This Subdued Fire

Yay. Lovely reviews. Thank you SO much. To my readers: you guys r0x0rs my s0x0rs. And no, Hermione and Snape don\'t hook up. I just have a thing for hot Slytherin men. ;) To Jen, Jenny, Paril and Mon, lovely beta readers...*shags you all madly* Disclaimer: I don\'t own them, will never own them unless I get richer than Bill Gates (yeah, right!), not making any money off of them, I just play with them a bit. Their joints get rusted if not taken out and oiled a bit!
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Danse Avec Moi

The new term was to start tomorrow. Hermione took the opportunity to get her head together and start dealing with all of what had happened over the past week. The nights saw her prowling the empty halls with restlessness. She burned - no - she *ached* to confront Draco over his treachery. He was going to pay, somehow, someway, he was going to absolutely pay. The Sunday afternoon was busy. Hogwarts was all a-flutter with activity. Rooms were aired, floors were scrubbed, so on and so forth. Hermione herself was making lists of all there to be done for the Parting Fete.

She needed to book the DJ, discuss the menus and decor. There was also commencement to think about. Invitations and announcements needed to be printed, the class gift needed to be arranged. In the middle of all this, there was also a guerilla war going on out there and there were at least five brand-spanking-new Death Eaters running about the halls. At least. She had a fair idea of whom they were. Most were Slytherin but there was always the possibility that there were some Gryffindor among them, much as it pained her to think it. Just take Cho Chang\'s little ratfink friend for example. Hermione smirked thinking about that hex she\'d put on the girl after she\'d broken the contract. (She deserved it, the sneaky little bitch.)

Gathering up all the lists, Hermione stuffed them into a desk drawer and left her room. She stalked the halls, trying to figure out a way to pass the time. There wasn\'t even a book in the library that held any sort of temptation for her and she\'d pored over *Ars Alchemica* four times already. (Funny....just three days ago I\'d have been passing the time getting high and acting foolish.) She thought ruefully.

The students were filtering in slowly but surely. Harry, Ron and Ginny weren\'t back yet but Seamus, Dean, Lavender and Parvati were. She passed them in the hallways and gave the quartet a cheery wave. They were headed to the Great Hall for a bit of supper. Hermione was wandering aimlessly. She came upon a little used corridor and feeling vaguely adventurous, walked in. The corridor was short and terminated in a set of three doors.

She *Alohomora\'d* the first door. There was nothing there. There was nothing behind the second door either, unless gobs of spiderwebs counted. Hermione laughed. \"What\'s behind door number three, Monty?\" she queried to herself softly. To her surprise, the third door swung open and she walked in.

On the wall there rested a huge piece of parchment. It covered the wall from floor to ceiling. The lettering was tiny and indecipherable. Against another wall rested a large mirror. Hermione read the title scrolled across it. \'The Mirror of Erised. So this is where Dumbledore hid it.\"

The young woman looked into the glass. She blinked once, twice and again in rapid succession. There she stood, as she was now but with Draco standing beside her, smiling a real smile, her parents behind them, each resting a hand on her and Draco\'s shoulders. Hermione shook her head to clear it and looked again. The image was the same. Anger bloomed like a deep red rose inside of her. \"No!\"

She reached out a fist and punched the glass, shattering it. A brief scream and a blast of air rushed through the room and all was silent again. Chips of glass fell from the fist shaped break in the pane. \"I do *not* want Draco Malfoy!\" Hermione screamed to the broken window. Becoming aware of a throbbing sharpness in her hand, she raised her still clenched fist to examine it. There were slivers of glass embedded in the flesh and the wounds were trying to close themselves around it, to no avail. Blood oozed from the cuts. Hermione left the room and went running off to the infirmary.

Madam Pomfrey \"tsk\'ed\" over Hermione\'s hand. \"What *have* you done to yourself child?\"

\"I broke a glass,\" Hermione replied simply. There was no need to tell the nurse that she\'d broken the fucking Mirror of Erised.

Poppy sighed heavily. \"It\'s not even the first day of term.\" Madam Pomfrey conjured up a pair of needlenosed tweezers and began picking the shards out of Hermione\'s hand. \"You children get into more scrapes...I assume that you\'ll heal yourself when I get the glass out?\" Poppy had been informed, along with the rest of the school, that Hermione was a mage.

\"Oh, um, yes. Yes I will.\" Hermione had been distracted, thinking of the Mirror\'s devastating reflection.

Poppy worked swiftly, Hermione winced and blew with each piece that was plucked from her flesh. Madam Pomfrey noticed and said archly, \"Maybe that\'ll teach you not to go around breaking things.\"

Hermione said nothing, only continued to sit there, nearly wriggling with pain. When Madam Pomfrey pronounced her done, the younger woman nearly jumped from her chair in relief. The cuts healed themselves to perfection. There wasn\'t a blemish on her hand. \"May I go now?\"

\"Go ahead. Be careful, Hermione.\" Madam Pomfrey gave her a look that was something suspiciously close to pity.

Hermione didn\'t comment but left as quickly as possible.

She went into the Great Hall and saw that Draco had arrived. He looked much different than when she\'d last seen him. He was also thinner and very drawn looking. Hermione snickered meanly. (Being a Death Eater must take a lot out of him, the rotten bugger.)

Going over and plopping into her seat, she began to fill her plate with chicken and peas and some creamy noodle thing when Harry, Ron and Ginny walked in. Hermione got up and went over to them.

\"I...well...\" Hermione was at a loss for words. How does one apologize foarlyarly killing oneself?

Fortunately, Ron displayed a great deal of tact at that moment. \"It\'s alright Herm. We understand. We\'re sorry we weren\'t better friends to you...forgive us?\"

Hermione was close to tears. \"There\'s nothing to forgive, Ron.\"

He pulled her into a hug and then Ginny and Harry piled on top to make it a big love-fest. The other students looked at this display with looks of patent disdain. The most prevalent thought was \"Yuck! Those four are at it again.\" Draco, however, was filled with uncharacteristic jealousy. He wanted to be the one hugging her, touching her for all the world to see. He longed to apologize to her, to explain what happened. Now was not the time for it though.

The quartet made their way to their places and began speaking of insignificant things, determined to go on as before. Each one was aware that things had changed and nothing would ever be the same again. Just then, Hermione caught a snowflake on the tip of her nose. She looked up and the enchanted ceiling was raining snowflakes but instead of stopping a few feet above their heads, the snow drifted down to land softly on everyone.

She looked at Draco. His expression echoed as much confusion as hers. Hermione looked around to see who the culprit was. The curly haired girl saw Harry glowing a faint icy blue at the edges of his skin. She smiled.

\"I was wondering when they\'d show up.\" Hermione told him.

\"You don\'t mean...\" Harry raised a glossy dark brow from behind his glasses.

\"I bloody well do mean, Harry Potter.\"

\"Well, damn it! I don\'t want it! I don\'t want to be a - a MAGE! Isn\'t it enough? Isn\'t it just fucking enough!\" The artificial sky cracked open and it begaininining furiously, crackling thunder and lightning. The sudden precipitation sent the inhabitants scattering for cover.

*\"Finite!\"* Hermione called out above the howling winds. The rains came to a halt. \"Look, you\'ve got to get a hold of yourself. You could cause something catastrophic to happen.\"

Harry looked shaken, but calm. \"I understand.\" Harry smiled ruefully and shook his head. \"I\'m sure this will be all over the \'Daily Prophet\' by sunset.\"
************

As predicted, as the owls delivered the post, the \'Daily Prophet\' subscription owls came soaring in bearing news of famous Harry Potter\'s gift. It also added that Hermione Granger a \'Muggle-born\' witch and one of famous Harry Potter\'s friends also had the gift. There was all kinds of wild speculation in the \"newspaper\" about what this might mean for Voldemort and would Harry and Hermione hook up again after their disastrous parting last year? How did Ron Weasley, best friend to both and brother to Harry\'s main squeeze, feel about his friend and ex-girlfriend having mage talents where he, of pureblooded lineage was skipped over?

Hermione, disgusted with the rag, tossed it on the table and muttered *\"Incendio.\"* She watched the newsprint burn to ashes and scatter in the faint currents that circulated in the air.

\"I don\'t know why I still bother getting that piece of crap. It\'s nothing but a tabloid now. I\'d be better off just reading \'The Quibbler.\' Oi! Luna!\" Hermione called. The moony-eyed blonde looked over at the Gryffindor table. \"Have your dad subscribe me to the \'Quibbler!\' \"

\"Will do, Herm!\" Luna took out a flamboyant shocking pink quill and made a note on the inside of her hand to sign Hermione up for her dad\'s publication.

They finished breakfast and meandered to their classes. Professor Sprout was in her usual good spirits. The Advanced Herbology class were continuing on with their efforts to grow an *Audreita* from a seed to maturity. The pods were tiny but they were beginning to verbalize. Hermione looked at her plant witgue gue horror. (The vicious little vampire.) She thought, shuddering delicately.

Hermione put on her khaki workrobes and her gloves and began tending the baby bloodsucker. There wasn\'t much to do but there it was. She finished up and began taking notes on the plant. It seemed to be growing in fits and starts. There was no constate rate of growth for it. Professor Sprout said that the plants would mature at a steady pace if taken care of properly. Although it looked healthy eno Her Hermione worried that it should be a bit bigger than it was. After all, her NEWT depended on it. She decided on a radical course of action.

Taking off a glove, Hermione took out an x-acto knife from her bag and made a small cut in her finger. She held it above the pod and watched the plant lap up the blood. She took her finger away and watched it heal. The plant\'s color got better and it actually grew a little bit. Hermione recorded the effect. Before she knew it, the bells were ringing, signaling the end of class. The Head Girl packed up her things and put her plant away and joined Ron and Harry, who were waiting to walk with her to Potions.

Snape was uncharacteristically subdued. He assigned them their work and left them to it. No potions to be brewed today. This was an open lab day, where the students could work on NEWT work or do research for their final projects. The two hours passed uneventfully and Hermione left Ron and Harry and went to the Astronomy Tower. Professor Sinistra had them studying the Crab Nebula. There looked to be some very important stars being born there and they needed to chart them.

Draco admired the cut of Sinistra\'s robes yet again. The man really did have the most impeccable taste in clothing. Malfoy looked at his own uniform with distaste. (Way to try to win her back, Draco - by being utterly obsessed with your clothes.)

The Slytherin turned his thoughts from garments to Hermione. She looked very different from the last time he\'d seen her. She was too thin. He could almost hear her bones creaking everytime she walked. Her robes and uniform, usually on the loose side to begin with, were literally hanging off of her. Her hair had gone from fat glossy ringlets to brittle frizz and her eyes, usually a golden brown, were dun-coloured. He could see though, that she\'d acquired some color from somewhere. Draco still thought she was rather lovely, in spite of it all.

Hermione looked up from her parchment to see Draco studying her. Instead of ignoring him she gave him the finger and went back to her paper. Draco grinned at her show of spirit. Better to have negative attention than no attention at all, he thought.

Their star ch of of the nebula done, the students placed them on Sinistra\'s desk and filed out of the classroom. Draco watched Hermione rise from her desk rather creakily, as if it hurt her joints to move. Life obviously hadn\'t been a barrel of monkeys for either of them lately. After she\'d left the classroom, he got up, surreptitiously observing her. There was a firm set to her shoulders that hadn\'t been there before. Determined, yes, but indomitable, no. He hated to think of anyone crossing her in her current incarnation. It looked as if all the softness had been burnt out of her. And he was responsible for it. He had to let her know, somehow, that it had all been an accident. He hadn\'t mean to fink on her and he certainly hadn\'t known that it would have such disastrous consequences.

She made a quick turn and disappeared down a corridor. He followed at length, taking care that she wouldn\'t hear him behind her. Draco saw the edge of her robe snap around a corner and he made to go after it when all of a sudden he heard *\"Stupefy!\"* and all went dark.
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When Draco awoke he was in the Transfiguration classroom, sprawled across Professor McGonagall\'s desk. He was undressed except for his pants, which had been left opened, but still covered for modesty\'s sake. Malfoy felt a weight on top of him and saw Crabbe similarly undressed with an arm thrown proprietarily over his chest. \"What in the bloody hell?!\"

\"Nice of you to wake up and join us, Mr. Malfoy.\"

(Oh, no,) Draco thought. That voice belonged to Gryffindor\'s Head of House.

\"Tell me, what made you and Mr. Crabbe here think you could have a secret rendevous in *my* classroom?\" The older witch stared at him, eyes alight with anger and a vague hilarity.

Draco could hear suppressed snickers. Shaking his head to clear it, he saw that the chamber was full of sixth-year Gryffindors and Slytherins. His eyes widened in horror. This would be all over the wizarding community by the time night fell. He could hear McGonagall saying \"Seventy points from Slytherin - *each* and I shall have to send you both to the Headmaster. I\'m not sure that a detention will serve in this case. Colin.\"

McGonagall turned to Colin Creevey. \"Yes, ma\'am?\" he answered.

\"Go fetch the Head Girl from the Great Hall. She needs to escort Mssrs Malfoy and Crabbe to the Headmaster\'s office.\"

Creevey set off at a fast clip to go find Hermione. Minerva turned back to Draco and now awakening Crabbe. \"Dress yourselves. This is not a peep-show.\"

The two boys scrambled off the desk and put themselves to rights. By the time they were done, Colin was back with Hermione in tow. She looked at Draco with amusement and triumph in her eyes. At that second, Draco knew she\'d done that to him. She humiliated him for the whole world to see. There\'s no way he\'d be able to live it down and he felt a sudden hot anger for her.

\"Ah. Hermione. I\'m sure Colin has informed you of the events.\" Minerva looked at Hermione rather sternly.

\"Yes, ma\'am. I\'m to escort *these two* to the Headmaster\'s office.\" There was a twitch about Hermione\'s lips.

\"Precisely. Off with you. And if Mr. Malfoy tries any funny business, you have my full permission to do something to him - and Crabbe.\"

\"As you wish, Professor.\"

The trio left the chamber, hearing gales of laughter spill from closed door of the classroom. Draco felt his cheeks and ears burn with embarassment. He turned to Hermione furiously.

\"You did this, didn\'t you?\"

\"Did what?\" she replied airily.

\"Put me and Crabbe in that - in that position!\"

\"I\'m sure I don\'t know what you\'re talking about. Your sexual escapades are none of my business. Although I know you could\'ve picked a better spot than that.\" She smirked at him cruelly.

\"You little bitch. You\'re going to pay for that.\"

Hermione stopped mid-stride to glare at Malfoy hatefully. \"I\'ve already paid far more than I could af. So. So don\'t go getting all new on me, Malfoy. This isn\'t even half of what you deserve.\"

Draco\'s anger deflated. She was right. But that didn\'t erase the fact that he could be suspended, or worse yet - expelled - for her awful prank. And Crabbe! The senior Crabbe wouldn\'t look too kindly on his son being drummed out of Hogwarts for inappropriate behaviour.

\"You\'re right, Granger. But that doesn\'t excuse you.\"

\"Excuse me!?\" Hermione\'s eyes blazed and her fists clenched. \"Be careful Malfoy, be very careful.\"

Crabbe looked between the two principles, his beady eyes moving back and forth confusedly. \"Oi...what\'s she talking about, Draco?\"

Neither of them paid the hulking boy any attention. \"I\'m going to get you for this, Granger.\"

\"Ha. I think not. You\'re not going to do anything to me anymore, Malfoy.\" She began walking swiftly towards the Headmasters office. The two boys followed in her wake. \"Mars Bar.\" The gargoyle leapt aside and the three stepped onto the rotating staircase.

Hermione dered red them to Dumbledore, relishing the feeling of having the upper hand over the Slytherin. \"Here they are, Headmaster.\"

Dumbledore\'s eyes were serious, yet they twinkledghtlghtly. \"Thank you Miss Granger. You may go.\"

Hermione withdrew, hiding her smile.
***********

The news was the topic of conversation all through the rest of the day. Hermione walked around with a secret smile over her coup. Malfoy and Crabbe hadn\'t been suspended or expelled for their seeming lack of good judgment - merely given a month\'s worth of detention. Draco and Crabbe walked into the Great Hall amidst stares and whispers and laughter. Two owls flew into the Hall carrying familiar red envelopes. Draco and Crabbe winced and opened the howlers. While the letters screamed in tandem, Hermione snickered along with the rest of the school. It did Draco good to be knocked down a peg or two.
***********

Saturday dawned cold and fair. Hermione arose, opened the magical kitty door for him and summoned up a bowl of cat food and a dish of water for him. Boolean was asleep in his cage. She bathed and dressed and headed downstairs. There was no one in the Common Room, oddly enough. Shrugging, Hermione opened the portrait hole and walked out. Littering the floors and covering the walls were pictures of her and underneath the pictures (which made various seductive faces) was one word: \"Whoremione.\"

Hermione seethed and the flyer she held in her hand burst into flame. There was only one person behind this and she intended to find him. She ran down to the Great Hall. The conversation stopped a bit and then rose again. She headed straight for Malfoy, who sat smugly in his spot, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as always.

\"You little bastard. You did this!\" She yanked a parchment off the wall and shook it in Draco\'s face.

\"Of course I did. I couldn\'t let you get away with your little stunt. What are you going to do? Have Weasel and Pothead beat me up?\" Draco sneered.

\"No, I\'m going to get you for this Malfoy, if it\'s the last thing I do!\"

\"Heh. No matter how hard you try, you\'ll never be as good as me.\" He winked at her annoyingly.

Hermione slapped him, outraged. \"Fuck you!!\" hairhair lit on fire and the smell of singed blond locks turned everone off of their breakfasts.

He patted the flames out and regrew his hair in a trice. \"Tsk. You need to learn your place.\"

\"And where is that?\"

He smiled cruelly. \"Under me, of course.\"

\"Why - You disgusting, poncing, sodding, buggering prat! I wouldn\'t touch you if you paid me!\"

\"But I did pay you, didn\'t I?\" Draco snapped his fingers and the golden chopsticks he\'d gifted her with appeared in his fingers.

Hermione let off a scream of rage. \"I\'ll kill you for that!\" She slapped him again. \"Trophy Room, NOW!\"

She swept from the Great Hall, Draco, the student body and the faculty following hurriedly. Hermione cut quite a figure in her white shirt and black pants. Every boy over the age of thirteen took notice of that, including Draco. The girls (mostly) looked at Malfoy, he was dressed similarly, except that his trousers were steel-gray worsted. Hermione marched over to the case containing the sapphire studded swords and shattered the glass with a forearm. She yanked the blades from the velvet and tossed one to Draco.

Hermione gave him no time to prepare. She launched into him with a ruthlessness that left the spectators breathless. Malfoy parried expertly, dancing on his nimble feet. Hermione attacked with grace and skill. The fencing gavotte was a familiar one to her and it seemed that the sword was leading her into the right moves. Draco, while obviously trained to perfection, seemed to be having difficulties with his blade. More than once she\'d caught him off balance. But he recovered handily and attacked, nearly driving her to the wall. She pushed him off, grinning as she did.

\"What are you smiling about?\" He demanded through clenched teeth. His grip was sweaty as was his face. His left arm and hand trembled as the muscles were becoming exhausted.

\"I\'m smiling because I know something you don\'t know.\"

\"And what is that?\" A swish and a clang as metal kissed metal.

Hermione stepped back from the pattern. \"I am not right-handed.\" o\'so\'s eyes widened in horrified surprise. As he well knew, left-handers were far better fencers than t hat handers. If Hermione was this good fencing with her non-dominant hand, how deadly would she be now? She flipped the sword from her right hand to her left and the game resumed.

The combatants wore grim expressions on their faces. Neither said a word. The steel and silver of the blades sang and rang with each thrust and parry. Hermione drew Draco into a particularly complicated pattern. The spectators leaned forward slightly, waiting to see what would happen. Draco\'s sword flew into the air and into Hermione\'s hand as she disarmed him. He backed up, tripping and sprawling on his back.

She pressed the point of her sword into his neck.

\"Go ahead, do your worst.\" He taunted.

\"I\'m not going to kill you. You see, I\'m far better than you or that murderous prick that you follow.\"

\"Then what, Granger?\"

\"I don\'t want to see you ever again, Malfoy. I don\'t want to hear you, see you, smell you, or talk to you. You\'re a plague, a void and I don\'t think anyone would fault me for obliterating you right here and now.\" She pressed the blade deeper into his tender flesh, drawing blood.

Minerva, seeing it, started forward but she was held back by both Albus and Snape. The older witch allowed them to stop her.

\"But I won\'t.\" Hermione\'s eyes glowed flame yellow in her triumph. \"You, on the other hand, will have to live the rest of your life knowing that a mere \'mudblood\' bested you - and well. Think on that. Tremble.\"

Hermione put both swords back into the case and called *\"Reparo\"* to the broken slivers. They placed themselves back into the frame and the case looked as if it had never been touched. She raised her head proudly and walked from the room, leaving Draco sitting on the floor, rubbing his neck, realizing how lightly he\'d gotten off.