Chapter 13
Harry was following Hermione talking about the Quidditch practice, swearing that she needed to come sit and watch. Honestly, having a younger brother was so tiresome more often than not.
"You have to see Ginny go, honestly, she's a demon in the air. Between her and Dean, I think we really have a shot at beating Slytherin in the opening match."
"Harry, I'm not trying to be mean," Hermione said, stepping around a pair of younger students standing in the middle of the hall, "but I don't care. Now if you told me Ginny was a brilliant barista, I'd be much more inclined to want to watch her showcase her skills.
"I will never understand your obsession with coffee," Harry muttered, before suddenly being pulled away from her. When Hermione turned to see where her brother went, not finding him, she yelped when a stinging jinx hit her leg.
"What the fuck?" She said, whipping her wand from the arm holster and pointing it in the direction the spell had come from. "Oh, for fuck's sakes, what do you want?" She asked the head girl, who had her own wand trained on Hermione.
"You need to stay away from Draco. I saw that little display of yours in DADA–"
"You mean when he levitated me across the room? Yeah, I think everyone saw that." Hermione said, flicking her wand, causing El's bag to rip open. The other witch didn't even look down at the contents spilling everywhere, only her eyes widening at Hermione and her face turning flushed.
"He's not yours!" The girl screeched, stepping forwards, waving her wand in Hermione's direction. With a simple flick, Hermione redirected the spell towards the wall, causing it to shake. "I warned you to stay away from him!"
Lazily, Hermione continued to deflect the spells thrown her way. While El was putting her all into trying to curse her, she was just no match against Hermione. And it was because of the laxed approach to the duel that caused Hermione to slip up, her shield dropping a moment too soon, that caused a deep cut in her bicep.
"Well, fuck," Hermione muttered watching the blood beginning to soak into her white shirt, the tear in the fabric exposing her skin. A scream from the end of the hall caused her to look away from her injury and back at El.
The girl had dropped to her knees, holding her nose as she began to fall into hysterics. "What did you do!?" She yelled, tears streaming down her face.
Before Hermione could protest that she'd not done anything, Theo stepped forwards, twirling his wand between his fingers. "I just thought you should look a bit more like your father. I've been wondering what you'd look like if you'd gotten his nose, and now I know." The brunette wizard said, strolling towards the girl on the floor. "You're lucky that's all I did to you, after you hurt my Hermione."
Hermione quickly stitched up the cut on her arm, doing a poor job (healing was not exactly one of her specialties), before hurrying over to where Theo was crouched down in front of El. "I put you in the hospital wing after you signed up for all the same classes as Draco. What do you think I'm going to do to you for hurting what's mine and not just being a stalker?"
Before Theo could follow up on his threats, as if sensing the danger to her friend, Pansy materialized (seemingly out of thin air, but more likely out from behind a tapestry). Harry stood next to her, looking as if he'd just had the life sucked out of him and he were still regaining consciousness. "Nice of you to join us," Hermione hissed at her brother, taking hold of Theo's arm and pulling him up and away from the head girl.
"D-d-detention! For both of you!" El cried out, as Pansy lifted her from the floor.
"Oh no you don't," the other girl said, pulling El's hands away from her face. "You don't get to start something and then play the victim when they beat you at your own game." Pansy tsked as she looked over Theo's handy work. "Oh, that is a hideous nose though, good work Theodore. Very lucky you have Emmeline's nose and not Severus'. Come on then," Pansy said, pulling out a handkerchief and giving it to her friend.
"But Pans!" El cried, only to stop when Pansy gave her a stern look.
"That's enough, we'll go back to your room and do our nails while we wait for this to wear off. Shouldn't be more than an hour or two. We'll just tell your father you had cramps and he'll excuse us from class for the day." Pansy turned El by her shoulders and began to push her, leaving behind Hermione, Theo, and Harry.
Neither witch turned back to say anything else to the trio, but honestly, that was probably for the best as El continued trying to argue her point. Hermione could hear Pansy still chiding the other girl for her obsession with Draco, making her act 'irrational'.
"Your girlfriend is kinda bossy," Theo said, looking over at Harry, who still appeared to be in a daze as the Slytherin girls walked away.
"Yeah, isn't it great?" Harry said, smiling as his girlfriend's skirt swished before fully disappearing.
"Please excuse me while I go find a toilet to vomit in," Hermione said, walking away from the wizards. She couldn't decide what was worse; dealing with El Snape or listening to Harry talk about Pansy.