Wild Side

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One of the most ef...

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Harry jerked out of his doze. Glancing at the clock he took up his quill again. This essay could wait but he needed an excuse to still be up. He lowered his head onto his hand and struggled to pull his incoherent thoughts into sentences. Dipping his quill into the inkwell he began to write again. The portrait squeaked, and his head shot up. Hermione was closing the portrait slowly.

"Lumos," he whispered under his breath. The spell illuminated the end of his wand, and his face.

"Harry? What are you doing? Why are you still up?"

"Could ask you the same thing."

"I...I...was in the...library." Hermione looked down at her shoes as she removed her cloak. Harry got up and helped her undo the fastening on her cloak; her trembling fingers were refusing to do it themselves.

"Where were you Hermione?" he tried again.

"I told you. In the library. Fine! If you don't believe me I'm going to bed." Cheeks tinged with magenta she pulled her cloak out of his hands and stormed off up to the girls dormitories. Sighing Harry made his way up to bed. He knew where she'd really been.

"If you hurt her Malfoy," he murmured, climbing into bed, "I'll kill you." A loud snore from Neville was the last sound Harry heard before he slipped into a troubled sleep.

Next morning, at breakfast, Harry sat next to Ron and told him what had happened the night before.

"One in the morning? One in the morning?" Harry nodded, too sleepy to tell Ron to keep it down or someone would hear. "Ah. The wanderer returns," Ron snapped at Hermione grumpily as she came over to sit next to them. Harry silenced Ron with a hard kick under the table as Hermione looked strangely at the two of them. She reached over and took some buttered toast and began to add liberal amounts of jam. It reminded Harry of a time two years ago when the only men in Hermione's life were Gryffindor or Bulgarian, and she was obsessed with house elf liberation. Such a long time ago, thought Harry sadly as he looked sideways at his friend. Stifling a yawn he took the jam off her and put it on his own toast. Hermione wolfed her toast down.

"Hungry are you?" Ron asked jokingly. Hermione nodded and grabbed her bag.

"Need to run. Forgot my... Transfiguration...things. See you later!"

"Yeah right. I know why she's hungry." Harry kicked Ron again. "What?"

"I don't want that mental image again. It's disturbing." Harry looked out of the corner of his eye. Hermione caught Malfoy's eye. He grinned back and got up. She walked out of the Great Hall and went out into the grounds. Ron looked over.

"Rotten, slimy little b- oh! The Forbidden Forest. How romantic."

"Don't. I feel bad enough." Harry put his head in his hands. "What are we going to do? I mean, she thinks she's hidden it but...oh I don't know." Ron got up and took his bag.

"C'mon. We have the joy of Potions now." Harry followed suit and the two remaining members of the Trio went down to the dungeons.

Draco Malfoy came striding down past Harry and Ron, looking incredibly smug about something. Harry dreaded to think what, but was sure by the way Malfoy was sneering at the two of them, that it had something to do with Hermione. Hermione came up behind them.

"Hello again. Got everything?" She sounded much happier than the night before. Ron rolled his eyes and walked in to the classroom. Harry looked up at Hermione.

"Your shirt's wonky. And you need to borrow Parvati's hairbrush." He stated these facts monotonously and followed Ron. Looking after them Hermione adjusted her shirt and asked Parvati for her hairbrush. Handing it back to Parvati, Hermione strode into Potions, towards her usual seat. Harry couldn't help noticing that she dropped a piece of parchment on Draco Malfoy's desk. Snape swept in and the lesson began.

The bell sounded and everyone piled into the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione came to sit next to Harry and Ron in their usual places. But something had changed between them. Hermione looked from Harry to Ron, puzzled.

"What's the matter? You two look like...you look awful. Harry, I really don't have a clue what's bugging you, and you look really tired, you should go to bed early tonight! And as for you Ron, you look like you they've stopped making Fizzing Wizzbies! You can tell me you know. I'm your best friend." She paused, and looked at them again. They both reached for their goblets and took a drink. Then they put them back down, in complete unison.

"Well if you won't tell me then I'll..." she stopped mid sentence. "I have to go. See you at dinner?" She picked up her things and walked out of the Hall. Harry could see Malfoy waiting in the Entrance Hall. He sighed and pushed his plate away, unable to eat anything.

"Look, the way I see it we have two choices." Harry looked up at Ron expectantly, and waved a hand for him to continue. "We can either tell her we know the truth and try and stop this before it goes too far and he makes her become a Death Eater, or rapes her or something he hasn't done already. Or, we carry on like this, and it goes too far and we all split up and she goes off and has his foul, ferret, Death Eating kids."

"If we tell her we know she'll deny it and split up with us."

"But at least she won't have his little ferret kids." Ron's mind was clearly set.

"S'pose. Worth a try. Tonight?"

"Yeah." Harry bit his lip and looked up at Ron.

"And you really think it'll work?"

"It's got to." They joined Seamus and Dean on their way to Divination. Climbing up the silver ladder, and taking their usual seats, Harry looked over at the armchair that was empty beside him. Once upon a time Hermione had sat there. A time before this great mess happened.

"Hello dears." Professor Trelawney's misty voice greeted them as she turned her winged armchair around. Great, thought Harry, So how am I going to die today? Crushed by a manticore perhaps? Or just from a broken heart. "Today we will embark on a journey to the inner depths of our souls. This is one of the great tests to see if you posses the Inner Eye..." Too tired to concentrate Harry drifted off in a daze. He let his mind wander away from the notes he should have been taking, as his gaze made its way to the window near him. He looked out of it, and saw Draco Malfoy skiving off with - he blinked, his eyes were deceiving him - Hermione? Harry took his glasses off, wiped them hurriedly and shoved them back on. It was Hermione. There was no mistaking it. They were running along the grounds, past the Forbidden Forest, through the gates, they were gone. Anger boiled up inside Harry. What does Malfoy have that I don't, he thought sullenly, that can make Hermione bunk off. Harry fancied Hermione. All of Gryffindor knew, except her. She preferred a Malfoy, someone who had hated her for years, and probably still did. Hatred for Malfoy was coursing through him, white-hot, burning him. Harry sat, trembling with fury. Something shattered, jerking Harry back to Divination. He'd made the crystal ball on Lavender and Parvati's desk shatter. Harry had to get out of there quickly before they all smashed. He threw himself down the ladder, forgetting his bag, and raced down to the grounds to cool off. "Mr. Potter! Don't go down that ladder so quickly! If you fall which you certainly will you shall have a fatal accident!"

When he got out on the grounds a thought struck Harry. He could follow them. Before he knew what was going on he had reached the gates. With a last look back at the castle, a window somewhere on the third floor shattered. He had to go - if not to spy on Hermione and Malfoy - before he smashed all the glass objects in Hogwarts.

When Harry reached Hogsmeade he realised he had no idea where they would be. As he tried Zonko's, a thought struck him. Maybe Malfoy knew a way from here to somewhere like Knockturn Alley? Maybe if he didn't find them quickly Hermione would have been ...

"Ugh," Harry said to himself. "Maybe, maybe, maybe. Fat lot of good maybes do." Harry only realised he'd said that out loud when an old wizard next to him began to back away slowly. Annoyed, Harry walked out of the shop and decided to go for a walk in the woods by the Three Broomsticks, not only to clear his head but to look inside the pub without going inside, getting recognised, and getting detention from now until he was fifty.

"Draco! Look at the time, we should really go back - " Harry stepped out from behind the tree, slowly.

"Don't worry! No one'll notice you've gone."

"Apart from - "

"Scar head and Weasel, I know, I know. Tell them you were in the Hospital wing, they'll believe anything." Harry's eyes narrowed into slits.

"I hate lying to them. But I suppose - " The window of the Leaky Cauldron shattered where Hermione and Draco where sitting, cutting Hermione off. Harry backed away slowly. He saw Draco lean over to Hermione, he couldn't watch anything more. Breathing deeply, he walked into the pub, abandoning the thought of not getting caught. He smiled blankly at Madam Rosmerta and got a Butterbeer. He walked over to a table near Hermione and Draco's. He heard Hermione gasp, and whisper something to Draco about him being there. Draco led Hermione out of the pub and back towards Hogwarts. Harry deserted his un-drunk Butterbeer and followed them.

Later that evening, in the common room, Harry told Ron all that had happened over a game of chess.

"So d'you reckon she'll be late again?"

Harry shook his head. "I told her at dinner I needed to tell her something really important. Trust me, she'll be here." It was late now, and nearly everyone had gone up to bed. As the last few made their way up to the land of Nod, Hermione came through the portrait hole.

"Hi! You wanted to tell me something?"

Ron looked at Harry, urging him to start.

"Hermione, we know."

"Know what?"

"That you're...you're..."

"I'm...?"

"Going out with Draco Malfoy."