9

Edited: 23/5/2014

It had now been several weeks since the first challenge. Everything had returned to normal but Hermione wasn’t satisfied. The girl with the blonde hair that had seemed distant since the challenge was called Julia North. Hermione had found out that the boy with the lazy eye was called Jonathan and the girl with bad acne was called Abigail. Their names didn’t really matter, it was their behaviour that bothered Hermione. They were so distant, their eyes glazed over, their answers robotic. It was just so unnatural and Hermione being Hermione couldn’t let the sleeping dog lie. It was like a mystery waiting to be read and Hermione couldn’t wait for the ending.

‘Where are you going?’ asked a voice from the shadows.

Drat Hermione thought she had been so careful in creeping out. She didn’t have Harry’s invisibility cloak of course but she had gotten quite good at sneaking around, or so she thought.

‘What are you doing hiding in the shadows?’ she asked.

‘We were talking’.

‘We?’ she asked.

‘Blaise is here’.

‘Oh’ said Hermione.

‘Planning to sneak out, have a date?’ asked the deep voice of Blaise.

Hermione blushed completely oblivious to the stiff posture of the other boy, ‘No, not a date, I just needed to do some research’ said Hermione..

‘Don’t you think it best to go to the library during the day?’ questioned Malfoy.

‘Why no date Hermione?!’ asked Blaise.

Hermione sighed, she quickly realised her quick escape out of the common room was disappearing fast, ‘Firstly I needed to figure something out, secondly – not that it’s any of your business Blaise – but I haven’t found anyone worth my time yet’ she said.

‘Right come on then’ said Malfoy.

‘Excuse me’ replied Hermione.

‘What Draco means to say is that we’ll escort you to the library’ said Blaise.

‘I can look after myself’ said Hermione.

Blaise ignored her and asked, ‘What are you researching anyway?’

‘If you must know, the behaviour of three students’ she huffed annoyed.

‘Jonathan, Julia and Abigail by any chance?’ said Blaise.

‘How did you know?’ asked Hermione completely shocked.

‘Please Granger, you aren’t the only smart one ere’ said Malfoy.

Hermione opened her mouth to retort but Blaise beat her too it.

‘Now children, let’s go before your mouths run away with anger’ he said pushing them towards the door.

‘What exactly are we looking for’ asked Malfoy his fingers trailing down the spine of the nearest book.

‘Something that affects behaviour, a spell of potion or something’ said Hermione.

‘That’s so vague’ said Blaise sarcastically.

‘Sorry, I didn’t plan beyond coming here to do research’ said Hermione moodily.

The mood soured but they stayed there researching for some time.

‘This is going nowhere’ moaned Blaise.

Hermione sighed unfortunately he was right. She’d been foolish to start research when she knew so little, she was almost doomed for fail.

‘I guess you’re right’ said Hermione.

‘We should head back’ said Blaise.

Hermione nodded.

The walk back took longer than before. The night had progressed and the sky was staring to lighten. The halls were quiet until the unmistakable sound of another person neared. This person didn’t have light footing, meaning it wasn’t a student but a teacher.

‘Run!!’ whispered Blaise.

Without thinking Malfoy took Hermione’s hand in his own and yanked her down the corridor.

The footsteps grew louder as they pursued the students. Hermione felt for a second that she heard the sounds of clanking chains but she must have imagined it. She’d lost sight of Blaise but her hand was still securely wrapped within Draco’s large one. Though she loathed to admit it, it actually felt quite good.

Quickly Draco ducked behind a tapestry taking Hermione with him. There wasn’t much space and Hermione found herself pressed up against Draco’s chest. Her eyes resting on his lips, she forced herself to meet his eyes, she didn’t know what she expected to see but the vulnerability and adoration that his eyes held surprised her.

The teacher got closer.

‘I know someone’s here, you don’t have to come out. I’ll find you sooner or later, little children shouldn’t learn what goes bump in the night’ said the voice in a menacing manner.

Hermione looked at Draco with wide scared eyes. The voice belonged to Professor Shepard and there was something in his voice that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Somehow Draco managed to get his hands around Hermione’s waist, pulling her close and comforting her. Hermione welcomed it and for the first time thought f him as Draco and not Malfoy the arrogant enemy.

‘Hermione’ he whispered.

But she didn’t give him a chance, for once she acted without thinking. Grabbing his head between her small hands she kissed him with as much passion as she could muster.

Suddenly the tapestry was pulled back, Hermione and Draco pulled apart guiltily and observed the figure who had caught them, it was Blaise.

He smirked, ‘All these years I thought it was Potter that caused all the trouble. I was wrong, it was you all along’ he said with a smirk.

Hermione couldn’t respond she was blushing too much. Draco tightened his hold on Hermione.

‘Piss off Blaise’ he said though his voice lacked anger and his lips held a secret smile.

The second challenge approached quicker than anyone would have liked, the final challenge wouldn’t be held until the summer of the following year to allow time for the students to sit their exams but Hermione didn’t think it fair that the second challenge had snuck up on them so quickly. The second challenge was posted for two days’ time and tension was once again running high, though the teachers didn’t twig the change in atmosphere. Hermione had tension for other reasons, actually he was downright stressed. She’d willingly kissed Malfoy and enjoyed it but she was afraid to tell anyone less she hear the ‘I told you so’. Sometimes Hermione wished for the quiet that came before the war escalated when normal teenage issues seemed simpler. Alas that was the thing about life, you couldn’t go back.

The worst thing about kissing Malfoy was that her over observant friends had noticed something was up and wouldn’t leave her alone. She began to wish she’d fallen for some nice normal guy instead but her track record with those guys wasn’t really that good (Ron, Cormac, Victor). It was silly to repeat the same thoughts over and over but her mind was young, and her experiences with the opposite sex weren’t exactly grand.

‘Alright, what’s up?’ asked Lavender.

‘Excuse me?’ replied Hermione.

‘You’ve had that dazed expression all day and you keep secretly smiling’ she said.

‘I do not!’ replied Hermione.

‘Yes you do’ said Luna.

‘So come on then, who is it?’ asked Lavender.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ said Hermione grumpily.

‘Don’t play us for chumps Mione’ added Luna.

‘Yeah, we’re your best friends’ replied Lavender, ‘You’re supposed to tell us everything!!’

‘Fine but you’re only going to say ‘I told you so’’ said Hermione frowning.

‘OOOoo! This means it will be good’ said Lavender.

‘And most likely be something we’ve talked about before’ added Luna.

‘I kissed him’ mumbled Hermione quietly.

‘Sorry didn’t hear that’ said Lavender smirking.

‘I kissed him!’ Hermione practically shouted.

‘Kissed who exactly?’ asked Luna.

‘Malfoy’ she mumbled quietly.

‘Could you repeat that’ said Luna.

‘I kissed Malfoy’ said Hermione blushing scarlet.

‘I knew it’ squealed Lavender excitedly, ‘Tell us everything!!! When did it happen? What was it like? Who started it? How long did it last? Was there any tongue?’

Hermione groaned, she should have known that if she told them there would be questions to answer.

‘It happened last night behind a tapestry’ said Hermione.

‘Behind a tapestry! Oo you naughty girl’ giggled Lavender.

Hermione glared, ‘I had tried to sneak out to the library but got caught by Blaise and Malfoy who insisted on accompanying me. It ended up being a waste of time but on the way back we heard a teacher. Malfoy and I hid behind the tapestry to avoid being caught’ said Hermione.

‘Who was the teacher?’ asked Luna.

‘Professor Shepard. It was so scary, like he knew exactly where we were and who we were’.

‘So how did you end up kissing?’

‘Well we were standing really close together and as I said I felt scared and I don’t know, I felt safer in his arms. The he whispered my name and it sounded so beautiful coming from his lips. I just had to kiss him’ said Hermione completely embarrassed by the whole thing.

‘Was it good?’ asked Lavender.

‘So good and now I don’t know what to do, I mean am I wrong to feel this way? She asked.

‘I don’t think you’re wrong Mione. People change all the time, you just have to be willing to accept them. At the end of the day what does it matter what anyone else things as long as you are happy’ said Luna.

‘Always so wise’ said Hermione with a smile.

‘So when will you see him again, now that you aren’t avoiding him?’

‘At the challenge I guess’.

‘Oh great, the challenge’ said Luna sarcastically.

‘Students listen up, now we are all gathered, I have some announcements to make. This is the second challenge and the tasks will be more difficult. We have incorporated a lot of muggle ideas that don’t involve magic, so you will have to have your wits about you. There were some stragglers last time and a fair few of you ended up locked in rooms, I want none of that this time’ ranted Professor Shepard.

Someone grabbed Hermione’s hand and she jumped.

‘What did I miss?’ asked Draco his voice slightly husky.

‘Professor Shepard giving a speech on the tasks being muggle based and more difficult’ stammered Hermione.

‘So I haven’t missed much then’ he said bringing her hand up so he could kiss it.

Hermione felt like she was going to hyperventilate from the closeness. The feelings she felt were like she were on fire. They were so unlike what she’d ever experienced before.

‘Right everyone, there are ten challenges, you have an hour and fifteen minutes, that’s a time limit of seven point five minutes for each task. You know the rules, if you fail to complete the task within the time limit you get stuck in the room till the challenge is completely over. First prize today is fifty house points, second prize is thirty house points, and third prize is ten house points. Now, begin’ he said his voice booming as the familiar black space appeared. Hermione took one last longing look at Draco before choosing a random room to walk into.

Professor Shepard definitely wasn’t kidding when he said that more of the challenges would be muggle based for the task before her definitely didn’t involve the use of a wand. The room was quite dark but there was an obvious opening near the floor. It was clear that this room was a maze but it looked like Hermione was going to have to crawl on her hands and knees to get through the maze.

It was difficult, and dark. Hermione kept hitting her head on the walls, she was sure to have a bruise there soon. Then at one point she put her hand down in something sticky, she didn’t know what it was but it had congealed on her hand and kept getting stuck on the floor. When she reached the end of the maze she had to squint through the bright light and was shocked to discover that she only had one minute to exit the room she was in. She made a quick exit, dashing from one room to the next, breathing a sigh of relief before taking in the next task before her.

Hermione imagined Professor Shepard sitting gleefully behind his desk concocting all sorts of challenges, which when you think of all the students, really was quite a lot. She shuddered, something about his smile was unnerving. If the challenges were organised by anyone else, she doubted she’d find the tasks as suspicious. No point in dawdling further, she had another nine challenges to get through, she couldn’t afford to waste time.

This room scared Hermione as the first things she saw upon entering was a blast of fire, then another and another until the whole room was illuminated. Hermione gasped, she supposed it could have been worse. She was faced with not one but three magical creatures to defeat, and they were all fire breathing miniature dragons! Yes, it could have been worse, she could have been faced with a fully grown dragon – but she was sure that must break some law. She couldn’t however, follow Harry’s tactics from the Triwizard Tournament, she had no broom and was afraid of flying. No, she’d have to solve this with her brain and her want, oh and try not to get burnt along the way.

She tried a series of deflecting spells and low level charms and even a reducto but nothing worked. After much despairing and panicking that she was going to get stuck in the room, her mind ran away from her brain and she started to fire random spells at her dragons. One went down after she cast a particularly powerful agumenti spell, another fell to a charmed sleep spell and the last one she got with a spell that hit in in the eye. She completed the challenge but still managed to get burnt on her arm and a bit on her face, it wasn’t something she could fix now so she’d have to endure the pain until she could finish the challenge and get it healed.

Room three made Hermione shake her head in disbelief. She’d seen something similar to this on a muggle TV show, Professor Shepard sure wasn’t lying when he said these challenges were more muggle than wizard based. There was a long chute running the length of the room from the door that Hermione had come from to the door she had to leave by. On either side of the chute were large boulders – which she hoped were fake – waiting to be thrown.

One deep breath, a shake of the hands, flexing of the muscles and Hermione started to run. It was hard, the chute was wobbly and several times she almost lost her balance. She tried to dodge all the flying boulders but she wasn’t a world class Quiddich player, so she was hit a couple of times. Though the boulders didn’t seem to be real they certainly packed a punch and Hermione was sure she could feel bruises forming.

By the time she’d made it to the fourth room and seen what was inside she’d begun to wish for three things; A) for it all to be over, B) for some magical challenges to appear and C) to stab Professor Shepard in the eye with something sharp like a fork.

This room was worse than the last and Hermione wondered if someone was out to get her. She wondered if the challenges really were random depending on who came through the door or if they changed to suit the person entering. Hermione seemed to be spending an awful amount of precious time thinking when she should have been acting but really with a brain as large as hers it was impossible not to think of such things. Right before she began the challenge she heard an ear splitting scream and a flurry of distorted movement pass by the blackened window. A shiver ran up Hermione’s spine, she hoped that wasn’t a serious incident but it made Hermione tense, all the more eager to finish the challenges ahead.

The task in this room was simple yet humiliating and reminded her of an old video she once saw. There was a wall and attached to the ceiling before it was a rubber band. Beyond the rubber band were pieces of string hanging from the ceiling with various small Honeydukes sweets attached to the end. The idea was to strap the rubber band on your head and under your nose and then lean forward against the rubber band to try and eat the hanging sweets just by using your mouth. It sounded complicated and it was complicated. Hermione felt like she had serious whiplash from being flung back into the wall so many times and the skin below her nose was red and sore. Finally, after an excruciatingly painful time, Hermione managed to get the last sweet into her mouth and when the familiar beep and opening of the door happened, Hermione felt herself visibly relax.

Upon entering the fifth room Hermione felt the air change in a way that made her feel like the muggle challenges were coming to an end – or at least she hoped they were.

This room seemed to centre around Transfiguration and Hermione – ever thankful – breathed a sigh of relief at not being forced with another muggle based challenge. This task was set out differently from the past magical tasks from the first challenge round a few weeks before. If Hermione wasn’t mistaken – and she rarely was – the object of this task was to successfully reverse the transfigured items back into their original forms. Any normal person could be at their wits end trying to figure out all the possibilities in a task like this, but Hermione had always paid attention in Transfiguration class – not wanting to disappoint Professor McGonagall – and thus didn’t find this task particularly difficult.

There were only three objects before her, the first a water goblet, the second a needle and the third a flamingo statue. The first two were easy, the water goblet transfigured back into a raven, and the needle back into a match but it was the flamingo that caused Hermione problems.

Conscious of the time, Hermione tried to transfigure it into everything she could think of until she became desperate. When she finally managed to transfigurate it back into the correct object, she was exhausted, frazzled and outraged. The flamingo’s original form was a book! Hermione was outraged that someone would use a book and transfigurate it, and almost missed out on moving into the next room from her shocked state at someone’s complete disregard for a book.

This sixth room – thankfully another magical task – stumped Hermione momentarily until she realised how easy it was, so simple in fact that it seemed much harder. The room it seemed was raining, not just raining but pouring and Hermione distinctly thought she heard thunder and lightning from somewhere in the room. A quick casting of ‘Meteolojinx recanto’ and the rain was replaced with blue sky and sunshine. The door opened and Hermione moved forwards leaving her quickest task behind.

The seventh room was another magical task. Before her now was a DADA task. It seemed there were two parts to this task, fear and defence. The first part – an obviously rattling cupboard – indicated a boggart. The second part had yet to show itself. She braced herself for the boggart to appear, it no longer took the appearance of McGonagall announcing that she’d failed all her exams. No, it now took the image of the head of the Healing Guild telling her that she’d failed her entry exams. A quick casting of ‘Riddikilus’ and the head of the Healing Guild was turned into Cormac McClaggen dancing a highland jig in a monkey costume. The second part of the task came suddenly and Hermione knew that many others would have been caught out by it Hermione reacted quicker than she thought, sending three stunners towards the robotic wooden machines knocking them down dead. The door opened and Hermione proceeded on.

Hermione relished the prospect of again using her magic. It seemed to her that these series of challenges should really have their own set of lessons rather than taking over Transfiguration time. She kept reminding herself ‘only three to go’ but it did little to lift her spirits. If a seasoned warrior like herself was struggling, she could barely imagine how others would be fairing.

 In the eighth room was a task that Hermione barely completed within the time slot. It was an ancient runes task and there was a piece of paper with runes on that she had to decipher. Though Hermione would never admit it, Ancient Runes was not a subject that came naturally to her and thus this task was more difficult for her.

The ninth room was another magical task and though Hermione had not yet reached the tenth room, she couldn’t help but think that she wouldn’t like what she would find.

This room seemed to be a generic spell task and it seemed Hermione had gotten lucky. It was a simple switching spell with three items to revert. The object was simple, replace the switched item with the correctly vanished item, for example real teeth had been switched to gummy teeth, so Hermione had to change them back. It was really quite an easy task and it made Hermione worry.

She had been right to worry, when she entered the last task room, all she wanted to do was run and hide. She had thought the avalanche run was bad, it was nothing compared to this. The Boulder Dash. Hermione knew the bruises that had formed from previous tasks would be nothing compared to the bruises she would get from this one. The task was basically a long steep hill that you had to run down while trying to avoid the large boulders being thrown down the hill at you. It was in a word: painful.

No use standing around. One deep breathe and go! Hermione raced down the hill trying in vain not to get hit by the boulders but she was losing the battle. Having been hit several times in the shoulder, she was feeling the pain and thought she might have dislocated it. She could also feel a trickle of blood running down her forehead. Gingerly she placed her hand upon her forehead and winced in pain. Logically her mind told her that she was in a school controlled environment and nothing could seriously harm her but she was beginning to have serious doubts.

She tried not to think of the pain she was in as she rushed out the last door that led her back to the classroom. She was beginning to feel dizzy and thought that perhaps the wounds was worse than she thought.

‘Hermione!’ someone shouted, was that Draco? She thought.

‘Hermione! Woah, easy there now’ said Draco.

Hermione felt confused, one minute she was feeling fine and the next she was in the warm embrace of Draco Malfoy. Damn! He smelt good she thought.

She thought she heard other voices around her but she could not be certain as she was more interested in the pretty stars she could see. She felt herself moving as if someone had picked her up, she tried to fight against it for she wanted to stay ad hear who had won this challenge but the person carrying her had a very strong grip so she eventually gave up. As she was leaving wherever it was that she was, she saw the face of Professor Shepard and he seemed rather angry about something. She wondered what it might be but the pretty stars she could see were off putting. Someone was talking but she couldn’t hear, it was all rubbish so she stopped listening…