It was still fairly early when Draco and Hermione left the head dorms and headed down to the dungeons. After a late evening, during which they'd reassured themselves that Harry was fine and nothing too bad had happened to him during his kidnapping ordeal, the couple had returned to school and despite only grabbing a few hours' sleep they felt more refreshed than they had in days. Now they were heading down to the dungeons to let the other Slytherins know that Harry was safe and sound.
As the neared the Slytherin dorms, which were further into the dungeons than Hermione had ever ventured before, she felt a shiver of excitement run down her spine. It would be her first time in the Slytherin dorms, and she couldn't wait to see what she'd been missing out on over the last six and a half years. Despite now being fairly settled in Gryffindor, there was still a part of Hermione that longed to embrace her true Slytherin heritage.
Access to the Slytherin dorms came via a brick wall, which shifted into a door when Draco used the password. Following her boyfriend into the common room, Hermione instantly felt as though she belonged in the Slytherin common room. Unlike Gryffindor Tower, which was slightly garish for her liking, the Slytherin dungeons were more understated. The green and silver of Slytherin were still present throughout the room, but it was a more subtle look.
The common room housed black leather sofas, and all the tables and other furniture had the dark hue you would expect to find in the dungeons. Despite the early hour, there was a fire already roaring in the corner and Hermione longed to curl up on the chair nearest the fire with a book. Something told her it would be the perfect way to spend the day.
"Do you like?" Draco asked, watching as Hermione took in everything the Slytherin dungeons had to offer.
"Very much," Hermione replied. "This place feels like home."
"You mean you weren't at home up in Gryffindor Tower?" Draco laughed. "Or did all the gold and red make you nauseous?"
"Gryffindor Tower has a special place in my heart," Hermione admitted. She might have originally been a Gryffindor in order to pull the wool over the light's eyes, but she now felt a strong affliction with her house. "But I have to admit, seeing this place makes me long for what I missed out on. If it hadn't been for what happened the night Harry's mother died, Harry and I would have been down here since first year."
"I try not to think about what might have been," Draco said with a shrug. "It only drives you crazy thinking about how things could be different."
Knowing that Draco was referring to what had happened that summer, Hermione reached out and gave his hand a quick squeeze. As much as Draco had come to accept his wolf side and was even starting to enjoy the experience, she knew what had happened with the biting issue had prompted a few doubts in his head. Hermione just hoped that now things could get back to normal, Draco could get over his issues with biting her and go back to fully accepting the wolf inside him.
"Where are the girl's dorms?" Hermione asked.
"Are you not just going to wait for the others to get up?" Draco questioned.
"I doubt Daphne's sleeping," Hermione replied. She knew Harry's girlfriend had been deeply concerned about Harry and she was just regretting that they hadn't taken Daphne with them yesterday when they'd gone to wait for news on Harry's rescue.
"True," Draco conceded with a nod of his head. "The girls' rooms are through that door and up the stairs." Draco pointed Hermione in the direction of a door over the far side of the room, before pointing out a second door further along the wall. "That leads to the boys rooms, so I'll just pop up there for a bit. The door should be clearly labelled so you can find the seventh years room."
Following Draco's lead, Hermione passed through the door and climbed up a short, circular stone staircase. At the top of the staircase was a corridor lined with doors. Each door had a silver plaque on the front, indicating which year was housed in the room. Finding the seventh year's door, Hermione tapped quietly on the wood. Even though she doubted Daphne would be sleeping, she didn't want to wake the others.
When she heard Daphne's voice calling for her to enter, Hermione pushed open the door and found herself in a large stone bedroom. Like the bedrooms in Gryffindor Tower, there were four poster beds for all the girls, only the hangings were emerald green rather than the ruby red of Gryffindor. Like the rest of the dungeons, the floor and walls were all stone, but charms clearly kept the rooms at a liveable temperature as Hermione wasn't the slightest bit cold.
"Hermione?" Daphne whispered in confusion from where she was sitting on the bed opposite the door.
Noticing that the bed nearest to the door contained a snoring Pansy Parkinson, Hermione fought down the urge to rudely wake her up. Bypassing Pansy, Hermione made her way over to Daphne and quickly informed her that Harry had been found and that he was safe at home.
"Really?" Daphne squealed loudly as she threw her arms around Hermione. "That's great news."
Daphne's cry woke the other girls in the room, and Hermione was unsurprised when Pansy glared hatefully at her when she spotted her on Daphne's bed.
"What are you doing here, Granger? You're not a Slytherin," Pansy spat. "And what the hell is all the noise about?"
"Harry's been found," Daphne announced as she jumped out of bed.
"That's great," Tracey said with a smile. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine, he's just resting at home for the rest of the term," Hermione answered.
"He's not coming back to school?" Daphne asked, her face falling at the news.
"Don't worry Daph, you can go and see him tonight," Hermione reassured the blonde Slytherin girl. "He was asking after you last night, and I know he's desperate to see you."
"What happened? How was he found?" Millicent asked as she and Tracey got out of their beds and joined Daphne as she sat back down next to Hermione.
"The Aurors have been looking into things since he went missing, and last night we got the news that they might be onto something," Hermione answered, sticking to the pre-prepared lie her father, Severus and Lucius had concocted with the Minister. Chances were Daphne would find out the truth, but for now it was easier to stick with the public story of Harry's rescue. "Anyway, the Aurors found Harry and arrested his kidnappers. Harry is at home recuperating, and his kidnappers are in custody."
"Who did it?" Daphne demanded, and Hermione saw a dark glint she'd never seen before in her eyes.
"A couple of the Weasleys," Hermione replied.
"I bet that cow Ginny was involved," Daphne hissed. "I swear, if I get my hands on her, I'm going to kill her."
"If she was involved the Aurors will find out," Hermione answered with a shrug.
"Don't you want to get her back if she was involved?" Daphne asked, giving Hermione a curious look.
"She'll get what's coming to her if she was involved, just like her brothers," Hermione replied calmly.
"And if you ever needed proof that you're not a true Slytherin, Granger, there it is," Pansy sneered as she got out of bed. "You may be The Dark Lord's daughter, but you're soft. I bet you couldn't have made Slytherin even if you'd wanted to."
"I wouldn't want to test my Slytherin side if I were you, Parkinson," Hermione hissed, fixing Pansy with her most deadly glare and smirking slightly when Pansy blanched in return. "I'm more of a Slytherin than you'll ever be, and I'm more than happy to prove it."
"You wouldn't have the balls," Pansy replied shakily.
"Try me," Hermione grinned.
"Let's not fight," Daphne interrupted, shooting Pansy a warning glare. "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm suddenly ravenous."
"I'm having the first shower," Pansy snapped as she shot Hermione one final glare before stalking into the bathroom in the corner of the room and slamming the door behind her.
"I'll wait for you down in the common room," Hermione said to Daphne.
"I'll not be long," Daphne replied, as she turned and started to get her things ready for the day.
As she headed towards the door, Hermione caught sight of Pansy's hairbrush lying on her bedside table and her plan for revenge on Ginny came back into her mind. Quickly checking no-one was watching she swiped the brush and hurried out of the room. Flying back down to the common room, she hurried over a shelf she'd seen that contained empty bottles and containers. Picking up one of the bottles she used magic to extract several strands of Pansy's hair from the brush and stored it in the bottle. Sealing the bottle back up, she slipped it into her pocket and casually threw Pansy's brush on a nearby chair and covered it with a cushion.
"What are you doing?" Draco's voice called from across the room and Hermione spun round to find her boyfriend standing at the door that led to the boys bedrooms watching her curiously.
"Just checking out where you've been living these last six years," Hermione replied. She was going to confide in Draco about her plan for revenge, especially since she needed his help for it to work, but she didn't think the Slytherin common room was the place to do it.
"Was Daphne pleased to hear about Harry?" Draco asked as he walked over to Hermione. She was up to something, he was certain of that, but he knew she would confide in him when she was ready.
"She was thrilled," Hermione replied with a smile. "She can't wait to go and see him. Were the boys happy?"
"Of course," Draco answered. "They're getting ready and then I think we're all going to go down to breakfast."
"Sounds good to me," Hermione said as she settled herself on one of the black sofas that were dotted around the room.
Hermione got to enjoy another forty minutes in the dungeons before everyone was up and ready to go for breakfast. Aside from Pansy, who according to Daphne was tearing the bedroom upside down to find her missing hairbrush, the other Slytherins all joined Hermione and Draco as they left the dungeons and headed to the Great Hall. It was still quite early, but other students were now up and about and they were by no means the first group to arrive for breakfast.
"Are you joining us?" Blaise asked Hermione, gesturing towards the Slytherin table at the far end of the hall.
"I was planning to," Hermione replied. "But first I just want to tell Neville, Dean and Seamus the news."
Hermione had just spotted the three Gryffindors entering the Great Hall, so while Draco and the Slytherins went to sit at their table, she headed over to speak to the trio. Neville, Dean and Seamus were thrilled with the news that Harry had been found and he wasn't seriously injured by his ordeal. Hermione refrained from informing the trio about who was responsible, but she did say that Severus would say a few words before the end of the meal.
After speaking to the three boys, Hermione joined Draco and the Slytherins at their table. Just as she'd finished grabbing a plate and filling it with food, a scowling Pansy stalked into the room. Hermione was guessing she hadn't found her brush as her hair wasn't as sleek as normal, although why she didn't just use magic to brush her hair was a mystery to Hermione. Pansy threw her a disgusted look, before flouncing off and settling herself at the far end of the table.
"She really doesn't like you," Theo chuckled.
"The feeling is entirely mutual," Hermione returned, casting a dark glare down the table to where Pansy was sitting.
"Here's Severus," Draco said, nudging her gently in the side.
Hermione tore her focus away from Pansy and turned around to witness her brother strolling into the Great Hall with Lucius and Narcissa. The three were talking together and the air of happiness radiating off them was obvious. Hermione was guessing that it was now obvious to everyone in the room that Harry had been found, since not only was Severus back but he was also smiling slightly.
As her brother carried on down the hall, Hermione's attention turned to the Gryffindor table and she scoured the students for Ginny. Finally, she spotted the redhead sitting at the end of the table. Ginny's head was down, but even so Hermione could see how pale she looked. Hermione hoped she was as nervous as hell, and she hoped the speech her brother was about to make would only increase her nervousness.
"Can I have everyone's attention for a moment," Severus called, resulting in silence falling over the Great Hall. "I just want to let everyone know that yesterday evening Harry was found."
As Severus reassured the students that Harry was fine, and he was just taking some time to recuperate fully, Hermione watched Ginny. The redhead had looked up enough to be watching Severus, but Hermione could see she was deathly pale and she was shaking slightly.
"I am not going into details about what happened, as the Ministry are still investigating," Severus continued. "But I can assure you that Harry's kidnappers have been caught and justice will be served."
Hermione couldn't help but chuckle softly at the look of horror that appeared on Ginny's face at the news that Harry's kidnappers had been caught. Just then Ginny turned her head and her eyes locked with Hermione's. For a moment, Hermione saw the stark fear in her eyes, but she quickly shut it down and replaced it with a look of pure defiance. In return, Hermione gave Ginny a cold smirk, causing the younger witch to shiver slightly before dropping her head.
Hermione barely had time to bask in the fact she was scaring Ginny when McGonagall swept into the Great Hall. It was only as the Head of Gryffindor made her way to the Professors table and had a quiet word with Severus that Hermione even realised she hadn't been there. She watched with curiosity as instead of joining the Professors, McGonagall made her way over to Ginny and escorted her out of the Great Hall.
Between the Slytherins knowing about the Weasleys involvement in Harry's kidnapping, and McGonagall escorting Ginny out of breakfast, word about who was in custody was all over the school by mid-morning. By dinnertime there wasn't a student at Hogwarts that didn't know that Bill and Charlie Weasley had been arrested for Harry's kidnapping. Sadly for Hermione she never got more of a chance to see how Ginny was reacting as by the end of the day word had filtered through the school that she'd gone home and wasn't expected back before Christmas break.
"Looks like your plan for revenge will have to wait," Draco remarked to Hermione as they discussed Ginny's absence that evening in the head dorms. They'd decided not to go and visit Harry, so that he could have some much needed time alone with Daphne.
"It was always going to be a long term thing," Hermione replied with an unconcerned shrug. "Besides, it means we can get everything in place over the Christmas break."
"Are you going to tell me what this plan of yours entails?" Draco asked.
"All in good time," Hermione replied with a sly smile. "But for now, I just need to know one thing. How long do you think it will take you to be able to turn into a wolf when I'm around?"
"You want to get closer to my werewolf form?" Draco checked. Even though he and Greyback had talked about him being in his wolf form around the people he loved, he was still nervous given what had happened with the recent biting issues.
"Yes," Hermione answered. "I need this Draco. You need to put aside your worries and accept that you're a werewolf. I love you no matter what, but right now I need you to be the wolf I know you can be."
"Does this have something to do with Ginny?" Draco asked.
"It does," Hermione confirmed with a nod. "By Easter at the latest, I need you to be comfortable with being a wolf around me. Can you do that?"
"I can try," Draco replied. "It's the full moon in two days' time, so I can speak to Greyback about it."
"Just try your best and stop worrying," Hermione said, taking hold of Draco's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I trust you, and I know you would never hurt me. Believe in yourself, Draco, and you can do this."
Draco nodded warily, hoping that Hermione was right and that he did have some sort of control where she was concerned. He would never forgive himself if he attacked her in his wolf form, but it looked as though the test of his control was fast approaching. He'd soon know just how much control he had when he was a wolf and if his love for Hermione was strong enough to stop him from attacking her.