The Gloriana Set

Squeaky Mouse Voices

Malfoy didn't approach Hermione after DADA class or after dinner, but she knew it couldn't last. He was just waiting for his opportunity and found it that very night.

A pack of First Years had broken into the potions cupboard that afternoon and lifted Slughorn's entire store of musflossum, also known as "squeaky flowers." If you heavily sniff a squeaky flower, your voice gets high and squeaky like a mouse's. It was like kids sucking on helium balloons in the muggle world.

These particular students ran off with about twenty squeaky flowers and spent a hilarious hour squealing at the top of their lungs out by Hagrid's hut. The high voices maddened Fang, who broke out of the hut and leaped on a thestral. The thestral was hitched to a carriage, preparing to bring back a student who'd left on a family emergency. When Fang fell on the thestral, the winged animal took to the air, throwing off Fang and breaking the carriage shafts. The carriage smashed against the hut and the thestral disappeared for two days.

The students involved (all Hufflepuffs, who could never resist funny voices) were then set to write 100 sentences as detention. Slughorn was supposed to oversee them, but he was busy helping Theo brew his makeup potions and asked his favorite student to step in.

Which was why Hermione was sitting on a teacher's desk Tuesday night, knitting a long, brown scarf while eight children hunched over their parchments, scribbling the words she'd placed on the board: "I will not sniff squeaky flowers to speak in mouse voices and upset dogs who fall on thestrals and damage valuable property and inconvenience busy Eighth-Year students." The students had groaned over the length of her sentence, but Hermione found it perfectly appropriate.

She was knitting away, unable to leave for another half-hour, and so, of course, Malfoy strolled into the classroom. Slughorn probably told him about the detention. Hermione was truly beginning to dislike the Slytherin head.

"Granger," Malfoy said amiably, as if they'd never had words. He sent an amused glance both at Hermione's knitting and the sentence on the board.

"Keep writing, Imogene," Hermione said sharply to a redheaded girl who'd looked up, open-mouthed, at Malfoy's entrance.

Malfoy moved to lean against the teacher's desk, standing entirely too close to Hermione's way of thinking. The look in his eyes made her uncomfortably aware of her thin white jumper and form-fitting jeans, her hair piled messily on her head. Malfoy wore his usual black, his rolled-up shirtsleeves clearly revealing the Dark Mark on his forearm.

"You really do knit," he said, eyeing the long needles. "I thought it was just another tale."

"I have nothing to say to you," Hermione said.

"Rather dull color," he went on, tugging at the end of the brown scarf. "I hope it's not for me."

Hermione glared as her knitting needles clicked.

"Granger," he said low. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm busy."

"You're knitting and watching dingbats."

"Two pastimes infinitely more interesting than talking to you."

"Don't worry, Granger," he said with a smile. "I won't try to seduce you here."

"Malfoy!" Hermione cast a muffliato spell to avoid being overheard. The redheaded girl looked disappointed. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hex you across the room."

"You'd be modeling poor behavior. Adults should work out their differences amicably."

"Like you did with Theo today?" she asked acidly. "Or Ron last night?"