Trials of Affliction and Light Sleeping

Chapter four

 

        “Hermione, can I talk to you for a second?”

         “Sure Harry.  What’s up?” 
Hermione answered as she put her book down.  Even though she had her own private quarters,
she occasionally still liked to study in the Gryffindor common room.  Just as long as there
weren’t many people around to bother her anyway.  Privacy was great, but Hermione didn’t like
the thought of becoming alienated from her friends.  Tonight everyone seemed to be out and about
and it was just her and Harry.

         “It’s kind of embarrassing,” Harry said
in a whisper as he sat himself down in a chair next to her.

         “You
know you can talk to me about anything” Hermione assured him.

         “You see, normally I’d talk to Ron
about this sort of thing.  But I don’t
think he’d be so open minded about this...” he trailed
off.

         “Is it a guy-problem?”  Hermione asked.

         “Sort of” Harry said.

         “Just tell me.  I won’t tell anyone,” Hermione pressed, now
being quite interested.  She never
got to hear about any guy-problems and was fairly curious.  She, Ron and Harry were still as good of
friends as they were the day they defeated the mountain troll, but puberty did
get in the way of certain things.  Harry
and Ron limited themselves to consulting each other when it came to guy-things,
things they didn’t feel comfortable in sharing with Hermione.  She respected that, but felt a bit left
out.  She on the other hand
wouldn’t feel iffy in discussing her feminine problems with them.  But it had been evident from very early on
that they really didn’t feel comfortable in listening to anything she had to
say about that sort of thing.  Hermione
still vividly remembered the looks on their faces when in fourth year she had
proudly announced to them that her period had finally come through.  After that, they had not dared to make eye
contact with her for over a week.  So
from then on, she had wisely ceased her attempts to male/female bounding.

         “Okay” Harry said as he leaned closer
to her so no one could hear him, not that anyone was around.  “I need to ask you something.  Have you ever... fancied a girl?”

         “Me?” 
Hermione asked.

         “Yes” Harry nodded.

         “Fancied girls?”

         “Yes”

         “No. 
I mean, not really.  I
think some girls are pretty and/or interesting but nothing beyond that.  But, you know, I’m human and have had some
fantasies about certain people” she said, thinking about some daydreams she had
had about Fleur Delacour during her fourth year, but you had to be both deaf
and blind not to be attracted to the girl. 
And Hermione also had repeatedly caught herself in letting her eyes
wander to Lavender’s chest, which had grown into quite a nice rack.  But she supposed that that was more
admiration than anything else. 

“But I’ve never seriously considered dating one” Hermione continued.  “I mean, I could.  It wouldn’t gross me out.  But it would just be weird.  Girls are too girly.”

         “Ah” Harry said, thinking about this
information.

         “Why?” 
Hermione asked.

         Harry sighed.

         “Do you fancy a guy?”  Hermione asked.

         “No!”  Harry spat. 
“I mean, yes...  I mean, no!  Merlin, I don’t know what I mean.”

         “If it’s any consolation, it’s normal
to be confused about your sexual preferences at our age” Hermione said while
patting Harry’s head, which he had smacked it flat onto the table.

         “Really?” he asked, raising his head
again.

         “Sure” Hermione said soothingly.

         “But it just popped out of
nowhere!”  Harry said helplessly.  “It’s unsettling.  I’ve never fancied blokes and now-”

         “Do you still fancy girls?”  Hermione asked.

         “Yeah.”

         “And you also fancy guys?”

         “Y- no.”

         Hermione frowned.

         “I don’t get it,” she said.

         “It’s just one guy really,” he
admitted.  “And the weird thing is, now
that I think about it, I really don’t fancy him.”

         “Now you’ve lost me,” Hermione said.

         “I don’t get it either.”

         “Would you consider dating him?”  Hermione asked.

         “Ew, no!”  Harry said with a sour face.

         “Would you consider kissing him?”

         Harry shook his head, keeping that sour
expression firmly into place.

         “So let me get this straight: You don’t
want to date the guy, you don’t want to kiss the guy, you don’t even like him,
yet he makes you question your sexual orientation?”

         “Yes” Harry answered.

         “How?”

         “I came in close contact with him
and... rather liked it.”

         “You got an erection.”

         “Hermione!”  Harry yelled in shock.

         “What?” 
Hermione asked.  “Isn’t it true?”

         “Well yes” Harry admitted wile a blush
crept on his face.  “But you shouldn’t
say it.”

         “Fine, I’ll never say ERECTION again”
Hermione said with a grin, trying to lighten the mood a little.  It was both annoying and endearing as to how
her friends still regarded her as this innocent little girl who hadn’t yet
discovered the existence of hormones. 
But she supposed that had to be expected.  It had taken them until fourth year to have
it sink in that she was a girl. 
At this rate, she would probably be menopausal when they would finally
realise that she was a girl who had as much wants and needs as any other.

“How long have you been sitting on this anyway?” she asked Harry.

         “Only a day” Harry said.  “But it has been confusing the hell out of
me.  Talking to you helped though.  Don’t you want to throw any embarrassing
girl-talk my way to even the odds?”

         Hermione grinned.

         “Sure” she said.  “There’s this nasty itch that has been
bothering me for a while.  I had a yeast
infection a while back so I think-“

         “Wow!  Stop!  Never mind!”  Harry
shrieked.

         “I’m just pulling your leg, Harry”
Hermione chuckled.

Suddenly wheels started turning in her head.

         It has only been bothering him for one
day.  Therefore, it must have happened
yesterday.

Close contact?  The
incident in the corridor.

*Ding! Ding! Ding!*

         “It’s Malfoy isn’t it?”  Hermione suddenly asked.

Harry’s deer-caught-in-headlights facial expression answered that
question quite nicely.

“Oh Harry, I don’t think it’s you. 
Something very odd has been going on with Malfoy, but I just don’t know
what” Hermione said as she got up and marched towards the portrait hole.  “But I intend to find out.”

Halfway towards the exit she halted, turned around and went back to give
Harry a hug.

         “Thank for having a guy-talk with me”
she said as she squeezed him tightly. 
“And I’ll always love you even if you turn out to be gay and it isn’t
some trick Malfoy is pulling.”

         “Er- thanks” Harry stuttered as
Hermione ran back towards the portrait hole and out
into the hallway towards the library.

*

         “-and Ginny Weasley
scores!  Another ten points
to Gryffindor!” the broadcaster’s voice bellowed throughout the Quidditch
field.

Where was that damn Snitch?! Draco really wanted to get this over
with.  It was damn uncomfortable to be
sitting on a broom while sporting an erection. 
No matter how you positioned yourself or how many times you readjusted
your pants, it still was damn painful.

He just wished that that damn Potter would stop circling about on his
stupid Firebolt.  Hasn’t anyone ever
noticed the double meaning of the sentence ‘riding a broomstick’?  Draco now noticed and it was accompanied with
graphic pictures.  Why did Potter have to
look so damn hot with the wind blazing through his hair?  And not to mention the
leather.  Now he knew why all the
girls liked the Quidditch uniforms so much.

Damn hormones!

         And the question on when Draco’s
seduction powers would be activating had also been answered.

         Loud and clearly.

         It had taken up most of Draco’s
willpower to crawl out of the foetal position he had placed himself in while
hiding under the sink of his bathroom.

         Snape had licked his ear!

         He just hoped that it really had been
because of his seduction powers or that would be twice as disturbing.  By itself, it was enough to send a person off
his rocker and into the closed ward of St. Mungo’s.

        

         “-and
Potter’s got the snitch!  Gryffindor wins!”

         “WHAT!?”  Draco
shrieked as cheers erupted from the stands around him.  He looked towards the other end of the field
and saw Potter proudly holding the Snitch, his team mates joining him in some
sort of primal victory dance.

Had Draco
actually just spaced out and forgotten about the match?

         Fuck!

         “Malfoy!  What the hell happened?”  Pucey shouted as the Slytherin team touched
ground.

         “I-“ Draco
stammered.

         “Did you just let them
win?”  Blaise asked crossly.

         “No I did not *let* them win!”  Draco shouted as he walked towards the
castle, both angry at himself as at the rudeness of his teammates.  He might have been at fault, but he still was
a Malfoy and demanded respect.

         “But you didn’t even try to-“ Crabbe pitched in.

         “Look,” Draco yelled as he
twisted around and faced his peers, “I know this didn’t go as planned, but
I’m not going to grovel for your forgiveness. 
We lost... again.  We’ll deal...
again.  And-”

        

         Draco stopped ranting and took in the
looks his angry teammates were giving him. 
They were looking at him oddly, as if he had just grown an extra head or
something.

         “What?” 
Draco asked them warily.

         “You are so hot when you’re
angry!”  Pucey said in awe.

         “I-“ Draco
stammered.

         “Do you already have a date to the end
of the year dance?”  Blaise asked
eagerly.

         “I-“

         “I’ve got a real life Basilisk in my
trunk!”  Goyle said.  “Want to come up to my room and see?”

         “I-”

         Draco did the only thing he could come
up with.

         He ran.

*

         Draco slammed the door behind him as he
entered his common room.  He flinched as
he turned around and came face to face with Granger, who had her arms crossed
in front of her chest in a very determined way.

         “Wha-?  Granger
what the fuck are you doing?” 
Draco shrieked as Hermione suddenly turned him over and pushed him
against the wall face forward.

By Morgana’s Bane, she was freakishly strong!

As he was trying to struggle away from her gip she bend
him over and started tucking out his shirt. 

Was she going to try and rape him?

Not to mention how?

Damn those fucking seduction powers!

Suddenly he heard her gasp and stop her assaults, yet still firmly
keeping him in place.

“You really are a Veela!” she said breathlessly as she released him from
her grip.

Draco turned around with a glare and was about to ask her how she knew,
until it had sunken in.

The bunny tail.

Shit!

 

***********

End of
Chapter 4