Blaise slid into the seat next to Hermione that was free in Divination, since Theo and Draco had sauntered off together and he did not want to sit with Pansy throughout this mess. Hermione was on her own, Harry and Ron paired up together, shutting Hermione out as always. “Hi,” Blaise smiled.
Hermione looked shocked. “..Hi?”
“Blaise Zabini, nice to meet you.” He held out his hand towards her.
“I know who you are.”
Blaise’s hand stayed suspended in front of them, waiting for her to shake it. “So, Hermione Granger, it’s nice to meet you. This is where you shake my hand.”
“Why are you talking to me?”
“There was no other spare seat.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to speak to me, I thought you didn’t like my kind.”
Blaise chuckled softly, finally dropping his hand. “Dolce bambina, you don’t truly believe that I adhere to those.. barbaric prejudices that some of my fellow classmates choose to follow as gospel, do you?”
Hermione’s mouth opened, and then closed again, like a goldfish, making Blaise smile. “I suppose not.”
“Good, it’s nice to meet you, Hermione Granger.”
They shared a smile, before Professor Trelawney interrupted them. “You must read your partners tea leaves, and fortell their future,”
Hermione rolled her eyes, swirling the tea around in her cup. She gave it one last spin before handing it to Blaise.
“Ah, Granger, I can see your future,” he wiggled his eyebrows. “It looks like you’ve got some new friends coming into your life soon,”
“How on Godric’s green earth can you tell that?”
“See this? It’s a lion, right? See the bottom? Two snakes.”
Hermione rolled her eyes again. “Bullshit.”
“Ah ah, true shit.”
Hermione laughed, and clasped her hand over her mouth. “You’re not funny.”
“Your audible laugh just confirmed that I actually am.”
“Let me tell your future.”
“I already know mine,” he glanced across to Theo who grinned. “A lion in the snakes pit.”
Hermione shoved Blaise lightly, but Blaise was one for the theatrics, and dramatically fell off his stool.
“Granger! You wound me!” He said from the floor, causing Theo to chuckle, and Draco looked up, raising an eyebrow at Hermione in concern.
Hermione blushed, ducking her head and hiding behind her hair.
Hermione was walking the halls of the castle on her own, Harry and Ron out at Quidditch practice, leaving Hermione to research potions history, trying to figure out the best way to use Felix Filicius to get the memory that Dumbledore needed out of Slughorn. She walked quietly, thinking, before both of her arms were suddenly accosted on either side. She struggled for a moment, and then realise it was Blaise holding one arm. “Blaise!”
“Granger!”
“I’m here, too!” Theo whined.
“Granger, this is Theo, another new friend of yours.”
“You’re joking.” Hermione stopped walking, making the two snakes turn to look at her.
“Little lion, why would I ever joke like that?” Blaise tilted his head.
“What game are you playing, Zabini?” She stayed stood, and folded her arms.
“He’s not playing a game, Hermione.” Theo spoke up, noticing Blaise’s shifting feet.
“You’re Slytherins. You’re both purebloods, part of the ‘Sacred 28’. You’re pulling something.”
“We’re not pulling anything. We’re tired of how others treat you, and we are not our parents. You’re funny. We’ve watched you, you’re smart,” Blaise started.
“And you can throw a punch.” Theo finished, grinning.
“We genuinely, just want to be your friend.” Blaise smiled softly. “However I understand, and we won’t bother you again. I’m sorry.”
Blaise and Theo turned on their heels and walked away, and Hermione grew frustrated with herself. She stomped her foot, and blurted out “Wait!” causing the two to stop, and look at each other, but they didn’t turn back. Bloody snakes. Hermione walked briskly up to them.
“Look, I don’t have many friends-”
“You’re delusional if you think you’re not popular, Granger, everyone in Gryffindor adores you.” Theo cut her off.
“Fine, I’ve never been good at making friends, let alone people literally asking me to be their friend. I got caught off guard, and I’m sorry.”
Blaise and Theo just blinked.
“I’m sorry.”
They blinked again.
“Merlin’s fucking beard, yes! I’ll be your friend!”
They looked at each other, and grinned. “Are you a hugger, Granger?” Theo smirked.
“Wha-” the two boys swooped in and hugged her, lifting her small frame off the ground, as she was shrieking. “Put me down!”
“Stupefy!” A voice came from behind them, the red beam of light hitting Blaise and sending him reeling.
“Protego!” Hermione called before another stupefy could be thrown at Theo, and she turned. “Ron!”
“Hermione, are you okay?”
“Why did you throw a stupefy!”
“The Snakes were grabbing at you!”
“Actually,” Blaise grunted, rubbing his head as he got up, “we were hugging her.”
“Why were you hugging her?” Harry asked, cleaning dirt off his glasses.
“Good practice, Potter?” Theo grinned.
“Yeah it went well, actually, but uh, why were you hugging Hermione?”
“She’s our friend now.” Blaise threw his arm around her shoulders.
Ron and Harry just blinked, their mouths open in shock.
“I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter, Blaise demanded it in Divination.”
“But you threw him off his chair, we thought he’d insulted you and then this was payback.” Ron said.
“He threw himself off the chair, I just pushed. Look, why don’t you two go get cleaned up for dinner and I’ll explain at the table, okay?”
Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then looked at Blaise and Theo, before they shrugged, nodding at Hermione and walking away.
The next couple of months were weird for Hermione, no Slytherins were mean to her, and she studied a lot with Theo and Blaise, whilst Harry and Ron did their extra curricular activities. She grew to like their company, although she did deny their party invites every time, not ready to actually become a lion in the snake pit. Theo and Blaise were actually very interested in what it was like to grow up in a world without magic, and all of the electrical inventions they had. She showed them her muggle telephone that she’d snuck into the castle, so that she could keep in close contact with her parents and they were obsessed.
“You have to get me one of these, Granger.” Blaise begged. “Please, so that we can keep in contact over Easter, it’ll be faster than owls.”
“Plus, with you staying at the burrow, we wouldn’t want to subject them to our eagle owls, they might be intimidated.” Theo added, and Hermione chuckled.
She hadn’t told them about Grimmauld Place, or anything to do with the Order, not just yet. She trusted them with a lot, but she wasn’t sure she trusted them with that load of information.
She called her parents, asked them to mail over two phones, saying she’d pay them back, as Blaise and Theo both said they’d pay for it, and her parents did. She spent an afternoon in the library setting up the phones, showing the boys how to text, and she reminisced on how her and Harry did the same with Ron when Hermione’s father bought Harry a phone for when he was staying at the Dursley’s.
They all exchanged emotional goodbyes at Kings Cross, promising to keep in contact over the Holidays, and Hermione finally met Blaise’s mother, whom she had heard so much about.
She was nervous to meet the Italian woman, but his mother embraced her with a warm hug and two kisses on the cheek, complimenting her hair and smile, to which Hermione blushed. Mrs Zabini gushed to Hermione’s parents, saying that they must come to her winery in Italy over the summer, she would be happy to host them along with Theo and Draco. Hermione blanched a little at the mention of Draco, but didn’t say anything, she just smiled, and bid her farewells to Blaise and his mother.
She got a text from Blaise when she was in the car going to her parents to pick up extra clothes for her stay at Grimmauld Place, and he asked if she would be interested in taking him and Theo shopping in muggle London, and she grinned, telling him that she’d be delighted.
The day she met up with them in Diagon Alley, she was actually bursting with excitement over seeing her friends again and showing them London, but the muggle side. They all went to Gringotts, changing galleons into pounds and then left through The Leaky Cauldron. Hermione grinned at the mesmerisation on their faces, and she grabbed their arms, telling them she was taking them to the biggest department store in London. Blaise was obsessed with muggle fashion, and the shoes they had. He was picking up sneaker after sneaker, turning them around in his hands, until Hermione’s eye got caught by adult sized light up trainers. She laughed, and Theo looked at her. “What?”
“How do you guys feel about some light up shoes?”
“Light up shoes?”
“These shoes flash when you walk, it’s like having a lumos on your feet, except they change colours.”
Blaise and Theo looked at one another, and then back at Hermione. “Show us.”
She picked up the shoes, banging them lightly on the ground, making them light up green. Both boys gasped, and smirked. “We’ll take three.”
“Three?”
“A pair for each of us, and one for Draco. Wait, make it four, we want you to get a pair, too.”
“I am not getting matching shoes with you.”
“Why!?” Theo pouted.
“You’ll look like big kids.”
“We are big kids.”
Hermione rolled her eyes, sighing. “Fine.”
She picked up four boxes in the correct sizes that the boys had given her, and then decided to get two more, one for Harry and one for Ron.
They spent the day going in and out of stores, and Hermione didn’t have to pay for anything she wanted, the boys said they’d treat her, and she insisted on buying them lunch at a muggle cafe, much to their arguing, she won, enjoying how they were looking around at people just going about their day, watching people on laptops and phones and reading the newspaper with pictures that didn’t move.
They made their way back into wizarding london to pick up supplies needed for school, and Theo asked about Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, to which Hermione broke out in a huge smile and dragged them in. She said hi to both Fred and George who were perplexed to see her with the two snakes, but didn’t say anything. Blaise picked up a small love potion bottle. “Hey, Granger,” he called to Hermione, grabbing her attention away from fizzing whizzbees.
“Yes?”
“In potions, you knew what Amortentia was, right?”
She blushed. “Yes.”
“What did you smell?” Theo asked. “I’m just intrigued, I didn’t get the chance to smell it.”
“Oh, I smelt freshly mown grass, new parchment and spearmint toothpaste, along with a hint of apple & cinnamon pie. Why?”
The two boys exchanged a smirk. “No reason, hey, do you use lavender shampoo?”
“Lavender is my favourite scent, so yes. Why?”
“Again, pure curiosity.”
“You guys are weird.”
“Not as weird as your cat.” Theo laughed, linking his arm in Hermione’s again.
Blaise looked at the love potion again, hesitating before putting it down.
“Who you wanting to dose with it, Blaise?” Hermione grinned.
“I don’t want to dose her with it, I just want her to notice me, but with my green tie, she barely glances my way.” He sighed, and Hermione turned serious.
“Who?”
“You’ll laugh.”
“I can assure you that I will not laugh, Blaise.” Her face was stern.
“You’re friends with Lovegood, do you think you could, I don’t know, talk to her? For me?”
“She’s in the same year as Ginny, Blaise.”
“I just want to be her friend, that’s all. If it was to progress further in the future, I wouldn’t mind that, but I just want her to see me, and not the uniform I wear.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” She smiled softly, and Blaise grinned.
“Thanks, bookworm.”
“I told you to stop calling me that!” She hit him over the head with a roll of parchment that Theo was looking at.
When it was time to return to the Hogwarts express, Hermione’s phone buzzed. It was Theo, this time, in the groupchat that she had made for her, him and Blaise.
Sit with us today. The text said.
I can’t, she replied, Harry’s hung up about this thing about Draco.
What thing? Blaise sent.
Harry is under the impression that Draco Malfoy is now a death eater.
That’s absurd! Theo replied.
Complete lunatic. Draco’s just had a hard summer, please, come sit with us, just for an hour. Blaise pleaded.
Fine, but only for an hour. She sent, and then locked her phone and looked back at Harry and Ron. “I’m going to see the boys for a while, I’ll be back.”
“See if you can get any info about Malfoy, and maybe Borgin and Burkes.” Harry insisted.
“I’ll do my best,” Hermione lied through her teeth before leaving their compartment and making her way to the Slytherin one. She said hi to multiple people she passed, her hand braced ready to pull her wand in case anyone tried anything, but no one did. Even Pansy Parkinson gave her a small smile and a wave, which she returned but felt odd about it. Something was going on.
“I’m here, what do you want?” She smiled as she saw her two friends sitting with Draco. “You look a little down, Malfoy, everything alright?”
Draco’s eyes snapped to Hermione, his cheeks flushing pink for a moment before he swallowed. “Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine, thank you. You?”
“Fine, it’s hard being demanded by two friends who very clearly have developed separation anxiety from me even though they saw me two days ago.” She glanced at Blaise and Theo who were grinning.
“Bookworm, you want to give Draco his present?” Theo smirked.
“What present?” Draco perked up.
“I didn’t get him a present.” Hermione said blankly as she sat down.
“Yes, you did. Draco, this is from Hermione.” Blaise handed Draco a white box, and all of the colour drained from her face. The shoes.
“Blaise,” she hissed.
“No point hissing, we’re all snakes here,” Theo laughed. “Open it, Malfoy.”
Draco looked apprehensive but smiled, opening the box to reveal a pair of white trainers with a weird sole. “What’s with the bottom?”
“These, are muggle trainers.” Blaise grinned. “They light up.”
“They what?” Draco gasped. “You got me muggle shoes? That light up? Like a lumos, but on your feet?”
“I,” Hermione started, but saw Blaise’s face. “Yeah. Yeah, we all got them. I realise I’ve been spending a lot of time with your best friends, and I apologise for that. I got you these so you can match with us,”
“Salazar,” Draco breathed, holding the shoes in his hands. “Can you show me how they work?”
“Yeah. So, bang them on the table.” She instructed and he did so, his face illuminating when they flashed green.
“Holy shit they’re green.” He whispered, looking at the shoes and then Hermione. “You have them too?”
“I do,” she pointed at her feet, stomping her foot on the floor to show the green stripe.
“Thank you,” Draco flushed. “Thank you, Granger.”
“Draco’s had a hard Easter, and I think this has just made his day.” Theo whispered as Hermione slipped into the middle seat between him and Blaise.
“Hey, Draco?” Hermione found her mouth moving as Draco looked at her. “Would you want to join our little study group this year?”
“Only if you promise to come to at least one Slytherin party.” He grinned, still holding the trainers in his hands.
“Merlin. Fine, one party.”
“A lion in the snake pit,” Blaise smirked. “Hey, Draco,”
“Yeah?”
“Found out that Hermione’s favourite scent is lavender last week,”
Draco’s face went bright red. “Oh, that’s a surprise.”
“Yeah,” Theo laughed. “Draco smelt honey, lavender and old books in his amortentia.”
Draco looked at Hermione, who stared at him, her eyes not leaving his as he smiled.
She smiled back. Maybe this term would be different after all.
~fin.