What does her abilities on a broom have to do with a school dance? And also, here is the thing: Even if she was, that is also so completely irrelevant to the situation.
So irrelevant in fact, that she just sort of freezes, while all she can think is that it's not only nonsense but then to have a girl throw that in her face? Where is the feminist solidarity, she might ask, except the thing with wizards, as she has come to expect, is that they are so profoundly archaic that any thought from the 20th century must seem entirely alien to the lot of them. Arseholes.
She should really say something.
Anything.
Like maybe something about how she would have assumed that Pansy had learned to keep her emotions in check and not throw a hissy fit the moment she didn't get her way. Something along the lines of calling her a little egotistic and mentioning that the decision was made because there were other students too.
Actually, she wants to give her a piece of her mind; The length of her sexual history or lack thereof is impertinent and never an expression of any woman's worth, and it is idiotic of Pansy to even follow that antediluvian misogynistic school of thought. She should be ashamed.
But she doesn't, in part because she is trying to be less hostile to the general student body, it doesn't fit the office, and in part because she has been explicitly told to be less sesquipedalian.
So now the situation is that she hasn't said anything for several seconds, and so in maybe another second or two, it's going to seem like she's so shell-shocked at being called a virgin that she stopped functioning. And unfortunately, that's going to be all anybody remembers from this.
So she should really kickstart her brain and say something. Appropriate preferably.
It's just a little difficult to come up with anything here on the fly. No pun intended.
And it's just a flash. For like a second it crosses her mind.
The thought that maybe the best thing would be if one of her friends said something in her defence, a millisecond actually, because, of course, they shouldn't speak for her, what kind of head-girl would she be, if she needed somebody to defend her?
A nanosecond, actually, because one of her non-friends says something that is really not in her defence.
—Virgin? Draco “The audacity’’ Malfoy says and then adds a sarcastic Right... and fills the silence with a chuckle, like he is in on some joke.
Right.
Right?
She should hex him on the spot.
Oh Merlin. The insinuation.
They are going to think she has slept with Draco “soon-to-be-avadaed” Malfoy.
She hates him.
She hates all of them!
Pansy, with her insufferable mean girl façade.
Draco ”arsewipe” Malfoy and his wisecracks and snide comments.
You know what she even hates Professor McGonagall; if she wants to, she will damn well give every student in the entire castle a proper dressing down using all the big fancy words she knows.
And as she is standing there, she can feel the air shift. Pansy’s expression is souring from a malicious smirk to this gaunt look that is somehow both ashen grey and phone booth red simultaneously. And so she realises, he has done the one thing she couldn't seem to manage to on her own. Win her the confrontation. With a few words form a man. And god she hates that most of all.
But saying nothing is what has gotten her in this mess. So she shoots Draco "one-step-wrong-and-it’s-Azkaban" Malfoy a warning and does her best to keep her nose in the air as she tells Pansy, —If you are unhappy with the decision, you can either write a complaint or take it up with your head of house. In either case, I suggest you express yourself with a bit more poise.
It comes out a bit less snappy than she had intended, but she hands the girl the parchment and moves past her out the door. It's like her face knows that she's no longer in front of a crowd; she can feel her cheeks heating up with every step she takes. Her heart is hammering. There is something special about the way in which girls are cruel. Like they practise.
Pansy had, in fact, on her.
Why should she get to decide what parties can happen? Because she had been elected head girl, that's why. And it wasn't even a vote, because they had already given the chess club permission to hold their championship, so it had nothing to do with Pansy or her stupid equinox party anyway. They should have just asked earlier. It's not like the equinox changes every year.
But she knew Pansy was going to throw a fit. That girl has some inherent hatred for her that she can't explain. So she just knew telling her no wasn't gonna go well. And she thought she was prepared, that she had gone over every insult the girl could have thrown in her face, and she thought she knew what to answer. She hadn't.
She hears him walking towards her and her feet slow down by pure habit before she even registers what she is doing. Too many rounds with him, they fall into step so easily now. Normally he is a real chatterbox. But he doesn't say a word, just walks next to her with his arms folded behind his back.
—I think legally that I have to tell you; that you're on paper-thin ice, and I am quite capable of slow and torturous ways of-
She starts but he interrupts her because he always does.
—Thin ice? I just saved your arse. He gives her a little smack in her aforementioned behind. Hermione audibly gasps and hits him on the shoulder with her planer, several times. He deserves it.
—You made it sound like you and I… She gestures between them; can't get herself to say it.
—Like what? He asks in that damn tone that means that he knows exactly what she's referring to but is still going to force her to say it. Sometimes she thinks he just likes hearing her using obscenities.
—We are supposed to show a united front, sure, but there is taking things too far, and honestly…
Malfoy sniggers, he is proud of himself then.
—You do realise this will bite you in the arse too? She asks.
It was an entire thing; It was not like Ron needed another reason to hate Malfoy. He had this tendency to be absurdly jealous but not want to admit it so this would go over well she expects. And Pansy had her own complex surrounding Malfoy, this was surely going to make the girl hate Hermione even more. And that was only two people. Then there was everybody else. Ginny for one will torment her for weeks, she is sure of it!
—Right, sure. Malfoy clicks his tongue in that way which means he agrees but thinks the consequences are immaterial. —It must have felt a little nice to see her face fall like that.
—It was completely inappropriate. Hermione scolds him, he flashes her a smile and prods her side. It tickles, and she recoils and ends up a few steps from him.
—And a little bit satisfying? he nudges on.
She physically can't stop herself from rolling her eyes. —Maybe, she gives in.