Chapter 13

By Monday morning, Hermione felt much better from her overindulgence of alcohol the previous week. She had needed a good shower to get the ick of her sweat off her skin. Luckily no one else was up when she was as her first class of the day, NEWT-level History of Magic, was at an earlier block. Purebloods stopped taking that class as soon as it became an elective and after she nearly fell asleep six times while Professor Binns lectured, Hermione wondered if they had the right idea.

Maybe she was taking too many courses.

Maybe she should talk to McGonagall about her course load and see if she could take some of these NEWTs early. She didn't think that she could make it through an entire year of listening to the ghostly professor drone on about things that she already knew. It was almost physically painful.

She'd skipped breakfast so by the time that she was done with History of Magic, Hermione was ravenous. She hadn't felt hungry in weeks and decided that was a good sign that her mental health was improving.

She froze for a minute at the door to the Great Hall, she really didn't want to eat at the Gryffindor table. She wished that there was another option, but there wasn't so she just put on her big girl knickers and went and sat with the first years again, offering her assistance on the subjects that they were struggling on between the courses.

Maybe she should start a study group?

She might not be Head Girl, but she could still contribute to the Hogwarts community. While she explained the different applications of Wiggenweld potion to some of the students, her mind whirled as she considered how best to go about setting something up.

...

Theo watched his pretty little mate as she spoke with the firsties. She'd make such an exceptional mother. He could see it in her, in the way she attentively listened to them as they spoke. In the way she gave them small amounts of physical affection. Pureblood children weren't used to that, and he could see their desperation for more of that in their little faces. She thought her shoulder squeezes and hair ruffling was nothing, but it was probably the kindest touches these children had received in months. He looked down the table at the first years in his own house and caught more than one looking longingly at Granger.

He tried to ignore the feelings of jealousy, they were touch-starved first years for Merlin's sake, and attend to his meal, but Daphne's gossiping was turning his stomach. Honestly, she needed to learn to shut her mouth now and again.

...

William "Bill" Weasley was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and Draco had to admit the man was the handsomest Weasley by far. Greyback had scarred his face and that gave Draco a tinge of guilt every time he looked at the man, but he was so bloody fit that the scars seemed more of an enhancement than a detraction.

Not that Draco wanted to do anything about how good the man looked, Draco was after all a mated wizard, but sitting in class for the next nine months and staring at him certainly wouldn't be a hardship.

Theo was looking at the man with thinly veiled suspicion, especially considering Granger's happiness to see him.

"I didn't know you'd be here," she gushed, as she hugged him quickly and then backed up when she realised she had done that in front of everyone.

"I didn't know I would be here either. The professor that the Headmistress had hired had to pull out last minute, some sort of family emergency. So here I am," the man had a bloody ponytail and a single earring for Salazar's sake. Could he appeal more to those that were attracted to the masculine sex?

"What's Fleur going to do without you?" Granger asked, seemingly ignoring all the other eighth years that were filtering into the classroom.

"I think she'll manage," he smiled kindly. "She's back at work part-time and trying to decide on whether she'd like to pursue a Mastery before we start trying for children."

Granger's smile was so wide and bright that Draco wanted to growl, so he couldn't imagine how Theo was feeling.

"Oh, I'm sure that you'll both be brilliant parents." She seemed to realise where she was and that the whole class was looking at her. "I've better sit so you can get started," she said sheepishly, quickly sitting in the front row.

"Swot," Theo whispered affectionately under his breath and Draco found himself surprised that he seemed amused rather than territorial towards their new professor, perhaps it helped that the wizard was married and planning for children. Draco had never seen Theo so complacent after watching their witch be touched by another wizard, even Longbottom had drawn more ire.

The professor stood in the middle of the classroom with his arms crossed, his wand in a dragon leather shoulder holster, the hide glistening in iridescent tones. His button down ice blue shirt was clearly Acromantula silk and he was in denims, forgoing a traditional wizarding robes. Simply put, half the class was ogling the wizard as though he was the last sugar quill at Honeydukes and the other half didn't prefer wizards.

"Hello class! I'm your new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, only it's not so long since my seventh year so since we are all adults here and you all fought in a bloody war, for Merlin's sake, I'd prefer it if you called me Bill."

That sent a murmur of confusion through the Purebloods in the room.

"I'll still answer to Professor Weasley," the redhead offered. "But I'm giving all of you the use of my preferred name. Please let me know if you have a preferred one." He looked over at Granger. "Or a non-preferred nickname."

This seemed to be some sort of an in-joke with Granger who blushed prettily. Draco shared a look with Theo, who was clearly wracking his brain wondering what she didn't want to be called.

"The problem with this class has always been inconsistent staffing. So with this group, our priority is NEWT preparation. We're going to do a fast paced review of each year's most critical information for your exams. Revision and self-study is going to be critical for your success. The powers that be have set you up to fail in this, so you need to prove them wrong."

Their professor caught Draco's eye when he said the last bit. The Malfoy heir lost his ability to breathe for a second. Was their DADA professor going to be fair to Slytherins for a change? A Weasley admitting to the bias against Slytherins? Would wonders never cease?

Theo and Blaise both wore identical expressions of shock and Pansy's mouth had dropped open in a particularly unladylike expression.

Wasn't just him that caught the implication, then.

Well this was an interesting complication.