Peacocks and Ferrets
Hermione slammed her book shut. The room had gotten cramped rather fast and she wasn’t sure why she had come in the first place, but Daphne and Pansy had insisted on seeing what ‘men’ were going to be putting their names into the fire. Fred and George made their way into the room, laughing as they unstopped a potion. “What are they doing?”
Pansy looked towards them, cupping her hand around her mouth. “Oi! What are you doing?”
“We have an aging potion. We’re going to enter our names.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “You do realize that it’s not going to work right? Dumbledore drew the line himself, do you really think that he didn’t account for wizards like you making and taking an aging potion?”
The boys stared at her for a moment before jumping over the line. The group around them cheered and Pansy gave Hermione an impressed look. Hermione rolled her eyes. Each of them threw their names into the fire and after a moment, they were spit out, and Fred and George were flung across the room, their hair turning white and long beards growing on their face.
“Great. Now we have two mini-Dumbledore’s roaming the castle.” Pansy snorted and Daphne giggled before their attention was torn away by Cedric Diggory making his way across the room. They watched him put his name into the cup, a soft smile pulling at the corner of his lips before he sauntered from the room.
“Did you see the way that man carried himself?” Pansy tutted, flinging her shoulder length hair over her shoulder. She gasped and sat up straighter when Viktor made his way into the room. Hermione turned her attention back to her book and tried to ignore Daphne elbowing her in the ribs. Her eyes flicked up just as Viktor dropped his parchment into the fire, with a soft smile and his head tipping carefully in her direction.
She flushed and Pansy whirled around to face her. “Talk!”
“There’s nothing to talk about!”
“Oh bollocks.” Pansy yanked the book from Hermione’s hands, swatting her on the shoulder. “Tell us why that damn Quidditch player just smiled at you like you’re secretly dating.”
Hermione wrinkled her nose. “Pansy. I don’t think that a single boy here fancies me, let alone an International Quidditch player.” Daphne and Pansy stared at her like they didn’t recognize her. “What?!”
“You really are daft, aren’t you?” Pansy 's voice didn't hold the usual sarcasm, instead it seemed utterly sincere.
Hermione huffed, yanking the book from Pansy’s hands and ignored the rest of the students as she buried herself into the pages.
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Hermione pretended that her birthday didn’t exist but found it rather difficult when she woke up to several packages scattered around her floor. Narcissa had sent her a beautiful set of dark green robes. It was put carefully into the top drawer of her wardrobe. Next, was surprisingly a book from Lucius and she turned the cover over to find a first edition of her favorite book. Pansy and Daphne had both sent her hair products along with some makeup products that she wasn’t sure what to do with. The sight of them alone intimidated her.
Surprisingly she received chocolate from Blaise and a wrapped simple package from Draco that she was scared to open. Tearing it carefully, her breath caught in her throat at the picture that she saw. It was of her and Theo, when she had laid her head in his lap in the gardens. The loop was of Theo glancing down at her, his real smile–that she had seen so little–was pointed at her as she closed her eyes, hair falling down across his lap. The loop repeated and she found herself crying, tucking it against her chest. Her breath came out stuttered and she set it on her nightstand, dressing quickly as she ran from her room. This was the kindest gift that she had ever been given, besides Theo himself. Having a brother was something that she never would be able to fully comprehend.
She made her way towards the Slytherin Dungeons and uttered the password that Draco and Pansy had given her the other day. The door slipped open and she was met with awkward stares and people cursing, wondering what she was doing there. Pansy had just come down the stairs, bumping into her with wide eyes.
“Mi? What are you doing here?”
“Where’s Draco?”
“We were supposed to meet him by the lake, Theo had a whole thing planned for your birthday–”
Hermione turned, darting from the Dungeons as she took the stairs two at a time, running through the courtyard. By the time she had gotten to the lake that Pansy had mentioned, she was panting and thoroughly disappointed to find nobody there. She whirled around when she heard voices and found Draco and Theo making their way over to her, a blanket draped across Draco’s arm and a small basket in Theo’s. She took off, and Draco looked at her startled. She threw herself against his chest and he caught her, his arm wrapping around her.
“Granger? What’s wrong? What’s going on?” His voice sounded terrified, and she pulled back, placed her hands on his cheeks and stepped onto her tiptoes to place a quick kiss against his lips. His cheeks flushed and she watched the pink spread to his ears as he stared at her.
“Thank you. For the picture.”
Draco nodded, staring at her intently and she stepped away from him, turning to look at Theo who was staring at the two of them open-mouthed. “I swear to god if it’s a picture of your–”
“-nope! Not that, Theo.”
“Thank god.”
She turned and Theo set the basket down, pulling her into a hug. “I might have to hex him,”
Hermione giggled, and Theo set her back down with a glance over his shoulder at Draco. “Come on then, Birthday Girl doesn’t have all day to spend snogging you. I prepared a wonderful feast.”
“The Elf’s prepared a wonderful feast.” Draco pointed out, attempting to flick the blanket out over the grass.
“Theo!”
“What?” Theo stared at her, shrugging his shoulders as he yanked the blanket from Draco’s hands and spread it out. Once they were settled, she decided to wait for Pansy and Daphne to make their way over and Theo turned to look at her. “I didn’t have anything to give you, this was the best that I could do…I’m sorry.”
Hermione turned and met his eyes. “Theo. You all have given me more than you could ever possibly imagine."
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Hermione sat with Harry and Ron on Halloween, Harry whispering about all of the things that she had missed the last month and how strange it was for Moody to be teaching the way that he was. He was interrupted by Dumbledore silencing the Great Hall. Everybody turned to face him and the cup that was flickering behind him. He turned, running his hand by the flames and it turned red shooting a piece of burnt parchment from the flames.
“The Durmstrang Champion….is Viktor Krum!!” There was applause and cheering all around her and she watched as he made his way next to Dumbledore, his eyes finding hers and a blush spread across his cheeks. “Next up we have…”
He caught the fluttering parchment as it shot from the flames. “Fleur Delacour from Beauxbaton!”
There was cheering and whistling as she made her way quietly from the table, standing next to Viktor who gave her a small nod.
“Lastly! From our very own school.” A paper shot from the flames and Hermione smiled, meeting Cedric’s eyes. “Cedric Diggory!” He smiled at her and slipped from the table making his way towards the front. As Dumbledore shook his hand, he turned around towards the flames which had roared up even higher than before, a dark red glow emanating from the flames. Another name shot from the fire and Dumbledore caught it, his face flicking towards where Hermione sat with anger and confusion painted all over his normally twinkling eyes.
“Harry Potter.” He glared at them before yelling. “Harry Potter!”
Hermione turned, shoving Harry forward as he scrambled from the seat, pushing between his shoulder blades. “Go on, then.” Harry made his way to the front, and the Great Hall fell into silence around her. She cast a worried glance to Theo across the room and he shrugged his shoulders.
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She was reading in the courtyard when the sound of yelling was overheard. Tucking her book away, she made her way towards the tree in the middle of the grounds where students were gathering. Theo grabbed her arm, stopping her from going any further as the two people came into view. Draco was attempting to put away his wand when Moody approached, flicking his wand at Draco. Hermione watched horrified as Draco turned into a white ferret. She made a move to scramble forward, tears springing to her eyes as Moody waved him around with his wand, slamming him on the ground. She broke free from Theo’s grasp just as McGonagall came bursting through the crowd. Hermione stood in between Malfoy and Moody’s wand; her jaw locked as she lifted it to glare at Moody.
“Professor Moody? Is that a student?”
Hermione spit the answer and McGonagall’s face turned appalled, as she ran forward. With a flick of her wand, Draco was back to normal, and she turned to find him clenching his teeth, his hand holding onto his ribcage. He was sweating profusely, gritting his teeth together and she noticed that he was paler than usual. She whirled around, her hand going for her wand just as Theo grabbed her arm.
“Don’t.”
She glared at Moody and turned, following behind Theo and Blaise as they helped Draco to his feet. He was trying to shove them away and walk by himself, but Hermione could hear his ragged breathing from behind him. She ushered them into an empty classroom when Draco refused to go to the Infirmary, and she locked the door.
Theo quickly undid Draco’s shirt, leaning him back in the chair that he was pushed into. There was deep purple bruising already starting to form along the side of his rib cage and she could see his collar bone protruding at an angle from underneath his skin. Theo pulled his wand quickly and Hermione scrambled over to Draco, clamping her hand over his mouth. Draco gritted his teeth and grabbed onto the desk behind him so hard his knuckles turned white.
“You ready?” Draco nodded and Hermione cringed at the sound of bones resetting. His scream was muffled by her palm, and he pinched his eyes shut, panting as Theo reset his collarbone next. “I need to run a diagnostic to make sure that there isn’t any internal bleeding.” A shimmering table flickered above Draco’s head, and they all stared at it, as Draco’s head dropped forward, his chin resting against his chest. He had passed out from the pain. Hermione threaded her fingers through his hair, waiting anxiously for Theo to finish reading the scan.
“How do you know how to do all of this?”
“Narcissa had me take lessons the very first day that I showed up to her house with a broken arm and covered in bruises.” Hermione’s heart squeezed and she glanced at Blaise who was staring at him sadly. “We can’t take him back to the room like this. He wouldn’t want anybody to see him like this. It’s why he denied going to the infirmary.” Hermione nodded, chewing on her lip.
“Alright, we’ll take him to my room.” Theo spun around to look at her with wide eyes.
“I’m not bringing a boy to my sister's room, Hermione.”
“It’s not a boy, Theo. It’s Draco.” Her hands were planted firmly on her hips as she glared at him.
Blaise snorted. “Exactly.”
“Bloody hell get over yourself. I’m not going to be snogging him, look at him! I don’t share a room with anybody, he can rest and heal. I can sneak in and sleep with Pansy or something.”
Blaise raised a brow at Theo, and he reached out to punch him in the arm. “Disgusting. Don’t raise your eyebrows like that. Fine, we’ll take him to your room.” Hermione nodded, ignoring the fluttering feeling at the idea of Draco sleeping in her bed and followed behind them as they dragged him through the corridors. Hermione had lifted his hood over his head, and cleared the halls as they went, making sure that nobody saw them.
Once he was properly laid out on her bed, Theo glared, then excused himself to go and get some potions from Snape. Her eyes widened when she realized that he was going to have to explain to Snape what they were for and just where Draco was. She sent Blaise off after him making sure to emphasize the importance of NOT disclosing that Draco Malfoy was lying with his shirt strewn open and asleep in her bed to her godfather.
Once everybody was settled, Hermione sat at her desk, listening to the quiet rise and fall of Draco’s breathing. She wound up abandoning her S.P.E.W. pamphlets and homework, instead taking the time to study Draco’s face. He had never been so unguarded around her before. She had seen him that day that he brought her back to bed after her nightmares, and the two of them and Theo had woken up all snuggled together. That was childish though, this…feeling…was morphing into something more. Something that terrified her. She had never had any feelings for anybody before and yet the fluttering in her ribcage made her wonder if this was something that would last forever if she dove headfirst into it. Narcissa reminded her that she was just a child. That they were just children. And honestly, she wasn’t even sure if Draco thought of her in that way. His hair was ruffled across his forehead, eyes closed as he slept and Hermione moved carefully to the side of the bed, running her fingers through the soft strands. He stirred, blinking his gray eyes open at her and she watched a smirk pull at the corners of his lips. She moved to grab his potions off the side table, and he grabbed her hand, placing it back in his hair. “Mm, that helps with the pain.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, this was far worse than the Hippogriff scratch. I’ll let you milk it for a few days.”
“A week?” He pouted, pushing his lip out as he batted his lashes at her. She rolled her eyes.
“Fine. A week, that’s all you get. After that you’re on your own again.” Draco closed his eyes and she saw him wince, his body twitching as he tried to adjust himself. He let out a breath and Hermione winced, freezing her fingers in his hair. He cracked an eye open at her. “You know, Theo thought that I would be snogging you in here, he was very adamant about not letting you come here. I figured that you didn’t want anybody else to see you like this though.”
Draco nodded once, his eyes peeking open to stare at her. She slipped from the bed, and he grumbled as she swiped the potions off of the table and unstoppered one, perching herself on the corner of the bed. “What is that?”
“Pain Relief Potion. Theo also brought one that’s supposed to help with something. I don’t remember what. I was a little distracted. I just know that you’re supposed to take them both. Also, I’m supposed to tell you to keep your hands to yourself otherwise Theo will hex you.”
Draco chuckled, wincing as he grabbed his ribs. “Honestly.” She tipped both the Potions down his mouth and after a moment she watched the creases between his eyes smooth. “I’m going to have nightmares about being a bloody ferret for months now.”
“Yes, well I was possibly plotting ways to turn Moody into a peacock and releasing him on the Grounds at the Manor. That would’ve been worth it having your father preen and bloody pluck him just to see Moody’s face afterwards.”
Draco was staring at her open-mouthed and a laugh broke from his lips. She followed after him until they were both in tears and she was apologizing for making him grab his ribs. “Don’t apologize. That was worth every second imagining my father primping and plucking Moody as a peacock. That was also a very Slytherin of you.” His eyes found hers and he reached up to brush a piece of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Thank you, Hermoine. Really.” His gray eyes flitted to her mouth and back to her eyes and she saw him swallow. She leaned forward, brushing her fingers through his hair. He swallowed again, leaning into her. “Granger…it will be worth every hex if you let me kiss you right now.”
She leaned closer, murmuring against his lips. “Only because I told you that you were allowed to milk your injuries.”
He smiled against her lips. “This is the best pain medicine I can think of.”