The next week went by quite easily for Hermione. On the surface, not much had changed – except Ron and Harry's outed relationship became the hot button gossip conversation. It was a common occurrence the first few days to find girls crying in the bathrooms over the loss of 'two of the hottest guys the Wizarding World had ever seen.' Girls who never had half a chance with either, now bawled because the men were 'lost to them forever.' Personally, Hermione thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen, and possibly the most pathetic. And what was even funnier to her – and to everyone who'd heard about the dinner – was how Ginny's plan had blow up in her face. According to Dennis Creevey, a Prefect, the Head Girl hadn't reported for duty since that night. The rumor around school was that McGonagall had considered replacing her, especially after hearing the girl had drugged fellow students without their knowledge.
Poetic justice, Hermione thought happily.
Amazingly, the boys had managed to keep Hermione accidently consuming the Lust Potion between the three of them – and Draco, but the boys had yet to figure out Hermione's lover.
Hermione and Draco had actually made their friendship known publically. Starting the day he'd found her having a panic attack, they'd been sitting together in classes and studying together in the library or tower. Students and professors alike were shocked to see the two walking through the halls together as if their past animosity had never happened, but if anyone disagreed with the friendship they never came forward. Even Harry and Ron were tolerant, though Hermione thought that it may only be because they wanted back in her good graces.
Walking through the hallway almost a week after Ginny's failed dinner, Hermione was finally beginning to think that this school year was going to be hassle free.
That is, until the article came out. It had been well-known throughout their world that Draco had been the only returning 8th year Slytherin to Hogwarts. Kingsley had been furious, since his law only limited students from obtaining jobs unless they passed their NEWTs. He had completely underestimated the cunning of the Slytherin House. They weren't allowed to work, but all of them had more than enough money that the next several generations of their family wouldn't have to work if they so chose.
Since the beginning of the school year, it was rumored that Kingsley and his associates had been working tirelessly to amend the law to their liking. The Daily Prophet that morning clearly indicated that Kingsley had achieved his goal. His new law, applying to all the 8th year students and the Slytherins who had not returned, stated that not only could they not work if they failed to pass their NEWTs, but any and all inheritance would be forfeited to the ministry.
The prominent Pureblood families were utterly outraged that the Prime Minister would take his new law to that extreme – many thinking that he had greatly overstepped his bounds. Hermione, herself, was appalled that Kingsley would go so far as to use blackmail to make his demands, especially since the law only applied to their class and would be void after school year ended. It was clearly a power play, used to send a message to the rest of the Pureblood society by targeting the seven students' families. The Ministry was charge and bribery would no longer be tolerated.
The Purebloods society was gathering forces, showing their support for the seven families affected, and preparing to fight the amendment with everything they had. It was useless though, Hermione knew proceedings could take over a year if Kingsley pulled strings and had the petitions lost during filing. By the time the protests reached the court, the school year would be over and the argument would become moot.
In the meantime, there was only one thing the families of the absent students could to do protect their money.
The Slytherins were coming back to Hogwarts.
"Granger, how the hell did you translate that so fast?" Draco slammed his Ancient Runes text on the table in frustration.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "After translating an entire children's book, this work is just too easy."
"Children's book… What are you going on about?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you?" she said, cheerfully. "Well, Dumbledore left each of us – Harry, Ron, and myself – something in his will when he died. Harry got the first Snitch he'd ever caught, Ron got the deluminator, and I was given a Tales of Beetle the Bard book written all in Runes. It was pretty boring while we were on the run, so I ended up translating the whole thing. It actually came in handy along the way…"
"You have… Do you know how rare something like that is?" Draco looked up from his work. "God, Granger, there's only three original copies worldwide!"
She smirked in true Malfoy fashion. "Yes, I did plenty of research once the war ended. I could actually sell it and not have to work a day for the rest of my life if I wanted, but I would never do that. It's too sentimental to just pawn it off. Besides, I've thought about taking my translations and making a book out of them, since the only version is written in Runes. That way, parents could actually read the stories to their children, instead of trying to recite memorized lines."
"Wow," Draco sighed. "So why are you even taking this class?"
She shrugged. "I can let you borrow the book if you'd like. It may help you get better at all of this…"
He smiled at her, touched and surprised that she would trust him with something so special. "Yes, that'd be great. Thank you," he said as she Accio'd the book from her room. He thought it was absolutely amazing as he sat flipping through it; it was clearly a magical book as the pages weren't aged in the slightest.
Looking up, he began to express his gratitude when the entrance to the tower slammed open with a bang. Gasps escaped those in the room as they looked for the cause of the sound. Marching in as if they owned the place and wanted to burn it to the ground, were the seven missing Slytherin students. They moved as a group, almost as if they were going to battle with Zabini and Nott taking point. Upon seeing Draco, Pansy broke the imaginary ranks and ran to him, looking down her nose at his choice of company.
"Hello Drakey-poo," she said, sitting in his lap. "Did you miss us?"
Trying his best to detach Pansy from his person and failing, he acknowledged his former House members – Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Greg Goyle, Tracey Davies, Millicent Bulstrode, and Daphne Greengrass. It was especially awkward seeing Daphne after his rejection of her sister over the summer. The two had been betrothed since the witch's birth, but he had put his foot down a month before their wedding, walking away and forcing his father to either end the arrangement or lose his son. He hadn't seen either of the sisters since, but he'd heard Astoria had transferred to Beauxbatons to avoid the embarrassment of seeing her former fiancé at Hogwarts.
"So this is where we live now, huh?" said Blaise, interrupting Draco's train of thought. The look on his friend's face could only be described as disgust. He regarded the other students in the room with a look that clearly screamed of his superiority.
"Not so bad, Zabini. Hell of a lot less wet," smirked Draco, earning a few snickers.
"Drakey, show us our rooms? They're near yours I hope," Pansy tracing her fingers across his chest and wiggling against him, clearly trying to cause a reaction.
He pushed her off him and pointed to the hallway that housed their rooms. "Down there on the right. I'll be along in a moment." Turning from them, he addressed Hermione. "Thank you for the book. I'll be back out once this lot gets settled and then we can go to dinner." Kissing her hand, he walked away only to go back and grab the book, not wanting to leave it unattended in the common room. Making his way after his friends, he either didn't notice the looks of disgust they sent him or didn't care.