Disclaimer: I own nothing Harry Potter
A/N: Here is the next chapter for you guys with a little more Draco/Hermione interaction. Hope you all enjoy! Don't forget to leave me a review they help to inspire me!
The next morning Hermione made her way down to breakfast with the boys who were discussing who they thought would be the next DADA teacher. They didn't seem to notice Hermione's silence. She knew that she should be ecstatic about being back with her two best friends but she couldn't shake the feeling that she just didn't belong anymore.
She had always known that she was the odd one out in their group, she was intelligent and a book worm, they were well, not stupid but definitely lazy when it came to school work and it seemed all they cared about was sports. In fact she was sure Ron would spontaneously combust if he ever actually read a real book. But she had never felt this disconnected from them before.
Was the only reason that she had found out she was Voldemort's daughter? Or was it more than that? Had she simply outgrown her two best friends? She couldn't be sure; all she knew was that she found herself longing to be in the company of someone who appreciated her for more than her ability to do their homework for them.
She trailed behind the boys as they entered the Great Hall and ran into them when they abruptly stopped.
"What the…?" But Hermione wasn't able to finish her thought as she followed the boy's eyes to the heads table.
Sitting there amongst the other teachers was none other than Lucius Malfoy. Her stomach dropped as her suspicions from last night were confirmed. Ron had turned a nasty purple color, clenching his fists and mumbling profanities under his breath. Harry just stood stalk still fury evident in his eyes.
Before Hermione could do anything to stop him Harry marched straight up to Dumbledore. But before Harry could say anything Dumbledore raised his hand to stop him.
"Mr. Potter I think it would be best if you went and ate your breakfast. Anything you need to say can be said privately in my office at a later time." He gave a Harry a meaningful look and turned back to continue his conversation with Professor Flitwick. Harry stared at the back of Dumbledore's head still fuming. Hermione grabbed his arm and went to pull him away.
"Don't touch me!" Harry yanked his arm away from Hermione and roughly pushed past her. She gripped the chair closest to her to stop herself from stumbling.
She stared after him the hurt evident in her eyes. Dumbledore seemed to have either missed the incident or was simply choosing to ignore it.
"Are you quite alright Ms. Granger?" She whipped her head around to see that Lucius Malfoy was the one addressing her.
She nodded and quickly turned around and walked over to her house table choosing to sit next to Ginny rather than with the boys who were a few seats down.
"You okay Mione?" Ginny inquired.
"Yeah I'm fine." It came out sharper than she had meant it and she instantly regretted it. She liked Ginny she really did.
"If you ever need to talk just come find me okay?" Ginny laid her hand on Hermione's arm and looked at her with worry.
"Thanks Gin." Hermione went back to her breakfast and attempted to force herself to eat a bit of toast.
Soon enough the schedules were being passed around and she heard various groans coming from the students around her. She glanced to her own schedule and saw what the problem was. First class of the day was double potions with the Slytherins followed immediately by DADA also with the Slytherins.
Well this certainly was looking to be a cheery start to the year. She sighed and rested her head in her hands feeling a rather large headache coming on. Hermione felt an odd sensation like she was being watched. She looked up and scanned the hall when her eyes reached those familiar grey ones. Draco was looking at her oddly enough with a small amount of concern.
She shook her head slightly sure she had been imagining it and rose to leave the table. Nobody noticed as she slipped out of the hall, or at least she had thought. She got three floors up before she heard someone calling her name quietly.
She turned around and saw that Draco had followed her. "What do you want Malfoy?" She had enough to deal with right now did he really need to add to it right now.
"Relax, Granger. I have a letter for you." He held out an envelope to her. She took it quickly shoving it into her bag.
"Um…thanks." She said slightly flustered.
"Look Granger I'm just as happy about this situation as you are but we don't have a choice so maybe you should stop moping before you start attracting attention to yourself." With that he turned on his heel and walked back down the hall.
Ugh, why do boys have to be so frustrating! She continued up the hall and reached Gryffindor tower. She still had 3o minutes before she had to be at Potions so she made her way to her dorm and plopped on her bed pulling out the envelope from her bed.
Daughter,
By now you will know that Lucius Malfoy has joined the Hogwarts staff. I did not feel that your training would be continued enough with the regular class curriculum so I thought it would be beneficial for Lucius to take the post.
I still expect regular letters from you to inform me of your progress.
Sincerely your Father.
Hermione crumpled up the letter and threw it into the air and shot a spell at it which incinerated it.
He was still trying to control her life! Deep down she knew he would but that didn't make it any easier. He just had to go that one step further to keep her under his thumb. She was so angry! She wanted to throw things and cry and just give in to the fury. But she knew that she couldn't, she had to regain control.
She had to put on a fake smile and go to class and pretend that everything was okay. She had to pretend that on the inside she wasn't screaming or wanting to pull her hair out. No, she had to go out there just like normal like her entire world wasn't crashing down around her.
She took three deep breaths, squared her shoulders, and left the room.
When she reached the dungeons there was already a crowd of students waiting for the door to be opened. She quickly found Harry and Ron and walked over to them. Harry was still in a bad mood and just glared at the door as if he was hoping it would burst into flames. Ron seemed to be doing a bit better.
"Hey Mione where did you run off to?" Ron asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I uh… forgot my potions book so I ran up to get it." Ron seemed to accept this answer and just nodded.
The doors opened and the students filed in. Everyone took their seats and waited for the class to start. Snape was his normal sourly self throughout the class. Taking points from the Gryffindor's and awarding points to the Slytherins both for virtually no reason.
Neville melted another cauldron and Hermione was finishing up their potion mostly by herself as usual. Maybe it was lack of sleep or lack of food but Hermione found herself getting more and more irritated with every word out of Harry and Ron's mouths. They were once again arguing about quidditch, the final straw was when during their argument Ron bumped into the cauldron spilling some of the potion on to her lap causing her legs to break out with boils.
"God damn it Ron! Watch what you're doing!" Her eyes began to well up with tears as the pain of the boils increased.
"Sorry Mione I didn't mean to." To his credit Ron did look pretty ashamed but Hermione was past her limit.
"Of course not, you never mean to do anything! Next time make the damn potion yourself! I am sick of doing everything for you two!"
"Mrs. Granger! 50 points from Gryffindor for your language, and detention this Saturday. Mr. Malfoy escort Ms. Granger to the hospital wing and get her out of my sight." Snape was glaring at her nostrils flaring at her outburst.
"Fine!" Hermione turned and limped out of the classroom with Draco following close behind.
Once they were out of classroom she felt Draco grab her arm and wrap it around his shoulders and wrapped an arm around her waist helping her to walk. She looked around to make sure there were no students in sight, as soon as she was sure that they were alone she spoke.
"Thanks Draco." After their conversation this morning she had had some time to reflect on what he said. He was right; he was in the same boat as her, being forced to marry someone he barely knew. Perhaps it wouldn't be so terrible if they at least continued their friendship from the summer.
"Don't mention it." He gave her a small squeeze. "You know I hate to admit it but I kind of miss our little study sessions."
Hermione laughed. "What sitting in silence while we each read? Oh yes it was so much fun." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. She winced when she stepped down wrong causing pain to shoot up her leg.
He gripped her a little tighter and shifted her so that he took on a little more of her weight. They continued on in silence until they were almost to the hospital wing at which time they separated.
"Well I should be getting back to class see you later Granger. He gave her a small smirk before turning and heading back toward the dungeons.
Hermione limped the rest of the way to the hospital wing and opened the door.
"My goodness! What in the world happened dear?" Madame Pomfrey rushed her into the closest bed.
"Potions accident." Hermione managed to grit out as the older woman dabbed a greenish liquid onto the boils causing them to burn even more.
Madame Pomfrey tutted as she worked on Hermione's legs. She wrapped them up and gave her a potion to help with the pain.
"Well young lady it looks like your going to be spending the night here. I want to keep an eye on those boils until I'm sure they've healed properly."
Hermione groaned. "But I'm going to miss the rest of my classes."
"I'm sorry young lady but I must insist." She gave Hermione another potion which she tossed back trying not to let the bitter liquid touch her tongue.
She began to feel drowsy as the potion began to take hold and she fell into deep sleep.
Tap Tap Tap. Hermione groggily opened her eyes looking around for the source of the tapping when she heard it again coming from above her head. She groaned and sat up. There was an owl at the window behind her bed. She turned slowly and opened up the window just enough to let the bird in. It must have been rather late, it was dark outside and there was no sign of the elderly mediwitch.
The black owl landed in her lap and hooted softly lifting up a leg to give her the letter that was attached. She took the offered note and gave the owl a couple pets.
"Sorry I don't have any treats for you." The owl gave an annoyed sounding hoot and took off again through the window.
Hermione opened the letter and smiled as she read it.
H,
If you want to continue our "reading together in silence" meet me in the room of requirement tomorrow night after dinner.
D.
Hermione smiled and folded up the letter and stuffed it into her bag that was hanging up next to the bed. She winced a little, the pain still in her legs. She glanced over to the side table and she found both a pain potion and a sleeping potion sitting there. She pinched her nose and took both before settling back into the bed and drifting off to sleep once again.