She woke up in a bed, not her own. Ginny, Pomfrey and Mcgonagall surrounded her. The need for Malfoy swelled up in her again. She sat abruptly and attempted to stand. Pomfrey thrust a potion at her which she slapped aside, the vial shattered and the antidote splashed onto the floor. Ginny held her back while the mediwitch restored the vial and its contents with her wand.
"No! What did you do to him? I need to get back to him! I need him!" She was shouting and crying. Mcgonagall stunned her again.
She woke again, someone had administered the antidote while she was unconscious this time. She lay there for a moment, breathing and looking around. Every moment of the night came back to her. She closed her eyes again as the tears came rushing forward.
"I'm so sorry my dear." Mcgonagall took her hand and squeezed. "I'm absolutely furious that this keeps happening to you. Now the most important thing to know first is, are you all right? Are you hurt?"
Hermione tried to reign in the emotions welling up inside her. She shook her head. "Physically I'm fine." She managed to get out. She sat up slowly. Noticing Ginny at her other side.
She recognized the dorm that Malfoy had brought her to. She looked down at herself, she was still in the jeans and camisole she'd put on that morning. All buttons and zippers securely fastened. Ron's jumper nowhere to be found. She didn't recall when she'd lost it.
"Where's Malfoy?" She managed to ask as she swung her legs to the side to stand.
"Just outside with Harry. Pomfrey already gave him the antidote." Ginny said gently.
Mcgonagall stepped back, "I do need to go upstairs and address the rest of the students. We will need to ensure nobody else was dosed and assess the damage. I don't want to bring attention to the fact that someone is getting away with dosing people with a love potion. It could inspire others to try it. But I would ask for your help in observing your fellow students. See if any exhibit similar symptoms." Mcgonagall said. Ginny nodded her head. Mcgonagall walked toward the door, Pomfrey close behind.
Hermione followed them with Ginny. The headmistress and mediwitch ascended the staircase. In the hall, Harry touched her shoulder, asking if she was alright.
She looked at him and then glanced at Malfoy who leaned casually against the wall behind him. His shirt was on again, his hands stuffed in his pockets. His body language said he was indifferent. His eyes showed that he was anything but.
"I'm fine." She nodded to Harry and Ginny to go ahead.
Malfoy pushed off the wall and stepped close to her, looking down at her. She was frozen at the emotion in his eyes. Rage, determination, promise. But also a sort of gentle possession. He reached up and slid her hair behind her ear. Her heart pounded wildly. This felt different than the love potion. This felt real. And it frightened her.
He noticed and let his hand fall away, stepping back with a sneer. "It was McLaggen." He resumed his indifferent stance.
She blinked in surprise. "What?! How do you know? I didn't drink anything."
"I don't know how the fucker is doing it. I just know that it was him. I started feeling it the moment I stepped between you."
Hermione looked up the stairs, wondering how long her friends would give her before coming to check. He didn't feel it until after he'd come to her rescue? "Why did you step between us?" She whispered, looking back at him. She shivered in the cold dungeon, waiting for his reply.
He rolled his eyes and looked away. "Forget it, Granger. Let's go see how much trouble Blaise gets into for this." He gestured for her to go up the stairs.
At the top she stepped next to Ginny and Harry, across the room Mcgonagall was admonishing them all for their debauchery. Demanding to know who orchestrated it. Blaise stepped forward without hesitation. A pleased look about him.
Mcgonagall then said that parties would be allowed in the future but they would need to be approved of beforehand and chaperoned during. Everyone groaned at that. The headmistress sent them all off to bed. No one else seemed to be unable to keep their hands to themselves. It didn't seem like anyone else had been dosed.
Hermione started walking out with Ginny and Harry when Malfoy grabbed her hand. "Just a second there, Granger." He stepped close to her as people began filing past him to the dorms. He leaned in, cheek nearly touching hers, and whispered to her, "don't say anything about McLaggen yet. I want to watch him." A shiver danced across her skin, visible to him by her bared shoulders.
She chewed her lip as she contemplated. The look in his eyes promised danger which she found very appealing for some reason. She nodded to Malfoy and turned, following her friends. She didn't realize he was still holding her hand until it slipped away slowly.
After too few hours of sleep, Hermione groggily made her way down to the potions lab. She couldn't wait for this assignment to be finished. She envied her classmates who would be done with it tomorrow. She had a flash of anger at McLaggen for prolonging her torture.
She wasn't one hundred percent convinced it was him. But he was their only suspect so far. She'd thought long and hard about it. It could be him. He did have reason to hate both her and Ron. Though he still shouldn't know about her use of the confundus charm two years ago. Only she and Harry knew about that. But she had jilted him at Slughorn's party, which wasn't offense enough to warrant this type of retaliation. Unless he was a psychopath.
She wasn't sure how Malfoy came into play. Minus just general dislike of him because he'd been a death eater and hated gryffindors. But McLaggen wasn't there for the battle. He was an all around neutral party when it came to the war. Which, in her mind meant support for Voldemort. If you don't stop evil, and you stand back letting it happen, that's as good as supporting it.
So he couldn't have any real vendetta against Malfoy. Unless he'd just chosen the worst person to get under Ron's skin. Which, if that was his goal, he'd probably chosen wisely.
It was very early. She was going to work on her potion and then check on Ron. She hoped he'd be awake and healed and she could spend the morning telling him about last night. And even though the potion-induced 'almost' sex wasn't truly her fault, she felt enormous guilt about it. Probably because she had bonded with Malfoy in some way beforehand.
After showing him the photographs, she'd let him take her hand, she'd followed him around the party. He'd come to her rescue and she'd liked it. If his theory about McLaggen was true, she possibly only liked it because of the potion, if she'd been dosed before he'd made it to them. But upon reflection afterward, she still found the moment attractive.
But she couldn't be sure of her real feelings. Were they just ghosts of potion induced attraction? Would she have felt this way without ever having the potion in play? Would he have come to like her without it? Probably not, she'd conceded.
But this last time was bad. They'd been removing clothing in his bed. Without Ginny and Harry intervening, they probably would not have stopped. She was a virgin still, and losing that to Malfoy while under the influence of a love potion sounded heartbreaking.
She'd been waiting for the right moment with Ron. She didn't want it to be in his mother's house, which was basically where they'd spent the summer after the battle. Ron had gone with her to Australia briefly to get her parents. But when she'd learned the memories couldn't be restored, she had been devastated. And she didn't want the first time with him to be laced with that sadness.
Then they'd come here. And she didn't want it to be rushed in some empty classroom or in his silenced four poster while Harry and their other classmates slept nearby.
So the timing hadn't manifested yet. But she was definitely waiting for Ron. She hoped and prayed that this issue with Malfoy wouldn't make him too upset. But she wouldn't blame him if it did.
She wearily pulled open the potions lab door, running into a wall of air. Malfoy waved his wand from inside and let her pass through his ward.
"I did homenum revelio and made sure nobody was in here, then cast the ward. If he's getting us in the hall, I'm not sure how to stop that. But at least we'll know he can't get in here to take pictures of us now." He was prepping ingredients at their table, talking to her as he chopped and diced.
"That's as good an idea as any." She replied, stepping into place next to him, "what have you done so far?"
They worked seamlessly on the potion steps. Completing it quickly. She put away the last items and washed her hands in the basin in the back of the lab. Malfoy casually leaned on the sink next to her.
"Listen, Granger. About last night." He started.
She dried her hands on a towel before looking up at him. She was tired. Physically tired because of lack of sleep, but also tired of being manipulated by a potion and a blackmailer. Tired of being forced into some warped love triangle.
Malfoy continued, watching her carefully. "I knew it was happening this time. I think I could have stopped it. I'm sorry I let it go so far."
She shook her head then. "I don't blame you. I felt it too. It was like a tiny voice in the back of my head, reminding me that I wouldn't be doing this. But I couldn't have stopped if I tried." She looked wearily down at his chest.
"I asked Pomfrey for the antidote." He held out a vial to her. "I'll keep one on me and you keep one on you. If we notice it in each other..." he trailed off as she took the vial and looked at it in her palm. "I know I threatened it earlier. But I want you to know, I would never intentionally take advantage of you under the influence of the potion. I think non consensual sex acts are vile."
Hermione looked up into his eyes finally and saw the truth there. For just a moment. Then he grinned, "I won't promise I won't take advantage of you when you're not on a love potion though."
Hermione was caught off guard. She laughed before she could think about it. She stared into his eyes which were twinkling with slytherin mischief. Her smiled faded as her gaze dropped to his mouth, she remembered herself a second later and turned away, walking to the door. She pocketed the antidote that was still in her palm.
"Thanks, Malfoy. See you in seven hours." She waved and he winked back, cancelling the ward for her to pass. She refused to acknowledge the fact that it made her heart jump. Even just a little.
Draco went back to his dorm. It was too early for McLaggen to be out. But he would indeed be tailing him today. He'd replayed the night's events in his mind many times.
When Granger showed him those photos, he'd been livid. He honestly did not care if anyone else saw them. They were hot. He would in fact be keeping them as wanking material. But the fact that someone had been getting away with secretly following them and taking pictures. That made him angry.
He'd expected to be dosed at the party. Everyone their age was there. Except the weasel. Which made it the perfect opportunity for whoever was dosing them to make a move.
He'd asked Blaise to watch him, make sure he didn't disappear with Granger at some point during the night, when she'd disappeared on him. He saw her make her way through the dancing crowd to Potter and his girlfriend. Good, he'd thought. More witnesses.
He'd made his way to the edge of the room to watch and observe. Despite his two shots of whiskey, he felt well in control of his faculties. Benefits, he supposed, of often drinking it at breakfast.
He'd watched her make her way through the crowd back to Blaise. He assumed then that she was looking for him again, and was making his way to her when he noticed McLaggen hovering nearby. He had a drink in his hand and was bobbing to the music but not really dancing with anyone. And he was eyeing her weirdly. Draco held back, watching him.
When McLaggen had grabbed her after she'd tried pushing him away, Draco had seen red. But it wasn't until he'd shoved his way between them that he felt the physical desire for her manifest. He'd recognized it immediately this time. Probably because he was waiting for it.
After Potter had stunned him and called the headmistress, he'd taken the antidote willingly. He stared down at her unconscious form and felt disgusted with himself. This wasn't how he wanted her. If he did as Blaise suggested and bedded her for fun, he wanted her aware. He wanted her begging for it because she wanted it. Not because of a potion.
He might not have gone for her without the potion. But the opportunity was now here. Who was he to dismiss it when it was thrust so blatantly onto his lap?
No, he would not be using her under the potion. He would destroy McLaggen for using him. And then he would win her. Destroying Weasley was just a happy side effect.
He was actually quite invigorated by the new challenge. Until now, he'd just been going through the mundane classes without any real conviction or purpose. It had been looking to be a very boring year. But this. This he could work to his advantage.
Hermione entered the hospital wing. She had hoped Ron would be awake and ready to go. But she hadn't expected him to be sitting up, legs off the side of the bed and leaning over. He had his elbows on his knees and his face covered with one hand. The other held an envelope and a stack of photos over his leg.
"Ron!" She ran to his side. Her first thought was that Malfoy had given him the envelope and she was furious that she'd begun to like him just moments ago.
Ron stood, not looking at her. He handed her the photos, "I need a minute." He walked out of the hospital with her following close behind.
"Ron let me explain. I know how these look without knowing the context." She started panicking. Why can't Malfoy just leave it alone? She wanted to cry that she had trusted him even for a moment.
"Hermione, don't talk to me right now. I need a moment to myself." He warned. He kept walking down the corridor, fists clenched and eyes forward. He still hadn't looked at her.
Hermione grabbed his forearm and stopped him. "Ok! Ok." She breathed heavily. "I'll just..." she looked up at him. Begging him to look at her. He wouldn't. "I'll just be in the common room. Please come talk to me when you're ready." She conceded. She didn't want to push him. She wanted to respect his boundaries. He nodded briskly. "I love you." She whispered, squeezing his arm.
He closed his eyes at that, pulling her into his chest and crushing her to him. She held on tightly as long as he let her. Then he said "I'll find you." And took off.
Hermione stood alone in the corridor, despair washing over her. She lifted the stack and looked at the one on top. It was of her and Malfoy on the dance floor last night. Legs entwined, mouths attached. His hands were on her bum and waist. Hers were around his neck. The loop showed them swaying with the music and gazing into each others eyes before Hermione pulled him to her and kissed him. The way his arms tightened around her as he leaned down to her had her stomach twisting. She flipped to the next photo of the two of them, hand in hand, disappearing down the stairs alone. They were frenzied, looking for a place to be alone together.
She flipped the photo again and saw the same ones as the other envelope, those two added to the lineup now. Her heart sank when she realized it wasn't Malfoy's doing this time, this wasn't the envelope he had in his possession. And that these had been taken after he'd forced McLaggen out. It couldn't have been him either. And they were back to square one.
She wanted to run back down to slytherin and show Malfoy the new photos and discuss what it meant to his theory about McLaggen. But she also didn't want to be missing when Ron was ready to talk. She went to the gryffindor common room and paced anxiously as her mind ran through all the new possibilities. Which weren't many.
It's possible McLaggen is doing the dosing and someone else is doing the photographing. It's possible that he snuck back in after they'd succumbed to the potion. How was he dosing them? What if it was someone else entirely? Someone nearby who'd passed under their notice. It had been super crowded. She couldn't even try to count how many people touched her during that party.
She continued pacing, the photos burning a hole in her pocket. She ached to go down to Malfoy. But she wouldn't. She'd see him in six hours or so. Ron was the priority right now. Ron.
Students began to wake and pass through the common room on their way to breakfast. Most of them younger, and they hadn't been at the party. But Lavender and Seamus descended the boys' stairs together, giggling and holding hands. They nodded at Hermione in greeting and just before they exited through the portrait hole, Lavender turned back around.
"Oh, Hermione! Did I see you snogging Malfoy at the party last night?? Or was just suuuuppperr drunk?" She smirked, showing that she knew what she saw and was just playing coy.
Hermione stood there, unable to come up with a response. She hadn't thought about the consequences of most of their class watching them kissing and dancing provocatively. Not to mention then disappearing down the stairs to the dorms. Of course people saw.
Just then, Ron entered through the portrait hole. Lavender and Seamus moved aside for him to pass and made a show of looking at each other and giggling at the situation. Then they left the common room.
Hermione felt utter shame now. Even though she was dosed, she'd put herself in that very public situation. And it seriously hurt Ron. Of course it did.
He cleared his throat and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on. Let's go somewhere private." He said. She nodded and followed him, grateful for the opportunity to speak about everything.
They walked out of the castle for a while, past Hagrids hut and down to the edge of the forest. She just let him lead the way, letting him decide where he wanted to stop. He stopped and conjured a bench for them to sit on.
It was a beautiful fall morning. The sun was rising and burning off a morning mist. The trees and grass all covered in sparkling dew. She felt unbelievably sad to taint it with her issues.
"I think you can share your side of things before I react. Obviously somebody is trying to hurt me by dosing you and taking those photos." He started out. Leaning forward on his knees and clasping his hands, waiting for her.
She nodded. Even though he wasn't looking at her. "Yes um, let me start with the first potion check in after you took dreamless. I told Harry and Ginny both about the incidences, and I took Ginny with me to the potions lab with me next. I tried to get Malfoy to trade off times with me so we wouldn't have to be in there together anymore and he refused." Ron exhaled in annoyance but said nothing. She continued.
"So Ginny came with me. Then we checked on you before dinner, Harry, Gin and I. And there was nothing on your table at the hospital. You were sound asleep. I had to go back for the potion around ten and Harry and Ginny were gone, so I went a little early by myself and checked in on you before I went. There was an envelope, like this one." She pulled it out and held it in her hands. "I looked inside because it had no writing on it and it wasn't sealed and I was curious who had come by and delivered it sometime after dinner.
"It contained all the same photos except two. The last two, at the party." She took a breath. This was difficult. She wanted to be one hundred percent honest with him. "I was shaken up, not only were we dosed with a love potion, but we were followed and photographed. Malfoy had a theory that he shared with the aurors that I didn't believe until seeing the photos. But it's possible that you are the target. That whoever is doing it is trying to hurt you specifically. You and me. Malfoy doesn't seem to care, except for not knowing who is doing it and the secret photos. That angers him."
She flipped the envelope over. "If you'd like I can go over each photo with you and explain the moments."
Ron shook his head "No, I don't want to see them again. Just finish the story."
She cleared her throat. "Ok, well then I went to the potions lab. I was shaken up by the photos and was nearly too late, we worked on the potion and then I showed him the photos.
"Like I said, he was angry. He said he didn't care if they got out but he was furious that someone dared to stalk us and do this." She shook the envelope a bit. "He told me to go with him, and I followed him to the slytherin common room where this huge party was happening. Blaise Zabini had orchestrated it. It was intense. Everyone from sixth, seventh, and eighth years it seemed.
"First Malfoy offered me a drink which I refused. I didn't want to get dosed. He said he didn't think the poisoner was doing it through drinks because neither of us remember getting dosed and everyone at the party was drinking from the same bottles. I still didn't drink anything the whole time.
"Then I followed him through the dancing crowd where he spoke with Zabini for a bit and that's when I saw Ginny and Harry. They were drinking and dancing across the room. They seemed a little drunk and were having fun and I didn't want to ruin it by telling them about the envelope and that's when I realized Malfoy still had it. So I went back onto the floor to find him. I couldn't. When I was turning to leave, McLaggen grabbed hold of me. He tried to get me to dance with him and I said no. He held my wrist really tight and I tried hitting his chest. I yelled at him for putting you in the hospital.
"Harry kicked him off the team earlier, by the way. So he was extra angry." She paused a moment to see if he'd say anything about that. He didn't. She cleared her throat. "Um, so then Malfoy stepped in between us and shoved McLaggen off the floor and made him leave."
She paused, briefly running through the pros and cons in her head of telling Ron that it possibly could be McLaggen. If it wasn't him and she planted the idea in Ron's head, he would definitely start a fight. She decided not to tell him until she was sure.
"Then we started dancing, Malfoy and I. We'd both been dosed somehow. There were so many people surrounding us, touching us. It could have been anyone. I don't know who.
"We left to go to his dorm..." she paused. She was so ashamed to have to tell him this. Even if it wasn't her fault. "We went in his dorm and he locked the door. He took his shirt off and put me on the bed. He touched my breast, over my shirt." She bit her lip to keep from crying. She took another breath.
"Ginny and Harry blasted open the door and stunned Malfoy first. The potion made me upset about it and I'd reached for my own wand when they stunned me too. I woke up in the bed alone with Ginny and Mcgonagall and Pomfrey around me. Harry and Malfoy were outside the room.
"They gave me the antidote and we all went back to the common room with the rest of the party. Mcgonagall yelled at us all a bit first though." She sniffed and wiped her nose. She'd made it through the worst bits.
"This morning I went to do the potion first, Malfoy told me he would never take advantage of me while I was under the influence of a love potion. He thinks non consensual sex acts are vile. Then I went to see you. And my first thought about the envelope was that Malfoy had given it back to you. I was so angry about it. But then I saw the two new photos. It couldn't have been him. I think if I go to him and show him he'll have the original envelope with all the photos still. But that remains to be seen." She finished, shrugging.
After a moment of Ron still not saying anything she whispered "I'm so sorry."
Finally he sat up and put his arm around her, pulling her to his chest. She started sobbing, holding onto him.
He kissed the top of her head and held her with both arms. "No, I'm so sorry. It sounds like Malfoy's theory is right. None of this seems to be hurting him. Just you. And me." He squeezed her tighter. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what they want. If McLaggen hadn't already tried to kill me I'd think it was him. I mean it could still be him. Why the fuck did he try and force you to dance with him?" He pulled away from her with a renewed anger, now directed at McLaggen.
"Yeah," he looked like he was realizing something. "why the fuck did he fly at me so hard, that was intentional. And then grabbing you like that, when he knew I wasn't there. He could be pissed he didn't get keeper again, and mad at you for ditching him after slughorns party two years ago I suppose." He stood then, starting to pace and speculate.
She sighed "Malfoy had that theory too. I didn't want to tell you because I'm not certain that it's McLaggen. But Malfoy said he started feeling the potions effects as soon as he stepped between us. He wants to watch him for a bit before we go to the aurors and the headmistress with our suspicions."
Ron nodded, "good. That's good. I want to talk to Malfoy. When's your next potion check in?"
She sighed and check her watch. "Noon."
"Ok. Good." He held his hand out for her to take, pulling her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his middle and looked up at him. He finally kissed her sweetly. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I shouldn't have taken the dreamless. I could have been there."
She shook her head, trying to stop the tears from coming. She was so relieved that he was reacting so well.
"You didn't have breakfast, did you?" He took her by the hand and vanished his bench. "let's get something in hogsmeade, we're almost there already. Then we'll be back to the castle in time for your potion."
She smiled at his thoughtfulness. "Ok, yes that sounds nice." She stuffed the envelope into her pocket and walked with him, hand in hand, grateful that they could salvage their morning and have a nice date together.