Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, just the plot.
Chapter 2
Classes were terrible. Whispers followed them everywhere. It seemed that by the time they left the Great Hall, everyone had read the article. Almost every girl and many guys would shoot Harry and Ron sympathetic glances, while glaring at Hermione as if she was some type of horrible vixen.
The Slytherins, on the other hand, were having a field day. They quoted the article, as always. They adopted the "Boy-Who-Loves-Getting-His-Heart-Broken" phrase and used it any chance they got. And worst of all, they made snide and crude comments about the pictures, most of them from the Slytherin boys, about Hermione's body.
These comments always ended in a fight of some kind, usually losing them house points in some form or another, angering the other Gryffindors and adding to the rumors.
Harry and Ron could admit that Hermione had indeed changed a lot since first year, filling out in all the right places, and growing into a very pretty girl, but they'd be damned if they were going to let those lousy Slytherins talk about her like that.
"Lowering yourself to a mudblood was one thing, Potter. But sharing her with a Weasley?" Malfoy let out a low whistle. "That's-"
Malfoy didn't get to finish his sentence, because within seconds Hermione had her wand out and pointed it directly at Malfoy's throat.
"Shut up! Just stop it." she grit out, glaring at him as if she could bore holes into him.
Malfoy froze, standing as rigid as possible, eyes darting to and fro.
"Get. Now." she demanded.
And he went, giving her one last wide-eyed look; he turned and ran off to his next class, Crabbe and Goyle following close behind.
Hermione sighed as she let her arm drop down to her side.
"You know, that's the second time we've watched Malfoy run away from you." Harry said gently, coming up next to her.
"Yeah," Ron agreed, moving to stand with them. "I bet he's afraid of you!"
"Of a mudblood? I doubt it," she said with a shake of her head. Before they could protest she added, "Come on, we've got potions next and we're going to be late."
And late they were, coming into class just as Snape stood to explain their potion for the day. He smirked as they came in and quickly went to the empty seats in the back of the room. "That'll be five points each from Gryffindor for being late." he said nastily. "Oh, and I'll take another fifteen for the inappropriate rule breaking one can only assume you three were partaking in." he added with a cruel smile.
Snickers were heard throughout the Slytherins while their fellow Gryffindors groaned at the thought of losing more house points.
Hermione's head snapped at the insinuations Snape made. She opened her mouth to speak, before closing it again with an audible snap.
"A wise decision, Miss Granger, a wise decision." Snape said with a cold look, before he continued speaking to the rest of the class. "Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, today we are going to brew a simple but precise camouflage potion. The instructions are on the board, you have the rest of class to finish, pair up."
Harry and Ron paired off while Hermione began to move to work with Neville. However, Snape interrupted them. "I think you two've shared enough for right now," he said with an evil smirk. "Weasley, work with Parkinson. Potter, you're with Zabini. Granger, you work with Malfoy."
They groaned to themselves as they moved to work with their new partners.
Pansy smiled, if you could call that a smile, widely up a Ron and patted the seat next to her. "That's right; bring your cute little pureblooded self right over here. Don't worry, Weasley, I won't bite." she said, before adding provocatively, "Unless you ask me to."
Ron paled and looked incredibly frightened as he walked stiffly up to her. "I won't." he muttered as he placed his things on the desk.
Pansy pouted at that before brightening again. "That's alright, if you like it sweet and slow the first time around; I can deal with that."
Ron looked like he was about to puke.
Harry laughed, before quickly turning it into a cough as Ron glared at him fiercely. Harry quickly turned away from his friend and went up to Blaise Zabini and put his stuff on the table.
"So, you and Granger, huh?" Blaise started.
Harry just glared at him.
Blaise continued on obliviously. "I guess I can see where you're coming from though. She definitely doesn't look anything like she did first year, that's for sure. If you can ignore the hair and get her to shut up for a bit I'd say she's actually quite pretty, for a Gryffindor that is. Who'd have thought she actually grew breasts! You know I'd never really noticed that until those pictures this morning, always wearing school robes and all, they don't show much, but now, yeah I can definitely tell she's got a lot going for her. But I suppose you know all about that now don't you?" Blaise grinned and jabbed Harry in the stomach with his elbow. "Yeah from everything that's been going around today, I'd definitely say you know all about it. So, tell me, how is she in bed?"
It took all of Harry's self-control to not take out his wand and hex Blaise Zabini into a million pieces, and then hex those million pieces into oblivion. But he knew that Snape was still watching him, so instead, Harry just grunted and took his aggressions out on chopping his mug root into very tiny pieces.
Blaise seemed to finally realize that he wasn't going to get any information out of Harry and just nodded. "I see, don't wanna let it be known how good she is, wanna keep her to yourself, I see, I can understand that." he said, then he looked over at Ron and added, "But I guess it's a bit late for that now, isn't it?" he laughed at himself and continued to grin as he added some dried newt power to his cauldron.
Harry just glared at him and brooded over his potion. He glanced over at Hermione to see how she was handling Malfoy. He saw her sitting there stirring her potion and reading over the next ingredients while studiously ignoring Malfoy who was whispering something to her. Harry had to applaud her; she was doing very well about ignoring everything and just trying to get through the day.
Then he saw her take her spoon out of her cauldron and hit Malfoy over the head with it while Snape's back was turned.
Okay, so maybe not ignoring everything.
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Malfoy rubbed the back of his head sourly while glaring back at her. "You sure are violent today, I like that. You can get out the whip, tie me to the bed, and show me just how naughty you really are." He grinned wolfishly.
Hermione raised her spoon again threateningly. "That's enough Malfoy, I don't have to sit here and listen to your crude comments so just shut it."
Malfoy put his hands up in mock defense. "Fine, fine, I'll drop it."
Hermione blinked, letting the spoon drop back onto the table. "You will?"
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Yes, Granger, I will. I do have a potion to finish and that's far more important than a silly little mudblood like you."
Hermione rolled her eyes in turn, before turning away from him and stirring her potion once more.
The silence between them lasted all of thirty seconds…
"So Granger, does Potter always have to be the hero in the sack too?"
Hermione resisted the urge to smack him again and instead she smiled innocently and asked. "Why? Looking for a Friday night date? I saw Crabbe giving you the eye earlier; perhaps you should stick to someone who's more in your league."
"Like Potter and Weasel lowered themselves to your level? Don't you find it sad that the only guys in the school you could find willing to shag you were also the only guys in the school willing to stand you? Perhaps that's the only reason they were ever your friends? Pathetic, isn't it?" Malfoy sneered.
"So I guess this proves my Crabbe theory then, the only people in this school willing to stand you are Crabbe and Goyle, so does that mean you're shagging them too?" Hermione asked innocently.
Malfoy glared at her. "Unlike Potter and Weasel, I don't have to go beneath myself to get laid."
"But Crabbe and Goyle are purebloods, Malfoy. In fact, it's their incestuous pureblooded inbreeding that made them what they are today; complete morons. So how can you, a pureblood yourself, be above that, hm?" She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him while waiting for an answer.
Malfoy held his head high. "Because, I am a Malfoy."
Hermione laughed at that. "Oh yes, how could I forget? A Malfoy. Exempt to all laws except your own. A pale, sickly, little boy who thinks happiness lies within others pain. A Malfoy. Who thinks he's above everyone else, even those of his own blood, who degrades everyone as nothing. Why with those standards, Draco dear, you'll never get laid. A Malfoy. Who walks around with his nose so high up in the air he can't see where he's going and a stick so far up his arse it's a wonder he can still breath. Yes, yes, now I remember, because you're a Malfoy."
Malfoy smirked. "Nice to know you pay so much attention."
Hermione rolled her eyes again and went back to adding the last ingredient to her cauldron.
"And I do not have a stick up my ass."
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"Better a stick than a Weasel."
"Nice to know you've been thinking about Ron's…equipment. I'll be sure to pass the word along."
Malfoy growled at her.
Hermione just smiled as she poured some of her finished potion into a vile and brought it up to Snape at the front of the class. She came back to the table and quickly gathered her things together. Just after Snape called, "Class dismissed." And everyone got up to leave; Hermione leaned over and whispered into Malfoy's ear.
"Yes you do."
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Ron complained from the second they left the dungeons all the way outside to Herbology about his encounter with Pansy. "She kept touching me. And she wouldn't shut up! She kept talking about how she wanted to show me what it's like to be with a real, pureblooded, woman. And she grabbed my bum twice! It was horrible!"
"I dunno, Ron. That's probably the most action you've had in a long while, you should've enjoyed yourself more." Harry laughed as they neared the greenhouses.
"Oh, that's right, laugh it up Harry. You don't realize how terrible it really was!" Ron moaned.
"And you think I enjoyed myself any better? I had to sit there and listen to Blaise Zabini go on about how much he liked Hermione's breasts for an hour and a half." Harry complained.
"My what?!?" Hermione exclaimed, scandalized.
"Oops, sorry Hermione." Harry said apologetically. "I tried to get him to shut up about it, but he just wouldn't take a hint. I think he's really quite taken with you," he added slyly.
Hermione just rolled her eyes and unconsciously pulled her robes tighter together. "Oh and by the way, Malfoy wanted to know how good you were in bed, Harry. And he seems to be very curious about you're, um…equipment, Ron."
"What?!?"
"Oh yes," she continued. "He was very interested in those two subjects. I think he's really quite taken with you two," she added with a grin.
Harry and Ron looked horrified.
Herbology with the Hufflepuffs is never bad, and today was no different. They were transplanting Starbursters, plants that had little star-shaped flowers on them that burst into foot tall flames when the plant feels threatened, so you had to be careful to make them feel trusting of you before you could touch them. They were paired off into groups of three or four and they were supposed to hopefully have transplanted ten plants, altogether, by the end of class.
Things had started off normally enough; Harry, Ron, and Hermione had paired off together and were trying, with some amount of difficulty, to get their Starbursters to trust them.
Ron continued to complain so much about the whole Pansy fiasco that Hermione threatened to set him on fire if he didn't shut up. At that Ron glared at her before retorting that at least he hadn't been flirting with Malfoy all of potions class.
"No, he would've enjoyed that too much coming from you, hm? Besides, you would have made Pansy jealous." Hermione smirked while Ron looked disgusted.
"This conversation has definitely taken a turn for the worst." he replied.
"Well the way you keep going on about Pansy, one might think you actually like her or something." she paused, looking up from her plant. "Do you?"
"What?" Ron exclaimed staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.
Hermione shrugged. "It was just a question." she said, and then added, "You know you could tell me if you did, right?"
Ron gaped at her. "You're insane, absolutely insane." He turned to Harry, "Tell her she's insane."
Harry, who'd been diligently ignoring his two best friends for the past few minutes while trying to get his Starburster to let him touch it without smoking, shrugged and muttered, "Insane, absolutely insane."
Hermione just rolled her eyes and went back to concentrating on her Starburster.
Harry finally had his hand around his plant and was beginning to transplant it when he heard a voice in front of him say his name.
"Harry?"
He glanced up to see Hannah Abbot looking at him.
"Er, hi." he said not really knowing what she wanted.
"Hi, Harry. Listen, me and the other girls in my group just wanted to know if you'd want to be our fourth in the group. We understand that you might not want to be around her right now." At this she gave Hermione a pointed glare. "And we'd love to have you. What do you say?" she asked with a hopeful smile.
Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione. Ron was watching him and Hannah with interest while Hermione was ignoring them all and slowly pulling her plant out of its pot and placing it into a larger one.
"I don't think so, Hannah. Ron and Hermione would have an awful hard time potting ten of these plants by themselves, besides I'm fine over here. Thanks for the invite though." Harry replied carefully.
Hannah nodded at him with a sad smile like she didn't believe him one bit. She then turned to Hermione who was moving onto her second Starburster. "I just want you to know that we all think it's terrible how you've brainwashed them. You have no right to treat people like this, especially your best friends. I think it's best if you just come clean and deal with the consequences. Really now, do you truly expect to be able to string them along forever? It's terrible what you've done; you're acting like a horrible little vixen! You're not even that pretty, I don't know who you think you are but you need to stop it! Now. Just tell the truth about whatever it is you've done, and let them go!"
As Hannah's speech continued she got louder and louder and she soon had the rest of the class's attention as well. The Starburster in Hermione's hand was trembling and just as Hannah finished her last word, every star-shaped flower on the plant burst into foot tall flames.
The flames caught on Hannah's hair and she screamed louder, causing the rest of the plants to tremble and burst into flames as well. Hermione let go of her plant and it fell back into its pot as she ducked under the table for cover.
Hannah continued to scream until Professor Sprout came and put her hair out. The professor was furious. "What is the meaning of all this?" she demanded.
Hermione poked her head out from under the desk and began to answer her, but Professor Sprout interrupted her angrily. "Miss Granger, I expected much better conduct from you!" Hermione's mouth dropped open. "I assume you've done the reading over the Starbursters so you should very well know that raising one's voice is never a good idea, ten points from Gryffindor for being so careless and I expect a foot long essay over the dangers of Starbursters to be handed in to me for next class. Class dismissed!"
Hannah smirked at Hermione as she left to go get her things. Harry and Ron glared at her in turn.
Hermione gaped after Professor Sprout for a full sixty seconds before Harry and Ron pulled her up and pushed her towards the door.
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A/N: Sooo, tell me what you think! =)
And thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I found out that we can reply to reviews on the page, so I went back and tried to write to everyone, I don't think I missed anyone but if I did I'm very sorry.
Also if anyone is, or knows, a beta-reader, I currently don't have one, and would be grateful for anyone interested or who has any info about one. My email is Jessiet_989@hotmail.com
Thanks again everyone and please REVIEW!
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