Gryphon's Wings and Crocodile Tears

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these characters or places; they belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. It’s her world; I just play in it.


Chapter 5-Distraction and Cooperation


Hermione was ecstatic that Harry had come along at exactly the right time to keep her from having to deal with the pain that Ron had caused her. It was so much easier just to dive into another relationship than to deal with the raw anguish she’d tried to come to terms with before she started dating him. She didn’t think that he would cause her any pain, certainly not on purpose.


She threw all of the energy that she wasn’t spending on her schoolwork on him. Part of her knew that there was no way that this could be healthy, but a larger part of her was so sick of feeling woeful that feeling anything that she could mistake for happiness was preferable to what she’d been going through. Besides, for the first time in as long as she could recall she was actually having fun.


Harry had not really been joking when he said that he thought that the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else. He had tried to be careful where Hermione was concerned, but it was not as easy as it seemed. The real problem was that Harry was possessed of a rather common flaw among men; he tended to be oblivious to the subtleties of human behavior. Of course Hermione was not in any condition at the present to see the pitfall into which she was walking.


Harry held the curly haired brunette to him tightly as they gazed at the stars one evening after astronomy (Ron was sulking in a corner, still not talking to either of them.), most of the class had gone to bed and even the professor had retired for the evening. She had left Hermione in charge of the clean up and giving her and a pass to be out of bed after hours. Ron slammed his bottle of ink down onto one of the ramparts of the Astronomy Tower and cursed, both because the bottle had shattered and because it seemed that this had failed to get the attention of either of the two of them. He blushed the brilliant Weasley Red and stalked off to bed, grumbling all the way.


It was difficult to say if the other remaining students were chased off by Ron’s surly behavior or by the cold front, which had begun to settle in during the past twenty minutes. Hermione shivered as she left Harry’s embrace to check if the two of them were alone. She was glad to see that the two of them were alone, at last. She was even more pleased to discover that everyone, save Ronald, had made at minimum a pedestrian attempt at cleaning up.


She frowned as she began to gather the shattered remnants of the bottle that had once held Ron’s s ink. She set the shards aside and cleaned the puddle of ink with a flick of her wand. She sighed and shook her head as she gathered the pieces of glass, “Ouch!” One of the offending shards found its way into her palm, she was bleeding. Harry tore a strip off of the bottom of his robes and bound her wound so tightly that it hurt. She knew that this was the only way to stop the bleeding, but that didn’t stop it from hurting.


After helping her to clean up Harry decided to try something that might distract her from the pain. He proved to be good enough at this particular tactic, within moments all she could think of was how amazing it felt when he was inside her. A good fucking always seemed to distract her from the important things she should be worried about.


For the past three months she had been able to count on his particular brand of distraction whenever the world became too real for her to handle. She also had herself convinced that it was only sex that she wanted from Harry. In reality she wanted, needed, a confidant not a piece of ass. Unfortunately, she was so hurt that her thoughts were severely addled, she could not think clearly.


The two of them walked back to the Gryffindor common room in an idle pace. As the two of them stepped through the portrait hole only one person remained awake, Ginny. She seemed cross with something, but Hermione was too tried to find out with what or whom tonight. She wished both of them goodnight, kissed Harry on the cheek and ascended the spiral staircase to her dormitory.


The next morning her hand was throbbing, and the cut looked infected. The skin around it was hot, swollen and sensitive. She would have to see Madam Pomfrey, but not now, as she was running late for Defense Against the Dark Arts. She threw her robes on and pulled her hair back into a ponytail before rushing to the classroom with just enough time to compose herself before class began.


The teacher of the clandestine subject, for this year anyway, was Mad-Eye Moody. The real Mad-Eye Moody this time not an imposter, such as the one who had taught the same subject in her fourth year. Dumbledore thought it prudent to keep as many members of the Order of the Phoenix as close at hand as possible. (He did not want any unpleasant surprises if the Death Eaters decided to strike at Harry whilst he was at school.)


He tried to be fair, but he as his imposter had, showed utter contempt for the children of those that Harry had named as Death Eaters, whether it was deserved or not. He was, however, able to keep his noxious attitude from affecting their grades. It was rather fortunate for him that most children who come from such contemptible stock lacked the proficiency demanded by Moody’s rigorous lesson plans.


He smiled, knowingly, at Hermione and Harry as he took his place at the desk in front of the room. Hermione hoped that he hadn’t been using his magical eye to spy on the two of them while they were…together. She doubted that he would do such a thing on purpose, but it might have been an accident. Still this did little to comfort her, she blushed a light pink the next time Moody’s eye fell on her.


Mad-Eye informed the class that today’s lesson would be a practical one in which teamwork was the key to a passing grade, but there was a catch. They would not be allowed to work with a friend. A loud groan slipped from nearly every mouth in the room simultaneously. The reason for this bizarre arrangement was because, as Moody so accurately put it, “You will not get the luxury of working with your best-buddy when you get a real job. In fact, you may end up working with some real pieces of work.” His eyes lingered for a moment over those at the Slytherin tables as Moody made this last point.


Hermione was a bit shocked that it was she not Harry who’d been paired with Draco Malfoy. Draco had not said a word to her since that day in the Entrance Hall three months ago, his eyes were filled with cold fury and he sneered at her evilly when the two of them were announced as a pair. She was really shocked when Harry was paired with Ron, but then again the two of them weren’t what one would call friendly at the moment.


Moody finished assigning the remainder of the class and bade them follow him into a replica of the forbidden forest, which he had created for this occasion. He deposited different pairs in different places and left them to figure out the answer to the puzzle that bound them within the magical forest.


Draco tried to wander away from Hermione for a full half hour before he gave up on that tactic and he sat fixing her with the same stare as he had when he learned that the two of them would be partnered for this insane experiment. He eventually realized that Moody hadn’t been kidding that the pairs had to work together to escape the trap.


He grudgingly asked Hermione for her thoughts on the matter and she suggested that they try to find a way to mark from whence they’d come, so that they did not continue in circles. He shrugged it had been hours since breakfast, and his appetite became his greatest motivation to cooperate with her. His only motivation, he told himself, a small piece of him realized that this was not true, but it was drown out by his grumbling stomach.


Hermione only cooperated with him so that she could get a good grade. It did not matter to her that she’d been partnered with Draco; she’d work just as professionally with anyone. She did think that it was fortunate that if she had to be stuck with someone who she didn’t like that it was nice that he was easy on her eyes. ‘If only he’d never open that bloody trap of his,’ she thought.


They heard a rustling in the bushes behind them and reached for their wands immediately, a split second later a soft little brown rabbit hopped from that bush and both of them were nearly rolling with laughter. It hopped away, frightened by the noise that the two of them had made. As Hermione went to put her wand away she winced as it caught in the bandage on her right hand. She was confused, one moment Draco was ready to fight her, the next he was wearing an expression that conveyed…concern?


He closed the gap between them in only three steps and he tenderly unwrapped the bandage to reveal the angry wound. He shot her a look of puzzlement and asked why she hadn’t bothered to see the nurse about the cut as soon as it happened. She told him that she didn’t have the time. He smirked, but a bit more friendly than his usual smirk. Draco took his wand from his pocket and with whispered words he healed her wound. “I’m sorry, I can’t do anything for the scar.”


She nodded her head dumbly. An instant later the magical forest around them appeared to dissipate, it was now well past noon. Moody gave them a smile and informed them that they were the first to complete the task. He also said that food and drink awaited them in their respective common rooms.


Draco walked in front of her on the way back up to the castle, but still within earshot. “Thank you,” she said just before he entered the doors. He turned and looked at her in the most peculiar way, not hateful nor caring and he nodded his head. She walked to her common room in as much confusion as he walked to his.