The Adult World

Chapter 5: A mistake


They were evil. Every last one of them… and they were taking over the school. Hermione had never been one for violence, but she seriously considered strangling a few of them. The first week had been fine. It wasn’t until they were comfortable that they began to show their true colors. She didn’t know where she went wrong. Why were they tormenting her?

The first years were the ones that had Hermione wary. She wasn’t sure if they would behave. She was wrong though. Teaching them the basics was one of the easiest parts of her day. It was actually the third years that gave her the most trouble. They didn’t listen, talked to each other during most of the class, and spent more time messing potions up, than making anything that resembled what she put on the board. She decided to blame it all on hormones.

By the third week, there had already been four explosions, two fires, and a number of students sent to the infirmary with green skin. She didn’t know if she wanted to scream, or cry. She felt like if something didn’t change, that she would seriously lose her mind.

Today had been no exception. Hermione mumbled the password to the cranky old lady and pulled the portrait door open. She wasn’t surprised to see Malfoy relaxing in one of the plush chairs in front of the fire place. He was lucky. He only taught DADA to fourth years and up. With his extra time, he took over the job of teaching flying lessons to the first years and coached Quidditch during the season.

Draco looked up from his book and chuckled. “Look what the cat drug in! You look like you’ve been rolling around in the fire place Granger. You really should at least try to look decent.”

Hermione groaned and glared at him. “Shut up Ferret. I can’t help it if the students attempt to burn down the building everyday. And why should I try? Are you saying that you care what I look like?” She countered with a saucy smile.

“I wouldn’t care if you wore a paper bag and shaved your head. In fact, that may help your appearance. I’m actually referring to the smells that you bring in with you. Maybe you should consider showering every once in a while.” He replied with a smirk.

“And maybe you should try to not be here when I come through. If I didn’t know better, I would say you were waiting for me every afternoon.” With that, Hermione unlocked her door and stepped in, slamming the door behind her. “Jack ass.” She mumbled to the closed door, and began gathering her things for a shower.

Draco sat for a moment staring at the closed door. He wasn’t waiting for her everyday… well, maybe he was, but only because it gave him great pleasure to see her so disheveled. No… not disheveled. He was waiting because he wanted to rub in her face that he was a better professor than she was. That was all. Nothing more.

********

Hermione sat in her office, analyzing the vials of Pepper-Up potion that the fifth years had turned in. A few of them looked promising, but two of them looked like sludge. She dropped her head to the desk, and closed her eyes.

‘Just breath Hermione. Some of them actually resemble the potion… that’s progress.’ She thought, trying to fight off the impending migraine.

A small clinking noise drew her out of her thoughts. Raising her head off the table, she listened carefully for a moment. Hearing the sound again, she rose from her chair and left the office. The sound was coming from the storage room.

Noticing the door ajar, she pulled out her wand and held it in front of her.

“Who’s in there?” She called, in the strongest voice she could muster.

Draco leaned back and looked out the door at her. “I’m just getting some…”

She didn’t give him time to finish his sentence before she started in on him. “Malfoy, if you need something from the supply room, you should ask me. Now get out of there. I have everything where it belongs, and I don‘t want you messing up my system.”

He narrowed his gaze at her and came to stand in the door frame. “I was just saying that I need some more…”

“I don’t care what you need. I want you out of there now.” She marched up to stand in front of him. He was about a head taller than her, and she had to tilt her head up to look at him. “Now move so I can see the damage you’ve done.”

“In case you haven’t noticed Granger, I don’t take orders from you.” He sneered, glaring down at her.

Hermione glared back. “Fine.” Her wand forgotten, she leaned back and pushed all her weight into his chest with her shoulder.

Draco stumbled back, with Hermione following close behind.

“What the hell is wrong with you Granger?” He growled, grabbing her arm.

“Nothing’s wrong with me. I told you to move, and you didn’t, so I moved you myself. Now let me go.” She tried to pull her arm away, only causing him to tighten his hold. “Stop it, you’re hurting me.” She grinded out through clenched teeth.

“Good.” He replied smirking down at her and tightening his grip some more.

“Ow!”

Hermione swung with her left hand, attempting to smack him in the face. Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, Draco snatched the offending hand out of the air.

“I don’t think so Granger. One time was all…”

Stars bloomed in front of his eyes, and he stumbled back. His nose was throbbing, and his eyes were watering. Grabbing his nose he tilted his head back, causing the metallic taste of his blood to slide down his throat.

“Did you just fucking head butt me?! Are you crazy?! Fucking bitch!” He moaned, trying to stop the flow of blood.

Shocked at herself, Hermione sputtered. “I’m sorry! It was a reflex! Don’t tilt your head back, lean forward.” She explained, reaching for him.

Wide-eyed, he took a step back from her. “A reflex you say. You’re a witch for fuck’s sake, and the first reflex you have is to head butt me?! And don’t touch me. You’ve done enough damage.”

“Hey! You were asking for it. I told you to let me go, but nooo! You had to be all intimidating. Now stop crying like a baby and let me help you.” Reaching around him, she grabbed a small vial off the shelf behind him. “Here, smell this. It should help.”

Giving her a dirty look, he snatched the vial from her hands. After inspecting it briefly, he uncorked it and took a whiff. The bleeding stopped automatically, and the pain was slowly going away.

“You’re damn lucky you didn’t break my nose Granger.”

“No, I would say you’re lucky I didn’t break your nose.” She replied, putting her hands on her hips.

With a growl, Draco grabbed her by both arms and slammed her into the wall. It wasn’t until that moment that Hermione realized how small the storage room really was.

“If you ever assault me again, I will risk going back to Azkaban to make sure you suffer.” He sneered into her ear.

Breathing hard, and trying not to show him any fear, she looked him in the eye. She could see, and feel, the anger radiating off of him. She swallowed hard, and steeled herself, holding her chin high. “Oh yeah? I think you’re all talk.”

He was so angry, he could barely think straight. He gripped her arms tighter and slammed her into the wall again. Her yelp startled him out of the anger induced fog. Taking a moment to look at her, he realized just how close they were. She was panting, and looking at him with wide eyes. He looked down to her lips and breathed in deeply. His senses were invaded with the scent of vanilla and honey.

Hermione saw the change in his eyes before his composure relaxed. He still had his hands wrapped around her upper arms, but weren’t holding them in a death grip anymore. She watched as he looked down at her lips and swallowed hard. She could feel her heart racing in her chest. When he looked back in her eyes, she exhaled the breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

His eyes shifted from her eyes to her lips again, as he slowly began leaning toward her. Hermione held her breath again, and licked her lips. His hands tightened briefly on her arms, drawing a whimper from her.

A loud bang, startled them both. Draco jumped back from her like she was on fire. They both looked out the door, to see a group of students filing in and sitting down.

Clearing her throat, Hermione gestured to the group, “My next class is arriving.”

He looked confused for a moment, then nodded. Stepping out of the room, he turned back to her. “I, uh, need some more anti-slip serum for the brooms. A few of the first years are a little clumsy.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry.” She snatched the bottle off the shelf and handed it to him. Without a word, he turned and left.

********

“You did what!?” Neville cried, forgetting about the stack of papers in front of him.

Hermione groaned and dropped her head into her hands. She had come to Neville’s office after her classes were over to work out what had happened. Sitting on the floor next to his chair, she looked at him sideways, “I head butt him. I didn’t mean too! It just sorta happened.”

“Oh, that has to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. I wish I could have seen his face!” He said, leaning back in his chair laughing.

“Yeah, it was pretty priceless.” She said with a grin. “But now I think I harmed the ‘civil’ thing we had going. Well, we were never really civil… but I did take it to the next level with assault.” For some reason, that thought caused the smile to slip from her face. “I think I made a mistake.”

Leaning forward again, he took her hands in his. “Well, it happens. He’s made a lot of them in his lifetime, that’s for sure. You could try apologizing.”

Hermione snorted. “Yeah right. That would go over well… No, I think I’ll just wait till it all blows over. I mean really, how long can he stay angry?”


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A/N: I was going to wait til later today to post this... but since I finished it, I figured I would do it now. Don't forget to let me know what you think! Also, thanks to skydancer for the plot bunny treats! They've been bouncing around like crazy and needed the fuel!