Pansy was apprehensive about sitting with the Gryffindors, biting her lip as she looked towards the stands. "I don't know, Hermione..."
"Look, you'll be sitting with me, Seamus, and Luna," Hermione explained gently. "We'll make sure no one bothers you, and if anyone does just let us know and we'll take care of them."
"A lot of them still don't like me," Pansy said.
"It's only been a little over a month since we've came back, they most likely haven't seen how much you've changed yet."
After chewing on her lower lip for a few moments, Pansy sighed and smiled at Hermione. "Alright. It can't be worse than sitting with the other Slytherins anyway."
"That's the spirit," Hermione laughed as she led Pansy towards the other side of the stadium where the Gryffindor section was.
Hermione could still tell that Pansy was nervous, but at the same time she wasn't wearing anything that majorly signaled she was a Slytherin so the only ones that would really recognize her would've been from their year.
Luna and Seamus were already waiting, and Hermione laughed when she saw that Luna was wearing her famous lion head hat, which was getting a lot of terrified and amused looks from the younger students. Seamus raised an eyebrow at Hermione when he realized who was following her, and Hermione simply smiled at him.
"Are we adopting Slytherins now?" He asked in her ear quietly when she sat down next to him with Pansy sitting on her other side next to Luna.
Hermione laughed and said, "She was going to be sitting alone and I didn't want that."
"So yes," Seamus grinned. "Well, I've had some classes with her and she seems much nicer now so as long as you're alright with it."
Pansy and Luna had already struck up a conversation over Luna's hat, and Pansy was fawning over the details of it.
"I've never actually seen it up close," She said in a fascinated tone. "This is absolutely amazing detail!"
"You could wear it if you'd like," Luna said with a small smile. "As light as it is, it is rather difficult to turn my head with it on."
Pansy laughed. "It's alright, I'm rooting for Slytherin so I doubt Theo would appreciate it very much."
"I think Draco and Blaise would find his reaction amusing," Luna said, looking up as the players got into starting positions. "But suit yourself!"
The quaffle was released and the match began, with Gryffindor taking almost immediate possession of the quaffle.
"Oh, I really hope Ginny isn't distracted..." Hermione muttered as she put her hands over her mouth in anticipation.
"Why, what happened?" Pansy asked curiously.
"She got a letter back from Harry this morning," Hermione said, watching Ginny as she raced towards the Slytherin goalposts.
One score later and Hermione was grinning, cheering with the rest of the Gryffindors as Pansy yelled over the noise, "I think she's fine!"
Hermione laughed and bounced up and down as Ginny did a small lap over the Gryffindor section, and Luna's hat roaring added to the noise. Pansy couldn't help but grin at everyone's excitement, finding herself cheering for Ginny with the rest of them.
Draco couldn't help but smile as he watched the small group of them, particularly Hermione. She looked up at him and made eye contact, her grin widening. He gave her a slight wave before reluctantly looking away and returning his focus to the game.
He lazily flew around the top of the match, looking around for flashes of gold while watching Ginny fly circles around Blaise. Blaise seemed to be enjoying himself, however, as he managed to score a few goals for Slytherin himself.
Blaise was making his way towards the Gryffindor goal posts when Ginny purposefully nearly ran into him, causing him to slow up while she grinned back at him.
"Are you trying to distract me?" He called out, returning her grin.
"I'm not trying, I'm succeeding!" She retorted.
Blaise felt the quaffle suddenly leave his arms, not realizing that Dean had come out from behind him and punched the quaffle out from underneath Blaise's arm and towards Ginny. She caught it and easily flew back to score yet another goal.
Blaise couldn't help but feel pride, even though she was beating his team right now. He could see the enjoyment on her face as she flew through the air, with or without the quaffle in her arms. His heart nearly stopped though as she narrowly missed a bludger.
"Watch it, Nott!" She yelled, flying past Theo with a grin.
"My bad!" He laughed. "You are on the opposite team, after all!"
She grinned at him and flew off while Blaise shook his head and chased after her, grinning as well.
Draco shook his head and ducked down to miss a bludger that was aimed at him and he sped up just slightly. Gryffindor's seeker was also looking around, though Draco knew he was nowhere near Harry's level and so Draco wasn't too worried about finding the snitch first.
Hermione was watching Draco fly around above them, catching his eye every so often and cheering. She didn't tell Ginny, but she secretly snuck his tie underneath her scarf and would smile every time she remembered it. It was a small gesture, but she knew Draco would be excited if he found out.
"I think Draco's found the snitch!"
Hermione looked to where Pansy was pointing and sure enough, Draco was already diving downwards. Owens had seen the snitch as well and was trying to catch up, just barely at the end of Draco's broom as they both chased after the snitch.
The rest of the stadium nearly forgot about the ongoing match as they watched the two seekers flying around, weaving in and out of the other players. Draco stretched his arm out to try and catch the snitch, leaning forward on his broom.
There was a sudden jolt of pain though as something slammed against his back, sending him flying off his broom and falling to the ground. After rolling a few times, he finally came to a stop lying face-down on the grass, not moving at all.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat as she watched in horror, unable to do anything from the stands. Owens caught the snitch shortly after but Hermione didn't join in on the celebrations as she ran from her seat towards the stairs.
Pansy followed her down as they ran onto the pitch, racing towards the small group that was forming around Draco. Blaise, Theo, and Ginny were all at the center, trying to hold everyone back as Hermione pushed her way forward.
"We need to get him to the Hospital Wing immediately!" Blaise exclaimed.
Hermione tried to hold back tears as she realized he was unconscious and levitated him off the ground with Pansy's help. The other three made sure that there was enough space between them and the team members following so that they didn't all crowd around, but it did make going through the castle rather difficult.
They rushed through the Hospital Wing doors and Hermione called out, "Madam Pomfrey!"
The Matron immediately appeared from her office and rushed over to them, asking worriedly, "What happened to him?"
"He was hit in the back by a bludger and fell off his broom," Pansy explained quickly.
"Put him on that bed!" Madam Pomfrey pointed to the nearest bed on the left and she gently guided them as they set him down on his stomach.
She ran her wand down the length of his spine and his quidditch uniform split down where she traced the line, allowing the clothes to be pushed aside so that his back could be seen. Hermione put a hand over her mouth in shock as she saw the large bruise that was already forming on his left shoulder blade.
After the Matron inspected him, she quickly straightened up and pointed towards the large group that was forming. "I'm going to have to ask all of you to leave as there is not enough space for all of you. You can come back during visiting hours!"
After a few protests and grumbles the rest of the Slytherin team left, leaving only Blaise, Theo, Ginny, Pansy, and Hermione. The Matron sighed and scowled at the rest of them before looking over Draco again.
"He has multiple broken ribs and his shoulder blade is nearly shattered," She said. "He doesn't seem to have a concussion but depending on how hard he hit the ground, he's going to be unconscious for a while."
"Is he going to be okay?" Hermione asked worriedly, looking up at Madam Pomfrey.
"My dear, I've seen much worse injuries come through here," The Matron smiled. "He'll be alright soon."
Madam Pomfrey walked quickly back towards her office as the other four surrounded the bed and looked down at him.
"Merlin, that's angry-looking," Ginny muttered as she looked at the bruise.
"It's probably a good thing he's unconscious," Pansy said. "I can't imagine how painful that must be."
Hermione didn't say anything though as she sat down in the chair next to Draco's bed, watching him sadly. He had a few scrapes on his face from hitting the ground, and she couldn't even look at his shoulder.
Everyone looked up as Madam Pomfrey came back with a tray of different potions on it, setting the tray down on the bedside table before looking back up at everyone. "I am afraid that I will need to ask all of you to leave while I work on him."
The group all glanced at Hermione, who started to protest but stopped when Madam Pomfrey held up a hand. "I'm sorry, but this is a very serious matter and I need to look after my patient first. I should be finished in another two hours, and you can return then."
Hermione nodded sadly and stood up, giving Draco another look before Ginny took her hand and led her out of the hospital wing while the others followed.
"He's going to be alright, 'Mione." Blaise put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"I know, it's just..." She sighed. "It's hard seeing him like that. It was really hard watching it happen too."
The others all nodded in agreement and Pansy said, "We'll get to see him soon, and he might even be awake."
"Hopefully," Hermione said quietly.
Pansy gave her a tight hug before leaving with Blaise and Theo, and Hermione and Ginny slowly started to make their way to Gryffindor tower.
"I don't think I can join in on the celebrations," Hermione said hesitantly.
"That's alright, we don't need to," Ginny said, giving her hand another squeeze. "I wasn't really wanting to do that anyway, not with the letter from Harry..."
"Oh, yeah." Hermione pulled the letter out of her pocket and asked, "Do you want to read it now?"
Ginny stared down at the letter and shook her head after a few moments. "No, not right now."
Hermione shrugged and put the letter back into her pocket. "You're going to have to read it eventually."
"I know..."
They continued making their way up the stairs towards their dorms in silence until Ginny stopped right outside the portrait, hesitating on going in.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.
"I'm just thinking," Ginny said slowly. "Instead of going to the party, why don't we go to the Room of Requirement until we can go back to the Hospital Wing? Because if we stay here, they're just going to make us celebrate with them and I know neither of us really want to."
"You don't need to miss out on my behalf," Hermione said.
"Hermione, I'm worried about him too, and I don't want to leave you alone right now while you're worrying about him," Ginny said, looking over at Hermione. "We can just go up to our dorm, grab a change of clothes, and come straight back out."
After a few moments, Hermione nodded and took a breath before bracing herself and opening the door. There was already a raging party and there were cheers when Ginny stepped through the portrait, though it seemed most of the attention was on Owens for catching the snitch.
Hermione managed to navigate her way through the crowd more easily than Ginny had, as she was stuck in a group of the rest of the team who were demanding a celebratory shot with their captain. After escaping into her dorm, Hermione shut the door and sighed, closing her eyes for a brief moment while she leaned back against the door and tried to quiet her raging thoughts.
A tapping noise got her attention and she looked over to see an owl at the window. Chills raced down her side as she ran to the window and opened it. The owl landed on the ledge and she unclipped the letter that was attached to it with shaking hands, immediately recognizing the handwriting that was on the front of the envelope.
The door opened to the dorm but Hermione didn't look up as she stared down at the letter, and soon Ginny was standing next to her.
"That's from Ron, isn't it?" Ginny asked quietly.
Hermione nodded, and Ginny sighed before gently pulling the letter out of her hands. "Since you're holding onto mine, I'll hold on to yours."
Running a hand through her hair, Hermione took in a deep breath and said, "Why is everything happening today?"
"I have no idea," Ginny said as she stepped away, grabbing clothes and stuffing them into a bag along with her vodka.
"Yeah, I'm going to need some of that," Hermione said, pointing towards the bottle in Ginny's hands.
"I had a feeling."
Hermione started grabbing a few clothes herself and stuffing them into her beaded bag. She wasn't sure why she was packing them; it wasn't like they were spending the night in the Room. But neither of the girls spoke as they walked back out of the dorm and made their way through the party, though they both took whatever shots were offered to them before leaving the tower.
A/N: Please don't hate me guys!! And please also don't hate me for delaying the letters for another chapter! I know you guys are itching to know whats happening and to finally hear from Ron and Harry, and I promise that I will have it up tomorrow! Thank you all so much for reading and supporting, I'm so happy you all are enjoying the story so far! Love you all! <3