Hermione could not concentrate. This is the second time today. What is wrong with me? she thought angrily. It was highly unusual for the bushy-haired, studious girl to find her attention ebbing away in her first class of NEWT level Transfiguration, especially as she had to catch up on half of the chapter that had already been finished in the class.
Hermione could feel herself being watched by someone. Her chair creaked as she turned on her seat and found - sure enough - Ron staring at her blatantly. Hermione cocked her eyebrows; Ron caught her eyes and immediately turned away, his ears going crimson. It’s just him. Oh God! Can’t he just give it a rest for a second? Hermione thought distraughtly.
Yes, Hermione was hostile towards Ron. She still shuddered when she remembered that day at the Burrow. Following Fred’s, Lupin’s and Tonks’ funeral, she had wandered off alone towards the fields away from the hustle and bustle at the house. She was sad and just needed some time off on her own. And suddenly out of no where she found Ron walking next to her, so sensitive, so kind. It was like having a comforting shoulder to keep her head on. Ron understood. He cared, right? Apparently not. It only took days after their blissful union that an ugly side of Ron emerged that Hermione hadn’t imagined existed.
Ron was drunk that night. That was the only explanation Hermione wanted to think of. She cringed thinking if it he actually knew what he was doing. She was sleeping in Ginny’s room. Ginny was downstairs helping her mother with dinner. Hermione couldn’t hear the door creak open, nor could she hear his words. But she did feel it when frantic hands reached inside her robe and started feeling her up… Hermione hadn’t talked to Ron since that night. And all his apologies reached deaf ears. Hermione was shocked Ron could ever do such a thing.
After the tumultuous feelings of joy and pain following the end of the War, Harry and Ron were having second thoughts for returning to Hogwarts; plainly because they didn’t know if they would be accepted back having had dropped out of school in their seventh year. But the new Prime Minister Kingsley Shaklebolt made an announcement that the witches and wizards could return for their education. Hermione contacted her parents and lifted off the Memory Charm. And they insisted that she finished her school. Harry and Ron were excited because they had been offered a place at the Auror Training School by the ministry, but according to Educational Decrees, they still needed their NEWT level scores. Ron suddenly showed a desire to join Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes following Fred’s death but before he could decide on anything, Mrs. Weasley took the matter out of his hands by making it very clear that she did not want Ron to end up as a dropout (‘The shop is doing great darling, but don’t you dare think I’d approve you of becoming George’s assistant!’). So, Harry, a very eager Hermione and a thoroughly reluctant Ron joined Hogwarts about a week before Halloween.
Late comers had a slight disadvantage. Firstly the classes are already started and NEWT level classes are extremely hard to catch up with. Secondly, the School Appointments were already offered to someone else. Susan Bones and Ernie McMillan were the Head Girl and Head boy. Hermione was definitely disgruntled at having missed the most important appointment, but immediately filled her schedule with tasks and brought enormous volumes from the library. Before settling on a couch in the common room, she threw a disgusted look at Ron and Harry. They were going to start up fresh after the Halloween Feast (‘I can’t concentrate when I know that a feast is awaiting me a few days from now,’ Ron had said). Boys, thought Hermione.
After going through all her textbooks and the notes that Lavender had lent her (it looked like passages out of Hermione’s old Ancient Runes textbook), Hermione had really been looking forward to one of her favourite classes “ Transfiguration. This explained why she was at a complete loss as to why she couldn’t just try to listen to Professor McGonagall. Harry was looking at Professor McGonagall but his eyes were blank. She could tell Ron was staring at her again. She was feeling uncomfortable, but it wasn’t just because of Ron. She had a strong intuition something was about to happen today. But what?
‘Now, if you’d turn to page sixty-three of your textbooks, you’ll understand the hideous things that can happen when human transformations go wrong,’ came Professor McGonagall’s crisp, stern voice.
There was a sudden rustle of paper. Hermione opened the page as instructed and saw grotesque diagrams showing a man with a withered claw and a lion’s paw for hands, as well as a very painful expression on his face. Hermione gulped. The withered skin reminded her of Voldemort’s form before he died. She quickly ruffled more pages until she found the beginning of the chapter. It read “Advanced Animagus Transformations”. At least that explains the withered claw, thought Hermione.
Ron leaned towards Hermione to see the page number. Their shoulders brushed gently and Hermione turned her head sideways, her heart suddenly thumping hard. They looked into each other’s eyes. Their lips were inches apart … This is ridiculous. We’re in clear view of the entire class! If he tries something stupid this time, I’m going to kill him. They were close… much too close -
THUD!
The door of the classroom suddenly flew open with a considerable force. Students turned around on their seat to find - Argus Filch, the crackpot caretaker, standing near the entrance with one arm outstretched against the door. His dark brown robes were dripping in grime and stinking of hay. Something was wrong. He glared at the turned faces of everyone in the class and then fixed his glance at Ron for a moment. He wheezed his way up to Professor McGonagall and started making a whispered conversation. He looked very sober, which was very disorienting, as nobody had ever seen him in anything except foul mood.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Hermione, looking at them.
'Ron, did you do something? He was staring at you,' Harry asked.
‘I dunno,’ replied Ron. ‘It looks like he’s telling her he’s finally found true love.’ Harry tried to muffle his laughter while Hermione rolled her eyes. Why can’t Ron say something intelligible for a change?
Filch left as abruptly as he had arrived and Harry’s eyes followed him as he walked to the door, trying to search for a possible reason for his calmness. A poke near his elbow made him look sideways at Ron, who was looking at Professor McGonagall, his eyebrows arched. Harry followed his gaze and saw why. Professor had suddenly become very grave too. Hermione just stared incomprehensibly at her. What the hell’s going on?
‘Students, Mr Filch has just reported to me a shocking piece of news. I believe you remember the rumour about a Death-Eater being found near the Hogsmeade village, close to death.’ Professor McGonagall’s eyes wandered over the class. A few heads were nodding. That particular news had created a lot of panic and speculation among the people.
‘It seems a few Death-Eaters had tortured a fellow Death-Eater and left him to die,’ Professor McGonagall continued. ‘His battered body was discovered by a couple, about a mile and a half south of the Hogsmeade village. He was sent immediately to the Ministry for his recognition and then to St. Mungo’s. He was in a very bad shape.’
That was an understatement, thought Hermione who was closely following the reports from St. Mungo's appearing in the Daily Prophet. They said that due to the excessive blood loss, his pulse rate was far less than normal. His injuries ranged from a few burns to gashes in his leg to a fracture in his arm. And there was a high possibility of him sinking into a coma.
‘It seems his memory was wiped of the latest chain of events. He is currently in the Hospital Wing under the watchful eyes of Madam Pomfrey.’ A very shocked silence greeted her words.
‘He’s here?’ came Lavender’s fearful whisper. ‘What is he doing here?’
Professor McGonagall turned her head to look at Lavender, apparently annoyed at being interrupted. ‘Miss Brown, if you had read about the incident, you would probably remember that it took place about three weeks ago. His treatment at St. Mungo’s has been completed since then,’ she said in a tone that clearly indicated that she would not be entertaining any more queries about it. ‘However,’ continued Professor, as if no intrusion had taken place, ‘it’s the recognition of the wizard that is more consequential to Hogwarts and to you all. I-’
‘Who is it Professor?’ interrupted Dean Thomas. He couldn’t take any more suspense.
Professor McGonagall looked solemnly around the class once more. Her next response filled the quiet classrooms with faint gasps from the girls. A few boys (Ron included) just gaped at the Professor with their mouths hanging open, as if the Headmistress had just announced that the NEWTs were starting from tomorrow.
‘He is a former student, by the name of Draco Malfoy.’
A/N Thanks for reading this FF. Chapter two will be up soon. Meanwhile, a review would be perky : )