It was the first time Ron had kissed her since the battle, and it was just to prove a point to Malfoy. Who, Hermione realized as she began to storm away, seemed upset over what Ron had said to her the other day at dinner. He'd said much worse in the past so Hermione didn't really understand why Ron's words had upset him, but she didn't let it bother her too much. "Boys," she muttered, walking to Transfiguration. Hermione was glad to have a class with Professor McGonagall; she would push them and make sure Hermione's mind was no where but on the task at hand. That would do her good; she was sure that she wouldn't be able to think about how tired she was which wouldn't help her at all.
The Transfiguration class was small; it was a hard class and many, she assumed, wouldn't want to take it because of that. Hermione knew it was odd that McGonagall was the headmistress and the Transfiguration teacher, which she assumed was because it was hard to find a new professor. She didn't really mind though, as Professor McGonagall was an excellent teacher.
Hermione realized, as she stomped into the classroom, that she'd been correct: McGonagall was going to keep them all busy. The classroom was full of items Hermione assumed would end up as something else by the end of the period. The older witch was at the front of the room, her expression grim as she watched students walking in. Hermione walked to a desk at the front of the classroom, where she kenw Ron and Harry wouldn't want to sit. She didn't know who she would end up sitting by, though if it was anything like Arithmancy it wouldn't be too bad. Malfoy hadn't even complained about sitting next to her and he hadn't goofed off during class. She almost wished he would be in Transfiguration with her, but Ron would throw and absolute fit because he was in this class as well. She still didn't understand why Ron had gotten upset after Potions; she knew that Malfoy hadn't been looking at her. Why would he? She wasn't anything special and it wasn't like Malfoy was her friend.
"Are you all right, Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked quietly, now standing in front of Hermione's desk. "You look rather frustrated,"
"Oh, I'm fine," Hermione lied, sending McGonagall a small smile. "I'm just contemplating something about my last class,"
"Quite all right then," Professor McGonagall said, nodding. "But do try to focus on this lesson when it starts,"
"I will," Hermione nodded. The only thing that would prevent her from focusing on Transfiguration was how tired she was, but she would try her hardest not to let that effect her. She was like Harry and Ron; she'd never fallen asleep in class though she was tempted to now. It had been a long night after Malfoy had left the common room; she'd barely managed to finish her homework because she'd been working so sluggishly.
More people filled the classroom and Neville sat down beside her, surprising her slightly. Neville had never been the best at Transfiguration, but she knew that he could have gotten better. She'd missed the last year of Hogwarts so it wouldn't surprise her if a lot of people had improved. "Hey Hermione," Neville greeted, sending her a small smile. "How was your summer?"
"It was nice," she lied easily. "I was at Ron's most of the time, so it was nice to see him and Ginny,"
"That does sound nice,"
"So how was your summer?"
"Oh, it was great," Neville said excitedly. "Gran couldn't stop saying how proud she was of me; she even decided that me liking Herbology and Charms is okay. I spent a lot of time with Luna too, helping her and her father rebuild their house and such,"
"That does sound nice," Hermione nodded, eyeing the door warily. It was absurd, really, but she couldn't help but wonder if Ron would be upset that she was talking to Neville and since he'd just walked through the door... And after getting upset when he thought Malfoy was looking at her... But her eyes met his for a split second before he looked away, continuing his conversation with Harry. "I'm sure Luna was happy to spend time with you this summer," she said, turning her attention to Neville once more.
"She seemed to like it," Neville shrugged. "It's hard to tell with her sometimes though,"
"But we wouldn't want her any other way,"
"Of course we wouldn't," Neville agreed.
Hermione was about to respond when Professor McGonagall called for their attention. The class started and Hermione followed along to the best of her ability, though halfway through her exhaustion caught up to her once again. Her ability to cast the spells well decreased as the class went on, though she still at least managed to cast them.
Hermione was thankful when the class ended; there was a free period next which meant that she could attempt to sleep. She was even considering skipping lunch, if she hadn't woken up screaming by then. Hermione knew that waking up was likely but even another hour of sleep might get her through the day. It was worth a try, anyway, so Hermione ignored Harry who was calling her name, and hurried to the Delegate's common room. It was empty when she entered it so she just dropped her bag by the door before hurrying to her room and throwing herself on to her bed. She was hoping to fall asleep quickly, simply because she didn't want to think about having a nightmare.
It took a few moments for her to fall asleep, but it happened nonetheless and Hermione was thankful for that, at least until her pleasant dream of dinner with her parents turned much darker. She woke quickly, the sound of her scream dying in her ears as her heart raced in her chest. Her hair was a mess again and her head pounded whenever her eyes were open, but she was used to the headaches.
Hermione gave a small cry as she saw that only forty minutes had passed; she'd expected at least an hour and a half of sleep. She felt like crying because of how tired she was, but she managed to keep herself together. She couldn't cry; she would look stupid if she started doing that and looking stupid was not something Hermione wanted to do. She sighed and climbed off her bed, running a brush through her hair in the hope that it wouldn't look awful for the rest of the day. She walked back out to the common room so she could go to the bathroom and splash cold water on her face so she could wake up more. The common room wasn't empty anymore though; Terry and Malfoy were sitting on opposite sides, obviously in the middle of an argument.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Just because Hermione left her bag in the common room doesn't mean you get to go through it!" Terry was saying, his eyes narrowed at Malfoy.
Malfoy, however, looked just as angry as Terry. "And how many times do I have to tell you that I wasn't going through it, I just couldn't remember what the Potions assignment was and I knew she would have written it down!"
"Oh, likely story," Terry scoffed. "You were probably going to try and steal something... You're a thief and a Death Eater!"
"Terry!" Hermione said sharply, making her presence known. Terry had jumped at the sound of her voice, but Malfoy had kept still, his glare still on Terry. For a second she was back in the Room of Requirement, watching the same glare fixed on Harry, but she blinked and the scene melted away. "That was uncalled for," she stated, regaining her composure. "And incredibly horrible to say. You should apologize,"
"But Hermione, he was going through your bag!" Terry argued.
"To look for an assignment, Terry. It's not a big deal,"
"Ha!" Malfoy said triumphantly.
"I don't know why you're protecting him," Terry said angrily, nodding toward Malfoy. "But I do know that Ron and Harry won't like hearing about it," He stormed out of the common room then, obviously frustrated.
Hermione sighed, knowing that if he did tell Harry and Ron she'd would hear about it later. She glanced at Malfoy, only to find him already gazing at her curiously. "What's wrong with your eyes?"
"My-My eyes?" Hermione asked, momentarily forgetting that she wanted to tell Malfoy that there wasn't actually a Potions assignment.
"They're all red,"
"Oh," Hermione said, knowing immediately what he was talking about. Her eyes must be bloodshot; it was because she was so tired. "That's nothing; it will go eventually,"
"They freak me out," Malfoy said quickly. "I don't care about you or anything like that,"
"I know," Hermione said. At this point she wasn't sure who did. "There was no Potions assignment, by the way. Slughorn didn't want to give us anything on our first day back in his class,"
Malfoy's cheeks went a shade of pink that Hermione chose to ignore so he wouldn't get frustrated with her. Before the war she probably would have pointed it out, as she'd hated him that much, but hate didn't seem worth it anymore. "Oh," Malfoy muttered. "Well, thanks for telling me, Granger,"
"No problem," she shrugged, taking her bag and replacing a few things that Malfoy had taken out in his search for the nonexistent assignment. She brought the bag into her own room so she wouldn't have to drag it to lunch before she came back out to find Malfoy still standing in the same spot, his expression thoughtful which was not something she saw on him often. "Are you coming to lunch then?"
"I suppose I have to if I want to eat,"
"Then you should get down before all of the good food is gone,"
"You should too,"
"I'm leaving now, Malfoy," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh,"
"I suppose I'll see you later?"
"Well we do kind of live together," he muttered. Hermione sighed before marching out of the common room. She didn't need to deal with Malfoy hating her at the moment; she'd had a bad enough day without that. She walked alone in the corridor for a few moments, wondering just as Terry had why she was even trying to be anything close to nice to Malfoy, when she heard footsteps behind her. She chose not to pay them any attention, as she was half sure she was just going to be back in the battle once more and turn around to see a Death Eater behind her, but when a hand touched her shoulder she didn't have much of a choice. "Granger-"
"I don't really like it when people come up behind me and grab me, Malfoy," she stated, moving away so he wasn't touching her. "Do you need something?"
His cheeks were the same pink color they had been after she'd mentioned that there wasn't a Potions assignment, though Hermione thought it was an endearing little blush. It made her want to tell him that he wasn't at fault when he'd touched her shoulder, it was just her own jumpiness about people coming up behind her after the battle. "I thought I should probably tell you that I am sorry for going through your bag. I didn't remember that Slughorn hadn't assigned anything,"
"It's fine," she assured him, shrugging. "I really don't mind; it's not as big of a deal as Terry made it out to be,"
"All right,"
"Yes," Hermione nodded. "Anyway, I should really get to lunch; if Terry did talk to Ron and Harry then I need to explain to them that he blew it all out of proportion,"
"Good luck with that,"
"Thank you,"
Malfoy turned on his heel and walked away then, leaving Hermione standing in the middle of the corridor feeling rather confused. Had she just found something about Malfoy endearing? And had he just apologized to her? Neither of those things had ever happened before; Malfoy had never cared if he upset her or something like that and Ron, well Ron was the only person she'd ever found endearing. She didn't find him to be that way any longer, though she hoped sometimes that he would return to the way he had been before. With a sigh Hermione ran a hand through her bushy hair and began walking once more to get to the Great Hall. Harry and Ron were already sitting at the Gryffindor table when she got there; she was almost fooled into thinking that she was back in her sixth year when she'd come to a meal from the library to see them sitting together. Then again in those days she'd hated Malfoy and he'd hated her and she wasn't quite sure if that was how they felt anymore. Malfoy seemed to dislike her plenty and she still wasn't his biggest fan, but hate seemed very unlikely.
Hermione sat down next to Ron, as she knew that was her expected seat, but Ron didn't look at her. He was talking to Harry, who'd glanced at her with a small smile, but his attention had quickly gone back to Ron. Who, she realized, obviously had talked to Terry because his conversation with Harry quickly switched from quidditch to Malfoy. "You know," he said loudly, still ignoring Hermione. "I never thought they'd let a Death Eater in to the school; maybe McGonagall should have been more selective,"
"The school's never been selective," Hermione pointed out quietly. "Anyone who wants an education can get one here,"
"I wasn't talking to you," Ron said sharply, finally looking at her with a glare. "I was talking to Harry, whose opinion actually matters to me right now,"
"And why doesn't mine?"
"Because you're the one going around with him-and you're supposed to be dating me, by the way, not spending all your time with stupid Malfoy,"
"Ron," Harry said, his voice warning Ron to change the subject.
"I am dating you," Hermione said furiously. "At least I'm trying to, but you're so stuck in a pit of despair that you can't open your eyes and see that!"
"I'm only-"
"I get it, Ron," she said. "You lost family in the battle therefore you're allowed to act like this. But I haven't found my parents yet, you know, and you don't see me acting like a complete jerk,"
"But I didn't choose to have my brother die; you chose to wipe your parents memories!"
"To keep them safe!"
"But what kind of person, I wonder, would know that their parents were out in the world but would choose to come back to school rather than continuing to try and find them?"
"They would have wanted me to go back to school-"
"You can't know that for sure,"
"I-I don't have to sit here and listen to this," Hermione said finally, glaring at Harry as well. "And you," she said, her gaze stuck on him. "You're being absolutely dreadful right now,"
"What have I done?" Harry asked, confused. It didn't surprise Hermione that he hadn't realized how they'd both upset her; he and Ron were oblivious to everything.
"You've just sat here and let him say every horrible thing that comes to his mind," she muttered before standing up from the table and walking quickly out of the hall. It was only when she was halfway to the Delegates common room that she realized she hadn't even achieved what she'd meant to by going down to the Great Hall: eating lunch. Hermione sighed but continued to the common room so she could get her bag from her bedroom before going to sit in History of Magic. Professor Binns probably wouldn't even be in the classroom yet.