While they were sitting in the hospital wing waiting for Madam Pomfrey to check them over, Hermione told Harry what had happened to her the previous evening. She explained that just before she was planning on returning to Gryffindor Tower, Madam Pince informed her that Dumbledore wanted to see her. Once in Dumbledore's office, he handed her a cup of tea and asked if they could discuss Harry's participation in the Triwizard Tournament. The last thing Hermione remembered was taking a few sips of her tea as she waited for Dumbledore to get round to discussing Harry and the tournament.
"It sounds like there was something in your tea," Harry mused.
"Yeah, I was clearly put to sleep practically straight away," Hermione agreed. "I just hope I wasn't in the lake all night."
When Madam Pomfrey got round to the pair, Hermione was relieved to find she hadn't been in the lake overnight. She'd actually spent the night in the hospital wing, before being transferred to the lake early in the morning. However, that still didn't ease her anger over what had happened to her. She was just hoping that one day she would get a chance to pay Dumbledore back for what he'd done to her.
"The pair of you are free to go," Madam Pomfrey announced, dismissing the Gryffindor duo.
"I guess we'll have to go back to Gryffindor Tower," Harry muttered as the pair exited the hospital wing.
"At least for a little bit," Hermione agreed. "Maybe we can sneak away later."
"I'm sure we'll come up with something," Harry said.
Steeling themselves for what awaited them in Gryffindor Tower, Harry and Hermione slowly made their way back to the common room. After battling past The Fat Lady, who wanted to hear all about Harry's latest victory, the pair made it into the common room. When they did so they were assaulted by a wall of noise as the Gryffindors cheered for Harry.
"Here he is," George cried. "Gryffindor's hero."
"Harry's now the favourite to win the tournament if anyone fancies a flutter," Fred added with a mischievous smirk. "We'll give you good odds."
"You're taking bets on the tournament?" Hermione questioned with a frown. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of people betting on how Harry performed in such a deadly tournament.
"Of course, the opportunity was too good to pass up," George replied.
"Besides, we've made a fortune," Fred said. "It's all going to go towards setting up our business in a few years' time."
"Hey, Harry, get over here," Ron called. "Have a drink."
"Is that alcohol?" Hermione queried as she followed over to where Ron was sitting nursing a cup of amber liquid. On the table behind him was a spread of food, which Hermione guessed was lunch for the Gryffindors.
"Relax, it's just a butterbeer," Ron said, rolling his eyes at Hermione.
Hermione wasn't entirely convinced that Ron was just drinking butterbeer, but she decided not to argue as it would only cause trouble. Settling down beside the fire, Hermione tried to ignore the shouting and cheering that was going on around her. Unfortunately for Harry he couldn't avoid the crowds and he found himself recounting the second task several times as people wanted to hear how he saved Hermione. Harry did manage to deflect some attention when he pointed out Neville had given him the Gillyweed, but mainly people wanted to talk to him.
Despite trying not to get involved, Hermione also began to find herself at the centre of attention. Once people had heard the story of how Harry had saved her, they wanted to know how she'd ended up down in the lake. For a while, Hermione deflected the questions and refused to talk about it, but people kept on pushing and eventually she snapped.
"You want to know how I feel," She shouted as she got to her feet. "I feel violated. I was taken without my permission, and placed underwater. What happened wasn't exciting, or a big adventure, it was dangerous. I could have been killed or severely injured. What happened wasn't something to be excited about, it's something to be horrified about. How on earth can anyone feel safe in this school when the headmaster is putting the students in danger?"
"Chill out, Hermione, everything worked out fine," Ron muttered as the brunette witch's rant drew the attention of almost everyone in the room.
"That's not the point Ronald," Hermione snapped. "The point is, I was put in unnecessary danger. Whether anything happened or nor is irrelevant. I never should have been in that position."
"What, the position of someone Harry cared about enough to want to rescue?" Ron shot back.
"And now we get to the bottom of things," Hermione said with a bitter laugh. "You're just jealous it wasn't you involved in the task. Well, I wish it had been you down there, not me. You might want the limelight, but I don't. All I want is a normal life."
Ignoring all the stares, Hermione turned around and stalked out of the common room. For a second the room remained silent, before people began to gossip about Hermione's outburst.
"I'm going to check she's okay," Harry announced as he got to his feet.
"Leave the stroppy cow," Ron said with a snort. "She's not worth bothering with, Harry. At least not when she's in one of her bitchy moods. Sometimes she's alright, and I really like her, but other times she's a bitch."
"I'm not going to just leave her," Harry retorted. "She's my best friend, and she's had a traumatic day. I'm at least going to check she's okay."
Ron continued to grumble, but Harry ignored him as he picked his way through the crowds and exited Gryffindor Tower. He didn't even have to think about where Hermione had gone, and he automatically made his way to the library. Harry made sure to avoid Madam Pince as he entered the library and headed to the secret room. It was always better if the librarian didn't know exactly who was in the library, so she didn't get suspicious when they disappeared into their secret room.
When Harry slipped into the room, he found Hermione already settled on one of the sofas. Sitting down beside his aunt, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a hug. He knew her anger at what had happened hid the fact she'd been terrified when she woke up and found herself in the water. Hermione wasn't a strong swimmer, and he knew she never would have ventured into a body of water like the Black Lake voluntarily.
"I bet everyone's talking about me," Hermione said with a sigh.
"You did put on quite a show," Harry replied with a chuckle. "I don't think anyone will confuse you for a Dumbledore fan in a hurry."
"Twisted old goat," Hermione snarled. She'd never liked Dumbledore, and often thought his actions were questionable, but she'd never been quite as mad at him as she was at the moment.
"Hopefully Grandpa can get rid of him soon," Harry said hopefully. The main reason they were still hiding their true identities was because Voldemort didn't trust they would be safe with everyone knowing who they truly were while Dumbledore was still at Hogwarts.
"I hope so, I don't think I can take another three years of this," Hermione replied quietly.
Lapsing into silence, the pair sat comfortable together until they were disturbed ten minutes later by the door opening and Draco entering the room. After expressing his pleasure to find the pair in the room, Draco rushed over to Hermione and pulled her into his arms.
"I can't believe they put you in danger like that," He muttered, noticing the way Hermione clung to him tighter than normal.
"And what about me?" Harry teased. "I was also in danger."
"I'm pleased you're both safe," Draco said. "I was just rather stunned to find Hermione was part of the task."
"Tell me about it, I almost had a heart attack when I saw her tied to a rock underwater," Harry said.
"Can we not talk about it," Hermione asked as Draco squeezed himself in between her and Harry.
"We can talk about something else," Harry said as he moved off the sofa to give Hermione and Draco more room.
"How about the fact Dumbledore is in trouble," Draco suggested with a smirk, before he proceeded to tell the pair what had happened with his father.
"Let's hope this is the end for him," Hermione said bitterly.
"It will be if Father gets his way," Draco said. "I think he's finally gone too far this time. The black marks just keep stacking up against his name. Every year he seems to do something to show what an inept old basket case he is."
"What do you think will happen if Dumbledore is sacked?" Harry questioned. "Do you think McGonagall will take over as Headmistress?"
The trio debated the likely candidates for the positon of head for a few minutes. However, when Severus's name was mentioned, mainly as a joke by Harry, Draco suddenly remembered a bit of news he'd been planning on passing on to his two best friends.
"You never guess who has a date tonight," He said with a mischievous glint in his grey eyes.
"Is that your way of trying to get me to leave?" Harry laughed.
"I wasn't talking about us," Draco replied. "Although we might have to try and rectify the fact we haven't been on a proper date yet over the summer," He added to Hermione.
"That would be nice," Hermione said, smiling up at Draco before she snuggled even closer to the blond.
"So come on Draco, who has a date, if not you?" Harry urged.
"Severus."
"What?" Harry exploded, his eyes widening in shock.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked uncertainly. "It certainly doesn't sound like Severus. I've never known him go on a date."
"Well he was arranging to go out to dinner tonight," Draco replied with a shrug. "And over the Christmas break, I caught him sneaking back into the castle looking very dapper."
"Dapper?" Harry sniggered, momentarily forgetting the part about his father and focusing on Draco's choice of words.
"Yes, dapper," Draco said, giving Harry a steely glare. "Not that I know who Severus is seeing, but he is seeing someone. Mark my words Harry, there's a potential stepmother in the offing for you."
"Really?" Harry frowned. "Do you think it's serious?"
"I don't know, but as Hermione said, this is the first time your father's dated since losing your mother."
"That we know of," Harry argued. "Let's face it, before we started school, Dad could have been getting up to allsorts up here. For all we know he's had dozens of women since Mum died."
"That's not Severus's style," Hermione argued. "We all know how much he loved Lily. Maybe he's only just now feeling as though he can move on and find love again."
"I guess that would be nice for him," Harry conceded in a small voice.
"So you don't mind if he's got a woman on the go?" Draco checked.
"Not as long as he's happy," Harry answered. "Sure, it might be weird at first, but I want him to be happy. And if this mystery woman makes him happy, I think he should go for it."
"So do I," Hermione agreed. "It's nice to have someone in your life."
Glancing up at Draco, Hermione smiled as he lowered his head and gently connected their lips. Across the small room, Harry groaned as he got to his feet.
"That's my cue to leave." Harry shook his head when Draco and Hermione merely waved their hands at him, not even bothering to break their kiss.
By the time the pair broke the kiss, Harry had gone and they were all alone.
"So what do you want to do now?" Draco asked.
"Nothing," Hermione replied. "I just want to stay here, with you. I don't want to worry about anything, or think about anything, I just want to enjoy some time alone with you."
"That sounds good to me." Draco grinned at Hermione, before reconnecting their lips.
After sharing a few more kisses, the pair rearranged themselves on the sofa so that Draco was lying on the sofa, while Hermione was half lying beside him and half lying on top of him. Lying together, the couple spent a couple of hours chattering about life in general. They didn't discuss the Triwizard Tournament, or anything that had happened that day. They also steered clear of discussing Voldemort and his plans. Mainly they spoke about the summer, and what fun they could have spending some time together out in the open. For a while they were content to be teenagers, basking in the first blossoming stages of romance.