Sometimes It's Good to be Bad

Chapter 50 Act Normal

When Hermione failed to appear at breakfast the next morning, just as she had assumed Harry came to find her and see if she was okay. Since Zabini was awake, he led the boy who lived through his room with the still sleeping Pansy to the bathroom. He went over to her bed and lightly kissed the side of her face. When that didn't wake her, he started to rub her back while calling out her name. "Malfoy," she responded sleepily into her pillow, but to Harry it was only "mmmmm".

When she turned around and opened her eyes, she had to hide her surprise to see her boyfriend sitting next to her. "Morning, Harry," she mumbled.

"Good morning, Hermione. Are you okay? You missed breakfast." There was a definate tinge of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. All the stress of everything finally getting to me."

"If you want I can let you sleep a bit longer," he offered.

"No, I'm up now," she sighed. She really would like that sleep; she had only gotten about four hours but she could deal with it. They spent the majority of the morning working on Harry's occlumency. There were actually a few times when she couldn't get through, though over time she had pretended she couldn't so that he was much more cocky in this skill than he should be.

She sat at lunch with her fellow Gryffindors, noticing that in particular, Seamus was having trouble keeping up a normal conversation to the point where Dean took him away from the table, claiming that they had been practicing dueling earlier, and he must have hit the boy with a stronger charm than he had thought. Harry just shook his head at the duo, laughing.

Not long after lunch was Gryffindor quidditch practice. Harry had wanted to call it quits, what with the events planned for the next weekend but he had allowed himself to be convinced that it would be a good thing to take his mind off of everything for a while and just let loose and have fun.

Hermione sat in the stands, watching the practice and wasn't all that surprised when Seamus and Dean came and sat next to her after a while. After she had cast a Muffliato she started talking, though her eyes followed her boyfriend. "So, I'm wondering why either of you would want to join the Dark Lord. Neither of you are pureblood."

"We want to be sure that at the outcome of the war, whichever way it goes, we will have a place in the new order of things."

Hermione smiled at the two, but her voice was cold. "Then you have chosen the right side. The Dark Lord will win, but before either of you get anywhere in his world, you have to prove your worth. Seamus, you really need to stop being so jumpy. It will draw attention to you, and that isn't in your best interest, now is it?"

"No, I guess not," he sulked.

"Hermione, what did you do to 'prove your worth' as you put it?" asked Dean.

"I have made myself indespensible to the Dark Lord for the time being, but I have also shown that I deserve the privilege to be called a Death Eater in the field, as well. But that is all you will get from me. I am not stupid enough to speak of my crimes."

When neither boy said anything, she got up. "Remember Seamus, do not act any differently than you would have yesterday, or even last month. Same for you, Dean. If you cannot act like the Gryffindors you have always been than you will not be alive for much longer." With that sage advice and the lifting of the Muffliato, she strode out of the stands, throwing an air kiss to Harry as she left.

She went to her common room where she curled up on the loveseat with a book and a conjured blanket and it wasn't long before she fell asleep.

She awoke two hours later to a depression in the cushions and someone fingering her hair. "How did practice end?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"Sorry Granger, but I'm definately not Potter." Hermione groaned at the voice before it continued. "I need to talk to you, though."

She groaned again before responding, her eyes still closed. "Then talk."

"Ummm, in private."

"Why, who else is here?"

"Open you eyes and look if you want to know." Hermione opened her eyes and saw a large group of Slytherin seventh years, all of whom had taken the Mark. After scanning the room she looked questioningly at the person speaking to her, a hint of annoyance making its way through her stare. "Please?" It wasn't an order, but it wasn't begging either. More like a hope spoken.

As she stood up, she quickly straightened her clothing, as her long sleeved t shirt had ridden up almost to her bra, while her jogging pants had ridden slightly down, giving most of the room a glimpse of her scarred body. She then followed the other to her room and sat on the bed. "What do you want, Pansy?" she asked in a bored vioce.

"I want you to leave Draco alone. I don't even want you in the same room if possible."

At this, Hermione laughed soundly. "Now, now, Pugface, do you really think that's going to happen? We will definately have to be in the same room every here or there. And quite frankly, he is one of the few things that I look forward to, so no, I'm not going to leave him alone as you so gently put it."

The other girl was practically fuming at the way the Head Girl was being so blase. She screeched in her anger before speaking again. "Granger, I mean it. Stay away from him. He is going to marry me, and I'm done sharing him."

"Pugface- Miss Parkinson- Pansy, (she gave the sweetest of smiles) it really doesn't matter what you do or don't want. Though, you might want to work through that on your own; green just isn't your color."

"What are you talking about, green isn't my color? I'm in Slytherin!"

Hermione just rolled her eyes. "I meant jealousy."

"I am not jealous. I just don't want you near him. I know that you love him and I think that he loves you too so-" her hands were clamped firmly over her mouth; she had not meant to say the last part.

Hermione put her arm around Pansy's shoulders and gave her a concered look. "Pansy, I'm not suddenly going to start being nice to you after last night and everything, but I'm beginning to be a little bit worried. You really need to get these notions of love out of your head because its really a but ludicrous. Now we're going to go back downstairs and forget this converstion ever happened, because it made no difference at all in the grand scheme of things."

She had walked the two of them to the door, and started down the stairs, though she was starting to wonder if anything Pugface had said was true. She wasn't sure how she would feel if it were true.