"You've got to be kidding me," Blaise said. He was sitting in the Slytherin common room in an armchair located in the corner. Draco was standing over him, and had just told him everything he had heard in his dormitory between Hermione and Ginny.

"I know. The second day here, and she's already trying to get under my skin. You know they made this all up so that I would hear it and go crazy. And I even thought that she was the mature one," said Draco, excluding the part where he and Hermione sat down and had their little talk.

"Now wait a minute, did they actually know you were listening, or that you were even there?" Blaise asked.

"Yes. Probably. Does it matter?"

"Actually, it does. Why would they have said all this just to rile you up if they didn't even know you were there?" said Blaise. "If you ask me, it does seem a little bit odd, but if we had the full story, it could actually make a lot of sense. Maybe she actually is a pureblood, and maybe she's not."

Draco let out a deep breath. "Okay, sure. Let's just say she really is. Why, then, had she told everyone, for seven years, that she was muggleborn? Why didn't she just acknowledge it, instead of denying it?"

Blaise looked at some fourth years by the fire. "It sounds like she had just found out. I dunno, maybe she's adopted, and was found by her long-lost parents, or something. Or maybe she was just pretending. But honestly, why would she do that?"

"Quit screwing with me, Zabini," Draco sighed. He knew Zabini had an open mind, but maybe he could take things seriously for once.

"Sorry, mate. Why don't you just, I don' know, ask her?" said Zabini.

"Are you mad? What could possibly make you think I could do that?"

"Then, I don't know. Your best bet is to just forget about it."

Draco sighed again. "Okay. I'll try and ask her about it."

oOoOo

Knock knock knock.

Hermione knocked on Hagrid's door, and a second later, Hagrid's great, furry face appeared with Fang the boarhound barking happily at the sight of them.

"Hello, Hermoine, Ginny, Neville, Luna!" Hagrid said, beaming at them.

He stood back to let everyone in. They all took seats around his enormous table, while Hagrid was tending to a teapot over the fire.

"Yeh all are jus' in time, I was makin' a pot o' tea." He went over to the cupboard and grabbed five bucket-sized mugs. "Been wonderin' when yeh lot were gonna come ter see me."

"It's only been one day," said Ginny.

"Tha's no exuse," Hagrid winked.

"So, what's been going on?" asked Neville.

"Well, during the summer I mostly bin tendin' ter the animals tha've been injured in the battle. All Aragog's children finally trust me enough ter let me near 'em, so I had ter wrap some o' their legs in bandages and all. And the Centaurs, well, they're independent from wizards, o' course, but I bin bringin' them some supplies, 'cause they aren' as hostile as they were las' couple o' years. But there aren' many who bin injured, so it's not as bad as it sounds."

"Well, that sounds like pretty good news to me," Hermione said.

"Yeah.." Hagrid set down the mugs in front of everyone. "It's a shame Harry and Ron aren' here."

"I know, but they did what they seemed to think was best for them. I actually think it was a great opportunity for them both," said Hermione.

"Speakin' o' which, I heard you had gotten the same offer, Hermione. Why didn' yeh take it?"

"Well, I really didn't think that an auror was the right occupation for me. Besides, I wanted to complete my studies, and the extra year will qualify me for more career opportunities, and help me decide which career I actually want to persue."

"O' course," Hagrid smiled.

"So, what else is new with everyone?" Luna asked, finally chipping in to the conversation.

The rest of the afternoon was spent, for all five of them, sipping tea and recounting memories and stories from the battle, and what Harry, Ron, and Hermione were up to while they missed their last year of school. They stayed at Hagrid's for dinner, and afterwards, sat around the house, having little discussions about nothing in particular. It was almost dark when Hagrid finally waved them off to the castle, hesitant about not accompanying them, but having been convinced that since Hermione was Head Girl, they wouldn't get into too much trouble.

OooOo

"That was fun," said Luna.

The group had arrived back at the castle and were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, including Luna. She and Neville were sitting on the couch, while Hermione and Ginny were lounging around on the rug in front of the fire.

"Yeah, I haven't really hung out with Hagrid outside of his lessons," said Neville.

"Speaking of which, are any of you taking his class this year?" asked Ginny.

"I'm not," said Hermione.

"Neither am I," said Neville.

"I am, I've even tried talking him into dedicating a couple of lessons to the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but he wouldn't go for it," said Luna.

"Well, I am too," Ginny said, giggling at Luna.

"Hey, Neville, can I ask you something?" asked Hermione.

"Sure, go for it."

"Well, you stayed here last year, during seventh year. Why did you choose to come back this year with me?"

Neville sighed and rubbed his neck. "Hermione, last year wasn't really that great, I know you know that. But, what you don't know is that, other than Defense Against the Dark Arts being changed, all of the other subjects changed, too. Even McGonagall's. With the new regime in order, they weren't allowed to teach us most stuff, anymore, so we didn't learn anything new.So, I'm here to learn what I couldn't last year."

"Hermione, it's almost ten minutes before curfew," said Ginny.

"Oh, you're right!" said Hermione. "Luna, you should probably come with me, just in case, but we should start leaving, either way."

"Okay, I'll see everybody tomorrow," said Luna, standing up. Neville got to his feet as well and hugged Luna.

"Good night Hermione, Luna," said Ginny and Neville.

"Good night," they both said and started walking out of the portrait.

They girls started walking down the corridor, meeting only a few lingering 4th year Hufflepuffs.

"Hurry up and get to your dorms, curfew in four minutes!" Hermione called after them.

They walked in silence until they were close to the Ravenclaw dorms.

"Well, see you the morning Luna," said Hermione with a smile.

"Yes, I quite had fun today. See you later," said Luna, and she turned down the hallway to her dorm.

Hermione walked the rest of the way to her common room, not meeting anymore students out of bed, and just as well, since curfew was already in place.

She got to the common room with all intentions of going to bed, however, when she entered the room seeing the look Draco was giving her, and knew it didn't mean anything good.

"Good evening, Malfoy," she said stiffly.

"Evening, Granger," Draco said.

Hoping to avoid whatever it was that he was about to say or do, she started walking towards her room rather quickly, saying, "I have had a long day, I'll see you in the morning."

"Granger, wait!"

"Malfoy, I'm really tired-"

"It won't take long," he interupted.

Hermione sighed. "Fine."

Draco waved his hand, indicating the couch across from him. Hermione sat down.

"So, er.." he began, not knowing what to say. "How was your summer?"

He wanted to ask her about her summer? Hermione knew Draco, surely he wasn't interested in how her summer was. She knew he was beating around the bush. "Fine. How was yours."

Draco momentarily had a pained expression on his face, but recovered quickly. "Oh, great. So, did you hear anything interesting?"

"What's going on Draco? What did you hear?" Hermione said. She knew there was something he was trying to talk about. If he wanted to spit it out, she would listen.

"Well, I heard a piece of gossip the other day from someone, about you..."

"Okay, what was it?" she was curious now. Someone was spreading gossip about her, and it caught Draco Malfoy's attention. It must have been really crazy.

"Well, it wasn't exactly-"

"Okay, Malfoy, quit working around the real question and just tell me, already!" Hermione said.

Draco looked taken aback. He composed himself and took a deep breath. "I just heard someone say that, well, you're a pureblood," he finished lamely.

Hermione's heart dropped. Draco had found out her secret. That meant that if more people than him haven't heard, they would. News like that would spread like wildfire around the castle. She wouldn' t able to show her face at breakfast the next morning.

She thought she had been careful enough not to let anyone besides Ginny know. She didn't talk about it all the time. And she only did discuss it in their dorm. But she and Draco were the only ones who could get in. Which means...

"Who told you?" Hermione asked.

"So, it's true, then?

"I didn't say it's true. Draco, who told you?"

"I can't say."

"Did you hear it? Did you hear me and Ginny talking?" Hermione asked, but she thought she knew the answer already.

Draco sighed. He looked Hermione over. "Granger, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen, but you were in the common room, and my door was open. I didn't want to get up to close it, because you would have heard and assumed that I was eavesdropping-"

"You WERE eavesdropping! How could you do that?" Hermione screamed.

"Not on purpose," said Draco.

"Have you told anyone else?" asked Hermione.

"No," he said, knowing that he was safe because Blaise wouldn't tell anyone else.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, it's true."

Draco Malfoy knew her secret. This was a nightmare. He was sure to tell everyone, if he really hadn't already. Hermione knew she needed to protect this information.

"Malfoy, please don't tell anybody," Hermione said.

"Why did you tell everyone you were a muggle-born for all this time?" he asked, ignoring her.

"Because I just found out, now please, don't tell anyone," she tried again.

"I won't. Why did you just find out?"

Hermione stared. Why was he asking her questions about this?

"I really don't think you need to know any of that."

"Come on, Granger, it's just one question."

"Added to the other questions. You know what? I've told you that I don't want to talk about it, I didn't even want to find out," Hermione said.

"You were the one bloody talking about it, knowing I could have heard."

"You know what," she said, "I don't want to deal with this right now."

Hermione got up and strode to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her, expecting the worst when she woke up in the morning.