By Tuesday morning she was so tired she could barely stay awake at breakfast. She had slept until noon on Monday, missing all but the very last dredges of lunch, and had stalwartly not looked at the Slytherin table. She had every intention to continue on with her life as if nothing had happened.

After Transfiguration in the afternoon, she had snacked in her room while she worked on homework until early Tuesday morning. She had only made it to Potions on time because Ginny banged on her door, dragging her along at the last minute.

Now she was paying the price, listening to Professor Slughorn go on about the new potion for next week until her attention slipped, focusing instead on a rather interesting passage in her charms book about the effects of synesthesia on spell casting.

"Ah! Miss Granger,"a voice called, pulling her back to the present.

She jumped in her seat, causing a half-asleep Ginny to shoot her an odd look.

"Perhaps you can tell us about why a lacewing fly and a mayfly are or are not interchangeable, hm?" Professor Slughorn asked.

"While lacewing flies and mayflies are of similar taxonomic structure, they have different masses and compositions, making them not interchangeable within potions," she droned repetitively, repeating the passage from the book almost word for word as she had read it. "As such, their magical properties differ completely-"

Her vision narrowed as she heard a disgusted scoff from a few seats in front of her. Apparently she had not been the only one; a majority of the room turned to Malfoy. To be fair it was the most he had spoken to basically anyone all year.

Except you, her brain replied traitorously.

"Problem?" she snapped.

"That was a word-for-word regurgitation from the book," he drawled.

The Slytherin beside him was watching him warily as he spun his quill between his fingers. It was at that moment she recognized Theo— albeit it without the bruised eye and bleeding lip— and he sent her a small smile. She almost flushed in embarrassment. Had he been there last week too? Merlin, she was rude, no wonder he was so confused.

"Indeed Miss Granger. Five points for an excellent memory," Professor Slughorn agreed merrily. "Using this we can define-"

"I was just wondering how one goes about eating a book," Malfoy interrupted. He didn't even bother looking back at her as he spoke. "Or did you just cuddle it at night and hope you'd absorb it through osmosis?"

"Mist-"

Hermione interrupted Professor Slughorn before he could continue.

"And I presume you don't get your information from textbooks then?" she questioned sharply. "Do tell, Malfoy. If you can buy intelligence, then why haven't you yet?"

"Rather bold words from someone who got her answer wrong," he scoffed.

"Wrong?!" Hermione squeaked.

She was tempted to climb across the aisle and pull him to the ground by his hair. He had slipped back into that infuriatingly bored person and was directly contradicting her without a wit of malice. She felt like a wolf that had been circling another only to find a cardboard cutout in its place.

"Hermione. Just ignore him," Ginny murmured. Her tone took on that mothering sound as she tried to urge Hermione back into her seat.

"Yes let's-" Again Professor Slughorn was interrupted.

"Wrong, Granger. They are usually not interchangeable for multiple reasons, not just physical differences. The most important being that Mayflies are symbols of the beginning of summer, thus their usage in sealing and age potions, while the Green Lacewing is tropical and produce all year round, representing duplicity and cyclic energy. But when used in a fertility potion they actually can be interchangeable with little to no consequences."

"That's a niche use, and it's not in the book," she bit out.

"And yet it's still true."

"Professor Slughorn?" Hermione questioned. The nervous wizard at the front of the classroom seemed surprised to be addressed, considering it was his class.

"Well-" The man blustered under what was likely the most attention from the classroom he had had all day. "Technically, Mister Malfoy is correct. Five points to Slytherin. But that goes far more in depth-"

"Guess you should try a new way of compiling information Granger," Malfoy shot casually. "I wonder if parchment goes well with blackberry jam. You could stick it on your morning muffin."

"Mister-"

"You'll have to forgive my lack of laboratory experience," Hermione hissed. It was a low sound that seemed to put everyone else around her on edge except for him. Harry seemed to know what was coming as she heard his chair scoot against the floor as he stood. "I spent the past year in the field, you see. Brewing potions over a wood fire in a beaten up cauldron with whatever I could scavenge. Much more practical, of course, but a tropical bug is a bit harder to come across in the forest of Britain."

Harry's hand landed on her shoulder pulling her attention to him. His eyes were watching Malfoy warily as his hand gripped with his wand in his pocket. The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, and she thought she was only seconds away from something snapping. Finally Malfoy glanced over his shoulder, a single eyebrow raised in challenge.

"Well, why were you looking for lacewings there?" Malfoy smirked.

Hermione was pulling her wand out when Harry's hand clamped around her wrist.

"Mister Malfoy!" Professor Slughorn's voice continued to chastise Malfoy about interrupting the lecture even as Harry forced her down into her chair. The room around them broke into whispers.

"Don't be angry, Hermione," Harry urged, whispering into her ear. "He's not worth it. Just ignore him."

Then cautiously, as if not to spook a wild animal, he walked back to his seat. She felt Ginny's hand on her leg, patting it comfortingly as Hermione stared at Malfoy arguing with Professor Slughorn with narrow eyes.

But Hermione wanted to be angry, she wanted to scream and blast things until the castle came down around them. Because being angry was better than being nothing at all.

Instead, she took a deep breath, watching the warriness on her friends' faces as they glanced at each other. She let the rage quietly simmer until Professor Slughorn began the lecture again, glaring at the edge of a smirk she could just barely see on Malfoy's face.

When class eventually finished, the three of them let her rant until her anger ran out. More so than being corrected she was upset she had somehow let him get one up on her in public. She would have to return the favor, in spades.

Suddenly feeling a bit better, her mood lightened even more when Ginny suggested a mid-morning walk around the lake. In short order they were joking around like they had used to, with Ginny and Ron taking turns trying to push each other into the water. It only occurred to her after they had headed back for lunch that Malfoy had somehow known what she usually ate for breakfast.

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The next couple of the weeks continued that way. As it turned out, she shared Astronomy and Arithmancy with Malfoy, and he took every opportunity to engage her in an argument. While Professor Sinistra was more than happy to entertain the debates about orbital alignment of planets (which she objectively won, earning Gryfindor 10 points), Professor Vector was much less forgiving of their outburst, particularly the most recent one when she called Malfoy an inbred pedant. It was probably for the best that Professor Vector sent them stomping up to the Headmistress's office as Malfoy looked like he was about to blurt out something he couldn't take back.

They moved in silence, whispers following them down the hall in what was no doubt a deluge of rumors. Hermione could almost guarantee that by the time she sat down to dinner Ginny would be quizzing her on which curses she used to earn her trip.

The resulting lecture from the Headmistress was enough to burn away the residual satisfaction of tearing into Malfoy. She left with a warning and a reminder that she was Head girl and that it was a privilege not a right. By the time they had exited the spiral staircase her ears were both ringing and burning.

"Well I hope you're proud of yourself," she shot. She took off towards the Great Hall, not really expecting a response. To her ultimate annoyance and utter lack of surprise, he fell into an easy stride beside her, even at her quick pace.

"Immensely," he hummed. "You are remarkably easy to annoy."

"Fuck off, Malfoy.".

"You started it, Granger," he said. "What in the actual fuck were you thinking?"

"And you say I am easy to annoy." She smirked as he bristled.

"Regardless, after how utterly crushed you looked being chastised by the harpy, I have elected to forgive you. So let's call it square and forget it ever happened."

"Forgiven me?" she balked. " For what?!"

"Well, you did throw yourself at me," he scoffed, scrunching his face up into something like disgust. Somehow, Hermione was shocked to find that she was offended.

"I do distinctly remember you kissing back, Malfoy."

He hissed as if the very idea was repugnant to him.

Arrogant ass.

"And I recall throwing you away in disgust." He waved dismissively. "In any event, you are forgiven. Let's never speak of it again."

"You have so much more to forgive than I do," she spat, enjoying the way his eyes darkened. "Have you seen Luna this year? I am sure she misses all those great conversations she had during her lovely stay in your home."

"Don't speak of what you don't know, Granger," he hissed. His eyes were livid and his mouth curled into a snarl.

"Or what about Mister Ollivander? Did you have to go back and beg him to make you a new wand after Harry won yours? Never worked the same again, did it?" She smirked as she saw him grip the wood through his pocket, his knuckles so tight they blanched white.

"You are beyond lucky my mother taught me not to hit women, or I would smack you," he growled quietly.

His temper was dancing the fine line between control and fury. She tried not to focus on the way it made her heart race. His moves were clumsy around the topic, something she could take advantage of.

"But throwing them on the ground is okay?" She smiled when he flinched. She hadn't really expected it to bother him.

"Like you didn't deserve it after the utter shite you pulled."

"Like you didn't like it."

Whatever he was about to say was cut off when he clamped his mouth shut, his muscles a second away from exploding. His anger had probably blotted out whatever witty comeback he had.

She turned heel and skipped in the opposite direction, taking what felt like her first win all week. By the time she arrived in the Great Hall she was still riding the high.

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To her utter dismay, the arguments had stopped. She had not meant for that to happen. She was just so embarrassed at being chastised by McGonagall that she may have crossed a line they only ever flirted with. Now, even when she purposefully baited him with arguable points in class, he remained infuriatingly silent, staring ahead with a locked jaw.

She didn't realize how much she had been genuinely enjoying their spats until they were gone.

It wasn't like she wasn't keeping herself busy. She was still completing classwork— at a much reduced pace— and performing Head duties. She had broken no less than three hallway duels before they corkscrewed into something dangerous. Even so, she just couldn't enjoy her classes like she used to. Ginny still went to Quidditch practice, but Hermione and the boys found themselves alone with no plotting to do for the first time in years.

"Let's get some dueling in," Ron said, pushing away from the breakfast table.

"Great idea!" Harry also stood, shaking out his robes as he did. Ron had filled back out from their prolonged camping trip, but his had ended early— a fact she still hadn't totally forgiven. Hermione tried not to think about the rift that still gaped between them caused by Ron leaving. Harry had forgiven him but she...

"Oh," Luna rose from her spot at the Ravenclaw table behind them. "May I come? I'm afraid my skills have gone… away."

"I'll join!" Neville said.

In short order, various members of the old DA were popping up across the Great Hall and making their way towards the exit. The mass exodus drew the attention of the rest of the student body, who were awed by the gathering of the beloved heroes of Hogwarts.

"Hermione?" Harry questioned. "Are you coming?"

She glanced up to notice that most of the DA had started to make their way out, probably to the Room of Requirement. Ron threw an arm around Luna's shoulder, bellowing out a laugh at something she said. Or did. You never really knew with Luna. She could be absolutely bonkers one minute and incredibly wise the next.

"Oh." She shook her head trying to focus on Harry as he frowned at her. "No I…. I think I have had enough duels this week."

The three duels she had broken up left her torn each time. It was almost easier to deal with when the students were hissing and spitting at each other in spite of the hexes. The much worse scenario were the tears, the younger students in the area panicking and curling into themselves in the face of attack.

"Right." Harry at least had the decency to look abashed. He looked at the disappearing group and sighed. Hermione almost hadn't noticed when he started to retake his seat beside her.

"Oh no!" Hermione blurted. "Go! Have fun."

"I don't want to leave you here alone."

"Nonsense. Go."

"It's okay Hermione. I don't-"

"Better go, Harry." Dean was untangling himself from the bench, shoving the last of his breakfast into his mouth. "Never know when the next Dark Lord is going to take a potshot at you. I'll guard your back on the way down."

Harry barked out a laugh, even as some of the other students glared at Dean. Hermione glared right back, daring them to speak against him. Like they had any right to judge him for for his humor when they sat out the fight. One by one they dropped their eyes until Hermione realised both boys were looking at her in concern.

"Really… It's fine," she murmured. She stuffed the rage down to where they couldn't see it and smiled broadly. "Go. I have some work to do in the library."

"You sure?" Harry questioned. She understood, she really did. But did he have to be so overbearing about it.

"Positive!" She forced enough cheerfulness into her voice that it probably seemed a bit manic. Regardless, the two boys headed out of the Great Hall.

Hermione had just begun to gather her bag when she looked up and her eyes caught his, the cold pools of gunmetal swirling for only a moment before he excused himself, striding out of the Great Hall.

She looked at her remaining food with a grimace, telling herself that it didn't matter. That she certainly did not feel guilt about their conversation a few days ago and she certainly did not miss his annoying, corrective tone in class. Instead she sniffed, gathering up her things quickly before striding off toward the library.

She had made it a good two corridors down before a portrait swung open to her left. She hesitated, blinking into the darkness for just a second too long. Hands snatched out, grabbing her robes and tugging her in with a resounding clack as the portrait closed behind her. She was only aware of a flash of white hair before her back hit the wall, hands pinned to either above of her head.

"Malfoy."

"Granger."

God damn him. He looked so smug. Sunlight flickered from the glass ceiling above them, casting thick shadows over his shoulders from the panes. The secret room was green and humid, a variety of overgrown plants cascading out of their pots and climbing all over each other in a bid to reach the light.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well you see, I have decided that the cards are… unbalanced between us." His voice purred through the air, a sound that made the heat and humidity of the room all the heavier. She swallowed, honing her temper into a cold blade to redirect on him.

"Unbalanced? You deserve every-" Her rant was interrupted as he tightened his grip around her wrist, sending another shot of pain down her spine, quickening her pulse. He drifted too close and she tried to rip herself from him with a sneer.

"None of that now." She gasped as he pressed against her and one of his hands tightly gripped her jaw. The sudden warmth of her body sank lower into her stomach, churning like an outgoing tide.

"You are an absolute cunt for taking that shot," he growled, pulling her head lightly, far too lightly, to the side.

"You're a goddamn bastard, Malfoy." Her muscles jerked as he smiled, leaning far too close to her neck, her vision flooded with silver. He released her jaw and tangled his hand in her hair, tightening his hold to keep her in place. She could feel his hot breath rushing along the skin like snakes of fiendfyre. "You deserve every word and then some."

He pulled back to glare at her, his face twisted into an ugly sneer that when paired with his sharp cheekbones and furrowed brows made him seem more animal than human.

She should have kneed him in the bollocks like Charlie had taught her last summer. But that wonderful clarity was back and she didn't want to let it go, so instead she just growled, trying to twist out of his grip.

"Fuck off you shrew." She was sure he meant it to hurt. To keep her from moving. To toss her around just a bit so that she would get scared and leave him alone. But when he yanked hard on her hair she felt her pulse skip a beat as she let out a whimper. A familiar ache roared through her blood, the need to be bitten, and tugged, and scratched. His smirked as the sound escaped her throat, eyes sparking with victory while hers filled with a panicked realization.

"And another thing-" Whatever he had planned to say was stopped as she summoned her wand to her hands. There was a flash of blue and his body stiffened before falling to the floor with a thunk. She breathed, folding her wand tightly to her chest. When she blinked down at the gray eyes, they were absolutely seething, his muscles already twitching and trying to break the bonds.

"I-" She hadn't meant it. Not like that. She just couldn't… She didn't know... She couldn't think right now… She had to go. "I-I'm sorry."

The reply was half choked out before she could stop it, her brain already focused on exiting the room by any means necessary. She stumbled towards the door, nearly screaming as his shoe twitched when she walked by. She pushed softly against the portrait, checking the hallway for clearance.

She took one glance back to still find him glaring at her hard enough to set her on fire. His lips moved awkwardly as he shook off the spell, mere moments away from muttering the counter curse. And then… god, those eyes promised… She tore through the door and down the hall, desperately denying the still-burning heat inside of her, present even in the chilling Scottish air. By the time she came to a stop, she felt like she was burning, her mind hyper-aware of the dampness between her thighs. She groaned, throwing herself against the cold stone of the castle, cursing her existence.

Not good.

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"Hermione?" Ginny questioned. It sounded like it was the second time.

"Yeah? Sorry?" Hermione noticed the rather garish robes Ginny was holding up. Both were awful, but that seemed like a rude answer. The ones in her right hand were less frilly at least, not that bows were any better. "That one, I think."

"What?" Ginny looked down and scowled. "Merlin, no. I am not wearing these. I was just showing you what we found in Grimmauld Place this summer for comedic effect." She tossed the piles of silk on her bed and crossed her arms regarding Hermione carefully. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"No," Ginny corrected, rolling her eyes. "You were fine. Hermione, we both know you have been off for awhile and it makes sense. No one expects anyone to have come out of this war normal." She paused glancing over to her trunk. "But you've been fading these past few weeks, and I want to know why."

I was fighting with Malfoy three times a week and now I am not. Oh, also, he attacked me and sent all sorts of feelings I shouldn't be having through my body like a wrecking ball earlier this week. Are you sure about the red one? It suits your coloring.

"I didn't… there was nothing..." She stared at Ginny's frown, letting her mind drift until the other girl threw her arms up in the air.

"Fine. Don't tell me. Whatever you did, do it again. I haven't seen you that happy since you all came back."

Hermione choked back a dry laugh.

Ginny smiled and summoned a much shorter and more modern dress from the closet and held it up. "May as well get your approval for tonight's outfit since you're giving it."