"You've got to be kidding," said Blaise. He was sitting in the Slytherin common room in an armchair located in the corner. Draco was standing over him, and had just told him everything he had overheard Hermione and Ginny saying in the common room.
"I know. The second day here, and she's already trying to get under my skin. You know they made this all up so that I would hear it. And I even thought that she was the mature one. After everything I told her, she would go and do something like this," said Draco.
"Now wait a minute. Did they actually know you were there, or that you could hear them talking?" asked Blaise.
"Yes. Probably. Does it matter?"
"Actually, it does. Why would they have said all that to rile you up if they didn't know you could hear?" said Blaise. "If you ask me, it does seem a bit odd of a story. But it could make sense if we'd had more context. Maybe she's really a pureblood, maybe she's not. What does she have to gain from lying about something like that? And from what you've told me, it sounded like she didn't want anyone to know."
Draco let out a long breath that he didn't even realize he was holding in. "Okay, sure. Let's just say she really is a pureblood. Why then has she been pretending all this time that she's muggleborn? Why would she try to deny that part of her? It would have benefitted her, after all. She wouldn't have had to worry about being hunted during the war."
Blaise looked over at some fourth years by the fire. "Well, she did run off with undesirable number one. So she still would have been a target. But to me, it sounds like maybe she'd just found out. I dunno, maybe she's adopted and her long lost birth parents got in touch with her or something. Or maybe she was kidnapped as a baby. Maybe she was just pretending. But it wouldn't make sense for her to do that. I honestly don't really believe that she was just sticking to a bit for several years just to come back to school after a battle to mess with you. There are too many unpredictable factors there for something like that to be believable."
"Quit screwing with me, Zabini," sighed Draco. He knew Blaise had an open mind, but it felt like he wasn't taking Draco very seriously.
"Sorry, mate. But if you're so curious, why don't you just ask her about it," said Blaise.
"Are you mad? That's not a conversation that could go well."
"Then you might as well just forget about it. You can either ask her, or leave it alone. It just depends on whether you're curious enough to actually know."
"Draco sighed again. "Okay. I'll try and ask her about it."
Knock knock knock
Hermione knocked on Hagrid's door, and a second later, Hagrid's great, furry face appeared in the doorway with Fang the boarhound barking happily at the sight of them.
"Hello Hermione, Ginny!" said Hagrid, beaming at them. He looked past the girls and said "alright there Neville? Luna?"
Hermione and Ginny turned around to see Neville and Luna walking up behind them.
"Looks like a party!" said Neville.
Hagrid stood back to let everyone in. They all took seats around the enormous dining table, while Hagrid went to put a pot of tea on the fire.
"Yeh all are jus' in time. I got some biscuits just about to come out o' the oven." He went over to the cupboard and grabbed five bucket sized mugs. "Been wonderin' when you lot were gonna come ter see me."
"We've only been back one day," said Ginny.
"Tha's no excuse," winked Hagrid.
"So what's been going on?" asked Neville.
"Well, over the summer I mostly bin tendin' ter the creatures tha were injured in the battle. Aragog's children finally trust me enough ter let me near 'em, so I had ter wrap some o' their legs in bandages and stuff. And the centaurs, well, they're independent from wizards, o' course. But I bin bringin' them some supplies, 'cause they're lettin' me come around more now too. And then I bin helpin' with cleanin' up the castle before the start o' the new year. It ain't bin easy work, ter tell yeh. But we managed to get it done."
"Sounds exhausting," said Hermione.
"Yeah.." said Hagrid, setting mugs down in front of everyone and pouring them some tea. "Necessary work though. Too bad Harry and Ron didn't come back. I didn't expect Ron back, he was nev'r that fond of school. Harry kind of surprised me though. But I s'pose they're where they belong. Gonna be some damn good Aurors, tha's for sure."
"Yeah, it was a great opportunity for them," said Ginny.
"So what's new with everyone else?" asked Luna.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sipping tea and recounting stories from the battle and afterwards during the summer. Hermione shared some stories from the journey she took with Ron and Harry to hunt down horcruxes. They ate dinner at Hagrid's. It was almost dark when Hagrid finally waved them off to the castle.
"That was fun," said Luna.
The group had arrived back at the castle and were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, Luna included. She and Neville were on the couch, while Hermione and Ginny were lounging around on the rug in front of the fire.
"Yeah. I've missed hanging around with Hagrid," said Neville. "Is anyone taking his class this year?"
"I'm not," said Hermione.
"Neither am I," added Ginny.
"I am. I do hope he'll dedicate a couple lessons to the crumple-horned snorkack. I've brought plenty of material for him to study. It's not a creature that's well known, but they're very interesting little guys" said Luna.
"Hey, Neville. Can I ask you something?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah, go for it," said Neville.
"Well, you were here last year for seventh year. I'm wondering why you decided to come back as an eighth year?"
Neville sighed and looked into the fire. "Well, last year wasn't really the academic year it should have been. I know you know that. But what you don't know is that other than defense against the dark arts becoming just 'dark arts,' all the other lessons changed too. Even McGonagall had to teach us about the dark parts of transfiguration. With the new regime in order, they were basically only allowed to train us to be death eaters.I want an actual education. I came back to learn what I should have been learning last year."
"I didn't know it was that bad," said Hermione, appalled. "I guess I just assumed that only the Carrows changed their lesson plans to fit Voldemort's regime."
"Hermione," said Ginny suddenly, looking at the clock on the wall. "It's only a few minutes to nine.
"Oh, you're right!" said Hermione. "I've got to go and relieve the prefects. Speaking of which," she remembered suddenly. "Luna, why didn't you tell us you were a prefect this year?"
Everyone turned to look at Luna, shocked.
"What? No way!" said Ginny.
"Congratulations!" said Neville.
Luna looked unfazed. "Well, I don't really see myself fitting the role of prefect. I'm not sure I want it."
"Really? But becoming a prefect is an honor," said Hermione. "Listen, you just have to set a good example for the younger students and show up for your patrol duties."
"I can do that. I don't want to hand out detentions or dock points when someone is having a bad day. We all make mistakes. I don't think we should linger on them."
"Don't worry about it Luna. If something needs dealing with, you can just come find me," said Hermione.
"All right, then," said Luna.
"Anyways. Ginny's right. We should be headed out."
Luna and Neville hugged each other and they all said their farewells. Hermione and Luna set off.
"You don't have to worry about patrolling tonight, Luna," said Hermione. "But make sure you're out next weekend. I don't want you to get into trouble with McGonagall.
Luna bade Hermione goodnight, and parted ways to head off to Ravenclaw tower.
Hermione continued walking. It was Saturday, so she didn't have to patrol with Draco that night. But as luck would have it, she immediately collided with him as she turned the next corner.
"Oh… All right there, Granger?" asked Malfoy.
"Yes, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there."
"Don't worry about it," he replied, rubbing his nose where Hermione's forehead had made contact with it. "I've already been debriefed by the Hufflepuff prefects. It's been quiet tonight, and they only had to reprimand a couple Ravenclaw third years for being out four minutes past curfew."
"Alright, that doesn't sound too bad," said Hermione. "Well, thanks for passing me that info. I guess I'll see you in the common room later."
She turned to continue down the corridor when he called out to her.
"Wait, Granger."
Hermione stopped and turned back to him. "I'm sorry, was there something else to discuss? I just assumed that was all of it."
She saw Draco's face turn a shade of pink as he chose his next words carefully.
"I was thinking we'd patrol together tonight?" Malfoy spat out.
Hermione was shocked. "But.. McGonagall said we were only required to patrol together on Friday nights. It's Saturday."
"Yeah, well, you know… maybe we could just have some– er– friendly conversation?" he finished stupidly.
Hermione just looked at him for a moment, slightly shocked at what Malfoy had just said. "Sure. What's the harm? As long as you're not planning on cursing me or something."
"Maybe for old time's sake," laughed Draco. "So.. how're things?"
"It's fine. Excited to start lessons. How's your first few days back been" asked Hermione awkwardly.
"The same, I guess." Draco was nervous. He didn't know how to bring up the topic that had been on his mind.
Draco and Hermione walked awkwardly along the corridors together. Neither of them said anything for a while, each lost in their own heads. Hermione felt like she'd had a truck load of new information dumped on her since the night at her parents. From her new title as a pureblood, to learning she had to patrol the corridors with Draco Malfoy, to learning that apparently he wasn't really an entitled prat the way everyone knew him to be, even to Luna hiding the fact that she was chosen as a prefect this year, there was just so much news all coming in at once. Hermione had so little time to be shocked and process anything before she had to be ready for classes Monday morning. The shock of it all was making her head throb.
Hermione had been so lost in her own thoughts that she completely forgot that she was patrolling or who she was doing it with. When Draco spoke, Hermione was completely shocked to find him walking next to her.
"So, actually, there was something I wanted to ask you about, Granger," Malfoy spoke slowly, as though he were trying to choose his words carefully. "You see, I heard something funny earlier that I thought I'd tell you about."
This grabbed Hermione's interest. "Oh, what's that?"
Draco swallowed, his throat suddenly becoming dry. "It's completely stupid really… I heard it in passing on my way to the great hall… thought you might find it funny… it really is completely absurd"
"What's going on? Is everything okay?" Hermione was beginning to get concerned by the way Draco was acting.
Draco took a breath and swallowed. "I was walking passed some other students, and I heard someone say… I'm sure it's nothing… well, someone mentioned that you might be a pureblood and not really a muggleborn. It's crazy, right," he gave an attempt at a laugh.
Hermione instantly felt her heart drop and her blood turn to ice. She froze. There was no way he knew. Hermione hadn't spoken to anyone but Ginny about it. She herself had only know for two days. She had not intended on telling anyone else know until she'd had time to process it. Yet here stood none other than her childhood enemy, the last person she would have ever told this secret to, somehow knowing it anyways.
"Granger?" Draco asked, cautiously.
Hermione felt the heat rising up in her cheeks. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry, pass out, vomit, or all three. She tried to steady her shallow breathing as she looked back at Draco. "Where did you hear that from?"
"Some younger students were saying it when I walked passed them. I don't know, I didn't stop to listen. It's not true anyways, right?"
Hermione was confused. How could some younger students have found out? Them knowing her secret plus the timing was such an incredible coincidence. Ginny, herself, and her parents were the only ones that knew. Hermione's parents couldn't have possibly spread that knowledge about the school. It was completely ridiculous to even think. And Hermione knew that Ginny wouldn't tell even Harry without consulting Hermione first. She trusted Ginny with her life. They hadn't even talked about it except earlier when they were sitting in–
"You're lying. You didn't hear that in passing. You were eavesdropping on me and Ginny in the common room earlier. There's nobody else that knew, so there's no way some younger students were gossiping about it in the corridors."
Draco paled. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and sighed. "Granger, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. I was in my room and the door wasn't all the way shut. By the time I'd heard what you were talking about, I thought getting up to leave or close the door would make you think I was. I swear, I was just trying to nap. It'd been a… challenging morning. But.. is it true?"
Hermione stared at him, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. Her head began to throb. She felt like she was going to have a breakdown. Hermione hadn't completely recovered from the trauma of the war, and it felt like any inconvenience was enough to send her over the edge. She couldn't think properly. She began feeling angry.
"I supposed you're going to spread this all over the school, or leak it to the Daily Prophet. This wasn't supposed to get out! Now everyone is going to know. I've only just found out myself. You are such an insensitive prick! Can you think about anyone but yourself for once?" she screamed.
Malfoy looked taken aback. "Whoa, Granger. I'm not going to tell anyone, much less the paper. I honestly thought you knew I could hear you and was making it up to mess with me. I thought you didn't believe me when I told you I didn't care about blood status and were trying to test me or something."
Hermione sneered. "Ha! As if I'm so worried about you that I'd make up a story just to mess with your precious, blonde little head. I may be a pureblood, but I'll never be anything like you!"
Draco became angry at this statement. "Well, what was I supposed to think? You and your little friend were sitting in our common room talking loud enough for the whole castle to hear. After everything I said to you yesterday, is it so far-fetched to believe? I mean, it's not as if we've been best friends. Of course I thought you just wanted to take the piss."
"Whatever, Malfoy. My life doesn't revolve around you. Keep your nose out of my business."
Hermione turned on her heel and stormed off before Malfoy could say another word. She didn't stop or let herself think until she'd reached the other side of the castle.
Malfoy knows. He knows, and he's going to tell everyone, she thought. Hermione didn't know what to do. She felt like she could cry, but no matter how close to the edge she was, the tears just wouldn't come out. She thought for a moment about going to Gryffindor tower and finding Ginny. But it was passed curfew, and Hermione was supposed to be patrolling the corridors. She wandered around the castle, trying not to let herself dwell on the problem, but couldn't stop from thinking about it. When her head was throbbing so hard that her thoughts started blurring together and she didn't think she could bear it anymore, Hermione returned to her dorm about an hour earlier than she was meant to. She laid in bed staring up at the canopy over her head, unable to sleep, but unwilling to think anymore. She was numb, and her eyes were dry and stinging. She didn't have any idea how much time had passed before she heard Draco enter into the common room. Hermione thought she heard footsteps approaching her door. Draco did not knock, but instead turned away. She listened to his footsteps fade, and then the sound of his door closing. Eventually, she fell asleep. Her dreams were filled with nightmares about Voldemort attempting to recruit her to his army and deeming her 'worthy' of being a death eater; of Draco as the headmaster, with a long, gray beard, standing in front of the hall and announcing that everyone must now pledge their loyalty to Hermione each morning at breakfast. She tossed and turned restlessly, all night long and when she awoke the next morning, Draco was already gone from the dorm.