Chapter 39

Staring down the hallway Hermione silently cursed herself for not asking Percy which apartment was Harry's. Glancing left then right, she saw no choice but to knock on every single door until she found him. Pity no one puts signs on their doors with their names, she thought.

Just as she was lifting her hand to knock on the door she heard another door further down the hall open then close. Pausing, she turned her head and noticed a woman with graying red hair stride towards her.

"Professor Flitwick is in class now lass," Heather commented passing by her.

"Oh," Hermione said, lowering her hand. "Actually I'm looking for Harry Potter."

"Well, yer at the wrong door. He's down there in our quarters. Seventh door on the left." She pointed in the direction.

"Thank you," Hermione replied, unsure who the woman was. Heather nodded and continued on her way.

A moment later the new librarian was knocking on the correct door wondering what the women had meant by "our" quarters. She didn't have time to consider the question though for the door opened and a solemn looking Harry stood there.

"Hermione? When did you arrive?" He asked, his eyes lighting up when he saw her.

"This morning. I saw Dumbledore straight away when I got here, although he neglected to tell me that Draco Malfoy was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor." She huffed annoyed that she'd not been informed of something this important. No wonder there was two Aurors at Hogwarts! It would take both of them to keep an eye on him.

Harry sighed audibly before inviting her in. Dumbledore hadn't told her for a reason no doubt. Too bad he didn't know it. He quickly shut the door before offering her a chair.

"Sorry about the mess," he muttered. "I was studying." Sitting down, Hermione eyed the mess. There were three books, a battered spiral ring notebook with both pencil and ink writing in it, several scrolls of which one was open and she could make out Harry's writing on it. Strange words like mahi atua and atahu were arranged neatly in one column with English text next to them. Reading the text she quickly realized that they were definitions, most likely of the words they were across from.

"What are you studying?" She asked, curious about the words that certainly weren't Latin or Latin based. They didn't look Russian or Arabic either.

"I'm trying to catch up on several years worth of Moari magic before Cassie accidentally curses me." He explained, coming over and attempting to stack the clutter neatly.

"Cassie, that's Malfoy's little girl." Harry nodded. "I've had the pleasure. She was in the restricted section, which apparently she can be in. I wouldn't let my child be in there, but apparently Malfoy still thinks he owns the school." She grumbled loudly crossing her legs. "She's going to get herself injured." Harry snorted. "Can you believe that Malfoy scolded me when I told him as much and Percy said she was supposed to be learning them! What is wrong with everyone?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's just we know a few things you don't." He told her sitting down across from her. "Wait, you spoke with Draco?"

She nodded firmly. "I did and he told me to see you. What is going on here? When did you start calling him by his first name?"

Amused that she noticed that they were using each other's first names, Harry put the cork back in the inkbottle. He knew he couldn't put off telling her about he and Draco's relationship. In fact that was probably the reason she'd been sent to him. It was better that she heard it from him rather than Draco.

"When we started dating," he replied, shrugging as if it were no big deal. Hermione felt her jaw slacken, but caught it before she did her impression of a guppy.

"Dating?"

Harry nodded. There was no sense leaving her in the dark now that she was at Hogwarts. Draco and Dumbledore wished to keep this as low key as possible, which was why only those physically at the school knew. The students weren't told directly, but were beginning to figure it out and the heads of each house made it quite clear that it was an in school issue and not to be shared with family. That had been no small feat to do, but somehow the students seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. Voldemort had been creating havoc and death for the past nine years, creating a sense of fear within the student body and the populous at large. Hogwarts was supposed to be safe and the only way to keep it that was if everyone did their part in protecting it. This apparently in the students' minds meant not questioning the increased Auror presence or the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's situation.

Explaining his role in all this took time, but Hermione sat through it silently. She didn't balk or scream, but simply waited for him to conclude before saying anything. When at last he finished she looked around the room with more understanding than she had. Reaching over she lifted one of the books on Moari magic and opened it. Harry waited anxiously as she read the warm greeting to Draco on the inside cover. It was from someone named Trina Fa'avah who apparently had given it to him as a birthday present. She thumbed to the table of contents and gazed over it before closing the book and laying it back on the table.

The Auror watched her, torn between breaking the silence and holding his tongue. At least she wasn't screaming he reminded himself.

"I guess we all think we know someone, but we never really do." Hermione stated at last her shoulders sagging. "I was so busy with my studies and Viktor these past few years that I've hardly done more than have dinner with you. I had to hear via owl that Ron and Natalie were expecting. The next day Ginny's invitation to Natalie's baby shower arrived. Now this." She gestured over the books. "I guessed I missed a lot." Her eyes misted threatening to turn to tears. "Some friend I am."

"Even Ron didn't know. I wasn't sure what exactly was going on half the time myself. Draco and I have decided we're going to try to make this work. He's been through a great deal of turmoil between the pregnancy, being disowned, living as a Muggle, and raising Cassie. We're taking baby steps, but I'm hoping for the best." Harry told her leaning forward to pick up the book on Moari language he'd been studying from when she knocked.

"I understand why she needs to learn curses now," she said slowly. "I'm not thrilled with having her in the library unsupervised though." Hermione fixed him with a stern gaze.

"She's never unsupervised." Harry retorted, resting back in the chair, book in hand.

"She looked unsupervised when I was there. The only other creatures in that library were the cats."

"Right, Crabbe and Goyle." Hermione paused and looked at him oddly. Then she remembered what Draco had called the cats. He'd said he hadn't named them, but those were their names. Closing her eyes she groaned.

"The cats are named Vincent and Gregory because they are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle!" She exclaimed. Harry nodded. "I can't believe I didn't realize that earlier."

"It's okay, it took Percy a while too. He'd forgotten they had first names." Harry commented, smiling faintly.

"Wasn't he here when it happened?" She asked beginning to feel more at ease. The level of intensity was slowly going down, but she knew it was still going to take her some time before she sorted everything out in her head.

"No, it was one of the few instances this summer he wasn't here." He admitted. Hermione shook her head.

"I'm sorry that his plans to work for the Ministry didn't work out. He was so certain in his life."

"Life has a way of putting up detour signs when you least expect it." He was thinking specifically of Draco and Cassie. Hermione seemed to pick up on this and nodded. The conversation turned to other matters, such as Ron and Natalie's impending offspring, the teaching staff, this year's students and so on. By the time Heather returned from talking with Professor Dumbledore, they had returned to the matter of Cassie and her studies.

The Irish woman made it very clear that the child must continue her studies, and Hermione agreed to keep an eye on her like Madame Pince had been doing. Having extracted her pledge, Heather offered to teach her Moari as well.

"If Harry isa learnin' it, yer welcome ta join us. I doubt she'd try ta curse ya, but she's only a lil' girl. An' lil' girl's make mistakes." She pointed out.

"I suppose I should." Hermione replied, dragging out the vowel sound in 'suppose' to make it sound like she was thinking about it. As it was, she was interested in learning the curses for her own benefit. They could come in very handy, as the Malfoys had demonstrated. A five-year-old had bested Lucius Malfoy by surprise; imagine what could happen if it'd been a full grown adult. Knowledge was power and the more variety, the better.