Chapter 18- Pansy’s Outburst
Draco and Hermione exchanged nervous glances as Mr. Malfoy’s smile grew taut, making him look sinister.
“It has been brought to my attention that the two of you had been involved in some activities on Tuesday, in the Boys’ bathroom located in the dungeons,” he said, taking a deliberate step towards them. “Some very remarkable activities indeed.”
Salazar Slytherin sniggered from his portrait. Godric Gryffindor, on the other hand, had gone very red in the face.
“I think I'm going to take a walk,” Godric announced to his companion. “Coming, Salazar?”
“No, you carry on,” Salazar with a malicious smile. “I’d like to be entertained for a while.”
“I would prefer not to discuss the nature of these activities,” Mr. Malfoy continued as he circled Draco and Hermione, like a vulture encircling fresh carcass, “and I must say I'm not particularly pleased with this.” He gave Hermione a venomous look.
“Father, it’s not what it seems…”
“You didn’t need to hide it from me, Draco,” Mr. Malfoy interjected, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder and squeezing it hard. Draco flinched under the pressure of his father’s grip. “I asked for progress and what do I get? Promiscuous behavior.” He glared at the two students now in front of him. “I never expected this of you.”
“But nothing happened between us that day!” Hermione said frantically, unable to stand the sickened look on the older Malfoy’s face. She could almost hear the thoughts in his head saying, “I should have expected this of a filthy Mudblood”.
“Draco, a word with you. Alone,” Mr. Malfoy said, pulling Draco aside.
Draco sighed. “Look, father, nothing””
“Let me speak, Draco,” Mr. Malfoy interrupted, holding up his hand to silence his son. “This is not what I expected of you.” He lowered his voice a couple of notches. “You're a Malfoy, Draco. Whatever happens, you still have to remember what she is.”
Draco glared at his father. One moment he was calling her ‘daughter-in-law’ and the next, she was back to being filth. Does this man even know what he wants? “Father, you are the one who seems to be forgetting who she is!” he retorted. He heard Hermione sigh angrily in the background and lowered his voice. “Wasn’t this your idea in the first place?”
“Don’t take that tone with me,” Mr. Malfoy warned. “It wasn’t my idea for the two of you to do something like that. I specifically said to start being kind that Granger girl, so that she will be smittened and agree to marriage.”
Despite the fact that nothing happened between Hermione and himself, Draco scowled and said, “Well, wouldn’t you consider this progress then?”
“Not at all. I would have known if there was progress. Agreeing to marriage wholeheartedly and performing an act for physical gratification are two very different things,” Mr. Malfoy shot back sternly, this time loud enough for Hermione to hear as well. “In spite of carrying out those acts in the toilet on Tuesday, you two have obviously not develop the feelings I want you to develop for each other, otherwise the Love-Knot would not still be tied around your wrists.”
“Physical gratification?! Nothing happened! It was a simple misunderstanding!” Hermione exclaimed defensively. “I was just fixing the button of his pants!”
“Is that what you kids call it nowadays?” Mr. Malfoy asked with an arch of a pale eyebrow.
“No! She was really just fixing the button of my pants!” Draco tried telling his father, who seemed to be in a world of his own.
“You don’t have to lie to me, Draco,” Mr. Malfoy jeered. “Your mother is furious as well, you know. She is as shock as I am. She wanted to come down here with me, but I assured her that I could handle it myself.” He shook his head solemnly. “Such appalling behavior. The next thing you know, Miss Granger will be pregnant before marriage.”
Hermione turned a brilliant shade of red.
A sneer appeared on Mr. Malfoy’s face and his lips curled in distaste. “I want the two of you to agree to marriage and that’s all,” he said coldly, surveying Hermione as if she was an insignificant piece of dirt under his shoe. The pretense of liking her was non-existent today. “I certainly don’t want you having a child with her.”
Hermione frowned at Mr. Malfoy and his statement. It was a strange choice of words. Then the implication of his words hit her and she gasped quietly.
I certainly don’t want you having a child with her, the sentence rang through Hermione’s head again.
…don’t want you having a child with her…
…with her…
Lucius Malfoy doesn’t want me bearing his grandchild! Hermione thought wildly. Even if, by some bizarre miracle, I do agree to marry his son, he doesn’t want a muggle-born to produce his son’s heir!
Hermione’s contorted her face in revolt, as if she had just eaten a vomit-flavored Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Bean, and her face turned a very nasty shade of red.
The nerve of that man! He wanted his son to marry a muggle-born so that he could strut around the Wizarding World to show what a great man he was, yet he did not want that same muggle-born giving birth to his grandchild! The double standards were unbelievable! What was he planning to do to get a grandchild? Employ a surrogate pure-blood mother?
“You horrible man!” Hermione blurted angrily before she could stop herself. “You horrible, horrible man!”
“Granger, what the hell do you think you're talking about?!” Draco questioned. “You're speaking to my father here. You better watch that tongue of yours!”
“Draco, let her speak,” Mr. Malfoy said with uncanny calmness. “On what basis do I deserve this insinuation, Miss Granger?”
Hermione glared at him.
“You know exactly why I said that,” she said, incensed by Mr. Malfoy’s attitude. “You want me to marry your son despite the fact that I'm muggle-born, but for that precise reason, you don’t want me bearing his child!”
Draco stared at Mr. Malfoy, looking aghast. Evidently, he was astonished to the level his father could sink. “Granger,” he said quietly, his eyes never leaving his father, “you better know what you're talking about.”
“I know very well what I'm talking about!” Hermione snapped. “And your father knows that I'm right. Am I not, Mr. Malfoy? That’s what you implied when you said you didn’t want Malfoy having a child with me, isn’t it?”
Mr. Malfoy laughed; a cold, hollow laugh that echoed through the silent common room. “Miss Granger, I haven’t a clue what you're talking about. You’re clearly delusional,” he said coolly. “I just don’t want my son and future daughter-in-law to do anything foolish that they’ll regret later on, especially since youths these days are so impetuous. What happened in the bathroom between you two is intolerable, and anything beyond that is completely unacceptable.”
Hermione glowered at him. He had not answered her question. He had merely evaded it. She understood that it would be meaningless trying to argue with him at this point.
“Father!” Draco roared, his own cheeks stained with color. “That day in the bathroom, Granger was just””
Mr. Malfoy held up his hand. “I'm not interested in the details, Draco,” he said, looking a bit repulsed. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Draco groaned in exasperation. Why wouldn’t his father just listen to him?
“Who did you hear this from anyways?” Draco asked, glaring at his father.
“Who I heard from is really none of your concern, Draco,” Mr. Malfoy replied in a bored tone.
“Well, whoever you heard him from gave you the wrong information,” Draco said in annoyance.
“You mean there’s more to it?” Mr. Malfoy’s eyes widened slightly in half-disgust, half-amusement.
“Yes.” But when he saw the look on his father’s face, he quickly added, “I mean, no! Not the way you're thinking!”
Mr. Malfoy shook her head. “I already told you, you don’t have to explain anything to me. I'm presuming it was a spur-of-the-moment act, one that is never to be repeated ever again.”
“How could it have been in the spur-of-the-moment when nothing even happened?” Hermione said, trying her best to keep her voice down. She was still livid about the whole ‘not bearing a grandchild with a muggle-born’ situation.
“Shy about it now, are we?” Mr. Malfoy suggested with a shallow cackle. “You weren’t so shy about it when you were actually doing it.”
“Father!” Draco yelled, not sure why he came to Hermione’s defense. He just felt it was unfair that Mr. Malfoy thought of Hermione as wanton.
“Don’t shout at me, Draco.”
Hermione glared. It took her all her will power not to go forward and slap Lucius Malfoy on his face for saying that. Nothing happened between Draco and herself. Yet he refused to believe that nothing had happened even though he keeps emphasizing that he is appalled by the whole situation and wished it never happened! He was in a perverse sort of denial.
“Now, I think it’s time for me to leave you alone, though I really rather not,” Mr. Malfoy said, fanning his traveling cloak out behind him. “I just came here to check on you and it’s a good thing I did. I hope I don’t have to visit you for the purpose of reprimanding you for such stupid mistakes again.”
Before Draco and Hermione had time to say anything else, Lucius Malfoy had disappeared in a cloud of thick, white smoke and it was Hermione who had turned toward the window in time to see a black bat flutter out.
“Everyone’s staring!” Hermione whispered tetchily as she and Draco entered the library. After Mr. Malfoy left, Draco had insisted that they head for the library for some research on the Love-Knot.
After countless times refusing, Hermione had finally given in because she was afraid that Draco might have carried her there if she continued saying no. That would most certainly have given rise to a whole new bout of rumors. And Hermione did not feel like attracting any more attention.
But now, Hermione found herself wishing that she had stood firm by her decision of not leaving the common room because instantly all eyes of the students in the library fall on them. She should have shot Draco a stunning spell rather than let him drag her here.
“It’s not that bad,” Draco whispered back. “There aren’t many people here.”
“It doesn’t make a difference because everyone who is here is still whispering and staring!” Hermione told him irritably.
“Look, my father’s going on and on about how what happened should not have happened when nothing did happen!” Draco hissed, then he paused to frown, as though he was a little confused about what he said. “You know what I mean…”
When he saw Hermione grimace, he continued, “Therefore, you’d know that the only way all our problems can be solved is if this,” he pointed at the Love-Knot irritably, “disappears, without us having to agree to marriage. Am I right?”
Hermione nodded in response.
“So, do you want to get rid it or not?” Draco asked, watching her carefully.
Hermione nodded mutely again.
“Then we’ll have to keep looking until we find something, anything.”
Turning away from Hermione, Draco started pulling books that he thought were useful off the shelves. Hermione sighed and began to do the same. He was right. Getting the Love-Knot off would solve everything and prevent any future problems from occurring. None of this would have happened if it Lucius Malfoy had never given it to them in the first place.
They piled themselves up with as many books as their arms would allow them to carry and made their way to the emptiest corner of the library, away from prying eyes. They took a book each from the pile and immersed themselves in research.
Hermione was surprised to see Draco so absorbed in his work. She had expected him to give up after the first book and count on her to look through the remaining books herself.
He must be really determined to get the Love-Knot off, she thought as she sneaked a glance at him. Or at least for now he is.
Their research was interrupted when Parvati decided to pay them a little visit.
“Hello Hermione,” she said, tossing her long, plaited hair behind her. “Are you busy?”
Hermione groaned inwardly and looked up from her book. She knew for certain why Parvati was here. She wanted to hear a first-hand account of the rumors that she had heard.
“Yes, I am busy actually. Very busy,” Hermione said with an edge in her voice. “So if you don’t mind, maybe I’ll talk to you some other time.” Maybe.
“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t take too much of your time,” Parvati assured with a toothy grin and a glance at Draco.
“Hey, she said she’s busy,” Draco told her curtly. “Do you have a problem understanding that?”
Parvati looked like someone had threw a glass of cold water in her face. Clearly offended, she stood up, gave an indignant sniff and walked away.
“Thanks,” Hermione mumbled quietly and went back to reading.
Hours of fruitless research ensued, until they gave up and decided that dinner was in order. After Hermione checked out a book, they left the library with lingering looks from its occupants.
“Still no news of Corner,” Draco muttered as they headed for the Great Hall. “Probably hiding from us now that he opened his big, fat mouth.”
“I still can’t believe he slipped,” Hermione said with a sigh. “And to Lavender of all people.”
“Should have used the Memory Charm on him that day,” Draco said, obviously disappointed that he did he let the opportunity slip by.
“But it’s against the rules!”
“Modifying the git’s memory would have kept his mouth shut and we wouldn't be in this situation,” Draco reminded her bitterly.
Hermione glared at him, “You're Head Boy and you've got certain responsibilities. You can’t go around performing such charms on random students.”
“In order to save my arse and reputation from such humiliation,” Draco snapped, “I jolly well would have.”
“That’s very selfish of you.”
“I'm a selfish person.”
“I can see that.”
“Congratulations on being able to see then.”
“You're really infuriating, you know that Malfoy?”
“Speak for yourself, Granger.”
They fell silent and continued to walk quietly when Hermione chose not to retort.
“I need to use the toilet,” Hermione declared suddenly, taking a detour from their route to the Great Hall to the nearest Girl’s bathroom.
They walked in and Hermione attempted to push open the door of the first cubicle, only to find it occupied.
“Make sure none of your buttons pop out,” Draco said only half-jokingly as Hermione entered the second cubicle and shut the door behind her.
It only took Hermione a minute or two, after which she came out and went over to the sinks to wash her hands. “You don’t have to worry about any popping buttons,” she told Draco as she placed her hands under the running water from the tap. “And even if one does pop, I've got my wand with me to fix it myself.”
Draco scowled at her.
Just then, the doors of the first cubicle that had been in use burst open and Pansy came tumbling out, a maddened look flashing in her bloodshot eyes. Before anyone knew what was going on, Pansy had flung herself onto Hermione, the former pinning the latter onto the bathroom floor.
“YOU BITCH!” Pansy screamed, grabbing a handful of Hermione’s brown hair and tugging it hard. “YOU SLUT! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO DRACO!”
“Ouch! Get off me! Get off me!” Hermione shrieked, kicking Pansy as hard as she could.
Draco stared at the two girls, not knowing whether to be horrified or amused. Finally, when it looked like Pansy would rip Hermione’s scalp off, he shouted, “Pansy, stop it!”
Pansy tugged at Hermione’s hair even harder. “I KNEW ALL ALONG THAT YOU FANCIED HIM!”
Hermione managed to force a laugh from below Pansy. “Are you mad?!”
“Granger, shut up!” Hermione heard Draco say from somewhere above her. She saw that he had his arms around Pansy and was apparently trying to pull her off.
“YOU BETTER STAY AWAY FROM HIM, MUDBLOOD, OR ELSE I’LL KILL YOU!”
“In case you don’t realize, I CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM HIM!” Hermione tried pointing at the Love-Knot that was stretched between herself and Draco, but Pansy was too engrossed in her fury to take notice.
“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!”
“Pansy, get off Granger! And Granger, will you just shut up!”
“I said, I CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM HIM!” Hermione yelled into Pansy’s face. “Because we’re””
Hermione never got to complete her sentence because Pansy had brought her hand down on Hermione’s cheek in a resounding slap.
“Pansy!” Draco’s eyes widened and, with some effort, he dragged her off a stunned Hermione, whose left cheek now had a vivid red imprint of a hand.
Hermione’s hand automatically flew to the spot where Pansy had hit her. Her cheek was now smarting with pain. She was about to launch herself on Pansy, but Draco had placed himself between them, so she could not reach the Slytherin girl.
“How dare you slap me?!” Hermione barked.
“How dare you do that to Draco?!” Pansy shouted back.
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Draco hollered and immediately the two girls fell silent, but they were still seething with anger.
Draco turned to Pansy. “Nothing happened between us!” he told her. He started explaining what had actually happened in the Boys’ bathroom that Tuesday and what Michael Corner thought he saw.
Pansy pointed at Hermione once Draco was done. “So she didn’t…”
“No, she didn’t,” Draco confirmed.
“And you didn’t…”
“No, Pansy, I didn’t.”
“Really?”
“Do you honestly think I would?!”
Pansy threw her arms around Draco in relief and all traces of her anger vanished. “I knew it all along!” she squeaked in delight. “I knew you wouldn't…I mean, she’s a Mudblood after all.”
“If you call me that one more time, I won’t hesitate to hex you into next week!” Hermione warned, rubbing her still red cheek.
However, Pansy was not listening. She was too busy snogging Draco to pay attention to Hermione.
Hermione gagged a little, but not before an unfamiliar emotion overtook her for a second. She shrugged the feeling away and waited till Pansy was done detaching her face from Draco’s.
“If it’s not too much trouble for the two of you, can we have dinner now?” Hermione asked impatiently.
“Dinner sounds wonderful!” Pansy said happily as she locked her arm in Draco’s.
Hermione winced. She would have to endure Pansy’s lovey-dovey ness throughout dinner. What a lovely dinner it was going to be.
Pansy practically skipped all the way to the Great Hall. It was quite a sight to behold for the diners of the Great Hall when Draco walked in with a sullen-looking Hermione on his right and a beaming Pansy on his left. The furtive glances and quiet discussions started almost at once.
“Does this school do nothing but gossip?” she mumbled grumpily as she took a seat on the Slytherin table.
“Ah, Draco,” Blaise said with a pert smile on his arrogant face, “finally decided to join us for dinner. Where have you been the whole day? Goyle was saying that you were in the Heads’ dorm together with Granger. Up to something again?” he added with a wink.
“Nothing happened that day, Blaise!” Pansy snapped before Draco could answer. “So shove off and leave Draco alone.”
“Pansy’s in denial,” Blaise snorted and a few of the Slytherins surrounding him sniggered.
I'm not in denial!” Pansy said and Blaise joined in the sniggering with the other Slytherin.
Just as it looked like Pansy was about to whip her wand out and curse Blaise into nothingness, Crabbe and Goyle burst into the Great Hall and rushed to the Slytherin table.
Panting hard, Crabbe managed to say between breaths, “Draco, we found Corner.”
Author’s rather long and lengthy note: Hey guys! I’m truly sorry for the LONG wait! It must have been annoying and I don’t blame you for wanting to pelt me with rotten eggs. Anyways, I just want to mention a few important things.
For one, I've had to re-do this chapter so many times that I think it’s lost most of it’s original essence. It went from being funny (in my opinion) to being serious (again, in my opinion). I liked it better before, but I guess I have to adhere to rules. Nevertheless, here it is. Anyone who is interested to know what the conversation that was originally written between Draco, Hermione and Lucius Malfoy was, leave me your email address at the end of a review. I’ll send it to you upon request.
Two, I'm sure most (if not all) of you are aware of the recent events that took place in the sixth book, HBP. So, a few things to note. Firstly, Draco and Snape will remain as they are in my story. What does this mean? This means that Draco and Snape will still remain dick-heads in my story, but not as big dick-heads as they were in HBP (I think you guys get my drift, yeah?). So, in a way, the Draco in my story is unaffected by the changes the Draco in HBP went through (I'm confusing myself now, so if you guys don’t understand, I don’t blame you).
Secondly, the character that dies is not dead in my story!! Haha…I'm sorry, strong feelings about that. =D
Thirdly, Harry and Ginny aren’t together and it’s assumed that they weren’t together at all during any point of their stay in Hogwarts (in my fic only, of course). If any Harry and Ginny shippers have violent objections regarding this, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do about it.