Draco and Pansy stood outside the Three Broomsticks, still smirking because of Weasley and the fact that he was easier to anger than the regular banshee. After a few minutes, however, their amusement ebbed away and they were left with an unpleasant realisation: they had just been kicked out of the only comfortable pub in Hogsmeade Village.
"So..." Pansy started slowly, sounding quite unsure. "Now what?"
"I don't know," Draco grimaced. "The idea of hanging out in that dungy pub near Tomes and Scrolls doesn't really appeal to me, especially now I know that it's owned by Dumbledore's even more eccentric brother. But Puddifoot's is hardly any better..."
"It's not that bad, is it?" Pansy replied. "I think I saw Tori and Imogen in there earlier."
"Tori?" Draco echoed, raising his eyebrows in distaste.
Pansy snorted. "Sorry, I mean Astoria. You know, Daphne's little sister? It's been my nickname for her ever since she first came to Hogwarts. She positively hates it, which makes it all the more fun for me."
"I can imagine why, it's a rather distasteful nickname," he commented dryly. "But she's not exactly a little sister anymore, is she?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, she's a gorgeous one," the brunette said, rolling her eyes before smiling up at him with amusement. "No need to rub that in."
"I'm not rubbing anything in, I am merely voicing my observations," Draco answered casually, winking at Pansy.
"Observe in silence, you prick," came her retort. She playfully elbowed him in the ribs and shrieked when he tickled her in return, slapping his hands away. They made their way over to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, laughing.
Draco entered the tea shop after Pansy rather reluctantly and took a good look around, trying to ignore the annoying tuneful tinkle that had announced their arrival. He hadn't been here since his fifth year, when Pansy had dragged him in here on a Valentine's Day date once, and he had hated sitting amongst the overly-affectionate couples.
Today, the shop was not nearly as crowded as it had been on that particular day and the decorations weren't quite as ridiculously frilly as he had remembered. There also weren't as many tables, which was a relief because last time the stout woman that owned the place had great difficulty moving around her shop. It was quite a cosy place, and Draco decided that he would survive spending the afternoon here.
Pansy had chosen a table in the corner, which had a comfortable corner sofa. After they had settled down next to each other, a woman with a shiny, black bun made her over to them. "Good afternoon, m'dears! What can I get you two?" she greeted them cheerfully.
"I'll have a dandelion coffee, please," Draco answered immediately, not wanting for this woman to linger at their table. Pansy, on the other hand, took her sweet time and stared at the menu with a conflicted expression on her face, clearly not bothered by the fact that Madam Puddifoot was humming a song that sounded awfully out of tune.
"I'll… um… I'll have some hibiscus tea, please," she said finally, handing the menu back to the shop owner with a smile.
The corpulent woman left, only to return with their beverages mere moments later. "Here you go, dears, the cookies are on the house!" she said with an effusive wink. She turned and moved away, leaving them alone at last. Draco glared at the plate with his eyebrows raised in suspicion and revulsion. The cookies were heart-shaped and decorated with a shiny pink glaze.
"You're such a romantic, aren't you," Pansy commented dryly, nibbling on a cookie as she glanced at him, undoubtedly noticing the look in his eyes.
"No," Draco scowled. "I'm not."
Despite the fact that the cookies looked hideously sweet, he couldn't help himself and reached out to take one. After having taken a tiny bite he quickly put the remainder back down and shuddered as he swallowed the snack, quickly gulping down some of his herbal tea.
"Careful, it might be too sweet for your taste," the Slytherin girl teased in an appropriately sweet tone, smirking at his facial expression.
They enjoyed their warm beverages in silence for a while and watched their fellow Slytherins who were sitting by the window. Pansy had been right when she had claimed to have seen Astoria and Imogen Stretton earlier. They were still here, sharing a table with Holden Ledbury and Niles Hanley. It looked as though they were having a double-date, and for reasons he didn't quite understand he somehow found himself questioning whether Hanley was an appropriate match for Astoria Greengrass, even though he was a nice guy with whom Draco got along just fine. He frowned a little. Why would he care? He barely even knew the girl.
"So I suppose it's true after all, judging the look on her face when she saw us sitting there," Pansy murmured softly after a while, pulling him from his thoughts. "You did cast the Imperius Curse on Madam Rosmerta, didn't you?" she clarified when he shot her a questioning look.
Draco's wince was enough confirmation for her and she instantly closed the subject again, moving on to a lengthy complaint about how stubbornly annoying Sally-Anne had been when Tracey and Daphne had wanted to throw a girls-only party in the seventh-year dormitory the night before.
They went from one conversation to the next, enjoying the fact that they were finally able to properly have some quality time with each other. Time passed and Draco vaguely noticed Stretton and Ledbury leaving the tea shop as he listened to Pansy chatting happily away about her plans for the Christmas holidays.
"Hey, guys," Astoria said, interrupting Pansy.
"Mind if we join you for a last drink?" Hanley asked. "It's nearly six, we should be getting back soon if we don't want to walk."
"Oh, sure, sit down," Pansy said, snapping her fingers in the air to notify Madam Puddifoot that they wanted to order another round of drinks. The plump witch immediately rushed to their table and delivered their drinks moments later.
"Are you two dating?" the older Slytherin girl asked Astoria curiously, pointing at the sixth-year Slytherin boy that was accompanying her.
"Of sorts," the younger Greengrass said with a small smile. "We're actually still just in the early stages of getting to know each other."
Niles Hanley smirked complacently, sending Draco a quick wink as he put his hand down on Astoria's left knee. He frowned again. Somehow, Hanley's behaviour really rubbed him the wrong way.
The group of four drank their hot beverages and had some light-hearted chats. Draco and Hanley discussed the latest Quidditch match from the North American League Cup and Pansy and Astoria shared the latest gossip after apparently catching up with each other. Draco couldn't help but smile at times. He had never seen Pansy act so sisterly before, it really brought out her rare softer side.
Before long it was time to make their way back to the High Street where the carriages were waiting to take the students back to Hogwarts. They all climbed into the same carriage and were one of the last groups to arrive back, with the gates closing behind them once their carriage rode onto the grounds, after which Professor Copperfield and Professor Flitwick waved their wands to once again seal the gates with the proper protective spells and wards.
Draco and Pansy followed the rest of their schoolmates back inside. He received a quick kiss on his mouth before she hurried to catch up with Hanley and Astoria, who were already descending the stairs to the dungeons. Draco sighed, his good mood from this great day quickly leaving when the reality of his punishment set in again.
He made his way up to his own quarters in the Head's Tower quickly and tiredly. Once he had muttered the password and made his way inside, entering the common room, something rushed in his direction.
SLAP!
Completely taken aback, Draco dropped his bags of newly purchased Quidditch supplies and brought his hand to his left cheek, which was burning rather painfully already. He stared down at the girl in front of him who was glaring up at him with such passionate anger that he was momentarily at a loss for words.
"What the hell, Granger," he finally managed to hiss venomously, willing for his glare to be lethal.
"That, Malfoy," Granger hissed back, "is for being absolutely loathsome. You disgust me. I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but you are honestly insufferable! How dare you harass Ron like that, do you really not care about anything?!"
"I care about a lot of things, Mudblood, but that dense Weasel is not one of them," Draco growled. Having gotten over the shock, he stepped forward and grabbed her arms, holding on tightly no matter how fiercely she tried to free herself.
"Are you really that arrogant to believe that you'll get away with this again?" he threatened softly, knowing that his quiet anger was much more intimidating to her than a loud and vocal display. "I'm not thirteen anymore, and neither are you, and quite frankly, Granger, I see no reason why I shouldn't get back at you for both times right now."
"You wouldn't," she breathed, but the doubt in both her voice and her eyes was evident.
"Are you sure about that?" he hissed as he glared down at her.
Granger glared back at him with the most hateful look in her eyes he had ever seen from her. "If you so much as raise your hand I'll make sure you'll get expelled, even if it's the last thing I'll do."
"Yeah, you would like that, wouldn't you? To completely ruin my life?"
"How dare you!" she finally snapped. "You know what? Ron was right, you are pathetic! All you do is blame others for everything that goes wrong in your life when you're the one who keeps making wrong decisions! I called Ron an insensitive arse earlier today but compared to you, he is, in fact, a very considerate person!"
"Oh, stop it with the drama. You know I don't like him," Draco snapped in annoyance. "I never have and that's not likely to ever change."
"I know that, and I accept that," Granger retorted angrily, "but you went completely out of your way to insult him in every way possible. His brother died only a few months ago, show some consideration!"
"Why should I? It's not like he ever showed some consideration about Crabbe and he was there, he saw it happen!" he hissed before realising that he had once again slipped up.
She went silent for a little while, staring up at him with a much softer expression on her face than she had moments earlier. "That's because up until now, none of us knew that you actually cared for them," she said softly.
"What?" Draco let go of her in surprise and took a step back.
"This shouldn't come as that much of a surprise to you," she said carefully, rubbing her forearms with a slightly pained expression on her face. "You bossed them around the way your kind treats house-elves. I don't remember you ever showing concern for them and quite frankly, I've always been under the impression that you thought they were rather stupid."
"They are!" he snapped indignantly. "But just because they are stupid doesn't mean they're not my friends! You don't know a thing about me, stop assuming that you do!"
"You might not have noticed, but throwing out assumptions is the only way for me to get to know you," Granger said with a hint of sarcasm. "You're so guarded all the time, even if Crabbe and Goyle weren't so unintelligent, I doubt they would have figured out that you actually considered them your friends. You don't open up unless you're angry!"
"And that's completely intentional, Granger. I've told you before, I don't want you to get to know me! Why can't you just leave me alone?"
She stepped back and sighed tiredly, shaking her head. "You know what? Never mind. I see you're still very determined to make this year as unpleasant as possible." She turned around at once and made her way up the stairs to her dormitory.
Draco growled in frustration. He kicked the bag with his newly purchased Quidditch gear across the common room and sank down onto the couch, not even attempting to fight back the guilt he was feeling for apparently hurting her arms.
Monday, 9 November 1998
"Mr Malfoy, Ms Parkinson, I'd like to have a word with you two please," Professor Wilberforce called out.
Draco and Pansy exchanged a look of dread and turned back around to face their Muggle Studies Professor. Pansy hissed a delightful insult to their obnoxious Ravenclaw classmate Sue Li, who sniggered despite that as she closed the door behind her, leaving the two Slytherins and the Professor alone in the classroom.
"Please join me at my desk," Wilberforce requested, gesturing to the row of tables in front of her desk. Draco reluctantly followed Pansy and sat down, wondering what they had done.
"I have looked through your improved essays and it is with regret that I have to inform you that there was hardly any improvement there," said the old woman with a sigh. "I have discussed the matter with Professor McGonagall and we have come to the conclusion that this class isn't helping at all, because you two seem to be too stubborn to have an open mind about this subject."
She motioned at the rolls of parchment on her desk. "These essays are horribly insufficient and I doubt whether you have read the book at all. You also haven't given me the names of the Muggle family you will be visiting soon and considering you have to have enough time for the necessary arrangements I'm afraid I must press this matter. If I don't receive names by the end of this week, you will both be serving detention until the Christmas holidays and I will assign you to a family myself."
Draco was about to protest and exclaim what a preposterous idea this was and that he would not have a part in this, but the uncharacteristic silence beside him made him pause. He glanced sideways and saw Pansy staring at her lap with a tired and miserable expression on her face. Quite taken aback by her lack of vocal protest and response altogether, he forgot to protest himself.
Wilberforce rose from her chair and motioned for them to get up as well. They crossed the classroom and made for the door, which the old woman opened slightly before turning back to face them. "Has either of you heard from Mr Zabini whether or not he is planning to start attending these classes again?" she inquired.
"What do you think?" Pansy snapped sharply, comforting Draco by showing her usual fierceness.
Wilberforce sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. The two Slytherins exited the classroom and Wilberforce followed, locking the door behind her. "Remember," she said, shooting them a stern glance. "I want to see you back in my office before the weekend."
They quickly moved away from her and passed the Advanced Arithmancy classroom just as Granger and the Ravenclaw Patil exited it.
"Oh, Mr Malfoy!" Professor Wilberforce called out as she caught up with him and Pansy, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving him a smile that he interpreted as an attempt at being involved and helpful. "Considering that you and Ms Granger spend a great deal of time together, why don't you ask her for her assistance?"
With those words, she moved past the four students and disappeared into the East Wing as Granger and Patil exchanged a confused look. "Assistance with what?" Patil asked with a frown.
"How about you mind your own boring business, Padma," Pansy snapped.
"Sweet Merlin, Pansy, what's with the hostility?" Patil said indignantly, grabbing Granger's arm and pulling her towards the Entrance Hall. The Head Girl shot another confused look at him over her shoulder before following Patil into the Great Hall for lunch.
"I still can't believe you were friends with that girl," Draco commented as he and Pansy entered the Great Hall as well.
"Not this again," Pansy groaned. "I was nine, leave me alone. We all were one big bunch of happy friends at Charms school."
"I also still can't believe that your parents sent you to Charms school, they could have easily hired you a personal tutor like my parents did for me."
They sat down at the Slytherin table across from Nott and Davis, who were sharing a large leather-bound book for their latest Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. Both looked up briefly to greet them and then continued to take notes while absentmindedly taking bites from their sandwiches. Pansy reached for the pumpkin juice and a sandwich with smoked salmon.
"We've talked about this before," she said in an annoyed and impatient tone. "Some people, like my mother, value social skills. That is why I went to Charms school. To socialise with other children."
"I know that," Draco replied with a smirk. "No need for the attitude. I just think it's amusing, since you never actually spoke with any of your old friends again since you were sorted into Slytherin."
"That's not the point, Draco. The point is that at least I knew how to approach people, whereas you had no experience whatsoever. How you ended up having friends is beyond me, and you know what? Just this once I'll openly take Potter's side. He did the right thing when he refused your so-called offer of friendship back in our first year."
Nott, who had just taken a gulp from his goblet, choked on his pumpkin juice and started making noises that sounded suspiciously like a mixture of coughing and laughter, making Davis jump slightly in her seat. She frowned at him with a mix of annoyance and slight concern as she hit his back repeatedly. After a minute or so, Nott took in deep breaths and the colour from his cheeks slowly faded.
"Oh my, I completely forgot about that," he sighed with a smirk. "How did you approach that again? Boast, insult and hope for the best, right?"
Draco stared at the scene before him with an arched eyebrow and a building anger, willing for Nott to start suffering from dyspnoea and choke to death.
Right before starting his first year, his father had told him that Harry Potter would join him at Hogwarts and that he should try his hardest to become friends with the legendary young boy. Draco had been horribly unprepared. He had been ignorant of the fact that Potter was raised by Muggles and knew nothing of the Wizarding World until he had received his acceptance letter. By the time Draco had found him again on the train, Potter had was already in the early stages of becoming friends with Weasley. Insulting the latter had not quite helped his cause.
Looking back on that day now, he realised he had approached the matter completely wrong. Pansy was right when she said that he was inexperienced at making friends: he had never had to do so before. People automatically tried to get into his good graces because of his family name and status, and it wasn't until his second year that he started developing a skill at being quite charming and persuasive.
Nott had undoubtedly seen the look in his eyes, because after giving him a small smirk he bend over the book again and scribbled down some more notes. Davis was smart enough to pretend she hadn't noticed a thing, and Pansy sighed as she handed Draco the platter with bacon sandwiches.
"Can you stop being so easily offended all the time?" she muttered. "It's just friendly teasing. You're starting to become even less fun than Blaise if you go on like this."
"I heard that, Parkinson," Zabini said from behind them, his tone betraying that he was feeling rather annoyed and insulted.
He sat down next to her and snatched the last roasted beef sandwich from the platter, shooting an ice-cold glare at the scrawny second-year Slytherin who had reached for the sandwich at the same time. The young boy pulled back his hand instantly and stared at Zabini as though he had never seen a scarier thing in his life, which could very well be true.
"Sorry for hurting your fragile ego, Blaise," Pansy said in her sweetest tone. "And by the way, dear Professor Wilberforce sends her kindest regards and wants you to know that she misses your presence in class dearly."
The look of disgust on Zabini's face was absolutely priceless, but they all knew better than to continue taunting him. He had been horribly touchy lately and they all knew that it was because the entire teaching staff was constantly on his back. He was refusing to attend more and more classes and his rebellious attitude was increasing considerably. The few classes he still attended were continuously disturbed by his careless behaviour and he had been sent to McGonagall's office at least once a day for the past few weeks.
The group of seventh-year Slytherins was aware of his motives: he desperately wanted to be kicked out of Hogwarts, but it was as though McGonagall knew what he was up to. She had only given him continuous detention so far. Zabini had unwillingly degraded himself to Argus Filch's permanent assistant, and they all knew that there was nothing the dark-skinned Slytherin hated more than this so-called house-elf treatment.
Greengrass arrived shortly after Zabini and sat down next to Nott. They all ate their lunch, quietly discussing meaningless subjects. Zabini made it clear that he had no desire to be included in these conversations so they all decided to ignore him, an easy task for everyone but Pansy, who was the only one in their year that truly got along well with the dark-skinned boy, most of the time.
Zabini finished his sandwich in no time at all and disappeared from the Great Hall as fast as he could. The others stared after him and Draco sighed. He understood his classmate so well, yet at the same time he didn't understand him at all. If he would behave like this, his father would undoubtedly curse him into oblivion and he didn't think Mrs Zabini would resort to a different punishment.
"I don't think he's going to last much longer," Nott muttered to his classmates. "I overheard the Headmistress talk to the Heads of Houses yesterday in the staff room. From what I heard they are on the verge of having him expelled."
"So they're giving him exactly what he's after," Greengrass sneered. "How rich."
"What else can they do?" Davis asked with a frown. "He's constantly trying to ruin everything, not only for himself but for the rest of us as well. We're struggling enough as it is, being in Slytherin House in these times. I refuse to have him ruin all chances we might have to get rid of our current reputation."
Draco decided to not contribute to the conversation for Pansy's sake. She was staring at her empty plate and looked both irritated and a bit sad. They would never admit it to anyone, but Draco knew Pansy and Zabini really cared for each other. The other girls knew that they were friends, but they didn't understand why Pansy seemed to like the guy, since he was always rude and arrogant. Davis was able to tolerate him, but Greengrass wasn't and she made it no secret that she really disliked her dark-skinned classmate.
Then again, Davis had no choice but to tolerate him. Her half-blood status had caused quite some trouble for her in their first year, but she had soon adapted to the predominantly pureblood culture and over the years she had proven to be a worthy Slytherin, and even Pansy had started to like her.
"I definitely won't miss him," Greengrass announced coldly. She glanced at her best friend and her expression softened a little. "Chin up, Pansy. You've done what you could. It's not your fault that he's an insufferable arse."
"Right," Pansy answered softly. "And you can't help that you're an insensitive wench."
"I could if I wanted to," the blonde countered with a straight face, "but I'm quite content with the way I am, and I know you are too."
Pansy was able to keep an angry face for five seconds before she sighed and shot a small smile at Greengrass. They all gathered their things and made their way to the Entrance Hall. Nott made his way up for Ancient Studies and Pansy went outside for her Care of Magical Creatures class. Draco followed Greengrass and Davis down to the dungeons to spend their free period in the Slytherin common room. He would be happy for this dreadful day to finally be over.
~ X ~
After dinner, Draco made his way up to the sixth floor. He entered the common room, expecting it to be empty, but much to his disappointment he found Granger sitting on the couch, quite obviously waiting for him. Knowing the Gryffindor well enough by now to know that he wouldn't be able to go up to his dormitory to avoid whatever it was she had planned for him, he halted behind the closest armchair and raised his eyebrows at her, waiting for her to get it over with, whatever it might be.
"Malfoy, about the other day," she began, making a slightly uncomfortable impression, "I want to apologise for slapping you. It was uncalled for."
"You're damn right it was uncalled for," Draco bit back instantly. "If it weren't for your bloody sacrosanct status within this school I would have reported it to the Headmistress by now. What kind of twisted world do we live in where the bloody Head Girl gets away with physically assaulting a fellow student?"
Granger raised her eyebrows at him. "Don't try to paint yourself as an innocent victim here, Malfoy. What I did was wrong, but you've had your own fair share of incidents through the years," she said. "And I highly doubt you would have reported it. You never did that back in our third year, even though you had every right."
"What thirteen-year-old guy would willingly admit to having been slapped by a girl?" grumbled Draco softly, not quite able to look her in the eye. "And not just any girl, a Gryffindor Mudblood, no less."
"Please, Malfoy, you don't actually expect me to believe that, do you?" she replied scornfully. "You've spent weeks pretending to be severely injured, twisting it in every possible way to get what you wanted. You could have used this to make things extremely difficult for me, yet you did nothing."
Draco glared at her, feeling a little uncomfortable. He didn't quite know how to respond. There was no way in hell he would admit to her that he had been too shocked to have his revenge; that her actions had caused for him to begrudgingly develop a certain amount of respect for the girl. She was able to stand up for herself and put him in his place and she refused to be bullied and never responded quite the way he wanted her to, which made her unique.
"I don't know why you're giving me that look, but I'm not actually expecting you to explain yourself," Granger said carefully, pulling him from his thoughts. He refocused on her and saw that she was giving him a suspicious look. "However," she continued, "I do want to explain myself, if you care to hear it, that is."
He sighed, not only because he was annoyed by her, but also to mask his slight curiosity. The slapping incident from years ago had left quite an impression on him, and he wasn't just talking about the literal one on his face. He had never quite figured out what he had done to deserve being slapped.
He knew the trio had been angry with him for messing with that Hippogriff, and he knew they were fiercely defensive of the stupid half-giant, but Granger had never responded to him the way she had then, not even when he had called her a Mudblood for the first time; not even a year later when he had made those buttons for Potter in their fourth year, nor when he had come up with that song to humiliate Weasley in their sixth year. Draco sat down in the armchair and waited for her explanation.
"At the end of our second year, as you know, we had to choose additional classes for the next years. I was unable to rule out any subjects, so I picked every class available."
"Every single one?" Draco questioned with a frown. "But—"
"—that's impossible. Yes, I know. That's what Professor McGonagall told me, too," Granger sighed. "But because she saw great potential in me, she said she would try to help me find a way. At the beginning of our third year, she had found one. I received a Time-Turner from the Ministry."
Draco gaped at her in shock and knew he was doing a very poor job trying to hide how he felt. "A Time-Turner?!" he snapped in disbelief. "Is there anything you don't get special treatment for?!"
She shot a glare at him. "You might be able to imagine how exhausting it is to follow twice the amount of classes and having to do double the amount of homework," she continued, not bothering with a response to his accusation.
"I had to keep it a secret from everyone, not even Harry and Ron were allowed to know. On top of that, you and your father went after Buckbeak and did everything you could to make sure he would be sentenced to death. The little free time I had I spent in the library, trying to build a case for Hagrid, to save Buckbeak. On top of that, I had been fighting steadily with Ron ever since the preceding summer, and Harry wasn't talking to me because I had Professor McGonagall take away his Firebolt for examination. By the time we came across you, we had just made up and I was beyond the point of exhaustion. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time and you said exactly the wrong thing. I must admit that me slapping you wasn't even personal."
Granger took a deep breath and hesitated briefly. "I guess I used you as a means to get rid of all the emotions I had bottled up inside me caused by different events."
Draco had quietly listened to her story, and the uneasy feeling he had become quite accustomed to by now spread through his stomach again. It was simply bizarre what this girl in front of him had done and achieved, what she had been through. How was it possible that someone like her, who had been entirely oblivious to the magical world until her eleventh birthday, was so skilled at it? How could she be so strong?
"What about Saturday?" he managed to ask. Granger's facial expression changed, and he could tell that she didn't want to explain this to him. "You know you owe me an explanation," he said, arching his eyebrow.
"I—" she took a deep breath and looked down. "Fine," she muttered. "If you must know, Ron and I have been sort of together for a year now. The War made things quite a bit more complicated and until recently he had been overpowered by grief for his brother. We took a major step back and last Saturday things were finally getting better again. Until you came along, that is."
The Gryffindor girl looked up and glared at him accusingly. "I hadn't told him about the Head's Tower because I knew his temper would get the better of him, and you just had to come along and ruin it."
"So you slapped me because I ruined your chances? That's petty, Granger."
"No, Malfoy," she snapped. "I slapped you because you're messing with the insecurities of someone I love. Because in the past few months, you've been making life unnecessarily difficult for me. I slapped you because I hoped that would help you see some sense!"
Draco glowered at her with anger. "I have already seen the light, Granger, thank you very much. We've talked about this before: a person doesn't change overnight, and it's not like you have been very encouraging and helpful. If you want to make this work, you will have to make some changes too."
"Like what?" she huffed with indignation.
"You could start by not sticking your nose in places it doesn't belong," he sneered. "And I would appreciate it if you would rethink your decisions. I have been trying really hard to please the entire bloody school but you have yet to acknowledge that. I would bloody like to get out of this tower!"
Granger narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before sighing and sitting back against the pillows on the couch. "Okay. Fine," she said with clear reluctance. "I'll go talk to Professor McGonagall."
Under the impression that she was done, Draco rose from the chair and crossed the common room with the intention of going up to his dormitory, but he was stopped before he could reach the stairs. "Malfoy, wait," the Head Girl called after him.
"Now what," he grumbled with annoyance as he turned back around to face her.
"Professor Wilberforce came to talk to me this afternoon to ask a favour," she announced before pausing with her lips pressed together. "And I've agreed to look through your essay. It's the least I can do to make up for slapping you, I guess."
"Oh no, Granger," Draco snapped. "Don't you dare to pretend you're doing this for me, it's just another chance for you to stick your nose into other people's business. I don't want your help!"
"I know you don't," she replied softly. "But from what Professor Wilberforce told me, you really need it. And I want to help."
He remained silent for a while, trying to stay calm. He was angry, but he didn't really know who it was his anger was directed to. He was angry at Wilberforce for going behind his back and he was angry at Granger for once again eagerly sticking her nose into his business. He also felt incredibly annoyed because this meant that he would, once again, be paired up with the Gryffindor know-it-all.
Draco knew that refusing Granger's help would result in trouble, not only with his Muggle Studies Professor but also for himself, because he knew that if he didn't get sufficient marks for this bloody class, McGonagall wouldn't let him take his N.E.W.T.s., and there was no way he was going to be able to write a sufficient essay on his own.
"Fine," he sighed in defeat.
Granger revealed the tiniest of smiles and nodded. "Alright," she said. "Just let me know when you want to do this." She turned away from him and reached for the book on the coffee table, which Draco took as a sign that their conversation was over and that he was allowed to leave.
He immediately rushed up the stairs, closed the door of his dorm behind him and dropped down on the bed, desperately trying to clear his head and forget about everything Granger had told him this evening. After a little while, he sat back up and reluctantly reached for the book Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles. The fact that he needed Granger's help was humiliating enough; there was no way he was going to be unprepared, even if it meant learning all about Muggles.