Hermione looked at the love bites in the mirror. She bit her lip as she stretched her neck this way and that, making sure she glamoured them all. She was going to tell Ron. She wouldn't keep it from him. But he didn't need to see a blatant reminder of it all day.
She dressed in jeans and his old jumper. The R proudly displayed. She loved being his girlfriend. She hoped this messy business with Malfoy wouldn't consume Ron's thoughts and emotions. She certainly wouldn't let it ruin anything.
She pulled her hair up into a ponytail, fluffing the curls out to be big and dramatic. She checked her watch, just enough time to get breakfast and then go check the potion. She groaned as she realized she'd be seeing Malfoy every seven hours for a week now.
She braced herself before going down the stairs to meet Ron.
He sat by the fire with Dean and Neville, laughing about something. She smiled for a moment. Grateful that this was their life now. That they'd overcome insurmountable odds just to have a normal life. He stood when he saw her, giving his friends a small wave goodbye.
"Hey!" He pulled her in for a hug. "I love when you wear that." He whispered to her before pulling back and looking her up and down.
She just smiled at him and they walked out to the corridor. She pulled him aside again, like she had the first time. "It happened again." She said quietly, looking around to be sure they weren't overheard.
"What?" He asked angrily.
"Not me. This time Malfoy was dosed. It was last night in the potions lab, you know we have that potion that needs attention every seven hours." She said quickly. Ron wasn't in the NEWTS potions class but she'd left him multiple times the past couple of days for it so he was aware.
"He kissed me. I petrified him and sent a patronus to Mcgonagall and Pomfrey. They came and gave him an antidote. Mcgonagall is going to get aurors involved now." Ron was gritting his teeth and flaring his nostrils. She hurried on "he said afterward that he wasn't aware he was on a love potion. Which is how I felt when I was on it too. He saw no one and ingested nothing. We really have no clue who's doing it or how. But the antidote works immediately so it's undeniable that it is in fact a love potion."
"That's it, I'm going with you everywhere now." He gripped her hand tightly and looked around, as if he'd see whoever was behind all this and be able to put an end to it immediately.
She sighed, "well that's impractical on a weekday." She checked her watch, "let's hurry because we have just ten minutes for breakfast before I have to get back to the potion. I had to start it over."
They started walking. Ron said "we should tell Harry. The more eyes we have out, the better."
"I suppose so." She conceded. Now that it wasn't just her who had been dosed and made a fool of, she was less embarrassed by it.
They didn't see Malfoy at breakfast, but he was there walking toward the potions lab at the same time as she and Ron were. He smirked at them and Ron squeezed her hand tightly.
Malfoy entered the lab first, not holding the door open for her this time. "I liked what you were wearing last night better." He drawled as he strolled over to the table that held both of their cauldrons. He was wearing the same sweatpants from the night before. He probably rolled out of bed just in time for this.
Luckily Ron seemed determined to not take the bait. He sat silently on a stool nearby and watched as she gathered ingredients. She assumed with Ron here that they would work on their own potions alone, but Malfoy began doing two of everything just like the night before. She silently got to work next to him, working quickly and in sync again. She refused to spend time thinking about how nice it was to have a competent partner. Everything he did was precisely the way she would have done it. And she didn't hesitate to add the ingredients he'd prepared for her to her cauldron. She glanced up guiltily at Ron.
He just sat, arms crossed, glaring at Malfoy. She silently begged Malfoy to keep his mouth shut. It was as if he could read her mind and knew exactly how to do the opposite of what she wanted. He smirked down at her evilly. She glared up at him.
"Good thing Granger is quick with her wand." He said loud enough for Ron to hear, but he didn't look away from her. "She was much easier for me to hold back when she was on the potion. She has absolutely no physical strength. I wouldn't want to imagine what would have happened if she didn't have her wand." He quirked a brow and she looked back to her potion quickly. He was saying that so Ron would imagine. She wanted to hit him.
"Are you finished yet?" Ron snapped angrily. Still trying not to take the bait.
"Yes! That should be it for now!" She said loudly. She quickly cleaned everything up and went over to take Ron's hand. Malfoy snorted and rolled his eyes, walking to the door. He turned and looked at her for a moment. Hermione glared back at him.
"What the fuck is that?" Ron asked, reaching up and tilting her head to the side, looking at her neck.
She turned her head from Ron's grasp to look angrily at Malfoy who let the door shut on his smirk. He'd wordlessly removed her glamour before he'd walked past her.
"Why did you hide this? This is not just a kiss." Ron demanded answers from her.
"I know. I didn't want you to have to look at it. I'm sorry." She was going to kill Malfoy later. "He grabbed me and started doing this." She gestured weakly at her neck. "He had my hands pinned. I tried to knee him or kick him and it distracted him enough for me to grab my wand and petrify him. I promise it wasn't that long. It was seconds. I swear. I'm not trying to hide it from you. I'm sorry." She held onto the front of his shirt with both hands, looking up at him. Trying to reassure him. "I'm sure he's just embarrassed that he got dosed this time and wants to mess with you to feel better."
He sighed, "ok. I'm sorry too. I know it's not your fault. I tried not to let him goad me." He curled his lip in disgust.
She stepped back and conjured a mirror, replacing the glamour on her neck. "Let's go." She took his hand. "Want to go for a walk by the lake? It's just us today. No classes." She tried to cheer him up. She leaned up to kiss him lightly.
"Yeah, alright." He kissed her back. One side of his mouth lifted in a half smile and she saw it as a good sign.
They walked hand in hand out to the lake. The air brisk with an early autumn chill. They made it about halfway around, away from the other students out enjoying the morning. Ron slowed them and walked to some large boulders. He sat back against one and pulled her to him.
She stood between his legs, arms around his shoulders. His hands slid around her waist. She slipped her fingers into his hair, tilting his head slightly up to her. "You know the last person I would ever want to snog in the potions lab at midnight is Draco Malfoy." She tried to find amusement in it.
Ron huffed a small laugh. "Yeah, I know."
She leaned in and kissed him then, softly, sweetly. "I wouldn't mind snogging you somewhere at midnight." She grinned before kissing him again.
"Oh you wouldn't, would you?" He teased and pulled her body flush against his, sliding his hands down to her hips.
She sucked on his lower lip before letting him go to say, "maybe tonight you can go with me" kiss "when I do the potion again" kiss "and we can take our time getting back to the common room?" Kiss kiss kiss.
Ron raised his brows in surprise, chuckling. "I think that can be arranged." He promised. He leaned in to kiss her deeper when a small cat patronus interrupted them.
"Miss Granger, please report to my office in half an hour for the meeting we discussed." Mcgonagall's voice issued from the patronus. The cat disappeared in a whisp of smoke.
"The aurors." She said by way of explanation to Ron. He groaned and nodded, kissing her once more before standing.
As they walked back to the castle they ran into Ginny and Harry on their way to the quidditch pitch. "Just going to mess around with a bunch of others out on the pitch. Not a real practice. Want to join?" Harry asked them.
Ron looked to her, she smiled in reassurance. "Yes, go, have fun. I'll meet up with you later." She promised. The others continued their trek to the pitch and Ron stayed back a moment.
"I can go with you if you want. Just tell me what you want and I'll do it." He said to her.
She thought of all the ways Malfoy would try and make it as unpleasant as possible for Ron and she knew she didn't want him there. "Go, play, have fun. It'll probably just be us telling the same story over and over again to detectives. I'll tell you all about it when we're done." She promised.
She stretched up on her toes to kiss him. "Ok," he conceded. "I love you. I'll be here." He gestured down to the pitch. She nodded and left him.
"A meeting with the headmistress? Have we been a naughty boy?" Blaise teased.
Draco had been sitting in the common room with the others. He'd woken up just in time to work on his potion and missed breakfast so he was indulging in slytherin house's favorite weekend brunch, firewhiskey and chocolate frogs.
"Yes. Jealous?" Draco stood and set his glass on the table, cracking his neck and stretching his shoulders.
"Of a private meeting in the Heads office? Absolutely." Blaise's voice oozed sensuality. Daphne pinched his side playfully. "Don't worry, love. You would be there too, in my fantasy." Blaise leaned over and sucked on her neck and she giggled.
"Gross." Theo said from his seat across from them. He was sitting on the sofa next to Pansy who rolled her eyes and tossed back the rest of her whiskey, handing him her empty glass.
She stood and stepped over his legs, Theo took a good long look of her arse as she did. "Come on, Daph, you promised me a self care day." Pansy held her hand out and pouted, waiting for Daphne to go with her.
Draco went to his dorm to change out of his pajamas finally before going upstairs.
Having to meet with aurors gave him anxiety. But he did nothing wrong this time. Everything would be fine, he reassured himself.
When he entered Mcgonagall's office, Granger was already there, along with two aurors he didn't recognize. Granger glared daggers at him. Oh yeah, last time she'd seen him he'd removed her glamour so her boyfriend could see where exactly Draco had put his mouth on her. He smiled at the memory.
They went through the aurors questions. He even told them his theory that whoever was behind it was doing it to fuck with Weasley. Granger scoffed in disagreement. The aurors took notes and basically just said to contact them if it happened again. Granger seemed perturbed by the lack of action. But she kept her mouth shut. He loved that she displayed every emotion so blatantly on her face. It made her so easy to mess with.
The headmistress dismissed them and when they were finally away from the adults she turned on him. "What is wrong with you? Why did you remove the glamour this morning? And why would you think this is all about Ron?" She stood in front of him with her arms crossed in anger. It was adorable.
Wait, he'd thought that last time just before he grabbed her arse. Is he dosed again? He stared at her, assessing his feelings.
"Hello?" She waved her hand in front of his face.
He blinked, no he didn't feel the uncontrollable desire to grab her arse again. But her pouty lips and furrowed brow were definitely doing something to him. He shook his head to clear it.
"It's a valid theory, Granger. He's the one most disturbed by it." He put on his bored face again and quirked a brow.
"I'm disturbed by it. Aren't you?" She moved her hands to her hips then and he remembered the outline of them in those tight shorts.
"Not in the slightest." He stepped around her and kept walking. She had to jog to catch up.
"You're lying. It really irks you, doesn't it? That someone dosed you with a love potion and you had no idea it was happening. That it made you do things against your will." She was talking loudly, luckily nobody was in the hall at the moment.
He spun to her, startling her and she backed up a step right into the wall. He smirked, crowding her further. "keep your voice down, Granger. I don't think you want it to get out either. Otherwise, Potter would also be giving me the stink eye in class, and he hasn't. Which tells me he doesn't know. Which is very interesting." He stepped closer. "Of course the dosing me without my knowledge irks me. But I didn't do anything against my will. And I don't think you did either." Her eyes widened at his confession. He continued "everything I said last night I had thought earlier while not under the influence. It didn't seem to alter my brain function. Just my actions. What about you? Hm?"
Her lips parted and her gaze dropped to his mouth quickly before meeting his eyes again. His heart was pounding at the proximity and the very visible desire she let slip. She shoved him away angrily.
"Altering your actions is making you do things against your will, genius." She started walking away from him. Oh no you don't, Granger.
"Are you just going to pretend that you didn't just look at my mouth, Granger? That you didn't beg for me on your knees? That you don't think about kissing me again?" He followed her down the corridor.
"Stop it." She snapped, turning on him this time. "The only person I want to be kissing is my boyfriend. You can dream about me and wank to me all you wish. But he's the one I dream about." She had fire in her eyes as she hissed at him. He shouldn't get hard right now, right? It's not the time.
He stepped closer to her, "I hope for your sake that I'm not around when you get dosed again." He sneered. "Because I won't be so generous as last time." She looked appalled. He continued. "Now that I know what it really does, I think I'll just wait and see how far it takes you." It was his turn to look down at her mouth, and he did so without shame. She stepped away from him, gasping about his audacity. He just grinned at her and walked away.
He hadn't planned on fucking with the golden trio this year. But now that it was handed so gloriously to him, how could he not take advantage? If he ever found out who was behind this, he'd have to thank them. Profoundly.
Hermione rushed to her dorm. Malfoy had effectively disturbed her deeply. How dare he suggest that he would... it doesn't matter. It wasn't going to happen again. She would make sure of it.
"Hermione! There you are!" Ginny burst into the girl's dormitory looking panicked. "You have to come quick. It's bad."
"What happened?" Hermione jumped up and followed Ginny immediately.
"It's Ron. Harry and Neville have taken him up to the hospital. We were just scrimmaging with everyone. McLaggen crashed into Ron hard at the goalpost and Ron fell backwards off his broom, it could have been really bad but his leg got hooked over the goalpost, which effectively stopped him from falling to his death. But it broke his leg. The sound was horrifying." Ginny summarized what had happened as the two girls rushed through the castle to the hospital.
"Oh my god. That's horrible. Is McLaggen ok?" Hermione asked.
"The fucker did it on purpose. I swear." Ginny growled out. "He's fine. But I swear he was out for blood the whole time. Harry didn't let him be keeper on the gryffindor team again. But he made it on the team as a chaser, right? Today was just supposed to be a fun pick-up game. There were hufflepuffs and ravenclaws. Everyone just having fun. And McLaggen was being way too aggressive the whole time."
They reached the hospital wing and Ginny pulled the door open. Ron's screams of agony burst out into the corridor. Hermione raced to his side.
"Ron! I'm here!" She took his hand and he strained back in the bed, gritting his teeth.
Pomfrey hurried over with a tray of potions. The first one he took calmed him immediately. He relaxed back into the bed and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. "Ok I need to set the bone now before I heal it." Pomfrey said, "you won't feel it but you'll hear it. Try not to get sick any of you." She directed to everyone standing around him.
Harry and Neville stood on the other side of the bed, back a bit for Pomfrey to have space to work. Ginny stood behind Hermione. Pomfrey did a spell and the femur snapped into alignment and everyone winced. Hermione squeezed his hand tightly.
"Alright. This potion will heal it. It'll take a few hours. Don't move at all." She waved her wand and a splint wrapped itself around Ron's upper leg to keep the bones in place before she handed him another vial.
He winced as he swallowed, forcing himself to keep it down. He held tightly to Hermione's hand.
"Good." Pomfrey said. "You can take a dreamless sleep, if you'd like. Sleep helps the body heal faster and keeps you still while the bones heal. However it will most likely keep you here overnight. Just so you're aware. I would recommend taking it. But it's up to you."
Ron breathed heavily on the pillow with his eyes closed, basking in a pain-free moment finally, before he turned to look at Hermione. "I won't take it. I need to go with you to your potion stuff today." He sounded exhausted.
"Nonsense. You take it and rest. I'll take someone else with me. I promise." Hermione stroked his hair.
Ron didn't even protest as he turned back to the mediwitch. "Ok, I'll take it." He tipped it back and pulled Hermione's hand to his mouth, kissing the back of it once before he fell asleep and his hand went slack in hers.
She set his hand down at his side and made sure the blankets were smooth over him. Pomfrey said she would release him in the morning, good as new and dismissed them all.
In the corridor, Harry said "why did Ron need to go to potions stuff with you? He doesn't even take that class." He took Ginny's hand and Neville said goodbye to them, heading off in a different direction.
"Well, I..." Hermione hesitated a moment, looking around. Then she pulled the two into an empty classroom, locking the door. "Ok, I'll tell you. Just know it was embarrassing at first and that's why I kept it a secret from you. But Ron's known the whole time."
Ginny looked at her with wide eyes, eager to hear some hot gossip. Harry looked concerned.
"So a couple of weeks ago I was in the library late and somehow got dosed with a love potion. I kissed Malfoy." She cringed as she said it. Ginny gasped. Harry scrunched his nose in disgust. "I know. I know. He ended up taking me to the hospital and Pomfrey set me right with an antidote. We told Mcgonagall. Tried to think about how and who had done it. But we came up with nothing. Fast forward to last night, I was working on that potion and malfoy came in to work on his, dosed. He kissed me and I petrified him and called Pomfrey and Mcgonagall. Who came and gave him an antidote. Mcgonagall called aurors who we met with this morning. That's where I was while you all were playing quidditch. Ron's insistent on accompanying me everywhere now." She finished.
"Holy shit. That's terrible." Harry said stepping forward, he reached a hand out for her and she took his hand, gratefully.
Ginny stood back, shaking her head. "So are you and Malfoy the targets? Why would someone do that? Are you sure it's not him?" She asked.
Hermione shook her head "I don't know why, if it was him, he'd take me to the hospital the first time though. You know? If he was the one doing it, he wouldn't have stopped it." She shrugged.
"Unless he felt guilty and wussed out." Ginny said.
"He's been interrogated thoroughly by Mcgonagall and the aurors. And I've heard it all. We don't think it's him. He was furious when he'd realized he'd been dosed too." She paused. Unsure if it would be helpful to share his theory or not. "He... has a theory. It's wild. I dunno. But he thinks we're not the targets at all. That Ron is."
"What? That's absurd." Ginny said incredulously.
Harry was silent for a moment, looking at Ginny. Then he said "I dunno. That sort of makes sense." He shrugged.
When neither girl agreed he sighed "I mean think about it. Hermione gets dosed, kisses another guy. She doesn't feel guilty about it because she wasn't acting of her own accord. It's embarrassing, but she can brush it off because she didn't really do it. Ron's left with the knowledge that someone else invaded her body with the potion and then she kissed another guy. It would be enough to drive me mad." He shrugged again, taking Ginny's hand.
"But it's my body, my mind. I'm the one getting violated." Hermione protested, crossing her arms in anger.
"Then why not dose you again the second time? If they really wanted you to be the only one suffering, they could have continued dosing you. But instead they dosed Malfoy. Obviously you would have used your wand to stop him. Obviously you would have been honest with Ron and told him immediately. And now he's on his sick bed refusing treatment to accompany you everywhere. I dunno. I'm just saying it's a valid theory and should be kept into consideration." Harry finished.
Hermione chewed her lip in thought, Ginny was silent. "Well anyway, I think now that aurors are involved it will stop. It'll be expulsion and possible Azkaban for whoever it is doing it. I'm not worried about it anymore." She shrugged and went to walk out the door.
"Hey, we're here for you though. I know it seemed embarrassing at the time. I get it. But you can trust us with this. We can help. Keep an eye out." Harry said.
Ginny nodded "absolutely. We can all spend the weekend together. It'll be fun!"
Hermione smiled "thanks you two, but I've got that potion to catch up on and you don't need to spend every moment babysitting me. I will send you a pantronus though. If I find myself in that situation again. I'll call for help. Thank you." She promised.
Harry was satisfied by that answer. Ginny gave her a quick hug. "Let's go get lunch together at least! I want to see McLaggen run away when he sees us."
Hermione and Harry laughed and they went down to lunch together.