Draco was studying in the library for an upcoming potions exam when Granger suddenly came to his table and plopped her things down. It had become a standard routine for some combination of the three of them to sit together in the library and do work together. The new Golden Trio, he thought with a grimace.
He couldn't deny that he enjoyed their companionship. For the first time in his life he felt like had a genuine friend in Blaise. Even Granger seemed to have move beyond their past and there was no longer any trace of malice between the two former enemies except their use of last names. Having Blaise and Granger with him made him feel normal again. The three of them seemed to do everything together: eat meals, work on homework, sometimes even just lounge around in the head common room. The sight of two Slytherins and a Gryffindor together became the new school norm as they no longer received surprised or dirty looks.
Things with Pansy and Theo had been relatively quiet. They came to him occasionally to make sure he was still involved with the plan to break their fathers out of Azkaban. Each time they would let him see his mother in the mirror, but his trust in the situation was starting to fade. He needed proof that his mother was really there being held captive before he could decide what to do. After researching magic mirrors, he had concluded that the mirror image could possibly be an illusion, but there was no way to test the theory since Theo hadn't called upon him in weeks.
That didn't stop him from worrying though. He hadn't heard from his mother since they showed him the mirror. Most of the wizarding world thought his mother was traveling the world, so there was nothing out of the ordinary about her absence to alert them or make them suspicious. The ministry was too busy with locating Potter to care about his mother anyway.
"Malfoy," Granger said, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, Granger."
"Are we friends?"
Draco stared at her for a moment. That was certainly unexpected. "Why?"
She shrugged. "I just want to know…It's important to me," she added for clarification.
He regarded her for a few moments, trying to come up with reasons why they shouldn't be friends, before sighing in defeat. "I suppose we are, Granger."
Her face lit up with a bright smile. "Then I have two things. First, friends call each other by their first name. You can call me Hermione."
"Okay, Hermione." He said, testing out her name for the first time. It felt kind of weird after all these years to not use her name as some kind of insult. "And the second?"
"Friends take care of each other. So what's going on with you?"
Draco froze at the question. "I don't know what you're talking about."
She rolled her eyes at the expected response. "Don't lie to me. We've noticed your strange behavior for months. You pretend things are normal, but the second Theo and Pansy look at you or enter the room you become stiff and rigid. Plus, you sometimes skip meals. Are Pansy and Theo threatening you?"
"I thought I already told you that there's nothing going on. You and Blaise need to stop asking questions." He bit his tongue at the way he phrased the last part. She seemed to catch on.
"Draco," she said more softly this time. "Blaise and I, we can help you. We can go to McGonagall or the Ministry. But you have to trust us."
"Nothing is going on," he insisted. "I think the real question is what's happening with Potter?" He prided himself mentally with his quick diversion
"Don't try and change the subject." Never mind. Hermione was too smart for her own good.
"I can't tell you." He hoped she wouldn't prod any further.
"Are they threatening you?" Well shit. Now she was definitely onto him.
"Hermione, please." He said tiredly. "I don't want to talk about this." She looked like she was about to say something but right at that moment Blaise entered the library and made his way over to them with a deep scowl on his face. Draco looked up at him questioningly, but Blaise was focused on Hermione.
"Hermione, Weasley is here to see you," Blaise announced through grit teeth.
Hermione and Blaise approached the quidditch pitch where Ron was waiting. McGonagall had permitted Ron to wait there and told Blaise to go get her. Draco had opted to stay out of the whole thing, for which she was grateful. Having Draco there would probably just set Ron off and make things even more complicated. It was bad enough she would be bringing Blaise with her.
Ron was pacing back and forth between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stands. He had cut his hair so that it looked the way it did in 3rd year and was wearing one of his old flannel shirts and jeans. She had to admit, he looked much better than he did over the summer. Although as he turned them, she could easily make out the familiar stressed look on his face and the dark circles beneath his eyes.
"Hermione, you came." He said, sounding surprised and relieved. His eyes shifted to Blaise who he glared at. "What are you doing here?"
"Weasley." Blaise greeted evenly.
"Hello, Ron. Blaise is here as my friend," she explained. Ron didn't say anything but looked annoyed.
He slowly looked back and forth between the two. "Can I speak to you alone?" He asked her. She gave Blaise the go-ahead look. Blaise wandered over to the stands, far enough to give them privacy but close enough to see everything that happened.
A cold wind blew through the quidditch pitch as she adjusted the scarf around her neck. "So…you came to see me."
Ron cleared his throat before speaking. "You never responded to my letter."
"There was a lot going on." It was true. She had been planning on writing him back but then Harry went missing. She totally forgot about it.
"Yeah…" he looked over at Blaise in the distance who was silently watching them. "Why is Zabini really here?"
"I already told you. Blaise is my friend," she replied, not wanting to elaborate.
He gave her a disbelieving look. "But he's a Slytherin."
"So what?"
"They're selfish and dangerous," he said narrowing his eyes at her. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"Blaise isn't like that. Don't make assumptions, Ron." She said angrily. Already this wasn't off to a good start. Besides, you're the one that hurt me first, she added in her head.
Ron held his hands up in surrender. "Alright alright. That's not what I'm here about anyway. Can we start over?"
She eyed him in suspicion but finally sighed. "Okay." She should at least hear what he came all the way here to say.
"I'm not proud of the way I acted after the war," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I was going through a rough patch with my family and with Fred being gone…in fact I still am and I'm nowhere near being done getting through it."
Hermione waited patiently for him to continue, genuinely surprised by his mature behavior.
"I'm sorry for how things ended between us. I was drunk and angry and I had no right to touch you like that. Can you forgive me?"
She twirled a lock of hair around her finger looking down. "Thank you for apologizing." Even though it was months later. "But honestly, Ron, I just need more time. I'm sure I can move past it eventually, just not right now. Not with everything else going on right now."
He shifted slightly and looked down. "Yeah..okay." There was an awkward pause before he continued. "About Harry, the ministry contacted me but my family wouldn't let me go."
"What do you mean?"
"They don't want any more family members to be put in potential harm's way."
This she could understand after losing Fred. It helped to realize that there was a reason the Weasleys had acted so cold recently. In addition to coping with the loss, they inadvertently blamed Harry for what happened. It was unfair, but understandable.
"I understand." She looked over at Blaise who had transfigured a stick into a broom and was circling around the quidditch pitch, while still keeping an eye on them.
"So where do we go from here?" Ron asked. Clearly he wanted some sort of resolve to their conversation, otherwise it wouldn't have been worth coming to Hogwarts.
"Well your family doesn't seem to want you involved with finding Harry, so I guess that's where you'll have to leave it." She replied somewhat stiffly.
Ron took a step forward angrily. "Are you saying you're not going to let me help?"
Blaise must have noticed this slight change in posture and he appeared seemingly out of nowhere by her side.
"Everything alright over here?" He said cautiously looking between the two of them.
Ron glared at him. "We're fine, Zabini."
Hermione ignored the tension and sighed. "Ron, there's not much you can do to help right now. But if anything happens I'll let you know. Okay?"
He slowly relaxed and crossed his arms. "Okay."
"Goodbye, Ron." She said as Blaise took her arm to lead her back to the castle. She heard Ron apparate away behind them.
