"Well, Malfoy shouldn't have grabbed her in the first place, then!" said Charlotte. "But once he grabbed her, he
"I don't see why," said Pansy.
"That's because you don't have the tiniest smidgin of romance in you," said Tracey. "Besides, you can't just go dropping girls. A boy who'd drop a girl like that... he'd drop
"What d'you mean,
Daphne couldn't resist any more. "You know," Daphne said darkly, "you're eating breakfast one day at our table, and the next thing you know, Malfoy
"Yeah!" said Charlotte. "He's a witch dropper!"
"You know why Atlantis fell?" said Tracey. "'Cause someone like Malfoy
Daphne lowered her voice. "In fact... what if Malfoy's the one who made Hermione, I mean General Granger, slip in the first place? What if he's out to make
"You mean - ?" gasped Tracey.
"That's right!" Daphne said dramatically. "What if Malfoy is -
"The next Drop Lord!" said Tracey.
Which was far too good a line for anyone to keep to themselves, so by nightfall it was all over Hogwarts, and the next morning it was the
Hermione made sure she got to their usual classroom nice and early that evening, just so that she would be by herself, in a chair, peacefully reading a book, when Harry got there.
If there was any way for a door to creak open apologetically, that was how the door was creaking open.
"Um," said Harry Potter's voice.
Hermione kept reading.
"I'm, um, kinda sorry, I didn't mean for you to
It had been quite an entertaining experience, in fact.
"I, ah... I don't have much experience apologizing, I'll fall to my knees if you want, or buy you something expensive,
She kept reading the book in silence.
It wasn't as if
Right now she was just feeling a sort of odd curiosity as to what would happen if she kept reading her book for a while.
Chapter 42: Courage
"
"Wow," Daphne said, sounding a little shocked. "You mean Muggles really
"No," said an older Slytherin girl Hermione didn't recognize, "it's true, they have to get married in secret, and if they're ever discovered, they get burned at the stake together. And if you're a girl who thinks it's romantic, they burn you too."
"That can't be right!" objected a Gryffindor girl, while Hermione was still trying to sort out what to say to that. "There wouldn't be any Muggle girls
She'd kept on reading quietly, and Harry Potter had kept on trying to apologize, and it had soon dawned on Hermione that Harry had realized, possibly for the first time in his life, that he'd done something annoying; and that Harry, definitely for the first time in his life, was
The next day, practically every Ravenclaw girl over the age of thirteen had voted to have Draco drop Harry.
Hermione had felt mildly disappointed it was that simple, though it was obviously fair.
Right now, however, standing just outside the great doors of the castle amid half the female population of Hogwarts, Hermione was beginning to suspect that there were
You couldn't really see the details from up there, just the general fact of a sea of expectant female faces.
"You've got no idea what this is about, do you?" said Draco, sounding amused.