Hey guys! Here is the latest chapter, hope you enjoy it! Thanks to snapplexo for the review, I really appreciate all your feedback :) as always, please remember to r&r and never forget that I am not JK Rowling, I'm just playing with her toys. Enjoy!
He'd left before she opened her eyes.
As always, the nightmare had left Hermione feeling completely drained, and by the time she'd woken up it was long past ten o'clock. Weak, watery sunlight was streaming in through the window and into her empty office. But for the blanket on the chair and the two mugs of tea on the table, there was no sign that Draco Malfoy had ever even been there.
She let out a sigh of relief.
Last night had been an incredibly strange experience. Hermione had never thought that she would have been able to sleep in the presence of a former Death Eater. She had enough trouble doing that on her own. It wasn't as bad as it had been over the summer, but every time she closed her eyes she'd find her way back to Malfoy Manor. Hermione thanked her lucky stars that Bellatrix Lestrange was one of the Death Eaters killed in the Battle of Hogwarts – if she'd been one of those who escaped she would never have been able to sleep at all.
But not only had she fallen asleep in the presence of Draco Malfoy; she had told him about her nightmares and he – Draco Malfoy, of all people – had comforted her. And when she'd fallen asleep again the nightmares had not returned.
She couldn't even remember the last time she'd had a good night's sleep, and it was all thanks to him.
Hermione hauled herself out of bed, yawned sedately and stretched her aching limbs. She felt better than she had in weeks. She crossed over to the desk and began cleaning their mugs away, and cast a quick Refreshment charm on the red lilies. They sprang back to life at once, full and gleaming again.
She hadn't thrown them out, in the end. It had seemed rude, somehow, even when she had stormed back to her office after Draco had insulted her. And now, after their night together, she wanted to throw them out even less.
One of the mugs slipped from her fingers. It smashed on the floor and cold tea spattered all over the carpet. Hermione bent down, quickly, her cheeks burning.
They had not spent the night together.
They had simply spent the night in each other's company, in the same room, and in a perfectly friendly and fully-clothed way. That, she was well aware, was not what people meant when they said they'd 'spent the night together'. Nothing had happened between them: he'd just drunk her tea, driven off her nightmares and picked her up as though she weighed next to nothing and laid her down on the bed and…
Hermione jumped up at once. Her face was scarlet. She threw on her school uniform as quickly as she could and ran down to the greenhouses, cold, damp air biting at her cheeks and nose.
She pushed open the door of Greenhouse Four and forced herself to think about Bubotubers.
Ordinarily, Hermione would have been grateful for the sweet, empty hours of the weekend. Ordinarily, she would have seized on the opportunity to finish off the last paragraph of her Potions essay, or to fill in another internship application, or to spend another few hours in the greenhouses. The work wasn't always easy, but sometimes that was better; she could forget about her nightmares, or the complete lack of communication from Ron, and when she was finished she would lean back in her chair and smile a satisfied smile.
Today, however, none of her usual tactics were working.
Ever since she had woken up and run down to the greenhouses, her mind kept straying back to Draco. The fading bruises on his cheeks had been bothering her all day. He'd been beaten – badly, by the looks of it, as Madame Pomfrey didn't usually leave bruises after her healing had finished.
What had happened to him? He was a good dueller, she knew – Voldemort had kept him from completing his seventh year for a reason – and unless he was fighting Hermione he was a resourceful opponent. Besides, she thought, a blush spreading across her cheeks, he was tall, lean and clearly much stronger than she'd supposed, if he'd been able to lift her like that. That would have made it much more difficult to get the better of him in a fist fight.
She hesitated for a moment, and then headed for Gryffindor Tower. She was there in minutes, and after she had climbed through the portrait hole and smiled her way out of Charlie Jackson's path, she headed straight for the girls' dormitories.
Ginny was sitting on her bed again, as though she hadn't moved since the last time they'd seen each other. She was poring over an essay, textbooks strewn around her and ink splattered across the sheets. She looked up, saw Hermione coming in and sprang off her bed to hug her friend, knocking over her ink bottle in her enthusiasm.
"Hermione! Have you got a minute?"
Hermione smiled and perched on the end of Ginny's bed, looking down at the essay. "Potions?"
Ginny nodded. "The one about dragon's blood. Do you know why it can be used as an oven cleaner and an ink? Wouldn't it just leave marks everywhere?"
"Oh no, it just depends on what you mix it with. It's all to do with the mixing agent…" Hermione began, as Ginny reached for her quill and another piece of parchment. She scribbled down every word of Hermione's explanation and, when she had finished, beamed down at the piece of paper.
"Excellent! Thanks, Hermione, this'll really help!" She peered up at her, pushing her long red hair out of her eyes. "You look nice."
Hermione blinked in surprise. "Do I?"
Ginny laughed. "Of course you do! All sort of…full, and whole."
Hermione laughed too. "You sound like I've grown back an arm, or something."
Ginny was not listening. She was squinting at Hermione in an incredibly suspicious way, her brown eyes narrowed.
"You're not pregnant, are you?"
Hermione almost fell off the bed. "What? No!"
"Because pregnant women are supposed to look like that."
"I'm not pregnant, Ginny! I just had a good night's sleep."
Ginny grinned at her. "Bet Ron will be pleased to hear that!"
Hermione tried to keep smiling. She could feel it slipping, and from the way Ginny was looking at her – her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed – she knew that it was showing.
"You have heard from Ron, haven't you?"
She shook her head.
"Hermione, are you OK?"
She nodded, as brightly as she could, and immediately launched into the story of Draco's mysterious bruises to stop Ginny looking at her with pity in her eyes. Of course, she altered it a little – she did not tell Ginny that Draco had spent the night in her room, and made it sound more as if she'd noticed the bruises while passing him in the corridor. By the time she had finished her story, Ginny's eyebrows had disappeared into her flaming red hair.
"You think he's being bullied?" she said, "Draco Malfoy, of all people, is being bullied?"
Hermione nodded.
"I don't know what to say," said Ginny, running her hands through her hair, "but I suppose I can see why. After everything he's done, people are going to be mad at him. Still, I suppose he had it coming, if you think about it. He's lucky he hasn't been prosecuted for what he did to the Khong family."
A chill ran down Hermione's spine as she thought about the Khong family. She could still remember the news story from the Daily Prophet…
"But he really does seem like he's trying to change," she said, pushing it from her mind, "he actually apologised for all the things that happened at Malfoy Manor, even though none of them were his fault. I…I just think it's unfair for someone not to be given a second chance when they're trying so hard to make it work. You're sure you haven't heard anything?"
Ginny shook her head, her eyebrows still raised.
"You seem awfully concerned about Draco Malfoy," she said, and Hermione could feel the coldness seeping out from her words. She blushed.
"Well, I have to be. I'm Head Girl, it's part of my job to look after the students."
Ginny leaned back on her pillows, watching Hermione carefully, but she said nothing more.