Bad Medicine

Chapter Four

Draco was keyed up after Quidditch practice later that afternoon. It had been a perfect day for flying, clear and crisp. His cheeks and ears still burned from the cold. The snitch had been surprisingly simple to catch and Montague had actually pounded him on the back after practice.

"Do that in the next game and we'll take Gryffindor, for sure!"

Draco sneered a bit at that. If only fricking Potter didn't always seem to fly a bit faster, turn a bit sharper... He sighed and shook off thoughts of Potter. He was in far too good a mood to let The Boy Who Scored spoil it for him. Instead, he headed for the library. Granger-baiting would be the icing on his cake. If she hated him, so much the better. At least she couldn't ignore him.

He was disappointed to find her missing. Oddly, the other two lemurs were present, playing a game of wizard chess in the corner. Perhaps they had had a row and she was sulking in the Gryffindor common room. He nearly went over and asked where she was and chuckled to himself at the thought of their expressions if he did so.

He ran into Blaise in the hallway on his way out, who mentioned that Pansy was looking for him, but he wasn't in the mood for casual snogging. He itched to do something.

He wandered the halls for a bit and found himself in the deserted corridor. He doubted Hermione would be in the room at this time of day. It was nearly time for supper. She had to be in the Gryffindor common room, studying.

So thinking, he absently opened the door and stepped inside.

He stopped cold at Hermione's horrified gasp. They stared at each other for a timeless moment and then Granger leaped for her wand.

Draco snatched his own out.

"Freeze, Granger!" he yelled and leveled it at her. She stopped and turned toward him with an expression of dread. She panted slightly and he figured a song had just ended, as a repetitive scratching came from the phono player.

"What are you doing up here, Granger?" he asked with deceptive softness. "Are you really here all alone?"

She raised her chin defiantly.

"Do your worst, Malfoy," she hissed.

Draco chuckled delightedly.

"Ah, a challenge." He walked forward and then around her in a full circle, examining her as he would a prize mare.

"And whatever are you wearing?"

She flushed scarlet. He could see it even in the dim glow from the candles she had lit to combat the growing shadows. Her defiant expression shifted slightly to something akin to fear. Malfoy smiled. That was more like it. She had finally realized she was alone, wandless, and completely at his mercy. Draco could not have been more elated.

He halted in front of her and touched his wand under her chin to bring her eyes up to meet his.

"Now tell me what you're doing here," he said. Truthfully, he had often wondered why she felt the need to hide away and cavort to muggle music on a regular basis. It was entertaining--for him anyway--but hardly seemed worth the risk.

"I'm exercising," she snapped. "I do not intend to become hugely fat simply because I don't have to walk across a room to fetch a book."

"I've seen you cross a room to fetch a book."

"I don't intend to get lazy, either!"

"Can't you take a jaunt around the lake? Run up and down the stairs a few thousand times?" he asked.

"I like dancing," she muttered. "It's fun. And wizard music just isn't the same. I miss my Ipod and music videos and the radio."

He had no clue what she was talking about and he really didn't care. He stepped back, keeping his wand leveled.

"So muggle dancing is fun? Show me."

She gaped at him.

"Show you what?"

"Show me this fun dancing, of course."

"I can't dance in front of you!"

Of course you can, he thought, you've done it dozens of times.

"Why not? Does it involve removing your clothes? It looks like you've already gotten a good start on that..."

She flushed again and he congratulated himself. It was rare he could get more than a single blush out of her. She must be more flustered than he thought.

"No, it does not involve removing my clothes. It's just... embarrassing. I can't dance in front of other people."

"Then teach me. I'm an excellent dancer. How different can muggle dancing be? And you're a bossy know-it-all. Teach me."

She stared at him.

"You've got to be joking."

"Not unless you want me to go fetch the rest of Slytherin House and we can all watch you?"

"I will be long gone by the time you do that."

"Not if I cast Petrificus Totalus on you."

She shook her head and glared. He could practically see the thoughts spinning in that clever little brain of hers. She hoped to humor him long enough to reach her wand, and then she would zap him with a nasty spell. A memory charm? Likely. She could probably do it without frying his brain, too.

"I'm certain that teaching Draco Malfoy muggle dances can be found in the Book of Sublimely Ridiculous Occurrences or possibly Portents of the Apocalypse." She held up a hand to forestall his comment. "Why do you want to learn? You hate all things muggle, remember? Pureblood ideology and all that tripe."

"I'm bored. If your little pastime amuses me, I may decide not to tell the whole school about this little incident."

She crossed her arms. "You'd best make up your mind about that, or I'll teach you nothing."

"If you don't tell anyone about teaching me, I won't tell anyone about what you're teaching me. Fair enough?"

"How do I know I can trust you to keep silent?"

He grinned evilly. "You don't, Granger. That's what makes it interesting. The offer is going once... Going twice..."

"Fine," she said.

He marched over and rifled through her robes until he found her wand. He took both wands and wedged them beneath the box that held the playing discs, so that a quick Accio spell would not dislodge them. He didn't know if she could Accio without a wand, but he wanted to take no chances.

"For safekeeping," he said. "Now, let's begin."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she said with a frustrated sigh. He watched her carefully as she rifled through the discs and pulled one out. She set it on the phono to play and music blared from the machine. It wasn't one of Draco's favorites, but it had a relatively easy beat to follow and wasn't ridiculously loud.

She stood across from him and his first muggle dance lesson began. She showed him a number of steps and made him mirror her - quick steps, sideways slides, shoulder rolls, hip gyrations, spins, and twists. Draco was a quick study, mostly due to the fact that he'd been watching her for weeks. He was also naturally graceful.

At one point she stood back and watched while he danced alone and he grinned at the rueful expression on her face.

"It figures you'd be good at this," she said dryly.

"Why?"

"Because you're already... semi-good looking," she admitted. "And you can dance. If you were in the muggle world, you'd have girls swooning at your feet."

"I already have girls swooning at my feet," he said. "Haven't you noticed?"

The song ended and a slower one began, so she rushed to change it.

"How do you dance to slow songs?" he asked.

"You don't," she snapped. She pulled the disc from the phonograph machine and looked up at the darkening skylight.

"We should go. I think we already missed supper."

He retrieved their wands while she slid the black disc into its cover. He looked at her thoughtfully.

"If I give this back to you, you'll jinx me, won't you?"

She looked at him guiltily.

"However, I'm going to require that you promise not to. That way, if you go back on your word, your little Gryffindor soul will squirm with guilt forever each time you see me. Now promise that you will not use any memory charms on me, nor hexes, nor curses, nor jinxes that will make me forget this little incident."

She looked as if she could curse him with a glare.

"I promise," she gritted, "but only if you promise never to mention this to anyone."

"I promise," he said, "but only if you promise to meet me here tomorrow for some further instruction."

"Why?" She looked stunned.

"Because I feel like it. Beside, I want to know as much as I can about muggles and their ways. I figure it will help me should I later decide to take up muggle-hunting. After Hogwarts, I mean."

She gasped in outrage. "I won't help you hunt muggles, nor assist you in your future career as a junior Death Eater!"

"Sure you will," he called on his way to the door. "Or I'll tell everyone about your little secret here. Might even contact The Daily Prophet. And commission a painting of you in your skimpy little outfit. See you tomorrow." He opened the door, flipped her wand in her direction, and bolted.

Hermione was a bundle of nerves the next day. She could barely accept that what had happened the previous day was not a dream. Had she actually taught Draco Malfoy muggle dances? And had he actually insisted upon meeting her to learn more? It was beyond comprehension. She kept expecting to see pointing and hear sniggering from each Slytherin she passed in the halls, but Malfoy seemed to have kept silent.

Harry and Ron both noticed her preoccupation, but she explained vaguely that she was worried about an Arithmancy exam. Standing near Malfoy in Care of Magical Creatures was sheer torture. She kept sneaking glances at him but he paid her no mind whatsoever, as if she simply did not exist. She left class bewildered to the point of doubting her own reality. Maybe it really had been a dream!

She actually breathed a sigh of relief until Malfoy nudged her on their way back to the castle on the pretext of trying to trip her.

"After Herbology, Granger," he muttered low enough that she barely caught it. On his way down the hall, he whistled a few bars of a song that was completely familiar to her. She immediately tensed again. Damn, she hadn't dreamed it at all!

She watched his handsome figure as he receded and puzzlement furrowed her brow.

Odd, but she didn't remember playing Bon Jovi yesterday.