Tattoo

Now, this was definitely ruining an otherwise perfect Wednesday evening. I was scrubbing furiously at the table, swearing under my breath over the stupidity of...

"I hate this!" Weasley's voice cut through the sound of brushes against wood.

"Shut up!" I snapped. "It's your fault we're here to begin with." I glared at the group of Gryffindors a few tables away.

"How is it my fault?"

I rolled my eyes. "You were the one attacking me! Not the other way around," I spat. "And if Potter and Finnigan had kept out of it, maybe the teachers wouldn't have noticed. And you two..." I turned and looked irritably at Vincent and Gregory.

Earlier that day at lunch, Weasley had grabbed my robe when I passed by him, and started yelling at me, for no apparent reason, other than him being a Weasley of course. Granger immediately jumped to his defence, and then...

I sighed. It had been a real mess, and suddenly McGonagall had loomed over us, taking points from both houses, giving the lot of us detention together. Even Granger was assigned table scrubbing in the Great Hall, for not showing better judgement, being Prefect and all. I guess that was the reason I was here too, even though I hadn't even had time to punch Weasley in the nose before it all went way out of hand.

"Seamus!" Outraged. "You promised not to tell!"

"Honestly, Harry!" Granger sounded slightly shocked. "A tattoo?"

This could be interesting. I stopped scrubbing and looked over at the Gryffindor group.

"When?" Weasley sounded almost impressed.

"I could kill you, Seamus!" He had his back turned to me, and was running his hands through his hair in distress.

"When?" Granger had crossed her arms and I wondered if she was always this commanding.

"Christmas." He sounded a bit embarrassed, words coming out in a rush. "At the Burrow. I saw Charlie's tattoo, and I thought it was really cool, and I wanted one too, so he took me to Diagon Alley and helped me get one." Now he was pleading. "Don't tell your mum, Ron. She'll kill him..."

"What? You have a sodding dragon plastered all over your back?" Weasley was staring at him in disbelief.

"I bloody well haven't!" Irritated. "It's smaller. Much smaller. And it's... it's not on my back."

"So why does Seamus know, and not me?"

That must have hurt the Weasley pride. I couldn't help chuckling a bit.

"I usually put a glamour charm on it, but I forgot one morning, and Seamus saw it." Accusingly: "And he promised not to tell!"
"Aw, come on Harry. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It is cool..."

"Show us!"

I raised an eyebrow. Sometimes Granger actually surprised me.

"Now?" A bit nervous. "But..."

"Yes, now."

I saw him fiddling with something in front of him, and Granger's eyes widened in shock.

"Harry! What are you doing?"

Annoyed. Really annoyed. "Unbuttoning my pants. Do you want to see it or not?" A sigh. "Don't be silly Hermione, I won't take them off entirely."

I could see him pulling up his shirt, and lowering the waistband of his trousers over his left hip. Weasley and Granger were staring incredulously at him.

"Cool. Way cool, Harry." Weasley was obviously impressed.

"Hmm..." Granger didn't sound convinced.

I couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"And so bloody Gryffindorish of you, Potter..." Drawling. "...to get it in red and gold." I snorted.

He whirled around, pants still unbuttoned, and stared at me. I bit back a snicker, and managed to keep the disdainful expression on my face.

"How do you know what colour it is? You could hardly see it from where you are."

Clever, Granger. Really clever.

"Yeah!" Oh, great! Now Weasley felt the urge to voice his opinion. "When did he see it, Harry?"

"Want me to tell them, Potter?" I smirked.

Quirked eyebrow. "Please do. This will be interesting." He had buttoned his pants, and was crossing his arms over his chest exactly the same way Weasley and Granger were, but he sounded slightly amused.

"Let me see." I furrowed my brow, and pretended I had to think about it. "It must have been right after Christmas, when I was shagging you in the Prefects' bathroom." Smirk still in place.

His eyebrows shot straight up into his hair, and he let out a laugh. "Oh, Malfoy! And here I was thinking you were a good liar."

"Why don't you try the truth instead?" Granger again.

Not hard to guess who's the boss. I shrugged.

"I saw him in the Quidditch changing room showers when I had been out flying one evening. I didn't think anyone was there, but heard splashing from the showers and went to see who it was. I was too tired to fight, so when I saw it was Potter, I just left again."

"And how come he didn't see you?"

"Oh, come on Granger! He was washing his hair. Not even Potter is stupid enough to open his eyes, while his face is full of shampoo. Now let's get this scrubbing over and done with so we can get out of here."

I went back to scrubbing my table, making a point of ignoring the group of Gryffindors, huddled together over a table further down the hall. I could still hear Granger's voice.

"Honestly, Harry! A tattoo?"

* * *

I was putting the buckets back in the storeroom, inwardly complaining about my aching shoulders, when I felt a hot breath on my ear, sending shivers down my spine. A low voice, so close I could feel the words against my skin.

"Lucky thing Ron and Seamus haven't noticed I never have my back to the wall when I shower."

I chuckled, and couldn't keep the grin from spreading across my face.

Whispering in my ear. "Midnight. Prefects' bathroom."

When I turned around, he was already gone.