Chapter 11: Exposed
Hermione couldn't believe her eyes when she saw who had come running in. It was Ginny, and Draco.
"Who are you?"
Draco asked Draco with a scowl on his face. This was starting to confuse Hermione to the max. She decided to call the Draco with Astoria as Draco 1, while the one with Ginny was Draco 2. Draco 2 replied.
"I'm Draco Malfoy. Who are you?"
"No, I'm Draco Malfoy. You are some imposter."
"If you were really Draco Malfoy, then you would be able to tell Hermione where you took her on your first date."
Draco 1 looked a little uneasy. Hermione was confused. If the real Draco tried to break her heart it would have been confusing enough, but if that wasn't the real Draco, then why was he trying to break her heart?
"Why do I care about where I took the mudblood on our 'first date?' It's not like I actually love her."
Draco 2 looked like he was going to murder Draco 1. Thankfully, Ginny held him back before he could do anything. Draco 2 struggled for a while before giving up.
"Fine. If you are the real Draco, then you would be fine if all of us stayed here for an hour until the Polyjuice potions runs out."
Draco 1 paled at that. But in the end he agreed. Hermione couldn't wait to get some answers. An imposter was in the room, and Hermione had some ideas about who it was. In the meanwhile Ginny looked a little impatient.
"Since this will take a while, I'm going to go get Professor McGonagall. She should be here when everyone explains things." With that, Ginny ran off.
It seemed like they waited forever. The minutes passed by like hours. Eventually, Ginny came back with Professor McGonagall.
"What is happening here?"
Hermione decided to speak up.
"I think it would be best to explain after the Polyjuice potions wears off."
Professor McGonagall agreed after seeing the 2 Dracos.
Finally, after waiting for a little less than an hour, Draco 1's features started to morph.
"No! I thought we had more time."
Astoria slapped him.
"I told you this wouldn't work."
She walked away, and when Hermione looked back at Draco 1, she saw Ron in his place. Draco 2 was the actual Draco.
"Ron!? Why would you do that?!"
Professor McGonagall stepped in.
"I think we need to hear this story from the beginning."
Hermione nodded. "I think I know where it starts."
From there, Hermione retold the story of what happened the week after the Halloween Bash. She told the older woman how Ron yelled at her, and how Draco and herself had made plans for revenge. Then she mentioned where she saw 'Draco' over the last 3 days. Hermione made sure to mention how she saw Ron, as Draco, threatening kids.
Professor McGonagall looked at Hermione.
"I can't say that I loved your plan of revenge, but it wasn't against the rules and it didn't disrupt learning, so it is okay. Who's going to talk next?"
Draco raised his hand.
"I got up early Friday morning and went on a walk around the school. I was passing by some old broomsheds when someone pulled me into one of them. Then I saw Ron."
Draco paused to glare at Ron before continuing.
"He pulled some of my hair and then knocked me out. Before he knocked me out he said something about Hermione, but I didn't hear anything except her name."
Hermione looked appalled. Ron was pretending to be Draco since Friday morning? This meant that her Draco was still there. He didn't follow Voldemort's ideals, and he still loves her. Hermione sighed a breath of relief. Finally things were settling down. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall looked at Ron with a cold stare.
"I think you are next Ronald."
Grumbling, Ron started talking.
"I knocked him out. Then I used Polyjuice Potion to pretend that I was Malfoy. Some of the old Voldemort supporters helped me terrorize some kids while Hermione was watching."
"Why?"
"So that Malfoy would be hated."
Ron turned towards Hermione.
"I won't give up on you. Malfoy replaced me in your life. You were supposed to love me. Instead, you were a fool."
Ron glared daggers at Hermione. Professor McGonagall ran up to Ron, and Draco looked ready to murder Ron.
"Ronald Weasley! How dare you do this? I will be telling your mother. You will be expelled along with all the people who helped you."
"What! No!"
"Yes. Now finish your story."
"Fine. Today me and Astoria placed ourselves so that Hermione would see us kissing. Then I told her that Draco didn't love her. Hermione was in tears and about to walk away when these two came running in and ruining everything. The plan was to have Hermione come running to me. Then Draco would have been ruined, and I would have gotten Hermione."
Ron gestured at Ginny and Draco. Hermione took the time to say something.
"Ignoring your insane stupidity, I have a question. What were you planning on doing with Draco afterwards?"
"We were going to obliviate him and drop him far away. Then we were going to ruin his reputation before he could come back and tell the truth. Nobody would have listened to him after that."
Everyone was absolutely shocked by what Ron was proposing. Professor McGonagall stepped in.
"Ginny, please finish the story, and I will take Ron up to be expelled."
Ron was about to start complaining when Ginny started talking.
"Yes Professor. I think Draco woke up after a while. I was walking around the school when I heard someone yelling from inside the cupboard. I opened the door and saw Draco. All he said was that we had to do was find Hermione, and so we ran around the school trying to find her. We finally did, and that's when we got here."
"Well, this has been a productive evening. I'm going to go take Mister Weasley to be expelled."
Hermione watched them walk away when she remembered something. Ron was the one who crucioed the first years on Friday. That was breaking the law. Ron was going to go to Azkaban. Hermione quickly yelled after Professor McGonagall to remind her.
"Professor!"
Professor McGonagall turned around.
"Yes Hermione?"
"Ron was the one who crucioed the kids yesterday. That was one of his trials to discredit Draco"
"Oh. This changes things. Thanks for telling me Hermione."
The Professor turned around and continued to walk Ron to her office. Hermione could clearly see a look of disgust on the Professor's face as she looked at Ron. Ron was mumbling the entire time. Hermione turned to Draco. He ran up to her and hugged her. Hermione flinched. It was going to take her a while to fully get over what Ron did to her. Draco noticed.
"Mya, let's go to the Head Dorms. You can tell me exactly what happened and what the bloody Weasel did to you."
Hermione nodded. Both of them said bye to Ginny and went upstairs to their dorms.
Once they got upstairs they both sat on the couch and Draco made both of them cups of Hot Chocolate. Hermione wondered how she got herself such an amazing boyfriend, and how she could have ever doubted him.
"Okay, so tell me exactly what he said to you."
Hermione sighed. She started again with her story, and she told Draco everything that Ron said while pretending to be Draco. After she finished she was in near tears again. Draco on the other hand, looked ready to strangle someone.
"Mya, I'm right here for you. I promise never to leave you. I would never break your heart like that and I would never say those things to you. You mean so much to me."
"I know. I tried so hard not to believe it. I knew that you would never hurt me like that, but Ron tried so hard to destroy our relationship. In the end I found myself doubting everything. All I can say is that I am happy it's not true."
"It's not true. I'm right here."
"Thank You."
"I love you."
Hermione was shocked for a moment. They had been dating, but neither of them had said the 3 words yet. She looked up at Draco. She really did love him. She wasn't the type to throw the word love around like anything, but she could tell that he meant it. Draco's face morphed into shock as he realized what he said.
"Mya-"
"I love you too."
There. She had said it, and she meant every syllable of it. They both fell into a comfortable silence after that. Draco knew it was what Hermione needed right now, and he was happy to give it to her.
Both of them sat there for a while, enjoying each other's presence. Hermione didn't know how long they sat there, cuddling together on the couch. Finally, after a while, Draco said something.
"The Winter Ball is in 2 weeks."
"Yeah. We finish all of the planning. I was thinking that we could she Professor McGonagall the plans a little earlier so that we would have more time. I wanted to talk it over with you first though."
"Okay. We can take it to Professor McGonagall tomorrow. That wasn't what I wanted to talk about though."
"Okay sure. What is it?"
He paused. His face looked flustered.
"I was wondering, if you would like to go to the Winter Ball with me."
Hermione looked at him for a second. He looked so cute and awkward when asking her. She loved him so much.
"Yes. Obviously, what else did you expect?"
He sighed.
"I knew you were going to say yes, but I was still worried."
Hermione smiled. She glanced over at the clock and realized it was almost dinner time.
"Draco, we should go down for dinner."
"Okay."
They both got ready and headed down for dinner.
At dinner, Hermione noticed that some people were giving Draco dirty stares. Then she realized that everyone thought he was a bad guy because of what Ron did. She was going at ask Professor McGonagall to do something about it, but it seemed like the professor read her mind. At that moment the older lady stood up.
"I know many of you are heard rumors of attacks by 7th years that follow Voldemort. I would like to address those rumors. They are false."
She continued to explain what had happened. By the end of her speech Draco was receiving apologetic looks instead of the previous glares of hatred. Similarly, Hermione could tell that Ron wasn't a hero anymore in the eyes of the school. On the other hand, the Slytherins at the end of the table could sense the hatred toward them, coming from everyone around them.
After dinner Professor McGonagall called Draco, Ginny, and Hermione to her office. Hermione decided that it would be a good time to show the professor the plans as well, so she got the plans and went to the Headmistress's office while Draco and Ginny went directly. When she reached she saw Molly Weasley yelling at her son.
"You are in so much trouble! You cast an unforgivable curse on a student. That will land you time in Azkaban. More than that you tried to break Hermione's heart. You aren't kids anymore. Hermione can make her own choices. You need to respect them. She has been your friend for so long, but all you did was break her heart!"
Draco and Ginny were watching and Arthur Weasley was nodding along with everything that Molly was saying.
Professor McGonagall stepped in between Ron and his mother.
"Mrs. Weasley, I called you over here to tell you what Ron did, and notify you that I will be expelling him. The ministry will also hear of what he did. His accomplices will also be expelled."
"I understand."
She turned towards Ron.
"This is all your fault and none of us will be helping you out of this."
Molly and the professor saw that Hermione had walked in.
"Sorry Hermione. Ronald should know better that that."
"It's fine Molly."
"Just know that you are welcome at our house anytime, whether you are dating Draco Malfoy or not."
Professor McGonagall spoke to Hermione and Draco next.
"Well you heard what is going to happen to Ronald Weasley. I just wanted to tell you about what is going to happen to Mr. Weasley, since you were related to the incident."
"Yes, thank you Professor."
Draco answered for both of them, considering that Hermione couldn't talk. She was frozen because it was finally hitting her what was going to happen to Ron. Ron was her friend for 7 years and now she was a part of the reason he was going to Azkaban. She couldn't help but feel bad, but what he did was wrong. This Ron in front of her wasn't the person she became friends with. In the end she only said one word.
"Yes."
Professor McGonagall nodded.
"Molly, you can go now. Please take your son with you. We will tell you about what happens next."
Molly nodded, and she took her husband and Ron to the fireplace. Then they flooed away.
Professor McGonagall saw the papers in Hermione's hands.
"Ms. Weasley. You can leave now."
Ginny nodded and left.
"Now I assume that those are the plans for the Winter Ball."
Hermione handed the plans to the Professor.
"Yes."
"Good. I've changed our plans a little. You guys deserve the break, so I won't need your help with the Ball until the actual day. You guys should take the time and deal with what happened this weekend. Also, Hermione, you might be called to a hearing next weekend, about Ron."
Hermione couldn't do anything but nod.
"Good. Both of you can leave now."
Draco took Hermione's hand, and both of them went out of the Headmistress's office. In the meanwhile, Draco tried to comfort her.
"He deserved it. If it helps, I'll come with you to the hearing."
Outside, Hermione saw Harry and Ginny.
"Mione, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what Ron was doing. I don't agree with him at all, and I heard what happened."
Hermione shook her head.
"You don't have to apologise. It was all Ron's fault."
"I know, but still. I wasn't there for you. Sorry."
"I accept. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."
Harry could tell that Hermione wasn't in the mood to talk, so with that Draco and Hermione split ways with Ginny and Harry.
Draco and Hermione went up to the Head Dorms. Hermione was tired from all of the crazy things that happened that day. She decided to have an early night, since they had classes the next day. She said goodnight to Draco, went to her room, and fell asleep.
So I realized that I messed up the dates a little bit. All of the dates in the story are right, but the Winter Ball is going to be on the 18th, not the 19th. That way it is on a Saturday, not a Sunday. I haven't finished writing, but I think there is only going to be 1 more chapter. Then there will be one small epilogue to tie everything up.