Chapter 4

When Hermione woke up the next morning the previous night came rushing back. She looked down at her wrist, but there were no bruises. It took her a moment to remember what Draco had done for her to hide the bruises. When Draco came up in her mind she felt a warm tingling in the pit of her stomach, making a small smile appear on her face. She quickly recovered herself and shook her head, trying to shake the odd feeling away. Was she getting ill? Why did she get that odd feeling in the pit of her stomach? She cleared her head and sat up in bed before getting out of it and grabbing her schooluniform as she made her way over towards the bathroom, but when she looked up she stared directly into Draco's eyes. Hermione's eyes travelled down without her really taking any notice of this action and her eyes landed on his bare, toned stomach before she noticed he wasn't wearing anything apart from a towel that was wrapped around his waist. She felt her cheeks flush as she quickly turned her eyes away from him. 'Sorry.' she muttered, turning around to make a quick escape. 'Oh that's okay, I was done here anyway.' Draco shrugged. 'The bathroom is yours.' he said before walking back into his own room and closing the door behind him. Hermione turned back around after she heard the door close and placed her uniform on the cabinet with towels before taking a towel out of the cabinet and walking to the shower to turn the tabs on. After she was all done and had pulled her shoes on in her room she walked into the common room, where, to her surprise, Draco was seated on the couch. 'Ready for breakfast?' he asked. He had waited for her? So they could walk down to the Great Hall together? But why? Hermione frowned as her thoughts kept swerving through her head until she realised something; she'd have to see Ron and she had no idea which version of Ron she'd walk into. Was he going to be his own self again? Or would that distant look still be in his eyes? The previous night it had felt like the Ron she had once known was far, far away. 'Or do you want to eat here?' Draco asked, after not getting any kind of reply from her. 'I can get us something?' Hermione looked up at him and lightly shook her head. 'No, he'll get mad again.' 'Has he been acting weird the past few weeks, or just yesterday?' Draco asked. 'He has been rather on edge the past few weeks, but not like he was last night.' Hermione told him. 'Are you sure you don't want me to get some breakfast?' Draco offered. 'I'll survive.' Hermione nodded, giving him a small smile, even though she hadn't really convinced herself yet about the matter and from the looks of it Draco didn't believe me either. 'Okay then, shall we get going?' Draco asked. Hermione nodded and followed Draco towards the portrait hole before they made their way down the stairs. 'Don't get me wrong... but perhaps it'd be better if one of us would go first? Into the Great Hall I mean.' Hermione told him carefully. 'Alright, that's okay.' Draco shrugged. 'Do you want to go first?' Hermione didn't answer and stared down at the ground in front of her. 'I'll go first, just wait here and walk in after, like, 20 seconds?' Draco suggested. Hermione nodded and stopped walking. 'Don't worry.' Draco said. Hermione nodded again as he walked away from her. She waited a minute before she walked in herself. When she reached the open doors of the Great Hall she stopped for a second, trying to talk some courage into herself. She took in a deep breath and started to walk into the Great Hall. To her relief Harry was sitting next to Ron. Hermione walked towards Ginny and sat down next to her. 'Good morning.' Ginny smiled. 'Morning.' Hermione said, taking a piece of toast from the plate in front of her and placing it on her own. She wasn't really hungry, but she knew she had to eat something. She bit off a few pieces of the toast before leaving most of it on her plate and waiting for Ginny to finish her breakfast. Hermione saw Ron looking at her a few times from the corner of her eye, but she didn't look back. Ron and Harry were talking about something, but Hermione didn't pay attention, too wrapped up in her own thoughts. Ron behaved like nothing had happened and something certainly happen. 'Ready?' Ginny asked, looking at my plate. 'I'm not really hungry.' Hermione shrugged. 'Okay, ready to go?' Ginny asked. Hermione nodded and got up from her seat. 'See you guys later.' Ginny said as they walked out of the Great Hall. 'Something wrong?' Ginny asked when we turned the corner. 'Hmm? No.' Hermione lied. 'You're quiet.' Ginny stated. 'I didn't sleep well.' Hermione answered. Ginny nodded as they made their way down the corridor and towards their first class of the day.

It was finally time for the last class of the day; Potions. Hermione walked to the dungeons with Ginny. She had been able to keep her distance from Ron that day as much as she could, but it had been hard, luckily she was seated next to Ginny every class. 'Good luck with Malfoy.' Ginny joked, nudging Hermione's arm with her elbow. 'Thanks.' Hermione answered. Ginny walked to her partner, whom she wasn't very happy with either, who would when Gregory Goyle was assigned as your partner, but unfortunately for many Slughorn had said "no changing". Hermione sat down next to Draco and gave him a small smile. 'You survived the day.' Draco remarked. Hermione looked up at him. 'The day isn't over yet.' 'Nothing can happen to you here, I'm here.' Draco joked. Hermione wanted to say that was just the problem, but that wouldn't be very nice, especially after his help and kindness. 'True.' Hermione said eventually. Hermione didn't look up when Ron came into the classroom and sat down next to Pansy Parkinson, but she could feel his eyes burn on the side of her face. 'Good afternoon everyone.' professor Slughorn said. 'Let's get started, you know what to do, just try not to let anything explode.' he said, giving Seamus Finnigan a quick glance before finishing his sentence. 'Good luck everyone.' Hermione and Draco gathered the equipment and recipe before starting on the potion. 'Juice two Shrivelfigs and add their ruby blood to your cauldron.' Hermione read to Draco. 'Stir slowly, gently heat your potion.' she read. 'Chop four daisy roots more finely and add to cauldron.' she read aloud as she wanted to reach for the knife, but apparently she had the same idea as Draco and their hands met on the knife's handle. Hermione felt the electric tingling spread through her hand, making her quickly pull her hand back with flushed cheeks. 'Sorry, you can use it first.' she said. 'No, here.' Draco said, handing her the knife. 'Thanks.' she said before cutting up the four daisy roots. She grabbed the recipe again and read what was left of it in the book. 'Add five hairy caterpillars- add well-shaken wormwood- stir vigourously- juice four leeches and add- stir slowly and with caution- shake rat spleen and add to cauldron- add a splash of cowbane- stir slowly- heat on a high temperature- wave wand in particular figure.' Hermione and Draco were the first to finish their potion. Slughorn cane towards them and nodded. 'Wonderful, great teamwork.' Slughorn cheered. 'Thank you professor.' Hermione said. 'You can go now, here is the next assignment which we'll start on next week. Partners will stay the same, so you can work on the preparations together.' Slughorn said. Hermione took the parchment from him and looked down at it, apparently they were going to make Veritaserum, which was going to be a long process. 'We're a great team.' Draco said when they walked out of the classroom and towards the stairs. 'We sure are.' Hermione nodded. 'I have to get a book from the library.' 'Okay.' Draco shrugged and to her surprise Draco didn't walk towards their dormitory but kept walking next to her towards the library. 'You can wait here, I'll be right back.' Hermione said when they stopped in front of the large doors that hid the library behind them. Draco nodded and walked into the library to wait there, leaning against the wall behind him. Hermione walked towards the bookshelf and searched for the book she need. When she had found it she took it from its shelf and walked back to Draco, but before she reached him she saw Ron walking into the library. She saw him give Draco a deadly glare before she quickly hid herself behind the bookshelf. Hermione heard footsteps nearing her and with every step her heartbeat raised a little bit more. She felt a hand on her shoulder, making her stumble back against the bookshelf behind her, hitting her head along the way. Hermione looked up and saw Draco. 'Come, I said you were on the other side of the library.' Draco whispered. Hermione nodded and followed Draco quickly out of the library. 'Seriously, you had to see his fae.' Draco laughed. 'He almost saw me.' Hermione said, softly chuckling. They passed the next corner and just when they walked into the next corridor Hermione heard her name. 'Hermione? Who is that?' she heard Ron ask. 'Go, before he sees you.' she whispered, pushing Draco away from her before turning around and passing the corner again. 'No one.' 'I heard you laugh.' Ron said. 'Oh I was thinking back to the crazy times we had here.' Hermione said. Ron gave her a small smile and nodded. 'We really experienced crazy times here.' Hermione nodded. 'Do you want to come with me to the Gryffindor Tower?' 'Uh, no I have a lot of homework.' 'I do too, we could make it together.' Ron said. 'I won't be able to concentrate in there.' she said, giving him a small smile. 'Why not?' 'Because of you.' she answered. Ron nodded as if he understood what she was saying. If he hadn't been standing in front of her she'd have dramatically rolled her eyes at this. 'Okay, I'll see you at dinner then.' Ron smiled. 'Yeah sure.' Hermione smiled. Ron came closer and Hermione could feel her heartbeat rise. He placed his hand gently on her cheek and pulled her in for a kiss. She lightly kissed him back before pulling away. She didn't feel like she used to feel when she kissed him, but the old Ron seemed to be back in some way. She didn't understand what was happening, had he been bipolar without her having noticed in all the years of friendship? Because that would be her only explanation to what was happening.