Disclaimer: Ay. If I wrote the Harry Potter series, Hermione Granger's name after the Epilogue would've been Hermione Granger Malfoy.
Hermione made her way to the Atrium, unobservant of anything around her. She was completely consumed in her thoughts and it was a miracle that she was able to step into the Floo and recite her home address. After throwing the green powder haphazardly at her feet, she felt the familiar sensation of transport and stepped out into her living room when it stopped. The sight that greeted her was of Ginny nestled lovingly in Harry's embrace, both lying down comfortably on the couch. When the two saw her, they both started and broke apart quickly to greet her. Hermione pulled herself out of her thoughts as quickly as she could and beamed at her two best friends.
"Well, well, well, you two. Mind if I take a picture and send it to Molly?" she teased, running one slender hand through her soft brown hair.
Ginny glared at Hermione playfully and Harry chuckled before responding, "No, I don't think I would mind… that is if I had a wish to die a slow and painful death."
Smiling quickly at Harry and Ginny, Hermione hurried upstairs, feeling urgent to return to her thoughts. The redheaded witch who never missed a beat raised her delicate eyebrows at Harry. When the dark haired wizard gave her a look with his emerald eyes that clearly stated 'Probably Malfoy', Ginny leaped out of his arms with a yelp. "How can I be so stupid!" she exclaimed in distress. "It was Hermione's first day of working with Draco sodding Malfoy and I didn't even ask her about it! No wonder she seemed so distracted… do you think he said something to make her upset?" The redhead paced around the large living room quickly, fretting, before racing up the stairs after Hermione.
..0.
Hermione quickly dropped her bag and stripped out of her work dress. Putting on her most comfortable pair of jeans and her favorite Harvard sweatshirt she'd purchased during her time of studying at the school after graduating Hogwarts, she crashed on her bed with her loose hair spread in all directions. Closing her eyes, Hermione let herself be consumed by her thoughts. 'The killer is most likely targeting Pureblood and Muggle-born or Muggle relationships… and Draco Malfoy is perhaps the most famous Pureblood in all of Wizarding England- if not the whole Wizarding world. And the whole world knows of our hostile relationship… if we were to become 'romantically involved', the press would have a field day and there would be no way that the killer could ignore the most public Pureblood and Muggle-born relationship…'
Hermione covered her eyes with both her hands and sighed. There had to be another way. There had to be. It would just… take her some time to think of another plan. 'But what if the time that it takes you to come up with something else costs another's life?' she asked herself. 'Maybe we could monitor a Pureblood and Muggle-born relationship that already exists… but then that would be putting other peoples' lives in danger. Hermione grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her stomach tightly. Deep inside, she had already accepted the fact that she would have to proposition a fake relationship to Malfoy. Groaning, she wondered, 'How can Malfoy and I possibly pretend to be in a relationship when we can barely stand being in the same room? We would have to hold hands-' Hermione shuddered at the thought of the blond wizard's hand around her own- it gave her unpleasant chills to think about even his skin coming in contact with hers. 'Maybe he won't agree to it. After all, he couldn't be totally over his prejudices. He'd never even pretend to be in a relationship with the 'insufferable Muggle-born'. Maybe-'
A sharp rap on the door shook Hermione out of her thoughts. Sitting up and crossing her legs, she pulled her hair back into a loose bun and called out, "Come in!"
Her door quickly opened and Ginny rushed into the room, bursting with apologies. "'Mione, I'm so, so, so sorry I didn't ask you about today! I was a total git! Oh Merlin, this totally proves that Ron Weasley is my brother. Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, I'm turning into Ron! How was it? Did he say anything?" the redhead rattled off. "Should I go give him a nice sting of my Bat-Bogey Hex?" she threatened menacingly, sitting down on the bed across from Hermione.
Hermione smiled at her best friend and took the other witch's hand, squeezing it gently before letting it go. "Gin, it's fine. Really, I'm a big girl now," she laughed, her eyes shining. "He actually wasn't all that bad, although we had two huge arguments today."
Ginny gaped at Hermione, surprised. "Really?"
Hermione nodded. "I actually… kind of overstepped my boundaries today and was far harsher to him than he was to me," she admitted, twiddling her fingers. Ginny raised her eyebrows and prodded her silently to go on. "I… compared him to his father and told him that he became an Auror just to save his sorry arse from Azkaban."
Ginny's large chocolate eyes widened. "So what did he say?" she gasped.
"He really didn't say anything- he just told me never to compare him to Lucius Malfoy ever again," Hermione replied. After a moment she added quietly, "I kept waiting for it. For him to say 'Mudblood'. But he never did."
At that statement, Hermione surprised herself as much as she did to Ginny. She hadn't known consciously that she was waiting for Malfoy to sneer at her about her parentage all day, but now that she said it out loud, Hermione realized that she had been waiting for it. The jibes, the taunting about her being a Muggle-born. But not once had he insulted her blood- he'd insulted her clothes, her level of intelligence, and returned her jibes, but not once had he muttered one word about her non-Wizarding heritage.
As both girls sat in silence, Hermione looked down and thought to herself, 'Maybe it won't be so bad. We'd only have to act like a couple in public and we'll both know that it's a part of the investigation. The only people we'd put at risk would be ourselves, and potential victims would be safe temporarily- the murderer would be too busy chasing after us.'
When Hermione looked up, she gave a surprised start. She'd forgotten that Ginny was there, and now the ginger witch was staring at her inquisitively.
"Something's on your mind that's bothering you, isn't it," Ginny stated, rather than questioned.
"No, not at all. What makes you say that?" Hermione laughed nervously.
Ginny narrowed her eyes and said, "You're playing with your fingers and you haven't said a word for the past ten minutes. When you actually looked up from your hands you were surprised to see me. Am I wrong?"
Smiling, Hermione tried to mollify the redheaded witch. "I'm just tired, that's all. Long day."
Ginny gave her a disbelieving look with her chocolate brown eyes.
"Really, Gin. I'm fine. Just need some sleep. Go pay Harry some attention before I owl Molly!" Hermione said teasingly.
Ginny playfully glared at Hermione before reaching out to squeeze her knee gently and get up from the bed. "You know, 'Mione, if you ever need to talk, I'm here."
The brunette witch smiled lovingly at the witch who had grown to be her sister. "I know, Gin. I love you."
"Love you too, 'Mione. Get some sleep," Ginny said quietly before casting a quick "nox" and darkening Hermione's room before shutting the door behind her.
Hermione laid in bed long before Ginny left the room, trying to convince herself to set her personal dislike for Draco Malfoy for the sake of the case and fell into a fitful sleep where the voice of a certain blond little boy's tauntings haunted her for the rest of the night.
..0.0.
Ginny shut Hermione's door quietly, sensing that the brunette needed some privacy. She quickly hurried to the living room, where Harry fell asleep on the sofa with his hair mussed up and his glasses askew. Smiling softly, she made her way quietly to the couch and sat at the end of it, staring at the sleeping wizard. It warmed Ginny's heart to see Harry so vulnerable. Without his guard up. Although he was out of harm's way and did not have to always have to be on alert, Ginny knew that he subconsciously was suspicious of anything that was new and planned multiple escape plans upon entering new places. Yet now, as he slept and explore the realms of his mind that were dreams, he looked so young, reminding Ginny of the days when the eyes most beautiful to her did not have the aged look about them- the look that clearly stated that he had seen much more than a person his age should see in his lifetime.
Lifting one hand, Ginny reached out and slowly smoothed the hair out of Harry's face, running her fingers through the soft black mess. She leaned in and kissed his forehead gently, then moved to take of his glasses when he stirred and caught her hand in his. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, having a silent conversation only they could understand, then he took her in his arms where she nestled comfortably.
"Still worrying about 'Mione, are you," Harry stated knowingly, his voice raw from sleep.
"Like I always am," Ginny replied, laughing softly.
Softly kissing the top of her head, the black haired wizard said quietly, "She'll be fine, Gin. Hermione's a big girl now. She isn't the brightest witch of our age for nothing."
"I know," Ginny sighed, giving in.
Holding each other close, the two fell asleep, where in dreamland they reunited again.
Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update! I absolutely suck. But I'm actually excited to write next chapter- I don't even know how Draco will respond to Hermione's proposition! But I promise, QUICKER UPDATES. I legitimately will try to update every weekend. Every review gets me more motivated to write, so please leave reviews- the literally mean the world to me! I love you all Dramione shippers and I know this had more Hinny than Dramione in it- but I promise that more Draco/Hermione is coming! Chapterloads. I promise. Love you all, thank you for taking the time to read! I'm so honored. Thank you.