Hermione opened her mouth, but no words came out. It was like life was taking as much strength as it had and hitting her full force in the gut with it. Much to Hermione’s surprise, Malfoy said nothing. He just looked at his shoes. Kendrina must have thought one of them would object, because she paused as she was calling names. When neither one said anything, she just continued on.
“And last, but not least, Dolorina Misteria and Frag Kaughstore.” She rolled up the parchment and cleared her throat.
“Now that you all have your partners, you will be given separate jobs from everyone else, in order to accomplish more. Your partner will be like a sister or a brother that you can’t get away from, so make an attempt to get along.”
Hermione felt her insides constrict and she felt a sharp pain in her head. Hermione, of all
people, would be the one to get Malfoy. When she looked up again, there he was, standing next to her.
“I don’t like this anymore than you do, mudblood.” He scoffed.
“This is beneath me.”
Hermione glared.
“If it’s such a problem, Draco, why don’t you go crying to your beloved daddy about it?” came Harry’s voice.
Malfoy looked past Hermione’s shoulder and smirked.
“Always need Potter to fight your battles, then? Typical.”
Harry smiled cruelly.
“Always need someone defenseless to bully, Malfoy? I was under the impression that you were twenty-two … not four.”
Malfoy glowered at Harry, ferocity engraved into his eyes.
“Piss off, Potter. Weasley’s probably looking for someone to explain to him why he’s even
here. Stupid blood-traitor.” He muttered.
Harry just laughed coldly and looked away from him.
“Hermione, we’ll all go to the burrow after this is over. If Malfoy says one more thing, don’t hesitate to hex him. I’d offer help, but you’re better at doing spells that cause permanent damage.”
“Give me a reason, Potter, I swear.” Malfoy growled.
Malfoy’s hand was reaching inside his robes for a wand.
“Go ahead. I dare you. It’ll be the last thing you do.”
“Problem, Mr. Malfoy?” Kendrina was behind him, her suspicious eyes darting around until she saw where Malfoy’s hand was.
“None whatsoever.” He said coolly, taking his hand away and placing it at his side.
“Good. I just came by to give you and Miss Granger your assignment for tomorrow. You’ll be patrolling by a residence we think Death Eaters are using to gather.”
Hermione’s heart missed a beat. If they had people staking a place out, the lead was definitely accurate. This was real.
“For now, I’ll leave you two to fill out some forms for this.”
With a flick of her wand, two clipboards with a large amount of papers appeared.
“This should leave you time to… bond.” She said dubiously.
She turned on her heel and strode over to Ron. Harry threw another dirty look at Malfoy and said, “Better go. Ron and I need our assignments.” He squeezed Hermione’s hand and walked away.
“Bye.” Hermione said after him miserably.
“Come on, Granger. I don’t want to be stuck with you for the rest of the day trying to get this done.”
