At the end of Transfiguration Hermione was gathering her things to leave when Professor McGonagall asked, "Ms. Granger, could I please see you?"
Hermione looked up and sighed internally. "Yes Professor, one minute." She finished packing her things in her bag and walked up to Professor McGonagall's desk.
"Ms. Granger, I noticed your... hostility today. Is everything alright? You're usually so passive that the hostility you demonstrated suggested a problem."
"Oh, no Professor, I'm fine. I've just been adjusting. Living with Draco is not exactly an easy task. But, I swear I'm fine."
"Alright, Ms. Granger. I trust that you would tell me if there was an actual problem, so you may go to dinner. Try to enjoy the experience. It may not be easy, but there is a bright side."
Hermione had already started to leave when she turned around and said, "What's that?"
"That you have to figure out for yourself."
Hermione left the room and went down to the Great Hall completely confused. She sat down in between Harry and Ron, both of whom were sitting next to their girlfriends. Both shifted a little not knowing whether the anger she had expressed earlier was still available to stir at the saying of the wrong thing.
"What?" she said noticing their nervous expressions and the way they shifted.
"Are you ok?" Harry asked.
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well... The erm... dagger in Transfiguration was kinda... well we weren't really sure if you were OK."
"Oh, no I'm fine. Just felt like scaring Malfoy. He was an ass this morning and deserved a lot more than just being scared."
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. Really, I can handle it," she said with a mischievous smile.
Ginny sat down across from them. "Uh oh," she said. "She's up to something. What have you got concocting up in that smart head of yours?"
Hermione laughed, "Nothing. Nothing yet at least."
Ron looked up at his sister. "Where have you been?" he asked her.
"Oh... no where. Just meeting a friend. You know, getting reacquainted," she said, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly at Hermione. Hermione saw the look and realized what it meant. She made a look with raised eyebrows and mouthing the words "oooh". Harry saw the look Hermione made but decided it was better not to say anything in front of Ron. Dinner continued and Ron continued to nit pick at the changes that were made in his sister and Hermione.
Once everyone had finished eating they walked up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry, Lavender, Ginny, Ron, Parvati and Hermione all chose seats next to the fire and sat on the arm chairs. After about an hour later Ron and Parvati disappeared. Lavender decided to go up to see Professor Trelawney and "consult the orb" with her. So Harry, Ginny and Hermione were left alone.
"So where were you really before dinner, Ginny?" Harry asked.
Ginny blushed crimson but answered anyway. "If you promise not to tell my brother I'll tell you."
"Of course."
"I was getting... reacquainted with Blaise. We hooked up last year."
"And by getting reacquainted you mean...?"
Ginny's eyes darted around trying to give Harry the idea. When he still didn't get the picture she finally said, "We were having sex. Jeeze you're slow. Just remember you promised not to tell Ron."
Harry's jaw dropped. "Blaise- Blaise Zabini? I can't believe-"
"You promised not to tell Ron! Remember that you promised not to tell him. He would go ballistic if he knew I was sleeping with anyone. Especially Blaise." Harry didn't look like he was going to keep that promise anymore so she continued on. "Harry you can't! He can't know, not yet. Please don't tell him. I'll do anything for you, if you don't tell him. Anything, you name it! I'll even sleep with you if you want! He just can't know!" Ginny was close to tears now.
Harry finally broke and said, "Alright, alright. I won't tell him. Just don't cry. Please don't cry."
Ginny's eyes stopped watering and she sat up straight again. She looked at Hermione. "'Mione, you haven't said anything yet. What's on your mind?"
"Hmmm? Oh, sorry. Just been a little distracted."
"With what?" Harry asked.
"Oh... umm... this summer was weird. That's all."
"Yeah where were you?" Ginny asked.
"Bulgaria. Went to visit a friend."
"A friend? 'Mione do you think we're going to buy that?" Harry said.
"Yes, a friend. Someone I've known a while now and decided to visit. No big deal."
"Yes big deal. If it weren't you'd tell us who you were visiting," Ginny responded.
"You don't know him."
"Him? Oh, Mione now you have to tell me!" Ginny squealed.
Hermione laughed. "You still don't know him. And I told you it was no big deal. I went to visit my friend, spent time seeing the sights with him and learning about the history and then came back. End of story."
"Leave it to Hermione to go on vacation to visit a male friend and want to learn the history," Ginny said. At that the conversation terminated and they moved on. Hermione internally praised the Lord that it didn't go into detail and they didn't question her anymore.
"So, how was America?" Harry asked Ginny.
"Pretty cool. I was living with a family in like southern... Upstate New York, (I think they said) and was really close to New York City. We went by floo network into their wizarding city, Harleman Square, and it was huge. Like seriously. Twice as big as Diagon Ally I think. It was way cool."
They listened to Ginny gush about America for a while until Ron and Parvati came back down to the Common Room. "Where's Lavender?" Parvati asked almost immediately.
"She went to see Professor Trelawney and... oh yeah, 'consult the orb'," Harry explained.
Ron and Harry went to talking after he said that and Parvati got up saying that she was going to join Lavender. As she was walking out saying goodbye to Ginny and Hermione while Ron and Harry were still talking she mouthed out the words, "Oh my God... he's huge!" Hermione laughed and Ginny screamed trying to get that image out of her mind. He was her brother after all.
Parvati left the room and Hermione and Ginny turned back to Harry and Ron. Remembering that she had to be the old Hermione she said, "Ron what were you thinking? Sleeping with her? In school?" Ginny and Harry looked confused at first, but quickly caught on when they realized that she was trying to make sure that Ron didn't find it odd that no one said anything.
"Relax, Hermione. It's not like everyone in the school doesn't already," Ron said.
"That doesn't make it alright. You know it doesn't. How would you like your mother finding out?"
Ron looked horrified. "You wouldn't. Mione that was the first time, give me a break." He looked so pathetic when he said that that Hermione sighed.
"I won't tell her. You know I won't."
Ron's face broke into a smile and practically jumped up to hug her before realizing what he was doing and regaining control. They laughed and joked well into the night. At midnight Hermione stood up and said she was going to bed. They said goodnight and Hermione left the Common Room through the portrait hole.
She walked down the hall and down the stairs. She passed by a few teachers, but no one said anything to her because she was the Head Girl. She made straight for her Common Room and stood outside the portrait waiting for the two people to notice her. They were flirting and the woman was giggling. The man was playing with the woman's hair and she was touching his chest and laughing. "Ummm... excuse me?" Hermione finally said. Over the years she had grown completely used to talking with the portraits on the walls and even had conversations with particular ones.
"Excuse me... Unifictous," she said. The portrait began to slide and Hermione walked into the Common Room. Draco was sitting on a couch with one leg propped up over the side reading, a sight that had become very common. His hair was dangling sexily in the eyes that were focused entirely on the book.
Hermione sighed and headed towards her room. She opened the lock on her door and walked into the room. She set her backpack on the floor, threw off her robe and shuffled over to the bed and flopped down.
"Ouch!" She jumped up and lifted her shirt. Sure enough there was a slight cut on her stomach and she was bleeding. She looked down on the bed to see what had cut her. She easily found the source of the cut. She gently picked it up.
In her hands lay a long stem red rose. She rolled over and something crinkled beneath her. She stood up to see what had crinkled. There on the bed was a folded piece of paper. She opened it to see what it was, figuring it was just class notes that had found their way out of a pocket. Inside was nothing near class notes.
Hermione, (it read)
I'm sorry for what I said to you today.
It was wrong and shouldn't have happened.
It won't happen again... I promise you.
I know that this has been difficult and I'm sorry for that too.
We can make this work.
I won't mess this up again.
Promise.