Chapter 23 - Irritation
Ginny came and retrieved Hermione from Draco's compartment when they were less than an hour away from Hogsmeade. Hermione shared a sheepish smile with him as she left with Ginny, but she had to change into her robes which were still in her trunk in the other compartment. Hermione wished that she could have somehow kept a bubble of the calm air around her, because the further from the back of the train they got, the more unbearable it became for her again. At least Ginny stayed close, wrapping a strong arm around Hermione's shoulders each time someone squeezed past them in the tight corridor. Luna, Dean and Seamus were already dressed in their robes when they arrived back, so the three of them stepped out of the compartment to allow Hermione and Ginny some privacy to change.
"This feels strange," Hermione murmured as she pulled the black and red robes on for the first time in fifteen months. "They barely feel like mine anymore."
"I'm glad we bought new ones," Ginny commented, turning down the collar of her shirt over her loose red and gold tie. "I just couldn't have stepped into last year's uniform." She shuddered at the prospect, adjusting her robes to sit correctly on her shoulders but the movement caused them to slip down her arm. Giving up with a sigh and a shrug, she went to open the door again, but Hermione stopped her with a hand on her wrist.
"Wait! I have to write a letter first. Something Draco told me that I need Harry to know."
"And Draco is alright with you sharing it with Harry?" Ginny looked at her with her hands on her hips.
"Well, he would probably find out from the Auror office at some point anyway, so this is just a little heads up for my own peace of mind." Hermione searched through her trunk for a clean piece of parchment, a quill and a pot of ink, then set about writing out what Draco had told her about Greyback while Ginny read over her shoulder.
"Cherbourg's on the North coast of France, right? You don't think he's waiting for an opportunity to come back, do you?"
"I do, which is why I'm telling Harry. It'll give him some news to focus his Greyback fixation on until the Ministry acts on Narcissa's information. I've asked him to tell the others as well, especially Bill and Andromeda." She finished writing and waved the parchment to dry the ink, looking up at Ginny's perplexed face. "Does anyone have an owl?"
"I'll go and find one," Ginny sounded numb as she reached out for the letter, taking it with her when she opened the door.
She returned just as the train was pulling into the station and nodded at Hermione, telling her that it was done. They disembarked the train with Luna, Dean and Seamus and squeezed through the crowd towards the carriages that would take them to the castle. Hermione pulled Ginny's scarf up over her nose again and breathed her friend's scent in deeply, feeling eyes on her as she did so. She turned around and furrowed her brow when she spotted Draco averting his gaze and moving quickly away from the train with his head down over to the opposite side of the platform. She stopped moving to watch him go with puzzlement on her face but turned around when Ginny called her name.
They waved at Hagrid when they reached the end of the platform, but he was busy corralling the small number of first years so they didn't stop to talk with him. They kept moving with the crowd out of the station but came to a halt when everyone suddenly saw the Thestrals for the first time.
"That's what we rode to London?" Hermione grimaced, remembering the terrifying flight in fifth year.
"Aren't they just the sweetest?" Luna sighed adoringly, pushing through the rows of shocked students, already familiar with the sight of the dark grey, skeletal creatures.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that, Luna." Ginny shared a look with Hermione before following their friend to a carriage.
Hermione saw Draco standing close to another carriage, already appearing comfortable with the Thestrals, and tried to catch his eye since they had space for one more person, yet he was resolutely looking anywhere but at her. She watched with clenched fists as Theo Nott approached him, holding her breath until Theo held out his right hand and Draco grasped his forearm in silent solidarity.
When Hermione's carriage pulled away, Millicent and Tracey had joined the two boys with some younger Slytherins, but Draco still hadn't said a word, angling himself away from the rest of them in the corner seat, looking down at his lap. He hadn't looked up for her even once and Hermione was confused by how disappointed that made her.
The air around them was less pressing now and she gradually relaxed, removing Ginny's scarf from her face and even laughing at Seamus' antics. It changed when they entered the castle and she began to get crowded again, everyone's scents mingling as they made their way towards the Great Hall chattering excitedly. Hermione pressed her nose into Ginny's scarf again as the younger witch pulled her close but, just as Dean, Seamus and Luna stepped through the impressive doors, someone yanked her to one side by the sleeve of her robe, Ginny stumbling along with them.
"Is that your scarf, Weasley?" Draco asked quickly without looking at Hermione, even though it was her he pulled into the alcove. "And she needs it?" Hermione crossed her arms and was about to protest when Ginny answered him with a nod.
"There's a spell to prevent degradation. I can adapt it to scent if you'd like?" Draco turned to Hermione as though asking her but still refused to meet her eyes, looking at the wall over her shoulder instead.
She hesitated, partly from shock that he had offered to help when he appeared to be avoiding her, and partly out of determination to handle the situation by herself. If Remus had been able to manage it at Hogwarts, then she would get used to it as well. Just as she steeled herself to decline, Draco rolled his eyes and finally met her gaze.
"You're still new, Granger. Now, make a decision. Quickly!" He hissed, glancing around to make sure they weren't being watched.
"Do it." Ginny told him and Hermione whipped her head around, staring open mouthed at her. "It'll help you, Hermione, as much as I hate that Malfoy's right."
Draco muttered the unfamiliar incantation with his wand trained on her neck and a smug look on his face, then disappeared, slipping through the doors to the Great Hall with his head bowed low again. Hermione and Ginny followed him in and sat in a gap at the Gryffindor table, the scent from the scarf now strong enough that she didn't need to pull it up over her nose. She looked around at the Slytherin table intending to indicate her thanks to Draco but found that he was sat by himself again, looking down at the table where he seemed to be tracing the patterns of the grain in the wood with his fingers. She scanned the rest of the hall and furrowed her brow as she realised how many gaps there were at the tables.
"I don't think it's just my year who haven't returned," she leaned across the table to whisper to Ginny.
X - X - X
Over the next few days, Hermione adjusted to waking up in the dorm she now shared almost exclusively with Ginny - there was only one other girl returning from Ginny's year - and taking her classes with the other seventh years and returning students. With the amount of NEWT classes she was taking, she was able to interact with almost everyone in their year.
Her Potions, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes were small enough in number that all the houses had been mixed together. She shared Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Defence and Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, while Charms was shared with the Slytherins. Draco never once spoke to her in Charms, but she would occasionally catch him glancing in her direction. In the smaller classes he would only speak to her when they had to work together on a potion or a translation, but even then, he refused to meet her eyes. She was puzzled by his behaviour since they had arrived at Hogsmeade station and it was starting to annoy her. Her irritation was worsening as the full moon drew closer and she knew that she, in turn, was beginning to annoy Ginny.
Two days before the full moon, Hermione found herself pacing the dorm, her hair wild and loose around her face as she scratched at her forearms, the sleeves of her uniform bunched up to her elbows and her robes hanging cockeyed off her shoulders. The pain and anxiety coursing through her body was beginning to reach its peak but she was determined to fight Ginny and Professor McGonagall on making her rest, even though the proximity of so many people was fraying her remaining nerves. Ginny managed to calm her down enough to make their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, promising her that they wouldn't make her stop going to classes as long as she felt she could still properly and effectively manage to sit through them.
Hermione could hear a lot of loud chatter, more so than usual as they descended the main staircase, and she began to feel the itch beneath her skin again. Ginny reached out and grasped Hermione's hands in her own just as her fingers began to twitch and looked exasperatingly at Hermione before continuing their way into breakfast with their hands clasped.
As soon as the two of them entered the large space, the loud chatter came to a sudden halt and everyone turned to look at them, giving Hermione the opportunity to see the papers that they were all crowded around at the tables. While trying to make out the headline of the paper and beginning to worry about Harry, she sensed someone moving quickly towards her and flinched back into a defensive stance. She relaxed as green detailed robes topped with blonde hair entered her line of sight and registered his familiar, fresh scent as non-threatening to her. Draco did look furious about something though, with an intensity roiling in his storm-grey eyes.
"Granger," he planted his tall, slim frame in front of her, blocking her entry to the hall. "Could you give me a hand with the Ancient Runes translation before class?" he asked, even as he began to steer her out of the hall.
"You already finished that, Draco," she frowned, digging her heels in and crossing her arms. "I saw you doing it during class as soon as we were assigned it."
"I just want to check something with you," he glanced at Ginny and back to her before he worryingly added, "please?"
"What's going on? I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why you want me out of this hall." She stepped back, almost colliding with Luna who had skipped over to them with a copy of the paper.
"Hello, Draco. You look tense. Perhaps you should just show her."
Ginny took the paper from Luna while Draco narrowed his eyes at the ever gleeful Ravenclaw.
"This isn't good, Hermione," Ginny said, her wide eyes not straying from the page, even when Hermione pulled it halfway towards herself.
No one was more surprised than I when Minister Shacklebolt's next big step following the Death Eater trials was to demolish the werewolf legislation imposed by the currently incarcerated Dolores Umbridge. Such impositions were made in 1994 following the reveal that Remus Lupin, Werewolf, Order of Merlin First Class, had been teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts to our children at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Well, dear readers. I can now reveal to you the very worrying reason behind our Minister's insistence on a rapid change in werewolf rights, and I am afraid to say that it is due to a shocking case of privilege afforded to one of the so-called Golden Trio. That's right! Miss Hermione Granger, one-time love interest of the saviour of the wizarding world, is a Werewolf.
It has come to my notice that Miss Granger, 18, registered herself this summer while the rest of the wizarding world, we who trusted her with our very existence, was too focused on the trials to notice. Miss Granger was barred from the Wizengamot during the trials for this very reason; for the fact that her supposedly new identification makes her dangerous and untrustworthy. But, now that members of the Wizengamot can speak freely about the trials, prominent members have brought to the Daily Prophet's attention how disappointed they were that Miss Granger's condition prevented them from hearing her testimony.
It has also been rumoured that Minister Shacklebolt's rapid adjustment of werewolf legislation comes following pressure from the newly-appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall, who insisted that Miss Granger would be returning this year to complete her studies, despite being turned by Fenrir Greyback, the terrifying, dark wizard who has tortured so many young, innocent children.
"This really isn't good."
A/N:
Hello Hogwarts! What do you all think? And any guesses on who wrote that article?
Also, I love you all for reading this and commenting along as I take Hermione on this journey that started out as my first foray into writing fanfiction. I'm so happy that people are enjoying it, so thank you 3
I'd love it if you came and found me on tumblr mxstyassasxin