out his mouth. Her closest friends shifted to create a spot for her next to Ginny.
Hermione sat down, very self-conscious about the amount of noise she was making in comparison with the students in the Great Hall. The brown-haired girl never thought it possible to have so many people gathered in one place be so eerily quiet. Draco leaned down to Hermione's ear, "Show time." He smiled and Hermione, unused to this civil behavior in public, said shyly, "Good luck."
Draco straightened up, flipped his hair with his hand, and skipped up to the front of the Great Hall, where the teachers sat shell-shocked. In their many years of teaching, even being a Hogwarts student, no one had come close to wearing or doing what Draco was.
Professor McGonagall started to object to Malfoy. He turned to her and whispered in his normal voice, "Don't worry about it, Professor, I know what I'm doing." Then louder, and in his girly voice, he added, "Don't have a fit, girlfriend!" For the who Hall to see, Draco displayed winking and blowing a kiss to the scarred Professor.
Loudly, a Ravenclaw wolf whistled, then shouted to Hermione, "Whoo! Bet you want a girl to wink and air kiss you like that, Granger!" the comment earned a few snickers from the Ravenclaw table, and an angry huff from Hermione.
Draco kept his girl act up, almost unable to hide his anger with not only the Ravenclaw boy, but himself, "Oh no you didn't," he snapped his fingers in the Z Formation, and bobbed his head in rhythm. "20 points from Ravenclaw, for being a bunch of ninnies. Just because I am wearing a pink gorgeous dress, that you are undeniably jealous of, does not mean that I don't have the Head Student authority. Apologize right now, Johnes! Now!"
Treston Johnes said an apology that barely met Draco's standards. Malfoy then gave a high pitched giggle. He caught some of the Slytherin faces, and 'mortified' didn't even begin to cover it. Here was their most highly respected Slytherin acting, and dressing, like a fool. But now, the fun for Draco was over, and it was time to give them a real talk.
In his real voice, Draco started his speech, "Alright guys. Let's be austere. I'm sure all of you have heard of what happened to Granger of my doing."
"And it was bloody brilliant!" Nott shouted from the Slytherin table.
Malfoy cringed, "Five points from Slytherin. Apologize, Nott."
Nott looked bewildered. "Hells no! I'm not apologizing to a Mud--"
"15 points from Slytherin! This could go on, Nott! Be a man, and apologize!" Draco's patience was wearing down.
"Fine. Sorry," Theodore mumbled to no one in particular.
"To her, you dolt! And like you mean it." Draco warned.
"Sorry Granger!" Nott scratched his head, and Draco decided that was as good as it was going to get.
"Alright, as I was saying," Malfoy continued. "What happened was a mistake. Well, truthfully, I had meant it for a moment. But it was wrong. She has forgiven me out of the kindness of her heart, and I hope all of you will do the same. It was, by far, the stupidest mistake I have made in my life, and I'll never do anything like it again."
Hermione POV- I felt strange. It was another feeling like when he had apologized to me one on one last night. He was giving up his earned Slytherin reputation right now, all because of me. For me. I could feel my heart speed up like I've just reached a small epiphany.
Regular POV
"I know that some of you probably still believe in what was said of her in that Potions class. But I had edited those words. She had originally said them to me when I deserved it. But then, she actually had the courtesy to embarrass me in private. If Hermione's gay or a lesbian, or whatever you heard, then I am too. And obviously, I'm not. Err, well, I'm not proving it too much right now, but hey, I had to make a point." Draco shrugged innocently.
"So, in conclusion, because I know how much you each want to go to class, you shouldn't make fun of her because of a mistake on my part. It was a lame, cruel joke, and no one deserves that kind of treatment. Oh, and also, just in case my colloquy wasn't enough persuasion for you to be nice, then just remember that she is Head Girl and can take house points away too. With that, I think I'm going to go change, because this dress looks a lot better than it feels."
As Draco walked toward the exit, a group of Gryffindors, including Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and a reluctant Ron stood up and clapped. Soon, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs joined in. Even a few people in Slytherin clapped slowly, but didn't dare stand up. Malfoy shook his head with a smile on his face and hurried to get into more comfortable clothes. He was proud of himself for accomplishing his goal. All he had wanted was for people to forget about Hermione's embarrassing moment, and focus on this one instead. Draco's plan had worked out better than he had thought it would, especially since he actually received applause for being so brave.
As he left, the Populars were giving him the meanest looks they could muster. Lavender and Cho had heard the story from Pansy, which Pansy of course had twisted a bit, to make Malfoy seem like the ultimate arrogant bully. The three girls had swore their revenge on Malfoy, as Pansy thought: 'It's only a matter of time that Draco comes crawling back to me.'
Back in the Great Hall, Hermione was touched. Draco had really fixed everything up. She was sure that Malfoy's speech had encouraged more of Dumbledore's inter-house unity scheme.
The Headmaster stood, "We should all thank Mister Malfoy for that awe-inspiring speech. I am sure that we are all secretly proud of his courageous choice of wardrobe, all in the good hopes for a good cause. I award Slytherin house ten points. Now, I feel the need to bring you back to the reality that class starts in ten minutes. Have a wonderful day, students!" Dumbledore swept his arms wide, and the students hurried about to get ready for the day of classes.
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Hermione was rushing back to her room, she wanted to thank Draco again for doing this. By the time she got to the last corridor before her room, she was practically running. She shouted, "Love fest" to the portrait so she didn't have to slow down. She found Draco just beginning to descend his staircase with a small smirk on his face. She bolted up those stairs, met him, and threw her arms around him without thinking. Despite the wind being knocked out of him by the force of this hug, Draco was surprised. For a few moments, he didn't know what to do, so he just stood there. But soon, her happiness seeped into him, and he hugged her back, still euphoric from the speech. She whispered "thank you" in his ear. Her breath had tickled his skin, and he shivered a bit.
Once Hermione realized what she was doing, she jumped back, a bit shocked at herself. She apologized to him in a formal voice. After a pause, and many quick thoughts through Draco's head, he asked, "For what?"
"Err, hugging you, I guess."
The two head students locked eyes for a moment. Then Malfoy began to laugh. The feelings in the air being very contagious today, Hermione laughed too. It was silly to be apologizing when both of them had clearly enjoyed the hug.
Draco broke the silence, "We'd better get to class, or we'll be late."
Hermione joked, "Well, judging by what you just did, I'd doubt the professor will care."
Deciding not to test the professor's patience, a content Draco and Hermione headed off to Muggle Studies. Draco was interested in this muggle class after seeing the wonders of cell phones. His father had profusely rejected the idea, but Draco's curiosity won. Hermione, growing up as a muggle, decided to take the easy class, so she could relax for once. Draco and Hermione walked into the class, and Hermione took her assigned seat at a table with Harry, Ron, Seamus, Pavarti, and today, Parvati's Ravenclaw follower, Anne. The table was more crowded than usual.
Malfoy was about to sit next to her, but caught himself, smirked and shook his head at Hermione, who was waiting to see what he would do. He then turned in the other direction. He didn't really have anyone to sit by, since almost every Slytherin wouldn't be caught cursed in this class. He didn't really mind having to sit alone, because sooner or later, there was always at least one girl, even a few boys, that wanted to sit next to him. Malfoy found an empty table, second to the front.
Professor Wickliffe started the lesson when everyone got settled down, "Today, class, we will--" the professor with an abnormally large head, squinted around the room. "Well, we seem to have an overloaded table and a semi-lonely table. Ahh, Miss Granger, up to Mister Malfoy's table, if you please."
As Hermione rose and collected her things, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the professor. The table wasn't that empty, seeing as there was another table that only had three people at it. She sat on Malfoy's right, since Eloise Midgeon was almost clinging to his left. The table consisted of Draco, Eloise, a Hufflepuff named Dalorie, Pansy, and now Hermione. Pansy had been commanded by Draco not to sit directly next to him, which was the only reason she wasn't clinging to his right. When Hermione had sat in what would have been Pansy's spot, Pansy huffed angrily, and worked harder to devise a revenge plan, which was quite a challenge for a ditzy girl like herself.
"Today class," Professor Wickliffe started up again, "We will be learning of the muggle invention of music players. Can anyone tell me any of the muggle music players?"
Just as you can depend on brooms flying, Hermione's hand shot up. "The newest one is called an iPod. There are varieties of these music players."
"Very good Miss Granger, 5 points to Gryffindor," the aged man didn't mind not having to call on Hermione. "The iPod is the specific music player we will be learning of today. During this week, and parts of next, we will learn of muggle music players, starting with the most recent."
As the professor launched into the history of the iPod invention, Hermione's arm was being nudged. She turned her head to the left to see Malfoy staring ahead, seemingly paying attention. Upon closer inspection, Hermione saw that his right hand held a folded piece of parchment, which he discreetly held out to her. Hermione made a face. She strictly disapproved of notes. She hesitated, but took it nevertheless. Once in her hands, a shrill voice a seat away from her cried out, "Professor! Draco and Granger are passing notes!"
AN- Same, same. Alright, please review to tell me how this chapter was, for I am kind of unsure.. But also, no flames. No one likes flames, and we're all only human.
If it was terrible- I'm so sorry, and I'll try to fit the next chapters to your liking. Well, assuming you tell me what I can improve on.
If it was okay or pretty good- Yippy Skippy! I'm sure you'd still have a few tips for me though, and that's fine. Huffah!
I'd love to hear everyone's input, so thanks! Peace.