This Subdued Fire

There\'s been some concern as to whether this fic will be SS/HG and I can say that it will definitely NOT be SS/HG, but as I DO sail that ship, I make absolutely *no* guarantees about any subsequent fics and that does include the (I shudder to say sequel) continuation of this particular tale. And um, stop hating on the SS/HG shippers. We rock!

As usual, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

Since I don\'t know what the fate of AFF is going to be, Once I\'m done with this, which should be soon, I\'m going to post it on my LJ, the name is gammiepie. Hopefully I\'ll survive the cut and the move.

Disclaimer: I don\'t own in whole or in part any of the characters found in the HP series of novels. I do own O/C\'s and the tune that I make them dance to.
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Words

The next day saw the whisperings begin. Never mind the feelings of contentment and general well-being that pervaded the atmosphere still, gossip is the lifeblood of the student body. And, it should be said, some of the staff as well. Hermione walked down the corridor Ginny and Harry flanking her. Ron was nowhere to be found. He\'d been quite put out by the fact that he\'d not known of her relationship with Draco. True to form, he was sulking and handing out doses of the silent treat.
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Hermione merely shook her head and decided that Ron would come around when he was good and ready to. The three moved in a lock-step to the Great Hall. They strode in, steely expressions hardened further when the din of dishes and conversation falls to a deathly hush. Hermione\'s chin went up proudly as she pulled slightly ahead of her would-be protectors and took her seat on the bench at Gryffindor\'s table.

The owl post began with a flurry of avians dropping various packages and notes onto the assembled below. The silence soon gave way to excited chattering about dress robes and those alumni who would be attending the Dance. As the owls began delivering the \"Daily Prophet\" the tone of the chatter changed, became darker and furtive. A sharp gasp from Virginia brought Hermione\'s attention around.

\"What is it, Gin?\"

Ginny\'s face was contorted with rage. \"This-this RAG!\" Ginny tossed the paper at Hermione.

Hermione picked up the newsprint. What she saw ignited her temper to an instant high boil. There on the front page of the paper in the largest typeset was the headline \'Hogwarts\' Very Own Lolita Strikes Again.\' There were pictures of her and Draco together, obviously manipulated to make it seem like some paparazzo had snapped them in an intimate moment. The photograph was of them seated, holding hands and exchanging soft glances. The copy was attributed to an Enid Inverrary. As Hermione read the article her lips quirked bitterly. This Inverrary woman was a worthy successor to Rita Skeeter.


~~Seems like it was only yesterday when the Daily Prophet reported on the comings and goings of Hogwarts\' newest Head Girl. Well, Hermione Valentina Granger has certainly earned that title, hasn\'t she? Over the course of her seven years there, she\'s been involved with the scions of some of the most prominent members of wizarding society. First there was Viktor Krum, the dazzling Bulgarian Quidditch star. After giving him the old heave-ho, Miss Granger moved on quickly to Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Seems that the Muggle-born witch grew tired of him in record time and dumped Harry unceremoniously only to move onto Harry\'s best friend and son of Ministry official Arthur Weasley, Ronald. But that relationship also fizzled and in typical love \'em and leave \'em style, Miss Granger has moved onto Head Boy and prominent scion of the Malfoy and Black families, Draco Octavian, son of the recently exonerated Lucius. As well our readers know, Lucius is a generous benefactor of Hogwarts and of several charities. He\'s made his thoughts on Muggle-borns crystal clear. Is the relationship between Miss Granger and Junior Malfoy an act of familial defiance?

~~Perhaps it is the lure of near-mythic powers that draws young Draco to this siren\'s side. After all, it was on the anonymous tip of students at the venerable academic institution that Hermione Granger is a magus. Following the years of mutual loathing, it seems that Hogwarts\' Head Boy and Girl have fallen prey to the flipside of the coin. This comes even after a reported duel at the school where the Muggle-born witch defeated the younger Malfoy and made threats on his life. Hardly what one would call an auspicious beginning. Will this be another of Miss Granger\'s conquests or will Draco be able to stay the course? Stay tuned for further details.


Hermione seethed a bit, but it was nothing more than she expected. The \'Witch Weekly\' article was sure to be a thousand times more lurid than this one. Right on cue, the \'Witch Weekly\' and \'Teen Witch Weekly\' issues began pouring in. As it was the middle of the week, the magazines put out special editions devoted to her and Draco. Hermione scanned the articles quickly, looking around for Draco but he was nowhere to be found. She\'d left him in bed that morning. He was exhausted from yesterday\'s events and needed to sleep, poor dear.

Hermione, disgusted, tossed the periodicals onto the table and was preparing to get up when Draco strode into the Great Hall, cloak billowing out behind him in a manner that would have done Professor Snape great credit. He stood in front of the windowed wall, at the head of the four tables. With a snap of his elegant fingers, every newspaper and magazine flew up and out of their owner\'s hands and from the table tops. They flew in a circular motion above the heads of those seated and without warning, burst into brilliant flame. There were no ashes, just the fire feeding from the paper and extinguishing itself just as suddenly as it had begun. The smell was nearly unbearable.

Hermione muttered *\"Vapor Plaisir\"* and a rush of sweet-pea scented air swept in and cleared the burnt stench from the hall. Draco\'s eyes lit on hers and she shook her head as a grin played on her lips. This little episode, no doubt, would be reported on in tomorrow\'s \'Daily Prophet.\' But she had to admit, Draco had a great sense of style.

(Very dramatic, love.)

(Thank you. You\'ve got a nose for drama, too.)

Hermione was stunned. (I heard that, you know.)

(Magus by-product, you know that.)

(I\'d forgotten.) And she had. Every now and again Hermione could catch snatches of Draco\'s thoughts, or he, hers. This was the first complete conversation they had ever had. It was a bit disconcerting but they soon got over it.

(Come on, Hermione. Let\'s leave these Nosy Parkers to their tittle-tattle.) He held out a hand to her.

(I\'m right there.) Hermione gathered her things and went over to Draco. Taking his hand they walked out amid a veritable inferno of whispering.
**************

The day passed without further event but of course, conversations either died abruptly or began madly, depending on the crowd. Hermione and Draco had hoped that her fellow students would\'ve been a bit more circumspect about the whole affair, but that was just wishful thinking. Funnily enough, the gossip wasn\'t just about those two, although they made up the bulk of it. There were also little snippets of conversations concerning normally placid Professor Sinistra\'s Hollywood treatment of Snape\'s acknowledged girlfriend, Jennifer Vector. The really odd thing about that whole angle was that the normally volatile Severus Snape seemed not to give a rat\'s fart about it. Classes progressed as they normally did, Snape perhaps a shade testier than usual.

Dumbledore was maybe vaguer than usual, his eyes twinkling like mad whenever someone looked at him hard enough. The whole of the staff were silent on matters. They preferred to let the students have their fill of gossip, knowing that it would burn itself out in time. But the \"adults\" were having a bit of a giggle over it. The staff room, usually a place of respite, had become a hotbed of furtive whispers and suspicious looks. Everyone within Hogwarts was waiting with bated breath for the next thing to happen.

Unfortunately, nothing happened.

At the end of Thursday, Hermione left Draco outside the Gryffindor portrait hole. \"I\'ve got to try to talk to Ron before this festers,\" she explained.

\"I don\'t know why you bother with him. It\'s obvious he wants to turn his nose up and sit in judgment of you - though he can barely afford it.\" Draco sneered meanly.

\"Oh. Much like you used to do?\" Hermione countered with a cocked eyebrow.

\"Yes. But I was always much better looking when I did it.\"

\"I don\'t know about that. Those whiskers that Ron\'s growing are really very cute,\" the Head Girl replied coquettishly.

\"Granger. If you so much as even k* ik* in Weasley\'s direction, I\'ll-\"

\"You\'ll do nothing. And a girl\'s entitled to look. I\'m not dead, Draco Malfoy. And if I recall correctly, you\'ve done your share of more than just \'looking.\'\"

Draco had the good grace to flush a tiny little bit. \"Point taken.\" He stepped away from her, noticing the Fat Lady nearly falling out of her frame trying to hear and see what they were doing. \"Go patch it up with your friend.\" He gave her a kiss and smacked her on the bum, walking away.

\"Pervert.\" Hermione just shook her head at his retreating back. \"Orange Zest.\" The portrait swung open and Hermione walked in. There were groups of Gryffindors crammed into the common room, but Ron was nowhere to be found. Lavender was sitting at a table gossiping as usual with Parvati.

\"Lavender.\" Hermione walked over to where the blonde and her dark-haired friend sat. Lavender gave Hermione a baleful glare. The girl obviously resented what she considered Hermione\'s \'hold\' on Ron and perhaps Hermione\'s relationship with someone \'outside the fold\'. Hermione ignored it and pressed on. \"Have you seen Ron anywhere? I need to talk to him.\"

Lavender made a face. \"No, I haven\'t seen him, but if you find him give him a message for me.\"

\"Sure...\" Hermione replied warily.

\"You tell him he either has to get his act together or we\'re through. And I\'m not going to take him back like I did before.\"

(Before? How interesting. I\'ll have to ask Ron about that...) \"No problem. Ta.\"

Lavender didn\'t reply, she turned her head away from Hermione, giving her a bit of a snub.

(So that\'s the way the wind blows. Pity.) Hermione left the common room to find Ron. It didn\'t take much. He was pacing the grass of the Quidditch pitch.

Hermione remembered that this was his favorite place to think when something was troubling the redhead. Ron had a pensive look on his face. (Uh-oh...he\'s been thinking. Not a good sign.)

She squared her shoulders and went over to her best friend. \"Knut for your thoughts?\"

Ron gave her a mean look and began walking away. Hermione was able to keep fair pace with him. They\'d walked the circumference of the pitch twice more before Ron decided to speak.

\"Out of all the people in the bloody world, Hermione! The bloody bouncing ferret. Have you no house loyalty?\"

\"Sorry, Ron. kind of how the chips fell.\"

\"And after...\" He cut himself off, exercising a bit of discretion for once.

\"No, finish. After what?\"

Ron stopped his strides. \"After I found you...I thought that maybe you and I would, you know.\"

\"Oh, you did *not*.\"

\"I hoped, Hermione.\" Ron gave Hermione those puppy-dog eyes.

\"Pfft.\" She quickly smothered the laughter that sprang to her lips. \"Come on. We were a wrong fit right from the start.\"

\"Maybe so. But Malfoy??\"

\"What can I say? He does it for me.\" For once she didn\'t intellectualize it, just stated the simple truth.

\"You have really strange tastes, you know that?\"

\"Does this mean I\'m forgiven?\"

\"No. But it\'s a start.\" Ron gave her a lopsided grin.

\"At least you\'re honest.\" Hermione paused. \"What are you going to do about Lavender? She\'s been sulking since you decided to pout about me. She swears she\'s not going to take you back like last time.\"

\"Damn. She means it, too.\"

\"I wasn\'t aware that you two had even broken up.\"

\"We did. Right after the Christmas hols.\"

\"You were together then?\"

\"Yeah, but I still carried a torch.\" Ron tu on on one of Hermione\'s curls.

She cocked her head to the side. \"D\'you still?\"

\"It\'s an iffy proposition, Herm. Let\'s just say I\'m getting there. The thought of you and Malfoy is disgusting me enough where I can kind of jettison all musings of you and me.\"

Hermione was incensed and indignant. \"Oh...I\'ve dirtied myself with a Malfoy, is that it?\"

\"So to speak. But why should it bother you so much? According to you, we never had a chance.\"

\"True, but you could\'ve kept that part to yourself.\"

\"There\'s other Weasleys who wouldn\'t really give a damn, Herm. Charlie, for instance.\"

\"Redheads aren\'t my type.\" She flashed him a cocky grin.

\"Touche. Damn Lavender. What am I going to do about her?\"

\"Do you love her, Ron?\"

\"I think I do,\" he replied in inimitable Ron fashion.

\"Then I think abject begging is the right way to go.\"

\"No, mistress! Not the begging!\"

\"Yes. Begging.\" Hermione planted her hands on his arms and began pushing him out of the arena and back towards the castle.

They were halfway across the grass of the pitch when she felt the familiar tingle begin in her palms. Ron felt it, too. It was a strange sort of tugging: a plucking at the skin of his arms. The smell of roses enveloped them as if they drifted in a cloud of flowers. Neither felt the need to speak. They stood there, letting the sweet, gentle scents pull their awareness of the other into a different realm. Ron and Hermione didn\'t know how long they stood there; it felt like it had been an eternity. Hermione pulled her hands away and Ron swung around to look at her quizzically.

Ron lifted the sleeves of his rugby shirt. There on his upper arms were two perfect roses. They weren\'t fully opened blooms like the other members of the order, but instead were delicately petaled buds. Hermione\'s facile brain worked like mad. Rosebuds always symbolized potential. (How fitting,) she thought with a smile.

\"You\'ve gone and marked me, Herm.\" Ron had a morose expression.

\"So it would appear.\"

\"Lavender\'s going to kill me when she sees this.\"

Hermione laughed. \"Tell her you joined a gang and that\'s your initiation. In a sense, it\'d be the truth.\"

\"Lav\ot sot stupid, Herm. I mean, she may not be Head Girl material, but she\'s really smart.\" Ron frowned at his friend.

Hermione was taken aback. She hadn\'t expected Ron to come to Lavender\'s defense. But then, he *was* the girl\'s boyfriend. \"Sorry. I put my foot in it, Ron.\"

\"Apology accepted. Come on, we\'ve got to get back to the castle before they get all suspicious.\" He gave her a lopsided grin and the two of them set off.