Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Songs of Regret	By : RavieSnake Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 76454 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 17
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from it. I also hold no rights to any of the songs mentioned. I make no money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
“Hermione, what are you looking for?” Harry asked half amused as he watched his friend rifle violently through her book bag.
Hermione gave him an irritated glance for an answer as she dramatically dumped out the entire contents of the bag onto the common room floor. She picked-up her Arithmancy book, flipped through its pages several times and then shook it upside down roughly. When it yielded nothing she chucked it over her shoulder and grabbed her Defense book.
Ron and Harry both gaped at her in shock. Hermione never abused books.
“Hermione…” Harry said more gently, “what is wrong?”
Hermione shook her head as she sent her Defense book sailing. She frantically pawed through the pile of parchments and papers on the floor, scattering them and several quills around her. She sat back on her heels and took several deep breaths. It had to be in that stack with Susan…

A sickly feeling gurgled in Hermione’s stomach as she scrubbed her face with her hands. There’d be no convincing Ginny that Draco wasn’t Mr. Perfect once Susan showed her the parchment with his full name and Arithmancy calculations on it….which she was sure to do.

Draco had given her the okay to tell Ginny the truth, but the more Hermione thought about it, the more she did not want her to know. It would only mean more lies, more deception. It would force Ginny to lie to Harry, who was already about to be lied to again during their ‘extra class.’ And they were all going to have to lie to Ron. And then there was the issue of Susan. Susan had knowingly been a home wrecker in the future after all… how trustworthy could she really be?
“Gah!” Hermione ran her hands over her scalp in irritation. She hated all the lies and conniving. She’d had quite enough of it the first time around. She had half a mind to go to Severus and demand that he take her to Voldemort so she could just burn the snake bastard down and be done with it.
Hermione finally looked-up to see Ron and Harry staring at her uncertainly. She sighed and gave them a small smile. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “I seem to have misplaced something.”
Ron and Harry both chuckled. “We figured that,” Ron said lightly, pointing at the mess of school supplies.
“What was it? Maybe we can help you look,” Harry offered as he crouched down beside Hermione and began gathering-up her things. Hermione’s heart flooded with appreciation at the simple gesture. She reached out and grabbed Harry’s hand.
“Thank you,” she said with a light squeeze to his fingers. Harry looked her in the eyes and for a moment they both just held each other’s gaze. Hermione could see the myriad of emotions playing behind Harry’s glasses. Love... Concern… Guilt… Confusion. It had been so long since they’d been together, but it had been no small thing that they’d shared.
“It’s okay, Harry,” Hermione smiled. Releasing his hand, she broke their eye contact. “I think I know where it is,” she added as she bent forward and raked her papers together.
“What is it?” Ron asked from his place in his chair. Harry and Hermione both frowned at him as they picked-up.
“Nothing you need to worry about, Ronald,” Hermione answered shortly, reaching behind her to retrieve her books. She smoothed her hands over their covers in apology before placing them back in her bag.
“It is something about him, isn’t it?” Ron asked contemptuously. Hermione stiffened momentarily, but didn’t answer as she took the stack of parchment Harry handed her. She placed the stack neatly in her bag and then turned to Ron.
“I don’t appreciate you having that tone every time you mention him,” she said bluntly. Ron raised a ginger eyebrow at her.
“Oh, what tone would that be?”
“The accusatory, disparaging one that suggests that I am somehow in the wrong for being with him. You don’t even know him,” Hermione replied as she took Harry’s offered hand to help her off the floor.
“Suz thinks he’s a Slytherin,” Ron said disapprovingly. Harry looked nervously between his two friends as a palpable tension mounted. Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron.
“Well if Suz says he’s a Slytherin then it must be true,” she spat sarcastically. “I imagine that means I’m no longer welcome in the group? I should consider myself outcast since I dared to be with a man that a stupid hat decided should wear green instead of red?”
“Of course not,” Ron said quickly, his face reddening with discomfiture.
“Then what does it matter, Ronald?”
Ron softened his harsh stare and pouted a little. “I don’t like the idea of you being with one of them,” he answered truthfully. He exhaled deeply. “They’re the enemy, Hermione.”
“Our only enemy is You-Know-Who,” she retorted firmly.
“And Snape and Malfoy…” Ron added emphatically. Hermione blinked at him blankly for a moment before throwing her bag over her shoulder and turning towards her dorm. “Hey, where are you going? We haven’t finished our Defense homework yet,” Ron called after her.
Hermione stopped at the doorway to the stairs and looked over her shoulder at the boys. “You can finish it yourself. Sorry, Harry,” she replied quietly and then hurried up the stairs.
Once in the quiet of her dorm, Hermione let every expletive she knew fly from her mouth. She wasn’t sure who she was more upset with… Ron for being so insufferable, or herself for thinking that Ron would ever be mature enough to accept Draco. She dropped her bag on her bed heavily. Crookshanks lifted his head from his place in the middle of the bed and blinked an irritated eye at her.
“Don’t even start with me,” Hermione said to the great fluffy cat. He lowered his head and went back to his slumber as Hermione pulled her used books from the bag. She put them in her trunk and pulled out her Potions supplies. She sighed at the new copy of Advanced Potion-Making in her hand and wondered if Draco had been able to deliver her message about the old book. She still couldn’t believe how absent minded she’d been about it all. With a shake of her head she placed her supplies in her bag and then plopped down on the end of the bed. All she wanted to do was talk to Draco.
Hermione reached into her pocket for her mirror. She knew that Draco was in Charms class, but somehow, just holding the mirror made her feel closer to him. She looked into it expecting to see blackness, but instead saw Draco giving her a smug look on the other side.
“Hi, love,” he mouthed, cocking an amused eyebrow at her shocked face.
“Don’t you have class?” she signed quickly.
“Yes,” he answered. He swiveled the mirror around slightly and Hermione could tell from the background that he was indeed in the Charms classroom.
“What if someone sees?”
Draco shook his head. “I’m in the back.”
Hermione twisted her mouth. “Did you see Severus?”
Draco furrowed his brow deeply and Hermione could tell that his breathing had deepened.
“What’s wrong?” she signed nervously.
“We need to talk. Meet me in ten minutes. Our room.”
Hermione gaped at him. “But you have class.”
Draco shrugged and simply repeated, “Ten minutes,” before carefully closing his mirror in his Charms book. Hermione stared at the black picture in her mirror for only a moment and then hastily stuffed it back in her pocket. She picked-up her bag and hurried back down to the common room.
“Where are you going?” Ron predictably demanded when she rushed past him and Harry to the portrait hole. She paused and gave them both a scrutinizing look, then turned and ran up the stairs to the boys’ dorm.
“What the hell is she doing?” Ron asked half amused, half still annoyed. Harry smiled.
“If I had to guess, I’d say she is taking my Invisibility Cloak.”
Ron frowned at the doorway. A moment later Hermione reappeared at the bottom of the stairs and made her way quickly back to the exit.
“Where are you going?” Ron asked again. Hermione didn’t even bother looking at him.
“To suck Malfoy’s dick,” she answered angrily over her shoulder as she left.
“Well that was uncalled for,” Ron scowled after her. He turned to Harry who was still gawking at the portrait hole. “Who do you think she’s really going to see?”
Harry shook his head. “I don’t know, but if you ever want her to help us with our homework again, I would stop asking.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Miss Granger.”
Hermione stopped on the stairs outside the Fat Lady’s portrait and looked-up to see Snape approaching her. She took a deep breath and continued down the stairs to meet him.
“Yes, Professor?” she asked tentatively. Snape gave her a quick searching look and his eyes lingered on her bag as he handed her the letter the Headmaster had given him.
“I don’t believe that Potions begins for another forty minutes,” he said shrewdly. Hermione slowly took the letter from him with a sheepish look.
“I wasn’t headed to Potions class, sir,” she replied quietly. Snape pursed his lips and nodded.
“Be careful,” he said simply and turned on his heel. Hermione watched him walk away and then pulled open the letter he’d given her to see a single line of Dumbledore’s writing.
The Prince’s book is secured.
She puffed a relieved breath and shoved the letter into her bag. With a furtive look around, she pulled out Harry’s Invisibility Cloak and slung it over her head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco glanced up at the clock on the wall and pushed back his chair to get-up.
“Where are you going?” Nott whispered, leaning over from the desk next to him with a curious smirk.
“I have something to take care of. I’ll see you in Potions,” he whispered back. Nott nodded as Draco stood and walked to the classroom door with his bag.
“Mr. Malfoy,” squeaked Professor Flitwick, “is something the matter?”
Draco spared the diminutive professor a passing glance. “Bathroom,” he said simply as he walked out. He was fairly sure that he’d just cost Slytherin at least ten points with his rude departure if the indignant spluttering he heard from the tiny professor he left behind was anything to go by, but he could hardly have cared less.
Adjusting his bag over his shoulder, Draco scanned the seemingly empty hallway and then headed toward the extra staff rooms corridor.
“Draco.”
Draco stopped dead and whirled around at the whisper of his name. He scowled at the deserted space around him.
“Don’t make that face…you’re much more handsome when you smile.”
“Granger?” Draco whispered in the direction of the disembodied voice. A small laugh floated to him from his right.
“Yes, it’s me,” she answered. “I’m under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak. Care to join me?”
“Will I fit?” he asked earnestly. Hermione looked around quickly from under the cloak and then pulled it up to reveal her face.
“Yes, now come on,” she said with an impatient wave of her hand. Draco ducked under the shimmering fabric and pulled it back down around them.
“This is fun,” he said dryly as he hunched over his tall form to keep his feet from showing.
“Shut-up and walk,” Hermione smiled, tugging on his sleeve. They shuffled through the castle and after five uncomfortable minutes finally found themselves standing before the giant tapestry of the silver queen and her knight. Hermione turned her face to Draco’s under the cloak.
“How do we know the room is empty?” she breathed.
“Sev told me,” Draco hissed back. “Now open it. My back is killing me.”
Hermione huffed at his demand but held out her hand towards the door.
“Solatium animae.”
The tapestry pulled aside and the lock on the oak door clicked. They both looked up and down the corridor and then pushed into the room. The room flooded with light when they entered and Hermione yanked the cloak off of them. She stuffed it in her bag as Draco secured the door.
“How on earth did three of you fit under that damn thing?” Draco grumbled as he stretched his back against the door. He went to the settee and dropped his bag beside it before sitting down.
“Well, our feet did show sometimes,” Hermione answered as she followed his lead and joined him on the settee.
“Why didn’t you just meet me here?” he asked, leaning back. Hermione shrugged.
“I figured the less chance of us being seen coming here, the better.”
“I suppose,” Draco sighed looking up at the golden ceiling. “Damn, it feels good being back in here.” Hermione placed her hand in his and he squeezed it.
“Thank you for finding Severus about the book,” she said quietly, turning her face to him.
“They told you then?” Draco replied stiffly.
“Severus brought me a letter just before I came to meet you,” she answered with a nod.
“And what did it say?” he inquired shortly.
“Only that the book was secure,” she answered suspiciously, eyeing Draco’s subtle change in composure. “Should it have said something more?” Draco squeezed Hermione’s hand harder as he turned his body to face her.
“Do you know what we are?”
Hermione looked at him confused. “What do you mean? Humans? Wizards?”
Draco shook his head. “No…I mean us. You and me. Does it not seem odd to you that we fell in love so quickly… that we were willing to spend the rest of our lives together after only a day?”
Hermione felt the black hole that had attacked her when Ron had dumped her returning. “Draco, you’re scaring me,” she said shakily. Draco grimaced and Hermione began to hyperventilate.
“Oh gods, you’re leaving me,” she cried, pulling her hand from his to clutch at the sudden, intense pain in her chest. Draco reached out and cupped her face in his hands.
“No, no, no. Never, love, never,” he said quickly. “Merlin, I’m sorry I made you think that for even one second.”
Hermione closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart. “That was horrible. I felt like I was going to die,” she said, covering his hands with hers. Draco smoothed his thumbs over her cheeks.
“If I really left you, you would die,” he said somberly. She opened her eyes.
“What do you mean? What is this all about?”
Draco lowered his hands to hold hers in her lap and looked her seriously in the eyes. “We are fated.”
Hermione frowned a little. “I don’t believe in fate.”
“It’s not that kind of fate. We are fated souls…true soul mates,” he said rather reluctantly.
“That’s a bad thing?” she asked with honest curiosity.
Draco bit the inside of his cheek. “Are you familiar with the stories of Pyramus and Thisbe… Hero and Leander… Romeo and Juliet?”
Hermione shifted in her seat. “I know all of those stories. They’re all tragedies about star-crossed lovers.”
“Star-crossed, fated…same thing,” Draco said with a sad smile.
“So we are going to meet a tragic end?” Hermione asked softly.
“I hope not,” Draco sighed, “but we’ll die within a week of each other regardless. Our fated bond is also the reason why it hurts to be apart for too long and why we immediately seek to help each other.”
Hermione furrowed her brow a little. “How do you know all this?”
“My mother. She used to love telling me stories about soul mates. She’d say that fated souls were too perfect for this world and that Nature sought early deaths for them so they could just move on to the afterlife together.” He chuckled mirthlessly. “She thought it was romantic.”
“And when did you realize we were soul mates?”
“About half an hour ago when Albus told me we were.”
Hermione’s face went white. “That’s why he asked us those questions about our being similar that very first day in his office, isn’t it?” She slumped back in the settee. “He’s known this whole time?”
Anger etched its way back onto Draco’s face. “Yes,” he answered darkly.
“And Severus?”
Draco shook his head. “He only found out this morning.”
“So the other life he’s responsible for is mine,” Hermione said soberly. Draco nodded. They both looked at the floor in thought for a few minutes before Hermione broke the silence.
“So as soul mates we will always try to help each other, we need to be close regularly, and we will die at essentially the same time. Is that it?”
Draco laughed. “Is that it? Merlin, woman. Did you forget that I’m a bloody Death Eat…”
Hermione smashed her index finger into his lips to shush him. “I’ve forgotten nothing. But if you don’t mind, I think Nature can kiss my arse. I plan on living a long and satisfying life with you. We are going to die a hundred years from now, all old in our bed together with several generations of our perfect offspring surrounding it to see us off. Then we can spend eternity together.”
Draco grabbed Hermione’s hand, lowered it from his face and smiled widely. “You promise?”
Hermione took her other hand and tucked a strand of Draco’s hair behind his ear. She cupped the hand to his cheek and gazed into his shining silver eyes. “I promise,” she whispered and then leaned in to kiss him gently.
Draco moved his hands to rest on Hermione’s hips as they kissed and he pulled her over to straddle his lap on her knees. She pulled back and he gave her hips a jiggle.
“So how many offspring are we talking?” he asked playfully, waggling his eyebrows.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Hermione answered as she pulled at his tie and pretended to straighten it. “Maybe four or five.”
“I was thinking more like six or seven,” he goaded with a smirk.
“Ugh…That’s Weasley talk,” she said scrunching her nose.
Draco cocked an amused eyebrow. “I believe I told you that if you ever compared me to Weasley again that I’d…what was it I said exactly?”
Hermione flushed pink. “You…you said you’d spank my arse raw,” she answered timidly. “But I wasn’t comparing you to Ron specifically, so I don’t think that counts.”
Draco rubbed his chin in mock thought and hummed. “Well, I suppose I can let it slide this time,” he said as he ran his other hand over her backside. Hermione smiled and leaned forward to rest against his chest. Draco sighed and wrapped his arms around her.
“So what now?” he asked quietly.
“You could go back to Charms class,” Hermione suggested as she snaked her arms behind his back. Draco sniffed. “Or,” Hermione continued, “we could just stay here until it’s time for Potions.”
“Won’t Potter and Weasel be worried that someone’s abducted you if you’re gone too long?”
Hermione shook her head against his chest. “They know who I’m with.”
Draco gave a nervous chuckle. “Mr. Perfect?”
“Yes…though I did actually say your name.”
“What?” Draco asked seriously, pushing Hermione up to see her face. She worried her bottom lip in her teeth under his stare.
“Well…Ron pissed me off and I sort of shouted at him that I was leaving to…to…I think my exact words were ‘to suck Malfoy’s dick,’” she admitted with a shrug. Draco blinked at her and then threw his head back with an explosive laugh. He proceeded to laugh forcefully, bouncing Hermione right off of his lap onto the floor. He doubled over and grabbed his stomach.
“You…you didn’t…you didn’t…” he howled merrily between guffaws. Hermione laughed with him from her place on the floor between his legs.
“Yes…yes I did,” she grinned. Draco tried to sit upright, but fell forward in another fit. It was several minutes before either of them managed to calm down enough to talk properly.
“What…what did they say when you said that?” Draco finally asked eagerly, still holding onto his stomach.
“I…I don’t know,” Hermione answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes, “I just left. But seeing as how they didn’t follow me, they must have thought that I was joking.”
Draco smirked at her. “You weren’t joking?”
Hermione blushed and looked at his crotch that was at her eye level. “Well I was at the time,” she answered as she ran her hands up his thighs. Draco chuckled and grabbed her hands. Hermione looked up at him.
“So you don’t want me to suck your dick?”
“Merlin almighty,” he chuckled again as he hoisted her back onto the settee. Draco looked adoringly at his witch. “I’m definitely not opposed to it,” he answered honestly, “but you’ve got a hundred years to suck my dick, love. Right now I’d prefer just to relax with you before our next pointless class.”
Hermione sighed and cuddled up to him. “Potions,” she said unenthusiastically.
“Potions,” Draco echoed. He tangled his hand in her hair and twisted his fingers lazily around her curls as he stared again at the ceiling. “My favorite class.”
“I’m not surprised,” Hermione remarked as she traced her finger over the design on the shining prefect badge pinned to his robes.
“No?”
“No. You have steady hands, you’re clever, and the satisfaction that comes with knowing you’re able to create something provides your ego with the regular boosts it requires.”
Draco hummed. “Yes, well, my ego is sure to get a boost when I earn that Felix Felicis this time ‘round.”
Hermione looked up at him. “Sorry to disappoint you, Malfoy, but I will be the one to earn the Felix Felicis.” Draco let out a rumbling chuckle.
“Oh, so it’s a challenge is it? Very well, Granger. What shall we wager?”
Hermione thought for a minute and then grinned mischievously. “Well, on the off-chance that you happen to win, you can try any new ‘idea’ on me that you want.”
Draco’s eyebrows shot into his hair. “And if you win?”
“You give me a full body massage.”
Draco pretended to mull it over and then nodded. “You’re on, Granger.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Here she comes,” Ron said, elbowing Harry in the side. Harry turned in his place among the other students queuing outside the Potions dungeon to see Hermione coming down the hall.
“She seems to be in a better mood,” he remarked as he watched her approach. He turned to Ron, “Try not to be a total git to her, yeah?”
Ron scowled at his friend. “So long as she doesn’t mention sucking Slytherin dick again,” he said testily.
Laughter erupted to their left and Ron and Harry both turned to see Draco, Nott, Zabini, and Millicent Bulstrode laughing at them.
“Did you just say that you like sucking Slytherin dick, Weaselbee?” Draco sneered gleefully. Ron flushed a brilliant shade of red.
“No!” he snapped.
“Don’t worry, Weaselbee; it’s nothing to be ashamed of. You wouldn’t be the first to crave snake,” Draco taunted smugly as the Slytherins continued to snort. Ron puffed up with rage and turned a new shade of purple.
“Shite, man,” Nott chortled impressively at Draco’s goading. “You’re going to make him explode.”
“Harry…what’s going on?” Hermione asked apprehensively as she joined the group and looked between a very angry Ron, a now slightly guilty-looking Draco and the other smiling Slytherins. Before Harry could answer, the door to the dungeon swung open and Professor Slughorn emerged to usher them all inside.
The Slytherins immediately calmed their laughter, but held their smirks as they filed into the room behind the waiting Ravenclaws.
“That was an unwarranted attack in my opinion,” Ernie Macmillan chimed in, stepping up and slapping Ron on the shoulder as they shuffled in the door. “Best not to let them get to you.” Ron simply grunted in response. Ernie looked over at Hermione. “And how are you, Hermione?”
“I’m fine, Ernie. Thank you,” she replied politely as she finally stepped into the dungeon. She was immediately overcome with a flood of memories when the smells wafting around the dungeon hit her. Hermione had read that scent was the strongest sense linked to memory, and now she believed it. It was quite overwhelming. She instinctively sought Draco’s face and when she saw him, he was looking at her with an expression that said ‘I know.’
“What was that out there?” she signed as she walked to her table with Ernie, Ron and Harry.
“Nothing,” Draco signed back. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him skeptically and he smirked with a shrug. She rolled her eyes and then turned her attention to the boys at her table. She was taken aback to see them all grinning and blinking lazily at each other. Even Ron, who had only moments before been livid, looked rather content. Hermione stared at them curiously until she smelled it. New parchment…sandalwood…warm sugar.
She looked over at the gold cauldron simmering right next to their table and smiled at the distinctive pink swirls of steam rising from it. Amortentia. Hermione was suddenly overcome with curiosity.
“What do you boys smell?” she asked looking at both Ron and Harry. Harry gave her a crooked smile.
“I smell…treacle tart and broomstick handle and…Ginny’s shampoo,” he sighed.
“No, no, that’s all wrong,” Ernie interjected. “It’s rose water and white chocolate and fresh snow.”
Ron smiled at the table. “I smell Mum’s shepherd’s pie and gingerbread and worn leather.”
Hermione smiled at their varied answers and took another deep breath. Mmmm…Draco. She looked towards Draco again and saw him taking his own deep breaths with a lazy smile. He glanced at her and winked.
Slughorn called the class to order and Hermione busied herself with setting up her supplies as the scene played out with Harry and Ron receiving their borrowed equipment and unedited copies of Advanced Potion-Making. After they were settled, Slughorn moved on to quiz the class on the mystery potions he had simmering in the cauldrons near each of their tables, and Hermione couldn’t help herself. Her hand shot into the air the moment he asked about the first potion.
The next few minutes happened just as they had the first time, with Hermione identifying both the Veritaserum and Polyjuice potions correctly. But when Slughorn motioned to the Amortentia, everyone, Hermione most of all, was taken aback when Draco shot his right hand into the air with enthusiasm.
Professor Slughorn looked between Draco and Hermione who both had their hands held high in the air, and smiled widely in amusement at their apparent wish to out-do each other in being picked to answer. He turned first to Hermione.
“And what is your name, dear?”
“Hermione Granger, sir,” she answered with a slight bow of her head.
“Granger? Granger? Can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?” Slughorn asked, rubbing his chin.
“No, sir. I’m Muggle-born,” she answered simply.
Just as the first time, Slughorn roamed his eyes over Harry standing next to her and smiled. “Oho! ‘One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and she’s the best in our year!’ I’m assuming this is the very friend of whom you spoke, Harry?”
Harry nodded and Slughorn gave Hermione an approving stare. He then turned back to Draco.
“And you, young man? What is your name?”
“Draco Malfoy, sir.”
Slughorn hesitated. “Malfoy,” he said flatly.
“Yes, sir,” Draco replied courteously. Slughorn gave him a strained smile.
“Yes, of course. I knew your grandfather. He was a great man.”
“Yes, sir. He was a great man,” Draco said sincerely. Slughorn rubbed his moustache and studied Draco closely for a few moments. Apparently coming to some kind of decision, Slughorn nodded at him.
“Very well, Mr. Malfoy. Tell us what we’ve here,” he said, indicating the gold cauldron with the pink steam.
Draco nodded in silent thanks for the opportunity to answer. “That is Amortentia, sir. It is the most powerful love potion available and is distinguishable by its unique pearl-like sheen and swirling, pink-hued vapor.”
Slughorn cracked a genuine smile. “Anything else?”
“Yes,” Draco continued, “It will smell differently to everyone, depending on what they find attractive. For instance, I smell" – he sniffed – "fire and eucalyptus and vanilla.”
Slughorn nodded with an impressed expression. “Right you are! Twenty points to both Gryffindor and Slytherin,” he said with a wave in both Hermione’s and Draco’s directions. Hermione smiled at Slughorn and then scowled at Draco across the room.
“What are you doing?” she signed. Draco smirked wickedly.
“Winning.”
Hermione sniffed and shook her head. She looked back at Slughorn as he described the dangers of Amortentia and then moved on to make a show of pointing out the last cauldron filled with the golden Felix Felicis.
“Am I correct in assuming that at least two of you know what Felix Felicis is?” he asked jovially, glancing back and forth between Draco and Hermione again.
“It’s liquid luck!” they both answered at the same time. They shot each other a glare and Slughorn chuckled.
“That’s quite right. Another five points to each of you. Now…”
“What the hell is Malfoy playin’ at?” Ron hissed to his tablemates as Slughorn prattled on.
“He’s probably trying to get into Slughorn’s good graces,” Harry whispered back.
Hermione ignored them both and opened her book to preview the directions for the Draught of Living Death. She smirked to herself. This was going to be easy. She had had to make it several times as part of her initial internship at the Ministry, and she had perfected it. She was so getting a massage…
When Slughorn finally explained the assignment and the prize of Felix Felicis to be rewarded to the best-made potion, the class erupted into a brewing frenzy. Hermione quickly set about preparing her ingredients as Ron, Harry, and Ernie opened their books and began to read the instructions.
“Hermione…how are you so far already?” Ron asked five minutes later as he gawked at her already simmering cauldron. She looked up from the roots she was chopping and pushed a stray curl off of her sweaty forehead.
“There is no way that I’m going to let that prat beat me,” she answered as she narrowed her eyes across the dungeon at Slughorn smiling over Draco’s similarly simmering cauldron as he passed by the Slytherin table. She went back to her work and Ron smiled widely as he began weighing his ingredients.
As they worked, Hermione chanced several more glances at Draco to see him working quickly, but calmly and with a look of utter determination. Hermione could tell that he really wanted to win. Her stomach fluttered as she thought of what he might do to her if he actually won. She pushed the thoughts away as best she could and focused on the final few steps of the draught.
At the end of the hour, Slughorn made his rounds to inspect each potion. Without the aid of Snape’s book, Harry had still managed to produce a satisfactory potion that earned him a nod of approval, as did most of the class, but in the end only two potions made the grade.
The whole class waited in anticipation as Slughorn waddled back and forth between Draco’s and Hermione’s cauldrons and compared them several times. He finally stopped at Hermione’s side and turned to face Draco.
“I must confess,” he began happily, “this was a very close competition. Very close indeed! I daresay the two of you have just produced the finest examples of the Draught of Living Death that I have seen from a student in nearly twenty years. It was a difficult decision, but in the end, I’m sorry Mr. Malfoy… Miss Granger’s came out on top. So here you are then, my dear. One tiny vial of Felix Felicis as promised.”
He handed Hermione the vial and she clasped it tightly in her hand. She looked up at Draco to see him staring daggers at her while simultaneously giving her the sign for ‘well done.’
Ron looked at Draco as well and chuckled. “Way to take-down the ferret, Mione,” he said leaning into her and nudging her shoulder.
“Thank you,” she said loud enough for Draco to hear. “Though all that work put some serious kinks in my back,” she sighed as she stretched her back dramatically. Draco smirked and shook his head as he cleaned his work space.
When they finally all made their way out of the dungeon at the end of class, Draco made a point of bumping roughly into Hermione’s shoulder as he passed her. “Swot,” he sneered loudly before stomping away. Ron and Harry both launched into angry tirades about his behavior, but Hermione simply watched him retreat down the hall…with his right hand tugging his ear as he went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Quotes in bold borrowed from HP and the Half-Blood Prince chapter nine: The Half-Blood Prince

As always, thank you for the reviews. And I’m sorry that you are sick monkeyouy23…I hope you get well soon!
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Songs of Regret