This Subdued Fire

Anti-Litigation Charm...which I\'d forgotten to apply to the previous two chapters...:p blah blah blah yakety shmakety, Don\'t own em, don\'t want to own \'em...well, that\'s a lie, no, I DO want to own them ;). C\'est la vie. Props to Cassie Claire and to kazVL and to Lillith Janvier and a bunch of other writers...and to JKR herself. *cha*
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Later that night, Hermione once again found herself pacing her bedroom, trying to puzzle out what to do in regards to Malfoy. She desperately wanted not to go to him. But her traitorous brain kept making her remember that kiss.

That kiss. No one ever kissed her like that. It had been like Malfoy was inside her mind. He knew exactly how she wanted to be kissed and where. That kiss set every nerve ending she possessed on fire. She meant to push him away, but somehow found herself feeling him up in a deserted hallway. Oh, what depths to which we sink!

To escape her own reeling head, she grabbed up her books and went to the library. Or at least that\'s what she told herself and the people who were hanging about in the common room. The fact was, in the short span between leaving her room and going out of the portrait hall, Hermione decided to meet Malfoy in the Astronomy Tower. He was a vile ichor in her veins and she intended to exorcise him. Since she could not avoid seeing him entirely, Hermione decided to indulge in a surfeit of Malfoy. She meant to feast herself until she got sickened by him and stopped altogether.

To be sure, the plan was not thought through all that well, but when one\'s back is against the wall, there is no other choice. She nearly flew down the nearly deserted corridors and instead of making the turn to go into the library, she went the way of the Tower. Hermione knew from memory that Professor Sinistra did not frequent the Tower unless there were major changes happening in the sky. This evening, there was nothing except a new moon.

As she went up the stairs to the observatory, her heart thudded heavily in her chest. Hermione was having very grave second thoughts, but decided to push on. After that disastrous kiss in the corridor, she\'d gone to the Great Hall and seen Pansy sitting at her usual place to the right of Draco\'s seat. The Slytherin girl looked to be in extremely high spirits, her brown hair moving animatedly along with her conversation.

Hermione\'s stride checked when she saw Pansy there, looking very well indeed. Perhaps what she\'d seen earlier had been the products of an overactive imagination. Perhaps Malfoy was right. Maybe she was jealous. Hermione certainly felt flashes of the green eyed monster the day before, looking at Malfoy holding court.

Those unfamiliar feelings still roiled in her gut, twisting it insanely even as she *Alohomora\'d* the door to the observatory.

She saw no one there. The domed roof was open, the large telescope having been used recently to plot the moon\'s course over the earth. The moonlight was the only illumination there. And then there was the Moonchild\'s voice.

\"So. You decided to come.\" Hermione could almost hear him smirk.

\"I did.\" He reached up and took her schoolbag from her shoulder.

\"And did you think that we\'d be studying together?\" he asked mockingly.

\"No. It\'s my alibi, that I was going to the library.\"

\"Well, you spend enough time in there that no one will question it.\"

\"I know.\" Her voice sounded dejected in the darkness of the chamber.

\"But what will happen when they begin to put two and two together? For all their obtuseness, I will admit that Gryffindors aren\'t nearly as slow as they seem. What will you do when they begin to notice your late-night rendevous? That your alibis don\'t match?\"

Hermione ignored the dig at her beloved House and answered Malfoy honestly. \"I won\'t hide this from my friends. They don\'t deserve that kind of dishonesty. If they ask, I will tell them. However, what you and I do is none of their business, so I won\'t go blabbing. I trust you to do the same.\"

\"I agree. It would ruin my reputation if it were known that I was fucking you on a regular basis.\" His bluntness made her face tighten.



\"Look, if you\'re going to make snide comments while soliciting me for sex, then we can leave it off right now,\" Hene sne snapped in irritation.



\"Dearest Hermione,\" Malfoy began in his most smarmy tone. \"If I didn\'t make snide comments, then I wouldn\'t be the man I am today.\"



He fluttered his eyelashes at her, which were strangely dark in contrast to his hair. The incongruity of this made Hermione laugh. There were few times Draco had ever seen her so unguarded. He could count them on one hand. The laugh extended to her eyes and lit her whole face. Draco, down in his slithery little soul somewhere, had the absolute gall to be touched by her outburst of hilarity.



(And we can\'t have that,) he thought mutinously. \"Come here,\" he growled at Hermione.



Hermione looked askance at Malfoy. \"I\'m starting to think this was a terrible idea.\"



She turned to leave the Tower. Malfoy raised his hand and put a full Body-Bind on her. She toppled over like Dolly Parton on five-inch heels. Malfoy turned her over and stared into her wide open eyes.



He spoke menacingly. \"L Gra Granger. You can\'t keep playing the \'no-yes-no-yes\' game. I won\'t let you. You can go, but the next time you come to me, I expect you to fully commit. Otherwise, I\'ll just have to let slip some very lovely information that I happen to have. Do you understand?\"



Malfoy took the spell off of her so she could speak. Hermione didn\'t speak though. She got up off the floor and looked him in the eye. Then, lightning fast, her hand pulled back and slapped him full in the face.



\"How dare you threaten me?! I\'ll see you in hell first.\" And with that, she swept out of the Tower back to her House.

***********



The next day, Malfoy was bound and determined to get back at her for the slap. As of now, he had no intentions of honoring their ill-fated agreement. He\'d been feeling soft and smushy inside for days, but no more. He strode angrily into the Great Hall and flounced into his chair. Immediately Pansy and Blaise were fawning over him. Their attention went a small way towards soothing his bruised ego.



Still, he fully meant to humiliate Granger in some way. Malfoy saw her sitting across the room. She had the nerve to be laughing at something one of those Gryffindor morons said. It incensed him even more that she could be laughing. Her head was flung back, deep gut laughter pouring from her mouth.



Draco\'s mouth tightened. Payback was a bitch. Of a sudden, the platter of eggs went flying up and dumped itself on Hermione\'s head. The food went streaming down her head amid a clamor of exclamations. She brushed herself off as well as she could. When she stood up, she shot Draco a glance that would\'ve made lightning strike him on the spot.



Draco grinned at her and gave her a wink. Hermione\'s nose wiggled a bit and Draco\'s chair went flying up and dumped him onto the table full of food. Hermione grinned and swept out of the Great Hall to change. Her departure was met by the joyous sounds of student laughter as nearly the whole school was amused by the sight of their Head Boy covered in breakfast remains.



Hermione passed Draco in the corridor on the way to their first class together, Herbology. He was still all greasy-eggy-jellied-juicied up. She wrinkled her nose at him.



\"You know...they really shouldn\'t let you go around like that.\"



\"You bitch. This is all your fault.\"



\"Just snap your fingers, Malfoy. That\'s all it takes.\" Hermione taunted him with his own powers.



\"Oh, you think I\'m an idiot. Like I would really do it in front of all these idiots roaming the halls.\"



\"Payback is a bitch, innit Malfoy?\" Hermione turned away, her mocking laughter floating back on the air.



Malfoy stormed back to his room, cleaned up and ran off to the Greenhouse. Sprout was notorious for being hard on Slytherins. He showed up one minute late. Sprout took ten points from his house. The few Slytherins in the room gave Malfoy evil looks.



(Disloyal bastards. They\'d feed you to the lions for a House Cup.) He took his seat in front of the flytraps Sprout had set up for them.



\"Now students,\" the professor began. \"These flytraps aren\'t your ordinary species. They are of the order *Audreita Secundus*. They feed on blood and are especially fond of human blood. If any of you have open wounds or are bleeding from anywhere, I suggest that you take great care. They can smell it on you and they are vicious. Now, I want you to put on the gloves that I\'ve put next to the plants.\"



The students drew on the gloves. They looked like ordinary latex gloves. \"Now, I\'m going to instruct you on the proper care and feeding of *Audreita*. The sap of the plant makes a highly useful anesthetic used for medicinal purposes. Take the tongs and pick up a piece of the beef that I\'ve set on the side tables. Dangle it over the mouth of the plant until it opens.\"



The students picked up slices of the reddest, bloodiest meat they\'d ever seen. Suspending the meat over the plants, the red liquid dripped sluggishly over the thick raised veins in the plants\' pods. The plants seemingly looked up and opened their pods. They dropped the meat into the plant. It chewed...yes, visibly *chewed* the meat and swallowed. Then what looked like a fleshy tongue darted out and licked the lip-like edges of the pod.



Draco stared at his plant with disgusted fascination. The plant then did something rather unexpected. It spoke.



\"Feed me.\"



Draco started. \"Pardon me?\"



\"Feeeed me.\"



\"I do believe you\'ve already been fed my dear plant.\"



The plant took on an aggressive tone. *\"Feed me.\"*



\"No.\"



\"Feed me, Draco!\"



\"This is too weird for me to comprehend. Erm, Professor?\"



Sprout went over to Draco and his plant. \"Yes, Draco?\"



\"My plant is talking to me.\"



\"Oh yes, they can be quite persuasive when they want. Donlet let them get to you. If they had their way they\'d devour all of London and most of Britain.\"



\"Hey!\" The plant spoke up. \"Yeah, you! The weird chick with the gray hair. Feed me!\"



\"No, George, you\'ve had quite enough for today.\"



\"I don\'t think I have, lady.\" The plant used its vines to pull itself along the table.



Professor Sprout took her wand and gave the plant a little zap. \"The only way to keep them in line is to give them a little shock now and again. They\'re like cattle in that way. Now, I have an *Audreita* that is ready to be harvested. Come along and I\'ll show you how it\'s done.\"



Everyone followed Sprout to an enormous plant that was growing along one corner of the greenhouse. \"Now, class, be very very quiet. When *Audreita* gets this large it becomes very dangerous. Fatal, even.\" The teacher took up a large scythe from a side table. \"You\'ve got to do this kamikaze style.\"


Professor Sprout tip-toed right up to the plant\'s stem and drew back the scythe. She split the huge stem in half with one practiced blow. The plant\'s pod opened on a horrid scream and then toppled over. Oozing from the gash in the neck was a sparkling golden sap.



\"Alright now, take these beakers and start collecting the sap. Be quick about it, prolonged exposure to air cuts the potency by fifty per-cent.\" She wafted beakers to the waiting students who then rushed to bleed the plant dry.



As *Audreita*\'s veins were systematically emptied, the plant began to dry up like paper. It took awhile to completely draw all the sap out, but when they were done the once large and imposing plant looked like a crumpled sack. Sprout rolled up the remains of the plant and stood it on end.



\"Well, class, as you see, *Audreita* yields precious little sap.\" It was true; each of their beakers were just a little over half full. \"Now, those of you who have Advanced Potions will take the sap to Professor Snape. It will be your next project. If you haven\'t suspected, I shall tell you, this is a part of your N.E.W.T.\'s. Every seventh-year will be expected to raise an Audreita from a seed to maturity and use it for some purpose. If you are taking Advanced Transfiguration, take the rolled up skin to Professor McGonagall. If you are taking Advanced DADA, I really haven\'t the faintest idea of what Professor Blackthorne has come up with for you to do with it.



The students looked aghast at the idea of raising such horrid plants. Neville actually looked green. His stomach turned at having to feed the plants blood. He had wild fantasies of the plant trying to eat him. He raised his hand tentatively. A first for Neville, who was usually fearless when it came to Herbology.


\"P-professor...what if the plant tries to eat us?\"



\"Why then Neville, you simply give it a good zap with your wand. It\'ll be fine.\" Sprout looked kindly at Neville. Neville returned a tentative smile. \"Now, it\'s time for us to put away our tools. Come along now.\"



The last ten minutes of class were filled with activity as the students struggled to put away their plants and clean up. Draco lingered in the back of the greenhouse until Hermione came to put her plant away. When she put hers on the shelf he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the dense foliage.



\"What the hell do you think you\'re doing?! Unhand me at once.\"



\"You think you\'re pretty funny, don\'t you?\"



\"Oh sweet Christ, Malfoy, you started it! Now you have the gall to be angry at me? You can dish it out but you can\'t take it, eh?\"



Draco stopped for a minute. It was true what she\'d said. It was a lesson that his father tried to drum into his head. \'Strike first, and hard, so that your opponent won\'t think of striking back.\' But Draco\'d forgotten that rule. He felt compelled to acknowledge that she had the right of it. Then again, who was she to lecture him? His mouth tightened mutinously. He said nothing. She smiled a small superior smile at him. She knew she\'d bested him. His hands itched to wipe the smirk from her face. Instead he pushed her away.



\"Get away from me before I do something I might enjoy too much to regret.\"



Hermione merely smiled more and walked away. \"Don\'t forget to bring that sap to Potions.\"



Malfoy gritted his teeth.

***********



Potions was a trial. Snape was in a particularly bad mood and he felt compelled to take it out on all of his students, not just the Gryffindors in the class. His hair looked extra manky and his lips were held tighter than usual.



\"Did you layabouts bring the sap as required?\"



Ten glass beakers were placed on the tables. \"Excellent. Let\'s get to work. Pull out your cauldrons and start them on a low flame. And when I saw low, I *mean* low Weasley. Don\'t have flames leaping ten feet into the air.



Ron made a face, but he made his fire as low as it could possibly go without it being extinguished.



Snape continued. \"I expect you all to pay as close attention as your ADHD brains will allow. I will give you the instructions on this potion once and only once. And don\'t think of going to the library to look them up - \" He shot a glance at Hermione. \"This particular potion is not in any of the books, not even in the Restricted Section. Let us begin.\"



Under Snape\'s exacting tutelage, the students measured and boiled and stirred and bubbled. The original golden color of the sap turned a bright glittering greenish-orange. It actually sent up small sparkles in the bubbles. \"Now, if your mixtures have turned the correct color, it is time to do a taste test. A very small taste test.\" Snape handed out spoons to each of the students. \"Dip the spoon into the cauldron and get exactly one half of what the spoon will hold. This potion is very potent and any more of it will have very lasting effects.\"



Everyone dipped their sp int into the cauldrons. They drank. Nothing. Thirty seconds passed. All of a sudden there was a giggle. Millicent Bulstrode had her hand clapped over her mouth. Then another giggle. This time it was Pansy. Soon the laughs erupted throughout the room, signaling that the potion had taken effect. Snape appeared bored. He studied his fingernails. Everyone in class kept giggling and poking each other.



Ron poked Harry. \"Hey! I can\'t feel that!\" Harry managed to get out between chuckles.



\"Nope, not a thing. This stuff really works.\"



Snape looked up. \"If you can all tamp down on your hilarity, you will kindly make notes on the potion and what it does and its effects on your emotional state.\"



The students tried but ended up tickling each other with their quills instead. Soon there were squeals amid the laughter and bodies nearly rolling on the floor. Snape merely rolled his eyes. Then there was a knock at the door. It opened without hearing a reply. Professor Vector stuck her head through the aperture.



\"Oh...Severus...I\'d forgotten you had a class now.\" She started to close the door.



\"It is quite alright, Jennifer. What is it?\"



\"If you wouldn\'t mind stepping out into the corridor a moment...\" Professor Vector\'s olive toned skin glowed deep red with her flush.



The students\' heads went back and forth during the exchange and when Snape swept out of the door a chorus of \"oooh\'s\" followed, to his mortification. They could see the faintest hint of pink high on Snape\'s cheeks.



When doordoor closed behind the professors, the room broke into animated chatter. Hermione thought about the night she met Malfoy in the Astronomy Tower. Snape was coming from that direction and seemed pretty happy about it. The pieces fell into place and Hermione broke out into laughter. No one noticed except Malfoy.



(I wonder what she thinks is so funny.) Unlike the rest of his classmates, he hadn\'t drunk his bit of potion - he was confident enough to know that it worked perfectly. He was still sour from his earlier dumping at breakfast. Then Pansy was whining about how he should taste his bit of potion. Sick of her nagging, he downed an entire spoonful instead of the half prescribed by Snape.



Malfoy felt its effects immediately.



He could feel it hit his stomach and spread outward. It shot like wildfire in his veins and sent an exuberant joy rushing through him. He felt as if he could do anything. Through the small windows lining the top of the dungeon room, strong beams of sunlight suddenly burst through. It illuminated the chamber like a thousand torches were simultaneously lit. He looked at Hermione and Hermione looked at him. They both smiled and collapsed into fits of laughter. Hermione winked at Draco. Draco felt a small warmth spread through him that had nothing to do with the potion\'s effects.



The lively atmosphere stayed with the students all through the class period and no one noticed that Snape was not back until Justin Finch-Fletchley looked at his watch and announced that it was time to go. The students gathered up their things and someone flung open the door. Only to find Snape standing in the hallway snogging Professor Vector whole-heartedly.



\"OOOOOOOOOOH!\"



Snape and Vector broke apart to find the eyes of ten seventeen year olds upon them. Vector was completely red and even the cool exterior of Snape had been cracked. Malfoy recovered first and offered up a typically smarmy dig.



\"Well, he has a girlfriend! How cute, in an arrested development sort of way.\"



Snape\'s eyes glowed like coals. \"Well, Mr. Malfoy, since you are in the mood for jokes, I suggest that you look to your own appearance for amusement. You still have bits of egg stuck to your hair. Tsk. I thought you were better brought up than that. You know, proper grooming and all.\"



Malfoy\'s classmates roared with laughter. It wasn\'t often that the Slytherin was greeted with a put down. Even Professor Vector\'s lips twitched at Snape\'s snappy comeback.



Snape continued, \"As much as I hate to do this, I must. Ten points from Slytherin for impertinence. You can earn them back while you clean out my office, Malfoy. I will expect you in the hour before dinner.\" Snape took Jennifer Vector by the hand and they swept past the dumbstruck students into the classroom and shut the door firmly.



By now, some of the buzz was wearing off the other students. Millicent, Pansy and Blaise rounded on Draco for being a smart ass.



\"...and how could you! it\'s only the sixth day of class and you\'ve managed to get us a deficit of over one hundred points! Now we\'ll have to work extra hard to get them back! It\'s completely beyond me how you are still Head Boy with all of your nonsense, Draco Malfoy! Hmph!\" Millicent, done giving her excellent impression of a Howler, took off up the stairs in a huff. The other two Slytherin girls followed suit.



Hermione made a mocking little pouty face at Malfoy and switched up the stairs, the rest of the class behind her. Draco was left standing alone, his head still swimming with the effect of the potion. He did the only thing he could. He laughed uproariously.



His laughter called up the stairs and hit Hermione\'s ears. She couldn\'t ever remember hearing Malfoy laugh like that in all the years she\'d known him. She found it a bit sad. Hermione choked down that feeling and dragged her feet to Astronomy.



The potion, after the euphoric feeling wore off, left a lethargy in all their bodies. They could see it in anotanother. All they wanted to do was sleep. Hermione, Justin and Padma managed to reach Professor Sinistra\'s classroom. The three of them plunked down at their desks. Everyone was there except for Malfoy. Padma yawned widely just as Professor Sinistra got up to the chalkboard. Sinistra turned and looked at her witheringly. She stifled herself and pulled out a quill and parchment.



He managed to teach for ten minutes when Malfoy suddenly burst into the room. Every eye in there was on him. His lips twitched with supressed hilarity. Draco sauntered over to his seat and once there, flopped into the chair and propped his ankles up on the desk.



\"Oh, please, continue with your *fascinating* lesson, Professor.\" Draco smiled cheekily.



\"Thank you for being so magnaminous, Mr. Malfoy. Would you care to tell me why you have chosen not only to be late to class but also to enter in the fashion that you did?\" He arched an eyebrow.



\"Well, I figured since my father has shelled out about a thousand Galleons for me to be here, I decided to show up. And I couldn\'t miss your latest sartorial statement, Professor. Kenneth Troll?\" Malfoy eyed Sinistra\'s sharply cut olive green robes.



\"No. Tommy Elfinger.\"



\"Ah.\" Malfoy nodded knowingly. \"I have some nice Elfinger pieces in my closet. However, I much prefer Elfporio Armani.\"



\"As much as I would like to continue this fascinating conversation, Mr. Malfoy, I was in the middle of teaching. Would you care terribly if I went back to doing so?\" His voice dripped sarcasm.



Hermione\'s hand shot up. \"Professor, we had to taste test a potion for Professor Snape in class earlier. I fear Mr. Malfoy is not himself today.\" Hermione looked over at Malfoy, who sat giggling like a Japanese schoolgirl.



\"Ah, yes. Severus did mention something about that. Then why is he still so...exuberant and you all are so subdued?\"



\"I think he may have taken a bigger dose than the rest of us. It will take a while to go through his system.\"



\"Well, then, I can\'t have him disrupting my classtime. Miss Granger, you\'re usually ahead of the class, please take him to Madame Pomfrey. I\'m sure she can give him something that can flush him out.\"



Hermione\'s lips tightened at being stuck with Malfoy. She\'d been trying to avoid him. Sighing heavily she gathered up her things and swept them into her bag. \"Alright, Malfoy, let\'s go.\"



\"But where are we going?\"



\"To the Hospital Wing.\" Hermione got up and went over to his desk.



\"Why?\" His eyes were completely dilated. He was spaced out of his mind.



\"Because. Now move it.\" She took his arm and hauled him up.



\"Ooh, Granger, you know I like the rough stuff.\" Malfoy winked broadl her her. The other students in the class broke into laughter.



\"Please. Get hold of yourself.\" She unhanded him and walked out of the room. Malfoy turned to the class and gave a courtly bow and took himself off after her.



They were walking down the hall. Hermione\'s face was rather stoic. Malfoy\'s was full of barely supressed hilarity. Thoughts were running through Hermione\'s brain. Not the least of which was - \"Dammit, Malfoy, how much of that stuff did you take?\"



Giggle. \"Only a small spoonful.\"



Hermione\'s eyes widened. \"A small spoonful? Jesus. No wonder you\'re high as a kite. I\'d hate to be you when you come down.\"



\"Come down you say?\" Hermione heard his voice from far away. She looked behind her to see if he was lagging. Nothing. She looked around. Nothing. She heard a chuckle. She looked up.



Malfoy was walking on the damned ceiling. \"Get down here right now!\"



\"No. This is ever so much fun. You know Granger, fun? A little h-u-m-o-u-r?\"



\"This is no time for fun. I have to get you to Madam Pomfrey and get back to class.\"



\"You could always skip out...\"



\"No.\"

\"Well why not?\"



\"I\'ll tell you why not - and bloody hell Malfoy! It is very disconcerting to have to talk to you like that, now come down at once!\"



\"Nope.\"



\"Fine. Have it your own way. I\'m going back to class.\"



\"Nooooo. Don\'t leave me.\"



\"Why shouldn\'t I? You\'re not being very cooperative.\"



\"If I come down, will you stay with me?\" Malfoy\'s hang dog look, especially viewed upside down, was really charming. And Hermione did pity him. She\'d never seen him so bubbly. She rather liked the silly side of Malfoy, even though she knew it was the drug. He\'d need a sympathetic face once he came down off the potion. Madam Pomfrey wasn\'t exactly known for being kind to students.



\"All right. I will.\" Instead of Malfoy coming down, she felt herself being lifted up.



\"Dammit! You cheated!\" Hermione\'s lips pursed in annoyance.



Malfoy\'s response was to grin cheekily. Hermione flipped upside down and promptly found her robes and skirt somewhere around her head. She tried pushing them down but to no avail.



*\"Inverto.\"* She was still hovering near the ceiling but right side up. Malfoy was still hanging upside down, rather like a bat, she thought peevishly. \"You know...polite manners would dictate that you join your company in a likewise fashion.\"



\"I\'ve never been one for the niceties.\"



Hermione had to admit that that was true. \"Whatever. Would you mind ending the spell so I can get down?\"



\"Yes, I do mind. What\'s the matter Granger? Don\'t like walking on air?\" Malfoy fluttered his eyelashes at her.



A small grin tugged at her lips. \"Personally, I quite enjoy it. But this is neither the time nor the place. I\'m supposed to be taking you to the Hospital Wing, not floating in mid-air.\"



\"Kill-joy.\" Malfoy stuck his tongue out at her and took off running on the ceiling.



\"Hey! Come back here!\" Hermione tried to run after him but her feet had no purchase on air. It was like trying to walk in water. Steeling herself, she ended the spell. *\"Finite Incantatem.\"* And found herself plunging to the flagstones below.



After checking her bruised posterior, she took off after Malfoy. There was no telling what mischief he\'d gotten himself into. Especially counting his Mage powers, she thought. She moved all around the shifting staircases and winding back corridors of the castle. She passed Fluffy\'s former lair and cast something resembling a nostalgic gaze at it.



Hermione was on the verge of looking into a dark, narrow corridor when all of a sudden -



\"BOO!\" Malfoy swung down from the doorjamb.



\"ARRGH! You bloody bastard!\"



Malfoy giggled like mad. \"Ha ha, got you good.\"



\"Oh, so mature, Malfoy.\"



\"Like\'re\'re just all grown up, Granger.\" Malfoy swung down, right side up, feet on the ground at last. \"Whoo. I feel sort of woozy.\" He put his hand to his head and staggered a bit.



Hermione felt little sympathy for him. \"It\'s no wonder. All the blood rushed to your head while you insisted on moving about upside down.\"



\"Right. I\'d forgotten.\" A pause. \"You know Granger, right now, I\'m really very sleepy.\" And Malfoy fell flat on his face, the somniferous quality of the narcotic potion having taken hold.



Hermione\'s mouth tightened. \"Well, hell.\"

***************



Draco awakened in the quiet of the hospital wing. He sat up and shook the cobwebs from his mind. His head was reeling, the disoriented state being quickly replaced by a throbbing headache. A stern voice came from his left side.



\"Well. You\'ve finally awakened.\"



Malfoy turned his head slowly. Hermione sat in an armchair, reading. She hadn\'t bothered to put her book down, merely looked at him over the edge.



\"God. I feel fucking horrible.\"



\"As well you should. You took twice as much as Professor Snape said we could. If you\'d taken the full quarter-cup that is normally prescribed, you\'d have been out instantly.\"



\"Ah.\" He looked around. It was no longer daytime. The stars winked through the large windows set into the stone walls. \"How long have I been here?\"



\"Since around one this afternoon.\"



\"What time is it now?\"



\"Eight at night.\"



\"I\'ve been out for seven hours?!\" Malfoy\'s voice was incredulous.



\"Yes, you have. Did you enjoy your nap?\"



\"Actually, no, I had the strangest dreams. I dreamt that Dumbledore was all tricked out in a lacy dress and was chasing me with a frying pan and - that\'s neither here nor there, Hermione!\"



Hermione raised an eyebrow at him calling her by her given name. It was something he never ever did. A crack in the wall, perhaps? She didn\'t bother raising her gaze from her book.



Malfoy continued in a softer voice. \"Have you been sitting here all this time?\"



\"Well, no. I got up twice to use the bathroom and to grab an orange from the Great Hall.\"



\"You know what I mean.\" He pursed his lips at her.



\"Yes, other than that, I have been here.\"



Malfoy mumbled.



\"Sorry, I didn\'t get that. Could you please repeat it?\"



\"I said -\" There was another mumble.



\"What?\"



\"ThankyouverymuchforsittingherewithmeGranger.\" The words came out in a rush, as if Malfoy was scared to say them at all.



Hermione looked up from her book and did the strangest thing. She smiled at Malfoy. \"You\'re welcome. And now that you\'ve awakened from your binge, I am going to depart now.\" She left him there in the bed, a stupefied look upon his face.



An hour later, Madam Pomfrey pronounced him well enough to leave the Infirmary. Before he was able to go she blistered his ears with a lecture on proper dosages of potions and so forth. His head was pounding by this point and all he could manage was a garbled \"Yes, ma\'am\" and several nods of assent.



When Malfoy walked into his Common Room, stony silence greeted his arrival. His House-mates were still hacked off that he\'d cost them over a hundred points in the eight days they\'d been back to school. He pulled a face at them.



\"Oh, sweet Christ. Get over it.\" He unknowingly echoed Hermione\'s words and swept down the stairs to his room. Down the winding stairs he went until he reached the first landing. He gave the password (Semper Supervivere) and the door swung open. He flopped onto the bed and lay there, trying to still the driving pain in his temples.



Lying there, his mind went around and around the problem that was Hermione Granger. Draco, usually one to repay a good turn with a bad one, was at a loss. His earlier plans to clue the Dark Lord in were very quickly going awry. His very grudging respect for Granger, coupled with the fact that she apparently felt enough of something for him, to miss *class* no less, (despite her strong disdain, disapproval and dislike), was enough to throw a complete spanner into the works.



He did not know how to proceed in this matter. His motto did not allow for self-sacrifice. Malfoy knew that his fatand and Voldemort had planned his conception, indeed, built him from the cellular level and up, to insure that he was a Mage. Their scheming worked. Draco had been prepared, in the event that he could not find a suitable back up plan, to offer himself to Lord Voldemort. At the very least the Dark Lord, with his twisted notions of loyalty, would reward him with something to replace his Mage talents.



Finding out that Granger was a Mage was a supreme stroke of luck. He couldn\'t believe his good fortune. Not only did she have powers that matched (or, horror of horrors exceeded) his own, he absolutely hated her. Therefore he could feel no guilt over offering her up to the Dark Lord. It was the perfect solution.



Malfoy hadn\'t counted on actually starting to like the girl. I mean, really. She was still annoyingly self-righteous most of the time, a complete know-it-all, and a stupidly loyal and trusting little bint. Plus, she wasn\'t at all beautiful. And she was very parochial and unschooled when it came to matters of the flesh.





Still, she was appealing to everything in him: her logic, ruthlessness, sharp wit and even sharper tongue; her occasional forays into the realm of viciousness. He touched his cheek, still feeling the sting of repeated smackings there.



And it niggled at his small sense of honor that he was double-crossing her. It was starting to make him sick to his stomach to contemplate Voldemort\'s killing her. And when Draco thought out the whole scenario, it was very doubtful that Voldemort, even having taken her powers from her, would leave him alive. The Dark Lord wanted no rivals. At the age of seventeen, Draco\'s powers were at their full. He posed a serious threat to Voldemort.



The Dark Lord was completely ruthless when it came to extinguishing threats.



Then what was the point of handing Granger over to Voldemort if Draco himself would more than likely end up a sacrifice to the Dark Lord\'s overwhelming thirst for ultimate power? Draco saw no point. But he had been so loyal to his father, to Voldemort for so long that his emotions and his logic were in a complete spin. He didn\'t know what to think at this point.



Draco found himself more unwilling to sign Hermione\'s death sentence with every passing day. His father would say he was growing soft. Voldemort would undoubtedly question his loyalty. The truth was, Draco\'s loyalty was beginning to wane. Yes, Draco and the entire Malfoy cwerewere willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure their survival. But when Draco weighed the matter, the scales were never tipped in his favor.



If he handed Hermione over, he was dead because of his Mage powers. If he handed himself over; if he survived the ritual that transferred those powers to the Dark Lord, chances were that he would end up a shell of a man. Neither of those possibilities were appealing to Draco.



So what was he to do? It seemed that the most prudent thing to do (and also the most honorable) was to keep his trap shut about Hermione. If his father or Voldemort discovered it, he could always say he didn\'t know. Lucius would undoubtedly punish him for what he termed \"incompetence.\" Draco\'s sole purpose at Hogwarts was to keep Voldemort fresh in the minds of sympathizers and to keep his eyes and ears open for information - especially information regarding StinkPotter and his band of merry misfits.



This time, discretion was indeed the better part of valour. He figured he owed Hermione that much. And it was in his best self-interest as well.



Satisfied at the outcome he\'d reached, Draco got up from bed, shimmied into his pyjamas and back under the covers. He slept very well.