Chapter No. 2

Bad Karma

It was a week after my little deal with Malfoy…

I was trying to maintain my attention on the current prefect meeting, but it was damn hard now that Parvati was talking, I mean pink coloured paper for detention slips was hardly worthy of the prefect staff's attention. I wasn't the only one who didn't seem to care in the least about what Parvati was saying; in fact most of the prefects weren't paying attention. Hanna Abbot was doodling idly on a piece of parchment, Kenneth Dearborn was playing hangman with Ernie Macmillan while Ron threw caution to the winds and slept, a thread of drool hanging from his mouth.

I couldn't help getting on a train of thought, I pondered for a second on why would anyone in his/her right mind would ever make Parvati head girl. Yes, the wounds are still sore…I just refuse to accept the fact that the prefect staff chose her over me, ingrates all of them! Obviously, they don't recognize wit and talent when they see it…now I couldn't do more than watch the school fall apart in a whirlwind of pink detention slips and vanilla scented quills while I lick my wounds, quietly saying to myself hate to say I told you so!

"Ingrates!" I muttered indignantly, knocking over an ink bottle as I pounded my fist on the table and startling Ron ("Earthquake!") who promptly went back to sleep leaving everybody else staring at me.

From the look on Parvati's face I could tell she wasn't happy at all with my little outburst. She huffed indignantly, flipped her hair and went on with her little speech.

I looked around the library; my gaze fixing on a couple of third years who looked a bit ruffled up and had sickly sweet grins on their faces. They probably had a good snog in the back of the library against some dusty shelves…

Another detention slip perhaps? I toyed with the idea for a couple of seconds but decided to leave them alone since there was probably no way that I could get up from my chair and walk towards them without having Malfoy jumping on my throat with a comment or another.

I looked at him reproachfully; he was looking at Parvati and tilting his chair on its hind legs while resting his hands on the back of his head. He appeared to be listening to everything she said attentively, his eyes never showing the slightest glaze of boredom.

Inbred prick!

Then I felt an intense jab on the ribs, I narrowed my eyes, looking at Ron angrily and got quite confused when I realized he was asleep. I prodded him in the nose and he swatted at my hand unconsciously. Deciding that he wasn't faking, I went back to cursing Malfoy.

He was the devil himself, with his white blonde hair slicked back and grey eyes, always watching every single detail around him, his criticism flying to and fro. Git! With his well tailored robes with that clean white shirt and those stupid shiny shoes! Malfoy was indeed the representation of the word pureblood to the fullest extent. Tall and slim, not to mention filthy rich he was popular among girls just as much as Harry.

Jab

I looked down at my ribs and saw a small quill tied to a roll of paper levitating beside me and getting ready to jab me again. I snatched it up and opened it furiously, noticing the slightly familiar elongated writing.

I've decided what I want as a favour, Granger.

Stay after the meeting ends and I'll tell you,

By the way, stop staring at me. It's unnerving.

D.M.

P.S: Don't let that lovely thread of drool hanging from your mouth hit the floor.

I looked at Malfoy shocked, who was looking at Parvati intently as though nothing had happened but I swear I saw the corners of his mouth twitch.

I chewed on my lip, wondering whether I should stay afterwards, I know we had a deal and all but still….I had only trespassed the restricted section, and that was a week ago. Even if Malfoy told McGonagall about it, it wouldn't matter anyway. My hand tightened on the quill as I rummaged in my head for an excuse to not meet him, then a quick succession of events I wasn't ready for occurred.

Parvati slammed down her file on the table, scaring me (I bit my lip really hard) and Ron who jumped up, knocking over his chair and making me fall off mine with a loud "Oomph!" as everyone else left the room in a rustle of robes and papers.

Then I realized only Malfoy had stayed behind and was gazing at me as I lay sprawled on the floor, my skirt bunched up in my hips to my utter mortification. He ogled me gleefully, tilting his head to a side making a point of ogling at my legs as well as beyond.

I stood up, glaring the life out of him and dusting my robes.

He rolled his eyes, muttering something like "spoilsport".

"What do you want?" I asked, trying hard not to respond to his last remark and ignoring the sharp throb in my lower lip.

"You're bleeding" he said simply, eyes fixing on my lower lip.

"What do you—I'm bleeding?" this took me by surprise.

"Yes, Granger, profusely" he put a finger on his lower lip and so did I, feeling the warm liquid on my finger.

"Oh shite!" I tried to wipe the blood off with the sleeve of my robe but to no avail. My lip just kept bleeding more and more.

"Here, let me see that" he strode over to me and took out a rather expensive looking handkerchief with an elegant gesture of his hand.

"Oh no, Malfoy, there's no need to— I dodged the handkerchief— you're gonna ruin your handkerchief"

"Doesn't matter, Granger, it's only worth forty galleons. Now—I dodged the handkerchief again "would you stand still!"

He grabbed me by the jaw rather painfully and pressed the handkerchief to my lip, smirking at the annoyed expression in my face as he applied pressure on the wound. I tried to grab the handkerchief and do it myself but he slapped my hand off with an angry hiss.

"There" he removed it with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes, he seemed to be enjoying it and somehow I got the strange feeling that he provoked everything just so he could play 'Medi-Wizard'

He pocketed the handkerchief, cleared his throat and I immediately knew he was going to tell me what he wanted.

"Granger, I need your help." I hadn't noticed before but he had bags under his eyes and he looked paler than ever. I felt an unfamiliar sting of concern.

"What kind of help?" I inquired in a business-like manner

"Patil is driving me mad" he ran his hand through his pale hair with exasperation "she's a disaster of a head girl!"

I couldn't hush the triumphal laugh that left my lips when I heard those words.

Malfoy glared at me and continued talking "she doesn't carry out her head girl duties, I have a ton of detention reports in the prefect room waiting to be revised, signed and classified in alphabetical order! But she disappears to snog her boyfriend of the day and I'm left to do everything alone. I haven't slept in a week, Granger" he was almost yelling now "Her head is full of fucking air! She does nothing all day—

"Shhhh!" Came the angry voice of Madam Pince, this only riled up Malfoy a bit more.

"Oh shut up, you menopausal bat!" he snapped and made a rude gesture directed at the outraged librarian who stomped out of the library, probably to accuse us of disturbing the sacred silence of the library.

"So…." He continued as though nothing had happened "I need you to assist me in these duties, given the fact that Patil is utterly incompetent"

Silence settled in uncomfortably as he stared at me expectantly. I sighed hard and moved my head from side to side.

"No, Malfoy, I'm sorry" I said as nicely as possible, avoiding to make Malfoy have another outburst. Then I politely turned around to leave and politely started walking towards the door expecting the outburst any moment now. "I have enough duties as a simple prefect to take on her duties too."

3….It took a lot of concentration to find the right speed to leave, you know, because f I walked too slow Malfoy might just grab me and take me to a dark corner of the library and you know….murder me, whereas if I walked too fast he might call out for me, run, grab me and drag me to a dark corner of the library and commit brutal murder.

2….I avoided shallow breathing, and tried not to think about a perfectly nice dark corner just beside the muggle studies section in the last row of shelves to which Malfoy could drag me and commit murder and of course no one would know.

1….oh here we go…

"Granger, you better come back here before I drag you to a dark corner and commit murder!" Malfoy said in a deep, murderous voice. I turned around slowly and decided to act as though I hadn't just rejected Malfoy. He surveyed me from cold steely eyes and drawled "I'm not done with you"

"I don't think there's anything else to discuss, Malfoy" I scratched my nose "I was perfectly clear, you asked me a favor and I said no"

"Don't play coy, Granger" he shoved his hands in his pockets and slowly walked towards me, a smirk gracing his features "we both know we had a deal, and you're compelled to do what I ask you" he stopped walking, leaving a safe three feet distance between us.

"Oh really? You really expect me to do Parvati's job when you could easily talk to her and make her do what she has to do" I paused, feeling more and more irritated "I'll rather swallow a cauldron full of Stinksap"

"Well if you want me to just go and tell McGonagall about your little visit to the Restricted Section, fine! I'll tell her all about it, Granger! She's gonna love it" a pink flush tainted his pale cheeks as he got more riled up. "Is that what you want?"

"I'm not doing her work, Malfoy, that's her job and your problem" I looked at him cautiously, trying to guess what he was going to do now. I expected him to yell at me a bit more but he didn't.

The bastard smiled.

It was this unnatural gesture that couldn't be described as a smile. It was more like a leer that gave him a Cheshire-like aura, his teeth so white and straight that Mom and Dad would've been proud.

It made me cringe, it made my skin crawl.

"It's perfectly clear for me now, Granger; I shouldn't have asked you to do Parvati's work, even though it wasn't even her job…." He stared at his nails with mild interest "It was a brand new position in the school hierarchy but I take it back now"

I stared, baffled.

He gave me another sinister smile "I just realized you're not up to snuff"

"Why not?" My curiosity spiked in a rather whiny voice, Malfoy quirked an eyebrow at this comment.

"Well— he gave me another look— you're being immature, conceited and you seem to keep old grudges inside"

The nerve of him! "Do you understand the fact that you just described yourself, Malfoy?"

He quit looking at his fingernails and smirked "Have I?"

"Yes, Malfoy, you described your personality very well" my blood was boiling now, I felt like smacking his sodden face.

"See, that's what I'm talking about Granger" he slung his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a chummy sort of hug that I tried to wriggle out of but he tightened his grip on my shoulders. We headed to the library stacks, walking through the passages as he spoke "You won't accept my offer because you think you're too good to work with me, you won't do Parvati's work because you're still sore about the fact that she beat you to Head Girl although if she hadn't won you would gladly take the position."

"It's not about her! It's about the fact that you're trying to coerce me into doing her work; it's her responsibility and none of my business!"

"Granger, you're going to regret breaking our deal so much" he stopped in the dark corner of the Muggle Studies section behind the last row of shelves and I fought his grip more than ever, making him chuckle softly.

"This is a threat, Granger" He faced me with a smirk "will you reconsider?"

"No" I turned around to leave again, feeling sure that this time he wasn't going to say anything and he didn't say anything. Thank God!

Of course…he was right.

I stabbed my Sheppard's pie with my fork, ignoring completely the piece of steak waiting to be digested that lay beside it. I had no appetite at all due to a lot of things starting with the fact that Malfoy's gaze was fixed on me from the moment I stepped in the Great Hall and that Ron kept looking from him to me as though we had offended him personally and asking me if I wanted him to beat the crap out of Malfoy.

I looked up from my plate to see if Malfoy had finally stopped looking at me.

He didn't, the smarmy little git actually had the nerve to wink at me with a nasty smile plastered on his bleached face. I quickly turned my gaze back down to my plate knowing that he was still looking at me, Ron nudged at Harry who quickly noticed what was going on and placed an arm around my waist (this sent a jolt of electricity up my spine) in a possessive gesture.

"Is Malfoy bothering you, Hermione?" Harry whispered, glaring at Malfoy who merely smirked at me and turned back to look at the babbling Pansy beside him.

"Well…." I looked at Malfoy again, at his sodden bleached face experiencing a nasty jolt of bête-noir. Ron was looking at me expectantly, he really wanted to kick Malfoy's ass and I didn't want to let him down...

"Yes, he's been awful to me all day long"

"I'm going to rip his insides out! He won't know pain worse than facing me" Ron said, eyes wild and hair flying "I'm going to kill him!"

He stabbed my steak violently with his fork for emphasis and meat juice splattered on my robes. Disgusting…

"We're going to pay him a visit when he's walking to his common room, don't worry, Herms" Harry said as Ron greedily dragged my steak to his plate with a nasty sound that can only be described as schloeshk!

I couldn't help the smirk that crept upon my face as I registered what Harry had just said, at last someone was going to show Malfoy to respect others and it was delightful that he was going to learn it the hard way.

Malfoy got up from his seat and strutted out of the Great Hall, unknowingly giving the cue for Harry and Ron to go beat the magic out of his discoloured arse. Harry pressed a kiss on my cheek before leaving with a gleeful-murderous Ron.

'That'll teach you not to mess with this Mudblood, Malfoy!' I thought merrily as I watched Harry and Ron disappear behind the giant doors of the Great Hall.

Giving one last look to the offended looking Sheppard's pie and deciding that there was no way to bring back my appetite, I got up and wove my way to the Gryffindor common room, climbing the stairs in a jubilant fashion but by the time I stood in front of the Fat Lady's portrait all happiness had evaporated.

'He deserves it, the disgusting git' I thought reassuringly, but my stomach kept churning every few seconds. 'Oh Malfoy if—'

"Come back from Orpheus arms, m'dear" said the Fat Lady, looking rather impatient "I don't have all night"

"Oh the password!" the Fat Lady raised her eyebrows cynically "tweak"

The Fat Lady swung open but as soon as I tried to step in she swung back to her original position and in the process, almost beheading me.

"I'm sorry, m'dear but I forgot to tell you something" she gave me a devilish smile "A young man was looking for you about a moment ago, you see that hasn't happened since that Krum boy…what? Three years ago" She said somewhat mockingly.

I twitched.

"Well the boy demanded to see you immediately. He told me to tell you that he needed to talk you as soon as you got here, he was rather unpleasant but nevertheless..." she trailed off and fanned herself wildly.

I had to try very, very hard not to roll my eyes or just wrench her off her blasted frame. Obviously, I knew who she was talking about. That smarmy bastard wanted to pester me again! The nerve of him….

"Well, if he comes again tell him I haven't come back yet" I spoke in a bossy tone "Actually, tell him I'm busy and that I don't have time to deal with snivelling gits like him!"

The Fat Lady gave me a surprised look "Lover's quarrel?"

"God no! I wouldn't go near that arse if I had to choose between him and the Giant Squid!" I gave a derisive laugh as the Fat Lady swung open again and I stepped inside.

As soon as she swung shut I let out a wail of anger that scared several owls in a fifty mile radius. Then, exhausted from such gruelling lung labour I went to my room and launched myself onto bed like a torpedo.

It was sunny outside, I could tell. Glaring sunbeams drifted in from the curtains stinging my eyes and reminding me to wake up rather annoyingly…and of course the fucking birds were chirping.

Stupid birds, all they ever do is to chirp and shit.

I got up from bed with a groan and looked around wildly, there was something wrong here. It wasn't annoying enough just yet….where was Lavender? I didn't bother wondering about Pavarti since she had moved to her posh personal bedroom, one of the perks of being Head Girl. I looked at my watch and cursed:

10:58am

I was late for class, very late for class.

Kicking the covers, I made to jump out of bed by launching myself out but in the middle of this gymnastic routine my right foot got stuck on the covers and I collapsed on the floor with a force of cataclysmic proportions.

Crack!

I felt a bone snap and then just immense pain in my right foot, I managed to look at it and let out a shrilly scream of horror. My ankle looked weirdly misplaced and the rest of my foot was rapidly turning purple. Swearing loudly, I limped towards the bathroom while I picked up some clean robes and a series of hairpins to tame my hair (this was a big effort). I discarded my clothes like an old skin and put on the uniform faster than it takes to say "Quidditch". Taking a shower was out of the question since my foot had now swelled to the size of a beach ball.

I tried not to concentrate on the fact that the pain was expanding with every passing second, it had now turned a nasty shade of purple giving it the look of a nauseating pulsing organ. Limping towards the mirror, I grabbed the handful of hairpins and started sticking them into my head and making a messy bun, but then I realized maybe I had been a little rough on the last hairpin because it rocketed out of my head and onto the mirror with a spyoooh! It bounced back and hit me in the eye with the force of a nuclear projectile.

Everything blurred and I let out a howl of pain, staggering blindly across the room and groping for the door, tripping on my discarded clothes and falling on my face. Finally, I saw a blurry oak coloured door and the shining brass knob that would lead me out of this death trap. I crawled en route for the door and grasped the door knob for support.

BANG!

The door burst open, the knob smashing against my forehead violently. I fell backwards and skidded across the floor while hearing distant shouting like hazy radio interference.

Suddenly everything became clear; Lavender was standing over me with a worried expression. She helped me get up and I yelped, shifting the weight on my uninjured foot.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Lavender screamed making my head throb horribly.

"Yes, I'm having a blast" I responded sarcastically.

Thud

I passed out.