Noble Deeds

A/N: Special thank you to CharmedForce for beta-ing. Your patience and help are immensely appreciated!

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Chapter Two: Noble Deeds

Harry and Ron expected to meet up with Hermione in the Great Hall.

When she wasn't at breakfast, they headed back to Gryffindor tower to check on their friend.

Entering the common room, they found Hermione sleeping on a cushy, chintz chaise by the fire. She had fallen asleep before she made it down to the dining hall.

"Oi!" Ron called as they entered.

Hermione awoke, still groggy, and gave a stretch. "He... ell... llo..." she yawned.

"How late did Snape make you stay up?" Harry inquired.

When she had finished explaining about Fenrir Greyback and the fact that she was sitting outside with Malfoy all evening, Ron was furious.

"What's he playing at? Why the hell would Snape send you out with Malfoy? For all we know that git could be out there plotting with Greyback himself!"

"I doubt that, Ron," Hermione said honestly.

Harry agreed, noting, "He'd be mental to try anything now."

"Well, it wasn't pleasant, but it's over, right? And I don't have to do it again."

Ron still looked angry, but he decided to concede, since the others weren't following him in Malfoy bashing.

Harry motioned to the large clock above the mantle. "Transfiguration starts in ten minutes."

They all left the common room, Hermione still yawning as they walked.

She'd be in bed before dinner that evening, succumbing to exhaustion and falling into a fitful sleep of dreams about werewolves and the plight of Draco Malfoy.

~&~&~

"He should at least be putting up extra wards around the boundary of the forest," Harry whispered, eyeing the Potions master sitting at the front of the class.

"Let's talk about this later, Harry," Hermione returned, casting a wary eye at their professor.

"He's right, Hermione. I mean, what's that git gonna do about it?" Ron jerked his head towards the Slytherin table as he and Harry both turned their gaze on Malfoy. "Probably would be too concerned about mussing up his hair to actually...

"Umph!"

"Ugh!"

In typical Snape style, their teacher had descended upon them unnoticed and abruptly ended their whisperings by rapping both boys hard on the backs of their heads.

"Tell me, boys, what is so interesting that you needed to disrupt my class to convey the information forthwith?"

Snape followed the Gryffindors' previous eye line and came to rest on the smiling face of Draco Malfoy.

"Ahh, I see. Well, Potter, you can discuss Weasley's love interests after class."

Draco and Blaise Zabini immediately began snickering and chiding the redhead, blowing kisses to emphasize Snape's words.

"Aw, Weasley, I didn't know you cared." Draco batted his eyes and blew one last kiss as the rest of the Slytherins erupted into laughter.

Snape simply smirked at the redhead's indignation before announcing to the class that it was time to bottle their potions and clean up.

"And, Potter, since you feel no need to pay attention in class, you can write a three foot essay on the properties of the Oblivious Unction, due Monday. Maybe you'll find an aptitude for self teaching and you'll no longer need to grace us with your presence."

The Potions master looked at Ron's cauldron and rolled his eyes. "Weasley, you can write an essay of equal length on the reasons this concoction calls for lacewing flies instead of black beetles."

Ron looked at his light blue potion and then over at the lavender brew of his friends' before sighing in defeat.

"Yes," Snape drawled, "it seems you can use all the extra help you can get. I will expect your parchment on Monday as well."

The three Gryffindors left the classroom just behind Malfoy and Zabini, who were still laughing about Snape's remarks.

Ron made a move towards the retreating Slytherins, but Harry caught his arm.

"Leave it be, mate. It's not worth a detention."

Draco caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned abruptly. "Oi! Weasley, are you staring at my arse?"

Several Slytherins began cooing and laughing again as the redhead flushed with rage.

"Bugger off, Malfoy!" Ron shouted. He couldn't do much more as Harry had an iron grip on his wand arm.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of, Weasel," Draco sneered. "Don't get any ideas."

Blaise burst out laughing as he and Draco turned and headed towards their common room.

"Guess he's back to his old self," Hermione said, shooting a glare at the retreating backs of the Slytherins.

"When did he ever change?" Harry grumbled.

Hermione remembered Draco's halfway decent behavior of the other night (prior to his morning remarks of course). Yes, he was definitely back to his old self.

~&~&~

Ron was still furious when they entered Gryffindor Tower.

"It's Friday. What do you say we skive off these essays and have a go down at the pitch?" Harry did not want to deal with a disgruntled Ron all evening, and having a quick game of Quidditch always put both boys in a particularly good mood.

Snape had done the unthinkable this term by banning all non-traditional seventh years from participating in the sport. His unreasonable claim was that these students had an unfair advantage over their peers because they were all older than the more common age of seventeen.

Harry, Ron, and Draco Malfoy all held the belief that this was a personal punishment from Snape, although each for their own reasons.

The two Gryffindors would often head down to the pitch, feeling that by doing so they were openly defying their most hated professor. However, though neither boy expressed it verbally, they both knew that the headmaster had dealt them a fatal blow by not allowing them the thrill of the game.

Draco never flew.

"Sounds like a plan, mate. See if you can round up Dean and Seamus. I'm gonna go ask Romilda Vane if she'd like to have a go." Ron raised his eyebrows mischievously, his sour mood quickly forgotten.

Harry turned to Hermione, "You interested in some fresh air?"

"No, thanks, Harry. I need to go to the library and finish some of this homework. I didn't get a chance to do any of it Wednesday, and I went straight to bed yesterday, so I have quite a bit to catch up on."

Harry rolled his eyes, but smiled at his friend. He knew she was probably three weeks ahead on all of her lessons but there'd be no sense in trying to point this out to her.

"Okay. I'll see you back here for the party though, right?"

Hermione was actually hoping to get to bed early again tonight. She still felt a little sluggish from the overnight she'd had a couple days ago. The weekend common room parties had become ritual since Voldemort had fallen, but she didn't see any reason that she should have to attend every single one.

"If I get done early enough," she answered pensively.

If she could get back to the common room before the others, she could at least sneak up to her dormitory before anyone noticed, thus allowing her some much needed sleep without her friends calling her a party poop for not participating in the festivities.

She waved her goodbyes and headed out of the portrait hole, her bag stuffed full with books.

~&~&~

The library was virtually empty, with just a couple of fifth year Ravenclaws cramming hard as usual for the upcoming O.W.L.s. Hermione liked the library on Fridays because she had the books almost all to herself.

One by one she tackled her subjects: a complicated chart of planetary movements and their correspondence with numbers for Arithmancy; one foot of parchment on water plants of Loch Ness for Herbology; and two feet on Freya, Nordic goddess of love, for Ancient Runes.

Symbols were swimming through her mind: Rhaido, a journey; Beorc, new beginnings; Tir, victory; Mannaz reversed, a man, a loss.

Hermione sat bolt upright. She had been lying slumped in her chair with her head on Runic Translations of the Futhark Alphabet. The library was empty and quiet. She knew it must be late.

Hitching up her sack, she proceeded out of the library and into the corridor. It too was empty.

While strolling quietly toward the Gryffindor common room, Hermione idly considered the benefits of her age. She no longer had to worry about being out in the castle after hours, so long as she had a valid reason for it.

A sense of smugness overcame her as she realized that even Professor Snape could not find fault with a student spending extra time in the library.

This thought had her smiling to herself when she came upon a portrait of an old looking wizard in a white coat. Stopping to look at the man, she wondered if he had possibly been the school nurse some time long before Madam Pomfrey.

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a witch healthy, wealthy, and wise," he bellowed, the sound echoing off cold stone.

"Shhhh!" Hermione hissed.

It was a knee jerk reaction built from years of assuming she'd be in trouble if she were found wandering the castle at night. Admittedly, those years had mostly been spent with Harry and Ron doing things they shouldn't be.

Her heart was still thumping loudly when she heard the cool voice of Severus Snape.

"What is it you're hiding from, Miss Granger?"

"I wasn't hiding from anything," she answered, trying to keep her voice from sounding guilty of some wrongdoing. She knew it was silly, but being cornered by this man, alone in the corridors, reduced her to feeling like a first year hoping beyond hope to be granted pardon.

"If you weren't you, and you weren't creeping through the corridors at night, I may believe that," Snape returned while looking further down the long hallway.

"Lumos."

The Headmaster looked as far as his wand light would show. "Potter!" he shouted to the emptiness. There was no sound.

He rounded again on a nervous looking Hermione.

"So, you just enjoy the night life, do you?" he sneered. "Well, Miss Granger, since you enjoy these evening strolls so much, why don't you accompany me to the grounds, and we can see how Mr. Malfoy is holding up in his duties? I dare say he may enjoy having company for another night."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Hermione snapped. A feeling of righteous anger was returning her to the adult self that she actually was.

"You, Potter and Weasley are always doing something wrong! I've just informed you, not two nights ago, that a werewolf could be prowling the school. And here you are, out alone in the dark corners of the castle."

If Hermione hadn't known Snape as incapable of caring, she would have thought him genuinely concerned for her safety.

"As a matter of fact," he continued sarcastically, "since you seem to possess such uncanny Gryffindor bravery, to which no beast or bard should worry you, maybe two nights out on the grounds would be more to your liking?"

"I am not going to sit out there with Draco Malfoy for two nights!" She caught herself shouting and knew immediately she had gone too far.

Snape's lips curled to an evil sneer. "Well, well, how noble of you, Miss Granger. Shall we head out then?"

She didn't understand what Snape was going on about, but she knew she'd be best suited to surrender and follow him to the grounds.

~&~&~

"Mr. Malfoy," Snape called as they reached Draco sitting in his usual spot, "Miss Granger has graciously offered to give you the night off."

Hermione's eyes widened in shock as a look of utter fear crossed her face.

Draco looked from his professor to the girl, not quite understanding what was going on. "What?" he questioned when no explanation was forthcoming.

"Miss Granger here," Snape grinned viciously at Hermione, "has informed me that she needn't sit out here with you. And since she will be on the grounds for the next two nights, I have decided that, if you choose, you can have these two nights off from your normal duties."

Draco, who now understood more or less what the foolish Gryffindor must have said to their Headmaster, looked at Hermione and gave her a cold smile. She met his eyes, and her head gave a small involuntary shake.

With a larger smile crossing his lips, Draco replied, "Well, I wouldn't want to go against the lady's wishes, would I?"

He stood and slung his bag over his shoulder, all too ready to get to his common room and enjoy the Friday night party he hadn't attended all term. Leaving the bint out here alone with her fears was just an added bonus.

Hermione sat down and hugged her legs to her chest, staring towards the forest as the two men began to walk away.

Draco glanced backward to give her one more malicious glare before leaving, but he stopped. Something in the way Hermione was sitting there looking terrified made him feel a pang of guilt in his stomach.

He stood for a moment, staring at the girl while grappling with thoughts between vengeance and mercy.

"Something wrong, Draco?" Snape inquired.

Malfoy gave a deep, resigned sigh. "I'm staying."

As Professor Snape began making his way back toward the castle alone, they heard him say, "Maybe I am able to teach you something, Draco."

~&~&~

The party was in full swing in the Gryffindor common room when Ron came to ask Harry if he had seen Hermione.

Since Harry was a little busy with Ginny, he hadn't noticed his friend's absence. However, seeing the redness rise on Ron's face at finding his sister perched in the lap of his best friend, Harry asked Ginny if she'd go check the girls' dorm.

Ginny opened the door to a dark room, but when she heard a soft breathing she assumed Hermione must be asleep. She closed the door quietly and headed back down the stairs to tell her brother the news and inform the prat that he could now sod off.

"I told him I'd come get him if you didn't find her," Harry answered solemnly in reply to Ginny's indignant look.

Ron was on the other side of the common room with Romilda Vane, and it was obvious that he had forgotten all about Hermione's absence.

"Well, she's upstairs," said Ginny, "and now that he's occupied," she glanced towards her brother, "I think we could find something a little more fun to do." She was wearing a wicked smile that always drove Harry wild. He accompanied her to a spot where they could be left alone.

Up in the girls' dormitory, two bodies breathed deep sighs of relief.

~&~&~

Hermione sat with her legs tucked up to her chest, refusing to even look in Draco's direction. A wonderful feeling of relief had flooded through her when he said he'd stay, and that, coupled with the embarrassment that he could do something she couldn't, had caused tears to well up and fall down her cheeks.

She felt sure he would at least sneer at her or make fun of her, but he didn't. He'd made the decision to stay with her instead of forcing her to face this alone, and now he was leaving her with her thoughts.

She wondered if he was actually trying to pretend that she wasn't there either.

In the silence, she could hear a quill scratching against parchment and the sounds of pages being flipped. Apparently, he'd decided to whittle away the hours doing homework.

He didn't try to talk to her, nor she to him, and that seemed to suit them both just fine.

At least she had managed to stop crying!

~~~

At midnight, right on cue, Draco stood up without saying a word and put his hand out toward Hermione. This time, she took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet as they set out to walk the grounds.

The silence between them felt somewhat awkward now, and Hermione knew it was her who had to admit defeat.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"It's my burden," he stated blandly, not exactly accepting her attempt at reconciliation.

They walked on without another word.

~~~

Reaching the forest, they began following the tree line, though both were mindful to keep a fair distance between themselves and the trees.

Draco, always conscious of his surroundings, took note of their positions. Hermione stood between himself and gnarled, brambly wood. This would not do.

Without loosing stride, he took one step backward and then another forward to come up on her opposite side. He'd taken a couple more steps before he realized that she had stopped.

Draco grabbed into his robes while looking towards the trees and whispered, "What is it?"

Hermione just stared at him in bewilderment.

It wasn't until he crumpled up his face into a questioning look that she wordlessly responded, shaking her head slightly as if to say that nothing was wrong.

When she was still staring at him moments later, he answered her look with a bit louder tone. "Wha..."

He didn't finish getting the word out of his mouth. A twig had snapped at the forest's edge.

With the same swiftness Hermione had seen of him before, Draco wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her to his side, and was pointing the other straight ahead of them with his wand held firmly in his grip. His determined gaze was locked on the place where the sound had arisen.

Hermione pulled her wand in response and cried, "Lumos," as her brain worked frantically in the realization that if she lit the way, Draco was prepared to take the fight.

After a moment's pause, she felt his body breath a deep sigh of relief as he slowly released his grip on her. A curious thestral foal was standing just inside the trees watching them.

Draco's arm slid away as Hermione stepped forward to get a closer look. But his fingers caught again when they reached her wrist, silently telling her 'that's close enough'.

Feeling the light tug, she turned toward him, smiling. Her beaming face made the corners of his mouth give a little twitch.

"They're really quite fascinating, aren't they?" she asked, looking back at the little thestral.

"Um, yeah, they're okay," Draco answered. He really didn't understand what she found so appealing about these creatures of death. They certainly looked the part with their skeletal frames and leathery wings. "I'd kind of rather I couldn't see them," he added sheepishly.

Hermione gave the tiny creature a slight frown. "I guess most of the castle can see them now."

Both seemed lost in thought as they stood, staring after the foal for another minute. Then they turned and continued on their way.

The silence was palpable now.

Hermione was grappling with the recognition that Draco Malfoy had just displayed several chivalrous acts. Did she truly not know this boy in front of her?

Worse, now that the danger was gone, her thoughts couldn't help but linger on how good his body felt against hers.

Draco was thinking about how she had felt against him too, but in a slightly more lascivious way.

She looked at him, not knowing exactly what to say, but needing to break this strange silence.

He was staring into the distance, eyes hazy, and he was wearing a curiously devilish grin.

It was Hermione's turn to ask the question. "What?"

"Nothing," Draco answered quickly as he met her eyes, her voice bringing him back to his surroundings.

She shrugged, slight disappointment hitting her, and she began to walk again. The smile faded from Draco's face as he continued on too.

~~~

She wanted some topic to talk about, something to take her mind off these new thoughts she was having. The last thing she wanted for herself was to fancy Draco Malfoy. Not to mention that he had a girlfriend. Although, now that she thought about it, she rarely saw them together these days.

Nothing good could come of it, she told herself – unconvincingly.

Draco felt his brow furrowing in concentration, trying to push away the intimate thoughts that were sneaking into his head. She's a Mudblood! He didn't really care. She's a know-it-all. He enjoyed her intelligence. She's kind of pretty. Damn it!

He realized that Hermione had blossomed into a rather attractive woman. Her hair was smoother now (although not like the silkiness of Pansy's), and her straightened teeth gave her a very nice smile.

What impressed him most about her was the way she stood up to him and his friends. It always gave him a reluctant feeling of respect for her. And now, to have watched her jump in to help rather than scream and cry when they may have been in great danger, he couldn't help but garner a little admiration for the witch.

As they rounded on the lake, they paused to look out over the water.

"So, you and Weasley ended it then?" Draco began nonchalantly.

This was not the topic Hermione had in mind.

"Yeah." She tried not to sound so offended that he had brought this up, even though experience told her that any time Malfoy mentioned Ron it was likely to end in insult.

"Couldn't handle having to speak in single syllables all the time, eh?" He didn't fail to disappoint.

Hermione scoffed at him and made to stomp away, but Draco grabbed her wrist as she turned and quickly added, "Okay, I'm sorry. Truce, Granger," then threw in, "for now," with a half smile.

She relaxed her face, but kept her guard up.

"So, what about you and Pansy?" There was a slight bite in her words.

"What about her?" he asked in a tone that suggested he had no idea why Hermione would associate the two of them.

"Well, I haven't seen her clinging to you like the Giant Squid lately. I just wondered if she got sick of pretending you were interesting?"

He knew it was coming; he did enjoy her quick wit.

She was right, in that Pansy was just a blibbering sycophant, always appeasing him rather than standing beside him as his equal. She was a toy – a toy he admittedly enjoyed, but certainly not his equal. And it was by her own choosing, which made him feel doubly superior to his plaything.

He decided to answer honestly and keep things even between them, rather than starting another row. "She does what's expected of her."

He realized when he saw the disgruntled look on Hermione's face that honesty really wasn't the best choice.

"What's expected of her? So you treat your women as you treat your house-elves, do you?" Her eyes blazed as she scolded him.

"That's not what I meant!" he began defensively.

"Oh, I know exactly what you meant."

"You don't know anything!" he retorted, but then he caught himself, and his voice calmed slightly. "Look, I'm just saying she knows she's expected to be with me, and I know what's expected of me too."

"So you want to have a wife that just scurries about your hems, always at your beck and call at the snap of your fingers?" Her brow was still furrowed, and her tone was only slightly less venomous.

"I never said Pansy was going to be my wife, did I?"

Hermione paused for a second, contemplating this. Why the hell was he so good at skirting questions? Was he dating Pansy or not?

"She doesn't want to marry you?" she asked, but realized she must have chosen her words poorly when Draco glared at her.

"You think I don't know how to keep a woman happy, Granger? Maybe you think her skin should crawl at the thought of touching me, is that it?"

Dawning recognition followed these words. She had hurt his pride, questioned his prowess. She began to laugh. This did not help his demeanor.

He stepped toward her, purposely trying to intimidate her. "What the hell are you laughing at?"

She stood her ground and continued to laugh despite his now towering presence. She couldn't help herself. The thought that this man, so attractive, and seemingly oozing confidence, instantly assumed she was questioning his masculinity just seemed preposterous to her.

"Draco..." she giggled.

He was taken aback when she called him by his first name and even more so when she rested a hand on his chest – just for a second – but she didn't even seem to notice it.

"No, it never occurred to me that you couldn't take care of her needs." With a sly tone and a light roll of the eyes, she finished, "I'm sure the other Slytherin girls were all too happy to help you practice."

He let out a sigh, half smiling, and Hermione noticed that he stood a little taller as he turned back towards the lake. She still wondered if he and Pansy were dating.

After a short pause, he asked, "So, what about you?" He didn't look at her, slightly embarrassed by his own question.

"What about me, what?" she asked.

"Well, did you and Weasley... practice?" He didn't know why he was so interested, but he certainly wanted to know. He just hoped that this wouldn't lead to her shouting him down again.

She contemplated him for a moment, and he braced himself for the attack.

"Hmm," she began a little sarcastically, crossing her arms in front of her and resting the fingers of one hand on her chin as if she were trying to retrieve the answer to a particularly difficult test question.

"Let's see," she started ticking her answers off on her fingers, "we were in love, we are of age, and we dated for months. Gee, Malfoy, guess you'll have to figure that one out on your own."

She was back to calling him Malfoy. But at least she isn't yelling, he thought. Although realizing the answer to his question left him with a little sinking feeling in his stomach.

They continued to walk and talk about random things. Both of them found the setting strange, and both felt as if they were watching it from afar rather than being willing participants in this odd truce that had commenced between them.

~&~&~

When the night broke into dawn, Draco found that he almost didn't want Hermione to go. She was packing up her books and brushing off her robes, obviously ready to be rid of him and get back to her real friends.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later," she said with a half smile, but there was a hesitation in her departure.

"Yeah," he answered, not meeting her eyes.

She stood awkwardly for just a second longer before taking her leave.

Draco sat for a few more minutes, stealthily watching her walk to the castle. When she was out of sight, he fell back to lie against the cool ground.

What the hell? You're losing it, Draco.

Well, a quick shag would rid him of these ridiculous thoughts, right?

Wondering where Pansy was, he got up and headed back to his dormitory to clear his head.

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A/N: The potion (complete name) Dr. Ubbly's Oblivious Unction was chosen from the HP Lexicon amongst the long list of potions found there. I chose this one because, according to the Lexicon, the Latin name translation could be "able to forget," and I figure that is what Snape wants most of Harry these days – to forget what he learned in the Pensieve in DH. :)