It was the last week of term when news came of Bill's accident. Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, watching a chess match between Harry and Ron, when Ginny came into the tower carrying a letter.
"Hey Ron, this is addressed to both of us," Ginny called. "It's from Mum."
"Open it up and tell me what it says," Ron replied, not looking up from the chess board. The game with Harry was tighter than he would like and he was looking for a move that would ensure victory would be his.
Ginny did as her brother asked and ripped open the letter. The second she started to read she went pale and let out a choked cry. Ron and Harry both looked up from their game, wondering what was wrong with Ginny.
"What is it?" Ron asked warily as a few tears began to fall down his sister's cheeks.
"It's Bill," Ginny sniffed. "He's been in an accident and is in a coma."
"Are we leaving early?" Ron queried. "Is someone coming to get us so we can go and see Bill?"
"No." Ginny shook her head as she continued to read the letter. "Mum says he's stable and in no real danger. She's heading over to Egypt now and Dad will take us when we break up for Christmas."
"I guess that's something," Ron sighed deeply. "If we're not being taken out of school, it means he can't be too bad."
"Not too bad, he's in a coma Ron," Ginny screeched at her brother. "That is pretty bad."
"I just meant he's obviously in no danger of dying or anything," Ron replied. "If he was, we wouldn't still be here."
"Ron's right," Harry said quietly as he stood up and wrapped an arm around Ginny. Even though they weren't a couple, Harry cared about Ginny and was hopeful something might develop between them once she was older and more mature. "You have to remain positive. You just read that Bill is stable and is in no real danger, at least that's something."
"I suppose so," Ginny nodded, wiping at her tears. "I'm sorry for shouting, Ron."
"It's okay, you're just upset," Ron answered.
"Did you mother mention what exactly happened?" Hermione questioned as Ginny sat down with Harry still comforting her.
"A curse he was trying to break had a hidden security feature he hadn't found," Ginny replied, as she yet again turned back to the letter in her hand and read what her mother had written. "He was hit by the back-up curse and fell into a coma. Mum doesn't know all the details, but whoever informed her of the accident reassured her Bill would eventually be fine."
"I don't like the sound of eventually," Ron frowned. "That makes it sound as though he could be in a coma for a while."
"That's all Mum said," Ginny shrugged. "I'm guessing she doesn't know anything more."
"You can find out more in a few days," Hermione said to Ron, when it looked as though he was going to continue to badger Ginny. "I'm sure by the time we break up, your father will have all the information about Bill."
"Yeah, you're right," Ron smiled at Hermione.
"I usually am," Hermione retorted lightly.
While Ron chuckled at Hermione's attempt to lighten the mood, Ginny stood up and announced she was going for a walk. Harry quickly offered to go with her and the pair left the common room, without even bothering to ask if Ron and Hermione wanted to join them.
"I'll go and take the chess set upstairs," Ron told Hermione as he gathered everything up. "I'll be back in a minute."
Hermione nodded, and settled down to read the paper while she waited for Ron to return. She was pleased to see that the Death Eater attacks were still going on, despite Dumbledore's efforts to make everyone think Athena was dead. While the general wizarding public thought the Death Eaters were mistaken, they were refusing to stop the attacks until they had Athena back. Harry, Ron and Ginny had been complaining about the continued attacks earlier in the week, they were unimpressed by the fact the Death Eaters weren't believing Dumbledore.
By the time Hermione had finished reading the paper, Ron still hadn't returned from taking his chess set up to his room. Wondering what was keeping him, Hermione headed upstairs to see what was wrong. When she found Ron sitting on his bed with his head in his hands she couldn't help but smirk, she could only imagine that Molly's reaction to Bill's accident would have been even more severe than Ron's. Hermione was half tempted to turn around and leave again, but she knew that wasn't the response of a loving girlfriend. Instead she forced herself to walk over to Ron and sit down beside him, gently wrapping her arm around his back.
"Are you okay?" She asked tentatively. She was half hoping that Ron would ask to be left alone, so she wouldn't have to try and comfort him.
"I guess," Ron replied quietly. "I knew Bill did a dangerous job, I just never thought about him getting hurt before."
"Of course you didn't. No-one likes to think of the possibility someone they care about will get hurt," Hermione said soothingly. "You just have to be grateful it wasn't too bad."
"You're right." Ron nodded. Looking up at Hermione he smiled at her. "Thank you for being so great. I don't know what I would do without you."
Hermione felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at Ron, but before it could fully form her mind pushed an image into her head from the night her friends had discovered who Athena was. The memory of her friend's disgust and the terrible things they'd said about her was more than enough to douse any remorseful feelings in her.
"Luckily, you won't have to find out," Hermione replied, offering Ron a fake smile.
Ron looked at Hermione for several seconds, before brushing her hair away from her face and leaning towards her. "I love you, Hermione."
Hermione didn't have chance to respond before Ron's lips were slapped over hers. As usual when they kissed her entire body screamed out that she was betraying Draco, and she had to work hard not to give in to the urge to forcefully push Ron off her. Instead Hermione forced herself to move closer to Ron and act as though she was thoroughly enjoying the kiss. Ron took her pressing closer to him as an indicator to deepen the kiss, and Hermione found herself having to deal with his enthusiastic tongue. For the first time since the beginning of their fake romance, she also had to contend with his wandering hands. One hand was on her neck, but the other was rubbing her thigh, teasing at the bottom of her skirt. Luckily for Hermione she was able to break the kiss moments later, without offending Ron. A slight blush and a lowering of her head was enough for Ron to realise she was shy about what they were doing. At times like these Hermione was pleased that Ron thought of her as an innocent bookworm, it certainly made keeping their fake romance on an innocent level pretty easy.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to push you," Ron said quietly.
"You weren't," Hermione replied, looking up at Ron shyly. Now would be the perfect time to start laying the foundations to get him to propose. "I'm just nervous, I've never done more than exchange a brief peck before you."
"I'm not going to push you into anything," Ron said. "We can take things as slow as you want."
"That's the problem, I'm torn about what I want," Hermione confessed. "I've been brought up to believe that you don't have sex before marriage, and I intend to stick to that. But I want you to be my first, and I don't want to be too old when we have sex."
Ron eyes bulged at the mention of sex, and Hermione almost laughed as the redhead tried to formulate a sentence. Several times he opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out were a series of strangled squeaks.
"Oh god, I've freaked you out," Hermione said, jumping off the bed. "I never should have mentioned this."
"I'm not freaked out," Ron protested, jumping off the bed and stopping Hermione before she could leave the dorm room. "I'm flattered you want me to be your first, and I want the same thing. I want you to be my first. But we're still at school, there's no rush to make any decisions, is there?"
"Of course not," Hermione smiled. She knew the idea was firmly planted in Ron's mind, it just needed time to grow. All she had to do now was ensure that Ron was so desperate to sleep with her that he proposed, although that shouldn't prove that difficult to manage.
"Should we head back downstairs?" Ron asked, clearly uncomfortable in the dorm now the subject of sex had been raised.
"Yeah, Harry and Ginny will probably be back soon," Hermione answered.
Hermione followed Ron back down to the common room, pleased she'd had a chance to further her plan with him before the Christmas break. She wasn't sure if she would see him over the holidays, but even if she did with everything that would be going on mentioning their potential future sex life wouldn't really be appropriate.
G.O.V.
For the remainder of the term, Hermione didn't get a chance to spend any time with Draco. Between Harry and Ron and her duties as her Head Girl, she just didn't have time to sneak away down to the dungeons. Luckily once James was killed at the beginning of the holidays she should be at home, meaning she should be able to do the same as she'd done in the summer and spend time with Draco while her parents were at work.
The only brief interaction Hermione had with Draco happened when she was boarding the train with Harry and Ron. Draco and his friends were just in front of them as they boarded the scarlet steam engine, and Draco couldn't resist taunting them about the ongoing Death Eater attacks. A few well-chosen words from Draco about people not being fooled by Dumbledore was enough to have Harry lunging at the blond. Fortunately for Draco, Crabbe and Goyle stepped in front of him and prevented Harry from getting to the Slytherin.
"Harry, stop it," Hermione scolded. "You'll only get yourself in trouble."
"Yeah Potter, listen to Granger," Draco sneered. "Be a good boy and obey the mudblood."
"One day, you're going to get what's coming to you," Harry yelled at the blond as Ron held him back so he wouldn't attack again.
"As will you," Draco smirked, before he and his friends turned and left the three Gryffindors in the corridor of the Hogwarts Express.
"I hate him," Harry seethed as the trio settled into a nearby compartment.
"Don't we all. Smug bastard that he is," Ron agreed.
"It's only going to get worse if these Death Eater attacks continue," Harry sighed. "He'll think he's invincible, considering it's his father in charge of them."
"What can we do though?" Ron shrugged. "Dumbledore's tried to convince them Athena's really dead. We can't force them to believe it."
"What Dumbledore should do is kill her now and hand her over," Harry said viciously. "They want Athena, I say we give her to them."
Hermione's mouth dropped open at Harry's cruel words. It was one thing wishing she'd died when she was a baby, but it was another to advocate her murder now.
"It's a shame we don't know where the bitch is, we could do what Dumbledore should have done years ago," Ron said.
"Maybe we can find out," Harry replied thoughtfully. "Our parents clearly know about Athena, maybe they know where she is. We never asked too many questions about her, we don't even know how old she is. I think it's time we found out more about the witch that's causing all this trouble."
"I agree," Ron nodded. "It's time we stepped up and ended this. If our parents aren't prepared to do what needs to be done, we'll have to do it for them."
"Hermione, are you in?" Harry asked, looking at his friend. She'd been remarkably quiet since the conversation began, in fact she'd been quiet about Athena since they discovered she existed.
"I don't know," Hermione replied. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you planning on killing an innocent person. You know nothing about this Athena, yet you're willing to kill her."
"We know enough," Harry retorted sharply. "The simple fact she's Voldemort's daughter is enough to warrant her death."
"We're not going to force you to be involved," Ron reassured Hermione. "But will you at least agree to keep quiet? We can't have our parents finding out what's going on?"
"I suppose I can do that," Hermione sighed.
"Good," Ron smiled. "Besides, unless our parents can tell us anything, it's just talk anyway. We might not even be able to do anything."
Hermione didn't doubt for a second that their parents would keep quiet, and their threats were empty ones, but the very fact they were making them was what was disturbing her. All the threats did was make her even surer she was doing the right thing in including her friends in her plan for vengeance. However she was now wondering if what she had planned for them was too tame. Did she need to do more against the people she'd once considered her best friends?