The Adult World

Chapter 6: Pandemonium


The week after the “incident”, Hermione remained on the alert. She made sure to have her wand with her at all times, and checked every room she entered for sabotage. She was expecting some form of retaliation from him, and when it didn’t come, she felt even worse for her actions. He had resumed his regimen of ignoring her again, leaving Hermione wondering if she had imagined everything that happened in that tiny room.

Time went on, and the autumn leaves were dropping from the trees like rain drops. Classes were becoming more manageable, with only a few areas that needed work. Namely her third year students. She dreaded the days that she had to teach that group. When class was over, and she shut the door behind them, she would lean against it and breath a sigh of relief. Assessing their work was hard on her, as she had to move from one side of the room, to the other, trying to maintain order. Most days ended with her falling asleep in her office, or passing out on the couch in the common room.

********

The day had started like any other. Hermione had steeled herself to expect the unexpected from the last class of the day… which were the group of rowdy pre-teens she dreaded. She had determined that things were going to be different that day. She had chosen a relatively easy potion for them to work on, not thinking they would be capable of messing it up too badly. They proved her wrong.

“OUT! EVERYONE OUT!” Hermione had had enough. She furiously pointed toward the exit. “NOW!”

The students quickly gathered their belongings and ran from the room. The few who glanced over their shoulder as they left, saw an expression they had never seen on their Professors face; defeat.

Walking down the middle aisle, Hermione followed the last student to the door. She had intended on yelling at them some more as they left, but found that she didn’t have the strength.

Holding the door in her hand, she moved to shut it, but the smell almost knocked her over, so she decided to leave it open. With a groan, she turned around to assess the damage.

********

The explosion caused all of Draco’s students to pause in their spell casting. He snickered, wondering what blew-up this time, and turned his focus back on the group of students.

“Alright, consider that a test in which you all just failed. You must be able to maintain your concentration, even in the most extreme circumstances. Remember, it could mean your life.”

He moved around the pairs of students, assessing their skills, and offering assistance when needed. The levitated cushions soared around the room, some controlled, some erratic in their flight.

Ducking under a rouge cushion, Draco remembered the lesson he learned the first year he taught levitation. Never let the students levitate anything harder then a pillow. It often lead to the professor getting knocked unconscious with a chair.

Reaching the back of the room, he turned around to make another pass, when the cushions began falling to the ground, one by one. All the students held their noses and made gagging sounds. Before he could open his mouth to ask what was going on, the smell hit him. It was like being slapped in the face with a rotten fish.

“Class dismissed!” He managed to call out, to the relief of his students. “But keep practicing.”

Draco waved his wand, making the cushions disappear, and decided he needed to see what Granger had done this time. Leaving his classroom, and turning into hers, he was shocked at the sight around him.

The room was splattered in what looked like a sticky, bright pink goo. The walls, desks, floor, ceiling, everything, was covered in the foul substance. Looking up toward the front of the room, Draco spotted Hermione with her back to him. Her robes were in a pile in the middle of the floor, leaving her in a black pencil skirt that hugged her curves, and a white blouse. Her hair was wild, and he could see the speckles of pink goo stuck in it. She stood with her hands gripping both sides of her desk, her head hanging low.

Thinking this would be the perfect opportunity to get a few insults in, Draco walked carefully up the center aisle.

“Good lord Granger, what have you been doing…” The words died in his throat when she raised her head and turned to look at him.

Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears, and the anguish was written on every feature of her face.

“I don’t know what to do! I don’t understand how this happened!” She cried running a hand through her hair. Pulling her hand back, she grimaced, and shook a piece of pink goo from her fingers. “I mean, look! It’s a simple sleeping potion!” She gestured to the chalk board, that previously held the instructions, but was now covered in a generous amount of pink glop. “The second years made it yesterday, and nothing like this happened.” With a sigh, she leaned back against the desk, feeling completely exhausted.

Draco stood for a moment, taking in the situation. He didn’t know what to say. He had decided the minute she turned around, not to say the mean things he had thought up.

“Have you considered teaching them how to make soup?” He replied sarcastically. “Cause I think it would smell a hell of a lot better then this.”

A smile cracked on her face and she shook her head. “I think Hagrid’s feet smell better then this.” She answered, now smiling widely.

“You’re too nice to them. Stop trying to be their friend, and just take over the classroom. I think if you put some of that bossiness into your teaching you would do fine.”

A worried expression crossed her face and she pointed above his head. “Uhm, Draco…”

“Why do you always interrupt me? I’m trying to help you, and all you can do is interrupt me when I‘m speaking to you!” Finally seeing her frantic pointing, he looked up. “What? What is it?”

The minute he got the second question out of his mouth, he saw what she was pointing so frantically at. A big drop of goop slid off the light fixture, and landed in his face.

It felt like time had stopped. Hermione stood wide eyed, with her mouth hanging open. She didn’t react till he tipped his head forward and rubbed the goop from his eyes. She burst out laughing, and couldn’t stop.

Holding her sides, she leaned back on the table, letting her laughter echo around the room. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, Draco wiped his face and glared at her.

“Oh you think that’s funny?” He challenged, scooping up a handful of the slop from one of the tables, and slowly advancing on her.

“Yes! I do!” She cried between gasps for air. Seeing the substance in his hand, her laughter died down to few giggles, and she shot him a curious look. “What are you doing? Stop it… get away from me!” She sidled to her left, and bumped into the chalk board. A thick blob of goo dripped from the board and splattered next to her feet.

He gave her an evil smile, and kept slowly advancing on her. “Oh no Granger. I think payback is in order.”

She turned and tried to make a run for it, but the sticky goo caused her shoes to slide, and she slid into the corner of a student desk. “No! No!” She screeched, turning back toward him, only to find him closer than before.

“Oh yes.” He replied smiling. Quickly, he reached out and wrapped her in his free arm. “Payback’s a bitch Granger!” He cried as he smooshed the goo in her hair.

She groaned, and pulled free. “You ass!” She cried, turning her back to him. Spotting a blob on the table, she quickly scooped it up, turned around, and with a triumphant cry, threw it at him.

The goop splattered the front of his robes, and he looked down at it briefly, then looked back up at her. “Oh this means war!”

With a squeal, Hermione ran around him, heading for the door. He caught her around the waist before she made it too far, and swung her around. They both were caught off guard when their feet got tangled in the robes she had left in the middle of the floor. They cried out, as they hit the floor with a loud “SPLAT”.

Draco seized the opportunity to have the upper hand, and threw some more goop at her with a laugh.

“Truce! Truce!” She cried out between laughs and gasps for air.

“It’s about time.” He said, dropping a handful of goo to the floor behind him.

Rolling onto their backs, they both laid on the floor next to each other, trying to catch their breath. Neither one of them noticed the person who had been standing in the doorway for the entire incident.

’I knew they would be perfect together.’ Professor McGonagall thought with a smile. Turning away, she walked back to her office chuckling and shaking her head.

********

They stood next to each other in front of the portrait door, reeking of the goo they had flopped in. They had attempted several different cleansing spells, and were left with the greasy remnants, that still smelled rather foul. Hermione knew that the house elves who were assigned to clean her classroom were going to be rather upset tonight.

The old lady in the portrait narrowed her eyes at them. “What happened to you?!” She cried, looking them up and down.

Glancing at each other, they replied with a smile, “Pandemonium.”

Once the door shut behind them, there was an awkward moment of silence. Hermione jostled her robes and shoes in her hands, and looked to her door. She could feel him staring at her, and she didn’t know what to say.

“I never thought that the password would be turn out to be so relevant.” He said, breaking the ice with a smile.

Looking back at him, she smiled back. “I know. It is pretty funny.”

He cleared his throat, and glanced at this room. “Well, I am going to take a shower. Hopefully this smell with disappear with only a few washes.”

“Oh yeah. I’m going to do the same. Getting the rest of the gunk out of my hair should be fun.”

Shaking his head, Draco chuckled as he walked to his room. Turning back to look at her again, he took in her disheveled state. Her blouse was untucked, and the greasy parts clung to her form. She was barefoot, and her skirt was rumbled from rolling on the floor. She had attempted to pull her hair back, but it rebelled against the band that surrounded it and wound around her shoulders in an unkempt heap. She looked positively beautiful.

Hermione felt his stare, as she opened her door. Chancing a look over her shoulder, her eyes instantly met his stormy stare. She had never seen him look at her that intensely and swallowed. The fluttering in her stomach reminded her of being a student again. Giving him a small smile, she shut the door behind her.

********

Draco stood under the rushing water, trying to figure out when he decided that she was beautiful. In school he always loathed her presence. She consistently beat him in classes, and hung around with Scarhead and Weasel. He never paid any attention to the person she was, or looked closely at her features. He mainly picked out her flaws and spent his time insulting her about them.

Things had definitely changed. From the moment he opened his door and saw her standing there next to McGonagall, he knew he was in trouble. He covered his shock by quickly insulting her, and requesting to speak to the headmistress. Behind the closed door, he asked her why she had picked Granger of all people to share a common room with him. He didn’t think he would ever forget her response:

‘Because she’s your match Draco. I know you don’t see it now… but you will one day. I guarantee it.’

He closed his eyes, and tilted his head back in the water. As he started washing his hair for a third time, images of her body under his flooded his mind. The way she looked into his eyes, the heat from her skin, the fragrance that followed her around. It was all so intoxicating. He remembered the way she had looked at him in the storage room, and groaned as his body responded to the memory.

Reaching down, he grabbed his arousal tightly in his hand. Slowly, he stroked from base to tip, imagining it was her hands on him. With a slight moan, he began picking up speed, as images of her naked and withering underneath him floated through his mind.

Breathing hard, he put his free hand out to lean against the cool marble. Gritting his teeth, he came, gasping her name into the steam.

********

Hermione stood in front of his bookcase, her hair wet, and hanging down her back. Her head tilted to the side as she read some of the authors. She was surprised to see a large number of muggle literature on the shelf, along with some very old looking spell books. Hearing the door to his room open behind her, she glanced over at him as he headed into the tiny kitchen.

“So how many times did it take?” She asked, looking back to the books.

Draco‘s head whipped around and he gave her a bewildered look. “Come again?”

“I meant how many times did you have to wash your hair before the smell was gone. It took me five times.” She answered with a chuckle. “Why, what did you think I was talking about?”

“Oh, nothing. Three.” He replied relieved, filling a glass with pumpkin juice.

“What are you looking at?” He asked, walking up behind her and taking a sip of his drink.

“I hadn’t taken the opportunity to look over your collection and was just curious to see what you had on you’re shelves. I have to admit that I’m surprised that there are so many muggle books on here. Shakespeare? Poe? Tolstoy? Even Dickens?”

Feeling his presence very close behind her, she looked over her shoulder to regard him. Standing behind her, he had a towel slung around his bare shoulders, and his black pants hung low on his hips. Hermione could make out every defined muscle in his chest and abdomen. When she realized she had been staring too long, she turned back to the books, feeling the heat creep into her cheeks.

He noticed her looking, and smirked when she turned away. He took a small step closer, and almost groaned when he was overwhelmed with the scent of her hair. He decided that the vanilla and honey must be in the shampoo she used, and leaned in slightly and breathed deeply.

“Well,” he said, lightly, “I am a lover of all literature. It makes no difference to me who penned the words, than who painted a picture. I can appreciate things for their beauty, muggle or not.”

Hermione blushed deeper, and shifted closer to the books. “That’s quite a change from our school days… So which is your favorite? Muggle one I mean.”

“I’ve changed a lot since our ‘school days’.“ Reaching around her, he let his arm brush her shoulder, and pulled a book forward from it’s place. “For a fictional book, this would have to be my favorite. It’s a story about sacrifice and love. Almost poetic… depressingly so to say the least.”

“I know what it’s about. I’ve read A Tale of Two Cities before. It’s one of my favorites too.” Looking at some of the older books, she reached out and ran her hand down their spines. “What are these ones about? I can’t see the titles.”

“Well, some of those have been in my family for generations. Some are about magical history, others about various lineages… even a few with old forgotten potions.” Draco saw her eyes light up, and continued “You’re welcome to read anything I have. Just be very careful with the older ones. They are irreplaceable.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I promise to be gentle with them. I will treat them like my own. But are you sure you don’t mind?” She asked turning around, as he stepped back and rubbed at his hair with the towel.

“Of course I don’t mind. I wouldn’t have offered if I did.” With a nod, he turned and went back into his room, the door closing with a soft click.

Hermione turned and regarded the book shelf like a child seeing presents under a Christmas tree. As she tried to make her first selection, her mind went back through the events of the day, and she stood in deep thought for a few moments. Her brain kept repeating something he had said to her right before they got into the goo free-for-all.

As if a light had been turned on, her face lit up. It was genius.

“Soup!”

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A/N: I promise that I am going somewhere with that, lol. The next chapter should be posted in a few days... I (unfortunately) have to work, so I made this chapter extra long. Let me know how you like it!

And a great big thank you to Anthema who made the italics possible! I plan on going back and editing the other chapters so it is easier to read. Thank you again!