Hermione was absolutely exhausted. True she was getting a little more sleep each night and her nightmares weren't quite as bad since she'd started talking to the woman Professor McGonagall set her up with, but with studying for exams, doing research to help Draco, and the exams themselves Hermione felt like she was going back to getting almost no sleep. Draco had noticed, of course, and told her to stop worrying about him. Hermione had responded with a cold glare-he hadn't mentioned it since. To her surprise Harry had noticed as well, and he'd told her to focus on helping Draco. He'd gotten a hug and a quick refusal for his words. Hermione didn't know exactly what had changed in Harry's mind to make him okay with her and Draco being, well, whatever they were, but she was grateful for it. She didn't need her friend's approval of what she was doing, but Harry's support was greatly appreciated.
Nothing had ever been more important than exams, other than the previous year when they'd fought Voldemort. But now building a case for Draco was often the first thing on her mind. And she'd searched through so many history books looking for an answer that she was sure she'd passed the History of Magic N.E.W.T. with flying colors. And then some, most likely.
Hermione sighed heavily and opened another book. She was in the library once again-though honestly it was the best place to be-and there was a large stack of books beside her. Half were about the Wizengamot and the other half were on Charms. The exam was only two days away and Hermione needed to be prepared. She'd reviewed with Draco a few nights ago, as that was the one exam he was excited for, though she'd quickly became irritated that he was hardly giving his answers any thought and still getting them right. Draco noticed, he always seemed to when she was upset, and changed the format so he was quizzing her. On the off chance she missed a question he would remember and ask her again twenty questions later. And in between sets of twenty he would kiss her gently; Hermione was sure that was her favorite part.
The sudden memory of the incredibly relaxed night with Draco unsettled her for a moment and she stopped to close her eyes and try to force it out of her mind. Thinking about things like that were not going to help with her research and her notes. When her mind was once again clear, she reopened her eyes and focused on the page, reading about a trial from about two hundred years ago. The circumstances and details weren't exactly the same, but if she could draw some kind of connection then it might help. When she showed Draco the information she'd gathered he would say it was useless, but Hermione didn't want to stop collecting anything. She'd seen people after Azkaban; she refused to see Draco like that as well.
The sound of chairs scraping and people dropping into them irritated her immensely. Yet she didn't look up; there was only one person who would interrupt her studying like this. "Harry I really don't have time for whatever this is,"
"Flattering, that you think I could be the Boy Who Lived,"
Her head snapped up to see a group of young students around her. "Elizabeth!" she exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. Around Elizabeth were her three friends from Slytherin, two Ravenclaws, a Hufflepuff, and two more Gryffindors that looked irritated, possibly because there weren't enough chairs and they had to stand. "What do you need?"
"We have a plan,"
"Okay?"
"Will you help with it?"
"That depends on what the plan actually is,"
"You'll love it, Granger," sounded from behind her and Hermione turned around to see an almost smiling Draco. "You're in my chair, Elizabeth," The younger girl hurried to sit on the table and Draco sat down next to Hermione.
"And how would you know that?"
"Because I know the plan. They came to me first and I told them to tell you as well. I suppose they could have gone to Boot or Abbott instead, but I know they'll agree to it and I like you better so I wanted you to hear about it first,"
His face went a shade of pink as he realized what he said, though he didn't get the time to correct it. "How sweet," the Hufflepuff said, rolling his eyes. For a moment Hermione was reminded of Zacharias Smith and she was sure the younger boy was related to him. But then again the young boy didn't look anything like him and he had to be nicer than Zacharias.
"Oh hush, Henry, it was sweet," Elizabeth said.
"Get to the plan, Elizabeth," Draco muttered, avoiding looking at Hermione for the time being.
"Of course," she said, her face growing serious. "So, I was thinking a few weeks ago that the programs you guys have started have been pretty decent. I mean they're helping people and bringing them together, which is the point of you, right?"
"Right," Hermione nodded, a small frown appearing on her face.
"But anyway, the programs aren't for us,"
"You don't like them?"
"I mean I'm sure they're fine," Elizabeth said quickly. "But they're not for kids like us. The younger ones. We weren't really involved in the battle, so what are we getting out of it?"
"Nightmares," one of the Ravenclaws muttered. She blushed as she realized she'd said the words out loud but the other Ravenclaw next to her, Hermione recognized him as Jacob, patted her shoulder.
"Sorry, Shelia," Elizabeth said quietly, turning to offer the other girl an apologetic smile. "Right. I think it's done that to all of us, really. Anyway, so my plan is that you guys have to create a group for only the younger kids. And it can't be one of those share your feelings groups because everyone is going to get sick of those. The thing is, if you want us to get along and have all that house-unity stuff then we actually have to like each other and get along. I'm not saying everyone's all best friends, but we can try, right?"
"That sounds really smart, actually," Hermione said, her smile growing. "You guys could study together or-"
"Calm it with the studying, Granger," Draco groaned.
"No, she's right!" Jacob said excitedly. "Studying together could be brilliant. If someone's stuck on something they could have entire support system to help them out!"
"We could have the best collective marks in years!" the other Ravenclaw, Sheila, added.
"I actually agree with that. I mean help with school could be nice," a Gryffindor piped up. Hermione had no idea who the kid was, but she was happy he'd decided to speak.
"And we could mentor the kids that come after us," the Hufflepuff smiled.
"We could have game-day Saturdays where we play Exploding Snap and-Oh! We could introduce you guys to muggle games!"
"We could be like bloody superheroes when there are younger kids!"
"Why in the world would we want to be like superheroes?" one of the Slytherin boys asked.
"You pureblood kids have so much to learn," one of the Gryffindors muttered. "Elizabeth do you need us? I want to go teach Anthony all about superheroes,"
"Have at it," Elizabeth said, amusement clear on her face.
"W-Wait, Elizabeth, I-" the Slytherin sputtered, his face going pale.
"Come on, mate, I don't bite! Now, have you or have you not heard of Superman?"
"What does that even mean?"
The two boy's conversation fell away as they left Hermione's table. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle and the younger students followed her lead almost immediately. "I'd better go save him," the other Gryffindor laughed. "Ben can be absolutely insane about his silly superheroes," With that the other boy walked off, making Elizabeth smile.
"See? We've been spending a bit more time together and it's already working,"
"What do you think, Granger?" Draco asked quietly. "I say we bring it to McGonagall at the next meeting, get it known what they're doing so others can join. I doubt we can change the way the older students are thinking, but maybe the younger ones can make a difference,"
Hermione had the strong urge to kiss him at that moment, but she quickly decided against it. Draco would be furious if she did that in front of people, especially the first years he'd grown close with and worked so hard to impress. "I think it's brilliant," she said eventually, a large smile growing on her face. "I'm really proud that you thought of doing this. It honestly wouldn't have crossed my mind,"
Elizabeth smiled and promptly stood up. "Right then. Thank you. I wasn't sure if the others would go for it if it was just Draco suggesting it, but with you on board I've no doubt. Come on, everyone, let's leave Granger to her studying. You know she can't go five minutes without a book these days,"
The younger students all left the library, chatting quietly to one another as they went. "I hope they stay in touch throughout the summer. It's close to the end of the school year so they can't do much with the idea now, but it's a lovely idea for next year," Hermione smiled.
Draco nodded and put his elbows on her book, gazing out the window with a blank face. "Why don't we put the books away and do something, Granger?" he suggested suddenly, his eyes still nowhere near her.
"Draco," she said slowly. "You know I have a lot of things to do right now. I can't just go off. I'm working on research for you and I switch to studying for the rest of our exams each hour. I'm happy to listen to them for a few minutes but I can't-"
"Granger I told you to stop looking for things that have to do with my trial. I don't need your help, nor do I want it," Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled a new book toward her, opening it and beginning to flip to a chapter on trials of young wizards. For a few seconds she got to read the page, though the book was quickly ripped out of her hands. "You're running yourself into the ground, Granger," he said softly.
"No I'm not,"
"Yes, you are. And you're either going to stop this madness or-"
"It's not madness, Draco, I'm just trying to save you from-"
"Granger I don't need to be saved,"
She looked at him, frowning, though she knew it was true. That didn't prevent her from wanting to help him. "Then what's my other alternative?"
"You take a damn break, for tonight, and we do something,"
"Draco,"
"Granger," he said mockingly.
There was a pause and Hermione considered her options. She knew it could be nice to take a break from the work so her eyes would stop hurting, but she wasn't a big fan of that solution. "It's sweet of you to want to make sure I'm okay, but I really do need to keep going with this,"
He groaned loudly and watched as she took the book back from him and began searching through it. After about ten minutes of staring at her and, Hermione thought, willing her to put the books down, Draco picked up a book as well and began looking through it.
They sat in the library for another two hours, until dinner was long done and they'd stopped working on the trial to begin studying for Arithmancy. After a while of looking at the textbooks, Draco began complaining that they already knew everything they were going over. Hermione wasn't surprised by that as he tended to complain when he was bored, but it did make her realize that it would be a good idea to leave the library. She would have been content to stay there until it was time to return to the common room but at the same time she felt bad about Draco sitting with her all night. "I think that's enough for today," she said, finally shutting the book in front of her.
"Took you long enough," Draco muttered, standing up and grabbing some books from her stack. They each took a stack and walked away before meeting back at the table. "You do realize we skipped dinner, right?"
"It was worth it, I think. We found some valuable information in those books. Some will help you and really, I found some things I didn't know about Arithmancy," she stated, offering him a small smile.
He rolled his eyes and nodded toward the door of the library. "Shall we then?"
"Of course. I should get to sleep if I want to get up early in the morning and look at the Potions notes I-"
"We're not going back to the common room, Granger. At least not right now,"
"Then where are we going?"
"The kitchens. As I said, we both missed dinner,"
Hermione rolled her eyes and followed him down to the kitchens. The walk was filled with quiet chatter about exams and which questions Hermione was worried about having missed. Harry and Ron had always told her not to talk about them, but Draco listened and told her that her answers would be fine. He was rolling his eyes the entire time, sure, but Hermione could handle that.
The night, until it was time to go back to the common room, was actually quite pleasant. They ended up in the Room of Requirement as it was about the only private place in the castle besides the Astronomy tower. Unless it was class Draco tended to avoid that part of the castle like it was the plague, so it was silently decided that the Room of Requirement would do just fine.
They ate sitting on the floor in front of a sofa that resembled the one in their common room and neither mentioned that fact. Draco had been the one to walk in front of the stretch of wall where the door would be located and they'd agreed to think of a place that made them happy. Hermione was thrilled that was his place, as she was starting to think it would have been hers too.