Disclaimer: I am trying to reread all of the HP series before school starts and I think I will make it. So this is kind of inspired by my HP filled mind at the moment. Sorry it has taken so long to update. Here it is!
P.S. Stop asking me if I own Harry Potter because I don't.
Chapter 3
Hermione trudged up the stairs to her apartment in a foul mood, apparent in the loud stamping of her feet dragging across the ground. She had had a stressful day at work to say the least. Four explosions from the Potions department, thanks to Seamus Finnigan and a failed Auror mission conducted by Ron, causing Harry and the rest of the team to accidentally ingest a very strong Laughing Potion, made all the worse by the fact that the Muffliato spell would not ward off the ear splitting giggles coming from the Auror department. And those catastrophes weren't even in her department! She had found nothing useful in thatGoblin Mating Rituals book for her case… and even if she had, she couldn't focus all thanks to Malfoy.
Stupid ferret, she thought bitterly. If he hadn't been lurking around in the Ministry library, then she wouldn't have tripped and he wouldn't have caught her and he would never have had to close the space between them underneath those sparkling sunlit windows…
Hermione shook her head and mumbled inaudible curses through her teeth as she rummaged through her infinity bag, trying to find her apartment keys when she heard a loud bang and familiar voices souring into intense anger.
"The Amazing Bouncing Ferret has returned it seems from the depths of hell and is living in… a Muggle complex?"
Chortling ensued and then a slow drawl, pitted with disgust and frustration, muttered, "And what are you doing here, Potter? Going to have a threesome with the Weasel and the Mudbl-"
"SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH, YOU DEATH EATER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO-"
She heard curses being bellowed and howls of pain as more chortling ensued.
When Hermione realized what was happening, she abandoned her search for her keys and ran up the flight of stairs, wand at the ready, and found Ron and Harry cackling at the sight of Malfoy on the floor, clutching at his stomach as blood dripped from his shirt and face.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" she screamed at them in the cruelest voice she could muster.
They spun around, horrified at seeing their best friend in such a rage.
"Hermione, he was-"
"I DON'T CARE WHAT HE WAS DOING! HE WAS UNARMED! HE CAN'T PERFORM MAGIC BECAUSE HE'S UNDER HOUSE ARREST! HOW DARE YOU! THIS BEHAVIOR IS INEXCUSABLE, ESPECIALLY COMING FROM THE MAN WHO DEFEATED VOLDEMORT AND HIS BEST FRIEND! WHAT ABOUT THE MAGICAL WORLD WE ARE TRYING TO BUILD? NO MORE VIOLENCE, NO MORE BLOODSHED! YOU HYPOCRITES, YOU FILTHY HYPOCRITES!" she screamed at them as if her voice was a Howler.
They stared at her, stunned. Sure, they knew she would never approve of this behavior…but it was just Malfoy…
"And just because it is 'only Malfoy' doesn't make him any less important to the world than you, Harry. He may have been on the wrong side but he's changed and you have no right to punish him for the things he has already done. He got his punishment already by bearing the Dark Mark on his arm for the rest of his life. And how do you think he feels, huh? Having to have that thing imprinted on his skin for the years to come? Having to look down every day and be reminded of what he did and what he was- yes, what he was-don't look at me like that, Ron, he's changed and as far as I know this matter is closed. You apologize now, both of you."
"Oh, come on, Hermione," Harry pleaded.
"APOLOGIZE!" she roared with a voice that was not her own.
All three men cowered and froze where they were.
"We're-uh-we're sorry, Malfoy, for this-er- inconvenience-"
" Inconvenience? You call this an inconvenience?! You could have KILLED him! And you never forgave him for what you did to him in Sixth Year either! You almost killed him then too!"
"He was going to use an Unforgivable Curse on me, Hermione!" Harry yelled.
"But he didn't!" she retorted bitterly, "but he didn't."
"What has gotten into you, Hermione?" Ron asked bewildered, "what happened?"
"I changed, Ron! I changed! Unlike you and Harry. I try to care about everyone now, not just the people I like. Malfoy's not my favorite person in the world but-" she looked down at his battered face and blood stained shirt, feeling sympathy and pity and something else she couldn't identify. Oh, if only he hadn't been in the library that day. He was so handsome…
And he still is, her mind whispered back.
She gulped and averted his stormy eyes.
"But he's a human too. And he's not evil. He's just…misunderstood. Just like you, Harry, when no one believed you in fifth year about how you saw Voldemort come back. You're the Chosen One, Harry. And Malfoy," she glanced at the ground for a moment, "Malfoy is the Boy Who Had No Choice."
There was a long, ringing silence that cut at her friends' hearts, silencing their objections and retorts.
Though Ron was simply perplexed, Harry saw something in Hermione's eyes that he had never seen before.
"And just to make you two feel extra peachy," she spat as she helped Malfoy off of the ground, "it was my birthday today."
And with that, she took Malfoy into his apartment and slammed the door.