Heart in Agony

Chapter 12

Draco and Hermione were standing in the middle of one of the school's greenhouses...speechless. Although they still couldn't see anyone neither of one was in any doubt as to what they had heard. It had been their Potions Master telling one of his pupils to spank him and there was no point denying it. Hermione slowly turned to Draco and whispered, "Don't make any noise Malfoy. If we leave now and never speak of this again then neither of them ever has to know that we heard them."

"Yeah okay. I knew it though! I told you there was something going on between him and Kirsty. Do you remember her? She is that girl in the year below us. Finally some proof!"

"This is hardly the time for that! We have to..."

Just then Snape moaned really loudly and the shock forced Hermione to scream. She put her hand over her mouth immediately afterwards but by then it was too late...the damage had been done. They heard muffled swearing and suddenly Professor Snape emerged from between a row of desks. He was about ten feet away from them and even although he was trying to act calmly they could tell that he was nervous. He obviously didn't couldn't be sure how long they had been there and what it was that they had heard.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, what or who exactly is it that you are looking for?"

"As it would happen...we were looking for you."

"And why would that be Draco?"

"It would appear that you have kicked me off the Quidditch team. I can see that you are somewhat otherwise engaged at the moment but I was wondering if you would be willing to discuss reconsidering."

"You were in a fight Draco. I have to punish you for that. You are just lucky that I didn't do something worse. The school rules state that you should be suspended for that kind of behaviour. You know that."

"I suppose I could go and talk to Dumbledore then. I'll just tell him that you were too...busy!"

"Now you listen to me..."

"No Sir, you listen to me. The four of us seem to have found ourselves in an interesting situation."

"The four of us? I only see three people here Draco."

"Really? Maybe you should check underneath that table beside you then. I'm sure you'd find a young Slytherin girl by the name of Kirsty hiding there."

Kirsty jumped out from under the table with a big grin on her face. She was giggling and tried to link arms with Snape. He didn't seem to realise what she was doing at first but when he did he quickly pushed her away and her grin vanished.

"I'm helping Kirsty with her schoolwork. She has been having some trouble."

"With her spanking technique? Funnily enough I've heard that that's very common in underage girls."

"I'm not underage Draco! I turned sixteen a few months ago. You won't tell anyone about this though will you? I didn't tell anyone apart from Sarah about the time I saw you with Hermione. Well no that's not true. I told Severus...but I can't keep anything from him. I'm sorry."

"I won't tell anyone as long as I get what I want. But, what are you talking about seeing me with Hermione? We go to the same school obviously I would be with her sometimes, not when I can help it however. There is nothing going on between us."

When Snape saw that Draco had once again started lying about his feelings for the mudblood, he decided it was time to end that particular charade once and for all.

"Don't start this again Draco. I am your House Master and as such I expect you to tell me the truth. If there is in fact nothing going on, then why are you two here together? Why are two people who hate each other spending time with each other when they are not being forced? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Why else would you be going around with an ugly, pitiful, mudblood if you didn't love her Draco?"

"Don't you dare say that about her. She is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen, and she is far from pitiful. And she may be a mudblood but she is more intelligent and just generally better than any pure blooded witch I've ever met. You take it back or I'll hit you so hard they won't be able to recognise you, and I don't care that you're a teacher."

But Snape said nothing. He stared at Draco with a satisfied glint in his eye. Slowly a smirk appeared on his oily face and he took a few steps closer to Draco.

"Now there will be no need for that young Mr Malfoy! I do believe that I just got what I was looking for. I know that she's not any of those things but if you still felt the way you once did about her, you would have thought that she was. I believe that me knowing this little secret of yours will be a sufficient punishment for you. You shall be allowed back on the team in two weeks and none of this will leave this room. And I do mean none of this Draco."

Draco may have been stubborn but he knew when he had been beaten. It would be pointless to try and deny it any more. He took Hermione's hand and led her out and away from the greenhouse, leaving Snape and Kirsty alone once more.

"Why did you push me away Severus? Are you ashamed of me baby?"

"Of course not, but you know that we can't have this little affair leaking out, it would ruin me."

"I know that. So where were we you naughty boy? I think you need to be punished!"

"I have been naughty haven't I!"

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"Oh Blaise baby...please don't stop!"

"I have to go, you know I do. Draco got suspended from the team and he was really pissed off about it. I need to go and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Or if he does I want to be included!"

"Blaise, I want you to be honest with me, are you and Draco gay lovers?"

"Don't be disgusting Stephanie. Why would I be sleeping with you if I was gay?"

"I don't know. It's just that I've read in my magazines and stuff that sometimes guys go to loads of trouble to hide it if they are gay."

"Do I act gay or something?"

"No baby! I just thought that I should ask. Why don't you come here and prove to me again how straight you are!"

"Don't try and change the subject... you totally think that I'm gay."

"I was only asking! What's the deal with Draco anyway? He's by far one of the hottest guys I've ever seen and every girl would love to be with him but he doesn't have a girlfriend."

"What so you want to fuck him now? He's my best friend. I can't believe you."

"I don't. I just wanted to know if he was gay or not."

"Nah, no way! Just ask your mudblood friend."

"Just because she likes him doesn't prove that he isn't gay!"

"No, I mean...she's got first hand proof that he isn't gay if you know what I mean! He hasn't been with anyone since her but he has just had other stuff on his mind. Although there have been a few nights where I'm sure that I've heard him with someone in his room but he denies it. I just always thought he was wanking or something. What if it was guys that he was with. Holy shit."

"Wait a minute what do you mean that she's got first hand proof? And you said that he's been with her? Like actually been with her?"

"Look Draco told me not to tell anyone so I won't, but why don't you just ask her? She's got a freakier side than all of you Gryffindors seem to think! Back to the point though, do gay boys usually try and seduce their best friends or anything? He better not ass rape me while I'm sleeping. Shit, Draco's gay."

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Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room alone having left Draco at the bottom of the stairs. He would be with his friends by now and she was about to be with hers too. She saw them sitting in the same place that they always did. Ron and Harry were, as usual, playing Wizard Chess, and Ginny was sitting beside Harry kissing him and cheering if he managed to destroy one of Ron's pieces .She was making shocked faces every time Ron was the one doing the destroying.

When she saw Hermione approaching Ginny ran towards her. She dragged her up the stairs to her bedroom. This was becoming a regular occurrence for Hermione and she began to wonder why nobody ever wanted to talk in the common room any more. As Ginny once again forced her to sit on the bed in anticipation of the other person speaking she wasn't all that interested. She assumed correctly that Ginny would be going to tell another 'fascinating' story about what Harry and her got up to when they were alone. She talked for a while about how Harry never wanted to just talk any more until she realised that she didn't have Hermione's full attention.

"Sorry if my problems bore you."

"No it's not that Ginny. I've just been kind of tired recently. I'm sorry."

"It's okay! Everybody gets tired sometimes. Plus I suppose that it's not really that interesting for you because you've never done anything with boys. You just have to sit there and listen. When you get a boyfriend it'll be better. We'll be able to talk about more things then. As long as it's not Ron! I don't want to hear that type of thing about my brother!"

"Don't even worry about me ever going out with Ron. But what do you mean about having more to talk about? Why would we have more to talk about it I had a boyfriend? Maybe some things shouldn't be talked about.''

"Hermione, you wouldn't say that if you had one. All you'd ever want to talk about would be him."

"But some people just can't. It's different when the situations are different."

"Whatever! If you wore some sexier clothes all the boys would be after you. They'd be falling at your feet. And don't answer so much in class, it can be intimidating."

"Where the hell did that come from Gin? I'm not going to change myself for any boy. If I have to put on an act for him to like me then it's not meant to be. I want him to love me, not somebody I'm pretending to be."

"But that is clearly not working for you is it? Look, I don't want to be the one to have to say this to you but I have to, you're not the prettiest girl ever to have walked this Earth. I'm not saying that you're ugly, far from it, but you have to make some more of an effort to attract any male attention."

"I can't believe you just said that. I'm going to bed now so if you wouldn't mind could you please leave."

Ginny got up and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She clearly didn't like being confronted. Hermione got changed and got into bed. She was hiding so many different things from so many different people and she didn't know if she'd ever be able to untangle the web of lies she had trapped herself in. But did she want to? She didn't want to lose Draco and if lying to the world was the way to keep him...so be it.

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The next morning came quickly and breakfast was mostly uneventful. Ginny hadn't fallen out with Hermione but she wasn't going out of her way to talk to her either. Afterwards Hermione made her way down to Snape's dungeons for double Potions, with the Slytherins, with Harry and Ron. They were talking about Quidditch but all she could think about was Snape and Kirsty in the greenhouse. She didn't know if she'd be able to sit through a double period without laughing hysterically at least twice.

The assignment was making a wound healing potion and although Hermione found it quite straight forward a lot of other people were having trouble with it. She was sitting beside Lavender and to everyone's surprise they were laughing, and joking, and getting along really well. They were one of the first groups finished and when Snape saw this he ordered the whole class to gather around them.

"It is time for one of these girls to test their potion. Miss Granger maybe?"

"Yes, I'll do it Sir."

Snape instructed Blaise, who was nearest to the cauldron, to fill up a beaker with potion and pass it to her. She took it from him and turned back to face Snape.

"I shall make a small cut on your hand and then you can take the potion you have made and that will be your test. If the wound heals then you have succeeded, if not you will have to start again and keep trying till you get it right."

He took her hand and pointed his wand at it. Blood started gushing from a long, thin cut on her palm, although she felt no pain. She lifted the potion to her lips with the other hand and swallowed a bit. Everybody crowded closer, staring at her upturned palm, to see if it made any difference. At first everything was going well and the wound did indeed get smaller but after a few seconds she started to feel faint. Then she was certain that she was going to vomit. She ran from the classroom in the direction of the nearest bathroom, leaving everyone staring after her.

"I don't understand Sir, we did everything right."

But Draco thought that he understood. He turned to Blaise who's face had broken out into one of the largest grins Draco had ever seen on his best friend's face. He moved closer to Blaise, who when he realised Draco was closer seemed to panic and try to turn away. But Draco wasn't put off, he whispered to him, "What did you do to that potion Blaise? And don't even attempt to lie to me."