A Sinister Plot

Chapter Two

It was disgusting to see Weasley and Granger together like that. Surely they realised that they needed to get a room or something. I huffed as I walked out into the street. This place was too bloody crowded. Mother grabbed my wrist and before I knew it, she was dragging me down the street despite my objections to this manhandling. I finally realized that we were heading for Flourish and Boltts.

"Mother, I am not five anymore, I can get there myself!" Her only reply was to further tighten her grip on me. What is with her today?!

Finally, we made it into Flourish and Boltts and she released my hand; I instantly started massaging said appendage, trying to restore the blood flow. Then I realised - my fifty thousand-galleon ring; it was missing! I would have noticed sooner, if I'd been able to feel my hand.... I gave my mother a hard look that went unnoticed, as she was trying to find my books. My mother could be so stupid! I tried to think back to the last place I saw it. I made my way back to Madam Malkin's, hoping that the gruesome... threesome had left.

When I had finally made my way back through the crowds (this place is far too busy), I looked through the window only to find that the blokes were still there. Not much liking the idea of another fight with Weasley and Potter right now, I just Apparated straight into the dressing room I was using when I was trying to put on that hideous pink thing. I began searching the floor for the ring, spotting it rather quickly. I bent down to pick it up only to jump straight back up again when I heard some lady, screaming her head off right behind me.

"Shit." I muttered. I didn't turn around; I didn't want the picture of some old hag stuck in my head.

"Hermione! Hermione!" Oh shit! I knew who was behind me and who was coming to her rescue and before I had a chance to grab my wand and get out of there, they had blasted the door to smithereens and I hit the wall.

"Bloody hell! What was that for?!" As soon as I said it I realised that it was a bloody stupid question. I looked up to see both Potter and Weasley's wands pointed at me once again, and Granger hiding behind the two of them.

"Accio Wand!"

"Of course, Weasley, that's entirely necessary - because I can really focus on Apparating with my head throbbing."

"Serves you right! What the hell were you doing in there?!"

"Getting this!" I reached for the ring that was lying on the ground a few feet away from me, with both wands following me.

"See, it's green and even has a serpent on it. None of you would have a ring like this, would you?" They just looked at me with death glares so I continued. "Right, now if you would just give me my bloody wand--"

"What is going on in here? Who broke that, and how many times do I have to tell you to put those blasted wands away?!" Boy, are we in trouble... Apparently, Potter and Weasley had picked up on the dangerous state of affairs too; they put their wands away so fast it was hard to tell they had moved at all. I thought Potter and Weasley were going to get the first blow - until Madam Malkin turned to me and asked, "What the hell is going on here?!" This could really go in my favour - I just need to make it seem as though these three like making a mountain out of a molehill.

"I don't know, Ma'am, but I'm just here because I left my ring behind. You should ask them what happened; they're the ones that ruined your door." She turned her back to me and faced them.

"Well?!"

"Well, Ma'am." Oh crud. "I was just going to change into my new outfit, and then he Apparated into the dressing room. When I saw him I screamed and then Harry and Ron blasted the door open to make sure I was alright." I'm in for it now, why couldn't that Mudblood have just kept her mouth shut?

"Is this true?"

"Well... yes... But I didn't realise the changing room was occupied. It's not like I looked at her or anything."

"Well, Mr Malfoy, I would think that you of all people would have better judgment than that. You should have entered my shop through the door, like everyone else."

"I did have good judgment. I didn't look at Granger, I wouldn't want that picture stuck in my head," I muttered to myself so that nobody could hear me.

"That's it, Malfoy! I told you to never, ever call Hermione ugly!" What? He heard me?! I moved to get out of the way but wasn't quick enough.

"Pertrificus Totalus!" Ah, damn it! Stupid Weasel!

---------------------

Terrified to have found Malfoy suddenly in my dressing room, not to mention having the door blown to smithereens, I ran out of there and hid behind Ron. Both Harry and Ron had their wands pointed at Malfoy.

"His wand," I managed to mutter to Ron, while trying to get over the shock of what just happened.

"Accio wand." Well, at least that was taken care of. Then all three of them began arguing, which was rather idiotic on Malfoy's part, seeing as he didn't have a wand. Finally, I saw Madam Malkin rushing over to us and then looked down in horror at the mess that Harry and Ron had made.

"What on earth is going on here?!" Of course, Malfoy put his two cents in, making it look like he had done nothing wrong. Git. Gathering my courage, I spoke up. This seemed to startle everyone except Madam Malkin. I had to say something; Malfoy wasn't going to get away with this.

"Well, Ma'am, I was going to change into my new clothes and then he Apparated into the dressing room. When I saw him I screamed and then Harry and Ron blasted the door down to make sure I was ok." Madam Malkin turned to Malfoy. She's being very courteous towards him, considering what he's just done!

"As for you three--"

"That's it Malfoy - I told you to never, ever call Hermione ugly! Pertrificus Totalus!"

"Ron, why did you that?! He didn't say anything!" So much had happened in the last fifteen minutes, I didn't think I could handle something else happening.

"I heard him! He called you ugly again, and I told him, I TOLD HIM!"

"It's ok, Ron. It's--"

"No, it's not ok!"

"Ron, it's Malfoy. What can you expect?" I saw Harry nod. He, too, seemed a little put out about what Ron had done. It's not as though we expect Ron to act rationally, I suppose. Ron's breathing slowed back down to normal as he calmed. He closed his eyes and nodded.

"You're right." He looked down at the ground, looking remorseful.

"Ronald, why don't you let him go, then we won't have to deal with him any more." He released Malfoy and tossed his wand back to him.

"Now, get out of here!" Harry yelled, and he was gone with a POP!

"Ok, you three, who is going to pay for this?" She pointed over to the broken door.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. How much will it cost?"

"About--"

"Hermione! Your fixing spell is the strongest in our year! It's even better than some of the teachers'!"

"Fixing spell? Is that what we call it now, Harry?" I teased.

"Hermione, love, would you please hurry up so we can meet up with mum and go home?"

Harry laughed. "Ugh, you two make me sick!"

"Oh, shut up. Reparo!" I turned to Madam Malkin, who was seemed to be astonished with my work. "I'm sorry, ma'am, for all the trouble we have caused, we didn't mean for it to happen."

"I know, dear; it's not your fault." She eyed Ron and Harry who, noticing her glare, looked at their feet and began wandering around the shop. I stifled a laugh and managed to ask her if I could still change, despite all of the chaos that had occurred while we where here.

"Of course dear, but please do hurry!" Thanking her, I turned towards Harry and Ron who had stopped walking around and were arguing about something.

"I'm going to change. Please don't get into any more trouble while I'm not here to supervise you."

"Yes, mum." I stuck my tongue out at the two of them and turned into the dressing room.

I studied myself in the mirror. I did look good. I stuffed my clothes into the bag and put my cloak on before walking out of the dressing room. I waved at Madam Malkin to tell her we were leaving and saw her take a sigh of relief. I turned to face Harry and Ron and met their stares.

"Is it really that bad?" I tried not to smile but I couldn't help it as I reached them.

"Wow."

"Ron, is that all you can say when some one looks good?"

He grinned. "Why, would you rather me say, 'Golly! You look super-swell!'?"

"If you want to sound like you're from the twenties, go right ahead!"

Laughing, we made our way down the street.

"You know what, Hermione? You look beautiful," Harry said.

"Hey, I'm supposed to say that first! I'm her boyfriend!" I rolled my eyes. Boys, when will they ever learn? Suddenly, both Harry and Ron stopped dead in front of me.

"Could you give me some warning before you do that?!"

"Oh, sorry Hermione. It's just, who would want to snog him?"

"And he gave us a hard time," Ron muttered, sounding disgusted.

"Who are you talking about?!" I asked impatiently, looking around for somebody that was snogging. Then I saw Malfoy and Pansy lip-locked for the entire world to see. "Oh." I started walking toward Fred and George's shop, and was halfway there before I noticed that Harry and Ron weren't following me. "Boys? Oh, for goodness sake--" They hadn't moved an inch, and were still standing there and staring at Malfoy. I made my way back. "Uh, come on, you two." I grabbed their wrists and pulled them along, but I couldn't stop Ron from looking at Malfoy and Pansy and then me, and then I knew what was going through his head. I smiled. Oh, Ron.

"Come on boys, let's go find your mother and Ginny." Harry suddenly perked up. "Ginny's here?"

"Yes, didn't you hear Mrs Weasley say that Mr Weasley was bringing her along to meet up with us all?"

"No."

"Oh, well, she did. Come on, we're meeting them at the shop."

"Yeah, ok!"

"K." I glanced up at Ron, who was looking very put-out. Does he ever think about anything other than snogging?!

"We can't, Harry's here," I reminded him.

"I know... where is Harry, by the way?" We looked around and eventually saw Harry practically running over to where Ginny and Mrs Weasley were waiting.

"I don't know why he's running; they only saw each other last night." We laughed as we worked our way through the crowd, finally getting to Mrs Weasley. "Where did Harry and Ginny go?" asked Ron.

"Oh, they wanted to go back home - hungry, I suppose."

"Yeah, hungry for -- Ow!" I elbowed him in the side.

"Yes, something to eat does sound good." I said. I glanced at Ron, but he was busy rubbing his side.

"Well, do you to need to get anything else?"

"Um, no, but... mum? Do you think that we could get some ice cream? We'd only be gone about an hour."

I looked at Ron, rather confused. What was he doing? I thought he wanted to go home.

"Alright, dear. Just don't spoil your appetite or get into trouble!" and she was gone with a POP!

"Ron, why did you ask if we--" I was cut off by Ron taking me up in his arms and kissing me. He could really be a bad boy. I kissed him back. Sometime later we broke apart, smiling. "So, were you ever actually planning getting some ice cream?"

"Nope, but I want to show you something."