One Person Two Many

One Person Two Many

Chapter Five

Potions was still the worst subject on anyone's timetable. There were many times when Hermione regretted choosing to study it at NEWT level. Snape was no less critical than he had been when they were in first year. She knew Harry felt the same way, although it was slightly better for him because to become an Auror, he had to take potions. So his 'imprisonment' in the dungeons for lessons was nearly out of his hands. Still, she thought, the lesson was finally drawing to a close. A jab from Ron reminded her that she was supposed to be pouring a sample of the potion into a container for marking. Startled, she jerked her arm, smashing her bottle of bat's blood on the floor, just as the bell rang. Letting out an exasperated "darn it" she bent down to start cleaning it up.

"Do you want any help, Hermione?" asked Harry.

She shook her head, "No, this'll only take me a minute to clean up. I'll see you in Transfiguration."

Harry nodded, and he and Ron walked out of the dungeon.

Hermione stood, reaching into her bag for her wand, thinking it would be much quicker to clean it magically rather than in the Muggle fashion.

She heard someone clear their throat loudly. "Miss Granger, I am surprised that I would need to remind you that no magic is allowed in between classes," said Professor Snape strictly. "Five points from Gryffindor. Now clean that up, and hurry, I have another class waiting."

Fuming, Hermione put her wand away, grabbed some cloths and started to soak up the bat's blood. Rinsing her cloths several times, she saw Snape looking more and more furious. Finally he stopped her. "That will do, Miss Granger. You may leave."

Hermione snatched up her bag and stormed out of the dungeons, past the waiting class. Not only had Snape kept her there just long enough to make her late for Transfiguration, but also she desperately needed to go to the bathroom. Muttering angrily to herself, she rushed up the stairs, only to realise that the nearest bathroom was none other than Moaning Myrtle's. Cursing Snape under her breath, she ducked into the nearest stall. As she quickly washed her hands, she heard the bathroom door open. Curious to see who had come in, she turned. "I should have guessed," she said. "Look, Draco, I'm in a hurry; I'm already late for Transfiguration as it is."

Draco just smiled cockily and walked towards her. "But I haven't, uh, talked to you since yesterday."

"Draco," Hermione said warningly, "not now, please. I have to get to class."

Draco was now inches from her. Hermione looked away for a second, then looked at him and nodded her head slightly. This was all the encouragement Draco needed. He grabbed her and drew her tightly to him. Placing his hands behind her head, they began kissing passionately. At first Hermione was surprised by the freshness and eagerness that he was kissing her with; it wasn't like they hadn't seen each other for a few weeks. She soon overcame her shock and responded to him; that is, until she heard a loud, high-pitched giggle. Draco stopped kissing her, and spun around.

"Who the heck are you?" he roared angrily.

Hermione tapped Draco's arm. "That's Moaning Myrtle, Draco. She haunts this bathroom."

He whirled to face her, "And you didn't think to tell me this. I don't mind an audience, Hermione, but in the future can you tell me when we have one?" Myrtle continued to giggle, and Draco once again whirled around. "Would you shut up?" he said.

Myrtle let out a high-pitched cry, then turned and fled into her toilet stall. Draco smiled fixatedly, and turned on his heel to face Hermione, "At least she's gone now."

"And so should we be; class started ten minutes ago," Hermione said, looking at her watch, then at Draco, as he pouted. "Oh, you're so cute when you do that!" She lent forwards and kissed him. "Now I really have to go."

Draco watched as she turned and ran out of the girl's bathroom.

*******

Hermione opened the door to the Transfiguration classroom. "Sorry, Professor McGonagall. I had to clean up a spill in the Potions classroom."

McGonagall frowned at Hermione. "Take your seat please."

Hermione slipped into the seat next to Harry. "What took you so long?" he whispered as McGonagall turned to magic the instructions on the board.

"Snape wouldn't let me use magic to clean the blood up," she whispered back, "then I had to go to the bathroom and I got held up by Myrtle."

"Miss Granger! You turned up late for my lesson, and now you are disrupting it again by talking. Ten points from Gryffindor, one more interruption and it will be fifty. Is that clear, Miss Granger?"

"Yes, Professor," said Hermione meekly.

*******

Much to Hermione's dismay, the rest of that week and the next had a similar pattern to it: she spent her days and nights with Harry, studying and in classes, and spent many a frequent, short time cornered in a deserted room with Draco. Often she ended up crying herself to sleep, which, she thought, was a contradiction of how happy she truly had felt over the last two weeks. She had a terrible feeling about the next day, her two-week anniversary with Draco.

Hermione was surprised to find out how much she was looking forward to Saturday night with Draco. It was even distracting her from her schoolwork; in Potions, Harry lost count of the number of times he had to stop her from putting in the wrong ingredient.

"Are you sure you're all right, Hermione?" he asked, concerned. "You've been acting a little odd all week."

Hermione smiled at him. "I'm fine, Harry. This workload we've got has just made me a bit distracted," she said, trying her best to sound reassuring.

Ron looked up from his cauldron. "I'll agree with that. We've barely seen you recently, Hermione. You're always running off to the library at every chance you've got. Are you sure you don't want me to just move your bed into the library so that you can live there?"

Hermione glared at Ron. "No, thank you, Ron. I quite like my bed where it is."

He shrugged, and turned back to his cauldron.

Snape cleared his voice loudly. "You have five minutes left to complete your potion."

Distracted, Hermione looked up. "What?"

Harry looked at her. "Five minutes, 'Mione. What's wrong?"

"I - oh, nothing," she said, thinking quickly. "I just wanted a little while longer to make sure that the color is correct, mine's looking a bit more turquoise than blue."

Harry peered into her cauldron, looking confused. "That is blue," he said.

Hermione cast a fake worried look on her face. "Oh, you think so?"

Harry just patted her on the back and went back to his work.

The bell rang just after all the students had put a sample of their potion on Snape's desk. Hermione hurriedly shoved all her books back into her bag, and started out of the classroom, not waiting for Harry and Ron.

"Hey," Harry called. "Where are you going?"

Hermione looked over her shoulder and called, "Bathroom. See you in History of Magic."

Harry and Ron stood watching as she sped off down a side corridor.

"Is it me, or has she been acting weird lately?" Harry asked Ron.

"It's not you, mate."

They were about to turn and head for their History of Magic classroom when they were bumped into from behind.

"Oh," said a condescending voice. "I didn't see you there. I guess my eyes only see people who are worth it."

Ron turned. "Oh bugger off, Malfoy."

Draco shrugged. "Have it your way," he said, and walked off down the same corridor as Hermione had.

Harry looked furious. "You would think that by now he would have gotten sick of trying to annoy us."

Ron shook his head. "He's a nutter, what more can I say?"