Chapter 17- Rumors
Though she had been extremely tired a couple of hours ago and had been longing the soothing comfort of her bed, Hermione was finding it very hard to sleep now. And it was all thanks to the Slytherin sleeping next to her right now, who was snoring blissfully, obviously in a very deep slumber.
You look very sexy in it.
The words rang in Hermione’s ears.
What had he meant by that? Was he just teasing her? Did he think that it would be funny to mess with her head like that? Did he really mean it?
Hermione looked down at the sheep nightdress she had ultimately changed into.
You had to be crazy or downright warped to think that anyone would look sexy in this nightgown.
Well, whoever said Draco was sane?
The troubled Head Girl glanced at the sleeping figure of Draco. The moonlight filtering in through the bedroom window shone on his face and Hermione saw a weird expression on his pale features. It was a cross between a smile and a frown.
Just what was going through his mind?
Hermione’s gaze averted to the drawer in which she had left Jinx.
Perhaps there was only one way to find out.
Draco was having a dream he did not whether to enjoy or not. He was being held captive by beautiful, exotic women in a large, red room. Lanterns of fire placed along the four walls illuminated the room, giving it a fiery glow. He was chained up by the wrists to one of the walls and was wearing nothing except for a pair of cotton, black pants.
There were two girls clad fully in tight leather suits guarding the large metal door that granted entrance and exit. Whips and chains were tied to their waists and they stood balancing on black stilettos.
Quite suddenly, the metal door flew open and in stepped the leader of the clan, who was none other than Hermione Granger.
She wore a tight leather skirt with a matching black lace bustier and her hair was styled wet around her face, which was done up with dark shades of make-up and blood red lipstick. A chunky choker rested on her slender neck and there was a tattoo of some sort on the left side of her chest. She held a thick, black whip in one hand and that was when Draco noticed that gloves with their fingers portion cut off covered her hands. Black boots ran up from her feet, stopping right above her knees, and she stood poised, with her free hand resting on her hip.
After he was done gawking at her, Draco watched as Hermione cracked her whip.
“You have been a very naughty boy, Draco,” she said seductively as she advanced toward him. “Very, very naughty…”
For the second time that night, Hermione took her mood ring out of her bedside table. She saw that Jinx was snoozing in the black stone and found it quite amusing. She did not know that mood rings slept too.
“Jinx?” Hermione said softly, feeling a twinge of guilt for waking her up. “Jinx, can you get up please?”
“No mommy, I don’t want to get up,” Jinx mumbled.
Hermione frowned. Mood rings had mommies? “Jinx, I'm not your mommy,” she told the still sleeping mood ring. “Please wake up, I need your help.”
When Jinx did not response, Hermione shook the ring in her hand.
“Yikes!” Jinx yelped, waking up right up. “What in the world do you think you’re doing, shaking me like that?! My head’s spinning a thousand miles per hour!”
“Shhhh!” Hermione placed her fingers on her lips. “Be quiet, Jinx. I don’t want Malfoy to wake up.”
“Hermione, I know you feel bad about not letting me out of the drawer for such a long time,” Jinx whispered, “but isn’t this a little bit too late in the night to make up for it? You can make up for it tomorrow. We mood rings need to sleep too, you know.”
“This won’t take long, Jinx, I promise,” Hermione assured. “I just need you to tell me what Malfoy’s feeling right now.”
Jinx small eyes lit up. “You mean blondie?” she asked, her glee apparent. “You want me to tell what he’s feeling right now? While he’s asleep?”
“Exactly.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Jinx said excitedly, all tiredness gone and forgotten. “Put me on him! Oh, this is going to be so fun…”
Hermione did as told, carefully lifting one of Draco’s fingers and slipping Jinx on it.
Jinx glowed a deep scarlet, similar to before, but this time, the scarlet was tinged with faint white glow.
“So?” Hermione asked anxiously. The suspense was killing her.
“Well, there’s definitely some confusion in him,” Jinx said, suppressing a giggle. “But blondie here is definitely feeling very naughty…”
Hermione’s brown eyes widened to the size of saucers and her eyebrows shot up. “Naughty?” she repeated. “The boy I'm sleeping next to is feeling naughty?”
“There’s no need to get so worked up, dear,” Jinx said kindly, but not without a chuckle. “Lots of blokes this age feel naughty from time to time. Even your close male friends.”
Hermione thought about Harry and Ron feeling the way Draco was right now and she shuddered. Too much information.
“Was that how he was feeling just now too?” Hermione asked, dreading the answer.
Jinx laughed. “Yes, he was. I thought he’d be bloody embarrassed letting you find that out, so I covered up for the poor bloke. But now I thought it was best I told you.” Her laughter ceased when she saw the horror-struck expression on her owner’s face. “Look here, Hermione, I'm no crystal ball, but I know for certain that blondie isn’t going to do anything to you. I don’t sense any lustful feelings from him, so he’s definitely not a lecherous pervert. So you just need to calm down and go to sleep.”
“But Jinx, do you know what he told to me just now?” Hermione whined. “He told me to wear this nightgown because he thinks I look sexy in it!”
Jinx raised an eyebrow, or at least what looked like an eyebrow on her small face. “Honey, even if the lowest scumbag in this world was drunk senseless,” she said as she skimmed over the piece of clothing Hermione had on, “there was no way in hell he would think that you look sexy in that.”
For the first time since they had been stuck together, Draco was the earlier riser of the two the following morning. It was a Saturday and he had wanted to sleep in, but his brain just would not allow him that luxury. Yawning, he turned onto his back and sat up, running a hand through his ruffled hair.
He glanced down at Hermione and saw that she was peacefully asleep. He was thankful to see that she had taken his advice and had worn that awful-looking nightdress. With the way he was feeling yesterday, anything remotely normal on Hermione would have made his thoughts run wild. Or at least wilder than they had already been.
You could call it a self-defense mechanism.
However even in that hideous outfit, as Draco looked down upon Hermione, he felt an odd sort of attraction towards her. He hated to admit it and could not explain it, but he knew it was due to what he had witnessed the previous morning in her bathroom. It was purely physical and there was no doubt about that.
He gagged slightly at his thoughts. What was going on with him? Granger? Attractive? Those two words did not go together.
He shook his thoughts out of his head when he saw Hermione stir. He watched as her eyes flickered open and she slowly sat up.
“It’s about time you got up,” he said, yawning lazily. “Now quickly, go take a shower.”
Hermione spent the next fifteen minutes trying to come up with new spells to place on the shower curtains, to prevent further accidents.
“Granger, you're being ridiculous,” Draco said as he watched Hermione amusedly. “What happened yesterday was an accident because I moved more than three and a half feet from you. That’s all.”
Hermione narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “Well, you better make sure you don’t move today, Malfoy, regardless of the noise you hear in my room or anywhere else for that matter.”
With that, she performed the routine spells on the shower curtains and stepped inside to take a bath.
“Why is she getting so worked up for?” Draco mumbled as he took his usual seat outside the bathtub. “It’s not like I wanted to drop in on her yesterday. It just happened. Accidentally.”
And Draco had no regrets.
After the two Heads had taken their showers, they walked into the common room together, where Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor greeted them. Or at least Godric Gryffindor did. Salazar Slytherin’s greeting was more of a scowl.
“I've noticed that the both of you have stopped sleeping on the couch,” Salazar Slytherin said in his customary drawl. “Sharing a room now, are you? Or sharing a bed?”
“Salazar! That’s really none of our concern!” Godric Gryffindor scolded. Then he turned to the two students. “But, just for the record, are the two of you sharing a room now?”
Draco and Hermione exchanged uncertain looks.
“Yes, we are,” Hermione said slowly. “But only because we were getting uncomfortable on the couch.”
Salazar Slytherin appeared appalled by the idea and was muttering something about 'wretched muggle-borns' under his breath, but Godric Gryffindor was beaming.
“We better get going then,” Draco said, not really wanting to find out what the two founders were going to say next.
As the two students made their way to the Great Hall, they were so unlucky as to encounter Peeves. He leered at them, doing a peculiar sort of jig above their heads.
“I know your dirty little secret!” he exclaimed, grinning like he had struck wizard gold.
Draco glowered at the poltergeist. “What are you talking about, Peeves?”
“Ooooh, the two hotheads have been very bad,” he said in a singsong voice. “They have been doing very bad things.” He snickered and flew into a wall.
“What did he mean by that?” Hermione asked, her brows knitted in bafflement.
Draco shrugged, feeling rather confused himself. “What a nutter.”
Draco and Hermione continued their trip to the Great Hall. On their way there, they passed by a group of students who grew unnaturally silent when they saw the two Heads. The students watched them intently and after a second or two of quietness, they broke out into urgent whispers.
Hermione stared at the group of students, feeling puzzled for the second time in the span of five minutes. “What was that all about?”
“I haven’t a clue,” Draco answered, feeling as perplexed as Hermione.
They reached the Great Hall within the subsequent five minutes. The Great Hall looked the same as it did everyday; bustling with hungry students, the rich aroma of good food tantalizing your nostrils and conversations at full swing.
However, the moment Draco and Hermione stepped in, all activity and conversation was brought to a halt.
“Why are they all staring at us like that?” Draco asked, looking around to see all eyes on him and Hermione. “Is there something on my face?”
Hermione rolled her eyes. Talk about being self-centered.
Conversation started almost as quickly as it had stopped. The Great Hall buzzed with activity again as discussions erupted among the students and furtive whispers were exchanged, but eyes still darted toward Draco and Hermione every now and then.
The students of Hogwarts were obviously talking about them.
Déjà vu would be the best way to describe what was happening. It was a familiar scenario. The same thing had happened with the two when the entered the Great Hall during Christmas and when the new term began. During those two times, the topic of conversation had been the Love-Knot.
But what was the topic this time round?
In midst of all the murmuring, Draco led Hermione to the Slytherin table. They sat beside Blaise, who had a very strange grin on his face. It was cheeky, but not without a hint of admiration and disbelief.
Pansy, who was sitting across Draco, glared at Hermione angrily, resembling a very angry bulldog. She started tearing up her toast into little bits, as though hoping it was Hermione’s head she was tearing into shreds instead of the toast.
Millicent Bulstrode, who was sitting right beside Pansy, wore an expression similar to her good friend. She curled her huge hand up into a fist and was clenching it so hard that her knuckles turned to a pasty white color. She seemed to want to badly punch someone, presumably Hermione.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Slytherins were either talking quietly while pointing at Hermione and Draco, or just blatantly staring. Hermione realized that most of the girls were looking at her like she was filth of the worst kind. She was usually accustomed to their revulsion-filled looks, but there was something very murderous about their stares today.
“I just want to say that I'm proud of you, Draco,” Blaise announced as his friend reached out to help himself to some breakfast. “You really did have your fun with her while you could!”
Draco stared and so did Hermione.
“What the bloody hell are you on about, Blaise?” Draco asked with puckered brows.
“HE’S TALKING ABOUT WHAT YOU AND GRANGER DID IN THE BOY’S TOILET ON TUESDAY!” Pansy exploded abruptly, tipping her glass of pumpkin juice in her fury. “HE’S TALKING ABOUT WHAT YOU AND GRANGER…WHAT YOU… WHAT SHE…”
But Pansy could not complete her sentence. She was shaking with rage and looked like she was about stab Hermione with her fork right there and then. Without another word, Pansy stood up furiously and stalked out of the Great Hall, Millicent following close behind.
“Oh Merlin,” Draco cursed under his breath and smacked his forehead. “Corner must have blurted…”
Understanding finally dawned upon Hermione. She dropped her spoon in a noisy clutter and stared at Draco, horrified.
Michael had let it slip! He had told someone about the toilet incident! And his version of what he had seen in the restroom that fateful Tuesday was so completely different from what actually happened. At the rate news spread around Hogwarts, it was no wonder everyone was giving Draco and Hermione looks! What was worse was that by now, the story had probably been distorted into a number of versions.
“Come on now, give us the little details, Draco,” Blaise urged, looking very keen indeed. “How was it like, getting it on with a Mudblood?”
Hermione’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes but she blinked them back. She did not want to burst into tears in front of the Slytherins.
“Sod off, Blaise,” Draco growled, noticing the crimson that had set Hermione’s cheeks ablaze. “Do you really think I’d get it on with her? Nothing happened. She was just helping me fix my button on my pants.”
“Oh, so it started with fixing the button of your pants eh?” Nott piped in with a bold wink. “Then what?”
“Nothing happened, dammit!” Draco roared. “She was just helping me! ”
This seemed to cause the male Slytherins who were listening in to laugh even more.
“Yes, Draco, we know that she was helping you,” Blaise said with a snigger. “Just tell us how exactly she did that!”
Draco could not believe his friends. What was wrong with them? Were they being this stupid on purpose? He cast Hermione a sidelong glance and saw that she was calmly spreading marmalade on her toast. He could tell that she was distressed, but she was doing a fine job of covering it up. Her cheeks were still tinted red.
Standing up angrily, Draco trudged over to the Ravenclaw table, Hermione having no choice but to follow.
“Where’s Corner?!” he demanded, avoiding the fixated stares he and Hermione were receiving.
“He’s not here,” Stuart Ackerley, a fourth year Ravenclaw student informed Draco. “Didn’t come down for breakfast.”
“If any of you see him, tell him that I'm looking for him!” Draco was just about to turn and head back to the Slytherin table when someone grabbed his arm to stop him.
Draco and Hermione turned to see Harry, Ron and Ginny standing behind them, each bearing a parallel expression of anger.
“We need to talk,” Harry said, his voice deadly soft. He was the one who had grabbed Draco by the arm. “Now.”
“And that’s all that happened that day in the Boy’s bathroom. I was just trying to help Malfoy with his button, that’s all!” Hermione said, after finishing her explanation on the actual events that took place that Tuesday. Her friends had dragged her to an empty classroom and had insisted on knowing what was going on.
There was silence from her three friends now, until finally Ron said, “You have serious issues about not being able to walk around without a button on your pants, Malfoy. Now look what you got Hermione into.”
“Shut up, Weaselface,” Draco snapped. “She was the one who offered so generously to help.”
“We were getting late for Potions!” Hermione reminded and Draco rolled his eyes.
“Oh, so that’s why you were late that day,” Harry muttered. “You only told us that you were late because Malfoy was taking a long time in the toilet. You didn’t explain why he was taking such a long time.”
“I didn’t see it necessary then,” Hermione said with a shrug.
“Michael is such a nincompoop,” Ginny said, clearly annoyed by the whole misunderstanding. “I can’t believe I dated him at one time.”
“Well, at least we know that our Hermione isn’t some sort of Scarlet Woman,” Ron pointed out.
“But the rest of the school thinks I am!” Hermione cried out in despair.
“That’s true,” Ginny said sympathetically. “And the rumors are getting worse. Some fella from Hufflepuff was telling his friend something really far-fetched and I had to stop Harry and Ron from beating him up.”
“That’s just brilliant,” Hermione moaned, burying her face in her hands.
“Whom did you lot hear it from anyways?” Draco asked.
“From Lavender,” Ginny replied. “She’s dating Michael. They’ve been together since Thursday I think. So he must have told her. It’s no wonder the whole school knows.”
Hermione’s eyes widened. “He’s dating Lavender?!”
Ginny nodded.
“Of all people…” Hermione heaved a huge sigh. “Now what do we do? I don’t think I’ll be able to bear the staring, pointing and whispering all day.”
“We’ll have to find Corner first,” Draco told her. “Then we’ll take from there.”
“Did you hear? Yes, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were…”
“I heard from Jenny who heard from Greg who heard from Alice that…”
“Disgusting, isn’t it? Moreover they’re Head Boy and Girl. And in the dungeon toilet…”
“Who would have ever thought that she would do something like that…”
It was horrible. Rumors flew along the corridors, from common room to common room. Some people were discreet, but others just wanted to be heard.
By midday, Hermione and Draco thought it would be best if they retreated back to the sanctity of their dormitories. Draco had told Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise to be on a lookout for Michael. If they spotted him, they were to inform Draco immediately.
“How will you find out when they locate him?” Hermione asked curiously as they made their way to the Heads’ dormitory.
“We have our means,” Draco responded offhandedly. He gave the portrait the password and entered the common room once it swung open.
“What means?” Hermione pressed.
“It’s really none”” But Draco stopped short when he realized that they had a visitor.
“Well, hello,” Lucius Malfoy greeted smooth voice, a greasy smile pasted on his lips. “Just the two people I've been looking for. I have come to hear about some rather interesting information…”
Author’s Note: Hello all! First and foremost, I would like to thank CraftySlytherin and PhoenixCGandAC for their brilliant ideas! Without them, this chapter would not have been possible.
In case you're wondering, CraftySlytherin came up with the idea of slipping the mood ring onto Draco’s finger while he was sleeping. And PhoenixCGandAC came up with the idea of Michael telling the whole school what he thought he saw in the toilet between Draco and Hermione and that this news should somehow leak out to Lucius Malfoy. Thank you guys for your creativity!
So people, continue giving me ideas because you never know, I may just use your idea in my next chapter. And I love it when you guys give me ideas!
Secondly, I think I've read a story with a chapter that has the same title this one. If that story belongs to any one of you out there, I'm sorry! Hope you don't mind! But if you do, just let me know and I'll change it.
Thirdly, I’d like to say that I won’t be submitting anymore chapters until after the 18th of July for obvious reasons. =D
I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT HBP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have fun reading it and till then, ta-ta! =D