Chapter 23: Tales of the Headmistress
O-o-o-o-o-o-o
The normally boisterous student voices quieted as they entered, hand in hand, but they kept their focus on each other, talking casually about their morning schedules. Draco had his seventh year Potions classes and Hermione had her sixth year Transfigurations students.
"Morning, Professor Granger," Fiona's voice broke the silence of the room as they walked by, her tone coy and her eyebrows raised admirably at the way they were suavely playing out their predicament. Hermione had a feeling based on her look that perhaps Marielle had told one person that they'd encountered each other in the Slytherin dungeons one Sunday morning.
"Good morning, Fiona, see you in class," Hermione smiled at the girl as they continued onto the professor's table.
As Hermione turned her head forward again, she caught Ron's glance briefly. He eyed them only for a moment before he turned back to his conversation with Harry as though nothing were unusual. He didn't look angry and it didn't look as though he were about to yell or stomp out of the room and she felt an overwhelming appreciation for him in that moment. He was letting her live her life and handle this situation with dignity.
Draco released her hand as they reached the table and he took the seat on the other side of Harry, waiting until the tea cup in front of him filled itself before he grabbed it, blowing on it lightly, his eyes still locked on Hermione as she told him about the chapter they were going over in class that morning. She sat down next to him and grabbed a slice of toast to add to her plate before spooning some eggs alongside it.
"Morning, Malfoy," came Harry's voice and he turned his head slightly.
"Morning, Potter," he gave him a crooked smile before they both returned to their conversations and the noise in the room picked back up all at once.
The buzz was louder than usual and they all knew why, but they ignored it. Hermione's gaze traveled down the table and she saw Seamus's fork paused halfway to his mouth, staring at them as Dean gawked on similarly.
Luna waved a bit too enthusiastically from the other side of Ron and she could see Ginny whispering to Neville, likely about what was going on, as he looked befuddled.
From the other side of Hermione, Draco noticed Padma and Hannah whispering excitedly between themselves while trying to keep an outward appearance of nonchalance, and Ernie was awkwardly trying to hold a conversation with the Headmistress while casting curious glances over at them. McGonagall had an almost unnoticeable smile on her lips but was staying focused on her current conversation.
Breakfast passed unusually quickly that morning with all the adrenaline before they were on to their classes and whatever came next.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o
Hermione walked into her first class of sixth years that morning to a sea of hushed whispers that stopped abruptly as she reached the front of the classroom.
"Good morning, if you could all pass up your homework, we'll be going over our chapter on conjuring charms, starting with a quick review of what you all should have read over the weekend and then some hands on practice."
She flicked her wand and an overview of wand movements and pronunciations appeared on the board as students began passing up their essays on Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration.
"How was your weekend, Professor Granger?" Asked Christian from the back of the room as he handed his essay to Fiona, who sat in front of him.
Hermione looked up from the lesson plan she'd been flipping through on her desk. Honestly, she should have expected this from one of them.
"Very nice, thank you."
"Did you and Professor Malfoy do anything special for Valentine's Day?" He asked in a tone that he tried to convey as innocent.
Hermione felt her lip pull up but she tried to keep her features passive as she answered him in a sarcastically chiding voice, "Mr. Crabbe, my classroom is not a gossip mill." She couldn't blame them for being curious, but she certainly wasn't going to talk about her relationship to a group of sixteen year olds, "Now, who can tell me how many exceptions there are to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration?"
Zachary raised his hand from across the room and Hermione pointed to him, "Five."
"Wonderful, and can someone give me an example of one of these exceptions that can't be conjured?"
Gabriel raised his hand next to Zachary and Hermione called on him, "Good food," he said and everyone chuckled.
"That is actually a great example," Hermione nodded, "Now, if everyone could take out their wands, we'll be working on conjuring flowers today using the Orchideous spell."
O-o-o-o-o-o-o
The accelerated timing of everything meant their first day on display as a couple also coincided with the dueling club. They'd discussed their stance on how to tackle it, knowing they had to separate their professional duties from their personal lives, so there would be no hand holding and they would try to reduce the amount of teasing that now was obviously flirty banter that they'd always played off as friendly. As Hermione's final class ended and her seventh year Transfiguration students trickled out of the classroom, a knock came at the door. She looked up to see the Headmistress in the doorway.
"Good afternoon, Professor Granger," she greeted her, "Before you head off for the day, I was hoping we could have a little chat."
Hermione felt herself flush a little, knowing the coming conversation likely had to do with her new relationship status, "Of course, Headmistress, Come in."
McGonagall walked into the room, pulling the door shut behind her before she walked closer to Hermione with her hands clasped in front of her, "It has come to my attention that you and Mr. Malfoy may be romantically involved. And while I of course understand that life happens as it does, we will need to sit down and discuss how this impacts your duties, and I will need to go through the Hogwarts Professor Handbook with you both on how to conduct a professional relationship around the students. And although you have heard the talk before, Mr. Malfoy has not and so you will both need to be present."
"Of course, Headmistress," Hermione nodded, "We should have come to you first. It all just happened so quickly and my main concern was downplaying the reaction with Ron and of course the students, I guess I overlooked the consideration of school policies. Not something I usually do."
"We can go over it all now," McGonagall waved her apology off, "But it is something that needs to be addressed so I wanted to set an appointment with you both. I'll be sending an owl along with that appointment for tomorrow afternoon."
"We'll be there," Hermione assured her.
"There's one more thing, Ms. Granger, that I wanted to tell you about," McGonagall took a moment to look at the girl she'd watched grow up in front of her eyes. One of the many students she cared deeply for, "I feel I may be one of the few people who has had more contact with Mr. Malfoy over the last five years than most, did you know that?"
Hermione furrowed her brow, Draco hadn't told her much about those years after the war besides that he'd spent his time at the Manor continuing his studies in some shape or form, "No, I didn't," she said, "I knew he worked with you to finish schooling, but he didn't tell me much about what he was really doing with his time in between. I was under the impression he wasn't doing much at all."
McGonagall gave her a small smile, "Not much publicly, no. I worked closely with him and his mother after the Battle of Hogwarts so he could finish his education and take his N.E.W.T.s away from the school," she nodded, "And I will be honest, it was hard for me at first to want to work with the Malfoys, knowing their part in everything, but I knew Dumbledore would want me to hear them out and give the boy a second chance. I had to set aside a lot of predisposed biases, but I knew it's what Albus would have done."
"I know it is too," Hermione said quietly.
"Mr. Malfoy and I went over evaluations together throughout that seventh year process and I helped to set him up with what we considered 'post-graduate' potions work afterwards. You see, he'd had interest in becoming a potions master, originally, to work on developing new potions, an interest he expressed to me upon receiving his N.E.W.T.s, which he did exceptionally well on. He spent the next two years completing additional studies and research in the field from the Manor, which was overseen by a well-known potions master in London who happens to be a good friend of mine. He even wrote a thesis on simplifications of healing potions for home brewing remedies in the years that followed. A thesis that was reviewed by both myself and Professor Slughorn, along with his mentor, and published in one of the more renowned potions journals under a false name. He was very unsure about using his own name because he expected backlash. I think he really just enjoyed the work and the distraction to keep busy."
"I didn't know that," she said honestly, interested in asking Draco more about it later. To be fair, she'd never specifically asked and she knew he thought of his time after the Battle of Hogwarts of a particularly dark time in his life.
"Well I am telling you because from the time I spent working with him and interacting with him and his mother after the Battle, I knew there had been a change in him. A very positive change. One I hoped others would see one day. He was a part of something terrible and tragic. But he was a boy and I saw him trying to grow and move forward. I wasn't sure anyone else would ever get to witness what I had. But when Susan had to step down from the Potions professor position, a part of me wondered if he'd grown enough to consider it, although I didn't seek him out. I thought if he wanted to put himself back out there, he'd do it on his own. Horace and I were both very happy when he did. There wasn't really much of a question once we saw his application. We both knew how skilled in potions he was and we'd both been in contact with him for the last few years and saw it as an opportunity to give him the chance to prove himself to the wizarding world again. To show everyone the change we'd seen. That's why we hired him," she paused again, looking fondly at Hermione, "I'm very proud of you for showing the compassion towards him that you have, befriending him at first, allowing him to move forward despite the actions of his past. It's a difficult and often impossible thing to do and I've been in awe of you, and Mr. Potter, for giving him the chance to be a better person."
"I saw the change immediately as well," Hermione said, "I felt like I'd met a whole new person when he started here and when we'd gotten past the uncomfortable acknowledgements of what working together meant. Once the defenses were down, I met a wonderful man. Thank you for giving him that chance after the Battle of Hogwarts. Sometimes all it takes is one person believing in you to want to keep pushing forward."
McGonagall reached out and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder in a very motherly way, "One person believing in you can change everything." With one more proud look she turned and headed for the door, "My owl should arrive tonight to your separate rooms."
Hermione cleared her throat with an awkward chuckle, "Of course, Headmistress. See you tomorrow."
Hermione alluded to Draco at dinner later that she'd be spending the evening in her own room after the Dueling Club, nudging her head inconspicuously towards McGonagall and he'd grinned back at her and nodded.
They walked together to the Dueling Club that evening, happy not to have to purposefully enter at different times. A few students were milling about chatting as they arrived; a handful of third and fourth years and the usual sixth years, who Hermione was sure had wanted to get there early to get something out of them.
"Good evening everyone," Hermione said as they made their way to the front of the theater hall.
Gabriel turned from his conversation with Fiona and Marielle at Hermione's voice, "Professor Granger, Professor Malfoy, happy Tuesday," he said suavely.
Hermione looked back, "Happy Tuesday, Gabriel."
"We were just talking about our weekends. Fiona and Marielle went to dinner in Hogsmeade. Christian and Ariela spent the afternoon at Madam Puddifoots. Zachary, Marcus and I had a good day passing a quaffle down at the pitch. Since we're all sharing our stories, we figured it would only be courteous to ask you about your weekend, as we would any other week."
Hermione and Draco shared an amused glance and Draco shrugged slightly as she let out a long breath of defeat. Technically it was a harmless question that they would normally answer if not for their new status.
"Alright," she turned back to the students as more trickled in, "But this is not gossip. It's simply a conversation about our weekends and is not something that needs to be delved into or discussed."
"Of course," echoed valiantly through the room as everyone's ears perked up.
She wasn't sure if she'd ever had a group of students quite so attentive to what she was saying in her entire year as a teacher so far and she looked over at Draco again and gestured for him to share. He grinned at her and nodded in an oddly trusting way.
"I went to Paris this weekend," he said simply, "And ran into Professor Granger, who also happened to be in Paris, at an art museum."
"Paris?!" Ariela, a tall girl who was latched onto Christian's arm, leaned forward in awe, "They went to Paris, Christian."
"I can't very well apparate us to Paris, Ariela," Christian scoffed, "We don't even have apparition licenses."
"It just sounds so nice," she sighed.
"You'd all probably think it was quite boring, actually," Hermione looked over at Draco with her eyes shining, "We just drank cappuccinos, discussed art and read books."
"All the things that really get a professor excited," Zachary joked.
"One day you'll find there's nothing quite as exciting as a stimulating conversation," Hermione told him sincerely, "Alright, now that you've got what you all came here for, we're going to get started with the meeting," there was a quick murmur of whispers before they quieted again, "Tonight we'll be practicing the tickling hex. However, we've been discussing the idea of taking the month of March to pick an advanced spell to work closely with you all on. We haven't decided on one yet. But I thought it would be something to look forward to. Something to really take from the club."
There were some more excited whispers and Draco drew the attention back, "For now, we'll show you the tickling hex and protection charm and you can get started for the evening."
They met in the middle of the room, raising their wands and walking their three paces before turning, Hermione lifting her wand, "Titillando!" She said clearly.
"Protego!" Draco deflected the spell.
"I think this counts as a 'fun' one for the students to see," Hermione said innocently.
"Oh come on," Draco looked back at her, hoping she was joking, "You're going to use that card now?"
"Yes, I think I am," she grinned.
"Fine, fair is fair."
She raised her wand again as everyone looked on, "Titillando!"
Draco didn't even raise his wand as he accepted his fate and burst into fits of laughter as it hit him. He hunched over, clutching at his sides, but completely unable to stop it.
"Finite," Hermione said after just a few seconds, and the sensation subsided.
Draco stood back up straight, leaning on the counter as he caught his breath from laughing as all the students cheered. He shook his head as he glanced up at Hermione. She was looking at him with that endearing smile and he couldn't help but return it, even after her tickle attack, "Well now you all know what to expect."
They split into groups and Draco and Hermione went about their normal teaching duties until the clock approached curfew once more.
"Alright, next week will be our dueling day, so study up on your spells," Hermione said as they gathered their things, "And we'll announce what spell we're going to be tackling together in March."
The students waved goodnight as they left until Draco and Hermione were the only ones remaining, starting their process to put the room back together.
"I think that went well," Draco said, "We had to know they'd ask for some kind of information."
"I know," she sighed, "I think we handled it as well as we could have. Besides, our meeting with McGonagall is tomorrow to discuss our professional boundaries, so you can at least plead innocent for one day."
They'd agreed to split ways at the Entrance Hall to abide by McGonagall's request for the evening. They wouldn't spend every night apart, but the beginning of their public relationship likely had to come with some professional distance. But not too much distance. Just enough to keep up appearances.
Draco looked around them quick before pulling her into him as they reached their split, "It's felt very nice to get this all out in the open," he said with a grin, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear as he leaned down to capture her lips.
She looked up at him as they parted, "I just feel this overwhelming sense of relief," she smiled, "I'm sorry I was so stubborn."
"You were stubborn and I was a prat about it a few times," he shrugged, "All that is over. Now we get to enjoy the easy part."
"And the fun part," she ran her hand suggestively down his chest and he grinned wickedly at her.
He moved his lips to her ear, "Now why would you say that on a night that I have to let you go back to your own room?"
"So you can think about it all night and miss me," she responded coyly as he pulled back just far enough for her to pull him back down for a deeper kiss. It was after curfew and they were alone, after all.
A pitter-patter on the stone floor broke them apart and they both laughed as Mrs. Norris' yellow eyes stared disapprovingly back at them.
"Better head to bed before Filch catches up," Draco whispered, pulling her close again for one more peck, "I love you, Granger," he said against her lips and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.
"I love you, too," she said as she stepped back, their hands the last thing to break away as they departed for their own sides of the castle.
As Hermione arrived back to her room, she set her wand on the table and started for the bedroom before a knock on the door stopped her. Frowning, she turned back around, wondering who would be calling on her at this late an hour. To her surprise, she opened the door and saw Ron standing outside, hands in his pockets and an unreadable expression on his face.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
"Of course," she stepped to the side as he came in.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
When Draco arrived back to his room that evening, he felt high. Everything was finally falling into place; Their secret was out and the hard part was over. Now he could just focus on enjoying their time together and letting things progress naturally, dealing with whatever little things popped up along the way.
He shrugged off his cloak, throwing it over the arm of the couch when a tapping at his window caught his attention. He still didn't know how the owls got outside the windows of the dungeons, but he'd also never thought about it much; Hogwarts had its secrets. To his surprise, as he opened the window, he was met with not one, but two owls fighting over the tight space on the ledge. One letter was from McGonagall detailing their meeting time the following day. And one from Lucius.
Draco,
I've heard from a friend that you've been spotted at The Alchemist Den with a mystery woman. He overheard Pansy call her name and if I'm not mistaken it sounded quite similar to a certain muggleborn that I've met before. I hope my assumptions are incorrect, however if they are not, this is something we will need to discuss. Although times have changed, certain beliefs and traditions should remain intact. Perhaps I am not making myself clear, but I will be out of Azkaban in two months time and if we do not discuss it before then, we certainly will upon my arrival back at the Manor. I've written you before your mother in hopes that we never need to bring her into that conversation.
I do hope your teaching is going well.
Please respond at your earliest convenience.
Regards,
Lucius Malfoy
Draco cursed under his breath, crumpling the note and throwing it into the fireplace, "Incendio!" The fire roared to life, flames singeing the edges of the parchment before slowly eating through the rest of it. He ripped open the cupboard door in the kitchen, grabbing a crystal glass and setting it harshly on the counter, "Accio Firewhiskey," he pointed his wand at the decanter sitting on the shelf across the room. It zoomed towards him and he caught it, uncorking the stopper and watching darkly as the amber liquid filled the bottom half of his glass. He'd seen a glimmer of hope when Lucius had walked away with him and his mother at the Battle and he had wanted to think Azkaban could teach Lucius some good life lessons so he'd be a better person when he got out, but apparently six years wasn't long enough for those lessons to sink in. He took a long drink from his glass. If there was one person who could turn his mood, it was his father.
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