Hermione was absolutely sure she had just seen Harry Potter. And that was quite a problem, since she'd watched Harry James Potter die with her own eyes.

She'd been paralysed for a moment, while she watched the tall figure turn the corner, and some seconds later she barely managed to regain enough strength to walk again.

Hermione ran to where she thought she'd seen him, but he wasn't there. No one was. She looked in every direction, and then she spotted the open window. The only people in the Central Tower courtyard were a few first-years with some free periods.

"Great," she muttered to herself.

"Granger," a girl behind her said. Hermione turned around, quite surprised, and narrowed her eyes.

"Young Greengrass. What can I do for you?" Astoria was staring at her, her arms crossed.

"Stay away from him, for a start," she scowled.

Hermione looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Stay away from Draco, or I will make you regret it." She pointed her wand at her and smirked. Could a girl really get more pathetic?

Hermione stared at the wood wand, quite amused, and chuckled. "You listen to me, prat. If you ever dare to threaten me again, I'll make sure you will be the one to spend quite a few weeks in the Hospital Wing, not me. Not to mention the Dark Lord would be informed you tried to hurt me, and I'll be very much pleased to see what he'd do to you." Astoria's face turned white when she mentioned Lord Voldemort and she couldn't really blame her. She wouldn't normally bring up the Dark Lord in her favour, but she knew perfectly well that, if Astoria was to ever attempt something, Hermione would get to her first, she wouldn't wait for him.

"You want him," she hissed.

"On the contrary. And if Malfoy didn't meet me in the hall last night and I didn't solve the riddle for him, you wouldn't even have had the chance to tell him to stay away from me, now would you?" Astoria blinked at her. "Because this is what you've been doing, isn't it? And this is why, according to Theo, he's avoiding me. To be honest, you've done me nothing but a favor. Now get the hell lost, or I may forget you're Daphne's little sister."

She lingered for a second, then put the wand down and turned the corner.

The difference between Daphne and Astoria was something else. While the first one would just stand up and get what she wanted, the younger Greengrass was all looks and no brains, spoiled and used to always having everything – which caused her to be more of a prat than usual when she didn't get it.

Hermione started walking back to her class, without any desire to actually come back, for once in her life.

A few minutes later, she forced herself to smile and entered the History of Magic classroom, but, after everyone's eyes landed on her once again, she didn't even get the chance to start back taking notes that the bell rang.

She didn't want to talk to Daphne yet, so she just stormed out and prayed she'd make it to lunch before her.

Once in the Great Hall, she looked for those who had become her friends – in Blaise's case it was just bad luck – and sat next to Theo, who was talking with Blaise about the starting of the Quidditch season or something. She smiled at Theo's greeting and poured herself some pumpkin juice, while the two of them were too busy blabbering about some broomstick.

Daphne came running, followed by Malfoy, a few meters back.

"Why did you run away like that? Is something wrong with the Dark Lord?" she sat next to her.

"No, everything's fine." Daphne frowned, confused. "I was just hungry," she added with a laugh. It was pretty clear that Daphne didn't believe her, though, so she just waved it off and whispered she would tell her later.

The lunch passed quickly, even though everyone was still pretty much despairing about the Dark Lord.

Malfoy kept on ignoring her the whole time, thank goodness, but he still sat next to her in Transfiguration. None of them said a word and, luckily, they didn't have to practice, which meant they didn't have to communicate either.

At the end of the lesson, her hand hurt because of her assiduous taking notes and professor McGonagall wasn't exactly in a good mood, so she gave them extra homework.

Furthermore, she announced the first free weekend was coming in two weeks and remembered to those who were planning to go to Hogsmeade to give their name to Filch – although they were old enough to go without their parents' permission – so everything would be in order.

§§§

How two people could make so much noise was beyond her. Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode had been quarrelling for at least half an hour about something Hermione refused to remember.

She was trying to get her Potions essay about the deadly poisons done, taking deep breaths now and then so she would get enough self-control not to hex them both. She turned her head to look at them in time to see Millicent point her wand at Pansy and say, "Aguamenti!"

Pansy Parkinson's scream had been so loud Hermione thought she might have woken up the Giant Squid.

She rolled her eyes and took another deep breath, focusing back on her essay. Soon enough, the witch screamed again, so Hermione just took her things and went straight to the library, where no one would bother her, before she did something hasty and hexed her into oblivion.

A few minutes later, Hermione greeted Madam Pince with a big smile and went to her usual table, finally getting some peace.

She managed to finish her essay quickly enough and, since she still had some time before dinner, she decided to start the Herbology one, that was about Mandrakes and everything you could use it for.

When she was about halfway done, she saw Malfoy walk her way.

She ignored him, hoping he would just walk past her and not bother her, and got back to writing about the passages to get the Mandrake Restorative Draught done, which was used to cure those who had been petrified – not without a vague sense of déjà-vu.

Obviously, Malfoy sat in front of her.

No one said a word for a few minutes, but Hermione could feel his eyes on her.

"What do you want?" She sighed, eventually.

"I broke up with Astoria," he said, like it was the news of the century.

"And I'm supposed to care, why exactly?" She looked through the rest of the paragraph of Mandrakes: a World she was consulting for the assignment.

"Because I know what happened."

"And what, in Merlin's name, happened?" She gave up on reading and looked at him.

"She's threatened you, she shouldn't have done that." He looked like he was talking about the most obvious thing ever.

"You think I'm not capable of defending myself from her? You shouldn't have broken up with her, so thank you very much," she rolled her eyes and sighed. "I give her twenty-four hours at most till she comes screaming at me because she thinks I've Imperioed you into dumping her or something."

He looked stunned. "And why would she think that?"

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "And I thought you were smart. Astoria Greengrass is a fifteen-year-old in the middle of her teenage crush. She'd even see Snape as a rival when it comes to you. You've just unleashed a grenade, congratulations."

"You can't be serious," he stated, like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

"If you wanted to get rid of her so badly, you should've done that earlier, or at least waited a few more days."

He snorted and brushed his hair back with his fingers, refusing to even accept he was being lectured. "Whatever. Are you done? I'm hungry."

"You know the way." She got back to her essay and finished writing down the last antidotes the Mandrake was used for, while Malfoy rolled his eyes and muttered something she didn't care enough to listen to.

Hermione charmed the books she'd used for both Potions and Herbology to go back to their places and put her parchment and ink in her bag, then got up as they started to make their way to the Great Hall, where they arrived at the same time as – sweet karma – Astoria, along with Felicity May – Ravenclaw – and Olivia Sentice – Slytherin.

The smell of roast hit her and she smiled, muttering a low, "Have fun," as she went straight to their table.

"Hermione, why is my sister looking at you like she wants to set you on fire?" The older Greengrass laughed and took a sip of water. Hermione sighed and sat in front of her, next to Theo.

"This morning, after the Dark Lord," she stopped half sentence and sighed when she saw her schoolmates looking at the two of them, then muttered a Muffliato. "After the Dark Lord basically crashed my History of Magic class, I met her on the first-floor hallway. She made a scene about how I'd better leave Malfoy alone, or else. I know she's your sister, but it was quite ridiculous," she scoffed.

"I can't believe she'd so that. I'll talk to her, she can't threaten you like that, even though I know you can take care of yourself," she shook her head and smiled at her apologetically.

"It's not your fault. There's no need for you to talk to her, she won't do that again. Plus, it's the last thing I need, since Malfoy dumped her earlier." She grimaced at the thought and shrugged at Daphne's disconcerted look.

"Men," she hissed, like it was an insult.

She sighed and nodded lightly, "Yeah, well, not too much that can be done now."

At the same time, Theo decided to participate in the conversation, "Have you ever thought that maybe you are the ones not to get the cues?"

Hermione and Daphne frowned and looked at him.

"Or maybe you don't." Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott looked like they were kind of having their own private chat.

Hermione shrugged once again and took a piece of roast. She didn't need to ask Draco whether she'd been right or not, when she saw the look on his face – a mix of anger and annoyance.

§§§

Changing the order of addends does not change the sum.

Hermione found herself thinking about the commutative property as she sat on a leather couch and watched the Slytherin common room, which consisted of people who were trying to finish last-minute homework, despairing over a spell they couldn't cast properly or, like in Theo's case, laying somewhere taking a nap, betting, or just contemplating the room around them, bored out of their minds.

But, somehow, Blaise Zabini was watching the show with her.

"So, what did the Dark Lord tell you?" he asked with nonchalance.

Hermione looked at him for a second, then ignored him.

"Like I'd tell you, of all people," she snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There's no way in hell you're still on our side, with that girlfriend of yours."

Blaise laughed. "Our side? And what side is that?"

"The Dark Lord's side, obviously. What, you thought I was still with them? The Order?" she scowled.

If only Zabini suspected anything, it was over. He was smart, she knew that, and she couldn't let him figure out her plan.

"Honestly? I did."

"Well, you were wrong," she scoffed.

"The thing is… I'm never wrong," he chuckled, like he was actually amused.

And then it was Hermione's turn to smile.

"There's always a first time. And please, do tell your girlfriend to show herself."

He froze. "I won't. They can't see us together," he paused, "How did you know?"

"I'm not dumb, Blaise. I spent months, with Harry and Ron, hiding from him."

§§§

"This is ridiculous."

That was Draco's third glass of Firewhisky and still hadn't calmed down. Astoria's big scene had drained him, mentally and physically.

"It's funny, really. With that indifference mask she's always wearing she looks a whole damn lot like you. Only prettier," Theo said.

Draco had to resist the impulse to curse him. "So you're over Daphne already?"

"Yeah, like a pretty face is enough to make me forget about her," he laughed, a bitter note in his voice.

"What was wrong with the two of you at lunch?" He poured himself another drink and sat in an armchair near the fireplace. The Heads' bedrooms had their benefits.

"We had a fight. I think she knows," he sighed and sat on the couch, taking a sip of Firewhisky.

"It'd be about damn time. You've been torturing yourself for years now, years she's spent dating total dickheads," he thought about her and how she had no idea of Theo's feelings.

Since, many years before, she saw him in front of his mother's corpse, a crying seven-year-old child, and helped him deal with the loss, there was never really anyone else for Theo. He'd tried dating other girls, but none of them lasted for more than a month or two.

Draco believed Daphne had actually been doing the same thing for his same own reasons, but he'd never talked with any of them about it. Not with Daphne, because she was a sister to him and he refused to interfere with her love life, nor with Theo, because it would mean digging up old memories and poking at even older scars.

He remembered, during his first year, thinking Theo was a freak when he'd told him he could see Thestrals pulling the carriages. Then he had researched it in the Library – a very Hermione Granger thing to do – and understood. That same year Theo told him about his feelings for Daphne, since Draco had been observing the both of them for weeks and saw the change in his friend's expression every time she walked into a room.

They'd better sort thing out as soon as possible though, no matter how much the scars would hurt, for, every time Daphne Greengrass introduced them to another guy, the scar she'd left on Theodore Nott bled a little more. They were either solving every unsolved problem, or he would bleed to death. And there were no spells to help that from happening.

Draco told him – in a less poetic manner, but still. The only thing Theo missed was the courage to risk.

Hours later, Draco Malfoy still couldn't manage to get some sleep, after the nightmares had woken him up. For Salazar's sake, he had even tried studying, but the sleep just wouldn't come.

He sighed and got up, with every intention of sneaking into the kitchen and stealing some food, hoping a midnight snack would help, but two voices made him stop before he could run down the stairs that led to the common room. Someone else was there.

He sat perfectly still, not making any sound, and listened, but he could only get some fragments of the conversation, since he was too far.

"…no, I've told you…"

"…because you weren't sure…"

"…never said…"

"…tried…that Ravenclaw fuckwit…"

It was Theo and Daphne, Draco realised. For the first time, he was feeling kind of guilty for eavesdropping. He believed if people were really keen on keeping their little chats to themselves, they wouldn't speak where everyone could hear them, so he usually didn't care if he occasionally eavesdropped conversations he wasn't supposed to hear. But these were his friends.

He stood up and went back to his room, confident he would spend another sleepless night.

It had only happened once, in the last months, and he had done a terrible mistake – he went to the Mudblood's room, had the excuse that Bellatrix and Voldemort were having a sleepover again, so he decided to use that and try to get some sleep.

They'd fought, for the millionth time, and they'd still managed to sleep in the same room without pointing the wand at each other's throats. Even the nightmares had gone away, that night. But he had no excuse to go to her room now, and he refused to ask her for anything. Merely thinking about her tired him up.

Draco had become a good observant, during the years, and he could tell the changes in her. She tried not to draw too much attention, sure, but she was the same person he'd praised to the Dark Lord when he made him tell who she was.

She had always been strong, Draco knew it well, but never as strong as she'd become in those previous months. As the days passed, he could see on her face the same indifference mask he saw every day in the mirror, and he couldn't even tell what side she was on anymore.

He'd been dead sure she was loyal to the Order of the Phoenix, before, but now he had no idea.

She could have bloody well pretended not to know about any other base after the first three or four, she could have pretended not to know their names and maybe tried to save them, getting herself killed in the process. He knew the Gryffindors well enough to know they would call it an honourable death and he knew her well enough to know she would die for her friends.

But then, why help the Dark Lord? Draco still couldn't find an answer.

§§§

He got back to ignoring her.

After his sleepless night, the last thing Draco Malfoy needed was hearing her voice first thing in the morning.

The damn sleep only arrived when the first light of dawn had started lightening up the lake, so he decided to try that dark brown thing Muggles called coffee at breakfast.

Its taste only got a slight bit better if you added sugar. It wasn't great, but he'd drank nastier things in his life and he was glad to find that – a whole cup and some minutes trying to keep his eyes open later – it was actually helping him to stay awake. In fact, he was as good as after a good night's sleep, although he did feel a little tired physically.

He'd been among the first ones to get into the Great Hall, since he wanted to be alone for a while, and then a tired Theo sat next to him, almost dragged there by a hot-tempered Blaise, which was definitely the oddest thing he saw that morning. Blaise was never hot-tempered. He was the calm one, never getting his emotions in the way and stopping them from doing stupid shit they would regret.

As the tables crowded up and the coffee made Theo lighten up, they started talking about the incoming Quidditch season and he almost didn't notice the way Blaise glared at Luna Lovegood when she walked past them.

He diverted his attention away from sport for a few seconds and asked himself why Blaise had decided to scowl at none other than Looney Lovegood, and why she smiled at him regardless.

He was distracted by Daphne and Granger entering the Great Hall, muttering about Salazar knew what, and, for a second, Draco hated his long-time friend for the changes in Granger's uniform.

Her short skirt and unbuttoned shirt, enough to show some cleavage without being vulgar, along with the loose Slytherin tie, were the last thing he needed. He was used to a good half of the girls in Hogwarts wearing uniforms that were two sizes smaller than they needed to be, with way too short skirts and tight, unbuttoned shirts, but Hermione damn Granger wasn't most girls.

Annoyed, he poured himself some more coffee and grunted when he realised he'd forgotten to add sugar. He adjusted his beverage to make it at least drinkable, then focused on Theo again.

"What?" he blurted when he noticed he'd asked him something.

"I asked you what broom you're getting. Where's your head?"

"The Firebolt," he answered, since he had destroyed his Nimbus 2001 by mistake.

Despite practice was starting in two weeks – although there was no proper Quidditch season, since there were no more Houses – he still hadn't told his father to mail him the broomstick. He had no desire to speak to him in any way, so he would either have to mail Broomstix or go to Diagon Alley himself to get the broom. He knew Snape wouldn't mind.

Draco stupidly asked himself if Granger had spent the night sleepless, but he quickly shook thought away and grabbed a toast. Things were getting out of hand.

He had hated her for Transfiguring him into a bloody ferret in front of the whole class, but arguing with her always made him feel… lightweight, or something.

Then it had ended, of course, and he'd haughtily pouted his day away because he was a Malfoy and he had a reputation to keep up. Plus, he was already planning his revenge and he was merely waiting for the right moment.

And then there was Astoria, with her immature, jealous bitching. Having some fun with Daphne's little sister had been nice, because she didn't use to make a scene every other day, unlike Pansy. But then she'd decided to take her example and ruin that unlabelled thing they had.

When he'd heard her say he should've stayed away from Granger – which he would gladly do, if it wasn't for the Dark Lord – he got a déjà-vu and remembered why he had dumped Pansy in the first place.

He had to find someone to release the tension with, or he would explode. The only thing he wanted to do was fight, scream and let off steam till he got voiceless. But the thing was, he could only do that with Granger.