Shifting Perspectives

Shifting Perspectives

by Professor Mary

Chapter 11 "From the Outside Looking In"

****

"Draco?"

"Draco? ... Draco!" Pansy hissed loudly, as she poked the tall blond boy sharply in the side.

"What?" he snapped back, never drawing his gaze away from the Gryffindor Table.

"Do I even want to know why you're staring at Goody Goody Granger?"

"Mmmm .... what? I'm not staring," he mumbled.

Pansy eyed her friend closely as he, indeed, continued to gaze at the Muggleborn witch sitting a few tables away.

"You are watching her... and you've been doing it all week," Pansy said haughtily.

Draco gave a noncommittal grunt and proceeded to shred his toast rather than eat it.

"Really, Draco. I'm not going to be the only one who notices if you keep this up. If you want Granger, why did you say it was okay for Blaise to pursue her? He's only sitting over there because you sanctioned it."

"She's not an object, Pansy!" Draco replied grumpily. "I do not want her... and... and besides, she can date whomever she wants."

"Right. Which certainly explains why you made her off-limits last year when Nott wanted to ask her out.... which explains why you gave Blaise permission... the only it thing it doesn't explain is why you're staring," Pansy said airily.

Pansy almost recoiled under the icy gaze that her childhood friend turned on her then. Almost. But she was determined to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering Draco. And if it meant helping him woe Mudblood Granger, then so be it, she sighed to herself.

"Listen, Draco," she whispered as she leaned in to his side. "Something's definitely changed between you and Granger. I know it has ... Don't even give me that look. I've been watching you two all week. You're not the only one who's been staring, you know. So you can either tell me what's going on or I can guess. Either way, I'm going to do something about all this - even though I don't know what you see in her - she's not pretty, she's a foolhardy Gryffindor, and a Mudblood- what's that look for? I know you don't really care about all that blood bullshit--"

"Blood bullshit?" Draco interrupted hoarsely.

But Pansy continued, "Listen, if you want to give Granger a go, there's no reason why you shouldn't."

Pansy felt triumphant when she saw Draco's look of total surprise.

"What do you mean by that? Of course, I can't give her a "go" ... what are you saying? That'd be impossible... we're too different. We-- I can't even stand that slimy fer- ... argh! I don't know why I'm even talking about this!" Draco sputtered angrily.

Pansy just snickered in response.

"All right, then. Have it your way. But you're in denial, Draco Malfoy. Don't blame me when the object of your affections gets swept away by the Zabini charms. Even Granger won't be able to resist those for long," Pansy finished with a small sigh.

Draco snorted and muttered, "Yeah. We'll see about that," as he fixed his sight on the Italian boy sitting next to Granger.

"That's my boy," Pansy smiled. "Now why don't you tell me what you have in mind?" she asked sweetly.

Draco didn't appear to have heard her.

"Pansy, you wouldn't mind if I asked Ginny Weasley to sit with us at dinner tonight, would you?" he said after several minutes.

"Oooh, Draco! Fighting Gryffindors with Gryffindors! You are a sneaky bastard," she giggled. "But of course you can count on me to help you with your - er- Inter-House Unity efforts."

Pansy delighted to see the familiar predatory grin spread across her friend's pale face. And she smirked to herself as she thought about how helping Draco to achieve his goal would set her up nicely to get what she wanted, too.

**********

Hermione barely heard Pansy's answer as she rose to leave the Great Hall. Her eyes never left the smiling brown-haired girl who seemed to be drinking up the attentions of one Blaise Zabini.

Malfoy is insufferable! she thought to herself. How dare he put on such a show? What's the point?

It just didn't make any sense to Hermione. She couldn't understand why Malfoy would act that way around Blaise. She knew that he didn't care about Inter-House Unity. Though she could understand that maybe he missed his real friends, she didn't think that that adequately justified flirting with the boy in front of the entire Great Hall at breakfast.

She sighed to herself as she headed to her NEWTs Transfiguration class. It wasn't just that she didn't understand Malfoy's intentions with Blaise... she was actually a bit confused about everything regarding Malfoy these days.

Neither of them spoke about what had happened that evening on the pitch and then later in the infirmary. Nor did they bring up how much more time they were spending together. For her part, though, Hermione was extremely aware of how much things had changed between them.

With the aid of Fred and George's Extendable Ears, Malfoy had been able to "attend" each of the Slytherin Quidditch practices. He listened in to the strategy sessions and sat unobtrusively in the stands when the team flew. Every night, he went over the details with Hermione.

While that might have been acceptable, their evenings didn't just end there. The two also continued to study their normal subjects together. Hermione was actually grateful for this - Quidditch practice threatened to eat up an inordinate amount of time and energy. Having a study partner, she reasoned, was a good way to manage all of her responsibilities without sacrificing her grades.

But still - they hadn't talked about any of it. After the first Quidditch practice, Hermione and Malfoy had stayed behind the others. Rigorously, though not maliciously, Malfoy had critiqued her team management performance and her flying. Then he went on to give her tips about keeping the various players in line during practice. By the time they'd returned to their Common room, they'd been so engrossed in Quidditch talk, that Hermione didn't give any thought to when Malfoy turned their efforts towards Transfiguration homework.

It wasn't that he was acting completely differently or anything, she reasoned. She certainly wouldn't say that they'd become friends. Rather he was acting the way she'd seen him act with his peers. She mulled that over for a few minutes before it occurred to her that Malfoy was, for the most part, treating her with some amount of respect. The thought of Malfoy respecting her made her feel a bit victorious - like maybe she'd outsmarted a poisonous snake into trusting her. The irony of her thoughts made her snicker to herself out loud.

However, she was still irked by Malfoy's displays with Blaise during breakfast.

A familiar voice jolted her out of her thoughts. She looked up in time to see a flash of long red hair. Feeling determined, she followed Ginny and groaned slightly when the other girl joined her two former best friends and Malfoy. She took a deep breath and walked over to where the four were standing in the hallway.

"Er- Ginny?" she said, trying to give the girl one of those dazzling smiles that she'd practiced in the mirror.

"Hi Draco," she answered easily, bright spots slowly emerging her cheeks.

Hermione noticed the wary looks that both Harry and Ron were now sending her way. However, it was Malfoy's calculating expression that bolstered her resolve.

"Ginny, I was just wondering if you'd like to join me tonight for dinner?" she said feeling thankful that Malfoy's voice was becoming ever easier for her to control.

"With the Slytherins?" Ron interrupted. Harry frowned and Malfoy looked amused.

"Yes, of course," Hermione returned. "Well, Ginny?" she asked again, taking a step closer and favoring her with another big smile.

"Thanks, Draco. That'd be very nice. I'll see you tonight then," Ginny said, giving Hermione a sly grin before she turned her bright brown eyes back to Harry's deepening scowl.

Malfoy's expression was now approaching a smirk, Hermione noted. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look right off his face.

Taking a step closer to Ginny, Hermione gave into a rather devious impulse and placed a quick peck on the girl's cheek.

"Wonderful," she drawled - giving the red-headed girl a wink, just for good measure - and then turned away to head to class.

She didn't see a third scowl join Harry's and Ron's.

More than once during Transfiguration, her eyes drifted towards the brown-haired girl sitting at the front of the classroom. She shook her head, ignored Pansy's "tut tuts" and tried to quell her growing frustration. She wished she could better understand where these feelings were coming from.

********

"What is going on with Malfoy?" Harry said as he sat down with his two best friends in the library.

Ron looked thoughtful but Hermione growled and threw her bag of books almost violently on the table.

"Hermione?" Harry asked warily as he dodged a massive volume on Potion additives.

But his brown-haired friend seemed to be unaware of much. At this point, she appeared to be engaged in some sort of inner diatribe, occasionally muttering what sounded suspiciously like explicatives.

After several minutes of observing her odd behavior, Harry tried again, opting for a different angle.

"So - er - Blaise seems nice... He's a funny bloke. Isn't he, Ron?" Harry posed, nudging Ron with his elbow.

"What? Oh, yeah. Blaise. So what's that about, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Who the fuck cares about Blaise Zabini?" Hermione retorted sharply, finally looking up from where she was riffling through her parchments.

"Hermione???" both Ron and Harry sputtered simultaneously.

"Zabini is a smarmy git. He's only after her for what she is - he doesn't even know her... fucking ambitious slimeball... And she's going to go out with him, too - and she certainly doesn't know him..." Hermione continued to angrily mutter under her breath.

"What?"

"Who?"

"Oh, never mind. Forget it. Yes, Blaise is a good guy. Whatever!" Hermione hissed.

Clearly, Harry decided, he should change the subject.

"Hey, I'm really enjoying Parkinson's aerobics class far more than I thought I would," Harry stated.

"Yeah, me, too. But I still can't transfigure my clothes right. Last time, whatever I had rode up like you wouldn't believe," Ron complained.

"Yeah... that's because you tried to copy Parkinson's outfit instead of mine. You deserved what you got, Spandex-Boy," Harry sniggered.

"I wasn't the only guy wearing that shiny stuff. Neville had some, too-"

"You know, Ginny told me that Parkinson offered to help Neville with his exercise clothes," Harry interrupted as he watched for Hermione's reaction.

At the mention of Ginny's name, Hermione's head snapped up, just as Harry suspected. He decided to push the subject. He was just beginning to wonder if what was bothering him was bothering Hermione, as well - though he wasn't too sure that he wanted to know why that'd be bothering her.

"So, it seems like Ginny and Malfoy are getting along these days," he said tightly.

With a loud snap, Hermione broke the point off of her quill.

Before Harry could say anything, he found a set of blazing brown eyes trained on him.

"Now you listen here, Potter. And you listen good. Ginny has no interest in her-"

"Did you call him 'Potter'?" Ron tried to interrupt.

"Did you say 'her'?" Harry overlapped.

"Shut up!" Hermione pounced.

"As I was saying, Ginny Weasley has no interest in that pitiful excuse for a boy. This has gone entirely too far. She likes you, Potter. Get it through your thick skull. She's just trying to get your attention. Now, if you want to see some changes, ask her out for the next Hogsmeade weekend and get her away from that ... that-," Hermione ranted.

Harry gulped and Ron stared.

"Hermi-" Harry began.

But Ron kicked him under the table and leaned over to quickly whisper, "Don't - it's probably just er- you know what- that time."

"Oh," Harry nodded. "Right."

"What?" Hermione spat. "You think I can't hear you, you imbeciles? What is 'you know what'?"

"Nothing, Hermione," Ron said weakly.

Harry, always the hero, reached into his bag and causally pulled out a big bar of Honeydukes' dark chocolate. Just as causally, he opened it and broke off a few pieces, taking a small piece for himself and Ron and pushing the larger chunk to Hermione. Hiding his relief, he watched as Hermione snatched the chocolate and immediately wolfed it down.

A few minutes later, a much calmer Hermione sighed contentedly. Wisely, Harry and Ron did not comment on her transformation.

"So, what's your plan, Harry?" she finally asked.

"My plan?"

"How are you going to ask Ginny out? It'd better be impressive to steal her away from the likes of that good-looking Slytherin," she said, almost gloatingly.

"Er- are we just going to sit here and talk about my sister like this?" Ron asked edgily.

Harry nearly laughed aloud when his red-headed friend visibly cowered under the glare Hermione sent him in response.

"Well, what do you propose, Hermione?" he asked genially.

"Wait- are you saying that you want to ask her out?" Ron gaped.

"Of course he does," Hermione growled back. "Don't you, Harry? I've said it before, there's nothing like seeing your girl with another boy to make you realize ...." she trailed off with a suddenly rather thoughtful expression.

Harry stifled a groan and waited patiently for her to continue, his earlier suspicions now confirmed.

Just as Hermione opened her mouth, a loud crash startled the three of them.

"Sorry," came a friendly voice.

Harry and Ron both got up immediately and helped Neville pick up the stack of books he'd just knocked over while Hermione snorted derisively. After a few minutes, Neville joined their table.

"What's the latest from Greenhouse 5, Neville?" Hermione smirked.

Surreptitiously, Harry broke off some more of the chocolate and slid it over to his decidedly bitchy friend.

Thankfully, Neville didn't seem to notice anything amiss and proceeded to answer.

"Well, after - er- well, you remember what I told you about Professor Sprout and Snape?" he began, a deep blush creeping up his round cheeks. All three friends gave him quick nods.

"Well, Professor Sprout still can't get too close to the Tentacled Alihotsy, even with a mask. So, she's entrusted me to take care of everything in Greenhouse 5. I'm the only one allowed in," he explained proudly.

"Interesting," drawled a slow voice from nearby.

Though all of them were now gawking at one Pansy Parkinson, Harry noted that both Neville and Hermione were openly smiling.

"Hi Pansy," Neville squeaked, now blushing to the roots of his scalp.

"Mind if I join?" she asked sweetly.

Neville blushed even harder but it was Hermione who moved aside her books and indicated that the other girl should take a seat.

While Neville had an excuse - hormones and girls often resulted in bad judgments - Harry just couldn't fathom Hermione's complete attitude reversal towards the dark-haired girl.

"Thanks, Gra- er- Hermione," Pansy said, a little too sweetly, in Harry's opinion.

Over the course of their friendship, Harry had had many instances of being surprised, even shocked, by the actions of his two dearest friends, but especially Hermione. He smiled, remembering how she'd broken into Snape's storeroom in 2^nd Year, rather spectacularly punched Malfoy in 3^rd, showed up to the Yule Ball on the arm of a professional Quidditch player in 4^th, and tricked Umbridge into the Forbiddon Forest in 5^th Year. However, he decided that watching Hermione act as if she was "catching up" with an old friend who happened to be Pansy Parkinson was going to be one of those surprises. Of course, if what he suspected was even remotely true about Malfoy ... well - that would count more like a shock...

Besides his initial greeting, Neville's Gryffindor courage seemed to be spent. To Harry's - and undoubtedly everyone else's - amusement, he sat there, balefully grinning at Pansy, seemingly unable to speak. Though he was still surprised, Harry was also grateful for Hermione's willingness to chat up the Slytherin girl, effectively leaving Neville off the hook. And, much to Harry's disbelief, Pansy Parkinson seemed to be genuinely interested in sitting with them, talking to Hermione, and occasionally sending small smiles towards Neville.

Harry came out of his thoughts when he heard Ron sputter, for the second time that day, "With the Slytherins?"

"Yes, you'd all be welcome, of course. I can't think of a better way to demonstrate InterHouse Unity, can you?" Pansy asked.

"Thanks, Pansy. I'd be happy to sit with you tonight," Hermione answered quickly.

Harry was going to respond but the unanticipated gleam of triumph in Pansy's eye stopped him.

"Excellent, Hermione," she said easily before looking at the rest of them.

Neville squeaked out something entirely incoherent but managed to convey his intentions by nodding up and down.

Ron looked at Harry. Harry thought about Ginny. That would have been enough right there to get him to agree. But he also knew that he wanted to personally watch Hermione and Malfoy - something had changed, he was sure of it. Plus, there was that rather strange reaction to Zabini to think about, too.

"That's a very generous offer, Pansy. Thanks for the invitation," he said, looking back at Ron, who nodded. "We'll be there."

"Well, then. My work here is done... if you'll excuse me," Pansy said, smiling. Gracefully, she got up from the table and gave Neville a quick wink, which resulted in the boy immediately tipping over his and Hermione's bottles of ink.

As soon as she was gone, Hermione turned her once-again blazing brown eyes back to Harry.

"Okay, here's the plan."