Disclaimer: I own nothing Harry Potter.
A/N: Another chapter? Damn I'm on a roll! Well I hope you guys enjoy!
Hermione was released the next morning right before breakfast so she had a little time to herself. She walked up to the library and picked out a book before sitting in her usual spot towards the back next to a large bay window. She was completely engrossed in her book and didn't notice that someone had taken the seat directly in front of her until they cleared their voice.
Her head snapped up and she found herself face to face with Lucius Malfoy.
"Can I help you professor?" She said the last with a touch of distaste.
"Tsk tsk Ms. Riddle I would expect you to have a bit more respect than that for a professor." He smirked at her almost exactly the same way that Draco would. She looked around the room quickly when he had said her last name.
"It's Granger." She hissed.
"Don't worry I cast a silencing spell, no one but us can hear this conversation. You missed my class yesterday."
"I was in the hospital wing as I'm sure your son informed you." She had no idea where this conversation was going but she was hoping it would be over soon.
"Yes I had heard about that." He frowned. "The Dark Lord was not pleased to hear of it and sends his best wishes."
Hermione snorted. "I'm sure he wasn't."
Lucius considered her for a moment before speaking again. "Your father isn't as heartless as I'm sure you think he is. He is simply looking out for your best interests."
"Oh I have no doubt; after all why else would he send a babysitter to make sure I do exactly as he wants me to?"
Lucius chuckled. "Think what you will. By the way your detention on Saturday will be served with me at 8 pm. Sharp. Oh and one more thing Ms. Riddle. I assigned partners for a group project yesterday. Your partner is Pansy Parkinson, you are to research non-verbal counter spells at the end of term I expect you both to be able to perform them in front of the class which I'm sure will not be a problem for you."
In a sweep of his robes he turned and left the library. Hermione groaned, Pansy, really? He had to be joking; did he really think that they could so much as be in the same room as each other without wanting to rip each other to pieces?
The rest of her day went by slowly, she avoided the boys the best she could not wanting to deal with them today. She had a brief encounter with Pansy where they agreed to meet in the library after lunch on the weekends. Neither was particularly happy with the arrangement but they didn't have much of a choice.
Finally right before dinner the boys cornered her on her way to the Great Hall. She sighed as she realized that she couldn't avoid them any longer and turned to face them.
"Look I'm sorry for avoiding you but right now I just need some me time."
"Hermione we're really sorry about yesterday, but we're worried about you. You haven't been yourself since we got to Hogwarts." Harry said.
"I'm just going through some stuff right now. No I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry if I've been distant but I just need to sort this out on my own."
Ron seemed to accept this nodding and looking ashamed once again but Harry who had always been the more level headed one of the two seemed to be on the verge of yelling again.
"Fine, Hermione if you can't talk to us then maybe we should just leave you alone but don't expect us to come running at your beck and call because I am done trying. When you are ready to be a real friend again come and find me." He then turned and stormed into the hall Leaving both Hermione and Ron standing in shock.
"I'm sorry Mione I don't know what's got into him lately, I'll try to talk to him." Hermione nodded at Ron who began to walk away to try and catch up with Harry. Hermione stood there in the Hall as tears filled her eyes. She turned away From the Great Hall and ran. She ran and kept running not really knowing where she was going until she found herself on the 7th floor staring at a blank space of wall.
She began to pace in front of the wall repeating one phrase over and over in head. I need a place to vent, I need a place to vent. A door appeared in the wall and Hermione stepped through. She was surprised at what she saw in the room. It was very similar to the room when they were doing the DA.
There were practice dummies lining the walls and moving target floating around the room. On one wall were several book shelves which upon inspection held books on curses and counter curses. Many of them were surprisingly dark. Something that you would have never found in the Hogwarts Library.
Hermione squared her shoulders, pulled out her wand and set to work cursing everything in sight. Soon the moving targets began to fire at her and she was dodging, rolling and firing all at the same time. She was working up quite the sweat and lost track of time. She felt all her pent up anger, rage, and heart ache melt away as she blasted away the targets one at a time. They took on the faces of different people in her life. Voldemort, Bellatrix, Lucius, even Harry. Finally she incinerated the final target and collapsed in a heap on the floor.
A slow clap from behind her caused her to whip around pointing her wand at the intruder.
"Whoa don't fire!" Draco stood near the door hands in the air flashing his trademark smirk with a twinkle of humor in his eyes.
Hermione dropped her hand and walked over to a small couch that appeared near the book cases and collapsed into the plush cushions. Draco walked over and conjured a glass of water and handed it to Hermione sitting on the couch directly opposite of her.
"Well this is certainly a familiar scene." Draco said as he conjured himself another glass of water.
Hermione gave a weak laugh and sipped at her drink. The cold water soothing her dry throat.
"Bad day?" He inquired.
"You could say that." Draco nodded at her response and summoned a book from one of the shelves and began to read.
Hermione smiled as she watched him. He really was something else. Perhaps this whole thing wouldn't be as bad as initially imagined. At least they weren't at each other's throats any more.
"Can I help you?" Draco set down his book and Hermione realized that she had been caught staring.
"You know Harry and Ron would have pestered me until I fessed up what was wrong." Draco chuckled at this.
"Well it's a good thing I'm not them then isn't it? If you wanted to talk about it you would." He picked his book back up and continued to read.
Hermione smiled, summoning a book for herself and curled up on the couch to read.
A couple hours later Hermione looked up to the clock and gasped as she realized it was an hour past curfew. Draco saw her panic and put his book away.
"Come on I'll walk you back to your common room." Hermione nodded also putting her book down and grabbed her bag.
They walked in silence down the corridors, Hermione was reminded of their time back at the Manor. It was comfortable.
"So did you want to talk about it then?" Draco said quietly looking around to make sure there were no teachers around.
"It was just a stupid fight with Harry and Ron. They don't understand that sometimes I just need some space." She sighed and rubbed her temples as they walked.
Draco stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "You know I never did understand your friendship. You guys are polar opposites how did that even come about? If I remember correctly you guys pretty much hated each other at first."
"Yeah we kind of did, they said some pretty hurtful things. But they saved my life from that troll and we just sort of became friends after that."
"Shh!" Draco quickly pulled her into a small alcove behind a tapestry. They both remained very quiet as they heard footsteps not 5 feet away from them. When they were certain they had passed, they both breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't until then that they realized how close they were. Draco had pushed her against the wall and their faces were only inches apart. They were both breathing deeply and her hands were on his chest. They both stepped away from each other quickly neither looking the other in the eye.
"We should um…" Hermione mumbled.
"Right, let's go."
They both walked out into the hall and hurried up to the portrait of the fat lady where they awkwardly parted ways.
The rest of the week passed by quickly, Harry still wasn't talking to her and even Ron was keeping his distance. Classes went on as usual, and every night she would go to the room of requirement and blow off steam by blasting away targets. It made her feel much better than she could have ever imagined. Then Draco would show up and they would read in silence together although now they were much more careful about leaving before curfew.
Saturday came faster than she liked. Today was the day she would start working on her project with Pansy and the day of her detention with Professor Malfoy. After lunch Hermione slowly made her way up to the library.
She picked out a few books on non-verbal casting and sat down in her usual spot, cracking open one of the books while she waited. Even though she already knew a great deal about it and could even cast non-verbal fairly proficiently now a little bit of brushing up couldn't hurt.
After a few minutes Pansy arrived slamming down her bag on one the chairs.
Let's get a few things straight here Granger." Pansy began. Hermione stopped her for a moment knowing where this was going and cast a quick silencing spell and then motioned her to continue.
"Just because you're his daughter doesn't mean that I dislike you any less. And I am most certainly not going to be doing any of your work for you, I don't care if you're the Queen of England you can do it yourself." She finished in a huff as she plopped down in a chair.
"I don't expect you to. I'm just as upset about this as you are. Let's just get this over with. You take this book and and I'll take this one let's just write down notes and we'll compare them later." Hermione tossed her one of the books that she had found.
Pansy eyed her with distaste before reluctantly taking the book and pulled out a notebook and quill. They sat in silence for a couple hours each taking notes and ignoring the other. Finally Hermione closed her book and rubbed her eyes which had become rather dry from lack of blinking while she read. She heard Pansy sigh and close her book also.
Without a word Pansy put her notebook back in her bag and left the library. Well that could have gone worse. She thought to herself. She sighed and packed up her things deciding to go out for a walk before dinner.
When she got outside she took some deep breaths and relished in the feeling of the sun on her face. She decided to walk down to the lake and when she got there she carefully removed her shoes and knee highs and sat down burying her feet in the sand. It was starting to get a bit chilly out but the sand still held some warmth that had been absorbed throughout the day.
She was immersed in her thoughts when someone sat down next to her. Ginny had also pulled off her shoes and had buried her feet in the sand alongside Hermione.
'I heard about your fight with Harry, you doing okay?" Ginny looked at her concernedly.
"Yeah I'm fine, just sort of rethinking things I guess. Neither of them have done much growing up and I just don't know if I can handle that anymore." Hermione sighed and closed her eyes taking a deep breath.
Ginny thought about this for a moment trying to chose her words carefully. "Merlin knows I love my brother and Harry but I can see your point. I think they just don't appreciate what they have with you. Maybe this time apart will make them realize just how amazing you are. Give them some time Hermione, they'll come around, they always do."
Hermione smiled sadly. "Maybe you're right."
They continued to sit in silence and Hermione was thinking about what Ginny had said. Maybe she was right maybe this time apart would do them some good. But then maybe Hermione was the problem, maybe she was the one who wasn't going to come around. She loved Harry and Ron but they were growing apart. She wanted to pursue an academic career and they never seemed to think past the next quidditch match.
Before they had a common enemy that bonded them together, they had wanted to defeat Voldemort and his minions. But now, now she was one of the minions even if she couldn't help it. No matter how much she wished it wasn't true the mark on her arm would be the only thing they would need to turn against her. They were both rash and didn't think through their actions. They would disown and outcast her at the first inkling of who she was.
Maybe she should end things with them before they could find out. Maybe it would save her some of the heart break if she just started to distance herself now. It was better this way, she decided, even if it meant that she would be alone.
"Come on Hermione let's go it's almost time for dinner." Ginny stood offering her hand to Hermione.
Hermione took her hand and was pulled to her feet. They pulled on their socks and shoes and walk back towards the castle in comfortable silence.
After dinner Hermione made her way to the DADA classroom to start her detention. When she reached the classroom she knocked on the office door.
"Come in."
Hermione entered the office and looked around briefly. It look almost identical to the office at the manor. Dark wood paneling on the walls which were filled with expensive artwork and a large mahagony desk filled most of the room.
"Sit." He pointed to the chair in front of him and Hermione sat down cautiously. He dropped a stack of papers in front of her and handed her a quill and a pot of red ink. "You will be correcting the first and second years papers. You may leave when you are finished. Begin."
Hermione looked over the first paper and instantly knew by the amount of mistakes she found that it was going to be a very long night.