“I can’t believe you haven’t told Ron yet!” Harry almost shouted in the library.
“Oh shush, Harry! I’m going to tell him. I just don’t really feel like hearing his reaction everyday of my life. He’ll never shut up about this and you know it.”
“Why won’t he shut up about it? Are you doing something you’re not supposed to?” Harry asked slyly.
“Oh please, Harry!” Hermione said, smacking him on the back of the head. “Of course I’m not. But Ron’ll think he’s being cruel and he’ll stand guard over every lesson and that will make Malfoy cruel. You know that Malfoy just loves to annoy Ron and Ron just wants the best for me! It’s just sometimes, Ron has no idea what’s really going on.”
“I get it, I get it. No need to give me an entire lecture. But you have to tell him in the end.” Harry said, waggling a finger at his friend.
“I will… right after my lesson,” she said as she spotted Draco coming.
“What’s that, Granger? You haven’t told Weasley about our little lessons? Ooo shame on you!”
“Oh shut up, Malfoy,” she said, shoving his work toward him. Malfoy took the papers, and, still grinning, got to work.
*************
An hour later, Hermione emerged from the library with a confident look on the face. She was going to tell Ron and no one was going to stop her. And after she told Ron, she would run away, lock herself in her room with earplugs, and try not to hear Ron’s outburst of profanities. Well, at least she was telling him. Even if he did get mad, she would have told him. Right?
“Umm, Ron? Can we talk for a second?” Hermione asked as they were sitting in their Common room doing their homework. Well, Hermione was doing her homework.
“Yeah sure,” he mumbled, trying to get his card castle to stand up.
“Well, you see McGonagall asked me… Ron, can you at least try to pay attention to me!”
“I am paying attention!” Ron said, still focusing on his castle. Hermione shot him a dirty look, which Ron caught from the corner of his eye. “Fine.” He turned to face Hermione. And his castle fell down. “Oh, come on!”
“Ron, forget the stupid castle! Gravity is against you there. Focus on me! This is important.”
“Okay.”
"Professor McGonagall asked me to tutor Draco Malfoy. And I am,” she said quickly, wincing even though Ron didn’t say anything yet.
“You’re tutoring Malfoy? Are you crazy or something? Why’d you say yes?”
“A professor asked me to do this. I didn’t volunteer!”
“I swear on my life, if he says anything bad to you, I’ll kill him. And I’ll have a reason to do it. He hasn’t said anything, has he?” Ron asked, looking menacing.
“No, he hasn’t said anything. He really doesn’t say anything. He just does what I tell him to.”
“Are you sure it’s MALFOY you’re tutoring? Not the Angel of Good, or something?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Snape probably said something to him. He listens to Snape.”
“But why would Snape tell him to be nice to you? Snape doesn’t like you either.”
“Dumbledore probably told him to. Dumbledore likes me, right?”
“Right. Just let me know if this nice streak ever wears off, okay?”
“Of course I will,” Hermione said, crossing her fingers behind her back. That was just a promise she couldn’t keep. She might hate Malfoy, but Ron would get in trouble if he tried to hurt him.
“Well, I think I’ll go to sleep. Now that my castle’s dead, there’s nothing left for me to do!”
“What about your homework?” Hermione said as Ron got up.
“Oh that! It can wait until morning,” Ron said as he went into his room.
Hermione shook her head and smiled. She was amazed that Ron took it without really yelling. It was very unlike Ronald to react that calmly. Oddly enough, Ron’s calmness scared her even more than if he had yelled. She shook her head again and got back to her Potions homework.
The next morning when she came down, Ron was sitting on the couch, struggling to finish his Potions homework.
“If you had done your homework with me last night, then I could have helped. See what you get for procrastinating?” Hermione said.
“I know, I’m sorry. Now can you help me! I want to eat breakfast today. I was starving half to death yesterday!”
“Of course I won’t, Ronald,” Hermione replied sweetly and she headed down to breakfast.
“So did you tell Ron?” Harry asked her as soon as she sat down.
“Of course I did,” she answered and reached for the porridge.
“And?” Harry was getting anxious, and Hermione could tell.
“He reacted just like you. He said if Malfoy said or did anything to me, he was going to get it. Except he was a bit quieter about it. I don’t even know why. It scared me yesterday, but now I guess he’s finally becoming a little more mature.”
“Right. Ron, mature? In your dreams, Hermione. He's probably yelling his head off in his room right now.”
Teaching the Dark by BittersweetLove
Chapter Notes: I'm sorry for the giant gap between chapters. I swear it's not my fault.