A/N: (I own nothing) As ever, a huge thanks to everyone who has read and/or reviewed this story- it never fails to make me smile when I get a notification of any new followers!
I know I skipped a few days in the timeline, but this day alone is going to have about three chapters so don't panic if I miss a day or two from time-to-time :)
A Plan in Motion
9 days until the Yule Ball - Part 1
Over the course of the weekend, Hermione found herself back at square one, because her plausible theory had turned out to be nothing but conjecture and coincidence.
She had been almost positive that Professor Moody seemed to be indirectly influencing the changes in the Slytherin's behaviour: he was there moments before Malfoy apologised about accidentally hexing her; he was there when Daphne gave Harry the tip-off about the 'wizarding opticians' (which Hermione discovered to be a genuine thing – she had done her research), and lastly, the moment Malfoy had gotten out of his seat to pick her wand up for her, was in Moody's lesson.
Everything about that theory seemed to make sense; the evidence was there, and the Slytherins had motives to go with it. Simply put, none of them want to be given the 'ferret treatment' as Malfoy had done. That also explained why they seemed to be playing nice with Hermione, Harry and Ron in particular, as Harry was on the receiving end of Malfoy's goading when the Professor performed said 'ferret treatment' in the first place.
When Hermione had told Harry and Ron of her thoughts on Friday night after their painfully long detention (spending 2 hours counting and sorting Flobberworms wasn't exactly the highlight of her day), Ron seemed more than convinced that she had found the answer. Harry, meanwhile, shot down her whole argument with one sentence.
"Moody couldn't have been lurking anywhere that first time with Daphne because that happened in the Entrance Hall and he was in Flitwick's room when I got to the Charms corridor."
"Maybe there are two Moodys?" Hermione had argued pointlessly. She refused to give up when it all made so much sense.
Her friends had shared a look at her wild grasping at straws. She felt embarrassed for even suggesting such a thing, but Harry, like the loyal person he was, saw it as a demonstration for how much Hermione believed in her notion. He suggested that they purposefully try and wind the Slytherins up whenever Professor Moody was around to test it, so they did just that.
It was easy enough for Harry to touch a nerve with Daphne; he had followed her into the Great Hall at Saturday's evening meal when he saw that Moody was already at his seat at the teacher's table. He jogged after her, making a show of calling to Hermione and Ron across the room and bumped into her on purpose, but under the pretence of an accident. As promised, Daphne hexed him without a moment's hesitation, and was issued with a detention. She flounced off after that and Hermione immediately came to his rescue to counter-act the spell, all the while apologising continuously because evidently, her theory was wrong.
Stubborn as she was however, Hermione decided to test it once more, and who better to test it on than Draco Malfoy himself? If he insulted her or attempted to hex her in Moody's presence, only then would she concede that her hunch had been incorrect.
She was a little agitated when no opportune moment presented itself on Saturday, (that is, there was no circumstance when she, Malfoy and Moody were in the same place at the same time), she was forced to be patient. This wasn't an easy feat for her, though. She was in a form of limbo, not knowing the answers and having no other way of discovering them.
Hermione had sought out Ginny the next day to meet her in the library and discuss a plan of action about the date/ Viktor situation: she thought that whilst she waited for an opening to solve one problem, she may as well put her time to good use by solving another.
"Look Hermione, you can't keep putting this off. He's already had a flood of offers," Ginny said without preamble as she sat on the chair next to Hermione.
"Hello to you too," the older witch had responded curtly. She guessed that Viktor would be a popular choice as a date for the Ball, but knowing it as a fact just made her more nervous about asking him.
"Sorry, just trying to give you a nudge," Ginny explained, "have you made any progress at all since we last spoke?"
Hermione pulled a face, not knowing if the feeble attempts she had made so far would count as real progress. Viktor had asked what her name was on Saturday, which then lead to a ten-minute tutorial from her about how to actually pronounce her name. It was just rather unfortunate that this took place not long before he had a 'meeting' with Karkaroff about the second task of the Tournament. Hermione found that he was actually quite pleasant company, though he didn't say much after her impromptu lesson was out of the way.
The redhead had taken her silence as a 'no', and had told Hermione that she'd have to play dumb or ask for some kind of help in order to initiate conversation - Hermione remembered scoffing in disbelief at that. If there was anything she wasn't good at (except for flying), it was lying, especially if she were to be lying about not knowing certain things. It was all totally alien, but Hermione knew that it was the best chance she had in order to start conversations. Ginny had explained that Viktor would willingly help her on the basis that he was a boy and wouldn't turn down the chance to have his ego boosted a little.
Hermione couldn't recall exactly what was said next, but she remembered that soon, Professor Moody and Malfoy had entered the library as well, though not at the same time. The point was that she had an ideal moment to test her theory out, so she took it.
Malfoy's lip curled slightly as his eyes first fell on her, but he seemed to stop himself from allowing it to evolve into a sneer. He tensed his jaw and walked to the Charms section, and Hermione followed after excusing herself to Ginny. She had been extremely hopeful at this point because the Professor was already in the library in full view of the entrance, which meant that Malfoy would have seen him and potentially stopped himself from sneering at her because of it.
Her plan had been to provoke Malfoy by teasing him about the ferret incident, but she ended up tripping over a raised floorboard and falling into a bookshelf. The impact caused a couple of books to fall from the shelf and narrowly miss the blond as they hit the floor.
Malfoy whipped around, his expression was a mixture of shock and annoyance. Hermione held her breath as she waited for his reaction. Professor Moody had approached them, having heard the noise made by Hermione and the books. Malfoy seemed to hesitate, giving Hermione a moment of triumph; however he drew his wand, aimed it at a book that had fallen, and lunged his arm forwards in a pointing motion.
"Depulso," he said, though the book didn't move.
Hermione had braced herself for the impact of the book hitting her as she heard Malfoy utter the incantation for the banishing charm, but it never came. She lowered her arms from shielding her face, and saw Malfoy examining his wand, a look of confusion on his face. He was muttering inaudibly under his breath.
"Did I not make myself clear about hexing your classmates, Mr Malfoy?" Moody said in a low voice from behind Hermione.
Malfoy snapped his head up and glared at both of them through his fringe. He put his wand back in his pocket and sauntered past them and out of the library, as though nothing had happened.
After that, Hermione had been forced to admit defeat on her notion about the reason for the Slytherin's behaviour. She had been trying to think of other possible explanations, and continued to do so in her lessons on Monday, though no inspiration had so far come to her.
They were definitely up to something, but what and why?
Unbeknownst to Hermione, Draco had deliberately performed the spell wrong: the correct wand movement for a banishing charm was a sweeping motion, whereas he pointed. He didn't know why Granger had followed him, but thanks to her nosiness he had been able to give her reason to believe that he was struggling in Charms.
Their lesson with Professor Flitwick wasn't until the end of the day, and Draco was anxious to say the least. He didn't much like wasting an entire school day doing nothing about Granger if she wouldn't co-operate with him on the tuition front. In fact, Draco felt that his success on the bet rested entirely on the bookworm agreeing to help him, as he had no alternate plan that was able to secure him a fair amount of time alone with her, where none of their friends could sabotage the situation.
He inwardly cringed when he realised he was actually suggesting to himself that time alone with the jumped-up Mudblood was actually a good thing. The bet was messing with his head, and he told himself that the sooner he turned on the good old Malfoy charisma and got her to agree to go to the Ball with him, the better… for the sake of his sanity.
Draco had noticed a slight change in Daphne too. She seemed to have distanced herself from the rest of the Slytherins, and had been in a much snappier mood than usual. Perhaps Blaise was correct about it being her 'special time' after all, Draco thought to himself as Charms finally began and he saw Daphne and Pansy giving each other death-glares a couple of seats away. He then realised that Pansy wanted him to win purely to make sure Daphne received the penalty. Girl's minds really were strange things; hell even he thought he deserved Pansy's wrath over Daphne, but Draco wasn't going to stop Pansy from helping him – only a Gryffindor would insist on 'playing fair' like the noble twerps they were.
Speaking of, Draco noticed a certain bushy-haired girl looking his way in his peripheral vision. She was still suspicious, evidently, from Thursday when he had apologised to her. Draco rolled his eyes at how predictable she was. She kept glancing over his way, as though waiting for something. Suddenly it registered what she was waiting for, and Draco obliged her.
He made a show of clearing his throat, stretching out his back and rolling his shoulders, channelling all of the arrogance within his being as though announcing to the class that Draco Malfoy was preparing to perform an exquisite bit of magic. He figured that he had better make the show good if he had such a captivated audience.
Sure enough, his display had captured Granger's undivided attention. Beside him, Blaise was looking at him as if to say, 'do you realise how much of a prat you look?' and Daphne had glanced over for a second or two and turned back to her textbook again, shaking her head. Given that she made no haughty remark at Draco's complacent body language, the blond realised that yes, this girl was threatened and worried. Pfft, serves her right for doubting me and suggesting the bet in the first place. She knows deep down I'm going to win.
Draco's show had been more than effective… perhaps too effective at that. The room, which a minute ago was filled with laughter, chatter and cushions flying everywhere, was now much quieter, and many pairs of eyes were on him. Draco almost lost his nerve. He knew what he was about to do and wasn't in the least bit happy about having such a large audience to witness it. But he took a breath and clamped his teeth together as though concentrating hard; he was telling himself that it would be worth it in the long run. Think about Greengrass having to snog Potter and you can do this. If people give you stick you'll just have to remind them that no one makes fun of a Malfoy.
He raised his wand and pointed it at the cushion that lay on the table in front of Blaise, hoping that no one noticed how much his hand was shaking. Again he performed the incorrect wand motion and said, "Depulso." As planned, nothing happened, and Draco feigned frustration by swearing and sneering at the students who were whispering to each other or laughing at him. He didn't have to act out his embarrassment, though.
Draco scanned the room with narrowed eyes. This gave him the chance to gauge Granger's reaction, and he was relieved that his performance hadn't been in vain. At first, she looked shocked and confused, just as she had done in the library; however Potter whispered something to her and a smirk spread across her face as her brown eyes locked with Draco's.
He wasn't entirely sure he liked seeing Granger smirking; it didn't suit her at all. The expression was entirely too Slytherin for a goody-goody like her, and it made her look slightly unfriendly. No, it wasn't an attractive look. Wait. What the bloody hell was he thinking?!
"For Salazar's sake just snap out of it and bloody well pull yourself together," Draco hissed to himself for even thinking such things as he tore his gaze away from the girl. This bet was going to be the death of him; he could feel it. And the only good thing that could possibly come out of it was seeing Greengrass embarrass herself too by kissing Scar-head.
It was lucky that no one else in the room knew the true context behind his words; they could have easily have been misunderstood as an exclamation of annoyance for his 'inability' to successfully banish the cushion. Professor Flitwick seemed to be a fine example of this; he wandered over to the Slytherins once the background noise began to rise in volume again.
"I trust you received my letter, Mr Malfoy?" The Professor squeaked, shooting Draco a concerned and knowing look, with both eyebrows raised.
"Yes sir, I'll talk to you after class," Draco replied as nonchalantly as possible, plastering a stiff smile on his face and willing the man to stop being so damn condescending. He could have brought this up at the end of the lesson but no, he had to single him out and basically announce to the whole room that he needed special treatment. And that wasn't an exaggeration, as Granger, the Weasel and Potter were looking over and whispering to each other. They had about as much subtlety as Crabbe and Goyle.
Daphne's curiosity had also been rising as the lesson went on. Just what had been in that note? Merlin, she was really losing her touch, she should have read it before she gave it to Draco. What a rookie mistake that was! To be fair, she hadn't been in the best place that day, and truthfully she wasn't much better now, but she was determined to stop wallowing in self-pity and start showing that arrogant snake that he didn't threaten her at all. He didn't need to know that Daphne was a tiny bit worried; she had overestimated Granger's apparent hatred for the boy. In all honesty she was a little disappointed: the way the Gryffindors carried on she was almost positive that Granger would have hexed him just for looking at her. The girl just had an air of superiority about her in Daphne's opinion. Maybe she and Malfoy were a match made in heaven after all.
After Flitwick finally left him alone, Draco considered his part done for the time being. He waited for the remaining minutes of the lesson to pass by talking to Blaise about Quidditch. It was a nice ten-minute breather from worrying about the bet; there was just the minor drawback of having to keep up the façade by staring daggers at his wand every few seconds when Draco clocked Granger looking at him.
"What's going on? You're plotting something," Blaise said as Draco met his gaze after calling his wand a 'useless stick unworthy of channelling Malfoy magic' for the umpteenth time. (Never before had Draco felt as stupid as he did then.)
He was unaware of the information Pansy had given to Draco a few days ago, so Draco quickly explained as Professor Flitwick told them to pack their things away. Blaise let out a breath as the students began to filter out of the room, "good luck mate," he said, clapping Draco on the back. Now that he knew why his friend had behaving so strangely, he saw the genius behind it; Blaise just didn't know if Granger would fall for it or not. Then again, who was she to turn down the opportunity to show off a bit, especially if she was under the impression that Draco was failing and needed her help?
Draco remained in his seat and continued his stare-off with his wand as his classmates left. He may look insane but no one could say he didn't commit when he needed to. Just as he predicted, Granger lingered behind. She was packing her things away painfully slowly, and Draco rolled his eyes. He had planned to talk her round after speaking to Flitwick, but her presence would benefit Draco nicely. Her strange need to poke her nose in everyone's business was actually going in his favour for once!
"Is there a problem, Miss Granger?" Flitwick asked.
"No sir, I won't be long. I just need to rearrange some things so I can fit everything in my bag," she answered. Draco scoffed, and the girl looked up at him. It was written all over her face that she was lying. Draco smirked and shook his head at her knowingly. He found it hard not to laugh when her eyes grew large and a light flush spread across her cheeks and nose.
He had rumbled her and she knew it.
"So Mr Malfoy, what have you decided about these tutoring sessions?" Flitwick addressed him again, apparently unperturbed that another student would hear every word.
Time to turn on the charm, Draco thought, "I've thought about it at length, and I've taken into account the wishes of you and other staff members. I trust your judgement, so I'll be happy to take you up on the offer. In fact, I'm quite eager to revise as much as I can before Thursday's exam, so would it be possible to have an extra session of Charms every day until then?"
The teacher looked shocked, "I must say, I wasn't expecting you to be quite so… enthusiastic," he said, smiling.
In response, Draco simply smiled back, eyeing the Gryffindor at a sideways glance. She was eating up every word.
"However," Flitwick continued, "I'm afraid I won't be able to oblige that request. At least, every night wouldn't be an option for me. I was initially thinking that two hours tomorrow night would suffice: we have a lot of meetings and marking to do you see."
Yes, I'm aware what teachers do. "Oh not to worry, sir. I understand; my apologies for being so presumptuous," Draco drawled.
He crossed the room towards Hermione, who decided to take that moment to make an escape. But Draco had longer legs and so caught up to her. "Now I think about it, Granger here is rather…gifted in this subject. Maybe she would consider tutoring me? I mean, I already know that she's offering Potter extra help," Draco was talking to the Professor but looking at Hermione, trying to disguise the condescending tone in his voice. He did his best to pull off a passive and innocent expression by relaxing his mouth and tilting his head downwards, looking at the girl through the hair that was falling in front of his eyes.
If he could take a snapshot of the look on Granger's face as a memento of this moment, he would. Her mouth was hanging open and her head was tilted upward and away from him, her eyes were darting between him and Flitwick. Draco didn't think he would ever see her at a loss for words, and credited himself for being able to invoke such a state in her.
"Why Mr Malfoy, that is a simply splendid idea," the Professor said happily, "I must say it's very noble of you to offer an olive branch to Miss Granger here. I daresay the entire faculty is aware of your history, and um, differences," he chuckled, unable to sense Hermione's befuddlement.
"What say you, Granger?" Draco asked, closing the gap between he and Hermione slightly.
Hermione looked up at him, half expecting to see some kind of mocking expression on the boy's face as he turned to face her again. She was surprised to see that there was none. Malfoy's eyes were calm and searching. His jaw was tensed slightly but she guessed that it couldn't have been in his comfort zone to willingly admit he needed help, and from her of all people. Hermione didn't know him well enough to be aware of just how much he cared about school. He certainly didn't strike her as the type, but she did know what kind of man Lucius Malfoy was, and he certainly wouldn't be impressed to learn that his son was failing a class, whilst Harry Potter, Blood-Traitor Weasley and Mudblood Granger, were all passing.
Malfoy had asked her a question. The ball was in her court now and she needed to decide quickly what she was going to do. You can't trust anyone these days… Ron's words echoed in her mind, and really her head was telling her that Malfoy was up to something and shouldn't be trusted. But her heart was saying that the Professor was right, this was an olive branch, and Hermione couldn't help wondering if this had been his game all along.
"Er, yes," she began, clearing her throat, "well, Harry and I were going to meet in the common room, but if you want to join us I suppose we can meet in the library instead." Hermione said indifferently, phrasing it as an offer. This was her way of assessing how genuine Malfoy's suggestion had been.
Draco beamed triumphantly; finally he was getting somewhere, "great," he drawled, looking down at Hermione.
"Okay," she replied slowly. She sidestepped around Draco and hurried out of the door. He smirked and followed her out.
To be continued...
A/N: Sorry for the cliffy but I had to leave it there otherwise this chapter would have been about 8,000 words long. I'll update pretty sharpish with the next part but after that it will be a tiny bit slower - I'm running out of pre-written chapters and I'm really busy at the moment so I haven't had much time to focus on this... forgive me please :)
Reviews always appreciated!