Hermione leaves Ancient Runes the next day more tired than she was used to. For some reason she had nightmares all night long, but now she can't remember what they were even about. She heads to the Gryffindor common room, giving the Fat Lady the password in the middle of a yawn. As soon as she gets in there, she plops down on the couch and proceeds to doze off. This only lasts about five minutes before Ginny sits down next to her rather roughly. Hermione opens her eyes to survey the girl who she can tell is visibly upset.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asks, stretching her arms over her head and trying desperately not to yawn.
"Nothing," she says with a huffy sigh. "Just my stupid brother."
"I'm going to assume you mean Ronald, since he's the only one left here," Hermione says, sitting up in the seat more and adjusting the hem of her skirt. "What'd he do this time?"
Ginny scoots closer to Hermione and lowers her voice. "He kind of caught Dean and I in a broom closet. We were snogging, but Dean also wasn't wearing a shirt."
Hermione snorts. "Oh, is that all. Have you two…?"
"No," says Ginny with a shake of her head. "But I think soon."
"Maybe I'm not the person to tell you this, seeing as I have next to no experience in physical matters, but Ginny be careful."
"Of course," Ginny says placing her hand on Hermione's arm. "Ready to go to dinner?"
"Might as well."
A few minutes later Ginny and Hermione slide into the Gryffindor table across from Harry and Ron. Ron gives Ginny a judgy look so Hermione sees it fit to give him a sharp kick under the table. After that, he simply avoids looking at his sister. While Ron is silently shoving mass amounts of food down his gob, Hermione can't help but notice that Harry keeps sending her looks.
"What?" she asks, growing steadily more impatient with his weird behavior as of late.
"I'll talk to you after dinner," is all he says.
"What is it?" Hermione asks Harry as they walk into The Great Hall. He takes her arm and leads her off to the side where they can safely speak in private.
"I guess I just want you to be careful," Harry admits, adjusting his glasses nervously. "Malfoy is up to something, and I want you to be cautious when it comes to him."
"So be friendly, but don't be his friend?"
"Maybe treat him like he's a dangerous Hippogriff," Harry suggests with a grin. "Try not to insult him."
"Will do, boss," she says and turns to walk away.
Harry's hand shoots out and grabs her arm really quick. "Just please promise me you'll be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you, Hermione."
"I promise," she assures him with a smile. "I've got to go now though."
Hermione runs up to the common room and grabs her bag, telling Ginny that she's going to be studying in the library. She doesn't like lying to her, but Harry had asked it to keep it between the three of them. The three of them being Hermione, Ron, and Harry. For some reason she stops in the bathroom on her way down to the third floor to check her hair. Which is ridiculous because it's still as bushy as ever, besides, why would Malfoy care what her hair looks like. Hermione is waiting in the abandoned classroom when Malfoy walks in. He sees her and sends a friendly nod in her direction. As he walks over and sits down at a desk, Hermione gets up and stands in front of the classroom, a book held in front of her.
"Tonight I thought we'd start with reviewing the fundamentals of Charms," she says, finding her voice is a pitch higher than normal.
"Sounds great," Malfoy says. Hermione isn't sure if he's being sarcastic or not, but he does pull out a piece of parchment paper, an ink well, and a quill. She takes a deep breath and starts to lecture about all her favorite parts of charms. Occasionally she pauses to write a particularly important point on the blackboard behind her. She stops once her watch reads eight thirty.
"Sorry," she says. "I didn't realize how much time had gone by."
"Time flies when you're having fun," Malfoy quips as he packs up his materials.
"When should we do this again?" she asks as she starts to wipe off the blackboard.
"Wednesday?" he asks.
"Sure," she says and turns her back to him.
"Thank you, Granger," Malfoy says in a low voice before walking out of the classroom. Hermione finds herself smiling despite herself on her way back to the common room. She makes sure to wipe it off her face before she gives The Fat Lady the password though. She didn't have one of those faces that smiled all the time, so Ron and Harry would think it was weird if she was grinning from ear to ear.
A few weeks pass of Hermione tutoring Malfoy every Monday and Wednesday night. She starts to feel like they can really, maybe be friends. Like maybe, they were wrong about each other. They still call each other by their first names but otherwise they're friendly with each other. Finally it's the thirtieth of October and its nearing nine o clock in the evening when stops her lecturing.
"It is getting late," she remarks, checking her watch. "You probably should get going."
"That's not it," Malfoy says in what Hermione guesses is a nervous voice. What could he mean then?
"What is it?" Hermione asks, sitting on the desk at the front of the classroom and crossing one ankle over the other.
"There's just something I would like to talk to you about," Malfoy says, getting up and starting to put his things away. He stops and looks at her. "Would you meet me tomorrow night? On the astronomy tower?"
"Sure, I can do that," she says before she can really think.
After he's gone, she starts to wonder if she was being stupid. Then she shakes her head with a sigh. Malfoy's not dangerous. She can take him down with a punch if necessary. She finishes cleaning up and then kills the lights on her way out. Hermione is walking toward the staircase when she bumps into someone. It's Ron. He grabs her so she doesn't fall over and takes a step back.
"There you are," he says, running a hand through his hair and then stuffing it in his trouser pocket. "I came down to find you."
"Lost track of time," she says with an easy smile although her heart is beating excessively fast. For some reason Ron makes her feel extra nervous these days. "Anyway, shouldn't you be hanging out with Lavender or something?"
"I don't know what your big deal is. Do you not like her or something?"
"She's cruel and simple minded is all," Hermione says huffily. "But don't worry about me Ron, I can take care of myself."
Hermione pushes past him and walks as fast as she can to Gryffindor Tower, leaving him to stare after her. She wished that she could simply accept that Lavender and Ron were dating, but every time they were together in public, it felt like Ron was slapping her in the face. Maybe she was being stubborn, but she simply couldn't accept it. Hermione has a troublesome time sleeping that night. Her dreams are a mixture of Ron and Lavender grossly snogging and Malfoy's penetrating gray eyes. She wakes up the next morning tired but excited that it's Halloween.
The day's lessons seem to go by rather quickly. After dinner, she finds herself changing her clothes. He picks a light blue sweater and dark blue jeans to wear. Then she French braid's her hair. It's supposed to be windy tonight, and she doesn't want her mane of hair beating her in the face every ten seconds. She's even ashamed that she puts on a little mascara and lip-gloss before heading out of her dormitory.
"Hey, Hermione, where you going?" Ginny asks as Hermione heads toward the exit to the common room.
"Library," Hermione tells her. "I really need to study." With that, she pushes the portrait open, hoping desperately that Ginny didn't notice that Hermione isn't carrying any books.