The next morning, Hermione was awake to greet the sun. It was not something she had a lot of experience doing unless she had found herself editing one of the boy's papers the night before it was due. A habit she forced herself to stop before their OWLs last year.

Sleep had eluded her in the hours between Draco almost kissing her and now, and while she had hoped to find some kind of clarity in the dead of night, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. She had no explanation for why he sought her out, drunk and stupid, looking to make a mistake. She guessed it was no different than her searching for him in the Room of Requirement. Maybe it was his way of reaching out.

Either way, it didn't clear up her muddled feelings.

She pressed her pillow over her face, thankful that this particular morning, she was able to stay in bed far later than she usually allowed herself. She heaved a sigh, "thank Merlin for the weekend."

"Mione," Parvati whispered from across the room.

Resisting the urge to groan loudly, she tossed her pillow to the foot of her bed and poked her head around the curtains on her bed.

"Lav was telling me when she got in last night, that she and Ron walked in on Draco Malfoy snogging some Ravenclaw girl. Can you imagine?" She laughed.

Hermione froze, she could feel her eyes widen and it took everything in her body to keep from letting her jaw drop to the floor. On one hand, she was safe, no one knew it was her. On the other hand, Lavender would tell the whole school about this by lunch.

"Mione? You ok?" Parvati tilted her head.

"Fine," she said, her voice feeling rough from a night of disuse. "I just… I can't believe it. Mad, utterly."

She drew back behind the curtains on her bed and closed them with a flick.

Pressing her hands to her mouth, she imagined how Draco would feel in a few hours. Would he even remember what he'd done? Her cheeks flamed, would he remember how she had acted? Oh, Merlin, she shoved her face back into her pillow.

This wasn't going to end well.

——

Hermione had only been half right. Lavender had managed to tell the whole school before breakfast was through, though she didn't know this until she joined Harry for lunch.

"Ron has been reliving the whole story all morning," he sighed, "it's getting a bit annoying really."

"Oh please, as if he'd be able to remember a whole story without embellishing the details."

"He says that Draco pulled out his wand and threatened to hex them if they didn't leave. Said the poor girl was so afraid she tried begging Malfoy to let it go."

"He what?" Hermione choked on her pumpkin juice.

This was so much worse than she expected.

"Lavender is basically hailing him as her hero, and I'm tired of watching them snog every chance they get."

The doors to the great hall opened, bringing with it a storm that promised more than rage. And leading it was a terrifying-looking Draco. Righteous fury burned in his eyes and while Hermione wanted to console him like the hypocrite she was, she knew there was nothing she could do.

He wouldn't even look at her. He strode past her without so much as a glance.

His sole focus was on one person: Ron.

Hermione held her breath and reached out to hold Harry's hand. He reached the spot Ron was occupying, and all the overlapping conversations died instantaneously. Ron turned around, at the sudden silence and staggered off the table where Lavender had been lavishing him with obnoxious noises and squelching kisses. His face paled and he took a step back. Even with Draco's back to her, she could feel the hatred burning through him. The face he was certainly making was worse than any she'd seen from him in nearly six years.

"You've got a big mouth Weasley, and yet somehow, you've found a girl with one to rival your own."

Ron swallowed.

"I've always known you weren't very bright, but this takes it to a new level. This was the stupidest thing you could've done." Draco seethed, his voice dangerously calm. "Now, you'll have to deal with what comes."

While Ron tried to formulate a sentence, Draco stepped back and turned away.

Hermione almost couldn't believe his luck, he was getting off better than he had in the second year when he received his howler. Something had to be going on with Draco for him to only deliver a tongue-lashing.

"Ya you better walk away Malfoy," he half laughed and Hermione's stomach sank, "what? With Daddy in prison, you don't want to fight your own battles for a change?"

Oh, Ron.

Draco stopped in front of her as the room collectively took a breath. Not even the teachers seemed poised to react. His eyes flicked to hers quickly and his familiar cruel smirk crossed his features. He turned slowly and Ron's face dropped a bit.

"Mark my words Weasley, your end will come. I will see to that myself."

He stormed back out the door and it wasn't until the room started to breathe again that Hermione realized she was crying.

——

Hermione dropped onto the couch in the Gryffindor common room, laying her legs over Harry's outstretched ones. He smiled and squeezed her calf softly. She turned to stare at Ron on the floor, his face was still as pale and unreadable as it had been at breakfast this morning.

"Ron," she sighed.

"He's going to kill me, Mione," he looked up and then back down, "you know he's a death eater, and he'll probably get Greyback to get me while I'm in Hogsmeade or something."

"Don't be ridiculous," she whispered but the words came out forcefully.

Both of them looked at her and she shrugged, refusing to explain herself.

Sensing her discomfort, Harry jumped in, "I doubt he'd get Greyback to get you mate. No offense, but you're hardly worth his time.

While Harry laughed at his own joke, Hermione couldn't help but think he was right. Not about Draco being a death eater, but about Greyback having more important things—and terrible—to do than answer to the youngest Malfoy. Especially with his father in prison.

"Ron, I don't think you should have said that." when she only got a mildly horrified look she clarified, "this morning, to Draco."

"Draco is it?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

She looked between her friends and a strangled laugh escaped her mouth. Harry never noticed slip-ups like that, and now he was staring at her like she'd grown a third head. She could feel her cheeks warming and she tried to shrug casually.

"Oh grow up Harry." she dropped her eyes and forced a smile, "he hates people like me, you know that better than anyone."

Harry's eyes burned into hers and she wondered if the mere mention of his name had always invoked this kind of anger in him. "I'm telling you guys, Draco Malfoy is a death eater. That was what we saw over the summer."

"But what would Voldemort want with a sketchy bloke like Malfoy?" Ron asked.

"Give it up Harry, there's no way the Malfoy," she gave harry a pointed look, "is a death eater. Have you seen him since we got back this year? He looks ill. He is hardly in fighting form to be one of you know who's most trusted."

"Why are you defending him suddenly Mione?" Ron turned to look at her.

She tolled her eyes, "because I feel like we have this conversation constantly, and I hardly see the merit in it. That being said, all of your bravado this morning was senseless and in poor taste. He may not be a death eater but he certainly knows a few and making him more of an enemy than he already is… well, not very bright."

Ron gaped at her and she huffed. She didn't understand why everything she said had turned into a fight with Ron in recent years. Every time she went to the burrow, she made her trips shorter and shorter. All of the fighting and chaos was too much for her. It was like he enjoyed making her angry, and the more they argued the more she wondered how Harry shared a room with him for six whole years.

"He was insulting me, Hermione, what was I supposed to do? Take it? Not bloody likely."

"Have you failed to notice that this whole thing was your fault in the first place? You were the one to walk in on him and—" she paused, catching herself in time, "some girl. But i fail to see why you had to make this your problem."

"What if he was hurting her or something?"

"Did she seem like she was in pain?"

"Dunno, couldn't actually see her face, his big head was in the way."

Hermione looked between the two of them and shook her head. "You're insufferable." With that, she got up, slammed her books closed, and beelined for the stairs. She couldn't sit there and listen to him prattle on about something he didn't have the first clue about.

She slammed the door to her dorm so hard she heard Parvati squeak in surprise. Part of her wanted to apologize but part of her—the bigger part—wanted only to be left alone for the rest of the night.

In her bed, she sank deeper and deeper into her thoughts until eventually, they turned to dreams. Dreams of a certain cursed Slytherin.