Draco muttered, "Yeah. What the bloody Hell am I doing here?"
Hermione said tentatively, "Hagrid, Draco wanted to visit you. Maybe he has something he wants so say to you?"
When Draco said nothing, she nudged him with her shoulder, but he refused to look at anywhere but his feet.
"Well," Hagrid finally broke the tension, "I figure it must be important enough fer you ter be holding his hand, Hermione."
Hermione quickly let go, and Hagrid chuckled. Draco had no reaction, still observing his feet. "Why don't yeh two come on in? We'll discuss this o'er a nice cup o' tea."
Hagrid pushed open the door more with his free hand, the other hand restraining Fang, who was desperately trying to reach Draco and Hermione.
When Draco made no sign of moving, Hermione sighed, grabbed his arm, and dragged him in. She sat him down in one of the chairs at the table, and then slid into the seat across from him. As Hagrid closed the door, he let go of Fang, who bounded straight for Hermione. After a friendly lick, he went straight for Draco and slobbered all over his trembling legs.
Hagrid chuckled, and set about pouring water into the kettle over the fire. "Methinks Fang likes yeh, Mr. Malfoy."
"I think so, too." said Draco in a voice that was barely audible. At least he finally spoke. Hermione thought. Fang, tall as he was, had sat down and was now just laying his head on Draco's lap.
Silence remained until Hagrid set down the tea tray and poured three cups of tea, or actually, one bucket and two cups of tea. He sat down onto his chair with a thump, and quickly stood up again.
"Sorry, I forgot, I also made a fresh batch of rock cakes this mornin'." He brought out a tray of rock cakes, poured them onto an enormous plate, and set it on the table, sitting down again.
"Well, now, don't be shy. Help yerselves!" Hermione took a sip of the tea, and so did Draco. Neither of them touched the rock cakes, however.
Silence ensued, until finally, Draco said in a small voice, "Professor Hagrid… I'm sorry. For everything." There was no eye contact, but the words hung there in the air.
Hagrid studied Draco carefully. "And why are yeh sorry?"
Hermione held her breath as Draco replied, "I've realized how horrible my parents and I were to people we didn't like. They've changed their views, and so have I. Since Hermione and I became friends, she's even helped me to tolerate Smith and… Ginny Weasley. I would like to start over like that with everyone."
Hagrid continued to study Draco. Hermione thought she would explode from all the suspense.
Suddenly, Hagrid burst into smiles, and exclaimed, "Why, o' course yeh can! There's ne'er been a better time ter turn over a new leaf!" But then he turned stern. "O' course, since our Hermione's going to be stuck with yeh for the whole year, wi'out Ron or Harry by her side, I'm gonna need ter do a thorough questioning on yeh."
"That's fine." said Draco, seeming relieved. Hermione finally exhaled, glad that the danger was past.
And so Hagrid began interrogating Draco, much as a father would interrogate his daughter's boyfriend. Poor Draco. thought Hermione. But later, she realized that Draco and Hagrid were actually bonding, as the interview was occasionally punctuated by laughter from both parties.
The afternoon wore on, and Hermione just listened to the pair talk and relaxed, as if she were here with Harry and Ron again, just like old times. When it was time to start heading back for dinner, Hermione felt completely at ease, and so did the other two, it seemed. Hagrid insisted Draco take the whole plate of leftover rock cakes, and put them in a sack for him to take back to the castle. Fang gave both Draco and Hermione a farewell lick, and he and Hagrid stood in the doorway of the hut, seeing the eighth years off.
As Draco and Hermione made their way back up to the castle, Hermione said, "You know, you don't have to eat those. Unless you intentionally want to lose teeth."
Malfoy smirked, and said, "I know. Just don't tell Hagrid! You wouldn't, would you?"
But Hermione just laughed, and they finally made it to the front entrance.
Crookshanks sat there, as if waiting for them to return. The trio headed up to the tower, where Crookshanks jumped up onto an armchair and curled up, beginning to snooze. He must have had a fun day, too. Hermione smiled internally, and she, too, sat down in an armchair, and stretched.
Draco had discarded the sack of Hagrid's rock cakes on the floor beside the coffee table, and was in his room rummaging for something. He came back out with, ink, parchment, and a quill, and sat down on the ground. He dipped his quill into the ink bottle, and started scribbling something onto the parchment.
"What are you doing?" asked Hermione curiously.
"I'm writing a note for the house elves to throw the rock cakes away when they come up here to clean tonight," replied Draco, not taking his eyes off the parchment.
Finally, he stood up and placed the note carefully on top of the sack, and turned to face Hermione. "Ready for dinner?"
"You bet I am!" said Hermione, jumping up off of the couch.
The two made their way down to the Great Hall, and realized that everyone else was pretty much already there, so they were late.
As Draco and Hermione took their seats at their special table, Ginny, who was halfway done with her dinner, leaned over and asked Hermione, "So, why were you two late? And what'd you guys do all day?"
Hermione grinned and said, "Gin, I'm starving. Do you want to come over to our common room after dinner and talk about it then? Oh, and of course, Zacharias is also welcome, as well."
Ginny nodded, seemingly satisfied with this proposal, and said, "Sure thing. And I'll pass the message along to the idiot."
Hermione smiled, shaking her head, and wondered if Ginny and Zacharias were ever truly going to be friends. Draco, who had loaded his plate to the maximum, was stuffing himself. I guess I'm not the only one who's hungry. Hermione thought.
She started eating her food, and reflecting over what had happened during the day. Towards the end of the meal, however, a timid-looking first-year boy holding a quill, ink, and a scrap of parchment made his way up to her and Draco's table, and shyly asked, "Hello, you're Hermione Granger, aren't you?"
Hermione smiled wearily, her thoughts broken, and replied, "Yes, yes I am. Could I help you with something?"
The boy blushed scarlet, looked at his feet, and asked quietly, "Could I have your autograph?"
Hermione blinked, surprised, and stammered, "Why, o-o-of, of course!" The boy held out the items he had brought up with him, and Hermione quickly signed the parchment for him.
The boy looked ecstatic, saying a "Thanks so much!" before snatching up his belongings and scampering back to his friends at Gryffindor table.
Ginny looked at Hermione's astonished face, amused. "Don't worry, you're not the only one. I had a couple come up to me and ask the same thing today." she comforted Hermione.
Zacharias, however, added on, "But Hermione, I think it'll be worse for you, since you were actually on the run with Potter last year."
Ginny elbowed him, telling him to shut up.
Draco, on the other hand, asked quietly, "Are you all right, Mione?"
Hermione finally came back to earth, and replied, "Why of course. Haha, I don't know what got into me. It wasn't as if Voldemort had come back to life. I guess I'm just used to that kind of stuff happening to Harry instead."
Draco smirked. "Well, you'd better get used to this too, since, I believe, you'll be the next Harry Potter this year."
Hermione groaned. People were staring at her general direction again, since the boy had rejoined his schoolmates. "Let's go. I've lost my appetite. Are you done?"
"Sure." Draco replied, standing up. "Let's go!" he motioned to Ginny and Zacharias.
Ginny, who had finished, quickly followed Draco and Hermione, while Zacharias looked sadly at the last few bites of his pie, sighed, and stood up as well.
They made their way out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible, avoiding the stares of the other students. When they finally stepped into the common room, Malfoy quickly excused himself to go take a shower, Zacharias slumped into the armchair that was Crookshanks-free, and Hermione and Ginny sat on the couch to talk.
Ginny started off with bombarding Hermione with questions about what she and Malfoy had been doing the whole day. Hermione answered evenly and calmly, telling Ginny about Hogsmeade and Hagrid freely. Ginny's eyebrows almost shot up into her hair when Hermione relayed to her about what had happened at Hagrid's. But other than that, she had no other reaction besides nodding deeply.
After she was done answering Ginny, Hermione asked her about what she and Zacharias had done that day. Ginny replied by saying that they, too, had gone exploring the castle, but after lunch, each returned to their respective common rooms. She had chatted and caught up with her other Gryffindor friends for a bit before setting off for the Ravenclaw common room to visit with Luna.
"Oh! And the newest gossip pertaining to you and Malfoy is that Jimmy Peakes is planning to ask you out, and Astoria Greengrass has intentions for Malfoy!"
Hermione snorted. "Well too bad for Jimmy, right? I'm already with Ron." although she wasn't too sure about that last part. "And as for Astoria, you'd better report to Draco about that, since he might be interested. He is single, after all." she said, somewhat bitterly.
Luckily, Ginny didn't notice, as a loud snore from Zacharias Smith shook the room.
"What a pig," Ginny said, disgusted. "He stuffs himself and then passes out."
Hermione smiled as Ginny got up and went to wake him up rather unpleasantly. When Zacharias came to, she turned around and said to Hermione, "I'm going to get him back to his dorm, since it actually is kind of late. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Definitely." replied Hermione, laughing as Ginny dragged Zacharias out of the common room by his ear, ignoring his protests.
As soon as the portrait door swung shut behind then, the bathroom door creaked open.
"Are they gone yet?" whispered Draco through the crack.
Hermione, rather amused that Draco had chosen to hide instead of attempting to converse with Zacharias, decided to be funny, and said, "No. Stay in there."
She could almost feel him roll his eyes before he opened the door completely. "Did you even shower?" she asked.
Draco sneered, "Yes, why yes I did. I'm not the kind that wastes time, you know. I just hung out for a while longer after I was done."
Hermione laughed. "Sure, sure. But you were doing so well today! Especially with Hagrid."
"Yes, but I already had to deal with Smith in the morning today, so my patience has been worn thin when it comes to him. Maybe tomorrow." Draco sat next to her on the couch.
"Hmmm." said Hermione, trying hard to not stare at him in his pajamas again.
Then there came a tapping noise from her room. Hermione, perplexed, dashed in, with Draco on her heels. It turned out that there was an owl at the window… And it was Pigwidgeon!