Draco was sorely disappointed that he didn't know anyone in Hufflepuff besides those in his own year, and, of course, Zacharias. This little detail was the only thing that was preventing him from openly teasing his now "best mate." Hermione had grabbed Draco by the scruff of his robes before he could just stomp into the classroom, and, with surprising strength, dragged him all the way back to Montecino Tower. Of course, it had helped her that she was pointing her wand at him threateningly.
Once they had reached Lady Montecino's portrait, Draco's mind finally put two and two together when he remembered Lady Montecino's words from the other day. "I know you are all happily with someone you love at the moment, and I don't want to spoil your dreams." Instead of saying the usual "House Unity," he instead opened his mouth to ask the name of Zacharias's mystery lover, only to be elbowed by Hermione, whose mind was about two steps ahead of him.
"House Unity." she said sweetly. Lady Montecino raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she swung forward. Hermione went in first and Draco quickly followed. She reached the couch first and spun around, arms crossed, and glared at her boyfriend, who shrugged nonchalantly and put his broomstick against its usual spot on the wall.
Waiting until she could hear the firm clicking sound of Lady Montecino's portrait being shut completely, Hermione continued to glower as Draco cautiously approached her, for she still had her wand gripped firmly in her hand. Finally, Draco broke the silence by saying defensively, "Ginny would've just barged in without any hesitation at all had she been there."
Hermione's irritation was instantly lessened. Damn, why does he always have a point? she thought, grimacing. Draco took this to mean that his attempted plot to embarrass Zacharias had been forgiven. He closed the space between them and hugged her. "You're right, though, Hermione. I shouldn't have done that; it was rude and immature. I'll try my best not to let it happen again."
Hermione returned the hug less than enthusiastically. Draco always knew the right words to calm her down, but she knew that he was rarely, if ever, sincere when it came to apologies. However, she was appreciative that he at least made a surface appearance, if only for her happiness.
She let Draco shower first, since he was very sweaty and much more tired than herself, while she inspected the sign-up sheets for any pranks of retaliation, from, say, Romilda Vane, Astoria Greengrass, or even (she couldn't believe she was thinking this), Saint Birch.
However, she could detect none, and all she saw were rows of neatly inscribed names. She was glad to see that several second and third years had signed up and put her folder into her room, giving up on doing homework, and then slumping down on the couch and to relax. She had made good time the last couple of days with the help of her friends and decided that she needed a break. She felt a little guilty that tomorrow night she would also be out at the waltzing class, and thus would be neglecting homework for a night longer. Oh well, senior year, might as well have some fun. she thought, making herself laugh out loud at the unfamiliarity of such words.
But, in all honesty, in the years past, she hadn't had such an amazing group to work with, and had instead the responsibility of making sure Harry and Ron did their own homework properly. She still thought of both of them fondly, but would never hesitate from saying that now, finally, she was with a group of equals when it came to the academic world.
"What's so funny?" Draco asked as he came out of the bathroom, bringing the smell of peppermint, sunshine, and happiness with him into the common room. His hair was still slightly damp, and Hermione gazed at him lovingly. She loved how even though they were in fact teenagers with undoubtedly raging hormones, they could control that aspect of their passion and channel it into something much more chaste, such as occasional kisses, frequent hugs, and perpetual hand-holding. For the time being.
Hermione stood up from her spot on the couch and went over to hug a sleepy Draco. She kissed his neck softly, nuzzled his ear, and then whispered "You are, darling." Then she made a run for it and sought refuge in the now vacant bathroom, but wasn't fast enough to evade Draco's amused spank on her little bottom. He chuckled at her faint squeal before seeing Crookshanks plod out of Hermione's room, looking far from amused. Draco stopped his chuckling and nodded respectfully to the creature, and it seemed to be pacified from this act of discipline as it curled up on the couch to sleep.
The next morning, the sun had not yet risen when Hermione and Draco woke up in Hermione's bed, blankets and pillows flung everywhere, and looked at each other grinning, remembering the fantastic pillow-fight that they had had the night before. For some unspoken reason, whenever there was tension between the couple, it always culminated in something funny and wild in the end. Draco didn't even remember falling asleep. All he remembered was that Hermione had had him pinned down on her bed, (he had let her, of course), and then it was all blackness when she had whacked him smack-dab in the face with her pillow.
He stared at his little angel, who was tracing abstract designs with her finger on his bare arm. She finally looked up at him and smiled. "We're crazy, you know."
Draco returned her smile, and leaned in to kiss her. "Good morning to you, too, darling." Suddenly, he remembered that something important was to happen this morning. Without warning, he sprang out of bed and dashed for his room, ignoring Hermione's protests and just advising her to get dressed quickly.
Five minutes later, a rather displeased Hermione and disgustingly happy Draco Apparated to the front of the Fat Lady's portrait. She let them in without question, although hesitantly at the sight of Draco, and Hermione was instructed to go upstairs to the seventh year girls' dormitories and grab Ginny as quick as possible, for Draco himself couldn't go up the staircase, and he dared not Apparate into the dormitory for fear of witnessing some unfortunate (or in their case, very fortunate, as Draco was devilishly handsome), girl in the middle of changing, especially if that girl was Ginny. When it came to her famous Bat-Bogey Hexes, Draco was just as terrified of her as Zacharias was.
He waited impatiently, tapping his foot while ignoring the other early-rising Gryffindors in the common room, and whistled rather facetiously. Finally, a bleary-eyed Ginny trudged downstairs led by an amused Hermione, and glared at Draco in greeting for getting her up so early. But all Draco had to do to turn that frown upside-down was whisper the magic words "Zach has a secret girlfriend!" into her ear, and she grinned as if Christmas had been announced as being celebrated twice a year.
The two of them hurriedly dragged Hermione down to the Great Hall, hoping to figure out who the mystery girl was before Zacharias arrived, and making evil plans along the way on how to torture him and cause him to reveal his secret relationship. Hermione rolled her eyes at their antics, and felt sorry for whoever the girl was, for she didn't doubt for a moment on how much the poor girl would be teased and harassed by the two people on either side of her.
They entered the Great Hall and looked around for any signs of Zacharias, which, to Draco and Ginny's immense relief, they saw none. Hermione finally broke loose of her friends, marched up to her table, and helped herself to breakfast, unwilling to participate in her friends' deviousness, pulling out her Arithmancy textbook as another means of blocking them out. Draco probably doesn't even remember what she looks like. she thought with a roll of her eyes.
She peeked at them from behind her textbook, and, to her pleasure, she saw that the few people in the Great Hall at this early hour were mostly boys, or very young girls. Hermione couldn't help but scan the area for a willowy, graceful girl with long, straight strands of chocolate brown hair and dark-blue eyes as deep as sapphires. When she was relieved to see none, she buried her back into her book and absentmindedly twirled a sausage in mid-air with her fork.
Out of nowhere, a girl's soft voice rang as sweet as bells, "Hello, Miss Granger, could I have your autograph?" Hermione pulled herself out of her little world of mathematics and looked up to see a pair of dazzling blue eyes and a set of flashing white teeth. She started a little, and the smile disappeared. "I'm sorry, did I surprise you?" the sweet voice asked concernedly.
Hermione finally found her wits again. "No, I'm sorry. I was too distracted. The fault is entirely mine." she gave a warm grin to make up for her silliness. She knew she had found Zacharias's mystery girl, with mahogany hair and all, and wanted to make up for Ginny and Draco's future pestering in advance. "Here, I'll sign that parchment for you. What's your name?"
"Heather." the girl replied, thrilled that she was actually talking to the famous Hermione Granger. "I'm a seventh year in Hufflepuff, and you've been my hero for the last two years. I really can't believe that I'm actually talking to you!" she shook her head and laughed nervously, but Hermione chimed in with her, trying to ease her into conversation. She finished signing the scrap of parchment and handed it back to Heather, who thanked her quickly for her time, and then made to move away.
But Hermione, seeing that there wasn't the usual queue behind her, asked her to take a seat next to her. Heather seemed greatly shocked, and rather frightened, but Hermione pulled out Draco's seat for her and motioned for her to make herself comfortable. The girl bit her lip and debated for a moment, but finally took up Hermione's offer.
As soon as she was seated, Hermione started pumping her for information about her favorite classes, favorite teachers, her dreams and aspirations, her hobbies, and family. She did this in a fashion so that it seemed as if they were easily conversing, and Heather, for her part, was very enthusiastic that the celebrity was talking to her while Hermione tried to make friends in the quickest way possible, so that she could be accepted into her and her friends' circle without much hassle.
Finally, Hermione got to the subject of a job after graduation, and Heather smiled sadly. "Oh, I don't know, Miss Gra- Hermione, my grades are terribly poor, and I'm really only a little good at Defense Against the Dark Arts since I love dueling." She lowered her eyes, embarrassed, and Hermione, in an act of true feeling for the sincere girl, put her hand on hers. Although she had never had this fear of not being able to find a job, she empathized with Heather, shuddering to think what it would be like to be in her position. All her life, she had always received good marks, so "poor grades" were a terrifying thought.
Heather smiled a little brighter at the kind gesture, and tried to reassure her new friend, "I think it'll be alright though, and I'm especially optimistic since I got a new tutor this year."
Hermione's eyes lit up, and she asked, "Who?"
The pretty brunette blushed, and replied, "The Head Boy, Zacharias Smith."
The Senior Girl smiled, and asked innocently, "Do you like him, Zach?"
Heather nodded, biting her lip. "He's always been really nice to me since we were first years, always offering help and talking to me whenever I wasn't with any girlfriends. He found out last year about my grades, and offered to help me this year. Last night was our first meeting…"
Hermione frowned inwardly. I can't believe we don't have any classes together. But good for Zach, I guess, or Draco and Ginny would've caught on right away. Hearing Heather's last words, she asked, "Well, how was it?"
Before Heather could reply, two voices in unison chimed out from behind, "Did he kiss you?"