Author's note at the end. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!
Disclaimer: everything recognizable Harry Potter is JKR's.
It has been two weeks. Two whole weeks since the first day of school. Two weeks since Hermione has made anything more than slight and insignificant progress with one Draco Malfoy. Sure, Ginny and Pansy's plan had gone smashingly well. After the water incident, Hermione had sat next to Draco all night, working as many innuendos into the conversation as possible. But, unfortunately, that was about as far as she'd gotten. Shortly after dessert, he abruptly stood and told his friends that he wanted to speak with them. The three boys disappeared into his room and didn't reemerge for the next hour, and then it was only Blaise and Theo. Draco had stayed in his room or the rest of the night and had been promptly avoiding her as much as possible and ignoring her during the times that avoiding wasn't an option. Needless to say, Hermione was growing increasingly frustrated. She was beginning to doubt whether or not she could pull this whole mission thing off, and she began to wonder if she was even appealing enough to make it work. Her self-confidence had taken a major hit over these past weeks. This was why she was currently sitting in the room of requirement, accompanied only by a large bowl of strawberry cheesecake ice cream and a pile of chocolate wrappers. Now, mind you, this sort of behavior is rare, but Hermione really needed a sloppy personal night. She had tried almost everything short of walking around naked to get his attention and had thrown enough suggestive comments into their conversations to make even Ginny blush. Not normally one to admit defeat, Hermione couldn't bring herself to tell her friends of abandoning the plan and just pretending it never happened. She was so mad at herself that she couldn't manage to pull this off!
"Bloody hell! What is wrong with me?" Hermione screamed to the empty room.
"Well, Mione, right now that question could have many answers," Pansy said as she entered the room.
"What? How did you guys find me?"
"Come on, give us a little credit," Ginny teased as she filed in after Pansy.
"The Nargles led us here of course," Luna stated as she came in and closed the door.
"Where else do you go when you want to be alone besides the library, and we already checked there, so this was the last option," Pansy answered, ignoring Luna's comment.
"Yes, well, then you must know that I am not really in the mood for company right now," Hermione huffed, setting down her ice cream bowl. She really just wanted some time to wallow in self-pity, but now there was no way that was happening. Dammit! They're going to try and cheer me up!
"But no, Hermione, that's just the Snorkacks messing with your mind." Luna breathed.
"Yeah, Mione, we're here to snap you out of this state you've been in for the past week. How can you expect Draco to want to be around you when you're acting like a depressed Goth whose dog just died? You need to cheer up girl!" Pansy said, settling into one of the beanie bags closest to Hermione.
"Do not mention that name around me. He obviously wants nothing to do with me. I mean, am I really that repulsive that he would choose to flat out avoid me. He hasn't said more than two words to me other than that involving Head Duties, and none of your guys' tricks are working to get his attention!" Hermione cried. She hated to show such weakness, even in front of her friends. Hermione prided herself on her ability to be confident in herself despite what others said or did. She hadn't become The Smartest Witch of the Age as a Muggle-born by taking crap from people. But it had reached a breaking point. Being ignored by a boy was one thing, but being ignored by Malfoy after his numerous insults in the past and all of her hard work to get him back, Hermione couldn't help but feel inadequate. Maybe he's right. Maybe this is finally something I'm just not good at she thought glumly.
"Don't be silly Hermione. You are far more beautiful than you recognize and Malfoy's probably just intimidated by you and scared of falling for his long time enemy. You just need to get him in a situation where he cannot avoid you and then you can try again."
"Yeah, Mione, Luna's right. Why else would he avoid you? He's definitely feeling something and he's trying to prevent anything from happening by distancing himself from you. This is a good sign; it means you're completely under his skin." Ginny said from her spot on the couch across from Hermione.
"Now, all you have to do is find a place where he can't avoid you and totally fuck with his mind," Pansy plotted, an evil and completely Slytherin smirk spreading across her face.
"Well, there is the talent show next week that we've been planning. We're announcing it tomorrow at breakfast and then people who want to can sign up to perform," Hermione said, a glimmer of hope and wickedness worming their way into her voice.
"Oh Mione, that's perfect! You are such a good singer and he'll have to be there because he's Head Boy, and if you sing the right songs in the right outfits you can really screw him up," Ginny yelled. Her and Pansy turned to each other and began exchanging conspiratorial looks.
"Ginny, have I ever told you that you should have been a Slytherin? Because you can be downright diabolical sometimes. Though, I suppose you do have a point, it's a good place to revamp the mission. Now I just have to worry about picking songs, finding clothes, and figuring out how to go about messing with him without seeming super obvious as I will be in front of the whole rest of the school," Hermione said, sitting up in her chair. She was going into research and planning mode, and she had to admit it felt good to be bad.
XOXOX
It had been two weeks. Two weeks since the night that Granger had practically given him a hand job through his jeans. Two weeks he had been able to avoid her and any other potentially embarrassing situations that seemed to follow her around. He didn't know why she affected him so badly, and to be honest, he really didn't want to think about that issue in much depth. He just wanted the feelings to go away. He wanted to stop acting like such a nervous virgin around her because if there was one thing Draco wasn't it was a nervous virgin. He was the Slytherin Sex God dammit! That being said, Hermione was really fucking with his head, so after that last little indiscretion, he had sulked back to his room to seek Blaise and Theo's advice on how to get back at the Gryffindor Princess for messing around with him. After much mocking and stupid ideas from Blaise and amused smirks and sarcastic comments from Theo, we finally came up with the perfect idea to get back at the little annoying know-it-all. He was going to throw her off her game by coming on to her right back. But first, he had to have her on edge, so he was avoiding her and ignoring all attempts at innuendo and her suggestive comments and actions. He could tell she was getting more and more desperate, though why Draco had no idea, and now Hermione was right where he wanted her.
"So boys, what do you think I should sing at the talent show? I'm thinking drastically sexy, wet knickers lyrics here. I need to have that bitch practically begging me to get her off at the end of this thing. But nothing too sappy, I don't want to sound like a pussy," Draco drawled out from the couch in the Common Room. Hermione was out tonight, and judging by the supplies she had with her when she took off about an hour ago, she wouldn't be returning anytime soon. He had planned on having Theo and Blaise over anyways for a plotting session, but at least now he didn't have to bother with a silencing charm.
"All this wizard music we've been looking at is crap that they've all heard before. I hate to suggest this, but I'm thinking we should delve into some Muggle music," Blaise offered.
"You don't want them all to be blatantly about sex either, mate. Throw in one that's just good and kill it. It's all in the performance. If you deliver, she'll still be begging no matter what the lyrics are, and you don't want anyone to get suspicious," Theo said in that superior yet distant voice of his. Though he didn't speak much with anyone outside his small group of close friends, when he did it was always worth listening to.
"You know, you're right Theo. I'm not the Slytherin Sex God for nothing. And girls have said I do wonderful things with my mouth. Let's just pick a sick song. Blaise, can you go get your Muggle music stash so we can start preparing?" Draco said in a cocky voice, a smirk sliding onto his face. Rolling his eyes at his over confident friend, Blaise nodded, stood, and left to do as requested. Draco had better watch himself. If he keeps getting over confident, the Gryffindor will catch him off guard and he'll look like an idiot. Hmmm, and wouldn't that be fun Blaise thought as he strolled from the room, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
XOXOX
Four heads snapped up as a loud knock sounded on the door. An uneasy silence settled over the girls. They shared questioning glances with one another, each wondering who could be visiting them at such a late hour. And moreover, how did whoever it was know where they were? Pansy put her finger to her lips signaling the others to be quiet and walked over to the door. She drew her wand and slowly pulled the door open.
"Merlin Pans, put that thing away before you hex someone," Blaise said, rolling his eyes and stepping into the room. Pansy eyed her fellow Slytherin before lowering her wand and following him into the room.
"What is it that you wanted Blaise? As you can see, we're kind of in the middle of something," Pansy asked in annoyance. He had interrupted their planning session and Pansy was not happy. Slytherins weren't generally known for their patience with all people.
"Well, if you would stop bitching at me for two seconds, I could tell you," he responded, sending Pansy a look as if to challenge her to keep talking. When she stayed quiet, he continued. "I came here to give you ladies some information- now wait before you interrupt me. I know you're all planning something and you're messing with Draco, and I want in. Yes, I am his friend, but it's fun to see him knocked down a peg and, honestly, it's just too damn funny to watch how flustered he gets whenever Granger pulls something," Blaise said with a chuckle. He eyed the four girls, silently asking if they would accept his proposal. He was starting to get a little nervous of the response when Hermione stood up and walked towards him.
"Well Zabini, I suppose if we are to form an alliance, I suppose you should call me Hermione."
*******A/N: Hi! Sorry it's kind of short, and doesn't really answer any questions but I figured I'd update now instead of waiting to add more. Thank you all for sticking with this story, I know it's taking a while to update, but I have a crazy busy schedule and I have about zero time to do anything but school and lax. PLEASE REVIEW AND LEAVE A CHALLENGE WORD (OR PHRASE)! I really want to try and have to fit random words in. I think it'll be funnier and it will definitely make it more entertaining to write. Thank you, enjoy your lives. *smiley face*
Heart, Em.