Stormy Weather

Draco stalked through the corridors of Hogwarts as if the very walls themselves offended him. To anyone watching him, he would have seemed alone. But wrapped safely in Harry's invisibility cloak, Hermione followed silently. Draco said nothing until they reached the cold blank wall of the Slytherin Common room.

"Destiny." The word slid out from between his teeth like fine wine. Gray stone slithered out of the way and Draco stalked inside, Hermione following him. He led the way to his own private room, the door clicking shut behind them. As soon as it did, she slid the cloak off.

They stayed quiet for a few moments, Draco seated on his bed, Hermione standing there with the cloak draped over one arm, fidgeting. "My emotions have been on a roller coaster." Hermione started at last. She could see the complete lack of comprehension in Draco's eyes and groaned to herself. Pureblood idiot! "That means they've been up and down and changing a lot. I haven't really felt like being around anymore. At the time, I thought that it was right to send you that." She motioned to the parchment. "But as soon as I sent it..."

As she looked around, trying to find something to look at that wasn't those hurt gray eyes, she spied an open book near her. On the page she could see there was a lovely young woman looking out from there. It was obviously an unfinished drawing, but it still looked incredible.

Before she could get a very good look at it, Draco pulled it away from her, closing it quickly. "It's beautiful." She told him quietly, noticing the faint red tinge to his cheeks. "I didn't know you could draw."

"Not a lot of people do." He murmured, putting the journal away and muttering something that sounded a little like a locking spell.

"You're good." This had to be one of the reasons she liked him. He always surprised her in one way or another. "At any rate, as soon as I sent it, I regretted it. I wish I could take it back, and never have sent it."

She stared down at the bed for a moment, then felt strong fingers lifting her chin up. Draco's eyes touched hers, then he leaned forward and gently touched his lips to hers. She returned it softly, lifting her hands to run through his silken white hair, and smiled softly. They kissed again and again, both feeling heat build up between them. Hermione forced herself to sit back. "Are you sure about this, Draco?" She asked quietly. He nodded, looking right in her eyes.

"Are you?" It was only fair they both be asked. She nodded slightly and certainly. "Have you ever done this before?"

"No. Have you?" Somehow, she wasn't surprised when he nodded. He just seemed to be that type. "Well, at least one of us will know what we're doing!"

Draco's lips twitched lightly, then he pulled his wand from his robes and flicked it lightly, murmuring a spell she recognized as being one to prevent pregnancy, then another that blocked all sound coming from inside the room from being heard outside of it. "Well." she chuckled softly. "You're thinking more clearly than I am right now."

"That's because Slytherins do think." Draco told her. "Gryffindors just rush in."

"Well, if that's the case," Hermione leaned over to kiss his nose, "I'll just go back to my room." She smiled as he leaned forward and kissed her softly in return. "Let's just hope Snape or someone else doesn't come in."

Draco shook his head. "They won't. They know if I have the silence spells up, I don't want to be disturbed."

"Good." Hermione smiled softly. "I'd hate to get expelled this close to the end of our last year."

"So would I." Draco moved closer to her and kissed her again and again. She touched his face lightly, then all rational thought vanished as primal instinct took over and they were no longer two but one joined being.

Ginny knocked lightly on Hermione's door, her Potions book clutched in one hand as her other hand tried to stifle a yawn. I hope she doesn't mind giving me a quick lesson before breakfast. She knocked again, realizing no one had said anything from the other side. "Hermione?"

When almost five minutes had passed and there was still no answer, Ginny carefully turned the knob and peeked inside. There was no sign of Hermione anywhere. The bed's made too. This is weird! It's morning, she should be here!

Ginny hurried over to the seventh year boys' dormitory and knocked quickly, then pushed the door open and ran to Ron's bed. "Ron!" She shoved at him as he pushed his head under his pillow. "Ron! Hermione's missing!"

"What?" He tried to look up at her but since his head was buried, that was a little hard.

"Shut up." Harry groaned from across the room, peering out from behind his curtains. He definitely looked horrible first thing in the morning.

"Harry!" Ginny protested. "Hermione's not been in her room all night. She's missing!"

The dark haired boy yawned. "She's not missing. She borrowed my cloak to talk to Malfoy."

Ginny shook her head. "All night?" She could understand talking to Harry all night, but this was Malfoy!

Harry yawned deeply. "They probably fell asleep." He started to tuck himself back into the bed when Ginny kicked the side of it.

"This is Malfoy and Hermione we're talking about," Ron reminded them, "the kissing duo."

Ginny shook her head. "The two people who can't keep their hands off of each other." She stiffened, a slight twinge of envy stabbing. "You don't think they...you know..."

"Ginny!" Ron snapped at her suddenly. "Do you mind not talking like that, and get out of our room!"

His sister rolled her eyes. "Ron, I'm not a little kid anymore. Besides, why would I want to stick around here and see your naked rear end? Ew!"

Harry laughed as Ron turned bright red. "Let us get up and we'll meet you in the common room." Ginny nodded at him, then headed out of the room. As the door closed behind her, Harry shook his head at his friend. "Ron, you've got to be more careful how you treat your sister."

"She's my sister!" Ron reminded him as he tried to squirm his way out of the nest of blankets that were wrapped around him. "I have to look out for her!"

"She's old enough to look out for herself." Harry reminded him, getting up and starting to tug his clothes on. "At any rate, she's not going to make the mistakes others made. And she's a Weasley. If she's anything like your mother..." He shivered slightly at the thought. "Just don't try to push her around."

Ron grumbled something that vaguely sounded like assent as Harry finished pulling himself into order. The Boy Who Lived glanced at his friend and noticed Ron had somehow managed to get a few of his own clothes on: inside out. "And Ron...don't dress in the dark."

The redhead yanked open the curtains and stared down at himself in the early morning sunlight, then groaned. "Why does this happen to me?"

Harry chuckled slightly to himself as he came into the common room, nodding at Ginny as he did. He was about to ask her why she'd been trying to get Hermione up in the first place when the portrait hole opened up and a very disappointed looking Professor McGonnagal came in. "Professor? Something wrong?"

"Some of the third year Gryffindors were quite busy last night." The Transfiguration Professor informed him. "I was busy deactivating their pranks over half the castle."

Harry winced lightly. "Sounds like the Weasley twins are selling out of things from their store."

"I don't begrudge them a profit." his Head of House sighed in exasperation. "But I also do not appreciate waking up to this." Her wand flicked lightly, and her hair changed from the normal black to red and gold streaks. "I support Gryffindor wholeheartedly, but I believe this is somewhat too far."

Harry nodded slowly. "Way too far." He hesitated slightly. "Have you seen Hermione?"

The Professor raised one eyebrow. "And why would she not be here?"

"Harry, have you found her?" Ginny bounced into the room and stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh...hi, Professor."

McGonnagal nodded slightly. "Do enlighten me, Miss Weasley, as to what is the matter."

Ginny fidgeted, the tips of her ears turning red much as Ron's did when he was on the spot, and Harry was forcibly reminded of the times she'd dive under furniture any time he was in the area. He stepped forward, hoping to ease the pressure on her. "Hermione's not in her room, and she hasn't been there all night."

"Right." Ginny smiled briefly at him. "The last time anyone saw her, she and Malfoy were going to talk."

"Professor!" Ron hopped into the room pulling his shoes on and stared at the display before him. "What happened to your hair??"

"The third years." That was all she had to say. Ron winced faintly and shook his head. There were days he wasn't all that thrilled at being a Weasley.

"I'll tell my brothers to watch how much they sell to students...again." He promised. Ginny grinned suddenly, a gleam in her brown eyes.

"Can I try this time? They might listen to me...if I use the right tactics." There was something about that gleam that really worried him.

"Tactics?"

His sister grinned, and in that grin he saw shades of Fred and George, and Ron Weasley felt true fear for the first time since he'd met Aragog the Acromantula. "I'm going to bring Mom with me."

"That'll do it." Harry muttered. Professor McGonnagal's lips twitched just the tiniest bit as she restored the glamour covering her hair's current condition.

"Excuse me. I must find Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy." Their Head of House swept out of the room, the portrait hole closing neatly behind her. Harry sagged down into a chair, relishing the feeling of a spotlight having moved off of him.

"How did she know that Hermione wasn't here?" Ron wondered. Harry shook his head.

"She didn't. I asked if she knew, and...well, she didn't."

Ron grunted in annoyance. Even more points were probably going to be taken from Gryffindor because of this. He sagged next to Harry just as his friend's mouth cracked open wide with a yawn. "I agree." the redhead nodded. "Too early."

"Well, you'd still be asleep if Hermione was here." Ginny reminded him. Ron rolled his head around to look at her.

"What are you doing up so early, anyway, Ginny?"

She shrugged, glad she'd dropped the Potions book in her room. She had no idea how Ron would react to find out she actually liked the subject, and hearing him rant about how much of a git Snape was really wasn't her idea of a good morning. Not that he's wrong. I just don't want to hear it. "Couldn't sleep."

"So you were going to wake up someone else? That's smart." Ron's retort might've sounded better if he wasn't yawning halfway through it.

"She hasn't been sleeping that much since she got out of the Hospital Wing." Ginny reminded him. "I went in there to see if she was awake and wanted to talk. I'm worried about her. Aren't you guys?"

Ron nodded absently. "Of course! I wouldn't wake her up, though."

"Didn't you hear me?" Ginny wondered if it were possible that her brother's brains turned to sludge before he got his morning infusion of food. "She hasn't been sleeping, not since she got back here! Or did you fail to notice the huge bags under her eyes!"

Her brother didn't seem to quite grasp what she was saying. "So she might've been sleeping."

"If she was, I was going to come down here, and read." Ginny grated the words out. Ron just shrugged, yawning again and leaning his head against one of the sofa cushions.

"She's probably asleep now. If she were awake, she'd be back here." He closed his eyes and was sound asleep a few seconds later. Ginny fidgeted with her wand for a moment.

Would it be worth the point loss to Gryffindor to turn him into a salamandar or something? She wasn't bad at Transfiguration and it might do Ron some good. I doubt he'd notice. She slipped her wand away and headed up to her room. I just hope it was worth it, Hermione.

Hermione covered her face for a moment, then opened her eyes. "Draco! It's morning! I have to go!" One pale arm snuggled a little closer to her and a sleepy noise sounded in her ear. She shoved at him roughly. "I have to go! I'm going to get into so much trouble!"

"All right." Draco yawned sleepily and sat up, his hair mussed from its usual blonde perfection and the most adorable confused expression on his face.

"Walk me out?" Hermione asked as she yanked on her robes and made certain everything was in place. Draco nodded slightly as he pulled himself together as well, stumbling back as he did so. A few drawing pencils scattered to the ground as he bumped into a table, one rolling over to Hermione's feet. That reminds me... As she handed it over to him, she asked, "Who was that girl in the drawing, anyway?"

"Someone who doesn't really exist." Draco murmured, shutting the pencils out of sight. Some of Hermione's confusion must have shown on her face, since he went on, "If my twin sister had lived, that's what I think she would have looked like."

"You had a twin?" Hermione had always wanted some kind of sibling. That did look somewhat like him, if he were a girl. Draco as a girl...weird. But still kind of cute.

He nodded ever so slightly. "She died when we were about a year old." As he turned away to check his look in the mirror, Hermione caught a glimpse of something gleaming in one of his eyes for a heartbeat.

Was that a tear? There was no way to be certain and she didn't have time to worry about it right now. She crossed over to him and wrapped her arms around him gently, feeling him lean on her for a brief second, then pull away. "We have to go."

"Right." She glanced around saw the silvery material of the invisibility cloak piled in one corner. "To think," she mused as she picked it up carefully, "this has saved us so many times."

"I wish I'd known about it." Draco muttered softly, eyeing it with a mixture of greed and envy in his pale eyes.

Hermione wrapped it around herself and slid the hood over her head, fading away completely. "What? And get us expelled?"

"I would’ve liked that in first year." Draco reminded her lightly. Hermione thought for a moment, then nodded.

"When you were spying on us at Hagrid's?"

"Of course. Illegal dragons are illegal for a reason." Draco's lips twisted in an amused smirk. "And then Potter sneaking out to Hogsmeade without permission in third year."

Hermione declined to say anything in opposition to that; Harry had been breaking the rules after all. So she said something else. "We should go before someone notices that it's missing."

The two of them headed quickly out of the dungeons, then towards Gryffindor Tower. It's too early for anyone to be up. Thankfully. Hermione noticed with gratitude. Her gratitude vanished as they turned a corner, however.

"Mr. Malfoy. Going for an early morning stroll?" Professor Snape looked down his hooked nose at him. Hermione relaxed; for a heartbeat she'd forgotten that she was wearing the invisibility cloak.

Draco grinned a little at his Head of House. "Why not? It's a nice morning."

"Of course." Snape nodded slightly, then walked on by. Hermione tried not to breathe too hard in relief; if he saw her there, there was no way he wouldn't take points off of Gryffindor. And that's all he'd do if I were lucky. Detention with Snape. Ew.

Once he was out of sight, the two of them hurried onward. Three corridors away from Gryffindor tower, Hermione pulled to a stop and lowered the cloak's hood. "Draco?"

"Yes?"

She smiled at him. "Thank you for a wonderful time. My head feels a lot clearer." They hugged lightly, and she squeezed his hand gently before removing the cloak fully and carrying it over one arm. It wouldn't do for any early riser to see Draco in the area without her. "Walk with me to the portrait hole?"

Before they could get more than a few steps, however, someone else turned the corner: a tall, imposing black haired witch. "Good morning, Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonnagal's stern eyes seemed just ever so slightly amused by this. "And how are you feeling today?"

"Wonderful." Hermione proclaimed, wishing there were some other word to convey just how right she felt inside. Everything was working out just the way it should.

Draco wasn't the type to describe things quite like that, but he made an effort. "It's quite amazing what nice long chats can accomplish." He even managed to smile at the Transfiguration teacher. It was just a little one, but it qualified.

McGonnagal nodded. "I see. Night long chats, as well." From the way her eyebrows bent towards them, it was obvious she knew exactly what they'd been up to. Hermione squirmed slightly, feeling as if she were thirteen again and trying to persuade her teacher to let her use the Time Turner. "Please don't make a habit of this. I would hope that you also took the proper precautions."

Both of them nodded quickly in agreement. Hermione heard Draco murmuring something about how he wasn't some stupid forgetful Hufflepuff. "We used the anti-pregnancy spell and the soundproofing spell." Hermione reassured her. "We'll see you later, Professor. We have to get ready for class."

"Of course." McGonnagal swept along her way, leaving the two of them alone. Hermione glanced after the professor, shaking her head.

"I am so glad we didn't get points taken away." The race for the House Cup was close, and she was still a loyal Gryffindor.

Draco's shoulders rippled in a shrug. "I always thought she was a softie."

"She's the one who taught you how to be an animagus, though, isn't she?" Hermione wondered. Draco nodded, his cheeks coloring faintly at the thought of needing help from a Gryffindor, much less the Head of the House, and she grinned. "I always thought ferrets were cute."

Draco said nothing at all, but she fancied that she saw yet another of those fleeting smiles. As they came up to the Fat Lady, she touched his hand to get his attention. "Thanks, for everything."

"My pleasure." He told her formally. She fidgeted slightly, eyes flicking over to where the portrait was waiting to see what they would do next.

"So, are we back together, then?"

That eyebrow went up just a bit, then he nodded slightly. "I would hope so, given what we did last night."

"So would I." Hermione reached out and touched his face lightly before pulling her hand back and grinning. "I should shower...and so should you!" She turned towards the portrait, then back to him. "See you in Potions." Without looking back, she whispered the password and headed into the common room.

The first people she saw were Ron and Harry, disapproving looks on their faces. They might have worried her a bit more if Ron wasn't trying to hide the occasional yawn behind his hand. "You two are up early."

"You had a really long talk, I see." Harry commented, his voice ever so bland and reeking of 'my best friend is being naughty'.

"We sort of fell asleep." Hermione admitted, her eyes flicking over to Ron as he said something that was half-garbled by his yawn. She thought she knew what it was, though. "After. I've got to get a shower." She handed the invisibility cloak over to Harry. "Don't worry, it wasn't anywhere near us when we...talked."

"Thanks." Harry was willing to do quite a lot for his friends, but that wasn't one of the things he would let pass.

Hermione hurried to the nearest bathroom after getting her usual morning requirements, and smiled briefly as she saw Ginny Weasley there. "Hi, Ginny." That reminded her of something that she wanted to take care of.

"Have a good night?" Ginny asked with a knowing grin. Hermione blushed and nodded, wondering just who else in Hogwarts knew her private business now. Then again, Dumbledore said it right once. What happened is a total secret. So naturally everyone knows.

"Ginny, we never really did get that chance to talk." Hermione reminded her friend. "Come up to my room while I change and we can talk there?" They still had a little time before breakfast. Not much, but a little.

Once they were safely inside with the door closed, Hermione started on what she really wanted to know. "So, tell me. Do you like Harry?" The answer she got, and that she was almost expecting, was a deep Weasley blush. "Ask him out. Being in a relationship is incredible, as long as you're in it with the right person." She glanced at her quiet young friend and smiled a bit. "I think Harry likes you, too."

"Really?" Ginny wondered, her brown eyes brightening with hope. "You mean it?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't." Hermione reminded her. "I've seen how he looks at you." She carefully brushed out her hair and worked it into a ponytail. "Oh, you know that exchange group that's coming in a couple of weeks?"

Ginny nodded; it was yet another side effect of the programs that Dumbledore had been working on since after Voldemort's return to get all of wizardkind working together. Ten witches from the Salem Witches' Institute would be coming over while ten from Hogwarts were heading there. "I can't wait to see them all."

"My cousin is one of them." Hermione could hardly wait to see Sam again. It had been quite a while since their last visit together.

"Really?" Ginny looked rather surprised. "I didn't know that you had a cousin in America."

Hermione nodded; she didn't really talk about her family that much at Hogwarts. It wasn't as if anyone really wanted to hear about a pair of Muggle dentists, anyway. "My dad's sister moved there. She wound up marrying someone who turned out to be a wizard. Sam and I look almost exactly alike, too."

Ginny grinned; she liked hearing about Hermione's relatives. "Was she surprised because you're a witch too?"

"She just found out this year." Hermione chuckled to herself. Sam almost had a heart attack when I came in on her practicing her wand movements. She thought she was going to have to do a Memory Charm on me.

The redhead leaned back a little as she situated herself on Hermione's bed a little more. "So, did you enjoy yourself?"

"How did you find out?" Hermione countered the question with a question of her own. If her love life were going to be the talk of the school, she at least deserved to know how the news got out!

"I was the one who tried to wake you up, only you weren't here to be woken up." Ginny told her. Hermione eased herself into her chair, her legs suddenly weak.

"We had lots of fun. Merlin, the whole school is going to know!" The Muggleborn witch shook her head. "As soon as I came in, Harry and Ron were about to try and give me a lecture. I got out of it, but I did get one from Professor McGonnagal." She thought for a moment. "Well, it wasn't a real lecture, she just wanted to make certain we'd been protected. Sound, pregnancy, that kind of thing. Which we were."

Ginny shuddered violently. "I think that's a little more than I really wanted to know, Hermione."

"Let's get Harry and Ron and go to breakfast, then." Hermione stood up and adjusted her robe and cloak. "Then you can ask Harry out."

The other girl gulped briefly, then gripped her courage in mental hands. "All right. Let's go."

When the two of them got back to the common room, Ron and Harry were still there talking. Hermione cleared her throat as obnoxiously as possible. "Come on, Ron. Let Harry and Ginny talk for a moment. Alone."

Ron didn't seem all that inclined to move, until Hermione took him firmly by one arm and yanked him out of the room, letting the portrait close behind them. Harry glanced briefly towards them, then looked back at Ginny, fidgeting nervously.

It's been a while since we were ever alone together. Harry fidgeted a little more, trying and failing repeatedly to say anything that resembled coherent English.

Ginny wasn't feeling much more composed herself. She squeezed the ends of her robe sleeves, then blurted, "Would you go out with me?"

He had never felt so relieved in his life. Now he didn't have to ask! "Sure!" I'm going to thank Hermione. Somehow. He smiled happily at her, feeling warm and good inside. "Let's go to breakfast?"

Hermione sipped a little pumpkin juice and enjoyed the morning amusement: watching Ron look worried and stare at the doors to the Great Hall. "Don't worry." she finally said. "Nothing bad is going to happen. Haven't you noticed how Ginny looks at Harry all the time?"

"Hermione, I'm stubborn, not blind."

She rolled her eyes. "Who would you trust with your sister more than Harry?" Ron grinned at her.

"Me?"

"Ew!" Hermione shuddered, then grinned as two people appeared in the doorway. "Here they come. Aw, they're holding hands!" Her eyes lit up even more as she saw Draco coming in behind them. She waved at him slightly, thrilling when he nodded slightly in return. Maybe he was softening just a little? No, probably not. She could see the way Ron was looking at her, with a slightly amused grin on his face. "I wonder if the whole school knows yet."

Ron shrugged as he started to fork more food into his mouth. "I have no idea. Probably close to it."

"I feel like myself again." Hermione almost felt like twirling around and singing. Almost. If she'd been in a bad Disney movie, maybe.

"Good." Ron gulped down some pumpkin juice and wiped his mouth. "I didn't know who you were yesterday and I'm not all that sure I liked that person."

"I know I didn't." Hermione murmured, thinking back to how depressed and lifeless she'd felt. She glanced up as Harry and Ginny got to their side of the table. "Hey, you two. Better hurry before Ron eats everything."

Harry glanced at the plate in front of his friend. "You wouldn't eat everything, would you, Ron?"

"Growing boy!" Ron declared, grinning widely. "You wouldn't deny me the chance to grow, would you?"

"Growing into what?" Harry teased his tall friend. "A giant?"

Hermione grinned at him in her own turn. "Or Goyle?"

"Hey!" Ron and Harry shuddered almost in unison, and the redhead glared at her. "That was an insult!"

A low half-drawl of a chuckle came from behind Ron. "You figured that out all on your own, Weasley?" The three of them all jerked around to see Draco standing there, an amused glint in his pale eyes.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Hermione looked as if she might be trying to laugh herself.

"My girlfriend, if that's not a problem." Draco glanced over at Hermione, his every line and word declaring that he really didn't care if Harry thought it was a problem. "If you're feeling up to it, I believe there's a very nice sky outside with lots of space for flying for two."

Hermione nodded. "It should stay that way until after class, and I don't think anyone's planning on doing any Quidditch practicing today."

"I believe you're right." Draco's attention was focused solely on her, ignoring the rest of the Gryffindor table staring at them. "Are you free after class?"

She thought for a few moments. I still need to get caught up for those lessons I've missed while we were gone. I could use the fresh air, though. The weekend was coming up, too, and she could use that time to get caught up again. It wouldn't be that hard. "I think so. I'll have to borrow a broom, though."

"Of course." Draco didn't bat so much as an eye at the reminder of what had happened to her original one. "I'll see you after classes, then." He nodded slightly at her, then strolled away, every inch the snobby Slytherin he'd always been, and probably always would be.

Ron watched him go, then looked over at Hermione. "Be careful." She looked at him in confusion; he wasn't still going on about Draco, was he? "It hasn't been all that long since you were all emotional and unsteady. You don't want to fall off of the broom. OW!" He glared at her as she pulled her foot back from slamming him in the leg with it and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Don't be late for class." she finished up her breakfast and headed up to her room. I knew I was going to forget something. She was glad she'd managed to have some kind of hand in getting Ginny and Harry together, but she'd forgotten her books!

She swung the door open and started inside her room, then stared in surprise. What in the world... Laying on her bed was a long, slender package, bringing back fleeting memories of her first year. Hermione clenched her fists for a moment, her eyes flicking to where her wand lay on her study desk. If this is some kind of trick...

A card lay next to the package and she carefully picked it up, trying her best to ignore the trembling in her fingers as she did so. The handwriting inside wasn't really familiar, but the name at the bottom of it was: Narcissa Malfoy.

Thank you for your actions with my son during your recent captivity. Consider this a thank-you gift. I hope that we can meet in person some day very soon. Narcissa Malfoy.

Hermione stared at the long, slender gift on the bed once more, then carefully set the card down and started to unwrap. What fell into her lap was a nearly gleaming broom. Hermione would not have been that surprised if her eyes had fallen out in shock. "If this isn't a trick...I can't accept it." I was going to buy one when I had the money...I just can't take it.

"Hermione, I was wondering, do you..." Hermione looked up to see Lavender Brown staring at her in surprise. No, not at her...at the broom! "Oh, wow!"

Hermione frowned; she hadn't seen Lavender look this surprised since Trelawney had predicted that she was going to be the Divination teacher one day. "Wow?"

"That's a Nova 2097! I didn't think they were ready for the market yet!" Lavender just kept on staring, looking more in awe than Ron and Oliver Wood had when they'd first seen Harry's Firebolt.

Hermione shrugged. "I'm not sure if they are or not, it was delivered here while I was at breakfast." She eyed the way her friend was staring at the broom warily. Is she drooling? "Is something wrong?"

"This thing puts the Firebolt to shame!" Lavender told her, rattling off stats and features that made absolutely no sense to Hermione in the first place, even after seven years of hanging out with two of the most Quidditch-obsessed people in Hogwarts.

"How do you know all of that?" Hermione wondered. She had never really noticed Lavender to be all that interested in brooms or Quidditch, other than to comment that the occasional other house players were cute.

Lavender shrugged lightly. "My dad owns the Nova Company. He bought out the Comet Trading Company a couple of years ago and Research and Development has been trying to work out something to compete with the Firebolt ever since." She looked slightly ashamed for a moment. "That's one reason he wanted me to go into Divination. He wanted to know if there was ever a chance he could compete."

Hermione sat there and stared at her. Why do I suddenly feel as if I don't know her at all? They had roomed together for years, but they had never actually talked. Hermione had always dismissed Lavender and Parvati's obsession with Divination as the two of them just wanting easy grades. She couldn't escape the notion that she'd missed out on something.

"Who sent this to you?" Lavender wondered, one hand almost touching the shaft.

Hermione glanced at the card. "According to the card, it was a gift from Draco's mother."

"And you don't believe it?" The other girl's gaze was amazingly sharp, something that Hermione hadn't often associated with her since their third year.

"Part of me is scared that this is a trick, and if it isn't, I can't accept a gift like this."

Lavender shrugged. "Why not?"

"I don't want to look like a gold digger for one." Hermione vividly recalled one girl the previous year who had tried to come onto Harry, once the news about his family fortune had gotten out to Hogwarts at large. That girl had also spent part of her year as a three toed sloth. No one had figured out who did it, but Hermione's money was on Ginny.

The other seventh year looked at her. "You really love Draco, don't you?"

"Would I be with him if I didn't?"

Lavender shrugged once more. "If you ask some people, they figure you're just trying to get back at Ron for what he did to you." Hermione remembered belatedly that if there was one person who was always up on Hogwarts gossip, some of it before the participants themselves knew, it was Lavender.

"Do I look like the vengeful type, Lavender?" Hermione asked her. Lavender laughed.

"Hermione, you slapped Draco silly for calling you Mudblood once."

Hermione flushed slightly. "All right, you got me there. I did slap him, but people change." Not that she wouldn't slap him if he needed it now. Sometimes that was all that could get through to some people.

"You still didn't answer the question. Do you love him?" Lavender's eyes never left her face, and there was something a little odd in their intensity. As if she already knew the answer, and just wanted Hermione to admit it to herself.

"I care for him a lot." Hermione decided to be a little more honest this time than before. "But I don't know if I've truly fallen in love with him, but it's close if it isn't."

Lavender nodded approvingly. "So don't worry about what other people think. You know what's true and what isn't. That's what counts."

"I still don't like accepting that broom." Hermione glanced down at it again, touching the bristles for a moment. She could feel the magic in them, just wanting and waiting to be used.

"If anyone asks, tell them you don't know who sent it. Harry got that Firebolt in fourth year, and no one else knew who it was from." Lavender reminded her. Hermione smiled slightly as she looked away.

"Maybe I'll feel better about it when I find out for certain that it's from his mother, and not some kind of trick."

"So ask him." That came out in a tone of 'duh'.

Hermione nodded. "I will, when we go flying this afternoon. What did you want to see me about, anyway?"

"Oh, I missed Care of Magical Creatures yesterday. Do you have the notes?" Lavender stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of her robe absently. Hermione nodded.

"I'll get them for you at lunch." She was probably one of the only people who actually took notes during that class, especially with Hagrid teaching it. Usually just surviving his final exams were all you needed to do, and that was easy.

"Thanks." Lavender watched her put the broom back on the bed with a slightly hungry look to her eyes, then the two of them headed off for their first class.