Chapter 19- Confrontations and Clarifications
Hermione found herself being dragged away by Draco for the second time today, and this time, it was to the Slytherin common room. He was walking so fast that Hermione found herself having to jog to keep up.
“Where did you find him?” Draco questioned his two cronies, who were scampering behind him, struggling to keep up with Draco’s long strides.
It was Goyle who answered. “He found him near the lake taking a night stroll with that girlfriend of his,” he said breathlessly.
“We tried sending you a message”” Crabbe started but stopped suddenly and threw Hermione a surreptitious look. He obviously did not want her knowing what he was talking about. And he had achieved that. Hermione looked clueless and curious. “But when you din reply, we went to go look for you.”
They rounded a corner in the dungeons and finally reached the Slytherin common room.
“Corner’s really going to get it,” Draco muttered angrily.
“You're not planning to beat him up, are you?” Hermione asked tentatively. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles ominously from behind.
Draco did not reply. Instead he said, “Runespoor,” which was the Slytherin common room password.
Hermione entered after Draco and stood still for a while, examining the interiors of the Slytherin common room. It was a dull, dungeon-like room filled with dark green couches and dark-colored furniture. The temperature in here was considerably lower than outside. Hermione attributed this to the fact that the room was located below the lake. It was a bleak place very much suited for its inhabitants. For now, it was empty as most of the Slytherins were having dinner at the Great Hall (Hermione was grateful for that).
A sudden jerk forward brought a halt to Hermione’s observations and she realized that Draco was moving on forward. She moved on together with him and spotted Michael Corner seated on an armchair in the far corner of the room, looking utterly terrified. Millicent Bulstrode stood next to him, acting as his apparent warden to prevent him from running away.
“Millicent, you can go for dinner now. You too, Crabbe, Goyle,” Draco said as he approached them, sounding like an army general giving his subordinates an order.
“But Draco, I thought we’re going to beat Corner up?” Crabbe whined, clearly disappointed that he was not going to be able to shove his massive fist into someone’s face and break a bone or two.
“I can handle him myself. Just go have dinner. Now,” Draco commanded.
Draco watched Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle hurry off, and then turned his attention to Michael. “Corner, you're in such big trouble,” he said quietly, almost threateningly.
“Malfoy, you don’t have to scare him like that,” Hermione sighed from beside him. “Michael, we just need to clarify a few things with you.”
“Oh come off it Granger, you sound like you're ready to invite him to a prissy tea party!” Draco scoffed.
“At least I don’t look like I'm going to hack him into little pieces!” Hermione snapped.
“Y…You're going to hack me to little pieces?!” Michael stammered, looking even more terrified than before.
Draco folded his arms across him chest and fixed Michael an angry stare. “I just might if you don’t tell me what possessed you to tell the entire school what you think you saw me and Granger doing in the Boys’ toilet on Tuesday.”
Michael’s eyebrows shot up and were nearly hidden in his brown hair. “But I didn’t tell anyone! I swear!”
“Oh, is that right? Is that why everyone thinks that Granger and I were getting it on in the bloody lavatory?” Draco inquired, cocking one of his blond eyebrows.
Michael flushed at Draco’s choice of words and Hermione resisted from whacking Draco across the head.
“Can you be anymore tactless, Malfoy?” Hermione grumbled through gritted teeth.
Draco ignored Hermione and went on, “So, why did you do it, Corner? Thought it’d be fun to ridicule our already miserable situation?”
“Look Malfoy,” Michael said, trying to put up a brave front. “I didn’t tell anyone.”
“You sure? You didn’t tell anyone?” Draco towered over the seated Michael menacingly. “Not even that girlfriend of yours?"
“Lavender?” Michael frowned. “Yes, I did. But she promised she wouldn't tell anyone!”
Draco swore under his breath. “That didn’t work out now, did it? She didn’t not tell anyone, she told everyone!”
“Why did you decide tell her, Michael?” Hermione asked, this time undeniably understanding Draco’s exasperation.
“I didn’t mean to,” Michael said ruefully. “We were having a conversation and somehow she started talking about how romantic it would be to have a Love-Knot on…”
Both Draco and Hermione did a double take. “Romantic?!” they repeated in unison, exchanging unbelieving looks.
“Your girlfriend must be off her rocker,” Draco snorted.
“Romantic is not one of the adjectives I’d use to describe our situation,” Hermione added with an incredulous chortle.
Michael seemed to take offense in the fact that Hermione and Draco thought his girlfriend had lost her mind. “If you look at it from her perspective, it’s actually quite””
“Corner, I'm not interested in your girlfriend’s perspective,” Draco interrupted. “So get on with it.”
Michael scowled slightly and still looked somewhat affronted. “While we were talking about the Love-Knot,” he continued, “the subject shifted automatically to…” The scowl on his face faded away and was substituted by a sheepish look.
“You started talking about us, didn’t you?” Hermione prompted, gesturing at herself and Draco.
Michael nodded. “Lavender brought up the topic about the two of you since you're the only people who she’s seen with a Love-Knot on. She was saying how it’d be hilarious if the two of you actually end up…you know…together…” He trailed off with a shrug.
Draco gave Michael a pointed look. “Yes, that would indeed be hilarious. I'm laughing my arse off just thinking about it…”
“Go on, Michael,” Hermione encouraged, rolling her eyes at Draco.
“And then I told her that the two of you just might because I saw the two of you in the bathroom doing…” He trailed off again and blushed. “I…I didn’t want to tell her what I saw but she forced it out of me.”
“What did she threaten to do if you didn’t tell her? Not snog you?” Draco asked with a grunt.
“Malfoy, stop it!” Hermione shot as Michael turned a deeper shade of scarlet.
“Well, what ever you told your girlfriend was what you thought you saw, and not what happened. And your girlfriend went to tell everyone what you told her, which is not true because what you thought you saw and what actually happened are two very different things,” Draco said sternly in seemingly one breath.
Michael gave Draco a confused stare.
“So, now,” Draco continued, “the whole school thinks that I'm banging””
Hermione quickly clamped Draco’s mouth with her hand to cut him off. She was afraid to think of what other words he might use if she allowed him to continue.
“Michael, what Malfoy means to say is that the whole school seems to be under the wrong impression of what happened between us in the bathroom because you're under the wrong impression of what actually happened,” she said diplomatically as she slowly removed her hand from Draco’s mouth.
This statement left Michael even more puzzled than before.
“You see Michael, I wasn’t doing what you thought you saw me doing to Malfoy,” Hermione explained, a touch of pink rising up her cheeks. “I was merely fixing the button of his pants.”
Michael stared. “What’s that suppose to mean? Are you speaking in code? Is that a euphemism””
“No, troll-brain, she’s not speaking in code and neither is it a euphemism,” Draco cut in before Michael made anymore assumptions. “She means it literally.”
“Literally?” Michael repeated, frowning deeply. He turned to Hermione. “You mean you were actually fixing the button on Malfoy’s pants?”
“Yes, I was,” Hermione confirmed with a nod. “To summarize, the button of his pants had popped out, he didn’t have his wand, we were getting late for Potions, he refused to leave the toilet until his stupid button was in place, so I helped him fasten it back with my own wand.
“But from the angle which you saw us, you thought I was…” She paused briefly to think of how to put what she was trying to say in a decent manner, “doing something else,” she finished rather lamely. “I wanted to explain to you there and then what it was I was in fact doing, but you disappeared so fast that I didn’t get the chance to.”
There was silence from Michael as he digested the information Hermione had just given him.
“You were really just putting his button back?” Michael asked quietly, breaking the silence.
Hermione pursed her lips together before replying, “Yes, Michael.”
“Really?”
“Darn it Corner, you can’t be such a sodding moron, can you? Do you need me to spell the words out for you?!” Draco snapped impatiently.
“Malfoy, leave him alone,” Hermione told Draco.
“Oh no,” Michael murmured, hanging his head guiltily after a moment’s hush, “I think I may have just made a huge mistake.”
Draco rolled his eyes. “Thank Merlin he’s finally seen the light.”
Once Michael had realized that he completely misunderstood what he saw between Hermione and Draco on that unfortunate Tuesday, he had apologized profusely and willingly offered to go around all the tables in the Great Hall the next morning to clarify everything with the students of Hogwarts. And so here he was.
“Therefore, it was all a mistake for I had misinterpreted the situation and I apologize for spreading such rumors in the first place,” Michael finished saying at the Gryffindor table while the students were having breakfast.
“So you were lying then?” Seamus asked, eyeing Michael inquiringly.
“Well, no, not exactly…” he started, but when he saw Draco and Hermione cast him a warning glance, he hastily said, “Yes, I suppose you could say I was. Somewhat.”
“I never believed the rumors one bit,” Neville proclaimed. “I knew our Hermione would never do something like that.”
“Thank you, Neville,” Hermione beamed.
“The rumors are false?!” Lavender shrieked when Michael’s words finally sunk in. She had a look on her face that clearly read, ‘You mean I wasted my time spreading rumors that were false?’
Michael stared at his girlfriend. “Yes, Lavender.”
Hermione could not help but smirk when she saw the disgruntled expressions on Lavender and Parvati’s faces.
“Careful now, Granger,” Draco said, with a smirk of his own in place. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that smirk is very Malfoy-like.”
To his surprise, Hermione broke into a grin. “I can’t help it, Malfoy. The looks on their faces are priceless.”
Parvati, who had apparently heard Hermione, threw her a dirty look.
“It’s not very often you get that look out of them,” Ginny added puckishly. “You have to enjoy it while to lasts.”
“It’s definitely something,” Harry agreed, smiling.
“I'm just glad that this matter’s settled,” Ron said while poking at his scrambled eggs.
“Hey Corner!” Draco called out. “Now all you have to do is tell the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins the same thing. Make sure you clarify everything. ”
Michael nodded and ambled off to Hufflepuff table.
“Not everyone’s going to believe him, you know,” Ginny remarked as she watched Michael recite loudly to the Hufflepuffs the same speech he had delivered to the Gryffindors.
“That may be true,” Hermione said knowingly. “But at least he’s trying. And anyways, considering how fast people here in Hogwarts trust stories, I’d estimate that we have a larger population of students believing rather than not.”
Harry sighed. “Let’s just hope people aren’t given a reason to gossip about you two anytime soon.”
Ron pointed his fork at Draco. “That’s means that you have to make sure that all your buttons are sewn on snugly and that you always have your wand with you.”
Draco glowered at Ron as Ginny, Harry and Hermione burst into laughter. “Shut up, Weasley.”
By breakfast the next day, it seemed that the staring and whispering Draco and Hermione had been subjected to the past couple of days had died down. Michael had obviously done what he had promised to do and Hermione could not have been more grateful. There were the disbelievers, and ignorance was the only solution to people like that.
“Did you force Corner to say all those things to save your arse, Draco?” Blaise asked somewhat snidely while Draco helped himself to a slice of toast. “Or did he apologize voluntarily?”
“Draco did not have to force anyone. It was a misunderstanding, Zabini,” Pansy snapped. Blaise was evidently getting on her nerves. “So shut up and leave Draco alone.”
Blaise grunted in response, not looking particularly convinced.
“Draco, do you know that the first Hogsmeade trip of this term is this Saturday?” Pansy cooed, changing the subject while stroking his arm lightly.
Hermione looked up from her breakfast with a start. She had completely forgotten about the Hogsmeade trip scheduled for the upcoming weekend.
During the beginning of the school year, Professor McGonagall had handed the Head Boy and Girl a roster highlighting the major events of the school year, including all Hogsmeade outings. Hermione had looked at the roster so many times that she had practically memorized it. It surprised her that she had forgotten about this particular trip.
“Yes, Pansy, I know about that,” Draco replied casually. “What about it?”
Pansy shot Hermione a sharp look. “Then I suppose you will be joining us?” she asked, her eyes never leaving Hermione.
“Of course I will, “ Draco answered with a shrug. “You, me, Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Millicent, the usual. Who else do you expect me to join?”
“Excuse me,” Hermione said loudly to make her presence known, “you can’t just make that decision without consulting me first, Malfoy.”
“I already made the decision, Granger,” Draco drawled. “Without your consultation.”
“That’s not very fair, is it?” Hermione huffed. “I'm not going with you and your friends.” She cast Pansy a resentful look.
“You don’t have much of a choice,” Draco said, his tone suggesting that he did not want to discuss the matter further.
Hermione glared at him. “I do actually. And I have decided that I'm going with my friends. We’ll see what you do about that,” she challenged, feeling rather bold despite being surrounded by sneering Slytherins.
She had had enough of Draco’s arrogance. When it seemed that he was showing the most remote hint of niceness, he reverted to being a jerk. He switched moods as and when he liked.
Draco’s eyes widened slightly. “We will see then,” he scorned, “we will see.”
For the second time since being stuck to Hermione, Draco felt invisible to her and her friends. They were talking over lunch and acting like Draco was non-existent. He assumed it was because he had angered Hermione over breakfast. He did not understand why he did it, but annoying her had become his pastime since they became stuck to each other. Secretly, he greatly enjoyed it, seeing her get all fussed up and uptight. The way her brows would knit together in irritation, the way her eyes narrowed accusingly and the way her mouth unconsciously would form a tiny pout.
“So we will be going to Hogsmeade together, won’t we?” Hermione asked after she recapped what Draco had said to Pansy at the Slytherin table.
“That’s needless to say, ‘Mione,” Ron said, shooting daggers in Draco’s direction. “We’ll most definitely be going to together. We always do that. It’s nothing new.”
“We’ll meet you at the Entrance Hall before we leave,” Harry said succinctly.
Draco scowled. “Well I don’t bloody care if you're going to have a little Dream Team get-together,” he said in a dark voice, “but I'm not going to spend my day at Hogsmeade with the Potter Club.”
“Did you hear that Ron? It had been our lifelong dream to spend a day at Hogsmeade with ferret boy and now he says he doesn’t want to spend time with us,” Harry said sarcastically. “Our dream has been shattered. I feel terrible. Bloody waste, isn’t it?”
“Awfully sad,” Ron replied in a tone similar to Harry’s as Hermione and Ginny giggled. “Was really looking forward to it.”
Draco, glowering, made an obscene hand gesture at Harry and Ron, at which Hermione gave an indignant sniff. “I will be spending the day with my friends,” he growled, “whether you like it or not.”
Ginny, who was sitting directly across Draco, pointed her fork threateningly in his direction without even looking at him. “And make sure no one stops you from meeting us, Hermione. Otherwise, this fork could go places no one has even dared imagine,” she said with an innocent smile.
Ron shuddered slightly and gulped. “She can get awfully frightening at times,” he whispered to Harry. “Like a warped cross between mom and Fred and George.”
Hermione sighed inwardly. From the looks of it, this week was going to be as long as the previous.
The corridors of Hogwarts were quiet after lunch, as Professor McGonagall walked along them, peeking into classroom filled students having lessons with their various teachers. She was suppose to be having a free period right now, and had planned to spend it checking Transfiguration essays of her fourth year students.
However, Dumbledore seemed to have other plans for her. He had called her up to his office moments ago, saying that he had something urgent to discuss. I wonder what he has on his mind, she thought as she ran her hand down her robes to smoothen any wrinkles.
As Professor McGonagall rounded as corner, she heard the distinct voices of two students from somewhere further in front of her, apparently quarrelling. She managed to catch bits of their bickering.
“…hurry up… you take forever…”
“…patience, woman…we’ll get there…”
Professor McGonagall approached the source of the bickering and found, not surprisingly, Draco and Hermione walking towards her along the corridor.
“Malfoy, you take such a long time in the bathroom!” Hermione was complaining. “You're more vain than half the girls I know!”
Draco snorted. “Well, I can’t say I'm surprised considering the girls you hang out with.”
“What are you implying?” Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Not arguing, I hope?” Professor McGonagall spoke loudly before Draco had time to reply. She saw that both students appeared startled by her presence, not expecting to see her walking along the hallways at this time of the day.
“Not at all, Professor,” Draco replied, pasting a nonchalant smile on his face. “We were merely…talking.”
“Yes Professor,” Hermione agreed with a small nod, “simply discussing certain issues.”
Professor McGonagall was pretty sure that they did not sound like they were having a discussion at all. Nevertheless, she was not in the mood to pursue the matter further. “Well then, better hurry on up to class,” she told them and watched them scurry off to their classroom.
Amusing was the word that popped into Professor McGonagall’s mind whenever she saw those two tied together with the Love-Knot. Annoying (mainly the bickering), yet somehow amusing.
She had found herself speculating who had sent it to them and with what purpose. She decided whoever sent it was either very smart or very stupid.
Smart, because it may prove to be the only way to get Draco and Hermione to be civil to each other.
Stupid, because it could easily backfire and they might end up hating each other even more.
Nevertheless, Professor McGonagall still found the situation amusing. She wondered if they would ever get the Love-Knot off, if they would ever fulfill its purpose.
With all these thoughts in her head, the Transfiguration Professor gave the ugly stone gargoyle the password it required and made her way up the spiraling staircase to the Headmaster’s office. She knocked softly and waited for a reply.
“Come in.”
Entering, she was greeted by the sight of a smiling Dumbledore.
“Ah, I was expecting you for a while,” he said, motioning at the chair in front of him. “Have a seat, Minerva.”
Taking a seat as told, Professor McGonagall looked at Dumbledore, wearing a serious expression on her face. “What seems to be the matter, Albus? You said it was urgent.”
“Yes, quite urgent,” Dumbledore said, but there was no worry etched on his lined face, nor was there any solemnity in his appearance. In fact, there was a twinkle in his eyes that she recognized all too well, having work with him for so long. “Sherbet Lemon?” He offered his colleague the yellow muggle candy.
“No, thank you,” she declined with a polite shake of the head. She observed him curiously. “What do you have on your mind, Albus?”
Dumbledore placed the yellow sweet on his tongue, savoring the tangy flavor for a while. “I want to implement a new rule, Minerva,” he said, locking his long fingers together on his desk. “Urgently.”
Professor McGonagall frowned and she eyed Dumbledore questioningly. “A new rule?” she repeated. “That’s the urgent matter? Why we haven’t had a new rule since…” She paused to jog her memory. “Since we had Dolores Umbridge in this school.” Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the mention of that name.
“Oh yes, dear old Dolores,” Dumbledore chuckled. “Probably one of the most unusual personalities I’ll ever meet.”
“She always reminded me of a rather grim looking toad,” Professor McGonagall remarked, trying to keep the dislike out of her voice, but failing miserably.
Dumbledore grinned at Professor McGonagall. “You never quite liked her.”
“No one liked her, Albus,” Professor McGonagall stated matter-of-factly. “Now, what about this new rule?”
A small smile played on the older Professor’s lips. His eyes caught the afternoon sunlight and Professor McGonagall was certain that she caught mirth sparkling in them. “The new rule is regarding Perfects, so I thought it was best that I discussed with you first, since you're the teacher-in-charge.”
He halted to shift his Sherbet Lemon around his mouth, while Professor McGonagall looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.
“I propose,” he went on, “that the Head Boy and Girl be given the duty to patrol Hogsmeade whilst the other students spend their day there.”
Dumbledore had declared this simply, as though it was something the school should have thought of ages ago.
Professor McGonagall’s jaw dropped slightly and her eyes widened in their sockets. She was unable to hide her surprise. She opened and closed her mouth a number of times, like a fish out of water, but no words came out.
“Don’t you think it’s a good idea?” Dumbledore asked when he saw that his co-worker seemed to have lost the ability to speak.
Professor McGonagall closed her mouth. “But why would we need such a rule?” she asked, slowly recovering from her shock. “You did not see the need to execute such a plan even when we were at war.”
“Yes, that’s true, but it’s for that precise reason that I've decided to put into action such a rule,” Dumbledore explained.
“I don’t understand.”
“You see Minerva,” Dumbledore said lightly, “I think we have to take into consideration the safety of our students, regardless of whether there is a war going on or not. We should not compromise the security of the children based on the circumstance of the present period. Am I wrong in thinking this?”
“No, not at all,” Professor McGonagall agreed. “But a Hogsmeade trip is usually meant for the students to enjoy themselves. Would it not be unfair to make the Heads do duties while they ought to be having fun with their friends?”
“I have been taking that into consideration as well,” Dumbledore told her, standing up from his seat. He started pacing around his office, coming to a halt in front of Fawkes. “I gather that they may feel that it’s unfair to impose this rule on them, but they should realize that taking up posts as Head Boy and Girl comes with a certain amount of responsibility. So when you explain to them the rationale behind my implementation of this rule, I sincerely hope they understand and comply with it.”
Professor McGonagall stared at him, certain that she saw a small smile playing on his face. “You have thought through this thoroughly?”
“Yes I have,” he replied, a tone of conviction in his voice. “I decided that we could use our current Head Boy and Girl only as trial for this new rule. We’ll see how it works out. If it turns out well, I’ll come to a final verdict about this new rule. Does it sound all right to you?”
Professor McGonagall nodded slowly. “I suppose it does.”
“Very well then,” Dumbledore said, caressing Fawkes gently on his head. “I’ll give you the task of informing them about this.”
“Yes, I’ll inform them.” Professor McGonagall pursued her lips together to form a thin line. “Albus, are you sure you don’t have an ulterior motive for doing this?”
The Headmaster broke into a mysterious grin. “Minerva, I merely believe that good consequences can result from bad beginnings. Great love can spring from great hate, you know.”
Author’s Note: Hey everyone! A small note for this chapter. I just want to say that I decided it’d be best if I ended the whole ‘Boys’ Bathroom’ issue by making Corner clarify the rumors with everyone. This is because I don’t want to leave too many loose ends as the plot progresses. Plus, Draco and Hermione will be subjected to loads of other things, so I wanted to be merciful and resolve this one problem for them. =P