The Great Hall
8:30AM
Wednesday, January 8th, 1999
Golden Couple No More?
Have Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley ended their relationship after just a few short months?
The wizarding world's golden couple, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, who announced their engagement in August of last year, have called it quits, it seems. Though neither have confirmed nor denied these rumours, sources say that Miss Granger, who is currently repeating her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is no longer wearing the engagement ring she received in the summer. Other sources site that the two attended different New Year's Eve celebrations, Miss Granger attending Narcissa Malfoy's prestigious charity dinner. (See photo inset for pictures of Hermione Granger's evening and outfit.)
Though reports say the brunette arrived at the event without a date, rumours have been flying around that she escaped with the young Malfoy heir before the clock struck midnight. The couple reappeared soon after and Miss Granger proceeded to leave Malfoy Manor as the celebration began to wind down. Could this be the beginning of a new relationship?
Meanwhile, the talented witch's former beau, Ronald Weasley, attended a small family gathering to bring in the New Year. Both have declined comment on the status of their relationship though they seemed on amicable – though far from romantic – terms when the two war heroes ran into each other on Platform 9 and ¾ when Mr Weasley was farewelling his younger sister.
But with the possible end of one relationship comes the engagement of two of the wizarding world's other favourite people. Ginevra Weasley, long-time love interest of war hero Harry Potter, has been seen wearing a rather large ring on her left hand. Could wedding bells be on the horizon for the boy who defeated the Darkest wizard of our age? For a look at the progression of these two relationships, turn to pages 4-8.
Hermione's hands tightened on the paper as she watched the moving image of her walking away on Draco's arm, laughing at something he had said. It replayed three times before Ginny came to her senses and snatched the paper away.
"Everyone's looking at me," Hermione groaned, dropping her face to her hands.
Indeed, many students were turning in their seats to look at the brunette who appeared to be reading some very fine print on the palm of her hands. Ginny placed a soft hand on her friend's back and tried to move it in soothing circles. "Not everyone," she said. "Just the people who have read the Prophet this morning."
"You're not helping, Gin."
"The important people know what really happened and that's what matters. You told Ron and Harry the truth and I know what you did, so what should it matter that the rest of the school thinks you've gone off and had a hot romp with a snake?"
Hermione tilted her head and looked out of her hands at her best girlfriend. "I'm Head Girl, Ginny. What I do, even when I'm off school grounds, matters. I can't believe I didn't think that there would be cameras there."
"There are cameras wherever you go, Hermione. Wherever any of us go, you, me, Harry and Ron. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks, as long as you're happy," Ginny said, continuing the small circles on Hermione's back.
As Ginny's comforting words began to sink in and Hermione sat up a little straighter, a small group of Ravenclaw second years who were whispering amongst themselves looked across to the Gryffindors and burst into a fit of laughter. Hermione groaned and pushed away her breakfast. "This is all making me feel ill. I'm going back to my dormitory."
She heard Ginny calling out after her, reminding her that she still had classes no matter her status in the social pages, but they fell away as she emerged into the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. Among the students who had not had time for breakfast yet, she was still anonymous, slipping easily between packs of people and up the staircases until she reached her dormitory. The door closed behind her and she shed her cloak, draping it over the back of a couch. Crookshanks looked up at her curiously through one yellow eye but she ignored her familiar in lieu of pulling out the books she had stuffed into her bag earlier that morning.
Arithmancy and Ancient Runes were her first two classes of the day, both subjects where she was paired with Draco and the rumour would have even more of a chance to run rampant. Instead, she lay out her books on her living room floor and decided to work along with the rest of the class in the comfort and privacy of her own dormitory.
But it didn't take long for distraction to arrive, her quill making lazy loops on the edge of her parchment rather than working on a complex prediction for her first subject. She had found herself prone to these fits of daydream since the kiss she had shared with Draco a week earlier. The exchange would replay in her mind and Hermione would go on to imagine what may have occurred had she not pulled back and returned to her hotel. She would rouse herself out of these with a violent shake, forcing her concentration back to whatever task was at hand, though her mind would stay back at the library of Malfoy Manor.
Though she refused to admit it to herself, a niggling part at the back of her mind was consistently trying to remind her that she had not been entirely truthful when she announced her feelings to Draco at the aquarium. She was certain that there was a much deeper level of attraction towards him that extended far beyond the mere physical attraction she felt whenever he was around. They had connected mentally through their studies and emotionally in the sharing of the traumas they had experienced but never spoken about with anyone else. There was a connection of sorts there, something she had felt with Ron but had been so small that it fizzled out within just a few months.
Whilst she and her fiancé had bonded over their adventures and the seven years of friendship between them, there was no mental connection there, or at least not one on the same level. She and Ron had never been able to have intellectual discussions like the ones she exchanged with Draco. Instead, her ex-fiancé had acted like a goofball, distracting her from her work and making her laugh with his loveable messing about. Emotionally, Hermione had only seen his range expand from that of a small spoon after the death of his brother, and it seemed it was only when Fred was the topic of conversation that Ron would show any emotion.
Hermione only realised how far away from her work distraction had taken her when she had nibbled clean through the top of her quill, spurting ink onto her cheek. "Bugger!" she said, tossing the broken feather into the bin on her way to the bathroom to wash away the black stain as it dried on her skin. Filling the sink with hot water and snatching a washcloth from the counter, she scrubbed at the stain until her skin was red and there was the faintest shadow left of the splotch. A look at her watch told her she had wasted almost the whole morning with very little work done, instead focusing on her not-relationship with a particular Slytherin.
She dropped the washcloth in a soggy pile on the bench and rubbed her cheek softly with her fingertips in an attempt to calm the sore skin. Ducking into the kitchenette, Hermione filled the kettle with water and put it on the stove to boil, sensing a cup of tea may help her concentrate on the piles of work she had neglected in the past almost two hours.
"I told the professors you were sick." Draco's smooth voice from her living room startled Hermione and she jumped, wand withdrawn and pointing in his direction. He held up his hands, palms towards her. "I surrender, Granger."
"What are you doing here?" she asked, levitating another teacup out of the cupboard and setting it on a tray. It took her a few moments to gather the gravity of Draco sneaking into her dormitory on a day when she was supposed to be too ill to attend classes and she nearly dropped the whistling kettle. "Were you followed? Did anyone see you?"
Draco raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"The Daily Prophet! Didn't you see it this morning?" Hermione asked, carrying the tray over to where she had been studying and placing it on the coffee table. She pulled out a copy of the paper which had been delivered to her room and unfolded it, showing her companion the large spread on the front page of her disintegrating relationship. She didn't have the heart to open it to page four where she was certain there would be an elaborate flowchart, no doubt designed by Rita Skeeter or some equally as charming reporter about how her relationship with Ron was doomed to fail from the start. "You coming in here at all hours of the day isn't exactly going to help with quashing the rumours."
"Please, Granger," he said and took the paper from her, rolling it up. "The Daily Prophet is more gossipy than Witch Weekly these days. Since The War ended, nobody wants grim stories about what's really happening in the world. It's just turned into gossip and rumour."
"That doesn't mean people won't believe it."
"You're far too concerned with what other people think of you," Draco said, crossing his legs and resting his cup and saucer on thigh. "Besides, no one really cares about you at the moment. It's all about your little redhead girlfriend and Potter at the moment. Whatever people think happened with us will blow over by the end of the week."
"How can you be so calm about this?" she asked. "What would your father say?"
Hermione saw Draco stiffen, his foot which had been bouncing up and down slightly still. "I couldn't give a damn what he thinks," he said, returning his empty teacup to the tray on the table. "Unlike you, I don't care what other people think of me. If I did, I'd never get along with the rest of my life after The War. Death Eater, remember?"
She opened her mouth, trying to figure out a worthy response, but realised Draco was right and she wanted to hex the smirk off his face. "Damn it, Draco," she sighed. "You're too rational."
"Just one of my many quality attributes." He stretched himself out and glanced at the clock on the wall. "If you plan on coming out of your Head Girl cave anytime today, Potions starts in five minutes and it'd be the perfect opportunity."
Potions.
Potions meant publicly walking through the halls of the castle with Draco, spending an hour sitting in the frigid dungeons with Theo watching her. She hadn't built up the supposed Gryffindor courage which seemed to evade her when it came to the difficult conversations. They had sat through their double Transfiguration lab the day before in tense silence and as soon as the final bell tolled, Theo had been out of there like the classroom was alight. During their Potions lessons, Hermione had felt his gaze upon her back as she worked alongside Draco, but he had quickly looked away as soon as she turned to face him.
"I thought Gryffindors were meant to be brave," Draco teased. "We need to work on our potion, Granger."
With a large sigh, Hermione sent the tray with their teacups to the sink and rose to her feet. Draco mirrored his actions as she collected her cloak, pulling it around her shoulders and clasping it at the collar. "Fine. Let's go, then," she said, going to reach for her books. Draco had already collected them into a neat pile, holding them out of her reach when she went to take them away.
"You're supposed to be sick, remember?" He lifted the books up again as she made another attempt to reach for them. "What sort of friend would I be if I let you lug this ridiculous number of books around? Why do you have so many books, anyway? We have one class before lunch starts and as far as I'm aware, we don't need any of the assigned textbooks for it."
"I like to be prepared," Hermione said, pushing him out of the painting hole that lead to her dormitory. He stumbled in an over exaggerated gesture and she rolled her eyes. "We're going to be late, Malfoy."
"You're such a stickler for punctuality, Granger. You need to loosen up a little."
"You're such an arse," Hermione said, quickening her pace. But Draco, who had a few good inches on her, the length of which seemed to be entirely in his legs, caught up in an instant as she started down the stairs to the dungeons. The chatter of their classmates greeted them when they reached the door to the classroom, a few turning their heads at their arrival. Hermione felt her face flush slightly at the attentions and finally snatched her books out of Draco's arms when he settled beside her.
Slughorn chose that moment to arrive, ushering the students into the room before any guesses could be made as to why Draco was carrying her books. Hermione caught the look Ginny was giving her and raised her eyebrows, a silent action to tell her she would explain everything later.
"Ah, Miss Granger," the professor said when she took her seat at the front of the room. "I've heard from my fellows that you were feeling ill this morning. All better now, I hope?"
"Yes, Professor Slughorn," she said and nodded. "I got a migraine at breakfast and needed to lie down for a few hours until it passed."
"Very well," the round man nodded and moved behind his desk, instructing the class to go about their plans of working on their potions.
As Draco lay out the equipment they would need, Hermione ducked off to the storeroom to gather the last few ingredients required to apply the finishing touches to their brew. They had planned to test the concoction on the weekend, Draco volunteering to try the first batch on Sunday morning. Hermione would record any adverse reactions to the potion and monitor the healing of scar tissue on his back as they camped out in her dormitory, and there were just three more ingredients that needed to be cooked down in the cauldron before they could claim completion.
"Sorry," Hermione mumbled, walking straight into the back of the student entering the storeroom before her.
"It's just few broken bones, no big deal," Theo said, turning around to give her a strained grin. She felt her mouth form an 'O' but at least a shred of her Gryffindor courage remained, keeping her from escaping back to the desk where Draco was still setting up. "How's your potion going?"
"Teddy, I'm sorry," Hermione blurted out, ignoring how he cringed at her nickname for him. She pushed him into the cupboard, kicking the door closed behind her. "I was absolutely awful and I've been too cowardly to face you about it. And you gave me such a nice Christmas present and I never thanked you for it and I'm just so sorry I've been such a horrible friend to you."
"Isn't Drake going to be a bit suspicious that you're in here alone with me with the door closed?" Theo snarked and she recoiled slightly. Though Hermione was certain he had not meant to be so sharp with his tone, it had bitten at her.
"What does it matter?" Hermione was horrified at how her voice quavered, but she had endured such a trying morning already that she certainly was not up for putting up with Theo's foul mood, too.
"You have feelings for him, Hermione. I'm not blind, nor stupid," Theo said, turning away from her and looking for something upon the shelf. "And I know he has the same feelings towards you."
"The same feelings you have, too," she said resolutely and watched his hand still as it scoured along a shelf. "I'm not blind or stupid, either, Teddy. But I don't have those feelings for you. I'm sorry if I led you on with that kiss on Christmas night, and I know now that it was a mistake. But I also know that you're a good friend of mine and that despite this, I know we can keep up our friendship if we both want it."
She jumped as Theo's fist slammed against the wood before his hand dropped to his side. "I'm sorry I've acted like such jealous arse," he said quietly. "You should be happy, even if it is with Drake."
"I'm not with anyone, Teddy," she said. "I'm friends with Ron, I'm friends with Draco, I'm friends with you. I probably won't even end up seeing Draco. I'm not ready for anything like that again. Not yet. I just want you back as my friend."
"You got it, 'Mione," he grinned and she felt her chest swell with relief at his use of her hated nickname. "We should get back in there before someone writes another article about how you're consorting with the snakes."
Hermione rolled her eyes, standing on her toes and pulling down three jars from the shelves, tucking them safely in her arms. She left Theo searching for his ingredients and re-joined Draco who didn't look up at her as he spoke.
"Took your time, Granger," he drawled, fiddling with the cauldron.
"I ran into Theo," she explained.
"With the door locked behind you," he supplied and her eyes narrowed. Was he jealous? "You caused quite a stir out here for people who couldn't get in there to collect their ingredients. You were the only two to have disappeared inside, too. I think I was on the receiving end of a few sympathetic glances in your absence."
"You're jealous," she hissed at him, sitting down and undoing the stoppers on the jars. "Not that it's any of your business, Draco, but we had a conversation. Sorted out the differences between us that have occurred largely because of you, actually."
"Me?" he asked, keeping his voice low. Hermione silently thanked him, certain that otherwise a report would find itself in The Daily Prophet about how the new lovebirds were already bickering. "I don't see how this is at all my fault. Enlighten me, Granger. You're so prone to teaching others, so go ahead. Teach me what I've done to break up your friendship with my best mate."
"If I weren't friends with you, the two of you wouldn't feel the need to have some ridiculous competition for my affections," she muttered. "By the way it's going, neither of you will receive them."
"Pardon me for making your acquaintance then, Granger." Draco yanked the ingredients out from under her nose and started completing the potion on his own, his deftness rendering her useless. She sat, frozen, for a few minutes as he worked around her. It felt as though someone had punched a hole straight through her chest and her eyes prickled.
"Draco," Hermione said, voice cracking. She rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand, refusing to let the tears roll down her cheeks. He paused his actions but it wasn't until she lay her hand on his own that he put the jar of ingredients down and looked at her. A tear slipped down her cheek and she wiped it away hastily, embarrassed by her emotions. "I'm sorry. That was unnecessarily rude on my part. But I'm going to be friends with Theo, whether you like it or not, the same way I was friends with you even though Ron hated it. But it's like I told you in the library at your house: I don't have those sorts of feelings for him."
"But you do for me," Draco said. He flipped over the hand hers was resting on so their palms were pressed together. She tried to ignore the squirm in her stomach and looked around the room quickly, thankful the other students were all far too preoccupied with their assignments to notice the pair. His fingertips pressed lightly upon her own. "How would you feel if I disappeared into a locked cupboard with Pansy?"
If she were to be truthful, Hermione would tell him that she would be furious, that she would feel so sick that she may need a bucket. Though she had no claim over him, she felt there was an unspoken agreement between the two of them not to engage in any romantic conduct with others. "I'd hate it," she mumbled, looking him straight in the eye. The corner of his mouth twitched up.
His actions were so fast that Hermione thought they might not have even happened, but he wrapped his fingers tightly around her hand and squeezed for a half second before withdrawing his hand from under hers and dropping it beneath the table. "Precisely," he said. "I know how Ted feels about you and I know his past with women. He may be charming now but he was as much of an arse as I was when we were younger. I don't want him to hurt you, Hermione."
A shiver ran up her spine as it always did when he called her by her first name, another at the implication in his words. He wasn't about to let anyone hurt her, the commitment so sincere she almost blushed. "Then it's agreed," she said, picking up her quill. "No disappearing into locked cupboards with potential love interests."
"Apart from each other," he amended and she elbowed him in the ribs. "You're quite violent sometimes, you know. Pushing me out the dormitory hole, elbowing me. I could report you for it." Hermione glared at him, preparing herself to elbow him again. His cupped hand caught her arm before she could strike and he smirked. "Not again, Granger. We have to finish our potion."
Hermione reached over to drop the last ingredient into the cauldron, watching as its contents bubbled and frothed for a few seconds before settling down into a smooth gold liquid. "We just have to let it simmer until Sunday and it'll be ready for you to try," she said, scooping up a ladleful of it and pouring the thin elixir back into the pot. "Looks quite appetising, actually."
"Let's just hope it doesn't need much work," Draco said, collecting the equipment to put away. Hermione had made a miscalculation, the potion needing closer to one and a half lunar cycles to brew. With all the preparation time on top of that, they would only have time for one other brew before having to make their final potion and write up their assignment on it. "I'll pack up, Granger. Your girlfriend looks like she's going to go into a psychosis if you don't pay her any attention."
Hermione turned in her seat and saw Ginny looking at her, over-excitement tattooed on every line of her face. "Thanks, Draco," she said, smiling up at him as she stood. Hermione reached over and squeezed his hand for a few seconds before turning and following Ginny out of the room as the final bell rang.
Ginny had the good sense to wait until they were in the crowded Entrance Hall, other students too loud for them to be overheard, before questioning her. "Did I just see you holding hands with Draco Malfoy?" the redhead demanded as a group of Hufflepuffs squeezed past them into the Great Hall. "You told me you weren't going to date anyone."
"I'm not dating him, Ginny," Hermione said as they slid into their seats at the Gryffindor table. She collected two slices of bread and began to make herself a sandwich. "I just squeezed his hand to say goodbye. Look, Gin, we had a fight, we resolved it, we sorted some other things out between us. It didn't mean anything. Draco and I both know where we stand in our relationship. It was just a friendly gesture."
Ginny exhaled heavily and shook her head. "It didn't look like it was just 'friendly' but if you say so," she said and rolled her eyes. "But what were you doing alone with Theodore in the supply room with the door locked? Other than running the rumour mill rampant, of course. Whatever it was, you seemed to piss Draco off."
"I didn't realise you were so attuned to Draco's emotional state," Hermione sighed, putting down her lunch. "We had a conversation. Talked about a few things. Apologies were made, that's it. It's nothing scandalous. And of course it frustrated Draco. If you were to lock yourself in a cupboard with Dean Thomas then I'm certain Harry would have something to say about it."
"Harry's my fiancé, Hermione. I think there's a bit of a difference between my fiancé being mad at me for locking myself in a closet with my ex-boyfriend and your…Draco being angry because you were locked in a closet with his best mate."
"My Draco?" Hermione raised her eyebrows at her best girlfriend. Ginny flushed at her use of words and shook her head. "We made an agreement not to lock ourselves in small spaces with potential love interests. I don't know what he and I are but I'm of the opinion we aresomething. We're not dating or anything. It's the same way you would have been furious if Harry had gone off and fallen in love when we were hunting for horcruxes."
Ginny let out a low whistle of air between her teeth as Hermione returned to her lunch. They focused on their food, ignoring the glances and whispers that headed their way from other students about the article that had been splayed across the front page of the newspaper that morning. Hermione dropped their previous conversation in favour of asking Ginny about their Charms homework, correcting a few mistakes in her friend's essay before their double period started and successfully losing the attentions of nosey students.
Hermione was pleased with the rest of the day's positive progression, her mood vastly improving with the two hour Charms lab. Professor Flitwick was the most relaxed of all the teachers about inter-house cooperation in his subject as it was a Ravenclaw and Gryffindor mixed class with no animosity existing, allowing his students to work with whomever they pleased. Ginny and Hermione glued themselves together, working solidly for the whole two hours on the task at hand. When the final bell for the day rang, Hermione had almost forgotten about the report in the newspaper.