Disclaimer: Not mine, never been mine. I'm not making a single knut.
After dinner that night, Hermione and Harry rushed up to the staff table to greet their returning professor.
"Remus! How're you? I've missed you!" Hermione gushed when she saw him, and immediately threw her arms around him.
"Hey Hermione! And Harry! How've you both been?" Lupin said, hugging Hermione back while simultaneously shaking one of Harry's hands. "You both look great!"
"So do you, Remus. What've you been up to?" Harry asked.
"Oh, nothing incredibly important. It's been easier to get a job now that I have my Order of Merlin, but when Dumbledore told me about your other teacher, I practically begged him to let me return. I miss teaching," Remus replied, gazing wistfully around the hall.
"Welcome back, Professor Lupin," said a timid drawl to their side, and they turned to see Draco looking uncomfortable but trying to hide it, declining his head a fraction in a bow of sorts. They knew he probably felt weird seeing Remus after the horrible stuff he said to him as a student. Even after he joined the Light, Draco never really spoke to Remus.
Remus hesitated for a second as his eyes swept the three friends and then broke into an easy grin. "Thanks Draco. You're looking good too. Feel free to call me Remus when not in class, as well. We all fought on the same side long enough."
Draco's face lit up in a smile and he joined into the conversation with a practiced ease. "Of course I look good; I always look good. But it's always nice to hear it."
Hermione and Harry just rolled their eyes and laughed.
"So do we get to know what you'll be starting us off with?" Hermione eagerly asked.
"Geez, 'Mione, give the man some room to breathe. He just got here; he probably doesn't have a grindylow in his suitcase," Charlie said, coming up to the group. "Hello Remus, it's good to see you again."
"And you. How's Molly?"
"Good, good; she's a strong woman. And Bill is there to help her," Charlie answered.
"There will be time to see Professor Lupin tomorrow in class, Mr.'s Potter and Malfoy, and Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said, and they all turned to see him smiling down at them.
There was a round of 'Yes, sir's and the three friends waved goodbye to their professors.
XXX
The end of the week could not have come sooner for Hermione. When she awoke on Saturday morning, she wanted nothing more than to just lie in bed all day. Even with Remus being back, the week had been hell. Everywhere she went she was tormented by students all wanting to know about Snape and she was tired of it.
Finally after about 15 more minutes, she pulled herself out of bed and into the shower. She decided she would go see Charlie or Remus today; lay low of the other students.
When she was finished getting dressed, she walked out to the commons area and was greeted with yelling.
"You're raving!" Harry yelled across the room to Draco. He looked horrible; he had bags under his eyes and stubble covered the lower half of his face.
"Well you weren't saying that when my cock was in your mouth, were you?" Draco shot back.
Hermione saw Harry's hand twitch towards his wand and automatically put a shield charm up between them.
"What in Hades is going on here?" Hermione shot at both boys. When neither one answered, she rolled her eyes and asked them again.
"Nothing," Harry finally said, turned on his heel, and stormed out the door.
Disabling her shield charm and stowing her wand back up her sleeve, Hermione hesitantly walked towards Draco, scared by the murderous look on his face.
"Draco?" she asked apprehensively. He ignored her as he kept his eyes on the door.
Draco, who had also had his wand in hand, pointed it at Hermione like a lightning strike; she didn't even have time to flinch. He said something under his breath, and then suddenly he was shooting at everything in the room. Nothing escaped his wand; his beanbag chair exploded, picture frames shattered, the table lay in splinters…he missed nothing. There was glass and debris flying through the air and Hermione instinctively covered her head. After a few moments she realized that nothing was hitting her; in fact, there was a perfect circle around her that was free from debris. Suddenly, his muttered words made sense; he had put an adapted shield charm on her before he started his tantrum so she wouldn't get hurt.
However, it seems he had forgotten to shield himself and as the dust settled, she saw him on the floor, slumped over on his side. She disabled the shield he had put around her and ran to his side, dropping to the ground as she reached him.
As she attempted to roll him over, she noticed dozens of cuts and scrapes covering his body. She was already wandlessly Summoning her Dittany bottle when she saw a four inch shard of glass protruding from his chest, probably from a damaged picture frame. There were also pieces of splintered wood stuck under parts of his skin, including a piece in his side.
Immediately, she sent a message patronus from her wand to Madam Pomfrey and set to work, thankful once again that she had taken the medi-training courses with Draco prior to the war. She started by scanning the area around the piece of glass with her wand, as well as the wood pieces to make sure it hadn't splintered off. If it did, it would be harder to fix, and would have to be extracted before she started to repair him. The spots on his body that glowed blue showed where pieces had splintered so she started on those first. She had just removed the large piece of wood and the splinters around it from his side when Madam Pomfrey came through the fireplace.
Right away, the Mediwitch dropped to her knees to assess the damage and Hermione started to explain what had happened while continuing the treatment.
"I'm guessing he's unconscious, judging by the bump on his head," Pomfrey said, nodding at the large purple bruise that was starting on the blonde's head. She continued check the rest of the harm before starting on the piece of glass. Once that was safely removed, the mediwitch declared him safe to move and levitated him to the fireplace, where all 3 went through.
In the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey levitated Draco onto a cot and the two girls set to work. After another quarter hour, they finally had him stable and Madam Pomfrey set a headache potion on his bedside table.
"He's going to have a nasty headache when he wakes up. I was able to minimize the bump on his head, and he doesn't have a concussion so he's safe to sleep, but it still won't feel nice. The potions we gave to him will probably knock him out for the rest of the day anyway, since they need time to work. It was good you were there to find him; I believe we were able to stop or minimize scarring at least. You can stay here with him if you like," the mediwitch told Hermione.
Hermione just nodded and sank into a chair by his bed to wait out the time until he woke up.
XXX
It had to be late, Hermione could feel that much. She woke in an uncomfortable position, and for a few seconds was confused to where she was and tried to think through the slight headache she felt. It dawned on her that she was uncomfortable because she was curled in a chair next to a hospital bed, and the headache must be from lack of food that day. She must've fallen asleep waiting for Draco to wake.
Yawning, she thought she felt eyes on her, so she opened hers and moved them over to the patient and was momentarily startled to find him staring back at her, lying on his side.
"Hey stranger," he said.
"Hey yourself," she replied and moved her chair closer to him. For a few minutes no one spoke. Finally, Hermione decided she would die of starvation if she didn't eat soon and quietly summoned a house elf and asked him to bring them some food. In a flash, Draco had some soup on his table, and Hermione had some sandwiches and pumpkin juice.
Settling back comfortably in her chair, Hermione started eating a sandwich and looked at the blonde.
"So," she said in between mouthfuls, "what happened?"
Ignoring his food, Draco just shrugged. "I lost my temper. I have a habit of doing that. You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"No, I didn't. Thanks for that. But you really should control your temper," she answered idly.
"Well, usually I don't get hit with rebound things. Occasionally it's happened and Severus has had to knit me back up, but normally I'm fine. The reducto spell is one of my favorites because it lets me get out aggression."
"Well, it looks like Madam Pomfrey and I were able to leave you with little or no scars, but you had some bad cuts. We had to administer quite a few healing potions to help knit you up from the inside that our spells couldn't reach. Madam Pomfrey wants you to stay overnight, obviously, and I believe she said the next day or so to make sure no shards or splinters were missed. The potions will tell us," Hermione told him, and drank from her glass. "So, what was the argument about?"
Draco rolled on his back and stared at the ceiling. "Nothing important."
"Sure. You just blow up the living room and almost kill yourself in the process all because you're upset, but it's not important," she said nonchalantly.
Sighing, Draco continued to stare at the ceiling. Finally, after about a minute he started to speak.
"Harry's…angry. He's angry at me, at himself, at life…at everything in general. He accused me of 'hoodwinking' him into sleeping with me. He said he wasn't in his right mind and it was a mistake. I told him that he's still running, but now he's running from himself," Draco told the ceiling, pretending Hermione wasn't there. "I told him that I might've believed him, except that ever since that day we've been close. Stolen kisses here and there, casual brushing of hands against the others' hand or thigh or back, those kinds of things."
"And apparently he didn't take it well," Hermione said to her cup, giving Draco the courtesy of not staring at him when he was obviously uncomfortable.
Laughing low, Draco said, "Not at all. He told me that the kissing was because he didn't know how to say no, and that the touching was in my head and all coincidence. I told him he was full of shit and if he was embarrassed to be gay or to be gay and seen with me then that was all he had to say. He yelled and said he wasn't gay, and I told him that it sure seemed that way when we were going at it in my room."
"Even in arguments, you never lose your wit, do you?" Hermione added in, laughing.
"Never. Anyway, I told him that he would just have to eventually admit he liked men, and that's about the time you walked in. He said I was raving, I came back with a remark about my dick, and bada bing bada boom, I'm lying in the Hospital Wing because I didn't put a shield charm on myself," Draco finished.
They sat for a few seconds in silence before it was broken.
"Do you think he'll come around? Not here to see me, but in his mind," Draco asked, still staring at the ceiling.
Looking at him finally, Hermione saw his eyes had glassed over. "I'm not sure; about either. Harry's very stubborn." She jumped when his fists came down on the bed.
"Dammit! What's his problem? Does he not realize that he's not the only one with issues? Does he think it's easy for me, being the son of a known Death Eater? Looking in the mirror and seeing him looking out at me, thanks to genetics that make me look like his god damn clone? Not being able to walk down the streets of London or Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley without getting insults hurled at me? Or better yet, hexes? Spit? I blended in with the Germans over the last year, and it was the first peace I'd gotten in years! Does he not realize how I feel trying to cope with that, and on top of it knowing I've been a fucking fag for years now?" Draco was trying to keep his voice low in case he woke the Mediwitch, and the low voice only made him sound more dangerous. He blinked and hot tears rolled down his face, and he swiped at them. "Does he not realize how amazing he is?"
"Of course he doesn't. He's been conditioned since childhood by his aunt and uncle to believe he's scum, and then he never truly got to have a normal childhood here because almost every year, Voldemort or someone seemed to be after him. I'm sure eventually he'll calm down," Hermione said, rubbing his arm soothingly.
"It doesn't bother me that he doesn't want me; that I could deal with in my own way. I just want to see him embrace life and himself for once. Would I love for it to be with me? Of course. I've wanted him since fifth year. I saw him riding his broom out on the field by himself when he was all moody that year, and he had his button down shirt open and looked so calm," Draco said, and his eyes glazed over for a second before shaking himself into the present. "But that's not the point. I just wanted him to look at who he is. I didn't want to force him."
"Draco, stop. You didn't force him. Trust me, I could hear you guys. F.Y.I, next time set a silencing charm on the door. There was nothing that sounded like rape in there. I think he's just confused. I can tell you care a lot about him, and I hope he comes around soon, because I agree with you completely. And for what it's worth, I'd love for him to come to you when he finally comes around."
"Thanks Hermione," Draco said hoarsely, and cleared his throat.
"Anytime sweetie, you know that."
"You can go back to the common room if you like. I'm feeling a little sleepy from the potions and that chair doesn't look comfortable," Draco told her, turning back on his side to look at her.
"You mean you're actually going to let me wander the castle on my own at night?" she said in mock surprise. He just smiled and she leaned down to give him a kiss on his head. "Get some sleep. Maybe she'll let you leave tomorrow."
"Let's hope."
"You sure you'll be ok here? Send a patronus to me if you want me to come back," she told him.
"I'll be fine," he told her and rolled his eyes. "Good night, Hermione," he said softly and watched her walk out of the Hospital Wing.
XXX
"Wow, Harry, you look horrible," Hermione said by way of greeting the next morning at breakfast. She found when she got back to her rooms that it was around 1 am, and she was able to fall back asleep until almost 7.
Harry just grunted and looked away. The stubble was thickening, and the bags under his eyes looked bigger.
"Couldn't sleep?" she prodded, trying to get anything out of him than noises. At the shake of his head she gave up and focused on her breakfast, noticing Harry eating nothing.
"Where's Malfoy? Doesn't he usually come down with you?" a voice to Hermione's right asked, and she looked to see it was Ginny. "Hey Harry!" She flashed Harry a dazzling smile.
"Usually, yeah, but unfortunately Draco isn't feeling well. He's in the hospital wing," Hermione told her, noticing Harry tense slightly in her peripheral vision.
"Oh man, is he ok?" the redhead asked.
"He should be fine. I was able to help him, and together Madam Pomfrey and I sorted him out. He should be getting released today, hopefully," she explained, carefully avoided looking at Harry when he stood up and mumbled something about going to fly.
Ginny waved goodbye to him, but he just kept walking.
"Ginny, you're not still after Harry, are you?" Hermione asked. Her friends face turned red.
"I was just being friendly. He is my friend, after all," Ginny said defensively. Hermione let the matter drop; all would reveal itself eventually she figured.
A few minutes later, Hermione was also done and leaving the Hall. She was wondering what she should do that day when she heard a voice calling her name. Turning, she saw Charlie walking in from the front doors.
"Hey, 'Mione. What's up?"
"Nothing, really; I was just trying to decide what to do with myself today. I thought about popping in to see how Draco is doing, but other than that I'm drawing a blank," she laughed.
"Perfect. Want to go to Diagon Alley with me? I need some supplies for class that they don't sell in Hogsmeade."
"Sure! Let me go get changed. I don't feel like looking like a student on a weekend."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes?" he asked.
"Perfect," she said, and waved goodbye as she went to her room.
Twenty-two minutes later, she was jogging down the stairs to the entrance hall. She had trouble figuring out what she should wear. Not knowing if they would have to travel into muggle London or not, she decided to stick with her favorite jeans and a simple black long sleeved thermal shirt. The shirt dipped perhaps a little too low, but in her defense she had worn the shirt for years and she had just barely started to really fill it out last year. A quick charm on her hair to make it smooth and she was gone.
XXX
"Ugh, it's so nice to be out of the castle. It's been so hectic lately," Hermione said, as she and Charlie walked down the cobbled road of Diagon Alley.
Charlie laughed and agreed with her. "I had to get special permission to take you out today, you know," he added.
Hermione just sighed. "Yes, I figured. Severus had mentioned that there's extra security on me. I'm not even allowed home for the holidays, assuming Lucius isn't stopped by then."
"Well, I must be pretty trustworthy to be allowed to take you around," Charlie said, puffing out his chest a little as he walked, making Hermione laugh.
"Sure. It has nothing to do with the fact that you're one of only 7 people, other than myself, who are aware of the problem or anything. You're right; it's your bravery," she said wryly as she stopped to look in the window of a bookstore.
Earlier in the week, after Professor Lupin had showed up, Dumbledore had filled him in on Hermione's problem, as well as Professor McGonagall. Hermione hated getting more people involved, but had to admit that she felt better not having to lie to Remus or McGonagall about her life anymore.
"Wow, you really know how to boost a man's ego, 'Mione," Charlie murmured and elbowed her, before grabbing her upper arm and dragging her away from the window display. They had been out for a couple hours now and Charlie suggested they go get some lunch. The purchases he had made were being shipped directly to the castle so they didn't have to carry them around.
They ended up going into Muggle London to eat (Charlie had also dressed in muggle attire, including a hooded sweater) and decided on a small diner. Hermione once again was surprised how easy it was to talk to Charlie.
Laughing at a joke he had made, Hermione started twirling her fork in her pasta. "You know, it was never this simple to talk to Ron," she said, bringing the forkful to her mouth.
Charlie looked a bit taken aback. "Really? You all seemed so close."
"Oh, we were," she assured him when she was finished chewing, "but more so Harry and Ron. I was just the third best friend. I could never sit and talk quidditch for hours on end like they did, and they could never sit and discuss books with me. I loved them both equally, but they were always closer to one another than to me."
"Yeah, I guess I could see that. I didn't get to see a lot of Ron's growing up since I was in Romania for so long. It's a bit regretful now, of course, but at the time it was everything I wanted," Charlie said, looking pensive, seemingly staring at a spot past Hermione. "Bill and I are about three years apart, so we went to school together. Percy and I were around three years apart, so he was also at school with me. I was also able to be at school with the twins for their first two years, since they were only two behind Percy. But Ron…Ron I never got to see much. So I wasn't really in the loop with you three."
"It wasn't your fault, really. You had your dream job," Hermione said, trying to placate him.
"Yeah, I know, but at what cost? I missed so much of Ron and Ginny's childhood that I can't get back. I can try to make it up to Ginny now, and be around for her. I live on the grounds and I constantly see her out of class, especially weekends, trying to see how she's doing or if she needs help. But I can't get that back with Ron. That's probably why I smother Ginny now."
"What could you have done though? You came by for holidays when you could, which was the only time you would've been able to see him anyway because we were at Hogwarts all year. And honestly, looking back, I think everyone was a bit out of depth when it came to advice for us. Our school years were vastly different than the years you went, or Bill or Percy or even the first two years for the twins. What would you have really been able to say or help with?" Hermione said, eating more.
"True, true," conceded Charlie, finishing the last of his sandwich.
They ate in companionable silence and as they were finishing, the waiter walked up.
"Would you or your beautiful girlfriend care for dessert?" he asked, laying on the charm thick in hopes of a tip.
Hermione and Charlie just looked at one another and started to laugh. Charlie declined and asked for the bill and five minutes later they were back out in the cold wind, both having cast silent warming charms on their person, wands concealed in their placed her hand in the nook of his arm and started to lead her back towards the Leaky Cauldron, where they then apparated back to the outer gates of Hogwarts.
Being a Sunday, there were hundreds of students everywhere on the grounds. They walked to the Quidditch pitch where groups of friends had taken to forming an impromptu Quidditch match and sat at the bottom of one of the stands to watch.
"You miss flying, don't you?" Hermione asked Charlie after a few moments. His eyes were fixed on the players, a fanatical gleam in his eyes.
"Yeah, sometimes. It's not the flying I miss so much as the game. Well, I guess it's both. But on the occasions that Bill and I would come home for whatever reason, it would always turn into a huge quidditch game. We even got Percy to play a few times. How's Harry doing, not being on the team this year?" Charlie asked, finally looking back to Hermione as a group of giggling first year girls trooped past to sit a ways away, looking at him.
"He's fine. I think it's good that he decided not to play. He still comes out to fly, obviously, just for fun. But he's still dealing with so much. I think it's comforting for him to be able to just fly with no worries of competition."
They sat for a few more seconds, and then Charlie looked around before starting again.
"How's…your other problem?" he asked, eyeing her meaningfully.
Hermione kept her eyes averted, and looked around the pitch for a while, spotting Ginny with some friends, looking over occasionally, before finally looking at Charlie.
"It's going fine. I haven't gotten any more letters from my friend, but Severus is working hard to help me. And it's nice having you and Remus to talk to about it as well," she said, a slight smile on her face. "I still worry constantly, though," she added.
"Why? Don't you think Severus"- he said with a slight sneer- "can defend himself?" Charlie asked, looking at the field once more. "I know how much you care for one another.
"I have the upmost confidence in Severus. I really care about him, actually. I respect him above everything, and he's already sworn that he will always be around to protect me from Malfoy; which is good, since Malfoy should remember how Severus gets when he's devoted to a task. It doesn't mean I don't fear for him though. Look what happened to my poor cat. Do you think I want to go open the door one day and see yours or Harry's or Draco's or Serverus' head in the next box? I feel guilty every day for involving anyone but myself. Especially now that Remus and Professor McGonagall are involved. If any one of you died trying to protect me from this…maniac…," she shook her head for a few seconds, "I would probably just do him a favor and off myself, except that he needs to be the one to do it, so it really wouldn't be a favor."
Charlie was laughing at her comment and was about to say something else when he was cut off by someone calling Hermione's name. They both looked around for the source and saw Harry zooming towards them on his broom. He startled the group of first year girls as he came down low over the stands, and landed in front of Hermione.
"Sorry…" Harry called at one of the first years who had almost toppled backwards, but not knowing her name, he looked to Hermione who mouthed "Emily" and he was able to finish his apology.
Finally, he looked at his best friend, his face thunderous. He looked even worse than he had that morning, and his frustration or anger just made it look worse.
"Why didn't you tell anyone you were going to Diagon Alley? Don't you know you're in danger?" he hissed, fighting to keep his voice low, still straddling his broom.
"I got permission, Harry, calm down," Charlie said, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"From whom?" he asked sharply.
"Dumbledore. Does that suffice?" Charlie said with slight frost.
"Wait, how did you know where I was if you didn't know he got permission?" Hermione asked sharply, eyeing him.
Harry seemed to start at the question, and looked as if he were searching for a suitable answer. It seemed his reflexes weren't up to their normal standard today; she rarely caught him by surprise nowadays.
Shifting his eyes so quick it was almost unnoticeable, Harry said, "That's not important."
"I would have to disagree with you, actually," Hermione retorted, starting to get annoyed.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is-" Harry cut off suddenly and looked around, eyes wild.
"Harry…?" Hermione asked cautiously, but Harry now had his wand out and was glancing around feverishly, and seemed to be muttering to himself and twitching slightly as if trying to shake a feeling.
Hermione glanced at Charlie's wary face and saw him slowly unsheathing his own wand. She was still trying to make out what Harry was muttering. He seemed to be asking himself a question. All she could understand of it was, "Do I take her?" and "should I stay and look?" She could make neither heads nor tails of it, so she gently laid her hand on his arm.
"Harry!" she said loudly. "What's wrong?"
His eyes finally snapped to her, then at Charlie and his now exposed wand, and back to Hermione.
Suddenly, he grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her down side-saddle on his Firebolt, as she yelped in surprise. His wand was level with Charlie's face faster than Charlie could raise his. The look on Harry's face was murderous; she'd only seen it during the final battle, and it scared her. It was a look that made blood run cold.
"Don't. Even. Move," Harry said dangerously low to Charlie, and shot into the sky with Hermione clinging to him for dear life.