Power Within

Chapter 2

The Bet

Hermione lay on her bed starring at the top of her four-poster. Malfoy noticed what she had done on the train even though Ron and Harry had not. True, she denied even knowing what he was talking about, but she has always been such a terrible liar and Malfoy was far from stupid. Out of all the people in the school who she could have chosen to reveal such a secret, Malfoy was the last she would have chosen. But what to do? She could not very well deny it forever.

"Hermione?"

She looked up to see Lavender and Parvati looking at her expectantly.

"We asked if you were going to try out or not." Parvati giggled at Hermione's unusual and apparent absentmindedness.

"Oh, I don't know." But in reality, Hermione was truly considering doing it. This production was one of the few things she missed experiencing from a muggle school.

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Potions.

The first class of the day and, as always, with the Slytherins. It began as it had everyday for the past five years. Slytherins on one side and Gryffindors on the other-glaring at each other. Then the familiar sound of the door banging open and the Potions Professor seeming to glide to the front of the class to glare at the Gryffindors.

Snape had entered.

"Write it down." With a wave of his wand the potion recipe appeared on the board. It was a potion that would cause the drinker to remember past events as early as infancy that normally has been forgotten. As everyone wrote the potion down, Snape proceeded to split them in pairs "against his better judgment," but Dumbledore felt pairing Slytherin and Gryffindor together would help with unity. And as Snape was not the headmaster he did as was instructed.

"Brown, Gregory.

Wealey, Millicent...

Potter, Pansy.

Patil, Vincent."

Snape continued pairing the two houses and Hermione watched as most from her house left to join their Slytherin partner.

"Granger...," Snape sighed, "you are with Draco."

WHAT! No, this cannot be. Anyone, but him.

Harry and Ron had stopped what they were doing to look at the horror on Hermione's face as she sat alone on the Gryffindor side. She was NOT bothering to move either. Draco smirked from across the room.

"Are you deaf, Granger?"

Hermione turned her fiery gaze to Draco, who was enjoying every moment of this entertainment. Ron, who was sitting behind Malfoy now, saw this look and an instant fear spread over his face. He was feeling lucky NOT to be Malfoy at the moment.

"No, Malfoy, I am not. However, I am getting up to get the necessary ingredients. And by the time I return, you might want to be sitting over here if you plan on doing this--I. AM. NOT. MOVING." At that, Hermione got up to gather the ingredients.

Malfoy's smirk fell from his face.

Did that mudblood just tell me what to do? She did. Without so much as a minute amount of fear in her eyes--well, she never has really feared you though, has she?

As Malfoy was gathering his things, albeit grudgingly, Harry was next to Ron chuckling and shaking his head.

"And exactly what is so funny, Potter," Pansy asked him in disbelief of his laughter. Harry glanced at Ron, who was also shaking his head and then back to Pansy.

"Malfoy." Pansy looked scandalized. "Arguing with Hermione when her mind is made up is about as helpful as banging your head against the wall--you will lose and both will give you a headache for a week." For a second, Harry thought he saw Pansy and Millicent's lips twitch in an effort not to smile. Malfoy heard Ron's snicker and Harry's chuckle and turned his glare toward them on his way to the table Hermione would be returning to.

When Hermione returned to the table, Malfoy could not let her get away with the way she spoke to him--a pureblood. And he knew just what button to push.

"Well, someone seems to have found some confidence through the years." With this, Malfoy raised his eyebrow waiting for her response to the rest of his comment, "or maybe, it's her newly discovered abilities that exude such confidence?"

"I do not know what you are talking about, Malfoy."

There's that smirk--it makes me want to smack the tar out of the stupid git.

"Yes, you do."

Hermione glared at Malfoy with the ultimate fire of hatred in her eyes. How dare he notice her secret and try to force her to tell him. She wasn't sure herself of the full extent of this or why and he was not going to be the one she discussed it with.

"Okay, Granger. If there are no secret abilities within you and this...uh...confidence is purely due to maturity let us bet on it."

"What? Do you think before you speak or have you always made absolutely no sense?"

"Prove this confidence, Granger. Show me the bravery of a true Gryffindor and try out for the Romeo and Juliet production." Malfoy knew that Hermione would do it for more than one reason. First, she's Gryffindor--they were infamous about proving their bravery. Potter did it yearly. But Hermione was always the brains in the shadows of it all--questioning her Gryffindor qualities would definitely rope her in. Then, there was also the fact that she obviously did not want to admit to Malfoy about a power she didn't quite understand herself. She would bite and he would win. She looked as if she was thinking this over.

"What if I don't?"

"Then you spill your little mudblood secret to the pureblood in front of you." Malfoy smirked in his arrogance. That would definitely catch her.

"On one condition." He raised an eyebrow for her to continue. "You have to try out also."

"Deal."

Hermione kept her glare on him, but inside she was bursting with joy. Now, she had an excuse to try out. Just have to get over the shy thing. But no matter what, she was positive that Malfoy was entering a losing battle. When Snape dismissed the class, Malfoy quickly moved toward the door, supposedly talking to Crabbe and Goyle while watching the trio meet up and head to the door. As Hermione walked passed him, she sang out to him in a singsong voice just loud enough for her best friends and Malfoy to hear.

"You're gonna lose."

Chapter 3

Library Fires and Auditions

"A bet," Harry asked to clarify, once again, during lunch.

"Uh hu."

"With Malfoy?" Hermione nodded her head. Ron looked as though she had just bet her soul in a losing battle with the devil.

"I just hope too many people don't find out about it--could you imagine all those people showing up to watch me audition?" Hermione's face contorted to a mortifying manner at the thought. But if she got the part wouldn't they all see her, eventually, anyway?

Hermione should have known. By the time she went to the Great Hall for dinner whispers were following her in the corridors and around the tables. It was more so on the way back, as everyone had just sat together to eat and share the days gossip. The whispers followed the trio all the way back to their common room.

Nestled in front of the fire, Hermione worked on reading through some homework while Harry and Ron played wizard chess--Ron winning, naturally. Finally, Harry asked the question that had been driving him mad.

"Can I ask you something about this whole Malfoy bet?" Harry glanced at Ron as Hermione nodded, looking up from her book. Ron was already turning red, but as Harry was thinking more clearly, this particular question remained etched in Harry's mind. "Why would Malfoy make such a bet when you took dance lessons for years? And we all know you can sing..." Harry looked at the growing smile on Hermione's face as she turned back to her book. "He doesn't know, does he?"

"Nope."

At that moment, Parvati and Lavender entered the common room giggling and running toward Hermione, hoping to get a first person account of the bet. "Ugh! I am going to the library." Hermione narrowly escaped.

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Draco heard the whispers all day, but did not care. He was going to get that know-it-all Granger and prove either not all Gryffindors were brave or there was something she could not do. Either way, he won. No part of him wondered of the possibilities of her winning any part.

But what did she mean by singing, "You're gonna lose," on her way out? Does she actually think she has a chance? Why are you even thinking about this?

Stupid Mudblood.

At that last thought, Draco grabbed his books to head to the library.

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Hermione sat in the back of the library at her usual table, working on her transfiguration essay. Even at the library she had trouble concentrating with all the whispering. She reached in her bag and pulled out a charmed Discman. She had learned through the years that sometimes music distracted her from other outside interferences enough to concentrate on homework. Dumbledore had taught her the charm to allow it to work at Hogwarts. Of course, she was to keep the charm to herself, otherwise there would be music contraptions all over the school and no work would ever be done.

She slipped the headphones on and allowed the music to flow through her, bringing the words to her lips in an inaudible whisper.

Draco headed to the back of the library where he usually sat--alone.

Damn.

Granger...what the bloody hell is that on her head?

He watched her head move slightly to a beat--must be music, somehow--and watched her beautifully developed lips form words he could not hear. And all this time her quill scratched frantically across the parchment.

Then it happened.

Her book fell off the other side of the table.

Hermione saw the book fall from the corner of her eye and sighed. I needed that. Without so much as a thought about what she was doing and who might see nor a word uttered--she reached out her hand, without even looking up. The book jerked a little and then thrust itself up and forward into Hermione's outstretched hand. Looking up from her parchment, she saw him. That damn Slytherin standing there, arms crossed, eyebrows raised.

"Caught yet again, Granger." He walked silkily over to the table, sitting down. Hermione just smiled, pointing to the things on her ears and said, "I ca not hear you." She bent down to the book and parchment, but curiosity got the best of Draco. He reached across the table and pulled these things on her ears down.

"What is this? Some stupid muggle contraption?" Hermione smiled--he was clueless about Muggle technology.

"It is music, Malfoy."

"Oh." He nodded his head and almost looked impressed, until his sneer reappeared. "What? Some sappy love song?"

Hermione sighed and looked up at the Slytherin. She rolled her eyes and took the chance to reach over and take the headphones from his hands. When she reached up to place them on his ears, he jumped back. This time it was Hermione who smirked. "My, ferret boy; it is not like I'm going to hex you." With that, he moved back determined to show that she did not just get the best of him. Then, he heard the music running into his ears and would never have figured the Gryffindor listened to anything like this.

" I hear a voice say
Don't be so blind
It's telling me all these things that you would probably hide
Am I your one and only desire?
Am I the reason you breathe?
Or am I the reason you cry?
Always, always, always, always, always, always, always
I just can't live without you
I love you
I hate you
I can't get around you
I breathe you
I taste you
I can't live without you."

Draco snatched the headphones off his head and glared at Hermione. "I love you, I hate you? Really, Granger. I never thought you had it in you."

Hermione glared at him.'s eyes. Amusement at knowing he was seeing a part of Hermione only Harry and Ron saw--a part Draco did not know to exist. This made Hermione angry. He wore his cold icy mask, proudly; and she kept her nose in the books to cover hers, proudly. Then, for the first time, Hermione said something without fully thinking ahead.

"Have you not ever heard that love is nothing more than hate intensified?"

Why did I just say that to Malfoy? Blimey, Hermione, that almost sounded like a come on considering you hate him and he knows it!

This threw Draco for a moment, but he was not about to let her know it. Then an eyebrow rose in a questioning manner, causing that spark of fire in Hermione to ignite.

"Nice going, Granger." Draco sneered at Hermione outside the library. The "fire" did not just ignite--to all outsiders the table spontaneously combusted with Hermione and Draco at the center of the violent flames. Madam Pince quickly extinguished the fire, leading the Gryffindor and Slytherin to the door.

"OUT!"

On his way back to the dungeons, Draco could not help but wonder about what he had seen. What made matters worse was that she would not ever acknowledge her power to him. But why should she? They were enemies. Did she even know what it was--probably not. Why, on earth, such a power should be held within a mudblood was beyond him, but obviously it was there--a power that could destroy.

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Auditions were closed--thank goodness.

Slytherin house had their auditions right after classes Friday, quickly followed by Hufflepuff. Gryffindors had auditions right after dinner, followed by Ravenclaw.

All through out dinner Hermione was worried about her audition. She was not concerned about her abilities, but her courage to do any of it in front of people. She knew Draco had kept his end of the deal by way of Harry's Marauders Map. Sure enough, Draco's dot was clearly in the Great Hall the entire time. So now it was her turn.

"Eat, Hermione." Harry urged her, knowing what was wrong. She flashed him a weak smile and attempted to eat, but how could she? She was scared to death of the audition.

What if I do not get a part? Or worse--what if I do?

When Hermione entered the Great Hall for the auditions; Draco stayed outside the door to watch her enter and leave. "Ready to lose, Malfoy," she asked as she walked by. He did not have time for a retort. On entering, she noticed the house tables were gone. Instead, there was a stage at the head of the Great Hall and four chairs in front occupied by the four heads of house, with clipboards in hand. Swallowing hard, Hermione slowly took the stage, facing the four professors.

~~~

Professor McGonagall looked as pale as Peeves. "Are you sure, Albus?"

"With all do respect, Headmaster," Snape for once agreeing with his rival, "are you forgetting they hate each other? The Slytherin Romeo has been chosen, as you are aware!"

Dumbledore held up his hand for silence. "Yes, Minerva, I am sure." His eyes twinkled as he turned to Snape. "And Severus, let us remember the reason for this production--to demonstrate unity, to bring unity. What better way?"

"But Albus! Do you really think two enemies such as these can pull off Romeo and Juliet? Their feud is known throughout the school! There is not a single student who does not know of their hatred for one another!"

"Headmaster, you could not choose two more opposite students!"

"Please, I am aware of how different they are. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor, a seeker of the golden snitch and a leader in knowledge, a Pureblood and a muggle-born--our Romeo and Juliet." At that, the professors dismissed themselves. As the door was closing the wise old headmaster had one more thing to add more to his self for now. "And I am aware of how alike they are."