Hermione awoke early the next morning, her head spinning with a painful headache. She cringed at the beams of sunlight as she arose out of bed. She managed to find a small bottle of potion that eased some of the tension but was still in a rather foul mood as she made her way down to the common room.
She nearly yelled as a figure bombarded into her.
"Happy Birthday!" Harry exclaimed, giving her a tight hug. Hermione grimaced and tried to push him away. "I tried to wait up for you last night," he continued, oblivious to her discomfort, "but you didn't come back, where did you go?"
"Harry, please, I have a headache, not so loud." Hermione said, finally prying out of his arms. "And I just fell asleep in the library last night."
"Oh." Harry said in a quieter voice, "here, it's not much..." He trailed off and handed her a neatly wrapped present.
Hermione gave him a light smile and gently undid the wrapping. "Harry, this is wonderful." she said as she examined a gorgeous enchanted painting of Hogwarts. "Did you do this?" she asked.
Harry laughed. "Honestly, I couldn't do that if my life depended on it. I found it in Diagon Alley, but I picked out the frame by myself."
"Thank you." Hermione said, still admiring the depiction of her home.
"Did you want to go eat?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded. "Let me go put this away first." She ran upstairs and placed the picture on her bedside table. She smiled, her mood trying to improve.
They made their way down to breakfast where Ron and Ginny both wished her a happy birthday. "Thanks guys." she said as she settled in and grabbed a piece of toast. She spared a glance towards the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy scowling down at his plate. Throughout breakfast she continued to look over and he eventually looked up. Though when he caught her gaze he sneered and looked away. Puzzled Hermione sat with her friends for a while longer, trying to ignore her headache and appear open and cheery. She eventually saw Draco leave and excused herself to run to the library, which raised no suspicion as they were so accustomed to her seeming obsession for the place.
She found Draco on a nearby deserted stairwell staring out one of the arched windows.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. He jerked away from her touch.
"It's none of your business." he growled. Hermione suppressed a flare of annoyance at his shortness with her.
"Draco, please, you can tell me." she urged in a gentle voice. "Draco?"
"We've been seen together." he snarled rather loudly.
"What! By who?" Hermione said in shock.
"Some Slytherin's in my year. They saw us walking together last night when we got back, after Snape went down to the dungeons, they had been sneaking to the kitchens and they saw us." Draco explained. "I've threatened to have their father's sacked if they so much as utter a word of it to anyone, and they know my father could do so in an instant, but I'm the laughing stock of the house."
Hermione bit her lip. "Well as long as they don't tell, it's not that bad." she tried so put her hand over his but he moved it away before she could.
"Yes it is." he snapped. "I cannot be known for messing with Mudbloods." He shot her a nasty look and then turned on his heel and sprinted up the rest of the stairs and out of sight.
Hermione stood there feeling as if she had been slapped in the face. After a good few minutes she numbly headed to Gryffindor Tower and spent the remainder of the day hiding in bed.
***
Hermione was glad to see the ground slowly being layered with the fluffy crystals of the first snow. Draco had long since apologized for his outburst, though he began to refrain from even holding her hand unless they were somewhere completely secure which was becoming a rare occurrence due to their busy school schedules and nights spent studying rather than wandering the castle together. Hermione was finding it increasingly dull to continually entertain Harry with intimacy and had to force herself to act convincing. However, there was one miniscule improvement. Ron and Lavender decided to rekindle their former romance; apparently Lavender was now much more tolerable, she had even abandoned the practice of cutesy pet names. The result was that Ron seemed to be getting over everything that had happened, though conversation was still a tad strained and Hermione wondered if things would ever quite return to normal.
Fortunately Hermione was not summoned to any further meetings, yet Snape assured her that the New Year would be the commencement of many of the Dark Lord's plans, and she would then be forced to provide greater participation. She tried, however, not to brood on such subjects and took to counting down until Christmas Holidays – a delightful few weeks where she could be herself around Draco and escape from all the school gossip. Harry continued his sessions with Dumbledore and he divulged the content to Hermione whenever he returned from one. Her own Occlumency lessons also continued, yet not near as often, Snape being now convinced that she was an extremely able Legilimens.
One wintery evening, after visiting Hagrid, Hermione found herself being annoyingly smothered by Harry as they shared a hot chocolate by the fireplace. "Harry, please," Hermione said, trying to pull his arms from around her waist, "you're going to make me spill."
Harry smiled and grabbed the mug away from her before beginning to kiss her neck. "Will you stay with me?" he asked suddenly.
"What?" Hermione snapped, desperately wishing she was cuddling with Draco instead.
"For Christmas Holidays, you're staying here with me, right?" Harry said with a hopeful smile.
Hermione bit her lip. Time for another lie, I'm the worst person in the world I think. "Actually, I've been invited to visit one of my cousins in London" she said, with utmost conviction, her Occlumency lessons being put to use. "I've already said I'd go...sorry."
"Oh." he said, apparently crestfallen, though he began kissing her neck once more. "Hermione?" He asked, grabbing her hand. She looked up at him and he stared into her with his own brilliant green eyes. "I love you."
Her heart felt as if it were suddenly being pierced with a million hot needles. The pain of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She struggled to shove away the guilt and shame that was rapidly waving through her body.
"I love you too." she finally said in a voice that was not her own, feeling, at that moment, more sinister then her father ever was...