Hermione was woken up by some very choice harsh words and a soft blow to the back of her head as Madame Pomfrey made her morning rounds of the Hospital Wing, which was unfortunately only Malfoy at the moment, making her presence all too obvious. Leaping back from the touch and apologizing profusely, Hermione released the hand of the boy she'd fallen asleep with and stood up, almost tripping over her feet as she was ushered out of the room.
As the irritated nursemaid closed to doors behind her, she could see a blonde head rising out of his pillow to see what the fuss was about. She hadn't gotten a chance to say goodbye to him. To wake up with her still next to him. As she turned to rush to her dormitory for her things before classes started for the day, Hermione promised herself that she'd never let that happen again.
And she had another promise to keep. She had to find some time in the day to go the Room of Requirement and assess the situation that Malfoy hadn't found an answer to yet. It didn't seem like she'd have chance to any time soon, though, as she was already late for her first class of the day and she'd have to spend lunch with Harry and Ron in order to keep up appearances.
The first classes of the day went smoothly; Harry gave her a questioning look as she entered Transfiguration late but didn't seem to mind as she waved it off. He was probably still mad at her for hitting him yesterday. Her second class had neither of them in it so she had some time to think of an explanation for where she'd gone last night. Hopefully she wouldn't have to put an excuse in action, nothing she could come up with sounded the least bit plausible to even her own ears.
"So, where'd you run off to last night?" She should've known she wouldn't start having luck on her side now. Ron asked the dreaded question as soon as she sat across from him, beside Harry, at lunch.
"Library," Hermione knew she'd have a higher chance of getting away with it if she used short, concise answers. She tried to muster up a voice that sounded confident. "Had to cool down."
"Of course," Ron said sarcastically. He smiled at her good-naturedly, however. "Where else would someone go when their pissed? The library, wow, that was so obvious."
She shot him a look as she picked a sandwich from the pile in the middle. Without even looking to see what kind it was, she dug in. After chewing a couple bites in silence, not really tasting anything, Hermione thought of something that could help throw them off her scent.
"Hear anything about Malfoy?" She asked innocently, setting down her sandwich on her plate. She knew she was poking the bear, metaphorically Harry was the bear, with the topic, but she knew that her interest wasn't totally unwarranted.
"He'll be fine," Harry responded darkly, as she would have expected. "You know how he exaggerates."
"Well, it didn't really sound like he'd have to exaggerate in this case." Shit. She was defending him, she couldn't help it. It just seemed natural now.
Harry just looked at her, studying her face as she kept her expression blank, blameless even.
"She's got a point," Ron was still chowing down on his own lunch. He seemed overeager to not take sides since he'd broken up with Lavender, like he finally realized how ridiculous he'd been acting while she was around and was now trying to make up for it, for both of them. He seemed especially ready to appease her, actually. It was annoying.
"Why, thank you, Ronald," She didn't meet his eyes as he brightened at her use of his name. Like acknowledging his existence was a gateway to forgiveness. It didn't really matter to her, the pettiness of it all. She was just thankful that Harry had finally turned away, dropping whatever suspicions he might have had. Hopefully.
And with that, lunch continued on with half-hearted conversation and nothing real was ever said. The trio went their separate ways for their afternoon classes, and Hermione decided that it would be best for all of them if she didn't show up at dinner. She had things to do, and Ron would probably insist on spending the evening together and catching up or something like that.
With that, she found herself entering the Room of Requirement with no trouble at all while the rest of the castle tucked themselves in for a meal. She could drop by the kitchens on the way back from the Room to the Gryffindor Tower; it was a detour, but Harry wasn't the only one with house elf connections.
She stopped in front of the cabinet that she'd only really looked at once before. It's wood was still splintering and in desperate need of a good stain job. But the outside wasn't what mattered. No, what was inside was much more important.
Hesitantly, she reached forward to touch the handle, almost expecting it to spark when she made contact. Instead, she found that the door swung open easily, needing little encouragement to move on it's hinges. That would definitely need fixing. But what she found lying on the floor of the cabinet was the real issue.
A small bird, probably some sort of swallow, was lying against the wood. It's taloned feet were curled up against it's body, obviously dead. It made her heart twist to look down on the innocent animal. She knew that it was for the best, though. Better a dead bird than a dead human. Tenderly, she picked it up in her hands so she could clear the area. Twisting around, she found what she was looking for amongst the mess of the room, a box. It was a hat box, but there was no hat inside so she placed the bird down and put the lid back on, sealing it away forever.
Turning back to the Vanishing Cabinet, Hermione settled in to examine it. The idea of it was very basic; disappear one place, reappear in another. Almost like Apparition. But the wizard had to rely on an object instead of their own magic to handle their displacement. They had to trust that the link between the two was completely aligned. If it was slightly off kilter... maybe that was what was keeping them from working. The journey from one point to another was so dramatically changed from one of them being not quite of working order that it would kill whoever tried to get through.
Hermione remembered hearing about how this particular had been dropped from quite the height in their second year by Peeves. If that was the case, then Malfoy definitely had done a good job repairing that physical damage; regaining the structure of the Vanishing Cabinet. But maybe it was more than the shell that was damaged, and that had to be repaired.
She knew it. She'd read of a spell once while she was researching Apparition (she had been very excited by the concept and had taken to pre-studying before training started) which could help rectify trans-dimensional travel, like preventing splinching when you apparate. It was an old spell, very basic magic from the ancient times when that type of magic was first discovered and used. If only she could remember what it was...
As Hermione stood there, still gazing into the depths of the cabinet, she knew that she had the answer. She'd found the answer a long time ago. And now she could fix it. With a quick trip to the library, all of what Malfoy had been almost killing himself over would be done. She couldn't stop herself from smiling as she closed the door and rushed for the exit of the Room of Requirement. She just had to run back to her dormitory quickly to grab her bag, where she probably had notes on just what book it was exactly that had the answer she sought, then she could go the library and back again and everything would be perfect. As long as she avoided seeing anyone else along the way. Dinner had to be over by now, she'd been mulling over this information for a long time, but the chances of running into Harry and Ron in the Common Room at this hour were slim. Hopefully they were out practicing Quidditch or visiting Hagrid or something.
Considering how things were going for Hermione lately, she really wasn't that surprised that her plan was exactly going to happen. As she stepped towards the painting of the Fat Lady, she could already hear music and people shouting even though the noise was muffled by the stone walls. The portrait smiled at her as she approached and swung open without even asking for the password, too proud of the house she represented to care.
Hermione had missed the Quidditch final. And it seemed that Gryffindor had won. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten that that was tonight, but it didn't seem like she'd been missed. Harry was locked in an embrace with Ginny at the centre of the room and everyone was cheering them on, a few of them heckling. Ron was off to the side, seemingly drunk on happiness as he held up the Cup they'd just earned. He caught her eye and she gave him a quick smile before making her way around the edge of the crowd towards her dorm. It only took her a moment to find her bag and find her way back out of the Common Room, past the mob of careless Gryffindors. It was only when she could no longer hear the sounds of the party echoing through the hall that she realized she'd been followed.
"Where you going?" Ron asked as soon as she turned around to face him. "You're missing the party!"
"Not really in the mood for celebrating." She tried to make herself sound tired, which really didn't take much effort. "Not feeling all that hot and there's too many people."
"Oh," Ron's face fell as he searched hers. He was still carrying the comically large Quidditch Cup in his hand. "Well, I could stay with you, if you wanted. Keep you company."
"Thanks," Hermione really hoped this wasn't headed where it seemed like it was. "But you should really be celebrating with your team. It's your night and it'd be a lot more fun."
"But," He took a step forward towards her, "I want to spend it with you. Hermione, I- I-"
He seemed at a loss for words to say. He looked at her, and was looking through her. She could tell that what he saw was the Hermione that he'd spent his first four years at Hogwarts with. The girl he hated at first, then learned to love, and still hated sometimes. But she wasn't that girl any more, she knew that she was capable of being there for more than just him and Harry. She could do so much more.
And she was no one's sloppy seconds.
"Ron." She stated firmly, stepping forward only to push him gently back towards the Common Room. "You should go back. I'm fine without you. Thanks for the offer, but I'm alright."
Ron's face fell further into a disappointed scowl, but Hermione didn't give him a chance to protest. She headed back down the corridor, away from the tower and down the stairs. A few months ago, and she might've been dreaming of the moment that just happened. But now she couldn't get far enough away from it.
It was only once she was in front of the library that Hermione remembered that there actually were closing hours to it. That left her only one other place to go, and it certainly wasn't back to her dormitory.
Moments later, she was sneaking back into the Hospital Wing. It was just on the tail end of visiting hours so Madame Pomfrey just gave her a withering look as she entered before turning back into her office. Hermione approached Malfoy's bed slowly and quietly, unsure if he was asleep.
"You could say hello," His voice sounded rough from lack of use as he turned his head towards her, smiling. "It's a lot less creepy then watching from afar."
Hermione grinned back at him, speeding up her pace until she was back in her chair at his bedside. Her next words were bursting out of her at a speed she could control, she was so excited to see his reaction to the news.
"I went to the Room of Requirement instead of going to the Quidditch game today and found the Cabinet and you won't believe it, I've actually read before about a spell that can help realign the track between the pair of Vanishing Cabinets. I just have to go the library once it opens tomorrow and find the book that I'd read it in months ago and then figure out how to cast it and then it should work! You're job will be done!" Once the last of the words were out of her mouth, she finally took another breath, waiting for his reaction.
Malfoy's mouth was literally hanging open as he stared up at her. Shaking his head slightly, he recovered enough to close it and looked away. His eyes were darting back and forth slightly as he thought over what she'd just said, making sense of it all. He managed to bring himself back up into a sitting position, putting his back and pillow against the wall behind him, before turning back to her.
"I can't believe it."
"Neither can I," Hermione was relieved to hear that his voice didn't quite match the words. He was disbelieving, but thankful. Hopeful, even. "But it's true. There should be a live bird waiting in the cabinet for you once you get out of here. We can do this."
The 'we' was not quite intentional, and despite how much she hoped that he hadn't caught it, his eyes flicked back up to meet hers as she said it. His expression was in a constant state of flux, torn between the pain that sitting up had caused him (although he seemed to have healed quite significantly in the span of a day), disbelief and thankfulness at the information, and hope for his family. Not just that, but hope for something else as well. And confusion.
Hermione hadn't even realized that her hand had already found his. They sat there for a few minutes, touching and looking at each other, neither of them daring to move or speak. When she broke the silence, she voiced what she'd been struggling with internally for so long.
"I should hate you."
"I know." Malfoy didn't even flinch at the statement. He knew the truth of their situation as well as she did. "I thought I hated you."
"But you don't."
"But I don't."
Hermione knew that Malfoy had lied to her in the past. He could be lying at any moment. But he wasn't now.
"Why?"
She had to know that she was making the right choice. That here, in this moment, she was doing what was right for her and for everyone. She wasn't going to leave everything from her past behind for him, but she knew that helping him, finding that spell, would change everything around her for the rest of her life.
She wanted him to give her an explanation that could justify that choice. That could make her believe that now that she was helping him, everything would be okay. His family would be safe and so would hers. A magic solution to the problems they'd faced their entire lives. But he couldn't do that.
Instead, he leant forward, taking his hand away from hers and placing it on the back of her neck and drawing her toward him. She was so aware of everything now, the faint smell of apples and ointment radiating from him and the way his fingers were twisting their way up into her hair. Before she knew it, they were connected.
His lips were firm against hers, moulding against her mouth, lingering as they tasted each other for the first time. Too soon, he drew back, bringing his hand back with him. His lips were now folded up in that all-too familiar smirk she was used to seeing him wear before this shit-storm, colour returned to his cheeks. The sight confused her, but made her smile back at him all the same.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?!" A voice erupted from behind Hermione, making the pair jump a little from where they were seated. They didn't have to turn to see who was speaking, Madame Pomfrey was at her elbow and starting to pull her up from her seat. "I let you get away sleeping overnight one time, that's it. You try that again, you're going to Dumbledore."
"You stayed?" Malfoy asked, his smirk lowering into a genuine smile.
"Of course." Despite the fact that Hermione was now being forcibly removed from the Hospital Wing, her smile was still plastered on her face.
She allowed herself to be pushed through the door and given a stern look from Pomfrey, she couldn't care less about being kicked out of somewhere for the first time in her life. Even the threat of the Headmaster being concerned with the matter meant nothing, despite the fact that Dumbledore would read into this as more than a girl staying with a friend. She also didn't care that he would care. It was stupid, she knew, to let someone have that effect on her, but she couldn't stop herself from feeling so elated.
Hermione now had to find her way back to the Gryffindor Tower and face the crowd that was surely still awake and celebrating there. She'd have to see Harry, happy with Ginny. And Ron, probably sick with embarrassment. But she knew that she could do it. She could smile sincerely be happy about it. She could put up with their bullshit and genuinely help when she had to. She knew that she could make it, live to see the end, because she knew that she wasn't all that alone anymore.