Hermione awoke the next morning, more tired than she had been the night before. The storm seemed to have washed itself out. The sun was trying to peek through the clouds just as desperately as Hermione was trying to forget what had happened yesterday. She lay in her bed, staring at the canopied ceiling, wondering what would happen today. She and Draco had another lesson today. Would he treat her any differently because of their kiss? Would he even show up?
Well, you’ll never know if you don’t get out of bed, said the reasonable voice in her head. Though she had recently been ignoring this voice, she reluctantly pulled the covers off and started to get ready for the day.
When Hermione finally entered the common room, Ron had already left. She hadn’t spoken much to Harry or Ron recently although they were nearly always together. Much of their time was spent studying, or in Hermione’s case, helping them finish their work in time. She needed someone to talk to about this whole Draco situation, but neither Ron nor Harry were up for the job. She didn’t even want to imagine Ron’s face if she told him that she had kissed Draco Malfoy. While she walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, Hermione decided it was time to have another womanly chat with Ginevra.
Hermione entered the Great Hall to find Ron seated with Harry, Seamus and Neville, while Ginny was sitting a little way away. Hermione smiled and waved sweetly at her friends, but seated herself next to Ginny.
“I need to talk to you,” she whispered to Ginny as she helped herself to some toast. Ginny looked intrigued. “But not right here. Somewhere private.”
“I have a free period before lunch. How about you?” Ginny replied, equally hushed.
“So do I. We can talk in my dormitory. But what about Ron?” Hermione said, looking over at her dear friend, shoveling scrambled eggs into his mouth.
“He and Harry are planning to go down to the Quidditch pitch. We’ll be fine.”
“Okay good,” Hermione muttered just as the bell rang. Hermione quickly wrapped up her toast and got up to walk to Potions with Harry and Ron.
She could hardly concentrate in the dungeons though. Hermione was thinking of ways to phrase her situation with Draco so as not to surprise Ginny too much. Before she knew it, the bell had rung that signaled the end of the class. Quickly, Hermione gathered her things and hurried out of the classroom and up towards her dormitory.
Ginny was waiting for her by the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. They entered the common room quickly, Ginny admiring the view out of the window.
“I’d love to live here,” she said as she stared out the open window.
“It is a rather nice view, isn’t it?” Hermione said, walking towards the window herself and staring through the glass. “But I do really need to talk to you.” And with that Hermione recounted exactly what had been happening since Christmas. Ginny smiled gently as Hermione told her about the kiss, but was not as shocked as she should have been when the subject of Draco being Voldemort’s spy came up.
As she ended her tale, Hermione threw herself onto the couch and pressed her face into a pillow. “Oh Ginny,” she said, her voice muffled. “What am I going to do??”
As Ginny perched herself on the end of the couch, Hermione flipped over to look into Ginny’s knowing eyes.
“You like him, don’t you?” Ginny asked quietly. Hermione nodded and closed her eyes. “And from what you’ve told me, I’m pretty sure he likes you too. Do I even need to tell you what to do? Hermione, I think you’ve uncovered the soft heart beneath the smirks. You should be proud of yourself!” Ginny proclaimed as she leaned in and shook Hermione till her eyes opened again.
“Did you even listen to half the words I said? He’s working for Voldemort!” Hermione said exasperatedly, sitting up.
“I know!” Ginny said, with the same inflection. “But from what you’re telling me, he doesn’t really want to do whatever he’s supposed you. And he likes you. You are now supposed to bring him to the good side and marry him.”
“You’ve been reading my Muggle romance novels, haven’t you?” Ginny nodded shyly. “It just doesn’t work like that in real life!”
“How are you supposed to know if you never try it?” Ginny said reasonably.
She paused. “But what if I get hurt?” Hermione whispered, looking back at the window.
Ginny slid down to sit next to Hermione and put her arm around her. “If you spend your entire life not taking chances because you’re afraid you’ll get hurt, you’ll never gain anything but a bunch of cats.”
“What?” Hermione said, looking up.
“You’ll be a barmy old cat lady,” Ginny explained. Hermione looked at her with a bemused expression on her face. “It sounded a lot better in my head!” Ginny said defensively.
Hermione got up and wandered toward the door to her room, thinking hard about Ginny’s words. She couldn’t just ignore him, not now that she knew was a spy. But she couldn’t turn him in either. Her heart wouldn’t let her.
“So… what are you going to do?” Ginny said after a long time.
“I just need to talk with him right now,” Hermione answered, her voice quaking a little.
*************
Hermione attended the rest of her classes unfeelingly. She did everything she was told to, she just didn’t think about it. Deciding how exactly to talk to Draco was more important that paying attention right now.
What if he didn’t come to the lesson? Even if he does, you can’t talk to him in the library, not where people will hear! The Room of Requirement, then. But how? Questions rushed through her head as quickly as she could answer them.
How quickly the day passed by? Soon enough, Hermione was at their usual table, waiting for Draco to arrive. Her foot was tapping nervously against the leg of her chair. She had seated herself facing the entrance to the library so she could see Draco as soon as he arrived. If he did arrive.
At promptly seven o’clock, Draco Malfoy entered the library and sauntered over to Hermione table, his old smirk in place. Hermione greeted him with a weak smile and started their lesson. It was as if they had never had a friendship. Draco didn’t treat he unkindly, he just didn’t speak much at all. Their humorous banter had disappeared. The lesson finished at eight, and Draco rushed off as quickly as he could, but Hermione managed to slip a note into his bag.
Please meet me in the Room of Requirement at eleven. I really need to talk to you. Please.
Hermione
Hermione hurried straight to the Room of Requirement after leaving the library, taking her books with her. It immediately transformed into the room it had been when she had first met Draco there, the last rays of violet sun visible through the high arched windows. Hermione attempted to write her Potions essay, but her mind was elsewhere. Her head bent over her Potions book, eyes averted from the door, Hermione waited for some sound that Draco had heeded her pleas.
Centuries later it seemed, the door opened almost soundlessly and she looked up to see Draco’s tall frame as a shadow in the doorway, his blonde hair glistening in the torchlight.