A week after she woke up, Hermione decided she needed to tell Harry the truth about what had happened. Ron already knew about her relationship with Draco, and she felt awful about making him keep her secret from Harry, not to mention his constant pestering about the vagueness of her answers surrounding her time in the Hospital Wing.
It was also getting harder and harder to come up with excuses when she was spending time with Draco. They had decided that to make it easier on both of them to not push her past her sexual threshold, they should only spend time together in public places. This frustrated Hermione, but to make up for it they had been finding creative ways to spend more time together, even if it was in the presence of others.
In the library, Draco would snarl at anyone trying to sit at his table until Hermione showed up, at which point there would be no empty seats left besides those near him. They conveniently both had timing conflicts that forced them to work tutoring and patrol shifts together as Head Boy and Girl. Once, Hermione even faked a relapse of her illness so that Draco could spend the day in the great hall with her catching her up on missed assignments and making sure she was alright, as was his duty as Head Boy of course.
However, enough was enough, Hermione wanted to be able to tell her friends where she was going without lying and to take her meals with Draco if she wanted, and that meant telling Harry about their relationship. A week after she was released from the Hospital Wing she decided it had to be done.
That day Hermione waited for the perfect opportunity to arise when she could tell Harry gently the truth about Draco and her illness. At breakfast, he was too concerned with a fight with Ginny and she didn't want to further upset him. Or so she told herself. Then when they made up shortly after they finished eating, Hermione had to drag Harry away from Ginny's embrace and tug him along running so they wouldn't be late for Potions. They had a difficult assignment during class and Hermione convinced herself that mid-lesson was an inappropriate time for confessions anyway, and that lunch was more fitting for that sort of thing.
Sitting next to Harry at the Gryffindor table, Hermione was about to convince herself that dinner was much more of a "confess your relationship with your friends enemy" type meal when Harry asked her directly what had caused her illness for the first time all week. Before that, he had skimmed around the point, asking indirectly about her diet or her exercise and stress levels, but never wanting to intrude her comfort zone. However, when he turned to her and said "Mione, I've been avoiding this all week, but I hate that you are hiding something this big from me. Why were you in Hospital for so long? Should I be worried? Are you alright?" she couldn't ignore him any longer.
"Well you see Harry…" she stalled.
"Hermione, don't lie to me any more, I'm worried about you." Harry turned towards her on the bench and gently placed a hand on her shaking shoulder.
Hermione's felt her eyes grow hot with her tears in anticipation of his anger. For the first time since her flirtation with Malfoy had started, she thought seriously about how her actions were going to affect Harry and his feelings. Realizing that she had put her lustful teenaged desires before her friend's feelings caused a lump to form in her chest.
She forced out her next sentence, pushing each word past the growing ball of anxiety. She made herself raise her eyes to meet his. "I've been seeing Draco Malfoy."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "No," he stated simply. "No, you couldn't, you wouldn't. Not you."
Hermione swallowed a sob as the tears that had threatened earlier began to form again. "Please Harry, don't be upset. He cares about me, deeply. And I care about him! That's all that should matter."
Harry shook his head violently, "He's the son of a death eater Mione! Not to mention a complete git. Think of all the things he has said to you over the years! How many times has he insulted us, insulted you! He's dangerous!"
His voice was becoming louder as he worked himself into a fury. Heads turned from all around the great hall to listen into the fight between two members of the Golden Trio. Malfoy noticed Hermione's flustered state and turned towards the squabble as well.
Harry stood up, towering over her as he continued to rave. "So is that how you ended up in the Hospital Wing? You wouldn't have told me about the two of you if he weren't involved. Did he hit you? Hex you?"
Ron stood up then and put a hand on Harry's shoulder to calm him. "Harry, come on, let's go back to the common room. You can think on it and then talk with Mione when you are calmed down, privately." Harry just shot him a glare and Ron backed up raising his hands in the air in surrender.
Lifting her hands to pull him back to his seat by his sleeves Hermione responded to Harry in an angry whisper, "Don't be ridiculous! Calm down, sit, and I can explain. It was an accident really, he didn't know that the spell could have these effects…"
She was cut off by Harry's large guffaw. "Don't kid yourself Hermione, he knew exactly what he was doing. If he messed up the spell it was that it didn't finish you off…"
Hermione stood up at that, "It wasn't that type of spell! Now if you'd just listen to me for once instead of so rudely interrupting you'd know that all he was doing was trying to make me feel good, to make me happy…" The rest of her words were lost on Harry who was turning beet red beside her.
"You slept with him?" Harry shouted, causing any of the remaining students not listening in already to turn their heads. Draco calmly rose to his feet and stepped away from the table, his eyes hard and focused on the dark haired boy calling currently shouting at his Hermione across the hall.
"I can't talk to you when you're like this. I'm going back to my dorms, you can find me when you've calmed down." Hermione turned to leave but Harry grabbed her arm and yanked her back to him.
"Don't you walk away from me, I'm not the one who betrayed the trust here. You don't get to walk away!"
Hermione stiffened under his firm grip. "Harry James Potter, you let go of my arm right now. What I do with my personal time and my body is my business, I don't have to get approval from you first." She said through gritted teeth.
Harry threw back his head and let loose what would later be described by students as a maniacal laugh. "I don't know you at all. You're not Hermione anymore. You may look the same, but you've changed. You used to be a loyal friend, but now you're nothing more than a Slytherin whore."
At his words, the great hall erupted into chaos. Shouts and gasps could be heard from every table; Hermione's voice one of the loudest among them as she yanked her arm from his tight grasp and berated Harry for his small mindedness and lack of respect. Ron was at her side, shouting about friendship and loyalty while Hermione occasionally nodded her agreement.
Meanwhile, Malfoy was making his way to the Gryffindor table from his own with quick, long strides, his eyes never leaving Harry as he advanced. As soon as he appeared behind Hermione, the hall fell silent. Only Hermione and Ron who couldn't see him continued to yell.
"And another thing Mr. All Mighty Potter!..." Hermione's rant stopped abruptly when she felt Malfoy's solid hand on her shoulder.
"Malfoy…" Harry started his hand starting to inch towards his back pocket where he kept his wand.
Malfoy held up his hands. "I'm not here to fight you, Potter. So you can put down your wand."
Harry dropped his hand to his side and shot Draco a quizzical look. "What are you playing at Malfoy?"
Malfoy took a step towards Harry, his voice low and threatening. "I'm not here to fight you now. This is merely a warning. If you lay a hand on Granger ever again, I will personally relieve you of the burden of those peas you claim are testicles between your legs. If you so much as speak badly about her, make no mistake, I will find out, and I will have you on your knees begging for mercy faster than you can form an apology in that daft head of yours. Do not underestimate me on this, Potter. "
Harry's eyes met Malfoy's as they fought for dominance. After a heated moment, Harry lowered his head. "I mean nothing by it. Hermione knows I would never hurt her."
"Then we have something in common." Malfoy turned to Hermione then, extending his hand, which she took without pause.
"Harry, I am truly sorry that you found out this way, but I'm happy, and I want you to be happy for me." Hermione shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the rest of the great hall, but was grateful that the pressure of so many eyes might make Harry more readily accept her apology.
"I am Mione, it'll just take some time getting used to, that's all." Harry offered her a small smile.
"Take your time, Harry. I understand." Hermione smiled back and him and then turned her face up towards Draco's. "Shall we get going? I have something I want to talk to you about before class."
Draco nodded, sensing something was wrong under the surface of her smile. 'Well this should be fun…' He thought to himself as they walked out of the hall hand in hand, leaving the rest of the Hogwarts students to whisper and gossip about the ruckus that had taken place.