Just do it. Courage. You’ve faced Death Eaters; surely, you can face students at lunch?

But I didn’t have to sing to the Death Eaters!

This time, when she opened her mouth, the first shaky lines of the school song left her lips. Malfoy was grinning maliciously, and she couldn’t bear to look at him or anyone she ever had to look in the eye again, so she just stared ahead, her face scarlet and her eyes unseeing.

She heard the room go quiet, still as death, and felt everyone’s eyes on her as she proceeded with the song. She tried to remain unfocused, but her traitorous eyes swung to her friends. They were staring at her just like everyone else. Ron had his mouth open and a piece of bread forgotten in one hand, Harry was looking perplexed, and Ginny was frowning thoughtfully.

Hermione’s stomach clenched quite painfully again, and her heart was pounding so hard, she thought she was going to be sick.

Even the teachers were staring. Dumbledore himself was even present, his mild gaze never leaving her. Professor McGonagall looked as if she didn’t know what to make of her star pupil. Her disapproving stare, more than anything, made Hermione want to go dig a hole to bury herself in. Snape’s sneer was no more than what could be expected, and neither was any other reaction from any of the remaining teachers.

A slight movement at the Slytherin table caught her eye. It was Zabini leaning in to whisper something to Malfoy with a grin. Malfoy looked surprised, but pleased, as he replied something. Parkinson was sitting directly across from Malfoy, and she was looking morbidly fascinated. She, too, leaned towards Malfoy to whisper something. He leaned in to hear it, smiled in return, and nodded. She giggled.

Oh, grand. My humiliation is even scoring him points with his vile girlfriend!

The song didn’t seem to want to end. At least she was able to remember the words – praise Merlin. She didn’t know how she would deal with having to start over again. Her face flushed an even deeper scarlet, and her heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest, as she imagined what would happen once the song was done. She couldn’t do this. Suddenly, she was glad that the song hadn’t ended yet. Being stuck in limbo was far better than what lay on the other side. Her voice wavered.

Her eyes fell on Nott, the only one at the Slytherin table who didn’t look pleased at her humiliation. He was frowning in the general direction of Malfoy, but then he caught her eye and jerked his head slightly.

Hermione didn’t understand. She shook her head almost imperceptively in response.

He did the movement again. Then, when she didn’t react, he frowned, placed a finger under his chin and pushed it up.

Chin up.

Easy for him to say, but noticing that Draco had also become aware of what Nott was up to, and that he was frowning disapprovingly, she decided to follow the advice just to annoy him. To hell with it all. The damage was done; she might as well brazen it out.

Raising her chin – and getting an approving smile from Nott before he focused on his lunch again – Hermione finished the song in a strong and confident voice, before forcing herself to grin and curtsy to the room at large.

There was a silence for a second, as she turned for her table, willing her knees not to give out, and then… then there was a thundering applause and whistling and stomping of feet. Hermione whirled around to see that every table except the Slytherin was participating in this. Even Dumbledore had a benign smile on his face and was clapping.

The look on Malfoy’s face was priceless – he looked just as stunned as she felt, and he quickly decided to blame Nott, pinning him with a death glare. Nott smirked at his plate. Zabini looked as if it was the best joke ever, and Parkinson looked fit to be tied.

When Hermione recovered enough, she felt her very own smirk spread across her features, as she curtsied again, before going to take her seat with long, confident strides.

She didn’t know what the hell had just happened. All she knew was that she would probably pay for this in the end, but it was worth it.

“Bloody Hell,” Ron mumbled as soon as she sat down. His bread was still hanging forgotten in his one hand, while his eyes stared ahead, somewhat unfocused.

“That was bloody brilliant!” Harry announced with a grin. “Didn’t know you had it in you!”

“Neither did I,” Hermione mumbled too low to be heard over the excited chatter and rustling of people resuming their meal.

“Bloody Hell,” Ron repeated without making a move to gather his act.

“That was really brave, Hermione,” Neville leaned over and said. “I’d never dare! Imagine if everyone just laughed at you!” He shuddered.

“Yeah, me neither,” Seamus agreed.

Hermione looked up and blinked as she realized that all the Gryffindors in their year, as well as a few younger ones, had gathered around her.

“What was it like?” Parvati asked. “Wasn’t it terrifying?”

“I—“ Hermione began, not really sure what to reply, when she was cut off.

“Yeah, why did you do it?” Ginny asked. “I mean, you didn’t just walk in and decide on a whim to sing, did you?” Her eyes were fixed on something over Hermione’s shoulder, around the place where Malfoy was sitting, if Hermione wasn’t much mistaken.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I did,” Hermione replied. “After all, Mondays are boring, aren’t they?”

There was a rush of awed mutters from everyone who heard her.

“Bloody Hell,” Ron said again, now dropping the bread onto his plate.

Hermione smiled. This hadn’t been so bad, after all.

Theo’s eyes grew shuttered. “Is that so?” he softly asked.

“You’re damn right it is!” Draco resumed his pacing. “You – and Blaise too – why are you doing this to me? She knew what she was getting herself into. If she didn’t, then she’s bloody stupid and deserves it anyway. And she’s mine to do with what I want for a whole month!”

“Again, I think you meant to phrase yourself differently.”

“Fuck my phrasing, Nott!” Draco growled. “You know perfectly well what I mean.”

“I do. But here’s what you should know…” Theo leaned forward in his seat, staring intently at Draco. “You may control her actions for the next month, but you do not control mine. You will never control me.” With that, he got up and went to his room, leaving Draco flabbergasted.