Hogwarts, College of Witchcraft and Wizardry Ch. 14 (Hogwarts) (Patreon)

A/N: New Chapter~

-x-X-x-  

When Hermione wakes up next, Harry is still at her bedside. As she looks to him, he takes her hand in his and stares right back at her.

“Together. I want us to handle this together. Not you alone, going up against a Pureblood Bigot like Draco Malfoy. And not me going behind your back to handle it on my lonesome either. Instead, we tackle this issue head on, side by side. Alright?”

Hermione is still for a long moment, before nodding her head up and down frantically, tears forming in her eyes. Harry just smiles and brushes them away with his thumb as he leans in close and rests his forehead against hers.

“Once you’re better, we’re going to get back at that smarmy git for everything he’s done to you. For now… we can at least start planning.”

Throwing up a privacy spell so that no one can hear Harry’s voice or look over and read the words Hermione writes in the air is the next thing he does. Then, he begins talking and Hermione listens, eventually interjecting with her wand and her floating words, as the two of them begin to discuss exactly how it is that they’ll be getting back at Draco Malfoy.

Harry can’t help but feel relieved, even as they talk strategy. This feels right, working with Hermione rather than washing his hands of the whole situation, or going against her wishes. He’s glad for this, glad to be on the right path, in the end.

-x-X-x-

“Malfoy.”

It was some weeks before they approached Draco Malfoy, nearly a month, in fact. In that time, Crabbe and Goyle had remained incarcerated, despite the Malfoy Family’s best attempts to get them out. A simple letter from Harry to his godfather had made sure of that, in the end. It was a subtle show of power, and one that had much of the upper echelons of the Wizarding World watching the brewing fight between House Black and House Malfoy.

Harry had also waited for Hermione to heal up first, rather than going to confront Draco on his lonesome immediately. That had only taken a week though. The next three weeks had been spent refining and preparing to put their plan into action. Namely, Harry had been running Hermione through a rather rough and strenuous crash course on dueling, even calling in some of his family for Hermione to fight against so she would know what to expect in the coming battle.

Now though, it was time. Now, Harry and Hermione stood side by side as Harry called Malfoy out, stopping the young man in his tracks as he made his way down a corridor. Not that the Scion of House Malfoy was alone. While he certainly looked somewhat diminished without his goons at his sides, Draco had taken to keeping Pansy Parkinson closer to him as a result. The young woman was said to be his intended, potentially. For now, there was no betrothal in place, but there was a mentorship, with Draco taking Pansy under his wing.

It wasn’t like Harry and Hermione’s mentorship, though in some ways Harry suspected it might be. For one, Pansy didn’t need the instruction that Hermione did. She was a Pureblood as well and had likely been taught magic long before coming to Hogwarts. The mentorship between her and Malfoy was more likely about giving Draco control over her. If she was to be his wife… well, she would need to prove herself worthy now, during their Hogwarts years.

Regardless, Harry has called Draco out and Draco has stopped, having heard his name. Slowly, he and Pansy turn around to regard Harry and Hermione. A smarmy grin immediately flashes across the platinum-blond git’s face as he strides forward a few steps until they’re facing off, dragging Pansy along with him.

“Potter. I was wondering when you would show up. And you brought the mudblood along to apologize too. How good of you. I might even accept her apology, if you have your dog of a godfather stop holding up Crabbe and Goyle’s release.”

Hermione bristles at Harry’s side, and Harry places a hand on her shoulder, something that makes Draco’s wicked grin widen… until he hears what comes out of Harry’s mouth, at which point his smile dies altogether.

“I’m not going to do that, Draco. And Hermione isn’t here to apologize. Crabbe and Goyle are getting what’s coming to them… and if you aren’t ready to disavow them both and apologize for their actions, then so will you.”

Smile replaced entirely by an angry frown, Draco all but snarls as he takes an aggressive step forward. He stops though, when neither Harry nor Hermione so much as flinch. Though, Hermione is admittedly tense at Harry’s side right now. This was the part of the plan that she didn’t much like. After all, it relied on Draco NOT taking the offer. If he was at all smart, the smarmy little git would agree to Harry’s terms. He would disavow Crabbe and Goyle, let them rot in prison, and apologize for their actions.

This would prevent Hermione from getting her revenge against the Malfoy Scion, at least for now. That wasn’t something Hermione wanted; truth be told. But… in the end, they both knew Draco well enough to know that the platinum blond would never go for it. And they’re right too, judging by the way Draco’s expression twists and morphs into hatred at Harry’s words. He’s spitting mad when he replies.

“Why would I EVER do that? Apologize to a mudblood for my boys putting her in her place? I only wish they’d finished the job and taken her head clean off her shoulders!”

Harry squares his shoulders at that, feeling a bit angry on Hermione’s behalf now. If he hadn’t warned her, that very well might have been what happened. She might be dead now… and Draco’s flunkies as well as Draco himself would be dead with her, likely by Harry’s hand. Nostrils flaring, Harry keeps his temper in check and sticks to the script, remembering the plan even now.

“You do realize you are declaring war on House Potter by targeting my mentee like this, yes Malfoy? I want us to be absolutely clear on that front.”

He very specifically doesn’t mention House Black. As much as Draco had been dismissive of Sirius earlier, House Black still held power within the Wizarding World, power that not even House Malfoy could truly match, as evidenced by Crabbe and Goyle’s continued imprisonment. House Potter on the other hand was reduced to one young man who still needed to finish his NEWTs before he could take up the Lordship. At the end of the day, Harry needed to keep Malfoy confident for the plan to succeed.

Puffing out his chest and smirking once more, Draco’s eyes flash as he falls for the bait.

“War with House Potter? All one of you? Don’t make me laugh. Your pet mudblood is making more enemies then just me, Potter. You can’t protect her for much longer. But as far as war is concerned… bring it on, Potter.”

Harry scoffs, making sure his tone is almost flippant as he looms forward a bit, glaring at Draco.

“Are you challenging me to a duel, Malfoy?”

For a moment, Draco’s eyes widen, making it apparent that he hadn’t even been thinking of it until now. But now… well, he has to save face now that Harry’s called him out like that.

“Maybe I am… in fact, yes, I am! I’m challenging you to a duel, Harry Potter! And more than that, I challenge you to a duel for the mentorship of this mudblood here, Hermione Granger!”

He raises his voice at the last, and Harry smiles slightly, because a number of heads turn in their direction, while several wizards and witches who were watching them before quietly gasp at Malfoy’s proclamation. Harry just smiles, speaking clearly and concisely as all hear his response to Draco throwing down the glove.

“Very well. I accept your challenge, Draco Malfoy. As the challenged, I will be invoking the right to choose a Champion. My mentee, Hermione Granger, will be fighting in my stead.”

That’s when Hermione finally speaks, stepping up to Harry’s side with a nasty grin on her face as well.

“As my mentor’s Champion, I call for a balancing of the scales. Harry already controls my mentorship. If he is to risk it in this duel, then you must offer the same.”

Her eyes slide over to Pansy at Draco’s side, the meaning behind her words clear. The entire corridor goes dead silent. Draco tenses up, his smile freezing on his face for a moment as his eyes dart between Hermione and Harry. This is it, their master plan. And it’s gone perfectly as well. All of the archaic traditions and rules have been followed, albeit with Draco being led into a number of pitfalls at the same time.

Of course, there’s one more move that Draco can make. Harry and Hermione are aware of it, but neither is entirely sure whether he’ll actually do it or not. After all, losing personally to a mudblood in an official magical duel would… destroy Draco’s reputation not just at Hogwarts but all across Wizarding Britain. On the other hand, he shouldn’t be able to lose. Hermione has much less magical training than him, after all.

And yet, she also shouldn’t be showing him and the other Purebloods up in their classes either, given that same gap, so at the end of the day, Draco is wary of her true skill level. Book smarts doesn’t necessarily translate to dueling capability, but as Draco glances to Harry, Harry can see a modicum of intelligence in the platinum-blond’s eyes as he sees the trap for what it is. Too late to escape it, but not too late to save some measure of face.

“Very well. But I shall not dirty myself fighting some mudblood. Since you have chosen to invoke the rule of champion, I will do the same. It seems fitting that Pansy and your mudblood fight for their own mentorships.”

Pansy startles at Draco’s words, the Pureblood Witch clearly not following along quite as well as Draco had been with what was happening. She whips her head around to look at him, eyes wide in disbelief.

“D-Draco, I-!”

But he cuts her off with a raised hand, staring at Harry all the while.

“Tomorrow at dawn, in the dueling room?”

Harry defers to Hermione, looking to her and prompting the muggleborn witch to step forward and catch Draco’s eye despite his efforts to ignore her.

“You’re on.”

And with that, it’s decided. This was the one thing Harry and Hermione hadn’t been sure about, whether or not Draco would be the one to duel Hermione, or whether it would be Pansy. Draco would have been undeniably more difficult a fight, but just because it was Pansy didn’t mean that Hermione could relax. The fight tomorrow would be a magical duel, and those were always fast and messy and could turn on a dime at any moment. 

They were risking it all, truth be told, and Harry still half-wished that he’d simply been the one to challenge and fight Draco to put the other wizard in his place. It’s hard, not being in control of the outcome as much as he’d like. But Hermione was insistent that she fight this battle for herself, and Harry had committed to working with her on this, not around her. In the end, he’s done all he could to influence what would happen tomorrow. Hermione would succeed or fail based off of his teachings. It truly would be a referendum on their mentor-mentee bond.

Of course, as soon as they’re out of the corridor and somewhere more private, Hermione is snogging him senseless. They barely manage to find a broom closet before Hermione’s libido completely takes over and she jumps his bones entirely, leading to an aggressive round of rough sex in said closet. Harry is more than happy to indulge her on this though. He’s trained Hermione as best he can for the last three weeks. He won’t force her to train to the point of exhaustion today too. She’ll need her rest for tomorrow.

-x-X-x-

The fight ends in Hermione’s favor, and as Draco transfers over the magic of the mentor-mentee bond between himself and Pansy to Harry, he’s clearly not in a good mood. Harry on the other hand, is in an excellent mood. Hermione had conducted herself quite well, out on the dueling platforms. Her and Pansy’s fight had been short and brutal… but not exactly a slaughter. Pansy was no weakling, though in the end, she’d proven to be weaker than Hermione. Less skilled as well, and certainly not as quick in the mind or on her feet either.

Pansy was clearly trained in more archaic styles of dueling, because while her stance had been picture perfect and her spell casting had been solid, she was unwieldy on the battlefield, and extremely slow to adapt to Hermione’s… unique method of dueling. In the end, the Pureblood Witch had gone down to the Muggleborn in front of half the school, all of whom had turned out upon hearing that the duel was taking place in the morning. Those that didn’t probably weren’t very early risers, at the end of the day.

Regardless, as the magic finishes transferring over, Draco pulls away with a snarl.

“Useless cunt. Have fun with her, Potter. She’s proved how worthless she is now.”

And with that, he leaves the dueling room as well as Pansy behind. The Pureblood Witch has already been healed up by Pomphrey and is staring at the ground as she stands there in front of Harry and a triumphant Hermione. They still have an audience though, so Harry clears his throat and reaches out to rest a hand on Pansy’s shoulder.

“Come along, Pansy.”

That’s all he says, before he leads the girl out of the room with Hermione at his heels. They take Pansy to Hermione’s room, in the end, sequestering themselves away with the girl. Neither is quite sure what to expect from the Pureblood Witch. Pansy almost seems shellshocked as she lets Harry lead her along by the shoulder. And yet, when they get to Hermione’s room, the first thing Pansy does is begin to strip naked.

Harry and Hermione exchange a glance at that, before Harry stops Pansy with a raised hand.

“You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to, Parkinson. This was never about hurting you; it was about putting Malfoy in his place.”

Pansy blinks at that, looking at both of them owlishly.

“But… I want to.”

And then she keeps on stripping, and Harry and Hermione are exchanging ANOTHER look. Immediately, Harry can see that the momentary concern in Hermione’s eyes has been fully replaced with hunger and lust. His mentee is a bit of a slut… and she likes both boys and girls it would seem. Harry frowns a little, seeing a choice between him. Not whether or not they were going to have a threesome with Pansy, that seemed inevitable.

But… this was Hermione’s victory, right? So, did he let her take the reins on this? Or did he assume control as he always did? Pansy would probably submit to either of them at this point, given the way the witch was already standing before them both completely naked, looking at them expectantly, fidgeting impatiently.

If Harry didn’t make a move soon, Hermione would. Should he let Hermione take lead? Or should he step forward and get thing started himself?