In Vino Veritas

Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall next to Harry and Ron. She hadn't been in the library long before she realized how hungry she was. She left the library, hating her appetite. She had just gotten into her Runes essay. When she reached the Great Hall, she found that Harry and Ron must have left the common room right after she'd gone to the library. They were both halfway through their breakfasts.

Hermione said hi, Harry said hi back, and Ron did something that scared her when he greeted her. He swallowed his food first.

"Hi, 'Mione." Ron smiled at her, a pink tinge creeping into his face.

"Hi..." she gave him a hesitant smile. She didn't know if she could take this too much longer. She didn't like Ron like that.

Harry noticed Hermione's nervousness, and he tried to brighten her mood by asking about her Runes essay. He didn't seem to realize what was causing her anxiety.

"Did you find what you were looking for, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I'm almost done with my essay. I just had to take a break, not because I was tired of the essay, but I had to eat-"

"Speaking of homework," Ron cut in. "Do you think you could help me study for, er, Potions?"

"We don't have Potions again 'till after the holidays, Ron." Harry gave him a funny look.

"Er, yeah, well...you know how Potions is. Snape always tries to dump something tough on us first day back, and I just want to be, erm, prepared early. Y'know, get the studying done now so I don't have to take time from the holidays to do that stuff." The red tinge in Ron's cheeks became a magenta glow, and his ears went beet red.

Hermione was saved from having to respond by a flood of owls entering the Great Hall. A large ocher colored owl swooped down from the flurry, carrying a copy of the Daily Prophet in its talons. It dropped the newspaper in front of Ron and disappeared back into the swarm.

Hermione helped herself to her breakfast as Ron opened the newspaper. She was two bites into her meal before Ron's voice interrupted her.

"Oy! Harry, 'Mione! Look at this!" Ron shoved the Prophet in front of them, pushing Hermione's plate aside.

Sighing, Hermione looked at the front page of the Prophet, and dropped her fork in surprise. On the front page was a picture of Lucius Malfoy, looking livid. The picture next to it showed the fortress that was Azkaban. The title read 'Death Eater Killed in Attempted Escape'.

She glanced up at Harry and Ron, both of whom were leaning forward, reading the article with urgency. She read the article herself.

Aurors stopped prisoners Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, Regulus and Rabastan Lestrange shortly before midnight of the 21st while the prisoners were attempting to escape from Azkaban. An Auror killed Malfoy, a known Death Eater. The other prisoners were captured and returned to their cells under heavier guard.

Two Aurors, Bradford Smith and Hudson Kearns, were killed during the escape...

Hermione stopped reading. She looked up just in time to see Draco leave the Great Hall in a hurry. She couldn't help but feel a great swell of pity for the blonde haired boy.

"Ha! The great git finally got what he deserved!" Ron laughed. "I don't see why they didn't just kill him when he was caught in the first place!"

"Ron!" She didn't see why she was scolding him. She had secretly thought the same thing back when Lucius Malfoy was given a life sentence in Azkaban.

"What? C'mon, you can't say that you're not glad that he died. This is a good thing, 'Mione. Right Harry?"

"Right. And maybe Malfoy will sod off for a while. I swear his attempts to curse me are getting really annoying." Harry rubbed the back of his neck, where one of Draco's more successful hexes had struck him, causing him to become paralyzed until Professor McGonagall reversed it. Draco had gotten lucky, and was never caught.

"Don't be so cold, Harry," Hermione said.

"Cold? 'Mione, Malfoy is scum. He was born scum, and he'll always be scum. He's been trying to hurt Harry for a long time. Now he gets a taste of his own medicine," Ron said.

"Yeah. The slimy git deserves it. I hope he looses his mind and has to be committed to St. Mungo's," Harry said, a hateful glint in his eyes.

"I'm surprised at you two! How can you be so cruel? Malfoy just lost his father! Granted, the man was a sadistic murderer, but he was still his father! I'm sure Malfoy loved him-"

"I don't think Malfoy can love..." Ron muttered.

"-or at least idolized him. How would you feel if your dad suddenly died Ron, and you had to read about it in the morning paper? And Harry, I hate to bring it up, but Sirius was like a father to you, right? Remember how you felt when he died? I imagine Malfoy is feeling something like that right now. How can you possibly not pity him in the least?" Hermione finished her little spiel and took a deep breath. She hadn't paused once to breathe.

"No Malfoy deserves pity," Harry said in the coldest tone Hermione had ever heard from him. "And don't you ever compare Sirius to that bastard."

Harry's voice broke. He looked as if he wanted to rant and rave at Hermione, but he just stood and stormed out of the Great Hall. Ron gave her what was supposed to be a disgusted look, but turned into something closer to embarrassment, and followed Harry.

Hermione watched her friends go. She sighed, pushed the Prophet out of the way, retrieved her plate, and continued with her breakfast. When she finished, she returned to the library. She started on her Runes work again, and tried to forget what had just happened in the Great Hall.

She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

* * *

A week passed, and things cooled off between Hermione, Harry, and Ron. Harry seemed to have forgiven her for vaguely comparing Sirius to Lucius. Ron had gotten over Hermione's anti-hate-Malfoy-for-the-time-being speech readily, and continued his not so secret fancying of her. He stared at her still, and when she caught him doing so he turned a bright pink, quickly trying to find something to busy himself with. He continued to use his pet name for her, 'Mione. And she was sure he was going to ask her to the party. She was just hoping someone would ask her before he did.

Hermione sat in the common room, studying. Though it was in the middle of the winter holidays, she found herself studying more than she meant to. She had planned to have fun this winter, but so far it hadn't happened.

She looked up from her books. Across the room Dean Thomas sat with Parvati Patil. Parvati had been right. Dean had asked her to be his date the same day the news about the party had first been announced. They were holding hands.

She turned her gaze to Ginny. The younger girl was sitting with Neville. They were talking in a friendly way. Neville had asked Ginny to go with him, but she had been forced to decline. Ginny was already going with Ravenclaw Sterling Whitaker.

She looked over at Harry and Ron next. They were talking, probably about how Malfoy senior got what he deserved. They still hadn't dropped the subject, despite Hermione's objections and cold looks every time it came up. She didn't see the point in discussing it any further. The man was dead, for Merlin's sake!

Harry didn't have a date yet, which wasn't surprising. It had taken him a long time to get a date for the Yule Ball too. Harry seemed indifferent about the matter anyways. Ron hadn't gotten a date either. Hermione, and everyone else in the school it seemed, knew that he was wanted to ask her to go. He had tried several times already, but he always choked and pretended he wanted to ask something else. 'Have you finished your assignments yet?' 'What's that you're reading?' 'Have I got dirt on my nose?'

Ron glanced over at her. Hermione went back to her books as fast as possible, hoping he hadn't seen her looking. She had no such luck. With her peripheral vision she saw Harry give Ron an encouraging nudge. Ron hesitated for a moment and got up. Hermione bit her tongue to stop herself from groaning with dread.

"Er, hi 'Mione." Ron sat down across from her. "How's it going?"

"Fine."

"Erm...'Mione...I was wondering..." Ron cleared his throat. "Do...would you...wouldyougototheNewYearsPartywithme?"

He said the last part so fast it caught Hermione by surprise. An eternity seemed to pass, as she looked at Ron with his hopeful look. She wanted to say no, but she found she couldn't hurt her friend like that. Besides, it was only a few days until the party, and it didn't seem like anyone else was going to ask her out.

"Sure." She smiled at him. What was the worst that could happen?