Chapter 9- Stuck (Part One)
Maybe this all just a nightmare, Hermione thought as optimistically as possible as she and Draco walked out of Dumbledore’s office. Maybe when I’ll wake up a few hours later and realize that this is a nightmare because this cannot really be happening! She gave herself a hard pinch on her arm and unfortunately, she winced in pain, meaning that this was certainly not a horrific dream.
“You aren’t exactly thrilled about this, are you, Hermione? In fact, I detect a mixture of anger, sadness and distress,” Jinx, Hermione’s mood ring whispered from her finger, startling Hermione out of her thoughts. Jinx had been quiet all throughout their time in Dumbledore’s office and now, it was glowing a blueberry-purplish color.
Hermione let out an inaudible sigh. She slipped the mood ring off her finger and stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans before it had time to protest. Jinx was right at predicting her mood, but that just made Hermione feel worse.
“Wasn’t it your brilliant idea to go see Dumbledore? ‘I'm sure he’ll be able to come up with something’,” Draco said suddenly, mimicking Hermione’s words of an hour ago. “Well, the old nutcase didn’t help us much, did he?!”
“Oh be quiet, Malfoy!” Hermione snapped. “You heard what Professor Dumbledore said. The Love-Knot’s made with powerful magic that even he can’t reverse. It’s not his fault that he can’t do anything about it!”
“So who’s fault is it? Mine?!” Draco snapped back.
Hermione glared at him. “It’s all your father’s fault, if you really must know!”
Draco came to a sudden halt and stared Hermione straight in the face. “How is it my father’s fault?!”
“Well, he was the one who sent this to us, isn’t it? If it wasn’t for his crazy idea of trying to get us married, we would not be stuck to each other with this Love-Knot!” Hermione spat.
Draco tried to think of something to say in father’s defense, but he knew that Hermione made perfect sense. It was, ultimately, Lucius Malfoy’s fault.
“And from the looks of it, you know that I'm right!” Hermione said with a hint of smugness upon seeing the expression on Draco’s pale face. “It’s all his fault that I'm stuck with, of all people in the world, you!” She started walking, or rather, stamping towards the Great Hall, but Draco pulled her to a stop in front of a large oak door by her seizing her right arm.
“If there’s anyone who should be complaining, it should be me!” Draco barked in Hermione’s face. “I’m the one stuck with filth like you!”
Hermione squirmed in his grasp until he finally released his grip on her. “I'm not exactly thrilled being tied with an unbearable, snobbish brat either!”
“What did you call me?”
“AN UNBEARABLE, SNOBBISH BRAT!” Hermione repeated, bellowing at the top of her voice. “Do you have problems hearing as well?!”
“Oh you're going to regret you said that!” Draco dug into his pockets to look for his wand.
In the next instance, the door that Draco and Hermione stood in front of flew open. “I don’t think that’s the smartest thing to do, Mr. Malfoy,” Professor McGonagall emerged from it, looking irately from Draco to Hermione. “Do the two of you realize that you're standing right outside my office, shouting like maniacs? Such atrocious behavior from the Head Boy and Girl. I'm disgusted!”
Hermione felt her cheeks grow red in shame. She had been so caught up arguing with Draco that she totally did not notice that she was standing right outside the Deputy Headmistress’s office.
Draco, in contrast, did not seem the least bit embarrassed or even affected by the Professor McGonagall’s words. He just stood there, looking defiantly in the opposite direction.
“Twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin,” McGonagall said automatically. “And detention when school reopens.”
This time, Draco turned his head towards Professor McGonagall so fast that Hermione heard his neck crick. “But Professor…” he began to protest, but was almost immediately cut off.
“I don’t think you want to dispute with me over this,” Professor McGonagall said sternly, wearing a look that would have frozen boiling hot water. “Professor Dumbledore has already informed me of your situation,” she cast a brief glance over the Love-Knot, “but that doesn’t mean that the both of you let out your anger over it in the middle of the hallways.
“Detention for the both of you on the first day that school reopens. Report to my office at seven.” Then she turned on her heel and made her way back to her office, mumbling something that sounded distinctly like, “Issuing detention to the Heads…disgusting…”
“Now look at what you've done!” Draco said once Professor McGonagall closed the dorr behind her.
Hermione was about to explode at Draco again, but she decided against it, especially since they were still in front of Professor McGonagall's office. Instead, she dragged herself away from the Deputy Headmistress’s door and walked in the general direction of the Great Hall. Truth was, Hermione was starving and all she could think of was to get her hands on some delicious Christmas breakfast.
“Wait,” Draco stopped Hermione for the third time since they walked out of Dumbledore’s office, “where are you going?”
“To the Great Hall,” Hermione replied flatly. “In case you didn’t realize, we haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“And in case you didn’t realize,” Draco enunciated, “our wrists are connected by the Love-knot and therefore we’re stuck to each other!”
“But we need to eat!”
“Then you just have to sit on the Slytherin table.”
“Absolutely not!”
“Well, I refuse to sit with the pathetic Gryffindors.”
“Hey! At least they’re not as snooty as the Slytherins!” Hermione came to Gryffindor’s defense right away. Her stomach grumbled softly, desperately in need of food. “Look, why don’t we grab some food from our tables, then head back to our dorm to eat? At least we won’t need to argue about where to sit then.”
Draco took a moment to consider Hermione’s suggestion. It did not sound too bad. It sure sounded better than starving to death. “But that still involves going into the Great Hall together,” he said petulantly. “And people are bound to wonder why we’re tied to each other with this.” He pointed at the Love-Knot.
Hermione crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Do you really want to starve then?” she asked. “People are going to find out eventually anyway. We can deal with people later, but for now, can we at least get something to eat?”
“Oh, all right,” Draco replied sulkily. “There goes my reputation,” he added quietly.
So, with Draco pouting and Hermione preparing for the worse, they entered the Great Hall. At first, everyone went about breakfasting, not really taking notice of the two new entrants to the Great Hall. But gradually, all eyes came to rest on Draco and Hermione. The students ogled at them as though they had walked into the Great Hall naked. Murmurs and whispers rose among them. There was pointing, staring, giggling even (yes, Lavender and Parvati stayed behind for Christmas, unfortunately) and more quiet discussions. Few seem to know what the Love-Knot was; some were intrigued by the silvery ribbon that bound Draco and Hermione, others seemed more interested in the fact that two rivals entered the Great Hall together.
“Isn’t this lovely?” Draco said dryly. “Everyone in here is staring at us.”
“Just act normal,” Hermione instructed.
“It’s quite hard to act normal when the entire school population is watching you like you're an eight-headed Blasted-End Skrewt,” Draco hissed.
“I thought you would like the attention,” Hermione said with fake amusement as she confidently started to walk over to the Gryffindor table.
“Hold on a minute,” Draco stopped Hermione before she could reach the table. “Why can’t we get food from the Slytherin table?”
“Because I know the Slytherins well enough to figure out that they’ll probably taunt you till the cows come home if you go over there tied to me,” Hermione responded simply.
Draco’s look was deadpan. “You just love being the incessant know-it-all, don’t you?”
Hermione merely shrugged. “It has it’s advantages.” Ignoring Draco’s scowl, she continued her journey to the Gryffindor table to where Harry, Ron and Ginny were seated. It was obvious why Harry had stayed behind for Christmas. Ron and Ginny stayed back because the Weasleys had decided to visit Charlie in Romania this time round. As Hermione approached the table, she instantly saw her three best friends shoot draggers at Draco.
“Hermione, what did he do to you?” Ron asked, glaring at Draco furiously.
“I didn’t do anything to your precious girlfriend,” Draco drawled.
Ron’s face turned a shade redder than his hair. “Shut it, Malfoy. She’s not my girlfriend.”
Hermione darted Draco an exasperated look and grabbed an empty plate from the table. “Ron, he didn’t do anything to me,” she assured her redheaded friend as she piled her plates with fresh blueberry and chocolate muffins.
“Then what’s that thing around your wrist and his, Hermione?” Harry asked, eyeing the Love-Knot in curiosity. “It looks like you’re attached to him by it.”
Hermione grabbed a second plate and filled it up with pancakes. “I can’t really explain now, but meet me in the second classroom on the third floor and I’ll explain everything then,” she whispered, pouring syrup on the pancakes.
“I'm not meeting them!” Draco protested. “It’s bad enough that I'm stuck with you, now you want me to put up with the whole Dream Team and the Weasley sister?! I thought you said we'd go back to our dorm to eat!”
“Oh be quiet, Malfoy,” Hermione shut him up before picking up another plate and filling it up with toast, bacon and eggs. “It’s not like you have much of a choice.” She conveniently allowed Draco a peek of her wand in her pocket and saw him gulp hard.
Draco hated to admit it, but he did not want Hermione taking out her wand and doing any sort of magic around him. Worst still, he was stuck to her because of the stupid Love-Knot, so there was no way he would be able to run away if she did try to hex him.
“Hermione, you're taking an awful lot of food, you know,” Ron told her as he watched the pile of food on her plate steadily grow.
“It’s for the both of us,” Hermione clarified, picking up two sets of forks and knives. “Besides, I'm starving.”
Draco’s gray eyes scanned the Great Hall. He noticed that most people still had their eyes on him and Hermione. “Granger, are you quite done?” he asked edgily. “If we stay here a moment longer, I think I’ll explode.”
“I'm almost done,” Hermione informed him. She handed him two plates and picked up a jug of orange juice from the table. She glanced down at Harry, Ron and Ginny “I’ll see you later then.”
Half an hour later, Draco and Hermione were halfway through breakfast in the second classroom on the third floor. They were mainly silent throughout the meal and the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of noisy chewing.
“Didn’t you get cups for the orange juice?” Draco asked, lifting the jug in his hand.
“It would have been troublesome to carry cups along with everything else,” Hermione said after swallowing a bit of her pancakes. “You can drink it directly from the jug.”
Draco looked down at the jug distastefully. A Malfoy, drinking orange juice directly from the jug? It was not like he had any other choice. He took a swig from the pitcher and placed it back down on the table. Wonderful, just wonderful. I'm practically having a bloody picnic with the Mudblood.
Hermione was feeling slightly awkward having breakfast with Draco like that. They never did anything together, aside from bickering of course. But that did not count. And here they were today, having breakfast together. Hermione chanced a glimpse at Draco from the corner of her eye. There was a tiny frown on his chiseled face as he popped a bit of bacon into his mouth. He looked like he was having the worst day of his life and Hermione could not blame him. She shared the same sentiments.
Just then, the classroom door swung open and Harry, Ron and Ginny marched in. The two boys exchanged looks of dislike with Draco before taking a seat next to Hermione.
Draco took a bite out of his scrambled eggs and made a face as if they rotten. “Excellent. Here comes the Dream Team and there goes my appetite,” he grumbled inaudibly.
“OK Hermione, what’s going on?” Ron asked, helping himself to some of Hermione’s pancakes.
“Ron, didn’t you just have breakfast?” Hermione shot him a look and smacked his hand away.
“Yeah, I did, but the pancakes look so good,” Ron said, helping himself to a little more.
Harry shook his head. “’Mione, are you going to explain why you're tied to Malfoy with that thing around your hand?”
“It’s called a Love-Knot, Harry,” Hermione told him with a small sigh.
Ron choked on his pancake and started coughing violently. “A Love-Knot?” he spluttered in between coughs. “I don’t like the sound of that!”
“It gets worse,” Hermione said dully. She quickly explained everything to Harry and Ron, who listened with their mouths hanging open.
“So even Dumbledore could not do anything about it?” Harry inquired after Hermione was done with her story.
Hermione tucked a stray strand of brown hair behind her hair. “Unfortunately not,” she said in dismay. “We’re talking about real powerful magic at work here.”
“So, you're stuck with Malfoy?!” Ron asked, horror-struck. “Everywhere he goes, you go?! And everywhere you go, he goes?! Bloody hell! Your life’s going to be a nightmare!”
“Thank you very much for your reassurance, Ron,” Hermione said wryly.
“It’s worse that I'm stuck with her!” Draco spat. “Can you imagine what the Slytherins are going to say?”
“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Malfoy,” Harry glowered at Draco. “You shouldn’t be complaining, you know. It is your father’s fault that Hermione’s in this mess.”
“It’s not like I'm enjoying it!”
“You better listen good Malfoy, you better not lay a finger on Hermione,” Harry warned, his voice dangerously low, “or else…”
“Or else what?” Draco challenged.
“Or else I wouldn't mind performing my famous Bat-Bogey Hex on you, again, Malfoy. Exactly like the one I performed on you in the fifth year,” Ginny said with a sort of vicious smile. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Draco flinch. “I'm sure you recall that quite clearly. I could remind you if you need me to."
Harry and Ron stifled a laugh when they saw the expression of trepidation on Draco’s face. Classic.
Draco swore quietly. “What have I gotten myself into?” he muttered under his breath.
Hermione finished the last of her pancakes and gulped down the remaining of the orange juice. Immediately after that, the plates and pitcher disappeared. “Those house-elves are really efficient,” she said, a hint of admiration in her voice.
Ron eyed her inquisitively. “You're not planning to start S.P.E.W again, are you?”
Upon persistence from Harry and Ron, S.P.E.W had been officially shut down by Hermione herself in the sixth year when she finally realized that the house-elves where more than happy serving Hogwarts. However, Ron had a hunch that Hermione had not completely given up on the idea.
“What the bloody hell is S.P.E.W?” Draco asked, baffled.
“It’s nothing,” Hermione said quickly. “And no, I'm not planning to start it again. Now, I'm going to the library to do some research on the Love-Knot.”
“But I don’t want to go to the library!” Draco objected.
Hermione cocked an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. “Malfoy, I'm sure you want to find out if there’s a way we can be rid of the Love-Knot, right?”
“Of course!”
“Then I’ll have to go to the”” Hermione stopped mid-sentence and her eyes became as wide as saucepans.
Ginny touched Hermione’s arm, a look of concern spreading over her slightly freckled face. “Hermione, what’s wrong?”
Hermione remained quiet, not answering Ginny. She looked very uncomfortable suddenly and made sure she did not look at anyone in the eye.
“You look really pale,” Ron said softly. “Are you all right, Hermione?”
“Hermione, what is it?” Harry asked, his voice filled with worry.
Hermione stared at everyone in the room, wide-eyed. “I…I need to use the bathroom.”
Ron let out a chuckle of relief. “So, what’s the problem in that? The girls’ bathroom’s just down the hallway.”
Harry, Ginny, Hermione and even Draco threw Ron looks that said, ‘Are you that stupid?’
Ron looked at all of them, slightly puzzled. “What?”
“Ron, she’s tied to Malfoy, in case you failed to notice,” Ginny told her older brother sharply. “If she wants to go to the toilet, she’ll have to bring Draco along with her as well.”
A look of understanding dawned on Ron’s face. “Oh, right. How’re you going to do that, Hermione?”
Hermione smacked her own forehead. “Ron, if I knew, I wouldn't be standing here, would I? All I know is that I need to use the bathroom, NOW!”