Hermione walked into Potions class with the ever-chatting Lavender.
"And Ron said. Blah, blah, blah."
Hermione tried her best to feign interest while blocking the mind numbing prattle. Suddenly her eyes landed on Malfoy, who was staring at her with a strange look on his face. There was a gleam in his eye that made her shudder in apprehension. Shaking her head, she turned back to Lavender, who was still chattering like muggle wind-up teeth on a cold day.
"Excuse me Lavender, I need to go sit down now. We'll finish up later."
With that she walked to her chair and sat down, opened her book and prepared to take whatever notes were necessary. Thankfully, Neville was not in class today, yesterday's explosion had left him laid up in the hospital wing for at least a week. It wasn't that she didn't feel bad for him; it was just that she didn't think Gryffindor could stand to lose another thirty points. No sooner did she breathe that sigh of relief, than Malfoy walked by her desk with a fleeting,
"You know Granger, you've got nice eyes."
As he sat down, Hermione sat stunned with disbelief and fear.
'My eyes? What about my eyes? What does he want with my eyes?'
She ran through every spell she could think of that involved human body parts and though none of them were pleasant, none of them were in the realm of Malfoy's capabilities. This did nothing to ease her mind, if anything, it made her even edgier because all that was left was to think that Malfoy was paying her a compliment. Now this could mean one of two things, one, that he wanted something or two, that he had actually decided to. like her. The first was unlikely to happen and the second was just nightmare inducing. Perhaps the measles that had struck the other students had finally infected Malfoy Whatever the reason, she felt a chill in her bones.
'Great'
She thought,
'I'm finally getting my life back to normal and now I've got Malfoy over there mooning at me. Oh well, at least it can't get any worse.'
With that she turned her mind resolutely away from the death-eater wannabe and focused on Professor Snape explaining how to make the Bectar antidote, as well as the poison itself.
'If Malfoy gets too annoying, that could come in handy. Watching his eyes roll back in his head and then watching his head turn inside-out.'
She shook that thought out of her mind, it was too tempting, and focused once more on the teacher's
lecture.
Draco's POV
Draco Malfoy had come up with a plan, albeit a stupid plan, but a plan nonetheless. He knew he had to kiss Hermione to
get his magic back, but he saw that as no problem. The inspiration of how to get the kiss came to him when he got his
hands on muggle fiction. There were many ideas for other sorts of problems, but Sleeping Beauty was the one that caught
his eye. He figured he could sneak into Hermione's bedroom and steal a kiss as she slept.
Draco was on his way to Transfigurations trying to figure out a way to get into Gryffindor when a rustling in the bushes startled him from his thoughts. He strained his eyes trying to find the source of the noise, but saw nothing at first. Then Scarface Potter emerged out from underneath a cloak and flung it behind the bushes.
"Eureka!"
Draco crowed.
"Potter you have finally made yourself useful to me."
Draco waited until Potter had left before walking down the stairs and snatching the cloak. This was his first class ticket into Hermione's room.
Hermione's POV
All through the day Hermione felt as though someone was watching her, yet every time she turned around, there was no one there. The feeling was creepy so creepy in fact, it made her shiver. She thought about mentioning it to Harry and Ron, well maybe not Ron. He had a tendency to tease her, whereas Harry was sensitive and would listen to her. That's what tended to fuel the rumor fires concerning her and Harry being a couple. A rumor they had recently squelched again, so perhaps it would be better to keep this quiet. It was probably nothing more than her imagination. She told herself that throughout the rest of the day, all through dinner and even as she was getting ready for bed that night. Lavender and Parvati were not there to distract her from her thoughts with their constant blithering, so she had nothing else to concentrate on. Nothing that is until she'd climbed into bed and closed her eyes; that's when she realized that she hadn't seen Malfoy at all. Not that she'd looked for him, but still. Hermione's curiosity kept her awake a while longer until finally she drifted off.
Draco's POV
Draco watched Hermione as she slept. Her breathing, even and deep, provided the only sound in the room. Things had run Draco's way today, first Potter leaving the cloak behind and then those two prattling idiots Hermione had for roommates had gone and gotten themselves detention. So he'd had lots of time to be alone with his prey. Draco crept soundlessly from Lavender's bed to Hermione's and shrugged the cloak to the floor. Leaning over the bed, he moved to kiss her and suddenly found himself flung against the wall, coming face to face with Hermione angrier than he'd ever seen her before.
"You stupid death eating, inbreeder!"
She screamed at him. Mercifully, the impact with the wall had been hard enough for him to slip into unconsciousness, so he was spared the rest of her charming speech.
Harry's POV
Harry had searched high and low for his invisibility cloak but could find no trace of it anywhere. He knew that he had left it behind the bushes after having returned the "borrowed" ingredients from Snape's classroom, but now he just could not find it. He thought it was possible that maybe Malfoy had gotten a hold of it, but then the question became, Where was Malfoy? Harry sat down in the Common Room mulling this over when a bloodcurdling scream sent him and three other Gryffindors hurtling up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Harry heard one of the others whisper,
"That's Hermione! Do you think it is You-Know-Who?"
Another answered,
"What else would make Hermione scream like that?"
Upon entering the room they saw an unconscious Malfoy on the floor and a furious Hermione waiting for him to wake up so she could yell at him some more. She heard the door open and turned to see who it was. Seeing Harry among the group she hissed,
"If you or Ron had anything to do with this, you'd better fix it. Or I swear as I live and breathe, I will make you pay."
Harry was suddenly struck with a desire to fetch Ron so they could come with an alternative cure for the curse and
so he could prevent Hermione from blowing up half the school, starting with him, Ron and Malfoy. This would not be fun,
nor would it be easy. Then again, was it ever?