After the punch

9. Subtle

Draco had just finished changing into his black turtleneck, blazer and trousers. Today they wouldn't have any classes, despite it being a Thursday. Today the first task of the Triwizard tournament would take place and oh how much Draco had been looking forward to it. He couldn't wait for Potter to take his place in the arena and make an absolute idiot of himself in front of the entire school. Sadly his mind was occupied by the horror of his own unconscious. He shoved Blaise aside, placing himself in front of the mirror to groom his hair. 

Blaise shot him an offended look, one half of his hair looking great while the other half looked like Seamus's whenever he would cause an explosion. "Excuse me?" He said. 

"Hey, I'm traumatised!" Draco said in defence. 

"As am I from the thought of that dream of yours." Blaise exclaimed, pushing Draco away. 

"What are you two yammering on about?" A groggy Theo asked his dorm mates. He got out of bed and stumbled towards the trunk at the foot of his bed. 

Draco turned towards the wizard and sighed, "This bloody git is hogging the mirror." 

"Geminio." Nott pointed his wand at the mirror and an exact replica appeared next to it. "Idiots." He mumbled. "You done screaming like girls about a bloody mirror now?" He asked, leaving the two boys somewhat speechless. 

Soon Blaise changed the topic. "Wanna be traumatised and have a good laugh at the same time?" He asked Theo who was busy getting dressed. 

"I'm already traumatised, so throw it on me." He responded. 

"Dear Malfoy here had a dream about the mudblood." Blaise said, leaving Theo in disbelief. 

Draco sighed, "Couldn't keep it quiet, could you?" He complained, checking his hair for any strands that were out of place. 

"So, what happened in this dream of yours, no dirty details." Theo asked, going through his hair with his hand. 

"I had no such dream about her! We just shot some insults at each other." Draco explained. 

Blaise took his gaze from the mirror to Nott, "He woke up smiling." 

"Okay, we talked and I kissed her, but very shortly then I woke up." Draco said.

"Smiling." Blaise added.

Theo laughed, "Draco Malfoy has fallen for the mudblood, you're in trouble." 

"I have not fallen for her, Theodore. It was not even a dream it was a nightmare. Now I'm going to have some breakfast." Draco said, leaving the scene. 

--- 

One week later two girls sat in front of the fire, in the scarlet and gold covered common room. 

"Ginny, you have to forget about him, he's a childish idiot anyways." Hermione tried to help her younger friend. 

Ginny sighed, "I know and I've been trying to forget about him ever since we met, but I just can't seem to."

"The only way to move on, is to move on. You can't just stay around waiting for your feelings to disappear. The Yule ball is coming closer by the day, find a date, someone else than Harry and just try to enjoy the night." She advised, flipping the page of her book, The Essential Guide to Hogwarts Portraiture by professor Rosenquist. 

"Do you even have a date for the ball?" The redhead asked. 

Hermione chuckled, "No, but I don't need one to get in." 

"I hear you've been spending a lot of time with certain guys though." Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Ron and Harry? They're my best friends. Krum? He just follows me around, it's quite annoying really and enough girls want to go with him. Malfoy? Come on, you're not stupid Ginny. It's Malfoy, we hate each other." Hermione said while reading a chapter on Ariana Dumbledore. 

"Malfoy? You've been spending time with that prejudiced git?" Ginny exclaimed in response. 

Hermione looked up from her book. "No, he just seeks me out in the library. We just insult each other, don't worry. Oh and he bewitched my S.P.E.W. badge." She explained and pushed on the badge to reveal the message, 'Parkinson is a pug-faced wanker'. "The past week he's been actively avoiding me, though. Not that I mind, it's been quite peaceful actually." 

"If I didn't know you two, I'd think you'd be in denial. That badge is way better with his message, keep it that way please." Ginny laughed. 

Hermione laughed, "For you." 

Later that night the girls went to bed, Hermione didn't change the badge back into the original as she had promised her friend, but wondered what would happen if Malfoy saw her wearing it like that. 

---

Two days later on Saturday, December 3rd, Hermione spend her entire day in the library, working on another plan for S.P.E.W. when as usual, Draco entered. 

"Granger." He acknowledged her existence for the first time in days. 

"Malfoy." She responded. "Been avoiding me these past few days. Not that I mind, but what made you want to stop irritating me?" She asked. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He lied. "I love irritating you, why would I avoid it?" 

"Thats exactly what I was thinking." Hermione replied, returning her attention to her book about the history of House-elves at Hogwarts. 

Draco walked over to her table and looked over her shoulder, "Still busy with that ridiculous club or something of yours?" He asked. "I haven't seen any more people with any badges, did you sell any after mine?" 

"Why would you care?" Hermione said. Hiding her badge with his text on it, grabbing his attention. 

"Wow Granger, very subtle." He looked down at her badge and saw his message "You could've just pushed it, I wouldn't have noticed. But now, you have an explanation or have you just missed me so much." 

"Shut up Malfoy. I showed Ginny and promised her I would keep it this way, because she loved it." Hermione explained. "I haven't missed you, it was more like a nice little vacation." 

"Sure it was." Draco felt somewhat uncomfortable around her, but in the past 9 days he had managed to convince himself that his dream hadn't meant anything. "Altering your looks for me though." He said. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about, I look exactly the same." Hermione frowned. 

"You changed your teeth." He said, reminding himself of his dream once again. 

"Maybe stop looking into my mouth?" Hermione responded, Malfoy was acting somewhat strange, he always was but something was off. "So, I'll ask again, why avoid me?" 

"Once again, I wasn't avoiding you." Draco exclaimed. 

Hermione raised one eyebrow, "I saw you dive into that deserted classroom with Nott and Blaise laughing at you. So don't even try to deny it." 

"Whatever I do is none of your damn business, Granger." Malfoy spat, he wanted to leave and safe himself the embarrassment, but he couldn't just leave, he'd seem suspicious and weak. Hermione started reading again, but Draco was not gonna go that easy. "Trust me, you don't want to know." He explained. 

"Maybe not. Now I have work to do, so please leave." She said. 

A smug smile appeared on Draco's face, "If you were wondering, I suppose your teeth look better." He chuckled.

Hermione's gaze went past Draco, so he turned to see what had caught her attention. 

"Hermy-own I vant to ask you something" The tall Bulgarian asked, which Draco took as a sign for him to leave. 

He watched the two for a little bit before he left the library. Krum seemed to be having a hard time getting his message across, giving Hermione a confused frown. He couldn't blame her, Krum's pronunciation wasn't always clear. However, he had to give him some credit, spending time with Granger did seem to help a little bit.