Blessed Release: The Pardon

"If it's a bad day, you try to suffocate

Another memory is scarred.

If it's a bad case then you accelerate

You're in the getaway car."

Placebo, You Don't Care About Us

Chapter 1: Profanity

"Fuck"

"Ron!" cried Hermione. "Don't swear!"

"Why the fuck shouldn't I? I don't see what the problem is."

Hermione threw him a scathing glare.

"Because one day you'll slip up and swear in front of a teacher and get a detention. So don't ever swear in front of a teacher and get detention. So don't ever say fuck again."

"Swearing, Miss Granger?" came a sneering voice from behind them. "I would have expected more from you. Well, that's a detention."

Snape strode away.

"Fuck," said Hermione.

Draco tossed his bag down and threw himself into his seat.

He then proceeded to sulk, although sulking was against rule no. __ in the Malfoy Code of Conduct.

He was sitting in this sulky state when the door to the detention room opened and Hermione Granger walked in.

Draco's jaw dropped open.

Granger? In detention?

He then decided he should ignore her, as she was ignoring him, until he realized there was only one seat left in the room, and it was next to him.

Shit. Sitting next to his arch-nemesis's girlfriend was not Draco's idea of an enjoyable pastime.

And no girl could resist him.

Being hot was fun. Usually. He flicked his silvery hair out of his eyes; a movement Hermione tried to ignore yet failed to.

She sat and stared stonily at the front of the room, but her eyes were constantly drawn to him.

He continued to flick his hair out of his eyes, because it seemed his endless supply of had run out, or something, because his hair was now rather floppy.

It was a very distracting thing, his hair flicking.

Hermione watched (or tried to) the minutes tick by.

Meanwhile Draco had constructed an Astronomy Tower out of a polystyrene cup. (A/N. Personal joke for Lucy.)

After ten minutes of pretending to be interested in something, anything else, Hermione completely ditched the façade and stared at the Astronomy Tower.

Draco was oblivious to her now; he was too engrossed in his work. Finally he sat back, staring at the Tower.

He had colored the polystyrene cup black and then drawn silver stars all over it.

It had a little door, or something, and Hermione knew he had drawn something on the inside but she couldn't see what it was.

Suddenly Draco looked up.

He stared at Hermione and she stared back, until she blushed and looked away.

"You can go now," said a teacher grudgingly from the front.

Draco's head snapped to attention.

"But first you have to clean the room, without magic."

Draco stood and balled his hands into fists but said nothing.

Hermione also stood silently.

She grabbed a broom from a closet that the teacher pointed to and began sweeping the floor.

After a while Draco moved to the closet and selected a mop.

"So, what are you in for?" asked Draco when the teacher had left.

Hermione looked up in surprise.

"Mudblood," he added hastily, and she looked away again.

They continued on in silence, although strangely it wasn't as awkward as before.

Once they'd finished Draco grabbed his bag and left; in his hast he forgot his Astronomy Tower.

Hermione was about to call him back when she realized this was her chance to see what the little picture was.

Inside were two little stick figures, one a silver haired boy and the other a brown haired girl. Drawn above them was a red heart.

Hermione didn't breathe.

But then she saw at the base (or what was usually the top) of the cup there were some words.

Hermione silently tucked the Astronomy Tower into her bag.

Written very simply was:

Draco

+

Lucy.

Harry trudged into the Gryffindor common room after Quidditch practice to find Hermione staring numbly at the fire.

"What is it?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Nothing. Just homework stress, I suppose."

Harry brushed his lips against her cheek.

"Well, whatever it is, don't worry, babe. You have plenty of other things to think about. Like your boyfriend..."

He grinned cheekily and leaned in to kiss her, but she stood and he ended up falling into the couch.

"You're right. I do have a lot of things to think about. If you don't mind I think I'll just got to bed, thanks."

Without waiting for an answer she disappeared up to the Girls dormitory.

Harry was right. Hermione had much more important things to think about than homework. Like why she was so concerned that it hadn't been her in the little picture. She should be relieved!

But instead all she could think about was the way Draco's hair flopped into his eyes...

Draco stared at the ceiling.

He wished he'd kept that little Astronomy Tower; it would've been a nice gift for his girlfriend, Lucy.

Just as a little token of his love for her...she was really the first girl he'd actually been in love with, and he was sure she'd appreciate it.

He wondered what had become of it, although he knew it was probably at the bottom of some rubbish bin by now. (He had no idea that it was in Hermione's room right now.)

It was too quiet.

Draco had gotten used to hearing Crabbe and Goyle's snores, and now with his own room everything seemed different.

You see Draco was Head Boy. He'd hoped that Lucy would be Head Girl but of course that goody-good Granger was.

It was one of the biggest disappointments of his life.

But at least he didn't have to share living quarters with her, like the Head boy and Girl did when the school first opened.

God, if that were the case he wouldn't have been able to cope.

Because no girl could resist him. There were no exceptions.

All the Slytherin girls were practically begging to go out with him (e.g. Becky) and half the girls in the other houses were too.

With his witty charm and devilish good looks nothing female (except Hannah, but she is crazy) was able to resist him. (I'm being serious.)

Sure, Draco had his faults (impatient, not a good listener, vain, etc.) but if you forgot about those it was easy to fall in love with him. (So very, very easy.)

As many girls knew.

No girl could resist him...

Ginny stood in front of the mirror, pouting.

She had forcibly employed Hermione's help to choose the perfect dress to wear to a dance that was being held especially for the fifth years.

Hermione had to attend because she was Head Girl, but she wasn't very happy about it.

"Come on, Hermy," said Ginny. "Tell me the truth, does this dress make my butt look big?"

Hermione said nothing.

"Why aren't you getting dressed?" asked Ginny.

"I'm wearing this," answered Hermione.

Ginny stared at her in disbelief.

"You can't!" she cried. "It'd be a crime against nature if you didn't dress up for a dance!"

Hermione scowled.

"What's the point of dressing up? I'm just there to chaperone, and plus, I have nothing to wear. And you can't make me dress up! So there!"

Ginny began advancing menacingly with a hairbrush, makeup bag and a straightening iron.

"No, Ginny, what are you doing?" cried Hermione. "Help, somebody help, heeeeelllp!"