This one is going to be more of a filler and have a few time jumps. We're going to get through 2nd-4th year here, then I think all of next chapter will be in Hermione's 5th year. I haven't fully decided if the chapter after that will go straight to 6th year or if I have anything else in mind for 5th. We'll find out together!
Thank you to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, reviewed, etc.!
The second half of the school year flew by faster than Hermione ever thought possible.
After Christmas holidays, she jumped back into her normal routine at school. Her days were spent in her classes, and her nights were shared between her time socializing with her friends and studying with Professor Riddle.
Tom, she internally corrects herself.
She blushes bright red at just the thought.
While she obviously only calls him by his title during class and whenever they pass by each other in the halls, Tom informed her that she was welcome to use his first name during their nightly office time. So she did. Happily.
She breezed through finals, and before she knew it, the train was pulling into King's Cross Station to send them all home. She says her farewells to Neville and all her old and new – Draco had introduced her to his other friends: Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass – Slytherin friends; promises to write over the summer overlapping with all their goodbyes.
She rushes over to her waiting parents, crushing them into a tight hug before they leave the station and head back home. Summer stretching out far ahead of Hermione.
She already couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts.
July 28th, 2015
Hermione has been home for just over a month now for summer break.
She's about one week away from dying of boredom.
She sighs as she sets down the book she's reading. Grabbing the TV remote and pressing the power button, she turns it on. She lazily flips through the channels, already knowing she won't find anything to hold her attention.
Since she has left school, her and her friends have kept their promises to stay in touch. She has letters coming in daily from at least one of them.
Her letters are her only enjoyment at this point in the summer.
She sighs again.
Neville has had a busy break so far. One of his cousins is getting married in a few weeks, and the whole family has been helping prepare for the event. Neville is begrudgingly helping, too, against his wishes.
Pansy and Daphne have been spending the summer in France with Pansy's family. They've been sending Hermione photos and telling her stories about all that they've been getting up to in the beautiful country. Attending lunches and galas. Gossiping about all the cute boys who are also there with their parents. Things Hermione never considered to be fun summer activities.
She hates that she feels jealous.
Theo is also out of the country – in America, of all places. His father has business there, and he was dragged along with him. Seeing as how he's supposed to join at his father's side once he graduates in a few years.
Blaise is at home with his mother, but he has been forced into mourning for the entire summer. Her seventh husband has just mysteriously passed away.
Blaise doesn't like talking about his mother very much.
Hermione completely understands.
Draco has been traveling with his grandparents since school let out, but he's due back today. She is eagerly awaiting his letter confirming that he's made it home.
She has just settled on a channel playing an old movie she's almost sure she's seen before, when she hears the door open. Her parents are finally home from work.
Thank God.
"Hermione?" Her mother calls from the entryway.
"In here," she shouts back in reply, sitting up and looking over the back of the couch as her parents walk into the room.
Her nerves instantly spike at the worried looks on their faces. "Is something wrong?" She asks, mind spinning with every possible worst-case scenario. Sickness and bad patients and natural disasters.
"No, nothing is wrong, honey. Just some bad news," her father answers. "Your mother and I have just agreed to help out an old friend and be guest lecturers for dental students in Dublin. You're going to have to stay with your grandmother while we're gone."
Hermione sighs in relief, her worries floating away. She loves her grandma, and she's due for a visit anyway. "Oh, that's fine! I don't mind staying with Grandma. How long will you be gone?"
Her parents exchange a nervous glance. "That's the thing, dear," her mother starts hesitantly. "We're covering for a professor for the rest of the semester. We'll be gone for the whole summer."
Hermione baulks. "The whole summer? I have to stay with Grandma for the rest of summer break?"
Her father reaches forward and lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're so sorry, Hermione. If there was any other option, we would take it, but we don't want you to be cooped up in a hotel room all by yourself."
Her shoulders sag. Resigned, Hermione says, "It's okay. I understand."
Her parents hug her and apologize again, telling her that they will be leaving in two days.
Hermione slouches back down into the couch as her parents move upstairs to get cleaned up from work before dinner. She throws her head back onto the back of the couch and lets out a long sigh. She usually visits her grandma in the summertime anyway, but staying with her for the entire summer will be even more boring than being at home.
She cannot believe her luck.
After dinner, Hermione makes her way up to her room. She shuts the door behind her and heads straight to her bed, in a mission to fall face first onto the mattress and sulk for the rest of the night. Before she reaches the bed, movement at her window grabs onto her attention. Turning, she notices an owl perched outside. Her mood brightens as she recognizes him to be Draco's owl, Apollo. She runs to the window and lets him in, quickly untying the letter from his leg.
Smiling, she begins to read. As she expected, Draco informs her that he has just made it back home. She laughs as he complains about how boring the trip was and how he had to suffer through boring "old people things". She rolls her eyes at his usual dramatics.
As she finishes the letter, she quickly grabs parchment and a quill and pens back a response. Starting with how she's happy he made it back safe, moving on to how he should be more grateful that he was able to travel to so many beautiful countries in such a short period of time, and finally ending with her own complaints of how her summer is now going to end.
She rolls up the parchment and carefully ties it to Apollo's leg, feeding him a treat from the jar she had added to her desk because of the influx of owls visiting her, and lets him out the window to deliver her reply back to Draco.
About twenty minutes later, she's just settled into bed and started rereading one of her favorite books when she hears Apollo tapping on her window again.
She's surprised. She hadn't expected a reply this soon, thinking Draco would want to relax after getting home so late.
She marks her page and sets the book aside, stepping out of bed. She lets Apollo in again and grabs the letter.
Hermione,
First of all, I think you're underestimating exactly how boring all of these events were. I was by far the youngest person there, and they listened to jazz. Jazz, Hermione. Do I need to say more?
Second, I mentioned your situation to Mother and Father and Mother said that you were welcome to come and stay here at the Manor instead of your grandmother's house if that was more appealing. She said you could stay in the same guest room and that she would love for you to spend the rest of the summer here.
Would you please stay here, Hermione? I've had the most dreadful summer so far and Blaise and Theo are unavailable for the rest of the holiday. You're my only hope. I may very well drop dead if I have to spend another second alone with all these adults.
Please take my wellbeing into consideration when making your decision.
Your friend who is very close to death,
Draco
Hermione snorts at Draco's exaggeration, but then a large smile spreads across her face and her stomach clenches in excitement.
She races back downstairs to where her parents are relaxing in the living room. She skids into the room—almost slipping on the hardwood floors—and opens her mouth, speaking so quickly her words blur together. "Mum. Dad. Draco's mum just said that I could stay at their house for the rest of the summer instead of going to Grandma's could I please oh please oh please say yes please please pl—"
"HERMIONE!" her mother shouts. Hermione snaps her mouth shut and bounces on her feet as she waits.
"Please repeat your question, dear. Slowly."
She takes a deep breath and concentrates on speaking clearly. "Draco said that his mum offered for me to stay at their house for the rest of the summer instead of staying with Grandma. Could I please stay with the Malfoys instead? It's not that I don't want to stay with Grandma, but I'll have a way better summer if I can stay with Draco and his family."
Her mother hums, "I don't see why not. The Malfoys were very good to you over New Year's, and as long as Mrs. Malfoy doesn't mind then I see no problem with it. What do you think, Richard?"
"Yes, I agree, dear," her father says.
Hermione squeals and runs up to her parents, pulling them into a crushing hug. "Oh, thank you! I'm going to go write back right away."
She flounces back upstairs and quickly writes out her letter, telling Draco yes, yes, yes, that she would love to stay with him the rest of the holiday.
He responds back with as much excitement as she's feeling and tells her that his mother will pick her up. He asks her what day and time she'll need someone to arrive, and she eagerly sends him the information. They exchange excited goodbyes and express how they can't wait to see each other in two days.
Too keyed up to go to sleep yet, Hermione drags out her trunk and begins to pack for her stay, face aching from her large smile.
July 30th, 2015
Hermione's body is vibrating with her excitement as she sits on the couch, trunk and Crookshanks at her side. Feet tapping and fingers anxiously fiddling with the blanket lying next to her. She can hear her parents moving around upstairs, packing up the last of their things. They need to leave for the train station in ten minutes.
Narcissa will be here in five.
Her jittering gets more intense.
After exactly five minutes, she hears a knock on the door and jumps up from the couch, racing towards the noise.
"I've got it!" She yells up the stairs to her parents.
She reaches the door and rips it open, spotting Narcissa—elegant as ever—on the other side.
"Hermione," she greets, pulling her into a hug.
"Hello, Narcissa."
As they pull away, Hermione turns around at the sound of two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. She steps to the side, motioning for Narcissa to come in, and shuts the door behind her. After quick introductions, a handy shrinking spell on her trunk, and goodbye hugs and kisses to her parents, Hermione grabs ahold of Narcissa's arm with one hand and Crookshanks' carrier in the other and braces herself for the squeezing feeling of apparition.
August 8th, 2015
Hermione has been at Malfoy Manor for a week now. As soon as she arrived, Draco pulled her away from Narcissa and gave her a tour of the whole Manor and the grounds.
The place is huge. Even bigger than she remembered from the last time she was here.
She had quickly decided that the Malfoy library was her absolute favorite room in the entire Manor. Floor to ceiling bookshelves, more bookshelves in organized rows throughout the room, and comfy lounge chairs hidden in little nooks. The smell of old books and the heat from the fireplace in the front of the room had her filling with joy as soon as she would enter through the intricate double doors.
Any time not spent in the library was spent playing with Draco. She's come to find that hide and seek in the giant Manor is almost impossible to win as the seeker. Especially against Draco, who knows all the best hiding places in the home.
Her, Draco, and Narcissa—Lucius has been away for business her whole time here so far—spend every night in the formal dining room together for dinner. She finds it to be a bit silly to sit at such a large table when there is only three of them, but Draco insists that they always ate dinner there.
Tonight is no different. The trio is sitting at the table, Hermione across from Draco and Narcissa sitting to his right, next to the empty head chair. Hermione laughs as Narcissa finishes telling a story about Lucius trying to woo her when they were in school. Reaching for a slice of bread and beginning to butter it, she starts to ask for another story when the doors to the dining room open.
"Speak of the devil. Lucius, you're home early," Narcissa says to her husband as he strolls into the room.
"You were talking about me? All good things I hope." He sends her a wink before leaning down and kissing the top of her head. He pulls out the head chair and settles into it, food appearing before him. Courtesy of Mippy, Hermione is sure. He sends a nod his son's way and then turns to her. "Draco. And Hermione, welcome back. I hope you're enjoying your stay."
"Very much, sir. Thank you for allowing me to stay here for break."
"Our pleasure, Hermione, and enough of this sir thing. Call me Lucius."
Her lips quirk up in a bashful smile. "Lucius," she amends.
Hermione sees Narcissa open her mouth, a question on her tongue, when she feels a shift in the air. A pull in her magic that's coming from the entrance to the room. Her body shifts to the feeling and she watches as Tom makes his way through the doors.
I must always feel when he's there because his magic is so powerful, she reasons with herself.
His eyes land on her, and his hard face relaxes and brightens with a grin.
"Hermione," he breathes out.
"Hello, Tom." She watches as he smoothly walks her way and pulls out the chair to her left, sinking into it.
"Tom, I was just about to ask where you were. Welcome back," Narcissa says.
Eyes still on Hermione, he answers, "I had to drop something off in my room first." Directing his next question to Hermione, he asks, "How has your summer break been so far, Hermione? I'm assuming you've already made yourself at home in the Manor's library since you've been here."
Her face splits into a wide grin. "Oh, yes! It's magnificent! There are almost more books than Hogwart's library."
"I've told Mother that she may as well put a bed in there since Hermione is there basically as soon as her eyes open and leaves only when they start to close," Draco adds.
Hermione is too happy to be embarrassed about her extended time in the library. She's never had a place where she feels more comfortable, happy, and at home in before.
Well, maybe Tom's office.
But she doesn't want to reflect too much on that.
Lucius chuckles, "Oh no, Draco. We would have to move the library to her bedroom, not the other way around. Moving her room would be very upsetting to someone in the house, I'm sure."
Tom sends a glare to Lucius at this statement, but before Hermione can question what he means, Narcissa interrupts and asks about their travels, quickly changing the subject.
Still confused, Hermione frowns, but the time for asking questions has already passed. She returns back to her food, relaxing with the easy conversation and laughter happening around her.
August 14th, 2015
Hermione sits at the Baby Grand Piano in a lounge room in Malfoy Manor. She stumbled upon the shining, black instrument two days ago when she was taking a stroll through the Manor and she couldn't wait to play it. She has been taking piano lessons since she was very young, and it's become her second favorite thing to do—after reading of course.
As she settles onto the plush piano stool, she reaches forward and begins to play Moonlight Sonata.
Distantly, she feels Tom enter the room. He comes to stand by her, leaning against the side of the piano. Her heart speeds nervously at his gaze, but she continues to play. Avoiding his eyes, she keeps her own on her hands and the keys.
As she finishes and the lilting sounds of the piano float away, she quickly moves into Clair de Lune to fill the silence.
They stay that way, her playing song after song and him listening, until Mippy pops in to drag them to dinner.
September 19th, 2015
Hermione enters Tom's office with a skip to her steps. Today is her 13th birthday—she's finally a teenager.
This birthday has easily been one of the best she's ever had.
In the morning, she was surprised by all of her friends gathered in the Gryffindor common room with a cake covered in thirteen lit candles, screaming happy birthday and urging her to blow out the candles and make a wish. Which she happily did.
They each had a special gift for her—mostly books of course, but lots of sweets too—and she treasured each and every one of them. She promised to read them all right away and to give a review on every one of them.
They profusely assured her that that wasn't necessary.
They spent most of the day lounging around the common room, talking and laughing and telling jokes. Pansy and Daphne showing her how to use some of the hair potions they got her while the boys started a competitive game of Exploding Snap.
When the girls made their way over to join in on the game, Hermione first took a step back to observe her unlikely group of friends. She smiled fondly as they all laughed at the card that just exploded in Theo's hands. Growing up in the muggle world, other children always kept her at a distance. Whether it be from her studious nature or a subconscious knowledge that she was different from them, Hermione didn't know. Regardless, she never imagined that she would have even one friend, let alone the large group she has now. She loves them all so much, and she's so grateful to Hogwarts for bringing them to her.
"Hermione."
Pulled out of her reminiscing, she grins at Tom and settles into the seat across from him at his desk. It's a Saturday, but she spends every evening studying with Tom—weekday or weekend.
"Tom. How has your day been?" she asks.
"I should be asking you that question. It's your big day. Happy birthday, Hermione."
Her eyes widen as he sets a rectangular box down on the desk in front of her.
She shakes her head. "Tom, you didn't have to get me anything."
"Of course I had to get you something. You only become a teenager once in your life." He pushes the box closer to her. "Open it," he says.
Slowly, she reaches forward and picks up the box. She carefully unwraps the bow and removes the lid. She gasps as the contents come into view. A small, silver charm bracelet with a book charm and a witch's hat charm rests on the white pillow in the box.
She gently touches the bracelet, but pulls her hand away, afraid to somehow break it.
Eyebrows raised and face vulnerable, she looks up. "Tom, it's beautiful, but it's too much. I can't accept this." She stretches out her arm, gift in front of him to take back.
"No, Hermione, it's yours," he refuses, pushing her hand back towards her. "You deserve it. I want you to have it. Here, let me put it on."
He grabs the box out of her hand and removes the bracelet, holding out his hand for her own. She hesitantly hands over her right hand. He wraps the bracelet around her wrist and clasps it shut, fingers lightly brushing against her wrist. She shivers at the touch.
"There." He grabs her hand and turns her wrist to look at the bracelet settled against her skin. "Beautiful," he says as he looks up into her eyes, still holding onto her hand.
She blushes and pulls her hand away, looking at the way the charms move around her wrist.
"It is. Thank you so much, Tom. You really didn't have to."
"I did. It's perfect for you, Hermione," he tells her. She can't quite pinpoint the emotion in his tone.
Embarrassed at the attention, she turns her gaze to her bag. Pulling out her books, the moment ends and they both move on to their work. An easy silence falling between them.
December 31st, 2016
Hermione walks through the ballroom in Malfoy Manor with Pansy and Daphne. They dart between the rich attendees of the annual New Year's Eve party, giggling about the cute boys they saw standing with Draco, Theo, and Blaise. Hermione had a great time last year and the year before with just the boys, but she's happy to have the girls there to spend time with this year.
As they make their way over to the food table to find something to eat, they come across Narcissa talking to Abraxas. As they pass by them, they overhear a snippet of their conversation.
"I hate that Tom won't let us celebrate his birthday," Narcissa sighs.
"You know how he is," Abraxas responds with a chuckle. "He hates any kind of attention. Especially in front of a large group of people. He was cursed with having a birthday on one of the most celebrated holidays in the world."
Their voices fade away as the group of girls continue on their mission for food.
"Did you know today was Professor Riddle's birthday, Hermione?" Pansy asks her.
She frowns. "No. I didn't." She glances around the room, trying to find the man in question.
"How could anyone not want to celebrate their birthday? I could never!" Daphne exclaims.
"You just don't want to go without gifts."
"Shut up, Pansy."
As the girls bicker, Hermione finally spots Tom standing alone near the balcony doors. She walks off towards him, not bothering to let the girls know where she's going as they're too busy with each other at the moment.
Tom smiles when he notices her coming towards him.
"Hermione, how has yo—"
"Why didn't you tell me today was your birthday," she interrupts angrily.
His eyes widen. "I—"
"You know when my birthday is, and you got me this present." She holds up her hand, jangling the charm bracelet on her wrist. "I thought we were friends. Friends are supposed to know when each other's birthdays are. Is it something I did? Do you not trust me to know? Please t—"
He cuts off her rant with a hand over her mouth. "Hermione, I didn't not tell you for a specific reason. I just don't care much for celebrating my birthday. I don't like the attention, so I like to forget about."
She pulls away from his hand, eyebrows furrowed in irritation. "Well, that won't do. You can't not celebrate. We'll have Mippy make you something, and I can at least be there while you blow out the candle. Just us. No one else. No big spectacle."
He smiles fondly down at her and lightly pinches her cheek. "Yes, ma'am. Whatever you want. Just us."
"Good," she smiles smugly, happy to have her way. "I'll go find Mippy." She turns to do just that, then abruptly spins back around. "Oh! And happy birthday, Tom." Her eyes crinkle with her smile and she continues on to find Mippy, Tom's lips quirked affectionately behind her back.
November 8th, 2017
Hermione finishes stirring the potion three times clockwise and turns back to her notes to see what needs to be added next. She reaches for the lacewing flies and notices too late that Neville is dropping fluxweed into the caldron. Before she can stop him, the ingredient hits the potion and it instantly explodes, flinging them back into the table behind them.
Students scream and, after realizing what happened and to who, Professor Snape pushes students out of his way to get through to Hermione and Neville.
Neville groans and slowly sits up, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead and clutching his right arm. Hermione continues to lay passed out on the floor.
Snape kneels beside Hermione and tries to wake her up to no avail. Seeing that she's still breathing, he picks her up and heads out of the room. Passing by Draco, he says, "Go get him. Now."
Knowing who he means, Draco nods and runs out the room and up to the third floor. Reaching his destination, he bangs open the classroom door and rushes inside.
Tom is in the middle of a lesson with 5th year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs when his door is slammed open and a breathless Draco Malfoy comes running inside. Stopping midsentence at the surprising interruption, Tom narrows his eyes. "Mr. Mal—"
"Hospital wing," Draco gasps, breathing heavy from his sprint.
Tom's eyes widen, immediately knowing who he's referring to. Leaving no instructions with his class, he hurries out of the room, Draco right behind him. He runs madly through the halls, no students around to witness his erratic behavior, but uncaring if they were. His thoughts only on his mate. She's fine. She's okay. I would know if something was wrong. She's fine.
He finally reaches the hospital wing and—out of his control—his magic slams the doors open. He zeroes in on Hermione right away. She's sitting up in bed, awake, but nursing her left arm that looks slightly bent. His eyes narrow at the tear tracks on her face.
He storms her way, but he's stopped by a hand on his arm. He turns to lash out, but holds himself back when he recognizes Severus beside him.
"She's fine," Severus assures him. "There was a potions accident, but she's fine. She broke her arm and has a concussion. Nothing fatal."
Still worried, he rips his arm away and strides over to Hermione's side. He leans down and moves close to her, scanning her body for any more injuries. He notes a few cuts on her face and a bruise forming on her right calf.
"I'm perfectly fine, Tom. It was just an accident," Hermione says. "You don't have to stay here."
He grabs her right hand with his own and uses his left to push her hair behind her ear. Settling back into the chair, he doesn't answer her, but continues to hold her hand and refuses to leave until she's released.
Neither notice the exasperated looks exchanged between Snape and Madam Pomfrey.