Chapter 4
HERMIONE GRANGER
Days had passed since her little talk with Malfoy, the younger one, and she found herself in quite a fix. He had not asked for anything exuberant, but she still felt herself having second thoughts about this whole thing.
However, as they all returned to the Common Room after Hagrid's second class with them, she knew that she had to do something.
"That was awful," Ron spoke as he put down his massive book, and it immediately began to rattle, trying to break free from the belt that he was using to keep it bound.
"Hagrid's really lost it all after what happened in his first lesson," Ron added, and it was quite a good one, if not for the whole Malfoy incident near the end.
"He said that he has avoided suspension, but the case against Buckbeak will move forward," Harry added as they all sat down infront of the fireplace together. It was the end of classes, and then after lunch, they would all be busy with their own thing.
Hermione would probably go to the library to get some of her homework done; Harry had Quidditch practice, and as for Ron--well, Ron would do what he always did—laze around.
"Speaking of that, weren't you going to do something about that, Hermione?" Ron asked as Harry turned towards her hopefully, and she knew just how much Hagrid meant to her friend, so after a bit of hesitation, she decided to speak up.
"I tried looking up for similar cases in the library and seeing how the committee dealt with them. We could have Hagrid to fight the case, and so..." but Harry's face dulled.
"But Hagrid said that Malfoy's has the committee in his pockets," and that was true. It was why she had taken the drastic step of approaching Malf—Cassius.
"That git! He is faking his injury, that git! He just wants to get back at us through Hagrid," and that may be true.
"That is why I talked to someone who can stop it all," she spoke, and both Harry and Ron perked up at her words as Harry leaned forward.
"Who?" he asked a bit excitedly.
"Cassius," she took the name, and she saw that it took a second register.
"Cassius Malfoy!" and Ron's reaction was of absolute disgust and surprise.
"You talked to that git's twin! What were you thinking?" he asked, and Hermione sighed.
"He is not like Draco," she corrected him, but Ron just rolled his eyes.
"Just because he is not a blonde doesn't mean he is not a git. He is Malfoy's twin, so why would he help us?" She did not tell them how he had helped them.
Harry was quiet, having not interacted with Cassius much, and neither had Ron really. Given that Cassius was in Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor shared all their classes with Slytherin and Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff.
They had not interacted at all during the lessons, and he was not sharing any elective with either of them either.
"But didn't you think him to be the Slytherin's heir last year?" she was surprised by Harry's memory as she felt her cheeks flush, remembering that horrible ordeal.
Gods! What was she thinking?
"No, it was just a misunderstanding," she shook her head and did not repeat any of the details of that incident.
"But still, Ron is right," Harry added dejectedly as he picked up a cushion and put it in his lap.
"Why would Malfoy ever want to help us?" he asked.
"Because he is not like Draco," she added, feeling a bit of an urge to defend the younger Malfoy twin, because unlike Draco. Cassius had never tried to do them any harm.
"He even made Draco apologize to me when he called me a mud-b...." she did not say the slur, as Harry seemed a bit surprised and hopeful.
"Really," and she nodded.
"I wouldn't trust him any more than I trust Draco. He is a Malfoy. They are all rotten to the core that family," Ron was quick to disparage, and that was it.
"Actually, they are not. I have talked to him, and he has agreed to help us," she added sharply and saw his eyes widen.
"How?" Harry was quick to ask.
"He was not even there. He is taking Runes and Arithmetics, that nerd," the last part was whispered, but she heard it nonetheless and chose to ignore Ron as she looked towards Harry.
"I don't know how. But he says that he will help us and will intervene and get this whole thing stopped," she added, as Harry smiled, and she felt a bit guilty as she added.
"But he wants something in return?" and Ron smirked at her words as he pointed out triumphantly.
"See. I was right. It's never simple with that family," and she chose to ignore him, something that was getting harder and harder.
"What does he want?" Harry asked, a bit put down yet still hopeful.
"A map of sorts, and he does not want it. He just wants me to help broker a deal between him and the Twins..."
"Fred and George," Ron asked, and she nodded.
"Yes," she finished, and Ron quickly shook his head.
"No. This is a ploy. I am sure. He just wants to get you into trouble," Ron added again, and she scoffed.
"It's not," because if he really wanted to do that, he could have gotten her in a lot of trouble last year. And yet he had not.
"You are a fool for trusting a Malfo..."
"Enough!" she cut in sharply, and Ron seemed a bit taken aback by her words.
"Will you stop with this? Cassius is not like his brother!" The common room was struck with silence, and she could see a dozen or so eyes focused on herself. She suddenly felt embarrassed and quickly reached for her bag.
"I am going to the library," she said, and quickly rushed out of the common room and headed to the library, knowing full well what a disaster she had pushed herself into.
She just hoped Lavender Brown had not heard her little outburst.
And so, she skipped lunch and walked straight into the library to bust herself in homework and books, praying and hoping that it would all just go away.
She picked out the books and plopped down on one of the tables with a stack of books by her side. While she was allowed to use a time-turner to take extra classes, she was not allowed to use it for anything else.
The workload from taking all four electives was massive, and she was barely holding on. And as she worked and worked, she suddenly began feeling a gaze on her and looked up and saw a brunette looking at her.
One she recognized rather easily, both because of their shared classes and her company.
Tracey Davis. She was part of Cassius's group, and the boy himself was sitting opposite to her, engrossed in his homework, as this unlikely group of two Slytherins and a Ravenclaw worked in silence, as per usual.
And then, much to her surprise, the said girl sighed and walked upto her.
"Granger," she called out, making her look up and watch Tracey Davis looking down at her.
"Yes," she answered a bit skeptically.
"Why don't you join us at our table?" she offered, much to her surprise. Especially since this was coming from a Slytherin.
"I wouldn't want to imp..."
"You wouldn't be. We share most of our classes and could help each other in our work," she offered, and she raised a brow.
"Or not," the brunette added quickly.
"You can just sit with us for a change," initially she was going to deny it, but for some off reason she found herself nodding her head. She had not really interacted with many people in the school, and given that Tracey and Daphne were Cassius's friends, she doubted they were like the rest of the Slytherin House.
"Good," and then the brunette reached for her stack of books.
"Let me help," she said, carrying them to their table and putting them all beside Cassius's chair. There was a smile on her face for some reason as she did so.
"Come sit," she said as Hermione sat down beside the black-haired Malfoy boy.
"Hi, I am...." she tried to introduce herself, and the blonde was quick to answer.
"I know who you are, Granger," her words were curt as Tracey shook her head.
"Don't mind her; she is bad at making friends," Daphne eyed her friend with murder as Hermione found herself chuckling for some reason.
"That makes two of us," the words slipped out of her mouth as Cassius chuckled from beside her.
"That was good," he said as he looked at her and gave her a small wave.
"Hi," and she nodded.
"Hi," and then they began to work again, each of them working on their homework. It was nothing like how she worked with Harry and Ron, both of whom would just talk or copy it off of her.
"I am tired," Tracey was the first to give up as she pushed her work forward and put her head on the table.
"I cannot believe why I took Runes," she lamented as Hermione was feeling tired as well. She peeked over at the girl's work on habbit and found herself impressed.
"You are almost there," she saw that only a few more lies were left for translating.
"Here, let me help," but and she moved forward, and began to help the girl a bit, and it took her a few friends.
"You are a lifesaver, Granger," Tracey thanked her before turning towards her blonde friend.
"See, that is what true friendship looks like," she teased as Hermione felt her cheeks flush, but Daphne did not seem to mind.
"You never ever help me with my work," Tracey complained.
"Because I do not want to make you lazy..." as they were talking, suddenly she felt her stomach turn, and she was so engrossed in the homework that she had forgotten to eat anything at all.
They all turned towards her as she looked down.
"You weren't in the Hall for lunch," Cassius voiced out from the side, as Granger looked at the clock and saw that it was still an hour until dinner.
"I think I forgot," she replied, and then suddenly, she found a pack of biscuits and chocolates were slid infront of her.
"Have some," she looked up and saw Cassius pointing towards them. She was about to shake her head when her stomach began to turn once more.
"They are not poisoned," he quickly added as he took a biscuit and ate it himself, and she nodded and took one for herself.
"Thank you," and she began eating it as she saw him scanning her assignments and so forth.
"You really should drop Divination and Muggle studies," he added, and she shook her head.
"I can't," she replied.
"It is all just so fascinating," she started.
"Taking so many classes is simply burdening yourself too much. You will burn yourself, and you are muggle-born you don't need to take classes for that," he added, and it was an argument.
"But I think it will be fascinating to learn about Muggles from the perspective of wizards," and he scoffed at that.
"Most wizards know almost nothing about the muggle world of today. The books and the syllabus here are horribly outdated by about a century. There is no mention of cars, TV, cinema, theatre, music, and so much more," and she was surprised, not by those words but by who was speaking about them.
"You know about all that?" she asked, surprised at his nod.
"I do," and she did not believe him.
"Tell me your favourite theatre play, or a movie, or a song..." she asked quickly in one breath as he looked into her eyes, which were really different from Draco's, whose blue eyes were filled with disdain and haughtiness.
Cassius's eyes reminded her of the twins and, for some reason, her own father.
She saw him rubbing his chin, as she realised that he may have lied.
"I am not that big on theatre, but I did like 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' and she was surprised by that answer, though I am much more interested in movies. I really loved the 'Star Wars' trilogy," and she gasped.
"You really watched the Star Wars," and while she had not watched them herself, she knew that her father had and was insistent that she do so as well.
"I have, and they did not disappoint," and she could not believe it.
"I am going to watch them too," Tracey added from the side.
"Both me, Daphne, and her sister," she added as Hermione's head snapped towards her.
"They are showing it in London in a few weeks," she added, and that did not make sense.
They would be at a school.
"How?" she asked, and it seemed to her that the brunette realized her mistake. She clasped her hands on her mouth, and Daphne shook her head.
"We have an arrangement," Cassius added cryptically before quickly adding.
"And what about our arrangement?" he asked, and she wanted to probe about the 'Star Wars' again, yet she did not, deciding to keep her mouth shut.
"Do we have a deal?" he asked.
"Not yet," she did not answer as he shrugged.
"Well, you just need to intercede here. I will handle the rest," he added as Tracey's eyes narrowed.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Nothing," he added as he pointed towards her stack of books.
"Why don't you finish it up? It will be time for dinner soon," the brunette said. Her eyes narrowed, but she pulled back and busied herself, and the table descended into silence once more.
They all worked in silence, with some little whispers from time to time, as they helped each other. Even she found herself getting helped by Cassius, who sat beside her reading what seemed to be an old book about Transfiguration.
For the first time in many days, she found herself finishing her work as the time for dinner came. They all left the library, and as they were leaving, she called out to Cassius.
"Cassius," she asked as the black-haired boy turned to face her.
"Yes," he asked, and she hesitated before she asked.
"You will do it, right?" she asked, and he frowned for a second.
"What?" he asked.
"Stopping the Commitee from killing Buckbeak," she added, and he nodded.
"I will, as soon as you bring me and the Twins in the same room," he said, as he had that day.
"Hagrid got a letter today. The Ministry is seeking a reply from him soon. He is devastated. It was his dream to be a professor, and then Malf..." She stopped herself, and he raised a brow.
"Draco, your brother, nearly put an end to it all," she added, sharply still finding it a surprise that he was brothers with Malfoy.
They were both so different. And it was not just about appearances. Their habits, their actions, their manners—it was all so different.
"He is devastated and can barely hold a class," she continued as he sighed.
"What are you trying to say, Granger?" he asked, and she took a deep breath as she spoke it out.
"I want you to put this trial to an end. And I was hoping that you could do it before I arranged the meeting with the twins," and it was a big ask, and she saw his lips thin as he looked into her eyes.
"I und..."
"It will be done," he answered, much to her surprise.
"I will handle it," he said, and she smiled as she answered.
"Thank you. Thank you. I will talk to the Twins as soon as I can..."
"I know you will," he said as he turned around and walked away.
"How?" she asked.
"Because I trust you, Granger...."
And she was taken aback by those words as she followed him, missing the eyes of a certain Redhead who saw it all.
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