Hermione waited patiently in Montecino Tower's common room for Draco to stop fuming while she quietly wrote her Charms essay. The only sound in the room was of her quill scratching against the parchment and book pages being flipped. She wasn't worried at all about Draco not coming out. One of his vices was taking a nice, warm shower before going to sleep, and nothing could deter his daily habit.

At around midnight, Hermione was curled up on the couch with Crookshanks, who was snoozing on her lap. She had finished all her homework, as well as made a trip to the library and back, but was now fighting the urge to doze off herself. A moment later, though, she could hear water running in the bathroom. Gently, she got up and moved Crookshanks into an armchair before stretching and yawning. Then she headed straight to Draco's room.

The door was unlocked and she pushed it open, checking to make sure that Draco's bathroom door was closed. Seeing as it was, she headed over to his bed, which was rumpled and warm. She sat down gingerly and rested her hand on the pillow at the headboard, which was, to her surprise, moist. Oh dear, he's been crying. She sighed, picked up his wand from the nightstand, and dried the pillowcase. Then, she put it back before sitting crisscross in the middle of his bed, smoothing out the sheets.

A little while later, Draco emerged from the bathroom, his grey eyes rimmed with red, and his nose red and puffy. He started a little upon seeing Hermione and froze in his tracks. Wasting no time, Hermione patted the bed and motioned for him to take a seat next to her. He did, hesitantly, and while Hermione waited, she took his wand again, as well as a small comb, for his hair was still wet and he looked too defeated and tired to fix his locks himself.

As he sat down, Hermione immediately got to work drying his hair and smoothing it out with the comb. In the process, she also massaged his scalp and whispered sweet things to him in an attempt to make him feel better. It seemed to work, well, at least a little bit, for when she was done rubbing his neck with her nimble fingers, he had a sad, tired smile on his face.

Hermione was setting down the comb and Draco's wand when the pale, blond boy suddenly said, "She's right, isn't she, Ginny? I'm responsible for Dumbledore's death."

"Oh, Draco." Hermione whispered, leaning over to wrap her arms around his neck. "It's all in the past now. Ginny just said some things that don't matter anymore now. Nobody really blames you." she assured him.

Draco automatically held Hermione as she snuggled to him, but with a pained voice, he said, "But it's true. If it weren't for me, Dumbledore could still be alive today, and perhaps not as many people would be dead."

Hermione shook her head. "Draco, darling. Dumbledore was dying anyways from a curse cast by Voldemort. Professor Snape was trying to cure him, but Harry said that Dumbledore wouldn't have survived past our sixth year, no matter what. He saw Professor Snape's memor-"

"I wish I hadn't been so rude to Zacharias. It was our first day back, and I couldn't even keep my big fat mouth shut. And I'm also the most filthy hypocrite, disdaining Zach's situation when all my family-"

"No! Your parents are both working now, and they most definitely got their jobs on their own! And you, Draco! By Disarming Dumbledore that night, you gave Harry his chance to end Voldemort once and for all! You're a hero; never forget that! We can't help Zacharias right now, but you can help yourself. I know for a fact that after we graduate, you'll go on to do wonderful things in your lifetime! You're amazing, Draco Lucius Malfoy. And there's a reason as to why I love you."

With that, Hermione stopped any more protests from her boyfriend with a kiss. When they broke apart, Hermione looked into Draco's eyes, and could see that some of the life had come back. "Now, Draco. I don't expect you to go and beg for Ginny's forgiveness tomorrow. You can have all the time you need to make peace with her, but I need you to be civil. Can you do that, dear?"

"For you, anything." Draco replied, leaning back in for another kiss.


Over the next month and a half, though, Draco and Ginny maintained an icy silence towards one another. Hermione had talked to Ginny the very next day after their argument on Draco's behalf, but the stubborn redhead was adamant about Draco apologizing to both her AND Zacharias for his snooty jabs on their fathers. Until then, she declared, she wouldn't say a word to him.

Draco, for his part, was obviously still incensed about Ginny's snide remark about his own father's sacking, and his Malfoy pride prohibited him from apologizing to either of his friends. However, neither Draco nor Ginny fought again or tried to provoke one another, for both parties had decided on a silent battle.

Hermione chose not to take sides in this cold war, but filled the emptiness with her own chatter. Zacharias followed her lead, talking loudly with Hermione about the most trivial of things until his mouth was dry. Hermione could tell he was miserable and probably wished that he had never mentioned his career plans. Of course, both Ginny and Draco talked to Zacharias and Hermione, but never to the opposite party.

In the evenings and during their free periods, Ginny and Zacharias would meet up with Heather to do their homework in the library. Heather was so helpful, distracting Ginny from her irritation by talking about the latest fashions, asking her about her Quidditch strategies, and of course, listening to her vent on how much she missed Harry.

Harry was now working as a full-fledged Auror, and thus was very busy. He was responsible for helping redeemed Ex-Death Eaters like Lucius Malfoy in their quests for hunting down remaining active Death Eaters. Seeing as he had a lot of spying and following to do, he hadn't even visited Hogwarts once since the holiday break. However, he had promised to be Ginny's date to the Valentine Ball in February, after she had her first honorary dance with Zacharias, who would be going with Heather.

On Quidditch, Hermione was just glad that in the five weeks of silence so far, Gryffindor and Slytherin hadn't had a match yet. The second season had started out with Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw, then Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, then Ravenclaw versus Slytherin, then Hufflepuff versus Slytherin, and then Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Slytherin managed a close win against Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor won every game they played.

However, Ravenclaw lost every game, predictably, as Trevor Birch had started dating Astoria Greengrass, and she had him wrapped around her little fingers. Even Trevor's grades had started falling from not doing his homework to frolick with Astoria instead, and he had missed patrol duty several times, getting an earful from Zacharias. Hermione was inwardly inclined to think that Astoria had used a love potion to get Trevor this devoted to her, but was thankful when she heard the news that Trevor had been guaranteed a spot on the Tutshill Tornadoes by Brevis after he graduated. As was with Ron, Hermione didn't have it in her heart to hate anyone, and always hoped the best for people she really didn't like, for she liked to think that they could eventually change.

It made Ginny's day whenever she caught the Ravenclaw Prefect and Quidditch Captain with his girlfriend snogging hungrily in an empty classroom or hallway and had the opportunity to take points from both Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Between Ginny and Draco's very obvious ignoring of each other and Ginny's deducting large amounts of points from Slytherin House for the most harmless of offenses, though, Hermione could just see the feuding between Gryffindors and Slytherins start up again.

In fact, just days before the Valentine ball, at the end of the last waltzing class before the event, Hermione heard some Slytherin boy call a Gryffindor girl a "Gryffinwhore!" before the sounds of a scuffle reached the rest of the room. Thankfully, Professor McGonagall had been there to intervene, as she had been observing this last class before the ball, and therefore Draco and Ginny lost their chance to have an opportunity to be at each other's throats in defending their House members. The waltzing classes hadn't been as much fun as before, what with Draco and Ginny pointedly ignoring each other, but Hermione hadn't expected a Slytherin boy dancing with a Gryffindor girl to call her such a rude name when she had accidentally stepped on his toes.

Granted, it was a second-year Slytherin student who had uttered the nasty word, and he and the first-year Gryffindor girl probably hadn't even really known what it truly meant, but Hermione knew that the boy had no doubt picked it up from some of the older boys in his House. Anyways, she had been even more shocked to see a group of older Gryffindor boys who had been dancing nearby defend their Housemate by ruthlessly assaulting the younger Slytherin boy.

Professor McGonagall had been furious, chewing out Draco and Ginny for setting such a poor example for their Housemates, before promptly serving detention to the boys involved in the fight, Gryffindor and Slytherin alike. The little girl was crying by then, thinking she had gotten herself into a world of trouble, and Ginny was instructed to bring her to Madam Pomfrey for a Calming Draught.

As the crowd dissipated, Zacharias and Heather slunk off after a hurried farewell to Draco and Hermione, and Hermione towed Draco off to Montecino Tower. Hermione knew Draco was absolutely furious about the beat-up Slytherin boy, who had been teamed up on. After pretending everything was alright for Lady Montecino, Draco stormed and raged inside the common room, repeatedly telling Hermione it wasn't right for a gang of older boys to converge on such a small second-year.

Hermione listened patiently, although she was rather worried. As Draco buried his head in his hands, after Hermione was done patting him on the back and soothing him with sweet words about his kindness, caring, and justice, she went to take a shower.

Although she didn't show it, Hermione was indeed very worried about her friends. The Valentine Ball in three days' time would have reporters and journalists there as guests to show to the world the new cooperation within Hogwarts. What if Drake and Gin are still fighting then? she thought, mulling over this terrifying prospect in the steamy shower. Those writers will definitely notice! McGonagall would never hear the end of it. And then there was Slughorn's Easter party that would be held before Easter break. There would be reporters there, too, as McGonagall had rescinded her banning of journalists at the Slug Club parties, provided that Slughorn didn't invite anymore Slug Club alumni. Those events had worked nicely last semester when the four friends had got along splendidly, but now, Hermione was sure that Draco and Ginny would embarrass Hogwarts with their new display.

And then there was the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match between the two events. Hermione knew that when one side won, the other would be bound to finally break down and initiate a skirmish. Hermione dreaded that Saturday, and instead started thinking about Harry. Oh Harry, please. When you come on February 14th, please, please, PLEASE try and make Ginny see sense. Lord knows I've already tried with Draco, so now it's your turn. This really is unbearable.


During lunch on the day of the Valentine Ball, Ginny suddenly leaned over towards Hermione, who was busy eating pot roast and studying her Ancient Runes textbook. "There's something I've got to tell you Hermione, but I'll wait until you've finished swallowing."

Hermione was immediately intrigued, as the last time Ginny had warned her about eating in pertaining to something important, it had turned that Ginny had been right, (as in when she told her and Draco about Zacharias and Heather's smooching).

Swallowing, she said, "Alright, Gin."

Ginny took a deep breath before whispering into Hermione's ear, "Ron's coming to the Valentine Ball tonight."

Hermione gave a small gasp before looking at Ginny with wide eyes. She quickly stole a glance at Draco, who was busy eating and glaring at the Gryffindor table, before turning back to Ginny.

"What? How?" she whispered urgently.

"I heard Romilda Vane in the bathroom today." Ginny replied grimly. "She claims that she and Ron have been secretly going out since the end of the holiday break. Her 'proof' was something about meeting him at the Leaky Cauldron while he was completely drunk and passed out, nursing him through his hangover in a rented room upstairs, and then losing her virg-"

Hermione blanched. "Ginny, I haven't quite finished eating yet." she said weakly. She shuddered at the thought of Ron and Romilda, who happened to be sitting just where Draco was glaring, getting it on in the Leaky Cauldron.

Ginny nodded, looking grossed out at her own words as well. "Anyways," she continued, "Ron's coming as Romilda's date."