Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
Hermione's POV
I stumble into the common room of my dorm and promptly collapse on one of the couches. My ferret, Nat, crawls over from her perch by the window and sits on my thigh. I pet her head and allow myself to relax a bit.
Ron came up to me after Defense Against the Dark Arts in an attempt to apologize. It immediately dampened my mood and I got angry at him so I tried to walk away from him. He grabbed my wrist when I did so, and though I don't think he was intending to hurt me, I panicked and slapped his face with my free hand. He released my hand and I ran all the way back here. I'm not entirely sure why I reacted the way I did. However it probably had something to do with the injuries he inflicted upon Draco. I shudder as I remember what he looked like when I visited him in the hospital after the second attack.
I realise that I was supposed to meet with Pansy after class so that we could work on our Charms project. I groan and slowly get up off of the couch. I gently place the sleeping Nat on the armrest of the couch and exit our dorm to head to the library.
As I walk, I keep an eye out for any red hair so I don't have a repeat of earliers incident. I also make mental note to keep an eye on the time so that this meeting doesn't go too long. I have to meet Draco later to discuss what we're going to do for the semi-formal dance. I remember the conversation we had on this topic.
We've just entered our dorm after dinner when a thought pops into my head. I say it before I can forget once again.
"I was wondering, Ginny and the others seemed pretty interested in a dance. If we decide to go through with it should we make this like a semi-formal dance? If we make it a semi, we can host it sometime in early March. That'll give us an extra few weeks to plan for it." I ask Draco.
"That's a good idea. I was thinking the same thing and we probably should do this dance. We didn't do a yule ball so I think it would be nice if we did a semi-formal." He says.
A thought comes to my mind after a pause in our conversation. "Should we plan a set time to work on this?" I ask.
"Yes we should. That way we can plan around school work."
"Okay how about this Wednesday?"
"That should be okay." He confirms.
When I get to the library I see Pansy sitting by herself at a table near the back. I walk over and apologize as soon as I'm close enough.
"Sorry Pansy, Ron was was being a git and I got distracted. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about." She sends me a withering glare before replying to me.
"Of course I know Granger. You're the reason I've been partnered with the imbecile for the rest of the year." She says in a very bitter tone. "Anyway let's get this over with, I have no wish to fail yet another course because of you."
I hold my tongue and just sit down across from her as I pull out my charms notebook. "So our topic for research is the benefits of non-verbal spells. What do you already know on the subject? Am I right in assuming that you guys covered part of this last year."
"Yes, briefly. I'm sure you already know all of this information. So if it weren't for the fact that I'll get docked easy marks for not doing anything, I'd leave you to do all of this. Since that is not an option though, I've compiled all of my old notes on the topic. You may use any of them and their subsequent citations. Do what you want with this, I honestly don't care. Depending on what you take from this, I'd like to present the topics highlighted. Goodbye." She then stands up after placing a small pile of parchment in front of me. She stalks out of the library before I can even process what she just said and what it entails.
I blink a bit before looking down at the package she placed in front of me. There's a decent amount of parchment, I can't help but wonder when she had the time to compile all of this. I take the stack and place it in my purse. I guess its good she walked out since it means I can head back early. I would definitely feel safer than being here in the library where I'm exposed, not to mention there's more space in my room if I decide spread all of my stuff out.
I enter my dorm through the portrait and take my shoes off. There's another set of shoes by the door that I haven't seen before, but I just assume that Draco's gotten a new pair. As I get closer to the common area I see Draco on one of the couches and I smile at him. Just as I'm about to ask him what he's doing, I spot Ron sitting opposite from him and I freeze. My facial expression morphs from a smile into an expression of anger and fear.
"Hermione, I just wanted to say that I'm s-" Before Ron can complete his sentence, I practically run right past them and up the stairs to my room.
How dare Draco bring him back to our room? After the incident I just had with Ron? Not mention we planned to meet in just under 45 minutes. I can't believe Draco was actually okay with being in a room with just Ron considering his own history.
Just before I reach the door to my room I hear Ron ask, "Wait, what's with Hermione? I just wanted to apologize to her and she went ballistic. Have you been poisoning her against me?" The last bit sounds like an accusation against Draco.
I feel myself getting angrier as he says this. I feel like going back down there and explaining why I'm upset when Draco comes to my defense. "Why do you think Weasel? Half of our class saw the stunt you pulled after Defense. If someone is looking uncomfortable or tries to leave, you leave them alone. Especially if you have a history of violence. You of all people should understand why she reacted the way she did." I smile ruefully to myself at his words. At least he has the decency to defend me.
I'm just about to close my room door when Nat squeezes in after me. She immediately hops up onto my bed while I shut the door. I sit down at my desk and pull out Pansy's notes from my purse. I set them on the table and start a playlist of music to help me concentrate. I read through the package and make my own edits as I finalize the information to be used in the presentation.
At one point Nat jumps up onto my filing cabinet next to my desk, lies down, and watches me work. Most of the notes she wrote were easy to turn into a presentation. By the time its 6pm, I've completed about half of it with cue cards for both Pansy and I. With a sigh, I place my pen in it's holder before stretching my arms out in front of me. I get to work and start on a rough plan for the semi-formal dance after doing a small portion of my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework to past the time. I'm just finished a seating plan and floor plan for the dance when hear a knock at my door.
I get up very hesitantly and slowly walk over to open the door. I crack it open just a smidge and see that it's Draco leaning on his crutches. I sigh and let him in.
"Hi, sorry about that Hermione. I had to do some work with Ron for the Charms project and I wanted to do it in a place I was more familiar with." He says. It's obvious he isn't apologizing for being late to work on the dance. I decide to see where he goes with this so I can give him more of a chance to remember about our plans for tonight.
"It's okay, I just wished I had some warning. It's funny, I was thinking about it earlier and I realized that there isn't that much to be afraid of Ron for. His magic is regulated to classroom purposes and he can't use it outside of that."
"That is very true. How's your Charms project going? Is Pansy okay to work with?" He asks me.
"It's been okay, she actually gave me a stack of notes to use when creating the presentation, but left me to do it myself. I've completed about half of it and I've finished all of the cue cards. What about you? Is Ron being a clueless idiot like he used to?"
"Quite. You have to wonder if your intelligence will decrease by spending too much time with him." I laugh at him remark and I can tell he's pleased that I found his joke funny. I then decide to choose now to confront him.
"Draco, don't think you've forgotten something about tonight?" I ask him.
He doesn't respond for a moment and I can tell he's panicking in his head and thinking about all the possible things he could have forgotten. "Did I forget about an anniversary? Is it your birthday… no, its on September 19. What did I forget?" He looks so cute when he's doing this and I almost forget my anger because of it. However when I remember why he's panicking it comes back in full force.
"We were supposed to work on this dance, or has it completely slipped your mind?" I raise my voice as I say this. Maybe I'm being irrational right now. I'm probably overreacting over something rather insignificant, but I'm Hermione Granger, when do I not do that? I used to react even more extremely when Ron and Harry didn't do their homework.
His eyes widen in shock as he remembers our conversation from Monday. "Oh Merlin! Hermione I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. Did you already start working on the plans for the dance?"
"Of course I did, what do you think I would have done instead? I actually kept track of the time and started work on what we said we would do this evening." As soon as I say the words I realize how petty I'm being. The hard mask I'm wearing crumbles then and I just take a deep breath and sigh, placing my head in my hands. I hear him shuffle closer to me and I soon feel his arm wrap around my shoulder. He leads me to my bed and we both sit on the edge of it. "I'm sorry Draco. I don't really know why I got so mad at you. I just felt so angry with you since I walked in earlier and saw Ron."
"Shh, it's alright. You're probably just stressed and needed to release some of it. I should have told you that Ron was coming over as well. I'll make sure I do so in the future." He pats my back and transfigures a scrap piece of parchment on the floor into a tissue for my nose.
I take the tissue when he passes it to me and I blow my nose. I wipe my eyes carefully trying to not smudge my tears all over my face. When I think I've cleaned up enough, I thank him.
"Thank you Draco for being patient with me, you didn't deserve that. Can we reschedule our meeting for tomorrow at the same time?" I ask him.
"Of course. I'll make sure to put some reminders on my phone. Ron and I should be able to finish the rest of our presentation during class so I shouldn't be busy." He replies.
"Alright then. We should probably get started on the rest of our homework now." I say.
"Sure." He responds. "Are you going to work up in your room tonight?" He asks me.
"Yes, I'm already set up here on my desk. Sorry." He smiles at me before getting up and standing with his crutches.
"It's alright. I have patrols tonight anyway, I should probably leave now." He says.
"Okay, good night I guess." I say to him.
"Yeah, good night Hermione. See you tomorrow morning." He then turns and leaves my room.
I pick myself up off of my bed and return to my desk. I bury myself in my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework before moving onto my work for Alchemy. I just spend the night doing homework with a clear head this time and complete focus. By the time I finish it's almost 11 so I crawl into my bed after getting changed and fall asleep with Nat on my pillow beside me.
Author's Note: Sorry about the shorter chapter. I'm trying to build up to the next parts in the story which I've mostly planned out. So hopefully updates may be up faster, but we'll have to wait and see. Thanks for all the support, please review though! Feedback is most welcome, even negative stuff. Have a great week, till next time.