The Wall of Hermione
Chapter 30
Following another fun filled Field Trip into the muggle world, the upper year students arrived back at Hogwarts, just in time for dinner. Hermione made her way to sit at the Gryffindor table with Ginny and Neville after spending the day with her Slytherin friends. The moment she sat down Ginny threw up a privacy charm.
"Muffliato." Ginny said.
"Uh oh. What did I do now?" Hermione asked, which was met with a chuckle from Neville.
"Guilty conscience there Hermione?" Neville chided. Hermione rolled her eyes in response.
"So you and Malfoy seemed to be getting cozy." Ginny stated, wasting no time at all.
"Excuse me?" Hermione was caught off guard.
"You. And. Malfoy." Ginny said, enunciating each word. "The two of you disappeared, came back arm in arm, then sat together on the bus. Are you going to explain, or do I have to drag it out of you?"
"Oh that..." Hermione trailed off.
"Oh that..." Ginny mocked. "Yes that! Get on with it! I'm not afraid to beat it out of you. Don't forget I have six brothers!"
"So dramatic." Hermione couldn't miss her moment to pick on Ginny, who stuck out her tongue in response.
"I had stayed behind with Pansy in the ballroom to answer a few of her questions. When we returned to the group, Draco asked where we were. When we told him, he said he was next. He had completely caught me off guard, so I stayed behind in the drawing room to answer his questions."
"And..." Ginny said, completely unsatisfied with Hermione's answer.
Hermione rolled her eyes, but continued.
"We talked about how well recorded English history is, and how families, both magical and muggle, maintained their family histories in a grimoire. After saying how long his family had been recording their history, he asked if my family recorded ours, and for how long."
"Well? Are you going to tell us? I'm nosey!"
"Me too!" Neville added. "How long?"
"His family had been recording their history since the 1500's. My family has a grimoire dating back to the seventh century."
Neville's jaw dropped, and Ginny went doe eyed, as they were hit with the understanding of just how old, and established Hermione's family must be.
"Wow. Okay. What else happened?"
"We ended up talking about one of the art pieces in the drawing room. Then he asked if I liked art, and if I had a favorite museum. I will say, I was pleasantly surprised when he expressed an interest in muggle art, and mentioned wanting to visit the Louvre."
"Draco Malfoy, an interest in muggle things. That's... unexpected..." Neville said, confused.
"Sure, sure, but none of that explains how you ended up arm in arm with him." Ginny countered, still seemingly unsatisfied with the lack of steamy details.
"He offered me his arm in the interest of formality given our location, were his exact words I think. My etiquette lessons took over before I had a chance to think about what I was doing." Hermione explained nonchalantly.
Neville's eyebrows furrowed at the mention of etiquette lessons. If hers were anything like his, she would never turn down a politely offered arm from an escort, or friend. He also started to wonder more about Hermione, as the only people he ever knew to take etiquette lessons were high born purebloods. Was Hermione high born in the muggle world?
"Ew. Etiquette. Thank merlin I never had to waste my time with that nonsense." Ginny scoffed.
Neville kept his thoughts to himself, and decided not to push as Ginny had let the etiquette comment go.
"Hermione, that still does not explain why you and Malfoy looked so comfortable with one another."
"I know Gin. I do not fully understand it myself. It just felt right, and comfortable."
"Oh Merlin. Do you like Malfoy?" Ginny nearly shouted.
Even with the privacy charm people noticed there was something going on, as Ginny had also stood up as she nearly yelled. Hermione had never been more thankful for the muffliato.
"Like him, like him? Merlin, Ginny. I hardly know the guy, outside of him calling me a mudblood for the first few years of our time here, and punching him in the face of course. He is nice to look at though, and he's a great conversationalist." Hermione rambled. "We did have a great conversation today, and I really did enjoy his company."
The conversation sputtered out for a moment, as Hermione seemed to come to terms with something.
"Oh my god." Hermione said, dazed.
"What?" Ginny asked laughing, having an idea of what was coming next.
"Holy Fuck! I like Draco Malfoy!" This time Hermione was the one shouting.
Ginny was riddled with laughter, as she tried to choke out "I knew it!"
Meanwhile her two friends laughed, as Hermione sat there frozen. She was still coming to terms with her newest realization.
Across the Great Hall, five Slytherins were enjoying their dinner, while having a similar conversation as their Gryffindor counterparts.
"So Longbottom seems to be a decent bloke." Blaise said.
"He seems as clueless about the muggle world as we are." Theo added.
"It was nice to see someone who is not a Slytherin, just as clueless about muggles." Draco said.
"Longbottom is also quite nice to look at." Daphne chuckled, and Pansy nodded her head in agreement.
The three boys rolled their eyes at their friends, who now were quietly conspiring about something. Suddenly, the two had whipped out their wands, and before the boys could defend themselves Daphne, and Pansy had used sticking charms to stick them to their seats.
"What the fuck."
"Seriously."
"What the hell!"
Draco, Theo, and Blaise all said at the same time.
"We've decided its time to talk about Draco, and Hermione." Pansy said with a grin, acting as the spokeswoman for her and Daphne's plot.
No sooner than the words came out of her mouth, Theo chuckled, happy to see where this was going to go, and he cast his own privacy charm over the group of five. Daphne, and Pansy smiled in response, and let the fun begin.
"Ladies, you didn't have to stick me to my seat. I would have GLADLY stayed around for this show." Blaise said with his standard, unmatched dramatics. Theo nodded along with interest.
"So, Mr. Me Next." Blaise continued, as Draco rolled his eyes at the new nickname. "What exactly did happen between the two of you?"
"We all know you have had a crush on her since she punched you in the face third year, you masochistic twat." Theo teased.
"Come on Draco, just tell us. The two of you looked rather cozy when you finally rejoined the group." Daphne said.
"All we did was talk. It was far less scandalous than you're all making it out to be."
"Obviously you just talked, you idiot. What about." Pansy said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"We talked about history, grimoires, art, and museums." Draco mumbled, hoping that was the end of the conversation. He would not be so lucky.
"Grimoires? What does Granger know of them?" Theo asked.
"A lot, considering her family has grimoires dating back to the seventh century, and she's had access to them since she was 15."
The group of Slytherins collectively dropped their jaws, fully understanding what that meant.
"She is from an old, old family." Daphne said in awe.
"That's putting it mildly." Blaise said.
Pansy, who was also a lover of fine art, was distracted by the fact Draco had mentioned art and museums. "Does Hermione like art, and museums?" Pansy asked, hopeful she, and her new friend had another thing in common.
"She does." Draco clarified. "She was quite taken with the Rembrandt that was in the drawing room."
"What!" Pansy screeched. "There was a Rembrandt in the drawing room, and I missed it?" She finished dramatically, crossing her arms, and sulking.
"Calm Pans." Daphne said. "None of this explains how the two of you came to be arm in arm." The blond said looking pointedly at Draco.
"I offered her my arm in the interest of formality. She accepted. It was odd though. She accepted as if she knew it would be rude to refuse, like they teach the pureblood girls. Right Daph?" He asked, seeking clarification.
"That's exactly what we are taught." She confirmed, with Pansy nodding her head in agreement.
"She also seemed to know a lot of the Royal Family history. Did anyone else realize that?"
The other four Slytherins nodded in agreement with Pansy.
"Is there any chance Granger is of high birth?" Blaise asked.
"Is that a thing in the muggle world?" Theo said confused.
"I don't see why it wouldn't be. I mean they have a Royal Family..." Pansy added.
"That would make sense." Daphne said, lost in thought. "Think about it. Her manners, etiquette, the summer transformation now that she's over 18, and how often she disappears on family matters."
The group of Slytherins agreed, but were still confused.
"How would we prove it?" Theo threw out.
"Can we even prove it?" Blaise added.
"I think it is possible, but for now we should just watch. She is one of the muggleborns sharing her home life with the class, so we will get an intimate look into her life, and probably some answers soon." Pansy concluded.
"So we keep a close eye on her. If we can trick her into using her formal manners, and etiquette more, we may be able to trick her into revealing more to those who know what to look for." Blaise suggested.
"Good idea! Okay, operation High Born Hermione, has officially begun!" Pansy concluded.
"Wait!" Daphne shouted. "We can't forget operation set up Hermione and Draco!"
Draco was now blushing, and shaking his head in his hands. "You two can never leave well enough alone? Can you?"
"Nope!" Pansy and Daphne said together, as they got up and ran away from the table, leaving the boys stuck to their seats.
"Seriously!" Blaise yelled.
"They can't hear you dumbass. Privacy charm remember." Theo said pointing around the three.
Daphne and Pansy continued their retreat from the Great Hall, and made their way back to their dormitory. The upper year Slytherin students, didn't have one communal dorm, they had smaller bedrooms they shared with just a singular roommate. Pansy, and Daphne were thankful they were roommates as they could talk privately without fear of eavesdropping.
"So we are in agreement that we are going to plot getting Hermione, and Draco together?"
"Absolutely Pans. We need to plot out everything that we know."
"Good idea Daph! We can write what we know on some spare bits of parchment, then spell it onto the wall with a sticking charm!"
The pair started by writing down everything they had come to know about Hermione. One parchment said muggle born, another said top of the year, and a third said impeccable manners.
"Okay, we know more than this! We have to!" Pansy exclaimed.
"Art! Draco said they talked about art, and family history. He also said her family is really old."
"Yes! Thank you Daph! We have to write that down."
They were on a roll now, writing things down, and sticking them up on the wall.
"Has she ever mentioned any hobbies?"
"Let me think on that one Pans. Oh, we need to add well dressed. She has been wearing a lot of designer clothes."
Pansy nodded, and wrote Well dressed with a taste for high fashion, on a spare bit of parchment.
The pair took some more time to gather their thoughts, and wrote down some additional bits they knew. They stepped back to admire their handy work. The wall was littered with bits of parchment that held their observations of how Hermione had changed this year.
"What should we do with this information now?" Pansy asked.
"I think we should start to organize it into categories."
"What do you have in mind?"
"What about major changes, personality, and home life?" Daphne was far more organized than Pansy, so she was more than happy to follow Daphne's lead.
After thirty minutes they had organized the wall to their satisfaction. They even added a fourth category for the items that didn't fit into one specific category.
Major changes contained points like, she got hot, well dressed, doesn't let Weasley walk all over her, and expanded circle of friends.
The category about Hermione's personality contained; confident, eloquent, impeccable manners, smart, and kind. Overall this category contained general personality traits that anyone could recognize if they chose to.
Home life and hobbies was the most sparse category, not counting the To Be Determined one. This category only contained; ancient family, loves art and museums, and travels frequently.
"That looks better." The pair agreed as they admired their handy work.
"What conclusions can we draw?" Pansy wondered aloud.
"None yet. We need to gather more data." Daphne said.
"I agree. Maybe we should make more of an effort to hand out with Hermione outside of meals, and field trips."
"That would definitely help!"
That was exactly what Daphne and Pansy proceeded to do. For the next week, the pair worked on solidifying their friendship with one Hermione Granger. They started an Arithmancy study group, and were even occasionally joined by Ginny Weasley. The pair were quickly learning that some Gryffindor's were quite tolerable and even helpful! Now the duo of Slytherin's even welcomed Ginny's company.
During that week, the duo kept up with that they had dubbed the Hermione Board. They added patient, and good teacher to the personality category. They had even come to learn that Hermione was still pursuing her muggle education in addition to Hogwarts - which they immediately added to their board.
At the end of the school week, Daphne, and Pansy discussed their Hermione Board, as they walked to the Great Hall for Friday dinner.
"I feel like this week has been a waste. We haven't learned much about her." Pansy said sadly.
"True, but we did get that bit of information about her muggle education." Daphne responded, hoping to lift her friends spirits.
"Yes, but that doesn't answer the questions we have. We are trying to figure out more about her life outside of Hogwarts, and she barely mentions it. Also, we need to figure out if she and Draco would have a shot together."
Pansy, usually cool, calm, and collected appeared nearly distraught. She was not used to having to work this hard to get information out of someone.
"Should we just say fuck it, and come right out and ask her?" Pansy asked.
"Maybe in a subtle way, like asking what she gets up to on the weekends she's away."
"That could work! We should ask when Ginny is around. I bet if anyone knows something she does!"
Having agreed on a path forward, the two young women were now more determined than ever to learn everything they could about Hermione Granger.