If Hermione Granger had thought the double Potions would ruin her day, she was wrong. For she hadn't attended Transfiguration yet. Snape should have sent her his bests along with her schedule, since she had most classes in common with Draco, beside Advanced Arithmancy, Ancient Runes – which he didn't attend – and Care of Magical Creatures – which she didn't attend. Her schedule was either a coincidence, or Snape was incredibly eager to help his beloved Draco with his task – again.
They were practicing the Human Transfiguration that day. Malfoy soon regretted being her desk mate, though. Practicing the spell was inevitable and she couldn't help herself but Transfigure him into a ferret, when the time came. In her defence, she could say he made a lovely ferret, with soft, almost-white-blond fur, the same shade as Draco's hair. She chuckled and carefully held him in front of her by his two front legs, while the poor thing hissed at her like there was no tomorrow.
"You know, you make the most adorable ferret. Maybe I should leave you like this for a while, you might learn some manners." Hermione had to admit, she hadn't had this much fun in months.
"While your performance was impressive, Miss Granger, I'm afraid you can't have a new pet." Professor McGonagall came near her with her wand in her hand, barely managing to hide a smile, while the whole class stared at them.
"Are you really sure, Professor?" She frowned and chuckled. It would've been nice to keep him like that, now that Crooks was on holiday with her parents.
"Unfortunately, yes. Nonetheless, it wouldn't hurt him to stay like that until lunch, since he's done nothing but chat though my lesson today," her professor said and walked back to her desk. Hermione still saw a hint of care in her eyes, although she surely knew whom she was forced to be loyal to now.
They still had a good ten minutes until the end of the class, time that Hermione spent annoying ferret-Draco like he had annoyed her the entire day. When the bell finally rung, the ferret seemed the most relieved of them all, in his furry form, and, after she had done packing her bag, she pretended she didn't hear Ginny's calls for her and, with Draco in her arms, left the classroom. She took it easy in the hallway, caressing Draco's fur now and then – wondering if his hair was that soft too.
"You know, it's beyond me how you can make such an adorable animal but that annoying of a human." She was holding him tight to her chest, since she was pretty sure he'd kill her if she accidentally dropped him. It was a shame Snape was in her same hallway, really.
He looked at her for a few seconds and his eyes lingered on the animal in her arms. "Can you give me a good reason why Mr Malfoy's a ferret again, Miss Granger?"
"Actually, I can. We were working on Human Transfiguration earlier and Draco so nicely offered himself to let me try first." The ferret started moving in her arms, protesting. To be fair, he didn't exactly offer.
"Transfigure him back immediately. I may not be able to punish you but I can report it to the Dark Lord."
"And I'm sure the Dark Lord will have a good laugh at it, after telling him Malfoy disturbed me during all my classes so I couldn't even properly take notes," she complained, bowed down and put Draco on the floor to Transfigure him back into a human being.
The boy did take a while to stand on two feet again, but when he did he glared at her.
"How dare you?" He screamed, and pointed his wand at her.
"Why are you so mad? It was the whole point of the class, I'm just being a good student, Malfoy," Hermione protested, trying not to laugh.
Snape shook his head at the two of them. "Being Death Eaters will not be an excuse to disrupt school activities, both of you."
"I disrupted nothing, he started it," she scowled at Malfoy, now leaning on the wall for support.
"I do not care who started it, Miss Granger. You are adults. Behave accordingly," he stated, and left with that last warning.
"You do that again, Granger, and I will hex you into oblivion and gladly deal with the consequences," Malfoy hissed, after storming off to what she presumed would be the Great Hall.
She followed him to lunch, and they sat next to an annoyed Pansy Parkinson and in front of an amused Daphne Greengrass, who was trying to convince an exasperated Blaise Zabini to date a sixth-year girl from Ravenclaw. Hermione ignored the whole student body staring at them once again and took a sip of her pumpkin juice.
"Come on, Blaise, just this one time!" she heard Daphne plead.
"Forget it." Blaise was clearly not having it. He clearly had more patience than Hermione ever had with Daphne. Usually, she'd give in after a while.
"But–"
"No, I am perfectly capable to decide for my own love life," he interrupted her.
"And since when do you have a love life, Blaise?" she skeptically raised a brow and the boy realized he'd just been caught off guard.
He remained silent for a few seconds, probably contemplating his possibilities, then turned towards a Slytherin she didn't recognize and asked him something about the first free weekend.
Outraged by not receiving an answer despite her efforts, Daphne made Theo exchange seats and sat in front of Malfoy, staring at him and waiting for him to dignify her with his attention. When Draco finally looked at her, surrendering, Daphne smiled.
"This… thing with my sister has to end, whatever it is. I'm telling you as a friend, you are a shit couple, I saw it for myself."
"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked, more wary than confused.
"What Daphne here means to say," Hermione intervened, " Is that she would've been a better friend if she kept the things she saw to herself." She looked at Daphne and rolled her eyes. "I would have lived a much better life without knowing about your hidden gifts."
Hermione tried considerably not to cringe at the thought, while Draco Malfoy turned white.
"I want to believe you didn't really discuss my hidden gifts, as you so eloquently put it."
"I do too," she muttered.
"It's quite disturbing actually. Daph, you're a sister to me and, Granger, you sit at the Dark Lord's left. Not only I have no interest in profaning you, he'd Crucio me senseless and I'm not exactly looking forward to it," he stated, his gaze shifting back and forth between Daphne and her. Hermione was about to scoff at that but Neville passed in front of them and heard Malfoy and his big mouth just in time.
"Hermione?" The boy started at her horrified. She didn't know what to say, so she kept on her mask of indifference and raised her chin. "What is wrong with you? He killed Harry."
"We're at war, Neville," she said with a blank voice. "People die."
"And what about Ron?" He was shaking his head and his eyes flickered towards Malfoy. He avoided her gaze and Hermione asked herself if he really didn't know, or if he just wanted to provoke her. But that wasn't Neville, he didn't just wander around the school starting fights with people.
Ginny stopped behind him and placed an arm on his shoulder, asking what was happening.
"Ron?" Hermione asked, a hysterical chuckle escaping her lips. They believed him lost. She looked first at Ginny, then at Neville. "Ron's dead."
The younger Weasley would have fallen to the ground if Neville didn't catch her in time. She saw tears ran down her face and she was looking at her like she had killed him herself. Neville took her away without any further glance in her direction.
Daphne put an arm on her back and asked her if she was fine. Hermione didn't answer. After a few minutes, she just muttered she was no longer hungry and almost ran away, ignoring her calls. Once she was out of the Great Hall, she started to run, almost falling down a couple of times when the staircases felt like moving. Madame Pomfrey jumped out of her seat when she saw her in such a hurry and asked her if someone was hurt.
"No, everyone's fine," she was forced to say. "I just came to ask you if you had any Draught of Peace?"
The nurse eyed her suspiciously, but motioned for her to follow. "Of course, dear. Come."
She trailed behind the old lady towards her office, as she asked no question. The students, her in particular, often asked for it to calm down before exams or tests, and the witch probably thought that's what she needed it for, although it was barely the second day everyone was back in Hogwarts. Hermione took a white vile and handed it to her.
"Do you also have some Dreamless Sleep Potion?" She smiled.
"Yes, here you are." She gave her another dark blue vial. "Now, I don't think I need to remind you what happens if you use too much, do I?"
"No, I know the side effects. I'll use it carefully, I promise. Thank you, Madame Pomfrey," she gave her a thankful smile.
"You are very welcome," the old witch said, smiling back at her.
Hermione took a deep breath and left the Infirmary, stopping right outside to take a sip of the Draught of Peace, hoping it'd help her calm down and make the thoughts disappear.
That night she had every intention of skipping dinner but Malfoy wouldn't let her, arguing that she'd still have to see them, one place or another. And, he added, with his usual lack of sensibility, that she'd better get used to their presence, since she couldn't permanently make herself invisible to avoid them. Hermione was itching to differ. Harry had left the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map in her charmed bag during the run – so she could very much be invisible and avoid them as long as she wanted.
Hermione had tried everything, everything, to make her uniform come back to its old self, but Daphne was clearly a better witch than she gave her credit for, as far as fashion spells. For all it was worth, she could as well buy a new uniform, because her current one was bloody spell-proof. She looked at her clothes as if she could burn them right away and sighed when she heard a knock on the door.
"What do you want, Blaise?" She asked, opening the door for him. Blaise Zabini asking for her help was the last thing she needed.
"Daphne's tormenting me because I let it slip that I actually have a love life," he muttered, looking around as if to make sure no one was listening.
"Yeah, welcome to the last months of my life. I thought I've told you I want to know nothing about said love life, haven't I?" She crossed her arms and raised a brow.
"This is not about my love life, it's about my mental health!" He hissed.
Hermione shrugged. "I don't care about your mental health either."
"Come on, at least distract her for a few hours, Luna and I–"
She didn't even let him finish the sentence, she just stepped back and closed the door in his face. Hermione shook her head and returned to her bed, where her uniform was lying on the green silk sheets. Maybe she could leave it the way it was. Or, maybe, she could burn it and pretend it was an accident, then buy a new one and not let anyone who looked like a Greengrass get near it.
"What the hell," she murmured, eventually, and tossed the clothes back into her closet.
She sat on the sofa and put her legs beneath her, opening Pride and Prejudice to a random page, like she always did when she wanted to read a book she'd already finished.
Elizabeth and her uncles were visiting Pemberley and she was so surprised to hear the housekeeper talk so good of her master. A walk around the property and when they came back to the manor they met Darcy himself. He was being oddly polite to Elizabeth, trying to make a good impression, even.
When she was little, Hermione always dreamt about a love so beautiful as theirs, or like Jane and Rochester's – minus the crazy wife locked in the attic – even though not as destructive as Heathcliff and Catherine's. Now she couldn't see herself falling in love anymore. She'd always be afraid the Dark Lord would use it against her like he'd done with Ron. Sighing, Hermione closed the book and threw it on the desk, put a sweater on and left her room.
The Black Lake was pretty calm and she noticed with a hint of joy that no one was there, even if it should've been obvious since the curfew was up. Hermione sat down and leaned against a tree, closing her eyes. She should have guessed, though, there was never peace at Hogwarts. She folded her legs to her chest, regretting not taking a cloak with her, and she just listened to the wind, until a soft sound of footsteps distracted her.
"Whoever you are, get lost, or I'll make you," she muttered.
"It is such a nice evening, isn't it?" Luna Lovegood was her usual, dreamy self.
"What do you want, Luna?" She asked with a sight, although she did drop the aggressiveness in her voice.
"Why didn't you leave us to the Death Eaters, that day?" She sat next to her.
"I'm starting to think I should have. Blaise is barely capable of keeping his mouth shut and Daphne won't leave him alone for at least a few weeks. If I had just let you and Zabini die in there, everyone would be so busy mourning you that I would finally get some peace," she reasoned, but knew, deep down, that she wouldn't have done that. "So, tell me, Luna, why did I save you?"
She looked like she was really thinking about it for a few minutes. "Because you're not the person Ginny thinks you are. You are still you."
"Did it ever cross your mind that maybe I've always been like this?" It had surely crossed her mind.
Luna shook her head, "That Mark didn't change you, Hermione."
"Yes, it did. You just don't want to see that," she whispered, as if afraid someone would hear her. "I made a choice and, even if I'm your enemy now, you should always respect everyone's choices, whether they're right or not."
"I don't think you are our enemy. If you were, why would you have helped us?" She whispered back.
"I didn't do it for you. Teddy was there and he's too young to know hurt. He doesn't know war, he doesn't deserve to die." She shrugged and got up, looking away so she wouldn't see her tears.
"Where are you going?" Luna stared at her with a curious expression, hard for Hermione to interpret.
"To sleep, it's way too late for your optimism. Goodnight, Luna."
"I think I'm going to stay here a little more, I may find some Nargles," she smiled and got back to staring the lake. Hermione looked at her for a few seconds, speechless, and then turned around, walking back to the castle.
"Hermione?" She stopped and glanced at the blonde Ravenclaw. "It will be fine."
She forcefully smiled and turned around again. "It won't."
Severus Snape was standing near the door, looking at her. "I thought the Dark Lord told you not to speak to them."
"It's Looney Lovegood we're talking about, she wouldn't hurt a fly," she walked past him and made her way to the dungeons. He didn't follow her.
Luckily, she didn't catch any of the Prefects on petrol that night. She quickly hid behind a statue when she saw Nearly-Headless Nick turn the corner and she only started walking again when he was gone.
The common room was almost empty, there were only Pansy and Daphne talking on a couch near a fireplace, three former Hufflepuffs group-writing an essay and Theo, who had fallen asleep with his face pressed on the History of Magic book.
Some Slytherins were dealing with some parchment and galleons, probably some bets, and Seamus Finnigan only managed to Transfigure half a mug into a rat, so Hannah Abbott was laughing near him. She nodded at Daphne's greeting and headed over to her bedroom.
The common area was a complete and utter confusion. Everyone was agitated, some were doing last-minute homework, some were retired in a corner, speaking nervously among themselves and warily looking around the room, while others, like Theodore Nott – perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised – were taking a nap on an armchair, or moving back and forth like the Quidditch finale was right around the corner.
What was really suspicious, though, was that the original Slytherins were not worried at all and they had gathered around the armchair Theo was sleeping in, looking quite amused and staring at the chaotic common room.
"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" She approached Blaise and Draco.
"The Dark Lord's coming to see how the new administration's going and they're all scared like House-elves." Malfoy earned himself a glare for his comparison.
"Why didn't I know?"
"No one knew. At least, none of the students. A Hufflepuff, Frederick something, sneaked into the kitchens earlier this morning and he eavesdropped some teachers talking about it on the way back. He came back here almost crying and started blabbering that the Dark Lord was coming." Malfoy looked quite smug.
Hermione didn't answer, she just looked around and tried to figure something out so she could stay as out of the spotlight as possible. She hardly wanted to be all over the news while the Dark Lord was between the same four walls as her. She'd wear her mask and attend classes like she'd normally do and hope she could make it through the day without being noticed.
"Granger, how can you even think this early?" Theo complained, now awake.
"Some of us do," she laughed. Theo was not a morning person.
"Well, that's not me." He looked around and landed his eyes on her again. "They're moving so much I'm feeling sick. I'm going to breakfast, are any of you coming?"
"It's not a bad idea, actually. I'll go take my bag."
He nodded and got off the armchair he was sleeping in with some difficulty, leaning on a wall. Definitely not a morning person. Hermione chuckled and, after she'd taken her bag, she made sure her bedroom door was locked, returning to the common room, where the situation was the same as she'd left it. "Shall we?" The boy nodded and waved at Blaise and Draco, who had decided to have some more fun watching their schoolmates despair.
"Why are you worried? The Dark Lord's presence here shouldn't be a problem for you." Theo broke the silence on their way to the Great Hall.
"It's not, I'm just trying to keep a low profile," she shrugged.
"Well, you're not very good at it," he laughed and stopped in front of her.
"What do you mean?" She didn't think she'd drawn that much attention.
"Does Transfiguring Draco in a bloody ferret look like nothing to you?"
She groaned, annoyed, while Theo just laughed at her.
Hermione's day was going better than she'd imagined. Herbology in first period with Theo, then Advanced Arithmancy, finally alone, and the double History of Magic with Daphne.
She and Theo had laughed their breakfast time away and she found him to be quite nice to have around. The Slytherin boy told her about his crush on Daphne after she noticed how he'd suddenly changed his expression as the girl was entering the room and Hermione even managed to take off before the Dark Lord's arrival.
During History of Magic, someone knocked and Hermione sighed, massaging her wrist to alleviate the wrist numbness due to the heavy writing. As she heard several people gasp in the room, she guessed her day wasn't going that well.
"I am desolated to interrupt your lesson, Professor," the Dark Lord started with his usual calm voice and everyone was suddenly more awake than they'd ever been during a History of Magic class. "But I need to speak with Miss Granger."
Hermione looked at Professor Ruff and she saw him absently nod, as if he was more interested in continuing his lesson than in the Dark Lord's presence there.
She got up and put on a radiant smile, leaving the room.
"Hermione, my dear, I hope things are going well around here. Draco assured me there have been no problems, do you confirm that?" He started to walk and she followed him.
"Yes, nothing's wrong, my Lord."
"Of course, you would tell me if you learned anything about the rebels, am I right?" He wasn't watching her.
"Obviously, my Lord. Although, if I were to find out something, it would only be luck, since the Gryffindors refuse to even admit my existence," she lied and did her best to think about something else, trying to keep her expression as blank as possible. When the Dark Lord finally looked at her, he displayed his usual cold smile and his red eyes lightened up.
"Are you and Draco getting along well?"
"Overall, yes. We have our ups and downs," she smirked and thought about the Transfiguration class the day before.
"Good. I don't like when my Death Eaters want to killing one another." He suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes. Pulling up his sleeve, his Mark was burning fierce red, but it wasn't like the others, like hers, Draco's, or even Snape's. It was bigger, more detailed and it wasn't black, it was a bright, vivid crimson and she was pretty sure the skull had fangs, like a serpent. "Dolohov is bearing good news, it seems. You may come back to your class. I will see you soon," he said, and then disappeared.
She asked herself how he'd done it, since you couldn't Disapparate on the school grounds, but eventually gave up almost immediately.
She had just seen Harry Potter.