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The flames in the common room fireplace were crackling merrily, and Hermione leaned back in her chair and soaked in the warmth. Harry looked up somewhat anxiously when she put her book down, but she merely pulled back her hair before pulling it to her lap again. He turned back to his own book and kept taking notes, but paused and exhaled sharply after only a few moments.
"Hermione?"
"Mm?"
"What on earth is the difference between opp ambustia and oblenio?
"Well," she said, leaning over to see what he was looking at. "See here? Opp ambustia is good for stopping fevers and whatnot, and… oh." She frowned and scanned the passage again. "Oh! Oblenio is for stopping infections. They are rather similar, I suppose…"
"Yeah, thanks Hermione." Harry gave her a little smile and turned back to his notes. The healing spells they had been learning about in Charms were quite tricky, and though Hermione doubted very many of their class would go into Healing, it would still be helpful to know. Slughorn had made Hermione and Malfoy spend a few months straight on basic Healing potions, and occasionally threw in a new one for them to learn.
"Hermione?"
"Mm?"
"What about these two?" Harry pointed somewhat pathetically a little further down the page, and Hermione bent once more to see what his trouble was this time. Before she was able to answer, however, the portrait swung open and Ron shuffled through with Malfoy of all things leaning on his shoulder.
"Ron!" Harry called out joyfully, before seeing his friend's burden. "What the hell, mate?"
"Ron, what happened? Is that blood?"
"Were you in a fight without me, Ron? Who was it? I can go sort them out, if you want." Harry was only half serious, but Ron waved off their questions as he helped Malfoy to an empty chair by the fire, leaning his cane against the chair. The blond gave him a nod of thanks before summoning a new handkerchief and holding it to his face. Ron sank onto another chair and rubbed a hand over his face.
"What happened?" Hermione demanded shrilly. She winced a little at her tone, but then ignored it when she looked at the two boys who just came in. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Ron said, wearily. "I just walked in on some sixth- and fifth-years beating the living daylights out of Malfoy."
"I was holding up just fine, Weasley," called Malfoy from his chair.
"Tch. Sure. Anyway," he continued, "I took a lot of points off, and we're all going on a nice little visit to McGonagall tomorrow. I'm afraid Gryffindor is no longer in the lead, but… Well…" Hermione reached over and grasped his hand. She knew he had matured a lot over the past year, but had thought that maybe he would have taken this last year at school as a last chance of some irresponsibility. She looked up to see Harry staring intensely at Malfoy, who seemed to be looking broodingly at the fire.
"Why didn't you fight back, Malfoy?" he asked sharply. Malfoy snorted, winced, and gestured to his leg.
"Not exactly in fighting form, you know, Potter." He coughed. "'Sides, it would have been worse if I'd done anything. People don't seem to like it when their quest for righteousness gets interrupted."
"Well," said Ron, standing up. "I'm going to go see if McGonagall is still up, set up that meeting for tomorrow. You want to come, Malfoy?"
"Mm… No thanks, Weasley. Not sure if I'm up to walking quite yet – don't want to push it and all that." He shifted further into his chair and shut his eyes, appearing for all intents and purposes to be taking a nap. "Thank you, though."
"Ron, I'll come with you," Harry stood up too. "I want to know what's going on." Ron simply nodded, but cast a questioning eye on Hermione.
"I think I'll just stay here. Get some reading in." Ron nodded and left the common room, Harry following close behind. She glanced over at Malfoy, whose eyes were still closed. He suddenly lifted his hand and snapped his fingers, calling out "tobs". Whatever that meant.
A moment later, a house elf appeared with a crack. He twisted his tea towel nervously in his hands when he caught sight of the blond.
"Mister Draco! What has you been doing, sir? Don't move, sir, Tobs will be right back. I is knowing just what you need!"
"Can you get something hot instead of an icepack for the knee, Tobs?"
"It is being just what Tobs was thinking, sir!" And with a crack, the elf disappeared again. Malfoy let out a rusty chuckle and settled back into his chair. Hermione continued to stare at him. "What, Granger?"
"Nothing."
"Okay." There was silence except for the crackling of the fire. "Have you done the Potions assignment yet?"
"No, I was going to work on it over the weekend."
"Oh… would you like to work on it together, by any chance?"
"Well, erm… okay. Yeah." Hermione cringed a little at what she had agreed to. The two of them got along fine in Potions class, and had worked together occasionally, but this was different. Maybe there was something about seeing him vulnerable that made Hermione more willing to spend time with him.
The house elf reappeared with another crack, this time laden with ice packs, what looked like an extremely lumpy blanket, and a glass of milk. Malfoy hissed as the elf arranged the ice around his chest, but made no more noise than a small "thank you" when the elf had finished wrapping his knee with the blanket.
"Is there anything else Mister Malfoy is needing? I is able to find potions if sir is needing them."
"No, thank you, Tobs. Have a good night." The elf nodded and popped out of sight. Hermione stared in shock, but quickly tried to return to her book. Her curiosity of how he had gotten in such a shape to begin with was eating at her, and she couldn't let it go.
"Malfoy…" she began hesitantly. "What happened?"
"Nothing much. I was just walking back up here, the idiots grabbed me, and away we went. Oh, hullo, Blaise." Hermione hadn't even noticed the other boy walk in, and gasped and whirled around.
"Draco, what the hell happened? I walk by Potter and Weasley talking about you getting attacked, and then I come up here and you're covered in blood and obviously in no shape to do anything!" Hermione had never seen Blaise so worked up. He usually seemed to grow tense and quiet in stressful situations, but now he was practically yelling at Malfoy. "What was this about? One minute I'm dropping you off in the dungeons, and the next you're here, looking like pulverized meat."
"Blaise, what do you think this was about?" Hermione frowned, confused, until she saw Blaise's eyes dart to Malfoy's arm and then back to his face. Comprehension dawned on her, but she didn't feel the expected anger rise in her. Malfoy had gotten his punishment from the Ministry, and it was time to move forward. The darker boy let out a frustrated sigh.
"Alright. Let's get you cleaned up." And without further ado, Blaise summoned a cup of water and a towel. Wetting the cloth, he started wiping Malfoy's blood-caked face with it. The blond squirmed under the ministrations. "Stop moving. How old are you, five?"
"Don't let Pans see you like this, Blaise. She might get jealous – ow!" Malfoy's smirk disappeared as Blaise pressed particularly hard on his nose. Hermione smiled and turned back to her book. It was quite amusing to see the two of them together – they reminded her of an old married couple, or her grandfather and his buddies who had gotten together every week for the last twenty years to play poker.
The three of them sat in the common room for a while longer. Hermione stayed quiet and read her book, but listened to the conversation between Blaise and Malfoy with interest. They switched back and forth between bickering, schoolwork, talking about people Hermione didn't know, and more bickering. It quite reminded Hermione of Ron and Harry, and she was glad that there were similarities even between the most opposite Houses in the school.
A/N: So, I hope you enjoyed! There wasn't much action, but hopefully it gave Hermione a little more insight into our favorite Slytherins. Let me know what you think!
Snow day today (woot woot!) so I had some time to finish this up. Exams are coming up next week (meh…) so I probably won't be able to update. Then again, procrastination is practically my middle name, so you never know… : )
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it!
Xoxo, GusGus