Draco had continued Potions as well. In fact, with Slughorn as professor, a good deal of students were taking their potions NEWTs. The day after the confrontation in Transfiguration Hermione found that she couldn't keep her attention on the potion she was trying to brew.
"Are you alright?" Luna's singsong voice cut into her thoughts. Hermione jerked her eyes back to her potion in time to realize that she had nearly added twice as many flobworms as she needed. She sighed and adjusted her measurement.
"Just a little distracted," she murmured. She glanced at Draco again. He was hunched over his cauldron, pale and thin. She sighed.
"Untransfiguration," Professor McGonagall began, "can be quite difficult, particularly if you do not know what the original form of the object was." She glanced at the two students in front of her. "That is why I have chosen to give it to you as a challenge while the other students continue their work on the Protean Charm. I have 5 objects here that I have transfigured. You will attempt to untransfigure each of them to their original form."
Hermione nodded and scribbled notes on her parchment as Professor McGonagall set the objects on the table; a teapot, a decorative umbrella, an old boot, a Muggle newspaper, and a doorknob. She picked up her wand and glanced surreptitiously at Draco before pulling the doorknob towards herself. From the corner of her eye she saw him take the teapot.
"Reparifarge," Draco muttered. The teapot wobbled for a moment.
"That only works on poorly done transfigurations," Hermione said softly. She pointed her wand at the doorknob. "Mutio fasciculos." The doorknob spun in place and sprouted a feather.
"It's a quill," Draco said. His voice was empty of emotion. He pointed his wand at the doorknob and, with a flick of his wrist, it became a long quill. He turned back to the umbrella.
Draco and Hermione continued their work in silence. By the end of the period the teapot had become a stack of parchment and the old boot was beginning to resemble an inkpot. Hermione packed her bag quietly and left the room.
Draco was absent from Potions that week. Hermione took to surveying the Great Hall at each meal, searching for his white blond hair. He was missing more often than not.
Ginny was quick to notice Hermione's strange behaviour. "Why do you keep looking at the Slytherin table?" she asked at lunch on Sunday.
Hermione shook her head slowly. "It's Draco," she answered quietly. "I'm worried about him."
Ginny looked at Hermione like she had two heads. "Why would you be worried about that git?"
Hermione thought about the question for a moment. "He's sick," she finally answered. "I don't think he's handling things well since the war. He sat with me on the train here. He's so different."
Ginny snorted. "Don't let Ron hear you talking like that."
Hermione turned towards Ginny, a horrified look on her face. "It isn't like that! It's just- all our worlds crashed down around us. It's been awful for all of us, Ginny, you know that. But he's alone, and I can see it eating away…" Her voice trailed off as a pale boy walked through the door and settled into a seat at the end of the Slytherin table. He put his head in his hands. Hermione turned back to Ginny, her face set in a look of determination. "I love Ron. It could never be anyone else. But Draco needs a friend."
Ginny glanced at the blond boy sitting alone and appearing uninterested in the food he was playing with on his plate. She nodded.