DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. This fiction is purely for my own enjoyment and yours. No money is being made by me or anyone else from this fiction.
Author Note: Hope no one has been languishing away in agonizing anticipation of what happens next. I was rather teasing when I left you with that cliffhanger, wasn't I? Ah well. Everything is put out in the open in this chapter. Now the boys know what's going on, will they accept it or make Hermione choose—them or Draco? Warning: Angsty chapter ahead. You knew it had to happen eventually!
Chapter 7
"Harry! Ron!" said Hermione, utterly horrified. A deep blush covered her cheeks; she could feel them burning. This isn't how I wanted them to find out!
Harry and Ron seemed not to notice Hermione's embarrassment or distress. Their eyes were fixed on Draco and their faces were contorted by rage. "How dare you touch her!" Harry bellowed.
"Yeah, what are you playing at, you slimy git!" Ron yelled, backing Harry up. Both of them pulled out their wands and pointed them at Draco, who whipped his out just as fast and jumped into a defensive position.
"No! Stop!" cried Hermione, pulling out her own wand almost subconsciously. "You can't fight here! If you're caught, Umbridge will have you expelled, Harry! You know she's just looking for an excuse..."
"You can just stay away from Hermione, Malfoy," said Harry warningly, completely ignoring Hermione's pleas.
"She wasn't exactly objecting, Potter," Draco drawled in his usual arrogant tone. Hermione threw a shocked glare at him. What is he doing? Talking like that is only going to provoke Harry...she yelped as a stinging jinx flew past her elbow and straight towards Draco. He blocked it effectively. "Better watch that temper, Potter. It's going to get you into trouble someday."
"Draco!" Hermione shrieked, her own anger spilling into her voice. That idiot!
Hermione's shriek of Draco's given name seemed to spur on Harry and Ron's anger, for they both shouted jinxes and hurled them at Malfoy. Draco ducked and threw a few jinxes of his own, Hissing violently when another one of Harry's stinging jinxes hit him on the shoulder. Oh, this is ridiculous! We're all going to be expelled! Gone was the red tinge of embarrassment from Hermione's cheeks, and in its place was the flush of anger. She held up her wand and cried, "Immobilous!" Immediately all three boys were frozen, their eyes open comically wide, their mouths open in mid-spell.
Hermione took a deep breath and organized her thoughts. Okay, so this isn't exactly how I planned on telling the boys, but one has to make do. She looked up and stared resolutely at the frozen boys before her. "Right," she started. "Since it's clear that you three can't behave in a civil manner, I am not lifting this enchantment until I've said my piece and I am sure none of you will curse the other. Understood?" The boys of course, couldn't answer, but Hermione looked into their eyes and saw their—in Harry and Ron's case, reluctant—assent. She continued. "Harry, Ron, I haven't been entirely truthful with you. I told you bits and pieces of my dream, but I didn't tell you everything. I'm going to tell you now." She paused here and looked questioningly at Draco. His eyes looked resigned.
Okay, here I go, Hermione closed her eyes for a moment before starting. "When I woke up in my dream, I wasn't alone. I was with Draco. Not just a dream-Draco, but the real Draco. We quickly deduced that we were trapped in some kind of dream world as a result of Neville's potion exploding and decided for the time being, we would play along with whatever was going on. That became a lot more difficult once we realized we weren't just trapped in the dream together. We were also married." At this she stopped and looked a little fearfully into Harry and Ron's faces. As she expected, their eyes had widened with shock and quickly darkened with anger.
That is no more than what I expected, Hermione thought, calling on her Gryffindor courage to continue. "As you can imagine, neither of us were too pleased with the idea. In fact I—I passed out." She heard a snort from Draco and realized her spell was weakening. She frowned at him and renewed the charm. "When I woke up, I was again shocked to find out that I was not only married to Draco, but had two daughters with him, and was expecting another child." Harry and Ron's eyes bulged. Hermione resisted the urge to roll her own eyes. Well, it wasn't exactly a picnic for me either, boys.
"We decided—well, I decided—that we would have to play along with being happily married for the children's sakes." Harry rolled his eyes. "Hey!" she scolded. "Everyone in the dream world seemed to think we were a match made in heaven and I wasn't about to upset the children—my children—by suddenly hating my husband because he was your arch enemy, Harry!"
She let out a huge sigh and rubbed her temples. "This thing between Draco and I, what you two just witnessed, it didn't just happen overnight. I was angry at first. Really angry. But we weren't exactly at Hogwarts, so I put on my brave face, took my girls and away we went to the bookshop for some answers. I learned some terrible things about the world we were living in, and some wonderful things too. The War with You-Know-Who was over, but people everywhere were still dealing with the aftermath. Draco, it seemed, had ben a huge help by changing sides near the end of the War. We apparently had gotten close after that. After I returned to the Manor, we attended a Ministry dinner held in honor of the Five-Year Anniversary of the end of the War. I cried, and Draco held me. He was surprisingly sympathetic. After that, we threw ourselves into researching for an antidote to our predicament. We spent some time with our daughters...and Draco took me on a date."
At this there was a strangled sputtering sound from both Harry and Ron. Hermione jumped, startled, then rolled her eyes. My charm is weakening again. I'd better finish this up quickly. "Look," she said, starting to pace back and forth, "I can't really explain it. I saw a different side to Draco while we were stuck there. Sure, he can still be a complete prat, but I know that other side is still there." She sighed again and tugged on her ponytail, which had begun to fall loose. "I can't exactly help these feelings, you know. And I don't want to. I'm glad I got this opportunity to see this side of Draco, and I want to see more of it." She stopped suddenly and looked fiercely at Harry and Ron. "If you're truly my friends, you'll accept this and behave civilly. I'm not asking you to like him. I just want to you accept that I want him in my life." Harry's eye twitched a little and Ron's ears turned purple, but of course, they couldn't say anything. "And you," Hermione said, turning to Draco and giving a look that was just as fierce as the one she gave Harry and Ron. How on earth did he manage to smirk while frozen? "If you truly like me, then you're going to have to accept that Harry and Ron are my best friends. I won't give them up for anything, and I won't accept any trash talk about them." The light in Draco's eyes seemed to darken, but like Harry and Ron, he was prevented from answering.
"Now," said Hermione in a business-like tone, "I'm going to remove the charm. But if any of you so much as look at each other the wrong way I swear I won't talk to you for a month. And that includes checking your homework!" she added as an extra warning to Harry and Ron.
After glancing back and forth between the three boys for a few moments, she took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. She released the spell. Immediately Harry and Ron burst into angry shouts. "You can't be serious, Hermione! He's Malfoy! A Slytherin! The guy who has bullied us from day one at Hogwarts, the guy who called you mudblood and tried to get Hagrid fired! The same guy who talked to Rita Skeeter last year and caused her to write some of those horrible things about you and me and Hagrid! And he's Malfoy!" Hermione shook her head and rubbed her temples. The worst part is, they're right. They've got completely valid points for all of those things. I've just got to get them to understand, I haven't forgiven him for everything, I'm just trying to give him a second chance. From the back of her mind, a particularly annoying voice added, it helps that you fancy the arse off of him too.
"Shut up!" shouted Hermione, both to the voice in her mind and to her shouting friends. A few red sparks shout out of the end of her wand and both Harry and Ron stopped shouting.
"Hermione?" Draco asked, his voice heavy with questions.
"Oi! She said shut up!" Ron said nastily. Hermione threw him a glare and Ron snapped his mouth shut.
She gave Draco a small, weary smile. "I'll catch up with you later, if that's okay. I think I need to have a long chat with these two." Draco made a face like he wanted to say more, but instead just nodded.
"After dinner, in our library spot?"
Hermione's smile widened. "Perfect. I'll see you then." Draco smiled back and gave Harry and Ron a stiff nod before disappearing down the hallway. Harry and Ron for their part, tried valiantly not to glare, but failed. Hermione gave a half-laugh, half-sigh. At least they tried.
"What does he mean, your library spot?" asked Ron as soon as he'd gone. "Since when do you two have a library spot?"
"Since we studied together yesterday while everyone else was in Hogsmeade," Hermione answered. Ron sputtered a bit. At least they're still talking to me. She looked over to Harry, who was silent and looked grave. "Harry?" she asked tentatively.
"This is why you defended him yesterday, isn't it?" Harry asked suddenly.
Hermione was taken aback by his vicious tone. "Yes," she said truthfully.
"And that's what you were really worried about, not me, you know, dying," he said in an accusatory tone.
Hermione looked stricken. "No, that's not true, Harry! Well, it was part of it, but I really was, and am upset about you dying. It was a horrible shock for me, you know! I, I wanted to curl up and die too, just then. I wanted to wake up from such a horrible dream. Being married to Malfoy—that I could deal with. But losing you," she paused, steadying her breath. "I couldn't stand it Harry. And instead of being a total prat like he could have been, Draco offered his support. Once I had overcome the initial shock, I was that much more determined to find a way out of the dream and get back to you. Because I don't want to live in a world without you in it, Harry. You're like a brother to me."
Harry remained silent and looked as though he was thinking hard. Ron looked staggered. "You dreamed Harry died?" he said a bit hoarsely. Hermione nodded, tears pricking at her eyes. It was the most horrible thing I've ever experienced. "And what about me?"
"You were the one who told me about it," Hermione said, her voice choking a bit. "It was horrible. I just broke down right there in Diagon Alley and you took me to your brothers' joke shop and helped me home. Bought the girls ice cream too," she added at the end, smiling a little at the memory. "They really liked you," she said softly. And I wished they were yours, at first. This brought up the painful feelings of betrayal again. But I like Draco. Me and Ron are...just friends. I think. Just friends. And that's how he sees it too, right?
"That's something then, right?" Ron said, a bewildered expression on his face. His mouth twitched for a moment before he blurted out, "You were in my dream too you know."
Surprise flittered through Hermione. "Really?" she said, curious, but suddenly afraid of what he'd say next. Harry, she noticed, stood up a bit straighter and looked at Ron curiously, as though he wasn't quite believing what was happening. Hermione had a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Yeah," said Ron, glancing at Harry before continuing. He took a deep breath and suddenly looked determined. "You were, uh, we were...uh," he paused for a moment, then took the plunge. "You were my wife," he said in a rush and glancing at Hermione hopefully.
Several emotions ran through Hermione at once. First was elation and flattery at the thought that Ron dreamed about being married to her. Second was that now familiar feeling of betrayal—Ron was dreaming about her while she dreamed about their arch enemy. What's wrong with me? And third was a feeling of alarm and anxiety. Does Ron want to act on these feelings? Why now? Why not before? I don't want to abandon whatever it is I have with Draco, but I don't want to ruin my friendship with Ron. Please don't make this worse Ron, please... "Oh?" she managed to get out. Harry was now watching her with intense scrutiny. "How, how did you feel about that, Ron?"
Ron looked surprised, as though that was the last thing he had expected to come out of Hermione's mouth. He thought for a moment, then shrugged, trying to pass himself off as nonchalant but not quite making it. "We rubbed along alright, being best mates and all," he said, not meeting her eyes. His ears, Hermione noticed, were a fiery red to match his hair. Either I'm totally off the mark, or I'd say that thought hadn't occurred to him before.
"I mean," said Hermione gently and trying to ignore Harry's probing stare, "is this something you want to act on or was it just an intriguing thought?"
Ron looked alarmed and looked to Harry for support. He was too busy staring fixedly on Hermione. "Well uh, I thought we were alright. I'm sure I'd be better for you than Malfoy."
Hermione pursed her lips. Pushed aside again, only thought of as a last resort. "I will not date you Ronald Weasley, simply because you want to keep me from Draco Malfoy."
Ron paled a bit at the use of his given name, which almost always meant Hermione was displeased with him, but stiffened with anger at her blatant rejection. "You'd choose that ferret over me, your best mate?"
I knew this would happen. Hermione bit her lip, not out of worry but in anger. "That's not what I said, Ronald," she said firmly. I need to stay in control.
"But it's what it sounds like," Harry said suddenly, breaking his silence. Hermione gave him a withering stare, one he equally returned.
"It's not what I meant," she repeated. "Look, I wasn't kidding about wanting Draco in my life. He deserves a second chance, and opportunity to change that he might not get otherwise!"
"And you're the one to give it to him?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Oh bloody hell, he is your next house-elf crusade, Hermione!" Ron cried. "Look, you've got a big heart Hermione, but that doesn't mean you have to give to the likes of Malfoy. Look what he's done to you!"
"Yeah," Harry quickly seconded. "Look at what he's done to all of us and our friends. Are you just going to let that slide? I can't believe you, Hermione! His father is a Death Eater! I saw him at the graveyard, Hermione. What do you think that makes Draco?"
"Not a Death Eater," Hermione snapped. Honestly, don't you two get it? We have a chance to change that! The opportunity to make him one of us.
"He's as good as," Harry said darkly. "Do you really think this will last, Hermione? How do you know isn't working on his father's orders, trying to get close to you? He could be using you! That's the kind of guy he is, and trust me, he's not going to change."
"Harry's right, Hermione," Ron said. "He's a Malfoy. And Malfoy's don't change."
"What do you know?" Hermione shouted, finally losing her patience. "None of us have any idea what kind of pressure Draco is under from his father, none of us knows what life is like as a Slytherin, and just because we're in Gryffindor doesn't automatically make us the good guys and Slytherin the bad guys! Just look at Petigrew!" she cried.
"Don't bring him into this," Harry growled.
"Why not?" said Hermione shrilly, throwing her hands up in the air. "Because I have a point? You're blinded by your prejudices, Harry, and that's just as bad as Draco judging me by my blood status. He admitted he was wrong, why can't you?"
"I don't believe you," Harry said, his voice rising.
"Yeah, why should we believe anything he says?" asked Ron, backing Harry up.
This is hopeless! "I'm not asking to you believe him. I'm asking you to believe me! What's so hard about that? Don't you trust me?" She looked plaintively at the pair of them.
"I'm not so sure anymore," Harry said coldly. "What's next, are you going to start saying I'm a liar too?"
"Of course not Harry," Hermione said, a few tears spilling onto her cheeks. She rubbed them away furiously.
Ron looked distinctly uncomfortable seeing Hermione cry and he nudged Harry. "Hey mate, I don't think it will go that far, come on. She's just a bit worked up over this dream is all."
"I'm not just worked up over this dream Ron, I'm perfectly serious. Yes, the dream helped me see things a little differently but-"
Harry rudely cut her off. "I think we get it, Hermione. Looks like you've got a choice. Him, or us. Because that's what it's going to come down to, Hermione. In the end, we're going to have to choose a side. Better choose carefully."
Hermione gasped. "No, Harry! How can you say that? I will always be on your side. Can't you accept that Draco might want to join our side too? Everyone's got light and dark inside them, Harry. No one is all bad or all good."
Something flashed briefly in Harry's eyes as she said those last words, but his face quickly hardened again and he pressed his mouth into a thin line. Please don't push me away Harry. I'm trying to help! "Some cases are too far gone, Hermione. I'm sorry." Only to Hermione, he didn't sound sorry at all. Desperately, she turned to Ron.
"Please, Ron," she begged. He looked at the floor. "I'm sorry Hermione, but Harry's right on this one. There's no helping Malfoy. It's just mental."
Hermione's mouth hung open for a few moments while she started beseechingly at both boys. How can this be their decision? She sniffed and drew herself up to full height. "Fine," she said stiffly. "If this is your decision…if this is the choice offered to me, well," she paused. I really don't want another year like third year, with neither Harry nor Ron talking to me, but this is important. "I'll need some time to think about it," she spat out defiantly. Ron's mouth dropped open in surprise. Harry just looked grim.
"But Hermione," Ron said. Now it was him who looked beseechingly between his friends. "You can't really mean that."
"I do," said Hermione firmly. "I can't understand why my two best friends are making me choose sides like this, but…"
"We're just looking out for you!" Ron cried out.
"Oh really?" Hermione said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, it certainly doesn't feel like it."
"But," Ron started to protest again.
"Just leave it Ron," Harry said, still looking grim. He walked over to Ron and nodded his head sideways. "Come on, Hermione needs time with her thoughts, apparently," he said, not looking at her. Hermione took a shuddering breath, trying valiantly to hold back her tears. Fine. If that's how you're going to be…
"Goodbye," Hermione called bitterly after them. It's not fair, she thought to herself. She watched the retreating forms of her two best friends until they disappeared around the corner. It's not fair at all, her mind cried as she finally let her tears fall, her shoulders heaving with sobs in the empty corridor.
Back in his common room, Draco paced restlessly. It's not fair, he told himself. Why couldn't he just be friends with Hermione? Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why did she have to be a bloody Gryffindor and friends with bloody Potter? If it were anyone else… Draco shook his head. If it were anyone else, he wouldn't be pacing. And she likely wouldn't be worth it.
In his hand he clutched a letter that had just arrived from his father, advising him to support Umbridge in whatever changes she suggested. It would be wise to appear to support the Ministry right now, his father had said. Even if they're wrong? Even if Umbridge is a next to useless teacher with medieval punishment practices and an unhealthy obsession with kittens? He threw the letter aside in disgust. Of course he would have to do what his father advised, even if he thought it was stupid. Before it hadn't bothered him. Now he had the complication of worrying about what Hermione would think.
Maybe we didn't think this through. Maybe I didn't think this through. Draco ran a hand through his hair. Being friends, or possibly more with Hermione Granger came with baggage. Not just Potter and Weasley, but her blasted Gryffindor ideals too. I can't just change overnight. It's not that easy. He sighed again. Do I even want to?
The question brought him up short. Did he want to change? He threw a look over to his bed, and suddenly Naomi and Evanna were sitting there, looking up at him innocently. He blinked rapidly and they were gone. This is too much. Of course I want to change. No one wants to be a prat all the time. A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Changing wouldn't just mean defying his father. It meant…defying You-Know-Who as well. Draco shivered involuntarily and closed his eyes. He'd seen his father's Dark Mark; he knew Potter was telling the truth about the Dark Lord's return. It terrified him.
I've got to talk to Hermione, he thought. It was just too much for him to sort out on his own. If nothing else, Hermione can just forget about me and go back to her friends. It would be easier for her in the long run. He bit the inside of his cheek. But which would be easier for me? With another ragged sigh, Draco resumed pacing. It was a long time until his meeting with Hermione. He only hoped he could pull his thoughts together by then.
