Everything in Hermione's life was growing exponentially more difficult. Balancing a new relationship- one she wasn't necessarily one-hundred percent sold on yet- against a steadily increasing work load was taking a toll on her. For the first time since she'd set foot in the castle's great stone interior, she wasn't two weeks ahead. It was truly an odd feeling.
Against what she would have considered, in hindsight, her better judgement, she had decided to start putting an effort into spending time getting to know the new and improved Draco Malfoy and had remembered, just slightly too late, why exactly she had been so keen to avoid relationships whilst still in school.
It wasn't that she wasn't happy. Quite the contrary in fact. She was more happy around him than she could remember being for quite some time. The fact remained though, that while she was normally quite good at keeping on top of her school work, a certain platinum-haired distraction was making it more difficult by the day. Being the diligent student she was, she was finding it tedious to come to terms with the fact that the time between the present and the end of the year exams was dwindling quickly and yet she was continuing to sacrifice large portions of her study time in favor of spending time with him.
On the bright side, she'd become quite adept at performing the disillusionment charm. They both had. As a quintessential instrument to carrying out a secret relationship, each had grown accustomed to casting it as the need for it arose, usually at least twice a day. Though quite useful overall, it hadn't been a skill she's needed previously, as she, Ron, and Harry had always managed with the latter's cloak of invisibility.
She and Draco would use the spell as a way to get away from school and meet without anyone knowing. They'd had some close calls though, strangely, sneaking out of their dormitories to meet in secret wasn't their greatest risk.
Hermione would often scold Draco for risking long glances at her during school hours despite the fact that she was equally as guilty of the same thing, except, fortunately, he just hadn't noticed. Of course, she couldn't blame him. Now that they were together, it seemed so counterintuitive to spend so much of their class time apart, that she occasionally wondered why they didn't just go ahead and make their relationship known. But she knew they couldn't.
It wasn't that she was scared of having people find out… except that she was absolutely terrified of having people find out.
Draco had been pushing for a reveal from the beginning, insisting that the gossip would make its rounds quickly and soon they'd be left alone to enjoy each other's company in peace; that they were only postponing the inevitable because no serious relationship could be carried on without people eventually finding out. And while she knew this to be mostly true, she fought back with the argument that he didn't have anyone to disappoint, assuming that Hogwarts gossip wouldn't reach the ears of his parents, because Daphne already knew and no one else cared about who he dated.
Things were different for her. She had a whole dormitory of people that would ask a whole lot of uncomfortable questions if word ever got out that she was dating both a former bully and death-eater. And what if, for example, word came to Harry or Ron's ears? Would one or both of them show up, wands out, to hex Malfoy to the next century?
Of course, she knew she was probably overanalysing the whole situation. But she needed it to be kept secret until she could figure out a way to tell anyone without it causing a national crisis. Meaning, it seemed, that the whole affair would be kept secret for the foreseeable future.
In all truthfulness, she was growing tired of keeping their relationship a secret. Trying to spend time together without getting caught was an exceptionally tedious affair.
Their most recent Hogsmeade weekend, for instance, had been quite interesting. Hermione, having played one too many games of wizarding chess with Ron in her years at Hogwarts, had won the game which would determine who got to stay visible and who didn't and so was allowed to walk freely and easily down to the village on the bright spring afternoon. Draco, having lost the game, had been forced to find a more discreet way of travelling down and had resorted to taking the long way around and meeting her there in his disillusioned state. Though initially quite smug about her victory, Hermione soon learned, however, that being the visible counterpart had its tradeoffs as well.
She sat with an invisible Draco at a booth in the Three Broomsticks sipping casually on her butterbeer between her muffliato-disguised conversing with a seemingly empty bench and realized very quickly that any person looking over at her would think her a madwoman, sitting all alone and talking to herself. On top of that, she was forced to spare Draco getting sat upon on no less than three separate occasions that afternoon by Ginny, Dean, and Parvati, who had all come calling to ask if she desired any company, sitting alone on such a lovely day.
She politely declined each in turn, insisting that she wasn't feeling well or was trying to revise upon Transfigurations concepts quietly by herself. Fortunately, each left her be, and she was not forced to explain why any one of them had sat upon an invisible body instead of an empty seat- or worse- whom the invisible body belonged to.
It didn't take long for them to realize that trying to meet up in public, however discreetly, simply didn't have the intended romantic effect and they soon left the village, hand-in-hand, Draco still disillusioned, to walk about the grounds.
So, in some respects, she wasn't exceptionally upset when their relationship was discovered nearly a week later. At least, not after the complete and utter mortification of it all wore off.
It happened for the most stupid, irresponsibly simple reason. They were careless. They got comfortable and they got careless.
Of all the people to catch them, Ginny was, in some respects, one of the least heinous options. She was, however, the most impetuous and unpredictable.
Hermione and Draco had each found themselves preoccupied with the exploration of the other's lips one afternoon amidst the dull monotony that was studying for the endless amount of homework and tests obligatory of the typical seventh year student. Captivation, alas, had not allowed for the proper consideration of the potential consequences of interacting in such ways in settings which were not entirely private and, unfortunately for them, the usually deserted prefect's study room permitted another student's entry in the middle of a particularly heated scattering of textbooks and parchment across their table top.
Upon her entrance and the discovery of the scene before her, Ginny cried out and immediately jumped into action. Dropping her textbooks, she rushed over and threw her hands between the head boy and girl, throwing the former off the latter and pinning him squarely against the nearest wall.
Still in shock and recovering from her collision with the floor, Hermione glanced over to see Ginny's wand pressed threateningly against Draco's neck, her elbow angled upwards into his sternum. The much shorter girl's expression was twisted in rage, in direct contrast to Draco's which was, almost certainly, that of pure terror.
"You good for nothing, toad spawn-of-a slimy, cowardly git! I'll teach you to mess with Gryffindor again! No one attacks my friends and gets away with it!"
"Ginny, no!" Hermione jumped to her feet and sprang towards Ginny, but was immediately pushed backwards with a surprising amount of force for one so small.
"Hermione, now is not the time to go soft on me! He was attacking you for gods' sakes. You need to learn to be more ruthless. It's not right for a Gryffindor to-"
"He wasn't attacking me Ginny!" Hermione's voice was tinged in desperation. Draco's eyes danced to a halt along with the wand whose path they were following as the owner's hand halted its haphazard flailing.
"What do you mean he wasn't attacking you? When I walked in just now it bloody well looked like-"
"No. No, it wasn't anything like that." Blush was rising on Hermione's face and a nervous churn had come to life within her. "We were uh… we were… Well, you see…"
But Hermione did not need to finished her explanation, for at that moment, realization seemed to dawn upon the redhead.
"You don't mean… You wouldn't…" Ginny's eyes were narrowed as she looked from Hermione to Draco, then back again. Hermione's face was burning with color and she wished she knew how to evaporate, though she thought the look on Ginny's face could quite possibly do just that.
"Hermione Jean Granger!" Draco sighed visibly with relief as the shorter girl, retracting the elbow restraining him against the wall, turned her attention, and wrath, towards Hermione. "You don't mean to tell me that I stumbled onto you snogging a Slytherin?! This Slytherin," she jabbed the wand back in Draco's direction and Hermione thought perhaps she heard Draco whimper. "Draco Malfoy?!"
Hermione was wincing with every word. "Well… yes."
The taut silence that followed set her nerves on edge and her thoughts running rampant. Ginny's mouth was set grimly and her eyes narrowed in an expression that plainly read "How could you betray us in this way?" Hermione noticed that Draco's body, like hers, was tensed in anticipation of an explosive outburst.
But whatever the thoughts swarming inside Ginny's head were, they did not immediately make an appearance. No explosion came. Instead, Ginny drew Hermione aside and firmly gripped her shoulders, looking squarely into her eyes.
"Hermione, I thought we were friends."
Unease squirmed in Hermione's stomach along with a growing weight of shame. Hermione could feel herself shrinking under what she took to be a judgmental stare. She hadn't meant to hurt anyone by keeping it a secret, but this was exactly why she hadn't wanted to publicize it in the first place. Disappointment was etched upon Ginny's face and with a huff, she rasped out in an exasperated whisper, "For Godric's sake, friends tell each other when they're spending their free time kissing hot blondes!"
Shame then morphed instantly into confusion. What? What exactly was Ginny upset about?
"Wait, but Ginny, what-"
The redhead huffed dramatically. "Hermione, what have I told you a million times?"
"That breakfast is the most important meal of the day," Hermione recited surely. Ginny glared at her.
"No, I meant besides that. Have I not always told you that you can tell me anything?"
Hermione looked at the ground. "Yes," she muttered ashamedly.
Ginny sighed. "I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed." She paused. "Do you not trust me?"
Hermione looked up urgently. "Oh no, Ginny! I do trust you. And I wanted to tell you but I didn't know how. It was easier to keep it a secret from everyone. Because I was so worried that people might get upset. I didn't want anyone to get hurt." Hermione looked down at the ground, feeling her eyes swimming threateningly. Ginny's arms wrapped around her middle.
"Oh, please don't cry. I don't want you to feel bad," then, pausing, "Okay, maybe a little bit. But only because I hope that next time you won't hesitate to come to me about these sorts of things. I mean, seriously, I could have given you loads of better snogging locations if I had just known. Honestly," she snorted. "Only you would like snogging in the library."
Hermione laughed and wiped away a lone tear. "Hey, the study room isn't bad. It's just far less private than I originally thought," she said pointedly. In the corner Draco was mumbling and she caught the words "Gryffindors," "girls," and "What did I tell her?"
Ginny turned to him then. "Don't think I'm done with you yet, Malfoy. We've got a lot to talk about. Namely where I'll stick my wand if I ever find out you've done anything to hurt her."
Draco looked surprisingly sober. "If I ever hurt her, I'll be sure to call on you after I've stuck it there myself." He looked at Hermione solemnly, who returned a slight smile.
Ginny grunted, evidently taken aback. "Mm, right. Well, very good then. In any case, if it's alright by you two, I've got some studying to do, so you can either join me or take your antics elsewhere." She moved to pick up her discarded books and Hermione stooped to help.
"Look, Ginny," Hermione broached seriously, gathering several pieces of scattered parchment, "You can't tell anyone."
"Don't worry, Hermione, your secret is safe with me." She gestured, indicating that her lips were closed. "My lips are sealed."
Yet, like every tidbit of information that was nobody's business, it travelled around the school like wildfire. Hermione didn't necessarily blame Ginny, as she wondered if she hadn't caught one of the Hogwarts ghosts snooping on several occasions, but fortunately, it became old news in a record-breaking about of time. As it turned out, Draco had been mostly right, though, of course, she never deigned to tell him so. In less time than either of them could have expected- almost two days by Hermione's estimation- the strange looks and hapless whispers ceased and they found themselves suddenly free to enjoy each other's company in public situations.
It was a liberating sort of experience. Everyone was strangely normal about their relationship. What had been sneaking glances at each other across the potions lab turned to holding hands next to each other as they sat at the same table. What had been disillusionment charms and muffliatos were now normal strolls throughout the castle and heated discourses at the lunch table. And as far as she could tell, no one shot them any rude glances or whispered about them behind their back.
She could not have been more grateful to the students of Hogwarts. While she wasn't trying to read into it too much, taking Ginny's mum's advice of 'not looking a gift horse in the mouth,' she wondered if this reaction weren't the signs of a change in mindset. Nastier whispers had been shared about Harry in her younger years and much of what was said hadn't even been truthful. Perhaps it was premature to allow herself to be hopeful, but she desperately wanted it to mean that things had changed for the better.
She herself knew that being with Draco carried so much meaning beyond just what she felt for him. It was forgiveness and redemption and a willingness to understand. And it was all she could hope that the people of the wizarding world were moving in the same direction, beyond the boundaries of their darkened past and out into the light.
A/N: GOD THIS ACTUALLY TOOK ME WAY TOO LONG TO GET OUT. My sincerest apologies for the extra time between posts. It was just the last little bit of dialogue that I was struggling with. I'm crawling my way to the end of this fic even if it kills me. I. Will. Not. Leave. You. Hanging. Indefinitely. Or. Otherwise. But at the same time, I can't and won't promise how or when the updates come, but we're almost there!