Hermione dragged herself off to the shower, feeling very grimy between her day-old clothes and the aspersions that had just been cast on her. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she looked very pale in the bathroom mirror, so she threw herself into the shower cubicle and scrubbed herself clean with water that was too hot. She emerged and found that while she was no doubt physically clean, she still felt emotionally scarred, and her eyes looked haunted.
She clamped down on her emotions again—which had apparently started leaking along with the spate of tears in the shower—and stared at herself defiantly until she'd schooled her expression to one of acceptable normalcy. She wasn't going to ruin this morning for Harry and Draco, not for anything. It had gone all wrong for her, but that just meant there was more reason to ensure that it went right for them.
She dried her hair, pulled it back to get it out of the way, and dressed in jeans and a cozy jumper so that she was physically warm. Emerging again from her bedroom, she found that the boys were finally rising. Harry peeked at her from around the side of the couch and went a spectacular shade of red.
"Good morning," she greeted him kindly.
"'Morning, 'Mione." He cleared his throat. "I don't remember going to sleep in pyjamas."
"You didn't," she answered.
Although it hardly seemed possible, his flush deepened.
"Oh. Thanks."
Draco sat up. "I second that. Especially for the pillows. It must have been your idea to sleep out here, Harry, because I like to wake up in a bed in the morning."
If their night had been anything like hers, it had culminated in their losing consciousness in a blinding flash of light, so she doubted that Harry could be held responsible for what had happened.
Harry grinned at Draco, however, apparently completely unrepentant.
"I wouldn't trade a single moment of that for a bed, Draco."
Draco's expression softened to one which Hermione had never seen before, leaving her pained and touched. The blond didn't even have to speak the words for Hermione to know that he felt exactly the same way as Harry, and she was delighted that Harry was going to get his happily ever after. The two of them were fast losing themselves in one another's eyes but as sweet as she thought it was, she didn't really want to risk a repeat performance of the night before, so she cleared her throat.
Harry raised startled eyes to hers, and she smirked slightly as she realized that he'd forgotten that she was there. The humour in this situation helped her shake off the melancholy; besides, Harry would completely misinterpret if she acted upset, so she needed to keep herself together.
"You're absolutely adorable, but I'd rather not see you any more intimately, if you don't mind. As Draco pointed out, you have a perfectly serviceable bed, and I'd take it as a kindness if you used it occasionally."
Harry was blushing again, which only seemed to amuse Draco, who didn't appear to be at all embarrassed by having been caught by her.
"But this is such a lovely large room, Hermione," he observed, laughter dancing in his bright grey eyes. "You can't really blame us for getting carried away out here, can you?"
"Not at all," she agreed solemnly, playing along. "In fact, I don't mind if you have sex all over this room, but I'd prefer if you arranged it with me beforehand so that I can make myself scarce at that time."
"Would you two please stop talking about me having sex?" Harry asked plaintively. "It's horribly, horribly embarrassing."
"Do you mean to say that you're embarrassed to have sex with me, Harry?" Draco demanded imperiously, managing to sound very serious.
Harry's eyes widened. "Of course not!" he exclaimed with what Draco no doubt found a gratifyingly huge amount of indignation. "I couldn't ever be embarrassed about anything I do with you, Draco."
This was said with such patented earnestness that it wasn't possible to even poke all the holes in his logic that such a statement deserved. Harry could and had been embarrassed several times in the short span that they'd been friends, but both Hermione and Draco knew exactly what he meant, and the pride that he obviously felt in his partner was obvious. She didn't think it made Draco want to cry like it did her, but it was evident even from across the room that he was not unmoved, and now it looked as though they were going to wind up naked again.
She cleared her throat once more, and Draco grinned positively devilishly.
"Hermione has clearly decided that you have no willpower when it comes to me, Harry. Perhaps we'd better take ourselves off to your room before we offend her sensibilities."
This did not have the effect she imagined he'd intended. Instead, it reminded Harry of what had evidently heretofore slipped his mind.
"Hermione," he breathed, remorse evident.
She shook her head. "Don't even think about it. I've already given Draco official dispensation."
Draco's lips quirked up at this description, but by the time Harry looked at him, he was nodding with an attempt at solemnity.
"She brought it up a good three weeks ago, Harry."
"So you anticipated that I'd be a complete prat and go back on my word?" Harry said bitterly, his stupid interpretation of what she was trying to say only upsetting him more.
She gave Draco a brief apologetic look, crossed the room, and cupped Harry's face in her hands so that he was forced to look right at her.
"Are you happy?" she asked. "Does he make you happy?"
Harry nodded, eyes huge and brilliantly green.
"Then you don't ever have to apologize to me," she said with absolute conviction.
She should, she supposed, tell him that she wasn't a Pure Adult anymore, either, but given how dismal the aftermath had been, she didn't think it would make him feel particularly better. Not to mention the fact that she'd done what she'd done because she'd found Harry and Draco about to have sex. Plus there would be Draco's reaction to the fact that she'd had sex with his godfather. She didn't want to go any of those places, not right now.
Harry swallowed and then nodded.
She smiled back at him. "There we are, then. I'm sure the two of you could benefit from a shower, and I'm going to go to the library, so I don't mind if it's communal."
It was simply too funny to watch Harry blush and Draco smirk.
"I'll see you at breakfast?" she suggested.
Harry needed to clear his throat before he could speak. "We'll walk you down at eight, okay?"
She was perfectly capable of walking down to the Great Hall herself, but she knew this was Harry's way of showing that he cared about her, so she acquiesced without complaint.
It wasn't until she arrived at the library that she realized something was wrong. Well, wrong was perhaps not the correct word. Different, at any rate. When she had gone to bed the night before, she hadn't been able to actually see wards unless they'd been deliberately rendered visible; she had felt the tingle of their magic when they were very powerful, had been able to access their layers and deactivate them. Like Harry, she had been what could probably be termed unusually sensitive to their presence compared to most people, but she hadn't just looked around and seen them.
Now, apparently, she could—or they'd made some drastic changes to the library in the two days since she'd last been in it, including visibly warding the entire room against burning and the Restricted Section against intrusion. The fire wards were a dull red colour, and she knew without thinking about it that it meant that they were old.
The wards around the Restricted Section were an amalgamation of multiple times and headmasters, layered on top of one another to form a more or less cohesive whole; she could see the spots where Albus had manipulated it so that Harry could sneak in and accomplish whatever life lessons and battle prep the headmaster had thought was necessary—otherwise, the wards could be breached only by Hogwarts staff and students who had passes.
She immediately wanted to backtrack to her and Harry's rooms but wasn't about to risk interrupting the two boys or explaining her reason for coming. Had she really not seen the wards there? Could she only see certain types of wards or only wards in certain places? Admittedly, she'd been more than a little out of sorts when she had arrived in her rooms, and then she'd been concentrating on Harry and Draco, so it was perhaps not impossible that she might have missed them.
Peering curiously around her—while trying not to look like a complete idiot because she'd probably spent more time in the library than most of the other students—she found that the more she peered at the Restricted Section, the more it looked to her as though there was an entire section behind the regular stacks that had been warded from sight. She made a mental note to come back and investigate further; it might turn out that she couldn't get past the wards back there, but she wanted to have a closer look and ascertain if they posed any danger.
She retrieved the Transfiguration books that were the purpose of her visit but spent her time staring at the library itself rather than reading them. When she concentrated fixedly enough, she found that she could see faint traces of magic in the very stones of the castle. She had always known that Hogwarts was imbued with magic, and now it appeared that it was visible to her.
By the time Harry and Draco came to pick her up at the end of the hour, the books remained as unread as when she had got them, but she'd begun to differentiate between outer and inner walls of Hogwarts based solely on what magic they emanated, and she'd realized that two fifth-year Ravenclaws were wearing Glamours to cover up horribly dark circles under their eyes. She should probably have been tipped off by the fact that they were in the library this early on a Sunday morning; they'd clearly gotten more than a little obsessed over their O.W.L.s, and she made a mental note to speak to Terry or Morag. It was only February, after all, making it a little early for students to be self-destructing based on their study schedules.
At the arrival of the boys, she discovered that they'd Glamoured their visible love bites. She found the shimmering Glamour much more distracting than the bite itself. Since she'd had to concentrate to see the walls—and given herself a headache if the pressure building in her temples was any indication—she tried unfocussing to lessen the impact of the Glamour. It worked, the magic fading out until she couldn't see it again, but this apparently required a little too much staring, as Harry reached up to cover his neck self-consciously.
"The Glamour hasn't slipped, has it?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Just admiring your handiness with the spell. I remember them just fine from this morning, thank you."
Draco was back to smirking, apparently quite pleased with his handiwork.
"Shall we go down to breakfast?" Harry asked hurriedly.
They took pity on the Gryffindor boy and headed to the Great Hall. She heard a gasp of breath at her side and looked over at Harry. Perhaps she wasn't the only one experiencing these aftereffects, then, because the Great Hall was stunning to behold. There was no way to miss the fact that the ceiling was enchanted and warded because she could see the spell in the stone. It was colourful and a lot of information to suddenly take in, and Draco stared at them as though they'd lost their minds when they ground to a halt at the door.
Everything all right? she asked Harry as she reminded herself that he had no reason to suspect that she would be suffering from the same.
Yeah, he said, frowning faintly. Uh, I'll explain later?
Sure.
She had kept her own secrets often enough, after all, and she had already guessed about this one.
They sat at the Ravenclaw table this morning, as Hermione wanted to talk to the Ravenclaw Prefects, and as she examined the Great Hall further, she discovered some interesting facts. If she was interpreting correctly, there appeared to be dormant wards that could separate the High Table from the rest of the hall as well as ones that could separate the House tables from one another. She wondered how often in the past they had needed to be used. Did Albus know about them? She was tempted to activate them just to see them working but had enough sense to restrain herself.
Once Severus arrived for breakfast, she studiously trained her attention to the Ravenclaw table, not wanting him to think that she was trying to sneak glances at him. Although she'd been quite preoccupied with the issue of seeing more magic than ever before, now that the man was in the same room as she was, she was finding it difficult not to think about him.
Her feelings were such a cross between angry and hurt that she really couldn't work out what the appropriate reaction should be, which probably saved her from making a fool of herself in the Great Hall. Draco commented on the ferocity with which she was spearing cubes of fruit this morning; she was not, it appeared, being as non-reactive as she wished. She forced herself to eat her food normally.
There had been so many moments of tenderness the night before; she had actually begun to believe that there was an actual possibility that he had some positive and possibly romantic feelings for her after all. All those hopes dashed was difficult to accept. She understood it logically, but her heart was rebelling despite its hurt state; the desperately lovesick part of her still wanted to talk to him and try to understand what had happened, try to work out if there was any salvageable part of their relationship. The logical part of her, by contrast, was already informing her that there wasn't the slightest chance of that.
Her emotional side kept countering with arguments that it was difficult for her logical side to refute; her mind was inundated with images that revolved around the fabulous night they had spent together once they'd gotten over their awkwardness. "gain, the logical part of her tried to point out that the vast majority of it had been awkward; there had been indications throughout that Severus was not as engaged as she had been, as he had often seemed upset or put out by what she was doing.
But then she was reminded of the tremendous amount of pleasure that he had given her; why would he have done that if he didn't care for her at all? She couldn't answer that question except to remember that he had thrown her out the morning after, was currently glaring at her as though he could turn her to stone simply with his eyes, and hadn't given the slightest overt and definite indication that he cared for her. Maybe he just thought pleasure in sex was important. Maybe he thought her pleasure was crucial to the exchange of power when she lost her virginity. He was the one who'd pointed out that anyone would sleep with her, and that was why.
She wondered what power he'd gained, what increase in ability had manifested, and then admonished herself for even thinking about it. She shouldn't care what was going on with him, not after the way he had treated her. This was, unfortunately, easier said than done.
Despite all that had happened, she found herself wishing that she'd taken more time to examine all his scars, to find out what they tasted like. And she could have tried a few more of those things that she hadn't thought she was up for last night. In retrospect, it felt rather as though she'd missed an important opportunity; he'd made it perfectly plain that it was a mistake that would never, ever be repeated. Which was unfortunate because the part of her which wasn't obsessing over the morning after and her bruised feelings was telling her that their experience should be repeated time after time.
Harry and Draco had to regain her attention to get her out of the room, and she could see that Harry was becoming genuinely concerned. Given how his mind worked, she was sure that he was working his way to some sort of conclusion that it was his fault she was upset and a belief that he was therefore a horrible friend. With an effort, she pulled herself together and convinced him that she was perfectly all right and definitely not uneasy in the presence of the two of them now that they had consummated their relationship.
Forcing herself to behave happily around him went a fair way to making her feel better in reality. From ten until noon, she gave any seventh-years who so desired pointers on N.E.W.T. preparation, as it was generally acknowledged that she was the most organized and studious student in the school. Even the Ravenclaws didn't seem terribly put out to concede this to her, given that they had all seen her studying like a maniac, living in the library, and colour-coding her notes months in advance for years. Since she was also Head Girl, it seemed only fitting for her to be trying to guide the other students towards better scholastic achievement.
Draco dragged Harry along to the session despite the fact that Harry had told her when she first came up with the idea that he wouldn't attend; he and Ron had both declared that they would boycott since they thought they got enough of her encouragement without going to any special sessions about it. Whether Draco felt it was his duty to go as a Prefect or because he really wanted to learn how she studied wasn't quite clear, but if he was going, he was taking Harry with him. Ron, of course, did not come.
In the afternoon, she did the same for the fifth-years preparing for their O.W.L.s, doing her best to instil in all of them a realization that these tests weren't far away at all and that they had a large impact on their futures. Breaking their revision down into small portions starting well in advance meant that there wouldn't need to be horrendous cramming sessions at the end of the year, and that was good for everyone's mental health.
She was fairly certain that most of them wouldn't take her words to heart, but if she convinced any of them to improve their study habits at least a little, then she thought it was worth the effort. Of course, if she hadn't had it planned for weeks already, she would have picked any day but today, although it did serve to distract her for a little while.
By the time dinner rolled around, she was feeling pretty good, all things considered—which lasted until the meal ended and Severus stalked over and dragged her and Harry off for a discussion about their duties as Head Boy and Head Girl. His sneer and utter contempt when he said this made it clear to everyone in the vicinity that he thought they were grossly deficient in some manner.
He asked Draco along as well—with politeness that only highlighted how rude he had been to them—as though they could learn important lessons from the Slytherin paragon. Hermione clenched her jaw and didn't let herself utter a single word, and Harry followed her lead. They trooped down the stairs where she discovered that Severus was a glutton for punishment, or maybe he'd determined that she was a masochist, because he actually wanted the three of them for a training session.
He started the way he evidently meant to go on, his sneer pronounced, and the venom in his voice enough to confuse Harry and Draco. "Let's see what the Gryffindors can manage against the Slytherins." He looked directly at her. "You should be able to do something with Mr Potter."
Her nostrils flared as she fought to control a spike of temper. She glared at him stonily.
What's that all about? Harry wanted to know.
Don't ask, she said, gritting her teeth. Not right now, anyway. It looks as though he's not going to wait to—She blocked the Blasting Curse Severus sent their way before he'd even formally begun their duel. She finished grimly,—Attack.
Both Harry and Draco still looked confused, but since it was clear they were supposed to be attacking or Severus was likely to turn on the blond as well, they began. She noted to her amusement that Harry and Draco were going easy on one another and wincing each time anything came close to hitting the other person. Unfortunately, Severus more than made up for Draco's reticence; the two boys might not want to hurt one another, but Severus was rather determined to grind her into dust from the look of it. She was left open to a rather concerted attack, in fact, given that Draco didn't want to hit Harry and Severus was delighting in throwing everything he had at her.
By this point in the duel, she'd begun to work out what colours indicated which spells, and she wondered if Harry was doing the same, assuming that he was seeing the same things she was. The milder hexes and jinxes that Draco was throwing at Harry—which were normally invisible to the naked eye—were perfectly clear to her in various pastels as they flew through the air towards their intended target. It made it quite straightforward to deflect them, although it had been a little disconcerting at first to have the room so bright with spells.
Harry was spending more time defending her than himself, and this only seemed to make the sneer on Severus's face more pronounced. Out of deference to the Slytherins—at least one of whom was a decent human being—Hermione had thus far kept the duel sporting by not employing any shielding they couldn't counter. It didn't make for much of a duel, after all, if one side couldn't land a single hit or even come close.
The third time Severus threw the Skin-burning Hex at her, however, she averted his demise at the hands of the Boy Who Lived who had mentally ground out, I'm going to kill him! with every semblance of seriousness by throwing up her sympathetic shield around her and Harry. Truth be told, she was feeling a bit out of sorts herself. She hadn't expected roses and poetry, but trying not to maim her would have been a perfectly acceptable alternative after the night they had shared.
Now, although she had made her shield invisible to everyone else's eyes, it was clearly delineated to her, a glowing golden dome that encased her and Harry. When the spell ricocheted back at Severus, Harry paused in his casting and in a rare moment of maturity, given how upset he'd been a moment ago, simply let the Slytherin dodge his own furiously cast spells. Severus had already been putting a great deal of force behind his casting, but he increased it now, throwing curse after curse at her shield.
It never wavered. She was just beginning to feel the drain she normally experienced when warding against so determined and strong an attack, but given the look on the man's face, she wasn't about to let the shield down any time soon.
It seems as though it's personal, Harry observed.
It is, she agreed stiffly, although I really don't think he has the right to be upset.
Draco was half-heartedly tossing a curse or two at them occasionally. From the look on his face, this was purely preventative, trying to keep Severus from cursing the other Slytherin for his desertion.
Severus's movements had been growing angrier and angrier, the spells darker, and there was no longer any doubt in her mind that he was stronger than he had been—and he had already been a very strong wizard to begin with.
He cast again. She had a fraction of an instant to notice that the Cruciatus was a sickly browny-orange colour, and then she was reacting without thought, throwing up a shield that was solid, a half dozen inches thick, and stronger than steel or stone.
Her initial attempts over a month ago had indicated the shield wouldn't be strong enough or erected quickly enough. In this instant, however, she had acted instinctively, and the power had simply come.
She felt the spell impact the shield and staggered back several steps but kept to her feet by sheer force of will. The shield went opaque, cracks spidering across it audibly, but it held. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and then released the shield. She felt winded, as though she had been running or spell-casting for quite some time.
Severus was on the ground, felled, it would seem, by his own spell. Draco and Harry were both staring at the two of them in shock.
Hermione walked over to the Slytherin, staring down at him and his dazed expression with steely eyes and a clenched jaw.
Her voice was icy. "The next time you cast an Unforgivable on me, Severus, you had better make it the Killing Curse."
She didn't wait to see if he had anything to contribute because she already knew it wasn't going to be an apology. She marched out of the room and back to her quarters, spine straight and head held high. Distantly, she noticed that she could, in fact, see her wards, but this fact was far from her most pressing concern at the moment.
It was apparently open season on casting Unforgivables on her, and the amusement factor was really beginning to wear thin. She was grateful their training room had wards up to prevent Albus from detecting Dark Magic; there were only so many excuses she could come up with before it began to look suspicious that she was involved so recurrently in such incidents. The Slytherins appeared not to have grasped by themselves that repeatedly attacking her was a badly thought-out plan.
Harry and Draco joined her a few minutes later.
"What just happened?" Harry demanded.
"Your shield just blocked an Unforgivable," Draco said. "Shields can't do that, remember?"
Her lips quirked up ever so slightly. "This was the first time it worked."
"But why would Snape hit you with an Unforgivable, 'Mione?"
She sighed, contemplating a number of answers, none of which she liked. Informing them that Severus was a daft berk would hardly surprise Harry, but it wouldn't really answer their question, either, and the last thing she wanted was for him to head over there, bent on attacking Severus. If they got into a serious fight, they'd wind up seriously injured, sacked, or expelled, and she couldn't have that on her conscience.
Truthfully, she was counting herself lucky that the Head of Slytherin hadn't decided to follow the other two and confront her as well. It was quite possibly all that could make this conversation worse.
"I didn't want to talk about it today," she finally began. "I knew I'd have to tell you or you'd work it out yourselves eventually." Their looks showed that she wasn't elucidating quickly enough, and she suppressed another sigh. "This morning was not the first time I saw the two of you together." Confusion. "I came in last night while the two of you were … otherwise occupied. You didn't notice."
Harry was really going to have to work on his blush control, although the reliable reaction made it a little easier for her to continue speaking.
"I didn't want to risk interrupting, given how it looked that events were unfolding, so I left immediately, and there seemed to be only one sensible place to go."
Part of her still wondered why that was. She could have gone to her herd. She could have gone to the library. She could have done an extra set of rounds and probably still outlasted the two of them, sneaking back in once they'd fallen asleep. Instead, without thought, she'd immediately gone to Severus.
"Severus had sex with you?" Draco demanded, disdain plain in his voice.
Hermione swallowed heavily, unable to look at either of them when it was so clear what they thought of her.
"Out!" Harry ordered, his voice clipped, and she felt the blood drain from her face.
She knew she should be making some sort of observation about this being her room as well, but she couldn't seem to get her mouth to function properly, so she took a jerky step towards the door.
Harry's hand on her arm stopped her, and a moment later he had pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her.
"Not you, idiot girl," he breathed into her hair, and then she heard his voice change as he addressed Draco over her head. "I'll not ask again. Get out of this room."
"Harry," Draco began, sounding offended and incredulous that he was being ordered out.
The Gryffindor's voice was implacable. "You are not welcome here with that attitude. You have both mocked her and attacked her with curses that should have resulted in your being thrown into Azkaban; it is on her sufferance alone that such an outcome has not occurred. There are only two other people in this world who were aware of the significance of you and I spending a night together and I, for one, don't blame Hermione for choosing not to discuss the matter with Albus. So I will thank you to take your pure-blood, Slytherin stupidity and get the hell out of our room."
She really, really hadn't wanted to ruin the accord between Harry and Draco. It had been part of the reason she had been keeping quiet about what had occurred. But she couldn't seem to find her voice to try to temper Harry's words or ask Draco to stay. She felt the shift in the wards as Draco passed through and left. Harry led her to the couch and pulled her down to sit next to him.
"Did he hurt you?" Harry asked with a great deal of gentleness.
She let out a shuddery breath, wondering how on Earth she could answer that question. He'd ripped her bloody heart out, but she didn't think that was exactly what Harry had meant with this question. It seemed an almost insurmountable task, however, to open her mouth and declare that Severus hadn't hurt her. They wouldn't be here if that were the case.
"I went because I knew he'd understand," she answered instead, deciding that the only way to explain this was to give the entire story—much abridged, of course. "We talked, and he reminded me of how dangerous it was for both me and him if there was one Pure Adult left. He … he asked me if I was issuing an invitation, and I agreed I was."
She hadn't realized she was crying until Harry brushed the tears off of her cheeks.
Sniffing inelegantly, she struggled for words. "It was horribly awkward, but he was very gentle and as patient as Severus ever is, and I was happy for a few perfect moments. And then we woke up, and he accused me of using him and threw me out."
"He accused you of using him," Harry repeated blankly.
She nodded. It made her feel a great deal better to know that at least she wasn't the only person who thought that was completely daft.
"You realize I'm going to have to march over to his quarters and kill him with my bare hands, right?"
She snorted a half-laugh, half-sob, and Harry cuddled her closer.
"He said anyone would have sex with a Pure Adult," she confessed quietly, tears choking her voice. "That was the last thing I ever wanted."
"I know," Harry said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm so sorry this had to go so badly for you. You deserve so much better."
It was such a relief to have someone on her side; she had half-expected Harry to react with disgust, just as Draco had. He might have been okay with the idea of her and Severus, but that was vastly different from being confronted with the reality of their having had sex.
"I'm sorry I messed everything up with you and Draco," she said pitifully.
He shook his head. "Don't you even think about that. Just because we've had sex doesn't mean I won't throw him out when he's being a complete prat."
"But I wanted at least one of us to be happy," she protested.
"And my being happy can't come at the price of either Draco or Severus treating you like dirt," Harry said firmly.
She was sniffling again. "Thank you, Harry."
"You don't need to thank me for being a decent human being. You should be able to expect it, you know."
Her lips quirked up. She was still torn between laughter and tears. "I'll try to remember that."
Harry's tone was dry. "It's difficult in the company we keep sometimes, I know."
Her lips quavered. "He took my virginity and cast an Unforgivable on me on the same day."
Harry held her while she cried, neither storming off to kill Severus nor getting impatient with her for sobbing over the bastard who had treated her so abysmally.
When she had calmed to the occasional sniffle, he spoke.
"We are safer now." Reminding her of why she'd made the choice she had. "Nothing can happen that will allow Voldemort to gain any additional power through us. You noticed that they were stronger?"
She appreciated that he was trying to distract her.
"Well, it was hard to tell with Draco, given that he kept sending Jelly-Legs Jinxes at you," she pointed out.
He gave a fond smile, seeming to forget, for a moment at least, that he and the blond in question were on the outs. "He is stronger, though. He conjured a hairbrush to his own specifications because mine wasn't good enough, silly ponce, and ended up with a half dozen of them. We've been trying to sort out how much power we need to put into spells since then." He cleared his throat. "Snape's casting seemed stronger than normal as well."
She nodded her head.
"But you blocked everything, including an Unforgivable." He said it almost like a question, as though expecting her to explain that that wasn't what he'd actually seen.
"I don't feel particularly stronger, but I do seem to have more magic at my disposal." She drew a deep breath. "I, uh, had a bit of an uncontrolled reaction this morning. Nearly flattened Severus with a burst of magic out of nowhere."
He looked as though he could guess well enough the reason for the outburst.
"So," she said with an attempt at a smile, "I owe you an apology for ever chastising you about any uncontrolled outbursts you've ever had. It's a hell of a thing. And I suspect the same thing happened just now in the training room."
He was staring at her intently. "I don't think you can accidentally cast an Unforgivable."
"I think the lines between thinking it and doing it are a little more blurred for all of us right now, and we need to learn how to control ourselves again."
"You're trying to talk me out of killing him again, aren't you?"
She huffed a laugh. "I suppose so, yes. It won't make anything better if you fight."
Harry spluttered. "Well, it'll—He deserves—That's—"
"And what are you going to tell Albus?"
"The headmaster doesn't have anything to do with this."
"The headmaster will become intimately involved because unless your first spell is the Killing Curse, the two of you are going to do your best to kill one another, and I don't think the headmaster could miss that."
"But … he didn't even apologize."
A fact which Hermione had not missed.
"I will take care of Severus," she said firmly. "You were the one going on about my sufferance—nice vocabulary, by the way."
Harry made a face at her. "Okay, okay. But if he tries to hurt you like that again, he's going to regret it."
The best she could hope for under the circumstances, she supposed. A change of subject was in order.
"You saw the Great Hall, too, didn't you?"
His frown of confusion smoothed away even as it was forming. "Oh, thank God. I thought I was the only one. So that's like … us seeing wards and stuff? All the time?"
She offered him a smile. "It looks like. You know, it's something that unicorns can do, see magic, or at least see more than humans can. I would guess that phoenixes can, too, yeah?"
His head tilted to one side as he considered the matter. "Yeah, I guess they do."
"So the lines between us and our magical forms are even more blurred than they were before."
Harry nodded. "Sounds plausible to me." Suddenly, he grinned. "I know you were dying for my opinion on your theory."
She smiled back at him. "I'm always happy to hear your opinion, Harry; you know I'll ignore it if it's totally useless."
He laughed, rising to his feet. "Come on, then, and show me how I'm supposed to organize my notes to make N.E.W.T.s manageable."
He had no desire to start organizing his notes four months before their examinations, she knew that. This suggestion was solely to make her feel better, and she so badly wanted to forget about this whole horrible day that she allowed it. Harry really was a great friend.
The next several days were not very pleasant. Potions was Monday morning, and Severus was, unsurprisingly, in a beastly mood. He continued to be hell bent on making her and Harry work together and being all snide about it while he separated Harry and Draco. He may not have noticed, but they were busy being all separate on their own already; Harry was still not speaking to the blond after having tossed him out of their room, and the Slytherin didn't seem too happy with Harry for having done it.
Hermione was still angry with Severus, but she couldn't really blame Draco for his sharp comment; it had been said in a moment of shock, and she knew full well that a lifetime of prejudices couldn't be overcome instantly. At the same time, however, she couldn't help but feel that given all she had done to fight for his and Harry's happiness, it would have been nice if he could have been a little more accepting of her choice.
There was a lot of glaring all around, really, and since Ron was still pissed off with them in general—and with her in particular for curtailing his fun with Lavender—that was one more person to add to the growing trend. It was only two days after Valentine's Day, and they were all miserable. Hermione tried to remember how it had felt when she had bested Albus with the decorations and seen Harry and Draco being so goofy and emotionally attached.
This made her think of those moments with Severus, and she found herself clinging to the happy bits. She couldn't seem to decide if it was the best worst day of her life or the worst best day. Everything had gone horribly wrong, but she had known bliss; if she'd been more articulate, she would no doubt have cried out her love for Severus that night, and despite how angry and hurt she was, her heart seemed remarkably certain of the continuing strength of her feelings. Trying to walk away and actually managing it were two completely different problems, apparently.
By Wednesday, the Potions master had worked out that Draco and Harry were upset with one another—even he couldn't miss the fact that Draco was eating at the Ravenclaw table while they were at Gryffindor or Hufflepuff—and Severus managed at every opportunity to get in a dig about how happy she must be to have driven a wedge between them.
Draco had to have heard at least some of these comments, and she figured that with her luck, he'd now be convinced that she was sabotaging him, too. Just what she needed: two malicious Slytherins intent on making her miserable. There seemed to be a fair bit of jeering from both the Slytherin and the Gryffindor—led by Ron—tables that the "unholy alliance" between the two of them and Draco had come to an end. There were lots of "I told you so"s being tossed around, and Hermione was royally annoyed.
She had to visit the library again that evening, and the glow of the Restricted Section caught her eye once more and reminded her that she needed to investigate. Shortly after half two in the morning, therefore, after using the Map to ensure that no one else was breaking into the room because wouldn't that be embarrassing, she sneaked back into the library fully Masked and made her way over to the out-of-bounds area.
Albus's wards still held, allowing entrance to Harry. Peering at them more closely, she wondered for the first time how she'd gotten through the wards on those occasions when she had needed a book and it wasn't Harry who'd retrieved it. According to what she was looking at, the headmaster had made an exception only for his Golden Boy which meant she should have tripped the alarm wards every time. She hadn't, though, not once, and she wanted to know why.
It took her almost three quarters of an hour to reach the ward level that she was now pretty sure pertained to her, granting her the equivalent status of a professor and thus access to this section of the library at all times. There were name wards in place but none that she recognized, which confused her to no end until she finally realized what she was looking at. These were wards that permitted the entrance of "Berit". It only got spookier from there because if she was reading the wards right—and up until this point, she'd had no reason to doubt her skills—this part of the warding was the original rather than a later addition. This part of the warding was almost a thousand years old.
Having no idea what to make of this but unwilling to give up, Hermione decided that now was not the time to once again test those wards. Now that she knew how mysterious her ability to get in was, she wasn't about to try making use of it at half three in the morning in case things suddenly went horribly wrong. She wanted to make a much more thorough examination before she considered just sneaking in again.
Instead, therefore, she went to the wall on the far left and found where the wards ended. It was here that a wizard with enough power and knowledge could most easily coax the wards apart, enabling safe passage or more permanent modifications, such as permitting herself entry in perpetuity.
Since she didn't want it to be clear to anyone that it was she who had been modifying the wards, Hermione contented herself for the moment with only loosening them, enabling her to get in and out now; she would tighten them again as she left, and no one would ever know that she'd been through.
The more time she spent getting through wards, the more mental notes she made for herself for improving her own wards to prevent others from doing the same. Wards weren't really ever impenetrable, but they could be designed so that they barred the vast majority of people who didn't have the power or the necessary skills to get through them. Of those few who were left, layered wards and various alarms and booby traps could be rigged to slow them down until it became impractical and very time-consuming for anyone to make the attempt. Sheer power only went so far; subtlety was needed as well.
The wards surrounding a section of the wall at the back of the Restricted Section were both strong and subtle, and it took Hermione the better part of an hour and a half to work her way through most of them. The final layer gave way, surprisingly, at her magical touch before she'd even had the chance to examine it more closely to work out how it had been spelled.
Beneath the wards was a recessed bookshelf covered with rows of books. This wasn't entirely surprising, given the location, but Hermione still found it particularly pleasing that she'd found a secret compartment full of books. She didn't think there was anyone else in the castle who'd be quite as excited as she was by this particular discovery.
She started with the book on the far left of the top shelf, examining it minutely without touching it to ensure that there weren't any further spells on it that would be activated by her touch to deleterious effect. Once she was as sure as she could be that it was safe, she pulled the book down, sat cross-legged on the floor, and began to read.
What she discovered over the next hour was more than she had ever expected about the Founders, Pure Adults, and the warding of the castle: the books were actually journals kept by Salazar Slytherin's youngest child, Solace.
Hermione tore herself away from the captivating material at half five, as she didn't want to be caught in the library by Irma or any nosy students. The initial journal had contained an insert that outlined the protections the books were under here in the library so that Hermione knew it was safe to remove them if she wished. Given the lateness of the hour and the fact that she didn't have anywhere in particular to safely put them in her room, she thought they would be safer where they were for the time being.
She therefore put everything back the way she had found it and re-warded as she went. Fortunately, Solace had given Hermione the key that allowed her to activate and deactivate the wards surrounding the bookshelf so that she wouldn't need to spend an inordinate amount of time working through them when she wanted to get at the books. According to what she'd read, it was also thanks to Solace that she could get through the wards around the Restricted Section; in future, she would trust to the woman's warding and go through the wards knowing that the headmaster would not be alerted.
As she sneaked back into her room at nearly six in the morning, she remembered that she'd intended to spend not more than a couple of hours in the room so that she could get a few hours of sleep before classes began. Oops. If part of her still wasn't spitting mad and hurt, she'd no doubt find it hilariously funny that she was having secret night-long assignations with books while other people were sneaking around to shag. She probably didn't want to think about how many people wouldn't be surprised by this revelation.
Drawing a deep breath, she pushed these thoughts out of her head. Given how her life was going right now, there was only one sort of assignation that she was likely to have, and she was very pleased to have found these books. And really, if she and Severus had been busy going at it like rabbits, she might not have had the chance to make this spectacular discovery. She would take, she smiled a little grimly and a little wryly at herself, solace in that fact.
On Friday evening, Severus once again summoned them for a training session, although Tonks cheerfully invited herself along. Hermione wasn't sure whether that was going to make the situation better or if it was just going to leave the Defence professor with a lot of questions that none of them wanted to answer. They arrived at nine, as requested, and found that Draco had put himself in charge, putting Harry with Tonks, her with himself, and Severus to observe them.
Hermione knew that, given the mood he was in, the Head of Slytherin would have killed either her or Harry for attempting any such manipulation, but he allowed Draco to do it without comment, the slightly expectant smirk on his lips indicating that he thought Draco had a plan that would result in humiliation for one or both of the Gryffindors. Knowing better than to argue, Hermione and Harry simply obeyed.
She and Harry were left facing off against one another. Tonks looked slightly puzzled, indicating that she had picked up on the tension in the room even if she didn't know its source. Hermione took up her position next to Draco, back-to-back but at an angle so that they could survey as much of the front and sides of the room as possible. She hoped that she wasn't about to get hit by her team mate.
Tonks sent off the first curse, and Draco blocked it.
"Put up your shield, please," he said softly.
"What?" she demanded as she deflected Harry's Blindness Curse and fired off a Sleeping Curse in response.
"Your shield," he repeated. "I need to speak to you, and this seemed the best way to manage it."
Hermione considered. Harry had insisted that she remove Draco from the wards to their room. She hadn't actually done so, but she'd added a glyph to his name that temporarily rendered it inoperable; it would be easy enough to remove once Harry and Draco made up, which she sincerely hoped would be in the near future.
It was true that the messy-haired Gryffindor boy had been hovering around her, and he wouldn't have been interested in letting the Slytherin have a private word with her. Once she put the shield up, it meant she couldn't get any outside assistance if Draco decided to attack her, but she could hold her own against him. And he'd said "please".
The shield shimmered into place, Tonks's and Harry's curses immediately bouncing back at them. Hermione turned to Draco, who put up privacy charms so that no one could overhear them.
"Yes?"
Draco's face was twisted into an expression of distaste.
"I hate to say this," he said, reluctance clear in every word, "but he's being a complete arse."
She stiffened. "Harry isn't—"
"Not Harry," Draco said with an impatient shake of his head. "Severus. His behaviour is abysmal."
She blinked at him, and he evidently saw her surprise because his lip curled up into a look of self-deprecating amusement.
"I know. Harry was right. He had every reason to tell me to leave, but I was too offended to actually listen to what he was saying. You've done a great deal for me, and I reacted just as I would have done before any of this started; it was very insulting to you, and I apologize."
She smiled. He might not be the Slytherin she most wanted an apology from, but it still meant a lot to her. "You're forgiven."
"He shouldn't treat you like this. You gave him a great gift."
She let out her breath in a huff, offering him a wan smile. "Not to hear him talk about it."
Draco's face settled into grim lines, lips pursed. "Unless you marched in there, tied him up, and had your wicked way with him protesting every step of the way—and you're simply far too … Hermione to do that—he doesn't have a single reason to complain."
"He doesn't seem to be of the same opinion as you, Draco," she said, and even she could hear the sadness in her voice.
"I know he's not the most gracious person in the world, but this is really the outside of enough," the blond Slytherin complained. "He's not usually such a complete arse."
"It doesn't matter," she said with as much firmness as she could force into her tone, although she did not really feel that way.
Draco looked at her as though she hadn't managed very well. "But he's the one you want."
She nodded marginally, a lump in her throat. Completely unexpectedly, Draco pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. He kissed the top of her head.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, for everything both of us have done to make you unhappy."
Her voice was muffled against his chest. "Who are you, and what have you done with the real Draco Malfoy?"
He snorted as he pulled back enough to look at her. "I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable of being gracious. Belatedly, sometimes, but perfectly capable."
She smiled genuinely at him. "And I appreciate it."
Her attention was widened abruptly to the rest of the room when all three of those outside of her shield cast at the same time, each sending some of their strongest spells her way. No Unforgivables, fortunately.
Unfortunately for them, the combination of a Blasting Curse (Harry), a Cutting Curse (Tonks), and a very nasty Vanishing Curse (Severus) didn't quite manage to break her shield; she felt the jarring impact all the way to her toes and reacted without thought; they all fell to the ground, Stunned.
She let her shield fall.
"Oops," she said, knowing she didn't sound all that sorry.
Draco was smirking. "Remind me not to piss you off."
"They were interrupting," she protested as she Ennervated them.
Harry sat up, shaking his head. "I knew that was a bad idea."
"It's a little embarrassing that you still defeated us when you weren't even paying attention," Tonks agreed.
Severus was glowering, not that that was a big change from his usual expression, especially these days. "This is a training session, not social hour."
She didn't need to leap to her own defence as Draco did it for her. "And yet, as Tonks was kind enough to point out, we still bested the lot of you—and you were only supposed to be observing, Severus; railing against our method under those circumstances just makes you seem like a bad sport."
Harry was seized with a sudden coughing fit, which she assumed was his commentary on there being any doubt about Severus being a bad sport.
"I can't believe you found someone else whose magic can go through your shield," Tonks said as she clambered to her feet.
She and Draco exchanged looks, and he shrugged slightly, indicating that what was said now was up to her.
"That would indeed be an amazing occurrence," Hermione said, "but I'm afraid Draco and I aren't nearly close enough for it to occur—fond, of course, as I am of him," she hastened to assure him, causing him to roll his eyes and smile. "I'm afraid that was all me."
There was a moment of silence.
"You kept up that strong a shield and then you Stunned us through the shield?" Tonks clarified.
"That about sums it up," she agreed.
"I had no idea you could practice wandless magic to that degree." The pink-haired Auror continued to sound stunned.
"It's not normally a fact that I advertise," Hermione clarified, "but that's what happens when you catch me off guard."
Harry snorted. "Yeah, she forgets to temper her power and completely kicks our butts."
There was still a furrow in Tonks's brow. "It's like the lot of you have suddenly started throwing all your weight behind your spells."
"It's getting closer to the Final Battle," Harry answered. "We all know it's coming even if we don't know exactly when it will be. We have to be prepared to do whatever it takes."
"Sure," Tonks agreed. "I'm still waiting for my extra boost of power to kick in, though."
Hermione smiled at her, wondering if at some point, Tonks would realize what she'd just said and connect all the dots correctly. Hermione was going to take every extra moment she had, however, which was why she was deliberately not trying to find out if Albus knew what had happened.
"We're all very powerful," Hermione agreed as circumspectly as she could manage. "It wasn't as though you were the only one I Stunned, right?"
"But that does strongly suggest that you're the most powerful wizard here," Tonks pointed out.
Hermione shook her head. "It means I'm talented with shields. If Harry got a shield up like that, he'd be in the same position." And if he'd gone all-out, he might have managed with the other two to bring her shield down, and he probably knew that. Not a theory that she felt like testing right now.
Unfortunately for her, she didn't get a vote.
"So if the four of us went up against you, we'd break through your shield?" Tonks asked curiously.
"Let's find out, shall we?" Severus suggested with what she could really only term glee.
Looking reluctant but nevertheless curious, Draco crossed to the other side of the room, and the four people facing her raised their wands. She thought it was really quite careless of the Head of Slytherin not to secure her agreement before he began this manoeuvre.
By the time their spells crashed through her shield in a blinding flash of spell-fire, she was Masked and nowhere near that side of the room. She took Draco and Harry down with the same Stunner because they were standing close to one another. Tonks had immediately shielded, and Severus sent out several rapid-fire spells that didn't quite succeed in catching her, but she had to move quickly out of the way; he might not be able to see her, but he could feel her magic, so whenever she was casting, she wasn't completely hidden anymore.
At her most silent, she crept about the room and succeeded in bouncing a Jelly-Legs Jinx off the wall, causing Tonks to turn in the wrong direction and leave herself open to attack by Hermione from behind.
This left just Severus and Hermione, and he was regarding the room warily, backing towards the wall that he thought was on the other side of the room from her. She, however, had immediately made a bee-line for the corner where he would likely head to be most protected. She threw her voice with the charm she used on the gargoyle in their quarters so that it sounded as though she was in front of him.
"Do you really want to end up Stunned like everyone else, Severus?"
His face grew even more expressionless, his body tenser.
"You assume you can catch me, Miss Granger."
He took another step back and froze when he felt her wandtip against his back.
"Yes, I do," she answered. "Must I Stun you?"
His hands clenched white-knuckled for a moment, and then he offered his wand hilt-first over his shoulder. She unMasked herself and merely touched the wand with one finger before sliding away from him. She kept herself shielded since she was giving Severus her back but moved without comment to wake Harry, Draco, and Tonks.
Harry sat up again. "That's it. We need to stop with these daft plans. You just let us know when you want to Stun us, and let's say we skip all the way to being conscious again afterwards."
She grinned at him. "You all told me you were about to attack me with spells as strong as you could manage, which is hardly the best attack technique ever. Surely you didn't really expect me to stand around for that?"
Tonks cleared her throat. "Of course not."
Draco gave her his best guileless look of agreement. "It was a test for you, Hermione. We were making sure you weren't going to let yourself get attacked even if that seemed to be the plan."
I don't think you followed through with your part of this foolish story, Hermione said with good humour.
Harry gave her a mental smirk in return. It was the second blow to the head when I hit the ground again. It doesn't make me as quick as I should be for impromptu lies.
"How very thoughtful," she said aloud, lip curled up in amusement. "It's good to know you're thinking of me."
"Speak for yourselves," Severus sneered.
Her lips compressed into a thin line. Yes, she was well aware that he didn't think anything of her.
Since his apology, Draco had apparently decided to take her part in the fight that they were so evidently having.
Draco's voice was deceptively mild. "I'd be curious to know why you allowed her to defeat you in that case, sir."
Harry wouldn't be pleased if Draco was given a swath of detentions just as they were happy together again, so despite how much she thought Severus deserved every uncomfortable moment everyone could cause for him, she chose to diffuse the situation instead.
"Professor Snape is the only one of you whom I didn't have to Ennervate."
"You mean he defeated you?" Harry said with clear scepticism.
"You'll have to stay awake long enough next time to see for yourself, won't you?" she teased.
Harry wrinkled his nose at her. "Does anyone else vote that we adjourn for the rest of the evening?"
She couldn't interpret the look Severus was giving her, but he chose not to dispute Harry's intimation that this was a democracy, which she took as a good sign, given that he was normally one of the most autocratic people she knew.
The session broke up promptly thereafter, and Hermione invented imminent rounds with Pansy that would allow Draco and Harry to adjourn to their room without a third wheel. They were being googly-eyed enough that they didn't question this news, despite the fact that she and Harry had discussed her plans at dinner and these rounds had not been mentioned then. Pansy was right; they were completely daft when they stopped thinking with their brains.
The blonde Slytherin allowed herself to be summoned with more of a demand than an excess of politeness, and they waited until they'd hiked all the way up to Astronomy Tower before Hermione cast privacy charms.
"I don't recall a planned encounter," Pansy said. "Have you decided to become the spoiled Gryffindor dictator in truth?"
This was said archly, so Hermione was not terribly worried that she'd irreparably damaged their relationship.
"Harry and Draco are making up."
A pleased smile came to Pansy's face. "Excellent. He's been utterly horrid recently. It'll be good to give him back to the lot of you."
"I'm sure Harry's overjoyed to take him," Hermione said with a smirk.
"What were they fighting about?" the girl queried.
She sighed. "Me."
"You realize I'm biting my tongue," Pansy said after a moment.
Hermione looked over at the other girl, and her lip curled up in amusement as she tilted her head and conceded the Slytherin girl's point. "Draco made a … biting comment, and Harry took my side rather than Draco's."
Pansy's look was assessing. "Can I anticipate this sort of reaction with frequency?"
Hermione considered. "This particular issue was a sensitive one, but I think we've got it sorted now." In unity against Severus, apparently.
The other girl nodded, her face showing that she was undecided about making an observation of some sort. The decision to speak apparently won.
"He was very unhappy."
Hermione nodded in recognition of this admission and offered her own: "Harry, too."
Pansy stared at her for a long moment, then nodded.
Necessary exchange of information over with, they remained proficient as they scanned the halls for disobedient students, appearing generally civil with an edge of irritation over enough floors that it was likely the right people, if they were watching, had noticed. Pansy was still living in Slytherin, after all, and Hermione didn't want to make her life any more difficult than it already was.
Hermione dropped the Slytherin off at her dorms and then headed back to her own quarters. She'd barely made it around the first corner, however, before a barrage of spell-light came flying towards her.