Yawning, Hermione groaned as she stretched herself out as best as she could. "You okay there?" Turning her head to Ginny, she chuckled as she met the witch's smiling gaze. "Absolutely," Hermione replied, releasing a satisfied sigh as all the tension had left with that stretch, and she quickly dressed herself into her school robes. "What class do we have after breakfast?" Ginny asked, her voice somewhat muffled as she was hunched forward over her trunk, searching for her required books.
"Transfiguration." Hermione replied absentmindedly, but then a smile formed on her lips as she realized she had that class with Slytherin. Never before had she been so happy to have classes with Slytherin. "All right, let's go, then." Ginny said when she had finally loaded her schoolbag, and the two girls walked the spiral stairs down from the dormitories.
A couple of whispers grew as they neared the portrait hole, but none were loud enough for Hermione to be able to catch what it was about. Shrugging it off, she listened to Ginny as she began to tell Hermione about how Seamus had nearly set himself on fire again right before dinner yesterday – when Draco and Hermione had been in the hallway – but Hermione immediately stopped listening when she caught sight of the white blond locks of Draco Malfoy, who was lazily leaning against the wall near their portrait hole, a sneer on his face that he shot at any student daring to look his way. So that's what all the whispers were about.
When he caught sight of her, however, his sneer fell and was replaced by a playful smile, and Hermione hurriedly excused herself from Ginny, who carelessly waved her off as she continued walking with Neville who had joined them last minute.
"Didn't know you'd show up here." Hermione said, a smile grazing on her lips as she was ever so happy to see him. "Figured we could walk together." Hermione gave a laugh at that, walking alongside him as they made their way through the corridor. "You must have been really desperate to see me if you came all the way up here, just to go back down." Draco scoffed, his eyebrows raised in defence as he shook his head. "Not desperate at all."
Raising her own eyebrows in disbelief, she clicked her tongue as a playful smile now appeared on her face. "Umbridge would be ashamed if she heard you lie right now." A chuckle escaped his mouth, and he casually dropped his hands into his pockets. "Good thing she isn't here then."
Hermione smiled, looking up at him as she saw the turned up corners of his lips. She definitely liked the look of his smile, unlike his usual sneer that she was so used to seeing, especially being directed her way.
They strode through the corridors, ignoring all the curious glances thrown her way. Or the occasional whispers which almost all consisted out of "Did you see that?" or "Is that really Malfoy and Hermione walking together?" Almost all were in full disbelief, and some even with a hint of disgust. Either way, Hermione tried not to care. It's not like they hadn't heard any of these comments in Diagon Alley before.
At last they arrived in the Great Hall, and if she thought that people were staring before, then nothing compared to how many people were staring right now. Almost every head turned towards the entrance where they were coming through – minus the few students here and there who simply couldn't care – and Hermione had to restrain herself from not stepping a couple of feet away from Draco just for the sake of making the staring stop.
See you in a bit, okay? Draco glanced her way, and Hermione nodded as response to his question, glad to get a smile from him before his expression turned into a foul sneer, directing it at anyone who dared to make eye contact with him. Shaking her head, she strode off into the opposite direction, heading for the Gryffindor table where she was about to have some much needed breakfast.
"Good morning, class." Hermione turned her head to Professor McGonagall as the woman came walking in the classroom, the war having seemed to put quite some age on the elder woman's face. The teacher locked eyes with her, giving her a firm nod in acknowledgment, and then her eyes drifted between her and Draco, a curiosity glazing over her face before composing herself and turning nonchalant as she made her way to the front.
"What is she staring at?" The boy beside her sneered lowly, and Hermione eyed the scowl planted on his face. "Lighten up, that face doesn't suit you." She whispered as the class fell more silent, not wanting others to hear her. Besides, can you blame her? His only response was a dismissive grunt as McGonagall began by starting the class.
Hermione rolled her eyes as two girls in front of them shot a quick glance backwards to them, and then hunched together, soft whispers shared between each other that were just loud enough for her to catch what they were saying. "I told you I saw them walking together this morning." The brown haired one said to the red haired one, and both girls dared to throw another quick glance their way, before lowering their heads immediately when both Draco and Hermione gave them a hard glare. "Do you think they're a thing?" The red haired girl asked, lowering her voice to such an extent that it was almost impossible to hear. "I hope not, I thought the Hermione Granger had some class." The two sniggered, but were quickly shut up by McGonagall, who didn't appreciate the disruption in her class.
Shooting a quick sideways glance to the boy next to her, she saw the tense in his jaw and his fingers tighten ever so slightly around his quill, a sullen expression layering his face. It was all too clear that he wasn't happy with what he just heard the girls say, and Hermione released a soft sigh to herself, wishing that he wouldn't take people's comments to heart so much.
Sure, she had a hard time doing it herself as well sometimes, but the more time she spent together with Draco and the more she enjoyed his company, the less she cared about what others thought. As long as he made her happy, then it didn't matter to her whatever anyone else thought about it.
Reaching her hand out to his, she squeezed it gently and shot him a warm smile, which in turn immediately helped soothe his muscles a bit as he slowly lowered his quill to the desk, the grip on it loosening. However, his eyes remained expressionless as he quickly averted them from her, fixing it to the front. Sighing, she removed her hand from his and listened to the instructions of her teacher, deciding to let whatever mood he was in be for after class.
Besides that first class in the morning, the other classes had gone by fairly quiet. Minus a comment here and there, of course. After all, complete ignorance to the two sitting together at every class they had so far would have been too much to ask from the students at Hogwarts, who everyone knew were one of the most curious people.
But lunch so far was way better, as less people rose their heads from their plate to take a look at the couple walking in, by now less surprised to see the two together, although it was clear that some were still rather unsettled by it. Shrugging that off, Hermione said a quick goodbye to Draco and left for the Gryffindor table, where she took a seat next to Dean and began munching on a piece of toast, that was soon interrupted by an owl landing by her side, dropping a letter on her plate.
Recognizing the handwriting as her mother's immediately, she wondered why she wrote this soon already. Normally they wouldn't write to one another yet until the end of the week, giving each other both the time to settle back into their separate lives. So to get a letter this early on in the week got her heart raising, and she hurried to open the envelope.
Dear Hermione,
I don't wish to worry you, but your father and I came home last night after dinner only to find it robbed from our most precious possessions. No worries, your father and I are both okay, and so are most of your books.
I hope none of them that have been taken had been valuable to you, and I most certainly hope they weren't magical. Have you gotten to Hogwarts all right?
Love,
Mom.
Hermione frowned, biting her lip in thought as she tried to remember what books she had left at her parents house, but let out a breath of relief as she came to the conclusion that no magical books had been lingering around the house. With that confirmation, she wrote a quick letter back to her mother, saying she had gotten to Hogwarts okay and that she'd send Harry over there one of these days as well to put on some protective enchantments that she didn't think would have been necessary to put up before she left, but would wish to have them now. To which she also wrote saying that she hoped that her parents wouldn't brush him off, for this would give her some peace of mind knowing that they'd be okay.
And so for the latter she wrote another letter, rather messily written as her lunch break was coming to an end, but managed to finish writing it just with a few minutes left to spare.
Dear Harry,
Have you started your Auror training yet? And what about that place of your own? I know it's only been a few days, but I think it's best to start as soon as possible.
Anyway, that's not why I'm writing. I just received a letter from my mother, saying their house has been robbed. So far I know there isn't a trace of the thief, so I wouldn't know if it was a Muggle or a Wizard. Either way, would you mind hopping by my parents' house one of these days to put a couple protective enchantments up?
Thanks a lot in advance, and give my best to Ron and the others if you're still at the Burrow!
Love,
Hermione.
Sending the owl away, Hermione's eyes drifted immediately to the opposite side of the room, where her eyes found his familiar grey ones. A slight frown was settled on his face, almost making it appear as an expression of worry. Everything okay? He asked, and Hermione smiled briefly to herself as his expression indeed did turn out to be worry.
Getting up from the table as the bell rang, she decided to slow down her pace as she might as well tell him in an actual conversation, wanting to try to keep the mind communication to a minimal. As useful as it was, it didn't do much help to create a personal connection between the two of them, which in all honesty did require a verbal talk once in a while.
"My parents have been robbed," Hermione explained as soon as he was beside her, and his head immediately snapped to her. "But they're okay." She quickly added, and he nodded slowly with a frown. "Any idea who did it?"
Hermione sighed, shaking her head as they strolled through the corridors. "No idea." Was all she could say, not knowing anything more herself either. Draco's eyes glided away from hers, scanning the crowd around her before letting his eyes fall back on her. "Were they at home?" Hermione shook her head, turning a left with Draco and entering the classroom. They had Charms now, and for the first time they took a seat next to each other, instead of their usual seats on opposite ends of the room. "No, they were going out for dinner."
Draco nodded as a sign that he heard her, but remained quiet afterwards. It was clear that he had the same worries as she did. What if it had been a wizard, trying to look for anything valuable on her part, or a wizard bound to pay revenge for her helping Harry in the war, or perhaps even revenge on the fact that Draco and Hermione were together now. People could do crazy things for the most stupid reasons, and it made her grow more anxious the longer she thought about it, silently scolding herself all throughout class for not taking precaution and putting those protective enchantments around the house.
With a worried filled mind, she barely even registered the fact that she had mumbled a goodbye to Draco, and failed to notice how distant he had been in return. In fact, it wasn't until halfway through her Arithmancy class – one of the classes she didn't share with Slytherin – that she found out that he wasn't in his own class at all. And the only way she knew this was because one simple sentence rang as clear as a day through her mind, one she hadn't heard for a good long while.
I need a place where no one will find me. A place where everything shall be hidden.
What in the world was he doing in the Room of Requirement? Draco, what are you doing? Figuring the easiest way to find out was to simply ask him, she was left disappointed as he flat out ignored her, leaving her to take on actions of her own.
Worried that in some way he might be involved with the Dark Arts for whatever reason – even though she trusted him enough to let her know if he was – she opened her mind up to him, and let his vision stream into her mind.
Any sign of a previous filled room with books, chairs and useless bits were far from gone. Instead, a pitch blackness covered the ground and walls as burnt reminisces of stray objects were laying around. It hadn't occurred to her back then that when the fire had been ignited in the Room of Requirement when they had been in war, would still show an aftermath to the first one to open the room again. Well, to the one who wished to see that particular room, that was. She knew for a fact that any other rooms would still show normally to anyone else.
Leaving his mind when it became clear that he wasn't there to necessarily do something, but to simply be there – for whatever reason that may have been – she focused back on her class as best as she could, until the bell rang and announced her last class of that day, in which she had no concentration left at all for she couldn't wait till dinner so she could ask him about it.
But when dinner came around she was left all the more disappointed, as his spot at the Slytherin table remained empty, and he had seemed to mentally block her once more. Leaving her to worry all throughout the night what was going on with him.