Chapter 19
"Hermione, wait!"
She turned with a smile on her face, instantly recognising the voice.
"Anthony! How've you been?"
He walked up to her, looking rather out of breath but genuinely glad to see her.
"Just great. Where are you off to so early?" He glanced at her book bag, understanding already beginning to dawn on his face.
"Oh, well, just the library. Best take advantage of its deserted state today."
He smiled at her, shaking his head slightly.
"Well, I usually wouldn't dream to deter you from your studies, but well..," he ran a hand through his black hair, letting it fall back in the most captivating way. "..it's just that the match is going to start soon, so if you want to accompany me or something.." he trailed off.
Hermione grinned at his uncharacteristic behaviour. He was usually so succinct.
"I'd love to."
He smiled back, looking relieved.
They made their way to the pitch, chatting easily about nothing in particular. The stands were nearly full when they made it to the seats, and the turnout managed to surprise her. She wasn't the only non-house member out here today. Since it was the first match after a long period of drab routine, everyone wanted their Quidditch fix. Not her, though. She'd been getting plenty of those these days, just not in the form of Quidditch – which she could gladly live without.
Something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. She looked to her right and saw Ginny sitting three rows ahead with her year mates, waving excitedly up at her. She waved back. In her usual completely tactless way, Ginny wiggled her eyebrows, shooting suggestive looks in Anthony's direction. She simply shook her head in response, not elaborating, aware of the Ravenclaw by her side who was soaking up everything in that aquiline mind of his.
Ginny decided to settle down, after giving her a final thumbs-up.
"What was that about?" He asked, once she'd had faced away.
Like you don't know.
"I don't know," she said, taking his lead feigning ignorance.
He decided to get a clue.
"So, Hermione – ," he began.
But the sudden roar from the crowd distracted her from what he was saying.
The teams had moved out onto the pitch. She could make out two dark heads move slowly towards the centre of the field. She hadn't been prepared for the match, so naturally she didn't have her binoculars with her– which was a strange thought to have, considering how nobody from her friends was playing. A shrill whistle sounded from Madam Hooch, and they were up on their brooms and off, and for the first time in her life, Hermione's heart soared with them in perfect harmony. This must what the regular watchers felt while watching the game. Now, seven years into Hogwarts, and she could finally see the appeal.
"And they're off!" Zacharias Smith was commentating in his nasally voice. "Captain Urquhart has come up with a decent lineup this year, although much is to be said about his choice for Beaters.."
This managed to get the Slytherins jeering in response.
"You've got it to hand it to them, these Slytherins.." Anthony said, reflectively. "..defending even Crabbe and Goyle.."
Hermione was only half listening; her attention was locked onto the farthest figure on the right, hovering at the edge of the stands. He couldn't see her of course, just as she couldn't really make out his face, but her eyes darted away instantly, afraid to be caught staring.
"…I see an opening there, let's see if the Eagles can make it – here he comes and – GOAL! Stretton scores ten points for Ravenclaw!"
Anthony whooped next to her, and she laughed as she looked at him.
"Ooh, look who's a Quidditch buff now." she teased.
"What can I say? A man's gotta love his Quidditch."
"Yeah, well.." she said, "I never cared much for Quidditch."
"You're kidding."
She shrugged.
"But you're always out here for the matches, and with dating Viktor Krum I would've thought..."
"It's different when friends are playing, you know, you just have to cheer them on."
"Well, why didn't you tell me?" he asked, "We could've done something else."
She smiled.
"Oh I really don't mind watching. Good thing it's got rules, as I'm all for rules."
"I know all about that by now, Hermione." He said, gently flicking the tip of her nose.
She looked away, eager to get distracted.
"...and here it comes, Slytherins' first attempt at the goal and he's coming in hot - but - he's missed it! And ladies and gentlemen, what a perfect catch! Nice one Page!" A collective uproar erupted from the Slytherins.
"I'd have thought Malfoy would've made Captain…" She said, absentmindedly.
"Oh, I just bet that he is," said Anthony, "Behind the scene, that is. Obviously they couldn't have him for both the positions."
"James Potter was both the Head Boy and the Captain," she argued.
"Maybe Snape thought differently."
"Vaisey's got a nice arm, shame he's got his technique botched up. Score's forty to ten for Ravenclaw..."
There was a loud sound of a Beater's bat hitting the Bludger and Hermione's eyes followed the monster ball with a sinking feeling in her gut. It whirred right across in front of her eyes, headed straight for the platinum haired Seeker who had seemed to have caught sight of something and was aiming right towards it.
She didn't know what triggered it, maybe it was the yelling crowd that managed to distract him somewhat, but he turned his head to glance behind him. He held up an arm in defence upon catching sight of the incoming Bludger. She watched, paralyzed, as the Bludger made contact with his forearm, closely scraping along the side of his face, and he ended up being thrown off course.
"Is he…?" Her voice was drowned out by the collective cheer that exploded from three fourths of the onlookers. She wondered briefly, what it must be like to have most of the crowd against you; whether the loyal and unwavering support of one's own house overrode the careless apathy of the entire school.
Malfoy had appeared to have recovered alright, somehow, but had lost sight of the Snitch.
"Lucky guy. It barely grazed past."
She rounded over to face him, shocked, but not for the first time. Just, what sort of a game was this? Did they really hold no value for human life?
The match quickly morphed into a cold blooded, cut-throat war. If she'd thought Ravenclaws to be distant and apathetic, it was promptly disproven by the game taking place in front of her eyes. Even the boy next to her had transformed into a overenthusiastic freak, hollering and jeering and bellowing at no one in particular. Her own breathing, however, had returned to normal, now that the object of her reluctant attention hovered safely above the main play of the match, on the lookout for the Golden Snitch.
"So, here it comes... another Slytherin attack for the goal...and the Quaffle's finally made past the Keeper! Well, Vaisey's bound to get lucky now and then...Score is eighty for thirty, with Ravenclaw in the lead."
This time, Hermione actually noticed it before anybody else. And she was sure she was the only one, as everyone was too focused on the battle raging above the ground. It was hovering low, a small speck of twinkling gold, over one feet above the ground, right next to the wooden post which was directly in front of her. But she was promptly proven wrong; Malfoy seemed to have seen it too and immediately dived down in its direction. Her heart mimicked the action.
"What's that - ? The Head Boy seeker seems to have caught sight of the elusive Snitch! - let's see if he manages to evade any incoming Bludgers second time around - time to act Ravenclaw Beaters!"
Hermione wanted to go up to the commentator's podium and throttle him, but the urge was soon forgotten in favor of the sight of a hassled looking Malfoy coming in towards her at top speed. He was aiming right towards the post where the Snitch was still hovering in midair, his figure getting larger with each passing second, and Brett - the Ravenclaw seeker hot on his heels.
As his gloved hand closed around the winged ball in an effortless nip, she noticed the crimson track of blood along the line of his cheek, and a small cut below his eyebrow if one happened to look really closely, but no way could she miss the emotion that flashed in his grey eyes as they connected with hers briefly, but surely: a look of unmistakable triumph.
Draco stared at the three girls in front of him, as he nursed a glass of Firewhisky in his hand, and tried his best to ignore their hopeful expressions. That was the thing. They actually believed that he was considering it! They genuinely thought that he was fool enough to really give one honest fuck about their appalling suggestion, and damn Granger to hell! She was fucking up his life even she wasn't here.
"Get away from my sight." He barked at them.
Millicent, Astoria and Tracey let out little discontented sighs. The party had more or less quietened down, with majority of the upper years either passed out drunk and the remaining getting hot and heavy in their respective dorms. Behind the girls sat Daphne - their temporary Queen bee - deeply engrossed in the process of examining her nails, forever the prim princes and second only to Pansy – who was mysteriously absent from the common room. Come to think of it, she'd been scarce lately.
"Its not like we're asking you to chop it off. Its only for your own benefit. I'm sure you noticed the disappointed looks you got during the past week. Admit it, Draco. It was better black." Daphne said.
He'd barely survived getting mauled to death by a Bludger, had a taken a nasty hit to his left arm and even had a scar on his head to prove it. He'd just won a bloody match, for Merlin's sake and all that these idiots were concerned about was his hair.
He breathed deeply through his nose and began in a controlled voice, "What's wrong with my hair the way it is?"
The girls piped up at once.
"It's, like, white. Not that it looks bad or anything, but it's not exactly sexy," said Tracey.
"Its boring. Some days it lies flat against your head, and trust me, that's so not the look you want to be going for," interjected Millicent.
"Yeah, and when you run your hands through it, sometimes I fear you're going to pluck them right out of their roots," said Astoria, the youngest of the girls present.
They all looked at her.
She cast her eyes around at them, "What? It's true!"
Draco looked at his hands, feeling little pinpricks of warmth touch his cheeks. A part of him still refused to believe it, that these airheads had decided amongst themselves to try and convince him to change his hair. His own bloody hair!
"How many shots of Firewhisky have you taken?" He asked them, just to be sure.
"Just one," supplied Tracey.
"So – " said Astoria, eyes wide, "—are you gonna do it?"
"I'm not doing a fucking thing!" He gritted out. "Get lost!"
They immediately launched into a collective wail – "But Draco….."
"You heard him. Get lost," Pansy's smooth voice interrupted them.
The girls went into a frenzy of movement and scampered away at once.
He sighed and settled back more comfortably into the armchair, but the relief he had anticipated he'd feel once the girls had gotten off his back didn't come.
He closed his eyes, feeling Pansy's presence behind him, and he briefly considered telling her to leave him alone too but he stopped as he felt her fingers lightly caress his hair.
"Want me to give you a massage?"
His eyes flew open.
It was the kindest thing anyone had offered to him lately. He couldn't help but nod gratefully.
Letting his head fall back against the chair, he let Pansy work her magic. Her fingers moved to the centre of his forehead, and she pressed lightly, before making her way back to his scalp. Her hands alternated between smoothing his hair out and then moving inwards to rub on each of the pulse points. Her thumbs pressed into the skin, palms contracting gently above his ears and her fingertips glided fluidly over the roots.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so good. Pansy was humming lightly, and Draco found himself fall into blissful emptiness.
"They're just struck by the novelty." She said, "It'll wear off. You'll see."
He knew that. It didn't make it any less embarrassing.
But he'd soon take care of that. His plan for Granger's ultimate humiliation was already in motion. He had leverage against her which she wasn't even aware of, but it was plenty clear from his side of the circumference. It was obvious in the way her eyes darted away from his whenever he happened to look at her, and the way red would so frequently stain her cheeks at the most inopportune times of the day. Not that he was looking at her or anything, you just happen to notice the unusual things.
If Granger continued to react in ways he anticipated and hoped for, the whole thing would soon be in the palm of his hand. They were way past head duties and school pranks; things had gotten personal. She was inside his head. He could make her pay a hundred ways for that alone.
He was aware that there was a cost attached to it somewhere, but in his mind it appeared too feeble a price to pay when the end would eventually justify the means. Granger could be a creature who thrived on logic and proactivity, could live and breathe rational thought and intellectual psychobabble, but in the end, she was just a girl. And girls were, in Draco's private opinion, relatively naive.
"Say, Draco, are you free this evening?"
His eyes snapped open. Well, most girls.
"I'm not sure. I'm thinking of going up to my dorm and relaxing for a bit."
Her fingers halted in their ministrations, but she resumed just as quick.
"Want me to give you some company?"
"I'm sure I'll be alright."
"How's your arm?"
"Its still a bit sore, but I don't think it will require a cast."
She made a noncommital sound.
He downed his drink in one gulp when he suspected that she was beginning to linger.
"Well," he said, standing up, "I'll be off then. See you."
"See you."
He pretended not to notice the dissatisfied undertone.
"Thank you."
Hermione nearly jumped a mile at the voice. She turned to find him standing at the foot of the main table, staring intently at her.
Getting a hold of herself, she slowly folded the Prophet she'd been reading and looked him in the face.
"For what?"
He was looking rough. Disoriented. His eyes were slightly bloodshot and the cut at his temple looked real nasty up close.
"For making me win the match."
She scrunched up her face in confusion.
"What? What are you talking about?"
He walked up to where she was sitting and took a seat across from her.
"Had it not been for you, I wouldn't have caught the Snitch back there."
"Stop spouting riddles," she said, exasperated. "Tell me properly."
"Okay, well. It was you who found the Snitch. I merely followed your line of sight, and there it was, just waiting to be caught."
"Oh."
Her thoughts whirred inside her mind at a million miles per hour, tangling into a jumbled a mess at his words. Through it all, she quickly extracted a few facts.
Malfoy's speech was slightly slurred, meaning he was drunk, but not entirely so. Also, she'd been right. She was the first one to have seen the Snitch at that point in time. Malfoy really should be thankful to her, he nearly owed her the entire game. And when she'd been sitting there comfortably deluded into the fact that he couldn't see her from top, he'd been watching her. The whole time.
"Oh." She repeated, unnecessarily.
She looked up at him, and all of a sudden the buzzing traffic of her thoughts came to a complete standstill.
His chin was cupped into both his hands as he leaned forward with his elbows propped on the table. And he was smiling. Smiling!
She stood up, let her chair scrape noisily over the wooden floor, rolled her newspaper up in her hands and marched towards her room, not throwing a single glance backwards.
A day wasted over Quidditch, she thought. She'd gotten all of zero reading done and bloody Slytherins had won the match. Nevertheless, it was a day of many firsts. Hermione Granger had been rendered speechless and Draco Malfoy was smiling at her.
A/N: Okay, I guess I should come clean with the fact that I enjoy clichés and I enjoy tweaking them up even more. If you fear that this fic is going to fall into one, all I can say is that I will try my bestest to make it worth the ride. Hmm..what else? I seem to be missing something…
Hehe. Merry Christmas and happy holidays! :)) Have a good one!