Dare

The rest of the first week passed quickly with no new outbursts from either the Gryffindors or the Slytherins. It was as if some giant hand had sprinkled happy dust on the students; the professors could not remember a more congenial week in at least the last twenty years.

When Saturday morning rolled around, I went with Draco to collect the list of people who had requested slots to try-out for the Quidditch team. I was surprised at how many people hoped to be included in this sanctioned form of inter-House rivalry and I briefly wondered if the way the school formed its Quidditch season was the cause of the feelings between Houses or was caused by those feelings. After a moments pondering, I decided it was an unanswerable question of the chicken or the egg variety.

Draco seemed pleased at the number of hopefuls who had put their name down to play, thinking that with this many candidates he could put together a team that might be able to stop the Gryffindor juggernaut. I decided to not get my hopes up, though.

When we arrived at the pitch, I took a seat in the Slytherin stands next to Draco to watch. I had brought some work with me, but was there to give a second opinion as well. Draco wasted no time in calling names and assigning drills to the hopefuls.

As Draco became more and more distracted by what was happening in front of him, I took to scanning the crowd of observers.

It was not unusual for returning members of rival teams to come watch each others try-outs. I had accompanied Draco several times to watch the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws, although no one ever felt much concern over the Hufflepuffs.

I was therefore not at all surprised to see Potter and his girlfriend sitting in the Gryffindor stands watching. Nor, for that matter, was I at all shocked to see several other Gryffindor seventh years whose names slipped my mind at the moment.

I was shocked to the core, though, to see Granger among the crowd.

Granted, she wasn't watching the try-outs. It was more likely she had been dragooned into accompanying her friends and had brought a book to keep herself occupied, but still she was there.

When Draco was organizing the next wave of contenders, I pointed the crowd in the Gryffindor stands out to him. He didn't seem at all surprised that so many of our rivals had come to watch, but he too was a bit surprised by Granger's presence.

"You know, Blaise, I don't think I've seen her on a broom since our required lessons first year. I know she doesn't care much about Quidditch. Wonder why she came."

"Maybe she's spying on us," said Gregory Goyle from the row behind us.

I could only roll my eyes at Draco over this comment.

"Greg, why would they have her spy on us? She doesn't know anything about Quidditch. Besides, their captain is watching. If anyone were spying, wouldn't it be him?" I tried to reason with him, but I wasn't sure if he was catching my meaning or not.

He sat quietly processing what I had said for several minutes before he cracked his knuckles. "Want me to chase them off?" he asked Draco.

It was now Draco's turn to roll his eyes. "No, Greg, that's all right. They watch every year. Just like we watch them."

"Oh. All right, then."

With a sigh, Draco turned his attention back to the next round of try-outs.

It took several hours for Draco to make his first round of cuts.

Surprisingly, it seemed that the three best prospects for chaser this year were girls. While there had been an occasional female member of the Slytherin team, such an occurrence was rare. Usually such girls were from families not traditionally Sorted into Slytherin, rather than from those families where a non-Slytherin member was an anomaly.

But the three girls in question were from traditional wizarding families, whose pedigrees included a number of Slytherins.

Draco turned to me, apparently looking for advice.

"What do you think, Blaise?"

"I think that your top priority is to put together a team that can beat the Gryffindors."

"But girls? We've had female players before, but never three at once!"

"Draco, are they the best?"

Draco sighed and looked through his notes from today's try-outs. "Yes."

"Than that's your answer."

"Snape's going to kill me."

"You don't have to announce it today. If it makes you feel better, talk your choices over with him and announce it tomorrow night in the common room. We can have another House meeting."

Draco brightened at this suggestion.

"All right. That's what we'll do." Nodding, he placed his wand to his throat, amplifying his voice, "Thank you, everyone. Decisions will be announced tomorrow night at ten o'clock in the common room."

And with that, he packed his notes away and we headed into the castle.

I couldn't help but feel that Draco was overly concerned about having girls on the team, and I was amused that he was concerned with Snape's views on the matter. I felt fairly confident that Snape's thoughts would be along the lines of 'whoever has the best shot at stopping the bloody Gryffindors,' particularly since he had never seemed to concerned about women's competence to me. Or rather, that incompetence knew no sex boundaries.

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I couldn't believe I had allowed my friends to drag me along to the Quidditch pitch. I mean, it wasn't even for the Gryffindor try-outs. I could almost see that. But to watch the Slytherins? Who bloody cares?

Or rather, why would they think that I would bloody care?

Finally, about the time I finished my book, the try-outs ended. Malfoy stood up and made an announcement about results being announced in a day, and people began clearing out. I wasted no time I standing and getting ready to leave, too.

"So, who do you think they'll pick?" Harry asked those of us standing around.

"Hard to say, mate," Dean said. He, apparently, had been paying attention. "Depends if they continue to go with brute strength as their main focus, or actual talent. Those three third year girls clearly had the best arms. But I don't think they generally have room for females in their strategies."

"Well, this is the first year that I've seen girls actually try-out. So it's really hard to say..." Harry continued the thought.

"That's probably why he's not making announcements until tomorrow. He wants some time to consider the options in that light," I piped in. I may not know Quidditch, but I did understand strategy.

All eyes turned to me and jaws dropped. Clearly, no one thought I would have anything to add.

"Hermione, you know them better than we do, do you think you might be able to get some information tonight in your common room?"

Sighing, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "No, Harry. They don't talk about their strategies in front of me."

"Oh. Well, it was just a thought."

"Right, well, I'm going inside," I said. I knew that once they started, Quidditch talk would be all that was forthcoming for the foreseeable future.

Grabbing my book, I headed through the throng of observers and took the stairs to the Head common room.

I was only mildly surprised to find Malfoy and Zabini sprawled out on the couches, apparently discussing Quidditch. I assume that's what they were discussing, because they stopped mid-sentence when I came through the portrait hole.

"Granger," Malfoy greeted me.

"Malfoy, Zabini."

"Did you need something, Granger?" Malfoy asked me when I didn't immediately go on through into my bedroom.

"Not really," I answered.

I was receiving some very pointed looks telling me I wasn't welcome for their discussion. It was faintly exasperating. After all, it's not like I know or care about Quidditch, and I had thought most of the school was aware of that. Even the Slytherins.

I made my way over to my desk and began taking out the materials I would need to finish my Transfiguration essay.

"Ah, Granger, were you planning to work in here?" Zabini asked me.

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"Well, ah... we were having a private discussion..."

"About Quidditch," I said, cutting off his stammering. "If you want me to leave, then just ask, although I don't know why you care. I don't know their names, I don't know anything about Quidditch, and frankly, I don't care to."

"Be that as it may, Granger, you are smart enough to remember what we say, and all you would have to do is tell Potter word for word and he'd be able to use it against us."

"Malfoy, Harry and I do not talk about Quidditch. Ever. It is part of our unspoken agreement. He dragged me along today so that I would get some fresh air, not because he thought I'd actually watch or care. I go to the Gryffindor games because I love my friends, not because I understand or care about the sport. Why is this so hard for boys to understand?" I asked plaintively.

They looked at each other and broke out laughing.

"Granger, you should see the look on your face when you said that," Zabini said, when he got his laughter under control.

If it wouldn't have been so juvenile, I would have stuck my tongue out at him, as it was, I rolled my eyes.

"So, Granger, you don't know anything about Quidditch, then? I'm surprised at you. I would have thought that your thirst to know everything about the wizarding world would have led you to learn about its major sport." Malfoy said, baiting me.

Unfortunately for me, I was a bit riled up from the previous comments and so I took the bait, without even meaning to.

"I know enough about Quidditch to know that Gryffindor is going to wipe your arse all over the pitch in the first match of the season!"

"Is that so? You seem awfully confident of that," Malfoy said, smirking.

"Well, based on the last seven years, I think I have reason to be... given how many times you've managed to beat Harry to the snitch... oh wait..."

I stopped at the look on his face. I hadn't seen it since last summer when I'd killed his father. Lucius had worn the same look of cold fury.

Zabini also seemed to see the look, and he intervened before Malfoy and I could go for our wands.

"Well, then, Granger, it seems we should up the ante and make the game more exciting." This drew my attention to the other occupant of the room, and a quick glance at Malfoy showed him shaking the tension from his hands and looking at his friend, too.

"Well, given that it's already the most anticipated game of the year that will be hard to do. What did you have in mind?" I asked.

"How about a Wizard's Dare? If Slytherin wins, which, as you say is very unlikely," he said smugly, "you will agree to tutor Greg and Vince for the rest of the year so that they might actually graduate."

"AND," Malfoy cut in, "you agree to let Blaise and I finally teach you how to fly."

I thought about it for a minute. Really, I wasn't worried. I knew that Harry would catch the snitch and we would win. The chances of Gryffindor losing were so remote, that it almost seemed like a sucker bet to make. I narrowed my eyes, thinking hard. Actually, I would like to learn how to fly. It was one of the things that Muggles actually did know about the wizarding world, and I had always felt like a bit of a failure in not learning this fundamental skill. I would have loved it if Harry or Ron... no, best not think that... if Harry had ever offered to teach me. But he hadn't, and so I had never learned.

A lot of people thought it was fear of heights. But it wasn't. Not really. I mean, I had gotten on Buckbeak and had even ridden a thestral that I couldn't see, for crying out loud.

If anyone had ever asked, they would have known it was fear of failure that kept my feet on the ground. Neville had given me a pointed example at our first flying lesson about how ridiculous I would look if I couldn't do it, and he was a Pureblood. I was Muggle-born... I hadn't felt I would stand a chance.

So really, the only threat was in tutoring Greg and Vince. It would be frustrating, but as Head Girl, I would have done it anyway had they asked. So...

"All right. If Gryffindor wins, you both have to spend the Christmas holidays with me and my Muggle family learning about the Muggle world... and, you both have to agree to teach me to fly," I finished quietly.

"You want us to live with Muggles for three weeks!" Malfoy burst out.

"Yes."

"But, Granger, they're MUGGLES! I can't live with Muggles!"

"Malfoy, if you win, you don't have to. And I think it's quite fair. Gryffindor is more likely to win, so your torment, holidays with my family, will only last three weeks. If the unthinkable happens and you win, I will have to spend time with Crabbe and Goyle for the rest of the school year!"

"She has a point, Draco," Zabini said when I finished.

Malfoy scowled at his long-time friend before turning his scowl on me.

"Fine."

I blinked, looking at Malfoy. "Good."

Zabini just smiled, "Well, this is certainly going to make the game more interesting."

"Granger, the flying lessons are going to have to wait, though, until after the game... unless you want Blaise to help you. I'm going to be too busy getting ready to trounce your House in Quidditch." Malfoy was smirking at me, mentioning the flying lessons which I would be receiving either way...

"Far be it from me to want to distract you. I think we should wait until you both are staying with my family over the holidays. It will give us something to do."

I noticed Malfoy lost his smirk at the reminder of where he would be spending Christmas unless he did the impossible and beat Harry to the snitch.

With a toss of my hair, I headed up the stairs and into my room to get changed for dinner, and decided to head through to the Gryffindor common room to see if Harry and Ginny were ready to go to dinner.

And to encourage them to trounce Slytherin, since I now had a personal stake in the results.

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"You WHAT?!" Harry yelped.

"I made a dare, a bet of sorts, with Malfoy and Zabini on the outcome of your Quidditch game. So you are just going to have to do what ever it takes to win."

"What were the stakes?" Ginny asked, curiously.

"If we win, they have to spend the Christmas holidays with my family in the Muggle world. If they win, I have to tutor Crabbe and Goyle. It seems fair, since we always win. But I just wanted you to know that more than the Quidditch Cup was riding on the outcome of your first match. So you HAVE to win."

"Christ, Hermione, why would you make a bet with Slytherins?"

Why had I made taken the bet... the very daring bet...? "Because it spices things up. Because so far this year, Malfoy and Zabini have been really nice, and it seemed like a good chance to show them that Muggles aren't so different... Because I'm a Gryffindor and they dared me! Don't act like you wouldn't have done the same thing!"

Harry looked at me for a full minute before he burst out laughing. His laughter was contagious and before I knew it, Ginny and I were laughing, too.

"It is sort of like waving a flag at a bull, isn't it? Taunting a Gryffindor with a dare?" Harry asked when he regained control.

"Maybe a bit," I conceded.

"Well, then, shall we go to dinner so that we have the energy to strategize tonight? Now it's even more imperative to win the match."

"Let's go!" I said, standing up.

Arm and arm the three of us went to the Great Hall for dinner. Arriving early, I noticed that Malfoy and Zabini were already seated at the Slytherin table, talking quietly. Catching their eye, I smiled at them before turning back to my friends and our food. Therefore, I didn't notice the honest smiles they directed at me.

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"Are you still planning to talk to Snape?" I asked Draco.

"Yes, I think I should. I just want his opinion, after all."

"Well, this might be a good time to approach him."

Draco looked up at the High Table, noticing the object of our discussion pushing his chair in and getting ready to leave.

Standing quickly, Draco moved to head him off.

"Sir, may I have a word?" Draco asked.

"Of course, Mr. Malfoy. Come with me to my office. Are you joining us, Mr. Zabini?"

"Yes, sir," I answered.

The three of us left quickly and descended into the dungeons, the temperature dropping the deeper we went.

Finally we reached Snape's office. He muttered a password and swept into his sanctum, motioning us to two chairs facing his desk.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Well, sir, we held Quidditch try-outs today."

"I am aware of that, Mr. Malfoy."

"Right. Well, they went fairly well."

"That's good news. I would very much like to reclaim the Cup from Professor McGonagall. It has been far too long in her possession."

"Yes."

"So what is the problem, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could give your input on some of the players."

"Mr. Malfoy, I did not attend the try-outs, and therefore have very little insight into the talents of any of the hopeful students."

"I know that, sir. But..."

"I think Draco is trying to say that you would be likely to be aware of any other commitments that they might have, and know if they were capable of dealing with the double load of Quidditch practice and schoolwork."

"Indeed, I would be able to tell you that much. Although it has never been a matter I have needed to discuss with any of the previous captains." Snape reached out and took the list from Draco. He quickly glanced through it, quirking an eyebrow in surprise. "Mr. Malfoy, all of these players should be capable of balancing their responsibilities."

"That's good, sir."

"Is that really why you asked me, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Ah... yes."

"All right. When will you be announcing your decisions?"

"Tomorrow night. We are having a House meeting."

"That is acceptable."

Taking the list back from our Head of House, Draco and I bolted for the door.

On our way to the Slytherin common room, he whispered to me, "He didn't once mention that half the team is going to be girls."

"I told you I didn't think he'd care about that."

"But doesn't it surprise you?"

"No. Snape has always seemed to respect competence. Well, except for Granger. But even there, I get the feeling it was more an act than any real maliciousness."

"Hmmm, you have a point. So, tomorrow we tell them?"

"All right. Do you think we should mention our dare with Granger?"

"Absolutely. If I have to spend my Christmas with Muggles, there will be hell to pay. I am feeling magnanimous, so I will warn them... it may make them focus more..."

We arrived at Slytherin, and I quickly went through the portrait to my room, barely acknowledging my Housemates.

Entering my private domain, I shucked off my robes and went to bed. It was going to be a long few weeks, while we anticipated the outcome of the Quidditch match. There was a lot riding on it now, more than normal. I could predict lots of tension. My sneaky Slytherin side was thrilled at all the possibilities...