Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one.
A/N: Chapter four is here! And it is Hermione's point-of-view of Slughorn's Christmas party. I hope you enjoy. Once more, this is not the last chapter.
Cormac At Bay
"He has perfect levity to kiss whoever he likes," I found myself explaining with a tight voice as my feet carried me from aisle to aisle. I could feel Harry shuffling behind me as if he was trying to keep up. Although, I do believe I was moving fairly fast for someone who was simply dropping off the rest of the books. While each of the books levitated to their rightful spots on the shelves, my feet made firm contact with the floor, bringing more than the attention I was probably getting from my loud talking.
"Was I under the impression he and I would be attending Slughorn's Christmas party together…Yes." Why on earth did I think that Ron and I would be going together? We'd never spoken about it so why did I assume? I mean, surely Harry would try to get the date with Ginny…
"Now…given the circumstances; I've had to make other arrangements." Leaning against one of the desks of an empty aisle, I curved my hands around the edge of the desk, looking at Harry who stood across from me. The thought of going to the party with Cormac made my stomach churn in ways that I didn't want to think about. Looking over at Harry, I blinked. He looked rather pale.
"Ha-Have you?" He managed, his eyes trailing away from mine. No, why did you do that Harry? Why won't you look me in the eye?
"Yes. Why?" I frowned, tilting my head to the side to catch his glance.
He sighed and shook his head - making those adorable pointed hair strands flail about. I'm sure that he had gotten that from his father. Merlin, he was so cute. "I just thought…seeing as neither of us can go with the person we'd really like to…we should go together."
My heart seemed to skip a beat at his suggestion. Was he asking me as his date? Good Godric, I had wanted him to ask me to the Yule Ball in fourth year, but he never asked me. The thought gave me a sudden sadness as then was more so concentrated on the pretty face of Cho Chang and her…shiny, manageable hair.
"As friends."
Oh. As friends. The words of death to any kind of romantic affiliation. That was silly of me. Of course Harry wouldn't want to go on a date with me when he's got his eye on Ginny. But regardless of that, why wasn't I intelligent enough to come up with the idea? It would probably the closest I could be close to Harry for one night. Damn Cormac. Fuck Ron.
"Why didn't I think of that?" I laughed inwardly. It wasn't that I had never considered Harry in the process of elimination for a date, but it never crossed my mind that it could really work. I mean, we were just friends. And it seemed that Harry really seemed determined to find a date with Ginny despite the little display of affection on Ginny's part toward Dean.
It wasn't like Ginny had never spilled her endless secrets to me when it came to Harry. Every time she spoke about him, she always fawned over his green eyes, his ability to play Quidditch, and the fact that he was a brilliant hero.
Was he just that to her?
He was so much more than that.
At least to me.
"Who are you going with?"
Looking at him, my eyes blinked. Oh, crap. I knew Harry would be flabbergasted if I told him. But I didn't want anyone to know yet. I would never hear the end of it from Harry. And he would go and ruin it when he told Ron. "Uhm, it's a surprise." Codswallop.
"Anyways, it's you we've got to be worried about. You can't just take anyone."My eyes cast a glance down the aisle to see that sorry excuse of a Gryffindor making eyes at Harry. Merlin, he wasn't a side of beef. Tilting my head in her direction, I gazed at Harry. "You see that girl over there? That's Romilda Vane. Apparently she's trying to slip you a love potion." What a ghastly idea.
"Really?" Wait, what? Did he sound excited about it? Did he really want her to slip him a love potion? Where the bloody hell did that come from?
Snapping my fingers in his face, I brought his attention back. "Hey, she's only interested in you because she thinks you're the Chosen One."
Then a stupid grin found its way to his face. "But I am the Chosen One."
Without even a second's hesitation, the rolled Daily Prophet in my grip smacked into his head, the crinkling of the newsprint making the abuse evident.
"O-Okay. Sorry. Ju-Just kidding," he laughed nervously. "I-Uhm-Uh-I'll ask someone I like." He nodded confidently. "Someone cool."
Shaking my head, I hoped that there would be some hope for him.
***
Bloody fucking hell.
Surely, I condone Ron for swearing so much, but I can't help it. It needs to be said and if it's said silently there's surely no problem with that, right? And this was the perfect opportunity to cuss silently.
Cormac McLaggen had nothing on his mind besides what I'm wearing beneath my dress or how he could corner me into a bloody snog.
Sighing to myself, I didn't think I could be having a more miserable time - even if I was here with Draco Malfoy. The thought makes me shudder. Tipping back my flute glass of cider, it seemed to surprise Cormac that I downed the whole thing with one gulp. Letting out a large sigh, my eyes wandered around the room to immediately land on Harry. Blinking, I thought my eyes had deceived me. Was that Luna Lovegood beside him?
Of course it was. No one would have the nerve or the bravery to wear the dress she wore. But somehow, she looked attractive in it. Did Harry like her as well? My thoughts were all over the place.
Unknown to me, I didn't realize that Cormac had suddenly transported us halfway across the room where several mistletoe were. My body went rigid when I felt one of his arms around my torso and his bloody hands swarming all over the back of my dress. Then it came to my hair and aggressively stroked it back, making several pieces of hair look out of place. Just as I was about to pull away, the brush of his fingertips against the side of my breast brought my anger spiraling as I stopped my heel right into his foot.
Watching him buckle over in pain, I quickly dashed away to the curtained windows where I would have some privacy - even for a moment. Breathing quickly, I ducked between the sheer curtains and closed my eyes, trying to gain a steady pace of breath. Cormac McLaggen was nothing but an arrogant, fricky, little bugger. That's all he was.
The side of the curtain swept open and for a moment I thought I was caught by him once more. To my fortunate surprise, Harry appeared. "Hermione? What are you doing? And what happened to you?" He sounded anything but calm about it. I must have looked a fright.
Trying to fix my hair, I looked away. What I must have looked to him. "No…I-I just escaped." Looking through the curtain, I was glad that Cormac was more than preoccupied with Professor Slughorn. "I left Cormac under the mistletoe." Glancing back at Harry, I was surprised to find his face absolutely jaw-dropped.
"Cormac? That's who you invited?" He rasped out. Blinking suddenly, I just now noticed how Harry was behaving. Was he jealous of Cormac? My face warmed at the thought of it. Initially, Cormac was made to make Ron jealous, but if Harry was…The thought made my head spin and gave my heart a bit of a flutter. But I couldn't say anything to Harry - not until I had some more hint about how he felt.
"I thought he would annoy Ron the most." It came out without a thought and I soon regretted my choice of reasoning as Harry's face seemed to stay rigid. I could see the thoughts that were going through his mind. Despite Harry's disposition to be emotionless at times, he showed too many emotions in his lovely green eyes that gave away what he really felt. I had seen it many times when he was lying, but I never said anything. Harry would say the truth in his own time. As long as I knew what was a lie and what was the truth, I was content.
"He's got more tentacles than a Snarf Lulump plant," my voice muttered, referring to the awful petting that Cormac was trying to ensue on me. That insensitive, low-life of a git.
If at all possible, I felt Harry grow even more rigid and still as I leaned near him. It was the first time I really got to see what he was wearing. He looked absolutely darling in his black dress robes. Were they the same ones he had gotten in fourth year? No. He would have outgrown those by now. Merlin, he was so…muscular. Damn Quidditch.
And what was that?
He smelled like….soap and pine needles. It was a rather nice smell.
"Dragon tails?"
I pulled away quickly when the waiter appeared, his hand holding a platter of what looked like to be unappetizing hors d'oeuvres.
"We're fine, thank you," I whispered, trying to see if Cormac was anywhere near.
"Just as well. They give one horribly bad breath," he advised, making a distasteful look.
"On second thought," Grabbing the platter, I started snarfing down several of the little buggers to have an explosion of intense garlic and olive oil flavor. I felt my gag reflex and tried to keep it down. "It might keep Cormac at bay."
My eyes widened when I saw the outline of Cormac heading this way. "Oh God," I gasped, pushing the platter toward Harry. "Here he comes." Giving him a desperate plea of help, I slowly slipped out as Cormac slipped in.
Glancing back at the outlines of Harry and Cormac, I silently thanked Harry and spat out whatever was in my mouth into a napkin, taking a slow breath. Merlin that was disgusting. Quickly grabbing another flute of cider, I gulped it down and gasped, realizing someone had spiked it firewhiskey.
Was nothing holy anymore?
Merlin's beard.
A/N: There you have chapter four. Please review. :] I start college tomorrow so my updates will be far and near and in between. :] So please be patient.
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