Roommates

Nineteen

Hermione twiddled her fingers for a few moments before daring to reach over and tap Ginny's hand.

Ginny jumped and blinked over at Hermione. "Yes?"

"I...heard...that you've broken up," Hermione said gently, "with-" she looked around quickly and whispered, "-Malfoy."

Ginny smiled bitterly. "I suppose Blaise told you about Malfoy and me during the holidays," she said, twirling her spoon around in the porridge.

"No, Draco did, actually," Hermione replied. "He let it slip."

A laugh escaped Ginny's lips. "He would, wouldn't he? He wanted to tell people. Wanted them to know. Didn't see the point in keeping it a secret, really. I suppose he made it seem like a mistake, but things are rarely mistakes with him." She glanced over her shoulder at the Slytherin table. "The cold, maniacal bastard." She burst into tears. "But I loved him!"

"Really?" Hermione asked, all of her sympathy going out to her red-headed friend. "I'm so sorry."

"And the worst thing is," Ginny said, crying, "he knows!"

"What? He knows what?" Hermione looked at Ginny confused.

Ginny blushed through her tears. "Well, during the holidays Harry and I got a bit lonely because Ron was spending an awful lot of time writing to Luna Lovegood. So we hung out together mostly, talking about quidditch and playing Exploding Snap or Gobstones. Then one night he kissed me."

"He kissed you?" Hermione repeated in shock. "But he knew you were involved with someone!"

"I know," Ginny replied miserably. "But he did anyway. And then, for the rest of the holidays, we just were...together."

Hermione examined Ginny's expression critically. "You two didn't..."

"No!" Ginny said hastily. "Of course not." She fell silent as Harry and Ron sat down at the table next to Hermione.

"G'morning, Hermione, Ginny," Harry said, smiling at them both.

"Morning," Ron said to them as he started to pile food on his plate.

"Good morning," Hermione said, picking her bag up and sliding off the bench.

"So, Hermione..." Harry said smoothly, scooping porridge onto his plate. "You and Blaise Zabini?"

Hermione eyed him, slightly suspicious. "Yes. Me and Blaise."

"You do realize that Ron and I will have to conduct a more...in-depth conversation with him, don't you?" Harry took a bite of his porridge.

"You'll have to what?" Hermione exclaimed, her bite of grapefruit halfway to her mouth. "Did I just hear right? You want to interview my boyfriend?"

"Yes. Is there something...wrong with that?" Ron asked through his food.

Hermione breathed in and out slowly. "Yes. If you two had any sense, you'd know that. I'll see you all later. I've got some things I need to do." They nodded at her and she heard them start to discuss Quidditch as she walked away. She used all of her willpower not to turn around and yell at them as she made her way out of the Great Hall and to the library.

She sat down in the back as she waited for the bell to ring, trying not to be annoyed with Harry and Ron her first day back at school. When she thought about it, this kind of angry frustration was much better than the strained, cold, meticulous feeling that reigned in the Zabini household when Frances, Lilithe or June were present. Open annoyance was much better, in her opinion, than the closed off and repressed hostility that seemed so common in the manor.

Once the bell rang, she hurried from the library, taking care not to knock over any books on her way out. She rushed to her first class, barely making it in time and earning herself a raised eyebrow from McGonagall, who reprimanded her with a "please try to be on time, Miss Granger."

Hermione slid into her seat as inconspicuously as she could manage with her bright-red face, hearing a 'tsk-tsk' sound coming from behind her. She half-turned, seeing Draco shaking his head at her with an almost smile-like smirk on his face. He was shaking his finger in her direction until McGonagall shot him a very dangerous look and he turned back to the front. Blaise was sitting behind Draco, and he flicked his quill onto Draco's neck, leaving a small black smudge on Draco's very pale skin. Blaise grinned at Hermione as she turned around, a smile growing on her face.

When the class was over, she walked out without a backwards look, heading towards her next class, Herbology.

"Hermione! Wait!" called Blaise from behind her. The people around her in the hallway stopped and stared. Very rarely did a Slytherin call after a Gryffindor, even if they were Head Boy and Girl. She turned to see him jogging towards her with Draco sauntering behind Blaise, a look of bored disdain on his face. Blaise reached her and stopped, barely breathing less than normal, and smiled down at her. "I wanted to walk you to your class," he said as Draco reached them.

"Blaise, honestly," Draco drawled. "I walked and made it two seconds after you did. Please try not to be such a lovestruck idiot, will you?"

Blaise and Hermione ignored him. "You did?" she asked, still smiling from before. "Oh, Blaise, how sweet." Draco made gagging noises from behind Blaise. "Oh, shut up, Draco," she snapped at the Slytherin ringleader as Harry and Ron walked by.

"Shove it, Granger," he replied cheerfully, very carefully making sure to make a rude gesture at Harry and Ron as they stood rooted to the floor, frozen in shock.

"Hermione, did I just hear right?" Ron asked, staring at her, Draco and Blaise. "Did you just call Malfoy Draco?"

"Yes, Ron," Hermione said, sniggering a bit. "We spent the better part of the Christmas holidays together. He learned, thanks to Blaise, that, though I might not have the same ancestry--" Draco coughed indelicately, "--I am still a person and a bloody intelligent one at that."

"And Hermione learned that, although I have a strong influence, albeit only over physical pain, in Draco's life," Blaise said, "he still is an arrogant ponce and his opinions on most things, House-Elf liberation included, will never change."

"So you see, Ron, Harry," Hermione said sweetly, Blaise's arms around her and Draco, who was glaring at him, "people change. Not much, but still they change."

"I'll believe it," Harry said, adjusting the strap on his bag, "when I see it."

"Loitering in the halls?" asked a cold and very dangerous voice. They turned to see Snape looming behind them, a calculating sneer on his face. "My, my, my. And on the first day back at school, too. With the Head Girl part of the group. Tsk, tsk, Miss Granger." The mock-concern disappeared from his voice. "All of you, to your classes or I'll take ten points from each of you."

They fled to their classes. Blaise called after Hermione, "See you!" before Draco dragged him to their Charms class.

"So now you're friends with Malfoy?" Harry asked Hermione as they made their way to the greenhouses.

"Ooh, Hermione," Parvati said from behind them. "You're friends with the Draco Malfoy? Could you get me a date?"

"Oh, that's not fair!" pouted Lavender, who was walking beside Parvati.

"'Course it is," Parvati said calmly, still eying Hermione, "you've got Seamus. Now c'mon, Hermione, set us up on a date!"

Hermione shook her head. "Sorry Parvati," she replied. "But Draco's out of a relationship and I doubt he's up for another right now, especially one with someone from Gryffindor."

"You mean he was dating someone from Gryffindor?" Lavender said pouncing on the speck of information Hermione had let out. She and Parvati pushed Harry and Ron aside and linked arms with Hermione. "Do tell."

"Sorry, can't," Hermione said, feeling a bit frightened of Lavender and Parvati's sudden interest in what she had to say.

"Then you'll just have to tell us about Blaise," Parvati cooed again, head inclined towards Hermione in a knowing way. "For instance, is it true he was involved with Daphne Greengrass for two years until this summer when she dumped him for Theodore Nott?"

Hermione stared at Parvati, almost stopping in the middle of the path with shock. "What?" she asked. "He was dating someone? He was dating Daphne Greengrass? But she's four years younger than him!"

"Love," Lavender said philosophically, "knows no age. Or bounds."

"I mean," Hermione continued, not hearing Lavender, "I knew he had dated before. Even I dated before him! It's just.... I always thought it'd be some faceless Italian girl, not the girl who I've been tutoring in Charms for the past three months! Why wouldn't he tell me about this? Why would he hide this from me? Is- is he ashamed of what he's done- Wait, if he's ashamed that means he did something to be ashamed of! But what would he have done?"

"All excellent questions, Hermione," Lavender said, tugging her into the greenhouse. "But they'll have to wait for another time. School beckons."

Hermione followed Lavender and Parvati into the greenhouse with a million questions milling around in her head. She went through the class in a haze, but still managed to answer every question asked of her correctly, earning Gryffindor twenty points.