2.

THE ROOM OF HIDDEN THINGS

The night of her birthday, after making sure Hannah would be taken care of at the hospital wing, Hermione walked back to Gryffindor Tower in a bit of a daze. She was trying very hard to process exactly what she had seen, but Malfoy's reaction to her accusations made no sense. He seemed genuinely furious after what she had suggested—she'd caught him intimidating Hannah, hadn't she? The more she thought about it, the more unsure she was. As she laid back on her bed, she had half a mind to directly confront him the next day or go straight to McGonagall.

Before falling asleep from exhaustion, she tucked the Marauder's Map under her pillow, thinking about how she'd been looking at it before leaving earlier. Malfoy hadn't been on the seventh floor when she checked the map only moments before. Why? How had he gotten there so quickly?

As usual, her dreams were filled with memories. The same way her mind was constantly working a thousand miles per hour during the day, her brain couldn't shut off during the night either. Some nights, terrible nightmares would jerk her awake, but other days, she'd dream about her friends, about going to Hogsmeade and enjoying a butterbeer, discussing classes with Harry and Ron, or practising magic without restrictions during Dumbledore's Army meetings.

After waking up early the next day, Hermione wrote down in her notebook with big letters: Come and Go Room doesn't show on map! She sat up in her bed and felt a small amount of relief. She was determined to find Malfoy as soon as possible. He was up to something and Hermione knew it.

She didn't even wait for Ginny or Luna to join her for breakfast. While reaching the last steps of the stairs to her destination, she silently cursed herself when it occurred to her that in her hurry to go out, she hadn't looked at the map to see where either Malfoy or McGonagall were, she'd just assumed. Upon entering the Great Hall, which was full of other students, her eyes fell first on the professors' table. The Headmistress wasn't there yet, but she noticed a new face. A thin woman in her fifties with grey and highlighted-white hair, the top half of it tied to the back, was having an animated conversation with Professors Slughorn to her left and Sprout to her right. She was dressed in dark purple robes and had an assortment of chunky bracelets in different shades of green and purple that nearly reached one of her elbows. She had a kind face with flawless skin except for a few expression lines, especially in the corners of her eyes, and two small dimples to the sides of her thin mouth. She was a very pretty woman. The other two professors seemed to hang onto her words with great interest as she spoke.

Pocketing her curiosity about who that might be, Hermione searched frantically for a certain head of blond hair without success.

She decided to walk down the Slytherin table until she reached Theodore Nott, who was eating porridge with his left hand and held a book in his other one. Some eyes had followed Hermione, intrigued. Amongst them was Pansy Parkinson's; the short black-haired witch bent her head lazily to one side, the way a dog would when their ears perked up.

Nott was about to take a large bite of porridge, but the hand holding his spoon stopped halfway to his mouth when Hermione cleared her throat loudly behind him. He raised his head abruptly and turned in his seat with an annoyed expression which quickly morphed to surprise.

"I need to speak with Malfoy," Hermione said matter-of-factly. Nott looked around pretending he was searching for whoever she was talking to. She let out an exasperated sigh and he put his hand over his chest, eyes shining with mirth.

"Good morning to you too, Miss Granger," Nott greeted facetiously, both his breakfast and book forgotten behind him. "Nice of the Gryffindor Princess to address us Slytherin Traitors."

Hermione realised she had to keep up with him; she wasn't accustomed to how quickly he talked. She never had any reason to talk directly with Theodore Nott and he'd never approached her on his own accord either. He wasn't like Malfoy, who used to taunt her and her friends. Nott was someone who exuded aloofness like he had mastered it. He was never seen in big groups, minded his own business, and didn't get into trouble. She had the impression that Nott and Zabini were a big step up from Malfoy's old minions Crabbe and Goyle. They seemed to be more on his intellectual level, at the very least.

"Cut the shite, Nott, can you go get him or give me the password?"

"Ooh, careful, Princess," he warned sarcastically, leaning his left elbow on the table lazily. "There are people watching who wouldn't enjoy one of their heroes stooping that low."

"I don't care about the people watching," she said, trying to sound convincing, and then she challenged him. "Do you?"

Nott looked at her for a few seconds with squinting eyes, as though he was trying to figure out a very difficult puzzle. He looked around again, prompting her to do the same. By this point, nearly everyone around them was watching their curious interaction. It made her feel self-conscious and wonder whether she had gone about this the wrong way, but it was too late to back down.

"Right this way, Milady," he said, finally standing up and with a small bow, indicating for her to lead him out. "After you."

They walked down the painstakingly long tables of the Great Hall and out into the main castle Entrance Hall. Hermione stopped and waited for him to catch up, as he walked much more slowly than she did. She thought he was enjoying this way too much.

He led her to the right side of the big central marble staircase towards a door, which he opened with a smile before letting her through. He was bringing her to the Slytherin common room, which she had never seen before. She only had descriptions of it after Harry and Ron drank Polyjuice Potion and turned into Crabbe and Goyle their second year at Hogwarts. A small landing led to a set of dimly lit stairs in between stone walls. The air felt colder and colder as she descended. The hairs at the back of her neck stood up. It felt like willingly stepping into the wolf's lair—or snake pit, in this case—was probably a bad idea.

"What do you want with my boy Draco, anyway?" Nott asked behind her. She was concentrating on watching where she stepped, barely able to make out what was right in front of her.

"I just need..." she began, thinking of how much she wanted to say. "I need clarification about something."

"Well, let me tell you. Any other day, he might be happy to see you. Today?" He paused dramatically and even though she couldn't see him, Hermione imagined him shrugging. "He had a rough night, let's just say."

He had a rough night? Hermione thought. Leave it to Malfoy to make yesterday about him. Poor Hannah Abbott spent her night in the infirmary.

The steps finally stopped and they arrived at an equally poorly-lit corridor. It was a dead-end. Hermione's fight-or-flight mode kicked in, her anxiety already spiking. She quickly turned and drew her wand towards Nott. He only laughed at her.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist just yet, Princess," he said smirking.

"Stop calling me that!" she cried defensively.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said but didn't sound like he meant it. "I suppose nobody bothered to introduce us properly. I'm Theodore Nott Jr, son of a blood supremacist arsehole, but you can call me Theo."

He extended his hand. She just gaped at him, her mouth open in disbelief.

"And you are…?" he prompted, with a flourish of his hand. But before she could answer anything, the bare stone wall next to them moved to reveal a secret passage. Hermione moved her wand to point at whoever stood in the darkness beyond the newly created archway, thinking she'd just ran into a trap.

"Granger," a hoarse voice said in surprise.

Draco Malfoy stepped out of the dark passageway and into the corridor. He looked down at Hermione's extended arm and said, "You need to stop doing that."

"Draco!" Nott called in a whining voice. "You ruined all the fun!"

Hermione finally lowered her arm and put away her wand, but she kept her eyes on Malfoy. He looked ghostly standing in the semi-darkness. His skin was pale and he had darkness under his eyes.

"What is this?" Malfoy asked, motioning to her and Nott.

"Princ—er, Hermione here wanted to see you," Nott explained with a knowing smile. She wanted to tell him off for using her first name without her permission, but really, she had to admit he was rather charming.

"We need to talk," Hermione said to Malfoy.

"Uh oh, that's never good, mate," Nott commented.

Malfoy scowled at him and rubbed his face with his hands before letting out a long sigh. He looked very tired and Hermione's ambush probably wasn't helping. Why she was empathising with him, she couldn't explain. But she still needed answers.

Before she could say anything, Malfoy let his arms fall and, looking defeated, he said, "Not here."

Minutes later, he was leading her through the newly rebuilt wooden bridge from the base of the Clock Tower. During the Battle of Hogwarts, the entire West Wing had been decimated. The bridge had been blown up by Neville, Ginny and Seamus Finnigan to prevent Death Eaters from having easy access to the castle. The already dilapidated Clock Tower Courtyard didn't stand a chance during the battle, and nowadays it looked even better than it had when Hermione first arrived at Hogwarts, as did The Wooden Bridge. The clock mechanism was repaired and back in its original state. It was now chiming at the top of the hour.

There were a couple of students gathered at the courtyard when they passed by but, absorbed in their own conversation, they didn't pay Malfoy and Hermione any mind. Apart from them, nobody else was outside so early on a Sunday, as it was very cold, especially in the Sun Dial, a circle formation of stones at the other side of the bridge. Upon the hill, the wind blew quite strong.

Hermione followed Malfoy silently, anxious to hear what he had to say about the previous night. She couldn't avoid watching his shoulders moving purposefully, his white-blond hair blowing in the wind, the same wind that carried his scent towards her. Earthy, she thought fleetingly, cursing herself.

As soon as they arrived at the Sun Dial, Malfoy stopped walking and Hermione almost ran into him. Memories of them in this very location flooded back to her. During their third year she had managed to humiliate and assault him.

"Fancy getting slapped again, Malfoy?" she asked.

Malfoy turned around and she could see he wasn't amused. The wind picked up around them, the large vertical stones making it go different directions inside the circle. She crossed her arms over her light jacket, feeling the cold chill in her bones, and resented her long curly hair as it blew madly around her head. He drew his wand and pointed it at her. She couldn't uncross her arms quickly enough before he'd cast a warming charm on them both.

"Useful," she muttered. He probably couldn't hear her over the wind.

"Well?" he asked loudly, opening his arms wide. "Ask me."

"Ask you what?" She played dumb while buying herself time. She realised she couldn't ask him about the Room of Requirement without giving herself away for using the map.

"Why did you want to see me, Granger?" he asked but didn't give her time to answer. "Did I attack Hannah Abbott last night? Isn't that what you wanted to ask?"

"I'm pretty sure what I saw confirms that you did," she challenged.

"Oh? Well, then." Malfoy turned to leave. Had he still been looking at her, he would have seen her eyes widening comically.

"What?!" she yelled. She hurried down the path to catch up to him, but he was much quicker than she was. Before he stepped back on the bridge, she managed to grab his arm and pull him back. "Where are you going?"

He turned back to her, slapping her hand in the process and rooted her where she stood, his grey eyes steely.

"You've already pegged me as the attacker, what could I possibly say to change your mind?"

"I'm interested in hearing your side of the story," she said, trying to sound as earnest as possible. She didn't want to admit to Malfoy that she felt she may have been a bit hasty in accusing him.

"Right, like you were interested in asking before you pointed your wand at me," he said, breathing hard, and bent down to look her straight in the eye. "I'm not here to waste my time satisfying your curiosity, Granger."

"Just tell me," she insisted.

"Why don't you just go to McGonagall, hmm?" Malfoy suggested. "Get me expelled, why don't you? You already have me figured out, you and everybody else. Good-for-nothing Death Eater, back with his tail between his legs, bound to return to his old ways in the absence of his pathetically controlling father."

This shocked Hermione. The bitterness in his voice spoke volumes, but what he said wasn't exactly true. She didn't have him figured out and that was the problem.

"We, evil Slytherins, are just the eyesore in the sea of a unified community," he continued, looking down dejectedly. "At least if I wasn't here I wouldn't have to endure any more of this misery."

He sighed heavily and raised his eyes to hers again, swallowing. She detected a slight quiver in his voice as he kept speaking.

"But that's not fair, is it?" He shook his head lightly. "I have no right to complain about misery, when I helped the darkest wizard in a century and his followers to terrorise, torture and kill so many innocent people, just to not lose my family…whom I've lost anyway. And for that, I'll never pay enough penance."

Hermione let out a breath. She had no words. She didn't know what to say when she felt conflicted between wanting to yell at him for everything he'd done to her and her friends over the years but also feeling guilty because, in the end, he'd been just another victim. She and a lot of others still had loved ones to lean on, but Malfoy seemed to be all alone. She said nothing as she, once again, watched him walk away with a heavy heart, his warming charm disappearing with him.

· - ·

Coming back from the Clock Tower, Hermione stopped by the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey greeted her with a smile and told her that Hannah had already returned to the Hufflepuff common room to get some rest before classes resumed the next day. Hermione supposed she'd talk to her then.

With a rumbling stomach, she went back into the Great Hall to grab something to eat. Ginny and Luna were there.

"Hermione, where were you?" Ginny asked.

"We heard you left earlier with Theodore Nott," Luna said in her usual unabashed tone.

"Um," Hermione began. "It's kind of a long story, I'll tell you later."

"Okay," Luna accepted. Her silent understanding always amazed Hermione, and she was grateful that they hadn't pushed for more information.

After breakfast, Hermione went to look for McGonagall. She walked up to the familiar gargoyle entrance and said the password aloud. "Cornish Pasty."

"The Headmistress is not here, young girl," spoke the gargoyle.

"Oh," Hermione said, then asked wishful, "Do you happen to know where she is?"

The gargoyle gave a small single shake of its head and didn't move to permit her entrance.

"Bollocks," she mumbled to herself. "Now what?"

As she walked back down the corridor, Hermione saw the door to the potions storeroom open. Professor Slughorn, the current Potions Master, came out of it carrying several flasks.

"Good day, Professor," she said as she walked passed him.

"Oh, Miss Granger," he said, stopping her. "Now that you're here… Uh, I've just met with the Headmistress this morning to discuss the re-assembling of Slug Club. As a former member, I was thinking you might want to participate in it again?"

His hopeful voice stopped Hermione from flat-out refusing, so she agreed to think on it.

"Could you ask your friend, Ginny Weasley, as well? Thank you, dear," he asked and turned to go without expecting an answer.

Slug Club meetings were a form of socialisation for Professor Slughorn's best students and a way for him to keep in touch after graduating. He organised dinners and parties with other influential witches, wizards and creatures so that current students could make connections for future career prospects. In Hermione's sixth year, she made the cut along with Harry, Ginny and several other students, including Blaise Zabini. She supposed Slughorn didn't wish to link his club with either Theo Nott nor Draco Malfoy during that time, although they were two of the best students in his class. She wondered whether they'd received an invitation this time.

"Professor!" Hermione called. "Do you know where Professor McGonagall is now, by any chance?"

"She said she'd go down to see the gamekeeper," he responded with a smile and a small wave.

Ah, Hagrid. Hermione smiled with affection thinking about the half-giant wizard she'd met her first year. He'd been a crucial friend to her, Harry and Ron. She didn't see him very often as she wasn't taking Care of Magical Creatures, the class he currently taught.

She walked down the path to Hagrid's hut and arrived there just as Professor McGonagall was exiting it.

"Very well, Minerva," Hagrid was saying before he spotted Hermione. "Oh, hello dear!"

"Hi, Hagrid," she said before addressing McGonagall. "I've been looking for you, Professor."

"Is everythin' all right, Hermione?" he asked worriedly.

"It's fine, Hagrid," McGonagall said with a placating tone. "I was expecting to see her. You take care."

The women said their farewells before walking further down near the lake, where the view was magnificent. They were both silent for a few minutes. The sun had risen higher since Hermione had been out earlier, so it warmed up the air a bit and the wind wasn't as uncomfortably cold.

"Professor," Hermione began. "Why did you say you were expecting to see me?"

"You know, Miss Granger," McGonagall said with a knowing smile. "When my great friend Albus Dumbledore was in my position, it seemed that he was aware of absolutely everything while the rest of us never had all the information."

Hermione didn't exactly follow, so she stayed silent.

"Now I understand a bit more how that happened," McGonagall concluded, letting out a big sigh. "Mr Malfoy came to see me late last night."

Hermione stopped walking and looked at the Professor.

"He did?" she said surprised. "We talked this morning but he didn't mention that."

McGonagall nodded. "I believe Miss Abbott is and will be all right."

"You're not going to do anything?" Hermione questioned. "What if he does it again?"

"As of now, the situation has been solved," McGonagall explained. "Peeves was interrogated right away and I trust The Bloody Baron will take care of the rest and make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Peeves?" Hermione said frowning. "I'm sorry, Professor, what does the poltergeist have to do with any of this?"

"Miss Granger, you just said you and Malfoy had a conversation, I would think—"

"We did but he wouldn't tell me what happened," Hermione confessed.

"Ah, I understand," McGonagall said. "Mr Malfoy ran into Miss Abbott yesterday being terrorised by a Death Eater…" Hermione gasped and the other woman raised her hand calmly. "He tried to fight it but then realised it was a Boggart when it faced him and changed to something else. He disposed of it and tried to calm Miss Abbott down when you appeared."

Thoughts were racing in Hermione's mind, playing the events as McGonagall was narrating them. She did hear that strange little laugh; it had been Malfoy! It was a requirement that the riddikulus'd form of a Boggart had to provoke laughter for it to be defeated. Now it was Hermione who felt ridiculous.

"Peeves had somehow managed to lure it from inside a drawer in a desk to a dark corner in the fifth floor where the poor girl found it," McGonagall explained.

"Why didn't he just tell me?" Hermione asked more to herself than the Professor, looking down at her feet.

McGonagall stepped closer and raised Hermione's head with her hand under her chin, smiling sadly. "My dear, you have to understand that he's a very troubled young boy."

Hermione knew a lot about troubled boys. She'd grown up on these grounds with Harry Potter, after all.

"Come with me," McGonagall said. "Let's go find a cup of hot chocolate to warm up."

· - ·

The next day, before Herbology class, Hermione met Hannah outside the greenhouse and asked how she was. Hannah didn't remember much of what had happened and she seemed to be quite embarrassed that it did. Ginny rubbed her back gently before they all went into the greenhouse. Hermione had told the other girls about the events from the previous night and her subsequent conversations with Malfoy and McGonagall. Their reaction during the Death Eater-Boggart part of the story was similar to Hermione's.

Ginny was also aware of what had transpired between Harry and the Malfoys during the war and believed the young Malfoy should be left alone while he figured out his place in the wizarding world. Hermione chose not to mention his self-deprecating words, as they felt rather personal, but her friends' conclusion mirrored McGonagall's.

"Think about it," Ginny said in a low voice at the table in the common room. "He grew up to be a pretentious git and a muggle-born hater without really knowing what it meant. Then he'd got himself in way too deep with the worst kind of crowd. He was bound hand and foot by the time Harry found him sobbing in a bathroom."

Hermione had nothing to say but she agreed; however, there was still one mystery. Malfoy was still rounding the seventh floor often when nobody else was around, sometimes disappearing from her map close to the Room of Requirement. She figured that was why he'd been missing meals because that was exactly when pretty much all students were out of the corridors. He'd only had to avoid Filch and Mrs Norris.

The last time Hermione had been in the Room of Requirement was the night of the Final Battle. Harry had found Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem, which had been turned into a Horcrux, in the Room of Hidden Things, one of the Room of Requirement multiple uses. It hosted a myriad of artefacts, furniture pieces, books and more from thousands of witches and wizards who'd been to Hogwarts in need of a place to hide something. Ginny hid Harry's second-hand Half-Blood Prince book, which had many precise descriptions of potion-making and dangerous spells Severus Snape came up with. Draco Malfoy hid a vanishing cabinet and its sister cabinet was kept in Borgin and Burkes in Diagon Alley, permitting a group of dangerous Death Eaters to enter and siege Hogwarts during the war.

During the Battle of Hogwarts, when Harry, Ron and Hermione had found the diadem, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle surprised them. In the end, Crabbe cast a Fyendfire, a curse so devastating, dangerous and difficult to control that it had ended his life along with the Horcrux. Harry had chosen to save Malfoy's life in a bout of compassion. The Room of Hidden Things had been sealed and Hermione assumed the cursed fire in the form of a giant dragon had destroyed everything in its path.

She'd tried talking to Malfoy that Monday to let him know McGonagall had told him what happened but he avoided her the best he could, and he was good at it. He kept closer than usual to his friends knowing she would be more hesitant to approach them.

On Tuesday, Hermione knew they both had an entire day free of classes. She spent all morning concentrating on her homework in the library and finally by lunch, she saw him at the Great Hall. Ginny distracted her for a while, explaining something funny that happened to her during Divination, and when Hermione looked up after eating, Malfoy had already vanished.

She decided to go back to the library after collecting new parchment and books from her room. She walked to her favourite spot near the back, where books about rarer concepts were kept and very little people disturbed her. She sat down ready to begin another round of studying when she heard a very light snore. She looked up to the other end of the aisle and there he was, Draco Malfoy, with his arms on the table and his head resting on them. He was asleep.

Malfoy had been sporting dark circles under his eyes for a few days now and Hermione remembered Nott's words about him not having a good night after the Boggart incident. Maybe he wasn't sleeping very well at night. Or maybe he was up doing things he wasn't supposed to on the seventh floor. She wanted so badly to find out, but even if he was alone right then, she let him be.

Not everybody did, however, and it wasn't long before a group of four boys, one in Ravenclaw uniform and three in Hufflepuff's walked up to him.

"Where are your cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy?" asked one of the Hufflepuffs loudly, startling Malfoy awake. He didn't respond.

"Yeah, where did Twit and Twat go? You killed them for being too stupid?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at the very unoriginal insults. Even Ron had been more adept than them at the boys' age. She guessed they must be fourth-years. It was clear Malfoy wasn't going to react but they still moved closer. The Ravenclaw put his hands on the table next to Malfoy and bent down to say something in a low voice that Hermione couldn't hear. Abruptly, the blond was up and grabbing the boy by his collar and pushing him against the bookcase, nearly lifting him off the floor.

"Leave my mother out of this, you coward," Hermione heard Malfoy say in a seriously menacing tone she'd never heard him use before.

"Leave Draco alone!" said a voice closer to her.

Five pairs of eyes landed on the new Slytherin boy—whose name Hermione still didn't know—and by proxy, her. He had his wand drawn and was pointing it at the fourth-years, cycling through them one by one. Malfoy had let go of the Ravenclaw boy, who looked slightly scared, and two of the other three laughed. The last one, the biggest of them all, smirked at the Slytherin boy.

"Or what, little sprite?" the Hufflepuff asked with a smirk.

Hermione couldn't stand it anymore. She wanted to prevent this skirmish from escalating, so she stood up, put on her best Molly Weasley impression and said, "Enough, all of you!"

With the attention drawn to her, the bullies seemed to back down, three of them looking chastised. The bigger one didn't seem happy to have been interrupted.

"Are you defending him?" he said, pointing towards Malfoy.

"I'm defending whoever you want to bully because it's not what I or anybody at Hogwarts should stand for," she said. "We don't need any more of this stupid crap after all we've been through."

The boy backed down then but not before he muttered, "He's a bloody Death Eater."

She approached him and realised he was almost as tall as her, but it didn't stop her from poking a finger into his chest.

"Now, you listen to me very carefully," she began in a serious tone. "I've been a witness to this man's trial and if he's here right now and not in Azkaban, I can assure you there's a bloody good reason for that."

They all fell silent for a few seconds before the boys moved to leave without a word.

"And you better believe that if I see you or find out you're bullying Draco Malfoy or anyone else for that matter, again," she threatened before they walked away. "You'll be very sorry you crossed me because I can have you all expelled in a flash."

It took a moment for her to relax, letting out an exhale. Hermione didn't particularly enjoy confrontations, but this time it had felt good to put the younger boys in their place. And she didn't have to slap anybody this time. She chanced a glance at Malfoy and he was looking at her with a mixture of amusement and interest.

"Blimey, Miss Granger!" she heard from behind. "That was brilliant!"

The kid's enthusiasm made her laugh but she didn't take her eyes off Malfoy. He snorted, shaking his head as he started collecting his things. It was the happiest expression she'd seen on his face in days.

The Slytherin boy walked up to her with a friendly smile. He reminded her of Colin Creevey, the perky Gryffindor boy who followed famous Harry Potter around with a camera, who tragically died during the Final Battle.

"Is it true you can get them expelled?" he asked and Hermione laughed.

"Not really, but they don't need to know that," she responded. "What's your name?"

"I'm Roman Higgs. Nice to meet you, Miss Granger," he responded, extending his hand.

"Likewise, Roman," she said, shaking his small hand. "You can call me Hermione."

"My brother Terence was a Seeker for Slytherin," he announced proudly.

"He was," Malfoy said from the other side of the aisle before approaching them with his things under his arm. "Before I replaced him."

"Before your father bought you the spot on the team, you mean," Hermione blurted out. She didn't mean to antagonise him and she regretted it immediately.

"Right…" he said looking down.

"Oh, but my brother says Draco is very good anyway," said Roman helpfully.

Malfoy looked up at him and hummed. He put his hand on the table next to Hermione, drumming his fingers once while nodding and said, "You didn't have to do that but thank you."

"Well, you were all interrupting my study, so I had to intervene." She tried to sound nonchalant even though she felt far from it. Her heart lurched unexpectedly inside her chest as he turned to leave. "Malfoy," she called and he turned back to look at her expectantly. She was conscious of Roman watching them like a hawk. "I spoke with McGonagall and she told me what happened. I owe you an apology for jumping to conclusions."

Malfoy stood there watching her for a few seconds, both of them unable to find any words. Finally, he offered her a small nod and left.

· - ·

On Friday, during Potions class, Slughorn surprised them with a test. He demanded that they attempt to produce a Wolfsbane Potion, which was a highly difficult task and extremely dangerous when concocted incorrectly, as the main ingredient, wolfsbane or aconite, was very poisonous.

Hermione knew Professor Snape himself had successfully made it for Professor Lupin during her third year. But it didn't mean it was easy as Snape was probably the best potioneer she'd ever met.

Soon, the cutting, scraping, cork flasks opening and stirring of hot cauldrons were the only sounds that could be heard in the classroom. Meanwhile, Professor Slughorn lazily sauntered around the room, checking everyone's performance very closely and swiftly taking notes on a roll of parchment. It didn't take long for Hermione's brown curls to frizz up from the fumes, but she knew by the end of the lesson that she hadn't been completely successful. Instead of a faint blue smoke, her potion exuded more of a grey-toned one. Looking around, she saw only two people had completed the task rather well, judging from their smoke: Draco Malfoy and a strawberry-blonde girl on the table beside his, a Slytherin Hermione didn't remember the name of. The girl was beaming at him.

Slughorn peered into both of their cauldrons assessing their work with a serious expression. All students looked at him expectantly. Hermione remembered Snape's quick wit in detriment of Harry and in favour of Malfoy, but Slughorn was more reserved about those who he chose to give praise. The Professor finally gave the girl and Malfoy a nod of satisfaction and wrote in his parchment of notes. It appeared to be extremely lengthy and written in small letters.

He certainly seemed to have a lot of thoughts when several minutes passed without anybody saying anything, waiting for him as he kept writing, and the bell rang signalling the end of class.

While gathering their things and cleaning up, Hermione looked back and her eyes connected with Malfoy's. He raised an eyebrow at her smugly, giving her a glimpse of the old Malfoy, and went back to casting Scourgify spells around his table. He really was going for it this term and this both impressed and frustrated Hermione. She knew this had been a big test and Slughorn shouldn't have expected anybody to brew a perfect potion, but the fact that two people, none of them including her, had done it put her in an awkward position. She didn't doubt herself or her capabilities, but in a class filled with mostly Slytherins, she felt pressured to prove herself as the best.

· - ·

That night Hermione woke up to see Draco Malfoy walking towards her. She'd fallen asleep on the Marauder's Map and right next to her she could see Malfoy's nametag moving on the seventh floor. She quickly got out of bed, put her robes over her pyjamas, cast a silencing charm on her shoes and bolted down the stairs. She hurried through the Gryffindor common room and out into the corridor, bypassing a snoring Fat Lady.

She followed the map to where she knew the Room of Requirement was and hid behind a pillar, silently casting a disillusionment charm on herself to blend into her surroundings. In plain eyesight in front of a bare wall was Malfoy, triple-checking to make sure nobody was around. He stood looking at the wall until a big metal door fully formed in front of their eyes. It didn't have a handle, so he went to push it open, but jumped when his hands came into contact with the door, shaking them at his sides as though he'd been…burned.

He tried several more times, sometimes pushing for longer, but recoiling, bending and cursing in pain, while other times he tried kicking it in with no result. She watched him for a few minutes as he grew impatient, pushing longer and longer until he yelped loudly, looking at his hands which she noticed were very red.

"Stop!" she hissed. "What are you doing, Malfoy?"

She cast a Muffliato spell when she arrived beside him and he looked at her with an expression of both anger and surprise.

"Sod off, Granger, this is none of your business," he snarled.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked, looking at the door up close.

"I'm trying to go in, of course!"

"I can see that," she said exasperated. "But why? And why can't you go in?" She'd seen him go in before, otherwise, his name wouldn't disappear on the map.

"You were here when it closed with a cursed fire inside, were you not?" he responded, ignoring her first question.

Hermione examined the door more closely for a few seconds. She could feel the heat of the metal from where she stood and suspected the Fyendfire Curse must be the cause. Maybe when the room disappeared, it froze in time, so it was still burning inside? If so, he would have never been able to enter. Why was he now trying so insistently to open it?

She turned and looked at his face, then at his hands. He was breathing hard from the pain. She stepped towards him and he stepped back but she managed to take his hands gently, each in one of hers. Carefully, she raised the palms of his hands up for her to see. She was holding him as gently as possible and he could have easily pulled away from her, but he didn't. He only eyed her curiously, probably wondering what she was thinking.

"You have some nasty blisters," she observed. "I have essence of dittany in my room, I'll go get it."

She started to let go of him when he said, "Wait. I have some here."

When he pulled aside his robes, she saw he had a leather bag attached to the belt around the top of his trousers. It was just small enough to contain a vial of dittany. She amused herself thinking that he'd benefit from an undetectable extension charm. He took out the vial and she grabbed it from him.

"Granger—"

"I know what you're going to say, so don't waste your breath," she warned and carefully dropped some of the healing liquid on his right hand and then the left.

When she was done, she let go of his hands and Malfoy pressed them together to spread the dittany. He stretched his fingers and then closed them into a fist a few times until he was sure they didn't hurt anymore.

"Thank you," he said, raising his eyes at her. They appeared the warmest she'd ever seen them.

"You keep saying that, but you still won't explain what I really want to know."

"You always want to know too much," he answered with an eye roll.

She lifted an eyebrow daringly and he sighed.

"It's complicated, Granger," he said rubbing his eyes. "I'm tired."

"Well then, don't come in the middle of the night punching flaming hot doors," she chastised.

"Yeah, yeah…"

"You're not going to stop, are you?" she asked, looking down at his hands again.

"Not likely," he responded.

"You know, I can go to McGonagall right this second if you don't tell me what this is all about," she pressed.

"But you won't because you're a Gryffindor, not a snitch," he said with squinting eyes. "Are we done?"

Hermione would stay there all night, but she knew this conversation with Malfoy would only run in circles before he told her anything useful.

"I'll find out soon enough," she promised.

"You do that," he said before turning to leave. "Good night, Granger."

· - ·

A/N. So...what an awkward week for us, huh? Am I the only one who at this point has isolated the HP world from anything else JKR? Yikes!

(Confession time: besides the books and original films, I haven't seen or read anything else she's put out :O)

Again, huge thanks to queens AurorEowyn and Girl of Chaos :3

Also, Black Lives Matter, DUH!