"Hey, Granger! Are you paying attention?"
Hermione jumped and turned to Ron who was frowning at her, "I'm sorry- I was thinking about something else. What were you saying?"
"I was trying to tell you about Dumbledore's last lesson," Harry said quietly. They were in Herbology class, which was usually a good one to have a conversation in because there was so much going on, today they were working on Snargaluff stumps and it required them all to wear ridiculous protective goggles.
Hermione snapped hers into place and listened to Harry's tale. "I think it's fascinating, it makes absolute sense to know as much about Voldemort as possible. How else will you find out his weaknesses?"
At that moment Professor Sprout bustled past them and Harry quickly changed the subject to Slughorn's latest party that had taken place the night before. Ron was bursting with jealousy when he discovered she had met Gwenog Jones, the Quiddich player, and after they had dived into the stump between them and managed to retrieve a pod, she brought up the subject of the Christmas Party.
At the very mention of it Ron managed to attempt to burst the pod they'd won from the plant so violently that it sprang from his grasp and bounced across the room, Harry went to retrieve it and Ron sneered, "And this is another party just for Slughorn's favourites, is it?"
"Just for the Slug Club, yes," she said without thinking and immediately regretted it.
The look on his face was almost reminiscent of the Slytherins and she felt her lips turn down in disappointment, "We're allowed to bring guests, and I was going to ask you to come-"
Harry appeared back with the pod in hand, and stood awkwardly while Ron attempted to recover himself, "You were going to ask me?"
"Yes, but obviously if you'd rather I got off with McLaggen…"
"No, I wouldn't," he said and she took a deep breath.
At that moment there was a shattering sound as Harry broke a bowl while attempting to continue their work so Professor Sprout didn't give them all detention for slacking. Hermione instantly jumped back into action and found the proper way to puncture it, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks.
For the rest of the afternoon she had an uncomfortable knot in her stomach, and she couldn't place it until she arrived at their afternoon Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson and saw Draco sitting at his desk; this couldn't be happening to her, she could almost get her head around being friends with Malfoy, and that was uncomfortable enough when it came to thinking about how her other friends would react, but she couldn't, just couldn't have feelings for him in that way. Then again, could she have feelings for Ron in that way?
She was so preoccupied that she didn't raise her hand once all lesson, which apparently caught Malfoy's attention. "Everything alright, Granger?" he murmured as he passed her on the way to dinner.
She nodded curtly and sped up to catch Harry and Ron.
Draco watched her go with a tight feeling in his chest. He'd found it almost impossible to find an excuse to talk to her after the incident with Pansy, and now watching her scamper after Weasley… he swallowed the sour taste in his mouth and did an about turn. He couldn't just sit and watch her from across the Great Hall, he had to put her from his mind, he had to focus. His mother had been writing him letter after letter after letter, and he was feeling the pressure of his workload and mission hype up more and more the closer they got to the holidays. He'd stopped sleeping, meals were losing all taste, and he knew he was barely keeping it together, the only moments he felt at all calm was studying with Hermione in the library, and if he had screwed that up then he wasn't sure it was worth bothering attempting to keep up with his classes.
Let them fail me, he thought as he headed towards the Room of Requirement, only when he was halfway there he felt the beginnings of a familiar panic attack come over him and he dashed sideways through the nearest door. He was in a bathroom, luckily it was completely deserted, and he tried to calm himself by splashing water over his face and neck. What was he doing? So far in his mission to kill Dumbledore he'd managed to curse a random Gryffindor, and stand for hours staring at a broken Vanishing Cabinet; the room began to spin and he dropped to a crouch with his back against the wall and his head in his hands. What was he going to do?
As you may have noticed I've drawn from some actual dialogue and scenes from the book for this chapter- that will happen from time to time as this fic progresses, though for a few things the timelines may vary just slightly (but hey, it's fanfiction I'm allowed)
I'm really grateful for the reviews guys, makes me a very happy author. While this is a shorter chapter it's important for the events of the next few so I hope you enjoy and be reassured the next is already written and ready to go, so happy reading.
-H