Chapter 7: What is normal?
Hermione woke up after a night full of the best sleep thatshe had gotten since the war. Taking a moment, she first took in the smell since her eyes were still adjusting, it smelt of pine almost, and something manly that she just couldn't place. Her eyes adjusted to the light and then she spotted the Slytherin green and silver decorations on the walls and on the bed. Hermione attempted to move and felt an arm around her waist tighten and she stiffened.
"Morning" The male voice rumbled, his voice was rough and full of sleep still, but it made her body tingle with excitement and she squeezed her legs together as she turned just enough to spot the platinum blonde hair and then the events of the night before came rushing back.
"Morning." She whispered and turned fully towards him. "Any regrets?" Draco asked as he stifled a yawn, adjusting his posture a little so that he could stretch his back but still hold her close to him. "No, honestly, it.. I.." Hermione mumbled, she didn't really know how to explain how she was feeling without sounding foolish.
"That was the best sleep I have had since the war." Draco answered for her. "I didn't have one nightmare, and if it is any consolation I don't think you did either. I'm normally a light sleeper and I didn't wake up once." Hermione blushed and nodded in agreement. "I don't understand it honestly. How is it that apart we have the worst nightmares, but together we didn't have one?" She asked.
"I would normally blame it on the excessive amounts of fire whiskey we drank last night but I don't think that caused it. Even when I would be drunk off my arse and unable to remember much of the night before, I still had nightmares." Draco said and slowly let her go so that he could sit up. "I have tried everything that I could and unless I take Dreamless Sleep Potions nothing helps me at all." Hermione sighed as she slid out of the bed.
"I do like you wearing my name." Draco said, putting his hands behind his head as he leaned against the headboard. Hermione glanced back at him with a smirk before she moved to the mirror and saw his name on the old quidditch uniform shirt that he had given her to wear. "You do realize you will probably never get this back."
"I never want it back, it suits you, and as I just stated I really like seeing you with my name. Besides that shirt looks a lot better on your body then it ever did on mine." Draco said coming up behind her and putting his hands around her waist, he smiled as she leaned back into him.
"So when are you going to officially start courting me?" Hermione asked him bluntly.
"Well, in pureblood families we normally ask permission from your parents to start with, but as your parents are no longer around, Theo is the next best thing as he's your brother. So I asked him yesterday." He said kissing her neck before she turned in his arms to look him in the face, not just a reflection in the mirror. "Well I am sure he said yes, because honestly, he has no say."
"He did, so now I will formally ask you to go out with me. We have already set our first date for this weekend. Then at meals I would serve you, yes I know that you can serve yourself, but this is how we were raised. When Ginny accepts Blaise, and Pansy accepts Theo you will see…" he said but was cut off by Hermione. "Neville does it for Luna… he serves her every meal and helps carry her bag, granted I am not sure how much will change here, since I only saw them after the war."
"Yes, I will serve you at meals, help you carry your things; hold your chair out at your desk for you to sit. I will be the proper gentleman though we have skipped some steps. If it means no nightmares though, I will gladly sleep by your side every night." Draco said finally letting her go so he could grab his things for a shower. Hermione summoned her things to his room, not wanting to walk around half naked in front of the others. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, before she walked into the smallbathroom that he had. It seemed all the rooms had small attached bathrooms, they had a sink, mirror, toilet and a shower, all the essentials. As she closed the door she heard him chuckle, but she wanted to get a shower before he did.
The Great Hall
At breakfast the couples paired off, Draco with Hermione, Theo with Pansy, Blaise with Ginny and Neville with Luna. They all sat together at the Slytherin table, even though they got side looks and murmurs about what was happening with them.
Draco moved just slightly and conjured a small bouquet of blue corn flowers. He had asked Ginny what Hermione's favorite flowers were to make sure he got it right. Flowers in hand he turned to Hermione and smiled gently at her, "Hermione Nott, will you do me the honor of allowing me to court the brightest witch of our age?" Normally he would have a smirk because he was Draco Malfoy, no one would turn him down, however this was Hermione. Yes they had shared one night cuddled together, they had shared stolen moments of sweet touches and kind words, but they had six years of a horrible past to make up for and he felt slightly unsure. Hermione looked at him, then at the flowers, allowing tears to well up but not leak from her eyes, not until she was able to actually say what she wanted too.
"If it is too soon, I can ask you after our date." Draco was quickly back tracking, thinking he may have read all the signs wrong. "You will do no such thing Draco Malfoy; honestly, how many women have you attempted to court? Some women need a moment to gather their thoughts, or risk letting their emotions spill over and make a blabbering fool of themselves." Hermione huffed before her face softened, "Of course I will allow you to court me." Taking the bouquet she turned her attention back to the table and froze. "What?" She asked.
"Well, I never thought you would actually date Malfoy." Ginny admitted and shrugged. "Sure shag him silly, but date…"
"Ginevra Weasley, I will date who I wish, and Draco and I have put the past behind us." She said firmly, only to receive a few claps from the others and a smirk from Theo. "Besides, are you just going to shag Blaise silly and let him go?" She asked pointedly. "Alright, fair point… and no I will not let him go when he finally asks me." Ginny said.
"I am sitting right here…" Blaise chuckled and shook his head.
Hermione looked around seeing Theo serve Pansy and she couldn't help but smile. She was happy her brother had found someone to bring him joy. He looked over and smirked seeing her watch him.
"I asked Pansy before bed last night, she accepted obviously. " He explained as he finished serving his new girlfriend. "I also gave Draco a talk, told him no matter what, you are my blood." Not having to explain further he winked at his sister and went back to his plate serving himself.
"Pansy, if you hurt my brother, I will hurt you worse than Bellatrix hurt me. I will make what she did to me look like child's play." Hermione turned and spoke to the raven haired girl seriously and with the edge of threat to her voice. "I do not plan on hurting him, I can assure you." The girl said genuinely before she smiled. "It is nice to have someone stand up for him though. I am glad you are his sister". Breakfast went on with the couples talking to each other, before they all pulled out their times tables.
"Double potions first thing in the morning. Who will teach it I wonder?" Hermione asked thinking how Slughorn was now no longer around, and Snape was sadly gone. "There was a few new teachers sitting up at the teachers table yesterday, though I am not sure I remember their names… I sort of blocked it all out." Ginny admitted as she stood with Blaise. They all shared double potions to start their day with,then Hermione went with Draco, Theo and Pansy to Charms while the rest went to Herbology.
Potions Class: Double, Double, Boil, and Bubble!
Walking into potions, everyone started to sit before they were stopped by their professor whom seemed vaguely familiar. "My name is Professor Atanas. Some of you may recognize me from the year Durmstrang visited Hogwarts for the Tri-Wizard Tournament." He said and stood there. He reminded Hermione of Snape in a way, the black robes, black hair, and the stone face. However, he had green eyes, and even though he was tall, she thought Draco and Theo happened to be a bit taller. His eyes locked on hers when she was lost in thought and a soft smile appeared on his face.
"Miss Granger." He spoke, his accent was still there but it seemed he had spent a long time in England because it wasn't broken English like Viktor used to use.
"It's Miss Nott." Hermione corrected.
"You married?" He inquired tilting his head.
"No, I found out I have a brother instead." She said simply and waved a hand to Theo who stood next to Draco.
"You have new friends?" The professor pressed for answers.
"If you are referring to Harry or Ronald, until they both stop acting as if they are the only human beings on this planet then to put it simply, yes I do."
"Very well…" he said a bit shocked but he turned his attention to a parchment in front of him before he began to direct students into small groups. They all ended up in groups of four and she was grateful when she wasn't paired with Harry or Ron.
"So you are my advanced class. As such I won't really be teaching you much, everything I will show you, you already know, or just need small amounts of help with. We will be getting you ready to take your N.E.W.T.S." The professor went on to explain. "I have supplied everything on the tables, as you can see these are simple ingredients to create potions that are commonly used. As you all know the war was very recent, and no matter the side you were on, the need for potions was great." He paused and looked around. "So great in fact that Hogwarts has been asked to help replenish these potions. Now I know many of you are asking, why here, why you. Well to put it simply, I am teaching this class, and it does take skill to make these potions. One ingredient gone wrong and you can end up making a Dreamless sleep potion into something much more dangerous. Every potion can be made wrong, and if it is, then it can harm you." He explained.
It didn't take long before each team was tasked into making one type of potion. Hermione's group which consisted of herself, Draco, Blaise and Ginny, were tasked to make the Dreamless Sleep potion. Hermione knew how to make them easily since she brewed herself a small supply just to be able to sleep. Though she did wonder if she could just sleep in Draco's arms every night and give up the potions.
Theo's group which consisted of, Theo, Pansy, Neville and Luna, were tasked to create Wolfsbane. During the war it seemed the number of werewolves virtually doubled and a lot of them didn't wish to be like Greyback, many wished to be like Remus instead. They had to be verycareful one wrong move in making the potion and it could turn the drinker from a more subdued wolf to a hyper active wolf.
The group that Harry and Ronald were in was to make the Draught of Peace. They were paired with two Hufflepuffs who seemed easily distracted. The bad thing about making the Draught of Peace wrong was that it could cause the drinker to hallucinate.
There were a few other groups and they had different potions to mix as well.
"Now after you are done, someone from another team will test your potion. I will choose who gets to test it, so I suggest unless you want to kill your class mate, or the person who may drink your potion that you do it correctly. The only potion that will not be tested here because we have no werewolves in this class, is the wolfsbane, but I have a friend willing to help with that later on" the professor explained letting them all begin.
After half the class was over the first batch of potions were made. The professor started to have groups test out the potions. So far nothing went wrong, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her brother drift off to a peaceful sleep.
"Miss Nott, you will be trying the Draught of Peace" the professor said handing her the vial.
She sniffed it at first, it smelt correct and looked correct, but she was always wary when taking potions.
"What? Don't you trust us now?" Harry spat at her.
"What, trying to poison me?" She retorted.
The professor watched the conflict but just waved it off, watching Hermione closely as she downed the potion. At first she felt fine, she felt a calmness surround her and she relaxed. She looked around with a smile at Draco when she spotted him, then her eyes flicked quickly behind him, and she screamed in terror.
A/N: I know, please don't hate me! Short chapter… But I promise to make up for it.
Can we say AWE, I love how Draco was insecure, who agrees?
And what is going on with Harry and Ron? What did Hermione see behind Draco?
We have a Wonderful Beta [updated 4/29/17]
Up next: What's up with Hermione? - I am planning an entire chapter to this.
