Hermione and Ginny had needed to cancel tea with Mrs. Weasley on that Saturday a few months before. As school had gotten busy, they had kept putting it off. At this point, Hermione was sure, Mrs. Weasley had heard what was going on from the boys. Ginny had informed Hermione that her mother had extended an open invitation for that tea, when they could break away from the school. Ginny had told her that Mrs. Weasley had assured her daughter that they only needed to let her know when they were coming, and she would make sure the house was empty.
Even though all of the Weasley children had graduated, it seemed as if there were always one of them passing through the Burrow at any given time, day or night. Normally Mrs. Weasley delighted in that fact, Hermione was sure. Even so, both women were starting to feel the guilt of putting it off. Hermione would see if Ginny would like to accompany her to Hogsmeade that weekend to pick up her costume for the Halloween ball, and then slip away for the long over-due tea.
As Hermione had just dismissed her last class of the day, on Wednesdays it was the Slytherin and Ravenclaw 7th years, she had about 2 hours until dinner. Moving through the halls to the hospital wing, Hermione allowed her mind to wander to the topic of her current problem – her Slytherin men. She had finally brought Ginny in on the plan, and her red-headed best friend was positively filled with mirth over the whole thing. The summary of Ginny's excited tirade had been along the lines of "About time!" Hermione would even go so far as to say that Ginny was more excited than she to see the men's reactions to her Halloween costume.
Ginny had helped her hash out the details of the costume and the plan. The costume itself had to be subtle enough to satisfy her Slytherins, and certainly appropriate to wear into the Great Hall filled with her students. She knew the men wouldn't show much of their reaction at the ball. The after was the part Ginny had been most helpful with.
During this planning, Ginny had been careful to discuss how Hermione really thought she could handle the progression of the relationship to a more intimate level. Hermione had assured her friend that she had spent plenty of time thinking about just that. Hermione had admitted that had it been anyone else, in any other situation, she would not have been ready for such a step. It had been only four months since that night. However, it was those two men. Severus and Draco, the two men she had already been in love with when it happened, the two men who had been the ones to help her heal. Hermione had made it clear that she was not entirely over it, not yet even able to refer to it in anything other than generalities. She did not doubt, however, that the continued comfort and care her men showed her would continue her on the path of healing.
One hall away from the hospital wing, Hermione heard one of her students calling for her. When she turned to look, it was one of her 7th year Slytherins. Tobias Flint, the younger brother of the Marcus Flint she had known in school. The young man tried hard in her class, but she well understood why he struggled. After all, both his mother and older brother were rotting away in Azkaban, and his father had already been given the Dementor's Kiss. If she wasn't mistaken, he was living with an elderly aunt.
"Professor Granger! I'm glad I caught you! I had a question about tonights homework, if you have a moment?" The young man, admittedly blessed with a bit more charisma than his brother, jogged down the hall to catch up with her. She waited patiently, but her nerves began to speak to her. She would still get a bit nervous when alone with any male older than about 13, and she was acutely aware that they were alone in the hallway.
"Mr. Flint, I would be glad to answer your question, but I only have a moment. I have a meeting with Madam Weasley to get to." Ginny didn't know she was coming, of course, but for some reason Hermione felt better telling him someone was expecting her.
"Of course Professor! It's just that, I finally understood muggle electricity, but I still can't understand how muggles can make pictures move like we can on their telly-vision." He had moved closer to her than she was comfortable with, but still within an appropriate distance according to the social norm. What she didn't realize was that she was taking tiny steps back from him, and he was slowly pushing her into a corner.
"What is important, Mr. Flint, is to remember that electricity allows the television to work, but it is not how it works. Through a process that we are not worried about, muggles take a lot of still pictures, they refer to as "frames", that are only slightly different from each other, and play them very quickly in sequence. When they play these frames fast enough, you get the movement." Hermione realized then how close she had gotten to the wall, and that her student had led her there. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stop her body from trembling. "If that is all, Mr. Flint, I really must be going." She cursed herself inwardly when she couldn't stop a nervous tone from entering her voice.
"Now, Professor, that's not what you really want, now is it?" Flint's voice had dropped in both tone and volume. He stepped forward until her back met the wall, then moved into her personal space.
"E-excuse me? Mr. Flint, you need to back away from me and return to your common room." Hermione hoped she managed to pull off an authoritative tone, but through the fear beginning to chill her veins she couldn't be sure. She could feel the urge to hyperventilate, and was unsure how long she could control her breathing.
"Now Professor, you've been flirting with me all term. Surely you aren't going to play coy now. We are alone, you don't have to pretend!" As he spoke, he placed an arm on either side of her shoulders and moved close enough that she could feel his hot breath on her face. Her body was trembling uncontrollably now, and she could feel the tears building up behind her eyes.
"Mr. Flint, you have no idea what you are talking about! If you do not back away and leave right now I will take points, and I will be discussing with Professor Snape just how many detentions you will be serving!" The blood was pounding so loud in her ears, and she could hear the owls in the woods, the wind through the leaves, feel the leaves and mulch beneath her feat. She almost couldn't see the boy over her memories, and she felt the first tears begin to fall from her eyes.
When he lent forward and kissed her, Hermione was completely back in the woods. A scream escaped her throat, and she kneed her assailant in his most delicate parts and took the opportunity to run while he was bent over in pain. She couldn't see where she was running. All Hermione could see were the woods around her, all she could here was her heart pounding in her ears.
Suddenly, she ran into something solid, and his arms closed around her. In her panic she could not see that it was Draco, and so she screamed and struggled, striking where she could. She could not hear Draco calling to her, nor did she hear him cast a silence bubble around them.
*~*~*~*~*POV Shift*~*~*~*~*
Draco was heading up to the hospital wing to find out if Ginny knew where Hermione was. She hadn't been in her rooms after he returned from his last class like she normally was. As Severus still had once more class for the day, he figured she might have gone to see Ginny. He couldn't help but think of the two things that were most commonly on his mind these days. Both his ex-lovers, both people he loved deeply, both Hermione and Severus. Severus was near driving him mad, what with his own version of wishy-washy affection.
For anyone who did not know Severus well, and that was most everybody, you wouldn't be able to see anything. Draco, however, had once been the man's lover and was even now his best friend. He could see the indecision within Severus during the moments the man allowed a bit of his control to slip. During those moments, he could easily see the man's feelings for their Hermione, and perhaps only a little more difficult to see were his feelings for Draco himself.
He was battling his own emotions when it came to Hermione and Severus. Spending most of their time together only served to further cement his feelings towards them both. Pure-blood that he was, he knew full well that triumvirates were, while not common, perfectly acceptable. His own Great-Grandparents were part of one, and that all three had taken the name Malfoy. Family legend had it that his oldest uncle and his father were actually fathered by one grandfather, while his aunt and youngest uncle were fathered by the other.
It was his personal opinion that triumvirates were how pure-bloods got away with interbreeding so damn much. The problem was that Hermione had been raised by muggles, and he knew that threesomes were not so easily accepted in the muggle world. He was sure that it was something that had never occurred to her, and he was also sure that when she was ready for an intimate relationship, she would choose Severus, and he would be left in the cold. It hurt his heart, but anything to see her happy.
When he was almost to his destination, he heard their Hermione's scream. He took off running in the direction of the fear filled sound. He rounded the corner and saw her running in his direction. Her tear stained face, and the abject fear radiating from her worried him. What had frightened her so?
She did not appear to see him, and this was confirmed when she ran full into him, and began to scream and fight as his arms closed around her. She did not hear as he tried to call to her, but kept fighting. He managed to get his wand into one hand, and cast a localized silencing spell around them. Tucking it away, he picked up her fighting form, and began to run toward the dungeons. He needed Severus.
*~*~*~*~*POV Shift*~*~*~*~*
Severus was stalking around the classroom, snarking at the third year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs as they worked on their potions. He suddenly got a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach, and moved to his desk. On it waited a small talisman keyed to his chambers. It would glow if his chambers had been entered without his knowledge. At the moment, it was glowing a dark angry red.
Twirling around, he barked out orders for the students to cover their potions and put them in stasis, and then to leave. Without waiting to see that his orders had been carried out, he hurried out of the classroom heading to his personal chambers. Of course it did not appear as if he were hurrying to his students. As always he moved with what his students often referred to as bat-like grace.
He did not know what to expect as he entered his chambers, but it certainly was not Draco and Hermione in a Silence Bubble, Hermione fighting Draco like a hell-cat, screaming and crying. There was already a bruise on Draco's cheek, and a small trickle of blood dripping out of his nose. It did not take him long to figure out that Hermione was having a flashback. He could not help but wonder what, exactly, had triggered it, as she had been doing so well. He quickly erected a silence spell around his quarters, and dispelled the one Draco had cast. The terrified screams of the woman he loved were like an arrow to his heart as he joined Draco in trying to calm her down. However, it soon became apparent that she was not going to calm down.
"Draco, I've got her. In the potions cabinet should be a sleeping potion. Get it and help me get it down her throat." Severus raised his voice to be heard over her screaming, and as soon as Draco was sure he had a grip, Draco darted over to the afore mentioned cabinet. It didn't take him long to find the potion they wanted, and returned to their side. It was long enough for Hermione to get a good hit in to Severus' own face. It took them a moment, but they finally managed to get her to drink the potion without choking.
Opposite to her fighting, she slipped gently into slumber, relaxing in their arms. Together they laid her down on the couch. Severus turned to Draco, a questioning look on his face.
"I have no idea, Sev. I was heading up to the hospital wing, figuring she went up to see Ginny after class. I heard her scream, and she literally ran into me. You can tell that she didn't know who we were, nor could she hear us. What in the 9 hells triggered this!" They both dropped onto the other couch, exhausted. Severus waved his wand, summoning a house elf. A little female popped in.
"How can Pfixy help Sirs?"
"Fetch the Headmaster. Tell him we need him immediately."