Author's Note: Wow. It took me awhile…again. Now, fanfiction took out all the breaks throughout the stories, so I'm (STILL) in the process of re-uploading everything. I edited a few things, mostly spelling mistakes and rephrased sentences. Nothing too noticeable.
On with the show!
April 21st: -starts hyperventilating- I spent the last WEEK slaving over the chapters, working so that there were dividers and GUESS WHAT! I went to check and see which ones I hadn't done and WHAT DO YOU KNOW! The spaces are BACK! Normally this wouldn't bother me, I hadn't started on The Initiation yet. But I spent a lot of time doing it, and figuring out the order of chapters and now…all the work gone to waste. Time I could have spent writing this chapter! –huffs-
Thanks to my awesome beta, Max Ride Fan 13! You rock!
Disclaimer- I do not own it.
Hermione couldn't recall, possibly in her entire life, an evening worse then this one. They'd walked down together and had waited in a short line by the dining hall. That was fine. But then it had started.
"Table for two?" The person at the front desk had asked politely.
"No." She's snapped, and then sighed. "We should have a reservation with more people..."
She'd turned to look at them and realized, for the first time that night that she and Draco matched like a couple. Like they'd specially choreographed themselves to look together.
"My sincerest apologies." He'd said. "Under what name?"
"HOH Smith." She'd responded, double checking with a glance back at Draco.
"Right this way." He'd smiled at them and they followed him through the dining hall and around a corner.
She'd smiled brightly at the other group and nodded to both Sheila and James.
Of course, she'd sat beside Draco and James, across a circular table from Ron and Harry. The food had been delicious and the presentation was spectacular. Each dish looked like a masterpiece, better suited for a photograph or a painting. That reminded her of Blaise's knack for photography and she smiled. After Harry and Ron spent a large portion of five minutes demanding to know how she was feeling after the car crash, and to make sure they'd done a proper healing job she was starting to feel a lot better about the competition.
The live jazz band that had been playing quietly throughout dinner picked up livelier tempos for dancing. Immediately James whisked away Sheila and she smiled in spite of herself. They were shallow enough for each other, but seemed genuinely happy.
"So, Blaise, when the prettiest girl in this room asks you to dance, will you go off on your merry way with her?" Pansy asked teasingly.
"I doubt it." Draco snorted, rolling his eyes. "Blaise has more honor then that, haven't you heard? He wouldn't mislead a girl for pleasure."
"Shut up." Blaise snapped irritably, his eyes focused on a couple dancing.
Someone asked Harry to dance in the next second and she watched him stammer his way through a decline. Unconcerned, she'd turned to look over the dance floor but was interrupted. By her.
"Draco!" A high pitched shriek took Hermione's wistful eyes off the dance floor.
"Helga." He said suavely, his eyes running up and down her curvy body. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"I don't know what that means, but I know something with much more pleasure." She giggled and draped herself over him.
"Hm." He said, sounding uninterested. "I like this song."
"Me too!" Helga beamed, her eyes bright, and did a small dance by herself, still half on top of Draco. "This dance is for you."
"Hm." He said and let his eyes drift over to Hermione, who was staring incredulously at the girl. Helga noticed that and turned around, shaking her bum in his direction and glaring at Hermione.
Hermione smiled slowly, finding it quite amusing the extents this girl-more like woman- she added to herself as she had a frontal view of the great bouncing Helgas, would go to to impress Draco.
"Hey, Granger?" Draco asked, his eyes looking over at her. Harry and Ron looked up, interested as Pansy pouted a bit.
"What, Malfoy?" She asked as Helga froze.
"Do you want to dance?"
"YES!" Helga cried delightedly and jumped on Draco. "Oh yes, lets go now!"
Draco smirked. It was obviously a ploy to get her to be even more slutty then usual.
Hermione glared as Helga pulled Draco to the dance floor. There was a short silence, and then another girl asked Harry to dance. He flushed and refused.
Ron pulled out his cell phone and began to play with it-she couldn't tell if he was actually doing something or was just bored.
"Ron." Harry hissed and jabbed the red-head in the side. Ron looked up and shook his head as the Gryffindor jerked his head in Hermione's direction.
"Why?"
"I'm texting." Ron snapped and that was it.
"Who?" She asked, wondering who in the world he was talking to.
"Mmmph." He grunted.
"Again?" That was Pansy, to Harry. "All he ever does is text, e-mail, msn and talking on the phone!"
Harry nodded and turned his eyes back to his plate, looking thoughtful. "I wonder if… Naw."
"What?" She asked, not liking the feeling of being in the dark.
"Nothing." He shrugged and that ended the conversation.
"Does anyone want to dance?" She asked hopefully, looking at them all.
"Ron." Harry nudged him.
"Nope." The Weasley didn't even look up.
Harry sighed. "I brought a…er…a book." He pulled it out from under the table and started reading.
"Pansy?" Blaise offered. Pansy shrugged, not looking too enthusiastic but followed him anyway. Perhaps the time apart had been good for their relationship.
"I wonder if Pansy and Blaise would ever be together." She thought out loud. Evidently, they heard her.
"Impossible." They both said, smirking slightly. "Completely impossible."
She stared as they turned and walked away, still smirking like they were in on some joke.
Hermione felt insulted. Harry, Harry Potter, would rather read then dance with her. Ron wouldn't even look up from his mystery friend. Draco was off with Helga. And Pansy and Blaise were off dancing together, probably having a good time.
"This isn't a very pleasing experience." She mumbled.
Half an hour later she pulled out her cell phone to call Jacob, but he wouldn't pick up. And Andrea was busy, apparently. She looked at Harry, who was staring at his book with unmoving eyes. To Ron, who was texting so quickly she had trouble keeping up with his fingers. To Blaise, who had moved over to the refreshment table and was talking to someone who looked vaguely familiar, like she'd seen him for a second before. To Pansy, who was dancing with a handsome stranger. To Draco, who was…who was not there.
She frowned.
He was probably with Helga.
She stood up and said a quick farewell to Ron and Harry. Perhaps she could have a nice, long bath…
-
-
Hermione had never believed in karma. But then again, by the age of eight she'd given up on the idea of magic altogether for more practical things.
Considering the things she'd been enduring, she was starting to wonder what she'd done that was bad enough to deserve this.
She'd gone upstairs and fumbled for about a minute and a half for her key outside the door to their room when she heard some strange noises. It sounds like someone was moving around a lot, banging into all the furniture. Perhaps Draco and Blaise had come back early and were fighting?
She threw the door opening, getting ready to break them up when-
"Dracoooo." Helga crooned and Hermione gasped. Draco and Helga were-were…
She slammed the door and leaned against it, her heart beating a mile a minute. At least they had clothes on.
She nodded to herself and closes her eyes tightly.
Half, anyways.
This summer was not going the way she'd planned. At all. While imagining the summer before she graduated Hogwarts, she'd thought of traveling with her parents to places like Egypt to see the tombs, to Ireland, she loved those accents…And Canada, she'd never been there. There were so many places to go!
And being stuck in this place was not ideal.
At all.
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. It was nothing. She might be a little traumatized, but at least they hadn't been doing anything worse. Yet.
Sickened by that thought, Hermione turned away from the door and began walking down the hall again. She waited patiently for the elevator, hoping that it wasn't as crowded as before.
Ding!
She smiled as the doors opened. The smile disappeared.
Two people were pressed up against the wall, kissing fiercely. Was this some kind of sick joke? She clenched her hands together and turned away, deciding to wait for the next elevator instead of staying in there with those two.
Until she saw that one of them was Blaise.
And the other was male.
She let out a strangled gasp as her eyes widened. No…there was no way…he wasn't…gay?
'"So, Blaise, when the prettiest girl in this room asks you to dance, will you go off on your merry way with her?"
"I doubt it." Draco snorted, rolling his eyes. "Blaise has more honor then that, haven't you heard? He wouldn't mislead a girl for pleasure."
"Shut up." Blaise snapped irritably.'''
He wouldn't lead a girl on, but they said nothing of a boy.
…
'He also has his fair share of girls that flock after him, none of which he shows any interest in. We wonder why this is, however when asked by anyone he either does not answer and gives you a cold look with his amazing eyes, or will tell you to mind your own business. If you ask a Slytherin about this, they will simply ignore you or reply with something rude. We have, however, figured out the reason. Blaise Zabini is in love with-"'
Of course he wasn't interested in any of the girls who flocked him. And as for the well kept Slytherin secret. Something that would be a touchy subject for him and would provoke his irrational reaction.
…
'"What do you want me to do, have tea parties with you?" Draco snapped, taking a turn more sharply then necessary. "I'm not interested in that kind of thing, sorry."
Blaise blushed, "no. But there are a lot of people who have lives that don't revolve around hating the Dream Team."'
He could have taken that as a snide gay joke.
…
'"You two are very immature." Blaise said, shaking his head.
"Says he who completely freaked out over a sentence." Hermione shot back. This banter was strange in the sense that it was friendly.
It didn't stay that way, however. Draco bit his lip and looked over at Blaise, his hands on the steering wheel tightening. Blaise stiffened, his eyes flashing and his muscles tight. His tone became acidic. "Don't talk about things you don't understand, Granger."'
Of course she hadn't understood then…
…
'Draco broke off mid sentence when she got back and she had the sneaking suspicion she had just fallen for a ploy to get rid of her.'
Perhaps Draco was trying to calm him down.
…
'"Why did your parents want you on the show?" Hermione asked Blaise as they leaned on their car, waiting for Draco to return.
"I can't imagine why anyone's parents would. Have you spoken to yours?"
"Sort of." She replied, "I suppose Sheila and James turned on the charm. I really hope they don't watch it, that would be embarrassing. Do you want yours to?"
"How could your parents watch it, it's a wizarding station." He asked and he shrugged.
"I think it was installed, I'm not sure." She didn't have time to ask why he had avoided answering her questions when she heard a scream. "Did you hear that?"'
He avoided her questions because he was disowned, and it was probably because of that reason. No wonder he didn't want to talk about his parents…
…
'"I would have anyway." Blaise said harshly. "My parents disowned me last year before Christmas and Draco offered me a room in Malfoy Manor. That is my home now. The only things I have are the things I had before and enough money to get me through school and started in the world, a parting gift from my mother because she couldn't bear to let her only child die no matter what kind of horrible thing he inflicted upon himself." He spat the last few words out quite bitterly.'
Of course some people would feel that he brought it on himself…
…
'Blaise was pushed against the wall almost immediately and was squashed by a male of about twenty, who kept looking at him slyly.'
Come to think of it, she thought she could remember some predatory looks coming from Blaise as well.
…
'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, Malfoy! They left the elevator in really bad moods. Well, Hermione did anyway. Blaise looked considerably cheerful (flushed, though, she tried to recall if he'd been flirting with any girls, too) and Draco just looked thoroughly snogged.'
She thought of the guy he'd been pressed up to, and realized it was the same one he was snogging then.
She gaped at them both stupidly until, with a slight shift and eye-opening, the other male noticed her presence. She recognized him immediately from the couple Blaise been watching, and the person he'd had been talking to at the refreshment table.
"Oh!" He gasped as they made eye contact and Blaise shot her a quick glance, before turning back. Then he stiffened and jumped away from the other, apparently just realizing who she was.
"Hermione!" He nearly yelled in surprise. "I didn't see you there!"
"I certainly wasn't expecting to see you, either." She gestured at the other male, who was blushing furiously. "So you're gay?"
"Er…yes." Blaise said, looking around as though he could see the cameras and had just remembered they might be there.
"Interesting." She stepped into the elevator. "My eyes just got assaulted by Malfoy and Helga."
Blaise nodded, looking flustered. "So, er, where are you going?"
She shrugged nonchalantly, her mind racing from the news. "Probably down to the lounge. Maybe I'll find a good book in the store."
"Oh." The bell dinged and she beamed up at him, before gesturing to the other male. "Well, carry on."
She stepped out of the elevator and Blaise stared after her, mystified.
-
-
"We've decided to tell you what the prize for winning this challenge is." Sheila announced at breakfast. "Just to make sure you really want it."
The all perked up, this ought to be interesting.
"Firstly, though, we're just going to tell you that some time this week, when you come to your next challenge, we'll have an auction type thing, except you'll be able to trade one member of your team for another." Hermione stared, her eyes glazing over as she considered these possibilities. "The representatives for the trade will be Draco for the Bloody Fuckers and Harry for the Pansy Pickers."
"The Pansy Pickers get a fifteen minute head start for beating the Bloody Fuckers here." James said, looking quite smug. "Also, for winning the first half we're giving each of you a cash prize of 50 Galleons."
"Now, for winning the second half, on the way back, we have a really big prize." Sheila said, barely containing a smile at their eager expressions. "If you win…well of course they have to agree first and you have to choose as a group." She looked over at James, who nodded and continued.
"If you win, you get to pick someone to join you on The House of Hell."
-
-
"Hermione," Harry sat down across from her with an annoyed expression the next morning after breakfast. "Ron and I, mostly Ron, want to talk to you."
"Of course." She smiled beckoningly and set down the book she'd picked up the previous night. "What about?"
"About the prize." Ron said, looking uncomfortable. "We, well, I," after a pointed look from Harry," just thought we should tell you that we're going to ask Ginny to come on."
Hermione smiled. "We haven't decided, we're going to talk about it in the car."
"Yeah…" Harry looked a bit nervous. "That's also what we sort of wanted to talk to you about…your group."
"What is it?" She asked, her eyes flicking back and forth between them.
"Just be reasonable." Ron said, smiling sheepishly. "But if you harried your groups chances of winning, we'd be sure to have Ginny on the show! Not another Slytherin."
Irrational anger filled her halfway through his sentence. "You want me to sabotage my group's chances just so you can win!"
"Not exactly. So you can spend more time with Ginny." Harry shook his head at Ron, who didn't seem to be getting the message.
"How would you two feel if my group got Pansy to sabotage you? How dare you assume I would stoop so low as to clear the way for you! Are you afraid of competition?" She had to lower her voice near the end; people were staring.
"Of course not." Harry said, his words slurring in his haste to fix their obvious mistake. "Really, we just assumed you'd want to know who we planned to ask on, and we thought that maybe you wouldn't try your hardest to win. It's understandable."
"Well," she snapped, "I can think of a million reasons why you would want Ginny on the show."
His eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
A million sharp comments slid onto her tongue, but she realized what she was going to do a second early. It was exactly what she'd done before. Pick up something her friends –her friends!- would never want announced and use it against them.
Her eyes widened as self disgust filled her.
What was she doing?
She was being… Slytherin!
Horrified, she turned away, anger at herself and them sizzling. "I should go. And no, I will not ruin our chances of winning for you."
She stormed to their room, fury making the air crackle around her in a way that it hadn't done in years. She fumbled with her key for about a minute before she could finally swipe it through and throw the door open. With an annoyed sigh, she collapsed on her bed, feeling like a stupid drama queen waiting for people to crowd her and ask what was wrong.
To her disappointment, Draco actually asked what had upset her from his chair across the room. Well, it was actually more of a, "what's wrong with you, Granger?"
She shook her head. "Nothing."
He didn't say anything, and she was glad for it. After Blaise so nicely told Draco she'd walked in on him and Helga, they'd been exchanging awfully awkward looks. Afterward, Blaise had spent about an hour talking to the camera in the confession box, and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed his coming out surprise. The guy he was with's name was Taylor. Blaise had cheerfully announced the next morning at breakfast that he hoped his mother and her newest husband had heart attacks and died when they saw the footage on the show-which he knew they were watching. He'd also said that, if anyone was wondering, Taylor had also been very good in bed, and that he hoped if his previous announcements hadn't killed them yet, this one should do it.
They'd dropped the subject before Pansy could ask for details.
"I'll be right back." Blaise stood up and strode to the bathroom, where he slipped through the door and smirked at the two of them. "And please, play nice."
"Hm." She grumbled, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Well, since that frustratingly stupid and equally imbecilic Blaise so nicely started up this conversation, I'm going to continue it. Why did you sleep with Helga?"
"Because I wanted to." Draco said slowly and sat up, a mournful look on his face. "Why else?"
"Do you remember saying she was disgusting and you didn't want to go near her again?" She asked, keeping her voice calm.
"Yeah, so?"
"So you go back on everything you say." She continued, her voice angry. "Is it impossible for the male species to abstain?"
"No." Draco snapped. "But if I find someone I want a deep and romantic connection with, or whatever it is you Gryffindors want, I'll let you know."
"That's not the point." She replied icily. "Honestly, do you have any self dignity?"
"Yes." He glared at her, "But not all of us are prudish Gryffindors!"
"We're not prudish Gryffindors, and we're also not so desperate and imbecilic that we'll take anything we get just because we're sex crazed lunatics and it's the only way we can get affection because our parents hate us!" She nearly shouted and broke off when she saw his face.
His glare hardened into a defensive scowl as his eyes widened, an expression of pain crossing his features before it turned to one of utmost loathing. "You don't know everything, Granger."
She flinched away as he stood up violently, eyes burning her and stormed out the door. With a loud slam she was alone. And regretting it intensely. She'd done it again. What was she turning into?
With a loud sigh she threw herself onto her bed, tears stinging her eyes.
"I said play nice." She heard Blaise mutter as he followed Draco out.
-
-
Hermione slowly walked over to where Draco and Blaise were sitting, half an hour early to dinner. They looked over at her, their expressions cold when she sat across from them.
"What do you want?" Draco snapped, his eyes running up and down her simple skirt and blouse with an expression of exaggerated disdain.
"I need to apologize." She said hurriedly, playing with her napkin and staring at the table. "What I said was rude and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."
He nodded curtly. "You should be."
"I am." She lifted her head to look him straight in the eye.
He looked disconcerted for a second, and then his expression smoothed over. "Fine. Apology accepted, then."
"Good." She smiled easily, glad that their fight was over. Both males looked surprised at her quick mood change, but then seemed to accept it as part of being around a female with a quick glance. "So about the auction…"
The spent the next while entertaining themselves by suggestions strange combinations and the possible outcomes of certain groups. Pointless, perhaps. But amusing? Very.
Until Harry and Ron walked through the door, and she glared at them, making a point to move closer to Blaise and away from their chairs.
"Hermione-"
"Oh be quiet Ron!" She snapped, "I will not calm down!"
Draco sniggered. "What did he do?"
"Nothing." Hermione snarled and Ron smiled nervously. "And do not tell me to be reasonable!"
"I wasn't going to." Ron grimaced. "Someone's in a bad mood. She did tell me you were sort of…"
He trailed off at the end of what sounded like an afterthought not meant for anyone else to hear.
"Who told you what?" She leaned forward as Pansy and Harry traded significant looks.
"You don't even want to know." Pansy said and picked up her glass of water.
"Yes, actually, I do." She said, raising her eyebrows as Ron pulled out his cell phone, flipped it open and began to text.
Again.
"Ron, give it a rest, alright?" Harry said, annoyed. "You can talk to her later."
"I'd rather talk to her now."
"Who is it?" Hermione repeated, watching in interest as Harry and Pansy shared another look.
"No one." Ron muttered, and ignored her questions for the rest of the night.
Since she was still angry with Harry, she wouldn't speak to him either and Pansy went off dancing the second she was able, leaving Blaise, Draco and her. She didn't get very involved, too busy anticipating the arrival of Helga.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes into the dancing, the Helgas (all three of them) came bouncing over. "Oooh Draco! I have such news! I know you'll be amazed!"
He rolled his eyes at Blaise and smirked. "Hello…Er…Hello."
She pouted, "You don't remember me?"
"Of course I remember you," She beamed, "It's Hember…Hember, right?"
"NO!" She shrieked and stood up straight. "It's Helga! Helga! Helga! Helga! Helga!" With each word she stomped her foot on the floor and tossed her hair. "Do you remember telling me it was a wonderful name?"
"Helga?" He shook his head slowly, "No. I don't lie. I remember vaguely meeting you in the elevator, though."
"Don't you remember last night? When you…" She then said the most vulgar and repulsive things Hermione had ever heard in her life describing things that Draco probably had done. "Remember?"
"Excuse me." Draco inserted angrily, "but my fiancée is sitting right here."
Helga turned an accusative face to Hermione. "Your fiancée?"
"Yes," Hermione said as a vindictive fury welled up inside her. "We've been engaged for six months! Isn't it wonderful?" She turned to Draco and gave him what was hopefully her most dazzling smile. "I can't wait until I take your name. Especially the honeymoon."
He smiled back at her, amusement shining through his eyes. "Of course. Though its nothing we've never done before…"
"But Draco…you have to know!" Helga burst into tears which Hermione assumed were joyful, because she was beaming. "I took a test this morning."
Hermione's head snapped around.
"Draco, I'm pregnant!"
Author's Note: I won't even bother with the excuses. I'm sorry, and I won't bore you with my semi traumatic life…That aside…
MWAHAHAHAHAHA! –cackles evilly- I know. Bad ending. But just so you know, The Initiation will be drawing to close in the future, and I mean by the end of summer, which doesn't seem like that close but it is. To me, anyway. So then I'd like to get a head start on this one, and then I've got a poll up asking you which of two ideas you'd like me to write most. So please vote!
Errrm…Oh, there was a bit of confusion last chapter. The end of this story will probably take place when they are back at Hogwarts. Trust me, this is only the beginning. XD.
Well my internet is down right now…so yeah. You'll probably be reading this several days after I wrote it…But yeah.
Hope you enjoyed!
Review review review!!