"'Mia!" Hermione heard a voice call out. Instantly, she knew it was the Slytherin boy she recently befriended. He was the only one to call her that. She turned around as he reached her.
"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?" He asked her cheerfully.
"I don't know… I have a ton of homework." Hermione said warily. Lately it felt as if everything was getting too much. Blaise noticed small differences in her demeanor. The way she dressed, the way she acted, the way she looked. Her under eye bags were practically permanent at this point. She always looked worn out and tired. If it weren't for all the loose hoodies she'd been wearing in an attempt to keep herself warm, Blaise would've noticed the amount of weight she'd lost.
"I can help you with your work! I promise you'll have time to spare."
"Okay." Hermione agreed reluctantly.
The anxiety in her chest started growing over the next few days. Her mind was so focused on school and her grades, she was forgetting meals more and more. She knew Blaise's word was good and he would help her finish everything on time, but she hated being dependent on someone else, so she spent every waking moment on her schoolwork. Though her focus had been lacking and she couldn't put her finger on why. She blamed it on the fact that she hadn't had time to go on a run. She figured she could go for one after her trip to Hogsmeade.
Her Gryffindor friends hadn't been helping with her stress levels. Ron was constantly nagging on her for apparently replacing her friends with Blaise, which wasn't true at all. It's just that Blaise had similar academic goals as Hermione, so they coincidentally studied together all the time.
Harry would talk to her after Ron would lash out, comforting her. He was glad she was going out of her comfort zone and socializing with other houses. He was kind of proud of her. Harry knew that Hermione wasn't the easiest person to get along with and that she wasn't the best in social situations. He didn't care who she was spending time with, as long as it was making her happy.
Harry had also noticed changes in Hermione. She was snappier and meaner than usual, but figured she was her same old happy self when she was around Blaise.
Saturday came around soon enough. Hermione woke up early to get in some work before her trip to Hogsmeade. Harry and Ron both said they couldn't come. Nobody reminded her to go to breakfast. She lost track of time and was already late for the time she said she'd meet Blaise.
Hermione quickly pulled a hoodie over her turtleneck, getting cold already and she wasn't even outside. She wore warm boots and grabbed a thick coat, which wrapped snugly around her.
She rushed outside to the meeting spot. She saw Blaise's head waiting impatiently for her. As she got closer she realized he wasn't alone. Her heart dropped. He was with Draco and Pansy.
"There you are!" He said as he pulled the stunned girl into a hug.
"This is who you were waiting for?" Pansy shrieked.
"Believe me I'm not jumping up and down either." Hermione retorted dryly as she looked to Blaise for an explanation.
"You're always fighting and I can't take it anymore. This is a bonding trip and you can't do anything about it." Before anyone could protest further, Blaise shut them up. "I wasn't asking. You don't have a choice."
There was no point in fighting it so the group just followed Blaise, the Slytherins of the group muttering under their breaths. Hermione shrugged it off. They were overeating and acting like children. Of course Hermione understood the prejudice against muggle borns was put into their heads since birth, but Draco and Pansy really overdid it. It wasn't possible for them to have such a disgust towards her over something so subtle as bloodstatus. If Hermione hadn't ever mentioned it herself in the first year, they wouldn't even have known.
The way to Hogsmeade was mostly spent in silence, with Blaise occasionally dropping some random facts in an attempt to lighten the mood. Walking through all the stores made Hermione slightly uncomfortable. Blaise, Pansy and Draco were buying everything they set their eyes on. She was by no means poor; she lived in the fanciest parts of the suburbs outside London. Her parents owned multiple dentistries across the U.K. and she overall had a pretty comfortable life, but it was nothing compared to how lavishly pureblood wizards lived.
After a couple hours of walking around, Blaise stated he was hungry. Hermione was so up in her anxiety about being around Pansy and Draco, she completely forgot she missed breakfast. Then it dawned on her that she had missed dinner last night too. It had been happening more and more lately, but Hermione didn't seem to notice how often it really happened.
They were on their way to The Three Broomsticks, when a new store suddenly caught the attention of Pansy.
"Oh!" She squealed. "I need to go in there. Lunch can wait."
"No it can't. We can go there later. I'm starving." Draco snarled at her with annoyance.
"Oh, please. We won't have time after. It'll just be a few minutes."
"It's never just a few minutes with you, Pansy. We're all starving." Draco shot a look at Hermione and Blaise for support, who both nodded in agreement.
"That's so rich coming from you. If you wanted to go into a store, you'd make everyone wait hours for you, but you're too damn selfish to wait a couple minutes for me!"
"I'm selfish? Pansy do you hear yourself? Never in my life have I met someone more insufferable than you. You're entitled, conceited and you have an ego that size of my manor! Hell, Granger's more tolerable than you!" Hermione didn't know if she should take that as a compliment or an insult, but figured it was the closest to a compliment she would ever get for Draco.
"Unbelievable! How dare you compare me to that mudblood filth. Merlin, you fucking blood traitor-"
"You bitch, how dare you-"
"Enough!" Hermione stepped in. The hunger was catching up with her emotions. She felt cranky and wanted to get some food as soon as possible. "Pansy get the fuck over it. So what if I'm muggle born? How in the fuck does that personally affect you? We bleed the same blood, we're both imperfect and human. Do you even have a legitimate reason for hating muggles? You think you're so much better than them, but has any wizard ever been in space? Or on the moon? Does any wizard know how human bodies and organs look and work? There's so much more to muggles than you think, you could see it if you weren't so thick headed. You're full of shit. Get the fuck off your high horse and let's go fucking eat!" Hermione practically screamed at her, attracting attention from other people walking on the street.
Hermione was usually quiet and reserved. Nobody had been expecting such a reaction from her. It stunned Pansy and Draco into silence. Blaise was looking at her wide eyed.
After a few moments the shock had passed and Pansy huffed, turned on her heel, and walked into the store anyway.
Before Draco could react in wany anger, Blaise came to save the day, again. "Why don't you two head to the Three Broomsticks. I'll go calm her down. We'll catch up with you later."
Draco grunted in response and Hermione offered up a small smile before he disappeared behind the door. Normally, Draco would protest against being left alone with Hermione, but he didn't feel like getting into it right now. Especially not with her new found rage.
They started walking in silence. There was an awkward dinamis between the two, neither daring to acknowledge the other's presence. Both of them were fine with it before Hermione broke the tension by abruptly grabbing Draco's arm.
"What the fu-" Draco started to recoil, but stopped after he saw her face. "Granger?" Hermione's face looked pale and her eyes were fluttering, trying to stay open. Her strong grip on his arm loosened to the point that her hand was resting on his arm. "Hermione?" Draco said softer, brows furrowed.
Hermione underestimated the energy it would take her to scream at Pansy like that, unleashing all her bottled up anger that had piled up over the years. The fatigue really hit her as well as dizziness. Out of instinct, she grabbed onto Draco to steady herself. Silently, she groaned at the fact that this has been the second time she had leaned on Draco.
"I'm fine, I just- I missed dinner yesterday and breakfast this morning. I don't feel great."
Draco frowned. "Well let's get to Broomsticks then."
They made it to the pub in a few minutes. Draco subconsciously walked slightly closer to Hermione for the rest of the short walk, just in case she would faint. It was just an instinct for Draco. He wasn't actively protecting Hermione- he didn't care what would happen to her, but his alpha intuition was in his nature.
They sat down at a table and ordered. As soon as they came in Draco dropped his last name, hinting a good tip if he was served fast. For once, Hermione was grateful it was him who she was with, knowing she couldn't have waited much longer.
She dug into her food the second it reached the table. Draco looked at her carefully as she ravaged through her burger. "Why didn't you have dinner or breakfast?"
"I lost track of time." She managed to get out in between bites. Draco noted that when he saw other girls eat like that it wasn't nearly as charming as when Hermione did it. He quickly put the thought out of his mind. She was a mudblood. Everything she did should disgust him. Should.
"There are enough people who are lucky enough to eat one meal a week, and you're just skipping them?" Draco said with a snark in his voice.
"I'm not skipping them, I just forgot 2 meals. It's not a big deal. Besides, when did you find a fuck to give about others?"
"I don't. I just think it's entitled and selfish of you." Draco said without even batting an eye. His hypocrisy sparked anger in Hermione.
"Why you-" Hermione was about to go off on Draco but was interrupted by a chair being pulled up to their table. Blaise and Pansy.
"Children, stop the bickering." Blaise said as he picked up a menu. Pansy also sat down with an all too familiar sneer on her face. "We're switching partners. Me and Pans and you two."
"What?! NO!" Hermione exclaimed.
"If you think I'm going to work with Granger you must be completely barmy!" Draco recoiled.
"Would either of you rather work with Pansy?" Blaise asked knowingly. Both Draco and Hermione pursed their lips. Hermione huffed and picked up a fry. Draco ate the rest of his meal angrily. It was mostly silent, apart from Blaise's pointless blabbing.
When the check came Draco took care of it, even paying for Hermione. Pansy made a crew comment about how he shouldn't be paying for a mudblood, but Draco chalked it up to being easier than splitting the cost.
The trip back to Hogwarts was uneventful. The group discussed how they were going to deal with the new working arrangements. It posed a few new scheduling problems for them, but Hermione worked it out for them. She volunteered to do the extra work that was needed, simultaneously dragging Draco into it. He cursed her eternally for it, but had to go along with it, not wanting to face Mcgonagall's wrath. He dreaded the idea of spending 3 nights a week with Granger after dinner, having to take all her snide remarks. Not that Hermione was looking forward to it either.