The next few weeks passed as normally as ever, the temperature dropping steadily as they headed into October. Finally, life felt normal, or, at least, Hermione's newfound concept of normal.
Her classes were going good and surprisingly she was rather enjoying being partnered with Draco in classes. For a spoiled prick, he was actually very smart and his new found solitude gave him lots of time to focus on his work. His grades were almost as good as Hermione's, not that she would ever give him the satisfaction of receiving better marks than her.
After Defense Against the Dark Arts, that night her and Ginny headed straight to dinner together. There was just a little over two weeks until this year's newest event, the Halloween Ball. It was going to be a Masquerade Ball and Ginny was having a hard time trying to decide what to wear. Harry had offered to buy her any dress robes she wanted but Ginny being Ginny declined the offer.
"I have extra dress robes you want to go through them," Hermione told Ginny as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "I actually have a brand new set of red ones that I was going to wear that would look amazing on you!"
"What will you wear then?"
"Mum and Dad surprised me and sent me a new set that I'm going to wear instead." Finally, that go Ginny to smile.
"Okay I guess, they would match the mask Harry sent me."
"It is so sweet that he took the time while he was in Italy to pick a mask out for you!"
"I know, he really is the greatest," Ginny replied coyly, a soft flush resting on her cheeks.
Hermione grinned, they were really the cutest couple she had ever known. So sweet it almost made you sick.
"So have you decided who you are going to go with?" Ginny asked.
"No, who would I even take? I'll probably just go alone, I do not need a date."
"You know technically you are supposed to go with someone," Ginny replied half joking, but completely serious at the same time.
Hermione sighed, she knew that she should go with someone.
"Who are you going with?"
"Jimmy said he'd go with me," Ginny said casually. Jimmy was one of the beaters on the Quidditch team, friends with both Ginny and Harry and was a year below Ginny. She knew she would find someone to go with. "Now we just need to find someone for you to go with!" Ginny grinned.
Hermione rolled her eyes, knowing Ginny would not drop it.
After dinner, Hermione ran back up to her dorm to grab the red set of dress robes for Ginny to try on. She pulled out the brand new set of robes from inside her wardrobe, still in the clear bag from the shop she bought them from. She smiled looking at them for a moment, they were going to look perfect on Ginny.
She hurried down the spiral staircase, through the common room where she almost ran into Malfoy, again. He was coming in as she was going out.
"You really need to learn watch where you are going Granger," he said with a little smirk. It was still strange having him act so civil.
"Sorry Malfoy," she said as she went to step around him to leave the common room.
"Dress robes?" he asked looking at the robes in her arms.
"They are for Ginny to borrow for the Halloween Ball."
"Are you not going?"
"I'm wearing different dress robes," she said managing to hide the surprise from her voice. Why did he care? No, he did not care he was just trying to make polite conversation.
Draco simply nodded and moved out of her way.
"See you in Astronomy tonight," he said casually as she walked away.
Random encounters with Malfoy always left her feeling a little awkward, even now. It was one thing to work with him in class but having him not be a total prick was still just so strange. Even stranger was that she would almost consider him to be a friend. Not that she trusted him, but it would seem so far that Malfoy had really changed.
Needless to say, Ginny looked amazing in Hermione's red dress robes, she knew that she would. Hermione and Ginny were so similar in build she would not even need to take them to get altered. Then to top it off they even went great with the mask Harry had gotten for her.
She made it back to her own dorm just in time to grab her bag before class. Since Astronomy was held so late, unless Hermione was somewhere other than her dorm beforehand, her and Malfoy had taken to walking to class together. Tonight she was running behind schedule and passed him on the stairs on the way up to her room.
"Hurry up Granger, you're going to be late," he called after her as she ran pass him up to her room.
As soon as she grabbed her bag she hurried as quickly as she could out of their dorm and up to the Astronomy tower. She made it to class in record time and was shocked when she arrived and Malfoy was not there yet. She took her seat, slightly puzzled at the absence of her Astronomy partner.
The entirety of class passed with no sign of him and Hermione had an unsettling feeling that something bad had happened. She rushed down the tower steps, searching the dark abandoned hallways to no avail. When she still could not find him she headed back to their dorm. She tried to tell herself that he had simply skipped class and was already back in his room, but it did not feel right,
When she found the common room empty she practically flew up the spiral stairs, slightly out of breath by the time she reached his door.
"Malfoy!" She shouted as she knocked on the sturdy wooden door.
"Mister Malfoy is not here presently," came a soft hissing noise that she found to be coming from the snake door knocker.
"Thanks," she managed softly, her mind racing. Something was wrong.
There was only one place he could possibly be at this hour that she had not checked, the Hospital wing. She rushed from the dormitory and down the dark corridors, her wand out guiding her as she made her way through the castle. It felt like it took forever before she finally reached the large doors that lead to the Hospital wing.
Taking a deep breath she flung the doors open walking inside to see Professor Slughorn, McGonagall, a Hufflepuff prefect and Madame Pomphrey all huddled around one of the beds. A tight knot had made its way into the pit of her stomach as she walked cautiously into the room.
"What happened?" Hermione asked before she was even close enough to visually confirm if the person in that bed was even Malfoy.
"Ms. Granger," McGonagall started clearly shocked to see her there. She turned back to the Hufflepuff prefect, "Megan you can leave now, we can talk more about this tomorrow."
Without another word the prefect left, not another word was spoken until the doors closed behind her.
"It would seem that Mr. Malfoy was attacked by some angry classmates, pretty severely too. Megan found him while out on patrol but whoever attacked him was long gone." McGonagall took a deep breath, turning to Slughorn, "We will begin questioning students in the morning, starting with the seventh year Slytherins."
"Very well, Goodnight," Professor Slughorn nodded before heading out.
The knot in her stomach tightened, a lump now clearly formed in her throat. She knew it. Carefully she made her way over to McGonagall, standing beside her, almost afraid to look at the bed that Malfoy was in. He might be a slimy git but it was obvious he had been making an effort to change his ways. Even then, this was barbaric.
Draco was a mess, bruised and bloody. Madame Pomphrey had already repaired his broken nose and hand, but the rest of him still needed a little work. He was resting now, sound asleep thanks to a dose of Dreamless Sleep, but his face still looked as though he was in agony.
"Well Ms. Granger there is really nothing else we can do for Malfoy tonight," McGonagall said kindly placing her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I'm sure he would not mind you paying him a visit in the morning when he wakes up." With that, McGonagall turned and left.
Madame Pomphrey was still back in her office so Hermione lingered for a little while longer. Standing silently at the foot of the bed, her mind racing. She was not sure what it was but something was compelling her to stay when she knew that she should go. It was not until Madame Pomphrey came back out of her office that Hermione finally left.