Hermione Granger and the Secret Fire

Chapter 4-Uncomfortable doesn’t even begin to describe it


“Miss Granger,” Professor Snape began, “close your mouth and close the door on your way out.”

Hermione just stared at her Potions Professor. Her brain, usually so good at processing information, was stuck. No part was working. It wasn’t even thinking. It was locked in on what it was observing, but it wouldn’t process the stimuli. Hermione was sure she looked like the old Muggle truism; a deer stuck in the headlights. The trouble was that this deer was stuck in the headlights of a rather large lorry.

‘Is that really Misten? Why would Misten be here? Where are the students I just heard having sex? Why is Professor Snape here? Who would be having sex in front of Professor Snape?’ she thought in record speed.

“Miss Granger! Please leave!” ordered Professor Snape.

Hermione turned around quickly and vacated the classroom. She was halfway back to her dorm before she began to understand what she had walked in on in the classroom. “Oh my Gods! Misten and Snape were doing…what were they doing? Why were they even in there?’

And then, right before she got to the Portrait of the Mime Priestess, the entire sequence of what she had just witnessed dawned on her. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks crashing down on her head. In fact, the thought hit her so hard she had to stop walking to catch the breath that escaped her. ‘MISTEN was with Professor Snape having…what? She had thought that the noises she heard were two people having sex. Hermione firmly believed that she was walking in on two students having sex!

‘I know that he’s human and a man and all, but SEX? With Snape?’ Hermione was by no means a prude, but she really never thought about her Professors having sexual relations with anyone. That would require her to think of Professor Dumbledore in the throes of passion. Or, even worse, having to imagine Professor McGonagall having an orgasm! She shuddered at the visualization now burning in her brain.

‘But Misten couldn’t have been having sex with anyone. She is a good student, who is worried about her grades and who transferred from that school in Chicago for…doing exactly that! OH MY GODS! Misten had transferred because she had been in a sexual relationship with a Professor! Misten had transferred because she had been in a sexual relationship with her POTIONS Professor!’ A wave of nausea slammed into Hermione.

‘But they were still dressed, right? They were still fully dressed, right?’ she thought as she finally tumbled into the common room. ‘Oh Gods, why can’t I remember if they were both fully dressed?’

Hermione flopped into one of the leather couches close to the fire. Normally, a fantastically comfortable seat like the one she was presently settled in with a warm inviting fire would cause Hermione to unwind and finally relax from her day. But tonight, after what she had just seen, Hermione was anything but comfortable. In fact, uncomfortable didn’t even begin to describe what she was feeling!

‘Misten was doing what with Snape?’ she thought. But all her brain could process was what she had heard before she saw the two of them together. Crookshanks meowing and curling up on her lap momentarily disturbed her line of thought.

“I don’t know what I just saw, Crookshanks. But I hope it is not what I think it was!” Hermione whispered. Crookshanks had been her only true confidant for the last three years. She often talked to him as if he could understand (which she was secretly sure he could).

No matter what Hermione did, she couldn’t derail the thought train currently traveling on a crash course in her brain. After sitting for what seemed like hours, she got up and proceeded to get ready for bed.

Hermione walked into the lavatory and started by washing her face. She was part way through her evening ritual of getting ready for bed, when she heard a noise. She carefully and quietly snuck over to Malfoy’s door, where she thought the noise had come from.

‘Voices. I hear voices. But that is crazy. Malfoy is at home for a family function, isn’t he?’ she thought.

Once again, Hermione heard the voices chattering and then she heard a noise suspiciously like the one she had heard in the dungeons earlier that night. Hermione’s eyes widened with horror as she realized what she was hearing.

‘Oh Gods! Malfoy is having sex! Malfoy is having SEX IN THE NEXT ROOM! Am I the only one in the castle not having sex tonight? Granted, I have never had it before, so I’d be a stretch that I would be having it tonight, but for Gods sake! What in the hell is the matter with people? Can’t they be quiet when they have sex? Why must I hear them?’

Hermione went from mortified to irritated in short form. She practically ran back to the sink to finish her routine when she heard a loud “OH, GOD, YES! YES! YES!”

Hermione decided she didn’t care if she wasn’t done with her evening schedule; she was going back into her dorm room, warding the door and never coming back out!

~*~
The next morning, Hermione honestly thought she was going to be bombarded with the sounds of heavy action coming from Draco’s room again. She was pleasantly surprised to hear the sweet sounds of silence instead.

She decided to read in the common room because it had the most comfortable couches. “Okay,” she said mostly to Crookshanks, but also aloud to herself, as she grabbed her Transfiguration textbook. “If I was being honest with myself, I’d admit I am curious as to who is in Malfoy’s room with him. But really, it’s the comfort of the furniture drawing me to the common room!”

Hermione skipped down the steps and snuggled in on the couch. She read for almost an hour before she heard a noise just outside the portrait that made her look up. Malfoy walked into the common room, followed closely by Professor Snape. Hermione just about swallowed her teeth. ‘Oh Gods, it’s too soon to run into them already! And then it has to be both of them in the same place at the same time? Together? Really? Oh, how lovely,’ she thought as she tried to duck down before they saw her. The irony of her words was not lost on her. To-get-her. ‘In this case,’ she thought sardonically, ‘the words just might be true.’

“So I told my Father that I would, of course, be there. As we discussed before I left here yesterday, I thought it would be prudent to…” Draco drawled as he strolled into the room. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the room was already occupied.

“Granger? Nice look. How typical of you to come out of that room that should be called your ‘cave’ looking like something that even your cat wouldn’t drag in,” Malfoy snickered.

Hermione didn’t even have time to be insulted as she jockeyed looks between her Professor, who she had heard having sex last night, and her roommate, who, by some quirk of fate, she had also heard having sex last night!

“Yeah, I was just going,” Hermione managed to get out of her mouth before she bolted for her bedroom.

Hermione got dressed and opened her door a crack to hear if anyone was still in the common room. Hearing no voices, she ventured out and quickly took the steps intent on running out the entrance. Luck, however, was not on her side.

“Granger, where are you going? It’s only 9:00 in the am. The library doesn’t open for another two hours,” Malfoy asked, now alone, sitting on the couch doing revisions.

Hermione looked at Malfoy and wished, once again, for Harry’s invisibility cloak so she could make a clean exit.

“Ah…Malfoy,” she stammered. ‘THINK Hermione. Think of something to say. Say anything!’

“I didn’t realize you were coming back last night,” she finally got out.

“What are you talking about? Why would you care where I was?” Malfoy said, looking at her strangely.

Hermione could feel her face becoming red and warm. She knew she was blushing because all she could think of was the girl screaming in his room the night before.
However, the longer she stood there, the more her embarrassment became anger. She was angry, damn it!

“Look Malfoy. Your room is your room, but I would appreciate it if you could keep your little escapades out of our space.”

“Escapades? What are you talking about?”

Hermione looked at him incredulously. Was he actually going to sit there and deny it? “Malfoy, I heard your little girlfriend last night.”

“What are you talking about Granger? Not that it is any of your business, but I was…wait. What did you hear?” Malfoy said, suddenly very interested in the change in conversation.

Hermione could not believe that he was going to try to cover up for the noises she had clearly heard. She firmly expected him to brag and make fun of her for not having a visitor too. “What do you mean, what did I hear? I heard enough to know what was going on in there. And please don’t make me relive that experience, even if it is only to replay it in my mind.”

“Did you hear a male voice, or a female voice? Or did you hear two female voices?” he added with a smirk.

“Ugg. Don’t put that picture in my head. Look just don’t bring back any of your floozies to our suite again, okay?” Hermione winced in mental pain as the words came out of her mouth.

Malfoy seemed to accept what she said at first, but then blanched at the words. “What is it to you, anyway. This suite is half mine and I will bring back whomever I want, whenever I want. As long as I am not having sex in your room, you have no say.”

Hermione almost threw up at the thought of him in her room having sex. “Bullocks. This is our suite and I won’t have that going on here. You’ll just have to find someplace else to do that. You’re a Slytherin. I thought Slytherins were supposed to be crafty and clever. Think of another place, and then go there.”

Malfoy, who had been lounging on the couch, jumped up and ran to stand in front of Hermione.

“I will not! This is our suite and that means I can do whatever I want in my half. Just because your Gryffindor arse could never get anyone to come back here but Potty or Weasel, doesn’t mean I have to be punished. Oh wait, you can’t even get them to come back here because they have chosen other girls over you!”

Malfoy’s words were mean and hurtful. And, truth be told, they stung more than a little bit. Hermione was amazed that he always seemed to know which insult to say to do the most harm. It seemed like he had a radar to know what words would leave the biggest damage.

Hermione thought quickly and decided to plant an evil insult of her own. “Just because you can get your Daddy and Mommy to buy you anything you want, it does not mean that you can have carte blanche here, too. Or don’t they care enough to be interested in who or what you want?”

Hermione’s brain registered the anguish on Malfoy’s face as she said the words. Then she remembered Malfoy’s mothers’ death and immediately felt horrible.

Malfoy, however, went from mildly annoyed to absolutely furious. “DON’T pretend you know anything about my life and don’t talk about my mother, again.” He turned around and stomped out of the common room before Hermione could even apologize.

~*~

Hermione left the common room and decided to go for a walk. She went outside and began the long walk around the lake. Her mind was swimming from all the events of the past week. Somewhere around the middle of her walk, the tears started flowing freely.

‘Malfoy has been hot and cold since we got back from school. At least when he was always cold I knew what to expect from him. Now, half the time he is angry and argumentative, while the other half he’s sort of thoughtful and almost considerate. These moments of sticky sweetness are nearly too much to take,’ she cried. ‘For Gods sake, he’s almost as hormonal as a girl!’

‘And then there is Misten. What the hell was she doing with Snape last night? Why would she be starting a relationship with a Professor again? And if she wants to royally fuck up her life, why would she do it with Snape? Why is it that the one person I was finally feeling comfortable being myself around had to go and do something so incredibly stupid?

“What is it in my personality that attracts sadistic, depressing homicidal maniacs? First Harry and all his You-know-Who dramas, and Ron with his ‘I am a temperamental, stereotypical redhead and I am going to blow a gasket every time something doesn’t go the exact way I plan!’ Do I crave some attention to be needed? Do I have some desire to be emotionally wanted? It’s almost like I have to prove my intelligence by surrounding myself with people who are obviously too stupid, maniacal and perilous to get themselves out of trouble without me. I apparently like to be around people who are disadvantaged and clingy!” she continued to mutter to herself, half out loud.

Hermione unrelenting self-barrage went on until she reached the castle once again. She walked inside and decided to go to the library to look for a self-help book on dealing with irrational, dangerous wizards and witches and the idiots that loved them!

Hermione cherished the library, not just because she found that it provided her the calmness and serenity she needed to concentrate, although that was a lot of it. No, she loved that the books never expected anything back from her. They weren’t looking for advice or someone to solve all their problems. They never demanded her attention and if she had a pressing matter to take care of, they were willing to wait.

Books provided Hermione with knowledge on every subject she needed to know about, whenever the situation was presented. And Hermione was not the type of person who liked not knowing something about any subject. She also never had to be witty with books or worry if what she was thinking or saying was the appropriate thing. She could vegetate in front of them and think, or she could escape into another world and not think of anything at all. She could just be herself. Her neurotic, ‘thinks to much but absolutely needed by everyone on the planet’ self.

Sighing as she walked in, Hermione headed for her favorite table in the back corner. She did a fine job of ignoring some of the fourth year Gryffindors who, she was pretty sure, just wanted her attention to talk about boys.

She was almost there when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Hermione? Are you okay? You look like you have been crying!”

She turned toward the familiar, but not needed, voice. “No, Ron. I am not okay. Are you always this observant? Ron, the Master of the Obvious!”

Hermione looked up and saw the concern and worry fixed on Ron’s face. Harry popped out from behind a row of books and mirrored Ron’s look.

“What are you guys doing in here anyway? You never do homework when I am not around,” Hermione shot at them with a little more venom than she intended.

“Maybe that was true in the past, Hermione,” Harry reasoned coming up to stand in front of his friends. “But you are never around any more and if Ron and I have it in mind to graduate, we’ll have to start sometime.”

“Yeah, too bad that time isn’t now, though. We’re here researching, something…ah…extracurricular,” Ron whispered.

Hermione rolled her eyes and hoped it wasn’t something sexual. She had dealt with more of that than she cared to dwell on.

“We have had a situation arise and we may need some new spells to deal with it,” Harry said cryptically.

“Well why are you in this section? The best spell books are behind the Magical Creature section,” Hermione said before thinking. ‘Wasn’t I just complaining that I was tired of being in situations where I was needed for my intelligence? I guess I do crave some attention to be needed.’

“Thanks Hermione!” Ron said and then bounded off towards the correct section without a second of thought as to his original intent for stopping her.

“Seriously, Hermione, what’s the matter?” Harry asked gently, not forgetting his manners.

Hermione sighed and gave great thought as to what to tell him. “Nothing, Harry. Just forget about it.”

“Are you sure? Ron’s and my research can wait,” Harry said as his eyes trailed over to where Ron was investigating.

“Yep. I am fine.” Hermione said valiantly. Her tone was lost on Harry.

“Okay. We’ll catch up later. You just have to hear why we need the potion!” Harry announced as he walked backwards over to Ron.

‘This is why I hate being friends with boys.’ Hermione laid her head down on the table and was interrupted by another Gryffindor voice.

“Hey, Hermione. Did you get that Potions project done?” Misten questioned as she set her bag on the table. “Ohh! What’s wrong with you?”

Hermione sighed as she picked up her head and looked in the cool, enveloping, and wide blue eyes of one of the people who were the source of the unbelievable amount of stress in her life. “Nothing, Misten. Please, can’t anyone just forget about it?”

“No way. I can see you are really upset. Talk to me, Hermione,” she begged.

Hermione was tempted to hassle her ‘friend’ after last night’s encounter, but her upbringing made her think better of it. “I said something to Malfoy that was inappropriate.”

“Uh-oh! What happened?”

Hermione’s crave for female friendship overrode her personal embarrassment by what she said. “I overheard Malfoy having sex last night when I was in the bathroom. It upset me so I confronted him this morning.”

Misten looked at her strangely and said, “I thought he was at home last night. Didn’t you say he was staying at Malfoy Manor this weekend?”

Hermione seemed to not hear her and continued, “The more we talked about it, the angrier I became and I made a offensive comment about his Mother not caring about him and what he wants.”

Misten’s eyes widened in shock and her mouth twisted into a grimace. “Wow. What did he say?”

“Something about never speaking to him about his Mother again and then he left.”

“Oh wow, Hermione. I am sorry to hear that. Do you think it is repairable?” Misten questioned with compassion in her voice. Something about the concern in her voice shoved Hermione off the very thin ledge on which she was standing.

“Misten, were you having sex with Professor Snape last night?” Hermione quickly slapped her hand over her mouth as the words poured out before she thought them through.

“WHAT? Are you crazy? What makes you think that? And where did that come from? I thought we were talking about Draco?” Misten said, practically shrieking and appalled by Hermione’s comments.

“I think that because I heard two people having sex last night in an empty classroom and I walked in to find you and Professor Snape doing whatever it was you two were doing.” Hermione whispered the words out with growing embarrassment and irritation.

“Whatever you heard was not that,” Misten said, quieter this time but still taken aback by Hermione’s accusation. “I went down to ask him a question about the Potions project and I rested my hand on a desk that had some old potion on it. When I wiped my eyes, I got some particle that was stuck to the desk in my eye. I asked him to help me remove it and he did. How could we have been having sex? We were both still fully dressed. Didn’t you see that?”

‘I guess that could happen,’ Hermione admitted internally. ‘I can’t remember if they were dressed or not!’ But she did remember what she heard as she wandered down the hallway.

“But you were moaning and he was looking for a more comfortable position for you!” Hermione wanted desperately to believe her. She wanted to believe that Misten’s groans of pleasure were due to the relief at getting something uncomfortable out of her rather than getting something put into her.

“We were looking for some place for me to sit down so I’d be relaxed and stop wiggling as he dug into my eye!” Misten giggled nervously. “I can’t believe you thought we were having sex!”

“Oh. You’re not mad at me, are you?” Hermione questioned with a tinge of regret in her voice. She still wasn’t exactly sure how to make up with a female friend. The boys always forgave and forgot. But girls tended to hold grudges longer.

Misten looked at her with mock anger and annoyance, “Well, I suppose you have had quite a difficult week with all your Slytherin problems and raging hormones at catching all the Astronomy Tower perverts. I’ll forgive you this time.”

“Good. Now that we are on the same page, what I am going to do about Malfoy?” Hermione moaned putting her head back into her arms.

“Do you really care what he thinks? I know what you said was bad and all, but it’s not like you and Draco have ever been that friendly. And other than the times you have to work together, do you really think you’ll see him that much?”

“Well considering that I have practically every class with him and we have to share a common room, a lavatory and almost every evening, I think yes, I’ll see him a lot!” Hermione said sarcastically. “Besides, Malfoy has been different this year. He’s been the same, but different. Do you know what I mean?”

“Not really,” laughed Misten. “But do whatever you think is best. Now, I have to get started on this Potions project before the due date gets any closer. Have you started?”

“Yes, actually. I finished it yesterday afternoon,” Hermione answered. “Look, I am going to go back to my common room. It’s time to feed Crookshanks. Do you want to come there and work on your project? We could compare notes?” Hermione knew she had just missed a major land mind with her accusation of Misten’s behavior with Snape before she had all the information. She wanted to make certain that she was forgiven. ‘What better way to do that than an old fashion bribe?’

“Anything is better than listening to Ron and Harry go on about their ‘problem’. Do you even know what they are researching?” Misten questioned.

“No. And I am not sure I want to know.” Hermione said with all seriousness.

Walking back to Hermione’s suite, the girls giggled as they contemplated who had been in Malfoy’s room the night before. They tossed around names from Pansy Parkinson to the one that Hermione hoped was the farthest from the truth, Ginny Weasley.

“I kid you not, Hermione. That girl has an unnatural obsession with his body parts. I know her brother would kill her if she acted on it, but she goes on and on about his stomach and his arms and his…”

“Stop!” Hermione interrupted. “I don’t want to know any more than I do. I have heard for years about Ginny’s obsession of the male body.”

Misten changed the subject back to the project. Even as she explained what she learned from Snape the night before, Hermione still wasn’t sure if Misten was telling the truth. She decided to ignore the pestering questions in favor of having her friend back in good graces. It never occurred to her to ask Misten why she was out of bounds after curfew. It also never occurred to her to ask Misten why she kept calling Malfoy by his given name.

Hermione gave the password to the Mime Priestess and walked into the common room. She had made it a grand total of three steps before she was assaulted with the aroma of cologne weakly covering up some burning smell. Draco was standing next to the fire tossing papers and what looked like childhood mementos into the fire with reckless abandon. He was muttering under his breath and looked like a madman.

“Malfoy? What are you doing?” Hermione asked, her face frowning in confusion.

He spun around to glare at her and she realized he looked more perfidious than normal.

He growled when he said, “Sit down, Granger. We need to talk!”