Irredeemable (Harry Potter fanfiction)

18 - Ruffled Feathers

Draco fell back into his usual habit of getting up before the others straight away, and was one of the first in the Great Hall for breakfast. He sat eating toast and glancing over periodically at the Gryffindor table, unable to stop himself looking for her even though he knew he would see her in Transfiguration in less than an hour. She appeared not long after him, shooting him a quick smile before sitting down with a 4th year boy, that little Creevey kid who's elder brother had been killed in the battle for Hogwarts. The Great hall was filling up, so Draco finished his breakfast and made his way slowly towards the Transfiguration classroom, knowing as usual that he would be the first one there.

The door was open but there was no sign of McGonagall, so Draco went and took his customary seat at the back of the room. Other students trickled in, Granger arriving with Hannah Abbott and taking her seat towards the front. A couple of minutes later Weasley appeared and something in his posture had Draco gripping his wand. He stalked across the room towards his desk, but before he reached it, turned to Granger with a snarl.

"So it's true then?" He hadn't raised his voice, but Draco could hear every word clearly.

"What?" asked Granger, looking up in surprise.

"It's true then?" he repeated. "That you f****d him?" He shot Draco a malevolent glare.

"That really hasn't got anything to do with you." She replied coolly, turning back as if to continue her conversation with Abbott.

"Yeah right! Nothing to do with me? I know what you are trying to do, Harry told me what you said when you went out with McLaggan, you chose the person who would annoy me most. Well, you really screwed up this time, because if you think any decent wizard will go anywhere near you after you opened your legs for him, you have got another thing coming!"

Draco was on his feet and halfway across the room before he knew what he was doing; Weasley was going too far. Hermione glanced in his direction and caught his eye, giving him an almost imperceptible shake of the head to stop him getting involved. He halted his advance, but kept a tight grip on his wand. Although he knew that Granger was ten times the witch that Weasley was if it came to a duel, it went against his instinct to stand by and do nothing.

"And I suppose when you say 'decent wizard' you are including yourself in their number?" said Hermione calmly. "Well, if decent wizards think it's perfectly acceptable to lie and cheat when they don't get what they want then I am rather pleased that they will be avoiding me in future!" Disdain dripped from her features and Draco was reminded forcibly of his mother's icy façade, causing him to inwardly grin at the irony.

"You f*****g w***e!" snarled Weasley, seeming to be totally losing control.

"Mr Weasley!" The strident tones of Professor McGonagall came from the doorway. "Ten points from Gryffindor for your foul language!" She walked across the room towards her desk. Seeing that Weasley was still standing glaring at Hermione she added curtly, "and I suggest you take your seat before I take ten more!" Noticing that Draco was also standing she said, "you too Mr Malfoy," but her tone was rather less brusque. Obviously she was aware of what this confrontation was about; Draco had the feeling that Minerva McGonagall knew a lot more of what went on than the students realised.

Draco sat back at his desk, watching the back of Granger's head looking for any sign that the confrontation with Weasley had upset her, but there were no outward signs of discomposure. Potter appeared a minute or so later, almost late, and Draco had a feeling that he had known something was going to happen therefore made himself scarce so he wouldn't have to take sides. For someone so brave he was certainly being bloody cowardly about the situation between his two best friends, thought Draco.

The lesson began with the continuation of Human transfiguration to animal characteristics, nothing too challenging for Draco, so he could easily listen in on the buzz of conversations going on around him; "so she has been sleeping with him." "Do you think that is why they split up?" "What is he angry for anyway? He's got Lavender now…"

Every so often one of the whispering students would glance at Draco, as if the truth of the matter could somehow be gleaned from observing him transfigure his hair into feathers. Keeping his expression neutral, he kept an eye on Granger, determined to make sure she was alright after class.

The bell rang and Weasley was one of the first out of the classroom, lumbering past Draco like an engaged Erumpent followed by a mutinous looking Lavender Brown. Turning his attention back to Granger, he watched her packing away her things looking supremely unaffected, chatting to Hannah Abbott. Potter stood nearby waiting for her to finish looking rather sheepish.

Uncaring of how much gossip it would fuel, Draco waited until the trio got next to his desk and fell into step beside them. He didn't say anything until they were a little way down the corridor away from the other students prying ears.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, ignoring the presence of Potter and Abbott.

"Yes, I'm fine." She replied, rolling her eyes. "He always did have a temper…" she was putting on a brave face but he could see the strain around her eyes.

"You are better off without him Granger." Said Draco stoutly, earning a glare from Potter, who didn't seem inclined to comment one way or the other. Their next lesson was Defence Against the Dark Arts, and they made their way there in uncomfortable silence.

Weasley was standing by himself, face like a slapped backside, whilst Lavender stood talking to Parvati several feet away looking equally unhappy. Wanting to twist the knife a little, Draco casually slung his arm around Hermione as he had once seen Weasley himself do, hoping that she wouldn't shrug him off. He felt a small thrill when she, seemingly unconsciously, leant into him pressing the length of her body against his.

It wasn't long before Professor Muldoon called the class into the room, and they all quickly found their seats.

"Homework!" He barked, and several rolls of parchment flew from desks and bags to land neatly on his desk.

"Right, so we have covered the imperius curse and how to fight it. Next is the Cruciatus curse." He looked around the room at the avid faced students.

"I understand that Bartamius Crouch showed you this first hand a couple of years ago, and since then I'm sure many of you have witnessed it used in other situations." His gimlet eyes alighted on Draco for a few moments, before he turned away.

The lesson was good; Professor Muldoon delivered information in his typical straightforward style, neither glossing over the unpleasant details nor sensationalizing them. Draco took notes and watched Hermione as usual, impatient to get through the day and spend some time alone with her.

They were given homework to research methods of counteracting the Cruciatus curse by Thursday. Draco wasn't too worried; there weren't very many defences against it so the essay wouldn't be too long! They had a free period next, and Draco thought he would take a trip up to the seventh floor to see if the Room of Requirement had survived. He had thought to go alone, but now though maybe he would see if Hermione wanted to go with him so she could talk about (or avoid talking about) Weasley's meltdown.

He caught her eye as she made her was to the door at the end of the lesson, c*****g his head to indicate that he wanted to speak to her outside.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" He asked her, falling into step beside her down the corridor.

"Why not?" she replied, taking his arm. "That essay is the first bit of homework we have. It can easily be done tonight." They walked along in silence for a while.

"It's not true." She said suddenly, turning to face him.

"What's not true?" he asked, bewildered.

"It's not true that I'm seeing you just to annoy him."

"I know." Said Draco, rather bemused; He hadn't even considered such a ridiculous statement could be true.

"You see, it was true with McLaggen in sixth year, but it really has nothing to do with what is between us…"

"Granger," He said, cutting off her rambling. "Of course you are not seeing me to get back at Weasley. If it was that easy for you to throw away your virginity in revenge then surely you would have slept with him in the first place!" Draco really didn't understand what went on in her head at times!

"Yes. Well, of course." She said awkwardly, cheeks colouring at the mention of 'virginity'.

"Relax Granger. I know we are back at school, but nothing has changed between us." He steered her towards the stairs up to the seventh floor. "I thought we would go and see if the room of requirement was working."

"Room of requirement?" she asked with a frown. "But you can only use it if you have need to?"

"Trust me, I have a need to be alone with you." He said with a grin. "Besides, I have no idea if it even still exists after the damage the fiendfyre did." He said it casually, but his mind immediately conjured the image of Crabbe's struggling form being engulfed in the flames as he desperately tried to reach him. Hermione remained silent, and he wondered if she was also thinking about the last time she had been in the magical room.

They were silent whilst climbing the stairs and Draco wondered if this was such a good idea. He had just wanted to find somewhere that he could get into Hermione's knickers without fear of discovery; he hadn't considered that the room might hold disturbing memories for them both.

"Well, here we go." Hermione murmured when they reached the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy. All of a sudden, Draco almost hoped the room would not appear. The idea that somewhere in there was the body of Crabbe wouldn't leave his head. They made their third pass along the corridor and Draco had to force himself to turn and face the wall.

The unobtrusive iron- banded wooden door stood where there had previously been a stretch of blank wall, looking exactly as it had all those times before. He and Hermione looked at each other.

"I guess it was fixed?" she said, taking a step towards it. "Or maybe it can fix itself?" She reached out a hand to open it, and Draco sucked in a breath; what would be on the other side?