1993 Third Year
"It's becoming a tradition of ours for at least one of us to end up here each year," Hermione commented as she stood by Draco's bed in the hospital wing.
He had been told that his injuries didn't warrant him staying the night, but he still hadn't been discharged after his dose of Calming Draught. Hermione noted it must've been a heavy amount as he became quite lucid.
"It seems to be the only way I can spend time with you outside of our room," he slurred at her.
She laughed through her nose and shook her head as she smiled down at him. "I don't think it's healthy to resort to hospitalizing yourself in order to spend more time with me, Draco."
"We could always find a supply cupboard," he joked, causing Hermione to swat his non-injured arm gently as she blushed furiously.
"And there's that blush again," his head fell back onto his pillow as he spoke, his eyes becoming heavy. "I love how easily you blush but I hate how I'm not the only one who causes you to."
Hermione's face fell a fraction at his words and although he couldn't see her face through his closed eyes, he sensed her mood deteriorate.
"I don't mean to put a damper on this. I suppose I'm just jealous."
Her eyebrows furrowed together and she looked down at her fidgeting hands before she responded. "I've said it once before, I blush very easily. I wear my emotions on my face for everyone to see and I hate that but I never blush as hard as I do when I'm with you. It's almost like you do it for fun," she scowled as he chuckled at her, the noise only confirming what she had suggested.
After a few moments of silence, she noticed his breathing becoming heavier and even as he drifted off to sleep. She pulled the thin quilt up further and tucked him in slightly, admiring his calm disposition once more before she left.
'We could always find a supply cupboard.' She replayed Draco's words back over in her head.
Was he implying that he wanted to be in a supply cupboard with me? She thought to herself.
She could feel the familiar burning in her cheeks at the idea of being in a similar situation as she had found Theo and Daphne with Draco, mentally kicking herself for blushing once more. She shook her head of the thoughts of supply cupboards and boys, and focused on her journey back to the common room. She reminded herself that Draco would likely forget about their conversation when he woke up and she needn't worry about feeling embarrassed again.
~X~
The following morning after the incident with Draco and Buckbeak, Hermione walked into the great hall in search of Harry and Ron. Spotting them from across the room, seated with the rest of the Weasleys, she made her way towards them. However, the sounds of a familiar shrill voice stopped her in her tracks as she turned to find the culprit.
"Does it hurt Drakey?" Pansy asked as she pawed over him with a sickening amount of concern.
'Drakey.' Hermione cringed, a small smirk appearing on her face as she thought how she would tease him about the pet name later.
"It comes and goes," he shrugged her off and turned back to his plate of food.
"I still can't believe you waltzed over to a Hippogriff and thought you would come out unscathed," Theo chuckled, earning himself a scowl from his friend. "Why did you do that again?"
"He was trying to prove to me that he hadn't lost his touch," Blaise smirked as he interjected.
"Yes well, that's the last time I get coaxed into doing something to prove you wrong," Draco mumbled to himself, looking down at his bandaged arm.
"Hey, I didn't tell you to go charging towards that beast, you did that all by yourself."
"Always full of bright ideas aren't you Draco," Theo chuckled.
"Suppose next time I'll just prove myself by stealing something interesting from a supply cupboard, who knows what I'd find in there," he sneered at Theo, who gave a half-smile in return.
The remaining Slytherins stood from the table after finishing their breakfast and made their way towards the exit of the great hall. Draco trailed at the back of the group, trying to avoid Pansy at all costs.
"It's amazing," Theo startled Draco as they walked through the doors of the hall into the corridor.
"What's amazing, Theo?" He asked, unenthusiastically.
"How your mind went to a supply cupboard. I can only imagine why." Theo gave him a knowing look before he quickened his pace and joined the rest of the group.
Draco came to a stop when he realised that by making the comment he did, he had implicated himself in the process. The only person that had known about Theo's supply cupboard antics with Daphne was Hermione, so for him to know also, that would've meant she had to have told him.
~X~
"Hermione it's your birthday, you have to let me get you something," Draco whined as the pair sat in front of the fire in their secret room.
"I have to do no such thing," she responded with all seriousness in her tone. "It would be completely unnecessary. I don't care much for my birthday and anything you would get me would be insanely overpriced. I can't imagine you are capable of getting a small gift."
Draco snorted and squeezed the bottom of her legs that draped over his own as he sat upright on the sofa with her laid across it beside him.
"Are Potty and Weasel allowed to buy you a gift?"
"Let's be realistic, they won't be getting me anything even if I didn't have an issue with it."
Draco shook his head at her answer, as far as he was concerned, she was being impossible.
"Why are you so determined to buy me a gift anyway?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Because you're my friend and I should be allowed to," he huffed, folding his arms across his chest and wincing slightly as he knocked his still sore arm.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Let's change the subject. Is your father going to get involved with the incident that happened with Buckbeak?"
"I see you opted for a more cheerful topic of conversation," he chucked before his face fell as he thought over his answer. "To be blunt, yes. He was furious, I've never seen him that angry before. He stormed out of Dumbledore's office without even saying goodbye to me, all he said before he left was that Dumbledore hadn't heard the last of this."
Hermione's stomach turned at the thought of Lucius raging in Dumbledore's office. She had seen and heard enough of Draco's father to fear him and what he was capable of.
"What do you think he will do?"
"I don't know, but I know whatever it is, it can't be good," he answered with his eyes fixed on the fire in front of him whilst he played with the hem along one of Hermione's socks.
"Why did you do it? Did you not listen when Hagrid warned us of how proud Hippogriff's are? How delicate we have to be when approaching one?"
"Of course I did!" he said defensively. "Blaise made a comment about how I'd lost my touch. He could see… well, he thought I'd gone soft and I don't know, something came over me and I felt like I had to prove myself."
"Well done, you proved you fold under peer pressure and got yourself hurt in the process."
Draco looked at her blankly and removed her legs from his before he stood up and walked closer to the fire, leaning against the frame of the fireplace before he spoke once more.
"I didn't fold under peer pressure, I simply felt the need to prove him wrong. As I have done every time he's mentioned you," he snapped, refusing to look at her as he spoke.
"Wait… I was mentioned? How? In what way?"
"Does it matter?" He asked, now turning to face her. Hermione moved her legs off the sofa and stood, slowly walking towards him.
"Yes it does Draco, because you failed to mention earlier that I was the topic of conversation and the reason why you confronted a wild animal that mauled you!"
He could sense that she was losing her patience with him and, rather than argue, he sighed before he told her the truth.
"He asked me if I was getting jealous, right after he spotted me looking over at you and Weasel. I told him no and he accused me of losing my touch because I didn't respond in a way that he considered normal for me, then announced it to the group. It was either that or confront you, which would you have preferred?"
His explanation followed by his question made her pale. Overwhelmed with confusion, she scrunched her eyebrows together, trying to piece everything together.
"I don't understand, why would you be jealous?"
"I wasn't."
"Ok, but why did Blaise think you would be jealous?"
"I don't know, maybe because he thinks I like you and wouldn't like you flirting with the Weasel!" he snapped, causing her cheeks to burn at his outburst.
For a few moments, she stood in silence as she watched him fidget uncomfortably on the spot, unsure of what to say. She opened her mouth a few times to respond but when she failed to form words, she closed it once more. Finally, she swallowed thickly before clearing her throat and broke the silence.
"I wasn't flirting with Ron. He's one of my closest friends, I don't have siblings so he and Harry are the closest thing I have to that." She explained slowly, "I don't see why it would be an issue unless what Blaise said was true?"
"He was just winding me up," he dodged the question, not wanting to answer it just yet. The truth was Draco didn't know what he felt. He just knew that whenever he saw her with Ron, it touched a nerve he didn't know he had.
"Well, there's nothing to worry about. So stop being a drama queen and come sit back down." She gave him a small smile before she grabbed his hand and led him back to the sofa before they resumed their previous positions.
"By the way, there's something I've been meaning to talking to you about," Hermione said. Draco looked concerned as he nodded at her, gesturing for her to continue.
"Harry's fear of dementors is justified."
He relaxed once more and chuckled, shaking his head before he turned back the hem of her sock as he started to play with it again.
"I'm being serious Draco, I know you don't like him but he has a reason to fear them. We all do, they're not nice creatures by nature, hence their position at Azkaban."
"It's just something to tease him about, I told you we would never be friends and that's not going to change just because you and I are. So the fact that he fainted-"
"He didn't faint. Do you know what a dementors kiss is?"
He turned cold at the words, his smile wiped from his face before he turned back to her and spoke.
"Sort of, I know they say it's a fate worse than death."
"Dementors don't cause any harm to your body physically, they simply remove your soul. You remain alive in a soulless body, so yes, a kiss is a fate worse than death. They do this by bringing the worst memory you have to the forefront of your mind. In Harry's case it's his parents dying, only he doesn't actually remember this happening because he was only a child, but he was there when it happened so it's somewhere in his subconscious. When the dementors get close to Harry for some reason they start performing the kiss. We haven't quite figured out why, but when they do, as they did on the train, he hears it. He hears his mother's scream ringing through his ears."
Draco paled as he listened to Hermione, her explanation caused goosebumps to form over his entire body. She paused for a moment to catch her breath before she continued.
"So when you laughed at the fact that he fainted, when you teased him in forest during Hagrid's lesson, and when you laughed during our DADA lesson with the boggart... you're actually laughing at the fact that a dementor tried to take away his soul, that it forced him to think about his mother's death."
He stared at her, speechless, unable to respond to what she had just told him. Eventually, he broke away from her gaze and turned back to the fire that was starting to dim. Both of their eyes flickered to the nervous flame.
"What do you think they'd say? If they knew we were friends?" He asked her whilst keeping his head down.
"Harry and Ron?" He nodded in response. "I don't know actually. I don't think they'd be happy. There's no love lost between you three, but it has nothing to do with them."
He hummed in agreement. He disliked them as much, if not more, than they did him - that was no secret.
"I imagine they would give you some long spiel about how I'm a bad person and you shouldn't trust me," he said with a false smile on his lips.
"They don't know you. Not the real you. You're not a bad person Draco, you've just been brought up differently, on different beliefs."
He nodded in response, unsure as to whether he believed her himself, unsure as to whether he was a good person or not. She could sense the shift in his mood, he had gone from being mildly irritated that she wouldn't allow him to buy her a gift, to dwelling on the situation of their secret friendship. She understood that he struggled from time to time with their secret friendship, but there was nothing either of them could do about it.
"Don't be sad, Drakey." She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing when Draco spun his head to the side to glare at her.
"Please don't call me that," he whined and she couldn't contain the laughter any longer.
"Why not? I think it's sweet, Drakey suits you," she said between fits of laughter.
Within seconds he pulled at her legs so that her back was against the cushion rather than the arm of the chair. It gave him an advantage as he launched himself forward, pinning her beneath him using his body weight. Her smile fell and her cheeks turned the familiar shade of pink he had grown accustomed to as she looked up at him wide-eyed. Her arms were restrained above her head, causing her to be unable to push him from her.
"Are you ticklish, Hermione?" A look of panic washed over her before she answered, indicating that no matter what she said, she definitely was.
"Not at all," her voice squeaked slightly.
He presented her with his trademark smirk before he quickly moved his hands to her sides and tickled her. She thrashed around beneath him, her arms moved rapidly as she tried and failed to deflect his hands whilst her laughter echoed through the room.
After a few failed attempts and her pleading for him to stop he finally moved his hands away from her sides. He kept one on her raised knee and moved the other to the back of the sofa as he sat back slightly and stared down at her. He smiled as he watched her pant and try to regain her breath.
"I did warn you," he chuckled and she scowled at him.
"Message received," she said once she managed to steady her breathing. Her eyes moved towards the hand he still had placed on her knee, suddenly aware of the fire it ignited as it rested against her skin. She moved to look back and Draco and noticed he wore an expression she hadn't seen before. There was something in his eyes that she didn't quite recognise, almost like he was trying to tell her something without using his words.
After a moment of laying in silence under his intense gaze, she decided to speak up before It consumed her.
"How about I read to you tonight? You always read to me as I fall asleep. I think it's your turn."
Liking the idea, he pushed himself back, slowly removing the tie he had previously loosened from around his neck and watched as Hermione searched for a book to read. He waited on his knees at the far end of the sofa for her to get comfortable so that he could gauge where he too was going to position himself for the night.
Once she laid down and propped her head up with the cushions, he took advantage of the small gap she had left between herself and the back of the sofa. He slid in beside her and rested his head on her stomach whilst his arm lay across her waist.
Hermione was thankful he was laying so that he couldn't see her face as she bit down on her lip, trying to act casual. Usually when she slept she curled up to him, but this felt different, she felt different. His proximity was causing butterflies to flip and twist around in her stomach and she was slightly concerned to read in case her voice gave her away.
Get a grip Hermione! She said to herself before she picked up the book. Before she started to read he spoke, his voice vibrated on her stomach and sent shivers through her.
"Do you think it'll ever be easier, us being friends?" He asked her, still keeping his head rested on her middle. She moved her arm so that it lay gently over his back as she drew light circles on his shoulder whilst she thought over the answer to his question.
"I'd like to think that in a few years, it will be less difficult. Yet, or at least by the time we leave this place, there will be no more prejudice against Muggleborns and it will be socially acceptable for you to be friends with me."
"That's a long time away."
"Then let's hope it happens sooner. I believe it will, things can only get better can't they?"
He hummed in response, not wanting to diminish her hopes. He knew differently. He knew from the meetings he attended with his father that the former death eaters were getting more and more frustrated with their lack of success in bringing back Voldemort. If they didn't figure out a way soon, something terrible was going to happen. Either scenario didn't bode well for Draco's friendship with Hermione and that aided his glum mood whenever he thought too hard about their friendship.
"Anyway, shush, it's my time to read," she told him and he chuckled against her stomach as he snuggled down further.
Hermione opened the book once more and began to read. Without realising, the hand she had been using to run circles on his shoulder moved up to his hair. She began to stroke the pale locks softly until he fell asleep, to which she quickly followed.
~X~
"Here she is, it's the birthday girl!" Ginny squealed as Hermione walked into the Gryffindor common room on September the 19th.
"Happy birthday, Hermione," Harry said to her as he walked over and gave her a hug. She hugged him back tightly and thanked him before shaking her head.
"I don't do birthdays so can we please go to breakfast?"
Ron nodded quickly in agreement and stood up to head out of the room."I don't understand why you don't like your birthday Mione, it's a day that gets to be all about you."
"Exactly Ronald, I don't like to be the centre of attention."
Ron accepted her reasoning and shrugged as they walked through the portrait. A crowd of Gryffindor's walked behind them as they all made their way towards the Great Hall for breakfast.
"I don't see why I wasn't allowed to buy you a gift," Ginny sighed as she sat down next to Hermione in the great hall.
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, "Urg, not you too!"
"Me too?" Ginny asked as she raised one of her eyebrows at her.
Hermione's eyes shot towards Ginny in a moment of panic, racking her brain for a speedy recovery. "My parents - I tried to tell them not to get me anything either."
"Hmmm, and did they listen?" Ginny asked, smirking at Hermione as she attempted to keep up her cover.
"I sure hope so."
As if on cue, the sound of owls filled the hall as they flew down low to drop off their morning post. In front of Hermione landed two parcels along with a letter that she could only assume were from her parents.
Transfixed on his breakfast, Ron didn't notice the parcels that lay before Hermione. Harry, however, was a little more interested to see what she had been given.
"Open them then," he promoted his friend, who sighed and shook her head as she put down the letter she had been reading from her parents, wishing her a happy birthday.
Moving to the large parcel first, she picked up the tag that hung from the side and read the label to herself.
To our darling daughter, we know how much you miss these things when you're not here so we thought of a way you could enjoy them at school too!
She opened the large parcel to find a hamper of all the things she loved from back home. She reached for a photo of herself and her parents. It was taken at Christmas almost seven years ago, before Hermione knew she was a witch. It was her favourite photo of her parents. She always loved how happy they both were and the romantic in her couldn't help but adore the way they looked at each other as their child opened her Christmas presents.
"It's broke," Ron said as he looked at the unmoving photo.
"It's not broken Ron, that's how muggle photos look," Harry told him. "They don't move."
Ron pulled his face at the unmoving photo of her and her parents before he turned back to his plate of food.
After sifting through the remainder of the box, Hermione turned to the next parcel. She turned the neatly wrapped parcel in her hands a few times, trying to find a label or even some kind of hint as to who it could be from but there was nothing. Finally, curiosity got the better of her and she began to tear away the paper carefully, the suspense getting to the better of Ginny as she leaned in closely to see what was inside.
"What is it 'Mione?" Ron asked as he swallowed his last mouthful of food.
"A book of some sort."
"An old one by the looks of it," Ginny added.
Hermione was presented with the back of a thick leather book that looked worn at the edges. It was bound together tightly at the spine with rope that looked tattered, almost as if someone loosened the spine over time to add more pages. She turned the book slightly to inspect the spine to discover she was right. There were clear signs of fresher pages, even possible removal of pages and finally, she turned the book over and gasped as she read the title.
Hogwarts: A History by Bathilda Bagshot
She noted in the bottom right hand corner read the date '13 September 1984'. For a moment she sat in complete awe at the book in front of her, unable to speak, respond to questions she was being asked, or even acknowledge them.
"What is it?" Ron asked with a confused look on his face as he noticed Hermione was frozen in shock.
"I think it's Hogwarts: A History, but it looks a bit shabby," Ginny responded whilst twisting her neck to get a better look at the book Hermione gripped tightly in her hands.
"Earth to Hermione? Hello?" Harry spoke more loudly to her, eventually getting through as her eyes blinked and she shook her head.
"It's a first edition.. maybe the first edition," she whispered. Her hand moved shakily to turn the cover of the book. She was presented with a small passage in the middle of the first page. It read;
If you're reading this, you're lucky enough to be in possession of my discoverings when writing Hogwarts: A History. In here, you will find every detail of my thoughts when writing this book. It includes everything that didn't make the final cut because the publishers 'didn't think it was appropriate', along with every opinion I had through the years of my learning about Hogwarts. Enjoy.
"It's... it's Bathilda's... it's all of her notes," she said as she delicately flicked through the pages. "It's all of her ideas, her thought process when she was writing the book..." her voice turned into a whisper.
"Who gave you this?" Ginny asked.
Hermione couldn't tear her eyes away from the book as she shrugged in response.
"Whoever it was must know you very well to get you the first ever copy of your favourite book," Harry commented. Hermione nodded before she closed the book and stroked her hand softly over the cover, tears pricking in her eyes.
"I'm going to go put my gifts in my room before class." She finally looked up at her friends before she pushed herself away from the table.
She couldn't remember the walk to the Gryffindor common room. She was in such a daze with her new book that she was on autopilot right up to her dorm. Hermione took advantage of her quiet surroundings to admire her book once more, slowly flicking through the pages. Each one was filled with notes and ideas the author had written before, during, and after writing the book. Overwhelmed with emotion she couldn't help but let out the tears that had been building up in her , she closed the book and put it down to the side of her.
She emptied the contents of the box her parents had gifted to her onto her bed and placed the book inside it, then slid it under her bed. She then placed the photos of her family on her bedside table and smiled down at it once more before she left her room for her Monday morning classes.
Author Notes:
Disclaimer - I do not own the world of Harry Potter, I wish I did, but I don't.
MASSIVE shout out to KoraKunkel for being the best beta!
