A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Hermione was such in a hurry to get to the dungeon for Potions, she didn't slow down before turning around a corner. In her rush, she bumped to another person with such force that both of them fell on the floor; her books scattered in disarray.

Hermione gasped, flustered. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going-" her voice broke abruptly. She stopped apologizing the moment she realized who the person she bumped into.

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy stared at each other as they remained on the floor in half-sitting, half sprawling position.

He regarded her unblinkingly.

Hermione held his gaze, unable to look away. Being this close to him, she couldn't help but be consciously aware of his sensuous mouth, strong jaw and piercing gray eyes. 'His eyes had light blue flecks on them. Funny, I thought they used to be dull and murky gray.'

When she realized she was staring, she flushed. 'It's not like the first time I've been face to face with someone extremely good-looking,' she thought defensively. She caught her breath. 'Wait a second, Malfoy, good-looking? Hermione Granger, have you gone mad?' she scolded herself, shaking her head fiercely. Muttering to herself, she stood up and started picking up her scattered books.

Draco stood up as well. With his expression impassive, he leaned against the wall as he watched her cram the rest of the books into her already bulky bag. He watched in silence as she uttered a curse, then frantically searched the floor, looking for something in particular.

"Looking for this?"

She looked at his outstretched hand which was holding a tiny, round and glittering object. He had her most cherished possession in his hand; Professor Lupin had given her that key chain. "Thanks," she mumbled, grabbing the moon-shaped key chain from his hand. Fearing that she's already late for class, Hermione shoved the key chain into her pocket and broke into a run. She had only gotten a short distance when he called out to her.

"No need to rush. Class is suspended today." He was again leaning against the wall, his voice a soft drawl.

She swung around to face him. "Oh really?" She studied his expressionless face. His usual smirk was nowhere in sight.

"McGonagall announced to all sixth years that class is suspended for today," Draco explained. "She informed the Gryffindors just a few minutes ago. If you're looking for Potty and Weasel, they're still back there in the room." He pointed to the stairs leading directly to the Potion's classroom.

"Why are you so certain that Harry and Ron are still there?" she queried, giving him a withering look. It angered her to hear him call Harry and Ron as Potty and Weasel. After all these years, she still gets irritated when she hears him say it. 'He's up to something, I just know it,' she thought suspiciously, her eyes narrowing slightly. 'If this is another sick joke, I will make you sorry, Malfoy.'

"Because I just handed a note from Dumbledore to Potter," he said off-handedly. His face remained impassive.

Hermione's brow lifted in surprise.

"If you don't want to believe me, fine then," he said, scowling. "Suit yourself."

Hermione fell silent. She simply gaped at him, disbelief written all over her face. 'It's all just an act,' she tried to tell herself. 'Don't be fooled. He's a Death Eater's son. He could be lying.'

Draco's scowl deepened. He turned and started to walk away.

'Now what?' thought Hermione, biting her lip, extremely confused. Then she set her jaw, hard. 'Who does he think he is anyway?' she thought angrily. 'Just because he didn't call me Mudblood, he should be trusted right away? I'm not that daft!'

He had barely taken three steps when she sidestepped in front of him, completely blocking his way.

"Do you know what your problem is?" she asked, glaring at him. When Draco remained silent, she continued in her most haughtiest voice. "Tell me, are you suffering from a multiple personality disorder complex?'

Draco's eyes darkened. "What the hell are you talking about?" he exclaimed.

"You really don't get it, do you?" Hermione gave a disbelieving snort. "Don't expect me to fall for your 'Mr. Nice Guy' act. I've known you far too long to be fooled so easily."

His face remained impassive but something flickered in his eyes.

With his continued silence, she rattled on. "Either you're under the Imperius Curse or you're not really him . . ." she paused, her eyes widening. "That's it! Whoever you might be, you took a PolyJuice Potion to look like Malfoy." She looked at him suspiciously. "Who are you, really?"

Draco's mouth twitched into a bemused smile. He seemed totally amused at all the accusations she just hurled at him. Seeing the glint of amusement in his eyes, Hermione's temper flared. She had this sudden urge to smack him hard on the head and wipe that smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling?" she snapped, her eyes sparkling angrily. "Did I say something funny?"

Still Draco didn't respond. "Am I talking to a deaf and mute?" She glared at him. "Fine. I'm giving you to the count of three to answer me. One, two, three! Well?"

"You talk too much."

Before Hermione could make a retort, Draco leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She was so stunned that she opened her mouth, deepening the kiss. She intended to push him away but her arms were crushed against his chest. Then Draco ended the kiss, their gazes collided.

He appeared to be very surprised at what he just did.

She stared at him in shock, thoroughly speechless.

He pulled away abruptly, his cold gray eyes dark and sharp. Without another word, Draco turned on his heels and walked away.

Hermione remained rooted to the spot. She still could not believe that Draco Malfoy had just kissed her. And that she kissed him back. Her cheeks went pink. 'Oh, no. What had I gotten myself into?'

"Hermione!"

Hermione nearly jumped in surprise. Ron and Harry were coming towards her.

"We waited for you inside the classroom," Harry told her. "We got tired of waiting so we finally decided to look for you." Harry seemed to notice that something was bothering her for he asked, "Hermione, is there anything wrong?"

She didn't respond.

"Hermione, are you all right?" Harry asked, looking concerned.

"What?" Hermione said distractedly.

"You seemed kind of flushed," Harry noted.

Hermione could only nod her head slightly. She couldn't seem to form a cohesive thought.

Harry exchanged worried looks with Ron.

"Are you sick?" Ron asked, sounding a bit worried.

"No!" she said rather sharply. "I'm... fine," she stammered, smiling weakly. 'Thank goodness, they didn't see me kissing Draco Malfoy.' Her shoulder sagged with relief when she realized her two best friends were unaware of what just happened. It took her a few minutes to finally say something. "I heard classes were suspended?"

"That's right, Professor McGonagall just told us," Harry confirmed what Malfoy had just told her.

"You won't believe what I'm going to tell you. Dumbledore sent Harry a note," Ron confided to her.

"So he sent Harry a note, what's so surprising with that?" Hermione retorted.

"He sent Malfoy to give the note to Harry. Could you imagine Dumbledore trusting that slimy git?" Ron said heatedly. "You should've seen how we look when he entered the room, claiming Dumbledore instructed him to hand the note."

Hermione felt bewildered. 'He was telling me the truth. He's really full of surprises. I wonder what exactly goes inside his head?' She remembered the kiss and blushed furiously. She quickly averted her face so Ron and Harry wouldn't notice her flaming face.

"What was the note all about?" she asked as thoughts of Draco Malfoy swirled inside her head.

"Dumbledore will be having a secret meeting with Moony and Padfoot tonight."

"Why?" asked Hermione curiously.

"He didn't say." Harry was about to say something when they heard the loud announcement reverberating across the castle.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure you're not hungry?" asked Ron, his mouth filled with pasties. Hermione nodded to Ron for the second time. He ate all the pumpkin pasties that Harry wrapped for Hermione. She didn't ate a single thing during lunch, her mind kept recalling the scene where Draco kissed her. 'Did it really happened?'

"Pssst. Ron! C'mere for a sec," Dean beckoned for him to come closer. He was standing in a corner and holding something in his hand. Ron stood up and went to where Dean was standing, leaving Hermione alone.

Hermione decided not to wait for Ron and headed down the dungeon for her next class, Potions. She was already halfway across the corridor leading to the dungeon when all of a sudden, a wave of vertigo came over her. Feeling incredibly weak and dizzy, she swayed and then her vision dimmed as her visions gave way and then everything became black.

Someone was shaking her shoulders roughly.

"Granger?" said a very familiar voice. She just couldn't recognize immediately who it was because her brain felt muddled and extremely woozy. Hermione finally opened her eyes and to her utter amazement, Malfoy's face focused into view. Thinking this must be another weird hallucination, she shut her eyes tightly. Convinced that the moment she open her eyes again, the hallucination would disappear.

"Granger, we still have Potions to attend in exactly fifteen minutes!" he said tersely.

Her eyes opened in a snap. Apparently this was not a hallucination. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?" she snapped irritably as she brush away his hands from her shoulder. She avoided looking straight into his eyes, what happened yesterday was something she would rather forget. 'Oh, please just go away!' she thought desperately

"I was on my way to Potions and found you lying on the floor. What do you want me to do? Just walk away?" he said angrily, gritting his teeth.

His angry tone surprised her. With a start, she realized that she was indeed lying on the floor with Malfoy kneeling over her. She immediately tried to stand up, refusing his outstretched hand. However, the moment she stood up she felt like she had been in a roller coaster a dozen times. With her visions still blurred, she swayed slightly. He quickly took hold of her shoulders, steadying her.

"Let me just stand still for a sec," she muttered. She leaned weakly against the wall of the corridor for support. Slowly, she took several deep breaths until her vision finally cleared into focus. She let out a huge sigh of relief, then cocked her head at him and motioned her hand through the corridor in front of her.

"Run along now!" The tone she used was quite scathing. Still, he didn't budge. "Go on or you'll be late." Again, she avoided looking into his icy gray eyes. "I'm not giving you the slightest chance to put the blame on me for being late," she huffed irritably. She took one step and started swaying dangerously.

"That's it!" he said angrily. Without any warning, he scooped her in his arms and headed to the stairs leading to the Potions classroom.

"Put me down!" she hissed in a threatening tone. "I'm warning you, Malfoy, let me down or I'll . . . I'll . . . . " She was suddenly lost for words, feeling too embarrassed and indignant that the detestable Slytherin was holding her in his arms. And she didn't like the emotions evoked by his close proximity to her.

"Shut up Granger!" he hissed back, a scowl on his flushed face, his breathing erratic. "Do you want someone to see us?" Draco saw her cringe. His eyes suddenly blazed with sudden anger, his mouth set into a straight line. "Good, then do as a I say!" he spat, getting angrier by the moment.

She immediately stopped struggling. However, being pressed so close to him made her think of the brief kiss they shared yesterday. Her heart started pounding loudly, and she had this sudden crazy urge to wrap her arms around his neck. She closed her eyes as another wave of dizziness coursed through her. 'I'm really losing it,' she thought shakily.

When they were a few steps away from the classroom, Draco gently put her down, then without a word, pushed the classroom door open and went inside.

Hermione was left standing outside, shaken and confused at the thoughts crowding her head. How could she let that prat affect her like this. 'I mean, this is Malfoy were talking about; the insufferable git, who called you Mudblood and had insulted you for years.'

"Hermone, wait up!" Ron shouted from a distance. Dean and Seamus were just a few steps behind him. When they reached her side, they were all huffing and puffing, obviously out of breath. "Next time, wait for us," Ron gruffly told her.

"Fine."

When they entered the classroom, Harry looked up from where he was seated, and waved at them. Ron glumly took his seat next to his partner, Millicent Bullstrode. With growing dread, Hermione slowly inched her way to the table she shared with Draco Malfoy. She gritted her teeth. It had been Snape's brilliant idea of torturing the Gryffindors, by partnering them with the Slytherins for the whole term. She didn't know how to deal with him after yesterday's incident. She saw him standing next to Goyle. They were talking earnestly in a low voice.

Goyle noticed her watching them. He said something to Draco before walking away to sit next to Neville.

Draco simply stared at her. They gazed into each other's eyes for several minutes. Hermione was still deciding whether to thank him when Draco finally spoke out loud.

"So the Mudblood finally decided to grace us with her presence." His voice was brimming with mockery. The usual smirk on his face.

It was like a slap on the face. An angry flush filled her face, and Hermione had this terrible urge to smack his face hard. "You're nothing but a pathetic loser," she said a little too loudly, her temper getting the best of her.

Everyone were now staring at them, waiting for what would happen next.

"I see you had fully recovered. I was afraid you might start fainting again." Draco's voice was alarmingly soft. "Don't expect me to help you again."

"I didn't ask for your help in the first place." Her voice shook with anger.

Draco was about to make a sarcastic retort when Snape entered the room. He shot her a look that said, 'I'm not through with you, Mudblood'.

She was so furious that for a few minutes she simply stood rigidly with her fists clenched tightly. It took her awhile to digest what Snape was saying to the class.

"Today, we are going to make Polyjuice Potion. Can anyone tell me what it is?" Snape asked the class.

"Mr.Weasley?"

Ron looked startled but was able to answer quickly. "It transforms you to another person," he replied smugly.

Hermione grinned slightly. She remembered during their second year how she convinced Harry and Ron into making the PolyJuice Potion. And how they changed themselves to Crabbe, Goyle and she into a furry, black she-cat.

"Not quite but sort of," said Snape dourly. He then launched into a long explanation of the PolyJuice Potion's use. After an overly drawn out lecture, Snape instructed them to start brewing the potion.

"For your consideration, some of the ingredients had been prepared earlier. The fluxweed, for example had been picked during full moon, while the lacewings were stewed for twenty one days." Snape crossed his hands across his chests. "Some ingredients like the horn of Bicorn and skin of a Boomslang should be used with restraint. They were taken from my private storage, and I will not allow careless and excessive use of such important ingredients."

Hermione stole a covert look at her partner. It seemed Draco Malfoy wasn't very familiar with the PolyJuice Potion. He kept scanning the page containing the potion's ingredients. 'I'll show him.'

Draco couldn't help but look surprised when he saw that she had already lined up all the ingredients in order. He didn't say anything, but simply watched her grind the Bicorn horn into fine powder. He eyed the Boomslang skin and started shredding it into pieces, working silently beside her.

She worked furiously on the potion, adding more lacewing into the bubbling cauldron. She didn't care that she was working with such ease and familiarity that it was obvious that it wasn't her first time in brewing Polyjuice Potion. Finally, thick black smoke issued from the cauldron, a sign that the potion was finished. Hermione shot Malfoy a look of triumph. She looked around, and discovered that the rest of them were just at the stage of putting the ingredients in their respective cauldron. Even Harry and Ron.

"Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, what's the meaning of this?" asked Snape after seeing them simply standing next to their cauldron.

"We're already finished," answered Hermione.

Snape looked surprised. "Finished already?" He flashed a suspicious look at her. "Is that so?"

Paling slightly, Hermione began to feel slightly nervous. Snape might realize that she was the one who stole the Bicorn and Boomslang three years ago.

"Very well," Snape said. He stopped in front of their cauldron and tested their potion. He ladled dollops of the dark, treacle-thick potion into two glasses. After a lengthy silence, he finally announced. "Well done."

"Now for the final test. Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, give me a strand of your hair," Snape instructed, his tone brisk.

They both did as they were told, and handed their strand of hair to Snape, who then turned his attention to where Neville was seated. "Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Goyle, come over here," he barked crisply.

Snape separately place Hermione and Draco's hair into the two glasses and made Goyle and Neville drink them. Neville gulped down the potion containing Hermione's hair, while Goyle had the one with Draco's hair in it. Within minutes, the two transformed right before their very eyes.

Goyle, who now looked exactly like a poor man's version of Draco, grunted in confusion. Because Draco was smaller in build, Goyle's clothes hung loosely on his transformed body.

Neville, on the other hand, stared with bulging eyes at his feminine appearance. He kept touching his no longer flat chest in wonder.

"Neville, stop that!" Hermione hissed under her teeth.

"S-so-sorry, Hermione," Neville stuttered, getting red on the face.

Crabbe and the rest of the Slytherin snickered loudly. Hermione furiously glared at them.

"Excellent," commented Snape. "It will take an hour before you two transform back to your original appearance," he told Goyle and Neville, who now looked like Draco and Hermione's bedraggled twins.

"Well done, Mr. Malfoy," said Snape, who was practically beaming.

Hermione's jaw dropped. Snape made it sound as if only Malfoy did all the work. She was about to voice the unfairness of it, but the Potions master had already moved on to the next table, leaving Hermione seething inwardly.

Draco looked wickedly amused. It was all Hermione's handiwork but he still got all the credit.

Hermione glared angrily at Draco. She was so mad that when the bell rang, she stormed out of the room, leaving Harry and Ron behind.

Draco stared at Hermione's retreating figure, an unreadable expression on his face.

To be continued

When I ask you to be nice
You say you gotta be
Cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind, means that I love you
Baby, you gotta be cruel to be kind

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