Side Effects May Vary
The walk up to the hospital wing was much more silent than their typical walks tended to be. Draco seemed to understand that Hermione was too far caught up in her own brain to hold a halfway decent conversation, so he remained quiet. Hermione was too busy trying to figure out what exactly the effects of the potion had been. She hadn’t felt any overwhelming feeling of infatuation or obsession for Draco at that moment. It merely felt like her senses were heightened, allowing her to notice more of the things going on around her. Maybe it wasn’t that she was feeling anything for him, but rather that he just so happened to be sitting next to her and therefore became the thing she observed. Perhaps Madam Pomfrey would have some real answers for her when they arrived.
As they reached the doors to the hospital wing, Hermione suddenly froze. Malfoy almost bumped straight into her. “What’s wrong?” Draco asked. “Well, besides the fact that two fourth-years just dosed us with a love potion.”
“That is the issue! What will Madam Pomfrey think?” Hermione asked, panic building in her voice. She felt like she was back in school herself having to admit to dosing herself with a different illegal potion in her second year. She wasn’t sure she could go through with this. She might just have to live with whatever side effects might come with this experimental potion. Hopefully not a furry face this time. That had been truly dreadful.
“Relax, Hermione. I am sure she has seen worse. She works in a school full of teenagers.”
“Yeah except we aren’t teenagers. We are supposed to be the responsible ones.” It may have been her idea to come up to the hospital wing to be looked at, but she was nervous and starting to regret the logical decision.
“It will be okay. At least this way we won’t get poisoned if O’Connor and Patel used anything truly potent.”
Hermione sighed, admitting defeat and feeling oddly reassured at Draco’s words. Draco escorted her into the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was organizing a cabinet full of medicinal herbs and ingredients.
When her eyes caught on the two of them, she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at them. ”This better not be an injury caused by another round of your bickering,” her voice stern, but her eyes curious.
“Not exactly, Madam Pomfrey.” Hermione said, eyes glued to the floor. “It’s… well, we may have accidentally been dosed with a love potion,” she admitted. Her cheeks burned. Hermione could not handle this. She made to turn and run away, but Draco caught her by the elbows before she could. He held her in place seemingly saying we’re already here, let’s get this over with.
Draco’s body language was calm and collected. “A couple of overzealous fourth-years apparently missed the part of my curriculum where they learn not to drug themselves or their professors.”
Madam Pomfrey’s eyebrows shot up practically past her hairline.“Fourth-years?” she repeated, incredulously. “And neither of you recognized the signs sooner? Honestly!” She marched back over to her potions cabinet, muttering something about how Hogwarts staff ought to know better.
“They offered us hot chocolate, Poppy! What were we supposed to do? Turn it down?” Draco asked.
Madam Pomfrey just rolled her eyes, dismissing him. “You always were a sucker for chocolate,” she chuckled, pulling a small vial of shimmering blue liquid from the cabinet. She held out the bottle to Hermione, who took it hesitantly. “Drink half and give him the rest. It should sort out any of the effects. I expect a full report of which students were responsible.”
“Of course. Thank you.” Hermione said sheepishly before swallowing half of the glittering potion. As she turned to hand the rest of the vial to Draco, she saw Madam Pomfrey eyeing the two of them.
“You know, if you ask me, the two of you seem to be managing just fine on your own. Not sure why the students felt it was necessary to give you a love potion. No real point to it, is there?” Madam Pomfrey’s face sported a look that was all too knowing, like she had seen this situation a thousand times before.
Hermione nearly choked on air. “What?”
Draco had the audacity to smirk. “See? Even Madam Pomfrey thinks we are a good match.”
Hermione shoved the vial at his chest, ignoring the way her pulse jumped when his fingers brushed hers. Must be a lingering effect of the potion. “Just drink it, Malfoy.”
He raised the vial to her in a mock toast and threw it back with the elegance of a pureblood aristocrat that he would always be no matter where he was. She rolled her eyes then thanked Madam Pomfrey once again before leaving to go back to her quarters. She didn’t really fancy talking to Malfoy right now, so she attempted to walk at a quicker pace in hopes of avoiding a conversation with him. This did not seem to occur to Draco as he too increased his stride to catch up with her. Stupid short legs.
“Where are you going in such a rush?”
Hermione ignored him. She couldn’t talk to him right now. Not when hearing the concern in his voice was making her want to melt.
“Hermione, are you mad at me again?”
She kept walking, feeling the burn in her calf muscles. They were almost back to their quarters.
“I’m sorry for whatever I did. Will you please just tell me what is wrong?” He sounded slightly pitiful.
Hermione finally stopped and turned back to Draco, mortified. "You’re the Potions professor! Shouldn’t you have recognized that they’d slipped us a love potion?"
Draco scoffed, dragging a hand through his already-ruffled hair. "Forgive me, Granger, for not suspecting that a pair of fourteen-year-olds would drug their professors,” he said, in a genuinely apologetic tone. "But, it’s not like I’m in the habit of sniffing every beverage for illicit tampering."
"Well, maybe you should be," Hermione snapped, still feeling a warmth that she chalked up to the lingering effects of the potion. "Merlin knows how many other poor, unsuspecting people they’ve been experimenting on!"
He gave a short laugh, watching her with an irritatingly amused expression. "You sound jealous."
"I am not jealous," she huffed, folding her arms tightly across her chest. "I’m furious. There’s quite a difference."
Draco’s lips quirked upward, far too delighted by her indignation. "Of course there is."
Hermione ignored the way her heart gave an unhelpful flutter at the sound of his voice. "We need to fix this. Immediately."
“What do you mean? Pomfrey has just sorted us with the antidote.”
Hermione rolled her eyes, though it was getting harder to maintain her usual exasperation when he was standing there, all effortless confidence and annoyingly perfect posture. “No, we need to do something about the fact that students have become so obsessed with seeing us together that they think it is okay to drug us!”
Draco ran a slightly frustrated hand through his hair, his sleeves were rolled up again, revealing forearms that were far too distracting for a man she was supposed to be scolding. "And what exactly do you propose we do?" he asked dryly. "Announce at dinner that, contrary to popular belief, we are not secretly pining for each other?"
"For starters," she snapped, trying to ignore the way his lips curled just slightly when he teased her, "maybe try telling the students the truth instead of feeding them cryptic little comments that just encourage them!"
Draco took a step closer, and Hermione swallowed hard. She hated how she was still so aware of his presence. His eyes, as frustratingly bright and unreadable as ever, sparkled with mischief. "Fine," he said smoothly, his voice dropping to a lower register that sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. "Next time they ask, I’ll tell them you’re madly in love with me and simply too stubborn to admit it."
She gaped at him. "You wouldn’t dare."
His smile was positively wicked. "Care to test that theory?"
Hermione huffed and glared at him, hoping to mask the sudden heat rising to her cheeks. “You are impossible.”
Draco recoiled slightly as if her stare was burning into him. “Okay, fine. I won’t tell anyone that.”
“Thank y—”
“At least not until it is true.”
Hermione’s heart stumbled in her chest. “Excuse me?”
“Goodnight, Granger.” Draco said softly, walking to open the door to his quarters. His voice was quieter now, the usual arrogance laced with something… else. Something that made her stomach twist in ways she didn’t want to name. “Try not to stay up too late trying to figure out why you’ve taken the antidote, but are still feeling the same way you were earlier.” The door closed behind him with a soft click before she could respond.
Hermione stood there alone for a solid minute as his words sunk in. What did he mean by that? The antidote had worked… hadn’t it? But if it had worked, why was she still feeling this way? There was no way she was going to bed any time soon. She had a lot to think about.