Chapter 33- More Rumors
“Oh don’t be such a baby, Malfoy!”
“I'm not being a baby, Granger!”
“Then why are you taking such a long time to apply the Healing paste to your wound?”
“Because it smells like fish!”
“Are you sure? Or is it because it hurts when applied and your being a baby about it?”
“Tut, tut, Granger, that’s no way to talk to your life-saver.”
Hermione gawked at him. Trust Draco Malfoy to turn something that once embarrassed him into a tool of mockery. “My life-saver?! Ha! And I thought you weren’t moving from the sofa because you were being a baby. I should have known it’s because your head is so inflated that you can barely walk straight!”
“Ah, the lovely sounds that fill the Heads’ dormitory in the wee hours of the morning,” Salazar Slytherin drawled sarcastically from his portrait above the fireplace. “Lovely to have these two back, isn't it, Godric?”
“Oh do not act like you don’t like having them back,” Godric chuckled. “If I recall correctly, were you not the one complaining about how boring your life was getting without these two providing you entertainment on Sunday night?”
Slytherin scowled. “Thank you for sharing with us all what a fabulous memory you have, Godric.”
“You're quite welcome, Salazar,” Godric said, still smiling. “I am just glad that they are all right and I do know that there is a part of you that is””
“Hush, Godric!” Slytherin admonished the Gryffindor founder. “They are at it again, so it would be lovely if you let me hear what they’re saying.”
After spending the weekend and most of Monday in the care of the school mediwitch, Draco and Hermione had finally been allowed to leave the hospital wing (Hermione was pretty certain it was because Madam Pomfrey could no longer take Draco’s incessant whining about being bored out of his wits” she practically chased them out of the infirmary the previous night).
However, because the nasty wound on Draco’s jaw was taking a longer time than expected to heal, Madam Pomfrey had instructed him to change the dressing daily and given him some Healing Paste to apply every time he did.
The problem was, Draco was taking forever just to get the damn thing on. He had been sitting on the sofa for the past twenty minutes, and the only thing he had succeeded in doing so far was get the lid off the little box containing the orangey paste.
And Hermione was starting to get irritated. After all, she had already missed all of Monday’s lessons. She did not intend on being late, and thus miss, some of her lessons on Tuesday as well.
“Just dab it on your wound, Malfoy!” Hermione nearly tore her hair out of her scalp. “It can’t be that hard!”
“If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you do it then?!” Draco cried, very near throwing the box in his hand across the room in frustration.
“Fine, I will!” Hermione huffed, grabbing the container from him.
Draco stared at her, speechless as she produced some cotton wool with a flick of her wand. He did not really think she would do it.
He watched as she smeared the paste all over the cotton, then carefully replaced the lid on the box and placed it aside. With her free hand, she took hold of his chin and gently forced it to turn right so she could get a clear view of the wound.
Slowly, she brought the piece of cotton over the injury, and started dabbing it tenderly. Draco winced when the cold cream made contact with his skin. It stung badly, causing him to scrounge his face up.
“Does it hurt?” Hermione asked softly, moving closer towards him so that she could properly tend to the wound.
“Not at all Granger,” Draco said flatly. “It feels superb, absolutely fantastic. Like pretty flowers and all that” OW!” He flinched when Hermione intentionally stabbed the wound. “You did that on purpose!”
Hermione smiled innocently and went back to applying gently. “I'm sorry, did that hurt?”
The Slytherin student glowered at her in response. Well, it was not much of a glower when he could only see her from the corner of his eye.
Draco flinched again as he felt the pain spread to the areas around his jaw. He clenched his teeth in attempt to reduce the pain, and Hermione, who still had a firm hold on his chin, realized that it was truly hurting him.
To the utter shock of Draco (and the two spectators on the wall), Hermione leaned in and softly blew on his wound. Draco quickly swallowed the gasp that threatened to escape his lips. He felt a jolt in the pit of his stomach, like someone was doing a dance there, and the sensation spread through his body.
When she stopped, Draco almost wanted her not to. Almost, but he was thankful that he could not find his voice to say anything to her.
“My mom used to do that to me when I was younger,” Hermione explained quietly. “She would apply this nasty antiseptic on my wounds when I fell and it would hurt so badly, but to alleviate the pain, she would blow on the wound. The cool air really served to soothe. Did it help?”
Stop gaping at her, you baboon, and say something! Draco mentally reprimanded himself.
He shrugged, saying nothing.
Draco bloody Malfoy, dumbfounded once again. And only Hermione bleeding Granger had the ability to reduce him to that.
Brilliant. Bloody brilliant, Draco Malfoy. Just wriggle your shoulders like a retard. That works too.
Since when did he care how he responded to Hermione Granger?
Hermione seemed satisfied with his response though.
Draco watched as Hermione continued tending to him. She disposed of the bit of cotton and started dressing his injury carefully. He admitted to himself that it felt good to have someone care for you like that… He quite enjoyed being fussed over.
From the corner of his eye, he observed her silently. Her brows were knitted together and she nibbled a little on her bottom lip. She always did that when she was concentrating particularly hard. Draco was familiar with the expression by now.
When she was done, Hermione admired her handiwork.
“There!” she said happily, standing up from the sofa. “I took ten minutes to do what you couldn't do in twenty.”
Draco narrowed his eyes at her. Now that he was not in intimate contact with her, his voice had miraculously decided that it was time to return to his throat. “Now who’s the one with the inflated head?”
“Still you, Malfoy,” Hermione said with a sweet smile. “Now come on, I don’t want to be late for class!”
“Did you see that, Salazar?!” Gryffindor exclaimed once the two portraits were alone in the common room.
“I'm still reeling, Godric, I'm still reeling,” Slytherin breathed.
Gryffindor ran his hand across his stubby beard. “What do you think it meant though?”
Slytherin shrugged. “It is too soon to say anything really, but I'm certain it did mean something…”
It was just wondrous how word spread around Hogwarts. It was unstoppable. Like wildfire. Like the Bubonic plague. Worse than that in fact.
Naturally, as the whole school was present during the match on Saturday, everyone knew about what Draco had done for Hermione in mid-air.
But by Tuesday, the incident had somehow mutated to produce numerous rumors of a variety of versions.
Apparently some people even thought the Heads were in critical condition. Or worse still, dead.
The whispers started the moment they stepped into the hallway.
“Did you see what he did””
“I would have just died if someone did that for me””
“It was soooooo heroic!”
“He actually SAVED her?!”
“They’re alive, they’re alive!”
“I think they’re secretly””
“Do you think that Draco could actually be””
“Do you think Granger could actually be””
“I heard they’ve been dating for months.”
It was bad. Really bad. The looks they were getting, the stares, the whispers, the pointing (and the swoons from a large portion of the female population when Draco walked past them were especially annoying, in Hermione’s opinion)…
Walking to the Great Hall was very much like walking through a mine field. Hermione was acutely reminded of those muggle spy movies, where the two lead spies would have to hide behind pillars and duck under tables to get to their destination without detection by the enemies.
But things were just as bad in the Great Hall. In fact, the whispers were even more rampant here, and the pointing more prominent.
“This is horrbile, isn’t it?” Hermione whispered to Draco.
“Yes, quite,” Draco whispered back. “But you remember what we discussed last night, right?”
Hermione nodded. “Yes. There’s nothing we can do about it. Ignorance is bliss. ”
“Exactly.”
“I'm still quite surprised that you're willing to ignore all of this,” Hermione said, the disbelief evident in her voice. “I would have thought that you would definitely do something about the rumors, considering your reputation is at stake and what not.”
“I thought we went through this yesterday, Granger,” Draco told her.
It was true. The first thing Draco had thought about was his reputation, and how it was, or at least what was left of it, was going to be trotted and stomped on by the entire school. Immediately, he had tried to devise ways and means to clear his name (and possibly Hermione’s as well). But then he was struck with the realization that that was going to be close to impossible. The last time, when rumors had been spread about certain activities that Draco and Hermione had participated in in the Girls’ Bathroom, the rumors had been easy to dispelled because the source of them, Michael Corner, had been forced to set things right.
But this time, the evidence upon which the rumors were based was going to be hard to erase. Everyone had been at that match. Everyone had seen it.
So the best thing to do was” act like nothing had happened. Complete ignorance.
“Yes, we did. But it’s pretty hard to ignore, you know,” Hermione wondered out loud, examining the faces of the students in the Great Hall. Most of them were staring back at her and Draco.
“What are you complaining about, Granger?” Draco growled. “I'm the one who’s bearing the brunt of this.”
Hermione snapped her head around to face him. “And explain how is that so, Malfoy,” she urged, her eyes narrowed at him.
“Didn’t you hear them down the hallway?” Draco gestured at the entrance of the Great Hall. “Most of them were going on and on about how I'm some sort of hero!”
Planting her hands firmly on her hips, Hermione glared at Draco. “Typical, how typical of you to think that everything in this whole wide world revolves around you,” she accused, jabbing a finger into his chest. “In case you had gone partially deaf while you were out in the hallway, they were also talking about how they thought we were, you know, dating or something. That means the both of us are in this together, whether or not you like it!”
“Awwww, look!” a female voice squealed from somewhere in the Great Hall (Hermione had a sinking feeling it had been Parvati). “They’re having a quarrel! Isn’t that sweet?!”
There was a collective “awwwwww” from most of the girls present there, together with some “ewwwwww” from the Slytherin table and most of the male population.
The two Heads wore similar expressions of absolute mortification.
Draco recovered from the shock first, while Hermione stood frozen on the spot, her mouth hanging open. He grabbed her hand and urged her to move forward to the Gryffindor table, where they quickly sat down and tried to act inconspicuous.
As soon as they sat down, Luna appeared at their side. “I think it’s positively marvelous that the two of you are giving the whole notion of inter-house unity so much of thought, especially since you two are such role models,” she said in her usual dreamy voice. Then she drifted away.
“I take that the situation pretty bad?” Harry asked, sending Hermione a sympathetic glance.
“It’s not just bad, Potter,” Draco snorted. “It’s awful.”
“Downright dreadful,” Hermione added.
“But remember what we discussed Granger,” Draco reminded her as he helped himself to some breakfast. “Ignorance is bliss.”
There was no way you could ignore it. No way. It just kept getting worse and worse. At the Slytherin table during lunch, the Slytherins seemed even more hostile towards Hermione than usual, and Pansy, it seemed, had developed loathing for Hermione at a whole different level and with a new, fierce passion. The moment Hermione had taken a seat at the table, Pansy mouthed the word “Bitch” and stared hard at her for a good five minutes.
It was strange, the way Pansy was behaving. Well not really that strange. Everyone knew that she fancied Draco, even Draco himself.
Still, the hatred was starting to get Hermione, even scared her a little.
It came to a point where Hermione could no longer take the daggers that Pansy was shooting in her direction.
“Malfoy, I need to use the bathroom before Potions,” Hermione told Draco almost pleadingly.
With hurried steps, she led Draco to the nearest female toilet.
“What’s the rush, Granger?” Draco questioned, jogging to keep up with the bushy-haired Head Girl.
“Parkinson,” Hermione replied. “The way she’s been looking at me…”
“Pansy hates you,” Draco informed her, his face deadpan
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Draco. “Thanks for the completely useless piece of information, Malfoy. I wasn’t aware of that,” she said sardonically, pushing open the door of the Girls’ Toilet. “It’s just that lately””
“…I'm telling you Lav, I would have died if it was me up there!” came a high pitched feminine squeal from one of the cubicles in the toilet, cutting Hermione off mid-sentence.
Immediately, Hermione recognized the voice. It was Parvati Patil, without a doubt.
“I certainly know what you mean, Parv,” came a second female voice from the cubicle right next to Parvati’s. “It was so exciting that I was having a fainting spell!”
The second voice belonged to Lavender Brown, no surprise there.
“Did you see the way he held on to her?” Parvati sighed dreamily. “It was as if his life depended on it! How romantic!”
Hermione felt Draco stiffen beside her. Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she realized that his pale cheeks were tinted pink.
“That Hermione is so lucky!” Lavender gushed. “If I was living with that hunk of love every second of my life…”
Lavender then went on to mention, very graphically, the various things she would do to Draco Malfoy had she been the one tied to the Love-Knot, some of which included whipped cream, a lasso and handcuffs.
Hermione blushed violently upon hearing Lavender’s vivid description, and was about to walk out when Draco stopped her. Seeing the stupid smirk on his face, Hermione realized he was actually enjoying himself.
She scowled at him and mouthed, “Disgusting,” at which Draco merely shrugged, looking pleased
.
“Lavender Brown!” Parvati gasped upon hearing her friend. “You horrible little girl! What would Michael think if he ever heard you saying all that about another man?”
A giggle escaped from Lavender’s mouth. “Well, I can’t help it if Draco Malfoy’s so hot.”
“You know, that’s what I said to Hermione once. I told her that Malfoy’s hot,” Parvati said, “and she just gave me a look as though I was completely mental.” It sounded like there was sympathy lacing her voice.
Draco stared at Hermione. The expression on his face was indecipherable. He was either highly amused, or highly disappointed, or a mixture of both.
“It’s a pity, that girl. Doesn’t know a good thing when she sees one,” Lavender sighed.
You could practically see Draco’s head inflating by the second. His face was glowing and he gave Hermione a haughty look. Hermione rolled her eyes. She would have said something, but she knew that would have been a bad idea with Lavender and Parvati in the toilet with them.
“I mean, he has the whole ‘I'm-such-a-jerk-who-hates-the-whole-world’ thing going on for him that is just such a turn on.” Lavender went on, her voice getting increasingly airy.
Hermione suppressed a chuckle when she saw the confused look on Draco’s face, as if he did not know whether to be complimented or insulted.
Parvati laughed girlishly. “Yes Lavender, I'm sure you want to do some very naughty things with Malfoy, but don’t you think Hermione and him make a very good couple?”
Hermione gasped inaudibly while Draco’s eyebrows shot high up his forehead.
Lavender sniffed lightly from her cubicle.
“Oh, don’t sulk, Lav,” Parvati chided jokingly. “You have Michael as it is. But seriously, think about it. Hermione is the only one I know who is witty and smart enough to match up with Malfoy’s foul-mouthed insults, taunts and cynical remarks.”
Hermione wriggled her eyebrows at Malfoy almost gleefully, at which the blonde Slytherin merely narrowed his stormy grey eyes at her.
There was silence on Lavender’s part. Apparently, she was contemplating Parvati’s words carefully.
“I think you do have a good point, Parv,” Lavender said finally, sounding thoughtful. “As cliché as it may sound, opposites do attract. Perhaps Hermione Granger is the only one who can tame the sexy beast.”
Without hearing another word out of the two girls, Hermione dragged a laughing Draco out of the toilet.
“D…Did you hear that?” Draco asked, gasping for air in between fits of laughter. “The things your friends were saying? They”” He tried to get the words out, but ended up doubling over with laughter.
Hermione glared at Draco, not feeling even half as amused as he was. “Honestly,” she muttered irritably, “of all the words to use in the English language, Lavender had to use sexy beast.”
Upon hearing this, Draco laughed so hard that he had to hold on to a wall to support himself. The portraits hanging on the wall stared at him, giving him a quizzical look.
Still staring daggers at her partner, Hermione waited as Draco tried to calm himself. “It wasn’t even that funny,” she growled. “I don’t see why you're laughing like a maniac.” It’s true, she had never seen Draco laugh this hard before.
Once Draco managed to catch his breath, he straightened up and backed Hermione up against the wall. “So Granger,” he said, his voice purposely low and husky, “how exactly are you going to tame this sexy beast?”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “Well, for starters, I'm going to give him a good punch in the gut if he doesn’t get moving because we’re going to be late for Potions,” she said pointedly, trying to push Draco away from her and refusing to believe that her heart was actually pounding in her chest.
But Draco did not budge. “You know, you should be more like that friend of yours,” he said with a shake of his head. “What’s her name? Lavender, yes?”
“What about Lavender?” Hermione said, her voice coming out in a low growl.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t hear all those wonderful things she said she would like to do to me if she was tied to me with the Love-Knot,” Draco said, a smile playing lazily on his lips. “You know, about the whipped cream and the””
“If you want someone who can do all those wonderful things to you, why don’t you ask your father to send you another Love-Knot with which you can go get yourself attached to her, because I'm certainly not going to become more like Lavender Brown!” Hermione snapped, sounding slightly breathless. Taking a deep breath, she turned away from Draco, feeling her face grow hot with anger.
“What the hell, Granger?” Draco frowned at sudden outburst. “All I said was””
“I don’t care what you said, Malfoy,” Hermione snapped again, pushing Draco out of her way. “Let’s just go for Potions.”
Draco, feeling as puzzled as ever, followed Hermione. Half of him wanted to stop her to ask her what her bloody problem, but the other half of him didn’t quite dare. He was quite familiar with Hermione’s rage by now.
So, quietly, he followed her to the dungeons for Potions, where they discovered that they were five minutes late.
“Ah, glad of you to finally join us,” Snape said upon seeing the two Heads. “Oh, do give me the honor of guessing why the two of you were late.” He pasted a smile as greasy as his hair on his lips. “I suppose spending your time doing yourself up in the bathroom is more important than Potions now, is it, Granger? Not that it made much of a difference,” he added snidely.
Hermione glowered at the Professor, saying nothing.
Instead, Draco spoke. “Actually Professor, it was me.”
Hermione turned her head around to face Draco so fast that her neck creaked. All of the other pairs of eyes in the class, most prominently Harry, Ron and Pansy’s, stared at the Head Boy disbelievingly.
Snape raised an eyebrow. “You, Draco?”
“Yes sir,” Draco said with a nod. “I took a longer time in the toilet than expected.”
“Oh, I see,” Snape said silkily, his eyes darting from Draco to Hermione. “Five points from Gryffindor then.”
“What?!” Hermione gaped at Snape.
“For not owning up to the fact that you're weren’t the cause of the delay,” Snape said matter-of-factly, as if his explanation was absolutely fair and justified. “Now go take a seat before I decide to deduct more points.”
They hurried to their seat (Hermione did not give Draco a second look), carefully avoiding each other’s eyes.
Snape was about to get on with the lesson when two other students came strolling in” Lavender (Hermione scowled) and Parvati” causing the Potions’ Master to (cheerfully) deduct more points from Gryffindor.
Once the class was finally settled, Snape explained to them the nature of the Potion they would be brewing in class today. “It is called The Aquilus Abeo Potion, or Black Death. Possibly one of the most difficult Potions you will brew in your seven years here.” He went on to explain the properties of the potions. “As I don’t think you dimwits are capable enough to brew it on your own, you will work in pairs.” Quickly, he paired off everyone in class, each Slytherin student with one from Gryffindor.
Hermione was paired with Draco, for obvious reasons.
Pansy, who was staring at Hermione with such contempt, that she did not even notice as Ron took a seat beside her.
“I'm sure that for some bizarre reason that is beyond my understanding you may find Malfoy extremely attractive,” Ron said as he sat next to her sulkily, “but do you mind peeling your eyes off him for a moment so that we can get started on the bloody potion and get it over and done with as soon as possible?”
“Trying to sound sophisticated does no actually make you sophisticated, Weasley,” Pansy said with a bored look on her face.
Ron scowled at her.
And then quite suddenly, an idea hit Pansy Parkinson.
She turned to stare at Ron. “But I'm surprised that it doesn’t affect you.” She paused and swung her right leg over her left. “Or perhaps you're just too stupid to notice.”
Ron’s bright red brows drew together in confusion. “What the bloody hell are you on about, Parkinson?”
Pansy rolled her eyes and gave Ron a “are-you-that-stupid-or-just-plain-ignorant” look. “Haven’t you heard what the whole school had been saying about Draco and your precious Granger, Weasley?” she sneered.
“Those are just rumors, Parkinson,” Ron said darkly as he picked up a scalpel and held it tightly between his fingers. “There’s just no way there can be anything between Malfoy and Hermione.”
“Oh really?” Pansy said, raising her eyebrows slightly. “Did you not see Draco protecting Granger as they fell from the sky during the match? What would you call that then?”
Ron’s grip on the scalpel tightened considerably. “Malfoy was just being…”
“Nice? Gentlemanly? Thoughtful?” Pansy offered, her tone malicious. “And when have you ever known Draco Malfoy to be any of those things?”
This time, Ron’s hold around the scalpel tightened so much that his knuckles turned white. The expression on his face was one of jealousy mingled with resentment as he watched one of his best friends work in such close quarters with Draco Malfoy, the person he loathed with a passion.
Pansy smiled maliciously to herself as she studied Ron’s face. The seed of suspicion had been planted in Weasley’s mind. It would just take one member of the Dream Team to shake the very foundations of their friendship.
The plan was set in motion.
Sometimes, Pansy just loved the cruel and twisted way in which her mind worked.
Take that, Granger.
The day ended with Transfiguration. With their bags weighing down with homework and stomachs filled with dinner, Hermione and Draco headed back to the Heads’ dormitory.
Draco noticed that Hermione’s mood was still somewhat off as they walked the familiar corridor that led them to their dorm. He knew it was something to do with the whole Lavender issue, but by the time he wanted to bring it up, they were already in front of the portrait of the man in Jodhpurs.
“Ah, a jolly good day to the two of you!” he said cheerily, smiling down at the two Heads. “It would be my duty to inform you that as I was taking a walk in the portraits of Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin while they were away, I came across the head of an old geezer in the fireplace. He was inquiring about you. Quite a bitter character, that fellow.”
The two Heads exchanged a look. It could only be one person who would drop by like that.
“My father,” Draco muttered, sighing. “I bet he heard the rumors going around, even though he’s still in France. I'm not really in the mood to deal with him at this moment.”
“And it’s not like he’s going to listen to us when we tell him that the rumors are false,” Hermione added flatly, scowling.
Without another thought, Draco took Hermione by the hand and led her away from the dorm. Mr. Malfoy would just have to make a surprise visit some other day.
“I don’t understand why we couldn't just go to the library,” Hermione said testily as she sat down on the stone floor of the Astronomy Tower.
“Do you really want to face the points and the whispers again? Draco questioned, his expression deadpan. “And comments like ‘Oh, look at them, they’re studying together, how cute!’” He gagged.
Hermione got the idea. “Then what about an empty classroom?”
Draco resisted the urge to smack his own forehead. He had honestly not thought about that. “We might have gotten caught for staying in a classroom after school hours,” he told her casually, and even while saying it he knew it was a stupid excuse.
But Hermione merely raised an eyebrow at him before emptying her homework on the floor. Draco did the same and soon, the two were quietly working on their assignments.
Draco was finding it hard to concentrate, however. He was still wondering why Hermione had gotten so worked up about the comment he had made about Lavender. He looked up from his parchment and saw that she had that look on her face” that stubborn pout that adorned her features every time something was bothering her or when she was in a mood. Letting curiosity get the better of him, he dropped his quill and asked, “What’s the matter with you, Granger?”
She glanced at him, looking slightly puzzled. “What are you talking about, Malfoy?”
“Oh don’t act all innocent,” Draco snapped. “You’ve been in a right state the whole day and you've been taking it out on me. What’s your problem?”
“You want me to tell you what my problem is? Fine!” Hermione exclaimed, shutting the remaining of her books with such ferocity that the thuds echoed through the empty Tower. “YOU’RE the problem.”
“What the hell…”
Oh yes, Draco Malfoy had unleashed a beast that was not going to stop now.
“I know it hasn’t been easy for you to be stuck with me all this while, and I know your social life has been non-existent since. From what I heard, you’re quite the Casanova and have been accustomed to having a different woman in your pants every other week before the Love-Knot came about. I'm sure you would have loved to be stuck to a girl like Lavender Brown, with whom you could have gotten it on any time you wanted. But I'm sorry I'm not like all those girls, that I'm not like Lavender Brown, and that I'm the biggest hindrance for you to continue your previous lifestyle. I'm sorry you’re stuck with plain, old Hermione Granger, but I don’t think I need to remind you that it’s all because of your father and his fabulous plan! In fact, why am I apologizing to you at all?! I'm not sorry at all! I feel sorry for you for being so shallow and superficial.”
By the time she was done, Hermione was on her feet, her chest heaving from fury as well as breathlessness.
Draco stared at her for a few seconds, slightly stunned at her outburst. Then, regaining his composure, he suppressed the insane urge to grin and told her, “Sit down, Granger.”
Considerably calmer and feeling slightly stupid at what she had said, Hermione grudgingly sat back down on the stone floor.
“Feeling stupid now, aren’t we?” Draco smirked, seeing the expression on Hermione’s face and interpreting it accurately. He didn’t need the mood ring to tell him that (which, by the way, was still stuck in his locker in the Slytherin changing room).
Hermione cut him a dirty look, at which Draco chuckled.
“Well you should,” he said, “because it was a mighty stupid thing to say.”
“But true nonetheless,” Hermione said. “Aren’t I right?”
“You're not always right, you know, Granger,” Draco drawled. “I do realize that you pride yourself in being an insufferable know-it-all, but you’re not correct all the time.”
Hermione narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying, Malfoy?”
“I'm saying that the answer to your question is no,” Draco said matter-of-factly, “no, you're not right.”
“Hold on a minute,” Hermione was taken aback, “I thought you hated being stuck with me all the time and would give anything in the world for me to trade places with any other girl in school?”
“Are you kidding me?” Draco laughed. “And miss the opportunity of hearing you make such ridiculous statements?”
Folding her arms across her chest, Hermione glared at Draco. “Oh, so you enjoy being with me because I make stupid statements? Which I don’t, by the way.”
“That, and because you don’t have the intellectual depth of a potato,” Draco pointed out. “Girls like Lavender are undeniably attractive and fun for a couple of nights,” Hermione cringed at his comment, “but after that they just become too clingy and needy and their topic of conversation would never go beyond, ‘How does my hair look today?’ or ‘Have I put on weight?’. I would go crazy if I were to be stuck with someone like her till Merlin-knows when. ”
“Then how did you bear being stuck with Pansy all those years?” Hermione said a tad snidely, surprising herself a little.
“Bitchy, bitchy, Granger.”
Hermione pondered over his words for several minutes. “So what you're trying to say is that you're glad you're stuck to me because not only am I not attractive, but also a know-it-all and I provide you free entertainment and amusement?”
Draco smirked. “Yes, because you're a know-it-all and you provide free entertainment.”
“And because I'm not attractive?” Hermione prodded. It was interesting that Draco Malfoy did not have anything to say about her attractiveness.
“That doesn’t matter here. The point is, Granger, there’s no one else I rather be stuck with.”
Hermione averted from Draco to prevent him from seeing the blush creeping up her cheeks.
“Unless you consider Simone…” Draco said with a smug smile, referring to his Valentine’s Day “date”.
At this, Hermione laughed. “Oh please Malfoy, the only way you could be stuck with her is if you paid her.”