Chapter 5 - Hermione's Boyfriend

They walked slowly up towards the hospital wing, not too fast or Hermione would have fallen over...again. When they finally got there, Draco pushed the door open with his free hand, as the other was holding Hermione steady, and they went in. He noticed that no one else was there, he let out a sigh of relief at this but in his head.

"Hello?" He called. Suddenly, a woman came bustling up to them.

"Oh Merlin's beard. What's happened here?" Madame Pomfrey asked, looking between Draco and Hermione.

"I- I fell…" Hermione said, trying not to show signs of pain.

"Was that all?!" Madame Pomfrey looked shocked.

"Well, no. I actually fell over,"

"Me." Draco said, finishing her sentence for her. "She fell over me. I'd bent down to tie my shoelaces, not aware of who was around me, and Granger wasn't looking where she was going so… she ended up falling over me. Quite a spectacular fall, actually. I think you flew for a brief moment before you skidded across the pathway." Hermione just glared at him. She didn't appreciate him mocking her when she was in this state - not that she ever enjoyed him mocking her, but this time was worse.

"Well then, I guess you'd better have a seat on the end of this bed her, so I can have a look at you." Madame Pomfrey ushered Hermione over to a bed. Draco followed.

"Thanks," Hermione said to Draco. "But you can go now if you want. I'll be fine."

"Are you kidding? We currently have potions - well we're missing potions - and I don't particularly want to walk in this late and have to explain myself to the teacher. So I guess I'll just stay here." Hermione raised an eyebrow but then nodded.

Madame Pomfrey finished looking at Hermione's gashes and grazes. She did a few quick spells to heal the minor ones, but for the gnash in her knee and deep cut in her arm Madame Pomfrey did a different more complex spell which caused Hermione even more pain.

"Ow!"

"Sorry love, but they're deeper than they appear. And I'm afraid you'll have to stay here overnight so I can keep an eye on you." Madame Pomfrey gave Hermione a look of sympathy. "You can stay with her as long as you want." She now spoke to Draco.

"Um, thanks." He replied in an uncertain tone.

"Do you want me to send an owl to your parents, love."

"Yes please, if it's not too much trouble." Hermione smiled gratefully at Madame Pomfrey. Pomfrey hurried into her office to write and send the letter.

"So, I take it you're staying then?" Hermione said in an amused voice to Draco. He smirked at her.

"Hey, I've just been given the all clear to miss a whole day of lessons! I won't be moving anytime soon." He made himself comfortable in a chair next to her bed. Hermione laughed.

"So, do you think your parents will come to see you?" Draco asked her. "I'm not trying to sound rude, I just mean because they're muggles and all…"

"No, they probably won't. They can't see or get to Hogwarts because they're muggles. But I don't mind, they are really busy anyway." Hermione smiled at him. "So, as we're gonna be here a while, what shall we do?"

"Well, it seems like we're now on speaking terms now - more than before - so we might as well get to know each other a bit." Draco shrugged.

"Hmm, ok. Where did you grow up?"

"At Malfoy Mansion."

"Oh, so just where you live now."

"No, I currently live at Malfoy Manor not Mansion. There's a difference." Draco said bluntly, as if it was obvious.

"Oh. Well where's Malfoy Mansion?"

"Up in Scotland-"

"YOU'RE SCOTTISH!" Hermione yelled with a screech of laughter. Draco rolled his eyes.

"No…" He said, "I was born in England - making me English. We just moved up to Scotland when I was 1."

"Why?"

"I don't bloody know!"

"Sorry." Hermione said sarcastically. "When did you move to Malfoy Manor?"

"When I turned 9, because my parents thought we needed to be closer to family as I was getting older."

"Oh, ok. Now it's your turn."

"Huh?"

"To ask me a question…"

"Oh, right. Umm...let me think… Oh! Ok, I've got one… Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Draco smirked slyly.

"Well yeah. I have one at the moment." Draco spluttered; he thought he'd caught her out. But no.

"Who?" Draco managed to muster.

"You don't know him. He's called Brent. Brent Shore."

"I'm guessing he doesn't go here. Wait, is he a muggle?" Draco smirked.

"No. He's a wizard, but he's homeschooled. We met in a park near my house one day. We started talking and soon discovered that the other was from the magical world, too. We kinda clicked." Hermione gazed off into space while she thought about him. She smiled.

Draco was just about to open his mouth to ask her something else when a voice came from behind.

"You bragging about me again?" said the voice. Hermione looked towards the door. A tall, dark hair young man (the same age as Hermione and Draco) was leaning against the frame of the door.

"BRENT!" Hermione yelled in excitement and shock. She was grinning widely. Brent walked over to her and kissed her. "What are you doing here?"

"Well you see, you fell over me and so I thought I'd stay here and avoid lessons-" Draco said smirking.

"No you." Hermione hit Draco on the arm.

"Your mum read the letter and knew she couldn't go to see you so she sent me. How are you by the way?"

"Great, now you're here." Hermione gazed up at her boyfriend, who gazed back at her.

"I actually have to go now."

"Why?"

"Because I just do, ok?"

"Ugh. You never tell me anything! It's like you're hiding something...are you hiding something?"

"W-what? No, no of course not...why - why would I hide something from you?" Draco noticed that Brent looked nervous. Hermione seemed to notice it too. But all she said in reply was:

"Ok bye then." And with that, Brent left.

"Well, that went well." Draco said once Brent had gone.

"I know right." Hermione smirked. This wasn't the reaction from her that had had expected. He grinned and started laughing. Soon, Hermione joined in with his laughter. Tears were streaming from her eyes, when she remembered that she had mascara on. She quickly conjured up a mirror, then used a spell to fix her makeup...and hair while she was at it.

"What's all this noise?" Professor Mcgonagall had walked on. She was surprised by what she saw: Hermione Granger lying in a bed in the hospital wing, fixing her hair and makeup while laughing with Draco Malfoy, who was sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"Hello Professor. What can I do for you?" Madame Pomfrey had just come out.

"I came because I was informed by Mr Potter and Mr Weasley that Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy hadn't shown up at all for the lesson and no one seemed to know where they were. I've been searching for them. But it seems that I have found them now. I just need to ask you two some questions." Mcgonagall walked over to them, conjured a chair out of thin air and sat down. "First of all, why are you both here?" She looked from Hermione to Draco, just as Madame Pomfrey had done.

"Well, at break time I was on my way to visit Hagrid and wasn't really looking where I was going, and I ended up falling over the ferret because-" Hermione looked at her Professor's face and realised what she'd done. Draco smirked again.

"What she means is I was tying my shoelace so she didn't see me and I didn't see her. And basically she tripped over me and skidded a few inches along the path. I had to help her up here then Madame Pomfrey said I could stay, so I stayed." Draco finished. Hermione sniggered.

"Right, so the other thing I wanted to ask was if you could both still ,also to the meeting you have tonight. However seeing the state you are in, Hermione, I'm guessing you won't be able to attend. You, Draco, on the other hand will surely be able to attend." Draco nodded. "Right, now that's sorted. I will see you later Mr Malfoy." Mcgonagall stood up and left. The chair she'd been sitting on vanished.

"How long do you reckon it will be before your friends realise you're here?"

"Hopefully, long. They'll come in, take one look and start making judgements on what happened." Draco chuckled.

Unfortunately, Hermione's hopes weren't met as about 5 minutes later Harry, Ginny and Ron all came half running, half storming into the hospital wing.

"Ugh, here we go." Hermione muttered to Draco. He smirked at her, and she smirked back.

"Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Us!" Ginny raged. "Why was it that I had to find out you were hurt through Neville who overheard Mcgonagall talking to Flitwick?!"

"This whole thing probably wouldn't have happened in the first place if YOU TWO HADN'T ABANDONED ME, LEAVING ME TO GO TO HAGRID ALONE!" Hermione yelled at Ron and Harry, who now both looked guilty.

"WHAT?!" Ginny was furious now. "You mean to tell me that you are currently lying in a hospital bed because THESE TWO LEFT YOU ALONE! I can't believe you two!"

"Actually Gin, I had to put up the list for quidditch tryouts." Harry tried to redeem himself.

"Ok… but why the HELL did YOU go, Ron!" Ginny yelled again. She'd strain her voice if she wasn't careful.

"Umm…" Ron started.

"Nope. No excuses. I'm putting this whole thing on you Ron," Ginny had stopped shouting but her voice was still harsh.

"Thank God for that, at least it means I'm off the hook." Draco muttered, but they all heard it.

"What. Did. You. Do." Ginny's face was very close to his and her voice was dangerously calm but stern. He was very uncomfortable, it was unnerving.

"I..uh…" Draco started.

"Gin it's fine. All that happened was I wasn't looking where I was going, Ferret boy was tying his shoes, neither of us saw the other one, I tripped over him, and fell flat onto my front. Oh and I also skidded a bit, right?" She checked with Draco, who nodded, still unhappy about the current 'Ginny' situation.

"Gin, lay off him. It's fine."

"But-"

"He took me here, well I leant on him to get here, but thankfully I'm ok now...ok-ish."

"So, you're fine now? Nothing has happened since then?"

"Well," Hermione looked at Draco. They were both thinking about the same thing; Brent. Almost on cue, they both burst out laughing as if continuing from earlier.

"Ok, we've missed something here haven't we?" Harry said.

"Well obviously." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Well, what have we missed?"

"Ok, ok." Hermione had managed to compose herself again. "So, a little while after we got here, someone came for a quick visit." Hermione glanced at Ginny who seemed to understand at once.

"...No. He didn't. OMG!" Ginny grinned catching on. "Did he?"

"Uh-huh," Draco replied. "Bullseye."

"Oh. My. God. Mione! Did he stay long?"

"No, we think he was hiding something though." Hermione made the mistake of glancing at Draco again and the uproar of laughter between the two of them began again, this time joined by Ginny who now knew exactly what had happened.

"Does someone want to tell us what the hell is he going on?" Ron said over the laughter.

"Ooh, don't the 'Golden Boys' know yet?" A mischievous grin came over Draco's face. "Can I tell them?"

"...Sure." Hermione responded.

"Granger's boyfriend came for a quick visit." Draco was smirking at Harry and Ron. For a moment they were speechless.

"Hermione doesn't have a boyfriend, does she?" Ron questioned.

"I do actually, Ron."

"Ohh… yeah, you do don't you. Sorry I forgot. Brent, right?" Harry had just realised what they'd been talking about. Now it all made sense. Well, apart from the random laughing. Wait…

"Did you say he might be hiding something?" Harry asked Hermione.

She grinned, "Yeah." Once again, laughter broke out; from Hermione, Draco, Ginny and Harry. Ron was still very much in the dark.

"Why are you all laughing? What is do funny?" Ron demanded.

"Trust me, you won't get it unless you've met him." Harry said.

"For once, I agree with Potter. It's just too funny." Draco grinned.

"Not to be rude, but why are you even here?" Ron growled.

"Hey, I've been here for well over an hour and a half. I think I have a right."

"Yeah, but we're here now do you can leave."

"Nope, Madame Pomfrey gave ,me the all clear to stay here all day, and Mcgonagall didn't have a problem with it, so I win."

"Why do you even care?"

"I don't, but I'm missing lessons and not getting told off for it so I thought I might as well stay." They all jumped as the bell went, indicating the start of the next lesson. "Well off you trot to whatever you have now." Draco made himself comfortable in the seat again, as Ginny, Harry and Ron scowled at him.

Ginny turned and left, and the other two followed her. "I can't believe he's allowed to stay and not us! I mean we're Hermione's friends, not him!" Ginny was grumbling angrily. Ron and Harry muttered in agreement.

Draco stayed with Hermione until lunchtime, when he went to the Great Hall to eat and didn't return. Hermione guessed that he must've gone to lessons, so she sat on the bed thinking about different things. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Luna and Ginny enter the room and walk up to the bed Hermione was sitting on.

"Hey Hermione." Luna said brightly. Hermione jumped and looked at her two best girl friends. She grinned at them. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, fine. But Madame Pomfrey's still making me stay here until tomorrow morning." Hermione wasn't too happy about this last bit. She didn't particularly want to stay in the hospital wing until tomorrow morning.

"Well that's a bummer." Ginny said, understanding how Hermione felt. "Ooh, I just remembered! Guess what happened today…" Ginny told Hermione about her day; Luna stared out of the window in a loopy manner,but joining in to tell parts of the story.

"Sounds like you had a good day then."

"Yup, it was so funny."

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but you girls need to be leaving now. Miss Granger, you are to get ready and go to sleep now. I've sent for your pyjamas and toiletries. Lavender Brown brought them down earlier. All of your things are in the bathroom just there. Now, nip in there and get sorted for bed. You two really must leave now." Madame Pomfrey was now shooing Ginny and Luna out of the room.

"Uh, bye Mione - talk to you in the morning, 'k?" Hermione smiled at her friends, waved goodbye and made off to the small bathroom to get ready for bed as Madame Pomfrey had instructed.

She got into the hard bed, it wasn't as comfortable as the bed in her dorm. She closed her eyes and - quite soon - drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Hermione awoke with a start. She looked around and remembered that she was still in the hospital wing. She rose from the bed and walked over to the window, pulled back the curtains and stared out at the light blue-grey sky. It was obviously still very early in the morning, just how early Hermione didn't know. She wandered back over to the bed she had woken up on. She picked up her wand from the small night stand and uttered a quick spell to show the time. A holographic jet of blue light shot out from the end of her wand to form a digital version of the time right in front of her eyes; it was 5:34am. Hermione wasn't usually up at this time and if she was, she'd grab one of her muggle books and read. Her favourite books were The Hunger Games series. She had read them over and over again. She had read them so much that she knew the story lines upside down, inside out and backwards. However, she was in her dorm room, therefore she couldn't get out a book and read. 'Wait a minute' she thought. Something had just occurred to her. Hermione leaned over the side of her bed and sure enough there it was - her school bag. She quickly grabbed its straps and hoisted it up onto her bed so it was next to her. She scrabbled around in it before she found what she had been looking for. Her Hunger Games Mocking Jay book. She took the book out and placed her bag back on the floor. Leaning back against the wall, she opened her book and started to read it.

"Goodness gracious, you're already up." Madame Pomfrey had walked into the room an hour and a half later and was taken aback to see Hermione fully awake - or as awake as she could truly be without her daily morning coffee - and reading a book, quite relaxed.

Hermione smiled before replying. "Good morning. Um, can I go back to my dorm now?" Hermione shut her book and looked up at Madame Pomfrey eagerly.

"Yes, I suppose so. But I just need to do a quick check over your injuries."

"Ok." Hermione said, happy to be going back to her own bed and dorm. She pulled up the leg of her pyjama bottoms, so that the woman could check the gnash on her knee which had more or less disappeared. All that was left of it was a faint scar. Next, Pomfrey checked where the deep cut had been on Hermione's arm but that too had vanished - also leaving a faint scar in its place.

"Alright, it seems you're fine. You are free to go - but don't forget to collect your things from the bathroom and sign out please." Madame Pomfrey went into her office and shut the door, leaving Hermione to collect her things.

On her way back to the Gryffindor common room, Hermione wondered if many Gryffindors would be up yet. She didn't have to wait long to find out. She walked up the the portrait of the Fat Lady and said the password. The portrait hole opened to reveal the common room. It was empty except for-

"Ginny!" Hermione walked into the common room and hugged her friend.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Great, you?"

"I'm good." Ginny laughed.

Hermione made her way up the spiralling staircase to her dorm. She walked in and flung herself down on her bed. Her comfy, soft, warm bed. A few minutes later, Hermione re-emerged in the common room to find a few more people had joined Ginny. She smiled when Hermione came back down the stairs.

About an hour or so later, Hermione found herself in the Great Hall eating breakfast - back in the character of a Slytherin. She was having a heated discussion with Ron about why she thought quidditch was a dangerous sport when Draco walked up to her. Hermione realised he was there before he said anything.

"Just couldn't keep away I see." She said, mockingly. He looked startled at her quick comment.

"Mcgonagall told me to give you this. It's basically just what happened in the meeting you missed yesterday."

"Thanks ferret." Hermione replied and took the parchment off him. He stalked away back towards the Slytherin table. She unrolled the parchment and quickly read through it, taking in the important bits of information, then rolled it back up and stuck it into her bag. She then continued the argument she'd been having with Ron.

A/N: Well, what did you think of this chapter? Too long? Or just long enough? I'm already working on the next chapter. It's going to be great - hopefully.