Chapter 7

". . .don't wake her, this must be the first time she's slept in a while. . ."

"She didn't find. . ."

". . .gone for hours."

". . .upset if we leave her. . ."

CLUNK.

"Blaise, you idiot!"

I groaned slightly and shifted, turning my head away from the noise.

"I am not an idiot."

"You definitely are a moron though."

"Shush—you guys are going to wake her!"

"You lot aren't very good at being quiet," I mumbled, smiling slightly before dragging my eyes open and staring up at the people in front of me.

Blaise, Ginny, Luna, Theo, and Adrian were surrounding me on the tiny couch, and I rolled my eyes at a pouting Blaise.

"I told you," Luna murmured dreamily.

"Why'd you wake me?" I asked curiously, glancing at my half-finished book.

"You looked like you were having too good a dream," Adrian offered and I laughed, smacking him lightly across the stomach, to which he gave me a mock-glare.

"So what was your dream about?" Theo asked after a moment of silence and I blinked.

"I dunno," I murmured, examining the worn book in my hands instead of looking at their faces. "All I know is that it was really good."

"Well that's boring." Ginny commented, pulling me up from the couch, my book falling from my loose hold and onto the cushions that I'd just vacated. We walked together towards the Great Hall, my arms around Luna and Ginny's shoulders, the boys walking behind us. I vaguely wondered exactly how we'd decided that Adrian and Theo were friends instead of enemies now.

"You don't remember your dream?" Ginny asked and I shrugged—I rarely dreamt anymore, and when I did, it was even less often that I remembered what I dreamt about.

"I wish I couldn't remember my dreams," Luna breathed, and I tightened my grip around her shoulders, pulling her close.

We walked into the hall and attracted quite a few eyes as Theo, Adrian, and Blaise followed us over to the Gryffindor table. You'd think the school would get used to it—but I guess every time we enlist the help of a new Slytherin, they're going to have heart attacks.

"You didn't talk to Draco," Blaise commented after stuffing a bread roll in his mouth and swallowing it with difficulty. "We went to visit him about half an hour after you'd left and, while we didn't mention you coming to corner him, he didn't seem bring up anything about Granger being mental and butting into his business."

"He will soon," I said firmly, "I will talk to him."

"You mean you'll say something nice and he'll reply sarcastically and then you'll be screaming at him, but it's not so bad because he'll be yelling back at you." Adrian corrected and I raised my brows at him, conceding his point.

"Quite." Theo said, nodding once.

"I almost want to watch that go about," Ginny mused, shoving half a sandwich in my mouth when she noticed I was talking instead of eating. "It would be interesting—Malfoy still doesn't know what's up unless any of you three dunderheads let him in on it."

"We didn't say a word," Theo said flatly, clearly insulted at being called a dunderhead.

"We wouldn't." Adrian insisted. "It's too amusing to watch Draco be irritated at the lot of us."

"You find it amusing when your friend is annoyed with you?" I asked, my voice slightly sarcastic, "Ginny does too!"

Three pairs of eyes slid to Ginny and she nodded a few times, grinning as if I'd just paid her a massive compliment.

I rolled my eyes at her, aware that I make that movement of grudging amusement far too often, and shook my head, putting a forkful of pasta into my mouth.

"So can I?" Ginny asked me excitedly and I blinked.

"Can you what?"

"Can I watch you 'talk' to Malfoy about our secret?"

"Why the air quotes?" I asked indignantly, even though I would have put them in as well.

"I love listening to you two banter—it's such amusing foreplay."

Blaise, Theo, and Adrian all simultaneously choked on their dinner, their arms wide-spread out in front of them as they coughed away at the food lodged in their throats and tried not to lose their balance on the bench.

"It. Is. Not. Foreplay." I hissed at my best friend, flicking my wand at the three Slytherins and watching as their breathing returned to normal. "And no, you may not watch."

Ginny shrugged, clearly undeterred by my hostile attitude, and shared a look with Luna and the two of them immediately started giggling.

I sighed loudly at the pair of girls I called my best friends and glared at the boys, silently daring them to make a comment about Ginny's insane joke.

"And now you've gotten Pucey and Nott under with whatever it is that you've been working on," Dean commented as he, Neville, and Seamus settled themselves down near our group.

"It's quite scary how easily you're managing to invade the house of the serpent." Seamus continued.

"Almost. . .Slytherin like," Neville completed, grinning at me as I moved my scowl to him for bringing up his insult two weeks prior.

"'Mione," Ginny cooed, "Drink some coffee, you're scowling too much."

"It's because I hang around you lot," I retorted, but I took the coffee she was handing me and sipped it quietly, watching my three Slytherin recruits, my Ravenclaw best friend, and my fellow Gryffindors get along as if they'd been friends for years.

Three cups of coffee and half a sandwich later, the whole lot of us separated by house, the boys leading the way towards the tower, Ginny and I following along behind, at least twenty feet away, giggling madly at the details of her and Harry's most recent date.

"I cannot believe you hinted proposal," I told her disbelievingly. "Ginny. . .you're seventeen."

"I know!" She insisted. "I'm not saying we'd get married right away, but I'd love to be able to say that I'm engaged to Harry Potter."

"You and every other girl in the wizarding world," I smirked and she grinned widely.

"Too right you are, 'Mione."

I could tell Ginny wanted desperately to bring up the subject of Malfoy's case, but instead of just letting her speak her mind like I normally did, I pretended not to notice. Talking of the case stressed me out far too much. She'd probably bring it up later anyway.

We didn't bother sitting with Neville, Dean, and Seamus in the common room, instead the pair of us went straight up to our dorm. I dropped my bag at the corner of my bed and walked quickly into the loo, turning on the shower and stripping myself of my clothing.

The scalding water burned hot against my skin as I stepped under it, and I let out a stream of quietly hissed swears, but didn't move to turn the cold water on. After a few moments, the water became the perfect temperature; hot enough to relax me, yet not so hot that it burned me. I stood there for Merlin knows how long, letting the water run over my body, long after the shampoo was gone from my hair and the soap gone from myself.

Finally, when I closed my eyes for a moment and it took some effort to get my lids back up, I turned the water off, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around my frame, looking at the blob of my reflection in the fogged mirror.

"'Mione?" Ginny asked as I stepped out of the bathroom fully clothed, rubbing my hair dry with my green towel. I raised my eyebrows signaling for her to continue. "How are you going to talk to Malfoy?"

I smiled at her, and saw as she let out a sigh of relief—I wasn't angry at her for bringing it up again.

"I'm just going to spring it on him," I said, deciding as I spoke. "He'll get all defensive, and he'll tell me to keep my nosy mudblood nose out of his business, and we'll yell and then he'll storm off and sulk for a few days, completely ignoring Blaise, Adrian, and Theo. I'm not too sure what'll happen after that, but I'm crossing my fingers for him agreeing to do the interview, because if he doesn't, he's likely to get sentenced to Azkaban."

Ginny blinked at me. "You think he'll call you a nosy mudblood?"

"I am a nosy mudblood, Gin," I informed her, "but in a good way."

"Don't call yourself a mudblood, 'Mione." she snapped at me. "It's not true."

"But I am." I insisted, "It just doesn't mean that I'm any better or worse than anyone else. Mudblood is just a term, Gin, it's the way people use it that makes it hateful."

"So. . .you don't mind being called that?"

"Not really," I shrugged. "Not anymore. I've been called that so many times that it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Well I will never use that term on you as long as I live," She said adamantly and I shrugged again.

"I'm not telling you to. I was just saying."

Ginny sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to win this one, and moved towards the bathroom. A few moments later, I heard the water turn on and I opened up my book, my eyes scanning the familiar words quickly.

It was hours later, when the candles in the dorm were long since blown out, and the breathing of my four dorm mates was paced and heavy.

I slowly slipped out of my bed, ignoring my slippers and leaving the dorm, my bare feet cold against the freezing marble, but my slippers made an odd sort of scuffling noise when I walked in them, and I wasn't particularly in the mood to get caught out of bed after hours.

I left the deserted common room quite quickly, closing the portrait carefully but hastily, and started my way soundlessly down the darkened corridor.

I guess creeping around after hours with Harry and Ron had gotten to me—it seemed so natural to become one with the shadows and explore the familiar castle by wandlight.

I wasn't paying attention to where my feet were leading me, and all too soon, I found myself atop the Astronomy tower, my arms wrapped around myself tightly, my feet wishing that I'd worn something on them to keep them warm. A light breeze was playing with my hair that I'd left down, and I smiled slightly, closing my eyes and leaning forward against the railing.

"Dammit—Granger, why'd you have to be here?"

My eyelids flew open, and I whirled around to face the irritated blonde man in front of me who was clutching the door knob like the picture of casual, but his knuckles were glowing white from the strain he was exerting.

"It's not like I knew you'd come up here for a midnight stroll, Malfoy," I snapped back.

"I always come up here." He hissed. "Go find a different hiding spot—this one's taken."

I curled my fingers around the railing when I realized that the blasted potion was edging me forward, and glared at him. "I'm fairly certain you don't own the astronomy tower, Malfoy, so, while I'm here, it's you who's going to have to find a different hiding spot."

"I'm not hiding." He retorted angrily, scooting back again and further tightening his grip on the poor doorknob.

"I think you are." I said smugly, mildly pleased that he was growing more irritated by the words that were coming from my mouth.

"As opposed to you?" He finally asked sarcastically, "I don't suppose you're not hiding either—no, Gryffindors are too bloody brave to go into hiding."

"Only you would be able to say that and make it sound like an insult," I praised sardonically, "Congrats."

"There's no other way to make it sound," he replied, "You and Potter running around giving up your own lives to help others? Disgusting."

I blinked—he couldn't possibly know. The boys wouldn't tell him, and, as far as I'm aware, Narcissa and Lucius want me to be the one to share the news.

"You think I don't see you two running around at the ministry?" He threw at me. "We may be Malfoys, and our name may have been stained beyond cleaning, but we still frequent the ministry."

"Oh, Malfoy," I said, laughing and hoping that it didn't sound as nervous to him as it did to me. For all my confidence with Ginny and Luna and Blaise and Theo and Adrian, there was another reason as to why I didn't want to tell Malfoy—his reaction had the potential to be terrifying. "Silly, naïve Malfoy. If only you knew exactly what Harry and I were wasting our lives on. Then, maybe, you wouldn't be so quick to judge."

"This has to do with that blasted secret of yours that you've got Theo and Blaise and Adrian running to your beck and call, doesn't it?" He hissed, and I smiled slightly. He was jealous that his friends were abandoning him for me. Not that they were, but I supposed he didn't know that.

"A lot more than you think." I responded instead, before blinking and recalling what he'd said earlier. "Stained beyond cleaning? That's not true."

"I almost forgot," He snapped irritably, "You Gryffindors have the inane ability to see the good that's not there."

For a split second, I forgot about the nagging at my naval that was tugging me towards the man in front of me, and I released the bars that I'd been clutching on so desperately. I wanted to be closer to him so my next words would have more effect.

But as soon as the bar slid through my grasp, my feet were leading me straight to him, and his hands were off the doorknob and around my waist, and we were in the same position as earlier, but no one was there to save us this time 'round. We were inches from each other and his hands were gripping my hips firmly and I was too surprised.

We just stared at each other. Even though the potion was wearing off by now, there was still enough in our systems to be unable to move properly when we were this close to one another. Our faces were getting closer and closer and I could feel the fabricated electricity in the air.

Finally, I moved my hands to his chest and held them there firmly. "Nothing is broken beyond repair." I breathed to him, before using all of my inner strength and self-resolve and pushing away from him, breaking out of his gentle-but-firm hold of my waist and backing up through the doorway of the astronomy tower.

I took the stairs two at a time, desperate to get away from him because I knew that if he got near me again while the potion was still swimming in my veins, I wouldn't be able to keep myself from kissing him.