Out of Hand by relativelypositive
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I make no money from the use of J.K. Rowling's characters.
Chapter 15: Don't Even Think About It
Hermione asked the room to remove the shackles. It complied.
She told her body to throw off Pansy's curse. It did not comply.
If she didn't hurry she would lose Pansy in the castle! She would be able to get into Slytherin! She would be able to sneak up on Malfoy!
How would Malfoy react to seeing her coming at him? She was supposed to be staying away from him, and she was happy to do so. Would he be avoiding her, too? He was supposed to, but Hermione thought he liked to toe the line a little too much. He just might decide to tease her. If Pansy got close enough….
Hermione knew Pansy couldn't formalize her engagement, but she could start her own with Malfoy. They'd been outwardly cool towards each other since their break up two years ago. But Pansy was carrying that torch like an Olympian.
She could have him! Or, she could have had him if she hadn't pulled this stunt. Hermione knew Pansy would be expelled for this.
Maybe it would be worth it to Pansy if she still got to permanently attach herself to Malfoy.
And Pansy really didn't understand the situation if she thought she'd be able to get close to Malfoy by impersonating her.
He'd probably run away screaming.
Hermione concentrated on throwing off the curse. It was dissipating too slowly for her tastes.
What would her first step be? She could go straight to Dumbledore. Or she could go straight to the Marauder's Map and find Pansy.
Or she could luxuriate in a long, hot bath. Let her have him.
It's not like she wanted him for herself.
Her brain took a detour. What if she did want him for herself? It would be too easy to formalize this almost-engagement. How would she do it? The only way her mind would accept would be to kiss him.
Hermione had only thought about kissing Ron, Gilderoy Lockhart (years ago, practically ancient history), and Oliver Wood. Oliver was just…hot. Even at eleven, Hermione had thought so. Whenever Hermione saw him she still had the urge to…never mind. That way led to madness. Or engagement.
She now had to add Draco Malfoy to that exclusive list of boys she'd thought about kissing.
Maybe in that little alcove he'd pulled her into. Wouldn't it be easy to imagine that?
She made herself stop and take stock of her situation.
Her muscles were relaxing. She could wiggle her fingers a bit. She'd be free to move soon and she hadn't yet made a plan!
Depending on what time it was, she knew Malfoy would be either in the Great Hall eating breakfast, or… he could be anywhere. They weren't due to their forced apology session until right before lunch.
It would take too long to find him or Pansy, even with the Marauder's Map.
Hermione could finally move her legs, but they had fallen asleep and she fell right over, smacking her arm on the ground.
She cried out as her wrist hit the marble floor. She wished she had taken the time to get it Healed yesterday, but she was so caught up in the sit-in that she didn't see the urgency. It was healing fine in her cast!
Not so much anymore.
She'd have to visit Madam Pomfrey. After she'd saved Malfoy's butt.
He might be a jerk, but no one deserved Pansy.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Draco and Blaise were on their way back from the Quidditch pitch when they first saw her.
"Cup your junk and run, Draco! Cup your junk and run!" Blaise teased.
Draco punched him on the arm. She was heading towards the pitch, but hadn't seen them yet.
He pulled Blaise behind some shrubs and waited for her to pass.
"I don't care how hard up you are, Draco, I am not making out with you in the bushes."
"I want to see where she's going."
"Does it matter?"
"I'm just curious."
"Stalker."
"Shut up."
"Let's just head back…is she going to our stands? Why is she…oh, Draaaaco. Do you have a rendezvous planned? Are you going to smooooch her?"
"Blaise, be serious. Why would she be out here if not to look for me?"
"You keep telling me she doesn't want to marry you, but here she is snooping around where you always are on Sunday morning. It's not like it's a fucking secret. That little bitch is trying to trap you, man!"
Fine, thought Draco. He'd be seeing her face to face soon enough. He only had an hour before he had to meet Snape in the common room.
The boys moved swiftly away from the pitch…and Hermione.
"So, which witch do you want to look at first?"
"You're going to think I'm mental, but Daphne."
The boys had spent the morning silently considering their new situation. Well, their old situation, but with a new perspective. At breakfast Draco had announced (quietly) that he would be actively looking for prospective wives. He had been thinking about what he needed in a wife, as opposed to what he wanted. He was proud of himself for that. He felt it showed personal growth.
He needed a beautiful wife. It wouldn't do for the next generation of Malfoys to be fugly. So it was for the betterment of his progeny that his wife needed to be smoking hot. Totally not selfish.
Pureblooded, definitely. His parents would only accept a Pureblood for him. His children would live a life of poverty otherwise, because he would be disowned. So it was really for his children that he needed his future wife to be Pureblooded.
Was there anything else?
Intelligence. Once again, purely for his children's benefit. He didn't intend to actually talk to his wife.
Oh, and magically powerful. That would be a tough one. Most of the girls he knew were adequate, but a Malfoy wife had to be stronger than all the others. Plus, the birth rate was down, and the number of squibs was up. He needed a wife that could produce mighty offspring.
Daphne was three out of four. (So was Granger, but he shoved that thought out of his mind.)
By extension, so was Astoria. Well, he didn't know if Astoria was intelligent, but if she was like Daphne she could hold her own.
He knew he'd messed with that family so much that they shouldn't be considering him anymore, but they really popped into his mind first (second).
No, no, no, no, no!
It was just the power of suggestion! He didn't want to marry Granger! Soon she would be back in her sheltered little Gryffindor world, and Draco would be auditioning Slytherins, then Ravenclaws, then Gryffindors (if he had to), but Pureblood witches only.
An owl swooped down and Blaise plucked its message from its grasp. The owl turned around and attacked Blaise's head.
"Fuck! Take it, Draco! Hurry!"
The owl backed off when Draco grabbed the scroll.
"Fucking birds. How was I supposed to know it was for you?"
Draco opened the scroll to see unfamiliar handwriting. As was his habit, he started at the bottom, with the signature…or in this case, the lack of signature.
"Huh, didn't sign it. Some cowardly wit…shit! Blaise! Read this!"
Blaise grabbed the letter back and read out loud.
"'Pansy is Polyjuiced! It's not Hermione. Keep away.' Do you think that was Pansy we just saw?"
"How can you tell?"
"No idea, but I think we can trick her into revealing herself."
"How?"
"I'm sure it will be readily apparent who we're dealing with quite soon. You go back to the bushes and enjoy the show."
XXXXXXX
Hermione ran from the owlery to Gryffindor Tower.
Once again, she was accosted by an irate witch.
"Hermione Granger, you are a slut! You throw yourself at Harry and Ron all the time, making sure they can't see any girl but you, and now you're trying to steal Draco from me! I really fucking hate you!"
The power of Romilda's fury eclipsed Pansy's, and Pansy had Petrified her, used a stinging hex on her face, stolen her hair for Polyjuice, and tried to imprison her!
What really shocked Hermione was the hex Romilda threw. Hermione never thought a fellow Gryffindor would do such a thing, let alone a member of Dumbledore's Army!
Hermione watched in disbelief as all her hair detached from her head and floated serenely to the ground.
"See if he wants you now!"
To add injury to insult, Romilda followed up that epic curse with a mean right hook.
Hermione fell unconscious to the ground, where she lay on a carpet of her own curls.
A/N:
It had to happen. Romilda needed to be super mean, but not Death Eater mean. You know what I mean?
Darling reviewers, how much I love thee! ASJS, Lelouch, Vukk, werevampluvr, Somnus Verus, KodeV, sundance1989, auggiebeaniee, brighteyes2889, Chester99, and i hate umbrellas were nice enough to review the last chapter for me.